Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IgG sera levels against a subset of periodontopathogens and severity of disease in aggressive periodontitis patients: a cross-sectional study of selected pocket sites.

AIMS To evaluate the association among serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) serotypes a, b and c, Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), Tannerella forsythia (Tf) and clinical parameters in Aggressive Periodontitis (AP) subjects. Associations between periodontal pathogens and clinical and immunological parameters were also evaluated. METHODS Thirty-eight subjects diagnosed with generalized AP (GAP) and localized AP (LAP) were included. Ten healthy controls were also evaluated. Clinical parameters were assessed and percentages of subgingival levels of Aa, Pg and Tf (beyond bacterial load), were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Serum IgG antibody levels against Aa, Pg and Tf were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS Percentages of Aa, Pg and Tf were significantly higher in AP than in controls. The response to Aa serotype c was higher in LAP subjects than in controls. There were no differences in microbial composition or antibodies responses between GAP and LAP, except for IgG response to Tf. Pg levels were correlated with probing depth (PD), BoP and CAL in GAP but not in LAP subjects. Tf levels correlated with PD and CAL in GAP subjects. In GAP, the infection levels of Aa and Pg correlated with the corresponding IgG levels to Aa serotype c and Pg. CONCLUSION Given the evidences that IgG response in AP patients correlated with bacterial infection level in GAP, but not in LAP, and that LAP patients lack a response to Tf, despite harbouring this species, our data suggest a difference in host immune defence between these two forms of aggressive periodontitis.
A Low-Noise and Low-Power Frequency Synthesizer Using Offset Phase-Locked Loop in 0.13-$\mu{\rm m}$ CMOS

In this letter, a fractional-N frequency synthesizer based on an offset phase-locked loop (OPLL) architecture is presented. The proposed synthesizer achieves low-noise as the two low-pass filters that are inherent in the OPLL highly suppresses the quantization noise from the delta-sigma modulator. In addition, it consumes low power by employing charge-recycling technique in the sub-PLL. A prototype synthesizer implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS process achieves 9 dB of noise reduction compared to a conventional PLL while consuming 3.2 mW of power.
Modeling Preemptive Behaviors for Uncommon Hazardous Situations From Demonstrations

This paper presents a learning from demonstration approach to programming safe, autonomous behaviors for uncommon driving scenarios. Simulation is used to re-create a targeted driving situation, one containing a road-side hazard creating a significant occlusion in an urban neighborhood, and collect optimal driving behaviors from 24 users. Paper employs a key-frame based approach combined with an algorithm to linearly combine models in order to extend the behavior to novel variations of the target situation. This approach is theoretically agnostic to the kind of LfD framework used for modeling data and our results suggest it generalizes well to variations containing an additional number of hazards occurring in sequence. The linear combination algorithm is informed by analysis of driving data, which also suggests that decision-making algorithms need to consider a trade-off between road-rules and immediate rewards to tackle some complex cases.
Nitric oxide signalling functions in plant–pathogen interactions

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly reactive molecule that rapidly diffuses and permeates cell membranes. During the last few years NO has been detected in several plant species, and the increasing number of reports on its function in plants have implicated NO as a key molecular signal that participates in the regulation of several physiological processes; in particular, it has a significant role in plant resistance to pathogens by triggering resistance‐associated cell death and by contributing to the local and systemic induction of defence genes. NO stimulates signal transduction pathways through protein kinases, cytosolic Ca2+ mobilization and protein modification (i.e. nitrosylation and nitration). In this review we will examine the synthesis of NO, its effects, functions and signalling giving rise to the hypersensitive response and systemic acquired resistance during plant–pathogen interactions.
The efficacy of hybrid therapy as first‐line regimen for Helicobacter pylori infection compared with sequential therapy

Recent prospective studies have shown that the sequential therapy has not achieved the target Helicobacter pylori eradication rate of > 80% in Korea. The aim of this study was to therefore assess the efficacy of the hybrid therapy as a first‐line treatment for H. pylori eradication in a prospective trial.
Spin-glass models of neural networks.

