Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing Stable Angina: Expert Opinion Versus Decision Analysis

Controversy still surrounds the use of invasive and noninvasive tests after establishing the clinical diagnosis of stable angina pectoris. The authors employed threshold analysis, a multifactorial mathematical instrument, and the risk and benefit data available in 1983 to determine that the optimal diagnostic approach is to perform a stress test first and then consider angiographic evaluation and surgery for those patients with a positive result. This decision rule was compared with the diagnostic approaches proposed by 61 randomly selected board-certified cardiologists. Fifteen different two-test strategies were proposed by the 61 experts. Fifty-three chose a stress test as the initial procedure and 37 would proceed to coronary angiography if the stress test were positive. Thus a majority of the experts studied (60.6% proposed an approach identical to the result of threshold analysis. Three respondents thought that no tests were necessary for the evaluation of stable angina pectoris. Twelve cardiologists would not recommend coronary angiography in stable angina patients with unequivocally positive stress tests. Their degree of familiarity and practical experience with the invasive procedure, as well as their perception of risks and benefits of coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass surgery, was not different than that of the cardiologists holding the majority view. For this group the decision analytic model could be used to correct judgmental biases and to optimize the diagnostic evaluation of coronary artery disease.
Direct and Indirect Haptic Aiding for Curve Negotiation

Haptic technology has become a viable way to support operators in vehicular control. This paper investigates two different design philosophies for continuous haptic feedback to support drivers with curve negotiation. The first system, 'direct haptic assistance', is designed to yield best results when the driver gives way to the guidance forces on the steering wheel. The second, 'indirect haptic assistance', is designed to yield best results when the driver counter-acts the forces. The two designs were compared in a driving simulator experiment in which 27 subjects participated. Results show that both systems are helpful in case of low visibility, where the driver lacks sufficient preview of the curves. With normal visibility no improvements on performance were found, for either system. Further experiments are required to investigate the difference between the two approaches.
Dielectric solubility profiles in dioxane--water mixtures for several antipyretic drugs. Effect of substituents.

The solubilities of APAP, aminopyrine, and antipyrine have been determined in dioxane–water mixtures of known dielectric constants. The dielectric profiles varied considerably for the subject materials, acetaminophen showing a three-peak system and aminopyrine a single solubility peak. However, antipyrine showed a solubility isotherm running asymptotically toward maximum solubility in pure water. It is possible that solute polarity is the deciding factor in the solubility curves that have been observed.
How Much Therapy Is Really Enough? : A Session-by-Session Analysis of the Psychotherapy Dose-Effect Relationship.

Previous investigations of the dose-effect relationship in psychotherapy suggest that therapeutic benefits occur early in treatment.Approximately 25% of patients have been estimated to improve after 1 session, and 50% improve by 8 sessions. The aim of this study was to compare such estimates with the actual performance of outpatients in therapy. Forty-five patients seen at an outpatient clinic were monitored session by session for evidence of clinically significant change. Results indicated only 22% of patients "recovered" (as defined in this study) after 8 sessions, with the earliest recovery occurring after 2 sessions. Possible reasons for the lower dose-effect relationship found here are discussed.
Performance analysis of SAR image denoising using scaling exponent estimator

We study the performance of a denoising method based on the texture roughness appreciation realized using a semi-local estimation of the scaling exponent. This was previously tested on single look complex images, in terms of the equivalent number of looks (ENL), for quite large homogeneous areas. We establish here the ENL values are better estimated for smaller areas. We show the smoothness parameter controls the edge treatment by using a recently proposed despeckling index.
Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Successful Longterm Urate Lowering with Febuxostat or Allopurinol in Subjects with Gout

Objective. To determine longterm urate-lowering efficacy and clinical benefits and safety of therapy with febuxostat or allopurinol in subjects with gout. Methods. Subjects (n = 1086) in this open-label extension study were assigned to fixed-dose daily urate-lowering treatment (ULT) with febuxostat (80 mg or 120 mg) or allopurinol (300 mg). ULT reassignment was permitted during months 1 to 6 to achieve serum urate (SUA) concentrations between 3.0 and < 6.0 mg/dl. Flares requiring treatment, tophus size, safety, and SUA levels were monitored during up to 40 months of ULT maintenance. Results. After 1 month initial treatment, > 80% of subjects receiving either febuxostat dose, but only 46% of subjects receiving allopurinol, achieved SUA < 6.0 mg/dl. After ULT reassignment, > 80% of all remaining subjects maintained the primary efficacy endpoint of SUA < 6.0 mg/dl at each visit. More subjects initially randomized to allopurinol required ULT reassignment to achieve SUA < 6.0 mg/dl compared with subjects receiving febuxostat. Maintenance of SUA < 6.0 mg/dl resulted in progressive reduction to nearly 0 in proportion of subjects requiring gout flare treatment. Baseline tophus resolution was achieved by 46%, 36%, and 29% of subjects maintained on febuxostat 80 mg, febuxostat 120 mg, and allopurinol, respectively. Overall adverse event rates (including cardiovascular adverse event rates), adjusted for 10-fold greater febuxostat than allopurinol exposure, did not differ significantly among treatment groups. Conclusion. Durable maintenance of goal range SUA level with either dose of febuxostat or in smaller numbers of subjects with allopurinol resulted in near elimination of gout flares and improved tophus status over time. Registered as NCT00175019.
SPHEROID DEGENERATION, PINGUECULA, AND PTERYGIUM AMONG ARABS IN THE RED SEA TERRITORY, JORDAN

