Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The German and the French studies on childhood leukemia and nuclear power: Differences and similarities

Dear Sir, We, the authors of the German KiKK study would like to comment on the French Geocap study. The Geocap study used a similar design as the KiKK study: in a case–control study, the distance to the next nuclear power plant was used as a surrogate for potential exposure to ionizing radiation from the plant. The Geocap study had two major extensions compared to the German study: cases and controls up to age 15 were included in the study (in Germany, the age limit was 5 years) and a further classification of exposure according to a so-called ‘‘Dose-Based Geographical Zoning’’ was performed. Results for the age group below 5 years are similar to Germany although not statistically significant in France. In France, the extended age group showed an increased risk, although only for the period 2002–2007. In both studies, no individual adjustment for potential confounders was possible; however, both studies show that some partial adjustment for confounders at the community level does not have a major influence on the estimates of the relative risk. A separate analysis of individual data in Germany identified risk factors, which are unlikely to be correlated with distance to the nearest nuclear power station. We would like to point out a misunderstanding of results published in Ref. 4 and the discussion of the Geocap study. Adjusting for community type did not alter the odds ratio for ‘‘distance’’ in Germany (Table 1). The French colleagues correctly note that the difference between the results of the case–control study, using individual distance data, and the incidence study, using communitybased distances, was much less in France than in Germany. We think that this is possibly due to German communities being far larger than French communes, and thus, there being far more potential for distance misclassification in Germany. Interestingly, the French study also had available estimated radiation dose data at the commune level (Dose Based Geographic Zoning). This showed no association to the leukemia risk of the children. It should be noted that the exposures are in the order of at most several micro sievert, it is very unlikely that any effect caused by this low dose radiation exposure can be found in an epidemiological study. Together with the fact that the effect is seen only in the subset of the years 2002–2007, we agree that the effects seen in Germany and France are not likely to be causal. Other, so far unknown causes associated with the proximity to a nuclear power station might exist, as well as the possibility of a completely random observation.
Arthroscopic Treatment of Synovial Chondromatosis of the Hip

Background: Recently, arthroscopic loose body removal and synovectomy have been performed as treatments for synovial chondromatosis of the hip joint. However, to date, no reports have been published on the outcomes of arthroscopic treatments. Hypothesis: Arthroscopic treatment is effective for synovial chondromatosis of the hip joint and has advantages such as low recurrence rates, faster return to activities of daily life, and few surgical complications. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: From June 1996 to July 2008, 24 patients with synovial chondromatosis of the hip who were followed up after arthroscopic removal of loose bodies and synovectomy were evaluated. The common arthroscopic portals were the anterior, anterolateral, and posterolateral portals. In some cases, we applied a medial portal for removal of loose bodies in the posteromedial pouch. Preoperative and postoperative assessments were made through simple radiographs, 3-dimensional computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, range of motion of the joint, Harris Hip Score, and Merle D’Aubigné and Postel score. Results: Postoperative mean follow-up period was 41 months. There were no major complications. Patients were able to walk weightbearing on average 2 days after surgery and were discharged in an average of 3.5 days (range, 3-5 days) after surgery. In postoperative radiological imaging, 4 patients showed progression of joint osteoarthritis, and 1 of them underwent total hip arthroplasty. The VAS score before surgery was 8.1 ± 1.3 and after surgery was 3.1 ± 1.4. Range of motion of the hip joint before surgery was increased after surgery, except in 1 patient who required a third operation. Harris Hip Score before surgery was an average of 39 ± 6.9 and improved to an average of 82 ± 10.2 after surgery. Eighteen patients (75%) had good or excellent outcomes. Symptomatic disease recurred in 4 patients (16.7%), and 1 of these 4 patients showed a subsequent recurrence. Conclusion: The treatment of synovial chondromatosis of the hip using arthroscopic loose body removal and synovectomy is relatively successful, and rehabilitation of patients is fast, therefore making it an effective treatment with satisfactory postsurgical results. However, a technical limitation of arthroscopy is the difficulty in approaching the posterolateral and posteromedial areas of the peripheral compartment.
An Empirical Research on the Mechanism of Service Recovery and Customer Loyalty in Network Retail

