Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Systematic Statistical Approach to Evaluating Evidence from Observational Studies

Threats to the validity of observational studies on the effects of interventions raise questions about the appropriate role of such studies in decision making. Nonetheless, scholarly journals in fields such as medicine, education, and the social sciences feature many such studies, often with limited exploration of these threats, and the lay press is rife with news stories based on these studies. Consumers of these studies rely on the expertise of the study authors to conduct appropriate analyses, and on the thoroughness of the scientific peer-review process to check the validity, but the introspective and ad hoc nature of the design of these analyses appears to elude any meaningful objective assessment of their performance. Here, we review some of the challenges encountered in observational studies and review an alternative, data-driven approach to observational study design, execution, and analysis. Although much work remains, we believe this research direction shows promise.
Medical Debt and Consumer Credit Counseling Services

Medical debt, often the result of seeking costly needed care, has recently been identified as a barrier to care as well as a threat to families' financial well-being. Surveying households that seek credit counseling services, the authors offer new insight into the financial consequences of medical problems and the conditions under which they occur. They find that almost 40% of households seeking credit counseling services report that a medical problem contributed to their debt problem. They also find that single-female headed households and older households are more likely to have a medical problem that had financial consequences, and that having heath insurance does not necessarily protect households from burdensome health care costs. The authors conclude with policy recommendations for improving this situation, including better health insurance coverage and better understanding of the rules and regulations under which providers operate.
Branched chain mechanism of polymerization and ultrastructure of prion protein amyloid fibrils

The discovery of prion disease and the establishment of the protein only hypothesis of prion propagation raised substantial interest in the class of maladies referred to as conformational diseases. Although significant progress has been made in elucidating the mechanisms of polymerization for several amyloidogenic proteins and peptides linked to conformational disorders and solving their fibrillar 3D structures, studies of prion protein amyloid fibrils and their polymerization mechanism have proven to be very difficult. The present minireview introduces the mechanism of branched‐chain reaction for describing the peculiar kinetics of prion polymerization and summarizes our current knowledge about the substructure of prion protein amyloid fibrils.
Missed opportunities in addressing drinking behavior in medical and mental health services.

BACKGROUND Epidemiological and clinical literature point to the importance of screening for alcohol problems in medical and psychiatric settings. However, little is known about which problem drinkers seek help from those services or about the characteristics of those who have their drinking addressed. METHODS We interviewed a probability sample of adult dependent and problem drinkers in the general population (n = 672) and consecutive admissions to chemical dependency programs in a northern California county (n = 926). We reinterviewed them 1 year later and measured medical and mental health visits and whether their drinking was addressed during the visit. RESULTS Almost two-thirds of problem drinkers had a medical visit, and approximately one-third had a mental health visit, yet drinking was not often discussed, especially during medical visits. Many of those more likely to have a visit were not more likely to have their drinking addressed. Women and individuals older than 40 years had more medical and mental health visits [odds ratio (OR), 1.71; p < 0.001 and OR, 1.55; p < 0.001, respectively, for women; OR, 1.57; p < 0.05 and OR, 1.64; p < 0.05, respectively, for age >/=40 years], but were not more likely to have their drinking addressed in either setting, and women were less likely than men to have their drinking addressed in mental health settings (OR, 0.62; p < 0.05). Those with higher alcohol severity and those who had attended chemical dependency treatment during the previous year were more likely to have their drinking addressed in each setting. Insurance status predicted medical, but not mental health, visits and was not related to having drinking addressed in either setting. CONCLUSIONS Drinking behavior was not routinely addressed by medical and mental health practitioners for dependent and problem-drinking men and women who presented in public and private medical and mental health settings.
Sentiment classification of Chinese online reviews: analysing and improving supervised machine learning

With the boost of online reviews, a large quantity of consumers' opinions on certain products and services are generated and spread over the internet, thus techniques of sentiment classification for online reviews rise in response to the requirement of retrieving valuable information. This paper is mainly focused on improving sentiment classification of Chinese online reviews through analysing and improving each step in supervised machine learning. At first, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs are selected as the initial text features. Then, three statistic methods (DF, IG and CHI) are utilised to extract features. At last, a Boolean method is applied to set weight to features and a support vector machine (SVM) is employed as the classifier. Several comparative experiments have been conducted on reviews of two domains: mobile phone (product) reviews and hotel (service) reviews. The experimental results indicate that part of speech (POS), the number of features, evaluation domain, feature extraction algorithm and kernel function of SVM have great influences on sentiment classification, while the number of training corpora has a little impact. In addition, further improvements of DF IG and CHI have been made, which demonstrate the theoretical significance and the practical value of this research.
Bandwidth Improvement of Microstrip Antenna Array Using Dummy EBG Pattern on Feedline

