Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronological Order of Appearance of Extraintestinal Manifestations Relative to the Time of IBD Diagnosis in the Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort

Background:Data evaluating the chronological order of appearance of extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) relative to the time of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) diagnosis is currently lacking. We aimed to assess the type, frequency, and chronological order of appearance of EIMs in patients with IBD. Methods:Data from the Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort Study were analyzed. Results:The data on 1249 patients were analyzed (49.8% female, median age: 40 [interquartile range, 30–51 yr], 735 [58.8%] with Crohn's disease, 483 [38.7%] with ulcerative colitis, and 31 [2.5%] with indeterminate colitis). A total of 366 patients presented with EIMs (29.3%). Of those, 63.4% presented with 1, 26.5% with 2, 4.9% with 3, 2.5% with 4, and 2.7% with 5 EIMs during their lifetime. Patients presented with the following diseases as first EIMs: peripheral arthritis 70.0%, aphthous stomatitis 21.6%, axial arthropathy/ankylosing spondylitis 16.4%, uveitis 13.7%, erythema nodosum 12.6%, primary sclerosing cholangitis 6.6%, pyoderma gangrenosum 4.9%, and psoriasis 2.7%. In 25.8% of cases, patients presented with their first EIM before IBD was diagnosed (median time 5 mo before IBD diagnosis: range, 0–25 mo), and in 74.2% of cases, the first EIM manifested itself after IBD diagnosis (median: 92 mo; range, 29–183 mo). Conclusions:In one quarter of patients with IBD, EIMs appeared before the time of IBD diagnosis. Occurrence of EIMs should prompt physicians to look for potential underlying IBD.
Effect of a Foot-Drop Stimulator and Ankle–Foot Orthosis on Walking Performance After Stroke

Background. Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of functional electrical stimulation in the management of foot drop after stroke. Objective. To compare changes in walking performance with the WalkAide (WA) foot-drop stimulator and a conventional ankle–foot orthosis (AFO). Methods. Individuals with stroke within the previous 12 months and residual foot drop were enrolled in a multicenter, randomized controlled, crossover trial. Subjects were assigned to 1 of 3 parallel arms for 12 weeks (6 weeks/device): arm 1 (WA–AFO), n = 38; arm 2 (AFO–WA), n = 31; arm 3 (AFO–AFO), n = 24. Primary outcomes were walking speed and Physiological Cost Index for the Figure-of-8 walking test. Secondary measures included 10-m walking speed and perceived safety during this test, general mobility, and device preference for arms 1 and 2 for continued use. Walking tests were performed with (On) and without a device (Off) at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 weeks. Results. Both WA and AFO had significant orthotic (On–Off difference), therapeutic (change over time when Off), and combined (change over time On vs baseline Off) effects on walking speed. An AFO also had a significant orthotic effect on Physiological Cost Index. The WA had a higher, but not significantly different therapeutic effect on speed than an AFO, whereas an AFO had a greater orthotic effect than the WA (significant at 12 weeks). Combined effects on speed after 6 weeks did not differ between devices. Users felt as safe with the WA as with an AFO, but significantly more users preferred the WA. Conclusions. Both devices produce equivalent functional gains.
Serine Protease Inhibitors Specifically Defend Solanum nigrum against Generalist Herbivores but Do Not Influence Plant Growth and Development[C][W]

Serine protease inhibitors (SPIs) are antidigestive proteins that presumably defend plants against herbivore attack. This work identifies and characterizes SPIs in the wild plant Solanum nigrum and evaluates the consequences of SPI silencing on plant defense, growth, and development. Solanaceaeous taxa produce diverse peptide serine proteinase inhibitors (SPIs), known antidigestive defenses that might also control endogenous plant proteases. If and how a plant coordinates and combines its different SPIs for the defense against herbivores and if these SPIs simultaneously serve developmental functions is unknown. We examine Solanum nigrum’s SPI profile, comprising four different active inhibitors, of which the most abundant proved to be novel, to understand their functional specialization in an ecological context. Transcript and activity characterization revealed tissue-specific and insect-elicited accumulation patterns. Stable and transient gene silencing of all four SPIs revealed different specificities for target proteinases: the novel SPI2c displayed high specificity for trypsin and chymotrypsin, while two other SPI2 homologs were highly active against subtilisin. In field and lab experiments, we found all four SPIs to display herbivore- and gene-specific defensive properties, with dissimilar effects on closely related species. However, we did not observe any clear developmental phenotype in SPI-silenced plants, suggesting that SPIs do not play a major role in regulating endogenous proteases under the conditions studied. In summary, specific single SPIs or their combinations defend S. nigrum against generalist herbivores, while the defense against herbivores specialized on SPI-rich diets requires other unknown defense mechanisms.
Energy, poverty and development: a primer for the Sustainable Development Goals

