Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of a safe and effective insulin infusion protocol in a medical intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE In a recent randomized controlled trial, lowering blood glucose levels to 80-110 mg/dl improved clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. In that study, the insulin infusion protocol (IIP) used to normalize blood glucose levels provided valuable guidelines for adjusting insulin therapy. In our hands, however, ongoing expert supervision was required to effectively manage the insulin infusions. This work describes our early experience with a safe, effective, nurse-implemented IIP that provides detailed insulin dosing instructions and requires minimal physician input. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We collected data from 52 medical intensive care unit (MICU) patients who were placed on the IIP. Blood glucose levels were the primary outcome measurement. Relevant clinical variables and insulin requirements were also recorded. MICU nurses were surveyed regarding their experience with the IIP. RESULTS To date, our IIP has been employed 69 times in 52 patients admitted to an MICU. Using the IIP, the median time to reach target blood glucose levels (100-139 mg/dl) was 9 h. Once blood glucose levels fell below 140 mg/dl, 52% of 5,808 subsequent hourly blood glucose values fell within our narrow target range; 66% within a "clinically desirable" range of 80-139 mg/dl; and 93% within a "clinically acceptable" range of 80-199 mg/dl. Only 20 (0.3%) blood glucose values were <60 mg/dl, none of which resulted in clinically significant adverse events. In general, the IIP was readily accepted by our MICU nursing staff, most of whom rated the protocol as both clinically effective and easy to use. CONCLUSIONS Our nurse-implemented IIP is safe and effective in improving glycemic control in critically ill patients.
An adaptive feature selection method for microarray data analysis

Feature selection is one of the most important research topics in high dimensional array data analysis. We propose a two-way filtering based method that utilizes a pair of statistics coupled with rigorous cross-validation to identify the most informative features from different types of distributions. We evaluate the utility of the proposed adaptive feature selection method on six MicroArray Quality Control Phase II (MAQC-II) datasets. The results show that our method yields models with significantly fewer features and can achieve comparable or superior classification performance compared to models generated from other feature selection methods, suggesting high quality feature selection.
DUAL-POLYELECTROLYTE ADSORPTION OF POLY(ALLYLAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE) AND XYLAN ONTO RECYCLED UNBLEACHED KRAFT PULPS

The effects of a double polyelectrolyte adsorption of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and xylan (Xyl) on a recycled unbleached softwood kraft pulp were studied. The kinetics of PAH adsorption on this pulp was analyzed by building adsorption isotherms and by estimating the surface nitrogen adsorbed through the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique. It was found that at pH 7.5, 0.01N NaCl, and short adsorption time, PAH is mainly adsorbed on the fiber surface. Adsorption isotherms of xylan on untreated and on previously PAH-treated pulps at different ionic strengths were built, and the effects of the amount of PAH on xylan adsorption were considered. It was found that when ionic strength was lower than 0.01N NaCl, a PAH pretreatment was necessary to achieve high levels of xylan adsorption at room temperature and short adsorption times. Nevertheless, when ionic strength was 0.1N NaCl, 0.3% xylan on pulp could be directly adsorbed on untreated pulp. Finally, it is shown that the dual-polyelectrolyte adsorption on this pulp is a feasible technique for improving paper tensile strength.
Does the Madden‐Julian Oscillation influence aerosol variability?

We investigate the modulation of aerosols by the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) using multiple, global satellite aerosol products: aerosol index (AI) from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on Nimbus-7, and aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on NOAA satellites. A composite MJO analysis indicates that large variations in the TOMS AI and MODIS/AVHRR AOT are found over the equatorial Indian and western Pacific Oceans where MJO convection is active, as well as the tropical Africa and Atlantic Ocean where MJO convection is weak but the background aerosol level is high. A strong inverse linear relationship between the TOMS AI and rainfall anomalies, but a weaker, less coherent positive correlation between the MODIS/AVHRR AOT and rainfall anomalies, were found. The MODIS/AVHRR pattern is consistent with ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network data. These results indicate that the MJO and its associated cloudiness, rainfall, and circulation variability systematically influence the variability in remote sensing aerosol retrieval results. Several physical and retrieval algorithmic factors that may contribute to the observed aerosol-rainfall relationships are discussed. Preliminary analysis indicates that cloud contamination in the aerosol retrievals is likely to be a major contributor to the observed relationships, although we cannot exclude possible contributions from other physical mechanisms. Future research is needed to fully understand these complex aerosol-rainfall relationships.
Chloroplast DNA transgresses species boundaries and evolves at variable rates in the California closed-cone pines (Pinus radiata, P. muricata, and P. attenuata).

