Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Textural Parameters of Tumor Heterogeneity in 18F-FDG PET/CT for Therapy Response Assessment and Prognosis in Patients with Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

18F-FDG PET/CT is effective in the assessment of therapy response. Changes in glucose uptake or tumor size are used as a measure. Tumor heterogeneity was found to be a promising predictive and prognostic factor. We investigated textural parameters for their predictive and prognostic capability in patients with rectal cancer using histopathology as the gold standard. In addition, a comparison to clinical outcome was performed. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with rectal cancer underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT before, 2 wk after the start, and 4 wk after the completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. In all PET/CT scans, conventional parameters (tumor volume, diameter, maximum and mean standardized uptake values, and total lesion glycolysis [TLG]) and textural parameters (coefficient of variation [COV], skewness, and kurtosis) were determined to assess tumor heterogeneity. Values on pretherapeutic PET/CT as well as changes early in the course of therapy and after therapy were compared with histopathologic response. In addition, the prognostic value was assessed by correlation with time to progression and survival time. Results: The COV showed a statistically significant capability to assess histopathologic response early in therapy (sensitivity, 68%; specificity, 88%) and after therapy (79% and 88%, respectively). Thereby, the COV had a higher area under the curve in receiver-operating-characteristic analysis than did any analyzed conventional parameter for early and late response assessment. The COV showed a statistically significant capability to evaluate disease progression and to predict survival, although the latter was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Tumor heterogeneity assessed by the COV, being superior to the investigated conventional parameters, is an important predictive factor in patients with rectal cancer. Furthermore, it can provide prognostic information. Therefore, its application is an important step for personalized treatment of rectal cancer.
Bolus Calculator Reduces Hypoglycemia in the Short Term and Fear of Hypoglycemia in the Long Term in Subjects with Type 1 Diabetes (CBMDI Study)

Abstract Background: In a previous study we demonstrated improvement in metabolic control and reduction in hypoglycemia in people with type 1 diabetes on multiple daily injections, after having used a bolus calculator for 4 months. Objective: To demonstrate whether (1) extending its use (2) or introducing it in the control group, previously subjected to treatment intensification, could further improve metabolic control and related psychological issues. Methods: After the previous clinical trial, in which the subjects were randomized either to treatment with the calculator or to control group for 4 months, both groups used the calculator during an additional 4-month period. Results: In the previous control group, after using the device, HbA1c did not improve (7.86% ± 0.87% vs. 8.01% ± 0.93%, P 0.215), although a significant decrease in postprandial hypoglycemia was observed (2.3 ± 2 vs. 1.1 ± 1.2/2 weeks, P 0.002). In the group in which the treatment was extended from 4 to 8 months, HbA1c did not improve either (7.61 ± 0.58 vs. 7.73 ± 0.65, P 0.209); however this group had a greater perceived treatment satisfaction (12.03 ± 4.26 vs. 13.71 ± 3.75, P 0.007) and a significant decrease in fear of hypoglycemia (28.24 ± 8.18 basal vs. 25.66 ± 8.02 at 8 months, P 0.026). Conclusions: The extension in the use of the calculator or its introduction in a previously intensified control group did not improve metabolic control, although it did confirm a decrease in hypoglycemic episodes in the short term, while the extension of its use to 8 months was associated with a reduction in fear of hypoglycemia and greater treatment satisfaction.
Development of measurement system for secondary electron emission yield of insulating materials for spacecraft materials

We studied how to measure the secondary electron emission (SEE) of metal and insulating materials used for satellite thermal insulation or other such purposes. SEE yield measurement is very important for analyzing charge accumulation on the satellite surfaces due to the space environment because electron emission for irradiated electrons influences the amount of surface charge. Therefore, we are developing the measurement system without the deceleration voltage and enable to obtain the characteristics of the SEE yield from insulation materials irradiated by an electron beam with energy of 300 eV to 5 keV. This report introduces the developed measurement system and the SEE yield measurement results of metal sample and Polymer (polyimide and FEP). From those results, we discuss the characteristics of SEE that depend on each material. Furthermore, we also propose a future plan of SEE measurement for satellite materials.
17β-Estradiol Protects 7-Day Old Rats From Acute Brain Injury and Reduces the Number of Apoptotic Cells

