Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinicopathological Features and Prognostic Factors of Colorectal Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

Background. Limited research is available regarding colorectal NENs and the prognostic factors remain controversial. Materials and Methods. A total of 68 patients with colorectal NENs were studied retrospectively. Clinical characteristics and prognosis between colonic and rectal NENs were compared. The Cox regression models were used to evaluate the predictive capacity. Results. Of the 68 colorectal NENs patients, 43 (63.2%) had rectal NENs, and 25 (36.8%) had colonic NENs. Compared with rectal NENs, colonic NENs more frequently exhibited larger tumor size (P < 0.0001) and distant metastasis (P < 0.0001). Colonic NENs had a worse prognosis (P = 0.027), with 5-year overall survival rates of 66.7% versus 88.1%. NET, NEC, and MANEC were noted in 61.8%, 23.5%, and 14.7% of patients, respectively. Multivariate analyses revealed that tumor location was not an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.081), but tumor size (P = 0.037) and pathological classification (P = 0.012) were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion. Significant differences exist between colonic and rectal NENs. Multivariate analysis indicated that tumor size and pathological classification were associated with prognosis. Tumor location was not an independent factor. The worse outcome of colonic NENs observed in clinical practice might be due not only to the biological differences, but also to larger tumor size in colonic NENs caused by the delayed diagnosis.
Influence of an Herbal Mouthwash on Inflammatory Changes of the Gingiva in Patients with Fixed Orthodontic Appliance

In patients with multiband appliances, the effectiveness of an herbal extract containing mouthrinse (Parodontax © ) was tested for possible reduction of plaque and gingivitis. A total of 40 patients (mean age: 16 ± 2.3 years) with mild to moderate gingivitis participated in this prospective randomized, double-blind clinical study. At baseline (Group 1: Parodontax ©, n = 20, mean age: 15.8 ± 2.2 years, Group 2: control, placebo solution, n = 20, mean age: 16.1 ± 2.3 years) caries frequency (DMF-T) and approximal plaque index (API), plaque index (PI), sulcular bleeding index (SBI), papillary bleeding index (PBI) and gingival index (GI) were assessed for the Ramfjord teeth. All subjects were examined at 4-week intervals for a period of 3 months, and all plaque and gingival index scores were reevaluated. At the end of the study, the patients in Group 1 (Parodontax © ) showed significantly lower parameters indicative of inflammation than those in the control group. The SBI value in Group 1 was reduced from initially 39% to 8%, the PBI value from 1.07 to 0.17, and the GI value from 1.73 to 0.58. The plaque indices, however, showed no significant differences between the two groups (Group 1: API: 87%, initial value, and 78%, final value; PI: 1.99, initial value, and 1.66, final value; Group 2: API: 91%, initial value, and 83%, final value; PI: 2.66, initial value, and 2.11, final value). This double-blind study showed that usage of an herbal extract containing mouthrinse as an adjunct to mechanical oral hygiene measures seems to be beneficial in gingivitis therapy in patients wearing fixed orthodontic appliances.
Ocular coloboma and dorsoventral neuroretinal patterning defects in Lrp6 mutant eyes

Coloboma, an ocular birth defect seen in humans and other species, is caused by incomplete closure of the optic fissure. Here, we demonstrate that genetic deletion of Lrp6, a bottleneck coreceptor in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, results in ocular coloboma and neuroretinal patterning defects in mice. The expression of ventral neuroretinal patterning gene Vax2 was conserved but with dorsally shifted expression domains; however, the dorsal neuroretinal patterning gene Tbx5 was lost in the Lrp6‐mutant eyes at embryonic day 10.5. Both Bmp4 and phosphorylated Smad 1/5/8 were also significantly attenuated in the dorsal neuroretina. In addition, the retinoic acid synthesizing enzymes Raldh1 and Raldh3 were significantly changed in the mutant eyes. Our findings suggest that defective retinal patterning causes coloboma in the Lrp6‐deficient mice, and that canonical Wnt signaling plays a primary role in dorsal neuroretinal patterning and related morphogenetic movements by regulation of both Bmp and retinoic acid signaling pathways. Developmental Dynamics 237:3681–3689, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Integrated data Processing for Multi-Satellite Missions and recovery of Marine Gravity Field

