Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Symptom burden and job absenteeism after treatment with additional catheter-directed thrombolysis for deep vein thrombosis

Introduction Additional catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) for acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) reduces long-term postthrombotic syndrome and is likely to represent a cost-effective alternative treatment compared to the standard treatment of anticoagulation and elastic compression stockings. Accelerated thrombus resolution has also been suggested to improve symptoms and patient function in the acute phase. We aimed to investigate whether additional CDT led to fewer symptoms and job absenteeism during the first 6 months after initiation of DVT treatment compared to standard treatment alone. Methods The Catheter-directed Venous Thrombolysis (CaVenT) study was a multicenter open label, randomized controlled trial of patients ages 18 years to 75 years with a verified high proximal DVT, <21 days of symptoms, and no apparent bleeding risk. Patients were allocated to additional CDT or to standard treatment only. Symptoms were assessed at baseline and at 6 months using items from the generic and disease-specific quality of life questionnaires EQ-5D and VEINES-QOL/Sym, respectively. Individual data on sickness benefits related to venous thromboembolic disease were obtained from the national welfare service. Results A total of 90 patients allocated additional CDT and 99 control patients completed long-term follow-up and were included in the analyses. Twenty-four in the CDT arm and 40 controls received sick leave (P = 0.046). When considering working patients only (54 in the CDT arm and 72 controls) this difference was no longer statistically significant. Mean duration of job absenteeism was 86.4 days (95% confidence interval 59.4–113.5) in the CDT arm and 60.1 days (95% confidence interval 42.3–77.8) in controls (P = 0.072). After 6 months, more controls experienced frequent swelling of the leg compared with those allocated to CDT (47 [49.0%] patients versus 25 [29.4%] patients, respectively, [P = 0.007]). Conclusion There are limitations to our data, but the findings indicate improved symptom relief and less frequent job absenteeism in patients treated with additional CDT; this expands upon previously established benefits from this treatment.
Primary care Randomised controlled trial of Helicobacter pylori testing and endoscopy for dyspepsia in primary care

Objective To determine the cost effectiveness of a strategy of near patient Helicobacter pylori testing and endoscopy for managing dyspepsia. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting 31 UK primary care centres. Participants 478 patients under 50 years old presenting with dyspepsia of longer than four weeks duration. Interventions Near patient testing for H pylori and open access endoscopy for patients with positive results. Control patients received acid suppressing drugs or specialist referral at general practitioner’s discretion. Main outcome measures Cost effectiveness based on improvement in symptoms and use of resources at 12 months; quality of life. Results 40% of the study group tested positive for H pylori. 45% of study patients had endoscopy compared with 25% of controls. More peptic ulcers were diagnosed in the study group (7.4% v 2.1%, P = 0.011). Paired comparison of symptom scores and quality of life showed that all patients improved over time with no difference between study and control groups. No significant differences were observed in rates of prescribing, consultation, or referral. Costs were higher in the study group (£367.85 v £253.16 per patient). Conclusions The test and endoscopy strategy increases endoscopy rates over usual practice in primary care. The additional cost is not offset by benefits in symptom relief or quality of life.
Mobile tracking in unknown non-line-of-sight conditions

This paper studies the mobile tracking problem in mixed line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions, where the statistics of NLOS error are assumed unknown. Three different models are used to describe the NLOS errors. A Rao-Blackwellized particle filtering with parameter learning (RBPF-PL) is presented, in which the posterior of sight conditions is estimated by particle filtering while the mobile state and NLOS parameters are analytically computed. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the performance of RBPF-PL variants in different situations. Simulation show that unless it is known that NLOS noise has the same bias and variance in all the observations, the more complicated models should be employed as they work correctly even in NLOS model mismatch, with only slightly more computational complexity.
Bankruptcy prediction for credit risk using an auto-associative neural network in Korean firms

Empirical bankruptcy prediction models have been proposed and widely used in the last decades or so. Historic solvent and default firm data are collected and labeled appropriately. Statistical and neural network models are then "trained" to fit these data. A major problem is the imbalance of data, i.e. much more solvent data than default data. We propose an auto-associative neural network (AANN) that learns the identity mapping of input. By training the network with only solvent data, we built a bankruptcy predictor with better accuracies than conventional 2-class neural network based predictor.
Characterisation of the Immunophenotype of Dogs with Primary Immune-Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia

Background Immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) is reported to be the most common autoimmune disease of dogs, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality in affected animals. Haemolysis is caused by the action of autoantibodies, but the immunological changes that result in their production have not been elucidated. Aims To investigate the frequency of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and other lymphocyte subsets and to measure serum concentrations of cytokines and peripheral blood mononuclear cell expression of cytokine genes in dogs with IMHA, healthy dogs and dogs with inflammatory diseases. Animals 19 dogs with primary IMHA, 22 dogs with inflammatory diseases and 32 healthy control dogs. Methods Residual EDTA-anti-coagulated blood samples were stained with fluorophore-conjugated monoclonal antibodies and analysed by flow cytometry to identify Tregs and other lymphocyte subsets. Total RNA was also extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells to investigate cytokine gene expression, and concentrations of serum cytokines (interleukins 2, 6 10, CXCL-8 and tumour necrosis factor α) were measured using enhanced chemiluminescent assays. Principal component analysis was used to investigate latent variables that might explain variability in the entire dataset. Results There was no difference in the frequency or absolute numbers of Tregs among groups, nor in the proportions of other lymphocyte subsets. The concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines were greater in dogs with IMHA compared to healthy controls, but the concentration of IL-10 and the expression of cytokine genes did not differ between groups. Principal component analysis identified four components that explained the majority of the variability in the dataset, which seemed to correspond to different aspects of the immune response. Conclusions The immunophenotype of dogs with IMHA differed from that of dogs with inflammatory diseases and from healthy control dogs; some of these changes could suggest abnormalities in peripheral tolerance that permit development of autoimmune disease. The frequency of Tregs did not differ between groups, suggesting that deficiency in the number of these cells is not responsible for development of IMHA.
Clinical characteristics and treatment of 69 patients with extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma

This study was conducted to retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics and survival of patients with extranodal natural killer-T cell lymphoma (ENKL) and compare different treatment regimens. The univariate analysis demonstrated that survival was worse for patients with extranasal primary tumors, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) scores of ≥2, International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores of 3–5, Ann Arbor stage III and IV disease, B symptoms, lymph node involvement and absence of radiotherapy. The Cox analysis demonstrated that ECOG PS score, stage, IPI, presence of B symptoms and radiotherapy were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS). The effect of diverse therapies on survival was then analyzed, and it was found that the 5-year survival rate of patients receiving chemoradiotherapy differed significantly from that of patients who received chemotherapy alone [hazard ratio (HR)=0.347, P=0.0203], but did not differ significantly from the survival of patients treated with radiotherapy alone (HR=1.534, P=0.6371). A subgroup analysis revealed a difference between the radiotherapy and non-radiotherapy groups for patients with extranasal-type stage III/IV disease. It was concluded that ECOG score, stage, IPI, presence of B symptoms and radiotherapy were independent prognostic factors for OS in patients with ENKL. The addition of radiotherapy achieved better outcomes compared with chemotherapy alone, but no difference was observed between chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy. Patients with advanced-stage disease may also benefit from radiotherapy.
UAV cooperative control with stochastic risk models

Risk and reward are fundamental concepts in the cooperative control of unmanned systems. This paper focuses on a constructive relationship between a cooperative planner and a learner in order to mitigate the learning risk while boosting the asymptotic performance and safety of agent behavior. Our framework is an instance of the intelligent cooperative control architecture (iCCA) where a learner (Natural actor-critic, Sarsa) initially follows a "safe" policy generated by a cooperative planner (consensus-based bundle algorithm). The learner incrementally improves this baseline policy through interaction, while avoiding behaviors believed to be "risky". This paper extends previous work toward the coupling of learning and cooperative control strategies in real-time stochastic domains in two ways: (1) the risk analysis module supports stochastic risk models, and (2) learning schemes that do not store the policy as a separate entity are integrated with the cooperative planner extending the applicability of iCCA framework. The performance of the resulting approaches are demonstrated through simulation of limited fuel UAVs in a stochastic task assignment problem. Results show an 8% reduction in risk, while improving the performance up to 30%.
Gender Differences in the Perception and Use of E-Mail: An Extension to the Technology Acceptance Model

This study extends the TAM model (Davis 1989) and the SPIR addendum (Straub 1994) by adding gender to an IT diffusion model. The technology acceptance model (TAM) has been widely studied in IS research as an explanation of the use of information systems across IS types and nationalities. While this line of research has found significant cross-cultural differences, it has ignored the effects of gender, even though in socio-linguistic research, gender is a fundamental aspect of culture. Indeed, socio-linguistic research has shown that men tend to focus discourse on hierarchy and independence, while women focus on intimacy and solidarity. This literature provides a solid grounding for conceptual extensions to the IT diffusion research and the technology acceptance model.Testing gender differences that might relate to beliefs and use of computer-based media, the present study sampled 392 female and male responses via a cross-sectional survey instrument. The sample drew from comparable groups of knowledge workers using e-mail systems in the airline industry in North America, Asia, and Europe.Study findings indicate that women and men differ in their perceptions but not use of e-mail. These findings suggest that researchers should include gender in IT diffusion models along with other cultural effects. Managers and coworkers, moreover, need to realize that the same mode of communication may be perceived differently by the sexes, suggesting that more favorable communications environments might be created, environments that take into account not only organizational contextual factors, but also the gender of users. The creation of these environments involves not only the actual deployment of communication media, but also organizational training on communications media.
Rééchantillonnage de l'échelle dans les algorithmes MCMC pour les problèmes inverses bilinéaires

