Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictive Value of Plasma Hepatocyte Growth Factor/Scatter Factor Levels in Patients with Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) is a multifunctional cytokine that is involved in cancer growth, motility, invasion, and angiogenesis. We assessed whether preoperative plasma levels of HGF can enhance the accuracy of standard models for predicting pathologic features and clinical outcomes. Experimental Design: The study comprised 421 consecutive patients treated with radical prostatectomy and bilateral lymphadenectomy for clinically localized prostatic adenocarcinoma. HGF/SF was measured using a commercially available immunoassay. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between plasma HGF/SF and pathologic features. Multivariate Cox regression was used to predict disease recurrence. One thousand bootstrap replicates were created for internal validation and predictive accuracies were estimated for each model. Results: Plasma HGF/SF levels were significantly elevated in patients with lymph node and/or seminal vesicle invasion (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.007, respectively). Preoperative plasma HGF/SF level was an independent predictor of lymph node invasion [odds ratio (OR) for every 100 pg/mL increase in HGF/SF, 1.82; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.33-2.49] and seminal vesicle invasion (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.06-1.3). Addition of HGF/SF increased the accuracy of a base model that included standard preoperative variables for prediction of lymph node invasion by 6.7% (predictive accuracy, 98.4%). HGF/SF also independently predicted disease recurrence after surgery (hazard ratio, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.0-1.15). Conclusions: Preoperative plasma level of HGF/SF is an independent predictor of prostate cancer metastasis to lymph nodes and disease recurrence after surgery. Use of HGF may help in therapeutic decision-making and enrollment into clinical trials.
Use of softening agents to improve the production of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of nail tissue: an assessment

Abstract The use of tissue softeners to enhance the quality of tissue sections of heavily keratotic tissue is not widely published. There are very few indicators in the scientific literature that attempt to compare and contrast the benefits and disadvantages of such techniques, as most are passed down through word of mouth rather than through published data. This study attempts to present a preliminary evaluation of several methods employing tissue softeners to facilitate the preparation of reproducible, good-quality formalin-fixed, paraffinembedded sections of nail tissue. A standard 10-minute surface application of each softener is employed for all paraffin-embedded tissue in order to ensure consistency. The results show that the use of Veet (hair remover), Fairy Liquid or fabric conditioner provides the most beneficial results. Thus, widely available products can be used in preference to specific commercially produced reagents that have no clear benefits and can cost considerably more to purchase. This study will form the basis of a more in-depth evaluation of the most beneficial softeners, in an attempt to determine optimal parameters for their use in routine histopathology laboratories.
Late Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the southern Chinese Tian Shan

Structural, sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic, and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronological investigations were conducted in the southern Chinese Tian Shan. On the basis of our own mapping and earlier investigations in the area, the Late Cenozoic southern Tian Shan thrust belt may be divided into four segments based on their style of deformation. From west to east, they are (1) Kashi‐Aksu imbricate thrust system, (2) the Baicheng‐Kuche fold and thrust system, (3) the Korla right‐slip transfer system, and (4) the Lop‐Nor thrust system. The westernmost Kashi‐Aksu system is characterized by the occurrence of evenly spaced (12–15 km) imbricate thrusts. The Baicheng‐Kuche and Korla systems are expressed by a major north dipping thrust (the Kuche thrust) that changes its strike eastward to become a NW striking oblique thrust ramp (the Korla transfer zone). The Lop Nor system in the eastern‐most part of the southern Chinese Tian Shan consists of widely spaced thrusts, all involved with basement rocks. Geologic mapping and cross‐section construction suggest that at least 20–40 km of crustal shortening with a horizontal shortening strain of 20–30% has occurred in the southern Chinese Tian Shan during the late Cenozoic. These estimates are minimum because of both conservative extrapolation of the thrust geometries and partial coverage of the thrust belt by the cross sections. The timing of initial thrusting is best constrained in the Kuche basin where crustal shortening may have occurred at 21–24 Ma, the time of a major facies transition between lacustrine and braided‐fluvial sequences constrained in general by biostratigraphy and in detail by magnetostratigraphy. This estimate represents only a minimum age, as development of thrusts in the southern Chinese Tian Shan may have propagated southward toward the foreland. Thus the sedimentary record only represents the southernmost and therefore youngest phase of thrusting. If our estimate of timing for the thrust initiation (21–24 Ma) is correct, using the estimated magnitude of shortening (20–40 km) and shortening strain (20–30%), the averaged rates of late Cenozoic horizontal slip and shortening strain are 1–1.9 mm yr−1 and 2.9–4.5 × 10−16 s−1, respectively. Our reconnaissance 40Ar/39Ar thermochronological analysis in conjunction with earlier published results of apatite fission track analysis by other workers in the Chinese Tian Shan suggests that the magnitude of Cenozoic denudation is no more than 10 km, most likely less than 5 km. We demonstrate via a simple Airy‐isostasy model that when the thermal effect on changes in surface elevation is negligible, determination of the spatial distribution and temporal variation of both horizontal shortening strain and denudation becomes a key to reconstructing the elevation history of the Tian Shan. Using this simple model, the loosely constrained magnitude of crustal‐shortening strain and denudation in the southern Chinese Tian Shan implies that it may have been elevated 1.0–2.0 km since the onset of Cenozoic thrusting.
Review of Access Control Models for Cloud Computing

