Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperparathyroidism in patients with primary aldosteronism: cross-sectional and interventional data from the GECOH study.

CONTEXT Experimental studies suggest that aldosterone induces hypercalciuria and might contribute to hyperparathyroidism. OBJECTIVE We aimed to test for differences in PTH levels and parameters of calcium and vitamin D metabolism in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) compared with patients with essential hypertension (EH) and to evaluate the impact of PA treatment on these laboratory values. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Graz Endocrine Causes of Hypertension study includes hypertensive patients referred for screening for endocrine hypertension at a tertiary care center in Graz, Austria. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Differences in PTH levels between patients with PA and EH. RESULTS Among 192 patients, we identified 10 patients with PA and 182 with EH. PTH levels (mean ± sd in picograms per milliliter) were significantly higher in PA patients compared with EH (67.8 ± 26.9 vs. 46.5 ± 20.9; P = 0.002). After treatment of PA with either adrenal surgery (n = 5) or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (n = 5), PTH concentrations decreased to 43.9 ± 14.9 (P = 0.023). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were similar in both groups. Compared with EH, serum calcium concentrations were significantly lower (2.35 ± 0.10 vs. 2.26 ± 0.10 mmol/liter; P = 0.013), and there was a nonsignificant trend toward an increased spot urine calcium to creatinine ratio in PA [median (interquartile range) 0.19 (0.11-0.31) vs. 0.33 (0.12-0.53); P = 0.094]. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that PA contributes to secondary hyperparathyroidism. Further studies are warranted to evaluate whether PTH has implications for PA diagnostics and whether mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists have a general impact on PTH and calcium metabolism.
Rotation–Covariant Texture Learning Using Steerable Riesz Wavelets

We propose a texture learning approach that exploits local organizations of scales and directions. First, linear combinations of Riesz wavelets are learned using kernel support vector machines. The resulting texture signatures are modeling optimal class-wise discriminatory properties. The visualization of the obtained signatures allows verifying the visual relevance of the learned concepts. Second, the local orientations of the signatures are optimized to maximize their responses, which is carried out analytically and can still be expressed as a linear combination of the initial steerable Riesz templates. The global process is iteratively repeated to obtain final rotation-covariant texture signatures. Rapid convergence of class-wise signatures is observed, which demonstrates that the instances are projected into a feature space that leverages the local organizations of scales and directions. Experimental evaluation reveals average classification accuracies in the range of 97% to 98% for the Outex_TC_00010, the Outex_TC_00012, and the Contrib_TC_00000 suites for even orders of the Riesz transform, and suggests high robustness to changes in images orientation and illumination. The proposed framework requires no arbitrary choices of scales and directions and is expected to perform well in a large range of computer vision applications.
Work-Related Psychological Health among Catholic Religious in Italy: Testing the Balanced Affect Model

Drawing on the classic model of balanced affect, the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) conceptualised good work-related psychological health among religious leaders in terms of negative affect being balanced by positive affect. In the FBI negative affect is assessed by the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM) and positive affect is assessed by the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (SIMS). A sample of 156 religious leaders (95 men and 61 women) serving with the Roman Catholic Church in Italy completed SEEM and SIMS together with an independent measure of wellbeing. The results confirm the hypothesis that high SIMS scores reduced the negative effects of high SEEM scores on the independent measure of wellbeing.
Career Consequences of Hyperbolic Time Preferences

In this paper I address theoretically and assess empirically the effect of impatience on workers' on-the-job behavior. Theoretically, short-run impatience explains several empirical regularities concerning job mobility and account for different on-the-job behaviors. On-the-job search on one hand and "collaborative behaviors" such as low absence rate and high effort on the other, strongly affect mobility and individual wage growth. On-the-job search results in higher wages with the new employer while collaboration leads to permanent wage increases with the same employer, mainly through promotion or position change. I provide a model that shows that, for identically productive individuals, heterogeneity in hyperbolic time preferences accounts for different mobility and career patterns. Patient workers undertake behaviors that lead to promotions. Impatient workers are more likely to be movers and to experience wage increases by switching jobs. The model rests on the empirical findings that the long term wage increases of stayers are in general larger than those of the movers, and the benefits resulting from collaboration are not as immediate as the rewards from search conditional on the arrival of a better job offer. I use a large longitudinal data set (NLSY 79) to test the predictions of the model. Various measures of impatience are positively correlated to the job arrival rate and negatively correlated to collaboration. Finally, using some theoretical predictions I am able to show empirically that the results are driven by variation in short-run impatience within the hyperbolic model rather than by variation in long-run impatience within the exponential model.
A Survey on Hypervisor-Based Monitoring

