Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
APPENDIX FOR “ AN INDIVIDUAL HEALTHPLAN EXCHANGE : WHICH EMPLOYEES WOULD BENEFIT AND WHY ? ”

On average, U.S. workers fortunate enough to be offered health insurance through their place of work are given a small number of choices: 80 percent of firms, accounting for 37 percent of workers, were offered only one plan in 2005. Although there are merits of limited choice – including lower administrative costs for sponsoring employers, and better pooling of risk within a given employee population – substantial consumer surplus is foregone by preventing employees from selecting plans that best suit their needs. In Dafny, Ho, Varela (2010), we build a model to quantify this deadweight loss. Using data on plan offerings and enrollment for 800+ large U.S. firms in 139 geographic markets, over the period 1998-2006, we estimate a model of consumer preferences for characteristics of health plans. We use the parameters of that model to predict employee choices under different hypothetical scenarios of expanded choice, assuming employers’ total outlays for health insurance remain constant and plans are made available to new enrollees at “large group rates. ” We quantify those gains for each employee group-year we observe (for example, Big Box Retailer’s employees in Houston in 2003), and conclude these gains are sizeable compared to average premiums. We estimate that employees would be willing to forego 10 to 40 percent or more of their employer subsidies for the right to apply those subsidies to the plan of their
Evaluation of Potential Effect of Menthol Solution on Oral Hygiene Status of Dental Students in a University in Iraq

Purpose : To test the effect of menthol extract on the oral hygiene status of dental students of Faculty of Dentistry, Al- Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq. Methods : A solution (18 mg %) of menthol was prepared by dissolving menthol crystals in absolute ethanol. Chlorhexidine (CHX, 0.2 %) and deionized water were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Menthol was examined for its toxic effect. Twenty male albino mice were injected intraperitoneally with a low (10 mg/ml) and high dose (50 mg/ml) of the menthol solution, and acute toxicity (LD50) calculated. A double-blind crossover was designed to test plaque re-growth over 5 days. Thirty male dental student volunteers were asked to cease tooth cleaning and then rinse with 10 ml of menthol solution three times daily for 1.5 min, twice daily with CHX and deionized water. Plaque, gingival and bleeding scores were recorded on days 0 and 5. A washout period of 2 weeks was allowed, and then a new test was initiated. The data obtained were analysed statistically. Results : Menthol mouthwash demonstrates a significant reduction in plaque, gingival and bleeding indices of 0.56, 0.45 and 0.03, respectively. CHX induced a greater reduction in these parameters than menthol with indices of 0.14, 0.26, and 0.04, respectively. Conclusion : Menthol mouth rinse (0.018 %) is an antiplaque and anti-gingivitis agent, though less effective than CHX. Keywords : Menthol mouth rinse, Chlorhexidine, Dental plaque, Gingivitis, Oral hygiene
Using Complex Networks for Mining Malicious Activities in a Collaborative Map

Collaboration with content sharing via digital maps is a type of application that is characteristic of the context of the social web. A malicious activity that is di cult to detect in this interactive context is the generation of a false trend on the map as the result of a plot in which several false reports by more than one person are done. In this paper, we describe how modeling complex networks of crime reported on a collaborative (or crowd) map can help identify regularities, and therefore show deviations arising from malicious activity. The idea here is to model a network comprised of users who reported crimes and the locations where such crimes were reported (e.g.: a census tract). Starting from a bipartite network model in which the vertices are individuals and census tracts, we projected a monopartite network of users in which the edges indicate the strength of connection between them. This connection strength indicates the degree of co-relatedness of the reports of crime made by these two users in a particular place. By characterizing this, we were able to observe that the relationships of non-hub users among themselves are typically no stronger than the relationship between such non-hub users and the hubs. If this happens, the evidence of malicious activity becomes clear. Simulation of malicious activities in this dataset has allowed evaluating the contributions and limitations of our approach.
Hoyle–Lyttleton Accretion onto Superdisks

We examine Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion onto superdisks, where the mass-accretion rate greatly exceeds the critical one and the luminosity is of the order of the Eddington one. Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion onto a luminous accretion disk is drastically changed from the spherical case, due to the non-spherical nature of disk radiation fields. In edgeon accretion, for example, mass accretion does not cease at r = 1, but continues in the regime of r 2: 1, where r is the disk luminosity normalized by the Eddington one. We found that Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion onto superdisks is not a simple extension of that onto standard accretion disks, where the mass-accretion rate gradually decreases with increasing r. Instead, in the case of a superdisk, the mass-accretion rate increases with increasing r. This is due to a geometrical shadowing effect. That is, in contrast to the infinitesimally-thin standard disk, the superdisk has finite thickness. As r increases, the relative thickness increases and the shadowing region in the equatorial direction increases. We also briefly discuss the canonical luminosity in the steady state and the system evolution.
Object-oriented concept analysis for software modularisation

