Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between baseline haemoglobin and major bleeding complications in acute coronary syndromes.

AIMS In patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), the negative impact of baseline haemoglobin levels on ischaemic events, particularly death, is well established, but the association with bleeding risk is less well studied. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of baseline haemoglobin levels on major bleeding complications. METHODS AND RESULTS Pooled analysis of OASIS 5 and 6 data involving 32 170 patients with ACS with and without ST-segment elevation was performed. The association between baseline haemoglobin and major bleeding or ischaemic events was examined using multiple regression model. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES were 30-day rates of major bleeding, death, and death/myocardial infarction (MI) analysed according to baseline haemoglobin levels. Baseline haemoglobin level independently predicted the risk of overall, procedure-related, and non-procedure-related major bleedings at 30 days [odds ratio (OR) 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98; OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.99; and OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.95, respectively, per 1 g/dL haemoglobin increment above 10 g/dL]. In addition, a curvilinear relationship between baseline haemoglobin levels and death at 30 days was observed with a 6% decrease in the risk for every 1 g/dL haemoglobin increment above 10 g/dL up to 15.9 g/dL (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98) and a 19% increase above this value (OR 1.19, 95% CI, 0.98-1.43). A similar relationship for the composite outcome of death/MI was observed. CONCLUSION A low baseline haemoglobin level is an independent predictor of the risk of major bleeding in ACS as well as of the risk of death and death and MI. Among other predictors of bleeding risk, baseline haemoglobin should be taken into account in patients presenting with ACS. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00139815. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00139815? term=NCT00139815&rank=1.
Multiple ATM-dependent pathways: an explanation for pleiotropy.

Ataxia-telangiectasia (AT), a rare autosomal recessive human genetic disorder, is a syndrome remarkable for its pleiotropic phenotype. The hallmark features of AT are degenerative neurological function, particularly in the cerebellum, and oculocutaneous telangiectasias. These features are often accompanied by immunodeficiency, infertility, small size, sensitivity to the effects of ionizing radiation (IR), and increased predisposition to cancer. Cell lines derived from patients with AT also display characteristic abnormalities, including poor growth, premature senescence, sensitivity to IR, and failure to establish effective cell-cycle arrest after genotoxic insult.
Applying Ontology Based Vector Space Model to Web 2.0

In social network the aggregation of RSS feeds leads to the syndication of users. Effective user oriented information retrieval can help decentralized users construct more effective social relations. In this paper the proposed ontology based vector space model (O-VSM) is applied to social network. It provides a novel approach for user-oriented information retrieval. RSS feeds are used as distributed information sources to illustrate how O-VSM works. RSS feeds are regarded as a set of knowledge fragments of decentralized users. In O-VSM, ontology can be expressed in graph and the semantic correlation of terms can be measured via the ontology graph. Under the support of the ontology, knowledge fragments can be transformed into local feature vectors that compose the ontology based vector space. In order to eliminate inherent semantic ambiguity and uncertainty, fuzzy inference is used to transform local feature vectors into global feature vectors in a uniform metric space.
Does Access Matter? Time in General Education and Achievement for Students With Disabilities

This study examined the relationship between hours in general education and achievement in reading and mathematics for students with disabilities. The study population included more than 1,300 students between the ages of 6 and 9 years old within 180 school districts. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized with the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) data set (Institute of Education Sciences). The relationship between hours in general education and achievement in reading and mathematics was explored while accounting for student- and district-level factors. Results suggest a strong positive relationship between the number of hours students spent in general education and achievement in mathematics and reading. Implications for policy and practice in special education are presented and discussed.
Frequency of Class 1 Integron in Escherichia Coli Strains Isolated from Patients with Urinary Tract Infections in North of Iran

Background: Due to the importance of antibiotic resistance in E.coli and the possible role of integrons in creating of resistance, this study was performed to survey of class 1 integron in E. coli strains and their resistance to three routinely used antibiotics. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 100 strains of E. coli were isolated from patients with Urinary tract infection. After diagnosis of bacteria, genomes were extracted. Then, presence of integron class 1 was evaluated by using PCR. Antibiotic susceptibility testing method, the micro dilution broth was performed according to the standard CLSI2010. Data were analyzed using SPSS16 software. Result: Out of the total number of 100 E. coli cases, 22 cases (22%) had class 1 integron. Resistance against cotrimoxazol, cefixime and ciprofloxacin antibiotics were 67%, 34% and 34% respectively. In 22 E. coli cases positive for integron class1 gene, resistance against three antibiotics were 100%, 95.45% and 90.90% respectively, which is statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Resistance level against antibiotics in samples containing class 1 integron were significantly higher than those lacking this gene, which may be confirm the present of class 1 integron in creation of clinical strains with resistance to this antibiotics. Using suitable antibiotics may be preventing transmission of resistance genes through integrons.
Modèles de sélection pour données longitudinales gaussiennes : application à l'étude du vieillissement cognitif