The relationship between users and resources is dynamic in the cloud, and service providers and users are typically not in the same security domain. Identity-based security (e.g., discretionary or mandatory access control models) cannot be used in an open cloud computing environment, where each resource node may not be familiar, or even do not know each other. Users are normally identified by their attributes or characteristics and not by predefined identities. There is often a need for a dynamic access control mechanism to achieve crossdomain authentication. In this paper, we will focus on the following three broad categories of access control models for cloud computing: (1) Role-based models; (2) Attribute-based encryption models and (3) Multi-tenancy models. We will review the existing literature on each of the above access control models and their variants (technical approaches, characteristics, applicability, pros and cons), and identify future research directions for developing access control models for cloud computing environments.
The Good, the Bad and the Plenty: Interactive Effects of Food Quality and Quantity on the Growth of Different Daphnia Species

Effects of food quality and quantity on consumers are neither independent nor interchangeable. Although consumer growth and reproduction show strong variation in relation to both food quality and quantity, the effects of food quality or food quantity have usually been studied in isolation. In two experiments, we studied the growth and reproduction in three filter-feeding freshwater zooplankton species, i.e. Daphnia galeata x hyalina, D. pulicaria and D. magna, on their algal food (Scenedesmus obliquus), varying in carbon to phosphorus (C∶P) ratios and quantities (concentrations). In the first experiment, we found a strong positive effect of the phosphorus content of food on growth of Daphnia, both in their early and late juvenile development. Variation in the relationship between the P-content of animals and their growth rate reflected interspecific differences in nutrient requirements. Although growth rates typically decreased as development neared maturation, this did not affect these species-specific couplings between growth rate and Daphnia P-content. In the second experiment, we examined the effects of food quality on Daphnia growth at different levels of food quantity. With the same decrease in P-content of food, species with higher estimated P-content at zero growth showed a larger increase in threshold food concentrations (i.e. food concentration sufficient to meet metabolic requirements but not growth). These results suggest that physiological processes such as maintenance and growth may in combination explain effects of food quality and quantity on consumers. Our study shows that differences in response to variation in food quality and quantity exist between species. As a consequence, species-specific effects of food quality on consumer growth will also determine how species deal with varying food levels, which has implications for resource-consumer interactions.
Training intensity-dependent and tissue-specific increases in lactate uptake and MCT-1 in heart and muscle.

We investigated the effects of 3 wk of moderate- (21 m/min, 8% grade) and highintensity treadmill training (31 m/min, 15% grade) on 1) monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT-1) content in rat hindlimb muscles and the heart and 2) lactate uptake in isolated soleus (Sol) muscles and perfused hearts. In the moderately trained group MCT-1 was not increased in any of the muscles [Sol, extensor digitorum longus (EDL), and red (RG) and white gastrocnemius (WG)] (P > 0.05). Similarly, lactate uptake in Sol strips was also not increased (P > 0.05). In contrast, in the heart, MCT-1 (+36%, P < 0.05) and lactate uptake (+72%, P < 0.05) were increased with moderate training. In the highly trained group, MCT-1 (+70%, P < 0.05) and lactate uptake (+79%, P < 0.05) were increased in Sol. MCT-1 was also increased in RG (+94%, P < 0.05) but not in WG and EDL (P > 0.05). In the highly trained group, heart MCT-1 (+44%, P < 0.05) and lactate uptake (+173%, P < 0.05) were increased. In conclusion, it has been shown that 1) in both heart and skeletal muscle lactate uptake is increased only when MCT-1 is increased; 2) training-induced increases in MCT-1 occurred at a lower training intensity in the heart than in skeletal muscle; 3) in the heart, lactate uptake was increased much more after high-intensity training than after moderate-intensity training, despite similar increases in heart MCT-1 with these two training intensities; and 4) the increases in MCT-1 occurred independently of any changes in the heart's oxidative capacity (as measured by citrate synthase activity).
Dual Perspectives On Stigma: Reports of Experienced and Enacted Stigma by Those Affected and Unaffected by Podoconiosis

