Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of cardiorespiratory phase synchronization and directionality in late premature and full term infants

Objective: Though the mutual influence of cardiovascular and respiratory rhythms in healthy newborns has been documented, its full characterization is still pending. In general, the activity of many physiological subsystems has a well-expressed rhythmic character, and often an interdependency between physiological rhythms emerges early in development. Traditional methods of data analysis only address the quantification of the strength of subsystem interactions. In this work, we will investigate system interrelationships in terms of the possible presence of causal or directional interplays. Approach: In this paper, we propose a methodological application that quantifies phase coupling and its directionality in a population of newborn infants born between 35 and 40 weeks of gestational age (GA). The aim is to assess whether GA at birth significantly influences the development of phase synchronization and the directionality of the coupling between the cardiovascular and respiratory system activity. Several studies indicating irregular cardiorespiratory coupling as a leading cause of several pathologies underscore the need to investigate this phenomenon in this at-risk population. Main results: Results from our investigation show a different directionality profile as a function of GA and sleep state. Significance: These findings are a contribution to the understanding of higher risk for the documented negative outcomes in the late preterm population. Moreover, these parameters could provide a tool for the development of early markers of cardiorespiratory dysregulation in infants.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: E-learning adoption of academicians: a proposal for an extended model

We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Behaviour & Information Technology, have retracted the following article: Naciye Güliz Uğur & Aykut Hamit Turan (2018) E-learning adoption of academicians: a proposal for an extended model, Behaviour & Information Technology, 37:4, 393-405, DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2018. 1437219 Since publication, concerns were raised about the similarity of this article to an article published in SIGSAND/PLAIS 2018. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing: Wrycza S. , Kuciapski M. (2018) Determinants of Academic E-Learning Systems Acceptance. In: Wrycza S. , Maślankowski J. (eds) Information Systems: Research, Development, Applications, Education. SIGSAND/PLAIS 2018. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 333. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00060-8_6 We initiated an investigation into the article published in Behaviour & Information Technology and when approached for an explanation, the authors were unable to provide their original data to verify its authenticity. Therefore, the authors have agreed to the retraction of the article. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.
Use and Characteristics of Antipsychotic/Methylphenidate Combination Therapy in Children and Adolescents with a Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

OBJECTIVE Children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently have comorbidities that are potential indications for antipsychotics (APs). Some studies have suggested that the combined use of methylphenidate (MPH) and APs is increasing in this population group. Longitudinal analyses and in-depth investigations on the substance level are lacking. This study aimed to estimate the cumulative proportion of concomitant AP/MPH use in children and adolescents with ADHD over a follow-up of up to 9 years and to describe patient characteristics stratified by specific AP drug. METHODS Based on claims data, concomitant AP/MPH use was identified among 67,595 children and adolescents with ADHD starting MPH treatment between 2005 and 2013. Characteristics and diagnoses-including those indicating appropriateness of AP use according to approved indications and/or guidelines-were examined at the time of first AP/MPH combination therapy. In addition, subsequent use of AP/MPH combination therapy was evaluated. RESULTS The cumulative proportion of individuals with any AP/MPH combination therapy rose to over 6% within 9 years after initiating MPH. The most frequent APs first used in combination with MPH were risperidone (72%), pipamperone (15%), and tiapride (8%). Percentages of psychiatric hospitalization in the year preceding the first combination therapy with MPH were 33%, 43%, and 19%, respectively. The proportion of individuals with potentially appropriate use was high (>72%) in risperidone/MPH and tiapride/MPH and low (15%) in pipamperone/MPH combination users. Conduct disorders and tic disorders were frequent in users who were prescribed MPH with risperidone and tiapride, respectively. One-quarter of patients with AP/MPH combination therapy were one-time-only combination users. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that a considerable proportion of children and adolescents with ADHD receive MPH in combination with APs and that this is a factor not only during the first years of MPH treatment. ADHD guidelines should specify algorithms concerning the use of AP medication.
Teledermatological monitoring of leg ulcers in cooperation with home care nurses.

