Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model‐based evaluation of methods to determine C:N and N:P regeneration ratios from dissolved nutrients

Four indirect methods to determine carbon and nutrient regeneration ratios in the ocean are applied to results from a physical‐biogeochemical model with prescribed element ratios for organic matter (de‐)composition. The aim is to test whether these methods are suitable to reproduce Corg:N:P element ratios of organic matter remineralization, which in contrast to the real ocean are exactly known in the model framework. The model experiment is carried out using the classical C:N:P Redfield ratio of 106:16:1 for production and decomposition of organic material under preindustrial atmospheric pCO2. Two methods rely on predefined end member values, while the others do not. The first method is a simple linear regression of two parameters, neglecting mixing effects, and yields remineralization signals biased by isopycnal tracer gradients induced by contributions of different water masses. The second method is based on multiple linear regression of three parameters, includes mixing of three, but not‐prescribed end members. It can, in part, reproduce the prescribed remineralization ratios. However, considerable bias appears as a result of water mass mixing. The third method considers isopycnal mixing of three prescribed end member water masses by using temperature/salinity as conservative tracers on the two density surfaces σΘ = 26.8 and σΘ = 27.2. On the basis of a mixing triangle approach, the method is able to reproduce the regeneration rates best in the low latitudes, where the integrated signal of remineralization is high. The fourth method uses the full set of available parameters to derive mixing fractions and remineralization and is applied to the density range from σΘ = 26.8 to σΘ = 27.2, yielding the best reproduction of prescribed remineralization ratios. As expected, results from the last two methods are sensitive to the choice of end member concentrations. In general, best agreement between modeled and reconstructed ratios is found between 20°N and 20°S and deviations occur toward the outcrop regions, which we account to the low amount of remineralized material together with uncertainties in prescribed end member values. Our investigation shows how apparent variability of remineralization ratios can be generated through methodological shortcomings only.
Investigation and management of a raised serum ferritin

Serum ferritin level is one of the most commonly requested investigations in both primary and secondary care. Whilst low serum ferritin levels invariably indicate reduced iron stores, raised serum ferritin levels can be due to multiple different aetiologies, including iron overload, inflammation, liver or renal disease, malignancy, and the recently described metabolic syndrome. A key test in the further investigation of an unexpected raised serum ferritin is the serum transferrin saturation. This guideline reviews the investigation and management of a raised serum ferritin level. The investigation and management of genetic haemochromatosis is not dealt with however and is the subject of a separate guideline.
Positive externalities of congestion, human capital, and socio-economic factors: A case study of chronic illness in Japan

This paper explores, using Japanese panel data for the years 1988-2002, how externalities from congestion and human capital influence deaths caused by chronic illnesses. Major findings through fixed effects 2SLS estimation were as follows: (1) the number of deaths were smaller in more densely-populated areas, and this tendency was more distinct for males; (2) higher human capital correlated with a decreased number of deaths, with the effect being greater in females than in males. These findings suggest that human capital and positive externalities stemming from congestion make a contribution to improving lifestyle, which is affected differently by socio-economic circumstance in males and females.
The Sulphur Poisoning Behaviour of Gadolinia Doped Ceria Model Systems in Reducing Atmospheres

An array of analytical methods including surface area determination by gas adsorption using the Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) method, combustion analysis, XRD, ToF-SIMS, TEM and impedance spectroscopy has been used to investigate the interaction of gadolinia doped ceria (GDC) with hydrogen sulphide containing reducing atmospheres. It is shown that sulphur is incorporated into the GDC bulk and might lead to phase changes. Additionally, high concentrations of silicon are found on the surface of model composite microelectrodes. Based on these data, a model is proposed to explain the multi-facetted electrochemical degradation behaviour encountered during long term electrochemical measurements. While electrochemical bulk properties of GDC stay largely unaffected, the surface polarisation resistance is dramatically changed, due to silicon segregation and reaction with adsorbed sulphur.
TREC Complex Answer Retrieval Overview

