Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cavovarus Foot Surgery Including a Peroneus Longus Transfer: A 2- to 6-Year Follow-up

Background: The primary aim of this longitudinal study was to describe patient satisfaction and clinical outcome at least 2 years following cavovarus foot surgery, utilizing a peroneus longus to brevis transfer, lateral ligament reconstruction, and corrective osteotomies of the first metatarsal, occasionally with the added calcaneal osteotomy. Methods: Sixteen patients (17 feet) were examined in 2010-2012, 3.5 (range, 2-6.5) years after cavovarus foot surgery performed in 2004-2010 utilizing a peroneus longus to brevis transfer, lateral ligament reconstruction, and osteotomy of the first metatarsal with or without additional calcaneal osteotomy. The mean age at surgery was 45 years. Evaluation at baseline before surgery and at follow-up assessed patient satisfaction, using the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot score. At follow-up, visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain at walking was recorded, and a clinical and radiographic evaluation was included. Results: The mean AOFAS score improved from 57 (SD 11) to 83 (SD 12.5) points, with an average score improvement of 25 score points (95% confidence interval 16-35, P < .0001). Postoperative VAS score for pain at walking was mean 2 (range, 0-6). All feet had a residual cavovarus both clinically and on the radiographs. Conclusion: Patient satisfaction and clinical outcome was shown to improve pre- to postsurgery at intermediate follow-up after peroneus longus to brevis transfer and metatarsal osteotomies with or without additional calcaneal osteotomies as part of a cavovarus foot correction. Level of Evidence: Level IV, case series.
Weighing the Effects of Federal Educational Policy on Democracy: Reframing the Discourse on High-Stakes Accountability

The year 2013 marked the 30th anniversary of the report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Its original release was the watershed for a series of federal policies that would increasingly undercut the local control of public schools. The crux of its argument was that public school achievement was declining, threatening the nation's economic preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation. Federal policy makers responded swiftly to the alleged “crisis” identified in the report by crafting a collection of recommendations to states for holding schools and districts accountable for producing educational “excellence. ” The report marked the moment at which federal education policy began to veer away from decades of social science research and welfare programs that acknowledged how powerfully social, cultural, political, and economic conditions determine schools’ capacity for improvement (e.g., Coleman, 1966; Jencks et al., 1972). It also signaled the point at which the locus of power in public education began shifting increasingly into the hands of federal authorities.
Comprehensive Evaluation Method of Job Satisfaction Based on Improved Analytic Hierarchy Process

Summer jobs have become an increasingly popular topic among high school students these days. They provide invaluable enrichment opportunities to make money and gain experience and skills. However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, it is more challenging for high school students to identify the most appropriate summer jobs for them. We first identify related variables and collect data useful to our model. We consider 22 different summer jobs and consider variables including income, company size, risks, comfort, and skills to be gained. For the overall model, we adopt an Analytic Hierarchy Process to evaluate the weights or relative importance of each variable for each individual. Combining the weights we calculate from both models, we then obtain the overall weighting used for each individual. However, considering students usually want to have an array of open options to choose from, we utilize K-Means clustering rather than simply returning the one single “best” job. Then, the best cluster of job options is output to our user. In regards to the fictional characters, we develop 10 different characters that we believe are highly representative of the US high school student population. Application of our developed model onto these fictional characters indicates that our model is fairly effective in identifying the most appropriate summer jobs for students.
Design of an Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for a Pedestal Electric Fan Application

Electrical energy is very important todays. In summer season, the use of the electric fans is increasing which will increase the electricity consumption. By using high efficiency electrical devices, the electricity consumption and the electricity bill will be reduced. An electric fan is a common household appliance whose main component is an electric motor. Generally, the electric motor used in the electric fans is an induction motor. To support energy conservation in terms of saving the electrical energy, it is important to use a high efficiency electric motor. The axial flux permanent magnet motor is proven to be a high performance electric motor which can be applied in various fields. In this study, a single-side axial flux permanent-magnet motor is designed to be used as a main component for a pedestal electric fan. The finite element method from the Ansys Maxwell-3D software is used to obtain the motor performances at 900 rpm, 1200 rpm and 1400 rpm. From the results, the developed average torque at 900 rpm is 0.1742 Nm, at 1200 rpm is 0.1730 Nm and at 1400 rpm is 0.1723 Nm. In term of the efficiency, the motor is better operated always at 1400 rpm, often at 1200 rpm and rarely at 900 rpm.
Richtmyer–Meshkov instability on two-dimensional multi-mode interfaces

