Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TESTING AN INNOVATIVE METHOD TO COLLECT ADVERSE EVENTS DATA: A METHODOLOGICAL STUDY

Title: Testing an Innovative Method to Collect Adverse Events Data: A Methodological Study Author: Victoria A. Kellogg, RN, MSN, CRNP, MBA, PhD(c) Pennsylvania State University, School of Nursing Purpose: The Shift Coupon was designed to provide a more accurate measure of adverse events occurring in the hospital setting by eliminating the two overriding barriers to reporting adverse events: “[1] fear and [2] lack of belief that it [reporting the adverse event] results in improvement” (Leape, 1999, p. 1). Thus, the study purposes were to test the ability of the Shift Coupon to collect adverse events data and to explore the hospital work environment as it related to registered nurses’ reports of adverse events. Methods: Design: Nonexperimental descriptive, comparative; Sample: 1,000 randomly selected registered nurses; Instruments: Shift Coupon and Blegen/Vaughn Work Environment Index; Procedure: Mailed registered nurses surveys following Dillman’s (2000) Tailored Design Method. Registered nurses completed Shift Coupons for 5 shifts and the Blegen/Vaughn Work Environment Index then returned completed instruments; Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics and chi-square. Results: 355 registered nurses returned 1937 Shift Coupons (46.7% response rate), with 247 (69.6%) registered nurses returning 1369 coupons for shifts worked in a hospital. On the majority of Shift Coupons (70.9%) registered nurses reported that no adverse event occurred. The most commonly reported adverse events were: patient complaints (21.4%), medication errors (18.9%), family complaints (17.6%), and patient falls (12.1%). Registered nurses identified lack of staff (36.8%), lack of communication (30.5%), and work overload (29.5%) as the most frequent causes of adverse events. Shift Coupons did collect more adverse events data than incident reports (p<.001). Blegen/Vaughn Work Environment Index data supported the underreporting of adverse events and Shift Coupon findings and provided insights for future coupon studies. Conclusion: The Shift Coupon is a viable method to collect adverse events data. Implications: The Shift Coupon provides a method for collecting adverse events data in the hospital setting that attenuates barriers to reporting adverse events while placing front-line healthcare professionals in a position to identify direct and indirect adverse event cause(s). Shift Coupon data can be used to isolate areas needing quality improvement and to develop appropriate quality improvement initiative(s) to decrease the occurrence of adverse events.
A comparison of local simulations and reduced models of MRI-induced turbulence

We run mean-field shearing-box numerical simulations with a temperature-dependent resistivity and compare them to a reduced dynamical model. Our simulations reveal the co-existence of two quasi-steady states, a ‘quiet’ state and an ‘active’ turbulent state, confirming the predictions of the reduced model. The initial conditions determine on which state the simulation ultimately settles. The active state is strongly influenced by the geometry of the computational box and the thermal properties of the gas. Cubic domains support permanent channel flows, bar-shaped domains exhibit eruptive behaviour, and horizontal slabs give rise to infrequent channels. Meanwhile, longer cooling time-scales lead to higher saturation amplitudes.
Particle Swarm Optimization With Composite Particles in Dynamic Environments

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the study of particle swarm optimization (PSO) in dynamic environments. This paper presents a new PSO model, called PSO with composite particles (PSO-CP), to address dynamic optimization problems. PSO-CP partitions the swarm into a set of composite particles based on their similarity using a “worst first” principle. Inspired by the composite particle phenomenon in physics, the elementary members in each composite particle interact via a velocity-anisotropic reflection scheme to integrate valuable information for effectively and rapidly finding the promising optima in the search space. Each composite particle maintains the diversity by a scattering operator. In addition, an integral movement strategy is introduced to promote the swarm diversity. Experiments on a typical dynamic test benchmark problem provide a guideline for setting the involved parameters and show that PSO-CP is efficient in comparison with several state-of-the-art PSO algorithms for dynamic optimization problems.
CD1 Molecules Efficiently Present Antigen in Immature Dendritic Cells and Traffic Independently of MHC Class II During Dendritic Cell Maturation1

