Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation and quality measurements for EuroSCORE and EuroSCORE II in the Spanish cardiac surgical population: a prospective, multicentre study.

OBJECTIVES Since its development in the late 1990s, the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) has been the predictive model of choice for estimating mortality after cardiac surgery. As outcomes from cardiac surgery improved, the EuroSCORE showed a loss of calibration, and a revised version of the model was developed, EuroSCORE II. The objectives of this study were to examine the validity of both scores in the Spanish population, and to depict the performance of both models on a funnel plot. METHODS A prospective multicentre study was performed, with requests to participate sent to all centres in Spain. Participating centres reported the EuroSCORE, EuroSCORE II and the actual mortality of each patient. Incomplete data were requested to get a zero incidence of lost data. Calibration of models was evaluated with the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, and discrimination with the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. A funnel plot was constructed using mortality data from the 2010 European Registry, to represent risk-adjusted mortality. RESULTS Twenty Spanish centres participated in the study; 4034 patients undergoing cardiac surgery between 1 October 2012 and 31 March 2013 were collected. Prevalence of risk factors was analysed. The observed mortality rate was 6.5%. The mean additive EuroSCORE was 6.5. The mean expected mortality rate was 9.8% for the logistic EuroSCORE, and 5.7% for EuroSCORE II. Areas under the ROC curves were EuroSCORE: 0.77 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75-0.80], EuroSCORE II: 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76-0.82). Results for the goodness-of-fit test were EuroSCORE: 33.02 (P < 0.001), EuroSCORE II: 38.98 (P < 0.001). Risk-adjusted mortality is far beyond the lower bound of the CI if EuroSCORE is used as the reference model, and is between the confidence limits, but near to the upper bound when EuroSCORE II is used. CONCLUSIONS Spanish cardiac surgical patients have a high-risk profile. Areas under the ROC curve show good discrimination for both models. Predicted mortality using EuroSCORE II more closely matches actual mortality than that predicted by the original EuroSCORE. Both models show statistically significant differences from the actual mortality rate, with EuroSCORE overpredicting and EuroSCORE II underpredicting mortality. The funnel plot illustrates risk-adjusted mortality clearly out of boundaries when EuroSCORE is used, and near underprediction when the reference is EuroSCORE II.
Synergistic debug-repair of heap manipulations

We present Wolverine, an integrated Debug-Repair environment for heap manipulating programs. Wolverine facilitates stepping through a concrete program execution, provides visualizations of the abstract program states (as box-and-arrow diagrams) and integrates a novel, proof-directed repair algorithm to synthesize repair patches. To provide a seamless environment, Wolverine supports "hot-patching" of the generated repair patches, enabling the programmer to continue the debug session without requiring an abort-compile-debug cycle. We also propose new debug-repair possibilities, "specification refinement" and "specification slicing" made possible by Wolverine. We evaluate our framework on 1600 buggy programs (generated using fault injection) on a variety of data-structures like singly, doubly and circular linked-lists, Binary Search Trees, AVL trees, Red-Black trees and Splay trees; Wolverine could repair all the buggy instances within reasonable time (less than 5 sec in most cases). We also evaluate Wolverine on 247 (buggy) student submissions; Wolverine could repair more than 80% of programs where the student had made a reasonable attempt.
Relationship between Body Mass Index and T-Scores of Bone Mineral Density in the Hip and Spine Regions among Older Adults with Diabetes: A Retrospective Review

