Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statin use is associated with a reduction in atrial fibrillation after noncardiac thoracic surgery independent of C-reactive protein.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The level of C-reactive protein (CRP) has been shown to be elevated in patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) unrelated to surgery, and statins are known to lower the CRP level. To determine whether an elevated CRP level predisposes the patient to postoperative AF and whether statin use is associated with a reduced AF incidence, we studied a consecutive group of patients who were at risk for AF after undergoing thoracic surgery (age, > or = 60 years). DESIGN AND SETTING A prospective study in a tertiary care cancer center of 131 patients (mean [+/- SD] age, 73 +/- 6 years) who had undergone major lung or esophageal resection. High-sensitivity CRP and interleukin (IL)-6 levels were measured before surgery, on arrival at the postanesthesia care unit, and on the first morning after surgery. Continuous telemetry was used for 72 to 96 h to detect AF. RESULTS AF occurred in 38 of 131 patients (29%) at a median time after surgery of 3 days. Although CRP and IL-6 levels increased significantly (p < 0.001) in response to surgery, patients with or without AF did not differ in perioperative values. In a stepwise logistic regression, statin use was associated with a threefold decrease in the odds of developing AF (odds ratio [OR], 0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08 to 0.82; p = 0.022) and a greater PR interval (OR, 1.11 per 5-ms increments; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.22; p = 0.027) predicted an increase in the risk of AF. CONCLUSIONS The preoperative use of statins was associated with a protective effect against postoperative AF independent of CRP levels. In contrast to AF in the general population, early markers of inflammation did not predict the postoperative occurrence of AF.
Mutated Yeast Heat Shock Transcription Factor Exhibits Elevated Basal Transcriptional Activation and Confers Metal Resistance (*)

Cadmium-resistant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain 301N exhibits high basal as well as cadmium-induced expression of the CUP1 metallothionein gene. Since regulation of CUP1 is usually restricted to copper ions, our goal was to identify the factor responsible for the high metallothionein levels in strain 301N. The gene responsible for the observed phenotype is a spontaneously mutated heat shock transcription factor gene (HSF1). A double, semidominant HSF1 mutant with substitutions at codons 206 and 256 within the DNA-binding domain of the heat shock factor (HSF) confers two phenotypes. The first phenotype is elevated transcriptional activity of the HSF mutant (HSF301), which results in constitutive thermotolerance. A second HSF301 phenotype is enhanced binding affinity for the heat shock element (HSE) within the CUP1 5′-sequences, resulting in high basal transcription of metallothionein. The CUP1 HSE is a minimal heat shock element containing only two perfectly spaced inverted repeats of the basic nGAAn block. Cells containing HSF301 are resistant to cadmium salts. The single R206S mutation is responsible for the high affinity binding to the CUP1 HSE. In addition, the R206S HSF substitution exhibits constitutive transcriptional activation from a consensus HSE (HSE2). The F256Y substitution in HSF attenuates the effects of R206S on the consensus HSE2, but not on the CUP1 HSE.
Network Policy-based Virtualization Controller in Software-Defined Networks

As the diversity of emerging services has increased, the flow of traffic with various characteristics has occurred over the Internet. These various traffics require different treatments from carrier network in order to meet the Quality of Experience (QoE) requirements for end users. As the emerging technology satisfying these requirements, the Software Defined Networking (SDN) has the potential to enable dynamic configuration and control for the enhanced network management. This paper presents the design of a virtualization controller based on network policy in SDN environments. The proposed controller configures virtual networks in a flexible way for the deployment of various services by using virtual routers as the enabler of QoS policy enforcement. It can also perform dynamically the QoS control of flows, by using a network virtualization approach as a structure for enforcing the QoS and isolation policies of flows. With this approach, it enables various services to be deployed on multiple virtual networks and can achieve a better QoS.
Homocysteine, folate, and cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be one of the main causes of mortality in the western world, however approximately only two-thirds of all episodes can be attributed to traditional environmental and genetic risk factors. Over the past decade it has emerged that a moderate elevation in plasma concentrations of the amino acid homocysteine (tHcy) constitutes a risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular disease in the coronary, cerebral and peripheral vessels. Furthermore, this association is a graded one with no apparent threshold and is independent of, but may enhance the effect of conventional risk factors. Plasma homocysteine is determined by both genetic and nutritional factors. The B-vitamins folate, B-12 and B-6 all play a key role in homocysteine metabolism and in fact it has been proposed that about two-thirds of all cases of hyperhomocysteinemia are due to an inadequate status of one or all of these vitamins. Of the three, folate appears to be the most important determinant and has been shown to significantly lower homocysteine concentration when administered at doses ranging from 0.2 to 10 mg/d in both healthy and hyperhomocysteinemia subjects. There is considerable variation in the rate of CVD mortality between northern and southern European countries. A common dietary element in regions with lower CVD incidence i.e. southern European countries appears to be the higher consumption of fruit and vegetables. In the past this protective effect of fruit and vegetables has been primarily attributed to antioxidants. Fruit and vegetables are however also one of the main sources of folate in the diet, contributing to more than 30% of total dietary folate intake (even in countries where consumption of fruit and vegetables is low). Thus, in light of the evidence that folate may play a role in primary prevention of CVD via homocysteine-lowering the protective effect of fruit and vegetables may be partly explained by folate.
Robust yaw moment control for vehicle handling and stability improvement

