Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carcinoids and high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas of the ampulla of vater: a comparative analysis of 139 cases from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program-a population based study.

CONTEXT Neuroendocrine tumors of the ampulla of Vater constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms clinically and morphologically. Because they are rare, little is known about their demographics and biologic behavior. OBJECTIVE To analyze the demographics and the 5- and 10-year relative survival rates of 139 patients with carcinoid tumors and high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas of the ampulla. DESIGN Using data from National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program from 1973 to 2006, we analyzed the demographics, morphology, and survival of patients with carcinoids and neuroendocrine carcinomas of the ampulla. RESULTS SEER recorded 6081 cases of malignant neoplasms of the ampulla, of which 82 were carcinoid tumors and 57 were high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas. Of these 57, 42 were neuroendocrine carcinomas, not otherwise specified; 9 were small cell carcinomas; and 6 were large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas. The incidence was higher in men than in women. Patients with carcinoid tumors were younger (mean age, 61.6 years) than those with high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas (mean age, 67.5 years). Carcinoid tumors were smaller than high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas. The frequency of lymph node metastasis was 28.5% for carcinoid tumors and 62% for high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas. The 5- and 10-year relative survival rates of patients with carcinoid tumors were 82% and 71%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year relative survival rate of patients with high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas was 15.7%. CONCLUSIONS Carcinoids of the ampulla of Vater are relatively rare. Carcinoids and high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas of the ampulla are biologically and clinically similar to these tumors arising in other sites. Carcinoids were smaller and metastasized less frequently than high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas.
Local volunteers respond to the Rena oil spill in Maketū, New Zealand

Following the MV Rena grounding and oil spill in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand in October 2011, the Māori community of Maketū were quick to respond to the arrival of oil on their beaches. They asserted their rangatiratanga by establishing their marae as a base and successfully coordinated a clean-up by more than 450 volunteers, feeding these volunteers every day. We interviewed 11 clean-up leaders and volunteers in Maketū to gather information about how the oil spill affected people in the community and how they ensured the success of their clean-up efforts. Many volunteers returned to help with the clean-up day after day over several weeks. Concepts of kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga underpinned the work of the Maketū clean-up organisers. Participants attributed the success of the Maketū clean-up to the speed with which they responded, the support they received from their community and local businesses, and their local knowledge.
Lack of association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene Val66Met polymorphisms and panic disorder in Korean population

ObjectiveㅋSeveral lines of evidence suggest that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a role in the pathophysiology of anxiety. We analyzed the association of the BDNF gene val66met polymorphism, in the coding region of exon XIIIA in chromosome 11q and panic disorder (PD). MethodsㅋOne hundred and six patients with PD and 160 control subjects were tested for the BDNF (val66met) polymorphism. A clinical interview and MINI international neuropsychiatric interview were conducted by trained psychiatrists to diagnose panic disorder according to DSMIV. Information about the symptomatic characteristics of panic disorder was also gathered by measuring various clinical scales (Hamilton anxiety rating scale, Beck anxiety inventory, Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety inventory and Anxiety sensitivity index). ResultsㅋThere were no significant differences in the frequencies of the genotypes (χ 2 =4.16, df=2, p=0.13), alleles (χ 2 =0.79, df=1, p=0.37) or allele (Met) carriers (χ 2 =0.28, df=1, p=0.59) between the patients and controls. In addition, in comparing the severity of panic disorder with the genotypes of the BDNF gene, we could not find any significant differences between the genotypes. ConclusionsㅋThese results suggest that BDNF (val66met) polymorphisms do not play a major role in the susceptibility to or severity of panic disorder in our Korean population.
Evidence for an Accelerating Wind as the Broad-Line Region in NGC 3516

Spectroscopic data in wavelengths 900-3000 Å have been obtained in a low flux state of the nucleus of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3516. The line profiles show P Cygni characteristics, particularly in O VI λ1032, and are compared with data from an earlier and higher state. The profiles are suggestive of and consistent with an accelerating wind driven by a disk continuum source in which the ionization radii have changed. This scenario may apply to the formation of other broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei.
Taking active learning into the primary school: a matter of new practices?

