Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preoperative radiotherapy downregulates the nuclear expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in rectal cancer

Abstract Objective. To assess the value of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression as a predictor of disease outcome in rectal cancer treated by preoperative radio- or chemoradiotherapy. Material and methods. Operative samples from 168 rectal cancer patients and 79 respective preoperative biopsies were analyzed for nuclear HIF-1α protein expression using immunohistochemistry by three approaches: (a) positive/negative, (b) the percentage of HIF-positive cancer cells and (c) staining intensity. The patients had received either short- (n = 75) or long-course radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy (n = 39) or no treatment preoperatively (n = 54). Results. HIF-1α staining was positive in 70% of the diagnostic biopsies but negative in most of the post-radiotherapy specimens (60%). HIF-1α expression in the biopsies was downregulated in 56% of samples taken after preoperative treatment, while negative HIF-1α expression was upregulated in 25% of samples. Patients who had HIF-negative tumours after long-course radiotherapy had significantly (P = 0.001) better disease-specific survival (DSS) in univariate analysis. In the multivariate (Cox) regression model, HIF-1α lost its significance and only being in the preoperative treatment group was an independent predictor of disease-free survival. In a similar Cox model, disease recurrence and the number of metastatic lymph nodes were independent predictors of DSS. Conclusions. HIF-1α expression was positive in most of the preoperative biopsies but downregulated in most of the operative samples, implicating that preoperative radiotherapy downregulates HIF-1α expression in rectal cancer. Negative HIF expression after preoperative long-course radiotherapy was associated with significantly better DSS.
Associations between socioeconomic status and allostatic load: effects of neighborhood poverty and tests of mediating pathways.

OBJECTIVES We examined relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load in a low- to moderate-income multiracial urban community. We tested the hypothesis that neighborhood poverty is associated with allostatic load, controlling for household poverty. We also examined the hypotheses that this association was mediated by psychosocial stress and health-related behaviors. METHODS We conducted multilevel analyses using cross-sectional data from a probability sample survey in Detroit, Michigan (n = 919) and the 2000 US Census. The outcome measure was allostatic load. Independent variables included neighborhood and household poverty, psychosocial stress, and health-related behaviors. Covariates included neighborhood and individual demographic characteristics. RESULTS Neighborhood poverty was positively associated with allostatic load (P < .05), independent of household poverty and controlling for potential confounders. Relationships between neighborhood poverty were mediated by self-reported neighborhood environment stress but not by health-related behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Neighborhood poverty is associated with wear and tear on physiological systems, and this relationship is mediated through psychosocial stress. These relationships are evident after accounting for household poverty levels. Efforts to promote health equity should focus on neighborhood poverty, associated stressful environmental conditions, and household poverty.
Oxide transistors produced by Combustion Synthesis: Influence of the PVP on the properties of the insulator

Solution processing of amorphous metal oxides has been used as an option to implement in flexible electronics, allowing to reduce the associated costs, when compared with vacuum processes. Recent research has been more focused on the semiconductor layer; however, the dielectric layer is equally important since its responsible for the stability and electric performance of the device. This work aims to evaluate hybrid dielectric thin films, using aluminium oxide and different types of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), both obtained by solution process using solution combustion synthesis (SCS), to study the influence of the amount of organic material used in the insulator layer, as well as to study the influence of the hybrid insulator obtained in oxide thin film transistors (TFTs) using indiumgallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) and zinc-tin-oxide (ZTO) as semiconductor layer. The insulator layer was obtained using aluminium nitrate nonahydrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with different molecular weights (10000 and 40000) and different percentages as precursor solutions, using urea as fuel and 2methoxyethanol as solvent. The best hybrid dielectric was obtained with 0.8 % PVP 40000 (weight per volume), showing a breakdown voltage of 1.1 MV/cm, low density leakage current of 9.6 × 10 A/cm, capacitance per area of 123 nF/cm, thickness of 49.35 nm, annealed at 200 °C for 30 minutes. Moreover, the roughness study obtained using atomic force microscopy showed highly smooth surface, resulting in improvement dielectric-semiconductor interface, while still maintaining an amorphous nature. These characteristics allowed this hybrid dielectric, lead to enhanced TFTs electrical properties. The best performing thin films were applied in IGZO TFTs as hybrid dielectrics. The optimized TFTs show good reproducibility with an average mobility of 40.24 ± 1.1 cm∙V∙s, subthreshold slope of 0.169 ± 0.012 V∙dec, a turnon voltage of 0.078 ± 0.004 V and a low operating voltage (maximum 2 V).
Non-data aided adaptive channel shortening for efficient multi-carrier systems

