Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compensating for the influence of total serum protein in the Schwartz formula

Abstract Background: The Schwartz 2009 creatinine-based revised formula is the only pediatric GFR estimating formula, which is compatible with the recent global creatinine standardization. This formula is only applicable if enzymatic creatinine methods are used. We propose an equation, taking into account the relative bias caused by serum proteins to use Jaffe based creatinine data for GFR estimation. Methods: In a cohort study of 100 pediatric patients, serum creatinine was measured using a kinetic rate-blanked Jaffe assay (modified kinetic alkaline picrate method), a kinetic rate-blanked Jaffe compensated assay for reactive proteins and an enzymatic assay (creatinine plus method). Serum total protein, albumin, urea, uric acid and total bilirubin were measured with the use of commercial agents. Results: The difference in serum creatinine between the enzymatic method and the compensated Jaffe method was mainly dependent on the total protein concentration in serum (r2=0.61, p<0.001). After applying the proposed protein correction, corrected compensated Jaffe results and creatinine clearance values became interchangeable with enzymatic serum creatinine results (r2=0.99, p<0.001; Deming regression: slope: 0.9787, intercept: –0.351) and with the newly proposed Schwartz formula, respectively (r2=0.99, p<0.001; Deming regression: slope 1.004, intercept: 2.16). Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrated the usability of the alkaline picrate method in the Schwartz formula, taking into account the relative bias caused by serum proteins.
The Role of Boldness in Psychopathy: A Study of Academic and Clinical Perceptions

The relevance of boldness to psychopathy has recently become a major flashpoint of scientific controversy. Although some authors have contended that boldness is a necessary (although insufficient) component of psychopathy, others have asserted that it is largely or entirely irrelevant to psychopathy. We addressed this issue by examining clinical perceptions of the relevance of the 3 triarchic dimensions (boldness, disinhibition, and meanness) to psychopathy among a sample of mental health professionals and graduate students (N = 228) using a vignette-based, person-centered methodology. A vignette comprising boldness descriptors afforded statistically significant and moderate to large (Cohen’s ds ranged from .47 to .99) increases in perceived resemblance to overall psychopathy above and beyond the other triarchic dimensions, both singly and jointly; these findings extended largely to clinical perceptions of Factor 1 (i.e., interpersonal and affective aspects of psychopathy) but not Factor 2 (i.e., impulsive and antisocial aspects of psychopathy) resemblance. Contrary to the claims of some recent authors, boldness alone was perceived as being as relevant to psychopathy as was disinhibition, although both dimensions were perceived as less relevant to psychopathy than was meanness. These findings offer strong support for the contention that boldness is regarded as a key feature of classical psychopathy and are broadly consistent with interpersonal models of psychopathy.
Comparison of Treatment Response in Second-Episode Versus First-Episode Schizophrenia

Abstract This study investigated whether illness progression and treatment refractoriness emerge after relapse in schizophrenia. We compared outcomes in a cohort treated with a standardized protocol for the first and second episodes of illness. The sample comprised 31 participants who (1) had successfully completed a 2-year open-label treatment phase with risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) for a first episode of schizophrenia; (2) underwent an intermittent treatment extension phase up to 3 years or until recurrence, and (3) entered a further 2-year treatment phase with RLAI for a recurrence episode. For the patients who remained in treatment (n = 14 [45%]), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale score reductions, response rates, remission rates, time to response, time to remission, functional outcome scores, and modal RLAI doses were similar for the 2 treatment periods. However, 17 (55 %) of the 31 patients discontinued the study in the second episode compared with 14 (28%) of 50 patients in the first episode, suggesting reduced effectiveness of antipsychotics when reintroduced after illness recurrence. Most notably, emergent treatment nonresponsiveness was observed in 5 participants (16%), consistent with the hypothesis that relapse may be biologically harmful in a subset of patients.
Paper augmented digital documents

Paper Augmented Digital Documents (PADDs) are digital documents that can be manipulated either on a computer screen or on paper. PADDs, and the infrastructure supporting them, can be seen as a bridge between the digital and the paper worlds. As digital documents, PADDs are easy to edit, distribute and archive; as paper documents, PADDs are easy to navigate, annotate and well accepted in social settings. The chimeric nature of PADDs make them well suited for many tasks such as proofreading, editing, and annotation of large format document like blueprints.We are presenting an architecture which supports the seamless manipulation of PADDs using today's technologies and reports on the lessons we learned while implementing the first PADD system.
Calcium Induces Long-Term Legacy Effects in a Subalpine Ecosystem

