Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Admission hyperglycemia and outcome in ICU patients with sepsis.

Stress hyperglycemia is a very common feature in the intensive care (ICU) setting and it is related to multiple causes that include inflammatory and neuro-endocrine derangements in critically ill patients, which lead to insulin resistance and high hepatic glucose output (1). The target for glucose management in this population and its relationship with the patients’ outcome is not clear, and results from literature are contrasting. Some evidences state that hyperglycemia, with a threshold value of 180 mg/dL, relates to an increased risk of death and morbidity due to infection in ICU patients (2).
The 5'-terminal structures of poliovirion RNA and poliovirus mRNA differ only in the genome-linked protein VPg.

The 5'-terminal, RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotide of poliovirus mRNA has been isolated. Its sequence is pU-U-A-A-A-A-C-A-Gp, which is identical to that of virion RNA except that the genome-linked protein VPg is absent [Nomoto, A. , Detjen, B. , Pozzatti, R. & Wimmer, E. (1977) Nature 268, 208-213]. Because all newly synthesized viral RNAs are VPg-linked, we propose that VPg is cleaved from progeny RNA at the linkage between protein and nucleic acid prior to polyribosome formation. This may represent a new mode of processing of viral macromolecules. Virion RNA from which VPg has been cleaved proteolytically retains its specific infectivity, an observation suggesting that VPg is not involved in early steps (penetration and translation) of the infectious cycle initiated by RNA.
IoE Security Threats and You

Internet of Everything (IoE) is a newly emerging trend especially in homes. Marketing forces towards smart homes are also accelerating the spread of IoE devices in households. An obvious danger of rapid adoption of these gadgets is that many of them lack controls for protecting the privacy and security of end users from attacks designed to disrupt lives and incur financial losses. Our research goal for this paper is to develop an IoE threat model geared specifically for home users who are often unaware of the privacy and security threats which the IoE appliances pose. Our ultimate goal is to propose an effective solution to alerting users of imminent IoE security threats and offering actionable steps to mitigate them through an intuitive and friendly user interface design. There have been ample security research on individual elements of IoE. In particular, there are many publications on Internet of Things (IoT) security. What differentiates our research from the existing IoT works is that we are treating IoT as a component of an IoE ecosystem and developing our threat model in the more comprehensive context of how other pieces of the equation, such as people and data as well as processes fit together to result in formidable security threats.
Vertebral deformities in rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison with population-based controls.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown an increased prevalence of osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the extent of osteoporotic fractures is not clarified. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of vertebral deformities in a representative, population-based cohort of female patients with RA with that in matched controls, and to examine the relationship between deformities and RA, bone mineral density (BMD), and corticosteroid use. METHODS Female patients (mean age, 63.0 years; range, 50.7-73.6 years) were recruited from a county register of patients with RA. Population controls were matched for age, sex, and residential area. Participants had thoracolumbar radiographs taken according to a standardized procedure, and BMD was measured at the hip and spine (L2-L4). RESULTS The overall number of vertebral deformities was substantially higher in the RA group compared with controls (147 vs 51, applying the morphometric criteria), with a highly significant difference between patients and controls regarding the presence of multiple deformities measured morphometrically (11.2% vs 4.8%; odds ratio, 2.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-6.04) and moderate or severe deformities measured semiquantitatively (17.3% vs 10.0%; odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-3.74). In Poisson regression analysis, vertebral deformities were independently associated with RA, BMD, and long-term corticosteroid use. CONCLUSIONS Vertebral deformities are markedly increased in patients with RA compared with controls, especially regarding severe and multiple deformities. A diagnosis of RA was associated with vertebral deformities independently of BMD and long-term corticosteroid use. These findings have important implications for prevention of established osteoporosis in RA.
Effects of motion artifacts on helmet-mounted pulse oximeter sensors

Motion artifacts are known to affect the accuracy and reliability of pulse oximeters. In this paper we investigated the effects of typical motion artifacts associated with upper body movements on the stability of oxygen saturation (SpO/sub 2/) measurements from helmet-mounted pulse oximeter sensors. Preliminary tests performed using four reflectance sensors mounted on a military helmet and its supporting harness suggest that the forehead provides the most stable location for obtaining reliable measurements of SpO/sub 2/ in the field.
Spectacle Lenses Designed to Reduce Progression of Myopia: 12-Month Results

