Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The incidence and predictors of overall adverse effects caused by low dose amiodarone in real-world clinical practice

Background/Aims Most current knowledge regarding amiodarone toxicity derives from clinical trials. This study was performed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of overall adverse effects of amiodarone in real-world practice using a large sample size. Methods Between January 1, 2000 and March 10, 2012, a total of 930 consecutive patients who had been treated with amiodarone for arrhythmia were reviewed retrospectively. An amiodarone-associated adverse event was considered in cases of discontinuation or drug dose reduction due to an unexpected clinical response. Results The mean daily dose of amiodarone was 227 ± 126 mg, and the mean duration was 490 ± 812 days. During the mean follow-up duration of 982 ± 1,137 days, a total of 154 patients (16.6%) experienced adverse effects related to amiodarone, the most common being bradycardia or conduction disturbance (9.5%). Major organ toxicities in the thyroid (2.5%), liver (2.2%), eyes (0.6%), and lungs (0.3%) were rare. All patients recovered fully without complications after amiodarone discontinuation or dose reduction. The only independent predictor of adverse effects was the duration of amiodarone treatment (odds ratio, 1.21; 95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.41; p = 0.016, per year). Conclusions Low-dose amiodarone is well tolerated in a real-world clinical population. Further studies with a prospective design are needed to confirm this finding.
Distributed Parallel Groebner Bases Computation

This paper considers the implementation of parallel Gröbner bases algorithms on distributed memory parallel computers like todays high performance computing clusters (HPC) in the Java computer algebra library (JAS). The implementation of Gröbner bases algorithms is part of the essential building blocks for any computation in algebraic geometry. There are various implementations of these algorithms in procedural programming languages. Our aim is an implementation in a modern object oriented programming language with generic data types, as it is provided by Java programming language. The proposed middle-ware uses a distributed list for the communication of the reduction bases and a distributed thread pool for running the reduction engines in different computers. Java object serialization is used to encode polynomial objects for network transport via Java networking facilities.
Contracts in Offshore Software Development: An Empirical Analysis

We study the determinants of contract choice in offshore software development projects and examine how the choice of contract and other factors in the project affect project profits accruing to the software vendor. Using data collected on 93 offshore projects from a leading Indian software vendor, we provide evidence that specific vendor-, client-, and project-related characteristics such as requirement uncertainty, project team size, and resource shortage significantly explain contract choice in these projects. Our analysis suggests that contract choice significantly determines project profit. Additionally, some ex ante vendor-, client-, and project-related characteristics known at the time of choosing the contract continue to significantly influence project profits after controlling for contract choice. We also provide evidence to show that project duration and team size affect project profits.
Health information portals: How can we improve the user's search experience?

Health information portals (HIP) are now common place. Governments and other health agencies are using HIPs extensively to reduce costs and distribute information more effectively. Generally, HIPs are not very technically sophisticated specifically in terms of options for improving searching. There are many ways in which searching and retrieving relevant information can be improved. This paper presents an exploratory study which investigated five HIPs. Each HIP offered a range of features and functionality to assist with searching. Our research explored the features and functionality of each HIP. Through usability evaluations we compared the response of users to each HIP and identified users’ preferences for improved searching. We found that HIPs with improved search functionality and other features that assisted searching were better received by the users. Users regarded these portals as easier to understand, easier to use, required fewer steps in retrieving information and were more likely to say they would return. Comments from users are provided to illustrate further the importance of providing effective functionality. The paper concludes with recommendations for Health Information Portal builders on what is needed to improve the user search experience.
Fatal S. aureus Hemorrhagic Pneumonia: Genetic Analysis of a Unique Clinical Isolate Producing both PVL and TSST-1

In 2008, an unusual strain of methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA68111), producing both Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), was isolated from a fatal case of necrotizing pneumonia. Because PVL/TSST-1 co-production in S. aureus is rare, we characterized the molecular organization of these toxin genes in strain 68111. MSSA68111 carries the PVL genes within a novel temperate prophage we call ФPVLv68111 that is most similar, though not identical, to phage ФPVL – a phage type that is relatively rare worldwide. The TSST-1 gene (tst) in MSSA68111 is carried on a unique staphylococcal pathogenicity island (SaPI) we call SaPI68111. Features of SaPI68111 suggest it likely arose through multiple major recombination events with other known SaPIs. Both ФPVLv68111 and SaPI68111 are fully mobilizable and therefore transmissible to other strains. Taken together, these findings suggest that hypervirulent S. aureus have the potential to emerge worldwide.
Do Positive Psychological Characteristics Modify the Associations of Physical Performance With Functional Decline and Institutionalization? Findings From the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam

Objectives. To investigate whether 3 positive psychological characteristics, related to sense of control, modify the associations of physical performance levels with subsequent functional decline and institutionalization. Method. One thousand five hundred and thirty-two men and women participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and not living in an institution in 2005–2006 were included. Mastery, self-efficacy, investment in independence, and objective physical performance scores were ascertained in 2005–2006. Functional decline and institutionalization were assessed after 3 years of follow-up. Results. The association between lower physical performance levels and increased odds of functional decline was modified by investment in independence, with a weaker association found among people with higher investment in independence scores than in people with lower scores even after adjustment for covariates. The association between lower physical performance levels and higher odds of institutionalization was marginally weaker among those people with above median levels of mastery (test of interaction p = .08). In men, an association between general self-efficacy and functional decline was found and maintained after adjustments. Conclusions. Positive psychological characteristics, related to sense of control, play a role in the transition between stages in the disablement process. Specific psychological characteristics may be associated with different stages of the disablement process and may in turn be affected by disablement.
Same or different? Recollection of or empathizing with an emotional event from the perspective of appraisal models

The same stimulus can evoke different emotions for different individuals. Incorporating personalized construal of stimuli is how appraisal models differ from dimensional models of emotion. Scherer formulated a model of the cognitive antecedents of emotions and analyzed recollections of events and emotions that his participants provided. In the present study, we were interested whether Scherer's appraisal model also applies to a situation in which participants have to empathize with a photo by building a story around the event depicted. Our results show that recollecting a personal emotional event and empathizing with a photo seem to be similar processes. Results of machine-learning techniques, however, show lacking performance of classifications to express discrete emotion labels in terms of appraisal data.
Assessing the Criticality of IT Projects in a Portfolio Context using Centrality Measures

Recent technological developments associated with changes in cus- tomer expectations have required continuous innovation from companies all over the world, thereby driving these companies' IT portfolios towards increasing complexity and interdependency. Simultaneously, existing methods of IT portfo- lio management are not able to cope with this interconnectedness of IT projects, and too little research has been performed on appropriate risk assessments of de- pendency structures. By considering such dependency structures as IT project networks, we draw on centrality measures to assess the risk associated with in- herent project dependencies. We examine different kinds of centrality measures, whether and to what extent they are able to depict characteristics specific to IT project networks. Based on the most appropriate measure, we derive criticality values indicating projects crucial to the IT portfolio's success. These criticality values should empower companies to successfully manage their IT portfolio.
Chemical and Thin-Film Strategies for New Transparent Conducting Oxides

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have been known and employed technologically for more than 50 years, primarily in the form of doped single-cation oxides such as In 2 O 3 and SnO 2 . Beginning in the 1990s, however, multi-cation oxide TCOs began to be developed in Japan (see the article by Minami in this issue and the references therein) and at the former Bell Laboratories. Since then, new TCO phases are being reported with increasing frequency as technological interest in this area heightens. At the same time, our fundamental understanding of the chemical and structural origins of transparent conductivity continues to expand and promises a pathway to dramatically improved materials for a host of applications. This article describes a collaborative, multi-investigator bulk an d thin-film research effort at Northwestern University aimed at the synthesis, characterization, and enhanced understanding of multi-cation (compound and solidsolution) TCOs, and provides a brief account of what we are discovering about this important class of materials.
Crafting a Change Message and Delivering It With Success: An Experimental Study