"The seventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is dedicated to ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. While energy was implicit in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs explicitly recognise the direct linkage between energy access and consumption and poverty and development. This evolution of the development agenda is closely related to an expanded understanding of poverty, as it moves beyond a monetary definition, to be seen as a more holistic measure of overall quality of life. Energy has thus become recognised as an important aspect of alleviating extreme poverty. However, what remains unclear is the impact that poverty reduction will have on worldwide energy consumption. There is a significant amount of literature concerning the connection between energy consumption? in particular electricity? and development, ranging from engineering modelling to development policy. Nevertheless, there is a lack of attention given to the direct causal relationship between poverty reduction and energy consumption. This paper reviews a variety of the current literature concerning energy and electricity consumption and poverty and development, to show that there is a need to directly address how poverty levels will shape future energy consumption. This relationship will have an impact on a number of issues critical to the achievement of the SDGs ranging from health to gender and the environment". (? )
Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Improves Pulmonary Function in Patients with Asthma Associated with Chronic Sinusitis

We evaluated the clinical efficacy of endonasal endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in patients with asthma associated with chronic sinusitis. Twenty-one patients (13 men and 8 women) from 27 to 72 years old were enrolled in this study. All patients had had sinus-related symptoms for more than 3 months and had computed tomographic evidence of paranasal sinus opacification. Fifteen patients underwent bilateral endonasal ESS under local anesthesia, and 6 other patients without surgery were controls. The sinus-related symptoms of the preoperative and postoperative periods were assessed via a questionnaire. The period 6 months prior to surgery was compared with that 6 months postoperatively with regard to peak expiratory flow and total dosage of systemic glucocorticoids. Sinus-related symptoms in the ESS group were significantly improved 6 months postoperatively. The average peak expiratory flow 6 months following surgery was improved in the ESS patients, ranging from 40 to 190 L/min. Seven patients showed a reduction in the need for corticosteroids, whereas 2 patients were unchanged and 2 patients required larger dosages. The remaining 4 patients needed no corticosteroids before or after ESS. No significant changes in sinus-related symptoms or peak expiratory flow were obtained for the control group. Improvement of paranasal sinus disease by successful ESS can alleviate pulmonary dysfunction in asthma associated with chronic sinusitis. We believe that adequate and positive treatment for chronic sinusitis would reduce not only the nasal and sinus-related symptoms evoked by chronic sinusitis, but also some of the signs induced by asthma.
Raltegravir as functional monotherapy leads to virological failure and drug resistance in highly treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the development of resistance to raltegravir (RAL) in patients with viraemia between 40 and 400 copies/ml. All HIV-1-infected patients with multidrug-resistant virus, plasma HIV-1 RNA >1000 copies/ml and starting RAL were enrolled in this observational study and followed up until week 48. Sixty-seven patients with median plasma HIV-1 RNA at 4.3 log10 copies/ml and CD4 at 177 cells/mm3 were included. At week 24, 43 achieved full viral suppression (FVS; plasma HIV-1 RNA <40 copies/ml), 18 had incomplete viral suppression (IVS; plasma HIV-1 RNA 40–≤400 copies/ml) and 6 experienced virological failure (VF; plasma HIV-1 RNA >400 copies/ml). At week 48, all the FVS were sustained, 16 of the IVS patients retained a plasma HIV-1 RNA <400 copies/ml and only 2 of the IVS at week 24 experienced VF. No RAL resistance was detected in the persistent low viraemia. In contrast, integrase mutation was detected in 6 of the patients with VF. A genotypic sensitivity score equal to 0 was associated with plasma HIV-1 RNA >40 copies/ml at week 24 (OR 20.9, 95% CI 2.0–215.1) and with RAL resistance (OR 14.2, 95% CI 2.1–94.7). This study confirmed the high efficacy of a RAL-containing regimen under routine clinical conditions in infections caused by multidrug-resistant virus. If persistent low viraemia is observed over more than 48 weeks without the emergence of resistance, RAL should never be given as functional monotherapy, as it is associated with a maximal risk of VF and the emergence of RAL resistance.
Multi-Agent Simulation of Tiebout Model

