Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural Network Assessment of Perioperative Cardiac Risk in Vascular Surgery Patients

Neural networks were developed to predict perioperative cardiac complications with data from 567 vascular surgery patients. Neural network scores were based on cardiac risk factors and dipyridamole thallium results. These scores were converted into like lihood ratios that predicted cardiac risk. The prognostic accuracy of the neural networks was similar to that of logistic regression models (ROC areas 76.0% vs 75.8%), but their calibration was better. Logistic regression overestimated event rates in a group of high-risk patients (predicted event rate, 64%; observed rate 30%; n = 50, p < 0.001). On a validation set of 514 patients, the neural networks still had ROC similar areas to those of logistic regression (68.3% vs 67.5%), but logistic regression again overesti mated event rates for a group of high-risk patients. The calibration difference was reflected in the Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square statistic (18.6 for the neural networks, 45.0 for logistic regression). The neural networks successfully estimated perioperative cardiac risk with better calibration than comparable logistic regression models. Key words. neural networks; logistic regression; likelihood ratio; Bayes' theorem; cardiac risk. (Med Decis Making 1998;18:70-75)
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Implants versus Autologous Perforator Flaps Using the BREAST-Q

Background: Reimbursement has been recognized as a physician barrier to autologous reconstruction. Autologous reconstructions are more expensive than prosthetic reconstructions, but provide greater health-related quality of life. The authors’ hypothesis is that autologous tissue reconstructions are cost-effective compared with prosthetic techniques when considering health-related quality of life and patient satisfaction. Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis from the payer perspective, including patient input, was performed for unilateral and bilateral reconstructions with deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps and implants. The effectiveness measure was derived using the BREAST-Q and interpreted as the cost for obtaining 1 year of perfect breast health-related quality-adjusted life-year. Costs were obtained from the 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was generated. A sensitivity analysis for age and stage at diagnosis was performed. Results: BREAST-Q scores from 309 patients with implants and 217 DIEP flap reconstructions were included. The additional cost for obtaining 1 year of perfect breast-related health for a unilateral DIEP flap compared with implant reconstruction was $11,941. For bilateral DIEP flaps compared with implant reconstructions, the cost for an additional breast health-related quality-adjusted life-year was $28,017. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the cost for an additional breast health-related quality-adjusted life-year for DIEP flaps compared with implants was less for younger patients and earlier stage breast cancer. Conclusions: DIEP flaps are cost-effective compared with implants, especially for unilateral reconstructions. Cost-effectiveness of autologous techniques is maximized in women with longer life expectancy. Patient-reported outcomes findings can be incorporated into cost-effectiveness analyses to demonstrate the relative value of reconstructive procedures.
Rescue of an influenza A virus wild-type PB2 gene and a mutant derivative bearing a site-specific temperature-sensitive and attenuating mutation

Live attenuated influenza A virus vaccines are currently produced by the transfer of attenuating genes from a donor virus to new epidemic variants of influenza A virus, with the selection of reassortant viruses that possess the protective antigens (i.e., the two surface glycoproteins) of the epidemic virus and the attenuating genes from the donor virus. The previously studied attenuated donor viruses were produced by conventional methods such as passage of virus at low temperature or chemical mutagenesis. The present paper describes a new strategy for the generation of a donor virus bearing an attenuating, non-surface-glycoprotein gene. This strategy involves the introduction of attenuating mutations into the cDNA copy of the PB2 polymerase gene by site-directed mutagenesis, transfection of in vitro RNA transcripts of PB2 cDNA, and recovery of the transfected PB2 gene into an infectious virus. An avian-human influenza A virus PB2 single-gene reassortant virus (with an avian influenza A virus PB2 gene) that replicates efficiently in avian tissue but poorly in mammalian cells was used as a helper virus to rescue a transfected synthetic RNA derived from a human influenza A virus PB2 gene. The desired human influenza A virus mutant PB2 transfectant was favored in this situation because the avian influenza A virus PB2 gene restricts viral replication in mammalian cells in culture, the system used for rescue, thereby providing strong selection for the virus bearing the human influenza A virus PB2 gene. We validated the feasibility of this approach by rescuing the PB2 gene of the wild-type influenza A/Ann Arbor/6/60 virus and a mutant derivative that had a single amino acid substitution introduced at position 265 by site-directed mutagenesis. Previously, this amino acid substitution had been shown to specify both a temperature-sensitive (ts) and an attenuation (att) phenotype. The rescued mutant 265 PB2 transfectant virus exhibited the ts and att phenotypes, which confirms that these phenotypes were specified by this single amino acid substitution. The transfectant virus was immunogenic and protected hamsters from subsequent challenge with wild-type virus. The cDNA copy of this influenza A/Ann Arbor/6/60 virus mutant 265 PB2 gene will be used as a substrate for the introduction of additional attenuating mutations by site-directed mutagenesis.
Influence of growth temperature on cryotolerance and lipid composition of Lactobacillus acidophilus

