Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of diagnosis for colorectal cancer (CRC): Screening detected versus symptomatic presentation.

1023 Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death in North America; studies have shown that screening improves survival. Conducted in British Columbia, Canada, this study was conducted to identify the proportion of screening-eligible patients with sporadic CRC who are detected by screening tests versus symptomatic presentation,and to compare baseline patient and tumor characteristics of these two groups. METHODS This retrospective cohort study identified 571 cases via the BC Cancer Registry of patients age 50 years and older presenting with first diagnosis of invasive CRC between Nov. 2002 and Apr. 2003. Patients with non-adenocarcinoma histology, HNPCC or FAP were not included. Self completed questionnaires were mailed to all patients to capture: prior screening history, screening versus symptomatic presentation, and demographic information. All respondents charts were then reviewed to corroborate screening information, and to obtain pathological information including TNM stage, grade and site (proximal versus distal colon versus rectal). RESULTS Of 212 eligible respondents (37% response), only 14 of 212 (6.6%) patients with a new CRC were detected via screening versus 198 of 212 (93.4%) presenting with symptoms. Respondents were average age at diagnosis 69 years, 59% male, 91% Caucasian, 37%rectal, and 18% M1 at diagnosis. No significant differences in the age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, tumour stage and site were detected between the screened versus symptomatic groups. Only 33 of 212 patients (15.6%) reported ever having a screening test. 19 of 198 cancers (9.6%) were diagnosed by symptomatic presentation despite a compliant screening history. CONCLUSION Despite universal health-care access in British Columbia, only 7% of patients with a new diagnosis of CRC were detected via a screening test. Furthermore, only 15% of screening-eligible respondents have ever been screened. There were no differences in patient demographics or stage of disease at presentation but numbers in the screening cohort were limited. Significant effort is required to increase knowledge and compliance for CRC screening. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Urinary excretion of magnesium and calcium as an index of absorption is not affected by lactose intake in healthy adults

The effect of lactose on the urinary excretion of Mg and Ca, as an index of absorption, was studied in a double-blind, crossover study during three 1-week periods. Twenty-four healthy, lactose-tolerant, adult volunteers maintained their habitual diets with the exception that all lactose-containing dairy products in the diet were replaced by 600 g/d of three specially prepared dairy products. These products were based on either lactose-enriched cow's milk or lactose-enriched, lactase (EC 3.2.1.23)-treated cow's milk, with or without added Mg, and were given in turn during 1 week. Lactose intake was increased by 127 mmol/d (46 g/d) while taking the lactose-enriched products. While taking the Mg-enriched products, Mg intake was increased by 2.8 mmol/d (69 mg/d) which was equivalent to 17% of the habitual Mg intake. Apart from the lactose and Mg intake, nutrient intake was comparable during the three dietary periods. Urinary excretions of Mg and Ca were used as indicators for their absorption. Mg supplementation significantly increased urinary Mg excretion by 0.97 mmol/d (equivalent to an increase of 18%, P < 0.001), indicating that urinary Mg excretion is a valid indicator for intestinal Mg absorption. Hydrolysis of lactose did not affect urinary excretion of Mg and Ca, which implies that lactose intake does not affect the absorption of Mg and Ca in healthy adults.
Hot Start PCR with heat-activatable primers: a novel approach for improved PCR performance

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is widely used for applications which require a high level of specificity and reliability, such as genetic testing, clinical diagnostics, blood screening, forensics and biodefense. Great improvements to PCR performance have been achieved by the use of Hot Start activation strategies that aim to prevent DNA polymerase extension until more stringent, higher temperatures are reached. Herein we present a novel Hot Start activation approach in PCR where primers contain one or two thermolabile, 4-oxo-1-pentyl (OXP) phosphotriester (PTE) modification groups at 3′-terminal and 3′-penultimate internucleotide linkages. Studies demonstrated that the presence of one or more OXP PTE modifications impaired DNA polymerase primer extension at the lower temperatures that exist prior to PCR amplification. Furthermore, incubation of the OXP-modified primers at elevated temperatures was found to produce the corresponding unmodified phosphodiester (PDE) primer, which was then a suitable DNA polymerase substrate. The OXP-modified primers were tested in conventional PCR with endpoint detection, in one-step reverse transcription (RT)–PCR and in real-time PCR with SYBR Green I dye and Taqman® probe detection. When OXP-modified primers were used as substitutes for unmodified PDE primers in PCR, significant improvement was observed in the specificity and efficiency of nucleic acid target amplification.
Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation

ABSTRACT Australian scholars and politicians have long been concerned about politically uninformed and inactive young Australians. However, few efforts have been made to explain how the use of traditional and online media may affect youth’s participation in politics. Our research utilises the citizen communication mediation model and extends the expected mediation chain by an additional examination of the possible interactions between news media use and political discussions, as suggested by the differential gains model. Using representative data from Australian 10th graders, we examine whether and how news media usage (newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet) affects expected participation in a range of civic and political activities conditional of discussions about political issues (with family, friends, and online). Path models account for additional mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) and control variables to explain future civic and political participation. The results suggest that news media use stimulates political discussions, although different media exert differential effects. Yet, news exposure hardly influences the second mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) in a direct manner. In fact, civic knowledge and efficacy mediate the relationships between political communication and participation, both directly and sequentially. Moderation analyses clarify that despite the mediating role of political discussions, news media exposure also influences (future) civic participation contingent of students’ engagement in (primarily Internet-based) discussions about political and social issues. We emphasise the significance of these results with reference to previous research, discuss potential directions for future research, and draw conclusions for civics and citizenship education.
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic response in remote First Nation communities of Subarctic Ontario: barriers and improvements from a health care services perspective

Objectives. To retrospectively examine the barriers faced and opportunities for improvement during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic response experienced by participants responsible for the delivery of health care services in 3 remote and isolated Subarctic First Nation communities of northern Ontario, Canada. Study design. A qualitative community-based participatory approach. Methods. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with adult key informants (n=13) using purposive sampling of participants representing the 3 main sectors responsible for health care services (i.e., federal health centres, provincial hospitals and Band Councils). Data were manually transcribed and coded using deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Results. Primary barriers reported were issues with overcrowding in houses, insufficient human resources and inadequate community awareness. Main areas for improvement included increasing human resources (i.e., nurses and trained health care professionals), funding for supplies and general community awareness regarding disease processes and prevention. Conclusions. Government bodies should consider focusing efforts to provide more support in terms of human resources, monies and education. In addition, various government organizations should collaborate to improve housing conditions and timely access to resources. These recommendations should be addressed in future pandemic plans, so that remote western James Bay First Nation communities of Subarctic Ontario and other similar communities can be better prepared for the next public health emergency.
Constructing a postcolonial feminist ethnography

Purpose – The paper details the construction of a postcolonial feminist approach to ethnography; providing insight into how the researcher developed her ethnographic approach based on her theoretical framework and demonstrating how she undertook this research. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to outline how the researcher identified positionality and representation as the primary challenges of undertaking a postcolonial feminist ethnography with marginalised Maya women in Guatemala, and how she addressed these complexities in the field. Design/methodology/approach – This postcolonial feminist ethnography was conducted over a three-month period in the rural highlands of Solola, Guatemala. This approach bridges the intersections of postcolonial, feminist, critical and reflexive research. Findings – The account presented in this paper offers insight into the theoretical development of a postcolonial feminist ethnography and its implementation in practice. The researcher demonstrates the importance of addressing the issues of positionality and representation to overcome differences in position, privilege and power when building relationships with participants, and to ensure the participants and their knowledge are accurately represented. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the growing interest in postcolonial research and proposes a postcolonial feminist ethnography as an alternative approach for engaging in research with the marginalised Other.
Hypercarbic cardiorespiratory reflexes in the facultative air-breathing fish jeju (Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus): the role of branchial CO2 chemoreceptors

SUMMARY The aim of the present study was to determine the roles that externally versus internally oriented CO2/H+-sensitive chemoreceptors might play in promoting cardiorespiratory responses to environmental hypercarbia in the air-breathing fish, Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus (jeju). Fish were exposed to graded hypercarbia (1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20% CO2) and also to graded levels of environmental acidosis (pH ~7.0, 6.0, 5.8, 5.6, 5.3 and 4.7) equal to the pH levels of the hypercarbic water to distinguish the relative roles of CO2 versus H+. We also injected boluses of CO2-equilibrated solutions (5, 10 and 20% CO2) and acid solutions equilibrated to the same pH as the CO2 boluses into the caudal vein (internal) and buccal cavity (external) to distinguish between internal and external stimuli. The putative location of the chemoreceptors was determined by bilateral denervation of branches of cranial nerves IX (glossopharyngeal) and X (vagus) to the gills. The data indicate that the chemoreceptors eliciting bradycardia, hypertension and gill ventilatory responses (increased frequency and amplitude) to hypercarbia are exclusively branchial, externally oriented and respond specifically to changes in CO2 and not H+. Those involved in producing the cardiovascular responses appeared to be distributed across all gill arches while those involved in the gill ventilatory responses were located primarily on the first gill arch. Higher levels of aquatic CO2 depressed gill ventilation and stimulated air breathing. The chemoreceptors involved in producing air breathing in response to hypercarbia also appeared to be branchial, distributed across all gill arches and responded specifically to changes in aquatic CO2. This would suggest that chemoreceptor groups with different orientations (blood versus water) are involved in eliciting air-breathing responses to hypercarbia in jeju.
Object-Based Point Cloud Analysis of Full-Waveform Airborne Laser Scanning Data for Urban Vegetation Classification

