Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep disorders and their management in patients with COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent progressive condition that adversely affects quality of life and sleep. Patients with COPD suffer from variety of sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep disordered breathing and restless leg syndrome. The sleep disorders in COPD patients may stem from poor control of primary disease or due to side effects of pharmacotherapy. Thus, optimization of COPD therapy is the main step in treating insomnia in these patients. Further, pharmacotherapy of sleep disorders may result in respiratory depression and related complications. Therefore, clear understanding of respiratory physiology during transition from wakefulness to sleep and during various stages of sleep plays an important role in therapies that are recommended in patients with significant airway obstruction. In this publication, we review respiratory physiology as it relates to sleep and discuss sleep disorders and their management in patients with COPD.
Antipodean Agricultural and Resource Economics at 60: Trends in Topics, Authorship and Collaboration

This study presents results of an analysis of 1060 academic articles published in the Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics from 1957 to 2015. Trends in research topics over time identified by the study include a decline in research on agricultural topics offset by growth in publications related to natural resources, the environment, trade, food and international development. Other trends include an increase in the average number of co-authors on each paper, a gradual increase in authorship by females, changes in the shares of top contributing institutions, increases in collaboration between institutions and a steady increase in the number of authors from outside Australia or New Zealand.
Evaluation of the effects of disabilities due to traffic accidents on the quality of life using SF-36 health survey.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of disabilities caused by traffic accidents on quality of life using the SF-36 health survey. METHODS The study group included 168 patients (30 females and 138 males) injured in traffic accidents referred to the Department of Forensic Medicine to obtain health reports indicating their degree of disability. One hundred twenty-two cases comprised the control group. The degree of disability for the injured body parts was determined based on the related section of the Disability Regulation for patients regarded as recovered based on examination and consultation. Quality of life was calculated using the SF-36 survey. Patients were additionally evaluated using the physical and mental component summary PCS/MCS) scores. RESULTS A statistically significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of the injured body parts. The femur, tibia and/or fibula, vertebrae, radius and/or ulna and the humerus were the most frequently fractured bones. The degree of disability in the patient group was 19.22 ± 17.73. Together with the scores of the eight subscales of SF-36, the PCS and MCS score in the patient group were significantly lower when compared to the control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION An update is required in the Disability Regulation, including the addition of items on deterioration in the quality of life and pain, and the use of the SF-36 scale may be beneficial in this regard.
Analysis on Wideband Patch Arrays Using Unequal Arms With Equivalent Circuit Model in X-Band

This letter presents a novel design of patch antenna arrays in X-band for wideband operation. The proposed patch arrays are achieved by using unequal resonance arms fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW). In this design, three unequal arms fed by the CPW-to-slotline through a coupling system of 100-Ω T-shaped slotline transitions produce three resonances to broaden the impedance bandwidth. The proposed structures are used for the designs of 1 × 2 and 1 × 4 patch arrays, which cover the measured frequency ranges (S11 ≤ -10 dB) from 8.48 to 11.45 and 8.50 to 11.31 GHz, respectively. By varying the length of unequal arms, the resonance tuning within the impedance bandwidth can be obtained. The proposed antenna arrays present outstanding features such as resonance tuning ability, comparatively simple structures with low fabrication cost and enhanced impedance bandwidth with unidirectional radiation patterns. In this letter, an equivalent circuit model for the proposed 1 × 2 array is also introduced to predict the behavior of its bandwidth enhancement. The lumped elements used in this suggested model are optimized in order to make conformity between the obtained results of the model and the full-wave simulation results.
Computational model of cardiovascular function during orthostatic stress

Orthostatic intolerance following spaceflight remains a critical problem in the current life-science space program. The study presented in this paper is part of an ongoing effort to use mathematical models to investigate the effects of gravitational stresses on the cardiovascular system of normals and microgravity adapted individuals. The authors employ a 12 compartment lumped parameter representation of the hemodynamic system coupled to set-point models of the arterial baroreflex and the cardiopulmonary reflex to investigate the transient response of heart rate to orthostatic stress. They simulate current hypotheses concerning the mechanisms underlying post-spaceflight orthostatic intolerance over a range of physiologically reasonable values and compare the simulations to astronaut stand-test data pre- and post-flight. Furthermore, the authors explore the effects of a potential countermeasure.
Oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA is increased in Alzheimer's disease

