Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accounting for misreporting when comparing energy intake across time in Canada.

BACKGROUND Estimates of energy intake are lower in 2015 compared with 2004. The difference observed is too large to be explained by a change in energy requirements or physical activity at the population level. Self-reported dietary intake is subject to misreporting and may explain part of this difference. The objectives of this study are to assess how misreporting has changed from 2004 to 2015 and to demonstrate how these changes may affect the interpretation of the national intake data of Canadians. DATA AND METHODS Data from the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition (CCHS - Nutrition) and the 2015 CCHS - Nutrition were used to estimate energy intake and requirements for all participants aged 2 or older. The ratio of energy intake to total energy expenditure requirements (EI:TEE) was used to categorize respondents as under-reporters (EI:TEE ⟨ 0.70), over-reporters (EI:TEE ⟩ 1.42) or plausible reporters (EI:TEE = 0.70 to 1.42). Descriptive analyses by category of respondent were conducted for respondents aged 2 or older who participated in the measured height and weight component. The main caloric sources that contributed to the difference in estimated energy requirements were used to show the impact of misreporting on the analysis. RESULTS The prevalence of under-reporters was 7.5% higher in 2015 compared with 2004, while the prevalence of over-reporters was 7.4% lower. There was no change in the prevalence of plausible reporters. Estimated energy intake from participants categorized as plausible reporters showed a difference of 84 kcal from 2004 to 2015, compared with a difference of 250 kcal for the entire sample. Estimated energy intake was lower in 2015 compared with 2004 across all categories of respondents for many foods, including sugar-sweetened beverages and milk, and was higher for only pastries and nuts. DISCUSSION Misreporting changes will affect analysis and should, at a minimum, be acknowledged when comparing 2015 with 2004. Using a comparable category of plausible reporters or adjusting for reporting status are options that will allow a better comparison of these two datasets.
MicroRNA-155 suppresses the catabolic effect induced by TNF-α and IL-1β by targeting C/EBPβ in rat nucleus pulposus cells

ABSTRACT Aim: miR-155 is a pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory factor depending on the cell type in which it is expressed. miR-155 controls apoptosis and matrix degradation in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells in vitro. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of miR-155 in vivo and further investigate the mechanism of miR-155 in vitro. Methods: MRI, hematoxylin–eosin staining, or Collagen-II immunochemistry were performed to observe intervertebral disk degeneration in conditional miR-155 overexpression mice and miR-155 knockout mice. In vitro, a dual luciferase reporter assay, real-time PCR and western blot experiments were performed to demonstrate the effect of miR-155 on the expression of catabolic genes induced by inflammatory cytokines and determine the role of β-catenin and C/EBPβ in the miR-155-mediated modulation of the expression of catabolic genes. Results: Degeneration was observed in the lumbar disks of 1-year-old miR-155 knockout mice but not in the conditional miR-155 overexpression mice. miR-155 overexpression repressed the catabolic effect induced by TNF-α or IL-1β in vitro. Furthermore, specifically in NP cells, miR-155 overexpression suppressed the expression of C/EBPβ but not of β-catenin. Additionally, in the loss-of-function experiments using C/EBPβ siRNA, C/EBPβ knockdown repressed the expression of catabolic genes induced by TNF-α and IL-1β, which is consistent with the miR-155 results. Conclusion: miR-155 is a sustainable factor for intervertebral disk and suppresses the expression of catabolic genes induced by TNF-α and IL-1β by targeting C/EBPβ in rat NP cells.
Metal toxicity in two rodent species and redox potential: Evaluation of quantitative structure—activity relationships

A quantitative structure—activity relationship study of acute toxicity in the mouse and rat is described for the soluble salts of a relatively large number of metals (between 25 and 30 in total). Electrode potential is the major determinant of acute metal toxicity (R = 0.85 and 0.86) for an intraperitoneal dose in the mouse, whereas the addition of ionic radius and polarizability enables the inclusion of notable outliers in the original expression, such as beryllium and barium, thus giving a good correlation (R = 0.87) with toxicity for 27 metal compounds. These findings are rationalized on the basis of relative ease of ionization, electron affinity, and transport factors of the metals and their ions, thus being consistent with the hard and soft acids and bases properties of metals and their biological reactivities.
The Direct and Indirect Costs Associated With Overactive Bladder Within a Commercially-Insured Population in the United States