We studied phylogenetic relationships among populations and species in the California closed-cone pines (Pinus radiata D. Don, P. attenuata Lemm., and P. muricata D. Don) via chloroplast DNA restriction site analysis. Data on genetic polymorphism within and among 19 populations in the three species were collected using 9 to 20 restriction enzymes and 38 to 384 trees. Because only five clades and extremely low intraclade diversity were found, additional phylogenetic data were collected using a single representative per clade and two outgroup species, P. oocarpa Schiede and P. jeffreyi Loud. In total, 25 restriction enzymes were employed and approximately 2.7 kb surveyed (2.3% of genome). The five clades recognized were Monterey pine, knobcone pine, and the southern, intermediate, and northern races of bishop pine. On the basis of bootstrapping, both Wagner and Dollo parsimony analyses strongly separated the northern and intermediate races of bishop pine from the southern race; knobcone pine from Monterey and bishop pines; and the closed-cone pines from the two outgroups. Approximate divergence times were estimated for the lineages leading to knobcone pine and to the intermediate and northern populations of bishop pine. The position of Monterey pine relative to bishop pine within their monophyletic clade was unresolved. Surprisingly, Montery pine and the southern race of bishop pine were much more similar to one another than was the southern race of bishop pine to its conspecific intermediate and northern races. Both the Monterey and southern bishop pine lineages also evolved severalfold more slowly than did the knobcone pine and intermediate-northern bishop pine lineages. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Selmer varieties for curves with CM Jacobians

We study the Selmer variety associated to a canonical quotient of the $\Q_p$-pro-unipotent fundamental group of a smooth projective curve of genus at least two defined over $\Q$ whose Jacobian decomposes into a product of abelian varieties with complex multiplication. Elementary multi-variable Iwasawa theory is used to prove dimension bounds, which, in turn, lead to a new proof of Diophantine finiteness over $\Q$ for such curves.
Ethical tensions associated with the promotion of public health policy in health visiting: a qualitative investigation of health visitors’ views

Aim To explore whether and how health visitors experience ethical tensions between the public health agenda and the need to be responsive to individual clients. Background Current health policy in England gives health visitors a key role in implementing the government's public health agenda. Health visitors are also required by their Professional Code to respond to the health-related concerns and preferences of their individual clients. This may generate tensions. Methods A total of 17 semi-structured individual interviews covering participants’ experiences of implementing public health interventions and perceptions of the ethical tensions involved were conducted. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically using a Framework approach. Findings Health visitors raised a number of ethical concerns, which they attributed to organisational resource allocation and the introduction of protocols and targets relating to public health goals. They did not always regard it as appropriate to raise topics that employing organisations had identified as public health priorities with particular clients for whom they were not priorities, or who had other more pressing needs. They noted that resources that were allocated towards reaching public health targets were unavailable for clients who needed support in other areas. Organisational protocols designed to monitor performance put pressure on health visitors to prioritise achieving targets and undermined their ability to exercise professional judgement when supporting individual clients. This had implications for health visitors’ sense of professionalism. Health visitors saw trusting relationships as key to effective health visiting practice, but the requirement to implement public health priorities, combined with a lack of resources in health visiting, eroded their ability to form these. Policies need to be evaluated with regard to their impact upon a broader range of processes and outcomes than public health goals. The erosion of health visitors’ professional values and ability to develop relationships with clients could have numerous adverse implications.
Peer networks among heavy, regular and infrequent drinkers prior to marriage.

OBJECTIVE Research has consistently demonstrated that, among adolescents, the characteristics of one's peers are important predictors of substance abuse. The impact of the peer network on adult drinking, however, has received considerably less attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine social network characteristics that are associated with heavy drinking in adulthood prior to marriage. METHOD Couples were recruited at the time of their first marriage. Husbands and wives were each given identical questionnaire packets to complete at home, independently, as well as a postage-paid envelope for packet return. A broad range of constructs was assessed; included were personality characteristics, relationship functioning, drinking behavior and social network characteristics. Complete data were obtained from 471 husbands and 471 wives. RESULTS The social networks of heavy-drinking men, compared to men drinking regularly or infrequently, were younger, more likely to be male and unmarried and consisted of friends rather than family or others. For both men and women, "drinking buddies" accounted for nearly 75% of the heavy drinkers' peer networks. The overall ratings of support and conflict created by peers did not differ according to drinking group, for either men or women. CONCLUSIONS Prior to marriage, the social networks of heavy drinkers differ considerably from the networks of regular or infrequent drinkers with regard to the drinking patterns of their peers. An important finding was that heavy drinkers appear to experience a similar level of emotional, financial and practical support from their peer network compared to regular or infrequent drinkers.
Design of rectenna series-association circuits for radio frequency energy harvesting in CMOS FD-SOI 28 nm

