Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atrial Fibrillation and Outcomes in Heart Failure With Preserved Versus Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction

Background/Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) are two of the most common cardiovascular conditions nationally and AF frequently complicates HF. We examined how AF impacts adverse outcomes in HF with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HF-PEF) vs. reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF) within a large, contemporary cohort. Methods We identified all adults diagnosed with HF-PEF or HF-REF based on hospital discharge and ambulatory visit diagnoses and relevant imaging results between 2005–2008 from four health plans in the Cardiovascular Research Network. Data on demographic features, diagnoses, procedures, outpatient pharmacy use, and laboratory results were ascertained from health plan databases. Hospitalizations for HF, stroke, and any other reason were identified from hospital discharge and billing claims databases. Deaths were ascertained from health plan and state death files. Results Among 23,644 patients with HF, 11,429 (48.3%) had documented AF (9,081 pre-existing, 2,348 incident). Compared with patients who did not have AF, patients with AF had higher adjusted rates of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio [HR] 2.47 for incident AF; HR 1.57 for pre-existing AF), hospitalization for HF (HR 2.00 for incident AF; HR 1.22 for pre-existing AF), all-cause hospitalization (HR 1.45 for incident AF; HR 1.15 for pre-existing AF), and death (incident AF HR 1.67; pre-existing AF HR 1.13). The associations of AF with these outcomes were similar for HF-PEF and HF-REF, with the exception of ischemic stroke. Conclusions AF is a potent risk factor for adverse outcomes in patients with HF-PEF or HF-REF. Effective interventions are needed to improve the prognosis of these high-risk patients.
Analytic Clock Frequency Selection for Global DVFS

Computers can reduce their power consumption by decreasing their speed using Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS). A form of DVFS for multicore processors is global DVFS, where the voltage and clock frequency is shared among all processor cores. Because global DVFS is efficient and cheap to implement, it is used in modern multicore processors like the IBM Power 7, ARM Cortex A9 and NVIDIA Tegra 2. This theory oriented paper discusses energy optimal DVFS algorithms for such processors. There are no known provably optimal algorithms that minimize the energy consumption of nontrivial real-time applications on a global DVFS system. Such algorithms only exist for single core systems, or for simpler application models. While many DVFS algorithms focus on tasks, this theoretical study is conceptually different and focuses on the amount of parallelism. We provide a transformation from a multicore problem to a single core problem, by using the amount of parallelism of an application. Then existing single core algorithms can be used to find the optimal solution. Furthermore, we extend an existing single core algorithm such that it takes static power into account.
Sleep-Waking Discharge of Ventral Tuberomammillary Neurons in Wild-Type and Histidine Decarboxylase Knock-Out Mice

Using extracellular single-unit recordings, we have determined the characteristics of neurons in the ventral tuberomammillary nucleus (VTM) of wild-type (WT) and histidine decarboxylase knock-out (HDC-KO) mice during the sleep-waking cycle. The VTM neurons of HDC-KO mice showed no histamine immunoreactivity, but were immunoreactive for the histaminergic (HA) neuron markers adenosine deaminase and glutamic acid decarboxylase 67. In the VTM of WT mice, we found waking (W)-specific, non-W-specific W-active, sleep-active, W and paradoxical sleep (PS)-active, and state-indifferent neuron groups. We previously demonstrated in WT mice that only W-specific neurons are histaminergic and that they are characterized by a triphasic broad action potential. In the VTM of HDC-KO mice, we found all these groups of state-dependent and state-indifferent neurons, including W-specific neurons that were characterized by a triphasic broad action potential and a W-specific slow tonic discharge, as in WT mice. The W-specific neurons ceased firing before the onset of electroencephalogram (EEG) synchronization, the first EEG sign of sleep, and remained silent during both slow-wave sleep (SWS) and PS. At the transition from SWS to W, they discharged after the onset of EEG activation, the first EEG sign of W. They either responded to an arousing stimulus with a long delay or did not respond. They therefore presented exactly the same characteristics as those seen in the VTM of WT mice. Thus VTM neurons deprived of their natural transmitter histamine still exhibit the firing properties of W-specific HA neurons.
Aster models for life history analysis

