Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multifaceted intervention for quality improvement in a network of intensive care units: a cluster randomized trial.

CONTEXT Evidence-based practices improve intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes, but eligible patients may not receive them. Community hospitals treat most critically ill patients but may have few resources dedicated to quality improvement. OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of a multicenter quality improvement program to increase delivery of 6 evidence-based ICU practices. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Pragmatic cluster-randomized trial among 15 community hospital ICUs in Ontario, Canada. A total of 9269 admissions occurred during the trial (November 2005 to October 2006) and 7141 admissions during a decay-monitoring period (December 2006 to August 2007). INTERVENTION We implemented a videoconference-based forum including audit and feedback, expert-led educational sessions, and dissemination of algorithms to sequentially improve delivery of 6 practices. We randomized ICUs into 2 groups. Each group received this intervention, targeting a new practice every 4 months, while acting as control for the other group, in which a different practice was targeted in the same period. MAIN MEASURE OUTCOMES: The primary outcome was the summary ratio of odds ratios (ORs) for improvement in adoption (determined by daily data collection) of all 6 practices during the trial in intervention vs control ICUs. RESULTS Overall, adoption of the targeted practices was greater in intervention ICUs than in controls (summary ratio of ORs, 2.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00-7.74). Improved delivery in intervention ICUs was greatest for semirecumbent positioning to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (90.0% of patient-days in last month vs 50.0% in first month; OR, 6.35; 95% CI, 1.85-21.79) and precautions to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infection (70.0% of patients receiving central lines vs 10.6%; OR, 30.06; 95% CI, 11.00-82.17). Adoption of other practices, many with high baseline adherence, changed little. CONCLUSION In a collaborative network of community ICUs, a multifaceted quality improvement intervention improved adoption of care practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00332982.
CHANNEL INTEGRATION TOWARDS OMNICHANNEL MANAGEMENT : A

The evolution of technology and the constant digitalisation strongly influence how consumers behave, how markets develop, and how companies and consumers interact. By offering many channels, companies attempt to react to these developments. In recent years, researchers as well as practitioners have proposed omnichannel management as the best approach to offer several channels. An omnichannel strategy enables consumers to use channels seamlessly and interchangeably and experience the channels uniquely. However, reality looks different: many channel management approaches coexist in practice, and in research, terms to describe different concepts are used without clear distinctions. This paper seeks to eliminate ambiguities regarding the term omnichannel management. By delimiting the term from related approaches and understanding current topics discussed by omnichannel management research, this paper creates a common basis from which to fully understand the concept. Omnichannel management has shown relevance in many areas, but particularly in retailing, marketing, and information systems (IS) research. IS plays an important role in the implementation of the omnichannel approach because obstacles are often technology-related and companies are strongly dependent on information technology (IT). To move research on omnichannel management forward, this paper proposes directions for further research.
Cloning and expression of mRNA for calpain Lp82 from rat lens: splice variant of p94.

PURPOSE To describe mRNA for Lp82, a lens-specific form of calcium-activated protease (EC 34.22.17, calpain) in rat. METHODS Total RNA was extracted from lenses of 12-day-old rats, reverse transcribed, and amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with degenerate primers for the active site of calpains. Tissue specificity and relative amounts of mRNA for Lp82 in rat lens and other tissues were demonstrated by reverse transcription-PCR using gene-specific primers. PCR products were subcloned and sequenced using standard techniques. RESULTS Abundant amounts of mRNA for Lp82, a variant of muscle-type calpain p94, were discovered only in lens and not in seven other tissues assayed. When translated, the Lp82 mRNA would code for protein containing the usual cysteine active site residues and calcium-binding domains. Remarkably, the Lp82 cDNA product was identical to that of muscle-type calpain p94, except for deletions of most of the nucleotides coding for three unique insert regions termed NS, IS1, and IS2 found in p94. Compared with p94, a different exon 1 was present, and the nucleotides for all exons 6, 15, and 16 were deleted in Lp82. CONCLUSIONS Lp82 is a lens-specific calpain. It is a splice variant of muscle-type calpain p94, resulting from deletions of IS1 and IS2 regions and a different exon 1, possibly from an alternative, lens-specific promoter in the p94 gene. Lp82 is important because it may have lens-specific functions suited to the unique properties of the lens. Lp82 may also give insight into the functions of NS, IS1, and IS2 regions in p94, which is important in normal muscle physiology and in the study of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A in humans.
Psychiatric issues in chronically ill adolescents

