Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drug-related morbidity and mortality. A cost-of-illness model.

BACKGROUND Preventable drug-related morbidity and mortality represent a serious medical problem that urgently requires expert attention. The costs to society of the misuse of prescription medications, in terms of morbidity, mortality, and treatment, can be immense. To date, research has primarily documented increased rates of hospitalization secondary to medication noncompliance and/or adverse drug effects. OBJECTIVES To develop a conceptual model of drug-related morbidity and mortality, and to estimate the associated costs in the ambulatory setting in the United States. METHODS A probability pathway model was developed to estimate the cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. Pharmacist practitioners were surveyed to determine conditional probabilities of therapeutic outcomes owing to drug therapy. Health care utilization and associated costs owing to negative therapeutic outcomes were estimated. RESULTS Drug-related morbidity and mortality was estimated to cost $76.6 billion in the ambulatory setting in the United States. The largest component of this total cost was associated with drug-related hospitalizations. When assumptions of the model were varied, the estimated cost ranged from a conservative estimate of $30.1 to $136.8 billion in a worst-case scenario. CONCLUSIONS The cost of drug-related morbidity and mortality in the ambulatory setting in the United States is considerable and should be considered in health policy decisions with regard to pharmaceutical benefits. Policies and services should be developed to reduce and prevent drug-related morbidity and mortality.
Efficient Linear Re-rendering for Interactive Lighting Design

We present a framework for interactive lighting design based on linear re-rendering. The rendering operation is linear with respect to light sources, assuming a fixed scene and camera geometry. This linearity means that a scene may be interactively re-rendered via linear combination of a set of basis images, each rendered under a particular basis light. We focus on choosing and designing a suitable set of basis lights. We provide examples of bases that allow 1) interactive adjustment of a spotlight direction, 2) interactive adjustment of the position of an area light, and 3) a combination in which light sources are adjusted in both position and direction. We discuss a method for reducing the size of the basis using principal components analysis in the image domain.
A geometric approach to monitoring threshold functions over distributed data streams

Monitoring data streams in a distributed system is the focus of much research in recent years. Most of the proposed schemes, however, deal with monitoring simple aggregated values, such as the frequency of appearance of items in the streams. More involved challenges, such as the important task of feature selection (e.g., by monitoring the information gain of various features), still require very high communication overhead using naive, centralized algorithms. We present a novel geometric approach which reduces monitoring the value of a function (vis-à-vis a threshold) to a set of constraints applied locally on each of the streams. The constraints are used to locally filter out data increments that do not affect the monitoring outcome, thus avoiding unnecessary communication. As a result, our approach enables monitoring of arbitrary threshold functions over distributed data streams in an efficient manner. We present experimental results on real-world data which demonstrate that our algorithms are highly scalable, and considerably reduce communication load in comparison to centralized algorithms.
Fabrication and Characteristic of Small-Area Flat Lamp Utilizing Carbon Nanotube Film Cathode

Using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) film as cathode material, the small-area flat lamp (FL) was sealed and fabricated. And the manufacture process for the whole FL was also presented in detail. The pyrolysis process was adopted to grow CNT film directly over the silicon substrate, and the chromium was deposited on the silicon substrate back surface to form the interface layer. After the sintering process for the screen-printed silver slurry, the patterned cathode electrodes were formed on the cathode back plane surface. Using silver slurry as adhesion material, the silicon substrate would be fixed on the cathode electrode. With the splicing method, the CNT film cathode could also be extended on the flat cathode back plane surface. The fabricated small-area FL using CNT film cathode exhibited better field emission property and high luminance brightness.
A Training-free Classification Framework for Textures, Writers, and Materials

We advocate the idea of a training-free texture classification scheme. This we demonstrate not only for traditional texture benchmarks, but also for the identification of materials and of the writers of musical scores. State-of-the-art methods operate using local descriptors, their intermediate representation over trained dictionaries, and classifiers. For the first two steps, we work with pooled local Gaussian derivative filters and a small dictionary not obtained through training, resp. Moreover, we build a multi-level representation similar to a spatial pyramid which captures region-level information. An extra step robustifies the final representation by means of comparative reasoning. As to the classification step, we achieve robust results using nearest neighbor classification, and state-of-the-art results with a collaborative strategy. Also these classifiers need no training. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed system yields top results on five standard benchmarks: 99.4% for CUReT, 97.3% for Brodatz, 99.5% for UMD, 99.4% for KTHTIPS, and 99% for UIUC. We significantly improve the state-of-the-art for three other benchmarks: KTHTIPS2b 66.3% (from 58.1%), CVC-MUSCIMA 99.8% (from 77.0%), and FMD 55.8% (from 54%).
Frequent Occult Infection with Cytomegalovirus in Cardiac Transplant Recipients despite Antiviral Prophylaxis

