Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rural–urban differences in health among youth in northern Sweden: an outcome-wide epidemiological approach

ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to contribute knowledge about rural–urban differences in health among young northern Swedish women and men. This study was based on the 2014 “Health on Equal Terms” survey, distributed in the four northernmost counties of Sweden, with complementary information on areas of residence classified as rural, semi-urban and urban from total population registers. The analytical sample included 2,691 individuals who were selected using a probabilistic sampling method. Prevalence ratios were calculated in multivariable log-binomial regression analyses to measure the association between place of residence and nine outcomes covering three health dimensions (general, mental and lifestyle behaviours). The results indicated that daily smoking and being overweight were more common, while feelings of stress and psychological distress were less prevalent, among youths in rural as compared to urban areas. After including covariates, this pattern appeared stronger for young women, although the direction of the results also applied to young men, albeit without revealing significant differences. In conclusion, the findings from this study indicate that for youths – particularly young women – the rural setting may imply an increased risk of poor general health and lifestyle behaviours, while simultaneously playing a partially protective role for mental health.
Saccadic Direction Errors are Associated with Impulsive Compulsive Behaviours in Parkinson's Disease Patients.

Fifteen individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and impulsive compulsive behaviours (PD+ICB) were compared to 15 PD patients without ICBs (PD-ICB) and 15 healthy controls (HC) on a pro-saccades and an anti-saccades task to assess if ICBs are associated with distinct saccadic abnormalities. PD+ICB made shorter saccades than HC and more direction errors in the anti-saccades task than PD-ICB and HC, suggesting that patients with ICBs have greater difficulty in suppressing automatic saccades towards a given target. Saccadic assessment has the potential to evolve into a marker to guide therapeutic decisions in patients at risk of developing ICBs.
Iterative decoding of concatenated Hadamard codes

We investigate the decoding technique and performance of concatenated Hadamard codes. Efficient soft-in-soft-out decoding algorithms based on the fast Hadamard transform are developed. The performance required by CDMA mobile or PCS speech services, e.g., BER=10/sup -3/, can be achieved at E/sub b//N/sub 0/=0.5 dB using short interleaver length of 198 bits.
Early assessment of recurrent glioblastoma response to bevacizumab treatment by diffusional kurtosis imaging: a preliminary report

Purpose The purpose of this preliminary study is to apply diffusional kurtosis imaging to assess the early response of recurrent glioblastoma to bevacizumab treatment. Methods This prospective cohort study included 10 patients who had been diagnosed with recurrent glioblastoma and scheduled to receive bevacizumab treatment. Diffusional kurtosis images were obtained from all the patients 0–7 days before (pre-bevacizumab) and 28 days after (post-bevacizumab) initiating bevacizumab treatment. The mean, 10th, and 90th percentile values were derived from the histogram of diffusional kurtosis imaging metrics in enhancing and non-enhancing lesions, selected on post-contrast T1-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images. Correlations of imaging measures with progression-free survival and overall survival were evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results Higher pre-bevacizumab non-enhancing lesion volume was correlated with poor overall survival (r = −0.65, P = 0.049). Higher post-bevacizumab mean diffusivity and axial diffusivity (D∥, D∥10% and D∥90%) in non-enhancing lesions were correlated with poor progression-free survival (r = −0.73, −0.83, −0.71 and −0.85; P < 0.05). Lower post-bevacizumab axial kurtosis (K∥10%) in non-enhancing lesions was correlated with poor progression-free survival (r = 0.81, P = 0.008). Conclusions This preliminary study demonstrates that diffusional kurtosis imaging metrics allow the detection of tissue changes 28 days after initiating bevacizumab treatment and that they may provide information about tumor progression.
HPV RNA in‐situ hybridization as a diagnostic aid in papillary laryngeal lesions

In the larynx, differentiating squamous papillomas from de‐novo papillary squamous dysplasias or squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) has significant consequences for management. Overlapping clinical presentations and cytologic changes across the spectrum of papillary lesions presents diagnostic challenges for otolaryngologists and pathologists. In this study, we evaluate whether ribonucleic acid (RNA) in‐situ hybridization (ISH) for low‐risk and high‐risk human papillomavirus (HPV) can help distinguish these lesions.
A BRIEF SURVEY ON DIGITAL IMAGE WATERMARKING TECHNIQUES

Due to the recent progress in internet, digital contents e.g. video, audio, images are widely used. Protection of digital contents must require. So, it has become a tough task to protect copyright of an individual's creation. The purpose of Digital Image Watermarking is to ensure and facilitate data authentication, security and copyright protection of digital images. This paper elaborates watermarking overview, embedding techniques, watermarking attacks, performance analysis. It will be useful for researchers to implement effective image watermarking technique.
IT-Enabled Organizational Transformations To Achieve Business Agility

