Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Locally advanced thyroid cancer: can CT help in prediction of extrathyroidal invasion to adjacent structures?

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CT for detecting extrathyroidal invasion of thyroid cancer to adjacent structures. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty-four patients (19 men, 65 women; age range, 19-84 years; mean, 54.2 +/- 15.4 years) with 86 malignant tumors of the thyroid with extracapsular extension (37 T3, 49 T4) were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Two radiologists independently evaluated the CT findings of invasion of thyroid cancer into the trachea, esophagus, common carotid artery, internal jugular vein, and recurrent laryngeal nerve. These results were compared with the surgical and histopathologic findings. RESULTS The mean sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CT were as follows: 59.1%, 91.4%, and 83.2% for tracheal invasion; 28.6%, 96.2%, and 90.7% for esophageal invasion; 75.0%, 99.4%, and 98.8% for invasion of the common carotid artery; 33.3%, 98.8%, and 97.1% for invasion of the internal jugular vein; and 78.2%, 89.8%, and 85.5% for invasion to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Interobserver agreement was moderate to good in the five categories of extrathyroidal invasion with a mean kappa value of 0.65 (range, 0.49-0.77). CONCLUSION Although the effectiveness is limited by low sensitivity, CT may be a valuable tool for evaluation of extrathyroidal invasion of thyroid cancer to adjacent structures.
Pterygium-induced corneal refractive changes

To study the effect of pterygium on corneal topography, a retrospective analysis of 151 eyes with primary pterygia was done. All cases underwent videokeratography preoperatively and one month postoperatively. Statistical analysis of average corneal power (ACP), corneal astigmatism, surface regularity index (SRI) and surface asymmetry index (SAI) was done before and one month after surgery. Topographic indices were compared statistically for various grades of pterygia. Increase in the grade of pterygia had a significant effect on topographic indices. Corneal astigmatism reduced from 4.40±3.64 diopter (D) to 1.55±1.63D ( P value < 0.001) following surgery. The regularity of corneal surface improved and asymmetry of the cornea reduced one month after surgery. Pterygium leads to significant changes in corneal refractive status, which increase with the increase in the grade of pterygia and improve following pterygium excision.
Redundancy optimization for critical components in high-availability capital goods

We consider a user who buys a number of identical capital goods systems (e.g., medical, manufacturing, or communication systems) for which she must have very high availability. In such a situation, there are typically several options that can be used to facilitate this availability. Often, the user can choose to build in cold standby redundancy for critical components. She may also typically buy spare parts with the systems so that during their exploitation phase, when a part in a system fails, the failed part can be replaced by a ready-for-use part from inventory. In addition, an emergency procedure is usually available by which a part is shipped from a distant central warehouse (at an additional cost) to be applied when there is a stock out. To these options we introduce another: The possibility of initiating an emergency shipment when stock is one. Thus, the user may choose one of three policies per component: The different combinations of the redundancy decision and the timing of applications of the emergency procedure. (In addition, she must decide how much spare parts inventory to purchase, for any policy.) Each policy provides different total uptime against different total costs incurred. We formulate the problem as the minimization of the total costs incurred for the systems over their lifetimes, under a constraint for the total uptime of all systems. These total costs consist of acquisition costs, spare parts costs, and repair costs. We optimally solve the problem by decomposing the multi-component problem into single-component problems, and then conducting exact analysis on these single-component problems, we derive results on when each of the three policies is optimal. Using these, we construct an efficient frontier which reflects the trade-off between the uptime and the total costs of the systems. In addition, we provide a method to rank the components by the relative value of investing in redundancy. We illustrate these results through numerical examples.
Comparison of Human Papillomavirus Detection and Typing by Hybrid Capture 2, Linear Array, DNA Chip, and Cycle Sequencing in Cervical Swab Samples

