Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Knowledge and Information Systems REGULAR PAPER

Data clustering is a popular approach for automatically finding classes, concepts, or groups of patterns. In practice, this discovery process should avoid redundancies with existing knowledge about class structures or groupings, and reveal novel, previously unknown aspects of the data. In order to deal with this problem, we present an extension of the information bottleneck framework, called coordinated conditional information bottleneck, which takes negative relevance information into account by maximizing a conditional mutual information score subject to constraints. Algorithmically, one can apply an alternating optimization scheme that can be used in conjunction with different types of numeric and nonnumeric attributes. We discuss extensions of the technique to the tasks of semisupervised classification and enumeration of successive non-redundant clusterings. We present experimental results for applications in text mining and computer vision.
Association of Nocturnal Enuresis With Vesicoureteral Reflux and Renal Cortical Damage

Background The prevalence of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is higher in enuretic children than in non-enuretic children. Recent studies have reported VUR in 6–23% of children with enuresis. Objectives To clarify the association of nocturnal enuresis with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and to identify children who are at risk for VUR. Patients and Methods During 2007–2009, neurologically normal children who were referred with a chief complaint of nocturnal enuresis and had abnormal renal ultrasonography (US) results, daytime incontinence, abnormal results in urodynamic studies, urinary tract infection, or a history of VUR in their siblings were prospectively evaluated for VUR by voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). Results A total of 60 children (26 boys and 34 girls) aged 5–17 (mean ± SD: 8.46 ± 2.45) years met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. Twenty-eight (46.7%) patients had mono-symptomatic nocturnal enuresis (MNE), and 32 (53.3%) had non-mono symptomatic nocturnal enuresis (NMNE). VUR was reported in 10 (16.7%) patients and posterior urethral valve (PUV) was found in 1 (1.7%) patient. The prevalence of VUR was significantly higher in patients with daytime incontinence and in girls (P = 0.016 and 0.003 respectively). We did not find any significant correlations between VUR and the form of enuresis (primary versus secondary), urinary tract infection, or any diurnal urinary symptoms other than daytime incontinence (P > 0.05 for all). of 10 renal scintigrams, 5 (50%) showed renal cortical defects. Conclusions VUR is uncommon in children with MNE and in those with NMNE who do not wet themselves during the day; however, it is a relatively common finding in enuretic children who have daytime incontinence. We recommend VCUG in all enuretic children who have daytime incontinence.
Water Penetration Resistance of Fly Ash Concrete Incorporating with Quarry Wastes

Slump of fresh concrete, compressive strength and water penetration depth under pressure of fly ash concrete incorporate with quarry waste as fine aggregate were investigated. The cementitious materials of the concrete includes ordinary Portland cement 80% and fly ash 20% by weight of cementitious. The mix proportions of the concrete were set into two classes of compressive strength. The results show that fly ash enhances workability of both concretes (normal concrete and concrete incorporate with quarry waste). Increasing the percentage of quarry dusts as fine aggregate in concrete seem negligible effect on the compressive strength whereas adding fly ash shows a slightly improve the compressive strength in the case of cohesive concrete mixture. Besides, adding the suitable amount of fly ash could improve the permeability of concrete. Therefore, fly ash could be a good admixture to improve the water resistant of normal strength concrete and also could be a supplemental material to improve the compressive strength of normal high strength concrete.
Logical data expiration

