Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The availability of unavailable information

Currently, developers of decision-support systems try to integrate these systems with the electronic medical record. The drawback is a limited amount of recorded medical data. System developers who face the choice between designing an integrated 'non-inquisitive' system and an integrated 'inquisitive' system need insight into the availability of information that is being missed by the support system. Therefore, we have investigated in a simulation study, the reasons why information that was being missed from the electronic medical records of patients with asthma/COPD by reviewers, had not been recorded by general practitioners. Important reasons were: the physicians had not recorded the information explicitly, they assumed the requested information to be common knowledge, and the information was available elsewhere in the electronic medical record. Also, we investigated the reasons why information that was being missed, could not be made available by the physicians. Important reasons were: the decision had been made by another decision maker, or the physician had not recorded the information at the time of the encounter. In addition to insight into the availability of missing information, system developers need to have insight into the significance of this information for the quality of the decision support, before the final choice between a non-inquisitive and an inquisitive design can be made.
Ensemble for Solving Quadratic Assignment Problems

In this paper, we present a scheme whereby diverse optimization algorithms are incorporated within a framework of selective reproduction according to fitness. By forming an ensemble of several populated optimization algorithms, it is shown that the exploitative traits can be extended across several search algorithms. Results of simulations on several difficult quadratic assignment problem benchmarks based on a fixed computational time budget have shown that the ensemble scheme convincingly outperforms the individual constituent optimization algorithms.
Comparative Study of Intrathecal Ropivacaine and Levobupivacaine With Fentanyl And Magnesium As Adjuvants For Lower Abdominal Surgeries

Objective: To compare the block characteristics and haemodynamic stability of intrathecal Ropivacaine and Levobupivacaine with Fentanyl and Magnesium as adjuvants for lower abdominal surgeries. Method: Sixty patients of ASA grade I and II coming for elective lower abdominal surgeries under spinal anaesthesia were randomly allocated to two groups with 30 patients in each group. Group R received Isobaric Ropivacaine 0.75% -2.5ml + Fentanyl 20µ + Magnesium 50mg and Group L received Isobaric Levobuivacaine 0.75% 2.5ml + Fentanyl 20µ + Magnesium 50mg. Sensory and motor block characteristics were assessed by pin prick and modified Bromage scale respectively and observed haemodynamics were recorded. Results: Time to reach T10 dermatome was faster in group L (1.30±0.80mins) compared to group R (4.23±0.94mins). The onset of motor block was significantly earlier in group L (1.35±0.85mins) than group R (4.63±0.85mins). Duration of analgesia was similar in both the groups (p=0.929) but resolution of sensory and motor block was significantly earlier in Levobupivacaine group compared to Ropivacaine group (p<0.001). Conclusion: Time for onset and recovery of sensory and motor block is shorter with intrathecal Levobupivacaine in combination with Fentanyl and Magnesium as adjuvants than intrathecal Ropivacaine.
Characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cdc42‐1ts Allele and New Temperature‐Conditional‐Lethal cdc42 Alleles

Cdc42p is a highly conserved GTPase involved in controlling cell polarity and polarizing the actin cytoskeleton. The CDC42 gene was first identified by the temperature‐sensitive cell‐division‐cycle mutant cdc42‐1ts in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have determined the DNA and predicted amino‐acid sequence of the cdc42‐1ts allele and identified multiple mutations in the coding region and 5′ promoter region, thereby limiting its usefulness in genetic screens. Therefore, we generated additional temperature‐conditional‐lethal alleles in highly conserved amino‐acid residues of both S. cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe Cdc42p. The cdc42W97R temperature‐sensitive allele in S. cerevisiae displayed the same cell‐division‐cycle arrest phenotype (large, round unbudded cells) as the cdc42‐1ts mutant. However, it exhibited a bud‐site selection defect and abnormal bud morphologies at the permissive temperature of 23°C. These phenotypes suggest that Cdc42p functions in bud‐site selection early in the morphogenetic process and also in polarizing growth patterns leading to proper bud morphogenesis later in the process. In S. pombe, the cdc42W97R mutant displayed a cold‐sensitive, loss‐of‐function phenotype when expressed from the thiamine‐repressible nmt1 promoter under repressing conditions. In addition, cdc42T58A and cdc42S71P mutants showed a temperature‐sensitive loss‐of‐function phenotype when expressed in S. pombe; these mutants did not display a conditional phenotype when expressed in S. cerevisiae. These new conditional‐lethal cdc42 alleles will be important reagents for the further dissection of the cell polarity pathway in both yeasts. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Infections in HIV-positive Women in Urban Lusaka, Zambia

