Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
KHA‐CARI commentary on the KDIGO clinical practice guideline on the evaluation and care of living kidney donors

KHA-CARI commentary on the KDIGO clinical practice guideline on the evaluation and care of living kidney donors NEIL BOUDVILLE and JOHN KANELLIS Medical School, University of Western Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Department of Nephrology, Monash Health and Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, and Department of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
CRUTCH: An Integration Framework forWeb Service and MAS

This paper proposed a novel software evolution methodology CRUTCH that can rapidly integrate partners' Web services into internal agentified legacy system running on JADE. CRUTCH achieves this goal in two ways. On one hand, CRUTCH provides an architecture view that extends the standard FIPA's agent platform with a Web service finder agent named WSFinder; on the other hand, CRUTCH developed a package and a XML schema of Web service find criteria, providing a configurable way for WSAgent (agents who invoke external Web service) development. The simplified developing process can successfully alleviate the developer's pain and rapidly make the enterprise qualified for the competitive and cooperative business environment
An Autoethnographic Account of a Bicultural Clinician-Researcher Applying New Evidence of Chinese Diabetes Education Into Practice

Introduction: A clinician-researcher in translational research fulfils obligations in care provision and knowledge generation. Similarly, a bicultural clinician could struggle to switch between cultural paradigms. The purpose of this study was to explore the in-depth experience of multiple roles as a bicultural clinician-researcher in a translational research study. Methods: This study employed an autoethnographical method, where the first author, an Australian-trained Chinese researcher, was the research instrument who critically sought understanding of her experience in relation to culture in the context of translating an evidence-based culturally tailored Chinese diabetes education program into practice. Data were thematically analyzed and triangulated. Results: Specific research-to-practice dilemmas and personal and professional growth experiences were encountered. Learning to be flexible in addressing patients’ needs while concurrently collecting program evaluation data was complicated by self-doubt and inflexible colleagues. Implication: Despite challenges, conducting translational research with clinician-researcher can enhance understanding of the different stakeholder cultures, promoting rapid practice change.
Estimating the Induction Period of Pleural Mesothelioma From Aggregate Data on Asbestos Consumption

This study aimed to estimate the induction period from causal action of asbestos exposure to the manifestation of mesothelioma. We included the 9 countries for which we could find published aggregate data on the use of raw asbestos for a relevant time period. We extracted the annual numbers of cases of pleural cancer among men from the World Health Organization mortality database for those years using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, classification. For the Scandinavian countries, we used published national cancer incidence data. In autoregressive Poisson regression modeling, we invoked different time lags of the mean annual use of asbestos to specify which time span produced the best correlation between the 2 time series. The ecologic analysis suggested that the most probable estimate for the mean induction period (use versus morbidity at society level) is approximately 25 years.
Exploring Trends and Variations in Agency Scope

What are the trends in the design of regulatory agencies' scope of responsibilities? To shed some light on this issue, we explore temporal, sectoral, national and regional variations in the scope of agencies across 16 different policy domains and 48 countries. This exercise represents a first step towards a theoretically driven empirical explanation of the determinants of agency scope. Focusing on the distinction between single- and multi-sector agencies, we demonstrate how agency scope is contingent on national, sectoral and regional characteristics, and provide a preliminary analysis of the characteristics of these variations. Our analysis of the data demonstrates, first, that the scope of agencies has been expanding fast since the late 1990s, often as a result of the extension of regulatory agencification to new sectors, and second, that multi-sectoral agencies are more common in Europe than in Latin America, in economic regulation than in social regulation, and in smaller countries than in bigger ones.
Cooperative Monocular-Based SLAM for Multi-UAV Systems in GPS-Denied Environments †

This work presents a cooperative monocular-based SLAM approach for multi-UAV systems that can operate in GPS-denied environments. The main contribution of the work is to show that, using visual information obtained from monocular cameras mounted onboard aerial vehicles flying in formation, the observability properties of the whole system are improved. This fact is especially notorious when compared with other related visual SLAM configurations. In order to improve the observability properties, some measurements of the relative distance between the UAVs are included in the system. These relative distances are also obtained from visual information. The proposed approach is theoretically validated by means of a nonlinear observability analysis. Furthermore, an extensive set of computer simulations is presented in order to validate the proposed approach. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed system is able to provide a good position and orientation estimation of the aerial vehicles flying in formation.
Explosive Increase in Tramadol Use in Korea 2003–2013: Analysis of Patient Trends Based on the Korea National Health Insurance Database