In order to eliminate the inconsistency of the existing data from multi-satellite missions, we propose a new method for optimal combination of altimeter data. In our data management system, the crossover adjustment is modified to two-step processing based on the a posteriori compensation theory of error; i.e., the crossover adjustment of condition equations is made in the first step, and the filtering and prediction of adjustment corrections done along each single pass in the second step. Using the new approach can simplify greatly the computational procedure of crossover adjustment, and the stability and reliability of its solution can be expected. The new method can be used for both local and global crossover adjustment problems. Finally, a practical altimeter dataset from Geosat, ERS-1, ERS-2, and TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) is used as a case study to prove the efficiency of the integrated data processing method.
Gestural Text Entry Using Huffman Codes

- The H4 technique facilitates text entry with key sequences created using Huffman coding. This study evaluates the use of touch and motion-sensing gestures for H4 input. Touch input yielded better entry speeds (6.6 wpm, versus 5.3 wpm with motion-sensing) and more favourable participant feedback. Accuracy metrics did not differ significantly between the two conditions. Changes to the H4 technique are proposed and the associated benefits and drawbacks are presented.
Attitudes toward Person-Person Communications Media

Several recent experiments in fields such as bargaining, opinion change, and problem solving have employed the medium of communication as an independent variable. The present study was designed to investigate attitudes toward three media: face-to-face, loudspeaking audio, and closed-circuit television. Thirty-six pairs of managerial civil servants engaged in three 6-min. discussions, one via each medium, in a completely controlled design. After each discussion, subjects completed a 24-scale, semantic differential, media-attitude questionnaire. There were significant effects of the media upon 20 of the 24 scales. The scale scores were factor analyzed using both orthogonal and oblique rotation of five factors. There were significant effects of the media upon scores from three of the factors (Aestheticism, Evaluation, and Privacy). The differences found have implications both for previous explanations of the effects of media on laboratory task performance, and for the real-life use of person-person communications systems.
Facts on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Of Adolescent Women in the Developing World

According to the Guttmacher Institute/IPPF in Facts on the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescent Women in the Developing World, some 67 per cent of married adolescent women in sub-Saharan Africa, aged 12 to 19 years, who want to avoid pregnancy are not using any method of birth control. About 12 per cent are using traditional family planning methods including breast feeding, the rhythm (calendar) method, among others. They further state that 42 per cent of unmarried, sexuallyactive women do not use any family planning method. By Eunice Namirembe and Bas Hoefman
Features of Posttraumatic Dreams Related to PTSDSeverity

Features of Posttraumatic Dreams Related to PTSD Severity As a first step towards understanding the difference between PTSD dreams (a distressing symptom of psychological disorder) and non-PTSD dreams (possibly serving an adaptive emotional processing function) following trauma, this research investigated which features of PTSD dreams are associated with PTSD severity.
Environmentally aware voice activity detector

Abstract Traditional voice activity detectors (VADs) tend to be deaf to theacoustical background noise, as they (i) utilize a single operatingpoint for all SNRs (signal-to-noise ratios) and noise types, and(ii) attempt to learn the background noise model online from ﬁ-nite data length. In this paper, we address the aforementionedissues by designing an environmentally aware (EA) VAD. TheEA VAD scheme builds prior ofﬂine knowledge of commonlyencountered acoustical backgrounds, and also combines the re-cently proposed competitive Neyman-Pearson (CNP) VAD witha SVM (support vector machine) based noise classiﬁer. In oper-ation, the EA VAD obtains accurate noise models of the acous-tical background by employing the noise classiﬁer and its priorknowledge of the noise type, and thereafter uses this informa-tion to set the best operating point and initialization parametersfor the CNP VAD. The superior performance of the EA VADscheme over the standard AMR (adaptive multi-rate) VADs inlow SNR is conﬁrmed in a simulation study, where speech andnoise data were drawn from the SWITCHBOARD and NOISEXdatabases. We report an absolute improvement of 10-15% in de-tection rates over AMR VADs in low SNR for different noisetypes.Index Terms: noise modeling, voice activity detector, environ-mental snifﬁng
The individual and congruence effects of core self-evaluation on supervisor–subordinate guanxi and job satisfaction