This notebook gives an overview of activities, datasets, and results of the second year of TREC Complex Answer Retrieval. We lay out the tasks o ered and how provided datasets are automatically derived from Wikipedia and TQA. Manual relevance assessments are created by NIST. We describe the details of the assessment procedures, inter-annotator agreement, and statistics. Nine teams submitted runs exploring interactions of entities and passages, neural as well as traditional retrieval methods. We see that combining traditional methods with learning-to-rank can outperform neural methods, even when many training queries are available.
The pro- and anticoagulant role of blood-borne phagocytes in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Summary This study was performed to gain further insight in pro- and anticoagulant characteristics of leukocytes in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). For this purpose, patients presenting on the emergency department (ED) with anginal chest pain were included in this study. In peripheral blood, procoagulant tissue factor (TF) expression was measured in the different blood-borne phagocytes, i.e. neutrophilic granulocytes and the three different monocyte subsets based on expression of CD14 and CD16. Simultaneously, intracellular presence of platelet-(CD41) and/or endothelial cell-remnants (CD62e) was analysed in these different leukocyte subsets. Neutrophils showed a weak intracellular staining of CD62e and CD41 that increased with severity of ACS. Monocytes, and especially the classical (CD14++CD16-) and intermediate monocytes (CD14++CD16+) showed a clear and significant increase in intracellular CD41-staining after coronary damage. The different monocyte subsets showed an increase in expression of TF in severe ACS. Finally, it appeared that also neutrophils showed a significant increase in expression of TF on their membrane. In conclusion, this study showed an increased intracellular staining in blood-borne phagocytes for CD62e and CD41 in patients with ACS compared to non-cardiac related control patients. This indicates that at least in the acute phase of ACS phagocytosis of platelet and endothelial cell-remnants is increased. These data support the recent hypothesis that neutrophils protect against further thrombotic processes by clearing platelet and endothelial cell-remnants. In addition, this study shows that the different monocyte subsets are also involved in this process. Furthermore, both monocytes and neutrophils show increased TF expression in ACS.
Pharmacogenetics-based area-under-curve model can predict efficacy and adverse events from axitinib in individual patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

We investigated the relationship between axitinib pharmacogenetics and clinical efficacy/adverse events in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and established a model to predict clinical efficacy and adverse events using pharmacokinetic and gene polymorphisms related to drug metabolism and efflux in a phase II trial. We prospectively evaluated the area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC) of axitinib, objective response rate, and adverse events in 44 consecutive advanced RCC patients treated with axitinib. To establish a model for predicting clinical efficacy and adverse events, polymorphisms in genes including ABC transporters (ABCB1 and ABCG2), UGT1A, and OR2B11 were analyzed by whole-exome sequencing, Sanger sequencing, and DNA microarray. To validate this prediction model, calculated AUC by 6 gene polymorphisms was compared with actual AUC in 16 additional consecutive patients prospectively. Actual AUC significantly correlated with the objective response rate (P = 0.0002) and adverse events (hand-foot syndrome, P = 0.0055; and hypothyroidism, P = 0.0381). Calculated AUC significantly correlated with actual AUC (P < 0.0001), and correctly predicted objective response rate (P = 0.0044) as well as adverse events (P = 0.0191 and 0.0082, respectively). In the validation study, calculated AUC prior to axitinib treatment precisely predicted actual AUC after axitinib treatment (P = 0.0066). Our pharmacogenetics-based AUC prediction model may determine the optimal initial dose of axitinib, and thus facilitate better treatment of patients with advanced RCC.
Patterns of Synchrony in Neural Networks with Spike Adaptation

We study the emergence of synchronized burst activity in networks of neurons with spike adaptation. We show that networks of tonically firing adapting excitatory neurons can evolve to a state where the neurons burst in a synchronized manner. The mechanism leading to this burst activity is analyzed in a network of integrate-and-fire neurons with spike adaptation. The dependence of this state on the different network parameters is investigated, and it is shown that this mechanism is robust against inhomogeneities, sparseness of the connectivity, and noise. In networks of two populations, one excitatory and one inhibitory, we show that decreasing the inhibitory feedback can cause the network to switch from a tonically active, asynchronous state to the synchronized bursting state. Finally, we show that the same mechanism also causes synchronized burst activity in networks of more realistic conductance-based model neurons.
Longitudinal follow-up to near final height of auxological changes in girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog and grouped by pretreatment body mass index level

Purpose Reported changes in body mass index (BMI) in central precocious puberty (CPP) during and after gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) treatment are inconsistent. We, therefore, investigated auxological parameters in GnRHa-treated girls with idiopathic CPP (ICPP) until attainment of near final height (NFH). Methods From the medical records of 59 ICPP girls who attained NFH after GnRHa therapy, auxological changes were compared between overweight (BMI≥85th percentile) and normal-weight (BMI<85th percentile) groups. BMIs were changed into standard deviation scores (BMISDSs) for subject chronologic age (BMISDS-CA) and bone age (BMISDS-BA). Results The incidence of overweight including obesity was high at the start of therapy (35.6%). The predicted adult height (PAH) at start of therapy was significantly shorter than the midparental height (MPH), whereas PAH at end of therapy approached MPH, and NFH was greater than MPH. Height velocity (HV) in the overweight group was higher during GnRHa therapy than that in the normal-weight group, but those in the two groups were not different after therapy until NFH. Both BMISDS-CA and BMISDS-BA increased significantly during therapy, but both BMISDSs decreased significantly after therapy until NFH. At NFH, neither BMISDS was different from that at baseline. In the normal-weight group, both BMISDSs increased during therapy and were maintained until NFH. In the overweight group, neither BMISDS changed during therapy, but there was a decrease after therapy until NFH. Conclusions The different patterns of BMISDS change during and after GnRHa therapy until NFH between the 2 groups were related to the different HV during GnRHa therapy.
Neurocognitive Aspects of Tourette Syndrome and Related Disorders