We present a new class of statistical models, designed for life history analysis of plants and animals, that allow joint analysis of data on survival and reproduction over multiple years, allow for variables having different probability distributions, and correctly account for the dependence of variables on earlier variables. We illustrate their utility with an analysis of data taken from an experimental study of Echinacea angustifolia sampled from remnant prairie populations in western Minnesota. These models generalize both generalized linear models and survival analysis. The joint distribution is factorized as a product of conditional distributions, each an exponential family with the conditioning variable being the sample size of the conditional distribution. The model may be heterogeneous, each conditional distribution being from a different exponential family. We show that the joint distribution is from a flat exponential family and derive its canonical parameters, Fisher information and other properties. These models are implemented in an R package 'aster' available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network, CRAN. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Window Parity Games: An Alternative Approach Toward Parity Games with Time Bounds (Full Version)

Classical objectives in two-player zero-sum games played on graphs often deal with limit behaviors of infinite plays: e.g., mean-payoff and total-payoff in the quantitative setting, or parity in the qualitative one (a canonical way to encode omega-regular properties). Those objectives offer powerful abstraction mechanisms and often yield nice properties such as memoryless determinacy. However, their very nature provides no guarantee on time bounds within which something good can be witnessed. In this work, we consider two approaches toward inclusion of time bounds in parity games. The first one, parity-response games, is based on the notion of finitary parity games [CHH09] and parity games with costs [FZ14,WZ16]. The second one, window parity games, is inspired by window mean-payoff games [CDRR15]. We compare the two approaches and show that while they prove to be equivalent in some contexts, window parity games offer a more tractable alternative when the time bound is given as a parameter (P-c. vs. PSPACE-c.). In particular, it provides a conservative approximation of parity games computable in polynomial time. Furthermore, we extend both approaches to the multi-dimension setting. We give the full picture for both types of games with regard to complexity and memory bounds. [CHH09] K. Chatterjee, T.A. Henzinger, F. Horn (2009): Finitary winning in omega-regular games. ACM Trans. Comput. Log. 11(1). [FZ14] N. Fijalkow, M. Zimmermann (2014): Parity and Streett Games with Costs. LMCS 10(2). [WZ16] A. Weinert, M. Zimmermann (2016): Easy to Win, Hard to Master: Optimal Strategies in Parity Games with Costs. Proc. of CSL, LIPIcs, Schloss Dagstuhl - LZI. To appear. [CDRR15] K. Chatterjee, L. Doyen, M. Randour, J.-F. Raskin (2015): Looking at mean-payoff and total-payoff through windows. Information and Computation 242, pp. 25-52.
Calonectria species associated with cutting rot of Eucalyptus

Decline in the productivity of Eucalyptus hybrid cutting production in the Guangdong Province of China is linked to cutting rot associated with several Calonectria spp. The aim of this study was to identify these fungi using morphological and DNA sequence comparisons. Two previously undescribed Calonectria spp. , Ca. pseudoreteaudii sp. nov. and Ca. cerciana sp. nov. were identified together with Ca. pauciramosa. Calonectria pseudoreteaudii resides in the Ca. reteaudii complex and Ca. cerciana is closely related to Ca. morganii. Connected to the discovery of Ca. pseudoreteaudii, species in the Ca. reteaudii complex were re-considered and the group is shown to accommodate two cryptic species. These originate from Australia and are described as Ca. queenslandica sp. nov. and Ca. terrae-reginae sp. nov.
Using eTesting methods in CS education

This paper reports results from a study on using electronic testing tool for assessment of student knowledge in few university courses for CS education. The study was basically concerned with the effectiveness of using electronic testing tool for assessment purposes. The effectiveness was analyzed through cost savings and improvement of quality of the assessment process, viewed from both perspectives: the teacher perspective, and the student perspective. Data gathering took place over six semesters after which questionnaire was completed by the students through which their experiences and reactions were evaluated. Analysis of data about effectiveness viewed from teachers perspective was gathered through informal interviews with faculty members that administer and create computer-based tests.
CYP2E1 Testis Expression and Alcoholmediated Changes of Rat Spermatogenesis Indices and Type I Collagen

