Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy

Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) is one of the efficacious surgical options available for obstructive hydrocephalus, and is preferable to a ventriculoperitoneal shunt in those eligible. We retrospectively studied 115 cases, who underwent ETV at our institute over the last 5 years. Thirty-eight patients were infants. Major indications for ETV were aqueductal stenosis (n = 60/115, 52.2%), Dandy-Walker malformation (15/115, 13%), associated arachnoid cyst (n = 13/115, 11.3%) and post-meningitic hydrocephalus (n = 12/115, 10.4%). Average duration of the follow-up was 10.6 months. Ninety-nine patients (86.1%) showed clinical improvement after surgery. Clinical improvement was seen in 27 out of 38 infants (71%) followed up. ETV is a highly effective tool in all age groups of patients for the management of hydrocephalus. Clinical features should be considered as indications of the success or failure of ventriculostomy in infants who have low-pressure hydrocephalus.
Personalized medicine for acute myelogenous leukemia—At the entrance gate

With the advent of molecularly targeted therapies in the oncology clinic, previously fatal blood cancers have now become chronic diseases. Imatinib, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets the BCR-ABL fusion protein, dramatically extends survival for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and has opened the flood gates for modern ‘‘personalized cancer medicine’’. Rituximab, a monoclonal antibody with affinity for the CD20 antigen of B-lymphocytes, in an analogous fashion has revolutionized treatment for patients with B-cell lymphomas. Does this paradigm, a rather commonplace approach for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, apply also to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)? This is an exciting time to be involved in AML research, and an explosion of new basic science discoveries has formed a springboard for some brand new personalized treatment concepts that this commentary will serve to outline. Targeted Therapy
Long term investment optimization methodology for multi-zonal transmission expansion

This paper introduces a stepwise investment optimization methodology for transmission system expansion planning. The objective of the developed methodology is to determine transmission expansion plans to realize a desired interconnection capacity between multiple zones minimizing investment and operational costs. The methodology uses MILP optimization and a modified A* shortest path algorithm sequentially in order to determine the optimal investment time point, transmission topology, technology and routing. Spatial constraints and their effects on the installation cost are taken into account in the technology and route optimization. A possible application of the methodology is demonstrated on a stepwise investment plan for the North Sea region.
The turbo decoding algorithm and its phase trajectories

We analyze phase trajectories of the turbo decoding algorithm as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We prove the existence of fixed points not only at asymptotically high SNRs but also at asymptotically low SNRs. Fixed points at practical SNRs are empirically divided into two classes: indecisive fixed points which usually lead to numerous erroneous decisions and unequivocal fixed points which usually correspond to correct decisions. The waterfall region in the performance curve of turbo decoding is characterized as the region of transition from convergence to indecisive fixed points to convergence to unequivocal fixed points.
Within‐group vigilance in red colobus and redtail monkeys

In theory, animals are expected to relax vigilance in the safety of large groups. Four controlled studies of primates have failed to detect relaxed vigilance as group size increases. The counter‐intuitive behavior of primates might arise if another component of vigilance increases with group size, masking any decrease in outward, anti‐predator vigilance. Surveillance of associates is a major component of primate vigilance and might be expected to increase with group size due to an increase in competitive interactions. The present analysis uses data on glances toward associates to determine if within‐group surveillance is related to group size in wild red colobus and redtail monkeys of Uganda. Although males glance at associates more frequently during mating periods and females glance at associates more often when infants are young or out of contact, there was no evidence of a group‐size effect on within‐group surveillance. As with previous studies, primate vigilance patterns reflect reproductive strategies such as infant protection and mate defense. This study joins several others that indicate that primate vigilance is unresponsive to group size. New models that take into account association patterns below the level of the group may be needed. Am. J. Primatol. 48:113–126, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effects of whole-body cryotherapy on haematological values in athletes.

Whole-body cryotherapy is a treatment used for various conditions, especially rheumatological disease.1 In sports medicine, whole-body cryotherapy is known to encourage recovery from muscular traumas, although well-controlled studies have not been published. The treatment is not dangerous for lung function2 and does not decrease antioxidant capacity.3 In whole-body cryotherapy, the subjects, wearing minimal clothing, are exposed to very cold air: a period of 30 seconds at –60°C and, later, a period of 2 minutes at –110°C. Despite the high cold …
Fetal and maternal angiogenic/anti-angiogenic factors in normal and preeclamptic pregnancy

Few studies evaluated angiogenic/anti-angiogenic factors and endothelial (dys)function in both maternal and umbilical cord blood (UCB) in preeclampsia (PE). We aimed to clarify the role of placental growth factor (PlGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR-1) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), by evaluating them in maternal and UCB in 42 normal and 46 preeclamptic (PEc) cases. In PE, maternal and UCB PlGF were significantly lower; maternal VEGF, sVEGFR-1 and tPA were significantly higher. In UCB, sVEGFR-1 and tPA were significantly higher in PEc cases, while VEGF and PlGF were significantly lower. A significant correlation between maternal and UCB sVEGFR-1, and between sVEGFR-1 and tPA both in maternal and UCB, was observed in PEc cases. In maternal and UCB circulation in PE, a close interaction seems to exist between endothelial dysfunction and angiogenesis disturbance, and sVEGFR-1 seems to play a central role in those disturbances.
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy for unresectable solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas.

