Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic Accuracy of Five Different Fecal Markers for the Detection of Precancerous and Cancerous Lesions of the Colorectum

Background. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second deadliest malignancy worldwide. This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of different fecal markers in the detection of colorectal adenomas and cancer. Methods. Stool samples of patients referred to colonoscopy were collected for the analysis of tumor M2 pyruvate kinase (M2PK), human hemoglobin (Hb), hemoglobin/haptoglobin (Hb/Hp) complex, fecal calprotectin (FC), and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Results. Sensitivity and specificity of M2PK for adenomas sized > 1 cm were 60% and 67.5% and for CRC were 94.7% and 67.5%. Sensitivity and specificity of iFOBT for adenomas sized ≥ 1 cm were 80% and 72.5% and for CRC were 94.7% and 72.5%. Sensitivity and specificity of Hb/Hp complex for adenomas sized ≥ 1 cm were 80% and 52.9% and for CRC were 100% and 52.9%. Sensitivity of FC and MMP-9 for CRC was 77.8% and 72.2%. Combined use of M2PK, iFOBT, and FC resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 95% and 47.5% for the detection of adenomas sized ≥ 1 cm. Discussion. In CRC, sensitivity of M2PK, iFOBT, and Hb/Hp complex proved to be high. Combined use of M2PK, iFOBT, and FC may be valuable in the detection of large adenomas.
Language Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Preoperative Assessment of Language Areas: Correlation with Direct Cortical Stimulation

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to analyze the usefulness of preoperative language functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), by correlating fMRI data with intraoperative cortical stimulation results for patients with brain tumors. METHODSNaming and verb generation tasks were used, separately or in combination, for 14 right-handed patients with tumors in the left hemisphere. fMRI data obtained were analyzed with SPM software, with two standard analysis thresholds (P < 0.005 and then P < 0.05). The fMRI data were then registered in a frameless stereotactic neuronavigational device and correlated with direct brain mapping results. We used a statistical model with the fMRI information as a predictor, spatially correlating each intraoperatively mapped cortical site with fMRI data integrated in the neuronavigational system (site-by-site correlation). Eight patients were also studied with language fMRI postoperatively, with the same acquisition protocol. RESULTSWe observed high variability in signal extents and locations among patients with both tasks. The activated areas were located mainly in the left hemisphere in the middle and inferior frontal gyri (F2 and F3), the superior and middle temporal gyri (T1 and T2), and the supramarginal and angular gyri. A total of 426 cortical sites were tested for each task among the 14 patients. In frontal and temporoparietal areas, poor sensitivity of the fMRI technique was observed for the naming and verb generation tasks (22 and 36%, respectively) with P < 0.005 as the analysis threshold. Although not perfect, the specificity of the fMRI technique was good in all conditions (97% for the naming task and 98% for the verb generation task). Better correlation (sensitivity, 59%; specificity, 97%) was achieved by combining the two fMRI tasks. Variation of the analysis threshold to P < 0.05 increased the sensitivity to 66% while decreasing the specificity to 91%. Postoperative fMRI data (for the cortical brain areas studied intraoperatively) were in accordance with brain mapping results for six of eight patients. Complete agreement between pre- and postoperative fMRI studies and direct brain mapping results was observed for only three of eight patients. CONCLUSIONWith the paradigms and analysis thresholds used in this study, language fMRI data obtained with naming or verb generation tasks, before and after surgery, were imperfectly correlated with intraoperative brain mapping results. A better correlation could be obtained by combining the fMRI tasks. The overall results of this study demonstrated that language fMRI could not be used to make critical surgical decisions in the absence of direct brain mapping. Other acquisition protocols are required for evaluation of the potential role of language fMRI in the accurate detection of essential cortical language areas.
Chemoprevention of intestinal adenomas in the ApcMin mouse by piroxicam: kinetics, strain effects and resistance to chemosuppression.