This paper presents a robust yaw moment controller design approach for improving vehicle handling and stability. With considering the parameter-varying property of tyre cornering stiffness in extreme handling situations, a linear parameter-varying (LPV) model in polytopic form is constructed to represent the nonlinear characteristics of tyres. A yaw moment controller is then designed for the LPV model which aims at optimising the tracking performance on both yaw rate and sideslip angle with respect to their targets. The conditions for designing such a controller are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Numerical simulations on a nonlinear vehicle model are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results show that the designed controller can improve vehicle handling and stability regardless of varying road surface.
Directors of Early Childhood Services: Experience, Preparedness and Selection.

The role of the early childhood director has been a neglected area of research in Australia. This study set out to address the gap in understanding of directors and the administration/management function in child care and preschool settings. Through a survey of practicing directors and a series of follow-up interviews with selected respondents, baseline data were gathered which identified the background, experience, means of recruitment, levels of satisfaction, training needs, and other concerns of administrators in a representational sample of preschool and child care centers in New South Wales. Results showed that while the cohort overall has experience in a director's role, 41 percent of directors worked in the field for less than two years before taking on the role of director. Administrators rated in-service training as much more useful than pre-service degrees or courses. Most stated that they had a full understanding of their position, or that they knew most things about it, before taking it on. A majority of respondents identified technical and human relations issues as the most difficult for them as new directors, but almost half also claimed that these issues were the ones for which they were best prepared. Most directors were motivated to pursue their positions because of their desire for a change or challenge or because of positive impressions about the job or inspiration from a specific role model. Only 5 percent were pursuing their position for the salary. Almost one-third of respondents were appointed without going through competition processes. Overall, the majority of directors reported a strong personal and professional commitment to the management role, and they reported success at foraging out their own information and support resources. (Contains 25 resources.) (EV) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************
Towards a Model-Driven Engineering approach for developing adaptive real-time embedded systems

Developing real-time embedded systems poses significant challenges to the developers. In such systems, correctness means not only computing the right results but also produce It in a timely way. This implies that response time is as important as producing correct results. Therefore, real-time systems must be built to meet these response times. Several solutions were suggested within the context of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) to address this problem. However, Real-Time systems may be large, distributed, have long lifetimes and a dynamic environment. On the one hand, such qualities require the use of different software performance and reliability techniques at different levels of granularity and at different time. On the other hand, they involve the integration of new, previously unanticipated services and the update of existing services with the respect of system real-time constraints and without requiring system downtime. These adaptive behaviors amplify more and more the complexity of the development of real-time embedded systems. Existing MDE approach do not handle completely these time-bounded adaptive behaviors. In this position paper, we present the related works around the development of adaptive real-time embedded systems and why we aim to address the issue in MDE approach.
What Is the Role of Titin in Active Muscle?

Several properties of muscle defy explanation solely based on the sliding filament-swinging cross-bridge theory. Indeed, muscle behaves as though there is a dynamic “spring” within the sarcomeres. We propose a new “winding filament” mechanism for how titin acts, in conjunction with the cross-bridges, as a force-dependent spring. The addition of titin into active sarcomeres resolves many puzzling muscle characteristics.
Improved cosmological constraints from a joint analysis of the SDSS-II and SNLS supernova samples