Two dynamical models, proposed by Hopfield and Little to account for the collective behavior of neural networks, are analyzed. The long-time behavior of these models is governed by the statistical mechanics of infinite-range Ising spin-glass Hamiltonians. Certain configurations of the spin system, chosen at random, which serve as memories, are stored in the quenched random couplings. The present analysis is restricted to the case of a finite number p of memorized spin configurations, in the thermodynamic limit. We show that the long-time behavior of the two models is identical, for all temperatures below a transition temperature ${T}_{c}$. The structure of the stable and metastable states is displayed. Below ${T}_{c}$, these systems have 2p ground states of the Mattis type: Each one of them is fully correlated with one of the stored patterns. Below T\ensuremath{\sim}0.46${T}_{c}$, additional dynamically stable states appear. These metastable states correspond to specific mixings of the embedded patterns. The thermodynamic and dynamic properties of the system in the cases of more general distributions of random memories are discussed.
Oro-maxillofacial development in patients with Turner's syndrome.

Detailed oro-maxillofacial studies using dental casts, pantomograms and cephalograms were performed in 28 patients with Turner's syndrome and compared statistically to the results from 23 normal short children. Small tooth crown size, short tooth roots and advanced dental age were characteristic of patients with Turner's syndrome. However, the incidence of peg shaped teeth, malocclusion, high arched palate and congenital anodontia were not characteristic of patients with Turner's syndrome. The coronal arch width (C.A.W.) and basal arch width (B.A.W.) were greater and the coronal arch length (C.A.L.) and basal arch length (B.A.L.) were less in patient's with Turner's syndrome. These data indicate underdevelopment of the maxilla in the forward direction forming the wide-, flat-shaped facial characteristic of patients with Turner's syndrome.
Selenium supplementation affects broiler growth performance, meat yield and feather coverage

1. Selenium (Se) is an essential part of numerous selenoproteins, most of which are involved in the antioxidant system of the body. It is also required by poultry for the maintenance of optimal health and meat quality. This paper reports data from a study examining the effect of dietary source and concentration of selenium on broiler performance and meat quality. 2. Increased dietary selenium content markedly reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) as a result of significantly lower feed intakes of birds while maintaining the same weight gains. 3. Selenium supplementation increased feathering, with organic selenium (selenised yeast) being superior to inorganic selenium (sodium selenite). 4. Birds receiving organic selenium in their diets had improved eviscerated weight, breast yield and reduced drip loss. 5. There were significant concentration × source interactions on yields of breasts and marylands (thigh plus drumstick), with elevated levels of organic selenium increasing the yields, whereas the opposite was true for the inorganic selenium.
Cold and the Airways

Physiological and pathological respiratory responses are triggered by various conditions of exposure to cold climates. Beside airway smooth muscle, both the pulmonary and the tracheobronchial vasculatures are major effectors of respiratory responses to cold. General exposure to cold causes pulmonary vasoconstriction known as "Raynaud's phenomenon of the lung" in subjects with primary Raynaud syndrome and favors acute pulmonary oedema in subjects with congestive heart failure. In healthy subjects acute hyperventilation of very cold air has led to acute respiratory failure closely similar to hypoxic pulmonary oedema. In outdoor exercising people years long repetition of hyperventilation of subfreezing air causes "eskimo lung" made of obstructive lung disease and increased wall thickness of pulmonary arteries. At a lesser degree hyperventilation of dry air cools the central airways and triggers subclinical bronchial obstruction in healthy subjects. In asthmatic subjects hyperventilation of dry air causes asthma attacks. Results of recent animal and human experiments point to a key role of mucosal vessels in thermal balance of the airways. Simultaneously, there is increasing evidence that hyperventilation-induced asthma is triggered by a thermal stimulus.
Évaluation de la réponse thérapeutique par TEP/TDM au ¹⁸FDG des cancers de l’ovaire en situation néo-adjuvante : étude de la reproductibilité des paramètres PET et corrélation aux données cliniques