Purpose. To report the results of 12-month wear of three novel spectacle lens designs intended to reduce peripheral hyperopic defocus and one standard design control lens and their effect on the progression of myopia in Chinese children aged 6 to 16 years. Methods. Chinese children (n = 210) with myopia (−0.75 D to −3.50 D sphere, cylinder ≤−1.50 D) were randomized to one of four groups wearing either one of three novel spectacle lens designs (types I, II, or III) or conventional, single-vision spectacle lenses. Data were collected at 6 and 12 months. Primary and secondary outcome measures were the changes in central cycloplegic auto-refraction and eye axial length, respectively. Peripheral refraction along the horizontal meridian (nasal and temporal) was taken at baseline with and without spectacle lenses. Multivariate linear regression was used to adjust analyses for important covariates. Results. Progression in eyes wearing control spectacle lenses at 6 and 12 months was −0.55 D ± 0.35 D and −0.78 ± 0.50 D, respectively. For the entire group, no statistically significant differences were observed in the rates of progression with the novel designs in comparison to control spectacle lenses. However, in younger children (6 to 12 years) with parental history of myopia (n = 100), there was significantly less progression (−0.68 D ± 0.47 D vs. −0.97 D ± 0.48 D) with lens type III compared with control spectacles (mean difference, 0.29 D, std error, 0.11, p = 0.038). Conclusions. There were no statistically significant differences in the rate of progression of myopia between the control and novel lens wearing eyes for the age group 6 to 16 years. The finding of reduced progression of myopia with type III lens design in younger children with parental myopia needs to be validated in a more targeted study.
Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry Study on the Degradation of B-Aflatoxins in Maize with Aqueous Citric Acid

Degradation of B-aflatoxins in maize by means of 1N aqueous citric acid was confirmed by the AFLATEST immunoaffinity column method, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and computational information. The AFLATEST and HPLC assays showed that 96.7% degradation occurred in maize contaminated with 93 ng g-1 when treated with the aqueous citric acid. Two major products, produced during the acidification process, were identified by their corresponding mass spectral data: a nonfluorescent compound lacking the lactone group evidenced by the presence of a peak m/z 286 and a nonfluorescent compound retaining the difurane moiety but lacking the lactone carbonyl and the cyclopentenone ring of the AFB1, also suggested by the peak m/z 206; the title fragments correspond to molecular ions in agreement with their respective molecular weights. According to the theoretical calculations, applying density functional theory, it was confirmed that the active site may be assigned to the carbonylic carbon of the lactonic moiety.
Addison's disease in Africa—a teaching hospital experience

Addison's disease may present with diverse and non‐specific clinical and biochemical features. Contentious issues include the appropriate criteria for the interpretation of the ACTH stimulation test and the necessary extent of investigation to identify a specific aetiology for the hypoadrenalism. The experience of Addison's disease at a South African teaching hospital was reviewed to (1) record the aetiology and spectrum of presentation, (2) examine the performance of the ACTH stimulation test and (3) determine the utility of adrenal CT scan and biopsy.
Design of a Low Noise Amplifier of RF communication receiver for mine

The design ways and steps of a Low Noise Amplifier used in RF communication receiver for personnel orientation system in mine is been introduced in this paper. The key points are analysis device's stability with Stability coefficient of determination of the ADS software and the input and output impedance matching with Smith Chart and Tuning. Finally, the performance parameters of LNA were obtained with the simulation of S parameters. The final simulation results show that the Use of ADS for low noise amplifier design is useful and has a good reference value for practical amplifier design.
Factors Affecting the Development of Speech, Language, and Literacy in Children With Early Cochlear Implantation.

PURPOSE This study investigated factors contributing to auditory, speech, language, and reading outcomes in children with prelingual deafness after 4-6 years of multichannel cochlear implant use. The analysis controlled for the effects of child, family, and implant characteristics so that educational factors most conducive to maximum implant benefit could be identified. METHOD The sample included 136 8- and 9-year-old children from across the United States and Canada who were implanted by age 5 with the Nucleus 22-channel implant. Type and amount of educational intervention since implantation constituted the independent variables. The dependent variable was performance on a battery of tests of speech perception, speech production, language, and reading administered 4-6 years postimplant. Characteristics of the child, the family, and the implant itself constituted intervening variables. A series of multiple regression analyses determined the amount of variance in each outcome accounted for by the intervening variables and the amount of additional variance attributable to independent variables. RESULTS Characteristics of the child and the family (primarily nonverbal IQ) accounted for approximately 20% of the variance in postimplant outcome. An additional 24% was accounted for by implant characteristics and 12% by educational variables, particularly oral communication mode. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Auditory, speech, language, and reading skills achieved 4-6 years after cochlear implantation were most strongly associated with nonverbal IQ, implant functioning, and use of an oral communication mode.
A combined time-and-frequency-domain model for integration of wind power generation

