Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
effects of a Proactive interdisciplinary self-Management (PrisMA) program on medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the effect of the group-based Proactive Interdisciplinary Self-Management (PRISMA) training program on medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) treated in primary care. Patients and methods: The current study is a two-arm, parallel group, randomized, open label trial (1:1) of 6-month duration with a 6-month extension period in which both groups received the intervention (wait-list control). People 18 years old or older who were diagnosed with T2DM were included. The intervention consisted of two group meetings about T2DM guided by care providers. The control group received usual care only (visits at the general practice). The primary outcome was adherence based on pharmacy refill data and was measured using medication possession ratio (MPR). The secondary outcomes were the number of drug holidays and self-reported adherence, measured by the 5-item Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS-5). Results: Of the total sample (n = 108), 66.6% were male. The mean age was 69.3 years (SD = 9.1). In the 6-month period, patients were more adherent in the intervention group (n = 56) (median MPR = 100.0 [51.1–100.0]) than in the control group (n = 52) (median MPR = 97.7 [54.1–100.0]) ( U = 1,042, z =- 2.783, P = 0.005). The intervention group had less drug holidays than the control group (relative risk 0.55, 95% CI, 0.37–0.80). The sum scores of the MARS did not differ between the intervention group (median = 23.98, SD = 0.91) and the control group (median = 24.00, SD = 1.54). Conclusion: The PRISMA program resulted in a small improvement in MPR and fewer drug holidays, while no improvement has been found in self-reported adherence. However, health care providers and policy makers could take into account that adherence might be influenced by PRISMA.
Comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals pectoralis highland adaptation across altitudinal songbirds CURRENT STATUS: REVIEW

Background Pectoralis phenotypic variation plays a fundamental role in in birds. However, its regulatory and metabolic mechanisms remain enigmatic to date. Here, we integrated phenomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches to determine muscle variation and its underpinning mechanisms across altitudinal songbirds. Phenomics revealed that all highland birds had considerable increases in muscle oxidative capacity, capillarity, and mitochondrial abundance. Correspondingly, transcriptomic analyses found that differentially expressed genes in modules associated with phenotypes enriched in blood vessel, muscle structure development, and mitochondrial organization. Despite similar traits and functional enrichments across highland birds, different mechanisms drove their occurrence in part for their own various evolutionary histories. Importantly, a metabolic feature shared by highland birds is the improvement in insulin sensitivity and glucose utilization through activating insulin signaling pathway, which is vital to increase muscle oxidative capacity and maintain metabolic homeostasis. Nevertheless, fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation are enhanced in species with a long evolutionary history, also differing from ketone body metabolism in recently introduced colonizer. 0.2 DTT. For the tricarboxylic acid cycle: citrate synthase (CS): 0.5 mmol l − 1 oxaloacetate, 0.15 mmol l − 1 acetyl-coA, 0.15 mmol l − 1 5,5′- dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid, 0.1% Triton X-100, in 100 Tris rates reactions lacking substrates. coefficients were 6.22 (mmol l − 1 ) −1 cm − 1 NADH (340 nm) and 13.6 (mmol l − 1 ) −1 cm − 1 DTNB (412 to enzyme activities.
QMC integration for lognormal-parametric , elliptic PDEs : local supports imply product weights

We analyze convergence rates of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) quadratures for countablyparametric solutions of linear, elliptic partial differential equations (PDE) in divergence form with log-Gaussian diffusion coefficient, based on the error bounds in [James A. Nichols and Frances Y. Kuo: Fast CBC construction of randomly shifted lattice rules achieving O(N−1+δ) convergence for unbounded integrands over R in weighted spaces with POD weights. J. Complexity, 30(4):444-468, 2014]. We prove, for representations of the Gaussian random field PDE input with locally supported basis functions, and for continuous, piecewise polynomial Finite Element discretizations in the physical domain error bounds in weighted spaces with product weights that exploit localization of supports. The convergence rate O(N−1+δ) (independent of the parameter space dimension s) is achieved under weak summability conditions on the expansion coefficients.
Temporal evolution of within-season vineyard canopy response from a proximal sensing system

A weekly survey of canopy NDVI with a proximal-mounted canopy sensor was undertaken in a cool-climate juicegrape vineyard. Sensing was performed at different positions in the canopy. Sensing around the top-wire led to saturation problems, however sensing in the growing region of the canopy led to consistently non-saturated results throughout the season. With this directed sensing, a spatial pattern in NDVI 2–4 weeks after flowering could be generated that approximated the spatial pattern in NDVI at the end of the season. This is earlier than has been previously reported and may allow for proactive within-season canopy management.
A DYNAMIC MODEL OF URBAN STRUCTURE

