Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Individual cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled crossover pilot study.

PURPOSE: Estimates of insomnia in breast cancer patients are high, with reports of poor sleep lasting years after completion of cancer treatment. This randomized controlled crossover pilot study looked at the effects of individual cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (IND-CBT-I) on sleep in breast cancer survivors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (six weekly IND-CBT-I sessions followed by six weeks of follow up) or a delayed treatment control group (no treatment for six weeks followed by six weekly IND-CBT-I sessions). Of these, 14 participants completed the pilot study (six in the treatment group and eight in the delayed treatment control group). RESULTS: Self-rated insomnia was significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the waiting period in the delayed treatment control group. The pooled pre-post-IND-CBT-I analyses revealed improvements in self-rated insomnia, sleep quality, and objective measures of sleep. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that IND-CBT-I is appropriate for improving sleep in breast cancer survivors. Individual therapy in a clinic or private practice may be a more practical option for this population as it is more easily accessed and readily available in an outpatient setting.
Rapid Whole-Genome Sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates Directly from Clinical Samples

ABSTRACT The rapid identification of antimicrobial resistance is essential for effective treatment of highly resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Whole-genome sequencing provides comprehensive data on resistance mutations and strain typing for monitoring transmission, but unlike for conventional molecular tests, this has previously been achievable only from cultures of M. tuberculosis. Here we describe a method utilizing biotinylated RNA baits designed specifically for M. tuberculosis DNA to capture full M. tuberculosis genomes directly from infected sputum samples, allowing whole-genome sequencing without the requirement of culture. This was carried out on 24 smear-positive sputum samples, collected from the United Kingdom and Lithuania where a matched culture sample was available, and 2 samples that had failed to grow in culture. M. tuberculosis sequencing data were obtained directly from all 24 smear-positive culture-positive sputa, of which 20 were of high quality (>20× depth and >90% of the genome covered). Results were compared with those of conventional molecular and culture-based methods, and high levels of concordance between phenotypical resistance and predicted resistance based on genotype were observed. High-quality sequence data were obtained from one smear-positive culture-negative case. This study demonstrated for the first time the successful and accurate sequencing of M. tuberculosis genomes directly from uncultured sputa. Identification of known resistance mutations within a week of sample receipt offers the prospect for personalized rather than empirical treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, including the use of antimicrobial-sparing regimens, leading to improved outcomes.
Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in elderly people with heart failure: prevalence and outcomes.

BACKGROUND There is a lack of information on the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in very old people with heart failure (HF). The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence of prescriptions of ACE inhibitors in elderly people with HF discharged from acute care hospitals, and to evaluate the effect of these drugs on 1-year mortality rates. METHODS We used data from the Gruppo Italiano di Farmacovigilanza nell'Anziano (GIFA). In 1998, we undertook a 1-year longitudinal study on elderly people (aged 65+ years) discharged with a diagnosis of HF. We compared the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with a prescription at discharge of ACE inhibitors, and used a Cox proportional hazard regression model to calculate the relative hazard of dying associated with the use of ACE inhibitors. RESULTS We enrolled 818 patients in the study with a mean age of 79 years (range: 65-101 years). One fourth of the participants were aged 85 years or older. ACE inhibitors were prescribed to 550 patients (67.2%) at discharge. Older age and physical disability were negatively correlated with the use of ACE inhibitors. People using ACE inhibitors had a 40% reduction of mortality (HR [hazard ratio]: 0.60; 95% CI [confidence intervals]: 0.42-0.88). The reduction in mortality was much stronger among disabled people (HR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.19-0.64). CONCLUSION ACE inhibitors are still underprescribed among elderly people with HF discharged from acute care hospitals. Even in this frail, elderly population, we found a beneficial effect of ACE inhibitors. There is room to further improve the quality of care for elderly people with HF.
Targeted blood pressure screening in children and adolescents: a justifiable option?

