Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How to affect antibiotic prescribing practices.

It's too bad there were no behavioral scientists at the recent Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in New Orleans. They would have been delighted by the divergent results of four attempts to alter physician antibiotic prescribing practices. The four programs comprise a casebook of how and how not to go about altering behavior. If you set guidelines but communicate them only by mail, you probably will not accomplish much, a study in Utah showed. In this effort, the Utah Professional Standards Review Organization (PSRO) sent all physicians in the state a booklet outlining appropriate prophylactic use of antibiotics in surgery. The publication defined operations in which such usage was not indicated—so-called clean operations—and recommended that in other operations antibiotic prophylaxis be started less than six hours before the procedure and continued for no more than 48 hours afterward. Both before and after the booklet was sent out, prescribing
L 1 / L 2 Difference in Phonological Sensitivity and Information Planning-Evidence from F 0 Patterns

Assuming that linguistic specifications and information planning contribute to different levels of prosodic organization that cumulatively constitute output prosody, quantitative analysis of respective contributions can be derived through normalization procedures that remove levels of interactions involved. The current study attempts to account for how L2 prosody departs from the L1 norm in the two levels mentioned and whether an account can be offered. F0 patterns of word English stress categories (primary, secondary and tertiary) and emphases in controlled conditions (narrow-, broadand nonfocus) are compared using speech data from English L1 and Mandarin L2 speakers. L1 speech exhibits similar F0 patterns of binary high-low contrasts in both stress/non-stress as well as focus/non-focus categories, suggesting comparable planning are used to express phonological and information planning. However, L2’s primary stress and emphasis exhibited less degree of F0 high-low contrast, coupled with reversed F0 patterns in both the secondary and tertiary categories as well as non-emphases conditions. The results demonstrate that being less sensitive to phonological categories may also affect information planning in similar ways. We believe the results explain how stress and focus interact to cause L2 accent and unintelligibility, help understand stress and focus composition of L1-and-L2 speech, ,and are readily applicable to CALL.
A Biomechanical, Radiologic, and Clinical Comparison of Outcome After Multilevel Cervical Laminectomy or Laminoplasty in the Rabbit

Study Design. A rabbit model was used to compare clinical outcome, radiographic changes, and biomechanical flexibility after cervical laminectomy and open-door laminoplasty. Objective. This study tested the hypothesis that radiographic changes and biomechanical flexibility could explain the differences in clinical outcome after cervical laminectomy and laminoplasty. Summary of Background Data. Although multilevel cervical laminoplasty is thought to have advantages over cervical laminectomy, clinical outcome studies have been contradictory, and no experimental study has examined the possible mechanisms for the differences after healing. Methods. Twenty-four New Zealand White rabbits were randomized into four groups: normal, sham, C3–C6 wide laminectomy, and C3–C6 open-door laminoplasty. Clinical, radiographic, and biomechanical data were collected and compared up to 3 months after surgery. Results. Laminectomy had a statistically significant poorer clinical outcome when compared with laminoplasty after 3 months of healing. Radiologic analysis showed statistically significant angular deformity in the laminectomy group compared with laminoplasty and control groups at 3 months. In contrast, biomechanical measures of flexibility, neutral zone, and range of motion showed only small differences between any of the groups at any time. Conclusions. The presence of deformity, and not a change in flexibility, is responsible for the differences in clinical outcome observed after laminectomy compared with laminoplasty in this model.
Constituency Parser for Hindi Noun Sequences and Role of Bracketing in Translation of English Compound Nouns into Hindi

