Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oral Iron Chelators and the Treatment of Iron Overload in Pediatric Patients With Chronic Anemia

Transfusion-dependent hemoglobinopathies, such as thalassemia and sickle cell disease (SCD), represent a major global health burden, with >300000 infants born with SCD or thalassemia annually. Approximately 5% of the world's population are carriers of a potentially pathologic hemoglobin gene.1 In the United States, sickle cell anemia is the most common type of SCD, with a birth prevalence in black individuals of 1 in 375, whereas that of hemoglobin SC disease is 1 in 835, hemoglobin S/β-thalassemia is 1 in 1667, and sickle cell trait is 1 in 12.2 Along with treatment of the underlying disease, chronic anemias are commonly managed by supportive therapy with red blood cell (RBC) transfusions.3,4 Although this is a routine approach in the treatment of thalassemia, transfusions have been less common for patients with other anemias. Recent data, however, have further demonstrated the value of regular transfusions for children with SCD, significantly reducing the risk for primary and secondary stroke, total hospitalizations, vaso-occlusive events, acute chest syndrome, and growth failure.5–7 These data have had a significant impact on clinical practice, prompting widespread recommendations for transcranial Doppler screening in children and transfusion therapy for all high-risk patients. Although the value of RBC transfusions for patients who undergo regular transfusions is increasingly recognized, this approach presents an additional clinical challenge: that of iron overload. Each unit of RBCs contains 200 to 250 mg of iron, and repeated transfusions can rapidly saturate a patient's transferrin; iron overload then develops after 10 to 20 transfusions.8 The accumulation of excess iron leads to the formation of non–transferrin-bound iron (NTBI). This is a toxic component of free (unbound) iron and is associated with progressive organ damage, including liver and heart disease9; children as young as 15 years can develop heart failure. … Address correspondence to Elliott Vichinsky, MD, Children's Hospital and Research Center, Hematology/Oncology Department, 747 52nd St, Oakland, CA 94609. E-mail: evichinsky{at}mail.cho. org
An electromyographic analysis of muscular activity in the hindlimb of the cat during unrestrained locomotion.

During walking in unrestrained cats the electromyographic activity in many hindlimb muscles has been correlated with the angular movement in the hip, knee and ankle joints. The activity is rather uniform in the extensors but individual in different functional groups of flexor muscles. Observations on the precise timing of the onset of the main extensor activity suggest that it is not a reflex effect produced by stimulation of receptors (from muscle or skin) in the limb. It is assumed that the basic activity is a centrally programmed alternating activation of extensors and flexors. A possible reflex regulation mainly from la afferents of this basic activity is discussed with special attention given to factors that may elucidate the difference in movement at the hip on one side and the knee and ankle on the other.
Physical Degradation of Lignified Stem Tissues by Ruminal Fungi

Ruminal bacteria or fungi were selected by the addition of cycloheximide or streptomycin and penicillin, respectively, to ruminal fluid, and the weakening and degradation of lignified tissues in alfalfa and Bermuda grass stems by these treatments and whole ruminal fluid were evaluated in vitro. Dry weight loss in alfalfa was similar for whole ruminal fluid and streptomycin-penicillin treatment, whereas that with streptomycin-penicillin treatment was significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than that with cycloheximide treatment. In Bermuda grass, dry weight loss was significantly higher with streptomycin-penicillin than that with whole ruminal fluid and cycloheximide treatment, which were equal. Both peak load (Newtons) and peak stress were less (P ≤ 0.05) for streptomycin-penicillin treatment than with other treatments in both forages. Fungi colonized the lignified ring in alfalfa and tended to reduce the width of cell walls in this tissue, but a large number of fungal penetrations through cell walls was not observed. In contrast, fungal rhizoids frequently penetrated into and through cell walls in the lignified ring of Bermuda grass, often expanding the pit fields between the cells. Ruminal fungi disrupt lignified tissues in stems, and their activity results in a weakened residue more amendable to physical degradation. This weakening may allow plant digesta to be more easily broken apart during animal's rumination and thus facilitate digesta flow and fiber utilization.
Mild acetabular dysplasia and risk of osteoarthritis of the hip: a case–control study

