Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Co-morbidity Provide Significant Improvement on Age Adjustment when Predicting Medical Outcomes?

Summary Objective: Using three risk-adjustment methods we evaluated whether co-morbidity derived from electronic hospital patient data provided significant improvement on age adjustment when predicting major outcomes following an elective total joint replacement (TJR) due to osteoarthritis. Methods: Longitudinal data from 819 elderly men who had had a TJR were integrated with hospital morbidity data (HMD) and mortality records. For each participant, any mor bidity or health-related outcome was retrieved from the linked data in the period 1970 through to 2007 and this enabled us to better account for patient co-morbidities. Co-mor bidities recorded in the HMD in all admissions preceding the index TJR admission were used to construct three risk-adjustment methods, namely Charlson co-morbidity index (CCI), Elixhauser’s adjustment method, and number of co-morbidities. Postoperative outcomes evaluated included length of hospital stay, 90-day readmission, and 1-year and 2-year mortality. These were modelled using Cox proportional hazards regression as a function of age for the baseline models, and as a function of age and each of the risk-adjustment methods. The difference in the statistical performance between the models that included age alone and those that also included the co-morbidity adjustment method was as sessed by measuring the difference in the Harrell’s C estimates between pairs of mod els applied to the same patient data using Bootstrap analysis with 1000 replications. Results: Number of co-morbidities did not provide any significant improvement in model discrimination when added to baseline models observed in all outcomes. CCI significantly improved model discrimination when predicting post-operative mortality but not when length of stay or readmission was modelled. For every one point increase in CCI, postoperative 1- and 2-year mortality increased by 37% and 30%, respectively. Elixhauser’s method outperformed the other two providing significant improvement on age adjustment in all outcomes. Conclusion: The predictive performance of co-morbidity derived from electronic hospital data is outcome and risk-adjustment method specific.
Preventing Cross-Type Aliasing for More Practical Reasoning

To reason about the correctness of a method when cross-type aliases are possible, one must not only consider all possible patterns of aliasing among the method’s arguments, but all possible ways in which these types’ abstract (specification-only) fields may be aliased. Because of the large number of such aliasing possibilities, and because of the complications they cause for reasoning, cross-type aliases make the use of method specifications impractical in reasoning about correctness. Hence, existing work on behavioral subtyping either ignores aliasing or prohibits the use of method specifications in reasoning We present a simple type system that prohibits cross-type aliases, and thus eliminates these problems. The “viewpoint restriction” enforced by this type system supports a less restrictive notion of behavioral subtyping — weak behavioral subtyping. Weak behavioral subtyping allows types with immutable objects (e.g., immutable sequences), to have behavioral subtypes with mutable objects (e.g., mutable arrays). Thus, besides permitting one to reason with method specifications, the viewpoint restriction also permits a more flexible and useful notion of behavioral subtyping.
Evaluation of Mechanical Properties Considering Uncertainties for Hairpin Coils in Electric Vehicle Motor Manufacturing

The rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs) underscores the need for enhancing electric motor efficiency. Utilizing hairpin coils with a rectangular cross-section has emerged as an alternative approach to increase conductor density in motor stator slots. However, the manufacturing process for hairpin coil motors presents challenges such as springback, which stems from wire shaping processes such as leveling and bending with plastic deformation. These challenges are closely tied to mechanical properties of the Young’s modulus and yield stress. This study investigates uncertainties in mechanical property evaluation using a combination of tensile tests, analytic solutions, numerical simulations, and a present double-sided four-point bending method. The results show significant variations in the Young’s modulus, which affect the determination of yield stress in tensile tests. It has been revealed that in order to obtain stable mechanical properties of hairpin coils in tensile tests, the conditions should be restricted to a very slow strain rate, slower than $10^{-3}~\text{s}^{-1}$ . To address this, this study introduces an alternative method that combines double-sided four-point bending and tensile tests, allowing for the acquisition of Young’s modulus without prior information on material properties. This approach reduces uncertainties in determination of the mechanical properties with much less time cost.
In Vitro Susceptibility of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis Isolates in Argentina

Objective: Our goal was to determine the in vitro susceptibility of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis isolates to several antibiotics in Argentina. Methods: Ninety-four strains of U. urealyticum and 18 strains of M. hominis isolated from cervical and urethral specimens were studied. Broth microdilution and agar dilution tests for minocycline, tetracycline, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and ofloxacin were performed. Results: Both methods proved to be reliable and reproducible for U. urealyticum and M. hominis, with no major differences in results. The U. urealyticurn strains were inhibited by erythromycin at MICs ranging from ≤0.5 to >8 μ/ml. Ofloxacin showed the highest activity against this latter organism. No differences between tetracycline and minocycline MICs were observed with U. urealyticum. Two M. hominis strains displaying high MICs both to tetracycline and to minocycline were detected. Conclusions: The emerging resistance of mycoplasmas to certain antibiotics emphasizes the need to undertake further surveillance studies on the clinical isolates of such organisms.
Exploiting the Vascular Protective Effects of High-Density Lipoprotein and Its Apolipoproteins: An Idea Whose Time for Testing Is Coming, Part I

