Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of beta-blockers in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

ABSTRACT Introduction: The use of beta-blockers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is controversial, primarily due to concerns that they may worsen lung function and attenuate bronchodilator response. Areas covered: This review summarizes the reasons for and against the use of beta-blockers in COPD by evaluating the literature on the effects of these drugs on lung function, exacerbation rate, and mortality. The safety of beta-blockers in COPD patients with concomitant heart failure, an entity that is not always distinguishable from COPD exacerbations, is also explored. Expert commentary: The use of cardioselective beta-blockers appears safe in the management of cardiac comorbidities associated with COPD and may lower exacerbation and mortality risk. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the safety of beta-blockers in patients with acute heart failure, acute respiratory failure or sepsis, entities that could occur simultaneously with COPD exacerbations. However, randomized controlled trials are still lacking to confirm these results.
Great Expectations: The Implementation of Integrated Care and Its Contribution to Improved Outcomes for People with Chronic Conditions

There are great expectations regarding the potential contribution of integrated care interventions to improved outcomes, but so far the evidence is mixed. In this dissertation, we focussed on why, when and how some integrated care interventions contribute to improved outcomes, while others do not. To this purpose, we developed the COMIC Model for studying the Context, Outcomes and Mechanisms of Integrated Care interventions. Evaluations that make use of the COMIC Model take into account the context in which an intervention is implemented and can thereby provide insights into why an intervention does (not) work and how the intervention and/or the context can be changed to achieve improved outcomes.
Lapatinib for breast cancer: a review of the current literature

Importance of the field: The identification of HER-2 expression as a predictive and prognostic marker revolutionized breast cancer. Trastuzumab, a humanized mAb, improves survival in both early and advanced HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer. However, many cancers either do not respond or develop resistance to this agent. Lapatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor which has both HER-1 and -2 activities and has been licensed for use in recurrent breast cancer that overexpresses HER-2. Studies of lapatinib in early breast cancer are ongoing. Areas covered in this review: A PubMed search was conducted using ‘lapatinib’ and ‘breast cancer’ as the key words. All published works up to July 2010 were reviewed. A manual review of abstracts presented at the ASCO Annual meeting and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was conducted for the last 2 years. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of lapatinib and pose questions which need to be addressed as we further expand our knowledge of the HER-2 subtypes of breast cancer. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the current literature as it pertains to the safety and efficacy of lapatinib in the treatment of breast cancer. Take home message: Lapatinib has provided an alternative for the treatment of advanced HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer and is currently being assessed in early disease.
MISUSAGE OF STATISTICS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH

The inappropriate use of statistical method and technique cause time and cost losts and it can be misleading to other scientific researhes. So in this study the main statistical error sources in medical research are discussed and aimed to be informative for researchers. The most common statistical error sources are determined examining the previous medical researches and taking errors into account occured in researches during statistical consulting. Inappropriate use of statistics can be found in every stage of a medical research related to data analysis; design of the experiment, data collection and pre-processing, analysis method and implementation, and interpretation. We listed several error sources that researchers easily commit if they are lack of solid statistical background. The mistakes in the studies mostly occur because of the researchers’ lack of statistical knowledge and since they don’t take statistical consulting. Unbiased, consistent, and efficient parameter estimates are made in statistics science. This can be provided using statistics from the planning until the end of the study. So it is neccessary to consult statisticians at each stage of the studies.
Importance of engaging obstetrician/gynecologists in cardiovascular disease prevention

Purpose of review To review recent evidence regarding traditional and sex-specific factors identified among women during their reproductive years and their importance in lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recent findings Longitudinal studies demonstrated a woman's burden of risk during her reproductive years is associated with future risk of CVD. Similarly, women with a healthy lifestyle are relatively protected and have the lowest lifetime risk. Some primary prevention strategies, when implemented during this age window, were cost-effective. The link between pregnancy outcome and future CVD risk is now better understood, and evidence now relates pregnancy-associated hypertension and diabetes, as well as a preterm delivery or a low birth weight delivery, to excess risk. Gaps in preventive healthcare for women in this age group included low rates of treatment initiation for hypertension and failure to follow guidelines for diabetes surveillance among women with a history of gestational diabetes. Knowledge gaps for standard CVD prevention, as well as the link between pregnancy complications and future CVD risk, were identified among both primary care providers and obstetrician/gynecologists. Summary Traditional and sex-specific risk factors for CVD present during women's reproductive years. Engaging the obstetrician/gynecologist provides a strategy to enhance prevention.
Teaching Adolescents with Mild Mental Retardation to Make Decisions in Leisure through the Use of Self-Control Techniques

