Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Performance of a Modified LACE Index (LACE-rt) to Predict Unplanned Readmission After Discharge in a Community Teaching Hospital

Background The LACE index was designed to predict early death or unplanned readmission after discharge from hospital to the community. However, implementing the LACE tool in real time in a teaching hospital required practical unavoidable modifications. Objective The purpose of this study was to validate the implementation of a modified LACE index (LACE-rt) and test its ability to predict readmission risk using data in a hospital setting. Methods Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), and the hospital electronic medical record for one large community hospital in Toronto, Canada, were used in this study. A total of 3855 admissions from September 2013 to July 2014 were analyzed (N=3855) using descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and receiver operating characteristic analysis. Prospectively collected data from DAD and NACRS were linked to inpatient data. Results The LACE-rt index was a fair test to predict readmission risk (C statistic=.632). A LACE-rt score of 10 is a good threshold to differentiate between patients with low and high readmission risk; the high-risk patients are 2.648 times more likely to be readmitted than those at low risk. The introduction of LACE-rt had no significant impact on readmission reduction. Conclusions The LACE-rt is a fair tool for identifying those at risk of readmission. A collaborative cross-sectoral effort that includes those in charge of providing community-based care is needed to reduce readmission rates. An eHealth solution could play a major role in streamlining this collaboration.
Pre‐donation cognitions of potential living organ donors: the development of the Donation Cognition Instrument in potential kidney donors

Background. Cognitions surrounding living organ donation, including the motivation to donate, expectations of donation and worries about donation, are relevant themes during living donor evaluation. However, there is no reliable psychometric instrument assessing all these different cognitions. This study developed and validated a questionnaire to assess pre‐donation motivations, expectations and worries regarding donation, entitled the Donation Cognition Instrument (DCI). Methods. Psychometric properties of the DCI were examined using exploratory factor analysis for scale structure and associations with validated questionnaires for construct validity assessment. Results. From seven Dutch transplantation centres, 719 potential living kidney donors were included. The DCI distinguishes cognitions about donor benefits, recipient benefits, idealistic incentives, gratitude and worries about donation (Cronbach's alpha 0.76‐0.81). Scores on pre‐donation cognitions differed with regard to gender, age, marital status, religion and donation type. With regard to construct validity, the DCI was moderately correlated with expectations regarding donor's personal well‐being and slightly to moderately to health‐related quality of life. Conclusions. The DCI is found to be a reliable instrument assessing cognitions surrounding living organ donation, which might add to pre‐donation quality of life measures in facilitating psychosocial donor evaluation by healthcare professionals.
Steady-State Labor Supply Elasticities: A Survey

Previous reviews of static labor supply estimations concentrate mainly on the evidence from the 1980s and 1990s, Anglo-Saxon countries and early generations of labor supply modeling. This paper provides a fresh characterization of steady-state labor supply elasticities for Western Europe and the US. We also investigate the relative contribution of different methodological choices in explaining the large variation in elasticity size observed across studies. While some recent studies show that genuine preference heterogeneity across countries explains only a modest share of this variation (Bargain et al., 2013), we focus here on time changes and estimation methods as key contributors of the differences across studies. Both factors can explain larger elasticities in older studies (i.e. an increase in female labor market attachment over time and a switch from the Hausman estimation approach to discrete-choice models with tax-benefit simulations). Meta-analysis evidence suggests that smaller elasticities in the recent period may be due to the time factor, i.e. a likely change in work preferences, both in the US and in Europe.
Increasing Desalination by Mitigating Anolyte pH Imbalance Using Catholyte Effluent Addition in a Multi-Anode Bench Scale Microbial Desalination Cell

A microbial desalination cell (MDC) uses exoelectrogenic bacteria to oxidize organic matter while desalinating water. Protons produced from the oxidation of organics at the anode result in anolyte acidification and reduce performance. A new method was used here to mitigate anolyte acidification based on adding non-buffered saline catholyte effluent from a previous cycle to the anolyte at the beginning of the next cycle. This method was tested using a larger-scale MDC (267 mL) containing four anode brushes and a three cell pair membrane stack. With an anolyte salt concentration increased by an equivalent of 75 mM NaCl using the catholyte effluent, salinity was reduced by 26.0 ± 0.5% (35 g/L NaCl initial solution) in a 10 h cycle, compared to 18.1 ± 2.0% without catholyte addition. This improvement was primarily due to the increase in buffering capacity of the anolyte, although increased conductivity slightly improved performance as well. There was some substrate loss from the anolyte by diffusion into the .
Impact of latency time on survival for adolescents and young adults with a second primary malignancy