Wind power generations (WPGs) are different from traditional generations for their considerable fluctuations. It is challenging to describe the status of a system with power fluctuation injections, especially when considering complicated network constraints. This paper proposes a combined time-and-frequency-domain (CTFD) model to evaluate whether the constraints will be violated under fluctuating wind power injection. The constraints of energy units and branch power flow are described in a generalized form, and are related to the power spectral density of power fluctuations. The distributions of the constraint variables are then discussed based on the CTFD model, and a chance criterion is conducted to describe the probability of the constraints being violated. Case studies show the effectiveness of the proposed model.
Involvement of Gicerin, a Cell Adhesion Molecule, in the Hematogenous Metastatic Activities of a Melanoma Cell Line

Gicerin is an immunoglobulin superfamily cell adhesion molecule that plays a role in development via its cell adhesive activities. After maturation, the gicerin expressionalmost disappears in most organs, except for the muscle and endothelial cells. Interestingly, various neoplastic cells strongly express gicerin in their cell membranes, indicating a potential function of gicerin in the development of malignancy. In the present study, we analyzed the potential role of gicerin in the metastasis of melanoma. Gicerin was found to be expressed in the cell membrane of the B16 implantable melanoma cell line. In addition, cell adhesion activity of B16was clearly promoted on gicerin proteins and HUVEC cells, an endothelial cell line. B16 cells were then implanted intravenously into nude mice in order to evaluate the metastatic activity of gicerin in vivo. Following implantation, metastatic lesions were frequently observed in the pulmonary tissues, whereas tumor emboli and extravasation were found in the pulmonary blood vessels. In contrast, no metastatic lesions were detected in the pulmonary tissues of the mice injected with B16 cells preincubated with anti-gicerin polyclonal antibodies. These findings suggest that gicerin enhances the pulmonary metastatic properties of melanoma cells by promoting endothelium-tumor interactions.
Quick and dirty: lightweight methods for heavyweight research

There seems to be a need for more rapid, lower cost, exploratory, lightweight, responsive and revisable methods that can help with discovery based research in CSCW. A growing number of researchers are expressing frustration with the challenge of selecting or developing an appropriate research method, applying it in a CSCW context and then having to justify the legitimacy of that method in publications, and particularly through the peer review process. In this workshop we will share experiences in the design adaptation and use of lightweight research methods. We will explore ways to assess the validity, strengths, and weaknesses of these methods - and how to explain these and justify them to others.
Chapters School of Hotel Administration Collection 2-2014 The Impact of Environmental Certification on Hotel Guest Ratings

In this article, we analyze the impact on hotels of the ISO 14001 environmental certification system from the customers’ perspective. Based on a comparison of customer ratings of 6,850 hotels in Spain with and without ISO 14001 certification, overall guests rate the hotels with ISO 14001 certification higher than those without the certification. These results are stronger for hotel comfort and hotel services compared with other hotel attributes. Moreover, the most significant differences were found in the upscale four-star hotels. While the study does not reveal causes for these findings, the implication is that the highest end five-star luxury hotels do not gain distinctive differentiation by having the ISO 14001 certification, while for three-star hotels, guests’ price sensitivity overrides environmental concerns. At the four-star level, however, hotels seem to be able to gain a distinct market advantage from environmental certification. For all hotels, the management discipline provided by ISO 14001 can provide a competitive advantage.
Zoonotic Potential of Enterocytozoon bieneusi

ABSTRACT The reservoirs and the modes of transmission of the most frequent microsporidial species in humans, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, are still unknown. We have examined fecal samples of 26 humans and 350 animals from 37 species to find 18 samples containing this parasite from humans, cats, pigs, cattle, and a llama. Genotypic characterization of the internal transcribed spacer of the rRNA gene resulted in 14 different genotypes, 6 of them previously undescribed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the lack of a transmission barrier between E. bieneusi from humans and animals (cats, pigs, and cattle). Thus, E. bieneusi appears to be a zoonotic pathogen.
Arteries of the head and neck in giant cell arteritis. A pathological study to show the pattern of arterial involvement.

In patients dying during the active phase of giant cell arteritis there was a very high incidence of severe involvement of the superficial temporal, vertebral, ophthalmic, and posterior ciliary arteries. The internal carotid, external carotid, and central retinal arteries were less commonly severely involved. The intracranial arteries were never involved in the cases studied, though mild involvement is reported infrequently in the literature. The pattern of arterial involvement was reflected by the high incidence of monocular blindness, occipital blindness, and brain stem strokes (including the lateral medullary syndrome) in severely affected patients dying of the disease. There appeared to be a close correlation between the susceptibility to giant cell arteritis and the amount of elastic tissue in the media and adventitia of the individual arteries of the head and neck.
Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in traditional meats derived from game animals in Nunavik.

