Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections: risk factors and mortality

SUMMARY We retrospectively studied patients diagnosed with P. aeruginosa bloodstream infections (BSIs) in two Italian university hospitals. Risk factors for the isolation of multidrug-resistant (MDR) or non-MDR P. aeruginosa in blood cultures were identified by a case-case-control study, and a cohort study evaluated the clinical outcomes of such infections. We identified 106 patients with P. aeruginosa BSI over the 2-year study period; 40 cases with MDR P. aeruginosa and 66 cases with non-MDR P. aeruginosa were compared to 212 controls. Independent risk factors for the isolation of MDR P. aeruginosa were: presence of central venous catheter (CVC), previous antibiotic therapy, and corticosteroid therapy. Independent risk factors for non-MDR P. aeruginosa were: previous BSI, neutrophil count <500/mm3, urinary catheterization, and presence of CVC. The 21-day mortality rate of all patients was 33·9%. The variables independently associated with 21-day mortality were presentation with septic shock, infection due to MDR P. aeruginosa, and inadequate initial antimicrobial therapy.
Autobiographical memory in middle childhood: Recollections of the recent and distant past

To address the question of whether memories from early childhood survive into later childhood, participants visited the laboratory at age 3 and again at 7, 8, or 9. At age 3, each talked with a parent about six events; at the later age each child talked with a researcher about four of these distant events as well as two more recent events. School-aged children recalled fewer than half of the distant events introduced. Further, the proportion of distant events recalled was negatively correlated with age. Those distant events that were recalled, however, were recounted in an accurate, detailed manner. Importantly, reports of distant events did not reflect the full extent of children's narrative ability. Reports of recent events were more coherent and included twice the detail. Implications for existing interpretations of autobiographical memory and childhood amnesia are discussed, and the need for further research employing innovative methods is emphasised.
DYNAMICAL STRUCTURE OF THE MOLECULAR INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN AN EXTREMELY BRIGHT, MULTIPLY LENSED z ≃ 3 SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY DISCOVERED WITH HERSCHEL

We report the detection of CO(J = 5 → 4), CO(J = 3 → 2), and CO(J = 1 → 0) emission in the strongly lensed, Herschel/SPIRE-selected submillimeter galaxy (SMG) HERMES J105751.1+573027 at z = 2.9574 ± 0.0001, using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, and the Green Bank Telescope. The observations spatially resolve the molecular gas into four lensed images with a maximum separation of ∼9″ and reveal the internal gas dynamics in this system. We derive lensing-corrected CO line luminosities of L′CO(1–0) = (4.17 ± 0.41), L′CO(3–2) = (3.96 ± 0.20), and L′CO(5–4) = (3.45 ± 0.20) × 1010 (μL/10.9)−1 K km s−1 pc2, corresponding to luminosity ratios of r31 = 0.95 ± 0.10, r53 = 0.87 ± 0.06, and r51 = 0.83 ± 0.09. This suggests a total molecular gas mass of Mgas = 3.3×1010 (αCO/0.8) (μL/10.9)−1 M☉. The gas mass, gas mass fraction, gas depletion timescale, star formation efficiency, and specific star formation rate are typical for an SMG. The velocity structure of the gas reservoir suggests that the brightest two lensed images are dynamically resolved projections of the same dust-obscured region in the galaxy that are kinematically offset from the unresolved fainter images. The resolved kinematics appear consistent with the complex velocity structure observed in major, “wet” (i.e., gas-rich) mergers. Major mergers are commonly observed in SMGs and are likely to be responsible for fueling their intense starbursts at high gas consumption rates. This study demonstrates the level of detail to which galaxies in the early universe can be studied by utilizing the increase in effective spatial resolution and sensitivity provided by gravitational lensing.
A Risk Assessment Model for Campylobacter in Broiler Meat

A quantitative microbiological risk assessment model describes the transmission of Campylobacter through the broiler meat production chain and at home, from entering the processing plant until consumption of a chicken breast fillet meal. The exposure model is linked to a dose‐response model to allow estimation of the incidence of human campylobacteriosis. The ultimate objective of the model is to serve as a tool to assess the effects of interventions to reduce campylobacteriosis in the Netherlands. The model describes some basic mechanistics of processing, including the nonlinear effects of cross‐contamination between carcasses and their leaking feces. Model input is based on the output of an accompanying farm model and Dutch count data of Campylobacters on the birds' exterior and in the feces. When processing data are lacking, expert judgment is used for model parameter estimation. The model shows that to accurately assess of the effects of interventions, numbers of Campylobacter have to be explicitly incorporated in the model in addition to the prevalence of contamination. Also, as count data usually vary by several orders of magnitude, variability in numbers within and especially between flocks has to be accounted for. Flocks with high concentrations of Campylobacter in the feces that leak from the carcasses during industrial processing seem to have a dominant impact on the human incidence. The uncertainty in the final risk estimate is large, due to a large uncertainty at several stages of the chain. Among others, more quantitative count data at several stages of the production chain are needed to decrease this uncertainty. However, this uncertainty is smaller when relative risks of interventions are calculated with the model. Hence, the model can be effectively used by risk management in deciding on strategies to reduce human campylobacteriosis.
Generalized Theory of Phase-Shifted Carrier PWM for Cascaded H-Bridge Converters and Modular Multilevel Converters