The adverse impact of second primary malignancies (SPMs) on survival is substantial for adolescents and young adults (AYAs; ie, those 15‐39 years old). No studies have evaluated whether the latency time between the first malignancy (the primary malignancy [PM]) and the SPM affects cancer‐specific survival (CSS).
Metacognition as a Mediating Variable Between Neurocognition and Functional Outcome in First Episode Psychosis

Background Neurocognitive and functional outcome deficits have long been acknowledged in schizophrenia and neurocognition has been found to account for functional disability to a greater extent than psychopathology. Much of the variance in functional outcome however still remains unexplained and metacognition may mediate the relationship between neurocognition, functional capacity, and self-reported social and occupational function. Method Eighty first episode psychosis participants were recruited and completed measures of neurocognition (memory, executive function, and intelligence quotient), metacognition (Beck Cognitive Insight Scale, Metacognitive Awareness Interview), psychopathology (PANSS), and both functional capacity (UPSA) and real-life social and occupational function (The Time Use Survey). Path analyses investigated the relationships between variables through structural equation modeling. Results A series of path models demonstrated that metacognition partially mediates the relationship between neurocognition and functional capacity, and fully mediates the relationship between functional capacity and social and occupational function. Conclusion The present study findings identify that metacognition may be critical to translating cognitive and functional skills into real-world contexts, and this relationship is found at early stages of illness. Understanding how individuals translate cognitive and functional skills into the real-world (the competence-performance gap) may offer valuable guidance to intervention programs. This finding is important to models of recovery as it suggests that intervention programs that focus on enhancing metacognition abilities may have a greater impact than traditional rehabilitation programs focusing on cognitive abilities, on social and occupational outcomes.
Mutational landscape of radiation-associated angiosarcoma of the breast

Purpose Radiation-associated breast angiosarcomas are a rare complication of radiation therapy for breast carcinoma. With relatively little is known about the genetic abnormalities present in these secondary tumors, we examined genomic variation in biospecimens from radiation-associated breast angiosarcomas. Experimental Design Patients were identified that had a previous breast cancer diagnosis, received radiation therapy, and developed angiosarcoma in the ipsilateral breast as the earlier cancer. Tumor regions were isolated from archival blocks using subsequent laser capture microdissection. Next generation sequencing was performed using a targeted panel of 160 cancer-related genes. Genomic variants were identified for mutation and trinucleotide-based mutational signature analysis. Results 44 variants in 34 genes were found in more than two thirds of the cases; this included 12 variants identified as potentially deleterious. Of particular note, the BRCA1 DNA damage response pathway was highly enriched with genetic variation. In a comparison to local recurrences, 14 variants in 11 genes were present in both the primary and recurrent lesions including variants in genes associated with the DNA damage response machinery. Furthermore, the mutational signature analysis shows that a previously defined IR signature is present in almost all of the current samples characterized by predominantly C→T substitutions. Conclusions While radiation-associated breast angiosarcomas are relatively uncommon, their prognosis is very poor. These data demonstrate a mutational pattern associated with genes involved in DNA repair. While important in revealing the biology behind these tumors, it may also suggest new treatment strategies that will prove successful.
Traffic modeling and performance analysis of commercial web sites

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Effects of exendin-4, a glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonist, on neutrophil count and inflammatory cytokines in a rat model of endotoxemia

Background Sepsis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. A variety of strategies targeting modulation of the pro-inflammatory response associated with early sepsis have been reported without clinical success. GLP-1 enhances glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In addition, it was shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. We hypothesized that treatment with exendin-4, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, would attenuate inflammation and improve glucose control in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) rat model of inflammation. Methods Two-month-old male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to one of the following four groups: 1) treatment: intraperitoneal (IP) injection of LPS 10 mg/kg followed by exendin-4, 30 μg/kg, 10 minutes later; 2) control-1: IP injection of LPS 10 mg/kg, followed by normal saline (NS); 3) control-2: IP NS injection followed by exendin-4; 4) sham: IP injection of NS followed by another NS injection. Glucose concentration, total white blood count with absolute neutrophil count, and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine concentrations were measured at 0, 3, 6, and 10 hours following LPS injection. Results At 3 hours, rats injected with LPS developed neutropenia, elevated pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and mild hypoglycemia. Treatment with exendin-4 significantly modulated neutropenia, and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, and IFNγ). However, exendin-4 had no effect on IL-10 concentrations. LPS injection led to mild hypoglycemia, that was not observed in rats treated with exendin-4. Sham animals exhibited no significant change from baseline in all parameters. Conclusion In this LPS model of acute early phase inflammation, treatment with exendin-4 decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations without changing IL-10 blood levels and improved neutropenia. Following LPS injection, rats developed a tendency toward hypoglycemia that improved with exendin-4. Overall our data suggest that exogenous exendin-4 mediates anti-inflammatory effects early in this rat model of endotoxin-induced inflammation.
Success rates and factors associated with failure of temporary anchorage devices: A prospective clinical trial

