Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian Models for Multivariate Current Status Data with Informative Censoring

Summary. Multivariate current status data consist of indicators of whether each of several events occur by the time of a single examination. Our interest focuses on inferences about the joint distribution of the event times. Conventional methods for analysis of multiple event‐time data cannot be used because all of the event times are censored and censoring may be informative. Within a given subject, we account for correlated event times through a subject‐specific latent variable, conditional upon which the various events are assumed to occur independently. We also assume that each event contributes independently to the hazard of censoring. Nonparametric step functions are used to characterize the baseline distributions of the different event times and of the examination times. Covariate and subject‐specific effects are incorporated through generalized linear models. A Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is described for estimation of the posterior distributions of the unknowns. The methods are illustrated through application to multiple tumor site data from an animal carcinogenicity study.
Letter to the editor: RE: Comparison of periodontal parameters and self-perceived oral symptoms among cigarette smokers, individuals vaping electronic cigarettes and never-smokers: A pilot study.

We read with interest the pilot study by Javed et al (1) comparing periodontal parameters in cigarette smokers, electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users and never-smokers. The role of novel nicotine devices (such as e-cigarettes) in smoking cessation and any potential oral health effects are very important topics that require further research. However, the purpose of this letter is to raise methodological and statistical concerns with this study, particularly the inappropriate use of its description as a 'pilot study'. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Individual and collective empowerment: Women's voices in the #MeToo movement in China

ABSTRACT In the past, women had been inclined to remain silent in the face of sexual harassment and this article examines the case of Chinese women, who have been empowered by the global #MeToo movement to fight for social equality. Through interviews and observations, this study analyzes how this movement has empowered Chinese women both at individual and collective levels and motivated them to fight against sexual harassment. However, further challenges remain, such as reforming of outdated laws. Therefore, the study suggests an institutional level approach for the empowerment of Chinese women and aims to draw more attention to similar strategies for the empowerment of women in non-western contexts.
The Terminal Portion of the T Wave: A New Electrocardiographic Marker of Risk of Ventricular Arrhythmias

Experimental studies have shown that transmural dispersion of repolarization (DoR), defined as the difference in action potential duration between mid‐myocardial M‐cells, epicardial, and endocardial cells is reflected in the duration of the terminal portion of the T wave (TpTe) on the surface ECG. Since DoR is an important factor associated with the propensity for reentrant arrhythmias, this study examined if TpTe may serve as a marker of risk of ventricular arrhythmias. Data from 18 patients with coronary artery disease and inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT group) were compared with those of 16 survivors of myocardial infarction without inducible VT (control group). TpTe was automatically measured in each beat of 24‐hour ECG recordings, and programmed ventricular stimulation was performed in the antiarrhythmic drug‐free state. TpTe was expressed as the absolute interval in milliseconds, and relative to the duration of QTe (TpTe/QTe × 100%). TpTe duration was 74 ± 14 ms in the VT group versus 63 ± 16 ms in the control group (P < 0.004). The TpTe interval expressed as a percent of the QT interval was 21 ± 4% in the VT group versus 17 ± 3% in the control group (P = 0.02). In patients with coronary artery disease, TpTe was longer in patients with, versus without, inducible VT. The results of this study support the hypothesis that TpTe reflects transmural dispersion of repolarization.
Acute pyelonephritis and renal abscesses in adults--correlating clinical parameters with radiological (computer tomography) severity.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlations between clinical and biochemical parameters with radiological severity of CT diagnosed acute pyelonephritis (APN) and renal abscesses, thereafter defining clinical predictors to identify patients with severe APN or renal abscesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS The inpatient medical records of all patients diagnosed with APN or renal abscesses admitted over one year were reviewed. Patients with CT imaging performed were classified into 3 groups--mild APN, severe APN and renal abscesses. Clinical and biochemical parameters were correlated with radiological severity. RESULTS One hundred and thirty patients were included in the study. Male gender, older age, presence of diabetes mellitus and unobstructing renal stones were significantly associated with severe APN or renal abscesses. Clinical and biochemical parameters that were associated with more severe disease include a higher leucocyte count and C-reactive proteins, left neutrophil shift, thrombocytosis or thrombocytopenia, low serum albumin, acute renal impairment and bacteremia. The percentage of patients had positive urine and blood cultures were 40.8% and 30.7% respectively. Of these patients, 97.9% had severe APN or renal abscesses on CT imaging had diabetes mellitus (DM), hypotension, acute renal failure or leucocyte count of >20K. CONCLUSION Our study showed a good correlation between clinical and radiological severity in adult patients with APN and renal abscesses. Patients with severe APN or renal abscesses were likely to be diabetics presenting with hypotension, acute renal impairment and a leucocyte count of greater than 20K.
A Simple Procedure to Optimize Small Radius Rounded Corners Obtained From Schwarz–Christoffel Conformal Transformations

