Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Defining the Impact of Resident Participation on Outcomes After Appendectomy

Objective:To determine whether resident participation impacts complication rates after appendectomy. Background:The effect of resident participation on postoperative outcomes has not been well defined. Methods:Data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant User File from 2005 through 2009 were used to assess the association between resident participation during appendectomy and postoperative complication rates. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for patient comorbidity, surgical approach, and severity of appendiceal disease. Similar analyses were performed to determine whether outcomes after appendectomy are influenced by the postgraduate training level of the participating surgical resident. Results:A total of 54,467 appendectomy procedures were included in our analysis. Resident participation was an independent risk factor for major complications [adjusted odds ratio 1.27 (95% CI 1.14–1.42), P < 0.0001] after appendectomy. Increasing seniority of the participating resident was associated with longer operative time and higher postoperative complications rates. Conclusions:Resident participation represents an independent risk factor for postoperative complications after appendectomy.
Event relation acquisition using dependency patterns and confidence-weighted co-occurrence statistics

Event relation knowledge is important for deep language understanding and inference. Previous work has established automatic acquisition methods of event relations that focus on common sense knowledge acquisition from large-scale unlabeled corpus. However, in the case of domain-specific knowledge acquisition, such a method can not acquire much knowledge due to the limited amount of available knowledge sources. We propose an coverage-oriented acquisition method of event relations. The proposed method utilizes various patterns of dependency structures co-occurring with event relations than the existing method relying only on direct dependency relations between events. Experimental results show that the proposed method can acquire a larger amount of positive relation instances while keeping higher precision compared with the existing method and the proposed method also performs well for small sizes of corpora.
Competitive sorption of nickel , copper , lead and cadmium on okra leaves ( Abelmoschus esculentus )

In this study, potential of okra leaves for the removal of Ni(II), Cu(II), Pb(II) and Cd(II) from the mixed metal aqueous solution were evaluated. The data were analyzed by Freundlich, Langmuir, D-R, Flory-Huggins and Halsey adsorption models. Pseudo first order rate, Pseudo second order rate, Morris-Weber and Elovich equations were employed to understand the kinetics of the reaction. The characterization of the adsorbent was carried out by EDX and FTIR techniques. The order of maximum metal uptake calculated by D-R isotherm was Cu(II) > Pb(II) > Cd(II) and Ni(II), 453 mg g, 81 mg g, 13.82 mg g and 1 mg g respectively, with the energy of adsorption in the range of 9-15 for Ni(II) and Cd(II) expected for the ion exchange nature of adsorption and 7-8 for Cu(II) and Pb(II) showing the physical nature of adsorption. The calculated thermodynamic parameters like Gibbs free energy and enthalpy change demonstrate that adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. Further it was observed that all four metal ions could be adsorbed at pH 6 with detection limits of 0.04-0.1 μg L. The method was successfully applied for the removal of these metal ions from the ground water, tap water and wastewater samples collected from different areas of Pakistan.
Arabic Text Classification using Feature-Reduction Techniques for Detecting Violence on Social Media

With the current increase in the number of online users, there has been a concomitant increase in the amount of data shared online. Techniques for discovering knowledge from these data can provide us with valuable information when it comes to detecting different problems, including violence. Violence is one of the significant problems humanity has faced in recent years all over the world, and this is especially a problem in Arabic countries. To address this issue, this research focuses on detecting violence-related tweets to help in solving this problem. Text mining is an important technique that can be used to find and predict information from text. In this study, a text classification model is built for detecting violence in Arabic dialects on Twitter using different feature-reduction approaches. The experiment comprises bagging, K-nearest neighbors (KNN), and Bayesian boosting using different extraction features, namely, root-based stemming, light stemming, and n-grams. In addition, the study used the following feature-reduction techniques: support vector machine (SVM), Chi-squared (CHI), the Gini index, correlation, rules, information gain (IG), deviation, symmetrical uncertainty, and the IG ratio. The experiment showed that the bagging with tri-gram approach has the highest accuracy at 86.61%, and a combination of IG with SVM from reduction features registers an accuracy of 90.59%.
A Survey on Gender and Emotion Recognition Using Voice