Contexte : la TEP/TDM ¹⁸F-FDG(TEP) est un outil potentiel en oncologie pour personnaliser la prise en charge en evaluant la reponse a la chimiotherapie. Ceci reste a definir pour les cancers ovariens de stade avance (COA). Dans un premier temps, il est necessaire de s’assurer de la reproductibilite des parametres TEP dans l’exploration des COA dont le volume tumoral diffus est anatomiquement complexe dans la cavite abdominale. Objectif : evaluer la reproductibilite intra et inter-observateurs (IAO et IEO) des parametres fonctionnels TEP (SUVmax, MTV et TLG) lors de chimiotherapie neo-adjuvante (CNA) de COA. Materiels et methodes : de 09/2014 a 05/2016, 10 patientes incluses prospectivement pour COA traitees par 4 cures de CNA apres cœlioscopie exploratoire et avant chirurgie d’intervalle sont analysables. Les mesures du SUVmax, MTV et TLG de chaque aire anatomique predefinies, sont effectuees par deux lecteurs en aveugle, lors de 3TEP (pre-therapeutique, apres 1 cure et 4 cures de CNA). Pour l’IAO, le lecteur 1 a effectue une seconde lecture. Les coefficients de correlation de Pearson (P) et intra-classe (ICC) ont ete calcules afin d’evaluer la reproductibilite. Resultats : parmi 107 lesions analysees : IAO SUVmax : P=0.99 ; ICC=0,99[0,985 ; 0 ,993] ; IEO SUVmax : P=0.97 ; ICC=0,97[0,957 ; 0,980] ; IAO MTV : P=0,58 ; ICC=0,477[0,317 ; ,611] ; IEO MTV : P=0,34 ; ICC=0,339[0,159; 0,479] ; IAO TLG : P=0,87 ; ICC=0,826[0,754 ; 0,878] ; IEO TLG : P=0,67; ICC=0,67. Conclusion : le SUVmax est hautement reproductible en IAO et IEO, le TLG est reproductible, surtout en IAO alors que le MTV a une reproductibilite moindre, notamment en IEO. Le contourage semi-automatique de volumes tumoraux complexes propose par les logiciels dedies reste a optimiser.
Quality of care for hip and knee osteoarthritis at family medicine clinics: lessons from Mexico.

OBJECTIVE (i) To develop quality-of-care indicators suitable for evaluation of care for knee and hip osteoarthritis (KHOA) at the primary care level using data from the electronic health records (EHRs) and (ii) to evaluate the quality of care that patients with KHOA receive at family medicine clinics (FMCs). DESIGN (i) Development of indicators following the RAND-UCLA method. (ii) A cross-sectional analysis of quality-of-care provided for patients with osteoarthritis. SETTING Four FMCs in Mexico City. PARTICIPANTS Knee and hip osteoarthritis patients, older than 19 years. SOURCE OF THE INFORMATION 2009 EHR data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quality of care was evaluated using six indicators developed in the first stage of this study. RESULTS The quality of care evaluation identified that 26.1% of patients were advised in regard to physical exercise, and weight loss was encouraged in 19.7%. Only 5% of patients received acetaminophen as an initial oral analgesic; 54% of patients at risk for gastrointestinal complications received gastroprotective medicines. On average, the percentage of recommended care received was lower for patients who attended only one visit with family physician (17.6%) and higher for those with >3 visits (41.9%). CONCLUSION The quality of osteoarthritis care at FMCs in Mexico is suboptimal relative to the standards of care and requires continuous evaluation and implementation of improvement strategies.
Comparison of Different Demagnetization Models of Permanent Magnet in Machines for Electric Vehicle Application

