Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of a consumer-oriented internet health care report card: the risk of quality ratings based on mortality data.

CONTEXT Health care "report cards" have attracted significant consumer interest, particularly publicly available Internet health care quality rating systems. However, the ability of these ratings to discriminate between hospitals is not known. OBJECTIVE To determine whether hospital ratings for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mortality from a prominent Internet hospital rating system accurately discriminate between hospitals' performance based on process of care and outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Data from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project, a retrospective systematic medical record review of 141 914 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries 65 years or older hospitalized with AMI at 3363 US acute care hospitals during a 4- to 8-month period between January 1994 and February 1996 were compared with ratings obtained from HealthGrades.com (1-star: worse outcomes than predicted, 5-star: better outcomes than predicted) based on 1994-1997 Medicare data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quality indicators of AMI care, including use of acute reperfusion therapy, aspirin, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; 30-day mortality. RESULTS Patients treated at higher-rated hospitals were significantly more likely to receive aspirin (admission: 75.4% 5-star vs 66.4% 1-star, P for trend =.001; discharge: 79.7% 5-star vs 68.0% 1-star, P =.001) and beta-blockers (admission: 54.8% 5-star vs 35.7% 1-star, P =.001; discharge: 63.3% 5-star vs 52.1% 1-star, P =.001), but not angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (59.6% 5-star vs 57.4% 1-star, P =.40). Acute reperfusion therapy rates were highest for patients treated at 2-star hospitals (60.6%) and lowest for 5-star hospitals (53.6% 5-star, P =.008). Risk-standardized 30-day mortality rates were lower for patients treated at higher-rated than lower-rated hospitals (21.9% 1-star vs 15.9% 5-star, P =.001). However, there was marked heterogeneity within rating groups and substantial overlap of individual hospitals across rating strata for mortality and process of care; only 3.1% of comparisons between 1-star and 5-star hospitals had statistically lower risk-standardized 30-day mortality rates in 5-star hospitals. Similar findings were observed in comparisons of 30-day mortality rates between individual hospitals in all other rating groups and when comparisons were restricted to hospitals with a minimum of 30 cases during the study period. CONCLUSION Hospital ratings published by a prominent Internet health care quality rating system identified groups of hospitals that, in the aggregate, differed in their quality of care and outcomes. However, the ratings poorly discriminated between any 2 individual hospitals' process of care or mortality rates during the study period. Limitations in discrimination may undermine the value of health care quality ratings for patients or payers and may lead to misperceptions of hospitals' performance.
Neospora species infection in a herd of dairy cattle.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the route of transmission of Neospora sp in a herd of dairy cattle in which sporadic abortions had been observed since the establishment of the farm in 1980. DESIGN Serum samples were screened for antibodies to Neospora sp, and records from an artificial insemination program were analyzed. ANIMALS 58 female cattle. PROCEDURE An ELISA was used to screen serum samples of antibodies to Neospora sp. Fertility, calf mortality, and relationships between specific cattle were investigated. Statistical analysis was performed on the fertility data. RESULTS Antibodies were detected in 17 of 58 (29%) tested cattle. All seropositive cattle were descendants of 2 cows purchased in 1980. Cattle that were descendants of those 2 cows were compared with their herdmates, but significant differences were not detected in the number of inseminations per confirmed pregnancy or in the number of cattle that required more than 1 insemination/ pregnancy. Since 1980, there were 323 confirmed pregnancies in the herd, and calf mortality (prenatal and perinatal mortality) was 24 of 323 (7%). CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Congenital transmission of Neospora organisms together with the apparent lack of horizontal transmission observed in the herd reported here indicated that Neospora sp has the ability to be transmitted from dam to offspring for several generations. This mode of transmission would explain the maintenance of infection in a population of cattle despite the lack of a definitive host for the parasite.
The WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL) Questionnaire: Danish validation study