Aims. We present cosmological constraints from a joint analysis of type Ia supernova (SN Ia) observations obtained by the SDSS-II and SNLS collaborations. The dataset includes several low-redshift samples (z< 0.1), all three seasons from the SDSS-II (0.05 <z< 0.4), and three years from SNLS (0.2 <z< 1), and it totals 740 spectroscopically confirmed type Ia supernovae with high-quality light curves. Methods. We followed the methods and assumptions of the SNLS three-year data analysis except for the following important improvements: 1) the addition of the full SDSS-II spectroscopically-confirmed SN Ia sample in both the training of the SALT2 light-curve model and in the Hubble diagram analysis (374 SNe); 2) intercalibration of the SNLS and SDSS surveys and reduced systematic uncertainties in the photometric calibration, performed blindly with respect to the cosmology analysis; and 3) a thorough investigation of systematic errors associated with the SALT2 modeling of SN Ia light curves. Results. We produce recalibrated SN Ia light curves and associated distances for the SDSS-II and SNLS samples. The large SDSS-II sample provides an effective, independent, low-z anchor for the Hubble diagram and reduces the systematic error from calibration systematics in the low-z SN sample. For a flat ΛCDM cosmology, we find Ωm =0.295 ± 0.034 (stat+sys), a value consistent with the most recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurement from the Planck and WMAP experiments. Our result is 1. 8σ (stat+sys) different than the previously published result of SNLS three-year data. The change is due primarily to improvements in the SNLS photometric calibration. When combined with CMB constraints, we measure a constant dark-energy equation of state parameter w =−1.018 ± 0.057 (stat+sys) for a flat universe. Adding baryon acoustic oscillation distance measurements gives similar constraints: w =−1.027 ± 0.055. Our supernova measurements provide the most stringent constraints to date on the nature of dark energy.
ETS transcription factors: Possible targets for cancer therapy

Ets family (ETS) transcription factors, characterized by an evolutionally conserved Ets domain, play important roles in cell development, cell differentiation, cell proliferation, apoptosis and tissue remodeling. Most of them are downstream nuclear targets of Ras‐MAP kinase signaling, and the deregulation of ETS genes results in the malignant transformation of cells. Several ETS genes are rearranged in human leukemia and Ewing tumors to produce chimeric oncoproteins. Furthermore, the aberrant expression of several ETS genes is often observed in various types of human malignant tumors. Considering that some ETS transcription factors are involved in malignant transformation and tumor progression, including invasion, metastasis and neo‐angiogenesis through the activation of cancer‐related genes, they could be potential molecular targets for selective cancer therapy.
Combined antifungal therapy in a murine infection by Candida glabrata.

OBJECTIVES To develop proper treatments for patients who do not respond to current antifungal treatments, we tested new combinations of antifungal drugs for treating disseminated infections by Candida glabrata in a murine model. METHODS Mice were rendered neutropenic by intraperitoneal cyclophosphamide and intravenous 5-fluorouracil administration. The animals were infected intravenously with 2 x 10(8) cfu of C. glabrata. The efficacies of micafungin combined with amphotericin B, fluconazole or flucytosine, and of amphotericin B combined with fluconazole were evaluated by survival and tissue burden reduction. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Micafungin plus amphotericin B was the most effective combination at reducing tissue burden. Micafungin at 10 mg/kg combined with amphotericin B at 0.75, 1.5 or 3 mg/kg prolonged survival with respect to the monotherapies, but only the second combination showed a synergistic effect in reducing fungal load in spleen and kidney. Amphotericin B at 1.5 mg/kg combined with micafungin at 5, 10 or 20 mg/kg reduced tissue burden with respect to the monotherapies, but the effects of the three combinations were very similar. These results suggest that amphotericin B in combination with micafungin is promising for the treatment of disseminated C. glabrata infections.
Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism Industries

Takes an integrated look at HRM policies and practices in the tourism and hospitality industries. Utilising existing human resource management (HRM) theory and practice, it contextualises it to the tourism and hospitality industries by looking at the specific employment practices of these industries, such as how to manage tour reps or working in the airline industry. It initially sets the scene with a broad review of the evidence of HRM practice within the tourism and hospitality industries.
Efficient moment calculations for variance components in large unbalanced crossed random effects models

Large crossed data sets, described by generalized linear mixed models, have become increasingly common and provide challenges for statistical analysis. At very large sizes it becomes desirable to have the computational costs of estimation, inference and prediction (both space and time) grow at most linearly with sample size. Both traditional maximum likelihood estimation and numerous Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian algorithms take superlinear time in order to obtain good parameter estimates. We propose moment based algorithms that, with at most linear cost, estimate variance components, measure the uncertainties of those estimates, and generate shrinkage based predictions for missing observations. When run on simulated normally distributed data, our algorithm performs competitively with maximum likelihood methods.
Policy at the crossroads: climate change and injury control

