Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Randomized Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Slow- and Moderate-Release Polymer-Based Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents for Coronary Artery Lesions

Background—Early clinical studies demonstrated the feasibility of local paclitaxel delivery in reducing restenosis after treatment of de novo coronary lesions in small patient populations. Methods and Results—We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of 536 patients at 38 medical centers evaluating slow-release (SR) and moderate-release (MR) formulations of a polymer-based paclitaxel-eluting stent (TAXUS) for revascularization of single, primary lesions in native coronary arteries. Cohort I compared TAXUS-SR with control stents, and Cohort II compared TAXUS-MR with a second control group. The primary end point was 6-month percent in-stent net volume obstruction measured by intravascular ultrasound. Secondary end points were 6-month angiographic restenosis and 6- and 12-month incidence of major adverse cardiac events, a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization. At 6 months, percent net volume obstruction within the stent was significantly lower for TAXUS stents (7.9% SR and 7.8% MR) than for respective controls (23.2% and 20.5%; P <0.0001 for both). This corresponded with a reduction in angiographic restenosis from 17.9% to 2.3% in the SR cohort (P <0.0001) and from 20.2% to 4.7% in the MR cohort (P =0.0002). The incidence of major adverse cardiac events at 12 months was significantly lower (P =0.0192) in the TAXUS-SR (10.9%) and TAXUS-MR (9.9%) groups than in controls (22.0% and 21.4%, respectively), predominantly because of a significant reduction in repeat revascularization of the target lesion in TAXUS-treated patients. Conclusions—Compared with a bare metal stent, paclitaxel-eluting stents reduced in-stent neointimal formation and restenosis and improved 12-month clinical outcome of patients with single de novo coronary lesions.
Evaluation of the Broad-Range PCR/ESI-MS Technology in Blood Specimens for the Molecular Diagnosis of Bloodstream Infections

Background Rapid identification of the etiological agent in bloodstream infections is of vital importance for the early administration of the most appropriate antibiotic therapy. Molecular methods may offer an advantage to current culture-based microbiological diagnosis. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of IRIDICA, a platform based on universal genetic amplification followed by mass spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS) for the molecular diagnosis of sepsis-related pathogens directly from the patient’s blood. Methods A total of 410 whole blood specimens from patients admitted to Emergency Room (ER) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with clinical suspicion of sepsis were tested with the IRIDICA BAC BSI Assay (broad identification of bacteria and Candida spp.). Microorganisms grown in culture and detected by IRIDICA were compared considering blood culture as gold standard. When discrepancies were found, clinical records and results from other cultures were taken into consideration (clinical infection criterion). Results The overall positive and negative agreement of IRIDICA with blood culture in the analysis by specimen was 74.8% and 78.6%, respectively, rising to 76.9% and 87.2% respectively, when compared with the clinical infection criterion. Interestingly, IRIDICA detected 41 clinically significant microorganisms missed by culture, most of them from patients under antimicrobial treatment. Of special interest were the detections of one Mycoplasma hominis and two Mycobacterium simiae in immunocompromised patients. When ICU patients were analyzed separately, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values compared with blood culture were 83.3%, 78.6%, 33.9% and 97.3% respectively, and 90.5%, 87.2%, 64.4% and 97.3% respectively, in comparison with the clinical infection criterion. Conclusions IRIDICA is a promising technology that offers an early and reliable identification of a wide variety of pathogens directly from the patient’s blood within 6h, which brings the opportunity to improve management of septic patients, especially for those critically ill admitted to the ICU.
Mobile robot localization based on an inaccurate map

Proposes a method of global localization on a map with large uncertainty. Since the pose of a mobile robot represented in a global frame of reference might be inconsistent on an inaccurate map, the method represents the robot pose in a local frame attached to a landmark. When the robot finds a new landmark, the robot transforms its pose from the old landmark frame to the new one based on the relative pose between the landmarks. Map errors are represented by probability density functions defined on these relative poses. The paper presents an extension of Markov localization which is augmented so as to incorporate the map errors into data fusion process, and shows experimental results.
The ‘nanobig rod’ class of gold nanorods: optimized dimensions for improved in vivo therapeutic and imaging efficacy

