Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperkalemia After Initiating Renin–Angiotensin System Blockade: The Stockholm Creatinine Measurements (SCREAM) Project

Background Concerns about hyperkalemia limit the use of angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE‐I) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), but guidelines conflict regarding potassium‐monitoring protocols. We quantified hyperkalemia monitoring and risks after ACE‐I/ARB initiation and developed and validated a hyperkalemia susceptibility score. Methods and Results We evaluated 69 426 new users of ACE‐I/ARB therapy in the Stockholm Creatinine Measurements (SCREAM) project with medication initiation from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010, and follow‐up for 1 year thereafter. Three fourths (76%) of SCREAM patients had potassium checked within the first year. Potassium >5 and >5.5 mmol/L occurred in 5.6% and 1.7%, respectively. As a comparison, we propensity‐matched new ACE‐I/ARB users to 20 186 new β‐blocker users in SCREAM: 64% had potassium checked. The occurrence of elevated potassium levels was similar between new β‐blocker and ACE‐I/ARB users without kidney disease; only at estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 were risks higher among ACE‐I/ARB users. We developed a hyperkalemia susceptibility score that incorporated estimated glomerular filtration rate, baseline potassium level, sex, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and the concomitant use of potassium‐sparing diuretics in new ACE‐I/ARB users; this score accurately predicted 1‐year hyperkalemia risk in the SCREAM cohort (area under the curve, 0.845, 95% CI: 0.840–0.869) and in a validation cohort from the US‐based Geisinger Health System (N=19 524; area under the curve, 0.818, 95% CI: 0.794–0.841), with good calibration. Conclusions Hyperkalemia within the first year of ACE‐I/ARB therapy was relatively uncommon among people with estimated glomerular filtration rate >60 mL/min per 1.73 m2, but rates were much higher with lower estimated glomerular filtration rate. Use of the hyperkalemia susceptibility score may help guide laboratory monitoring and prescribing strategies.
Library finding for high-level synthesis of analog systems

The behavior of an analog system may be represented as a signal flow graph (SFG), where nodes represent operations (transfer functions and non-linear functions) on signals and edges represent signal flow. Library binding or technology mapping transforms the given behavior into a netlist of cells from the target library, optimized for performance. Analog library binding is different from its digital counterpart, and presents new problems that we address in this work. (1) The transformation from analog behavior to structure is not unique. Our algorithm performs architecture generation and explores various possible circuit architectures for the best area and noise performance. (2) The occurrence of feedback in analog systems introduces cycles in the SFG. Hence the structural approach to analog library binding involves matching and covering of directed graphs with cycles. We employ a multi-level pattern library representation, together with hierarchical matching and covering approach to solve this problem. (3) In order to have acceptable signal-to-noise ratio at the system's output terminals, low-noise circuit structures are selected by optimizing both the gain distribution and the noise figure (NF) of the system. Due to its frequency-dependent nature, noise figure is determined over multiple frequency points during fitness evaluation.
Workplace Spirituality Empirical Research: A Literature Review

Much has been written on the theories of workplace spirituality (WS). Much less has been written concerning the empirical research supporting these theories. The purpose of this article is to review the workplace spirituality empirical research. A growing body of knowledge concerning spirituality at work is evident in the literature. A small but growing subset of this knowledge concerns the empirical research on this topic. This study documents the workplace spirituality empirical research including defining and measuring; demographics; implementation; effect on attitudes; impact on performance; and WS effect on ethical decision making. Many of the empirical studies demonstrate a positive effect of WS on job commitment, satisfaction, and performance. In addition, the empirical research on workplace spirituality has demonstrated results in altruism and conscientiousness, self-career management, reduced inter-role conflict, reduced frustration, organization based self-esteem, involvement, retention, and ethical behavior. It is argued that WS constructs need to be better defined in the context of organizational behavior, organizational development, and religion. Better defining workplace spirituality in these contexts will ultimately determine if the movement is a unique body of knowledge or merely an extension of already existing disciplines. For now, the empirical research indicates that workplace spirituality shows promise as a significant new management paradigm.
Lectin binding and desmin staining during bupivicaine‐induced necrosis and regeneration in rat skeletal muscle

