Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of grouping complications on mortality in traumatic brain injury: A nationwide population-based study

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important health issue with high mortality. Various complications of physiological and cognitive impairment may result in disability or death after TBI. Grouping of these complications could be treated as integrated post-TBI syndromes. To improve risk estimation, grouping TBI complications should be investigated, to better predict TBI mortality. This study aimed to estimate mortality risk based on grouping of complications among TBI patients. Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database was used in this study. TBI was defined according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes: 801–804 and 850–854. The association rule data mining method was used to analyze coexisting complications after TBI. The mortality risk of post-TBI complication sets with the potential risk factors was estimated using Cox regression. A total 139,254 TBI patients were enrolled in this study. Intracerebral hemorrhage was the most common complication among TBI patients. After frequent item set mining, the most common post-TBI grouping of complications comprised pneumonia caused by acute respiratory failure (ARF) and urinary tract infection, with mortality risk 1.55 (95% C.I.: 1.51–1.60), compared with those without the selected combinations. TBI patients with the combined combinations have high mortality risk, especially those aged <20 years with septicemia, pneumonia, and ARF (HR: 4.95, 95% C.I.: 3.55–6.88). We used post-TBI complication sets to estimate mortality risk among TBI patients. According to the combinations determined by mining, especially the combination of septicemia with pneumonia and ARF, TBI patients have a 1.73-fold increased mortality risk, after controlling for potential demographic and clinical confounders. TBI patients aged<20 years with each combination of complications also have increased mortality risk. These results could provide physicians and caregivers with important information to increase their awareness about sequences of clinical syndromes among TBI patients, to prevent possible deaths among these patients.
Data Visualization with IBM Watson Analytics for Global Cancer Trends Comparison from World Health Organization

Visual analytics is widely used to explore data patterns and trends. This work leverages cancer data collected by World Health Organization (WHO) across a hundred of cancer registries worldwide. In this study, the authors present a visual analytics platform, IBM Watson Analytics, to explore the patterns of global cancer incidence. They included 26 forms of cancers from eight different geographic regions which are United States, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Sweden, Croatia, Japan, Hong Kong and China (Shanghai). An interactive interface was applied to plot a choropleth map to show global cancer distribution, and line charts to demonstrate historical cancer trends over 29 years. Subgroup analyses were conducted for different age groups. With real-time interactive features, one can easily explore the data with a selection of any cancer type, gender, age group, or geographical region. This platform is running on the cloud, so it can handle data in huge volumes, and is accessible by any computer connected to the Internet. IBM Watson Analytics released a latest version named â€œIBM Watson Analytics New User Experienceâ€ in the end of 2016. The new version streamlined the process to add data, discover data meaning and display result visually. The authors discuss the new features in the end of this paper.
XXXombies: economies of desire and disgust

Drawing on the well-established understanding of the zombie as metaphor for the deadening effects of consumer capitalism, this chapter seeks to account for three distinct changes that contextualise 21st century zombie fiction. The first is situational: the global economic crisis has amplified the anxieties that inspired Romero's critique of consumer capitalism in Dawn of the Dead (1978). The second is intellectual: as Chapman and Anderson (2011) note, there has been an “explosion of research on all aspects of disgust” in recent years. The third concerns the subgenre itself: zombies have become increasingly sexualised since the late 1990s. These issues intersect in a numerous recent zombie films - including Zombie Strippers! (2008), Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! (2008), Big Tits Zombie (2010), and Zombies Vs Strippers (2012) - that are centred around or within strip clubs. Stripping epitomises the logic of consumer capitalism, offering tantalising promises but little physical satisfaction. Stripping translates sexual desire into a voyeuristic transaction, evacuated of corporeal messiness. The zombie’s decomposing body epitomises disgust, and its presence in the strip-club disturbs the fantasy typically provided within that context. In the zombie infected strip-club, intimate contact is damaging rather than desirous. In these respects, zombies hypostatize numerous tensions that are usually masked by fantasy and financial exchange. In doing so, these zombies reify the horrors of late capitalism. Their disgusting bodies disrupt the foundational logic of consumerism qua desire.
HTLV-I screening in Britain