Cet article presente une methode pour ameliorer le comportement des algorithmes MCMC impliques dans la resolution de problemes inverses bilineaires tels que la deconvolution aveugle et la separation de sources. La question plus specifiquement abordee est celle de la gestion de l'ambiguite d'echelle intrinseque aux problemes inverses bilineaires. Le cadre bayesien leve l'ambiguite d'echelle (pourvu que les lois manipulees soient propres) mais les echantillons obtenus par echantillonnage de Gibbs sont fortement correles. L'introduction d'une etape d'echantillonnage d'un parametre d'echelle ameliore radicalement le comportement de l'echantillonneur. En autorisant un deplacement supplementaire, l'exploration de l'espace d'etat est rendue plus efficace. Ceci a pour consequences une diminution du temps de chauffe, une correlation moins forte des echantillons et une convergence plus rapide. Par rapport a d'autres solutions envisageables, cette approche est mathematiquement rigoureuse sans augmentation significative du cout de calcul. Son apport est illustre sur un exemple premier simple, puis dans le cadre d'une application a la separation de sources.
The complementary relationship in estimation of regional evapotranspiration: An enhanced advection‐aridity model

Long‐term monthly evapotranspiration estimates from Brutsaert and Strieker's Advection‐Aridity model were compared with independent estimates of evapotranspiration derived from long‐term water balances for 139 undisturbed basins across the conterminous United States. On an average annual basis for the period 1962–1988 the original model, which uses a Penman wind function, underestimated evapotranspiration by 7.9% of precipitation compared with the water balance estimates. Model accuracy increased with basin humidity. An improved formulation of the model is presented in which the wind function and the Priestley‐Taylor coefficient are modified. The wind function was reparameterized on a seasonal, regional basis to replicate independent proxy potential evapotranspiration surfaces. This led to significant differences from the original Penman wind function. The reparameterized wind function, together with a recalibrated Priestley‐Taylor coefficient in the wet environment evapotranspiration formulation, reduced the underestimation of annual average evapotranspiration to only 1.15% of precipitation on an independent set of validation basins. The results offered here lend further support for Bouchet's hypothesis as it applies to large‐scale, long‐term evapotranspiration.
Ubiquitin-Mediated Regulation of Endocytosis by Proteins of the Arrestin Family

In metazoans, proteins of the arrestin family are key players of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRS) signaling and trafficking. Following stimulation, activated receptors are phosphorylated, thus allowing the binding of arrestins and hence an “arrest” of receptor signaling. Arrestins act by uncoupling receptors from G proteins and contribute to the recruitment of endocytic proteins, such as clathrin, to direct receptor trafficking into the endocytic pathway. Arrestins also serve as adaptor proteins by promoting the recruitment of ubiquitin ligases and participate in the agonist-induced ubiquitylation of receptors, known to have impact on their subcellular localization and stability. Recently, the arrestin family has expanded following the discovery of arrestin-related proteins in other eukaryotes such as yeasts or fungi. Surprisingly, most of these proteins are also involved in the ubiquitylation and endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins, thus suggesting that the role of arrestins as ubiquitin ligase adaptors is at the core of these proteins' functions. Importantly, arrestins are themselves ubiquitylated, and this modification is crucial for their function. In this paper, we discuss recent data on the intricate connections between arrestins and the ubiquitin pathway in the control of endocytosis.
The professional self-concept of nurses: a review of the literature from 1992-2006.

OBJECTIVE This paper will discuss some recent concerns about research in the area of the professional self-concept of nurses, and trace the development of the literature on professional self-concept of nurses over the last 14 years. PRIMARY ARGUMENT Professional self-concept or how nurses feel about themselves as nurses is vital in examining current and future nursing practice and education, as it affects patient care. CONCLUSION The essence of the paper is the identification of three streams of literature: (1) which has 'emerged from the development of the Professional Self-Concept of Nurses instrument'; (2) literature which fails to consider recent or current research in the area; and (3) 'well-conducted work in the topic area'. The implications for nurses, educators and students are presented.
Modelling the electrostatic actuation of MEMS: state of the art 2005.

