Results of unicompartmental osteoarthritis knee treated with high tibial osteotomy: a case series

High tibial osteotomy (HTO) being a re-emerged common procedure in orthopaedic practice now, which is safe and relatively simple and cost-effective technique requiring careful selection of subjects and precision of technique. Background: In isolated medial unicompartmental osteoarthritis (OA) of knee, in a physiologically young and high demanding individual, where preservation of knee is required, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty are not considered as treatment options. HTO is an excellent treatment option where the requirement of technical skills and infrastructure are less and high-volume low-cost surgeries can be performed with minimum instrumentation. 20 selected patients with unicompartmental OA of knee who attended the OPD of orthopaedics, Jorhat Medical College and Hospital were the subjects of this study, during the period of study from June 2020 to May 2021. In our study, average age was 55.9 years; higher incidence among females; higher incidence of OA in left knee; 80% of cases presented at Kellgren and Lawrence grade 2 and 3; most of the cases were having BMI within normal range and varus deformity of knee; plate and screw fixation after HTO provides more rigid fixation than staples alone. In this study, we got 60% good and 30% fair results after 6 months to 1 year of follow-up. Successful HTO is a very effective alternative low-cost surgery that makes it possible to delay or avoid knee arthroplasty in well selected patients

The DistilBERT Model: A Promising Approach to Improve Machine Reading Comprehension Models

Machine Reading Comprehension (MRC) is a challenging task in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP), where a machine is required to read a given text passage and answer a set of questions based on it. This paper provides an overview of recent advances in MRC and highlights some of the key challenges and future directions of this research area. It also evaluates the performance of several baseline models on the dataset, evaluates the challenges that the dataset poses for existing MRC models, and introduces the DistilBERT model to improve the accuracy of the answer extraction process. The supervised paradigm for training machine reading and comprehension models represents a practical path forward for creating comprehensive natural language understanding systems. To enhance the DistilBERT basic model's functionality, we have experimented with a variety of question heads that differ in the number of layers, activation function, and general structure. DistilBERT is a model for question-resolution tasks that is successful and delivers state-of-the-art performance while requiring less computational resources than large models like BERT, according to the presented technique. We could enhance the model's functionality and obtain a better understanding of how the model functions by investigating other question head architectures. These findings could serve as a foundation for future study on how to make question-and-answer systems and other tasks connected to the processing of natural languages. &nbsp

The causal effect of testosterone on men’s competitive behavior is moderated by basal cortisol and cues to an opponent’s status: Evidence for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis

Testosterone has been theorized to direct status-seeking behaviors, including competitive behavior. However, most human studies to date have adopted correlational designs, and findings across studies are inconsistent. This experiment (n = 115) pharmacologically manipulated men's testosterone levels prior to a mixed-gender math competition and examined basal cortisol (a hormone implicated in stress and social avoidance) and context cues related to an opponent's perceived status (an opponent's gender or a win/loss in a prior competition) as factors that may moderate testosterone's impact on competitive behavior. We test and find support for the hypothesis that testosterone given to low-cortisol men evokes status-seeking behavior, whereas testosterone given to high-cortisol men evokes status-loss avoidance. In the initial rounds of competition, testosterone's influence on competitive decisions depended on basal cortisol and opponent gender. After providing opponent-specific win-lose feedback, testosterone's influence on decisions to reenter competitions depended on basal cortisol and this objective cue to status, not gender. Compared to placebo, men given exogenous testosterone who were low in basal cortisol showed an increased tendency to compete against male and high-status opponents relative to female and low-status opponents (status-seeking). Men given exogenous testosterone who were high in basal cortisol showed the opposite pattern-an increased tendency to compete against female and low-status opponents relative to male and high-status opponents (status-loss avoidance). These results provide support for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis: Testosterone flexibly directs men's competitive behavior contingent on basal cortisol levels and cues that signal an opponent's status. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Interleukin-22 signaling attenuates necrotizing enterocolitis by promoting epithelial cell regeneration

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a deadly intestinal inflammatory disorder that primarily affects premature infants and lacks adequate therapeutics. Interleukin (IL)-22 plays a critical role in gut barrier maintenance, promoting epithelial regeneration, and controlling intestinal inflammation in adult animal models. However, the importance of IL-22 signaling in neonates during NEC remains unknown. We investigated the role of IL-22 in the neonatal intestine under homeostatic and inflammatory conditions by using a mouse model of NEC. Our data reveal tha

Hormone-diversity fit: Collective testosterone moderates the effect of diversity on group performance

Prior research has found inconsistent effects of diversity on group performance. Past moderators of the diversity-performance connection have primarily focused on psychological factors and group dynamics, however hormonal moderators related to status attainment motivation have been overlooked. Integrating the diversity, status and hormone literatures, we predicted that groups collectively high in testosterone, which is associated with heightened status drive, would perform optimally when group diversity was low. In contrast, we predicted that groups collectively low in testosterone, which should be less oriented towards status competitions and more oriented toward cooperation, would take advantage of group diversity. Analysis of 74 groups engaged in a group decision-making exercise provided support for our hypotheses. The findings suggest that diversity is beneficial for performance only if group-level testosterone is low but has a negative performance effect if group-level testosterone is high. Too much collective testosterone maximizes the pains and minimizes the gains from diversity

System Identification of a Small Scaled Helicopter using Simulated Annealing Algorithm

Developing an autonomous helicopter requires designing of precise controllers, which can be a daunting task if system dynamics are not known accurately. Thus very accurate system dynamics should be available to design controllers. The main idea of this paper is to present Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm as a tool in time domain parametric system identification of a RC helicopter (Align T-Rex 550L). In addition, Prediction Error Minimization (PEM) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have been taken as reference identification algorithms for the purpose of comparison. The work includes collecting flight data and pre-processing of the recorded data, and time domain parametric identification of state space system for hovering condition. The rigid body dynamics of the helicopter is represented in the state space form that has 40 parameters. The accuracy of the identified system is verified by comparing estimated and actual responses, by Pearson Correlation Coefficient, also 90% confidence interval is calculated for each of the identified parameters. Results show a high level of correlation of the actual responses and estimated responses of the system identified using SA, because of its ability to jump out of local optima