Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3‐year follow‐up of 215 fracture patients from a prospective and consecutive osteoporosis screening program

Background and purpose Fractures can be prevented if osteoporosis is identified and treated. Starting in 2002, we have been using a screening program in which patients between 50 and 75 years of age with a wrist, shoulder, vertebral, or hip fracture are assessed by DEXA of the hip and spine and if osteoporostic or osteopenic, they are encouraged to see a doctor of their own choice. The patients receive documents containing information, the results of DEXA, and a letter to present to their doctor with suggestions regarding blood tests and treatment. Here we report the 3‐year follow‐up regarding compliance to the recommended treatment. Methods A questionnaire was sent to fracture patients who participated in the initial screening study from November 2002 through November 2003. Questions included whether they had seen a doctor, whether treatment had been initiated, and their opinions about osteoporosis. Results 215 of the 236 patients answered the questionnaire, with a mean follow‐up of 39 months. 76/87 of those with osteoporosis, 70/99 of those with osteo‐penia, and 11/29 of those with normal BMD had seen a doctor. Anti‐resorptive treatment was prescribed to two‐thirds of the osteoporotic patients, to one‐sixth of the osteopenic patients, and to none of the patients with normal bone density. Calcium‐vitamin D supplementation as monotherapy was given to one‐third of the osteoporotic patients, to half of the osteopenic patients, and to half of the normal patients. Only a few osteoporotic patients, one‐third of the osteopenic patients, and half of the normal patients received no treatment. Compliance to treatment was 80% over 3 years in those treated. Most patients felt that they could influence their skeletal health. Interpretation Screening of fracture patients for osteoporosis effectively identifies patients with low bone mineral density and the patient can be trusted to seek appropriate medical advice for treatment of osteoporosis. Based on the bone scan diagnosis, the treatment that these patients received reflects current treatment guidelines well.
Reading Fluent Speech from Talking Faces: Typical Brain Networks and Individual Differences

Listeners are able to extract important linguistic information by viewing the talker's facea process known as speechreading. Previous studies of speechreading present small closed sets of simple words and their results indicate that visual speech processing engages a wide network of brain regions in the temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes that are likely to underlie multiple stages of the receptive language system. The present study further explored this network in a large group of subjects by presenting naturally spoken sentences which tap the richer complexities of visual speech processing. Four different baselines (blank screen, static face, nonlinguistic facial gurning, and auditory speech) enabled us to determine the hierarchy of neural processing involved in speechreading and to test the claim that visual input reliably accesses sound-based representations in the auditory cortex. In contrast to passively viewing a blank screen, the static-face condition evoked activation bilaterally across the border of the fusiform gyrus and cerebellum, and in the medial superior frontal gyrus and left precentral gyrus (p < .05, whole brain corrected). With the static face as baseline, the gurning face evoked bilateral activation in the motion-sensitive region of the occipital cortex, whereas visual speech additionally engaged the middle temporal gyrus, inferior and middle frontal gyri, and the inferior parietal lobe, particularly in the left hemisphere. These latter regions are implicated in lexical stages of spoken language processing. Although auditory speech generated extensive bilateral activation across both superior and middle temporal gyri, the group-averaged pattern of speechreading activation failed to include any auditory regions along the superior temporal gyrus, suggesting that fluent visual speech does not always involve sound-based coding of the visual input. An important finding from the individual subject analyses was that activation in the superior temporal gyrus did reach significance (p < .001, small-volume corrected) for a subset of the group. Moreover, the extent of the left-sided superior temporal gyrus activity was strongly correlated with speech-reading performance. Skilled speechreading was also associated with activations and deactivations in other brain regions, suggesting that individual differences reflect the efficiency of a circuit linking sensory, perceptual, memory, cognitive, and linguistic processes rather than the operation of a single component process.
Coronavirus Translational Regulation: Leader Affects mRNA Efficiency