The voice of a person plays an important role in analyzing people. From voice of the person we not only recognize the gender of the person but also detect the emotion of the person. Gender recognition and emotion detection both has its importance in forensics, games, in security purposes and of course in our day to day life. This paper proposes a system that allows recognizing a person’s emotional state starting from audio signal registrations. Identifying the gender and emotion of a speaker from speech has a variety of applications ranging from speech analytics to personalizing human-machine interactions. While gender identification in previous works has explored the use of the statistical properties of the speaker’s pitch features, in this project, we explore the impact of using acoustic features on identifying gender. In addition to gender we will also predict the emotion of speaker using the same acoustic values. We present a novel approach that models acoustic properties in the interest of identifying the speaker’s gender and emotion with as little speech as possible. In this project we will investigate two datasets containing voice samples of over 3000 people for gender and over 1000 voice samples for emotions.
THE EFFECTS OF FACTORS OF INTERNAL MARKETING ON COMPONENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN FOUR AND FIVE STAR HOTELS LOCATED IN CAPPADOCIA

The aim of the study is to research the effects of factors of internal marketing on components of organizational commitment in four and five star hotels in Cappadocia (Nevsehir). The questionnaire prepared for this purpose was applied on the hotel employees. The data were analyzed through factor analysis and regression analysis. The findings of the research show that communication, rewards and cooperation-integration factors were significant predictors of affective commitment, and cooperation-integration, communication, rewards and motivation policies had a significant positive effect on normative commitment. Also, it can be said that motivation factor has a positive effect on continuance commitment. According to research findings, it is advised that managers should use internal communication methods efficiently as strategic tool to strengthen affective and normative commitment among employees.
ncorporation of antimicrobial peptides on functionalized cotton auzes for medical applications

A large group of low molecular weight natural compounds that exhibit antimicrobial activity has been isolated from animals and plants during the past two decades. Among them, peptides are the most widespread resulting in a new generation of antimicrobial agents with higher specific activity. In the present study we have developed a new strategy to obtain antimicrobial wound-dressings based on the incorporation of antimicrobial peptides into polyelectrolyte multilayer films built by the alternate deposition of polycation (chitosan) and polyanion (alginic acid sodium salt) over cotton gauzes. Energy dispersive X ray microanalysis technique was used to determine if antimicrobial peptides penetrated within the films. FTIR analysis was performed to assess the chemical linkages, and antimicrobial assays
Bacteriocins and other antibacterial substances

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Inhibiting factors produced by lactic acid bacteria. 2. Bacteriocins and other antibacterial substances Jc Piard, M Desmazeaud
Art therapy improves coping resources: A randomized, controlled study among women with breast cancer

Objective: Women with breast cancer suffer from considerable stress related to the diagnosis, surgery, and medical treatment. It is important to develop strategies to strengthen coping resources among these women. Research in art therapy has shown outcomes such as an increase in self-esteem and cohesion, significant improvement in global health, and a decrease in anxiety and depression. The aim of the present article was to describe the effects of an art therapy intervention program on coping resources in women with primary breast cancer. Method: In this article, we report some of the results from a study including 41 women, aged 37–69 years old, with nonmetastatic primary breast cancer, referred to the Department of Oncology at Umeå University Hospital in Sweden for postoperative radiotherapy. The women represented various socioeconomic backgrounds. They were randomized to a study group (n = 20) with individual art therapy for 1 h/week during postoperative radiotherapy or to a control group (n = 21). The article focuses on changes in coping resources, as measured by the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) before and 2 and 6 months after the start of radiotherapy. The study protocol was approved by the Umeå University Ethical Committee at the Medical Faculty (archive number 99–386). Results: There was an overall increase in coping resources among women with breast cancer after taking part in the art therapy intervention. Significant differences were seen between the study and control groups in the social domain on the second and third occasions. Significant differences were also observed in the total score on the second occasion. Significance of results: This study shows that individual art therapy provided by a trained art therapist in a clinical setting can give beneficial support to women with primary breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy, as it can improve their coping resources.
In VivoDynamic-ClampManipulation of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Conductances : Functional Roles of Shunting Inhibition and I BK inRat andCatCortex

We present in vivo dynamic-clamp electrophysiological recordings to characterize the influences of shunting inhibition and the potassium current IBK on the input–output (I/O) transfer function of cortical neurons, in response to both artificial (injected current or conductance) and functional visual stimuli. In comparison to previous experimental and theoretical studies, we find that realistic levels of shunting inhibition have a significant divisive effect on the firing gain. We also quantitatively characterize the effect of shunting inhibition on threshold and saturation. Shunting inhibition applied by dynamic-clamp also has a non-linear effect on visual responses, not only reducing the response but also significantly changing the timing of the response.We confirmpredictions that IBK facilitates spike firing, despite this being a hyperpolarizing current. This effect is demonstrated by an increase in both the gain of the I/O transfer function, e.g. the f/I curve, and visual responses.
Responses of Holstein cows to a low dose of somatotropin (bST) prepartum and postpartum.

