Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Curative versus palliative treatments for colorectal cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this study was to provide an up-to-date summary of the current evidence that may be useful for updating guidelines. We comprehensively searched the published literatures and conferences for studies that compared curative with palliative treatments in colorectal cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis. The primary outcomes considered in this study were three- and five-year overall survival rates. We pooled data across studies and estimated summary effect sizes. Overall, patients who received curative treatments had improved three-year survival (hazard ratio (HR), 2.19 [95% CI, 1.83 to 2.62]) and five-year survival (HR, 2.22 [95% CI, 1.83 to 2.69]) compared with those who received palliative treatments. Patients who received curative treatments had an increased risk of treatment-related morbidity (odds ratio (OR), 2.90 [95% CI, 2.02 to 4.17]), but there was no significant difference in treatment-related mortality between patients who received curative treatments and those who received palliative treatments (OR, 1.46 [CI, 0.62 to 3.47]). Curative treatments improved overall survival in colorectal cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis and did not increase the risk of treatment-related mortality. Curative treatments were associated with a higher risk of treatment-related morbidity. These data highlight the importance for further investigation aimed at prevention of treatment-associated morbidity.
Analysis of the Results of Use of Bone Graft and Reconstruction Cages in a Group of Patients with Severe Acetabular Bone Defects

Introduction. Rings and cages are indicated for use in revision total hip with severe bone loss. Material and Methods. A retrospective study was performed on 37 acetabular revision cases with an average age at revision of 67.8 years. According to Paprosky classification, 54% grade II and 46% grade III. We used two types of cages, Protrusio and Contour cage. We used 23 standard liners and 14 dual mobility cups. Results. The average follow-up was 5.4 years. The mean Merle-d’Aubigne score improved from 5.48 to 10.5 points (). There were 10 nerve palsies, 6 rings that lost fixation, 10 dislocations, and 4 infections. The need for reoperation for any reason rose to 32% (12/37). Success, defined as a stable reconstruction, was 73%. We found that, using a dual mobility cup cemented into the cage, the dislocation rate and revision rate came down (). Conclusions. The treatment of severe acetabular defects using bone graft and reconstruction cages is a viable option. The use of a dual mobility cup cemented into the cage could avoid dislocations and the insertion of the ischial flap inside the ischial portion of the acetabulum for further ring stability and protection of the sciatic nerve.
Constitutive modelling of the densification of micron-grain-sized alumina ceramics

In the present work, the densification behaviour of micron-grain-sized alumina during stage 1 sintering is studied by the constitutive models employed and the experimental results obtained. Grain-boundary diffusion is identified as the dominant densification mechanism of the materials system investigated, and the corresponding model is examined as an appropriate form. The activation energy for densification is evaluated as 384 kJ mol m1 , which provides strong support for the dominant densification mechanism investigation. The appropriate expressions for some important parameters, namely the sintering potential and dimensionless density functions, in the constitutive law are identified from those reported in the literature. The relationship between the sintering potential and the relative density is studied and the trend that the determined sintering potential increases with increase in the relative density is shown. The grain-boundary diffusion constitutive law is then used to study the process of sintering of a micron-grain-sized alumina tape on a rigid alumina substrate. As a result, the model provides a reasonably good prediction for the densification behaviour of the constrained-sintered tape. The tensile stress induced by the constraint is estimated and it is shown that the stress increases as the relative density increases.
Tackling the Partner Units Configuration Problem

The Partner Units Problem is a specific type of configuration problem with important applications in the area of surveillance and security. In this work we show that a special case of the problem, that is of great interest to our partners in industry, can directly be tackled via a structural problem decompostion method. Combining these theoretical insights with general purpose AI techniques such as constraint satisfaction and SAT solving proves to be particularly effective in practice.
The Optimal Size of Handwriting Character Input Boxes on PDAs

This article presents an empirical study to determine the optimal size of a box for the input of handwriting characters on personal digital assistants (PDAs). The experiments involve the consideration of boxes for different kinds of characters, different box sizes and shapes (square and rectangular), different user postures, and the age differences of users. The results are assessed in terms of high performance (high character recognition rates, minimal stroke protrusions outside the character box, minimal number of error corrections, minimum writing time) and subjective ratings (e.g., ease of writing and minimum degree of fatigue). The results show that the optimal size of character boxes for the input of alphanumeric characters is 12 × 14 mm (rectangular), whereas for Kanji (Chinese characters) mixed with Kana characters and for Hiragana & Katakana characters the optimal size is 14 × 14 mm (square). We believe that knowledge of the optimal size of character input boxes will be useful for the design of user interfaces on PDAs.
Detection and Quantification of CD4+ T Cells with Specificity for a New Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II-Restricted Influenza A Virus Matrix Protein Epitope in Peripheral Blood of Influenza Patients

