Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Esophageal Cancer in Israel has Unique Clinico-Pathological Features: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Data regarding esophageal cancer (EC) in Israel are limited. The aim of this study was hence to characterize this entity in the Israeli population and to compare it to the literature. Patients/Methods: This is a retrospective study of all consecutive EC patients treated at our institution between 1997-2013. Data were retrieved from patients' medical files. Results: Two hundred patients were included. The median age at diagnosis was 70.5 years; 63.5% were males; 63% were Ashkenazi Jews, 29% were Sephardic Jews, and 0.5% were Arabs. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was predominant: 52% versus 45.5% with adenocarcinoma (ADC). SCC was common even in the distal esophagus (45%). The overall 5-year survival rate was 25.5%. A temporal trend (2006-2013 vs 1997-2005) shows a decline in the proportion of SCC (47% vs 63%, p=0.061) and a rise in ADC (50% vs 33%, p=0.041), with a parallel decrease in patients' age (median: 68.5 vs 73 years, p=0.014). In the later period, patients received more treatment for localized and metastatic disease, with a trend for improved median survival (20.1 vs 14.9 months, p=0.658). Ashkenazi Jews were diagnosed at an older age than Sephardic Jews (median: 73 vs. 65 years, p=0.001), had a higher rate of family history of GI cancer (34% vs. 17%, p=0.026) and a higher rate of cardiovascular co-morbidity (41% vs. 24%, p=0.041). Conclusion: EC in Israel represents an intermediate entity between the Western and the endemic subtypes, showing some unique features. These included delayed reversal of the SCC/ADC ratio, commonness of SCC in the distal esophagus, prevalence of other malignancies and predominance of Ashkenazi ethnicity. The reason for these findings is unclear and its further evaluation is warranted.
Asset Pricing with Distorted Beliefs: Are Equity Returns Too Good to Be True?

We study a Lucas asset pricing model that is standard in all respects representative agent's subjective beliefs about endowment growth are distorted. Using constant-relative-risk-aversion (CRRA) utility a CRRA coefficient below ten that exhibit, on average, excessive pessimism over expansions and excessive optimism over" contractions, our model is able to match the first and second moments of the equity premium and" risk-free rate, as well as the persistence and predictability of excess returns found in the data. "
Neuropsychology, Autobiographical Memory, and Hippocampal Volume in “Younger” and “Older” Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

Despite a wide range of studies on neuropsychology in schizophrenia, autobiographical memory (AM) has been scarcely investigated in these patients. Hence, less is known about AM in older patients and hippocampal contribution to autobiographical memories of varying remoteness. Therefore, we investigated hippocampal volume and AM along with important neuropsychological domains in patients with chronic schizophrenia and the respective relationships between these parameters. We compared 25 older patients with chronic schizophrenia to 23 younger patients and an older healthy control group (N = 21) with respect to AM, additional neuropsychological parameters, and hippocampal volume. Personal episodic and semantic memory was investigated using a semi-structured interview. Additional neuropsychological parameters were assessed by using a battery of standard neuropsychological tests. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed with an automated region-of-interest procedure. While hippocampal volume reduction and neuropsychological impairment were more pronounced in the older than in the younger patients, both groups showed equivalent reduced AM performance for recent personal episodes. In the patient group, significant correlations between left hippocampal volume and recent autobiographical episodes as well as personal semantic memories arose. Verbal memory and working memory were significantly correlated with right hippocampal volume; executive functions, however, were associated with bilateral hippocampal volumes. These findings underline the complexity of AM and its impairments in the course of schizophrenia in comparison to rather progressive neuropsychological deficits and address the importance of hippocampal contribution.
Nature Genetics Advance Online Publication Recombination Rates in Admixed Individuals Identified by Ancestry-based Inference

