Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surveillance guidelines based on recurrence patterns for upper tract urothelial carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) accounts for 5% of all urothelial tumours. Due to its rarity, evidence regarding postoperative surveillance is lacking. The objective of this study was to develop a post-radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) surveillance protocol based on recurrence patterns in a large, multi-institutional cohort of patients. METHODS Retrospective clinical and pathological data were collected from 1029 patients undergoing RNU over a 15-year period (1994-2009) at 10 Canadian academic institutions. A multivariable model was used to identify prognostic clinicopathological factors, which were then used to define risk categories. Risk-based surveillance guidelines were proposed based on actual recurrence patterns. RESULTS Overall, 555 (49.9%) patients developed recurrence, including 289 (25.9%) in the urothelium and 266 (23.9%) with loco-regional and distant recurrences. Based on multivariable analysis, three risk groups were identified: 1) low-risk patients with pTa-T1, pN0 disease, and no adverse histological features (high tumour grade, lymphovascular invasion [LVI], tumour multifocality); 2) intermediate-risk patients with pTa-T1, pN0 disease with one or more of the adverse histological features; and 3) high-risk patients with a ≥pT2 tumour and/or nodal involvement. Low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients were free of urothelial recurrence at three years in 72%, 66%, and 63%, respectively, and free of regional/distant recurrence in 93%, 87%, and 62%, respectively. The risks of loco-regional and distant recurrences (p<0.0001) and time to death (p<0.0001) were significantly different between the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients. CONCLUSIONS Based on recurrence patterns in a large, multicentre patient cohort, we have proposed an evidence-based, risk-adapted post-RNU surveillance protocol.
Comparative Study of Static Stretch and Hold Relax on Increasing the Motion Range of Knee Extension and Flexibility of Shortened Hamstring Muscles of Male Students in Semnan

Background: Hamstring muscles play an important role in functional activities and relaxation and most people around the world suffer from the shortened muscles. Different methods of repairing were suggested and there were disagreements with regard to determination of one technique with high efficiency. Objectives: This study aimed to introduce more effective method, either a static stretch or hold relax technique. Patients and Methods: In this study, 60 male students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences (age range, 18- 25 years) who had shortened hamstring muscles were randomly categorized into three groups. One group was under test for hold relax and the other group was tested for static stretch during 4 weeks and three times a week. The third control group received no intervention. To assess these three groups, the motion range of knee extension was measured by a goniometer before and after the sessions. Results: Results of this study showed that both methods have a significant effect on increasing the motion range of knee (P < 0.001). But no significant difference was observed between the static stretch and hold-relax techniques regarding increasing the motion range of knee (P=0.246). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that both techniques (static stretch and hold relax) have a significant effect on flexibility and increasing the motion range of knee. But neither is superior regarding their effect.
Improving Backup System Evaluations in Information Security Risk Assessments to Combat Ransomware

Ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat and accounts for the majority of extortion based malware threats causing billions of dollars in losses for organizations around the world. Ransomware is a global epidemic that afflicts all types of organizations that utilize computing infrastructure. Once systems are infected and storage is encrypted, victims have little choice but to pay the ransom and hope their data is released or start over and rebuild their systems. Either remedy can be costly and time consuming. However, backups can be used to restore data and systems to a known good state prior to ransomware infection. This makes backups the last line of defense and most effective remedy in combating ransomware. Accordingly, information security risk assessments should evaluate backup systems and their ability to address ransomware threats. Yet, NIST SP-800-30 does not list ransomware as a specific threat. This study reviews the ransomware process, functional backup architecture paradigms, their ability to address ransomware attacks, and provides suggestions to improve the guidance in NIST SP-800-30 and information security risk assessments to better address ransomware threats.
Matrix Factorization Techniques for Context-Aware Collaborative Filtering Recommender Systems: A Survey