Abstract This paper examines the extension of active learning pedagogical practices familiar in preschool settings to the first class of primary school. Policy and practice guidance in the UK is advocating the benefits of experiential learning as a way of engaging young children as they move into primary school but for teachers this means a move to new practices which can be in tension with other expectations. In this paper, the rationale for active learning is considered along with an account of the classroom activities of teachers and children in five primary schools that were implementing the policy shift to active learning. The children in these classes spent varying amounts of time in whole class activities led by the teacher or in small groups directed to engage with specific activities. They had opportunities to engage and respond verbally, through manipulating objects and with physical actions but the emphasis was on planned, teacher-directed learning activities. The characteristics of active learning as introduced in these innovative classes are compared with the expectations of practice guidance and theorising about early learning.
Impact of heavy metal contamination on milk and underground water of the New Valley, Egypt

The incidence and levels of heavy metals; lead, cadmium and iron were estimated in water of shallow & deep wells as well as milk of cows reared on those wells in the New Valley Governorate, Egypt. All the samples were contaminated with such elements. The average levels in water were 0.19, 0.03 and 1.44, while in milk were 0.215, 0.05 and 0.73 for Pb, Cd and Fe respectively. Percentages of Pb, Cd and Fe levels exceeding permissible levels in water and milk samples were determined. Also, daily and weekly intakes were estimated and compared to standard intakes. Moreover, comparison of standard Pb, Cd and Fe daily intakes from the consumption of 200 ml milk with the estimated intakes in milk samples was done.
The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath

Bargaining with reading habit is no need. Reading is not kind of something sold that you can take or not. It is a thing that will change your life to life better. It is the thing that will give you many things around the world and this universe, in the real world and here after. As what will be given by this the politics of rich and poor wealth and the american electorate in the reagan aftermath, how can you bargain with the thing that has many benefits for you?
Links and Disconnects Between Third Grade Teachers' Beliefs, Knowledge, and Practices Regarding Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Instruction for Struggling Readers

LINKS AND DISCONNECTS BETWEEN THIRD GRADE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES REGARDING NONFICTION READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION FOR STRUGGLING READERS by Nicole P. Maxwell In the current era of accountability, U. S. teachers face strict demands from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to ensure that all students’ reading achievement meets the requirements of their respective grade levels (Coburn, Pearson, & Woulfin, 2011). These demands are especially stressful when teachers have students who struggle with reading. Regrettably, many students grapple with reading difficulties, particularly with comprehending fiction and nonfiction texts (Allington, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and understandings three third grade teachers held concerning nonfiction reading comprehension instruction for struggling readers and how these beliefs and knowledge influenced their pedagogical practices. This qualitative, interpretive case study examined their beliefs using the theoretical lenses of epistemology (Crotty, 2007; Cunningham & Fitzgerald, 1996; Dillon, O’Brien, & Heilman, 2004; Magrini, 2009), social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978), transactional theory of reading (Rosenblatt, 1994), and the sociocognitive interactive model of reading (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004). The following research questions guided this inquiry: (1) How do third grade teachers support struggling readers when navigating nonfiction texts? (2) What are these third grade teachers’ beliefs and understandings about struggling readers? (3) How do these beliefs influence the third grade teachers’ pedagogical practices with struggling readers? Data collection lasted for five months and involved interviews, classroom observations, teacher debriefs, and the collection of artifacts, including DeFord’s (1985) Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP). Data analysis was conducted using the constant comparative approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The findings in this study revealed links and disconnects between the accommodations teachers believed their struggling readers needed and what they actually provided their struggling readers. These teachers faced pressures of time constraints and a focus on testing, which affected their pedagogical practices. Furthermore, they demonstrated a reliance on content area textbooks and dissatisfaction with the accessibility of nonfiction materials. These findings highlight the need for preservice and in-service teachers to have access to quality nonfiction materials to use in the classroom and instruction on how to provide nonfiction comprehension instruction to their struggling readers. LINKS AND DISCONNECTS BETWEEN THIRD GRADE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES REGARDING NONFICTION READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION FOR STRUGGLING READERS by Nicole P. Maxwell
Algorithmic construction of sets for k-restrictions

This work addresses k-restriction problems, which unify combinatorial problems of the following type: The goal is to construct a short list of strings in Σm that satisfies a given set of k-wise demands. For every k positions and every demand, there must be at least one string in the list that satisfies the demand at these positions. Problems of this form frequently arise in different fields in Computer Science.The standard approach for deterministically solving such problems is via almost k-wise independence or k-wise approximations for other distributions. We offer a generic algorithmic method that yields considerably smaller constructions. To this end, we generalize a previous work of Naor et al. [1995]. Among other results, we enhance the combinatorial objects in the heart of their method, called splitters, and construct multi-way splitters, using a new discrete version of the topological Necklace Splitting Theorem [Alon 1987]. We utilize our methods to show improved constructions for group testing [Ngo and Du 2000] and generalized hashing [Alon et al. 2003], and an improved inapproximability result for SET-COVER under the assumption P &neq; NP.
Published in Iet Systems Biology Special Issue Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Iet Systems Biology a Technique for Determining the Signs of Sensitivities of Steady States in Chemical Reaction Networks

