Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity and Cardiomegaly With Aortic Arch Calcification in Patients on Hemodialysis

AbstractAortic arch calcification (AoAC) is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in end-stage renal disease population. AoAC can be simply estimated with an AoAC score using plain chest radiography. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association of AoAC with brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and cardiomegaly in patients who have undergoing hemodialysis (HD). We retrospectively determined AoAC and cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) by chest x-ray in 220 HD patients who underwent the measurement of baPWV. The values of baPWV were measured by an ankle-brachial index-form device. Multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors associated with AoAC score >4.Compared patients with AoAC score ≦4, patients with AoAC score >4 had older age, higher prevalence of diabetes and cerebrovascular disease, lower diastolic blood pressure, higher baPWV, higher CTR, higher prevalence of CTR ≧50%, lower total cholesterol, and lower creatinine level. After the multivariate stepwise logistic analysis, old age, cerebrovascular disease, high baPWV (per 100 cm/s, odds ratio [OR] 1.065, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.003–1.129, P = 0.038), CTR (per 1%, OR 1.116, 95% CI 1.046–1.191, P = 0.001), and low total cholesterol level were independently associated with AoAC score >4.Our study demonstrated AoAC severity was associated with high baPWV and high CTR in patients with HD. Therefore, we suggest that evaluating AoAC on plain chest radiography may be a simple and inexpensive method for detecting arterial stiffness in HD patients.
Poor dietary quality of complementary foods is associated with multiple micronutrient deficiencies during early childhood in Mongolia

Abstract Objective To assess whether persistent micronutrient deficiencies in Mongolian children identified in our earlier biochemical study are associated with inadequacies in quantity and/or quality in their complementary diets. Design A cross-sectional study of breast-fed children aged 6–23 months, randomly selected from four districts in Ulaanbaatar and four provincial capitals. Subjects Weight and length were measured, and sociodemographic status, feeding practices and nutrient adequacy of complementary foods for children aged 6–8 months (n 26), 9–11 months (n 29) and 12–23 months (n 73) were assessed via questionnaire and in-home interactive 24 h recalls. Results No geographic differences existed so data were combined. Adherence to WHO infant and young child feeding practices was poor: few children were exclusively breast-fed up to 6 months of age or received the recommended number of feedings containing the recommended number of food groups. Nevertheless, energy intakes from complementary diets, primarily from cereals and non-nutritious snacks, were above WHO-estimated needs; <1 % of energy was from meat and eggs or fruits and vegetables. Median intakes and densities of most nutrients (except protein, thiamin and riboflavin) failed to meet WHO recommendations for at least two age groups, assuming average breast milk intake; greatest density deficits were for Fe > vitamin C > vitamin A > Zn > Ca. Conclusions Complementary feeding in Mongolia is compromised by deficits in several micronutrients but not energy, in part because of frequent consumption of non-nutritious snacks. The latter may interfere with breast-feeding and should be avoided. Instead, wheat-based complementary foods should be enriched with affordable cellular animal foods and fruits rich in vitamin C to combat existing micronutrient deficits.
Optimized Distributed Hyperparameter Search and Simulation for Lung Texture Classification in CT Using Hadoop

Many medical image analysis tasks require complex learning strategies to reach a quality of image-based decision support that is sufficient in clinical practice. The analysis of medical texture in tomographic images, for example of lung tissue, is no exception. Via a learning framework, very good classification accuracy can be obtained, but several parameters need to be optimized. This article describes a practical framework for efficient distributed parameter optimization. The proposed solutions are applicable for many research groups with heterogeneous computing infrastructures and for various machine learning algorithms. These infrastructures can easily be connected via distributed computation frameworks. We use the Hadoop framework to run and distribute both grid and random search strategies for hyperparameter optimization and cross-validations on a cluster of 21 nodes composed of desktop computers and servers. We show that significant speedups of up to 364× compared to a serial execution can be achieved using our in-house Hadoop cluster by distributing the computation and automatically pruning the search space while still identifying the best-performing parameter combinations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first article presenting practical results in detail for complex data analysis tasks on such a heterogeneous infrastructure together with a linked simulation framework that allows for computing resource planning. The results are directly applicable in many scenarios and allow implementing an efficient and effective strategy for medical (image) data analysis and related learning approaches.
Characterization of Band Codes for Pollution-Resilient Peer-to-Peer Video Streaming

