Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Defining Disease Phenotypes Using National Linked Electronic Health Records: A Case Study of Atrial Fibrillation

Background National electronic health records (EHR) are increasingly used for research but identifying disease cases is challenging due to differences in information captured between sources (e.g. primary and secondary care). Our objective was to provide a transparent, reproducible model for integrating these data using atrial fibrillation (AF), a chronic condition diagnosed and managed in multiple ways in different healthcare settings, as a case study. Methods Potentially relevant codes for AF screening, diagnosis, and management were identified in four coding systems: Read (primary care diagnoses and procedures), British National Formulary (BNF; primary care prescriptions), ICD-10 (secondary care diagnoses) and OPCS-4 (secondary care procedures). From these we developed a phenotype algorithm via expert review and analysis of linked EHR data from 1998 to 2010 for a cohort of 2.14 million UK patients aged ≥30 years. The cohort was also used to evaluate the phenotype by examining associations between incident AF and known risk factors. Results The phenotype algorithm incorporated 286 codes: 201 Read, 63 BNF, 18 ICD-10, and four OPCS-4. Incident AF diagnoses were recorded for 72,793 patients, but only 39.6% (N = 28,795) were recorded in primary care and secondary care. An additional 7,468 potential cases were inferred from data on treatment and pre-existing conditions. The proportion of cases identified from each source differed by diagnosis age; inferred diagnoses contributed a greater proportion of younger cases (≤60 years), while older patients (≥80 years) were mainly diagnosed in SC. Associations of risk factors (hypertension, myocardial infarction, heart failure) with incident AF defined using different EHR sources were comparable in magnitude to those from traditional consented cohorts. Conclusions A single EHR source is not sufficient to identify all patients, nor will it provide a representative sample. Combining multiple data sources and integrating information on treatment and comorbid conditions can substantially improve case identification.
Acetaldehyde selectively stimulates collagen production in cultured rat liver fat‐storing cells but not in hepatocytes

Hepatocytes and fat‐storing cells have been implicated in the production of collagen, under both normal and pathological conditions. In this study, short‐term primary cultures of rat hepatocytes, maintained in a serum‐free, hormonally defined medium without dexamethasone and cultured on a fibronectin‐collagen type IV substratum, were used. Primary and passage 1 and 2 cultures of fat‐storing cells maintained on tissue culture plastic were also studied. Hepatocytes produced significant amounts of collagen type III, but formation of collagen type I was not detectable. Laminin and collagen type IV production were very low. Hepatocytes maintained their ability to metabolize ethanol (at levels comparable to those observed at 2 hr) for at least 48 hr after plating and this metabolism was inhibited 86% to 95% by 4‐methylpyrazole (1 mmol/L). Neither ethanol (50 mmol/L) nor acetaldehyde (175 μmol/L, initial concentration) had any effect on the production of collagen type III or laminin. Fat‐storing cells (95% to 100% desmin‐positive) produced significant amounts of both type I and type III collagen. Production of collagen type IV and laminin was very low. Metabolism of ethanol by these cultures was not detected. Addition of ethanol had no effect on collagen or laminin production in fat‐storing cells. In contrast, acetaldehyde significantly increased the production of collagen type I, but did not alter the production of collagen type III, IV or laminin. Incorporation of 3H‐proline into total protein was not affected by addition of ethanol or acetaldehyde to fat‐storing cells or hepatocytes. Exposure of fat‐storing cells to ethanol or acetaldehyde did not change 3H‐collagen degrading activity in the media. We conclude that fat‐storing cells are likely effector cells in the increased production of collagen type I in alcoholic liver fibrosis. (HEPATOLOGY 1990;12:511–518).
Micropolitics and Social Justice Leadership: Bridging Beliefs and Behaviours

