Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the acceptability and feasibility of the I Promise Program: a driving program for families with young new drivers

Objectives: To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the I Promise Program (IPP), a driving program developed for families with young new drivers (YNDs). Design, setting, and subjects: The IPP consists of a contract between parents and YNDs and a rear window decal (sticker). Program acceptability was assessed through four focus groups with 40 young new drivers (YND), two with 19 parents of YNDs, and two with 15 community members. To determine whether the program’s design, materials, and procedures were working as planned, 51 families participated in a six month pilot project. Telephone and in-person interviews were conducted at months 1 and 6, respectively. Results: Participants had problems with the acceptability of the program’s underlying message; content, format, and language of the materials; program cost; and proposed participant incentives. Thirty eight (75%) families completed the six month pilot. Most YNDs (75%) and parents (85%) identified the contract as a useful communication tool. Despite positive initial reactions, 50% of YNDs did not recall the content of the contract after six months. Sixty eight percent of families had problems with the decal (for example, did not stay affixed, colors faded) and only 17% of YNDs reported a lasting impact on their driving. Only 20% of families chose to continue in the program after the pilot. Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of formative and process evaluation in the development of a new prevention strategy to assess a strategy’s acceptability and feasibility. In response to participants’ feedback, revisions made to the program’s materials and delivery model included making its two key components—the contract and decal—available online, independent of each other, and free of charge.
Ventilatory Threshold and Maximal Oxygen Uptake during Cycling and Running in Female Triathletes

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and the ventilatory threshold (Tvent) were measured during cycle ergometry (CE) and treadmill running (TR) in a group of 10 highly trained female triathletes. Tvent was defined as the VO2 at which the ventilatory equivalent for oxygen increased without a marked rise in the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide. Female triathletes achieved a significantly higher mean (+/- SE) relative VO2max for running (63.6 +/- 1.2 ml.kg-1.min-1) than for cycling (59.9 +/- 1.3 ml.kg-1.min-1). When oxygen uptake measured at the ventilatory threshold was expressed as a percent of VO2max, the mean value obtained for TR (74.0 +/- 2.0% of VO2max) was significantly greater than the value obtained for CE (62.7 +/- 2.1% of VO2max). This occurred even though the total training time and intensity were similar for the two modes of exercise. Female triathletes had average running and cycling VO2max values that compared favorably with maximal oxygen uptake values previously reported for elite female runners and cyclists, respectively. However, mean running and cycling Tvent values (VO2 Tvent as%VO2max) were lower than recently reported values for single-sport athletes. The physiological variability between the triathletes studied and single-sport athletes may be attributed in part to differences in training distance or intensity, and/or to variations in the number of years of intense training in a specific mode of exercise. It was concluded that these triathletes were well-trained in both running and cycling, but not to the same extent as female athletes who only train and compete in running or cycling.
Stabilization of interval type-2 T-S fuzzy control systems with time varying delay

This paper studies the delay-dependent stabilization problem for interval type-2 fuzzy controller design of continuous-time interval type-2 Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) systems with time-varying delay. A delayed interval type-2 T-S fuzzy model is used to represent the state-space equation for a class of continuous nonlinear systems with time delay subject to parameter uncertainties. Then, a stable interval type-2 T-S fuzzy controller is designed, which guarantees asymptotic stability for the closed-loop interval type-2 fuzzy system with time-varying delay. A delay dependent sufficient condition for the existence of such a stabilizing controller is established in terms of the linear matrix inequality (LMI) by employing a novel common Lyapunov-Krasovskii (L-K) functional approach and a newly proposed tighter bounding technique based on the reciprocally convex combination idea. It provides a first attempt to tackle with the stabilization problem of type-2 fuzzy systems with time-varying delay.
Accuracy of GFR estimating equations combining standardized cystatin C and creatinine assays: a cross-sectional study in Sweden