The human T cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) was isolated nearly 17 years ago from a patient who had what is now called adult T cell leukaemia/lymphoma. This aggressive condition responds poorly to chemotherapy, with a median survival of only a few months.1 HTLV-I is also unequivocally linked with tropical spastic paraparesis, a progressive, unremitting myelopathy for which there is no specific treatment. HTLV-I is transmitted through sexual intercourse (especially from men to women), breast feeding, sharing intravenous needles, and blood transfusion. Between 12.8% and 63.4% of people receiving blood infected with HTLV-I will seroconvert.2 3 Fresh blood products (those less than six days old) have a transmission efficiency of 80%. 2 Transfusion services in Britain do not currently screen blood donors for HTLV-I. This policy is based on a low prevalence of HTLV-I among British blood donors (ranging from 1 in 19000 donors in North London to 1 in 80000 in Yorkshire), a low risk of developing the disease after infection, and a high incidence of false positive results on serological tests for HTLV-I.4 5 But new evidence should prompt a reappraisal of the policy. HTLV-I is endemic in south west Japan, the Caribbean basin, Africa, the southern United States, and parts of South America. The virus has generally been considered to …
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers and the risk of major adverse cardiac events in patients with diabetes and prior stroke: a nationwide study

Objective: Renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system blockers are the preferred antihypertensive medications in patients with diabetes and prior stroke. This study aimed to compare the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) in terms of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in patients with diabetes who survived ischemic stroke. Methods: We conducted an observational, nationwide, propensity score-matched cohort study using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients aged at least 20 years with type 2 diabetes who initiated ACEI (n = 15 959) or ARB (n = 23 929) use within 90 days after discharge for first ischemic stroke between January 2000 and December 2011 were allocated to ACEI and ARB groups, respectively. The primary outcomes were MACEs (myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and cardiovascular mortality). The secondary outcomes were hospitalization for acute kidney injury and hyperkalemia. Intention-to-treat and as-treated models were used. Results: Intention-to-treat analysis showed no significant difference between the ACEI and ARB groups in the outcomes of MACEs [hazard ratio (HR), 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.95–1.04], including ischemic stroke (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.97–1.06), myocardial infarction (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.95–1.18), and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91–1.06). As-treated analysis produced similar results. Additionally, the groups showed no difference in the risk of hospitalization for acute kidney injury or hyperkalemia. Conclusion: Our study supports the hypothesis that the risks of MACEs and two additional secondary outcomes in patients with diabetes who survived ischemic stroke did not differ according to ACEI versus ARB use.
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Pericardial Effusion – A Unique Major Manifestation

Introduction Pericardial effusion is common in the setting of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, it is rarely its first manifestation. Case description An 82-year-old male presented with abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. Blood analysis revealed elevated systemic inflammatory markers, and an abdominal computed tomography scan revealed non-specific alveolar condensation of the right pulmonary base and pericardial effusion subsequently quantified as medium size by transthoracic echocardiography. A large aetiological panel was requested, with the autoimmunity study revealing high levels of rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated cyclic peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies. Since the patient did not present articular involvement, the initial hypothesis was pericardial effusion due to pneumonia and no specific treatment for RA was started. At follow-up, the pericardial effusion recurred and a pericardiocentesis was performed. The pericardial fluid analysis was sterile, and no malignant cells were identified. A new serological study confirmed high levels of RF and anti-CCP antibodies, and immunomodulatory treatment was initiated. After one year, the pericardial effusion recurred due to non-compliance with immunomodulatory therapy. A surgical pleuro-pericardial window was performed, and the cytological study of the pericardial patch revealed submesothelial thickening and foci of perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate. The patient remained asymptomatic. Discussion After exclusion of a large spectrum of infectious and non-infectious causes and the relapse after suspension of immunomodulatory treatment, the most probable aetiology for the pericardial effusion remains RA. Conclusion Pericardial syndromes can be the first manifestation of AR even in the absence of articular symptoms and this disease must be considered in the aetiological investigation. LEARNING POINTS The occurrence of pericardial effusion in the setting of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a usual finding but this form of extra-articular manifestation is possibly the first and only presentation of the disease. In the case of recurrent pericardial effusion, the diagnosis of RA must be considered in the aetiological investigation even in the absence of more common manifestations of the disease.
Bleach-tolerant Bacterial Species Isolated from Potable Water in Hong Kong

Bleach-tolerant Bacterial Species Isolated from Potable Water in Hong Kong Subramanya Rao1, Mui Kwok Wai2, Wong Ling Tim2 and Leung Polly1* 1Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. 2Department of Building Services Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. SOJ Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Open Access Short communication
Demographic trends in Vietnam.

"Asia's four ¿little dragons' (South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan) have in common not only an economic boom, but also the same rapid demographic transition. How does Vietnam, whose economy is poised for a take-off, stand in this respect? In an attempt to answer this question, [the authors] study the growing corpus of information which a number of ad hoc surveys have added to the 1979 and 1989 population censuses. "
How Do Acquired Political Identities Influence Our Neural Processing toward Others within the Context of a Trust Game?