In this paper, the Tiebout model (JPE, 1956) is explored by means of an agent-based computational simulation. The simulation suggests that the Tiebout’s conjectures holds true only when the consumers are homogeneous in all respects other than their taste for public goods. If they are heterogeneous in other aspects (like productivity) too, some consumers try to parasitize on others and the others try to escape from the parasites. A system with small relocation cost does not reach an equilibrium. If the relocation cost is high enough, the system finds an equilibrium, but the equilibrium does not separate the consumers according to their taste for public goods. The aggregate quantity of public goods is lower than the optimal one and public goods and the tax burden are distributed among the inhabitants in an inefficient way. The system is preferred by a majority sufficient to establish it only under a rather restricting conditions.
Characteristics of Outcome in Schizophrenia at 13 Years

Background This paper describes the 13-year outcome of an epidemiologically defined and representative cohort of patients selected when they were experiencing their first episode of schizophrenia. Method In a 13-year follow-up study of a cohort identified in Nottingham in 1978–80, the outcome (symptoms, disability, residence and treatment) was assessed using standardised instruments. Results Four of the original 67 patients with ICD–9 schizophrenia were lost to follow-up and five were dead: 52% were without psychotic symptoms in the last two years of follow-up, 52% were without negative symptoms and 55% showed good/fair social functioning. However, only 17% were alive at follow-up, without symptoms and disability, and receiving no treatment. Conclusions The findings reported are similar to those of other long-term follow-up studies of schizophrenia and also to 5-year follow-up studies. Kraepelin's emphasis on the longitudinal implications of a diagnosis of schizophrenia are supported, but may be over-pessimistic.
A Randomized Study of the Effects of Gabapentin on Postamputation Pain

Background:Pain after amputation is common but difficult to treat. Therefore, the authors examined whether postoperative treatment with gabapentin could reduce postamputation stump and phantom pain. Methods:Forty-six patients scheduled to undergo lower limb amputation were randomly assigned to receive oral gabapentin or placebo. Treatment was started on the first postoperative day and continued for 30 days. The daily dose of gabapentin or placebo was gradually increased to 2,400 mg/day. The intensity of stump and phantom pain was recorded every day on a numeric rating scale (0–10) during the 30-day treatment period. Five interviews were performed after 7, 14, and 30 days and after 3 and 6 months. Results:Results from 41 patients were included in the data analysis. The risk of phantom pain (gabapentin vs. placebo) was 55.0% versus 52.6% (risk difference, 2.4%; 95% confidence interval, −28.9 to 33.7%; P = 0.88; 30 days) and 58.8% versus 50.0% (risk difference, 8.8%; 95% confidence interval, −23.3 to 40.9%; P = 0.59; 6 months). The median intensity of phantom pain (gabapentin vs. placebo) was 1.5 (range, 0–9.0) versus 1.2 (range, 0–6.6) (P = 0.60; 30 days) and 1.0 (range, 0–6.0) versus 0.5 (range, 0–5.0) (P = 0.77; 6 months). The median intensity of stump pain was 0.85 (range, 0–8.2) versus 1.0 (range, 0–5.4) (P = 0.68; 30 days) and 0 (range, 0–8.0) versus 0 (range, 0–5.0) (P = 0.58; 6 months). Conclusion:Gabapentin administered in the first 30 postoperative days after amputation does not reduce the incidence or intensity of postamputation pain.
The ASEAN Economic Community and New Regionalism: A Neorealist Analysis

