Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating inhaler use technique in COPD patients

Background Poor inhalation techniques are associated with decreased medication delivery and poor disease control in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate techniques for using inhaler devices in COPD patients. Methods A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted to assess patient compliance with correct techniques for using inhaler devices across four regimens, ie, the pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI), the pMDI with a spacer, the Accuhaler®, and the Handihaler®. The percentage of compliance with essential steps of correct device usage for each regimen was recorded without prior notification when COPD patients presented for a routine visit, and 1 month after receiving face-to-face training. We compared the percentage of compliance between the devices and risk factors related to incorrect techniques using logistic regression analysis. Percentage of patient compliance with correct techniques was compared between the two visits using the chi-square test. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results A total of 103 COPD patients (mean age 71.2±9.2 years, males 64.1%, low education level 82.5%, and percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second 51.9±22.5) were evaluated. Seventy-seven patients (74.8%) performed at least one step incorrectly. Patients using the Handihaler had the lowest compliance failure (42.5%), and the odds ratio for failure with the other devices compared with the Handihaler were 4.6 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8–11.8) for the pMDI, 3.1 (95% CI 1.2–8.2) for the pMDI with a spacer, and 2.4 (95% CI 1.1–5.2) for the Accuhaler. Low education level was the single most important factor related to incorrect technique (adjusted odds ratio 4.1, 95% CI 1.2–13.4, P=0.022). Formal training resulted in a statistically significant decrease in percentage of incorrect techniques for all devices and for the pMDI (59.4% vs 48.6%, P<0.001; 72.4% vs 48.3%, P=0.039, respectively). Conclusion Inhalation technique in COPD patients without face-to-face training was mostly unsatisfactory, especially in patients with low education levels. The Handihaler was the inhaler device associated with the lowest technique failure. Face-to-face inhalation technique training significantly increased technique compliance for the pMDI.
Effects of Inclusion of Two Probiotic Strains Isolated From "Sha'a", a Maize-Based Traditionally Fermented Beverage on Lipid Metabolism of Rabbits fed a Cholesterol-Enriched Diet

The objective of this study was to assess the in vitro probiotic potential of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp10S and Lp11S isolated from Sha'a and evaluate their effects on lipid metabolism of hypercholesterolaemic rabbits. The strains were tested in vitro for their acid and bile tolerance, capability to remove cholesterol from MRS broth and to deconjugate bile salts. For in vivo studies, Lactobacillus plantarum Lp10S and Lp11S were administered to rabbits fed on cholesterol-enriched diet (standard diet+2×0.02 g of pure cholesterol per day per rabbit) at a dose of 2×10 8 CFU per day per rabbit for each strain; the treatment lasted seven weeks and one week post ingestion period was observed. Serum lipids were analyzed during the experiment. The results revealed that strains Lactobacillus plantarum Lp10S and Lp11S tolerated well low pH and bile salts, expressed bile salt hydrolase activity and have ability to assimilate cholesterol in vitro. The results also showed that diets including Lactobacillus plantarum Lp10S and Lp11S significantly lowered serum total cholesterol, (VLDL+IDL+LDL)-cholesterol and triglycerides levels of hypercholesterolaemic rabbits. In addition, HDL-cholesterol level significantly increased and the atherosclerosis index was significantly lowered. The present results indicate the probiotic potential of Lactobacillus plantarum Lp10S and Lp11S strains as well as their in vivo cholesterol-lowering properties that may be useful for their application as health-promoting bacteria.
Fast Online Training with Frequency-Adaptive Learning Rates for Chinese Word Segmentation and New Word Detection

We present a joint model for Chinese word segmentation and new word detection. We present high dimensional new features, including word-based features and enriched edge (label-transition) features, for the joint modeling. As we know, training a word segmentation system on large-scale datasets is already costly. In our case, adding high dimensional new features will further slow down the training speed. To solve this problem, we propose a new training method, adaptive online gradient descent based on feature frequency information, for very fast online training of the parameters, even given large-scale datasets with high dimensional features. Compared with existing training methods, our training method is an order magnitude faster in terms of training time, and can achieve equal or even higher accuracies. The proposed fast training method is a general purpose optimization method, and it is not limited in the specific task discussed in this paper.
Association of Big Endothelin-1 with Coronary Artery Calcification