Trust is essential for mutually beneficial human interactions in economic exchange and politics and people’s social identities notably have dramatic effects on trust behaviors toward others. Previous literature concerning social identities generally suggests that people tend to show in-group favoritism toward members who share the same identity. However, how our brains process signals of identity while facing uncertain situations in interpersonal interactions remains largely unclear. To address this issue, we performed an fMRI experiment with 54 healthy adults who belonged to two identity groups of opposing political orientations. The identity information of participants was extracted from a large-scale social survey on the 2012 Taiwan presidential election. Accordingly, participants were categorized as either the Kuomintang (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters. During the experiment, participants played trust games with computer agents with labels of the same or the opposing political identity. Interestingly, our results suggest that the behaviors of the two groups cannot be equally attributed to in-group favoritism. Behaviorally, only the DPP supporter group showed a significant trust preference toward in-group members, which did not hold for the KMT supporter group. Consistently, neurophysiological findings further revealed that only the DPP supporter group showed neuronal responses to both unexpected negative feedback from in-group members in anterior insula, temporoparietal junction, and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, as well as to unexpected rewards from out-group members in caudate. These findings therefore suggest that acquired identities play a more complex role in modulating people’s social expectation in interpersonal trust behaviors under identity-relevant contexts.
The Representation of Older People in East Asian Television Advertisements

In this study, 432 television advertisements from Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea were analyzed to determine their representations of older people. Findings demonstrate that in East Asian advertisements, older people are highly underrepresented, appear in major roles, mostly alongside younger people, and older men clearly outnumber older women. The other variables investigated (i.e., setting and product categories) led to no conclusive findings for the three societies. In short, our study, employing ethnolinguistic vitality theory to analyze television advertisements, demonstrates how East Asian societies greatly marginalize older people. Potential effects of such representations are discussed using social cognitive theory and cultivation theory.
Casual Sex And Wellbeing Among College Students: Examining Potential Moderators

Hooking up (sex occurring outside committed, romantic relationships) is feared to result from or lead to compromised psychological wellbeing among college students. Yet, longitudinal evidence is scarce and inconclusive, and different hookup definitions complicate cross-study comparisons. This study examined short-term longitudinal links between four wellbeing indicators (depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem) across several definitions of hooking up based on the casual relationship length (one-time, longer casual, and any) and physical intimacy level achieved (prolonged kissing, genital touching, oral sex, and vaginal/anal intercourse). A population-based sample of 666 freshmen and juniors (63% female, 68% White) at a Northeastern U.S. university completed online surveys in the beginning and end of one academic semester (3-month period). Linear and logistic regressions explored whether hooking up over the semester was linked to later wellbeing, and whether initial wellbeing was linked to later hookups. All models controlled for initial differences in relevant outcomes and demographics, and tested for gender interactions. Across analyses, wellbeing indicators, hookup definitions, and gender, links between hookups and wellbeing ranged from positive to negative to nonsignificant, suggesting a complex relationship among college students.
Retrospective analysis of a novel regimen for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in nephrotic syndrome.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs in 7%-40% of nephrotic patients. The risk of VTE depends on the severity and underlying cause of nephrotic syndrome. This study investigated the use of low-dose prophylactic anticoagulation to prevent VTE in patients with nephrotic syndrome caused by primary glomerulonephritis. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Since 2006, all patients presenting with nephrotic syndrome to Imperial College Kidney and Transplant Centre have been considered for treatment with a novel anticoagulation prophylaxis regimen. All cases of nephrotic syndrome secondary to primary membranous nephropathy, minimal-change disease, and FSGS over a 5-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with serum albumin<2.0 g/dl received prophylactic-dose low-molecular-weight heparin or low-dose warfarin; patients with albumin levels of 2.0-3.0 g/dl received aspirin, 75 mg once daily. All thrombotic events and bleeding complications were recorded. RESULTS A total of 143 patients received the prophylactic anticoagulation regimen. Median follow-up was 154 weeks (range, 30-298 weeks). The cohort had features associated with a high risk of developing VTE; 40% of the cohort had an underlying diagnosis of membranous nephropathy, and the initial median serum albumin was 1.5 g/dl (range, 0.5-2.9 g/dl). No VTE occurred in patients established on prophylaxis for at least 1 week. VTE was diagnosed in 2 of 143 patients (1.39%) within the first week after presentation and starting prophylaxis. In both cases, it is unclear whether the thrombus had developed before or after the start of prophylaxis. One of 143 (0.69%) patients receiving prophylaxis was admitted urgently with gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Two of 143 patients (1.40%) had elective blood transfusions and procedures to manage occult gastrointestinal bleeding. No other bleeding events occurred in patients receiving prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS This regimen of prophylactic antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy appears effective in preventing VTE in nephrotic syndrome, with relatively few hemorrhagic complications.
Examining user acceptance of SMS: An empirical study in China and Hong Kong