Cet article concerne les methodes d'analyse de donnees longitudinales gaussiennes lorsque la variable reponse est observee de facon incomplete. Si la probabilite d'observation de la variable reponse ne depend que des valeurs des reponses observees aux temps precedents et eventuellement de covariables, les donnees manquantes sont ignorables et la methode du maximum de vraisemblance fournit des estimateurs asymptotiquement non biaises. Nous montrons cependant sur un exemple que l'estimateur empirique de la moyenne est biaise. Si la probabilite d'observation depend des valeurs non observees de la variable reponse, une approche frequente consiste a modeliser conjointement la reponse et la probabilite d'observation en utilisant un modele de selection. L'objectif de cet article est de presenter les deux categories de modele de selection en insistant sur les hypotheses sous-jacentes. L'utilisation et les limites d'un modele variable-reponse dependant et d'un modele effets-aleatoires dependant sont illustrees sur une etude de la deterioration cognitive du sujet âge. Le premier modele apparait beaucoup plus sensible au choix des variables d'ajustement que le second. Malgre leurs faiblesses, ces modeles sont utiles pour evaluer la sensibilite des estimations a differentes hypotheses concernant le processus d'observation.
SCHEDULING IN MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS USING THE ANT COLONIES OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

This paper introduces a new approach for decentralized scheduling in a parallel machine environment based on the ant colonies optimization algorithm. The algorithm extends the use of the traveling salesman problem for scheduling in one single machine, to a multiple machine problem. The results are presented using simple and illustrative examples, and show that the algorithm is able to optimize the different scheduling problems. Using the same parameters, the completion time of the tasks is minimized and the processing time of the parallel machines is balanced. Copyright c ©Controlo’2002
Growth-guided shape recovery

A central problem in computer vision is to detect, delineate (segment) and recognize objects in an image. One reason why this is difficult is that very little information specific to given types of objects is used during segmentation. Making use of information about an object's shape -- in particular, about how it grows -- should facilitate and improve the segmentation of that object. We introduce a 2D discrete growth model for shapes on a Cartesian grid, based on notions related to biological growth. By growth is meant an accretionary process occurring at the boundary of the shape. We introduce a new type of deterministic growth model based on the notion of time delay. Associating a delay with each direction defines a time delay kernel (TDK); such kernels produce classes of convex octagons, and sequences of TDKs can give rise to arbitrary convex polygons. We show that growth in a stochastic environment of facilitators and inhibitors, which decrease or increase the time delays respectively, is a plausible analog for biological growth processes. As an example, we present results which suggest that simple periodic growth processes in an environment describe the gross morphology of multiple sclerosis lesions at the scale afforded by magnetic resonance images.
Television Images and Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After September 11: The Role of Background Characteristics, Event Exposures, and Perievent Panic

Television viewing has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms after disasters and traumas; we examined characteristics that may explain this association among New Yorkers after September 11, 2001. Among 2001 respondents to a random-digit dial telephone survey conducted 4 months after September 11, people who viewed more television images in the 7 days after September 11 had more probable PTSD. People in the highest third of viewing had a 2.32 times greater odds of probable PTSD after September 11 compared with people in the lowest third of viewing; after adjustment for explanatory variables, the relative odds of probable PTSD were 1.66. Adjustment for perievent panic accounted for 44% of the reduction in association between television and probable PTSD, suggesting that perievent emotional reactions may play an important role in the television and psychopathology association. Television may merit consideration as a potential exposure to a traumatic event.
Multimode Hybrid Geometric Calibration of Spaceborne SAR Considering Atmospheric Propagation Delay

The atmospheric propagation delay of radar signals is a systematic error that occurs in the atmospheric environment, and is a key issue in the high-precision geometric calibration of spaceborne SAR. A multimode hybrid geometric calibration method for spaceborne SAR that considers the atmospheric propagation delay is proposed in this paper. Error sources that affect the accuracy of the geometric calibration were systematically analyzed. Based on correction of the atmospheric propagation delay, a geometric calibration model for spaceborne SAR was established. The high precision geometric calibration scheme for spaceborne SAR was explored by considering the pulse-width and bandwidth of the signal. A series of experiments were carried out based on high-resolution Yaogan 13 (YG-13) SAR satellite data and ground control data. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method is effective. The plane positioning accuracy of YG-13 in stripmap mode without control points is better than 3 m, and the accuracy of the sliding spotlight mode is better than 1.5 m.
Treatment Modalities of Obesity