Specialists in pediatric medicine are well-aware of the profound negative effects that chronic physical illnesses have on the health and development of children and adolescents. What may be less obvious—or overlooked altogether—is the psychopathology that co-occurs in many medical conditions that begin in early life. The goal of this paper is to discuss the psychiatric disorders that are commonly comorbid with selected, chronic illnesses in younger patients.
PTK7: A cell polarity receptor with multiple facets

PTK7 is a tyrosine kinase receptor implicated in planar cell polarity, a process with multiple implications at the cellular and organism levels. Loss of function of PTK7 leads to profound morphogenetic defects in the mouse, such as neural tube defects, misorientation of stereocilia in the inner ear, and impaired polarized cell movements. The planar cell polarity pathway is classically assigned to a non-canonical Wnt pathway, which does not rely on b-catenin transcriptional activity. We recently revealed that PTK7 is implicated in b-catenin-dependent developmental processes in mammalian and Xenopus systems. Based on data recently obtained by our group as well as others, we discuss how PTK7 could be involved in canonical and non-canonical Wnt pathways, and which implications are expected from these data in physiology and physiopathology.
Rewriting aggregate queries using views

We investigate the problem of rewriting queries with aggregate operators using views that may or may not contain aggregate operators. A rewriting of a query is a second query that uses view predicates such that evaluating first the views and then the rewriting yields the same result as evaluating the original query. In this sense, the original query and the rewriting are equivalent modulo the view definitions. The queries and views we consider correspond to unnested SQL queries, possibly with union, that employ the operators min, max, count, and sum. Our approach is based on syntactic characterizations of the equivalence of aggregate queries. One contribution of this paper are characterizations of the equivalence of disjunctive aggregate queries, which generalize our previous results for the conjunctive case. For each operator a, we introduce several types of queries using views as candidates for rewritings. We unfold such a candidate by replacing each occurrence of a view predicate with its definition, thus obtaining a regular aggregate query. The candidates have a different, usually more complex operator than a. We prove that unfolding the candidate, however, results in a regular aggregate query that is equivalent to the candidate modulo the view definitions. This property justifies considering these types of queries as natural candidates for rewritings. In this way, we reduce the problem of whether there exist rewritings of a particular type to a problem involving equivalence. We distinguish between partial rewritings that contain at least one view predicate and complete rewritings that contain only view predicates. In contrast to previous work on this topic, we not only give sufficient, but also necessary conditions for a rewriting to exist. More precisely, we show for each type of candidate that the existence of both, partial and complete rewritings is decidable, and we provide upper and lower complexity bounds.
Tracing symbols : the hermeneutic analysis of paradoxical constructions within argentine collective symbolism

Because the analysis of how collective symbolism functions necessarily entails different methodological perspectives, it requires a distinct methodical process. Collective symbols, like all symbols, are connecting elements within the dialectical relationship between individual and society; they are responsible for establishing cohesion within all kinds of social entities. This investigation concentrates on symbols’ potential to harmonize paradoxes to resolve a society’s specific “problems. ” We describe a three stage methodical procedure for the analysis of how collective symbols function, using the example of the Argentine tango to demonstrate our process of interpretation.
ENVIRONMENTAL HOSTILITY, INDIVIDUAL LEARNING, AND INTRAPRENEURSHIP AS PREDICTORS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: A STUDY APPLIED TO TWO SELECTED MINING COMPANIES IN CHILE

