Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient preferences for antiretroviral therapy: effectiveness, quality of life, access and novel delivery methods

Objective The objective of this study was to understand patient preferences for contemporary antiretroviral therapy (ART) by focusing on three areas that have been understudied: minority patients (racial/ethnic and sexual minorities), experience with novel single-tablet regimens made available in the last 10 years, and patient concerns related to ART. The rationale was that identifying ART characteristics that are most desirable could inform provider prescribing practices, increase the use of patient-centered ART, maximize durability and ART adherence, and ultimately improve HIV outcomes, such as viral suppression and AIDS-related comorbidities. Methods We recruited English- and Spanish-speaking persons living with HIV (PLWH) who were ≥19 years of age or older and had initiated ART after January 1, 2006, until saturation was reached (n=28). We excluded patients who had started on ART more than 10 years earlier, in order to ensure responses were relevant to more contemporary ART regimens. We recruited racial/ethnic and sexual minorities, including men who have sex with men and transgender participants, to reflect the current HIV epidemic. Nominal group technique was used to identify and prioritize preferences and concerns. Multi-voting analysis was used to quantify responses from most important (5 points) to least important (1 point). Results For 28 diverse participants, clinical outcomes (162 points) and quality of life (120 points) were preferred. Hispanic participants were more concerned about accessibility than non-Hispanic (3.8 vs 1.9 average points/participant). Discussion HIV-infected persons prioritize access, clinical outcomes, and quality of life when considering contemporary ART treatment. Providers, insurers and policy makers should incorporate these preferences when making decisions about ART.
Complexity of Domination-Type Problems in Graphs

Many graph parameters are the optimal value of an objective function over selected subsets S of vertices with some constraint on how many selected neighbors vertices in S, and vertices not in S, can have. Classic examples are minimum dominating set and maximum independent set. We give a characterization of these graph parameters that unifies their definitions, facilitates their common algorithmic treatment and allows for their uniform complexity classification. This characterization provides the basis for a taxonomy of domination-type and independence-type problems. We investigate the computational complexity of problems within this taxonomy, identify classes of NP-complete problems and classes of problems solvable in polynomial time.
Bootstrapping Parallel Corpora

We present two methods for the automatic creation of parallel corpora. Whereas previous work into the automatic construction of parallel corpora has focused on harvesting them from the web, we examine the use of existing parallel corpora to bootstrap data for new language pairs. First, we extend existing parallel corpora using co-training, wherein machine translations are selectively added to training corpora with multiple source texts. Retraining translation models yields modest improvements. Second, we simulate the creation of training data for a language pair for which a parallel corpus is not available. Starting with no human translations from German to English we produce a German to English translation model with 45% accuracy using parallel corpora in other languages. This suggests the method may be useful in the creation of parallel corpora for languages with scarce resources.
Operating room nitrous oxide trace concentrations : a clinical study in ambulatory surgery

Purpose: This blinded study evaluates the N 2O concentration variations in an ambulatory surgery centre using a small, simple on-line trace gas concentration monitor (GasFinder TM [Medair AB, Delsbo, Sweden]). Scope:Thirty-seven day surgical sessions using standardised anaesthesia with propofol/fentanyl induction and sevoflurane/N 2O with larynx mask. Five of 37 time-weighted averages (TWA) were greater than 25 ppm but less than 100. Peak registered concentrations reached 2000 ppm. E C ©
Inhibitory Processes in Young Children and Individual Variation in Short-Term Memory

A precise definition of executive control remains elusive, related in part to the variations among executive tasks in the nature of the task demands, which complicate the identification of test-specific versus construct-specific performance. In this study, tasks were chosen that varied in the nature of the stimulus (verbal, nonverbal), response (naming, somatic motor), conflict type (proactive interference, distraction), and inhibitory process (attention control, response suppression) required. Then performance differences were examined in 184 young children (age range = 3 years 6 months to 6 years 1 month), comparing those with high (5 or more digits) and low (3 or fewer digits) spans to determine the dependence on short-term memory. Results indicated that there was communality in inhibitory task demands across instruments, although the specific pattern of task intercorrelations varied in children with high and low spans. Furthermore, only performance on attention control tasks—that is, that require cognitive engagement/disengagement among an internally represented rule or response set that was previously active versus those currently active—differed between children of high and low spans. In contrast, there were differences neither between children with high and low spans on response suppression tasks nor on tasks when considered by type of stimulus, response, or conflict. Individual differences in well-regulated thought may rest in variations in the ability to maintain information in an active, quickly retrievable state that subserve controlling attention in a goal-relevant fashion.
Effect of angiotensin II on adrenal and pituitary function in man.

