Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family History and Prior Allergies of Cancers and the Risk of Adult Leukemia in Shandong Province, China

Background: A case-control study was carried out to investigate the roles of prior allergies and family history of cancers and their interaction in the etiology of adult leukemia. Methods: Prior allergies status and family history of cancers in first-degree relatives were compared between 131 incident leukemia cases and 206 hospital-based controls. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated using an unconditional regression model taking into account potential confounding factors. Results: Significant association between adult leukemia and prior allergies and family history of cancer (OR=2.09, 95% CI: 1.22–3.58 for prior allergies; and OR=2.35, 95% CI: 1.09–5.03 for family history of cancer, OR=15.88, 95% CI: 1.77–142.55 for both the two factors (+), respectively) was found after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Conclusion: Prior allergies and family history of cancers may be risk factors for adult leukemia; their interaction was likely to be synergistic rather than additive for the risk of leukemia.
High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treating moderate traumatic brain injury in rats: A pilot study

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a method of noninvasive brain stimulation that causes neuromodulation by activating neurons or changing excitability in a certain brain area. Considering the known effects of TMS and the pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI), TMS was proposed to have potential for treating this condition. Moderate TBI was induced in adult male Sprague Dawley rats using Feeney's weight-dropping method. Injured rats were divided into a TMS group and a control group. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) was administered to rats in the TMS group from post-TBI day 2. At post-TBI days 7, 14 and 28, three or four of the rats were sacrificed, and harvested brains were embedded in paraffin and sectioned. Sections were then treated with hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining. Three rats from each group underwent fludeoxyglucose F 18 micro-positron emission tomography scanning on post-TBI day 2 and 13. The unexpected mortality rate after injury was lower in the TMS group than in the control group. The modified neurological severity score of the TMS group was lower compared with the control group at post-TBI day 14. According to the results of hematoxylin eosin staining, relative cerebral parenchyma loss was lower at post-TBI day 28 in the TMS group compared with the control group. However, the aforementioned differences were not found to be statistically significant. There was also no significant difference in glucose metabolism between the two groups. According to immunohistochemical staining, the TMS group showed a significantly higher level of proliferation (indicated by bromodeoxyuridine) in the subventricular zone, as compared with the control group (P<0.05). A significantly higher rate of neuron survival at day 28 (P<0.05; indicated by NeuN) and a significantly reduced rate of apoptosis at days 7 and 14 (P<0.05; indicated by caspase-3) were observed in the perilesional zone of the TMS group, as compared with the control group. The current findings suggest that high-frequency rTMS may promote neurogenesis and provide a basis for further studies in this area.
Highlight removal by illumination-constrained inpainting

We present a single-image highlight removal method that incorporates illumination-based constraints into image inpainting. Unlike occluded image regions filled by traditional inpainting, highlight pixels contain some useful information for guiding the inpainting process. Constraints provided by observed pixel colors, highlight color analysis and illumination color uniformity are employed in our method to improve estimation of the underlying diffuse color. The inclusion of these illumination constraints allows for better recovery of shading and textures by inpainting. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the performance of our method.
Techniques for Missing Value Recovering in Imbalanced Databases: Application in a Marketing Database with Massive Missing Data

Missing data in databases are considered to be one of the biggest problems faced on data mining application. This problem can be aggravated when there is massive missing data in the presence of imbalanced databases. Several techniques as imputation, classifiers and approximation of patterns have been proposed and compared, but these comparisons do not consider adverse conditions found in real databases. In this work, it is presented a comparison of techniques used to classify records from a real imbalanced database with massive missing data, where the main objective is the database pre-processing to recover and select records completely filled for a further application of the techniques. It was compared algorithms such as clustering, decision tree, artificial neural networks and Bayesian classifier. Through the results, it can be verified that the problem characterization and database understanding are essential steps for a correct techniques comparison in a real problem. It was observed that artificial neural networks are an interesting alternative for this kind of problem since it is capable to obtain satisfactory results even when dealing with real-world problems.
Functional hyposplenia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is detected by epinephrine stimulation test and splenic ultrasonography