Report of an examination of 127 Arabs in the Red Sea City of Aqaba, Jordan. The results are compared with those of the author's examinations, using a similar apparatus, of 659 Eskimos in Western Greenland and 810 Caucasians in Copenhagen. Ultraviolet (u.v.) light is at a maximum in the Red Sea territory, considerable in Greenland, and negligible in Copenhagen. The prevalences of the following degenerative processes are high at the Red Sea, somewhat lower in Greenland, and low in Copenhagen: Climato‐keratopathy gr. III (across the cornea, often with autofluorescent spheroids, always with conjunctival location as well), conjunctival spheroids (39%), and pinguecula (90% at the Red Sea). The prevalence of the conjunctival spheroid degeneration greatly exceeds that of the corneal. No difference is demonstrable between tropical and arctic keratopathy. The investigations performed gave results bearing out the view that u.v. light is responsible for all the above degenerative processes. Pterygium is equally frequent at the Red Sea and in Greenland. Lipid deposits (6%) and scleral plaques are not more prevalent at the Red Sea, a fact which argues against an ultraviolet genesis.
Abnormal blood lactate accumulation after exercise in patients with multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions and minor muscular symptoms

Study objectives: Muscle is one of the most commonly affected organs in mitochondrial disorders, and the symptoms are often exercise related. The cardiopulmonary exercise test with the determination of lactic acid formation could give supplementary information about the exercise‐induced metabolic stress and compensatory mechanisms used in these disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the exercise capacity and lactate kinetics related to exercise in subjects with two genetically characterized mitochondrial disorders (multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions with PEO, MELAS) compared with lactate kinetics in subjects with metabolic myopathy (McArdle's disease) and in the healthy controls.
Ramadan Fasting and Maternal Perspectives in Healthy Pregnant Women : Systematic Review

Background: Practicing fasting during Ramadan by pregnant women might be risky. Controversies still exist about the nature and the magnitude of metabolic changes in healthy pregnant women who practice fasting. Objectives: To systematically review literature pertaining to the practice of Ramadan fasting and the effect of fasting on maternal health. Methods: Relevant literature was obtained through searches of PubMed, and Cochran's. Incidence and duration of fasting, reasons for non - fasting, dietary changes, physical activity, weight changes, symptoms with fasting, and metabolic parameters for healthy pregnant women who fasted during Ramadan were extracted. Synthesis of data was performed when appropriate.
Balanced Scorecard in Indian Companies

There has been growing criticism of financial measures in performance evaluation system in postreform India as they are historic in nature and lack futuristic outlook. Their relevance in the information age, when the companies are building internal assets and capabilities, is questioned. The situation may worsen when the firm is compelled to pursue short-term goals at the cost of the organization's long-term objectives. Kaplan and Norton developed an innovative and multi-dimensional corporate performance scorecard known as the Balanced Scorecard. It compels the firm to align its performance measurement and controls from the customers' perspective, internal business processes, and learning and growth perspectives and investigate their impact on the financial indicators. There are arguments that the Balanced Scorecard should be ‘unbalanced’ based on the strategy followed by the firm. The corporate experiences with the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard suggest mixed results. In this article, the authors a) identify the extent of the usage of the Balanced Scorecard by corporate India; b) explore whether Indian firms use all the four perspectives, namely, customer, financial, internal business, and learning and growth in their performance scorecard; c) capture the management motivations for implementation of the Balanced Scorecard; d) identify the key performance indicators in different perspectives of the performance scorecard; and e) evaluate the performance of the Balanced Scorecard as a management tool. The major findings of this study are as follows: The Balanced Scorecard adoption rate is 45.28 per cent in corporate India which compares favourably with 43.90 per cent in the US. The financial perspective has been found to be the most important perspective followed by customers' perspective, shareholders' perspective, internal business perspective, and learning and growth perspective. The environmental, social, and employees' perspectives also figure in it. The expense centre budgets, brand revenue/market share monitoring, profit centre, and transfer pricing mechanism are the other performance management tools used by the Indian companies. Corporate India monitors the indicators as per ISO 14000 norms in the environmental and social perspectives of the performance scorecard. The difficulty in assigning ‘weightage’ to the different perspectives and in ‘establishing cause and effect relationship among these perspectives’ has been found to be the most critical issue in the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard in corporate India. Most companies claimed that the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard has led to the identification of cost reduction opportunities in their organizations which, in turn, has resulted in improvement in the bottom line. Insights from such an analysis can be useful to both management practitioners and management accounting academics.
The Identity Thesis for Language and Music

