Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuity and Trust in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study Informed by Game Theory

PURPOSE The relationship between continuity of care and patient trust in primary care is not fully understood. We report an empirical investigation, informed by game theory, of patients’ accounts of their trust in general practitioners (GPs). METHODS We conducted an analysis based on the constant comparative method of 20 semistructured interviews with patients about trust in GPs in the United Kingdom. RESULTS People use institutional trust, derived from expectations of medicine as an institution and doctors as professionals, as a starting point for their transactions with unfamiliar doctors. This expectation may be enough to allow patients the minimum of what they want from doctors and is often sufficient for single-episode encounters, where patients have specific goals. Repeated interactions with the same doctor can allow patients to develop more secure expectations, based on a history of other interactions and anticipation of future interactions. Secure trust can develop over time, especially if patients are convinced that the doctor has their interests at heart. CONCLUSIONS This work identifies dynamics inherent in repeated interactions that enable secure trust to develop. These findings have important implications for the design of services, which in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are increasingly focused on enhancing access rather than continuity. They suggest that patients do not see GPs as interchangeable and that the move toward organizing services around single encounters may disrupt the development of secure trust.
Potential of TanDEM-X for forest parameter estimation

It was demonstrated that interferometric volume coherence is sensitive to vertical forest structure. This is true even for high frequencies as X-band. Resent Experiments demonstrated the potential of X-band to estimate key forest parameters like forest height. The main limitations at X-band are the high extinction values (up to 1dB/m and larger) for forests and the high sensitivity of X-band to temporal decorrelation. With the launch of the Tan-DEM-X satellite, for the first time single pass interferometric X-band data from a space borne system become available. In this paper the potential of X-band for forest height inversion is discussed and experimental results from different relevant campaigns are introduced and discussed.
New perspectives on community-acquired pneumonia in 388 406 patients. Results from a nationwide mandatory performance measurement programme in healthcare quality

Background: The database of the German programme for quality in healthcare including data of every hospitalised patient with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) during a 2-year period (n = 388 406 patients in 2005 and 2006) was analysed. Methods: End points of the analysis were: (1) incidence; (2) outcome; (3) performance of the CRB-65 (C, mental confusion; R, respiratory rate ⩾30/min; B, systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ⩽60 mm Hg; 65, age ⩾65 years) score in predicting death; and (4) lack of ventilatory support as a possible indicator of treatment restrictions. The CRB-65 score was calculated, resulting in three risk classes (RCs). Results: The incidence of hospitalised CAP was 2.75 and 2.96 per 1000 inhabitants/year in 2005 and 2006, respectively, higher for males (3.21 vs 2.52), and strongly age related, with an incidence of 7.65 per 1000 inhabitants/year in patients aged ⩾60 years over 2 years. Mortality (13.72% and 14.44%) was higher than reported in previous studies. The CRB-65 RCs accurately predicted death in a three-class pattern (mortality 2.40% in CRB-65 RC 1, 13.43% in CRB-65 RC 2 and 34.39% in CRB-65 RC 3). The first days after admission were consistently associated with the highest risk of death throughout all risk classes. Only a minority of patients who died had received mechanical ventilation during hospitalisation (15.74%). Conclusions: Hospitalised CAP basically is a condition of the elderly associated with a higher mortality than previously reported. It bears a considerable risk of early mortality, even in low risk patients. CRB-65 is a simple and powerful tool for the assessment of CAP severity. Hospitalised CAP is a frequent terminal event in chronic debilitated patients, and a limitation of treatment escalation is frequently applied.
Regularized Subspace Gaussian Mixture Models for Speech Recognition

Subspace Gaussian mixture models (SGMMs) provide a compact representation of the Gaussian parameters in an acoustic model, but may still suffer from over-fitting with insufficient training data. In this letter, the SGMM state parameters are estimated using a penalized maximum-likelihood objective, based on l1 and l2 regularization, as well as their combination, referred to as the elastic net, for robust model estimation. Experiments on the 5000-word Wall Street Journal transcription task show word error rate reduction and improved model robustness with regularization.
Mutational Analysis of Sse1 (Hsp110) Suggests an Integral Role for this Chaperone in Yeast Prion Propagation In Vivo

