Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro reactivity of factor VIII inhibitors with von Willebrand factor in different commercial factor VIII concentrates

A relevant aspect in the treatment of patients with hemophilia A (HA) presenting inhibitor against factor VIII (FVIII) is the different antigenicity of FVIII used for replacement therapy. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of different products, with variable von Willebrand factor (vWF) concentration, in preventing the binding of inhibitor to FVIII. The reactivity of inhibitors from plasma of 18 patients with HA versus three commercial concentrates containing different amounts of vWF was compared. The results show that increasing amounts of vWF might have a protective effect on the transfused FVIII inactivation. Am. J. Hematol. , 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Antidepressant Use and Incident Urinary Incontinence: A Literature Review.

OBJECTIVE To review available data examining antidepressant use and incident urinary incontinence (UI). DATA SOURCES PubMed was used to conduct the literature search for this review. In the primary search, the term "antidepressive agents" was searched as a medical subject heading, a pharmacological action, and a keyword phrase. This choice was made so that any relevant articles would include complete results for antidepressive agents. "Antidepressive agents" was combined with the key phrase "drug-induced urinary incontinence" to complete this primary search. STUDY SELECTION Relevant articles published in English and examining human subjects were included. DATA EXTRACTION The study authors determined appropriateness of articles for inclusion, focusing on those examining antidepressant-associated UI. DATA SYNTHESIS This literature review identified three cohort studies and 11 case reports examining various associations between antidepressant use and incident UI. CONCLUSION All 11 case reports and 1 cohort study reviewed suggest an association between antidepressant use and incident UI. It remains unclear which drugs are most problematic and which patients are at greatest risk, and more data are needed to confirm an association, especially in older adults. Comprehensive medication reviews should be employed by pharmacists to identify potential medication-related causes of UI.
Effect of age on forward and backward digit spans

Abstract A number of studies has suggested that aging is characterized by a decline in the central executive while the automatic processes (in particular operations by the phonological loop) remain intact. According to interpretation, age differences should be minimal in verbal forward digit span while they should be more important in backward verbal digit span. A sample of 1,000 subjects with ages ranging from 16 years to 79 years was used to test this hypothesis. the results show no significant effect of age on the difference between digit span forward and backward. the theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
Chapter 1: Creating Quasi-Markets in Education: A Review of Recent Research on Parental Choice and School Autonomy in Three Countries

INTRODUCTION This chapter will review recent research literature concerning the progress and effects of the currently fashionable "parental choice" and "school autonomy" agendas in contemporary education policy. In discussing parental choice, the chapter will be particularly concerned with those policies that claim to enhance opportunities for choice among public schools and those that use public funds to extend choice into the private sector. School autonomy, as used here, refers to moves to devolve various aspects of decision making from regional and district offices to individual public schools, whether to site-based professionals, community-based councils, or a combination of both. Advocates of both sets of policies argue that they will enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of the education system as a whole. The rationale for considering these two agendas together may need some explanation, especially in the United States, where the provenance of the two reforms is quite different and where, in some respects, they are competing strategies. Thus, for example, Moe (1994) suggests that school-based management is a selfserving reform favored by professional educators and designed to resist demands for the radical alternative of choice, which puts power in the hands of consumers. Yet, while he is critical of site-based management as it is generally practiced in
The professionalization of campaigns in recent democracies: The Portuguese case

The fact that political campaigns in contemporary western democracies are fully professionalized seems to be unchallenged. Yet, the empirical evidence concerns few advanced democracies and mainly the main governing parties. We know little about the characteristics of political campaigns in recent democracies, as well as their main features in terms of political communication. This article aims to tackle these issues by examining the Portuguese case, a recent democracy characterized by relatively weak parties, television-centred communication and low levels of partisanship. In order to explore the features of political campaigns, this article draws on original data from both party elite interviews and a candidate survey for the 2009 legislative elections. The results show a relatively low degree of professionalization, especially in terms of marketing outlook. Overall, the findings provide support for hybrid models of campaign communication and suggest that political and institutional factors have important effects for party organization and communication tools.
An L-band geophysical model function for SAR wind retrieval using JERS-1 SAR