We provide a comprehensive characterization of band codes (BC) as a resilient-by-design solution to pollution attacks in network coding (NC)-based peer-to-peer live video streaming. Consider one malicious node injecting bogus coded packets into the network: the recombinations at the nodes generate an avalanche of novel coded bogus packets. Therefore, the malicious node can cripple the communication by injecting into the network only a handful of polluted packets. Pollution attacks are typically addressed by identifying and isolating the malicious nodes from the network. Pollution detection is, however, not straightforward in NC as the nodes exchange coded packets. Similarly, malicious nodes identification is complicated by the ambiguity between malicious nodes and nodes that have involuntarily relayed polluted packets. This paper addresses pollution attacks through a radically different approach which relies on BCs. BCs are a family of rateless codes originally designed for controlling the NC decoding complexity in mobile applications. Here, we exploit BCs for the totally different purpose of recombining the packets at the nodes so to avoid that the pollution propagates by adaptively adjusting the coding parameters. Our streaming experiments show that BCs curb the propagation of the pollution and restore the quality of the distributed video stream.
Studies of a Model for the Development and Regeneration of Eye-Brain Maps

We describe a computational model of the development and regeneration of specific eye-brain circuits. The model comprises a self-organizing map-forming network which uses local Hebb rules, constrained by (genetically determined) molecular markers. Various simulations of the development and regeneration of eye-brain maps in fish and frogs are described, in particular successful simulations of experiments by Schmidt-Cicerone-Easter; Meyer; and Yoon.
Management standards/NVQs and business benefits

Considers the claims that the management standards developed by the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) reflect what is required of managers for effective job performance and that using the standards to train managers will lead to business benefits for organizations. Contends, however, that empirical evidence to support these substantial claims is not apparent. Argues that this evidence is necessary at a national policy level, at an organizational investment level and at the human resource functional level. Uses the example of a self‐governing hospital trust’s adoption of the management standards to illustrate the need to evaluate the MCI’s work rigorously. Presents a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of management training based on the management standards.
The impact of the change in the criterion of scoring correct responses in the distribution of the scores of the reading subtest of performance school test

The study investigates the impact of the introduction of a new class of errors within the original error set of the reading subtest of the Performance School Test on the distribution of the scores. The sample consisted of 306 1 4 grades of the school system of Belo Horizonte who participated in the study. For each child two scores were given: one based on the manual criteria (EB1) and the other on the criteria introduced in the present study (EB2) – which considered explicit sounding out of syllables or of part of the stimuli and selfcorrections as incorrect responses. The results showed that the choice of the EB2 made the test more discriminative, but such a modification did not prevent the emergence of a ceiling effect, nor did it enable a normal distribution of the scores. The analysis showed that apart from the permissive criteria the excess of easy words and the shortage of difficult words affected the variability of the scores. Hypotheses about the difficulty of words were discussed in light of the psycholinguistics.
Genetic determinants of bone mass in adult women: A reevaluation of the twin model and the potential importance of gene interaction on heritability estimates

We estimated genetic effects on bone density in pre‐ and postmenopausal twins and critically considered the assumptions of the twin model. Bone mass in the radius, lumbar spine, and hip, anthropometric measurements, usual calcium and caffeine intake, tobacco and alcohol use, number of pregnancies and live births, menstrual history, usual physical activity, and medical history were measured in a volunteer sample of 171 twin pairs [124 monozygotic (MZ) and 47 dizygotic (DZ)], aged 25–80, free of diseases known to affect bone mass or mineral metabolism. At all skeletal sites, MZ intraclass correlations exceeded DZ correlations for both pre‐ and postmenopausal women, yielding highly significant estimates of heritability for bone mass. Adjustments for height, age, and environmental characteristics did not reduce the heritability estimates. However, many of these estimates were unrealistically high, suggesting some violation(s) of the assumptions of the twin model. Thus, the familial resemblance in bone mass is due primarily to genetic effects at all skeletal sites and at all ages, although the importance of genetic effects is diminished with aging, as evidenced by increasing within‐MZ pair variability in older women. Because of failures in the assumptions of the twin model, however, particularly the greater MZ environmental similarity and the probability of gene interaction, heritability estimates are probably too high and require cautious interpretation.
Reflections on doing, being and becoming*

Occupation, and its relationship with health and well-being, is very complex. It can be described in many different ways by the profession within which it is so central that it provides its name. A simple way to talk about occupation that appears to appeal to a wide range of people is as a synthesis of doing, being and becoming. In the present paper I reflect on how a dynamic balance between doing and being is central to healthy living and wellness, and how becoming whatever a person, or a community, is best fitted to become is dependent on both. Doing is often used as a synonym for occupation within our profession and is so important that it is impossible to envisage the world of humans without it. Being encapsulates such notions as nature and essence, about being true to ourselves, to our individual capacities and in all that we do. Becoming adds to the idea of being a sense of future and holds the notions of transformation and self actualization. It is a concept that sits well with enabling occupation and with ideas about human development, growth and potential. Occupational therapists are in the business of helping people to transform their lives through enabling them to do and to be and through the process of becoming. In combination doing, being and becoming are integral to occupational therapy philosophy, process and outcomes, and some attention is given as to how we may best utilize these in self growth, professional practice, student teaching and learning, or towards social and global change for healthier lifestyles.
Reinsch's smoothing spline simulation metamodels

