Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of three scoring systems for mortality risk among retrieved intensive care patients

Aims: To assess the impact of two paediatric intensive care unit retrieval teams on the performance of three mortality risk scoring systems: pre-ICU PRISM, PIM, and PRISM II. Methods: A total of 928 critically ill children retrieved for intensive care from district general hospitals in the south east of England (crude mortality 7.8%) were studied. Results: Risk stratification was similar between the two retrieval teams for scores utilising data primarily prior to ICU admission (pre-ICU PRISM, PIM), despite differences in case mix. The fewer variables required for calculation of PIM resulted in complete data collection in 88% of patients, compared to pre-ICU PRISM (24%) and PRISM II (60%). Overall, all scoring systems discriminated well between survival and non-survival (area under receiver operating characteristic curve 0.83–0.87), with no differences between the two hospitals. There was a tendency towards better discrimination in all scores for children compared to infants and neonates, and a poor discrimination for respiratory disease using pre-ICU PRISM and PRISM II but not PIM. All showed suboptimal calibration, primarily as a consequence of mortality over prediction among the medium (10–30%) mortality risk bands. Conclusions: PIM appears to offer advantages over the other two scores in terms of being less affected by the retrieval process and easier to collect. Recalibration of all scoring systems is needed.
Properties of Light Particles Produced During Growth of Type 4 Adeno-Associated Satellite Virus

Adeno-associated satellite virus type 4, obtained by repeated undiluted passage, failed to produce distinct bands at the expected density of 1.43 g/cm3 after density gradient centrifugation in CsCl. This phenomenon occurred regardless of the hemagglutinating activity of the starting material. Sharp bands were found at a density of 1.34 to 1.35 g/cm3. These bands contained adenovirions and numerous satellite particles. These latter particles could be distinguished by electron microscopy from standard dense satellite particles by their flattened profiles and deep penetration of negative stains. Dense bands of satellite virus at 1.43 g/cm3 were constantly observed when the inoculum was comprised of highly diluted seed virus. Light satellite particles had a particle to HA ratio comparable with dense particles, but possessed low infectivity. Measurements of contour lengths of extracted deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) indicate that light particles contain only a small amount of DNA, possibly less than 0.5 × 106 daltons, compared to 1.4 × 106 for the complete satellite DNA molecule.
Alterations in brain activation during working memory processing associated with breast cancer and treatment: a prospective functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PURPOSE To prospectively examine alterations in working memory (WM) -associated brain activation related to breast cancer and treatment by using functional magnetic resonance imaging. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients treated with chemotherapy (CTx+; n = 16) or without chemotherapy (CTx-; n = 12) and healthy controls (n = 15) were scanned during an n-back task at baseline (after surgery but before radiation, chemotherapy, and/or antiestrogen treatment), 1 month after completion of chemotherapy (M1), and 1 year later (Y1), or at yoked intervals for CTx- and controls. SPM5 was used for all image analyses, which included cross-sectional between-group and group-by-time interaction and longitudinal within-group analyses, all using a statistical threshold of 0.001. RESULTS At baseline, patients with cancer showed increased bifrontal and decreased left parietal activation compared with controls. At M1, both cancer groups showed decreased frontal hyperactivation compared with controls, with increased hyperactivation at Y1. These cross-sectional findings were confirmed by group-by-time interaction analyses, which showed frontal activation decreases from baseline to M1 in patients compared with controls. Within-group analyses showed different patterns of longitudinal activation change by treatment group (CTx+ or CTx-), with prominent alterations in the frontal lobes bilaterally. CONCLUSION Significant frontal lobe hyperactivation to support WM was found in patients with breast cancer. Superimposed on this background, patients showed decreased frontal activation at M1, with partial return to the previously abnormal baseline at Y1. These functional changes correspond to frontal lobe regions where we previously reported structural changes in this cohort and provide prospective, longitudinal data that further elucidate mechanisms underlying cognitive effects related to breast cancer and its treatment.
Exploring the relationships between costs and quality of services for adults with severe intellectual disabilities and the most severe challenging behaviours in Wales: A multivariate regression analysis