Background: Disease-related stigma is a public health concern steadily gaining global attention. Evidence consistently shows that an individual’s attribution of disease cause can prompt or justify interpersonal stigma. However, few studies have explored causal beliefs about inherited disease and their influence on stigmatising behaviours in low and middle income countries. Design and methods: The study was conducted in 2013, in six communities in Wolaita zone, Southern Ethiopia. A total of 1800 respondents took part in the study, 600 were affected by an inherited disease and 1200 were unaffected neighbours. Two versions of the interviewer-administered survey were created, with measures assessed in parallel on experienced stigma for the affected and enacted stigma for unaffected respondents. Results: Mean levels of enacted stigma reported by unaffected respondents were slightly lower (2.0, SD=0.7) than experienced stigma reported by affected respondents [2.2 (standard deviation=1.1)]. Beliefs that podoconiosis was hereditary were significantly and positively associated with levels of enacted stigma reported by unaffected respondents and experienced stigma reported by affected respondents (P<0.001). There was no association of reported levels of stigma experienced by affected respondents with levels of enacted stigma reported by the neighbouring unaffected respondents. Males consistently reported significantly lower levels of experienced and enacted stigma than females, P<0.0001. Conclusions: If stigma reduction interventions are to be successful, culturally tailored, gender inclusive and innovative health education programs are required, directed at the general community as well as individuals affected by inherited diseases. Significance for public health Disease-related stigma is a public health concern steadily gaining global attention. In this report, we evaluated dual perspectives of stigma, that is, we compared reports of stigma experienced by families affected by a heritable neglected tropical disease with reports of enacted stigma among neighbouring families unaffected by the disease. We found that unaffected neighbours reported enacting less stigma than affected respondents reported experiencing. Levels of enacted and experienced stigma also were influenced by community members’ perceptions of the causes of disease. Enacted and experienced stigma levels also varied by gender (males reported less of each) across sites. Taken together, these findings highlight the need for stigma reduction strategies to involve both affected and unaffected groups if interventions are to be effective. These efforts also should address community members’ baseline explanations of what causes heritable health conditions while considering gender and community context.
IMAGE FUV and in situ FAST particle observations of substorm aurorae

[1] Images from the IMAGE Wide-band Imaging Camera (WIC) and Spectrographic Imager (SI) channels SI-12 and SI-13 were compared to in situ data taken by FAST during several substorms. FAST spacecraft observations have shown that the high latitude auroral ionosphere has several distinct regions. Intense auroras are seen in regions of upward directed quasi static electric fields and of Alfven wave accelerated superthermal electrons. In two of the cases presented, the satellite passed through an active poleward propagating substorm surge on its duskward flank. Both show that the superthermal wave accelerated component to be on the polar cap boundary of the surge, and that it could be distinguished from quasi static field “inverted V” precipitation which occurred at the more equatorward parts of the auroral oval. In one of these cases, the surge was accompanied by intense ion outflow. Three cases showed the FAST satellite passing through the substorm aurora at midnight or the dawn side outside of the surge and the wave accelerated electrons were less clearly separated from the inverted V type precipitation. The wave accelerated electrons were seen to be part of very short-lived transient events, i.e., bursts. The region of auroral forms, associated with Alfven waves exhibit relatively soft auroral precipitation with very intense electron fluxes. By comparing the intensity of the WIC and SI-13 channels of IMAGE FUV, it is possible sometimes to distinguish optically between the two types of regions. Global imaging of the two regions would allow the separation of quasi-static plasma convection regions containing inverted V-s from regions of Alfven wave driven electrons signifying substorm related magnetic field dynamics.
Cilostazol induces cellular senescence and confers resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis in articular chondrocytes

We recently reported that cilostazol protects chondrocytes against stress-induced apoptosis and prevents cartilage destruction in an osteoarthritis (OA) model. In the present study, we elucidate the mechanism underlying the protective effect induced by cilostazol against stress-induced apoptosis in chondrocytes. Cilostazol significantly reduced the expression of type II collagen and stimulated the accumulation of β-catenin in primary rat articular chondrocytes. Moreover, cilostazol-induced chondrocytes showed induction of senescent phenotypes, such as changes in cell morphology, decrease in cell proliferation and increase in specific senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining. Moreover, dedifferentiated chondrocytes obtained by serial subculture showed cellular senescence that increased with passage number. In addition, the percentage of terminal dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL)-positive cells was higher when chondrocytes were treated with cilostazol and the apoptosis inducer etoposide than when the cells were treated with etoposide alone. Our findings suggest that cilostazol induces dedifferentiation and senescence in rat articular chondrocytes and renders them resistant to etoposide-induced apoptosis.
Channel and floodplain sediment dynamics in a reach of the tropical meandering Rio Beni (Bolivian Amazonia)