OBJECTIVES To examine the feasibility and acceptance of teledermatology for wound management for patients with leg ulcers by home care nurses and evaluate the reduction of costs and the acceptance of teledermatology by patients and home care nurses. DESIGN Case series of telemonitored patients with leg ulcers including cost-effectiveness analysis. SETTING Home monitoring by home care nurses. PATIENTS Sixteen patients with 45 leg ulcers of different origin were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES After an initial outpatient visit when the leg ulcers were assessed and classified, teledermatological follow-up was done by home care nurses. Relevant clinical information and 1 to 4 digital images of the wound and surrounding skin were transmitted weekly via a secure Web site to an expert at the wound care center, who assessed the wound and made therapeutic recommendations. RESULTS Of the 707 images transmitted for teleconsultation, in 644 (89%) the quality of the images was excellent or sufficient and the experts were confident in giving therapeutic recommendations. Of the 45 ulcers, 32 (71%) decreased in size and 14 (31%) healed completely, whereas 10 of the 45 ulcers (22%) increased slightly in size despite the teledermatological monitoring. In 3 ulcers (7%), no measurement was possible owing to the overly large size of the ulcers. The acceptance of telemedicine was very good by most patients. Of 15 home care nurses working in the district, 7 were very satisfied with teledermatological monitoring of wound care. There was a reduction of 46% in transportation costs for the insurance companies as well as for the patients owing to a significant decrease in the number of visits to general physicians or the wound care center. CONCLUSIONS The acceptance of teledermatological monitoring of wound care was very high by patients, home care nurses, and wound experts. Decreased health care costs by reducing the number of visits to wound care centers or specialist physicians and improvement in quality of life for patients with leg ulcers using telemedicine seems possible. Teledermatology offers great potential for long-term wound care.
MOABB: trustworthy algorithm benchmarking for BCIs

Objective. Brain–computer interface (BCI) algorithm development has long been hampered by two major issues: small sample sets and a lack of reproducibility. We offer a solution to both of these problems via a software suite that streamlines both the issues of finding and preprocessing data in a reliable manner, as well as that of using a consistent interface for machine learning methods. Approach. By building on recent advances in software for signal analysis implemented in the MNE toolkit, and the unified framework for machine learning offered by the scikit-learn project, we offer a system that can improve BCI algorithm development. This system is fully open-source under the BSD licence and available at https://github.com/NeuroTechX/moabb. Main results. We analyze a set of state-of-the-art decoding algorithms across 12 open access datasets, including over 250 subjects. Our results show that even for the best methods, there are datasets which do not show significant improvements, and further that many previously validated methods do not generalize well outside the datasets they were tested on. Significance. Our analysis confirms that BCI algorithms validated on single datasets are not representative, highlighting the need for more robust validation in the machine learning for BCIs community.
Repeat ridge jumps associated with plume‐ridge interaction, melt transport, and ridge migration

[1] Repeated shifts, or jumps, of mid-ocean ridge segments toward nearby hot spots can produce large, long-term changes to the geometry and location of the tectonic plate boundaries. Ridge jumps associated with hot spot–ridge interaction are likely caused by several processes including shear on the base of the plate due to expanding plume material as well as reheating of lithosphere as magma passes through it to feed off-axis volcanism. To study how these processes influence ridge jumps, we use numerical models to simulate 2-D (in cross section) viscous flow of the mantle, viscoplastic deformation of the lithosphere, and melt migration upward from the asthenospheric melting zone, laterally along the base of the lithosphere, and vertically through the lithosphere. The locations and rates that magma penetrates and heats the lithosphere are controlled by the time-varying accumulation of melt beneath the plate and the depth-averaged lithospheric porosity. We examine the effect of four key parameters: magmatic heating rate of the lithosphere, plate spreading rate, age of the seafloor overlying the plume, and the plume-ridge migration rate. Results indicate that the minimum value of the magmatic heating rate needed to initiate a ridge jump increases with plate age and spreading rate. The time required to complete a ridge jump decreases with larger values of magmatic heating rate, younger plate age, and faster spreading rate. For cases with migrating ridges, models predict a range of behaviors including repeating ridge jumps, much like those exhibited on Earth. Repeating ridge jumps occur at moderate magmatic heating rates and are the result of changes in the hot spot magma flux in response to magma migration along the base of an evolving lithosphere. The tendency of slow spreading to promote ridge jumps could help explain the observed clustering of hot spots near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Model results also suggest that magmatic heating may significantly thin the lithosphere, as has been suggested at Hawaii and other hot spots.
Personality and its relation to the use of alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy: A multinational study