In order to correlate the lipid composition of the membrane of Lactobacillus acidophilus CRL 640 with the freeze–thaw behaviour of the cultures grown at different temperatures, fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from extracts grown at 25, 30, 37 and 40 °C were obtained and compared. Cultures grown at 25 °C (M25) exhibited more resistance to the freeze–thaw process probably because of an increase in C18:2 and C16:0 fatty acids. This culture also exhibited a lesser amount of phospholipids as shown by the sugar : phosphorus ratio. In all cases, the presence of the uncommon 10‐hydroxyoctadecanoic acid was determined. From the extracts of the M25 and M37 cultures, diacylphosphatidylglycerol, cardiolipin, diglycosyldiglycerides, triglycosyldiglycerides and neutral lipids were isolated and identified. The structural elucidation was carried out by FAMEs and sugar analysis and by mass spectrometry using fast atom bombardment ionization. The changes in lipid composition due to different growth temperatures could be indicative of the resistance of the bacteria to freeze–thaw processes.
MgB2 Superconducting Thin Films with a Transition Temperature of 39 Kelvin

We fabricated high-quality caxis–oriented epitaxial MgB2 thin films using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The thin films grown on (1 1̄ 0 2) Al2O3 substrates have a transition temperature of 39 kelvin. The critical current density in zero field is ∼6 × 106 amperes per cubic centimeter at 5 kelvin and ∼3 × 105 amperes per cubic centimeter at 35 kelvin, which suggests that this compound has potential for electronic device applications, such as microwave devices and superconducting quantum interference devices. For the films deposited on Al2O3, x-ray diffraction patterns indicate a highly c axis–oriented crystal structure perpendicular to the substrate surface.
Optimal Selection of Augmented Pairs Designs for Response Surface Modeling

With reference to second-order polynomial regression models, we consider augmented pairs (AP) designs recently introduced by Morris and address two open problems that he posed. These concern the choice of the initial design and the consequence of rescaling the augmented runs. Although some of our results provide theoretical support to the choice of AP designs as in Morris, some others are quite counterintuitive. We also briefly discuss the effect of blocking on our results.
Epidemiology of Adolescent Sexual Assault

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of sexual assault in adolescents and to compare this group with sexual assault victims over 20 years of age. Methods: Charts were reviewed of 405 women presenting for sexual assault evaluation between January 1, 1990 and December 31,1993, and demographic, historical, and laboratory data were extracted. Results: The median age of the study population was 21 years. Adolescent victims (less than 20 years old, N=178) were more likely to be assaulted by an acquaintance or relative (77 versus 56%; P<.0001) and to delay medical evaluation (11 versus 7 hours; P<.02) than were women 20 years of age and older (N=227). Conclusions: The epidemiology of sexual assault in adolescents is unique and poses special challenges to the health care provider and the sexual assault evaluation team. Clinicians evaluating adolescents should be familiar with the epidemiology of sexual assault in this age group and the widespread problem of acquaintance rape. Adolescents should be offered preventive strategies to help them avoid future violence in dating relationships and the sequelae of sexual assault, such as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Elimination of blood group antigens: hope and reality

In transfusion medicine, three major issues, i.e. heterogeneity of human blood groups, dependence of blood supply on donation, and shortage of some phenotypes, oblige clinicians to juggle with available biological material to avoid or limit post‐transfusion reactions. This ‘fact of life’ has given impetus to a 30‐year‐old quest to achieve interchangeability of blood products between donors and recipients by eliminating blood group antigens.
Th2 Skewing by Activation of Nrf2 in CD4+ T Cells

NF erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that mediates the upregulation of a battery of cytoprotective genes in response to cell stress. Recent studies showed that Nrf2 also modulates immune responses and exhibits anti-inflammatory activity. In this article, we demonstrate that a common food preservative, tert-butylhydroquinone, can activate Nrf2 in T cells, as evidenced by Nrf2 binding to the antioxidant response element and the subsequent upregulation of Nrf2 target genes. The activation of Nrf2 suppresses IFN-γ production, while inducing the production of the Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13. Nrf2 activation also suppresses T-bet DNA binding and promotes GATA-binding protein 3 DNA binding. Collectively, the present studies suggested that Nrf2 activation skews CD4+ T cells toward Th2 differentiation and, thus, represents a novel regulatory mechanism in CD4+ T cells. Further studies are needed to determine whether the commercial use of Nrf2 activators as food preservatives promotes food allergies in humans.
Artificial Intelligence: American Attitudes and Trends