This paper discusses the generalized theory of phase-shifted carrier pulsewidth modulation (PSC-PWM) for cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converters and modular multilevel converters (MMCs), provides a reasonable classification of the PSC-PWM, and extends the possible phase-shift angles to full range. First, the PSC-PWM for CHB converter is classified into two categories by phase-shift pattern. In addition, by rigorous mathematical derivation, the impact law of the full-range phase-shift angles on harmonic minimization is obtained. And then, it is proved that the generalized theory is equally applicable to MMC, which also merges the former proposed PSC-PWM for MMCs into itself. Moreover, the harmonic analysis of the dead-time error voltage is discussed, which is found to have the same harmonic distribution as the ideal voltage, except for the emerging of odd-order harmonics. In summary, this generalized theory offers a general perspective of the PSC-PWM for CHB converter and MMC, and builds up a scientific and comprehensive understanding for researchers from both academia and industry. Finally, the analytical findings are sufficiently validated by simulation and experimental results.
Mycobacterial infections in zoo animals: relevance, diagnosis and management *

While the world prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) is increasing in the human population, TB infection remains a real concern in some animal populations all around the globe. Most mycobacteria of the TB complex are able to infect zoo and wildlife species, in which the pathogenesis, receptivity and immune responses vary widely. The diagnostic tools usually applied in domestic animals show limited performance in zoo species, especially when prevalence is low. Conversely, investigations of cell-mediated immunity through in vitro assay of γ-interferon may have numerous advantages, as long as the technical limits are known and can be improved upon. Furthermore, recent tools based on the investigation of humoral immunity seem very promising for the detection of antibodies directed against certain immunogenic mycobacterial antigens in a wide range of species. All these methods are currently evaluated in field studies, despite the difficulties to ensure rigorous validation. The development of these diagnostic tools is also impaired by the prevalence of mycobacteria other than TB also able to infect and create relevant disease in their host. Thus, decisions on positive and suspicious-animals issues should be taken based on the evaluation of the risk of transmission to the rest of the zoological collection, the possible treatment options, animal welfare, conservation considerations and, of course, the zoonotic potential of this pathogen.
The Development of Best Practice Recommendations to Support the Hiring, Recruitment, and Advancement of Women Physicians in Emergency Medicine.

BACKGROUND Women in medicine continue to experience disparities in earnings, promotion, and leadership roles. There are few guidelines in place defining organization-level factors that promote a supportive workplace environment beneficial to women in emergency medicine (EM). We assembled a working group with the goal of developing specific and feasible recommendations to support women's professional development in both community and academic EM settings. METHODS We formed a working group from the leadership of two EM women's organizations, the Academy of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM) and the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians (AAWEP). Through a literature search and discussion, working group members identified four domains where organizational policies and practices supportive of women were needed: 1) global approaches to supporting the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in EM; 2) recruitment, hiring, and compensation of women emergency physicians; 3) supporting development and advancement of women in EM; and 4) physician health and wellness (in the context of pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity leave). Within each of these domains, the working group created an initial set of specific recommendations. The working group then recruited a stakeholder group of EM physician leaders across the country, selecting for diversity in practice setting, geographic location, age, race, and gender. Stakeholders were asked to score and provide feedback on each of the recommendations. Specific recommendations were retained by the working group if they achieved high rates of approval from the stakeholder group for importance and perceived feasibility. Those with >80% agreement on importance and >50% agreement on feasibility were retained. Finally, recommendations were posted in an open online forum (blog) and invited public commentary. RESULTS An initial set of 29 potential recommendations was created by the working group. After stakeholder voting and feedback, 16 final recommendations were retained. Recommendations were refined through qualitative comments from stakeholders and blog respondents. CONCLUSIONS Using a consensus building process that included male and female stakeholders from both academic and community EM settings, we developed recommendations for organizations to implement to create a workplace environment supportive of women in EM that were perceived as acceptable and feasible. This process may serve as a model for other medical specialties to establish clear, discrete organization-level practices aimed at supporting women physicians.
Tc-99m MIBI Parathyroid Scintigraphy and Intact Parathyroid Hormone Levels in Hyperparathyroidism