Background The coronary artery calcification (CAC) is clinically considered as one of the important predictors of atherosclerosis. Several studies have confirmed that endothelin-1(ET-1) plays an important role in the process of atherosclerosis formation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether big ET-1 is associated with CAC. Methods and Results A total of 510 consecutively admitted patients from February 2011 to May 2012 in Fu Wai Hospital were analyzed. All patients had received coronary computed tomography angiography and then divided into two groups based on the results of coronary artery calcium score (CACS). The clinical characteristics including traditional and calcification-related risk factors were collected and plasma big ET-1 level was measured by ELISA. Patients with CAC had significantly elevated big ET-1 level compared with those without CAC (0.5±0.4 vs. 0.2±0.2, P<0.001). In the multivariate analysis, big ET-1 (Tertile 2, HR = 3.09, 95% CI 1.66–5.74, P <0.001, Tertile3 HR = 10.42, 95% CI 3.62–29.99, P<0.001) appeared as an independent predictive factor of the presence of CAC. There was a positive correlation of the big ET-1 level with CACS (r = 0.567, p<0.001). The 10-year Framingham risk (%) was higher in the group with CACS>0 and the highest tertile of big ET-1 (P<0.01). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the big ET-1 level in predicting CAC was 0.83 (95% CI 0.79–0.87, p<0.001), with a sensitivity of 70.6% and specificity of 87.7%. Conclusions The data firstly demonstrated that the plasma big ET-1 level was a valuable independent predictor for CAC in our study.
Event-Driven Architectures and Complex Event Processing

Opher Etzion is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Lead Architect of Event Processing Technologies in ESB Technical Strategy. Dr. Etzion was a research staff member and the manager of the active management technology group in IBM Research Laboratory in Haifa, Israel, and a visiting research scientist at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. He received his BA degree in Philosophy from Tel-Aviv University and his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Temple University. Prior to joining IBM in 1997, he has been a faculty member at the Technion, where he has served as the founding head of the information systems engineering area and graduate program. Prior to his graduate studies, he held professional and managerial positions in industry and in the Israel Air-Force, receiving the air-force highest award in 1982. His research interests include active technology (active databases and beyond), temporal databases, middleware systems, and rule-base systems. He is a member of the editorial board of the IIE Transactions Journal, was a guest editor in the Journal of Intelligent Information Systems in 1994, and a guest editor in the International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems (2001). He served as a coordinating organizer of the Dagstuhl seminar on Temporal databases in 1997, has been the coeditor of the book Temporal Databases Research and Practice published by Springer-Verlag, in 2000, he has been program chair of CoopIS'2000, and demo and panel chair of VLDB'2000. He also served in many conferences program committees (e.g. VLDB, ICDE, ER) as well as national committees and has been program and general chair in the NGITS workshop series.
Repairing Conceptual Mismatches in Dialogue: a Computational Approach

In this paper, a computational framework is presented for the generation of elementary speech acts to establish conceptual alignment between a computer system and its user. We clearly distinguish between two phases of the alignment process: message interpretation and message generation. In the interpretation phase, presuppositions are extracted from the user’s message and compared with the system’s semantic model of the application domain, which is represented in Type Theory. Subsequently, in the generation phase, an adequate feedback message is produced in order to resolve detected discrepancies. A conversational strategy is provided that is based upon Gricean maxims and a differentiation of various types of information states of the system, such as private and common beliefs about the domain of discourse, and the goal of the user.
Measuring Group Velocity in Seismic Noise Correlation Studies Based on Phase Coherence and Resampling Strategies

Seismic noise cross correlation studies are of increasing importance in the seismological research community due to the ubiquity of noise sources and advances on how to use the seismic noise wave field for structural imaging and monitoring purposes. Stacks of noise cross correlations are now routinely used to extract empirical Green’s functions between station pairs. In regional and global scale studies, mostly surface waves are extracted due to their dominance in seismic noise wave fields. Group arrival times measured from the time-frequency representation of frequency dispersive surface waves are further used in tomographic inversions to image seismic structure. Often, the group arrivals are not clearly identified or ambiguous depending on the signal and noise characteristics. Here, we present a procedure to robustly measure group velocities using the time-frequency domain phase-weighted stack (PWS) combined with data resampling and decision strategies. The time-frequency PWS improves signal extraction through incoherent signal attenuation during the stack of the noise cross correlations. Resampling strategies help to identify signals robust against data variations and to assess their errors. We have gathered these ingredients in an algorithm where the decision strategies and tuning parameters are reduced for semiautomated processing schemes. Our numerical and field data examples show a robust assignment of surface-wave group arrivals. The method is computational efficient thanks to an implementation based on pseudoanalytic frames of wavelets and enables processing large amounts of data.
Cuckoo bags for exploring multikey data

As the transition from IPv4 to hybrid IPv4/IPv6 networks begins, our structures for representing IP addresses for analysis are lagging behind. There is a need for tools that can develop behavioral models of network traffic that include communications patterns among hosts. This work introduces the CuBag data structure and tools for maintaining sets indexed by IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in the same structure. The current tools, rwset and rwbag, in the SiLK tool suite use pointer structures developed for IPv4 but have no support for IPv6 addresses. CuBag keys can contain multiple SiLK record fields, including IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. They use multiple hash functions for key insertion and lookup in constant time. We describe CuBags and illustrate their use with two small case studies.
Free Money for Social Progress.: Theory and Practice of Gesell's Accelerated Money

