Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Race, treatment, and long-term survival from prostate cancer in an equal-access medical care delivery system.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate long-term survival of black and white prostate cancer patients in an equal-access medical care system to help distinguish biological from medical and social explanations of mortality differences. DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective study of US Department of Defense tumor registry patients with prostate cancer. Ethnicity, age, diagnosis, staging, risk factors, treatment, and survival end points were extracted. PATIENTS Prostate cancer patients (N = 1606; 7.5% black, 92.5% white) who were active-duty personnel, dependents, or retirees eligible for care in the military medical system. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Racial differences in tumor stage and grade, risk factors, recurrence, and treatment wait time (time between initial diagnosis and initial treatment); influence of stage, grade, treatment, wait time, age, and race on survival. RESULTS No differences were found in behavioral risk factors or tumor grade or size, but blacks entered active treatment (P < .001) and exhibited a higher relative risk of cancer (P = .01) in younger age groups, presented with higher stage (P < .001), and demonstrated increased progression in distant metastatic disease (P = .01). No significant differences were detected in overall wait time. When adjusted for stage, no difference was found in type of treatment. Overall, stage, grade, and age were found to affect survival (P = .04 to P < .001), but race did not. When analyzed by stage, blacks demonstrated a clear trend of longer survival for distant metastatic disease (P = .04 to P = .06). This trend was confirmed using Kaplan-Meier estimates (P = .04, likelihood ratio). CONCLUSIONS This analysis suggests that in an equal-access medical care system there are no stage-specific differences in treatment between black and white prostate cancer patients. Survival among blacks is similar to that among whites and may surpass it for high-stage disease.
Reducing the burden of atopic dermatitis--authors' response.

We read with interest the stimulating comments by Dr Wjst1 concerning our prebiotic study in infants at risk for allergy.2 Because this was the first study using prebiotics for the prevention of atopic dermatitis, our statistical consultant proposed that the p value should be calculated “conservatively”. However, we agree that the single-sided test is more appropriate, which indeed changes the p value from 0.014 (as given in the paper) to 0.008. We were aware of the fact that the risks by parental history of various allergic diseases are not interchangeable, as described in the paper by Dold et al . 3 We recorded the allergic diseases of the parents. There was …
预处理前多参数流式细胞术监测的微小残留病对急性髓系白血病异基因造血干细胞移植预后的影响

目的 分析预处理前多参数流式细胞术（MFC）监测的骨髓微小残留病（MRD）对急性髓系白血病（AML）异基因造血干细胞移植（allo-HSCT）预后的影响，探讨MFC监测MRD在AML allo-HSCT预后评估中的价值。 方法 回顾性分析2012年4月至2015年3月行allo-HSCT的186例AML患者，预处理前骨髓细胞形态学均达第1次完全缓解（CR1）。 采用8色MFC对预处理前骨髓进行MRD检测，任何水平异常均定义为MRD阳性。 结果 ①186例AML患者中151例MRD阴性；35例MRD阳性，其中25例MRD<1%，10例MRD为1%~3%。 ②2年总体无病生存（DFS）率为80. 0%（95% CI 68.5%~92.3%）。 与MRD阴性组比较，MRD阳性组DFS率低[62.9%（95% CI 50.6%~75.2%）对88. 9%（95%CI 76.6%~100.0%），P<0.001]、复发率高[11.4%（95%CI 4.1%~29.0%）对3. 3%（95%CI 0.6%~20.9%），P=0.003]、非复发死亡率（NRM）高[25.7%（95%CI 8.1%~43.3%）对7. 9%（95%CI 1.3%~26.5%），P=0.001]。 继发性AML组DFS率低（P=0.004），NRM高（P=0.003）。 ③多因素分析结果显示预处理前MFC检测的MRD阳性是DFS[HR=4.565（95%CI 2.918~9.482），P<0.001]、复发[HR=5.854（95% CI 1.538~22.288），P=0.010]及非复发死亡[HR=3.379（95%CI 1.361~8.391），P=0.009]的独立危险因素。 结论 预处理前MFC监测的MRD阳性是影响allo-HSCT治疗CR1-AML独立危险因素，MFC监测MRD可用于AML allo-HSCT的预后评估。
Teaching cardiac examination skills. A controlled trial of two methods.

