Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors associated with hypertension control in the general population of the United States.

BACKGROUND Uncontrolled hypertension is the most common and important risk factor for cardiovascular and renal disease. We studied factors associated with hypertension control in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. METHODS A total of 3077 non-Hispanic whites, 1742 non-Hispanic blacks, and 1067 Mexican Americans 18 years or older with hypertension were included in the current analysis. Blood pressure was measured by trained observers by means of a standard mercury sphygmomanometer, and controlled hypertension was defined as a mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure less than 140/90 mm Hg. RESULTS Percentages of persons with controlled hypertension differed significantly by ethnicity and sex: 19.2% and 28.7% for white men and women, 17.5% and 28.6% for black men and women, and 12.7% and 18.0% for Mexican American men and women, respectively. After adjustment for important covariables, percentages of persons with controlled hypertension were significantly higher among persons who were currently (odds ratio [OR] 2.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.52-3.74) or formerly (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.12-2.93) married, had private health insurance (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.02-2.49), visited the same facility for their health care (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.88-4.09) or saw the same provider for their health care (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.74-3.02), had their blood pressure checked during the preceding 6 months (OR, 8.00; 95% CI, 3.75-17.1) or 6 to 11 months (OR, 5.31; 2.51-11.2), and reported using lifestyle modification to control their hypertension (OR, 6.02; 95% CI, 4.20-8.63). CONCLUSION These data strongly suggest that access to a regular source of health care and modification of lifestyle are important factors in the control of hypertension in the community.
Iterative MIMO Detection and Channel Estimation Using Joint Superimposed and Pilot-Aided Training

This paper presents a novel iterative detection and channel estimation scheme that combines the effort of superimposed training (ST) and pilot-aided training (PAT) for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) flat fading channels. The proposed method, hereafter known as joint mean removal ST and PAT (MRST-PAT), implements an iterative detection and channel estimation that achieves the performance of data-dependent ST (DDST) algorithm, with the difference that the data arithmetic cyclic mean is estimated and removed from data at the receiver’s end. It is demonstrated that this iterative and cooperative detection and channel estimator algorithm surpasses the effects of data detection identifiability condition that DDST has shown when higher orders of modulation are used. Theoretical performance of the MRST-PAT scheme is provided and corroborated by numerical simulations. In addition, the performance comparison between the proposed method and different MIMO channel estimation techniques is analyzed. The joint effort between ST and PAT shows that MRST-PAT is a solid candidate in communications systems for multiamplitude constellations in Rayleigh fading channels, while achieving high-throughput data rates with manageable complexity and bit-error rate (BER) as a figure of merit.
Efficient Processing of Plant Life in Computer Graphics

The role plants play in our daily lives gives synthetically modeled trees and plants particular significance. Vegetation is part of almost all virtual scenes and also in various application domains. The inhomogenous structure of these natural objects yields an enormous geometric complexity, which continues to pose challenges to computer graphics researchers to this day. This thesis presents new techniques, methods and paradigms that contribute to the field of processing vegetation in computer graphics. Each of the following three approaches helps to migrate the so far mostly static tree models to dynamically adapting and developing ones. A novel tree modeling paradigm is presented, which abstracts a given tree model into a light-weight intermediate representation. This data structure is easy to store and transmit and allows faithful reconstruction of a wide range of different models. Existing tree models as well as laser-scanned point sets can be converted into this representation. This either enables compression of the data necessary to describe a model, or to reconstruct exemplars from point sets. When defining virtual sceneries, artists, designers or architects often need to adjust tree models according to the constraints of a scene. This is a requirement that is not addressed by today’s modeling approaches. A novel interaction technique is presented, which allows trees to react dynamically to changing environmental conditions. The main branching structure of a given model is deformed based on transformations applied to the underlying skeletal graph. The new technique maintains a biologically plausible structure and is efficient enough to be used in interactive and real-time applications. Another new method is introduced, which allows the developmental stages of static input tree models to be computed. Besides creating a large variety of exemplars from a single input model, the interpolation of these stages enables the tree’s natural growth to be replicated. As an input tree model does not contain all the branches the tree will have developed during its entire lifetime, a new approach is presented, which allows additional branches to be generated for the younger developmental stages. This process utilizes the structural similarity of the input and is controlled by several measures known from botanical research. Finally, techniques are explored, which enable vegetation to be rendered in realtime. This includes approaches for generating the mesh of branching structures as well as means for maintaining a photo-realistic appearance.
A Longitudinal Study of Clinical Peer Review's Impact on Quality and Safety in U.S. Hospitals