ABSTRACT Despite antiviral prophylaxis, a high percentage (over 90%) of heart transplant patients experience active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, diagnosed by detection of viral DNA in peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes within the first few months posttransplantation. Viral DNA was detected in mononuclear cells prior to detection in granulocytes from CMV-seropositive recipients (R+) receiving a heart from a CMV-seropositive donor (D+). Based on assessment of systemic infection in leukocyte populations, both R+ subgroups (R+/D− and R+/D+) experienced a greater infection burden than the R−/D+ subgroup, which was aggressively treated because of a higher risk of acute CMV disease. Despite widespread systemic infection in all at-risk patient subgroups, CMV DNA was rarely (<3% of patients) detected in transplanted heart biopsy specimens. The R+ patients more frequently exceeded the 75th percentile of the CMV DNA copy number distribution in leukocytes (110 copies/105 polymorphonuclear leukocytes) than the R−/D+ subgroup. Therefore, active systemic CMV infection involving leukocytes is common in heart transplant recipients receiving prophylaxis to reduce acute disease. Infection of the transplanted organ is rare, suggesting that chronic vascular disease attributed to CMV may be driven by the consequences of systemic infection.
Impact of global warming assessed from evolution of temperature relevance networks

This study assesses the impact of global warming in evolution process of temperature relevance networks. Temperature relevance networks are constructed from temperature curves with permutation tests to select statistically significant edges. After the networks were constructed, we employ sub-graph ration profile to study structure of the networks, come to the conclusion that mean temperature and relative sub-graph ratio for four-node complete graph changes in opposite directions and temperature relevance network will lose some features and become similar to corresponding randomized graph if the temperature keeps rising. Community structures are found in the networks, with motifs of the networks, we find that highly connected sub-graphs are more likely to appear in temperature relevance network than in randomized networks.
Cross-Frequency Power Correlations Reveal the Right Superior Temporal Gyrus as a Hub Region During Working Memory Maintenance

In the present study, we characterized within- and cross-frequency power correlations from magnetoencephalography (MEG) data in order to understand how different brain regions cooperate as a network to maintain working memory representations with several features. The working memory items were composed of spatially arranged dots supposedly requiring both the dorsal and the ventral stream to be engaged during maintenance. Using a beamforming technique, we localized memory-dependent sources in the alpha, beta, and gamma bands. After the single-trial power values were extracted from these frequency bands with respect to each source, we calculated the correlations within- and cross-frequency bands. The following general picture emerged: gamma power in right superior temporal gyrus (STG) during working memory maintenance was correlated with numerous other sources in the alpha band in prefrontal, parietal, and posterior regions. In addition, the power correlations within the alpha band showed correlations across posterior-parietal-frontal regions. From these findings, we suggest that the STG dominated by gamma activity serves as a hub region for the network nodes responsible for the retention of the stimulus used in this study, which is likely to depend on both the "where-" and the "what-" visual system simultaneously. The present study demonstrates how oscillatory dynamics reflecting the interaction between cortical areas can be investigated by means of cross-frequency power correlations in source space. This methodological framework could be of general utility when studying functional network properties of the working brain.
Permanent Magnet Couplings: Field and Torque Three-Dimensional Expressions Based on the Coulombian Model

This paper presents three-dimensional expressions for the optimization of permanent-magnet couplings. First, we give a fully analytical expression of the azimuthal field created by one arc-shaped permanent magnet radially polarized which takes into account its magnetic pole volume density. Such an expression has a very low computational cost and is exact for all points in space. Then, we propose two semianalytical expressions of the azimuthal force and the torque exerted between two arc-shaped permanent magnets. These expressions are valid for thick or thin arc-shaped permanent magnets. Furthermore, this approach allows us to realize easily parametric studies and optimizations. The analytical approach taken in this paper, based on the Coulombian model, is a good alternative compared to the finite element method generally used to study such configurations.
A ghrelin receptor agonist is an effective colokinetic in rats with diet‐induced constipation

Despite constipation being a common problem, the treatments that are available have side effects and are only partly effective. Recent studies show that centrally penetrant ghrelin receptor agonists cause defecation in humans and other species. Here, we describe some features of a rat model of low fiber‐induced constipation, and investigate the effectiveness of the ghrelin agonist, capromorelin.
Electronic component reliability

