Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of 2 depression screening tools in dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in long-term dialysis patients and is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. An efficient and valid method of diagnosing depression might facilitate recognition and treatment. We sought to validate 2 depression assessment tools, the 21-question Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 9-question Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), in a dialysis population. METHODS We surveyed patients who had received dialysis for at least 90 days in Portland, OR. We excluded patients with dementia, delirium, or a history of major psychiatric disorders other than depression. The Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, a gold-standard measure for depression, was administered by trained psychologists within 2 weeks of the BDI and PHQ-9. RESULTS Of 62 enrolled subjects, 16 were diagnosed with a depressive disorder, including 12 patients (19%) with major depression, 3 patients with dysthymia, and 1 patient with minor depression. Optimal BDI and PHQ-9 cutoff values for depressive disorders combined was 16 or greater and 10 or greater, respectively. Sensitivities were 91% and 92%, specificities were 86% and 92%, positive predictive values were 59% and 71%, and negative predictive values were both 98%, with kappa values of 0.65 and 0.75, respectively. The difference between the 2 receiver operating characteristic curves was not statistically significant (P > 0.9). CONCLUSION Our results validate the PHQ-9 and revalidate the BDI against a gold-standard measure for depressive disorders in the dialysis population. Both tools performed equally well. Because depression is prevalent, readily diagnosed, and associated with poor outcomes, screening by means of short and valid measurement tools may lead to better diagnosis and treatment of this modifiable risk factor. This may lead to improved clinical outcomes in dialysis patients.
Search in the Lost Sense of “Query”: Question Formulation in Web Search Queries and its Temporal Changes

Web search is an information-seeking activity. Often times, this amounts to a user seeking answers to a question. However, queries, which encode user’s information need, are typically not expressed as full-length natural language sentences — in particular, as questions. Rather, they consist of one or more text fragments. As humans become more search-engine-savvy, do natural-language questions still have a role to play in web search? Through a systematic, large-scale study, we ﬁnd to our surprise that as time goes by, web users are more likely to use questions to express their search intent.
Self-management education for persons with arthritis: Managing comorbidity and eliminating health disparities.

OBJECTIVE To compare short-term and long-term effectiveness of the Arthritis Self-Help Course (ASHC) and the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) for persons with arthritis concerning health care use, health-related quality of life, health behaviors, and arthritis self-efficacy. METHODS Forty-eight workshops were randomized to the ASHC (n = 26) or CDSMP (n = 22). A total of 416 individuals, including 365 African Americans, participated. The mean age for each group was 64 years, mean years of education was 11.7, mean number of chronic conditions was 4, and 75-80% of participants in each group were female. Multivariate statistical tests were used to assess effectiveness within and between programs for all workshop participants and African Americans. RESULTS At 4 months all ASHC participants including African Americans, had significant improvements (P <or= 0.05) in self-efficacy, stretching and strengthening exercises, aerobic exercises, and general health. All CDSMP participants had statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy, disability, pain, and general health. African American CDSMP participants showed statistically significant improvements in general health. Trends toward improvement (P = 0.051-0.100) were shown in 5 variables among African American CDSMP participants and in 4 variables among all CDSMP participants. Statistically significant differences between the 2 programs at 4 months were seen in pain and disability in both groups. The CDSMP produced stronger results. Significant results at 1 year within and between programs were minimal for both groups. CONCLUSION When populations with arthritis and multiple comorbid conditions are targeted, the CDSMP may be most cost effective.
A similar correction mechanism in slow and fluent readers after suboptimal landing positions