Most of MEMS devices are actuated using electrostatic forces. Parallel or lateral plate actuators are the types commonly used. Nevertheless, electrostatic actuation has some limitations due to its non-linear nature. This work presents a methodic overview of the existing techniques applied to the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) electrostatic actuation modeling and their implications to the dynamic behavior of the electromechanical system.
Invariant image watermark using Zernike moments

The paper introduces a robust image watermark based on an invariant image feature vector. Normalized Zernike moments of an image are used as the vector. The watermark is generated by modifying the vector. The watermark signal is designed with Zernike moments. The signal is added to the cover image in the spatial domain after the reconstruction process. We extract the feature vector from the modified image and use it as the watermark. The watermark is detected by comparing the computed Zernike moments of the test image and the given watermark vector. Rotation invariance is achieved by taking the magnitude of the Zernike moments. An image normalization method is used for scale and translation invariance. The robustness of the proposed method is demonstrated and tested using Stirmark 3.1. The test results show that our watermark is robust with respect to geometrical distortions and compression.
Currency Mismatches, Debt Intolerance and Original Sin: Why They are Not the Same and Why it Matters

Recent years have seen the development of a large literature on balance sheet factors in emerging-market financial crises. In this paper we discuss three concepts widely used in this literature. Two of them original sin' and debt intolerance' seek to explain the same phenomenon, namely, the volatility of emerging-market economies and the difficulty these countries have in servicing and repaying their debts. The debt-intolerance school traces the problem to institutional weaknesses of emerging-market economies that lead to weak and unreliable policies, while the original-sin school traces the problem instead to the structure of global portfolios and international financial markets. The literature on currency mismatches, in contrast, is concerned with the consequences of these problems and with how they are managed by the macroeconomic and financial authorities. Thus, the hypotheses and problems to which these three terms refer are analytically distinct. The tendency to use them synonymously has been an unnecessary source of confusion.
DNA binding residues in the RQC domain of Werner protein are critical for its catalytic activities

Werner protein (WRN), member of the RecQ helicase family, is a helicase and exonuclease, and participates in multiple DNA metabolic processes including DNA replication, recombination and DNA repair. Mutations in the WRN gene cause Werner syndrome, associated with premature aging, genome instability and cancer predisposition. The RecQ C-terminal (RQC) domain of WRN, containing α2-α3 loop and β-wing motifs, is important for DNA binding and for many protein interactions. To better understand the critical functions of this domain, we generated recombinant WRN proteins (using a novel purification scheme) with mutations in Arg-993 within the α2-α3 loop of the RQC domain and in Phe-1037 of the μ-wing motif. We then studied the catalytic activities and DNA binding of these mutant proteins as well as some important functional protein interactions. The mutant proteins were defective in DNA binding and helicase activity, and interestingly, they had deficient exonuclease activity and strand annealing function. The RQC domain of WRN has not previously been implicated in exonuclease or annealing activities. The mutant proteins could not stimulate NEIL1 incision activity as did the wild type. Thus, the Arg-993 and Phe-1037 in the RQC domain play essential roles in catalytic activity, and in functional interactions mediated by WRN.
An Investigation into E-Tool Use for Formative Assignment Assessment - Status and Recommendations

This article reports on a comprehensive study, investigating the use of e-tools for formative assignment assessment. The study conducted a large-scale literature review and interviews with 90 academics at five New Zealand tertiary institutions. The focus of the study was on formative assessment provided in assignments, an area in which educational theories on importance for learning and on best practice are well established. Yet, research shows that these theories have failed to influence tertiary practice sufficiently to ensure the best possible outcomes for student learning. The interview data collected were analysed according to motivation, needs and benefits as perceived by lecturers and educational principles as derived from the literature. Both the literature and the interview analysis showed a strong positive impact from using e-tools for the management and marking of assignments. Widely available e-learning and general purpose computer tools can be used effectively to support lecturers in dealing with assignments. Specialised assignment tools provide opportunities for even greater gains. The use of e-tools means time savings for the lecturers and enables quality gains in the assignment process. E-tools have the potential to assist with uptake of the well-established educational theories. This article summarises important aspects of the literature review and the interview analysis conducted as part of the study. It provides recommendations in the form of suggestions on which tools are suitable for specific steps in the assignment process and alerts the reader to the website where there are user profiles supported by case studies and an action plan. All these recommendations are targeted at encouraging and enabling lecturers to employ etools for the management and marking of assignments.