Summary form only given. Data expiration is an essential component of data warehousing solutions: whenever large amounts of data are repeatedly collected over a period of time, it is essential to have a clear approach to identifying parts of the data no-longer needed and a policy that allows disposing and/or archiving these parts of the data. Such policies are necessary even if adding storage to accommodate an ever-growing collection of data were possible, since the growing amount of data needs to be examined during querying and in turn leads to deterioration of query performance over time. The approaches to data expiration range from adhoc administrative policies or regulations to sophisticated data analysis-based techniques. The approaches have, however, one thing in common: intuitively, they try to identify the parts of the data collection that are not needed in the future. The key to deciding if a piece of information will be needed in the future lies in identifying what queries can be asked over the collection of data and how the collection can evolve from its current state. The various techniques proposed in the literature differ in the way they identify no longer needed parts of data. The author formalizes the notion of data expiration in terms of how the data is used to answer queries. He surveys existing approaches to the problem in a unified framework and discusses their features and limits and the limits of data expiration based techniques in general. Particular focus is on comparing the performance of various data expiration methods.
Establishment and Characterization of a Testicular Cell Line from the Half-Smooth Tongue Sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis

Spermatogenesis within the adult testis is an excellent system for studying stem cell renewal and differentiation, which is under the control of testicular somatic cells. In order to understanding spermatogenesis in the half-smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) as a marine fish model of aquaculture importance, we established a cell line called CSGC from a juvenile gonad of this organism. CSGC is composed of fibroblast-like cells, retains a diploid karyotype of 42 chromosomes, lacks the heterogametic W chromosome, lacks a female specific marker and expresses the dmrt, a marker for testicular somatic cells. Therefore, CSGC appears to consist of testicular somatic cell cells. We show that this cell line is effective for infection by the turbot reddish body iridovirus and flounder lymphocystis disease virus as evidenced by the appearance of cytopathic effect and virus propagation in the virus-infected cells, and most convincingly, the observation of viral particles by electon microscopy, demonstrateing that CSGC is suitable to study interactions between virus and host cells. As a first fish testicular somatic cell line of the ZZ-ZW genetic sex determination system, CSGC will be a useful tool to study sex-related events and interactions between somatic cells and germ cells during spermatogenesis.
The comparison of pulmonary functions in open versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

OBJECTIVE To examine respiratory functions of patients after open and laparoscopic cholecystectomy and to compare the advantages. METHODS Fifty five cases with cholelithiasis subjected to elective cholescystectomy were studied. The patients were divided into two groups. Open Cholecystectomy (OC) was performed on 27 cases (Group I), and Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC) in 28 cases (Group II). Respiratory function tests were performed 24 hours before the operation and on the 1st and 6th day after surgery. Blood gas values and anaesthesia periods were recorded. Forced expiratuary volume in the 1st second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/FVC values were also noted. RESULTS FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC values on first post-operative day in all cases were statistically lower than the preoperative values (p = 0.0001). Percentage changes of respiratory function test was calculated preoperatively and 1st postoperative day. The changes in both groups showed a significant decrease in FEV1, FVC and FEVI/FVC in Group I compared to Group II (p = 0.0001 in FEV1, p = 0.007 in FVC and p = 0.004 in FEV1/FVC). There was no significant difference in respiratory function tests evaluated on the 6th postoperative day and they had returned to normal values. There was no difference among preoperative and postoperative PaCO2, pH values in arteriel blood gas values in all cases (p = 0.355 p = 0,215). These parameters did not differ in both groups (p = 0.527, p = 0.591), There was a significant decrease in PaO2 and O2 saturation in all cases (p = 0.0001), but there was no significant difference when both groups were compared (p = 0.166, p = 0.678). CONCLUSION The better results of pulmonary function tests in patients subjected to LC proves the advantage of the procedure over OC.
Interleukin 28B Gene Polymorphism and Association with Chronic Hepatitis C Therapy Results in Latvia