ABSTRACT The acute effect of angiotensin II on plasma cortisol, aldosterone and immunoassayable ACTH (I-ACTH) was studied in normal subjects and in 3 patients with hypopituitarism. Angiotensin II, in a pressor dose given by constant infusion for 1 hr, increased plasma aldosterone to 28.5 ±5 (sd) ng/100 ml, while ACTH had a significantly greater effect, increasing aldosterone to 64 ±10 mean ±(sd) ng/100 ml. ACTH (0.1 μg/kg/hr, βl–24) increased cortisol 3- to 4- fold; however, angiotensin II in a subpressor dose did not increase cortisol. A pressor dose of angiotensin significantly increased I-ACTH from 27.8 ±8.8 (sd) to 60.4 ±20 (sd) pg/ml (p<0.01). A rise was noted in every angiotensin infusion despite an apparent fall in cortisol whether administered in the morning or afternoon. In contrast, a subpressor infusion (1/3 pressor dose), or a pressor infusion of angiotensin after an overnight dexamethasone dose (1 mg q 12 hr), did not increase the plasma I-ACTH. In 3 patients with pituitary insufficiency, who.
Near-infrared autofluorescence imaging of the fundus: visualization of ocular melanin.

PURPOSE To evaluate the origin of the near-infrared autofluorescence (AF) of the fundus detected by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and compare the distribution of this AF with that of lipofuscin. METHODS AF [787] fundus images (excitation [Exc.] 787 nm; emission [Emi.] >800 nm) were recorded with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, in 85 normal subjects (ages: 11-77 years) and in 25 patients with AMD and other retinal diseases. Standard AF [488] images (Exc. 488 nm; Emi. >500 nm) were recorded in a subset of the population. RESULTS The fovea exhibits higher AF[787] than the perifovea in an area approximately 8 degrees in diameter, roughly equivalent to the area of higher RPE melanin seen in AF[488] and color images. The ratio of foveal to perifoveal AF[787] decreases with age (P < 0.0001) and is higher in subjects with light irides (P = 0.04). Higher AF[787] emanates from hyperpigmentation, from the choroidal pigment (nevi, outer layers) and from the pigment epithelium and stroma of the iris. Low AF[787] is observed in geographic atrophy particularly in subjects with light irides. CONCLUSIONS AF[787] originates from the RPE and to a varying degree from the choroid. Oxidized melanin, or compounds closely associated with melanin, contributes substantially to this AF, but other fluorophores cannot be excluded at this stage. Confocal AF[787] imaging may provide a new modality to visualize pathologic features of the RPE and the choroid, and, together with AF[488] imaging, offers a new tool to study biological changes associated with aging of the RPE and pathology.
Positive and Negative Relationship between Anxiety and Depression of Patients in Pain: A Bifactor Model Analysis

Background The relationship between anxiety and depression in pain patients has not been clarified comprehensively. Previous research has identified a common factor in anxiety and depression, which may explain why depression and anxiety are strongly correlated. However, the specific clinical features of anxiety and depression seem to pull in opposite directions. Objective The purpose of this study is to develop a statistical model of depression and anxiety, based on data from pain patients using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This model should account for the positive correlation between depression and anxiety in terms of a general factor and also demonstrate a latent negative correlation between the specific factors underlying depression and anxiety. Methods The anxiety and depression symptoms of pain patients were evaluated using the HADS and the severity of their pain was assessed with the visual analogue scale (VAS). We developed a hierarchical model of the data using an IRT method called bifactor analysis. In addition, we tested this hierarchical model with model fit comparisons with unidimensional, bidimensional, and tridimensional models. The correlations among anxiety, depression, and pain severity were compared, based on both the bidimensional model and our hierarchical model. Results The bidimensional model analysis found that there was a large positive correlation between anxiety and depression (r = 0.638), and both scores were significantly positively correlated with pain severity. After extracting general factor of distress using bifactor analysis, the specific factors underlying anxiety and depression were weakly but significantly negatively correlated (r = −0.245) and only the general factor was significantly correlated with pain severity. Compared with the three first-order models, the bifactor hierarchical model had the best model fit. Conclusion Our results support the hypothesis that apart from distress, anxiety and depression are inversely correlated. This finding has not been convincingly demonstrated in previous research.
Development of TiAlCr-X coatings for TiAl based alloys