Oxidative damage to DNA may play a role in both normal aging and in neurodegenerative diseases. We examined whether Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with increased oxidative damage to both nDNA and mtDNA in postmortem brain tissue. We measured the oxidized nucleoside, 8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (OH8dG), in DNA isolated from three regions of cerebral cortex and cerebellum in 13 AD and 13 age‐matched controls. There was a significant threefold increase in the amount of OH8dG in mtDNA in parietal cortex of AD patients compared with controls. In the entire group of samples there was a small significant increase in oxidative damage to nDNA and a highly significant threefold increase in oxidative damage to mtDNA in AD compared with age‐matched controls. These results confirm that mitochondrial DNA is particularly sensitive to oxidative damage, and they show that there is increased oxidative damage to DNA in AD, which may contribute to the neurodegenerative process.
The UK particulate matter air pollution episode of March–April 2014: more than Saharan dust

A period of elevated surface concentrations of airborne particulate matter (PM) in the UK in spring 2014 was widely associated in the UK media with a Saharan dust plume. This might have led to over-emphasis on a natural phenomenon and consequently to a missed opportunity to inform the public and provide robust evidence for policy-makers about the observed characteristics and causes of this pollution event. In this work, the EMEP4UK regional atmospheric chemistry transport model (ACTM) was used in conjunction with speciated PM measurements to investigate the sources and long-range transport (including vertical) processes contributing to the chemical components of the elevated surface PM. It is shown that the elevated PM during this period was mainly driven by ammonium nitrate, much of which was derived from emissions outside the UK. In the early part of the episode, Saharan dust remained aloft above the UK; we show that a significant contribution of Saharan dust at surface level was restricted only to the latter part of the elevated PM period and to a relatively small geographic area in the southern part of the UK. The analyses presented in this paper illustrate the capability of advanced ACTMs, corroborated with chemically-speciated measurements, to identify the underlying causes of complex PM air pollution episodes. Specifically, the analyses highlight the substantial contribution of secondary inorganic ammonium nitrate PM, with agricultural ammonia emissions in continental Europe presenting a major driver. The findings suggest that more emphasis on reducing emissions in Europe would have marked benefits in reducing episodic PM2.5 concentrations in the UK.
Clinical correlates of retrograde amnesia in mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract Primary objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical significance of retrograde amnesia (RA) in patients with acute mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Methods and procedures: An emergency department sample of patients (n = 75), aged 18–60 years, with no pre-morbid medical or psychiatric conditions, who met the WHO criteria for MTBI were enrolled in this prospective, descriptive, follow-up study. This study examined the presence and duration of RA in relation to socio-demographics, MTBI severity markers including neuroimaging (CT, MRI) and clinical outcomes (Rivermead post-concussion symptoms questionnaire, post-concussion syndrome (PCS) diagnosis and return to work (RTW) status) at 2 weeks, 1 month and 6 months post-injury. Main outcomes and results: GCS scores and duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) were related to RA. Those with GCS scores of 14 vs. 15 were more likely to have RA (χ2(1) = 13.70, p < 0.0001) and a longer duration (Mann-Whitney U = 56.0, p < 0.0001, d = 1.15) of RA. The duration of RA and PTA correlated positively (Spearman ρ(75) = 0.42, p < 0.0001) and those with RA had longer durations of PTA (Mann-Whitney U = 228.5, p = 0.001, d = 1.21). During the follow-up, the presence and duration of RA were not significantly associated with PCS diagnosis or time to RTW. Conclusions: In this study, the presence and duration of RA was not associated with outcome.
ASSESSMENT OF PLASMA NEOPTERIN IN CLINICAL KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION

Serial plasma samples of 1 72 kidney transplant recipients and 12 chronic dialysis patients were evaluated retrospectively in a radioimmunoassay to determine the clinical relevance of plasma neopterin levels. Dialysis patients had a higher neopterin level 196pM82 nmol/L (meanpMSD) than 70 healthy controls (7pM4 nmol/L). In 45 patients with a completely uneventful postoperative course, elevated pretransplant neopterin levels dropped rapidly within a week to a mean of 30 nmol/L and remained stable thereafter. In 22 outpatients with stable graft function there was a highly significant correlation between 170 paired serum creatinine and plasma neopterin values (r = 0.91). A group of 13 patients had experienced delayed graft function (ATN) without rejection. Their one-week mean neopterin level was 100 nmol/L and continued to drop in parallel with the serum creatinine. Another 15 patients rejected their kidneys irreversibly within 3 weeks-B of them had extremely high neopterin levels during the rejection process (range 500–1000 nmol/L) that were not seen in other patients. A total of 1B9 rejection episodes in 43 patients were treated with bolus-dose cortisone. On the day of bolus therapy, both serum creatinine (P<0.002) and neopterin (P<0.005) were elevated. At 24 hours prior to bolus cortisone therapy, creatinine levels were not significantly elevated, whereas there was a significant rise in plasma neopterin (P<0.01). The overall sensitivity of neopterin increase was 86% with a 17% probability of false positives, and the sensitivity was 95% in biopsy-proved rejections. Plasma neopterin appears to be a useful marker for early detection of rejection and for identifying severe rejections that are not responsive to treatment
Determinants of a successful cross-border knowledge transfer in franchise networks

