LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Phase I study of irinotecan for previously treated lung cancer patients with the UGT1A1
*
28 or *
6 polymorphism: Results of the Lung Oncology Group in Kyushu (LOGIK1004A)

BACKGROUND
Various polymorphisms have been detected in the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A ( UGT1A ) gene, and UGT1A1 *28 and UGT1A1 *6 have important effects on the pharmacokinetics of irinotecan and the risk of severe toxicities during irinotecan therapy. This study was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of irinotecan chemotherapy according to the UGT1A1 genotype in previously treated lung cancer patients with the UGT1A1 *28 or UGT1A1 *6 polymorphism.


METHODS
The eligibility criteria were as follows: lung cancer patients that had previously been treated with anticancer agents other than irinotecan, possessed the UGT1A1 *28 or UGT1A1 *6 polymorphism (group A included *28/*28, *6/*6, and *28/*6, and group B included *28 /- and *6 /-), were aged ≤75 years old, had a performance score of 0-1, and exhibited adequate bone marrow function. The patients were scheduled to receive irinotecan on days 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and 36.


RESULTS
Four patients were enrolled in this trial. Two patients were determined to be ineligible. The remaining two patients, who belonged to group B, received an initial irinotecan dose of 60 mg/m2 , but did not complete the planned treatment because of diarrhea and leukopenia. Thus, in group B patients, 60 mg/m2 was considered to be the MTD of irinotecan. The study was terminated in group A because of poor case recruitment.


CONCLUSIONS
The MTD of irinotecan for previously treated lung cancer patients that are heterozygous for the UGT1A1 * 28 or UGT1A1 * 6 gene polymorphism is 60 mg/m2 .
Biased feedback in brain-computer interfaces

Even though feedback is considered to play an important role in learning how to operate a brain-computer interface (BCI), to date no significant influence of feedback design on BCI-performance has been reported in literature. In this work, we adapt a standard motor-imagery BCI-paradigm to study how BCI-performance is affected by biasing the belief subjects have on their level of control over the BCI system. Our findings indicate that subjects already capable of operating a BCI are impeded by inaccurate feedback, while subjects normally performing on or close to chance level may actually benefit from an incorrect belief on their performance level. Our results imply that optimal feedback design in BCIs should take into account a subject's current skill level.
Expression of inwardly rectifying potassium channels (GIRKs) and beta-adrenergic regulation of breast cancer cell lines

Previous research has indicated that at various organ sites there is a subset of adenocarcinomas that is regulated by beta-adrenergic and arachidonic acid-mediated signal transduction pathways. We wished to determine if this regulation exists in breast adenocarcinomas. Expression of mRNA that encodes a G-protein coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channel (GIRK1) has been shown in tissue samples from approximately 40% of primary human breast cancers. Previously, GIRK channels have been associated with beta-adrenergic signaling. Breast cancer cell lines were screened for GIRK channels by RT-PCR. Cell cultures of breast cancer cells were treated with beta-adrenergic agonists and antagonists, and changes in gene expression were determined by both relative competitive and real time PCR. Potassium flux was determined by flow cytometry and cell signaling was determined by western blotting. Breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, MDA-MB-361 MDA-MB 453, and ZR-75-1 expressed mRNA for the GIRK1 channel, while MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-435S did not. GIRK4 was expressed in all six breast cancer cell lines, and GIRK2 was expressed in all but ZR-75-1 and MDA-MB-435. Exposure of MDA-MB-453 cells for 6 days to the beta-blocker propranolol (1 μM) increased the GIRK1 mRNA levels and decreased beta2-adrenergic mRNA levels, while treatment for 30 minutes daily for 7 days had no effect. Exposure to a beta-adrenergic agonist and antagonist for 24 hours had no effect on gene expression. The beta adrenergic agonist, formoterol hemifumarate, led to increases in K+ flux into MDA-MB-453 cells, and this increase was inhibited by the GIRK channel inhibitor clozapine. The tobacco carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), a high affinity agonist for beta-adrenergic receptors stimulated activation of Erk 1/2 in MDA-MB-453 cells. Our data suggests β-adrenergic receptors and GIRK channels may play a role in breast cancer.
Personalized document re-ranking based on Bayesian probabilistic matrix factorization

A query considered in isolation provides limited information about the searcher's interest. Previous work has considered various types of user behavior, e.g., clicks and dwell time, to obtain a better understanding of the user's intent. We consider the searcher's search and page view history. Using search logs from a commercial search engine, we (i) investigate the impact of features derived from user behavior on reranking a generic ranked list; (ii) optimally integrate the contributions of user behavior and candidate documents by learning their relative importance per query based on similar users. We use dwell time on clicked URLs when estimating the relevance of documents for a query, and perform Bayesian Probabilistic Matrix Factorization as smoothing to predict the relevance. Considering user behavior achieves better rankings than non-personalized rankings. Aggregation of user behavior and query-document features with a user-dependent adaptive weight outperforms combinations with a fixed uniform value.
Dynamics of rotifer and cladoceran resting stages during copper pollution and recovery in a subalpine lake