AIM The objective of the present study was to investigate success rates and associated factors affecting temporary anchorage device (TAD) failure in different biomechanical applications. METHODS A total of 180 TADs were used as a part of 82 patients' treatment plan (24 males and 58 females); their mean age was 21.41 years. Three types of TADs were used: 50 (3M ESPE, Neuss, Germany), 56 (Bone screw; Jeil Medical, Seoul, Korea), and 74 (Morelli, Sorocaba, Brazil). Eight maxillary and four mandibular sites were selected for insertion. Three different lengths (6, 8, and 10 mm) and three different diameters (1.5, 1.6, and 1.8 mm) were used. The force levels were set at 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 g. Patient-, implant-, and operator-dependent factors were evaluated throughout the 266 days of function. Qualitative variables were described by proportions and percentages and analyzed using χ2 test. RESULTS The overall success rate was 82.2%. The higher age group showed a significantly higher success rate. Oral hygiene showed a statistically-significant (P ˂ .05) difference between both success and failure groups. All other patient-related factors showed no significant differences. Regarding force levels used, the highest success rate was in 250 g and the lowest was in 100 g. There were no significant differences between both groups regarding other implant- and operator-related factors. CONCLUSIONS Temporary anchorage devices have a good success rate and are beneficial to be integrated in orthodontic treatment planning. Patient age, oral hygiene, and force level are the most significant factors affecting TAD success.
On Learning vs .

Building on the work of Daniely et al. (STOC 2014, COLT 2016), we study the connection between computationally efficient PAC learning and refutation of constraint satisfaction problems. Specifically, we prove that for every concept class P, PAC-learning P is polynomially equivalent to “random-right-hand-side-refuting” (“RRHS-refuting”) a dual class P∗, where RRHS-refutation of a class Q refers to refuting systems of equations where the constraints are (worst-case) functions from the class Q but the right-hand-sides of the equations are uniform and independent random bits. The reduction from refutation to PAC learning can be viewed as an abstraction of (part of) the work of Daniely, Linial, and Shalev-Schwartz (STOC 2014). The converse, however, is new, and is based on a combination of techniques from pseudorandomness (Yao ‘82) with boosting (Schapire ‘90). In addition, we show that PAC-learning the class of DNF formulas is polynomially equivalent to PAC-learning its dual class DNF ∗, and thus PAC-learning DNF is equivalent to RRHS-refutation of DNF , suggesting an avenue to obtain stronger lower bounds for PAC-learning DNF than the quasipolynomial lower bound that was obtained by Daniely and Shalev-Schwartz (COLT 2016) assuming the hardness of refuting k-SAT.
Unified subharmonic oscillation conditions for peak or average current mode control

This paper is an extension of the author's recent research in which only buck converters were analyzed. Similar analysis can be equally applied to other types of converters. In this paper, a unified model is proposed for buck, boost, and buck–boost converters under peak or average current mode control to predict the occurrence of subharmonic oscillation. Based on the unified model, the associated stability conditions are derived in closed forms. The same stability condition can be applied to buck, boost, and buck–boost converters. Based on the closed‐form conditions, the effects of various converter parameters including the compensator poles and zeros on the stability can be clearly seen, and these parameters can be consolidated into a few ones. High‐order compensators such as type‐II and PI compensators are considered. Some new plots are also proposed for design purpose to avoid the instability. The instability is found to be associated with large crossover frequency. A conservative stability condition, agreed with the past research, is derived. The effect of the voltage loop ripple on the instability is also analyzed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Single Arm Pilot Trial of Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Adolescents with Physical and Psychiatric Comorbidities.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The majority of adolescents with chronic insomnia have physical health or psychiatric comorbidities; insomnia is also associated with greater negative daytime symptoms (e.g., depressive symptoms) and reduced overall health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, to date, there has been limited attention to treatment of insomnia in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the preliminary efficacy of a brief cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) intervention on sleep, psychological symptoms, and HRQOL outcomes in adolescents with insomnia and co-occurring physical or psychiatric comorbidities. METHODS We conducted a single arm pilot trial in which 40 youth (mean age = 14.93, standard deviation = 1.89) with insomnia and physical or psychiatric comorbidities (e.g., depression, chronic pain, anxiety, gastrointestinal problems) received CBT-I in four individual treatment sessions over 4 to 6 w. Adolescents completed 7 days of wrist actigraphy and self-report measures of insomnia, sleep quality and behaviors, psychological symptoms, and HRQOL outcomes at pretreatment, immediate posttreatment, and 3-mo follow-up. RESULTS CBT-I was associated with improvements in self-reported measures of sleep including insomnia symptoms, sleep quality, sleep hygiene, pre-sleep arousal, and sleep onset latency. Psychological symptoms and HRQOL also improved. Effects were generally sustained at 3-mo follow-up. CONCLUSIONS CBT-I may be efficacious for adolescents with co-occurring physical and mental health comorbidities; future randomized controlled trials are needed to test the effect of CBT-I on sleep, psychological symptoms, and HRQOL and to evaluate maintenance of treatment effects over longer time periods.
Evaluation of Physical and Compositional Properties of Horse-chestnut (Aesculus indica) Seed