Multi-carrier (MC) systems are known for being very effective in cancelling intersymbol and multi-user interference provided that a cyclic prefix (CP) of length at least equal to the channel order is inserted at the beginning of each transmitted block. However, this insertion causes a reduction of the transmission speed which is not negligible when the channel delay spread is not small with respect to the block-length. We propose an algorithm for designing time-domain pre-equalizers which shorten the channel impulse response. The method requires neither the a-priori knowledge of the channel impulse response nor the transmission of training sequences. The only basic assumption underlying our method is that the transmitted MC stream contains null (virtual) sub-carriers, a condition which is verified in many current MC transmission systems.
A Dose-Response Strategy Reveals Differences between Normal-Weight and Obese Men in Their Metabolic and Inflammatory Responses to a High-Fat Meal

A dose-response strategy may not only allow investigation of the impact of foods and nutrients on human health but may also reveal differences in the response of individuals to food ingestion based on their metabolic health status. In a randomized crossover study, we challenged 19 normal-weight (BMI: 20–25 kg/m2) and 18 obese (BMI: >30 kg/m2) men with 500, 1000, and 1500 kcal of a high-fat (HF) meal (60.5% energy from fat). Blood was taken at baseline and up to 6 h postprandially and analyzed for a range of metabolic, inflammatory, and hormonal variables, including plasma glucose, lipids, and C-reactive protein and serum insulin, glucagon-like peptide-1, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and endotoxin. Insulin was the only variable that could differentiate the postprandial response of normal-weight and obese participants at each of the 3 caloric doses. A significant response of the inflammatory marker IL-6 was only observed in the obese group after ingestion of the HF meal containing 1500 kcal [net incremental AUC (iAUC) = 22.9 ± 6.8 pg/mL × 6 h, P = 0.002]. Furthermore, the net iAUC for triglycerides significantly increased from the 1000 to the 1500 kcal meal in the obese group (5.0 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h vs. 6.0 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h; P = 0.015) but not in the normal-weight group (4.3 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h vs. 4.8 ± 0.5 mmol/L × 6 h; P = 0.31). We propose that caloric dose-response studies may contribute to a better understanding of the metabolic impact of food on the human organism. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01446068.
NUCLEATION OF KINK PAIRS AND THE PEIERLS' MECHANISM OF PLASTIC DEFORMATION

The saddle-point activation energy for the nucleation of a pair of kinks is found as a function of the applied stress, the lattice constants, the height and shape of the Peierls' hill and the line energy of a dislocation. The kinetics of dislocation motion when the Peierls' mechanism is controlling are investigated and the microscopic dislocation velocities and . macroscopic strain rates are formulated in terms of the activation energy for the formation of pairs of kinks by an Arrhenius type equation. The log of the dislocation velocity· is found to be approximately proportional to the log of the local applied stress. It is shown that the low temperature mechanical properties of several BCC metals can be explained in terms of the Peierls 1 mechanism and excellent agreement is obtained between theory and experiment for the flow stress vs. temperature, activation energy vs. stress and activation volume vs. stress curves for these metals.
Power law scaling in synchronization of brain signals depends on cognitive load

As it has several features that optimize information processing, it has been proposed that criticality governs the dynamics of nervous system activity. Indications of such dynamics have been reported for a variety of in vitro and in vivo recordings, ranging from in vitro slice electrophysiology to human functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, there still remains considerable debate as to whether the brain actually operates close to criticality or in another governing state such as stochastic or oscillatory dynamics. A tool used to investigate the criticality of nervous system data is the inspection of power-law distributions. Although the findings are controversial, such power-law scaling has been found in different types of recordings. Here, we studied whether there is a power law scaling in the distribution of the phase synchronization derived from magnetoencephalographic recordings during executive function tasks performed by children with and without autism. Characterizing the brain dynamics that is different between autistic and non-autistic individuals is important in order to find differences that could either aid diagnosis or provide insights as to possible therapeutic interventions in autism. We report in this study that power law scaling in the distributions of a phase synchrony index is not very common and its frequency of occurrence is similar in the control and the autism group. In addition, power law scaling tends to diminish with increased cognitive load (difficulty or engagement in the task). There were indications of changes in the probability distribution functions for the phase synchrony that were associated with a transition from power law scaling to lack of power law (or vice versa), which suggests the presence of phenomenological bifurcations in brain dynamics associated with cognitive load. Hence, brain dynamics may fluctuate between criticality and other regimes depending upon context and behaviors.
Magnet hospitals are a magnet for higher survival rates at adult trauma centers