Currently, gold nanorods can be synthesized in a wide range of sizes. However, for the intended biological applications gold nanorods with approximate dimensions 50 nm × 15 nm are used. We investigate by computer simulation the effect of particle dimensions on the optical and thermal properties in the context of the specific applications of photoacoustic imaging. In addition we discuss the influence of particle size in overcoming the following biophysical barriers when administrated in vivo: extravasation, avoidance of uptake by organs of the reticuloendothelial system, penetration through the interstitium, binding capability and uptake by the target cells. Although more complex biological influences can be introduced in future analysis, the present work illustrates that larger gold nanorods, designated by us as ‘nanobig rods’, may perform better at meeting the requirements for successful in vivo applications compared to their smaller counterparts, which are conventionally used.
Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in endocervical specimens by polymerase chain reaction

A rapid and sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in cervical specimens is described. This assay consists of (i) sample preparation which avoids the use of heat, centrifugation, or organic extractions; (ii) rapid, two-temperature PCR amplification of C. trachomatis cryptic plasmid sequences; and (iii) capture and colorimetric detection of amplified DNA in microwell plates. PCR was compared with culture by using 503 cervical specimens. After resolution of discrepant specimens with a confirmatory PCR assay directed against the chlamydial major outer membrane protein gene, PCR had a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 99.7% while culture had a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 100%. In a separate study, PCR was compared with a direct specimen enzyme immunoassay (Chlamydiazyme; Abbott Diagnostics) by using 375 cervical specimens. After resolution of discrepant specimens, PCR had a sensitivity and specificity of 100%, while the enzyme immunoassay had a sensitivity of 58.8% and a specificity of 100%.
Human resource practices, job embeddedness and intention to quit

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the whether job embeddedness is a mediator of the relationship between human resource practices and employees’ intention to quit. The study presented here used job embeddedness, a new construct, to investigate its mediation effect on the relationship between employees’ intentions to leave and four areas of human resource practices: compensation, supervisor support, growth opportunity and training.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was given to employees at a state department of corrections asking their attitudes about their job, their place of employment, and the agency as a whole. The results of this questionnaire were analyzed utilizing the four‐step method for mediation analysis.Findings – Job embeddedness fully mediated compensation and growth opportunity, partially mediated supervisor support, and did not mediate training in relation to employees’ intention to quit. Research limitations/implications –A self‐reported, cross‐sectional questionna.
SVM and SVM Ensembles in Breast Cancer Prediction

Breast cancer is an all too common disease in women, making how to effectively predict it an active research problem. A number of statistical and machine learning techniques have been employed to develop various breast cancer prediction models. Among them, support vector machines (SVM) have been shown to outperform many related techniques. To construct the SVM classifier, it is first necessary to decide the kernel function, and different kernel functions can result in different prediction performance. However, there have been very few studies focused on examining the prediction performances of SVM based on different kernel functions. Moreover, it is unknown whether SVM classifier ensembles which have been proposed to improve the performance of single classifiers can outperform single SVM classifiers in terms of breast cancer prediction. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to fully assess the prediction performance of SVM and SVM ensembles over small and large scale breast cancer datasets. The classification accuracy, ROC, F-measure, and computational times of training SVM and SVM ensembles are compared. The experimental results show that linear kernel based SVM ensembles based on the bagging method and RBF kernel based SVM ensembles with the boosting method can be the better choices for a small scale dataset, where feature selection should be performed in the data pre-processing stage. For a large scale dataset, RBF kernel based SVM ensembles based on boosting perform better than the other classifiers.
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype does not affect tuberculosis treatment failure in Vietnam.

BACKGROUND Studies have suggested that the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype causes more severe clinical disease and higher treatment failure rates with standard regimens, possibly in association with an increased risk of acquiring drug resistance. We studied the effect of genotype on treatment failure in a rural area in Vietnam where multidrug resistance is strongly associated with the Beijing genotype. METHODS In a population-based prospective cohort study, patients with smear-positive tuberculosis were tested before and after treatment by spoligotyping and drug susceptibility analysis. Reinfections were excluded by DNA fingerprinting. The outcome was treatment failure based on culture. RESULTS Of 1106 patients eligible for analysis, 33 experienced treatment failure (3.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1%-4.1%). The proportion of failure was 5.3% (95% CI, 0.3%-7.9%) among 380 patients with Beijing genotype infections. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis strongly predicted failure (odds ratio [OR], 114; 95% CI, 30-430). After adjusting for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, treatment failure was not associated with the Beijing genotype (adjusted OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.3-2.0). Amplification of drug resistance occurred in 3 patients (0.3%; 95% CI, 0.1%-0.7%) and was associated with multidrug resistance at baseline (P = .004) but not with the Beijing genotype. No multidrug resistance was created. CONCLUSION The Beijing genotype was not associated with treatment failure in Vietnam; apparent associations were explained by the strong association of this genotype with multidrug resistance. Amplification of resistance in this patient population was rare.
Design of an Agent for Answering Back in Smart Phones

