Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Return to the Community After Cancer Treatment: From Safety to Reality Check

The survivorship of children diagnosed with cancer has risen during the last decade. After the end of treatment those children and their families return to the community where another period of crisis unfolds. In this article, the findings of a larger qualitative study in Puerto Rico related to the return to the community of these patients and their families are discussed, including financial difficulties, the burden of responsibility, and transition to school. These findings provide a rationale for the implementation of a bio-psycho-social model of health that emphasizes reciprocal interactions among the multiple systems in which these families are embedded.
The patient-centered medical home and patient experience.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between practices' reported use of patient-centered medical home (PCMH) processes and patients' perceptions of their care experience. DATA SOURCE Primary survey data from 393 physician practices and 1,304 patients receiving care in those practices. STUDY DESIGN This is an observational, cross-sectional study. Using standard ordinary least-squares and a sample selection model, we estimated the association between patients' care experience and the use of PCMH processes in the practices where they receive care. DATA COLLECTION We linked data from a nationally representative survey of individuals with chronic disease and two nationally representative surveys of physician practices. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We found that practices' use of PCMH processes was not associated with patient experience after controlling for sample selection as well as practice and patient characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In our study, which was large, but somewhat limited in its measures of the PCMH and of patient experience, we found no association between PCMH processes and patient experience. The continued accumulation of evidence related to the possibilities of the PCMH, how PCMH is measured, and how the impact of PCMH is gauged provides important information for health care decision makers.
Melioidosis Outbreak after Typhoon, Southern Taiwan

From July through September 2005, shortly after a typhoon, 40 cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection (melioidosis) were identified in southern Taiwan. Two genotypes that had been present in 2000 were identified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Such a case cluster confirms that melioidosis is endemic to Taiwan.
Carl — A compliant robotic leg featuring mono- and biarticular actuation

An increasing number of biologically-inspired control approaches for bipedal walking are demonstrating impressive capabilities in simulations. Although many of them share the main assumptions about the simulated biped, so far no physical system has been presented that meets the requirements. Thus, in this paper we are presenting the Compliant Robotic Leg (Carl) — a fully actuated bio-inspired planar robotic leg that incorporates mono-as well as biarticular actuation. Its development is motivated by the vision to validate the Bioinspired Behavior Based Bipedal Locomotion Control (B4lc) on a physical platform. This paper provides an overview of the driving requirements for the different subsystems and the derived implementation. Two experiments were performed to proof the functionality of the system. Specifically, some key requirements — transparency, impact tolerance, force and impedance rendering — are demonstrated. To our knowledge, this is the first fully actuated robotic leg including biarticular elements that demonstrates distributed high-fidelity force and impedance control at the actuator level.
Explaining suicide in an urban slum of Mumbai, India: a sociocultural autopsy.

BACKGROUND Health demographic mortality studies use verbal autopsies to identify suicide as a cause of death. Psychological autopsies focus almost exclusively on associated high-risk psychiatric disorders. New approaches considering contextual factors are needed for preventing suicide and promoting mental health. AIMS This study examined explanations of suicide reported by surviving family members or close friends with reference to social, cultural, and environmental conditions as well as the challenges of life in the Malavani slum of Mumbai. METHODS An EMIC (Explanatory Model Interview Catalog) interview based on a cultural epidemiological framework considered underlying problems, perceived causes, and sociocultural contexts. It was administered to survivors of 76 people who had died by suicide (56.6% women). RESULTS Accounts of underlying problems typically referred to various aspects of tension (73.7%). Perceived causes often identified multiple factors. The sociocultural contexts of suicide included the victimization of women, the personal and social impact of problem drinking, marital problems, physical health problems, mental tension, possession and sorcery. Women were particularly vulnerable to the impact of problem drinking by a spouse or father. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the value of an approach to sociocultural autopsy examining local contexts and explanations of suicide. Findings highlight needs for both mental health services and culturally sensitive social interventions.
Synthesis of Canonical Elements for Power Processing in DC Distribution Systems Using Cascaded Converters and Sliding-Mode Control

Switched power converters are used to interface the dc output in modern distributed power generation systems, which are usually aggregated to the main grid to yield the necessary power using interconnected modules. Synthesis, modeling, and stability analysis of interconnected systems using cascaded converters working under sliding-mode control are considered in this paper. A systematic procedure to synthesize cascaded connection of dc-dc boost converters is introduced. The approach is based on making each module to behave as a suitable canonical element for power processing. Three different elements are considered, which are the dc power gyrator, the dc transformer, and the dc loss-free resistor. These canonical elements are designed by means of a sliding-mode control theory and then their dynamic behavior is studied in detail. The sliding-mode conditions for each case are derived in closed form to obtain design-oriented criteria for selecting the parameters of the system. The aforementioned canonical elements are compared to select the most suitable one for a distributed power system. Simulation results ensure the correctness of the proposed approach. Experimental measurements corroborate the theoretical predictions and the numerical simulations.
Detection of telomerase activity in biopsy specimens for diagnosis of biliary tract cancers.