Short message service (SMS) has become an integral part of people’s lives. It is one of the most popular services for mobile communications. This paper examines the determinants of user intention to use SMS. We proposed and empirically tested a model with seven main determinants of user acceptance and two key moderators (i.e., gender and region). Our data were collected via a survey of 471 mobile phone users in China and Hong Kong. The results showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and perceived critical mass were the key direct determinants of user acceptance of SMS. Visibility, subjective norm, and perceived cost-effectiveness were found to have indirect influences on user acceptance via the key determinants. In addition, the results showed that gender and region each played an important role in affecting user acceptance, and the significant determinants vary across regions. We discuss implications related to mobile communication services.
Women's Negotiation of Cunnilingus in College Hookups and Relationships

Using in-depth interviews with 43 college women who were, on average, 21 years old (SD = 0.79), the authors explored women's attitudes toward and experiences of cunnilingus. The authors found that cunnilingus posed interactional challenges for women, but that these varied by relationship context. Drawing on scripting theory, the authors argue that the sexual scripts available to contemporary American college students assume cunnilingus in relationships, but not in hookups, where the incorporation of the practice is more contested. For individual women, tension emerged when their preferences for cunnilingus contradicted the sexual script of the relationship context. Women who desired cunnilingus in hookups had to be assertive to get it, whereas those who did not want cunnilingus in hookups were relieved that it was not expected. The taken-for-granted nature of cunnilingus in relationships was a source of pleasure for women who enjoyed it and of difficulty for women who wished to avoid it. In relationships, some women's reluctance about cunnilingus was transformed by men's enthusiasm. More generally, this study implies that ambiguity in sexual scripts may heighten the interactional challenges of sex by creating uncertainty about expectations and gaps between sexual scripts and individual preferences.
The Sexually Dimorphic Medial Preoptic Nucleus of Quail: A Key Brain Area Mediating Steroid Action on Male Sexual Behavior

About 10 years ago, a sexually differentiated nucleus was identified in the preoptic area (POA) of the Japanese quail in the course of studies analyzing the dimorphic mechanisms involved in the activation of sexual behavior. In this species, males exposed to testosterone copulate while females never show this masculine behavior. The present paper reviews anatomical, neurochemical, and functional data that have been collected since that time about the quail dimorphic nucleus. The medial preoptic nucleus (POM) is significantly larger in adult male than in adult female quail. Its volume is also steroid-sensitive in adulthood: it decreases when circulating levels of testosterone are low (castration, exposure to short-days) and it increases when testosterone levels are high (treatment with testosterone, exposure to long-days). The POM is a necessary and sufficient site of steroid action for the activation of male copulatory behavior. The volumetric difference of the POM results from a difference in the adult hormonal milieu of males and females (activational effect) and is not affected by embryonic treatments that permanently modify sexual behavior (no organizational effects on POM). In contrast, the size of neurons in the dorsolateral part of POM appears to be irreversibly affected by embryonic steroids and this feature is therefore a better correlate of the behavioral sex difference. The POM is characterized by the presence of a wide variety of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and receptors. It can, in addition, be specifically distinguished from the surrounding POA by the presence of aromatase-immunoreactive cells, by a high density of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors, and by a dense vasotocinergic innervation. Some of these neurochemical markers of the dimorphic nucleus are themselves modulated by steroids. In particular, the aromatase-immunoreactive cells of the lateral POM appear to be a key target for steroids in the activation of male copulatory behavior. The POM is bidirectionally connected to many brain areas. It receives inputs from a variety of sensory areas and from a number of regulatory areas (e.g., catecholaminergic cell groups). This nucleus also sends outputs to "neurovegetative" centers and to brain regions directly connected to the motor pathways. These connections fully support the role of the POM as an integrative center for the control of male sexual behavior. The available data indicate that there is a high degree of steroid-induced neuronal plasticity in the POM, including changes in neuronal function, in protein synthesis, and in specific inputs. These phenomena can easily be studied in the POM because they are of a large magnitude, they are localized in a specific brain site, and they develop rapidly after exposure to steroids. They are also directly related to a clear functional output, the activation of male sexual behavior. The quail POM therefore constitutes an exceptional model for the analysis of steroid-induced brain plasticity in a functionally relevant context.