The objective of the paper is to design an agent which provides efficient response to the caller when a call goes unanswered in smartphones. The agent provides responses through text messages, email etc stating the most likely reason as to why the callee is unable to answer a call. Responses are composed taking into consideration the importance of the present call and the situation the callee is in at the moment like driving, sleeping, at work etc. The agent makes decisons in the compostion of response messages based on the patterns it has come across in the learning environment. Initially the user helps the agent to compose response messages. The agent associates this message to the percept it recieves with respect to the environment the callee is in. The user may thereafter either choose to make to response system automatic or choose to recieve suggestions from the agent for responses messages and confirm what is to be sent to the caller.
Evidence for word length coding during visual word recognition

In a masked priming procedure manipulating orthographic neighbourhood size, the priming word activates a number of word candidates of which the target could be one. Whether the target is one of the candidates or not determines how quickly it is recognised. However, the efficiency of lexical processing may be markedly less if all possible candidates are activated. One solution to this problem is if the visual system uses prime length information to reduce the number of candidates to a more manageable amount. Here, we investigated in two masked priming experiments whether prime length and orthographic information combine to facilitate target word recognition. In Experiment 1, we showed that the efficiency of visual word recognition is not influenced by the length of primes alone. However, when combined with orthographically related primes, word length coding is preserved. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether length priming affects recognition of short and long words differently. Results showed that only short words benefit from a same-length orthographically related prime, and that the priming effect does not generalise to longer words. These results suggest that the length of a word is not an essential feature in lexical processing, but that it can facilitate recognition by constraining the activation of orthographically related words.
Characterization of microsatellite loci in the lesser dawn bat (Eonycteris spelaea)

We constructed a genomic DNA library enriched for CA repeat motifs in Eonycteris spelaea. Nine microsatellite loci were isolated and tested on a population of 39 samples from Yunnan Province, China. These nine loci had three to 22 alleles per locus. Observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0.079 to 0.963 and from 0.078 to 0.959. Two loci revealed significant departure from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and no linkage disequilibrium was found between loci pairs. These microsatellites can be a powerful molecular tool for population‐level studies of E. spelaea.
An educational institution's quest for service quality: customers’ perspective

Purpose – The purpose of the current study is to assess some of the self‐reported factors that students in the study used as choice criteria in making their school selection.Design/methodology/approach – The results of this study were obtained by conducting a series of focus groups involving incoming freshmen at a small liberal arts university located in the south eastern part of the USA. The focus groups were conducted to obtain insight into the factors that led this particular group of freshmen to the school and, second, to determine what areas were not living up to their expectations. The authors later surveyed a large sample (450 students) of the incoming freshman class using a questionnaire that was developed from the input obtained during the focus groups.Findings – Analysis of gap scores for the student population used in this study indicates that the current group does not consider their university a “quality” institution. Additionally, the importance‐performance grid (I‐P grid) points towards a l.
Making a Place for Politics

JEFFREY F. MEYER, Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washington, D.C. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001, xi + 343 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index, $35.00 cloth. CHARLES T. GOODSELL, The American Statehouse: Interpreting Democracy’s Temples. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001, xii + 226 pp., illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, index, $35.00 cloth.
Participants′ Frustrations in Fast‐track Development Programmes

To enhance the development of individuals for executive positions, fast‐track management development programmes have been adopted by many organisations. However, such programmes do not always lead to positive consequences for the participant. The purpose of the present research was to investigate the frustrations of participants in an entry‐level fast‐track programme. Results of the study suggest several important lessons for those responsible for fast‐track programmes. First, participants′ major frustrations involved issues regarding ongoing career guidance, future job assignment uncertainty, and the degree of challenge, responsibility, and variety inherent in their job assignments. Second, participants are likely to have high expectations for themselves and their careers which must be considered. Third, company executives and programme supervisors may misjudge the frustrations of participants; therefore, monitoring such frustrations is important.
Model-based robotic dynamic motion control for the Robonaut 2 humanoid robot

