Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolated septal myectomy for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy: an update on the Toronto General Hospital experience.

BACKGROUND Isolated septal myectomy is considered the gold standard for refractory left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction at centers with dedicated hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) surgeons. In this paper, we provide an update on the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) experience for isolated septal myectomy and comment on the safety and efficacy of myectomy in patients with thin basal septal thickness at our institution. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed all patients undergoing surgical myectomy at our institution from January 2012 to August 2016. We analyzed patient characteristics, intraoperative variables, pre- and post-procedural echocardiographic parameters, and key outcomes including post-operative stroke, renal failure, iatrogenic ventricular septal defect (VSD), post-procedure insertion of permanent pacemaker, and mortality. RESULTS At our institution, 150 isolated septal myectomy surgeries were performed over the study period. Preoperative echocardiography demonstrated an average basal septal thickness of 2.10±0.43 cm with a resting gradient of 67±37 mmHg and a provoked gradient of 89±40 mmHg. Fifty percent of patients had significant systolic anterior motion (SAM) of their mitral valve and 53% had associated moderate to severe mitral regurgitation (MR). Of note, 24% of patients had a thin septum of ≤1.7 cm. Discharge echocardiograms demonstrated significant septal reduction to an average basal septal thickness of 1.04±0.26 (P<0.05), with negligible resting and provokable LVOT gradients. At the time of discharge, none of the patients had significant SAM and only 5.3% of patients had residual greater than mild MR. Patients undergoing isolated myectomy with a thin basal septum had similar outcomes to those with a >1.7 cm septal thickness. In our contemporary cohort, there were no iatrogenic VSDs, 5.3% of patients required a permanent pacemaker and there was one early death. CONCLUSIONS Our cohort demonstrates that isolated septal myectomy remains a safe and effective operation that can achieve excellent results, irrespective of basal septal thickness, when done by experienced surgeons in a dedicated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) center.
Viewing Person-Environment Fit Through the Lenses of Organizational Change: A Cross-level Study

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank and acknowledge my committee for their diligent coaching through the development of this dissertation. These ladies and gentlemen put in countless hours reviewing and counseling me with regards to theory building, methodology, and implications of the study. Their expertise and support made it possible for this manuscript to obtain acceptable academic standards.
Foreign Economic Liberalization and Peace: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

A typical adage of the globalization literature is that foreign economic liberalization undermines the social fabric of developing countries. This article examines this claim for the sub-Saharan African countries and thus the continent that experienced both low economic growth and a high incidence of armed conflict during the 1990s. Our results yield support for the assertion that economic openness durably pacifies countries once the restructuring of the economy is over. We can, however, not reject the possibility that the distributional consequences of foreign economic liberalization increase the risk of civil war during the implementation of the reform measures. We contrast this ‘distributional’ model with alternative explanations such as the role of the International Monetary Fund and the level of democracy. A comparative case study on Guinea and Guinea-Bissau lends some illustrative evidence to the claim that compensating the losers of globalization can pacify intrastate relations.
Coping with dyslexia : a transactional perspective

This thesis explores the phenomenon of coping with dyslexia based on the perspectives of six Greek dyslexic adults, as expressed by themselves. The research is concerned with exploration of the phenomenon by standing out from linear reductionist approaches whether pathologising person-focused or exclusively environment-focused as well as interactionist approaches that are simplistically additive. Instead, the study explores the phenomenon of coping with dyslexia from a transactional perspective which assumes that the factors of coping are strongly interrelated, mutually affected and altered by the transaction, suggesting a more complex and holistic understanding of the phenomenon. More specifically, the study considers the adequacy of Schlossberg‟s transitional 4 S System in explaining the experiences of individuals who cope with dyslexia. To pursue the purposes of the study, a multiple case studies design was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings suggest that for the participants, coping with dyslexia is not restricted simply to dealing with a set of difficulties, because the dyslexia „situation‟ is a complex entity with a variety of aspects which relate directly or indirectly to literacy efficiency. Participants reported employing a complex and constantly evolving (across contexts and over time) system of different coping strategies. In fact, findings suggest that coping with dyslexia is not a stable entity but a transactional process which is characterised by fluidity, non-linear evolution and involvement of multiple factors. The 4 S System managed as an analytic tool to adequately identify and explain the complex transactionist relationships between the involved factors and the system of coping as a whole. Finally, in terms of effectiveness, findings suggested that there are no magic recipes. The usefulness of a coping or support activity seems to be an individualistic issue determined by contemporariness and so, a flexible approach towards coping with dyslexia is suggested. To my supervisors, Phil, Ruth and Hannah, to my parents, Konstantinos and Evaggelia, to my brother, Yannis
SRmapper: a fast and sensitive genome-hashing alignment tool