This qualitative study examined educators’ conceptions of social justice work, the challenges they encountered, and the micropolitical strategies they used to ensure equitable systems and practices. The findings revealed that both teacher and administrative leaders conceptualized social justice as a moral imperative to improve schools for the common good. While their colleagues espoused similar goals, the participants’ attempts to translate shared beliefs into practice were often met with overt and covert resistance because colleagues and supervisors were more comfortable with enacting surface forms of social justice that reinforced the status quo. Engaging others in deeper forms of social justice required employing a complex repertoire of micropolitical strategies which included communicating and facilitating knowledge,
The Predictive Role of Procalcitonin On the Treatment of Intra-Abdominal Infections

AIM: This study aims to evaluate the algorithm of procalcitonin (PCT) and its role on the duration of antibiotics prescription for intra-abdominal infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a prospective controlled study that is conducted in groups of 50 hospitalised patients and 50 controlled group patients. RESULTS: The results indicated that the average duration of antibiotic delivery to the PCT group was -10.6 days (SD ± 6.6 days), while in the control group -13.2 days (SD ± 4.2 days). These data showed a significant difference in the duration of antibiotic therapy and the monitoring role of PCTs in the prediction success of antibiotic treatment. The antibiotic delivery was longer in the septic shock 17 (SD ± 11.7) that corresponds to high PCT values of 67.8 (SD ± 50.9). Recurrence of the infection after the cessation of antibiotics occurred in 2 cases (4%) in the standard group, while it occurred in 3 cases (6%) in the control group. CONCLUSION: The treatment of the intra-abdominal infections based on the PCT algorithm shortens the duration of antibiotic treatment and does not pose a risk for the recurrence of the infection.
Coding and capacity for additive white Gaussian noise multi-user channels with feedback

Abstract : Deterministic coding schemes are presented for the additive white gaussian noise two user multiple access and broadcast channels with noiseless feedback. The error probabilities for these schemes approach zero at a rate which is doubly exponential in block length. Outer bounds on the capacity region are also obtained for both channels. The achievable region obtained for the multiple access channel is shown to coincide with the outer bound, yielding a solution of the capacity region for this problem. While the achievable region for the broadcast channel does not coincide with the outer bound, for all cases except that in which one channel is a physically degraded version of the other, the achievable region lies outside the set of rates achievable in the absence of feedback. This is the first case in which it has been demonstrated that feedback can enlarge the capacity region of broadcast channels. (Author)
A model for study of teacher agency for social justice

Internationally teachers are called upon to act as agents of change. However, there is little clarity about the kind of change teachers are expected to contribute to and even less empirical evidence about the ways teacher agency operates in schools and beyond. Empirical analyses of teacher agency require a clear articulation of the purpose and content of such agency in relation to a particular aspect of change, which could then help us specify appropriate units of analysis and generate hypotheses based on the insights provided by previous research. This paper articulates a model for study of teacher agency as a process whereby teachers act strategically to transform the risks of exclusion and underachievement into inclusion and improved outcomes for all students in contexts of cultural and social diversity. The model is guided by social theories of human agency within social structures and cultures, applied to the empirical insights into teachers’ inclusive practices. Potentially appropriate units of analysis and related variables are proposed, and face-validated in consultation with 12 experts from Scotland including teachers, (deputy) head teachers, researchers, teacher educators and policy-makers. The units include teachers’ inclusive practices at individual, school and broader policy and social levels, teachers’ moral purposes and competence as agents of change for inclusive education, scope of teachers’ autonomy including individual, collective and contextual variables, and teachers’ reflexivity. Implications for future research and teacher education are discussed.
Like a snowball: Adding layers of knowledge Enchanting student work with student input

