Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FGF-23 serum levels and bone histomorphometric results in adult patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis

Background: Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) is a hormone principally produced by osteocytes/osteoblasts. In patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), FGF-23 levels are usually elevated and can reach up to 300 – 400 times the normal range. FGF-23 is regulated by local bone-related and systemic factors, but the relationship between circulating FGF-23 concentrations and bone remodeling and mineralization in CKD has not been well characterized. In the current study, we examined the relationship between FGF-23 levels and bone histomorphometry parameters in adult patients with renal osteodystrophy. Material and methods: 36 patients on dialysis (CKD-5D) underwent bone biopsies after tetracycline double labeling. Blood drawings were done at time of biopsy to determine serum levels of markers of bone and mineral metabolism. Results: Patients with high bone turnover had higher values of serum FGF-23 than patients with low bone turnover. FGF-23 levels correlated with activation frequency (ρ = 0.60, p < 0.01) and bone formation rate (ρ = 0.57, p < 0.01). Normal mineralization was observed in 90% of patients with FGF-23 levels above 2,000 pg/mL. Furthermore, FGF-23 correlated negatively with mineralization lag time (ρ = –0.69, p < 0.01) and osteoid maturation time (ρ = –0.46, p < 0.05) but not with osteoid thickness (ρ = 0.08, ns). Regression analysis showed that FGF-23 was the only independent predictor of mineralization lag time. FGF-23 correlated with cancellous bone volume (ρ = 0.38, p < 0.05) but did not predict it. Conclusion: Circulating FGF-23 concentrations may reflect alterations in ongoing bone formation along with active mineralization, but not exclusively in bone formation or mineralization. Abnormal mineralization lag time (> 100 days) was mainly seen in patients with FGF-23 levels less than 2,000 pg/mL, while very high levels of FGF-23 are associated with normal mineralization lag time.
Green light for interaction: Party use of social media during the 2014 Swedish election year

Assessing Swedish political party use of Twitter and Facebook during the 2014 election year, this paper traces what is defined as broadcasting (one-way communication) and interactive (two-way communication) practices on the services mentioned. While both approaches to political campaigning have been integral to party activity since the pre-digital era, the Internet — and specifically the previously mentioned services — have often been pointed to as having the potential to influence political actors to move beyond one-way practices and to instead engage in reciprocal interaction with their potential supporters. While previous scholarship has suggested a variety of influences for parties to interact with potential voters online, the results presented here suggest that in the Swedish context, parties purporting a ‘green’ agenda emerge as more active in this regard.
Role of bridging water molecules in GSK3β‐inhibitor complexes: Insights from QM/MM, MD, and molecular docking studies

The role of water molecules is increasingly gaining interest in drug design, and several studies have highlighted their paramount contributions to the specificity and the affinity of ligand binding. In this study, we employ the two‐layer ONIOM‐based quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and molecular docking studies to investigate the effect of bridging water molecules at the GSK3β‐inhibitors interfaces. The results obtained from the ONIOM geometry optimization and AIM analysis corroborated the presence of bridging water molecules that form hydrogen bonds with protein side chain of Thr138 and/or backbone of Gln185, and mediate interactions with inhibitors in the 10 selected GSK3β‐inhibitor complexes. Subsequently, MD simulations carried out on a representative system of 1R0E demonstrated that the bridging water molecule is stable at the GSK3β‐inhibitor interface and appears to contribute to the stability of the protein–inhibitor interactions. Furthermore, molecular docking studies of GSK3β‐inhibitor complexes indicated that the inhibitors can increase binding affinities and the better docked conformation of inhibitors can be obtained by inclusion of the bridging water molecules, especially for the flexible inhibitors, in docking experiments into individual protein conformations. Our results elucidate the importance of bridging water molecules at the GSK3β‐inhibitor interfaces and suggest that they might prove useful in rational drug design. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011
Cardiac Beat Classification using a Fuzzy Inference System

This paper presents an adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) as a cardiac beat detector, able to classify normal vs. premature ventricular contractions. We used records from the MIT Arrhythmia Database and in-vivo records from cardiac voluntary patients to train and test our system. The system identifies premature ventricular contractions (PVC) within reasonable accuracy and compares favorably to other methods reported in the literature
Propositions for the Study of Moral Personality Development

Most of us have at one point speculated about why one individual grew up to be honest and fair while another became wicked and untrustworthy. In the current review, we present the case that new directions in the empirical study of moral personality development are needed. We set the stage for this future work by presenting six propositions that should serve as the foundation for future research in the field. We conclude by providing an example of how using a more integrative and inclusive framework for studying personality can readily incorporate these propositions.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports What Explains the Stock Market's Reaction to Federal Reserve Policy? What Explains the Stock Market's Reaction to Federal Reserve Policy?