ABSTRACT FVFTLTVPS was identified as the core sequence of a new major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted T-cell epitope of influenza virus matrix protein. Epitope-specific CD4+ T cells were detected in the peripheral blood of patients with frequencies of up to 0.94%, depending on the number of additional terminal amino acids.
Effects of Glutathione on Mechanical Allodynia and Central Sensitization in Chronic Postischemic Pain Rats

Background The chronic postischemia pain (CPIP) model is an animal model using ischemia/reperfusion injury that mimics the symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome type I. Glutathione (GSH) prevents ischemia/reperfusion injury by scavenging free radicals. We conducted this study to investigate the protective effect of GSH in CPIP rats via changes of mechanical allodynia and phospholyration of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit GluN1. Methods We divided 45 rats into 5 groups: sham, CPIP, CPIP + GSH 100 mg/kg, CPIP + GSH 200 mg/kg, and CPIP + GSH 500 mg/kg. Rats in the sham and CPIP groups received normal saline and rats in the other groups received GSH at the designated doses thirty minutes prior to reperfusion. Withdrawal thresholds were evaluated before sugery as well as 1, 3, and 7 days after surgery. pGluN1 level in the spinal cord was also measured. Results GSH treated rats show a significant increase in the withdrawal thresholds of both hind paws as compared with the CPIP group dose-dependently. The expression of pGluN1 in the GSH treated rats significantly decreased as compared to the CPIP group (all P < 0.05). Conclusion These findings suggest that GSH inhibited the development of mechanical allodynia and central sensitization in CPIP rats.
Protective Effects of White Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) against Hepatic Steatosis in Ovariectomized Mice as a Model of Postmenopausal Women

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes various hepatic pathologies ranging from hepatic steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis and cirrhosis. Estrogen provides a protective effect on the development of NAFLD in women. Therefore, postmenopausal women have a higher risk of developing NAFLD. Hepatic steatosis is an early stage of fatty liver disease. Steatosis can develop to the aggressive stages (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis). Currently, there is no specific drug to prevent/treat these liver diseases. In this study, we found that white button mushroom (WBM), Agaricus Bisporus, has protective effects against liver steatosis in ovariectomized (OVX) mice (a model of postmenopausal women). OVX mice were fed a high fat diet supplemented with WBM powder. We found that dietary WBM intake significantly lowered liver weight and hepatic injury markers in OVX mice. Pathological examination of liver tissue showed less fat accumulation in the livers of mice on WBM diet; moreover, these animals had improved glucose clearance ability. Microarray analysis revealed that genes related to the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway, particularly the genes for fatty acid synthetase (Fas) and fatty acid elongase 6 (Elovl6), were down-regulated in the liver of mushroom-fed mice. In vitro mechanistic studies using the HepG2 cell line showed that down-regulation of the expression of FAS and ELOVL6 by WBM extract was through inhibition of Liver X receptor (LXR) signaling and its downstream transcriptional factor SREBP1c. These results suggest that WBM is protective against hepatic steatosis and NAFLD in OVX mice as a model for postmenopausal women.
Instant ray tracing: the bounding interval hierarchy

We introduce a new ray tracing algorithm that exploits the best of previous methods: Similar to bounding volume hierarchies the memory of the acceleration data structure is linear in the number of objects to be ray traced and can be predicted prior to construction, while the traversal of the hierarchy is as efficient as the one of kd-trees. The construction algorithm can be considered a variant of quicksort and for the first time is based on a global space partitioning heuristic, which is much cheaper to evaluate than the classic surface area heuristic. Compared to spatial partitioning schemes only a fraction of the memory is used and a higher numerical precision is intrinsic. The new method is simple to implement and its high performance is demonstrated by extensive measurements including massive as well as dynamic scenes, where we focus on the total time to image including the construction cost rather than on only frames per second.
Cytological study of exfoliative buccal mucosal cells of Qat chewers in Yemen

