Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 3-Plex Methylation Assay Combined with the FGFR3 Mutation Assay Sensitively Detects Recurrent Bladder Cancer in Voided Urine

Purpose: DNA methylation is associated with bladder cancer and these modifications could serve as useful biomarkers. FGFR3 mutations are present in 60% to 70% of non–muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Low-grade bladder cancer recurs in more than 50% of patients. The aim of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of a urine assay for the diagnosis of recurrences in patients with a previous primary NMIBC G1/G2 by using cystoscopy as the reference standard. Experimental Design: We selected eight CpG islands (CGI) methylated in bladder cancer from our earlier genome-wide study. Sensitivity of the CGIs for recurrences detection was investigated on a test set of 101 preTUR urines. Specificity was determined on 70 urines from healthy males aged more than 50 years. A 3-plex assay for the best combination was developed and validated on an independent set of 95 preTUR, recurrence free, and nonmalignant urines (n = 130). Results: The 3-plex assay identified recurrent bladder cancer in voided urine with a sensitivity of 74% in the validation set. In combination with the FGFR3 mutation assay, a sensitivity of 79% was reached (specificity of 77%). Sensitivity of FGFR3 and cytology was 52% and 57%, respectively. Conclusion: The combination of methylation and FGFR3 assays efficiently detects recurrent bladder cancer without the need for stratification of patients regarding methylation/mutation status of the primary tumor. We conclude that the sensitivity of this combination is in the same range as cystoscopy and paves the way for a subsequent study that investigates a modified surveillance protocol consisting of the urine test followed by cystoscopy only when the urine test is positive. Clin Cancer Res; 19(17); 4760–9. ©2013 AACR.
Agency Problems and Dividend Policies Around the World

This paper addresses the question of why firms pay dividends, the so-called "dividend puzzle," from the agency perspective. We outline two agency models of dividends. On what we call "the outcomes" model, dividends are the result of effective pressure by minority shareholders rights should be associated with higher dividends. On what we call "the substitutes" model, insiders choose to pay dividends to establish a reputation for a decent treatment of minority shareholders so that firms can raise equity finance in the future. Under this model, stronger minority shareholder rights reduce the need for establishing a reputation, and so should be associated with lower dividends. We compare these models on a cross-section of 4,000 companies from around the world, which operate in countries with different levels of investor protection, and therefore different strength of minority shareholder rights. The findings on payout levels, as well as other results, support the outcome agency model of dividends.
A Prominent Role for DC-SIGN+ Dendritic Cells in Initiation and Dissemination of Measles Virus Infection in Non-Human Primates

Measles virus (MV) is a highly contagious virus that is transmitted by aerosols. During systemic infection, CD150+ T and B lymphocytes in blood and lymphoid tissues are the main cells infected by pathogenic MV. However, it is unclear which cell types are the primary targets for MV in the lungs and how the virus reaches the lymphoid tissues. In vitro studies have shown that dendritic cell (DC) C-type lectin DC-SIGN captures MV, leading to infection of DCs as well as transmission to lymphocytes. However, evidence of DC-SIGN-mediated transmission in vivo has not been established. Here we identified DC-SIGNhi DCs as first target cells in vivo and demonstrate that macaque DC-SIGN functions as an attachment receptor for MV. Notably, DC-SIGNhi cells from macaque broncho-alveolar lavage and lymph nodes transmit MV to B lymphocytes, providing in vivo support for an important role for DCs in both initiation and dissemination of MV infection.
Body Roundness Index and Waist-to-Height Ratio are Strongly Associated With Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Population-Based Study

Background A strong association between obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been reported. Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate if new obesity indices, including a body shape index (ABSI) and body roundness index (BRI), have stronger associations with NAFLD than waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Methods In this cross-sectional study, we utilized the data of 4,872 participants aged 18 - 74 years from a cohort study conducted among 6,143 subjects in northern Iran. Logistic regression analysis was performed on NAFLD as the outcome and obesity measures (based on Z-score values) as potential predictors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted, in which NAFLD was considered as a reference variable and obesity measures as classification variables. The discriminatory ability of the obesity measures was reported based on area-under-the-curves, and the related cut-off points of BRI and WHtR were determined using the Youden index (YI). Results Based on our results, BRI (OR = 5.484 for men and OR = 3.482 for women) and WHtR (OR = 5.309 for men and OR = 3.854 for women) showed a higher association with NAFLD than ABSI (OR = 1.363 for men and OR = 1.003 for women) and WHR (OR = 3.123 for men and OR = 1.628 for women). The optimal cut-off points for BRI were 4.00 (sensitivity = 82.7%, specificity = 70.8%) for men and 5.00 (sensitivity = 83.3%, specificity = 71.7%) for women. The optimal cut-off points for WHtR were 0.533 (sensitivity = 82.7%, specificity = 70.8%) for men and 0.580 (sensitivity = 83.3%, specificity = 71.7%) for women. Conclusions While BRI and WHtR have equally strong associations with NAFLD, ABSI and WHR have weaker associations with NAFLD than BRI and WHtR.
An Empirical Study of User Behaviors on Pinterest Social Network