Solid pseudopapillary tumors (SPT) of the pancreas are neoplasms with low malignant potential that account for approximately 1% of pancreatic tumors. Radical surgical resection is the definitive treatment of these large tumors (mean diameters 3–17 cm) and provides long-term survival even in the event of metastases, extension into adjacent structures, or nodal involvement. SPT have a predilection for young women with a peak onset in the second to third decade. Limited reports are available on how to treat unresectable disease. We describe intensitymodulated radiation therapy (IMRT) as a novel treatment option in cases of localized unresectable SPT. A 33-year-old woman presented with left upper quadrant pain progressive for several weeks. Physical examination revealed a tender epigastric mass. Abdominal MRI (Fig. 1A, B) revealed a 6.3 6.5 cm mass in the body of the pancreas extending into the lesser sac that, by computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy, was histologically consistent with SPT. The patient underwent exploratory laparotomy and the mass involved the portosplenic confluence along with the superior and inferior mesenteric vessels. The tumor was deemed unresectable. With the goals of local tumor control and palliation of pain, the patient was offered IMRT. In IMRT, inverse treatment planning defines the desired dose to target and critical structures as a starting point, and complex beam arrangements are then derived to meet these dose limits. The resulting dose distributions are almost always superior to those achieved with traditional radiation planning approaches, particularly in patients with complex and concave targets that necessitate steep dose gradients to spare surrounding normal tissues. In this case, a 7-beam heterogeneous IMRT plan was designed using the ADAC Pinnacle treatment planning system (ADAC Laboratories, Milpitas, CA) to deliver 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions to the planned treatment volume (PTV). The dose objectives for the PTV and critical organs at risk are shown in Table 1. The resultant isodose distributions for the final treatment plan are shown in Figure 2. The patient had mild nausea during treatment that responded to antiemetics. Post-therapy, she was followed every 6 months with serial abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A response to IMRT therapy was shown with slight interval decreases in tumor volume and stabilization of pain symptoms. The patient had some additional relief in pain symptoms after subsequent celiac plexus neurolysis. At 18
Cardiac magnetic field mapping quantified by Kullback–Leibler entropy detects patients with coronary artery disease

Cardiac magnetic field mapping (CMFM) is a noninvasive method to determine cardiac electrical activity. We analysed the utility of CMFM for the detection of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) without subjecting them to stress. We studied 59 healthy control subjects and 101 patients with CAD without previous myocardial infarction (MI). The heart's magnetic field was recorded over the anterior chest wall using a multichannel magnetic measurement system with axial second-order gradiometers. The evaluation of CMFM was based on comparison of the ‘ideal’ group mean maps of young healthy subjects and maps of examined individuals. Three measures of similarity were considered: Kullback–Leibler (KL) entropy, normalized residual magnetic field strength and deviations in the magnetic field map orientation. The mean values of these parameters during the depolarization and repolarization were used for further classification with the help of logistic regression. The feature set based on the KL-entropy demonstrated the best classification results (sensitivity/specificity of 85/80%), followed by the residual feature (85/75%) and the magnetic field orientation feature (80/73%) sets. The forward stepwise technique was applied to select the best set of features from the combined feature set. Two parameters were selected, namely the KL-entropy for the repolarization period and the residual parameter for the depolarization period. The classification based on these parameters demonstrated a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 88% for the distinction of CAD patients from the control subjects. The area under the receiver operator curve was 94%. Hence, we suggest that CMFM evaluation based on KL-entropy is a promising technique to identify patients with CAD.
Are common mutations of cystathionine β‐synthase involved in the aetiology of neural tube defects?