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is a remote sensing technique well-suited for 3D vegetation mapping and structure characterization because the emitted laser pulses are able to penetrate small gaps in the vegetation canopy. The backscattered echoes from the foliage, woody vegetation, the terrain, and other objects are detected, leading to a cloud of points. Higher echo densities (>20 echoes/m2) and additional classification variables from full-waveform (FWF) ALS data, namely echo amplitude, echo width and information on multiple echoes from one shot, offer new possibilities in classifying the ALS point cloud. Currently FWF sensor information is hardly used for classification purposes. This contribution presents an object-based point cloud analysis (OBPA) approach, combining segmentation and classification of the 3D FWF ALS points designed to detect tall vegetation in urban environments. The definition tall vegetation includes trees and shrubs, but excludes grassland and herbage. In the applied procedure FWF ALS echoes are segmented by a seeded region growing procedure. All echoes sorted descending by their surface roughness are used as seed points. Segments are grown based on echo width homogeneity. Next, segment statistics (mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation) are calculated by aggregating echo features such as amplitude and surface roughness. For classification a rule base is derived automatically from a training area using a statistical classification tree. To demonstrate our method we present data of three sites with around 500,000 echoes each. The accuracy of the classified vegetation segments is evaluated for two independent validation sites. In a point-wise error assessment, where the classification is compared with manually classified 3D points, completeness and correctness better than 90% are reached for the validation sites. In comparison to many other algorithms the proposed 3D point classification works on the original measurements directly, i.e. the acquired points. Gridding of the data is not necessary, a process which is inherently coupled to loss of data and precision. The 3D properties provide especially a good separability of buildings and terrain points respectively, if they are occluded by vegetation.
Prosocial behavior following immortality priming: experimental tests of factors with implications for CVE interventions

ABSTRACT As the field of countering violent extremism (CVE) evolves, increased emphasis has been placed on the development of interventions intended to be individually tailored to the needs of intervention program participants. Despite such emphasis, there is scant empirical research, much less experimental research, regarding psychological mechanisms that either bolster, or hinder, the effectiveness of such interventions. The present study experimentally tested two factors, in addition to accounting for a third, for their effects on an outcome potentially germane to a wide range of tailored CVE interventions: participants’ voluntary, unsupervised behavior toward out-group members. Specifically, based upon Terror Management Theory, the present study answered the following questions. (1) Might priming individuals with notions of immortality (vs. controls) tend to cause them to increase their generosity and decrease their in-group bias, as demonstrated in a behavioral outcome (monetary donations)? (2) If so, is that effect positively associated with individuals’ level of collectivism? (3) Might individuals react differently to immortality primes, based on whether they are spiritual believers vs. nonbelievers? Specifically, might believers – whose meaning system presumably has not been threatened by such primes – tend to demonstrate, a greater reduction of in-group bias? Immortality priming did not significantly reduce in-group bias. However, it strongly interacted with spiritual beliefs such that spiritual believers gave more when primed with immortality. Collectivism was positively associated with donations, which tended to be more generous both when individuals gave to racial in-group members, and among donors who were unbelievers. Applications for individually tailored interventions for CVE are discussed.
Effect of Message Transmission Path Diversity on Status Age

This paper focuses on status age, which is a metric for measuring the freshness of a continually updated piece of information (i.e., status) as observed at a remote monitor. In paper, we study a system in which a sensor sends random status updates over a dynamic network to a monitor. For this system, we consider the impact of having messages take different routes through the network on the status age. First, we consider a network with plentiful resources (i.e., many nodes that can provide numerous alternate paths), so that packets need not wait in queues at each node in a multihop path. This system is modeled as a single queue with an infinite number of servers, specifically as an M/M/∞ queue. Packets routed over a dynamic network may arrive at the monitor out of order, which we account for in our analysis for the M/M/∞ model. We then consider a network with somewhat limited resources, so that packets can arrive out of order but also must wait in a queue. This is modeled as a single queue with two servers, specifically an M/M/2 queue. We present the exact approach to computing the analytical status age, and we provide an approximation that is shown to be close to the simulated age. We also compare both models with M/M/1, which corresponds to severely limited network resources, and we demonstrate the tradeoff between the status age and the unnecessary network resource consumption.
Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Chaetoceros dayaensis sp. nov. (Bacillariophyceae), characterized by two 90° rotations of the resting spore during maturation

