Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disentangling Age, Cohort and Time Effects

In the face of rising old-age dependency ratios in industrialized countries like Germany, politicians and their electorates discuss the loosening of immigration policies as one policy option to ensure the sustainability of public social security systems. The question arises whether this policy option is feasible in aging countries: older individuals are typically found to be more averse to immigration. However, crosssectional investigations may confound age with cohort effects. This investigation uses the 1999-2008 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel to separate the effect of age on immigration attitudes from cohort and also from time effects. Over the life cycle stated immigration concerns are predicted to increase well into retirement and decrease afterward. Relative to other issues, immigration concerns are found to actually decrease over the life cycle. JEL classification: D78, F22, J10
Self-Determination Theory in HCI Games Research: Current Uses and Open Questions

Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a major psychological theory of human motivation, has become increasingly popular in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research on games and play. However, it remains unclear how SDT has advanced HCI games research, or how HCI games scholars engage with the theory. We reviewed 110 CHI and CHI PLAY papers that cited SDT to gain a better understanding of the ways the theory has contributed to HCI games research. We find that SDT, and in particular, the concepts of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, have been widely applied to analyse the player experience and inform game design. Despite the popularity of SDT-based measures, however, prominent core concepts and mini-theories are rarely considered explicitly, and few papers engage with SDT beyond descriptive accounts. We highlight conceptual gaps at the intersection of SDT and HCI games research, and identify opportunities for SDT propositions, concepts, and measures to more productively inform future work.
Public ‘say on pay’ activism in South Africa: Targets, challengers, themes and impact

Background: Shareholders and other stakeholders in South Africa are increasingly raising their concerns in public about seemingly excessive executive remuneration. Most of their criticism is rooted in the large and growing wage gap in the country.Aim: The authors investigated the nature of the entities whose executive remuneration policies and practices were publicly criticised, the types of challengers involved in this social movement, key issues raised and the impact that the challengers had on the targeted executives’ remuneration.Setting: Public activism involving five South African state-owned enterprises and 38 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.Methods: Executives and entities that were targeted in public were identified from three online financial newspapers published between 01 January 2010 and 31 December 2016. A total of 92 events were recorded involving 65 executives. Data on these executives’ emolument and three control variables were sourced from Bloomberg. Descriptive statistics and mixed-model analysis of variance tests were employed to evaluate the quantitative secondary data.Results: In line with the extant literature, most of the targets were large, well-known companies. Individual and minority shareholders represented the largest category of challengers, followed by asset managers and trade unions. The vast majority of concerns centred on the size and composition of executives’ packages and insufficient justifications provided by remuneration committees. The total pay, bonuses and other performance-based incentives decreased significantly in the year after the companies were publicly targeted.Conclusion: The findings suggest that public ‘say on pay’ activism can be an effective mechanism in addressing seemingly excessive executive emolument.
A GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR ESTIMATING FINITE POPULATION MEAN USING RANKED SET SAMPLING

In this article, we have suggested general class of estimators of the finite population mean using an auxiliary variable that is correlated with the variable of interest using ranked set sampling (RSS) method. We also obtained the biases and mean squared errors (MSEs) of various suggested estimators. We have compared newly suggested generalised ratio-cum-product type estimators to others existing estimators and shows that our suggested estimators are better than other existing estimators. This paper also provides the correct expressions of MSE of the estimators due to Mehta and Mandowara (2012, 2016) and Mandowara and Mehta (2013).
AIDS patients with opportunistic infections in Sichuan province:clinical analysis of 1465 cases