Upon exposure to Ag and inflammatory stimuli, dendritic cells (DCs) undergo a series of dynamic cellular events, referred to as DC maturation, that involve facilitated peptide Ag loading onto MHC class II molecules and their subsequent transport to the cell surface. Besides MHC molecules, human DCs prominently express molecules of the CD1 family (CD1a, -b, -c, and -d) and mediate CD1-dependent presentation of lipid and glycolipid Ags to T cells, but the impact of DC maturation upon CD1 trafficking and Ag presentation is unknown. Using monocyte-derived immature DCs and those stimulated with TNF-α for maturation, we observed that none of the CD1 isoforms underwent changes in intracellular trafficking that mimicked MHC class II molecules during DC maturation. In contrast to the striking increase in surface expression of MHC class II on mature DCs, the surface expression of CD1 molecules was either increased only slightly (for CD1b and CD1c) or decreased (for CD1a). In addition, unlike MHC class II, DC maturation-associated transport from lysosomes to the plasma membrane was not readily detected for CD1b despite the fact that both molecules were prominently expressed in the same MIIC lysosomal compartments before maturation. Consistent with this, DCs efficiently presented CD1b-restricted lipid Ags to specific T cells similarly in immature and mature DCs. Thus, DC maturation-independent pathways for lipid Ag presentation by CD1 may play a crucial role in host defense, even before DCs are able to induce maximum activation of peptide Ag-specific T cells.
A Highly Efficient VLSI Architecture for H.264/AVC CAVLC Decoder

In this paper, an efficient algorithm is proposed to improve the decoding efficiency of the context-based adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC) procedure. Due to the data dependency among symbols in the decoding flow, the CAVLC decoder requires large computation time, which dominates the overall decoder system performance. To expedite its decoding speed, the critical path in the CAVLC decoder is first analyzed and then reduced by forwarding the adaptive detection for succeeding symbols. With a shortened critical path, the CAVLC architecture is further divided into two segments, which can be easily implemented by a pipeline structure. Consequently, the overall performance is effectively improved. In the hardware implementation, a low power combined LUT and single output buffer have been adopted to reduce the area as well as power consumption without affecting the decoding performance. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture surpassing other recent designs can approximately reduce power consumption by 40% and achieve three times decoding speed in comparison to the original decoding procedure suggested in the H.264 standard. The maximum frequency can be larger than 210 MHz, which can easily support the real-time requirement for resolutions higher than the HD1080 format.
Factors Affecting Firm Competitiveness: Evidence from an Emerging Market

The objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting firm competitiveness in an emerging market—Turkey. In the paper, competitiveness is proxied by a firm’s financial performance. The empirical analysis is based on firms listed on Borsa Istanbul and covers the period between 2005 and 2014. Results from a firm-level panel data model indicate that return on assets is positively related to firm size, international sales, liquidity and growth, and negatively related to leverage and R&D expenditures. On the other hand, gross profit margin is positively related to size and international sales, and negatively related to leverage and R&D expenditures. Finally, results show that Tobin’s Q ratio is higher for firms with higher levels of debt and higher liquidity levels.
Using Lexical and Relational Similarity to Classify Semantic Relations