One of the top priorities, for current research in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS), is to disentangle the intricate interactions between regions of the frontal cortex and the basal ganglia. This approach will reveal how these interactions act in concert to regulate motor, emotional, and cognitive action plans (Keen-Kim & Freimer, 2006; Leckman, 2002; State, 2011). Another key issue is the understanding of these brain mechanisms with GTS in the presence of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) (Gaze, Kepley, & Walkup, 2006). The heuristic value of our proposed approach resides in the fact that cognitive and cerebral functions are two salient features easily quantified with non invasive protocols. As proposed by Swain et al., (Swain, Scahill, Lombroso, King, & Leckman, 2007) ‘’a determined effort to explore the electrophysiology of this disorder using EEG/MEG recordings is our next best step’’. We will first review the current state of the literature regarding specific cerebral structures underlying GTS symptoms. Secondly, we will expose a strategy to integrate brain imaging, electrophysiology and neuropsychology in the exploration of the GTS brain in action. Third, we will investigate clinical and phenomenological aspects of comorbidity in GTS patients. We will thus, expose a functional method based on multimodal assessments to characterize the relationship between tic expression, brain activity and different levels of cognitive processing such as motor activation, memory and emotions.
Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling to Examine Factors Predicting English Language Students' Reading Achievement.

Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM), this study aimed to identify factors such as ESL/ELL/EAL status that would predict students’ reading performance in an English language arts exam taken across Canada. Using data from the 2007 administration of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) along with the accompanying surveys for students and the schools, a two-level (student level and school level) HLM model was analyzed for predictive relationships. Results showed that, at the student level, predictors such as students’ participation in class discussions, language spoken at home, parents’ encouragement to read at a young age, and the number of individual projects requiring students to work outside of class contributed significantly to the students’ reading scores. However, none of the school-level predictors were found to be significant. All the significant predictors contributed to only 12% of the variability in this HLM model. Identifi cation of more signi cant variables is needed in order to have a full picture of students’ reading competence and achievement. S’appuyant sur la modelisation lineaire hierarchique (MLH), ce e etude porte sur l’identi cation des facteurs, comme le statut ALS/ELL/ALA, qui prediraient les acquis en lecture d’eleves lors d’un examen d’anglais administre partout au Canada. Les auteures ont employe des donnees du Programme pancanadien d’eva luation (PPCE), y compris les sondages connexes pour les eleves et les ecoles, a n d’analyser les liens predictifs d’un modele HLM a deux niveaux (eleve et ecole). Les resultats indiquent que les predicteurs tels la participation des eleves aux dis- cussions en classe, la langue parlee a la maison, la mesure dans laquelle les parents encouragent leurs enfants a lire des un jeune age et le nombre de projets individuels exigeant du travail a l’exterieur de la salle de classe, contribuaient de facon significative aux resultats des eleves en lecture. Toutefois, aucun des predicteurs au niveau de l’ecole ne s’est revele comme etant significatif. Dans leur ensemble, les predicteurs significatifs n’ont contribue qu’a 12% de la variabilite du modele MLH. A n d’arriver a une vue globale du rendement et de la competence en lec ture des eleves, il faudra identifier plus de variables signi catifs.
Improving Outcomes and Reducing Healthcare Costs for Diabetes and Its Comorbidities With Pharmacogenetics Guided Medication Therapy

Diabetes continues to be a growing epidemic in the United States and one of the more costly conditions to treat long-term. Data from the 2017 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on diabetes indicates that 30.3 million people (9.4%) in the United States, and over 25% of those aged 65 or older, had diabetes in 2015, with an estimated 1.5 million new cases each year. Moreover, an estimated 33.9% of US adults had prediabetes, including nearly half of those aged 65 years or older. The social and economic burden of diabetes is likewise staggering. Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2015. Total direct and indirect estimated costs of diagnosed diabetes was $245 billion, accounting for over 20% of health care dollars in the US.
Proportional Multiple-Integral Observer Design for Linear Descriptor Systems : Application to State and Fault Estimation