There has been increasing attention on organizational dynamic capabilities as the driving forces of superior firm performance in today’s turbulent business environment. The objective of this study is to develop a theoretical perspective that explains how firms achieve business agility from their deployment and utilization of information technologies (IT). Drawing upon the organizational learning literature, the study distinguishes two distinctive modes of organizational IT management, i.e., IT exploration and IT exploitation. The internal processes of agility creation from the two modes of IT management activities are explained drawing upon IT-enabled organizational transformations, either through disruptive or incremental innovations. Firm’s strategic posture and environment conditions are also considered as factors affecting these transformational processes.
Disclosure and workplace accommodations for people with autism: a systematic review

Abstract Purpose The objective of this systematic review was to describe the prevalence and processes of disability disclosure for persons with autism spectrum disorder. Methods Systematic searches of seven international databases revealed 26 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. We analyzed these studies with respect to participant demographics, methodology, results and quality of the evidence. Results Among the 26 studies, 7006 participants (aged 13–75, mean 28.1 years) were represented across seven countries. Our findings showed that rates of disclosure and receiving workplace accommodations varied considerably. Benefits of disclosing in the workplace included greater acceptance and inclusion, receiving accommodations, and increasing awareness about autism. Limitations of disclosing to employers involved experiencing stigma and discrimination. Factors affecting decisions to disclose included age at diagnosis, social demands of the job, and workplace policies. Types of accommodations that were received or desired included adjustments to the job interview process, schedules (i.e., flexibility, working from home), job content or working conditions, environment (i.e., lighting, quiet space); support with communication and social skills; and disability awareness training for their workplace colleagues. Conclusions Our findings highlight that disclosing a condition of autism in the workplace and requesting accommodations is complex. More research is needed to explore processes of disclosing and accommodation and how these processes vary by autism sub-type, gender, and industry type. Implications for rehabilitation Clinicians and vocational Counselors should support people with autism to advocate for their needs in the workplace, including the potential benefits of disclosing their conditions so they can access accommodations that allow them to keep healthy and productive in workplace. Clinicians should recognize that people with autism spectrum disorder may have different workplace accommodation needs than those with other types of disabilities, in particular support with social and communication skills. Clinicians should aid people with autism to access resources and supports that are available to them to access workplace accommodations.
Objective image quality measures for evaluating advanced MRI reconstruction methods

We propose some new objective image quality measures for use with magnetic resonance images. These measures are based on the visual differences predictor (VDP) due to Daly (1992,1993). The VDP is a computer program that implements a complex model of the human visual system, and generates a map indicating the probability of the visual system perceiving a difference between two images on a pixel by pixel basis. A brief overview of the VDP algorithm is given, and the image quality measures we have developed based on the VDP are then described. The preliminary validation methods used to evaluate these image quality measures are then given. The results of these preliminary investigations indicate that these measures are promising as useful indicators of perceived image quality.
Cross-sectional association between diet quality and cardiometabolic risk by education level in Mexican adults

Abstract Objective: Understanding the association between diet quality and cardiometabolic risk by education level is important for preventing increased cardiometabolic risk in the Mexican population, especially considering pre-existing disparities in diet quality. The present study examined the cross-sectional association of overall diet quality with cardiometabolic risk, overall and by education level, among Mexican men and women. Design: Cardiometabolic risk was defined by using biomarkers and diet quality by the Mexican Diet Quality Index. We computed sex-specific multivariable logistic regression models. Setting: Mexico. Participants: Mexican men (n 634) and women (n 875) participating in the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012. Results: We did not find associations of diet quality with cardiometabolic risk factors in the total sample or in men by education level. However, we observed that for each 10-unit increase in the dietary quality score, the odds of diabetes risk in women with no reading/writing skills was 0·47 (95 % CI 0·26, 0·85) relative to the odds in women with ≥10 years of school (referent). Similarly, for each 10-unit increase of the dietary quality score, the odds of having three v. no lipid biomarker level beyond the risk threshold in lower-educated women was 0·27 (95 % CI 0·12, 0·63) relative to the odds in higher-educated women. Conclusions: Diet quality has a stronger protective association with some cardiometabolic disease risk factors for lower- than higher-educated Mexican women, but no association with cardiometabolic disease risk factors among men. Future research will be needed to understand what diet factors could be influencing the cardiometabolic disease risk disparities in this population.
The Neuroendocrine and Metabolic Outcomes of Bariatric Surgery Depend on Presurgical Control over Eating

