Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of chronic illness care (ACIC): a practical tool to measure quality improvement.

OBJECTIVE To describe initial testing of the Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC), a practical quality-improvement tool to help organizations evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their delivery of care for chronic illness in six areas: community linkages, self-management support, decision support, delivery system design, information systems, and organization of care. DATA SOURCES (1) Pre-post, self-report ACIC data from organizational teams enrolled in 13-month quality-improvement collaboratives focused on care for chronic illness; (2) independent faculty ratings of team progress at the end of collaborative. STUDY DESIGN Teams completed the ACIC at the beginning and end of the collaborative using a consensus format that produced average ratings of their system's approach to delivering care for the targeted chronic condition. Average ACIC subscale scores (ranging from 0 to 11, with 11 representing optimal care) for teams across all four collaboratives were obtained to indicate how teams rated their care for chronic illness before beginning improvement work. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate the sensitivity. of the ACIC to detect system improvements for teams in two (of four) collaboratives focused on care for diabetes and congestive heart failure (CHF). Pearson correlations between the ACIC subscale scores and a faculty rating of team performance were also obtained. RESULTS Average baseline scores across all teams enrolled at the beginning of the collaboratives ranged from 4.36 (information systems) to 6.42 (organization of care), indicating basic to good care for chronic illness. All six ACIC subscale scores were responsive to system improvements diabetes and CHF teams made over the course of the collaboratives. The most substantial improvements were seen in decision support, delivery system design, and information systems. CHF teams had particularly high scores in self-management support at the completion of the collaborative. Pearson correlations between the ACIC subscales and the faculty rating ranged from . 28 to . 52. CONCLUSION These results and feedback from teams suggest that the ACIC is responsive to health care quality-improvement efforts and may be a useful tool to guide quality improvement in chronic illness care and to track progress over time.
Huckemann , S . ; Hotz , T . ; Munk , A . : Global Models for the Ori-entation Field of Fingerprints : An Approach Based on Quadratic

Quadratic differentials naturally define analytic orientation fields on planar surfaces. We propose to model orientation fields of fingerprints by specifying quadratic differentials. Models for all fingerprint classes such as arches, loops, and whorls are laid out. These models are parameterized by a few geometrically interpretable parameters that are invariant under euclidean motions. We demonstrate their ability in adapting to given observed orientation fields, and we compare them to existing models using the fingerprint images of the NIST Special Database 4. We also illustrate that these models allow for extrapolation into unobserved regions. This goes beyond the scope of earlier models for the orientation field as those are restricted to the observed planar fingerprint region. Within the framework of quadratic differentials, we are able to analytically verify Penrose’s formula for the singularities on a palm [19]. Potential applications of these models are the use of their parameters as indexes of large fingerprint databases, as well as the definition of intrinsic coordinates for single fingerprint images.
Redefining the glycemic index for dietary management of postprandial glycemia.

The glycemic index (GI) is a component-referenced index, defined as the effect on blood glucose of glycemic carbohydrate in a food as a percentage of the effect of an equal amount of glucose. GI is not suitable for dietary management of postprandial glycemia because it refers to glycemic carbohydrate, not to food, it is static, i.e., unresponsive to intake, and it is relative in that it can be used appropriately only for equicarbohydrate comparisons. Food values for dietary management, in contrast, must be food-based, intake responsive and sensitive to variations in composition typical of diets. The limitations of GI could be overcome by expanding its definition beyond glycemic carbohydrate, to foods. GI could then be used as a food-referenced index, expressed as glycemic glucose equivalents (GGE)/100 g food, and extrapolated to GGE per common standard measure (CSM) as a value for the glycemic load exerted by familiar food quantities. GI(food) and GGE/CSM would then be expressed as are nutrients in food composition databases, would lie on the same quantity-dependent continuum and could be used with nutrient information to provide a more complete nutritional profile of a food than is provided by nutrients alone. GI would then be a practical adjunct to food composition data, which was its intended role.
Atrial transseptal left ventricular lead implantation for cardiac resynchronization therapy using arteriovenous loop technique

To date, several techniques for transseptal left ventricular (LV) endocardial pacing for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) have been proposed in patients for whom routine transvenous LV pacing is infeasible. These techniques are of varying difficulty and complexity, and some requires devices not easily accessible. We herein report a simple, safe and effective approach of atrial transseptal LV lead implantation using arteriovenous loop technique in a patient for whom transvenous LV implantation lead had failed.
Effect of 50- and 100-mg vitamin E supplements on cellular immune function in noninstitutionalized elderly persons.