ABSTRACT Our study assessed the trends and patterns of tramadol prescriptions and possible correlations of a person being prescribed tramadol using the Korean National Health Insurance Service Sample Cohort from 2003 to 2013. The study population consisted of patients who were prescribed tramadol, opioids, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in an outpatient setting. From 2003 to 2013, the number of tramadol users increased from 2,476 (19.9% of the study population in 2003) to 124,592 (33.3% of the 2013 study population). The absolute change in the proportion of study patients prescribed tramadol (%) was +13.4%, a relative change (%) of +67.3%. In contrast, absolute changes in the number of opioid and NSAID users were −4.78% and −8.65%, respectively, which were relative changes of −73.5% and −11.8%, respectively. Of the studied pain types, arthritis and back pain were the most prominent diagnoses in tramadol users. Notable correlations for tramadol prescriptions, when compared with NSAIDs, were rural area (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.64; 95% CI 1.61–1.66), co-prescription of a benzodiazepine (aOR 2.01; 95% CI 1.97–2.05), and tertiary hospital (aOR: 3.08, 95% CI 3.00–3.17).
Fitness advantages of the biased use of paired laterally symmetrical penises in an insect

The evolution of laterality, that is the biased use of laterally paired, morphologically symmetrical organs, has attracted the interest of researchers from a variety of disciplines. It is, however, difficult to quantify the fitness benefits of laterality because many organs, such as human hands, possess multimodal functions. Males of the earwig Labidura riparia (Insecta: Dermaptera: Labiduridae) have morphologically similar laterally paired penises, only one of which is used for inseminating the female during a single copulation bout, and thus provide a rare opportunity to address how selection pressure may shape the evolution of population‐level laterality. Our population studies revealed that in 10 populations, located at 2.23–43.3° north, the right penis is predominantly used for copulating (88.6%). A damaged penis was found in 23% of rare left‐handers, suggesting that the left penis can function as a spare when the right one is damaged. By pairing L. riparia females with surgically manipulated males, we found that males forced to use the right penis outperformed left‐handed males in copulation (the probability of establishing genital coupling during the 1‐hr observation period: odds ratio [OR] of 3.50) and insemination (probability of transferring a detectable amount of sperm: OR of 2.94). This right‐handed advantage may be due to the coiled morphology of the sperm storage organ with a right‐facing opening. Thus, female genital morphology may play a significant role in the evolution of handedness and may have acted as a driving force to reduce penis number in related taxa.
Nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonists. III. Structure-function studies.

A series of 1-benzylimidazole-5-acetate derivatives defining the critical substituents on the phenyl ring was synthesized in order to improve on the affinity of 2-butyl-4-chloro-1-(2-nitrobenzyl)imidazole-5-acetate, sodium (S-8308) for the angiotensin II (AII) receptor. The analogs, substituted with -1-(4-carboxybenzyl) (EXP6155),-1-[4-(2-carboxybenzamido)benzyl] (EXP6159) and the 5-methylacetate of EXP6159 (EXP6803), were found to inhibit the binding of [3H]AII to AII receptors in rat adrenal cortical microsomes with 9-, 35- and 107-fold higher affinity, respectively, than that of S-8308 (IC50, 15 X 10(-6) microM). Scatchard analysis of the [3H]AII binding revealed that in the presence of EXP6155 (10(-6) M), the dissociation constant for AII was increased from 1.2 to 3.9 X 10(-9) M, whereas the total number of binding sites remained unchanged, suggesting a competitive nature of antagonism. A similar order of affinity or potency (saralasin much greater than EXP6803 greater than EXP6159 greater than EXP6155 greater than S8308) was observed in various in vitro and in vivo assays: rat smooth muscle cells AII binding, 45Ca++ influx in rat aortic rings, contractile response in isolated rabbit aorta and AII-induced pressor response in anesthetized rats. Responses (45Ca++ and contraction) elicited by norepinephrine or by KCl were unaltered by these agents at concentrations of up to 10(-4) M. In addition, they exerted no direct effect on the activity of rabbit angiotensin converting enzyme and rat renin. In conscious renal artery-ligated rats, EXP6155, EXP6159 and EXP6803 were p.o. inactive, but caused a rapid decrease in mean arterial pressure when administered i.v. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
An Observational Preliminary Study on the Safety of Long-Term Consumption of Micronutrients for the Treatment of Psychiatric Symptoms.