Background: The outcomes of bariatric surgery are very irregular and mostly unpredictable. The search for variables of predictive value is encouraged to help preventing therapeutic failures. Objective: We aimed to confirm the hypothesis that preexisting eating behaviors could predict neuroendocrine and metabolic outcomes of gastric bypass surgery in morbidly obese subjects. Methods: Twenty-one morbidly obese patients from the Bariatric Surgery Program of our hospital were selected according to the specific inclusion and exclusion criteria for this study. The subjects filled out a validated questionnaire to quantify the “loss-of-control” (LC) dimension of food craving and provided serum samples at the onset of the study and 1 year after gastric bypass surgery. Hematological, metabolic, and hormonal variables were studied by conventional clinical tests and enzyme immunoassays and checked for correlations with LC both before and after surgery. Results: Those patients that had exhibited worse eating control at the beginning of the study experienced a better metabolic response 1 year after surgery in terms of reduction of serum insulin, HOMA1-IR, HOMA2-IR, and vitamin D1; all these variables were inversely correlated with presurgical LC. Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels showed the same tendency; in fact, BDNF significantly decreased only in those patients with worse eating control. Conclusions: Problematic eating behaviors may predict a better response of insulin resistance and a specific reduction of serum BDNF in morbidly obese patients after gastric bypass surgery.
Vascular and Neurodegenerative Markers for the Prediction of Post-Stroke Cognitive Impairment: Results from the TABASCO Study.

BACKGROUND Stroke is a major cause of cognitive impairment and dementia. However, the underlying mechanisms beyond post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) are not fully explained to date. OBJECTIVE We studied the contribution of vascular pathology measures to PSCI, separate from and in conjunction with pathologic markers associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS Data from 397 cognitively intact ischemic stroke patients were available. All patients underwent 3T MRI and evaluated for white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) and integrity, ischemic lesions, small vessel disease (SVD) markers and grey matter (GM), hippocampal and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes. Comprehensive cognitive tests were performed on admission and after two years. We used multiple regression to evaluate the contributions of vascular pathology measures (Framingham risk score, WMHV, and existence of SVD) and AD-associated markers (apolipoprotein E4 status and hippocampal volume). RESULTS During two years follow-up, 80 participants (20.2%) developed PSCI. Low GM and cortex volume and high WMHV and CSF volume, but not the new lesion volume, predicted the development of PSCI in a dose-dependent relationship (p = 0.001). Vascular related imaging markers and risk factors predicted PSCI better than AD related markers (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Brain structural measures, including total GM volume, WMHV, and CSF volume were independently associated with PSCI and may serve as early biomarkers for risk prediction. In our sample, vascular pathology measures contributed significantly better to PSCI prediction than markers associated with AD. The newly detected ischemic lesion has not emerged as biomarker for PSCI risk, thus maybe a part of the ongoing vascular pathology.
Representativeness of Randomized Clinical Trial Cohorts in End-stage Kidney Disease: A Meta-analysis.

Importance Systematic differences between patients included in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and the general patient population may influence the generalizability of RCT findings. Comprehensive national registries of patients with end-stage kidney disease who are undergoing dialysis provide a unique opportunity to compare trial and real-world patient cohorts. Objective To determine if participants in large, multicenter dialysis trials were similar to the general population undergoing dialysis in terms of age, comorbidities, and mortality rate. Data Sources MEDLINE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched on January 6, 2017, for studies published from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2016. Data sources were published manuscripts, supplementary material, and trial registration information. Data on the general population undergoing dialysis were derived from the US Renal Data System (USRDS). Data were analyzed from March 17 to July 22, 2018. Study Selection Randomized clinical trials enrolling only participants undergoing dialysis for end-stage kidney disease with 100 or more adult participants from 2 or more sites. Data Extraction and Synthesis Abstract screening and data extraction were performed independently by 2 researchers. Data were pooled using a random-effects model. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was difference in mean age between the RCT and USRDS populations. Secondary outcomes included differences in mortality rate and comorbidities. Results The search identified 189 RCTs, enrolling 80 104 participants. Compared with the 2011 USRDS population, RCT participants were younger (mean age, 58.9 years; 95% CI, 58.3-59.5 years vs 61.2 years; P < .001), more likely to be male (58.8%; 95% CI, 57.5%-60.0% vs 55.7%; P < .001), and have coronary artery disease (26.7%; 95% CI, 22.1%-31.4% vs 17.7%; P < .001) and less likely to have diabetes (40.4%; 95% CI, 36.9%-43.8% vs 44.2%; P = .04) or heart failure (19.9%; 95% CI, 15.6%-24.3% vs 29.8%; P < .001). The mortality rate per 100 patient-years during trial participation was less than half that of the USRDS population (8.9; 95% CI, 7.9-10.0 vs 18.6; P < .001). The differences in age, mortality, and coronary artery disease remained when studies recruiting only from the United States were considered. Diabetes was more common in RCT participants from the United States than in the registry population. Conclusions and Relevance Participants in large, multicenter RCTs of patients with end-stage kidney disease undergoing dialysis are younger, have a different pattern of comorbidities, and have a lower mortality rate than the general population of patients undergoing dialysis. This finding has implications for the generalization of trial results to the broader patient population and for future trial design.
Building trust and improving communication with parents of children with Trisomy 13 and 18: A mixed-methods study