Internet of Things (IoT) seems to be a popular term nowadays, for business, society and teaching alike. Teaching students about such concepts and more importantly, making them aware of the many competency components (often called KSA — knowledge, skills, abilities) required in the development of IoT systems, services and products has been a major aim in the teaching design presented in this paper. The snowball metaphor symbolizes added layers of input, comments and suggestions delivered by Belgian, Swedish and Chinese students respectively, to peers with different backgrounds (study level, subject major, etc.). Open-platform exercises using Arduino kits are used as starting points and reports. Conceptualizations and suggestions are carried through the snowball “chain”, which ends nearly two years later. Knowledge components are delivered e.g. through lectures. Among skills developed are practice in receiving input from and delivering output to groups different also in culture, knowledge, etc. Abilities include a demonstrated (and graded) proficiency in combining the acquired set of components, as demonstrated in workshops, discussions and reports, and in a proposed feedback loop to Sweden from China (not yet implemented).
Disagreement and Information Collection

This note shows that disagreement, in the sense of differing priors, may increase the incentives to collect information when two agents work on a joint project. The reason is that each agent believes that new data will confirm his own beliefs and thus ‘convince’ the other agents to do what the focal agent thinks is right.
Reaction of 3-Amino-1,2,4-Triazole with Diethyl Phosphite and Triethyl Orthoformate: Acid-Base Properties and Antiosteoporotic Activities of the Products

The reaction of diethyl phosphite with triethyl orthoformate and a primary amine followed by hydrolysis is presented, and the reaction was suitable for the preparation of (aminomethylene)bisphosphonates. 3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole was chosen as an interesting substrate for this reaction because it possesses multiple groups that can serve as the amino component in the reaction—namely, the side-chain and triazole amines. This substrate readily forms 1,2,4-triazolyl-3-yl-aminomethylenebisphosphonic acid (compound 1) as a major product, along with N-ethylated bisphosphonates as side products. The in vitro antiproliferative effects of the synthesized aminomethylenebisphosphonic acids against J774E macrophages were determined. These compounds exhibit similar activity to zoledronic acid and higher activity than incadronic acid.
Characterizing the migration of antioxidants from polypropylene into fatty food simulants

The migration (diffusion and equilibrium) processes of antioxidants (AOs) from polypropylene (PP) films of different thicknesses into n-heptane and 95% ethanol as fatty food simulants were analysed at 20, 37 and 60°C. Heptane fully extracted the AOs from the polymer while a partition equilibrium described the migration to ethanol. The kinetics of migration were also studied via the diffusion coefficients. As expected, diffusion was found to be faster when the polymer was in contact with heptane, due to polymer swelling by the solvent. The kinetics of the process in ethanol was described by different theoretical expressions which are discussed. Equations disregarding partition equilibrium failed to describe the process and the diffusion coefficient values obtained through them were much smaller than the actual ones and dependent on film thickness. The results also showed the significance of food simulant selection in the analysis of food-packaging interactions and migration variability with thickness.
Recognizing Hand and Finger Gestures with IMU based Motion and EMG based Muscle Activity Sensing

Sessionand person-independent recognition of hand and finger gestures is of utmost importance for the practicality of gesture based interfaces. In this paper we evaluate the performance of a wearable gesture recognition system that captures arm, hand, and finger motions by measuring movements of, and muscle activity at the forearm. We fuse the signals of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) worn at the wrist, and the Electromyogram (EMG) of muscles in the forearm to infer hand and finger movements. A set of 12 gestures was defined, motivated by their similarity to actual physical manipulations and to gestures known from the interaction with mobile devices. We recorded performances of our gesture set by five subjects in multiple sessions. The resulting datacorpus will be made publicly available to build a common ground for future evaluations and benchmarks. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are used as classifiers to discriminate between the defined gesture classes. We achieve a recognition rate of 97.8% in session-independent, and of 74.3% in person-independent recognition. Additionally, we give a detailed analysis of error characteristics and of the influence of each modality to the results to underline the benefits of using both modalities together.
Ethical Implementation and the Creation of Moral Values

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we propose a coherent model of implementation of ethical norms that we believe is both compatible with the rigorous decision analysis of game theory and with the well-established tradition of ethics in moral philosophy and argue that this kind of models must be considered and complement the existing implementation theory. Furthermore, we explore the model from a normative and axiomatic viewpoint and prove that a complete and ''coherent'' ethical system under our assumptions cannot be founded in any of these two simple moral maxima: the first entails the “moral punishment of induction” (inducing somebody to desire to do something wrong) and the second, called ''respecting reciprocity'' is an operative version of the “golden rule”: do not do others what you would not like to be done.
Fitness and Anthropometric Profiles of International vs. National Judo Medalists in Half-Heavyweight Category