Despite their ecological importance and ability to react to environmental changes, including pollution, monogonont rotifers have never been used in palaeolimnological studies because they do not leave subfossil remains. In this study, we tested the possibility of using rotifer resting eggs as a proxy for reconstruction of changes in biodiversity during chronic copper pollution and recovery of a deep sudalpine lake (Lake Orta, Italy). The lake was selected owing to a rich history of previous studies that explored species-specific responses to environmental stressors. Rotifer-based results were compared with those on ephippia and on previously investigated Cladocera subfossil remains. Responses of Rotifera resting eggs to environmental changes were clear and consistent with those previously observed on Cladocera. The abundance of resting eggs increased during pollution, and new morphotypes appeared in addition to those already present. However, overall diversity decreased sharply, as a few morphotypes became dominant. Resting eggs of Brachionus calyciflorus as old as ca. 100 years were still fully viable; viability was not affected by toxic conditions of the environment in which the eggs were produced. Over a period of ca. 80 years, all resting eggs of B. calyciflorus belonged to a single clone, the most widely distributed one in North America. Cladocera ephippia started to accumulate later and at a lower level of abundance than rotifer resting eggs. Overall, Cladocera ephippia were, however, less effective than rotifers in tracing lake historical changes. The results point out at the great potential of using rotifer resting eggs in palaeolimnological reconstructions.
Economic analysis and optimal energy management models for microgrid systems: A case study in Taiwan

The purpose of this research is to perform economic analysis, formulate an optimization model, and determine optimal operating strategies for smart microgrid systems. Microgrid systems are electricity supply systems that integrate distributed renewable energy production for local demand. Microgrids are able to reduce transmission losses and improve utilization efficiency of electricity and heat. Further, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by utilizing an efficient power generation microgrid system. This study presents an energy management model that is used to determine optimal operating strategies with maximum profit for a microgrid system in Taiwan. The smart microgrid system is equipped with energy storage devices, photovoltaic power, and wind power generation systems. Sensitivity analyses of investment in storage capacity and growth in electricity demand are conducted for the smart microgrid model. The results show that appropriate battery capacity should be determined on the basis of both battery efficiency and power supply. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
New isoform HvNHX3 of vacuolar Na+/H+-antiporter in barley: Expression and immunolocalization

The gene HvNHX3 encoding a new isoform of vacuolar Na+/H+-antiporter was identified in barley. This gene is expressed in roots and leaves of barley seedlings, and it encodes a protein consisting of 541 amino acid residues with pre-dicted molecular weight 59.7 kDa. It was found that by its amino acid sequence HvNHX3 is closest to the Na+/H+-antiporter HbNHX1 of wild type from Hordeum brevisibulatum that grows on salt-marsh (solonchak) soils (95% homology). The expression of HvNHX3 during salt stress is increased several-fold in roots and leaves of barley seedlings. At the same time, the amount of HvNHX3 protein in roots does not change, but in leaves it increases significantly. It was shown using HvNHX3 immunolocalization in roots that this protein is present in all tissues, but in control plants it was clustered and in experimental plants after salt stress it was visualized as small granules. It has been proposed that HvNHX3 is converted into active form during declusterization. The conversion of HvNHX3 into its active form along with its quantitative increase in leaves during salt stress activates Na+/H+-exchange across the vacuolar membrane and Na+ release from cytoplasm, and, as a consequence, an increase of salt stress tolerance.
Conguence : Congruence coefficient , R V-coefficient , and Mantel coefficient

The congruence between two configurations of points quantifies their similarity. The configurations to be compared are, in general, produced by factor analytic methods which decompose an “observations by variables” data matrix and produce one set of factor scores for the observations and one set of factor scores (i.e., the “loadings”) for the variables. The congruence between two sets of factor scores collected on the same units (which can be observations or variables) measures the similarity between these two sets of scores. If, for example, two different types of factor analysis are performed on the same data set, the congruence between the two solutions is evaluated by the similarity of the configurations of the factor scores produced by these two techniques.
Khat Chewing and Mental Distress: A Community Based Study, in Jimma City, Southwestern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND
Khat (Catha edulis) contains a psychoactive substance, cathinone, which produces central nervous system stimulation analogous to amphetamine. It is believed that khat chewing has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of individuals as well as the socioeconomic condition of the family and the society at large. There is lack of community based studies regarding the link between khat use and poor mental health. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between khat use and mental distress and to determine the prevalence of mental distress and khat use in Jimma City.


