Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Universal Sample Size Invariant Measures for Uncertainty Quantification in Density Estimation

Previously, we developed a high throughput non-parametric maximum entropy method (PLOS ONE, 13(5): e0196937, 2018) that employs a log-likelihood scoring function to characterize uncertainty in trial probability density estimates through a scaled quantile residual (SQR). The SQR for the true probability density has universal sample size invariant properties equivalent to sampled uniform random data (SURD). Alternative scoring functions are considered that include the Anderson-Darling test. Scoring function effectiveness is evaluated using receiver operator characteristics to quantify efficacy in discriminating SURD from decoy-SURD, and by comparing overall performance characteristics during density estimation across a diverse test set of known probability distributions.
Genomic diversity of prevalent Staphylococcus epidermidis multidrug-resistant strains isolated from a Children’s Hospital in México City in an eight-years survey

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a human commensal and pathogen worldwide distributed. In this work, we surveyed for multi-resistant S. epidermidis strains in eight years at a children’s health-care unit in México City. Multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis were present in all years of the study, including resistance to methicillin, beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides. To understand the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance and its association with virulence and gene exchange, we sequenced the genomes of 17 S. epidermidis isolates. Whole-genome nucleotide identities between all the pairs of S. epidermidis strains were about 97% to 99%. We inferred a clonal structure and eight Multilocus Sequence Types (MLSTs) in the S. epidermidis sequenced collection. The profile of virulence includes genes involved in biofilm formation and phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs). Half of the S. epidermidis analyzed lacked the ica operon for biofilm formation. Likely, they are commensal S. epidermidis strains but multi-antibiotic resistant. Uneven distribution of insertion sequences, phages, and CRISPR-Cas immunity phage systems suggest frequent horizontal gene transfer. Rates of recombination between S. epidermidis strains were more prevalent than the mutation rate and affected the whole genome. Therefore, the multidrug resistance, independently of the pathogenic traits, might explain the persistence of specific highly adapted S. epidermidis clonal lineages in nosocomial settings.
Differences in cNOS/iNOS Activity during Resistance to Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in 5-Lipoxygenase Knockout Mice

Infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease and consequently leads to severe inflammatory heart condition; however, the mechanisms driving this inflammatory response have not been completely elucidated. Nitric oxide (NO) is a key mediator of parasite killing in T. cruzi-infected mice, and previous studies have suggested that leukotrienes (LTs) essentially regulate the NO activity in the heart. We used infected 5-lipoxygenase-deficient mice (5-LO−/−) to explore the participation of nitric oxide synthase isoforms, inducible (iNOS) and constitutive (cNOS), in heart injury, cytokine profile, and oxidative stress during the early stage of T. cruzi infection. Our evidence suggests that the cNOS of the host is involved in the resistance of 5-LO−/− mice during T. cruzi infection. iNOS inhibition generated a remarkable increase in T. cruzi infection in the blood and heart of mice, whereas cNOS inhibition reduced cardiac parasitism (amastigote nests). Furthermore, this inhibition associates with a higher IFN-γ production and lower lipid peroxidation status. These data provide a better understanding about the influence of NO-interfering therapies for the inflammatory response toward T. cruzi infection.
Cancer Survivors Could Get Survival Benefits from Postdiagnosis Physical Activity: A Meta-Analysis

