Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Propensity matched comparison of extrapleural pneumonectomy and pleurectomy/decortication for mesothelioma patients.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this retrospective study was to assess perioperative outcomes, overall survival and freedom from recurrence after induction chemotherapy followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) or pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) in patients with mesothelioma in a propensity score matched analysis. METHODS Between September 1999 and August 2015, 167 patients received multimodality treatment (platinum-based chemotherapy followed by EPP [ n = 141] or P/D [ n = 26]). We performed 2:1 propensity score matching for gender, laterality, epithelioid histological subtype and International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMig) stage (52 EPP and 26 P/D). RESULTS Postoperative major morbidity (48% vs 58%, P = 0.5) was similar in both groups; however, the complication profile and severity were different and favoured P/D; the 90-day mortality (8% vs 0%, P = 0.3) rate was lower in P/D although not statistically significant. Prolonged air leak (≥10 days) occurred in 15 patients (58%) undergoing P/D. The intensive care unit stay was significantly longer after EPP ( P = 0.001). Freedom from recurrence was similar for both groups (EPP: median 15 months, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 10-21; P/D: 13 months, 95% CI: 11-17) ( P = 0.2). Overall survival was significantly longer for patients undergoing P/D (median 32 months, 95% CI: 29-35) compared to EPP (23 months, 95% CI: 21-25) ( P = 0.031), but in the P/D group many cases were censored (73%) and the follow-up time was relatively short. CONCLUSIONS P/D and EPP seem to have similar rates of major morbidity, although the profile of complications is different and more severe after EPP. Freedom from recurrence is comparable in both groups whereas improved overall survival needs to be confirmed in a large patient group with longer follow-up.
Antioxidant and Protective Effect of Ethyl Acetate Extract of Podophyllum Hexandrum Rhizome on Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Rat Liver Injury

The antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities of ethyl acetate extract was carefully investigated by the methods of DPPH radical scavenging activity, Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, Superoxide radical scavenging activity, Hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activity and its Reducing power ability. All these in vitro antioxidant activities were concentration dependent which were compared with standard antioxidants such as BHT, α-tocopherol. The hepatoprotective potential of Podophyllum hexandrum extract was also evaluated in male Wistar rats against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver damage. Pre-treated rats were given ethyl acetate extract at 20, 30 and 50 mg/kg dose prior to CCl4 administration (1 ml/kg, 1:1 in olive oil). Rats pre-treated with Podophyllum hexandrum extract remarkably prevented the elevation of serum AST, ALT, LDH and liver lipid peroxides in CCl4-treated rats. Hepatic glutathione levels were significantly increased by the treatment with the extract in all the experimental groups. The extract at the tested doses also restored the levels of liver homogenate enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S- transferase) significantly. This study suggests that ethyl acetate extract of P. hexandrum has a liver protective effect against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity and possess in vitro antioxidant activities.
Circulating Brain‐Derived Neurotrophic Factor Concentrations and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in the Community

In the article by Kaess et al, “Circulating Brain‐Derived Neurotrophic Factor Concentrations and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in the Community,” which published online March 11, 2015, and appeared in the March 2015 issue of the journal ( J Am Heart Assoc . 2015;4:e001544 doi: [10.1161/
A Navigation Function For Uncertain Environment

This paper introduces a novel motion planning algorithm for stochastic scenarios. We extend the concept of a navigation function to such scenarios. Our main idea is to consider both the Gaussian distribution probabilities of the players' locations and disc (or star sets) geometry of the objects operating in the work space. We do so by formulating a probability density function that encloses both. We use the PDF to define a metric between the robot, the obstacles and the configuration space boundary. In order to define the navigation function we formulate a safe probability value for collision. By analytically investigating the PDF we find a convenient approximation for a safe distance in the sense of that metric. We prove that the resulting map is a navigation function and demonstrate our algorithm for various scenarios.
Do Initial Endowments Matter Only Initially ? Birth Weight , Parental Investments and Academic Achievement in School

