Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservation of bioactive compounds of a green vegetable smoothie using short time–high temperature mild thermal treatment

Smoothies represent an excellent and convenient alternative to promote the daily consumption of fruit and vegetables in order to obtain their health-promoting benefits. Accordingly, a green fresh vegetables smoothie (77.2% cucumber, 12% broccoli and 6% spinach) rich in health-promoting compounds was developed. Soluble solids content, pH and titratable acidity of the smoothie were 4.3 ± 0.4°Bx, 4.49 ± 0.01 and 0.22 ± 0.02 mg citric acid 100−1 g fw, respectively. Two thermal treatments to reduce microbial loads and preserve quality were assayed: T1 (3 min at 80 ℃) and T2 (45 s at 90 ℃). Fresh blended unheated samples were used as control (CTRL). The smoothie presented a viscoelastic behaviour. T1 and T2 treatments reduced initial microbial loads by 1.3–2.4 and 1.4–3.1 log units, respectively. Samples were stored in darkness at 5 and 15 ℃. Colour and physicochemical changes were reduced in thermal-treated samples throughout storage, which were better preserved at 5 ℃ rather than at 15 ℃. Vitamin C changes during storage were fitted with a Weibullian distribution. Total vitamin C losses of T1 and T2 samples during storage at 15 ℃ were greatly reduced when they were stored at 5 ℃. Initial total phenolic content (151.1 ± 4.04 mg kg−1 fw) was 44 and 36% increased after T1 and T2 treatments, respectively. The 3-p-coumaroyl quinic and chlorogenic acids accounted the 84.7 and 7.1% relative abundance, respectively. Total antioxidant capacity (234.2 ± 20.3 mg Trolox equivalent kg−1 fw) remained constant after the thermal treatments and was better maintained during storage in thermal-treated samples. Glucobrassicin accounted the 81% of the initial total glucosinolates content (117.8 ± 22.2 mg kg−1 fw) of the smoothie. No glucosinolates losses were observed after T2 treatment being better preserved in thermal-treated samples. Conclusively, a short time–high temperature mild thermal treatment (T2) showed better quality and bioactive compounds retention in a green fresh vegetable smoothie during low temperature storage.
A Computer Based Feature Extraction of Lung Nodule in Chest X-Ray Image

—Feature extraction is one of the most important step in CAD (Computer Assisted Diagnosis) system. It helps CAD system to take correct decision and increase its accuracy by providing distinguish feature of malignant and benign tumor. Computer based system is proposed in this paper for feature extraction of lung nodule from the X-ray image. In recent years, the image processing mechanisms are widely used in several medical areas for early detection and in deciding treatment stages, where the time and cost factor is very important to discover the disease in the patient. Among the cancer, lung cancer is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Therefore, early detection using diagnostic tests promises to reduce mortality from lung cancer. Present paper deals with the problem of developing a computer based system for the extraction of maximum features from the segmented suspicious area from the lung X-ray image. Further, these properties can be used to classify lung tumor as benign or malignant from the X-ray image directly. Calculated features will help the CAD system to take correct decision.
Early Complications After Dual Chamber Versus Single Chamber Pacemaker Implantation

This study was performed to compare the frequency of early complications after single chamber versus dual chamber permanent pacemaker implantation. Early complication was defined as one occurring in the 6‐week period following implantation. We prospectively analyzed consecutive pacemaker implantation from January 1987 to June 1993 at our regional center. All complications were also analyzed for the relationship to operator experience, the venous access route, and the presence of temporary pacing wire at the time of implantation of the permanent pacing system. A total of 2019 new pacemaker units were implanted during this period. 1733 patients (85.8%) received a VVI pacemaker and 286 (14.2%) a DDD unit. Wound infection occurredin 11 (0.6%) VVI patients and 6 (2.1%) DDD patients. Lead displacement occurred in 18(1 %) VVI patients and 15 (5.2%) DDD patients (11 [3.8%] atrial and 4 [1.4 %] ventricular). There were 10 (0.6%)pneumothoraces, 9 (0.5%) hematomas requiring drainage, 1 (0.06%) chylocele, and 2 (0.1%) deaths in the VVI group. There were 2 (0.7%) pneumothoraces, 2 (0.7%) hematomas, and no deaths in the DDD group. There was no significant increase in complications for experienced infrequent implanters (< 12 systems per year). In both groups the subclavian approach was associated with a risk of pneumothorax when compared to the cephalic approach. The rate of wound infection was higher in patients who had a temporary pacing wire in place. The use of prophylactic antibiotics does not appear to affect the incidence of wound infection. The early complications in the DDD group were higher than in the VVI group (8.7% vs 2.9%, P < 0.05), being mainly due to an increased incidence of wound infection and atrial lead displacement.
Educational Inequality in Female Cancer Mortality in Korea