This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Abstract This paper analyzes the impact of unanticipated changes in the federal funds rate target on equity prices, with the aim of both estimating the size of the typical reaction and understanding the reasons for the market's response. We find that over the June 1989-December 2002 sample period, a typical unanticipated rate cut of 25 basis points is associated with an increase of roughly 1 percent in the level of stock prices, as measured by the CRSP value-weighted index. There is some evidence of a stronger stock price response to changes in rates that are expected to be more permanent or that represent a reversal in the direction of rate changes. The estimated response of stock prices to fund rate surprises varies widely across industries, but in a manner consistent with the predictions of the standard capital asset pricing model. Applying the methods of Campbell (1991) and Campbell and Ammer (1993), we find that most of the effect of monetary policy on stock prices can be traced to its implications for forecasted equity risk premiums. Some effect can be traced to the implications of monetary policy surprises for forecasted dividends, but very little stems from the impact of policy on expectations of the real rate of interest. for their comments; and to Peter Bondarenko for research assistance. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.
The social context of recycling.

Over the last several decades, sociologists have investigated the public's increasing concern about the environment, but they have had little success explaining attitudes toward the environment or the adoption of pro-environment behaviors like recycling. We examine the role of social context in the link between individual attitudes about the environment and recycling behavior by comparing communities that vary in their access to recycling programs. Results show that people with access to a structured recycling program have much higher levels of recycling than do people lacking such access. Furthermore, individual attitudes toward the environment affect recycling behavior only in the community with easy access to a structured recycling program. Individual concern about the environment enhances the effect of the recycling program, but does not overcome the barriers presented by lack of access.
Time to Diagnosis of Melanoma: Same Trend in Different Continents

Background: Patients and physicians both play an important role in the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess important factors of delay in diagnosis at different centers and on three continents. Methods: Between October 2001 and October 2002, patients with histologically confirmed invasive melanoma were included in the study and given an established questionnaire. Recorded patients and tumor characteristics included age, sex, anatomic location, Breslow thickness, patients' awareness of the lesion and time with suspicion, and physicians' time (delay) before the operation. Results: The study included 985 patients (486 males, 499 females): 253 from Germany, 464 from Sweden, 58 from Brazil, and 210 from Australia. More females detected their lesions by themselves. The change to a darker color (21 %) and enlargement of the area of the lesion (19%) were the major signs. The highest knowledge among patients that early detection may improve the outcome was found in Sweden and Australia. At each center, the media (newspaper, magazine, radio, and television) provided the best sources of information about melanoma. Twenty to 33% of all physicians initially consulted missed the melanoma diagnosis, independent of their specialty. Conclusions: There are still factors for the delay in melanoma diagnosis in different countries and continents, but the differences are rather small. The results should be included in planning prevention campaigns in this specific field and in the education of medical students, physicians of all specialties, and other health professionals.
Peritoneal Dialysis-Related Peritonitis Due to Staphylococcus aureus: A Single-Center Experience over 15 Years

Peritonitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus is a serious complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD), which is associated with poor outcome and high PD failure rates. We reviewed the records of 62 S. aureus peritonitis episodes that occurred between 1996 and 2010 in the dialysis unit of a single university hospital and evaluated the host and bacterial factors influencing peritonitis outcome. Peritonitis incidence was calculated for three subsequent 5-year periods and compared using a Poisson regression model. The production of biofilm, enzymes, and toxins was evaluated. Oxacillin resistance was evaluated based on minimum inhibitory concentration and presence of the mecA gene. Logistic regression was used for the analysis of demographic, clinical, and microbiological factors influencing peritonitis outcome. Resolution and death rates were compared with 117 contemporary coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) episodes. The incidence of S. aureus peritonitis declined significantly over time from 0.13 in 1996–2000 to 0.04 episodes/patient/year in 2006–2010 (p = 0.03). The oxacillin resistance rate was 11.3%. Toxin and enzyme production was expressive, except for enterotoxin D. Biofilm production was positive in 88.7% of strains. The presence of the mecA gene was associated with a higher frequency of fever and abdominal pain. The logistic regression model showed that diabetes mellitus (p = 0.009) and β-hemolysin production (p = 0.006) were independent predictors of non-resolution of infection. The probability of resolution was higher among patients aged 41 to 60 years than among those >60 years (p = 0.02). A trend to higher death rate was observed for S. aureus episodes (9.7%) compared to CoNS episodes (2.5%), (p = 0.08), whereas resolution rates were similar. Despite the decline in incidence, S. aureus peritonitis remains a serious complication of PD that is associated with a high death rate. The outcome of this infection is negatively influenced by host factors such as age and diabetes mellitus. In addition, β-hemolysin production is predictive of non-resolution of infection, suggesting a pathogenic role of this factor in PD-related S. aureus peritonitis.
Finite-Element Contact Modeling of Rough Surfaces Applied to Au-Coated Carbon Nanotube Composites

