Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient Centeredness in Electronic Communication: Evaluation of Patient-to-Health Care Team Secure Messaging

Background As information and communication technology is becoming more widely implemented across health care organizations, patient-provider email or asynchronous electronic secure messaging has the potential to support patient-centered communication. Within the medical home model of the Veterans Health Administration (VA), secure messaging is envisioned as a means to enhance access and strengthen the relationships between veterans and their health care team members. However, despite previous studies that have examined the content of electronic messages exchanged between patients and health care providers, less research has focused on the socioemotional aspects of the communication enacted through those messages. Objective Recognizing the potential of secure messaging to facilitate the goals of patient-centered care, the objectives of this analysis were to not only understand why patients and health care team members exchange secure messages but also to examine the socioemotional tone engendered in these messages. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional coding evaluation of a corpus of secure messages exchanged between patients and health care team members over 6 months at 8 VA facilities. We identified patients whose medical records showed secure messaging threads containing at least 2 messages and compiled a random sample of these threads. Drawing on previous literature regarding the analysis of asynchronous, patient-provider electronic communication, we developed a coding scheme comprising a series of a priori patient and health care team member codes. Three team members tested the scheme on a subset of the messages and then independently coded the sample of messaging threads. Results Of the 711 messages coded from the 384 messaging threads, 52.5% (373/711) were sent by patients and 47.5% (338/711) by health care team members. Patient and health care team member messages included logistical content (82.6%, 308/373 vs 89.1%, 301/338), were neutral in tone (70.2%, 262/373 vs 82.0%, 277/338), and respectful in nature (25.7%, 96/373 vs 33.4%, 113/338). Secure messages from health care team members sometimes appeared hurried (25.4%, 86/338) but also displayed friendliness or warmth (18.9%, 64/338) and reassurance or encouragement (18.6%, 63/338). Most patient messages involved either providing or seeking information; however, the majority of health care team member messages involved information provision in response to patient questions. Conclusions This evaluation is an important step toward understanding the content and socioemotional tone that is part of the secure messaging exchanges between patients and health care team members. Our findings were encouraging; however, there are opportunities for improvement. As health care organizations seek to supplement traditional encounters with virtual care, they must reexamine their use of secure messaging, including the patient centeredness of the communication, and the potential for more proactive use by health care team members.
Impact of Radiotherapy on Complications and Patient-Reported Outcomes After Breast Reconstruction

Background Patients considering postmastectomy radiation and reconstruction require information regarding expected outcomes to make preference-concordant decisions. Methods A prospective multicenter cohort study of women diagnosed with breast cancer at 11 centers between 2012 and 2015 compared complications and patient-reported outcomes of 622 irradiated and 1625 unirradiated patients who received reconstruction. Patient characteristics and outcomes between irradiated and unirradiated patients were analyzed using ttests for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables. Multivariable mixed-effects regression modelsassessed the impact of reconstruction type and radiotherapy on outcomes after adjusting for relevant covariates. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Autologous reconstruction was more commonly received by irradiated patients (37.9% vs 25.0%, P < .001). Immediate reconstruction was less common in irradiated patients (83.0% vs 95.7%, P < .001). At least one breast complication had occurred by two years in 38.9% of irradiated patients with implant reconstruction, 25.6% of irradiated patients with autologous reconstruction, 21.8% of unirradiated patients with implant reconstruction, and 28.3% of unirradiated patients with autologous reconstruction. Multivariable analysis showed bilateral treatment and higher body mass index to be predictive of developing a complication, with a statistically significant interaction between radiotherapy receipt and reconstruction type. Among irradiated patients, autologous reconstruction was associated with a lower risk of complications than implant-based reconstruction at two years (odds ratio [OR] = 0.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.27 to 0.82, P = .007); no between-procedure difference was found in unirradiated patients. The interaction was also statistically significant for satisfaction with breasts at two years (P = .002), with larger adjusted difference in satisfaction between autologous vs implant approaches (63.5, 95% CI = 55.9 to 71.1, vs 47.7, 95% CI = 40.2 to 55.2, respectively) in irradiated patients than between autologous vs implant approaches (67.6, 95% CI = 60.3 to 74.9, vs 60.5, 95% CI = 53.6 to 67.4) in unirradiated patients. Conclusions Autologous reconstruction appears to yield superior patient-reported satisfaction and lower risk of complications than implant-based approaches among patients receiving postmastectomy radiotherapy.
Identification and In Vivo Characterization of NvFP-7R, a Developmentally Regulated Red Fluorescent Protein of Nematostella vectensis

