Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The prevalence of tuberculin sensitivity and anergy in chronic renal failure in an endemic area: tuberculin test and the risk of post-transplant tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND Cutaneous sensitivity to the tuberculin antigen is thought to indicate latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Some guidelines suggest treating end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients for LTBI on the basis of tuberculin positivity. The prevalence of tuberculin sensitivity and cutaneous anergy in Indian patients with ESRD and the utility of the tuberculin test for predicting post-transplant tuberculosis are not known. METHODS We prospectively studied cutaneous tuberculin reactivity and anergy in 108 ESRD patients and 100 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Mumps antigen and tetanus toxoid were used as control antigens. Patients who failed to react to all antigens were classified as anergic. Seventy-nine patients underwent living donor kidney transplants and were followed-up for approximately 2 years. RESULTS About 44% of ESRD patients and 66% of controls showed tuberculin reactivity (P = 0.0018). The prevalence of anergy was significantly higher in the ESRD population (44% vs 16%, P<0.001). The haemoglobin, serum albumin and creatinine values were significantly higher amongst the tuberculin-reactor ESRD patients. Tuberculin positivity and anergy rates in a subgroup of well-nourished ESRD patients were similar to the control population. Four patients developed tuberculosis after transplantation. Tuberculin test had a sensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 52% for post-transplant tuberculosis. CONCLUSIONS In comparison to healthy controls, tuberculin reactivity rates are lower and anergy rates higher in Indian ESRD patients. There is a significant relationship between markers of nutritional status (haemoglobin, albumin and creatinine) and cutaneous reactivity. Pre-transplant Mantoux positivity has low sensitivity and specificity for predicting post-transplant tuberculosis.
The Scatter in the Relationship between Redshift and the Radio-to-Submillimeter Spectral Index

We derive the scatter in the relationship between redshift and the radio-to-submillimeter spectral index, α, using the observed spectral energy distributions of 17 low-redshift star-forming galaxies. A mean galaxy model is derived, along with the rms scatter in α. The scatter is roughly constant with redshift. Constant rms scatter, combined with the flattening of the mean α-z relationship with increasing redshift, leads to increasing uncertainty for redshift estimates at high redshifts. Normalizing by the dust temperature in the manner proposed by Blain decreases the scatter in α for most of the sample, but does not remove outliers, and free-free absorption at rest frequencies above 1.4 GHz is not likely to be a dominant cause of scatter in the α-z relationship. We rederive the cumulative redshift distribution of the 14 field galaxies in a recent submillimeter and radio source sample of Smail et al. The most likely median redshift for the distribution is 2.7, with a conservative lower limit of z = 2, as was also found by Smail et al. based on the original models. The normalization and shape of the redshift distribution for the faint submillimeter sources are consistent with those expected for forming elliptical galaxies.
Social Reality, the Boundaries of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, and Economics

Organizational scholars have recently argued that economic theories and assumptions have adversely shaped management practice and human behavior, leading not only to the incorporation of trust-eroding market-mechanisms into organizations but also unnecessarily creating self-interested behavior. A number of highly influential papers have argued that the self-fulfilling nature of (even false) theories provides the underlying mechanism through which economics has adversely shaped not just social science but also management practice and individual behavior. We question these arguments, and argue that there are important boundary conditions to theories falsely fulfilling themselves, boundary conditions that have hitherto been unexplored in organizational research, and boundary conditions which question the underlying premises used by organizational scholars and social scientists to attack economics. We specifically build on highly relevant findings from social psychology, philosophy and organizational economics to show how (1) objective reality and (2) human nature provide two important boundary conditions for theories (falsely or otherwise) fulfilling themselves. We also defend organizational economics, specifically the use of high-powered incentives in organizations, and argue that self-interest (rightly understood) facilitates in creating beneficial individual and collective and societal outcomes.
Usability of a Disease Management Mobile Application as Perceived by Patients With Diabetes.

The use of mobile applications in chronic disease management has grown significantly over the past decade. When properly designed, these apps provide a convenient, safe, high-quality service to patients. In this study, a health management app was developed, and its usability among patients with diabetes mellitus was examined. A convenience sample of 136 patients, referred to two academic centers from December 2016 to July 2017, was enrolled. Upon completion of informed consent, the participants were asked to install the app on their smartphone. Two weeks later, they were required to complete a postapplication usability questionnaire, comprising 21 questions classified into six domains. The response rate was 89%. The highest scores were given for "ease of use and learnability"; the lowest-scored domains were "interaction quality" and "reliability. " Urban residents, participants with lower educational qualifications, and retirees were significantly more satisfied with the app. Overall, patients with diabetes mellitus perceived the app as useful for disease management. However, the overall usability of health apps is expected to improve when a multidisciplinary team (health professionals, computer engineers, art designers) is involved in the development process.
JPEG2000 Part 2 wavelet packet subband structures in fingerprint recognition