This study is a complex investigation of alcohol-mediated changes in CYP2E1 mRNA and protein expression in the testes, as well as spermatogenesis indices and type I collagen amino acid contents, in male rats. Wistar albino male rats were divided into two groups: I - control (intact animals), II - experimental (chronic alcoholism, exposure to a 15 % ethanol aqueous solution during 150 days). The destructive changes in the spermatogenic epithelium were accompanied by a decrease in sperm number and motility time. CYP2E1 mRNA and protein expression were elevated in the testes 3 and 1.4 times, respectively. Also, significantly lower contents of lysine, glutamic acid, serine, proline, alanine, valine, and phenylalanine residues accompanied by an increase of hydroxyproline, glycine, and threonine residue contents were detected in the skin type I collagen of the experimental group. Chronic ethanol consumption caused testicular failure along with an overexpression of CYP2E1 mRNA and protein in the testes as well as quantitative changes in type I collagen amino acid contents. The profound alcohol-mediated changes in collagen type I amino acid contents may have affected the spermatogenic epithelium state. The modulation of testicular cytochrome P450 2E1 mRNA and protein expression could change the functioning of this isozyme in target organs and take part in the mechanism of ethanol gonadotoxicity. Sažetak Ovo istraživanje proučava alkoholom uzrokovane promjene u ekspresiji CYP2E1 mRNA i bjelančevina iz testisa, indeksu spermatogeneze i aminokiselinskom sastavu kolagena tipa I u muških štakora. Albino štakori tipa Wistar podijeljeni su u dvije skupine: I - kontrolna, II - eksperimentalna (kronični alkoholizam, izloženi 150 dana 15-postotnoj vodenoj otopini etanola). Destruktivne promjene u spermatogenetskom epitelu popraćene su smanjenjem broja i pokretljivosti spermija. Ekspresija mRNA gena CYP2E1 i bjelančevina bila je povišena u testisima 3, odnosno 1,4 puta. Također, u kolagenu tipa I ustanovljene su značajno manje količine lizina, glutaminske kiseline, serina, prolina, alanina, valina i fenilalanina, te veće količine ostataka hidroksiprolina, glicina i treonina. Kronična konzumacija etanola uzrokovala je otkazivanje testisa uz izraženu ekspresiju mRNA CYP2E1 i bjelančevina u testisima, te kvantitativne promjene u aminokiselinama kolagena tipa I. Izražene alkoholom prouzrokovane promjene mogle su utjecati na spermatogenetski epitel. Modulacija ekspresije mRNA testikularnog citokroma P450-2E1 i bjelančevina mogla bi promijeniti djelovanje ovoga izozima u ciljnim organima te sudjelovati u mehanizmu gonadotoksičnosti etanola.
Use of Combination Vaccines Is Associated With Improved Coverage Rates

Background: The number of shots represented by the routine childhood immunization schedule poses a logistical challenge for providers and a potential deterrent for parents. By reducing the number of injections, use of combination vaccines could lead to fewer deferred doses and improved coverage rates. Objective: To determine the effect of combination vaccines on coverage rates. Methods: This was a retrospective study of administrative claims data from the Georgia Department of Community Health Medicaid program conducted from January through September of 2003. Coverage rates were compared between children who received at least 1 dose of HepB/Hib (COMVAX) or DTaP/HepB/IPV (PEDIARIX) (the combination cohort) and children who received no doses of either combination (the reference cohort). Infants with fewer than 4 vaccination visits were excluded from the analysis. Multivariate logistic regression was performed on the whole study population to assess the effect of combination vaccines while controlling for potential confounders. Hepatitis B and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage rates were not included as outcomes. Results: The study population consisted of 18,821 infants, 16,007 in the combination cohort and 2814 in the reference cohort. Unadjusted coverage rates for DTaP, IPV and the 4 DTaP:3 IPV:1 MMR, 4 DTaP: 3 IPV: 1 MMR: 3 Hib: 1 varicella, and 3 DTaP:3 IPV: 3 Hib series were higher in the combination cohort. Receipt of at least 1 dose of a combination vaccine was independently associated with increased coverage for each of these vaccines and vaccine series when controlling for gender, birth quarter, race, rural versus urban residence and historical provider immunization quality. Conclusions: Use of combination vaccines in this Medicaid population was associated with improved coverage rates. Additional studies are warranted, including those examining private sector populations and outcomes such as timeliness and cost.
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: an epidemiological review

