Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do varicose veins affect quality of life? Results of an international population-based study.

PURPOSE This study assessed the impact of varicose veins (VV) on quality of life (QOL) and patient-reported symptoms. METHODS A cross-sectional population-based study was held in 166 general practices and 116 specialist clinics for venous disorders of the leg in Belgium, Canada (Quebec), France, and Italy. Study subjects included a sample of 259 reference patients without VV (CEAP class 0 or 1) and 1054 patients with VV who were classified as having VV alone (367; 34.8%), VV with edema (125; 11.9%), VV with skin changes (431; 40.9%), VV with healed ulcer (100; 9.5%), and VV with active ulcer (31; 2.9%). The main outcome measure was generic and disease-specific QOL, as measured by means of the Short-Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36) and the VEINES-QOL scale, and patient-reported symptoms as measured by the VEINES-SYM scale. RESULTS In patients with VV, age-standardized mean SF-36 physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) scores were 45.6 and 46.1 in men and 44.2 and 43.2 in women, respectively, compared with population norms of 50. PCS scores decreased according to increasing severity of concomitant venous disease, with the lowest mean scores of 37.3 and 35.5 found in patients with VV and active ulcer. However, adjusted analyses showed no statistically significant differences between patients with VV alone and patients without VV for PCS (0.0), MCS (1.0), VEINES-QOL (-0.1), or VEINES-SYM (0.0) scores. In comparison with patients without VV, the largest differences were seen in patients with VV and edema (PCS, VEINES-QOL, and VEINES-SYM score differences of -1.8, -2.5, and -2.9, respectively) and in patients with VV and ulceration (differences of -3.3, -3.4, and -2.7, respectively). The high prevalence of major symptoms of venous disorders in patients in CEAP class 0 or 1 being treated for venous disorders (76.1% of patients had heaviness, aching legs, or swelling) might have contributed to the impairment of QOL in the reference group. CONCLUSION Results indicate that impairment in physical QOL in patients with VV is associated with concomitant venous disease, rather than the presence of VV per se. Findings concerning QOL in patients with VV can only be reliably interpreted when concomitant venous disease is taken into account. In patients with VV alone, the objectives of cosmetic improvement and the improvement of QOL should be considered separately.
InGaAs MMIC SPST Switch Based on HPF/LPF Switching Concept With Periodic Structure

This paper presents the analysis of a novel highpass filter/low-pass filter (HPF/LPF) switching concept. Since an HPF/LPF switching concept has a periodic structure, its equivalent circuit is almost the same as an LPF for the ON-state and is the same as an HPF for the OFF-state. The broadband isolation characteristics with low insertion loss can be achieved by designing its cutoff frequency. A three-stage single pole single throw InGaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor monolithic microwave integrated circuit switch based on the HPF/LPF switching concept is successfully demonstrated with an insertion loss of less than 1.6 dB and isolation of more than 82 dB below 6 GHz, with a size of 1.1 mm × 1.0 mm. The RF performances are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. The measured input power of 1-dB insertion loss compression, P1dB, and the measured third-order intercept point, IIP3, are 19 and 27.7 dBm, respectively, at 1.95 GHz. The measured ON-time is 5.5 ns without cable delay. The measured rise time is as fast as 1.4 ns.
Risk, reward and discipline at work

This paper argues that the manufacture of specific kinds of uncertainty and risk has become central to programmes of work flexibilization. The construction of a riskuncertainty relation has underpinned a raft of managerial doctrines on the worker as entrepreneur. I outline the dominant representation of risk as an unavoidable symptom of globalization. I then explore the relationship between human capital risk management, as defined by management consultants, and the working practices restructured in their name. In contrast to the rhetoric of worker-entrepreneurs, the making of contingency and uncertainty at work is revealed to be riven by tensions. I conclude by considering how we might begin to expose the myths of individual entrepreneurship, revealing the ordinary and everyday practices that make the displacement and reallocation of risk possible.
Simplified fuzzy rule-based systems using non-parametric antecedents and relative data density