Many methods are available for computing semantic similarity between individual words, but certain NLP tasks require the comparison of word pairs. This paper presents a kernel-based framework for application to relational reasoning tasks of this kind. The model presented here combines information about two distinct types of word pair similarity: lexical similarity and relational similarity. We present an efficient and flexible technique for implementing relational similarity and show the effectiveness of combining lexical and relational models by demonstrating state-of-the-art results on a compound noun interpretation task.
Alveolar Cell Senescence Exacerbates Pulmonary Inflammation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background: Alveolar cell senescence is accelerated in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that alveolar cell senescence contributes to the chronic inflammation that affects the lungs of COPD patients. Methods: We exposed alveolar type II-like epithelial (A549) cells to a G-quadruplex-interacting telomerase inhibitor in vitro to induce cellular senescence and analyzed the production of proinflammatory cytokines and the activation of NF-ĸB. Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) were serially passaged to induce replicative senescence. We also immunostained human lung tissue sections obtained from COPD patients, asymptomatic smokers and asymptomatic nonsmokers and examined correlations between type II cell senescence and inflammation. Results: Senescent A549 cells and HDMECs, whether stimulated with lipopolysaccharide or not, produced greater amounts of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α, which paralleled NF-ĸB activation, than did presenescent cells. There were positive correlations between the percentages of senescent type II cells that expressed p16INK4a and the percentages of type II cells that expressed phosphorylated NF-ĸB. The lung tissue of the COPD patients contained higher percentages of proinflammatory senescent type II cells that co-expressed p16INK4a and phosphorylated NF-ĸB than the tissue from asymptomatic smokers and asymptomatic nonsmokers. Higher percentages of p16INK4a-positive senescent type II cells than of p16INK4a-negative presenescent type II cells were positive for phosphorylated NF-ĸB. Conclusions: Senescence of alveolar epithelial cells is associated with functional alterations of the cells to a proinflammatory phenotype and may contribute to the pathogenesis of COPD.
Spatial apects of wave run-up and wave overtopping on a curved dike

High waves combined with low freeboard heights can result in severe wave overtopping leading to dike failures. The risk of dike failure is enhanced not only because of the climate change but also due to the increased usage of coastal areas. Hence, there is an urgent need for appropriate solutions to mitigate the risk. Although there is a considerable research work based on wave run-up and wave overtopping, it has not yet been fully developed with regard to the spatial effects like the influence of angle of curvature and radius of a curved dike line on wave run-up and wave overtopping. The present work aims to investigate the effects on wave runup and wave overtopping of the angle of curvature on a curved dike. To achieve this objective, numerical modelling is implemented. The numerical simulation is accomplished using DualSPHysics, which is based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics. The first results of the simulation will be discussed in this paper. The first results include the calibration for a straight dike and the wave run-up calculation for a convex dike. In addition, the research aims to propose a factor based on the influence of curvature in the existing run-up and overtopping formulas.
The Genome Sequence of Caenorhabditis briggsae: A Platform for Comparative Genomics

The soil nematodes Caenorhabditis briggsae and Caenorhabditis elegans diverged from a common ancestor roughly 100 million years ago and yet are almost indistinguishable by eye. They have the same chromosome number and genome sizes, and they occupy the same ecological niche. To explore the basis for this striking conservation of structure and function, we have sequenced the C. briggsae genome to a high-quality draft stage and compared it to the finished C. elegans sequence. We predict approximately 19,500 protein-coding genes in the C. briggsae genome, roughly the same as in C. elegans. Of these, 12,200 have clear C. elegans orthologs, a further 6,500 have one or more clearly detectable C. elegans homologs, and approximately 800 C. briggsae genes have no detectable matches in C. elegans. Almost all of the noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) known are shared between the two species. The two genomes exhibit extensive colinearity, and the rate of divergence appears to be higher in the chromosomal arms than in the centers. Operons, a distinctive feature of C. elegans, are highly conserved in C. briggsae, with the arrangement of genes being preserved in 96% of cases. The difference in size between the C. briggsae (estimated at approximately 104 Mbp) and C. elegans (100.3 Mbp) genomes is almost entirely due to repetitive sequence, which accounts for 22.4% of the C. briggsae genome in contrast to 16.5% of the C. elegans genome. Few, if any, repeat families are shared, suggesting that most were acquired after the two species diverged or are undergoing rapid evolution. Coclustering the C. elegans and C. briggsae proteins reveals 2,169 protein families of two or more members. Most of these are shared between the two species, but some appear to be expanding or contracting, and there seem to be as many as several hundred novel C. briggsae gene families. The C. briggsae draft sequence will greatly improve the annotation of the C. elegans genome. Based on similarity to C. briggsae, we found strong evidence for 1,300 new C. elegans genes. In addition, comparisons of the two genomes will help to understand the evolutionary forces that mold nematode genomes.
Identification of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato genes induced
 during infection of Arabidopsis thaliana