U niversal screening for hypertension in children and adolescents has been the mainstream of recommendations by many scientific organizations including European Society of Hypertension [1]. In the June issue of the Journal, Bloetzer et al. [2] evaluated the performance of parental history for targeted screening of hypertension in children aged 10–14 years as an alternative to universal screening. Evidence is available to provide arguments for such a strategy at least for adolescents. The results of a meta-analysis showed that the shorter the follow-up period, the stronger are the coefficients of blood pressure (BP) tracking [3]. Moreover, consistent with previous studies, Bloetzer et al. [2] found an increased risk of hypertension in children with hypertensive parents. However, the sensitivity of parental history as a screening criterion for hypertension was low, suggesting that targeted screening based on parental history of hypertension fails to identify a significant portion of children at risk. Of note, targeted BP screening strategies in adolescents were found most costly and less effective in a study comparing cost-effectiveness of different BP screening strategy models in 15-year-old adolescents in United States [4]. Targeted screening based on positive family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) had previously been recommended for lipids screening in children [5]. Family history of CVD is a well recognized CVD risk factor, closely related to familial dyslipidemias and hypertension, accounting for both genetic and environmental effects. However, family history as a selection tool for lipid screening in children was also proved ineffective. Several studies have shown a low sensitivity and specificity for determining children at risk, missing a significant number of children with dyslipidemia [5,6]. This was also the case when obesity – a risk factor for both dyslipidemia and hypertension – was combined with family history to stratify children at risk for dyslipidemia; the performance remained poor and only marginally increased sensitivity, whereas specificity decreased [7]. Thus, in the recent recommendations by the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, universal screening for lipids in children at defined ages was recommended [6]. The same concerns, which may compromise targeted strategy effectiveness reported for lipid disorders, would remain for targeted hypertension screening in children and adolescents, especially for family history. Unknown family history, young parent and grandparent age for overt clinical CVD, as well as low performance of pediatricians or primary care physicians with family history evaluation, are some of the hindrances of targeted based on family history screening.
Applying positive psychology in the study of extreme environments.

Positive psychology orientation for the selection of personnel for isolated, confined environments and extreme and unusual environments is presented. It is suggested that personnel for isolated environments be selected for their ability to live and work in such an environment. The traditional negative psychology orientation focuses on characteristics such as demanding work, long stretches of empty time, unusual circadian rhythms, problems with group and interpersonal relationships, narrowed cognitive focus, cross-cultural differences, flattened leadership hierarchy, excessive interpersonal intimacy, and interaction with off site management. A positive psychology orientation focuses on the natural grandeur of the environment, mystery, efficiency, coziness, comfort, novelty and familiarity, improvisation, free time, time out from daily hassles, and social group characteristics such as camaraderie, intimacy, inderdependence, superordinate goals, and belonging to an elite group.
Cyclic Pull-Out Strength of Hamstring Tendon Graft Fixation with Soft Tissue Interference Screws

Blunt-threaded interference screws used for fixation of hamstring tendons in anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions provide aperture fixation and may provide a biomechanically more stable graft than a graft fixed further from the articular surface. It is unknown if soft tissue fixation strength using interference screws is affected by screw length. We compared the cyclic and time-zero pull-out forces of 7 25 mm and 7 40 mm blunt-threaded metal interference screws for hamstring graft tibial fixation in eight paired human cadaveric specimens. A four-stranded autologous hamstring tendon graft was secured by a blunt-threaded interference screw into a proximal tibial tunnel with a diameter corresponding to the graft width. Eight grafts were secured with a 25-mm length screw while the other eight paired grafts were secured with a 40-mm length screw. During cyclic testing, slippage of the graft occurred as the force of pull became greater with each cycle until the graft-screw complex ultimately failed. All grafts failed at the fixation site, with the tendon being pulled past the screw. There were no measurable differences in the mean cyclic failure strength, pull-out strength, or stiffness between the two sizes of screws. Although use of the longer screw would make removal technically easier should revision surgery be necessary, it did not provide stronger fixation strength than the shorter, standard screw as had been postulated.
A tool for registering and replaying web navigation