We evaluated the influence of socioeconomic factors on female cancer mortality using death data from the Cause of Death Statistics and the Korean Population and Housing Census databases collected in 2001, 2006, and 2011. We estimated Relative Index of Inequality (RII) of female cancer mortality using Poisson regression analysis. RII greater than 1 indicates increased mortality risk for women at the lowest educational level compared with women at the highest educational level. The RII for cervical cancer mortality was persistently greater than 1 for the entire study period, with a gradual increase over time. Subgroup analysis stratified by age (25-44 and 45-64 yr) revealed that younger women had increased RIIs of mortality due to cervical cancer and ovarian cancer during the entire study period. Older women had higher RII only for cervical cancer mortality, but the value was much lower than that for younger women. The RII for breast cancer mortality was greater than 1 for younger women since 2006. In conclusion, socioeconomic inequality in female cancer mortality has persisted for the last decade in Korea, which was most evident for cervical cancer, and for younger women. Graphical Abstract
Primary paranasal sinus lymphoma: natural history and improved outcome with central nervous system chemoprophylaxis

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the paranasal sinus is an uncommon presentation of extranodal lymphoma. Its natural history, treatment and prognosis have been infrequently characterized in the medical literature; however, a tendency to involve the central nervous system (CNS) has been noted. In British Columbia (population 4 million), a central database for lymphomas has allowed us to accurately track cases of paranasal sinus lymphoma diagnosed since 1980. A retrospective review was performed on the 44 patients who presented with primary paranasal sinus lymphoma (stage I or II) between 1980 and 1999. Histologic features were identified and immunophenotypic classification performed. Complete diagnostic and follow-up data including stage, treatment, response rates, sites of relapse and survival data were available for all patients. There were 26 men and 18 women. The types of lymphoma found were: diffuse large B cell (including immunoblastic), n = 37 (84%); T/NK nasal type, n = 3 (8%); peripheral T cell, not otherwise classified, n = 2 (4%); and others, n = 2 (4%). The median age at presentation was 66 years (range 27–97 years). The median follow-up for living patients was 114 months. For all 44 patients, the 5- and 10-year overall survivals were 48% and 41% and the disease-specific survivals 62% and 62%, respectively. Beginning in May 1985, intrathecal chemotherapy was added to our standard treatment plan of multi-agent chemotherapy and local irradiation. Before 1985, 2 of 5 patients developed leptomeningeal metastasis. Following the institution of intrathecal chemotherapy, only 8% (3 of 39) of patients have developed CNS disease. Introduction of intrathecal chemoprophylaxis was also associated with an improvement in overall survival from 20% to 51% and disease-specific survival from 40% to 65%. Primary paranasal sinus lymphoma is an uncommon presentation of lymphoma that carries the potential risk of spreading to the leptomeninges. Treatment with combined modality chemotherapy and irradiation can cure many patients and the addition of intrathecal chemotherapy may reduce the risk of CNS relapse.
The Joint Japanese , EU , and U . S . Demographic Transition – The Roles of Capital Flows , Immigration , and Policy