The knee point in the B-H curve of a permanent magnet (PM) is considered crucial in electric motor applications. In the case of severe fault conditions, such as overheating or a short circuit in electric motors, the working point might fall below the knee point causing irreversible demagnetization of the PM. Hence, the remanence flux decreases and the motor operation would be reduced or stalled. In this paper, two demagnetization models of PMs are investigated, i.e., a linear model and an exponential model. Demagnetization curves for NdFeB were measured at temperatures varying from room temperature to 180°C. It was found that all the parameters in the exponential model, including Br, Hjc, μr, and the fitting parameter K1, are temperature dependent. Therefore, an exponential model can be developed as a function of temperature which allows a more efficient implementation within electric motor applications using PMs. However, comparison of the exponential and linear models indicates that the latter has a better accuracy near the knee point for the demagnetization curves of NdFeB magnets.
Effect of implementation of safety measures in tae kwon do competition

Background: Previous reviews of tae kwon do (TKD) tournaments have documented injury rates of 25/1000 to 12.7/100 athlete exposures. Most injuries have been reported to be to the head and the neck and are occasionally very serious. Many of these studies involved high level TKD competitions with minimal safety precautions. Recently, safety measures have been implemented in many TKD competitions. Objective: To evaluate retrospectively the incidence of injuries in TKD competitions involving a wide range of participants and featuring extensive safety precautions. Methods: A total of 2498 participants ranged in age from 18 to 66, included both men and women, and ranged in rank from yellow to black belt. Traumas, defined as any event requiring interaction with medical staff, were documented with respect to mechanism, diagnosis, treatment, and follow up recommendations. An injury was defined as a trauma that prevented a contestant from resuming competition on the day that the trauma occurred, according to National Collegiate Athletic Association criteria. Results: The injury rate was 0.4/1000 athlete exposures. This is lower than reported in previous studies of TKD tournaments and in many other sports. Conclusion: TKD tournaments that emphasise limited contact, protective equipment, and medical supervision are relatively safe and compare favourably with other sports.
Literature and movies for medical students.

Editor’s Note: In this column, teachers who are currently using literary and artistic materials as part oftheir curricula will briefly summarize specific works, delineate their purposes and goals in using thesemedia, describe their audience and teaching strategies, discuss their methods of evaluation, and speculateabout the impact of these teaching tools on learners (and teachers). Submissions should be three to five double-spaced pages with a minimum of references. Sendyour submissions to me at University of California, Irvine, Department of Family Medicine, 101 CityDrive South, Building 200, Room 512, Route 81, Orange, CA 92868-3298. 949-824-3748. Fax: 714-456-7984. jfshapir@uci.edu. “Humanistic studies are the hor-mones that catalyze thinking andhumanize the practice of medicine. ”(William Osler)There is growing concern that thehuman dimension of the physicianis receding in the face of techno-logical advances. The frequent dis-satisfaction of patients points moreto the human deficiencies of themedical professional than to thephysician’s technical shortcomings.The recuperation of this human di-mension is therefore a significantchallenge to medical education.Medical schools have the obliga-tion to prepare students for themoral and ethical questions theywill face in their professional lives.Since medicine is a profession deal-ing with people, any means to im-prove the understanding of the hu-man being across all dimensionswill be valuable in creating betterdoctors. Historically, various medicalschools have included the humani-ties in their curricula, and recentpublications emphasize the continu-ing importance of the humanities tomedical education.
Extraction of character strings from unformed document images