Few programs focused on teaching individuals with mental retardation decision-making skills exist in the literature and the ones that exist appear to rely upon encouragement and reinforcement rather than self-control techniques to facilitate the development of thoughtful, planned and systematic decision-making in leisure. This study, based theoretically on the principles of cognitive behaviorism, was to determine the impact of decision making instruction which incorporates self-control techniques as compared to instruction which provided only encouragement and verbal praise, on decision-making in leisure of four adolescents who were mildly mentally retarded. In addition, the study sought to determine the impact of an initial leisure awareness program on the level of leisure awareness of the four students. All four of the students displayed an increase in'self-instruction by the end of the study. All of the students from the follow.up portion of the study displayed either maintenance or improvement in their self-instruction skills. This study has provided initial support for the efficacy ofthe use ofthe Decision Making in Leisure model (Mahon, 1990) in facilitating thoughtful decision-making in leisure for adolescents with mental retardation.
Reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis after social defeat is long‐lasting and responsive to late antidepressant treatment

Major depressive disorder is a chronic disabling disease, often triggered and exacerbated by stressors of a social nature. Hippocampal volume reductions have been reported in depressed patients. In support of the neurogenesis theory of depression, in several stress‐based animal models of depression, adult hippocampal neurogenesis was reduced and subsequently rescued by parallel antidepressant treatment. Here, we investigated whether repeated social defeat and subsequent individual housing for 3 months induces long‐lasting changes in adult hippocampal neurogenesis in rats, and whether these can be normalized by late antidepressant treatment, as would match human depression. Neurogenesis was analysed by stereological quantification of the number of immature doublecortin (DCX)‐immunopositive cells, in particular young (class I) and more mature (class II) DCX+ cells, to distinguish differential effects of stress or drug treatment on these subpopulations. Using this social defeat paradigm, the total DCX+ cell number was significantly reduced. This was most profound for older (class II) DCX+ cells with long apical dendrites, whereas younger, class I cells remained unaffected. Treatment with the broad‐acting tricyclic antidepressant imipramine, only during the last 3 weeks of the 3‐month period after social defeat, completely restored the reduction in neurogenesis by increasing both class I and II DCX+ cell populations. We conclude that despite the lack of elevated corticosterone plasma levels, neurogenesis is affected in a lasting manner by a decline in a distinct neuronal population of more mature newborn cells. Thus, the neurogenic deficit induced by this social defeat paradigm is long‐lasting, but can still be normalized by late imipramine treatment.
Scalability of the vector-based Particle Swarm Optimizer

This paper presents an investigation into the scalability of the vector-based PSO, a niching algorithm using particle swarm optimization. The vector-based PSO locates and maintains niches by using vector operations to determine niche boundaries. The technique builds upon existing knowledge of the particle swarm in such a way that the swarm can be organized into subswarms without prior knowledge of the number of niches in the search space and the corresponding niche radii, thus reducing the number of user-specified parameters. In a designated search space a linear increase in the number of dimensions often results in an exponential or near exponential increase in the number of optima. Empirical results are reported where the vector-based PSO is tested on three multimodal functions in one to four dimensions using a range of swarm sizes. Optimal swarm sizes are derived where all or most of the optima should be located.
Switching Performance Optimization of a High Power High Frequency Three-Level Active Neutral Point Clamped Phase Leg

This paper introduces a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) converter as a high power renewable energy grid interface. The phase leg building block is carefully designed to achieve high switching frequency and high efficiency. Different operating modes and switching loops in the phase leg are identified. Switching characteristics of each loop is evaluated by a double pulse test. Various parameters are taken into consideration as influential factors to loss and stress. An in-depth analysis of some special switching transients is also given. The test shows significant switching performance variance for different switching loops. Performance for each switch is optimized separately considering loss and stress tradeoff. A detailed loss model is built based on the test to calculate system loss distribution and loss breakdown under different switching modes and different operating conditions. The ANPC phase leg can be used to avoid undesirable switching loop and to reduce system loss under certain operating modes. The high-frequency NPC phase leg is tested under full power and the high efficiency design objective is verified.
Space-Vector-Based Synchronized Three-Level Discontinuous PWM for Medium-Voltage High-Power VSI

The high-power voltage source inverters are switched at low frequency to reduce the losses in the inverter. The discontinuous pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) sequences reduce the switching frequency to two-thirds compared to the conventional continuous PWM sequences. At low switching frequency, the output will be rich in harmonics, and synchronization is a must to avoid subharmonics. This paper presents four basic types of synchronized discontinuous PWM (DPWM) sequences that ensure synchronization, three-phase symmetry, and half-wave symmetry. The proposed synchronized DPWM sequences are verified through simulation and experiment on a constant- v/f open-loop induction motor drive. The performance of the proposed DPWM algorithms is studied in the entire modulation region, including the overmodulation region, and is compared with that of the conventional synchronized space vector PWM. A different type of DPWM with low common-mode voltage is suggested for low-modulation region and verified experimentally.
Shifts in condom use following microbicide introduction: should we be concerned?