This paper presents a new simulation model which allows to analyze the interaction of ageing in the world economy. Our three-region model concentrates on the macroeconomic interaction of demographic processes in the US, Europe and Japan. It incorporates immigration and age-specific fertility rates, both of which can materially alter demographic transition paths. Immigration is exogenously set by the government. Our paper begins by describing the demographic transition and the simulating a baseline transition path of the economy, which keeps current immigration constant, assumes the projected increase in life expectancy, and the continuation of current social security and health care policies. Next we quantify the macroeconomic and welfare effects of two alternative sets of policy reforms involving changes pension financing and immigration.
The roles of APE1, APE2, DNA polymerase β and mismatch repair in creating S region DNA breaks during antibody class switch

Immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) occurs by an intrachromosomal deletion requiring generation of double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) in immunoglobulin switch region DNA. The initial steps of DSB formation have been elucidated: cytosine deamination by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and the generation of abasic sites by uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG). We show that abasic sites are converted into single-strand breaks (SSBs) by apurinic/apyrimidinic endonucleases (APE1 and APE2). If SSBs are near to each other on opposite strands, they will generate DSBs; but if distal from each other, mismatch repair appears to be required to generate DSBs. The resulting S region DSBs occur at dC residues that are preferentially targeted by AID. We also investigate whether DNA polymerase β, which correctly repairs SSBs resulting from APE activity, attempts to repair the breaks during CSR. We find that although polymerase β does attempt to repair S region DNA breaks in switching B cells, the frequency of AID-instigated breaks appears to outnumber the SSBs repaired correctly by polymerase β, and thus some DSBs and mutations are generated. We also show that the S region DSBs are introduced and resolved during the G1 phase of the cell cycle.
ASA class is associated with early revision and reoperation after total hip arthroplasty: an analysis of the Geneva and Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Registries

Background and purpose — Data from several joint replacement registries suggest that the rate of early revision surgery after primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) is increasing. The ASA class, now widely recorded in arthroplasty registries, may predict early revision. We investigated the influence of ASA class on the risk of revision and other reoperation within 3 months and within 5 years of primary THA. Patients and methods — We used data from the Geneva and Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Registries, on primary elective THAs performed in 1996–2016 and 2008–2016, respectively. 5,319 and 122,241 THAs were included, respectively. Outcomes were all-cause revision and other reoperations evaluated using Kaplan–Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Results — Within 3 months after surgery, higher ASA class was associated with greater risk of revision and other reoperation. 3-month cumulative incidences of revision by ASA class I, II, and III–IV respectively, were 0.6%, 0.7%, and 2.3% in Geneva and 0.5%, 0.8%, and 1.6% in Sweden. 3-month cumulative incidences of other reoperation were 0.4%, 0.7%, and 0.9% in Geneva and 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.7% in Sweden. Adjusted hazard ratios (ASA III–IV vs. I) for revision within 3 months were 2.7 (95% CI 1.2–5.9) in Geneva and 3.3 (CI 2.6–4.0) in Sweden. Interpretation — Assessment of ASA class of patients prior to THA will facilitate risk stratification. Targeted risk-reduction strategies may be appropriate during the very early postoperative period for patients identified as at higher risk. Systematically recording ASA class in arthroplasty registries will permit risk adjustment and facilitate comparison of revision rates internationally.
Efficacy and safety of antidepressant monotherapy in the treatment of bipolar-II depression

Sparse data exist regarding the risks and benefits of treating bipolar-II depression with antidepressants alone. On the basis of studies of bipolar-I patients, treatment guidelines suggest antidepressants should be augmented with mood stabilizers. Whether these recommendations apply to bipolar-II is unclear. A post-hoc analysis of a double-blind study, which compared the relative efficacy of placebo, imipramine and phenelzine in depressed outpatients. Patients rated 1 (‘very much improved’) or 2 (‘much improved’) on the Clinical Global Inventory Scale were considered responders. In an intent to treat analysis, no significant differences between bipolar patients (N=62) and unipolar patients (N=248) in response rates to placebo, imipramine and phenelzine were seen. No patient developed manic symptoms that required medication discontinuation or mood stabilizer augmentation. Antidepressant monotherapy was found to be a safe and effective treatment for bipolar-II depression.
rac-Methyl 3-(2-methoxyphenyl)-3a,4-dihydro-3H-chromeno[4,3-c]isoxazole-3a-carboxylate

