Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PD-L1 Test-Based Strategy With Nivolumab as the Second-Line Treatment in Advanced NSCLC： A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in China

Objective Our previous economic assessment found that nivolumab was not cost-effective for Chinese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and without EGFR mutations or ALK translocations, when compared with the standard second-line drug docetaxel. However, a greater survival benefit with nivolumab was observed for patients with 1% or greater tumor programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression. In view of this, we designed the present analysis to explore whether it is cost-effective to use the PD-L1 test to guide second-line nivolumab treatment in China. Material and Methods A Markov model was established to project the lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of three second-line treatment strategies: nivolumab and docetaxel (strategies without a PD-L1 test) and PD-L1 test-based strategy. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the robustness of our results. Additional price reduction and willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold scenario analyses were performed to explore the impact of economic and health policies with Chinese characteristics on our results. Results The PD-L1 test-based strategy costs approximately CNY 194,607 (USD 28,210) or more and yielded an additional 0.27 QALYs compared to the docetaxel strategy without a PD-L1 test, equating an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of CNY 731,089 (USD 105,978)/QALY. Deterministic sensitivity analyses showed that the price of nivolumab was the strongest source of variation in the ICERs. Probability sensitivity analysis showed that the probability for the PD-L1 test-based strategy being cost-effective increases with the increase of WTP thresholds. Conclusion From the perspective of the Chinese healthcare system, using a PD-L1 test to guide second-line nivolumab treatment was not cost-effective. The National Healthcare Security Administration negotiation on the price reduction of nivolumab was found to be the most effective action to improve its cost-effectiveness in China.
A Phenomenological Study on the Positive and Negative Experiences of Chinese International University Students From Hong Kong Studying in the U.K. and U.S. in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused distress in students globally. The mental health of international students studying abroad has been neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially Chinese students who have been unfairly targeted. Objective: To explore and document the positive and negative experiences of a group of Hong Kong Chinese international students studying in the U.K. and U.S. from an insider perspective in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The qualitative study used four 1.5-h online focus group interviews of 20 Chinese international students from Hong Kong aged 18 or older studying in universities in the United Kingdom or the United States, from 3 May to 12 May 2020. A framework approach with a semi-structured interview guide was used to reflect students' stressors, cognitive appraisals, coping, and outcomes (negative impacts and positive gains), in the early stages of COVID-19. Different strategies were used to ensure the credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability of the study. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis. Results: Twenty full-time international University students (60% female, 90% aged 18–25 years and 65% undergraduates) were recruited. Students reported (i) stress from personal (e.g., worries about health and academic attainment), interpersonal (e.g., perceived prejudice and lack of social support), and environmental factors (e.g., uncertainties about academic programme and unclear COVID-19-related information); (ii) significant differences in culture and cognitive appraisal in the levels of perceived susceptibility and severity; (iii) positive thinking and using alternative measures in meeting challenges, which included effective emotion and problem coping strategies, and the importance of support from family, friends and schools; and (iv) negative psychological impact (e.g., worries and stress) and positive personal growth in crisis management and gains in family relationships. Conclusions: With the rise in sinophobia and uncertain developments of the pandemic, proactive support from government and academic institutions are urgently needed to reduce stress and promote the well-being of international students, especially Chinese students in the U.K. and U.S. Clear information, public education and policies related to the pandemic, appropriate academic arrangements from universities and strong support systems play important roles in maintaining students' psychological health. Clinical Trial Registration: The study was registered with the National Institutes of Health (https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT04365361).
Distinct Effects of Executive Functioning, Impulsivity and Anxiety on Global and Local Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension (RC) is a cognitive ability linked with higher-order cognitive functions referred to as executive functions (EFs) and is also associated with educational achievement. To date, there is little research exploring links between reading comprehension, EFs, and personality traits. This study attempts to fill this gap by elucidating the role of EFs, trait impulsivity, and trait anxiety in RC among university students. To achieve a more in-depth examination, RC is divided into its global and local subskills. Ninety university students (83% female) completed self-report questionnaires on EFs, impulsivity, and anxiety, a neuropsychological task for cognitive flexibility, and global/local RC assessments. Our results indicated distinct associations between poor general EFs and poor global RC, poor cognitive flexibility and poor local RC, and, finally, between high impulsivity and adequate global RC. Individual differences in global and local information processing strategies in the context of attentional processes and personal traits of the university students, is discussed.
Association Between Ambient Air Pollutants Exposure and Preterm Birth in Women Who Underwent in vitro Fertilization: A Retrospective Cohort Study From Hangzhou, China