When designing computer monitoring systems, one goal has always been to have a complete view of the monitored target and at the same time stealthily protect the monitor itself. One way to achieve this is to use hypervisor-based, or more generally out of virtual machine (VM)-based, monitoring. There are, however, challenges that limit the use of this mechanism; the most significant of these is the semantic gap problem. Over the past decade, a considerable amount of research has been carried out to bridge the semantic gap and develop all kinds of out-of-VM monitoring techniques and applications. By tracing the evolution of out-of-VM security solutions, this article examines and classifies different approaches that have been proposed to overcome the semantic gap—the fundamental challenge in hypervisor-based monitoring—and how they have been used to develop various security applications. In particular, we review how the past approaches address different constraints, such as practicality, flexibility, coverage, and automation, while bridging the semantic gap; how they have developed different monitoring systems; and how the monitoring systems have been applied and deployed. In addition to systematizing all of the proposed techniques, we also discuss the remaining research problems and shed light on the future directions of hypervisor-based monitoring.
Examining the Tradeoffs of Structured Overlays in a Dynamic Non-Transitive Network

Although structured peer-to-peer overlays are an increasingly popular area of research, ranges of performance both within a single overlay and between multiple overlays have yet to be fully examined. In particular, the effects of adverse conditions found in real-world networks on overlay performance have not been adequately quantified. In this paper, we present and analyze data extracted from the PlanetLab network, focusing mainly on the presence of churn and non-transitivity, and use this data to drive simulations of several structured peer-to-peer overlays. The protocols we use in our simulations are Chord, Tapestry, Kademlia, and Kelips. For each overlay, we simulate a range of different parameter settings, attempt to illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in parameter choices, and draw comparisons between the different protocols. We explore the performance of these overlays on a simulated PlanetLab topology, with and without the pathological conditions mentioned above. Our results indicate that non-transitivity can have a large effect on the performance of some overlays, while the amount of churn seen on PlanetLab tends to have a less significant impact.
No lexical competition without priming: Evidence from the picture–word interference paradigm

Over the past 40 years, researchers have assumed that semantic interference effects in picture naming reflect competition among lexical candidates during retrieval. In this study, we examined the role of the familiarisation phase in which participants are shown the target pictures and required to rehearse the appropriate names before the picture–word interference (PWI) paradigm is performed. A previous study reported that omitting the familiarisation phase reversed the polarity of the semantic effect to facilitation. In two experiments using between- and within-participants design, respectively, we compared PWI performance with and without familiarisation while using matched stimuli and task parameters. Overall, the results showed the typical semantic interference effect following familiarisation. However, in both experiments, naming latencies did not differ significantly between related and unrelated distractors when familiarisation was omitted. The current findings suggest that familiarisation plays an important role in determining semantic interference in PWI, most likely via raising lexical competitor activation by priming links between targets and related concepts. We also discuss broader implications of our findings with respect to the replicability of reported semantic facilitation effects in PWI.
Demand and Unmet Needs of Contraception Among Sexually Active In-Union Women in Nigeria: Distribution, Associated Characteristics, Barriers, and Program Implications

It is not clear whether the 16% unmet need for contraceptives in Nigeria indicates a success story. This study assessed the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), total contraceptive demand, and unmet needs and determined the distribution, determinants, and barriers to contraceptive demands and unmet needs in Nigeria. The fertility, breastfeeding, and contraceptive use information provided by 27,829 women who were either currently married or in a sexual union in the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) were extracted. Associations between having unmet needs and the demographic, socioeconomic, and reproductive profiles of the respondents were assessed using bivariate and multiple logistic regression at 5% significance level. Multiple response data analysis techniques were used to assess barriers to nonuse of contraceptives. Data were weighted to reflect differentials in the population of in-union women in each geographical state. The modern CPR was 9.8% while total demand for contraception was 31.2%, consisting of unmet need at 16.1% and met needs at 15.1%. Unmet need for family planning was higher among rural women compared with urban women (16.8% vs. 14.9%); younger women (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 4.29; confidence interval [CI] = [3.03, 6.07]), women belonging to poorer economic status (aOR = 2.27, CI = [1.92, 2.68]), and women with no education (aOR = 3.23, CI = [2.60, 4.02]) had higher odds of unmet needs. The low unmet need should not be mistaken for a good progress in family planning programming in Nigeria; the success is better measured using the level of total demand for contraceptives and CPR. Interventions to improve the socioeconomic status of women, increase the knowledge of modern contraceptives, and improve women’s decision-making power should be prioritized.
Users on Social Network Sites—Flight from Reality and Its Effects on Acceptance of Social Network Advertising: A Gratification Perspective

