Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of cardiac surgery in young children with congenital heart disease on parenting stress in central South Africa: Initial outcomes

Introduction and aim: Parents of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of ongoing stress and psychological morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine stress in parents of children with CHD who underwent cardiac surgery. The levels of stress experienced by parents of children with CHD in South Africa are unknown. Reported parenting stress outcomes in children with CHD in developed countries are conflicting. Materials and methods: Forty-eight consecutive children, 30 months and younger, and their parents were recruited into this observational descriptive study. Parenting stress was assessed using the Parenting Stress Index Short Form. Parenting stress outcomes were compared over time, and variables associated with parenting stress determined at baseline, three-month and six-month post-cardiac surgery. Sociodemographic information including maternal age, parental educational attainment and occupational status were collected using a self-developed questionnaire. Medical severity of the cardiac disease was rated according to the Cardiologists Perception of Medical Severity Scale. Socio-economic status was determined using Hollingshead’s Index of Social Position and developmental status was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Results: Baseline data was collected for 40 parents. Sixty percent of parents (n=24) experienced clinically significant stress prior to cardiac surgery. Levels of parenting stress were significantly decreased at both three-month (p<0.001) and six-month post-cardiac surgery (p<0.001). However, just more than a third of parents experienced ongoing stress. There was a significant association between neurodevelopmental outcome (p=0.03), perceived health-related quality of life (p=0.02), age at first cardiac surgery (p=0.03) and maternal age (p=0.04) and levels of parenting stress. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that most parents experienced clinically significant levels of stress prior to cardiac surgery in their children. Parenting stress declined significantly post-cardiac surgery, but a considerable number of parents experienced ongoing stress. In conclusion, parents of children with CHD should be screened regularly for risk of psychosocial problems requiring referral for treatment.
Rola mammografii metodą rezonansu magnetycznego w diagnostyce raka piersi

Mammografia MR jest metodą o wysokiej czulości (> 98% ) i nizszej swoistości (> 80%) w wykrywaniu raka piersi. Czulośc mammografii MR w wykrywaniu DCIS o niskim i pośrednim stopniu zlośliwości jest nizsza niz w wykrywaniu raka inwazyjnego i DCIS o wysokim stopniu zlośliwości. Warunkiem wysokiej skuteczności mammografii MR jest bardzo dobra — niestety, nie zawsze latwa do uzyskania — jakośc badania. Glowne wskazania do mammografii MR (Rekomendacje EUSOBI 2015) to: skrining kobiet z grup wysokiego ryzyka zachorowania na raka piersi; przedoperacyjna ocena stopnia zaawansowania zmian w piersiach u kobiet z rozpozna­nym rakiem piersi; ocena skuteczności neoadiuwantowej chemioterapii; poszukiwanie raka piersi u kobiet mających przerzuty, negatywny wynik mammografii i USG — ukryty rak piersi ( occult primary breast cancer ); podejrzenie wznowy miejscowej — jezeli nie moze byc wykonana biopsja; ocena implantow; lepsza charakterystyka zmian niejednoznacznych w mammografii i USG, jezeli nie moze byc wykonana biopsja. Wprowadzenie w ostatnich latach do codziennej praktyki klinicznej tomosyntezy (DBT — digital breast tomosynthesis ) oraz mammografii spektralnej po dozylnym podaniu jodowego środka kontrastującego wymaga ponownego prze­analizowania wskazan do mammografii MR oraz określenia algorytmu diagnostycznego u kobiet z podejrzeniem lub rozpoznaniem raka piersi.
A Qualitative Exploration of Nurses’ Information-Gathering Behaviors Prior to Decision Support Tool Design

Summary Background: Large and readily-available clinical datasets combined with improved computational resources have permitted the exploration of many new research and clinical questions. Predictive analytics, especially for adverse events, has surfaced as one promising application of big data, and although statistical results can be highly accurate, little is known about how nurses perceive this new information and how they might act upon it. Objectives: Within the context of recognizing patients at risk for cardiopulmonary arrest, this study explored the possibility of incorporating predictive analytics into clinical workflows by identifying nurses’ current information gathering activities and perceptions of probability-related terms. Methods: We used a qualitative description approach for data collection and analysis in order to understand participants’ information gathering behaviors and term perceptions in their own words. We conducted one-on-one interviews and a focus group with a total of 10 direct care bedside nurses and 8 charge nurses. Results: Participants collected information from many sources that we categorized as: Patient, Other People, and Technology. The process by which they gathered information was conducted in an inconsistent order and differed by role. Major themes comprised: (a) attempts to find information from additional sources during uncertainty, (b) always being prepared for the worst-case scenario, and (c) the desire to review more detailed predictions. Use of the words probability, risk, and uncertainty were inconsistent. Conclusions: In an effort to successfully incorporate predictive analytics into clinical workflows, we have described nurses’ perceived work practices for gathering information related to clinical deterioration and nurses’ beliefs related to probability-based information. Findings from our study could guide design and implementation efforts of predictive analytics in the clinical arena. Jeffery AD, Kennedy B, Dietrich MS, Mion LC, Novak LL. A Qualitative Exploration of Nurses’ Information-Gathering Behaviors Prior to Decision Support Tool Design. Appl Clin Inform 2017; 8: 763–778 https://doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2017-02-RA-0033
Factors affecting quality of life and marital satisfaction among married nurses and nursing assistants