Objective To determine whether mild variation in acetabular depth (AD) and shape is a risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip. Methods The unaffected contralateral hip of patients with unilateral hip OA was compared with hips of asymptomatic controls without hip OA, derived from the Nottingham Genetics Osteoarthritis and Lifestyle case–control study. Standardised anteroposterior x-rays of the pelvis were used to measure centre edge (CE) angle and AD. Cut-off points for narrow CE angle and shallow AD were calculated from the control group (mean −1.96×SD). The relative risk of hip OA associated with each feature was estimated using OR and 95% CI and adjusted risks were calculated by logistic regression. Results In controls, both the CE angle and the AD were lower in the left hip than in the right hip. The CE angle related to age in both hips, and AD of the right hip was lower in men than in women. The contralateral unaffected hip in patients with unilateral hip OA had a decreased CE angle and AD compared with controls, irrespective of side. The lowest tertile of the CE angle in contralateral hips was associated with an eightfold risk of OA (aOR 8.06, 95% CI 4.87 to 13.35) and the lowest tertile of AD was associated with a 2.5-fold risk of OA (aOR 2.53, 95% CI 1.28 to 5.00). Significant increases in the risk of OA were also found as the CE angle and AD decreased. Conclusion Constitutional mild acetabular dysplasia appears to increase the risk of hip OA.
Variation in clinical phenotype of human infection among genetic groups of Blastomyces dermatitidis.

BACKGROUND Blastomyces dermatitidis, the etiologic agent of blastomycosis, has 2 genetic groups and shows varied clinical presentation, ranging from silent infections to fulminant respiratory disease and dissemination. The objective of this study was to determine whether clinical phenotype and outcomes vary based on the infecting organism's genetic group. METHODS We used microsatellites to genotype 227 clinical isolates of B. dermatitidis from Wisconsin patients. For each isolate, corresponding clinical disease characteristics and patient demographic information were abstracted from electronic health records and Wisconsin Division of Health reportable disease forms and questionnaires. RESULTS In univariate analysis, group 1 isolates were more likely to be associated with pulmonary-only infections (P < .0001) and constitutional symptoms such as fever (P < .0001). In contrast, group 2 isolates were more likely to be associated with disseminated disease (P < .0001), older patient age (P < .0001), and comorbidities (P = .0019). In multivariate analysis, disease onset to diagnosis of >1 month (P < .0001), older age at diagnosis (P < .0001), and current smoking status (P = .0001) remained predictors for group 2 infections. CONCLUSIONS This study identified previously unknown associations between clinical phenotype of human infection and genetic groups of B. dermatitidis and provides a framework for further investigations of the genetic basis for virulence in B. dermatitidis.
A robot in a playroom with preschool children: Longitudinal field practice

We present here a progress report of our ongoing observation [2] of a group of preschoolers at three to four years of age interacting with an interactive robot. We placed the robot in their playroom and tele-controlled it from a remote room. The children showed not only individual actions, such as approach to, exploration of, and interaction with the robot, but also collective social actions, where the children spontaneously and actively situate the robot in their circle of, for example, playing house. We assume that the robot's simple appearance and comprehensive behavior derived (1) caretaking behavior from the children and (2) exchanging of such behavior among children, both of which would be important in the development of interpersonal communication and in pedagogical interventions to it.
Análisis de la red social de investigaci´n científica en un centro universitario

