Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glycemic control, complications, and associated autoimmune diseases in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between metabolic control, acute and long-term complications, the coexistence of autoimmune diseases, and to assess the different factors that can affect the glycemic control level among children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included 228 T1DM children and adolescents visiting the pediatric diabetes clinic at the King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from January 2013 to January 2014. The clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patients were recorded. Metabolic control, complications, and associated autoimmune diseases were evaluated. Results: The mean age of patients was 10.99 years, and the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level was 8.8%. Acute complications included ketoacidosis in 65.4% of patients, and hypoglycemic attacks in 68.9%. Long-term complications were detected in patients including retinopathy (4.4%), microalbuminuria (16.2%), and dyslipidemia (8.3%). Autoimmune thyroiditis was noted in 14%, and celiac disease was found in 19.7% of patients. A significant difference was found in pubertal and pre-pubertal age groups in terms of glycemic control (p=0.01). Conclusion: The level of HbA1c was found to be higher among the pubertal age group. A relationship between autoimmune diseases and gender was determined.
Learning by Designing Instruction in the Context of Simulation-based Inquiry Learning

This study compares learning from designing instruction in the context of simulation-based inquiry learning with learning from expository teaching. The domain of instruction was the electricity domain of high-pass and low-pass filters. Participants were students from a technical vocational school. In the experimental condition (N = 21) students created assignments for an imaginary student to help this student to learn from a computer simulation. The LOOK-EXPERIMENT-DESIGN (LED) approach was developed to support students in designing these assignments. This support structure scaffolded students in orienting themselves in the simulation (LOOK), in performing experiments to gain more insight into the simulated domain (EXPERIMENT), and in designing assignments (DESIGN) about the simulated domain. Students in the control condition (N = 28) received traditional instruction. Students came from two different classes and were divided over the two conditions. After 3 two-hour lessons, all students completed a test measuring conceptual and procedural knowledge. Results showed that, in one class, students who learned by designing assignments performed significantly better on test items measuring conceptual knowledge than students who learned from traditional instruction. This was not replicated in the other class. No differences between the conditions were found for procedural knowledge.
Interaction of Hydrogen with Au Modified by Pd and Rh in View of Electrochemical Applications

Hydrogen interaction with bimetallic Au(Pd) and Au(Rh) systems are studied with the density functional theory (DFT)-based periodic approach. Several bimetallic configurations with varying concentrations of Pd and Rh atoms in the under layer of a gold surface(111) were considered. The reactivity of the doped Au(111) toward hydrogen adsorption and absorption was related to the property modifications induced by the presence of metal dopants. DFT-computed quantities, such as the energy stability, the inter-atomic and inter-slab binding energies between gold and dopants, and the charge density were used to infer the similarities and differences between both Pd and Rh dopants in these model alloys. The hydrogen penetration into the surface is favored in the bimetallic slab configurations. The underlayer dopants affect the reactivity of the surface gold toward hydrogen adsorption in the systems with a dopant underlayer, covered by absorbed hydrogen up to a monolayer. This indicates a possibility to tune the gold surface properties of bimetallic electrodes by modulating the degree of hydrogen coverage of the inner dopant layer(s).
Does the Supplementary Motor Area Keep Patients with Ondine's Curse Syndrome Breathing While Awake?