Collaborative Filtering Recommender Systems predict user preferences for online information, products or services by learning from past user-item relationships. A predominant approach to Collaborative Filtering is Neighborhood-based, where a user-item preference rating is computed from ratings of similar items and/or users. This approach encounters data sparsity and scalability limitations as the volume of accessible information and the active users continue to grow leading to performance degradation, poor quality recommendations and inaccurate predictions. Despite these drawbacks, the problem of information overload has led to great interests in personalization techniques. The incorporation of context information and Matrix and Tensor Factorization techniques have proved to be a promising solution to some of these challenges. We conducted a focused review of literature in the areas of Context-aware Recommender Systems utilizing Matrix Factorization approaches. This survey paper presents a detailed literature review of Context-aware Recommender Systems and approaches to improving performance for large scale datasets and the impact of incorporating contextual information on the quality and accuracy of the recommendation. The results of this survey can be used as a basic reference for improving and optimizing existing Context-aware Collaborative Filtering based Recommender Systems. The main contribution of this paper is a survey of Matrix Factorization techniques for Context-aware Collaborative Filtering Recommender Systems.
Experimental Investigation of Performance and Emission Characteristics of Mahua Biodiesel in Diesel Engine

Biodiesel derived from nonedible feed stocks such as Mahua, Jatropha, Pongamia are reported to be feasible choices for developing countries including India. This paper presents the results of investigation of performance and emissions characteristics of diesel engine using Mahua biodiesel. In this investigation, the blends of varying proportions of Mahua biodiesel and diesel were prepared, analyzed compared with the performance of diesel fuel, and studied using a single cylinder diesel engine. The brake thermal efficiency, brake-specific fuel consumption, exhaust gas temperatures, Co, Hc, No, and smoke emissions were analyzed. The tests showed decrease in the brake thermal efficiencies of the engine as the amount of Mahua biodiesel in the blend increased. The maximum percentage of reduction in BTE (14.3%) was observed for B-100 at full load. The exhaust gas temperature with the blends decreased as the proportion of Mahua increases in the blend. The smoke, Co, and No emissions of the engine were increased with the blends at all loads. However, Hc emissions of Mahua biodiesels were less than that of diesel.
The challenges of replicating the methodology between Phases I and III of the ISAAC programme.