Prevalence of oral cancer is relatively increasing in Yemen in recent years, which is ascribed to Qat with other carcinogens. Since the establishment of a simple and reliable method for the detection of oral cancerous and precancerous lesions is essential, exfoliative cytology (EC) was applied to a case‐control study to appraise the presence and severity of oral epithelial atypia in 300 subjects (150 were Qat chewers and 150 were non‐Qat users) without prior knowledge of the subjects' Qat exposure. Ten patients with oral squamous‐cell carcinoma (OSCC) were included as internal controls. Cytological atypia and hyperkeratosis were demonstrated in six and 24 subjects, respectively, and could not be ascertained in the remaining 294 and 276 correspondingly. All of the 30 (six atypia and 24 hyperkeratosis) were among the 150 Qat chewers. Cytological atypia was found in all the 10 control cases with OSCCs (eight with severe degree and two with mild atypia). For the Qat among those with atypia and hyperkeratosis, the adjusted OR and the 95% confidence level were found to be 1.6 (0.8–7.2) and 3 (10.1–21.9), respectively. In view of these findings, we suggest the use of EC for detection and assessment of oral cytological atypia. Qat use contributes to the occurrence of cytological atypia that might develop to oral precancerous or cancerous lesions. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Antifreeze Protein Prolongs the Life-Time of Insulinoma Cells during Hypothermic Preservation

It is sometimes desirable to preserve mammalian cells by hypothermia rather than freezing during short term transplantation. Here we found an ability of hypothermic (+4°C) preservation of fish antifreeze protein (AFP) against rat insulinoma cells denoted as RIN-5F. The preservation ability was compared between type I–III AFPs and antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP), which could be recently mass-prepared by a developed technique utilizing the muscle homogenates, but not the blood serum, of cold-adapted fishes. For AFGP, whose molecular weight is distributed in the range from 2.6 to 34 kDa, only the proteins less than 10 kDa were examined. The viability rate was evaluated by counting of the preserved RIN-5F cells unstained with trypan blue. Significantly, either AFPI or AFPIII dissolved into Euro-Collins (EC) solution at a concentration of 10 mg/ml could preserve approximately 60% of the cells for 5 days at +4°C. The 5-day preserved RIN-5F cells retained the ability to secrete insulin. Only 2% of the cells were, however, preserved for 5 days without AFP. Confocal photomicroscopy experiments further showed the significant binding ability of AFP to the cell surface. These results suggest that fish AFP enables 5-day quality storage of the insulinoma cells collected from a donor without freezing.
New cytotoxic spirostane saponin and biflavonoid glycoside from the leaves of Acacia saligna (Labill.) H.L. Wendl.

New naturally occurring spirostane saponin (25S)-5β-spirostan-3β-yl-3-O-β-d-xylopyranosyl(1 → 3)-O-β-d-xylopyranosyl(1 → 4)-β-d-galactopyranoside (6) and biflavonoid glycoside myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside (C7-O-C7) myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside (4) along with a series of known compounds erythrodiol (1), 3β-O-trans-p-coumaroyl-erythrodiol (2), quercetin-3-O-α-l-rhamnoside (3) and myricetin-3-O-α-l-rhamnoside (5) were separated from the leaves of Acacia saligna (Labill.), H.L. Wendl. Compounds 1 and 2 were separated for the first time from genus Acacia. The structures of compounds 1–6 were established on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques in combination with EI-MS and HR-ESI-MS. These compounds were screened for their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities against HEPG2 (liver cancer) cell line and significant results were obtained.
Imaging of Prostate Cancer.

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer is the most common type of solid tumor in men and the second most common cause of cancer-related death in males in Germany. The conventional strategy for its primary detection, i.e., systematic ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy in men who have elevated PSA levels and/or positive findings on digital rectal examination, fails to reveal all cases. The same is true of the use of conventional computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and skeletal scintigraphy for the early detection of recurrences and distant metastases. METHODS This review is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a selective search, including the German clinical practice guideline on prostate cancer and systematic review articles. RESULTS Prospective multicenter trials have shown that the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer is markedly improved with multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and MR/TRUS fusion biopsy (TRUS = transrectal ultrasonography), compared to conventional systematic biopsy. A recent Cochrane review showed that the rate of overdiagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer was reduced with mpMRI and MR/TRUS fusion biopsy compared with conventional systematic biopsy (95/1000 vs. 139/1000), and that clinically significant prostate cancer was more reliably detected (sensitivity 72% vs. 63%), albeit with slightly lower specificity (96% vs. 100%). Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) hybrid imaging improves the detection of lymphogenic and bony metastases in patients with high-risk prostate cancer. PSMA hybrid imaging is most commonly used to detect biochemical recurrences. A meta-analysis showed that the detection rate depends on the PSA concentration: 74.1% overall, 33.7% with PSA <0.2 ng/mL, and 91.7% with PSA ≥ 2.0 ng/mL. CONCLUSION The appropriate use of mpMRI and MR/TRUS fusion biopsy improves the initial detection of prostate cancer as well as the assessment of the prognosis. PSMA hybrid imaging is useful for the staging of high-risk patients and for the detection of recurrences. These methods are now recommended in the German clinical practice guideline on prostate cancer as well as in guidelines from other countries.
Gender Differences in Physical Health and Psychosocial Well Being among Four Age-Groups of Elderly People in Israel