Social network sites (SNSs) have emerged as a common place for social interactivity and communication in cyberspace. They have rapidly grown in fame and user acceptance globally. The business model of many of these SNS firms is based on advertising. Therefore, it is crucial that users accept social network advertising (SNA). Literature shows that users accept the advertising which is congruent with their motivations for using media. Many people participate in SNSs to forget the problems and worries of everyday life. Yet, empirical evidence is lacking which shows the effects of social escapism motivation on user acceptance of SNA. Grounded on the uses and gratifications theory, the present study proposes and tests a model which shows the effects of social escapism motivation on user attitudes toward SNA as well as on their SNS banner ad-clicking behaviour.
Association between Depressive Symptoms, Perceived Partner Emotional Expression, and Marital Quality

ABSTRACT Previous studies have explored the direct association between mental health and marital quality; however, the processes moderating that association are not yet well understood. The present study examined associations between depressive symptoms, perceived partner emotional expression, and marital quality among 462 married individuals. Findings suggest that (a) low commitment, low satisfaction, and marital instability may be symptomatic of mental well-being; (b) individuals experiencing depressive symptoms are more inclined to have negative views of their relationships; and (c) perceptions of their partners’ expressions of gratitude and understanding serve as a buffer against the negative association between depressive symptoms and marital quality. Thus, perceptions of positive emotional expressiveness may serve as a resource facilitating marital quality when individuals are experiencing depressive symptoms.
Trade Wedges , Inventories , and International Business Cycles ∗ January 2012 Preliminary

The large, persistent fluctuations in international trade that can not be explained in standard models by either changes in expenditures or relative prices are often attributed to trade wedges. We shows that these trade wedges can reflect the decisions of importers to change their inventory holdings. We find that a two country model of international business cycles with an inventory management decision can generate trade flows and wedges consistent with the data. We find that modelling trade in this way alters the international transmission of business cycles. Specifically, real net exports become less procyclical and consumption becomes less correlated across countries. JEL classifications: E31, F12.
Some Results on False Discovery Rate in Stepwise multiple testing procedures

The concept of false discovery rate (FDR) has been receiving increasing attention by researchers in multiple hypotheses testing. This paper produces some theoretical results on the FDR in the context of stepwise multiple testing procedures with dependent test statistics. It was recently shown by Benjamini and Yekutieli that the Benjamini–Hochberg step-up procedure controls the FDR when the test statistics are positively dependent in a certain sense. This paper strengthens their work by showing that the critical values of that procedure can be used in a much more general stepwise procedure under similar positive dependency. It is also shown that the FDR-controlling Benjamini–Liu step-down procedure originally developed for independent test statistics works even when the test statistics are positively dependent in some sense. An explicit expression for the FDR of a generalized stepwise procedure and an upper bound to the FDR of a step-down procedure are obtained in terms of probability distributions of ordered components of dependent random variables before establishing the main results. 1. Introduction. The main purpose of this paper is to present some formulas and inequalities providing theoretical insight into when and what stepwise procedures control the false discovery rate (FDR) at a prespecified level in multiple hypotheses testing. The FDR, first introduced in multiple testing by Benjamini and Hochberg (1995), is the expected proportion of erroneously rejected null hypotheses. With V and R representing, respectively, the number of true null hypotheses rejected and the total number of null hypotheses rejected in a multiple testing procedure, let Q = V/ R if R> 0a nd= 0i fR = 0. Then E(Q) is the FDR of that procedure. As they have argued, it is an appropriate error rate to control in many practical situations, particularly where a large number of null hypotheses are involved. They also put forward an FDR-controlling stepup procedure that is more powerful than comparable procedures controlling the traditional familywise error (FWE) rate when the underlying test statistics are independent. Benjamini and Liu (1999) recently introduced a step-down procedure with the same property. The concept of FDR is now being used in a wide variety of applications [Abramovich and Benjamini (1996), Basford and Tukey (1997), Drigalenko
Deletion of Chromosomal Region 8p21 Confers Resistance to Bortezomib and Is Associated with Upregulated Decoy TRAIL Receptor Expression in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Loss of the chromosomal region 8p21 negatively effects survival in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) that undergo autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). In this study, we aimed to identify the immunological and molecular consequences of del(8)(p21) with regards to treatment response and bortezomib resistance. In patients receiving bortezomib as a single first line agent without any high-dose therapy, we have observed that patients with del(8)(p21) responded poorly to bortezomib with 50% showing no response while patients without the deletion had a response rate of 90%. In vitro analysis revealed a higher resistance to bortezomib possibly due to an altered gene expression profile caused by del(8)(p21) including genes such as TRAIL-R4, CCDC25, RHOBTB2, PTK2B, SCARA3, MYC, BCL2 and TP53. Furthermore, while bortezomib sensitized MM cells without del(8)(p21) to TRAIL/APO2L mediated apoptosis, in cells with del(8)(p21) bortezomib failed to upregulate the pro-apoptotic death receptors TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 which are located on the 8p21 region. Also expressing higher levels of the decoy death receptor TRAIL-R4, these cells were largely resistant to TRAIL/APO2L mediated apoptosis. Corroborating the clinical outcome of the patients, our data provides a potential explanation regarding the poor response of MM patients with del(8)(p21) to bortezomib treatment. Furthermore, our clinical analysis suggests that including immunomodulatory agents such as Lenalidomide in the treatment regimen may help to overcome this negative effect, providing an alternative consideration in treatment planning of MM patients with del(8)(p21).
Mindfulness and the Intention-Behavior Relationship Within the Theory of Planned Behavior

