Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of patient-perceived health status using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short-Form 36 in an intensive care unit population.

OBJECTIVE Baseline patient functional status as assessed by providers is correlated with mortality after intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We wanted to see if patient self-perception of health status before admission to an ICU correlated with functional outcome. DESIGN Prospective survey on a convenience sample. SETTING Single urban university-affiliated Veterans Affairs Medial Center. PATIENTS One hundred ninety-nine patients in surgical and medical/coronary ICUs. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS Patient-assessed baseline health status was monitored with the Medical Outcome Survey Short-Form 36 (SF-36), consisting of 36 questions that evaluate eight health status concepts. In addition, baseline functional status (Zubrod scale) was determined and severity of illness (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation [APACHE] II) data were collected. Zubrod functional status, which includes mortality, was determined 6 wks and 6 months after ICU admission, and correlation coefficients were calculated. MAIN RESULTS We found it feasible to collect SF-36 health status data on a 9% sample in this setting. Less than 1% of responses were completed by proxy. The SF-36 data were internally consistent, and several of its scales including general health perception and physical functioning correlated with patient Zubrod functional status (r2 = .08, p < .001; r2 = .14, p < .001) at 6 wks as did vitality (r2 = .04, p < .01), social function (r2 = .03, p < .05), and physical role function (r2 = .02, p = .053), although to a lesser extent. Similar correlations were also found with 6-month functional status. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that use of the SF-36 is time efficient in an ICU setting and correlates with 6-wk and 6-month functional outcome. It correlates as well with functional outcome as either the baseline Zubrod functional status or the APACHE II severity of illness measurement. The five-question general health evaluation portion correlated almost as well with outcome as the more extensive 36-item questionnaire. Use of the SF-36 may define patient populations for comparison across hospitals. It may also target individuals with needs for additional posthospitalization care, including rehabilitation services or nursing home placement.
G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 3 and Protein Kinase C Phosphorylate the Distal C-Terminal Tail of the Chemokine Receptor CXCR4 and Mediate Recruitment of β-Arrestin

Phosphorylation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is a key event for cell signaling and regulation of receptor function. Previously, using tandem mass spectrometry, we identified two phosphorylation sites at the distal C-terminal tail of the chemokine receptor CXCR4, but were unable to determine which specific residues were phosphorylated. Here, we demonstrate that serines (Ser) 346 and/or 347 (Ser-346/7) of CXCR4 are phosphorylated upon stimulation with the agonist CXCL12 as well as a CXCR4 pepducin, ATI-2341. ATI-2341, a Gαiβγ heterotrimer–biased CXCR4 agonist, induced more robust phosphorylation of Ser-346/7 compared with CXCL12. Knockdown of G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) 2, GRK3, or GRK6 reduced CXCL12-induced phosphorylation of Ser-346/7 with GRK3 knockdown having the strongest effect, while inhibition of the conventional protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms, particularly PKCα, reduced phosphorylation of Ser-346/7 induced by either CXCL12 or ATI-2341. The loss of GRK3- or PKC-mediated phosphorylation of Ser-346/7 impaired the recruitment of β-arrestin to CXCR4. We also found that a pseudo-substrate peptide inhibitor for PKCζ effectively inhibited CXCR4 phosphorylation and signaling, most likely by functioning as a nonspecific CXCR4 antagonist. Together, these studies demonstrate the role Ser-346/7 plays in arrestin recruitment and initiation of receptor desensitization and provide insight into the dysregulation of CXCR4 observed in patients with various forms of WHIM syndrome.
Channel Capacity with Side Information-A Uni fi ed View

We identify the common underlying form of the capacity expression that is applicable to both cases where causal or non-causal side information is made available to the transmitter. Using this common form we find that the capacity with causal and non-causal side information are identical when all the transmitter side information is also made available to the receiver. A genie-aided outerbound is developed that states that when a genie provides one bit of side information to the receiver the resulting capacity improvement can not be more than a bit. Combining these two results we are able to bound the relative capacity advantage of non-causal side information over causal side information for both single user as well as multiple user communication scenarios. Applications of these capacity bounds are demonstrated through examples of random access channels. It is also shown that even one bit of side information at the transmitter can result in unbounded capacity improvement.
Efficient Algorithms for Robust Estimation in Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using the Multivariate t Distribution

