Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of uremic pruritus in hemodialysis patients with the number of days of high mean 24-hour particulate matter with a diameter of <2.5 μm

Uremic pruritus (UP) is a common and incapacitating symptom in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD). The pathogenesis of UP is multifactorial and complex. Particulate matter (PM), a major air pollutant, is a mixture of particles with various chemical compositions. PM is associated with several allergic diseases, including dermatitis. To assess the role of PM (PM with a diameter of <10 μm [PM10] and PM with a diameter of <2.5 μm [PM2.5]) and other clinical variables in UP in patients on HD, we recruited 866 patients on maintenance HD (MHD). We analyzed the number of days of mean 24-hour PM10 ≥125 μg/m3/12 months (NDPM10) or the number of days of mean 24-hour PM2.5 ≥35 μg/m3/12 months (NDPM2.5) exceeding the standard level in the past 12 months respectively to determine the association with UP. In a multivariate logistic regression, HD duration, serum ferritin levels, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, and NDPM2.5 ≥116 days/12 months were positively associated with UP. This cross-sectional study showed that the number of days on which the environmental PM2.5 exceeds the standard level might be associated with UP in patients on MHD.
Evaluation of rational extent lymphadenectomy for local advanced gastric cancer

Based upon studies from randomized clinical trials, the extended (D2) lymph node dissection is now recommended as a standard procedure for local advanced gastric cancer worldwide. However, the rational extent lymphadenectomy for local advanced gastric cancer has remained a topic of debate in the past decades. Due to the limitation of low metastatic rate in para-aortic nodes (PAN) in JCOG9501, the clinical benefit of D2+ para-aortic nodal dissection (PAND) for patients with stage T4 and/or stage N3 disease, which is very common in China and other countries except Japan and Korea, cannot be determined. Furthermore, the role of splenectomy for complete resection of No.10 and No.11 nodes has been controversial, and however, the final results from the randomized trial of JCOG0110 have yet to be completed. Gastric cancer with the No.14 and No.13 lymph node metastasis is defined as M1 stage in the current version of the Japanese classification. We propose that D2+No.14v and +No.13 lymphadenectomy may be an option in a potentially curative gastrectomy for tumors with apparent metastasis to the No.6 nodes or infiltrate to duodenum. The examined lymph node and extranodal metastasis are significantly associated with the survival of gastric cancer patients.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Heterogeneous Bank Loan Responses to Monetary Policy and Bank Capital Shocks: a Var Analysis Based on Japanese Disaggregated Data

In this paper, we study bank loan responses to monetary policy and bank capital shocks using Japan's disaggregated data sorted by borrower firms' size and industry. Employing a block recursive VAR, we demonstrate that bank loan responses exhibit large sectoral heterogeneity. Among a broad range of indicators about borrower firms' characteristics, the heterogeneity is tightly linked to borrower firms' liability conditions. Firms with a lower capital ratio tend to experience larger drops in bank loans following a contractionary monetary policy shock and/or a negative bank capital shock. In addition, we find that firms' substitution motive from alternative financial measures also explains the heterogeneity, while the firms' inventory motive that is stressed in the empirical literature for U.S. banks does not. Our results indicate the importance of considering a compositional shift of bank loans across borrower firms in implementing accommodative monetary policy and capital injection policy. seminar participants at RIETI, and the Bank of Japan for their useful comments. The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.
Estimation of Gaussian graphs by model selection

We investigate in this paper the estimation of Gaussian graphs by model selection from a non-asymptotic point of view. We start from a n-sample of a Gaussian law P_C in R^p and focus on the disadvantageous case where n is smaller than p. To estimate the graph of conditional dependences of P_C, we introduce a collection of candidate graphs and then select one of them by minimizing a penalized empirical risk. Our main result assess the performance of the procedure in a non-asymptotic setting. We pay a special attention to the maximal degree D of the graphs that we can handle, which turns to be roughly n/(2 log p).
Cross-project defect prediction models: L'Union fait la force

Existing defect prediction models use product or process metrics and machine learning methods to identify defect-prone source code entities. Different classifiers (e.g., linear regression, logistic regression, or classification trees) have been investigated in the last decade. The results achieved so far are sometimes contrasting and do not show a clear winner. In this paper we present an empirical study aiming at statistically analyzing the equivalence of different defect predictors. We also propose a combined approach, coined as CODEP (COmbined DEfect Predictor), that employs the classification provided by different machine learning techniques to improve the detection of defect-prone entities. The study was conducted on 10 open source software systems and in the context of cross-project defect prediction, that represents one of the main challenges in the defect prediction field. The statistical analysis of the results indicates that the investigated classifiers are not equivalent and they can complement each other. This is also confirmed by the superior prediction accuracy achieved by CODEP when compared to stand-alone defect predictors.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: A DISCLOSIVE ANALYSIS OF FACEBOOK.” INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND PEOPLE 23(4), 290-311. THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE PAPER CAN BE FOUND VIA: HTTP://WWW.ITANDPEOPLE.ORG/ ETHICS AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: A DISCLOSIVE ANALYSIS OF FACEBOOK