Purpose Previous research on service multinational corporations (SMNCs) has mainly focused on the entry mode decisions in foreign markets. The purpose of this paper is to examine the cross-border knowledge transfer in franchisee networks in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative semi-structure interviews approach is used to study the cross-border knowledge transfer from a franchisor to two local franchisee networks in Pakistan. Findings The results show that both explicit and tacit knowledge are transferred in cross-border franchise networks. The transfer of the knowledge from a franchisor to a franchisee is facilitated through the use of a variety of transfer mechanisms – both hard and soft transfer mechanisms, that is, video conferencing, emails, phone calls, seminars, meetings, documents and franchisor agents’ visits. The knowledge sharing in cross-border franchise networks in Pakistan shows numerous similarities with that occurring in manufacturing industries. The prior experience of the franchisee and the regional and local franchisors’ agents – their role as knowledge transfer agents (intermediaries) – facilitate the acquisition and assimilation of knowledge from the franchisor to a franchisee in the developing economies. Practical implications The paper discusses relevant implications for managers of franchisor and franchisee networks by focusing on the need to engage with both explicit and tacit knowledge transfer. The experience of the franchisee is important for the acquisition and assimilation of knowledge. Originality/value This paper is the first in the context of cross-border knowledge transfer from a franchisor to a franchisee in the Pakistani context. The author highlights the important role of prior experience of the franchisee and the regional and local agents of the franchisor in the transfer of cross-border knowledge transfer under the franchising arrangements.
Shaping the Future: Ten Years of the Occupational Health Internship Program

The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) was initiated in 2003 to recruit a new, diverse generation of occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals and to advance OSH within union and community-based initiatives. It retains the principles of the original OCAW/Montefiore internship program while adapting to the changed landscape of the 21st-century workplace. Case studies of OHIP projects illustrate how students have contributed to key OSH policies—to regulate silica exposure among construction workers, apply principles of green chemistry with Vietnamese nail salon workers, and integrate OSH into “green” jobs in the recycling industry. They have supported innovative campaigns with immigrant workers in contingent jobs—from taxi drivers to warehouse workers. The students, in turn, have been inspired to enter the OSH arena as professionals and worker advocates with the potential to contribute new energy to an OSH movement.
Lesion Segmentation in Dermoscopy Images Using Particle Swarm Optimization and Markov Random Field

Malignant melanoma is one of the most rapidly increasing cancers globally and it is the most dangerous form of human skin cancer. Dermoscopy is one of the major imaging modalities used in the diagnosis of melanoma. Early detection of melanoma can be helpful and usually curable. Due to the difficulty for dermatologists in the interpretation of dermoscopy images, Computer Aided Diagnosis systems can be very helpful to facilitate the early detection. The automated detection of the lesion borders is one of the most important steps in dermoscopic image analysis. In this paper, we present a fully automated method for melanoma border detection using image processing techniques. The hair and several noises aredetected and removed by applying a bank of directional filters and Image Inpainting method respectively. A hybrid method is developed by combining Particle Swarm Optimization and Markov Random Field methods, in order to delineate the border of the lesion area in the images. The method was tested on a dataset of 200 dermoscopic images, and the experimental results show that our method is superior in terms of the accuracy of drawing the lesion borders compared to alternative methods.
Surgical Risk Preoperative Assessment System (SURPAS): II. Parsimonious Risk Models for Postoperative Adverse Outcomes Addressing Need for Laboratory Variables and Surgeon Specialty-specific Models