A survey in Wales of people with severe intellectual disabilities and the most severe challenging behaviour identified 17 adults living in new specialist community housing and 19 in traditional services. With the omission of two people from the latter group, this study explored the relationships between resident characteristics, service characteristics, service processes, quality of life outcome and costs in a series of mutivariate regression analyses. Higher accommodation costs were associated with lower resident ability and community services. Costs were inversely associated with setting size when the variable representing service model was omitted, but setting size did not otherwise add to explanation. Resident autonomy was associated with higher resident ability, community services or smaller setting size, and lower staff:resident ratios. Participation in domestic life was associated with higher resident ability and community services or smaller scale. More frequent community involvement was associated with higher resident ability and smaller setting size, with lower levels of challenging behaviour and greater individual orientation as subsidiary influences. Higher resident engagement in activity was associated with higher resident ability and the extent of interaction between staff and residents which, in turn, was primarily associated with service model. Variation in the various quality of life indicators measured did not contribute to the explanation of accommodation costs. Variation in accommodation costs did not contribute to the explanation of the level of staff:resident interaction or quality of life, neither did staff:resident ratios, after control for service model.
Heart Failure With Anemia: Novel Findings on the Roles of Renal Disease, Interleukins, and Specific Left Ventricular Remodeling Processes

Background—Anemia is a highly prevalent and strong independent prognostic marker in heart failure (HF), yet this association is not completely understood. Whether anemia is simply a marker of disease severity and concomitant chronic kidney disease or represents the activation of other detrimental pathways remains uncertain. We sought to determine which pathophysiological pathways are exacerbated in patients with HF, reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and anemia in comparison with those without anemia. Methods and Results—In a prospective study involving 151 patients, selected biomarkers were analyzed, each representing proposed contributive mechanisms in the pathophysiology of anemia in HF. We compared clinical, echocardiographic, and circulating biomarkers profiles among patients with HFrEF and anemia (group 1), HFrEF without anemia (group 2), and chronic kidney disease with preserved EF, without established HF (chronic kidney disease control group 3). We demonstrate here that many processes other than those related to chronic kidney disease are involved in the anemia–HF relationship. These are linked to the pathophysiological mechanisms pertaining to left ventricular systolic dysfunction and remodeling, systemic inflammation and volume overload. We found that levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10, specific markers of cardiac remodeling (procollagen type III N-terminal peptide, matrix metalloproteinase-2, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 1, left atrial volume), myocardial stretch (NT-proBNP [N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide]), and myocyte death (troponin T) are related to anemia in HFrEF. Conclusions—Anemia is strongly associated not only with markers of more advanced and active heart disease but also with the level of renal dysfunction in HFrEF. Increased myocardial remodeling, inflammation, and volume overload are the hallmarks of patients with anemia and HF. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00834691.
Runx2/Cbfa1, but not loss of myocardin, is required for smooth muscle cell lineage reprogramming toward osteochondrogenesis

Vascular calcification is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) may play an important role in vascular cartilaginous metaplasia and calcification via reprogramming to the osteochondrogenic state. To study whether SM lineage reprogramming and thus matrix calcification is reversible and what the necessary regulatory factors are to reverse this process, we used cells isolated from calcifying arterial medias of 4‐week‐old matrix Gla protein knockout mice (MGP−/−SMCs). We found that vascular cells with an osteochondrogenic phenotype regained SMC properties (positive for SM22α and SM α‐actin) and down‐regulated osteochondrogenic gene expression (Runx2/Cbfa1 and osteopontin) upon culture in medium that favors SMC differentiation. Over time, the MGP−/− SMCs no longer expressed osteochondrogenic proteins and became indistinguishable from wild‐type SMCs. Moreover, phenotypic switch of the restored SMCs to the osteochondrogenic state was re‐induced by the pro‐calcific factor, inorganic phosphate. Finally, loss‐ and gain‐of‐function studies of myocardin, a SM‐specific transcription co‐activator, and Runx2/Cbfa1, an osteochondrogenic transcription factor, revealed that upregulation of Runx2/Cbfa1, but not loss of myocardin, played a critical role in phosphate‐induced SMC lineage reprogramming and calcification. These results are the first to demonstrate reversibility of vascular SMCs in the osteochondrogenic state in response to local environmental cues, and that myocardin‐enforced SMC lineage allocation was not sufficient to block vascular calcification. On the other hand, Runx2/Cbfa1 was found to be a decisive factor identified in the process. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 935–947, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
REACTIVITY AND TYPE OF VERBAL REPORT IN SLA RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Expanding the Scope of Investigation

The present study addresses the reactivity of two types of verbal protocols in SLA research. It expands on the work of Leow and Morgan-Short (2004), who found nonmetalinguistic verbalization during a second-language reading task to be nonreactive for beginning learners' text comprehension, intake, and production of the targeted morphological form. The present study investigated the reactivity of both metalinguistic and nonmetalinguistic protocols, using a syntactic structure and advanced language learners of Spanish. Results indicated that neither type of verbalization significantly affected text comprehension or written production of old or new exemplars of the targeted structure when compared to a control group, although metalinguistic verbalization appeared to cause a significant decrease in text comprehension over nonmetalinguistic verbalization. Furthermore, both types of verbalization significantly increased the amount of time on task.
Women in the police: factors influencing managerial advancement

