Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is forced expiratory volume in one second the best measure of severity in childhood asthma?

This essay focuses on whether FEV1 is the best measure of asthma severity in childhood asthma. For better or worse, FEV1 has become the gold standard lung function measurement in asthma, as it can be easily and quickly measured with relatively simple equipment. The current asthma guidelines use FEV1 in addition to daytime and nighttime symptoms in judging asthma severity (1, 2). Patients with mild persistent asthma are said to have FEV1 values of more than 80% of predicted, patients with moderate persistent asthma have values of 60 to 80% of predicted, whereas those with severe persistent asthma have values of less than 60% of predicted (1, 2). Despite widespread acceptance, neither are these criteria evidence-based nor is the basis of criteria described. FEV1 is also the outcome variable favored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to judge efficacy of asthma-controller medications. Thus, nearly all studies evaluating response to medications in asthma require subjects to have FEV1 values of 60 to 80% of predicted as essential entry criteria. Although this approach provides objective data to evaluate efficacy, it may not be the best measure for children with asthma. This is in large part because children with asthma are likely to have FEV1 values within the normal range when clinically stable.
Vigilant Self–regulation and Costly Punishment in Public Goods Situations

Applying regulatory focus theory to the context of social dilemma situations, the present research demonstrates that individual differences in vigilant, prevention–focused self–regulation predict the tendency to invest private resources to punish uncooperative interaction partners (costly punishment), a behaviour that typically has strong positive effects on the collective level of cooperation. Analyses further support the distinctiveness of the vigilance system proposed in regulatory focus theory (prevention focus) in comparison with general defensive inhibitory tendencies (measured with Carver and White's Behavioral Inhibition System scale). Results document that individual differences in prevention–focused self–regulation but not differences in general defensive inhibitory tendencies are positively related to costly punishment. In sum, the findings indicate that vigilant, prevention–focused self–regulation plays a crucial role in the context of sanctions that enforce cooperation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Physical activity levels and patterns of 9- and 15-yr-old European children.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess physical activity levels and patterns from children participating in the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS). Very limited physical activity data exist that have been collected from representative samples of children and even fewer data collected where physical activity has been measured using objective methods. METHODS Subjects were 2185 children aged 9 and 15 yr from Denmark, Portugal, Estonia, and Norway. Physical activity data were obtained using MTI (formerly CSA) accelerometers. The primary outcome variable was established as the child's activity level (accelerometer counts per minute). Children wore the accelerometer for 3 or 4 d, which included at least 1 weekend day. RESULTS Boys were more active than girls at age 9 (784 +/- 282 vs 649 +/- 204 counts.min-1) and 15 yr (615 +/- 228 vs 491 +/- 163 counts.min-1). With respect to time engaged in moderate-intensity activity, gender differences were apparent at age 9 (192 +/- 66 vs 160 +/- 54 min.d-1) and age 15 (99 +/- 45 vs 73 +/- 32 min.d-1). At age 9, the great majority of boys and girls achieved current health-related physical activity recommendations (97.4% and 97.6%, respectively). At age 15, fewer children achieved the guidelines and gender differences were apparent (boys 81.9% vs girls 62.0%). CONCLUSIONS Accelerometers are a feasible and accurate instrument for use in large epidemiological studies of children's activity. Boys tend to be more active than girls, and there is a marked reduction in activity over the adolescent years. The great majority of younger children achieve current physical activity recommendations, whereas fewer older children do so-especially older girls.
MindMatters, a Whole-School Approach Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing

Objective: MindMatters is an innovative, national mental health promotion program which provides a framework for mental health promotion in Australian schools. Its objectives are to facilitate exemplary practice in the promotion of whole-school approaches to mental health promotion; develop mental health education resources, curriculum and professional development programs which are appropriate to a wide range of schools, students and learning areas; trial guidelines on mental health and suicide prevention and to encourage the development of partnerships between schools, parents, and community support agencies to promote the mental wellbeing of young people. Method: A team of academics and health education professionals, supported by a reference group of mental health experts, developed MindMatters. The program was piloted in 24 secondary schools, drawn from all educational systems and each State and Territory in Australia. The pilot program was amended and prepared for dissemination nationally. Results: The program provides a framework for mental health promotion in widely differing school settings. The teacher professional development dimension of the program is central to enhancing the role of schools in broad population mental health promotion. Conclusions: Promoting the mental health and wellbeing of all young people is a vital part of the core business of teachers by creating a supportive school environment that is conducive to learning. Teachers need to be comfortable and confident in promoting and teaching for mental health. Specific, targeted interventions, provided within a whole-school framework, address the needs of the minority of students who require additional support.
Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-kappa B pathway is involved in myocardial injury in a rat chronic stress model