Objectives: Abandoning condoms for microbicides is termed ‘condom migration'. This study estimated the reduction in condom use that can be tolerated following the introduction of an HIV- and sexually transmitted disease (STD)-efficacious microbicide without increasing an individual's risk of HIV infection, and explored how microbicide use affects HIV-risk. Design: Development of a static mathematical model to compare how different combinations of condom and microbicide use affect individual risk of HIV and STD infection at a particular point in time. Methods: The model is used to identify the ‘break-even point’ at which any increased risk associated with condom migration is counter-balanced by the protection afforded with microbicides. Data from Benin is used as a case-example. Results: Considering a 50% HIV- and STD-efficacious microbicide, groups that use condoms with 25% consistency or less could cease using condoms without increasing their risk if they use microbicides in 50% or more of sex acts. However, migration may increase risk if the initial condom-consistency is high (> 70%) and microbicide-consistency is low (< 50% of non-condom-protected acts). For the Benin case-example, if condoms are initially used in 70% or less of sex acts, and if consistency of condom use is sustained following microbicide introduction, there will be a 20% or greater reduction in HIV-risk if the microbicide is used in 50% of non-condom-protected sex acts. Conclusions: There are likely to be many situations in which the benefits of microbicide use outweigh the negative impact of condom migration, and where microbicides could substantially reduce HIV-risk.
Conviviality and Conflict: Pluralism, Resilience and Hope in Inner-City Birmingham

This paper examines the lived realities of ethnic pluralism, social marginalisation and activism in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, UK, which external media representations have tended to depict as lacking ‘community cohesion’ and fostering ‘parallel lives’. Drawing on qualitative interviews with local residents and entrepreneurs conducted over a three-year period, we challenge such representations and a defining characteristic of currently dominant integration discourses: their tendency to ascribe ‘community cohesion’ or its absence as absolute properties to localities. Contrary to such reifying classifications, our interview data reveal considerably more complex social realities defined by a series of ambivalences. The first ambivalence is between undeniable local conflicts and, simultaneously, the everyday ‘conviviality’ of boundary-crossings and inter-ethnic solidarities. Second, the local economy is shown to enable both cohesion and ethnic exclusion. Finally, local politics and religious practice also display contradictory tendencies towards boundary maintenance on the one hand, and new inclusive alliances on the other. The emerging picture of Alum Rock not only challenges rigid taxonomies implied by ‘community cohesion’ discourses but also poses important questions about inter- and intra-ethnic networks, religiously underpinned social capital, the locally ‘embedded’ market, perceptions of social change, and an ideologically heterogeneous local civil society.
Emotion Recognition from Speech Signals Using Elicited Data and Fuzzy KDA

In this paper we introduced the application of Fuzzy KDA in speech emotion recognition using elicited data. The emotional data induced in a psychology experiment. The acted data is not suitable for developing real world applications and by using more naturalistic data we may build more reliable system. The emotional feature set is then constructed for modeling and recognition. A total of 372 low level acoustic features are used and kernel discriminant analysis is used for emotion recognition. The experimental results show a promising recognition rate.
Examining the relationships between body image, eating attitudes, BMI, and physical activity in rural and urban South African young adult females using structural equation modeling

The persistence of food insecurity, malnutrition, increasing adiposity, and decreasing physical activity, heightens the need to understand relationships between body image satisfaction, eating attitudes, BMI and physical activity levels in South Africa. Females aged 18–23 years were recruited from rural (n = 509) and urban (n = 510) settings. Body image satisfaction was measured using Stunkard’s silhouettes, and the 26-item Eating Attitudes questionnaire (EAT-26) was used to evaluate participants’ risk of disordered eating. Minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). Significant linear correlates were included in a series of regressions run separately for urban and rural participants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships between variables. Urban females were more likely to be overweight and obese than rural females (p = 0.02), and had a greater desire to be thinner (p = 0.02). In both groups, being overweight or obese was positively associated with a desire to be thinner (p<0.01), and negatively associated with a desire to be fatter (p<0.01). Having a disordered eating attitude was associated with body image dissatisfaction in the urban group (β = 1.27, p<0.01, CI: 0.38; 2.16), but only with a desire to be fatter in the rural group (β = 0.63, p = 0.04, CI: 0.03; 1.23). In the SEM model, body image dissatisfaction was associated with disordered eating (β = 0.63), as well as higher MVPA participation (p<0.01). These factors were directly associated with a decreased risk of disordered eating attitude, and with a decreased desire to be thinner. Findings indicate a shift in both settings towards more Westernised ideals. Physical activity may provide a means to promote a healthy body image, while reducing the risk of disordered eating. Given the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in both rural and urban women, this study provides insights for future interventions aimed at decreasing adiposity in a healthy way.
Endurants and perdurants in directly depicting ontologies