Abstract Shock-tube experiments on eight kinds of two-dimensional multi-mode air–SF$_6$ interface with controllable initial conditions are performed to examine the dependence of perturbation growth on initial spectra. We deduce and demonstrate experimentally that the amplitude development of each mode is influenced by the mode-competition effect from quasi-linear stages. It is confirmed that the mode-competition effect is closely related to initial spectra, including the wavenumber, the phase and the initial amplitude of constituent modes. By considering both the mode-competition effect and the high-order harmonics effect, a nonlinear model is established based on initial spectra to predict the amplitude growth of each individual mode. The nonlinear model is validated by the present experiments and data in the literature by considering diverse initial spectra, shock intensities and density ratios. Moreover, the nonlinear model is successfully extended based on the superposition principle to predict the growths of the total perturbation width and the bubble/spike width from quasi-linear to nonlinear stages.
Performance Enhancement of mm-Wave Phased Arrays for Mobile Terminals Through Grounded Coplanar Waveguide Feeding Networks With via Fences

This paper presents a design methodology focused on feeding networks that can improve the insertion loss and coverage efficiencies of millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) phased arrays in mobile terminals. This enhancement is accomplished by using a grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) transmission line (TL) with via fences fabricated on single-layer FR-4 PCB. The exemplified 8-element phased arrays incorporating a compact one-dimensional electromagnetic bandgap (1-D EBG) antenna are fed through a 1 × 8 T-junction power divider, which includes the predetermined phased delay lines. To achieve high radiation performance with minimum leakage power or spurious waves in the T-junction power divider, an island-shape GCPW TL topology with via fences featuring high-impedance surfaces (HIS) is devised and fabricated. For further investigation on the radiation performance and spherical coverage of the mm-Wave mobile antenna, a mobile device prototype equipped with two sets of the 8-element phased arrays is prepared and studied. Through extensive simulation and experimental studies, it can be ascertained that the proposed GCPW TL topology with via fences can improve the realized gain at a coverage efficiency of 50% by more than 3 dB, between 26 and 36 GHz.
dFRAME: A Video Recording-Based Analytical Method for Studying Feeding Rhythm in Drosophila

Animals, from insects to humans, exhibit obvious diurnal rhythmicity of feeding behavior. Serving as a genetic animal model, Drosophila has been reported to display feeding rhythms; however, related investigations are limited due to the lack of suitable and practical methods. Here, we present a video recording-based analytical method, namely, Drosophila Feeding Rhythm Analysis Method (dFRAME). Using our newly developed computer program, FlyFeeding, we extracted the movement track of individual flies and characterized their food-approaching behavior. To distinguish feeding and no-feeding events, we utilized high-magnification video recording to optimize our method by setting cut-off thresholds to eliminate the interference of no-feeding events. Furthermore, we verified that this method is applicable to both female and male flies and for all periods of the day. Using this method, we analyzed long-term feeding status of wild-type and period mutant flies. The results recaptured previously reported feeding rhythms and revealed detailed profiles of feeding patterns in these flies under either light/dark cycles or constant dark environments. Together, our dFRAME method enables a long-term, stable, reliable, and subtle analysis of feeding behavior in Drosophila. High-throughput studies in this powerful genetic animal model will gain great insights into the molecular and neural mechanisms of feeding rhythms.
Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure Defined by Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver Should Include Decompensated Cirrhosis

Background and Aims: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is an acute deterioration of chronic liver disease with high short-term mortality. The inclusion or exclusion of previously decompensated cirrhosis (DC) in the diagnostic criteria of ACLF defined by the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL-ACLF) has not been conclusive. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of decompensated cirrhosis in ACLF. Methods: We retrospectively collected a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of APASL-ACLF (with or without DC) hospitalized from 2012 to 2020 at three liver units in tertiary hospitals. Baseline characteristics and survival data at 28, 90, 180, 360, 540, and 720 days were collected. Results: Of the patients assessed using APASL-ACLF criteria without the diagnostic indicator of chronic liver disease, 689 patients were diagnosed with ACLF, of whom 435 had no decompensated cirrhosis (non-DC-ACLF) and 254 had previously decompensated cirrhosis (DC-ACLF). The 28-, 90-, 180-, 360-, 540-, and 720-day mortality were 24.8, 42.9, 48.7, 57.3, 63.4, and 68.1%, respectively, in DC-ACLF patients, which were significantly higher than in non-DC-ACLF patients (p < 0.05). DC was independently associated with long-term (180/360/540/720 days) but not short-term (28/90 days) mortality in patients with ACLF. Age, total bilirubin, international normalized ratio, and hepatic encephalopathy were independent risk factors for short- and long-term mortality risk in ACLF patients (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with DC-ACLF have a higher mortality rate, especially long-term mortality, compared to non-DC-ACLF patients. Therefore, DC should be included in the diagnostic criteria of APASL-ACLF and treated according to the ACLF management process.
Diagnostic Value of Angiography-Derived IMR for Coronary Microcirculation and Its Prognostic Implication After PCI

