Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diabetes Mellitus in Mexico

Diabetes in Mexico is a public health problem with considerable medical, social, and economic consequences. Although detailed data on the prevalence of diabetes and its complications are not available, health services utilization data of the Social Security organization (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) indicate increasing use of primary and tertiary care for diabetes over a recent 10-yr period. A health interview survey conducted in 1988 indicated that, in different areas, from 3.5 to 12.7% of people aged ≥ 65 yr are believed to have diabetes, and that rates are higher in many of the states bordering the United States. Diabetes ranks among the leading 10 causes of death throughout the country. Although the ranking varies from state to state and the diagnosis may not appear on the death certificate when death results from a complication of the disease, in 1983 diabetes was the leading cause of death in Mexico and the first or second leading cause in many of the states bordering the U.S. Gestational diabetes contributes to perinatal mortality, and in view of the high birth rates, represents an important facet of the disease in Mexico. The impact of specific complications of diabetes on morbidity and mortality in Mexico are not well delineated. The relative frequency and impact of insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Mexico are not known.
Impact of a multifaceted antimicrobial stewardship program: A front-line ownership driven quality improvement project in a large urban emergency department.

BACKGROUND Antibiotic overuse has promoted growing rates of antimicrobial resistance and secondary antibiotic-associated infections such as Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are effective in reducing antimicrobial use in the inpatient setting; however, the unique environment of the emergency department (ED) lends itself to challenges for successful implementation. Front-line ownership (FLO) methodology has been shown to be a potentially effective strategy for the implementation of inpatient ASPs through an iterative multi-pronged approach driven by front-line providers. OBJECTIVE To determine whether a FLO approach to antimicrobial stewardship in the ED can alter antimicrobial usage. METHODS Interventions were driven by ED physicians and facilitated by Infectious Diseases Division physicians from the hospital's ASP using FLO principles. Measured end points included antibiotic usage in the ED as measured by defined daily doses, and rates of urine culture sent from the ED. RESULTS There was a step-wise significant reduction in the use of azithromycin (p=0.006), ceftriaxone (p=0.045), ciprofloxacin (p=0.034), and moxifloxacin (p=0.008). There was also a significant reduction in rates of urine cultures (p<0.001) by 2.26 urine cultures per 100 ED patient visits. CONCLUSIONS FLO offers a promising approach to successful implementation of an ASP in the ED. Future studies would be important to evaluate the generalizability of the FLO approach to ASP development in other EDs and to determine strategies to improve the sustainability of reductions in antimicrobial use.
FBG Sensor technology to interfacial strain measurement in cfrp-strengthened concrete beam

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials are very attractive for use in strengthening of civil engineering structures because of their high strength to weight and stiffness to weight ratios, being corrosion free, light weight, and potentially high durability. The requirement for any embedded sensor for monitoring strain in FRP-strengthened concrete structures is that the sensor should not be detrimental to the operational requirement of the strengthened structure. Owing to the compatibility with FRP materials, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor is a good choice for embedding at the interface of the FRP-strengthened concrete structures. As the FBG sensors are more flexible and small size (diameter = 250 μm), it may be easily instrumented at the FRP–concrete interface with sufficient surface preparation and suitable adhesive. This article deals with the issues/methods in application of FBG sensors for interfacial strain measurement of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). It also describes the experimental studies which were carried out to identify the initiation and propagation of debonding of CFRP from concrete surface using FBG array sensors.
Spectral Theory for Dynamics on Graphs Containing Attractive and Repulsive Interactions

Many applied problems can be posed as a dynamical system defined on a network with attractive and repulsive interactions. Examples include synchronization of nonlinear oscillator networks; the behavior of groups, or cliques, in social networks; and the study of optimal convergence for consensus algorithm. It is important to determine the index of a matrix, i.e., the number of positive and negative eigenvalues, and the dimension of the kernel. In this paper we consider the common examples where the matrix takes the form of a signed graph Laplacian. We show that the there are topological constraints on the index of the Laplacian matrix related to the dimension of a certain homology group. When the homology group is trivial, the index of the operator is determined only by the topology of the network and is independent of the strengths of the interactions. In general, these constraints give bounds on the number of positive and negative eigenvalues, with the dimension of the homology group counting the number .
Structural Comparison of Human Monoamine Oxidases A and B