Web-based applications have an ever increasing impact on modern society. Organizations spend an ever increasing amount of resources developing and maintaining web applications that are in fact their public face. Hence, each problem that an external user encounters using these products - either due to an external attack or a simple defect in the underlying code - often results in a loss for the organization itself. In order to reduce defects and prevent attacks web applications require a thorough testing. Unfortunately, nowadays testing a web application is a very complicated issue, primarily due to the vast use of AJAX technologies. To simplify and improve the testing procedures, we propose a method to register and replay web navigation, i.e., sequences of user's interactions with web applications. Then, we developed a tool that implements this method and tested it on various web applications, both real and synthetic, obtaining very positive results.
Membrane particle aggregates in innervated and noninnervated cultures of Xenopus embryonic muscle cells.

Clusters of membrane particle aggregates were found in the cultures of Xenopus embryonic muscle cells. In innervated cultures, the aggregates were usually found in the vicinity of the nerve. In terms of particle density and morphology, they resembled the postsynaptic particle aggregates of adult skeletal muscle fibers, suggesting that they may be related to acetylcholine receptors. Similar particle aggregates were also found in noninnervated cultures. They may correspond to extrajunctional clusters of acetylcholine receptors or "hot spots. "
A Dual Seven-Level Inverter Supply for an Open-End Winding Induction Motor Drive

This paper develops a seven-level inverter structure for open-end winding induction motor drives. The inverter supply is realized by cascading four two-level and two three-level neutral-point-clamped inverters. The inverter control is designed in such a way that the common-mode voltage (CMV) is eliminated. DC-link capacitor voltage balancing is also achieved by using only the switching-state redundancies. The proposed power circuit structure is modular and therefore suitable for fault-tolerant applications. By appropriately isolating some of the inverters, the drive can be operated during fault conditions in a five-level or a three-level inverter mode, with preserved CMV elimination and DC-link capacitor voltage balancing, within a reduced modulation range.
Compact and wideband wide-slot antenna for microwave imaging system

A novel compact wide-slot antenna fed with a microstrip-line is proposed. The new design is composed of a p-shaped wide-slot and fed by a simple 50 Ω microstrip transmission line with an overall size of 16 mm × 16 mm. It is intended to be used in a microwave medical imaging applications that covers the ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency band. A wider impedance bandwidth of around 76% (4.9 – 11 GHz) with stable radiation pattern is achieved. The parametric studies showed that the proposed antenna has excellent characteristics, low profile and cost-effective compared to existing UWB antennas.
Mehr Licht : Goethe mit Newton im Streit um die Farben

Ob Goethe ganz zuletzt »Mehr Licht! « gesagt hat, werden wir nie erfahren. Fest steht, dass er es hatte sagen sollen: Der Spruch bringt Jahrzehnte seiner Forschung zu Farben, Licht und Finsternis auf den Punkt. Die Erhohung der Helligkeit, auf die Goethe abzielte, fuhrt zu ganz konkreten, exakt reproduzierbaren und uberraschenden Experimenten. Goethe war nicht nur ein gewiefter Experimentator – er war auch ein begnadeter Wissenschaftsphilosoph.
Uann Based Pattern Classifier Using Rough Set Approach

Data mining currently is a vital and core process because of advances in the technology, and numerous other forms of data. As an essential and significant constituent of data mining, classification has also become vital and a sought-after-option for research. Over the years, as various soft computing tools have been proven to be more complimentary than competitive, many hybrid approaches have evolved for pattern classification. A major thrust has always been there to apply hybrid approaches involving artificial neural network as the main tool for pattern classification. Here, one such hybrid approach is presented with application of Rough set philosophy to unsupervised artificial neural network (UANN) based pattern classifier. This enhances the performance of the classifier and makes it more suitable for real time classification applications dealing with large and unlabeled data. The idea presented here discusses with possibility and application of various Rough set based approaches at different levels of implementation of such classifier. The concluding section presents the results achieved for data of two case studies related to face recognition and mobile handoff prediction.
Libertad de cátedra del profesor universitario. Contenido y amenazas en el contexto actual de reforma del modelo de universidad pública