Both conformal mapping via Schwarz-Christoffel (SC) formulas and finite element methods (FEM) can provide accurate results in analyzing 2-D electric or magnetic fields. In the presence of curved boundaries with small radius of curvature, the first are normally constrained to introduce piecewise straight lines. The original contribution of this paper consists of presenting a reliable but simple procedure to smooth several sharp vertices of a polygonal boundary by the formula for rounded corners, and comparing the results with those obtained by replacing sharp corners with piecewise straight lines. Differences are perceived only in close proximity, and this quantitatively explains the similar results obtained from maps and from FEMs and provides reliable assessment of the obtainable results. Two approaches are followed. According to the first, sharp corner geometries are directly mapped into rounded corner ones, accepting small changes in the whole structure, and negligible only for small corner radii. According to the second, the simple optimization procedure of the SC prevertices allow us to match the original geometry in all details.
Urinary polyamines for evaluating the course of disease for patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung

Clinical correlates with urinary excretion of polyamines were evaluated for 29 newly diagnosed and 35 previously treated patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung (SCC). The frequencies of pretreatment abnormalities were 12 (41%) for putrescine, 18 (62%) for spermidine, and 20 (69%) for spermine. In assessing disease parameters, the combined use of the abnormalities of spermidine and spermine as a discriminant was more effective than that of all three polyamines; it correlated significantly with extent of limited and extensive disease (P < 0.001), and also resulted in significant separation of survival curves, the median survival of 11 months for both elevated compared to 19 months for neither or only one elevated (P = 0.062). No significant difference was seen in the abnormalities between no metastasis and one metastasis, whereas the frequencies of the abnormalities was highly increased in two or more metastases. The distribution of polyamines determined at regular treatment intervals showed distinctively more elevated patterns in progressive disease than in stable disease or partial and complete responses (P < 0.01). In order to evaluate therapeutic effects on the relationship between polyamine excretion and tumor regression, correlations between urinary putrescine and spermidine were determined. The values of the ratio of spermidine to putrescine were significantly smaller in responders than in nonresponders (P < 0.01); and these may be related to smaller tumor mass and higher tumor proliferative activity in responders, and larger tumor mass and lower tumor proliferative activity in nonresponders.
A W-Band Linear Tapered Slot Antenna on Rectangular-Grooved Silicon Substrate

A W-band (75-110 GHz) coplanar-waveguide (CPW)-fed linear tapered slot antenna (LTSA) on rectangular-grooved silicon substrate is presented. Compared to its ungrooved version, the W-band CPW-fed LTSA shows significantly improved endfire radiation patterns in the whole band. Also, the symmetric patterns together with moderately high gain (8-10 dBi), high front-to-back (F/B) ratio (16-28 dB), and low sidelobe level (SLL; -15 to -17 dB for the E-plane and -11 to -18 dB for the if-plane) are achieved. The proposed CPW-fed LTSA is expected to find applications, such as a transceiver antenna in millimeter-wave wireless communication systems, owing to its easy integration with the uniplanar monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuits
The use of outbreak information in the interpretation of clustering of reported cases of Escherichia coli O157 in space and time in Alberta, Canada, 2000–2002

We obtained a list of all reported cases of Escherichia coli O157 in Alberta during the 2000–2002 period, and using scan statistics we identified yearly temporal and spatial clusters of reported cases of E. coli O157 during the summer and in southern Alberta. However, the location of the spatial cluster in the south was variable among years. The impact of using both outbreak and sporadic data or only sporadic data on the identification of spatial and temporal clusters was small when analysing individual years, but the difference between spatial clusters was pronounced when scanning the entire study period. We also identified space-time clusters that incorporated known outbreaks, and clusters that were suggestive of undetected outbreaks that we attempted to validate with molecular data. Our results suggest that scan statistics, based on a space-time permutation model, may have a role in outbreak investigation and surveillance programmes by identifying previously undetected outbreaks.
Mood and the DRM paradigm: An investigation of the effects of valence and arousal on false memory