BACKGROUND Little is known about nursing care’s impact on trauma outcomes. The Magnet Recognition Program recognizes hospitals for quality patient care and nursing excellence based on objective standards. We hypothesized that Magnet-designated trauma centers would have improved survival over their non-Magnet counterparts. METHODS All 2009 to 2011 admissions to Pennsylvania’s Level I and II trauma centers with more than 500 admissions during the study period (10 Magnet and 17 non-Magnet hospitals) were extracted from the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation State Registry. A logistic regression model with mortality as the dependent variable included the following variables: Magnet status, age, sex, admitting temperature, logit transformation of mortality probability predicted by the Trauma Mortality Prediction Model (TMPM-ais), systolic blood pressure, mechanism of injury, paralytic drug use, and Glasgow Coma Scale motor (GCSm) score. RESULTS A total of 73,830 patients from the Pennsylvania Trauma Outcome Study database met inclusion criteria for this study. The Magnet and non-Magnet hospital groups were statistically indistinguishable with respect to level of designation, medical school association, surgical residency programs, in-house surgeons, and urban locations. Patients admitted to a Magnet hospital had a significantly decreased odds of mortality when compared with their non-Magnet counterparts (odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.70–0.99; p = 0.033), when controlling for numerous factors. Overall, the model has outstanding discrimination with a receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.93. CONCLUSION Admission to a Magnet-designated hospital is associated with a 20% reduction in mortality. We believe that the Magnet program’s attention to nursing competence has important consequences for trauma patients, as reflected in the improved survival rates in trauma patients admitted to Magnet-designated hospitals. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic/prognostic study, level III. Care management study, level IV.
Modeling and Learning Semantic Co-Compositionality through Prototype Projections and Neural Networks

We present a novel vector space model for semantic co-compositionality. Inspired by Generative Lexicon Theory (Pustejovsky, 1995), our goal is a compositional model where both predicate and argument are allowed to modify each others’ meaning representations while generating the overall semantics. This readily addresses some major challenges with current vector space models, notably the polysemy issue and the use of one representation per word type. We implement cocompositionality using prototype projections on predicates/arguments and show that this is effective in adapting their word representations. We further cast the model as a neural network and propose an unsupervised algorithm to jointly train word representations with co-compositionality. The model achieves the best result to date (ρ = 0.47) on the semantic similarity task of transitive verbs (Grefenstette and Sadrzadeh, 2011).
Malignant melanoma of gingiva: Report of a rare case

According to the World Health Organization, oral malignant melanoma (OMM) is a rare disease, accounting for only 0.8% of all melanomas, 8% of head and neck melanomas, and up to 0.5% of all oral malignancies. OMM presents as a pigmented lesion with asymmetrical borders, irregular surface characteristics, and a distinct color. Melanoma-associated pigmented lesion of the oral cavity does not possess clinical specificity and frequently divert the clinical diagnosis; hence, differential diagnosis becomes mandatory. Furthermore, the unpredictable pathophysiological behavior and delayed detection, contributes for poor prognosis of the disease. As a result, the 5 years survival rate is only 10-25%. Commonly OMM is seen in maxillary gingiva of males. However, we report a rare case of a middle-aged female having pigmentations and growth over mandibular gingiva.
Temporal Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Campylobacter spp. from Beef Cattle in Alberta Feedlots

ABSTRACT Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was temporally assessed in campylobacters isolated from beef cattle (7,738 fecal samples from 2,622 animals) in four commercial feedlots in Alberta. All calves were administered chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline in feed, and a majority of the animals (93%) were injected with long-acting oxytetracycline upon arrival at the feedlot. Fecal samples from individual animals were collected upon arrival (i.e., entry sample), 69 days (standard deviation [SD] = 3 days) after arrival (i.e., interim sample), and 189 days (SD = 33 days) after arrival (i.e., exit sample) at the feedlot. In total, 1,586 Campylobacter isolates consisting of Campylobacter coli (n = 154), Campylobacter fetus (n = 994), Campylobacter jejuni (n = 431), Campylobacter hyointestinalis (n = 4), and Campylobacter lanienae (n = 3) were recovered and characterized. The administration of antimicrobials did not decrease carriage rates of campylobacters, and minimal resistance (≤4%) to azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, gentamicin, and meropenem was observed. In contrast, substantive increases in the prevalence of isolates resistant to tetracycline and doxycycline (56 to 89%) for C. coli, C. fetus, and C. jejuni, as well as in the number of animals (7 to 42%) from which resistant isolates were recovered, were observed during the feedlot period. Increased resistance to erythromycin (total isolates and carriages rates) was also observed in isolates of C. coli over the three isolation times. The majority of C. fetus isolates recovered were resistant to nalidixic acid, but this was independent of when they were isolated. A relatively limited number of multidrug-resistant isolates were recovered and consisted primarily of C. coli resistant to tetracyclines and erythromycin (10% of isolates). Over the course of the feedlot period, considerable increases in antimicrobial resistance were observed in C. coli, C. fetus, and C. jejuni, but with the exception of erythromycin resistance in C. coli, the administration of antimicrobial agents to beef cattle was found to have a minimal impact on resistance to macrolides and fluoroquinolones, the two classes of antimicrobials used to treat campylobacteriosis in humans. However, the widespread use of antimicrobial agents in beef production and the possible horizontal transfer of mobile genetic elements with antimicrobial resistance determinants among Campylobacter and other bacterial taxa emphasize the need to monitor AMR development in bacteria from beef cattle.
Oral Treatment of Pernicious Anaemia: First Fifty Cases

