Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diverse Effects of Statins on Angiogenesis: New Therapeutic Avenues

Angiogenesis is an important process for a variety of physiologic and pathologic conditions. Different angiogenic modulating targets are under extensive investigation both experimentally and clinically. The 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) are the first‐line agents used in hypercholesterolemia. They are also characterized by having other benefits apart from their lipid‐lowering effects. Among these pleiotropic effects are the pro‐and antiangiogenic properties of statins. The pleiotropic effects of statins and how they modulate new blood vessel formation are discussed in this review. The currently available data from both animal and human studies regarding the effects of statins on angiogenesis in ischemic heart disease, stroke, ocular diseases, and cancer are also reviewed. Statins are safe, orally available agents that may acquire novel therapeutic indications through their angiogenic modulating effects.
Severe Lactic Acidosis After an Iatrogenic Propylene Glycol Overdose

Propylene glycol is a diluent found in many intravenous and oral drugs, including phenytoin, diazepam, and lorazepam. Propylene glycol is eliminated from the body by oxidation through alcohol dehydrogenase to form lactic acid. Under normal conditions, the body converts lactate to pyruvate and metabolizes pyruvate through the Krebs cycle. Lactic acidosis has occurred in patients, often those with renal dysfunction, who were receiving prolonged infusions of drugs that contain propylene glycol as a diluent. We describe a 50‐year‐old man who experienced severe lactic acidosis after receiving an accidental overdose of lorazepam, which contains propylene glycol. The patient was acutely intoxicated, with a serum ethanol concentration of 406 mg/dl. He had choked on a large piece of meat and subsequently experienced pulseless electrical activity with ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest. He was brought to the emergency department; within 2 hours, he was admitted to the intensive care unit for initiation of the hypothermia protocol. The patient began to experience generalized tonic‐clonic seizures 12 hours later, which resolved after several boluses of lorazepam. A lorazepam infusion was started; however, it was inadvertently administered at a rate of 2 mg/minute instead of the standard rate of 2 mg/hour. Ten hours later, the administration error was recognized and the infusion stopped. The patient's peak propylene glycol level was 659 mg/dl, pH 6.9, serum bicarbonate level 5 mEq/L, and lactate level 18.6 mmol/L. Fomepizole was started the next day and was continued until hospital day 3. Continuous renal replacement therapy was started and then replaced with continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) for the remainder of the hospital stay. The patient's acidosis resolved by day 3, when his propylene glycol level had decreased to 45 mg/dl. Fomepizole was discontinued, but the patient's prognosis was poor (anoxic brain injury); thus care was withdrawn and the patient died. Although the patient's outcome was death, his lactic acidosis was treated successfully with fomepizole and CVVH. Clinicians should be aware that an iatrogenic overdose of lorazepam may result in severe propylene glycol toxicity, which may be treated with fomepizole and CVVH. Key Words: propylene glycol, lorazepam, iatrogenic overdose, severe lactic acidosis, critical care, fomepizole.
A Comparative Evaluation on Online Learning Approaches using Parallel Coordinate Visualization

As visualizations are increasingly used as a storytelling medium for the general public, it becomes important to help people learn how to understand visualizations. Prior studies indicate that interactive multimedia learning environments can increase the effectiveness of learning [11]. To investigate the efficacy of the multimedia learning environments for data visualization education, we compared four online learning approaches 1) baseline (i.e., no tutorial), 2) static tutorial, 3) video tutorial, and 4) interactive tutorial-through a crowdsourced user study. We measured participants' learning outcomes in using parallel coordinates with 18 tasks. Results show that participants with the interactive condition achieved higher scores than those with the static and baseline conditions, and reported that they had a more engaging experience than those with the static condition.
Guidelines for Encouraging Psychological Well‐being

These guidelines aim to help the diabetes team to protect or improve psychological well-being in people with diabetes and their families. Psychological and physical well-being are interdependent. This interdependence is especially apparent in adults and children with diabetes. Whole-person approaches to patient care are needed. Diagnosis of diabetes and the task of coping with the disorder and its complications have major effects on people’s lives, affecting psychological as well as physical well-being. Diabetes team members need to develop an understanding of what having and coping with diabetes means for individuals. Meanings differ from one individual to the next and may alter with changing circumstances in peoples’ lives. People with diabetes need to feel respected, supported, and understood by the diabetes care team. Psychological well-being is, in its own right, an important goal of diabetes management. Improving metabolic control may be seen as one means of improving psychological well-being; in the short term reducing feelings of anxiety or fatigue and in the longer term reducing the risks of complications which may seriously
Multivariate Stochastic Orderings and Positive Dependence in Reliability Theory