Introduction. With the standard treatment of chronic hepatitis C, sustained virological response (SVR) can be achieved only in half of all patients. Interleukin-28B appears to be involved in the control of HCV infection, and the genetic polymorphism of the encoding IL-28B gene may determine the efficacy of clearance of HCV. The aim of this paper was to detect IL-28B gene polymorphism in Latvia and to analyze therapy results. This is the first study on IL-28B gene polymorphism in Latvia. Material and Methods. There were 159 chronic viral hepatitis C patients included in the study. In order to detect IL-28B gene polymorphism, we used molecular biology techniques and methods: classical DNA separation, amplification by PCR, and standard sequencing. Genotype was defined as CC, CT, TC, or TT type. 142 patients were treated with the standard of care treatment. Results were analyzed according to IL-28B polymorphism. Results. There were 53 patients (33%) with CC genotype, 84 patients (53%) with CT/TC genotype, and 22 patients (14%) with TT genotype. 34 patients (74%) in CC genotype subgroup achieved SVR versus 50 patients (52%) in non-CC subgroups. In patients with genotype 1, SVR was achieved in 16 patients (84%) in CC subgroup versus 30 patients (47.6%) in non-CC subgroups, P = 0.007. Conclusions. The most common genotype of IL28B in Latvia is CT/TC, with an incidence of 53%. Patients with CC genotype achieved SVR more often than CT or TT subgroups. IL28B gene polymorphism therefore is a strong predictor of treatment result.
Minimally Invasive Surgery Plus Recombinant Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator for Intracerebral Hemorrhage Evacuation Decreases Perihematomal Edema

Background and Purpose— Perihematomal edema (PHE) can worsen outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Reports suggest that blood degradation products lead to PHE. We hypothesized that hematoma evacuation will reduce PHE volume and that treatment with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) will not exacerbate it. Methods— Minimally invasive surgery and rt-PA in ICH evacuation (MISTIE) phase II tested safety and efficacy of hematoma evacuation after ICH. We conducted a semiautomated, computerized volumetric analysis on computed tomography to assess impact of hematoma removal on PHE and effects of rt-PA on PHE. Volumetric analyses were performed on baseline stability and end of treatment scans. Results— Seventy-nine surgical and 39 medical patients from minimally invasive surgery and rt-PA in ICH evacuation phase II (MISTIE II) were analyzed. Mean hematoma volume at end of treatment was 19.6±14.5 cm3 for the surgical cohort and 40.7±13.9 cm3 for the medical cohort (P<0.001). Edema volume at end of treatment was lower for the surgical cohort: 27.7±13.3 cm3 than medical cohort: 41.7±14.6 cm3 (P<0.001). Graded effect of clot removal on PHE was observed when patients with >65%, 20% to 65%, and <20% ICH removed were analyzed (P<0.001). Positive correlation between PHE reduction and percent of ICH removed was identified (&rgr;=0.658; P<0.001). In the surgical cohort, 69 patients underwent surgical aspiration and rt-PA, whereas 10 underwent surgical aspiration only. Both cohorts achieved similar clot reduction: surgical aspiration and rt-PA, 18.9±14.5 cm3; and surgical aspiration only, 24.5±14.0 cm3 (P=0.26). Edema at end of treatment in surgical aspiration and rt-PA was 28.1±13.8 cm3 and 24.4±8.6 cm3 in surgical aspiration only (P=0.41). Conclusions— Hematoma evacuation is associated with significant reduction in PHE. Furthermore, PHE does not seem to be exacerbated by rt-PA, making such neurotoxic effects unlikely when the drug is delivered to intracranial clot.
The robustness of test statistics to nonnormality and specification error in confirmatory factor analysis.

Monte Carlo computer simulations were used to investigate the performance of three X 2 test statistics in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Normal theory maximum likelihood )~2 (ML), Browne's asymptotic distribution free X 2 (ADF), and the Satorra-Bentler rescaled X 2 (SB) were examined under varying conditions of sample size, model specification, and multivariate distribution. For properly specified models, ML and SB showed no evidence of bias under normal distributions across all sample sizes, whereas ADF was biased at all but the largest sample sizes. ML was increasingly overestimated with increasing nonnormality, but both SB (at all sample sizes) and ADF (only at large sample sizes) showed no evidence of bias. For misspecified models, ML was again inflated with increasing nonnormality, but both SB and ADF were underestimated with increasing nonnormality. It appears that the power of the SB and ADF test statistics to detect a model misspecification is attenuated given nonnormally distributed data.
Transient News Crowds in Social Media