The extent to which patterns of recombination vary across human populations remains uncertain. Increasing evidence has suggested a high concordance between populations in large-scale recombination rates and more variation between populations in small-scale recom-bination rates 1–5. The lack of high-resolution genome-wide recom-bination maps for admixed individuals, such as African Americans, has limited the possibility of incorporating admixed populations in comparative analyses of recombination rates. The development of new genome-wide recombination maps is therefore an essential step for understanding recombination in admixed populations and enabling broader comparative analyses. Generating new recombination maps has traditionally depended on observations of recombination events in pedigrees 6. Large-scale applications of this approach have been limited to a few samples of European descent with unusually detailed genealogic data, such as samples from Iceland 7,8 , Mormons from Utah 9 and Hutterites 10. For example, a recombination map based on inferences from about 15,000 meioses in the Icelandic pedigree genotyped with nearly 300,000 SNPs achieved a resolution of recombination rate variation down to the 10-kb scale 8. In contrast, for non-European and admixed populations, such as African Americans, the best available pedigree-based maps use many fewer meioses and ~1,000 micro-satellites or less 11,12. Assessment of linkage disequilibrium (LD), or the non-random association of alleles on chromosomes, in unrelated individuals provides a second, more indirect means for inferring recombination rates in a population. The advent of high-density, genome-wide SNP data has enabled LD-based maps to achieve a resolution of about 1 kb 13,14 and has shown that recombination rates at such fine scales are dominated by recombination hotspots. Using LD-based maps in analyses of short target regions 1–4 and genome-wide SNP data 5 , comparisons between populations have documented some variation in small-scale recombination rates but very little variation in large-scale recombination rates. LD-based maps, however, conflate the effective population size and recombination rates, which complicates the interpretation of inter-population variation in recombination 6. This conflation of the effective population size and recombination rate is particularly problematic in regions where recent natural selection has reduced the effective population size 6,15. In addition, care must be taken when applying LD-based approaches to recently admixed Studies of recombination and how it varies depend crucially on accurate recombination maps. We propose a new approach for constructing high-resolution maps of relative recombination rates based on the observation of ancestry switch points among admixed individuals. We show the utility of this approach using …
Recombinant factor IX (BAX326 ) in previously treated paediatric patients with haemophilia B: a prospective clinical trial

A newly developed recombinant factor IX (BAX3261) was investigated for prophylactic use in paediatric patients aged <12 years with severe (FIX level <1%) or moderately severe (FIX level 1–2%) haemophilia B. The aim of this prospective clinical trial was to assess the safety, haemostatic efficacy and pharmacokinetic profile of BAX326 in previously treated paediatric patients. BAX326 was administered as prophylaxis twice a week for a period of 6 months, and on demand for treatment of bleeds. Safety was assessed by the occurrence of related AEs, thrombotic events and immunologic assessments. Efficacy was evaluated by annualized bleeding rate (ABR), and by treatment response rating (excellent, good, fair, none). PK was assessed over 72 h. None of the 23 treated paediatric subjects had treatment‐related SAEs or AEs. There were no thrombotic events, inhibitory or specific binding antibodies against FIX, rFurin or CHO protein. Twenty‐six bleeds (19 non‐joint vs. 7 joint bleeds) occurred (mean ABR 2.7 ± 3.14, median 2.0), of which 23 were injury‐related. Twenty subjects (87%) did not experience any bleeds of spontaneous aetiology. Haemostatic efficacy of BAX326 was excellent or good for >96% of bleeds (100% of minor, 88.9% of moderate and 100% of major bleeds); the majority (88.5%) resolved after 1–2 infusions. Longer T1/2 and lower IR were observed in younger children (<6 years) compared to those aged 6 to 12 years. BAX326 administered as prophylactic treatment as well as for controlling bleeds is efficacious and safe in paediatric patients aged <12 years with haemophilia B.
AQP 2 is necessary for vasopressin-and forskolin-mediated filamentous actin depolymerization in renal epithelial cells

Remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton is required for vasopressin (VP)-induced aquaporin 2 (AQP2) trafficking. Here, we asked whether VP and forskolin (FK)-mediated Factin depolymerization depends on AQP2 expression. Using various MDCK and LLC-PK1 cell lines with different AQP2 expression levels, we performed F-actin quantification and immunofluorescence staining after VP/FK treatment. In MDCK cells, in which AQP2 is delivered apically, VP/FK mediated F-actin depolymerization was significantly correlated with AQP2 expression levels. A decrease of apical membrane associated F-actin was observed upon VP/ FK treatment in AQP2 transfected, but not in untransfected cells. There was no change in basolateral actin staining under these conditions. In LLC-PK1 cells, which deliver AQP2 basolaterally, a significant VP/FK mediated decrease in F-actin was also detected only in AQP2 transfected cells. This depolymerization response to VP/FK was significantly reduced by siRNA knockdown of AQP2. By immunofluorescence, an inverse relationship between plasma membrane AQP2 and membrane-associated F-actin was observed after VP/FK treatment again only in AQP2 transfected cells. This is the first report showing that VP/ FK mediated F-actin depolymerization is dependent on AQP2 protein expression in renal epithelial cells, and that this is not dependent on the polarity of AQP2 membrane insertion.
MTHFR genetic polymorphisms and susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In a recent report on the role of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genetic polymorphisms in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Krajinovic et al reported a reduced risk associated with a combination of genotypes. [1][1] On stratification of patients into those born
Efficient reliability simulation of analog ICs including variability and time-varying stress

Aggressive scaling to nanometer CMOS technologies causes both analog and digital circuit parameters to degrade over time due to die-level stress effects (i.e. NBTI, HCI, TDDB, etc). In addition, failure-time dispersion increases due to increasing process variability. In this paper an innovative methodology to simulate analog circuit reliability is presented. Advantages over current state of the art reliability simulators include, among others, the possibility to estimate the impact of variability and the ability to account for the effects of complex time-varying stress signals. Results show that taking time-varying stress signals into account provides circuit reliability information not visible with classic DC-only reliability simulators. Also, variability-aware reliability simulation results indicate a significant percentage of early circuit failures compared to failure-time results based on nominal design only.
Robust Tracking Based on PSO and On-line AdaBoost

Robust tracking is a challenging problem, due to intrinsic appearance variability of objects caused by in-plane or out-plane rotation and extrinsic factors change such as illumination, occlusion, background clutter and local blur. In this paper, we present a novel framework which uses an on-line AdaBoost algorithm as PSO’s fitness function to search object and attain the efficiency and robustness of the tracking systems. An on-line AdaBoost classifiers based on RGB features is trained and employed. This new tracking framework, which is initialized with the region of the object at the first few frames, can automatically track the object at the remaining frames. We demonstrate our results under some challenging videos, and the results prove our framework is more robust.
Rapid Word-Learning in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Children: Effects of Age, Receptive Vocabulary, and High-Frequency Amplification

Objective: This study examined rapid word-learning in 5- to 14-year-old children with normal and impaired hearing. The effects of age and receptive vocabulary were examined as well as those of high-frequency amplification. Novel words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz (typical of current amplification devices) and at 9 kHz. It was hypothesized that (1) the children with normal hearing would learn more words than the children with hearing loss, (2) word-learning would increase with age and receptive vocabulary for both groups, and (3) both groups would benefit from a broader frequency bandwidth. Design: Sixty children with normal hearing and 37 children with moderate sensorineural hearing losses participated in this study. Each child viewed a 4-minute animated slideshow containing 8 nonsense words created using the 24 English consonant phonemes (3 consonants per word). Each word was repeated 3 times. Half of the 8 words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz and half were filtered at 9 kHz. After viewing the story twice, each child was asked to identify the words from among pictures in the slide show. Before testing, a measure of current receptive vocabulary was obtained using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). Results: The PPVT-III scores of the hearing-impaired children were consistently poorer than those of the normal-hearing children across the age range tested. A similar pattern of results was observed for word-learning in that the performance of the hearing-impaired children was significantly poorer than that of the normal-hearing children. Further analysis of the PPVT and word-learning scores suggested that although word-learning was reduced in the hearing-impaired children, their performance was consistent with their receptive vocabularies. Additionally, no correlation was found between overall performance and the age of identification, age of amplification, or years of amplification in the children with hearing loss. Results also revealed a small increase in performance for both groups in the extended bandwidth condition but the difference was not significant at the traditional p = 0.05 level. Conclusions: The ability to learn words rapidly appears to be poorer in children with hearing loss over a wide range of ages. These results coincide with the consistently poorer receptive vocabularies for these children. Neither the word-learning or receptive-vocabulary measures were related to the amplification histories of these children. Finally, providing an extended high-frequency bandwidth did not significantly improve rapid word-learning for either group with these stimuli.
TAME QUIVERS AND AFFINE ENVELOPING ALGEBRAS