Introduction: Although working is human's best recreation, due to adverse physical, social, and psychological stimuli, it has adverse effects on family relationships, marital satisfaction, and the quality of people's lives. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the quality of life and marital satisfaction of married nurses and nursing assistant in three teaching hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and forty-six married nurses and nursing assistant participated in this study. Participants were selected by simple random sampling, and data were collected with the World Health Organization Quality of Life Standard Questionnaire and Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11 and the significance level was 0.05. Statistical single parameter and logistics tests were carried out to detect significant relationships. Results: Happy hours spent with family, working hospital, and belief in the negative effect of night shift work on personal, family, and social life were found to be effective parameters on four domains of life quality. Marital satisfaction and communication domain in the Enrich questionnaire were significantly correlated with total score of quality of life (P = 0.008). Idealistic distortion domain in the Enrich questioner was significantly correlated with the social domain of quality of life (P = 0.031). Conclusion: Organizational and administrative support, including training in the effective communication skills between couples, making balance between work and family and flexibility in shift work programs can improve the quality of life and marital satisfaction.
Association of fat mass and obesity-associated Gene (FTO) rs9939609 variant with early onset obesity among bataknese and Chinese children in Indonesia: A case-control study

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is associated with the risk of adult obesity and obesity-related chronic disease. The fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) rs9939609 variant are of particular interest because of its association with body mass index (BMI) and obesity-related phenotypes. This study was conducted to investigate the association between FTO gene rs9939609 variant with early onset obesity among Bataknese and Chinese children in Medan, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia. METHODS : The case-control study was carried out at 10 elementary schools in Medan. There were 212 children recruited; 56 early onset obesity and 61 control Bataknese and 49 early onset obesity and 46 control Chinese children. This study included a questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and blood test analysis. rs9939609 polymorphism genotyping was performed using RT-PCR. Logistic regression, odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to determine the risk of obesity associated with the risk alleles, p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: This study found a significant association between rs9939609 and early onset obesity in Chinese children (p=0.01), but not in Bataknese. The frequency of AA genotype was lower in the early onset obesity than in the normal weight children, while an OR of 0.69 showed that this genotype may protect against weight gaining and that the TT genotype may predispose to obesity. CONCLUSION: We concluded that the FTO gene rs9939609 is associated with early onset obesity in Chinese ethnicity but not in Bataknese. KEYWORDS: pediatric obesity, FTO gene, rs9939609, polymorphism, Indonesia
A multiscale shape descriptor based on diferential entropy

: We propose a shape descriptor based on the diﬀerential entropy of multiscale curvature (MEC), which has a better shape discrimination ability than the normalised multiscale bending energy (NMBE) descriptor. We compare both NMBE and MEC with a monoscale descriptor by conducting multiple-class classiﬁcation experiments on images from three public datasets: Kimia99 (99 shapes/9 classes), MPEG7-CE (1400 shapes/70 classes) and Flavia leaves (1907 shapes/32 classes). The classiﬁcation results for precision, recall and F1-score measures, show that the use of MEC improved shape description for the MPEG7-CE and Flavia datasets. A qualitative analysis based on visualisation of pairwise Euclidean distance matrices also conﬁrmed that MEC is a competitive method of shape description compared to NMBE for these datasets.
What can kinematics tell us about the affective states of animals

An animal’s welfare state is intrinsically linked to its affective state. Evidence suggests that sentient, conscious animals can experience a range of affective states, such as pain, fear or boredom as well as positive affects like joy, curiosity, satiation or lust. In the behavioural assessment of animal welfare, there is increasing recognition that it is not simply which behaviours an animal engages in but also the quality of its movement. Kinematics is an approach which is being more widely applied to the behavioural assessment of animal welfare. Kinematics is a field of mechanics that describes the movement of points on a body by defining these points in a coordinate system and precisely tracking how they change in terms of space and time. A major opportunity exists for using kinematic technology to inform our understanding of the emotional state of animals. This review argues that kinematics is a useful methodology for identifying and characterising movement indicative of an animal’s affective state. It demonstrates that kinematics: i) appears useful in detecting subtleties in the expression of affective states; ii) could be used in conjunction with, and add extra information to, affective tests (for example, an approach/avoidance paradigm); and iii) could potentially, eventually, be developed into an automated affective state detection system for improving the welfare of animals used in research or production. Furthering our knowledge of animal affective states using kinematics requires engagement from many areas of science outside of animal welfare, such as sports science, computer science, engineering and psychology.
Multicenter Retrospective Analysis of Intraperitoneal Paclitaxel and Systemic Chemotherapy for Advanced Gastric Cancer with Peritoneal Metastasis