Linear mixed-effects models are frequently used to analyze repeated measures data, because they model flexibly the within-subject correlation often present in this type of data. The most popular linear mixed-effects model for a continuous response assumes normal distributions for the random effects and the within-subject errors, making it sensitive to outliers. Such outliers are more problematic for mixed-effects models than for fixed-effects models, because they may occur in the random effects, in the within-subject errors, or in both, making them harder to be detected in practice. Motivated by a real dataset from an orthodontic study, we propose a robust hierarchical linear mixed-effects model in which the random effects and the within-subject errors have multivariate t-distributions, with known or unknown degrees-of-freedom, which are allowed to vary with groups of subjects. By using a gamma-normal hierarchical structure, our model allows the identification and classification of both types of outliers, comparing favorably to other multivariate t models for robust estimation in mixed-effects models previously described in the literature, which use only the marginal distribution of the responses. Allowing for unknown degrees-of-freedom, which are estimated from the data, our model provides a balance between robustness and efficiency, leading to reliable results for valid inference. We describe and compare efficient EM-type algorithms, including ECM, ECME, and PX-EM, for maximum likelihood estimation in the robust multivariate t model. We compare the performance of the Gaussian and the multivariatet models under different patterns of outliers. Simulation results indicate that the multivariate t substantially outperforms the Gaussian model when outliers are present in the data, even in moderate amounts.
I Know It When I See It: Observable Races in JavaScript Applications

Despite JavaScript runtime's lack of conventional threads, the presence of asynchrony creates a real potential for concurrency errors. These concerns have lead to investigations of race conditions in the Web context. However, focusing on races does not produce actionable error reports that would at the end of the day appeal to developers and cause them to fix possible underlying problems. In this paper, we advocate for the notion of observable races, focusing on concurrency conditions that lead to visually apparent glitches caused by non-determinism within the runtime scheduler on the network. We propose and investigate ways to find observable races via systematically exploring possible network schedules and shepherding the scheduler towards correct executions. We propose crowd-sourcing both to spot when different schedules lead to visually broken sites and also to determine under what environment conditions (OS, browser, network speed) these schedules may in fact happen in practice for some fraction of the users.
Terminology Based Visualization of Interfaces in Interdisciplinary Research Networks

Interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers from different fields is often hampered by different wordings and terminologies as well as the varying utilization of similar concepts. Empirical research has shown that a visualization of thematic interfaces between the researchers in a Cluster of Excellence is a possible approach to support scientific collaboration processes. As one possible solution a technical concept for this approach is outlined in this paper. Terminologies are used to create a visualization of interfaces between the researchers. The paper focuses on the extraction of terminologies and their usage based on scientific publications as well as the corresponding mapping and visualization process using Text Mining algorithms.
SHORT COMMUNICATION: Microcarriers for high‐pressure freezing and cryosectioning of adherent cells

A method is described employing microcarrier spheres of cross‐linked dextran for obtaining ultra‐ and semithin vitreous sections from high‐pressure frozen anchorage‐dependent (mammalian) cells. Avoiding trypsination or scraping cells off from the culture surface, the presented approach allows for cryoimmobilization, cryosectioning and cryoelectron microscopy/tomography of frozen‐hydrated cells in an unperturbed manner which is important to preserve the native state of, for instance, the cytoskeleton. Furthermore, our studies on the ‘life cycle’ of Herpes simplex virus in Vero cells demonstrate that cell monolayers on microcarrier beads are well suited for fluorescence microscopic characterization of the sample prior to high‐pressure freezing.
Core Arguments in Universal Dependencies

We investigate how core arguments are coded in case-marking Indo-European languages. Core arguments are a central concept in Universal Dependencies, yet it is sometimes difficult to match against terminologies traditionally used for individual languages. We review the methodology described in (Andrews, 2007), and include brief definitions of some basic terms. Statistics from 26 UD treebanks show that not all treebank providers define the coreoblique boundary the same way. Therefore we propose some refinement and particularization of the guidelines that would improve cross-treebank consistency on the one hand, and be more sensitive to the traditional grammar on the other.
Integrating Digital Image Management Software for Improved Patient Care and Optimal Practice Management

BACKGROUND Photographic images provide vital documentation of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative results in the clinical dermatologic surgery practice and can document histologic findings from skin biopsies, thereby enhancing patient care. Images may be printed as part of text documents, transmitted via electronic mail, or included in electronic medical records. OBJECTIVES To describe existing computer software that integrates digital photography and the medical record to improve patient care and practice management. CONCLUSIONS A variety of computer applications are available to optimize the use of digital images in the dermatologic practice.
Enhancement of document images from cameras

As digital cameras become cheaper and more powerful, driven by the consumer digital photography market, we anticipate significant value in extending their utility as a general office peripheral by adding a paper scanning capability. The main technical challenges in realizing this new scanning interface are insufficient resolution, blur and lighting variations. We have developed an efficient technique for the recovery of text from digital camera images, which simultaneously treats these three problems, unlike other local thresholding algorithms which do not cope with blur and resolution enhancement. The technique first performs deblurring by deconvolution, and then resolution enhancement by linear interpolation. We compare the performance of a threshold derived from the local mean and variance of all pixel values within a neighborhood with a threshold derived from the local mean of just those pixels with high gradient. We assess performance using OCR error scores.
Bypassing Code Coverage Approximation Limitations via Effective Input-Based Randomized Test Case Prioritization