Some of my collegues have claimed that the reliability of electronic components, subassemblies and systems has constantly increased from the early days of the Bell’s first transistor and EC-series tubes, but for me a child of the semiconductor era, the situation does not look happy. Intelligent mobile phones crush within hours of purchase, smart electronic protection devices installed in modern cars prevent not only the burglars from driving but also the completely authorized use of the vechicle due to sudden malfunctions in the circuitry and, ultimately, expensive military jet aircraft perform a spectacular double Schalkow-double Lutz (adapted here from figure skating for the amusement of JAS designers) crash during their demonstration flight because some minor stupid silicon chip or a simple piece of wire did not feel very well that particular day. It seems although individual components get better performance figures, the design complexity exceeds the capabilities of reliability engineering and, thus, customers are actually getting worse products. Taking this perspective, Jensen’s book, Eleczronic Component Reliability, certainly has an interested audience.
Enhancing the Health-Promoting Effects of Tomato Fruit for Biofortified Food

Consumption of tomato fruits, like those of many other plant species that are part of the human diet, is considered to be associated with several positive effects on health. Indeed, tomato fruits are an important source of bioactive compounds with known beneficial effects including vitamins, antioxidants, and anticancer substances. In particular, antioxidant metabolites are a group of vitamins, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and phenolic acid that can provide effective protection by neutralizing free radicals, which are unstable molecules linked to the development of a number of degenerative diseases and conditions. In this review, we will summarize the recent progress on tomatoes nutritional importance and mechanisms of action of different phytochemicals against inflammation processes and prevention of chronic noncommunicable diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hypertension). In addition, we will summarize the significant progress recently made to improve the nutritional quality of tomato fruits through metabolic engineering and/or breeding.
Physical and sexual violence and incident sexually transmitted infections.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether women aged 13-35 who were victims of interpersonal violence were more likely than nonvictims to experience incident sexually transmitted infections (STIs). METHODS We examined 542 women aged 13-35 enrolled in Project PROTECT, a randomized clinical trial that compared two different methods of computer-based intervention to promote the use of dual methods of contraception. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire that included questions about their history of interpersonal violence and were followed for incident STIs over the 2-year study period. We compared the incidence of STIs in women with and without a history of interpersonal violence using bivariate analyses and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS In the bivariate analyses, STI incidence was found to be significantly associated with African American race/ethnicity, a higher number of sexual partners in the past month, and a lower likelihood of avoidance of sexual partners who pressure to have sex without a condom. In both crude and adjusted regression analyses, time to STI incidence was faster among women who reported physical or sexual abuse in the year before study enrollment (HRR(adj) = 1.68, 95% CI 1.06, 2.65). CONCLUSIONS Women with a recent history of abuse are at significantly increased risk of STI incidence than are nonvictims.
Executable Choreography Processes with Aspect-Sensitive Services

This paper presents an executable service choreography framework (ECF). Current choreography languages are specification languages. They are used at design time to define a mutual contract between services that are under the supervision of different domain controllers. Choreography contracts are established by specifying the observable sequence of messages that are exchanged between services. Some service collaborations only make sense in a particular context, and have a short life-cycle. Hence, there is a need for mechanisms that support on-demand deployment of peer-to-peer collaborations. The ECF proposes to express the global contracts between domains using business rules rather than application-specific messages sequences. Service collaborations can then evolve and be deployed in a more flexible way. ECF uses a distributed aspect platform to enable dynamic superimposition of collaboration activities. ECF also defines a relationship between the distributed composition units and global collaboration models, so that the correctness of ECF choreographies can be checked for using existing service composition modeling tools.
Groove Filling Characteristics and Strength of Form-Fit Joints Produced by Die-Less Hydroforming

The manufacturing of modern lightweight structures and the implementation of multi material concepts, for example in automotive engineering, entails appropriate joining technologies. The absence of additional connection elements or filling materials as well as the possibility to join dissimilar metals are basic requirements in this field of application to reach the aspired weight reduction. In case of tubular joints the die-less hydroforming process meets these demands and thus makes it an interesting alternative to conventional welding and riveting processes. The present work focuses on form fit joints produced by die-less hydroforming. It provides a verification of a previously presented analytical approach that allows the calculation of the working fluid pressure required to bulge the tube material into the groove of the outer joining partner. For that purpose, the groove filling characteristics of joined specimens with different groove geometries are analyzed. Here both joining partners were made of the aluminum alloy EN AW-6060. Additionally the connection strength of the joined specimens are determined using tensile tests. The results prove that the groove angle is the main influencing factor on the connection strength and that it can be used for an ordinal comparison of different groove geometries.
Assessment of planning ability: Psychometric analyses on the unidimensionality and construct validity of the Tower of London Task (TOL-F).