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that vitamin E can counteract the age-associated decline in cellular immune responsiveness (CIR). Particularly, T helper cell type 1 (Th1) activity, ie, interferon (IFN) gamma-producing Th1 activity and, hence, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) would be enhanced by vitamin E supplementation. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to study the effects of 6 mo supplementation with 50 and 100 mg vitamin E on CIR in the elderly. DESIGN A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 161 healthy elderly subjects aged 65-80 y. CIR was measured in vivo by means of DTH skin tests and in vitro by assessing the production of interleukin (IL) 2, IFN-gamma (a typical Th1 cytokine), and IL-4 (a typical Th2 cytokine) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin. RESULTS Both DTH and IL-2 production showed a trend toward increased responsiveness with increasing dose of vitamin E. However, IFN-gamma production decreased whereas IL-4 production increased in the groups receiving vitamin E. Only the change in the number of positive DTH reactions was borderline significantly larger in the 100-mg vitamin E group than in the placebo group (P = 0.06, Bonferroni adjusted). Subjects receiving 100 mg vitamin E with low baseline DTH reactivity or who were physically less active had a significantly larger increase in the cumulative diameter of the skin induration resulting from the DTH test than did the placebo group (P = 0.03), although this difference was not significant after Bonferroni correction (P = 0.07). CONCLUSION Possible beneficial effects of 100-mg vitamin E supplementation may be more pronounced in particular subgroups of elderly subjects.
Serum phospholipid n 3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and physical and mental health in a population-based survey of New Zealand adolescents and adults.

BACKGROUND Evidence from observational studies suggests that there is an association between n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and depression; however, this association has yet to be examined in a population-based study. OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess whether n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in serum phospholipids are associated with mental and physical well-being. DESIGN The fatty acid composition of serum phospholipids was measured in 2416 New Zealanders aged >/=15 y who took part in the 1997 National Nutrition Survey. The mental and physical component scores were assessed by using the short-form 36 health questionnaire. RESULTS After adjustment for a number of covariates, there was a significant positive trend in self-reported physical well-being across the quintiles of eicosapentaenoic acid (P for trend = 0.009) and the ratio of eicosapentaenoic to arachidonic acid (P for trend = 0.012). The differences in the physical component score between the first and fifth quintiles were 2.4 and 2.5 points, respectively. The results showed that neither the proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid nor that of docosahexaenoic acid was associated with the mental component score; however, there was a significant positive trend in mental well-being across the quintiles of the ratio of eicosapentaenoic to arachidonic acid (P for trend = 0.044). CONCLUSION The results from this population-based survey of New Zealanders suggest a strong and consistent association between eicosapentaenoic acid in serum phospholipids and self-reported physical well-being; the association with mental well-being is less compelling.
Sphingosine Kinase 1 expression in peritoneal macrophages is required for colon carcinogenesis

Accumulating evidence suggests that the sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1)/sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) pathway plays a pivotal role in colon carcinogenesis. Our previous studies indicate that the SphK1/S1P pathway mediates colon carcinogenesis at least by regulating cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. However, the mechanisms by which this pathway regulates colon carcinogenesis are still unclear. First, we show that SphK1 deficient mice significantly attenuated azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon carcinogenesis as measured by colon tumor incidence, multiplicity, and volume. We found that AOM activates peritoneal macrophages to induce SphK1, COX-2, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression in WT mice. Interestingly, SphK1 knockout (KO) mice revealed significant reduction of COX-2 and TNF-α expression from AOM-activated peritoneal macrophages, suggesting that SphK1 regulates COX-2 and TNF-α expression in peritoneal macrophages. We found that inoculation of WT peritoneal macrophages restored the carcinogenic effect of AOM in Sphk1 KO mice as measured by aberrant crypt foci (ACF) formation, preneoplastic lesions of colon cancer. In addition, downregulation of SphK1 only in peritoneal macrophage by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) reduced the number of ACF per colon induced by AOM. Intraperitoneal injection of sphingolipids demonstrates that S1P enhanced AOM-induced ACF formation, while ceramide inhibited. Finally, we show that SphK inhibitor SKI-II significantly reduced the number of ACF per colon. These results suggest that SphK1 expression plays a pivotal role in the early stages of colon carcinogenesis through regulating COX-2 and TNF-α expression from activated peritoneal macrophages.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Quantification of Lumbar Spinal Canal Stenosis in Symptomatic Subjects