Background: Trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 are common life-limiting conditions associated with major disabilities. Many parents have described conflictual relationships with clinicians, but positive and adverse experiences of families with healthcare providers have not been well described. Aim: (1) To investigate parental experiences with clinicians and (2) to provide practical recommendations and behaviors clinicians could emulate to avoid conflict. Design: Participants were asked to describe their best and worse experiences, as well as supportive clinicians they met. The results were analyzed using mixed methods. Setting/participants: Parents of children with trisomy 13 and 18 who were part of online social support networks. A total of 503 invitations were sent, and 332 parents completed the questionnaire about 272 children. Results: The majority of parents (72%) had met a supportive clinician. When describing clinicians who changed their lives, the overarching theme, present in 88% of answers, was trust. Parents trusted clinicians when they felt he or she cared and valued their child, their family, and made them feel like good parents (69%), had appropriate knowledge (66%), and supported them and gave them realistic hope (42%). Many (42%) parents did not want to make—or be part of—life-and-death decisions. Parents gave specific examples of supportive behaviors that can be adopted by clinicians. Parents also described adverse experiences, generally leading to conflicts and lack of trust. Conclusion: Realistic and compassionate support of parents living with children with trisomy 13 and 18 is possible. Adversarial interactions that lead to distrust and conflicts can be avoided. Many supportive behaviors that inspire trust can be emulated.
First record of Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) stranded in Korea

Two stranded whales were found dead on the coast of Jeju, South Korea. Based on the outer appearance and autopsy findings, one was determined to be an adult and the other a calf. The carcasses were dissected for species identification and pathological examination. A genetic analysis was performed, and the morphological characteristics of the skull observed. Then, 448 bp of the 5′ half of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region and 413 bp of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene were sequenced. A BLAST search revealed that the whales were ginkgo-toothed beaked whales (Mesoplodon ginkgodens). Morphological comparison of the adult skull with the holotype specimen confirmed the result. This is the first record of a stranded ginkgo-toothed beaked whale in Korea.
Evaluation of a videoconferencing system based on TV programs

This paper describes an evaluation of a videoconferencing system that is based on the presentation of TV programs. To improve video in current videoconferencing systems, the presentation of pictures on TV programs was studied and a multiparty videoconferencing system that utilizes the result of the analysis was made. The system includes automated control of changes in video camera focus. A comparative experiment between this system and a current fixed camera system was conducted. The results revealed that the system provided more realistic and less boring videoconferencing.
An exploration into the sparse representation of spectra

This thesis describes an exploration in achieving sparse representations of objects,with special focus on spectral data. Given a database of objects one would like to know the actual aspects of each class that distinguish it from any other class in the database. We explore the hypothesis that simple abstractions (descriptions) that humans normally make, especially based on the visual phenomenology or physics on the problem, can be helpful in extracting and formulating useful sparse representations of the observed objects. In this thesis we focus on the discovery of such underlying features,employing a number of recent methods from machine learning. Firstly we find that an approach to automatic feature discovery recently proposed in the literature (Non Negative Matrix Factorization) is not as it seems. We show the limitations of this approach and demonstrate a more efficient method on a synthetic problem. Secondly we explore a more empirical approach to extracting visually attractive features of spectra from which we formulate simple re-representation of spectral data and show that the identification and discovery of certain intuitive features at various scales can be sufficient to describe a spectrum profile. Finally we explore a more traditional and principled automatic method of analyzing a spectrum at different resolutions (Wavelets). We find that certain classes of spectra can easily be discriminated between by a simple approximation of the spectrum profile while in other cases only the finer profile details are important. Throughout this thesis we employ a measure called the separability index as our measure of how easy it is to discriminate objects in a database with the proposed representations. Author: Linda Mthembu Thesis Supervisor: John Greene, Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, UCT ii Un ive rsi ty of Ca pe To wn