Background Physical activity presents significant protection against death from cancer in the general population, so the global recommendations on physical activity for health are recommended by the WHO. While the recommendation is a guideline for general population, whether all cancer patients could get benefits from physical activity and whether the cancer patients who did not meet the requirement of the recommendation could get benefits from the physical activity, compared with the cancer patients with no physical activity, are unclear. Accordingly, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify whether the physical activity, even if low level of physical activity, could reduce the mortality of various cancer patients. Method We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for published cohorts and case-control studies of cancer survivors with physical activity comparing with no physical activity and reported outcomes of mortality through October 15, 2018. Two investigators independently reviewed the included studies and extracted relevant data. The effect estimate of interest was the hazard ratios (HRs). Results There are 21811 participants in total in the nine studies, and 2386 cancer deaths in this meta-analysis. Among them, 1 was a case-control study and 8 were cohort studies. The meta-analysis results showed that physical activity was associated with a significantly reduced risk of mortality in cancer survivors, with a pooled HR and 95% CI of 0.66 (0.58∼0.73), reducing mortality by 34% and also suggested that low level of physical activity could reduce the mortality with an HR and 95% CI of 0.60 (0.50∼0.69). Conclusion The results of this meta-analysis demonstrated that postdiagnosis physical activity, no matter the level of physical activity, could significantly reduce the mortality by 34%, compared with the no physical activity. At the same time, the results also suggested that cancer survivors undergoing low level of physical activity had a 40% reduction in mortality, which means that the cancer patients with poor ECOG need to do physical activity as much as they can, even if the amount of physical activity was low.
African Swine Fever Outbreak at a Farm in Central Namibia

An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) occurred at a farm in central Namibia in March 2018. Fourteen pigs died out of a herd of 59 animals over a period of 16 days between the first and sixteenth of March 2018. The clinical signs observed included sternal recumbency, fever, weakness, pain and reluctance to move, hyperemia of the skin and anorexia, followed by death. Necropsy findings included large amounts of unclotted blood in the pleural and peritoneal cavities, diffuse carcass congestion, splenomegaly, consolidation of both lungs, hemorrhagic and frothy airways and trachea, hepatomegaly and congestion, congestion of the gastric mucosa, enlarged and congested kidneys, ecchymotic epicardial, and endocardial hemorrhages, and very enlarged and congested urinary bladder. All the remaining pigs were euthanized, burned, and buried under state veterinary supervision. The authors concluded that the outbreak resulted from indirect transmission of the ASF virus due to lapses in biosecurity measures.
Neovaginoplasty for radiation-induced vaginal stenosis using Nile Tilapia Fish Skin as a biological graft

Abstract Tilapia skin showed good results when used as a biological graft for surgical management of Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome. Thus, our researchers considered the use of this biomaterial for neovaginoplasty in radiation-induced vaginal stenosis. We report the case of a 41-year-old female patient with a total occlusion of the vaginal canal after radiotherapy for vaginal cancer. McIndoe neovaginoplasty using tilapia skin as a scaffold for proliferation of new vaginal epithelium was performed. Initially, laparoscopic dissection of the rectovaginal septum and vesicovaginal space spaces was conducted. In the vaginal surgical time, a transverse transmural incision was made in the scarred vaginal reminiscent followed by blunt dissection and insertion of an acrylic mold covered with tilapia skin. Good anatomical and functional outcomes were noted. Vaginal reconstruction with tilapia skin seems to be an excellent option for patients with radiation-induced vaginal stenosis due to its wide availability, easy application and high effectiveness.
Heteroskedasticity in Excess Bitcoin Return Data: Google Trend vs. Garch Effects

Abstract This paper examines the mixture of distribution properties associated with heteroskedastic excess Bitcoin return data, using the volume of Google search queries as a proxy for the information arrival time, from a monthly data sampling period of June 2010 to May 2019. The results show that the volatility coefficients become highly statistically insignificant when the lagged volume of search queries is included in the conditional variance equation of the GJR-GARCH-M model. This clearly suggests that the volume of search queries is shown to provide significant explanatory power regarding the variance of heteroskedastic excess Bitcoin return, which can be traced from the ARCH process defined in the GJR-GARCH-M specification. A significant negative relationship between the conditional volatility and the volume of search queries indicates that Internet (online) information arrival reduces the risk premium in the Bitcoin market, which may improve market stability.
“Appreciate me and i will be your good soldier”. The exploration of antecedents to consumer citizenship

