Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[The risk of breast cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer in oral contraceptive users].

INTRODUCTION Oral contraceptives, mainly combined monophasic pills, are widely used by young women who expect their physicians to prescribe them safe drugs which will not harm their health and which will simplify their life. Numerous epidemiologic studies have been performed to determine the relation between oral contraceptive use and the development of neoplasms. BREAST CANCER An increased incidence of breast cancer has occurred simultaneously with the growing use of oral contraceptives. The possibility of a link between the oral contraceptive use and breast cancer has led to intensive research, but studies have provided inconsistent results causing confusion among clinicians. It was noticed that the risk of breast cancer was slightly elevated in current and recent young oral contraceptives users. That finding could be influenced by a detection bias or could be due to the biologic effect of the pills. The absolute number of additional breast cancer cases will be very small because of low baseline incidence of the disease in young women. Oral contraceptives probably promote growth of the already existing cancer, they are probably promoters not initiators of breast cancer. The available data do not provide a conclusive answer that is needed. CERVICAL CANCER Numerous factors may influence the development of cervical cancer. The evidence suggests that current and recent oral contraceptive users have an increased risk of cervical cancer which decline after discontinuation of the application of medication. Oral contraceptives might increase the biological vulnerability of the cervix. Cervical cancer develops slowly over a long time period and can be effectivelv prevented by periodic cervical screening. Fortunately, oral contraceptives do not mask abnormal cervical citology. Conclusions regarding invasive cervical cancer and oral contraceptive use are not definitive but if there is any increased risk, it is low. ENDOMETRIAL CANCER In oral contraceptive users the endometrium is almost under the influence of progestin component which suppresses endometrial mitotic activity and its proliferation. Most epidemiologic studies show that oral contraceptives reduce the risk of endometrial cancer and that this protective effect exists many years after the discontinuation of medication. OVARIAN CANCER It has been long known that the oral contraceptive use causes protective anovulation and reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. This powerful reduction is the best demonstrated major benefit of oral contraception. This protection is especially observed in nulliparous and seems to persist for many years after the discontinuation of medication.
ABS TRACT Objective : Due to the importance of energy metabolism in mitochondria , mitochondrial genome variations are evaluated in energy-related diseases such as obesity

TRACT Objective: Due to the importance of energy metabolism in mitochondria, mitochondrial genome variations are evaluated in energy-related diseases such as obesity. To date, several nuclear genes were found to be related to obesity. Our aim in this study was to investigate the presence of polymorphisms in mitochondrial ATPase subunit 6 (mt-ATP6) and cytochrome b (mt-CytB) genes that may be associated with childhood obesity. Methods: The mt-ATP6 and mt-CytB genes were amplified and entirely sequenced in a series of 100 obese and in an equal number of healthy Turkish children aged between 6-14 years. Results: A total of 118 synonymous and nonsynonymous variations were detected in the obese and control groups. Only two previously reported synonymous substitutions (mt.8614T>C and mt.8994G>A) in the mt-ATP6 gene were found to be significantly higher in the obese group compared to the control group (p<0.05). In the mt-ATP6 gene, one novel nonsynonymous substitution (mt.8726C>T) and one novel synonymous substitution (mt.9108A>T) were found. In the mt-CytB gene, one nonsynonymous substitution (mt.14880T>C) and two synonymous substitutions (mt.14891C>T and mt.15091C>T) were novel substitutions. Conclusion: Two synonymous substitutions (mt.8614T>C and mt.8994G>A) in the mt-ATP6 gene may be associated with childhood obesity. Our study provides the first data about mitochondrial genome variations in a Turkish obese population and also the first in obese children. More cases should be screened in obese groups in order to understand the effects of mitochondrial polymorphisms in the development of obesity.
The Utility of a Computerized Algorithm Based on a Multi-Domain Profile of Measures for the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The current gold standard for diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) includes subjective measures, such as clinical interview, observation, and rating scales. The significant heterogeneity of ADHD symptoms represents a challenge for this assessment and could prevent an accurate diagnosis. The aim of this work was to investigate the ability of a multi-domain profile of measures, including blood fatty acid (FA) profiles, neuropsychological measures, and functional measures from near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), to correctly recognize school-aged children with ADHD. To answer this question, we elaborated a supervised machine-learning method to accurately discriminate 22 children with ADHD from 22 children with typical development by means of the proposed profile of measures. To assess the performance of our classifier, we adopted a nested 10-fold cross validation, where the original dataset was split into 10 subsets of equal size, which were used repeatedly for training and testing. Each subset was used once for performance validation. Our method reached a maximum diagnostic accuracy of 81% through the combining of the predictive models trained on neuropsychological, FA profiles, and deoxygenated-hemoglobin features. With respect to the analysis of a single-domain dataset per time, the most discriminant neuropsychological features were measures of vigilance, focused and sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility; the most discriminating blood FAs were linoleic acid and the total amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Finally, with respect to the fNIRS data, we found a significant advantage of the deoxygenated-hemoglobin over the oxygenated-hemoglobin data in terms of predictive accuracy. These preliminary findings show the feasibility and applicability of our machine-learning method in correctly identifying children with ADHD based on multi-domain data. The present machine-learning classification approach might be helpful for supporting the clinical practice of diagnosing ADHD, even fostering a computer-aided diagnosis perspective.
Three-dimensional volumetric display of CT data: effect of scan parameters upon image quality.

