Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crowd-enabled Pareto-Optimal Objects Finding Employing Multi-Pairwise-Comparison Questions

Today, Pareto-optimal objects finding has been applied in various fields, such as group decision making and opinion collection. Many of the existing solutions to this problem require explicit attributes for objects. However, these attributes cannot be obtained sometimes. To address this issue, we propose an algorithm, which uses preference relations given by crowdsourcing, to find Pareto-optimal objects with shorter latency and lower monetary costs. It employs two multi-pairwise-comparison question models: BEST-form and BETTER-form questions. Multiple BEST (or BETTER) questions can be sent to crowds concurrently. Extensive experimental results show that the number of questions reduces greatly. In addition, the numerical results show that the latency is significantly shortened at a reasonable monetary cost, compared with the existing methods.
Evaluation of inhomogeneities of repolarization in patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Introduction The arrhythmia potential has not been investigated adequately in psoriatic patients. In this study, we assessed the ventricular repolarization dispersion, using the Tp-e interval and the Tp-e/QT ratio, and investigated the association with inflammation. Material and methods Seventy-one psoriasis vulgaris patients and 70 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. The severity of the disease was calculated using Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scoring. The QTd was defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum QT intervals. The Tp-e interval was defined as the interval from the peak of the T wave to the end of the T wave. The Tp-e interval was corrected for heart rate. The Tp-e/QT ratio was calculated using these measurements. Results There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to basal clinical and laboratory characteristics (p > 0.05). The Tp-e interval, the corrected Tp-e interval (cTp-e) and the Tp-e/QT ratio were also significantly higher in psoriasis patients compared to the control group (78.5 ±8.0 ms vs. 71.4 ±7.6 ms, p < 0.001, 86.3 ±13.2 ms vs. 77.6 ±9.0 ms, p < 0.001 and 0.21 ±0.02 vs. 0.19 ±0.02, p < 0.001 respectively). A significant correlation was detected between the cTp-e time and the Tp-e/QT ratio and the PASI score in the group of psoriatic patients (r = 0.51, p < 0.001; r = 0.59, p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions In our study, we detected a significant increase in the Tp-e interval and the Tp-e/QT ratio in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. The Tp-e interval and the Tp-e/QT ratio may be predictors for ventricular arrhythmias in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
[Vocal rehabilitation in patients with Parkinson disease: interfering factors].

BACKGROUND Vocal rehabilitation of patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease. AIM To describe the interfering factors in the vocal rehabilitation of five individuals with Parkinson disease and to present the modifications in the oral communication. METHOD Interviews and pre and post vocal treatment assessments were carried out using the Lee Silverman Voice treatment method (LVSTO). RESULTS Articulation improvement was observed, as well as improvements in the vocal loudness and quality, generating satisfaction among the patients and family. CONCLUSION The analyses of factors that contributed to the therapy process or made it difficult indicate aspects that must be taken into consideration to obtain effective results.
Curtailed two‐stage designs in Phase II clinical trials

When the accrual rate is low and the treatment period is long, a long observational period is required before information concerning the primary end point, such as binary response, becomes available in the study. Simon's two‐stage designs are often employed in Phase II clinical trials to avoid giving patient an ineffective drug. Thus, if the new drug is ineffective then this design would certainly accelerate the process of drug discovery and development. However, for a promising new drug this design may still require a long observational period. Therefore, when drug safety is not a primary concern, this paper proposes curtailed two‐stage designs to shorten the drug development process as soon as the treatment either shows lack of efficacy or is very effective. The proposed design is superior to Simon's two‐stage designs in terms of savings in expected sample size and is much easier to implement in practice than stochastically curtailed Simon's designs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prenatal Malaria Immune Experience Affects Acquisition of Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein-1 Invasion Inhibitory Antibodies during Infancy1