Purpose The objective of the present retrospective analysis was to describe the experience of intraperitoneal (IP) paclitaxel and systemic chemotherapy in patients with peritoneal metastasis (PM) of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) in a multicenter setting in Korea. Materials and Methods The medical records of patients with AGC, who were diagnosed with PM between January 2015 and December 2018, were reviewed. IP catheter was placed in the pouch of Douglas and was used for the administration of IP paclitaxel chemotherapy. Results We reviewed the clinical outcomes of IP paclitaxel and systemic chemotherapy administration in 82 patients at six institutions in Korea. Mean number of IP chemotherapy cycles was 6.6. The mean peritoneal cancer index (PCI) was 21.9. Postoperative complications related to IP catheter and port were observed in 15 patients. The overall median survival was 20.0 months. A significant difference was observed in the survival rate according to the ascites grade (grade I and II, 24.1 months; grade III and IV, 15.3 months; P=0.014) and PCI grade (grade I, 25.6 months; grade II and III, 16.3 months; P=0.023). Conclusions The feasibility of IP paclitaxel and systemic chemotherapy administration was demonstrated in this experience-based retrospective analysis suggesting that the procedure is beneficial in patients with PM of AGC.
TO STUDY THE PREVALENCE OF ANAEMIA AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN NORTH INDIA: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Anaemia is a severe public health problem affecting both developed and developing countries with major consequences for human health as well as socio economic development. WHO has estimated that prevalence of anaemia in pregnant women is 14% in developed and 51% in developing countries. In India prevalence of anaemia is 65-75% . The aim of the present study was to understand the health profile and the socio demographic factors and to estimate the exact prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women based on the level of hemoglobin. Method: 500 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic for the first time in department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Adesh hospital bathinda were included in study applying inclusion and exclusion criteria and after proper written consent. The haemoglobin of all 500 subjects was measured using Automated cell counter method. Those with haemoglobin level <11gm/dl was considered as anaemic and were investigated further. Results: The overall prevalence of anaemia among study participants was 81.8%. Out of these 0.2% of them were identified as severely anaemic, 91% of them were moderately anaemic and 8.8% were mildly anaemic according to ICMR classification of anaemia. Conclusion: Present study concludes that prevalence of anaemia among the women attending antenatal clinic is 81.8% which is a serious public health problem. Early detection and effective management of anaemia in pregnancy can contribute substantially to reduction in maternal mortality.
Osteoarthritis of the hands and muscle strengthening exercises: an integrative update and review of the literature

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis of the hands is a highly prevalent disease that can lead to significant deformity and disability. The therapeutic approach in the management of osteoarthritis of the hands is based on pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. However, none of these treatments demonstrated a reduction of joint damage, and it presents itself in a purely symptomatic way. Yet, expert practitioners strongly recommend and use hand muscle strengthening in patients with hand osteoarthritis, but there is no consensus for such conduct. The objective of the study was to review the concepts about hand osteoarthritis as well as to bring the current evidence on muscle strengthening as a non-pharmacological treatment for this disease. CONTENTS: The study reviewed the United States National Library of Medicine database (Pubmed). The words used were: hand osteoarthritis, exercises, physiotherapy and rehabilitation. We included 5 articles in English, published in the last 10 years, focused on muscle strengthening exercises for osteoarthritis patients. CONCLUSION: There is no consensus, nor a more effective exercise protocol, although exercises and physiotherapy are still recommended. We suggest conducting randomized controlled clinical trials to improve the evidence on this subject.
Including Measures of High Gamma Power Can Improve the Decoding of Natural Speech From EEG