Introduction: Low backache is a common condition to occur in the middle age. It is mainly caused by the degeneration of the intervertebral disc which forms the main support to the vertebral column. Lumbar spinal canal stenosis results in the compression of spinal cord and nerves at the level of lumbar vertebra. Aim: The purpose of this study is to measure the spinal canal dimensions and correlate with the clinical symptoms to establish a radiological criterion based on MRI for diagnosis of lumbar canal stenosis. This study is done to improve the diagnostic accuracy of lumbar spinal canal stenosis. Materials and Methods: Two hundred subjects with complaints of low backache without a traumatic history underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) after assessment of pain by two methods: 1. Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scoring and 2. Wong Baker Facial Expression scale. All the images were qualitatively analyzed to obtain the MRI grading for central canal at various levels from L1 to S1 vertebra after making sure that the neural foramina is not involved. Anteroposterior (AP) and transverse diameter of spinal canal at intervertebral disc and upper part of vertebral body levels and spinal canal area are measurements that are taken. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis has been carried out in the present study. Results on continuous measurements are presented on mean ± SD (min-max) and results on categorical measurements are presented in number (%). Significance is assessed at 5% level of significance. Results: The spinal canal diameter measured along its AP and transverse direction is found to be correlating with the severity of low backache complained by the patient. Comparing the two methods of clinical assessment, ODI scoring was found to be more significant. Conclusion: The spinal canal measurements can be used as a radiologic criterion for diagnosis of acquired lumbar spinal canal stenosis. This will improve the diagnostic accuracy. However, in case of presence of any other pathology or traumatic history with bony fractures, these criterions
The Lived Experience of Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Copyright: © 2016 Walsh J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. *Corresponding author: Joseph Walsh, School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 Floyd Avenue Richmond, VA 23284-2027, USA, Tel: 804-828-8208; E-mail: jwalsh@vcu.edu
Orthogonalization of Regressors in fMRI Models

The occurrence of collinearity in fMRI-based GLMs (general linear models) may reduce power or produce unreliable parameter estimates. It is commonly believed that orthogonalizing collinear regressors in the model will solve this problem, and some software packages apply automatic orthogonalization. However, the effects of orthogonalization on the interpretation of the resulting parameter estimates is widely unappreciated or misunderstood. Here we discuss the nature and causes of collinearity in fMRI models, with a focus on the appropriate uses of orthogonalization. Special attention is given to how the two popular fMRI data analysis software packages, SPM and FSL, handle orthogonalization, and pitfalls that may be encountered in their usage. Strategies are discussed for reducing collinearity in fMRI designs and addressing their effects when they occur.
The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family.
Has 1 regulates consecutive maturation and processing steps for assembly of 60 S ribosomal subunits

Ribosome biogenesis requires 200 assembly factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The preribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing defects associated with depletion of most of these factors have been characterized. However, how assembly factors drive the construction of ribonucleoprotein neighborhoods and how structural rearrangements are coupled to pre-rRNA processing are not understood. Here, we reveal ATP-independent and ATP-dependent roles of the Has1 DEAD-box RNA helicase in consecutive pre-rRNA processing and maturation steps for construction of 60S ribosomal subunits. Has1 associates with pre-60S ribosomes in an ATP-independent manner. Has1 binding triggers exonucleolytic trimming of 27SA3 prerRNA to generate the 50 end of 5.8S rRNA and drives incorporation of ribosomal protein L17 with domain I of 5.8S/25S rRNA. ATP-dependent activity of Has1 promotes stable association of additional domain I ribosomal proteins that surround the polypeptide exit tunnel, which are required for downstream processing of 27SB pre-rRNA. Furthermore, in the absence of Has1, aberrant 27S pre-rRNAs are targeted for irreversible turnover. Thus, our data support a model in which Has1 helps to establish domain I architecture to prevent pre-rRNA turnover and couples domain I folding with consecutive pre-rRNA processing steps.
Iron deficiency due to consumption of a habitual diet low in bioavailable iron: a longitudinal cohort study in Moroccan children.