This study explored the impact of women’s personality on drinking and smoking habits before and during pregnancy, using a multinational perspective. Data on maternal personality traits, background information, and alcohol and cigarette smoking before and during pregnancy were collected from 9187 women from more than 18 countries. High conscientiousness and agreeableness resulted as protective factors against alcohol consumption during pregnancy; trait-specific associations were apparent on individual region level. Highly extrovert women were more likely to consume medium/high amount of alcohol (10%–17% increased odds). High neuroticism conferred a 16 percent increased odds for continued smoking during pregnancy. Personality and nationality are important factors for adequate pre- and postnatal health care.
Performance of the French version of the 4AT for screening the elderly for delirium in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVES Delirium is very frequent in older patients presenting to the emergency department (ED), but is often undetected. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the French version of the 4 A’s Test (4AT-F) for the detection of delirium and cognitive impairment in older patients. METHODS The study was conducted in four Canadian ED. Participants (n= 320) were independent or semi-independent patients (able to perform ≥5 activities of daily living) aged 65 and older and had an 8-hour exposure to the ED environment. The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m), the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) as well as the 4AT-F were administered to patients at the initial interview. The CAM and 4AT-F were then administered twice a day during the patients’ ED or hospital stay. The 4AT-F’s sensitivity and specificity were compared to those of the CAM (for delirium), and to that of the TICS (for cognitive impairment). RESULTS Our results suggest that the 4AT-F has a sensitivity of 84% (95% CI: [76, 93]) and a specificity of 74% (95% CI: [70, 78]) for delirium, as well as a sensitivity of 49% (95% CI: [34, 64]) and a specificity of 87% (95% CI: [82, 92]) for cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION The 4AT-F is a fast and reliable screening tool for delirium and cognitive impairment in ED. Due to its quick administration time, it allows a systematic screening of patients at risk of delirium, without significantly increasing the workload of the ED staff.
Polyphyletic Nature of Salmonella enterica Serotype Derby and Lineage-Specific Host-Association Revealed by Genome-Wide Analysis

In France, Salmonella Derby is one of the most prevalent serotypes in pork and poultry meat. Since 2006, it has ranked among the 10 most frequent Salmonella serotypes isolated in humans. In previous publications, Salmonella Derby isolates have been characterized by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles revealing the existence of different pulsotypes and AMR phenotypic groups. However, these results suffer from the low discriminatory power of these typing methods. In the present study, we built a collection of 140 strains of S. Derby collected in France from 2014 to 2015 representative of the pork and poultry food sectors. The whole collection was characterized using whole genome sequencing (WGS), providing a significant contribution to the knowledge of this underrepresented serotype, with few genomes available in public databases. The genetic diversity of the S. Derby strains was analyzed by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). We also investigated AMR by both genome and phenotype, the main Salmonella pathogenicity island (SPI) and the fimH gene sequences. Our results show that this S. Derby collection is spread across four different lineages genetically distant by an average of 15k SNPs. These lineages correspond to four multilocus sequence typing (MLST) types (ST39, ST40, ST71, and ST682), which were found to be associated with specific animal hosts: pork and poultry. While the ST71 and ST682 strains are pansusceptible, ST40 isolates are characterized by the multidrug resistant profile STR-SSS-TET. Considering virulence determinants, only ST39 and ST40 present the SPI-23, which has previously been associated with pork enterocyte invasion. Furthermore, the pork ST682 isolates were found to carry mutations in the fimH sequence that could participate in the host tropism of this group. Our phylogenetic analysis demonstrates the polyphyletic nature of the Salmonella serotype Derby and provides an opportunity to identify genetic factors associated with host adaptation and markers for the monitoring of these different lineages within the corresponding animal sectors. The recognition of these four lineages is of primary importance for epidemiological surveillance throughout the food production chains and constitutes the first step toward refining monitoring and preventing dispersal of this pathogen.
The ideal strategy for cervical cancer screening in Japan: Result from the Fukui Cervical Cancer Screening Study

The aims of the Fukui Cervical Cancer Screening (FCCS) study are to determine the frequency of women with high‐risk HPV (hrHPV), whether HPV16 or HPV18 (HPV16/18), in the Japanese cancer screening population for the first time and to identify the best strategy for cervical cancer screening in Japan.
The association between low density lipoprotein ( LDL ) and RA genetic factors with LDL levels in rheumatoid arthritis and non-RA controls