Objective: To develop parsimonious prediction models for postoperative mortality, overall morbidity, and 6 complication clusters applicable to a broad range of surgical operations in adult patients. Summary Background Data: Quantitative risk assessment tools are not routinely used for preoperative patient assessment, shared decision making, informed consent, and preoperative patient optimization, likely due in part to the burden of data collection and the complexity of incorporation into routine surgical practice. Methods: Multivariable forward selection stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to develop predictive models for 30-day mortality, overall morbidity, and 6 postoperative complication clusters, using 40 preoperative variables from 2,275,240 surgical cases in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data set, 2005 to 2012. For the mortality and overall morbidity outcomes, prediction models were compared with and without preoperative laboratory variables, and generic models (based on all of the data from 9 surgical specialties) were compared with specialty-specific models. In each model, the cumulative c-index was used to examine the contribution of each added predictor variable. C-indexes, Hosmer-Lemeshow analyses, and Brier scores were used to compare discrimination and calibration between models. Results: For the mortality and overall morbidity outcomes, the prediction models without the preoperative laboratory variables performed as well as the models with the laboratory variables, and the generic models performed as well as the specialty-specific models. The c-indexes were 0.938 for mortality, 0.810 for overall morbidity, and for the 6 complication clusters ranged from 0.757 for infectious to 0.897 for pulmonary complications. Across the 8 prediction models, the first 7 to 11 variables entered accounted for at least 99% of the c-index of the full model (using up to 28 nonlaboratory predictor variables). Conclusions: Our results suggest that it will be possible to develop parsimonious models to predict 8 important postoperative outcomes for a broad surgical population, without the need for surgeon specialty-specific models or inclusion of laboratory variables.
Clostridium difficile Ribotype 027, Toxinotype III, the Netherlands

Outbreaks due to Clostridium difficile polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ribotype 027, toxinotype III, were detected in 7 hospitals in the Netherlands from April 2005 to February 2006. One hospital experienced at the same time a second outbreak due to a toxin A–negative C. difficile PCR ribotype 017 toxinotype VIII strain. The outbreaks are difficult to control.
IGOR2 - an analytical inductive functional programming system: tool demo

The analytical inductive programming system IGOR II is an implemented prototype for constructing recursive functional programs from few non-recursive, possibly non-ground example equations describing a subset of the input/output (I/O) behaviour of a function. Starting from an initial, overly general program hypothesis, stepwise several refinement operators are applied which compute successor hypotheses. Organised as an uniformed-cost search, the hypothesis with the lowest costs is developed and replaced by its successors until the best does not contain any unbound variables.
Aggregate Demand Deficiency, Labor Unions, and Long‐Run Stagnation

Using a money-in-the-utility-function model, we present long-run stagnation where insatiable demand for money secularly causes deficient aggregate demand and thereby unemployment in the presence of nominal wage stickiness attributable to union wage setting. In this long-run stagnation, generous unemployment benefits reduce unemployment. Moreover, paradoxically, unemployment declines if labor unions give more weight to nominal wage gains compared with employment increases.
Software defined radio reconfiguration management

Reconfiguration of configurable radio communication platforms contains uncounted difficulties and pitfalls. This paper contributes to the solution of this situation with a proposal of a management architecture capable to prevent mis-configurations and also to ensure reliable reconfiguration of terminals. An introduction to reconfiguration management and its requirements is followed by a description of our reconfiguration management architecture (RMA). Later parts contain an outline of the mechanisms used to implement parts of the RMA.
Control of an abnormal human menstrual cycle in PCOS by speed gradient algorithm

A new dosing system is proposed which is based on the mathematical model for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a kind of sterilities. The system enables us to introduce a remedy for PCOS suitable for an individual patient. This paper shows the outline of the system and its performance by computer simulations.
Preoperative Planning and Surgical Technique: How do I Balance My Ankle?

Ligament balancing during total ankle arthroplasty is an important step in optimizing the mechanical balance of the ankle joint. Soft-tissue contractures that result from varus or valgus coronal plane deformity can pose a difficult problem, and the surgeon should have a standard procedure for managing such situations in the operating room. Balance may be assessed intraoperatively with the use of spacer blocks, laminar spreaders, and tensioning devices as well as by placement of trial components. Techniques used to balance the varus or valgus ankle during primary total ankle arthroplasty include osteophyte resection, soft-tissue release, and bone resection. Mediolateral ligament balancing is crucial for long-term success and patient satisfaction.
Structural Instability of a Constitutively Active G Protein-coupled Receptor

Mutations in several domains can lead to agonist-independent, constitutive activation of G protein-coupled receptors. However, the nature of the structural and molecular changes that constitutively turn on a G protein-coupled receptor remains unknown. Here we show evidence that a constitutively activated mutant of the β2 adrenergic receptor (CAM) is characterized by structural instability and an exaggerated conformational response to ligand binding. The structural instability of CAM could be demonstrated by a 4-fold increase in the rate of denaturation of purified receptor at 37°C as compared with the wild type receptor. Spectroscopic analysis of purified CAM labeled with the conformationally sensitive and cysteine-reactive fluorophore, N,N′dimethyl-N-(iodoacetyl)-N′-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)ethylenediamine, further indicated that both agonist and antagonist elicit more profound structural changes in CAM than in the wild type protein. We propose that the mutation that confers constitutive activity to the β2 adrenergic receptor removes some stabilizing conformational constraints, allowing CAM to more readily undergo transitions between the inactive and the active states and making the receptor more susceptible to denaturation.