Objective To study clinical characters and prognosis of AIDS patients with opportunistic infections in Sichuan province.Methods We performed an retrospective analysis of 1 465AIDS patients with opportunistic infections who were admitted into the transmitted disease hospital of Chengdu in recent 10years.Results The overall mortality during hospitalization was 15.49%. The leading cause of death was respiratory failure due to pneumonia(n=150,74.62%)or meningitis(n=47,23.86%). Descending rank order of common opportunistic infections were respiratory tract,the mouth swallows,central nervous system,gastrointestinal tract skin,blood system.Descending rank order of common sites of infections were respiratory tract,oropharynx,central nervous system,gastrointestinal tract skin,reproductive tract.The multiple infections are common:more than 50% of patients suffering from two or more infections(50.77%). Complexity of infection sites:42.18% dual infection sites and 17.20%three or more infection sites.Conclusion The opportunistic infections disease spectrum of AIDS in Sichuan area has its own characteristics:multiple infections and multiple infections sites are both common,death risks are high,conditions of patients are severe generally,and respiratory failure is the main cause of death.
Inference for the Case Probability in High-dimensional Logistic Regression

Labeling patients in electronic health records with respect to their statuses of having a disease or condition, i.e. case or control statuses, has increasingly relied on prediction models using high-dimensional variables derived from structured and unstructured electronic health record data. A major hurdle currently is a lack of valid statistical inference methods for the case probability. In this paper, considering high-dimensional sparse logistic regression models for prediction, we propose a novel bias-corrected estimator for the case probability through the development of linearization and variance enhancement techniques. We establish asymptotic normality of the proposed estimator for any loading vector in high dimensions. We construct a confidence interval for the case probability and propose a hypothesis testing procedure for patient case-control labelling. We demonstrate the proposed method via extensive simulation studies and application to real-world electronic health record data.
Efficient polynomial commitment schemes for multiple points and polynomials

We present an enhanced version of the Kate, Zaverucha and Goldberg polynomial commitment scheme [KZG10] where a single group element can be an opening proof for multiple polynomials each evaluated at a diﬀerent arbitrary subset of points. As a sample application we “plug in” this scheme into the PLONK proving system[GWC19] to obtain improved proof size and prover run time at the expense of additional ver-iﬁer G 2 operations and pairings, and additional G 2 SRS elements. We also present a second scheme where the proof consists of two group elements and the veriﬁer complexity is better than previously known batched veriﬁcation methods for [KZG10]
Aerosol from Biomass Combustion in Northern Europe: Influence of Meteorological Conditions and Air Mass History

Alkali-containing submicron particles were measured continuously during three months, including late winter and spring seasons in Gothenburg, Sweden. The overall aims were to characterize the ambient concentrations of combustion-related aerosol particles and to address the importance of local emissions and long-range transport for atmospheric concentrations in the urban background environment. K and Na concentrations in the particulate matter PM1 size range were measured by an Alkali aerosol mass spectrometer (Alkali-AMS) and a cluster analysis was conducted. Local meteorological conditions and trace gas and PM concentrations were also obtained for a nearby location. In addition, back trajectory analyses and chemical transport model (CTM) simulations were included for the evaluation. The Alkali-AMS cluster analysis indicated three major clusters: (1) biomass burning origin, (2) mixture of other combustion sources, and (3) marine origin. Low temperatures and low wind speed conditions correlated with high concentrations of K-containing particles, mainly owing to local and regional emissions from residential biomass combustion; transport of air masses from continental Europe also contribute to Cluster 1. The CTM results indicate that open biomass burning in the eastern parts of Europe may have contributed substantially to high PM2.5 concentrations (and to Cluster 1) during an episode in late March. According to the CTM results, the mixed cluster (2) is likely to include particles emitted from different source types and no single geographical source region seems to dominate for this cluster. The back trajectory analysis and meteorological conditions indicated that the marine origin cluster was correlated with westerly winds and high wind speed; this cluster had high concentrations of Na-containing particles, as expected for sea salt particles.
Design and evaluation of unfamiliar software icons: a case study

This paper shows an iterative methodology to design a set of icons for a Telecommunications Network Management System. Through an iterative process the Multiple Index Approach was applied as part of a User-centered design process. Several evaluation moments were performed until an acceptable icon set was achieved. This project integrated a multidisciplinary team composed by ergonomists, designers, software developers and telecommunications engineers, among others. Correct associations, confusions and subjective opinions were important indicators during design process. Attained results are discussed.
Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesindeki Non-Hodgkin Lenfoma Sınıflaması: 550 Hastanın İncelenmesi