Objectives: There is an increasing body of literature documenting the efficacy of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) interventions for the treatment of psychiatric problems in the short term; however, long-term safety is largely unexplored. The goal of this observational study was to investigate the safety of two commercially available broad-spectrum micronutrient formulas (EMPowerplus and Daily Essential Nutrients) given at doses above the Recommended Dietary Allowances for the long-term treatment of individuals with psychiatric symptoms. Design: Participants on long-term treatment with micronutrients (medication-free) for psychiatric problems (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD, n = 21], anxiety/depression [n = 13]) were identified from ongoing research studies and the community through purchasing records. Seventeen children and 17 adults had blood tests to assess their full blood count, coagulation profile, liver and kidney function, fasting glucose, iron studies, key nutrients, and prolactin. Questionnaires assessed psychological/psychiatric functioning. Seventeen of the participants had completed the same measures pretreatment. Results: The average length of consuming micronutrients was 2.66 years (standard deviation = 2.86). Excluding B12 (which was elevated for almost all participants), 94.6% of all blood test results were within the test reference ranges. One participant was diagnosed with hemochromatosis based on iron studies. No other clinically relevant adverse changes in blood results were identified pre- and post-treatment. No clinically significant adverse effects were reported. Post-treatment psychometrics identified that 85% of the participants were in nonclinical ranges for measures of ADHD, depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusions: We report preliminary evidence for the safety of long-term commercially available micronutrients, although questions remain. Overall, the substantial psychiatric benefits observed appear to outweigh the minimal observed risks in these participants. Screening for potential medical problems is recommended before initiating treatment. Long-term pharmacovigilance monitoring is required to ascertain any rare but significant adverse events.
Path-Based Attention Neural Model for Fine-Grained Entity Typing

Fine-grained entity typing aims to assign entity mentions in the free text with types arranged in a hierarchical structure. It suffers from the label noise in training data generated by distant supervision. Although recent studies use many features to prune wrong label ahead of training, they suffer from error propagation and bring much complexity. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end typing model, called the path-based attention neural model (PAN), to learn a noise-robust performance by leveraging the hierarchical structure of types. Experiments on two data sets demonstrate its effectiveness.
Atrazine nanoencapsulation improves pre-emergence herbicidal activity against Bidens pilosa without enhancing long-term residual effect on Glycine max.

BACKGROUND Poly(ϵ-caprolactone) nanocapsules (NC + ATZ) are an efficient carrier system for atrazine and were developed as an alternative to reduce the harmful environmental effects of this herbicide. Here, we analyzed the pre-emergence herbicidal activity of NC + ATZ against Bidens pilosa and evaluated its residual effect on soybean plants after different periods of soil treatment with the formulations. RESULTS In contrast to non-nanoatrazine, NC + ATZ treatment led to very high mortality rates of B. pilosa seedlings even after a tenfold dilution, which suggests that atrazine nanoencapsulation improved its pre-emergence herbicidal activity. In a short-term assay (17 days), soil treatment with all atrazine-containing formulations resulted in intense toxicity to soybean plants. NC + ATZ at 200 g ha-1 had the same inhibitory effects on the physiological and growth parameters of soybean plants compared with non-nanoatrazine at 2000 g ha-1 , which suggests that atrazine nanoencapsulation increased the short-term residual effect of the herbicide. In a long-term assay (60 days), a gradual recovery of soybean plants from atrazine phytotoxicity was observed. When comparing the effects of nano- and non-nanoatrazine at the same concentrations, the growth and physiological parameters of soybean plants were mainly affected to the same extent. This indicates that encapsulation of atrazine into poly(ϵ-caprolactone) nanocapsules did not enhance the long-term residual effect of the herbicide on soybean. CONCLUSION NC + ATZ could be applied for efficient weed control without additional phytotoxicity to susceptible crops compared with non-nanoatrazine, provided that a safe interval is respected from atrazine application to sowing. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.
Fast Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search via k-Diverse Nearest Neighbor Graph

Approximate nearest neighbor search is a fundamental problem and has been studied for a few decades. Recently graph-based indexing methods have demonstrated their great efficiency, whose main idea is to construct neighborhood graph offline and perform a greedy search starting from some sampled points of the graph online. Most existing graph-based methods focus on either the precise k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) graph which has good exploitation ability, or the diverse graph which has good exploration ability. In this paper, we propose the k-diverse nearest neighbor (k-DNN) graph, which balances the precision and diversity of the graph, leading to good exploitation and exploration abilities simultaneously. We introduce an efficient indexing algorithm for the construction of the k-DNN graph inspired by a well-known diverse ranking algorithm in information retrieval (IR). Experimental results show that our method can outperform both state-of-the-art precise graph and diverse graph methods.
Patient Satisfaction at America's Lowest Performing Hospitals