The impact of using different wavelet packet subband structures in JPEG2000 on the matching accuracy of a fingerprint recognition system is investigated. In particular, we relate rate-distortion performance as measured in PSNR to the matching scores as obtained by the recognition system. Employing wavelet packets instead of the dyadic wavelet transform turns out to be of advantage only in case of low bitrates (i.e. high compression rates). For such settings, the good performance of the WSQ structure is confirmed also in JPEG2000 and in particular we get better recognition accuracy using the WSQ structure as compared to the employment of a rate-distortion optimising subband selection approach
International evidence on payout ratio, returns. earnings and dividends

Recent US evidence has shown that, contrary to popular wisdom, the greater the proportion of earnings paid out as dividends, the greater the subsequent real earnings growth. We extend previous work by examining whether a similar relationship exists in eleven international markets as well as considering the role payout ratio plays in explaining future real dividend growth and returns. Higher payout ratios do indeed lead to higher real earnings growth, although not to higher real dividend growth. Despite the ability to anticipate earnings growth, we find limited use for this to predict future returns.
Conventional and Molecular Cytogenetic Analyses in Turkish Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Objective: Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by the accumulation and proliferation of malignant plasma cells, secreting monoclonal immunoglobulins and genetic abnormalities in MM have implications for disease progression and survival. In the present study, we investigated the frequency of chromosomal abnormalities (CA) in Turkish patients with MM, using interphase FISH and CC and evaluated the relationship between the rearrangements detected, prognosis and stage of disease. Material and Methods: We performed conventional cytogenetic and FISH studies in 50 patients to detect chromosome anomalies associated with MM. FISH probes were used to detect 13q14, 13q34, 17p13 deletions, IGH rearrangements, and monosomy and/or trisomy of chromosomes 5, 9, and 15. Results: CC studies could be performed in 32 of 50 cases and five patients (15.6%) showed chromosomal aberrations while 27 (84.3%) had normal karyotypes. By FISH, eighteen percent (9/50) of cases were found to be normal for all parameters evaluated. Eighty-two percent (41/50) of the patients were positive for at least one abnormality. Chromosome 13 anomalies were detected in 54% (27/50) of cases. The second most common aberration observed is chromosome 15 aberrations (50%). Conclusion: Median survival rate was shorter in patients with one of the abnormalities including chromosome 13 aberrations, IGH rearrangements or P53 deletions. Chromosome 15 aberrations were significantly higher in patients with stage III disease (p=0.02). We conclude that FISH studies should be performed in conjunction with conventional cytogenetic analysis for prognosis in multiple myeloma patients.
Development and validation of the collective psychological ownership scale in organizational contexts

Collective psychological ownership (CPO) refers to the sense shared by group mates that they jointly own their organization. CPO is an important emerging concept but its operationalization is still at an early stage. The study aimed to develop and evaluate the CPO scale among social service workers. The item pool together with a battery of validation scales formed the basis for an Internet-based survey. Through convenience and snowball sampling strategies, social service workers in Guangdong Province, China were invited to take part in the survey, resulting in 444 completed questionnaires. Bi-factor analyses were conducted. Both exploratory and confirmatory analyses of bi-factor analyses supported the one-general-two-specific structure of CPO. Internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach’s alpha, was satisfactory for the bi-factor structure. Convergent and divergent validity were supported by the correlations with validation scales in the expected directions. The general factor was named shared possessiveness, and the two specific factors were shared decision-making and shared hardship endurance. With good preliminary psychometric properties, the newly developed CPO scale will trigger a series of studies related to workplace behaviors and well-being.
Following the World Health Organization’s Recommendation of Exclusive Breastfeeding to 6 Months of Age Does Not Impact the Growth of Rural Gambian Infants123

