Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of plasma and prostate lycopene in response to typical servings of tomato soup, sauce or juice in men before prostatectomy

Tomato product consumption and estimated lycopene intake are hypothesised to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. To define the impact of typical servings of commercially available tomato products on resultant plasma and prostate lycopene concentrations, men scheduled to undergo prostatectomy (n 33) were randomised either to a lycopene-restricted control group ( < 5 mg lycopene/d) or to a tomato soup (2–2¾ cups prepared/d), tomato sauce (142–198 g/d or 5–7 ounces/d) or vegetable juice (325–488 ml/d or 11–16·5 fluid ounces/d) intervention providing 25–35 mg lycopene/d. Plasma and prostate carotenoid concentrations were measured by HPLC. Tomato soup, sauce and juice consumption significantly increased plasma lycopene concentration from 0·68 (sem 0·1) to 1·13 (sem 0·09) μmol/l (66 %), 0·48 (sem 0·09) to 0·82 (sem 0·12) μmol/l (71 %) and 0·49 (sem 0·12) to 0·78 (sem 0·1) μmol/l (59 %), respectively, while the controls consuming the lycopene-restricted diet showed a decline in plasma lycopene concentration from 0·55 (sem 0·60) to 0·42 (sem 0·07) μmol/l ( − 24 %). The end-of-study prostate lycopene concentration was 0·16 (sem 0·02) nmol/g in the controls, but was 3·5-, 3·6- and 2·2-fold higher in tomato soup (P= 0·001), sauce (P= 0·001) and juice (P= 0·165) consumers, respectively. Prostate lycopene concentration was moderately correlated with post-intervention plasma lycopene concentrations (r 0·60, P =0·001), indicating that additional factors have an impact on tissue concentrations. While the primary geometric lycopene isomer in tomato products was all-trans (80–90 %), plasma and prostate isomers were 47 and 80 % cis, respectively, demonstrating a shift towards cis accumulation. Consumption of typical servings of processed tomato products results in differing plasma and prostate lycopene concentrations. Factors including meal composition and genetics deserve further evaluation to determine their impacts on lycopene absorption and biodistribution.
The Use of a Mobile Application to Track Process Workflow in Perioperative Services

This article discusses the data collection tool developed to investigate how patient flow is affected by the delivery of different types of care within Perioperative Services. To better understand the Perioperative Services processes, this study tracked staff members as they perform their activities. A challenging aspect of documenting the processes observed while tracking the Perioperative Services staff is to record the specific times and order in which the activities took place. The Perioperative Services is a fast-paced, dynamic environment where the staff members often perform multiple tasks that may also be interrupted, and each staff member may perform these tasks in their own sequence. To meet the needs of accurate data gathering, an iPhone/iPod Touch application was developed. It provides several advantages over the traditional paper/pencil method: (1) time stamps are instantaneous and consistent among the data collectors, (2) activities are entered via swipe-and-click capability, (3) multiple active tasks and interruptions can be tracked, and (4) collected data can be output to Microsoft Excel or Access for analysis. The "app" has proven to be useful in capturing data for our study. This technology can be customized and applied to similar settings at other hospitals.
Genetic influences on memory performance in familial Alzheimer disease

Objective: To investigate the heritability of memory and other cognitive measures in families with multiple individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD) to determine if neuropsychological measures can be used to better understand genetic contributions to AD. Methods: The genetic contributions to the variation in declarative memory, attention, abstract reasoning, language, and visuospatial function using a variance component method were estimated. For memory scores, the proportion of genetic contribution was estimated, controlling for APOE. Results: The unadjusted heritability estimates for the declarative memory tasks ranged from 0.47 for delayed recall to 0.25 for delayed recognition, where a heritability estimate of 1 indicates that genetic factors explain all of the phenotypic variance and a heritability score of 0 indicates that genetic factors explain none. When adjusted for sex, age, education, and general intelligence, the heritability estimates increased to 0.60 for delayed recall and 0.41 for delayed recognition. None of the other cognitive tests showed heritability estimates as high as that observed for memory. When the influence of APOE was taken into account, the heritability estimates changed modestly for delayed recall and consistent long-term retrieval, whereas the estimates for other memory scores did not change, suggesting that APOE contributes little to these memory scores. Conclusions: Declarative memory in familial AD is under strong genetic influence, only part of which is attributable to APOE. Memory performance should prove to be a useful phenotypic component in the investigation of the genetic basis of AD.
Placebo-controlled phase III trial of immunologic therapy with sipuleucel-T (APC8015) in patients with metastatic, asymptomatic hormone refractory prostate cancer.