Clinical peer review is the dominant method of event analysis in U.S. hospitals. It is pivotal to medical staff efforts to improve quality and safety, yet the quality assurance process model that has prevailed for the past 30 years evokes fear and is fundamentally antithetical to a culture of safety. Two prior national studies characterized a quality improvement model that corrects this dysfunction but failed to demonstrate progress toward its adoption despite a high rate of program change between 2007 and 2009. This study's online survey of 470 organizations participating in either of the prior studies further assessed relationships between clinical peer review program factors, including the degree of conformance to the quality improvement model (the QI model score), and subjectively measured program impact variables. Among the 300 hospitals (64%) that responded, the median QI model score was only 60 on a 100-point scale. Scores increased somewhat for the 2007 cohort (mean pair-wise difference of 5.9 [2-10]), but not for the 2009 cohort. The QI model is expanded as the result of the finding that self-reporting of adverse events, near misses, and hazardous conditions--an essential practice in high-reliability organizations--is no longer rare in hospitals. Self-reporting and the quality of case review are additional multivariate predictors of the perceived ongoing impact of clinical peer review on quality and safety, medical staff perceptions of the program, and medical staff engagement in quality and safety initiatives. Hospital leaders and trustees who seek to improve patient outcomes should facilitate the adoption of this best practice model for clinical peer review.
THE IMPACT OF SIDEROPHORE SECRETION BY PSEUDOMONAS STUTZERI TO CHELATING Cu METAL IN SOLUTION CULTURE

This article discuss the interaction of siderophores (which are low molecular weight, secreted metabolites) of microorganisms (Pseudomonas stutzeri) separately and simultaneously with Cu metal in the solution culture on the roots of 4d old seedlings of Vigna radiata. Naturally occurring bacteria play an important role in plant growth due to the release of pigment. It is a coloring compound (siderophore) showed high chemical oxygen demand (COD), lowers the pressure of oxygen. This lowers the nutrient uptake by the roots due to which reduced plant growth with metabolic disorder was observed in the whole plant. A wide range of phenomena from simple to complex interactions was observed between microorganisms and Cu metal in relation with plant root growth such as adsorption, oxidation/reduction of pigment, solubilization. Results showed that microbial strain showed a significant effect on weight of root in aqueous culture whereas nutrient medium support the root growth. Biochemical analysis reflects that lipids were main target of both abiotic and biotic stress that may utilizes to overcome the stress due to which protein contents were seemed to be unaffected at highest concentration of metal or it may also be related with the degradation of lipids due to the biotic and abiotic stress.
Stable isotopic composition of upper oceanic crust formed at a fast spreading ridge, ODP Site 801

ODP Legs 129 and 185 sampled the upper 474 m of ∼170 Ma ocean crust in the western Pacific in order to investigate alteration processes in fast spread crust and to determine inputs to subduction. Fourteen composite bulk samples of altered upper oceanic crust from Site 801 have δ18O = 8.7–25.7‰, δD = −69.4‰ to −90.4‰, and δ13C = −2.7‰ to 1.8‰. The intensity of alteration and the amount of sediment within the basement decrease with depth, leading to corresponding decreases in δ18O and δD. A SUPER composite, constructed to estimate the bulk composition of the upper crust, has δ18O = 12.0‰, δD = −87.0‰, and δ13C = 0.7‰. Compared to core descriptions and geophysical logs, the SUPER composite contains too much 18O‐rich sediment (δ18O = 25.7‰), and a corrected δ18O value of 10.8‰ is more reasonable for the upper crust at Site 801. These values are higher than those for other bulk upper oceanic basement sections (δ18O = 8.0–10.0‰) and result in part from: (1) intense low‐temperature (<100°C) hydrothermal alteration of the upper 100 m of tholeiitic basement at Site 801 that may not be representative of material subducting in the western Pacific and (2) an aging effect, whereby progressive addition of 18O‐rich secondary carbonate in veins and breccia cements contributed to the high bulk δ18O of this old upper crustal section.
Ultrafast relaxation rates and reversal time in disordered ferrimagnets