Although the Hybrid Capture II (HC II) assay can detect 13 high-risk human papillomavirus (HPVs), it does not yield any genotype-specific information. We evaluated the performance of 4 HPV DNA tests, namely, HC II, Linear Array (LA), DNA chip, and cycle sequencing for their capacity to detect the presence of high-risk HPV DNA and HPV-associated cervical lesions. Seventy-six women who were referred to the colposcopy clinic for abnormal cytology were enrolled. The women were examined using liquid-based cytology, colposcopy-directed biopsy, and HPV DNA tests. After DNA extraction from a single sample, HPV DNA tests were performed by all 4 methods on the same specimen. The LA test has higher HPV-positive rates than HC II for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia I (83.3% vs 61.1%; P < 0.01) and for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia II and more severe lesions (100.0% vs 80.0%; P < 0.01). The concordance between the DNA chip and LA tests was 89.5%, confirming substantial agreement (κ coefficient = 0.73), and the concordance between HC II and the DNA chip was 80.3%, also showing substantial agreement (κ coefficient = 0.738). The concordance for 15 high-risk HPV genotypes between LA and sequencing was 82.5% with a κ value of 0.536. Furthermore, the LA test was more sensitive in the detection of high-grade cervical lesions than HC II (100% vs 92.3%, P < 0.01). The LA test showed superior sensitivity in the detection of clinically relevant HPV infections and has proven to be an accurate tool for identifying individual HPV types, especially in cases of multiple HPV infections.
Reading the Fine Print.

New updated! The latest book from a very famous author finally comes out. Book of reading the fine print, as an amazing reference becomes what you need to get. What's for is this book? Are you still thinking for what the book is? Well, this is what you probably will get. You should have made proper choices for your better life. Book, as a source that may involve the facts, opinion, literature, religion, and many others are the great friends to join with.
Momentary Assessment of Psychosocial Stressors, Context, and Asthma Symptoms in Hispanic Adolescents

The current study used a novel real-time data capture strategy, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), to examine whether within-day variability in stress and context leads to exacerbations in asthma symptomatology in the everyday lives of ethnic minority adolescents. Low-income Hispanic adolescents (N = 20; 7th-12th grade; 54% male) with chronic asthma completed 7 days of EMA on smartphones, with an average of five assessments per day during non-school time. EMA surveys queried about where (e.g., home, outdoors) and with whom (e.g., alone, with friends) participants were at the time of the prompt. EMA surveys also assessed over the past few hours whether participants had experienced specific stressors (e.g., being teased, arguing with anyone), asthma symptoms (e.g., wheezing, coughing), or used an asthma inhaler. Multilevel models tested the independent relations of specific stressors and context to subsequent asthma symptoms adjusting for age, gender, and chronological day in the study. Being outdoors, experiencing disagreements with parents, teasing, and arguing were associated with more severe self-reported asthma symptoms in the next few hours (ps < .05). Being alone and having too much to do were unrelated to the experience of subsequent self-reported asthma symptoms. Using a novel real-time data capture strategy, results provide preliminary evidence that being outdoors and experiencing social stressors may induce asthma symptoms in low-income Hispanic children and adolescents with chronic asthma. The results of this preliminary study can serve as a basis for larger epidemiological and intervention studies.
Facile Synthesis of Well-Defined MDMO-PPV Containing (Tri)Block—Copolymers via Controlled Radical Polymerization and CuAAC Conjugation