Little is generally known about the factors affecting the managerial advancement of women in police forces in the UK. Surveys 142 male and female constables from a large police force. Reports the patterns of deployment and specialization, attitudes to the promotion process, types of informal discrimination and external factors inhibiting advancement. Suggestions are made to improve equality of opportunity. Of particular interest are the suggestions for a professionally run career development department, enhancement of the human resource management function, changes to supervisory roles, more female tutor constables and for changes in the pattern of appointments and attachments to specialist departments. Calls for accuracy in the study of differential career patterns in other occupational sectors to ensure valid comparisons are made.
The social relations of money as universal equivalent: a response to Ingham

In a recent debate in Economy and Society, Ingham criticized Marxist theory of money on the grounds that it relates money to commodities through the labour theory of value, while ignoring credit money. Ingham suggested instead that money is constituted by social relations characteristic of credit, namely relations of ‘promise to pay’. Drawing on Marx, this article shows that, pace Ingham, it is necessary theoretically to relate money to commodities. Money is indeed constituted by social relations, but these are commercial relations among ‘foreign’ commodity owners, not credit relations. The social relations of money are successfully captured by Marx's concept of the universal equivalent, when that is interpreted as monopoly over the ability to buy. In this light, both commodity and credit money are forms of the universal equivalent, but qualitatively different from each other.
Social and environmental accounting teaching in UK and Irish Universities: a research note on changes between 1993 and 1998.

This research note reports on a questionnaire–based survey of the teaching of social and environmental accounting (SEA) in undergraduate accounting degrees throughout the British Isles in 1998. The study is a replication and extension of Owen et al. 's (1994) survey in 1993 and analyses the significant changes from that study. The results suggest that environmental accounting is still the most prevalent SEA topic taught; and educators teach SEA because of the political prominence of SEA issues. Any absence of SEA teaching appears to be due to lack of time and space in crowded curricula. SEA appears not to be taught in some universities despite sustained interest in, and debate about, the development of environmental and social responsibility agendas throughout the 1990s. As the accounting literature speaks of the failure of teaching to reflect business and practitioner needs (AECC, 1990b), the paper posits that the lack of SEA teaching may be seen as an illustration of this failing.
Measurement of Risk-Taking in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

A measure of everyday risk-taking, the Everyday Risk Inventory (ERI), was developed to assess avoidance of potentially harmful ordinary activities, and some of its psychometric properties were studied. The hypothesis that outpatients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) would score lower than non-patients on this and other measures of risk-taking was tested. The ERI showed good internal consistency and excellent test-retest reliability. It successfully differentiated OCD patients from non-clinical subjects. Consistent with research on sensation seeking, both age and gender were related to ERI scores, with older subjects and females showing greater risk avoidance. The ERI correlated moderately strongly with other measures of risk-taking and showed, as expected, a less strong negative association with measures of responsibility and value orthodoxy. Preliminary findings indicate that the ERI is a useful instrument for assessing non-pleasurable ordinary risk-taking. Findings are discussed in relation to possible dimensions of risk-taking in existing research on decision-making and the need for research on other patient populations.
Self-Rated Physical Activity Level During the Second Trimester and Pregnancy Outcome

To examine the relationship between level of physical activity during pregnancy and subsequent pregnancy outcome, we asked women enrolling for maternal serum alphafetoprotein (MSAFP) screening in Maine during the years 1984-1988 to rate their usual physical activity level as light, moderate, or vigorous. Overall, 23,091 women were approached and 21,342 (92%) responded. Ten percent rated their physical activity level as light, 84% as moderate, and 6% as vigorous. Those who identified their physical activity level as vigorous were, on average, slightly older and more educated, and weighed less than women in the other two categories. However, there were no significant differences in the rates of low birth weight or fetal or neonatal death.
Predictors of Long-Term Enrollment and Degree Outcomes for Community College Students: Integrating Academic, Psychosocial, Socio-demographic, and Situational Factors

We examined the effects of student (academic preparation, psychosocial, socio-demographic, and situtaional) and institutional characteristics on long-term enrollment outcomes. We tracked enrollments and degrees awarded for sutdents who originally enrolled at two-year institutions across five years. Our findings have implications for identifying at-risk students and tailoring efficent intervention strategies.
The Association Between Training and Organizational Commitment Among White-Collar Workers in Malaysia