The prevalence of obesity is increasing in both developed and developing countries, with rates reaching ∼10–35% among adults in the Euro-American region. Obesity is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and some type of cancers. Obesity significantly affects the quality of life and reduces the average life expectancy. The effective treatment of obesity should address both the medical and the social burden of this disease. Obesity needs to be treated within the health care system as any other complex disease, with empathy and without prejudice. Both health care providers and patients should know that the obesity treatment is a lifelong task. They should also set realistic goals before starting the treatment, whereas keeping in mind that even a modest weight loss of 5–15% significantly reduces obesity-related health risks. Essential treatment of obesity includes low-calorie low-fat diets, increased physical activity, and strategies contributing to the modification of lifestyle. Anti-obesity drugs facilitate weight loss and contribute to further amelioration of obesity-related health risks. A short-term weight loss, up to 6 months, is usually achieved easily. However, the long-term weight management is often associated with a lack of compliance, failures, and a high dropout rate. Regular physical activity, cognitive behavioral modification of lifestyle, and administration of anti-obesity drugs improve weight loss maintenance. Bariatric surgery is an effective strategy to treat severely obese patients. Bariatric surgery leads to a substantial improvement of comorbidities as well as to a reduction in overall mortality by 25–50% during the long-term follow-up. Obesity treatment should be individually tailored and the following factors should be taken into account: sex, the degree of obesity, individual health risks, psychobehavioral and metabolic characteristics, and the outcome of previous weight loss attempts. In the future, an evaluation of hormonal and genetic determinants of weight loss could also contribute to a better choice of individual therapy for a particular obese patient. A multilevel obesity management network of mutually collaborating facilities should be established to provide individually tailored treatment. Centers of excellence in obesity management represented by multidisciplinary teams should provide comprehensive programs for the treatment of obesity derived from evidence-based medicine.
Janus-Faced Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Periodontitis

Periodontitis is characterized by PMN infiltration and formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). However, their functional role for periodontal health remains complex and partially understood. The main function of NETs appears to be evacuation of dental plaque pathogen-associated molecular patterns. The inability to produce NETs is concomitant with aggressive periodontitis. But in cases with exaggerated NET production, NETs are unable to maintain periodontal health and bystander damages occur. This pathology can be also demonstrated in animal models using lipopolysaccharide as PMN activator. The progress of periodontitis appears to be a consequence of the formation of gingival pockets obstructing the evacuation of both pathogen-associated and damage-associated molecular patterns, which are responsible for the self-perpetuation of inflammation. Thus, besides the pathogenic effects of the periodontal bacteria, the dysregulation of PMN activation appears to play a main role in the periodontal pathology. Consequently, modulation of PMN activation might be a useful approach to periodontal therapy.
Putting accent in its place: Rethinking obstacles to communication

One of the most salient aspects of speech is accent – either dialectal differences attributable to region or class, or phonological variations resulting from L1 influence on the L2. Our primary concern is with the latter, because of the strong social, psychological, and communicative consequences of speaking with an L2 accent. The decline of audiolingualism led to a concomitant marginalization of pronunciation research and teaching. It was believed that pronunciation instruction could not be effective, in part because of the unrealistic goal of native-like speech in L2 learners, and also because of research findings that suggested that instruction had a negligible impact on oral production. The recent revival of interest in pronunciation research has brought a change of focus away from native-like models toward easy intelligibility. The effects of this change have yet to be fully realized in L2 classrooms. However, many L2 students themselves are keenly interested in pronunciation instruction, a fact not lost on individuals who have recognized a lucrative marketing niche in ‘accent reduction/elimination’ programs that may do more harm than good. Our presentation will relate the core issues of intelligibility, identity, social evaluation, and discrimination to appropriate pronunciation pedagogy for L2 learners.
Model checking user interfaces

User interfaces are crucial for the success of most software projects. As software grows in complexity there is a similar growth in the user interface complexity which leads to bugs which may be difficult to find by means of testing. In this paper we use the method of automated model checking to verify user interfaces with respect to a formal specification. We present an algorithm for the automated abstraction of the user interface model of a given system, which uses asynchronous and interleaving composition of a number of programs. This technique was successful at verifying the user interface of case study and brings us one step forward towards push button verification.
Skin-Derived Dendritic Cells Can Mediate Deletional Tolerance of Class I-Restricted Self-Reactive T Cells1

