Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Cardiac Rehabilitation by Medicare Beneficiaries After Myocardial Infarction or Coronary Bypass Surgery

Background— Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is effective in prolonging survival and reducing disability in patients with coronary heart disease. However, national use patterns and predictors of CR use have not been evaluated thoroughly. Methods and Results— Using Medicare claims, we analyzed outpatient (phase II) CR use after hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarctions or coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 267 427 fee-for-service beneficiaries aged ≥65 years who survived for at least 30 days after hospital discharge. We used multivariable analyses to identify predictors of CR use and to quantify geographic variations in its use. We obtained unadjusted, adjusted-smoothed, and standardized rates of CR use by state. Overall, CR was used in 13.9% of patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction and 31.0% of patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Older individuals, women, nonwhites, and patients with comorbidities (including congestive heart failure, previous stroke, diabetes mellitus, or cancer) were significantly less likely to receive CR. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery during the index hospitalization, higher median household income, higher level of education, and shorter distance to the nearest CR facility were important predictors of higher CR use. Adjusted CR use varied 9-fold among states, ranging from 6.6% in Idaho to 53.5% in Nebraska. The highest CR use rates were clustered in the north central states of the United States. Conclusions— CR use is relatively low among Medicare beneficiaries despite convincing evidence of its benefits and recommendations for its use by professional organizations. Use is higher after coronary artery bypass graft surgery than with acute myocardial infarctions not treated with revascularization procedures and varies dramatically by state and region of the United States.
Development of a system to measure local measurement conditions around textile electrodes

The three main influence factors on the interface between textile electrode an skin are: temperature, contact pressure and relative humidity. This paper presents first results of a prototype, which measures these local measurement conditions around textile electrodes. The wearable prototype is a data acquisition system based on a microcontroller with a flexible sensor sleeve. Validation measurements included variation of ambient temperature, contact pressures and sleeve material. Results show a good correlation with data found in literature.
Accelerometer measured levels of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and sedentary time in children and adolescents with chronic disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Context Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) are important for child and adolescent health. Objective To examine habitual levels of accelerometer measured MVPA and ST in children and adolescents with chronic disease, and how these levels compare with healthy peers. Methods Data sources: An extensive search was carried out in Medline, Cochrane library, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus and CINAHL from 2000–2017. Study selection: Studies with accelerometer-measured MVPA and/or ST (at least 3 days and 6 hours/day to provide estimates of habitual levels) in children 0–19 years of age with chronic diseases but without co-morbidities that would present major impediments to physical activity. In all cases patients were studied while well and clinically stable. Results Out of 1592 records, 25 studies were eligible, in four chronic disease categories: cardiovascular disease (7 studies), respiratory disease (7 studies), diabetes (8 studies), and malignancy (3 studies). Patient MVPA was generally below the recommended 60 min/day and ST generally high regardless of the disease condition. Comparison with healthy controls suggested no marked differences in MVPA between controls and patients with cardiovascular disease (1 study, n = 42) and type 1 diabetes (5 studies, n = 400; SMD -0.70, 95% CI -1.89 to 0.48, p = 0.25). In patients with respiratory disease, MVPA was lower in patients than controls (4 studies, n = 470; SMD -0.39, 95% CI -0.80, 0.02, p = 0.06). Meta-analysis indicated significantly lower MVPA in patients with malignancies than in the controls (2 studies, n = 90; SMD -2.2, 95% CI -4.08 to -0.26, p = 0.03). Time spent sedentary was significantly higher in patients in 4/10 studies compared with healthy control groups, significantly lower in 1 study, while 5 studies showed no significant group difference. Conclusions MVPA in children/adolescents with chronic disease appear to be well below guideline recommendations, although comparable with activity levels of their healthy peers except for children with malignancies. Tailored and disease appropriate intervention strategies may be needed to increase MVPA and reduce ST in children and adolescents with chronic disease.
Provably Good Race Detection That Runs in Parallel

A multithreaded parallel program that is intended to be deterministic may exhibit nondeterminism due to bugs called determinacy races. A key capability of race detectors is to determine whether one thread executes logically in parallel with another thread or whether the threads must operate in series. This thesis presents two algorithms, one serial and one parallel, to maintain the series-parallel (SP) relationships “on the fly” for fork-join multithreaded programs. For a fork-join program with T1 work and a critical-path length of T∞, the serial SP-Maintenance algorithm runs in O(T1) time. The parallel algorithm executes in the nearly optimal O(T1/P + PT∞) time, when run on P processors and using an efficient scheduler. These SP-maintenance algorithms can be incorporated into race detectors to get a provably good race detector that runs in parallel. This thesis describes an efficient parallel race detector I call Nondeterminator-3. For a fork-join program T1 work, critical-path length T∞, and v shared memory locations, the Nondeterminator-3 runs in O(T1/P +PT∞ lgP + min {(T1 lgP )/P, vT∞ lgP}) expected time, when run on P processors and using an efficient scheduler. Some parts of this thesis represent joint work with Michael A. Bender, Seth Gilbert, and Charles E. Leiserson. Thesis Supervisor: Charles E. Leiserson Title: Professor
A comment on the new non-conventional gravitational mechanism proposed by Jaekel and Reynaud to accommodate the Pioneer anomaly