A method to extract character strings from unformed document images, which have inclined strings of character patterns and have no structure at all, is described. To process such kinds of unformed documents, previous schemes, which are intended only to deal with such documents as have just horizontal or vertical strings of characters, do not work well. The method is based on the idea that the processes of recognition and extraction of character patterns should cooperate together, and on the characteristic that the character patterns are located close to each other when they belong to the same string and apart when they do not. The method has been implemented and the experimental results show the robustness of the method. <<ETX>>
Hyperthermia combined with radiation therapy in the treatment of local recurrent breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Hyperthermia combined with radiation therapy was shown to be more effective in local recurrent breast cancer than radiotherapy alone, but its use is limited due to technical difficulties, stringent reimbursement policies and because it is time consuming. OBJECTIVES To report our experience with a simple and convenient XRT + HT delivery system. METHODS XRT was delivered through either electron or photon beams (total dose 30-40 Gy in previously irradiated fields or 50-70 Gy in non-irradiated fields). Hyperthermia was delivered by a dedicated HT device operating at 915 MHz. The heating session lasted 45 minutes. The maximal tumor surface temperature was set at 45 degrees C and modified according to patient comfort. No intratumoral (invasive) thermometry was used. At least two HT sessions were scheduled to each HT field during the entire XRT treatment period. Tumor response was evaluated every 3 months after completion of treatment. The overall survival was measured from XRT + HT initiation until the last follow-up. RESULTS Fifteen women underwent 114 HT treatments delivered through 28 HT fields. Twenty-four HT fields (15 patients) were previously irradiated. There was complete infield response in 10 fields (6 patients), partial response in 8 fields (4 patients), no response or progressive disease in 4 fields (3 patients), and no parameters in 6 fields (5 patients). Eighteen fields (64%) had complete or partial response. Seven patients had outfield recurrence despite wide XRT + HT fields. Ulceration was the only major side effect (three patients, three fields). CONCLUSIONS The combined HT+XRT delivery system, with no invasive thermometry, is a simple and effective method for treating local recurrent breast cancer.
Aprendizaje supervisado eficiente para el análisis de datos geoespaciales a gran escala

El presente trabajo de tesis doctoral tiene como objetivo comprobar la viabilidad De la integracion de funcionalidades de aprendizaje automatico en servidores de mapas web. La validacion de esta hipotesis se ha realizado mediante su implementacion en un prototipo pre-operacional. Esta implementacion ha consistido en el desarrollo de una plataforma para el mapeo tematico sobre imagenes de teledeteccion de muy alta resolucion mediante aprendizaje supervisado a traves de una plataforma web. Integrando las capacidades de escalabilidad de los modernos algoritmos de aprendizaje automatico y las de los servidores de mapas web, la hipotesis supera el estado del arte actual, caracterizado por la separacion de los dos ambitos que requiere la continua aportacion del experto de teledeteccion en tareas de mapeo tematico intensivo. Mediante esta aportacion, se abre el campo aplicativo referido a la creacion semiautomatica de mapas tematicos dedicados y a gran escala en diferentes ambitos. Estos van desde la agricultura hasta la monitorizacion medioambiental, por parte de usuarios expertos de dichos dominios aplicativos y sin conocimientos especificos sobre tecnicas de teledeteccion. Dicho desarrollo se fundamenta en facilitar la explotacion de datos de teledeteccion mediante plataformas de aprendizaje automatico de facil acceso que aumenten las capacidades de analisis de datos, de forma que los campos aplicativos puedan expandirse. Estas capacidades pueden concretarse en algoritmos de etiquetado semantico basados en metodos de clasificacion supervisada, de forma que un mapa tematico pueda ser generado a partir de datos rastre adquiridos por sistemas de teledeteccion y en funcion de las necesidades del usuario. Para ello, es necesaria la integracion de capacidades de aprendizaje automatico dentro del servidor de mapas web, junto con una interfaz sencilla que permita la navegacion geoespacial y la supervision del aprendizaje. El caracter adaptativo del aprendizaje, junto con su integracion en un servidor web, requiere un algoritmo de clasificacion con una gestion y procesamiento de datos eficiente en terminos de tiempo de procesamiento compatibles con la navegacion web tradicional. Al mismo tiempo, el volumen de datos gestionado por aplicaciones de teledeteccion motiva el traslado de la metodologia a entornos en la nube bajo el paradigma Big Data.
Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment in patients with motor neuron syndromes associated with anti‐GM1 antibodies

We studied the effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) in 12 patients with motor neuron syndromes associated with high titers of anti-GM1 antibodies. Five of the patients had conduction blocks. The study design was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial with IVIg (0.4 g/kg body weight per day injected for 5 consecutive days). We evaluated the patients before and 5, 28, and 56 days after drug administration using a computerized analyzer for muscle strength, the Norris scale for disability, motor nerve conduction velocities for patients with conduction blocks, and measurements of immunologic markers. Compared with placebo, IVIg induced a significant increase in muscle strength only in the patients with conduction blocks.