Background: The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 mo of life. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the benefit of EBF to age 6 mo on growth in a large sample of rural Gambian infants at high risk of undernutrition. Methods: Infants with growth monitoring from birth to 2 y of age (n = 756) from the ENID (Early Nutrition and Immune Development) trial were categorized as exclusively breastfed if only breast milk and no other liquids or foods were given. EBF status was entered into confounder-adjusted multilevel models to test associations with growth trajectories by using >11,000 weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), and weight-for-length (WLZ) z score observations. Results: Thirty-two percent of infants were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo. The mean age of discontinuation of EBF was 5.2 mo, and growth faltering started at ∼3.5 mo of age. Some evidence for a difference in WAZ and WHZ was found between infants who were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo (EBF-6) and those who were not (nEBF-6), at 6 and 12 mo of age, with EBF-6 children having a higher mean z score. The differences in z scores between the 2 groups were small in magnitude (at 6 mo of age: 0.147 WAZ; 95% CI: −0.001, 0.293 WAZ; 0.189 WHZ; 95% CI: 0.038, 0.341 WHZ). No evidence for a difference between EBF-6 and nEBF-6 infants was observed for LAZ at any time point (6, 12, and 24 mo of age). Furthermore, a higher mean WLZ at 3 mo of age was associated with a subsequent higher mean age at discontinuation of EBF, which implied reverse causality in this setting (coefficient: 0.060; 95% CI: 0.008, 0.120). Conclusion: This study suggests that EBF to age 6 mo has limited benefit to the growth of rural Gambian infants. This trial was registered at http://www.isrctn. com as ISRCTN49285450.
A mixed methods comparison of gang and race motivated violent incident involvement in a youth correctional setting

ABSTRACT Scholarship has examined both gang and race violence in a variety of settings. However, there has been little research addressing the characteristics of gang and race related violence within youth correctional facilities. This article fills this research gap by utilizing 404 violent incident narratives provided by incarcerated male youth. Mixed methods analyses are conducted on gang and race motivated violence at the situational level. Multivariate analyses reveal significant differences in violent incidents when comparing number of racial groups involved and participant dynamic. Qualitative analyses compare themes related to the subculture of violence and correctional setting across the different contexts in which gang and race motivated violence occurs. The results have implications for theory, policy, and programs within youth correctional facilities.
Citizen Science as a Means for Increasing Public Engagement in Science

Citizen science is often assumed to increase public science engagement; however, little is known about who is likely to volunteer and the implications for greater societal impact. This study segments 1,145 potential volunteers into six groups according to their current engagement in science (EiS). Results show groups with high levels of EiS are significantly more interested in volunteering and more likely to participate in various research roles than those with lower EiS scores. While citizen science benefits some in science and society, its use as a strategy to bring about positive shifts in public science engagement needs to be reconsidered.
Evaluation of tackling biomechanics in rugby: video incident analysis and experimental set up

This study consisted of a video incident analysis of rugby tackles leading to spinal injuries, where players’ behaviours and observed loading mechanisms were coded for each incident. The key features of these events were summarised, revealing the role of highspeed impacts, illegal tackles, and poor tackle technique in injury-causing tackles. In addition, lateral bending moments and lateral flexion movements were more prevalent than suggested by previous research. This investigation informed an experimental protocol for the analysis of simulated rugby tackles, with the final goal to obtain measures of cervical spine biomechanics during tackles. Data captured from this protocol could also be input into a full-body musculoskeletal model to provide descriptions of internal cervical spine loading in different tackle event scenarios.
Characterization of Flagella Produced by Clinical Strains of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging nosocomial pathogen associated with opportunistic infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, cancer, and HIV. Adherence of this organism to abiotic surfaces such as medical implants and catheters represents a major risk for hospitalized patients. The adhesive surface factors involved in adherence of these bacteria are largely unknown, and their flagella have not yet been characterized biochemically and antigenically. We purified and characterized the flagella produced by S. maltophilia clinical strains. The flagella filaments are composed of a 38-kDa subunit, SMFliC, and analysis of its N-terminal amino acid sequence showed considerable sequence identity to the flagellins of Serratia marcescens (78.6%), Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Shigella sonnei (71.4%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (57.2%). Ultrastructural analysis by scanning electron microscopy of bacteria adhering to plastic showed flagellalike structures within the bacterial clusters, suggesting that flagella are produced as the bacteria spread on the abiotic surface.
Survey on Nonlocal Games and Operator Space Theory

This review article is concerned with a recently uncovered connection between operator spaces, a noncommutative extension of Banach spaces, and quantum nonlocality, a striking phenomenon which underlies many of the applications of quantum mechanics to information theory, cryptography and algorithms. Using the framework of nonlocal games, we relate measures of the nonlocality of quantum mechanics to certain norms in the Banach and operator space categories. We survey recent results that exploit this connection to derive large violations of Bell inequalities, study the complexity of the classical and quantum values of games and their relation to Grothendieck inequalities, and quantify the nonlocality of different classes of entangled states.
Imatinib Ameliorates Neuroinflammation in a Rat Model of Multiple Sclerosis by Enhancing Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity and by Modulating the Peripheral Immune Response