Objectives—While genetic determinants of LDL cholesterol levels are well characterized in the general population, they are understudied in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our objective was to determine the association of established LDL and RA genetic alleles with LDL levels in RA cases compared to non-RA controls. Methods—Using electronic medical records (EMR) data, we linked validated RA cases and nonRA controls to discarded blood samples. For each individual, we extracted data on: 1st LDL measurement, age, gender, and year of LDL measurement. We genotyped subjects for 11 LDL and Corresponding Author: Katherine P. Liao, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St, PBB-B3, Boston, MA 02115, kliao@partners.org, Phone: 617-732-5325, Fax: 617-713-3030. The authors have no competing interest to declare. NIH Public Access Author Manuscript Ann Rheum Dis. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 June 01. Published in final edited form as: Ann Rheum Dis. 2014 June 1; 73(6): 1170–1175. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2012-203202. N IH -P A A uhor M anscript N IH -P A A uhor M anscript N IH -P A A uhor M anscript 44 non-HLA RA alleles, and calculated RA and LDL genetic risk scores (GRS). We tested the association between each GRS and LDL level using multivariate linear regression models adjusted by age, gender, year of LDL measurement, and RA status. Results—Among 567 RA cases and 979 controls, 80% were female and the mean age at 1st LDL measurement was 55 years. RA cases had significantly lower mean LDL levels than controls (117.2 vs. 125.6mg/dL, respectively, p<0.0001). Each unit increase in LDL GRS was associated with 0.8mg/dL higher LDL levels in both RA cases and controls (p=3.0×10−7). Each unit increase in RA GRS was associated with 4.3mg/dL lower LDL levels in both groups (p=0.01). Conclusions—LDL alleles were associated with higher LDL levels in RA. RA alleles were associated with lower LDL levels in both RA cases and controls. Since RA cases carry more RA alleles, these findings suggest a genetic basis for epidemiologic observations of lower LDL levels in RA.
No country for old men: Aging dictators and economic growth

This paper develops a model of the relationship between the age of a dictator and economic growth. In the model a dictator must spread the resources of the economy over his reign but faces mortality and political risk. The model shows that if the time horizon of the dictator decreases, either due to an increase of mortality risk or political risk, the economic growth rate decreases. The model predictions are supported by empirical evidence based on a threeway fixed effects model including country, year and dictator fixed effects for a sample of dictators from 116 countries. These results are robust to sample selection, the tenure of dictators, the definition of dictatorship, and a broad set of economic growth determinants.
WOMEN SECONDARY PRINCIPALS IN TEXAS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF DIFFERENCES IN PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL, LEADERSHIP, AND SCHOOL CHARACTERISTICS

by Jean Christina Marczynski, Ed.D. Washington State University December 2011 Chair: Gordon S. Gates Despite movement toward equity given the institutionalization of affirmative action programs and policies, researchers document continued underrepresentation of women principals in secondary schools. Gender equity in the high school principalship possesses the key to unlocking many problems including poor outcomes for high school students to low representation of women superintendents. Researchers call for examination of progress for women in educational administration to formulate more equity responsive practices and policies. Research was conducted to describe and analyze differences between women secondary principals in Texas 2011 and 1998 on measures of (a) personal and professional characteristics, (b) leadership styles and practices, and (c) school organization. Forty-two percent of the 117 surveys sent to a representative sample of women principals in 2011 were returned and then merged with data gathered from a comparable sample surveyed in 1998. Fifty-three percent of the respondents in 2011 identified as Anglo European, 20% were Latina, 18% were African American, and 5% chose Native American. Women secondary principals in 2011 were
Influence Of Debt Financing On The Effectiveness Of The Investment Project Within The Modigliani–Miller Theory

We study the problem of the influence of debt financing on the effectiveness of the investment project within the theory of Modigliani–Miller and obtain quantitative results for the first time. The effectiveness of the investment project is considered from two perspectives: the owners of equity and debt and equity holders only. It was shown, that NPV practically always decreases with leverage in case of a constant value of equity, and the maximum leverage level, at which the project is still effective ( NPV> 0), was found. In case of a constant value of the total invested capital it is possible an increase of NPV with leverage as well as its decrease, depending on the relation between the parameters of the project.
EM Algorithm and Positive Quadrant Dependence in the context of Multi-State Stress-Strength Model

glu (2011). It deals with (i) demonstration of the use of EM algorithm for the estimation of parameters of distributions of random variables representing strength and two stress levels. The numerical results are illustrated using exponential distribution for each of the random variables under consideration, and (ii) comparison of results under the assumption of the random variables representing two stress levels being independent vis- ` a-vis they being positively quadrant dependent (PQD). The corresponding numerical results are based on Farlie-GumbelMorgenstern PQD distribution having non-identical exponential distributions as marginal distributions, and the distribution of strength variable is also an exponential distribution with a different parameter. As far as the EM algorithm related exercise is concerned, the numerical results, by and large, show that the EM algorithm, the one which makes clever use of data by pretending presence of missing observations, provides efficient estimators of the parameters than those provided by direct use of maximum likelihood (ML) estimators. For the latter exercise related to the PQD property, the numerical results highlight the fact that not only it is incorrect to assume two random variables representing two stress levels to be independent when in fact they are dependent, but the degree of dependence also can not be ignored.