The study investigates interactions, water and sediment exchanges, between a rapidly migrating meander and its associated floodplain at fine temporal and spatial scales. The Beni River, an Amazonian free meandering river, makes the transition between Andean ranges and Amazonian lowlands. For the period 2002–2006, an assemblage of tools and methods (water and sediment discharges, topometric and bathymetric surveys, sedimentation rate estimations from unsupported 210Pb and sediment trapping system) was used to jointly analyse the influence on the sediment budget of external factors (mainly water and sediment discharge) and the inherent behaviour of the system. The main issue addressed is the investigation of the complex relationship between ‘morphological conditioning’ of fluvial landform and process. The first part of the study was undertaken with the aim of linking erosion–deposition in an active meander with water and sediment fluxes. The three inter‐annual evolutions are characterized by very unequal sediment budgets; the first two intervals underwent predominant erosion, and the latter slight accumulation. Digital elevation models, evaluated for the active meander, demonstrate that sedimentation on the point bar depends more on external factors than erosion of the concave bank, which fluctuates slightly. The second part of the study, focusing on water and sediment exchanges between active bend and floodplain, examines the respective parts played by overbank flow and by an abandoned channel on the diffusion and sequestration of sediment. The association of short‐ and long‐term estimation of sedimentation rates suggests that floodplain construction is associated with two different processes and rhythms of sediment transportation. Finally, a sediment budget is proposed for the Beni River in the upper part of the Amazonian lowlands. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A New Head Phantom With Realistic Shape and Spatially Varying Skull Resistivity Distribution

Brain electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an emerging method for monitoring brain injuries. To effectively evaluate brain EIT systems and reconstruction algorithms, we have developed a novel head phantom that features realistic anatomy and spatially varying skull resistivity. The head phantom was created with three layers, representing scalp, skull, and brain tissues. The fabrication process entailed 3-D printing of the anatomical geometry for mold creation followed by casting to ensure high geometrical precision and accuracy of the resistivity distribution. We evaluated the accuracy and stability of the phantom. Results showed that the head phantom achieved high geometric accuracy, accurate skull resistivity values, and good stability over time and in the frequency domain. Experimental impedance reconstructions performed using the head phantom and computer simulations were found to be consistent for the same perturbation object. In conclusion, this new phantom could provide a more accurate test platform for brain EIT research.
A linear quadratic approach to linear time invariant stabilization for a class of hybrid systems

In this paper, the problem of linear time invariant state feedback stabilization for a class of hybrid systems is dealt with. The considered class of systems has received a considerable attention in the last years especially as a benchmark for hybrid output regulation, and in this context it turns out to be quite crucial to have stabilization approaches working under minimal hypotheses meanwhile providing linear time invariant solutions. After showing that static linear time invariant state feedback stabilizers might not exist even in the considered simple setting, a new solution is provided by formulating and solving a linear quadratic optimal control problem, which turns out to be a static time varying linear state feedback. It is then shown how such a feedback can be implemented via a stable dynamic time invariant linear state feedback, by exploiting a dynamic extension implementing the stabilized optimal costate dynamics.
Dickite and kaolinite in the Pb-Zn-Ag sulphide deposits of northern Kosovo (Trepča and Crnac)

Abstract Alteration minerals dickite and kaolinite were detected in two hydrothermal Pb-Zn-Ag sulphide deposits in the northern Kosovo region. Dickite is associated with skarn mineralization in the Trepča (Stari Trg) deposit and kaolinite occurs in vein sulphide parageneses in the Crnac deposit. The mineralogical characteristics of dickite and kaolinite were determined by X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with EDS detector. Fluid-inclusion microthermometry and ion chromatography of leachates provided information on the P-T-X conditions of the genesis of dickite at Trepča. It was formed at temperatures between 290 and 330ºC and pressures between 12 and 60 MPa from a fluid with salinity in the range 6-8.5 wt. % NaCl eq. and pH <5.5. Kaolinite was deposited from a fluid with minimum temperatures between 210 and 250ºC, minimum pressure of 1.7 to 3.7 MPa, and salinity between 4.6 and 5.1 wt. % NaCl eq. Both dickite and kaolinite are related to the acidic pre-mineralization phase in the deposits.
Critically Appraising Qualitative Research: a Guide for Clinicians More Familiar With Quantitative Techniques

Objectives: Papers using qualitative methods are increasingly common in psychiatric journals. This overview is an introduction to critically appraising a qualitative paper for clinicians who are more familiar with quantitative methods. Conclusions: Qualitative research uses data from interviews (semi-structured or unstructured), focus groups, observations or written materials. Data analysis is inductive, allowing meaning to emerge from the data, rather than the more deductive, hypothesis centred approach of quantitative research. This overview compares and contrasts quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative concepts such as reliability, validity, statistical power, bias and generalisability have qualitative equivalents. These include triangulation, trustworthiness, saturation, reflexivity and applicability. Reflexivity also shares features of transference. Qualitative approaches include: ethnography, action-assessment, grounded theory, case studies and mixed methods. Qualitative research can complement quantitative approaches. An understanding of both is useful in critically appraising the psychiatric literature.