The processes of bupivicaine‐induced necrosis and regeneration in rat skeletal muscle have been studied with a panel of biotinylated lectins and by immunohistochemical staining for desmin. The results indicate that the binding of lectins to the periphery of muscle fibres is not altered in necrotic and regenerating fibres at the light microscopic level although abnormal cytoplasmic staining by lectins occurs early in necrosis and is also present during regeneration. Desmin staining is lost at an early stage of necrosis and is present at an early stage of regeneration. Desmin staining in combination with morphometrical assessment of the rate of fusion and growth of regenerating fibres provides a powerful method for evaluating the processes of muscle regeneration in experimental situations.
Occupation type as a predictor of cognitive decline and dementia in old age.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether an individual's main occupation predicts cognitive decline or dementia. METHODS The data were taken from a longitudinal study of 518 men aged 70 or over. Main occupation was coded into one of John Holland's six occupational categories. The subjects completed four cognitive tests and were diagnosed for dementia on two occasions three and a half years apart. The cognitive tests were the Mini-Mental State Examination, Episodic Memory Test, Symbol-Letter Modalities Test and National Adult Reading Test. Informants also completed the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly. Dementia was diagnosed by the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition, revised (DSM-III-R) and ICD-10 criteria using the Canberra Interview for the Elderly. RESULTS Cross-sectional analysis of the wave 1 data showed that the realistic occupations, which include trade, technical and some service occupations, had poorer cognitive performance and a higher prevalence of DSM-III-R dementia. These differences held even when age, education and native English were statistically controlled. The greatest occupational difference was on the National Adult Reading Test, which estimates pre-morbid ability. By contrast, there were no occupational differences in longitudinal change in cognitive test performance, informant reports of cognitive decline or incident cases of dementia over three and a half years. CONCLUSION Cross-sectional occupational differences on cognitive tests and in dementia prevalence are due to differences in pre-morbid ability rather than to differences in rate of cognitive decline.
Object-Based Image Retrieval Using Perceptual Grouping

This paper presents object-based image retrieval using a novel method based on perceptual grouping. The perceptual grouping is obtained by detecting the line edge from a square block using the two consecutive primitive edge differences detector. Object segmentation and recognition is the primary step of computer vision for applying for an image retrieval of higher-level image analysis. However, automatic segmentation and recognition of objects via object model is a difficult task without a prior knowledge about the shape of an object. Instead of segmentation and detailed object representation, the objective of the research is to develop and apply computer vision methods that explore the structure of an image object by two consecutive primitive edge differences (TCPD). For speed and efficiency, we extend the TCPD in a query image into several visual-pattern structures that are used to match the images from a large database. Computer simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method provides good performance compared with Iqbal and Aggarwalpsilas method and Jainpsilas method in terms of retrieval accuracy.
Reviewing social media use by clinicians

Adoption studies of social media use by clinicians were systematically reviewed, up to July 26th, 2011, to determine the extent of adoption and highlight trends in institutional responses. This search led to 370 articles, of which 50 were selected for review, including 15 adoption surveys. The definition of social media is evolving rapidly; the authors define it broadly to include social networks and group-curated reference sites such as Wikipedia. Facebook accounts are very common among health science students (64–96%) and less so for professional clinicians (13–47%). Adoption rates have increased sharply in the past 4 years. Wikipedia is widely used as a reference tool. Attempts at incorporating social media into clinical training have met with mixed success. Posting of unprofessional content and breaches of patient confidentiality, especially by students, are not uncommon and have prompted calls for social media guidelines.
The Sexual Victimization of College Women

The National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCVS) study attempted to build on and surmount the limitations of existing research on the sexual victimization of college students. In addition to the study of sexual victimization, the study investigated how rape estimates that use the two-stage process of behaviorally specific questions and incident reports compared with estimates drawn from survey responses. The study results were based on a telephone survey of a randomly selected national sample of 4,446 college women in 1996. Twelve types of sexual victimization, from completed rape through stalking and verbal forms of sexual victimization, were studied. Survey responses suggest that many students encounter sexist and harassing comments and that many have a good chance of being stalked or enduring some form of coerced sexual contact. During any given academic year, 2.8% of women will experience a completed or attempted rape. Study results also show that a methodology that uses behaviorally specific screen questions in combination with an incident report yields considerably higher estimates of completed, attempted, and threatened rape than are found using the telephone methodology of NCVS. Most sexual victimization occurred when college women were alone with a man they know, at night, and in the privacy of a residence. Several factors appeared to increase the likelihood of being victimized. (Contains 14 exhibits and 37 endnotes.) (SLD) ENTIRE DOCUMENT. POOR PRINT QUALITY Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Angiotensin II Angiogenic Effect In Vivo Involves Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor- and Inflammation-Related Pathways