Let g be an affine Kac-Moody algebra with symmetric Cartan datum, n + be the maximal nilpotent subalgebra of g. By the Hall algebra approach, we construct integral bases of the Z-form of the enveloping algebra U(n + ). In particular, the representation theory of tame quivers is essentially used in this paper.
Colonic second primary cancers in patients with index tumours of the head and neck

Multiple primary malignancies, either synchronous or metachronous, occur more frequently in patients with head and neck cancer than in an other group', and affect up to 21 per cent of such patients? This high incidence of second cancers has led some3 to suggest that an effective way of improving long-term survival with head and neck tumours would be to detect and treat second cancers at an early or premalignant stage. Over 80 per cent of second primary turnours occur outside the head and neck region and, while most arise in the lungs, a significant proportion occur in the lower gastrointestinal tract '. The adenoma-carcinoma sequence in colorectal cancer and the prevalence of colorectal second primaries in the authors' head and neck clinic suggested a possible role for targeted colonoscopic screening. This paper reports the interim results of a prospective study of screening colonoscopy in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck cancer.
Coactivator PRIP, the Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor-interacting Protein, Is a Modulator of Placental, Cardiac, Hepatic, and Embryonic Development*

Nuclear receptor coactivator PRIP (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARγ)-interacting protein) and PRIP-interacting protein with methyltransferase activity, designated PIMT, appear to serve as linkers between cAMP response element-binding protein-binding protein (CBP)/p300-anchored and PBP (PPARγ-binding protein)-anchored coactivator complexes involved in the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors. To assess the biological significance of PRIP, we disrupted the PRIP gene in mice by homologous recombination. Mice nullizygous for PRIP died between embryonic day 11.5 and 12.5 (postcoitum) due in most part to defects in the development of placenta, heart, liver, nervous system, and retardation of embryonic growth. Transient transfection assays using fibroblasts isolated from PRIP−/− embryos revealed a significant decrease in the capacity for ligand-dependent transcriptional activation of retinoid X receptor α and to a lesser effect on PPARγ transcriptional activity. These observations indicate that PRIP like PBP, CBP, and p300 is an essential and nonredundant coactivator.
Physical and perceptual configurations of Japanese fricatives from multidimensional scaling analyses

This study investigates the correlations between physical and perceptual spaces of voiceless Japanese fricatives /f s S C h/, using Multidimensional Scaling technique. The spatial configurations were constructed from spectral distance measures and perceptual similarity judgements. The results show that 2-dimensional solutions adequately account for the data and the correlations between the two spaces are high. The dimensions also corresponded to ‘sibilance’ and ‘place’ properties. The spectral analyses on fricative sections, excluding the transitions, seem to contain sufficient information for correct perceptual judgements. These results are highly comparable to those of English fricative study (Choo, 1999), and support a universal prototype theory, according to which the correct identification of speech segments depends on the perceived distance between speech stimuli and a prototype in perceptual spaces. the configurations both and spectral clearly close correlation
Domestic and International Student Matters: The College Experiences of Black Males Majoring in Engineering at an HBCU