BACKGROUND The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) used standardised methods to examine symptom prevalence of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in adolescents and children between Phases I and III. Centres followed essential rules to ensure comparability of methodology, examined by a centralised data centre. METHODS Centre reports (CRs) were compared for both phases and age groups. Methodological differences were categorised under major deviations (centres excluded), minor deviations (deviations identified in published tables) and very minor deviations (deviations not identified). RESULTS There were 112 CRs for adolescents and 70 for children. Six centres for adolescents and four for children had major deviations and were excluded. Minor deviations (35 for adolescents and 20 for children) were identified in the publications. Very minor deviations (92 for adolescents and 51 for children) were not identified. The odds ratios for having any differences in methodology between phases with a change in Principal Investigator were 0.80 (95%CI 0.36-1.81) for adolescents and 0.91 (95%CI 0.32-2.62) for children. CONCLUSION The majority of the centres replicated the ISAAC methodology to a high standard. Careful documentation of methodology using standardised tools with careful checks allows the full potential of studies such as ISAAC to be realised.
Impact of the Gen-Probe Amplified MTD® Test on tuberculosis diagnosis in children.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of the Gen-Probe Amplified MTD® Test (AMTD) for childhood tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis compared to conventional culture. DESIGN We retrospectively studied 121 childhood cases (73 males; median age 7 years, range 1-16). Pulmonary samples (104/152, 68%) included gastric aspirates (n = 53), induced sputum samples (n = 43), bronchial aspirates and bronchoalveolar lavage (n = 8). Extra-pulmonary samples (48/152, 32%) included lymph nodes (n = 34) and other sterile fluids (n = 14). Specimens were examined using acid-fast bacilli (AFB) microscopy, AMTD and bacterial culture using BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 and Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) media. RESULTS A clinical diagnosis of TB was made in 50/121 (41%) children (43/50 pulmonary disease). AFB microscopy was positive in 6%; Mycobacterium tuberculosis was recovered by culture from 16/50 (32%) and AMTD was positive in 29/50 (58%). AMTD sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value compared to culture were respectively 100%, 85%, 50% and 100%. For pulmonary vs. extra-pulmonary disease, the performance of AMTD compared to culture was respectively 100%, 77%, 46% and 100% vs. 100%, 97.5%, 75% and 100%. CONCLUSIONS Nucleic acid amplification tests are more sensitive and very specific methods for the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis. The AMTD technique increases TB detection in children compared to conventional culture.
Frequency of adverse reactions to first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy in a Korean cohort.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of and risk factors for major adverse drug reactions (MADRs) associated with anti-tuberculosis treatment at a tuberculosis (TB) referral hospital in the Republic of Korea. METHODS Data from an ongoing natural history cohort study were analyzed for permanent regimen changes due to adverse drug reactions and confirmed by chart review. RESULTS Among 655 subjects, there were 132 MADRs in 112 (17%) subjects. The most common MADRs were gastrointestinal (n = 53), musculoskeletal (n = 22), psychiatric (n = 10), visual (n = 9) and peripheral neuropathic (n = 8). MADRs were more frequent in subjects being treated with second-line regimens (16%) compared to first-line regimens (2.5%). Drugs frequently associated with MADRs were amikacin (3/10, 30%), linezolid (8/29, 28%), para-aminosalicylic acid (47/192, 24%), pyrazinamide (31/528, 5.8%), macrolides (2/44, 4.5%) and cycloserine (12/272, 4.4%). Fluoroquinolones accounted for a single MADR (1/377, 0.003%), despite widespread usage. In multivariate analysis, infection with multi- or extensively drug-resistant disease and previous history of anti-tuberculosis treatment were risk factors for MADR, with adjusted hazard ratios of respectively 2.2 (P = 0.02) and 1.6 (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION MADRs are common during anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy in this population, occurring in more than one in six subjects. New and less toxic agents to treat drug-resistant TB are urgently needed.
Performance of the Xpert ® MTB / RIF assay in an active case-finding strategy : a pilot study from Tanzania

* National Institute for Medical Research, Mbeya Medical Research Programme, Mbeya, Tanzania; † Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK; ‡ Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical Centre of the University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany; § Tuberculosis Research, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; ¶ Ifakara Health Institute, Bagamoyo, Tanzania; # DZIF German Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
Detection and management of drug-resistant tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients in lower-income countries.

SETTING Drug resistance threatens tuberculosis (TB) control, particularly among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons. OBJECTIVE To describe practices in the prevention and management of drug-resistant TB under antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs in lower-income countries. DESIGN We used online questionnaires to collect program-level data on 47 ART programs in Southern Africa (n = 14), East Africa (n = 8), West Africa (n = 7), Central Africa (n = 5), Latin America (n = 7) and the Asia-Pacific (n = 6 programs) in 2012. Patient-level data were collected on 1002 adult TB patients seen at 40 of the participating ART programs. RESULTS Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) was available in 36 (77%) ART programs, but was only used for 22% of all TB patients. Molecular DST was available in 33 (70%) programs and was used in 23% of all TB patients. Twenty ART programs (43%) provided directly observed therapy (DOT) during the entire course of treatment, 16 (34%) during the intensive phase only, and 11 (23%) did not follow DOT. Fourteen (30%) ART programs reported no access to second-line anti-tuberculosis regimens; 18 (38%) reported TB drug shortages. CONCLUSIONS Capacity to diagnose and treat drug-resistant TB was limited across ART programs in lower-income countries. DOT was not always implemented and drug supplies were regularly interrupted, which may contribute to the global emergence of drug resistance.
LA CIRUGÍA EN EL CÁNCER DE MAMA

El diagnostico y tratamiento del cancer de mama ha ido evolucionado a lo largo de la historia en funcion del conocimiento que se ha tenido de el; pasando de ser una enfermedad puramente loco-regional, a la consideracion actual de una enfermedad sistemica que debe ser considerada desde un abordaje multidisciplinar. El tratamiento quirurgico actual esta basado en dos pilares ya consolidados: la cirugia conservadora y la biopsia selectiva del ganglio centinela, lo que ha llevado a la perdida de agresividad en el contexto quirurgico pero no ha ido en detrimento de criterios oncologicos eficaces. En los casos en los que esta menor radicalidad no es posible, surge como alternativa, la cirugia oncoplastica, que es de gran ayuda para que la mujer pueda soportar la agresion que supone la cirugia radical del cancer de mama.
Locally delivered doxycycline during supportive periodontal therapy: a 3-year study.