Although accumulating lines of evidence indicate the proangiogenic role of angiotensin II (Ang II), little is known about the molecular mechanisms associated with such an effect. This study aimed to identify molecular events involved in Ang II-induced angiogenesis in the Matrigel model in mice. C57Bl/6 female mice received a subcutaneous injection of either Matrigel or Matrigel with Ang II (10−7 M) alone, with Ang II and an AT1 receptor antagonist (candesartan, 10−6 M), or with Ang II and AT2 receptor antagonist (PD123319, 10−6 M). After 14 days, angiogenesis was assessed in the Matrigel-plug by histological evaluation and cellular counting. Ang II increased by 1.9-fold the number of cells within the Matrigel (p < 0.01 versus control). Immunohistological analysis revealed the presence of macrophages, endothelial and smooth muscle cells, and the development of vascular-like structure. Such an angiogenic effect was associated with an increase in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (1.5-fold, p < 0.01), endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS) (1.7-fold, p < 0.01), and cyclooxygenase-2 (1.4-fold, p < 0.05) protein levels measured by Western blotting. Conversely, Ang II treatment did not affect MMP-9 and MMP-2 activity, assessed by zymography. Blockade of AT1 receptor completely prevented the Ang II-induced angiogenesis and protein regulations, whereas that of AT2 was ineffective. Administration of VEGF neutralizing antibody (2.5 μg ip twice a week) and cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitor (nimesulide, 30 mg/L) also hampered Ang II proangiogenic effect. In addition, Ang II-induced cell ingrowth was impaired by treatment with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NAME, 10 mg/kg/day) and in eNOS-deficient mice. Therefore, in an in vivo model, Ang II induced angiogenesis through AT1 receptor, which involved activation of VEGF/eNOS-related pathway and of the inflammatory process.
The Universe Viewed in Gamma-Rays 1 The Control System of the MAGIC telescope

The 17 m diameter IACT MAGIC will be commissioned during this year. The control system of the telescope is distributed over a number of functional autonomous elements. CANbus is favored for the communication with the hardware. A central PC steers all these subsystems over Ethernet and allows a human operator full control over the telescope. Here we mainly focus on the Central Control and Camera Control systems.
Serum Triglyceride Levels and Cardiovascular Disease Events in Koreans

Objectives: Hypercholesterolemia, especially elevated levels of LDL-cholesterol, is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the role of triglycerides in CVD risk remains controversial. Methods: We enrolled 86,476 individuals who had undergone a general health checkup at Asan Medical Center between January 2007 and June 2011. After exclusion criteria were applied to the total cohort, 76,434 participants were included. CVD events and death were gathered from the nationwide health insurance claims database and death certificates using ICD-10 codes. Results: Age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of the higher triglyceride group were significantly increased: 1.52 (95% CI: 1.27-1.82) for major CVD events, 1.53 (95% CI: 1.24-1.88) for major ischemic heart disease events, and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.37-1.63) for overall CVD events. After adjustment for multiple risk factors including HDL-cholesterol, ORs for overall CVD events were significantly increased in the higher triglyceride group. When the analysis was stratified according to BMI, hypertension, and glycemic status at baseline, age- and sex-adjusted ORs for the outcomes were significantly increased in the higher triglyceride group with nonobese, normotensive, or nondiabetic subjects. Conclusions: Hypertriglyceridemia is independently associated with an increased risk for CVD, especially in nonobese, normotensive, or nondiabetic individuals.
Empowering scientific discovery by distributed data mining on the grid infrastructure

The grid-based computing paradigm has attracted much attention in recent years. The sharing of distributed computing resources (such as software, hardware, data, sensors, etc.) is an important aspect of grid computing. Computational Grids focus on methods for handling compute intensive tasks while Data Grids are geared toward data-intensive computing. Grid-based computing has been put to use in several scientific disciplines such as astronomy, engineering, climate studies, ecology, biology and health sciences. For example, in astronomy, breakthroughs in telescope, detector, and computer technology allow sky surveys to produce terabytes of images and catalogs which are typically stored in data grids. Extraction of meaningful knowledge from data grids require development of sophisticated data mining techniques. This dissertation investigates Distributed Data Mining (DDM) techniques for the grid infrastructure. We study the data grids in the astronomy domain as a representative example. The gigantic, heterogeneous, geographically distributed repositories of the astronomy sky surveys pose challenges to the data miner since most off-the-shelf data mining systems require the data to be downloaded to a single location before further analysis. This imposes serious scalability constraints on the data mining system and fundamentally hinders the scientific discovery process. In order to enable astronomers to tap the richness of sky survey catalogs, we describe a system for Distributed Exploration of Massive Astronomical Catalogs (DEMAC) which contains algorithms for distributed: (1) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) enabling dimension reduction of correlated astrophysical parameters; (2) Outlier Detection for identification of "interesting" galaxies; and (3) Classification of astronomical sources. The demand for catalog data from the astronomy community has been increasing fast. This has ushered in new mechanisms to support scalable performance. One such mechanism allows users to download and locally manage different parts of the overall repository resulting in partial images of the data in distributed environments. Collaboration amongst users with such personalized databases (MyDBs) results in the formation of distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. We investigate strategies for data transfer and mining in peer-to-peer MyDB environments.
A Low Power LNA-Phase Shifter With Vector Sum Method for 60 GHz Beamforming Receiver