Background: The distribution of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subtypes differs around the world. In this study we aimed to evaluate the gender, age, subtypes, biopsy sites, nodal and extranodal residential area, and stage of disease in the patients with NHL admitted to our hospital between January 2005 and December 2014. Materials and Methods: The records of NHL patients admitted to our hospital between January 2005 and December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed Results: Among 550 patients, 335 patients (60.9%) were male, 215 patients (39.1%) were female. The average age of over all the patients was 56 years (15-95). The average age of women was 57 (15-88), the average age of men was 54 years (15-95). The histological subtypes of NHL patients were as follows: 447 patients (81.3%) B-cell lymphoma, 84 patients (15.2%) T / NK cell lymphoma, 19 patients (3.5%) unclassified subtype. NHL patients divided into subtypes according to 2001 and 2008 WHO (World Health Organization) Classification and histopathologic subtypes were as follow: Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) 295 patients (53,63%), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) 37 patients (6.7%), Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (MALT type) 37 patients (6,75%), peripheral T-cell Lymphoma 27 patients (4.9%), mantle cell lymphoma 26 patients (4.72%), Nodal Marginal Zone B-Cell Lymphoma 7 patients (1,3%), follicular lymphoma in 12 patients (2.1%), Burkitt's lymphoma 7 patients (1.3%), Splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma 4 patients (0,7). The most common subtype of NHL was DLBCL 295 patients (53,63%). Follicular lymphomas are less common in our center. Extranodal involvement rate was 38,5% of patients. According to the distribution of the sites of extranodal NHLs, the vast majority of patients 43% had GI tract involvement. The most commonly affected GI sites were stomach (27,8%). In this study 22.9% of the patients were in Stage 1, 26.7% in Stage 2, 19.5% in Stage 3, 30.9% in Stage 4 according to Ann- Arbor classification. In conclusion, the characteristics of NHLs in our region s how some differences from other sites of the world. Conclusions: The characteristics of NHL patients vary according to geographical differences. Present study has revealed the importance of geriatric assessment. NHL was observed frequently in men. Environmental risk factors have to research, epidemiologically. The most common subtype of NHL was DLBL. Follicular lymphomas are less common in our center. Improvement of national cancer registration system and multicenter large-scale studies reviewing the treatment protocols are needed to ensure the early diagnosis and therapy of NHL.
Dolutegravir-Based Antiretroviral Therapy for Patients Co-Infected with Tuberculosis and Hiv: A Multicenter, Noncomparative, Open-Label, Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND Concurrent treatment of tuberculosis and HIV is challenging owing to drug interactions, overlapping toxicities, and immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). The efficacy and safety of dolutegravir were assessed in adults with HIV and drug-susceptible tuberculosis. METHODS INSPIRING (NCT02178592) is a non-comparative, active-control, randomised, open-label study in HIV-1-infected ART-naïve adults (CD4+ 50 cells/mm3). Participants on rifampicin-based tuberculosis treatment ≤8 weeks were randomised (3:2) to receive dolutegravir (50 mg twice-daily during and 2 weeks post-tuberculosis therapy, then 50 mg once-daily) or efavirenz (600 mg daily), with two NRTIs for 52 weeks. The primary endpoint was the proportion of dolutegravir-arm participants with plasma HIV-1-RNA <50 copies/mL (responders) by FDA Snapshot algorithm (intent-to-treat exposed population) at Week 48. The study was not powered to compare arms. RESULTS For dolutegravir (N=69), Baseline HIV-1-RNA was >100,000 copies/mL in 64%, with median CD4+ 208 cells/mm3; for efavirenz (N=44), 55% had HIV-1-RNA >100,000 copies/mL, median CD4+ count was 202 cells/mm3. Week 48 response rate was 75% (52/69) (95% CI: 65%, 86%) for dolutegravir and 82% (36/44) (95% CI: 70%, 93%) for efavirenz. Dolutegravir non-response was driven by non-treatment-related discontinuations (n=10 lost-to-follow-up). There were no deaths or study drug switches. There were two discontinuations for toxicity (efavirenz). There were three protocol-defined virological failures (2 dolutegravir, no acquired resistance; 1 efavirenz, NRTI and NNRTI emergent resistance). Tuberculosis treatment success was high. TB-associated IRIS was uncommon (4/arm), with no discontinuations for IRIS. CONCLUSIONS Among adults with HIV receiving rifampicin-based tuberculosis treatment, twice-daily dolutegravir was effective and well-tolerated.
Dynamic 3D reconnection in a separator geometry with two null points