Background Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare neuro-respiratory disorder associated with mutations of the PHOX2B gene. Patients with this disease experience severe hypoventilation during sleep and are consequently ventilator-dependent. However, they breathe almost normally while awake, indicating the existence of cortical mechanisms compensating for the deficient brainstem generation of automatic breathing. Current evidence indicates that the supplementary motor area plays an important role in modulating ventilation in awake normal humans. We hypothesized that the wake-related maintenance of spontaneous breathing in patients with CCHS could involve supplementary motor area. Methods We studied 7 CCHS patients (5 women; age: 20–30; BMI: 22.1±4 kg.m−2) during resting breathing and during exposure to carbon dioxide and inspiratory mechanical constraints. They were compared with 8 healthy individuals. Segments of electroencephalographic tracings were selected according to ventilatory flow signal, from 2.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds after the onset of inspiration. After artefact rejection, 80 or more such segments were ensemble averaged. A slow upward shift of the EEG signal starting between 2 and 0.5 s before inspiration (pre-inspiratory potential) was considered suggestive of supplementary motor area activation. Results In the control group, pre-inspiratory potentials were generally absent during resting breathing and carbon dioxide stimulation, and consistently identified in the presence of inspiratory constraints (expected). In CCHS patients, pre-inspiratory potentials were systematically identified in all study conditions, including resting breathing. They were therefore significantly more frequent than in controls. Conclusions This study provides a neurophysiological substrate to the wakefulness drive to breathe that is characteristic of CCHS and suggests that the supplementary motor area contributes to this phenomenon. Whether or not this “cortical breathing” can be taken advantage of therapeutically, or has clinical consequences (like competition with attentional resources) remains to be determined.
Cardiopulmonary bypass transiently inhibits intraventricular vortex ring formation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE Transmitral blood flow during early left ventricular (LV) filling produces an intraventricular rotational body of fluid known as a "vortex ring" that enhances the hydraulic efficiency of early LV filling. The authors tested the hypothesis that exposure to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) attenuates intraventricular vortex formation time (VFT) in patients with normal preoperative LV systolic and diastolic function undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. DESIGN A prospective, observational study. PARTICIPANTS Ten men (65 ± 4 years, 91 ± 11 kg, and 175 ± 8 cm) with a normal preoperative LV ejection fraction (58% ± 6%) scheduled for elective CABG surgery were studied after institutional review board approval. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Anesthesia was induced with etomidate, fentanyl, and rocuronium and maintained with isoflurane. Myocardial protection during CPB consisted of antegrade and retrograde cold blood cardioplegia administered at 15-minute intervals, systemic and topical hypothermia, and warm continuous antegrade cardioplegia before aortic cross-clamp removal. The peak early LV filling and atrial systole blood flow velocities (E and A, respectively) and corresponding velocity-time integrals (VTI-E and VTI-A, respectively) were obtained with pulse-wave Doppler echocardiography and used to determine E/A and atrial filling fraction (β, VTI-A/[VTI-E + VTI-A]), respectively. Mitral valve diameter (D) was calculated as the average of minor and major axis lengths obtained in the midesophageal bicommissural and long-axis transesophageal echocardiographic imaging planes, respectively. VFT was calculated 30 minutes before and 15, 30, and 60 minutes after CPB as 4 × (1 - β) × stroke volume (SV)/πD(3), where SV is the stroke volume measured using thermodilution. All patients separated from CPB in sinus rhythm without pacing or vasoactive drug support. Systemic and pulmonary hemodynamics were similar before compared with all times after CPB. CPB significantly (p < 0.05) reduced VFT (5.3 ± 1.8 to 4.0 ± 1.5 15 minutes after CPB); the recovery of VFT (to 4.7 ± 1.6, p > 0.05 v baseline) was noted 60 minutes after CPB. A reduction in E/A (1.26 ± 0.22 to 0.96 ± 0.27) and an increase in β (0.33 ± 0.04 to 0.41 ± 0.07) occurred 15 minutes after CPB. E/A and β also recovered gradually toward control values after CPB (1.25 ± 0.22 and 0.36 ± 0.04, respectively, 60 minutes after CPB; p > 0.05 v. baseline). CONCLUSIONS The results indicated that CPB transiently attenuate VFT in patients with normal preoperative LV systolic and diastolic function undergoing CABG surgery. These data suggest that CPB adversely affects diastolic transmitral flow efficiency by reducing intraventricular vortex ring formation in vivo.
Estimates of Denitrification and Nitrification in Coastal and Estuarine Sediments

Denitrification and nitrification in sediments of Tama Estuary and Odawa Bay, Japan, were investigated by the combined use of a continuous-flow sediment-water system and a 15N tracer technique. At Odawa Bay, the nitrification rate was comparable to the nitrate reduction rate, and 70% of the N2 evolved originated from nitrogenous oxides (nitrate and nitrite) which were produced by the action of nitrifying bacteria in the sediments. At Tama Estuary, the nitrate reduction rate was 11 to 17 times higher than the nitrification rate, and nitrogenous oxides derived from ammonium accounted for only 6 to 9% of the N2 evolution by denitrification.
# 2008-056 Public Capital , Income Distribution and Growth *

Public capital investment plays an important role in long run growth through enhancing productivity and complementing the accumulation of private inputs. Under appropriate conditions, public capital could also have important implications for income distribution dynamics. When the credit market is imperfect and there are diminishing returns to private factors, income inequality is negatively related to economic growth. The dynamics of income distribution is determined by relative income shares of private input, wherever initial endowment differs among individuals. Therefore, if the provision of public capital has an effect on relative income shares of private inputs, then it will have an effect on income distribution dynamics. In this case, public capital once more becomes an important determinant of long-run growth through its indirect effect on income distribution. The paper studies this and other interesting issues with respect to public capital, income inequality and economic growth.
Association between minor elevations of creatine kinase-MB level and mortality in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation. PURSUIT Steering Committee. Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa in Unstable Angina: Receptor Suppression Using Integrilin Therapy.

CONTEXT Controversy surrounds the diagnostic and prognostic importance of slightly elevated cardiac markers in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation. OBJECTIVES To investigate the relationship between peak creatine kinase (CK)-MB level and outcome and to determine whether a threshold CK-MB level exists below which risk is not increased. DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective observational analysis of data from the international Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa in Unstable Angina: Receptor Suppression Using Integrilin Therapy (PURSUIT) trial, conducted from November 1995 to January 1997. PATIENTS A total of 8250 patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation who had at least 1 CK-MB sample collected during their index hospitalization. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Mortality at 30 days and 6 months, was assessed by category of index-hospitalization peak CK-MB level (0-1, >1-2, >2-3, >3-5, >5-10, or >10 times the upper limit of normal). Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the independent prognostic significance of peak CK-MB level after adjustment for baseline predictors of 30-day and 6-month mortality. RESULTS Mortality at 30 days and 6 months increased from 1.8% and 4.0%, respectively, in patients with normal peak CK-MB levels, to 3.3% and 6.2 % at peak CK-MB levels 1 to 2 times normal, to 5.1% and 7.5% at peak CK-MB levels 3 to 5 times normal, and to 8.3% and 11.0% at peak CK-MB levels greater than 10 times normal. Log-transformed peak CK-MB levels were predictive of adjusted 30-day and 6-month mortality (P<.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS Our data show that elevation of CK-MB level is strongly related to mortality in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation, and that the increased risk begins with CK-MB levels just above normal. In the appropriate clinical context, even minor CK-MB elevations should be considered indicative of myocardial infarction.
Finite-Dimensional Filters with Nonlinear Drift VIII: Classification of Finite-Dimensional Estimation Algebras of Maximal Rank with State-Space Dimension 4

The idea of using estimation algebras to construct finite-dimensional nonlinear filters was first proposed by Brockett and Mitter independently. It turns out that the concept of estimation algebra plays a crucial role in the investigation of finite-dimensional nonlinear filters. In his talk at the International Congress of Mathematics in 1983, Brockett proposed a classification of all finite-dimensional estimation algebras. Chiou and Yau classify all finite-dimensional estimation algebras of maximal rank with dimension of the state space less than or equal to two. In this paper we succeed in classifying all finite-dimensional estimation algebras of maximal rank with state-space dimension equal to three. Thus from the Lie algebraic point of view, we have now understood generically all finite dimensional filters with state-space dimension less than four.
Role of JNK, p38, and ERK in Platelet-Derived Growth Factor–Induced Vascular Proliferation, Migration, and Gene Expression

Objective—We investigated the comparative roles of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, including c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and p38, in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation, migration, and gene expression. Methods and Results—VSMCs were infected with recombinant adenovirus containing dominant-negative mutants of ERK, p38, and JNK (Ad-DN-ERK, Ad-DN-p38, and Ad-DN-JNK, respectively) to specifically inhibit the respective MAP kinases and then stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB. Ad-DN-ERK attenuated PDGF-BB–induced VSMC proliferation more potently than Ad-DN-p38 or Ad-DN-JNK, indicating the dominant role of ERK in VSMC proliferation. Ad-DN-ERK, Ad-DN-p38, and Ad-DN-JNK similarly inhibited PDGF-induced VSMC migration. Ad-DN-ERK and Ad-DN-JNK suppressed PDGF-BB–induced downregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1, whereas Ad-DN-p38 decreased PDGF-BB–induced upregulation of p21Cip1. Ad-DN-ERK inhibited PDGF-BB–induced plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and transforming growth factor-&bgr;1 expressions, Ad-DN-p38 blocked monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and transforming growth factor-&bgr;1 expression but not PAI-1, whereas Ad-DN-JNK suppressed only PAI-1 expression. Moreover, in vivo gene transfer of Ad-DN-p38 to rat carotid artery caused the inhibition of intimal hyperplasia by balloon injury, indicating the involvement of p38 in vascular remodeling in vivo. Conclusions—We propose that these 3 MAP kinases participate in vascular diseases via differential molecular mechanisms and are new therapeutic targets for treatment of vascular diseases.
Evaluation of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate and Calcium Hydroxide Cement as Pulp-capping Agents in Human Teeth Materials and Methods

( o ( a p bstract his study evaluated the histomorphologic response of uman dental pulps capped with mineral trioxide agregate (MTA) and Ca(OH)2 cement (CH). Pulp expoures were performed on the occlusal floor of 40 human ermanent premolars. After that, the pulp was capped ither with CH or MTA and restored with composite esin. After 30 and 60 days, teeth were extracted and rocessed for histologic exam and categorized in a istologic score system. The data were subjected to ruskal-Wallis and Conover tests ( .05). All groups erformed well in terms of hard tissue bridge formaion, inflammatory response, and other pulpal findings. owever, a lower response of CH30 was observed for he dentin bridge formation, when compared with TA30 and MTA60 groups. Although the pulp healing ith calcium hydroxide was slower than that of MTA, oth materials were successful for pulp capping in uman teeth. (J Endod 2008;34:1–6)
Complementing Büchi automata with a subset-tuple construction