Background: Angiography-derived index of microcirculatory resistance (angio-IMR) is an emerging pressure-wire-free index to assess coronary microvascular function, but its diagnostic and prognostic value remains to be elucidated. Methods and Results: The study population consisted of three independent cohorts. The internal diagnostic cohort enrolled 53 patients with available hyperemic microcirculatory resistance (HMR) calculated from myocardial blood flow and pressure. The external diagnostic cohort included 35 ischemia and no obstructive coronary artery disease (INOCA) patients and 45 controls. The prognostic cohort included 138 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who received PCI. Angio-IMR was calculated after the estimation of angiography-derived fractional flow reserve (angio-FFR) using the equation of angio-IMR = estimated hyperemic Pa × angio-FFR × [vessel length/(K × Vdiastole)]. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiac death or readmission due to heart failure at 28 months after index procedure. Angio-IMR demonstrated a moderate correlation with HMR (R = 0.74, p < 0.001) and its diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve to diagnose INOCA were 79.8, 83.1, 78.0, and 0.84, respectively, with a best cut-off of 25.1. Among prognostic cohort, patients with angio-IMR ≥25.1 showed a significantly higher risk of cardiac death or readmission due to heart failure than those with an angio-IMR <25.1 (18.6 vs. 5.4%, adjusted HR 9.66, 95% CI 2.04–45.65, p = 0.004). Angio-IMR ≥25.1 was an independent predictor for cardiac death or readmission due to heart failure (HR 11.15, 95% CI 1.76–70.42, p = 0.010). Conclusions: Angio-IMR showed a moderate correlation with HMR and high accuracy to predict microcirculatory dysfunction. Angio-IMR measured after PCI predicts the risk of cardiac death or readmission due to heart failure in patients with CAD. Clinical Trial Registration: Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Angiography-derived IMR (CHART-MiCro), NCT04825028.
A Systematic Review of Transcriptional Dysregulation in Huntington’s Disease Studied by RNA Sequencing

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of polyglutamine repeats in exon 1 of the Huntingtin gene. Transcriptional dysregulation accompanied by epigenetic alterations is an early and central disease mechanism in HD yet, the exact mechanisms and regulators, and their associated gene expression programs remain incompletely understood. This systematic review investigates genome-wide transcriptional studies that were conducted using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology in HD patients and models. The review protocol was registered at the Open Science Framework (OSF). The biomedical literature and gene expression databases, PubMed and NCBI BioProject, Array Express, European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA), respectively, were searched using the defined terms specified in the protocol following the PRISMA guidelines. We conducted a complete literature and database search to retrieve all RNA-seq-based gene expression studies in HD published until August 2020, retrieving 288 articles and 237 datasets from PubMed and the databases, respectively. A total of 27 studies meeting the eligibility criteria were included in this review. Collectively, comparative analysis of the datasets revealed frequent genes that are consistently dysregulated in HD. In postmortem brains from HD patients, DNAJB1, HSPA1B and HSPB1 genes were commonly upregulated across all brain regions and cell types except for medium spiny neurons (MSNs) at symptomatic disease stage, and HSPH1 and SAT1 genes were altered in expression in all symptomatic brain datasets, indicating early and sustained changes in the expression of genes related to heat shock response as well as response to misfolded proteins. Specifically in indirect pathway medium spiny neurons (iMSNs), mitochondria related genes were among the top uniquely dysregulated genes. Interestingly, blood from HD patients showed commonly differentially expressed genes with a number of brain regions and cells, with the highest number of overlapping genes with MSNs and BA9 region at symptomatic stage. We also found the differential expression and predicted altered activity of a set of transcription factors and epigenetic regulators, including BCL6, EGR1, FOSL2 and CREBBP, HDAC1, KDM4C, respectively, which may underlie the observed transcriptional changes in HD. Altogether, our work provides a complete overview of the transcriptional studies in HD, and by data synthesis, reveals a number of common and unique gene expression and regulatory changes across different cell and tissue types in HD. These changes could elucidate new insights into molecular mechanisms of differential vulnerability in HD. Systematic Review Registration: https://osf.io/pm3wq
Role of Known Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Channels in Modulating Cardiac Mechanobiology

The transient receptor potential (TRP) channels have been described in almost every mammalian cell type. Several members of the Vanilloid (TRPV) subtype have been found to play important roles in modulating cardiac structure and function through Ca2+ handling in response to systemic and local mechanobiological cues. In this review, we will consider the most studied TRPV channels in the cardiovascular field; transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 as a modulator of cardiac hypertrophy; transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 as a structural and functional protein; transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 in the development of hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis; and transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 in its roles modulating the fibrotic and functional responses of the heart to pressure overload. Lastly, we will also review the potential overlapping roles of these channels with other TRP proteins as well as the advances in translational and clinical arenas associated with TRPV channels.
Online and Blended Teaching Readiness Assessment (OBTRA)

