Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Management of Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response in the Intensive Care Unit: A Secondary Analysis of Electronic Health Record Data

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response (RVR) is common during critical illness. In this study, we explore the comparative effectiveness of three commonly used drugs (metoprolol, diltiazem, and amiodarone) in the management of atrial fibrillation with RVR in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: Data pertaining to the first ICU admission were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database. Patients who received one of the above pharmacologic agents while their heart rate was > 110 bpm and had atrial fibrillation documented in the clinical chart were included. Propensity score weighting using a generalized boosted model was used to compare medication failure rates (second agent prior to termination of RVR). Secondary outcomes included time to control, control within 4 h, and mortality. Results: One thousand six hundred forty-six patients were included: 736 received metoprolol, 292 received diltiazem, and 618 received amiodarone. Compared with those who received metoprolol, failure rates were higher amongst those who received amiodarone (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.03–1.87, P = 0.03) and there was a trend towards increased failure rates in patients who received diltiazem (OR 1.35, CI 0.89–2.07, P = 0.16). Amongst patients who received a single agent, patients who received diltiazem were less likely to be controlled at 4-h than those who received metoprolol (OR 0.64, CI 0.43–097, P = 0.03). Initial agent was not associated with in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: In this study, metoprolol was the most commonly used agent for atrial fibrillation with RVR. Metoprolol had a lower failure rate than amiodarone and was superior to diltiazem in achieving rate control at 4 h.
Optimal selection of capacitors in distribution networks for voltage stabilization and loss reduction

The paper presents a novel discrete optimization approach to optimally solve the sizing problem of capacitor for the voltage stability enhancement in radial distribution networks using Discrete Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization MOPSO technique. The novel optimization approach using Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization MOPSO is implemented to tackle a number of conflicting goals that define the complex optimality problem. The equivalent generic single-line system model (EGSLM) is applied. Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization MOPSO is then carried out to find the optimal capacitor bank sizes that minimizes several conflicting objective functions.
Validating a single-question health literacy test among African Americans.

Health literacy (HL) is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. The negative health consequences of poor HL support the call for HL screening in the clinical setting. Despite the ongoing debate about screening, some providers may choose to screen, and use this information to implement enhanced communication techniques. The single question (SQ), ‘‘How confident are you filling out medical forms by yourself? ’’ (5-extremely, 4-quite a bit, 3somewhat, 2-a little bit, 1-not at all) may serve as a rapid screening test, since it performed well against longer gold standards in validation studies. However, there is a dearth of information about the SQ’s performance among African Americans, even though they suffer disproportionately from poor HL. With approval from the Institutional Review Board of the New York Medical College, the SQ’s performance was evaluated at a local ‘‘safety net’’ clinic that provides primary care services in underserved communities. Eligible individuals were English-speaking, self-identified African American adults seeking care (September November 2008). To determine patient interest in the study, interviewers approached patients in the waiting areas. Those willing to learn more were escorted to a private section, where the interviewer assessed eligibility, sought informed consent, and conducted an interview (administration of the SQ, demographic items, and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine [REALM], a valid and reliable medical word recognition test). Each participant was compensated $5. Analyses were performed using STATA version 8 (Statacorp LP, College Station, Texas). The SQ (poor HL 5 codes 1–4; adequate HL 5 code 5) was evaluated against the REALM gold standard (poor HL 5 0–60 score; adequate HL 5 61–66 score). There were 250 participants (67% female; 41% Medicaid; mean age 44 6 18 years). Based on the REALM, 111 patients (44%) had poor HL; and 139 (56%) had adequate HL. Among the 111, 72 had poor HL according to the SQ. Thus, the SQ’s sensitivity was 65% (72/111). Among the 139, 85 had adequate HL according to the SQ, for a specificity of 61% (85/139). The kappa statistic (k) estimates SQ-REALM agreement, after adjusting for chance agreement. Here, k was 26% (95% CI 5 14%–38%). In conclusion, the SQ showed only a slight amount of discriminatory ability. Therefore, the SQ should not serve as a rapid screening test in this population, at this time.
Efficient Delivery of Human Single Fiber-Derived Muscle Precursor Cells via Biocompatible Scaffold