The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the Danish translation of the WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire, the WHOQOL, by means of the psychometric properties of the Danish version. The translation method followed the WHO standard procedures, including forward and backward translation, focus group discussions, and assessment of response choice weighting through visual analogue scales. In the study we evaluated the applicability of the WHOQOL in patients with physical and mental disorders compared with a sample of healthy controls. The WHOQOL was compared with health-related quality of life questionnaire SF36 (Short Form 36). The internal consistency or homogeneity of the Danish WHOQOL was found adequate, and its applicability and its performance in distinguishing between population groups were satisfactory. The abbreviated version of WHOQOL-100, the WHOQOL-BREF, was analysed separately and was also found psychometrically valid. The WHOQOL is a questionnaire that is easy to administer, and it seems applicable for use.
Chiropractic Treatment in Sports: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Since 1980, chiropractic has been used at the Olympic Games to accompany the USA's top athletes therapeutically. The rapidly developing professional sports sector offers great scope for new therapeutic support for athletes in the areas of prevention, performance improvement, injury treatment and medical rehabilitation. The aim of this systematic review is to analyse the latest scientific findings, which can be evaluated on the basis of existing clinical controlled studies. The present article deals with the question: How efficient is the use of chiropractic in sports in the above-mentioned areas? Methods: The research is carried out in the PubMed database. The evidence level of the individual studies is determined using the PEDro scale. The studies with evidence class I are evaluated in tabular form according to the PICO model. Endpoints assessed are grip strength in judo athletes, ankle injuries, medical rehabilitation with recurrent ankle sprains, jet lag symptoms. Results: The literature review include 232 researched articles 8 on the subject, including 3 systematic reviews and 5 randomized clinical trials, of which 4 include evaluable results. Overall, in 3 studies, outcomes in the intervention group for performance enhancement, injury treatment and medical rehabilitation are significantly improved by the use of chiropractic care. The jet lag treatment show no differences compared to the control group. Conclusion: In 3 out of 4 studies, there are significant improvements with the use of chiropractic in therapy. Thus, it can be concluded, that the use of chiropractic in sports can improve performance and reduce injury times in medical rehabilitation. Chiropractic in sports is therefore quite efficient.
Pathology of the gastric antrum and body associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in non‐ulcerous patients: is the bacterium a promoter of intestinal metaplasia?

A series of 115 consecutive, non‐ulcerous, dyspeptic patients were examined for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonization in the gastric antral and/or body mucosa using Giemsa staining. Findings were correlated with the presence and degree of activity of superficial gastritis, deep gastritis, atrophic gastritis and with the presence of intestinal metaplasia. The prevalence of H. pylori positivity was 61.7%. In 59 of the 71 positive patients (83%), H. pylori was detected in the antrum or in both the antral and oxyntic mucosa. In the remaining 12 positive patients, H. pylori was detected only in the oxyntic mucosa and in all these cases, the antrum showed intestinal metaplasia associated with atrophic gastritis (25%). In both antral and oxyntic mucosa, the activity of the gastritis was significantly correlated with H. pylori colonization. Linear logistic regression analysis showed that in patients with intestinal metaplasia the presence of H. pylori infection was significant in predicting the presence of more extensive intestinal metaplasia after adjusting for age. The prevalence of intestinal metaplasia types II and III was 65.5% in the H. pylori positive and 25% in the H. pylori negative patients. The antral mucosa is thought to be the elective site for H. pylori related histological lesions. At a later stage, H. pylori can be detected only in the oxyntic area while the antral mucosa shows extensive metaplastic or atrophic lesions. We would suggest that H. pylori plays a promotional role in the morphogenesis of intestinal metaplasia.
The Perry Preschoolers at Late Midlife: A Study in Design-Specific Inference

This paper presents the first analysis of the life course outcomes through late midlife (around age 55) for the participants of the iconic Perry Preschool Project, an experimental high-quality preschool program for disadvantaged African-American children in the 1960s. We discuss the design of the experiment, compromises in and adjustments to the randomization protocol, and the extent of knowledge about departures from the initial random assignment. We account for these factors in developing conservative small-sample hypothesis tests that use approximate worst-case (least favorable) randomization null distributions. We examine how our new methods compare with standard inferential methods, which ignore essential features of the experimental setup. Widely used procedures produce misleading inferences about treatment effects. Our design-specific inferential approach can be applied to analyze a variety of compromised social and economic experiments, including those using re-randomization designs. Despite the conservative nature of our statistical tests, we find long-term treatment effects on crime, employment, health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, and other outcomes of the Perry participants. Treatment effects are especially strong for males. Improvements in childhood home environments and parental attachment appear to be an important source of the long-term benefits of the program.
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology

Computational models have become a fundamental tool in cardiac research. Models are evolving to cover multiple scales and physical mechanisms. They are moving towards mechanistic descriptions of personalised structure and function, including effects of natural variability. These developments are underpinned to a large extent by advances in imaging technologies. This article reviews how novel imaging technologies, or the innovative use and extension of established ones, integrate with compu- tational models and drive novel insights into cardiac biophysics. In terms of structural characterization, we discuss how imaging is allowing a wide range of scales to be considered, from cellular levels to whole organs. We analyse how the evolution from structural to functional imaging is opening new avenues for computational models, and in this respect we review methods for measurement of electrical activity, mechanics and ﬂ ow. Finally, we consider ways in which combined imaging and modelling research is likely to continue advancing cardiac research, and identify some of the main challenges that remain to be solved.
Actions for Non-Abelian Twisted Self-Duality Henning Samtleben