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain an important public health issue in sub-Saharan Africa. STIs in HIV-positive women are associated not only with gynecological complications but with increased risk of HIV transmission to HIV-negative partners and newborns. Aims: The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence of chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhea (GC) and examine the demographic characteristics and risk behaviors associated with these STIs in a group of HIV-positive women in Lusaka, Zambia. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study of a sample of HIV-infected women enrolled in two large studies conducted in urban Lusaka, Zambia. Materials and Methods: HIV-seropositive women (n = 292) were assessed for demographic and behavioral risk factors and tested for CT and GC. Univariate analysis was used to determine the demographic characteristics and risk behaviors associated with having CT or GC. Results: The identified prevalence of CT was 1% and of GC was 1.4%. There was an association of CT/GC with the use of alcohol before sex (OR = 9.I, CI = 0.59-0.15, P = 0.03). Conclusions: Rates of CT and GC are described in this sample of HIV-positive women. While being in HIV care may serve to increase medical care and condom use, alcohol use should be addressed in this population.
The effect of longevity on spending for acute and long-term care.

BACKGROUND The proportion of the population made up of elderly persons in the United States is projected to increase from 13 percent of the population in 2000 to 20 percent by 2030. The implications for health care expenditures may be profound, because elderly persons use health care services at a greater rate than younger persons. We estimated total expenditures for acute and long-term care from the age of 65 years until death and in the last two years of life. METHODS We combined data from Medicare, the National Mortality Followback Survey, and the National Medical Expenditure Survey to estimate total national expenditures for health care according to the age at death. We also simulated expenditures with the use of projected demographic characteristics of two cohorts: people turning 65 in 2000 and those turning 65 in 2015. RESULTS Total expenditures (in 1996 dollars) from the age of 65 years until death increase substantially with longevity, from $31,181 for persons who die at the age of 65 years to more than $200,000 for those who die at the age of 90, in part because of steep increases in nursing home expenditures for very old persons. Spending in the last two years of life also increases with longevity, but a reduction in Medicare expenditures ($37,000 for persons who die at the age of 75 years and $21,000 for those who die at the age of 95) moderates the effect of the increase in nursing home expenditures ($6,000 for those who die at the age of 75 years and $32,000 for those who die at the age of 95). Health care spending for women is consistently higher than that for men, after adjustment for the increased longevity of women. Simulations show that increased longevity after the age of 65 years has a relatively small effect on the anticipated increase in spending, especially for services covered by Medicare, from 2000 to 2015. The effects of the larger number of people born in 1950 than in 1935 and the larger number of people surviving to the age of 65 years are much more important. CONCLUSIONS In the United States, the effect of longevity on expenditures for acute care differs from its effect on expenditures for long-term care. Acute care expenditures, principally for hospital care and physicians' services, increase at a reduced rate as the age at death increases, whereas expenditures for long-term care increase at an accelerated rate. Increases in longevity after the age of 65 years may result in greater spending for long-term care, but the increase in the number of elderly persons has a more important effect on total spending.
Immune Dysfunction in Dialysis Patients—Prevention and Treatment Strategies

Immune dysfunction, resulting in infection or inflammation, or both, is closely associated with poor clinical outcome in end-stage renal disease patients. So far, no single measure can effectively address this condition, because many factors, such as uremia per se and dialysis treatment are involved in the pathogenesis. Our review focuses on currently available treatments and prevention options, and identifies future research needs.
Nucleoside Transport Inhibition by Dipyridamole Prevents Angiogenesis Impairment by Homocysteine and Adenosine.