In response to ultrafast laser pulses, single-phase metals have been classified as “fast” (with magnetization quenching on the time scale of the order of 100 fs and recovery in the time scale of several picoseconds and below) and “slow” (with longer characteristic time scales). Disordered ferrimagnetic alloys consisting of a combination of “fast” transition (TM) and “slow” rare-earth (RE) metals have been shown to exhibit an ultrafast all-optical switching mediated by the heat mechanism. The behavior of the characteristic time scales of coupled alloys is more complicated and is influenced by many parameters such as the intersublattice exchange, doping (RE) concentration, and the temperature. Here, the longitudinal relaxation times of each sublattice are analyzed within the Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch framework. We show that for moderate intersublattice coupling strength both materials slow down as a function of slow (RE) material concentration. For larger coupling, the fast (TM) material may become faster, while the slow (RE) one is still slower. These conclusions may have important implications in the switching time of disordered ferrimagnets such as GdFeCo with partial clustering. Using atomistic modeling, we show that in the moderately coupled case, the reversal would start in the Gd-rich region, while the situation may be reversed if the coupling strength is larger.
68Ga-DOTATATE PET in neuroectodermal tumours: First experience

Background and aimPhaeochromocytoma is initially imaged with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) but functional imaging is commonly needed to assess disease activity, the presence of metastasis and response to therapy. Traditionally, this is done with 123I -MIBG with good sensitivity and specificity. However, spatial resolution remains limited even with SPECT. We aimed to assess the utility of a new somatostatin analogue PET tracer, 68Ga-DOTATATE in the management of phaeochromocytoma. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed five patients with malignant phaeochromocytoma who underwent imaging with CT and 123I-MIBG and compared the results with those of PET imaging using 68Ga-DOTATATE. Blinded analysis of the numbers and extent of lesions were done for all imaging modality. ResultsTwo patients had negative 123I-MIBG and positive 68Ga-DOTATATE scans. One had a weakly positive 123I-MIBG and a strongly positive 68Ga-DOTATATE scan. One had a positive 123I-MIBG and positive 68Ga-DOTATATE scans. The fifth patient was negative to all imaging including CT. 68Ga-DOTATATE showed more lesions with higher uptake and better resolution compared to 123I-MIBG. ConclusionThe findings in our small group of patients demonstrate the value of somatostatin receptor PET imaging in malignant phaeochromocytoma. In lesions with no or low MIBG uptake, the next investigation of choice should be PET imaging with 68Ga-DOTATATE, in view to therapy with 90Y-labelled DOTATATE.
Membrane-Bound PenA β-Lactamase of Burkholderia pseudomallei

ABSTRACT Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiologic agent of melioidosis, a difficult-to-treat disease with diverse clinical manifestations. β-Lactam antibiotics such as ceftazidime are crucial to the success of melioidosis therapy. Ceftazidime-resistant clinical isolates have been described, and the most common mechanism is point mutations affecting expression or critical amino acid residues of the chromosomally encoded class A PenA β-lactamase. We previously showed that PenA was exported via the twin arginine translocase system and associated with the spheroplast fraction. We now show that PenA is a membrane-bound lipoprotein. The protein and accompanying β-lactamase activity are found in the membrane fraction and can be extracted with Triton X-114. Treatment with globomycin of B. pseudomallei cells expressing PenA results in accumulation of the prolipoprotein. Mass spectrometric analysis of extracted membrane proteins reveals a protein peak whose mass is consistent with a triacylated PenA protein. Mutation of a crucial lipobox cysteine at position 23 to a serine residue results in loss of β-lactamase activity and absence of detectable PenAC23S protein. A concomitant isoleucine-to-alanine change at position 20 in the signal peptide processing site in the PenAC23S mutant results in a nonlipidated protein (PenAI20A C23S) that is processed by signal peptidase I and exhibits β-lactamase activity. The resistance profile of a B. pseudomallei strain expressing this protein is indistinguishable from the profile of the isogenic strain expressing wild-type PenA. The data show that PenA membrane association is not required for resistance and must serve another purpose.
Endogenous and Exogenous Ca2+ Buffers Differentially Modulate Ca2+-dependent Inactivation of CaV2.1 Ca2+ Channels*