The title compound, C19H17NO5, comprising two stereogenic C atoms of the same configuration, crystallizes in a centrosymmetric space group as a racemate. The pyran ring adopts a half-chair conformation, while the isoxazole ring adopts an envelope conformation with the C atom bonded to the methoxyphenyl group as the flap. The dihedral angle between the mean plane of the pyran ring and the adjacent benzene ring is 5.86 (5)°. In the crystal, molecules are linked by a weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bond, forming a chain along the a axis.
Transcriptome Characterization of Cymbidium sinense 'Dharma' Using 454 Pyrosequencing and Its Application in the Identification of Genes Associated with Leaf Color Variation

The highly variable leaf color of Cymbidium sinense significantly improves its horticultural and economic value, and makes it highly desirable in the flower markets in China and Southeast Asia. However, little is understood about the molecular mechanism underlying leaf-color variations. In this study, we found the content of photosynthetic pigments, especially chlorophyll degradation metabolite in the leaf-color mutants is distinguished significantly from that in the wild type of Cymbidium sinense 'Dharma'. To further determine the candidate genes controlling leaf-color variations, we first sequenced the global transcriptome using 454 pyrosequencing. More than 0.7 million expressed sequence tags (ESTs) with an average read length of 445.9 bp were generated and assembled into 103,295 isotigs representing 68,460 genes. Of these isotigs, 43,433 were significantly aligned to known proteins in the public database, of which 29,299 could be categorized into 42 functional groups in the gene ontology system, 10,079 classified into 23 functional classifications in the clusters of orthologous groups system, and 23,092 assigned to 139 clusters of specific metabolic pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Among these annotations, 95 isotigs were designated as involved in chlorophyll metabolism. On this basis, we identified 16 key enzyme-encoding genes in the chlorophyll metabolism pathway, the full length cDNAs and expressions of which were further confirmed. Expression pattern indicated that the key enzyme-encoding genes for chlorophyll degradation were more highly expressed in the leaf color mutants, as was consistent with their lower chlorophyll contents. This study is the first to supply an informative 454 EST dataset for Cymbidium sinense 'Dharma' and to identify original leaf color-associated genes, which provide important resources to facilitate gene discovery for molecular breeding, marketable trait discovery, and investigating various biological process in this species.
Outcomes in African-Americans vs. Caucasians Using Thymoglobulin or Interleukin-2 Receptor Inhibitor Induction: Analysis of USRDS Database

Aim: We used the USRDS database to test the hypothesis that graft survival was similar using either rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) vs. interleukin-2 receptor inhibitor (IL2i) in the Prograf era. We further explored the variable of race in the two groups of patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of kidney transplant patients in the USRDS from 2000 through 2005 to compare graft survival (including death) using rATG vs. IL2i with particular reference to outcomes between African-Americans vs. Caucasians. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to assess patient and graft survival after transplantation, stratified by recipient induction with rATG versus IL2i. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess adjusted survival after transplantation, assessing whether induction rATG (vs. IL2i) was significant as an interaction term (i.e. an effect modifier) with black race for graft survival. Propensity score analysis was used to address potential confounding by indication. Results: In stratified Cox Regression analysis limited to IL2i, black race was significantly associated with graft loss (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) 1.17, 95% CI, 1.09–1.26). In analysis limited to rATG induction, black race was not significant (AHR 1.00, 95% CI, 0.92–1.10). We detected a significant interaction between rATG and black race (in comparison with non-black race) for the development of graft loss (AHR, 0.86, 95% CI, 0.76–0.97). Analysis limited to black recipients showed that while use of rATG was not significantly different from IL2i (AHR 0.95, 95% CI 0.87–1.04), the direction of this association was in the opposite direction of non-blacks. Conclusions: Patient and graft survival were similar in African-American and Caucasian recipients of kidney transplantation using either rATG or IL2i. Limitations of the study are the retrospective nature of USRDS data, center-bias in using rATG vs. IL2i and lack of data on steroid dosage. Results of the present study call for a critical review of induction practices.
Three Branches of Theories of Financial Crises