Objectives: Exposure to air pollutants has been linked to preterm birth (PTB) after natural conception. However, few studies have explored the effects of air pollution on PTB in patients who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF). We aimed to investigate the association between ambient air pollutants exposure and PTB risk in IVF patients. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 2,195 infertile women who underwent IVF treatment from January 2017 and September 2020 in Hangzhou Women's Hospital. Totally 1,005 subjects who underwent a first fresh embryo(s) transfer cycle were analyzed in this study. Residential exposure to ambient six air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, O3) during various periods of the IVF timeline were estimated by satellite remote-sensing and ground measurement. Cox proportional hazards models for discrete time were used to explore the association between pollutants exposure and incident PTB, with adjustment for confounders. Stratified analyses were employed to explore the effect modifiers. Results: The clinical pregnancy and PTB rates were 61.2 and 9.3%, respectively. We found that PM2.5 exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of PTB during 85 days before oocyte retrieval [period A, adjusted hazard ratio, HR=1.09, 95%CI: 1.02–1.21], gonadotropin start to oocyte retrieval [period B, 1.07 (1.01–1.19)], first trimester of pregnancy [period F, 1.06 (1.01–1.14)], and the entire IVF pregnancy [period I, 1.07 (1.01–1.14)], respectively. An interquartile range increment in PM10 during periods A and B was significantly associated with PTB at 1.15 (1.04–1.36), 1.12 (1.03–1.28), and 1.14 (1.01–1.32) for NO2 during period A. The stratified analysis showed that the associations were stronger for women aged <35 years and those who underwent two embryos transferred. Conclusions: Our study suggests ambient PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 exposure were significantly associated with elevated PTB risk in IVF patients, especially at early stages of IVF cycle and during pregnancy.
Long-Term Response of Corn to Limited Irrigation and Crop Rotations

Dwindling water supplies for irrigation are prompting alternative management choices by irrigators. Limited irrigation, where less water is applied than full crop demand, may be a viable approach. Application of limited irrigation to corn was examined in this research. Corn was grown in crop rotations with dryland, limited irrigation, or full irrigation management from 1985 to 1999. Crop rotations included corn following corn (continuous corn), corn following wheat, followed by soybean (wheat-corn-soybean), and corn following soybean (corn-soybean). Full irrigation was managed to meet crop evapotranspiration requirements (ETc). Limited irrigation was managed with a seasonal target of no more than 150 mm applied. Precipitation patterns influenced the outcomes of measured parameters. Dryland yields had the most variation, while fully irrigated yields varied the least. Limited irrigation yields were 80% to 90% of fully irrigated yields, but the limited irrigation plots received about half the applied water. Grain yields were significantly different among irrigation treatments. Yields were not significantly different among rotation treatments for all years and water treatments. For soil water parameters, more statistical differences were detected among the water management treatments than among the crop rotation treatments. Economic projections of these management practices showed that full irrigation produced the most income if water was available. Limited irrigation increased income significantly from dryland management.
Grid-Convergent Spray Models for Internal Combustion Engine CFD Simulations

A state-of-the-art spray modeling methodology is presented. Key features of the methodology, such as Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR), advanced liquid-gas momentum coupling, and improved distribution of the liquid phase, are described. The ability of this approach to use cell sizes much smaller than the nozzle diameter is demonstrated. Grid convergence of key parameters is verified for non-evaporating, evaporating, and reacting spray cases using cell sizes down to 1/32 mm. Grid settings are recommended that optimize the accuracy/runtime tradeoff for RANS-based spray simulations.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Analysis of electromagnetic coupling effects in integrated Josephson junction logic devices by the FDTD technique

A very important step of the design of circuits and devices in the Josephson junction technology is the complete and correct calculation of their electrical characteristics. Due to the very high clock speed of up to 100 GHz, dynamic effects like the electromagnetic coupling start to play a significant role over the operation of the system. The presented work reports on the implementation of the FDTD technique for the description of the electromagnetic coupling effects in the Josephson devices. Some typical microstrip layouts are considered strictly taking in account the technological specifications. The obtained results are analyzed in respect to the constraints, which the coupling effects impose on the lateral dimensions of the microstrip lines.
Analysis of rheological properties of thickened sewage sludge

