Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Individualized Guidelines: The Potential for Increasing Quality and Reducing Costs

BACKGROUND Current guidelines focus on a particular risk factor and specify criteria for categorizing persons into a small number of treatment groups. OBJECTIVE To compare current guidelines with individualized guidelines (that use readily available characteristics from each person to calculate the risk reduction expected from treatment and to identify persons for treatment in ranked order of decreasing expected benefit), in the context of blood pressure management. DESIGN Analysis of person-specific, longitudinal data. SETTING The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) Study. PARTICIPANTS Persons aged 45 to 64 years without preexisting cardiovascular disease who currently do not receive antihypertensive treatment. INTERVENTION Treatment according to the criteria of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7 guidelines); individualized guidelines, or treatment in decreasing order of expected benefit; and random care, or treatment of persons selected at random. MEASUREMENTS Number of myocardial infarctions (MIs) and strokes and medical costs. RESULTS Compared with treating people according to random care, individualized guidelines could prevent the same number of MIs and strokes as JNC 7 guidelines at savings that are 67% greater than using JNC 7 guidelines, or it could prevent 43% more MIs and strokes for the same cost as treatment according to JNC 7 guidelines. The superiority of individualized guidelines was not sensitive to a wide range of assumptions about costs, treatment effectiveness, level of risk for cardiovascular disease in the population, or effects on workflow. The degree of superiority was sensitive to the accuracy of the method used to rank patients and to its span (the proportion of the population for whom all of the outcomes of interest can be calculated). LIMITATIONS Specific results apply to the effects of blood pressure management on MI and stroke in the ARIC Study population. The methods for calculating individual benefits require quantitative evidence about the relationships among risk factors, long-term outcomes, and treatment effects. CONCLUSION Use of individualized guidelines can help to increase the quality and reduce the cost of care.
Myocardial Infarction Adenosine as an Adjunct to Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction

Kenneth W. Mahaffey, MD, FACC, Joseph A. Puma, DO, N. Alejandro Barbagelata, MD,* Marcelo F. DiCarli, MD,† Massoud A. Leesar, MD,‡ Kevin F. Browne, MD,§ Paul R. Eisenberg, MD,\ Roberto Bolli, MD,‡ A. Cecilia Casas, MS, Victor Molina-Viamonte, MD,¶ Cesare Orlandi, MD,¶ Roger Blevins, PHARMD,¶ Raymond J. Gibbons, MD, FACC,# Robert M. Califf, MD, FACC, Christopher B. Granger, MD, FACC, for the AMISTAD Investigators Durham, North Carolina; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Detroit, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Lakeland, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Rochester, Minnesota
Linear and angular measurements of computer-generated models: Are they accurate, valid, and reliable?

Introduction: Traditional advanced imaging modalities such as CT and MRI are limited in their ability to perform accurate linear distance and angular measurements regardless of anatomical orientation. The construction of 3D models has been used to perform anthropometric analyses as well as in the reconstruction of rapid prototypes. We hypothesized that such measurements would be precise to within 2 mm or 2° of measurements performed with a coordinate measurement machine (CMM). We also hypothesized that there would be a high degree of interobserver reliability with these measurements. Materials and Methods: Multiple aluminum screws were implanted in various positions in three foam pelvises which were subsequently scanned by CT and rendered as 3D models using a commercially available software package (Mimics). Linear and angular measurements were performed using a CMM machine, the software package, and a dial caliper or goniometer. The deviation of the measurements from the CMM data was compared using ANOVA. The interobserver reliability of both the manual and computer-generated measurements was calculated. Results: The mean difference between the CMM distances and those measured manually and with the software was 2.12 ± 1.20 mm and 1.57 ± 1.05 mm, respectively. The mean difference between the CMM angular measurements and the angular measurements performed manually and with the software was 4.07 ± 4.70° and 1.62 ± 1.32°, respectively. In all cases, the manual measurements were significantly less accurate (p < 0.0001) and there was a high degree of interobserver reliability. Conclusions: Computer-generated measurements taken from three-dimensionally reconstructed models are more accurate than manual measurements and are within 2 mm and 2° of measurements performed with a CMM. These measurements have high interobserver reliability.
Fluorescence Lifetime and Depth Estimation of a Tumor Site for Functional Imaging Purposes