Objective: To quantify the burden associated with overactive bladder (OAB) within a commercially-insured United States (US) population. Methods: Adults with OAB identified from the MarketScan® databases (2008 to 2013) were propensity score matched 1:1 to non-OAB controls. Per-patient-per-month (PPPM) direct healthcare costs, and indirect costs attributable to workplace absence and short-term disability (STD), were estimated. Results: Adjusted PPPM healthcare costs were higher for OAB patients than matched controls for both direct costs ($3003 vs $1123; P < 0.0001) and indirect costs due to STD ($114 vs $98; P < 0.05). There was no difference in the indirect costs due to absence between the OAB cases and controls. Conclusions: The direct healthcare costs of OAB patients are substantial. Additional research is needed to quantify the impact of OAB on workplace productivity. Improved management of OAB symptoms may reduce costs and enhance patient quality of life.
Coexistence of DC and CSMA in SRD channel access and resilience to LTE interference: A simulator‐based analysis

The foreseen increased use of short‐range devices (SRDs) will boost the competition for radio channel access in license‐exempt frequency bands. Therefore, it is important to find out the most efficient SRD configurations in terms of their performance in high‐contention scenarios; moreover, it is crucial to ensure that SRD networks do not impair the radio systems that operate in neighboring licensed spectrum, and vice versa. This paper addresses the previous issues by simulating a building automation application scenario, where 2 channel access mechanisms, namely duty cycling (DC) and carrier sense multiple access (CSMA), are evaluated independently and in coexisting scenarios, and, also, in the presence of a Long‐Term Evolution (LTE) user equipment. The CSMA protocol analysis shows that very high or very low transmission powers decrease its performance, and thus, either this parameter has to be calibrated or the gateways location has to be adjusted; for the DC protocol, its performance is only affected by the number of gateways within the SRD network, which should be as high as possible. Regarding the coexistence of the DC and CSMA schemes, the results show that CSMA‐based SRDs can successfully operate in the presence of a significant number of DC‐based SRDs, whereas the contrary is not true. Lastly, it is proven that an LTE user equipment may harm the SRD network, although this effect can be mitigated by adjusting the SRDs transmission power; furthermore, the SRDs interference on LTE systems is found to be negligible.
Early onset and progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in young monosodium l-glutamate-induced obese mice

Abstract Monosodium l-glutamate (MSG)-induced obesity is a useful model for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) studies. However, there is limited data on its initiation and progression. Thus, this study aimed to characterize the onset of metabolic and histopathological features of NAFLD and its progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in this model. To perform this study, Swiss mice pups were neonatally injected with MSG (4 g/kg/day, s.c.) or equiosmolar saline and followed up to 60, 120 or 180 days old. At each age, blood, liver, as well as periepididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads were collected for morphometric, biochemical and histological analyses, the later according to NAFLD activity score. MSG mice presented hypertriglyceridemia and central obesity at all ages, but peripheral insulin-resistance was verified only in 120- and 180-day-old mice. Hepatic total fat and triglycerides content were higher in MSG mice at all ages. Accordingly, histopathological analysis showed that 60-day-old MSG mice had microvesicular steatosis with occasional ballooning, which evolved into NASH from 120 days old. Retroperitoneal fat accumulation was the only variable to independently correlate with NAFLD activity total score upon multivariate analysis (R 2=71.45%). There were no differences in IL-6 and TNF-α serum levels among groups. Overall, this study shows that NAFLD is a precocious outcome in MSG-obese mice, whereas the period comprised between 60 and 120 days old seems to be a crucial metabolic window for comprehending pathophysiological events involved in NAFLD-to-NASH progression in this model.
Two-stage design for phase II oncology trials with relaxed futility stopping.

Many oncology phase II trials are single arm studies designed to screen novel treatments based on efficacy outcome. Efficacy is often assessed as an ordinal variable based on a level of response of solid tumors with four categories: complete response, partial response, stable disease and progression. We describe a two-stage design for a single-arm phase II trial where the primary objective is to test the rate of tumor response defined as complete plus partial response, and the secondary objective is to estimate the rate of disease control defined as tumor response plus stable disease. Since the goal is to estimate the disease control rate, the trial is not stopped for futility after the first stage if the disease control rate is promising. The new design can be generated using easy-to-use software that is available at http://cancer.unc. edu/biostatistics/program/ivanova/.
Enterprise Risk Management and Economies of Scale and Scope: Evidence from the German Insurance Industry Abstract Enterprise risk management (ERM) is the approach of managing all risks faced by an enterprise

Enterprise risk management (ERM) is the approach of managing all risks faced by an enterprise in an integrated, holistic fashion. This research investigates whether the utilization of the ERM approach helps firms achieve economies of scale and scope. We use detailed survey data of German property-liability insurance companies that allows us to construct continuous measures of ERM quality. We find that ERM quality positively moderates the scale-cost efficiency (scalerevenue efficiency) and scope-cost efficiency (scope-revenue efficiency) relationships, indicating that ERM facilitates economies of scale and scope. Our results suggest that ERM’s impact on economies of scale and scope is one answer to the question how ERM can create value.
Exercise-based evaluations and interventions for pulmonary hypertension with connective tissue disorders