Asistimos, desde hace algunos anos, a un proceso de profundos cambios en la Univer-sidad. Reformas que no solo estan afectando, entre otros, a su financiacion, a su gobi-erno y gestion o a la estructura de las ensenanzas que en ella se imparten. Tambien, y de forma muy especial e intensa, se estan proyectando en su profesorado modificando su proceso de seleccion y transformando su funcion docente. Precisamente, en relaci-on con esta ultima, el papel que esta llamado a desempenar el docente esta garantiza-do por la Constitucion que les reconoce el derecho fundamental a la libertad de cate-dra. La proclamacion al mas alto nivel normativo de este derecho del profesor ha obli-gado a conjugarla con otros derechos, igualmente fundamentales, presentes en el sis-tema educativo, en especial, el de la educacion, y con otras potestades que se encomi-endan a poderes publicos y universidades derivadas de la concepcion de la educacion como un servicio publico. No obstante, en la actualidad las amenazas que plantean las nuevas exigencias derivadas del EEES pueden suponer un paso mas alla actuando en la misma esencia de contenido de la libertad de catedra perdiendo su sentido originario y condicionando su ejercicio a limites no permitidos por el propio texto constitucional.
N-(cycloalkylamino)acyl-2-aminothiazole inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 2. N-[5-[[[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-2-oxazolyl]methyl]thio]-2-thiazolyl]-4- piperidinecarboxamide (BMS-387032), a highly efficacious and selective antitumor agent.

N-Acyl-2-aminothiazoles with nonaromatic acyl side chains containing a basic amine were found to be potent, selective inhibitors of CDK2/cycE which exhibit antitumor activity in mice. In particular, compound 21 [N-[5-[[[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-2-oxazolyl]methyl]thio]-2-thiazolyl]-4-piperidinecarboxamide, BMS-387032], has been identified as an ATP-competitive and CDK2-selective inhibitor which has been selected to enter Phase 1 human clinical trials as an antitumor agent. In a cell-free enzyme assay, 21 showed a CDK2/cycE IC(50) = 48 nM and was 10- and 20-fold selective over CDK1/cycB and CDK4/cycD, respectively. It was also highly selective over a panel of 12 unrelated kinases. Antiproliferative activity was established in an A2780 cellular cytotoxicity assay in which 21 showed an IC(50) = 95 nM. Metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies showed that 21 exhibited a plasma half-life of 5-7 h in three species and moderately low protein binding in both mouse (69%) and human (63%) serum. Dosed orally to mouse, rat, and dog, 21 showed 100%, 31%, and 28% bioavailability, respectively. As an antitumor agent in mice, 21 administered at its maximum-tolerated dose exhibited a clearly superior efficacy profile when compared to flavopiridol in both an ip/ip P388 murine tumor model and in a s.c. /i.p. A2780 human ovarian carcinoma xenograft model.
Adaptation of a Communication Interaction Behavior Instrument for Use in Mechanically Ventilated, Nonvocal Older Adults