OBJECTIVE To determine if structured teaching of bedside cardiac examination skills improves medical residents' examination technique and their identification of key clinical findings. DESIGN Firm-based single-blinded controlled trial. SETTING Inpatient service at a university-affiliated public teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS Eighty Internal Medicine residents. METHODS The study assessed 2 intervention groups that received 3-hour bedside teaching sessions during their 4-week rotation using either: (1) a traditional teaching method, "demonstration and practice" (DP) (n=26) or (2) an innovative method, "collaborative discovery" (CD) (n=24). The control group received their usual ward teaching sessions (n=25). The main outcome measures were scores on examination technique and correct identification of key clinical findings on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). RESULTS All 3 groups had similar scores for both their examination technique and identification of key findings in the preintervention OSCE. After teaching, both intervention groups significantly improved their technical examination skills compared with the control group. The increase was 10% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4% to 17%) for CD versus control and 12% (95% CI 6% to 19%) for DP versus control (both P<.005) equivalent to an additional 3 to 4 examination skills being correctly performed. Improvement in key findings was limited to a 5% (95% CI 2% to 9%) increase for the CD teaching method, CD versus control P=. 046, equivalent to the identification of an additional 2 key clinical findings. CONCLUSIONS Both programs of bedside teaching increase the technical examination skills of residents but improvements in the identification of key clinical findings were modest and only demonstrated with a new method of teaching.
Momentos de inovação em psicoterapia: Das narrativas aos processos dialógicos

Partindo da proposta de Frank (1961), de que a mudanca psicoterapeutica envolve uma mudanca nos significados, sugerimos que os significados se organizam em narrativas cujos autores ( I-positions , segundo Hermans) contam de uma forma activa as suas historias. No sentido de estudar a mudanca em psicoterapia, e partindo destas assuncoes, desenvolvemos o Sistema de Codificacao de Momentos de Inovacao, que fornece um metodo fiavel e sistematico de identificar as novidades que emergem nas sessoes de psicoterapia, que denominamos de Momentos de Inovacao (MIs). Estes momentos de inovacao emergem na psicoterapia e contribuem para interromper a dominância das auto-narrativas problematicas responsaveis pelo sofrimento psicologico, permitindo a narracao de novas historias e a emergencia de novas posicoes-do-Eu ( I-positions ). Apos a descricao deste sistema de codificacao, apresentamos um modelo de mudanca e um modelo de estabilidade terapeutica, fundamentado nos resultados empiricos obtidos ate ao momento. Partindo destas premissas, exploramos duas questoes centrais relevantes: (1) Quais os processos que bloqueiam o desenvolvimento de momentos de inovacao da fase intermedia ate a fase final da terapia, particularmente no que respeita a reconceptualizacao? (2) Por que razao sera a reconceptualizacao central no processo de mudanca? Palavras-chave: Narrativa, Momentos de inovacao, Psicoterapia.
Modélisation à partir d'Images

Dans ce chapitre, nous nous interessons a la modelisation d'objets et de scenes tridimensionnelles a partir d'images. La vision par ordinateur, domaine qui a beaucoup evolue ces dernieres annees, propose dorenavant de nombreuses approches permettant de reconstruire les elements d'une scene a partir d'images (photographies) de cette derniere. Nous precisons ici le contexte theorique necessaire pour comprendre ces differentes methodes, en particulier les outils geometriques qui sont utilises, puis nous introduisons les grands principes mis en oeuvre par ces methodes. Nous illustrons ces principes par la presentation de plusieurs methodes populaires de modelisation a partir d'une ou de plusieurs images.
Paper on Ranking of Product on Big Data

Recommendation system has been used by enormous users. It used commonly in recent years, and are used in a variable areas in many popular applications which comprise of movies, songs, bulletin, files, research courses, online shopping, social networking sites, and products recommendation. Gradually, the extent of consumers, products and facts has mature rapidly, the big data scrutiny problem for examination of recommender systems. Here we are evaluating most efficient recommendation system. Conventional recommender systems frequently suffer from deficiency of scalability, efficiency and real time recommendation problems while processing or analysing documents taking place at huge scale. To get rid from these problems, a recommendation system is implemented in Apache Hadoop and Spark including MapReduce paradigm for Bigdata. Proposed Framework can have considerable enhancement in performance associated to traditional tools.
A content analysis of chronic diseases social groups on Facebook and Twitter.