This paper studies the direction of change of steady states to parameter perturbations in chemical reaction networks, and, in particular, to changes in conserved quantities. Theoretical considerations lead to the formulation of a computational procedure that provides a set of possible signs of such sensitivities. The procedure is purely algebraic and combinatorial, only using information on stoichiometry, and is independent of the values of kinetic constants. Three examples of important intracellular signal transduction models are worked out as an illustration. In these examples, the set of signs found is minimal, but there is no general guarantee that the set found will always be minimal in other examples. The paper also briefly discusses the relationship of the sign problem to the question of uniqueness of steady states in stoichiometry classes.
Two Simple Formulas for Evaluating the Lower Bound of the Impact Velocity in Vehicle–pedestrian Accidents

Formulas for evaluating the lower bound of the impact velocity are valuable in vehicle–pedestrian accident reconstruction. The theory of classical mechanics and four hypotheses were employed to derive formulas; the research results and simulation/accident tests were employed to validate their feasibility. Then, two simple formulas were developed according to the distance between the rest positions of the vehicle and the pedestrian and the flight‐phase distance. The results showed that the evaluated results by the two proposed formulas are inferior to the existing results. The influence of a roadside step on the impact velocity, which decreased with an increase in the flight‐phase distance and a reduction in the road slope, was evaluated. Based on a real accident, the study concludes that the lower bound can be easily obtained with the proposed formulas, which can be used to determine the evaluated impact velocity during simulations.
TORA stabilization via dynamic surface control technique

This paper considers the stabilization problem of translational oscillator with rotational actuator (TORA), a widely studied nonlinear mechanical system. TORA models resonance capture phenomenon observed in dual-spin spacecraft and rotating machinery. The design of control law for TORA is challenging because of its underactuated nature, posing problems in exact feedback linearization. A novel nonlinear controller design for TORA is presented: exploiting recently introduced dynamic surface control. The design procedure is simpler and more intuitive than already presented designs. Stability of the controller end advantages over existing backstepping controllers are analyzed theoretically and verified using numerical simulations.
An empirical investigation into a large-scale Java open source code repository

Getting insight into different aspects of source code artifacts is increasingly important -- yet there is little empirical research using large bodies of source code, and subsequently there are not much statistically significant evidence of common patterns and facts of how programmers write source code. We pose 32 research questions, explain rationale behind them, and obtain facts from 2,080 randomly chosen Java applications from Sourceforge. Among these facts we find that most methods have one or zero arguments or they do not return any values, few methods are overridden, most inheritance hierarchies have the depth of one, close to 50% of classes are not explicitly inherited from any classes, and the number of methods is strongly correlated with the number of fields in a class.
Electronic tracking of patients with dementia and wandering using mobile phone technology.

SIR—Wandering is a common problem in people with dementia. Current methods of physical or chemical restraint are unpalatable and can have serious adverse effects. Locating missing persons has hitherto been difficult although electronic tagging can locate people within a closed environment, e.g. a residential home. This report describes the use of global positioning system (GPS) technology to locate missing persons anywhere in the country, except inside buildings and on public transport, and to an accuracy of approximately 5 metres. Using a GPS-enabled mobile telephone we were able to locate clients with accuracy and reliability. The only technical problem encountered was user compliance, although significant ethical issues remain.
How are We Doing? The Impact of Motives and Information Use on the Evaluation of Romantic Relationships

A multidimensional model of self-evaluation was modified to examine individuals' perceptions of how they evaluate their romantic relationships. Participants provided estimates of the frequency and usefulness of 10 types of information (objective information, feedback from others, personal standards, feared future relationships, future ideals, positive and negative past relationship information, upward, lateral, and downward social comparison) for meeting four motives (enhancement, improvement, verification, and accuracy) in the context of a romantic relationship. Results from three studies indicate that, overall, personal standards, objective information, and future ideals information were perceived as being used most often to evaluate one's romantic relationship. These types of information were reported as being most useful for meeting all four motives. Social comparison information was reported as least useful and used least often for relationship evaluation. The discussion focuses on the usefulness of considering multiple motives and information types in order to understand how individuals may be evaluating their romantic relationships.
Comparison of Cancer-Associated Genetic Abnormalities in Columnar-Lined Esophagus Tissues With and Without Goblet Cells