The present eye movements study investigated the optimal viewing position (OVP) and inverted-optimal viewing position (I-OVP) effects in slow readers. The basis of these effects is a phenomenon called corrective re-fixations, which describes a short saccade from a suboptimal landing position (word beginning or end) to the center of the word. The present study found corrective re-fixations in slow readers, which was evident from the I-OVP effects in first fixation durations, the OVP effect in number of fixations and the OVP effect in re-fixation probability. The main result is that slow readers, despite being characterized by a fragmented eye movement pattern during reading, nevertheless share an intact mechanism for performing corrective re-fixations. This correction mechanism is not linked to linguistic processing, but to visual and oculomotor processes, which suggests the integrity of oculomotor and visual processes in slow readers.
Identifying Chloris Species from Cuban Citrus Orchards and Determining Their Glyphosate-Resistance Status

The Chloris genus is a C4 photosynthetic species mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Populations of three Chloris species occurring in citrus orchards from central Cuba, under long history glyphosate-based weed management, were studied for glyphosate-resistant status by characterizing their herbicide resistance/tolerance mechanisms. Morphological and molecular analyses allowed these species to be identified as C. ciliata Sw. , Chloris elata Desv. , and Chloris barbata Sw. Based on the glyphosate rate that causes 50% mortality of the treated plants, glyphosate resistance (R) was confirmed only in C. elata, The R population was 6.1-fold more resistant compared to the susceptible (S) population. In addition, R plants of C. elata accumulated 4.6-fold less shikimate after glyphosate application than S plants. Meanwhile, populations of C. barbata and C. ciliata with or without glyphosate application histories showed similar LD50 values and shikimic acid accumulation rates, demonstrating that resistance to glyphosate have not evolved in these species. Plants of R and S populations of C. elata differed in 14C-glyphosate absorption and translocation. The R population exhibited 27.3-fold greater 5-enolpyruvyl shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) activity than the S population due to a target site mutation corresponding to a Pro-106-Ser substitution found in the EPSPS gene. These reports show the innate tolerance to glyphosate of C. barbata and C. ciliata, and confirm the resistance of C. elata to this herbicide, showing that both non-target site and target-site mechanisms are involved in its resistance to glyphosate. This is the first case of herbicide resistance in Cuba.
Brownout: building more robust cloud applications

Self-adaptation is a first class concern for cloud applications, which should be able to withstand diverse runtime changes. Variations are simultaneously happening both at the cloud infrastructure level - for example hardware failures - and at the user workload level - flash crowds. However, robustly withstanding extreme variability, requires costly hardware over-provisioning. In this paper, we introduce a self-adaptation programming paradigm called brownout. Using this paradigm, applications can be designed to robustly withstand unpredictable runtime variations, without over-provisioning. The paradigm is based on optional code that can be dynamically deactivated through decisions based on control theory. We modified two popular web application prototypes - RUBiS and RUBBoS - with less than 170 lines of code, to make them brownout-compliant. Experiments show that brownout self-adaptation dramatically improves the ability to withstand flash-crowds and hardware failures.
A Residential Summer Camp Can Reduce Body Fat and Improve Health-related Quality of Life in Obese Children

ABSTRACT In an earlier report, we showed that a 2-week, residential summer camp (Kamp K’aana) led to improved body weight, body mass index, body mass index z score, and self-esteem among obese children. To assess whether improvements in body weight and self-esteem translate into improvement in body fat and weight-related quality of life, we measured the changes in body fat by bioimpedance and quality of life by Impact of Weight on Quality of Life instrument on 42 multiethnic obese children who took part in our Kamp K’aana program. Significant reduction in body fat was detected with significant improvements in the weight-related quality of life scores.
STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VITAMIN D RECEPTOR GENE POLYMORPHISM EXPRESSION ( BSMI & FOK-I ) , SERUM LEVELS OF VITAMIN D AND THE RISK OF BREAST CANCER IN EGYPTIAN FEMALES ; CORRELATION WITH THE CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE DISEASE *