Monoamine oxidases (MAO) A and B are ∼60-kDa outer mitochondrial membrane flavoenzymes catalyzing the degradation of neurotransmitters and xenobiotic arylalkyl amines. Despite 70% identity of their amino acid sequences, both enzymes exhibit strikingly different properties when exposed to thiol-modifying reagents. Human MAO A and MAO B each contain 9 cysteine residues (7 in conserved sequence locations). MAO A is inactivated by N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) much faster (τ½ = ∼3 min) than MAO B (τ½ = ∼8 h). These differences in thiol reactivities are also demonstrated by monitoring the NEM modification stoichiometries by electrospray mass spectrometry. Inactivation of either enzyme with acetylenic inhibitors results in alterations of their thiol reactivities. Cys5 and Cys266 were identified as the only residues modified by biotin-derivatized NEM in clorgyline-inactivated MAO A and pargyline-inactivated MAO B, respectively. The x-ray structure of MAO B (Binda, C., Newton-Vinson, P., Hubalek, F., Edmondson, D. E., and Mattevi, A. (2002) Nat. Struct. Biol. 9, 22–26) shows that Cys5 is located on the surface of the molecule opposite to the membrane-binding region. Cys266 in MAO A is predicted to be located in the same region of the molecule. These thiol residues are also modified by biotin-derivatized NEM in the mitochondrial membrane-bound MAO A and MAO B. This study shows that the MAO A structure is “more flexible” than that of MAO B and that clorgyline and pargyline inactivation of MAO A and B, respectively, increases the structural stability of both enzymes. No evidence is found for the presence of disulfide bonds in either enzyme, contrary to a previous suggestion.
Smoggy with a Chance of Altruism: The Effects of Ozone Alerts on Outdoor Recreation and Driving

Designed to enhance public health and curb driving and other emissions, metropolitan smog alerts are prominent public information campaigns that, unlike other voluntary information-based environmental policies, target household behavior via forecast information about ambient concentrations, rather than firm or product characteristics. Behaviors with high emissions (driving) and with high exposure (outdoor recreation) are explored in this paper, and the difference between altruistic and risk aversion motivations are underscored. Using the threshold nature of daily air quality forecasts, behavioral impacts are identified. It is found, using a regression discontinuity (RD) design, that elderly users and exercisers tend to curtail their use of a major park following smog alerts. Also revealed by the RD design is that on smog alert days households do not drive less. Public forecast information may better trigger some responses and struggle to trigger others, as highlighted by juxtaposing high emissions behavior with high exposure behavior in the same study.
Testing multi-theory model (MTM) in predicting initiation and sustenance of physical activity behavior among college students

Background: Most college students do not adequately participate in enough physical activity (PA) to attain health benefits. A theory-based approach is critical in developing effective interventions to promote PA. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the newly proposed multi-theory model (MTM) of health behavior change in predicting initiation and sustenance of PA among college students. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, a valid and reliable survey was administered in October 2015 electronically to students enrolled at a large Southern US University. The internal consistency Cronbach alphas of the subscales were acceptable (0.65-0.92). Only those who did not engage in more than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic PA during the past week were included in this study. Results: Of the 495 respondents, 190 met the inclusion criteria of which 141 completed the survey. The majority of participants were females (72.3%) and Caucasians (70.9%). Findings of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed construct validity of subscales (initiation model: χ2 = 253.92 [df = 143], P < 0.001, CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.07; sustenance model: χ2= 19.40 [df = 22], P < 0.001, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.03). Multivariate regression analysis showed that 26% of the variance in the PA initiation was explained by advantages outweighing disadvantages, behavioral confidence, work status, and changes in physical environment. Additionally, 29.7% of the variance in PA sustenance was explained by emotional transformation, practice for change, and changes in social environment. Conclusion: Based on this study’s findings, MTM appears to be a robust theoretical framework for predicting PA behavior change. Future research directions and development of suitable intervention strategies are discussed.
Three Great American Disinflations

This paper analyzes the role of transparency and credibility in accounting for the widely divergent macroeconomic effects of three episodes of deliberate monetary contraction: the post-Civil War deflation, the post-WWI deflation, and the Volcker disinflation. Using a dynamic general equilibrium model in which private agents use optimal filtering to infer the central bank's nominal anchor, we demonstrate that the salient features of these three historical episodes can be explained by differences in the design and transparency of monetary policy, even without any time variation in economic structure or model parameters. For a policy regime with relatively high credibility, our analysis highlights the benefits of a gradualist approach (as in the 1870s) rather than a sudden change in policy (as in 1920-21). In contrast, for a policy institution with relatively low credibility (such as the Federal Reserve in late 1980), an aggressive policy stance can play an important signalling role by making the policy shift more evident to private agents.
The Long-Run E ff ects of the Scramble for Africa

We examine the long-run consequences of the scramble for Africa among European powers in the late 19th century and uncover the following empirical regularities. First, utilizing information on the spatial distribution of African ethnicities before colonization, we show that apart from the land mass and water area of an ethnicity’s historical homeland, no other geographic, economic, and historical trait, including proxies of pre-colonial conflict, predicts partitioning by the national borders. Second, we exploit a detailed geo-referenced database that records various types of conflict across African regions and show that civil conflict is concentrated in the historical homeland of partitioned ethnicities. We also document that violence against civilians (child soldiering, village burning, abductions, rapes) and territorial changes between rebel groups, militias, and government forces are more prevalent in the homelands of split groups. These results are robust to a rich set of local controls, the inclusion of country fixed effects and ethnic-family fixed effects. The uncovered evidence brings in the foreground the violent repercussions of an important aspect of European colonization, that of ethnic partitioning.
Switch to Dolutegravir plus Rilpivirine Dual Therapy in cART-Experienced Subjects: An Observational Cohort