The ASEAN Charter proposed by the Eminent Persons Group in 2006 and drafted by the High-Level Task Force is seen as a progressive step forward in the deepening and evolution of ASEAN regional integration. With its signing and ratification, ASEAN will attempt to transform its character to be a regional institution in form and function both within the region and internationally. The purpose of this paper is to assess the development of the ASEAN Economic Community (“AEC”) to see if it intends to build a community or is a neorealist extension of traditional practice by ASEAN’s member states by assessing the AEC from a “new regionalism” perspective. It is the view of this writer that the ASEAN Economic Community as currently structured is used to keep and/or increase national order and interests in the face of destabilizing forces of globalization. This critique will assess the ASEAN Economic Pillar as a component of New Regionalism from a theoretical neorealist perspective, thereby attempting to identify components which have contributed to an economic community forming in ASEAN in the post-Cold War period and to possibly identify some critical factors indicating where ASEAN regionalism will lead.
In-kind transfers in Brazil: household consumption and welfare effects

O Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador (PAT) cria incentivos fiscais para firmas fornecerem transferências em produto para mais de 20 milhões de trabalhadores brasileiros. Transferências geralmente são distorcivas quando comparadas a uma transferência monetária, mas isso não é tão claro quando esta última é paga pelo empregador, ficando sujeita à cobrança de impostos sobre a folha de pagamento. Usando escore de propensão, encontramos evidências que famílias pobres beneficiadas pelo PAT consomem de 15,7% a 25,0% mais comida do que se recebessem transferências monetárias. Não há evidências que esse resultado esteja levando o programa a melhorar o estado nutricional dos trabalhadores.
Influence of climatic changes on the parasites of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua off coastal Labrador, Canada

Abstract A study was conducted in 2000 and 2003, following the collapse of the commercial fishery in 1990, to compare metazoan parasites of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, captured off coastal Labrador, with samples taken in 1980 and 1986. Fish were captured by otter trawl offshore in the North Atlantic Fish Organisation subarea 2J. Parasites were removed from the digestive tract, stained, identified and compared between the different groups. Both the prevalence and mean abundance of trematodes, larval nematodes and E. gadi were significantly lower in fish taken in 2000 and 2003 than in 1980. While mean values of trematodes and nematodes declined in 1986, those of Echinorhynchus gadi remained unchanged in 1986 and 1990. Four-year-old cod sampled in 1990 harboured significantly fewer E. gadi than older age groups. The most commonly occurring trematodes included Podocotylereflexa, Lepidapedon elongatum, Derogenes varicus and Hemiurus levinseni while the larval nematode, Anisakis sp. was predominant. Comparison of offshore samples taken in 2000 and 2003 with others taken in previous years suggests an overall decline of parasites coincident with a change in climatic conditions, the absence of a major food source, namely capelin Mallotus villosus, of cod and ultimately the decline of the Labrador population.
Is the Torpor-Arousal Cycle of Hibernation Controlled by a Non-Temperature-Compensated Circadian Clock?

During the hibernation season, mammalian hibernators alternate between prolonged bouts of torpor with a reduced body temperature (Tb) and short arousals with a return to euthermy. Evidence is presented here to show that this metabolic—and also physiological and neuroanatomical—rhythm is controlled by a clock, the torpor-arousal (TA) clock. The temperature dependence of torpor bout duration in 3 species of Spermophilus (published data) may be described by assuming that the TA clock is a circadian clock (probably not the suprachiasmatic clock) that has lost its temperature compensation. This loss might result either from a permanent deletion, or more likely from a seasonal epigenetic control at the level of the clock gene machinery. This hypothesis was verified over the full Tb range on published data from 5 other species (a monotreme, a marsupial, and 3 placental mammals). In a hibernation season, instantaneous subjective time of the putative TA clock was summated over each torpor bout. For each animal, torpor bout length (TBL) was accurately predicted as a constant fraction of a subjective day, for actual durations in astronomical time varying between 4 and 13 to 20 days. The resulting temperature dependence of the interval between arousals predicts that energy expenditure over the hibernation season will be minimal when Tb is as low as possible without eliciting cold thermogenesis.
Regional and labour market development in candidate countries: a literature survey