Voltage-gated Ca2+ channels undergo a negative feedback regulation by Ca2+ ions, Ca2+-dependent inactivation, which is important for restricting Ca2+ signals in nerve and muscle. Although the molecular details underlying Ca2+-dependent inactivation have been characterized, little is known about how this process might be modulated in excitable cells. Based on previous findings that Ca2+-dependent inactivation of Cav2.1 (P/Q-type) Ca2+ channels is suppressed by strong cytoplasmic Ca2+ buffering, we investigated how factors that regulate cellular Ca2+ levels affect inactivation of Cav2.1 Ca2+ currents in transfected 293T cells. We found that inactivation of Cav2.1 Ca2+ currents increased exponentially with current amplitude with low intracellular concentrations of the slow buffer EGTA (0.5 mm), but not with high concentrations of the fast Ca2+ buffer BAPTA (10 mm). However, when the concentration of BAPTA was reduced to 0.5 mm, inactivation of Ca2+ currents was significantly greater than with an equivalent concentration of EGTA, indicating the importance of buffer kinetics in modulating Ca2+-dependent inactivation of Cav2.1. Cotransfection of Cav2.1 with the EF-hand Ca2+-binding proteins, parvalbumin and calbindin, significantly altered the relationship between Ca2+ current amplitude and inactivation in ways that were unexpected from behavior as passive Ca2+ buffers. We conclude that Ca2+-dependent inactivation of Cav2.1 depends on a subplasmalemmal Ca2+ microdomain that is affected by the amplitude of the Ca2+ current and differentially modulated by distinct Ca2+ buffers.
Electric Field Distribution of Wire-Duct Electrostatic Precipitator using FDM and MATLAP

This paper presents the electric field distribution in three-dimension (3-D) of duct-type electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for different values of geometrical parameters using a new program implemented in MATLAB. Poisson’s and Current Continuity equations are solved simultaneously using the Finite Difference Method (FDM) with Dirichlet boundary conditions and programmed in MATLAB. The effects of wire-plate spacing and half wire-wire spacing on the electric field distribution are evaluated. In the present study the software's is promising for getting accuracy results due to less time of executing and increasing the point's number in the mesh of problem domain which is explained electric field distribution of the configuration. Also reducing energy consume for new design(applied voltage of wire-discharge is 60 kV in case of wire-plate distance equal 10 cm),3-D results which have been obtained through their implementation in computer programs are better than the results of FDM or FEM techniques when it use without combined with other techniques. Finally some conclusions are viable in design ESP.
Novel neoadjuvant immunotherapy regimen safety and survival in head and neck squamous cell cancer

Cellular immune suppression is observed in head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and contributes to poor prognosis. Restoration of immune homeostasis may require primary cell‐derived cytokines at physiologic doses. An immunotherapy regimen containing a biologic, with multiple‐active cytokine components, and administered with cytoxan, zinc, and indomethacin was developed to modulate cellular immunity.
Analysis of Fetal Heart Rate Variability Obtained by Magnetocardiography