It is significant to discover the impact of service recovery on the customer perceived justice and customer loyalty for the electronic commerce service firms under the network environment. Using factor analysis and regression analysis, this paper conducts an empirical analysis on the relationship between online service recovery and customer loyalty, and a model is built to analyze this relationship on the basis of the justice theory. The study proves that service
Ambiguity and partially-revealing rational expectations equilibria

This paper demonstrates that when the concept of Rational Expectations Equilibrium (REE) is expanded to allow for agents whose preferences display ambiguity aversion, standard results on REE no longer hold.In particular, REE can be partially revealing over a set of parameters with positive Lebesgue measure. This nding illustrates that models with ambiguity averse investors provide a relatively tractable framework through which partial information revelation may be studied in a general equilibrium setting. Constructive examples provide further insight into the properties of these equilibria.
Ganglion cell regeneration following whole‐retina destruction in zebrafish

The retinas of adult teleost fish can regenerate neurons following injury. The current study provides the first documentation of functional whole retina regeneration in the zebrafish, Danio rerio, following intraocular injection of the cytotoxin, ouabain. Loss and replacement of laminated retinal tissue was monitored by analysis of cell death and cell proliferation, and by analysis of retina‐specific gene expression patterns. The spatiotemporal process of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) regeneration was followed through the use of selective markers, and was found to largely recapitulate the spatiotemporal process of embryonic ganglion cell neurogenesis, over a more protracted time frame. However, the re‐expression of some ganglion cell markers was not observed. The growth and pathfinding of ganglion cell axons was evaluated by measurement of the optic nerve head (ONH), and the restoration of normal ONH size was found to correspond to the time of recovery of two visually‐mediated behaviors. However, some abnormalities were noted, including overproduction of RGCs, and progressive and excessive growth of the ONH at longer recovery times. This model system for whole‐retina regeneration has provided an informative view of the regenerative process. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2008
Investigating the Effects of Spiritual Self-Care Training on Psychological Stress of Mothers with Preterm Infants Admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: Stress resulting from premature delivery and its special care harms the mother psychologically and physically vastly and has a negative impact on psychological stress of the mothers. The present study investigated the effects of spiritual self-care training on the psychological stress of the mothers with premature infants admitted in neonatal intensive care unit. Methods: This clinical trial was conducted in 2013 on 60 mothers of preterm infants in Omolbanin and Ghaem hospitals of Mashhad, Iran. Mothers were divided into two groups of intervention and control. The mothers of two groups filled DTS (depression-tension-stress) form at the first, the end and the follow up period. They were trained for 14 days (15 minutes/day) to know more about the babies' condition. The intervention group also received spiritual self-care education for 6 sessions as 45 minutes/every other day. We followed up after two weeks by calling them twice a week. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro Wilk, analysis of variance with repeated measures, independent t-test and chi-square tests. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean of DTS scores before the intervention was 38.5±7.6 in control group and 35.4±7.2 in intervention group and independent t-test shows no significant difference in DTS between two groups (p=0.112). After the intervention, mean of DTS was 33.7±7.0 in control group and 41.9±6.7 in intervention group and independent t-test shows significant difference in DTS before and after the intervention (p=0.000). At follow up period, mean of DTS was 39.1±7.7 in control group and 42.2±6.4 in intervention group that was not statistically significant between both groups (p=0.106) Conclusion: Spiritual care training decreasespsychological stress and improves quality of life in mothers of premature infants admitted in neonatal intensive care unit.
Protection of Wood from Microorganisms by Laccase-Catalyzed Iodination