Skin-draining lymph nodes contain a number of dendritic cell (DC) subsets of different origins. Some of these are migratory, such as the skin-derived epidermal Langerhans cells and a separate dermal DC subset, whereas others are lymphoid resident in nature, such as the CD8+ DCs found throughout the lymphoid tissues. In this study, we examine the DC subset presentation of skin-derived self-Ag by migratory and lymphoid-resident DCs, both in the steady state and under conditions of local skin infection. We show that presentation of self-Ag is confined to skin-derived migrating DCs in both settings. Steady state presentation resulted in deletional T cell tolerance despite these DCs expressing a relatively mature phenotype as measured by traditional markers such as the level of MHC class II and CD86 expression. Thus, self-Ag can be carried to the draining lymph nodes by skin-derived DCs and there presented by these same cells for tolerization of the circulating T cell pool.
Factors influencing intracranial pressure monitoring guideline compliance and outcome after severe traumatic brain injury*

Objective:To determine adherence to Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines for intracranial pressure monitoring after severe traumatic brain injury, to investigate if characteristics of patients treated according to guidelines (ICP+) differ from those who were not (ICP-), and whether guideline compliance is related to 6-month outcome. Design:Observational multicenter study. Patients:Consecutive severe traumatic brain injury patients (≥16 yrs, n = 265) meeting criteria for intracranial pressure monitoring. Measurements and Main Results:Data on demographics, injury severity, computed tomography findings, and patient management were registered. The Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended was dichotomized into death (Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended = 1) and unfavorable outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended 1–4). Guideline compliance was 46%. Differences between the monitored and nonmonitored patients included a younger age (median 44 vs. 53 yrs), more abnormal pupillary reactions (52% vs. 32%), and more intracranial pathology (subarachnoid hemorrhage 62% vs. 44%; intraparenchymal lesions 65% vs. 46%) in the ICP+ group. Patients with a total intracranial lesion volume of ~150 mL and a midline shift of ~12 mm were most likely to receive an intracranial pressure monitor and probabilities decreased with smaller and larger lesions and shifts. Furthermore, compliance was low in patients with no (Traumatic Coma Databank score I −10%) visible intracranial pathology. Differences in case-mix resulted in higher a priori probabilities of dying (median 0.51 vs. 0.35, p < .001) and unfavorable outcome (median 0.79 vs. 0.63, p < .001) in the ICP+ group. After correction for baseline and clinical characteristics with a propensity score, intracranial pressure monitoring guideline compliance was not associated with mortality (odds ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.47–1.85, p = .83) nor with unfavorable outcome (odds ratio 1.81, 95% confidence interval 0.88–3.73, p = .11). Conclusions:Guideline noncompliance was most prominent in patients with minor or very large computed tomography abnormalities. Intracranial pressure monitoring was not associated with 6-month outcome, but multiple baseline differences between monitored and nonmonitored patients underline the complex nature of examining the effect of intracranial pressure monitoring in observational studies.
Particle Filter with Hybrid Proposal Distribution for Nonlinear State Estimation

Particle filters have been widely used in solving nonlinear filtering problems. Proposal Distribution design is a key issue for these methods and has vital effect on simulation results. Various proposal distributions have been proposed to improve the performance of particle filters, but practical situations have promoted the researchers to design better candidate for proposal distributions in order to gain better performance. This paper proposes a hybrid proposal distribution designed for particle filtering framework. The algorithm uses hybrid Kalman filter to generate the proposal distribution, which make efficient use of the latest observations and generate more closed approximation of the posterior probability density. The yielded algorithm is named as hybrid Kalman particle filter. In the experiments, we use a scalar estimation model and a real world application problem to evaluate the new algorithm. The experimental results show that the new algorithm outperforms other algorithms with different proposal distributions. In order to reduce the time consumption of the new algorithm, we propose an improvement strategy, namely partition-conquer strategy, in which the particles are partitioned into two parts, with one part drawn from the hybrid Kalman filter, another part from the transition prior. The validity of the strategy is verified through an experiment.
Teacher Participation in School Decision Making: Assessing Willingness to Participate

Increasing teacher involvement in school decision making ranks among the most promising educational reform strategies. Yet empirical data about the conditions under which teachers will actually participate, if given the opportunity, are quite limited. This article explores the organizational and psychological antecedents to teachers’ willingness to participate in personnel, curriculum and instruction, staff development, and general administrative decisions. Findings reveal that teachers vary in their willingness to participate in different decisions and that teacher-principal working relationships exert the greatest significant influence on willingness to participate across decision areas. Findings also suggest that willingness to participate may turn on reconciling competing professional beliefs and working relationships.