Cancerous cells have irregular environmental conditions, such as temperature and pH, which distinguish them from their surroundings. Fluorescence lifetime imaging using near-IR (NIR) fluorescent probes, whose lifetime value is sensitive to pH and temperature, enables the estimation of these values, and provides functional information about the tumor. The lifetime value, extracted from the time-resolved intensity decay curve, combines the photon time delays, caused by the photon time of flight, and the intrinsic lifetime in which we are interested. In this study, we present a model, based on the diffusion approximation of the radiation transport equation, for extracting both the depth of an NIR fluorescent probe, and its intrinsic lifetime value, from a fluorescence time decay curve. The model was validated for different inclusion depths, fluorescent lifetime values, and scattering coefficients using a time-resolved Monte Carlo simulation. Our reported results are the first step toward performing functional imaging using fluorescence lifetime in vivo measurements.
Modeling of Subnanosecond Discharge in Hydrocarbon Liquid

Results of numerical simulation, in the framework of a 2-D model, of streamer dynamics in a hydrocarbon liquid (cyclohexane) in strong electric fields are presented. The obtained data show that fast propagation (with velocities exceeding 108 cm s-1) of streamers due to electron impact ionization process in liquid phase is possible in the regions of strong electric fields. The calculated streamer parameters are compared with the available experimental data and with analytical estimates.
Economic impact of international students attending an institution of higher education in the United States

International students on American college and university campuses represent important under-recognized complex non-homogeneous minority presence commonplace at institutions of higher education in the early twenty-first century. The impact of international students on institutions of higher education is generally recognized from four primary perspectives including academic, cultural, political and economic characteristics (Funk, 2001). International students represent 3.5 percent (671,616 of 19,103,000) of all students attending institutions of higher education in the United States in the 2008-09 academic year(Institute of International Education, 2011). International students were estimated to generate $17.66 billion to the US economy and $118.9 million to the State of Louisiana economy with the inclusion of educational and living expenses in the 2008-09 academic year(NAFSA: National Association of Foreign Student Advisors, 2011). Previous research determined these estimates based on secondary data underestimated true economic return when compared to analysis based on primary data (Funk, 2001). Accurate economic estimation may positively affect state-level funding policy to institutions of higher education campuses. The problem addressed by this study is the determination of the economic impact of international students to the study campus and regional economy. The research questions addressed included determination of the international student economic impact to the study campus, Louisiana State University, and the community, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Cost and benefit economic impact assessment provided economic return with data summarization calculated using SPSS analysis. Data collection occurred at the study campus, Louisiana State University and A & M College, and included secondary data from university records, state budget and planning documents and primary data gathered from students. Stratified proportional random sampling of the sub-population of international students at Louisiana State University provided a proportional representation of the student population. The study provides a determination of the economic impact of the international student population of LSU on the university and community through exploratory and confirmatory examination of new primary student data compared with previous research and generally accepted models that made use of secondary data to generate reported results.
Memristor-based synapses and neurons for neuromorphic computing

A memristor-based architecture for neuromorphic computing is proposed. With memristors mimicking key characteristics of synapses and neurons, such nanoscale neural networks exhibit learning and memory effects with high integration density and scalability. Simulations demonstrate important features including adjustable spike generation, spike-timing and spike-rate dependent plasticity.
Linker tailing: unphosphorylated linker oligonucleotides for joining DNA termini.

Current procedures for inserting linker oligonucleotides between DNA termini involve terminal addition of linker duplexes followed by restriction enzyme cleavage and religation . Such methods have the disadvantage that target DNA molecules containing internal recognition sites are cut during the linker cleavage step. We describe a method for adding linker oligonucleotides to DNA termini which eliminates the requirement for subsequent restriction enzyme treatment. Nonphosphorylated linker duplexes are ligated to target DNA termini on one strand alone. Removal of the unligated strand generates a single-stranded protrusion at each terminus. Two such tailed termini may now be linked by annealing their single-stranded complementary tails, resulting in a hybrid DNA molecule containing a single linker insertion. Each step of the procedure has been studied to optimize the recovery of recombinant molecules, and we present examples of how the method may be applied.
Probing the Magnetic Field Structure in on Black Hole Horizon Scales with Polarized Radiative Transfer Simulations

Magnetic fields are believed to drive accretion and relativistic jets in black hole accretion systems, but the magnetic field structure that controls these phenomena remains uncertain. We perform general relativistic (GR) polarized radiative transfer of time-dependent three-dimensional GR magnetohydrodynamical simulations to model thermal synchrotron emission from the Galactic Center source Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). We compare our results to new polarimetry measurements by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and show how polarization in the visibility (Fourier) domain distinguishes and constrains accretion flow models with different magnetic field structures. These include models with small-scale fields in disks driven by the magnetorotational instability as well as models with large-scale ordered fields in magnetically arrested disks. We also consider different electron temperature and jet mass-loading prescriptions that control the brightness of the disk, funnel-wall jet, and Blandford–Znajek-driven funnel jet. Our comparisons between the simulations and observations favor models with ordered magnetic fields near the black hole event horizon in Sgr A*, though both disk- and jet-dominated emission can satisfactorily explain most of the current EHT data. We also discuss how the black hole shadow can be filled-in by jet emission or mimicked by the absence of funnel jet emission. We show that stronger model constraints should be possible with upcoming circular polarization and higher frequency (349 GHz) measurements.
Bionic wavelet transform: a new time-frequency method based on an auditory model