Research on the use of social networks for health-related purposes is limited. This study aims to characterize the purpose and use of Facebook and Twitter groups concerning colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and diabetes. We searched in Facebook ( www.facebook.com ) and Twitter ( www.twitter.com ) using the terms "colorectal cancer," "breast cancer," and "diabetes. " Each important group has been analyzed by extracting its network name, number of members, interests, and Web site URL. We found 216 breast cancer groups, 171 colorectal cancer groups, and 527 diabetes groups on Facebook and Twitter. The largest percentage of the colorectal cancer groups (25.58%) addresses prevention, similarly to breast cancer, whereas diabetes groups are mainly focused on research issues (25.09%). There are more social groups about breast cancer and diabetes on Facebook (around 82%) than on Twitter (around 18%). Regarding colorectal cancer, the difference is less: Facebook had 62.23%, and Twitter 31.76%. Social networks are a useful tool for supporting patients suffering from these three diseases. Regarding the use of these social networks for disease support purposes, Facebook shows a higher usage rate than Twitter, perhaps because Twitter is newer than Facebook, and its use is not so generalized.
Defining the nature of the cerebral abnormalities in the premature infant: a qualitative magnetic resonance imaging study.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to define qualitatively the nature and extent of white and gray matter abnormalities in a longitudinal population-based study of infants with very low birth weight. Perinatal factors were then related to the presence and severity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities. METHODS From November 1998 to December 2000, 100 consecutive premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Christchurch Women's Hospital were recruited (98% eligible) after informed parental consent to undergo an MRI scan at term equivalent. The scans were analyzed by a single neuroradiologist experienced in pediatric MRI, with a second independent scoring of the MRI using a combination of criteria for white matter (cysts, signal abnormality, loss of volume, ventriculomegaly, corpus callosal thinning, myelination) and gray matter (gray matter signal abnormality, gyration, subarachnoid space). Results were analyzed against individual item scores as well as the presence of moderate-severe white matter score, total gray matter score, and total brain score. RESULTS The mean gestational age was 27.9+/-2.4 weeks (range, 23-32 weeks), and mean birth weight was 1063+/-292 g. The greatest univariate predictors for moderate-severe white matter abnormality were lower gestational age (odds ratio [OR], 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-1.7; P<.01), maternal fever (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.1-4.6; P<.04), proven sepsis in the infant at delivery (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1-3.6; P=0.03), inotropic support (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.5-4.5; P<.001), patent ductus arteriosus (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.2-3.8; P=.01), grade III/IV intraventricular hemorrhage (P=.015), and the occurrence of a pneumothorax (P=.05). There was a significant protective effect of intrauterine growth restriction (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.23-0.99; P=.04). Gray matter abnormality was highly related to the presence and severity of white matter abnormality. A unique pattern of cerebral abnormality consisting of significant diffuse white matter atrophy, ventriculomegaly, immature gyral development, and enlarged subarachnoid space was found in 10 of 11 infants with birth gestation <26 weeks. Given the later outcome of these infants, this pattern may have very high risk for later global neurodevelopmental disability. CONCLUSIONS This MRI study confirms a high incidence of cerebral white matter abnormality at term in an unselected population of premature infants, which is predominantly a result of noncystic injury in the extremely immature infant. We confirm that the major perinatal risk factors for white matter abnormality are related to perinatal infection, particularly maternal fever and infant sepsis, and hypotension with inotrope use. We have defined a distinct pattern of diffuse white and gray matter abnormality in the extremely immature infant.
Automatic Assessment and Error Detection of Shadowing Speech: Case of English Spoken by Japanese Learners

