Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural variation, differentiation, and genetic trade‐offs of ecophysiological traits in response to water limitation in Brachypodium distachyon and its descendent allotetraploid B. hybridum (Poaceae)

Differences in tolerance to water stress may underlie ecological divergence of closely related ploidy lineages. However, the mechanistic basis of physiological variation governing ecogeographical cytotype segregation is not well understood. Here, using Brachypodium distachyon and its derived allotetraploid B. hybridum as model, we test the hypothesis that, for heteroploid annuals, ecological divergence of polyploids in drier environments is based on trait differentiation enabling drought escape. We demonstrate that under water limitation allotetraploids maintain higher photosynthesis and stomatal conductance and show earlier flowering than diploids, concordant with a drought‐escape strategy to cope with water stress. Increased heterozygosity and greater genetic variability and plasticity of polyploids could confer a superior adaptive capability. Consistent with these predictions, we document (1) greater standing within‐population genetic variation in water‐use efficiency (WUE) and flowering time in allotetraploids, and (2) the existence of (nonlinear) environmental clines in physiology across allotetraploid populations. Increased gas exchange and diminished WUE occurred at the driest end of the gradient, consistent with a drought‐escape strategy. Finally, we found that allotetraploids showed weaker genetic correlations than diploids congruous with the expectation of relaxed pleiotropic constraints in polyploids. Our results suggest evolutionary divergence of ecophysiological traits in each ploidy lineage.
Surgery for cholangiocarcinoma: the role of liver transplantation.

UNLABELLED Liver transplantation alone for unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is fraught with frequent recurrence and poor long-term survival. The Mayo Clinic developed a novel therapeutic protocol combining neoadjuvant chemoradiation and orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in 1993 to treat patients with unresectable hilar CCA or CCA arising in the setting of PSC. AIM We recently reviewed our experience over the past 14 years with the specific aim to evaluate the long-term outcomes of CCA patients treated according to our study protocol. METHODS We analyzed data from all patients enrolled in the Mayo Clinic liver transplant protocol since 1993. Statistical data analysis of recurrence and survival rates was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS 148 patients were enrolled in the protocol. Of 90 patients who completed neoadjuvant therapy and subsequent OLT, 71 are alive and 19 have died--only 8 due to recurrent CCA. Nineteen patients are awaiting OLT and 39 were removed from the protocol owing to disease progression or death. Overall, 1-, 3-, and 5-year patient survival was 82%, 63%, and 55%, respectively; 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival after OLT was 90%, 80%, and 71%. CONCLUSIONS Neoadjuvant chemoradiation and OLT achieves significantly lower recurrence and higher long-term survival rates than resection, OLT alone, or medical treatment in hilar CCA. Additional experience at independent transplant centers is necessary to confirm these encouraging results, address the role of neoadjuvant therapy and liver transplantation versus conventional resection, determine appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria, and define the risk of disease progression while awaiting transplantation.
Medical Students' Professionalism Narratives: A Window on the Informal and Hidden Curriculum

Purpose The aim of this study was to use medical students' critical incident narratives to deepen understanding of the informal and hidden curricula. Method The authors conducted a thematic analysis of 272 stories of events recorded by 135 third-year medical students that “taught them something about professionalism and professional values. ” Students wrote these narratives in a “professionalism journal” during their internal medicine clerkships at Indiana University School of Medicine, June through November 2007. Results The majority of students' recorded experiences involved witnessing positive embodiment of professional values, rather than breaches. Attending physicians and residents were the central figures in the incidents. Analyses revealed two main thematic categories. The first focused on medical–clinical interactions, especially on persons who were role models interacting with patients, families, coworkers, and colleagues. The second focused on events in the teaching-and-learning environment, particularly on students' experiences as learners in the clinical setting. Conclusions The findings strongly suggest that students' reflective narratives are a rich source of information about the elements of both the informal and hidden curricula, in which medical students learn to become physicians. Experiences with both positive and negative behaviors shaped the students' perceptions of the profession and its values. In particular, interactions that manifest respect and other qualities of good communication with patients, families, and colleagues taught powerfully.
Magnetic Fields in the Formation of Massive Stars