Test case prioritization assigns the execution priorities of the test cases in a given test suite with the aim of achieving certain goals. Many existing test case prioritization techniques however assume the full-fledged availability of code coverage data, fault history, or test specification, which are seldom well-maintained in many software development projects. This paper proposes a novel family of LBS techniques. They make adaptive tree-based randomized explorations with an adaptive randomized candidate test set strategy to diversify the explorations among the branches of the exploration trees constructed by the test inputs in the test suite. They get rid of the assumption on the historical correlation of code coverage between program versions. Our techniques can be applied to programs with or without any previous versions, and hence are more general than many existing test case prioritization techniques. The empirical study on four popular UNIX utility benchmarks shows that, in terms of APFD, our LBS techniques can be as effective as some of the best code coverage-based greedy prioritization techniques ever proposed. We also show that they are significantly more efficient and scalable than the latter techniques.
Enhanced adaptive modulation and coding schemes based on multiple channel reportings for wireless multicast systems

This paper shows various schemes to change Mod- ulation and Coding Schemes(MCS) adaptively for multicasting. Applying Adaptive Modulation and Coding(AMC) scheme to multicasting will show better performance in view of spectrum efficiency aspect than fixing MCS level. Since there exist mul- tiple receivers for a data in multicasting, there is much more difficulty in determining the overall MCS level which satisfies all the receivers. Based on the channel quality information of the receivers, the source can determine the overall MCS level by three schemes; minimum MCS algorithm, average MCS algorithm, and weighted average MCS algorithm. Here, a tradeoff between spectrum efficiency and robustness exists: minimum MCS algorithm chooses robustness that guarantees low error rate to all the receivers, while average MCS algorithm chooses spectrum efficiency to improve throughput performance. A compromise between spectrum efficiency and robustness can be made by introducing weights to averaging MCS. Depending on the parameters related to the weights, more robustness or spec- trum efficiency can be achieved. This paper presents numerical analysis showing the performance of the proposed schemes and a conventional scheme. Also simulation is presented to verify the numerical analysis results and shows the performance of weighted MCS algorithm.
Circadian rhythms of angiogenic factors in skin and wound tissue in per2-mutant mice

It has recently been reported that circadian gene Period 2 (per2) regulates mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor gene (Vegf) in some tumor cells. It still remains unknown, however, whether per2 has an effect on expression of angiogenic factors during the wound healing process. To investigate the circadian rhythms of angiogenic factors in intact skin and wound tissue in per2-mutant and control mice, we used a skin incision wound model on per2-mutant and control mice, and analyzed circadian rhythms of mRNA levels for several angiogenic factors. Our results show a novel finding that, for some angiogenic factors, the circadian rhythms of mRNA levels in wound tissue exist in per2-mutant as well as in control mice, indicating that some circadian rhythms may be per2-independent. We observed circadian rhythms of per2 and some angiogenic factor mRNAs in control mouse intact skin. The circadian patterns of some angiogenic factors mRNAs in intact skin were altered in per2-mutant mice relative to normal mice, indicating the existence of per2-dependent and independent regulations of angiogenic factors expressions. Correspondence to: Makoto Nogami, Department of Legal Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1, Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan, Tel: +81 3 3964 1211; E-mail: mnogami@med.teikyo-u.ac. jp
The 5 th International Symposium of the Nutrition Society Nutritional in fl uences on age-related skeletal muscle loss

Age-related muscle loss impacts on whole-body metabolism and leads to frailty and sarcopenia, which are risk factors for fractures and mortality. Although nutrients are integral to muscle metabolism the relationship between nutrition and muscle loss has only been extensively investigated for protein and amino acids. The objective of the present paper is to describe other aspects of nutrition and their association with skeletal muscle mass. Mechanisms for muscle loss relate to imbalance in protein turnover with a number of anabolic pathways of which the mechanistic TOR pathway and the IGF-1–Akt–FoxO pathways are the most characterised. In terms of catabolism the ubiquitin proteasome system, apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, oxidation and insulin resistance are among the major mechanisms proposed. The limited research associating vitamin D, alcohol, dietary acid–base load, dietary fat and anti-oxidant nutrients with age-related muscle loss is described. Vitamin D may be protective for muscle loss; a more alkalinogenic diet and diets higher in the anti-oxidant nutrients vitamin C and vitamin E may also prevent muscle loss. Although present recommendations for prevention of sarcopenia focus on protein, and to some extent on vitamin D, other aspects of the diet including fruits and vegetables should be considered. Clearly, more research into other aspects of nutrition and their role in prevention of muscle loss is required.
Quality of Life in Patients with Fibromyalgia

