Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient characteristics associated with risk of first hospital admission and readmission for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) following primary care COPD diagnosis: a cohort study using linked electronic patient records

Objectives To investigate patient characteristics of an unselected primary care population associated with risk of first hospital admission and readmission for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Design Retrospective open cohort using pseudonymised electronic primary care data linked to secondary care data. Setting Primary care; Lothian (population approximately 800 000), Scotland. Participants Data from 7002 patients from 72 general practices with a COPD diagnosis date between 2000 and 2008 recorded in their primary care record. Patients were followed up until 2010, death or they left a participating practice. Main outcome measures First and subsequent admissions for AECOPD (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 codes J44.0, J44.1 in any diagnostic position) after COPD diagnosis in primary care. Results 1756 (25%) patients had at least 1 AECOPD admission; 794 (11%) had at least 1 readmission and the risk of readmission increased with each admission. Older age at diagnosis, more severe COPD, low body mass index (BMI), current smoking, increasing deprivation, COPD admissions and interventions for COPD prior to diagnosis in primary care, and comorbidities were associated with higher risk of first AECOPD admission in an adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression model. More severe COPD and COPD admission prior to primary care diagnosis were associated with increased risk of AECOPD readmission in an adjusted Prentice-Williams-Peterson model. High BMI was associated with a lower risk of first AECOPD admission and readmission. Conclusions Several patient characteristics were associated with first AECOPD admission in a primary care cohort of people with COPD but fewer were associated with readmission. Prompt diagnosis in primary care may reduce the risk of AECOPD admission and readmission. The study highlights the important role of primary care in preventing or delaying a first AECOPD admission.
Stochastic cargo transport by molecular motors in molecular communication

This paper investigates, through computer simulations, statistical behavior of molecular motors transporting cargos on a network of protein filaments in an engineered environment. This paper also examines how molecular motors' statistical behavior is applied to building. a molecular communication system. A molecular motor, such as kinesin, is a protein complex. It exists in eukaryotic cells and functions as a nano-scale autonomous nanomachine that carries nano-scale to micro-scale signaling molecules on a network of protein filaments (i.e., cytoskeletal network) in eukaryotic cells. At an intersection of protein filaments on a cytoskeletal network, a molecular motor shows stochastic movement and may stay on the current protein filament or may switch onto an intersecting protein filament, resulting in stochastic delivery of signaling molecules from the nucleus to organelles over a cytoskeletal network. Molecular communication is an engineered system to transmit information by modulating information on molecules and by transporting modulated molecules from senders to receivers. One of promising approaches to building a molecular communication system is to use molecular motors to transport information-modulated molecules on an engineered protein filament network connecting senders and receivers. In order to examine the feasibility of this approach, this paper simulated statistical behavior of molecular motors carrying cargo molecules through multiple protein filament intersections on a protein filament network. Simulations model stochastic movement of a molecular motor at a single intersection of protein filaments using the measurement data obtained through in vitro experiments (using kinesins and microtubules) conducted by the authors of this paper and evaluates the stochastic delivery of molecules from the senders to the receivers over multiple intersections of protein filaments arranged in an array topology. Simulation results show that molecular motors stochastically deliver cargo molecules to a specific receiver (or to a specific set of receivers) with a given probability over an array of protein filament intersections.
Expression of IL-17, IL-23 and Their Receptors in Minor Salivary Glands of Patients with Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