In this paper, a new adaptive wavelet transform, named bionic wavelet transform (BWT), is developed based on a model of the active auditory system. The most distinguishing characteristic of BWT is that its resolution in the time-frequency domain can be adaptively adjusted not only by the signal frequency but also by the signal instantaneous amplitude and its first-order differential. The automatically adjusted resolution, even in a fixed frequency along the time-axis, is achieved by introducing the active control of the auditory system into the wavelet transform (WT). Other properties of BWT include that: 1) BWT is a nonlinear transform that has high sensitivity and frequency selectivity; 2) BWT represents the signal with a concentrated energy distribution; and 3) the inverse BWT can reconstruct the original signal from its time-frequency representation. In order to compare these three properties between BWT and WT, experiments were conducted on both constructed signals and real speech signals. The results show that BWT performs better than WT in these three aspects, and that BWT is appropriate for speech signal processing, especially for cochlear implants.
Recurrent Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. Etiology and Treatment

Controversy surrounds the treatment of recurrent cubital tunnel syndrome after previous surgery. Irrespective of the surgical technique, namely pure decompression in the ulnar groove and the cubital tunnel distal of the medial epicondyle, and the different methods of volar transposition (subcutaneous, intramuscular, and submuscular), the results of surgical therapy of cubital tunnel syndrome are often not favorable, especially in cases of long-standing symptoms and severe deficits. Twenty-two patients who had previously undergone surgical treatment for ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow were evaluated because of persistent or recurrent pain, paresthesia, numbness, and motor weakness. Ten patients had undergone a nerve transposition, 5 patients underwent a simple decompression of the ulnar nerve, and 7 patients experienced two previous operations with different surgical techniques. Two patients underwent surgery at our hospital, whereas 20 patients underwent their primary surgery at other institutions. Various surgical techniques were used during the subsequent surgery, such as external neurolysis, subcutaneous anterior transposition, and subsequent transfer of the nerve back into the sulcus. The causes of continued or recurrent symptoms after initial surgery included dense perineural fibrosis of the nerve after subcutaneous transposition, adhesions of the nerve to the medial epicondyle and retention of the medial intermuscular septum. The average follow-up after the last procedure was 7 months (2 - 20 months). All 7 patients with subsequent transfer of the ulnar nerve back into the sulcus became pain-free, whereas only 11 of 15 patients who had external neurolysis or subcutaneous transposition became free of pain or experienced reduced pain. The recovery of motor function and return of sensibility were variable and unpredictable. In summary, reoperation after primary surgery of cubital tunnel syndrome gave satisfactory results in 18 of 22 cases. Subsequent transfer of the ulnar nerve back into the sulcus promises to be useful in cases in which subcutaneous transposition had not been successful.
Hurried driver dispositions: their relationship to risky traffic behaviors.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of driver dispositions with traffic safety behaviors and beliefs. METHODS A random digit-dial telephone survey was conducted of 796 licensed drivers. RESULTS Binary and multivariate logistic regression analyses compared hurried and nonhurried drivers and found that hurried drivers were more likely to admit to a variety of risky behaviors. They were also less likely to believe they would be ticketed for speeding and to report wearing their seat belt than were nonhurried drivers. CONCLUSIONS More research is needed into identifying the underlying motivational factors of hurried drivers and what countermeasures will be most effective for them.
Depression in the elderly after traumatic brain injury: A systematic review

Primary objective: To systematically review recent research published in peer-reviewed journals that focus on depression in the elderly with TBI. To better understand the prevalence of depression in the elderly after TBI and to note any differences or similarities between the elderly and their younger counterparts. Explore depression in the general elderly population and depression in the overall TBI population to better understand depression in the elderly after TBI. Methods and procedures: MEDLINE and PsychINFO searches garnered one peer-reviewed English language article that met the following inclusion criteria: elderly participants with TBI, depression directly assessed and use of self-report measures and/or structured clinical interview. Main outcomes and results: Prevalence of depression in the elderly range from 1.8–8.9% in community-residing elders to 25% in nursing homes and long-term care settings. Prevalence of depression in the overall TBI population ranges from 15.3–42%. Little research has been published on depression in the elderly following TBI, but the available research report a prevalence of 21–37%. Conclusion: The presence of depression after TBI in the elderly has important implications for rehabilitation treatment. There is a great need for more research in this area requiring more stringent age markers and methodology.
Consumer Perceptions of Prescription Drug Websites: A Pilot Study