Abstract Guanxi refers to the quality of social interaction outside of work, developing through social activities. This article explores the antecedent (core self-evaluation, CSE) and consequence (job satisfaction) of the supervisor–subordinate guanxi for identifying the beneficial effect of guanxi. I also consider the effects of (dis)similarity of CSE which refers to individuals’ appraisals of their own worthiness, effectiveness, and capability. The data include 89 supervisors and their corresponding 437 subordinates from financial banks in Taiwan. The results indicate that CSE of the supervisor and subordinate positively relates to their own perceptions of guanxi and job satisfaction. Guanxi acts mediation between CSE and job satisfaction for supervisors and subordinates. The similarity effect of CSE is mostly prevalent for guanxi and job satisfaction. The findings offer implications for selecting an appropriate employee who are comparatively fit with management.
Effects on virulence of mutations in a locus essential for hyaluronic acid capsule expression in group A streptococci

Mucoid or highly encapsulated strains of group A streptococci have been associated both with unusually severe infections and with acute rheumatic fever. Previously, we described an acapsular mutant, TX4, derived from a mucoid M-type 18 strain of a group A streptococcus by transposon mutagenesis (M. R. Wessels, A. E. Moses, J. B. Goldberg, and T. J. DiCesare, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:8317-8321, 1991). We now report studies further characterizing strain TX4 as well as an additional acapsular mutant, TX72. Strain TX4 was found to contain a 9.5-kb deletion of chromosomal DNA adjacent to the site of transposon Tn916 insertion. Cloned chromosomal DNA from TX4 flanking the transposon insertion site was used as a probe to demonstrate the presence of homologous regions in 11 of 11 wild-type group A streptococcal strains of various M protein types. A second acapsular mutant, TX72, had a single transposon insertion and had no apparent deletion of chromosomal DNA. The Tn916 insertion in TX72 was mapped to the hasA locus (encoding hyaluronate synthase), which lies within the chromosomal region deleted in TX4. Strain TX72 was avirulent in mice and sensitive to phagocytic killing in vitro. Transduction of either the insertion-deletion mutation from TX4 or the simple insertion mutation from TX72 to a type 24 group A streptococcus strain also resulted in loss of capsule expression, demonstrating that a homologous region of the chromosome controls capsule expression in another serotype of group A streptococci. We conclude that the hyaluronic acid capsule plays an important role in virulence and that a region of the chromosome essential for capsular polysaccharide expression is conserved among diverse group A streptococcal strains.
Spatial and Temporal Dynamics in the Ionic Driving Force for GABAA Receptors

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the strength of GABAergic synaptic transmission is dynamic. One parameter that can establish differences in the actions of GABAergic synapses is the ionic driving force for the chloride-permeable GABAA receptor (GABAAR). Here we review some of the sophisticated ways in which this ionic driving force can vary within neuronal circuits. This driving force for GABAARs is subject to tight spatial control, with the distribution of Cl− transporter proteins and channels generating regional variation in the strength of GABAAR signalling across a single neuron. GABAAR dynamics can result from short-term changes in their driving force, which involve the temporary accumulation or depletion of intracellular Cl−. In addition, activity-dependent changes in the expression and function of Cl− regulating proteins can result in long-term shifts in the driving force for GABAARs. The multifaceted regulation of the ionic driving force for GABAARs has wide ranging implications for mature brain function, neural circuit development, and disease.
Purification and Characterization of Three Soluble Invertases from Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Leaves