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used to improve the lifetime of the electrical contact of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches. The surface, usually gold-coated, demonstrates a complex structure. Due to the lateral gaps between the nanotubes, the sputtered gold penetrates into the top part of the CNT to a limited thickness and is supported by the rest of the CNT. The surface also presents a much higher roughness than metal surfaces. Based on the nanoindentation test, a finite-element smooth-contact model has been developed, and it was shown that the surface was best modeled as a bilayered structure. In this paper, roughness is considered in contact modeling. It is shown that roughness plays an important role in the contact behavior, and that the material properties, such as Young’s modulus and hardness estimated from the nanoindentation tests, need to be reevaluated. It is also shown with finite element method (FEM) that the force–displacement behavior of the composite depends on the location of the indentation test.
Failure to Detect XMRV-Specific Antibodies in the Plasma of CFS Patients Using Highly Sensitive Chemiluminescence Immunoassays

In 2009, Lombardi et al. reported their startling finding that the gammaretrovirus xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related retrovirus (XMRV) is present in 67% of blood samples of patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as opposed to only 3.7% of samples from healthy individuals. However, we and others could not confirm these results, using a nested PCR assay. An alternative to this highly sensitive, but contamination-prone, technique is to measure the serological response to XMRV. Thus, we tested the plasma samples from our cohorts of CFS patients and healthy controls for the presence of XMRV-specific antibodies. Using two novel chemiluminescence immunoassays (CMIAs), we show that none of our samples have any XMRV-reactive antibodies. Taken together with our previous findings, we conclude that XMRV is not present in any human individual tested by us, regardless of CFS or healthy control.
Red and Blue Investing: Values and Finance

Using data on the political contributions and stock holdings of U.S. investment managers, we find that mutual fund managers who make campaign donations to Democrats hold less of their portfolios (relative to non-donors or Republican donors) in companies that are deemed socially irresponsible (e.g., tobacco, guns, or defense firms or companies with bad employee relations or diversity records). Although explicit socially responsible investing (SRI) funds are more likely to be managed by Democratic managers, this result holds for non-SRI funds and after controlling for other fund and manager characteristics. The effect is more than one-half of the underweighting observed for SRI funds.
Heedful interrelating as a cultural coordination mechanism for flexible knowledge integration

In this paper we discuss the results of a study into the emergence of a regular pattern of knowledge integration in two research groups. The study shows how a regular pattern of knowledge integration emerges through a practice of heedful interrelating in the design, execution and ending of projects. We found that heedful interrelating was responsible for an effective, efficient and flexible pattern of knowledge integration. Heedful interrelating specifies local circumstances and thereby provides additional insights to the general mechanisms of rules, directives and routines which cannot explain effective, efficient and flexible patterns of knowledge integration on their own. The emergence of heedful interrelating appeared to be an ongoing accomplishment. The mixed presence of heedful and heedless interrelating appeared to be related to the effectiveness and efficiency of the performance of the group.
Deadzone compensation and anti-windup design for brake-by-wire systems

Control of BBW actuators is a challenging problem for many reasons, among which the most critical are the dead-zone due to the fluid reservoir and the limits of the electric motor that moves the pump. In this paper, a complete control architecture accounting for this nonlinear behavior is presented, where the main components are a linear controller, a dead-zone compensator and an anti-windup block, designed in a cascade fashion. With such a configuration, the achieved equilibrium point is guaranteed to be globally asymptotically stable and the overall system shows to be robust with respect to variations of the pressure-position curve. Some simulation examples are proposed to show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.
Patients' perceptions of cosmetic surgery at a time of globalization, medical consumerism, and mass media culture: a French experience.

