Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic effectiveness of setting and monitoring goals.

This study investigated the therapeutic effects of goal-setting strategies on patients whose behaviors were disintegrating but not fragmented or disoriented. Two techniques of goal setting were introduced into the therapeutic interaction to effect greater beneficial changes in patient attainment of goals: (a) collaboration of patients, therapists, and "collaterals" (other persons significant to the patient, such as spouse or probation officer) on 3-month treatment goals and (b) weekly monitoring with structured feedback. Sixteen outpatients were randomly assigned to a treatment group for which the Behavioral Monitoring Progress Record was used. The Behavioral Monitoring Progress Record is a method in which the patient and therapist collaborate in setting and monitoring weekly therapeutic goals. Sixteen other outpatients were randomly assigned to the same individual therapy but without weekly goal setting or monitoring. Collateral persons and behavioral criteria were used at intake for collecting information in each problem area and were used at follow-up to validate the patient's self-report. A score was used as an index of change. All patients improved from the time of intake to the time of the follow-up interview, eight individual therapy sessions later. There was greater success in the attainment of goals for patients using the Behavioral Monitoring Progress Record than for patients in the group not using this format. Because of the increasing emphasis on accountability within community mental health centers, Kiresuk (1973) has proposed a method for evaluating treatment effectiveness in psychotherapy using goal attainment scaling procedures. Goal attainment scaling is a process in which therapeutic goals are set for, by, or with the subject. The possible levels of predicted attainment of these goals are scaled from the least favorable to the most favorable outcomes in behavioral terms. Although the purpose of Kiresuk's work was to develop a method of quantifying behavioral change, the process of setting and scaling goals appeared to have potential as a therapeutic procedure. The major objective in this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of setting goals in behavioral terms while monitoring the subject's progress in attaining these goals. To accomplish this objective, the answer to two questions were sought: Did behavior change occur from intake to follow-up evaluation? and Was there a difference in behavior change between the monitored and control groups?
Risk Factors for Developing Tuberculosis in HIV‐1‐Infected Adults From Communities With a Low or Very High Incidence of Tuberculosis

Objective: To estimate the incidence rate of tuberculosis in HIV‐1‐infected adults resident in a region with a high tuberculosis prevalence and to identify clinical and laboratory parameters associated with increased risk of developing tuberculosis. Methods: Adult patients going to the University of Cape Town HIV clinics between January 1986 and May 1996. The following variables were assessed for the risk of developing tuberculosis: ethnicity, employment and education status, World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), CD4+ count, and total lymphocyte count. Tuberculin skin test data were not available. Results: There were 198 prevalent and 144 incident cases of tuberculosis in the cohort of 1206 patients. The incidence rate of tuberculosis risk was 10.4/100 person years. WHO clinical stages 3 and 4 (risk ratio [RR], 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8‐6.4), ESR >75 mm/hour (RR, 3.5; CI, 1.8‐6.5) and being a member of a high‐prevalence tuberculosis community (RR, 2.5; CI, 1.2‐5.1) were independently associated with the risk of developing tuberculosis. Conclusions: HIV‐infected adults in Cape Town are at high risk of developing tuberculosis irrespective of tuberculin skin testing. The risk increases markedly with HIV disease progression. Patients at extremely high risk can be identified on the basis of demographic and clinical features. Such individuals would be suitable for targeted tuberculosis prophylaxis.
Categorising Test Smells

The aim of this investigation into test smells was to find out how familiar developers are with test smells, the frequency of test smells and their severity in the industrial world. First of all, a taxonomy of different test smells was created and grouped according to programming principles as a basis for this study. Several interviews were then conducted to find out which test smells to include in the subsequent survey. 20 people with different industrial experience levels participated in this survey. It was hypothesised that test smells are not identified as such and that their names are unknown. The hypothesis was supported by the results of the survey. The results revealed that test smells are not quite well-known despite the fact that some of them occur rather frequently and pose severe problems.
A Simple Layered Space-Time Block Nulling Technique for DSTTD Systems

A double space-time transmit diversity (DSTTD) system employs four transmit antennas to multiplex two Alamouti space-time block code (STBC) units. In this letter, a specially-designed canceling mechanism is presented, which can efficiently separate the two STBC units for such systems. We show that the orthogonal structure, and so the merit of Alamouti STBC, can be kept. Compared with some previous interference cancelation methods, the proposed one requires much fewer floating-point operations (flops) while achieving similar error-rate performance.
Leucine-Specific, Functional Interactions between Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Nef and Adaptor Protein Complexes