African infants are often born of mothers infected with malaria during pregnancy. This can result in fetal exposure to malaria-infected erythrocytes or their soluble products with subsequent fetal immune priming or tolerance in utero. We performed a cohort study of 30 newborns from a malaria holoendemic area of Kenya to determine whether T cell sensitization to Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1) at birth correlates with infant development of anti-MSP-1 Abs acquired as a consequence of natural malaria infection. Abs to the 42- and 19-kDa C-terminal processed fragments of MSP-1 were determined by serology and by a functional assay that quantifies invasion inhibition Abs against the MSP-119 merozoite ligand (MSP-119 IIA). Infants had detectable IgG and IgM Abs to MSP-142 and MSP-119 at 6 mo of age with no significant change by age 24–30 mo. In contrast, MSP-119 IIA levels increased from 6 to 24–30 mo of age (16–29%, p < 0.01). Infants with evidence of prenatal exposure to malaria (defined by P. falciparum detection in maternal, placental, and/or cord blood compartments) and T cell sensitization at birth (defined by cord blood lymphocyte cytokine responses to MSP-1) showed the greatest age-related increase in MSP-119 IIA compared with infants with prenatal exposure to malaria but who lacked detectable T cell MSP-1 sensitization. These data suggest that fetal sensitization or tolerance to MSP-1, associated with maternal malaria infection during pregnancy, affects the development of functional Ab responses to MSP-1 during infancy.
Trades and defining sets: theoretical and computational results

Given a particular combinatorial structure, there may be many distinct objects having this structure. When investigating these, two natural questions to ask are: - Given two objects, where and how do they differ? - How much of an individual object is necessary to uniquely identify it? These two questions are obviously related, with the first leading to the concept of a trade, and the second to that of a defining set. In this thesis we study trades and defining sets, in the context of t-(v,k,lambda) designs. In our enquiries, we make use of both theoretical and computational techniques. We investigate the spectrum of trades, and prove an extant conjecture regarding this. Our results also suggest a more general version of this conjecture. A t-(v,k,lambda) design where lambda=1 is called a Steiner design, and the related trades are called Steiner trades. In the case t=2, we establish the spectrum of Steiner trades for each value of k, except for a finite number of values in each case. The connection between trades and defining sets is used to obtain some new theoretical results on defining sets of designs, and is exploited throughout the thesis. We also consider the collections of all trades and all defining sets in a design. A simple design is one which is a set, as opposed to a multiset. We present an algorithm to enumerate all the trades in simple designs. For non-simple designs we introduce the concept of a discriminating set, and present an algorithm to enumerate these. Output from these algorithms was used to investigate the trades and defining sets of a number of designs, and some new results were obtained. Given part of a design, its completions are all those designs that contain it. An existing algorithm to complete partial designs is examined, and a heuristic yielding a much improved algorithm for Steiner designs is discussed. This completion routine was used to investigate a number of designs, and new information on the size and distribution of their defining sets was obtained.
A Sensitive Method for Detecting Peptide-specific CD4+ T Cell Responses in Peripheral Blood from Patients with Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neurological disorder typified by skeletal muscle fatigue and most often production of autoantibodies against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The present study was undertaken to assess the extent of AChR-peptide recognition in MG patients using co-culturing (DC:TC) of autologous monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) and highly enriched CD4+ T cells from the blood as compared to the traditional whole peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures. We found that the DC:TC cultures were highly superior to the PBMC cultures for detection of reactivity toward HLA-DQ/DR-restricted AChR-peptides. In fact, whereas DC:TC cultures identified recognition in all MG patients the PBMC cultures failed to detect responsiveness in around 40% of the patients. Furthermore, reactivity to multiple peptides was evident in DC:TC cultures, while PBMC cultures mostly exhibited reactivity to a single peptide. No healthy control (HC) CD4+ T cells responded to the peptides in either culture system. Interestingly, whereas spontaneous production of IFNγ and IL-17 was observed in the DC:TC cultures from MG patients, recall responses to peptides enhanced IL-10 production in 9/13 MG patients, while little increase in IFNγ and IL-17 was seen. HCs did not produce cytokines to peptide stimulations. We conclude that the DC: TC culture system is significantly more sensitive and better identifies the extent of responsiveness in MG patients to AChR-peptides than traditional PBMC cultures.
A comparison of recent methods for the analysis of small‐sample cross‐over studies