An L-band geophysical model function is developed using Japanese Earth Resources Satellite-1 (JERS-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. First, we estimate the SAR system noise, which has been a serious problem peculiar to the JERS-1 SAR. It is found that the system noise has a feature common in all the SAR images and that the azimuth-averaged profile of noise can be expressed as a parabolic function of range. By subtracting the estimated noise from the SAR images, we can extract the relatively calibrated ocean signals. Second, using the noise-removed SAR data and wind vector data from the NASA Scatterometer and buoys operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency, we generate a match-up dataset, which consists of the SAR sigma-0, the incidence angle, the surface wind speed, and wind direction. Third, we investigate the sigma-0 dependence on incidence angle, wind speed, and wind direction. While the incidence angle dependence is negligible in the present results, we can derive distinct sigma-0 dependence on wind speed and direction. For wind speeds below 8 m/s, the wind direction dependence is not significant. However, for higher wind speeds, the upwind-downwind asymmetry becomes very large. Finally, taking into account these characteristics, a new L-band-HH geophysical model function is produced for the SAR wind retrieval using a third-order harmonics formula. Resultant estimates of SAR-derived wind speed have an rms error of 2.09 m/s with a negligible bias against the truth wind speed. This result enables us to convert JERS-1 SAR images into the reliable wind-speed maps.
The social structure of celebrity: an empirical network analysis of an elite population

Celebrities are anecdotally one of the most observed groups in contemporary society, but are difficult to capture in large-scale quantitative empirical analyses. In this analysis, we use a unique dataset, Getty Images photographs, to study this social group and its various network structures. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that celebrity networks are characterised by low degrees of separation and high connectivity between one another. Higher industry status (‘talent’) and media profile form particular, more exclusive, networks within the larger universe of celebrities. Our empirical results stack up with the theory of ‘superstars’ and the ‘rich-get-richer’ model of preferential attachment and cumulative advantage. We speculate that there may be substantial social and economic outcomes to being more connected to other celebrities that transcend the social ties observed at the documented social events.
From simple innate biases to complex visual concepts

Early in development, infants learn to solve visual problems that are highly challenging for current computational methods. We present a model that deals with two fundamental problems in which the gap between computational difficulty and infant learning is particularly striking: learning to recognize hands and learning to recognize gaze direction. The model is shown a stream of natural videos and learns without any supervision to detect human hands by appearance and by context, as well as direction of gaze, in complex natural scenes. The algorithm is guided by an empirically motivated innate mechanism—the detection of “mover” events in dynamic images, which are the events of a moving image region causing a stationary region to move or change after contact. Mover events provide an internal teaching signal, which is shown to be more effective than alternative cues and sufficient for the efficient acquisition of hand and gaze representations. The implications go beyond the specific tasks, by showing how domain-specific “proto concepts” can guide the system to acquire meaningful concepts, which are significant to the observer but statistically inconspicuous in the sensory input.
Sensitivity of Random Dot Stereoacuity and Snellen Acuity to Optical Blur

The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of a random dot stereogram for the detection of refractive blur by determining the relative sensitivity of random dot stereoacuity (RDS) and Snellen visual acuity to the effects of optically induced blur. Measurements of Snellen and stereoacuity were completed on four young adult subjects under cycloplegia and through artificial pupils. Optical blur was varied binocularly and monocularly in 0.50 D steps up to −6.00 D while the subjects viewed targets composed of stimuli arranged in 0.1 log unit size increments. The results show the relation between RDS and Snellen acuity to be SA = 1.341 (VA) + 0.281 for equal amounts of binocularly induced optical blur. Moreover, the RDS appeared more highly sensitive when the blur in the 2 eyes was unequal [SA = 3.774 (VA) - 1.180], a condition approximating refractive anisometropic amblyopia. These results provide a rationale for the use of random element stereograms for the detection of refractive amblyopia and ametropia in the vision screening of children.
The Adjustment Process of Single-Parent Families