The knowledge of rheological parameters in sludge management is essential due to the unit operations they are subjected to. The rheological properties of sewage sludge are best described by mathematical models on the basis of which flow curves and viscosity curves are drawn. If they are omitted when designing, they may contribute to problems related to the operation of sludge management systems. Rheological parameters are also an important control indicator for the dewatering and stabilization processes. This article presents the results of rheological tests of excess and digested sludge, which were subjected to thickening after chemical conditioning with polyelectrolytes. The rheological analysis consisted in determining the stresses, viscosity, flow limits and rheological models for the sludge with different amounts of excess water removed. The conducted research showed that with the reduction of sludge hydration, the viscosity and shear stresses (flow limits) increased. The highest values were recorded for the sludge for which the greatest amount of excess water was removed.
Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Received Jul 21, 2021 Revised Sep 24, 2021 Accepted Oct 6, 2021 In the conventional approach widely used for multi-input energy harvesting (MIEH), energy harvesting, energy combining, and power conversion are performed integrally in an inductor sharing block through time multiplexing operations, which is not suitable for hot-pluggable systems. In the MIEH system proposed in this paper, an energy harvesting block (EHB) and a power management block (PMB) are independent of each other to increase the modularity of the system. Therefore, the EHB can be optimized to extract maximum power from energy sources, and the PMB can be focused on combining input energies and converting power effectively. This paper mainly focuses on the design and implementation of the EHB. For light, vibration, and thermal energy, the measured peak power efficiencies of the EHB implemented using a 0.35 μm CMOS process are 95.2%, 92.5%, and 95.5%, respectively. To confirm the functionality and effectiveness of the proposed MIEH system, a PMB composed of simple charge pump circuits and a power management unit has also been implemented and verified with the designed EHB.
Probabilistic Transformer For Time Series Analysis

Generative modeling of multivariate time series has remained challenging partly due to the complex, non-deterministic dynamics across long-distance time steps. In this paper, we propose deep probabilistic methods that combine state-space models (SSMs) with transformer architectures. In contrast to previously proposed SSMs, our approaches use attention mechanism to model non-Markovian dynamics in the latent space and avoid recurrent neural networks entirely. We also extend our models to include several layers of stochastic variables organized in a hierarchy for further expressiveness. Compared to transformer models, ours are probabilistic, non-autoregressive, and capable of generating diverse long-term forecasts with accounted uncertainty. Extensive experiments show that our models consistently outperform competitive baselines on various tasks and datasets, including time series forecasting and human motion prediction.
Efficient Mirror Descent Ascent Methods for Nonsmooth Minimax Problems

In the paper, we propose a class of efﬁcient mirror descent ascent methods to solve the nonsmooth nonconvex-strongly-concave minimax problems by using dynamic mirror functions, and introduce a convergence analysis framework to conduct rigorous theoretical analysis for our mirror descent ascent methods. For our stochastic algorithms, we ﬁrst prove that the mini-batch stochastic mirror descent ascent (SMDA) method obtains a sample complexity of O ( κ 3 (cid:15) − 4 ) for ﬁnding an (cid:15) -stationary point, where κ denotes the condition number. Further, we propose an accelerated stochastic mirror descent ascent (VR-SMDA) method based on the variance reduced technique. We prove that our VR-SMDA method achieves a lower sample complexity G O ( κ 3 (cid:15) − 3 ) . For our deterministic algorithm, we prove that our deterministic mirror descent ascent (MDA) achieves a lower sample complexity of O ( κ(cid:15) − 2 ) under mild conditions, which improves the best known complexity by a factor of O ( √ κ ) . We conduct the experiments on fair classiﬁer and robust neural network training tasks to demonstrate the efﬁciency of our new algorithms.
Examination the Relationship Between Primary School Principals 'Cultural Leadership Behavior and Teachers' Organizational Image

The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between the cultural leadership behaviors of primary school principals and the organizational image of teachers according to the perceptions of teachers. Relational screening method was used in the research. The universe of research covers teachers working in public schools in Konya province in the 2018-2019 academic year. In order to determine the number of schools and teachers, the data of Konya Provincial Directorate of National Education was used. The sample of the research is 380 teachers selected from 18 primary schools by simple random sampling method. "Cultural Leadership Scale" and "Organizational Image Scale" were used to collect data. SPSS package program was used to analyze the data obtained. Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Mann Whitney U-test, Kruskal Wallis H-test and Spearman rho correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the results from the study, the overall average of teachers ' perceptions of the cultural leadership behaviour of primary school principals was found to be at the “Agree” level. The overall average of teachers ' perceptions of organizational image was found to be at the level of “quite agree”. In addition, according to the perceptions of teachers, it has been revealed that there is a moderate positive and meaningful relationship between the cultural leadership behavior of primary school principals and the organizational image of teachers.
PGPM_A_338285 1591..1599