BACKGROUND Telomerase activity is detectable in more than 85% of primary cancers. We determined telomerase activity in biopsy specimens obtained from biliary tract cancers to evaluate the clinical application of telomerase activity detection in combination with p53 immunostaining and routine histologic examination. METHODS Biopsy specimens obtained during percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy from 13 patients with cholangiocarcinoma, 3 patients with gallbladder carcinoma, and 4 patients with intrahepatic bile duct stones were evaluated by routine histologic examination, p53 immunostaining, and telomerase activity. Semiquantitative determination of telomerase activity was performed using a fluorescence-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol. RESULTS Thirteen of 16 specimens of malignant tissue had detectable telomerase activity, whereas no specimen of nonmalignant tissue had detectable telomerase activity. A p53 overexpression was recognized by immunostaining in 9 of 16 samples with cancers. Combining both telomerase activity and p53 overexpression resulted in the detection of all cancer with a sensitivity of 100%. There were no false-positive results by either modality (specificity 100%). CONCLUSIONS The detection of telomerase activity in biopsy specimens and p53 overexpression in combination with routine histologic examination may improve the diagnosis of biliary tract cancers. (Gastrointest Endosc 2000;52:380-6).
Occurrence of amyloid deposits in the skin in secondary systemic amyloidosis.

Among 9 patients with secondary systemic amyloidosis, 8 had amyloid deposits in the skin. Amyloid was found in the deepest part of the dermis around the adnexa and in the subcutaneous tissue in the form of rings around fat cells. The amount of amyloid varied somewhat between different skin areas and, among the parts of the body examined, the scalp and the abdominal skin showed the heaviest infiltration. It is obvious that secondary amyloidosis can be diagnosed by means of skin biopsy in many cases.
Early Detection and Differential Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Depression with Neuropsychological Tasks

The development of novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), aimed at ameliorating symptoms and modifying disease processes, increases the need for early diagnosis. Neuropsychological deficits such as poor episodic memory are a consistent feature of early-in-the-course AD, but they overlap with the cognitive impairments in other disorders such as depression, making differential diagnosis difficult. Computerised and traditional tests of memory, attention and executive function were given to four subject groups: mild AD (n = 26); questionable dementia (QD; n = 43); major depression (n = 37) and healthy controls (n = 39). A visuo-spatial associative learning test accurately distinguished AD from depressed/control subjects and revealed an apparent sub-group of QD patients who performed like AD patients. QD patients’ performance correlated with the degree of subsequent global cognitive decline. Elements of contextual and cued recall may account for the task’s sensitivity and specificity for AD.
Age at menarche and diet among adolescents in slums of Nashik, India

Abstract Background and aim: The role of dietary patterns in determining age at menarche is insufficiently understood in low-income countries. The relationship between dietary patterns, particularly the consumption of oil, and age at menarche in a slum-dwelling adolescent population in India is examined. Methods: Data were derived from a cross-sectional baseline survey and anthropometric measurements among 10- to 19-year-old adolescents (n=545, female respondents 272, of whom 160 were post-menarcheal) and a household survey in two slums in the city of Nashik, Western India. By using mixed effects linear regression models, the association between age at menarche and household-wise use of sources of animal protein and oil and fat is examined. Results: Age at menarche (mean 13.7 years) in the slums studied was relatively high according to Indian standards. Age at menarche and the consumption of dairy products, meat, fish and eggs were not associated. The household per capita consumption of vegetable oil had an inverse association with a girl’s age at menarche, and there was an indication of a positive association between use of ghee (clarified butter) and age at menarche. These associations did not disappear when controlling for anthropometric status and socio-economic characteristics. Conclusion: Intake of fats and foods that are important sources of protein among underprivileged households in India is low and reflected in the relatively late age at menarche. The potential differences in the association between various types of fatty acids, energy intake and age at menarche in conditions of undernutrition requires further prospective study.
Optimal design of resonant coupled multi-receiver wireless power transfer systems

Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology is becoming popular and widely used in various fields including smart phones and electrical vehicles (EV). Therefore, designing an efficient and energy-saving WPT system is a critical issue. The focus of this paper is on a resonant coupled WPT system design by considering the scenario that more than one receivers present at the receiver side. The WPT system is optimized by minimizing the transmitted power from the transmitter side while considering the minimum required power at all receivers simultaneously. Using the tools of optimization theory, an optimization problem is formulated first that captures the multi-receiver WPT optimal design, and then it is reformulated as an equivalent convex program which is convenient to address. The paper also analyzes the impact of design parameters on the power transfer characteristics. Finally, a number of case studies are used to corroborate theoretical findings and provide optimal design guidelines for the resonant coupled multi-receiver WPT systems.
U models as universal approximators