Gamma TiAl based alloys are considered as alternative materials to Ni based superalloys for applications in gas turbine engines. However, they exhibit low oxidation resistance above 700 °C. The need to develop oxidation resistant coatings for gamma-TiAl based alloys was the motivation for this project. Three TiAlCr-X coatings were studied: These were the Ti-50Al-10Cr (TiAlCr) and Ti-48Al-9Cr-4B (TiAlCrB) coatings and the Ti-48Al-9Cr-4B with Ag interlayers multilayer (TiAlCrB/Ag) coating. The coatings were deposited on Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Mn alloy and Si wafer substrates by RF sputtering using optimised deposition parameters. A pure Ag and two alloy (Ti-50Al-10Cr and Ti-48Al-9Cr-4B) targets were used for sputtering. The coatings were studied by SEM, EPMA, XRD, XPS, TEM, DSC, DTA and TG. The morphology and the microstructure of the as-deposited coatings on Si and Ti- 48Al-2Nb-2Mn substrates were the same. All the coatings exhibited dense columnar morphology with ~1 mum thick columns for the TiAlCr and TiAlCrB and coarser columns for the TiAlCrB/Ag. The TiAlCr and TiAlCrB coatings were amorphous with randomly dispersed alpha-Ti nanocrystals. In the TiAlCrB the nanocrystals were smaller ( 50nm), was noticed when the amorphous TiAlCr was heated at 550 °C, but not in the TiAlCrB after heating at 600 °C, which confirmed the enhanced stability of the TiAlCrB. The oxidation of the coatings, the substrate and target alloys was assessed by TG at 800 °C for 200 hours. The weight change per unit area and the parabolic rate constants were determined for each material. Mixed alumina and titania scales were formed on the specimens. Clusters of coarse titania crystals tended to form on the surface of the scales. Their formation was favoured by the surface roughness of the specimens. The TiAlCrB exhibited the best oxidation resistance of the three coatings, followed by the TiAlCrB/Ag and the TiAlCr.
High Level Design Space Exploration of Shared Bus Communication Architectures

System-on-Chip (SoC) designs are increasingly becoming more complex. Efficient on-chip communication architectures are critical for achieving desired performance in these systems. System designers typically use Bus Cycle Accurate (BCA) models written in high level languages such as C/C++ to explore the communication design space. These models capture all of the bus signals and strictly maintain cycle accuracy, which is useful for reliable performance exploration but results in slow simulation speeds for complex designs, even when they are modeled using high level languages. Recently there have been several efforts to use the Transaction Level Modeling (TLM) paradigm for improving simulation performance in BCA models. However these BCA models capture a lot of details that can be eliminated when exploring communication architectures. In this technical report we extend the TLM approach and propose a new and faster transaction-based modeling abstraction level (CCATB) to explore the communication design space. Our abstraction level bridges the gap between the TLM and BCA levels, and yields an average performance speedup of 55% over BCA models. We demonstrate how fast and accurate exploration of tradeoffs is possible for high-performance shared bus architectures such as AMBA 2.0 and AMBA 3.0 (AXI) in industrial strength designs at the proposed abstraction level. ∗ This research was partially supported by grants from Conexant Systems Inc. and UC MICRO (03-029).
A generalized binary probabilistic independence model

The main objective of this article is to develop a theoretical model for information retrieval. By utilizing more complete statistical information, a generalized binary probabilistic independence model is proposed. Earlier probabilistic independence models are shown to be special cases of the new model. A quadratic discriminant function is obtained, which can be reduced to the linear discriminant functions of the conventional probabilistic models.
ERA ranking representability: The missing link between ordinal regression and multi-class classification

Can a multi-class classification model in some situations be simplified to an ordinal regression model without sacrificing performance? We try to answer this question from a theoretical point of view for one-versus-one multi-class ensembles. To that end, sufficient conditions are derived for which a one-versus-one ensemble becomes ranking representable, i.e. conditions for which the ensemble can be reduced to a ranking or ordinal regression model such that a similar performance on training data is measured. As performance measure, we use the area under the ROC curve (AUC) and its reformulation in terms of graphs. For the three-class case, this results in a new type of cycle transitivity for pairwise AUCs that can be verified by solving an integer quadratic program. Moreover, solving this integer quadratic program can be avoided, since its solution converges for an infinite data sample to a simple form, resulting in a deviation bound that becomes tighter with increasing sample size.
Contextual Analysis of Mathematical Expressions for Advanced Mathematical Search

We found a way to use mathematical search to provide better navigation for reading papers on computers. Since the superficial information of mathematical expressions is ambiguous, considering not only mathematical expressions but also the texts around them is necessary. We present how to extract a natural language description, such as variable names or function definitions that refer to mathematical expressions with various experimental results. We first define an extraction task and constructed a reference dataset of 100 Japanese scientific papers by hand. We then propose the use of two methods, pattern matching and machine learning based ones for the extraction task. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is shown through experiments by using the reference set.
Estimating the Distance from Testable Affine-Invariant Properties

Let P be an affine invariant property of multivariate functions over a constant size finite field. We show that if P is locally testable with a constant number of queries, then one can estimate the distance of a function f from P with a constant number of queries. This was previously unknown even for simple properties such as cubic polynomials over the binary field. Our test is simple: take a restriction of f to a constant dimensional affine subspace, and measure its distance from P. We show that by choosing the dimension large enough, this approximates with high probability the global distance of f from P. The analysis combines the approach of Fischer and Newman [SIAM J. Comp 2007] who established a similar result for graph properties, with recently developed tools in higher order Fourier analysis, in particular those developed in Bhattacharyya et al. [STOC 2013].
Interruption of Rotavirus Spread Through Chemical Disinfection