There has been substantial convergence of candidate countries to Western European institutions and labour market outcomes. Despite this, the labour markets in the candidate countries have their individual features: long and persistent reductions in employment rates as well as a higher incidence of long-term unemployment; more severe mass redundancy regulations and weaker trade unions and social partnership organisations; low turnover in and out of unemployment; and declining internal migration. Accession will trigger institutional changes by the social acquis, environmental and competition policy as well as – at a later stage – accession to EMU, the impact of the EU's structural policy on the candidate countries, and changes in trade, foreign direct investment and migration. In assessing the consequences of these changes, literature is far from unanimous, but some hypotheses can be developed: 1. Integration will have important structural and distributional effects and positive aggregate effects. 2. The capability of labour markets to adjust to such shocks will determine the labour market outcomes of integration. 3. Extrapolating purely from the current labour market dynamics to a time after enlargement may lead to misinterpretations, since "adjustment mechanisms" are endogenous. 4. National policy decisions and use of structural funds are a key in triggering regional convergence. Regional issues should be given attention when analysing integration effects. Experience from previous enlargements suggests that convergence is far from automatic after accession. Policy takes a decisive role in determining the outcomes. Regional development in candidate countries suggests some potential for further divergence.
Teledentistry: A Systematic Review of the Literature

We conducted a systematic review of teledentistry applications. We searched the MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases for relevant articles published from 1992 to 2012. The reference lists of all retrieved articles were hand-searched. Studies were included after assessing the eligibility of the full-text article. A total of 878 studies were identified, of which 59 fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the review. The articles covered several dental specialties, mostly oral surgery, oral medicine and oral pathology. The most common type of teledentistry application was education (n = 21), followed by diagnosis (n = 1 6), consultation (n = 3) and treatment (n = 2). Teledentistry studies were reported in a total of 15 countries. The largest number of studies were conducted in the US (n = 22) and there were no studies from developing countries. Most of the reports referred to pilot projects and short-term outcomes, and most of the studies were descriptive. The review indicates that although teledentistry is an area of expansion, there are still some barriers to its increased use.
Fast distributed smoothing of relative measurements

We consider the problem of estimation from noisy relative measurements in a network. In previous work, a distributed scheme for obtaining least-squares (LS) estimates was developed based on the Jacobi algorithm; in a synchronous version, the algorithm was shown to converge exponentially and bounds on the rate of convergence have been obtained. In this paper, we design and analyze a new class of distributed asynchronous smoothing algorithms based on a randomized version of Kaczmarz algorithm for solving linear systems. One of the proposed schemes applies Randomized Kaczmarz directly to the noisy linear system, whereas the other one operates on the normal equations for LS estimation. We analyze the expected convergence rate of the proposed algorithms depending solely on properties of the network topology. Inspired by the analytical insights, we propose a distributed smoothing algorithm, namely Randomized Kaczmarz Over-smoothing (RKO), which has demonstrated significant improvement over existing protocols in terms of both convergence speedup and energy savings.
Suppression of matrix metalloproteinase-3 synthesis by interleukin-4 in human articular chondrocytes.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of interleukin-4 (IL-4) on IL-1 induced matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) production by human articular chondrocytes. METHODS Monolayer cell culture of chondrocytes was obtained from human articular cartilage from patella within 24 h after death. MMP-3 and TIMP-1 protein levels were determined by ELISA. MMP-3 activity was assayed as caseinase activity. Amounts of MMP-3 and TIMP-1 mRNA were measured by Northern blot analysis. RESULTS IL-4 suppressed IL-1 stimulated MMP-3 protein and enzyme activity. Moreover, IL-4 suppressed IL-1 induced MMP-3 mRNA. In contrast, IL-4 did not alter the level of TIMP-1 protein and mRNA. CONCLUSION IL-4 may be implicated as a protective mediator of joint destruction seen in inflammatory arthritis.