Silvio Gesell (1862-1930) proposed a system of stamped money in order to accelerate monetary circulation and to free money from interest. This was part of a global socialist system intended to free the economy from rent and interest. In the 1930s, Irving Fisher, who proposed the system to President Roosevelt, and John Maynard Keynes rendered homage to Gesell's monetary proposals in the context of the economic depression. Several experiments took place that were based on his ideas, notably in the Austrian town of Worgl and in the United States. These experiments were always local and never lasted more than a few months. This article shows that trust is the main issue of this kind of monetary organization; and therefore, that such experiments can only take place successfully on a small scale.
AntigenDB: an immunoinformatics database of pathogen antigens

The continuing threat of infectious disease and future pandemics, coupled to the continuous increase of drug-resistant pathogens, makes the discovery of new and better vaccines imperative. For effective vaccine development, antigen discovery and validation is a prerequisite. The compilation of information concerning pathogens, virulence factors and antigenic epitopes has resulted in many useful databases. However, most such immunological databases focus almost exclusively on antigens where epitopes are known and ignore those for which epitope information was unavailable. We have compiled more than 500 antigens into the AntigenDB database, making use of the literature and other immunological resources. These antigens come from 44 important pathogenic species. In AntigenDB, a database entry contains information regarding the sequence, structure, origin, etc. of an antigen with additional information such as B and T-cell epitopes, MHC binding, function, gene-expression and post translational modifications, where available. AntigenDB also provides links to major internal and external databases. We shall update AntigenDB on a rolling basis, regularly adding antigens from other organisms and extra data analysis tools. AntigenDB is available freely at http://www.imtech. res.in/raghava/antigendb and its mirror site http://www.bic. uams.edu/raghava/antigendb.
From couples to coparents in England: Factors that contribute to the process of change in coparents’ parenting practices

Recently, interest in families has increased amongst researchers, practitioners and policymakers in England. This includes a renewed focus on understanding parenting and supporting families through parenting programmes. Many programmes demonstrate positive outcomes for mothers and children, but do not typically consider the coparenting between mothers and fathers. Additionally, most evaluations overlook the ‘process of change’ or ‘active ingredients’ for promoting change in parenting practices. Consequently, the current study investigates the process of change in coparenting practices, using a mixed-method design beginning with semi-structured interviews and followed by questionnaires. The study found that coparents were influenced by various elements, which were underpinned by the coparents’ perceptions of one another. These included the developing coparenting alliance, process-oriented parenting and parenting programme support for both parents. This study concludes that only through understanding how change occurs in families, can services be developed, designed and delivered to meet families’ needs.
Ethanol-Kerosene Blends : Fuel Option for Kerosene Wick Stove

In order to solve energy crisis, the search for alternative fuel is extensively important. Alternative fuels selected should be renewable, sustainable and eco-friendly. In India, kerosene is also used as a fuel in cooking stove. Kerosene contains impurities like sulphur, aromatics and hydrocarbons, which causes environmental degradation. In this experimental investigation, blends of ethanol and kerosene were used as alternative fuel in kerosene wick stove without any modification in stove design. The blends tested were 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% ethanol in kerosene. The experimentations have been carried out with an aim of obtaining comparative measures of thermal efficiency and fuel consumption rate. The values of thermal efficiency and fuel consumption rate for blended fuel were found to be comparable with kerosene. The maximum value of thermal efficiency was obtained with blend containing 5% ethanol while the minimum value was obtained with reference fuel. The fuel consumption rate for blend containing 10% ethanol was found to be maximum.
Large thrombus entrapped in a patent foramen ovale of the atrial septum, which apparently “disappeared” without embolic events