Abstract Cells infected with the murine coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), show decreased host protein synthesis concomitant with an increase in viral protein synthesis. We examined the in vitro translation property of the conserved MHV 5′leader RNA sequence by constructing chimeric mRNAs in which the 72-nt 5′-leader of M protein mRNA (A59 strain) was positioned upstream of the human α-globin coding region in a T7 expression vector. Synthetic 5′-capped transcripts of these mRNA constructs were translated in cell-free extracts prepared from uninfected and MHV-infected murine DBT cells. Nonviral mRNAs translated readily in both uninfected and infected cell-free extracts. By contrast, replacement of the human α-globin 5′-untranslated region (UR) with the MHV 5′-leader increased translation ca. three- to fourfold in cell-free extracts from MHV-infected cells versus translation in extracts from uninfected cells. Chimeric globin mRNA containing the reverse complementary sequence of the viral leader RNA in the 5′-UR showed no such increase in translation, indicating sequence specificity for the effect. A 13-nt region (-UCUAAUCCAAACA-) immediately proximal to the start codon was found to be important for the increased translation of the MHV leader-containing mRNAs. These data indicate that the apparent down-regulation of host translation is not primarily due to an inhibition of host translation but also involves a significant stimulation of viral translation in cis by a structural feature of the MHV 5′-leader RNA sequence in conjunction with a virus-specified or virus-induced factor.
Expected returns and liquidity risk: Does entrepreneurial income matter?

This paper studies the effects of jointly incorporating liquidity risk and non-tradeable wealth in a single asset pricing equation. First, I propose an overlapping-generations model with random endowment shocks and liquidity risk, evaluating their joint impact on expected returns. The model presents a single-factor asset pricing equation, with a new term capturing the covariance between assets' liquidities and non-tradeable wealth. In this economy, assets with higher liquidity or returns when non-tradeable wealth is low command lower expected returns. Second, I investigate whether risks associated with liquidity are priced after including non-tradeable wealth due to entrepreneurial income. I test the model on equally weighted and value-weighted portfolios, sorted by illiquidity levels, illiquidity variation and size, using US stock data from January 1962 to December 2004. The extra terms due to entrepreneurial income reduce liquidity risk premium by almost 40%, with an impact of -0.45% per year on expected returns of value-weighted illiquidity-sorted portfolios. Overall, liquidity risk as a whole has a yearly premium equal to 1.06%. However, liquidity levels are much more important and have a premium of 6.14% per year, contributing to most of the explanatory gains of the model.
Hitting a complex target: an update on interleukin-6 trans-signalling

Introduction: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a key target in inflammation and cancer. Selective inhibition of IL-6 trans-signalling could provide the same or even higher therapeutic efficacy with a better side effect profile than complete IL-6 inhibition. Animal studies with IL-6 inhibitors show that the classic IL-6 signalling pathway via the membrane-bound IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) has important physiological functions, whereas blocking the trans-signalling pathway via the soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) is sufficient to prevent or treat IL-6-driven diseases. Due to the success of the anti-IL-6R antibody tocilizumab and difficulties of constructing selective trans-signalling inhibitors, most drug candidates in clinical development target IL-6 or IL-6R and, thus, both IL-6 pathways. By contrast, the fusion protein sgp130Fc selectively targets IL-6/sIL-6R trans-signalling by utilising the soluble gp130 receptor as the natural inhibitor of trans-signalling. Areas covered: The authors summarise recent developments in the field with a focus on animal studies highlighting the mechanistic differences between classic and trans-signalling and their therapeutic implications. Expert opinion: Characterising disease mechanisms in terms of the employed IL-6 pathways will help to select the right therapeutic IL-6 inhibitor in the future. The trans-signalling inhibitor sgp130Fc is about to enter the clinic and holds promise for a clinically different profile in comparison with complete IL-6 inhibitors.
The impact of media use on sleep patterns and sleep disorders among school-aged children in China.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the amount of television viewing and computer use in urban school-aged Chinese children, and to examine their associations with sleep/wake patterns, duration of sleep, and sleep disorders. DESIGN AND SETTING Students representing 8 Chinese cities were studied during November and December 2005. PARTICIPANTS A total of 19,299 elementary-school children, 49.7% boys and 50.3% girls, with a mean age of 9.00 years, participated in the survey. MEASUREMENTS A parent-administered questionnaire and the Chinese version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire were completed to quantify media use and to characterize sleep patterns and sleep disturbances. RESULTS A television or computer was present in the bedroom of 18.5% and 18.3% of Chinese school-aged children, respectively. Media presence in the bedroom and media use were positively correlated with later bedtimes, later awakening times, and a shorter duration of sleep during weekdays and weekends. They were also significantly associated with at least 2 types of sleep disturbances. Overall, the most affected sleep behaviors were bedtime and awakening time on the weekends, the duration of sleep during the weekdays, and sleep disorders of bedtime resistance and sleep anxiety. Television viewing > or = 2 hours/day on weekends, with a prevalence of 48.8%, was the predominant risk factor for all sleep disorders with the exception of the sleep duration disorder. Computer use, however, had no correlation with any sleep disorder. CONCLUSION The presence of media in a child's bedroom and media use had a negative effect on children's sleep/wake patterns, duration of sleep, and sleep disorders.
Microbubble Contrast Agents: Targeted Ultrasound Imaging and Ultrasound-Assisted Drug-Delivery Applications