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a common cancer in white populations and its disease burden is often substantially underestimated. SCC occurs more often in men than women and increases dramatically with age; those affected often develop multiple primaries over time, which increases the burden. The main external cause is solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), with immunosuppression being the other established risk factor, shown by the high SCC rates in organ transplant recipients. Sunbed use and certain genetic disorders and medical conditions are also associated with SCC, while associations with human papillomavirus infection and high bodyweight are not established. The presence of actinic keratoses (AKs) on sun‐damaged skin is one of the strongest predictors of SCC in unaffected people and a very small proportion of AKs are SCC precursors, although the true rate of malignant transformation of AKs is unknown. The mainstay of SCC prevention is protection of the skin from undue sun exposure by use of clothing cover and sunscreen during summer or in sunny places. Educational, behavioural and multicomponent interventions directed at individuals ranging from parents of newborns, to school children and adolescents, to outdoor workers, have repeatedly been shown to be effective in improving sun‐protective behaviours. Health policies can facilitate SCC prevention by setting standards for relevant behaviours to reduce UVR exposure, for example, by legislated restriction of the tanning industry. Skin cancer prevention initiatives are generally highly cost‐effective and public investment should be encouraged to control the growing public health problems caused by SCC.
The influence of gatekeeping and utilization review on patient satisfaction

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of utilization review and denial of specialty referrals on patient satisfaction with overall medical care, willingness to recommend one’s physician group to a friend, and desire to disenroll from the health plan.DESIGN: Two cross-sectional questionnaires: one of physician groups and one of patient satisfaction.SETTING: Eighty-eight capitated physician groups in California.PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 11,710 patients enrolled in a large California network-model HMO in 1993 who received care in one of the 88 physician groups.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Our main measures were how groups conducted utilization review for specialty referrals and tests, patient-reported denial of specialty referrals, and patient satisfaction with overall medical care. Patients in groups that required preauthorization for access to many types of specialists were significantly (p≤.001) less satisfied than patients in groups that had few preauthorization requirements, even after adjusting for patient and other group characteristics. Patients who had wanted to see a specialist in the previous year but did not see one were significantly less satisfied than those who had wanted to see a specialist and actually saw one (p<.001). In addition, patients who did not see a specialist when desired were more likely to want to disenroll from the health plan than patients who saw the specialist (40% vs 18%, p≤.001) and more likely not to recommend their group to a friend (38% vs 13%, p≤.001). CONCLUSIONS: Policies that limited direct access to specialists, and especially denial of patient-desired referrals, were associated with significantly lower patient satisfaction, increased desire to disenroll, and lower likelihood of recommending the group to a friend. Health plans and physician groups need to take these factors into account when designing strategies to reduce specialty care use.
Changing Trends in Use of Laparoscopy: A Clinical Audit