ABSTRACT The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 virulence protein Nef interacts with the endosomal sorting machinery via a leucine-based motif. Similar sequences within the cytoplasmic domains of cellular transmembrane proteins bind to the adaptor protein (AP) complexes of coated vesicles to modulate protein traffic, but the molecular basis of the interactions between these motifs and the heterotetrameric complexes is controversial. To identify the target of the Nef leucine motif, the native sequence was replaced with either leucine- or tyrosine-based AP-binding sequences from cellular proteins, and the interactions with AP subunits were correlated with function. Tyrosine motifs predictably modulated the interactions between Nef and the μ subunits of AP-1, AP-2, and AP-3; heterologous leucine motifs caused little change in these interactions. Conversely, leucine motifs mediated a ternary interaction between Nef and hemicomplexes containing the σ1 plus γ subunits of AP-1 or the σ3 plus δ subunits of AP-3, whereas tyrosine motifs did not. Similarly, only leucine motifs supported the Nef-mediated association of AP-1 and AP-3 with endosomal membranes in cells treated with brefeldin A. Functionally, Nef proteins containing leucine motifs down-regulated CD4 from the cell surface and enhanced viral replication, whereas those containing tyrosine motifs were inactive. Apparently, the interaction of Nef with the μ subunits of AP complexes is insufficient for function. A leucine-specific mode of interaction that likely involves AP hemicomplexes is further required for Nef activity. The μ and hemicomplex interactions may cooperate to yield high avidity binding of AP complexes to Nef. This binding likely underlies the unusual ability of Nef to induce the stabilization of these complexes on endosomal membranes, an activity that correlates with enhancement of viral replication.
THE REFLARES AND OUTBURST EVOLUTION IN THE ACCRETING MILLISECOND PULSAR SAX J1808.4–3658: A DISK TRUNCATED NEAR CO-ROTATION?

The accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4–3658 shows peculiar low luminosity states known as “reflares” after the end of the main outburst. During this phase the X-ray luminosity of the source varies by up to three orders of magnitude in less than 1–2 days. The lowest X-ray luminosity observed reaches a value of ∼ 10 32 erg s - 1 ? > , only a factor of a few brighter than its typical quiescent level. We investigate the 2008 and 2005 reflaring state of SAX J1808.4–3658 to determine whether there is any evidence for a change in the accretion flow with respect to the main outburst. We perform a multiwavelength photometric and spectral study of the 2005 and 2008 reflares with data collected during an observational campaign covering the near-infrared, optical, ultra-violet and X-ray band. We find that the NIR/optical/UV emission, expected to come from the outer accretion disk, shows variations in luminosity over an order of magnitude. The corresponding X-ray luminosity variations are instead much deeper, spanning about 2–3 orders of magnitude. The X-ray spectral state observed during the reflares does not change substantially with X-ray luminosity, indicating a rather stable configuration of the accretion flow. We investigate the most likely configuration of the innermost regions of the accretion flow and we infer an accretion disk truncated at or near the co-rotation radius. We interpret these findings as due to either a strong outflow (due to a propeller effect) or a trapped disk (with limited/no outflow) in the inner regions of the accretion flow.
Assessing the Capital Efficiency of Healthcare Information Technologies Investments: An Econometric Perspective

Summary Objectives To examine the different methods that can be used in the quantification of the added value of information technologies (IT) in the health care sector. This quantification represents a major issue for decision-makers and health care professionals when they have to plan an IT investment. MethodsArticles were chosen via Medline, internet and the University of Geneva bibliographic portal. Some of the papers were obtained directly from their authors. We examine the most current methods used to evaluate IT return on investment (ROI) in the general business and in the health care sector, drawing attention on methods traditionally used in macro economic studies that could reveal themselves disruptive for IT ROI impact evaluation in hospitals. Results Financial and accounting methods can provide interesting data on a specific IT project but are usually incomplete for revealing the global IT investment influence. Econometric methods tend to demonstrate the positive impact of health care IT (HIT) on hospital production and productivity. Hospitals having higher levels of IT investment tend to deliver a higher level of clinical quality and show improved hospital cost performances. Conclusions Information technologies are so intermingled with people and processes that the identification of specific IT benefit remains questionable. Using macro economic tools could be the best way to analyze and compute IT ROI in health care. Econometric tools take into account all types investments (inputs) and all the returns (outputs) enabling the precise measurement of IT investments impact, breakeven points, and possible threshold levels, thus providing helpful intelligence to reach the higher levels of IT governance in hospitals.
Dose Escalation and Pharmacokinetics Study of Enzastaurin and Sunitinib Versus Placebo and Sunitinib in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