Purpose: This paper provides insights into the moral values embodied by a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook. We adopt the position that technology as well as humans has a moral character in order to disclose ethical concerns that are not transparent to users of the site. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based upon qualitative field work, involving participant observation, conducted over a two year period. Findings: Much research on the ethics of information systems has focused on the way that people deploy particular technologies, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. By focusing on technology as a moral actor with reach across and beyond the Internet, we reveal the complex and diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in our case and the consequent implications for governance of SNS. Research limitations/implications: We situate our research in a body of work known as disclosive ethics and argue for an ongoing process of evaluating SNS to reveal their moral importance. Along with other authors in the genre, our work is largely descriptive, but we engage with prior research by Brey and Introna to highlight the scope for theory development. Practical implications: Governance measures that require the developers of social networking sites to revise their designs fail to address the diffuse nature of ethical responsibility in this case. Such technologies need to be opened up to scrutiny on a regular basis to increase public awareness of the issues and thereby disclose concerns to a wider audience. We suggest that there is value in studying the development and use of these technologies in their infancy, or if established, in the experiences of novice users. Furthermore, flash points in technological trajectories can prove useful sites of investigation. Originality/value: Existing research on social networking sites either fails to address ethical concerns head on or adopts a tool view of the technologies so that the focus is on the ethical behaviour of users. We focus upon the agency, and hence the moral character, of technology to show both the possibilities for, and limitations of, ethical interventions in such cases.
Geometries of quantum states

The quantum analog of the Fisher information metric of a probability simplex is searched and several Riemannian metrics on the set of positive definite density matrices are studied. Some of them appeared in the literature in connection with Cramer–Rao‐type inequalities or the generalization of the Berry phase to mixed states. They are shown to be stochastically monotone here. All stochastically monotone Riemannian metrics are characterized by means of operator monotone functions and it is proven that there exist a maximal and a minimal among them. A class of metrics can be extended to pure states and a constant multiple of the Fubini–Study metric appears in the extension.
Corrigendum to “Genetic and Diet-Induced Obesity Increased Intestinal Tumorigenesis in the Double Mutant Mouse Model Multiple Intestinal Neoplasia X Obese via Disturbed Glucose Regulation and Inflammation”

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2015/343479. ]. In the published paper "Genetic and Diet-Induced Obesity Increased Intestinal Tumorigenesis in the Double Mutant Mouse Model Multiple Intestinal Neoplasia X Obese via Disturbed Glucose Regulation and Inflammation" [1] we mistakenly wrote IL-1β instead of IL-6 in Tables 2 and 3. In addition, IL-6 was not included in the text below the tables stating that it was measured by flow cytometer as was TNFα. The corrected tables are presented here.
Mining web query logs to analyze political issues

We present a novel approach to using anonymized web search query logs to analyze and visualize political issues. Our starting point is a list of politically annotated blogs (left vs. right). We use this list to assign a numerical political leaning to queries leading to clicks on these blogs. Furthermore, we map queries to Wikipedia articles and to fact-checked statements from politifact.com, as well as applying sentiment analysis to search results. With this rich, multi-faceted data set we obtain novel graphical visualizations of issues and discover connections between the different variables. Our findings include (i) an interest in "the other side" where queries about Democrat politicians have a right leaning and vice versa, (ii) evidence that "lies are catchy" and that queries pertaining to false statements are more likely to attract large volumes, and (iii) the observation that the more right-leaning a query it is, the more negative sentiments can be found in its search results.
Volcanic ash retrieved from the GRIP ice core is not from Thera

Tephra found in an ice core from Greenland (GRIP) has been claimed to be from the Minoan eruption of Thera (Santorini), Greece. If true, this would date the eruption, thereby resolving a decades‐long debate in chronology. Herein, it is shown that the methods used to match the Greenlandic tephra with Thera are flawed and that the geochemical data imply the tephra is not from Thera.
Genetic identification of two sibling species of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) that produce distinct male sex pheromones in Sobral, Ceará State, Brazil

Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main sandfly vector for New World visceral leishmaniasis is a complex of an as yet undefined number of sibling species. At present, there is no consensus on the status (single species vs. species complex) of Brazilian populations. We applied five microsatellite loci to test the hypothesis that L. longipalpis occurs as two sympatric cryptic species in Sobral, Ceará State, Brazil as predicted by male sex pheromone chemotypes described previously for field specimens from this site [S‐9‐methyl‐germacrene‐B (9MGB) and a cembrene compound]. Abdominal spot morphology corresponds with pheromone type at this locality (9MGB in ‘1 spot’ males and cembrene in ‘2 spot’ males). Genotype data from 190 wild‐caught L. longipalpis specimens collected in October 1999 and April 2001 were used to estimate genetic differentiation between the two sex pheromone populations and sampling dates. No significant (P > 0.05) genetic differences were found between the 1999 and 2001 9MGB samples (θ = 0.018; RST = −0.005), and genetic differentiation was low between the cembrene collections (θ = 0.037, P < 0.05; RST = −0.043, P > 0.05). By contrast, highly divergent allelic frequencies (largely at two microsatellite loci) corresponded to significant (P > 0.05) genetic differentiation (θ = 0.221; RST = 0.215) for all comparisons between samples with different pheromones. When pheromone samples were pooled across sample date, genetic differentiation was high (θ = 0.229; P < 0.001; Nem = 0.84). The allele frequency distribution at each of the five microsatellite loci was similar for males and females from the two collection years. Two of these loci showed highly divergent allele frequencies in the two sex pheromone populations. This was reflected in the highly significant genetic differentiation obtained from the male genotypes, between populations producing different pheromones (θ = 0.229–0.268; P < 0.0001 for the 2001 and θ = 0.254–0.558; P < 0.0001 for the 1999 collections, respectively). Similar results were obtained when the females, assigned to a pheromone type, were included in the analysis. Both a Bayesian analysis of the data set and a population assignment test provided strong evidence for two distinct populations corresponding to pheromone type. Given its genotype, the probability of assigning a 9MGB male to the original 9MGB population was 100% once the two years’ collections were pooled. For cembrene‐producing ‘2 spot’ males this probability although still high, was lower than for 9MGB males, at 86%. This microsatellite data together with previously reported reproductive isolation between the two Sobral populations confirm that premating barriers are important in speciation of L. longipalpis.
Weak central coherence in eating disorders: A step towards looking for an endophenotype of eating disorders

Previous work has found that women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have weak coherence. The aim of this study was to examine whether women who had recovered from an eating disorder (ED) also had weak coherence. A total of 42 recovered ED women and 42 healthy women were assessed with a battery of five neuropsychological tests that measure aspects of global or local functioning. The recovered ED group showed superior local processing and poorer global processing than the healthy group. These results are indicative of weak coherence. The finding that weak coherence is a stable characteristic rather than a state effect suggests that it may be an endophenotype for ED.
Modification of surface antigens in blood CD8+ T-lymphocytes in COPD: effects of smoking

In contrast to the effects of cigarette smoke on T-lymphocyte subsets in the airways, it has not yet been determined whether smoking has immunomodulatory effects on surface antigens of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes and, if that is the case, whether these effects differ in smokers with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present authors have, therefore, examined the expression of the surface activation marker CD28, the levels of cytotoxic effector lymphocytes (CD27-/CD45RA+) and the expression of the lung type (Tc)1-specific chemokine receptor CXCR3+ on peripheral blood CD8+ T-lymphocytes. The present authors have also studied the chemotactic activity of CD8+ T-lymphocytes on monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and compared 13 nonsmoking controls, 12 smokers with COPD and 14 smokers without airflow limitation. There was a decrease in the total count of CD8+ T-cells and an increase in the CD4+/CD8+ ratio in smokers with COPD compared with smokers without COPD and controls. Expression of the Tc1-specific chemokine receptor CXCR3+ by CD8+ T-cells was increased in smokers with COPD compared with smokers without COPD and controls. The expression of activated and of cytotoxic effector CD8+ T-cells in smokers with and without COPD showed an increase compared with controls. CD8+ T-cells from smokers with and without COPD showed a decrease in chemotactic activity to MCP-1 compared with controls. In conclusion, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may be a systemic immunomodulatory disease associated with the modification of surface antigens in blood CD8+ T-lymphocytes.
A mobile compression device for thrombosis prevention in hip and knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolic events, either deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, are important complications in patients undergoing knee or hip arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile compression device (ActiveCare+S.F.T.) with or without aspirin compared with current pharmacological protocols for prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing elective primary unilateral arthroplasty of a lower-extremity joint. METHODS A multicenter registry was established to capture the rate of symptomatic venous thromboembolic events following primary knee arthroplasty (1551 patients) or hip arthroplasty (1509 patients) from ten sites. All patients were eighteen years of age or older with no known history of venous thromboembolism, coagulation disorder, or solid tumor. Use of the compression device began perioperatively and continued for a minimum of ten days. Patients with symptoms of deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism underwent duplex ultrasonography and/or spiral computed tomography. All patients were evaluated at three months postoperatively to document any evidence of deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. RESULTS Of 3060 patients, twenty-eight (0.92%) had venous thromboembolism (twenty distal deep venous thrombi, three proximal deep venous thrombi, and five pulmonary emboli). One death occurred, with no autopsy performed. Symptomatic venous thromboembolic rates observed in patients who had an arthroplasty of a lower-extremity joint using the mobile compression device were noninferior (not worse than), at a margin of 1.0%, to the rates reported for pharmacological prophylaxis, including warfarin, enoxaparin, rivaroxaban, and dabigatran, except in the knee arthroplasty group, in which the mobile compression device fell short of the rate reported for rivaroxaban by 0.06%. CONCLUSIONS Use of the mobile compression device with or without aspirin for patients undergoing arthroplasty of a lower-extremity joint provides a noninferior risk for the development of venous thromboembolism compared with current pharmacological protocols.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCMI-4317 Modulates Fiaf/Angptl4 in Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Circulating Level in Mice