One primary mechanism through which leaders influence others in the context of organizational change is their rhetoric. While planning change communication, it is important for a change agent to craft the appropriate message content to foster employees’ commitment to change. Furthermore, the literal meaning of a message can be strengthened by the way it is delivered. This study investigates the content of a change message and how it is articulated by the leader using a vignette-based experimental study. Based on a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, 200 participants are assigned to one of the eight hypothetical change scenarios that vary by change message content, message delivery, and change context. The results show the impact of rational versus emotional content and message content versus delivery on commitment differ based on secure or insecure contexts. This study provides cues for practitioners to design change messages to obtain commitment to change.
Regulatory T cells and their prognostic value for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Regulatory T cells (Treg) are important regulators of anti‐cancer immune responses, and an increase in Treg frequency was observed in the blood of cancer patients. Blood samples from 112 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma antigen (HNSCC) were obtained at the time of tumour diagnosis, and lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+; CD3−CD16+CD56+; CD4+; CD8+; CD19+; CD4+CD45RA+) with emphasis on Treg counts (CD3+CD4+CD25+), complete blood count and tumour markers (squamous cell carcinoma [SCC]; CEA; α‐1‐antitrypsin [AAT]; Cyfra 21–1; C‐reactive protein [CRP]) were analysed. The data were grouped according to TNM classification, and their significance for the course of the disease at an interval of 1 year after the end of the therapy was determined. The percentage of CD8+ cells increased and the CD/D8 ratio decreased with tumour grade. The ratio of B lymphocytes decreased in patients with locoregional metastases (11.25%versus 9.22%). Treg (15.2%) and CD4+ cells (45.3%) increased, while NK cells (11.8%) decreased in HNSCC patients compared to controls (9.0%, 38.1% and 15.8%, respectively). The data obtained at time of diagnosis were used to assess the significance of tumour markers (SCC, Cyfra 21–1 and AAT) for evaluation of prognosis. The erythrocyte counts (4.64 × 1012/l versus 4.45 × 1012/l) and haemoglobin levels (14.58 g/dl versus 14.05 g/dl) decreased, while Treg counts (8.91%versus 15.70%) increased in patients with early recurrence. Our results show that examination of these parameters could be helpful for prognostication in HNSCC patients and aid improvement of treatment strategy.
Disentangling the Effects of Abusive Supervision on Employee Creativity: The Role of Affect, Mindfulness, and Team Conflict

of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professors Marie T. Dasborough and Gergana Todorova. No. of pages in text. (112) This dissertation explores how to attenuate the negative influence of team abusive supervision on followers’ creativity. First, it is not feasible to interfere with these negative impacts without the knowledge of the underlying processes. Essay 1 unravels how team abusive supervision gradually leads to followers’ creativity from a team process perspective by identifying team state mindfulness, team state negative affect, team task conflict, and team relationship conflict as critical mechanisms. Using a time-lagged multilevel field study of 92 teams, I found that abusive supervision aggravated relationship conflict via diminishing mindfulness levels in employees, and that abusive supervision exacerbated task conflict through elevating negative affect and decreasing team mindfulness levels. The augmented levels of relationship conflict in turn harmed individual creativity. However, followers’ creativity is not only influenced by team processes, but by leaders’ and followers’ individual differences as well. As such, essay 2 introduces leaders’ and followers’ individual differences (i.e., state positive affect) and examines how the state positive affect of both leaders and followers alters followers’ interpretations of leader mistreatment. Analyses of multilevel, multisource, and multiphase data show that leaders’ and followers’ state positive affect interactively determine the extent to which followers attribute abusive behaviors to their leaders’ performance promotion motives. Such attributions in turn benefit followers’ creativity. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Existential time-limited therapy: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of existential counselling psychologists and psychotherapists providing therapy in time-limited contexts

This dissertation explores the experience of existential counselling psychologists and psychotherapists providing time-limited therapy. Ten participants were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews, focusing on the emotions, meaning-making processes and attitudes that constitute their experience. The material was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis - IPA. Five superordinate themes were identified, highlighting the main constituents of the experience of existential therapists in time-limited settings: the experience of time-limitation, the experience of ending, the experience of the therapeutic process, attitudes towards time-limited therapy and support systems. Existing literature on time-limited therapy and the existential approach was utilised to shed light on the results and to reach a better understanding of the implications that this study has on the existential approach, supervisory and training settings, and counselling psychology. It is suggested that existential time-limited therapy is particularly relevant for the widespread provision of time-limited therapies, and its application is based on three main values: the philosophical value, the relational value and the holistic value. The importance of support systems for therapists providing existential time-limited therapy, in the form of supervision and training, was also highlighted, with reference to the particular challenges and opportunities that such a work entails. Finally, the contribution of this study to the division of Counselling Psychology, and the necessity for such a research in order to safeguard the division’s values, promote its pluralistic identity, and provide ethical and competent services to those in need, is also presented.
Low-Rank Matrix Recovery from Row-and-Column Affine Measurements