Objectives were to evaluate the effects of a low dose of bovine somatotropin (bST) injected prepartum and postpartum on body condition score (BCS), body weight (BW), and milk yield (MY) in cows as well as somatotropin insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), glucose, and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) in plasma. Holstein cows nearing second or later parities were assigned randomly to control (CON = 98) or bST-treated (TRT = 95) groups. Biweekly injections of bST began 21 +/- 3 d before expected calving and continued through 42 d postpartum (CON vs. TRT; 0 vs. 10.2 mg of bST/ d). From 42 to 100 d postpartum, no cows received bST. During yr 1, somatotropin, IGF-I, insulin, NEFA, and glucose were measured in plasma samples from 82 cows. During yr 2, effects of bST on BCS and BW of 111 cows were evaluated, but no blood samples were collected. Milk yields through 100 d of all 193 cows were analyzed. Prepartum treatment with bST resulted in greater prepartum plasma concentrations of somatotropin, insulin, and numerically greater NEFA but did not affect glucose or IGF-I. Postpartum bST increased mean plasma concentrations of somatotropin and NEFA, but not INS, IGF-I, or glucose. Mean BCS of cows did not differ prepartum, around parturition, or postpartum. Although mean BW did not differ prepartum or around calving, cows receiving bST maintained greater BW postpartum. Cows receiving bST tended to have higher MY (6.6%) in the first 60 d of lactation, but differences did not persist through 100 d, including approximately 40 d when no cows received bST. Number of cows that were culled due to health (CON = 3 vs. TRT = 2) or died (CON = 3 vs. TRT = 1) were not affected by treatment. Low doses of bST in the transition period resulted in higher postpartum BW, quicker recovery of body condition during lactation, and significantly more milk during treatment.
The Local Impact of Armed Conflict on Childrenâ€™s Nutrition and Health Outcomes: Evidence from Chad

This study examines the local and indirect impacts of the 2005-2010 armed conflict on under- five yearsâ€™ old childrenâ€™s nutrition and health outcomes in Chad. We exploit spatial variation of the number of attacks at the district level and assess the indirect impacts of motherâ€™s exposure to the conflict on their less than five years old childrenâ€™s anthropometrics. We use unique dataset from the 2014/2015 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS-MICS) with GPS location of householdsâ€™ clusters combined with the 2005-2010 ACLED geo-localised data on armed conflict in Chad. Our empirical analysis establishes a negative and significant impact of armed conflict on childrenâ€™s anthropometric Z scores as well as their likelihood of stunting, underweight, and wasting. We also find that mothers exposed to the conflict are more likely to have children with lower weight and size at birth. Our results are robust after purging the conflict-induced migration effects. Key mechanisms include motherâ€™s access and utilisation of healthcare facilities and services. We found that mothers who were exposed to the conflict were neither likely to deliver their children in hospital, nor likely to take iron pills or Vitamin A during and after pregnancy. It is therefore crucial for the Chadian government and the international humanitarian community to implement genuine health policy interventions directed to mothers at childbearing age (15-49) in order to sustain their access and provision of health care facilities and services during and shortly after the end of conflict.
Perceived Quality Levels and their Relation to Involvement , Satisfaction , and Purchase Intentions

This study investigated the effect of various perceived quality levels on product involvement, overall satisfaction and purchase intentions. The research involved a survey of 204 students at a Greek university. The results show that perceived perceptions of product quality were significantly related to all the variables under investigation. However, perceived quality explained more of the variance in overall satisfaction than in product involvement and purchase intentions.
Filtering of Brand-Related Microblogs Using Social-Smooth Multiview Embedding