Three soluble isoforms of invertase ([beta]-fructofuranosidase; EC 3.2.1.26) were purified from 7-d-old primary leaves of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Invertase I, a monomeric protein of 64 kD, was purified to apparent homogeneity as shown by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Invertases IIA and IIB, multimeric proteins with molecular masses of 116 and 155 kD, were purified 780- and 1370-fold, respectively, but were not yet homogeneous. Extracts of epidermal strips of leaves contained only invertase IIB. The specific activity of invertase was more than 100-fold higher in the epidermis than in the mesophyll. All three isoforms were acidic invertases, with pH optima of around 5.0 and little activity in the alkaline range. Invertase I had a Km for sucrose of 8.1 mM, and invertases IIA and IIB had much lower values of 1.0 and 1.7 mM, respectively. Invertase I was more than 2-fold more resistant than the other two invertases to the inhibitors HgCl2 and pyridoxal. All three constitutive invertases were found to act also as sucrose-sucrose fructosyltransferases when supplied with high concentrations of sucrose, forming 1-kestose as principal product. However, the fructosyltransferase activity of all three enzymes was inhibited by pyridoxal in the same way as their invertase activity. This characteristic clearly differentiates them from the inducible sucrose-sucrose fructosyltransferase of barley leaves, the activity responsible for the initial steps of fructan biosynthesis, which has previously been shown to be insensitive to pyridoxal.
EGF-like growth factors induce COX-2-derived PGE2 production through ERK1/2 in human granulosa cells.

CONTEXT Aberrant regulation of ovulation is one of the major causes of infertility. In animal models, 3 epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like growth factors, amphiregulin (AREG), betacellulin (BTC), and epiregulin (EREG), have been shown to be involved in ovulation by regulating cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. However, whether the same is true in humans remains largely unknown. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to investigate the effects of AREG, BTC, and EREG on COX-2 expression and PGE2 production in human granulosa cells. DESIGN AND SETTING SVOG cells are human granulosa cells that were obtained from women undergoing in vitro fertilization and immortalized with SV40 large T antigen. SVOG cells were used to investigate the effect of AREG, BTC, and EREG on ovulation-related functions at an academic research center. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Levels of mRNA and protein were examined by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The protein levels of PGE2 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS LH treatment upregulated AREG, BTC, EREG, and COX-2. Knockdown of EGF receptor (EGFR) attenuated LH-induced COX-2 expression and PGE2 production. Treatment with AREG, BTC, and EREG upregulated COX-2 expression and PGE2 production. The stimulatory effects of AREG, BTC, and EREG on COX-2 expression and PGE2 production were blocked by inhibition of EGFR activity and expression. AREG-, BTC-, and EREG-activated ERK1/2 signaling, but not Akt signaling, was required for AREG-, BTC-, and EREG-induced COX-2 expression and PGE2 production. CONCLUSION AREG, BTC, and EREG induced PGE2 production by upregulating COX-2 expression through ERK1/2 signaling in human granulosa cells.
Evaluating Psychosocial Interventions in First-Episode Psychosis

Little is known about what influences the success of psychosocial interventions for first-episode psychosis. One possible explanation for the mixed results of clinical trials is the influence of confounders on outcome. Psychosocial functioning prior to the onset of psychosis (premorbid adjustment) is one possible confounder. In order to examine the importance of premorbid adjustment to occupational therapists providing and evaluating psychosocial interventions, this study compared the baseline characteristics and premorbid adjustment of the people with first-episode psychosis referred to psychosocial rehabilitation with those of the people not referred, and the outcomes of both groups. All people with first-episode psychosis (n = 171) were assessed at baseline, including their premorbid adjustment. The participants were followed up 4 years later. A subgroup (n = 44) had been referred to psychosocial rehabilitation. The baseline presentation, premorbid adjustment and outcomes (symptoms and functioning) at 4 years of both groups were compared. The results showed that the people referred to a psychosocial rehabilitation programme had a poorer premorbid adjustment and fewer years in education than those not referred. Unsurprisingly, those not referred had better outcomes 4 years after initial presentation. It was concluded that premorbid psychosocial functioning is influential in determining the likelihood of referral to psychosocial rehabilitation and can influence evaluations of psychosocial interventions.
Student Networking Behavior, Culture, and Grade Performance: An Empirical Study and Pedagogical Recommendations

