Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small bowel cancer risk in Lynch syndrome

We read with great interest the article by ten Kate et al ( Gut 2007; 56 :1198–201) from the Dutch HNPCC group regarding the risk of small bowel cancer (SBC) in patients with hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). The study confirms our data from 20051 regarding the localisation of tumours and the absence of identifiable risk factors for SBC in patients with HNPCC (ie, gender, mutation, family history, personal cancer history). The authors additionally calculated a lifetime risk of 4.2% for SBC using Kaplan–Meier statistics. Ten Kate et al recommend a non-invasive surveillance strategy. However, the authors argue that the lifetime risk for gastric cancer (GC) may influence a surveillance strategy for SBC regarding upper intestinal endoscopy. In our previous studies1 2 cumulative cancer risks were not provided. We …
Effect of extrusion reprocessing on the mechanical, thermal, rheological and morphological properties of nylon 6/talc nanocomposites

In this study, the preparation of nylon 6/talc nanocomposites was studied by melt blending in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder having length/diameter ratio of 32:1 at a screw rotation speed of 100 r min−1. Concentration of nanotalc was varied from 1 phr to 5 phr in nylon 6. The composite samples were subjected to a series of three extrusion cycles, and the effect of reprocessing on the structural properties of materials was investigated. Properties such as mechanical (tensile flexural and impact), thermal (differential scanning calorimetry), morphological (scanning electron microscopy), rheological (viscosity vs. shear rate), and colour spectrophotometry were investigated. This study would enrich the knowledge about the recycling of nylon 6, with the additional aspect of the use of collected data from more complex system, that is, composite materials, where the nanotalc particles play a role in the interactions initiated by repeated extrusion processing. Mechanical, thermal, rheological and colour properties improved with the increase in nanotalc in nylon 6 and remained nearly unchanged up to second extrusion processing. However, all the properties decreased on third extrusion processing due to the degradation of nylon 6 matrix.
Overlapping Cell Nuclei Segmentation Using a Spatially Adaptive Active Physical Model

A method for the segmentation of overlapping nuclei is presented, which combines local characteristics of the nuclei boundary and a priori knowledge about the expected shape of the nuclei. A deformable model whose behavior is driven by physical principles is trained on images containing a single nuclei, and attributes of the shapes of the nuclei are expressed in terms of modal analysis. Based on the estimated modal distribution and driven by the image characteristics, we develop a framework to detect and describe the unknown nuclei boundaries in images containing two overlapping nuclei. The problem of the estimation of an accurate nucleus boundary in the overlapping areas is successfully addressed with the use of appropriate weight parameters that control the contribution of the image force in the total energy of the deformable model. The proposed method was evaluated using 152 images of conventional Pap smears, each containing two overlapping nuclei. Comparisons with other segmentation methods indicate that our method produces more accurate nuclei boundaries which are closer to the ground truth.
DiverseNet: When One Right Answer is not Enough

Many structured prediction tasks in machine vision have a collection of acceptable answers, instead of one definitive ground truth answer. Segmentation of images, for example, is subject to human labeling bias. Similarly, there are multiple possible pixel values that could plausibly complete occluded image regions. State-of-the art supervised learning methods are typically optimized to make a single test-time prediction for each query, failing to find other modes in the output space. Existing methods that allow for sampling often sacrifice speed or accuracy. We introduce a simple method for training a neural network, which enables diverse structured predictions to be made for each test-time query. For a single input, we learn to predict a range of possible answers. We compare favorably to methods that seek diversity through an ensemble of networks. Such stochastic multiple choice learning faces mode collapse, where one or more ensemble members fail to receive any training signal. Our best performing solution can be deployed for various tasks, and just involves small modifications to the existing single-mode architecture, loss function, and training regime. We demonstrate that our method results in quantitative improvements across three challenging tasks: 2D image completion, 3D volume estimation, and flow prediction.
Towards a Microscopic Theory of the Knight Shift in an Anisotropic, Multiband Type-II Superconductor

A method is proposed to extend the zero-temperature Hall-Klemm microscopic theory of the Knight shift K in an anisotropic and correlated, multi-band metal to calculate K ( T ) at finite temperatures T both above and into its superconducting state. The transverse part of the magnetic induction B ( t ) = B 0 + B 1 ( t ) causes adiabatic changes suitable for treatment with the Keldysh contour formalism and analytic continuation onto the real axis. We propose that the Keldysh-modified version of the Gor’kov method can be used to evaluate K ( T ) at high B 0 both in the normal state, and by quantizing the conduction electrons or holes with Landau orbits arising from B 0 , also in the entire superconducting regime for an anisotropic, multiband Type-II BCS superconductor. Although the details have not yet been calculated in detail, it appears that this approach could lead to the simple result K S ( T ) ≈ a ( B 0 ) − b ( B 0 ) | Δ ( B 0 , T ) | 2 , where 2 | Δ ( B 0 , T ) | is the effective superconducting gap. More generally, this approach can lead to analytic expressions for K S ( T ) for anisotropic, multiband Type-II superconductors of various orbital symmetries that could aid in the interpretation of experimental data on unconventional superconductors.
Partition Coefficients of Alkaloids in Biphasic Ionic-Liquid-Aqueous Systems and their Dependence on the Hofmeister Series