Breast cancer (BC) represents the most common cancer among women, and its rates are increasing in developing countries, including Egypt. We aimed in this study to investigate whether the different specific vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism expression are associated with breast cancer risk in Egyptian women. In addition, to study the correlation between serum level of 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, VDR polymorphism and different clinicopathological features of BC. The study was conducted on forty five females; thirty women with different stages of breast cancer, and fifteen normal healthy females were included as a control group. Fresh blood samples were obtained from all subjects for measurement of Vitamin D levels and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated for DNA analyses for VDR gene BsmI and FokI polymorphisms expression using real-time PCR technique. The present study demonstrated that a significantly increased risk of breast cancer was observed with Bsm-I Bb genotype and increased risk of breast cancer was observed with Fok-I Ff genotype. No significant differences between the mean values of vitamin D and the three categories of Fok-I (FF, Ff, ff). But, data showed high significant differences between mean values of vitamin D at the three categories of Bsm-I. Vitamin D levels were significantly higher in the control group than breast cancer group. VDR polymorphisms have potential effects on Vitamin D deficiency and possible differential effects of breast cancer risk, low vitamin D levels were associated with breast cancer patients.
Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-Coactivator 1 ( PGC-1 ) : Transcriptional Coactivator and Metabolic Regulator

Investigations of biological programs that are controlled by gene transcription have mainly studied the regulation of transcription factors. However, there are examples in which the primary focus of biological regulation is at the level of a transcriptional coactivator. We have reviewed here the molecular mechanisms and biological programs controlled by the transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorcoactivator 1 (PGC-1 ). Key cellular signals that control energy and nutrient homeostasis, such as cAMP and cytokine pathways, strongly activate PGC-1 . Once PGC-1 is activated, it powerfully induces and coordinates gene expression that stimulates mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in brown fat, fiber-type switching in skeletal muscle, and multiple aspects of the fasted response in liver. The regulation of these metabolic and cell fate decisions by PGC-1 is achieved through specific interaction with a variety of transcription factors such as nuclear hormone receptors, nuclear respiratory factors, and muscle-specific transcription factors. PGC-1 therefore constitutes one of the first and clearest examples in which biological programs are chiefly regulated by a transcriptional coactivator in response to environmental stimuli. Finally, PGC-1 ’s control of energy homeostasis suggests that it could be a target for antiobesity or diabetes drugs. (Endocrine Reviews 24: 78–90, 2003)
Treatment for Eradication of Helicobacter pylori Infection among Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

Background/Aims Helicobacter pylori infection causes gastritis, peptic ulcers and gastric malignancies, and its eradication has been advocated by many groups. We determined the H. pylori carrier status and eradication rates of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Methods In total, 76 chronically HCV-infected patients were enrolled for comparison with 228 HCV-noninfected, age- and sex-matched controls. H. pylori infection was confirmed by H. pylori antibody and urea breath testing. Results The H. pylori infection rate was significantly higher for HCV-infected patients (67 of 76, 88.2%) than for HCV-noninfected controls (158 of 228, 69.3%). Endoscopic findings showed that the rates of gastric ulcers and gastritis were significantly higher for the 67 HCV-infected patients with H. pylori infection (34.3% and 77.6%) than for the 158 HCV-noninfected controls with H. pylori infection (15.2% and 57.6%). Treatment to eradicate H. pylori had a significantly higher success rate for HCV-infected patients (61 of 67, 91.0%) than for HCV-noninfected controls (115 of 158, 72.8%). Conclusions The markedly high H. pylori eradication rate observed in this study shows that eradication of H. pylori holds promise for the improvement of the long-term health condition of patients with chronic HCV infection.
Aspergillus strain typing in the genomics era

Multiple reasons may justify a need for strain typing purposes, but the most common reason is to delineate the epidemiological relationships between isolates. The availability of whole genome sequences has greatly influenced our ability to develop highly targeted and efficient strain typing methods fur these purposes. Some strain typing methods may serve dual goals: not only can they be used to discriminate between multiple isolates of a certain species, they can also aid in the recognition, identification, description and validation process of a fungal species.
MicroRNA-758 Regulates Cholesterol Efflux Through Posttranscriptional Repression of ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter A1