Phytopathogenic bacteria possess a large number of genes that allow them to grow and cause disease on plants. Many of these genes should be induced when the bacteria come in contact with plant tissue. We used a modified in vivo expression technology (IVET) approach to identify genes from the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato that are induced upon infection of Arabidopsis thaliana and isolated over 500 in planta‐expressed (ipx) promoter fusions. Sequence analysis of 79 fusions revealed several known and potential virulence genes, including hrp/hrc, avr and coronatine biosynthetic genes. In addition, we identified metabolic genes presumably important for adaptation to growth in plant tissue, as well as several genes with unknown function that may encode novel virulence factors. Many ipx fusions, including several corresponding to novel genes, are dependent on HrpL, an alternative RNA polymerase sigma factor that regulates the expression of virulence genes. Expression analysis indicated that several ipx fusions are strongly induced upon inoculation into plant tissue. Disruption of one ipx gene, conserved effector locus (CEL) orf1, encoding a putative lytic murein transglycosylase, resulted in decreased virulence of P. syringae. Our results demonstrate that this screen can be used successfully to isolate genes that are induced in planta, including many novel genes potentially involved in pathogenesis.
Effect of a Dipeptidyl Peptidase-IV Inhibitor, Des-Fluoro-Sitagliptin, on Neointimal Formation after Balloon Injury in Rats

Background Recently, it has been suggested that enhancement of incretin effect improves cardiac function. We investigated the effect of a DPP-IV inhibitor, des-fluoro-sitagliptin, in reducing occurrence of restenosis in carotid artery in response to balloon injury and the related mechanisms. Methods and Findings Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rats were grouped into four: control (normal saline) and sitagliptin 100, 250 and 500 mg/kg per day (n = 10 per group). Sitagliptin or normal saline were given orally from 1 week before to 2 weeks after carotid injury. After 3 weeks of treatment, sitagliptin treatment caused a significant and dose-dependent reduction in intima-media ratio (IMR) in obese diabetic rats. This effect was accompanied by improved glucose homeostasis, decreased circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and increased adiponectin level. Moreover, decreased IMR was correlated significantly with reduced hsCRP, tumor necrosis factor-α and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 activity. In vitro evidence with vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) demonstrated that proliferation and migration were decreased significantly after sitagliptin treatment. In addition, sitagliptin increased caspase-3 activity and decreased monocyte adhesion and NFκB activation in VSMCs. Conclusions Sitagliptin has protective properties against restenosis after carotid injury and therapeutic implications for treating macrovascular complications of diabetes.
Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor and Stress Stimuli Activate the Jak-STAT Pathway in Retinal Neurons and Glia

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is pleiotrophic for central, peripheral, and sensory neurons. In the mature retina, CNTF treatment enhances survival of retinal ganglion and photoreceptor cells exposed to otherwise lethal perturbation. To understand its mechanism of actionin vivo, the adult rat retina was used as a model to investigate CNTF-mediated activation of Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (Jak-STAT) and ras-mitogen activated protein kinase (ras-MAPK). Intravitreal injection of Axokine, an analog of CNTF, phosphorylates STAT3 and MAPK and produces delayed upregulation of total STAT3 and STAT1 protein in rat retina. Activated STAT3 is predominantly localized in nuclei of retinal Müller (glial) cells, ganglion cells, and astrocytes, but not in photoreceptors. Although CNTF α-receptor (CNTFRα) mRNA and protein are localized predominantly if not exclusively in retinal neurons, coincident CNTF-mediated STAT3 signaling was observed in both glia and neurons. CNTF-induced activation of Jak-STAT signaling prompted us to investigate STAT3 phosphorylation after a variety of stress-mediated, conditioning stimuli. We show that STAT3 is activated in the retina after exposure to subtoxic bright light, mechanical trauma, and systemic administration of the α2-adrenergic agonist xylazine, all of which have been shown previously to condition photoreceptors to resist light-induced degeneration. These results demonstrate that CNTF directly stimulates Jak-STAT and ras-MAPK cascades in vivo and strongly suggest that STAT3 signaling is an underlying component of neural responsiveness to stress stimuli. The observation that CNTF activates STAT3 in ganglion cells, but not in photoreceptors, suggests that Jak-STAT signaling influences neuronal survival via both direct and indirect modes of action.
Growth of the flickr social network