BACKGROUND The global popularity of cosmetic surgery, combined with mass media attention on medical consumerism, has resulted in misinformation that may have negatively affected the "collective image" of aesthetic practitioners. OBJECTIVES The authors assess patients' perceptions of cosmetic surgery and analyze their decision-making processes. METHODS During a 2-year period, 250 consecutive patients presenting to either of 2 public hospitals for cosmetic surgery treatment were asked to complete a 7-item questionnaire evaluating their knowledge of opinions about, and referring practices for, aesthetic procedures. Patients undergoing oncologic, postbariatric, or reconstructive procedures were not included in the study. RESULTS After exclusion of 71 cases for refusal or incompletion, 179 questionnaires were retained and analyzed (from 162 women and 17 men). Overall, repair (70.4%), comfort (45.3%), and health (40.8%) were the words most frequently associated with cosmetic surgery. Quality of preoperative information (69.3%), patient-physician relationship (65.4%), and results seen in relatives/friends (46.3%) were the most important criteria for selecting a cosmetic surgeon. Moreover, 82.7% of patients knew the difference between cosmetic surgery and cosmetic medicine. CONCLUSIONS Although potential patients appear to be more educated about cosmetic surgery than they were several years ago, misinformation still persists. As physicians, we must be responsible for disseminating accurate education and strengthening our collaboration with general practitioners to improve not only our results but also the accuracy of information in the mass media.
Rural surgery in British Columbia: is there anybody out there?

OBJECTIVE To document surgical procedures performed in British Columbia between 1996 and 2001 at rural hospital sites with no resident specialist surgeons and to define the scope of practice of general practitioner (GP)-surgeons at these small-volume surgical sites. METHODS We obtained data from published information available in the medical directories for British Columbia and from the Population Utilization Rates and Referrals For Easy Comparative Tables database (versions 6.0 and 9.0) to conduct a retrospective study of all rural BC hospitals with surgical programs that had no resident specialist surgeon and relied on GP-surgeons for emergency surgical care between 1996 and 2001. We studied surgical programs at the 12 hospitals that met inclusion criteria and interviewed the physician or nurse responsible for the program. Outcomes were measured in terms of the types and volumes of surgical procedures (elective and emergency) from 1996 to 2001, including itinerant surgery. RESULTS On average, 2690 surgical procedures were performed annually at the 12 hospitals included in the study. Endoscopy, hand surgery, cesarean section, herniorrhaphy, tonsillectomy and dilation and curettage (D&C) were among the top elective and emergency procedures. For each hospital, between 8 and 26 procedures of hand surgery, cesarean section, herniorrhaphy, D&C and appendectomy were performed each year. In the 12 communities studied, 19% of all surgery was emergency and 81% elective. There was significant overlap in the types of emergency and elective procedures. GP-surgeons carried out most of the emergency procedures, which nonetheless accounted for a small portion of their surgical work. CONCLUSION GP-surgeons still perform a significant number of emergency and elective surgical procedures in rural BC hospitals. This study defines useful procedures for GP-surgeons in communities without the population base to sustain a resident specialist surgeon. This information can be used to structure training programs for GP-surgeons that will adequately meet the needs of rural communities.
Clinical study on the correlation between psychogenic dental prosthesis incompatibility, oral stereognosis, and the psychologic diagnostic tools SCL-90-R and CES-D.

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to use an oral stereognosis test to evaluate possible intraoral/sensorimotor causes in patients with a psychologic diagnosis of psychogenic prosthesis incompatibility, and to evaluate possible correlations between oral stereognosis and the psychologic diagnostic tools Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). MATERIALS AND METHODS The study cohort comprised 83 patients with complete dentures fabricated according to a standardized protocol. Twelve patients diagnosed with psychogenic prosthesis incompatibility (11 women, 1 man) using the SCL-90-R and CES-D scales in a previous study and a group of 24 randomly selected control subjects (14 women, 10 men) underwent an oral stereognosis test with 10 neutral-tasting plastic test specimens with a maximum edge length of 8 mm in 2 test cycles. RESULTS The results revealed no significant differences in oral stereognostic ability between patients with diagnosed psychogenic dental prosthesis incompatibility and the control patients. The patients in the test group expressed clear dissatisfaction with their dentures. No correlation was found between oral stereognostic ability and the SCL-90-R or CES-D values. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to use oral stereognosis tests for patients with psychologically diagnosed psychogenic dental prosthesis incompatibility. The diagnosis of psychogenic prosthesis incompatibility by the SCL-90-R and CES-D scales is affirmed by the lack of correlations between the functional/anatomic aspects of oral stereognostic ability, psychologic diagnostic tools, and the clinical picture of psychogenic prosthesis incompatibility. Thus, psychogenic prosthesis incompatibility can be classified more explicitly as a psychosomatic disorder.