Many previous research works have focused on analyzing online social networks in many dimensions, as they bring large commercial value and provide significant references for many other subjects. Pinterest, a pinboard-style image sharing social service, has attracted much attention recently and become one of the most popular social networks. The special mechanism and style of Pinterest distinguish it from other previous popular social networks and shape totally different user behaviors, which makes it worth launching a new study on Pinterest. In this paper, we have an empirical study of user behaviors on Pinterest, based on a large Pinterest dataset containing 1.13 million users, 57 million following relations, 19 million boards and 933 million pins. We focus on studying the characteristics, manifestations and overall effects of user behaviors from many aspects, including the user interests, correlations between neighboring users, the common features of the most popular users, the topology of the network structure, etc. The most distinguishing characteristic of Pinterest is that users focus on everyday lives and are willing to collect many images about decoration, food, fashion, etc, which makes Pinterest an ideal advertising and marketing platform for retail companies. Many other qualitative and quantitative analysis on user behaviors have been discussed in our paper. We provide a comprehensive understanding of user behaviors on the Pinterest social network, which is our main contribution.
The Headington Institute Resilience Inventory (HIRI): Development and Validation for Humanitarian Aid Workers

We developed the Headington Institute Resilience Inventory as a psychometrically valid, multifactored self-report measure to identify dimensions of resilience for international aid workers. We define resilience as the capacity to adapt during traumatic incidents so that one not only just survives but survives well. By utilizing a dynamic approach to resilience to predict this adaptive capacity, we aim to identify dimensions that could lead to personalized protective training exercises, essential because of the work in areas of constant tension where there is a high risk of exposure to traumatic events. From 84 theory-driven items, through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with 2 samples of aid workers (ns = 724 and 829), we identified and refined the most robust factors. Our resulting 7-factor, 33-item measure had &agr;s greater than . 69 for all factors, test–retest reliability coefficients between . 79 and . 94, and an estimate of composite scale reliability of . 82. The findings are congruent with social–cognitive theories of resilience, which provide a plausible understanding of resilience as a multifaceted, dynamic construct. Although continued research is needed to fully validate the construct of resilience, this framework identifies dimensions of protective assets that are believed to be amenable to development, thus providing aid workers with a working definition of resilience.
Analysis of human immunoglobulin-degrading cysteine proteinases of Trichomonas vaginalis

Trichomonas vaginalis is a protozoan parasite that causes a widely distributed sexually transmitted disease (STD). Since immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to specific trichomonad immunogens are found in serum and vaginal washes (VWs) from patients with trichomoniasis, a potential mechanism of immune evasion by this parasite might be the ability of T. vaginalis proteinases to degrade human immunoglobulins (Igs). Incubation of human IgG with lysates of T. vaginalis organisms resulted in time- and concentration-dependent degradation of the heavy chain. Secretory IgA was degraded similarly. Inhibitors of cysteine proteinases, when added to trichomonal lysates, abolished IgG and IgA degradation, while EDTA, a metalloproteinase inhibitor, did not. Substrate-gel electrophoresis with human IgG, IgM, or IgA copolymerized with acrylamide revealed several distinct cysteine proteinases in both lysates and culture supernatants from logarithmically growing parasites that degraded all classes of human antibodies. Trichomonal lysates and supernatants of numerous isolates tested all had Ig-degrading activity. Finally, proteolytic activity against IgG was detected in most (26 of 33; 78%) VWs from patients with trichomoniasis. In contrast, 18 of 28 (65%) VWs from women without trichomoniasis or from patients infected with other STDs had no detectable proteinases when tested in an identical manner. The other 10 of these 28 VWs (35%) had smaller amounts of detectable Ig-degrading proteinases. These differences in Ig-degrading proteinase activity between patients with and without trichomoniasis, regardless of coinfecting STDs, were statistically significant (P = 0.001). These results illustrate that T. vaginalis is capable of degrading human Igs.
On the Edge : Shaping the Future of Peri-urban East Asia