UNLABELLED Modern sequencing instruments have the capability to produce millions of short reads every day. The large number of reads produced in conjunction with variations between reads and reference genomic sequences caused both by legitimate differences, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms and insertions/deletions (indels), and by sequencer errors make alignment a difficult and computationally expensive task, and many reads cannot be aligned. Here, we introduce a new alignment tool, SRmapper, which in tests using real data can align 10s of billions of base pairs from short reads to the human genome per computer processor day. SRmapper tolerates a higher number of mismatches than current programs based on Burrows-Wheeler transform and finds about the same number of alignments in 2-8× less time depending on read length (with higher performance gain for longer read length). The current version of SRmapper aligns both single and pair-end reads in base space fastq format and outputs alignments in Sequence Alignment/Map format. SRmapper uses a probabilistic approach to set a default number of mismatches allowed and determines alignment quality. SRmapper's memory footprint (∼2.5 GB) is small enough that it can be run on a computer with 4 GB of random access memory for a genome the size of a human. Finally, SRmapper is designed so that its function can be extended to finding small indels as well as long deletions and chromosomal translocations in future versions. AVAILABILITY http://www.umsl. edu/∼wongch/software.html.
Wh-filler-gap dependency formation guides reflexive antecedent search

Prior studies on online sentence processing have shown that the parser can resolve non-local dependencies rapidly and accurately. This study investigates the interaction between the processing of two such non-local dependencies: wh-filler-gap dependencies (WhFGD) and reflexive-antecedent dependencies. We show that reflexive-antecedent dependency resolution is sensitive to the presence of a WhFGD, and argue that the filler-gap dependency established by WhFGD resolution is selected online as the antecedent of a reflexive dependency. We investigate the processing of constructions like (1), where two NPs might be possible antecedents for the reflexive, namely which cowgirl and Mary. Even though Mary is linearly closer to the reflexive, the only grammatically licit antecedent for the reflexive is the more distant wh-NP, which cowgirl. (1). Which cowgirl did Mary expect to have injured herself due to negligence? Four eye-tracking text-reading experiments were conducted on examples like (1), differing in whether the embedded clause was non-finite (1 and 3) or finite (2 and 4), and in whether the tail of the wh-dependency intervened between the reflexive and its closest overt antecedent (1 and 2) or the wh-dependency was associated with a position earlier in the sentence (3 and 4). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicate the parser accesses the result of WhFGD formation during reflexive antecedent search. The resolution of a wh-dependency alters the representation that reflexive antecedent search operates over, allowing the grammatical but linearly distant antecedent to be accessed rapidly. In the absence of a long-distance WhFGD (Experiments 3 and 4), wh-NPs were not found to impact reading times of the reflexive, indicating that the parser's ability to select distant wh-NPs as reflexive antecedents crucially involves syntactic structure.
Distribution of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus in the central Adriatic Sea

Photosynthetic picoplankton, represented primarily by the genera Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, are major contributors of biomass and primary production in oligotrophic oceanic ecosystems (JOHNSON & SIEBURTH, 1979; WATERBURY et al., 1979; PARTENSKY et al., 1999a). In the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea, picophytoplankton has a great contribution to total phytoplankton biomass and production (MAGAZZÙ & DECEMBRI, 1995; AGAWIN et al., 2000). Photosynthetic picoplankton appears to be an essential component of microbial food webs and carbon flow, especially during the summer in coastal systems (KUOSA, 1991; WORDEN et al., 2004). Previous studies in the Adriatic Sea were mainly related to investigations of abundance The abundance of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus were determined at twenty-one stations located along the eastern coast of the central and southern Adriatic and at three stations located in the open central Adriatic Sea. Synechococcus abundance ranged from 102 to 105 cells mL-1 in the coastal area, and from 103 to 104 cells mL-1 in the open sea. Prochlorococcus abundance in the coastal area ranged from 0 to 104 cells mL-1, and from 103 to 104 cells mL-1 in the open sea. The seasonal distribution of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus mostly showed an increase in abundance during the warmer period and a decrease during winter. The highest abundance of Synechococcus was found in Kaštela Bay with values at 4.6 x 105 cells mL-1, while the highest abundance of Prochlorococcus was determined in the Šibenik area and recorded as 7.1 x 104 cells mL. Synechococcus was found to be more abundant than Prochlorococcus in most cases. The abundance of Synechococcus was influenced more by temperature than nutrient availability. The abundance of Prochlorococcocus was influenced by nutrient availability and the movement of water masses more than by HNF.
Competition and Innovation: The Inverted-U Relationship Revisited