PURPOSE Sipuleucel-T (APC8015) is an investigational immunotherapy product designed to stimulate T-cell immunity against prostatic acid phosphatase. A phase III study was undertaken to evaluate the safety and efficacy of sipuleucel-T in a placebo-controlled study. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 127 patients with asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive three infusions of sipuleucel-T (n = 82) or placebo (n = 45) every 2 weeks. On disease progression, placebo patients could receive APC8015F, a product made with frozen leukapheresis cells. RESULTS Of the 127 patients, 115 patients had progressive disease at the time of data analysis, and all patients were followed for survival for 36 months. The median for time to disease progression (TTP) for sipuleucel-T was 11.7 weeks compared with 10.0 weeks for placebo (P = .052, log-rank; hazard ratio [HR], 1.45; 95%CI, 0.99 to 2.11). Median survival was 25.9 months for sipuleucel-T and 21.4 months for placebo (P = .01, log-rank; HR, 1.70; 95%CI, 1.13 to 2.56). Treatment remained a strong independent predictor of overall survival after adjusting for prognostic factors using a Cox multivariable regression model (P = .002, Wald test; HR, 2.12; 95%CI, 1.31 to 3.44). The median ratio of T-cell stimulation at 8 weeks to pretreatment was eight-fold higher in sipuleucel-T-treated patients (16.9 v 1.99; P < .001). Sipuleucel-T therapy was well tolerated. CONCLUSION While the improvement in the primary end point TTP did not achieve statistical significance, this study suggests that sipuleucel-T may provide a survival advantage to asymptomatic HRPC patients. Supportive studies are underway.
Exploring the Potential of Mobile Applications to Support Learning and Engagement in Elementary Classes

Mobile devices have integrated themselves in society where they are used naturally and invisibly by individuals. Despite the fact that these devices are available to teachers and learners, the traditional style of classes is still the dominant style. This research explores the utilization of mobile applications in traditional classroom settings, and how this affects students' learning and engagement. An action research project was conducted in Bahrain to study the differences between the utilization of mobile applications in a classroom setting in a private school, with more technology exposure, and in a public school, with limited technology exposure. The study found that the use of mobile applications in classrooms increased students' engagement despite differences in the utilization of technology. The study also found that integrating mobile applications in classrooms has the potential to enhance students' performance.
Phase change memory architecture and the quest for scalability

Memory scaling is in jeopardy as charge storage and sensing mechanisms become less reliable for prevalent memory technologies, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In contrast, phase change memory (PCM) relies on programmable resistances, as well as scalable current and thermal mechanisms. To deploy PCM as a DRAM alternative and to exploit its scalability, PCM must be architected to address relatively long latencies, high energy writes, and finite endurance. We propose architectural enhancements that address these limitations and make PCM competitive with DRAM. A baseline PCM system is 1.6× slower and requires 2.2× more energy than a DRAM system. Buffer reorganizations reduce this delay and energy gap to 1.2× and 1.0×, using narrow rows to mitigate write energy as well as multiple rows to improve locality and write coalescing. Partial writes mitigate limited memory endurance to provide more than 10 years of lifetime. Process scaling will further reduce PCM energy costs and improve endurance.
Effects of Inspiratory Resistive Loading on Chest Wall Motion and Ventilation: Differences between Preterm and Full-Term Infants

