Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CLINICOPATHOLOGIC STUDY OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: RELATIONSHIP TO SENILE CONDITIONS

Alzheimer's disease is still considered a rare and unusual condition in spite of the fact that about one hundred cases have been reported. Most of the cases occurred in the European clinics, though some of the earliest instances of the disease were described in the American literature. In the period from 1916 to 1928 only one case1was recorded in the United States. According to our experience, the disorder is by no means uncommon. Thus, at the Foxborough State Hospital approximately 4 per cent of all the cases in which necropsy was performed proved to be instances of Alzheimer's disease.2As this hospital draws from the same general population as do most other state institutions, it probably furnishes a sample which is representative of the whole group. That more cases have not been reported suggests that there is a lack of integration between clinical psychiatry and the basic
Comments on "An exponentially stable adaptive friction compensator"

This note points out a technique error in the above paper (Liao and Chien, IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr., Vol. 45, p. 977-80, 2000). It is shown that without persistence of excitation (PE) of the system signals, the estimated Coulomb friction parameter cannot be guaranteed to converge to its true value. An analysis is provided for the PE condition of parameter asymptotic convergence.
Subjective prior distributions for modeling longitudinal continuous outcomes with non‐ignorable dropout

Substance abuse treatment research is complicated by the pervasive problem of non‐ignorable missing data—i.e. the occurrence of the missing data is related to the unobserved outcomes. Missing data frequently arise due to early client departure from treatment. Pattern‐mixture models (PMMs) are often employed in such situations to jointly model the outcome and the missing data mechanism. PMMs require non‐testable assumptions to identify model parameters. Several approaches to parameter identification have therefore been explored for longitudinal modeling of continuous outcomes, and informative priors have been developed in other contexts. In this paper, we describe an expert interview conducted with five substance abuse treatment clinical experts who have familiarity with the therapeutic community modality of substance abuse treatment and with treatment process scores collected using the Dimensions of Change Instrument. The goal of the interviews was to obtain expert opinion about the rate of change in continuous client‐level treatment process scores for clients who leave before completing two assessments and whose rate of change (slope) in treatment process scores is unidentified by the data. We find that the experts' opinions differed dramatically from widely utilized assumptions used to identify parameters in the PMM. Further, subjective prior assessment allows one to properly address the uncertainty inherent in the subjective decisions required to identify parameters in the PMM and to measure their effect on conclusions drawn from the analysis. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sparse and optimal wide-area damping control in power networks

Inter-area oscillations in power networks are typically poorly controllable by means of local decentralized control. Recent research efforts have been aimed at developing wide-area control strategies that involve communication of remote signals. In conventional wide-area control strategies the control structure is fixed a priori typically based on modal criteria. In contrast, here we employ the recently introduced paradigm of sparsity-promoting optimal control to simultaneously identify the control structure and optimize the closed-loop performance. To induce a sparse control architecture, we regularize the standard quadratic performance index with an ℓ1-penalty on the feedback matrix. The quadratic objective functions are inspired by the classic slow coherency theory and are aimed at imitating homogeneous networks without inter-area oscillations. We use a compelling example to demonstrate that the proposed combination of the sparsity-promoting optimal control design with the slow coherency objective functions performs almost as well as the optimal centralized controllers.
Placental proteins in late pregnancy: Relation to fetal sex

SummaryA total of 527 blood samples were obtained from an unselected population of women between 36 and 40 weeks pregnant. Serum placental proteins HCG, HPL, SP1 and PP5 were measured by radio-immunoassay. Serum HCG and HPL were higher in mothers carrying female fetuses.
Robust control of compliant actuators using positive real ℋ2-controller synthesis

Series elastic actuation in rehabilitation robotics was introduced to elastically decouple the actuator from the joint in order to improve safety and guarantee a compliant actuator behaviour. Classical control approaches of series elastic actuation usually consist of a number of cascaded control structures, where the force or torque control problem is rearranged to a translational or rotational displacement control problem. Considering the parameter tuning of PID-type cascaded control-loops, passivity of the patient-actuator interaction dynamics should be of concern and imposes parameter bounds for the controller. In order to overcome these limitations, guarantee robust stability, minimise load impedance and reduce the complexity of the classical cascaded control structure, a new control strategy is presented in this paper. The controlled plant is down-squared to yield a positive real system and augmented with frequency dependent weightings to shape the sensitivity functions. Consequently, a new ℋ2-optimal controller is designed using an additional constraint to guarantee the strict positive realness of the controller. The resulting controller is obtained by solving a LMI-system, which is of a new form for the proposed loop-shaping procedure. Additionally, orthogonality constraints of the ℋ2-problem are relaxed in the new procedure by a loop-shifting approach. The resulting controller inherently guarantees the patient-actuator interaction transfer function to be positive real, minimises the load impedance and robustly stabilises the actuator due to the dissipative controller properties.
Perfil microbiológico dos pacientes nos primeiros trinta dias pós transplante de medula óssea do Serviço de Transplantes da Santa Casa de São Paulo

