Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors for functional recovery and mortality of surgically treated traumatic acute subdural hematomas in 256 patients.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliable factors influencing the surgical outcome of the patients with traumatic acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) and to improve the functional outcome of these patients. METHODS A total of 256 consecutive patients who underwent surgical intervention for traumatic ASDH between March 1998 and March 2008 were reviewed. We evaluated the influence of perioperative variables on functional recovery and mortality using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS Functional recovery was achieved in 42.2% of patients and the overall mortality was 39.8%. Age (OR=4.91, p=0.002), mechanism of injury (OR=3.66, p=0.003), pupillary abnormality (OR=3.73, p=0.003), GCS score on admission (OR=5.64, p=0.000), and intraoperative acute brain swelling (ABS) (OR=3.71, p=0.009) were independent predictors for functional recovery. And preoperative pupillary abnormality (OR=2.60, p=0.023), GCS score (OR=4.66, p=0.000), and intraoperative ABS (OR=4.16, p=0.001) were independent predictors for mortality. Midline shift, thickness and volume of hematoma, type of surgery, and time to surgery showed no independent association with functional recovery, although these variables were correlated with functional recovery in univariate analyses. CONCLUSION Functional recovery was more likely to be achieved in patients who were under 40 years of age, victims of motor vehicle collision and having preoperative reactive pupils, higher GCS score and the absence of ABS during surgery. These results would be helpful for neurosurgeon to improve outcomes from traumatic acute subdural hematomas.
Designing and validation of a yoga-based intervention for obsessive compulsive disorder

Abstract Some yoga-based practices have been found to be useful for patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The authors could not find a validated yoga therapy module available for OCD. This study attempted to formulate a generic yoga-based intervention module for OCD. A yoga module was designed based on traditional and contemporary yoga literature. The module was sent to 10 yoga experts for content validation. The experts rated the usefulness of the practices on a scale of 1–5 (5 = extremely useful). The final version of the module was pilot-tested on patients with OCD (n = 17) for both feasibility and effect on symptoms. Eighty-eight per cent (22 out of 25) of the items in the initial module were retained, with modifications in the module as suggested by the experts along with patients’ inputs and authors’ experience. The module was found to be feasible and showed an improvement in symptoms of OCD on total Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) score (p = 0.001). A generic yoga therapy module for OCD was validated by experts in the field and found feasible to practice in patients. A decrease in the symptom scores was also found following yoga practice of 2 weeks. Further clinical validation is warranted to confirm efficacy.
Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Bone Fragility and Fracture Healing Using Conventional Radiography and Advanced Imaging Technologies-Focus on Wrist Fracture

Fractures of the distal radius are one of the most common injuries presented to orthopaedic surgeons. A variety of treatment options are available for the vast array of fracture patterns. Research that explores bone fragility and fracture healing has led to new treatment modalities. As new products and methods are derived to aid in fracture healing it is essential to develop noninvasive and/or nondestructive techniques to assess structural information about bone. Quantitative assessment of macro-structural characteristics such as geometry, and microstructural features such as relative trabecular volume, trabecular spacing, and connectivity may improve our ability to estimate bone strength. Methods for quantitatively assessing macrostructure include (besides conventional radiographs) dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and computed tomography (CT), particularly volumetric quantitative computed tomography (vQCT). Methods for assessing microstructure of trabecular bone include high resolution computed tomography (hrCT), micro computed tomography (μCT), high resolution magnetic resonance (hrMR), and micro magnetic resonance μMR. Volumetric QCT, hrCT and hrMR are generally applicable in vivo; μCT and μMR are principally applicable in vitro. Clinically, the challenges for bone imaging include balancing the advantages of simple bone densitometry versus the more complex architectural features of bone, or the deeper research requirements versus the broader clinical needs.
Tuberculosis case notification by private practitioners in Pune, India: how well are we doing?

SETTING Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area, Pune, India. OBJECTIVE To assess the proportion of private practitioners (PPs) who notified tuberculosis (TB) patients during February-April 2013 and their contribution to the overall number notified, and to determine their perceived challenges in reporting TB cases. DESIGN Mixed-method study including an analysis of notification data, followed by in-depth interviews with PPs. Interviews were transcribed and inductive content analysis was performed to derive themes. RESULTS Of 831 PPs, 533 (64%) participated in case notification; of these 87 (16%) notified at least one TB case during the study period. In all, 138 TB cases were notified by PPs, accounting for 20% of the total TB cases notified. Emerging themes among perceived challenges and barriers were lack of complete knowledge about TB notification, fear of a breach of patient confidentiality, lack of a simplified operational mechanism of notification, and lack of trust and coordination with the government health system. CONCLUSION About two thirds of PPs participated in case notification and contributed significantly to the overall TB cases notified. India's national TB programme should focus on training PPs and targeted media communication campaigns, and establish alternative mechanisms for notification, such as the internet and mobile telephones, to overcome perceived barriers.
Radiative Peristaltic Flow of Jeffrey Nanofluid with Slip Conditions and Joule Heating