The success of cell therapy for skeletal muscle disorders depends upon two main factors: the cell source and the method of delivery. In this work we have explored the therapeutic potential of human muscle precursor cells (hMPCs), obtained from single human muscle fibers, implanted in vivo via micropatterned scaffolds. hMPCs were initially expanded and characterized in vitro by immunostaining and flow cytometric analysis. For in vivo studies, hMPCs were seeded onto micropatterned poly-lactic-glycolic acid 3D-scaffolds fabricated using soft-lithography and thermal membrane lamination. Seeded scaffolds were then implanted in predamaged tibialis anterior muscles of CD1 nude mice; hMPCs were also directly injected in contralateral limbs as controls. Similarly to what we previously described with mouse precursors cells, we found that hMPCs were able to participate in muscle regeneration and scaffold-implanted muscles contained a greater number of human nuclei, as revealed by immunostaining and Western blot analyses. These results indicate that hMPCs derived from single fibers could be a good and reliable cell source for the design of therapeutic protocols and that implantation of cellularized scaffolds is superior to direct injection for the delivery of myogenic cells into regenerating skeletal muscle.
BENTHIC INFAUNA AND ORGANISM-SEDIMENT RELATIONS IN A SHALLOW, TROPICAL COASTAL AREA - INFLUENCE OF OUTWELLED MANGROVE DETRITUS AND PHYSICAL DISTURBANCE

Sediment infauna and sedimentary structures within the shallow ( S 15 m depth) inshore of the central Great Barrier Reef lagoon were examined seasonally for 1 yr to relate benthic fauna1 abundance, community composition and biogenic activity to outwelling of mangrove detritus and natural physical disturbance. Standing amounts of mangrove litter exceeded 4000 g dry weight (DW) m'2 in a semi-enclosed area and declined to 3.5 g DW m-' at the inshore-middle shelf boundary. Macroinfaunal densities (mean = 1452; range = 308 to 3950 ind.m-2) and biomass (ash-free dry weight = 0.17 to 6.31 g m-2) varied greatly among sites and seasons, with densities correlating negatively with detritus standing stocks; biomass did not relate to outwelling. Total meiofaunal densities (mean = 715; range = 295 to 1568 ind.10cm-*) varied significantly among sites and seasons, but only turbellarians correlated positively to standing amounts of mangrove litter. Classification and ordination of nematode communities separated stations mainly on the basis of detntal loading. Species diversity (H') and evenness (J') correlated negatively with detritus standing stocks and extractable tannins derived from the litter. X-radiographs of sediment cores revealed sedimentary facies characterized by low to moderate rates of sedimentation, large patches of buried litter and bioturbation mainly in the upper 5 to 6 cm at the muddiest sites. X-radiographs also showed that these inshore sediments are devoid of large, equilibrium species, but subjected to episodes of scouring and resuspension by large tides and climatic disturbances. The poor nutritional quality of mangrove detritus and intermittent physical disturbances appear to be the major factors preventing the establishment of equilibrium communities and perpetuating the dominance of pioneering infaunal assemblages in this shallow, tropical inshore region.
Multivariate meta‐analysis

Meta‐analysis is now a standard statistical tool for assessing the overall strength and interesting features of a relationship, on the basis of multiple independent studies. There is, however, recent acknowledgement of the fact that in many applications responses are rarely uniquely determined. Hence there has been some change of focus from a single response to the analysis of multiple outcomes. In this paper we propose and evaluate three Bayesian multivariate meta‐analysis models: two multivariate analogues of the traditional univariate random effects models which make different assumptions about the relationships between studies and estimates, and a multivariate random effects model which is a Bayesian adaptation of the mixed model approach. Our preferred method is then illustrated through an analysis of a new data set on parental smoking and two health outcomes (asthma and lower respiratory disease) in children. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Data fault detection for wireless sensor networks using multi-scale PCA method

A wide range of applications have started to use Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) as an information collection and monitoring tool. However, frequently appeared data faults make it difficult to extract and interpret information from the collected data. Therefore, it is driving the need for fault detection. In this paper, we present a multi-scale principal component analysis (MSPCA) based data fault detection method for wireless sensor networks. MSPCA integrates wavelet analysis and principal component analysis. Wavelet analysis is applied to the collected sensor data to capture time-frequency information, while principal component analysis is performed at each scale to detect data fault, including gradual and persistent faults in coarse scales and high frequent fault in fine scales. Experimental results on real world dataset show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Results From Poland's 2016 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

BACKGROUND Poland's 2016 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth is the first assessment of child and youth physical activity (PA) in Poland using the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance grading system. The main goal was to summarize and describe the current state of child and youth PA to increase awareness and surveillance. METHODS The systematic methodology that underpins the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card was adapted and applied to the Polish report card. The best available data were consolidated, reviewed by a group of experts, and used to assign the letter grades to 9 core PA indicators on a scale ranging from A (highest) to F (lowest). RESULTS The 9 indicators were graded as such: 1) Overall Physical Activity (D), 2) Organized Sport Participation (C), 3) Active Play (INC), 4) Active Transportation (C), 5) Sedentary Behaviors (D), 6) Family and Peers (C), 7) School (B), 8) Community and the Built Environment (C), and 9) Government Strategies and Investments (C). CONCLUSIONS The final grades show a strong role of school in providing PA for children and youth in Poland. However, promotion of school-based sport participation appears to be insufficient by itself to sustainably promote PA in this group.
Certifying an Automated Code Generator Using Formal Tools : Preliminary experiments in the GeneAuto project