The dynamics of abelian vector and antisymmetric tensor gauge fields can be described in terms of twisted self-duality equations. These first-order equations relate the p-form fields to their dual forms by demanding that their respective field strengths are dual to each other. It is well known that such equations can be integrated to a local action that carries on equal footing the p-forms together with their duals and is manifestly duality invariant. Space-time covariance is no longer manifest but still present with a non-standard realization of space-time diffeomorphisms on the gauge fields. In this paper, we give a non-abelian generalization of this first-order action by gauging part of its global symmetries. The resulting field equations are non-abelian versions of the twisted self-duality equations. A key element in the construction is the introduction of proper couplings to higher-rank tensor fields. We discuss possible applications (to Yang-Mills and supergravity theories) and comment on the relation to previous no-go theorems.
Dynamic Platform Competition: Optimal Pricing and Piggybacking Under Network Effects

A repeated challenge of the two-sided market literature is the “chicken-and-egg” problem. In a single-period setting, subsidizing one side of the market to jumpstart the platform adoption process has been suggested as the solution. However, it is not known whether such subsidizing strategies remain optimal under dynamic platform competition. This paper develops a multi-period framework to study dynamic platform competition under cross-side network effects. First, we solve for the platforms’ optimal dynamic pricing strategies. Benchmarked with the single-period case, we identify regions when each competing platform should decrease prices, and more interestingly, when they should increase prices. Second, we study piggybacking as a new solution for the “chicken-and-egg” problem. We extend our baseline model to consider piggybacking, by introducing an initial installed base on the consumer side. We examine the asymmetric scenario when one piggybacking platform competes with another platform who does not piggyback. We then study optimal piggybacking strategies and examine the interaction effects among optimal pricing, optimal piggybacking, and network effects. Third, we extend our baseline model to consider platforms with asymmetric discount factors for their future profits. Practical implications are also discussed.
Effect of β-Casomorphin-7 on Intestinal Mucosal Immunity in Aged Mice

The immune deficiency caused by aging deserves attention, especially the weakening of intestinal mucosal immunity. The effect of β-casomorphin-7 on intestinal mucosal immunity was investigated in aged mice. Mice were treated without or with different doses of β-casomorphin-7 for 30 days. Histopathological studies showed the tissue protective role of β-casomorphin-7 in aged mice. Low-dose group could significantly increase the level of IL-2 and TNF-α in intestinal mucosa. A significant increase in the level of SIgA was observed in mediumand high-dose groups. The low and medium dose groups could significantly increase the activity of SOD in small intestine mucosa. All dose groups significantly reduced the levels of MDA. The results suggest that β-casomorphin-7 could improve intestinal mucosal immune decline which is induced by aging The mechanisms for the regulating effects were likely through balancing the cytokine level and controlling the oxidative stress.
Large-Scale Environment Properties of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies at z < 0.4

The large-scale environment is believed to affect the evolution and intrinsic properties of galaxies. It offers a new perspective on narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1) which have not been extensively studied in this context before. We study a large and diverse sample of 960 NLS1 galaxies using a luminosity-density field constructed using Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We investigate how the large-scale environment is connected to the properties of NLS1 galaxies, especially their radio loudness. Furthermore, we compare the large-scale environment properties of NLS1 galaxies with other active galactic nuclei (AGN) classes, for example, other jetted AGN and broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies, to shed light on their possible relations. In general NLS1 galaxies reside in less dense large-scale environments than any of our comparison samples, thus supporting their young age. The average luminosity-density and distribution to different luminosity-density regions of NLS1 sources is significantly different compared to BLS1 galaxies. This contradicts the simple orientation-based unification of NLS1 and BLS1 galaxies, and weakens the hypothesis that BLS1 galaxies are the parent population of NLS1 galaxies. The large-scale environment density also has an impact on the intrinsic properties of NLS1 galaxies; the radio loudness increases with the increasing luminosity-density. However, our results suggest that the NLS1 population is indeed heterogeneous, and that a considerable fraction of them are misclassified. We support a suggested description that the traditional classification based on the radio loudness should be replaced with the division to jetted and non-jetted sources.
Liveweight gain and economic benefits of yak fed with different feeding regimes in house during winter in areas of Yangtze and Yellow River sources