Mixed convection peristaltic flow of Jeffrey nanofluid in a channel with compliant walls is addressed here. The present investigation includes the viscous dissipation, thermal radiation and Joule heating. Whole analysis is performed for velocity, thermal and concentration slip conditions. Related problems through long wavelength and low Reynolds number are examined for stream function, temperature and concentration. Impacts of thermal radiation, Hartman number, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis, Joule heating and slip parameters are explored in detail. Clearly temperature is a decreasing function of Hartman number and radiation parameter.
Review of one-time signatures for multicast authentication in smart grid

One-time signatures are known to be one of the most promising solution for time-critical multicast authentication in environments with resource-constrained devices such as smart grid. There have been several solutions for multicast applications and TV-OTS has been known to be the most efficient scheme so far. However, there still exists several challenges for one-time signatures to be deployed in practice. We review existing onetime signatures for multicast authentication and address several challenges such as key management and storage cost problems that can inevitably arise when they are actually deployed in practice.
Mild hyperuricemia induces vasoconstriction and maintains glomerular hypertension in normal and remnant kidney rats.

BACKGROUND Hyperuricemia has been associated with renal disease. Because glomerular hemodynamic alterations critically contribute to initiation and progression of renal disease, we evaluated the effect of mild hyperuricemia in glomerular microcirculatory changes in rats under normal conditions and with renal injury induced by subtotal renal ablation (RK). METHODS Hyperuricemia was induced in normal and remnant kidney (RK) rats on a normal sodium diet by administration of oxonic acid (OA). To prevent hyperuricemia, allopurinol (AP) was administered concomitantly. Glomerular hemodynamics were evaluated by micropuncture techniques. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), proteinuria, arterial morphology, and serum uric acid were measured. In RK rats, glomerulosclerosis, fibrosis, and inflammatory cell infiltration (CD5+) were also assessed. RESULTS In normal rats, hyperuricemia resulted in afferent arteriole thickening associated with renal cortical vasoconstriction [single nephron glomerular filtration rate (SNGFR) -35%, P < 0.05) and glomerular hypertension (P < 0.05). Allopurinol treatment prevented structural and functional alterations. In RK rats, hyperuricemia produced more renal vascular damage than control animals coupled with severe cortical vasoconstriction (SNGFR -40%, P < 0.05) and persistent glomerular hypertension. Allopurinol partially prevented cortical vasoconstriction, and fully prevented arteriolopathy and glomerular hypertension associated with significantly less infiltration of CD5+ cells. CONCLUSION Hyperuricemia induces arteriolopathy of preglomerular vessels, which impairs the autoregulatory response of afferent arterioles, resulting in glomerular hypertension. Lumen obliteration induced by vascular wall thickening produces severe renal hypoperfusion. The resulting ischemia is a potent stimulus that induces tubulointerstitial inflammation and fibrosis, as well as arterial hypertension. These studies provide a potential mechanism by which hyperuricemia can mediate hypertension and renal disease.
Computer-navigated versus conventional total knee arthroplasty a prospective randomized trial.

BACKGROUND The literature lacks studies that confirm whether the improved radiographic alignment that can be achieved with computer-navigated total knee arthroplasty improves patients’ activities of daily living or the durability of total knee prostheses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether computer-navigated total knee arthroplasty improves the clinical function, alignment, and survivorship of the components. METHODS We prospectively compared the results of 520 patients with osteoarthritis who underwent computer-navigated total knee arthroplasty for one knee and conventional total knee arthroplasty for the other. The assignment of the knee to navigation or not was done randomly. There were 452 women (904 knees) and sixty-eight men (136 knees) with a mean age of sixty-eight years (range, forty-nine to eighty-eight years) at the time of the index arthroplasty. The mean follow-up period was 10.8 years (range, ten to twelve years). The patients were assessed clinically and radiographically with the rating system of the Knee Society and with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score at three months, one year, and annually thereafter. RESULTS Total knee scores, knee function scores, pain scores, WOMAC scores, knee motion, and activity scores did not show statistically significant differences between the two groups preoperatively or at the time of the final follow-up. Alignment and the survivorship of the components were not significantly different between the two groups. The Kaplan-Meier survivorship with revision as the end point at 10.8 years was 98.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96 to 1.00) in the computernavigated total knee arthroplasty group and 99.2% (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.00) in the conventional total knee arthroplasty group. CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrated no difference in clinical function or alignment and survivorship of the components between the knees that underwent computer-navigated total knee arthroplasty and those that underwent conventional total knee arthroplasty.
Reticular Formation and Pain: The Past and the Future

