Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The perspectives of kidney transplant recipients on medicine taking: a systematic review of qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND Non-adherence to medication regimens after kidney transplantation is a major risk factor for acute rejection and graft loss, yet little is known about the perspectives of kidney transplant recipients on medicine taking. This study aimed to describe the beliefs, experiences and perspectives of kidney transplant recipients on medicine taking. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies of medicine taking after kidney transplantation. Five electronic databases (to Week 3 of January 2010) were searched. Thematic synthesis of the results and conclusions reported in each included study was performed to develop descriptive and analytical themes. RESULTS We included seven studies involving 207 participants. The six themes identified were (i) attitudes towards medicine taking, its impact on lifestyle, self-image, relationships and outlook on life; (ii) inadvertent forgetfulness, preoccupation with life commitments; (iii) medication properties; (iv) structure of healthcare services, poor access to pharmacy or affordable medications and conflicting medical appointments; (v) personal efforts in managing medications, organizing and devising strategies for taking medicines on time; and (vi) availability of external social support. These underpinned five reported medicine-taking behaviours including not taking medicines, seeking to change medications or dose, missing a dose, varying the timing of doses and vigilant adherence. CONCLUSIONS Considering patients' attitudes, priorities, current life events, commitments, support systems and healthcare structures can inform interventions to promote concordance between prescribed medication and medicine-taking behaviours. This may improve treatment outcomes and mitigate the risks of non-adherence-related rejection.
Proteomic Analysis of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Interactome and Post-translational Modifications Associated with Receptor Endocytosis in Response to EGF and Stress*

Aberrant expression, activation, and stabilization of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are causally associated with several human cancers. Post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions directly modulate the signaling and trafficking of the EGFR. Activated EGFR is internalized by endocytosis and then either recycled back to the cell surface or degraded in the lysosome. EGFR internalization and recycling also occur in response to stresses that activate p38 MAP kinase. Mass spectrometry was applied to comprehensively analyze the phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and protein-protein interactions of wild type and endocytosis-defective EGFR variants before and after internalization in response to EGF ligand and stress. Prior to internalization, EGF-stimulated EGFR accumulated ubiquitin at 7 K residues and phosphorylation at 7 Y sites and at S1104. Following internalization, these modifications diminished and there was an accumulation of S/T phosphorylations. EGFR internalization and many but not all of the EGF-induced S/T phosphorylations were also stimulated by anisomycin-induced cell stress, which was not associated with receptor ubiquitination or elevated Y phosphorylation. EGFR protein interactions were dramatically modulated by ligand, internalization, and stress. In response to EGF, different E3 ubiquitin ligases became maximally associated with EGFR before (CBL, HUWE1, and UBR4) or after (ITCH) internalization, whereas CBLB was distinctively most highly EGFR associated following anisomycin treatment. Adaptin subunits of AP-1 and AP-2 clathrin adaptor complexes also became EGFR associated in response to EGF and anisomycin stress. Mutations preventing EGFR phosphorylation at Y998 or in the S1039 region abolished or greatly reduced EGFR interactions with AP-2 and AP-1, and impaired receptor trafficking. These results provide new insight into spatial, temporal, and mechanistic aspects of EGFR regulation.
Multilevel Optimal Predictive Dynamic Voltage Restorer

This paper presents an optimal predictive controller for a multilevel converter-based dynamic voltage restorer (DVR), which is able to improve the voltage quality of sensitive loads connected to the electrical power network. The optimal predictive controlled multilevel DVR can restore sags and short interruptions while reducing the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the ac line voltages to values lower than 1%. The DVR is based on a three-phase neutral point clamped converter to dynamically inject a compensation voltage vector in series with the line voltage, through series-connected transformer secondary windings. To assure high-quality voltages for sensitive loads, we devise optimal predictive control laws for the injected compensation ac voltages. A suitable quadratic weighed cost functional is used to choose the voltage vector, minimizing both the ac voltage errors through current injection and the dc side capacitor voltage unbalancing. The performance of the proposed predictive controller is compared to classical proportional integral (PI): synchronous frame and stationary frame (P+resonant) controllers. The line-side filter capacitor topology is compared to the regular converter-side filter capacitor. Obtained experimental results show that the ac voltages are almost sinusoidal in steady-state operation when facing balanced and unbalanced sags and short interruptions with unbalanced loads. Voltage THD is reduced to values lower than 1%; the DVR is behaving also as a series active power filter for the ac voltages.
The Change of Green Wave and Brown Wave of the Vegetation in Huanghe-Huaihe-Haihe Zone and its Responds to Climate Changes