The ability to maintain effective tidal volume and minute ventilation during resistive loaded breathing depends on both adequate central neural respiratory output response and respiratory system mechanical properties such as respiratory muscle strength and chest wall stability. We hypothesized that chest wall instability limits the ability of the preterm (PT) infant to respond to inspiratory resistive loading (IRL) compared with full-term (FT) infants. To test this hypothesis, we subjected eight FT and 10 PT infants to IRL with loads of 1.3, 2, and 6 times intrinsic lung resistance and measured steady state tidal volume (VT), minute ventilation (VE), and chest wall motion. Thoracoabdominal asynchrony was measured by respiratory inductive plethysmography and quantitated by measuring the phase angle, θ between rib cage and abdominal motion (0° = synchronous motion, 180° = paradoxic motion). At baseline, VT/kg (mL/kg, mean ± SEM) was similar between PT (7.0 ± 0.7) and FT (7.5 ± 0.5) infants. VE/kg (mL/min/kg) was greater in PT (545 ± 50) than in FT (385 ± 33) infants (p <0.05) as a result of increased respiratory frequency in the former. PT infants demonstrated significantly greater chest wall asynchrony (θ = 38 ± 9°) than FT infants (θ = 9 ± 3°) (p < 0.01). With the highest resistive loads, VT decreased significantly in the PT but not the FT infants. Furthermore, during IRL, VE decreased to 417 ± 50 mL/min/kg (p < 0.05) and θ increased to 56 ± 7 (p < 0.05) in the PT infants, whereas no significant change in either value was observed in the FT group. We conclude that IRL breathing significantly decreases VT and VE in PT infants. Chest wall instability in the PT group, as reflected by the increased asynchrony between rib cage and abdomen, contributes to the relative inability of PT infants to maintain ventilation during inspiratory resistive loaded breathing.
Large‐scale bias and stochasticity of haloes and dark matter

On large scales, galaxies and their haloes are usually assumed to trace the dark matter with a constant bias and dark matter is assumed to trace the linear density field. We test these assumption using several large N-body simulations with 384 3 ‐1024 3 particles and box sizes of 96‐1152 h −1 Mpc, which can both resolve the small galactic-size haloes and sample the large-scale fluctuations. We explore the average halo bias relation as a function of halo mass and show that existing fitting formulae overestimate the halo bias by up to 20 per cent in the regime just below the non-linear mass. We propose a new expression that fits our simulations well. We find that the halo bias is nearly constant, b ∼ 0.65‐0.7, for masses below one-tenth of the non-linear mass. We next explore the relation between the initial and final dark matter in individual Fourier modes and show that there are significant fluctuations in their ratio, ranging from 10 per cent rms at k ∼ 0.03 h Mpc −1 to 50 per cent rms at k ∼ 0.1 h Mpc −1 . W e a rgue that these large fluctuations are caused by perturbative effects beyond the linear theory, which are dominated by long-wavelength modes with large random fluctuations. Similar or larger fluctuations exist between haloes and dark matter and between haloes of different mass. These fluctuations must be included in attempts to determine the relative bias of two populations from their maps, which would otherwise be immune to sampling variance. Ke yw ords: cosmology: theory ‐ dark matter ‐ large-scale structure of Universe.
[Relationship between prevalent features of central obesity and clustering of cardiometabolic diseases among Chinese elder people].