The involvement of the reticular formation (RF) in the transmission and modulation of nociceptive information has been extensively studied. The brainstem RF contains several areas which are targeted by spinal cord afferents conveying nociceptive input. The arrival of nociceptive input to the RF may trigger alert reactions which generate a protective/defense reaction to pain. RF neurons located at the medulla oblongata and targeted by ascending nociceptive information are also involved in the control of vital functions that can be affected by pain, namely cardiovascular control. The RF contains centers that belong to the pain modulatory system, namely areas involved in bidirectional balance (decrease or enhancement) of pain responses. It is currently accepted that the imbalance of pain modulation towards pain facilitation accounts for chronic pain. The medullary RF has the peculiarity of harboring areas involved in bidirectional pain control namely by the existence of specific neuronal populations involved in antinociceptive or pronociceptive behavioral responses, namely at the rostroventromedial medulla (RVM) and the caudal ventrolateral medulla (VLM). Furthermore the dorsal reticular nucleus (also known as subnucleus reticularis dorsalis; DRt) may enhance nociceptive responses, through a reverberative circuit established with spinal lamina I neurons and inhibit wide-dynamic range (WDR) neurons of the deep dorsal horn. The components of the triad RVM-VLM-DRt are reciprocally connected and represent a key gateway for top-down pain modulation. The RVM-VLM-DRt triad also represents the neurobiological substrate for the emotional and cognitive modulation of pain, through pathways that involve the periaqueductal gray (PAG)-RVM connection. Collectively, we propose that the RVM-VLM-DRt triad represents a key component of the “dynamic pain connectome” with special features to provide integrated and rapid responses in situations which are life-threatening and involve pain. The new available techniques in neurobiological studies both in animal and human studies are producing new and fascinating data which allow to understand the complex role of the RF in pain modulation and its integration with several body functions and also how the RF accounts for chronic pain.
Cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy in perioperative management of left ventricular assist device and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients

Purpose of review Neurologic injury remains a common complication in patients undergoing mechanical support for cardiac and respiratory failure with either left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been recognized clinically as a valid, continuous, and practical monitor of cerebral perfusion in cardiac surgery. Recently, interest in utilizing this technology to monitor patients while undergoing LVAD and ECMO placement and their resultant care has expanded. The purpose of this review is to discuss the practical approaches to using cerebral NIRS for LVAD and ECMO implantation. Recent findings Recent studies suggest that implementation of cerebral NIRS monitoring during LVAD and ECMO implantation may reduce the perioperative neurological complications. In addition, cerebral NIRS can function as a first-alert monitor to warn of problems with oxygenation, ventilation, mixed venous oxygen saturation, and cardiac output. Summary Despite an overall small body of literature, early evidence suggests a possible beneficial effect of utilizing cerebral NIRS during LVAD and ECMO implantation. Prospective randomized studies are needed to develop algorithm-based therapies centered on NIRS monitoring. On the basis of potential benefits and minimal risks in relation to cerebral NIRS, it is recommended that it be utilized during the operative and immediate postoperative period in the LVAD and ECMO patient population. Video Abstract http://links.lww. com/COAN/A34
Cyclo‐Oxygenase 2 Function Is Essential for Bone Fracture Healing

Despite the molecular and histological similarities between fetal bone development and fracture healing, inflammation is an early phase of fracture healing that does not occur during development. Cyclo‐oxygenase 2 (COX‐2) is induced at inflammation sites and produces proinflammatory prostaglandins. To determine if COX‐2 functions in fracture healing, rats were treated with COX‐2‐selective nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to stop COX‐2‐dependent prostaglandin production. Radiographic, histological, and mechanical testing determined that fracture healing failed in rats treated with COX‐2‐selective NSAIDs (celecoxib and rofecoxib). Normal fracture healing also failed in mice homozygous for a null mutation in the COX‐2 gene. This shows that COX‐2 activity is necessary for normal fracture healing and confirms that the effects of COX‐2‐selective NSAIDs on fracture healing is caused by inhibition of COX‐2 activity and not from a drug side effect. Histological observations suggest that COX‐2 is required for normal endochondral ossification during fracture healing. Because mice lacking Cox2 form normal skeletons, our observations indicate that fetal bone development and fracture healing are different and that COX‐2 function is specifically essential for fracture healing.
Amphibious fishes: evolution and phenotypic plasticity