The exploration of the relationship between organizational commitment and training is still in its early stages. Although there have been several studies reported on training and organizational commitment in Western countries, very little has been done in respect of the local professionals in Malaysia. This research investigates the association between five training variables (availability of training, support for training, motivation to learn, training environment and perceived benefits of training), and various aspects of organizational commitment (affective commitment, normative commitment, continuance commitment and overall organizational commitment). The availability of training, support for training, motivation to learn, training environment, perceived benefits of training were all significantly correlated with affective commitment, normative commitment and overall organizational commitment. The training environment and perceived benefits were also significantly correlated with continuance commitment. However the availability of training, support for training and motivation to learn were not significantly correlated with continuance commitment. This suggests that despite other forms of commitment, Malaysian workers do not feel that they need to remain in an organization that has made available the training, given support for the training and were motivated to learn. Otherwise, results suggest that on the whole, training does seem to have an influence on organizational commitment. The practical implication of this is that managers, who are so desirous of enhancing organizational commitment among their subordinates, should pay more attention to training. Annual income was found to correlate positively with affective commitment and overall commitment. Age and tenure were not significant predictors of overall organizational commitment contradicting studies in the West. This demonstrated that Malaysians might have different attitudes towards organizational commitment. The older they are and the longer they stay within an organization do not imply that they will be committed towards their organization. This phenomenon can be attributed to the uncertain business environment in Malaysia.
Mining Comparative Sentences and Relations

This paper studies a text mining problem, comparative sentence mining (CSM). A comparative sentence expresses an ordering relation between two sets of entities with respect to some common features. For example, the comparative sentence "Canon's optics are better than those of Sony and Nikon" expresses the comparative relation: (better, {optics}, {Canon}, {Sony, Nikon}). Given a set of evaluative texts on the Web, e.g., reviews, forum postings, and news articles, the task of comparative sentence mining is (1) to identify comparative sentences from the texts and (2) to extract comparative relations from the identified comparative sentences. This problem has many applications. For example, a product manufacturer wants to know customer opinions of its products in comparison with those of its competitors. In this paper, we propose two novel techniques based on two new types of sequential rules to perform the tasks. Experimental evaluation has been conducted using different types of evaluative texts from the Web. Results show that our techniques are very promising.
The Phonology–Morphosyntax Interface: Affixed Words in Agrammatism

In three experiments with nondysarthric agrammatics, we explored the association between phonology and morphosyntax. (1) Contrasting phonological and nonphonological factors on inflectional-affix production of English verbs across three tasks in eight agrammatics, longer stem-syllabic length and stem-final-CC status resulted in poorer affix-production. (2) Studying verb inflections in six agrammatic Spanish-speakers, affix-length and affix-stress correlated with poorer repetition, as did low affix frequency. (3) Four English-speaking agrammatics read aloud and repeated derived words varying in syllable-length and stem-stress reassignment; both contributed independently to word-production difficulty. Phonological complexity of affixes and stems appears to reduce resources for morphological processing in nondysarthric agrammatics.
Thermal stress and circulating erythrocytes, leucocytes, and milk somatic cells.

Abstract From five to six Holstein cows were selected for each of eight trials. When compared to 21 C control periods, neither 2 nor 4 consecutive weeks of either constant 32 C or fluctuating (32 C day and 21 C night) environmental temperatures caused any detectable increase in the concentration of somatic cells in milk. For all trials, body temperatures increased and milk production usually decreased during high temperature exposure. There were no significant changes in either circulating erythrocytes or leucocytes for cows exposed to constant 32 C. However, in those trials where cows were held under fluctuating temperature conditions, significant depressions did occur for both erythrocytes and leucocytes. There was no evidence to support the claim that high ambient temperature will cause the concentration of somatic cells in milk to increase.
The Longitudinal Relationship Between Protean Career Orientation and Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Intention-to-Quit

We surveyed 168 young adults (83% male; mean age = 24 years), who worked for a large electronics manufacturing company in Indonesia, on two occasions, six months apart, on measures of protean career orientation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention-to-quit, and tested the relationships between protean career orientation and the three outcome variables over time. We tested three cross-lagged models (standard causal, reverse causal, and reciprocal causal), and found support for the standard causal model. Higher levels of protean career orientation at T1 were associated with lower levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction and higher levels of intention-to-quit at T2, after the effects of T1 were controlled. Results indicated poorer individual and organizational outcomes after six months for employees with higher levels of protean orientation.