PURPOSE Adenosine plays an important role in the pathogenesis of homocysteine-associated vascular complications. METHODS This study examined the effects of dipyridamole, an inhibitor for nucleoside transport, on impaired angiogenic processes caused by homocysteine and adenosine in human cardiovascular endothelial cell line (EAhy926). RESULTS The results showed that dipyridamole restored the extracellular adenosine and intracellular S-adenosylhomocysteine concentrations disrupted by the combination of homocysteine and adenosine. Dipyridamole also ameliorated the impaired proliferation, migration and formation of capillary-like tubes of EAhy926 cells caused by the combination of homocysteine and adenosine. Mechanism analysis revealed that dipyridamole induced the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and its effect on cell growth was attenuated by the MEK inhibitor, U0126. CONCLUSION Dipyridamole protected against impaired angiogenesis caused by homocysteine and adenosine, at least in part, by activating the MEK/ERK signalling pathway, and this could be associated with its effects in suppressing intracellular S-adenosylhomocysteine accumulation. NOVELTY OF THE WORK This is the first paper showing that nucleoside transport inhibition by dipyridamole reduced impaired angiogenic process caused by homocysteine and adenosine.
Repeated challenge with prion disease: The risk of infection and impact on incubation period

Natural exposure to prion disease is likely to occur throughout successive challenges, yet most experiments focus on single large doses of infectious material. We analyze the results from an experiment in which rodents were exposed to multiple doses of feed contaminated with the scrapie agent. We formally define hypotheses for how the doses combine in terms of statistical models. The competing hypotheses are that only the total dose of infectivity is important (cumulative model), doses act independently, or a general alternative that interaction between successive doses occurs (to raise or lower the risk of infection). We provide sample size calculations to distinguish these hypotheses. In the experiment, a fixed total dose has a significantly reduced probability of causing infection if the material is presented as multiple challenges, and as the time between challenges lengthens. Incubation periods are shorter and less variable if all material is consumed on one occasion. We show that the probability of infection is inconsistent with the hypothesis that each dose acts as a cumulative or independent challenge. The incubation periods are inconsistent with the independence hypothesis. Thus, although a trend exists for the risk of infection with prion disease to increase with repeated doses, it does so to a lesser degree than is expected if challenges combine independently or in a cumulative manner.
Contribution of Stellar Tidal Disruptions to the X-Ray Luminosity Function of Active Galaxies

The luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has been measured down to luminosities ~1042 ergs s-1 in the soft and hard X-rays. Some fraction of this activity is associated with the accretion of the material liberated by the tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes. We estimate the contribution to the X-ray luminosity function from the tidal disruption process. While the contribution depends on a number of poorly known parameters, it appears that it can account for the majority of X-ray-selected AGNs with soft or hard X-ray luminosities ≲1043-1044 ergs s-1. If this is correct, a significant portion of the X-ray luminosity function of AGNs is comprised of sources powered by tidal disruption at the faint end, while the sources at the bright end are powered by nonstellar accretion. Black holes with masses ≲2 × 106 M☉ could have acquired most of their present mass by an accretion of tidal debris. In view of the considerable theoretical uncertainty concerning the detailed shape of the light curves of tidal disruption events, we focus on power-law luminosity decay (as identified in candidate tidal disruption events), but we also discuss constant accretion rate models. We expect that the sources associated with thin-disk accretion of circularized tidal debris have peak luminosities of ≲1039-1041 ergs s-1, below the luminosity range probed in present surveys.
Testing a Measure of Organizational Learning Capacity and Readiness for Transformational Change in Human Services