The main purpose of this study was to determine the expression of interleukins-17/-23 (ILs-17/-23) and receptors of interleukins-17/-23 (IL-17R, IL-23R) in minor salivary glands (MSGs) of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). Expression of IL-17, IL-23 and receptors of IL-17/-23 was analyzed in MSGs from 25 patients with pSS, 25 patients with probable preclinical pSS, and 25 patients with nonautoimmune sicca syndrome by immunohistochemistry. Comparison of the expression of IL-17, IL-23 and receptors of IL-17, IL-23 in MSG of patients with pSS with probable preclinical pSS, and with nonautoimmune sicca syndrome showed significant differences between three groups. However, the expression of IL-17, IL-23 and receptors of IL-17/-23 in MSG was comparable in pSS and probable preclinical pSS patients. We did not find correlation between the expression of IL-17 and IL-23 and of IL-17R and IL-23R in patients with pSS. These results demonstrate an involvement of IL-17/-23 system in the early pSS pathogenesis.
Influence of formula versus sow milk feeding on trace element status and expression of zinc-related genes in the jejunum, liver and pancreas of neonatal piglets

Increasing litter sizes in modern swine production have raised an urgent need for artificial rearing strategies and formula feeding. The current experiment was conducted to study the influence of formula trace element concentration according to recommendations for weaned piglets on the mRNA concentration of zinc (Zn)-related genes in the jejunum, liver and pancreas of neonatal piglets. Eight artificially reared piglets were fed a cow-milk-based formula (Group FO) containing 100 mg Zn/kg dry matter. Eight of their sow-reared littermates (Group SM) were used as control. After 14 d, all 16 piglets were killed and the jejunum, liver and pancreas were evaluated for Zn, copper, manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) concentration and mRNA concentration of metal and Zn-specific transporters, metallothioneins (MT) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). In Group FO the Zn concentration in liver tissue was increased (p < 0.05). Furthermore, Fe and Mn concentrations in liver and jejunal tissue were higher (p < 0.05) in Group FO, whereas neither Zn transporters nor MT in jejunal and pancreatic tissue showed differences between both groups. In the liver of Group FO, MT mRNA concentration was higher (p < 0.05), whereas Zn transporter protein 1 and divalent metal-ion transporter 1 (DMT1) mRNA concentration was lower (p < 0.05). Besides Zn-induced expression of transporters and MT, the significantly increased IL-6 expression in Group FO suggests the involvement of cytokine-mediated Mn and Fe sequestration in the liver and jejunum. The results revealed that dietary trace element concentration used in the study likely exceeded the requirements of neonatal pigs as reflected by homeostatic counter-regulation in different organs.
Substitution or Symbiosis?: Assessing the Relationship between Religious and Secular Giving

Research on philanthropy has not sufficiently examined whether charitable giving to religious causes impinges on giving to secular causes. Examining three waves of national panel data, we find that the relationship between religious and secular giving is generally not of a zero-sum nature; families that increase their religious giving also increase their secular giving. We argue that this finding is best accounted for by a practice theory of social action which emphasizes how religious congregations foster skills and practices related to charitable giving. We also argue that denominational variation in the influence of religious giving is best accounted for by the financial structuring of the denomination. We conclude with the implications for studies of religious causal influence more generally.
Predictors for Managers' Career Mobility, Success, and Satisfaction

Research into career success has usually dealt with objective aspects of career paths such as income and job title. This paper suggests also using cognitive variables to assess career success and examines past career choices to show that postdecisional justification may be apparent. The data reveal that demographics and success criteria are the best predictor sets when trying to explain a person's objective career success, mobility, and career satisfaction. Implications for future research and management are discussed.
Statistical Postprocessing of Water Level Forecasts Using Bayesian Model Averaging With Doubly Truncated Normal Components

Accurate and reliable probabilistic forecasts of hydrological quantities like runoff or water level are beneficial to various areas of society. Probabilistic state‐of‐the‐art hydrological ensemble prediction models are usually driven with meteorological ensemble forecasts. Hence, biases and dispersion errors of the meteorological forecasts cascade down to the hydrological predictions and add to the errors of the hydrological models. The systematic parts of these errors can be reduced by applying statistical postprocessing. For a sound estimation of predictive uncertainty and an optimal correction of systematic errors, statistical postprocessing methods should be tailored to the particular forecast variable at hand. Former studies have shown that it can make sense to treat hydrological quantities as bounded variables. In this paper, a doubly truncated Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method, which allows for flexible postprocessing of possibly multimodel ensemble forecasts of water level, is introduced. A case study based on water levels for a gauge of river Rhine reveals a good predictive skill of doubly truncated BMA compared both to the raw ensemble and the reference ensemble model output statistics approach. Using rolling training periods, BMA considerably outerperforms ensemble model output statistics. However, this gap shrinks drastically when using analog‐based training periods.
An event stream driven approximation for the analysis of real-time systems