ObjectiveTo assess antiangiogenic effects of enzastaurin in combination with sunitinib in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). MethodsThis was a multicenter, phase 2 study of enzastaurin and sunitinib versus placebo and sunitinib for adult patients with metastatic clear cell RCC. Part 1 was a 6-week, open-label, safety lead-in phase with 2 cohorts (sunitinib, both cohorts: 50 mg/d for 4 weeks; enzastaurin, cohort 1: a loading dose of 500 mg, followed by 250 mg daily; cohort 2: a loading dose of 1125 mg, followed by 500 mg daily). Part 2 was to be a randomized, double-blinded phase, with efficacy as the primary objective. Secondary objectives included the assessment of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and pharmacokinetics. ResultsSeventeen patients received ≥1 dose of study medication. Six patients (54.5%) in cohort 1 and 2 patients (33.3%) in cohort 2 received ≥6 cycles of treatment. All patients experienced ≥1 TEAE possibly related to study drug. Dose reductions were required as follows: cohort 1—enzastaurin, n=4 (36.4%), sunitinib, n=6 (54.5%); cohort 2—enzastaurin, n=3 (50.0%), sunitinib, n=2 (33.3%). ConclusionsWhereas the hypothesis that combining sunitinib and enzastaurin may result in greater antiangiogenic effects in RCC is based on solid scientific evidence, part 2 of the study was not activated due to the high number of TEAE-related dose reductions at the expected efficacious dose and overall decision by the sponsor not to pursue further development of enzastaurin for solid tumors.
Fast High De(cid:12)nition Discrete Ray Tracing Implicit Surfaces

: This article suggests a new approach to visualize implicit surfaces by using discrete Ray-Tracing. A preprocessing phase to rasterize the implicit surface is necessary to make use of this kind of Ray-Tracing. Several methods were proposed to subdivide an implicit surface. We extend their ideas to visualize this kind of surface directly into the voxel space. Up to date discrete Ray-Tracing, was only used in quite low resolutions (256 3 ). At these resolutions the quality of the generated images were not satisfying. One way to solve this problem is increasing voxel space resolution. Nevertheless using high de(cid:12)nition 3D raster grids would consume too much memory. Using an octree and assuming that the majority of space will be empty, as such is the case in most scenes, an important memory saving is achieved. Conversely the discrete ray traversal (three-dimensional DDA 1 ) performance degrades signi(cid:12)cantly for high resolutions. We solved this problem by dividing the process in two steps where optimal times of three-dimensional DDA are achieved.
Senior government executives' use of the internet: A Bruneian scenario

In gearing up the task of e-Government, the governments of the various economies are investing heavily in Information Technology (IT). The success of e-Government program therefore depends upon the IT literacy and skills of the senior government executives, especially in the use of the Internet. This study focuses on 100 senior government executives of the 10 different ministries of Brunei Darussalam. The results indicate that 70% of the senior executives have positive attitudes about the Internet. Results further show that 50% of these senior executives are in fact using the Internet and 66% of them are underutilizing the technology by just sending and receiving e-mails. The study further develops a normative model by using Davis's Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and by adding external variables. A Structural Equation Modelling technique is used to test the parsimony of the model. The final model has confirmed that external variables, PC self-efficacy and task variety contribute toward both the beliefs perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Only perceived ease of use contributes in determining the attitude that further predicts the Internet use of the senior government executives.
fauna in the urban area of Timóteo , State of Minas erais , Brazil ristian

This work is characterized by an entomological research and an investigation on whether seasonal behaviours can be associated to the phlebotomine fauna found in the urban area of Timóteo-MG – an endemic focus of tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL). The analysis of the seasonal behaviour of sand flies has taken into account the following climatic variables: rainfall, relative humidity and temperature. Automatic light traps were installed in households between 2009 and 2010. The sand fly species with the highest number captured was Lutzomyia whitmani (66.5%), a TL vector species, whose abundance has
Specific absorption of human serum albumin, immunoglobulin A, and immunoglobulin G with selected strains of group A and G streptococci

Five gram-positive bacterial strains were selected for absorption studies of human serum samples. Strain AR1 (group A, M-type 1) and G148 (group G), with strong immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding capacities, and strain AW43 (group A, M-type 60), binding both IgA1 and IgA2, were compared with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I and with Staphylococcus epidermidis L603. Both AR1 and G148 were capable of completely absorbing out serum IgG. In contrast, S. aureus Cowan I left a fraction unabsorbed, as expected from its known lack of IgG3 binding. Strain AW43 absorbed out all serum IgA, using a 10-microliter bacterial pellet for 20 microliter of serum. Serum IgM levels were slightly reduced by S. aureus Cowan I absorption. On the basis of the experiments, a bacterial mixture was designed consisting of S. aureus Cowan I and group A streptococcus strains AR1 and AW43, with absorption characteristics suitable for use in discriminating between early IgM and late IgG and IgA immune responses in routine serological work. A new type of bacteria-mammalian protein binding was discovered. Human serum albumin was completely absorbed out by strain G148 and to a lesser extent by strain AR1 and AW43. S. aureus Cowan I and S. epidermidis were negative. The binding capacity of G148 for albumin equalled that of Cowan I for IgG. The binding pattern of albumin to the strains was different from those of IgG, IgA, IgM, fibrinogen, haptoglobin, or aggregated beta 2-microglobulin and therefore seems to represent another type of bacterial-mammalian interaction with a specific albumin receptor on the surface of streptococci.
Consensus on Optical Coherence Tomographic Angiography Nomenclature: Do We Need to Develop and Learn a New Language?