We propose and study a row-and-column affine measurement scheme for low-rank matrix recovery. Each measurement is a linear combination of elements in one row or one column of a matrix $X$. This setting arises naturally in applications from different domains. However, current algorithms developed for standard matrix recovery problems do not perform well in our case, hence the need for developing new algorithms and theory for our problem. We propose a simple algorithm for the problem based on Singular Value Decomposition ($SVD$) and least-squares ($LS$), which we term \alg. We prove that (a simplified version of) our algorithm can recover $X$ exactly with the minimum possible number of measurements in the noiseless case. In the general noisy case, we prove performance guarantees on the reconstruction accuracy under the Frobenius norm. In simulations, our row-and-column design and \alg algorithm show improved speed, and comparable and in some cases better accuracy compared to standard measurements designs and algorithms. Our theoretical and experimental results suggest that the proposed row-and-column affine measurements scheme, together with our recovery algorithm, may provide a powerful framework for affine matrix reconstruction.
Rhymes, nursery rhymes, and reading in early childhood.

Little is known about the origins of phonological awareness. But one theory is that young children learn to analyze the component sounds in words with the help of common linguistic routines. Rhymes, and particularly nursery rhymes, are a possible example. Words rhyme because they share component sounds: To recognize that two words rhyme is, therefore, to know something about their component sounds. This theory was investigated in a 15-month longitudinal study which began when the children were age 3 years, 4 months. Assessments were made of their knowledge of nursery rhymes and their phonological skills, particularly the detection and production of rhyme and alliteration. Parental so cial class and educational levels were also assessed. A strong, highly specific re lationship was found between knowledge of nursery rhymes and the develop ment of phonological skills, which remained significant when differences in IQ and social background were controlled. Measures of nursery rhymes and of the detection and production of rhyme and alliteration were related to early reading, but not to early arithmetic skills.
Possible mechanisms in a multicomponent email guided positive psychology intervention to improve mental well-being, anxiety and depression: A multiple mediation model

Abstract The efficacy of several multicomponent positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have been demonstrated, but little is known about its possible mechanisms of change. We examined (1) the efficacy of an email guided self-help PPI on six core well-being processes (positive emotion, use of strengths, optimism, self-compassion, resilience and positive relations) and (2) the mediating role of these processes on mental well-being, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Adults ≥ 18 years were recruited in the general population and randomized into the intervention (n = 137) or wait-list control group (n = 138). Repeated measures analyses showed that the intervention group improved significantly more than the control group on all six processes. Improvement (t0–t1) on each process statistically mediated improvement (t0–t2) on mental well-being, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Simple-mediation analyses revealed small to moderate effect sizes. Multiple-mediation analyses revealed most pronounced results for positive relations and self-compassion, suggesting that these processes might be key mechanisms in promoting well-being.
Genetic Dissimilarity between Mates, but Not Male Heterozygosity, Influences Divorce in Schistosomes

Background Correlational studies strongly suggest that both genetic similarity and heterozygosity can influence female mate choice. However, the influence of each variable has usually been tested independently, although similarity and heterozygosity might be correlated. We experimentally determined the relative influence of genetic similarity and heterozygosity in divorce and re-mating in the monogamous endoparasite Schistosoma mansoni. Methodology/Principal Findings We performed sequential infections of vertebrate hosts with controlled larval populations of parasites, where sex and individual genetic diversity and similarity were predetermined before infection. Divorce rate increased significantly when females were given the opportunity to increase genetic dissimilarity through re-mating with a new partner, independently of the intensity of male-male competition. We found however no evidence for females attempting to maximize the level of heterozygosity of their reproductive partner through divorce. Conclusions/Significance Female preference for genetically dissimilar males should result in more heterozygous offspring. Because genetic heterozygosity might partly determine the ability of parasites to counter host resistance, adaptive divorce could be an important factor in the evolutionary arms race between schistosomes and their hosts.
Persistent photoconductivity in a two-dimensional electron gas system formed by an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure

Persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect associated with a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in an AlGaN/GaN heterojunction device has been observed. As a consequence, the device was observed to be sensitive to light and the sensitivity was associated with a permanent photoinduced increase in the 2DEG carrier mobility and density. By formulating the PPC buildup and decay kinetics, we attributed the observed increase in the 2DEG carrier density and mobility to the photoionization of deep level impurities (DX like centers) in the AlGaN barrier material. In the PPC state, we were able to continuously vary the 2DEG carrier density in a single sample through photoexcitation and it has been found that the 2DEG carrier mobility increases almost linearly with the carrier density in the 2DEG channel. At 10 K, an electron mobility of 5800 cm2/V⋅s has been obtained in a PPC state. Implications of these observations on the device applications based on AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions have also been discussed.