Previous cancer chemoprevention studies have demonstrated that NSAIDs can be effective in suppressing the development of intestinal tumors. To further explore this issue, we performed cross-over chemoprevention studies using the drug piroxicam in the ApcMin mouse to evaluate the kinetics of NSAID-mediated tumor regression, the effects of genetic background and the incidence of resistance to chemoprevention. Starting at the time of weaning, C57BI/ 6J-ApcMin mice were fed either the control diet (AIN-93G) or AIN-93G plus 200 p.p.m. piroxicam. Tumor multiplicity was significantly reduced in ApcMin mice that were fed 200 p.p.m. piroxicam until 100 or 200 days of age (94.4 and 95.7% reduction in tumor number, respectively; P < 0.001 versus AIN-93G controls). When the administration of piroxicam was delayed until 100 days of age and the mice were killed at 200 days of age, tumor multiplicity was reduced by 96.2% (P < 0.001 versus controls). Alternatively, when the administration of piroxicam was suspended at 100 days of age and the mice were killed at 200 days of age, tumor multiplicity was reduced by 68.0% (P < 0.001 versus controls). Short-term drug treatment periods for ApcMin animals with established tumors revealed that the kinetics of piroxicam-induced tumor regression were rapid: >90% reduction in tumor multiplicity was observed after 1 week of treatment with 200 p.p.m. piroxicam. The distribution of residual tumors in piroxicam-treated mice suggests that tumors of the duodenum and colon were relatively resistant to chemosuppression. Treatment of interspecific hybrid ApcMin mice with 200 p.p.m. piroxicam revealed that there was a strain-related effect on chemosuppression, suggesting the existence of genetic elements which modulate NSAID chemosensitivity. Finally, whole-genome allelic loss studies showed that there were few unique chromosomal deletions in the NSAID-resistant tumors from F1 mice, implying that loss-of-function mutations secondary to Apc inactivation are not likely to account for the observed difference in chemoresistance.
CEPAGE: A toolbox for Central Pattern Generator analysis

This paper is focused on a new object-oriented toolbox, called CEPAGE, devoted to simulation and analysis of Central Pattern Generators (CPGs). A CPG is a little group of neurons producing periodical patterns, which control rhythmic activities of animals. CEPAGE is conceived to carry out brute-force bifurcation analysis, but can also generate data for subsequent continuation analysis through other widely-used packages, such as AUTO or MATCONT. Two case studies are considered, with three and four neurons, with the twofold purpose of illustrating the main CEPAGE functionalities and provide new analysis results.
Mood and creativity: The mediating role of attention

MOOD AND CREATIVITY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF ATTENTION Viktoria Tidikis Old Dominion University, 2012 Director: Dr. Ivan Ash Within literature there are two opposing views regarding the role of emotions in the creative process. The most commonly held view contends that positive emotions enhance creativity, while negative emotions stifle it; yet, some studies show an opposite trend. To help resolve this conundrum, this research examined the mediating effect of attention on the relationship between mood and creativity. The results showed that positive deactivating and negative activating emotions led to broader attention, while positive activating and negative deactivating emotions caused narrowing of attention. Furthermore, the creative process is not uniform in its requirements of attentional breadth; some creative tasks require broad and others narrow attention for their completion. When differential requirements for global versus local attentional focus at the differing stages of creativity were taken into consideration, the influence of emotions become more straightforward; different attentional breadth requirements corresponded to differential stages of creative performance.
Length of hospital stay for treatment of deep venous thrombosis and the incidence of recurrent thromboembolism.

BACKGROUND Current guidelines suggest that all patients with acute deep venous thrombosis should be treated with intravenous heparin for at least 5 days, overlapping with warfarin sodium for 4 to 5 days. METHODS Using linked state of California hospital discharge records from 1991 to 1994 we identified patients with acute deep venous thrombosis without pulmonary embolism, and determined the 6-month cumulative incidence of rehospitalization for recurrent thromboembolism. Coding was validated by reviewing the charts of 218 patients matched with the statewide data from 4 local hospitals. RESULTS A total of 36924 linked records met study criteria. In the validation group, objectively confirmed thrombosis that was treated with intravenous heparin followed by warfarin was noted in 20%, 65%, 94%, and 95% of the patients who were hospitalized for 2 or fewer days or 3, 4, or 5 or more days, respectively. Statewide, among patients hospitalized for 3, 4, 5, and 6 days, the 6-month cumulative incidence of hospitalization for recurrent thromboembolism was 5.4%, 5.1%, 5.4%, and 6.0%, respectively. Multivariate modeling of patients hospitalized for 3 to 10 days revealed that recurrent thromboembolism was associated with the length of hospitalization (odds ratio [OR], 1.06 each additional day; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.08), presence of malignancy (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.46-1.68), age (OR, 0.85 each 10 years; 95% CI, 0.84-0.86), dementia (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.26-0.49), hospitalization for multiple injuries within 3 months (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.32-0.60), and surgery within 3 months (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78-0.90). CONCLUSIONS We found no evidence that a stay of 4 days for treatment of deep venous thrombosis was associated with a higher rate of recurrent thromboembolism compared with hospitalization for 5 or more days. Although the evidence was not as strong, the incidence of recurrent thromboembolism after a stay of 3 days appeared comparable with that after a stay of 5 days. These findings suggest that fewer than 5 days of intravenous heparin overlapping with warfarin may provide effective initial treatment for deep venous thrombosis among patients deemed ready for hospital discharge.
Self-Perceived Competence and Test Anxiety