Objective: To evaluate the impact of heart rate on the diagnostic accuracy of coronary angiography by multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT). Design: Prospective observational study. Patients: 78 patients who underwent both conventional and MSCT coronary angiography for suspicion of de novo coronary artery disease (n=53) or recurrent coronary artery disease after percutaneous intervention (n=25). Setting: Tertiary referral centre. Methods: Intravenously contrast enhanced MSCT coronary angiography was done during a single breath hold, and ECG synchronised images were reconstructed retrospectively. All coronary segments of ≥ 2.0 mm without stents were evaluated by two investigators and compared with quantitative coronary angiography. Patients were classified according to the average heart rate (mean (SD)) into three equally sized groups: group 1, 55.8 (4.1) beats/min; group 2, 66.6 (2.8) beats/min; group 3, 81.7 (8.8) beats/min. Results: Image quality was sufficient for analysis in 78% of the coronary segments in patients in group 1, 73% in group 2, and 54% in group 3 (p < 0.01). The sensitivity and specificity for detecting significant stenoses (≥ 50% lumen reduction) in these assessable segments were: 97% (95% confidence interval (CI) 84% to 100%) and 96% in group 1; 74% (52% to 89%) and 94% in group 2; and 67% (33% to 90%) and 94% in group 3 (p < 0.05). Accounting for all segments of ≥ 2.0 mm, including lesions in non-assessable segments as false negatives, the sensitivity decreased to 82% (28/34 lesions, 95% CI 69% to 91%), 61% (14/23 lesions, 42% to 77%), and 32% (6/19 lesions, 15% to 50%), respectively (p < 0.01). Conclusions: MSCT allows reliable coronary angiography in patients with low heart rates.
Temporal dynamics in wheat grain zinc distribution: is sink limitation the key?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Enhancing the zinc (Zn) concentration in wheat (Triticum aestivum) grain is a breeding objective in order to improve human Zn nutrition. At enhanced plant Zn uptake, grain Zn levels do not increase proportionally and within the grain the endosperm Zn levels remain below grain Zn levels. This study analysed the temporal dynamics of Zn concentrations in grain tissues during grain filling to find major bottlenecks. METHODS Plants of two cultivars were grown at 1 and 5 mg Zn kg(-1) soil. Individual panicles were harvested 7, 14, 24 or 34 d after their flowering or at maturity and seeds were dissected into constituting tissues, which were analysed for Zn and other minerals. KEY RESULTS The Zn concentration of the crease was found to increase five- to nine-fold between 7 and 34 d after anthesis, while that of the endosperm decreased by 7 and 45 % when grown at 1 or 5 mg Zn kg(-1), respectively. The Zn turnover rate (d(-1)) in the crease tissues was either independent of the Zn application level or higher at the lower Zn application level, and the Zn concentration increased in the crease tissues with time during grain filling while the turnover rate gradually decreased. CONCLUSIONS There is significant within-seed control over Zn entering the seed endosperm. While the seed crease Zn concentration can be raised to very high levels by increasing external Zn supply, the endosperm Zn concentrations will not increase correspondingly. The limited transfer of Zn beyond the crease requires more research to provide further insight into the rate-determining processes and their location along the pathway from crease to the deeper endosperm.
The game as a way to destructuration: Learning to reason through game

This work aims to contribute in a simple and positive way with everybody directly and indirectly involved in an educational process by offering notions about the importance of playing in permanent education, accompanied by methodological concepts, advantages and features for the teaching and the implementation of games with educational content; besides the interest of keeping them for their formative process as powerful elements in intellectual, ethical and physical education.
Social Networks : Threats and Solutions

Many online social network (OSN) users are unaware of the numerous security risks that exist in these networks, including privacy violations, identity theft, and sexual harassment, just to mention a few. According to recent studies, many online social network users readily expose personal and private details about themselves, such as relationship status, date of birth, school name, email address, phone number, and even home address. This information, if fallen into the wrong hands, can be used to harm users, both in the virtual and in the real world. These risks become even more severe when the users are children. In this paper we present a thorough review of the different security and privacy risks which threaten the well-being of OSN users in general, and children in particular. In addition, we present an overview of existing solutions that can provide better protection, security, and privacy for OSN users. Moreover, we offer simple-toimplement recommendations for OSN users which can assist them in improving their security and privacy when using these platforms. We conclude this paper by suggesting future research directions.
The tripeptide N-Cbz-βGly-Gly-Gly-Obz

The title peptide, N-benzyloxycarbonyl-β-glycylglycylglycine benzyl ester, C22H25N3O6, contains a non-proteinogenic amino acid residue, β-glycine, which is a homologated analogue of glycine. In the molecular structure, β-glycine adopts an extended conformation with a trans conformation about its Cβ—Cα bond. The second glycine residue adopts an extended conformation while the third glycine residue adopts a helical conformation. In the crystal, three N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, two involving the same carbonyl O atom as acceptor, results in an infinite two-dimensional network parallel to the bc plane.
Entangled Games are Hard to Approximate

We establish the first hardness results for the problem of computing the value of one-round games played by a referee and a team of players who can share quantum entanglement. In particular, we show that it is NP-hard to approximate within an inverse polynomial the value of a one-round game with (i) quantum referee and two entangled players or (ii) classical referee and three entangled players. Previously it was not even known if computing the value exactly is NP-hard. We also describe a mathematical conjecture, which, if true, would imply hardness of approximation to within a constant.We start our proof by describing two ways to modify classical multi-player games to make them resistant to entangled players. We then show that a strategy for the modified game that uses entanglement can be "rounded'' to one that does not. The results then follow from classical inapproximability bounds. Our work implies that, unless P = NP, the values of entangled-player games cannot be computed by semidefinite programs that are polynomial in the size of the referee's system, a method that has been successful for more restricted quantum games.