The standard analysis of variance (ANOVA) method is usually applied to analyse continuous data from cross‐over studies. The method, however, has been known to be not robust for general variance–covariance structure. The simple empirical generalized least squares (EGLS) method, proposed in an attempt to improve the precision of the standard ANOVA method for general variance–covariance structure, is usually insufficient for small‐sample cross‐over trials. In this paper we compare the following commonly used or recent approaches: standard ANOVA; simple EGLS; modified ANOVA method derived from a modified approximate F‐distribution; and a modified EGLS method adjusted by the Kenward and Roger procedure in terms of robustness and power while applying to small‐sample cross‐over studies (say, the sample size is less than 40) over a variety of variance–covariance structures by simulation. We find that the unconditional modified ANOVA method has robust performance for all of the simulated small‐sample cross‐over studies over the various variance–covariance structures, and has comparable power with the standard ANOVA method whenever they are comparable in type I error rate. The EGLS method (simple or modified) is not reliable when the sample size of a cross‐over study is too small, say, less than 24 in the simulation, unless a simple covariance structure is correctly assumed. Given a relatively larger sample size, the modified EGLS method, assuming an unstructured covariance matrix, demonstrates robust performance over the various variance–covariance structures in the simulation and provides more powerful tests than those of the modified (or standard) ANOVA method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A puzzling rise in financial profits and the role of capital gain-like revenues

The paper provides an explanation for the puzzling decoupling between the rate of growth of financial profits and GDP in the 2000s. Drawing on the insights from Keynes, Minsky, and Hilferding, the paper identifies a peculiar type of profit – capital gain-like revenues that take the form of profits from underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, securitization, and trade in financial assets. These capital gain-like revenues come from the redistribution of monetary assets and lack a counterpart in current GDP. They can be thought of as wealth transfers. Based on an empirical analysis of revenues of U.S. bank holding companies, these capital gain-like revenues are shown to have contributed significantly to the decoupling between the rate of growth of financial profits and GDP. The paper identifies characteristics of these revenues that explain the puzzles around this decoupling – its very possibility, sustainability over long time, and lack of losses sufficient to offset the pre-crisis financial gains. These characteristics of capital gain-like revenues also allow one to reconcile two seemingly incompatible approaches to a rise in financial profits – as transfers (rent) and as an illusion (mirage).
Tiotropium in asthma: a systematic review

Introduction The objective of this paper is to systematically review the existing evidence of the effectiveness and safety profile of a long-acting inhaled muscarinic antagonist as add-on therapy in patients with asthma that is uncontrolled despite inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use. Methods With the assistance of two experienced research librarians, we searched Ovid MEDLINE/PubMed (1946 to September 12, 2013), the Cochrane Library review, and the TRIP database. The key search terms were “tiotropium and asthma. ” The search was limited to human data published in English. Included in the systematic review were all randomized controlled trials that evaluated the efficacy of tiotropium in patients with asthma. The clinical trials had to be at least 4 weeks in duration and to provide adequate information on clinically appropriate end points in asthma care (eg, change in lung function, exacerbation rates, and/or ICS dosing). Data on patient characteristics, study design, outcome measures, concomitant asthma medication, and adverse events were extracted from the full text of each included individual study. Marked heterogeneity of study design precluded statistical pooling of results for a meta-analysis. Consequently, only descriptive summaries of outcomes are provided. Results Our database search retrieved 149 citations. We found five randomized controlled trials in humans that met our criteria for inclusion in the systematic review. We also found two open-label uncontrolled trials that were considered in the discussion. Each of the five included studies met the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials criteria for a well-designed randomized trial. Discussion The five clinical studies included in this systematic review focused on evaluating the efficacy of tiotropium as add-on therapy to ICS or ICS in combination with a long-acting inhaled β2-agonist (LABA) in patients with uncontrolled moderate to severe persistent asthma. Tiotropium maintained lung function when ICSs were tapered and when an LABA was discontinued. Tiotropium improved lung function when added to ICS alone or ICS–LABA combination therapy. In the only trial to have compared the addition of tiotropium with doubling the dose of ICS, tiotropium provided significantly superior results. In trials in which the addition of tiotropium was compared with salmeterol, the beneficial effects of these two bronchodilators were similar. No safety concerns were found with use of tiotropium as add-on therapy. Conclusion Tiotropium may have a beneficial role in moderate to severe persistent asthma despite use of an ICS or ICS and LABA. Use of tiotropium as add-on therapy poses no safety concerns.
Manually Locating Features in Industrial Source Code: The Search Actions of Software Nomads