ABSTRACT In the present work, Norway spruce wood (Picea abies L.) was reacted with a commercial Trametes versicolor laccase in the presence of potassium iodide salt or the phenolic compounds thymol and isoeugenol to impart an antimicrobial property to the wood surface. In order to assess the efficacy of the wood treatment, a leaching of the iodinated and polymerized wood and two biotests including bacteria, a yeast, blue stain fungi, and wood decay fungi were performed. After laccase-catalyzed oxidation of the phenols, the antimicrobial effect was significantly reduced. In contrast, the enzymatic oxidation of iodide (I−) to iodine (I2) in the presence of wood led to an enhanced resistance of the wood surface against all microorganisms, even after exposure to leaching. The efficiency of the enzymatic wood iodination was comparable to that of a chemical wood preservative, VP 7/260a. The modification of the lignocellulose by the laccase-catalyzed iodination was assessed by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) technique. The intensities of the selected lignin-associated bands and carbohydrate reference bands were analyzed, and the results indicated a structural change in the lignin matrix. The results suggest that the laccase-catalyzed iodination of the wood surface presents an efficient and ecofriendly method for wood protection.
Biochemical and antitumor effects of 5,8-dideazaisopteroylglutamate, a unique quinazoline inhibitor of thymidylate synthase.

Abstract The effects of 5,8-dideazaisopteroylglutamate ( N -[ p -{[(2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-quinazolinyl)amino]methyl}benzoyl]-l-glutamic acid) (IAHQ) on thymidylate synthase and dihydrofolate reductase have been examined as a biochemical basis for the anticancer activity of IAHQ in several tumor systems. IAHQ, when administered at 85 mg/kg on Days 2 and 10 after tumor implantation, delayed the growth of methotrexate-resistant Colon Tumor 38 and resulted in 6 of 20 tumor-free animals at 90 days. IAHQ was also active against human colon adenocarcinoma (HCT-8), murine L1210, P388, L5178Y leukemias, and Walker 256 rat carcinoma in tissue culture, requiring concentrations of 0.5, 5, 5, 5, and 5 µm, respectively, to inhibit cell growth 50% compared to untreated cells. Several lines of evidence indicate that, unlike methotrexate, IAHQ exerts its effects via inhibition of thymidylate synthase. Thymidine alone protected HCT-8 cells from IAHQ cytotoxicity. CCRF-CEM human leukemic cells 75-fold resistant to IAHQ showed no cross-resistance to methotrexate. Although IAHQ was a more potent inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase [K i slope (K i s), 0.7 µm] than thymidylate synthase (K i s 5 µm), the possible poly-γ-glutamyl metabolite of IAHQ, 5,8-dideazaisopteroyl-γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-l-glutamic acid, is a better inhibitor of thymidylate synthase (K i s 0.09 µm) than dihydrofolate reductase (K i s 0.7 µm). Significant binding of IAHQ and 5,8-dideazaisopteroyl-γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-l-glutamic acid to thymidylate synthase required the presence of deoxyuridylate. IAHQ and, to a greater extent, 5,8-dideazaisopteroyl-γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-l-glutamic acid stimulated binding of deoxyuridylate to one site on thymidylate synthase with dissociation constants for deoxyuridylate in the ternary complexes of 1.2 and 0.041 µm, respectively. These data indicate that the biochemical basis for the antitumor effects of IAHQ is probably its intracellular conversion to poly-γ-glutamyl metabolites, which inhibit thymidylate synthase via quinazoline-deoxyuridylate-enzyme ternary complex formation.
Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials

Purpose of reviewThis article reviews the literature on vestibular-evoked myogenic potential testing, a short latency electromyogram evoked by high acoustic stimuli and recorded via surface electrodes over the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Applications and refinements of this technique are described for different pathologies and in adults and children. Recent findingsVarious techniques for electrode placement have been described to elicit a vestibular-evoked myogenic potential response, which has been clinically investigated in normal individuals, under pathological conditions, and in adult and pediatric patients. As vestibular-evoked myogenic potential amplitude is linearly related to the level of background activity of the sternocleidomstoid muscle, maintaining steady contraction of the muscle can be challenging in some patients. SummaryVestibular-evoked myogenic potential testing may provide additional information about the vestibular system and allow site of lesion testing (e.g. saccule and inferior vestibular nerve) in patients of all ages. Its role has yet to be defined in the diagnosis and treatment of common vestibular disorders, including Meniere's disease, vestibular neuronitis, labyrinthitis, and other diseases. Further research is needed to support its clinical usefulness in patients with balance disorders, to optimize patient selection, and to establish its cost effectiveness.
Kernel-based data fusion for gene prioritization