The yeast Hsp110 chaperone Sse1 is a conserved protein that is a noncanonical member of the Hsp70 protein superfamily. Sse1 influences the cellular response to heat stress and has also been implicated in playing a role in the propagation of prions in yeast. Sse1 can seemingly exert its effects in vivo through direct or indirect actions by influencing the nucleotide exchange activity of canonical cytosolic Hsp70s. Using a genetic screen based on the inability to propagate the yeast [PSI+] prion, we have identified 13 new Sse1 mutants that are predicted to alter chaperone function through a variety of different mechanisms. Not only are these new Sse1 mutants altered in the ability to propagate and cure yeast prions but also to varying degrees in the ability to grow at elevated temperatures. The expression levels of chaperone proteins known to influence yeast prion propagation are unaltered in the Sse1 mutants, suggesting that the observed phenotypic effects are caused by direct functional alterations in these mutants. Mapping the location of the mutants onto the Sse1 crystal structure suggests that more than one functional alteration in Sse1 may result in changes in prion propagation and ability to function at elevated temperatures. All Sse1 mutants isolated provide essential functions in the cell under normal growth conditions, further demonstrating that essential chaperone functions in vivo can to some degree at least be detached from those related to propagation of prions. Our results suggest that Sse1 can influence prion propagation through a variety of different mechanisms.
Inferior Turbinate Hypertrophy in Rhinoplasty: Systematic Review of Surgical Techniques

Background: Inferior turbinate hypertrophy is often encountered by plastic surgeons who perform rhinoplasty. Many treatment options are available to treat the inferior turbinate. The objective of this study was to systematically review outcomes of available techniques and provide guidance to surgical turbinate management. Methods: A MEDLINE search was performed for means of treating inferior turbinate hypertrophy. Studies selected focused on treatment of the inferior turbinate in isolation and excluding patients with refractory allergic rhinitis, vasomotor rhinitis, or hypertrophic rhinitis. Results: Fifty-eight articles were identified, collectively including the following surgical treatments of inferior turbinate hypertrophy: total turbinectomy, partial turbinectomy, submucosal resection, laser surgery, cryotherapy, electrocautery, radiofrequency ablation, and turbinate outfracture. Outcomes and complications were collected from all studies. Procedures such as turbinectomy (partial/total) and submucosal resection showed crusting and epistaxis at comparatively higher rates, whereas more conservative treatments such as cryotherapy and submucous diathermy failed to provide long-term results. Submucosal resection and radiofrequency ablation were shown to decrease nasal resistance and preserve mucosal function. No literature exists to support the belief that turbinate outfracture alone is an effective treatment for turbinate hypertrophy. Conclusions: Treatment of inferior turbinate hypertrophy is best accomplished with modalities that provide long-lasting results, preservation of turbinate function, and low complication rates. Submucosal resection and radiofrequency ablation appear to best fulfill these criteria. Turbinate outfracture should only be considered in combination with tissue-reduction procedures.
The Interplay of Formal, Informal and Relational Contracts: Evidence from Movies.

This paper empirically examines the interplay of formal, informal and relational contracting in the context of the Spanish movie exhibition industry. To do so, I adapt the model of subjective pay performance in Baker, Gibbons and Murphy (1994) to a business to business framework tailored to the institutional detail of this industry, and derive testable implications regarding the use of formal contracts, ex-post renegotiation, movie run extension and learning. I test these implications to using a unique data set from a Spanish movie exhibitor that contains detailed information on the use of formal contracts and ex-post contractual adjustments. My findings show that distributors are more likely to use formal contracts for movies of higher expected value since these are the movies for which exhibitors face stronger reneging temptations. Conditional on using a formal contract, I find that expost renegotiation is more likely to occur when the movie demand realization lies below expectations, and that larger negative deviations from expectations result in larger renegotiation spreads. I also find that movies are more likely to have their run extended if demand realizations are above expectations and I provide evidence of learning that theaters use to optimally decide when to stop the movie run. Finally, I provide an upper bound estimate for the gains of using informal contracts such that it almost doubles the run length of movies and the box office revenues collected by a movie in a theater.
Large scale importance of sea ice biology in the Southern Ocean

Despite being one of the largest biomes on earth, sea ice ecosystems have only received intensive study over the past 30 years. Sea ice is a unique habitat for assemblages of bacteria, algae, protists, and invertebrates that grow within a matrix dominated by strong gradients in temperature, salinity, nutrients, and UV and visible radiation. A suite of physiological adaptations allow these organisms to thrive in ice, where their enormous biomass makes them a fundamental component of polar ecosystems. Sea ice algae are an important energy and nutritional source for invertebrates such as juvenile krill, accounting for up to 25% of total annual primary production in ice-covered waters. The ability of ice algae to produce large amounts of UV absorbing compounds such as mycosporine-like amino acids makes them even more important to organisms like krill that can incorporate these sunscreens into their own tissues. Furthermore, the nutrient and light conditions in which sea ice algae thrive induce them to synthesize enhanced concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids, a vital constituent of the diet of grazing organisms, especially during winter. Finally, sea ice bacteria and algae have become the focus of biotechnology, and are being considered as proxies of possible life forms on ice-covered extraterrestrial systems. An analysis of how the balance between sea ice and pelagic production might change under a warming scenario indicates that when current levels of primary production and changes in the areas of sea ice habitats are taken into account, the expected 25% loss of sea ice over the next century would increase primary production in the Southern Ocean by approximately 10%, resulting in a slight negative feedback on climate warming.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Identification of a pegivirus (GBV-like virus) that infects horses