Tc-99m MIBI has been widely used to evaluate hyperparathyroidism based on increased tracer uptake in hyperfunctioning parathyroid tissue. The functional status measurement of parathyroid glands with intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels is also one of the most important diagnostic studies in this disorder. The aim of the current study was to assess the relation between MIBI imaging and iPTH levels. The authors retrospectively reviewed the records of patients with hyperparathyroidism who were referred to their department for Tc-99m MIBI scintigraphy. Sixty-five patients (24 primary and 41 secondary hyperparathyroidism) were included. The iPTH levels ranged from 66.06 to 2,836 pg/ml (normal, 10 to 55 pg/ml). Forty-two patients were MIBI positive and 23 were negative. The iPTH level in the MIBI-positive group was significantly greater than in the negative group in the primary (548 ± 478 versus 124 ± 45;P = 0.002), secondary (1,155 ± 692 versus 501 ± 352;P < 0.001), and overall (909 ± 678 versus 386 ± 341;P < 0.001) groups. For the primary hyperparathyroidism group, 17 of the 24 patients were MIBI positive (71%). When iPTH levels exceeded 200 pg/ml (100%), the diagnostic sensitivity reached 100%. For the secondary hyperparathyroidism group, 25 of 41 patients (61%) were MIBI positive; 24 of 38 patients (63%) had an iPTH level greater than 200 pg/ml, 21 of 27 patients (78%) had an iPTH level greater than 500 pg/ml, and 11 of 12 patients (92%) had an iPTH value greater than 1,000 pg/ml. Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy showed a good correlation with iPTH level for both primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Visualization of hyperfunctioning parathyroid glands on Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy was more likely with a higher serum iPTH level in a dose-dependent manner.
Effects of ascorbic acid on collagen matrix formation and osteoblast differentiation in murine MC3T3‐E1 cells

Treatment of mouse MC3T3‐E1 cells with ascorbic acid initiates the formation of a collagenous extracellular matrix and synthesis of several osteoblast‐related proteins. We recently showed that ascorbic acid dramatically increases alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin mRNAs and that this induction is blocked by inhibitors of collagen triple‐helix formation (Franceschi and Iyer, J Bone Miner Res 7:235). In the present study, the relationship between collagen matrix formation and osteoblast‐specific gene expression is explored in greater detail. Kinetic studies revealed that ascorbic acid increased proline hydroxylation in the intracellular procollagen pool within I h and stimulated the cleavage of type 1 collagen propeptides beginning at 2.5 h. Mature α1(I) and α2(I) collagen components were first detected at 10 h and continued to increase in both cell layer and culture medium for up to 72 h. Ascorbic acid also increased the rate of procollagen secretion from cell layers to culture medium. The secretion of another matrix protein, fibronectin, was only slightly affected. Alkaline phosphatase or its mRNA was first detected 2–3 days after ascorbic acid addition, but osteocalcin mRNA was not seen until day 6. Two inhibitors of collagen triple‐helix formation, ethyl‐3,4‐dihydroxybenzoate and 3,4‐dehydroproline, inhibited procollagen hydroxylation and alkaline phosphatase induction. 3,4‐Dehydroproline also inhibited the induction of alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin mRNAs. Surprisingly, induction was not blocked if cells were exposed to ascorbic acid before inhibitor addition. Alkaline phosphatase was also partially inhibited if cells were grown in the presence of purified bacterial collagenase. These results indicate that the induction of osteoblast markers by ascorbic acid does not require the continuous hydroxylation and processing of procollagens and suggest that a stable, possibly matrix‐associated signal is generated at early times after ascorbic acid addition that allows subsequent induction of osteoblast‐related genes.
MONOTONICITY , PAIRWISE MONOTONICITY AND IMPLEMENTABILITY : APPLICATIONS

In a mechanism design setting with quasilinear preferences, a domain D of admissible valuations of an agent is called a monotonicity domain if every 2-cycle monotone allocation rule is truthfully implementable (in dominant strategies). D is called a revenue equivalence domain if every implementable allocation rule satisfies revenue equivalence. Carbajal and Müller (2015) introduced the notions of monotonic transformations in differences and showed that if D admits these transformations then it is a revenue equivalence and monotonicity domain. Here we show that various economic domains, with countable or uncountable allocation sets, admit monotonic transformations in differences. Our applications include public and private supply of divisible public goods, multi-unit auction-like environments with increasing valuations, allocation problems with single-peaked valuations, and allocation problems with externalities. JEL Classification Numbers: C72, D70, D82.
No More Deadlocks - Applying The Time Window Routing Method To Shuttle Systems