Stochastic orderings are introduced for vectors of lifetimes based on hazard rates and cumulative hazard functions. Relations are established between those orderings and other ones such as the totally positive ordering of Karlin and Rinott 1980. Positive dependence notions in reliability theory are recast in terms of the new stochastic orderings. Relationships are also established between the notion of multivariate total positivity and the notion of hazard increase upon failure.
#Scanners: Exploring the Control of Adaptive Films using Brain-Computer Interaction

This paper explores the design space of bio-responsive entertainment, in this case using a film that responds to the brain and blink data of users. A film was created with four parallel channels of footage, where blinking and levels of attention and meditation, as recorded by a commercially available EEG device, affected which footage participants saw. As a performance-led piece of research in the wild, this experience, named #Scanners, was presented at a week long national exhibition in the UK. We examined the experiences of 35 viewers, and found that these forms of partially-involuntary control created engaging and enjoyable, but sometimes distracting, experiences. We translate our findings into a two-dimensional design space between the extent of voluntary control that a physiological measure can provide against the level of conscious awareness that the user has of that control. This highlights that novel design opportunities exist when deviating from these two-dimensions - when giving up conscious control and when abstracting the affect of control. Reflection on of how viewers negotiated this space during an experience reveals novel design tactics.
Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) isolated in a Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Brazil

We investigated the prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) in humans and dogs and evaluated the antimicrobial resistance patterns of these bacteria at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Specimens from 50 human subjects and 50 dogs were studied. Isolates were identified by Gram-staining, biochemical reactivity and resistance to antimicrobials. While no isolates of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus intermedius(MRSI) were isolated, two (4%) methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS) were isolated from dogs and 18 (36%) were isolated from humans. The percentage of MRCoNS isolates resistant to penicillin (100%), ciprofloxacin (30%), gentamicin (40%), clindamycin (25%), erythromycin (70%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (20%) or vancomycin (0%) was evaluated. The absence of MRS isolates resistant to vancomycin is of interest because this antimicrobial may be used as an important therapeutic alternative in cases of MRSA infections. Surveillance programs aimed against MRS should therefore be stimulated in veterinary health units. Key words: Dogs, MRS, nosocomial, veterinary staff.
Helicobacter pylori -DNA in nasal polyp tissues in compare with inferior nasal turbinate tissues: A case- control study in Tehran, Iran

This study is aimed at comparing serum Helicobacter pylori antibodies and H. pylori–DNA in tissue between cases with nasal polyps and controls. A case control study was conducted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Rasul Hospital, Tehran, Persia between 2007 and 2008 upon polyp tissues from 62 nasal polyposis cases and inferior nasal turbinate mucosa from 25 controls. H. pylori-DNA was assessed by qualitative PCR and specific H. pylori antibodies (IgG and IgA) were detected in serum by ELISA method and compared between the two groups. P<0.05 was considered significant. The mean age of cases and controls were 37.5±13.7 and 31±11.5 years, respectively. H. pylori –DNA was detected in 32.3% (20/62) of nasal polyposis cases and 4% (1/25) of controls (P value<0.005). H. pylori antibodies (IgA) were detected in serum of 14.5% (9/62) cases and 4% (1/25) of controls (P=0.27). Previous immunity (IgG) was observed more often in the serum of nasal polyposis cases (44/62, 71%) vs controls (8/25, 32%) (P=0.001). A possible role for H. pylori infection in nasal polyps was defined. We recommend PCR as the best method for evaluating H. pylori infection. Whether or not H. pylori play a pathogenic role could not be determined from the data obtained in this investigation. If such a correlation is established in future studies, long-term antibiotic treatment in cases with nasal polyp that do not respond to surgery or steroids may be useful
A Survey of Role Mining

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is the most widely used model for advanced access control deployed in diverse enterprises of all sizes. RBAC critically depends on defining roles, which are a functional intermediate between users and permissions. Thus, for RBAC to be effective, an appropriate set of roles needs to be identified. Since many organizations already have user-permission assignments defined in some form, it makes sense to identify roles from this existing information. This process, known as role mining, is one of the critical steps for successful RBAC adoption in any enterprise. In recent years, numerous role mining techniques have been developed, which take into account the characteristics of the core RBAC model, as well as its various extended features. In this article, we comprehensively study and classify the basic problem of role mining along with its several variants and the corresponding solution strategies. Categorization is done on the basis of the nature of the target RBAC system, the objective of role mining, and the type of solution. We then discuss the limitations of existing work and identify new areas of research that can lead to further enrichment of this field.
The social determinants of tuberculosis and their association with TB/HIV co-infection in Lusaka, Zambia