OBJECTIVE To study the relationship between prevalence of central obesity and clustering of cardiometabolic diseases among Chinese elder people over 60 years old. METHODS A complex multistage stratified sampling survey on chronic diseases was conducted in 162 surveillance points, 31 provinces, China in 2010 by China CDC. The survey included face-to-face interview, physical measurement (body height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and blood pressure) and laboratory test (blood sugar, blood lipid and hemoglobin A1C), to collect the information about the prevalence of the risk factors as smoking, drinking, diet and physical activities and the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia. The survey selected 19 966 subjects who were over 60 years old. Central obesity was defined as WC ≥ 85 cm in males or ≥ 80 cm in females. The prevalence of central obesity among the elder people over 60 years old in different districts and populations was calculated; and the proportion of cardiometabolic diseases in groups of different WC was then analyzed. RESULTS The prevalence of central obesity among elderly population over 60 years old was 48.6% (95%CI:46.1%-51.2%), including 39.7% (95%CI:37.2%-42.2%) males and 57.3% (95%CI:54.5%-60.1%) females. The proportion of females was higher than that of males (χ(2) = 474.63, P < 0.01). The higher the education level, the higher the prevalence of central obesity among elderly men. There was no significant association among females. The higher the family income, the higher the prevalence of central obesity. The prevalence of central obesity was 59.2% in urban area, which was much higher than that in rural area (43.5%) (χ(2) = 50.06, P < 0.01). The proportion of hypertension, diabetes and clustering of cardiometabolic disease was separately 18.8% (95%CI:16.1%-21.5%) , 66.2% (95%CI:63.0%-69.4%) and 47.5% (95%CI:44.1%-50.8%) among elderly men with WC between 85 and 89 cm, and separately 24.0% (95%CI:21.2%-26.8%), 78.2% (95%CI:75.6%-80.8%) and 64.0% (95%CI:60.3%-67.6%) among elderly men with WC ≥ 90 cm; which were both higher than those among elderly men with WC < 85 cm (separately 13.4% (95%CI:11.5%-15.3%) , 58.3% ( 95%CI:55.5%-60.1%) and 30.8% (95%CI:28.7%-32.9%) ). The proportion of hypertension, diabetes and clustering of cardiometabolic disease was 20.1% (95%CI:17.4%-22.7%) , 68.6% (95%CI:65.5%-71.8%) and 48.1% (95%CI:44.6%-51.6%) among elderly women with WC between 80 and 84 cm, and separately 31.7% (95%CI:28.9%-34.4%) , 81.0% (95%CI:78.5%-83.5%) and 61.8% (95%CI:58.9%-64.8%) among elderly women with WC ≥ 85 cm; which were both higher than those among elderly women with WC < 80 cm (separately 12.8% (95%CI:10.8%-14.8%) , 60.1% (95%CI:57.1%-63.0%) and 30.4% (95%CI:27.3%-33.5%)). CONCLUSION Nearly half of the Chinese elder people were central obese. The proportion of cardiometabolic diseases among central obesity was significantly higher than that among non-obese population. We should pay more concern about them in the future prevention and control of chronic diseases.
Two Distinct Heterotypic Channels Mediate Gap Junction Coupling between Astrocyte and Oligodendrocyte Connexins

Genetic diseases demonstrate that the normal function of CNS myelin depends on connexin32 (Cx32) and Cx47, gap junction (GJ) proteins expressed by oligodendrocytes. GJs couple oligodendrocytes and astrocytes (O/A channels) as well as astrocytes themselves (A/A channels). Because astrocytes express different connexins (Cx30 and Cx43), O/A channels must be heterotypic, whereas A/A channels may be homotypic or heterotypic. Using electrophysiological and immunocytochemical approaches, we found that Cx47/Cx43 and Cx32/Cx30 efficiently formed functional channels, but other potential heterotypic O/A and A/A pairs did not. These results suggest that Cx30/Cx30 and Cx43/Cx43 channels mediate A/A coupling, and Cx47/Cx43 and Cx32/Cx30 channels mediate O/A coupling. Furthermore, Cx47/Cx43 and Cx32/Cx30 channels have distinct macroscopic and single-channel properties and different dye permeabilities. Finally, Cx47 mutants that cause Pelizaeus–Merzbacher-like disease do not efficiently form functional channels with Cx43, indicating that disrupted Cx47/Cx43 channels cause this disease.
Towards an automation of the mutation analysis dedicated to model transformation

A benefit of model‐driven engineering relies on the automatic generation of artefacts from high‐level models through intermediary levels using model transformations. In such a process, the input must be well designed, and the model transformations should be trustworthy. Because of the specificities of models and transformations, classical software test techniques have to be adapted. Among these techniques, mutation analysis has been ported, and a set of mutation operators has been defined. However, it currently requires considerable manual work and suffers from the test data set improvement activity. This activity is a difficult and time‐consuming job and reduces the benefits of the mutation analysis. This paper addresses the test data set improvement activity. Model transformation traceability in conjunction with a model of mutation operators and a dedicated algorithm allow to automatically or semi‐automatically produce improved test models. The approach is validated and illustrated in two case studies written in Kermeta.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
IL-17 Plays an Important Role in the Development of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis1