Autonomous vehicle-based storage and retrieval systems are used in order to supply picking or production areas based on the goods-to-person principle. In one such system, several vehicles move within the same rail system. Hence, routing and deadlock handling is an important issue that has to be resolved carefully to run these systems efficiently and robustly. One possibility for coping with deadlocks is deadlock avoidance by routing with time windows. In this paper, we present a modelling approach that allows us to apply the time window routing method to shuttle systems. We model the system as a mixed graph and present a concept for moving vehicles safely and efficiently through the storage system.
Community-based follow-up for late patients enrolled in a district-wide programme for antiretroviral therapy in Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract Timely adherence to clinical and pharmacy appointments is well correlated with favourable patient outcomes among HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy. To date, however, there is little work exploring reasons behind missed visits or evaluating programmatic strategies to recall patients. For this study we implemented community-based follow-up of late patients as part of a large-scale programme for HIV care and treatment in Lusaka, Zambia. Through a network of local home-based care organizations, we attempted home visits to recall patients using locator information provided at time of enrolment. Between May and September 2005, home-based caregivers were dispatched to trace 1,343 patients with missed appointments. Of these, 554 (41%) were untraceable because the provided address was invalid, the patient had moved or no one was at the home. Of the remaining 789, 359 (46%) were reported to have died. Only 430 (54% of those traced, 32% overall) were contacted directly and encouraged to return for care. The likelihood of patient return was higher among traced patients in crude analysis (relative risk [RR] = 2.5; 95%CI = 1.9–3.2) and in multivariable analysis controlling for baseline body mass index, sex and CD4 + count ≤ 50/µL (adjusted RR = 2.3; 95%CI = 1.7–3.2). However, the process was inefficient: one late patient returned for every 18 home visits that were made. Reasons for missed visits were provided in 271 of 430 (63%) of the patients who were successfully traced. Common reasons included feeling too sick to come to the clinic, travelling away from home and being too busy. Despite the availability of free ART in Lusaka, patients face significant barriers to attending scheduled clinical visits. Cost-effective and feasible strategies are urgently needed to improve timely patient follow-up.
Normalisation of Histogrammed List Mode Data

Many PET scanners nowadays have the possibility to record event-by-event information, known as list mode data. This has the advantage of keeping the data in the highest possible resolution (both temporal and spatial). In most cases, list mode data are then binned into sinogram format before reconstruction. In this paper, we discuss at which stage normalisation factors should be introduced. It is shown that noise is greatly reduced by performing the normalisation after the binning. We illustrate this with acquired and simulated data for the quad HiDAC camera.
Density compensation functions for spiral MRI

In interleaved spiral MRI, an object's Fourier transform is sampled along a set of curved trajectories in the spatial frequency domain (k‐space). An image of the object is then reconstructed, usually by interpolating the sampled Fourier data onto a Cartesian grid and applying the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. To obtain accurate results, it is necessary to account for the nonuniform density with which k‐space is sampled. An analytic density compensation function (DCF) for spiral MRI, based on the Jacobian determinant for the transformation between Cartesian coordinates and the spiral sampling parameters of time and interleaf rotation angle, is derived in this paper, and the reconstruction accuracy achieved using this function is compared with that obtained using several previously published expressions. Various non‐ideal conditions, including intersecting trajectories, are considered. The new DCF eliminated intensity cupping that was encountered in images reconstructed with other functions, and significantly reduced the level of artifact observed when unevenly spaced sampling trajectories, such as those achieved with trapezoidal gradient waveforms, were employed. Modified forms of this function were found to provide similar improvements when intersecting trajectories made the spiral‐Cartesian transformation noninvertible, and when the shape of the spiral trajectory varied between interleaves.
Computationally-improved optimal filtering for supervised learning [feedforward neural nets]

We propose a modification of the Kalman filtering approach to supervised learning that avoids existing approximations while improving its overall computational efficiency. The modification eliminates the necessity of computing an inverse. The same global network structure is retained while the computational effort is extensively reduced. The performance of the approach with the modification, assessed from several test cases, is found to be more refined than the existing approaches. <<ETX>>
Distributed generation planning in distribution network based on hybrid intelligent algorithm by SVM-MOPSO

Regarding stochastic disturbance in power system brought by grid-connected distributed generation(DG), generally considering operational effectiveness, aiming at economy, power quality and environmental efficiency, the optimization model of stochastic chance-constrained programming is built, while using hybrid intelligent algorithm, which simulates the uncertainty functions based on support vector machine(SVM) and solves the model by multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), then the Pareto noninferior decision set is obtained. Simulation results show that the planning model can fully take into account randomness, grid-connected probability distribution of DG, and improve the efficiency of the algorithm, then verify the rationality and validity of the proposed approach. Moreover, the introduction of Pareto front gives fully choices to operators and possesses more engineering value.