The bacterial infections remain one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among bone marrow transplantation patients. During the neutropenic period these patients are more susceptible to acquire these agents. The improvement on antibiotic prophylaxis has changed the bacterial spectrum on the last decade. Surveillance cultures have been strategically used as a method to foresee an agent that potentially increases morbidity at this time of treatment. However it is also criticized due to its low sensitivity and specificity. The authors retrospectively reviewed the surveillance cultures on the first thirty days of 50 patients who underwent bone marrow transplantation at Santa Casa de Sao Paulo BMT unit. The male patients were 62% and the prevalent age ranging 21 to 40 years. The allogeneic transplant and peripheral blood stem cell infusion were 68% and 72% respectively. Chronic myelogenous leukemia was the most transplanted disease. Gram-positive isolates were found on 64% of all cultures. The Gram-positive agents were prevalent on skin, nostril swabs and also on catheter exit sites, while gram negative agents were isolated on oropharynx and anal swabs. There was no relation either on a positive blood culture test or a antibiotic prophylaxis regarding the surveillance cultures when retrospectively reviewed during these first days of treatment.
Virtual reality in radiology: innovative applications of PACS in neuroradiology

Neuroradiologists require rapid access to large multislice, multisequence image datasets, as well as tools for planning interventional procedures and predicting the probable outcome of an intervention. To address these challenges, we are integrating virtual reality (VR) technology with a large-scale picture archiving and communication system (PACS). The VR-based applications that we are developing include a `virtual view box' for rapid browsing and pairwise image comparison of large datasets using a head-mounted display (HMD), and `virtual intervention' tools for planning, simulating, and executing interventional radiology procedures. VR in radiology offers novel, `hands-free' techniques for image navigation, simulation, and teleintervention.
Methodische Aspekte zur Bestimmung der Testosteronkonzentration als Biomarker der Gesundheit des Mannes/Challenges in the measurement of serum testosterone concentrations as a biomarker of men's health

Zusammenfassung Die Bestimmung der Testosteronkonzentration im Serum steht in den letzten Jahren zunehmend im Fokus der Andrologie. Zahlreiche Beobachtungsstudien präsentierten Zusammenhänge zwischen niedrigen Serum Testosteronkonzentrationen und inzidenten kardiovaskulären Risikofaktoren bzw. erhöhtem Mortalitätsrisiko. Darüber hinaus sind niedrige Serum Testosteronkonzentrationen ein entscheidendes diagnostisches Kriterium des Altershypogonadismus. Aufgrund ihrer hohen Validität und Messfrequenz ersetzen massenspektroskopische Verfahren zunehmend die bisher gebräuchlichen Immunoassays zur Testosteronmessung, und werden als „Goldstandard“ zur Sexualhormonmessung diskutiert. Der Artikel stellt verschiedene Einflussfaktoren der Bestimmung der Testosteronkonzentration vor und gibt praktische Hinweise für die Interpretation der Ergebnisse. Abstract Male testosterone concentrations gained recent attention in the field of andrology. Various epidemiological cohort studies presented associations of low serum testosterone concentrations with incident cardiovascular risk factors and increased mortality risk. Furthermore, low serum testosterone concentrations are integral part for the diagnosis of late-onset hypogonadism. Because of their high validity and throughput, mass spectrometry assays have replaced conventional immunoassays for testosterone measurement, and are believed to become the “gold standard” for sex hormone quantitation. This article will focus on challenges in the measurement of serum testosterone concentrations and will provide practical information on the interpretation of serum testosterone measurements.
Sleep, Travel, and Recovery Responses of National Footballers During and After Long-Haul International Air Travel.

PURPOSE The current study examined the sleep, travel, and recovery responses of elite footballers during and after long-haul international air travel, with a further description of these responses over the ensuing competitive tour (including 2 matches). METHODS In an observational design, 15 elite male football players undertook 18 h of predominantly westward international air travel from the United Kingdom to South America (-4-h time-zone shift) for a 10-d tour. Objective sleep parameters, external and internal training loads, subjective player match performance, technical match data, and perceptual jet-lag and recovery measures were collected. RESULTS Significant differences were evident between outbound travel and recovery night 1 (night of arrival; P < .001) for sleep duration. Sleep efficiency was also significantly reduced during outbound travel compared with recovery nights 1 (P = .001) and 2 (P = .004). Furthermore, both match nights (5 and 10), showed significantly less sleep than nonmatch nights 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 (all P < .001). No significant differences were evident between baseline and any time point for all perceptual measures of jet-lag and recovery (P > .05), although large effects were evident for jet-lag on d 2 (2 d after arrival). CONCLUSIONS Sleep duration is truncated during long-haul international travel with a 4-h time-zone delay and after night matches in elite footballers. However, this lost sleep appeared to have a limited effect on perceptual recovery, which may be explained by a westbound flight and a relatively small change in time zones, in addition to the significant increase in sleep duration on the night of arrival after the long-haul flight.
The feasibility of real-time bladder mapping using a stereotactic navigational system