This report presents a broad look at the American public’s attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and AI governance, based on findings from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 American adults. As the study of the public opinion toward AI is relatively new, we aimed for breadth over depth, with our questions touching on: workplace automation; attitudes regarding international cooperation; the public’s trust in various actors to develop and regulate AI; views about the importance and likely impact of different AI governance challenges; and historical and cross-national trends in public opinion regarding AI. Our results provide preliminary insights into the character of US public opinion regarding AI.
Synergies and Internal Agency Conflicts: The Double-Edged Sword of Mergers

"This paper investigates the interaction between synergies and internal agency conflicts that emerges endogenously in multi-division firms. A divisional manager's entrenchment choice depends directly on the specificity of her division's assets, because the specificity governs whether entrenchment activities reduce the likelihood of her division being divested. The presence of synergies, by modifying the difference between the value of assets in their current use and in alternative uses, may alter the divisional manager's entrenchment incentive. In "the double-edged sword of mergers," synergy and internal agency effects are of opposite sign and merger gains may not be increasing in expected synergies. We characterize when divisions should optimally stand alone and when they should be part of a merged firm. We predict an absence of diversifying mergers in industries plagued by misdeployed assets, offer a novel explanation for the cross-sectional variation in postmerger valuation, and explain why mergers may be valuable "ex ante" while leading to successful divestitures ex post. " Copyright 2006, The Author(s) Journal Compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing.
Ab initio calculation of phonon dispersions in semiconductors.

The density-functional linear-response approach to lattice-dynamical calculations in semiconductors is presented in full detail. As an application, we calculate complete phonon dispersions for the elemental semiconductors Si and Ge, and for the III-V semiconductor compounds GaAs, AlAs, GaSb, and AlSb. Our results are in excellent agreement with experiments where available, and provide predictions where they are not. As a byproduct, we obtain real-space interatomic force constants for these materials, which are useful both for interpolating the dynamical matrices through the Brillouin zone, and as ingredients of approximate calculations for mixed systems such as alloys and microstructures. The possibility of studying these systems using the force constants of the pure materials relies on the so-called mass approximation, B i.e., on neglecting the dependence of the force constants upon composition. The accuracy of such an approximation is tested and found to be very good for cationic intermixing in binary semiconductors, while it is less so for anionic substitutions. The situation is intermediate in the case of elemental semiconductors.
Prevalence of chronic insomnia in adult patients and its correlation with medical comorbidities

Introduction: Insomnia is one of the common but neglected conditions seen in family practice with long term and serious effects on health of a patient. Family physicians have the responsibility of diagnosing and adequately treating this. This study was done to find the prevalence of chronic insomnia in adult patients visiting a family medicine outpatient department (OPD) in a hospital and to assess the risk factors and co morbidities associated with it. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the family medicine OPD at St. Philomena's Hospital, Bengaluru. All adult patients attending the OPD from September 1 to October 30, 2015 were enrolled in the study after obtaining written consent. Athens Insomnia Scale was used to diagnose insomnia and information regarding medical co morbidities was collected. Data was analyzed for the prevalence of insomnia and its association with co morbidities. Results: Chronic insomnia was seen in 33% of the adult population sampled. Increasing age and diabetes were significantly associated with insomnia, while other socioeconomic factors and co morbidities were not significantly associated. Twenty-seven percent of patients who had insomnia did not perceive the condition, which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Insomnia is a common sleep disorder which is many times missed by a primary care physician until/unless asked for. Since there is a higher incidence with increasing age and co morbidities such as diabetes, all patients, especially middle-aged and diabetics, should be screened for insomnia by the primary care physician with a self assessed questionnaire and counseled.
Depression spectrum disease, I: The role of gene-environment interaction.

OBJECTIVE This study used an adoption study design to separate genetic from environmental factors in the etiology of depression spectrum disease, a type of major depression characterized by families in which male relatives are alcoholic and females are depressed. The genetic etiology hypothesis of depression spectrum disease proposes that an alcoholic genetic diathesis predisposes to depression in females but alcoholism, not depression, in males. METHOD The study examined 197 adult offspring (95 male and 102 female) of alcoholic biological parents and used logistic regression models to determine the contribution to major depression in male and female adoptees that could be explained by the genetic alcoholic diathesis combined with an environmental factor that was characterized by psychiatrically or behaviorally disturbed adoptive parents. RESULTS Major depression in females was predicted by an alcoholic diathesis only when combined with the disturbed adoptive parent variable. The same regression model failed to predict depression in males. Other possible environmental confounding factors contributing to an increased chance of depression were found in females: fetal alcohol exposure, age at the time of adoption, and a family with an adopted sibling who had a psychiatric problem. These variables did not diminish the significance of the prediction of depression with the alcohol genetic diathesis and disturbed parent model. CONCLUSIONS The results show that a genetic factor is present for which alcoholism is at least a marker, and which exerts its effect in women as a gene-environment interaction leading to major depression. This finding suggests that an important etiologic factor in depression spectrum disease is gene-environment interaction.
Training Data Smartphone Recommendation Training Single Platform App Recommendation Cross-Platform App Recommendation Joint Training Recommendation Recommendation Recommendation Common Features Specific Features Specific Features Training Data Tablet Recommendation Training Specific Features Trainin