Abstract Background: The recently established international cystatin C calibrator makes it possible to develop non-laboratory specific glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating (eGFR) equations. This study compares the performance of the arithmetic mean of the revised Lund-Malmö creatinine and CAPA cystatin C equations (MEANLM-REV+CAPA), the arithmetic mean of the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation (CKD-EPI) creatinine and cystatin C equations (MEANCKD-EPI), and the composite CKD-EPI equation (CKD-EPICREA+CYSC) with the corresponding single marker equations using internationally standardized calibrators for both cystatin C and creatinine. Methods: The study included 1200 examinations in 1112 adult Swedish patients referred for measurement of GFR (mGFR) 2008–2010 by plasma clearance of iohexol (median 51 mL/min/1.73 m2). Bias, precision (interquartile range, IQR) and accuracy (percentage of estimates ±30% of mGFR; P30) were compared. Results: Combined marker equations were unbiased and had higher precision and accuracy than single marker equations. Overall results of MEANLM-REV+CAPA/MEANCKD-EPI/CKD-EPICREA+CYSC were: median bias –2.2%/–0.5%/–1.6%, IQR 9.2/9.2/8.8 mL/min/1.73 m2, and P30 91.3%/91.0%/91.1%. The P30 figures were about 7–14 percentage points higher than the single marker equations. The combined equations also had a more stable performance across mGFR, age and BMI intervals, generally with P30 ≥90% and never <80%. Combined equations reached P30 of 95% when the difference between eGFRCREA and eGFRCYSC was <10% but decreased to 82% at a difference of ≥40%. Conclusions: Combining cystatin C and creatinine assays improves GFR estimations with P30 ≥90% in adults. Reporting estimates of both single and combined marker equations in clinical settings makes it possible to assess the validity of the combined equation based on the agreement between the single marker equations.
Induction of cytokine transcripts in the central nervous system and pituitary following peripheral administration of endotoxin to mice

The regional distribution and inducibility of cytokines in the normal brain is still a matter of controversy. As an attempt to clarify this issue, we studied the constitutive and induced expression of interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, and interferon (IFN)‐γ mRNAs in the brain, pituitary, and spleen of mice using qualitative and semiquantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction. The contribution of nonbrain cells to the cytokine transcripts detected was considered. With the exception of IFN‐γ mRNA, transcripts for the other cytokines were found to be constitutively present in the brain. Following i.p. injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at a dose below those described to disrupt the blood‐brain barrier (BBB), cytokine mRNA expression was increased in the spleen, the pituitary, and the brain. In the brain, the onset of transcription varied from 45 min (IL‐1β, TNF‐α) to 4 hr (IFN‐γ), and the peak of mRNA accumulation was observed at different times depending on the cytokine and the brain region studied. IL‐1 and IL‐6 were highly expressed in the hypothalamus and hippocampus, while TNF‐α expression was more marked in the thalamus‐striatum. The cortex was the region in which cytokines were less inducible. The inducible expression of cytokine mRNAs in the brain was paralleled by stimulation of hypothalamus‐pituitary‐adrenal axis. These results show the capacity of brain cells to synthesize different cytokine mRNAs in vivo and define the kinetics of their expression in several brain areas and in the periphery in parallel to the activation of a neuroendocrine pathway by endotoxin. J. Neurosci. Res. 48:287–298, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A 1.1 G MAC/s sub-word-parallel digital signal processor for wireless communication applications