Background and Objectives Identification of new targets for metabolic diseases treatment or prevention is required. In this context, FIAF/ANGPTL4 appears as a crucial regulator of energy homeostasis. Lactobacilli are often considered to display beneficial effect for their hosts, acting on different regulatory pathways. The aim of the present work was to study the effect of several lactobacilli strains on Fiaf gene expression in human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and on mice tissues to decipher the underlying mechanisms. Subjects and Methods Nineteen lactobacilli strains have been tested on HT–29 human intestinal epithelial cells for their ability to regulate Fiaf gene expression by RT-qPCR. In order to determine regulated pathways, we analysed the whole genome transcriptome of IECs. We then validated in vivo bacterial effects using C57BL/6 mono-colonized mice fed with normal chow. Results We identified one strain (Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCMI–4317) that modulated Fiaf expression in IECs. This regulation relied potentially on bacterial surface-exposed molecules and seemed to be PPAR-γ independent but PPAR-α dependent. Transcriptome functional analysis revealed that multiple pathways including cellular function and maintenance, lymphoid tissue structure and development, as well as lipid metabolism were regulated by this strain. The regulation of immune system and lipid and carbohydrate metabolism was also confirmed by overrepresentation of Gene Ontology terms analysis. In vivo, circulating FIAF protein was increased by the strain but this phenomenon was not correlated with modulation Fiaf expression in tissues (except a trend in distal small intestine). Conclusion We showed that Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCMI–4317 induced Fiaf expression in human IECs, and increased circulating FIAF protein level in mice. Moreover, this effect was accompanied by transcriptome modulation of several pathways including immune response and metabolism in vitro.
Choosing (and Reneging on) Exchange Rate Regimes

We use data on announced and actual exchange rate arrangements to ask which countries follow de facto regimes different from their de iure ones, that is, do not do what they say. Our results suggest that countries with poor institutional quality have difficulty in maintaining pegging and abandon it more often. In contrast, countries with relatively good institutions display fear of floating, i.e. they manage more than announced, perhaps to signal their differences from those countries incapable of maintaining promises of monetary stability.
A hybrid ant colony algorithm for the Cutting Stock Problem

This study presents a new hybrid ant colony algorithm (HACO) to solve an in integer linear programming formulation of the Cutting Stock Problem(CSP). The CSP is an important class combinatorial problem. It is appropriate to minimize the raw material used by industries for fulfilling customer's demands. In such cases, classic models for solving the cutting stock problem are useless. HACO consists of GDCP procedure and modified ACO (MACO). GDCP procedure provides dominative cutting patterns as MACO solution components, in MACO the pheromone trail is put on cutting patterns instead of items. MACO preserves cutting patterns and frequencies information under ants building solution procedure. Results obtained from computational experiments for ten benchmarks demonstrate that the performance of MACO is compared to that obtained using existing mete-heuristic algorithm.
Relevance and Retrieval Evaluation: Perspectives from Medicine

The traditional notion of topical relevance has allowed much useful work to be done in the evaluation of retrieval systems, but has limitations for complete assessment of retrieval systems. While topical relevance can be effective in evaluating various indexing and retrieval approaches, it is ineffective for measuring the impact that systems have on users. An alternative is to use a more situational definition of relevance, which takes account of the impact of the system on the user. Both types of relevance are examined from the standpoint of the medical domain, concluding that each have their appropriate use. But in medicine there is increasing emphasis on outcomes‐oriented research which, when applied to information science, requires that the impact of an information system on the activities which prompt its use be assessed. An iterative model of retrieval evaluation is proposed, starting first with the use of topical relevance to insure documents on the subject can be retrieved. This is followed by the use of situational relevance to show the user can interact positively with the system. The final step is to study how the system impacts the user in the purpose for which the system was consulted, which can be done by methods such as protocol analysis and simulation. These diverse types of studies are necessary to increase our understanding of the nature of retrieval systems. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.