Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International Journal of Copd Dovepress Relationships between Repeated Instruction on Inhalation Therapy, Medication Adherence, and Health Status in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Methods Study Design Questionnaire on Inhalation Therapy

Purpose: Adherence to inhalation therapy is a critical determinant of the success of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management. However, in practice, nonadherence to inhalation therapy is very common in COPD patients. The effects of adherence to inhalation therapy in COPD have not been fully studied, and less is known about the relationship between medication adherence and quality of life in COPD. Our aim is to assess the factors that contribute to adherence to inhalation therapy and examine their correlation with quality of life. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 88 COPD patients was performed using a self-reported adherence questionnaire with responses on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: Of the 88 patients who were potential participants, 55 (63%) responded with usable information. The only significant factor associated with the overall mean adherence score was receiving repeated instruction about inhalation techniques (P = 0.032). Of the 55 respondents, 22 (40.0%) were given repeated verbal instruction and/or demonstrations of inhalation technique by a respiratory physician. Significant correlations were found between the overall mean adherence score and the health-related quality of life score (St George's Respiratory Questionnaire: total, Conclusions: Repeated instruction for inhalation techniques may contribute to adherence to therapeutic regimens, which relates to better health status in COPD. Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth most common global cause of death. Its prevalence is expected to increase, and it results in substantial social and economic burdens. 1 Numerous studies have shown that COPD therapy achieves several of the goals of COPD management, including prevention and control of symptoms, reduction in the rates of exacerbation and hospitalization, and improvement of health-related quality of life (HRQL). 2 Inhalation therapy plays a central role in COPD therapy, but it is widely recognized that many patients do not always adhere to their inhalation regimens. Several studies have reported that an average of 60% of COPD patients do not adhere to prescribed therapy. 3–5 Furthermore, patients make a number of errors with inhaler handling, some of which are critical to the efficacy of inhalation treatment. Dovepress Dovepress 98 Takemura et al Adherence to inhaled medication in COPD may impact on clinical outcomes. Recently, Vestbo et al reported that among moderate to severe COPD patients enrolled in the Towards a Revolution in COPD Health study, there was a strong association between adherence to inhaled medicine and mortality, as well as risk of hospitalization due to …
Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics Theoretical interpretation of fetch limited wind-driven sea observations

We show that the results of major fetch limited field studies of wind-generated surface gravity waves on deep water can be explained in the framework of simple analytical model. The spectra measured in these experiments are described by self-similar solutions of “conservative” Hasselmann equation that includes only advective and nonlinear interaction terms. Interaction with the wind and dissipation due to the wave breaking indirectly defines parameters of the self-similar solutions.
Title Social Orientation and Diabetes-Related Distress in Japaneseand American Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: Recent evidence in cultural and social psychology suggests Eastern cultures’ emphasis on harmony and connection with others and Western cultures’ emphasis on self-direction and autonomy. In Eastern society, relational harmony is closely linked to people’s well-being. The impact of this cultural and social orientation on diabetes-related distress was investigated. Research Design and Methods: Japanese and American patients with type 2 diabetes were surveyed by well-established questionnaire in Japan and in the United States, respectively. The association of personal values for interdependence, perceived emotional support, and the Problem Areas in Diabetes scale (PAID) were analyzed. Results: A positive correlation between interdependence and PAID (r = 0.18; P = 0.025) and a negative correlation between perceived emotional support and PAID (r = 2 0.24; P = 0.004) were observed after adjustments for other factors in Japanese data (n = 149), but not in American data (r = 0.00; P = 0.990, r = 0.02; P = 0.917, respectively, n = 50). In Japanese data, the three-factor structure of PAID (negative feelings about total life with diabetes, about living conditions with diabetes, and about treatment of diabetes) was identified, and interdependence showed significant positive correlations with the first and second factors and perceived emotional support showed significant negative correlations with all three factors of PAID. Conclusions: These results suggest that personal values for interdependence may be linked to the level of diabetes-related distress and that the distress may be relieved by perception of emotional support, especially in an interdependent cultural context. Citation: Ikeda K, Fujimoto S, Morling B, Ayano-Takahara S, Carroll AE, et al. (2014) Social Orientation and Diabetes-Related Distress in Japanese and American Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. PLoS ONE 9(10): e109323. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0109323 Editor: Sompop Bencharit, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America Received April 19, 2014; Accepted August 28, 2014; Published October 15, 2014 Copyright: 2014 Ikeda et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: The authors confirm that all data underlying the findings are fully available without restriction. All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: This work was supported by Kokoro Research Center Kyoto University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * Email: inagaki@metab.kuhp. kyoto-u.ac. jp
Cycle stealing under immediate dispatch task assignment