Microstrip patch antennas have several advantages over conventional antennas including their low proflle structure, light weight and low cost. As such, they have been widely used in a variety of applications. However, one of the major drawbacks of this antenna is the low bandwidth. In this paper, bandwidth of a dual patch antenna is improved by etching dummy EBG pattern on the feedline. Efiects of difierent positions of the feedline on the bandwidth are also studied. A good improvement in bandwidth for the antenna with the dummy EBG pattern when compared to the reference antenna is obtained for all the feedline positions.
Secure Collaborative Social Networks

A social network is the mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between individuals, groups, organizations, computers, websites, and other information/knowledge processing entities. The nodes in the network are the people and groups, while the links show relationships or flows between the nodes. Social networks provide both a visual and a mathematical analysis of relationships. Social network has been researched for a while. However, to our best knowledge, privacy-preserving social networks have not been well explored. In this paper, we would like to address how to build up a social network involving multiple parties. Data collection is a necessary step in the social-network-construction process. Due to privacy reasons, collecting data from different parties becomes difficult and these concerns may prevent the parties from directly sharing the data. How multiple parties collaboratively construct a social network without breaching data privacy presents a challenge. The objective of this paper is to provide a solution for privacy-preserving collaborative social-network problem.
Tectonic development of the southern Chinese Altai Range as determined by structural geology, thermobarometry, 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology, and Th/Pb ion-microprobe monazite geochronology

The 2500-km Altai Range is located in the central part of the Central Asia Orogenic System, a tectonic collage comprising oceanic and continental fragments that were assembled during the Paleozoic continental growth of Eurasia. We conducted field mapping, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar thermochronology, metamorphic petrology, and Th/Pb ion-microprobe monazite dating in the southern Chinese Altai Range. This study demonstrates the presence of a south-vergent, Permo-Triassic thrust belt active across the region. Metamorphic conditions of 610 ± 35 °C and 5.7 ± 1.8 kbar were reached by schists with Permo-Triassic monazite ages. Mica 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages range from Late Permian to Jurassic, and cooling in these rocks is correlated with thrust faulting. This shortening was synchronous with localized left-lateral, strike-slip shear deformation. Our work suggests that the high-grade schists of the Altai orogen were buried to depths of more than 18–20 km and were exhumed in the Permian to Jurassic. The Permo-Triassic Altai thrust belt was reactivated locally by Late Jurassic contraction after ca. 160 Ma, which may result from the final closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean or the collision of the Lhasa block onto the southern Asian margin.
Pathogenic Neisseria Trigger Expression of Their Carcinoembryonic Antigen-related Cellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (CEACAM1; Previously CD66a) Receptor on Primary Endothelial Cells by Activating the Immediate Early Response Transcription Factor, Nuclear Factor-κB*

Neisseria gonorrhoeae express opacity-associated (Opa) protein adhesins that mediate binding to various members of the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cellular adhesion molecule (CEACAM; previously CD66) receptor family. Although human umbilical vein endothelial cells express little CEACAM receptor in vitro, we found neisserial infection to induce expression of CEACAM1, CEACAM1-3L, and CECAM1-4L splice variants. This mediates an increased Opa52-dependent binding of gonococci by these cells. The induced receptor expression did not require bacterial Opa expression, but it was more rapid with adherent bacteria. Because the time course of induction was similar to that seen for induced proinflammatory cytokines, we tested whether CEACAM1 expression could be controlled by a similar mechanism. Gonococcal infection activated a nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) heterodimer consisting of p50 and p65, and inhibitors that prevent the nuclear translocation of activated NF-κB complex inhibited CEACAM1 transcript expression. Each of these effects could be mimicked by using culture filtrates or purified lipopolysaccharide instead of intact bacteria. Together, our results support a model whereby the outer membrane “blebs” that are actively released by gonococci trigger a Toll-like receptor-4-dependent activation of NF-κB, which up-regulates the expression of CEACAM1 to allow Opa52-mediated neisserial binding. The regulation of CEACAM1 expression by NF-κB also implies a broader role for this receptor in the general inflammatory response to infection.
A Novel Resonant Ground Structure Based on a Cavity-Backed DGS

In this letter, a new resonant ground structure (RGS) based on a cavity-backed DGS is proposed. The proposed RGS is similar to a DGS and is modeled by a parallel RLC resonance circuit. Since the proposed RGS utilizes a substrate-filled metallic cavity (SFMC) underneath the DGS, it leads to no back-radiation and high quality factor. The frequency responses and structural parameters are analyzed and verified via simulation and measurement. The quality factor of the proposed RGS with a spiral-shaped defect is larger than that of the DGS with the same defect by a factor of 7.4.
A semi-two-stage dual-buck transformerless PV grid-tied inverter