The dynamic behaviour of disturbances in the vicinity of a pair of magnetically connected 3D null points is examined. The aim is to investigate how nonlinear disturbances lead to strong localized currents that initiate magnetic reconnection at the separator. The problem is formulated in an incompressible cylindrical geometery by superposing arbitrary disturbance fields onto a “background” two-null field. Two different regimes are found for the dynamic evolution, depending on the relative strengths of the background magnetic and velocity fields. In one regime, disturbance pulses split into ingoing and outgoing components, which propagate along the background field lines. In the other “flux pile-up” regime, a strong driving flow localises the disturbances towards the null point pair. Current structures aligned with the spines, fans and separator present in the field are found to result, and the structure of these currents and their scaling with resistivity is investigated. Subject headings: MHD — plasmas — Sun: flares — Sun: magnetic fields
MicroRNA-3662 targets ZEB1 and attenuates the invasion of the highly aggressive melanoma cell line A375

Background: Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer. It accounts for approximately 5% of all cutaneous malignancies and is currently responsible for the majority of skin cancer-related deaths. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for the occurrence of melanoma, in particular the invasive growth in normal skin or muscle tissue, remain unknown. Materials and methods: miR-3662, a microRNA is a potential tumor suppressor targeting zinc ﬁ nger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), which functions as a key regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. This microRNA was identi ﬁ ed using an online database (miRDB) and expression was con ﬁ rmed by Western blot analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to examine whether miR-3662 inhibits the EMT process in the aggressive melanoma cell line, A375, through the modi ﬁ cation of the expression of invasion-related genes in A375 cells. The effects of miR-3662 on the in vivo growth of A375 cells were examined in a nude mouse model. Results: Using virtual screening of the miRDB database, miR-3662 was shown to target the 3 ʹ untranslated region (UTR) of the ZEB1 gene. Expression of miR-3662 via a lentivirus vector signi ﬁ cantly decreased protein levels of ZEB1 and inhibited the growth of A375 cells in vitro and in vivo. The reduction in ZEB1 expression induced by miR-3662 resulted in EMT inhibition in A375 cells and decreased the relative expression of metastasis genes. Conclusion: Down-regulation of ZEB1 ’ s expression via miR-3662 lentivirus vectors signi ﬁ cantly decreased the in vitro and in vivo growth of the highly aggressive melanoma cell line A375.
Premature Ejaculation: From Physiology to Treatment