This paper reports on the study and early experiments of the available technologies for the formal validation and verification of Automated Code Generator which took place in the GeneAuto project. GeneAuto aims at the development of an ACG for a safe subset of the Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow modelling language which will be used for the development of certified safety critical embedded real time systems in the automobile, aeronautic and space domains and therefore subject to the certification authorities and standards of these domains. The chosen technology is illustrated through the development of a scheduler process for a safe subset of block diagrams. Our purpose is to develop and formally verify some parts of the GeneAuto ACG using the Coq proof assistant. Such a certified code generator guarantees that the correctness properties already proved on the model source code will still hold for the executable code. We focus in this paper on the scheduler part.
Improving the speech activity detection for the DARPA RATS phase-3 evaluation

This paper presents the work that we conducted for building the speech activity detection (SAD) systems for the phase 3 evaluation of the RATS program. The work focused on improving the SAD performance with the neural network (NN) approach. The major efforts include reducing the false rejections errors by extensions of speech regions in the training references and use of post-processing NNs, and removing channel variations by design of channel bottleneck features with the deep NN learning approach. With these efforts more 25% relative improvements were achieved over the phase 2 evaluation system. The bigger contribution of the design of the bottleneck features was the enhancement of the SAD system performance on new channels. Our results revealed that the bottleneck features were able to improve SAD performance on new channels significantly.
[Plasmablastic lymphoma: a clinicopathologic analysis of 11 cases with review of literature].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinicpathologic features and diagnosis of plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL). METHODS Eleven cases of PBL were collected and followed up, with review of the literature. HIV and EBV status and their relationships with the tumor were specially compared as well. RESULTS In the current cohort, 10 patients were serologically HIV negative; the male to female ratio was 8 to 3, and the median age was 57 years. Ten cases showed extranodal involvement and one case was nodal based. At presentation, five patients had mid-facial involvement, including sinonasal area (3 cases) and oral cavity (2 cases). Histologically, six were PBL of oral mucosa type, and five were PBL with plasmacytic differentiation. In all cases, the neoplastic cells expressed CD138 and MUM-1, and were negative for CD20 and CD3ε; the median Ki-67 index was 80%. Five cases were EBER1/2 in situ hybridization positive. IgH or/and Igκ gene rearrangement was detected in all five cases examined. CONCLUSIONS Most patients were no congenital or acquired immunodeficiency in the retrospective study. Of the died patients, EBER1/2 in situ hybridization were negative and their disease staging were Ⅳ, The neoplastic cells were immunoblastic or plasmablastic, sometimes the plasmacytoid cell can be seen and the neoplastic cell had mature plasma cell phenotype, the pathologic diagnosis of the lymphoma is still controversial now. Differentiate with plasma cell neoplasm is difficult, it is necessary to accumulate more cases for advanced study and observation in the future.
Research on Greedy Clique Partition-GCP Algorithm

Clustering of binary fingerprints is used in the classification of gene expression data. It is known that the clustering of binary fingerprints with 3 bits of missing value is NP-hard. The greedy clique partition (GCP for short) algorithm is a heuristic algorithm used to clustering of binary fingerprints with missing values. In this paper, we firstly study the feature of instances which can not be resolved by the GCP based on hash table. Then a new property of problem instances is given, which can further improve the heuristic algorithm based on linked list. Finally, an empirical formula is presented, which is used to judge the accuracy and credibility of the GCP algorithm
Preoperative echocardiographic predictors for 1-year mortality in patients treated with standard endovascular aneurysm repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and cardiovascular disease are intimately associated, the latter representing the most common cause of death in Sweden. Cardiac complications are held responsible for the majority of perioperative morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing repair of AAA. The importance of preoperative thorough cardiac assessment is therefore obvious. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative echocardiographic findings for 1-year mortality after elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of infrarenal AAA. Design: Retrospective analysis. Methods: The 505 patients were identified in a prospective database for endovascular interventions between 1998 and 2011, and data were retrieved from patient records. Preoperative echocardiography reports in 380 patients were reviewed and findings were notified according to a predefined protocol. Results: The 1-year mortality rate was 6.7%. Severe valve disease was present in 8.7% of the patients, aortic valve stenosis being the leading cause of valve pathology. Severe valve disease (OR 3.5, 95% CI [1.2 - 10.7]; p = 0.025) and chronic kidney disease grade ≥ 3 (OR 7.5, 95% CI [2.1 - 26.1]; p = 0.002) were the only independent risk factors for increased mortality rate at 1-year. Conclusion: Echocardiography should be a part of the preoperative workup in AAA patients. Finding of severe valve disease should be further evaluated by a cardiologist prior to EVAR.
Structural basis for serotonergic regulation of neural circuits in the mouse olfactory bulb