Objective To obtain fetal magnetocardiogram (fMCG) recordings in preterm fetuses in both shielded and unshielded clinical settings. Methods Seventeen fMCG recordings were obtained from 6 low-risk fetuses of 26–35 weeks' postmenstrual age. The superconducting quantum interference device biomagnetometer was positioned over the gravid abdomen, and the signals, associated with the bioelectrical activity of the fetal heart, were digitized at a sampling rate of 1 kHz. The fMCG signal was recorded for 5 minutes along with the reference maternal electrocardiogram in both the shielded and unshielded environment. A nonsyntactic QRS detection algorithm based on Pan-Tompkins scheme was employed for extracting fetal RR time series. Results The growth rate of 1.97 decibels (dB) exhibited by the low-frequency (LF) band is almost 2½ times that of the high-frequency (HF) band. HF/LF power ratio was calculated to have a negative growth rate of −0.17 dB/wk (P = .004). Total power increased at approximately 1.35 dB/wk (P = .031). Conclusions Consistent with the literature, the total power, or the variance, as well as the LF and HF powers independently, indicates an increasing trend with increasing postmenstrual age.
Data and Text Mining Techniques for In-Domain and Cross-Domain Applications

In the big data era, a wide amount of data has been generated in different domains, from social media to news feeds, from health care to genomic functionalities. When addressing a problem, we usually need to harness multiple disparate datasets. Data from different domains may follow different modalities, each of which has a different representation, distribution, scale and density. For example, text is usually represented as discrete sparse word count vectors, whereas an image is represented by pixel intensities, and so on. Nowadays plenty of Data Mining and Machine Learning techniques are proposed in literature, which have already achieved significant success in many knowledge engineering areas, including classification, regression and clustering. Anyway some challenging issues remain when tackling a new problem: how to represent the problem? What approach is better to use among the huge quantity of possibilities? What is the information to be used in the Machine Learning task and how to represent it? There exist any different domains from which borrow knowledge? This dissertation proposes some possible representation approaches for problems in different domains, from text mining to genomic analysis. In particular, one of the major contributions is a different way to represent a classical classification problem: instead of using an instance related to each object (a document, or a gene, or a social post, etc.) to be classified, it is proposed to use a pair of objects or a pair object-class, using the relationship between them as label. The application of this approach is tested on both flat and hierarchical text categorization datasets, where it potentially allows the efficient addition of new categories during classification. Furthermore, the same idea is used to extract conversational threads from an unregulated pool of messages and also to classify the biomedical literature based on the genomic features treated.
Body-image disturbances in adolescents. IV. Influence of family attitudes and psychopathology.

BODY-IMAGE, as it emerges in the adolescent, plays a vital role in his adaptations, and studies have shown that the greatest single force in the youngster's concept of his body-image is the attitude of his family. While disturbance in body-image may occur at any age, the adolescent is more vulnerable because of the social pressures and the radical physical changes that take place even in the normal youth. Body-image may be defined as the "picture of our own body which we form in our minds," 1 "body" being used in its broadest sense. * It is a composite picture, conscious as well as unconscious, and also has a sociological meaning—the way the adolescent sees himself in relation to his family and society. The body-image has two components, as described by Kolb, 8 the bodypercept and the body-concept. The individual develops the former through
Simultaneous Measurement of Curvature and Temperature Based on Asymmetrical FPI

We propose and demonstrate an asymmetrical Fabry–Perot interferometric (AFPI) fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of the curvature and temperature. The AFPI fiber sensor is comprised of a low reflective fiber Bragg grating with narrow bandwidth and a no-core fiber with broadband Fresnel reflection. The extinction ratio measured in the experiment is defined as the difference between the amplitude of the maximum peak and its left adjacent dip, which is about 6 dB. With the variation of curvature and temperature, the maximum amplitude peak wavelength of the AFPI and the extinction ratio show different responses, thus the simultaneous measurement of curvature and temperature can be achieved. From the experimental results, sensitivities of the proposed sensor for the curvature and the temperature are about 9.57 dB/m <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{-1} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> (ranging from 0.8844 to 1.0995 m <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{-1} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> for the measured extinction ratio) and 10.2 pm/°C (ranging from 10 °C to 60 °C), respectively. Such fiber sensor is simple, low cost, and compact.