Abstract:Despite diversity challenges in engineering education regarding Black males in particular, little is known about the factors that Black males attribute to their persistence in engineering. This study examines the college experiences of 15 Black males majoring in engineering at a historically Black university and the factors they believe help or hinder their persistence. The analysis of semi-structured focus group data revealed that Black males’ college experiences are partially determined by their status as either domestic or international. Findings suggest that several well-established and motivation-relevant constructs (e.g., teacher expectations, self-theories of intelligence, and peer support) influence both groups. Implications for future research, as well as higher education policy and practice are discussed.
Prayer Has Spoiled Everything

Bori, in the Mawri society of Niger, are mischievous and invisible beings that populate the bush. Bori is also the practice of taming these wild forces in the context of possession ceremonies. In Prayer Has Spoiled Everything Adeline Masquelier offers an account of how this phenomenon intervenes—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically—in human lives, providing a constantly renewed source of meaning for Mawri peasants confronted with cultural contradictions and socio-economic marginalization. To explore the role of bori possession in local definitions of history, power, and identity, Masquelier spent a total of two years in Niger, focusing on the diverse ways in which spirit mediums share, transform, and contest a rapidly changing reality, threatened by Muslim hegemony and financial hardship. She explains how the spread of Islam has provoked irreversible change in the area and how prayer—a conspicuous element of daily life that has become virtually synonymous with Islamic practice in this region of west Africa—has thus become equated with the loss of tradition. By focusing on some of the creative and complex ways that bori at once competes with and borrows from Islam, Masquelier reveals how possession nonetheless remains deeply embedded in Mawri culture, representing more than simple resistance to Islam, patriarchy, or the state. Despite a widening gap between former ways of life and the contradictions of the present, it maintains its place as a feature of daily life in which villagers participate with varying degrees of enthusiasm and approval. Specialists in African studies, in the anthropology of religion, and in the historical transformations of colonial and postcolonial societies will welcome this study.
Fucoxanthin from Undaria pinnatifida: Photostability and Coextractive Effects

Fucoxanthin is one of the most abundant carotenoids and possesses a number of beneficial medicinal qualities which include its anti-oxidant, anti-obesity and anti-cancer properties. In this study, the photostability of fucoxanthin in extracts with different chemical profiles was studied. The extracts were obtained from Undaria pinnatifida, a seaweed rich in this carotenoid, using conventional liquid solvent extraction procedures and the QuEChERS method. All the extracts contained all-trans-fucoxanthin as the major compound. Conventional procedures produced a fucoxanthin purity of lower than 50%, whereas after liquid-liquid partition, PSA cleanup, and PSA and GCB cleanup (QuEChERS method) fucoxanthin purity increased to 70%, 86%, and 94%, respectively. Although in the acetone extract the initial content of fucoxanthin was the highest, results demonstrate that coextractives play an important role in enhancing the rate of photodegradation. After light exposure, the conventional extracts lost around 90% of the initial fucoxanthin content. On the other hand, the extracts obtained by the QuEChERS method showed significantly higher light stability than the conventional extracts. These results suggest that the QuEChERS method could be used and further improved to obtain more purified and stable extracts for fucoxanthin from U. pinnatifida.
Taylor Approximations for Model Uncertainty within the Tweedie Exponential Dispersion Family

The use of generalized linear models (GLM) to estimate claims reserves has become a standard method in insurance. Most frequently, the exponential dispersion family (EDF) is used; see e.g. England, Verrall [2]. We study the so-called Tweedie EDF and test the sensitivity of the claims reserves and their mean square error of predictions (MSEP) over this family. Furthermore, we develop second order Taylor approximations for the claims reserves and the MSEPs for members of the Tweedie family that are difficult to obtain in practice, but are close enough to models for which claims reserves and MSEP estimations are easy to determine. As a result of multiple case studies, we find that claims reserves estimation is relatively insensitive to which distribution is chosen amongst the Tweedie family, in contrast to the MSEP, which varies widely.