Mildly elevated maternal plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels (hyperhomocysteinemia) have recently been observed in some neural tube defect (NTD) pregnancies. Plasma levels of Hcy are governed by both genetic and nutritional factors and the aetiology of NTDs is also known to have both genetic and nutritional components. We therefore examined the frequency of relatively common mutations in the enzyme cystathionine β‐synthase (CBS), which is one of the main enzymes that controls Hcy levels, in the NTD population. Neither the severely dysfunctional G307S CBS allele nor the recently reported 68 bp insertion/I278T CBS allele was observed at increased frequency in the cases relative to controls. We therefore conclude that loss of function CBS alleles do not account for a significant proportion of NTDs in Ireland.
Low power embedded system for pre-fall detection application

Fall has become a serious medical problem, and sometimes leading to physical disabilities and death. This led researchers to pursue automatic monitoring systems for detecting the falls before they occur. Much of the existing efforts have successfully achieved a hardware system which provides a fall pattern after and prior to the fall. However, the existing fall detection systems are still deficient in achieving power optimization and optimum sensor structures. In this study, we have demonstrated a pre-fall detection system using accelerometers and gyroscopes, associated with EFM32GG — ARM Cortex −M3 based 32-bit microcontroller and MicroSD. The system is designed to get optimal low power consumption, better sensitivity & specificity, and early pre-fall detection, to trigger safety devices. The algorithm enables the system on interrupts, which then calculates angular positons of the subject using motion sensors and combines the result with Signal Vector Magnitude (SVM) and Signal Magnitude Area (SMA) to detect the pre-fall accurately. The system was constructed and tested. The practical model consumes 409. 1μA in deep sleep mode and 15mA in the active mode with 92% sensitivity and 98.07% specificity. The system stays in sleeping mode during majority of user activity of daily living (walking, sitting), thus improving the battery life of the device. The system also successfully differentiates between the activity of daily living (ADL) like walking, sitting, running, and climbing stairs with actual fall. This paper details the power optimization and consumption, the sensor system architecture, the software algorithm for pre-fall detection and the low power hardware wireless.
The symptom profile of vascular depression

Vascular depression is regarded as a subtype of depression, especially in––but not limited strictly to––older persons, and characterized by a specific clinical presentation and an association with (cerebro)vascular risk and disease. It is also known that depression is a risk factor in the development of myocardial infarction. The possibility of identifying depressed subjects at risk of a first cardiac event by their clinical presentation in general practice would have significant implications.
Dissecting Microscope Versus Magnifying Loupes with Transilluntination in the Preparation of Follicular Unit Grafts: A Bilateral Controlled Study

background. The increasing importance that hair transplant surgeons are placing on maintaining the integrity of the naturally occurring follicular unit has generated great interest in finding the ideal method of graft dissection. objective. The present study attempts to compare two popular dissecting techniques: the dissecting microscope, and magnifying loupes with transillumination, in the preparation of follicular unit grafts. methods. Donor strips from 41 patients were used in a prospective, bilateral controlled fashion to compare the two different dissecting techniques. results. Microscopic dissection produced a 17% greater yield of hair as compared with magnifying loupes with transUlumination. conclusion. The results of this study show an increase in the yield of follicular unit grafts, as well as the total amount of hair harvested from the donor strip, when using the dissecting microscope as compared with magnifying loupes with transUlumination. This increase was observed when only the latter part of the dissecting procedure was studied. When complete microscopic dissection is used, the advantage should be even more significant.
Astroblastoma: Clinicopathologic Features and Chromosomal Abnormalities Defined by Comparative Genomic Hybridization

Astroblastomas are uncommon brain tumors whose classification and histogenesis have been debated. Precise criteria for diagnosis have been described only recently, but have not found wide acceptance. We report the clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic features of 20 astroblastomas, and the chromosomal alterations in seven cases as detected by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The tumors occurred both in children and young adults (average age, 14 years), most often as well circumscribed, peripheral, cerebral hemispheric masses. Radiographically, the lesions were contrastenhancing and solid, often with a cystic component. All were characterized histologically by astroblastic pseudorosettes, and most displayed prominent perivascular hyalinization, regional hyaline changes, and pushing borders in regard to adjacent brain. Tumor cells were strongly immunoreactive for S‐100 protein, GFAP, and vimentin. Staining for EMA was focal. Ten of 20 astroblastomas were classified as “well differentiated” and 10 were classified as “malignant,” largely on the basis of hypercellular zones with increased mitotic indices, vascular proliferation, and necrosis with pseudopalisading. All 10 well differentiated lesions and 8 of 10 malignant lesions were completely resected. None of the well differentiated astroblastomas recurred within the limited follow‐up period. Three malignant astroblastomas recurred, including two incompletely resected tumors, and one that had been totally resected. One patient died of disease following recurrence. The most frequent chromosomal alterations detected by CGH were gains of chromosome arm 20q (4/7 tumors) and chromosome 19 (3/7). The combination of these gains occurred in three, including two well differentiated and one malignant astroblastoma. Other alterations noted in two tumors each were losses on 9q, 10, and X. These chromosomal alterations are not typical of ependymoma or infiltrating astrocytic neoplasms, and suggest that astroblastomas may have a characteristic cytogenetic profile in addition to their distinctive clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic features.
Conserved immunogens in prime-boost strategies for the next-generation HIV-1 vaccines