Recent studies regarding the effect of mood on the DRM (Deese–Roediger–McDermott) illusion have not been able to clearly establish yet whether valence or arousal is most critical in determining susceptibility to false memories, nor what the underlying processes are. In three experiments, both the valence and the level of arousal of participants' mood were manipulated. Six conditions were used: positive mood with high/low arousal, negative mood with high/low arousal, neutral mood, and a control condition. Memory was tested by means of immediate and delayed recognition and immediate free recall. The mood induction procedure was effective. For recognition memory, there was an effect of arousal on the endorsement of critical lures. Low-arousal moods elicited more false recognition than high-arousal moods, regardless of valence. Based on signal detection analyses, the effect was attributed to more liberal response criteria with low arousal, in combination with a tendency towards improved item-specific memory with high arousal.
Mitochondrial Regulation of Cell Death: Mitochondria Are Essential for Procaspase 3-p21 Complex Formation To Resist Fas-Mediated Cell Death

ABSTRACT Death receptor Fas transduces cell death signaling upon stimulation by Fas ligand, and this death signaling is mediated by caspase. Recently, we reported that the cell cycle regulator p21 interacts with procaspase 3 to resist Fas-mediated cell death. In the present study, the molecular characterization and functional region of the procaspase 3-p21 complex was further investigated. We observed the p21 expression in the mitochondrial fraction of HepG2 cells and detected Fas-mediated cell death only in the presence of actinomycin D. However, mitochondrial-DNA-lacking HepG2 (MDLH) cells showed this effect even in the absence of actinomycin D. Both p21 and procaspase 3 were expressed in MDLH cells, but the procaspase 3-p21 complex formation was not observed. Interestingly, the resistance to Fas-mediated cell death in the MDLH cells without actinomycin D was recovered after microinjection of HepG2-derived mitochondria into the MDLH cells. We conclude that mitochondria are necessary for procaspase 3-p21 complex formation and propose that the mitochondrial role during cell death is not only death induction but also death suppression.
Impaired quality of life of patients with acromegaly: control of GH/IGF-I excess improves psychological subscale appearance.

INTRODUCTION Acromegaly, a chronic disease caused by GH/IGF-I excess, has a major impact on quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVE To evaluate QoL of acromegalic patients in relation to control status of the disease. DESIGN AND METHODS Single center observational study including 93 patients with acromegaly recruited to complete QoL questionnaire (AcroQol). QoL was evaluated at least 3 months after surgery and/or medical treatment. Patients were divided into two groups: controlled (I) and uncontrolled (II) according to the latest consensus acromegaly 'control' criteria and further subdivided into four subgroups according to the previous pituitary adenoma surgery (Ib and IIb) or without surgery (Ia and IIa). RESULTS Mean GH (0.81+/-0.47 ng/ml) and IGF-I (195+/-71 ng/ml) values in group I were significantly lower than in group II (GH, 7.01+/-12.05 ng/ml and IGF-I, 513+/-316 ng/ml; P<0.001). There was no difference in total AcroQol score, physical, or psychological scales between groups I and II. However, when adjusted to age and disease duration since diagnosis, patients of group I (63+/-20%) showed an improved psychological subscale appearance than those of group II (58+/-17%; P=0.035). In group II, IGF-I level was lower after surgery (IIa=588+/-353, IIb=410+/-225 ng/ml; P<0.038), and psychological subscale appearance was significantly better in subgroup IIb (64.9+/-18.1%) than in subgroup IIa who had medical treatment (53.9+/-14.3%; P=0.009). CONCLUSION QoL is severely impaired in acromegalic patients. Control of GH/IGF-I excess by surgery or medical treatment seems to have a positive impact on psychological subscale appearance.
Cortical Stimulation Evokes Abnormal Responses in the Dopamine-Depleted Rat Basal Ganglia

The motor cortex (MC) sends massive projections to the basal ganglia. Motor disabilities in patients and animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD) may be caused by dopamine (DA)-depleted basal ganglia that abnormally process the information originating from MC. To study how DA depletion alters signal transfer in the basal ganglia, MC stimulation-induced (MC-induced) unitary responses were recorded from the basal ganglia of control and 6-hydroxydopamine-treated hemi-parkinsonian rats anesthetized with isoflurane. This report describes new findings about how DA depletion alters MC-induced responses. MC stimulation evokes an excitation in normally quiescent striatal (Str) neurons projecting to the globus pallidus external segment (GPe). After DA-depletion, the spontaneous firing of Str-GPe neurons increases, and MC stimulation evokes a shorter latency excitation followed by a long-lasting inhibition that was invisible under normal conditions. The increased firing activity and the newly exposed long inhibition generate tonic inhibition and a disfacilitation in GPe. The disfacilitation in GPe is then amplified in basal ganglia circuitry and generates a powerful long inhibition in the basal ganglia output nucleus, the globus pallidus internal segment. Intra-Str injections of a behaviorally effective dose of DA precursor l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine effectively reversed these changes. These newly observed mechanisms also support the generation of pauses and burst activity commonly observed in the basal ganglia of parkinsonian subjects. These results suggest that the generation of abnormal response sequences in the basal ganglia contributes to the development of motor disabilities in PD and that intra-Str DA supplements effectively suppress abnormal signal transfer.
A switched reluctance motor based drive system for power electronics education