Objective: To test a possible neuroprotective activity of 17β-estradiol in the neonatal rat brain exposed to hypoxic-ischemia (controlled hypoxia after unilateral carotid artery ligation). Methods: Seven-day-old Wistar rats underwent ligation of the left common carotid artery followed by 80 minutes hypoxia in 8% oxygen inducing an ipsilateral brain damage. Seven days later (d14), brains were analyzed quantitatively using a macroscopic and microscopic score for structural damage, hemisphere volumes were calculated, and immunohistochemistry for cleaved-caspase-3 (marker for apoptotic cells) was performed. Animals from the study group (n = 19) received 17β-estradiol (0.05 µg/g body weight intraperitoneally) before (−64, −40, and –16 hours) and after (+3 hours) the hypoxia (hour 0: start of the hypoxia) and the control group (n = 21) received mock treatment. Results: Of the 21 pups, 13 in the NaCl group had macroscopically a severe brain damage and 7 of 19 animals in the study group encountered only discrete to mild lesions. Microscopic brain damage in the study group was significantly lower (score 1.5 ± 0.7 vs 2.8 ± 0.8, P < .05). The determined volumes of the affected hemisphere were significantly lower in the NaCl group than in the treatment group. The numbers of apoptotic cells in both hemispheres was equal in the estradiol group, but in the control group, there were significantly more apoptotic cells in the affected hemisphere (control group: ipsilateral: 1435 ± 653 vs contralateral: 143 ± 57 cells, P < .05). Discussion: 17β-Estradiol protects newborn rat brains from hypoxic–ischemic injury, in terms of both microscopic cell injury and apoptosis.
Pauliina Pisto FAT ACCUMULATION IN LIVER AND MUSCLE ASSOCIATION WITH ADIPOKINES AND RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS

The prevalence of obesity is dramatically on the rise in the Western world. Obesity is associated with several chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease occurs when fat is ectopically stored in the liver. It is closely associated with serious metabolic abnormalities. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ranges from simple hepatic steatosis with no inflammation to hepatic steatosis with a necroinflammatory component, which may lead to cirrhosis and liver failure. Adiponectin is an adipokine that is solely secreted by adipocytes and has anti-inflammatory, antiatherogenic and insulin-sensitizing properties. Adipose tissue inflammation contributes to reduced plasma adiponectin levels in obesity leading to further metabolic complications. Adiponectin may be a mediator between obesity and fat accumulation in the liver and skeletal muscle. Fatty liver may play a role in the pathogenesis of CVD. Mortality data show that CVD as the cause of death accounts for almost half of all deaths in Finland. Traditional risk factors for CVD are age, gender, smoking, high lowdensity lipoprotein level, high blood pressure and diabetes. The aim of the thesis was to investigate the mediators of fat accumulation in the liver and skeletal muscle as well as the role of fatty liver in the future risk for CVD. If one considers the peptide hormones, then adiponectin turned out to be the strongest independent indicator of the brightness of the liver. In addition, an association between a low adiponectin concentration and large muscle fiber size was observed, and this was not dependent on the amount of total fatness. Furthermore, severe fatty liver increased the risk for cardiovascular events, predicted the risk for death from all causes and death from CVD in a long follow-up. Insulin sensitivity seemed to play a more dominant role in developing cardiovascular events. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that adiponectin may have an important effect on fat accumulation in the liver and skeletal muscle. Adiponectin could be a target when considering the treatment and prevention of ectopic fat accumulation. Fatty liver seems to play a significant role in developing cardiovascular event and mortality to CVD.
Pattern Recognition Training: A Key to Mathematics and Language Skill Development

• According to a number of studies and various curriculum programs (Copeland, 1970; Lovell, 1971; Edmonds, Graham, and Linn, 1970), pattern recognition is a necessary component of mathematics and language functioning. Some refer to pattern recognition as a readiness activity for further cognitive development (Glennon and Alderman, 1970). Others tend to associate this capability with processes that provide an individual with needed reasoning and problem solving skills (Gagne, 1970). Currently, there is a lack of information concerning appropriate instructional activities to follow that would aid a child in the development of the ability to recognize patterns. Initially, children are taught to discriminate on the basis of some sense modality (i.e., vision, audition, and so on). This allows them to "see" the difference between things. For example, a child who is presented a red block and a blue block may be asked to point to the red one (discrimination based upon color). Later, children are expected to conceptualize higher order differences. Here, a child might be presented with the numerals 5 and 7 and be asked to state the difference. In this case, the child is not only asked to "see" the configural difference between the numerals (visual discrimination), but also the relationship between them. Therefore, pattern recognition development should start with patterns of things that the child can discriminate according to a lower level discriminative ability (Le., vision) before he is expected to conceptualize relationships. In essence, patterns of colors, shapes, and pictures of objects, to name just a few, should be dealt with at first.
Putting Text in Context: The Conflict between Pro-Ecological Messages and Anti-Ecological Descriptive Norms