Introduction Little information is available on the efficacy and safety of the dual combination of ripivirine plus dolutegravir. This work aims at beginning to fill this gap. Methods All HIV-1 infected subjects treated with ripivirine plus dolutegravir between October 2014 and September 2015 in eight Italian centres were included in an observational cohort. Data were collected at baseline and at weeks 4, 12, 24 and 48. Results One hundred and thirty-two subjects were followed for a median of 24 months, mean 33 months. One subject discontinued the study drug at week 24 for headache, one for drug interaction and one died after week 24 of illicit drug abuse. The mean age was 51.8, females 31.7% and non-caucasians 10%. Fifty-seven (43.2%) had at least one failure in their treatment history. Reasons for switching were simplification (53.0%), toxicity (34.8%), drug interactions (n = 7), persistent low-level viremia (n = 4), non-adherence (n = 3) and viral failure (n = 2). Sixty patients (45.5%) had reverse transcriptase (RT) mutations and 69 (44,7%) had protease (PR) mutations. Sixteen had baseline viral replication, 27 had < 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL and in 89 (67.4%) no virus was detected (NVD, 0 copies/mL). At w4, 114 (86.4%) had NVD, 15 had 1 to 49 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL and 3 had 50 to 57 copies/mL. At week 24 one subject had viral rebound without mutations due to missed drug refill, 19 had 1 to 49 copies/mL, and 112 had NVD. All 132 subjects were tested at weeks 4 and 24. Of the 50 subjects who had a 48-week follow-up, one had a treatment interruption, four had 1 to 49 copies/mL and 45 had NVD. Among the entire population, one subject had low-level, one intermediate and 4 high-level resistance to rilpivirine: none failed by week 48. Mean serum creatinine increased by +0.1 mg/dL. During the follow-up one patient reported headache and insomnia. Conclusions Ripivirine plus dolutegravir proved safe and effective in this cohort of non-naïve HIV-1 infected subjects.
Role of high‐molecular weight tropomyosins in TGF‐β‐mediated control of cell motility

Transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF‐β1) suppresses tumor development at early stages of cancer, but enhances tumor invasion and formation of metastasis. TGF‐β1‐mediated tumor invasion is associated with epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and matrix proteolysis. The mechanisms of these TGF‐β1 responses in normal and tumor cells are not well understood. Recently, we have reported that TGF‐β1 increases expression of high‐molecular weight tropomyosins (HMW‐tropomyosins) and formation of actin stress fibers in normal epithelial cells. The present study investigated the role of tropomyosin in TGF‐β1‐mediated cell motility and invasion. We found that TGF‐β1 restricts motility of normal epithelial cells although it promotes EMT and formation of actin stress fibers and focal adhesions. Cell motility was enhanced by siRNA‐mediated suppression of HMW‐tropomyosins. TGF‐β1 stimulated migration and matrix proteolysis in breast cancer MDA‐MB‐231 cells that express low levels of HMW‐tropomyosins. Tet‐Off‐regulated expression of HMW‐tropomyosin inhibited cell migration and matrix proteolysis without affecting expression of matrix metalloproteinases. Tropomyosin increased cell adhesion to matrix by enhancing actin fibers and focal adhesions. Finally, tropomyosin impaired the ability of tumor cells to form lung metastases in SCID mice. Thus, these results suggest that HMW‐tropomyosins are important for TGF‐β‐mediated control of cell motility and acquisition of the metastatic potential. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Full syndromal versus subthreshold anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder: a multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE The diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) establish symptom severity levels, which are used to separate full cases from partial cases. However, the value of these distinctions is unclear. METHOD Three hundred eighty-five women with full or partial AN, BN, or BED were assessed at entry into a longitudinal study of eating disorders. RESULTS Stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that full and partial BN were discriminated by the Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorders Scale total scores (kappa =.46). However, it was not possible to discriminate between full and partial AN or BED. Discriminant analysis also demonstrated clear differences between full AN, BN, and BED. DISCUSSION Full BN can be differentiated from partial BN by more severe eating disorder symptoms, whereas both full and partial AN and full and partial BED appear quite similar. These results emphasize the distinct nature of AN, BN, and BED, as well as the similarities between full and partial cases.
Engineering Crowdsourced Stream Processing Systems