Abstract. Extrapolating from social-cognitive theory, this research examined whether academic self-efficacy mediates the association between academic self-concept and the four facets of test anxiety (worry, interference, lack of confidence, emotionality) in a large sample of adolescent students (N = 845; Mage = 15.32; SD = 0.49) from Brandenburg, Germany. Quantitative data structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze these associations. Results showed that there are negative relations between academic self-concept and three facets of test anxiety (namely interference, lack of confidence, emotionality), which are mitigated through academic self-efficacy. All three identified indirect effects revealed full mediation. Overall, the current study extends the literature on test anxiety in education settings by highlighting the importance of academic self-efficacy for prevention and intervention strategies that aim to reduce adolescents’ feelings of test anxiety, as academic self-efficacy fully med.
A novel framework for handoff analysis under generalized session and mobility statistics

Recently, cellular networks have witnessed major developments pertaining to user mobility, rich multimedia service offering and a melange of network access options including 3G/4G, WiFi, WiMAX, etc. As a result, sessions are expected to last longer and users are more likely to roam between access technologies and to other networks. As architectural design is advancing in all-IP cellular systems such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE), the question we propose to address is whether the established results on handoff and roaming statistics used in cellular theory still apply. To this end, we revisit the theory for handoff statistics and take up the challenge on extending the current model under general assumptions for session distributions, user mobility, network coverage and access technology. We show that the derived model yields estimates of handoff frequency and roaming statistics which cannot be obtained otherwise. The key strength of the proposed analysis is offering closed form results, which are easy to use and can lead to more accurate conclusions about the signaling load and the observed QoS, as a direct function of handoff statistics.
Animal model of simulated microgravity: a comparative study of hindlimb unloading via tail versus pelvic suspension

The aim of this study was to compare physiological effects of hindlimb suspension (HLS) in tail‐ and pelvic‐HLS rat models to determine if severe stretch in the tail‐HLS rats lumbosacral skeleton may contribute to the changes traditionally attributed to simulated microgravity and musculoskeletal disuse in the tail‐HLS model. Adult male Sprague‐Dawley rats divided into suspended and control‐nonsuspended groups were subjected to two separate methods of suspension and maintained with regular food and water for 2 weeks. Body weights, food and water consumption, soleus muscle weight, tibial bone mineral density, random plasma insulin, and hindlimb pain on pressure threshold (PPT) were measured. X‐ray analysis demonstrated severe lordosis in tail‐ but not pelvic‐HLS animals. However, growth retardation, food consumption, and soleus muscle weight and tibial bone density (decreased relative to control) did not differ between two HLS models. Furthermore, HLS rats developed similar levels of insulinopenia and mechanical hyperalgesia (decreased PPT) in both tail‐ and pelvic‐HLS groups. In the rat‐to‐rat comparisons, the growth retardation and the decreased PPT observed in HLS‐rats was most associated with insulinopenia. In conclusion, these data suggest that HLS results in mild prediabetic state with some signs of pressure hyperalgesia, but lumbosacral skeleton stretch plays little role, if any, in these pathological changes.
Stimulus History Reliably Shapes Action Potential Waveforms of Cortical Neurons

Action potentials have been shown to shunt synaptic charge to a degree that depends on their waveform. In this way, they participate in synaptic integration, and thus in the probability of generating succeeding action potentials, in a shape-dependent way. Here we test whether the different action potential waveforms produced during dynamical stimulation in a single cortical neuron carry information about the conductance stimulus history. When pyramidal neurons in rat visual cortex were driven by a conductance stimulus that resembles natural synaptic input, somatic action potential waveforms showed a large variability that reliably signaled the history of the input for up to 50 ms before the spike. The correlation between stimulus history and action potential waveforms had low noise, resulting in information rates that were three to four times larger than for the instantaneous spike rate. The reliable correlation between stimulus history and spike waveforms then acts as a local encoding at the single-cell level. It also directly affects neuronal communication as different waveforms influence the production of succeeding spikes via differential shunting of synaptic charge. Modeling was used to show that slow conductances can implement memory of the stimulus history in cortical neurons, encoding this information in the spike shape.
Development of the Coach Autonomy Support Beliefs Scale

