Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INDEPENDENT DETERMINANTS OF EARLY DEATH IN CRITICALLY ILL SURGICAL PATIENTS

Abnormalities in cardiocirculatory, respiratory, or coagulatory parameters are frequent after major surgery, but so far, no study has investigated their predictive value for early intensive care unit (ICU) mortality. We aimed to describe and quantify the relation between these parameters that are routinely determined on ICU admission and early death after complex surgery. Individual patient data were available from a local ICU database. We performed a retrospective observational cohort study using prospectively collected data from March 1, 1993, through February 28, 2005. A cohort of 4,214 cases who were admitted to the ICU immediately after operation was analyzed. We studied age, sex, number of red blood cell units transfused on admission day, and admission values for heart rate, systolic blood pressure, hemoglobin concentration, partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, respiratory function (Pao2/Fio2 ratio), and body temperature for their association with 4-day mortality. Effects were adjusted for the underlying disease and for disease severity during the first 24 h after admission. We used generalized additive models to fit continuous variables individually before combining them into the final generalized model. We found an independent linear association between the number of transfused red blood cell units, partial thromboplastin time, and body temperature with acute outcome. A smoothed model described the independent interaction between admission blood pressure and early death. Only values of less than 80 mmHg were associated with an increased risk of 4-day mortality. According to these results, bleeding complications after ICU admission should be treated aggressively to prevent early death of the patient. However, normotensive conditions do not seem to be required to prevent early mortality. Whether rapid rewarming may improve outcome needs further rigorous study.
Parsimony hierarchies for inductive inference

Abstract Freivalds defined an acceptable programming system independent criterion for learning programs for functions in which the final programs were required to be both correct and “nearly” minimal size. i.e. within a computable function of being purely minimal size. Kinber showed that this parsimony requirement on final programs limits learning power. However, in scientific inference, parsimony is considered highly desirable. A lim-computable function is (by definition) one calculable by a total procedure allowed to change its mind finitely many times about its output. Investigated is the possibility of assuaging somewhat the limitation on learning power resulting from requiring parsimonious final programs by use of criteria which require the final, correct programs to be “not-so-nearly” minimal size, e.g., to be within a lim-computable function of actual minimal size. It is shown that some parsimony in the final program is thereby retained, yet learning power strictly increases. Considered, then, are lim-computable functions as above but for which notations for constructive ordinals are used to bound the number of mind changes allowed regarding the output. This is a variant of an idea introduced by Freivalds and Smith. For this ordinal notation complexity bounded version of lim-computability, the power of the resultant learning criteria form finely graded, infinitely ramifying, infinite hierarchies intermediate between the computable and the lim-computable cases. Some of these hierarchies, for the natural notations determining them, are shown to be optimally tight.
Culture and the Sociology of Sexuality: It's Only Natural?

This article locates six themes in the overlap between the sociology of culture and the sociology of sexuality, highlighting both institutionalized and discursive forms of power. These themes include (1) works that develop or problematize economic metaphors in the study of sexuality; (2) studies of commercial sex that problematize cultural assumptions about sex, money, and morality; (3) explorations of “nonsexual”-seeming institutions, which can reproduce or challenge hierarchies of race and gender as they transmit sexual norms; (4) considerations of the sexual underpinnings of citizenship and personhood; (5) analyses of mass-mediated discourses of sexual personhood; and (6) critiques of sociology itself, as reproducing discursive power by neglecting to problematize certain assumptions about sexuality. The article ends by considering sociology's relationship to humanities-based queer theory, arguing that sociologists should bring analyses of emotions and feelings rules into our considerations of how people develop a sense of self through social interactions.
Effect of estrodiol on leptin receptors expression in regulating fat distribution and adipocyte genesis

Abstract Objective: To examine how estradiol influence fat distribution and adipocyte genesis through regulating leptin function. Design and methods: We randomized female SD rats into ovariectomy and sham group. After 14 weeks, we examined leptin receptor expression in perigenital, mesenteric and subcutaneous adipose tissues and leptin in serum. We further introduced mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to figure out the effect of 17-β estradiol on expression of leptin receptors (OBRb and OBRa), leptin and PPARγ2. Results: Weight and Lee’s index was both significantly higher in ovariectomized group than sham group (p < 0.001). The interaction of serum E2 and leptin was negatively correlated with body weight. Expression of leptin receptor protein was extremely upregulated in ovariectomized group in perigenital and mesenteric fat. Both estradiol and leptin upregulated mRNA expression of OBRb, and created a dose-dependent decreasing manner in MSCs. Higher doses of estradiol (10−7–10−5 M) inhibited adipogenic markers mRNA expression of leptin and PPARγ2, but low doses promoted leptin expression. Conclusions: In ovariectomized rats, low level of serum estradiol may change body composition and promote adipocyte genesis through affecting leptin function.
WORD ORDER TYPOLOGY, LEXICAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE PREDICTION OF MULTIPLE, GRADED EFFECTS IN L2 WORD ORDER