A crowdsourced stream processing system (CSP) is a system that incorporates crowdsourced tasks in the processing of a data stream. This can be seen as enabling crowdsourcing work to be applied on a sample of large-scale data at high speed, or equivalently, enabling stream processing to employ human intelligence. It also leads to a substantial expansion of the capabilities of data processing systems. Engineering a CSP system requires the combination of human and machine computation elements. From a general systems theory perspective, this means taking into account inherited as well as emerging properties from both these elements. In this paper, we position CSP systems within a broader taxonomy, outline a series of design principles and evaluation metrics, present an extensible framework for their design, and describe several design patterns. We showcase the capabilities of CSP systems by performing a case study that applies our proposed framework to the design and analysis of a real system (AIDR) that classifies social media messages during time-critical crisis events. Results show that compared to a pure stream processing system, AIDR can achieve a higher data classification accuracy, while compared to a pure crowdsourcing solution, the system makes better use of human workers by requiring much less manual work effort.
Bilateral Delayed Teleoperation: The Effects of a Passivated Channel Model and Force Sensing

In this paper, based on a passivity framework, admittance-type and hybrid-type delay-compensated communication channel models are introduced, which warrant different bilateral control architectures for wave-based teleoperation under time delay. We utilize wave transforms and signal filtering for passivating the delayed-communication channel and passivity/stability conditions are derived using scattering theory based on an end-to-end model of the teleoperation system rather than the communication channel alone. Contrary to a commonly held view, it is proven that the teleoperation system can remain stable when force measurement data of the master and the slave manipulators interactions with the operator and the remote environment are used. Experimental results on a soft-tissue task for a hybrid-type architecture and for round-trip delays of 60 msec and 600 msec show that using slave-side force measurements considerably enhances teleoperation transparency.
Nuclear entry and CRM1-dependent nuclear export of the Rous sarcoma virus Gag polyprotein

The retroviral Gag polyprotein directs budding from the plasma membrane of infected cells. Until now, it was believed that Gag proteins of type C retroviruses, including the prototypic oncoretrovirus Rous sarcoma virus, were synthesized on cytosolic ribosomes and targeted directly to the plasma membrane. Here we reveal a previously unknown step in the subcellular trafficking of the Gag protein, that of transient nuclear localization. We have identified a targeting signal within the N-terminal matrix domain that facilitates active nuclear import of the Gag polyprotein. We also found that Gag is transported out of the nucleus through the CRM1 nuclear export pathway, based on observations that treatment of virus-expressing cells with leptomycin B resulted in the redistribution of Gag proteins from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Internal deletion of the C-terminal portion of the Gag p10 region resulted in the nuclear sequestration of Gag and markedly diminished budding, suggesting that the nuclear export signal might reside within p10. Finally, we observed that a previously described matrix mutant, Myr1E, was insensitive to the effects of leptomycin B, apparently bypassing the nuclear compartment during virus assembly. Myr1E has a defect in genomic RNA packaging, implying that nuclear localization of Gag might be involved in viral RNA interactions. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that nuclear entry and egress of the Gag polyprotein are intrinsic components of the Rous sarcoma virus assembly pathway.
Domiciliary noninvasive positive airway pressure therapy in children

There has been a dramatic increase in the past few decades in the number of children receiving noninvasive positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy at home. Although PAP therapy was first prescribed for children with obstructive sleep apnea, the indications have rapidly widened to include treatment for central hypoventilation syndromes, neuromuscular and chest wall disorders as well as primary respiratory diseases. Given the rapidly expanding use of PAP therapy in children, pediatric pulmonologists need to be familiar with the indications, technical and safety considerations as well as potential complications and challenges that may arise when caring for children using PAP therapy. This review article covers the definition of PAP therapy, modes, interfaces, devices, indications, contraindications, suggested settings, complications as well as the factors influencing the adherence. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016;51:335–348. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Analysis of a local-area wireless network

To understand better how users take advantage of wireless networks, we examine a twelve-week trace of a building-wide local-area wireless network. We analyze the network for overall user behavior (when and how intensively people use the network and how much they move around), overall network traffic and load characteristics (observed throughput and symmetry of incoming and outgoing traffic), and traffic characteristics from a user point of view (observed mix of applications and number of hosts connected to by users). Amongst other results, we find that users are divided into distinct location-based sub-communities, each with its own movement, activity, and usage characteristics. Most users exploit the network for web-surfing, session-oriented activities and chat-oriented activities. The high number of chat-oriented activities shows that many users take advantage of the mobile network for synchronous communication with others. In addition to these user-specific results, we find that peak throughput is usually caused by a single user and application. Also, while incoming traffic dominates outgoing traffic overall, the opposite tends to be true during periods of peak throughput, implying that significant asymmetry in network capacity could be undesirable for our users. While these results are only valid for this local-area wireless network and user community, we believe that similar environments may exhibit similar behavior and trends. We hope that our observations will contribute to a growing understanding of mobile user behavior.