OBJECTIVE The Tower of London (TOL) is widely used to assess planning ability as a prototypical executive function in healthy and clinical populations. Despite its popularity, there is still no consensus on (a) whether the TOL measures a psychometrically unidimensional trait, and (b) how differences in problem structure relate to the difficulty of individual items. METHOD Employing the framework of factor analysis and item response theory we investigated these issues of construct validity in a sample of 798 participants (443 female; 16 to 84 years). Participants worked on the TOL-Freiburg version (TOL-F) comprising a set of 24 4- to 6-move problems, which--based on comprehensive cognitive task analyses-systematically differ with regard to several structural problem parameters (minimum number of moves, search depth, goal hierarchy). RESULTS Results revealed that TOL-F performance is mainly explained by 1 major factor, while further minor factors additionally account for smaller, but possibly still informative, shares of variance. Individual item difficulties can be predicted by the experimentally varied problem parameters to a high degree (r = .89) and can be considered stable across different levels of age, sex, education, and planning ability. CONCLUSION These findings demonstrate the TOL-F's construct validity as measuring planning ability in terms of an essentially unidimensional cognitive function while adhering to theory-driven concepts of task difficulty. TOL-F task performance hence represents an accurate, robust, and theoretically grounded estimation of a participant's planning ability. The results further highlight the merit of using established concepts from experimental psychology for improving neuropsychological assessment.
Biologic Treatments for Sports Injuries II Think Tank—Current Concepts, Future Research, and Barriers to Advancement, Part 1

Biologic therapies, including stem cells, platelet-rich plasma, growth factors, and other biologically active adjuncts, have recently received increased attention in the basic science and clinical literature. At the 2015 AOSSM Biologics II Think Tank held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a group of orthopaedic surgeons, basic scientists, veterinarians, and other investigators gathered to review the state of the science for biologics and barriers to implementation of biologics for the treatment of sports medicine injuries. This series of current concepts reviews reports the summary of the scientific presentations, roundtable discussions, and recommendations from this think tank.
Self-similar and self-affine characteristics of microstructural images of HSLA steel

Abstract This paper reports a procedure based on discrete Fourier transformation adopted for verifying statistical self-affinity and self-similarity in microstructural images of high strength low alloy steel. The procedure is first applied on synthetic images based on fractional Brownian motion to show the degree of self-similarity in them and finally, applied on microstructural images of three different magnifications. Effects of length scales on power spectral estimates of the microstructural images captured by scanning electron microscopy have been discussed. Importance of appropriate image resolutions and characteristic length for fractal based quantification of microstructural images is highlighted.
Robust Color Object Recognition for a Service Robotic Task in the System FRIEND II

One of the key requirements of service and rehabilitation robotic systems is the robust perception of the environment. This paper presents the machine vision framework within the rehabilitation robotic system FRIEND II and a method for improving the visual perceptual capability of this system. For the reliable, autonomous performing of the "beverage serving" task robust visual information about the objects to be manipulated in the presence of variable lighting conditions is necessary. A novel aspect of the proposed color object recognition method is its use of feedback control at the image segmentation level, which makes it able to cope with the object color uncertainty caused by different illumination conditions. The idea behind the closed-loop image segmentation is to provide the object recognition step with input data on which it can rely. The proposed object recognition method uses Hu moments which are invariant to rotation, translation and scaling of the object in the image. The benefit of the closed-loop color object recognition in service robotics is demonstrated through the example of the recognition of the green bottle. The presented experimental results on the performance evaluation show that the proposed method has robustness with respect to illumination as well as with respect to the different localization of the object to be manipulated.
Context-Free Grammar Rewriting and the Transfer of Packed Linguistic Representations

We propose an algorithm for the trausfer of packed linguistic structures, that is, finite collections of labelled graphs which share certain subparts. A labelled graph is seen as a word over a vocabulary of description elements (nodes, arcs, labels), and a collection of graphs as a set of such words, that is, as a language over description elements. A packed representation for the collection of graphs is then viewed as a context-free grammar which generates such a language. We present an algorithm that uses a conventional set of transfer rules but is capable of rewriting the CFG representing the source packed structure into a CFG representing the target packed structure that preserves the compaction properties of the source CFG.