Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recurrence and mortality in adulthood adrenocortical tumors: analysis from the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer experience.

Introduction: While adrenocortical adenomas (ACA) are usually of indolent course, carcinomas (ACC) are very aggressive, extremely rare and harbor a poor prognosis. This study aimed to describe the experience of a highcomplexity cancer center in the management of adrenocortical tumors (ACT) and additionally to identify clinical and pathology prognostic factors of recurrence and death in this population. Methods: Clinical, pathology, demographic, staging, and therapy data from patients with adulthood ACT treated at the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer between 1997 and 2015 were assessed in this retrospective study. Univariate and bivariate analysis were used to study the association of clinical and pathology characteristics with recurrence and mortality. Recurrence and disease-related mortality were the main outcomes. Results: Twenty-six patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and 22 with adrenocortical adenoma (ACA) were included. The median tumor size was 14 cm and 3.1 cm respectively. Complete resection was achieved in only 13 patients (50%) with ACC. Mitotane was the most common adjuvant/palliative therapy (n=15). Recurrence occurred in six ACC patients, after a median time of 1.7 year. Thirteen (54%) patients with ACC died from the disease. Advanced stage (p<0.001), metastatic disease (p=0.004), incomplete tumor resection (p=0.04), and capsular invasion (p=0.04) were all associated with increased death risk. Conclusion: Complete tumor resection remains the only potential curable strategy for ACC patients. Therefore, prompt diagnosis of malignant adrenocortical tumors is essential.
Association between Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Exacerbation of Major Depression Symptoms?

Introduction: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) usually presents neuropsychiatric manifestations, such as psychosis, convulsion, mood disorder and chronic headache, with mood disorder being the most prevalent. It is also known that other psychiatric disorders and menstrual cycle disorders are frequent in SLE. The aim of this study was to describe for the first time the frequency of premenstrual dysphoric disorder in patients with SLE diagnosis, and its association with depression and anxiety. Material and Methods: An evaluation was made of 62 (sixty-two) patients with diagnosis of SLE, based on the American College of Rheumatology criteria, who received follow-up care at an ambulatory reference center. The patients were submitted to a sociodemographic evaluation questionnaire, upon which the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI PLUS), Brazilian Version 5.0. 0, was used to evaluate the diagnosis. Results: Twenty (32%) patients were found to have premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and there was a statistically significant association with major depression (p = 0.010), but no statistical significance was found with dysthymia (p = 0.063) or anxiety (p = 0.223). Conclusions: The frequency of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) in patients with SLE was high, as well as the frequency of major depression in this group. There was an association between these two disorders.
Nutritional Intervention Restores Muscle but Not Kidney Phenotypes in Adult Calcineurin Aα Null Mice

Mice lacking the α isoform of the catalytic subunit of calcineurin (CnAα) were first reported in 1996 and have been an important model to understand the role of calcineurin in the brain, immune system, bones, muscle, and kidney. Research using the mice has been limited, however, by failure to thrive and early lethality of most null pups. Work in our laboratory led to the rescue of CnAα−/− mice by supplemental feeding to compensate for a defect in salivary enzyme secretion. The data revealed that, without intervention, knockout mice suffer from severe caloric restriction. Since nutritional deprivation is known to significantly alter development, it is imperative that previous conclusions based on CnAα−/− mice are revisited to determine which aspects of the phenotype were attributable to caloric restriction versus a direct role for CnAα. In this study, we find that defects in renal development and function persist in adult CnAα−/− mice including a significant decrease in glomerular filtration rate and an increase in blood urea nitrogen levels. These data indicate that impaired renal development we previously reported was not due to caloric restriction but rather a specific role for CnAα in renal development and function. In contrast, we find that rather than being hypoglycemic, rescued mice are mildly hyperglycemic and insulin resistant. Examination of muscle fiber types shows that previously reported reductions in type I muscle fibers are no longer evident in rescued null mice. Rather, loss of CnAα likely alters insulin response due to a reduction in insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS2) expression and signaling in muscle. This study illustrates the importance of re-examining the phenotypes of CnAα−/− mice and the advances that are now possible with the use of adult, rescued knockout animals.
Multilevel Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Feeling Word Checklist–24

Emotional reactions are a vital part of the therapeutic relationship. The Feeling Word Checklist–24 (FWC-24) is an instrument asking the clinician (or the patient) to report to what degree he or she has experienced various feelings during a therapeutic interaction. The aim of this study was to assess the factor structure of the clinician-rated FWC-24 when taking dependencies in the data into account. The sample was deliberately heterogeneous and consisted of 4,443 ratings made by 101 psychotherapists working with different psychotherapy methods in relation to 191 patients of different ages, genders, and with different primary diagnoses. A random intercept-only model revealed large intraclass correlation coefficients at the therapist level, indicating that a multilevel analysis was warranted. A two-level exploratory factor analysis with therapists as the between level and patients plus sessions as the within level was conducted. The items from FWC-24 were found to be best represented by four factors on the between level and four factors on the within level. The factor structures were largely similar on the two levels and were labeled Engaged, Inadequate, Relaxed, and Moved. The different factors explained different amounts of variance on different levels, indicating that some factors are more therapist dependent and some more patient dependent.
Rings in the haloes of planetary nebulae

We present a search for rings or arcs in the haloes of planetary nebulae (PNe). We discovered such structures in eight PNe, tripling the sample of PNe with known rings. This shows that, contrary to what was believed to date, the occurrence of mass loss fluctuations with timescales of 10 2 -10 3 yrs at the end of the asymptotic giant branch phase (AGB) is common. We estimate a lower limit of the occurrence rate of rings in PN haloes to be ∼35%. Using these new detections and the cases previously known, we discuss the statistical properties of ring systems in PNe haloes. We estimate that the mass modulation producing the rings takes place during the last 10 000 or 20 000 yrs of AGB evolution. In PNe, the spacing between rings ranges from <0.01 pc to 0.06 pc, significantly larger than those seen in proto-PNe. This, together with the finding of a possible positive correlation of spacing with the post-AGB age of the nebulae, suggests that the spacing of the rings increases with time. These properties, as well as the modest surface brightness amplitudes of rings, are consistent with the predictions of the dust- driven wind instability model explored by Meijerink et al. (2003), but do not immediately exclude other proposed models.
Dapper

We pose the decompose-and-pack or DAP problem, which tightly combines shape decomposition and packing. While in general, DAP seeks to decompose an input shape into a small number of parts which can be efficiently packed, our focus is geared towards 3D printing. The goal is to optimally decompose-and-pack a 3D object into a printing volume to minimize support material, build time, and assembly cost. We present Dapper, a global optimization algorithm for the DAP problem which can be applied to both powder- and FDM-based 3D printing. The solution search is top-down and iterative. Starting with a coarse decomposition of the input shape into few initial parts, we progressively pack a pile in the printing volume, by iteratively docking parts, possibly while introducing cuts, onto the pile. Exploration of the search space is via a prioritized and bounded beam search, with breadth and depth pruning guided by local and global DAP objectives. A key feature of Dapper is that it works with pyramidal primitives, which are packing- and printing-friendly. Pyramidal shapes are also more general than boxes to reduce part counts, while still maintaining a suitable level of simplicity to facilitate DAP optimization. We demonstrate printing efficiency gains achieved by Dapper, compare to state-of-the-art alternatives, and show how fabrication criteria such as cut area and part size can be easily incorporated into our solution framework to produce more physically plausible fabrications.
Bulbocavernosus reflex to stimulation of prostatic urethra in patients with lifelong premature ejaculation.

INTRODUCTION Lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) is a prevalent sexual dysfunction among men, while its precise pathologic mechanisms have remained poorly understood. AIM In our study, the correlation between excitability of bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) to stimulation of the prostatic urethra and LPE was studied. METHODS Twenty normal potent male volunteers and 42 patients with LPE were studied by inserting a specially designed Foley catheter with two electrodes mounted on its distal surface (intraurethral catheter electrode) into bladder to evoke the BCR to stimulation of prostatic urethra. Also, sensitivity of glans penis to electrical stimulation was detected by two surface electrodes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Sensory thresholds of BCR to stimulation of prostatic urethra, thresholds to evoke stable BCR, latencies of BCR, and sensory thresholds of glans penis to electrical stimulation. RESULTS The mean sensory thresholds of BCR to stimulation of prostatic urethra, thresholds to evoke stable BCR, latencies of BCR, and sensory thresholds of glans penis were 12.38±3.71 mA (0.2 ms in duration, 1 Hz), 23.81±5.55 mA (0.2 ms, 1 Hz), 70.48±6.33 ms, and 11.89±2.26 mA (0.04 ms in duration,3 Hz) in the patients with LPE, respectively, and were 18.20±2.68 mA (0.2 ms, 1 Hz), 34.76 ± 4.15 mA (0.2 ms, 1 Hz), 71.20±5.77 ms, and 14.16±1.94 mA (0.04 ms, 3 Hz) in the normal potent men, respectively (mean±SD). Statistically significant differences were seen regarding the sensory thresholds of BCR to stimulation of prostatic urethra, the thresholds to evoke stable BCR and the sensory thresholds of glans penis between the two groups (P<0.001). No statistically significant differences were seen regarding the latencies of BCR between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Patients with LPE might have hyperexcitable BCR to stimulation of prostatic urethra, which is probably one of the important factors for its etiology.
Gustatory Perception and Fat Body Energy Metabolism Are Jointly Affected by Vitellogenin and Juvenile Hormone in Honey Bees

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide a system for studying social and food-related behavior. A caste of workers performs age-related tasks: young bees (nurses) usually feed the brood and other adult bees inside the nest, while older bees (foragers) forage outside for pollen, a protein/lipid source, or nectar, a carbohydrate source. The workers' transition from nursing to foraging and their foraging preferences correlate with differences in gustatory perception, metabolic gene expression, and endocrine physiology including the endocrine factors vitellogenin (Vg) and juvenile hormone (JH). However, the understanding of connections among social behavior, energy metabolism, and endocrine factors is incomplete. We used RNA interference (RNAi) to perturb the gene network of Vg and JH to learn more about these connections through effects on gustation, gene transcripts, and physiology. The RNAi perturbation was achieved by single and double knockdown of the genes ultraspiracle (usp) and vg, which encode a putative JH receptor and Vg, respectively. The double knockdown enhanced gustatory perception and elevated hemolymph glucose, trehalose, and JH. We also observed transcriptional responses in insulin like peptide 1 (ilp1), the adipokinetic hormone receptor (AKHR), and cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG, or “foraging gene” Amfor). Our study demonstrates that the Vg–JH regulatory module controls changes in carbohydrate metabolism, but not lipid metabolism, when worker bees shift from nursing to foraging. The module is also placed upstream of ilp1, AKHR, and PKG for the first time. As insulin, adipokinetic hormone (AKH), and PKG pathways influence metabolism and gustation in many animals, we propose that honey bees have conserved pathways in carbohydrate metabolism and conserved connections between energy metabolism and gustatory perception. Thus, perhaps the bee can make general contributions to the understanding of food-related behavior and metabolic disorders.
Polynomially Decomposable Global Cost Functions in Weighted Constraint Satisfaction

In maintaining consistencies, such as GAC*, FDGAC* and weak EDGAC*, for global cost functions, Weighted CSP (WCSP) solvers rely on the projection and extension operations, which entail the computation of the cost functions' minima. Tractability of this minimum computation is essential for efficient execution. Since projections/extensions modify the cost functions, an important issue is tractable projection-safety, concerning whether minimum cost computation remains tractable after projections/extensions. In this paper, we prove that tractable projection-safety is always possible for projections/extensions to/from the nullary cost function (W0), and always impossible for projections/extensions to/from n-ary cost functions for n > = 2. When n = 1, the answer is indefinite. We give a simple negative example, while Lee and Leung's flow-based projection-safe cost functions are also tractable projection-safe. We propose polynomially decomposable cost functions, which are amenable to tractable minimum computation. We further prove that the polynomial decomposability property is unaffected by projections/extensionsto/from unary cost functions. Thus, polynomially decomposable cost functions are tractable projection-safe. We show that the SOFT_AMONG, SOFT_REGULAR, SOFT_GRAMMAR and MAX_WEIGHT/MIN_WEIGHT are polynomially decomposable. They are embedded in a WCSP solver for extensive experiments to confirm the feasibility and efficiency of our proposal.
Paradigm shift in IPTV service generation: Comparison between locally- and Cloud-rendered IPTV UI

This paper introduces a novel and fundamental change in the creation and delivery of media services like IP Television (IPTV) through the idea of the so-called virtual SetTop Box (vSTB). By shifting most of the service execution environment - e.g. the Web browser - to a Cloud infrastructure, the vSTB concept addresses certain limitations of current IPTV deployments. Nevertheless, routing UI delivery out of the Cloud causes a significant impact on the network infrastructure, which might have some implications for IPTV system response and can therefore result in a lower Quality of Experience overall. This paper describes this approach and its current implementation, as well as identifying and addressing network challenges that emerged in a corresponding project in the Telekom Innovation Laboratories. Furthermore, this paper provides a comparison between IPTV service executed locally on an end-user device (locally-rendered IPTV UI), and that delivered to an end-user after it was executed within the cloud (Cloud-rendered IPTV UI) and empirically shows the feasibility of the presented vSTB Approach.
Métodos granulométricos en la caracterización del árido reciclado para su uso en hormigón estructural

Recycled aggregate produced at construction and demolition waste plants is frequently used as an ingredient in structural concrete. Nevertheless, the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of this aggregate must be supervised in order to ensure the quality of the final product. Of these properties, one of the most important is particle size which depends to a great extend on the process used to manufacture the aggregate and it directly affects the consistency, workability, uniformity, and mechanical strength of concrete as well as its density, compactness, permeability and resistance to wear. This paper analyzes recycled aggregate samples with various size grading methods to determine their potential use in concrete. On the one hand, results have showed that some differences between different methods existed; on the other hand the manufacturing process should be modified so that the particle size of the recycled aggregate complied with the guidelines in the EHE-08 Code.
Effects of dietary fat and energy on body weight and composition after gonadectomy in cats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of dietary fat and energy density on body weight gain, body composition, and total energy expenditure (TEE) in neutered and sexually intact cats. ANIMALS 12 male and 12 female cats PROCEDURE Male cats were castrated (castrated male [CM]) or underwent no surgical procedure (sexually intact male [IM]). Female cats underwent ovariectomy (spayed female [SF]) or laparotomy and ligation of both uterine tubes without ovary removal (sexually intact female [IF]). Cats were fed either the low-fat (LF) or high-fat (HF) diet for 26 weeks, with the final allocation consisting of 8 groups: IF-LF IF-HE SF-LF, SF-HF IM-LF, IM-HF, CM-LF, and CM-HF. Mean food intake for each group was recorded daily, and body weight was monitored weekly throughout the study. Body composition and TEE were measured before surgery in week 0 and at the end of the study (week 26) by isotope dilution (double-labelled water). RESULTS N eutered cats gained significantly more body fat and body weight (53.80+/-5.79%) than sexually intact cats (27.11+/-5.79%) during the study. Body weight gain of neutered cats fed the HF diet was greater than those fed the LF diet. Following correction for body composition, TEE was similar in all groups and no pattern towards increased food intake was evident. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Weight gain in neutered cats was decreased by feeding an LF, low energy-dense diet. To prevent weight gain in cats after neutering, a suitable LF diet should be fed in carefully controlled meals rather than ad libitum.
Trading Correctness for Privacy in Unconditional Multi-Party Computation ? Corrected Version ??

This paper improves on the classical results in uncondition- ally secure multi-party computation among a set of n players, by consid- ering a model with three simultaneously occurring types of player cor- ruption: the adversary can actively corrupt (i.e. take full control over) up to ta players and, additionally, can passively corrupt (i.e. read the entire information of) up to tp players and fail-corrupt (i.e. stop the compu- tation of) up to tf other players. The classical results in multi-party computation are for the special cases of only passive (ta = tf =0 ) or only active (tp = tf = 0) corruption. In the passive case, every function can be computed securely if and only if tp <n = 2. In the active case, every function can be computed securely if and only if ta <n =3; when a broadcast channel is available, then this bound is ta <n =2. These bounds are tight. Strictly improving these results, one of our results states that, in addi- tion to tolerating ta <n =3 actively corrupted players, privacy can be guaranteed against every minority, thus tolerating additional tp n=6 passively corrupted players. These protocols require no broadcast and have an exponentially small failure probability. We further show that the bound t<n =2 for passive corruption holds even if the adversary is additionally allowed to make the passively corrupted players fail. Moreover, we characterize completely the achievable thresholds ta, tp and tf for four scenarios. Zero failure probability is achievable if and only if 3ta +2 tp + tf <n ; this holds whether or not a broadcast chan- nel is available. Exponentially small failure probability with a broadcast channel is achievable if and only if 2ta +2 tp +tf <n ; without broadcast, the additional condition 3ta + tf <n is necessary and sucient. In this corrected version, an error pointed out by Damg ard (Dam99) is corrected.
The Twenty-Year Story of a Plant-Based Vaccine Against Hepatitis B: Stagnation or Promising Prospects?

Hepatitis B persists as a common human disease despite effective vaccines having been employed for almost 30 years. Plants were considered as alternative sources of vaccines, to be mainly orally administered. Despite 20-year attempts, no real anti-HBV plant-based vaccine has been developed. Immunization trials, based on ingestion of raw plant tissue and conjugated with injection or exclusively oral administration of lyophilized tissue, were either impractical or insufficient due to oral tolerance acquisition. Plant-produced purified HBV antigens were highly immunogenic when injected, but their yields were initially insufficient for practical purposes. However, knowledge and technology have progressed, hence new plant-derived anti-HBV vaccines can be proposed today. All HBV antigens can be efficiently produced in stable or transient expression systems. Processing of injection vaccines has been developed and needs only to be successfully completed. Purified antigens can be used for injection in an equivalent manner to the present commercial vaccines. Although oral vaccines require improvement, plant tissue, lyophilized or extracted and converted into tablets, etc., may serve as a boosting vaccine. Preliminary data indicate also that both vaccines can be combined in an effective parenteral-oral immunization procedure. A partial substitution of injection vaccines with oral formulations still offers good prospects for economically viable and efficacious anti-HBV plant-based vaccines.
Incidence and structure of gelatinous fibers within rapid-growing Eastern Cottonwood.

An intensive investigation of samples taken within the stems of two 21-year-old Populus deltoides Bartr, trees growing rapidily under plantation management revealed that the percentage of gelatinous fibers in the wood ranged from 0.51-97.87. All positions sampled had some gelatinous fibers even though the trees were selected from within the plantation for their dominance, straightness, freedom from lean, and outstanding form. The incidence of gelatinous fibers was particularly high in the upper bole even though the distribution of gelatinous fibers followed no set pattern. In most cases no gelatinous fibers were observed in the last several tangential rows of the latewood cells, but some were associated with vessel elements. Gradations in structure and chemical composition seemed to be related to the position in the tree. Ultrastructurally, the gelatinous fibers were characterized by the absence of an S a layer, and a G -layer with a high degree of longitudinal orientation that was loosely attached to the secondary wall. The high incidence of gelatinous fibers in these nonleaning trees suggests that lean may not always be the most important factor in tension wood formation, especially when the whole tree is considered, and that other factors must be involved. It is suggested that the incidence of gelatinous fibers may be of particular importance in the utilization of topwood in cotton-wood and in whole trees grown under intensive management.