The generation and dissemination of scientific knowledge is contained in the DNA of university institutions. In this sense, studying social networks becomes a powerful tool to analyze and understand partnerships that exist within an organization, many of which are informal. Through analysis of co–authorship in scientific publications, this article studies the structure of influences that exist in a university research center, identifying authors who, in addition to developing major research work, have been able to generate a network of relationships to increase the intellectual capital of the institution. The findings of the study reveal the existence of a disintegrated social network, incomplete and sometimes not equally distributed, in which academic category neither determines nor ensures a relevant and central position within the network.
Collaborative Information Seeking in an Online Political Group Environment

In this paper, we present a framework for examination of group formation and information exchange on a Facebook Group, “Join the Coffee Party Movement”, that was created in response to the Tea Party Movement in the US. The stated goals of “Join the Coffee Party Movement” are to establish a place for otherwise disenfranchised individuals to share information and engage in productive dialogue and to develop solutions for problems facing the USA. Similar movements exist in other countries and social networking technology has been utilized to further the ideology and mobilize supporters of various national and international causes. Since its inception in January 2010, over 300,000 Facebook members have become followers of the Coffee Party. The Group’s page has over 155,000 discussion comments to official postings. Preliminary analysis of this dialogue suggests two intertwined avenues for investigation. First, it is clear that the Coffee Party Facebook page represents one virtual group through which many different virtual subgroups emerge from online discourse. Second, the groups that are emerging do so as a consequence of having a shared information need, which is fulfilled to some extent through participation in this group. These groups exhibit a certain type of completely online collaborative information behavior that we think warrants investigation from multiple perspectives. How members of online groups like these collaboratively seek information is of importance for this workshop; but we believe our broader perspective will be of interest.
Nutritional status and subsequent all-cause mortality in men and women aged 75 years or over living in the community

We prospectively investigated relationships between blood markers of Fe, vitamin B12, folate, vitamin C and vitamin D status and subsequent all-cause mortality in 208 men and 191 women aged 75 years or over living in the community in Aberdeen, Scotland. The participants had been recruited for a cross-sectional study in 1999–2000 when they completed health and lifestyle questionnaires and had blood samples taken for analysis of serum ferritin, serum vitamin B12, erythrocyte folate, plasma vitamin C and serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol. Mortality was ascertained on national databases up to December 2005, with a median time of follow up of 69·2 (range 1·0–79·9) months. Participants were divided into sex-specific quintiles of baseline levels for each nutrient, and hazard ratios were estimated with Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age and sex with the significance of linear trends in the associations assessed by logistic regression. There was no significant association between blood markers of Fe, vitamin B12 or folate status at baseline and mortality, but vitamin D status at baseline was inversely related to mortality (P for trend < 0·001). For vitamin C there was no evidence of a linear trend but participants in the lowest quintile of plasma levels had a significantly higher risk of death than those in the highest quintile. Randomized controlled trials of lifestyle changes which improve vitamin status are needed to assess whether these associations could be causal.
Contraction extraction from term and preterm electrohyterographic signals

Rates of mortality and morbidity of premature newborns would be considerably reduced if threats of preterm labor could be predicted few hours or even few days before. The aim of this study is the analysis of non-invasive ElectroHysteroGraphic (EHG) records for prediction of preterm deliveries. We proposed a procedure to automatically extract pregnancy contractions from long duration EHG recordings because the study of EHG contractions is more efficient in discriminating between term and preterm ending pregnancies. The proposed method is based on variations of Kalman filter innovation of an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model for EHG record. The procedure was applied on real EHG data. The term and preterm characteristics of time and frequency related features resulting from the extracted contractions were in accord with those in literature.
Comparison between LASEK and LASIK for the correction of low myopia.