Complex noun sequences in Hindi can be formed by the sequences of nouns and genitives. In Hindi, the genitive marker is “kā”, and its allomorphic variations are “ke” and “kī”. When two or more nouns occur without any intervening post-positions, it is known as compound noun. Following are some examples of complex noun sequences: (1) “jilā cunāva adhikārī” (district election officer), (2) “tila kī mit. hāī kī dukāna” (shop of sweets made with sesame) and (3) “upabhoktā adālata ke vakīla” (consumer court’s lawyer). The rightmost noun is the head of the whole construction. The inner structure of the sequence can be quite complex. In it, (a) nouns within the sequence can modify the rightmost head or (b) the local head can modify another local head or the head of the complex noun sequence. For example, in (1), “adhikārī” is the head and both “jilā” and “cunāva” are modifying “adhikārī” thus having a structure (jilā (cunāva adhikārī)). But, the complex sequence in (2) has a structure where “tila” modifies “mit. hāī” and “mit. hāī” in turn modifies “dukāna”. So the structure is ((tila kī mit.hāī) kī dukāna). More number of nouns within a sequence, more complex is the structure. From the Hindi Treebank data, we have obtained 85.37%, 12.54% and 1.80% of the sequences having three, four and five nouns respectively. In this thesis, we attempt to bracket the local sub-structure of a complex noun sequence which is termed as constituency parsing. Constituency parsing recursively builds the inner structure of the complex noun sequence. It is a very significant NLP task because the interpretation of sequence depends on the correct identification of its inner structure. We explore both syntactic and statistical method for predicting the bracketing of the complex noun sequences. In Hindi, the genitive marker agrees with the head of the sub-sequence modified by it. This clue has been used in our syntactic approach. In statistical approach, we have mainly exploited the affinity factor of a head and its modifier based on the frequency of occurring together in the corpus. The method has been augmented by introducing the semantic class information for the head and modifier nouns from Hindi WordNet. Finally, we combine the two methods and implement a hybrid approach for bracketing complex noun sequences. Using this, we have obtained 85.85% accuracy. In this thesis, we show that the identification of the inner structure of complex noun sequence helps in determining the translation. For this experiment, we take three-word noun compounds of English and translate them into Hindi. The strategy of the translation is determined by our observation of EnglishHindi parallel corpora where we observe (and others have reported also) that English licenses multiword noun compound more frequently than what Hindi does. Hindi prefers syntactic phrases where a genitive post-position is inserted between the head and the modifier. In the case of compounds with three
HRA Model for Hypercholesterolemia Based on a Longitudinal Health Database

Abstract To evaluate the risk factors for hypercholesterolemia, we examined 4,371 subjects (3,207 males and 1,164 females) who received medical checkups more than twice at an AMHTS in Tokyo during the period from 1976 through 1991; and whose serum total cholesterol was under 250 mg/dl. The mean follow-up duration was 6.6 years. A self-registering questionnaire was administered at the time of the health checkup. The endpoint of this study was the onset of hypercholesterolemia when the level of serum total cholesterol was 250 mg/dl and over. We compared two prognosis groups (normal and hypercholesterol) in terms of age, examination findings and lifestyle. After assessing each variable, we employed Cox's proportional hazards model analysis to determine the factors related to the occurrence of hypercholesterolemia. According to proportional hazards model analysis, total cholesterol, triglyceride and smoking at the beginning, and hypertension during the observation period were selected in males; and total cholesterol at the beginning and age were selected in females to determine the factors related to the occurrence of hypercholesterolemia.
Prognostic Factors for Patients With Spinal Metastases From Lung Cancer

Study Design. We conducted a retrospective study to identify prognostic factors of patients with spinal metastases from lung cancer. Objective. To provide clinical data with strong association to the prognosis and to propose criteria determining indication of operation for spinal metastases. Summary of Background Data. To make a proper selection of patients for whom surgery is indicated, forecasting short-time survival after spinal metastases is very important. In the past, there has been no report of prognostic factors of patients with such metastases from this cancer. Methods. This study included 114 patients with spinal metastases of lung cancer. Tumors were histologically categorized as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 94 patients and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in 20 patients. We investigated prognostic factors after spinal metastases using Cox comparative hazard model and a preoperative prognostic score proposed by Tokuhashi. We also investigated the patients who underwent operation for spinal metastases from lung cancer in our hospital. Results. Multivariate analysis showed that the significant prognostic factors for survival after spinal metastases from NSCLC were performance status (PS), Ca, Alb. Among SCLC patients, Ca, Alb, and a history of chemotherapy were significant (P < 0.05) in univariate analysis. The score of Tokuhashi was not correlative to the survival period. Among the operated patients, postoperative PS was significant for the period of postoperative survival. Conclusion. PS, Ca, and Alb in NSCLC and Ca, Alb, and a history of chemotherapy in SCLC are useful for determining an indication of operation for spinal metastases from lung cancer.
Neural Networks, Logistic Regression, and Calibration