Users increasingly inform themselves of the latest news through online news services. This is further accentuated by the increasingly seamless integration of social network platforms such as Twitter and Facebook into news websites, allowing easy content sharing and distribution. This makes online social network platforms of particular interest to news providers. For instance, online news producers use Twitter to disseminate articles published on their website, to assess the popularity of their contents, but also as an information source to be used on itself. In this paper, we focus on Twitter as a medium to help journalists and news editors rapidly detect follow-up stories to the articles they publish. We propose to do so by leveraging “transient news crowds”, which are loosely-coupled groups that appear in Twitter around a particular news item, and where transient here reflects the fleeting nature of news. We define transient news crowds on Twitter, study their characteristics, and investigate how their characteristics can be used to discover related news. We validate our approach using Twitter data around news stories published by the BBC and Al Jazeera.
Brain activations during pain: a neuroimaging meta-analysis of patients with pain and healthy controls

Abstract In response to recent publications from pain neuroimaging experiments, there has been a debate about the existence of a primary pain region in the brain. Yet, there are few meta-analyses providing assessments of the minimum cerebral denominators of pain. Here, we used a statistical meta-analysis method, called activation likelihood estimation, to define (1) core brain regions activated by pain per se, irrelevant of pain modality, paradigm, or participants and (2) activation likelihood estimation commonalities and differences between patients with chronic pain and healthy individuals. A subtraction analysis of 138 independent data sets revealed that the minimum denominator for activation across pain modalities and paradigms included the right insula, secondary sensory cortex, and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Common activations for healthy subjects and patients with pain alike included the thalamus, ACC, insula, and cerebellum. A comparative analysis revealed that healthy individuals were more likely to activate the cingulum, thalamus, and insula. Our results point toward the central role of the insular cortex and ACC in pain processing, irrelevant of modality, body part, or clinical experience; thus, furthering the importance of ACC and insular activation as key regions for the human experience of pain.
Calcium and α-tocopherol suppress cured-meat promotion of chemically induced colon carcinogenesis in rats and reduce associated biomarkers in human volunteers.

BACKGROUND Processed meat intake has been associated with increased colorectal cancer risk. We have shown that cured meat promotes carcinogen-induced preneoplastic lesions and increases specific biomarkers in the colon of rats. OBJECTIVES We investigated whether cured meat modulates biomarkers of cancer risk in human volunteers and whether specific agents can suppress cured meat-induced preneoplastic lesions in rats and associated biomarkers in rats and humans. DESIGN Six additives (calcium carbonate, inulin, rutin, carnosol, α-tocopherol, and trisodium pyrophosphate) were added to cured meat given to groups of rats for 14 d, and fecal biomarkers were measured. On the basis of these results, calcium and tocopherol were kept for the following additional experiments: cured meat, with or without calcium or tocopherol, was given to dimethylhydrazine-initiated rats (47% meat diet for 100 d) and to human volunteers in a crossover study (180 g/d for 4 d). Rat colons were scored for mucin-depleted foci, putative precancer lesions. Biomarkers of nitrosation, lipoperoxidation, and cytotoxicity were measured in the urine and feces of rats and volunteers. RESULTS Cured meat increased nitroso compounds and lipoperoxidation in human stools (both P < 0.05). Calcium normalized both biomarkers in rats and human feces, whereas tocopherol only decreased nitro compounds in rats and lipoperoxidation in feces of volunteers (all P < 0.05). Last, calcium and tocopherol reduced the number of mucin-depleted foci per colon in rats compared with nonsupplemented cured meat (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION Data suggest that the addition of calcium carbonate to the diet or α-tocopherol to cured meat may reduce colorectal cancer risk associated with cured-meat intake. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00994526.
Mutant epidermal growth factor receptor enhances induction of vascular endothelial growth factor by hypoxia and insulin-like growth factor-1 via a PI3 kinase dependent pathway

