Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical biochemistry laboratory rejection rates due to various types of preanalytical errors

Introduction: Preanalytical errors, along the process from the beginning of test requests to the admissions of the specimens to the laboratory, cause the rejection of samples. The aim of this study was to better explain the reasons of rejected samples, regarding to their rates in certain test groups in our laboratory. Materials and methods: This preliminary study was designed on the rejected samples in one-year period, based on the rates and types of inappropriateness. Test requests and blood samples of clinical chemistry, immunoassay, hematology, glycated hemoglobin, coagulation and erythrocyte sedimentation rate test units were evaluated. Types of inappropriateness were evaluated as follows: improperly labelled samples, hemolysed, clotted specimen, insufficient volume of specimen and total request errors. Results: A total of 5,183,582 test requests from 1,035,743 blood collection tubes were considered. The total rejection rate was 0.65 %. The rejection rate of coagulation group was significantly higher (2.28%) than the other test groups (P < 0.001) including insufficient volume of specimen error rate as 1.38%. Rejection rates of hemolysis, clotted specimen and insufficient volume of sample error were found to be 8%, 24% and 34%, respectively. Total request errors, particularly, for unintelligible requests were 32% of the total for inpatients. Conclusions: The errors were especially attributable to unintelligible requests of inappropriate test requests, improperly labelled samples for inpatients and blood drawing errors especially due to insufficient volume of specimens in a coagulation test group. Further studies should be performed after corrective and preventive actions to detect a possible decrease in rejecting samples.
State dependent detection and object tracking

Target tracking algorithms usually treat the probability of detection as a constant, independent of the target state. In most cases this is not true, one obvious example being the Doppler frequency based clutter rejection, the other is obfuscation (shadowing) of ground based targets. This dependency modulates the measurement likelihood, which in turn introduces measurement non-linearity. In this paper we first present a general algorithm for target tracking in clutter when the probability of detection is target state dependent, and then proceed to an algorithm where both target state estimate and the probability of detection are modeled as Gaussian Mixtures. Probability of target existence is recursively updated as the track quality measure used for false track discrimination. A two sensor based ground target tracking in clutter simulation validates this approach.
Staying Connected on the Road: A Comparison of Different Types of Smart Phone Use in a Driving Simulator

Previous research on smart phone use while driving has primarily focused on phone calls and texting. Drivers are now increasingly using their phone for other activities during driving, in particular social media, which have different cognitive demands. The present study compared the effects of four different smart phone tasks on car-following performance in a driving simulator. Phone tasks were chosen that vary across two factors: interaction medium (text vs image) and task pacing (self-paced vs experimenter-paced) and were as follows: Text messaging with the experimenter (text/other-paced), reading Facebook posts (text/self-paced), exchanging photos with the experimenter via Snapchat (image, experimenter -paced), and viewing updates on Instagram (image, experimenter -paced). Drivers also performed a driving only baseline. Brake reaction times (BRTs) were significantly greater in the text-based conditions (Mean = 1.16 s) as compared to both the image-based conditions (Mean = 0.92 s) and the baseline (0.88 s). There was no significant difference between BRTs in the image-based and baseline conditions and there was no significant effect of task-pacing. Similar results were obtained for Time Headway variability. These results are consistent with the picture superiority effect found in memory research and suggest that image-based interfaces could provide safer ways to “stay connected” while driving than text-based interfaces.
Inhibition of the Intrinsic but Not the Extrinsic Apoptosis Pathway Accelerates and Drives Myc-Driven Tumorigenesis Towards Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Myc plays an important role in tumor development, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, MYC is also a powerful inducer of apoptosis, which is one of the major failsafe programs to prevent cancer development. To clarify the relative importance of the extrinsic (death receptor-mediated) versus the intrinsic (mitochondrial) pathway of apoptosis in MYC-driven AML, we coexpressed MYC together with anti-apoptotic proteins of relevance for AML; BCL-XL/BCL-2 (inhibiting the intrinsic pathway) or FLIPL (inhibiting the extrinsic pathway), in hematopoietic stems cells (HSCs). Transplantation of HSCs expressing MYC into syngeneic recipient mice resulted in development of AML and T-cell lymphomas within 7–9 weeks as expected. Importantly, coexpression of MYC together with BCL-XL/BCL-2 resulted in strongly accelerated kinetics and favored tumor development towards aggressive AML. In contrast, coexpression of MYC and FLIPL did neither accelerate tumorigenesis nor change the ratio of AML versus T-cell lymphoma. However, a change in distribution of immature CD4+CD8+ versus mature CD4+ T-cell lymphoma was observed in MYC/FLIPL mice, possibly as a result of increased survival of the CD4+ population, but this did not significantly affect the outcome of the disease. In conclusion, our findings provide direct evidence that BCL-XL and BCL-2 but not FLIPL acts in synergy with MYC to drive AML development.
Collaborative Reasoning Technique in Developing Moral Comprehension