Abstract I reexamine the inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation (modeled and tested by Aghion et al. (2005)) by using data from publicly traded manufacturing firms in the United States. I control for the possible endogeneity of competition by using a trade-weighted average of industry exchange rates as an instrument. I find a mildly negative relationship between competition (as measured by the inverse of markups) and innovation (as measured by citation-weighted patents). The negative relationship is robust to many alternative assumptions and specifications. To reconcile the mildly negative relationship in the U.S. data with the inverted-U relationship that Aghion et al. (2005) find in the U.K. data, I modify their theoretical model and show that the modified model can explain both negative and inverted-U relationships. The key theoretical assumption is that the U.K. manufacturing industries are technologically more neck-and-neck than their counterparts in the United States. I find support for this assumption in the data. The different empirical results between the two countries may also arise because of differences in data and samples.
The Effects of Sign Language on the Vocal Responses of a Child with Autism.

Sign language is an effective form of alternative communication for persons with autism and other developmental disabilities. Only a few studies have systematically measured the effects of sign language on the vocal responses of its users. This study employed a multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of sign language on the vocal responses of a four-year-old boy with autism. Results indicate that a reinforcement contingency placed only on sign responses is inadequate for maintaining vocal responses. When a reinforcement contingency is placed on sign responses as well as vocal responses that the user is capable of emitting in verbal imitation, both sign and vocal responses are maintained. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a reinforcement contingency placed on vocal and sign responses, the effects of teaching procedures on response variability, and the need for future research to examine procedures utilized to teach sign language to persons within the developmental disabilities population.
Distributed consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with fixed and switching topologies

In this article, we study distributed consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with fixed and switching topologies. The analysis is based on graph theory and nonnegative matrix theory. We propose two kinds of consensus protocols based on the consensus protocol of first-order and second-order multi-agent systems. Some necessary and sufficient conditions that the heterogeneous multi-agent system solves the consensus problems under different consensus protocols are presented with fixed topology. We also give some sufficient conditions for consensus of the heterogeneous multi-agent system with switching topology. Simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Can We Learn to Gamble Efficiently?

We study the regret of an online learner playing a multi-round game in a Banach space B against an adversary that plays a convex function at each round. We characterize the minimax regret when the adversary plays linear functions in terms of the Martingale type of the dual of B. The cases when the adversary plays bounded and uniformly convex functions respectively are also considered. Our results connect online convex learning to the study of the geometry of Banach spaces. We also show that appropriate modifications of the Mirror Descent algorithm from convex optimization can be used to achieve our regret upper bounds. Finally, we provide a version of Mirror Descent that adapts to the changing exponent of uniform convexity of the adversary’s functions. This adaptive mirror descent strategy provides new algorithms even for the more familiar Hilbert space case where the loss functions on each round have varying exponents of uniform convexity (curvature).
Measurements of skin surface temperature during mobile phone use

We measured maximum temperature rises on the side of the face after 6 min of continuous mobile phone operation using two models of AMPS analog phones operating in the 835 MHz band and three early model GSM digital phones operating in the 900 MHz band. For the GSM phones the highest recorded temperature rise difference was 2.3 °C and for the AMPS phones it was 4.5 °C, both at locations on the cheek. The higher differential temperature rise between AMPS and GSM may reflect the higher maximum average operating power of AMPS (600 mW) versus GSM900 (250 mW). Additionally, we compared temperature changes at a consistent location on the cheek for an AMPS phone that was inoperative (−0.7 °C), transmitting at full power (+2.6 °C) and in stand‐by mode (+2.0 °C). Our results suggest that direct RF heating of the skin only contributes a small part of the temperature rise and that most is due to heat conduction from the handset. Bioelectromagnetics 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Persistent Use of Secondary Preventive Drugs Declines Rapidly During the First 2 Years After Stroke