Coaches’ autonomy support is one of the most meaningful influences on the satisfaction of athletes’ basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Fostering these needs cultivates self-determined motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which has been found to positively affect individuals’ effort, persistence when faced with adversity, performance, performance-related anxiety, and well-being (Gillet, Berjot, & Gobance, 2009; Mack et al., 2011; Podlog & Dionigi, 2010; Vallerand & Losier, 1999). The reasoned action approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) suggests that coaches’ attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norm toward autonomy support influences their use of autonomysupportive behaviors. However, prior to this study, no instrument has been developed that measured these behavioral antecedents. Consequently, the purpose of the current research was to develop a scale that assesses coaches’ attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norm toward autonomy-supportive behaviors when working with student-athletes during practice. Exploratory Factor Analysis procedures with data from 497 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and II head coaches’ revealed adequate model fit for a two-factor solution (RMSEA = .042, 99% CI [.020; .063], p = .703; CFI = .99). The Autonomy Support Belief Scale (ASBS) is an eight item measure with two subscales: personal belief (five items) and social influence (three items). Subsequent correlation and regression analysis further validated the ASBS. Personal belief and social influence were both found to be statistically significant predictors for coaches’ behaviors, accounting for 25.9% and 20.3% of the total variance in participants’ use of autonomy-supportive behaviors respectively. The ASBS allows researchers, sport psychology professionals, and coach educators to gain insight into coaches’ beliefs about
Occasional Structural Breaks and Long Memory

This paper shows that a linear process with breaks can mimic autocorrelations and other properties of I(d) processes, where d can be a fraction. Simulation results show that S&P 500 absolute stock returns are more likely to show the long memory property because of the presence of breaks in the series rather than an I(d) process.
Structural Persistence in Mandarin Chinese Preschoolers

The phenomenon of structural persistence has been intensively investigated in speakers of English and in speakers of other Germanic languages. However, few studies have been reported on Chinese, especially on preschooler population. In addition, the SVO-ba alternation and dative alternation have not been discussed in terms of this perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Chinese 4- and 5-year-olds can also exhibit this effect in the production-toproduction and comprehension-to-production conditions, and whether it is a transient short-term memory effect or an implicit memory/learning effect. 96 preschoolers were tested individually by using the animation depiction paradigm. The results indicated that they also exhibited structural persistence in both conditions. This effect was much stronger in the production-to-production condition, suggesting that Chinese preschoolers’ structural persistence was more associated with the cognitive procedures of production. In addition, structural persistence involved a learning process. Structural persistence could be obtained despite the distance across language families.
Prevalence and Determinants of Tobacco Use in India: Evidence from Recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey Data

Background Tobacco use in India is characterized by a high prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco use, with dual use also contributing a noticeable proportion. In the context of such a high burden of tobacco use, this study examines the regional variations, and socioeconomic, demographic and other correlates of smoking, smokeless tobacco and dual use of tobacco in India. Methods and Findings We analyzed a cross sectional, nationally representative sample of individuals from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in India (2009–10), which covered 69,296 individuals aged 15 years and above. The current tobacco use in three forms, namely, smoking only, smokeless tobacco use only, and both smoking and smokeless tobacco use were considered as outcomes in this study. Descriptive statistics, cross tabulations and multinomial logistic regression analysis were adopted as analytical tools. Smokeless tobacco use was the major form of tobacco use in India followed by smoking and dual tobacco use. Tobacco use was higher among males, the less educated, the poor, and the rural population in India. Respondents lacking knowledge of health hazards of tobacco had higher prevalence of tobacco use in each form. The prevalence of different forms of tobacco use varies significantly by states. The prevalence of tobacco use increases concomitantly with age among females. Middle-aged adult males had higher prevalence of tobacco use. Age, education and region were found to be significant determinants of all forms of tobacco use. Adults from the poor household had significantly higher risk of consuming smokeless tobacco. Lack of awareness about the selected hazards of tobacco significantly affects tobacco use. Conclusions There is an urgent need to curb the use of tobacco among the sub-groups of population with higher prevalence. Tobacco control policies in India should adopt a targeted, population-based approach to control and reduce tobacco consumption in the country.
An Empirical Examination of Goals and Performance-to-Goal Following the Introduction of an Incentive Bonus Plan with Participative Goal Setting

Prior research documents performance improvements following the implementation of pay-for-performance (PFP) bonus plans. However, bonus plans typically pay for performance relative to a goal, and the manager whose performance is to be evaluated often participates in setting the goal. In these settings, PFP affects managers' incentive to influence goal levels in addition to affecting performance effort. Prior field research is silent on the effect of PFP on goals, the focus of this paper. Using sales and sales goal data from 61 stores of a U.S. retail firm over 10 quarters, we find that the introduction of a performance-based bonus plan with participative goal setting is accompanied by lower goals that are more accurate predictors of subsequent sales performance. Statistical tests indicate that increased goal accuracy is attributable to managers “meeting but not beating” goals and to new information being impounded in goals. We further investigate how differences among managers are associated with goal levels. We find significant “manager effects” but no “supervisor effects. ” In additional tests we find that cross-sectional differences among managers are related to differing marginal returns to slack-building effort. Turning to the role of new information on goals, we find that prior period performance has incremental power to explain goal levels in the postplan period. Our results provide field-based evidence that PFP and participative goal setting affect the level and accuracy of goals, effects that are associated with both information exchange and with managers' incentives to influence goals.