Stellar Hourglass Figure Star-forming clouds are thought to be supported against gravity by ordered interstellar magnetic fields, which are strong enough to slow gravitation collapse but too weak to prevent it. Girart et al. (p. 1408) measured polarized radio waves from dust particles around a forming massive star, which reveal an hourglass shape. The data imply that a magnetic field strength dominates over turbulence—the telltale signs of magnetically controlled star formation. These conditions mimic those found in low-mass star-forming regions, suggesting that the magnetic field plays an important role in star formation, irrespective of differences in mass. Observations of polarized dust emission show that the magnetic field controls the dynamical evolution of a massive star-forming region. Massive stars play a crucial role in the production of heavy elements and in the evolution of the interstellar medium, yet how they form is still a matter of debate. We report high-angular-resolution submillimeter observations toward the massive hot molecular core (HMC) in the high-mass star-forming region G31.41+0.31. We find that the evolution of the gravitational collapse of the HMC is controlled by the magnetic field. The HMC is simultaneously contracting and rotating, and the magnetic field lines threading the HMC are deformed along its major axis, acquiring an hourglass shape. The magnetic energy dominates over the centrifugal and turbulence energies, and there is evidence of magnetic braking in the contracting core.
New Sesquiterpenoids and a Diterpenoid from Alpinia oxyphylla

The new compounds 2-methyl-6-isopropyl-7-hydroxymethyl naphthalene (1), oxyphyllenone H (2), epi-oxyphyllenone (6), (E)-labda-12,14-dien-15(16)-olide-17-oic acid (3), and two new natural products 4 and 5 were isolated from the ethyl acetate part of 95% ethanol extract of Alpinia oxyphylla, together with six known compounds 7–12. The inhibitory effects of compounds 1–12 on α-glucosidase were evaluated, and compounds 1, 3 and 6 showed moderate bioactive effect, with inhibitory rates of 10.3%, 10.0% and 11.5%, respectively, compared to the positive control acarbose (41.9%) at 20 µg/mL.
Use of the cytomegalovirus pp65 antigenemia assay for preemptive therapy in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a real‐world review

Abstract: Despite advances in surveillance strategies and antivirals, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection continues to pose problems to patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs). The bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit at the Singapore General Hospital embraced the preemptive strategy in late 2003. Although several studies have demonstrated its usefulness, we conducted this review to document CMV‐related events at our institution. Forty‐six patients underwent CMV surveillance using the CMV pp65 antigenemia (CMV Ag) assay from January 2004 to December 2005. Twenty‐seven patients had CMV infection, and 19 remained antigenemia‐negative. No differences were found between the 2 groups for the following potential risk factors for CMV infection: age, total number of co‐morbidities, duration of neutropenia after conditioning, baseline creatinine, type of conditioning regimen (conventional vs. reduced intensity), type of transplant (matched sibling vs. others), recipient CMV status, donor CMV status, and use of total body irradiation. Two patients received alemtuzumab; both developed CMV Ag. Twelve episodes of CMV infection occurred after the 100th post‐HSCT day. Two patients developed CMV disease. One of them could be considered a failure of the preemptive strategy, as she had CMV gastritis diagnosed on the same day that she became pp65‐positive. The other developed CMV disease despite prompt institution of ganciclovir, although she had multiple post‐HSCT complications requiring enhanced immunosuppression, as well as relapsed disease. One‐year disease‐free survival was 55.5% in those with CMV infection and 52.3% in those without infection. Survival was not affected by CMV infection.
A review of the mechanical and durability properties of strain hardening cement-based composite (SHCC)

This review paper covers the current state of the art and cases of successful applications of innovative materials in the field of concrete and in particular, the current and possible future uses of strain hardening cement-based composite (SHCC) in structural and non-structural concrete. It also presents an extensive overview of existing results and background of the mechanical and durability aspects of SHCC in relation to reference concretes. Research articles on SHCC indicate that its pseudo strain-hardening behavior can be an alternative solution to the impasse of normal concrete in ductility, tensile and flexural strength, and crack widths. Though research works on SHCC have been conducted in some countries, however, as a new material, the literature on SHCC, especially its durability properties is still limited. Some of the existing results are yet to be tested on the field, hence the limited applications of SHCC.
STATIC OUTPUT FEEDBACK ROBUST CONTROLLER DESIGN VIA LMI APPROACH

The paper addresses the problem of the robust output feedback controller design with a guaranteed cost and parameter dependent Lyapunov function quadratic stability for linear continuous time polytopic systems. The proposed design methods lead to an iterative LMI based algorithm. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the design procedure. K e y w o r d s: quadratic stability, parameter dependent quadratic stability, robust controller, output feedback
Region Enhanced Scale-Invariant Saliency Detection

Saliency measures the low-level stimuli to human vision, and serves as an alternative to semantic image understanding. This paper presents a region enhanced scale-invariant saliency detection method. Our method constructs a scale-invariant saliency map from an image, segments the image into regions, and enhances the saliency map with the region information. Compared with previous methods, our method has advantages in providing robust scale-invariant saliency, giving meaningful region information for applications, and eliminating misleading high-contrast edges
Less food for thought.