In this paper a new method for definition of the antecedent/premise part of the fuzzy rule-based (FRB) systems is proposed. It removes the need to define the membership functions per variable using often artificial parametric functions such as triangular, Gaussian etc. Instead, it strictly follows the real data distribution and in this sense resembles particle filters. In addition, it is in a vector form and thus removes the need to use logical connectives such as AND/OR to aggregate the scalar variables. Finally, it uses the relative data density expressed in a form of a parameter-free (Cauchy type) kernel to derive the activation level of each rule; these are then fuzzily weighted to produce the overall output. This new simplified type of FRB can be seen as the next form after the two popular FRB system types, namely the Zadeh-Mamdani and Takagi-Sugeno. The new type of FRB has a much simplified antecedent part which is formed using data clouds. Data clouds are sets of data samples in the data space and differ from clusters significantly (they have no specific shape, boundaries, and parameters). An important specific of the activation level determined by relative density is that it takes directly into account the distance to all previous data samples, not just the mean or prototype as other methods do. The proposed simplified FRB types of systems can be applied to off-line, on-line as well as evolving (with adaptive system structure) versions of FRB and related neuro-fuzzy systems. They can also be applied to prediction, classification, and control problems. In this paper examples will be presented of an evolving FRB predictor and of a classifier of one rule per class type which will be compared with the traditional approaches primarily aiming proof of concept. More thorough investigation of the rich possibilities which this innovative technique offers will be presented in parallel publications.
Cloning and Structure-Function Analyses of Quinolone- and Acridone-producing Novel Type III Polyketide Synthases from Citrus microcarpa*

Background: Type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) synthesize various polyketide and alkaloid scaffolds. Results: QNS synthesizes quinolone as the single product, whereas ACS produces acridone as the major product. Conclusion: QNS and ACS are novel quinolone- and acridone-producing type III PKSs, respectively. Significance: Structure-function analyses of QNS and ACS provide insights into molecular bases for alkaloid biosyntheses. Two novel type III polyketide synthases, quinolone synthase (QNS) and acridone synthase (ACS), were cloned from Citrus microcarpa (Rutaceae). The deduced amino acid sequence of C. microcarpa QNS is unique, and it shared only 56–60% identities with C. microcarpa ACS, Medicago sativa chalcone synthase (CHS), and the previously reported Aegle marmelos QNS. In contrast to the quinolone- and acridone-producing A. marmelos QNS, C. microcarpa QNS produces 4-hydroxy-N-methylquinolone as the “single product” by the one-step condensation of N-methylanthraniloyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. However, C. microcarpa ACS shows broad substrate specificities and produces not only acridone and quinolone but also chalcone, benzophenone, and phloroglucinol from 4-coumaroyl-CoA, benzoyl-CoA, and hexanoyl-CoA, respectively. Furthermore, the x-ray crystal structures of C. microcarpa QNS and ACS, solved at 2.47- and 2.35-Å resolutions, respectively, revealed wide active site entrances in both enzymes. The wide active site entrances thus provide sufficient space to facilitate the binding of the bulky N-methylanthraniloyl-CoA within the catalytic centers. However, the active site cavity volume of C. microcarpa ACS (760 Å3) is almost as large as that of M. sativa CHS (750 Å3), and ACS produces acridone by employing an active site cavity and catalytic machinery similar to those of CHS. In contrast, the cavity of C. microcarpa QNS (290 Å3) is significantly smaller, which makes this enzyme produce the diketide quinolone. These results as well as mutagenesis analyses provided the first structural bases for the anthranilate-derived production of the quinolone and acridone alkaloid by type III polyketide synthases.
Functional electrical stimulation of dorsiflexor muscle: effects on dorsiflexor strength, plantarflexor spasticity, and motor recovery in stroke patients.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the therapeutic effects of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) of the tibialis anterior muscle on plantarflexor spasticity, dorsiflexor strength, voluntary ankle dorsiflexion, and lower extremity motor recovery with stroke survivors. DESIGN We conducted a prospective interventional study. SETTING Rehabilitation ward, physiotherapy unit and gait analysis laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Fifty-one patients with foot drop resulting from stroke. INTERVENTION The functional electrical stimulation (FES) group (n=27) received 20-30 minutes of electrical stimulation to the peroneal nerve and anterior tibial muscle of the paretic limb along with conventional rehabilitation program (CRP). The control group (n=24) treated with CRP only. The subjects were treated 1 hr per day, 5 days a week, for 12 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Plantarflexor spasticity measured by modified ashworth scale (MAS), dorsiflexion strength measured by manual muscle test (MMT), active/passive ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion, and lower-extremity motor recovery by Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) scale. RESULTS After 12 weeks of treatment, there was a significant reduction in a plantarflexor spasticity by 38.3% in the FES group and 21.2% in control group (P< 0.05), between the beginning and end of the trial. Dorsiflexor muscle strength was increased significantly by 56.6% and 27.7% in the FES group and control group, respectively. Similarly, voluntary ankle dorsiflexion and lower-extremity motor function improved significantly in both the groups. No significant differences were found in the baseline measurements among groups. When compared with control group, a significant improvement (p< 0.05) was measured in all assessed parameters in the FES group at post-treatment assessment, thus FES therapy has better effect on recovery process in post-stroke rehabilitation. CONCLUSIONS Therapy combining FES and conventional rehabilitation program was superior to a conventional rehabilitation program alone, in terms of reducing spasticity, improving dorsiflexor strength and lower extremity motor recovery in stroke patients.
Patient Race and Provider Predict Patient Satisfaction Following Post-Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction

BACKGROUND Post-mastectomy breast reconstruction is commonly performed in the United States with numerous options available to patients and providers. This study evaluated patient race and provider in prediction of patient satisfaction following post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. METHODS The patient satisfaction for women who underwent post mastectomy breast reconstruction at University of California, Irvine Medical Center was evaluated between 2012 and 2014, randomly using Press Ganey Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys. Patient demographics and surgery related variables including type of reconstruction received were determined. RESULTS Between 2012 and 2014, ninety breast reconstruction patients completed a HCAHPS satisfaction survey. Average satisfaction score was 9.67/10. Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed that 34% of the variability in satisfaction scores was accounted for by the variables included in our statistical model. Analyses revealed race/ethnicity and provider to be independent predictors of satisfaction (p<0.05). Satisfaction scores ranged from 6-10 and varied by 11.7% across different providers and 8.9% across different races. The following variables were included, but did not influence patient satisfaction: type, timing, or laterality of reconstruction, presence of post-operative complication, body mass index (BMI), age, presence of comorbidity, and insurance type. CONCLUSION Achieving patient satisfaction is an important outcome of breast reconstruction. This study is one of the first to identify provider and race/ethnicity as predictors of patient satisfaction following breast reconstruction. The information provided here can help inform providers and improve satisfaction for patients undergoing breast reconstruction.
Criteria for Clinically Relevant Weakness and Low Lean Mass and Their Longitudinal Association With Incident Mobility Impairment and Mortality: The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Sarcopenia Project

Background. This analysis sought to determine the associations of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Sarcopenia Project criteria for weakness and low lean mass with likelihood for mobility impairment (gait speed ≤ 0.8 m/s) and mortality. Providing validity for these criteria is essential for research and clinical evaluation. Methods. Among 4,411 men and 1,869 women pooled from 6 cohort studies, 3-year likelihood for incident mobility impairment and mortality over 10 years were determined for individuals with weakness, low lean mass, and for those having both. Weakness was defined as low grip strength (<26kg men and <16kg women) and low grip strength-to-body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) ratio (<1.00 men and <0.56 women). Low lean mass (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) was categorized as low appendicular lean mass (ALM; <19.75kg men and <15.02kg women) and low ALM-to-BMI ratio (<0.789 men and <0.512 women). Results. Low grip strength (men: odds ratio [OR] = 2.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.34–3.99; women: OR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.23–3.21), low grip strength-to-BMI ratio (men: OR = 3.28, 95% CI 1.92–5.59; women: OR = 2.54, 95% CI 1.10–5.83) and low ALM-to-BMI ratio (men: OR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.12–2.25; women: OR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.14–2.87), but not low ALM, were associated with increased likelihood for incident mobility impairment. Weakness increased likelihood of mobility impairment regardless of low lean mass. Mortality risk patterns were inconsistent. Conclusions. These findings support our cut-points for low grip strength and low ALM-to-BMI ratio as candidate criteria for clinically relevant weakness and low lean mass. Further validation in other populations and for alternate relevant outcomes is needed.
Gender and Sex as Determinants of Hireability of Applicants for Gender‐Typed Jobs

The effects of gender and sex of applicants for gender-typed jobs were investigated in the context of a simulation of a post-interview decision. Student subjects (N=102) rated eight applicants for one of three gender-typed jobs. Results indicated that, in general, masculine applicants (of both sexes) were preferred over androgynous applicants who were preferred over feminine applicants. For the neutral job, androgynous applicants were preferred over masculine applicants who were preferred over feminine applicants. Male and female students did not differ in their ratings of the applicants. The results were interpreted as indicating raters' preference for masculine characteristics in any job applicant.
Translation Prediction with Source Dependency-Based Context Representation

Learning context representations is very promising to improve translation results, particularly through neural networks. Previous efforts process the context words sequentially and neglect their internal syntactic structure. In this paper, we propose a novel neural network based on bi-convolutional architecture to represent the source dependency-based context for translation prediction. The proposed model is able to not only encode the long-distance dependencies but also capture the functional similarities for better translation prediction (i.e., ambiguous words translation and word forms translation). Examined by a large-scale Chinese-English translation task, the proposed approach achieves a significant improvement (of up to +1.9 BLEU points) over the baseline system, and meanwhile outperforms a number of context-enhanced comparison system.
Performance analysis of ESPRIT-type algorithms for non-circular sources