BACKGROUND Adjunctive locally delivered antibiotics during maintenance may favor the control of periodontal infections. This study evaluated the long-term clinical and microbiologic effects of yearly locally delivered controlled-release doxycycline as an adjunct to mechanical debridement. METHODS A total of 128 periodontal maintenance patients having at least four teeth with probing depth (PD) > or =5 mm were randomly assigned to local application of doxycycline gel at baseline and 1 and 2 years as an adjunct to mechanical debridement (test) or mechanical debridement only (control). Supportive periodontal therapy (mechanical debridement, polishing, and oral hygiene reinforcement) was provided every 6 months. Plaque, bleeding on probing (BOP), PD, and relative attachment level (RAL) were scored at baseline; 3 months; and 1, 2, and 3 years. Subgingival plaque samples were taken at each examination and analyzed for their content of 40 bacterial species. Data analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis with the subject as the statistical unit. RESULTS Significant reductions in BOP, PD, RAL, and the mean counts of a number of target species between baseline and 3 years were documented for both treatment groups, whereas plaque scores remained unchanged. A statistically significant difference in favor of the adjunctive doxycycline therapy was found between the two groups only at the 3-month examination for BOP, PD, and RAL and for a minority of bacterial species at 2 years. CONCLUSION Although short-term effects on clinical parameters were found with the adjunctive use of locally delivered doxycycline, repeated applications annually had no clinical or microbiologic effects beyond those observed with mechanical debridement alone in maintenance patients.
M. tuberculosis DNA detection in nasopharyngeal mucosa can precede tuberculosis development in contacts.

BACKGROUND The nasopharynx is a known gateway for some mycobacterial species such as Mycobacterium bovis and M. leprae. M. tuberculosis can cross lymphoepithelial barriers in vitro, but its ability to colonise the nasopharyngeal mucosa in vivo has not been established. OBJECTIVE To determine if M. tuberculosis can be transiently detected in nasopharyngeal mucosa of tuberculosis (TB) contacts as a preliminary step in the development of tuberculous infection. DESIGN Exploratory study conducted among asymptomatic household contacts of pulmonary TB cases. A chest X-ray, QuantiFERON(®) TB-Gold or tuberculin skin test and a bilateral nasopharyngeal swab for Xpert(®) MTB/RIF and mycobacterial culture were performed at baseline and repeated 8-12 weeks later. RESULTS Eighty-nine contacts were enrolled a median of 9 days after the diagnosis of the index case. At baseline, 29.9% were positive for latent tuberculous infection and one subject (1.1%) had a positive Xpert in the nasopharyngeal swab with a normal chest X-ray, negative QuantiFERON and negative induced sputum. After 12 weeks' follow-up, this subject developed a new cough and upper lobe infiltrates and M. tuberculosis grew in sputum. No other cases of active TB were detected at follow-up. CONCLUSION The detection of M. tuberculosis DNA in the nasopharyngeal mucosa of contacts is an infrequent event that in this instance preceded the development of pulmonary TB. Its pathogenic role requires further investigation.
Evaluation of the implementation of the Xpert® MTB/RIF assay in Fiji.