Online social networking sites like MySpace, Orkut, and Flickr are among the most popular sites on the Web and continue to experience dramatic growth in their user population. The popularity of these sites offers a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of social networks at scale. Having a proper understanding of how online social networks grow can provide insights into the network structure, allow predictions of future growth, and enable simulation of systems on networks of arbitrary size. However, to date, most empirical studies have focused on static network snapshots rather than growth dynamics. In this paper, we collect and examine detailed growth data from the Flickr online social network, focusing on the ways in which new links are formed. Our study makes two contributions. First, we collect detailed data covering three months of growth, encompassing 950,143 new users and over 9.7 million new links, and we make this data available to the research community. Second, we use a first-principles approach to investigate the link formation process. In short, we find that links tend to be created by users who already have many links, that users tend to respond to incoming links by creating links back to the source, and that users link to other users who are already close in the network.
Association between obesity and the risk of malignant lymphoma in Japanese: a case–control study

Although marked differences in anthropometric characteristics and malignant lymphoma (ML) incidence suggest that the association between obesity and ML risk in Asian and non‐Asian populations may differ, few studies have investigated this association in Asian populations. Here, we conducted a sex‐ and age‐matched case–control study in a Japanese population using 782 cases and 3,910 noncancer controls in the hospital‐based Epidemiological Research Program at Aichi Cancer Center Hospital. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for anthropometric characteristics were estimated using a conditional logistic regression model that incorporated smoking and alcohol intake. Recent body weight and body mass index (BMI) showed marginally significant association with ML risk (ORs [95% CIs] per 5‐unit increase in recent weight and BMI; 1.04 [0.99–1.09] and 1.11 [0.98–1.27], respectively). On the other hand, weight and BMI in early adulthood exhibited a strong association with ML risk (ORs [95% CIs] per 5‐unit increase in early adulthood weight and BMI; 1.11 [1.05–1.18] and 1.33 [1.13–1.55], respectively). Further, in women, a BMI of 25.0–29.9 kg/m2, defined as obesity in Asian populations, during early adulthood was significantly associated with ML risk compared to the normal range of 18.5–22.9 kg/m2. By histological ML subtype, the point estimates of ORs for obesity relative to normal weight in early adulthood were over unity for non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as a whole and significant for diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In conclusion, our study in Japanese subjects suggested that early adulthood obesity is associated with the risk of NHL, particularly DLBCL.
Long Period Oscillations in a G0 Model of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

This paper analyzes the dynamics of a G0 cell cycle model of pluripotential stem cells so we can understand the origin of the long period oscillations of blood cell levels observed in periodic chronic myelogenous leukemia (PCML). The model dynamics are described by a system of two delayed differential equations. We give conditions for the local stability of the nontrivial steady state. We use these conditions to study when stability is lost and oscillations occur, and how various parameters modify the period of these oscillations. We consider a limiting case of the original model in order to compute an explicit solution and give an exact form of the period and the amplitude of oscillations. We illustrate these results numerically and show that the main parameters controlling the period are the cellular loss (the differentiation rate $\delta$ and the apoptosis rate $\gamma$), while the cell regulation parameters (proliferation rate $\beta$ and cell cycle duration $\tau$) mainly influence the amplitude.