Abstract Drid, P, Casals, C, Mekic, A, Radjo, I, Stojanovic, M, and Ostojic, SM. Fitness and anthropometric profiles of international vs. national judo medalists in half-heavyweight category. J Strength Cond Res 29(8): 2115–2121, 2015—The aim of the study was to determine the anthropometric and fitness profiles of European half-heavyweight judokas by success in competition. For this purpose, we compared 5 international medalists (elite) with 5 national medalists (subelite). All male judokas won at least 1 medal in the half-heavyweight category during the previous 2 years. The testing in this cross-sectional study was performed during 4 days. All subjects underwent anthropometric assessment with body mass, height, skinfold, and limb circumference measures, and the body fat percentage was estimated by manual bioimpedance. The physical fitness evaluation consisted in peak torques for thigh and shoulder muscles, handgrip strength, high and long jumps, medicine ball throw, pull-ups, deadlift, bench press, deep squat, V[Combining Dot Above]O2max, Max Power, and Tokui Waza tests. The statistical analysis by the Student's t test showed significant differences for forearm and upper-arm circumferences, peak torques, pull-ups, bench press, deadlift, deep squat, V[Combining Dot Above]O2max, Max Power, and Tokui Waza tests. Our results showed that elite judokas have a superior fitness profile than subelite athletes from the half-heavyweight category. Moreover, elite judokas seem to have a higher arm muscle mass than subelite athletes but a similar body fat percentage. This study could be of interest for judo coaches with athletes competing in the half-heavyweight category, as some tests that discriminate by judo success for this specific weight category are described. Few studies analyze anthropometric and fitness profiles in half-heavyweight male judokas, so additionally our results can be used as a reference for coaches, athletes, and scientists.
FGF signaling is required for initiation of feather placode development

Morphogenesis of hairs and feathers is initiated by an as yet unknown dermal signal that induces placode formation in the overlying ectoderm. To determine whether FGF signals are required for this process we over-expressed soluble versions of FGFR1 or FGFR2 in the skin of chicken embryos. This produced a complete failure of feather formation prior to any morphological or molecular signs of placode development. We further show that Fgf10 is expressed in the dermis of nascent feather primordia, and that anti-FGF10 antibodies block feather placode development in skin explants. In addition we show that FGF10 can induce expression of positive and negative regulators of feather development and can induce its own expression under conditions of low BMP signaling. Together these results demonstrate that FGF signaling is required for the initiation of feather placode development and implicate FGF10 as an early dermal signal involved in this process.
Reflective review of relationship between Total Quality Management and organizational performance

In operation management/strategy research field, Total Quality Management (TQM) has been considered as infrastructural strategy. Both manufacturing and service organizations trend to implement this strategy in order to maintain their competitive advantages. The purpose of this study is to develop the conceptual model of TQM implementation. Authors review updated literature on TQM research organized along two main themes: evolution of TQM considering as a set of practice, and its impacts to organizational performance. Two research questions are proposed in order to re-validate TQM constructs: (a) Is the set of practices associated with TQM valid as a whole? (b) What performance measures should be considered to exhibit an effectiveness of its implementation?
Do HIV-Infected Immigrants Initiating HAART have Poorer Treatment-Related Outcomes than Autochthonous Patients in Spain? Results of the GESIDA 5808 Study.