Modularity is one of the most important principles in software engineering and a necessity for every practical software. Since the design space of software is generally quite large, it is valuable to provide automatic means to help modularising it. An automatic technique for software modularisation using object-oriented concept analysis (OOCA) is proposed. The proposed technique is strongly inspired by the success of reverse engineering techniques based on formal concept analysis (FCA). However, our experience shows that FCA-based techniques generally result in fine-grained modules and, thus, may be inadequate for modularising large-scale designs. To overcome this weakness, the authors employ OOCA, a recent proposal for concept formulations. OOCA enables to provide coarse concepts as module candidates while keeping the advantage of FCA techniques. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first work to apply OOCA in software engineering research. To illustrate the potential of the approach, the authors perform a software modularisation case study on a real insurance software design with comparison.
Intraoperative intravascular volume optimisation and length of hospital stay after repair of proximal femoral fracture: randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objectives: To assess whether intraoperative intravascular volume optimisation improves outcome and shortens hospital stay after repair of proximal femoral fracture. Design: Prospective, randomised controlled trial comparing conventional intraoperative fluid management with repeated colloid fluid challenges monitored by oesophageal Doppler ultrasonography to maintain maximal stroke volume throughout the operative period. Setting: Teaching hospital, London. Subjects: 40 patients undergoing repair of proximal femoral fracture under general anaesthesia. Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to receive either conventional intraoperative fluid management (control patients) or additional repeated colloid fluid challenges with oesophageal Doppler ultrasonography used to maintain maximal stroke volume throughout the operative period (protocol patients). Main outcome measures: Time declared medically fit for hospital discharge, duration of hospital stay (in acute bed; in acute plus long stay bed), mortality, perioperative haemodynamic changes. Results: Intraoperative intravascular fluid loading produced significantly greater changes in stroke volume (median 15 ml (95% confidence interval 10 to 21 ml)) and cardiac output (1.2 l/min (0.1 to 2.3 l/min)) than in the conventionally managed group (−5 ml (−10 to 1 ml) and −0.4 l/min (−1.0 to 0.2 l/min)) (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively). One protocol patient and two control patients died in hospital. In the survivors, postoperative recovery was significantly faster in the protocol patients, with shorter times to being declared medically fit for discharge (median 10 (9 to 15) days v 15 (11 to 40) days, P<0.05) and a 39% reduction in hospital stay (12 (8 to 13) days v 20 (10 to 61) days, P<0.05). Conclusions: Proximal femoral fracture repair constitutes surgery in a high risk population. Intraoperative intravascular volume loading to optimal stroke volume resulted in a more rapid postoperative recovery and a significantly reduced hospital stay. Key messages Patients undergoing hip fracture repair constitute a high risk group with considerable mortality and morbidity and an often protracted postoperative hospital stay These patients often have depleted intravascular volume in the perioperative period and rarely receive either invasive haemodynamic monitoring or high dependency care Haemodynamic optimisation guided by pulmonary artery catheter in the perioperative period has been shown to improve outcome in high risk patients undergoing major surgery, but this is not considered routinely practicable for hip fracture repair Intravascular volume optimisation directed by minimally invasive oesophageal Doppler monitoring in the intraoperative period significantly reduces hospital stay
A Review on the Role of MicroRNA in Biology, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Objectives MicroRNAs are molecules implicated in RNA-RNA interaction, playing a role in cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as in carcinogenesis. Knowledge on their biological features is necessary to understand their role in phenotypic characteristics of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods Review of current literature concerning mechanisms of action, studying methods, implementations, and preclinical trials on pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Results More than 20 microRNAs have been identified, being involved in pancreatic adenocarcinoma biology, affecting tumor growth, metastatic potential, and chemosensitivity. Combinations of microRNAs can be used to differentiate between pancreatic adenocarcinoma and other pancreatic pathologies, as well as to assess prognosis. Manipulations of microRNAs can decrease the rate of growth or reinstall chemosensitivity to certain chemotherapeutic agents. Conclusions The field of microRNAs promises novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools in the management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Synbiotic in the management of infantile colic: A randomised controlled trial

Infant colic is a frequent problem affecting up to 10–30% of infants in first 3 months of life. Results from previous trials have shown that manipulation of gut microbiota can lead to symptomatic improvements. In a randomised clinical trial, we aimed to determine efficacy of synbiotic in reducing average infant crying time at day 7 and day 30 after starting intervention.
Reexamination of phenotypic defects in rec-1 and rec-2 mutants of Haemophilus influenzae Rd