We examine how culture influences student networking behaviors and these behaviors' consequent impact on grade performance. We tested research hypotheses integrated through a path model with data from three countries, two in the Far East and one in the West. Regardless of country origin, individualistic rather than collectivistic orientation predicted two forms of networking behaviors - one targeting professors (vertical networking behavior) and another targeting fellow students (horizontal networking behavior). Both networking behaviors had a positive impact on grade performance. In addition, mean differences in vertical and horizontal networking were detected among the three countries. Pedagogical implications are discussed in light of the results.
Usefulness of Inter-IS1 Spacer Polymorphisms for Subtyping of Shigella sonnei Isolates

ABSTRACT Shigella sonnei contains numerous IS1 elements. The existence of polymorphisms in the length of the inter-IS1 spacer is a basis for the development of a PCR-based method for the subtyping of S. sonnei strains. The usefulness of inter-IS1 spacer typing (IST) was evaluated and compared with that of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) by characterization of S. sonnei isolates from epidemiologically nonrelated cases and outbreaks and of isolates that were indistinguishable by PFGE and that were collected from independent infection events. IST was less discriminatory than PFGE, with discriminatory indices of 0.96 and 0.63, respectively, but was able to compensate for the drawbacks of PFGE. PFGE exhibited a high level of discriminatory power for S. sonnei isolates; however, PFGE was also, at times, too discriminatory, which was a disadvantage in constructing the clonal relationships among strains circulating over a period of months or years. Furthermore, IST provided greater subtyping information for isolates indistinguishable by PFGE. The present study indicates that IST is more useful than PFGE for investigating the genetic relationships among S. sonnei strains circulating over a longer time span and also for discriminating certain strains which are indistinguishable by PFGE.
Neural Regulation of Pancreatic Cancer: A Novel Target for Intervention

The tumor microenvironment is known to play a pivotal role in driving cancer progression and governing response to therapy. This is of significance in pancreatic cancer where the unique pancreatic tumor microenvironment, characterized by its pronounced desmoplasia and fibrosis, drives early stages of tumor progression and dissemination, and contributes to its associated low survival rates. Several molecular factors that regulate interactions between pancreatic tumors and their surrounding stroma are beginning to be identified. Yet broader physiological factors that influence these interactions remain unclear. Here, we discuss a series of preclinical and mechanistic studies that highlight the important role chronic stress plays as a physiological regulator of neural-tumor interactions in driving the progression of pancreatic cancer. These studies propose several approaches to target stress signaling via the β-adrenergic signaling pathway in order to slow pancreatic tumor growth and metastasis. They also provide evidence to support the use of β-blockers as a novel therapeutic intervention to complement current clinical strategies to improve cancer outcome in patients with pancreatic cancer.
NVWAL: Exploiting NVRAM in Write-Ahead Logging

Emerging byte-addressable non-volatile memory is considered an alternative storage device for database logs that require persistency and high performance. In this work, we develop NVWAL (NVRAM Write-Ahead Logging) for SQLite. The contribution of NVWAL consists of three elements: (i) byte-granularity differential logging that effectively eliminates the excessive I/O overhead of filesystem-based logging or journaling, (ii) transaction-aware lazy synchronization that reduces cache synchronization overhead by two-thirds, and (iii) user-level heap management of the NVRAM persistent WAL structure, which reduces the overhead of managing persistent objects. We implemented NVWAL in SQLite and measured the performance on a Nexus 5 smartphone and an NVRAM emulation board - Tuna. Our performance study shows the following: (i) the overhead of enforcing strict ordering of NVRAM writes can be reduced via NVRAM-aware transaction management. (ii) From the application performance point of view, the overhead of guaranteeing failure atomicity is negligible; the cache line flush overhead accounts for only 0.8~4.6% of transaction execution time. Therefore, application performance is much less sensitive to the NVRAM performance than we expected. Decreasing the NVRAM latency by one-fifth (from 1942 nsec to 437 nsec), SQLite achieves a mere 4% performance gain (from 2517 ins/sec to 2621 ins/sec). (iii) Overall, when the write latency of NVRAM is 2 usec, NVWAL increases SQLite performance by at least 10x compared to that of WAL on flash memory (from 541 ins/sec to 5812 ins/sec).