Food, together with fight, flight and fertility, are often quoted as being the 'big four' Fs of Darwinian human factors for survival. For most of history humans have struggled to obtain sufficient food for survival or for civilisations to flourish. Calories apart, the other ingredients of food are equally important for optimal health. South Africa owes its earliest Western settlements to the need for fresh food supplies to prevent sailors on the sailing ships rounding the Cape to trade with the East developing scurvy.
Safety of autologous bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for cartilage repair in 41 patients with 45 joints followed for up to 11 years and 5 months

Among autologous somatic stem cells, bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are the most widely used worldwide to repair not only mesenchymal tissues (bone, cartilage) but also many other kinds of tissues, including heart, skin, and liver. Autologous BMSCs are thought to be safe because of the absence of immunological reaction and disease transmission. However, it is possible that they will form tumours during long‐term follow‐up. In 1988, we transplanted autologous BMSCs to repair articular cartilage, which was the first such trial ever reported. Subsequently we performed this procedure in about 40 patients. Demonstration that neither partial infections nor tumours appeared in these patients provided strong evidence for the safety of autologous BMSC transplantation. Thus, in this study we checked these patients for tumour development and infections. Between January 1998 and November 2008, 41 patients received 45 transplantations. We checked their records until their last visit. We telephoned or mailed the patients who had not visited the clinics recently to establish whether there were any abnormalities in the operated joints. Neither tumours nor infections were observed between 5 and 137 (mean 75) months of follow‐up. Autologous BMSC transplantation is a safe procedure and will be widely used around the world. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Youth Assets and Sexual Risk Behavior: Differences Between Male and Female Adolescents

Youth internal assets and external resources are protective factors that can help youth avoid potentially harmful behaviors. This study investigates how the relationship between youth assets or resources and two sexual risk behaviors (ever had sex and birth control use) varied by gender. Data were collected through in-home interviews from parent—adolescent dyads, including 1,219 females and 1,116 males. Important differences exist between male and female adolescents. Females with the nonparental role models or the family communication resource were more likely to report never having had sexual intercourse than were females without the resources. Among males, the aspirations for the future and responsible choices assets were associated with never having had sexual intercourse. Males and females had two assets or resources in common that were protective of never having had sex: peer role models and use of time (religion). Considering which youth assets and resources are more likely to positively influence sexual behaviors of males and females may be important when planning prevention programs with youth.
Analysis of the Characteristics of Production Database Workloads and Comparison with the TPC Benchmarks

There has been very little empirical analysis of any real production database workloads. Although The Transaction Processing Performance Council benchmarks C (TPCC) and D (TPC-D) have become the standard benchmarks for online transaction processing and decision support systems respectively, there has also not been any major effort to systematically analyze their workload characteristics, especially in relation to those of real production database workloads. In this paper, we examine the characteristics of the production database workloads of ten of the world’s largest corporations and we also compare them to TPC-C and TPCD. We find that the production workloads exhibit a wide range of behavior; in some cases, the TPC benchmarks fall reasonably within the range of real workload behavior, and in other cases, the TPC benchmarks are not representative of the real workloads. While the two TPC benchmarks generally complement one another in reflecting the characteristics of the production workloads but there are still some aspects This work has been supported by the State of California under the MICRO program, and by IBM, Cisco Corporation, Fujitsu Microelectronics, Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Quantum Corporation, Sun Microsystems and Toshiba Corporation. This report is also available as Research Report RJ 10165, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA. of the real workloads that are not represented by either of the benchmarks. Specifically, our analysis suggests that the TPC benchmarks tend to exercise the following aspects of the system differently than the production workloads: concurrency control mechanism (TPC-C tends to have longer transactions and fewer read-only transactions than the production workloads while some of TPC-D’s transactions are much longer but are read-only and are run serially), workload-adaptive techniques (the production workloads have I/O demands that are much more bursty), scheduling and resource allocation policies (unlike TPC-C whose transactions are very regular and TPC-D where the queries are run serially, the production workloads tend have many concurrent and diverse transactions), and I/O optimizations for temporary and index files (TPC-C has no I/O activity to temporary objects while most of TPC-D’s references are directed at index objects). In this paper, we also reexamine Amdahl’s rule of thumb for a typical data processing system (one bit of I/O for every instruction) and discover that both the TPC benchmarks and the production workloads generate on the order of 0.5 to 1.0 bit of logical I/O per instruction, surprisingly close to the much earlier figure.
3D Wireless: Modeling Wireless Performance by Combining Spatial and Temporal Behaviors