A semi-two-stage dual-buck transformerless PV grid-tied inverter is proposed in this paper. The dc-ac stage of the proposed inverter is formed by a dual-buck inverter with intrinsic low leakage currents characteristic and a power flow path. Part of the PV panel power can be supplied to the utility grid directly through this power flow path, without being transferred by the front-end Boost converter. Therefore, the efficiency of the proposed inverter can be higher than that of the conventional two-stage transformerless grid-tied inverter. The proposed inverter is analyzed in detail with operation modes given. Two modulation strategies are presented with the MPPT implementation method given. A prototype is built to verify the effectiveness of the proposed inverter and its modulation strategies.
A graded index ring-core fiber supporting 22 OAM states

We present a graded index ring-core fiber for long-distance OAM mode transmission. Due to the graded index profile of the ring-shaped fiber core, the supported OAM modes are more pure and degenerate than those in the step-index ring-core fibers. A simple ring-core fiber design scheme is introduced. This scheme illustrates the relationship between the mode effective refractive indices and the designed ring-core structure parameters. 5 orders of OAM modes are excited in the fiber. The purity of OAM states after 1 km transmission is verified by spiral phase demodulation.
Mutational analysis of simian virus 40 T antigen: stimulation of cellular DNA synthesis and activation of rRNA genes by mutants with deletions in the T-antigen gene

The biological activity of several deletion mutants of simian virus 40, cloned in pBR322, was determined. Three functions of the simian virus 40 A gene were studied: (i) the ability to express T antigen; (ii) the ability to induce cell DNA replication; and (iii) the ability to reactivate silent rRNA genes in hybrid cells. Recombinant plasmid DNA was introduced into cells by manual microinjection or by transfection. The results (together with previous reports) indicate that the critical sequences for these three functions are located separately on the simian virus 40 A gene, as follows: (i) the sequences necessary for the detection of the common antigenic determinant of T antigen extend from nucleotide 4147 to nucleotide 4001 (map units 0.45 to 0.42); (ii) the sequences critical for the stimulation of cell DNA synthesis extend from nucleotide 4327 to nucleotide 4001 (map units 0.49 to 0.42); and (iii) those critical for the reactivation of rRNA genes extend approximately from nucleotide 3827 to nucleotide 3526 (map units 0.39 to 0.33).
Involving patients in clinical research

Education and debate p 774 Traditionally, patients have been involved in research as “subjects,” or even “objects,” but definitely not as colleagues. In 1995 the BMJ argued that “patients should help to decide which research is conducted, help to plan the research and interpret the data, and hear the results before anybody else. ”1 How far have we come in the past four years in realising these hopes? We need to recognise that patients (participants, users, consumers, what you will)2 3 have the experience and skills that complement those of researchers. They know what it feels like to suffer a particular disease and to undergo the treatments with their various side effects. They will have a good idea of which research questions are worth asking, and when a question should be framed differently.4 For instance, researchers at Mount Vernon Hospital hypothesised that moving follow up breast cancer clinics to primary care might relieve the burden on hospital outpatient clinics. After consulting women with experience of the problem, however, the protocol was redesigned to address the issue of easier access to specialists.5 Some progress has certainly been made in the …
Effect of ale, garlic, and soured cream on the appetite of leeches

The medicinal leech has regained some of its lost popularity by its present use in microsurgery. Sometimes, however, the leeches refuse to cooperate properly. To overcome this problem doctors in the 19th century used to immerse leeches in strong beer before applying them to the patient.1 In the 1920s a deaconess experienced that a little soured cream on the skin would encourage the leeches' feeding behaviour,2 and we recently found that they seem to be attracted by garlic.3 We designed a study to evaluate the effect of these remedies. Six leeches were dipped briefly in one of two different types of beer (Guinness stout or Hansa bock) or in water (control) before being placed on the forearm of one of us (HS). We measured the time from when the leech touched the skin until HS felt it bite. Each leech …
Broadband millimeter-wave quasi-Yagi antenna using Substrate Integrated Waveguide technique

This paper presents a novel approach of designing broadband quasi-Yagi dipole antenna using Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) techniques. The antenna configuration involves a newly proposed broadband microstrip-to-broadside parallel stripline transition and a two element printed quasi-Yagi array. As an antenna feeding network, the proposed transition is constructed on the basis of the SIW scheme which can achieve a broadband performance and offer several advantages over other counterparts such as low insertion loss, good design tolerance and compact circuit size over millimeter wave range. The design concept has been validated experimentally.
Recycling of murein by Escherichia coli