Recent studies suggest that a high species diversity of Chaetoceros exists in tropical waters. Based on plankton samples from Chinese tropical waters, Daya Bay of the South China Sea, a new species, Chaetoceros dayaensis sp. nov., is described. Vegetative cells and resting spores were examined by light microscopy as well as transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The nuclear rDNA molecular markers SSU, ITS and D1–D3 of LSU, and the chloroplast rbcL gene were sequenced for information on phylogenetic relationships. The species is characterized by the presence of two 90° rotations of the resting spore during maturation. First a rotation in the apical plane of the mother cell resulting in the valvar plane of the resting spore turning from parallel to perpendicular to that of the mother cell, and a second 90° rotation in the valvar plane of the mother cell resulting in the valve faces of the resting spore turning from facing narrow girdle view to broad girdle view of the mother cell. It is the first report of two 90° rotations of resting spores during maturation in Chaetoceros. Based on this, the maturation rotation of the resting spore of C. rotosporus was reevaluated. C. dayaensis belongs to the subgenus Hyalochaete Gran and we suggest placing it in the section Laciniosa, although a new subdivision of Chaetoceros is needed. The description of C. dayaensis was based on analyses of the phylogenetic relationships combined with morphological comparisons with other similar species.
Minocycline Enhances the Effectiveness of Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ during Neuropathic Pain

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) antinociception, which is mediated selectively by the N/OFQ peptide receptor (NOP), was demonstrated in pain models. In this study, we determine the role of activated microglia on the analgesic effects of N/OFQ in a rat model of neuropathic pain induced by chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the sciatic nerve. Repeated 7-day administration of minocycline (30 mg/kg i.p.), a drug that affects microglial activation, significantly reduced pain in CCI-exposed rats and it potentiates the analgesic effects of administered N/OFQ (2.5–5 μg i.t.). Minocycline also downregulates the nerve injury-induced upregulation of NOP protein in the dorsal lumbar spinal cord. Our in vitro study showed that minocycline reduced NOP mRNA, but not protein, level in rat primary microglial cell cultures. In [35S]GTPγS binding assays we have shown that minocycline increases the spinal N/OFQ-stimulated NOP signaling. We suggest that the modulation of the N/OFQ system by minocycline is due to the potentiation of its neuronal antinociceptive activity and weakening of the microglial cell activation. This effect is beneficial for pain relief, and these results suggest new targets for the development of drugs that are effective against neuropathic pain.
Market Access, Investment, and Heterogeneous Firms

This article presents a model of international trade in which heterogeneous firms can expand through capital acquisitions. I show that demand elasticities are a crucial element in predicting which firms invest, in what location, and for what reason. High-productivity firms, who tend to sell goods at a low elasticity, invest for market access (tariff jumping). Middle productivity firms, who tend to sell at a higher elasticity, invest for productivity improvement. The relative value of trade costs dictates which incentive is larger. In equilibrium, trade liberalization can reduce aggregate productivity by reducing an important source of investment demand: foreign firms.
MULTI-OBJECTIVE EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION HEURISTIC FOR TRAFFIC GROOMING IN WDM OPTICAL NETWORKS

Traffic grooming, which is the combination of traffic demands into a single wavelength channel is a well-known issue in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks. Grooming allows wavelength channels with high transmission capacity to serve many low-rate traffic demands simultaneously. In this paper, we address the traffic grooming, routing and wavelength assignment (GRWA) problem for WDM optical networks by considering multiple design objectives: maximizing the number of demands (commodities) served, minimizing the number of wavelength channels assigned, and minimizing number of transmission ports required. We use a hybrid multi-objective evolutionary computation approach consisting of Genetic Algorithm for routing allocation, Extended Traffic Grouping for traffic grooming and Maximum Degree First for wavelength assignment (GA-ETG-MaxDF). Then we apply the Fast Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to search for the set of non-dominated candidate solutions in multiobjective space. We compare the simulation results obtained from our approach (GA-ETG-MaxDF) with the alternative approaches (MST and MRU) published in the literature. We also examine standard performance metrics for multiobjective optimization solutions such as Hyper-volume, Spread, and Inverted Generational Distance. Based on our results, we conclude that the proposed technique is effective for solving the multi-objective GRWA problem in WDM optical networks. Keyword: Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm, multi-objective optimization, traffic grooming, routing and wavelength assignment, WDM optical network.