This paper presents and defends the following hypothesis about language and tonal music: All formal differences between language and music are a consequence of differences in their fundamental building blocks. In all other respects, language and music are identical. Extending and adapting Lerdahl and Jackendoff's (1983, GTTM) model of musical structure, we argue that music, like language, contains a syntactic component in which headed structures are built by iterated, recursive, binary Merge. This is the component that GTTM called Prolongational Reduction, which represents hierarchical patterns of tension and relaxation in tonal harmony. We further argue that the distinct component that GTTM calls Time Span Reduction is a musical prosodic component (a point anticipated by GTTM itself), whose interface with the syntactic component is strikingly similar to the comparable interface in language. Though we take GTTM as a starting point and touchstone throughout, at the heart of our proposal is a significant realignment of the GTTM model that allows us to ask several new questions. For example: is Internal Merge (i.e. syntactic movement) found in musical syntactic structure? We argue that Internal Merge is indeed found in music, and is exemplified by the phenomenon called the perfect cadence. In particular, we argue that the perfect cadence displays a clustering of properties identical to those associated with Head Movement in language. Building on this analysis, we argue that the output of musical syntax feeds a Tonal-Harmonic Component whose formal relation to musical syntax parallels that between linguistic syntax and semantic systems. "Etoit-il étonnant que les premiers Grammairiens soumissent leur art à la Musique, & fussent à la fois professeurs de l'un & de l'autre? " Rousseau, Essai sur l'origine des langues
Study of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in a Human Glioma Cell Line Grown in Culture and as a Solid Tumor

Abstract: A continuous human glioma cell line grown in culture and as a solid tumor was analyzed for glial fibrillary acidic (GFA) protein. This material provided a rich source for GFA protein that could also be manipulated and controlled. Immunoperoxidase staining at the light and electron microscopic levels revealed that the cell culture and tumor specimens were strongly positive for GFA protein. When aqueous soluble fractions of the cell culture and tumor were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, electroblotted onto nitrocellulose and stained immunochemically, they contained exclusively low molecular weight (41–43 K‐dalton) GFA peptides. SDS (0.15%)‐soluble fractions contained either low molecular weight only (culture) or a mixture of peptides ranging from 41 to 49K daltons. SDS (1%) extracts of either cell culture or tumor contained only 49K dalton GFA protein. Two‐dimensional gel separation revealed that the GFA protein extracted from either the culture or tumor with 1% SDS resolved to two or three spots at pH 5.8. Low molecular weight GFA peptides (<49K daltons) in aqueous and 0.15% SDS‐soluble extracts became increasingly more acidic with decreasing molecular weight. The extremely rapid degradation seen suggests that this cell line may be a valuable system for further study of intermediate filament protein turnover.
Resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock with diaspirin cross-linked hemoglobin, blood, or hetastarch.

BACKGROUND An oxygen-transporting hemoglobin solution should be more effective than a nonhemoglobin solution for resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock. A way to evaluate this effectiveness is to determine whether a hemoglobin solution can reverse the base deficit accumulated during hemorrhage at a faster rate than a nonhemoglobin solution. Using this criterion, we compared the resuscitative powers of autologous blood, hetastarch (Het), and diaspirin cross-linked hemoglobin (DCLHb). METHODS Fifteen sedated, spontaneously breathing sheep (37.5 +/- 10.2 kg) were bled until base deficits fell to -5 to -10 mEq/L, and plasma lactate concentrations rose to 6 to 9 mg/L. The animals were resuscitated with autologous blood (n = 5), Het (n = 5), or DCLHb (n = 5) (3.5-4.0 mL/kg every 15 minutes) until base deficits returned to prehemorrhage baseline. RESULTS Exsanguination to target base deficits required removal of an average of 41.4 +/- 5.5 mL blood/kg (estimated total blood volume, 80 mL/kg). Resuscitation required 18 +/- 3, 38 +/- 2 (different from blood), and 35 +/- 1 (different from blood) mL/kg of autologous blood, Het and DCLHb, respectively, over periods of 78 +/- 8, 163 +/- 10 (different from blood), and 129 +/- 9 minutes (different from blood and different from Het (p < or = 0.05)). Based on regression analysis, autologous blood, Het, and DCLHb corrected the base deficit at rates of, respectively, 0.074 (different from Het (p < or = 0.05)), 0.016, and 0.056 (different from Het (P < or = 0.05)) mEq/L/min. CONCLUSIONS Based on the rate of base deficit correction and the volume of solution required, autologous blood was the most effective resuscitation solution. However, DCLHb was more effective than Het. DCLHb may be an attractive alternative to blood for resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock.
Efficacy of DHMEQ, a NF-&kgr;B Inhibitor, in Islet Transplantation: I. HMGB1 Suppression by DHMEQ Prevents Early Islet Graft Damage