In this paper we put on the test the new mechanism of gravitational origin recently put forth by Jaekel and Reynaud in order to explain the Pioneer anomaly in the framework of their post-Einsteinian metric extension of general relativity. According to such a proposal, the secular part of the anomalous acceleration experienced by the twin spacecraft of about 1 nm s^-2 could be caused by an extra-potential \delta\Phi_P=c^2\chi r^2, with \chi=4 10^-8 AU^-2, coming from the second sector of the considered model. When applied to the motion of the planets of the Solar System, it would induce anomalous secular perihelion advances which amount to tens-hundreds of arcseconds per century for the outer planets. As for other previously proposed non-conventional gravitational explanations of the Pioneer anomaly, the answer of the latest observational determinations of the residual perihelion rates by RAS IAA is neatly and unambiguously negative. The presence of another possible candidate to explain the Pioneer anomaly, i.e. the extra-potential \delta\Phi_N, linear in distance, from the first sector of the Jaekel and Reynaud model, is ruled out not only by the residuals of the optical data of the outer planets processed with the recent RAS IAA EPM2004 ephemerides but also by those produced with other, older dynamical theories like, e.g., the well known NASA JPL DE200.
Evaluation of Femoral Neck Bone Mineral Density and Radiographic Hand and Knee Osteoarthritis in a Korean Elderly Population

Background Reports on the relationship between osteoporosis and osteoarthritis (OA) have tended to disagree, especially in non-weight bearing joints such as the hand joints. We aimed to investigate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and hand and knee OA in a general Korean elderly population. Methods We evaluated femur neck BMD and the hand and knee radiographs of 143 men and 123 women over 65 years of age who participated in a population-based cohort study. The Kellgren-Lawrence criteria for grading OA were implemented, and grade 2 or higher were categorized as radiographic OA. BMD was compared according to the existence of radiographic OA in the hand and knee using analysis of covariance, and correlation analyses were performed to explore the relationship between BMD and radiographic OA grade. Results After controlling for age and body mass index, there was no significant difference in BMD between participants with and without hand OA (p = 0.717 in male and p = 0.862 in female), between those with and without knee OA (p = 0.974 in male and p = 0.563 in female), and between those with only hand OA and those with only knee OA (p = 0.920 in male and p = 0.961 in female). Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between BMD and the radiographic OA grade of the hands (p = 0.182 in male and p = 0.897 in female) and knees (p = 0.245 in male and p = 0.098 in female). Conclusions In our cohort of the general Korean elderly population, no association was found between osteoporosis and OA, regardless of the weight bearing status of the joints.
Effect of sirolimus on malignancy and survival after kidney transplantation: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data

Objective To examine risk of malignancy and death in patients with kidney transplant who receive the immunosuppressive drug sirolimus. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data. Data sources Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to March 2013. Eligibility Randomized controlled trials comparing immunosuppressive regimens with and without sirolimus in recipients of kidney or combined pancreatic and renal transplant for which the author was willing to provide individual patient level data. Two reviewers independently screened titles/abstracts and full text reports of potentially eligible trials to identify studies for inclusion. All eligible trials reported data on malignancy or survival. Results The search yielded 2365 unique citations. Patient level data were available from 5876 patients from 21 randomized trials. Sirolimus was associated with a 40% reduction in the risk of malignancy (adjusted hazard ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.39 to 0.93) and a 56% reduction in the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer (0.44, 0.30 to 0.63) compared with controls. The most pronounced effect was seen in patients who converted to sirolimus from an established immunosuppressive regimen, resulting in a reduction in risk of malignancy (0.34, 0.28 to 0.41), non-melanoma skin cancer (0.32, 0.24 to 0.42), and other cancers (0.52, 0.38 to 0.69). Sirolimus was associated with an increased risk of death (1.43, 1.21 to 1.71) compared with controls. Conclusions Sirolimus was associated with a reduction in the risk of malignancy and non-melanoma skin cancer in transplant recipients. The benefit was most pronounced in patients who converted from an established immunosuppressive regimen to sirolimus. Given the risk of mortality, however, the use of this drug does not seem warranted for most patients with kidney transplant. Further research is needed to determine if different populations, such as those at high risk of cancer, might benefit from sirolimus.
A new method for determining the interfacial molecules and characterizing the surface roughness in computer simulations. Application to the liquid–vapor interface of water