Background In recent years, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has emerged as a critical model organism for comparative genomics and developmental biology. Although Nematostella is a member of the anthozoan cnidarians (known for producing an abundance of diverse fluorescent proteins (FPs)), endogenous patterns of Nematostella fluorescence have not been described and putative FPs encoded by the genome have not been characterized. Methodology/Principal Findings We described the spatiotemporal expression of endogenous red fluorescence during Nematostella development. Spatially, there are two patterns of red fluorescence, both restricted to the oral endoderm in developing polyps. One pattern is found in long fluorescent domains associated with the eight mesenteries and the other is found in short fluorescent domains situated between tentacles. Temporally, the long domains appear simultaneously at the 12-tentacle stage. In contrast, the short domains arise progressively between the 12- and 16-tentacle stage. To determine the source of the red fluorescence, we used bioinformatic approaches to identify all possible putative Nematostella FPs and a Drosophila S2 cell culture assay to validate NvFP-7R, a novel red fluorescent protein. We report that both the mRNA expression pattern and spectral signature of purified NvFP-7R closely match that of the endogenous red fluorescence. Strikingly, the red fluorescent pattern of NvFP-7R exhibits asymmetric expression along the directive axis, indicating that the nvfp-7r locus senses the positional information of the body plan. At the tissue level, NvFP-7R exhibits an unexpected subcellular localization and a complex complementary expression pattern in apposed epithelia sheets comprising each endodermal mesentery. Conclusions/Significance These experiments not only identify NvFP-7R as a novel red fluorescent protein that could be employed as a research tool; they also uncover an unexpected spatio-temporal complexity of gene expression in an adult cnidarian. Perhaps most importantly, our results define Nematostella as a new model organism for understanding the biological function of fluorescent proteins in vivo.
Beta‐gamma burst stimulations of the inferior olive induce high‐frequency oscillations in the deep cerebellar nuclei

The cerebellum displays various sorts of rhythmic activities covering both low‐ and high‐frequency oscillations. These cerebellar high‐frequency oscillations were observed in the cerebellar cortex. Here, we hypothesised that not only is the cerebellar cortex a generator of high‐frequency oscillations but also that the deep cerebellar nuclei may also play a similar role. Thus, we analysed local field potentials and single‐unit activities in the deep cerebellar nuclei before, during and after electric stimulation in the inferior olive of awake mice. A high‐frequency oscillation of 350 Hz triggered by the stimulation of the inferior olive, within the beta‐gamma range, was observed in the deep cerebellar nuclei. The amplitude and frequency of the oscillation were independent of the frequency of stimulation. This oscillation emerged during the period of stimulation and persisted after the end of the stimulation. The oscillation coincided with the inhibition of deep cerebellar neurons. As the inhibition of the deep cerebellar nuclei is related to inhibitory inputs from Purkinje cells, we speculate that the oscillation represents the unmasking of the synchronous activation of another subtype of deep cerebellar neuronal subtype, devoid of GABA receptors and under the direct control of the climbing fibres from the inferior olive. Still, the mechanism sustaining this oscillation remains to be deciphered. Our study sheds new light on the role of the olivo‐cerebellar loop as the final output control of the intercerebellar circuitry.
A Method for Investigating Population Declines of Migratory Birds Using Stable Isotopes: Origins of Harvested Lesser Scaup in North America

Background Elucidating geographic locations from where migratory birds are recruited into adult breeding populations is a fundamental but largely elusive goal in conservation biology. This is especially true for species that breed in remote northern areas where field-based demographic assessments are logistically challenging. Methodology/Findings Here we used hydrogen isotopes (δD) to determine natal origins of migrating hatch-year lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) harvested by hunters in the United States from all North American flyways during the hunting seasons of 1999–2000 (n = 412) and 2000–2001 (n = 455). We combined geospatial, observational, and analytical data sources, including known scaup breeding range, δD values of feathers from juveniles at natal sites, models of δD for growing-season precipitation, and scaup band-recovery data to generate probabilistic natal origin landscapes for individual scaup. We then used Monte Carlo integration to model assignment uncertainty from among individual δD variance estimates from birds of known molt origin and also from band-return data summarized at the flyway level. We compared the distribution of scaup natal origin with the distribution of breeding population counts obtained from systematic long-term surveys. Conclusions/Significance Our analysis revealed that the proportion of young scaup produced in the northern (above 60°N) versus the southern boreal and Prairie-Parkland region was inversely related to the proportions of breeding adults using these regions, suggesting that despite having a higher relative abundance of breeding adults, the northern boreal region was less productive for scaup recruitment into the harvest than more southern biomes. Our approach for evaluating population declines of migratory birds (particularly game birds) synthesizes all available distributional data and exploits the advantages of intrinsic isotopic markers that link individuals to geography.
Action sequencing using dynamic movement primitives