OBJECTIVE currently, 12% of the Spanish population is foreign-born, and a third of newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients are immigrants. We determined whether being an immigrant was associated with a poorer response to antiretroviral treatment. METHODS historical multicenter cohort study of naïve patients starting HAART. The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure (TTF) defined as virological failure (VF), death, opportunistic disease, treatment discontinuation (D/C), or missing patient. Secondary endpoints were TTF expressed as observed data (TFO; censoring missing patients) and time to virological failure (TVF; censoring missing patients and D/C not due to VF). A multivariate analysis was performed to control for confounders. RESULTS a total of 1090 treatment-naïve HIV-infected patients (387 immigrants and 703 autochthonous) from 33 hospitals were included. Most immigrants were from Sub-Saharan Africa (28.3%) or South-Central America/Caribbean (31%). Immigrants were significantly younger (34 y vs. 39 y), more frequently female (37.5% vs. 24.6%), with less HCV coinfection than autochthonous patients (7% vs. 31.3%). There were no differences in baseline viral load (4.95 Log(10) vs. 4.98 Log(10)), CD4 lymphocyte count (193.5/µL vs. 201.5/µL), late initiation of HAART (56.4% vs. 56.0%), or antiretrovirals used. Cox-regression analysis (HR; 95%CI) did not show differences in TTF (0.89; 0.66-1.20), TFO (0.95; 0.66-1.36), or TVF (1.00; 0.57-1.78) between immigrants and autochthonous patients. Losses to follow-up were more frequent among immigrants (17.8% vs. 12.1; p=0.009). Sub-Saharan African patients and immigrant females had a significantly shorter TTF. CONCLUSIONS the response to HAART among immigrant patients was similar to that of autochthonous patients, although they had a higher rate of losses to follow-up. Sub-Saharan Africans and immigrant females may need particular measures to avoid barriers hindering antiviral efficacy.
REHABILITATION OF AMPUTEES WITH END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE: Functional Outcome and Cost

ABSTRACTA retrospective chart review was performed on 19 lower extremity amputees with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on dialysis and 19 controls with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) without ESRD to compare functional outcome with costs of rehabilitation. The groups were similar demographically and by etiology, level and side of amputation. Functional outcome as measured by Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores did not show a significant difference between the groups on admission (P = 0.19), discharge (P = 0.20) or change in FIM (P = 0.94). The percentage of successful prosthetic ambulators (P = 0.74) and the duration of prosthetic training (P = 0.60) were not statistically different between the groups. Cost as measured by total hospital length of stay (LOS) was not significantly different (P = 0.43), but the renal group showed a significantly longer acute hospital LOS (P = 0.02) and a trend for a shorter rehabilitation LOS (P = 0.08). Mortality, discharge setting and home care arrangements on discharge were similar for the groups. The renal group had a significantly greater number of co-morbidities than the non-renal group (P = 0.002). Despite the large number of medical problems, amputees on renal dialysis admitted to acute rehabilitation had similar outcomes with similar costs to amputees with PVD without renal failure.
Qualitative methods in sociolinguistics

1. Introduction. 2. Methodology in the Historical Context (field methods in American dialect geography, field methods and "discovery procedure" in descriptive linguistics, analytical methods in historical/comparative linguistics, general themes). 3. Thinking About Methodology (What is research? What is Data? What does "empirical" mean? What makes a good research question? What is "qualitative " 4. Some Legal and Ethical Issues (researchers and the researched, researcher and resources, the uses of results). 5. Standards of Evidence (How do you know when you're right? Reliability and validity in qualitative research. Evaluating competing inerpretations.) 6. Thinking: Introspection and Intuition (What is intuition? What is introspection? Introspective research in sociolinguistics: an example. Roles for intutition in sociolinguistics? Intuitions about competence, intuituve leaps.) 7. Looking: Participant Observation (What is participant observation? What is ehtnography, Ethnography in sociolinguistics. Doing ethnography: some preliminary issues. Starting out: field methods for participant observation. Making sense: focusing on fieldwork and analytical methods.) 8. Reading and Listening: Discourse Analysis (selecting written texts, recording discourse, kinds of conversational data, transcribing, analytical approaches.) 9. Writing (The Article: introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion. Other modes. The grammar of particularity).