Over the last decade, the renaissance of Web technologies has transformed the online world into an application (App) driven society. While the abundant Apps have provided great convenience, their sheer number also leads to severe information overload, making it difficult for users to identify desired Apps. To alleviate the information overloading issue, recommender systems have been proposed and deployed for the App domain. However, existing work on App recommendation has largely focused on one single platform (e.g., smartphones), while ignores the rich data of other relevant platforms (e.g., tablets and computers). In this paper, we tackle the problem of cross-platform App recommendation, aiming at leveraging users’ and Apps’ data on multiple platforms to enhance the recommendation accuracy. The key advantage of our proposal is that by leveraging multi-platform data, the perpetual issues in personalized recommender systems — data sparsity and cold-start — can be largely alleviated. To this end, we propose a hybrid solution, STAR (short for “croSs-plaTform App Recommendation”), that integrates both numerical ratings and textual content from multiple platforms. In STAR, we innovatively represent an App as an aggregation of common features across platforms (e.g., App’s functionalities) and specific features that are dependent on the resided platform. In light of this, STAR can discriminate a user’s preference on an App by separating the user’s interest into two parts (either in the App’s inherent factors or platform-aware features). To evaluate our proposal, we construct two real-world datasets which are crawled from the App stores of iPhone, iPad and iMac. Through extensive experiments, we show that our STAR method consistently outperforms highly competitive recommendation methods, justifying the rationality of our cross-platform App recommendation proposal and the effectiveness of our solution. CCS Concepts: rInformation systems→ Recommender systems;
Stabilizability of Controlled Lagrangian Systems of Two Degrees of Freedom and One Degree of Under-Actuation by the Energy-Shaping Method

We provide some criteria for stabilizability by the energy-shaping method for the class of all controlled Lagrangian systems of two degrees of freedom and one degree of under-actuation: a necessary and sufficient condition for Lyapunov stabilizability, two sufficient conditions for asymptotic stabilizability, and a necessary and sufficient condition for exponential stabilizability. As a corollary, we show that some of the asymptotically stabilizing controllers that were designed in old literatures with the energy-shaping method are actually exponentially stabilizing controllers. Examples of such systems are the inverted pendulum on a cart, the Furuta pendulum, the ball and beam system, and the Pendubot.
The social construction of fibromyalgia as a health problem from the perspective of policies, professionals, and patients

ABSTRACT Background: Fibromyalgia is a painful chronic disease, suffered mainly by women, that consolidates a number of symptoms and skeletal muscle issues which are little understood. Objectives: To explore the social construction of FM from the perspective of health policies, patients, and health professionals involved in their medical attention. Methods: I) Policy review of national and regional health plans in a national and international context, the clinical protocols for fibromyalgia in Spain, and the Parliamentary initials in the European and Spanish context; and ii) Qualitative study involving 28 personal interviews with 16 fibromyalgia patients and 12 interviews with health care professionals in Spain. Results: The findings show that in Spain, the fact that fibromyalgia lacks recognition still remains: in policies, in the clinical and professional fields, and in the patients’ social circle. International health policy has not yet taken steps to reflect the emergence of this recently diagnosed disease. The care for patients suffering from fibromyalgia, who are mainly women, leads to frustration among the healthcare professionals and desperation among the patients themselves, as a resolutive treatment for the disease is not existing. Patients show resistance at assuming the sick role. They want to carry on undertaking their daily activities, both in the public sphere and in the private one. Roles involving the gendered division of labour were found to follow a rigid pattern, both prior to and subsequent to the disease, as the causes that led to frustration for men or women differ according to activities that are socially assigned to them. In practice, FM is conceived exclusively as a women’s health problem, which may result in a gender-biased patient healthcare attention. Conclusion: Political, professional and individual spheres have an influence on how this disease is constructed on a social level: as one of the “invisible women’s diseases”. It is recommended to resolve the disease’s lack of recognition by i) implementing specific policies for FM and ii) increasing the training and sensitization of health providers about the severity of FM and the existence of gender prejudices biasing the attention.