The aim of this work is to test the potential of hydrophobic phosphonium-based ionic liquids for the extraction of caffeine and nicotine from aqueous phases through the determination of the alkaloids' partition coefficients. It was found that the caffeine partitioning for the ionic-liquid-rich phase increases with the ionic liquid hydrogen-bonding accepting capability (or water content), while for nicotine a nearly opposite behavior was observed. In addition, both the influence of the ionic concentration of the aqueous solution (ranging from 0.0 mol · kg−1 to 3.0 mol · kg−1), and the salt nature (with K- and Na-based salts), in the partitioning of caffeine for the ionic-liquid-rich phase were investigated. The influence of the inorganic salt nature in the alkaloid partitioning for the ionic-liquid-rich phase closely follows the Hofmeister series.
Aminocyclopyrachlor Efficacy for Non-Cropland Weed Control

5 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION . 7 MATERIALS AND METHODS . 10 PLANT CULTURE . 10 LABORATORY RESEARCH . 11 ABSORPTION EXPERIMENTS . 11 TRANSLOCATION EXPERIMENTS . 13 METABOLISM EXPERIMENTS . 14 GREENHOUSE RESEARCH. 15 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 16 LABORATORY RESEARCH . 16 ABSORPTION EXPERIMENTS . 16 TRANSLOCATION EXPERIMENTS . 17 METABOLISM EXPERIMENTS . 21 GREENHOUSE RESEARCH . 21 LITERATURE CITED . 23 APPENDIX . 26
Gene Expression Meta-Analysis Identifies VDAC1 as a Predictor of Poor Outcome in Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND The bioenergetic status of non-small cell lung cancer correlates with tumour aggressiveness. The voltage dependent anion channel type 1 (VDAC1) is a component of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, regulates mitochondrial ATP/ADP exchange suggesting that its over-expression could be associated with energy dependent processes including increased proliferation and invasiveness. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an in vivo gene-expression meta-analysis of surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using 602 individual expression profiles, to examine the impact of VDAC1 on survival. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS High VDAC1 expression was associated with shorter overall survival with hazard ratio (HR) = 0.6639 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.4528 to 0.9721), p = 0.035352 corresponding to 52 versus 101 months. VDAC1 predicted shorter time to recurrence and was shown to be an independent prognostic factor compared with histology, gender, age, nodal stage and tumour stage in a Cox multivariate analysis. Supervised analysis of all the datasets identified a 6-gene signature comprising HNRNPC, HSPA4, HSPA9, UBE2D2, CSNK1A1 and G3BP1 with overlapping functions involving regulation of protein turnover, RAS-RAF-MEK pathway and transcription. VDAC1 predicted survival in breast cancer and myeloma and an unsupervised analysis revealed enrichment of the VDAC1 signature in specific subsets. CONCLUSIONS In summary, gene expression analysis identifies VDAC1 gene expression as a predictor of poor outcome in NSCLC and other cancers and is associated with dysregulation of a conserved set of biological pathways, which may be causally associated with aggressive tumour behaviour.
LP Decoding Corrects a Constant Fraction of Errors