This study aims to find out about the collaborative reasoning technique to develop students' Moral Comprehension in class X of State High School 1 Gegesik. The research approach used was the quasi-experimental method and non-equivalent control group research design. Research instruments using the Defining Issue Test (Rest's DIT-1). The results of the research are: (1) the Moral Comprehension of students is generally in stage 4; (2) the results of the dissemination of DIT-1 instruments; and (3) guidance and counseling programs with collaborative reasoning proven effective in developing students' Moral Comprehension with changes in the stages of Moral Comprehension of students. Success criteria due to more than 50% of students are in steps 4, 5 and 6.
Development and in Vitro Characterization of Photochemically Crosslinked Polyvinylpyrrolidone Coatings for Drug-Coated Balloons

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is a conventionally applied hydrophilic lubricious coating on catheter-based cardiovascular devices, used in order to ease movement through the vasculature. Its use as drug reservoir and transfer agent on drug-coated balloons (DCB) is therefore extremely promising with regard to the simplification of its approval as a medical device. Here, we developed a PVP-based coating for DCB, containing paclitaxel (PTX) as a model drug, and studied the impact of crosslinking via UV radiation on drug stability, wash off, and transfer during simulated use in an in vitro vessel model. We showed that crosslinking was essential for coating stability and needed to be performed prior to PTX incorporation due to decreased drug bioavailability as a result of photodecomposition and/or involvement in vinylic polymerization with PVP under UV radiation. Moreover, the crosslinking time needed to be carefully controlled. While short radiation times did not provide enough coating stability, associated with high wash off rates during DCB insertion, long radiation times lowered drug transfer efficiency upon balloon expansion. A ten minutes radiation of PVP, however, combined a minimized drug wash off rate of 34% with an efficient drug transfer of 49%, underlining the high potential of photochemically crosslinked PVP as a coating matrix for DCB.
Energy Savings Modeling and Performance Analysis in Multi-Power-State Base Station Systems

Continuously growing energy consumption in cellular networks motivates the research towards energy saving approaches. Among previous work, many studies suggest different base station shutdown strategies to reduce the transmission power in case of low or no traffic. Besides the strategy that shutdown base stations completely, our work suggests and evaluates the usage of partial shutdown strategy for multi-antenna base station systems, which allows a better adaptation of power to the network traffic which required by the users. We use Markov Chain to model user traffic and select appropriate state between different power-states of the multi-antenna base station. We evaluate the dependency of the energy saving on the number of antennas and the radius of cells, preserving the coverage of a certain region. The results show that systems with higher number of antennas can better adapt the power to the user traffic requirements. Further, we search for optimal cell radius, showing that it has more important role in case of higher user traffic.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Screening and Outcomes in Southern Italian Pregnant Women

Recent Italian guidelines exclude women <35 years old, without risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), from screening for GDM. To determine the effectiveness of these measures with respect to the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria, we evaluated 2,448 pregnant women retrospectively enrolled in Calabria, southern Italy. GDM was diagnosed following the IADPSG 2010 criteria. Among 538 women <35 years old, without risk factors, who would have not been tested according to the Italian guidelines, we diagnosed GDM in 171 (31.8%) pregnants (7.0% of total pregnants). Diagnosis was made at baseline (55.6%), 1 hour (39.8%), or 2 hours (4.7%) during OGTT. Despite of appropriate treatment, GDM represented a risk factor for cesarean section, polyhydramnios, increased birth weight, admission to neonatal intensive care units, and large for gestational age. These outcomes were similar to those observed in GDM women at high risk for GDM. In conclusion, Italian recommendations failed to identify 7.0% of women with GDM, when compared to IADPSG criteria. The risk for adverse hyperglycaemic-related outcomes is similar in low-risk and high-risk pregnants with GDM. To limit costs of GDM screening, our data suggest to restrict OGTT to two steps (baseline and 1 hour).
Understanding the Smartrouter-based Peer CDN for Video Streaming