Despite the benefits of currently available preventative and therapeutic interventions, atherosclerotic vascular disease continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in much of the Western World. This emphasize,,, the need for additional preventive and therapeutic interventions exploiting new targets to compliment and augment the results of LDL lowering and other current strategies. One such potential target is HDL and its apolipoproteins, A large body of experimental evidence suggests that augmenting the levels and/or function of HDL and its apolipoproteins can have major vascular protective effects ranging from prevention to stabilization and regression, independent of total or non-HDL cholesterol levels. Therefore, we think that the time is ripe for the development and clinical testing of this new frontier in antiatherogenic strategy. In the present article, We will review the structure/function of HDL and explore means of enhancing the levels and/or function of HDL and its apolipoproteins for vascular protection. (Less)
Artificial Intelligence’s Understanding of Religion: Investigating the Moralistic Approaches Presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools

As AI becomes more commonplace, it is imperative to investigate the ways in which this technology represents various socio-political concepts and identities, such as religion. To do so, we present several conversations with various AI tools on three religious traditions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. From our analysis of these conversations, we noted three important elements: AI struggles to represent complex religious issues; It emphasized diversity of opinions; And it encourages the reader to engage with respect and sensitivity regrading religious issues. We therefore suggest that AI takes an axiologically focused approach towards religious representations.
Survey of radon concentration in drinking water samples of Hoshiarpur andRopar districts of Punjab, India

A survey of radon concentration in drinking water samples in Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts of Punjab, India, has been conducted. A total of 54 samples from the two districts were analysed for dissolved radon using solid state alpha based detector RAD7. The concentration of radon has been found to be varying from 8.7 pCi/L to 123.2 pCi/L in Hoshiarpur district while the values lie in the range from 12.1 pCi/L to 130.6 pCi/L for Ropar district. Assessment of radiation dose due to ingestion of radon from drinking water and associated cancer risk has been made. Water samples were also analysed for other parameters such as pH, Conductivity and TDS and Salinity to assess the overall quality of drinking water of the study area. All the measured parameters were found to be within the permissible limits.
PNAS-MOT: Multi-Modal Object Tracking With Pareto Neural Architecture Search

Multiple object tracking is a critical task in autonomous driving. Existing works primarily focus on the heuristic design of neural networks to obtain high accuracy. As tracking accuracy improves, however, neural networks become increasingly complex, posing challenges for their practical application in real driving scenarios due to the high level of latency. In this paper, we explore the use of the neural architecture search (NAS) methods to search for efficient architectures for tracking, aiming for low real-time latency while maintaining relatively high accuracy. Another challenge for object tracking is the unreliability of a single sensor, therefore, we propose a multi-modal framework to improve the robustness. Experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can run on edge devices within lower latency constraints, thus greatly reducing the computational requirements for multi-modal object tracking while keeping lower latency.
Moose (Alces alces) browse enhancement and sustainable forestry as a rural development tool in the sub-Arctic boreal forest region of Alaska

This project studies indigenous and western moose browse management issues in the sub-arctic boreal forest and how this topic relates to rural development. Chapter one explains the methodology of the project. Chapter two describes how moose browse and biomass management support rural development and investigates productivity potential of combining moose browse management with sustainable forestry and biomass production. Chapter three investigates landscape and habitat management principles from a customary and traditional practice versus a scientific approach. It looks at management models in the following territories: Alaska, Canada, Continental US, Mongolia/Russia and Scandinavia. Chapter four investigates indigenous wildlife management systems and other indigenous wildlife policy issues. Chapter five is a selected annotated bibliography. The project has a focus on the Ahtna region of central Alaska and recognizes the implications of these issues for this region.
Second messengers involved in the mechanism of action of bradykinin in sensory neurons in culture

Application of bradykinin to neonatal rat dorsal root ganglion neurons caused a depolarization associated with an inward current and an increase in membrane conductance that was probably due to the opening of sodium channels. No hyperpolarization or outward current was detected. In addition, bradykinin increased the rate of 45Ca uptake into the neurons by a mechanism that was blocked by the dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonist nifedipine. Direct activation of protein kinase C (PKC) with phorbol esters mimicked the ability of bradykinin to depolarize the neurons and to increase the rate of 45Ca uptake. Down- regulation of PKC by prolonged treatment with phorbol esters and treatment of the cells with staurosporine, which inhibits PKC, blocked both bradykinin- and phorbol ester-induced 45Ca influx, and substantially reduced the proportion of cells that gave electrophysiological responses to either agent. Bradykinin also activated polyphosphoinositidase C in the dorsal root ganglion neurons, elevating levels of inositol(1,4,5)-trisphosphate and 1,2- diacylglycerol, an endogenous activator of PKC. It is suggested, therefore, that PKC may mediate some of the effects of bradykinin in sensory neurons.
LPS-Dephosphorylating Cobetia amphilecti Alkaline Phosphatase of PhoA Family Divergent from the Multiple Homologues of Cobetia spp.