Objectives : The aim of this review is to provide practicing clinicians with detailed information on the quality of life (QoL) of patients with fibromyalgia, and the medical and non-medical management effects on quality of life in fibromyalgia. Methods : A systematic English language search of the medical literature from January 1980 to January 2013 using PubMed was conducted using the search terms “fibromyalgia” AND “quality of life. ” The literature search revealed 1,086 publications; 259 were clinical trials on human patients, 230 were reviews and 20 were case reports. Three authors reached a consensus on selecting the studies based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 95 research studies were included in this review. Results : Overall quality of life is severely impaired in patients with fibromyalgia. Comorbidities have a further negative impact on QoL. Substantial pain reductions resulting in improvement of QoL were observed with medications and non-medication interventions such as exercise, acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy, neurofeedback and multidisciplinary approach. Conclusion : Fibromyalgia and its comorbidities including pain have a considerable negative impact on the quality of life of fibromyalgia patients. Substantial or moderate pain reduction seems to improve quality of life. A multidisciplinary approach appears to be most beneficial in management of this multifaceted illness, but more studies are needed to develop specific interventions necessary to alleviate pain and sufferings in these patients.
Use of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria as a vector to express the cry3A gene from Bacillus thuringiensis

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o potencial de uso de bacterias diazotroficas endofiticas como vetores para a expressao de genes cry de Bacillus thuringiensis. As bacterias diazotroficas endofiticas Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus estirpe BR11281 e Herbaspirillum seropedicae estirpe BR11335 foram usadas como modelo. O gene cry3A foi transferido atraves de um plasmideo suicida por conjugacao e os recombinantes foram selecionados pela sua capacidade de fixar nitrogenio em meio semi-solido sem N. A presenca do gene cry3A no genoma dos transconjugantes foi detectada atraves da tecnica de "Southern blot" utilizando como sonda um fragmento de 1,0 kb, interno ao gene cry3A. A producao de d-endotoxina pelos transconjugantes foi detectada por "Dot blot" em de H. seropedicae e por "Western blot" em G. diazotrophicus, usando-se o anticorpo especifico para a toxina de B. thuringiensis. A avaliacao da producao da d-endotoxina mostrou que a expressao do gene cry3A em G. diazotrophicus e dependente do processo de fixacao de nitrogenio por estar fusionado a um promotor nif nesta bacteria. No caso de H. seropedicae a expressao nao foi influenciada pelo promotor de rizosfera (rhi) usado. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que estas bacterias diazotroficas endofiticas podem ser usadas como vetores para expressar genes com atividade entomopatogenica, visando o controle de pragas de cana-de-acucar ou outras plantas de interesse economico.
Interactive multimedia summaries of evaluative text

We present an interactive multimedia interface for automatically summarizing large corpora of evaluative text (e.g. online product reviews). We rely on existing techniques for extracting knowledge from the corpora but present a novel approach for conveying that knowledge to the user. Our system presents the extracted knowledge in a hierarchical visualization mode as well as in a natural language summary. We propose a method for reasoning about the extracted knowledge so that the natural language summary can include only the most important information from the corpus. Our approach is interactive in that it allows the user to explore in the original dataset through intuitive visual and textual methods. Results of a formative evaluation of our interface show general satisfaction among users with our approach.
Theoretical and Experimental Investigations Prove Nd: YAG Laser Treatment to Be Safe

The safety of the application of the Nd:YAG laser for hemostasis in emergency gastro‐endoscopy when its irradiation is properly dosed is demonstrated on the basis of laboratory investigations as well as theoretical calculations on a mathematical model of internal scattering. The increased effectiveness of this laser compared with argon and CO2 lasers in producing in‐depth volume heating is shown to derive from the fortuitous combination of its low absorptivity with the scattering phenomenon.
Cognition and social cognition in non-psychotic siblings of patients with schizophrenia

Introduction. Deficits in Social Cognition are common in people with schizophrenia. However, it is not clear if these deficits are a vulnerability marker and whether they are independent to cognitive difficulties. This study investigates these two issues in individuals with a genetic liability to psychosis. Methods. Twenty-one healthy siblings of patients with schizophrenia were compared with 21 healthy individuals on a range of cognitive and social cognitive measures. Significant differences in cognitive domains were controlled for when comparing the two groups on measures of social cognition. Results. Siblings of people with schizophrenia performed significantly worst on tests of theory of mind and social perception but not on affect recognition. Scores on tests of executive function, processing speed and general IQ were also lower in the sibling group. When controlled for differences in cognitive tests, the two groups still retained significant differences in theory of mind and social perception. However, executive function significantly contributed to theory of mind and processing speed to social perception differences. Conclusions. These results further suggest that difficulties in some domains of social cognition are associated with a genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia. In these areas, cognitive difficulties account only partially for social cognition problems suggesting that these two domains may represent relatively independent liability factors.