Stereotactic navigational devices have been implemented in neurosurgery, orthopedics and ear-nose-throat to improve surgical accuracy. However, the feasibility of navigating inside the bladder has not yet been investigated. Occasionally, transurethral resections of bladder tumors (TURBTs) are impeded by bleeding and cloudiness inside the bladder and, consequently, the bladder lesions are not found back easily. In addition, small bladder lesions are often concealed when viewed with the camera some distance away from the bladder wall due to low contrast differences. The aim of the study is to investigate the feasibility of real-time bladder mapping using the Medtronic Stealthstation system, without the use of pre-operative images. Seven patients scheduled for a TURBT were included in the study. During the TURBT procedure, the spatial coordinates of the bladder lesions were recorded two times independently, after filling the bladder with a fixed volume of 390 ml. The distance between the spatial coordinates of two consecutive measurements, in millimeters, was calculated. We found that bladder lesions can be found back using the navigational system with an accuracy of less than 12 mm. Real-time bladder navigation is feasible without the necessity of pre-operative images or calibration. If the coordinates are directly superimposed on the video image this could facilitate the retrieval of bladder lesions during TURBT. This system could reduce the stress for the surgeon and decrease the operating time.
Fractional-order adaptive fault estimation for a class of nonlinear fractional-order systems

This paper studies the problem of fractional-order adaptive fault estimation for a class of fractional-order Lipschitz nonlinear systems using fractional-order adaptive fault observer. Sufficient conditions for the asymptotical convergence of the fractional-order state estimation error, the conventional integer-order and the fractional-order faults estimation error are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) formulation by introducing a continuous frequency distributed equivalent model and using an indirect Lyapunov approach where the fractional-order α belongs to 0 <; α <; 1. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.
Determinant Factors of Long-Term Performance Development in Young Swimmers.

PURPOSE To develop a performance predictor model based on swimmers' biomechanical profile, relate the partial contribution of the main predictors with the training program, and analyze the time effect, sex effect, and time × sex interaction. METHODS 91 swimmers (44 boys, 12.04 ± 0.81 y; 47 girls, 11.22 ± 0.98 y) evaluated during a 3-y period. The decimal age and anthropometric, kinematic, and efficiency features were collected 10 different times over 3 seasons (ie, longitudinal research). Hierarchical linear modeling was the procedure used to estimate the performance predictors. RESULTS Performance improved between season 1 early and season 3 late for both sexes (boys 26.9% [20.88;32.96], girls 16.1% [10.34;22.54]). Decimal age (estimate [EST] -2.05, P < .001), arm span (EST -0.59, P < .001), stroke length (EST 3.82; P = .002), and propelling efficiency (EST -0.17, P = .001) were entered in the final model. CONCLUSION Over 3 consecutive seasons young swimmers' performance improved. Performance is a multifactorial phenomenon where anthropometrics, kinematics, and efficiency were the main determinants. The change of these factors over time was coupled with the training plans of this talent identification and development program.
Mock Objects

One thing that makes unit-testing code so hard is the way the real world keeps intruding. If all we had to do was code up tests for methods that sort arrays or generate Fibonacci series, life would be easy. In the real world we have to test code that uses databases, communications devices, user interfaces, and external applications. We might have to interface to devices that are not yet available or simulate network errors that are impossible to generate locally. This all conspires to stop our unit tests from being neat, self-contained (and orthogonal) chunks of code. Fortunately there is a testing pattern that can help. The authors consider the use of mock objects. With mock objects you can test code in splendid isolation, simulating all those messy real-world things that would otherwise make automated testing impossible. As with many other testing practices, the discipline of using mock objects can improve your code's structure.
What Software Engineering Can Learn from Soccer