Diabetes mellitus (DM) cases are increasing worldwide, especially in Saudi Arabia. Previous studies suggested a positive relationship between body mass index (BMI) and bone mineral density (BMD) levels. Generally, patients with low BMI (<18.5 kg/m2) have reduced BMD levels and, thus, low T-scores; hence, they are categorized as osteopenic or osteoporotic. In this study, we aimed to determine whether a relationship between BMI and BMD T-scores in the hip and spine regions of patients with diabetes exists. This retrospective record review investigated older adult patients with diabetes in King Abdulaziz University Hospital (n=198; age 50–90 years) who underwent BMD scan between January 1, 2016, and June 25, 2018, regardless of their sex but limited to type 2 DM. The height and weight of all subjects were recorded, and BMI was calculated and categorized. We used SPSS version 21 for data analysis; measures of central tendencies, Pearson's correlations, chi-square tests, and independent t-tests were employed. We found positive relationships between BMI and BMD T-scores in the hip and spine regions (right femoral neck: R=+0.214, P ≤ 0.002; total right hip: R=+0.912, P ≤ 0.001; left femoral neck: R=+0.939, P ≤ 0.001; total left hip: R=+0.885, P ≤ 0.001; and total lumbar region: R=+0.607, P ≤ 0.001). Low BMI (<18.5 kg/m2) could be a risk factor for osteoporosis, whereas normal/high BMI could be protective against osteoporosis among adults with diabetes.
Impossibility of Sketching of the 3D Transportation Metric with Quadratic Cost

Transportation cost metrics, also known as the Wasserstein distances W_p, are a natural choice for defining distances between two pointsets, or distributions, and have been applied in numerous fields. From the computational perspective, there has been an intensive research effort for understanding the W_p metrics over R^k, with work on the W_1 metric (a.k.a earth mover distance) being most successful in terms of theoretical guarantees. However, the W_2 metric, also known as the root-mean square (RMS) bipartite matching distance, is often a more suitable choice in many application areas, e.g. in graphics. Yet, the geometry of this metric space is currently poorly understood, and efficient algorithms have been elusive. For example, there are no known non-trivial algorithms for nearest-neighbor search or sketching for this metric. In this paper we take the first step towards explaining the lack of efficient algorithms for the W_2 metric, even over the three-dimensional Euclidean space R^3. We prove that there are no meaningful embeddings of W_2 over R^3 into a wide class of normed spaces, as well as that there are no efficient sketching algorithms for W_2 over R^3 achieving constant approximation. For example, our results imply that: 1) any embedding into L1 must incur a distortion of Omega(sqrt(log(n))) for pointsets of size n equipped with the W_2 metric; and 2) any sketching algorithm of size s must incur Omega(sqrt(log(n))/sqrt(s)) approximation. Our results follow from a more general statement, asserting that W_2 over R^3 contains the 1/2-snowflake of all finite metric spaces with a uniformly bounded distortion. These are the first non-embeddability/non-sketchability results for W_2.
Relative sensitivities of simulated rainfall to fixed shape parameters and collection efficiencies

Rainfall prediction by weather forecasting models is strongly dependent on the microphysical parametrization being utilized within the model. As forecasting models have become more advanced, they are more commonly using double‐moment bulk microphysical parametrizations. While these double‐moment schemes are more sophisticated and require fewer a priori parameters than single‐moment parametrizations, a number of parameter values must still be fixed for quantities that are not Prognosed or diagnosed. Two such parameters, the width of the rain drop size distribution and the choice of collection efficiencies between liquid hydrometeors, are examined here. Simulations of deep convective storms were performed in which the collection efficiency dataset and the a priori width of the rain drop size distribution (RSD) were individually and simultaneously modified. Analysis of the results show that the a priori width of the RSD was a larger control on the total accumulated precipitation (a change of up to 75% over the typical values tested in this article) than the choice of collection efficiency dataset used (a change of up to 10%). Changing the collection efficiency dataset produces most of the impacts on precipitation rates through changes in the warm rain process rates. On the other hand, the decrease in precipitation with narrowing RSDs occurs in association with the following processes: (a) decreased rain production due to increased evaporation, (b) decreased rain production due to decreased ice melting, and (c) slower raindrop fall speed which leads to longer residency times and changes in rain self‐collection. These results add to the growing body of work showing that the representation of hydrometeor size distributions is critically important, and suggests that more work should be done to better represent the width of the RSD in models, including further development of triple‐moment and bin schemes.
Seed dormancy-breaking in a cold desert shrub in relation to sand temperature and moisture