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the well-established gender differences in physical and psychosocial well being in adulthood persist throughout different age groups of elderly persons, in order to support one of two opposing hypotheses: the convergence and divergence hypotheses. Data were collected by structured interviews from a random sample of 987 Israeli elderly (70+) in 1994. They were divided into four age groups for analysis: 70–74, 75–79, 80–84, and 85 and over. Findings indicate that in nearly every gender comparison by age, women score lower than men on indicators of physical and psychosocial well being, and in both genders increasing limitations on activities of daily living (ADL) were noticed. However, on all measures of physical health, except for ADL, the male advantage declines in the older age groups. This pattern is even stronger for the psychosocial indicators of well being, where no significant gender differences are found between the oldest groups. The trend of convergence among men and women thus occurs mainly in the age group of 85+. The results of multivariate analyses indicate that the sense of control of one's life is an important explanatory variable of satisfaction with life for men but not for women. The significant decline in the sense of control of men, aged 85 and over, is one of the main reasons for the more significant decline found in men's psychosocial well being in comparison to women. Our findings indicate that decline in health status, and other losses experienced with aging, affect more significantly men's sense of control over life, and therefore have a more deleterious effect on the psychosocial well being of men than on that of women. This conclusion, however, has to be supported by longitudinal studies.
Neuroaesthetics in fashion: Modeling the perception of fashionability

In this paper, we analyze the fashion of clothing of a large social website. Our goal is to learn and predict how fashionable a person looks on a photograph and suggest subtle improvements the user could make to improve her/his appeal. We propose a Conditional Random Field model that jointly reasons about several fashionability factors such as the type of outfit and garments the user is wearing, the type of the user, the photograph's setting (e.g., the scenery behind the user), and the fashionability score. Importantly, our model is able to give rich feedback back to the user, conveying which garments or even scenery she/he should change in order to improve fashionability. We demonstrate that our joint approach significantly outperforms a variety of intelligent baselines. We additionally collected a novel heterogeneous dataset with 144,169 user posts containing diverse image, textual and meta information which can be exploited for our task. We also provide a detailed analysis of the data, showing different outfit trends and fashionability scores across the globe and across a span of 6 years.
Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access

We compared conscious and nonconscious processing of briefly flashed words using a visual masking procedure while recording intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) in ten patients. Nonconscious processing of masked words was observed in multiple cortical areas, mostly within an early time window (<300 ms), accompanied by induced gamma-band activity, but without coherent long-distance neural activity, suggesting a quickly dissipating feedforward wave. In contrast, conscious processing of unmasked words was characterized by the convergence of four distinct neurophysiological markers: sustained voltage changes, particularly in prefrontal cortex, large increases in spectral power in the gamma band, increases in long-distance phase synchrony in the beta range, and increases in long-range Granger causality. We argue that all of those measures provide distinct windows into the same distributed state of conscious processing. These results have a direct impact on current theoretical discussions concerning the neural correlates of conscious access.
The pintos instructional operating system kernel

Pintos is an instructional operating system, complete with documentation and ready-made, modular projects that introduce students to the principles of multi-programming, scheduling, virtual memory, and filesystems. By allowing students to run their work product on actual hardware, while simultaneously benefiting from debugging and dynamic analysis tools provided in simulated and emulated environments, Pintos increases student engagement. Unlike tailored versions of commercial or open source OS such as Linux, Pintos is designed from the ground up from an educational perspective. It has been used by multiple institutions for a number of years and is available for wider use.
Modeling the Spread of Vector-Borne Diseases on Bipartite Networks

Background Vector-borne diseases for which transmission occurs exclusively between vectors and hosts can be modeled as spreading on a bipartite network. Methodology/Principal Findings In such models the spreading of the disease strongly depends on the degree distribution of the two classes of nodes. It is sufficient for one of the classes to have a scale-free degree distribution with a slow enough decay for the network to have asymptotically vanishing epidemic threshold. Data on the distribution of Ixodes ricinus ticks on mice and lizards from two independent studies are well described by a scale-free distribution compatible with an asymptotically vanishing epidemic threshold. The commonly used negative binomial, instead, cannot describe the right tail of the empirical distribution. Conclusions/Significance The extreme aggregation of vectors on hosts, described by the power-law decay of the degree distribution, makes the epidemic threshold decrease with the size of the network and vanish asymptotically.