Objective: To review in literature about the concept of premature ejaculation from physiology to treatment. Materials and methods: A literature search conducted with Pubmed and Cochrane. Results: An accurate clinical history is the best diagnostic method, and in the majority of the cases it is enough to differentiate between primary and acquired premature ejaculation. Nowadays the treatment is not curative but is effective in increasing the Intravaginal Ejaculatory Latency Time, improving the couple’s sexual satisfaction. Conclusion: Although PE is the most frequent sexual dysfunction, it is still sub-diagnosed. Combining behavioural techniques with pharmacotherapy is the best way of treatment.
Survey on Polypharmacy and Drug-Drug Interactions Among Elderly People with Cardiovascular Diseases at Yekatit 12 Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background Elderly people are most commonly associated with cardiac disease. Cardiovascular diseases are interlinked with co-morbidities which require multiple drug therapy in addition to cardiovascular drugs. This results to polypharmacy which carries a high risk of potential drug-drug interactions. Elderly patients are at a particular risk of drug related problems because of increased level of polypharmacy and the physiological changes which accompany aging. This study was aimed to assess polypharmacy and potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) among elderly people with cardiovascular diseases at Yekatit 12 hospital. Methodology A retrospective cross-sectional study using patients chart review was conducted on all elderly people with cardiovascular diseases at Yekatit 12 hospital in the period between March 2018 and March 2019. The types, seriousness and level of potential DDIs were checked using Medscape online drug interaction checker. Results The mean number of drugs per prescription was 4.25 ± 1.754 and the prevalence of polypharmacy (concurrent use of 5 and more drugs) was 42.7%. Polypharmacy and potential DDIs were significantly associated with polymorbidity (P = 0.000), being hospitalized (P = 0.047) and congestive heart failure (P = 0.016). A total of 850-potential DDIs were identified, the mean number of potential DDIs was 3.37 per prescription. The potential DDIs were mainly significant (73.29%) in nature and pharmacodynamics (73.06%) in mechanism. The prevalence of total and serious potential DDIs were 84.3% and 17.3%, respectively. Most commonly interacting drug combination was aspirin + enalapril (30.2%). Conclusion A higher incidence of polypharmacy and increased risk of potential DDIs in elderly people with cardiovascular disease are major therapeutic issues at Yekatit 12 hospital.
MAGNETOPNEUMOGRAPHY – INCORPORATION OF OPTICAL POSITION REFERENCE

 * Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Measurement, Technická 2, 166 27, Prague, Czech Republic, platil@fel.cvut. cz, ** Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Measurement, Technická 2, 166 27, Prague, Czech Republic and General University Hospital in Prague, Department of Medical Technology, U Nemocnice 2, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic, tomekj1@fel.cvut. cz
A BASIS-FREE NULL SPACE METHOD FOR SOLVING GENERALIZED SADDLE POINT PROBLEMS∗

Using an augmented Lagrangian matrix approach, we analytically solve in this paper a broad class of linear systems that includes symmetric and nonsymmetric problems in saddle point form. To this end, some mild assumptions are made and a preconditioning is specially designed to improve the sensitivity of the systems before the calculation of their solutions. In this way, they can be properly employed for computational purposes. As an example of such a procedure, we develop a direct method for solving the symmetric saddle point problem. Then we show that our method is intrinsically related with the null space method, but it doesn’t depend on finding a basis of the null space of the (2, 1) block of the saddle point systems. For this reason, the proposed method can be seen as a basis-free null space method. This method is also extended to nonsymmetric problems. To the best of our knowledge, the analytical solution of the nonsymmetric linear systems considered here is not known. So it is of major interest, since it can lead to the development of efficient algorithms, besides our own.
VDR Pathway-Specific Dose-Related Effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 on Salmonella typhimurium-induced Mouse Colitis

Background: Whether and how 1,25(OH)2D3 supplementation influences VDRs in experimental mice with colitis remains to be seen. To explore the effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on S. typhimurium colitis through the VDR pathway and to discover the role of VDR in its action. Methods: We established a mouse UC model induced by S. typhimurium. After streptococcal typhus infection, the mice were fasted for 12 hours. Blood was collected by the eyeball extraction method, and then sacrificed by cervical dislocation, specimens were collected for corresponding indicators. Results: Mice exposed to S. typhimurium infection developed signs of acute colitis. After HE staining were performed on the diseased colons from the mice. high dose VD supplementation, the pathological colonic damage did not improve in the mice, and there was no statistical difference between the groups with VD deficiency (P>0.05). VDR expression in the UC group treated with Salmonella was higher than that in the control group, a statistically significant difference (P<0.01). Compared with the VDD+UC group, VDR expression rose in both the LVDS+UC group and the HVDS+UC group, with VDR protein expression being highest after high dose VD supplementation (P<0.01). Compared with the control and the UC groups, the VDR mRNA expression level in the VDD+UC group was significantly higher, and the colon VDR mRNA expression level decreased after active VD supplementation (Fig.7C). Conclusions: Our data suggest the need for defining the accurate 1,25(OH)2D3 dose limits that induce an anti-inflammatory effect as current data indicate that higher doses would produce an inflammatory response.