We propose an ontological theory that is powerful enough to describe both complex spatio-temporal processes and the enduring entities that participate therein. For this purpose we introduce the notion of a directly depicting ontology.Directly depicting ontologies are based on relatively simple languages and fall into two major categories: ontologies of type SPAN and ontologies of type SNAP. These represent two complementary perspectives on reality and employ distinct though compatible systems of categories. A SNAP (snapshot) ontology comprehends enduring entities such as organisms, geographic features, or qualities as they exist at some given moment of time. A SPAN ontology comprehends perduring entities such as processes and their parts and aggregates as they unfold themselves through some temporal interval. We give an axiomatic account of the theory of directly depicting ontologies and of the core parts of the meta-ontological fragment within which they are embedded.
Graph Decomposition and Recursive Closures

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for computing recursive closures. The main idea behind this is tree labeling and graph decomposition, based on which the transitive closure of a directed graph can be computed in O( e ⋅ b ) time and O( n ⋅ b ) space, where n is the number of the nodes of the graph, e is the numbers of the edges, and b is the graph’s breadth. It is a better computational complexity than any existing algorithms for this problem.
Guiding Architectural Decisions with the Influencing Factors Method

The influencing factors (IF) method guides the architect through stakeholders' concerns to architectural decisions in line with current business goals. The result is a set of requirements on software quality attributes and business goals and highlighted trade-offs among software quality attributes and among business goals. The IF method is suitable for sustainable software systems since it allows new concerns, resulting from changes in business goals, stakeholder concerns, technical environment and organization, to be added to existing concerns.
Imaging of Vascular Development in Early Mouse Decidua and Its Association with Leukocytes and Trophoblasts1

ABSTRACT In species with endometrial decidualization and hemochorial placentation (humans, mice, and others), leukocytes localize to early implant sites and contribute to decidual angiogenesis, spiral arterial remodeling, and trophoblast invasion. Relationships between leukocytes, trophoblasts, and the decidual vasculature are not fully defined. Early C57BL/6J implant sites were analyzed by flow cytometry to define leukocyte subsets and by whole-mount immunohistochemistry to visualize relationships between leukocytes, decidual vessels, and trophoblasts. Ptprc+ (CD45+) cells increased in decidua between Gestational Day (GD) 5.5 and GD 9.5. Uterine natural killer (uNK) cells that showed dynamic expression of Cd (CD) 69, an activating receptor, and Klrg1 (KLRG1), an inhibitory receptor, localized mesometrially and were the dominant CD45+ cells between GD 5.5 and GD 7.5. At GD 8.5, immature monocytes that occurred throughout decidua exceeded uNK cells numerically and many leukocytes acquired irregular shapes, and leukocyte-leukocyte conjugates became frequent. Vessels were morphologically heterogeneous and regionally unique. Migrating trophoblasts were first observed at GD 6.5 and, at GD 9.5, breached endothelium, entered vascular lumens, and appeared to occlude some vessels, as described for human spiral arteries. No leukocyte-trophoblast conjugates were detected. Whole-mount staining gave unparalleled decidual vascular detail and cell-specific positional information. Its application across murine models of pregnancy disturbances should significantly advance our understanding of the maternal-fetal interface.
Assessing urban green space by landscape structure indices and gis for a Chinese City, Taipei

Green space for environmental quality has been emphasized in urbanized area as the global trend of Eco-city. However, green space in developed urban areas is always fragmentary because dense land uses and transportation constructions indeed cause numerous landscape and environmental problems. This study aimed at assessing the spatial structure of green space in Taipei City, a typical developed urban area of the Chinese society, by using of the landscape structure indices. Based on the assessment results, the problems and strategies of greenway network development for Taipei were recommended. The assessment process and developed strategies could contribute to the other Chinese urbanized areas and provide essential basis for future greenway network development.