In the present work we test whether the effectiveness of ecological messages may be canceled out when they conflict with the descriptive norm that is salient in the situation. In two studies, participants were unobtrusively observed while performing an ecologically relevant behavior: leaving lights on or off when exiting a public space. The results of Study 1 showed in two different settings (i.e., public washrooms of a university and of a restaurant) the powerful influence of focusing a descriptive norm that refers to such behavior, even when this descriptive norm is not sustained by the injunctive norm. The results of Study 2 showed the overall ineffectiveness of ecological messages when the information in the message was in conflict with the descriptive norm made salient by the context. Additionally, the results of a Follow-up Study suggested that vividness-congruency may increase the effectiveness of the message. Both the theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. En este trabajo se comprueba si los mensajes de tipo ecológico pierden efectividad cuando entran en conflicto con la norma descriptiva; es decir, la percepción sobre cómo se comportan las personas en una situación concreta. En dos estudios se observó la conducta de dejar las luces apagadas o encendidas al salir de un espacio público. En dos contextos diferentes (i.e., los servicios de una universidad y de un restaurante) los resultados del Estudio 1 mostraron como el comportamiento se ajusta a la norma descriptiva saliente. Los resultados del Estudio 2 mostraron que los mensajes ecológicos no son efectivos cuando la información contenida en dichos mensajes entra en conflicto con la norma descriptiva saliente. Además, los resultados de dos estudios complementarios mostraron que la influencia de la norma descriptiva era independiente de la norma prescriptiva, y que la efectividad del mensaje ecológico puede incrementarse si despierta una imagen clara y coherente con el comportamiento que se pretende provocar (i.e., vividness-congruency).
Metabolomic Differences in Heart Failure Patients With and Without Major Depression

Metabolomics is an emerging technology that allows researchers to characterize hundreds of small molecules that comprise the metabolome. We sought to determine metabolic differences in depressed and nondepressed participants. The sample consisted of a depressed group of patients with heart failure enrolled in an NIMH-supported clinical trial of sertraline versus placebo in depressed heart failure patients, and a nondepressed comparator group of heart failure patients. Plasma was obtained from blood samples provided by participants at baseline, and samples were profiled on GC-MS and LC-MS metabolomics platforms for biochemical content. A number of biochemicals were significantly different between groups, with depressed participants showing higher concentrations of several amino acids and dicarboxylic fatty acids. These results are consistent with prior findings where changes in neurotransmitter systems and fatty acid metabolism were shown to associate with the depressed state. It is unclear what role heart failure may have played in these differing concentrations.
Judgment-Versus-Choice, Accountability Demands, and the Auditor's Evidence Search Strategy

This study examines two elements of the audit decision environment that may influence the auditor's decision strategy: the nature of the task (judgment or choice), and the presence of accountability demands. Judgment involves the explicit assignment of a particular value to an attribute under examination. Choice is the selection of a course of action over other alternative actions. Accountability is the expected requirement to justify one's position to significant others. Recent work in decision- making literature suggests that judgment and choice are not equivalent tasks. This work suggests that judgment, when compared to choice, is characterized to be more time-demanding and cognitively demanding (e.g., Tversky 1972; Einhorn and Hogarth 1981). Recent work in audit judgment literature suggests that the influence of accountability demands likely depends, at least in part, on the perceived preferences of the individual to whom the auditor is accountable (Peecher 1996). Eighty auditor-participants completed two audit tasks -- an accounts receivable collectibility review and an inventory obsolescence review. The auditors were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions created by crossing three levels of accountability (no accountability, credence-inducing, and skepticism-inducing) and two levels of response tasks (judgment and choice). Similar to Peecher (1996), credence-inducing preferences are characterized as preferences of a reviewing manager who is concerned with auditors who undertake, without adequate justification, costly investigations of unusual account balance fluctuations. Skepticism-inducing preferences are characterized as preferences of a reviewing manager who is concerned with auditors who accept, without adequatejustification, client-provided explanations of unusual account balance fluctuations. The results of this study indicate that auditors who make judgments evaluate more evidence and expend more time than those who make choices. Further, auditors who are held accountable to a reviewer possessing skepticism-inducing preferences evaluate more evidence and follow a more exhaustive search strategy than those who are not.
Coherent perfect absorption and transparency in lossy and loss/gain metasurface-embedding structures

In this paper we report about the possibility to control a strong signal beam with a much weaker control beam, resorting to the linear optical phenomena known as coherent perfect absorption and transparency (CPA and CPT). First, analytical formulas for CPA and CPT in a realistic yet prototypical configuration of a substrate-backed optically conducting surface (graphene, metallic metasurface…) are reported. Maximal optical control can be achieved by only imposing the conditions for CPA, since CPT is always present in this system. Secondly, we observe that the performance of passive two-port devices as optical switches is always limited by fundamental energy conservation constraints. Meanwhile, we outline how a hybrid gain/loss optical device reminiscent of parity-time symmetric objects can overcome such limitation, enabling the realization of ideal full optical control.
Localization of the Mandibular Canal in Brachycephalic Dogs Using Computed Tomography