Environmental Hostility, Individual Learning, and Intrapreneurship as Predictors of Organizational Learning: A Study Applied to Two Selected Mining Companies in Chile. (May 2009) Carlos Eduardo Molina Oyarce, B.S., Universidad Catolica del Norte – Chile; M.S., Universidad de Chile Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Jamie Callahan Organizations are faced with competitive and changeable environments which demand more prepared employees to successfully cope with these current and future challenges (Oswick, Grant, Michelson, & Wailes, 2005). Organizations, as a way to cope with more hostile environments, may foster individual learning, intrapreneurship, and organizational learning within their employees in order to potentially increase the organizational level of competitiveness. In other words, individual learning, intrapreneurship, and organizational learning may help organizations increase their levels of productivity and be better prepared to face uncertain scenarios. The purpose of this study was to examine the path of relationships among Environmental Hostility, Individual Learning, Intrapreneurship, and Organizational Learning for two selected mining companies in Chile. A survey instrument was applied to 383 participants who worked in the mining companies. Structural Equation Modeling was the statistical technique utilized to examine if the collected data supported the researcher’s proposed model.
Impact of soft and hard breakdown on analog and digital circuits

The influence of gate oxide breakdown of one MOS transistor on the functionality of simple analog and digital circuits is studied. The main changes in the transistor behavior such as the additional gate current as well as transconductance and threshold voltage degradation are pointed out and their respective impact on circuit characteristics is analyzed. With this approach, it is possible to identify critical transistors during the design stage and implement appropriate countermeasures. Depending on the application, some circuits may be functional even after breakdown of one of their transistors.
A 350 mV, 5 GHz class-D enhanced swing quadrature VCO in 65 nm CMOS with 198.3 dBc/Hz FoM

A new enhanced swing class-D quadrature VCO which operates from a supply voltage as low as 350 mV is presented. The prototype 5 GHz VCO was fabricated in a 65 nm RF CMOS process. The measured phase noise performance is -137.1 dBc/Hz at 3 MHz offset with a power dissipation of 2.1 mW from a 0.35 V supply. The resulting figure-of-merit (FoM) is 198.3 dBc/Hz. Compared to prior CMOS LC VCO designs, the proposed enhanced swing quadrature VCO achieves the best FoM to date at the lowest supply voltage.
Giving Context to Post-Deployment Post-Concussive-Like Symptoms: Blast-Related Potential Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Comorbidities

In the military and Veterans Administration systems, individuals with potential MTBI are presenting with symptoms in excess of what would be expected based on initial injury characteristics and/or at unexpected time periods based on current research findings. This article investigates factors that might account for the discrepancy between current research expectations and some occurrences in clinical practice. The physics of blast waves, as well as animal and human research, relevant to explosions are reviewed. Additional factors that occur within the military blast exposure milieu are also explored because the context in which an injury occurs can potentially impact symptom severity and course of recovery. Differential diagnoses, iatrogenic illness, diagnosis threat, and symptom embellishment are also considered.
Marr’s theory of the hippocampus as a simple memory

Marr's 1971 simple memory theory of archicortex set the stage for over four decades of subsequent research on the medial temporal lobe memory system. Marr’s ideas contributed fundamentally to current computational models of the hippocampus. In particular, this theory led to the widely held view of the hippocampus as a temporary memory store that accurately memorizes events by creating orthogonalized representations (pattern separation), while using its associative pathways to retrieve the original event from a partial cue. Although Marr's model has garnered considerable empirical support, subsequent research also calls into question some of its key assumptions. Future extensions to the model must address these data. There have also been several game-changing neuroscientific discoveries, such as neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus and the fate of remote memories in densely amnesic patients; these findings require us to rethink the notion of the hippocampus as a simple memory system. Even the long-held view that the hippocampus performs a fundamentally different computation than the neocortex may be incorrect. Converging evidence suggests instead that the hippocampus is at the apex of a multi-level cortical hierarchy that encodes progressively more abstract information at each level, and is as involved in predictive perceptual coding as it is in memory.
Adhesion of epithelial cells to fibronectin or collagen I induces alterations in gene expression via a protein kinase C‐dependent mechanism