In this issue of JAMA Ophthalmology, Durbin et al 1 evaluate the ability of optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) to distinguish healthy eyes from those with diabetic retinopathy (DR). They compared a population of individuals with early to moderate DR with age-matched controls and examined several OCTA-derived measures, including vessel density and perfusion density, as well as the size of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ). Receiver operating characteristic curves and areas under the curve were generated to examine the sensitivity and specificity of these measures in distinguishing groups. The authors found that mean vessel density in the superficial capillary network had the best sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing healthy eyes from those with DR, and that this measure also correlated with severity of DR within the study group of patients with predominantly mild to moderate DR. This study adds to the controversy regarding the ability of OCTA measures to distinguish healthy individuals from those with DR and, further within DR, to determine the correlation between OCTA-derived measures and DR severity. Recent studies, including that by Durbin et al, 1 explore similar questions using different OCT technologies. Although some studies have shown that early microvascular changes are evident on OCTA scans and strongly correlate with severity of DR, others have not found the same results. Also, the deep capillaries have emerged as a potentially important biomarker of DR severity in some studies but not in others. Similarly, measuring the size of the FAZ to distinguish healthy individuals from those with diabetes or to determine severity of DR remains a controversial issue.
The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Psychophysiological Assessment for the Secondary Prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An Open-Label Pilot Study

Our recent pilot study has shown that the supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) immediately after a traumatic event may be effective toward the secondary prevention of post-traumatic disorder (PTSD). To lay the groundwork for addressing the mechanism by which omega-3 fatty acids can prevent PTSD, we analyzed its psychophysiological data. The psychophysiological data included heart rate, skin conductance, and continuous blood pressure during patient subjection to startling tones and idiographic trauma-related cues. Of the 8 patients, 1 met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Compared to the seven patients without PTSD, one patient with PTSD showed relatively large reactivity to the startle tones. In contrast, this patient did not show large reactivity to the trauma-related cue during script-driven imagery. The combination of psychophysiological measurements in our randomized control trial should shed light on the underlying mechanisms by which omega-3 fatty acids can prevent PTSD.
Elastic and nonlinear acoustic properties of the terbium iron garnet Tb3Fe5O12 in relation to those of other garnets.

The elastic behavior as a function of temperature, pressure, and magnetic field of the ferrimagnetic rare-earth garnet Tb 3 Fe 3 O 12 , in which all the cation sites are occupied by magnetic ions, has been examined experimentally using the ultrasonic pulse overlap technique. The effects on the ultrasonic wave velocities of a magnetic field applied in a fourfold direction have been measured; that for the [001] polarized shear wave propagated in the [110] direction (and thus for the shear modulus C 44 ) is found to be much larger than for the other ultrasonic modes
American Society of Clinical Oncology 2007 clinical practice guideline update on the role of bisphosphonates in multiple myeloma.

PURPOSE To update the recommendations for the use of bisphosphonates in the prevention and treatment of bone disease in multiple myeloma. The Update Committee expanded the guideline to include a discussion of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). METHODS For the 2007 update, an Update Committee composed of members from the full panel completed a review and analysis of data published since 2002. Searches of Medline and the Cochrane Collaboration Library databases were performed. RECOMMENDATIONS For multiple myeloma patients who have, on plain radiograph(s) or imaging studies, lytic destruction of bone or spine compression fracture from osteopenia, intravenous pamidronate 90 mg delivered over at least 2 hours or zoledronic acid 4 mg delivered over at least 15 minutes every 3 to 4 weeks is recommended. Clodronate is an alternative bisphosphonate approved worldwide, except in the United States, for oral or intravenous administration. New dosing guidelines for patients with pre-existing renal impairment were added to the zoledronic acid package insert. Although no similar dosing guidelines are available for pamidronate, the Update Committee recommends that clinicians consider reducing the initial pamidronate dose in patients with pre-existing renal impairment. Zoledronic acid has not been studied in patients with severe renal impairment and is not recommended in this setting. The Update Committee suggests that bisphosphonate treatment continue for a period of 2 years. At 2 years, physicians should seriously consider discontinuing bisphosphonates in patients with responsive or stable disease, but further use is at the discretion of the treating physician. The Update Committee also discusses measures regarding ONJ.