We consider the practical problem of task assignment in a server farm, where each arriving job is immediately dispatched to a server in the farm. We look at the benefit of cycle stealing at the point of the dispatcher, where jobs normally destined for one machine may be routed to a different machine if it is idle. The analysis uses a technique which we refer to as dimensionality reduction via busy period transitions. Our analysis is approximate, but can be made as close to exact as desired, and is validated via simulation. Results show that the beneficiaries of the idle cycles can benefit unboundedly, due to an increase in their stability region, while the donors are only slightly penalized. These results still hold even when there is only one donor server and 20 beneficiary servers stealing its idle cycles.
Separating Processes within a Trial in Event-Related Functional MRI II. Analysis

Many cognitive processes occur on time scales that can significantly affect the shape of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response in event-related functional MRI. This shape can be estimated from event related designs, even if these processes occur in a fixed temporal sequence (J. M. Ollinger, G. L. Shulman, and M. Corbetta. 2001. NeuroImage 13: 210-217). Several important considerations come into play when interpreting these time courses. First, in single subjects, correlations among neighboring time points give the noise a smooth appearance that can be confused with changes in the BOLD response. Second, the variance and degree of correlation among estimated time courses are strongly influenced by the timing of the experimental design. Simulations show that optimal results are obtained if the intertrial intervals are as short as possible, if they follow an exponential distribution with at least three distinct values, and if 40% of the trials are partial trials. These results are not particularly sensitive to the fraction of partial trials, so accurate estimation of time courses can be obtained with lower percentages of partial trials (20-25%). Third, statistical maps can be formed from F statistics computed with the extra sum of square principle or by t statistics computed from the cross-correlation of the time courses with a model for the hemodynamic response. The latter method relies on an accurate model for the hemodynamic response. The most robust model among those tested was a single gamma function. Finally, the power spectrum of the measured BOLD signal in rapid event-related paradigms is similar to that of the noise. Nevertheless, high-pass filtering is desirable if the appropriate model for the hemodynamic response is used.
Characterization of FRO 1 , a Pea Ferric-Chelate Reductase Involved in Root Iron Acquisition 1

To acquire iron, many plant species reduce soil Fe(III) to Fe(II) by Fe(III)-chelate reductases embedded in the plasma membrane of root epidermal cells. The reduced product is then taken up by Fe(II) transporter proteins. These activities are induced under Fe deficiency. We describe here the FRO1 gene from pea (Pisum sativum), which encodes an Fe(III)-chelate reductase. Consistent with this proposed role, FRO1 shows similarity to other oxidoreductase proteins, and expression of FRO1 in yeast conferred increased Fe(III)-chelate reductase activity. Furthermore, FRO1 mRNA levels in plants correlated with Fe(III)-chelate reductase activity. Sites of FRO1 expression in roots, leaves, and nodules were determined. FRO1 mRNA was detected throughout the root, but was most abundant in the outer epidermal cells. Expression was detected in mesophyll cells in leaves. In root nodules, mRNA was detected in the infection zone and nitrogen-fixing region. These results indicate that FRO1 acts in root Fe uptake and they suggest a role in Fe distribution throughout the plant. Characterization of FRO1 has also provided new insights into the regulation of Fe uptake. FRO1 expression and reductase activity was detected only in Fe-deficient roots of Sparkle, whereas both were constitutive in brz and dgl, two mutants with incorrectly regulated Fe accumulation. In contrast, FRO1 expression was responsive to Fe status in shoots of all three plant lines. These results indicate differential regulation of FRO1 in roots and shoots, and improper FRO1 regulation in response to a shoot-derived signal of iron status in the roots of the brz and dgl mutants.
The non-radially pulsating primary of the cataclysmic variable GW Librae