2 The Asia/Pacific Research Center (A/PARC) is an important Stanford venue where faculty and students, visiting scholars, and distinguished business and government leaders meet and exchange views on contemporary Asia and U.S. involvement in the region. A/PARC research results in seminars and conferences, published studies, occasional and discussion papers, special reports, and books. A/PARC maintains an active industrial affiliates and training program, involving more than twenty-five U.S. and Asian companies and public agencies. Members of A/PARC's faculty have held high-level posts in government and business. Their interdisciplinary expertise generates research of lasting significance on economic, political, technological, strategic, and social issues. a consulting professor at the Asia/Pacific Research Center, has worked with the center's Urban Dynamics of East Asia Project since 1998. Webster has worked on urban and regional development issues in East Asia for twenty-five years, as an advisor to international organizations, East Asian governments, and the private sector. He was profes-where he directed the planning program. His current interests are comparative urban dynamics, peri-urbanization, and urban management in East Asia. Professor Webster is currently senior urban advisor to the Thai Government (NESDB) and is a frequent advisor to the East Asian Urban and Infrastructure Division of the World Bank. Recent publications focus on urbanization dynamics in the context of globalization, local-ization, and decentralization, particularly in Thailand, China, and the Philippines. At Stanford, Webster has taught courses related to comparative East Asian urban dynamics and managing the urban environment in East Asia. His current research focus at A/PARC is comparative peri-urbanization in East Asia, particularly China, funded by the Ford Foundation. Introduction The term peri-urbanization refers to a process in which rural areas located on the outskirts of established cities become more urban in character, in physical, economic, and social terms, often in piecemeal fashion. Peri-urban development usually involves rapid social change as small agricultural communities are forced to adjust to an urban or industrial way of life in a very short time. High levels of migration are an important driver of social change. Rapid environmental deterioration; large-scale, often haphazard, land conversion; and infrastructure backlogs are major policy challenges associated with peri-urbanizing regions. Typically, peri-urbanization is stimulated by an infusion of new investment, generally from outside the local region in question, including foreign direct investment (FDI). In spatial terms, Rakodi (1998, as quoted in Adell 1999) defines peri-urban areas as: …the transition zone between fully urbanised land in cities …
The Effects of Cultural Differences and Constructive Capitalization Responses on Different Social Support Outcomes

This study looked to investigate the effects of constructive capitalization responses on different cultural groups. It was proposed that there would be cultural group differences in the effects of different kinds of constructive capitalization responses on self-esteem, happiness, relationship satisfaction, and relationship closeness as mediated by cultural values (self-construals, harmony values, emotion expression, modesty bias). The current study hypothesized that Asian Americans (AAs) would benefit more from passive constructive capitalization responses (PC) than European Americans (EAs), while EAs would benefit more from active constructive capitalization responses than AAs. It was also hypothesized that AAs would benefit more from collectivistically oriented active constructive responses (AC-C) and EAs would benefit more from individualistically oriented active constructive responses (AC-I). The study was composed of open-ended free response questions assessing previous capitalization experiences, questionnaires that assessed cultural values, and an experimental section with a 2 x 3 betweensubjects design using scenarios and self-report items. Results revealed a marginal interaction effect between cultural group and capitalization response condition on relationship satisfaction. In addition, we observed a marginally significant main effect of cultural group on relationship closeness (such that EAs were higher in relationship closeness) and marginally significant main effect of capitalization response condition on self-esteem and relationship satisfaction (such that AC-I responses yielded higher responses in self-esteem and relationship satisfaction). Based on our findings, we believe that certain types of constructive capitalization responses may benefit cultural groups differently.
Osteoporosis, vitamin C intake, and physical activity in Korean adults aged 50 years and over

[Purpose] To investigate associations between vitamin C intake, physical activity, and osteoporosis among Korean adults aged 50 and over. [Subjects and Methods] This study was based on bone mineral density measurement data from the 2008 to 2011 Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The study sample comprised 3,047 subjects. The normal group was defined as T-score ≥ −1.0, and the osteoporosis group as T-score ≤ −2.5. The odds ratios for osteoporosis were assessed by logistic regression of each vitamin C intake quartile. [Results] Compared to the lowest quartile of vitamin C intake, the other quartiles showed a lower likelihood of osteoporosis after adjusting for age and gender. In the multi-variate model, the odds ratio for the likelihood of developing osteoporosis in the non-physical activity group significantly decreased to 0.66, 0.57, and 0.46 (p for trend = 0.0046). However, there was no significant decrease (0.98, 1.00, and 0.97) in the physical activity group. [Conclusion] Higher vitamin C intake levels were associated with a lower risk of osteoporosis in Korean adults aged over 50 with low levels of physical activity. However, no association was seen between vitamin C intake and osteoporosis risk in those with high physical activity levels.
The mixing time of the giant component of a random graph