Consumer perceptions of the information content contained on prescription drug websites was of interest in this investigation. Twenty branded prescription drugs were selected because they were evaluated as being poor consumer choices for safety reasons or because better alternatives existed. Study participants visited each of 20 websites for the selected drugs, and then they answered a series of questions for each website, in order to evaluate each website's information content. Participants, without knowing the selected prescription drugs were selected because they were problematic, reported that the drug company information was complete, fully presenting benefit and risk information, without being false or misleading in any respect. Pricing information was generally not provided by drug companies. Alternative medicines, treatments, and behavioral approaches for dealing with an illness or health condition were generally not part of the information provided by drug companies. Public policy implications are also discussed.
A Conditional CAPM Model with Local Covariates for Detecting and Evaluating Active Management

The intercept of the standard CAPM and Conditional CAPM model, the alpha, is used to evaluate the long-run performance of managed portfolios. However, this measure is not always appropriate for detecting the presence and impact of active management strategies. In this paper, we introduce a Conditional CAPM model where the time-varying alpha and beta parameters depend only on the past history of the underlying portfolio returns and of the benchmark returns. The dynamics of the parameters has two components: the first describes the long-term behavior of the alpha and beta, whereas the second is associated with the short-term performance of the underlying portfolio. The interpretation of parameters allows the identification of portfolio managers who implement active management strategies. We provide an empirical application based on a large set of U.S. mutual funds showing how widespread active management approaches are, even if only a minor fraction persistently beats the benchmark. We also show that the recent financial crisis has had negative effects on mutual fund performances.
High‐voltage electron microscope high‐temperature in situ straining experiments to study dislocation dynamics in intermetallics and quasicrystals

The dynamic behaviour of dislocations in several intermetallic alloys, studied by in situ straining experiments in a high‐voltage electron microscope, is compared at room temperature and at high temperatures. In contrast to room temperature, the dislocations move viscously at high temperatures, which is explained by diffusion processes in the dislocation cores. In quasicrystals, the viscous dislocation motion can be interpreted by models on the cluster scale.
Simulation of a Novel Copper Heat Sink Using Copper Pipe and AM Method for CPU Group Heat Removing in Power Transformer's Cabinet

Heat sinks operate by conducting heat from the processor to the heat sink and then radiating it to the air. The better the transfer of heat between the two surfaces (the CPU and the heat sink metal) the better the cooling. Some processors come with heat sinks glued to them directly, ensuring a good transfer of heat between the processor and the heat sink. In this paper the author have simulated a new copper heat sink and heat pipe (is a simple device that can quickly transfer heat from one point to another) that has a best heat transferring. A three dimensional finite element is used for simulations of temperature behaviour on around of heat sink. Analytically approach is applied to determine of heat transfer coefficients. The method has a good convergence and is adaptive with other best designed heat sinks. And so we examine the use of activity migration which reduces peak junction temperature by moving computation between multiple replicated units.
Uniform Tube Based Stabilization of Switched Linear Systems With Mode-Dependent Persistent Dwell-Time

In this note, the stabilization problem for a class of discrete-time switched linear systems with additive disturbances is investigated. The considered switching signals are of mode-dependent persistent dwell-time (MPDT) property and the disturbances are assumed to be amplitude-bounded. By constructing a quasi-time-varying (QTV) Lyapunov function, a QTV stabilizing controller is designed for the nominal system such that the resulting closed-loop system is globally uniformly asymptotically stable. In the presence of bounded additive disturbances, a MPDT robust positive invariant set is determined for the error system between the nominal system and disturbed system. A concept of generalized robust positive invariant (GRPI) set under admissible MPDT switching is further proposed for the error system. It is demonstrated that the disturbed system is also asymptotically stable in the sense of converging to the MPDT GRPI set that can be regarded as the cross section of a uniform tube of the disturbed system. A numerical example is provided to verify the theoretical findings.
Assessement of the LVRT capability of a composite wind farm considering the series and parallel topologies

This paper deals with the low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability of a wind farm comprises different arrangements of the fixed speed and variable speed turbines. Based on the grid code requirements it is seemed that the hybrid topologies can provide better performances than purely either fixed or variable speeds turbines during the fault conditions using DFIG or SCIG. In the hybrid topology two series and parallel arrangements of DFIGs and SCIGs are possible. This paper tackles with both configurations to assess their capabilities regarding the LVRT. To do so, the necessary simulations have been carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC environment. It is shown that the series topology can provide a better performance during transient and fault conditions.