SETTING All Xpert® MTB/RIF tests performed in the three TB (tuberculosis) treatment centres in Fiji from June 2012 to February 2013. OBJECTIVES To determine 1) the number of Xpert tests performed in each centre, 2) the association between sputum quality and Xpert results, 3) the agreement of Xpert with acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy and TB culture and 4) error rates. DESIGN Retrospective review of records. RESULTS A total of 415 Xpert tests were performed in the study period. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected in 69 (16.6%) samples. No rifampicin resistance was detected. M. tuberculosis was detected from 60 (18.7%) good-quality sputum samples. A total of 43 (10.4%) errors occurred during this period. M. tuberculosis was detected in 10 (2.9%) smear-negative specimens. There was a substantial and an almost perfect agreement between Xpert and AFB microscopy (κ = 0.793) and culture results (κ = 0.818), respectively. CONCLUSION Although a good correlation between Xpert and the two tests were shown in the study, Xpert should not replace the routine first-line TB diagnostic tests used in Fiji for reasons related to logistics and sustainability. A further evaluation of the assay's performance is required over a longer time period to gauge its diagnostic value in detecting smear-negative, Xpert-positive cases in Fiji.
First national survey of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in Azerbaijan and risk factors analysis.

SETTING Civilian population of the Republic of Azerbaijan. OBJECTIVES To determine patterns of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance among new and previously treated pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases, and explore their association with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. DESIGN National cross-sectional survey conducted in 2012-2013. RESULTS Of 789 patients (549 new and 240 previously treated) who met the enrolment criteria, 231 (42%) new and 146 (61%) previously treated patients were resistant to any anti-tuberculosis drug; 72 (13%) new and 66 (28%) previously treated patients had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Among MDR-TB cases, 38% of new and 46% of previously treated cases had pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) or XDR-TB. In previously treated cases, 51% of those who had failed treatment had MDR-TB, which was 15 times higher than in relapse cases (OR 15.2, 95%CI 6-39). The only characteristic significantly associated with MDR-TB was a history of previous treatment (OR 3.1, 95%CI 2.1-4.7); for this group, history of incarceration was an additional risk factor for MDR-TB (OR 2.8, 95%CI 1.1-7.4). CONCLUSION Azerbaijan remains a high MDR-TB burden country. There is a need to implement countrywide control and innovative measures to accelerate early diagnosis of drug resistance in individual patients, improve treatment adherence and strengthen routine surveillance of drug resistance.
Self‐monitoring of blood glucose: psychological barriers and benefits

AbstractDiabetes is to a large extent a self-managed disease and, in this context, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is essential, at least for insulin-treated patients. In practice, the uptake of SMBG is generally low: many patients fail to self-regulate their treatment appropriately. By contrast, a minority of diabetes patients very frequently self-test their blood glucose levels each day to achieve strict glycaemic control. These differences in usage of self-monitoring are largely explained by psychological and social factors. We present a 5-step biopsychosocial model of SMBG – from decision to test (or not), to evaluation of outcomes – that may help to identify and address perceived barriers and benefits from the patient’s perspective. Understanding the fundamental psychological principles that underlie SMBG behaviour is a prerequisite to the effective education and counselling of patients who experience problems with SMBG. New technologies are likely to increase the precision of measurement and.
Modeling cumulative evidence for freedom from disease with applications to BSE surveillance trials

This investigation deals with the question of when a particular population can be considered to be disease-free. The motivation is the case of BSE where specific birth cohorts may present distinct disease-free subpopulations. The specific objective is to develop a statistical approach suitable for documenting freedom of disease, in particular, freedom from BSE in birth cohorts. The approach is based upon a geometric waiting time distribution for the occurrence of positive surveillance results and formalizes the relationship between design prevalence, cumulative sample size and statistical power. The simple geometric waiting time model is further modified to account for the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity associated with the detection of disease. This is exemplified for BSE using two different models for the diagnostic sensitivity. The model is furthermore modified in such a way that a set of different values for the design prevalence in the surveillance streams can be accommodated (prevalence heterogeneity) and a general expression for the power function is developed. For illustration, numerical results for BSE suggest that currently (data status September 2004) a birth cohort of Danish cattle born after March 1999 is free from BSE with probability (power) of 0.8746 or 0.8509, depending on the choice of a model for the diagnostic sensitivity.