SUMMARY General-purpose autonomous robots must have the ability to combine the available sensorimotor knowledge in order to solve more complex tasks. Such knowledge is often given in the form of movement primitives. In this paper, we investigate the problem of sequencing of movement primitives. We selected nonlinear dynamic systems as the underlying sensorimotor representation because they provide a powerful machinery for the specification of primitive movements. We propose two new methodologies which both ensure that consecutive movement primitives are joined together in a continuous way (up to second-order derivatives). The first is based on proper initialization of the third-order dynamic motion primitives and the second uses online Gaussian kernel functions modification of the second-order dynamic motion primitives. Both methodologies were validated by simulation and by experimentally using a Mitsubishi PA-10 articulated robot arm. Experiments comprehend pouring, table wiping, and carrying a glass of liquid.
Size effects on the bending strength of fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites

This article investigates the size effects associated with length and width, on the bending strength of marine grade polymer matrix laminated composites. A new expression for predicting the strength size effect was developed and was verified using both laboratory testing and probabilistic finite element analysis (FEA). Woven [0/45/—45/0]5sf E-glass/vinyl ester material specimens with different lengths and widths and same thickness were evaluated to predict the effect of specimen size on the bending strength. In the probabilistic FEA models, elastic properties (E11, E22, G12, υ12), and strength parameters (F1t, F1c, F2t , F2c, F6, ε1t, ε 1c, ε2t, ε2c, ε12) of the woven fabric E-glass/vinyl ester ASTM D6272 coupons were considered as random fields, and generated using Monte Carlo simulations. The relationship between the bending strength and specimen size of the [0/45/—45/0]5sf lay-up was also evaluated experimentally. Thirty-two material specimens were prepared and tested according to ASTM D6272 using combinations of two span-to-thickness ratios (32 : 1 and 16 : 1), and two width-to-thickness ratios (3 : 1 and 1.5 : 1).
On the usage of resonate and fire dynamics in the complex oscillation‐based test approach

Resonate and Fire (R+F) models were introduced to account for many phenomena occurring in biological neurons showing sub‐threshold oscillations of the membrane potential. In information technology, they are at the basis of Chaotic Spiking Oscillators (CSOs), exploitable in Pulse Coupled Neural Networks (PCNNs). This paper illustrates how the R + F paradigm can also be used for the testing of analog signal processing structures (and specifically filters), extending the Oscillation Based Test (OBT) framework. The rich dynamics of the R + F model is used to encode the block under test features and faults into pulse trains directly processable at the digital level. Means to achieve a precise characterization of firing times are provided and used for parametric testing. Considerations about the trade‐off between testing times and accuracy are provided together with a practical example and simulation data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Perceived social support and its impact on depression and health-related quality of life: a comparison between cancer patients and general population

Objective It is well known that cancer patients' perception of social support is associated with their depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life. However, there have been little studies that compared the variates of cancer patients with the general population. We sought to compare differences in the level of perceived social support and the impact of perceived social support on depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life between cancer survivors and the general population. Methods Data were collected from 1818 cancer patients treated at the National Cancer Center and regional cancer centers in South Korea. The control group of the general population was composed of 2000 individuals without cancer from community. Results Cancer patients reported significantly higher level of perceived social support than the general population, while they reported lower health-related quality of life and were more susceptible to depression. The positive associations of higher perceived social support with lower depressive symptoms, as well as with higher health-related quality of life, were stronger among cancer patients than among the general population. Conclusions The interaction effect suggests that the impact of social support would be stronger among cancer patients than the general public. Thus, it would be beneficial to pay attention to providing social support to cancer patients, particularly to those who are more vulnerable. Furthermore, investigation of the most effective and efficient methods to deliver social support interventions would be worthwhile.
Hardware-in-loop validation of a dynamic control employed for a hybrid DC microgrid incorporating high gain DC-DC power stages

The wide penetration of low voltage renewable energy sources into microgrid necessitates the use of high-gain converters as power processing units escorted with dynamic control methodologies. Under this scenario, this paper investigates the performance of high-gain converter forming a common DC common link in a hybrid DC microgrid comprising of solar photovoltaic (SPV) generation, supercapacitor and battery bank. A high gain DC-DC boost power stage is used to couple the SPV array to the common DC common link, whereas high gain bi-directional converter is used to link the energy storage devices to the common DC bus. The high gain topologies used in this paper employs coupling inductor, intermediate buffer capacitor and a passive clamp network to obtain the high voltage gain with the same number of switches as that of the conventional topologies. A dual-loop control strategy has been employed for the operation of interfacing high gain converters. Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) validation of the presented control scheme is carried out using Zynq ZC702 FPGA kit via Xilinx system generator.
International health IT benchmarking: learning from cross-country comparisons