Radiolabeled donor DNA is efficiently taken up into competent H. influenzae Rd rec-2 mutant cells but does not undergo the rapid degradation observed in wild-type cells. Furthermore, donor label is not recovered in the chromosome even after 1 h. The donor DNA appears to remain in a protected state in a compartment that can be separated from the rest of the cell. We interpret this as a failure of the donor DNA to be translocated out of the transformasome. In contrast, rec-1 cells translocate labeled donor DNA normally. The donor label accumulates in the recipient chromosome, but, as expected for cells with a recombination defect, there is no preferential localization of the label in sites homologous to the donor DNA. In addition, we have observed two enzymatic activities that act on transformasome-associated DNA of rec-2 cells, an endonuclease which may play a role in the translocation of closed circular DNA and a phosphatase.
An empirical test of the interpersonal theory of suicide in a heterogeneous eating disorder sample

OBJECTIVE The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) model has not been fully tested in a clinical eating disorder (ED) population. METHOD Participants (N = 114) completed questionnaires assessing suicidal ideation (SI), suicide attempts (SA), and constructs of the IPTS. Logistic regressions determined whether thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness were associated with lifetime SI. Among those who endorsed lifetime SI, logistic regressions were used to determine whether elements of the acquired capability for suicide (fearlessness about death and painful and provocative events) were associated with lifetime SA. RESULTS Sixty-five participants (57.0%) had lifetime SI and 24 (21.1%) had lifetime SA. Thwarted belongingness (P < 0.001) and perceived burdensomeness (P < 0.01) were associated with lifetime SI. Painful and provocative events were associated with lifetime SA (P < 0.03). DISCUSSION The IPTS was partially supported. Targeting interpersonal variables may be important in treating and preventing suicidality. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.(Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:162-165).
Prevalence of Smoking and Drinking Among Older Adults in Seven Urban Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean

In 2000, a representative sample of the elderly population (60 years or older) was selected from seven urban cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mexico City (Mexico), Santiago (Chile), Havana (Cuba), Montevideo (Uruguay), Bridgetown (Barbados), and Sao Paulo (Brazil). A face-to-face interview was uniformly administered in the respective official languages. A total of 10,577 older adults were included in this study. The elderly in Havana had the highest prevalence of smoking (46.5% of men and 21.5% women). The highest prevalence of daily drinking was in Buenos Aires (19%). In contrast, only 1.5% of respondents in Mexico City and 2.3% of respondents in Havana consumed alcohol daily. Smoking and daily drinking were highly prevalent among older adults. As the older adult population grows steeply, the health behavior of this population starts carrying important implications for health care systems.
Immune Responses and Safety after Dart or Booster Vaccination of Bison with Brucella abortus Strain RB 51

One alternative for management of brucellosis in Yellowstone National Park bison (Bison bison) is vaccination of calves and yearlings. Although Brucella abortus strain RB51 vaccination protects bison against experimental challenge, the effect of booster vaccinations was unknown. This study characterized immunologic responses after dart or booster vaccination of bison with Brucella abortus strain RB51. In two studies, 8to 10-month-old female bison were inoculated with saline (n 14), hand vaccinated with 1.1 10 to 2.0 10 CFU of RB51 (n 21), or dart vaccinated with 1.8 10 CFU of RB51 (n 7). A subgroup of hand vaccinates in study 1 was randomly selected for booster vaccination 15 months later with 2.2 10 CFU of RB51. Compared to single vaccinates, booster-vaccinated bison had greater serologic responses to RB51. However, there was a trend for antigen-specific proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from booster vaccinates to be reduced compared to responses of PBMC from single vaccinates. PBMC from booster vaccinates tended to have greater gamma interferon (IFN) production than those from single vaccinates. In general, dart vaccination with RB51 induced immunologic responses similar to those of hand vaccination. All vaccinates (single hand, dart, or booster) demonstrated greater (P < 0.05) immunologic responses at various times after vaccination than nonvaccinated bison. Booster vaccination with RB51 in early gestation did not induce abortion or fetal infection. Our data suggest that booster vaccination does not induce strong anamnestic responses. However, phenotypic data on resistance to experimental challenge are required to fully assess the effect of booster vaccination on protective immunity.
Factors associated with healing of artificial ulcer after endoscopic submucosal dissection with reference to Helicobacter pylori infection, CYP2C19 genotype, and tumor location: Multicenter randomized trial

Healing speed of peptic ulcer is affected by a number of factors, including Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and intragastric pH. Acid inhibition exerted by proton pump inhibitors differs by CYP2C19 genotype. Herein, we investigated whether healing speed of artificial ulcers formed after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was influenced by H. pylori infection, CYP2C19 genotype, or other factors.
United States’ Trends and Regional Variations in Lumbar Spine Surgery: 1992–2003

