Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire in the palliative care setting: a multi-centre Canadian study demonstrating the importance of the existential domain

This study was carried out in eight palliative care services in four Canadian cities. A revised version of The McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL) is compared to a single-item scale measuring overall quality of life (SIS), and the self-administered version of the Spitzer Quality of Life Index (SA-QLI), to obtain evidence of validity. MQOL total score predicts SIS better than does SA-QLI, although much of the variance remains to be explained. The results of principal components analysis of data using this revised version of MQOL are similar to those from previous MQOL studies with different patient populations. The MQOL subscales, constructed on the basis of principal components analysis, demonstrate acceptable internal consistency reliability. The MQOL measures reflecting physical well-being and existential well-being are important for predicting SIS.
Competitive balance in women’s collegiate cross country running

ABSTRACT Women started competing in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cross country championships in 1981 and participation in Division 1 women’s cross country has increased by 174%. Using data covering 34 years of Division 1 championships we find some evidence that competitive balance in women’s races improved with increased participation although results are sensitive to how competitive balance is measured and how participation is counted. Violations of social choice preferences may explain the lack of robustness.
The Safe Placement of Upper and Middle Thoracic Pedicle Screws in Pediatric Deformity

Study Design A retrospective clinical study to discuss the diameter of pedicle screw used in upper and middle thoracic vertebrae of pediatric patients with spinal deformity. Objective To determine the diameter of pedicle screw that can be accommodated in upper and middle thoracic vertebra fixation in the correction of pediatric spinal deformity. Summary of Background Data Internal pedicle screw fixation has been widely used in the treatment of pediatric spinal disorders, but the screw size is still a focus of debates in the application of internal pedicle screw placement in pediatric patients. Methods From March 2004 to March 2008, 32 pediatric patients (aged from 6 to 12 y, mean age 9.2 y) with idiopathic and congenital kyphoscoliosis were treated with surgical correction of the deformity through posterior approach pedicle screw placement. Before operation, thin-slice computed tomography (CT) (1.0 mm) scan along the direction of the pedicle axis was done to scan the operative vertebra segments of all the patients. The transverse pedicle diameter was measured at the same time. When inserting thoracic pedicle screws, after having confirmed that the screw tract was completely contained within the pedicle walls, the surgeons gradually increased the pedicle screw diameter based on the transverse pedicle diameter measured before operation, and carefully sensed the differences in palpation accordingly, so as to determine the appropriate diameter of screws inserted. The position of screws was reevaluated by postoperative CT scan. The stability of internal pedicle screw fixation and neurologic functions of the patients were assessed in the follow-up. Results In this study, a total of 206 screws were placed into upper and middle thoracic pedicles (T1 to T8) of pediatric patients. Of them, the numbers of screws placed in pedicles T1 through T8 were 12, 36, 26, 22, 25, 23, 30, and 32, respectively. No screw was misplaced. The diameter of inserted pedicle screws ranged from 4.5 to 5.5 mm, 140.2%±19.2% that of the preoperative CT scan measurement of pedicles. The length of pedicle screws inserted varied from 30 to 40 mm. No postoperative neurologic deficit or vascular injury occurred. The period of follow-up was from 16 months to 36 months (22.7 mo on average). No loosening, deformation, breakage, or removal of inserted pedicle screws was reported in the follow-up. Conclusions It is safe and feasible to use internal pedicle screw fixation to treat pediatric patients with upper and middle thoracic deformity in the process of screw placement, a pedicle screw with a larger diameter can be accommodated in upper and middle thoracic pedicles, if the axis of pedicle screw is confirmed within the pedicle walls. The most appropriate diameter of the screws can be determined concurrently by the palpation of the surgeon when placing the screw and referring to the pedicle screw diameter measured by CT before operation.
Fast Identification of Relational Constraint Violations

Logical constraints, (e.g., `phone numbers in Toronto can have prefixes 416, 647, 905 only'), are ubiquitous in relational databases. Traditional integrity constraints, such as functional dependencies, are examples of such logical constraints as well. However, under frequent database updates, schema evolution and transformations, they can be easily violated. As a result, tables become inconsistent and data quality is degraded. In this paper we study the problem of validating collections of user defined constraints on a number of relational tables. Our primary goal is to quickly identify which tables violate such constraints. Logical constraints are potentially complex logical formuli, and we demonstrate that they cannot be efficiently evaluated by SQL queries. In order to enable fast identification of constraint violations, we propose to build and maintain specialized logical indices on the relational tables. We choose Boolean Decision Diagrams (BDD) as the index structure to aid in this task. We first propose efficient algorithms to construct and maintain such indices in a space efficient manner. We then describe a set of query re-write rules that aid in the efficient utilization of logical indices during constraint validation. We have implemented our approach on top of a relational database and tested our techniques using large collections of real and synthetic data sets. Our results indicate that utilizing our techniques in conjunction with logical indices during constraint validation offers very significant performance advantages.
Using the cooperative game for service placement of virtual network functions