In this note, the problem of observer design for linear descriptor systems with faults and unknown inputs is considered. First, it is considered that the fault vector function is times piecewise continuously differentiable. If the th time derivative of is null, then integral actions are included into a Luenberger observer, which is designed such that it estimates simultaneously the state, the fault, and its finite derivatives face to unknown inputs. Second, when the fault is not time piecewise continuously differentiable but bounded (like actuator noise) or th time derivative of fault is not null but bounded too, a high gain observer is derived to attenuate the fault impact in estimation errors. The considered faults may be unbounded, may not be determinist, and faults and unknown inputs may affect the state dynamic and plant outputs. Sufficient conditions for the existence of such observer are given. Results are illustrated with a differential algebraic power system.
The Diagnostic Value of D-dimer, Procalcitonin and CRP in Acute Appendicitis

BACKGROUND: The early diagnosis of acute abdomen is of great importance. To date, several inflammatory markers have been used for the diagnosis of acute abdominal conditions, including acute appendicitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of D-dimer, Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements in the acute appendicitis. METHODS: This prospective study was conducted between March 1st, 2010 and July 1st, 2011. In this period, seventy-eight patients were operated with the diagnosis of acute appendicitis, and D-dimer, PCT and CRP levels of the patients were measured. The patients were grouped as phlegmonous appendicitis (Group 1), gangrenous appendicitis (Group 2), perforated appendicitis (Group 3) and negative appendectomy (Group 4) according to the surgical findings and histopathological results. RESULTS: Of 78 patients, 54 (69.2 %) were male and 24 (30.8 %) were female, and the mean age was 25.4 ± 11.1 years (range, 18 to 69 years). 66 (84.6 %) patients had increased leukocyte count (white blood cell count). The PCT values were higher than the upper normal limit in 20 (25.6%) patients, followed by D-dimer in 22 (28.2 %) patients and CRP in 54 (69.2 %) patients. The diagnostic value of leukocyte count and CRP in acute appendicitis was higher than that of the other markers, whereas leukocyte count showed very low specificity. CRP values were higher in perforated appendicitis when compared with the phlegmonous appendicitis (p<0.05). However, PCT and D-dimer showed lower diagnostic values (26% and 31%, respectively). CONCLUSION: An increase in CRP levels alone is not sufficient to make the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. However, CRP levels may differentiate between phlegmonous appendicitis and perforated appendicitis. Due to their low sensitivity and diagnostic value, PCT and D-dimer are not better markers than CRP for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.
Spatial and Spatiotemporal Projection Pursuit Techniques to Predict the Extratropical Transition of Tropical Cyclones

A multistage projection pursuit (PP) approach is applied to the classification of tropical cyclones (TCs) during extratropical transition (ET) using 500-hPa Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) geopotential height analyses. PP algorithms reduce the dimensionality of the high-dimensional data while minimizing the loss of information that discriminates among classes of ET types. In this paper, a prediction system is developed for ET TC classification and is applied to 85 western North Pacific storms during 1997-2004 using NOGAPS geopotential height analyses to group them as either intensifiers or dissipators. A classification is developed based on the 1997-2002 analyses, and the forecasting performance of the technique is tested on the storms from 2003 and 2004 in two different ways. In the first, the technique is applied at individual times utilizing just spatial information. In the second, the change in spatial patterns with time is taken into account with spatiotemporal algorithms. The preliminary classification results are slightly less accurate than those of NOGAPS but are found to be promising, and further possible improvements are discussed
Stochastic Processes during Invasion: The Influence of Population Size on Style-Morph Frequency Variation in Lythrum salicaria (Purple Loosestrife)

Premise of research. During biological invasion, the genetic diversity of populations may be reduced by founder events and genetic drift. The floral polymorphism tristyly provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate the influence of stochastic forces on the maintenance of genetic polymorphism, because small population size leads to a characteristic signature of morph loss from populations. Here, we investigate the relations between population size and morph-frequency variation in invasive populations of tristylous Lythrum salicaria in Ontario, Canada. We also compare our results to a similar survey conducted 25 years ago in the same region. Methodology. We surveyed the size and morph ratios of 114 L. salicaria populations in 2013. We calculated the relations between population size and style morph absence, population size and style morph evenness, and the number of populations lacking particular style morphs. For comparison of the patterns of morph-frequency variation between surveys, we used a sample of populations (1988/1989: 51 populations; 2013: 101 populations) with similar size distributions. Pivotal results. Our survey confirmed that smaller populations were more likely to lack a style morph than larger populations and that morph ratios were less even in smaller populations. In dimorphic populations, the short-styled morph (S-morph) was absent most often, and the long-styled morph (L-morph) was least often missing, a pattern consistent with the stochastic theory of asymmetrical morph loss for tristylous species. There were no significant differences between the 1988/1989 and 2013 surveys in the frequency of populations missing style morphs or the relations between population size and style morph evenness. Conclusions. Despite an increase in abundance of L. salicaria in Ontario during the past 25 years, genetic drift and founder events still play a dominant role in governing patterns of morph-frequency variation.