Series-connected rectenna associations are proposed to improve the harvesting performance of conventional rectenna circuits by recovering power from different directions. With an available input power of -20 dBm, post-layout simulations evaluated the total output power of four series-connected rectennas designed in Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (CMOS FD-SOI) 28 nm technology, to 14 μW at maximum power point (MPP), while the post-layout simulation of a single rectenna yields 5 μW at the same input power level. However, the rectenna association performance may be significantly degraded when dealing with different input power levels among rectennas. Therefore, a passive bypass circuit has been added at the output of the series association to short-circuit the weakest rectenna. The proposed design is cost-effective since there is a negligible silicon penalty and no additional power losses. In the designed four series-connected rectenna association, the total output power is 7 μW at MPP with the bypass circuit when the strongest and the weakest rectennas receive -20 and -35 dBm, respectively. Also, thanks to the bypass circuit, the efficiency of the rectenna association and the ratio of maximum achieved power are improved by, respectively, 10 and 20%.
Identification of Endogenous Gibberellins in Petunia Flowers (Induction of Anthocyanin Biosynthetic Gene Expression and the Antagonistic Effect of Abscisic Acid)

The elongation and pigmentation of corollas of Petunia hybrida requires the presence of anthers. The ability of exogenous gibberellic acid (GA3) to substitute for the anthers suggests a role for endogenous GAs. Here we report the identification of endogenous GAs in corollas and in anthers and show that both tissues contain detectable levels of GA1, GA4, and GA9, of which GA4 is the most abundant. These GAs stimulate corolla pigmentation, chalcone synthase (chs) mRNA accumulation, and chs transcription in an in vitro flower bud culture system. Methyl ester derivatives of GA3 and GA4 were not active but did not inhibit the bioactive GAs. Even though it is unknown whether abscisic acid (ABA) is involved in corolla maturation, ABA inhibited pigmentation of intact flowers, overruling the effect of the anthers. In detached flower buds it was shown that ABA prevented activation of the chs promoter by GA3. The synthesis of anthocyanin pigments requires the coordinate expression of at least 15 structural genes. Expression of early biosynthetic genes and of late biosynthetic genes are regulated by different transcriptional activators. GA induces both classes of genes with similar kinetics, indicating that GA acts relatively early in the signaling pathway.
Isoflurane and sevoflurane during reperfusion prevent recovery from ischaemia in mitochondrial KATP channel blocker pretreated hearts

Background and objective: Inhalation anaesthetics given only during post‐ischaemic reperfusion have some protective effect against reperfusion injury in the heart. Adenosine triphosphate‐regulated mitochondrial potassium channels have been shown to be an important mediator of cardioprotection. Thus, we investigated whether 5‐hydroxydecanoate, a putative mitochondrial potassium channel blocker, prevents the cardioprotective effect of volatile anaesthetics. Methods: Forty rats were randomly allocated to four groups of equal size: control group, 5‐hydroxydecanoate group, 5‐hydroxydecanoate + sevoflurane group and 5‐hydroxydecanoate + isoflurane group. Seven minutes after the start of perfusion, normal saline (control group) or 5‐hydroxydecanoate (the other groups) was administered. Ten minutes after the start of perfusion, the heart was rendered globally ischaemic for 10 min. One minute before the end of the ischaemic period, 2.7% sevoflurane or 1.4% isoflurane were administered in the 5‐hydroxydecanoate + sevoflurane or 5‐hydroxydecanoate + isoflurane groups respectively. The heart was reperfused for 10 min. Results: Adenosine triphosphate content at the end of reperfusion in the 5‐hydroxydecanoate + sevoflurane group was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those in the control and the 5‐hydroxydecanoate + isoflurane groups (19.9 ± 8.7, 28.1 ± 3.4 and 30.4 ± 2.3 μmol g−1, respectively). In addition, the combination of inhalation anaesthetics and 5‐hydroxydecanoate decreased the ratios of recovered hearts from ischaemia (5‐hydroxydecanoate + sevoflurane group: 40%, 5‐hydroxydecanoate + isoflurane group 50%). Conclusion: 5‐hydroxydecanoate alone caused no significant changes in haemodynamics and myocardial metabolism. However, the combination of 5‐hydroxydecanoate and volatile anaesthetics impaired the recovery from ischaemia. Although animal data cannot be extrapolated to human beings, we suggest that more attention be paid to patients on sulphonylurea drugs, which inhibit potassium channels, when they are anaesthetized with volatile anaesthetics.
LONG-TERM CHANGES IN LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY AFTER RENAL TRANSPLANTATION