Over-expression of truncated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) occurs in a variety of malignancies including glioblastoma multiforme, breast and lung cancer. The truncation deletes an extracellular domain and results in constitutive activation of the receptor. NIH3T3 cells were transfected with full length or truncated human EGFR and differences in growth rates in vivo and in vitro analysed. A growth advantage was seen for cells expressing mutant receptor compared to full length EGFR in vivo only. Administration of an anti-mutant EGFR antibody to mice transiently reduced the growth rates of mutant tumours, confirming that the mutant receptor itself was important in this enhanced tumorigenicity. This showed that stimuli present in vivo and not in vitro may be contributing to growth. We therefore analysed the regulation of the angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Although levels of secreted VEGF did not differ significantly between wild-type and mutant EGFR cell lines when grown in vitro under normoxic conditions, following exposure to 0.1% hypoxia levels of VEGF produced by mutant cells increased 3.5–6.6 fold compared to 2 or less for full length EGFR cells. The fold induction was influenced by experimental conditions, including cell confluence and percentage of fetal bovine serum, but was consistently higher for mutant cell lines. The increase in VEGF under hypoxic conditions was blocked by the addition of PI3 kinase inhibitors, indicating that the latter pathway is important in the hypoxic stress response. Basal levels were not affected. Addition of insulin-like growth factor-1 also increased levels of VEGF under normoxic conditions in the mutant cells and no further increase was seen when added to cells exposed to 0.1% oxygen, indicating that levels of VEGF were already maximally stimulated. These results show that the mutant EGFR interacts with other growth factors and hypoxia to regulate VEGF via a PI3 kinase pathway, and suggests a specific role for anti-mutant EGFR antibodies and PI3 kinase inhibitors as therapy of this specific tumour target. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign
Dendritic Cell-Specific Deletion of β-Catenin Results in Fewer Regulatory T-Cells without Exacerbating Autoimmune Collagen-Induced Arthritis

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells that have the dual ability to stimulate immunity and maintain tolerance. However, the signalling pathways mediating tolerogenic DC function in vivo remain largely unknown. The β-catenin pathway has been suggested to promote a regulatory DC phenotype. The aim of this study was to unravel the role of β-catenin signalling to control DC function in the autoimmune collagen-induced arthritis model (CIA). Deletion of β-catenin specifically in DCs was achieved by crossing conditional knockout mice with a CD11c-Cre transgenic mouse line. Bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) were generated and used to study the maturation profile of these cells in response to a TLR2 or TLR4 ligand stimulation. CIA was induced by intra-dermal immunization with 100 μg chicken type II collagen in complete Freund’s adjuvant on days 0 and 21. CIA incidence and severity was monitored macroscopically and by histology. The T cell profile as well as their cytokine production were analysed by flow cytometry. Lack of β-catenin specifically in DCs did not affect the spontaneous, TLR2- or TLR4-induced maturation and activation of BMDCs or their cytokine production. Moreover, no effect on the incidence and severity of CIA was observed in mice lacking β-catenin in CD11c+ cells. A decreased frequency of splenic CD3+CD8+ T cells and of regulatory T cells (Tregs) (CD4+CD25highFoxP3+), but no changes in the frequency of splenic Th17 (CCR6+CXCR3-CCR4+), Th2 (CCR6-CXCR3-CCR4+) and Th1 (CCR6-CXCR3+CCR4-) cells were observed in these mice under CIA condition. Furthermore, the expression of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22, IL-4 or IFNγ was also not affected. Our data indicate that ablation of β-catenin expression in DCs did not alter the course and severity of CIA. We conclude that although deletion of β-catenin resulted in a lower frequency of Tregs, this decrease was not sufficient to aggravate the onset and severity of CIA.