Complementation of Buchi automata is well known for being difficult. In the worst case, a state-space growth of (0.76n) is unavoidable. Recent studies suggest that “simpler” algorithms perform better than more involved ones on practical cases. In this paper, we present a simple “direct” algorithm for complementing Buchi automata. It involves a structured subset construction (using tuples of subsets of states) that produces a deterministic automaton. This construction leads to a complementation procedure that resembles the straightforward complementation algorithm for deterministic Buchi automata, the latter algorithm actually being a special case of our construction.
Transapical versus conventional aortic valve replacement--a propensity-matched comparison.

INTRODUCTION The goal of this study was to compare the short- and long-term outcomes after aortic valve (AV) surgery carried out via standard sternotomy/partial sternotomy versus transapical transcatheter AV implantation (taTAVI). PATIENTS AND METHODS All 336 patients who underwent taTAVI between 2006 and 2010 were compared with 4533 patients who underwent conventional AV replacement (AVR) operations between 2001 and 2010. Using propensity score matching, we identified and consecutively compared 2 very similar groups of 167 patients each. The focus was on periprocedural complications and long-term survival. RESULTS The 30-day mortality rate was 10.8% and 8.4% (P = .56) for the conventional AVR patients and the TAVI patients, respectively. The percentages of postoperative pacemaker implantations (15.0% versus 6.0%, P = .017) and cases of renal failure requiring dialysis (25.7% versus 12.6%, P = .004) were higher in the TAVI group. Kaplan-Meier curves diverged after half a year in favor of conventional surgery. The estimated 3-year survival rates were 53.5% ± 5.7% (TAVI) and 66.7% ± 0.2% (conventional AVR). CONCLUSION Our study shows that even with all the latest successes in catheter-based AV implantation, the conventional surgical approach is still a very good treatment option with excellent long-term results, even for older, high-risk patients.
The apparatus for violence: Repression, violent protest, and civil war in a cross-national framework

Why does repression sometimes work to stop violent protest and sometimes heighten protest? We argue that the effect of repression on protest depends critically on a “memory of violence” within the state. Without this memory, the costs of continued protest in the face of increased repression are often too great for unrelenting mobilization, effectively suppressing the political violence. We focus on a global sample of repression and protest data at the weekly level from 1990 to 2009. In states with civil war histories, repression can mobilize a population previously primed for violent protest.
Reconsidering path creation in economic geography: aspects of agency, temporality and methods

ABSTRACT The emergence of new industrial development paths is an important topic in economic geography. However, current perspectives emphasizing the constraining forces of historical trajectories on innovation and change have shortcomings in accounting for how and where new industries arise. This article argues that more attention needs to be paid to agency, and that agency must be seen as inter-temporal in the sense that actors’ activities and strategies are framed by combinations of experiences and expectations. As such, the article combines insights from economic geography, transitions studies and the sociology of expectations (SoE) literature to expand extant theory on path creation. A brief analysis of the emerging Norwegian offshore wind power (OWP) sector serves to illustrate how experience (the past) and different types of expectations (the future) have tangible effects on agency, and in effect on path creation processes. These insights have methodological implications, essentially favouring qualitative approaches over quantitative ones to understand formative phases in industrial development.
The Effect of Concurrent Visual Feedback on Controlling Swimming Speed

Introduction. Developing the ability to control the speed of swimming is an important part of swimming training. Maintaining a defined constant speed makes it possible for the athlete to swim economically at a low physiological cost. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of concurrent visual feedback transmitted by the Leader device on the control of swimming speed in a single exercise test. Material and methods. The study involved a group of expert swimmers (n = 20). Prior to the experiment, the race time for the 100 m distance was determined for each of the participants. In the experiment, the participants swam the distance of 100 m without feedback and with visual feedback. In both variants, the task of the participants was to swim the test distance in a time as close as possible to the time designated prior to the experiment. In the first version of the experiment (without feedback), the participants swam the test distance without receiving real-time feedback on their swimming speed. In the second version (with visual feedback), the participants followed a beam of light moving across the bottom of the swimming pool, generated by the Leader device. Results. During swimming with visual feedback, the 100 m race time was significantly closer to the time designated. The difference between the pre-determined time and the time obtained was significantly statistically lower during swimming with visual feedback (p = 0.00002). Conclusions. Concurrently transmitting visual feedback to athletes improves their control of swimming speed. The Leader device has proven useful in controlling swimming speed.