The article, using the each ten day's data of NOAA/AVHRR from 1981 to 2000 and adopting the Maximum-Slope method, Curve-Fitting method and stepwise regression, analyzes the beginning and ending of the growth season of the vegetation in the Huanghe-Huaihe-Haihe (HHH) zone. Meanwhile, the pixel by pixel NDVI map is worked out with typical bands as the sample. The article, through researching on the change of green wave and brown wave, reveals the changing rules of vegetation activities and its responds to climate changes in the past 20a. According to the researches, the growth season in HHH zone starts at the last 10 days of March and ends at the first 10 days of November on average. The average NDVI for the vegetation in the researched area is generally increasing, especially in spring. With the time passing by, the green wave of the critical value of the growth season in the area changes from south to north, while the emergence of brown wave prolongs from north to south. As the main respond of the vegetation activities in the study area to climate changes, the growth season of the vegetation happens ahead in HHH zone.
On the mathematical integration of the nervous tissue based on the S-propagator formalism.

The integration of physiological functions in living organisms corresponds to the reconstruction of a biological system from its components. This calls for a sound theoretical framework based on the rigorous definition of the elementary physiological function within the context of multiple levels of biological organization. One of the main problems encountered in the neurosciences is that of extending the current theory of automata, as used in the study of artificial neural networks, to real neural networks. The difficulty arises because the theory of automata fails to take into account the various levels of biological organization involved in nervous activity. This article recalls the main elements of G. A. Chauvet's novel n-level field theory, i.e., the properties of non-symmetry and non-locality of functional interactions, and the S-propagator formalism that governs the propagation of a functional interaction across the different levels of the structural organization of a biological system. The neural field equations derived from this theory allow the inclusion of multiple organizational levels of a biological system into the analysis by incorporating specific local models into a global non-local model. The main advantage of the method presented here is the simplification obtained by breaking down the physiological function into its components according to the time scales and space scales of operation. Moreover, the method takes into account the non-locality of the functional interaction, assuming it to be propagated at finite velocity in a continuous and hierarchical space. Finally, this approach allows the systematic study of physiological functions within a single theoretical framework, the complexity of which could be progressively increased by integrating specific local models as new findings become available.
Conditions for wave trains in spiking neural networks

Spatiotemporal patterns such as traveling waves are frequently observed in recordings of neural activity. The mechanisms underlying the generation of such patterns are largely unknown. Previous studies have investigated the existence and uniqueness of different types of waves or bumps of activity using neural-field models, phenomenological coarse-grained descriptions of neural-network dynamics. But it remains unclear how these insights can be transferred to more biologically realistic networks of spiking neurons, where individual neurons fire irregularly. Here, we employ mean-field theory to reduce a microscopic model of leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons with distance-dependent connectivity to an effective neural-field model. In contrast to existing phenomenological descriptions, the dynamics in this neural-field model depends on the mean and the variance in the synaptic input, both determining the amplitude and the temporal structure of the resulting effective coupling kernel. For the neural-field model we employ liner stability analysis to derive conditions for the existence of spatial and temporal oscillations and wave trains, that is, temporally and spatially periodic traveling waves. We first prove that wave trains cannot occur in a single homogeneous population of neurons, irrespective of the form of distance dependence of the connection probability. Compatible with the architecture of cortical neural networks, wave trains emerge in two-population networks of excitatory and inhibitory neurons as a combination of delay-induced temporal oscillations and spatial oscillations due to distance-dependent connectivity profiles. Finally, we demonstrate quantitative agreement between predictions of the analytically tractable neural-field model and numerical simulations of both networks of nonlinear rate-based units and networks of LIF neurons.
Continuity of Primary Care and Emergency Hospital Admissions Among Older Patients in England

PURPOSE Secondary health care services have been under considerable pressure in England as attendance rates increase, resulting in longer waiting times and greater demands on staff. This study’s aim was to examine the association between continuity of care and risk of emergency hospital admission among older adults. METHODS We analyzed records from 10,000 patients aged 65 years and older in 2012 within 297 English general practices obtained from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and linked with Hospital Episode Statistics. We used the Bice and Boxerman (BB) index and the appointed general practitioner index (last general practitioner consulted before hospitalization) to quantify patient-physician continuity. The BB index was used in a prospective cohort approach to assess impact of continuity on risk of admission. Both indices were used in a separate retrospective nested case-control approach to test the effect of changing physician on the odds of hospital admission in the following 30 days. RESULTS In the prospective cohort analysis, the BB index showed a graded, non-significant inverse relationship of continuity of care with risk of emergency hospital admission, although the hazard ratio for patients experiencing least continuity was 2.27 (95% CI, 1.37–3.76) compared with those having complete continuity. In the retrospective nested case-control analysis, we found a graded inverse relationship between continuity of care and emergency hospital admission for both BB and appointed general practitioner indices: for the latter, the odds ratio for those experiencing least continuity was 2.32 (95% CI, 1.48–3.63) relative to those experiencing most continuity. CONCLUSIONS Marked discontinuity of care might contribute to increased unplanned hospital admissions among patients aged 65 years and older. Schemes to enhance continuity of care have the potential to reduce hospital admissions.
A Role for the Early Warning Score in Early Identification of Critical Postoperative Complications