Chronic stress is considered to predispose to various cardiovascular events such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, and even heart failure. In this study, rats were exposed to stress for 1 day, 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks to establish a chronic stress model. A specific toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist eritoran was used to block the activity of TLR4. On the second day after the last stress exposure, the animals were killed. The expression of TLR4 mRNA and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) DNA-binding activity in the myocardium were measured using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL-6) in myocardium were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Myocardial injury was evident after chronic stress for 2 weeks. The TLR4 mRNA expression reached a peak after stress for 1 week. It was sustained at a stable level after stress exposure for 3 weeks and was restored to a nearly normal level in the fourth week. NF-κB DNA-binding activity was significantly enhanced after the stress for 1 day and markedly enhanced again after a 2-week stress exposure. It was weakened and reached a normal level after stress exposure for 4 weeks. The levels of TNF-α and IL-6 gradually increased and reached peaks after stress for 4 weeks. Meanwhile, eritoran significantly decreased the TLR4 mRNA expression and NF-κB activity in rats from the 2-week stress group. However, it did not downregulate the levels of TNF-α and IL-6. Importantly, it significantly improved the myocardial injury induced by the chronic stress. In conclusion, TLR4/NF-κB participates in myocardial injury during chronic stress.
The tractability of CSP classes defined by forbidden patterns

The constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is a general problem central to computer science and artificial intelligence. Although the CSP is NP-hard in general, considerable effort has been spent on identifying tractable subclasses. The main two approaches consider structural properties (restrictions on the hypergraph of constraint scopes) and relational properties (restrictions on the language of constraint relations). Recently, some authors have considered hybrid properties that restrict the constraint hypergraph and the relations simultaneously. Our key contribution is the novel concept of a CSP pattern and classes of problems defined by forbidden patterns (which can be viewed as forbidding generic sub-problems). We describe the theoretical framework which can be used to reason about classes of problems defined by forbidden patterns. We show that this framework generalises certain known hybrid tractable classes. Although we are not close to obtaining a complete characterisation concerning the tractability of general forbidden patterns, we prove a dichotomy in a special case: classes of problems that arise when we can only forbid binary negative patterns (generic subproblems in which only disallowed tuples are specified). In this case we show that all (finite sets of) forbidden patterns define either polynomial-time solvable or NP-complete classes of instances.
Association of transforming growth factor-β1 T29C polymorphism with the progression of diabetic nephropathy

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the Western world. Histologically, mesangial expansion with increased extracellular matrix protein is observed in patients with diabetic nephropathy. Because transforming growth factor (TGF)-β promotes extracellular matrix production in response to high glucose, TGF-β is considered to play a central role in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. We investigated the association of TGF-β1 T29C polymorphism and the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Forty patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were enrolled. All patients had had diabetes for more than 10 years. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells, and genotype was determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction method. Patients were classified into three groups according to genotype: TT, TC, and CC. Grade of diabetic nephropathy was determined using the amount of urinary excretion of albumin. Demographic characteristics of the patients with each genotype were not statistically different. No differences in the glycemic control and the mode of therapy were observed. Among patients with three genotypes, the severity of diabetic nephropathy was not statistically different. The patients with TT genotype tended to have a higher rate of progression of nephropathy; however, no statistically significant difference was observed among the three groups. Our results suggest that TGF-β1 T29C polymorphism is not associated with the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Further studies are required to determine the exact role of this polymorphism in the progression of diabetic nephropathy. © 2001 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.
Unanimous Prediction for 100% Precision with Application to Learning Semantic Mappings

Can we train a system that, on any new input, either says "don't know" or makes a prediction that is guaranteed to be correct? We answer the question in the affirmative provided our model family is well-specified. Specifically, we introduce the unanimity principle: only predict when all models consistent with the training data predict the same output. We operationalize this principle for semantic parsing, the task of mapping utterances to logical forms. We develop a simple, efficient method that reasons over the infinite set of all consistent models by only checking two of the models. We prove that our method obtains 100% precision even with a modest amount of training data from a possibly adversarial distribution. Empirically, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on the standard GeoQuery dataset.
THE FIRST DETECTION OF PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY IN A Y DWARF: WISE J140518.39+553421.3