The recent identiﬁcation of nonprimate hepaciviruses in dogs and then in horses prompted us to look for pegiviruses (GB virus-like viruses) in these species. Although none were detected in canines, we found widespread natural infection of horses by a novel pegivirus. Unique genomic features and phylogenetic analyses conﬁrmed that the tentatively named equine pegivirus (EPgV) represents a novel species within the Pegivirus genus. We also determined that EPgV causes persistent viremia whereas its clinical signiﬁcance is undetermined.
Intra-uterine transmission of Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis in subclinically affected red deer (Cervus elaphus)

Abstract AIM: To determine the rate of transmission of Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (M. ptb) from hind to fetus in utero, and the risk of transmission from dam to fawn via infected colostrum and milk in subclinically affected red deer hinds. METHODS: Hinds were sourced from farms in Otago or Southland and selected for the study if they were positive to the immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Paralisa) and exhibited no clinical signs of Johne's disease. The hinds (n=35) were sent to a deer slaughter premises (DSP; n=31) or were killed on-farm (n=4). All post-mortem samples were collected from the fetus first and then from the dam, taking care to avoid cross contamination between samples. Fresh samples (n=185) were collected for culture, and tissue samples (n=72) were collected from 24 hinds and their fetuses for histopathological examination. RESULTS: A total of 24/35 hinds selected were suitable for inclusion in the study. Eighteen of these pregnant hinds were culture-positive for M. ptb, and 14 of these had culture-positive fetuses, representing a transmission rate of 78% (95% confidence interval (CI) =0.58–0.98) from dam to fetus. Of the 16 mammary glands sampled, 11 (69%) were culture-positive for M. ptb while 12/15 (80%) mammary lymph nodes sampled were also culture-positive. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a high rate of transmission of M. ptb from dam to fetus in red deer, and a potential risk of transmission to fawns suckling from mothers that are subclinically affected with Johne's disease.
Non-Zero-Sum Stochastic Differential Reinsurance and Investment Games with Default Risk

This paper investigates the implications of strategic interaction (i.e., competition) between two CARA insurers on their reinsurance-investment policies. The two insurers are concerned about their terminal wealth and the relative performance measured by the difference in their terminal wealth. The problem of finding optimal policies for both insurers is modelled as a non-zero-sum stochastic differential game. The reinsurance premium is calculated using the variance premium principle and the insurers can invest in a risk-free asset, a risky asset with Heston’s stochastic volatility and a defaultable corporate bond. We derive the Nash equilibrium reinsurance policy and investment policy explicitly for the game and prove the corresponding verification theorem. The equilibrium strategy indicates that the best response of each insurer to the competition is to mimic the strategy of its opponent. Consequently, either the reinsurance strategy or the investment strategy of an insurer with the relative performance concern is riskier than that without the concern. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the findings of this study.
Modeling Channel Occupancy Times for Voice Traffic in Cellular Networks

Call holding times in telephony networks are commonly approximated by exponential distributions to facilitate traffic engineering. However, for traffic engineering of cellular networks, channel occupancy times need to be modeled instead to facilitate analytical modeling or to feed network simulations. In this paper, we classify channel occupancy times and present an empirical study based on data obtained from a real cellular network to determine which probability distribution functions can approximate them better. The results are environment dependent, but no assumptions that can be influential are made, as opposed to previous analytical and simulation studies which results are highly dependent on the assumptions made by the authors. We show that all types of channel occupancy times can be approximated by lognormal distribution. For stationary users, channel occupancy times are commonly approximated by exponential distribution due to its tractability, assuming that cell residence times are also exponentially distributed. However, we show that lognormal distribution fits much better to both channel occupancy and call holding times regardless of whether users are stationary or mobile.
Attributing Responsibility : Actual and Counterfactual Worlds