Taking into consideration the limitations of the conventional vector sum phase shifter (VSPS), a low power LNA-PS is proposed for a 60 GHz beamforming receiver using a 65 nm CMOS process. By developing a low loss 90 ° PS that integrates the HPF into the LPF with a low loss SPST switch and a power efficient vector adder using a current reuse structure, the proposed LNA-PS shows the gain of 24 dB, the highest among the LNA-PSs developed to date, with very small power consumption of 16 mW. The total size including the pads is only 1.3 mm2.
Differential light responses of Mediterranean tree saplings: linking ecophysiology with regeneration niche in four co-occurring species.

The ecophysiological mechanisms underlying plant-plant interactions and forest regeneration processes in Mediterranean ecosystems are poorly understood, and the experimental evidence for the role of light availability in these processes is particularly scant. We analyzed the effects of high and low irradiances on 31 ecological, morphological and physiological variables in saplings of four late-successional Mediterranean trees, two deciduous (Acer opalus subsp. granatense (Boiss.) Font Quer & Rothm. and Quercus pyrenaica Willd. ) and two evergreen (Pinus nigra Arnold subsp. salzmannii (Dunal) Franco and Quercus ilex L. ), which coexist in mature montane forests. Species differed in both their capacity to withstand high radiation and in their shade tolerance. The two deciduous species were the least tolerant to high radiation, exhibiting both dynamic and chronic photoinhibition in full sunlight, with severe implications for gas exchange and photosynthetic performance. Excess light severely limited the survival of A. opalus subsp. granatense, even minor reductions of excessive radiation (from full sunlight to 80% sunlight) being crucial for sapling survival. Among species, P. nigra was the most tolerant of high irradiances but showed the poorest shade acclimation. Interspecific differences in the mechanisms of response to light provide a partial explanation of the differential regeneration patterns previously reported for these species, with shade-tolerant plants (i.e., deciduous broadleaf species) benefiting the most from associations with nurse plants. We conclude that light availability is an important environmental factor defining the regeneration niche of Mediterranean woody species.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT WATER AS A MATRIX OF LIFE

Water offers a large temperature domain of stable liquid, and the characteristic hydrophobic effects are first a consequence of the temperature insensitivity of equation-of-state features of the aqueous medium, compared to other liquids. On this basis, the known aqueous media and conditions offer low risk compared to alternatives as a matrix to which familiar molecular biological structures and processes have adapted. The current molecular-scale understanding of hydrophobic hydration is not conformant in detail with a standard structural entropy rationalization. That classic pictorial explanation may serve as a mnemonic, but isn't necessary. A more defensible view is that peculiar hydrophobic effects can be comprehended by examination of engineering parameters characterizing liquid water.
Draft Genome Sequence of Klebsiella pneumoniae Strain KP-1

ABSTRACT Klebsiella pneumoniae is ubiquitous in the environment and is a member of a three-species biofilm model. We compared the genome sequence of an environmental isolate, K. pneumoniae strain KP-1, to those of two clinical strains (NTUH-K2044 and MGH 78578). KP-1 possesses strain-specific prophage sequences that distinguish it from the clinical strains.
Stability Analysis for a String of Coupled Stable Subsystems With Negative Imaginary Frequency Response

For a string of (possibly arbitrarily many) coupled stable subsystems that are equipped with a dynamic property of negative imaginary frequency response, we characterize stability of the string by a dc gain condition that can be expressed as a continued fraction with verifiable convergence properties. Through analysis of the convergence of the continued fraction, we establish stability results for the string with various coupling gains and patterns. The derived results are applied to locally decentralized control of large vehicle platoons, possibly with heterogenous neighboring coupling.
Segmentation and tracking of video objects: suited to content-based video indexing, interactive television and production systems

This paper examines the problem of segmentation and tracking of video objects for a content-based information retrieval context. Our method starts first with an interactive video object selection, then alternately tracks and fits the object of interest as long as possible. A user-based selection is required in order to initialize the process, whereas an active contour model progressively refines the selection by fitting the natural edges of the object. The video object is thus tracked by using a hybrid structure combining a hierarchical mesh for the motion estimation between two frames and a multi-resolution active contour model. This contour model is derived directly from the mesh boundaries in order to reposition the snake's nodes onto the natural edges of the object.