A new method is presented to identify the truly interfacial molecules at fluid/fluid interfaces seen at molecular resolution, a situation that regularly occurs in computer simulations. In the new method, the surface is scanned by moving a probe sphere of a given radius along a large set of test lines that are perpendicular to the plane of the interface. The molecules that are hit by the probe spheres are regarded as interfacial ones, and the position of the test spheres when they are in contact with the interfacial molecules give an estimate of the surface. The dependence of the method on various parameters, in particular, on the size of the probe sphere is discussed in detail. Based on the list of molecules identified as truly interfacial ones, two measures of the molecular scale roughness of the surface are proposed. The bivariate distribution of the lateral and normal distances of two points of the interface provides a full description of the molecular scale morphology of the surface in a statistical sense. For practical purposes two parameters related to the dependence of the average normal distance of two surface points on their lateral distance can be used. These two parameters correspond to the frequency and amplitude of the surface roughness, respectively. The new method is applied for the analysis of the molecular level structure of the liquid–vapor interface of water. As an immediate result of the application of the new method it is shown that the orientational preferences of the interfacial water molecules depend only on the local curvature of the interface, and hence the molecules located at wells of concave curvature of the rippled surface prefer the same orientations as waters located at the surface of small apolar solutes. The vast majority of the truly interfacial molecules are found to form a strongly percolating two‐dimensional hydrogen bonded network at the surface, whereas no percolation is observed within the second molecular layer beyond the surface. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2008
Glutathione Transferase from Trichoderma virens Enhances Cadmium Tolerance without Enhancing Its Accumulation in Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum

Background Cadmium (Cd) is a major heavy metal pollutant which is highly toxic to plants and animals. Vast agricultural areas worldwide are contaminated with Cd. Plants take up Cd and through the food chain it reaches humans and causes toxicity. It is ideal to develop plants tolerant to Cd, without enhanced accumulation in the edible parts for human consumption. Glutathione transferases (GST) are a family of multifunctional enzymes known to have important roles in combating oxidative stresses induced by various heavy metals including Cd. Some GSTs are also known to function as glutathione peroxidases. Overexpression/heterologous expression of GSTs is expected to result in plants tolerant to heavy metals such as Cd. Results Here, we report cloning of a glutathione transferase gene from Trichoderma virens, a biocontrol fungus and introducing it into Nicotiana tabacum plants by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. Transgenic nature of the plants was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization and expression by reverse transcription PCR. Transgene (TvGST) showed single gene Mendelian inheritance. When transgenic plants expressing TvGST gene were exposed to different concentrations of Cd, they were found to be more tolerant compared to wild type plants, with transgenic plants showing lower levels of lipid peroxidation. Levels of different antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione transferase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, guiacol peroxidase and catalase showed enhanced levels in transgenic plants expressing TvGST compared to control plants, when exposed to Cd. Cadmium accumulation in the plant biomass in transgenic plants were similar or lower than wild-type plants. Conclusion The results of the present study suggest that transgenic tobacco plants expressing a Trichoderma virens GST are more tolerant to Cd, without enhancing its accumulation in the plant biomass. It should be possible to extend the present results to crop plants for developing Cd tolerance and in limiting Cd availability in the food chain.
Splice Site Mutations in the ATP7A Gene

Menkes disease (MD) is caused by mutations in the ATP7A gene. We describe 33 novel splice site mutations detected in patients with MD or the milder phenotypic form, Occipital Horn Syndrome. We review these 33 mutations together with 28 previously published splice site mutations. We investigate 12 mutations for their effect on the mRNA transcript in vivo. Transcriptional data from another 16 mutations were collected from the literature. The theoretical consequences of splice site mutations, predicted with the bioinformatics tool Human Splice Finder, were investigated and evaluated in relation to in vivo results. Ninety-six percent of the mutations identified in 45 patients with classical MD were predicted to have a significant effect on splicing, which concurs with the absence of any detectable wild-type transcript in all 19 patients investigated in vivo. Sixty-seven percent of the mutations identified in 12 patients with milder phenotypes were predicted to have no significant effect on splicing, which concurs with the presence of wild-type transcript in 7 out of 9 patients investigated in vivo. Both the in silico predictions and the in vivo results support the hypothesis previously suggested by us and others, that the presence of some wild-type transcript is correlated to a milder phenotype.
Take it or leave: a five-year prospective study of workplace bullying and indicators of expulsion in working life