This paper presents a new approach to understand the event stream model. Additionally a new approximation algorithm for the feasibility test of the sporadic and the generalized multiframe task system scheduled by earliest deadline first is presented. The new algorithm has polynomial complexity to solve the problem of schedulability analysis. The approximation error of the algorithm is bounded. In contrary to earlier work, where the error depends on the different deadlines of the tasks, the error of our algorithm depends only on the capacity of the chosen processor. It guarantees the acceptances on a processor with slightly higher capacity than the unknown optimal processor. While the algorithm is scalable and the run-time depends on the chosen error, a trade-off between running time and error is possible.
Down-Sampling Based Video Coding Using Super-Resolution Technique

It has been reported that oversampling a still image before compression does not guarantee a good image quality. Similarly, down-sampling before video compression in low bit rate video coding may alleviate the blocking effect and improve peak signal-to-noise ratio of the decoded frames. When the number of discrete cosine transform coefficients is reduced in such a down-sampling based coding (DBC), the bit budget of each coefficient will increase, thus reduce the quantization error. A DBC video coding scheme is proposed in this paper, where a super-resolution technique is employed to restore the down-sampled frames to their original resolutions. The performance improvement of the proposed DBC scheme is analyzed at low bit rates, and verified by experiments.
THE HUMAN PYRAMIDAL TRACT: II. A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE BETZ CELLS OF THE MOTOR AREA

With few exceptions, elementary and clinical textbooks of human neurology describe the pyramidal tract fibers as arising solely from the Betz, or gigantopyramidalis, cells of the motor area (area 4). Some investigative work, however, suggests that this may not be the case. Campbell, 1 counting only every fifth section which came from the microtome, roughly estimated the number of Betz cells in the motor area of man as 25,000. Using the Bielschowsky technic, Weil and Lassek 2 calculated the number of corticospinal fibers entering the spinal cord as 250,000, or approximately ten times the number of cells reported. Recently, Lassek and Rasmussen, 3 employing the silver technic of Davenport and his co-workers, 4 reported that slightly over 1,000,000 of these axons descended into the cord on one side in each of 3 brains. In view of this marked discrepancy, an attempt has been made to determine, as exactly as possible,
Spontaneous Facial Actions Map onto Emotional Experiences in a Non-social Context: Toward a Component-Based Approach

While numerous studies have examined the relationships between facial actions and emotions, they have yet to account for the ways that specific spontaneous facial expressions map onto emotional experiences induced without expressive intent. Moreover, previous studies emphasized that a fine-grained investigation of facial components could establish the coherence of facial actions with actual internal states. Therefore, this study aimed to accumulate evidence for the correspondence between spontaneous facial components and emotional experiences. We reinvestigated data from previous research which secretly recorded spontaneous facial expressions of Japanese participants as they watched film clips designed to evoke four different target emotions: surprise, amusement, disgust, and sadness. The participants rated their emotional experiences via a self-reported questionnaire of 16 emotions. These spontaneous facial expressions were coded using the Facial Action Coding System, the gold standard for classifying visible facial movements. We corroborated each facial action that was present in the emotional experiences by applying stepwise regression models. The results found that spontaneous facial components occurred in ways that cohere to their evolutionary functions based on the rating values of emotional experiences (e.g., the inner brow raiser might be involved in the evaluation of novelty). This study provided new empirical evidence for the correspondence between each spontaneous facial component and first-person internal states of emotion as reported by the expresser.
Contrast-enhanced US of the prostate with Sonazoid: comparison with whole-mount prostatectomy specimens in 12 patients.