The present study examined moderating effects of mindfulness on the intention-behavior relationship within the theory of planned behavior. Mindfulness describes a quality of consciousness characterized by heightened clarity and awareness of present experiences and functioning. Study 1 showed that mindfulness moderated the intention-behavior relationship in a leisure-time physical activity context such that intentions predicted physical activity among mindful individuals and not among less-mindful individuals. Study 2 measured counterintentional habits relating to binge-drinking and found that habitual binge-drinking obstructed the enactment of physical activity intentions among individuals acting less mindfully but not among individuals acting mindfully. Finally, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that the effects of mindfulness on physical activity were independent of effects observed for habit and variables contained in the theory of planned behavior. These findings suggest that mindfulness is a useful construct that helps understand the intention-behavior relationship within the theory of planned behavior.
Successes and Failures in Co-Present Situations

Virtual environments systems based on immersive projection technologies (IPTs) offer users the possibility of collaborating intuitively in a 3D environment. While considerable work has been done to examine interaction in desktop-based collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), there are currently no studies for collaborative interaction using IPTs. The aim of this paper is to examine how immersive technologies support interaction and to compare this to the experience with desktop systems. A study of collaboration is presented where two partners worked together using networked IPT environments. The data collected included observations, analysis of video and audio recordings, questionnaires and debriefing interviews from both IPT sites. This paper focuses on the successes and failures in collaboration through detailed examination of particular incidents during the interaction. We compare these successes and failures with the findings of a study by Hindmarsh, Fraser, Heath, & Benford (Computer Supported Collaborative Work, CSCW'98, 1998, pp. 217226) that examined object-focused interaction on a desktop-based CVE system. Our findings identify situations where interaction is better supported with the IPT system than the desktop system, and situations where interaction is not as well supported. We also present examples of how social interaction is critical to seamless collaboration.
Vision , Attention , and Action : Inhibition and Facilitation in Sensory-Motor Links Revealed by the Reaction Time and the Line Motion

REA CTI 0 N TIME AND A TTENTI 0N 23.1 To investigate critical factors for local inhibition and facilitation in visual-motor tasks, we randomized stimulus dimensions (location, color, and orientation) and response-stimulus interval across trials. The subject performed four different tasks'. Reaction times at the same location were longer, that is, "inhibition of return" (lOR) occurred, in the detection and location discrimination tasks. Reaction times at the same location were shorter in the color and orientation discrimination tasks. lOR was observed also in arm-reaching and saccadic eye movement tasks. Moreover , the task-dependent difference of RTs was observed also with popout displays. The results indicate a dissociation of two visual functions: detection/orienting and fine feature analysis. To investigate whether motor readiness could draw attention to the target location and have an influence on visual information processing, we employed the "line motion" illusion; we showed that mere preparation for a motor response, such as arm reaching or saccade , would be sufficient to yield local facilitation at the prepared target location. In this chapter , we discuss issues related to functional links between the visual and the motor systems . For this purpose , we will present two sets of findings : one employing the reaction time paradigm and indicating functional segrega tion of two visual functions , and the other employing the " line motion " paradigm and indicating effects of motor readiness on the visual information processIng . Vision , Attention , and Action : Inhibition and Facilitation in Sensory -Motor Links Revealed by the Reaction Time and the Line Motion Shinsuke Shimojo, Yasuto Tanaka, Okihide Hikosaka,