Human activities have transformed a significant proportion of the world’s land surface, with profound effects on ecosystem processes. Soil applications of macronutrients such as nitrate, phosphorus, potassium or calcium are routinely used in the management of croplands, grasslands and forests to improve plant health or increase productivity. However, while the effects of continuous fertilization and liming on terrestrial ecosystems are well documented, remarkably little is known about the legacy effect of historical fertilization and liming events in terrestrial ecosystems and of the mechanisms involved. Here, we show that more than 70 years after the last application of lime on a subalpine grassland, all major soil and plant calcium pools were still significantly larger in limed than in unlimed plots, and that the resulting shift in the soil calcium/aluminium ratio continues to affect ecosystem services such as primary production. The difference in the calcium content of the vegetation and the topmost 10 cm of the soil in limed vs. unlimed plots amounts to approximately 19.5 g m−2, equivalent to 16.3% of the amount that was added to the plots some 70 years ago. In contrast, plots that were treated with nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer in the 1930s did not differ from unfertilized plots in any of the soil and vegetation characteristics measured. Our findings suggest that the long-term legacy effect of historical liming is due to long-term storage of added calcium in stable soil pools, rather than a general increase in nutrient availability. Our results demonstrate that single applications of calcium in its carbonated form can profoundly and persistently alter ecosystem processes and services in mountain ecosystems.
Simultaneous Motion and Structure Estimation by Fusion of Inertial and Vision Data

For mobile robotics, head gear in augmented reality (AR) applications or computer vision, it is essential to continuously estimate the egomotion and the structure of the environment. This paper presents the system developed in the SmartTracking project, which simultaneously integrates visual and inertial sensors in a combined estimation scheme. The sparse structure estimation is based on the detection of corner features in the environment. From a single known starting position, the system can move into an unknown environment. The vision and inertial data are fused, and the performance of both Unscented Kalman filter and Extended Kalman filter are compared for this task. The filters are designed to handle asynchronous input from visual and inertial sensors, which typically operate at different and possibly varying rates. Additionally, a bank of Extended Kalman filters, one per corner feature, is used to estimate the position and the quality of structure points and to include them into the structure estimation process. The system is demonstrated on a mobile robot executing known motions, such that the estimation of the egomotion in an unknown environment can be compared to ground truth.
Online Social Networks and Smoking Cessation: A Scientific Research Agenda

Background Smoking remains one of the most pressing public health problems in the United States and internationally. The concurrent evolution of the Internet, social network science, and online communities offers a potential target for high-yield interventions capable of shifting population-level smoking rates and substantially improving public health. Objective Our objective was to convene leading practitioners in relevant disciplines to develop the core of a strategic research agenda on online social networks and their use for smoking cessation, with implications for other health behaviors. Methods We conducted a 100-person, 2-day, multidisciplinary workshop in Washington, DC, USA. Participants worked in small groups to formulate research questions that could move the field forward. Discussions and resulting questions were synthesized by the workshop planning committee. Results We considered 34 questions in four categories (advancing theory, understanding fundamental mechanisms, intervention approaches, and evaluation) to be the most pressing. Conclusions Online social networks might facilitate smoking cessation in several ways. Identifying new theories, translating these into functional interventions, and evaluating the results will require a concerted transdisciplinary effort. This report presents a series of research questions to assist researchers, developers, and funders in the process of efficiently moving this field forward.
CNI withdrawal for post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorders in kidney transplant is an independent risk factor for graft failure and mortality

Post‐transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) are associated with poor patient and graft survival. The risk of rejection and subsequent graft loss are increased by the reduction of immunosuppression therapy, the cornerstone of PTLD treatment. This multicentre, retrospective, nonrandomized cohort study includes 104 adults who developed PTLD after renal or simultaneous renal/pancreatic transplantation between 1990 and 2007. It examines the effect of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) withdrawal on long‐term graft and patient survival. At 10 years postonset of PTLD, the Kaplan–Meier graft loss rate was 43.9% and graft loss or death with functioning graft was 64.4%. Cox multivariate analysis determined risk factors of graft loss as PTLD stage greater than I‐II and CNI withdrawal, and for graft loss and mortality, these remained risk factors along with age over 60 years. Type and location of PTLD, year of diagnosis, and chemotherapy regime were not independent risk factors. Multivariate analysis determined CNI withdrawal as the most important risk factor for graft loss (HR = 3.07, CI 95%: 1.04–9.09; P = 0.04) and death (HR: 4.00, CI 95%: 1.77–9.04; P < 0.001). While long‐term stable renal function after definitive CNI withdrawal for PTLD has been reported, this review determined that withdrawal is associated with reduced graft and patient survival.
A Decentralized Online Social Network with Efficient User-Driven Replication