To address the issues that middleboxes as a fundamental part of today's networks are facing, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has been recently proposed, which in essence asserts to migrate hardware-based middleboxes into software-based virtualized function entities. Due to the demands of virtual services placement in NFV network environment, this paper models the service amount placement problem involving with the resources allocation as a cooperative game and proposes the placement policy by Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS). Specifically, we first introduce the system overview and apply the rigorous cooperative game-theoretic guide to build the mathematical model, which can give consideration to both the responding efficiency of service requirements and the allocation fairness. Then a distributed algorithm corresponding to NBS is designed to achieve predictable network performance for virtual instances placement. Finally, with simulations under various scenarios, the results show that our placement approach can achieve high utilization of network through the analysis of evaluation metrics namely the satisfaction degree and fairness index. With the suitable demand amount of services, the average values of two metrics can reach above 90%. And by tuning the base placement, our solution can enable operators to flexibly balance the tradeoff between satisfaction and fairness of resources sharing in service platforms.
Microleakage under orthodontic brackets using high-intensity curing lights.

OBJECTIVE To compare the microleakage of the enamel-adhesive-bracket complex at the occlusal and gingival margins of brackets bonded with high-intensity light curing lights and conventional halogen lights. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five freshly extracted human maxillary premolar teeth were randomly separated into three groups of 15 teeth each. Stainless steel brackets were bonded in all groups according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Specimens (15 per group) were cured for 40 seconds with a conventional halogen light, 20 seconds with light-emitting diode (LED), and 6 seconds with plasma arc curing light (PAC). After curing, the specimens were further sealed with nail varnish, stained with 0.5% basic-fuchsine for 24 hours, sectioned and examined under a stereomicroscope, and scored for microleakage for the enamel-adhesive and bracket-adhesive interfaces from both the occlusal and gingival margins. Statistical analyses were performed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests with a Bonferroni correction. RESULTS The type of light curing unit did not significantly affect the amount of microleakage at the gingival or occlusal margins of investigated interfaces (P >.05). The gingival sides in the LED and PAC groups exhibited higher microleakage scores compared with those observed on occlusal sides for the enamel-adhesive and adhesive-bracket interfaces. The halogen light source showed similar microleakage at the gingival and occlusal sides between both adhesive interfaces. CONCLUSIONS High-intensity curing units did not cause more microleakage than conventional halogen lights. This supports the use of all these curing units in routine orthodontic practice.
Two new prediction rules for spontaneous pregnancy leading to live birth among subfertile couples, based on the synthesis of three previous models.

BACKGROUND Several models have been published for the prediction of spontaneous pregnancy among subfertile patients. The aim of this study was to broaden the empirical basis for these predictions by making a synthesis of three previously published models. METHODS We used the original data from the studies of Eimers et al. (1994), Collins et al. (1995) and Snick et al. (1997) on couples consulting for various forms of subfertility. We developed a so-called three-sample synthesis model for predicting spontaneous conception leading to live birth within 1 year after intake based on the three data sets. The predictors used are duration of subfertility, women's age, primary or secondary infertility, percentage of motile sperm, and whether the couple was referred by a general practitioner or by a gynaecologist (referral status). The performance of this model was assessed according to a 'jack-knife' analysis. Because the post-coital test (PCT) was not assessed in one of the samples, a synthesis model including the PCT was based on two samples only. RESULTS The ability of the synthesis models to distinguish between women who became pregnant and those who did not was comparable to the ability of the one-sample models when applied in the other samples. The reliability of the predictions by the three-sample synthesis model was somewhat better. Predictions improved considerably by including the PCT. CONCLUSIONS The synthesis models performed better and had a broader empirical basis than the original models. They are therefore better suitable for application in other centres.
A vision-based indoor positioning method with high accuracy and efficiency based on self-optimized-ordered visual vocabulary