A systematic investigation into the chain transfer polymerization of the so-called radical precursor polymerization of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) materials is presented. Polymerizations are characterized by systematic variation of chain transfer agent (CTA) concentration and reaction temperature. For the chain transfer constant, a negative activation energy of −12.8 kJ·mol−1 was deduced. Good control over molecular weight is achieved for both the sulfinyl and the dithiocarbamate route (DTC). PPVs with molecular weights ranging from thousands to ten thousands g·mol−1 were obtained. To allow for a meaningful analysis of the CTA influence, Mark–Houwink–Kuhn–Sakurada (MHKS) parameters were determined for conjugated MDMO-PPV ([2-methoxy-5-(3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)]-1,4-phenylenevinylene) to α = 0.809 and k = 0.00002 mL·g−1. Further, high-endgroup fidelity of the CBr4-derived PPVs was proven via chain extension experiments. MDMO-PPV-Br was successfully used as macroinitiator in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) with acrylates and styrene. A more polar PPV counterpart was chain extended by an acrylate in single-electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP). In a last step, copper-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) was used to synthesize block copolymer structures. Direct azidation followed by macromolecular conjugation showed only partial success, while the successive chain extension via ATRP followed by CuAAC afforded triblock copolymers of the poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-block-poly(tert-butyl acrylate)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PPV-b-PtBuA-b-PEG).
Using the Direct Search Method for Optimal Dispatch of Distributed Generation in a Medium-Voltage Microgrid

This paper proposes a simple and efficient approach for the optimal dispatch in a medium-voltage microgrid (MG) with various types of distributed generation (DG). The fuel costs generated by these DGs are determined using quadratic and linear functions dependent on the types of DGs. Instead of using the traditional Lagrange multiplier method for power system economic dispatch, the proposed direct search method (DSM) approach is able to handle several inequality constraints without introducing any multipliers and furthermore it can solve the non-derivative problems or the fuel cost functions being much more complicated. Accordingly, the DSM is proposed for determining the optimal dispatch of MGs with various types of DG to minimize generation costs under grid-tied and autonomous operations. Results demonstrate that the proposed DSM is a highly suitable and simple approach to determining the optimal dispatch in medium-voltage MGs with various types of DG.
Forest Cover Classification by Optimal Segmentation of High Resolution Satellite Imagery

This study investigated whether high-resolution satellite imagery is suitable for preparing a detailed digital forest cover map that discriminates forest cover at the tree species level. First, we tried to find an optimal process for segmenting the high-resolution images using a region-growing method with the scale, color and shape factors in Definiens® Professional 5.0. The image was classified by a traditional, pixel-based, maximum likelihood classification approach using the spectral information of the pixels. The pixels in each segment were reclassified using a segment-based classification (SBC) with a majority rule. Segmentation with strongly weighted color was less sensitive to the scale parameter and led to optimal forest cover segmentation and classification. The pixel-based classification (PBC) suffered from the “salt-and-pepper effect” and performed poorly in the classification of forest cover types, whereas the SBC helped to attenuate the effect and notably improved the classification accuracy. As a whole, SBC proved to be more suitable for classifying and delineating forest cover using high-resolution satellite images.
The Role Transition of Nurses in a University Teaching Hospital in Pakistan

In a private university teaching hospital in Pakistan, a study using grounded theory design was conducted among new nursing graduates to elicit their transitional experiences from a student to a staff nurse role. Four major themes emerged highlighting the core category of "sailing forward": stepping into the new role, initial adjustment, support systems, and resolution phase. A substantive theory on role transition was the outcome.
Correlation of Gut Hormones with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder which is characterized by abdominal pain and disturbed bowel habits. The pathophysiological mechanism is complex and still remains incompletely clear. Alterations at both the central and the peripheral level are thought to contribute to the symptoms of IBS, including psychosocial factors, visceral hypersensitivity and abnormal gastrointestinal motility and secretion. Several gut peptides contribute to the regulation of gastrointestinal function, but little is known about gut hormone secretion in IBS. Methods: We evaluated the concentrations of cholecystokinin (CCK), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), somatostatin, substance P, neuropeptide Y (NPY) in plasma and in sigmoid tissue in 40 patients with IBS and 15 age- and gender-matched controls by using radioimmunoassay. Results: IBS patients had higher plasma level of CCK (p < 0.01), and the level of CCK in the sigmoid was also increased compared with controls (p < 0.05). The levels of somatostatin and substance P in fasting plasma and in the sigmoid were not different between IBS patients and control subjects (p > 0.05), but the levels of VIP in sigmoid tissue or in plasma were higher in IBS patients than in control group (p < 0.01). The NPY levels in both plasma and the sigmoid were significantly lower in IBS patients than in controls (p < 0.05). Plasma NPY level in patients with IBS with diarrhea as a predominant bowel pattern was lower than in patients with IBS with constipation as a predominant bowel pattern. Conclusion: IBS patients have increased levels of CCK and VIP and decreased NPY levels in fasting plasma and sigmoid tissue. These alterations of VIP, CCK and NPY may play a role in the pathogenesis of IBS.
Hypothalamic obesity syndrome: Rare presentation of CNS+ B‐cell lymphoblastic lymphoma