High-resolution parameter estimation algorithms designed to benefit from the presence of non-circular (NC) source signals allow for an increased identifiability and a lower estimation error. In this paper, we present a 1-D first-order performance analysis of the NC standard ESPRIT and NC Unitary ESPRIT estimation schemes for strictly second-order (SO) non-circular sources, where NC Unitary ESPRIT has a lower complexity and a better performance in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. Our derived expressions are asymptotic in the effective SNR and explicit in the noise realizations, i.e., no assumptions about the noise statistics are necessary. As a main result, we show that the asymptotic performance of both NC ESPRIT-type algorithms is identical in the effective SNR and that NC Unitary ESPRIT is even applicable to array geometries without a centro-symmetric structure as required for Unitary ESPRIT.
C-Reactive Protein as a Prognostic Marker After Lacunar Stroke: Levels of Inflammatory Markers in the Treatment of Stroke Study

Background and Purpose— Inflammatory biomarkers predict incident and recurrent cardiac events, but their relationship to stroke prognosis is uncertain. We hypothesized that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) predicts recurrent ischemic stroke after recent lacunar stroke. Methods— Levels of Inflammatory Markers in the Treatment of Stroke (LIMITS) was an international, multicenter, prospective ancillary biomarker study nested within Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes (SPS3), a phase III trial in patients with recent lacunar stroke. Patients were assigned in factorial design to aspirin versus aspirin plus clopidogrel, and higher versus lower blood pressure targets. Patients had blood samples collected at enrollment and hsCRP measured using nephelometry at a central laboratory. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for recurrence risks before and after adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, and statin use. Results— Among 1244 patients with lacunar stroke (mean age, 63.3±10.8 years), median hsCRP was 2.16 mg/L. There were 83 recurrent ischemic strokes (including 45 lacunes) and 115 major vascular events (stroke, myocardial infarction, and vascular death). Compared with the bottom quartile, those in the top quartile (hsCRP >4.86 mg/L) were at increased risk of recurrent ischemic stroke (unadjusted HR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.30–4.96), even after adjusting for demographics and risk factors (adjusted HR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.15–4.68). hsCRP predicted increased risk of major vascular events (top quartile adjusted HR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.14–3.67). There was no interaction with randomized antiplatelet treatment. Conclusions— Among recent lacunar stroke patients, hsCRP levels predict the risk of recurrent strokes and other vascular events. hsCRP did not predict the response to dual antiplatelets. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00059306.
Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions that Improve Character and Cognition

This paper reviews the recent literature on measuring and boosting cognitive and noncognitive skills. The literature establishes that achievement tests do not adequately capture character skills--personality traits, goals, motivations, and preferences--that are valued in the labor market, in school, and in many other domains. Their predictive power rivals that of cognitive skills. Reliable measures of character have been developed. All measures of character and cognition are measures of performance on some task. In order to reliably estimate skills from tasks, it is necessary to standardize for incentives, effort, and other skills when measuring any particular skill. Character is a skill, not a trait. At any age, character skills are stable across different tasks, but skills can change over the life cycle. Character is shaped by families, schools, and social environments. Skill development is a dynamic process, in which the early years lay the foundation for successful investment in later years. High-quality early childhood and elementary school programs improve character skills in a lasting and cost-effective way. Many of them beneficially affect later-life outcomes without improving cognition. There are fewer long-term evaluations of adolescent interventions, but workplace-based programs that teach character skills are promising. The common feature of successful interventions across all stages of the life cycle through adulthood is that they promote attachment and provide a secure base for exploration and learning for the child. Successful interventions emulate the mentoring environments offered by successful families.
Predictive Coding or Evidence Accumulation? False Inference and Neuronal Fluctuations

Perceptual decisions can be made when sensory input affords an inference about what generated that input. Here, we report findings from two independent perceptual experiments conducted during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a sparse event-related design. The first experiment, in the visual modality, involved forced-choice discrimination of coherence in random dot kinematograms that contained either subliminal or periliminal motion coherence. The second experiment, in the auditory domain, involved free response detection of (non-semantic) near-threshold acoustic stimuli. We analysed fluctuations in ongoing neural activity, as indexed by fMRI, and found that neuronal activity in sensory areas (extrastriate visual and early auditory cortex) biases perceptual decisions towards correct inference and not towards a specific percept. Hits (detection of near-threshold stimuli) were preceded by significantly higher activity than both misses of identical stimuli or false alarms, in which percepts arise in the absence of appropriate sensory input. In accord with predictive coding models and the free-energy principle, this observation suggests that cortical activity in sensory brain areas reflects the precision of prediction errors and not just the sensory evidence or prediction errors per se.
Family and Community Involvement Policies: Teachers Can Lead the Way

artnership programs between schools and families/communities are expanding across the nation. The U. S. Department of Education (1999) sponsors an Internet site, a toll-free telephone number (1-800-USALEARN), a newsletter, several media projects, and regular satellite broadcasts on partnerships. It is clear that school districts in every state are embracing the idea and are planning many activities to initiate and encourage more family/community involvement. What is not so clear is whether school districts have included fami-