Splenic function was evaluated after subcutaneous epinephrine injection (0.5 mg/m2) in 15 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients, 10 healthy volunteers and 5 healthy asplenic men. Healthy volunteers and BMT recipients with minor primary induction chemotherapy (mRx) showed similar rise in platelet (plt) and neutrophil granulocyte (PMN) counts and similar contraction of spleen. Patients with intensive primary induction chemotherapy (MRx), however, had significantly smaller spleens and spleen contraction (p < 0.02) and no plt increase (p < 0.05) when compared with healthy volunteers. 2 patients with MRx even exhibited a decrement of plt count after epinephrine, similar to that observed in all 5 healthy asplenic subjects tested. Our results suggest that mRx and conditioning for BMT including total body irradiation (TBI) does not alter the splenic function, but that the combination of MRx and conditioning regimen including TBI may cause functional hyposplenism, sensitively revealed by reduction in plt count after epinephrine stimulation.
Modulation of Myocardial Mitochondrial Mechanisms during Severe Polymicrobial Sepsis in the Rat

Background We tested the hypothesis that 5-Hydroxydecanoic acid (5HD), a putative mitoKATP channel blocker, will reverse sepsis-induced cardiodynamic and adult rat ventricular myocyte (ARVM) contractile dysfunction, restore mitochondrial membrane permeability alterations and improve survival. Methodology/Principal Findings Male Sprague-Dawley rats (350–400 g) were made septic using 400 mg/kg cecal inoculum, ip. Sham animals received 5% dextrose water, ip. The Voltage Dependent Anion Channels (VDAC1), Bax and cytochrome C levels were determined in isolated single ARVMs obtained from sham and septic rat heart. Mitochondria and cytosolic fractions were isolated from ARVMs treated with norepinephrine (NE, 10 µmoles) in the presence/absence of 5HD (100 µmoles). A continuous infusion of 5HD using an Alzet pump reversed sepsis-induced mortality when administered at the time of induction of sepsis (−40%) and at 6 hr post-sepsis (−20%). Electrocardiography revealed that 5HD reversed sepsis-induced decrease in the average ejection fraction, Simpsons+m Mode (53.5±2.5 in sepsis and 69.2±1.2 at 24 hr in sepsis+5HD vs. 79.9±1.5 basal group) and cardiac output (63.3±1.2 mL/min sepsis and 79.3±3.9 mL/min at 24 hr in sepsis+5HD vs. 85.8±1.5 mL/min basal group). The treatment of ARVMs with 5HD also reversed sepsis-induced depressed contractility in both the vehicle and NE-treated groups. Sepsis produced a significant downregulation of VDAC1, and upregulation of Bax levels, along with mitochondrial membrane potential collapse in ARVMs. Pretreatment of septic ARVMs with 5HD blocked a NE-induced decrease in the VDAC1 and release of cytochrome C. Conclusion The data suggest that Bax activation is an upstream event that may precede the opening of the mitoKATP channels in sepsis. We concluded that mitoKATP channel inhibition via decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and reduced release of cytochrome C provided protection against sepsis-induced ARVM and myocardial contractile dysfunction.
Early Macrophage Recruitment and Alternative Activation Are Critical for the Later Development of Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension

Background— Lung inflammation precedes the development of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH); however, its role in the pathogenesis of HPH is poorly understood. We sought to characterize the hypoxic inflammatory response and to elucidate its role in the development of HPH. We also aimed to investigate the mechanisms by which heme oxygenase-1, an anti-inflammatory enzyme, is protective in HPH. Methods and Results— We generated bitransgenic mice that overexpress human heme oxygenase-1 under doxycycline control in an inducible, lung-specific manner. Hypoxic exposure of mice in the absence of doxycycline resulted in early transient accumulation of monocytes/macrophages in the bronchoalveolar lavage. Alveolar macrophages acquired an alternatively activated phenotype (M2) in response to hypoxia, characterized by the expression of found in inflammatory zone-1, arginase-1, and chitinase-3-like-3. A brief 2-day pulse of doxycycline delayed, but did not prevent, the peak of hypoxic inflammation, and could not protect against HPH. In contrast, a 7-day doxycycline treatment sustained high heme oxygenase-1 levels during the entire period of hypoxic inflammation, inhibited macrophage accumulation and activation, induced macrophage interleukin-10 expression, and prevented the development of HPH. Supernatants from hypoxic M2 macrophages promoted the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, whereas treatment with carbon monoxide, a heme oxygenase-1 enzymatic product, abrogated this effect. Conclusions— Early recruitment and alternative activation of macrophages in hypoxic lungs are critical for the later development of HPH. Heme oxygenase-1 may confer protection from HPH by effectively modifying the macrophage activation state in hypoxia.
Review of Chaos Communication by Feedback Control of Symbolic Dynamics

This paper is meant to serve as a tutorial describing the link between symbolic dynamics as a description of a chaotic attractor, and how to use control of chaos to manipulate the corresponding symbolic dynamics to transmit an information bearing signal. We use the Lorenz attractor, in the form of the discrete successive maxima map of the z-variable time-series, as our main example. For the first time, here, we use this oscillator as a chaotic signal carrier. We review the many previously developed issues necessary to create a working control of symbol dynamics system. These include a brief review of the theory of symbol dynamics, and how they arise from the flow of a differential equation. We also discuss the role of the (symbol dynamics) generating partition, the difficulty of finding such partitions, which is an open problem for most dynamical systems, and a newly developed algorithm to find the generating partition which relies just on knowing a large set of periodic orbits. We also discuss the importance of using a generating partition in terms of considering the possibility of using some other arbitrary partition, with discussion of consequences both generally to characterizing the system, and also specifically to communicating on chaotic signal carriers. Also, of practical importance, we review the necessary feedback-control issues to force the flow of a chaotic differential equation to carry a desired message.
Neural Word Embedding as Implicit Matrix Factorization

We analyze skip-gram with negative-sampling (SGNS), a word embedding method introduced by Mikolov et al., and show that it is implicitly factorizing a word-context matrix, whose cells are the pointwise mutual information (PMI) of the respective word and context pairs, shifted by a global constant. We find that another embedding method, NCE, is implicitly factorizing a similar matrix, where each cell is the (shifted) log conditional probability of a word given its context. We show that using a sparse Shifted Positive PMI word-context matrix to represent words improves results on two word similarity tasks and one of two analogy tasks. When dense low-dimensional vectors are preferred, exact factorization with SVD can achieve solutions that are at least as good as SGNS's solutions for word similarity tasks. On analogy questions SGNS remains superior to SVD. We conjecture that this stems from the weighted nature of SGNS's factorization.
Subclinical thyroid dysfunction as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND There have been few large epidemiological studies examining the association between thyroid dysfunction and cardiovascular disease. In particular, it is uncertain if subclinical hypothyroidism is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. METHODS Serum thyrotropin and free thyroxine concentrations were measured in 2108 archived serum samples from a 1981 community health survey in Busselton, Western Australia (Busselton Health Study). In a cross-sectional study, we examined the prevalence of coronary heart disease in subjects with and without subclinical thyroid dysfunction. In a longitudinal study, we examined the risk of cardiovascular mortality and coronary heart disease events (fatal and nonfatal combined) to the end of 2001 (excluding subjects who had coronary heart disease at baseline). RESULTS In the cross-sectional analysis, subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism (n = 119) had a significantly higher prevalence of coronary heart disease than euthyroid subjects (n = 1906) (age- and sex-adjusted prevalence odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-3.1; P = .04). In the longitudinal analysis of subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism (n = 101), there were 21 cardiovascular deaths observed compared with 9.5 expected (age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio, 1.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-2.4; P = .08) and 33 coronary heart disease events observed compared with 14.7 expected (age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio, 1.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-2.4; P < .01). The increased risk of coronary heart disease events remained significant after further adjustment for standard cardiovascular risk factors. Subjects with subclinical hyperthyroidism (n = 39) had no adverse outcomes. CONCLUSION Subclinical hypothyroidism may be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Zinc sulphate in rheumatoid arthritis