Recent years have witnessed a new video delivery paradigm: smartrouter-based video delivery network, which is enabled by smartrouters deployed at users' homes, together with the conventional video servers deployed in the datacenters. Recently, ChinaCache, a large content delivery network (CDN) provider, and Youku, a video service provider using smartrouters to assist video delivery, announced their cooperation to create a new paradigm of content delivery based on householders' network resources. This new paradigm is different from the conventional peer-to-peer (P2P) approach, because such dedicated smartrouters are inherently operated by the centralized video service providers in a coordinative manner. It is intriguing to study the strategies, performance and potential impact on the content delivery ecosystem of such peer CDN systems. In this paper, we study the Youku peer CDN, which has deployed over 300K smartrouter devices for its video streaming. In our measurement, 78K videos were investigated and 3TB traffic has been analyzed, over controlled routers and players. Our contributions are the following measurement insights. First, a global replication and caching strategy is essential for the peer CDN systems, and proactively scheduling replication and caching on a daily basis can guarantee their performance. Second, such peer CDN deployment can itself form an effective Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring sub-system, which can be used for fine-grained user request redirection. We also provide our analysis on the performance issues and potential improvements to the peer CDN systems.
Highlighted Topic Regulation of Protein Metabolism in Exercise and Recovery

Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men SM. Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. This study was designed to compare the acute response of mixed muscle protein synthesis (MPS) to rapidly (i.e., whey hydrolysate and soy) and slowly (i.e., micellar casein) digested proteins both at rest and after resistance exercise. Three groups of healthy young men (n ϭ 6 per group) performed a bout of unilateral leg resistance exercise followed by the consumption of a drink containing an equivalent content of essential amino acids (10 g) as either whey hydrolysate, micellar casein, or soy protein isolate. Mixed MPS was determined by a primed constant infusion of L-[ring-13 C6]phenylalanine. Ingestion of whey protein resulted in a larger increase in blood essential amino acid, branched-chain amino acid, and leucine concentrations than either casein or soy (P Ͻ 0.05). Mixed MPS at rest (determined in the nonexercised leg) was higher with ingestion of faster proteins (whey ϭ 0.091 Ϯ 0.015, soy ϭ 0.078 Ϯ 0.014, casein ϭ 0.047 Ϯ 0.008%/h); MPS after consumption of whey was ϳ93% greater than casein (P Ͻ 0.01) and ϳ18% greater than soy (P ϭ 0.067). A similar result was observed after exercise (whey Ͼ soy Ͼ casein); MPS following whey consumption was ϳ122% greater than casein (P Ͻ 0.01) and 31% greater than soy (P Ͻ 0.05). MPS was also greater with soy consumption at rest (64%) and following resistance exercise (69%) compared with casein (both P Ͻ 0.01). We conclude that the feeding-induced simulation of MPS in young men is greater after whey hydrolysate or soy protein consumption than casein both at rest and after resistance exercise; moreover, despite both being fast proteins , whey hydrolysate stimulated MPS to a greater degree than soy after resistance exercise. These differences may be related to how quickly the proteins are digested (i.e., fast vs. slow) or possibly to small differences in leucine content of each protein. TWO OF THE MOST POTENT stimulators of skeletal muscle protein synthesis (MPS) are feeding and resistance exercise (29). The postprandial increase in circulating essential amino acids stimulates a marked rise in protein synthesis (7, 15, 35); this effect appears to be due to the amino acids themselves …
Sexual and reproductive health of U.S. Latinas: a literature review.

Latinos are a rapidly growing demographic force in the United States and are now the largest minority group in the country. Yet studying Latina sexual and reproductive health is complicated by several factors--Latinas are heterogeneous in such matters as country of origin immigration history and level of acculturation. And like any ethnic group they differ according to education income and geographical location. All of these factors have a profound effect on Latinas health and lives. Research on Latinas sexual and reproductive health is necessary to set priorities and inform public policy debates concerning reducing disparities and improving health care access funding and service delivery. Although several recent reviews address some aspects of this issue none address it entirely and the literature has substantial gaps. This report addresses these gaps by compiling and summarizing key findings in the literature presenting some basic tabulations of new national data providing readers with references for further review and highlighting areas where studies are weak or nonexistent. It profiles the demographic characteristics and sexual and reproductive health indicators for U.S. Latinas as a whole making comparisons with all U.S. women of reproductive age and with comparable non-Hispanic white and black women. It then summarizes some of the research aimed at measuring the influence of such factors as family peers partners acculturation and socioeconomic status on Latinas sexual and reproductive health outcomes. (excerpt)
Building toward an Intervention for Alcohol-Related Aggression: A Cognitive and Behavior Test of the Attention Allocation Model