Background:Valid and reliable instruments are needed to measure communication interaction behaviors between nurses and mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients who are without oral speech. Objectives:The aim of this study was to refine and evaluate preliminary validity and reliability of a Communication Interaction Behavior Instrument (CIBI) adapted for use with mechanically ventilated, nonvocal patients in the intensive care unit. Methods:Raters observed nurse–patient communication interactions using a checklist of nurse and patient behaviors, categorized as positive and negative behaviors. Three-minute video-recorded observations of five mechanically ventilated adults (<60 years old) in the intensive care unit and their nurses were used to establish preliminary interrater reliability and confirm appropriateness of definitions (four observations per dyad, n = 20). On the basis of expert input and reliability results, the behaviors and item definitions on the CIBI were revised. The revised tool was then tested in a larger sample of 38 mechanically ventilated intensive care patients (> 60 years old) and their nurses (four observations per dyad, n = 152) to determine interrater reliability. Results:For preliminary testing, percent agreement for individual items ranged from 60% to 100% for nurse behaviors and 20% to 100% for patient behaviors across the five pilot cases. On the basis of these results, 11 definitions were modified and four items were dropped. Using the revised 29-item instrument, percent agreement improved for nurse behaviors (73%–100%) and patient behaviors (68%–100%). Kappa coefficients ranged from 0.13 to 1.00, with lower coefficients for patient behaviors. Conclusion:Preliminary results suggest that the revised CIBI has good face validity and shows good interrater reliability for many of the behaviors, but further refinement is needed. The use of dual raters with adjudication of discrepancies is the recommended method of administration for the revised CIBI.
Mekeo Chiefs and Sorcerers: Metaphor, Ideology and Practice

This paper evaluates two English expressions used by Michelle Stephen to translate the Mekeo terms lopia and ungaunga, traditionally rendered as “chief” (or “peace chief”) and “sorcerer” (Seligman 1910; Hau'ofa 1971, 1981; Mosko 1985). Stephen suggests that more “literal” translations are “man of kindness” and “man of sorrow”. I argue that the expressions proposed are only literal if we accept postulated etymologies based on Stephen's reading of the Desnoes Mekeo-French Dictionary (1941) and a grammatical analysis Stephen puts forward as unproblematic. I use authentic texts from Desnoes and my own grammar of Mekeo to challenge Stephen's suggested translations, and suggest that the use of conventional labels for key cultural terms is preferable to searching for non-existent “literal” meanings. More generally, I discuss the use of etymologies that are unverifiable, and often from a linguistic viewpoint unlikely, in ethnographies of the Mekeo and to some extent elsewhere. I outline linguistic processes whereby metaphors and other associative tropes rapidly become conventionalized, and lexical items become grammaticalized. I evaluate the role of metaphor and metonymy in the formation of concepts and belief systems, and sketch an interpretative framework capable of accounting for the different effects and uses of polysemy and homonymy.
Effective models and efficient algorithms for structural bioinformatics

The major objective of bioinformatics research is to study biological systems with computational perspectives and methods. Structural bioinformatics is an important field in bioinformatics and focuses on the modeling, description and prediction of the tertiary and secondary structures of biological molecules. Due to the inherent complexity associated with the structures of biological molecules, many problems in structural bioinformatics are computationally hard. An important challenge is thus to find computationally efficient methods (approximate or heuristic) that can provide good quality results. This dissertation develops methods and models for noncoding RNA search and protein threading, which are two important problems in structural bioinformatics. In particular, we study statistical methods that can model RNA structures containing pseudoknots. Based on Parallel Communicating Grammar Systems (PCGSs), a memory efficient algorithm is developed to align an RNA sequence to a pseudoknot structure. In addition, we show that the sequence-structure alignment problem can be reduced to the maximum valued subgraph isomorphism problem. Based on the concept of graph tree decomposition, this problem can be solved efficiently when the tree width of the guest graph is small. Based on this technique, new methods are developed to solve the problems of noncoding RNA search and protein tertiary structure prediction. The computational core of both problems is the sequencestructure alignment problem, and our testing results with this new algorithm demonstrate its advantage over previous methods for both problems in accuracy and computational efficiency. Index words: Structural bioinformatics, ncRNA search, Protein threading, Stochastic grammar models, Sequence structure alignment, Tree decomposition Effective Models and Efficient Algorithms for Structural Bioinformatics