The purpose of this article is to understand the adjustment process of single parents in Hong Kong. Findings indicate that the reaction towards single parenthood changes over time. The initial reaction may be either positive or negative, but eventually converges to indifference. Such changes can be represented in the shape of a parabola. Hence, a simple, linear model of the adjustment process of single parents is probably inappropriate.
Current Research and Open Problems in Attribute-Based Access Control

Attribute-based access control (ABAC) is a promising alternative to traditional models of access control (i.e., discretionary access control (DAC), mandatory access control (MAC), and role-based access control (RBAC)) that is drawing attention in both recent academic literature and industry application. However, formalization of a foundational model of ABAC and large scale adoption is still in its infancy. The relatively recent emergence of ABAC still leaves a number of problems unexplored. Issues like delegation, administration, auditability, scalability, hierarchical representations, and the like, have been largely ignored or left to future work. This article provides a basic introduction to ABAC and a comprehensive review of recent research efforts toward developing formal models of ABAC. A taxonomy of ABAC research is presented and used to categorize and evaluate surveyed articles. Open problems are identified based on the shortcomings of the reviewed works and potential solutions discussed.
Targeted Delivery of Anticancer Agents via a Dual Function Nanocarrier with an Interfacial Drug-Interactive Motif

We have developed a dual-function drug carrier, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-derivatized farnesylthiosalicylate (FTS). Here we report that incorporation of a drug-interactive motif (Fmoc) into PEG5k–FTS2 led to further improvement in both drug loading capacity and formulation stability. Doxorubicin (DOX) formulated in PEG5k–Fmoc–FTS2 showed sustained release kinetics slower than those of DOX loaded in PEG5k–FTS2. The maximum tolerated dose of DOX- or paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded PEG5k–Fmoc–FTS2 was significantly higher than that of the free drug. Pharmacokinetics and biodistribution studies showed that DOX/PEG5k–Fmoc–FTS2 mixed micelles were able to retain DOX in the bloodstream for a significant amount of time and efficiently deliver the drug to tumor sites. More importantly, drug (DOX or PTX)-loaded PEG5k–Fmoc–FTS2 led to superior antitumor activity over other treatments including drugs formulated in PEG5k–FTS2 in breast cancer and prostate cancer models. Our improved dual function carrier with a built-in drug-interactive motif represents a simple and effective system for targeted delivery of anticancer agents.
Spatial Degrees of Freedom of the Multicell MIMO Multiple Access Channel

We consider a homogeneous multiple cellular scenario with multiple users per cell, i.e., K¡Y1 where K denotes the number of users in a cell. In this scenario, a degrees of freedom outer bound as well as an achievable scheme that attains the degrees of freedom outer bound of the multicell multiple access channel (MAC) with constant channel coefficients are investigated. The users have M antennas, and the base stations are equipped with N antennas. The found outer bound is general in that it characterizes a degrees of freedom upper bound for K¡Y1 and L>1 where $L$ denotes the number of cells. The achievability of the degrees of freedom outer bound is studied for two cell case (i.e., L=2). The achievable schemes that attains the degrees of freedom outer bound for L=2 are based on two approaches. The first scheme is a simple zero forcing with M=K¿A+¿A and N=K¿A, and the second approach is null space interference alignment with M=K¿A and N=K¿A+¿A where $¿A>0$ is a positive integer.
Cigarette Warnings: Recall of Content as a Function of Gender, Message Context, Smoking Habits and Time