IL-17 is a proinflammatory cytokine that activates T cells and other immune cells to produce a variety of cytokines, chemokines, and cell adhesion molecules. This cytokine is augmented in the sera and/or tissues of patients with contact dermatitis, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. We previously demonstrated that IL-17 is involved in the development of autoimmune arthritis and contact, delayed, and airway hypersensitivity in mice. As the expression of IL-17 is also augmented in multiple sclerosis, we examined the involvement of this cytokine in these diseases using IL-17−/− murine disease models. We found that the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the rodent model of multiple sclerosis, was significantly suppressed in IL-17−/− mice; these animals exhibited delayed onset, reduced maximum severity scores, ameliorated histological changes, and early recovery. T cell sensitization against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein was reduced in IL-17−/− mice upon sensitization. The major producer of IL-17 upon treatment with myelin digodendrocyte glycopritein was CD4+ T cells rather than CD8+ T cells, and adoptive transfer of IL-17−/− CD4+ T cells inefficiently induced EAE in recipient mice. Notably, IL-17-producing T cells were increased in IFN-γ−/− cells, while IFN-γ-producing cells were increased in IL-17−/− cells, suggesting that IL-17 and IFN-γ mutually regulate IFN-γ and IL-17 production. These observations indicate that IL-17 rather than IFN-γ plays a crucial role in the development of EAE.
F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, Multidetector Row Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Primary Diagnosis and Staging of Pancreatic Cancer

Objective: To prospectively compare the accuracy of combined positron emission tomography/computed tomography using F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET/CT), multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of patients with suspected pancreatic malignancy. Summary Background Data: FDG-PET/CT imaging is increasingly used for staging of pancreatic cancer. Preliminary data suggest a significant influence of FDG-PET/CT on treatment planning, although its role is still evolving. Methods: Thirty-eight consecutive patients with suspicion of pancreatic malignancy were enrolled. Patients underwent a protocol including FDGPET/CT, MDCT, and MRI combined with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, all of which were blindly evaluated. The findings were confirmed macroscopically at operation and/or by histopathologic analysis (n 29) or follow-up (n 9). Results of TNM classification of different imaging methods were compared with clinical TNM classification. Results: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in 17 patients, neuroendocrine tumor in 3, mass-forming pancreatitis in 4, cystic lesion in 6, and fibrosis in 2. Six patients had a finding of a normal pancreas. The diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT for pancreatic malignancy was 89%, compared with 76% and 79% for MDCT and MRI, respectively. In the differential diagnosis of suspected malignant biliary stricture at endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (n 21), FDG-PET/CT had a positive predictive value of 92%. In 17 patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma, FDG-PET/CT had a sensitivity of 30% for Nand 88% for M-staging. Both MDCT and MRI had sensitivities of 30% for Nand 38% for M-staging. Furthermore, the clinical management of 10 patients (26%) was altered after FDG-PET/CT. Conclusion: FDG-PET/CT was more sensitive than conventional imaging in the diagnosis of both primary pancreatic adenocarcinoma and associated distant metastases. In contrast, the sensitivity of FDG-PET/CT was poor in detecting local lymph node metastasis, which would have been important for an assessment of resectability. We recommend the use of FDG-PET/CT in the evaluation of diagnostically challenging cases, especially in patients with biliary strictures without evidence of malignancy in conventional imaging.
Revisiting Definitional Foundations of Oblivious RAM for Secure Processor Implementations

Oblivious RAM (ORAM) is a renowned technique to hide the access patterns of an application to an untrusted memory. According to the standard ORAM definition presented by Goldreich and Ostrovsky, two ORAM access sequences must be computationally indistinguishable if the lengths of these sequences are identically distributed. An artifact of this definition is that it does not apply to modern ORAM implementations adapted in current secure processors technology because of their arbitrary lengths of memory access sequences depending on programs' behaviors (their termination times). As a result, the ORAM definition does not directly apply; the theoretical foundations of ORAM do not clearly argue about the timing and termination channels. This paper conducts a first rigorous study of the standard Goldreich-Ostrovsky ORAM definition in view of modern practical ORAMs (e.g., Path ORAM) and demonstrates the gap between theoretical foundations and real implementations. A new ORAM formulation which clearly separates out termination channel leakage is proposed. It is shown how this definition implies the standard ORAM definition (for finite length input access sequences) and better fits the modern practical ORAM implementations. The proposed definition relaxes the constraints around the stash size and overflow probability for Path ORAM, and essentially transforms its security argument into a performance consideration problem. Finally, a `strong' ORAM formulation which clearly includes obfuscation of termination leakage is shown to imply our new ORAM formulation and applies to ORAM for outsourced disk storage. In this strong formulation constraints are not relaxed and the security argument for Path ORAM remains complex as one needs to prove that the stash overflows with negligible probability.