Transformative organizational change requires organizational learning capacity, which we define in terms of (1) internal and (2) external organizational systems alignment, and promoting a culture of learning, including (3) an emphasis on exploration and information, (4) open communication, (5) staff empowerment, and (6) support for professional development. We shortened and adapted Watkins and Marsick's Dimensions of Learning Organizations Questionnaire into a new 16-item Organizational Learning Capacity Scale (OLCS) geared more toward nonprofit organizations. The OLCS and its subscales measuring each of the above 6 dimensions are unusually reliable for their brevity. ANOVAs for the OLCS and subscales clearly and consistently confirmed extensive participant observations and other qualitative data from four nonprofit human service organizations and one local human service funding organization.
Induction of c-Fos expression in mouse vomeronasal neurons by sex-specific non-volatile pheromone(s).

Many mammalian species utilize chemical signals, commonly termed pheromone, for social and sexual communication between the same species via the vomeronasal organ (VNO). VNO-ablated or genetically modified mice showed behavioral impairments, providing strong evidence that pheromones are detected by VNO (Wysocki and Lepri, 1991; Del Punta et al., 2002; Loconto et al., 2003; Norlin et al., 2003). The vomeronasal neuroepithelium can be divided in two separate zones, characterized by specific pheromone receptors and G proteins: the apical layer that expresses the V1R class of receptors and Gαi2 and the basal layer that expresses the V2R class of receptors and Gαo (Dulac and Torello, 2003). Calcium imaging and electrophysiological recording revealed that V1R/Gαi2-neurons responded to volatile chemicals including 2-heptanone, farnesene and dimethylpyrazine (Leinders-Zufall et al., 2000) and that V1rb2 was shown to be one of 2-heptanone receptors (Boschat et al., 2002). V2R/Gαo-neurons have been suggested to respond large non-volatile compounds such as peptide and protein (Krieger et al., 1999), although no ligand pair with V2R has been reported. To elucidate unambiguously the molecular mechanisms underlying pheromone communication, we need to identify receptors and their ligands in combination with behavioral and neuroendocrinological assays. In this report, using c-Fos as a marker for neuronal activation in the vomeronasal system (Halem et al., 1999, 2001), we provide evidence that non-volatile pheromone(s) in soiled bedding, not originated from urine, activate V2R/Gαo-neurons in a sex-specific manner.
Prevalence, impact and cultural context of psychotic experiences among ethnic minority youth

Background The risk for psychotic disorders is increased for many ethnic minority groups and may develop in early childhood. This study investigated whether the prevalence of psychotic experiences (PE) with high impact is higher among ethnic minority youth compared to majority youth and examined the significance of these PE. Method A school-based study assessed a large community sample of 1545 ethnic minority and majority children in The Netherlands (mean age 12.98 ± 1.81 years). The Dutch (n = 702, 45.4%), Moroccan-Dutch (n = 400, 25.9%) and Turkish-Dutch (n = 170, 11.0%) ethnic groups could be studied separately. Self-report questionnaires on PE, impact and cultural context were administered. Results Prevalence of PE with high impact was 3.1% in Dutch, 9.5% in Moroccan-Dutch and 7.1% in Turkish-Dutch youth. Compared to Dutch youth, odds ratios were 3.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7–5.1] for Moroccan-Dutch youth and 2.2 (95% CI 1.1–4.6) for Turkish-Dutch youth. Differences were not explained by cultural or religious differences. Conclusions The increased risk for psychotic disorders in ethnic minorities may already be detectable in childhood, since PE with high impact were more common among ethnic minority youth compared to majority youth. The additional measurement of impact of PE appears to be a valid approach to identify those children at risk to develop psychotic or other more common psychiatric disorders.
MedINRIA: Medical Image Navigation and Research Tool by INRIA