Background— Previous studies have identified hospitals with poor performance on cardiac process measures. How these hospitals fare in other domains, such as patient satisfaction, remains unknown. Methods and Results— We used Hospital Compare data to identify hospitals reporting acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure (HF) process measures during 2006 to 2008, and calculated respective composite performance scores. Using these scores, we classified hospitals as low-performing (bottom decile for all 3 years), top-performing (top decile for all 3 years), and intermediate (all others). We used Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 2008 data to compare overall satisfaction between low, intermediate, and top-performing hospitals. Low-performing hospitals had fewer beds, fewer nurses per patient, and were more likely rural, safety-net hospitals located in the South, compared with intermediate and top-performing hospitals (P<0.01 for all). After adjusting for hospital characteristics, patients were less likely to recommend low-performing hospitals to family or friends, relative to intermediate and top-performing hospitals (AMI: 58.8% versus 63.9% versus 68.8%, HF: 61.3% versus 64.0% versus 66.8%; P<0.001 for all), or provide an overall rating of ≥9 out of 10 (AMI: 56.7% versus 60.7% versus 64.9%, HF: 57.8% versus 61.1% versus 63.6%; P<0.01 for all). Despite the association between the hospital's performance on process measures and patient satisfaction, we noted discordance between these measures (kappa statistic <0.20). Conclusions— Hospitals with consistently poor performance on cardiac process measures also have lower patient satisfaction on average, suggesting that these hospitals have overall poor quality of care. However, there is discordance between the 2 measures in profiling hospital quality.
Enhanced human brain associative plasticity in Costello syndrome

Costello syndrome (CS) is a rare multiple congenital anomaly disorder which is caused by germline mutations in the v‐Ha‐ras Harvey rat sarcoma viral oncogene homologue (HRAS) proto‐oncogene. Experimental data suggest perturbing effects of the mutated protein on the functional and structural organization of networks of cerebral cortex and on the activity‐dependent strengthening of synaptic transmission known as long term potentiation (LTP). In five patients with molecularly proven diagnosis of CS and in a group of 13 age‐matched control subjects we investigated activity‐dependent synaptic plasticity. To this end, we used a paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol, in which left ulnar nerve stimuli were followed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulses to right cortical hand area, and recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs) by single pulse TMS from left first dorsal interosseus (FDI) muscle before and after PAS. In 4 out of 5 CS patients and in a subgroup of nine control subjects we also evaluated the time course and the topographical specificity of PAS after‐effects. In these two subgroups, MEPs were measured before, immediately after and 30 min after PAS in the left FDI and left abductor pollicis brevis (APB). While the PAS protocol led to a 65% increase of the FDI MEP amplitude in controls, the LTP‐like phenomenon was significantly more pronounced in CS patients, with motor responses increased by 230%. In addition, CS patients showed a similar MEP increase in both muscles while control subjects showed a slight increase in APB and only immediately after PAS. We hypothesize that the extremely enhanced PAS after‐effects could be due to the influence of HRAS activity on the susceptibility of synapses to undergo LTP.
Classification of Time-Sequential Attributes by Using Sequential Pattern Rules

Classification is an important method for predicting class labels of samples. Although attribute-values in many real-life applications may change over time, existing classification research usually assumes that attribute-values are static. In this paper, we extend the traditional classification problem to deal with time-sequential attributes whose values may change over time. Accordingly, an algorithm called MultipleMIS-SP is presented to generate all classification rules for the classifier generation. Two scoring functions are proposed to predict class labels using our classifier. Detailed experiments are also presented. The results show that the accuracy of MultipleMIS-SP is greater than the traditional classification technique C4.5 algorithm in both the synthetic datasets and the real dataset.
Essential language function of the right hemisphere in brain tumor patients

Neuroimaging studies of language networks in patients with brain lesions of the left language‐dominant hemisphere have shown activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). We tested the functional relevance of right IFG activation using neuroimaging‐guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to disturb language function over bilateral IFG in right‐handed patients with brain tumors and controls. All subjects were susceptible to TMS over the left IFG. In patients, this susceptibility correlated with left‐sided the degree of language lateralization to the left. Those patients with lowest dominance were also susceptible to right‐sided TMS proving relevant language function of the right IFG. Ann Neurol 2005;57:128–131
Live Lesson: Lowering the Barriers to Capture The Flag Administration and Participation

Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions have a rich history of incredibly technical individuals providing information security resources for each other. CTFs have been used by the information security community for education and assessment for over a decade. They’re widely regarded as an excellent introduction to the information security industry given their competitive aspect, team building nature, and lack of long-term commitment. CTF organizers have long experimented with exploring its relevance in areas beyond technical competitions. The foundation of CTF is rooted in technical education but one of the desired evolutions of CTF is as an e-sport [1]. In this paper, we present our perspective on why the current model of CTF is not a viable e-sport. This perspective will be presented alongside ideas around advancing the adoption of CTF, and CTFd, a readily available open-source framework for educators, recruiters, and companies to integrate CTFs into their pipelines. CTFd eases the amount of development needed to bring a CTF to fruition. Aside from the challenge views for standard CTF functionality, it features score graphs, an administration panel, a built-in hint economy, and archival functionality. In addition, CTFd supports plugins and themes for additional customizability. This paper will be presented alongside a demonstration of the features of CTFd and different ways it can be integrated in computer education.