MOTIVATION Hunting disease genes is a problem of primary importance in biomedical research. Biologists usually approach this problem in two steps: first a set of candidate genes is identified using traditional positional cloning or high-throughput genomics techniques; second, these genes are further investigated and validated in the wet lab, one by one. To speed up discovery and limit the number of costly wet lab experiments, biologists must test the candidate genes starting with the most probable candidates. So far, biologists have relied on literature studies, extensive queries to multiple databases and hunches about expected properties of the disease gene to determine such an ordering. Recently, we have introduced the data mining tool ENDEAVOUR (Aerts et al., 2006), which performs this task automatically by relying on different genome-wide data sources, such as Gene Ontology, literature, microarray, sequence and more. RESULTS In this article, we present a novel kernel method that operates in the same setting: based on a number of different views on a set of training genes, a prioritization of test genes is obtained. We furthermore provide a thorough learning theoretical analysis of the method's guaranteed performance. Finally, we apply the method to the disease data sets on which ENDEAVOUR (Aerts et al., 2006) has been benchmarked, and report a considerable improvement in empirical performance. AVAILABILITY The MATLAB code used in the empirical results will be made publicly available.
Optimized Slowdown in Real-Time Task Systems via Geometric Programming

In [1], Jejurikar and Gupta investigated energy savings due to optimal slowdown of periodic tasks in real-time task systems, where tasks have varying power characteristics a nd task deadlines are less than the periods. The authors presented a bisection method for computing near-optimal constant slowdown factors, when all the tasks are assigned the same slowdown factor. For the case when tasks have different slowdown factor s, they presented a method for computing near-optimal slowdown factors as a solution to a convex optimization problem, using the ellipsoid method. In this note, we show a method to cast the problem of finding near-optimal slowdown factors that minimize the total energy consumption as a geometric program (GP), which can be efficiently solved using modern interior-point methods. More importantly, we show that the problem of finding nearoptimal constant slowdown factors has an analytic solution. We demonstrate the GP approach by solving several numerical instances using a publicly available interior-point GP solver.
Training Recurrent Networks by Evolino

In recent years, gradient-based LSTM recurrent neural networks (RNNs) solved many previously RNN-unlearnable tasks. Sometimes, however, gradient information is of little use for training RNNs, due to numerous local minima. For such cases, we present a novel method: EVOlution of systems with LINear Outputs (Evolino). Evolino evolves weights to the nonlinear, hidden nodes of RNNs while computing optimal linear mappings from hidden state to output, using methods such as pseudo-inverse-based linear regression. If we instead use quadratic programming to maximize the margin, we obtain the first evolutionary recurrent support vector machines. We show that Evolino-based LSTM can solve tasks that Echo State nets (Jaeger, 2004a) cannot and achieves higher accuracy in certain continuous function generation tasks than conventional gradient descent RNNs, including gradient-based LSTM.
Impaired Short-Term Functioning of a Benthic Community from a Deep Norwegian Fjord Following Deposition of Mine Tailings and Sediments