Unprecedented growth of online social networks (OSNs) increasingly makes privacy advocates and government agencies worrisome alike. In this paper, we propose My3, a privacy-friendly decentralized alternative for online social networking. The My3 system exploits well-known interesting properties of the current online social networks in its novel design namely, locality of access, predictable access times, geolocalization of friends, unique access requirements of the social content, and implicit trust among friends. It allows users to exercise finer granular access control on the content, thus making My3 extremely privacy-preserving. Moreover, we propose different replication strategies that users may independently choose for meeting their personalized performance objectives. A detailed performance study evaluates the system regarding profile availability, access delay, freshness and storage load. By using real-world data traces, we prove that My3 offers high availability even with low average online time of users in the network.
Realistic 2 D Fire in Real-Time Odd

We have reached our goal of implementing a computationally cheap algorithm for realtime rendering of realistic two-dimensional fire. The fire is simulated using computational fluid dynamics, vorticity confinement, and combustion modelling and visualized using black-body radiation. Small rotationally homogenous fires like torches and candles viewed in front are the best candidates when using this approach.
Food restriction in young Japanese quails: effects on growth, metabolism, plasma thyroid hormones and mRNA species in the thyroid hormone signalling pathway

SUMMARY Young birds, in their post-natal growth period, may reduce their growth and metabolism when facing a food shortage. To examine how such responses can be mediated by endocrine-related factors, we exposed Japanese quail chicks to food restriction for either 2 days (age 6–8 days) or 5 days (age 6–11 days). We then measured growth and resting metabolic rate (RMR), and circulating 3,3′,5-triiodo-l-thyronine (T3) and 3,5,3′,5′-tetraiodothyronine (T4) levels as well as expression patterns of genes involved in growth (insulin-like growth factor-I: IGF-I) and thyroid hormone signalling (thyroid-stimulating hormone-β: TSHβ, type II iodothyronine deiodinase: D2, thyroid hormone receptors isoforms: TRα and TRβ). The food-restricted chicks receiving a weight-maintenance diet showed reductions in structural growth and RMR. Plasma levels of both T3 and T4 were reduced in the food-restricted birds, and within the 5 days food-restricted group there was a positive correlation between RMR and T3. IGF-I mRNA showed significantly higher abundance in the liver of ad libitum fed birds at day 8 compared with food-restricted birds. In the brain, TSHβ mRNA level tended to be lower in food-restricted quails on day 8 compared with controls. Furthermore, TRα expression was lower in the brain of food-restricted birds at day 8 compared with birds fed ad libitum. Interestingly, brain D2 mRNA was negatively correlated with plasma T3 levels, tending to increase with the length of food restriction. Overall, our results show that food restriction produced significant effects on circulating thyroid hormones and differentially affected mRNA species in the thyroid hormone signalling pathway. Thus, we conclude that the effects of food restriction observed on growth and metabolism were partly mediated by changes in the endocrine-related factors investigated.
SVO triple based Latent Semantic Analysis for recognising textual entailment

Latent Semantic Analysis has only recently been applied to textual entailment recognition. However, these efforts have suffered from inadequate bag of words vector representations. Our prototype implementation for the Third Recognising Textual Entailment Challenge (RTE-3) improves the approach by applying it to vector representations that contain semi-structured representations of words. It uses variable size n-grams of word stems to model independently verbs, subjects and objects displayed in textual statements. The system performance shows positive results and provides insights about how to improve them further.
Embedded SRAM and Cortex-M0 core with backup circuits using a 60-nm crystalline oxide semiconductor for power gating

A chip of embedded SRAM having backup circuits using a 60-nm c-axis aligned crystalline oxide semiconductor (CAAC-OS) such as CAAC indium-gallium-zinc oxide (CAAC-IGZO) and Cortex-M0 core having flip-flops with CAAC-OS backup circuits is fabricated. The SRAM and M0 core can retain data using the backup circuits during power-off; thus, they can perform power gating (PG) with backup time of 100 ns and recovery time of 10 clock cycles (including data restoration time (100 ns)). Further, memory cell area and performance in combining a 45-nm Si SRAM memory cell with 60-nm CAAC-OS are estimated to have negligible overhead.
Network Tomography-Based Tracking for Intracellular Traffic Analysis in Fluorescence Microscopy Imaging