In this paper, we present a novel indoor positioning method with high accuracy and efficiency, requiring only the camera of a mobile device. The proposed method takes advantage of a novel visual vocabulary, Self-Optimized-Ordered Visual (SOO) Vocabulary under Bag-of-Visual-Word framework to exploit deep connections between physical locations and feature clusters. Additionally, related techniques improving positioning performance such as feature selection and visual word filtering are also designed and examined. Evaluation results show that when the training image size varies from 20 to 640, our method can save up to 80% processing time in both phases compared to two existing vision-based indoor positioning methods that use state-of-art image query techniques. In the meantime, the average image query accuracy of our method among all evaluated indoor scenes is above 95%, which highly increases positioning accuracy and makes the method a very suitable option for smart-phone based indoor positioning and navigation.
Problems with mitigation translocation of herpetofauna

Mitigation translocation of nuisance animals is a commonly used management practice aimed at resolution of human–animal conflict by removal and release of an individual animal. Long considered a reasonable undertaking, especially by the general public, it is now known that translocated subjects are negatively affected by the practice. Mitigation translocation is typically undertaken with individual adult organisms and has a much lower success rate than the more widely practiced conservation translocation of threatened and endangered species. Nonetheless, the public and many conservation practitioners believe that because population‐level conservation translocations have been successful that mitigation translocation can be satisfactorily applied to a wide variety of human‐wildlife conflict situations. We reviewed mitigation translocations of reptiles, including our own work with 3 long‐lived species (Gila monsters [Heloderma suspectum], Sonoran desert tortoises [Gopherus morafkai], and western diamond‐backed rattlesnakes [Crotalus atrox]). Overall, mitigation translocation had a low success rate when judged either by effects on individuals (in all studies reviewed they exhibited increased movement or increased mortality) or by the success of the resolution of the human–animal conflict (translocated individuals often returned to the capture site). Careful planning and identification of knowledge gaps are critical to increasing success rates in mitigation translocations in the face of increasing pressure to find solutions for species threatened by diverse anthropogenic factors, including climate change and exurban and energy development.
Skeletal shape correspondence via entropy minimization

Purpose: Improving the shape statistics of medical image objects by generating correspondence of interior skeletal points. Data: Synthetic objects and real world lateral ventricles segmented from MR images. Method(s): Each object’s interior is modeled by a skeletal representation called the s-rep, which is a quadrilaterally sampled, folded 2-sided skeletal sheet with spoke vectors proceeding from the sheet to the boundary. The skeleton is divided into three parts: up-side, down-side and fold-curve. The spokes on each part are treated separately and, using spoke interpolation, are shifted along their skeletal parts in each training sample so as to tighten the probability distribution on those spokes’ geometric properties while sampling the object interior regularly. As with the surface-based correspondence method of Cates et al., entropy is used to measure both the probability distribution tightness and sampling regularity. The spokes’ geometric properties are skeletal position, spoke length and spoke direction. The properties used to measure the regularity are the volumetric subregions bounded by the spokes, their quadrilateral sub-area and edge lengths on the skeletal surface and on the boundary. Results: Evaluation on synthetic and real world lateral ventricles demonstrated improvement in the performance of statistics using the resulting probability distributions, as compared to methods based on boundary models. The evaluation measures used were generalization, specificity, and compactness. Conclusions: S-rep models with the proposed improved correspondence provide significantly enhanced statistics as compared to standard boundary models.
Infusion of anti‐nerve growth factor into the cisternum magnum of chick embryo leads to decrease cell production in the cerebral cortical germinal epithelium

There has been considerable recent progress in understanding the processes involved in cerebral cortical development. Several mitogenic and trophic factors have been implicated in the processes of cortical cell proliferation and differentiation. Anti‐nerve growth factor (NGF) antibody was administered to 15 days chick foetuses through the cisternum magnum. Control group received phosphate buffered saline (PBS). To identify cells born in the cerebral cortex at the time of antibody or PBS injection, 5′‐bromo‐2′‐ deoxyuridine was administered to the foetuses by intravenous injection into an outlying vein using micromanipulation. After injection, the foetuses were re‐incubated for another 3 days. All the foetuses were collected on day 18, the brains fixed in paraformaldehyde, cut with a microtome and stained with methyl green pyronin and anti‐NGF antibody. Quantitative measurements showed that the thickness of the germinal epithelium (GE) and cerebral cortex in the anti‐NGF antibody injected foetuses was decreased when compared with normal control embryos. The number of cells produced in the GE of antibody injected foetuses was decreased when compared with normal control embryos. The results from this study using neutralizing antibody suggests that NGF is an important factor in cerebral cortical development, stimulating neuronal precursor proliferation.
The U.S. Department of Education.