Processing and visualization of 3D medical data is nowadays a common problem. However, it remains challenging because the diversification and complexification of the available sources of information, as well as the specific requirements of clinicians, make it difficult to solve in a computer science point of view. Indeed, clinicians need ergonomic, efficient, intuitive and reactive softwares. Moreover, they need new solutions to fully exploit their data, but they often cannot access state-of-the-art methods as those are mostly available in complicated softwares. The MedINRIA software was born to fill this lack and consists of a collection of tools that optimally exploit various types of data (e.g., 3D images, diffusion tensor fields, neural fibers as obtained in DT-MRI). It provides state-of-the-art algorithms while keeping a user-friendly graph-ical interface. For each of these tools, we first introduce its dedicated application and the processing methods it contains. Then, we focus on the features that make interactions with data even more intuitive. Med-INRIA is a free software, available on Windows, Linux and MacOSX. Other MedINRIA tools are underway to make cutting edge research in medical imaging rapidly available to clinicians. The interest clinicians have shown in MedINRIA so far indicates that the need of such simple, yet powerful softwares is real and increasing.
Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries

We study experimentally the protection of property in five widely distinct countries— Austria, Mexico, Mongolia, South Korea and the United States. Our main results are that the security of property varies with experimental institutions, and that our subject pools exhibit significantly different behaviors that correlate with country-level property security, trust and quality of government. Subjects from countries with higher levels of trust or perceptions of safety are more prone to abstain initially from theft and devote more resources to production, and subjects from countries with higher quality political institutions are more supportive of protecting property through compulsory taxation. This highlights the relevance of socio-political factors in determining countries’ success in addressing collective action problems including safeguarding property rights.
Reporting Bias and Mode of Interview in a Study of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Water Consumption

In an earlier publication, it was shown that consumption of tapwater during the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with a risk of spontaneous abortion among women who attended three prenatal clinics located in northern California between September 1981 and June 1982. Evidence for biased recall was presented. This report demonstrates that the association is limited to women interviewed by telephone and is not observed among those who completed a mail questionnaire. The possibility that the association among women interviewed by telephone is causal and that the lack of association among mail respondents is due to bias, confounding, or apparently chance fluctuations is shown to be unlikely. For instance, the probability is low that, among mail respondents, cases underreported exposure as compared with controls or that random errors were common enough to camouflage a true effect. Demographic differences between mail and telephone respondents also do not explain the results. Interviewers were, however, aware of the outcome of the pregnancy, suggesting that differential reporting of exposure may have been stimulated in the nonblind telephone interview. The pattern of heterogeneity between mail and telephone respondents was also observed for reportable anomalies and tapwater consumption. The data on heterogeneity support the previously published conclusion that differential reporting (biased recall) of this common exposure, tapwater consumption, is the likely explanation for its observed association with the risk of spontaneous abortion. That this association is limited to telephone respondents elucidates the mechanism that apparently produced the bias: that is, the medium of nonblind telephone interviews. (Epidemiology 1992;3:104–112)
Physical and Oxidative Stability of Uncoated and Chitosan-Coated Liposomes Containing Grape Seed Extract

Polyphenol-rich grape seed extract (0.1 w/w%) was incorporated in liposomes (1 w/w% soy lecithin) by high pressure homogenization (22,500 psi) and coated with chitosan (0.1 w/w%). Primary liposomes and chitosan-coated secondary liposomes containing grape seed extract showed good physical stability during 98 days of storage. Most of the polyphenols were incorporated in the shell of the liposomes (85.4%), whereas only 7.6% of the polyphenols of grape seed extract were located in the interior of the liposomes. Coating with chitosan did not change the polyphenol content in the liposomes (86.6%). The uncoated liposomes without grape seed extract were highly prone to lipid oxidation. The cationic chitosan coating, however, improved the oxidative stability to some extent, due to its ability to repel pro-oxidant metals. Encapsulated grape seed extract showed high antioxidant activity in both primary and secondary liposomes, which may be attributed to its polyphenol content. In conclusion, the best chemical stability of liposomes can be achieved using a combination of grape seed extract and chitosan.