* Consultant Pathologist, St. Helens Hospital, St. Helens, t Reader in Biochemistry, Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford. was 86%, the P.C. V. 38%, and the serum vitamin-Bi_ level 40 /^g. / ml. A marrow puncture at this time showed megaloblastic changes in approximately 40% of the red-cell series. No abnormal signs were detected. The daily dose was therefore increased to 40 /? g. of peptide complex, and by the 2,260th day the symptoms had disappeared, the blood picture had improved slightly, and the marrow had reverted to normal. The serum vitamin-Bi2 level,
Predicting non-coding RNA genes in Escherichia coli with boosted genetic programming

Several methods exist for predicting non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes in Escherichia coli (E.coli). In addition to about sixty known ncRNA genes excluding tRNAs and rRNAs, various methods have predicted more than thousand ncRNA genes, but only 95 of these candidates were confirmed by more than one study. Here, we introduce a new method that uses automatic discovery of sequence patterns to predict ncRNA genes. The method predicts 135 novel candidates. In addition, the method predicts 152 genes that overlap with predictions in the literature. We test sixteen predictions experimentally, and show that twelve of these are actual ncRNA transcripts. Six of the twelve verified candidates were novel predictions. The relatively high confirmation rate indicates that many of the untested novel predictions are also ncRNAs, and we therefore speculate that E.coli contains more ncRNA genes than previously estimated.
Immediate Postnatal Growth Is Associated With Blood Pressure in Young Adulthood: The Barry Caerphilly Growth Study

There is a consistent inverse association between birth weight and systolic blood pressure; however, few studies have been able to examine the immediate postnatal period. We have examined whether accelerated postnatal growth predicts adult systolic and diastolic blood pressure. We followed up participants from the Barry Caerphilly Growth Study. Blood pressure data were obtained on 679 of the original 951 subjects (73%) aged ≈25 years. Both multivariable linear regression and spline models were used to examine the association among weight, length, and growth velocities with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Both statistical approaches showed that birth weight was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure. Only the spline models found that immediate (0 to 5 months) weight gain (&bgr; coefficient: 1.29 mm Hg; 95% CI: 0.36 to 2.23; P=0.007) and weight gain between 1 year and 9 months to 5 years (&bgr; coefficient: 1.44 mm Hg; 95% CI: 0.31 to 2.57; P=0.01) were independently associated with systolic blood pressure, whereas only immediate weight gain (&bgr; coefficient: 0.74 mm Hg; 95% CI: 0.08 to 1.41; P=0.03) was associated with diastolic blood pressure. This is the first study to demonstrate that only immediate postnatal growth predicts diastolic blood pressure in term births, whereas it adds further evidence that both birth weight and postnatal growth are associated with systolic blood pressure in support of both the fetal origins and growth acceleration hypotheses.
Subliminal Face Emotion Processing: A Comparison of Fearful and Disgusted Faces

Prior research has provided evidence for (1) subcortical processing of subliminal facial expressions of emotion and (2) for the emotion-specificity of these processes. Here, we investigated if this is also true for the processing of the subliminal facial display of disgust. In Experiment 1, we used differently filtered masked prime faces portraying emotionally neutral or disgusted expressions presented prior to clearly visible target faces to test if the masked primes exerted an influence on target processing nonetheless. Whereas we found evidence for subliminal face congruence or priming effects, in particular, reverse priming by low spatial frequencies disgusted face primes, we did not find any support for a subcortical origin of the effect. In Experiment 2, we compared the influence of subliminal disgusted faces with that of subliminal fearful faces and demonstrated a behavioral performance difference between the two, pointing to an emotion-specific processing of the disgusted facial expressions. In both experiments, we also tested for the dependence of the subliminal emotional face processing on spatial attention – with mixed results, suggesting an attention-independence in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2 –, and we found perfect masking of the face primes – that is, proof of the subliminality of the prime faces. Based on our findings, we speculate that subliminal facial expressions of disgust could afford easy avoidance of these faces. This could be a unique effect of disgusted faces as compared to other emotional facial displays, at least under the conditions studied here.