This paper investigates the causal relationship between b irth weight and school achievement among children in grades 1 through 8. A 10% increase in birth w eight improves performance in math by nearly 0.05 standard deviations in 1st grade. The causal link is ide ntifi d by using a twins fixed effects estimator we collected birth weight and basic demographic data on all twins born in Chile between 1992-2000 and match these twin pairs to administrative school records between 2 002-2008. We exploit repeated observations on twin pairs to show that while OLS estimates predict a steady decli n in the birth weight effect in later grades, twins fixed effects estimates predict a persistenteffect that does not deteriorate as children advance throug grade 8. The difference in the two estimates is likely due to the rol f parental investments and other unobserved family characteristics. Using detailed data on parental in vestments, we find that while parental investments are correlated with birth weight, they do not differ between twi ns. There are no differences in school attendance by birth weight, suggesting that missing school perhaps due to health problems is likely not a channel via which test score differentials arise. † UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA , SAN DIEGO; MARSHALL SCHOOL OFBUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERNCALIFORNIA ; YALE UNIVERSITY Date: This draft: September 2010. The authors wish to thank the “ Departamento de Estadísticas e Información de Salud del Min isterio de Salud(MINSAL) and Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) of the government of Chile f or providing access to the data used in this study. Thanks als o to Michael Boozer, Adrian de la Garza, Bhash Mazumder and Seth Z immerman and seminar participants at Yale University, ITAM and the Chicago FED for their comments and suggestions. 1 2 BHARADWAJ, EBERHARD & NEILSON "We came into the world like brother and brother; And now let’ s go hand in hand, not one before another. " Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors
Imaging angiogenesis and the microenvironment  

Intravital microscopy has provided unprecedented insights into tumor pathophysiology, including angiogenesis and the microenvironment. Tumor vasculature shows an abnormal organization, structure, and function. Tumor vessels are leaky, blood flow is heterogeneous and often compromised. Vascular hyperpermeability and the lack of functional lymphatic vessels inside tumors causes elevation of interstitial fluid pressure in solid tumors. These abnormalities form physiological barriers to the delivery of therapeutic agents to tumors and also lead to a hostile microenvironment characterized by hypoxia and acidosis, which hinders the effectiveness of anti‐tumor treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In addition, host‐tumor interactions regulate expression of pro‐ and anti‐angiogenic factors, resulting in pathophysiological characteristics of the tumor. On the other hand, in a physiological setting, angiogenic vessels become mature and form long‐lasting functional units. Restoring the balance of pro‐ and anti‐angiogenic factors in tumors may “normalize” tumor vasculature and thus improve its function. Administration of cytotoxic therapy during the vascular normalization would enhance its efficacy.
Size Matters: Individual Variation in Ectotherm Growth and Asymptotic Size

Body size, and, by extension, growth has impacts on physiology, survival, attainment of sexual maturity, fecundity, generation time, and population dynamics, especially in ectotherm animals that often exhibit extensive growth following attainment of sexual maturity. Frequently, growth is analyzed at the population level, providing useful population mean growth parameters but ignoring individual variation that is also of ecological and evolutionary significance. Our long-term study of Lake Erie Watersnakes, Nerodia sipedon insularum, provides data sufficient for a detailed analysis of population and individual growth. We describe population mean growth separately for males and females based on size of known age individuals (847 captures of 769 males, 748 captures of 684 females) and annual growth increments of individuals of unknown age (1,152 males, 730 females). We characterize individual variation in asymptotic size based on repeated measurements of 69 males and 71 females that were each captured in five to nine different years. The most striking result of our analyses is that asymptotic size varies dramatically among individuals, ranging from 631–820 mm snout-vent length in males and from 835–1125 mm in females. Because female fecundity increases with increasing body size, we explore the impact of individual variation in asymptotic size on lifetime reproductive success using a range of realistic estimates of annual survival. When all females commence reproduction at the same age, lifetime reproductive success is greatest for females with greater asymptotic size regardless of annual survival. But when reproduction is delayed in females with greater asymptotic size, lifetime reproductive success is greatest for females with lower asymptotic size when annual survival is low. Possible causes of individual variation in asymptotic size, including individual- and cohort-specific variation in size at birth and early growth, warrant further investigation.
MICROTOMES AND MICROTOME KNIVES ? A REVIEW AND PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION

key words and running titles The second page should carry an abstract of not more than 250 words and should state the purpose of study, brief materials and methods, the findings and principal conclusion. Please repeat the main title at the 82 Annals of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Vol. 19 No. 2 2012 beginning, and followed by a short running title. Please provide a minimum of 6 keywords.
TDP2/TTRAP Is the Major 5′-Tyrosyl DNA Phosphodiesterase Activity in Vertebrate Cells and Is Critical for Cellular Resistance to Topoisomerase II-induced DNA Damage

Topoisomerase II (Top2) activity involves an intermediate in which the topoisomerase is covalently bound to a DNA double-strand break via a 5′-phosphotyrosyl bond. Although these intermediates are normally transient, they can be stabilized by antitumor agents that act as Top2 “poisons,” resulting in the induction of cytotoxic double-strand breaks, and they are implicated in the formation of site-specific translocations that are commonly associated with cancer. Recently, we revealed that TRAF and TNF receptor-associated protein (TTRAP) is a 5′-tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase (5′-TDP) that can cleave 5′-phosphotyrosyl bonds, and we denoted this protein tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase-2 (TDP2). Here, we have generated TDP2-deleted DT40 cells, and we show that TDP2 is the major if not the only 5′-TDP activity present in vertebrate cells. We also show that TDP2-deleted DT40 cells are highly sensitive to the anticancer Top2 poison, etoposide, but are not hypersensitive to the Top1 poison camptothecin or the DNA-alkyating agent methyl methanesulfonate. These data identify an important mechanism for resistance to Top2-induced chromosome breakage and raise the possibility that TDP2 is a significant factor in cancer development and treatment.
Worry, beliefs about worry and problem solving in young children.