Abstract Customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) is an important consumer trend observed in the contemporary market. It may be described as an extra-role, voluntary behaviour performed in favour of other customers or companies. One of the CCB dimensions, namely, providing customer feedback to company offering, overlaps with value co-creation as a booming marketing concept. Our knowledge about factors determining this behaviour is relatively week. Trying to fill the gap, this paper discusses inclination for value co-creation among customers on the basis of literature review and explorative research. This explorative study aims to identify some company-related and customer-related antecedents to customer citizenship behaviour in the form of value co-creation in favour of companies. The theoretical deliberation is based on a critical literature review. The empirical part of the paper is based on explorative research in the form of a survey of 105 non-randomly selected customers. Aiming to identify the key drivers for customer inclination to participate in value co-creation, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted; next, the quality of factor structure was assessed with the help of SmartPLS 3.0 using standard measures of validity; and finally, structural links between the inclination to co-create and distinct antecedents were estimated using the partial least square structural equitation modelling technique (PLS_SEM). The factor analysis suggested distinguishing two aspects of customer co-creation, i.e., either initiated by companies (Organised Co-Creation) or by customers (Spontaneous Co-creation). The estimated PLS structural model shows that only some casual paths were found statistically significant, i.e., the appreciation showed by companies towards customers engaging in the organised co-creation process (as extrinsic motivation) and customer innovativeness, as well as the fulfilment of the need for stability (as intrinsic motivation) with regards to spontaneous co-creation. The ex-post moderation analysis with the help of the PLS_MGA algorithm enabled to identify gender as the factor potentially explaining inter-group differences in the structural model.
Atlantic water flow between Iceland and Faroes 2012 – 2013

The inflow of warm and saline Atlantic water across the Iceland-Faroe Ridge into the Norwegian Sea is the main branch of Atlantic inflow to the Nordic Seas. Since summer 1997, the volume transport of Atlantic water carried by this branch has been monitored by an array of moored ADCPs combined with regular CTD observations on a section along 6°05'W, extending northwards from the Faroe shelf. The traditional method for estimating Atlantic water transport requires input from at least three ADCPs straddling the Atlantic water flow, but from the deployment summer 2012 to summer 2013, it was only possible to recover two ADCPs. When the data from these two ADCPs are combined with data from satellite altimetry, we find, however, that it is possible to generate a fairly accurate time series of Atlantic water transport. From 1 July 2012 to 1 May 2013, the average Atlantic water transport was 3.3 Sv, which is slightly less than the long-term average, but not the lowest transport for similar periods in the past. HAVSTOVAN NR. : 14-02
Ultrasonic Attenuation Measurements of in Vivo Human Muscle

Attenuation measurements were performed on the quadriceps femoris muscle of 10 normal volunteers. The measurements were made using a statistical narrowband pulse echo method operating at 4.3 MHz. The results show a normal range of 4.71 ± 0.44 dB cm-1 (mean ± S.D.). A one-way analysis of variance was performed on the data which concluded that the populations of attenuation coefficients among the subjects were indeed distinct at the p < 0.0005 level.
Numerical Ray Tracing in Media Involving Continuous and Discrete Refractive Boundaries

Attempts to improve the performance of ultrasonic medical imaging techniques have led to an interest in digital methods for tracing rays through inhomogeneous media. Biological tissues involve both continuously varying and discrete refractive index boundaries. A ray tracing technique applicable for both cases is described. The performance of a simulation program is illustrated and discussed for a variety of boundary conditions.
Texture of B-Mode Echograms: 3-D Simulations and Experiments of the Effects of Diffraction and Scatterer Density

B-mode echograms were simulated by employing the impulse response method in transmission and reception using a discrete scatterer tissue model, with and without attenuation. The analytic signal approach was used for demodulation of the RF A-mode lines. The simulations were performed in 3-D space and compared to B-mode echograms obtained from experiments with scattering tissue phantoms. The average echo amplitude appeared to increase towards the focus and to decrease beyond it. In the focal zone, the average amplitude increased proportionally to the square root of the scatterer density. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) was found to be independent of depth, i.e., 1.91 as predicted for a Rayleigh distribution of gray levels, although a minimum was found in the focal zone at relatively low scatterer densities. The SNR continuously increased with increasing scatterer density and reached the limit of 1.91 at relatively high densities (>104 cm-3). The lateral full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the two dimensional autocovariance function of the speckle increased continuously from the transducer face to far beyond the focus and decreased thereafter due to the diffraction effect. The lateral FWHM decreased proportionally to the logarithm of the scatterer density at low densities and reached a limit at high densities. Introduction of attenuation in the simulated tissue resulted in a much more pronounced depth dependence of the texture. The axial FWHM was independent of the distance to the transducer to a first approximation and decreased slightly with increasing scatterer density until a limit was reached at densities larger than 103 cm-3. This limit was in agreement with theory. The experiments confirmed the simulations and it can be concluded that the presented results are of great importance to the understanding of B-mode echograms and to the potential use of the analysis of B-mode texture for tissue characterization.
Potential and Limitations of Angle-Independent Flow Detection Algorithms Using Radio-Frequency and Detected Echo Signals