Aim. To find out the changing trends in indications for use of laparoscopy for diagnostic or operative procedures in gynaecology. Methods. This was a clinical audit of 417 women who underwent laparoscopic procedures over a period of 8 years from January 2005 to December 2012 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at a tertiary care centre in Delhi. Results. A total of 417 diagnostic and operative laparoscopic procedures were performed during the period from January 2005 to December 2012. Out of 417 women, 13 women were excluded from the study due to inadequate data. 208 (51.4%) women had only diagnostic laparoscopy whereas 196 (48.6%) patients had operative laparoscopy after the initial diagnostic procedure. Change in trend of diagnostic versus operative procedures was observed from 2005 to 2012. There was increase in operative procedures from 10 (37.03%) women in 2005 as compared to 51 (73.91%) in 2012. The main indication for laparoscopy was infertility throughout the study period (61.38%), followed by chronic pelvic pain (CPP) (11.38%) and abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) (9.4%). Conclusion. Over the years, there has been a rise in the rate of operative laparoscopy. Though the indications for laparoscopy have remained almost similar during the years, laparoscopy for diagnosis and treatment of CPP and AUB has now increased.
Molecular characterization of Sin3 PAH-domain interactor specificity and identification of PAH partners

Sin3 is the central component of a multisubunit co-repressor complex. A number of DNA-binding proteins are targeted by the Sin3 complex to chromatin through association with its paired amphipathic helix (PAH) domains. Here, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening using a peptide aptamer library and identified peptides that interact with either PAH1 or PAH2. Analysis of PAH2 interacting peptides uncovered motifs similar to previously characterized PAH2 interacting proteins, Mad, Ume6 and kruppel-like members, while analysis of PAH1 interacting peptides revealed an LXXLL motif. In addition, a tandem affinity purification (TAP)-tagging approach of Sin3b resulted in the isolation of known and novel interactors amongst which neural retina leucine (NRL) zipper. Strikingly, one of the identified PAH2 interacting peptide showed strong resemblance to the NRL region amino acids 125–150. Direct association between PAH2 and NRL was shown and NRL(125–150) mediated transcriptional repression in reporter assays. Finally, we reveal that PAH1 and PAH2 amino acids 7, 14 and 39 shown previously to be important for Mad–PAH2 interaction, also play an important role in the specificity of interaction between PAH1, PAH2 and identified aptamers. Our results provide novel insights into the molecular determinant of the specificity of PAH1 and PAH2 for their interacting partners.
Optimality of Walrand-Varaiya type policies and approximation results for zero delay coding of Markov sources

Optimal zero-delay coding (quantization) of a finite-state Markov source is considered. Building on our earlier work and previous literature, using a stochastic control problem formulation, the existence and structure of optimal quantization policies are studied. Our main result establishes, for infinite horizon problems, the optimality of deterministic and stationary (Walrand-Varaiya type) Markov coding policies. In addition, the ε-optimality of finite-memory quantizers is established and the dependence between the memory length and ε is quantified. Numerical results are also presented.
The North American Study for the Treatment of Refractory Ascites.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The clinical utility of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) vis-à-vis total paracentesis in the management of refractory ascites is unclear. METHODS A multicenter, prospective, randomized clinical trial was performed in which 109 subjects with refractory ascites were randomized to either medical therapy (sodium restriction, diuretics, and total paracentesis) (n = 57) or medical therapy plus TIPS (n = 52). The principal end points were recurrence of tense symptomatic ascites and mortality. RESULTS A technically adequate shunt was created in 49 of 52 subjects. TIPS plus medical therapy was significantly superior to medical therapy alone in preventing recurrence of ascites (P < 0.001). The total number of deaths in the 2 groups was identical (TIPS vs. medical therapy alone: 21 vs. 21). There were no significant differences in the 2 arms with respect to overall and transplant-free survival. There was a higher incidence of moderate to severe encephalopathy in the TIPS group (20 of 52 vs. 12 of 57; P = 0.058). There were no significant differences in the number of subjects who developed liver failure (7 vs. 3), variceal hemorrhage (5 vs. 8), or acute renal failure (3 vs. 2). There were also no significant differences between the 2 groups in the frequency of emergency-department visits, medically indicated hospitalizations, or quality of life. CONCLUSIONS Although TIPS plus medical therapy is superior to medical therapy alone for the control of ascites, it does not improve survival, affect hospitalization rates, or improve quality of life.