Climate change policy presents unprecedented opportunities for injury control Two hundred years ago London was a cesspit. The streets were awash with sewage, and London stank. By July 1858 the smell from the Thames at Westminster was so strong that Parliamentarians concluded that the House of Commons was “unusable. ”1 Infectious disease was a deadly scourge, but it was the “great stink” of 1858 that helped secure the £3.5 million needed to sort out London’s sewage. The engineer Joseph Bazalgette was commissioned to design and build an elaborate system for the disposal of London’s sewage.1 Policy on sewage disposal did more to improve the health of Londoners than any health policy that century. Despite erroneous theories of infectious disease causation, environmental public health measures, in particular new sewage disposal and water supply systems, revolutionized public health in Europe.2 The stink has gone, but London’s streets are now blighted by vehicle exhaust fumes, and road traffic injury is the contemporary scourge. Each year in Greater London, there are about 6000 pedestrian and 3000 cycle casualties.3 However, the key concern for transport policy is not traffic injuries but climate change. For Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, climate change and how to avert it informs all his policy decisions on transport.4 Could climate change policy …
Supporting asynchronous collaboration in visual analytics systems

Visual analytics involves complex analytical processes that can often benefit from collaboration. Many researchers have explored co-located synchronous systems to help support collaborative visual analytics; however, the process can often be long and require a series of sessions. Providing support for asynchronous collaboration in visual analytics systems can help divide the problem between several analysts across many sessions to ensure that they can effectively work together toward a solution. Currently, visual analytics systems offer limited support for asynchronous, multi-session work [1]. In this workshop, we seek to bring together researchers from both the CSCW and Visual Analytics communities to discuss avenues for supporting asynchronous collaboration in visual analytics system.
The duration of acute cough in pre-school children presenting to primary care: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND Professional and parental uncertainty about the natural history of cough in pre-school children may in part be responsible for the high consultation and reconsultation rates and widespread antibiotic use in primary care. A recent systematic review of the natural history of cough included studies of unrepresentative, selected patients with heterogeneous measures and definitions of cough duration. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to describe the post-consultation duration of cough, compare this with clinician and parental prediction of cough duration, and to determine the clinical factors associated with prolonged cough. METHODS A prospective cohort study of children aged 0-4 years with cough < or =28 days without asthma presenting to eight general practices in Leicestershire, UK was carried out. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected, and parents and clinicians were asked to predict the proportion recovering within 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Parents used a symptom diary to record cough and five other symptoms. Survival analysis was used to describe cough duration, and multivariable Cox regression was used to identify the factors independently associated with prolonged cough. RESULTS Fifty percent of the children had recovered at 10 days and 90% at 25 days. Cough was associated with fever, breathlessness, disrupted sleep and reduced activity in a high proportion of children. Longer post-consultation cough was associated with longer pre-consultation cough and use of day care facilities. Clinicians overestimated how quickly children recovered from acute cough. Parents' predictions were accurate within 2 weeks, but they underestimated the proportion recovering in weeks 3 and 4. CONCLUSIONS Clinicians should be aware that from the parental perspective, acute cough is not a trivial illness and that some children remain unwell at 3-4 weeks. For health professionals negotiating the use of antibiotics, this information may enable parental self-care, reduce medicalization and displace the need to prescribe.
Genotype by environment interactions in international genetic evaluations of dairy bulls

For international genetic dairy evaluations different environments have been defined as country borders and the genetic component has been progeny tested bulls. The correlations estimated between the countries are affected by differences in trait definition, differences in genetic evaluation model and genotype-environment interactions. Also, genetic correlations estimated between countries can be affected by the amount of exchange of semen expressed as genetic links between the countries. Seven different trait groups and of these 38 different sub-traits are currently evaluated internationally for six dairy breed types. In order to describe the complex of genotype by environment interactions in international genetic evaluations this paper will deal with three of the sub-traits: protein yield, longevity, female fertility (lactating cows’ ability to conceive) for the Holstein breed with respect to average correlations, genetic links and model differences between countries that currently subscribe to the international genetic evaluation services for these traits. These three sub-traits were picked to represent 1) Yield: a long history of data collection, trait harmonization and genetic evaluation; 2) Longevity: a change in trait definition over time due to change in main culling reasons; 3) Female fertility: a complex and novel trait in international genetic evaluations. Based on the traits considered in this study it can be indicated that correlations among countries are highest for a trait with a long history of harmonization, and lower for a trait with change in trait definition over time and for a novel trait. Most countries currently participating in the evaluations have certain environmental similarities. Countries without a national genetic evaluation are buying semen from these countries through semen vendors but breeding values of these bulls are based on progeny tests in totally different environments. Different studies have been looking at inclusion of descriptive variables in order for these countries to get a sire ranking probably more suitable for their environment. The results look promising but are not yet implemented for routine use.