Shadowing is a task where the subject is required to repeat the presented speech as s/he hears it. Although shadowing is cognitively a challenging task, it is considered as an efficient way of language training since it includes processes of listening, speaking and comprehension simultaneously. Our previous study realized automatic assessment of shadowing speech using the average of Goodness of Pronunciation (GOP) scores. But the fact that shadowing often includes broken utterances makes this approach insufficient. This study attempts to improve automatic assessment and, at the same time, give corrective feedbacks to learners based on error detection. We first manually labeled shadowing speech of 10 female and 10 male speakers and defined ten typical error types including word omission, substitution etc. Forced alignment with adjusted grammar and GOP scores are adopted to detect word omission errors and poorly pronounced words. In the experiments, GOP scores, Word Recognition Rate (WRR), silence ratio, forced alignment log-likelihood scores, word omission rate are used to predict the overall proficiency of the individual speakers. The mean correlation coefficient between automatic scores and the speaker's TOEIC scores is 0.81, improved by 13% relatively. The detection accuracy of word omission is 73%.
The Influence of Individual, Contextual, and Social Factors on Perceived Behavioral Control of Information Technology: A Field Theory Approach

Organizations are increasingly concerned about ensuring that workers have sufficient sense of control over the information technology (IT) that they use. However, we know little about the antecedents of the end user's perceived behavioral control (PBC) with respect to IT. Drawing on Kurt Lewin's field theory, the present study responds to this concern by formulating and testing a model whereby individual, contextual, and social forces influence PBC directly and indirectly via computer anxiety. In order to test the model, a survey was conducted in France with IT end users enrolled in professional training programs. The results show that increasing autonomy, offering appropriate managerial support, reducing work overload, and perceived innovativeness with IT can together reduce computer anxiety and increase PBC. These findings emphasize the forces that managers can manipulate in order to foster users' feelings of control with respect to IT in the workplace. Following this, the paper makes three main contributions to research. First, it increases our knowledge of the nomological net surrounding PBC by shedding light on the joint influences of internal, external, and social forces on this variable. Second, it reveals the role of computer anxiety, emphasizing that it is an important conduit through which these forces influence workers' PBC. Third, the paper shows how Lewin's field theory can help to create richer and less fragmented models in order to capture more fully the determinants of IT adoption and adaptation. The practical implications regarding the actions that managers can take in order to increase workers' PBC are discussed.
Effect of different impairment criteria on prevalence of “objective” mild cognitive impairment in a community sample.

OBJECTIVES Objective cognitive impairment determined by neuropsychological test performance is a core criterion for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), yet no consensus has been reached on how this criterion should be operationalized. The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of varying the criteria used to determine cognitive impairment (CI) on prevalence and case definition and to examine comparability of different criteria. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Sydney Memory and Ageing Study, Australia. PARTICIPANTS Nine hundred eighty-seven nondemented community-dwelling adults aged 70-90 years were enrolled in this study. MEASUREMENTS Participants received a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery measuring four cognitive domains. They were classified as normal or cognitively impaired by applying two types of “impairment” rule that varied the statistical threshold for impairment and the criteria used to determine impairment for each cognitive domain. Prevalence of four MCI cognitive subtypes was determined according to nine different criteria and two types of normative data. Rates of CI were compared in persons of English-speaking and non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB). RESULTS Prevalence of CI ranged from 4 to 70% depending on the impairment criteria used. Agreement between different criteria was poor to moderate. This lack of consistency had greatest impact on MCI subtype classifications with many being reclassified as “normal” or into a different subtype when stringency of the criteria was increased or decreased. Higher rates of impairment were found in persons of NESB across all cognitive domains. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of CI was strongly affected by the choice of neuropsychological assessment parameters. Guidelines for operationalizing CI are required.
Human brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) genes, splicing patterns, and assessments of associations with substance abuse and Parkinson's Disease

Potential roles for variants in the human BDNF gene in human brain disorders are supported by findings that include: (a) influences that this trophic factor can exert on important neurons, brain regions, and neurotransmitter systems, (b) changes in BDNF expression that follow altered neuronal activity and drug treatments, and (c) linkages or associations between genetic markers in or near BDNF and human traits and disorders that include depression, schizophrenia, addictions, and Parkinson's disease. We now report assembly of more than 70 kb of BDNF genomic sequence, delineation of 7 noncoding and 1 coding human BDNF exons, elucidation of BDNF transcripts that are initiated at several alternative promoters, identification of BDNF mRNA splicing patterns, elucidation of novel sequences that could contribute to activity‐dependent BDNF mRNA transcription, targeting and/or translation, elucidation of tissue‐specific and brain‐region‐specific use of the alternative human BDNF promoters and splicing patterns, identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), and simple sequence length polymorphism (SSLP) BDNF genomic variants and identification of patterns of restricted haplotype diversity at the BDNF locus. We also identified type 2 BDNF‐locus transcripts that are coded by a novel gene that is overlapped with type 1 BDNF gene and transcribed in reverse orientation with several alternative splicing isoforms. Association studies of BDNF variants reveal no associations with Parkinson's disease. Comparisons between substance abusers and controls reveal modest associations. These findings increase interest in this diverse human gene. Published 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Leptin Correlation with Obesity, Diabetes and Gender in a Population from Faisalabad, Pakistan