Background : Gender based violence is being recognized as a global problem 1 . Given the rampant trends of violence against women and girls in Zambia which include battery, sexual abuse and exploitation, sexual cleansing, assault and other forms of violence 2 , women are prone to increasingly mental health problems. Methodology : This was a cross sectional survey study ccomprising of 263 HIV+ adults aged between 20 and 65. An International Neurobehavioral Test Battery (INTB) was used to review the effects of GBV on neurocognitive functioning among HIV positive individuals in Lusaka's selected urban clinics. Results : Respondents who experienced GBV showed cognition deficits in working memory, verbal learning and recall. Pearson's correlation test showed a negative correlation on both psychological and sexual abuse on working memory r (263) = -. 19, p = . 002; r (263) = -. 16, p = . 008 and verbal learning r (263) = -. 15, p = . 018; r (263) = -. 17, p = . 006 respectively. On recall memory tests, only sexually abused respondents indicated significant negative correlation, r = -. 12, n = 263, p = . 044. Conclusion : The finding of the present study suggests that GBV and depressive symptoms are independent predictors of neurocognitive deficits in HIV positive women in Zambia. Key words: Gender Based Violence, Neurocognitive functioning, HIV positive individuals
On the Invariance Principle for the First Passage Time

New results are obtained on the connection between the invariance principle for the first passage time process and that for the underlying processes. The main contribution is that the ‘passing’ process may have general drift. An example of the application is given which shows that this is of use in deriving limit theorems for delays from limit theorems for queue lengths when studying queueing systems with queue-dependent arrival or (and) service completion rates.
The Nonnegative Node Weight j-Restricted k-Matching Problems

Given a simple and undirected graph, nonnegative node weights, a nonnegative integer j, and a positive integer k, a k-matching in the graph is a subgraph with no isolated nodes and with maximum degree no more than k, a j-restricted k-matching is a k-matching with each connected component having at least j + 1 edges, and the total node weight of a j-restricted k-matching is the total weight of the nodes covered by the edges in the j-restricted k-matching. When j = 1 and k = 2, Kaneko [Kaneko A (2003) A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a path factor every component of which is a path of length at least two. J. Combin. Theory, B 88:195–218] and Kano et al. [Kano M, Katona G, Kiraly Z (2005) Packing paths of length at least two. Discrete Math. 283:129–135] studied the problem of maximizing the number of nodes covered by the edges in a 1-restricted 2-matching. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding a j-restricted k-matching with the maximum total node weight. We present a poly.
Tracking the Trackers

Online tracking poses a serious privacy challenge that has drawn significant attention in both academia and industry. Existing approaches for preventing user tracking, based on curated blocklists, suffer from limited coverage and coarse-grained resolution for classification, rely on exceptions that impact sites' functionality and appearance, and require significant manual maintenance. In this paper we propose a novel approach, based on the concepts leveraged from $k$-Anonymity, in which users collectively identify unsafe data elements, which have the potential to identify uniquely an individual user, and remove them from requests. We deployed our system to 200,000 German users running the Cliqz Browser or the Cliqz Firefox extension to evaluate its efficiency and feasibility. Results indicate that our approach achieves better privacy protection than blocklists, as provided by Disconnect, while keeping the site breakage to a minimum, even lower than the community-optimized AdBlock Plus. We also provide evidence of the prevalence and reach of trackers to over 21 million pages of 350,000 unique sites, the largest scale empirical evaluation to date. 95% of the pages visited contain 3rd party requests to potential trackers and 78% attempt to transfer unsafe data. Tracker organizations are also ranked, showing that a single organization can reach up to 42% of all page visits in Germany.
The Relation Between Contraction and Intracellular Sodium in Voltage‐Clamped Sheep Purkinje Fibers