ABSTRACT Amphibious fishes spend part of their life in terrestrial habitats. The ability to tolerate life on land has evolved independently many times, with more than 200 extant species of amphibious fishes spanning 17 orders now reported. Many adaptations for life out of water have been described in the literature, and adaptive phenotypic plasticity may play an equally important role in promoting favourable matches between the terrestrial habitat and behavioural, physiological, biochemical and morphological characteristics. Amphibious fishes living at the interface of two very different environments must respond to issues relating to buoyancy/gravity, hydration/desiccation, low/high O2 availability, low/high CO2 accumulation and high/low NH3 solubility each time they traverse the air–water interface. Here, we review the literature for examples of plastic traits associated with the response to each of these challenges. Because there is evidence that phenotypic plasticity can facilitate the evolution of fixed traits in general, we summarize the types of investigations needed to more fully determine whether plasticity in extant amphibious fishes can provide indications of the strategies used during the evolution of terrestriality in tetrapods. Summary: We review the use of phenotypic plasticity by amphibious fishes and ask whether studying plasticity in extant fishes can provide insight into evolutionary changes during the tetrapod invasion of land.
Uncorrelated Component Analysis-Based Hashing

The approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search problem is important in applications such as information retrieval. Several hashing-based search methods that provide effective solutions to the ANN search problem have been proposed. However, most of these focus on similarity preservation and coding error minimization, and pay little attention to optimizing the precision–recall curve or receiver operating characteristic curve. In this paper, we propose a novel projection-based hashing method that attempts to maximize precision and recall. We first introduce an uncorrelated component analysis (UCA) transformation by examining precision and recall, and then propose a UCA-based hashing method. The proposed method is evaluated with a variety of data sets. The results show that UCA-based hashing outperforms state-of-the-art methods, and has computationally efficient training and encoding processes.
Seclusion use with children and adolescents: an Australian experience.

OBJECTIVE To summarize the current state of knowledge on the use of seclusion and restraint with children and adolescents and to report the findings of an exploratory study to identify factors that place a child or adolescent at increased risk of seclusion during their admission. METHOD Literature searches were undertaken on MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases. Articles were identified that focused specifically on seclusion and restraint use with children and adolescents or contained material significant to this population. The study reports findings from a retrospective review of patient charts, seclusion registers and staffing from an Australian acute inpatient facility. RESULTS The data available in regard to seclusion use in this population is limited and flawed. Further research is needed on the use and outcomes of seclusion and restraint and on alternative measures in the containment of dangerousness. Both the literature and this study find that patients with certain factors are at increased risk of being secluded during an inpatient stay. These factors include being male, diagnoses of disruptive behaviour disorder and a previous history of physical abuse. Staffing factors did not show a relationship to the use of seclusion. CONCLUSIONS There are patient factors that predict increased risk of seclusion; these factors and their interrelationships require further elucidation. Further research is also needed on the outcomes, both positive and negative, of seclusion use and of alternatives to seclusion.
Air Flow Analyses in an Ultra-Thin Hard Disk Drive

Turbulent air flow analysis is carried out in an ultra-thin hard disk drive using the large eddy simulation (LES). Aerodynamic force acting on various structural components is obtained for about 40 ms and analyzed in detail. Using one set of full scale simulation data, aerodynamic force data for other different sets of operating conditions is obtained using scaling methods thus minimizing the computational time significantly. Validation of the scaling methods is discussed and concluded.
Multiple Cointegrating Vectors and Structural Economic Models: An Application to the French Franc/U. S. Dollar Exchange Rate

Structural models of the exchange rate have performed very poorly for the industrialized nations during the post-Bretton Woods period. The time series behavior of exchange rates seems to conform to other asset prices in that volatility is large and short-term changes seem to respond primarily to the "news. " Using the Engle and Granger [16] technique, studies by Baillie and Selover [4], Baillie and McMahon [5], and Kim and Enders [21] among others, provided evidence that there are no long-run relationships between bilateral nominal exchange rates and the so-called fundamentals. More recently, papers by Baillie and Pecchenino [6] and Adams and Chadha [1] used the maximum-likelihood Johansen [18] and Johansen and Juselius [19] method to provide evidence of cointegration between exchange rates and some of the fundamentals. However, none of these papers is able to validate any of the standard models of exchange rate determination. Our departure from the previous literature is that we develop a simple modelling strategy that is useful in the presence of multiple cointegrating vectors. In our view, a well specified economic model indicates the number of cointegrating vectors that exist among a set of variables. Moreover, the presence of multiple cointegrating vectors conveys valuable information that should not be wasted. We extend the suggestion of Bagliano, Favero, and Muscatelli [3] and Smith and Hagan [26] and interpret each cointegrating vector as a behavioral or as a reduced form equation from a structural model. The technique is illustrated using U.S./French exchange rate and money market data. In doing so, it is shown that it is not possible to reject a popular structural exchange rate determination model. We demonstrate that in the presence of multiple cointegrating vectors, the theory can guide us in "identifying" the behavioral equations. The exactly identified long-run relationships can be properly considered to be behavioral equations resulting from a structural model of exchange rate determination. Given that these equations represent long-run properties