Abstract : Versions of the Time-Oriented Metropolitan Model (T.O.M.M.) discussed in the paper have served as the primary spatial-location model for two, large- scale urban simulations. Because of the incompleteness, incompatibility, and non-existence of most small-area data and the lack of time-series data, T.O. M.M. remains in the developmental stage. Although two versions have been calibrated for Pittsburgh and Lansing, the version presented is untested and describes the latest model modifications. The model is one describing the interaction of variables in an urban system. Three classes of variables are included: an exogenous employment sector, an endogenous commercial employment sector, and a household or population sector.
The Langley Parameterized Shortwave Algorithm (LPSA) for Surface Radiation Budget Studies. 1.0

An efficient algorithm was developed during the late 1980's and early 1990's by W. F. Staylor at NASA/LaRC for the purpose of deriving shortwave surface radiation budget parameters on a global scale. While the algorithm produced results in good agreement with observations, the lack of proper documentation resulted in a weak acceptance by the science community. The primary purpose of this report is to develop detailed documentation of the algorithm. In the process, the algorithm was modified whenever discrepancies were found between the algorithm and its referenced literature sources. In some instances, assumptions made in the algorithm could not be justified and were replaced with those that were justifiable. The algorithm uses satellite and operational meteorological data for inputs. Most of the original data sources have been replaced by more recent, higher quality data sources, and fluxes are now computed on a higher spatial resolution. Many more changes to the basic radiation scheme and meteorological inputs have been proposed to improve the algorithm and make the product more useful for new research projects. Because of the many changes already in place and more planned for the future, the algorithm has been renamed the Langley Parameterized Shortwave Algorithm (LPSA).
Populism as an Expression of Political Communication Content and Style: A New Perspective

In this article, the introduction to a special International Journal of Press/Politics (IJPP) issue on populism, we articulate and define populism as a communication phenomenon. We provide an overview of populist political communication research and its current foci. We offer a framework for ongoing research and set the boundary conditions for a new generation of research on populist political communication, with an aim to push the research agendas and design toward a more interactive, systematic, and in particular, comparative approach to the study of populist political communication.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple . ” –

The Semantic Web is about to grow up. By efforts such as the Linking Open Data initiative, we finally find ourselves at the edge of a Web of Data becoming reality. Standards such as OWL 2, RIF and SPARQL 1.1 shall allow us to reason with and ask complex structured queries on this data, but still they do not play together smoothly and robustly enough to cope with huge amounts of noisy Web data. In this paper, we discuss open challenges relating to querying and reasoning with Web data and raise the question: can the burgeoning Web of Data ever catch up with the now ubiquitous HTML Web?
Istituto Di Analisi Dei Sistemi Ed Informatica " Antonio Ruberti " Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche Local Computation of Answers to Table Queries on Summary Databases R. 622 Novembre 2004

We address the problem of evaluating table queries from a summary database formed by a collection of pre-computed tables on certain measure variables. We assume that every table query asks for the distribution of a measure variable of interest, and that the summary database contains tables on the variable of interest as well as on other measure variables. If the requested distribution is none of the base tables and cannot be exactly derivable from none of them, then the answer to the query will be the result of an estimation procedure, which may bring up another measure variable that is correlated to the measure variable of interest. We give an estimation procedure that combines the “divide-and-conquer” principle with tree computations.
Istituto Di Analisi Dei Sistemi Ed Informatica " Antonio Ruberti " Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche

The short-term Unit Commitment (UC) problem in hydro-thermal power generation is a fundamental problem in short-term electrical generation scheduling. Historically, Lagrangian techniques have been used to tackle this large-scale, difficult Mixed-Integer NonLinear Program (MINLP); this requires being able to efficiently solve the Lagrangian subproblems, which has only recently become possible (efficiently enough) for units subject to significant ramp constraints. In the last years, alternative approaches have been devised where the nonlinearities in the problem are approximated by means of piecewise-linear functions, so that UC can be approximated by a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP); in particular, using a recently developed class of valid inequalities for the problem, called “Perspective Cuts”, significant improvements have been obtained in the efficiency and effectiveness of the solution algorithms. These two different approaches have complementary strengths; Lagrangian ones provide very good lower bounds quickly, but require sophisticated heuristics—which may need to be changed every time that the mathematical model changes—for producing actual feasible solutions. MILP approaches have been shown to be able to provide very good feasible solutions quickly, but their lower bound is significantly worse. We present a hybrid approach which combines the two methods, trying to exploit each one’s strengths; we show, by means of extensive computational experiments on realistic instances, that the hybrid approach may exhibit significantly better efficiency than either of the two basic ones, depending on the degree of accuracy requested to the feasible solutions.
Otitis media with effusion in children.