Objective:We examined whether an early warning score (EWS) could predict inpatient complications in surgical patients. Background:Abnormal vitals often precede in-hospital mortality. The EWS calculated using vital signs has been developed to identify patients at risk for mortality. Methods:Inpatient general surgery procedures with National Surgical Quality Improvement Project data from 2013 to 2014 were matched with enterprise data on vital signs and neurologic status to calculate the EWS for each postoperative vital set measured on the ward. Outcomes of major complications, unplanned intensive care unit transfer, and medical emergency team activation were classified using the Clavien-Dindo system as grade I to V. Relationship with EWS and timing of complication was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis test and linear regression accounting for clustering with generalized estimating equation. Results:Among 552 patients admitted to the ward postsurgery, 68 (12.3%) developed at least one grade I to III complication and 37 (6.7%) developed a grade IV/V complication. The mean maximum EWS was significantly higher preceding grade IV/V complications (10.1) compared with grade I to III complications (6.4) or across the hospital stay in patients without complications (5.4; P < 0.01). EWS significantly increased in the 3 days preceding grade IV/V complications (P < 0.001) and declined in patients without complications in the 3 days before discharge (P < 0.001). A threshold EWS of 8 predicted occurrence of grade IV/V complications with 81% sensitivity and 84% specificity. Conclusions:Critical postoperative complications can be preceded by rising EWS. Interventional studies are needed to evaluate whether EWS can reduce the severity of postoperative complications and mortality for surgical patients through early identification and intervention.
From Comparative Analysis to Final Publication: Nationalism and Globalization in English and Italian Football Since 1930

This case study explores the processes of research involved in the cross-national comparative case study of English and Italian football since 1930. It examines these through a succession of stages. The initial development of the research topic is outlined and the operationalization of the empirical research questions is explained in detail. The analysis of the data using Microsoft Excel is detailed and illustrated and the theoretical orientations that underpinned both the choice of research questions and their interpretation in the final published article are explored. The issues of nationalism, globalization, and nationality are also covered. The importance of some level of competence in the Italian language is also probed, as language competence is an important issue in much cross-national research. The case study discusses the interplay of data analysis and sociological explanation and provides a clear analysis of how the research became a published article in a refereed academic journal. The case study provides a set of exercises and research questions as well as further readings to facilitate a wider understanding of the issues involved in cross-national comparative case studies.
Design & realization of direct coupled Ku-band waveguide iris filter using coupling matrix model

This paper describes the design and realization of 7th order Ku-band bandpass filter. This filter is a part of pre-filter required for desired frequency spectrum selection in a communication satellite. The filter is realized with rectangular waveguide WR75 in TE101 mode; because it can give optimum size with high unloaded quality factor and wide spurious free window. The engineering model of the filter is realized with Aluminum material. Temperature variations cause the volumetric thermal expansion of the filter and the equivalent linear frequency drift is incorporated at the synthesis stage of the filter. Tolerance analysis of the filter is also performed to compensate the manufacturing errors. Semi-miniaturized SMA to waveguide transformers were also developed for testing of the filter. Filter is synthesized using indigenously developed software tool. Utilizing the coupling matrix; each inter-resonator coupling iris and input/output iris is designed separately. There is a good overlap of the tested and the simulated responses.
Peptide Integrated Optics

Bio‐nanophotonics is a wide field in which advanced optical materials, biomedicine, fundamental optics, and nanotechnology are combined and result in the development of biomedical optical chips. Silk fibers or synthetic bioabsorbable polymers are the main light‐guiding components. In this work, an advanced concept of integrated bio‐optics is proposed, which is based on bioinspired peptide optical materials exhibiting wide optical transparency, nonlinear and electrooptical properties, and effective passive and active waveguiding. Developed new technology combining bottom‐up controlled deposition of peptide planar wafers of a large area and top‐down focus ion beam lithography provides direct fabrication of peptide optical integrated circuits. Finding a deep modification of peptide optical properties by reconformation of biological secondary structure from native phase to β‐sheet architecture is followed by the appearance of visible fluorescence and unexpected transition from a native passive optical waveguiding to an active one. Original biocompatibility, switchable regimes of waveguiding, and multifunctional nonlinear optical properties make these new peptide planar optical materials attractive for application in emerging technology of lab‐on‐biochips, combining biomedical photonic and electronic circuits toward medical diagnosis, light‐activated therapy, and health monitoring.
Near-Duplicate Subsequence Matching Between the Continuous Stream and Large Video Dataset