Background. Concentric and eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy are common progressive disorders in dialysis patients and are associated with cardiac failure and death. Although partial regression of these abnormalities is known to occur during the first posttransplant year, their long-term evolution is unknown. Methods. A total of 143 of 433 dialysis patients participating in a long-term prospective cohort study received renal transplants. Laboratory parameters were assessed monthly. Echocardiography was performed annually. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and cavity volume index were calculated according to standard formulae. Multiple linear regression was used to model change in LVMI as a function of baseline clinical and laboratory variables. Results. LVMI fell from 161 g/m2 at 1 year to 146 g/m2 (P =0.009) g/m2 after 2 years. No further regression was seen in years 3 and 4. Left ventricular volume index showed similar trends, with a decline from year 1 to year 2 (P =0.05) followed by stabilization in years 3 and 4. Older age, long duration of hypertension, need for more than one antihypertensive, high pulse pressure in normal-size hearts, and low pulse pressure in dilated hearts were significantly associated with failure of regression of LVMI between the first and second years (MLR, P <0.000001, r2=0.57). Conclusions. Regression of left ventricular hypertrophy continues beyond the first year after renal transplantation, reaching a nadir at 2 years and persisting into the third and fourth posttransplant years. Failure to regress was associated with older age, hypertension, high pulse pressure in normal-size hearts and low pulse pressure in dilated hearts.
A Digenic Combination of Polymorphisms Within ESR1 and ESR2 Genes Are Associated With Age at Menarche in the Spanish Population

In the present study, the authors look at an association of genetic variants within estrogen synthesis and signaling pathways and age at menarche (AAM) in Spanish women. They analyzed 9 polymorphisms in 6 different genes in 714 well-characterized postmenopausal women from Spain. They performed a quantitative trait locus study of these markers individually or in digenic combinations in relation to AAM. None of the studied markers, with the exception of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (P = .013), were significantly associated with AAM in the Spanish population, and no marker demonstrated an association of statistical significance after multiple testing corrections ( P > .0055). In contrast, linear regression analysis suggests epistatic interactions including ESR1 and ESR2 loci in relation to AAM in the series (P = .003). The results suggest that epistatic interactions of ESR1 and ESR2 alleles could be associated with advancing AAM among Spanish women.
L’anglais de spécialité en LEA : entre proximité et distance, un nouvel équilibre à construire

Si l’anglais de specialite est par definition la langue enseignee en LEA, le contexte dans lequel cet enseignement intervient presente des differences notables et impose une transposition didactique des recherches en langue de specialite qui tienne compte non seulement des contraintes institutionnelles, mais egalement des parametres socio-economiques qui conditionnent le recrutement dans la filiere et les debouches potentiels. A partir des resultats de six ans de travail de terrain en LEA, cet article se propose de montrer comment la recherche-action accompagnee d’une reflexion sur le contexte d’enseignement, le public et les objectifs vises, les contenus d’enseignement, les tâches et les dispositifs a permis la mise en place d’une structure collaborative et de reduire la distance qui separait savoirs theoriques et representations des differents acteurs dans le souci d’accroitre l’efficacite de la formation proposee. Il montrera comment la credibilite et le rayonnement de cette formation peuvent etre lies a ce type d’action. L’auteur se propose de developper l’application en LEA de la recherche en anglais de specialite et de federer les energies de ceux qui sont prets a mettre en place une dynamique d’echanges.
The future for the treatment of genotype 4 chronic hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus genotype 4 (HCV‐4) is the most common type of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the Middle East and Africa, in particular Egypt. Since the development of new protease inhibitors, the response of HCV‐4 to the standard regimen of treatment (pegylated interferon/ribavirin) lags behind other genotypes and has become the most resistant type to treat. The development of therapeutic strategies for all patients with HCV‐4 whether they are naïve, have experienced a virological breakthrough, are relapsers or non‐responders is still a considerable challenge. New types of interferon (Consensus Interferon, Y‐shaped, Albinterferon…) and new direct action antiviral drugs (Nitazoxanide, Vit.D, other) may improve the treatment of patients with HCV‐4. The IL28B CC polymorphism may be associated with sustained virological response.
ARCHITECTURAL MODEL FOR INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYSIS OF CRITICAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURES

Critical Information Infrastructures (CII) are computer systems and networks that support and control operations of many critical infrastructures that our society depends on, such as power plants, electrical grids, and water and waste facilities. Since the operations of CII also effect physical world, they are a good example of large-scale, critical cyber-physical systems. In recent years, CII become an attractive target for cyber attacks and the potential impact of a successful attack could lead to disastrous consequences in the physical world. Thus ensuring the security of CII is of vital importance. A fundamental prerequisite to secure a CII system is a clear understanding and a consistent view of its architecture. However, because of the complexity and scale, this is challenging to acquire. In this paper, we propose a layered architectural view for CII, which aims at building a common ground among stakeholders and supporting the implementation of information security management processes. In order to manage the complexity and scale, we define four interrelated architectural layers, and use the concept of viewpoints to focus on a subset of the system. We indicate the applicability of our approach in the context of CII security analysis.