The rapid shift to online teaching and learning in postsecondary education during COVID-19 forced institutions to provide additional support and resources to instructors, especially those who were teaching online for the first time. The Online and Blended Teaching Readiness Assessment (OBTRA) was designed to assess the perceptions and competencies of instructors undertaking the move to online teaching to identify strengths and limitations. The present study identified the underlying factor structure and evidence of construct validity of the OBTRA for a sample of 223 postsecondary instructors (data collected from November 2019 to January 2020). An exploratory factor analysis revealed 5 factors that were interpreted as Technology, Engagement and Communication, Pedagogy, Perceptions of Teaching Online, and Organization. OBTRA scores were also found to be positively correlated with scores obtained from measures of instructional practices and teacher efficacy. The next steps in the development of the OBTRA are to examine how it can be used to enable academic units to provide the most appropriate support and resources aligned with instructor needs and to guide instructors to the initial steps required for successful transition to online teaching.
Asthma Phenotypes and Host Risk Factors Associated With Various Asthma-Related Outcomes in Health Workers

Background: Work-related asthma phenotypes in health workers (HWs) exposed to cleaning agents have not been investigated extensively as other occupational exposures. This study aimed to describe asthma phenotypes and to identify important host risk factors associated with various asthma-related outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 699 HWs was conducted in two large tertiary hospitals. A total of 697 HWs completed questionnaire interviews. Sera collected from 682 HWs were analyzed for atopy (Phadiatop) and IgE to occupational allergens (NRL—Hev b5, Hev b6.02; chlorhexidine and ortho-phthalaldehyde—OPA). Methacholine (MCT), bronchodilator challenge (BDR) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) were performed. An asthma symptom score (ASS) used five asthma-related symptoms reported in the past 12 months. Current asthma was based on use of asthma medication or an asthma attack or being woken up by an attack of shortness of breath in the past 12 months. Nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness (NSBH) was defined as having either a positive MCT or a significant bronchodilator response. Two continuous indices of NSBH [continuous index of responsiveness (CIR) and dose-response slope (DRS)] were calculated. Results: The prevalence of current asthma was 10%, atopic asthma (6%) and non-atopic asthma (4%). Overall, 2% of subjects had work-related asthma. There was a weak positive association between NSBH and FeNO [CIR: Beta coefficient (β) = 0.12; CI: 0.03–0.22 and DRS: β = 0.07; CI: 0.03–0.12]. Combining FeNO ≥ 50 ppb with a BDR [mean ratio (MR) = 5.89; CI: 1.02–34.14] or with NSBH (MR = 4.62; CI: 1.16–18.46) correlated better with ASS than FeNO alone (MR = 2.23; CI: 1.30–3.85). HWs with current asthma were twice as likely to be atopic. FeNO was positively associated with atopy (OR = 3.19; CI: 1.59–6.39) but negatively associated with smoking status (GMR = 0.76; CI: 0.62–0.94). Most HWs sensitized to occupational allergens were atopic. Conclusion: Atopic asthma was more prevalent than non-atopic asthma in HWs. Most asthma-related outcomes were positively associated with allergic predictors suggesting a dominant role for IgE mechanisms for work-related symptoms and asthma associated with sensitization to OPA or chlorhexidine.
Integrating Public Participation, Transparency and Accountability Into Governance of Marketing Authorisation for Genome Editing Products

Public participation, transparency and accountability are three of the pillars of good governance. These pillars become particularly important for innovative, personalised health technologies, because of the tendency of these technologies to raise distinct scientific, ethical, legal and social issues. Genome editing is perhaps the most personal of all innovative health technologies, involving precise modifications to an individual’s genome. This article focuses on the adequacy of current requirements for public participation, transparency and accountability in the governance of the market authorisation for genome edited products. Although clinical trials for genome edited products are only just underway, lessons can be drawn from the marketing approvals pathways for related gene therapy products. This article provides a broad overview of the regulatory pathways that have been adopted by the US Food and Drugs Administration, the European Medicines Authority, and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration for reviewing gene therapy products for marketing approval. This analysis focuses on the extent to which public participation processes and transparency and accountability of review pathways are incorporated into marketing approval policy and practice. Following this review, the article proposes the application of Sheila Jasanoff’s “technologies of humility” as a foundation for meaningfully incorporating these pillars of good governance into regulatory processes for the review of products of genome editing. We conclude by articulating clear mechanisms for operationalising technologies of humility in the context of public participation, transparency and accountability, providing a blueprint for future policy development.