Adhesion of human salivary gland (HSG) epithelial cells to fibronectin‐ or collagen I gel‐coated substrates, mediated by β1 integrins, has been shown to upregulate the expression of more than 30 genes within 3–6 h. Adhesion of HSG cells to fibronectin or collagen I for 6 h also enhanced total protein kinase C (PKC) activity by 1.8–2.3‐fold. HSG cells expressed PKC‐α, γ, δ, ε, μ, and ζ. Adhesion of HSG cells to fibronectin or collagen I specifically activated PKC‐γ and PKC‐δ. Cytoplasmic PKC‐γ and PKC‐δ became membrane‐associated, and immunoprecipitated PKC‐γ and PKC‐δ kinase activities were enhanced 2.5–4.0‐fold in HSG cells adherent to fibronectin or collagen I. In addition, adhesion of fibronectin‐coated beads to HSG monolayers co‐aggregated β1 integrin and PKC‐γ and PKC‐δ but not other PKC isoforms. Thus, integrin‐dependent adhesion of HSG cells to fibronectin or collagen I activated PKC‐γ and PKC‐δ. The role of this PKC upregulation on adhesion‐responsive gene expression was then tested. HSG cells were treated with the specific PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide I, cultured on non‐precoated, fibronectin‐ or collagen I‐coated substrates, and analyzed for changes in adhesion‐responsive gene expression. Bisindolylmaleimide I strongly inhibited the expression of seven adhesion‐responsive genes including calnexin, decorin, S‐adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, steroid sulfatase, and 3 mitochondrial genes. However, the expression of two adhesion‐responsive genes was not affected by bisindolylmaleimide I. Treatment with bisindolylmaleimide I did not affect cell spreading and did not significantly affect the actin cytoskeleton. These data suggest that adhesion of HSG cells to fibronectin or collagen I induces PKC activity and that this induction contributes to the upregulation of a variety of adhesion‐responsive genes. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ground Water Model Calibration Using Pilot Points and Regularization

Use of nonlinear parameter estimation techniques is now commonplace in ground water model calibration. However, there is still ample room for further development of these techniques in order to enable them to extract more information from calibration datasets, to more thoroughly explore the uncertainty associated with model predictions, and to make them easier to implement in various modeling contexts.
Why Do Protein Structures Recur

Protein tertiary structures exhibit an observable degeneracy in nature. This paper examines the connection between a protein motif’s abundance in nature and its designability as measured by in silico methods. After generating a set of protein structures, we evaluated each structure’s abundance in nature, ratio of possible contacts (contact degree) and in silico designability. Our re-sults showed that any two or these metrics are moderately correlated. Together abundance and contact degree produced the strongest correlation with in silico designability. Our results suggest that abundance is indeed an indicator of designability. Furthermore, abundance and contact degree appear to correlate with some distinct components of in silico designability.
Suppression of Th1- and Th2-type immune responses in infant mouse spleen after prenatal and postnatal exposure to low-level toluene and peptidoglycan

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of low-level concentrations, under the occupational acceptable limits, of toluene exposure and peptidoglycan (PGN) stimulation on Th1/Th2 immunity in infant mice. Pregnant BALB/c mice and their offspring were exposed to low-level toluene inhalation (0, 5, and 50 ppm) for 4 wk (from the late prenatal stage to early postnatal stage) in a whole-body exposure chamber. Some of the pregnant mice and their offspring were stimulated with PGN during toluene exposure. We measured total immunoglobulins of different subclasses in plasma, and production and expression level of cytokines in the lung and spleen, and transcription factors related to Th1/Th2 immunity in the spleen of infant (3 wk old) mice. Exposure of mice to 5 or 50 ppm toluene resulted in increased immunoglobulin (Ig) G1 and decreased IgG2a and IgE antibodies in the plasma; significantly decreased T-bet, GATA-3, and Foxp3 mRNA in the spleen; and a tendency toward decreased interferon (IFN)-γ mRNA in spleen. Exposure of mice to low-level toluene together with PGN stimulation resulted in decreased IgG1 as well as IgG2a antibodies in the plasma and Foxp3 mRNA in spleen as compared with control or PGN-treated mice. These findings suggest that low-level toluene exposure and PGN stimulation from the late prenatal to early postnatal stage suppressed the splenic parameter related to Th1/Th2 immunity in infant mice.
Pueraria thunbergiana inhibits cisplatin‐induced damage of HEI‐OC1 auditory cells through scavenging free radicals