The purpose of the present study was to assess the degree to which smokers and nonsmokers can recall warning information about the hazards of smoking, as a function of message context, time and gender. Subjects were presented with printed messages, advertisements, or cigarette packs containing the four currently used warnings. Recall of the message content was measured immediately after viewing the message, as well as one week later. In general, recall of the informational content of the messages was poor. However, there were differences among the experimental conditions. Smokers recalled more information than nonsmokers, and more information was recalled from the printed messages and the cigarette packs, than from the magazine advertisements. In addition, there were differences in the percentages of information recalled from the four messages. Suggestions for changes in the message content and design are offered, based on the currently available guidelines.
Genetic deletion of platelet glycoprotein Ib alpha but not its extracellular domain protects from atherosclerosis

Summary The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis involves the interplay of haematopoietic, stromal and endothelial cells. Platelet interactions with endothelium and leukocytes are pivotal for atherosclerosis promotion. Glycoprotein (GP) Ibα is the ligand-binding subunit of the platelet GPIb-IX-V receptor complex; its deficiency causes the Bernard-Soulier syndrome (BSS), characterised by absent platelet GPIb-IX-V, macrothrombocytopenia and bleeding. We designed this study to determine the role of platelet GPIbα in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis using two unique knockout models. Ldlr-/- mice were reconstituted with wild-type (wt), GPIbα-/- (lacks GPIbα) or chimeric IL-4R/GPIbα-Tg (lacks GPIbα extracellular domain) bone marrow and assayed for atherosclerosis development after feeding with pro-atherogenic “western diet”. Here, we report that Ldlr-/- mice reconstituted with GPIbα-/- bone marrow developed less atherosclerosis compared to wt controls; accompanied by augmented accumulation of pro-inflammatory CD11b+ and CD11c+ myeloid cells, reduced oxLDL uptake and decreased TNF and IL 12p35 gene expression in the aortas. Flow cytometry and live cell imaging in whole blood-perfused microfluidic chambers revealed reduced platelet-monocyte aggregates in GPIbα-/- mice, which resulted in decreased monocyte activation. Interestingly, Ldlr -/- mice reconstituted with IL-4R/GPIbα-Tg bone marrow, producing less abnormal platelets, showed atherosclerotic lesions similar to wt mice. Platelet interaction with blood monocytes and accumulation of myeloid cells in the aortas were also essentially unaltered. Moreover, only complete GPIbα ablation altered platelet microparticles and CCL5 chemokine production. Thus, atherosclerosis reduction in mice lacking GPIbα may not result from the defective GPIbα-ligand binding, but more likely is a consequence of functional defects of GPIbα-/- platelets and reduced blood platelet counts.
Optimal induced universal graphs for bounded-degree graphs

Abstract We show that for any constant Δ ≥ 2, there exists a graph Γ with O(nΔ / 2) vertices which contains every n-vertex graph with maximum degree Δ as an induced subgraph. For odd Δ this significantly improves the best-known earlier bound and is optimal up to a constant factor, as it is known that any such graph must have at least Ω(nΔ/2) vertices.
Action and Its Environments: Toward a New Synthesis

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Part I: The Problem StatedOne: Social-Structural Analysis: Presuppositions, Ideologies, Empirical Debates Part II: Structure, Action, and DifferentiationTwo: Durkheim's Problem and Differentiation Theory TodayThree: Core Solidarity, Ethnic Outgroup, and Social DifferentiationFour: The Mass News Media in Systemic, Historical, and Comparative PerspectiveFive: Three Models of Culture and Social Relations: Toward an Analysis of WatergateSix: The University and Morality Part III: The Micro-Macro LinkSeven: Social Differentiation and Collective Behavior (with Paul Colomy)Eight: The Individualist Dilemma in Phenomenology and InteractionismNine: From Reduction to Linkage: The Long View of the Micro-Macro Debate (with Bernhard Giesen) Part IV: The Problem RestatedTen: Action and Its Environments Index
Combined endurance-resistance training vs. endurance training in patients with chronic heart failure: a prospective randomized study.