INTRODUCTION Up to 80% of children have been affected by otitis media with effusion (OME) by the age of 4 years, but prevalence declines beyond 6 years of age. Non-purulent middle-ear infections can occur in children or adults after upper respiratory tract infection or acute otitis media. Half or more of cases resolve within 3 months and 95% within 1 year, but complications such as tympanic membrane perforation, tympanosclerosis, otorrhoea, and cholesteatoma can occur. METHODS AND OUTCOMES We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of interventions to prevent otitis media with effusion in children? What are the effects of pharmacological, mechanical, and surgical interventions to treat otitis media with effusion in children? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to March 2010 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). RESULTS We found one systematic review and one RCT that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions. CONCLUSIONS In this systematic review, we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: adenoidectomy, antibiotics, antihistamines, autoinflation, bottle feeding, decongestants, exposure to other children, intranasal corticosteroids, mucolytics, oral corticosteroids, passive smoking, and ventilation tubes.
Evaluation of meaningful change in bowel move frequency for patients with carcinoid syndrome.

583Background: Telotristat ethyl is a tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor in development for the treatment of carcinoid syndrome (CS) in patients who receive somatostatin analog (SSA) therapy. In TELESTAR, a pivotal Phase 3 study, telotristat ethyl significantly reduced bowel movement (BM) frequency compared to placebo. Objective: The objective of this study was to psychometrically assess meaningful change in BM frequency using data collected within the TELESTAR study. Methods: An anchor-based approach consisted of mapping change from baseline in BM frequency to other patient reported assessments of change. These included the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire - Core Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) Diarrhea Symptom responders, the EORTC GI.NET21 GI Symptom responders, and patient reported adequate relief at Week 12 (responders had a ≥ 10-point decrease in scores from Day 1 to Week 12). Parameters included within group mean change from baseline to Week 12, t.
The AKR1D1*36 ( rs1872930 ) Allelic Variant Is Independently Associated With Clopidogrel Treatment Outcome

Aims: The present observational cohort study evaluated the association between the AKR1D1*36 (rs1872930) allele and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) in clopidogrel treated patients. Methods: We screened 198 consecutive cardiovascular patients on clopidogrel therapy admitted in October to November 2010 with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular symptoms; of these 118 met the study protocol entry criteria; the median age of the cohort was 62.5 years (IQR 57 – 66 years), and 55% were females. Results: The median follow up time was 38.5 (IQR 24 – 48) months; Kaplan-Meier/Log-rank analysis showed that patients carrying the AKR1D1*36 allelic variant have a shorter event-free-survival compared to wild type patients, hazard ratio = 2.193 (95% CI, 1.091 to 4.406); p = 0.0155. Multivariable Cox regression analysis con ﬁ rmed the AKR1D1*36 allele as an independent risk factor (HR = 2.36; 95% CI, 1.34 to 4.18) and identi ﬁ ed 3 other risk factors for MACCE; previous percutaneous interventions (PCI), HR = 2.78; (95% CI, 1.34 to 5.78), and a history of myocardial infarction, HR = 2.62; (95% CI, 1.48 to 4.64) at baseline and the previously reported CYP2C19*2 polymorphism (HR = 2.33; 95% CI, 1.33 to 4.06). Conclusion: The AKR1D1*36 ( rs1872930 ) variant is independently associated with a higher risk for MACCE and shorter event-free survival time.
Social influence analysis in microblogging platforms-a topic-sensitive based approach

The use of Social Media, particularly microblogging platforms such as Twitter, has proven to be an effective channel for promoting ideas to online audiences. In a world where information can bias public opinion it is essential to analyse the propagation and influence of information in large-scale networks. Recent research studying social media data to rank users by topical relevance have largely focused on the “retweet", “following" and “mention" relations. In this paper we propose the use of semantic profiles for deriving influential users based on the retweet subgraph of the Twitter graph. We introduce a variation of the PageRank algorithm for analysing users’ topical and entity influence based on the topical/entity relevance of a retweet relation. Experimental results show that our approach outperforms related algorithms including HITS, InDegree and Topic-Sensitive PageRank. We also introduce VisInfluence, a visualisation platform for presenting top influential users based on a topical query need.
ATF3 expression in cardiomyocytes preserves homeostasis in the heart and controls peripheral glucose tolerance