Objective—The ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) is a major regulator of macrophage cholesterol efflux and protects cells from excess intracellular cholesterol accumulation; however, the mechanism involved in posttranscriptional regulation of ABCA1 is poorly understood. We previously showed that microRNA-33 (miR-33) is 1 regulator. Here, we investigated the potential contribution of other microRNAs (miRNAs) to posttranscriptional regulation of ABCA1 and macrophage cholesterol efflux. Methods and Results—We performed a bioinformatic analysis for identifying miRNA target prediction sites in ABCA1 gene and an unbiased genome-wide screen to identify miRNAs modulated by cholesterol excess in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction confirmed that miR-758 is repressed in cholesterol-loaded macrophages. Under physiological conditions, high dietary fat excess in mice repressed miR-758 both in peritoneal macrophages and, to a lesser extent, in the liver. In mouse and human cells in vitro, miR-758 repressed the expression of ABCA1, and conversely, the inhibition of this miRNA by using anti-miR-758 increased ABCA1 expression. In mouse cells, miR-758 reduced cellular cholesterol efflux to apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1), and anti-miR-758 increased it. miR-758 directly targets the 3′-untranslated region of Abca1 as assessed by 3′-untranslated region luciferase reporter assays. Interestingly, miR-758 is highly expressed in the brain, where it also targets several genes involved in neurological functions, including Slc38a1, Ntm, Epha7, and Mytl1. Conclusion—We identified miR-758 as a novel miRNA that posttranscriptionally controls ABCA1 levels in different cells and regulates macrophage cellular cholesterol efflux to apoA1, opening new avenues to increase apoA1 and raise high-density lipoprotein levels.
Nationwide age references for sitting height, leg length, and sitting height/height ratio, and their diagnostic value for disproportionate growth disorders

Aims: To obtain age references for sitting height (SH), leg length (LL), and SH/H ratio in the Netherlands; to evaluate how SH standard deviation score (SDS), LL SDS, SH/H SDS, and SH/LL SDS are related to height SDS; and to study the usefulness of height corrected SH/H cut-off lines to detect Marfan syndrome and hypochondroplasia. Methods: Cross-sectional data on height and sitting height were collected from 14 500 children of Dutch origin in the age range 0–21 years. Reference SD charts were constructed by the LMS method. Correlations were analysed in three age groups. SH/H data from patients with Marfan syndrome and genetically confirmed hypochondroplasia were compared with height corrected SH/H references. Results: A positive association was observed between H SDS, SH SDS, and LL SDS in all age groups. There was a negative correlation between SH/H SDS and height SDS. In short children with a height SDS <−2 SDS, a cut-off limit of +2.5 SD leads to a more acceptable percentage of false positive results. In exceptionally tall children, a cut-off limit of −2.2 SDS can be used. Alternatively, a nomogram of SH/H SDS versus H SDS can be helpful. The sensitivity of the height corrected cut-off lines for hypochondroplasia was 80% and for Marfan syndrome only 30%. Conclusions: In exceptionally short or tall children, the dependency of the SH/H ratio (SDS) on height SDS has to be taken into consideration in the evaluation of body proportions. The sensitivity of the cut-off lines for hypochondroplasia is fair.
Privacy-Preserving Distributed Linear Regression on High-Dimensional Data

Abstract We propose privacy-preserving protocols for computing linear regression models, in the setting where the training dataset is vertically distributed among several parties. Our main contribution is a hybrid multi-party computation protocol that combines Yao’s garbled circuits with tailored protocols for computing inner products. Like many machine learning tasks, building a linear regression model involves solving a system of linear equations. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation and comparison of different techniques for securely performing this task, including a new Conjugate Gradient Descent (CGD) algorithm. This algorithm is suitable for secure computation because it uses an efficient fixed-point representation of real numbers while maintaining accuracy and convergence rates comparable to what can be obtained with a classical solution using floating point numbers. Our technique improves on Nikolaenko et al.’s method for privacy-preserving ridge regression (S&P 2013), and can be used as a building block in other analyses. We implement a complete system and demonstrate that our approach is highly scalable, solving data analysis problems with one million records and one hundred features in less than one hour of total running time.
A review of patient perspectives on generics substitution: what are the challenges for optimal drug use