bration than a logistic regression model. In our view, the calibration of both models was problematic: the risks were underestimated for patients with low predictions ( < 8%) and overestimated for patients with high predictions (> 8%, fig. 4’). This pattern occurred with both methods, in the training set and especially in the validation set. We offer some comments about this study. First, a new element in the application of NNs was the
Symbiotic nitrogen fixation by a nifA deletion mutant of Rhizobium meliloti: the role of an unusual ntrC allele

In the N2-fixing alfalfa symbiont Rhizobium meliloti, the three sigma 54 (NTRA)-dependent positively acting regulatory proteins NIFA, NTRC, and DCTD are required for activation of promoters involved in N2 fixation (pnifHDKE and pfixABCX), nitrogen assimilation (pglnII), and C4-dicarboxylate transport (pdctA), respectively. Here, we describe an allele of ntrC which results in the constitutive activation of the above NTRC-, NIFA-, and DCTD-regulated promoters. The expression and activation of wild-type NTRC occur in response to nitrogen availability, whereas in cells carrying the ntrC283 allele, the NTRC283 protein appears constitutively active and is constitutively expressed. The ntrC283 allele was shown to carry a single mutation resulting in the replacement of an Asp by a Tyr residue in the helix-turn-helix motif of ntrC283. Introduction of the ntrC283 allele into a nifA deletion mutant restores the N2-fixation ability to 70 to 80% of the wild-type level. Thus, the nifA gene is dispensable for symbiotic N2 fixation.
Causes and Consequences of Fragmented Process Information: Insights from a Case Study

Having access to the right information is vital to the effective and efficient execution of an organization’s business processes. A major challenge in this regard is that information on a single process is often spread out over numerous models, documents, and systems. Despite the potential consequences of this situation, there is a lack of insights on how to mitigate its impact. Against this background, we conducted an explorative case study to analyze the causes and consequences of the fragmentation of process information. We found that the widespread fragmentation of information had a considerable impact on the investigated organization. In particular, fragmentation led to severe maintenance issues, reduced process execution efficiency, and had a negative effect on the quality of process results. Our findings provide useful insights for both practice and research on how to mitigate the negative aspects associated with the fragmentation of process information.
Management of joint dislocations of the lower limb in Larsen syndrome: practical approach

INTRODUCTION Larsen syndrome is an autosomal‐dominant osteochondrodysplasia characterised by large joint dislocations and craniofacial anomalies. CASE HISTORY We present a rare case of Larsen syndrome with bilateral dislocated hips and knees and severe clubfeet at 7‐year follow‐up. We undertook bilateral open reduction of both hips at age 8 months. This procedure was preceded by open reduction and left‐knee V‐Y quadricepsplasty at age 4 months following a failed trial of closed reduction of the left knee. Both feet had a severe deformity (Pirani score of 5.5 and 6.0) and were treated using the Ponseti method, but the left foot relapsed at 24 months and required posteromedial release. CONCLUSIONS We tried to address the difficult questions on the timing and sequence of surgical interventions by treating clubfeet and dislocated knees early using Ponseti casts which included the knees. Open reduction of hips was done later, and further interventions were guided by functional needs.
Isolation and Characterization of Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157 Strains from Dutch Cattle and Sheep