We show that the total variation mixing time of the simple random walk on the giant component of supercritical G(n,p) and G(n,m) is Θ(log2n) . This statement was proved, independently, by Fountoulakis and Reed. Our proof follows from a structure result for these graphs which is interesting in its own right. We show that these graphs are “decorated expanders” — an expander glued to graphs whose size has constant expectation and exponential tail, and such that each vertex in the expander is glued to no more than a constant number of decorations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 45, 383–407, 2014
Hydrodynamical simulations of the Lyα forest: data comparisons

Numerical hydrodynamical simulations are used to predict the expected absorption properties of the Lyα forest for a variety of cold dark matter (CDM) dominated cosmological scenarios: CHDM, OCDM, ΛCDM, SCDM, and tCDM. Synthetic spectra are constructed duplicating the resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and wavelength coverage of several published high resolution spectra, and their statistical properties are compared on the basis of the flux distribution of the spectra, the distribution of coefficients in a wavelet decomposition of the spectra and the distributions of absorption line profile parameters. Agreement between the measured and predicted cumulative distributions is found at the few to several per cent level. The best-fitting models to the flux distribution correspond to normalizations on the scale of the cosmological Jeans length of at . No single model provides a statistically acceptable match to all the distributions. Significantly larger median Doppler parameters are found in the measured spectra than predicted by all but the lowest normalization models (CHDM and tCDM), which provide poor fits to the flux distributions. The discrepancy in Doppler parameters is particularly large for absorption systems optically thin at the Lyα line centre. This may indicate a need to introduce additional energy injection throughout the intergalactic medium, as may be provided by late He ii reionization or supernovae-driven winds from young galaxies, and/or a larger baryon fraction than given by recent determinations of the deuterium abundance within the context of standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The models require a hydrogen ionization rate at redshifts within a factor of 2 of that predicted from quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) alone as the sources of the UV photoionization background, although with a slower rate of decline with redshift at than predicted from current QSO counts. Principal systematic uncertainties in comparing the models with the observations are the setting of the continuum level of the QSO spectra and the prevalence of metal absorption lines, particularly at .
Disease‐related versus polymorphic mutations in human mitochondrial tRNAs

A number of point mutations in human mitochondrial (mt) tRNA genes are correlated with a variety of neuromuscular and other severe disorders including encephalopathies, myopathies, cardiopathies and diabetes. The complexity of the genotype/phenotype relationships, the diversity of possible molecular impacts of the different mutations at the tRNA structure/function levels, and the exponential discovery of new mutations call for the search for unifying features. Here, the basic features (at the levels of primary and secondary structure) of 68 ‘pathogenic’ mutations are compared with those of 64 ‘polymorphic’ neutral mutations, revealing that these standard parameters for mutant analysis are not sufficient to predict the pathogenicity of mt tRNA mutations. Thus, case by case molecular investigation remains the only means of assessing the growing family of pathogenic mutations in mt tRNAs. New lines of research are suggested.
Myeloperoxidase-Positive Cell Infiltration in Colorectal Carcinogenesis as Indicator of Colorectal Cancer Risk

Colorectal mucosa is targeted by toxic agents, which can initiate or promote colon cancer. The mechanism of damage might be a focal irritation with loss of normal epithelial cell barrier function. Genetic alterations in tumors may also affect host inflammatory response. The aim of this study was to define the extent of inflammation in colorectal mucosa, along colorectal carcinogenesis, and in microsatellite stable and unstable colorectal carcinomas. We collected 103 samples of normal colorectal mucosa from 65 patients (35 with colorectal cancer or adenoma, 8 with inflammatory bowel diseases, and 22 controls with normal colonoscopy). We also examined 24 aberrant crypt foci, 14 hyperplastic polyps, 16 adenomas, and 67 samples of colorectal carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was used to count myeloperoxidase (MPO)-positive cells (neutrophils and monocytes) in ×100 optical fields under a light microscope. Patients with colorectal tumors had a higher mean number of MPO-positive cells in normal mucosa than controls (mean ± SD, 2.7 ± 2.0 versus 1.4 ± 1.4; P = 0.017). MPO-positive cell number was tightly linked to dysplasia in aberrant crypt foci and adenomas, and it was higher in carcinomas microsatellite unstable than those microsatellite stable (21.6 ± 15.5 versus 11.9 ± 8.0; P < 0.01). MPO immunohistochemistry is a simple and reliable technique for the quantification of inflammation in colorectal mucosa. , and it may be a potential marker of colorectal cancer risk. Microsatellite instability seems to influence host immune responses to colorectal carcinoma. These observations strongly support a key role of inflammation in colorectal carcinogenesis. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(9):2291–7)