We present the first detection of the photometric variability in a spectroscopically confirmed Y dwarf. The Infrared Array Camera on board the Spitzer Space Telescope was used to obtain time series photometry of WISE J140518.39+553421.3 at 3.6 and 4.5 μm over a 24-hr period at two different epochs separated by 149 days. Variability is evident at 4.5 μm in the first epoch and at 3.6 and 4.5 μm in the second epoch, which suggests that the underlying cause or causes of this variability change on the timescales of months. The second-epoch [3.6] and [4.5] light curves are nearly sinusoidal in form, in phase, have periods of roughly 8.5 hr, and have semi-amplitudes of 3.5%. We find that a simple geometric spot model with a single bright spot reproduces these observations well. We also compare our measured semi-amplitudes of the second-epoch light curves to predictions of the static, one-dimensional, partly cloudy, and hot spot models of Morley and collaborators, and find that neither set of models can reproduce the observed [3.6] and [4.5] semi-amplitudes simultaneously. Therefore, more advanced two-dimensional or three-dimensional models that include time-dependent phenomena like vertical mixing, cloud formation, and thermal relaxation are sorely needed in order to properly interpret our observations.
A framework for smart location-based automated energy controls in a green building testbed

Current building designs are not energy-efficient enough due to many reasons. One of them is the centralized control and fixed running policies (e.g. HVAC system) without considering the occupants' actual usage and adjusting the energy consumption accordingly. In this paper, we discuss our multi-disciplinary project on a green building testbed on which we introduce mobile location service into the energy policy control by using the now popular GPS-embedded smart phones. Every occupant in the building who has a smart phone is able to monitor their usage and adjust their own energy policy in real-time. This changes the centralized control inside the building into a distributed control paradigm. It allows the occupants with different roles to participate in the energy consumption reduction efforts. Latest information technologies such as mobile smart device-based location service, distributed control, and cloud computing are used in this project. The major idea and experimental system is expected to be applied to not only green buildings but also vast number of the conventional buildings to reduce the energy consumption without sacrificing the human comfort and convenience.
La segregación escolar en Argentina

Fil: Gasparini, Leonardo Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Economicas. Departamento de Ciencias Economicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina
Mosquitoes larval breeding habitat in urban and suburban areas, Peninsular Malaysia

— Larval survey was carried out in 6 localities in the urban areas (Putrajaya) and suburban areas (Kuala Selangor) from January until December 2010. A total of 520 representative households in 6 localities were selected. Breeding habitats were sampled outdoors in the surroundings of housing areas. The study indicated that the most predominant species found in both areas was Aedes albopictus with the gardening utensil as a preferred breeding microhabitat for Putrajaya, in contrast to the artificial containers for Kuala Selangor . From a total of 1083 mosquito larvae species, 984 were Aedes albopictus larvae, 67 positive larvae of Aedes aegypti and 32 of Culex larvae. Aedes Index and Container Index were elevated in Putrajaya with 13% and 11% respectively which is higher than the standard given by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This results implicating dengue-sensitive skewed to the urban areas. Breteau Index result also above the standard in both study locations.
Using Learning Analytics and Visualization Techniques to Evaluate the Structure of Higher Education Curricula

In this paper, we propose a data mining technique that evaluates a curriculum’s structure based on academic data collected from Computer Science students from 2005 to 2016. Our approach is based on the Synthetic Control Method (SCM), which builds a linear model describing the relation between courses based on student performance information. The proposed model is compared to a linear regression model with positive coefficients. In addition to providing the relation between courses, it can also be used to predict students’ grades in a specific course based on their previous grades. The results are visualized in a user-friendly tool, which allows for contrast and comparison between the official structure and the structure found based on the data.
Let the objects tell what you are doing

Recognition of activities of daily living (ADLs) performed in smart homes proved to be very effective when the interaction of the inhabitant with household items is considered. Analyzing how objects are manipulated can be particularly useful, in combination with other sensor data, to detect anomalies in performing ADLs, and hence to support early diagnosis of cognitive impairments for elderly people. Recent improvements in sensing technologies can overcome several limitations of the existing techniques to detect object manipulations, often based on RFID, wearable sensors and/or computer vision methods. In this work we propose an unobtrusive solution which shifts all the monitoring burden at the objects side. In particular, we investigate the effectiveness of using tiny BLE beacons equipped with accelerometer and temperature sensors attached to everyday objects. We adopt statistical methods to analyze in realtime the accelerometer data coming from the objects, with the purpose of detecting specific manipulations performed by seniors in their homes. We describe our technique and we present the preliminary results obtained by evaluating the method on a real dataset. The results indicate the potential utility of the method in enriching ADLs and abnormal behaviors recognition systems, by providing detailed information about object manipulations.
What Clinical Pharmacology Means To Us