Lexical government refers to the relationship between a phrasal head and its complement. In this paper it is used to define a centre and periphery in word order typology. The direction of the government relation gives rise to two word order types. It is proposed that grammars in which the phrasal heads show a major split in their direction of government are more marked than those with a uniform direction. This framework serves to generate multiple, graded predictions about word order in non-primary acquisition and the predictions are tested on a broad range of available L2 word order data. The investigation indicates that while L2 learners do have access to the defining principle, they may not be as successful as L1 learners in acquiring peripheral word order attributes and word orders with a split in the direction of government.
Investissement des multinationales dans les pays émergents et valeur actionnariale

L’objectif de cet article est de confronter les « couplages » transactionnels entre specificite des actifs et modalite d’investissement des multinationales dans les pays emergents a une evaluation par les marches financiers. Il s’agit ici d’analyser le lien entre ces couplages et la valeur creee pour les actionnaires des multinationales investissant dans des pays a forte incertitude. L’etude des reactions boursieres a ces couplages a ete realisee a partir d’un echantillon de 183 operations d’investissement conduites par des multinationales francaises dans des pays d’Amerique latine entre 1993 et 2007. Les resultats illustrent partiellement la pertinence de l’approche transactionnelle des modes hierarchiques et hybrides d’investissement dans les pays a forte incertitude.
Characterising demand and usage patterns in a large station-based car sharing system

Car sharing is a new mode of transportation that is gaining increasing popularity with its promise to reduce traffic congestion, parking demands and pollution in our cities. Despite this potential, the properties of car sharing systems, e.g., in terms of spatiotemporal characterisation of how customers use the service, remain largely unexplored in the research literature. In order to fill this gap, in this work we analyse one month of online car-sharing map data from a large station-based carsharing operator in France, which has 960 stations and more than 2700 electric cars. First, we study the spatial and temporal patterns of station utilisation, uncovering a dichotomy in station usage (stations that attract cars mostly in the morning vs. stations attracting cars mostly in the evening). We also find that this dichotomy is linked to the destination (residential or business) of the zone in which the station is located. In addition, we statistically model the users' demand in terms of drop-off and pickup rates, and the parking times of vehicles. Finally, we propose a classifier that exploits simple average statistics (average pickup rate and car availability of a station) in order to understand whether the station is profitable or not for the operator.
Placement of implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators in paediatric and congenital heart defect patients: a pipeline for model generation and simulation prediction of optimal configurations

• Implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators (ICDs) with transvenous leads often cannot be implanted in a standard manner in paediatric and congenital heart defect (CHD) patients. Currently, there is no reliable approach to predict the optimal ICD placement in these patients. • A pipeline for constructing personalized, electrophysiological heart–torso models from clinical magnetic resonance imaging scans was developed and applied to a paediatric CHD patient. • Optimal ICD placement was determined using patient‐specific simulations of the defibrillation process. In a patient with tricuspid valve atresia, two configurations with epicardial leads were found to have the lowest defibrillation threshold. • We demonstrated that determining extracellular potential (Φe) gradients during the shock – without actually simulating defibrillation – was not sufficient to predict defibrillation success or failure. • Using the proposed methodology, the optimal ICD placement in paediatric/CHD patients can be predicted computationally, which could reduce defibrillation energy if the pipeline is used as part of ICD implantation planning.
Child Stress Disorders Checklist: a measure of ASD and PTSD in children.

OBJECTIVE To assess the psychometric properties of the Child Stress Disorders Checklist (CSDC), a 36-item observer-report instrument that measures acute stress and posttraumatic symptoms in children. METHOD The CSDC was administered to parents of 43 children with acute burns and 41 children who had experienced a traffic crash. This instrument was also administered to the burned children's primary nurse to estimate interrater reliability. The CSDC was completed again by parents of burned children, 2 days and 3 months later. Convergent validity was determined by correlating scores on the CSDC with scores on instruments of known validity for assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. Concurrent validity was determined through an examination of the relationship between CSDC scores and an index of trauma severity (percentage of body surface area burned). Discriminant validity was assessed by administering the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL): it was hypothesized that PTSD symptoms would be more closely related to the PTSD scale of the CBCL than the Thought Problems scale of the CBCL. RESULTS The CSDC has reliable and valid psychometric properties. CONCLUSIONS The CSDC, an observer-report instrument of ASD and PTSD in children, has important utility in clinical and research settings.
Whatever their differentiation status, human progenitor derived – or mature – endothelial cells induce osteoblastic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells

Association of the bone‐forming osteoblasts (OBs) and vascular endothelial cells (ECs) into a biomaterial composite provides a live bone graft substitute that can repair the bone defect when implanted. An intimate functional relationship exists between these cell types. This communication is crucial to the coordinated cell behaviour necessary for bone development and remodelling. Previous studies have shown that direct co‐culture of primary human osteoprogenitors (HOPs) with primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) stimulates HOPs differentiation and induces tubular‐like networks. The present work aims to test the use of human bone marrow stromal cells (HBMSCs) co‐cultured with human endothelial progenitor cells in order to assess whether progenitor‐derived ECs (PDECs) could support osteoblastic differentiation as mature ECs do. Indeed, data generated from the literature by different laboratories considering these co‐culture systems appear difficult to compare. Monocultures of HUVECs, HOPs, HBMSCs (in a non‐orientated lineage), PDECs (from cord blood) were used as controls and four combinations of co‐cultures were undertaken: HBMSCs–PDECs, HBMSCs–HUVECs, HOPs–PDECs, HOPs–HUVECs with ECs (mature or progenitor) for 6 h to 7 days. At the end of the chosen co‐culture time, intracellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was detected in HOPs and HBMSCs and quantified in cell extracts. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of ALP was performed over time and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was measured. After 21 days, calcium deposition was observed, comparing mono‐ and co‐cultures. We confirm that ECs induce osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. Moreover, HUVECs can be replaced by PDECs, the latter being of great interest in tissue engineering. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A murine experimental model for the mechanical behaviour of viable right‐ventricular myocardium

• Right‐ventricular (RV) function is an important determinant of cardio‐pulmonary performance. How and when RV failure occurs in disease is poorly understood. RV biomechanics provides a means to understand tissue level behavior that links cellular mechanisms to organ level phenotype. RV biomechanics has received little attention. • We developed 1) rat model for quantifying the structure and biomechanical behavior of viable and transmurally intact RV tissue, and 2) a novel analysis method for obtaining representative scalar strain‐energy function from stress‐controlled biaxial experiments. • The mechanical testing revealed a marked mechanical tissue anisotropy with the apex‐to‐outflow tract direction being the stiffer direction. • The myo‐ and collagen fibers show a preferential alignment from the apex to the RV outflow tract direction with little transmural variation. • We found a strong relationship between normal tissue microstructure and biomechanical behavior, which lays the foundation for a detailed understanding of RV remodeling in response to disease.
CONGESTION OF RIGHT LIVER GRAFT IN LIVING DONOR LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

Background. Left liver graft from a small donor will not meet the metabolic demands of a larger adult recipient. One solution to this problem is to use a right liver graft without a middle hepatic vein (MHV). However, the need for drainage from the MHV tributaries has not yet been described. Methods. Five right liver grafts without a MHV were transplanted in patients including two hepatitis B virus-cirrhosis, two fulminant hepatic failure and one secondary biliary cirrhosis. The graft weight ranged from 650 to 1000 g, corresponding to 48 to 83% of the standard liver volume of the recipients. Results. Two of five recipients were complicated with severe congestion of the right median sector immediately after reperfusion, followed by prolonged massive ascites and severe liver dysfunction. One of the patients died of sepsis with progressive hepatic dysfunction 20 days after the operation. Conclusions. Preservation and reconstruction of the MHV tributaries is recommended to prevent congestion of the right liver graft without MHV.
Gestion de la relation client et internet. Les impératifs stratégiques pour la mise en place d'un projet e-GRC par les PME

La gestion electronique de la relation client (e-GRC) dans les PME a recu ces dernieres annees une attention particuliere dans le milieu professionnel. Pourtant, il est surprenant de constater que les experiences reussies dans ce domaine ne sont pas toujours au rendez-vous. De meme, peu de travaux ont ete consacres a l�etude de facteurs cles de succes des initiatives e-GRC dans ces entreprises. Afin de combler cette lacune, cet article etudie les imperatifs strategiques de la mise en place d�un projet e-GRC reussi.
Using reflective writing within research

Reflective writing has become established as a key component of reflective practice, and central to the notion of learning from experience. Claims are made in the reflective practice literature of the capacity for reflective writing to develop the writer’s critical thinking and analytical abilities, contribute to their cognitive development, enable creativity and unique connections to be made between disparate sets of information, and to contribute to new perspectives being taken on issues. All of these are attributes to be expected in competent researchers. Thus, this paper considers the features of reflective writing and its use within qualitative research as a method in its own right, as a data source and within the analytical processes. It is argued that, although reflective writing is increasingly becoming visible within qualitative research reports, it needs to be further acknowledged as central to the methodological processes within research studies and recognised as an essential part of their methodology.
FDG-PET: for early prediction of response to the first-line chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer?