To assess the antirheumatic activity of zinc sulphate, 27 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis took part in a 6-month, randomised, double-blind, between-group trial of oral zinc sulphate versus placebo. Twelve patients on zinc and 9 on placebo completed the trial, but no significant antirheumatic activity of zinc sulphate was demonstrated.
Thermal-mechanical coupling analysis for coupled power and thermal cycling reliability of chip-scale packages

The sequential thermal-mechanical coupling analysis, which solves in turn the transient temperature field and subsequent thermo-mechanical deformations, is carried out in this paper to investigate thermal characteristics along with fatigue reliability of board-level thin-profile fine-pitch ball grid array chip-scale packages under coupled power and thermal cycling test conditions. Pure thermal cycling and pure power cycling test conditions are also examined and compared.
Migraine Intervention With STARFlex Technology (MIST) Trial: A Prospective, Multicenter, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Patent Foramen Ovale Closure With STARFlex Septal Repair Implant to Resolve Refractory Migraine Headache

Background— Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is prevalent in patients with migraine with aura. Observational studies show that PFO closure resulted in migraine cessation or improvement in ≈80% of such patients. We investigated the effects of PFO closure for migraine in a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial. Methods and Results— Patients who suffered from migraine with aura, experienced frequent migraine attacks, had previously failed ≥2 classes of prophylactic treatments, and had moderate or large right-to-left shunts consistent with the presence of a PFO were randomized to transcatheter PFO closure with the STARFlex implant or to a sham procedure. Patients were followed up for 6 months. The primary efficacy end point was cessation of migraine headache 91 to 180 days after the procedure. In total, 163 of 432 patients (38%) had right-to-left shunts consistent with a moderate or large PFO. One hundred forty-seven patients were randomized. No significant difference was observed in the primary end point of migraine headache cessation between implant and sham groups (3 of 74 versus 3 of 73, respectively; P=0.51). Secondary end points also were not achieved. On exploratory analysis, excluding 2 outliers, the implant group demonstrated a greater reduction in total migraine headache days (P=0.027). As expected, the implant arm experienced more procedural serious adverse events. All events were transient. Conclusions— This trial confirmed the high prevalence of right-to-left shunts in patients with migraine with aura. Although no significant effect was found for primary or secondary end points, the exploratory analysis supports further investigation. The robust design of this study has served as the model for larger trials that are currently underway in the United States and Europe.
Radiofrequency Ablation of Renal Tumors: Our Experience

Purpose To report our results of nephron-sparing radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of renal tumors. Materials and Methods Since August 2004, 49 patients with renal tumors were treated with either percutaneous or laparoscopic RFA. All patients underwent preoperative imaging with contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and were suspected to have renal cell carcinoma. The follow-up for each patient included a physical examination, chest radiography, liver function tests, and a contrast-enhanced CT or MRI. To confirm the pathologic criteria of complete ablation, 30 patients underwent 6-month or 1-year follow-up biopsy. Recurrence was defined as growth of the tumor or any new enhancing portions at 3 months after confirmed nonenhancement of the initial RFA lesion. Results Technical success was achieved in 46/49 cases (94%). The mean tumor size was 2.4 cm and the mean follow-up period was 31.7 months (range, 6-68 months). Of 49 patients, repeated RFA was necessary in 7 patients (14%). Three patients were found to have recurrence at various follow-up intervals. Twenty-three patients (47%) experienced complications, and all but one necessitated intervention. No distant metastasis was found in any cases, and all patients are alive and are being serially followed up. Conclusions Percutaneous or laparoscopic RFA is considered to be a useful treatment for selected patients with small renal masses and for nephron-sparing. With a mean follow-up of 31.7 months, our intermediate data suggest excellent therapeutic outcome with RFA with effective local tumor control and preservation of renal function. The ultimate role of this modality will continue to evolve and warrants further studies.
Tear Meniscus Height, Lower Punctum Lacrimale, and the Tear Lipid Layer in Normal Aging