For some surgical procedures in veterinary dentistry including exodontia, orthognathic surgery, orthopedic surgery, oncologic surgery, and for the placement of dental implants, it is important to know the accurate location of the neurovascular structures within the mandibular canal. The aim of this research was to determine the course of the mandibular canal in the mandible and its relationship with other anatomical structures in brachycephalic dogs using computerized tomography. Mandibles from 10 brachycephalic cadaver dogs were evaluated. Measurements were taken in relation to the lingual, vestibular, alveolar crest, and ventral surfaces. These measurements indicated that the mandibular canal descends slightly from the mandibular foramen to the molar area, decreasing the distance of the mandibular canal from the mandibular ventral border. The mandibular canal is slightly closer to the lingual surface than the vestibular surface except in the molar tooth region. The mandibular canal continues in a rostral direction occupying the ventral region of the mandibular body, reaching its maximum distance from the alveolar crest at the level of the first molar and fourth premolar teeth. In the third and fourth premolar tooth region, the mandibular canal maintains a similar distance between the vestibular and lingual borders; then, at the level of the second premolar tooth, the distance of the mandibular canal from the lingual and ventral border increases before its termination at the mental foramen. The study reported here documents the feasibility of using CT to determine the location of the mandibular canal in relation to bony and dental parameters. Although the difference in mandible size of the group of brachycephalic dogs reported here resulted in broad ranges of measurements, it is clear that the MC course may vary between individual dogs.
Lymphoid Chemokine B Cell-Attracting Chemokine-1 (CXCL13) Is Expressed in Germinal Center of Ectopic Lymphoid Follicles Within the Synovium of Chronic Arthritis Patients1

A unique feature in inflammatory tissue of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the formation of ectopic lymphoid aggregates with germinal center (GC)-like structures that can be considered to contribute to the pathogenesis of RA, because local production of the autoantibody, rheumatoid factor, is thought to be a causative factor in tissue damage. However, the factors governing the formation of GC in RA are presently unknown. To begin to address this, the expression of B cell attracting chemokine (BCA-1) (CXCL13), a potent chemoattractant of B cells, was examined in the synovium of patients with RA or with osteoarthritis (OA). Expression of BCA-1 mRNA was detected in all RA samples, but in only one of five OA samples. Lymphoid follicles were observed in four of seven RA samples and in two of eight OA samples, and in most of them BCA-1 protein was detected in GC. BCA-1 was not detected in tissues lacking lymphoid follicles. Notably, BCA-1 was detected predominantly in follicular dendritic cells in GC. CD20-positive B cells were aggregated in regions of BCA-1 expression, but not T cells or macrophages. These data suggest that BCA-1 produced by follicular dendritic cells may attract B cells and contribute to the formation of GC-like structures in chronic arthritis.
Sound the Alarm? Judicial Decisions Regarding Publication and Dissent

Judges sitting on three-judge panels in the U.S. Courts of Appeals make decisions under the shadow of potential review by supervising courts, the full circuit sitting en banc and the Supreme Court. Review is more likely for published decisions, particularly when a dissent is present. Unpublished decisions do not have binding precedential status. These factors create the potential for judges to be strategic in deciding whether to publish a decision or write a dissent. We develop a formal model of decision aggregation that takes the possibility of negotiating a tradeoff between the ideological location of a rule and its precedential value into account. Implications of our model are tested empirically using an original data set of search and seizure cases. Our model and results indicate that preferences within the panel and judicial hierarchy coupled with discretionary review influence judges’ decisions regarding publication and dissent, and that these choices have important consequences.
HLA*IMP - an integrated framework for imputing classical HLA alleles from SNP genotypes

MOTIVATION Genetic variation at classical HLA alleles influences many phenotypes, including susceptibility to autoimmune disease, resistance to pathogens and the risk of adverse drug reactions. However, classical HLA typing methods are often prohibitively expensive for large-scale studies. We previously described a method for imputing classical alleles from linked SNP genotype data. Here, we present a modification of the original algorithm implemented in a freely available software suite that combines local data preparation and QC with probabilistic imputation through a remote server. RESULTS We introduce two modifications to the original algorithm. First, we present a novel SNP selection function that leads to pronounced increases (up by 40% in some scenarios) in call rate. Second, we develop a parallelized model building algorithm that allows us to process a reference set of over 2500 individuals. In a validation experiment, we show that our framework produces highly accurate HLA type imputations at class I and class II loci for independent datasets: at call rates of 95-99%, imputation accuracy is between 92% and 98% at the four-digit level and over 97% at the two-digit level. We demonstrate utility of the method through analysis of a genome-wide association study for psoriasis where there is a known classical HLA risk allele (HLA-C*06:02). We show that the imputed allele shows stronger association with disease than any single SNP within the region. The imputation framework, HLA*IMP, provides a powerful tool for dissecting the architecture of genetic risk within the HLA. AVAILABILITY HLA*IMP, implemented in C++ and Perl, is available from http://oxfordhla.well. ox.ac. uk and is free for academic use.