New techniques to estimate local blood and tissue velocities have been developed by several groups, including our own. The performance of these techniques is ultimately limited by the characteristics of ultrasonic imaging systems that determine the second-order statistics of speckle. These statistical parameters vary widely depending on the dimension of analysis in the image plane (lateral or axial) and on the echo input signal (radio-frequency or detected data). We use experiments and theory to examine these factors and describe their impact on the performance of our correlation-based technique for angle-independent tracking of blood or tissue motion. The results indicate that the second-order statistics determine the performance of our correlation-based algorithm and can be used to predict the performance of other angle-independent flow detection techniques.
Ultrasound Attenuation Estimation in Soft Tissue Using the Entropy Difference of Pulsed Echoes between Two Adjacent Envelope Segments

In this paper, we describe a new method of estimating the ultrasound attenuation coefficient of soft tissue based on the entropy difference between two adjacent envelope segments of narrowband ultrasound pulse echoes. Assuming uniform attenuation in the region under investigation, the attenuation is estimated by minimizing the difference of entropies in the two segments as the attenuation is continuously compensated for. The simulation and experimental results with a tissue equivalent (TE) phantom show that the proposed estimator is quite robust to receiver noise and requires considerably less data length as compared with conventional methods. At present, an experimental result with a TE phantom shows that a resolution of 10 mm × 10 mm can be attained with echoes from a depth of 3 cm using a 2.25 MHz transducer.
Phase Insensitive Homomorphic Image Processing for Speckle Reduction

Speckle appears in all conventional ultrasound images and is caused by the use of a phase-sensitive transducer. Speckle is an undesirable property as it can mask small but perhaps diagnostically significant image features. In this paper a homomorphic, hybrid nonlinear processing method, based on cancellation of scattering interference, is developed and examined. Experiments with synthetic and real ultrasound imagery show that the proposed method improves the contrast-to-noise ratio in both lesion and cyst areas and preserves edge clarity.
Digital Ultrasound Imaging Techniques Using Vector Sampling and Raster Line Reconstruction

The use of digital techniques in acoustic imaging is receiving a great deal of attention due to the power and flexibility of digital signal processing as well as its steadily decreasing cost. In this paper we describe the theory and preliminary experimental results for a digital synthetic aperture imaging system which uses one or more transmit/receive cycles to gather data for reconstructing an entire image. The system uses quadrature frequency conversion prior to digitization to reduce the data rate and storage requirements. Using this approach, an imaging instrument design is presented that has the capability of reconstructing images in real time in TV format without conventional scan conversion. Freeze frame is also possible although no image memory is required.
Scattering of Ultrasound by Tissues

Scattering of ultrasound by biological tissues (continuous-inhomogeneous media) is discussed. An analytical expression for the attenuation due to scattering (αT SC) and backscatter coefficients (σT) of tissues are obtained. The results explain the variation of (αT SC) and σT with frequency for a number of tissues. The study also provides two statistical parameters, velocity fluctuation coefficient and correlation length, in terms of which the scattering of tissues can be defined quantitatively.
Role conceptions of baccalaureate nursing graduates