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as ischemic stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS) or Alzheimeŕs disease are characterized by the loss of blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Here we demonstrate that the small tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib enhances BBB integrity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Treatment was accompanied by decreased CNS inflammation and demyelination and especially reduced T-cell recruitment. This was supported by downregulation of the chemokine receptor (CCR) 2 in CNS and lymph nodes, and by modulation of the peripheral immune response towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype. Interestingly, imatinib ameliorated neuroinflammation, even when the treatment was initiated after the clinical manifestation of the disease. We have previously shown that imatinib reduces BBB disruption and stroke volume after experimentally induced ischemic stroke by targeting platelet-derived growth factor receptor -α (PDGFR-α) signaling. Here we demonstrate that PDGFR-α signaling is a central regulator of BBB integrity during neuroinflammation and therefore imatinib should be considered as a potentially effective treatment for MS.
Transient X-ray Emission from Normal Galactic Nuclei

X-ray transients appearing in optically non-active galactic nuclei have been observed in recent years. The most popular model explaining this kind of phenomena is the conventional tidal disruption model. In this model, when a star moves within the tidal radius of a black hole, part of the star materials will fall into the black hole through an accretion disk, which gives rise to the luminous flare. We propose that the X-ray emission may not necessarily come from radiation of the accretion disk alone. Instead, it may be related to a jet. As the jet travels in the interstellar medium, a shock is produced and synchrotron radiation is expected. We compared the model light curve and the synchrotron radiation spectrum with the observed data and find that our model explains the observed light curve and late-time spectrum well. Our model predicts that these transient active galactic nuclei could be sources for study by the future gamma-ray satellites, e.g. GLAST, and the emission region will be expanding with time.
Testing the Structure of Conditional Correlations in Multivariate GARCH Models: A Generalized Cross‐Spectrum Approach

We introduce a class of generally applicable specification tests for constant and dynamic structures of conditional correlations in multivariate GARCH models. The tests are robust to the presence of time-varying higher-order conditional moments of unknown form and are pure significance tests. The tests can identify linear and nonlinear misspecifications in conditional correlations. Our approach does not necessitate a particular parameter estimation method and distributional assumption on the error process. The asymptotic distribution of the tests is invariant to the uncertainty in parameter estimation. We assess the finite sample performance of our tests using simulated and real data.
Monoreactive high affinity and polyreactive low affinity rheumatoid factors are produced by CD5+ B cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis

In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), circulating CD5+ B lymphocytes, but not CD5- B lymphocytes, are increased in number and size, exist in an activated state, spontaneously proliferate, and secrete Ig that binds to the Fc fragment of IgG. By constructing continuous mAb-secreting cell lines from CD5+ B lymphocytes, the properties and dissociation constants (Kd) of these antibodies were determined. Two types of rheumatoid factors (RFs) with discrete reactivities were produced. The first type is polyreactive and binds with relatively low affinity (Kd, 10(-5) mol/liter) to the Fc fragment of IgG. These antibodies are similar to those produced by CD5+ B cells from healthy subjects. The second type of RF is monoreactive and binds with higher affinity (Kd, 10(-7) mol/liter) to the Fc fragment of IgG. These latter autoantibodies are produced by CD5+ B cells of RA patients, but not healthy subjects. Long-term longitudinal studies are needed to determine the role of these two types of RFs in the pathogenesis of RA.
Interactivist sensorimotor learning : computational implementation and parallel optimization

We here introduce an approach where all knowledge is fundamentally grounded in interactions. We assume that perception and action are intertwined at any level and for any kind of behavior. Generation and recognition are therefore the two sides of a single process, with perception and action occurring simultaneously and continuously. This work is based on the interactivist framework developed by Bickhard et al. [1, 2], taking a naturalistic and evolutionary approach to cognition. In this sense, it shares similarity with enaction as developed by Varela et al. [3] and incorporate Piaget’s constructivism [4]. We aim at understanding and implementing complex and generic regulation of actions. The model therefore focuses on the implicit modulation and coordination of processes. In our view, sensorimotor capabilities emerge from interactions and anticipations using an homogeneous form of representation, as a synthesis of internal and external dynamics. We are therefore akin to dynamic systems approaches as advocated by Esther Thelen [5] or Jun Tani [6]. Architectures similar to our own such as the subsumption architecture [7], the Polyscheme architecture [8] or the hierarchical temporal memory model [9] all rely on explicit communication or wiring to make the various elements cooperate (either called modules, codelets or experts). Internal forward and backward models [10] make use of inner corrections in the sensorimotor loop to regulate their actions, but the global system has to select a single module that will actually perform in the environment, therefore introducing an unbridgeable gap between the various potential behaviors. Artificial neural networks and other parallel distributed processes approaches based on spreading activity often draw a clear cut between diffusion and point to point exchanges. Our proposal is an attempt to merge the two forms of communication to achieve online and implicit coordination.