Introduction: With a few exceptions, generic drug use has been promoted in western countries by allowing pharmacists to substi- tute drugs defined as therapeutically equivalent generics. The aim of this literature review is to summarise the research on the patients' perspectives of generics substitution in the western world between 2000 and 2011 with special emphasis on the challenges these attitudes present for optimal drug use. Methods: A literature search was undertaken in MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase (Ovid), and SciVerse Scopus with the aim of identifying all the peer reviewed, original research articles concerning patient perspectives on generics substitution in western countries publi- shed between 1 January 2000 and 1 March 2011. Results: The 20 studies included in this review indicate that close to one-third of all patients were uneasy about having their drug(s) substituted generically. Between 8-34% of patients reported poorer effects and/or new side effects after a change—except for anti- epileptic drug users from which the number of reports was even higher. Poor awareness of generics substitution caused confusion and reduced the patients' willingness and ability to take their medication as prescribed. Patients' acceptance of generics substitution was influenced by age, educational levels, perceptions about disease, generic drug information, and who informed them about the change. The studies consistently suggested a continuing need for information directed at patients and an increased involvement of physicians. Conclusion: This literature review suggests that although generics substitution is well accepted by the majority of patients, about one-third of the patients report negative experiences which may lead to poor adherence and medication errors.
Coevolution of diet and prey-specific venom activity supports the role of selection in snake venom evolution

The processes that drive the evolution of snake venom variability, particularly the role of diet, have been a topic of intense recent research interest. Here, we test whether extensive variation in venom composition in the medically important viper genus Echis is associated with shifts in diet. Examination of stomach and hindgut contents revealed extreme variation between the major clades of Echis in the proportion of arthropod prey consumed. The toxicity (median lethal dose, LD50) of representative Echis venoms to a natural scorpion prey species was found to be strongly associated with the degree of arthropod feeding. Mapping the results onto a novel Echis phylogeny generated from nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data revealed two independent instances of coevolution of venom toxicity and diet. Unlike venom LD50, the speed with which venoms incapacitated and killed scorpions was not associated with the degree of arthropod feeding. The prey-specific venom toxicity of arthropod-feeding Echis may thus be adaptive primarily by reducing venom expenditure. Overall, our results provide strong evidence that variation in snake venom composition results from adaptive evolution driven by natural selection for different diets, and underscores the need for a multi-faceted, integrative approach to the study of the causes of venom evolution.
Model-reference sliding mode control of uncertain multivariable systems

Proposes a model-reference sliding mode controller for multivariable systems with relative degree one. The closed loop system is shown to be exponentially stable. The only required apriori information about the high frequency gain matrix K/sub p/ of the plant is the knowledge of a matrix S/sub p/ such that -K/sub p/S/sub p/ is Hurwitz. This relaxes the positive definiteness requirement usually needed by other methods.
Maximum Throughput of ALOHA Employing Multiple Antenna Technique

This paper evaluates performance of a conventional medium access protocol, ALOHA when multiple antennas are employed at a receiver. With the price of signal processing at the receivers, parallel transmissions in the same frequency is resolvable, given that channel matrix can be obtained. This whole system can be seen as a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) system which is known to increase capacity of a wireless system up to M folds where M is the maximum channel matrix rank. The results show that maximum throughput of the system increases linearly with the number of receiving antennas while the associated average collision increases slightly. However, if the traffic intensity remains fixed, average collision diminishes significantly as number of receiving antennas increases.