This work proposes a communication digital signal processor (DSP) suitable for massive signal processing operations in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and code-division multiple-access (CDMA) communication systems. The OFDM-based IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN transceiver and CDMA-based WCDMA uplink receiver are simulated to evaluate the computation requirements of future communication systems. The architecture of the communication digital signal processor is established according to the computational complexity of these simulations. The proposed architecture supports basic butterfly operations, single/double-precision and real- and complex-valued multiplication-and-accumulation (MAC), squared error computation, and add-compare-select (ACS) operation. This butterfly/complex MAC architecture can greatly enhance the execution efficiency of operations often found in communication applications. The processor chip is fabricated using a 0.35-/spl mu/m n-well one-poly four-metal CMOS technology. The fabricated DSP chip reaches a speed of 1.1 G MAC/s when operating in the high-speed mode, and it achieves 4 M MAC/s/mW in the low-power mode.
State-of-the-art of serum testosterone measurement by isotope dilution-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND The recent interest of clinical laboratories in developing serum testosterone assays based on isotope dilution-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC-MS/MS) stems from the lack of accuracy of direct immunoassays. In this study, we assessed the accuracy and state of standardization (traceability) of 4 published ID-LC-MS/MS procedures in a method comparison with an ID-gas chromatography (GC)-MS reference measurement procedure listed in the database of the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine. METHODS The study used 58 specimens from different patient categories. Each specimen was measured in triplicate (ID-LC-MS/MS) and quadruplicate (ID-GC-MS) in independent runs. RESULTS The testosterone concentrations by ID-GC-MS were 0.2-4.4 nmol/L (women), 0.2-2.0 nmol/L (hypogonadal man), and 10.1-31.3 nmol/L (normogonadal men). For ID-GC-MS, the CV was nearly constant, with a median of 1.0%; for ID-LC-MS/MS, it was concentration-dependent, with a median of up to 8%. Weighted Deming regression gave mean slopes, intercepts, and correlation coefficients of 0.90-1.11, -0.055-0.013 nmol/L, and 0.993-0.997, respectively. The % difference plot showed between 7% and 26% of the results outside a total error limit of 14%, with median deviations from ID-GC-MS between -9.6 and 0.4%. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated fairly good accuracy and standardization of the tested ID-LC-MS/MS procedures. Performance differences between procedures were evident in some instances, due to improper calibration and between-run calibration control. This emphasizes the need for thorough validation, including traceability, of new ID-LC-MS/MS procedures.
Retransfusion of cardiotomy suction blood impairs haemostasis: Ex vivo and in vivo studies

Abstract Objectives. Cardiotomy suction blood in volumes corresponding to 10–20% of the systemic blood volume is retransfused during cardiopulmonary bypass. We hypothesized that retransfusion of unwashed cardiotomy suction blood influences coagulation and platelet function. Design. Systemic blood samples collected during cardiopulmonary bypass were supplemented ex vivo with autologous wound blood (5, 10 and 20%, respectively). Clot formation and platelet function were assessed with thromboelastometry and platelet aggregometry. In an in vivo pilot study 30 patients were randomized into a retransfusion and a no-retransfusion group. Clot formation, platelet aggregability and thrombin generation capacity were compared between the groups. Results. Cardiotomy suction blood had markedly impaired clot stability and reduced levels of fibrinogen and platelets compared with systemic blood. Ex vivo addition of 10% and 20% suction blood to systemic blood impaired platelet aggregability and clot stability. Retransfusion of small amounts of wound blood in vivo (mean volume 280 ml, corresponding to 5% of the blood volume) did not significantly influence haemostasis. Conclusions. The ex vivo results suggest that addition of unwashed cardiotomy suction blood in clinically relevant volumes impairs systemic haemostasis. Retransfusion of smaller volumes in vivo has no or limited impact. Avoiding retransfusion of larger amounts of unwashed cardiotomy suction may improve postoperative haemostasis.
Importance of transversal and longitudinal symmetry/asymmetry in the fundamental properties of periodic leaky-wave antennas

This paper classifies periodic leaky-wave antennas (LWAs) into four groups based on the symmetries or asymmetries of their unit cell. It first presents the fundamental properties and limitations of LWAs whose unit cell is symmetric with respect to both the longitudinal (long.) and transversal (trans.) axes, which constitutes the first group. It next shows that breaking the symmetry with respect to the long. axis, which leads to the second group, allows to equalize the antenna gain through broadside. This group is generally elliptically polarized. The third group is formed by breaking the symmetry with respect to the trans. axis. Here, the degree of asymmetry is a powerful design parameter to selectively control the LWA characteristics at broadside while maintaining linear polarization. Finally, it speculates on the characteristics on the last group, that is currently under investigation.
The Chicken β-Globin 5′HS4 Boundary Element Blocks Enhancer-Mediated Suppression of Silencing