Background Pancreatic islet transplantation (PITx) is an attractive treatment option for restoring appropriate glucose homeostasis in type 1 diabetes patients. Although islet grafts can successfully engraft after PITx, large numbers of islet grafts are required mainly because immune reactions, including inflammation, destroy islet grafts. In these processes, nuclear factor (NF)-&kgr;B plays a central role. We hypothesized that the inhibition of NF-&kgr;B activation would ameliorate inflammatory responses after PITx and aid successful engraftment. Methods To test this hypothesis, a newly developed NF-&kgr;B inhibitor, dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ), was used on a syngeneic mouse PITx model. One hundred seventy-five islets from C57BL/6 (B6) mice were transplanted into streptozotocin-induced diabetic B6 mice. The recipient mice were administered DHMEQ for 1, 2, or 3 days after PITx. The underlying mechanisms of DHMEQ on islet graft protection were investigated in an in vitro coculture model of pancreatic islets and macrophages. Results With a vehicle treatment, only 11.1% of the islet-recipients achieved normoglycemia after PITx. In sharp contrast, DHMEQ treatment markedly improved the normoglycemic rate, which was associated with the suppression of serum high mobility group complex-1 (HMGB1) and proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1&bgr;, interleukin-1&bgr;, and interleukin-6, after PITx. In a murine macrophage-like cell line, DHMEQ inhibited HMGB1-driven activation and proinflammatory cytokine secretion and further prevented death isolated islets after coculture with these activated macrophages. Conclusions Inhibition of NF-&kgr;B activation by DHMEQ after PITx reduces the HMGB1-triggered proinflammatory responses and results in engraftment of transplanted islets even with fewer islet grafts.
DEFEATnet—A Deep Conventional Image Representation for Image Classification

To study underlying possibilities for the successes of conventional image representation and deep neural networks (DNNs) in image representation, we propose a deep feature extraction, encoding, and pooling network (DEFEATnet) architecture, which is a marriage between conventional image representation approaches and DNNs. In particular, in DEFEATnet, each layer consists of three components: feature extraction, feature encoding, and pooling. The primary advantage of DEFEATnet is twofold. First, it consolidates the prior knowledge (e.g., translation invariance) from extracting, encoding, and pooling handcrafted features, as in the conventional feature representation approaches. Second, it represents the object parts at different granularities by gradually increasing the local receptive fields in different layers, as in DNNs. Moreover, DEFEATnet is a generalized framework that can readily incorporate all types of local features as well as all kinds of well-designed feature encoding and pooling methods. Since prior knowledge is preserved in DEFEATnet, it is especially useful for image representation on small/medium size data sets, where DNNs usually fail due to the lack of sufficient training data. Promising experimental results clearly show that DEFEATnets outperform shallow conventional image representation approaches by a large margin when the same type of features, feature encoding and pooling are used. The extensive experiments also demonstrate the effectiveness of the deep architecture of our DEFEATnet in improving the robustness for image presentation.
Cancer patients and spiritual experiences: Redefining the self through initiatory ordeals

Abstract Objectives: When one explores the paths that sick people follow in search of meaning and a cure, one is quite likely to encounter religious knowledge and practices. Examining this facet and the spiritual experiences that arise therein leads us to the subject of identity, which systematically comes up as soon as we consider the impact of serious illness on people's lives. We need to follow the identity-building process that occurs in the disease, ruptures, and redefinitions if we are to understand how religious practices and knowledge contribute to the process. Methods: This article discusses these elements using data collected in a qualitative research study of 10 cancer patients, carried out in Québec. Drawing on the sociology of religions, particularly the contemporary transformation of the religious and the spiritual, we attempted to understand the patients' spiritual experiences by focusing on the self-discovery that occurred through the initiatory ordeal of their illness. Results: We observe that these resources are particularly helpful when the patients use them to turn inwards, to pay attention to themselves, to unite the mind and body, to connect with something greater than themselves, and to transform their values so as to develop a new psychosocial version of themselves. Significance of results: Our analysis shows that there is a complementary relationship between religion and illness at the crossroad of the identity-building process. This relevance demands to be attentive to the initiatory process that leads to the self-discovery and a renewal of the relationship with the self.