Eremosparton songoricum (Litv.) Vass. (Fabaceae, Papilionoideae) is a perennial semi-shrub, inhabiting the cold desert. Freshly matured seeds of E. songoricum have physical dormancy (PY). In this study, we determined whether seeds of E. songoricum exhibit seasonal periodicity of seed germination and the relationship between seed dormancy break and soil temperature and moisture. To our knowledge this is the first study to document seasonal periodicity in seed germination in a cold desert species with PY and to identify the mechanism (at the whole-seed level) of its occurrence.
Verbal Victimization and Changes in Hopelessness Among Elementary School Children

Hopelessness is a known risk factor for a number of negative outcomes including suicide attempts and deaths. However, little is known about how hopelessness may develop. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of verbal victimization on changes in children's levels of hopelessness. Participants were 448 fourth- and fifth-grade children who were assessed twice, 6 months apart. As hypothesized, reports of verbal victimization occurring during the follow-up period predicted residual change in children's levels of hopelessness. This relation was maintained even after statistically controlling for children's depressive symptoms. Together, these findings suggest that verbal victimization is associated with a greater risk for developing hopelessness in elementary school children, an effect that appears at least partially independent of concurrent depressive symptoms.
Relationships between nutritional knowledge, obesity, and sleep disorder severity

Obstructive sleep apnea affects 20% of the adult population. Weight control is considered the best non‐medical means of managing the condition, therefore improving nutritional knowledge in individuals may be an appropriate strategy. This study aimed to describe the relationship between nutritional knowledge and: (i) sleep disorder severity; (ii) body mass index; and (iii) demographic characteristics in persons suspected of obstructive sleep apnea. Nutrition knowledge scores were also compared with the general population. Consecutive newly‐referred patients attending the sleep laboratory for diagnostic polysomnography were invited to participate. Those who consented (n = 97) were asked to complete a touchscreen survey. Apnea–hypopnea index to measure sleep disorder severity and anthropometric measurements were obtained from the clinic. A quarter of participants were diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea; and a majority (88%) were classed as being overweight or obese. The overall mean nutrition knowledge score was 58.4 ± 11.6 (out of 93). Nutrition knowledge was not associated with sleep disorder severity, body mass index or gender. The only significant difference detected was in relation to age, with older (≥35 years) participants demonstrating greater knowledge in the ‘food choices’ domain compared with their younger counterparts (18–34 years; P < 0.030). Knowledge scores were similar to the general population. The findings suggest that nutrition knowledge alone is not an important target for weight control interventions for people with obstructive sleep apnea. However, given the complexities of sleep disorders, it may complement other strategies.
Reliability models for hard real-time systems