Clinical Pharmacology is a specialty with many attributes and our association with the subject has allowed us to acquire, apply and disseminate myriad aspects of research and practice. Though clinical pharmacologists are conspicuous by virtue of their small number, recent years have shown a growing need for the course. In the review below we navigate through several aspects of the subject as we encountered them from time to time. From critical appraisal of literature, to application of knowledge of drugs, to clinical practice; moving on to clinical and basic research, to drug development process, to policy making - these are but a few of the many fields which constitute the scope of clinical pharmacology. The importance of the subject lies in allowing a trainee to develop a broad overview of the entire process, from drug generation to drug distribution to drug utilization, a process meant for the greater common goal of better health for all. We foresee a bright future for the subject though with a slight skepticism thrown in. In the present article, we make use of personal experiences and reference from literature to help you get a broad view of what clinical pharmacology means to us.
Inhibitory Effects of Cocoa Flavanols and Procyanidin Oligomers on Free Radical-Induced Erythrocyte Hemolysis

Excessive peroxidation of biomembranes is thought to contribute to the initiation and progression of numerous degenerative diseases. The present study examined the inhibitory effects of a cocoa extract, individual cocoa flavanols (-)-epicatechin and (+)-catechin, and procyanidin oligomers (dimer to decamer) isolated from cocoa on rat erythrocyte hemolysis. In vitro, the flavanols and the procyanidin oligomers exhibited dose-dependent protection against 2,2'-azo-bis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-induced erythrocyte hemolysis between concentrations of 2.5 and 40 μM. Dimer, trimer, and tetramer showed the strongest inhibitory effects at 10 μM, 59.4%, 66.2%, 70.9%; 20 μM, 84.1%, 87.6%, 81.0%; and 40 μM, 90.2%, 88.9%, 78-6%, respectively. In a subsequent experiment, male Sprague-Dawley rats (~200 g; n = 5-6) were given a 100-mg intragastric dose of a cocoa extract. Blood was collected over a 4-hr time period. Epicatechin and catechin, and the dimers (-)-epicatechin-(4β>8)-epicatechin (Dimer B2) and (-)-epicatechin-(4β<6)-epicatechin (Dimer B5) were detected in the plasma with concentrations of 6.4 μM, and 217.6, 248.2, and 55.4 nM, respectively. Plasma antioxidant capacity (as measured by the total antioxidant potential [TRAP] assay) was elevated (P < 0.05) between 30 and 240 min following the cocoa extract feeding. Erythrocytes obtained from the cocoa extract-fed animals showed an enhanced resistance to hemolysis (P < 0.05). This enhanced resistance was also observed when erythrocytes from animals fed the cocoa extract were mixed with plasma obtained from animals given water only. Conversely, plasma obtained from rats given the cocoa extract improved the resistance of erythrocytes obtained from rats given water only. These results show cocoa flavanols and procyanidins can provide membrane protective effects.
Evidentialism: Essays in Epistemology

Evidentialism is a theory of knowledge whose essence is the traditional idea that the justification of factual knowledge is entirely a matter of evidence. Earl Conee and Richard Feldman present the definitive exposition and defence of this muchcontested theory. They argue that evidentialism is an asset virtually everywhere in epistemology, from getting started legitimately to refuting skepticism. The volume collects the authors' renowned work on the topic and adds substantial new material, making it the prime resource in evidentialism for all epistemologists.
Final 5-Year Results of the TAXUS II Trial: A Randomized Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Slow- and Moderate-Release Polymer-Based Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents for De Novo Coronary Artery Lesions

Background— The TAXUS II trial was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the commercialized slow-release (SR) and an investigation-only moderate-release (MR) polymer-based TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stent compared with a bare-metal stent for the treatment of de novo coronary lesions. Methods and Results— This prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial enrolled 536 patients in 2 consecutive cohorts to compare TAXUS SR (n=131) and TAXUS MR (n=135) with an identical but uncoated bare-metal stent control (n=270). The present analysis reports final 5-year clinical outcomes of TAXUS II. At 5 years, both TAXUS SR and MR showed superior outcomes compared with control. The 5-year rates of major adverse cardiac events were 27.6%, 20.4%, and 15.1% (P=0.01); rates of target-vessel revascularization were 22.5%, 16.6%, and 9.0% (P=0.004); and rates of target-lesion revascularization were 18.4%, 10.3%, and 4.5% (P<0.001) for the control, TAXUS SR, and TAXUS MR groups, respectively. The rates of all-cause death and myocardial infarction were low and similar between groups, with 2 stent thromboses with bare-metal stents compared with no event beyond 2 years with either of the TAXUS stents. Conclusions— TAXUS II is the first large TAXUS trial to have reached 5-year follow-up. Both the SR and MR stents lowered the rates of target-vessel and target-lesion revascularization, which indicates their sustained efficacy. Furthermore, the low overall rates of all death, myocardial infarction, and stent thrombosis support the long-term safety of the TAXUS stent system.