A highly active alkaline phosphatase (ALP) of the protein structural family PhoA, from a mussel gut-associated strain of the marine bacterium Cobetia amphilecti KMM 296 (CmAP), was found to effectively dephosphorylate lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Therefore, the aim of this work was to perform a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the structure, and to suggest the physiological role of this enzyme in marine bacteria of the genus Cobetia. A scrutiny of the CmAP-like sequences in 36 available Cobetia genomes revealed nine homologues intrinsic to the subspecies C. amphilecti, whereas PhoA of a distant relative Cobetia crustatorum JO1T carried an inactive mutation. However, phylogenetic analysis of all available Cobetia ALP sequences showed that each strain of the genus Cobetia possesses several ALP variants, mostly the genes encoding for PhoD and PhoX families. The C. amphilecti strains have a complete set of four ALP families’ genes, namely: PhoA, PafA, PhoX, and two PhoD structures. The Cobetia marina species is distinguished by the presence of only three PhoX and PhoD genes. The Cobetia PhoA proteins are clustered together with the human and squid LPS-detoxifying enzymes. In addition, the predicted PhoA biosynthesis gene cluster suggests its involvement in the control of cellular redox balance, homeostasis, and cell cycle. Apparently, the variety of ALPs in Cobetia spp. indicates significant adaptability to phosphorus-replete and depleted environments and a notable organophosphate destructor in eco-niches from which they once emerged, including Zostera spp. The ALP clusterization and degree of similarity of the genus-specific biosynthetic genes encoding for ectoine and polyketide cluster T1PKS, responsible for sulfated extracellular polysaccharide synthesis, coincide with a new whole genome-based taxonomic classification of the genus Cobetia. The Cobetia strains and their ALPs are suggested to be adaptable for use in agriculture, biotechnology and biomedicine.
Firm Characteristics and Corporate Governance Mechanisms as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in Zimbabwe

This study extends the literature on the determinants of voluntary disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a sample of 61 annual reports from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange for the year ended 31 December 2020. The purpose of the study is to determine why firms voluntarily disclose CSR and whether corporate governance mechanisms have an impact on firms’ disclosure policy. An unweighted disclosure index consisting of 30 corporate social responsibility attributes was developed; using content analysis to determine the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure. The results show that corporate social responsibility disclosure is low, with the most corporate social responsibility information disclosed being community involvement disclosure (40%), followed by environmental disclosure (30%), products and consumer information disclosure (29%), and human resources disclosure (28%). In addition, using multiple regression analysis and after accounting for size, leverage, profitability and industry, the findings indicate that board independence and board of directors’ qualifications have a significant positive influence on corporate social responsibility disclosure whereas ownership concentration was found to be insignificant. With the exception of profitability, all other firm characteristics, leverage, firm size and industry sector were positive and significant in explaining the variation in corporate social responsibility disclosure. It appears that profitable firms are not motivated to increase corporate social responsibility disclosure. This may be consistent with the shareholder wealth maximization approach which renders corporate social responsibility disclosures as less important. Financial markets in Zimbabwe may not be sufficiently efficient in penalizing firms for incomplete corporate social responsibility disclosure and that regulators may need to mandate such disclosures if information asymmetry is to be reduced and market efficiency enhanced.
The Splitting of Primes in Division Fields of Elliptic Curves

We give a global description of the Frobenius for the division fields of an elliptic curve E that is strictly analogous to the cyclotomic case. This is then applied to determine the splitting of a prime p in a subfield of such a division field. These subfields include a large class of nonsolvable quintic extensions and our application provides an arithmetic counterpart to Klein's “solution” of quintic equations using elliptic functions. A central role is played by the discriminant of the ring of endomorphisms of the reduced curve modulo p.
MMMDB: Mouse Multiple Tissue Metabolome Database