ABSTRACT The dwarf nova GW Librae is the ﬁrst cataclysmic variable dis covered to have a primary in awhite dwarf instability strip, making it the ﬁrst multi-mode, nonradially-pulsatingstar knownto be accreting. The primaries of CVs, embedded in hot, bright accretion discs, are difﬁcultto study directly. Applying the techniques of asteroseismology to GW Librae could thereforegive us an unprecedented look at a white dwarf that has undergone ∼ 10 9 years of accretion.However, an accreting white dwarf may have characteristics sufﬁciently different from thoseof single pulsating white dwarfs to render the standard models of white dwarf pulsations in-valid for its study.This paper presents amplitudespectra of GW Lib from a series of observingcampaignsconductedduring1997,1998and 2001.We ﬁnd that t he dominantpulsationmodescluster at periods near 650, 370 and 230 s, which also appear in linear combinations with eachother. GW Lib’s pulsation spectrum is highly unstable on time-scales of months, and exhibitsclusters of signals very closely spaced in frequency, with separations on the order of 1 µHz. Key words: Stars: cataclysmic variables, white dwarfs, oscillations – Individual: GW Librae
Evidence for Local Adaptation in Closely Adjacent Subpopulations of Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra L.) Expressed as Resistance to Leaf Herbivores

Many studies of herbaceous plant populations have illustrated the potential of adjacent subpopulations to adapt to local ecological conditions. However, the extent to which local adaptation on a small geographical scale can occur in outcrossing tree populations is not well understood. In this study, we reciprocally transplanted acorns from adjacent subpopulations of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) occupying north-, southwest-, and west-facing slopes within a 4-ha plot in a Missouri oak-hickory forest. The quantitative character we measured was leaf damage by herbivores on first-year seedlings, because it reflects resistance to insect herbivores-a quantitative trait that could be under different selective pressures in dissimilar microhabitats. We found that seedlings showed the least damage when planted at the site of the maternal plant. This finding provides initial but strong evidence of local adaptation and illustrates that selection associated with leaf harbivory may have a strong impact on the genetic structure of local tree populations. Such a result is unexpected for a widely outcrossing species on such a small geographical scale but indicates that genetic structuring is possible within other plant populations occupying heterogeneous environments.
Uric acid in chronic heart failure: a marker of chronic inflammation.

BACKGROUND Chronic heart failure is associated with hyperuricaemia and elevations in circulating markers of inflammation. Activation of xanthine oxidase, through free radical release, causes leukocyte and endothelial cell activation. Associations could therefore be expected between serum uric acid level, as a marker of increased xanthine oxidase activity, and markers of inflammation. We have explored these associations in patients with chronic heart failure, taking into account the hyperuricaemic effects of diuretic therapy and insulin resistance. METHODS AND RESULTS Circulating uric acid and markers of inflammation were measured in 39 male patients with chronic heart failure and 16 healthy controls. All patients underwent a metabolic assessment, which provided a measure of insulin sensitivity (intravenous glucose tolerance tests and minimal modelling analysis). Compared to controls, patients with chronic heart failure had significantly higher levels of circulating uric acid, interleukin-6, soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor (sTNFR)-1, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1, all P<0.001), E-selectin and sTNFR2 (both P<0.05). In patients with chronic heart failure, serum uric acid concentrations correlated with circulating levels of sTNFR1 (r=0.74), interleukin-6 (r=0.66), sTNFR2 (r=0.63), TNFa (r=0.60) (all P<0.001), and ICAM-1 (r=0.41, P<0.01). In stepwise regression analyses, serum uric acid emerged as the strongest predictor of ICAM-1, interleukin-6, TNF, sTNFR1 and sTNFR2, independent of diuretic dose, age, body mass index, alcohol intake, serum creatinine, plasma insulin and glucose, and insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Serum uric acid is strongly related to circulating markers of inflammation in patients with chronic heart failure. This is consistent with a role for increased xanthine oxidase activity in the inflammatory response in patients with chronic heart failure.
The impact of dialogic book-sharing training on infant language and attention: a randomized controlled trial in a deprived South African community.

BACKGROUND Dialogic book-sharing is an interactive form of shared reading. It has been shown in high income countries (HICs) to be of significant benefit to child cognitive development. Evidence for such benefit in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is scarce, although a feasibility study of our own produced encouraging findings. Accordingly, we aimed to establish the impact on child language and attention of providing training in dialogic booksharing to carers of infants in an impoverished South African community. METHODS We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Khayelitsha, an informal settlement in South Africa. Mothers of infants aged between 14 and 16 months were recruited and randomized to either 8 weeks of manualized training in dialogic book-sharing or a no-intervention control group. Independent assessments were made of infant language and attention at baseline and following training. The trial was registered (ISRCTN39953901). RESULTS Ninety one carer-infant dyads were recruited and randomized to the intervention group (n = 49) or the control group (n = 42), 82 (90%) of whom were available for follow-up assessments. On a standardized carer report of infant vocabulary, compared to those in the control group, carers who received the intervention reported a significantly greater increase in the number of words understood by their infants as well as a larger increase in the number of words that their infant understood and could vocalize. Intervention group children also showed substantially greater gains on a measure of sustained attention. CONCLUSIONS In line with evidence from HICs, a dialogic book-sharing programme delivered to an impoverished South African sample was shown to be of considerable benefit to the development of child language and focussed attention. The training programme, which is simple and inexpensive to deliver, has the potential to benefit child cognitive development in LMIC contexts where such development is commonly compromised.
Harnessing Exposed Terminals in Wireless Networks