In this paper, we study the subsequence matching problem of near-duplicate video detection. In particular, we address the application of monitoring a continuous stream with a large video dataset. To achieve real-time response and high accuracy, we propose a novel framework containing two characteristics . First, the subsequence matching is transformed to a 2-D Hough space projection of pairwise frame similarities between two subsequences. We present an approximate Hough transform that replaces the 2-D Hough space with a 1-D Hough space. The near-duplicate subsequence detection can be deemed to be the voting and searching in the 1-D Hough space with a lower time complexity. Second, a coarse-to-fine matching strategy is incorporated in the proposed framework. The coarse level matching selects the candidate videos based on the time-decay hit frequency between the query stream and dataset videos. The fine level matching applies the approximate Hough transform to detect the near-duplicate subsequences coexisting within the query stream and candidate videos. Several state-of-the-art methods are implemented for comparison. Experimental results show our framework outperforms in terms of accuracy and efficiency.
Long-term disease history, clinical symptoms, health status, and healthcare utilization in patients suffering from Lambert Eaton myasthenic syndrome: Results of a patient interview survey in Germany

Abstract Introduction: The burden of disease in Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) patients is unclear. This study focused on the patient’s perspective to obtain patient-reported information on clinical symptoms, burden of illness, impact of LEMS on activities of daily living (ADL), and management of LEMS. Methods: Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with LEMS patients from two specialized centres in Germany between September and December 2010. Results: Twelve patients participated; mean age 66.7 ± 9.8 years. First symptoms occurred at age 52.5 ± 14.0 years. Mean time between first symptoms and diagnosis was 4.4 ± 6.2 years. Patients reported neuromuscular, cranial, and autonomic symptoms plus general fatigue. Two-thirds of patients reported 10 or more symptoms. The most frequent symptoms were leg weakness (91.7%) and general fatigue (83.3%). Restrictions in ADL were reported always or often in 75% of patients. Over half of the patients (n = 7) reported poor or very poor health status. Mean EQ-5D utility scores were 0.34 ± 0.35, with little day-to-day variation. Patients visited a number of different clinicians; most had been hospitalized at some point in the course of their disease. The most frequent drug treatments were 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) (83.3%) and pyridostigmine (41.5%). The study has several limitations, including small sample size and the potential influence of recall bias. Conclusion: LEMS patients report long individual disease histories. Most patients suffer multiple symptoms which are frequently severe and troublesome, and almost all are restricted in ADL with poor health status. There is high utilization of healthcare resources from diagnosis to ongoing treatment. Physicians should be aware of this rare disease to ensure that patients receive an early diagnosis and prompt and appropriate treatment.
Tamoxifen and bone metabolism in postmenopausal low-risk breast cancer patients: a randomized study.

PURPOSE This trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of adjuvant tamoxifen on bone metabolism in postmenopausal women undergoing surgery for low-risk breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS In an open trial, 25 women were randomized to receive tamoxifen 30 mg/d for 2 years, and 25 women constituted the control group. Twenty women treated with tamoxifen and 23 women in the control group provided data for the analysis. Inclusion criteria were operation for low-risk breast cancer and cessation of menstruations for more than 1 year. Exclusion criteria were presence of metastases, disorders of bone metabolism, contraindications against tamoxifen, use of drugs with influence on bone metabolism, ailments that made bone mineral measurements impossible, and age greater than 65 years. Repeated measurements of bone mineral density and content at the lumbar spine and forearms, serum alkaline phosphatase, phosphate, and ionized calcium were performed in all patients. RESULTS Lumbar spine bone mineral density increased during the first year in women treated with tamoxifen and then stabilized, compared with decreased bone mineral density in the control group (P = .00074). Bone mineral content at the forearms remained almost stable in tamoxifen-treated women compared with a decrease in the control group (P = .024). Serum alkaline phosphatase, phosphate, and ionized calcium decreased in the tamoxifen group (P < .00001, P = .002, and P = .002, respectively). CONCLUSION Tamoxifen has estrogen-like effects on bone metabolism that result in an increase and stabilization of bone mineral density in the axial skeleton and a stabilization of bone mineral content in the appendicular skeleton.