Hypothalamic obesity syndrome can affect brain tumor patients following surgical intervention and irradiation. This syndrome is rare at diagnosis in childhood cancer, but has been reported with relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here we present a case of hypothalamic obesity syndrome as the primary presentation of a toddler found to have CNS+ B‐cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. Cytogenetic studies on diagnostic cerebrospinal fluid revealed MLL gene rearrangement (11q23). Hyperphagia and obesity dramatically improved following induction and consolidation chemotherapy. We describe a novel presentation of hypothalamic obesity syndrome in CNS B‐cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, responsive to chemotherapy. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2012; 59: 930–933. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A genetic algorithm for floorplan area optimization

The paper deals with the problem of floorplan area optimization; an approach based on genetic algorithms is proposed. The method produces optimal results with CPU time requirements comparable with the ones of other approaches but presents some advantages: it requires a limited amount of memory to store partial results, it is not sensible to special structures like nested wheels, it allows additional constraints to be easily taken into account, it allows the user to easily trade off CPU time with result accuracy, it is simple to implement. Experimental results on the biggest problems proposed in the literature are reported. <<ETX>>
Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Elderly

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common problems affecting the elderly. The resulting loss of mobility and physical independence can be particularly devastating in this population. The aim of this article is to present some of the most frequent musculoskeletal disorders of the elderly, such as fractures, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, microcrystal disorders, infections, and tumors.
Matching large XML schemas

Current schema matching approaches still have to improve for very large and complex schemas. Such schemas are increasingly written in the standard language W3C XML schema, especially in E-business applications. The high expressive power and versatility of this schema language, in particular its type system and support for distributed schemas and name-spaces, introduce new issues. In this paper, we study some of the important problems in matching such large XML schemas. We propose a fragment-oriented match approach to decompose a large match problem into several smaller ones and to reuse previous match results at the level of schema fragments.
Measuring Nurses’ Self-Concept

Little is known of nurses’ self-concept in light of their professional identity or as working adults. This article explores the development and rigorous testing of a new self-concept instrument designed specifically for nurses. The new measure is based on the self-concept measurement theory of Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton. An expert panel was used to critique and aid refinement of the measure. The dimensions of nurses’ self-concept were measured in six scales: General Nursing, Care, Staff Relations, Communication, Knowledge, and Leadership. Two groups participated in this study: Group 1 consisted of nursing students prior to graduation (n = 506) and Group 2 consisted of randomly selected, experienced, working nurses (n = 528). A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the fit of a priori models. The results indicate that all scales possess good construct validity and a satisfactory fit with the data.
A HST/WFC3-IR MORPHOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GALAXIES AT z = 1.5–3.6. II. THE RELATION BETWEEN MORPHOLOGY AND GAS-PHASE KINEMATICS