Abstract Introduction: Rotaviruses, which are among the most important infectious causes of acute diarrhea, frequently cause outbreaks in hospitals, daycare centers, schools, and nursing homes. These viruses can remain viable on inanimate surfaces for many days and infectious rotavirus particles have been recovered from hands and a variety of surfaces and objects. Casual contact can lead to the transfer of these viruses from contaminated to clean surfaces. Therefore, animate and inanimate surfaces may play a complementary role in the spread of these viruses. Objective: In this study, we compared the capacity of a disinfectant spray (0.1% o-phenylphenol and 79% ethanol), a domestic bleach (6% sodium hypochlorite diluted to give 800 ppm free chlorine), a quaternary ammonium (quat)-based product (7.05% quat diluted 1:128 in tap water), and a phenol-based product (14.7% phenol diluted 1:256 in tap water) to interrupt the transfer of a human rotavirus (DS-1) from stainless steel disks to fingerpads of volunteers with a 10-second contact at a pressure of 1 kg/cm2. Design: Each disk received a 10 μL inoculum containing 1.0 × 104 to 7.0 × 104 plaque-forming units (PFU) of the virus suspended in 10% feces. The inoculum was dried for 1 hour and overlaid with 20 μL of either tap water or the test product. Results: A 10-minute exposure to tap water reduced the virus titer by 52.3% ± 11.7%. The disinfectant spray was able to reduce virus infectivity by >99.99% after a contact of 3 to 10 minutes. The loss in virus infectivity after a 10-minute treatment with the quat was almost the same (54.7% ± 17.8%) as seen with tap water. The activities of the bleach and the phenolic were very similar with losses in PFU of 97.9% ± 0.4% and 95% ± 5.36%, respectively. No detectable virus was transferred to fingerpads from disks treated with disinfectant spray, the bleach, and the phenolic. Contact of the fingerpads with tap water- or quat-treated disks resulted in the transfer of 5.6% ± 1.1% and 7.6% ± 2.5% of the remaining infectious virus, respectively. Conclusion: These findings emphasize the care needed in the selection of environmental surface disinfectants in preventing the spread of rotaviral infections.
Apparently low reproducibility of true differential expression discoveries in microarray studies

MOTIVATION Differentially expressed gene (DEG) lists detected from different microarray studies for a same disease are often highly inconsistent. Even in technical replicate tests using identical samples, DEG detection still shows very low reproducibility. It is often believed that current small microarray studies will largely introduce false discoveries. RESULTS Based on a statistical model, we show that even in technical replicate tests using identical samples, it is highly likely that the selected DEG lists will be very inconsistent in the presence of small measurement variations. Therefore, the apparently low reproducibility of DEG detection from current technical replicate tests does not indicate low quality of microarray technology. We also demonstrate that heterogeneous biological variations existing in real cancer data will further reduce the overall reproducibility of DEG detection. Nevertheless, in small subsamples from both simulated and real data, the actual false discovery rate (FDR) for each DEG list tends to be low, suggesting that each separately determined list may comprise mostly true DEGs. Rather than simply counting the overlaps of the discovery lists from different studies for a complex disease, novel metrics are needed for evaluating the reproducibility of discoveries characterized with correlated molecular changes. Supplementaty information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Contour Integration Across

field of random background elements. The results show that performance cannot be explained in terms of monocular performance and that contour information is not limited to single disparity planes. Path detection does indeed involve the integration of information across different, very disparate depth planes. The rules which emerge are in general similar to that already described in the two-dimensional case in as far as orientation and disparity are important. Unlike the two-dimensional case, three-dimensional integration operates over relatively large three-din~tensional distances.
Nasal CPAP treatment improves abnormal cardiovascular autonomic function and arousability in ALTE and SIDS-related infants with OSA

We evaluated cardiovascular autonomic control and arousability during sleep in infants with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) before and after 10 (SD 4) days of treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (n-CPAP). Six OSA infants and twelve age-matched control infants were studied with polygraphic sleep studies at the age of 13 (SD 4) weeks. During the study, 45o head-up tilt tests were performed in slow wave (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were continuously monitored. All OSA infants had decreased initial BP and HR responses followed by hypotension in two and hypertension in two. OSA infants displayed higher arousal thresholds in response to the tilt in REM (p<0.005) and higher baseline HR (p<0.05) than controls. NCPAP treatment normalized BP and HR responses as well as arousal thresholds to tilting, and stabilized HR levels. OSA in infants may be linked with cardiovascular autonomic control disturbances and decreased arousability during sleep. These defects are improved by control of OSA with n-CPAP.