METHODS
A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in Jimma City from October 15 to November 15, 2009. The study used a structured questionnaire and Self Reporting Questionnaire-20 designed by WHO and which has been translated into Amharic and validated in Ethiopia. By multi stage sampling, 1200 individuals were included in the study. Data analysis was done using SPSS for window version 13.


RESULTS
The Khat use prevalence was found to be 37.8% during the study period. Majority of the khat users were males (73.5%), age group 18-24 (41.1%), Muslims (46.6%), Oromo Ethnic group (47.2%), single (51.4%), high school students (46.8%) and employed (80%). Using cut-off point 7 out of 20 on the Self Reporting Questionnaire-20, 25.8% of the study population was found to have mental distress. Males (26.6%), persons older than 55 years (36.4%), Orthodox Christians (28.4%), Kefficho Ethnic groups (36.4%), widowed (44.8%), illiterates (43.8%) and farmers (40.0%) had higher rates of mental distress. We found that mental distress and khat use have significant association (34.7% Vs 20.5%, P<0.001). There was also significant association between mental distress and frequency of khat use (41% Vs 31.1%, P<0.001)


CONCLUSION
The high rate of khat use among the young persons calls for public intervention to prevent more serious forms of substance use disorders. Our findings suggest that persons who use khat suffer from higher rates of mental distress. However, causal association could not be established due to cross-sectional study design.
Image Classification Using Generative Neuro Evolution for Deep Learning

Research into deep learning has demonstrated performance competitive with humans on some visual tasks, however, these systems have been primarily trained through supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms. Alternatively, research is showing that evolution may have a significant role in the development of visual systems. Thus neuroevolution for deep learning is investigated in this paper. In particular, the Hypercube-based Neuro Evolution of Augmenting Topologies is a NE approach that can effectively learn large neural structures by training an indirect encoding that compresses the artificial neural network (ANN) weight pattern as a function of geometry. The methodologies are tested on a traditional image classification task as well as one tailored to overhead satellite imagery. The results show that Hyper NEAT struggles with performing image classification by itself, but can be effective in training a feature extractor that other ML approaches can learn from. Thus Neuro Evolution combined with other ML methods provides an intriguing area of research that can replicate the processes in nature.
Effects of self-myofascial release: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND
Self-myofascial release (SMFR) is a type of myofascial release performed by the individual themselves rather than by a clinician, typically using a tool.


OBJECTIVES
To review the literature regarding studies exploring acute and chronic clinical effects of SMFR.


METHODS
PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched during February 2015 for studies containing words related to the topic of SMFR.


RESULTS
Acutely, SMFR seems to increase flexibility and reduce muscle soreness but does not impede athletic performance. It may lead to improved arterial function, improved vascular endothelial function, and increased parasympathetic nervous system activity acutely, which could be useful in recovery. There is conflicting evidence whether SMFR can improve flexibility long-term.


CONCLUSION
SMFR appears to have a range of potentially valuable effects for both athletes and the general population, including increasing flexibility and enhancing recovery.
Gamma-Pareto Distribution and Its Applications

A new distribution, the gamma-Pareto, is defined and studied and various properties of the distribution are obtained. Results for moments, limiting behavior and entropies are provided. The method of maximum likelihood is proposed for estimating the parameters and the distribution is applied to fit three real data sets. Introduction The Pareto distribution was named after Swiss economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) who discovered it while studying distributions for modeling income in Switzerland. Since that time, the Pareto distribution has been widely used in modeling heavy-tailed distributions, such as income distribution. Many applications of the Pareto distribution in economics, biology and physics can be found throughout the literature. Burroughs and Tebbens (2001) discussed applications of the Pareto distribution in modeling earthquakes, forest fire areas and oil and gas field sizes, and Schroeder, et al. (2010) presented an application of the Pareto distribution in modeling disk drive sector errors. To add flexibility to the Pareto distribution, various generalizations of the distribution have been derived, including: the generalized Pareto distribution (Pickands, 1975), the beta-Pareto distribution (Akinsete, et al., 2008), and the beta generalized Pareto distribution (Mahmoudi, 2011).
A tutorial on blockchain and applications to secure network control-planes

Recent interest about the blockchain technology brought questions about its application to other systems than the cryptocurrency one. In this paper we present blockchain and discuss key applications to network systems in the literature.
A multivariate regression approach to association analysis of a quantitative trait network

MOTIVATION
Many complex disease syndromes such as asthma consist of a large number of highly related, rather than independent, clinical phenotypes, raising a new technical challenge in identifying genetic variations associated simultaneously with correlated traits. Although a causal genetic variation may influence a group of highly correlated traits jointly, most of the previous association analyses considered each phenotype separately, or combined results from a set of single-phenotype analyses.