Metamodels have been used frequently by the simulation community. However, not much research has been done with nonparametric metamodels compared with parametric metamodels. In this paper, smoothing splines for performing nonparametric metamodeling are presented. The use of smoothing splines on metamodeling fitting may provide functions that better approximate the behavior of the target simulation model, compared with linear and nonlinear regression metamodels. The smoothing splines tolerance parameter can be used to tune the smoothness of the resulting metamodel. A good experimental design is crucial for obtaining a better smoothing spline metamodel fitting, as illustrated in the examples.
Exponential stability for singularly perturbed systems with state delays.

In this paper the problem of stability of the zero solution of singularly perturbed system of linear dieren tial equation with state delays is investigated. We show that if the zero solution of reduced subsystem and the one of the fast subsystem are exponentially stable, then the zero solution of the given singularly perturbed system of dieren tial equations is also exponentially stable. Estimates of the block components of the fundamental matrix solution are derived. These estimates are used to obtain asymptotic expansions on unbounded interval for the solutions of this class of singularly perturbed systems.
Facebook as a Finite Province of Meaning

Facebook today represents one of the main avenues that people use to create and develop relationships. Indeed, in the 10 years since its birth, Facebook has changed the concept of community, given new meaning to the sense of belonging and even produced a new language. However, what is its meaning? What is the real reason for its spread, which obviously goes beyond superficial and simplistic explanations? This article proposes a reading of Facebook using classical concepts of sociology such as the concepts of sense, action and meaning. Particular attention will be given to the phenomenology of Alfred Schutz and to his idea of finite provinces of meaning in order to discover whether it is a construct applicable to Facebook. To achieve this, we propose a phenomenology of Facebook to understand what kind of reality it represents and what similarities and differences are encountered in the prominent world of everyday life.
Determining an object's shape with a blind tactile manipulator

In situations where generating in internal representation of an object's shape can not be carried out via visual methods, such as in low light conditions or due to a hardware fault, an internal representation of the object must be built from tactile information alone. Existing methods for doing so rely on the availability of a complete force sensitive skin. The work described in this paper shows a method that requires no such equipment and in fact requires no external sensors at all. The method demonstrates that an accurate representation of the object can be built with the accuracy depending on the number of attempts at contacting the object. This internal representation of object can then be used for other tasks such as planning grasps.
High affinity immunoreactive FGF receptors in the extracellular matrix of vascular endothelial cells--implications for the modulation of FGF-2

We recently characterized three FGF-binding proteins (FGF-BPs) which are soluble forms of the extracellular domains of the high affinity FGF receptors (Hanneken, A. M., W. Ying, N. Ling, and A. Baird. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1994. 91:9170-9174). These proteins circulate in blood and have been proposed to modulate the biological activity of the FGF family of proteins. Immunohistochemical studies now demonstrate that these soluble, truncated FGF receptors are also present in the basement membranes of retinal vascular endothelial cells. These immunoreactive proteins can be detected with antibodies raised to the extracellular domain of FGFR-1 but not with antibodies raised to either the juxtamembrane domain or the cytoplasmic domain of FGFR-1. Western blotting of human retinal extracts with the antibody raised to the extracellular domain of FGFR-1 detects specific, low molecular mass proteins at 85 kD and 55 kD, corresponding in size to the FGF-BPs, which are not detected with antibodies against the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor. The interaction of this receptor with the extracellular matrix is not dependent on the presence of FGF-2. Immunoreactive receptors are still detected in vascular basement membranes after the removal of FGF-2 with heparitinase. In addition, the recombinant extracellular domain of FGFR-1 continues to bind to corneal endothelial cell matrix after endogenous FGF-2 has been removed with 2 M NaCl. Acid treatment, which has been shown to disrupt protein interactions with the extracellular matrix, leads to a significant reduction in the presence of the matrix form of the FGF receptor. This loss can be restored with exogenous incubations of the recombinant extracellular domain of FGFR-1. This report is the first demonstration that a truncated form of a high affinity growth factor receptor can be localized to the extracellular matrix. These findings add to the list of binding proteins associated with the extracellular matrix (IGFBP-5) and suggest a potentially new regulatory mechanism for controlling the biological availability of FGF, and other peptide growth factors, in the extracellular matrix.
To Be There, or Not to Be There, that is the Question