AIMS This study was designed to compare the effects of combined endurance-resistance training (CT) with endurance training (ET) only on submaximal and maximal exercise capacity, ventilatory prognostic parameters, safety issues, and quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty-eight CHF patients (NYHA class II-III) were randomized either to 6 months CT [n = 28, 58 years, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 26%, VO(2)peak 18.1 mL/kg/min] or ET (n = 30, 59 years, LVEF 23%, VO(2)peak 21.3 mL/kg/min). The increase in steady-state workload (P = 0.007) and the decrease in heart rate at SSW (P = 0.002) were significantly larger in CT- compared with ET-trained patients. Maximal exercise capacity (i.e. VO(2)peak, maximal workload) and work-economy (Wattmax/VO(2)peak) evolved similarly. VO(2)peak halftime was reduced following CT (P = 0.001). Maximal strength in upper limbs increased significantly (P < 0.001) in favour of the CT group. CT also had a beneficial effect on health-related quality of life, i.e. 60% of CT-trained patients vs. 28% of ET-trained patients reported a decrease in cardiac symptoms (OR = 3.86, 95% CI 1.11-12.46, P = 0.03). There were no differences with regard to improved LVEF, evolution of left ventricular dimensions, nor outcome data (mortality and cardiovascular hospital admissions during follow-up). CONCLUSION In CHF patients, CT had a more pronounced effect on submaximal exercise capacity, muscle strength, and quality of life. The absence of unfavourable effects on left ventricular remodelling and outcome parameters is reassuring and might facilitate further implementation of this particular training modality.
Toward a Behavioral Theory of Boards and Corporate Governance

Review A coherent alternative to an economic approach of corporate governance is missing. In this paper we take steps towards developing a behavioral theory of boards and corporate governance. Building upon concepts such as political bargaining, routinization of decision making, satisficing, and problemistic search, a behavioral theory of boards and corporate governance will focus more on (1) interactions and processes inside and outside the boardroom; (2) the fact that decision making is made by coalitions of actors and objectives are results of political bargaining; and (3) the notion that not only conflicting, but also cooperating, interests are parts of the boards' decision making and control over firm resources. The consequences are a new research agenda for boards and corporate governance. The agenda will focus on actual instead of stylized descriptions of board behavior. In a behavioral perspective the emphasis on problems of coordination, exploration, and knowledge creation may dominate over problems of conflict of interest, exploitation, and the distribution of value. A future research agenda based on a behavioral framework calls for novel and adventurous research designs. A behavioral theory of boards and corporate governance will be closer to actual board behavior than the traditional economic approach and research about boards and corporate governance may thus become more actionable for practitioners.
QT Adaptation and Intrinsic QT Variability in Congenital Long QT Syndrome

Background Increased variability of QT interval (QTV) has been linked to arrhythmias in animal experiments and multiple clinical situations. Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS), a pure repolarization disease, may provide important information on the relationship between delayed repolarization and QTV. Methods and Results Twenty‐four‐hour Holter monitor tracings from 78 genotyped congenital LQTS patients (52 females; 51 LQT1, 23 LQT2, 2 LQT5, 2 JLN, 27 symptomatic; age, 35.2±12.3 years) were evaluated with computer‐assisted annotation of RR and QT intervals. Several models of RR‐QT relationship were tested in all patients. A model assuming exponential decrease of past RR interval contributions to QT duration with 60‐second time constant provided the best data fit. This model was used to calculate QTc and residual “intrinsic” QTV, which cannot be explained by heart rate change. The intrinsic QTV was higher in patients with long QTc (r=0.68; P<10−4), and in LQT2 than in LQT1/5 patients (5.65±1.28 vs 4.46±0.82; P<0.0002). Both QTc and intrinsic QTV were similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (467±52 vs 459±53 ms and 5.10±1.19 vs 4.74±1.09, respectively). Conclusions In LQTS patients, QT interval adaptation to heart rate changes occurs with time constant ≈60 seconds, similar to results reported in control subjects. Intrinsic QTV correlates with the degree of repolarization delay and might reflect action potential instability observed in animal models of LQTS.