In recent years, we have witnessed the boom of social media platforms, through which people have been generating a lot of social media data. This data touches almost every aspect of life and may have significant societal and marketing values for a variety of corporations and organizations. Thus, the development of effective techniques for gathering and analyzing social media content has attracted much research attention. As social media data tend to be heterogeneous, conversational, and fast evolving in content, a recent work reported a multifaceted approach to gather comprehensive brand-related data by crawling data using evolving keywords, key users, similar image content, and known locations. Although such approach has been found to be effective in gathering representative data, it also brings in a lot of noise. This paper aims to develop an accurate classifier to filter out noise by taking into account the multimedia content and social nature of brand-related data. In particular, we develop a microblog filtering method based on a discriminative social-aware multiview embedding. Besides the conventional content-based features, such as textual, low-level visual features, and high-level visual semantic features, that form the three key views of microblogs, we also incorporate the brand and social relations among the microblogs to learn a discriminative and social-aware embedding. With such a learned embedding, an off-the-shelf classifier, such as SVM, can then be trained and applied to microblog filtering. We verify the efficacy of our method on noise filtering in the brand data gathering task on the Brand-Social-Net dataset. Our approach is able to achieve significantly better filtering performance and improve the quality of brand data gathering.
CONTRASTING COREFERENCE IN CZECH AND GERMAN : FROM DIFFERENT FRAMEWORKS TO JOINT RESULTS

In this paper, we analyse coreference patterns in Czech and German. We specifically focus on different types of coreference chains and their properties, for instance, their length, number and functional subtypes of the elements inside these chains. We use two datasets annotated within different annotation frameworks, showing that this approach is possible if an interoperable analysis scheme is applied.
Novel microcephalic primordial dwarfism disorder associated with variants in the centrosomal protein ninein.

CONTEXT Microcephalic primordial dwarfism (MPD) is a rare, severe form of human growth failure in which growth restriction is evident in utero and continues into postnatal life. Single causative gene defects have been identified in a number of patients with MPD, and all involve genes fundamental to cellular processes including centrosome functions. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to find the genetic etiology of a novel presentation of MPD. DESIGN The design of the study was whole-exome sequencing performed on two affected sisters in a single family. Molecular and functional studies of a candidate gene were performed using patient-derived primary fibroblasts and a zebrafish morpholino oligonucleotides knockdown model. PATIENTS Two sisters presented with a novel subtype of MPD, including severe intellectual disabilities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES NIN, encoding Ninein, a centrosomal protein critically involved in asymmetric cell division, was identified as a candidate gene, and functional impacts in fibroblasts and zebrafish were studied. RESULTS From 34,606 genomic variants, two very rare missense variants in NIN were identified. Both probands were compound heterozygotes. In the zebrafish, ninein knockdown led to specific and novel defects in the specification and morphogenesis of the anterior neuroectoderm, resulting in a deformity of the developing cranium with a small, squared skull highly reminiscent of the human phenotype. CONCLUSION We identified a novel clinical subtype of MPD in two sisters who have rare variants in NIN. We show, for the first time, that reduction of ninein function in the developing zebrafish leads to specific deficiencies of brain and skull development, offering a developmental basis for the myriad phenotypes in our patients.
Red Blood Cell Transfusions and the Risk of Allosensitization in Patients Awaiting Primary Kidney Transplantation

Background Most studies of HLA sensitization after red blood cell transfusion in transplant candidates were done before widespread use of leukoreduced blood and based on relatively insensitive, nonspecific antibody assays. We evaluated the effect of transfusion on the breadth and magnitude of HLA antibody formation using current, sensitive, HLA-specific immunoassays. Methods Serial HLA antibody data were merged with transfusion data from the US Renal Data System for 1324 patients on the kidney transplant waitlist (2004–2010). Two study groups were identified: a matched cohort consisting of 89 patients who received transfusion and 251 patients who did not receive transfusion and a crossover cohort consisting of 69 patients. Changes in antibody levels and calculated panel-reactive antibody (CPRA) were compared using &khgr;2 and Sign tests, respectively. Logistic regression was used to estimate the relative risk of antibody responses. Results Among the matched cohort, 20% of those who received transfusion compared to 3% of those who did not receive transfusion exhibited an antibody response (P=0.001), whereas in the crossover cohort, 19% exhibited a response in those who received transfusion compared to 1% of those who did not receive transfusion (P=0.0001). Moreover, 26.3% of those who received transfusion had increased CPRA compared to 5.8% of those who did not receive transfusion . These effects were greater in women and blacks compared to men and whites, respectively. Importantly, patients who received transfusion were at an increased risk of a potentially crossmatch positive response (odds ratio=9.6, 95% confidence interval=3.0–30.7). Conclusions Sensitization from transfusion can occur in up to 20% of transplant candidates, resulting in higher antibody levels and CPRA values that adversely impact access to transplantation. These results support transfusion avoidance whenever possible.