Performance characterization is a fundamental issue in wireless networks for real time routing, wireless network simulation, and etc. There are four basic wireless operations that are required to be modeled, i.e., unicast, anycast, broadcast, and multicast. As observed in many recent works, the temporal and spatial distribution of packet receptions can have significant impact on wireless performance involving multiple links (anycast/broadcast/multicast). However, existing performance models and simulations overlook these two wireless behaviors, leading to biased performance estimation and simulation results. In this paper, we first explicitly identify the necessary "3-Dimension" information for wireless performance modeling, i.e., packet reception rate (PRR), PRR spatial distribution, and temporal distribution. We then propose a comprehensive modeling approach considering 3-Dimension Wireless information (called 3DW model). Further, we demonstrate the generality and wide applications of 3DW model by two case studies: 3DWbased network simulation and 3DW-based real time routing protocol. Extensive simulation and testbed experiments have been conducted. The results show that 3DW model achieves much more accurate performance estimation for both anycast and broadcast/multicast. 3DW-based simulation can effectively reserve the end-to-end performance metric of the input empirical traces. 3DW-based routing can select more efficient senders, achieving better transmission efficiency.
Lenalidomide plus prednisone results in durable clinical, histopathologic, and molecular responses in patients with myelofibrosis.

PURPOSE To investigate the safety and efficacy of the combination of lenalidomide and prednisone in patients with myelofibrosis (MF). PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty patients with MF were treated. Therapy consisted of lenalidomide 10 mg/d (5 mg/d if baseline platelet count < 100 x 10(9)/L) on days 1 through 21 of a 28-day cycle for six cycles, in combination with prednisone 30 mg/d orally during cycle 1, 15 mg/d during cycle 2, and 15 mg/d every other day during cycle 3. Lenalidomide therapy was continued indefinitely in patients exhibiting clinical benefit. RESULTS The median follow-up was 22 months (range, 6 to 27). Responses were recorded in 12 patients (30%) and are ongoing in 10 (25%). The median time to response was 12 weeks (range, 2 to 32). According to the International Working Group for Myelofibrosis Research and Treatment consensus criteria, three patients (7.5%) had partial response and nine patients (22.5%) had clinical improvement durable for a median of 18 months (range, 3.5 to 24+). Overall response rates were 30% for anemia and 42% for splenomegaly. Moreover, 10 of 11 assessable responders who started therapy with reticulin fibrosis grade 4 experienced reductions to at least a score of 2. All eight JAK2(V617F)-positive responders experienced a reduction of the baseline mutant allele burden, which was greater than 50% in four, including one of whom the mutation became undetectable. Grade 3 to 4 hematologic adverse events included neutropenia (58%), anemia (42%), and thrombocytopenia (13%). CONCLUSION The combination of lenalidomide and prednisone induces durable clinical, molecular, and pathologic responses in MF.
Symptomatic and asymptomatic infections of rotavirus, norovirus, and adenovirus among hospitalized children in Xi'an, China

Rotavirus (RV), norovirus (NoV), and adenovirus (AdV) have been reported as the common viral pathogens of acute gastroenteritis in children. To determine the prevalence of RV, NoV, and AdV infections among hospitalized children with and without symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, fecal specimens, and data on clinical symptoms were collected from 201 children with diarrhea and 53 children without diarrhea admitted to the Xi'an Children's Hospital in Xi'an, China between March 2009 and May 2010. RV, NoV, and AdV were identified in 68.7% (138/201), 20.4% (41/201), and 5.0% (10/201), respectively, of children with diarrhea. These three viruses were also detected in 13.2% (7/53), 35.9% (19/53), and 9.4% (6/53), respectively, of children without diarrhea. Diarrheal children infected with RV alone showed the average severity score of 6.5, statistically significant higher than the average score of 5.3 in children with unidentifiable viruses. GII.3 and GII.4 were the only two NoV genotypes identified, and the GII.4 sequences were genetically close to GII.4 2006b cluster. These findings highlight the importance of NoV as a causative agent of pediatric diarrhea after RV based on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of NoV infection, and particularly convey information of asymptomatic infections of enteric viruses in young children. J. Med. Virol. 83:1476–1484, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.