Introduction: Effective vaccines are the best solution for stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Their development and in-depth understanding of pathogen–host interactions rely on technological advances. Areas covered: Rational vaccine development can be effectively approached by conceptual separation of, on one hand, design of immunogens from improving their presentation to the immune system and, on the other, induction of antibodies from induction of killer CD8+ T cells. The biggest roadblock for many vaccines is the pathogens' variability. This is best tackled by focusing both antibodies and T cells on the functionally most conserved regions of proteins common to many variants, including escape mutants. For vectored vaccines, these ‘universal’ subunit immunogens are most efficiently delivered using heterologous prime-boost regimens, which can be further optimised by adjuvantation and route of delivery. Expert opinion: Development of vaccines against human diseases has many features in common. Acceleration of vaccine discovery depends on basic research and new technologies. Novel strategies should be safely, but rapidly tested in humans. While out-of-the-box thinking is important, vaccine success largely depends on incremental advances best achieved through small, systematic, iterative clinical studies. Failures are inevitable, but the end rewards are huge. The future will be exciting.
Therapeutic equivalence of generic imipenem/cilastatin for therapy of infections at Siriraj Hospital.

BACKGROUND Several generic imipenem/cilastatin formulations have been approved by Thai FDA and a generic imipenem/cilastatin (Yungjin) has been available in SirirajHospital since 2007. Since imipenem/cilastatin is usually given to the patients with serious hospital-acquired infections, the generic imipenem/cilastatin must be therapeutically equivalent to the original imipenem/cilastatin. The objective of the study was to compare effectiveness and safety of generic imipenem/cilastatin with original imipenem/cilastatin for therapy of infections in hospitalized patients at Siriraj Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD Medical records of adult hospitalized patients at Siriraj Hospital who received imipenem/cilastatin at least 48 hours during June 2007 to September 2008 were reviewed. The effectiveness data of 300 patients who received original imipenem/cilastatin were compared with those of 300 patients who received generic imipenem/cilastatin in order to determine if a difference in composite favorable outcome of both formulations was within 10%. RESULTS The demographics, clinical features of infections, site of infections, type of causative organisms and concomitant antibiotics of the patients in both groups were not significantly different. The overall favorable outcomes in the original imipenem/cilastatin and the generic imipenem/cilastatin groups were 65% and 58.7% respectively (absolute difference 6.3%, 95% CI -1.4% to 14%). Cure rates of infections in the original imipenem/cilastatin and the generic imipenem/cilastatin groups were 35% and 28.7% respectively (absolute difference 6.3%, 95% CI -1.1% to 13.7%). Super-infection rates in the original imipenem/cilastatin and the generic imipenem/cilastatin groups were 4.7% and 9% respectively (absolute difference -4.3%, 95% CI -8.5% to 0.3%). Mortality due to infections in the original imipenem/cilastatin and the generic imipenem/cilastatin groups were 18.3% and 21.3% respectively (absolute difference -3%, 95% CI -9.4% to 3.4%). Overall mortality in the original imipenem/cilastatin and the generic imipenem/cilastatin groups were 35.3% and 43% respectively (absolute difference -7.7%, 95% CI -15.3% to 0.1%). The occurrence of adverse events in the patients in both groups was not significantly different. CONCLUSION Although the point estimate of composite favorable outcome of the patients who received generic imipenem/cilastatin (Yungjin) was < 10% of those who received original imipenem/cilastatin (Tienam), generic imipenem/cilastatin showed a trend for therapeutic non-equivalence to original imipenem/cilastatin because the upper limits of 95% confidence interval of differences of several important clinical outcomes were more than 10%.
Lohmann , Henning Working Paper Welfare states , labour market institutions and the working poor : a comparative analysis of 20 European countries DIW

This paper regards the incidence of in-work poverty and how it is reduced by the payment of social transfers in 20 European countries. It combines a microand a macrolevel perspective in two-level models. The basis for the analysis is micro-data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2005 and macro-data from sources such as the OECD and Eurostat. The broad comparative perspective allows for a separation of different institutional influences, namely the influence of the degree of decommodification, defamilisation and bargaining centralisation. In contrast to previous studies on the working poor which have mainly described country differences in inwork poverty, this paper focuses on the question of how such differences can be explained from a broader perspective of poverty research. In general, the results confirm the overall hypothesis that both welfare state measures and labour market institutions have an influence on in-work poverty. By analysing influences on pre-transfer poverty and poverty reduction separately, I show that such factors have varied effects on inwork poverty. While bargaining centralisation proves to be relevant for the distribution of pre-transfer incomes only, the set-up of the social security system in particular impacts the extent of poverty reduction. ∗ The major part of the paper is based on my research carried out at the Chair of Empirical Social and Economic Research, Faculty of Business Administration, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne/Germany. I would like to thank HansJürgen Andreß for comments on an earlier draft of the paper.