We've talked about software quality for a long time, developing numerous software quality assurance approaches in the hope of making our software increasingly better. Charles Mann, contributing editor of MIT's Technology Review, points out that other technologies-televisions, cars, airplanes, bridges-have improved over time as their engineering matured; he asks why software has not. In the February 2001 issue of Communications of the ACM, Edsger Dijkstra said that software's biggest challenge is "how not to make a mess of it. " So, where have we gone wrong? To answer this question, we can look at how other disciplines learn and grow. Software development is as much an art as a science, and we learn lessons from both perspectives. Many of us think of ourselves as engineers: we train in engineering departments and rely on engineering tools, techniques, and quantitative methods to guide us. But our work's artistic side-which those who promote agile methods often emphasize-plays an important role, too. As good software developers, we are grounded in artistic engineering activities such as modeling and design. Our good people skills enable us to work with customers and on teams. And we need good instincts to select the best approaches and products to use.
Effects of exercise programmes on quality of life in osteoporotic and osteopenic postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To examine the effect of exercise therapy on quality of life in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PEDro, EMBASE and the Cochrane library from January 1966 to March 2007. Two reviewers independently selected all studies that met predetermined inclusion criteria. Randomized controlled trials that used the Short Form 36 of the Medical Outcome Study (SF-36) questionnaire or the Quality of Life Questionnaire of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis (QUALEFFO) as outcome measures were selected. The PEDro Scale was applied to rate the quality of each article. All studies had a quality score above 5/10. Meta-analysis was facilitated by RevMan 4.1. Results: Four randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria, involving a total of 256 participants. Results revealed that the exercise groups showed significant improvements in the domains of physical function, pain, role physical and vitality (P<0.05). Furthermore, intervention with combined exercise programmes had better effects on physical function, pain and vitality domains than controls. Group exercise programmes also produced better results in these three domains. A short-duration exercise programme produced more improvement in physical function, role physical and vitality, whereas a long-duration exercise programme resulted in more improvement in physical function and pain domains. Conclusions: This meta-analysis revealed better improvement in physical function, pain, role physical and vitality in the exercise groups. Combined exercise and group exercise programmes showed better outcomes in the physical function, pain and vitality domains, but different durations of exercise programme showed improvement in different domains.
Analyses of longitudinal, hospital clinical laboratory data with application to blood glucose concentrations

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems afford researchers with opportunities to investigate a broad range of scientific questions. In contrast to purposeful study designs, however, EMR data acquisition procedures typically do not align with any specific hypothesis. Subsequent investigations therefore require detailed characterization of clinical procedures and protocols that underlie EMR data, as well as careful consideration of model choice. For example, many intensive care units currently implement insulin infusion protocols to better control patients’ blood glucose levels. The protocols use prior glucose levels to determine, in part, how to adjust the infusion rate. Such feedback loops introduce time‐dependent confounding into longitudinal analyses even though they may not always be evident to the analyst. In this paper, we review commonly used longitudinal model specifications and interpretations and show how these are particularly important in the presence of hospital‐based clinical protocols. We show that parameter relationships among various models can be used to identify and characterize the impact of time‐dependent confounding and therefore help explain seemingly incongruous conclusions. We also review important estimation challenges in the presence of time‐dependent confounding and show how certain model specifications may be more or less susceptible to bias. To illustrate these points, we present a detailed analysis of the relationship between blood glucose levels and insulin doses on the basis of data from an intensive care unit. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
pH-Controlled Liposomes for Enhanced Cell Penetration in Tumor Environment.

An innovative pH-switchable colloidal system that can be exploited for site-selective anticancer drug delivery has been generated by liposome decoration with a new novel synthetic non-peptidic oligo-arginine cell-penetration enhancer (CPE) and a quenching PEGylated counterpart that detaches from the vesicle surface under the acidic conditions of tumors. The CPE module ( Arg4- DAG) is formed by four arginine units conjugated to a first-generation (G1) 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (bis-MPA)/2,2-bis(aminomethyl)propionic acid (bis-AMPA) polyester dendron terminating with 1,2-distearoyl-3-azidopropane for liposome bilayer insertion. The zeta potential of the Arg4- DAG-decorated liposomes increased up to +32 mV as the Arg4- DAG/lipids molar ratio increased. The Arg4- DAG liposome shielding at pH 7.4 was provided by methoxy-PEG5 kDa-polymethacryloyl sulfadimethoxine (mPEG5 kDa-SDM8) with 7.1 apparent p Ka. Zeta potential, surface plasmon resonance and synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering analyses showed that at pH 7.4 mPEG5 kDa-SDM8 associates with polycationic Arg4- DAG-decorated liposomes yielding liposomes with neutral zeta potential. At pH 6.5, which mimics the tumor environment, mPEG5 kDa-SDM8 detaches from the liposome surface yielding Arg4- DAG exposure. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed a 30-fold higher HeLa cancer cell association of the Arg4- DAG-decorated liposomes compared to non-decorated liposomes. At pH 7.4, the mPEG5 kDa-SDM8-coated liposomes undergo low cell association while remarkable cell association occurred at pH 6.5, which allowed for the controlled intracellular delivery of model macromolecules and small molecules loaded in the liposome under tumor conditions.