How do people attribute responsibility to individuals in a group? Several models in psychology predict that there is a close relationship between counterfactuals and responsibility: how responsible an individual’s contribution is seen depends on whether it made a difference to the outcome. We first review these models and then point out a major limitation: people sometimes hold individuals responsible even though their contribution made no relevant difference to the outcome. A richer conception of the relationship between counterfactuals and responsibility is necessary. People’s attributions of responsibility are not only influenced by whether a person’s contribution made a difference in the actual situation, but also by whether it would have made a difference in other possible situations. We propose a general framework that conceptualizes attributions of responsibility in terms of counterfactuals defined over structured causal models. Using this framework, we show that retrospective responsibility attributions are also affected by prospective responsibility. A person’s responsibility depends on how critical their contribution was perceived for the group’s success and on how close it was to making a difference to the outcome.
Cancer incidence and metolachlor use in the Agricultural Health Study: An update

Metolachlor, a widely used herbicide, is classified as a Group C carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based on increased liver neoplasms in female rats. Epidemiologic studies of the health effects of metolachlor have been limited. The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is a prospective cohort study including licensed private and commercial pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina enrolled 1993–1997. We evaluated cancer incidence through 2010/2011 (NC/IA) for 49,616 applicators, 53% of whom reported ever using metolachlor. We used Poisson regression to evaluate relations between two metrics of metolachlor use (lifetime days, intensity‐weighted lifetime days) and cancer incidence. We saw no association between metolachlor use and incidence of all cancers combined (n = 5,701 with a 5‐year lag) or most site‐specific cancers. For liver cancer, in analyses restricted to exposed workers, elevations observed at higher categories of use were not statistically significant. However, trends for both lifetime and intensity‐weighted lifetime days of metolachor use were positive and statistically significant with an unexposed reference group. A similar pattern was observed for follicular cell lymphoma, but no other lymphoma subtypes. An earlier suggestion of increased lung cancer risk at high levels of metolachlor use in this cohort was not confirmed in this update. This suggestion of an association between metolachlor and liver cancer among pesticide applicators is a novel finding and echoes observation of increased liver neoplasms in some animal studies. However, our findings for both liver cancer and follicular cell lymphoma warrant follow‐up to better differentiate effects of metolachlor use from other factors.
Weak Localization and Antilocalization in Topological Materials with Impurity Spin-Orbit Interactions

Topological materials have attracted considerable experimental and theoretical attention. They exhibit strong spin-orbit coupling both in the band structure (intrinsic) and in the impurity potentials (extrinsic), although the latter is often neglected. In this work, we discuss weak localization and antilocalization of massless Dirac fermions in topological insulators and massive Dirac fermions in Weyl semimetal thin films, taking into account both intrinsic and extrinsic spin-orbit interactions. The physics is governed by the complex interplay of the chiral spin texture, quasiparticle mass, and scalar and spin-orbit scattering. We demonstrate that terms linear in the extrinsic spin-orbit scattering are generally present in the Bloch and momentum relaxation times in all topological materials, and the correction to the diffusion constant is linear in the strength of the extrinsic spin-orbit. In topological insulators, which have zero quasiparticle mass, the terms linear in the impurity spin-orbit coupling lead to an observable density dependence in the weak antilocalization correction. They produce substantial qualitative modifications to the magnetoconductivity, differing greatly from the conventional Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka formula traditionally used in experimental fits, which predicts a crossover from weak localization to antilocalization as a function of the extrinsic spin-orbit strength. In contrast, our analysis reveals that topological insulators always exhibit weak antilocalization. In Weyl semimetal thin films having intermediate to large values of the quasiparticle mass, we show that extrinsic spin-orbit scattering strongly affects the boundary of the weak localization to antilocalization transition. We produce a complete phase diagram for this transition as a function of the mass and spin-orbit scattering strength. Throughout the paper, we discuss implications for experimental work, and, at the end, we provide a brief comparison with transition metal dichalcogenides.
Wine consumption, cognitive function and dementias – A relationship?

Healthy cognitive function is essential for quality of life, wellbeing and independent living, and is negatively associated with dementias. A series of longitudinal and neuro-imaging studies in the elderly have shown that light to moderate wine consumption is neuro-protective although heavy or abusive alcohol consumption is neuro-toxic. A J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption, cognitive dysfunction and risk of dementias is also observed for younger and middle aged consumers. There is also no data to suggest that long-term light to moderate alcohol consumption exacerbates age-related cognitive decline and impairment. An optimal amount of wine for neuro-protection appears to be up to 30 g alcohol daily. There are multiple plausible biological mechanisms in various animal models, in vitro and in vivo for wine-derived phenolic compounds which go beyond their antioxidant activity and attenuation of oxidative stress.