Workplace bullying is often held as a precursor of expulsion in working life, but the claim builds on sparse empirical groundwork. In the present study, bullying is investigated as an antecedent to indicators of expulsion, be it from the workplace (change of employer) or from working life itself (disability benefit recipiency and unemployment), using a nationally representative sample (n=1,613), a five-year time-lag as well as two separate measures of workplace bullying. In line with the hypotheses, logistic regression analyses revealed that both exposure to bullying behaviors and self-labeled bullying are significantly associated with change of employer (OR=1.77 and 2.42, respectively) and disability benefit recipiency (OR=2.81 and 2.95, respectively). Moreover, exposure to bullying behaviors was found to be significantly related to unemployment five years on (OR=4.6). For the self-labeling measure of bullying, this tendency only held true at the 0.1 significance level (OR=3.69, p=0.098). Together, the present results indicate that targets of bullying are at a greater risk of expulsion, both from the workplace and from working life itself, thus representing strong incentives to combat bullying both from the perspective of the individual, the organization and society at large.
Shear Strength Model for FRP-Strengthened RC Beams with Adverse FRP-Steel Interaction

AbstractRC beams shear strengthened with externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) U strips or side strips usually fail owing to debonding of the bonded FRP shear reinforcement. Because such debonding usually occurs in a brittle manner at relatively small shear crack widths, some of the internal steel stirrups intersected by the critical shear crack may not have reached yielding at beam shear failure. Consequently, the yield stress of internal steel stirrups in such a strengthened RC beam cannot be fully utilized. This adverse shear interaction between the internal steel shear reinforcement and the external FRP shear reinforcement may significantly reduce the benefit of the shear-strengthening FRP but has not been considered explicitly by any of the shear strength models in the existing design guidelines. This paper presents a new shear strength model considering this adverse shear interaction through the introduction of a shear interaction factor. A comprehensive evaluation of the proposed model, .
On the Autoreducibility of Random Sequences

A language A ⊆ {0,1}* is called i.o. autoreducible if A is Turing-reducible to itself via a machine M such that, for infinitely many input words w, M does not query its oracle A about w. We examine the question if algorithmically random languages in the sense of Martin-Lof are i.o. autoreducible. We obtain the somewhat counterintuitive result that every algorithmically random language is polynomial-time i.o. autoreducible where the autoreducing machine poses its queries in a "quasi-nonadaptive" way; however, if in the above definition the "infinitely many" is replaced by "almost all," then every algorithmically random language is not autoreducible in this stronger sense. Further results obtained give upper and lower bounds on the number of queries of the autoreducing machine M and the number of inputs w for which M does not query the oracle about w.
Affective and Autonomic Responses to Erotic Images: Evidence of Disgust-Based Mechanisms in Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder

Disgust has recently been implicated in the development and maintenance of female sexual dysfunction, yet most empirical studies have been conducted with a sexually healthy sample. The current study contributes to the literature by expanding the application of a disgust model of sexual functioning to a clinically relevant sample of women with low sexual desire/arousal and accompanying sexual distress. Young women (mean age = 19.12 years) with psychometrically defined sexual dysfunction (i.e., female sexual interest/arousal disorder [FSIAD] group) and a healthy control group were compared in their affective (i.e., facial electromyography [EMG] and self-report) and autonomic (i.e., heart rate and electrodermal activity) responses to disgusting, erotic, positive, and neutral images. Significant differences were predicted in responses to erotic images only. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the FSIAD group would display affective and autonomic responses consistent with a disgust response, while responses from the control group would align with a general appetitive response. Results largely supported study hypotheses. The FSIAD group displayed significantly greater negative facial affect, reported more subjective disgust, and recorded greater heart rate deceleration than the control group in response to erotic stimuli. Greater subjective disgust response corresponded with more sexual avoidance behavior. Planned follow-up analyses explored correlates of subjective disgust responses.
The Relationship Between Ethical and Abusive Coaching Behaviors and Student-Athlete Well-Being

Drawing on social–cognitive theory, this research examined the impact of college coaches’ ethical and abusive behavior on their athletes’ college choice satisfaction, perceptions of the team’s inclusion climate, and team members’ willingness to cheat. We examined the relative impact of these coaching behaviors controlling for team gender as well as the contextual influences of the profile of the sport, National Collegiate Athletic Association Division, and ethical climate at the school. Results from a multilevel analysis of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s quadrennial Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Learning of Students in College (GOALS) survey (N 19,920 student-athletes) provided general support for our theoretically derived hypotheses. Ethical leadership was positively related to student-athletes’ college choice satisfaction, as well as their perceptions of inclusion climate on the team. Abusive coaching behavior was also positively related to team members’ willingness to cheat. Perceptions of the ethical climate at the school were related to all 3 outcomes. We found only partial support for the relationship between abusive behavior, inclusion climate, and college choice satisfaction. Unexpectedly, ethical leadership was unrelated to student-athletes’ perceptions of their teammates’ willingness to cheat.