Expert software engineers working on large systems often need to perform feature location when moving to work in unfamiliar areas. We hypothesise that leveraging the system-specific knowledge of these may help to improve semi-automated feature location techniques. In order to assess and understand how software nomads perform manual feature location searches, two expert professional software engineers were observed in-vivo following a think-aloud protocol while performing manual feature location on a large-scale heterogeneous system. The nomads' search actions were found to be around twice as effective as those reported in previous studies. This cannot be explained by sophisticated use of tools or complex queries. We conclude that system rules and conventions are frequently used by experts when constructing feature location search terms.
Echocardiographic evaluation of patients with severe heart failure and impairment of intraventricular conduction following cardiac resynchronisation therapy.

BACKGROUND Echocardiographic examination is essential for clinical assessment of patients after cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT). AIM To assess the benefit of CRT in patients with end-stage heart failure at long-term follow-up. METHODS 28 patients with end-stage heart failure, NYHA class >or= III (>or= II in patients with indications for implantable cardioverter defibrillator and echocardiographic signs of ventricular mechanical systolic dyssynchrony), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <35%, QRS duration >120 ms and left bundle branch block morphology received a biventricular device. Standard colour Doppler echocardiography examination was performed at baseline, and then every 6 months, up to 2 years. Parameters of systolic and diastolic LV function, mitral insufficiency and right ventricular (RV) pressure were evaluated. RESULTS Following CRT, a statistically significant improvement of LV dimensions (p<0.05), and LVEF (p<0.001) was recorded. CRT also resulted in a mitral regurgitation decrement (p<0.01). Interventricular mechanical delay was shortened (p=0.0005). After 2 years, non-significant worsening of LV dimensions was observed. At long-term follow-up CRT did not result in LV volume, left atrium, RV dimension or RV pressure reduction. CONCLUSIONS CRT is associated with reverse remodelling of the LV at mid-term follow-up.
Getting to Grips with Strangles: An Effective Multi-Component Recombinant Vaccine for the Protection of Horses from Streptococcus equi Infection

Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi) is a clonal, equine host-adapted pathogen of global importance that causes a suppurative lymphodendopathy of the head and neck, more commonly known as Strangles. The disease is highly prevalent, can be severe and is highly contagious. Antibiotic treatment is usually ineffective. Live attenuated vaccine strains of S. equi have shown adverse reactions and they suffer from a short duration of immunity. Thus, a safe and effective vaccine against S. equi is highly desirable. The bacterium shows only limited genetic diversity and an effective vaccine could confer broad protection to horses throughout the world. Welsh mountain ponies (n = 7) vaccinated with a combination of seven recombinant S. equi proteins were significantly protected from experimental infection by S. equi, resembling the spontaneous disease. Vaccinated horses had significantly reduced incidence of lymph node swelling (p = 0.0013) lymph node abscessation (p = 0.00001), fewer days of pyrexia (p = 0.0001), reduced pathology scoring (p = 0.005) and lower bacterial recovery from lymph nodes (p = 0.004) when compared with non-vaccinated horses (n = 7). Six of 7 vaccinated horses were protected whereas all 7 non-vaccinated became infected. The protective antigens consisted of five surface localized proteins and two IgG endopeptidases. A second vaccination trial (n = 7+7), in which the IgG endopeptidases were omitted, demonstrated only partial protection against S. equi, highlighting an important role for these vaccine components in establishing a protective immune response. S. equi shares >80% sequence identity with Streptococcus pyogenes. Several of the components utilized here have counterparts in S. pyogenes, suggesting that our findings have broader implications for the prevention of infection with this important human pathogen. This is one of only a few demonstrations of protection from streptococcal infection conferred by a recombinant multi-component subunit vaccine in a natural host.
Eigenvalue Fluctuations for Lattice Anderson Hamiltonians