The Adult Education Amendments of 1988 require the Department of Education to submit a report to Congress on the definition of literacy and then to estimate the extent of adult literacy. Literacy has been defined by self-report in early Census Bureau surveys, in a competency-based approach by the Adult Performance Level project, and as "the application of skills and knowledge across a variety of adult contexts" by the 1985 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP definition is being used by the National Workplace Literacy Project, and it has also been adopted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), which will assess a nationally representative sample of adults (ages 16 through 64) residing in private houses and college dormitories in the 48 contiguous states. About 12,500 1-hour, one-on-one interviews will be conducted. The assessment of literacy skills is planned to last 45 minutes, during which respondents will perform simulation tasks. The remaining 15 minutes will be devoted to obtaining background information. ETS will offer states the opportunity to conduct a concomitant State Adult Literacy Survey. (Lists of information contacts and committee members are appended.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
THE EFFECTS OF HIGH BANKING SPREADS IN AN INFORMAL ECONOMY

We investigate the aggregate and distributional effects of banking spreads in an economy with informality. We build a heterogeneous agents model with incomplete markets, credit frictions, and a rich occupational choice setting, in which informality is an option for both employers and workers. The main finding is that reductions in spreads for formal firms increase wages, output, and welfare but have a deleterious impact on unemployment and inequality. Dropping spreads for informal firms lead to reduction in inequality indicators at the expense of consumption and welfare. By calibrating the model for Brazil, we also find that a hypothetical extinction of the informal sector can be harmful for poor agents, but combined with a spread reduction, it can generate strong positive effects on output and welfare.
Elucidation of ATP‐stimulated stress protein expression of RBA‐2 type‐2 astrocytes: ATP potentiate HSP60 and Cu/Zn SOD expression and stimulates pI shift of peroxiredoxin II

ATP has been shown to mediate stress responses in the brain. The present study examined the ATP‐stimulated stress protein expression of RBA‐2 type‐2 astrocytes. Our results revealed that ATP stimulated HSP60 expression in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. The stimulation requires a minimal ATP concentration of 500 µM and high concentration of extracellular ATP (1 mM) stimulated a significant increase of HSP60 expression from 2 to 24 h. In addition, the ATP‐stimulated HSP60 expressions were inhibited by inhibitors for protein kinase C (PKC) and phospholipase D (PLD), and by antioxidants, resveratrol, and catalase. Furthermore, ATP stimulated the expression of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD). In addition, ATP and P2X7 receptor selective agonist BzATP also decreased mitochondria membrane potential measured by flow cytometry. To further examine the proteins involving in ATP‐mediated stress responses, we conducted proteomic analysis. We found that RBA‐2 astrocytes possess abundant peroxiredoxin II (Prx II), an antioxidant enzyme. ATP and exogenous H2O2 stimulated Prx II shifting from oxidized form to reduced form. Thus, we concluded that ATP potentiated the expression of HSP60 and Cu/Zn SOD, and decreased mitochondria membrane potential. In addition, RBA‐2 astrocytes expressed Prx II that might also serve as a protective mechanism to control the concentration of reactive oxygen species. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Neuroprotective effects of autophagy inhibition on hippocampal glutamate receptor subunits after hypoxia-ischemia-induced brain damage in newborn rats

Autophagy has been suggested to participate in the pathology of hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD). However, its regulatory role in HIBD remains unclear and was thus examined here using a rat model. To induce HIBD, the left common carotid artery was ligated in neonatal rats, and the rats were subjected to hypoxia for 2 hours. Some of these rats were intraperitoneally pretreated with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (10 mM in 10 μL) or the autophagy stimulator rapamycin (1 g/kg) 1 hour before artery ligation. Our findings demonstrated that hypoxia-ischemia-induced hippocampal injury in neonatal rats was accompanied by increased expression levels of the autophagy-related proteins light chain 3 and Beclin-1 as well as of the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1, but by reduced expression of GluR2. Pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine blocked hypoxia-ischemia-induced hippocampal injury, whereas pretreatment with the autophagy stimulator rapamycin significantly augmented hippocampal injury. Additionally, 3-methyladenine pretreatment blocked the hypoxia-ischemia-induced upregulation of GluR1 and downregulation of GluR2 in the hippocampus. By contrast, rapamycin further elevated hippocampal GluR1 levels and exacerbated decreased GluR2 expression levels in neonates with HIBD. Our results indicate that autophagy inhibition favors the prevention of HIBD in neonatal rats, at least in part, through normalizing GluR1 and GluR2 expression.