Purpose. The purposes of this study are to investigate the tear meniscus height (TMH), lipid layer, and critical dimensions of the lower punctum lacrimale (DPL) in normal human subjects over a large age range; and to determine the shape and general characteristics of the lower punctum lacrimale in a normal population. Methods. TMH and DPL were measured using a graticule set at the eyepiece of a slit lamp biomicroscope (magnification 32x). Lipid layer was assessed by interferometry (Tearscope, Keeler). Only one eye (right) of each subject was assessed. All subjects were normals without any tear-related disorders and/or symptoms. Results. Four hundred forty-four subjects were assessed (268 females, age range, 6–91 years; 176 males, age range, 6–91 years). Mean (± standard deviation) TMH in females was 0.19 mm (± 0.11) and in males was 0.19 mm (± 0.10). TMH was related to age (x): in females, TMH = 0.13 + 0.0009x (r = 0.2393, p < 0.001); in males, TMH = 0.14 + 0.0008x (r = 0.2492, p < 0.001). TMH increased from 0.15 mm (± 0.06) in the young (<20 years) to 0.21 mm (± 0.10) in the elderly (>80 years). The punctum was closed in 10.8%, slit shaped in 24.3%, oval in 5.4%, and round in 59.5% of all cases. Mean age and TMH of those presenting with closed puncta was significantly higher than those presenting with open puncta (p < 0.001). Mean (± standard deviation) area of open puncta was 0.008 mm2 (± 0.013) in females and 0.010 mm2 (± 0.018) in males. The difference was not significant. Diameter of round puncta was inversely related to age in females (r = -0.4985, n = 149, p < 0.001) but not within the males. A total of 14.6% of females and 12.5% of males presented with no discernible lipid layer. Lipid layer tended to be thinner in older subjects (one-way analysis of variance, F = 6.667, p < 0.001). There was no clear relationship between TMH and the lipid layer. Conclusions. There is a gradual increase in TMH and shift in size and shape of the punctum lacrimale with advancing years. Age-related changes in the lipid layer are expected to reduce tear volume by way of increased evaporation. On balance, it would appear any effects on tear volume by a thinning lipid layer are outweighed by changes in the puncta.
Multiscale Variations of Precipitable Water over China Based on 1999–2015 Ground-Based GPS Observations and Evaluations of Reanalysis Products

AbstractThe dense ground-based GPS provides a good tool to study water vapor distribution and multiscale variations, especially for linear trends on the interannual scale and short-term variations on the diurnal scale. It can also serve as an independent data source to evaluate performances of reanalyses. In this study, the 6-hourly precipitable water (PW) products at more than 260 GPS stations over China from 1999 to 2015 were analyzed and eight commonly used reanalyses, including 20CR version 2 (20CRv2), CFSR, ERA-Interim, JRA-25, JRA-55, MERRA, NCEP–NCAR, and NCEP–DOE AMIP-II, were evaluated. The climatological annual mean GPS PW distribution over China roughly shows a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest, with the largest annual and semiannual amplitudes in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and mideastern China, respectively, and the smallest values in the Tibetan Plateau and southwestern China. All reanalyses (except for 20CRv2) can generally reproduce well the climatological annual mean.
Integrated Effect of Inorganic and Biofertilizers on Macro and Micro Nutrient Uptake in Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa, Duch)

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch) is a herbaceous perennial member of the family Rosaceae. Its fruit is highly favoured for its aroma, deliciousness and refreshing quality. In India it is being widely cultivated in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir besides some hilly regions of Uttar Pradesh with Maharashtra as a leading state in its production. The importance of soil microorganisms for sustenance of all other life forms needs no emphasis. Microbes are the basis of the biosphere. Soil organisms act as primary driving agents of nutrient cycling, regulating the dynamics of soil organic matter, soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions, modifying soil structure and water regimes, enhancing the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 03 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com