The tripeptide (L-Ala-D-Glu-meso-diaminopimelic acid [A2pm]), tetrapeptide (L-Ala-D-Glu-A2pm-D-Ala), and dipeptide (A2pm-D-Ala) which are shed by Escherichia coli from the murein sacculus were found to be reused by the cells to synthesize murein. The tripeptide was used directly, without degradation, to form UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-L-Ala-D-Glu-A2pm. The tetrapeptide lost its carboxy-terminal D-Ala, apparently in the periplasm, before being used. The dipeptide was degraded to D-Ala and A2pm before uptake.
Influence of hyperbaric oxygenation treatment (HBOT) on clinical outcomes (recurrent myocardial infarction and survival rate) during five-year monitoring period after acute myocardial infarction

Surgical treatments of acute myocardial infarction (MI) possess a high clinical effectiveness, but there are fixed limitations, related to the patient’s state, which are limited by medical resources and organizational problems. The development of new medical technologies provides a better and effective non-surgical treatment of acute MI and increases long-term prognosis in this category of patients. The study aims to investigate the influence of hyperbaric oxygenation treatment on clinical outcomes (survival rate and recurrent myocardial infarction (rMI)) during the five-year period of monitoring. The study involved 697 patients who suffered from acute MI, having undergone the standard treatment. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: Group 1 (reference, n = 363); Group 2 (test, n = 334). Patients of Group 2 were given the traditional treatment, accompanied with HBOT (isopression for forty minutes at a working pressure of 0.03 MPa). HBOT was applied first through the fifth day following MI. The treatment course included six cycles, once per day. The clinical assessment was focused on clinical outcome: rMI and mortality related to cardiovascular events. HBOT application that accompanied the acute MI with traditional pharmacotherapy has been proved to reduce rMI within five years following inpatient discharge (rMI rate was 14% in the reference group and 5.4% in the test group, χ2 = 13.3, р
Positron-lifetime study of polycrystalline Ni-P alloys with ultrafine grains.

Polycrystalline Ni-P alloys with ultrafine grains from a few to one hundred nanometers in size prepared by the crystallization method have been studied by using positron-lifetime spectroscopy. Two kinds of microdefect were found in the interfaces of the Ni-P samples: free volumes (the size of which is smaller than a monovacancy) and microvoids. Variations on the interfacial defects with grain size were revealed by an analysis of the lifetime results. The interface characteristics derived from the positron-lifetime results can be used to give a satisfactory interpretation of the dependence of mechanical behaviors on the grain size. Differences between the interfacial defects of the nanocrystalline materials prepared by the ultrafine-powder compaction method and by the crystallization method were also discussed
Causal and compositional generative models in online perception

From a quick glance or the touch of an object, our brains map sensory signals to scenes composed of rich and detailed shapes and surfaces. Unlike the standard pattern recognition approaches to perception, we argue that this mapping draws on internal causal and compositional models of the outside physical world, and that such internal models underlie the generalization capacity of human perception. Here, we present a generative model of visual and multisensory perception in which the latent variables encode intrinsic properties of objects such as their shapes and surfaces in addition to their extrinsic properties such as pose and occlusion. These latent variables can be composed in novel ways and are inputs to sensory-specific causal models that output sense-specific signals. We present a novel recognition network that performs efficient inference in the generative model, computing at a speed similar to online perception. We show that our model, but not an alternative baseline model or a lesion of our model, can account for human performance in an occluded face matching task and in a cross-modal visual-to-haptic face matching task.
Long-term results of blood and marrow transplantation for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

PURPOSE To evaluate the long-term outcome after allogeneic (allo) and autologous (auto) blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the outcome of 157 consecutive patients with relapsed or refractory HL, who underwent BMT between March 1985 and April 1998. Patients <or= age 55 with HLA-matched siblings were prioritized toward allo BMT. The median age was 28 years (range, 13 to 52 years) for the 53 allo patients and 30.5 years (range, 11 to 62 years) for the 104 auto patients. RESULTS The median follow-up after BMT for surviving patients was 5.1 years (range, 1 to 13.8 years). For the entire group, the probabilities of event-free survival (EFS) and relapse at 10 years were 26% (95% confidence interval [CI], 18% to 33%) and 58% (95% CI, 48% to 69%), respectively. According to multivariate analysis, disease status before BMT (sensitive relapse if responding to conventional-dose therapy or resistant disease if not) (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.39, P < .0001) and date of BMT (HR = 0.93, P = .004) were independent predictors of EFS, whereas only disease status (HR = 0.35, P < .0001) influenced relapse. There was a trend for probability of relapse in sensitive patients to be less after allo BMT at 34% (range, 8% to 59%) versus 51% (range, 36% to 67%) for the auto patients (HR = 0.51, P = .17). There was a continuing risk of relapse or secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML)/myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) for 12 years after auto BMT, whereas there were no cases of secondary AML/MDS or relapses beyond 3 years after allo BMT. CONCLUSION There seems to be a clinical graft-versus-HL effect associated with allo BMT. Allo BMT for HL also seems to have a lower risk of secondary AML/MDS than auto BMT. Thus, allo BMT warrants continued study in HL.