Objective:To determine and compare the frequency of cancer-associated genetic abnormalities in esophageal metaplasia biopsies with and without goblet cells. Background:Barrett's esophagus is associated with increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), but the appropriate histologic definition of Barrett's esophagus is debated. Intestinal metaplasia (IM) is defined by the presence of goblet cells whereas nongoblet cell metaplasia (NGM) lacks goblet cells. Both have been implicated in EAC risk but this is controversial. Although IM is known to harbor genetic changes associated with EAC, little is known about NGM. We hypothesized that if NGM and IM infer similar EAC risk, then they would harbor similar genetic aberrations in genes associated with EAC. Methods:Ninety frozen NGM, IM, and normal tissues from 45 subjects were studied. DNA copy number abnormalities were identified using microarrays and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Targeted sequencing of all exons from 20 EAC-associated genes was performed on metaplasia biopsies using Ion AmpliSeq DNA sequencing. Results:Frequent copy number abnormalities targeting cancer-associated genes were found in IM whereas no such changes were observed in NGM. In 1 subject, fluorescence in situ hybridization confirmed loss of CDKN2A and amplification of chromosome 8 in IM but not in a nearby NGM biopsy. Targeted sequencing revealed 11 nonsynonymous mutations in 16 IM samples and 2 mutations in 19 NGM samples. Conclusions:This study reports the largest and most comprehensive comparison of DNA aberrations in IM and NGM genomes. Our results show that IM has a much higher frequency of cancer-associated mutations than NGM.
Alanine Dehydrogenase Activity Is Required for Adequate Progression of Phycobilisome Degradation during Nitrogen Starvation in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

ABSTRACT Degradation of the cyanobacterial light-harvesting antenna, the phycobilisome, is a general acclimation response that is observed under various stress conditions. In this study we identified a novel mutant of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 that exhibits impaired phycobilisome degradation specifically during nitrogen starvation, unlike previously described mutants, which exhibit aberrant degradation under nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus starvation conditions. The phenotype of the new mutant, AldΩ, results from inactivation of ald (encoding alanine dehydrogenase). AldΩ is deficient in transcription induction of a number of genes during nitrogen starvation. These genes include the “general nutrient stress-related” genes, nblA and nblC, the products of which are essential for phycobilisome degradation. Furthermore, transcripts of several specific nitrogen-responsive genes accumulate at lower levels in AldΩ than in the wild-type strain. In contrast, ald inactivation did not decrease the accumulation of transcripts during sulfur starvation. Transcription of ald is induced upon nitrogen starvation, which is consistent with the ability of wild-type cells to maintain a low cellular content of alanine under these conditions. Unlike wild-type cells, AldΩ accumulates alanine upon nitrogen starvation. Our analyses suggest that alanine dehydrogenase activity is necessary for an adequate cellular response to nitrogen starvation. Decomposition of alanine may be required to provide a sufficient amount of ammonia. Furthermore, the accumulated alanine, or a related metabolite, may interfere with the cues that modulate acclimation during nitrogen starvation. Taken together, our results provide novel information regarding cellular responses to nitrogen starvation and suggest that mechanisms related to nitrogen-specific responses are involved in modulation of a general acclimation process.
Cigarette Smoking, Knowledge, Attitude and Prediction of Smoking Between Male Students, Teachers and Clergymen in Tehran, Iran, 2009

Background: Students, clergymen and teachers as role models can be very important in encouragement or prevention of cigarette smoking in young people. The aim of this study was to compare prevalence of smoking in 3 male groups of teachers, clergymen and university students. Also, study their knowledge and attitude towards it and the prediction of their future consumption. Methods: In a cross sectional study in 2009 in Tehran, Iran, 1,271 male students, 549 clergymen and 551 teachers were randomly enrolled. Each participant completed the global adult tobacco survey questionnaire. Knowledge, attitude and prediction of smoking for the next 5 years were questioned in these 3 groups. Chi-squared test and logistic regression were used for analysis. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Prevalence of cigarette smoking was 31.1%, 21.9% and 27.2% among students, clergymen and teachers, respectively. Smoking in students was not associated with poor knowledge but were in teachers and clergymen. The odds ratio of smoking in students, clergymen and teachers was higher among those with having inappropriate attitude towards it (OR = 1.6, 6.1 and 4.5). Those with poor knowledge had an inappropriate attitude and predicted higher chance of cigarette consumption in the next 5 years (P < 0.0001). Inappropriate attitude in all 3 groups resulted in higher prediction of future smoking (P = 0.008). Conclusions: This study revealed that the prevalence of smoking among male students and teachers was higher than general population and clergymen who equally smoked. Also, level of knowledge and attitude of students were lower than teachers and clergymen.