The use of microbubble contrast agents for general tissue delineation and perfusion enjoys steady interest in ultrasound imaging. Microbubbles as contrast materials require a small dosage and show excellent detection sensitivity. Targeting ligands on the surface of microbubbles permit the selective accumulation of these particles in the areas of interest, which show an up-regulated level of receptor molecules on vascular endothelium. Selective contrast imaging of inflammation, ischemia–reperfusion injury, angiogenesis, and thrombosis has been achieved in animal models. Ultrasound-assisted drug delivery and activation, performed by combining microbubble agent containing drug substances or coadministered with pharmaceutical agents (including plasmid DNA for transfection), has been achieved in multiple model systems in vitro and in vivo. Ultrasound and microbubbles-based targeted acceleration of the thrombolytic enzyme action already have reached clinical trials. Overall, microbubble targeting and ultrasound-assisted microbubble-based drug-delivery systems will offer a step toward the application of targeted personalized diagnostics and therapy.
Cancer Therapy : Preclinical VTX-2337 Is a Novel TLR 8 Agonist That Activates NK Cells and Augments ADCC

Purpose: We aim to characterize VTX-2337, a novel Toll-like receptor (TLR) 8 agonist in clinical development, and investigate its potential to improve monoclonal antibody–based immunotherapy that includes the activation of natural killer (NK) cells. Experimental Design:HEK-TLR transfectants were used to compare the selectivity and potency of VTX2337, imiquimod, CpGODN2006, andCL075. The ability of VTX-2337 to induce cytokine and chemokine production from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and activation of specific immune cell subsets was examined. The potential for VTX-2337 to activateNK cell activity through direct and indirect mechanisms was also investigated. Finally, we tested the potential for VTX-2337 to augment antibodydependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), especially in individuals with low-affinity FcgR3A singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Results: VTX-2337 selectively activates TLR8 with an EC50 of about 100 nmol/L and stimulates production of TNFa and interleukin (IL)-12 from monocytes and myeloid dendritic cells (mDC). VTX2337 stimulates IFNg production from NK cells and increases the cytotoxicity of NK cells against K562 and ADCCby rituximab and trastuzumab. Effects of VTX-2337onNK cellswere, in part, fromdirect activation as increased IFNg production and cytotoxic activity were seen with purified NK cells. Finally, VTX-2337 augments ADCC by rituximab in PBMCs with different FcgR3A genotypes (V/V, V/F, and F/F at position
Accelerating cross-validation with total variation and its application to super-resolution imaging

We develop an approximation formula for the cross-validation error (CVE) of a sparse linear regression penalized by ℓ1-norm and total variation terms, which is based on a perturbative expansion utilizing the largeness of both the data dimensionality and the model. The developed formula allows us to reduce the necessary computational cost of the CVE evaluation significantly. The practicality of the formula is tested through application to simulated black-hole image reconstruction on the event-horizon scale with super resolution. The results demonstrate that our approximation reproduces the CVE values obtained via literally conducted cross-validation with reasonably good precision.
Mining Stars with FP-Growth: a Case Study on Bibliographic Data