RESULTS
We propose a new statistical framework called graph-guided fused lasso to address this issue in a principled way. Our approach represents the dependency structure among the quantitative traits explicitly as a network, and leverages this trait network to encode structured regularizations in a multivariate regression model over the genotypes and traits, so that the genetic markers that jointly influence subgroups of highly correlated traits can be detected with high sensitivity and specificity. While most of the traditional methods examined each phenotype independently, our approach analyzes all of the traits jointly in a single statistical method to discover the genetic markers that perturb a subset of correlated traits jointly rather than a single trait. Using simulated datasets based on the HapMap consortium data and an asthma dataset, we compare the performance of our method with the single-marker analysis, and other sparse regression methods that do not use any structural information in the traits. Our results show that there is a significant advantage in detecting the true causal single nucleotide polymorphisms when we incorporate the correlation pattern in traits using our proposed methods.


AVAILABILITY
Software for GFlasso is available at http://www.sailing.cs.cmu.edu/gflasso.html.
Learning Semantic Segmentation with Weakly-Annotated Videos

Fully convolutional neural networks (FCNNs) trained on a large number of images with strong pixel-level annotations have become the new state of the art for the semantic segmentation task. While there have been recent attempts to learn FCNNs from image-level weak annotations, they need additional constraints, such as the size of an object, to obtain reasonable performance. To address this issue, we present motion-CNN (M-CNN), a novel FCNN framework which incorporates motion cues and is learned from video-level weak annotations. Our learning scheme to train the network uses motion segments as soft constraints, thereby handling noisy motion information. When trained on weakly-annotated videos, our method outperforms the state-of-the-art approach [28] on the PASCAL VOC 2012 image segmentation benchmark. We also demonstrate that the performance of M-CNN learned with 150 weak video annotations is on par with state-of-the-art weakly-supervised methods trained with thousands of images. Finally, M-CNN substantially outperforms recent approaches in a related task of video co-localization on the YouTube-Objects dataset. This is an extended version of our ECCV paper [39].
Polaritons in van der Waals materials

BACKGROUND: Light trappedat thenanoscale, deep below the optical wavelength, exhibits an increase in the associated electric field strength, which results in enhanced light-matter interaction. This leads to strong nonlinearities, large photonic forces, and enhanced emission and absorption probabilities. A practical approach toward nanoscale light trapping andmanipulation is offered by interfaces separating media with permittivities of opposite signs. Such interfaces sustainhybrid light-mattermodes involving collective oscillations of polarization charges in matter, hence the termpolaritons. Surface plasmon polaritons, supported by electrons in metals, constitute amost-studiedprominent example. Yet there are many other varieties of polaritons, including those formed by atomic vibrations in polar insulators, excitons in semiconductors, Cooper pairs in superconductors, and spin resonances in (anti) ferromagnets. Together, they span a broad region of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging frommicrowave to ultraviolet wavelengths. We discuss polaritons in van der Waals (vdW) materials: layeredsystems inwhich individualatomic planes are bonded by weak vdW attraction (see the figure). This class of quantum materials includes graphene and other two-dimensional crystals. In artificial structures assembled from dissimilar vdW atomic layers, polaritons associated with different constituents can interact to produce unique optical effects by design.
Private Tutoring and Demand for Education in South Korea

South Korea’s education sector has expanded dramatically as her economy grew over the last several decades. In 2000, the government spent more than 3.5% of GDP on primary and secondary schooling, comparable to the level in the other OECD countries. Despite the substantial government expenditure, households additionally spent about the same amount on private tutoring. We argue that the prevalence of private tutoring is a market response to the government’s rigid and uniform education policy. In order to achieve rapid economic growth, the government pushed hard for universal primary schooling and the equalization of secondary schools. Unsatisfied demand for education by parents and students in a highly regulated educational environment has resulted in an enormous increase in private tutoring despite the government's strong policy measures to reduce it.
The World Is Not Black and White: Racial Bias in the Decision to Shoot in a Multiethnic Context

We examined implicit race biases in the decision to shoot potentially hostile targets in a multiethnic context. Results of two studies showed that college-aged participants and police officers showed anti-Black racial bias in their response times: they were quicker to correctly shoot armed Black targets and to indicate “don’t shoot” for unarmed Latino, Asian, and White targets. In addition, police officers showed racial biases in response times toward Latinos versus Asians or Whites, and surprisingly, toward Whites versus Asians. Results also showed that the accuracy of decisions to shoot was higher for Black and Latino targets than for White and Asian targets. Finally, the degree of bias shown by police officers toward Blacks was related to contact, attitudes, and stereotypes. Overestimation of community violent crime correlated with greater bias toward Latinos but less toward Whites. Implications for police training to ameliorate biases are discussed.