Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute and long-term effects of subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

In animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD), it is postulated that the excessive output from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) plays a critical role. Selective lesions or high frequency electrical stimulation of the STN can alleviate parkinsonian symptoms in MPTP-treated monkeys. We decided to carry out STN stimulation in patients suffering from severe akinetic forms of PD. After approval of the institutional ethical committee, we operated on a parkinsonian patient aged 51, suffering for 8 years from a strongly disabling akinetorigid form of PD, complicated by an on-off effect (Hoehn and Yahr stage 5 in the worst-off motor phase). Stereotactic surgery was done on one side under local anesthesia. The theoretical target was chosen according to stereotactic atlases, based on ventriculographic landmarks such as anterior and posterior commissures (AC and PC). The final position of the chronic electrodes was optimized using electrophysiological recording and stimulation along with clinical assessment and surface EMG of agonist and antagonist muscles of the examined limbs. A spontaneous increase in neuronal activity was recorded in an area located 2-4 mm under the level of the intercommissural plane, 10 mm from the midline, at mid-distance between AC and PC. Within the same place, a 130-Hz stimulation induced acute and reversible akinesia alleviation mainly on the contralateral limbs, comparable to that obtained with dopaminergic drugs. No dyskinesia, such as hemiballism, was induced by introduction of electrodes or by stimulation. Then a long-term quadripolar DBS Medtronic electrode was inserted in this area. Studies of the effects of chronic stimulation were extensively performed to determine the best spatiotemporal and electrical stimulation variables. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effects of Pro-Oxidants and Antioxidants on the Total Antioxidant Capacity and Lipid Oxidation Products of Milk During Refrigerated Storage.

Oxidized flavor is a major problem that affects the dairy industry because of its adverse effect on milk acceptability. The objectives of this research were to examine the roles of pro-oxidants and antioxidants on the oxidative stability of whole milk. In the 1st experiment, the effect of light (2300 Lux) and/or cupric sulfate (0, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/kg) as pro-oxidants in milk were investigated during an 11-d refrigerated storage period. The effects of added retinyl palmitate (1.16 mg/L; 2113 IU Vitamin A/L) and tocopheryl acetate (100 mg/kg milk fat; 5.02 IU Vitamin E/L) as antioxidants in the presence of light (2300 Lux) and light with cupric sulfate (0.05 mg/kg) during a 7-d study were investigated in the 2nd experiment. The presence of pro-oxidants significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and increased the lipid oxidation products in milk during storage. Light had a greater effect in the decrease of TAC, although cupric sulfate in the presence of light significantly increased the formation of lipid oxidation products. The addition of antioxidants resulted in a significant (P < 0.05) increase in TAC on day 0. However, with exposure to light and light with cupric sulfate, the antioxidants did not result in a higher TAC in comparison to the treatments without added antioxidant. Analysis of lipid oxidation products by instrumental and sensory methods showed that the presence of light and cupric sulfate significantly (P < 0.05) increased the oxidized flavor from the control, but no significant (P > 0.05) difference in oxidized flavor intensity was detected between milk with and without added antioxidants. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Production and processing variables can affect the content of pro-oxidants and antioxidants in milk, which has an impact on flavor. An understanding of the role of these components in contributing to or minimizing off-flavor formation in milk, will help dairy producers to provide quality products to consumers.
Artificial intelligence faces reproducibility crisis.

The booming field of artificial intelligence (AI) is grappling with a replication crisis, much like the ones that have afflicted psychology, medicine, and other fields over the past decade. Just because algorithms are based on code doesn9t mean experiments are easily replicated. Far from it. Unpublished codes and a sensitivity to training conditions have made it difficult for AI researchers to reproduce many key results. That is leading to a new conscientiousness about research methods and publication protocols. Last week, at a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in New Orleans, Louisiana, reproducibility was on the agenda, with some teams diagnosing the problem—and one laying out tools to mitigate it.
Development of a golf-specific load monitoring tool: Content validity and feasibility

Abstract Athletes often record details of their training and competitions, supported by information such as environmental conditions, travel, as well as how they felt. However, it is not known how prevalent these practices are in golfers, or how valuable this process is perceived. The purpose of this study was to develop a golf-specific load monitoring tool (GLMT), and establish the content validity and feasibility of this tool amongst high-level golfers. In the first phase of development, 21 experts were surveyed to determine the suitability of items for inclusion in the GLMT. Of the 36 items, 21 received >78% agreement, a requirement to establish content validity and for inclusion in the GLMT. Total duration was the preferred metric for golf-specific activities, whilst rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was preferred for measuring physical training. In the second phase, feasibility of the tool was assessed by surveying 13 high-level male golfers following 28-days of daily GLMT use. All items included in the GLMT were deemed feasible to record, with all players participating in the feasibility study providing high to very high ratings. Golfers responded that they would consider using a load monitoring tool of this nature long term, provided it can be completed in less than five minutes per day.
Accelerating deep learning by binarized hardware