Traditional data mining approaches look for patterns in a single table, while multirelational data mining aims for identifying patterns that involve multiple tables. In recent years, the most common mining techniques have been extended to the multirelational context, but there are few dedicated to deal with data stored following the multi-dimensional model, in particular the star schema. These schemas are composed of a central huge fact table linking a set of small dimension tables. Joining all the tables before mining may not be a feasible solution due to the usual massive number of records. This work proposes a method for mining frequent patterns on data following a star schema that does not materialize the join between the tables. As it extends the algorithm FP-Growth, it constructs an FP-Tree for each dimension and then combines them through the records in the fact table to form a super FP-Tree. This tree is then mined with FP-growth to find all frequent patterns. The paper presents a case study on bibliographic data, comparing efficiency and scalabilityof our algorithm against FPGrowth.
Medical tourism: its potential impact on the health workforce and health systems in India.

Globally there has been tremendous growth in the health service sector, catalyzed by inadequate national public health services, the spiralling cost of health services and the availability of cheaper alternatives in developing economies. This has led to the globalization of health care worldwide, illustrated by growing cross-border delivery of health services that is estimated to be in excess of US$140 billion (World Trade Organization 2001). In India, health care is one of the largest sectors, in terms of revenue and employment, and this sector is expanding rapidly. During the 1990s, the Indian health care sector grew at a compound annual rate of 16%. Today the total value of the sector is more than US$34 billion. By 2012, India’s health care sector is projected to grow to nearly US$40 billion (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007). A major proportion of this growth is predicted to be attributable to the growth in the business of medical tourism. Medical tourism in India has gained momentum over the past few years. According to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), approximately 150 000 patients arrived in India in 2005 from across the globe for medical treatment, and this is expected to increase by 15% each year (Confederation of Indian Industries and McKinsey & Co. 2002). The medical tourism market in India was estimated at US$333 million in 2004 and has grown by about 25%. It is predicted to become a US$2 billion a year business opportunity by 2012 (Ernst & Young 2006).
Anwendbarkeit und Dosisfindung des Anästhetikums Thiopental für die Narkose des Schweins nach vorhergehender Neuroleptanalgesie

Zusammenfassung Gegenstand und Ziel: Ziel der Arbeit war, die Anwendbarkeit von Thiopental (Trapanal®) für die Anästhesie beim Schwein zu prüfen und eine Dosierung für Tiere verschiedener Gewichtsklassen und Nutzungsrichtungen nach vorhergehender Neuroleptanalgesie zu ermitteln. Material und Methoden: Die Untersuchung erfolgte unter klinischen Bedingungen an insgesamt 90 Schweinen mit Körpermassen zwischen 7,5 und 350 kg. Alle Tiere erhielten eine intramuskuläre Injektion von Ketamin (Ursotamin®, 15 mg/kg KM), Azaperon (Stresnil®, 2 mg/kg KM) und Atropin (0,02 mg/kg KM). Anschließend wurde Thiopental (Trapanal®) schrittweise bis zum Erreichen der chirurgischen Toleranz intravenös verabreicht. Der Narkoseverlauf wurde anhand der Parameter Atem- und Herzfrequenz, Körpertemperatur, periphere Sauerstoffsättigung, Reflexaktivität, Bulbusrotation und Hautsensibilität dokumentiert. Ergebnisse: Die Absatzferkel erreichten das Stadium der chirurgischen Toleranz mit einer durchschnittlichen Thiopentaldosierung von 8,20 ± 2,74 mg/kg KM, die Vormasttiere mit 8,20 ± 2,14 mg/kg KM, die Masttiere mit 7,33 ± 1,10 mg/kg KM, die Zuchttiere mit 3,20 ± 1,41 mg/kg KM und die Minipigs mit 2,79 ± 1,87 mg/kg KM. Klinische Relevanz: Die ermittelten Dosierungen sollen dem Praktiker als Anhaltspunkte dienen, wobei eine Dosierung nach Wirkung unter ständiger Reflexkontrolle unerlässlich bleibt.
When saliva meets acid: chemical warfare at the oesophagogastric junction