BACKGROUND In many developing countries, cereal and legume-based diets contain low amounts of bioavailable iron, which may increase the risk of iron deficiency. OBJECTIVE The objective was to measure change in iron status in Moroccan children who consumed their habitual diet containing low amounts of bioavailable iron. DESIGN The design was a prospective, longitudinal, free-living cohort study in iron-replete, nonanemic 6-10-y-old children (n = 126). Hemoglobin, serum ferritin, and transferrin receptor were measured at baseline. The children then consumed their habitual cereal and legume-based diet for 15 mo, when their iron status was retested. We used weighed food records and direct food analysis to calculate dietary iron intake and iron bioavailability. On the basis of the change in hemoglobin and body iron stores calculated from the serum transferrin receptor-to-ferritin ratio, iron balance and iron absorption were estimated over the 15-mo period. RESULTS Mean daily iron intake was 10.8 mg/d, 97% of which was nonheme iron. Estimated nonheme-iron bioavailability from algorithms was 1.0-4.3% adjusted for low body iron stores. Over 15 mo, the mean change in total body iron was -142 mg, and mean iron absorption was estimated to be 0.22 mg/d, or 2% of dietary iron. Mean hemoglobin concentration decreased 12 g/L. At 15 mo, 75% of the cohort had deficits in tissue iron, and one-third had mild iron deficiency anemia. CONCLUSION Low iron bioavailability from legume and cereal-based diets is a cause of iron deficiency anemia in children in rural Africa.
Iron and zinc interactions.

current controversy concerning the relation between dietary protein and bone (3, 4). We have examined our extensive data set to determine the percentage of women with an intake of protein below the reference nutrient intake (RNI), ie, 45 g/d (5), and we examined their respective bone mineral density (BMD) values. Only 24 women (2.3%) were below the RNI for protein and had a mean estimate for NEAP of 3.94 0.95 mEq · d 1 · MJ 1 (range 2.04– 5.50 mEq · d 1 · MJ ) and a mean estimate of potential renal acid load (PRAL) of 7.90 9.44 mEq/d (range 33.6 to 4.58 mEq/d). Of these subjects, 50% had a lumbar spine BMD below the median value for the population. Figures for the other BMD sites were as follows: 67% (n 16) for femoral neck BMD; 50% (n 12) for femoral trochanter BMD; and 71% (n 17) for femoral Ward’s BMD. The numbers of subjects with low protein intake are too small to allow us to comment further on the growing body of evidence that long-term low dietary protein consumption may be harmful to skeletal integrity. It is important also to note that subjects with a low dietary protein intake are likely to be deficient in other nutrients that may be of benefit to bone. In response to the third point, we estimated the PRAL by using Remer’s calculation model (6), and these estimates are shown in Table 1. Furthermore, we investigated the association between estimates of PRAL and measurements of bone metabolism and BMD. The correlation between NEAP and PRAL was 0.93 (P 0.001). Lower estimates of PRAL were associated with a higher peripheral cortical forearm bone mass (P 0.03) and lower deoxypyridinoline excretion (P 0.048), with similar nonsignificant trends for peripheral total bone mass and pyridinoline excretion (P 0.07 and P 0.1, respectively). However, correlations were weaker than those we reported for NEAP and bone. There was a nonsignificant trend for the lumbar spine and hip BMD to decrease across increasing tertiles of PRAL (P 0.1), with similar findings for forearm bone mass. We thank Dr Remer for providing us with this opportunity for extensive discussion of estimates of renal net acid excretion and its subsequent effects on bone health, and we encourage other groups to reanalyze existing dietary intake and bone health data sets to enable further exploration of the effect of dietary acidity and alkalinity on skeletal integrity. Susan A New
Learning to Recommend with Negative Ratings Based on Factorization Machine

 Abstract — Rating prediction is an important problem for recommender systems. The task is to predict the rating for an item that a user would give. Most of the existing algorithms for the task ignore the effect of negative ratings rated by users on items, but the negative ratings have a significant impact on users’ purchasing decisions in practice. In this paper, we present a rating prediction algorithm based on factorization machines that consider the effect of negative ratings inspired by Loss Aversion theory. The aim of this paper is to develop a concave and a convex negative disgust function to evaluate the negative ratings respectively. Experiments are conducted on MovieLens dataset. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods by comparing with other four the state-of-the-art approaches. The negative ratings showed much importance in the accuracy of ratings predictions.
Consistent tone reproduction

In order to display images of high dynamic range (HDR), tone reproduction operators are usually applied that reduce the dynamic range to that of the display device. Generally, parameters need to be adjusted for each new image to achieve good results. Consistent tone reproduction across different images is therefore difficult to achieve, which is especially true for global operators and to some lesser extent also for local operators. We propose an efficient global tone reproduction method that achieves robust results across a large variety of HDR images without the need to adjust parameters. Consistency and efficiency make our method highly suitable for automated dynamic range compression, which for instance is necessary when a large number of HDR images need to be converted.