In this paper, we review three branches of theoretical literature on financial crises. The first one deals with banking crises originating from coordination failures among bank creditors. The second one deals with frictions in credit and interbank markets due to problems of moral hazard and adverse selection. The third one deals with currency crises. We discuss the evolutions of these branches of the literature and how they have been integrated recently to explain the turmoil in the world economy around the East Asian Crises and in the last few years. We discuss the relation of the models to the empirical evidence and their ability to guide policies to avoid or mitigate future crises.
Cloud Analytics: Do We Really Need to Reinvent the Storage Stack?

Cloud computing offers a powerful abstraction that provides a scalable, virtualized infrastructure as a service where the complexity of fine-grained resource management is hidden from the end-user. Running data analytics applications in the cloud on extremely large data sets is gaining traction as the underlying infrastructure can meet the extreme demands of scalability. Typically, these applications (e.g., business intelligence, surveillance video searches) leverage the MapReduce framework that can decompose a large computation into a set of smaller parallelizable computations. More often than not the underlying storage architecture for running a MapReduce application is based on an Internet-scale filesystem, such as GFS, which does not provide a standard (POSIX) interface. In this paper we revisit the debate on the need of a new non-POSIX storage stack for cloud analytics and argue, based on an initial evaluation, that it can be built on traditional POSIX-based cluster filesystems. In the course of the evaluation, we compare the performance of a traditional cluster file system and a specialized Internet file system for a variety of workloads for both traditional and MapReduce-based applications. We present modifications to the cluster filesystem's allocation and layout information to better support the requirements of data locality for analytics applications. We introduce the concept of a metablock that can enable the choice of a larger block granularity for MapReduce applications to coexist with a smaller block granularity required for traditional applications. We show that a cluster file system enhanced with metablocks can not only match the performance of specialized Internet file systems for MapReduce applications but also outperform them for traditional applications.
Automatic inference of model fields and their representation

Automatic mining or inference of formal specifications from program source code is a desirable goal for documentation and verification purposes. However, current approaches that generate invariants, pre- and post-conditions, procedure summaries and sometimes also class invariants have mostly focused on extracting specifications from concrete method bodies. Consequently, almost all results have a low level of abstraction that is very close to the analyzed source code. We use JML model fields to raise the abstraction level of such automatically generated specifications, relying on the constraints imposed by behavioral subtyping. Starting from several derived classes we attempt to generate model fields for the supertype and represents clauses for each subtype. The relations between concrete and model fields are generated by checking the validity of predefined patterns against the specifications of subtype methods. Our prototype tool uses as inputs specifications generated with dynamic analysis (Daikon), identifies model fields and their representations, and generates specifications for supertype methods.
Hot Plate Annealing at a Low Temperature of a Thin Ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) Film with an Improved Crystalline Structure for Sensors and Actuators

Ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) copolymer 70/30 thin films are prepared by spin coating. The crystalline structure of these films is investigated by varying the annealing temperature from the ferroelectric phase to the paraelectric phase. A hot plate was used to produce a direct and an efficient annealing effect on the thin film. The dielectric, ferroelectric and pyroelectric properties of the P(VDF-TrFE) thin films are measured as a function of different annealing temperatures (80 to 140 °C). It was found that an annealing temperature of 100 °C (slightly above the Curie temperature, Tc) has induced a highly crystalline β phase with a rod-like crystal structure, as examined by X-ray. Such a crystal structure yields a high remanent polarization, Pr = 94 mC/m2, and pyroelectric constant, p = 24 μC/m2K. A higher annealing temperature exhibits an elongated needle-like crystal domain, resulting in a decrease in the crystalline structure and the functional electrical properties. This study revealed that highly crystalline P(VDF-TrFE) thin films could be induced at 100 °C by annealing the thin film with a simple and cheap method.