In the Western world at least, most upper gastrointestinal cancers now arise from the mucosa near to the oesophagogastric junction. Research into the mechanism of the development of adenocarcinoma at the oesophagogastric junction has mainly focused on the noxious effects of acid and bile. There is however an alternative concept for explaining the location of adenocarcinomas: the cancers are occurring at the anatomical site where saliva encounters acidic gastric juice and their interaction generates reactive nitrogen species which are potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic. At present, it is unclear whether the active nitrite chemistry is exerting detrimental effects on the surrounding tissue but it is important to investigate this possibility as it could reveal new ways of preventing and treating the high prevalence of disease occurring at this anatomical site
Rapid Chair-Side Test for Detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a keystone pathogen of chronic periodontitis, and its intraoral levels have been shown to predict disease progression (activity). An accurate and sensitive chair-side (point of care) test to determine disease activity is critical for early intervention and clinical management of disease. This study aimed to develop a rapid, chair-side, saliva-based detection of P. gingivalis. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the A1-adhesin domain of the P. gingivalis RgpA-Kgp proteinase-adhesin complex were screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and microbial flow cytometry, with 2 mAbs shown to recognize all laboratory and clinical strains tested, without significantly cross-reacting with other oral bacteria tested. With these mAbs, an immunochromatographic device was produced and shown in preclinical studies to detect, in inoculated saliva, all P. gingivalis laboratory strains and clinical isolates tested. The device was able to detect ≥1 × 105 P. gingivalis cells/mL. In a patient age- and sex-matched control clinical cohort, P. gingivalis levels in saliva—as measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction—positively correlated with P. gingivalis levels in subgingival plaque (r = 0.819, P < 0.01) and clinical parameters of disease (r = 0.633, P < 0.01). A positive device result strongly correlated with P. gingivalis levels >1 × 105 cells/mL in saliva (r = 0.778, P < 0.001) and subgingival plaque (r = 0.715, P < 0.001) with sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values, and accuracy levels of 95.0%, 93.3%, 90.5%, 96.6%, and 94.0%, respectively. The device result also positively correlated (r = 0.695, P < 0.01) with disease severity as measured by probing depth. Detection of P. gingivalis in saliva was found to be rapid, taking 3 min from sample collection.
Weight Gain Risk Factor assessment checklist: overview and recommendation for use.

OBJECTIVES Patients with mental illness are at risk for weight gain. Evidence-based risk assessment checklists have the potential to identify patients at risk early in treatment and improve patient outcomes. METHODS The 16-item Weight Gain Risk Factor (WGRF-16) checklist has been developed as a simple brief assessment of key weight gain risk factors during antipsychotic treatment. It consists of factors that were collected on the basis of published research on predictors to be assessed at initiation of, and early in treatment with antipsychotics. RESULTS The factors in the WGRF-16 checklist included age, sex, body mass index, race, appetite, energy intake, a diagnosis of undifferentiated schizophrenia, early clinical response, comorbiditites, social activity, patient insight, housing conditions, weight satisfaction, eating habits, and physical activity level. The WGRF-16 is designed to be repeated 2-3 weeks after initiation of treatment to help to predict an individual's risk of clinically significant weight gain (>7%) during long-term treatment. Further research is required to assess the predictive validity of the checklist. CONCLUSIONS The WGRF-16 checklist is not intended to replace other required monitoring of patients with severe mental disorders but is a facilitator of weight monitoring in conjunction with clinical guidelines.
A novel capacitor-less DRAM cell using thin capacitively-coupled thyristor (TCCT)

A capacitor-less DRAM cell using a thin capacitively-coupled thyristor (TCCT DRAM) is introduced. Experimental results from unit memory cell fabricated in a 130nm SOI logic technology demonstrate Ion/Ioff ratio of 107, non-destructive read; write speed less than 2ns at 125C, and solid retention characteristics. These cell characteristics combined with a small cell area (as low as 9F2) and simple process integration make TCCT DRAM a suitable candidate for high-performance high-density embedded or standalone memory applications