Aims Obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) trigger a harmful stress-induced cardiac remodeling process known as cardiomyopathy. These diseases represent a serious and widespread health problem in the Western world; however the underlying molecular basis is not clear. ATF3 is an ‘immediate early’ gene whose expression is highly and transiently induced in response to multiple stressors such as metabolic, oxidative, endoplasmic reticulum and inflammation, stressors that are involved in T2D cardiomyopathy. The role of ATF3 in diabetic cardiomyopathy is currently unknown. Our research has aimed to study the effect of ATF3 expression on cardiomyocytes, heart function and glucose homeostasis in an obesity-induced T2D mouse model. Methods and results We used wild type mice (WT) as well as mutant mice with a cardiac-specific ATF3 deficiency (ATF3-cKO). Mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 15 weeks. HFD induced high ATF3 expression in cardiomyocytes. Mice were examined for cardiac remodeling processes and the diabetic state was assessed. HFD-fed ATF3-cKO mice exhibited severe cardiac fibrosis, higher levels of heart hypertrophic markers, increased inflammation and worse cardiac function, as compared to WT mice. Interestingly, HFD-fed ATF3-cKO mice display increased hyperglycemia and reduced glucose tolerance, despite higher blood insulin levels, as compared to HFD-fed WT mice. Elevated levels of the cardiac inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF&agr; leading to impaired insulin signalling may partially explain the peripheral glucose intolerance. Conclusions Cardiac ATF3 has a protective role in dampening the HFD-induced cardiac remodeling processes. ATF3 exerts both local and systemic effects related to T2D-induced cardiomyopathy. This study provides a strong relationship between heart remodeling processes and blood glucose homeostasis.
The utility of the SCAS­C/P to detect specific anxiety disorders among clinically anxious children

Questionnaire measures offer a time and cost-effective alternative to full diagnostic assessments for identifying and differentiating between potential anxiety disorders and are commonly used in clinical practice. Little is known, however, about the capacity of questionnaire measures to detect specific anxiety disorders in clinically anxious preadolescent children. This study aimed to establish the ability of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) subscales to identify children with specific anxiety disorders in a large clinic-referred sample ( N (cid:2) 1,438) of children aged 7 to 12 years. We examined the capacity of the Separation Anxiety, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety, and Physical Injury Fears (phobias) subscales to discriminate between children with and without the target disorder. We also identified optimal cutoff scores on subscales for accurate identification of children with the corresponding disorder, and examined the contribution of child, mother, and father reports. The Separation Anxiety subscale was able to accurately identify children with separation anxiety disorder, and this was replicated across all 3 reporters. Mother- and father-reported Social Phobia subscales also accurately identified children with social anxiety disorder, although child report was only able to accurately detect social anxiety disorder in girls. Using 2 or more reporters improved the sensitivity of the Separation Anxiety and Social Phobia subscales but reduced specificity. The Generalized Anxiety and Physical Injury Fears subscales failed to accurately identify children with the corresponding disorders. These findings have implications for the Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Social, Genetic and Develop- mental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre, King’s London; J. potential use of mother-, father-, and child-report SCAS subscales to detect specific disorders in preadolescent children in clinical settings. We evaluated the ability of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale subscales to identify specific anxiety disorders in clinically anxious children aged 7 to 12 years. Findings provide support for the use of the Separation Anxiety and Social Phobia subscales to identify separation anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder in clinical settings.
The diagnostic value of circulating tumor cells and ctDna for gene mutations in lung cancer

Purpose: Detecting gene mutations by two competing biomarkers, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and ctDNA has gradually paved a new diagnostic avenue for personalized medicine. We performed a comprehensive analysis to compare the diagnostic value of CTCs and ctDNA for gene mutations in lung cancer. Methods: Publications were electronically searched in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science as of July 2018. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, and AUC, each with a 95% CI, were yielded. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Quality assessment of included studies was also performed. Results: From 4,283 candidate articles, we identified 47 articles with a total of 7,244 patients for qualitative review and meta-analysis. When detecting EGFR , the CTC and ctDNA groups had pooled sensitivity of 75.4% (95% CI 0.683–0.817) and 67.1% (95% CI 0.647–0.695), respectively. When testing KRAS , pooled sensitivity was 38.7% (95% CI 0.266–0.519) in the CTC group and 65.1% (95% CI 0.558–0.736) in the ctDNA group. The diagnostic performance of ctDNA in testing ALK and BRAF was also evaluated. Heterogeneity among the 47 articles was acceptable. Conclusion: ctDNA might be a more promising biomarker with equivalent performance to CTCs when detecting EGFR and its detailed subtypes, and superior diagnostic capacity when testing KRAS and ALK . In addition, the diagnostic performance of ctDNA and CTCs depends on the detection methods greatly, and this warrants further studies to explore more sensitive methods.