Study Design. Repeated cross-sectional analysis using national Medicare data from the Dartmouth Atlas Project. Objective. To describe recent trends and geographic variation in population-based rates of lumbar fusion spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. Lumbar fusion rates have increased dramatically during the 1980s and even more so in the 1990s. The most rapid increase appeared to follow the approval of a new surgical implant device. Methods. Medicare claims and enrollment data were used to calculate age, sex, and race-adjusted rates of lumbar laminectomy/discectomy and lumbar fusion for fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries over age 65 in each of the 306 US Hospital Referral Regions between 1992 and 2003. Results. Lumbar fusion rates have increased steadily since 1992 (0.3 per 1000 enrollees in 1992 to 1.1 per 1000 enrollees in 2003). Regional rates of lumbar discectomy, laminectomy, and fusion in 1992–1993 were highly correlated to rates of discectomy, laminectomy (R2 = 0.44), and fusion (R2 = 0.28) in 2002–2003. There was a nearly 8-fold variation in regional rates of lumbar discectomy and laminectomy in 2002 and 2003. In the case of lumbar fusion, there was nearly a 20-fold range in rates among Medicare enrollees in 2002 and 2003. This represents the largest coefficient of variation seen with any surgical procedure. Medicare spending for inpatient back surgery more than doubled over the decade. Spending for lumbar fusion increased more than 500%, from $75 million to $482 million. In 1992, lumbar fusion represented 14% of total spending for back surgery; by 2003, lumbar fusion accounted for 47% of spending. Conclusions. The rate of specific procedures within a region or “surgical signature” is remarkably stable over time. However, there has been a marked increase in rates of fusion, and a coincident shift and increase in cost. Rates of back surgery were not correlated with the per-capita supply of orthopedic and neurosurgeons.
Intensive care unit readmissions in U.S. hospitals: Patient characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes*

Objective:To examine which patient characteristics increase the risk for intensive care unit readmission and assess the association of readmission with case-mix adjusted mortality and resource use. Design:Retrospective cohort study. Setting:Ninety-seven intensive and cardiac care units at 35 hospitals in the United States. Patients:A total of 229,375 initial intensive care unit admissions during 2001 through 2009 who met inclusion criteria. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:For patients who were discharged alive and candidates for readmission, we compared the characteristics of those with and without a readmission. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify potential patient-level characteristics that increase the risk for subsequent readmission. We also evaluated case-mix adjusted outcomes by comparing observed and predicted values of mortality and length of stay for patients with and without intensive care unit readmission. Among 229,375 first admissions that met inclusion criteria, 13,980 (6.1%) were eventually readmitted. Risk factors associated with the highest multivariate odds ratio for unit readmission included location before intensive care unit admission, age, comorbid conditions, diagnosis, intensive care unit length of stay, physiologic abnormalities at intensive care discharge, and discharge to a step-down unit. After adjustment for risk factors, patients who were readmitted had a four-fold greater probability of hospital mortality and a 2.5-fold increase in hospital stay compared to patients without readmission. Conclusions:Intensive care readmission is associated with patient factors that reflect a greater severity and complexity of illness, resulting in a higher risk for hospital mortality and a longer hospital stay. To improve patient safety, physicians should consider these risk factors when making intensive care discharge decisions. Because intensive care unit readmission correlates with more complex and severe illness, readmission rates require case-mix adjustment before they can be properly interpreted as quality measures.
Asymptomatic cytomegalovirus infection following blood transfusion in tumor surgery.

Forty-one patients who underwent whole blood transfusion during aggressive surgical excision of solid tumors were followed up prospectively for evidence of active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Fourfold or greater elevation in complement-fixing antibody titers developed in 13 (32%) of the patients within 8 to 16 weeks after surgery. Cytomegalovirus was isolated from one of these patients. The incidence of antibody rise correlated best with volume of blood received, but it did not appear to be related to either the time of storage of transfused blood or the type of operative procedure performed. No clinical illness could be attributed to CMV infection in these patients.
Booted : An Analysis of a Payment Intervention on a DDoS-for-Hire Service

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have become a growing threat that, to a large extent, have become commoditized by DDoS-for-hire, or “booter”, services. In this case study, we analyze leaked fine-grain “ground truth” data from a larger booter service, VDoS, which earned over $597,000 over two years and launched 915,000 DDoS attacks and 48 attack years (i.e., the amount of DDoS time faced by victims of VDoS). The time period of the data includes data before and after a payment intervention, providing a rare opportunity to understand how it impacted VDoS’s operation. We find that VDoS’s revenue and subscriber base were growing before this payment intervention and began to decline afterwards. Our analysis shows that few existing customers switch from a regulated payment method to Bitcoin. We also find that harm from VDoS in terms of attacks launched and attack time both decrease by 40% (40,000 fewer attacks and 2 fewer attack years per month) during the payment intervention. However, VDoS likely remained profitable, albeit less, until the end of our data.