ABSTRACT Introduction: Exercise intolerance is a common and often significant limitation in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This intolerance greatly affects the quality of life and function of the individual with PAH, irrespective of its etiology. In PAH associated with connective tissue disorders (PAH-CTD), exercise intolerance is further amplified by the presence of coexisting musculoskeletal manifestations of CTD. The evaluation of exercise capacity and prescription for exercise training therefore becomes a challenge to the clinician. Areas covered: This review highlights factors contributing to exercise intolerance in PAH-CTD, evaluation methods of exercise capacity and an overview on exercise training and a roadmap for future research. Expert commentary: Exercise intolerance is a complex interplay of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and musculoskeletal systems. Data from cardiopulmonary exercise tests have shown predictive abilities for both diagnosis and prognosis. In its absence, the 6-min walk test can be used to provide similar information thereby making the role of exercise testing an invaluable evaluation method in PAH-CTD. Exercise training data in PAH-CTD are still sparse, though, data from PAH studies suggest potential benefit. However, more research is required in this area of testing and training for greater understanding on exercise hemodynamic, phenotypes, and training benefits.
Scalable Construction and Reasoning of Massive Knowledge Bases

In today’s information-based society, there is abundant knowledge out there carried in the form of natural language texts (e.g., news articles, social media posts, scientific publications), which spans across various domains (e.g., corporate documents, advertisements, legal acts, medical reports), which grows at an astonishing rate. Yet this knowledge is mostly inaccessible to computers and overwhelming for human experts to absorb. How to turn such massive and unstructured text data into structured, actionable knowledge, and furthermore, how to teach machines learn to reason and complete the extracted knowledge is a grand challenge to the research community. Traditional IE systems assume abundant human annotations for training high quality machine learning models, which is impractical when trying to deploy IE systems to a broad range of domains, settings and languages. In the first part of the tutorial, we introduce how to extract structured facts (i.e., entities and their relations for types of interest) from text corpora to construct knowledge bases, with a focus on methods that are weakly-supervised and domain-independent for timely knowledge base construction across various application domains. In the second part, we introduce how to leverage other knowledge, such as the distributional statistics of characters and words, the annotations for other tasks and other domains, and the linguistics and problem structures, to combat the problem of inadequate supervision, and conduct low-resource information extraction. In the third part, we describe recent advances in knowledge base reasoning. We start with the gentle introduction to the literature, focusing on path-based and embedding based methods. We then describe DeepPath, a recent attempt of using deep reinforcement learning to combine the best of both worlds for knowledge base reasoning.
Efficacy of a Multicomponent Intervention to Reduce Workplace Sitting Time in Office Workers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a work-based multicomponent intervention to reduce office workers’ sitting time. Methods: Offices (n = 12; 89 workers) were randomized into an 8-week intervention (n = 48) incorporating organizational, individual, and environmental elements or control arm. Sitting time, physical activity, and cardiometabolic health were measured at baseline and after the intervention. Results: Linear mixed modelling revealed no significant change in workplace sitting time, but changes in workplace prolonged sitting time (-39 min/shift), sit-upright transitions (7.8 per shift), and stepping time (12 min/shift) at follow-up were observed, in favor of the intervention group (P < 0.001). Results for cardiometabolic health markers were mixed. Conclusion: This short multicomponent workplace intervention was successful in reducing prolonged sitting and increasing physical activity in the workplace, although total sitting time was not reduced and the impact on cardiometabolic health was minimal.
CNNs for NLP in the Browser: Client-Side Deployment and Visualization Opportunities

We demonstrate a JavaScript implementation of a convolutional neural network that performs feedforward inference completely in the browser. Such a deployment means that models can run completely on the client, on a wide range of devices, without making backend server requests. This design is useful for applications with stringent latency requirements or low connectivity. Our evaluations show the feasibility of JavaScript as a deployment target. Furthermore, an in-browser implementation enables seamless integration with the JavaScript ecosystem for information visualization, providing opportunities to visually inspect neural networks and better understand their inner workings.
Phase 3 Trial of Ibrutinib plus Rituximab in Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia

Background Single‐agent ibrutinib has shown substantial activity in patients with relapsed Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, a rare form of B‐cell lymphoma. We evaluated the effect of adding ibrutinib to rituximab in patients with this disease, both in those who had not received previous treatment and in those with disease recurrence. Methods We randomly assigned 150 symptomatic patients to receive ibrutinib plus rituximab or placebo plus rituximab. The primary end point was progression‐free survival, as assessed by an independent review committee. Key secondary end points were response rates, sustained hematologic improvement from baseline, and safety. The mutational status of MYD88 and CXCR4 was assessed in bone marrow samples. Results At 30 months, the progression‐free survival rate was 82% with ibrutinib–rituximab versus 28% with placebo–rituximab (hazard ratio for progression or death, 0.20; P<0.001). The benefit in the ibrutinib–rituximab group over that in the placebo–rituximab group was independent of the MYD88 or CXCR4 genotype. The rate of major response was higher with ibrutinib–rituximab than with placebo–rituximab (72% vs. 32%, P<0.001). More patients had sustained increases in hemoglobin level with ibrutinib–rituximab than with placebo–rituximab (73% vs. 41%, P<0.001). The most common adverse events of any grade with ibrutinib–rituximab included infusion‐related reactions, diarrhea, arthralgia, and nausea. Events of grade 3 or higher that occurred more frequently with ibrutinib–rituximab than with placebo–rituximab included atrial fibrillation (12% vs. 1%) and hypertension (13% vs. 4%); those that occurred less frequently included infusion reactions (1% vs. 16%) and any grade of IgM flare (8% vs. 47%). The major hemorrhage rate was the same in the two trial groups (4%). Conclusions Among patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, the use of ibrutinib–rituximab resulted in significantly higher rates of progression‐free survival than the use of placebo–rituximab, both among those who had received no previous treatment and among those with disease recurrence. Atrial fibrillation and hypertension were more common with ibrutinib–rituximab, whereas infusion reactions and IgM flare were more common with placebo–rituximab. (Funded by Pharmacyclics and Janssen Research and Development; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02165397.)
Exploring the Potential of Electrical Impedance Tomography for Tissue Engineering Applications

In tissue engineering, cells are generally cultured in biomaterials to generate three-dimensional artificial tissues to repair or replace damaged parts and re-establish normal functions of the body. Characterizing cell growth and viability in these bioscaffolds is challenging, and is currently achieved by destructive end-point biological assays. In this study, we explore the potential to use electrical impedance tomography (EIT) as a label-free and non-destructive technology to assess cell growth and viability. The key challenge in the tissue engineering application is to detect the small change of conductivity associated with sparse cell distributions in regards to the size of the hosting scaffold, i.e., low volume fraction, until they assemble into a larger tissue-like structure. We show proof-of-principle data, measure cells within both a hydrogel and a microporous scaffold with an ad-hoc EIT equipment, and introduce the frequency difference technique to improve the reconstruction.
Clinical Outcome of Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation: Critical Importance of Echocardiographic Quantitative Assessment in Routine Practice

Background: Echocardiographic quantitation of degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR) is recommended whenever possible in clinical guidelines but is criticized and its scalability to routine clinical practice doubted. We hypothesized that echocardiographic DMR quantitation, performed in routine clinical practice by multiple practitioners, predicts independently long-term survival and thus is essential to DMR management. Methods: We included patients diagnosed with isolated mitral valve prolapse from 2003 to 2011 and any degree of mitral regurgitation quantified by any physician/sonographer in routine clinical practice. Clinical/echocardiographic data acquired at diagnosis were retrieved electronically. The end point was mortality under medical treatment analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and proportional hazard models. Results: The cohort included 3914 patients (55% male) mean age (±standard deviation) 62±17 years with left ventricular ejection fraction 63±8% and median after routinely-measured effective regurgitant orifice area (EROA) [interquartile range], 19 [0–40] mm2. During follow-up (6.7±3.1 years), 696 patients died under medical management, and 1263 underwent mitral surgery. In multivariate analysis, routinely-measured EROA was associated with mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.13–1.24; P<0.0001 per 10 mm2) independently of left ventricular ejection fraction and end-systolic diameter, symptoms, and age/comorbidities. The association between routinely-measured EROA and mortality persisted with competitive risk modeling (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.10–1.20; P<0.0001 per 10 mm2), or in patients without guideline-based class I/II surgical triggers (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.10–1.28; P<0.0001 per 10 mm2) and in all subgroups examined (all P<0.01). Spline curve analysis showed that, compared with general population mortality, excess mortality appears for moderate DMR (EROA ≥20 mm2), becomes notable at EROA ≥30 mm2, and steadily increases with higher EROA levels (eg, higher EROA levels beyond the 40 mm2 threshold). Conclusions: Echocardiographic DMR quantitation is scalable to routine practice and is independently associated with clinical outcome. Routinely-measured EROA is strongly associated with long-term survival under medical treatment. Excess mortality versus the general population appears in the moderate DMR range and steadily increases with higher EROA. Hence, individual EROA values should be integrated into therapeutic considerations, in addition to categorical DMR grading.
Emerging Professional's View of the Landscape: Nursing Informatics Curriculum, Competencies, and Career Opportunities

The curriculum associated with nursing informatics (NI) education is not standardized, therefore the perspectives of new and emerging nurse informaticians is important. How these curricula differences affect career opportunities of new nursing informaticians, and in turn influenced current career choices will be explored. Synthesizing opinions with themes extracted from a 2014 international study-Advancing nursi informatics in the next decade: Recommendations from an international survey will be summarized.