Objective: To pilot benchmark measures of health information and communication technology (ICT) availability and use to facilitate cross-country learning. Materials and Methods: A prior Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development–led effort involving 30 countries selected and defined functionality-based measures for availability and use of electronic health records, health information exchange, personal health records, and telehealth. In this pilot, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Working Group compiled results for 38 countries for a subset of measures with broad coverage using new and/or adapted country-specific or multinational surveys and other sources from 2012 to 2015. We also synthesized country learnings to inform future benchmarking. Results: While electronic records are widely used to store and manage patient information at the point of care—all but 2 pilot countries reported use by at least half of primary care physicians; many had rates above 75%—patient information exchange across organizations/settings is less common. Large variations in the availability and use of telehealth and personal health records also exist. Discussion: Pilot participation demonstrated interest in cross-national benchmarking. Using the most comparable measures available to date, it showed substantial diversity in health ICT availability and use in all domains. The project also identified methodological considerations (e.g., structural and health systems issues that can affect measurement) important for future comparisons. Conclusion: While health policies and priorities differ, many nations aim to increase access, quality, and/or efficiency of care through effective ICT use. By identifying variations and describing key contextual factors, benchmarking offers the potential to facilitate cross-national learning and accelerate the progress of individual countries.
Chitosan-coated nanoparticles enhanced lung pharmacokinetic profile of voriconazole upon pulmonary delivery in mice.

AIM Chitosan-coated polylactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles of voriconazole (VChNP) were developed to increase residence time and provide sustained drug release locally to treat recurrent lung-fungal infection. MATERIALS & METHODS VChNP has been developed using a simple, unique technique and characterized. Pharmacokinetics, lung deposition with time and gamma imaging were conducted with optimized formulations. RESULTS The deposition of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled VChNP in lung was confirmed by confocal microscopy. Gamma-scintigraphic images showed that Tc-99m-labeled VChNP had better pulmonary retention for longer period than that of noncoated formulation. Drastic improvement in pharmacokinetic profile of VChNP than noncoated formulation was observed. CONCLUSION Thus, VChNP may be useful for effective pulmonary delivery with improved bioavailability. Such chitosan-coated nanoparticles may open up a new avenue for efficacious treatment of lung-fungal infection.
Bharathi SSN @ INLI-FIRE-2017: SVM based approach for Indian Native Language Identification

Native Language Identification (NLI) is the task of identifying the native language of a writer or a speaker by analyzing their text. NLI can be important for a number of applications. In forensic linguistics, native language is often used as an important feature for authorship profiling and identification. Nowadays due to the huge usage of social media sites and online interactions, receiving a violent threat is a common issue faced by commuters. If a comment or post poses any type of threat, then identifying the native language of the person will be one of the significant measures in finding the source. In this paper, we present our methodology for the task of identifying the native language of an Indian writer. We have extracted TF-IDF feature vectors from the given document and used SVM classifier to identify the native language of the document given by shared task on Indian Native Language Identification@FIRE2017. The performance is measured in terms of accuracy and we have obtained overall accuracy of 43.60%.
Live‐cell imaging of new polyene sterols for improved analysis of intracellular cholesterol transport

Analysis of intracellular cholesterol transport by fluorescence microscopy requires suitable fluorescent analogues of cholesterol. Most existing cholesterol analogues contain lipophilic dyes which can compromise the sterol properties in membranes. An alternative strategy is to introduce additional double bonds into the sterol ring system resulting in intrinsic fluorescence, while at the same time keeping the cholesterol‐like properties of the analogues. Existing polyene sterols, such as dehydroergosterol (DHE) or cholestatrienol (CTL), however, contain only three double bonds and suffer from low brightness, significant photobleaching and excitation/emission in the ultraviolet region. Thus, special equipment is required to image such sterols. Here, we describe synthesis, characterization and intracellular imaging of new polyene sterols containing four conjugated double bonds in the sterol ring system. We show that such analogues have red‐shifted excitation and emission by ∼20 nm compared to DHE or CTL. The red shift was even more pronounced when preventing keto‐enol tautomer equilibration by protecting the 3’‐hydroxy group with acetate. We show that the latter analogue can be imaged on a conventional wide field microscope with a DAPI/filipin filter cube. The new polyene sterols show reduced photobleaching compared to DHE or CTL allowing for improved deconvolution microscopy of sterol containing cellular membranes.