We study the statistics of Dirichlet eigenvalues of the random Schr\"odinger operator $-\epsilon^{-2}\Delta^{(\text{d})}+\xi^{(\epsilon)}(x)$, with $\Delta^{(\text{d})}$ the discrete Laplacian on $\mathbb Z^d$ and $\xi^{(\epsilon)}(x)$ uniformly bounded independent random variables, on sets of the form $D_\epsilon:=\{x\in \mathbb Z^d\colon x\epsilon\in D\}$ for $D\subset \mathbb R^d$ bounded, open and with a smooth boundary. If $\mathbb E\xi^{(\epsilon)}(x)=U(x\epsilon)$ holds for some bounded and continuous $U\colon D\to \mathbb R$, we show that, as $\epsilon\downarrow0$, the $k$-th eigenvalue converges to the $k$-th Dirichlet eigenvalue of the homogenized operator $-\Delta+U(x)$, where $\Delta$ is the continuum Dirichlet Laplacian on $D$. Assuming further that $\text{Var}(\xi^{(\epsilon)}(x))=V(x\epsilon)$ for some positive and continuous $V\colon D\to \mathbb R$, we establish a multivariate central limit theorem for simple eigenvalues centered by their expectation. The limiting covariance for a given pair of simple eigenvalues is expressed as an integral of $V$ against the product of squares of the corresponding eigenfunctions of $-\Delta+U(x)$.
Enhanced immune response and protective efficacy of a Treponema pallidum Tp92 DNA vaccine vectored by chitosan nanoparticles and adjuvanted with IL-2

Aims: In this study, the immune-modulatory and protective efficacy of using an interleukin-2 (IL-2) expression plasmid as a genetic adjuvant and chitosan (CS) nanoparticles as vectors to enhance a Tp92 DNA vaccine candidate- were investigated in a Treponema pallidum (Tp)rabbit challenge model. Methods：Male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly assigned to groups (n = 18/group) and immunized intramuscularly with pTp92 based plasmid DNA constructs (100 μg of DNA/rabbit/immunization). Two weeks before Tp challenge (Week 8), three rabbits from each group were used to determine cytokine measurements and fifteen rabbits from each group were used for Tp challenge studies. Results：CS vectoring of pTp92 or pIL-2 were both demonstrated to augment anti-Tp92 antibody levels induced by pTp92 DNA vaccines. Interestingly, the combination of CS vectored Tp92 and pIL-2 led to the greatest enhancements of anti-Tp92 antibodies and T cell proliferation (P < 0.05). At week 10 after the first immunization 8 post DNA vaccine immunization , 15 of the 18 rabbits in each group were challenged with Tp Nichols strain and monitored for skin lesions and ulcer lesgions. Ratioates of positive skin lesions and ratiotes of ulcer lesions in groups immunized with pTp92 were significantly lower than those of the empty vector or PBS groups (P < 0.05), demonstrating that pTp92 immunization elicited significant protective efficacy against the Tp Nichols strain challenge. CS vectored and pIL-2 adjuvanted pTp92 immunized animals exhibited the lowest rates of positive skin and ulcer lesions. Conclusions: Intramuscular injection of pTp92 induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses and conferred protection from Tp challenge in rabbits. The use of CS as a pTp92 vector or pIL-2 as an adjuvant achieved a superior level of protective efficacy against Tp challenge, however CS vectored, IL-2 adjuvanted pTp92 immunization conferred the highest level of protective efficacy.