Background and Purpose— To prevent new cardiovascular events after stroke, prescribed preventive drugs should be used continuously. This study measures persistent use of preventive drugs after stroke and identifies factors associated with persistence. Methods— A 1-year cohort (21 077 survivors) from Riks-Stroke, the Swedish Stroke Register, was linked to the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Results— The proportion of patients who were persistent users of drugs prescribed at discharge from hospital declined progressively over the first 2 years to reach 74.2% for antihypertensive drugs, 56.1% for statins, 63.7% for antiplatelet drugs, and 45.0% for warfarin. For most drugs, advanced age, comorbidity, good self-perceived health, absence of low mood, acute treatment in a stroke unit, and institutional living at follow-up were independently associated with persistent medication use. Conclusion— Persistent secondary prevention treatment declines rapidly during the first 2 years after stroke, particularly for statins and warfarin. Effective interventions to improve persistent secondary prevention after stroke need to be developed.
An acellular dermal matrix allograft (Alloderm®) for increasing keratinized attached gingiva: A case series

Context: Adequate amount of keratinized gingiva is necessary to keep gingiva healthy and free of infl ammation. Autografts have been used for years with great success to increase the width of attached gingiva. Autografts, however, have the disadvantage of increasing postoperative morbidity and improper color match with the adjacent tissues. Alloderm ® allograft has been introduced as an alternative to autografts to overcome these disadvantages. Aim: In this study, the efficacy of alloderm ® in increasing the width of attached gingiva and the stability of gained attached gingiva was evaluated clinically. Materials and Methods: Five patients with sites showing inadequate width of attached gingiva (≤1 mm) were enrolled for the study. The width of keratinized gingiva and other clinical parameters were recorded at baseline and 9th month postoperatively. Result: In all cases, there is the average increase of about 2.5 mm of attached gingiva and was maintained for 9-month. Percentage shrinkage of the graft is about 75% at the end of 3 rd month in all cases. Excellent colors match with adjacent tissue has been obtained. Conclusion: The study signifi es that Alloderm ® results in an adequate increase in the amount of attached gingiva and therefore can be used successfully in place of autografts.
Dynamic exponent of the two-dimensional Ising model and Monte Carlo computation of the subdominant eigenvalue of the stochastic matrix.

We introduce a novel variance-reducing Monte Carlo algorithm for accurate determination of correlation times. We apply this method to two-dimensional Ising systems with sizes up to 15 3 15, using single-spin flip dynamics, random site selection, and transition probabilities according to the heat-bath method. From a finite-size scaling analysis of these correlation times, the dynamic critical exponent z is determined as z › 2.1665s12d. [S0031-9007(96)00379-1]
Properties of the motor unit action potential shape in proximal and distal muscles of the upper limb in healthy and post-stroke individuals

Spectral analysis of surface electromyograms (sEMG) is often used to estimate central and peripheral characteristics of a motor unit (MU) population, such as average conduction velocity, proportion of muscle fiber types, and pattern of MU recruitment. This estimation is based on the assumption that the sEMG adequately reflects the frequency characteristics of the underlying MU action potentials (MUAP). However, sEMG has limitations in this respect, based on physiological and non-physiological factors that influence its frequency content. We present a method to examine characteristics of a MU population more reliably by assessing the distributions of frequency content and amplitude for a collection of individual MUAPs, identified using high-density sEMG decomposition. We demonstrate the use of this approach to examine how MU characteristics differ across muscles and in the post-stroke state by presenting preliminary data from deltoid (DELT), biceps (BIC), and finger flexor (FF) MU populations from 12 post-stroke individuals and 8 able-bodied controls. The results show differences in the magnitude and range of MUAP median frequencies across muscles in both groups. The group median values were higher in the stroke group for the DELT and FF and lower in the stroke group for the BIC. The range of frequencies was larger in the stroke group for all muscles. The distribution of MUAP RMS amplitude in both stroke and control groups had a substantially larger range in FF than in DELT and BIC. The group median values for the FF were twice as large in the stroke group. In addition, there were differences in the frequency and amplitude results between MUAP and global sEMG analyses. The implications of these findings and possible applications of the approach are discussed.
A New Two-Scan Algorithm for Labeling Connected Components in Binary Images

—This paper proposes a new two-scan algorithm for labeling connected components in binary images. In the first scan of our algorithm, all conventional two-scan labeling algorithms process image lines one by one and process pixels one by one. In comparison, we process image lines two by two and process image pixels two by two. By our algorithm, the average times for checking the neighbor pixels for processing a foreground pixel will decrease, which leads to an efficient labeling processing. Experimental results on various types of images demonstrated that our method is more efficient than conventional label-equivalence-based labeling algorithms.