This study provided the first direct test of the cognitive underpinnings of the attention-allocation model and attempted to replicate and extend past behavioral findings for this model as an explanation for alcohol-related aggression. Men were randomly assigned to a beverage (Alcohol, No-Alcohol Control) and a distraction (Moderate Distraction, No Distraction) condition. All men were provoked by a male confederate and completed a dot probe task and a laboratory aggression task without distraction or while presented with a moderate distraction task. Results indicated that intoxicated men whose attention was distracted displayed significantly lower levels of aggression bias and enacted significantly less physical aggression than intoxicated men whose attention was not distracted. However, aggression bias did not account for the lower levels of alcohol-related aggression in the distraction, relative to the nodistraction, condition. Discussion focused on how these data inform intervention programming for alcohol-related aggression. INDEX WORDS: Alcohol consumption, Alcohol myopia theory, Attention-allocation model, Physical aggression BUILDINGING TOWARD AN INTERVENTION FOR ALCOHOL-RELATED AGGRESSION: A COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOR TEST OF THE ATTENTION ALLOCATION MODEL
Internet Addiction, Academic Performance and University Students

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between internet addiction and academic performance among undergraduates. The study also identified the differences in internet addiction in terms of gender and place of residence. A total of 100 students were selected randomly from undergraduates who follow B.Com (Special) degree program in University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Internet addiction test (IAT) based on Young’s [1] survey was used with some modifications. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS. The statistical techniques frequency and percentage were used to identify the patterns of using the internet, and independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to examine the differences in internet addiction in terms of demographic factors. Pearson correlation technique was employed to determine the relationship between internet addiction and academic performance. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between internet addiction and academic performance. The results of the study also showed that there were significant differences in internet addiction in terms of gender and place of residence. This suggests that future research need to work on large sample including various degree programs and in universities.
Revision of MELD to Include Serum Albumin Improves Prediction of Mortality on the Liver Transplant Waiting List

Background Allocation of donor livers for transplantation in most regions is based on the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) or MELD-sodium (MELDNa). Our objective was to assess revisions to MELD and MELDNa that include serum albumin for predicting waiting list mortality. Methods Adults registered for liver transplantation in the United States (2002–2007) were identified from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database. Cox regression was used to determine the association between serum albumin and 3-month mortality, and to derive revised MELD and MELDNa scores incorporating albumin (‘MELD-albumin’ and ‘5-variable MELD [5vMELD]’). Results Among 40,393 patients, 9% died and 24% underwent transplantation within 3 months of listing. For serum albumin concentrations between 1.0 and 4.0 g/dL, a linear, inverse relationship was observed between albumin and 3-month mortality (adjusted hazard ratio per 1 g/dL reduction in albumin: 1.44; 95% CI 1.35–1.54). The c-statistics for 3-month mortality of MELD-albumin and MELD were 0.913 and 0.896, respectively (P<0.001); 5vMELD was superior to MELDNa (c-statistics 0.922 vs. 0.912, P<0.001). The potential benefit of 5vMELD was greatest in patients with low MELD (<15). Among low MELD patients who died, 27% would have gained ≥10 points with 5vMELD over MELD versus only 4–7% among low MELD survivors and high MELD (≥15) candidates (P<0.0005). Conclusion Modification of MELD and MELDNa to include serum albumin is associated with improved prediction of waiting list mortality. If validated and shown to be associated with reduced mortality, adoption of 5vMELD as the basis for liver allograft allocation may improve outcomes on the liver transplant waiting list.
Functionally Independent Columns of Rat Somatosensory Barrel Cortex Revealed with Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging

Whisker movement is somatotopically represented in rodent neocortex by electrical activity in clearly defined barrels, which can be visualized in living brain slices. The functional architecture of this part of the cortex can thus be mapped in vitro with respect to its physiological input and compared with its anatomical architecture. The spatial extent of excitation was measured at high temporal resolution by imaging optical signals from voltage-sensitive dye evoked by stimulation of individual barrels in layer 4. The optical signals correlated closely with subthreshold EPSPs recorded simultaneously from excitatory neurons in layer 4 and layer 2/3, respectively. Excitation was initially (<2 msec) limited to the stimulated barrel and subsequently (>3 msec) spread in a columnar manner into layer 2/3 and then subsided in both layers after ∼50 msec. The lateral extent of the response was limited to the cortical column defined structurally by the barrel in layer 4. Two experimental interventions increased the spread of excitation. First, blocking GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic inhibition caused excitation to spread laterally throughout wide regions of layer 2/3 and layer 5 but not into neighboring barrels, suggesting that the local excitatory connections within layer 4 are restricted to single barrels and that inhibitory neurons control spread in supragranular and infragranular layers. Second, NMDA receptor-dependent increase of the spread of excitation was induced by pairing repetitive stimulation of a barrel column with coincident stimulation of layer 2/3 in a neighboring column. Such plasticity in the spatial extent of excitation in a barrel column could underlie changes in cortical map structure induced by alterations of sensory experience.