INTRODUCTION The objectives of this project were two-fold, to: (1) implement rapid, simple, and inexpensive test methods enabling the detection of the foodborne pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in foods and related samples, for the purpose of establishing basic on-site food microbiology testing capability at the Nunavik Research Centre (NRC) in Kuujjuaq, with the provision of hands-on training in the operation of methods; and (2) use this new capability to conduct a survey of the eastern Canadian Arctic in order to ascertain the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in traditional meats derived from arctic food animals. METHODS To verify the effectiveness of training provided to NRC staff, proficiency test samples consisting of ground beef inoculated with salmonellae and E. coli O157:H7 were prepared by the Proficiency Testing Unit of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and shipped to the NRC for analysis. The NRC laboratory demonstrated 100% accuracy in the identification of the target pathogens in all samples, demonstrating the successful implementation of on-site test capability. For the prevalence study, a total of 129 samples from arctic mammals, fowl, fish and environmental swabs from community freezers were analyzed at both the NRC and CFIA laboratories. RESULTS No E. coli O157- or Salmonella-positives were identified for any of the samples examined. CONCLUSION These results represent a first step towards the creation for future reference of a database on the prevalence of the pathogens E. coli O157 and Salmonella.
Inhibition of the slow pressor effect of angiotensin II contributes to the antihypertensive effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in renovascular hypertension.

The authors recently reported that renovascular hypertension (RVH) in rats is associated with enhanced responsiveness to the slow pressor effect of angiotensin II (AngII). It was concluded that the contribution of AngII to the development of hypertension could not be inferred solely from measurements of plasma peptide concentrations. This experiment was performed to test the corollary hypothesis that the antihypertensive efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in established RVH could be caused in part by inhibition of the slow pressor effect. After five control days of measurement of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and other variables, RVH rats were given the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril in their drinking water. Half of these rats also received a continuous infusion of AngII, 4 ng/min i.v. , an infusion rate previously shown to restore normal MAP in normal rats rendered hypotensive by chronic treatment with enalapril. Other RVH rats were given the potent vasodilator minoxidil in their drinking water, and half of these received AngII. Treatments lasted 7 days and were followed by 5 days without intervention. Enalapril significantly reduced MAP, but concurrent AngII infusion overcame this effect; MAP remained at control hypertensive levels. AngII did not affect the antihypertensive response to minoxidil. These results confirm that addition of relatively modest amounts of AngII to the circulation is able to maintain elevated blood pressure in RVH. Thus, inhibition of the slow pressor effect of AngII may partially explain the antihypertensive effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in RVH.
Periodic mass-loss episodes due to an oscillation mode with variable amplitude in the hot supergiant HD 50064

Aims. We aim to interpret the photometric and spectroscopic variability of the luminous blue variable supergiant HD 50064 ( V = 8.21). Methods. CoRoT space photometry and follow-up high-resolution spectroscopy with a time base of 137 d and 169 d, respectively, was gathered, analysed, and interpreted using standard time series analysis and light curve modelling methods, as well as spectral line diagnostics. Results. The space photometry reveals one period of 37 d, which undergoes a sudden amplitude change with a factor 1.6. The pulsation period is confirmed in the spectroscopy, which additionally reveals metal line radial velocity values differing by ∼30 km s ―1 depending on the spectral line and on the epoch. We estimate T eff ∼ 13 500 K, log g ∼ 1.5 from the equivalent width of Si lines. The Balmer lines reveal that the star undergoes episodes of changing mass loss on a time scale similar to the changes in the photometric and spectroscopic variability, with an average value of log M ≃ ―5 (in M ⊙ yr ―1 ). We tentatively interpret the 37 d period as the result of a strange mode oscillation.
Caux Transformation of Course Timetablinng Problem to RCPSP T

The Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) is concerned with single-item or small batch production where limited resources have to be allocated to dependent activities over time. Over the past few decades, a lot of work has been made with the use of optimal solution procedures for this basic problem type and its extensions. Brucker and Knust[1] discuss, how timetabling problems can be modeled as a RCPSP. Authors discuss high school timetabling and university course timetabling problem as an example. We have formulated two mathematical formulations of course timetabling problem in a new way which are the prototype of single-mode RCPSP. Our focus is to show, how course timetabling problem can be transformed into RCPSP. We solve this transformation model with genetic algorithm. Keywords—Course Timetabling, Integer programming, Combinatorial optimizations
Performance Analysis Of LTE System Using OFDMA & SC-FDMA

The low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in single-carrier systems has encouraged the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to embrace single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) as the uplink multiple access scheme in comparison of OFDMA system. In this paper an improvement of a SC-FDMA system is aimed by decreasing the PAPR. A composition of Pulse shaping and extracting (RC filter) is applied on a SC-FDMA signal with IFDMA, LFDMA, DFDMA subcarrier mapping, which results in a PAPR minimization of the system. This PAPR reduction by hybrid (clipping & pulse shaping) technique can be used to improve the power efficiency of the cell phone, or alternatively to improve uplink output and operating range.