BACKGROUND Childhood worry is common, and yet little is known about why some children develop pathological worry and others do not. Two theories of adult worry that are particularly relevant to children are Davey's problem-solving model in which perseverative worry occurs as a result of thwarted problem-solving attempts, and Wells' metacognitive model, in which positive and negative beliefs about worry interact to produce pathological worry. AIMS The present study aimed to test hypotheses that levels of worry in young children are associated with poor or avoidant solution generation for social problems, and poor problem-solving confidence. It also aimed to explore beliefs about worry in this age group, and to examine their relationships with worry, anxiety and age. METHOD Fifty-seven young children (6-10 years) responded to open ended questions about social problem-solving situations and beliefs about worry, and completed measures of worry, anxiety and problem-solving confidence. RESULTS Children with higher levels of worry and anxiety reported using more avoidant solutions in social problem situations and children's low confidence in problem solving was associated with high levels of worry. Children as young as 6 years old reported both positive and negative beliefs about worry, but neither were associated with age, gender, or level of anxiety or worry. CONCLUSIONS RESULTS indicate similarities between adults and children in the relationships between problem-solving variables and worry, but not in relationships between beliefs about worry and worry. This may be due to developmental factors, or may be the result of measurement issues.
Bootstrapping incremental dialogue systems: using linguistic knowledge to learn from minimal data

We present a method for inducing new dialogue systems from very small amounts of unannotated dialogue data, showing how word-level exploration using Reinforcement Learning (RL), combined with an incremental and semantic grammar - Dynamic Syntax (DS) - allows systems to discover, generate, and understand many new dialogue variants. The method avoids the use of expensive and time-consuming dialogue act annotations, and supports more natural (incremental) dialogues than turn-based systems. Here, language generation and dialogue management are treated as a joint decision/optimisation problem, and the MDP model for RL is constructed automatically. With an implemented system, we show that this method enables a wide range of dialogue variations to be automatically captured, even when the system is trained from only a single dialogue. The variants include question-answer pairs, over- and under-answering, self- and other-corrections, clarification interaction, split-utterances, and ellipsis. This generalisation property results from the structural knowledge and constraints present within the DS grammar, and highlights some limitations of recent systems built using machine learning techniques only.
Efficient Polarization Diversity Grating Couplers in Bonded InP-Membrane

We report on the design, fabrication, and measurement of compact and efficient grating couplers between fiber and nanophotonic waveguides, in a polarization diversity configuration. This approach allows for polarization-independent integrated circuits. The gratings and waveguides are fabricated in a benzocyclobutene (BCB)-bonded InP-membrane, with high vertical refractive index contrast. The coupling loss of the gratings is 3.3 dB and the measured polarization-dependent loss is 0.79 dB.
Temporally Coherent Visual Stimuli Boost Ocular Dominance Plasticity

Does cortical plasticity depend on the temporal coherence of visual stimuli? We addressed this question by studying ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in mice that were stimulated by moving square wave gratings for 6 h/d during a period of monocular deprivation (MD). It turned out that 4 d of deprivation were sufficient to induce a saturated shift in plasticity in adult (older than postnatal day 100) mice. Seeking to determine the shortest effective period of stimulation, we further showed that even 2 d of deprivation and stimulation shifted OD at any age. This shift was achieved by a decline in deprived-eye input that was saturated within 2 d and did not change during 7 d of MD. However, after 2 weeks of MD, cortical activity induced by both eyes increased again and this increase did not depend on continued stimulation, suggesting a homeostatic mechanism. Starting stimulation 4 d before MD did not mask OD plasticity, showing that the effect is not merely due to the “stimulus-dependent response potentiation” described recently (Frenkel et al., 2006). These results are the first to demonstrate the influence of stimulus quality on cortical plasticity and that cortical responses can be changed within very short periods of time (merely 2 d).
Automatic error finding in access-control policies

Verifying that access-control systems maintain desired security properties is recognized as an important problem in security. Enterprise access-control systems have grown to protect tens of thousands of resources, and there is a need for verification to scale commensurately. We present a new abstraction-refinement technique for automatically finding errors in Administrative Role-Based Access Control (ARBAC) security policies. ARBAC is the first and most comprehensive administrative scheme for Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) systems. Underlying our approach is a change in mindset: we propose that error finding complements verification, can be more scalable, and allows for the use of a wider variety of techniques. In our approach, we use an abstraction-refinement technique to first identify and discard roles that are unlikely to be relevant to the verification question (the abstraction step), and then restore such abstracted roles incrementally (the refinement steps). Errors are one-sided: if there is an error in the abstracted policy, then there is an error in the original policy. If there is an error in a policy whose role-dependency graph diameter is smaller than a certain bound, then we find the error. Our abstraction-refinement technique complements conventional state-space exploration techniques such as model checking. We have implemented our technique in an access-control policy analysis tool. We show empirically that our tool scales well to realistic policies, and is orders of magnitude faster than prior tools.
Real-World Carbon Dioxide Impacts of Traffic Congestion

Transportation plays a significant role in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for approximately a third of the U.S. inventory. To reduce CO2 emissions in the future, transportation policy makers are planning on making vehicles more efficient and increasing the use of carbon-neutral alternative fuels. In addition, CO2 emissions can be lowered by improving traffic operations, specifically through the reduction of traffic congestion. Traffic congestion and its impact on CO2 emissions were examined by using detailed energy and emission models, and they were linked to real-world driving patterns and traffic conditions. With typical traffic conditions in Southern California as an example, it was found that CO2 emissions could be reduced by up to almost 20% through three different strategies: congestion mitigation strategies that reduce severe congestion, allowing traffic to flow at better speeds; speed management techniques that reduce excessively high free-flow speeds to more moderate conditions; and shock wave suppression techniques that eliminate the acceleration and deceleration events associated with the stop-and-go traffic that exists during congested conditions.
Enhancement of Antibacterial Activity of Capped Silver Nanoparticles in Combination with Antibiotics, on Model Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Bacteria

The nanoparticles used in this study were prepared from AgNO3 using NaBH4 in the presence of capping agents such as citrate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The formed nanoparticles were characterized with UV-Vis, TEM, and XRD. The generation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed from the appearance of yellow colour and an absorption maximum between 399 and 404 nm. The produced nanoparticles were found to be spherical in shape and polydisperse. For citrate, SDS, and PVP capped nanoparticles, the average particle sizes were 38.3 ± 13.5, 19.3 ± 6.0, and 16.0 ± 4.8 nm, respectively. The crystallinity of the nanoparticles in FCC structure is confirmed from the SAED and XRD patterns. Also, the combined antibacterial activity of these differently capped nanoparticles with selected antibiotics (streptomycin, ampicillin, and tetracycline) was evaluated on model Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, employing disc diffusion assay. The activity of the tested antibiotics was enhanced in combination with all the stabilized nanoparticles, against both the Gram classes of bacteria. The combined effects of silver nanoparticles and antibiotics were more prominent with PVP capped nanoparticles as compared to citrate and SDS capped ones. The results of this study demonstrate potential therapeutic applications of silver nanoparticles in combination with antibiotics.
Learning optimal audiovisual phasing for an HMM-based control model for facial animation

We propose here an HMM-based trajectory formation sys- tem that predicts articulatory trajectories of a talking face from phonetic input. In order to add flexibility to the acoustic/ gestural alignment and take into account anticipatory ges- tures, a phasing model has been developed that predicts the delays between the acoustic boundaries of allophones to be synthesized and the gestural boundaries of HMM triphones. The HMM triphones and the phasing model are trained simultaneously using an iterative analysis-synthesis loop. Con- vergence is obtained within a few iterations. We demonstrate here that the phasing model improves significantly the pre- diction error and captures subtle context-dependent antici- patory phenomena.
Diffusely Adherent Escherichia coli as a Cause of Acute Diarrhea in Young Children in Northeast Brazil: a Case-Control Study

ABSTRACT In a prospective study carried out in two urban centers in northeastern Brazil, 195 HEp-2-adherent Escherichia coli strains were isolated; 110 were identified as the only pathogen in stools of children with diarrhea, and 85 were from controls. Enteropathogenic E. coli isolates were identified in 21 children with diarrhea (8.9%) and 7 children without diarrhea (3.0%), and they were significantly associated with diarrhea (P < 0.01). Enteroaggregative E. coli strains were isolated from 40 children with diarrhea (16.9%) and 38 children without diarrhea (16.4%) and showed no correlation with diarrhea (P > 0.5). In 49 children with diarrhea (20.7%) and 40 children without diarrhea (17.3%), diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC) isolates were detected and were not found to be associated with diarrhea (P = 0.41). However, after stratification, for children older than 12 months of age a significant correlation between DAEC infection and diarrhea was detected (P = 0.01). These results suggest that DAEC isolates should be considered potential pathogens in northeastern Brazil and also confirm the association of DAEC with age-dependent diarrhea.