Hardware-oriented approaches to accelerate deep neural network processing are very important for various embedded intelligent applications. This paper is a summary of our recent achievements for efficient neural network processing. We focus on the binarization approach for energy- and area-efficient neural network processor. We first present an energy-efficient binarized processor for deep neural networks by employing inmemory processing architecture. The real processor LSI achieves high performance and energy-efficiency compared to prior works. We then present an architecture exploration technique for binarized neural network processor on an FPGA. The exploration result indicates that the binarized hardware achieves very high performance by exploiting multiple different parallelisms at the same time.
Rapid Drink Challenge in high‐resolution manometry: an adjunctive test for detection of esophageal motility disorders

The Chicago Classification for diagnosis of esophageal motility disorders by high‐resolution manometry (HRM) is based on single water swallows (SWS). Emerging data suggest that a “Rapid Drink Challenge” (RDC) increases sensitivity for motility disorders. This study establishes normal values and diagnostic thresholds for RDC in clinical practice.
A Study on the relationship between orthorexia and vegetarianism using the BOT (Bratman Test for Orthorexia).

OBJECTIVES The following article presents the relationship between vegetarianism and orthorexia nervosa (ON). Vegetarianism is an ideology and a way of life that aims at minimizing animal exploitation. A vegetarian diet excludes the consumption of meat together with other animal derived products. According to scientists, orthorexia nervosa is considered to be a new, yet unclassified eating disorder. It involves introducing dietary restrictions by individuals who feel a desire to improve their health status by healthy eating. METHODS The study involved 2,611 participants, namely 1,346 vegetarians and 1,265 non-vegetarians. The research questionnaire consisted of general personal and anthropometric characteristics, the BOT(Bratman Test for Orthorexia) and questions evaluating the participants' attitude towards nutrition. RESULTS Based on the obtained results, health food fanaticism is more specific to vegetarians than non-vegetarians. The risk for orthorexia nervosa decreases with age and diet duration. The biggest number of health food fanatics was found in the group of lacto-vegetarians, a lower number among ovo-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and the smallest number was observed in the vegan group. Also, vegetarians were reported to have dietary consultations as frequently as non-vegetarians. CONCLUSIONS Very few studies can be found on the relationship between orthorexia nervosa and vegetarianism. Some scientists believe that vegetarians are particularly prone to orthorexia nervosa. In addition, it has been suggested by other researchers that vegetarianism can be used to mask eating disorders, as it allows these affected individuals to avoid certain products or situations related to food. The direction of cause and effect cannot be determined.
Hierarchical Group Based Mutual Authentication and Key Agreement for Machine Type Communication in LTE and Future 5G Networks

In view of the exponential growth in the volume of wireless data communication among heterogeneous devices ranging from smart phones to tiny sensors across a wide range of applications, 3GPP LTE-A has standardized Machine Type Communication (MTC) which allows communication between entities without any human intervention. The future 5G cellular networks also envisage massive deployment of MTC Devices (MTCDs) which will increase the total number of connected devices hundredfold. This poses a huge challenge to the traditional cellular system processes, especially the traditional Mutual Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) mechanism currently used in LTE systems, as the signaling load caused by the increasingly large number of devices may have an adverse effect on the regular Human to Human (H2H) traffic. A solution in the literature has been the use of group based architecture which, while addressing the authentication traffic, has their share of issues. This paper introduces Hierarchical Group based Mutual Authentication and Key Agreement (HGMAKA) protocol to address those issues and also enables the small cell heterogeneous architecture in line with 5G networks to support MTC services. The aggregate Message Authentication Code based approach has been shown to be lightweight and significantly efficient in terms of resource usage compared to the existing protocols, while being robust to authentication message failures, and scalable to heterogeneous network architectures.
Health-seeking behavior of rural agricultural workers: A community-based cross-sectional study