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different coarse protein (CP) contents and metabolic energy (ME) levels on daily liveweight gain and economic benefits of yak fed with different feeding regimes in the cold season. Fifteen three-year-old yak (120 ± 10 kg) and 20 two-year-old yak (liveweight 110 ± 5 kg) were randomly selected from the same herd. The three-year-old yak were divided into three groups of two experiment groups (A and B) and one control group (CK1), and the two-year-old yak were allocated to three experiment groups (C, D and E) and one control group (CK2) using a completely randomized design, with five animals in every group. The animals in the control groups (CK1 and CK2) grazed all the time in natural rangelands. The animals in the experiment groups were fed with different feeding regimes from 14th of November 2002 to 24th of January 2003 for the A and B groups and from 8th of November 2003 to 8th of January 2004 for the C, D and E groups. With sufficient CP and ME for maintenance and growth requirement of the twoand three-year-old yak, the total liveweight gain of the A and B groups were 31.44 kg/head and 25.54 kg/head higher than that of the CK1, respectively (P < 0.05), and that of the C, D and E groups were 20.43 kg/head, 18.95 kg/head and 16.79 kg/head higher than that of the CK2, respectively (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the experiment groups of the same age (P > 0.05). In addition, there was a significant secondary correlation between the daily liveweight gain and experiment time (P < 0.05), and the daily liveweight gain of different groups was maximized at 25 days, 22 days, 37 days, 33 days and 23 days for the A, B, C, D and E groups, respectively, during the experiment. The benefits in terms of output/input ratio (O/I) were 1.15: 1 for A, 1.89: 1 for B, 1.16: 1 for C, 1.54: 1 for D and 4.52: 1 for E.
The Financial Crisis and Diverging House Prices: Evidence from the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area

This paper investigates the development of house prices in Copenhagen in the period 1994-2013, while paying special attention to the heterogeneous impact of the boom and bust periods along the dimensions of housing type (single vs multifamily housing), geography and quality. To allow for price developments that can differ by quality, we use a recently developed generalization of the conventional Muth model that assumes a constant unit price across the quality spectrum. It allows us to separately consider the development of house prices and quality in Copenhagen neighbourhoods. Moreover, we investigate the validity of the common assumption of a constant unit price and reject it decisively. We use detailed housing transaction data for the greater Copenhagen area. We show that the housing boom of the 2000’s and the bust that followed hit the lowest quality segments significantly harder than the high quality segments of the housing market.
Management of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt: Evidence from Impact of Adoption of Cultural Control Practices in Uganda

Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) is an important emerging and non-curable infectious plant pathogen in sub-Saharan Africa that can cause up to 100% yield loss, negatively impacting sustainable access to food and income to more than 100 million banana farmers. This study disentangles adopters into partial and full adopters to investigate the factors that are relevant to sustain the adoption process of BXW control practices and quantifies the impact of adopting the practices. Data from a randomly selected sample of 1200 banana farmers in Uganda where the disease is endemic was used. A multinomial logit model was used to determine the factors affecting adoption of control practices and augmented inverse probability weighting was employed to estimate the impacts of adoption on banana productivity and sales. Results show that training a woman farmer and having diverse sources of information about BXW control practices increased adoption of the control practices and reduced the disease incidences. Farmers who adopted all the recommended control practices achieved significantly the highest values of banana production and sales. We conclude that improving information access through farmers’ preferred communication channels, having women-inclusive trainings, and a combination of cultural practices are effective ways for sustaining adoption of the control practices.
Ca2+ Dependence of the Ca2+-selective TRPV6 Channel*

Microfluorimetry and patch-clamp experiments were performed on TRPV6-expressing HEK cells to determine whether this Ca2+-sensing Ca2+ channel is constitutively active. Intact cells loaded with fura-2 had an elevated intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), which decreased to the same level such as in non-transfected cells if external Ca2+ was chelated by EGTA. Whole cell recordings from non-transfected HEK cells and cells expressing human TRPV6 revealed the presence of a basal inward current in both types of cells when the internal solution contained 0.1 mm EGTA and 100 nm [Ca2+]i or if the cytosolic Ca2+ buffering remained undisturbed in perforated patch-clamp experiments. If recombinantly expressed TRPV6 forms open channels, one would expect Ca2+-induced current inhibition, because TRPV6 is negatively regulated by internal Ca2+. However, dialyzing solutions with high [Ca2+] such as 1 μm into TRPV6-expressing cells did not block the basal inward current, which was not different from the recordings from non-transfected cells. In contrast, dialyzing 0.5 mm EGTA into TRPV6-expressing cells readily activated Ca2+ inward currents, which were undetectable in non-transfected cells. Interestingly, monovalent cations permeated the TRPV6 channels under conditions where no Ca2+ permeation was detectable, indicating that divalent cations block TRPV6 channels from the extracellular side. Like human TRPV6, the truncated human TRPV6Δ695–725, which lacks the C-terminal domain required for Ca2+-calmodulin binding, does not form constitutive active channels, whereas the human TRPV6D542A, carrying a point mutation in the presumed pore region, does not function as a channel. In summary, no constitutive open TRPV6 channels were detected in patch-clamp experiments from transfected HEK cells. However, channel activity is highly regulated by intracellular and extracellular divalent cations.