We present a new reliability model for hard real(cid:4)time systems(cid:3) This is an extended Markov model(cid:0) derived from an analysis of the generic properties of hard real(cid:4)time systems subject to a sim(cid:4) ple random(cid:4)fault model(cid:3) Our model permits analysis of the run(cid:4)time behaviour of a system(cid:0) in order to derive the probability pro(cid:5)les of the system(cid:6)s completion(cid:7)failure times(cid:3) The model is applied to the analysisof a simplesequentialrecovery block system(cid:0) and illustrative examples based on this system are provided(cid:3) The paper concludes with a discussion of the application of such accurate completion pro(cid:4) (cid:5)le information to the design of embedded software systems(cid:3)
Cytokine-Mediated Downregulation of Coxsackievirus-Adenovirus Receptor in Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACT Endothelial cells have the ability to change their complement of cell surface proteins in response to inflammatory cytokines. We hypothesized that the expression of the coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor (CAR), a viral receptor and putative cell-cell adhesion molecule, may be altered during the response of endothelial cells to inflammation. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated CAR protein and mRNA levels in human umbilical vein endothelial cells after they were exposed to tumor necrosis factor alpha, gamma interferon, or a combination of the two cytokines. Flow cytometric and Western blot analyses indicated that cytokine treatment led to a synergistic decrease in CAR protein expression. A Western blot analysis showed that CAR levels decreased to 16% ± 4% or 1% ± 4% of the CAR protein levels in untreated cells with either 24 or 48 h of cytokine treatment, respectively. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR demonstrated that the combination treatment caused CAR mRNA levels to decrease to 21% ± 12% or 5% ± 3% of the levels in untreated cells after a 24- or 48-h cytokine treatment, respectively. Reduced CAR expression led to a decrease in adenovirus (Ad) binding of 80% ± 3% (compared with untreated endothelial cells), with a subsequent decrease in Ad-mediated gene transfer that was dependent on the dose and duration of cytokine treatment but not on the dose of Ad. A similar decrease in CAR protein level and susceptibility to Ad infection was observed in human microvascular endothelial cells, while CAR expression on normal human bronchial epithelial cells or A549 lung epithelial cells was less affected by cytokine treatments. Taken together, the data demonstrate that inflammatory cytokines decrease CAR mRNA and protein expression with a concomitant decrease in Ad binding, reflecting the impact of cell physiology on the function of CAR and the potential effect of inflammation on the ability of Ad to transfer genes to endothelial cells.
Sclerostin serum levels correlate positively with bone mineral density and microarchitecture in haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Sclerostin is a soluble inhibitor of osteoblast function. Sclerostin is downregulated by the parathyroid hormone (PTH). Here, it was investigated whether sclerostin levels are influenced by intact (i) PTH and whether sclerostin is associated with bone turnover, microarchitecture and mass in dialysis patients. METHODS Seventy-six haemodialysis patients and 45 healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Sclerostin, Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), vitamin D and markers of bone turnover were analysed. A subset of 37 dialysis patients had measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and bone microarchitecture using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography. RESULTS Dialysis patients had significantly higher sclerostin levels than controls (1257 pg/mL versus 415 pg/mL, P < 0.001). Significant correlations were found between sclerostin and gender (R = 0.41), iPTH (R = -0.28), 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol (R = 0.27) and calcium (R = 0.25). Gender and iPTH remained significantly associated with sclerostin in a multivariate analysis. Sclerostin serum levels were positively associated with BMD at the lumbar spine (R = 0.46), femoral neck (R = 0.36) and distal radius (R = 0.42) and correlated positively mainly with trabecular structures such as trabecular density and number at the radius and tibia in dialysis patients. DKK-1 was related neither to bone measures nor to serologic parameters. CONCLUSIONS Considering that sclerostin is an inhibitor of bone formation, the observed positive correlations of serum sclerostin with BMD and bone volume were unexpected. Whether its increase in dialysis patients has direct pathogenetic relevance or is only a secondary phenomenon remains to be seen.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE INTENTION TO ACCEPT ADVERTISING IN MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKS In order to address the influencing factors on mobile advertising acceptance, the model which examines social norms, influential factors on consumers’ attitude and intention to accept advertisements

Jafari Seyed Mohammadbagher, PhD of Management (Information Systems), Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qom college, University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran); Jandaghi Gholamreza, PhD of Biostatistics, Professor of the Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qom college, University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran); Taghavi Hadi, Masters of Executive Master Business Administration (Marketing and Export), Master Student of the Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qom college, University of Tehran (Tehran, Iran)
Targets of the master regulator of biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis

Wild strains of the spore‐forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis are capable of forming architecturally complex communities of cells. The formation of these biofilms is mediated in part by the 15‐gene exopolysaccharide operon, epsA‐O, which is under the direct negative control of the SinR repressor. We report the identification of an additional operon, yqxM‐sipW‐tasA, that is required for biofilm formation and is under the direct negative control of SinR. We now show that all three members of the operon are required for the formation of robust biofilms and that SinR is a potent repressor of the operon that acts by binding to multiple sites in the promoter region. Genome‐wide analysis of SinR‐controlled transcription indicates that the epsA‐O and yqxM‐sipW‐tasA operons constitute many of the most strongly controlled genes in the SinR regulon. These findings reinforce the view that SinR is a master regulator for biofilm formation and further suggest that a principal biological function of SinR is to govern the assembly of complex multicellular communities.
A model driven framework for N-version programming

Complex systems-of-systems (SoS) requiring fault-tolerance and high reliability often require redundant systems. The concept of redundancy that includes components with differing failure modes is well understood in the realm of hardware design. N-version programming, although shown to produce significant gains in software reliability over single-version fault tolerant techniques, is not widely accepted or applied. This is due, in part, to N-version programming's lengthy development time and its inherent problems with version independence. Model Driven Software Development (MDSD) is a process that promises gains in software productivity and quality. While progress in MDSD has witnessed the expansion of the supporting Unified Modeling Language profile for modeling fault tolerant characteristics, and the development of specific design patterns for the production of fault tolerant software, MDSD's support in the generation and testing of fault tolerant applications is not evident or explicitly defined. This paper discusses the development of a fault tolerant MDSD framework, which enables users to design, implement and test fault tolerant applications using the N-version modeling technique. The framework closes the gap between existing modeling patterns and the practical application of fault tolerant MDSD, and supports follow-on research to address specific questions relating to the benefits of MDSD within the fault tolerance software domain.
Adaptive blind equalizer for HF channels

In this paper, the problem of blind adaptive equalization of HF channel is considered using a state space approach. HF channel is multipath propagation channel due to multiple reflections on ionospheric layers, which causing intersymbol interference (ISI) at the receiver output. The problem of ISI suppression is referred to as deconvolution or channel equalization. At present, a family of methods for equalizing and estimating the channel based on the criterion of minimum mean-square error (MMSE) has become widespread in engineering practice. These methods assume the use of a training or pilot symbols known by the receiver to estimate the channel and “train” the equalizer. However, in order to increase the bandwidth efficiency blind deconvolution or channel equalization methods have been developing recently more actively. The essence of these methods is the task of equalization and estimation of the channel from sensors outputs without any a priory knowledge of the original signals. The classical criterion for blind equalization is the constant modulus (CM) criterion, which is an extension of the Godart algorithms family. However, this method has slow convergence, and is not applicable to all modulation methods used in the HF systems. The paper considers a learning algorithm based on information theory and natural gradient is used to solve the optimization problem. To effectively use the algorithm in a changing channel environment, it is suggested to use an additional optimization of the algorithm step size. The channel model is state-space description of a dynamic system. The main advantage of state-space model is that is flexible and can be used for internal description of system. Based on developed state-space model and measurement models, an adaptive optimum-size blind equalization algorithm is proposed to track the HF channel variation in time. Proposed algorithm is compared to CMA and classical stochastic gradient descent algorithms for blind deconvolution. In numerical simulations, it is observed that the proposed approach can track the channel variations with good performance. During computer simulations under good, moderate and poor HF ionospheric channel conditions, it is observed, that proposed adaptive equalization algorithm with adaptive step-size for blind deconvolution provides reliable equalization error and can track the variation of the channel in time with high accuracy
Crystal structure of 1,2-bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-3-phenylguanidine

In the title compound, C23H25N3, the dihedral angles between the planes of the benzene ring and the two substituent dimethylphenyl rings are 60.94 (7)° and 88.08 (7)°, and the dihedral angle between the planes of the two dimethylphenyl rings is 58.01 (7)°. In the crystal, weak C—H⋯N interactions exist between adjacent molecules. One of the dimethylphenyl rings has a small amount of π–π overlap with the phenyl ring of an adjacent molecule [centroid-to-centroid distance = 3.9631 (12) Å].