Determination of the sub-cellular localization and dynamics of any proteins is an important step towards the understanding of multi-molecular complexes in a cellular context. Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)tagging and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy allows to acquire multidimensional data on rapid cellular activities, and then make possible the analysis of proteins of interest. Consequently, novel techniques of image analysis are needed to quantify dynamics of biological processes observed in such image sequences. In biological trafficking analysis, the previous tracking methods do not manage when many small and poorly distinguishable objects interact. Nevertheless, an another way of tracking that usually consists in determining the full trajectories of all the objects, can be more relevant. General information about the traffic like the regions of origin and destination of the moving objects represent interesting features for analysis. In this paper, we propose to estimate the paths (regions of origin and destination) used by the objects of interest, and the proportions of moving objects for each path. This can be accomplished by exploiting the recent advances in Network Tomography (NT) commonly used in network communications. This idea is demonstrated on real image sequences for the Rab6 protein, a GTPase involved in the regulation of intracellular membrane
The void nucleation mechanism within lead phase during spallation of leaded brass

Abstract The incipient spall behaviours of Cu-34%Zn-3%Pb leaded brass samples with annealed and cryogenic-treated conditions were loaded using one-stage light gas gun experiments. The effect of Pb-phase on dynamic damage nucleation in leaded brass specimens was investigated by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray computer tomography. It was found that the voids of incipient spall were mainly nucleated in the interior of the lead (no tensile stress would be produced within lead according to the impact theory) instead of nucleated at the phase interface as expected by quasi-static damage fracture theory. A nucleation model is proposed in the present work that is the asymmetry high compression zones in the centre of the lead-phase were formed by the rarefaction wave convergence effects of matrix/quasi-spherical lead interface, which caused adiabatic temperature rise that exceeded melting point of lead due to severe plastic deformation, finally led to local melting and void nucleation. In addition, the spall strength and damage rate increased with the increase in the Pb-phase number.
Optimizing Network Designs for the World's Largest Broadband Project

The national broadband network NBN is the largest public infrastructure project undertaken in Australia, and NBN Co is the government-owned company responsible for building the network. By using operations research, NBN Co expects to avoid more than $AUD1.7 billion in unnecessary construction and design costs on this $AUD36 billion project. At the beginning of this 10-year project, NBN Co divided the country into more than 3,000 fiber-serving-area modules FSAMs, each covering approximately 2,500 premises, and will design and construct one FSAM each day. NBN Co contracted with Biarri Networks, an Australian commercial mathematics company, to optimize the design task. To accomplish this, Biarri created a fiber-optic network design FOND software product based on a network-flow mixed-integer programming engine. This engine minimizes the cost of materials and labor for each FSAM, subject to a variety of constraints, and provides a solution in less than five minutes. To date, more than 650 FSAM designs have been completed using FOND. This has saved NBN Co an estimated $AUD325 million in avoided construction cost, and the planning time per FSAM has decreased from 145 to 16 days.
Using Fetal and Infant Mortality Reviews to improve birth outcomes in an urban community.

OBJECTIVE To describe the implementation of a Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) in a small urban community to improve perinatal birth outcomes. DESIGN Descriptive study. SETTING Urban community within a Wisconsin city, population 85,000. PARTICIPANTS Between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008, all women (N=82) in a targeted five zip-code area within an urban city were identified who experienced a fetal loss >14 weeks, neonatal or infant death (<1 year of age). METHODS The National Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Manual: A Guide for Communities developed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (2008) provided the framework for the systematic review of available records for all fetal and infant deaths during a 2-year period. Based on these findings, targeted evidence-based interventions were implemented. RESULTS The infant mortality rate was higher in two of the five targeted zip-code areas. The mean ages of women who experienced fetal and infant mortality were in their 20s as opposed to teenage mothers. A higher proportion of Black women experienced fetal/perinatal losses than other race/ethnicities, many of which were related to prematurity. CONCLUSIONS Many social, environmental, and maternal health issues such as poverty, racism, and perception of stress negatively contributed to the general health of women's subsequent birth outcomes. Nurses have the opportunity to promote and improve health to eliminate racial disparities in birth outcomes within their communities.
P-Compressed Quadtrees for Image Storing

The expanding role of database systems is now faced with a new application field, i.e. large image-file management. Composite documents in the Office Automation environment often include images (e.g. graphs, drawings, illustrated or handwritten documents, and so on), as well as alphanumeric and other coded data. Images are stored on mass storage after conversion into a long sequence of bits, performed by scanner devices. Bit-map images are then compressed either using run-length encoding techniques or quadtree-based techniques. The goal of this paper is to show how quadtree-encoded images, which usually require more storage than run-length encodings, can be compressed using a new technique, named P-compression, which is effective for typical Office Automation documents.