Olfactory processing is well known to be regulated by centrifugal afferents from other brain regions, such as noradrenergic, acetylcholinergic, and serotonergic neurons. Serotonergic neurons widely innervate and regulate the functions of various brain regions. In the present study, we focused on serotonergic regulation of the olfactory bulb (OB), one of the most structurally and functionally well‐defined brain regions. Visualization of a single neuron among abundant and dense fibers is essential to characterize and understand neuronal circuits. We accomplished this visualization by successfully labeling and reconstructing serotonin (5‐hydroxytryptamine: 5‐HT) neurons by infection with sindbis and adeno‐associated virus into dorsal raphe nuclei (DRN) of mice. 5‐HT synapses were analyzed by correlative confocal laser microscopy and serial‐electron microscopy (EM) study. To further characterize 5‐HT neuronal and network function, we analyzed whether glutamate was released from 5‐HT synaptic terminals using immuno‐EM. Our results are the first visualizations of complete 5‐HT neurons and fibers projecting from DRN to the OB with bifurcations. We found that a single 5‐HT axon can form synaptic contacts to both type 1 and 2 periglomerular cells within a single glomerulus. Through immunolabeling, we also identified vesicular glutamate transporter 3 in 5‐HT neurons terminals, indicating possible glutamatergic transmission. Our present study strongly implicates the involvement of brain regions such as the DRN in regulation of the elaborate mechanisms of olfactory processing. We further provide a structure basis of the network for coordinating or linking olfactory encoding with other neural systems, with special attention to serotonergic regulation. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:262–280, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Transgenic Bt-Cotton Affects Enzyme Activity and Nutrient Availability in a Sub-Tropical Inceptisol

We investigated the dynamics of N and P availability in the rhizosphere of Bt and non-Bt cotton crops during their growth. In a net-house pot culture experiment at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, Bt-cotton (cv. MRC-6301Bt) and its non-transgenic near-isoline (MRC-6301) were grown on a sandy loam soil until maturity. A control (no-crop) treatment was also included. Rhizosphere soil and root samples were collected at 60, 90, and 120 days after sowing (DAS). Soil samples were analysed for dehydrogenase activity, soil respiration, mineral-N and Olsen-P. Results have revealed a significant reduction in dehydrogenase activity ()17 %) and soil respiration ()3.5 %) in the rhizosphere of Bt-cotton over non-Bt isoline. Total mineral-N (NH4 + -N + NO 3 -N) in soil was reduced by 14 %, whereas Olsen-P was increased by 8 % because of Bt-cotton. Root biomass yields were not different (P > 0.05), but root volume was significantly higher in Bt than non-Bt isoline. Time of sampling strongly (P < 0.05) affected the above parameters, showing their highest values at 60 or 90 DAS. A significant interactive effect of sampling time and treatments was also indicated. Our results suggest that Bt-cotton may constrain the availability of N, but enhances P-availability in these soils.
Application of histone modification-specific interaction domains as an alternative to antibodies

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histones constitute a major chromatin indexing mechanism, and their proper characterization is of highest biological importance. So far, PTM-specific antibodies have been the standard reagent for studying histone PTMs despite caveats such as lot-to-lot variability of specificity and binding affinity. Herein, we successfully employed naturally occurring and engineered histone modification interacting domains for detection and identification of histone PTMs and ChIP-like enrichment of different types of chromatin. Our results demonstrate that histone interacting domains are robust and highly specific reagents that can replace or complement histone modification antibodies. These domains can be produced recombinantly in Escherichia coli at low cost and constant quality. Protein design of reading domains allows for generation of novel specificities, addition of affinity tags, and preparation of PTM binding pocket variants as matching negative controls, which is not possible with antibodies.
Engaging Elementary Students in the Creative Process of Mathematizing Their World through Mathematical Modeling

This paper examines the experiences of two elementary teachers’ implementation of mathematical modeling in their classrooms and how the enactment by the teachers and the engagement by students exhibited their creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills. In particular, we explore the questions: (1) How can phases of mathematical modeling as a process serve as a venue for exhibiting students’ critical 21st century skills? (2) What were some effective pedagogical practices teachers used as they implemented mathematical modeling with elementary students and how did these promote students’ 21st century skills? We propose that mathematical modeling provides space for teachers and students to have a collective experience through the iterative process of making sense of and building knowledge of important mathematical ideas while engaging in the critical 21st century skills necessary in our complex modern world.