The human auditory system is adept at extracting information from speech in both single-speaker and multi-speaker situations. This involves neural processing at the rapid temporal scales seen in natural speech. Non-invasive brain imaging (electro-/magnetoencephalography [EEG/MEG]) signatures of such processing have shown that the phase of neural activity below 16 Hz tracks the dynamics of speech, whereas invasive brain imaging (electrocorticography [ECoG]) has shown that such rapid processing is even more strongly reflected in the power of neural activity at high frequencies (around 70-150 Hz; known as high gamma). The aim of this study was to determine if high gamma power in scalp recorded EEG carries useful stimulus-related information, despite its reputation for having a poor signal to noise ratio. Furthermore, we aimed to assess whether any such information might be complementary to that reflected in well-established low frequency EEG indices of speech processing. We used linear regression to investigate speech envelope and attention decoding in EEG at low frequencies, in high gamma power, and in both signals combined. While low frequency speech tracking was evident for almost all subjects as expected, high gamma power also showed robust speech tracking in a minority of subjects. This same pattern was true for attention decoding using a separate group of subjects who undertook a cocktail party attention experiment. For the subjects who showed speech tracking in high gamma power, the spatiotemporal characteristics of that high gamma tracking differed from that of low-frequency EEG. Furthermore, combining the two neural measures led to improved measures of speech tracking for several subjects. Overall, this indicates that high gamma power EEG can carry useful information regarding speech processing and attentional selection in some subjects and combining it with low frequency EEG can improve the mapping between natural speech and the resulting neural responses.
Rb9-xAg3+xSc2(WO4)9: a new glaserite-related structure type, rubidium disorder, ionic conductivity.

A new triple tungstate Rb9-xAg3+xSc2(WO4)9 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) synthesized by solid state reactions and spontaneous crystallization from melts presents a new structure type related to those of Cs7Na5Yb2(MoO4)9 and Na13Sr2Ta2(PO4)9. The title compound in centrosymmetric space group Cmcm contains dimers of two ScO6 octahedra sharing corners with three bridging WO4 tetrahedra. Three pairs of opposite terminal WO4 tetrahedra are additionally linked by AgO2 dumbbells to form {Ag3[Sc2(WO4)9]}9- groups, which together with some rubidium ions are packed in pseudohexagonal glaserite-like layers parallel to (001), but stacking of the layers is different in these three structures. In the title structure, the layers stack with a shift along the b axis and their interlayer space contains disordered Rb+ cations partially substituted by Ag+ ions. Almost linear chains of incompletely filled close Rb3a-Rb3d positions (the shortest distances Rb-Rb are 0.46 to 0.64 Å) are found to locate approximately along the b axis. This positional disorder and the presence of wide common quadrangular faces of Rb2 and Rb3a-Rb3d coordination polyhedra favor two-dimensional ionic conductivity in the (001) plane with Rb+ and Ag+ carriers, which was confirmed with bond valence sum (BVS) maps. Electrical conductivity measurements on Rb9Ag3Sc2(WO4)9 ceramics revealed a first-order superionic phase transition at 570 K with a sharp increase in the electrical conductivity. The conductivity σi = 1.8 × 10-3 S cm-1 at 690 K is comparable with the value of 1.0 × 10-3 S cm-1 (500 K) observed earlier for rubidium-ion transport in pyrochlore-like ferroelectric RbNbWO6.
Evidence-based Non-pharmacologic Therapy for Smoking Cessation

Smoking is the most common preventable risk factor of premature death. Many smokers want to quit smoking, which is not easy because of nicotine dependence. Clinicians can help smokers quit smoking by beginning the assessment of nicotine dependence and motivation to quit. Brief advice is simple and one of the most cost-effective treatment in the clinic. Intensive counseling, both individual and group, is an effective intervention for smoking cessation. Proactive telephone counseling is another effective treatment option to quit smoking. The most effective method of helping smokers to quit smoking is combining pharmacotherapy with advice and behavioral support. Health professionals also need to be familiar with other sources of support, such as written materials, telephone helplines, and strategies for preventing relapses. In this article, we present evidence-based non-pharmacologic recommendations and treatment options to increase the success rate of smoking cessation. We mainly used randomized controlled trials summarized in the Cochrane reviews and Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 update.
Trusted smart statistics: The challenge of extracting usable aggregate information from new data sources

Recent years have seen dramatic changes in sources of data, amounts of data, availability of data, frequency of data, and types of data. Along with advances in data analytic technology these changes have opened up huge possibilities for improving the information content and timeliness of ofﬁcial statistics. in this paper we characterise such “smart statistics”, examining their potential beneﬁts and the obstacles that must be overcome if they are to be trusted and relied upon. In particular, we list eight speciﬁc recommendations which we believe producers of smart statistics should adhere to if the full potential for economic and social beneﬁt is to be achieved.
On the Design of Near-Optimal Sparse Code Multiple Access Codebooks

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is one of the competitive non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques for the next generation of communication systems. In this paper, a systematic construction procedure for the design of SCMA codebooks under various channel environments is proposed in order to achieve near-optimal designs, especially for cases which consider small-scale SCMA parameters. The procedure includes the rotation angle design, the construction of multi-dimensional codebooks, and the design of labelling rules. The detailed design criteria and the related properties are derived and investigated. A low-complexity construction algorithm is further proposed for the cases of fading channels. Numerical results show that the designed SCMA codebooks provide improvements in error performance for all of the considered channel conditions, when compared to the codebooks presented in the prior literature.