This paper presents the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of CMAP (Conflict Maps), a system that increases the number of successful concurrent transmissions in a wireless network, achieving higher aggregate throughput compared to networks that use carrier sense multiple access (CSMA). CMAP correctly identifies and exploits exposed terminals in which two senders are within range of one another, but each intended receiver is far enough from the other sender that the two transmissions can succeed even if done concurrently. CMAP includes a reactive channel access scheme in which nodes transmit concurrently (even if there's the possibility of a collision), then observe the loss probability to determine whether they are better off transmitting concurrently or not. Experimental results from a 50-node 802.11a testbed show that CMAP improves throughput by 2× over CSMA with exposed terminals, while converging to the performance of CSMA when the senders and receivers are all close to each other. CMAP also improves throughput by up to 47% over CSMA in realistic access point-based networks by exploiting concurrent transmission opportunities.
Scale‐dependent carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus seston stoichiometry in marine and freshwaters

The classical Redfield ratio of carbon106 : nitrogen16 : phosphorus1 is a cornerstone of biogeochemistry. With the use of >2,000 observations of the chemistry of particulate matter from small and large lakes, as well as near and off‐shore marine environments, we found that the best model to describe seston stoichiometry depended on the scale of analysis. We also found that there were better estimates for seston chemistry than the classical ratio for all habitats, whether freshwater or marine. Across the entire data set, a constant proportionality of C166:N20 : P1 (±error) described the data, which implies higher C sequestration per unit of N and P in surface waters than given in the classical ratio. At a regional scale, however, C: P and C:N often declined with increasing seston abundance, rejecting a constant ratio model. Within both freshwater and marine habitats, higher seston abundance is often associated with lower C: P and C:N ratios (higher nutrient content). The difference in appropriateness of the constant ratio model with respect to the entire data compared with subsets of the data indicates a scale dependence in stoichiometric relationships in seston C:N: P ratios. Given these consistent shifts in seston chemistry with particle abundance, the narrower variation in seston chemistry associated with marine seston chemistry could occur because of a reduced range of particulate nutrient concentration. For all but the largest scales, the classical Redfield model of biogeochemical cycling should be replaced with a more general power function model.
A comparative morphometric analysis of the optic nerve in two cetacean species, the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)

A comparative study was made on one Mysticete (the fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus) and one Odontocete species (the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba) by measuring several morphological characteristics seen in cross sections of the optic nerve. We found that the two cetacean nerves share a number of specializations that distinguish them from the optic nerve of terrestrial mammals. Fiber density is approximately two-fold lower than in land mammals. A corresponding increase in the cross-sectional area occupied by astrocytes is observed. A population of “giant” (up to 15 μm in diameter) optic axons is present in both the B. physalus and the S. coeruleoalba nerve. It is argued that these features probably reflect common adaptations to the constraints imposed by the aquatic environment. “Giant” optic axons might ensure short-latency detection of preys and other targets during navigation while the increased astroglial content might be related to the maintenance of neuronal function during periods of anaerobic metabolism under water.
Robust estimation in Capital Asset Pricing Model

Bian and Dickey (1996) developed a robust Bayesian estimator for the vector of regression coecients using a Cauchy-type g-prior. This estimator is an adaptive weighted average of the least squares estimator and the prior location, and is of great robustness with respect to at-tailed sample distribution. In this paper, we introduce the robust Bayesian estimator to the estimation of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in which the distribution of the error component is well-known to be at-tailed. To support our proposal, we apply both the robust Bayesian estimator and the least squares estimator in the simulation of the CAPM and in the analysis of the CAPM for US annual and monthly stock returns. Our simulation results show that the Bayesian estimator is robust and superior to the least squares estimator when the CAPM is contaminated by large normal and/or non-normal disturbances, especially by Cauchy disturbances. In our empirical study, we nd that the robust Bayesian estimate is uniformly more ecient than the least squares estimate in terms of the relative eciency of one-step ahead forecast mean square error, especially for small samples.