The radix of Pueraria thunbergiana (P. thunbergiana) is traditionally prescribed to attenuate the clinical manifestation of inner ear dysfunction and various clinical situations including fevers, gastrointestinal disorders, skin problems, migraine headaches, lowering cholesterol, and treating chronic alcoholism in oriental medicine. In the present study, we examined the protective effect of ethanol extract of the radix of P. thunbergiana (RPT) on cisplatin‐induced damage of HEI‐OC1 auditory hair cells. When the cells were cultured in the medium containing 5–100 μg/mL of RPT, RPT showed protective effect against the cisplatin‐induced HEI‐OC1 cell damage. We also measured the effects of RPT on lipid peroxidation of cisplatin‐treated cells as well as scavenging activities against superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical, hydrogen peroxide, and DPPH radical. RPT reduced cisplatin‐induced lipid peroxidation in a dose‐dependent manner. Furthermore, RPT showed strong scavenging activity against superoxide radical, hydroxyl radical, hydrogen peroxide, and DPPH radical. These results indicate that RPT protects cisplatin‐induced HEI‐OC1 cell damage through inhibition of lipid peroxidation and scavenging activities of free radials. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The first-order theory of subtyping constraints

We investigate the first-order of subtyping constraints. We show that the first-order theory of non-structural subtyping is undecidable, and we show that in the case where all constructors are either unary or nullary, the first-order theory is decidable for both structural and non-structural subtyping. The decidability results are shown by reduction to a decision problem on tree automata. This work is a step towards resolving long-standing open problems of the decidability of entailment for non-structural subtyping.
Synergistic Interactions between the NS3hel and E Proteins Contribute to the Virulence of Dengue Virus Type 1

Background Dengue includes a broad range of symptoms, ranging from fever to hemorrhagic fever and may occasionally have alternative clinical presentations. Many possible viral genetic determinants of the intrinsic virulence of dengue virus (DENV) in the host have been identified, but no conclusive evidence of a correlation between viral genotype and virus transmissibility and pathogenicity has been obtained. Methodology/Principal Findings We used reverse genetics techniques to engineer DENV-1 viruses with subsets of mutations found in two different neuroadapted derivatives. The mutations were inserted into an infectious clone of DENV-1 not adapted to mice. The replication and viral production capacity of the recombinant viruses were assessed in vitro and in vivo. The results demonstrated that paired mutations in the envelope protein (E) and in the helicase domain of the NS3 (NS3hel) protein had a synergistic effect enhancing viral fitness in human and mosquito derived cell lines. E mutations alone generated no detectable virulence in the mouse model; however, the combination of these mutations with NS3hel mutations, which were mildly virulent on their own, resulted in a highly neurovirulent phenotype. Conclusions/Significance The generation of recombinant viruses carrying specific E and NS3hel proteins mutations increased viral fitness both in vitro and in vivo by increasing RNA synthesis and viral load (these changes being positively correlated with central nervous system damage), the strength of the immune response and animal mortality. The introduction of only pairs of amino acid substitutions into the genome of a non-mouse adapted DENV-1 strain was sufficient to alter viral fitness substantially. Given current limitations to our understanding of the molecular basis of dengue neuropathogenesis, these results could contribute to the development of attenuated strains for use in vaccinations and provide insights into virus/host interactions and new information about the mechanisms of basic dengue biology.