PURPOSE To compare the refractive results of laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for the correction of low myopia. METHODS A prospective, interventional, non-randomized, observer-masked study was performed of patients with myopia of < or = -2.50 diopters (D) (cylinder < or = 1.50 D) who had undergone either LASEK or LASIK. Refractive analysis was performed by a masked observer preoperatively and 1 day, 1 week, and 1 and 3 months postoperatively. RESULTS Seventy-nine eyes that fulfilled the inclusion criteria in each group were included in the study. No statistically significant differences were noted in age, gender, or preoperative refractive error between groups. Postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was significantly lower in LASEK eyes 1 and 7 days postoperatively (P = .0001). At 1 and 3 months postoperatively, no significant differences were noted between the groups in UCVA (P = .07), but best spectacle-corrected visual acuity 3 months postoperatively was significantly better in LASEK eyes (P = .01). The refractive error was similar in both groups (P = .3). CONCLUSIONS Visual improvement after LASEK for low myopia is significantly slower than after LASIK. Visual outcomes at 3 months postoperatively were similar with both techniques for the correction of low myopia.
Medullary dorsal horn neurons providing axons to both the parabrachial nucleus and thalamus

It has often been suggested that the trigemino‐ and spino‐thalamic pathways are highly implicated in sensory‐discriminative aspects of pain, whereas the trigemino‐ and spino‐parabrachial pathways are strongly implicated in affective/emotional aspects of pain. On the other hand, the superficial laminae of the spinal dorsal horn, where many nociceptive neurons are distributed, have been reported to contain projection neurons innervating both the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) and thalamus by way of axon collaterals (Hylden et al., 1989 ). For the medullary dorsal horn (caudal subnucleus of spinal trigeminal nucleus: Vc), however, the existence of such neurons has not been reported. Thus, in the present study, we examined whether the Vc might contain projection neurons sending their axons to both the thalamus and PBN. Dual retrograde labeling with fluorescence dyes was attempted. In each rat, tetramethylrhodamine‐dextran amine and Fluoro‐gold were stereotaxically injected into the PBN and thalamic regions, respectively. The proportion of the dually labeled Vc cells in the total population of all labeled Vc cells was about 20%. More than 90% of the dually labeled neurons were distributed in lamina I (marginal zone), less than 10% of them were located in lamina II (substantia gelatinosa), and only a few (about 1%) were found in lamina III (magnocellular zone). The results indicate that some Vc neurons in the superficial laminae mediate nociceptive information directly to the PBN and thalamus by way of axon collaterals and that the vast majority of them project to the ipsilateral PBN and contralateral thalamus. J. Comp. Neurol. 498:539–551, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Break-junctions for investigating transport at the molecular scale

Break-junctions (BJs) enable a pair of atomic-sized electrodes to be created and the relative position between them to be controlled with sub-nanometer accuracy by mechanical means—a level of microscopic control that is not yet achievable by top-down fabrication. Locally, a BJ consists of a single-atom contact, an arrangement that is ideal not only to study various types of quantum point contacts, but also to investigate transport through an individual molecule that can bridge such a junction. In this topical review, we will provide a broad overview on the field of single-molecule electronics, in which BJs serve as the main tool of investigation. To correlate the molecular structure and transport properties to gain a fundamental understanding of the underlying transport mechanisms at the molecular scale, basic experiments that systematically cover all aspects of transport by rational chemical design and tailored experiments are needed. The variety of fascinating transport mechanisms and intrinsic molecular functionalities discovered in the past range from nonlinear transport over conductance switching to quantum interference effects observable even at room temperature. Beside discussing these results, we also look at novel directions and the most recent advances in molecular electronics investigating simultaneously electronic transport and also the mechanical and thermal properties of single-molecule junctions as well as the interaction between molecules and light. Finally, we will describe the requirements for a stepwise transition from fundamental BJ experiments towards technology-relevant architectures for future nanoelectronics applications based on ultimately-scaled molecular building blocks.
A highly integrated IR-UWB transceiver for communication and localization