PURPOSE To compare areas of contrast material enhancement in the prostate at ultrasonography (US) with whole-mount radical prostatectomy specimens to determine if the use of contrast material improves the detection rate of prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Transrectal US was performed in 12 subjects with cancer of the prostate prior to radical prostatectomy. Each gland was evaluated with conventional gray-scale and wide-band harmonic US at baseline and again during intravenous infusion of a microbubble contrast agent. Focal areas of contrast enhancement were identified prospectively in the transverse plane at the base, midgland, and apex of the prostate. US findings were then compared with whole-mount prostatectomy specimens. Baseline and contrast-enhanced findings were compared by using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS Thirty-one foci of prostate cancer were present at pathologic evaluation, with multiple foci of cancer in 11 of the 12 glands. Three of 10 inner-gland cancers and five of 21 outer-gland cancers were detected at baseline imaging. Diffuse inner-gland enhancement was identified in all subjects during contrast agent infusion. Contrast-enhanced imaging demonstrated an additional five cancer foci in the outer gland (P =.025), for an overall sensitivity of 42% (13 of 31 foci). Seven additional sites of focal contrast enhancement were identified. Five of these sites corresponded to foci of hyperplasia. Two sites were false-positive with no pathologic abnormality. Increased flow was not demonstrated posteriorly in the midline, even when a tumor was present. CONCLUSION Contrast-enhanced US of the prostate with Sonazoid can improve sensitivity for the detection of cancers in the outer gland, but it can also demonstrate focal enhancement in areas of benign hyperplasia.
Mapping plankton distribution in the Bay of Biscay during three consecutive spring surveys

Nano-microplankton biomass, mesozooplankton biomass and hydrographic features were measured with mesoscale spatial resolution during 3 surveys in the Bay of Biscay between March and June 2004. Regions of high plankton biomass were associated with mesoscale physical structures. Generalized additive models (GAMs) based upon surface salinity, surface temperature and stratification of the water column explained 83% of the variability in nano-microplankton bio- mass distributions, 67% for small mesozooplankton, and 41% for large mesozooplankton. The results show that when biological and physical data are collected at the relevant spatial scales, nano- microplankton and small mesozooplankton biomass distributions can be largely explained using simple hydrographic variables and non-parametric regression models.
When Are Rewards Bad for Creativity? Examining the Role of Leadership and Integrated Extrinsic Motivation

The relationship between common creativity antecedents and creative performance is seldom clarified and the assertion that employee attitudinal and work environment factors spur creative performance has rarely been tested. The present study adopts an individual level of analysis and investigates the association between leader behaviors, employee extrinsic motivation, creative performance behaviors and creative performance in the Indian R&D context. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from 493 scientists working in 11 government-owned R&D laboratories of India and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the study variables. The study found evidence for the mediating role of employee integrated extrinsic motivation for the relationship between leadership and creativity (behaviors as well as performance). Building on the foundations of organismic integration and self-determination theories, the study shows that extrinsic motivation is positively related to creativity when the value of rewards is integrated to one’s sense of self. Extrinsic motivation, otherwise, was found not to be related to creativity. Supervisory leadership was shown to be positively related to employee integrated extrinsic motivation. Thus, the study also provides an insight into the underlying process through which leaders can impact employee creativity at workplace. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Exploring cyberbullying in Saskatchewan

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES iv APPENDICES x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose and Importance of the Study 4 Overview of Chapters 5 Definitions 5 Bullying 5 Cyberbullying 5 Rural 6 Urban 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 The Problem of School Bullying 7 History of Research on School Bullying 7 Definitions of Bullying and Related Terms 9 Bullying 10 Indirect Aggression 11 Relational Aggression 11 Social Aggression 12 Prevalence 12 Gender Differences 13 Role Players in Bullying 14
Incidence, disease phenotype at diagnosis, and early disease course in inflammatory bowel diseases in Western Hungary, 2002–2006