Contraction and Intracellular Sodium. Intracellular sodium activity (aiNa) and contraction were simultaneously recorded in voltage‐clamped sheep Purkinje fibers while the sodium‐potassium pump was inhibited with strophanthidin or low potassium. Exposures to low (1.5×10−7M) and high (10−5M) doses of strophanthidin resulted in aiNa and contraction increasing together. However, when strophanthidin was washed off, aiNa recovered more slowly than contraction. Due to this lag of aiNa behind contraction, there was hysteresis in the relation between contraction and aiNa. We compared strophanthidin exposures in voltage‐clamped fibers to those in unclamped fibers with action potentials. The lack of association between contraction and aiNa was less when fibers were clamped. We conclude that some of the dissociation previously reported in unclamped fibers was due to changes of membrane potential with strophanthidin. Using voltage clamp, we also compared the effect of different doses of strophanthidin applied to the same fiber. Higher doses of strophanthidin caused a larger rise of contraction for a similar increase of aiNa. Higher doses, which inhibit the Na‐K pump to a greater extent, also resulted in a faster rate of rise of aiNa. Inhibition and reactivation of the Na‐K pump with bathing potassium (or rubidium) also resulted in hysteresis between contraction and aiNa. A greater reduction of potassium caused a larger rise of contraction for a similar rise of aiNa. Lower potassium inhibits the Na‐K pump more completely and results in a faster rate of rise of aiNa. Although the absolute rise of aiNa with strophanthidin or low potassium is related to the increase of contraction, we conclude that this is not the only factor. The inotropic effect of these agents is also related to the rate at which aiNa rises; when the rate of rise is large, a given level of aiNa is associated with a larger contraction. Such behavior may be compatible with the presence of aiNa gradients from the subsarcolemmal space to the bulk cytoplasm during pump inhibition.
Aspect-Specific Sentimental Word Embedding for Sentiment Analysis of Online Reviews

Recently, Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely applied to sentiment analysis of short texts. Naturally, word embedding techniques are used to learn continuous word representations for constructing sentence matrix as input to CNN. As for sentiment analysis of customer reviews, we argue that it is problematic to learn a single representation for a word while ignoring sentiment information and the discussed aspects. In this poster, we propose a novel word embedding model to learn sentimental word embedding given specific aspects by modeling both sentiment and syntactic context under the specific aspects. We apply our method as input to CNN for sentiment analysis in multiple domains. Experiments show that the CNN based on the proposed model can consistently achieve superior performance compared to CNN based on traditional word embedding method.
Teaching and Learning with Cases: A Guidebook

Lynn introduces readers to the case method of instruction popularized by the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School. This is a practical, process-oriented guide to teaching, writing, and learning with the case method. Lynn integrates insight from literature with his own extensive experience as a case teacher and writer, and as a trainer of case teachers and case writers. Lynn selects the broadest possible context for discussing the use of cases in teaching for maximum appeal to instructors and learners in diverse fields.
Privacy Behaviour and Profile Configuration in Twitter

The dichotomy between users' privacy behaviours and their privacy attitudes is a widely observed phenomenon in online social media. Such a disparity can be mainly attributed to the users' lack of awareness about the default privacy setting in social networking websites, which is often open and permissive. This problem has led to a large number of publicly available accounts that may belong to privacy-concerned users. As an initial step toward addressing this issue, we examined whether profile attributes of Twitter users with varying privacy settings are configured differently. As a result of the analysis, a set of features is identified and used to predict user privacy settings. For our best classifier, we obtained an F-score of 0.71, which outperforms the baselines considerably. Hence, profile attributes proved valuable for our task and suggest the possibility of the automatic detection of public accounts intended to be private based on online social footprints.
The rate and nature of medication errors among elderly upon admission to hospital after implementation of clinical pharmacist-led medication reconciliation

Objectives To determine the frequency and nature of erroneous transfer of medication information (medication errors) upon admission to hospital and to study the effect of medication reconciliation. Methods Included patients were 65 years of age or older, were living in nursing homes or in their own home with care provided by the community nursing system and had been admitted to hospital. The patients’ medication lists from the community were compared with the hospital medication lists upon admission in order to study the discrepancies between the lists. The proportion of errors that were corrected by day 4 of hospitalisation was also studied as a measure of the effect of medication reconciliation conducted by clinical pharmacists who aimed to identify the patients’ accurate and complete medication history. Results A total of 149 patients were included over a 10-month period. In 68 (46%) patients, there occurred at least one medication error, with an average of 0.95 errors per patient. Overall, 8.0% of all drug transfers were found to be incorrect. The clinical pharmacists detected all medication errors upon admission and 43% of them were corrected before day 4 of hospitalisation. Conclusions Medication errors upon admission to hospital are common; use of clinical pharmacists in the admission medication reconciliation process appears to be a useful method to reduce medication errors, but since our study lacked a control group further studies are needed to show the actual impact of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation upon admission to hospital. Furthermore, more actions are needed to enhance the safety and quality of medication information transfers.