A drive system based on a switched reluctance motor (SRM) is designed, simulated, and implemented during a master thesis work. The system is further developed in the context of a power engineering design project course at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The setup structure, some simulation results, and practical measurement results are presented in this paper. The whole procedure including students activities shows that the developed drive system provides a concrete background for power electronics and drive education.
Diabetes‐induced nitrative stress in the retina, and correction by aminoguanidine

Aminoguanidine inhibits the development of retinopathy in diabetic animals, but the mechanism remains unclear. Inasmuch as aminoguanidine is a relatively selective inhibitor of the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), we have investigated the effects of hyperglycemia on the retinal nitric oxide (NO) pathway in the presence and absence of aminoguanidine. In vivo studies utilized retinas from experimentally diabetic rats treated or without aminoguanidine for 2 months, and in vitro studies used bovine retinal endothelial cells and a transformed retinal glial cell line (rMC‐1) incubated in 5 mm and 25 mm glucose with and without aminoguanidine (100 µg/mL). NO was detected as nitrite and nitrate, and nitrotyrosine and iNOS were detected using immunochemical methods. Retinal homogenates from diabetic animals had greater than normal levels of NO and iNOS (p < 0.05), and nitrotyrosine was greater than normal, especially in one band immunoprecipitated from retinal homogenates. Oral aminoguanidine significantly inhibited all of these increases. Nitrotyrosine was detected immunohistochemically only in the retinal vasculature of non‐diabetic and diabetic animals. Retinal endothelial and rMC‐1 cells cultured in high glucose increased NO and NT, and aminoguanidine inhibited both increases in rMC‐1 cells, but only NT in endothelial cells. Hyperglycemia increases NO production in retinal cells, and aminoguanidine can inhibit this abnormality. Inhibition of diabetic retinopathy by aminoguanidine might be mediated in part by inhibition of sequelae of NO production.
A Simulation-based assessment of school closure strategies during an influenza epidemic

For assessment of school closure strategies during an influenza pandemic, we used an agent-based simulation model of influenza pandemic within a structured population of an urban community to compare the effectiveness of school closure strategies with various durations and thresholds. We found that both systemwide and individual school closure strategies could provide an effective way to reduce infection in an epidemic. In most cases, systemwide school closure is more effective than individual school closure, especially when the reproductive rate R0 of the epidemic is high. Experimenting with the various durations and thresholds, our model shows that when longer durations or lower thresholds are applied, both strategies have more effects on the epidemic. This paper provides an example of how agent-based simulation can be employed in policy evaluation and is promising in emergency management.
CORDIC based novel energy-efficient approximate DCT architecture for error-resilient applications

There is energy conflict in battery operated multimedia devices that leads to poor and degraded image/ video quality. In such type of devices the most crucial, vital and computationally exhaustive compression standard element used is the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). This paper instigates one such novel DCT architecture that employs very well-known COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC) unit and some approximation techniques which provides with effective computation based on certain assumptions where the correlation between the nearby pixels is exploited and dependency between the coefficients is used. The proposed architecture transpires out to have just 16 coefficients as the end result and not all of the 64 coefficients. This amalgamates the interdependence amid the DCT coefficients (a, b to g) that in turn squeezes them into three (seven to three), thereby allowing the computation of the other four from these three using adders and shifters. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is evaluated by using various parameters like Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Gradient Mean Square Deviation (GMSD) that are available for evaluation of image quality via modeling them in MATLAB. The architecture turns out to be nearly 54%, 30%, 86% and 55% more efficient in terms of energy over the radix-2 CORDIC, CORDIC based Loeffler DCT, data priority DCT and the RICO based DCT architectures.
Nezaměstnanost a věková segmentace trhu práce

We analyze age-specific labor market dynamics in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia over the period 2009-2012. We document a marginalized status of young workers aged 16-24, whose risk of job loss followed by unemployment is two to three times higher than that of primeage workers (35-49). Further more, unemployed workers aged 50-61 face relatively the lowest probability of finding a job, at rates 30-50% lower than prime-age unemployed workers. These results are qualitatively in line with those established for the reference economy of the UK. Finally, we find that fluctuations in age-specific unemployment rates in all three countries are mainly driven by variations in outflow rates from unemployment rather than by variations in inflow rates into unemployment. In contrast, in the UK, the fluctuations in all age-specific unemployment rates, are decisively affected by variations in inflow rates into unemployment.