ABSTRACT A constitutive DNase I-hypersensitive site 5′ of the chicken β-globin locus, termed 5′HS4 or cHS4, has been shown to insulate a promoter from the effect of an upstream enhancer and to reduce position effects on mini-white expression in Drosophilacells; on the basis of these findings, it has been designated a chromatin insulator. We have examined the effect of the cHS4 insulator in a system that assays both the level of gene expression and the rate of transcriptional silencing. Because transgenes flanked by insulator elements are shielded from position effects in Drosophilacells, we tested the ability of cHS4 to protect transgenes from position effects in mammalian cells. Flanking of an expression vector with the cHS4 insulator in a colony assay did not increase the number of G418-resistant colonies. Using lox/cre-based recombinase-mediated cassette exchange to control integration position, we studied the effect of cHS4 on the silencing of an integrated β-geo reporter at three genomic sites in K562 erythroleukemia cells. In this assay, enhancers act to suppress silencing but do not increase expression levels. While cHS4 blocked enhancement at each integration site, the strength of the effect varied from site to site. Furthermore, at some sites, cHS4 inhibited the enhancer effect either when placed between the enhancer and the promoter or when placed upstream of the enhancer. These results suggest that the activity of cHS4 is not dominant in all contexts and is unlikely to prevent silencing at all genomic integration sites.
Phylotranscriptomic analysis of the origin and early diversification of land plants

Significance Early branching events in the diversification of land plants and closely related algal lineages remain fundamental and unresolved questions in plant evolutionary biology. Accurate reconstructions of these relationships are critical for testing hypotheses of character evolution: for example, the origins of the embryo, vascular tissue, seeds, and flowers. We investigated relationships among streptophyte algae and land plants using the largest set of nuclear genes that has been applied to this problem to date. Hypothesized relationships were rigorously tested through a series of analyses to assess systematic errors in phylogenetic inference caused by sampling artifacts and model misspecification. Results support some generally accepted phylogenetic hypotheses, while rejecting others. This work provides a new framework for studies of land plant evolution. Reconstructing the origin and evolution of land plants and their algal relatives is a fundamental problem in plant phylogenetics, and is essential for understanding how critical adaptations arose, including the embryo, vascular tissue, seeds, and flowers. Despite advances in molecular systematics, some hypotheses of relationships remain weakly resolved. Inferring deep phylogenies with bouts of rapid diversification can be problematic; however, genome-scale data should significantly increase the number of informative characters for analyses. Recent phylogenomic reconstructions focused on the major divergences of plants have resulted in promising but inconsistent results. One limitation is sparse taxon sampling, likely resulting from the difficulty and cost of data generation. To address this limitation, transcriptome data for 92 streptophyte taxa were generated and analyzed along with 11 published plant genome sequences. Phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted using up to 852 nuclear genes and 1,701,170 aligned sites. Sixty-nine analyses were performed to test the robustness of phylogenetic inferences to permutations of the data matrix or to phylogenetic method, including supermatrix, supertree, and coalescent-based approaches, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods, partitioned and unpartitioned analyses, and amino acid versus DNA alignments. Among other results, we find robust support for a sister-group relationship between land plants and one group of streptophyte green algae, the Zygnematophyceae. Strong and robust support for a clade comprising liverworts and mosses is inconsistent with a widely accepted view of early land plant evolution, and suggests that phylogenetic hypotheses used to understand the evolution of fundamental plant traits should be reevaluated.
The European internet‐based patient and research database for primary immunodeficiencies: update 2011