This paper provides a proof demonstrating that U models are universal approximators of continuous nonlinear systems with the help of Stone-Weierstrass Theorem. After the proof, we propose a method to identify U models with Bernstein Polynomials. And then we adopt two simulation examples to illustrate the merits of the proposed identification method.
Haplotype studies support slippage as the mechanism of germline mutations in short tandem repeats

Germline mutations of human short tandem repeat (STR) loci are expansions or contractions of repeat arrays which are not well understood in terms of the mechanism(s) underlying such mutations. Although polymerase slippage is generally accepted as a mechanism capable to explain most features of such mutations, it is still possible that unequal crossing over plays some role in those events, as most studies in humans could not exclude unequal crossing over (UCO). Crossing over can be studied by analyzing haplotypes using flanking markers. To check for UCO in mutations, we have analyzed 150 paternity cases for which more than the usual trio (mother, child, and father) were available for testing by analyzing 16 STR loci. In a total of 4900 parent‐child allele transfers four mutations were observed at different loci (D8S1179, D18S51, D21S11, and SE33/ACTBP2). To identify the mutated allele and to check for UCO, we typed at least four informative loci flanking the mutated locus and used the pedigree data to establish haplotypes. By doing so we were able to exclude UCO in each case. Moreover, we were able to identify the mutations as one‐repeat contractions/expansions. Our data thus support slippage as the mechanism of germline mutations in STRs.
The Role of Wild Birds in the Spread of HPAI H5N1

Abstract There is much debate about the relative roles of poultry movements and wild bird movements in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. This article looks at the problem from an ornithologic perspective. Outbreaks in wild birds are examined in relation to three scenarios of possible wild bird involvement in virus transmission. These scenarios are examined separately for five phases of the outbreak that began in 1997 and which has recently become more dynamic in terms of virus spread. Most outbreaks in wild birds seem to reflect local acquisition of infection from a contaminated source, followed by rapid death nearby. Outbreaks in Europe in early 2006 indicate that the virus can be spread further by wild birds and thus that they can become infected and travel varying distances before dying, and probably passing the infection to other wild birds before death. There is only limited evidence that some wild birds can carry the virus asymptomatically, and no evidence from wild bird outbreaks that they have done so over long distances on seasonal migration routes. Other potential sources of infection and evidence for asymptomatic infection in wild birds are discussed, and the need for more ornithologic input into epidemiological studies of HPAI H5N1 is highlighted.
The Role of Conserved Amino Acid Motifs within the Integrin β3 Cytoplasmic Domain in Triggering Focal Adhesion Kinase Phosphorylation*

Integrin-mediated adhesion of cells to extracellular matrix proteins triggers a variety of intracellular signaling pathways including a cascade of tyrosine phosphorylations. In many cell types, the cytoplasmic focal adhesion tyrosine kinase, FAK, appears to be the initial protein that becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to adhesion; however, the molecular mechanisms regulating integrin-triggered FAK phosphorylation are not understood. Previous studies have shown that the integrin β1, β3, and β5 subunit cytoplasmic domains all contain sufficient information to trigger FAK phosphorylation when expressed in single-subunit chimeric receptors connected to an extracellular reporter. In the present study, β3 cytoplasmic domain deletion and substitution mutants were constructed to identify amino acids within the integrin β3 cytoplasmic domain that regulate its ability to trigger FAK phosphorylation. Cells transiently expressing chimeric receptors containing these mutant cytoplasmic domains were magnetically sorted and assayed for the tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK. Analysis of these mutants indicated that structural information in both the membrane-proximal and C-terminal segments of the β3 cytoplasmic domain is important for triggering FAK phosphorylation. In the C-terminal segment of the β3 cytoplasmic domain, the highly conserved NPXY motif was found to be required for the β3 cytoplasmic domain to trigger FAK phosphorylation. However, the putative FAK binding domain within the N-terminal segment of the β3 cytoplasmic domain was found to be neither required nor sufficient for this signaling event. We also demonstrate that the serine 752 to proline mutation, known to cause a variant of Glanzmann's thrombasthenia, inhibits the ability of the β3 cytoplasmic domain to signal FAK phosphorylation, suggesting that a single mutation in the β3 cytoplasmic domain can inhibit both “inside-out” and “outside-in” integrin signaling.
Phase I, Dose-Escalation Study of the Targeted Cytotoxic LHRH Analog AEZS-108 in Patients with Castration- and Taxane-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Purpose: AEZS-108, formerly AN-152, is a cytotoxic hybrid molecule consisting of a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist moiety covalently coupled to doxorubicin, allowing it to deliver doxorubicin selectively to cells expressing LHRH receptors. LHRH receptors are expressed on the cell membrane of many tumors, including prostate cancer. This phase I study determined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of AEZS-108 in men with taxane- and castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) while providing additional information on the safety profile and efficacy of this agent. Experimental Design: AEZS-108 was administered as an intravenous infusion every 21 days until progression or unacceptable toxicity in cohorts of 3 or 6 patients until the MTD was reached. Blood was collected for capture of circulating tumor cells (CTC) to visualize internalization of AEZS-108, an autofluorescent molecule. Results: The MTD of AEZS-108 in this cohort was 210 mg/m2, which was lower than that seen in a phase I study conducted in women with endometrial or ovarian cancers. The dose-limiting toxicity was persistent neutropenia. Three patients had a PSA response with an additional 10 patients maintaining PSA stable disease. Of the 10 patients evaluable by RECIST criteria, 9 achieved stable disease. AEZS-108 internalization in CTCs was routinely visualized using its autofluorescence. Conclusion: These findings show that AEZS-108 has an acceptable safety profile and a signal of efficacy, lowering PSA in heavily pretreated patients with prostate cancer, and that internalization of AEZS-108 in prostate cancer CTCs may be a viable pharmacodynamic marker. A phase II study in men with prostate cancer is ongoing. Clin Cancer Res; 20(24); 6277–83. ©2014 AACR.
Justification and active guideline implementation for spine radiography referrals in primary care