We read with great interest the article by Byström et al. [1] about the early prediction of response to the first-line chemotherapy by sequential 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxyD-glucose–positron emission tomography (FDG–PET) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC). They mentioned the low level of sensitivity and specificity of repeating 18 FDG–PET scans for predicting the treatment response compared with radiological evaluation. We think there are several limitations of this study. First, there were no data about the histopathological subgroups of these MCRC patients. As known, FDG–PET is not a suitable tool for the evaluation and follow-up of mucinous adenocarcinoma because of lower sensitivity compared with nonmucinous adenocarcinoma [2]. The size of the lesion is another limitation of the FDG–PET study [3]. This might be a negative factor in the evaluation of the response with repeating FDG–PET, particularly newly occurring small lesions under treatment. FDG–PET is reported to be mostly useful in staging and surgical treatment plan and detecting recurrences of nonmucinous adenocarcinoma of colon [2, 3]. Thus, it must be used in selected cases and situations. FDG–PET is a cost-effective method for detecting the unresectable MCRC by avoiding the unnecessary surgery [3]. However, cost analysis of initial and repeating FDG–PET studies in MCRC for the prediction of response must be clarified in further studies. Also, radiotherapy may affect the FDG uptake and cause false-positive results up to 6 months after the treatment [3]. However, recent radiotherapy data of the patients were not given in this article. This is another issue that might affect the results of FDG–PET studies. With all these limitations pointed out about FDG–PET, it would be pragmatic to use it for early prediction of response in MCRC in our opinion.
A Novel TRPC6 Mutation That Causes Childhood FSGS

Background TRPC6, encoding a member of the transient receptor potential (TRP) superfamily of ion channels, is a calcium-permeable cation channel, which mediates capacitive calcium entry into the cell. Until today, seven different mutations in TRPC6 have been identified as a cause of autosomal-dominant focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in adults. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we report a novel TRPC6 mutation that leads to early onset FSGS. We identified one family in whom disease segregated with a novel TRPC6 mutation (M132T), that also affected pediatric individuals as early as nine years of age. Twenty-one pedigrees compatible with an autosomal-dominant mode of inheritance and biopsy-proven FSGS were selected from a worldwide cohort of 550 families with steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). Whole cell current recordings of the mutant TRPC6 channel, compared to the wild-type channel, showed a 3 to 5-fold increase in the average out- and inward TRPC6 current amplitude. The mean inward calcium current of M132T was 10-fold larger than that of wild-type TRPC6. Interestingly, M132T mutants also lacked time-dependent inactivation. Generation of a novel double mutant M132T/N143S did not further augment TRPC6 channel activity. Conclusions In summary, our data shows that TRPC6 mediated FSGS can also be found in children. The large increase in channel currents and impaired channel inactivation caused by the M132T mutant leads to an aggressive phenotype that underlines the importance of calcium dose channeled through TRPC6.
Videotaped reliability in a multicenter collaborative investigation of divalproex sodium for the treatment of mania

This study describes the procedures used to establish videotaped inter‐rater reliability in a multicenter study investigating the clinical efficacy of divalproex sodium for the treatment of acute mania. A total of 46 raters from 10 centers viewed and rated five videotaped diagnostic patients interviews using a modified SADS and SADS‐C. Raters also viewed a follow‐up videotaped interview at the midpoint of the study. Raters rated the quality of each interview for its teaching potential. Agreement among raters within study sites was estimated by the intraclass correlation coefficient. Results demonstrated significant agreement among raters within study centers at baseline and follow‐up for both the SADS and SADS‐C.
Educational experiences of immigrant students from the former Soviet Union: a case study of an ethnic school in Toronto

This paper explores the academic and psychosocial outcomes of immigrant students from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in an ethnic school in Toronto. Based on interviews with the principal, teachers, students and parents, together with questionnaire responses, the paper describes school programmes and practices that contribute to FSU immigrant students' high academic achievement, within the categories of curriculum, pedagogy, discipline policy and teacher–student relationships. The creation of this ethnic school suggests that Canada's educational system has not met the needs of the immigrant group. The paper seeks to further understanding of educating FSU immigrant students, and discusses the implications of ethnic schools for educating children in a multicultural society.
Management of Intermodal Freight Terminals by First-Order Hybrid Petri Nets

In this paper, we show how first-order hybrid Petri nets can be efficiently used to model and manage intermodal freight transport terminals. The proposed formalism enables the terminal decision maker to choose the speeds associated with continuous transitions in order to optimize the terminal performance by two alternative control policies: the container flows maximization and the minimization of the residual containers in the storage area. The approach may be used either offline, to take decisions on the terminal resources, or online, to solve congestions/malfunctions. A real case study is modeled and managed by the proposed optimal control policies.