ABSTRACT In the periods from July to November 1995 and 1996, fecal samples from Dutch cattle and sheep were collected at the main slaughterhouses of The Netherlands, located at different geographic sites. The samples were examined for the presence of verocytotoxin (VT)-producingEscherichia coli (VTEC) of serogroup O157. E. coli O157 strains could be isolated from 57 (10.6%) of 540 adult cattle, 2 (0.5%) of 397 veal calves, 2 (3.8%) of 52 ewes, and 2 (4.1%) of 49 lambs. Immunomagnetic separation with O157-specific-antibody-coated beads appeared to be significantly more sensitive than conventional plating for detection of the organism in feces. With the exception of two isolates from adult cattle which appeared to be negative for VT genes, all animal isolates were positive for both VT (VT1 and/or VT2) and E. coliattaching-and-effacing gene sequences, and therefore, they were regarded as potential human pathogens. Although genomic typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed a wide variety of distinct restriction patterns, comparison of the 63 animal isolates with 33 fecal O157 VTEC strains previously isolated from humans with the diarrhea-associated form of the hemolytic-uremic syndrome by their phage types and VT genotypes showed a marked similarity between animal and human isolates: 30 (90.9%) of the 33 human isolates appeared to be of E. coli O157 strain types also isolated from cattle and sheep. It was concluded that Dutch cattle and sheep are an important reservoir of E. coli O157 strains that are potentially pathogenic for humans.
HPLC-tandem mass spectrometric method for rapid quantification of dimethylarginines in human plasma.

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) are derived from posttranslational methylation of arginine residues in proteins and after proteolytic release. Whereas protein methylation appears to be important in RNA binding and protein sorting, ADMA evolved as a competitive inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase at the arginine-binding site (1)(2). At a constant arginine supply, increased ADMA concentrations decrease NO formation and impair vascular homeostasis by multiple mechanisms (3). Consequently, arginine supplementation improves small-vessel function (4). Inactivation of ADMA occurs via dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase, and it has been hypothesized that this enzyme might be inhibited by homocysteine. The role of SDMA is less clear; it probably is an inhibitor of arginine transport across the cell membrane (5). From the clinical perspective, ADMA has been established as a possible risk factor for the development of endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease (6). Its plasma concentrations also predict the probability of restenosis after stent implantation. The possible contribution of high-resistance placental circulation, endothelial dysfunction, and increased ADMA concentrations to the development of preeclampsia has been investigated (7). Recently, a significant decrease in circulating ADMA was reported during hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women (8). Plasma concentrations of ADMA are also influenced by insulin sensitizers such as rosiglitazone, indicating a possible link of NOS activity to the metabolic syndrome (9). Thus, there is considerable demand for specific, sensitive, and rapid methods for ADMA determination in biological fluids. Previously, several methods for ADMA and SDMA determination have been described, including gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) (10), liquid chromatography …
Diagnostic value of HepPar1, pCEA, CD10, and CD34 expression in separating hepatocellular carcinoma from metastatic carcinoma in fine‐needle aspiration cytology

Differentiating primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies can be diagnostically challenging in fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). We compared four immunohistochemical (IHC) markers, pCEA, CD10, HepPar1, and CD34, in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from metastatic carcinoma (MC) in FNAC specimens. Sixty cases of liver FNAC with their corresponding cell blocks were retrieved from the hospital computer system, including 30 HCC and 30 MC (15 colon, 10 breast, and 5 pancreas). The diagnoses were confirmed by clinical follow‐up and surgical resection or core needle biopsy. The direct cytologic smears were air‐dried and Diff‐Quik‐stained, and alcohol‐fixed and Papanicolaou‐stained. Cell block sections from the aspirates were immunostained for pCEA, CD10, HepPar1, and CD34. IHC on cytologic smears for HCC was performed on 10 cases and compared with the cell block results. In HCC, CD10, and pCEA demonstrated the characteristic canalicular staining in 23/30 (77%) and 24/30 (80%) of the cases, respectively; however, none of the MC showed a canalicular staining pattern. HepPar1 was positive in 26/30 (87%) of the HCC cases and one MC. CD34 stained sinusoidal endothelial cells in 27/30 (90%) cases of HCC and six MC. Our results demonstrate that the canalicular staining pattern for CD10 and sinusoidal staining pattern of CD34 are very specific, in addition to the high specificity and sensitivity of HepPar1 for HCC. Cell blocks were more informative in demonstrating the characteristic architecture and immunostaining pattern of the malignancy than the cytologic smears. An IHC panel consisting of pCEA, CD10, HepPar1, and CD34 is useful for confirming HCC in FNAC of the liver. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;30:1–6. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Biochemical and Proteomic Analysis of the Magnetosome Membrane in Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense

ABSTRACT We analyzed the biochemical composition of the magnetosome membrane (MM) in Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense. Isolated magnetosomes were associated with phospholipids and fatty acids which were similar to phospholipids and fatty acids from other subcellular compartments (i.e., outer and cytoplasmic membranes) but were present in different proportions. The binding characteristics of MM-associated proteins were studied by selective solubilization and limited proteolysis. The MM-associated proteins were further analyzed by various proteomic approaches, including one- and two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by Edman and mass spectrometric (electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry) sequencing, as well as capillary liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry of total tryptic digests of the MM. At least 18 proteins were found to constitute the magnetosome subproteome, and most of these proteins are novel for M. gryphiswaldense. Except for MM22 and Mms16, all bona fide MM proteins (MMPs) were encoded by open reading frames in the mamAB, mamDC, and mms6 clusters in the previously identified putative magnetosome island. Eight of the MMPs display homology to known families, and some of them occur in the MM in multiple homologues. Ten of the MMPs have no known homologues in nonmagnetic organisms and thus represent novel, magnetotactic bacterium-specific protein families. Several MMPs display repetitive or highly acidic sequence patterns, which are known from other biomineralizing systems and thus may have relevance for magnetite formation.
The air quality evaluation based on gas sensor array

Nowadays, air quality is more and more getting attention in our daily-life, not only outdoors, but also indoors like workplace, smart home system. Air quality is to a great extent closely related to people's health and comfort, so its evaluation is meaningful and significant to avoid danger or even harmful influence to life safety. The quality of air people inhale should be under the full monitoring scope, however, such generalized air quality evaluation is not defined. If it could be defined, that would bring people some helpful tips and cautions. In this paper, several evaluation methods of air quality are proposed, with sensing signals of all sensor dimensions acquired, air quality at different levels can be evaluated by calculated results. Pollutant type can be identified based on different sensors response, provided that more and more pollutant types are trained.
Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Arrays for Integrated Diagnostic/Therapeutic Catheters

In recent years, medical procedures have become increasingly non‐invasive. These include endoscopic procedures and intracardiac interventions (e.g., pulmonary vein isolation for treatment of atrial fibrillation and plaque ablation for treatment of arteriosclerosis). However, current tools suffer from poor visualization and difficult coordination of multiple therapeutic and imaging devices. Dual‐mode (imaging and therapeutic) ultrasound arrays provide a solution to these challenges. A dual‐mode transducer can provide focused, noncontact ultrasound suitable for therapy and can be used to provide high quality real‐time images for navigation and monitoring of the procedure. In the last decade, capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs), have become an attractive option for ultrasonic imaging systems due to their fabrication flexibility, improved bandwidth, and integration with electronics. The CMUT’s potential in therapeutic applications has also been demonstrated by surface output pressures as h.
Interactions of nitric oxide with α2‐adrenoceptors within the locus coeruleus underlie the facilitation of inhibitory avoidance memory by agmatine

Agmatine, a putative neurotransmitter, plays a vital role in learning and memory. Although it is considered an endogenous ligand of imidazoline receptors, agmatine exhibits high affinity for α‐adrenoceptors, NOS and NMDA receptors. These substrates within the locus coeruleus (LC) are critically involved in learning and memory processes.