Background: Recent trends indicate a change in the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), with previously low incidence areas now reporting a progressive rise in the incidence. Our aim was to analyze the incidence and disease phenotype at diagnosis in IBD in the population‐based Veszprem Province database, which included incident patients diagnosed between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2006. Methods: Data of 393 incident patients were analyzed (ulcerative colitis [UC]: 220, age‐at‐diagnosis: 40.5 years; Crohn's disease [CD]: 163, age‐at‐diagnosis: 32.5 years; and indeterminate colitis [IC]: 10). Both hospital and outpatient records were collected and comprehensively reviewed. Results: Adjusted mean incidence rates were 8.9/105 person‐years for CD and 11.9/105 person‐years in UC. Peak onset age in both CD and UC patients was 21–30 years old. Location at diagnosis in UC was proctitis in 26.8%, left‐sided colitis in 50.9%, and pancolitis in 22.3%. The probability of proximal extension and colectomy after 5 years was 12.7% and 2.8%. The disease location in CD was ileal in 20.2%, colonic in 35.6%, ileocolonic in 44.2%, and upper gastrointestinal in four patients. Behavior at diagnosis was stenosing/penetrating in 35.6% and perianal in 11.1%. Patients with colonic disease were older at diagnosis compared to patients with ileal or ileocolonic disease. In a Kaplan–Meier analysis, probability of surgical resection was 9.8%, 18.5%, and 21.3% after 1, 3, and 5 years of disease duration, respectively. Conclusions: The incidence of IBD in Veszprem Province in the last decade was high, equal to that in high‐incidence areas in Western European countries. Early disease course is milder compared to data reported in the literature.
Photobleaching of Hypericin Bound to Human Serum Albumin, Cultured Adenocarcinoma Cells and Nude Mice Skin¶

Abstract Hypericin is a promising photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT) characterized by a high yield of singlet oxygen. Photobleaching of hypericin has been studied by means of absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy in different biological systems: in human serum albumin solution, in cultured human adenocarcinoma WiDr cells and in the skin of nude mice. Prolonged exposure to light (up to 95 min, 100 mW/cm2) of wavelength around 596 nm induced fluence-dependent photobleaching of hypericin in all studied systems. The photobleaching was not oxygen dependent, and singlet oxygen probably played no significant role. Emission bands in the spectral regions 420–560 nm and above 600 nm characterize the photoproducts formed. An emission band at 615–635 nm was observed after irradiation of cells incubated with hypericin or of mouse skin in vivo but not in albumin solution. The excitation spectrum of these products resembled that of hypericin. Hypericin appears to be more photostable than most sensitizers used in PDT, including mTHPC and Photofrin.
Developing Groupware for Requirements Negotiation: Lessons Learned

Defining requirements is a complex and difficult process, and defects in the process often lead to costly project failures. There is no complete and well-defined set of requirements waiting to be discovered in system development. Different stakeholders: users, customers, managers, domain experts, and developers, come to the project with diverse expectations and interests. Requirements emerge in a highly collaborative, interactive, and interdisciplinary negotiation process that involves heterogeneous stakeholders. At the University of Southern California's Center for Software Engineering, we have developed a series of groupware implementations for the WinWin requirements negotiation approach. The WinWin approach involves having a system's success-critical stakeholders participate in a negotiation process so they can converge on a mutually satisfactory or win-win set of requirements. The WinWin groupware system, which has evolved over four generations, enables and facilitates heterogeneous stakeholder participation and collaboration. Each generation reflects an increase in our understanding of what is needed for successful WinWin groupware operations and technology support. The authors present the major lessons they learned during WinWin's development.