R o l e c o n f l i c t e x p e r i e n c e d i n t h e t r a n s i t i o n f r o m t h e e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n t o t h e work o r g a n i z a t i o n c a n be u n d e r s t o o d t h r o u g h t h e s t u d y o f r o l e c o n c e p t i o n s ; w h e r e i n c o n s i s t e n c y b e t w e e n i d e a l r o l e c o n c e p t i o n s a n d a c t u a l e x p e r i e n c e i s t e r m e d r o l e d e p r i v a t i o n . T h i s s t u d y i s a d e s c r i p t i v e s u r v e y o f t h e r o l e c o n c e p t i o n s o f t h e 1980 b a c c a l a u r e a t e g r a d u a t e s o f The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a S c h o o l o f N u r s i n g . R o l e c o n c e p t i o n s w e r e m e a s u r e d by t h e N u r s i n g R o l e C o n c e p t i o n S c a l e ( C o r w i n , 1960) one month p r i o r t o g r a d u a t i o n (N=77) a n d s i x months f o l l o w i n g g r a d u a t i o n f o r t h o s e e m p l o y e d i n a h o s p i t a l s e t t i n g (N=37). In a d d i t i o n , c o m p l e t i o n o f t h e Work E x p e r i e n c e Q u e s t i o n n a i r e p r o v i d e d d a t a t o d e s c r i b e t h e employment s t a t u s o f t h e s e g r a d u a t e s (N=62) s i x months f o l l o w i n g g r a d u a t i o n . R e s u l t s o f t h i s s t u d y a r e p r e s e n t e d i n t e r m s o f b u r e a u c r a t i c , p r o f e s s i o n a l a n d s e r v i c e r o l e c o n c e p t i o n a n d r o l e d e p r i v a t i o n s c o r e s . The f i n d i n g s a r e a l s o a n a l y z e d f o r two s u b g r o u p s o f g r a d u a t e s ; t h o s e who c o m p l e t e d f o u r y e a r s o f u n i v e r s i t y n u r s i n g e d u c a t i o n (UBC-4) a n d t h o s e who e n t e r e d as r e g i s t e r e d n u r s e s a n d c o m p l e t e d t h e l a s t two y e a r s o f t h e p r o g r a m ( U B C 2 ) . T h i s s t u d y r e v e a l s t h r e e f i n d i n g s o f m a j o r i m p o r t a n c e . The f i r s t i s t h e a b s e n c e o f d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e r o l e c o n c e p t i o n s c o r e s o f UBC-2 and UBC-4 g r o u p s o f b a c c a l a u r e a t e g r a d u a t e s , d e s p i t e d i f f e r e n c e s i n e d u c a t i o n a l p r o c e s s . The s e c o n d i s t h a t t h e mean b u r e a u c r a t i c r o l e d e p r i v a t i o n s c o r e r e m a i n e d c o n s t a n t f o r UBC-2 g r a d u a t e s b u t d e c r e a s e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y f o r t h e UBC-4 g r a d u a t e s o v e r t h e s i x month p o s t g r a d u a t i o n p e r i o d . The t h i r d f i n d i n g i s an o b s e r v e d s i g n i f i c a n t
Diagnóstico y tratamiento del trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad en adultos [XIV Curso Internacional de Actualización en Neuropediatría y Neuropsicología Infantil]

El trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad (TDAH) es una patología neuropsiquiátrica con una elevada prevalencia, tanto en la infancia como en la edad adulta, que provoca importantes alteraciones en diferentes áreas vitales [1]. Hasta hace relativamente poco tiempo, se consideraba que el trastorno no se manifestaba más allá de la adolescencia, de modo que posteriormente se producía una remisión o desembocaba en otras patologías, como los trastornos de personalidad. Sin embargo, a partir de finales de los años sesenta aparecen estudios en los que se demuestra la persistencia de los síntomas en una parte significativa de los adultos que padecían TDAH en la infancia, lo que pone de manifiesto la cronicidad del trastorno [2,3].
Social Phobia

Social phobia is a debilitating psychiatric condition that is treatable but often remains undetected and untreated. Without treatment, clients are at risk for complications, such as reduced quality of life, social interactions, daily functioning, and treatment adherence. Social phobia leads to more sick days, poor job performance, costly medical and emergency care visits, mental health visits, and greater reliance on disability or welfare. In the worst cases, the patient may decide that life is not worth living and consider suicide. Screening and careful assessment are the keys to detection and evaluation of social phobia. This article presents a case study to illustrate evaluation and treatment of social phobia.