We analyze rest-frame optical morphologies and gas-phase kinematics as traced by rest-frame far-UV and optical spectra for a sample of 204 star-forming galaxies in the redshift range z ∼ 2–3 drawn from the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey. We find that spectroscopic properties and gas-phase kinematics are closely linked to morphology: compact galaxies with semimajor axis radii r ≲ 2 kpc are substantially more likely than their larger counterparts to exhibit Lyα in emission. Although Lyα emission strength varies widely within galaxies of a given morphological type, all but one of 19 galaxies with Lyα equivalent width WLyα > 20 Å have compact and/or multiple-component morphologies with r ⩽ 2.5 kpc. The velocity structure of absorption lines in the galactic continuum spectra also varies as a function of morphology. Galaxies of all morphological types drive similarly strong outflows (as traced by the blue wing of interstellar absorption line features), but the outflows of larger galaxies are less highly ionized and exhibit larger optical depth at the systemic redshift that may correspond to a decreasing efficiency of feedback in evacuating gas from the galaxy. This v ∼ 0 km s−1 gas is responsible both for shifting the mean absorption line redshift and attenuating WLyα (via a longer resonant scattering path) in galaxies with larger rest-optical half-light radii. In contrast to galaxies at lower redshifts, there is no evidence for a correlation between outflow velocity and inclination, suggesting that outflows from these puffy and irregular systems may be poorly collimated. Our observations are broadly consistent with theoretical models of inside-out growth of galaxies in the young universe, in which typical z ∼ 2–3 star-forming galaxies are predominantly unstable, dispersion-dominated, systems fueled by rapid gas accretion that later form extended rotationally supported disks when stabilized by a sufficiently massive stellar component.
A Modified Technique for Culturing Primary Fetal Rat Cortical Neurons

The study explored a modified primary culture system for fetal rat cortical neurons. Day E18 embryos from pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were microdissected under a stereoscope. To minimize enzymatic damage to the cultured neurons, we applied a sequential digestion protocol using papain and Dnase I. The resulting sifted cell suspension was seeded at a density of 50,000 cells per cm2 onto 0.1 mg/mL L-PLL-covered vessels. After a four-hour incubation in high-glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (HG-DMEM) to allow the neurons to adhere, the media was changed to neurobasal medium that was refreshed by changing half of the volume after three days followed by a complete medium change every week. The cells displayed progressively robust neurite extension, and nonneuronal-like cells could barely be detected by five days in vitro (DIV); cell growth was still substantial at 14 DIV. Neurons were identified by β-tubulin III immunofluorescence, and neuronal purity within the cultures was assessed at over 95% by both flow cytometry and by dark-field counting of β-tubulin III-positive cells. These results suggest that the protocol was successful and that the high purity of neurons in this system could be used as the basis for generating various cell models of neurological disease.
Targeting oxidative stress attenuates trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid induced inflammatory bowel disease like symptoms in rats: Role of quercetin

Objective: This study was aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of quercetin (QCT) against trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) induced clinical, morphological, and biochemical alterations in rats. Materials and Methods: Colitis in rats was induced by administration of TNBS (25 mg dissolved in 0.25 ml of 30% ethanol) 8 cm into the rectum of the rat using a catheter. The animals were divided into six experimental groups (n = 6); naive (saline only without TNBS administration), control (saline + TNBS), standard (sulfasalazine 25 mg/kg + TNBS), QCT (25) (QCT 25 mg/kg + TNBS), QCT (50) (QCT 50 mg/kg + TNBS), QCT (100) (QCT 100 mg/kg + TNBS). Sulfasalazine (25 mg/kg) and QCT (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) were administered per oral for 11 days and the colonic damage was evaluated in terms of macroscopical (body weight, stool consistency, rectal bleeding, and ulcer index) and biochemical parameters (myeloperoxidase activity, lipid peroxidation, nitrite, and glutathione). Results: Treatment with QCT (50, 100 mg/kg) for 10 days following TNBS administration significantly attenuated the clinical, morphological, and biochemical alterations induced by TNBS, whereas it was found to be not effective at its lower dose (25 mg/kg) throughout the experimental protocol. Conclusion: QCT attenuates the clinical, morphological and biochemical alterations induced by TNBS possibly via its antioxidant mechanism.