Robonaut 2 (R2), an upper-body dexterous humanoid robot, has been undergoing experimental trials on board the International Space Station (ISS) for more than a year. R2 will soon be upgraded with two climbing appendages, or legs, as well as a new integrated model-based control system. This control system satisfies two important requirements; first, that the robot can allow humans to enter its workspace during operation and second, that the robot can move its large inertia with enough precision to attach to handrails and seat track while climbing around the ISS. This is achieved by a novel control architecture that features a joint-level embedded impedance control law which is tightly interfaced with a kinematic and dynamic coordinated control system that resides on centralized processors. This paper presents the integrated control algorithm as well as several test results that illustrate R2's safety features and performance.
Prevalence of distorted body image in young Koreans and its association with age, sex, body weight status, and disordered eating behaviors

Purpose To define the prevalence of distorted body image in 10–24-year-old Koreans and determine its relationship with sex, age, body weight status, and disordered eating behaviors. Methods A total of 3,227 young Koreans were recruited from elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as from universities. The participants completed a self-reported questionnaire on body image, eating behaviors (Eating Attitude Test-26), and body weight status. Results The prevalence of a distorted body image in males was 49.7% and that in females was 51.2%. Distorted body image was more frequent in adolescents (age, 10–17 years) than in young adults (age, 18–24 years). The highest prevalence (55.3%) was reported in female elementary school students (age, 10–12 years). Distorted body image was associated with disordered eating behaviors and abnormal body weight status. Conclusion These results suggest that distorted body image is a public health problem, given its high frequency in young Koreans, and that it is associated with abnormal body weight status and disordered eating behaviors.
The importance of latent benefits and meaningful leisure activity in predicting quality of life in Australian retirees

It is important to understand the factors that can contribute to quality of life in retirees. Accessing latent benefits, which are generally associated with paid employment, has been shown to increase quality of life. It is proposed that meaningful leisure may act as a substitute for paid employment in retirees. A sample of 123 male and female participants living in 8 different retirement villages in Queensland, Australia, were assessed using the Latent and Manifest Benefits Scale, the World Health Organisation Quality of Life scale and the Meaningful Leisure Activity Questionnaire to examine the role of meaningful leisure activity on access to latent benefits and perceived quality of life. Results showed that during retirement, access to the five latent benefits of time structure, shared experiences, identity, collective purpose and enforced activity is positively related to quality of life. Results demonstrated that only collective purpose mediated the relationship between meaningful leisure and quality of life. Further, meaningful leisure was positively related to quality of life. The implications of these results are discussed.
Integration of Handover in a Cross-Layer Mechanism for Mobile Multimedia Systems

A cross-layer mechanism for the performance improvement of real-time applications over IEEE 802.16e networks is proposed. The mechanism coordinates i) adaptation capabilities at different layers of the protocol stack, and ii) the handover initiation procedure. It uses information from the Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers to determine the appropriate burst profile, transmission power level and media encoding rate for a connection, or initialize a handover. The main contribution of this mechanism is the integration of the handover initiation into an existing cross-layer logic mechanism to improve the overall system performance. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed design achieves significantly improved performance in terms of packet loss rate, power consumption, and throughput, as well as an increased system capacity.
Neuropathology in Drosophila Mutants With Increased Seizure Susceptibility

Genetic factors are known to contribute to seizure susceptibility, although the long-term effects of these predisposing factors on neuronal viability remain unclear. To examine the consequences of genetic factors conferring increased seizure susceptibility, we surveyed a class of Drosophila mutants that exhibit seizures and paralysis following mechanical stimulation. These bang-sensitive seizure mutants exhibit shortened life spans and age-dependent neurodegeneration. Because the increased seizure susceptibility in these mutants likely results from altered metabolism and since the Na+/K+ ATPase consumes the majority of ATP in neurons, we examined the effect of ATPα mutations in combination with bang-sensitive mutations. We found that double mutants exhibit strikingly reduced life spans and age-dependent uncoordination and inactivity. These results emphasize the importance of proper cellular metabolism in maintaining both the activity and viability of neurons.
Integrating agile methods for mixed reality design space exploration

Mixed reality - the close coupling of real world objects with computer generated information and functionality - has high potential for the creation of usable user interfaces. The implementation of practical applications that exploit these benefits requires an exploratory design approach to handle the interaction of application content with newly developed interaction techniques and complex hardware. In this paper we describe how agile methods from software engineering can be integrated with usability engineering and mixed reality development techniques to enable effective design space exploration. The approach was employed in the development of the Augmented Paper Map (APM) project in which conventional paper maps are enhanced with mixed reality functionality. Experiences with the method and future enhancements and modifications of the approach are discussed.