Context: Majority of the Indian population lives in rural area, where the main occupation is agriculture. In developing countries, agriculture workers have multitude of health problems, whereas they do not have access to the adequate health care facilities. Aims: The present study was aimed to know the health-seeking behavior of agricultural workers. Settings and Design: This cross-sectional study was done from January 2009 to December 2009 in a rural area of Bhutaramanahatti sub-center (Vantamuri PHC), Belgaum District. Materials and Methods: A total of 400 agricultural workers of age 16-60 years were interviewed in their households/fields. Data were acquired on a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: Percentages and Chi-square test. Results: Among the study participants 55.75% were males and 44.25% were females, with a male to female ratio of 1.25:1. Most of the agricultural workers (89.5%) were Hindus, 10.5% were Muslims, and 47% were illiterates, whereas 38% had passed first to fifth grades, 14.5% had passed sixth to tenth grades, and 0.5% had attended tenth plus. Of the 400 subjects, 295 (73.75%) belonged to Class V socioeconomic status. Overall, 48.75% opted government doctors and 28% opted private doctors as the first priority health care providers for their illness. 37.75% preferred private or AYUSH practitioners and 18.25% opted government doctors in case illness was not cured or they were not satisfied with the treatment given by the first health care provider. Conclusions: The present study reveals that most of the agricultural workers depended on government doctor for their illness. In order to overcome the situation, special health check-up camps need to be conducted with emphasis on improvement of health.
Gemcitabine as First-Line Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Phase II Trial

Objectives: This phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Methods: Women with histologically or cytologically confirmed bidimensionally measurable MBC not amendable to curative surgery or radiation were eligible. Prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease was not permitted. Patients received gemcitabine 1,200 mg/m2 on days 1, 8 and 15 for 3 weeks every 28 days for a maximum of 8 cycles. Results: Thirty-nine patients, with a median age of 58 years, were enrolled. The overall response rate for the 35 evaluable patients was 37.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 21.5–55.1%), with 2 complete responses and 11 partial responses. Median time to progression and survival were 5.1 months (95% CI, 3.5–8.8 months) and 21.1 months (95% CI, 11.0–26.9 months), respectively. Chemotherapy was well tolerated, with a median of 4 cycles completed. Grade 4 toxicities were 1 infection and 1 abnormal pulmonary function. Grade 3 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia occurred in 30.3% and 6.3% of patients, respectively. The most common grade 3 non-hematologic toxicity was nausea/vomiting (10.3%). Five of 21 patients had improved Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scores. Conclusion: Single-agent gemcitabine is active and well tolerated as first-line treatment in patients with MBC.
e-Publications@Marquette e-Publications@Marquette

Background Conceptualizations of emotion dysregulation (ED) and body-focused repetitive behavior disorders (BFRBDs) imply that ED may be a central component of BFRBDs as well as a factor that distinguishes BFRBDs from non-impairing, subclinical body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). The current study empirically tested these observations. Methods One hundred thirty-eight undergraduates (of 1900 who completed a screening survey) completed self-report measures assessing four emotion regulation (ER) deficits hypothesized to underlie ED (alexithymia, maladaptive emotional reactivity, experiential avoidance, and response inhibition when distressed); 34 of these participants had BFRBDs, 64 had subclinical BFRBs, and 42 were unaffected by BFRBs. Results Results indicated that participants with BFRBDs reported higher levels of maladaptive emotional reactivity, experiential avoidance, and response inhibition when distressed than participants with subclinical BFRBs and participants unaffected by BFRBs. These results held even when controlling for comorbidity and total number of reported BFRBs. Participants did not differ on alexithymia.
Local cerebral glucose utilization is increased in acutely adrenalectomized rats.

The quantitative autoradiographic deoxyglucose method was used to study the effects of acute adrenalectomy on local cerebral glucose utilization in conscious albino rats. Five hours following removal of the adrenal glands, glucose utilization was increased (4-55%) throughout the brain, particularly in the locus ceruleus, hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, hippocampus, median eminence and anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. These structures are involved in the regulation of corticotropin-releasing factor, vasopressin, and adrenocorticotropic hormone. Treatment with dexamethasone (0.25 mg/kg i.m.) substantially reduced or prevented the stimulatory effects of adrenalectomy on cerebral glucose metabolism. These results demonstrate: (1) the existence of a negative feedback loop between the brain and adrenal glands in which corticosteroids exert an inhibitory action on glucose utilization of brain regions participating in adrenotropic regulation, and (2) a general inhibitory action of glucocorticoids on cerebral metabolism.
All The Cool Kids, How Do They Fit In?: Popularity and Demographic Biases in Recommender Evaluation and Effectiveness

In the research literature, evaluations of recommender system eﬀectiveness typically report results over a given data set, providing an aggregate measure of eﬀectiveness over each instance (e.g. user) in the data set. Recent advances in information retrieval evaluation, however, demonstrate the importance of considering the distribution of eﬀectiveness across diverse groups of varying sizes. For example, do users of diﬀerent ages or genders obtain similar utility from the system, particularly if their group is a relatively small subset of the user base? We apply this consider-ation to recommender systems, using of-ﬂine evaluation and a utility-based metric of recommendation eﬀectiveness to explore whether diﬀerent user demographic groups experience similar recommendation accuracy. We ﬁnd demographic diﬀerences in measured recommender eﬀectiveness across two data sets containing diﬀerent types of feedback in diﬀerent domains; these diﬀerences sometimes, but not always, correlate with the size of the user group in question. Demographic eﬀects also have a complex— and likely detrimental—interaction with popularity bias, a known deﬁciency of recommender evaluation. These results demonstrate the need for recommender
Pressure-induced superconductivity in the giant Rashba system BiTeI

At ambient pressure, BiTeI exhibits a giant Rashba splitting of the bulk electronic bands. At low pressures, BiTeI undergoes a transition from trivial insulator to topological insulator. At still higher pressures, two structural transitions are known to occur. We have carried out a series of electrical resistivity and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements on BiTeI at pressure up to ∼40 GPa in an effort to characterize the properties of the high-pressure phases. A previous calculation found that the high-pressure orthorhombic P4/nmm structure BiTeI is a metal. We find that this structure is superconducting with Tc values as high as 6 K. AC magnetic susceptibility measurements support the bulk nature of the superconductivity. Using electronic structure and phonon calculations, we compute Tc and find that our data is consistent with phonon-mediated superconductivity.
A Neurological Evaluation of Adult Phenylketonuria in Northern Ireland

To investigate the extent of neurological disease in adults with phenylketonuria and also their requirement for specialist medical services, we assessed 27 such patients in Northern Ireland. Most had been diagnosed early and with one exception had dietary relaxation by early adolescence. Abnormal neurological features were elicited in 21/27 cases with significant delay of visual evoked potentials and somatosensory evoked potentials occurring in 63.6 and 13.6% of cases respectively. Periventricular white matter abnormalities were observed in 5/12 patients undergoing magnetic resonance imaging, whilst phenylalanine levels were high (mean 1,226 µmol/l). These data accord with the observation that even early treated patients with phenylketonuria can have significant neurological morbidity in adulthood, although the correlation with current or recent dietary control is unclear and requires further study.
Validity and power of minimization algorithm in longitudinal analysis of clinical trials

ABSTRACT We studied the validity of longitudinal statistical inferences of clinical trials using minimization, a dynamic randomization algorithm, designed to minimize treatment imbalance for prognostic factors. Repeated measures analysis of covariance and the random intercept and slope models were used to simulate longitudinal clinical trials randomized by minimization or simple randomization. The simulations represented a wide range of analyses in real-world trials, including missing data caused by dropouts, unequal allocation of treatment arms, and efficacy analyses on either the original outcome or its change from baseline. We also analyzed the database from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), and used the estimated parameters to simulate the ongoing DIAN trial. Our analyses demonstrated minimization had conservative type I errors when the prognostic factor used in the minimization algorithm had a relatively strong correlation with the outcome and was not adjusted for in analyses. In contrast, adjusted tests for the prognostic factor as a covariate resulted in type I errors close to the nominal significance level. In many simulation scenarios, the adjusted tests using minimization had slightly greater statistical power than those using simple randomization, whereas in the other scenarios, the power of adjusted tests using these two randomization methods are almost indistinguishable.
Development and Validation of an Interactive Internet Platform for Older People: The Healthy Ageing Through Internet Counselling in the Elderly Study.

BACKGROUND A myriad of Web-based applications on self-management have been developed, but few focus on older people. In the face of global aging, older people form an important target population for cardiovascular prevention. This article describes the full development of an interactive Internet platform for older people, which was designed for the Healthy Ageing Through Internet Counselling in the Elderly (HATICE) study. We provide recommendations to design senior-friendly Web-based applications for a new approach to multicomponent cardiovascular prevention. METHODS The development of the platform followed five phases: (1) conceptual framework; (2) platform concept and functional design; (3) platform building (software and content); (4) testing and pilot study; and (5) final product. RESULTS We performed a meta-analysis, reviewed guidelines for cardiovascular diseases, and consulted end users, experts, and software developers to create the platform concept and content. The software was built in iterative cycles. In the pilot study, 41 people aged ≥65 years used the platform for 8 weeks. Participants used the interactive features of the platform and appreciated the coach support. During all phases adjustments were made to incorporate all improvements from the previous phases. The final platform is a personal, secured, and interactive platform supported by a coach. DISCUSSION When carefully designed, an interactive Internet platform is acceptable and feasible for use by older people with basic computer skills. To improve acceptability by older people, we recommend involving the end users in the process of development, to personalize the platform and to combine the application with human support. The interactive HATICE platform will be tested for efficacy in a multinational randomized controlled trial (ISRCTN48151589).