In order to build a common data pool and estimate the disease burden of primary immunodeficiencies (PID) in Europe, the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) has developed an internet‐based database for clinical and research data on patients with PID. This database is a platform for epidemiological analyses as well as the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and the identification of novel disease‐associated genes. Since its start in 2004, 13 708 patients from 41 countries have been documented in the ESID database. Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) represents the most common entity with 2880 patients or 21% of all entries, followed by selective immunoglobulin A (sIgA) deficiency (1424 patients, 10·4%). The total documented prevalence of PID is highest in France, with five patients per 100 000 inhabitants. The highest documented prevalence for a single disease is 1·3 per 100 000 inhabitants for sIgA deficiency in Hungary. The highest reported incidence of PID per 100 000 live births was 16·2 for the period 1999–2002 in France. The highest reported incidence rate for a single disease was 6·7 for sIgA deficiency in Spain for the period 1999–2002. The genetic cause was known in 36·2% of all registered patients. Consanguinity was reported in 8·8%, and 18·5% of patients were reported to be familial cases; 27·9% of patients were diagnosed after the age of 16. We did not observe a significant decrease in the diagnostic delay for most diseases between 1987 and 2010. The most frequently reported long‐term medication is immunoglobulin replacement.
A Human and Group Behaviour Simulation Evaluation Framework utilising Composition and Video Analysis

In this work we present the modular Crowd Simulation Evaluation through Composition framework (CSEC) which provides a quantitative comparison between different pedestrian and crowd simulation approaches. Evaluation is made based on the comparison of source footage against synthetic video created through novel composition techniques. The proposed framework seeks to reduce the complexity of simulation evaluation and provide a platform from which the comparison of differing simulation algorithms as well as parametric tuning can be conducted to improve simulation accuracy or providing measures of similarity between crowd simulation algorithms and source data. Through the use of features designed to mimic the Human Visual System (HVS), specific simulation properties can be evaluated relative to sample footage. Validation was performed on a number of popular crowd datasets and through comparisons of multiple pedestrian and crowd simulation algorithms.
Fast Trajectory Optimization for Legged Robots Using Vertex-Based ZMP Constraints

This letter combines the fast zero-moment-point approaches that work well in practice with the broader range of capabilities of a trajectory optimization formulation, by optimizing over body motion, footholds, and center of pressure simultaneously. We introduce a vertex-based representation of the support-area constraint, which can treat arbitrarily oriented point-, line-, and area-contacts uniformly. This generalization allows us to create motions, such as quadrupedal walking, trotting, bounding, pacing, combinations, and transitions between these, limping, bipedal walking, and push recovery all with the same approach. This formulation constitutes a minimal representation of the physical laws (unilateral contact forces) and kinematic restrictions (range of motion) in legged locomotion, which allows us to generate diverse motions in less than a second. We demonstrate the feasibility of the generated motions on a real quadruped robot.
Relationship between atypical T- and B-cell size predicts survival in peripheral T-cell lymphomas with large B-cells

Background: Pathological prognostication for peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) complicated by large B-cell (LBC) proliferations has not been previously devised. Methods: Forty-six cases of PTCL with LBCs were reviewed immunohistologically, by in situ hybridisation for Epstein–Barr virus encoded RNA and polymerase chain reaction analyses for T-cell receptor (TCR) clonality. Follow-up intervals ranged from 1 to 149 months (mean 40 months). Results: Cases with atypical T-cell size equal to or exceeding that of interspersed LBCs (ATEB+, n = 12, including an ALK negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma) had significantly inferior disease-specific survival compared to ATEB negative (ATEB–, n = 34) cases (p = 0.002 for all cases and p = 0.014 when restricted to TCR clonal cases, n = 30) [hazard ratio 11.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94–85.0, p = 0.019]. All recorded deaths amongst ATEB+ cases occurred in 26 months, while TCR polyclonal ATEB– cases (n = 9) had none; TCR clonal ATEB– cases (n = 22) had 62% 5-year survival (95%CI 33–91%, p = 0.001). There was no survival separation between angioimmunoblastic (n = 25) and unspecified (n = 20) subsets of PTCL (p = 0.957). Conclusion: In PTCLs, cytological grading using harboured LBCs as internal yardsticks, as well as molecular genotypic measures of lymphoma cell burden, have prognostic value.