We show that for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes whose Tanner graphs have sufficient expansion, the linear programming (LP) decoder of Feldman, Karger, and Wainwright can correct a constant fraction of errors. A random graph will have sufficient expansion with high probability, and recent work shows that such graphs can be constructed efficiently. A key element of our method is the use of a dual witness: a zero-valued dual solution to the decoding linear program whose existence proves decoding success. We show that as long as no more than a certain constant fraction of the bits are flipped by the channel, we can find a dual witness. This new method can be used for proving bounds on the performance of any LP decoder, even in a probabilistic setting. Our result implies that the word error rate of the LP decoder decreases exponentially in the code length under the binary-symmetric channel (BSC). This is the first such error bound for LDPC codes using an analysis based on "pseudocodewords. " Recent work by Koetter and Vontobel shows that LP decoding and min-sum decoding of LDPC codes are closely related by the "graph cover" structure of their pseudocodewords; in their terminology, our result implies that that there exist families of LDPC codes where the minimum BSC pseudoweight grows linearly in the block length
Altered brain activation during action imitation and observation in schizophrenia: a translational approach to investigating social dysfunction in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE Social impairments are a key feature of schizophrenia, but their underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Imitation, a process through which we understand the minds of others, involves the so-called mirror neuron system, a network comprising the inferior parietal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, and posterior superior temporal sulcus. The authors examined mirror neuron system function in schizophrenia. METHOD Sixteen medicated schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy comparison subjects performed an action imitation/observation task during functional MRI. Participants saw a video of a moving hand or spatial cue and were instructed to either execute finger movements associated with the stimulus or simply observe. Activation in the mirror neuron system was measured during imitative versus nonimitative actions and observation of a moving hand versus a moving spatial cue. These contrasts were compared across groups. RESULTS Activation in the mirror neuron system was less specific for imitation in schizophrenia. Relative to healthy subjects, patients had reduced activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus during imitation and greater activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and inferior parietal lobe during nonimitative action. Patients also showed reduced activity in these regions during action observation. Mirror neuron system activation was related to symptom severity and social functioning in patients and to schizotypal syndrome in comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS Given the role of the inferior parietal lobe and posterior superior temporal sulcus in imitation and social cognition, impaired imitative ability in schizophrenia may stem from faulty perception of biological motion and transformations from perception to action. These findings extend our understanding of social dysfunction in schizophrenia.
ACOUSTIC SCENE CLASSIFICATION USING PARALLEL COMBINATION OF LSTM AND CNN

Deep neural networks(DNNs) have recently achieved a great success in various learning task, and have also been used for classification of environmental sounds. While DNNs are showing their potential in the classification task, they cannot fully utilize the temporal information. In this paper, we propose a neural network architecture for the purpose of using sequential information. The proposed structure is composed of two separated lower networks and one upper network. We refer to these as LSTM layers, CNN layers and connected layers, respectively. The LSTM layers extract the sequential information from consecutive audio features. The CNN layers learn the spectro-temporal locality from spectrogram images. Finally, the connected layers summarize the outputs of two networks to take advantage of the complementary features of the LSTM and CNN by combining them. To compare the proposed method with other neural networks, we conducted a number of experiments on the TUT acoustic scenes 2016 dataset which consists of recordings from various acoustic scenes. By using the proposed combination structure, we achieved higher performance compared to the conventional DNN, CNN and LSTM architecture.
A Comparative Study of the Spatial Distribution of Schistosomiasis in Mali in 1984–1989 and 2004–2006

Background We investigated changes in the spatial distribution of schistosomiasis in Mali following a decade of donor-funded control and a further 12 years without control. Methodology/Principal Findings National pre-intervention cross-sectional schistosomiasis surveys were conducted in Mali in 1984–1989 (in communities) and again in 2004–2006 (in schools). Bayesian geostatistical models were built separately for each time period and on the datasets combined across time periods. In the former, data from one period were used to predict prevalence of schistosome infections for the other period, and in the latter, the models were used to determine whether spatial autocorrelation and covariate effects were consistent across periods. Schistosoma haematobium prevalence was 25.7% in 1984–1989 and 38.3% in 2004–2006; S. mansoni prevalence was 7.4% in 1984–1989 and 6.7% in 2004–2006 (note the models showed no significant difference in mean prevalence of either infection between time periods). Prevalence of both infections showed a focal spatial pattern and negative associations with distance from perennial waterbodies, which was consistent across time periods. Spatial models developed using 1984–1989 data were able to predict the distributions of both schistosome species in 2004–2006 (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was typically >0.7) and vice versa. Conclusions/Significance A decade after the apparently successful conclusion of a donor-funded schistosomiasis control programme from 1982–1992, national prevalence of schistosomiasis had rebounded to pre-intervention levels. Clusters of schistosome infections occurred in generally the same areas accross time periods, although the precise locations varied. To achieve long-term control, it is essential to plan for sustainability of ongoing interventions, including stengthening endemic country health systems.
Recent progress in the study of the intracellular functions of diadenosine polyphosphates

Recent developments in the effort to understand the metabolism and function of the intracellular dinucleoside polyphosphates were described by nine speakers from some of the world’s leading laboratories in this field in a workshop at the Purines 2000 International Symposium on Nucleosides and Nucleotides held in Madrid in July, 2000. Topics were wide‐ranging and included phenotypic analyses of yeast mutants defective in enzymes of dinucleoside polyphosphate degradation, virally encoded catabolic enzymes, the structure and function of the Fhit tumor suppressor and Fhit‐nitrilase fusion proteins and the relationship of Fhit to human diadenosine triphosphate hydrolase, site‐directed mutagenesis of diadenosine tetraphosphate hydrolase, novel nucleotide analogs for studying hydrolase function, the synthesis of dinucleoside polyphosphates by ligases, and the possible roles of diadenosine tri‐ and tetraphosphates in insulin function and of diadenosine tetraphosphate in the heat‐shock response of Escherichia coli. The results presented and the ensuing discussions showed that, while considerable progress is being made in the field, it still has the capacity to tease and frustrate and produce the unexpected result. Drug Dev. Res. 52:249–259, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
When Do Transparent Packages Increase (or Decrease) Food Consumption?

Transparent packages are pervasive in food consumption environments. Yet prior research has not systematically examined whether and how transparent packaging affects food consumption. The authors propose that transparent packaging has two opposing effects on food consumption: it enhances food salience, which increases consumption (salience effect), and it facilitates consumption monitoring, which decreases consumption (monitoring effect). They argue that the net effect of transparent packaging on food consumption is moderated by food characteristics (e.g., unit size, appearance). For small, visually attractive foods, the monitoring effect is low, so the salience effect dominates, and people eat more from a transparent package than from an opaque package. For large foods, the monitoring effect dominates the salience effect, decreasing consumption. For vegetables, which are primarily consumed for their health benefits, consumption monitoring is not activated, so the salience effect dominates, which ironically decreases consumption. The authors’ findings suggest that marketers should offer small foods in transparent packages and large foods and vegetables in opaque packages to increase postpurchase consumption (and sales).
Neurocognitive, Mental Health, and Glucose Disorders in Farmers Exposed to Organophosphorus Pesticides

About 25 million agricultural workers in the developing world suffer from at least one episode of poisoning each year, mainly by anticholinesterase-like organophosphates (OPs). The objective of this cross-sectional study was to establish the OP toxicity in 187 occupationally exposed farmers in terms of neurocognitive impairment, mental health status, clinical symptoms, diabetes, and haematological factors. The exposed group was compared to 187 healthy age-, sex-, and education-matching controls. Neurocognitive impairment was measured using the Subjective Neurocognition Inventory (SNI) and mental health status using the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The subjects were also tested for fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), cholesterol (CL), triglycerides (TG), creatinine, oral glucose tolerance test (GTT), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The exposed farmers showed higher FBG (p<0.001), BUN (p=0.007), CL (p<0.001), oral GTT (p<0.001), and lower AST (p<0.001), ALP (p<0.001), and creatinine (p=0.004) than controls. The rates of anxiety/ insomnia and severe depression were also significantly higher in the farmers than in controls (p=0.015 and p<0.001, respectively). Meanwhile, the rate of social dysfunction was significantly lower than in controls (p<0.001). Disorders affecting psychomotor speed, selective attention, divided attention, verbal memory, nonverbal memory, prospective memory, spatial functioning, and initiative/energy were all lower in the farmers (p<0.001). Farmers showed clinical symptoms eczema, saliva secretion, fatigue, headache, sweating, abdominal pain, nausea, superior distal muscle weakness, inferior distal muscle weakness, inferior proximal muscle weakness, breath muscle weakness, hand tingling, foot tingling, epiphoria, polyuria, miosis, dyspnoea, bradycardia, and rhinorrhoea, which all significantly correlated with the number of working years. These findings indicate that farmers who work with OPs are prone to neuropsychological disorders and diabetes.
Analytical estimation of propagation delay and short‐circuit power dissipation in CMOS gates

An efficient analytical method for calculating the propagation delay and the short-circuit power dissipation of CMOS gates is introduced in this paper. Key factors that determine the operation of a gate, such as the different modes of operation of serially connected transistors, the starting point of conduction, the parasitic behaviour of the short-circuiting block of a gate and the behaviour of parallel transistor structures are analysed and properly modelled. The analysis is performed taking into account second-order effects of short-channel devices and for non-zero transition time inputs. Analytical expressions for the output waveform, the propagation delay and the short-circuit power dissipation are obtained by solving the differential equations that govern the operation of the gate. The calculated results are in excellent agreement with SPICE simulations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Distributed Energy Efficient Node Relocation Algorithm (DEENR)

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) due to their inherent features are vulnerable to single or multiple sensor node failure. Node’s failure can result in partitioning of the networks resulting in loss of inter-node connectivity and eventually compromising the operation of the sensor network. The recovery from partitioning of network is crucial for inter-node connectivity. In literature, a number of approaches have been proposed for the restoration of inter-node connectivity. There is a need for a distributed approach that has an energy efficient operation as energy is a scarce resource. By keeping this in mind we propose a novel technique to restore the connectivity that is distributed and energy efficient. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is proven by extensive simulations. The simulation results show that the proposed technique is efficient and capable of restoring network connectivity by using the mechanisms for improving the coverage.