This paper describes a monolithic integrated single-chip transceiver intended for Impulse Radio (IR) Ultra-wide Band (UWB) applications compliant with the IEEE 802.15. 4a standard. The transmitter is designed to operate in the upper UWB band on the mandatory channel #9 (7.9872 GHz). In order to assure compliance with the standard, the transceiver components are designed towards higher degree of integration, low cost and low power consumption operation. The receiver employs a direct down-conversion concept. The transmitter is an implementation of the gated-oscillator-principle to generate short impulses of 2 ns duration. It provides OOK and BPSK modulation capability in accordance with the standard. A fully integrated frequency synthesizer delivers all necessary LO and clock signals for the receiver and the transmitter. In order to minimize the on-chip cross-talk all supply voltages are internally regulated. The circuit was fabricated in a 0.25 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology occupying a Si area of 2.25 × 2.35 mm2.
Generalized Partially-Mixed-Polarity Reed-Muller Expansionand Its Fast Computation

Generalized partially-mixed-polarity Reed-Muller (GPMPRM) expansion, a canonical subfamily of exclusive sum of products (ESOP), is presented. An efficient algorithm in two-dimensional data flow is proposed for computation of the GPMPRM forms. MCNC benchmark experimental results show that the minimal GPMPRM forms of these functions, on the average, have similar number of terms to their sum of products (SOP) counterparts while there are many functions for which the GPMPRM circuits are much smaller.
New theoretical approaches for human-computer interaction

The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) is rapidly expanding. Alongside the extensive technological developments that are taking place, a profusion of new theories, methods, and concerns has been imported into the field from a range of disciplines and contexts. An extensive critique of recent theoretical developments is presented here together with an overview of HCI practice. A consequence of bringing new theories into the field has been much insightful explication of HCI phenomena and also a broadening of the field’s discourse. However, these theoretically based approaches have had limited impact on the practice of interaction design. This chapter discusses why this is so and suggests that different kinds of mechanisms are needed that will enable both designers and researchers to better articulate and theoretically ground the challenges facing them today.
VM/370 - A Study of Multiplicity and Usefulness

This paper is an overview of IBM'S Virtual Machine Facility/370. It describes the virtual machine concept and its capabilities and implementation in VM/370. Two components of VM/370 are discussed-the control program and the Conversational Monitor System. The usefulness of VM/370 in multiple and diverse environments is covered. New developments in VM/370 from hardware assists to system extensions, networking, and handshaking are briefly described as an introduction to the rest of the papers in this issue.
Outcome and preferences in female-to-male subjects with gender dysphoria: Experience from Eastern India

Context: Awareness of gender dysphoria (GD) and its treatment is increasing. There is paucity of scientific data from India regarding the therapeutic options being used for alleviating GD, which includes psychotherapy, hormone, and surgical treatments. Aim: To study the therapeutic options including psychotherapy, hormone, and surgical treatments used for alleviating GD. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective study of treatment preferences and outcome in 18 female-to-male (FTM) transgender subjects who presented to the endocrine clinic. Results: The mean follow-up was 1.6 years and only one subject was lost to follow-up after a single visit. All subjects desiring treatment had regular counseling and medical monitoring. All FTM subjects were cross-dressing. Seventeen (94.4%) FTM subjects were receiving cross-sex hormone therapy, in the form of testosterone only (61.1%) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist in combination with testosterone (11.1%) or medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) depot in combination with testosterone (22.2%). FTM subjects preferred testosterone or testosterone plus MPA; very few could afford GnRH therapy. Testosterone esters injection was preferred by most (72.2%) subjects as it was most affordable while 22.2% chose 3 monthly injections of testosterone undecanoate for convenience and better symptomatic improvement, but it was more expensive. None preferred testosterone gels because of cost and availability concerns. About 33.3% of our subjects underwent mastectomy, 38.9% had hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and only one subject underwent phalloplasty. About 16.7% of FTM subjects presented with prior mastectomy depicting a high prevalence of unsupervised or poorly supervised surgeries not following protocol wise approach. Conclusion: Notwithstanding of advances in Standards of Care in the Western world, there is lack of awareness and acceptance in the FTM subjects, about proper and timely protocol-wise management options leading to suboptimal physical, social, and sexual results.