Background Spinal disorders are a major public health problem. Appropriate diagnostic imaging is an essential part in the management of back complaints. Nevertheless, inappropriate imaging increases population collective dose and health costs without improving outcome. Purpose To determine the effects of active implementation of referral guidelines on the number and justification of spine radiography in primary care in one city. Material and Methods Specified guidelines for spine radiography were distributed to referring practitioners altogether three times during the study period. Educational lectures were provided before the guidelines were taken into use. The guidelines were also made available via the intranet. The number of spine radiography referrals during similar 6-month periods in the year preceding the interventions and the following 2 years was analyzed. Justification of 448 spine radiographs was assessed similarly. Results After interventions, the total number of spine radiography examinations decreased by 48% (P < 0.001) and that of cervical spine radiography by 46% (P < 0.001), thoracic spine by 53% (P < 0.001), and lumbar spine by 47% (P < 0.001). The results persisted after 1-year follow-up. Before interventions, 24% of the cervical, 46% of the thoracic, and 32% of the lumbar spine radiography referrals were justified. After interventions, only justification of lumbar spine radiography improved significantly, 64% being justified (P = 0.005). Conclusion Spine radiography in primary care can be reduced significantly by active referral guideline implementation. The proportion of inappropriate radiography was unexpectedly high. Thus, further education and studies concerning the appropriate use of spinal radiography seems to be needed.
Taxonomy assignment approach determines the efficiency of identification of metabarcodes in marine nematodes

Precision and reliability of barcode-based biodiversity assessment can be affected at several steps during acquisition and analysis of the data. Identification of barcodes is one of the crucial steps in the process and can be accomplished using several different approaches, namely, alignment-based, probabilistic, tree-based and phylogeny-based. Number of identified sequences in the reference databases affects the precision of identification. This paper compares the identification of marine nematode barcodes using alignment-based, tree-based and phylogeny-based approaches. Because the nematode reference dataset is limited in its taxonomic scope, barcodes can only be assigned to higher taxonomic categories, families. Phylogeny-based approach using Evolutionary Placement Algorithm provided the largest number of positively assigned metabarcodes and was least affected by erroneous sequences and limitations of reference data, comparing to alignment-based and tree-based approaches.
OC-2, a Novel Mammalian Member of the ONECUT Class of Homeodomain Transcription Factors Whose Function in Liver Partially Overlaps with That of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor-6*

Transcription factors of the ONECUT class, whose prototype is hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-6, are characterized by the presence of a single cut domain and by a peculiar homeodomain (Lannoy, V. J., Bürglin, T. R., Rousseau, G. G., and Lemaigre, F. P. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 13552–13562). We report here the identification and characterization of human OC-2, the second mammalian member of this class. TheOC-2 gene is located on human chromosome 18. The distribution of OC-2 mRNA in humans is tissue-restricted, the strongest expression being detected in the liver and skin. The amino acid sequence of OC-2 contains several regions of high similarity to HNF-6. The recognition properties of OC-2 for binding sites present in regulatory regions of liver-expressed genes differ from, but overlap with, those of HNF-6. Like HNF-6, OC-2 stimulates transcription of the hnf-3βgene in transient transfection experiments, suggesting that OC-2 participates in the network of transcription factors required for liver differentiation and metabolism.