An investigation was carried out on the physical and compositional properties of Horse Chestnut seeds found in Kashmir valley, India. Physical properties such as seed shape and size, geometric and arithmetic mean diameter, sphericity, aspect ratio, bulk and true density, density ratio, porosity, angle of repose and static friction coefficient were determined. The average seed length, width and thickness were 4.7, 4.0 and 3.2 cm, respectively. Geometric and arithmetic mean diameter was 3.92 and 3.97 cm. Average sphericity and aspect ratio was 83.4 and 85.11%, respectively. The average true density, bulk density, density ratio and porosity of the variety was 1072 g/cm3, 518 g/ cm3, 48.32% and 51.68%, respectively. The mechanical property viz., angle of repose values obtained on plywood, mild steel, stainless steel and galvanized sheet were 22.3°, 20.3°, 18.3° and 22.79° for the seed variety. The coefficient of static friction obtained on plywood, mild steel, stainless steel and galvanized sheet were 0.54, 0.52, 0.51 and 0.52, respectively. The force required to break the seed was 328 N. Color and compositional analysis of the seed powder was conducted. The L, a and b value were found to be 92.07, 3.47 and 13.70 with a whiteness value of 83.78. The powder was having moisture (12.71%), protein (6.78%), fat (3.27%), ash (3.16%), fibre (6.34%) and carbohydrate (67.74%) with energy value of 327.51 cal/100 g.
Trying to See the Forest through the Trees: Deciphering the Nature of Memory Immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The purpose of vaccination against tuberculosis and other diseases is to establish a heightened state of acquired specific resistance in which the memory immune response is capable of mediating an accelerated and magnified expression of protection to the pathogen when this is encountered at a later time. In the earliest studies in mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, memory immunity and the cells that express this were definable both in terms of kinetics of emergence, and soon thereafter by the levels of expression of markers including CD44, CD62L, and the chemokine receptor CCR7, allowing the identification of effector memory and central memory T cell subsets. Despite these initial advances in knowledge, more recent information has not revealed more clarity, but instead, has created a morass of complications—complications that, if not resolved, could harm correct vaccine design. Here, we discuss two central issues. The first is that we have always assumed that memory is induced in the same way, and consists of the same T cells, regardless of whether that immunity is generated by BCG vaccination, or by exposure to M. tuberculosis followed by effective chemotherapy. This assumption is almost certainly incorrect. Second, a myriad of additional memory subsets have now been described, such as resident, stem cell-like, tissue specific, among others, but as yet we know nothing about the relative importance of each, or whether if a new vaccine needs to induce all of these, or just some, to be fully effective.
Leading a Horse to Water: Facilitating Registration and Use of a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

Objectives:Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) can help inform patient management, coordinate care, and identify drug safety risks, abuse, or diversion. However, many clinicians are not registered to use these systems, and use may be suboptimal. We sought to describe outreach efforts in 1 state (Oregon); quantify uptake of system use; identify barriers; and identify potential system improvements. Methods:Program reports of outreach efforts and operational metrics provided rates of registration and use. A statewide survey identified perceived barriers and potential improvements from users and nonusers of the system. Results:Even with extensive registration efforts, <25% of clinicians and pharmacists acquired PDMP accounts over 2 years of operation. Rapid increases in registration and use in 2013 corresponded to new requirements among large pharmacy chains that pharmacists register for and use the PDMP. Among surveyed PDMP nonusers, nearly half were unaware that they could register. Among users and nonusers, over two thirds indicated that time constraints were a major barrier and over half thought that inability to delegate access was a major barrier. Desired improvements included linking state systems, faster entry of pharmacy data, and use of unique patient identifiers. Users also wanted better insurance coverage for mental health and addiction referrals. Discussion:Increasing registration and use of PDMPs remains important. Clinician feedback indicates that program enhancements and health care system changes would facilitate using and responding to PDMP information. It appears premature to judge the efficacy of PDMPs until best practices for their use are identified and impacts are assessed.