Background: Leptin is an important adipokine hormone released from adipose tissue which is associated with obesity and diabetes in different populations. Objective: To investigate the serum leptin concentrations for its correlation with diabetes, obesity and gender in a small population from Faisalabad, Pakistan. Methods: From our sample collection of more than 500 subjects for metabolic disorders research, we have carefully selected 80 subjects for the present case-control comparison study. These subjects were grouped on the basis of diabetes, obesity and gender status. Equal number of subjects was taken for each comparison group to minimize the effects of confounding factors. For diabetes, these eighty subjects were divided into two groups (n=40 non-diabetic and n=40 type 2 diabetics). While considering obesity, these eighty subject were divided on the basis of their Body Mass Index (n=40 non-obese and n=40 obese). For gender based analysis, the groups based on diabetes and obesity were made (n=20 in each sub-group) and further analyzed while keeping n=10 males and n=10 females in each sub-group. Serum leptin and biochemical analytes were measured for all subjects and data were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 software. Results: Leptin levels were found significantly low in nonobese as compared to obese subjects (Mean ± SD: 5.2 ± 2.0 vs. 7.1 ± 2.1 ng/ml, p<0.001). No significant difference was found for non-diabetics and diabetics (6.4 ± 2.4 vs. 5.9 ± 2.2 ng/ml, p=0.35). Gender dimorphism showed significant differences for leptin (p<0.0001). Spearman’s analysis showed strong correlation between leptin and obesity (r=0.43, p=0.0001), gender (r=0.24, p=0.02) irrespective of obesity or diabetes. Conclusion: The leptin levels were high in obese and female subjects.
Caracterización automática de especies de madera mediante técnicas de clasificación de imágenes

Caracterizar un material consiste en determinar los atributos peculiares del mismo de modo que se distinga claramente de los demas. El material en esta tesis va a ser la madera, en forma de chapas faciles de escanear para asi obtener sus propiedades fotometricas y texturales y su dimension fractal, como peculiaridades de cada una de ellas. El problema consiste en que las diferencias entre especies pueden llegar a ser menores que las existentes dentro de una misma especie o individuo. Para resolverlo y poder identificar la especie a la que pertenece cada una de las muestras se va a recurrir al uso de tecnicas de reconocimiento de patrones basadas en la teoria de la decision. Se propone en este trabajo de investigacion el poner las bases para la automatizacion del proceso de clasificacion de maderas, de bajo coste por el uso de un escaner y un ordenador personal junto con paquetes informaticos de dominio publico (ImageJ y Weka). Las digitalizacion de las chapas de madera y el posterior procesado de las mismas para obtener las caracteristicas predichas a partir de las cuales poder clasificar cada especie forman la base fundamental de esta tesis. Sin embargo, se plantea en este trabajo establecer la influencia que tienen estos mismos parametros medidos sobre las componentes de color de la imagen, junto con las propiedades multiescala de la madera. Para estas se han desarrollado los procedimientos de creacion de las correspondientes imagenes, basados en la microscopia de contraste por interferencia diferencial y en los patrones periodicos subyacentes a toda superficie. La combinacion de todas estas imagenes y su procesado hace que se formen patrones de gran dimension, que requieren de una reduccion de la matriz de datos. Diferentes algoritmos llevan a obtener distintos patrones, con los que se prueban clasificadores lineales, basados en arboles de decision, con entrenamiento basado en casos, lineales o combinados aleatorios de varios del mismo tipo. Los resultados obtenidos estan a la altura de los conseguidos por otros investigadores, si bien estos utilizan equipos de elevado coste o, en su defecto, complicados procesos. Estos resultados, ademas, se presentan con un alto grado de fiabilidad ya que en la mayoria de los trabajos revisados el numero de especies utilizado es mas limitado que en el caso presente.