The Mouse Multiple Tissue Metabolome Database (MMMDB) provides comprehensive and quantitative metabolomic information for multiple tissues from single mice. Manually curated databases that integrate literature-based individual metabolite information have been available so far. However, data sets on the absolute concentration of a single metabolite integrated from multiple resources are often difficult to be used when different metabolomic studies are compared because the relative balance of the multiple metabolite concentrations in the metabolic pathways as a snapshot of a dynamic system is more important than the absolute concentration of a single metabolite. We developed MMMDB by performing non-targeted analyses of cerebra, cerebella, thymus, spleen, lung, liver, kidney, heart, pancreas, testis and plasma using capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry and detected 428 non-redundant features from which 219 metabolites were successfully identified. Quantified concentrations of the individual metabolites and the corresponding processed raw data; for example, the electropherograms and mass spectra with their annotations, such as isotope and fragment information, are stored in the database. MMMDB is designed to normalize users’ data, which can be submitted online and used to visualize overlaid electropherograms. Thus, MMMDB allows newly measured data to be compared with the other data in the database. MMMDB is available at: http://mmmdb.iab. keio.ac. jp.
Building the communication performance model of heterogeneous clusters based on a switched network

Analytical communication performance models play an important role in prediction of the execution time of parallel applications on multiprocessors. Apart from designing such a model, accurate estimation of the values of its parameters is one of the main issues. This paper deals with a heterogeneous analytical communication model designed for prediction of MPI communications on heterogeneous clusters based on a switched network. Accurate estimation of the parameters of this model is a particularly challenging task due to a large number of the parameters. In this paper, we present a solution of the task based on a carefully designed set of communication experiments, which not only allows us to obtain the accurate estimation of the parameters but also tries to minimise the total execution time of the experiments. Experiments demonstrating the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed solution are also presented.
What role does measuring medication compliance play in evaluating the efficacy of naltrexone?

BACKGROUND Compliance with medication in pharmacotherapy trials of alcoholism has been shown to be equal to, or more, important than in other areas of medicine. Research has suggested that naltrexone's effectiveness can be greatly influenced by the compliance of participants in clinical trials. Presently, we compare 2 compliance measurement methods [urine riboflavin and medication event monitoring system (MEMS)] used simultaneously to evaluate naltrexone's efficacy and the impact of compliance on the size of observable treatment effects. METHODS One hundred and thirty-seven of 160 randomized alcoholic patients completed 12-weeks (84 days) of naltrexone or placebo and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or motivational enhancement therapy (MET). Urine riboflavin was determined during study weeks 2, 6, and 12. The MEMS provided a detailed computerized record of when a participant opened their medication bottle throughout the trial. Baseline predictors of MEMS (80% openings) and urine riboflavin (>or=1,500 ng/mL by fluorimetry) compliance were examined. The effects of the treatments in the compliant participants defined by one, the other, or both methods were compared and contrasted with a previously reported intent-to-treat analysis where compliance was not taken into account. RESULTS Age was predictive of compliance. 105 participants were deemed compliant via urine riboflavin criteria, 87 via MEMS, and 77 when both criteria were met, with no significant differences between treatment groups. The most compliant participants showed a significant medication by therapy interaction. Those treated with naltrexone/CBT showed more abstinence days (p<0.03), less heavy drinking days (p<0.03) and less total drinks (p<0.03) than the other groups. The effect size of this interaction increased from about 0.2 in the intent-to-treat analysis, to about 0.4 to 0.5 in the compliant group analyses, with little difference between compliance measurement methods. CONCLUSIONS Compliance measurement does appear to influence the evaluation of the efficacy of naltrexone within the context of CBT. Treatment effect sizes approximately doubled in the most compliant individuals. Measuring compliance by either of 2 distinct methods provides approximately similar results. As compliance with naltrexone within the context of CBT has such a large impact of treatment outcome, methods of enhancing compliance during treatment should be given the utmost attention.
Parent reports of children’s working memory, coping, and emotional/behavioral adjustment in pediatric brain tumor patients: A pilot study

ABSTRACT Neurocognitive problems in childhood survivors of brain tumors are well documented. Further, research has shown that problems in cognitive functioning may be associated with impairment in the use of complex strategies needed to cope with stress, including secondary control coping strategies (e.g., acceptance and cognitive reappraisal) which have been associated with fewer adjustment problems. The present study measured cognitive function, coping strategies, and adjustment in children ages 6–16 years at the time of brain tumor diagnosis and at two follow-up time-points up to 1 year post-diagnosis. In a prospective design, working memory was assessed in a total of 29 pediatric brain tumor patients prior to undergoing surgery, child self-reported coping was assessed at 6 months post-diagnosis, and parent-reported child adjustment was assessed at 12 months post-diagnosis. Significant correlations were found between working memory difficulties and secondary control coping. Secondary control coping was also negatively correlated with child attention and total problems. Regression analyses did not support secondary control coping mediating the association between working memory difficulties and child attention or total problems. These findings represent the first longitudinal assessment of the association between working memory, coping, and adjustment across the first year of a child’s brain tumor diagnosis and suggest a possible role for early interventions addressing both working memory difficulties and coping in children with brain tumors.