Virtual words, independent of their realizations, let us experience a person's sense of Being There, a form of spatial immersion dubbed presence. Where we are and even who we are is the result of living in the real world as well as a multitude of virtual worlds. This visceral feeling depends on several technical dimensions, which have been widely discussed, including the realism of the virtual environment and the embodiment of oneself and the others. But presence and belonging are preliminary not a question of technique but a question of the provided format, the symbolic spaces and of social interaction. A virtual world is always a managed space and a managed me with all its complications. It is about the basic conceptions of a conditio humana.
Movement and Fixation of Intestinal Microbiota after Administration of Human Feces to Germfree Mice

ABSTRACT Human flora-associated (HFA) mice have been considered a tool for studying the ecology and metabolism of intestinal bacteria in humans, although they have some limitations as a model. Shifts in dominant species of microbiota in HFA mice after the administration of human intestinal microbiota was revealed by 16S rRNA gene sequence and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses. Characteristic terminal restriction fragments (T-RFs) were quantified as the proportion of total peak area of all T-RFs. Only the proportion of the T-RF peak at bp 366, identified as the Gammmaproteobacteria group and the family Coriobacteriaceae, was reduced in this study. Increased T-RFs over time at bp 56, 184, and 196 were affiliated with the Clostridium group. However, most of the isolated bacteria with unique population shifts were phylotypes. The vertical transmission of the intestinal microbiota of the mouse offspring was also investigated by dendrogram analysis derived from the similarity of T-RFLP patterns among samples. As a result, the intestinal microbiota of HFA mice and their offspring reflected the composition of individual human intestinal bacteria with some modifications. Moreover, we revealed that human-derived lactobacilli (HDL), which have been considered difficult to colonize in the HFA mouse intestine in previous studies based on culture methods, could be detected in the HFA mouse intestine by using a lactic acid bacterium-specific primer and HDL-specific primers. Our results indicate that the intestinal microbiota of HFA mice represents a limited sample of bacteria from the human source and are selected by unknown interactions between the host and bacteria.
More Accurate Identification of Reversible Ischemic Injury in Human Stroke by Cerebrospinal Fluid Suppressed Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

Background and Purpose— The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived from diffusion-weighted (DWI) MRI has been used to differentiate reversible from irreversible ischemic injury. However, the ADC can be falsely elevated by partial volume averaging of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with parenchyma, limiting the accuracy of this approach. This study tested the hypothesis that the accuracy of differentiating reversible from irreversible ischemic injury could be improved by CSF suppression at image acquisition. Methods— Sixteen patients presenting within 6 hours from symptoms, and having partial reversal of the acute lesion on DWI were studied using conventional CSF-suppressed DWI. Lesions were segmented from coregistered acute DWI and follow-up fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) series. The segmented volumes were applied to conventional (ADCC) and CSF-suppressed ADC (ADCFLIPD) maps to classify each voxel as progressed to infarct or reversed. Individual voxel ADC values were pooled across all patients. Sensitivity to predict reversal, specificity, and accuracy were calculated for both methods. Results— A total of 25 313 voxels were classified as progressed and 31 952 voxels reversed. Across all lesion voxels, ADCFLIPD values more accurately depicted tissue fate compared with ADCC values (P <0.0001). The largest difference in the two methods was in voxels with <75% parenchyma, where the accuracy of ADCC was only 50% compared with 62% for ADCFLIPD. Conclusion— CSF-suppressed ADC measurements gave a more accurate identification of reversible ischemic injury in this sample. We predict that multimodal MRI models of tissue viability in ischemic stroke will be more accurate if CSF-suppressed ADC measurements are used.
AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF A MOTIVATIONAL MODEL OF "SIDELINE RAGE" AND AGGRESSION IN PARENTS OF YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS

Title of Thesis: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF A MOTIVATIONAL MODEL OF “SIDELINE RAGE” AND AGGRESSION IN PARENTS OF YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS Jay D. Goldstein, Master of Arts, 2005 Thesis directed by: Dr. Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, Professor Department of Kinesiology Research on sports-related spectator aggression has concentrated on professional and collegiate sports environments, ignoring the realm of youth sports. The present research extended and expanded a motivational model of anger and aggression, derived from the foundations of self-determination theory. It was hypothesized that parents higher in controlled orientation were predicted to experience more ego-defensiveness and feel more pressure, thus report higher levels of sport parental anger and aggression. Conversely, autonomy-oriented parents were predicted to experience less egodefensiveness and feel less pressure, thus report lower levels of sport parent anger and aggression. Participants were 340 parents of youth soccer players (boys and girls ages 816). Before their child’s game, parents completed the General Causality Orientations Scale. Afterwards, parents completed the self-report behavior record. More than half of the participants reported experiencing anger, and responding with varying levels of aggression. Results provided strong support for the motivational framework and the hypotheses. AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF A MOTIVATIONAL MODEL OF “SIDELINE RAGE” AND AGGRESSION IN THE PARENTS OF YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS