Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence based medicine and surgical approaches for colon cancer: evidences, benefits and limitations of the laparoscopic vs open resection.

AIM To report a meta-analysis of the studies that compared the laparoscopic with the open approach for colon cancer resection. METHODS Forty-seven manuscripts were reviewed, 33 of which employed for meta-analysis according to the PRISMA guidelines. The results were differentiated according to the study design (prospective randomized trials vs case-control series) and according to the tumor's location. Outcome measures included: (1) short-term results (operating times, blood losses, bowel function recovery, post-operative pain, return to the oral intake, complications and hospital stay); (2) oncological adequateness (number of nodes harvested in the surgical specimens); and (3) long-term results (including the survivals' rates and incidence of incisional hernias) and (4) costs. RESULTS Meta-analysis of trials provided evidences in support of the laparoscopic procedures for a several short-term outcomes including: a lower blood loss, an earlier recovery of the bowel function, an earlier return to the oral intake, a shorter hospital stay and a lower morbidity rate. Opposite the operating time has been confirmed shorter in open surgery. The same trend has been reported investigating case-control series and cancer by sites, even though there are some concerns regarding the power of the studies in this latter field due to the small number of trials and the small sample of patients enrolled. The two approaches were comparable regarding the mean number of nodes harvested and long-term results, even though these variables were documented reviewing the literature but were not computable for meta-analysis. The analysis of the costs documented lower costs for the open surgery, however just few studies investigated the incidence of post-operative hernias. CONCLUSION Laparoscopy is superior for the majority of short-term results. Future studies should better differentiate these approaches on the basis of tumors' location and the post-operative hernias.
The transposable element Bari‐Jheh mediates oxidative stress response in Drosophila

Elucidating the fitness effects of natural genetic variants is one of the current major challenges in evolutionary biology. Understanding the interplay between genotype, phenotype and environment is necessary to make accurate predictions of important biological outcomes such as stress resistance or yield in economically important plants and animals, and disease in humans. Based on population frequency patterns and footprints of selection at the DNA level, the transposable element Bari‐Jheh, inserted in the intergenic region of Juvenile Hormone Epoxy Hydrolase (Jheh) genes, was previously identified as putatively adaptive. However, the adaptive effect of this mutation remained elusive. In this work, we integrate information on transcription factor binding sites, available ChIP‐Seq data, gene expression analyses and phenotypic assays to identify the functional and the mechanistic underpinnings of Bari‐Jheh. We show that Bari‐Jheh adds extra antioxidant response elements upstream of Jheh1 and Jheh2 genes. Accordingly, we find that Bari‐Jheh is associated with upregulation of Jheh1 and Jheh2 and with resistance to oxidative stress induced by two different compounds relevant for natural D. melanogaster populations. We further show that TEs other than Bari‐Jheh might be playing a role in the D. melanogaster response to oxidative stress. Overall our results contribute to the understanding of resistance to oxidative stress in natural populations and highlight the role of transposable elements in environmental adaptation. The replicability of fitness effects on different genetic backgrounds also suggests that epistatic interactions do not seem to dominate the genetic architecture of oxidative stress resistance.
A study on effects of implicit and explicit language model information for DBLSTM-CTC based handwriting recognition

Deep Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (DBLSTM) with a Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) output layer has been established as one of the state-of-the-art solutions for handwriting recognition. It is well-known that the DBLSTM trained by using a CTC objective function will learn both local character image dependency for character modeling and long-range contextual dependency for implicit language modeling. In this paper, we study the effects of implicit and explicit language model information for DBLSTM-CTC based handwriting recognition by comparing the performance of using or without using an explicit language model in decoding. It is observed that even using one million lines of training sentences to train the DBLSTM, using an explicit language model is still helpful. To deal with such a large-scale training problem, a GPU-based training tool has been developed for CTC training of DBLSTM by using a mini-batch based epochwise Back Propagation Through Time (BPTT) algorithm.
The effect of induced incidental disgust on attitudes towards physical disabilities: does intergroup disgust sensitivity moderate?

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB ZH-CN AR-SA The present study investigated whether induced incidental disgust affected attitudes towards individuals with physical disabilities and whether intergroup disgust sensitivity (ITG-DS) would moderate this effect. Thirty seven participants were randomly assigned to either the induced disgust or control condition. They completed two measures: ITG-DS scale and an attitudes scale. As expected, manipulation of disgust was successful ( p The pattern of means was in the predicted direction. Those who were induced to disgust (vs. control) reported more negative attitudes; as did those with greater ITG-DS (vs. lower ITG-DS). Those induced to disgust and greater ITG-DS reported more negative attitudes (vs. control and lower ITG-DS); suggesting an interaction. This extends the findings of incidental emotions and prejudice. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
Random access in millimeter-wave beamforming cellular networks: issues and approaches

With the formidable growth of various booming wireless communication services that require ever increasing data throughputs, the conventional microwave band below 10 GHz, which is currently used by almost all mobile communication systems, is going to reach its saturation point within just a few years. Therefore, the attention of radio system designers has been pushed toward ever higher segments of the frequency spectrum in a quest for increased capacity. In this article we investigate the feasibility, advantages, and challenges of future wireless communications over the Eband frequencies. We start with a brief review of the history of the E-band spectrum and its light licensing policy as well as benefits/challenges. Then we introduce the propagation characteristics of E-band signals, based on which some potential fixed and mobile applications at the E-band are investigated. In particular, we analyze the achievability of a nontrivial multiplexing gain in fixed point-to-point E-band links, and propose an E-band mobile broadband (EMB) system as a candidate for the next generation mobile communication networks. The channelization and frame structure of the EMB system are discussed in detail.
Way-Finding Improves Visual Memory for Built Environments

We describe an experiment that was designed to explore differences between active and passive travelers in a way-finding task. In this study, we ex- amined the effect of active travel mode on spatial and visual memory for a built environment. After completing a way finding task in a university campus, we tested participant's memory for the test route using sketch map, mirror-image discrimination, and scene recognition tests. In addition, we tracked participant's eye movements during the scene recognition test. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that active travelers had enhanced memory for the built envi- ronment. Our data also provide some evidence for qualitative differences be- tween active and passive travelers in the visual cues they used to recognize scenes. Based on our findings, we suggest that travel mode is an important con- sideration when designing built environments.
Analysis of RET, ZEB2, EDN3 and GDNF Genomic Rearrangements in Central Congenital Hyperventilation Syndrome Patients by Multiplex Ligation‐dependent Probe Amplification

Central congenital hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is an autonomous control disease producing hypoventilation, high PaCO2, and low PaO2 during quiet sleep. The main gene variants detected in CCHS are mutations in the PHOX2b gene in up to 97% of isolated cases. However, CCHS is sometimes associated with autonomic diseases such as Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). Since genomic rearrangements in particularly sensitive areas of the RET protooncogene and/or associated genes may account for the CCHS/HSCR phenotype in patients without other detectable RET variants, the aim of the present study was to identify rearrangements in the coding sequence of RET as well as in three HSCR‐associated genes (ZEB2, EDN3 and GDNF) in CCHS/HSCR patients by using Multiplex Ligation‐dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA). We have screened 27 CCHS and 11 CCHS/HSCR patients for genomic rearrangements in RET, ZEB2, EDN3 and GDNF and did not identify any deletion or amplification in these four genes in all patients. We conclude that genomic rearrangements in RET are rare and were not responsible for the CCHS/HSCR phenotype in individuals without identifiable germline RET variants in our group of patients, yet this possibility cannot be excluded altogether given the size of the cohort.
Convolutional-Match Networks for Question Answering

In this paper, we present a simple, yet effective, attention and memory mechanism that is reminis- cent of Memory Networks and we demonstrate it in question-answering scenarios. Our mechanism is based on four simple premises: a) memories can be formed from word sequences by using convo- lutional networks; b) distance measurements can be taken at a neuronal level; c) a recursive soft- max function can be used for attention; d) extensive weight sharing can help profoundly. We achieve state-of-the-art results in the bAbI tasks, outper- forming Memory Networks and the Differentiable Neural Computer, both in terms of accuracy and stability (i.e. variance) of results.
Noncoding plastid trnT‐trnF sequences reveal a well resolved phylogeny of basal angiosperms

Recent contributions from DNA sequences have revolutionized our concept of systematic relationships in angiosperms. However, parts of the angiosperm tree remain unclear. Previous studies have been based on coding or rDNA regions of relatively conserved genes. A phylogeny for basal angiosperms based on noncoding, fast‐evolving sequences of the chloroplast genome region trnT‐trnF is presented. The recognition of simple direct repeats allowed a robust alignment. Mutational hot spots appear to be confined to certain sectors, as in two stem‐loop regions of the trnL intron secondary structure. Our highly resolved and well‐supported phylogeny depicts the New Caledonian Amborella as the sister to all other angiosperms, followed by Nymphaeaceae and an Austrobaileya–Illicium–Schisandra clade. Ceratophyllum is substantiated as a close relative of monocots, as is a monophyletic eumagnoliid clade consisting of Piperales plus Winterales sister to Laurales plus Magnoliales. Possible reasons for the striking congruence between the trnT‐trnF based phylogeny and phylogenies generated from combined multi‐gene, multi‐genome data are discussed.
MUTAN: Multimodal Tucker Fusion for Visual Question Answering

Bilinear models provide an appealing framework for mixing and merging information in Visual Question Answering (VQA) tasks. They help to learn high level associations between question meaning and visual concepts in the image, but they suffer from huge dimensionality issues. ,,We introduce MUTAN, a multimodal tensor-based Tucker decomposition to efficiently parametrize bilinear interactions between visual and textual representations. Additionally to the Tucker framework, we design a low-rank matrix-based decomposition to explicitly constrain the interaction rank. With MUTAN, we control the complexity of the merging scheme while keeping nice interpretable fusion relations. We show how the Tucker decomposition framework generalizes some of the latest VQA architectures, providing state-of-the-art results.
Evolutionary Significance of Wolbachia-to-Animal Horizontal Gene Transfer: Female Sex Determination and the f Element in the Isopod Armadillidium vulgare

An increasing number of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events from bacteria to animals have been reported in the past years, many of which involve Wolbachia bacterial endosymbionts and their invertebrate hosts. Most transferred Wolbachia genes are neutrally-evolving fossils embedded in host genomes. A remarkable case of Wolbachia HGT for which a clear evolutionary significance has been demonstrated is the “f element”, a nuclear Wolbachia insert involved in female sex determination in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare. The f element represents an instance of bacteria-to-animal HGT that has occurred so recently that it was possible to infer the donor (feminizing Wolbachia closely related to the wVulC Wolbachia strain of A. vulgare) and the mechanism of integration (a nearly complete genome inserted by micro-homology-mediated recombination). In this review, we summarize our current knowledge of the f element and discuss arising perspectives regarding female sex determination, unstable inheritance, population dynamics and the molecular evolution of the f element. Overall, the f element unifies three major areas in evolutionary biology: symbiosis, HGT and sex determination. Its characterization highlights the tremendous impact sex ratio distorters can have on the evolution of sex determination mechanisms and sex chromosomes in animals and plants.
Replication of psychometric properties and predictive validity of the Important People Drug and Alcohol Interview

Owens, M. , & Zywiak, W. (2016). Replication of psychometric properties and predictive validity of the Important People Drug and Alcohol Interview. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 5 (2), 57-64. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.7895/ijadr.v5i2. 217 Aims: Social support is a predictor of alcohol and drug use. The Important People Drug and Alcohol (IPDA) interview and its predecessor, the Important People and Activities (IPA) measure, have been used to demonstrate this predictive relationship. The purpose of this study was to replicate the findings from Zywiak et al. (2009) in a sample of probationers with substance use disorders. Design: Analyses mirrored those done previously to replicate the associations between social networks and substance use. The IPDA was used to assess social networks before and after incarceration. Form-90 (Tonigan, Miller, & Brown, 1997) was used to measure substance use. Participants: Individuals were recruited from a local probation office. Information was collected from a sample of 50 male probationers with substance use disorders recently released from jail. Conclusions: Results showed that many of the previous findings from Zywiak et al. (2009) were similar to those found in the current study. This adds to the evidence that the IPDA is a promising measure of social networks and examining how those networks relate to substance use outcomes. The use of the IPDA may be beneficial for both research and clinical purposes, while evaluating individuals with alcohol and other drug use disorders.
An Application and Empirical Comparison of Statistical Analysis Methods for Associating Rare Variants to a Complex Phenotype

The contribution of collections of rare sequence variations (or 'variants') to phenotypic expression has begun to receive considerable attention within the biomedical research community. However, the best way to capture the effects of rare variants in relevant statistical analysis models is an open question. In this paper we describe the application of a number of statistical methods for testing associations between rare variants in two genes to obesity. We consider the relative merits of the different methods as well as important implementation details, such as the leveraging of genomic annotations and determining p-values.
Crises in the Two Social Psychologies: A Critical Comparison

Sociological social psychology (SSP) and psychological social psychology (PSP) have both generated literatures of self-criticism and disciplinary crisis. These respective literatures have quite different origins. Critiques of sociology in general have been applied to SSP in particular. In PSP the crisis began with methodological and ethical issues. An analysis of the two ensuing crisis literatures reveals a common concern with (a) a perceived tendency for social psychological research to be increasingly generated and subsumed by non-social psychological areas in both parent disciplines, and, (b) the cultural and historical specificity of research dealing with processes in social interaction. A review of how various commentators define the main issues and account for perceived shortcomiings leads to the suggestion that the central challenge for social psychology is the development of an interdisciplinary theoretical account of interactive social processes.
The ESCRT-Related CHMP1A and B Proteins Mediate Multivesicular Body Sorting of Auxin Carriers in Arabidopsis and Are Required for Plant Development[W]

Plasma membrane proteins internalized by endocytosis and targeted for degradation are sorted into lumenal vesicles of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) by the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) machinery. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis thaliana ESCRT-related CHARGED MULTIVESICULAR BODY PROTEIN/CHROMATIN MODIFYING PROTEIN1A (CHMP1A) and CHMP1B proteins are essential for embryo and seedling development. Double homozygous chmp1a chmp1b mutant embryos showed limited polar differentiation and failed to establish bilateral symmetry. Mutant seedlings show disorganized apical meristems and rudimentary true leaves with clustered stomata and abnormal vein patterns. Mutant embryos failed to establish normal auxin gradients. Three proteins involved in auxin transport, PINFORMED1 (PIN1), PIN2, and AUXIN-RESISTANT1 (AUX1) mislocalized to the vacuolar membrane of the mutant. PIN1 was detected in MVB lumenal vesicles of control cells but remained in the limiting membrane of chmp1a chmp1b MVBs. The chmp1a chmp1b mutant forms significantly fewer MVB lumenal vesicles than the wild type. Furthermore, CHMP1A interacts in vitro with the ESCRT-related proteins At SKD1 and At LIP5. Thus, Arabidopsis CHMP1A and B are ESCRT-related proteins with conserved endosomal functions, and the auxin carriers PIN1, PIN2, and AUX1 are ESCRT cargo proteins in the MVB sorting pathway.
Sequential Evidence Accumulation in Decision Making: the Individual Desired Level of Confidence Can Explain the Extent of Information Acquisition

Judgments and decisions under uncertainty are frequently linked to a prior sequential search for relevant information. In such cases, the subject has to decide when to stop the search for information. Evidence accumulation models from social and cognitive psychology assume an active and sequential information search until enough evidence has been accumulated to pass a decision threshold. In line with such theories, we conceptualize the evidence threshold as the " desired level of confidence " (DLC) of a person. This model is tested against a fixed stopping rule (one-reason decision making) and against the class of multi-attribute information integrating models. A series of experiments using an information board for horse race betting demonstrates an advantage of the proposed model by measuring the individual DLC of each subject and confirming its correctness in two separate stages. In addition to a better understanding of the stopping rule (within the narrow framework of simple heuristics), the results indicate that individual aspiration levels might be a relevant factor when modelling decision making by task analysis of statistical environments.
A jugar!: Understanding the experience of physical activity (PA) and influences on PA attitudes and behaviors in U.S. children of immigrants

The present study seeks to examine the relationship between parent and youth physical activity (days per week), youth sports participation, and overweight (BMI > 85 percentile) among a national sample of youth; and to assess whether this relationship varies by immigrant generation and sex. Participants included 28,691 youth ages 10-17 years from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health. Youth were grouped by immigrant generation (1st, 2nd, and 3rd or higher). Primary analyses include Chi-square and post-hoc tests to assess mean differences; logistic regression models, stratified by immigrant generation and adjusted for youth age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income and education, were used to test associations between weight status and independent variables. Findings suggested that each additional day youth participated in physical activity (PA) decreased their odds of overweight (OW) by 10% (OR: 0.90 [0.870.94]); participation in sports significantly reduced their odds of OW by 17% (OR: 0.83 [0.710.98]). First generation boys who participated in sports had 70% lower odds of OW (OR: 0.30 [0.11-0.83]) compared to 1 generation boys who did not participate in sports. For 3rd generation girls, participation in sports reduced the odds of OW by 23% (OR: 0.77 [0.62-0.96]) compared to those who did not participate in sports. Additional analyses revealed that PA and sports participation increased with immigrant generation. This study provides evidence that the protective influence of PA on youth's risk of OW varies by immigrant generation and sex. Parent PA was not related to youth’s risk of OW.
An analysis on LPC, RASTA and MFCC techniques in Automatic Speech recognition system

Speech is an ancient field of study and research is being done on it till date. Automatic Speech recognition system deals with analysis and recognition of the input speech signal by the machine or computer in various environments. To enhance the accuracy and capability of the system various feature extraction techniques are implemented. This research paper provides a brief overview of Speech recognition system and its various phases like analysis, feature extraction, modeling and testing or matching. In addition it also includes detailed and comparative study on Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), Relative Spectral Filtering (RASTA) and Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) feature extraction techniques used in Automatic Speech Recognition systems. The main objective of this research paper is to briefly summarize speech recognition system and three feature extraction methods that are an integral part of ASR.