The extraction of minerals from land-based mines necessitates the disposal of large amounts of mine tailings. Dumping and storage of tailings into the marine environment, such as fjords, is currently being performed without knowing the potential ecological consequences. This study investigated the effect of short-term exposure to different deposition depths of inert iron ore tailings (0.1, 0.5 and 3 cm) and dead subsurface sediment (0.5 and 3 cm) on a deep water (200 m) fjord benthic assemblage in a microcosm experiment. Biotic and abiotic variables were measured to determine structural and functional changes of the benthic community following an 11 and 16 day exposure with tailings and dead sediment, respectively. Structural changes of macrofauna, meiofauna and bacteria were measured in terms of biomass, density, community composition and mortality while measures of oxygen penetration depth, sediment community oxygen consumption and 13C-uptake and processing by biota revealed changes in the functioning of the system. Burial with mine tailings and natural sediments modified the structure and functioning of the benthic community albeit in a different way. Mine tailings deposition of 0.1 cm and more resulted in a reduced capacity of the benthic community to remineralize fresh 13C-labelled algal material, as evidenced by the reduced sediment community oxygen consumption and uptake rates in all biological compartments. At 3 cm of tailings deposition, it was evident that nematode mortality was higher inside the tailings layer, likely caused by reduced food availability. In contrast, dead sediment addition led to an increase in oxygen consumption and bacterial carbon uptake comparable to control conditions, thereby leaving deeper sediment layers anoxic and in turn causing nematode mortality at 3 cm deposition. This study clearly shows that even small levels (0.1 cm) of instantaneous burial by mine tailings may significantly reduce benthic ecosystem functioning on the short term. Furthermore, it reveals the importance of substrate characteristics and origin when studying the effects of substrate addition on marine benthic fauna. Our findings should alert decision makers when considering approval of new deep-sea tailings placement sites as this technique will have major negative impacts on benthic ecosystem functioning over large areas.
Serum malondialdehyde levels during menstral cycle

Oxidative stress theory has been investigated to explain the pathological basis of many medical conditions. This study is thus aimed at examining the oxidative stress pattern during the different phases of physiological phenomenon of menstruation in-relation to the hormonal characteristics. Venous samples form the cubiteal vein was taken from 25 apparently well female subjects after a 12 hour overnight fasting during the three phases of their menstrual cycle. Serum Malondialdehyde (MDA) activity was assayed in all the samples. There was no statistical difference between the mean values of MDA during the follicular and the ovulatory phase of menstruation. However, MDA level in the luteal phase was significantly different from the MDA levels during follicular and ovulatory phases. (p<0.05). Serum Malondialdhyde level significant increase concided with the increase progesterone and estrogen levels during the luteal phase of menstruation which is characterized by foci and coalase necrosis. This may support the fact that oxidative stress theory has an important role to play in the physiological phenomenon of menstruation
Low risk for helminth infection in wastewater-fed rice cultivation in Vietnam.

This study was done to assess the risk of helminth infection in association with wastewater-fed rice cultivation in an agricultural setting of Nam Dinh city, Vietnam. In a cross sectional survey data were collected for 202 households in a commune where wastewater was used for irrigation and for 201 households in a commune that used river water. Parasitological examination was conducted on single stool samples obtained from 1,088 individuals aged -15 years from the households. The irrigation water used in both communes was enumerated for helminth eggs and thermotolerant coliforms. The prevalence of infection with Ascaris spp. , Trichuris spp. , and hookworm was 42.2%, 19.9% and 10.5% respectively, with an overall prevalence of infection with any helminth of 53.4%. Surprisingly, the prevalence of infection with Ascaris and Trichuris was lower among people exposed to wastewater (containing 40-200 helminth eggs/l and 10(4) thermotolerant coliforms/100 ml) compared to people exposed to river water that contained lower worm egg and bacterial numbers. Poor sanitation and hygiene practices and not using protective measures were important independent risk factors for helminth infection. For hookworm infection, no significant difference was observed between the wastewater exposed and unexposed groups. Children living in the wastewater use area had a significantly better nutritional status than those in the area using river water. This suggests a generally higher welfare level of the wastewater use area. In conclusion, this study showed no evidence that rice cultivation with wastewater poses a risk for helminth infection. More detailed studies are needed on the reduction of fecal indicators and helminth eggs in peri-urban wastewater-irrigated rice culture systems and on the relative importance of wastewater irrigation compared to other risk factors for human helminth infection such as poor sanitation and poverty.