1Department of Pharmacology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Biological Science and Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710049, People’s Republic of China Purpose: The association between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene polymorphisms and the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) among different populations has been assessed in numerous previous studies, but the results remain inconclusive. The present study aimed to determine the role of ApoE genotypes in CAD risk and the interrelationships between lipid profiles and ApoE alleles and genotypes among the population of northwest China. Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 308 patients with CAD and 308 control participants. ApoE gene polymorphism was analysed using the polymerase chain reaction and hybridization. Results: The findings indicated that the frequencies of ε3/ε4 genotype and ε4 allele frequency were significantly higher in patients with CAD than in the control participants. ε2 carriers had significantly lower total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) levels than did ε3 or ε4 carriers among the control participants. However, our study found no significant differences in plasma lipoprotein levels between ɛ2, ɛ3 and ɛ4 carriers in patients with CAD. Moreover, ε4 carriers had significantly higher ApoB, ApoB/ApoA-I levels and significantly lower ApoE levels in both patients with CAD and control participants. ε4 allele presence was associated with a nearly two-fold higher CAD risk. After adjusting for other established risk factors, ε4 allele was an independent risk factor for CAD. After stratified by age (≤ 60 years and >60 years), ε4 allele was indicated to increase the CAD risk 3.3-fold in elderly patients with CAD, but not in young patients with CAD. After stratified by sex, ε4 allele was not a risk factor in females and males patients with CAD. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the ε4 allele, drinking, smoking, hypertension, and TG and ApoE levels are independent risk factor for CAD among patients in northwest China.
EFFICIENCY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PROVISION AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS

Developing countries have been strongly impacted by the worldwide rise in healthcare costs due to population aging, inflated medical costs, and economic and social polarization. Thus, public administrators, especially in the health sector, face the challenge of improving resource efficiency. At university hospitals, resource-efficient health and social care provision are further encumbered by research and teaching demands. Starting in 2011, the EBSERH (a Brazilian hospital management contractor) took over the management of a string of public hospitals, emphasizing efficiency. This study evaluated the efficiency of health and social care provision at 40 federal university hospitals managed by the EBSERH. Variables collected for 2018 were submitted to data envelopment analysis, outputoriented Banker-Charnes-Cooper modeling, and testing and correlation of means. Efficiency was confirmed for ten hospitals, six of which were located in Northeastern Brazil. The five least efficient hospitals included two facilities in Rio de Janeiro. Mortality was the variable with the most significant potential for improvement, suggesting managers give more attention to this issue. Hospital size was significantly associated with efficiency, but no significant correlation was found between efficiency and the percentage of expenses covered by the hospital’s revenues vs. the Universal Health Care System (SUS).
Development of a Decision-Making Approach for Mass Deworming Campaigns on Intestinal Parasites among Primary School Children in Egypt

BACKGROUND: Intestinal parasitic infections are widespread and cause considerable morbidity. Although mortality from such infections is low, most intestinal parasitic infections interfere with nutrition, growth, development and cognitive progress of children, in addition to interference with productivity and quality of life of adults. AIM: Reduction of intestinal parasites prevalence among primary school children. METHODS: This is a three-phased study; 1-Desk review on current prevention and control methods including mass deworming in the light of global guidelines; 2-Cross-sectional field study on 522 school children from 8 Governorates, and interviews with 168 members of the health team running the deworming campaign at these Governorates in 2017; 3-Development of decision making approach to guide future consideration of mass deworming campaigns. RESULTS: National mass deworming campaigns were effective in reducing prevalence of intestinal worms among primary school children in Egypt, and provided a nationwide awareness on the issue. However, unless these campaigns are combined with sustainable measures of clean drinking water, sewage disposal in schools and households the success of these campaigns in reducing intestinal worms’ prevalence will be transient. CONCLUSION: The national mass deworming campaigns ranged an alarm bell in the community about dangers of intestinal parasites. However, it’s recommended to include other susceptible groups like preschool children, adolescent girls and women of childbearing age while focusing the deworming only on infected individuals. It’s also recommended to convert the deworming campaigns into a program to ensure sustainability of resources and continuous monitoring and evaluation of intestinal parasitic burden among populations at risk. Edited by: Sasho Stoleski Citation: Hassan NSA, Radwan GN. Development of a Decision-Making Approach for Mass Deworming Campaigns on Intestinal Parasites among Primary School Children in Egypt. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2021 Oct 15; 9(E):1422-1433. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021. 6291