Of the many steps involved in producing high quality three-dimensional (3D) images of CT data, the data acquisition step is of greatest consequence. The principle of "garbage in, garbage out" applies to 3D imaging--bad scanning technique produces equally bad 3D images. We present a formal study of the effect of two basic scanning parameters, slice thickness and slice spacing, on image quality. Three standard test objects were studied using variable CT scanning parameters. The objects chosen were a bone phantom, a cadaver femur with a simulated 5 mm fracture gap, and a cadaver femur with a simulated 1 mm fracture gap. Each object was scanned at three collimations: 8, 4, and 2 mm. For each collimation, four sets of scans were performed using four slice intervals: 8, 4, 3, and 2 mm. The bone phantom was scanned in two positions: oriented perpendicular to the scanning plane and oriented 45 degrees from the scanning plane. Three-dimensional images of the resulting 48 sets of data were produced using volumetric rendering. Blind review of the resultant 48 data sets was performed by three reviewers rating five factors for each image. The images resulting from scans with thin collimation and small table increments proved to rate the highest in all areas. The data obtained using 2 mm slice intervals proved to rate the highest in perceived image quality. Three millimeter slice spacing with 4 mm collimation, which clinically provides a good compromise between image quality and acquisition time and dose, also produced good perceived image quality. The studies with 8 mm slice intervals provided the least detail and introduced the worst inaccuracies and artifacts and were not suitable for clinical use. Statistical analysis demonstrated that slice interval (i.e., table incrementation) was of primary importance and slice collimation was of secondary, although significant, importance in determining perceived 3D image quality.
Combining Stereo-photogrammetry and Lidar to Map Forest Canopy Height

Lidar and digital stereo-photogrammetry techniques are being developed to improve on current methods used to map forest canopy height. Contrary to lidar, the latter technique is limited in that is does not have the capacity to automatically produce dense and accurate information on the ground elevations needed to calculate height. We propose a new canopy height mapping approach that combines both techniques. First, the photogrammetric digital surface model of the canopy and the lidar ground elevations are coregistered. Then the elevation differences between the two models are computed to produce a composite canopy height model (CHM). We demonstrate that the composite CHM constitute a smoothed version of the corresponding lidar CHM. The correlation between composite heights and lidar-only heights are of 0.79 and 0.96 respectively for point wise and plot wise comparisons.
Framework for Designing and Evaluating Game Achievements

This paper presents a framework for evaluating and designing game design patterns commonly called as “achievements”. The results are based on empirical studies of a variety of popular achievement systems. The results, along with the framework for analyzing and designing achievements, present two definitions of game achievements. From the perspective of the achievement system, an achievement appears as a challenge consisting of a signifying element, rewards and completion logics whose fulfilment conditions are defined through events in other systems (usually games). From the perspective of a single game, an achievement appears as an optional challenge provided by a meta-game that is independent of a single game session and yields possible
Type of Renal Replacement Therapy and Residual Renal Function May Affect Prohepcidin and Hepcidin

Hepcidin is a small defensin-like peptide, the production of which by hepatocytes is modulated in response to anemia, hypoxia, or inflammation. Kidneys are involved in not only the synthesis of hepcidin, but they also may be involved in its elimination. A cross-sectional study was performed to assess prohepcidin and hepcidin in serum, urine, and ultrafiltrate/peritoneal effluent in relation to type of renal replacement therapy and prohepcidin and hepcidin correlations with renal function, iron status, and markers of inflammation. Methods. Prohepcidin and hepcidin high-sensitivity CRP, TNF alpha, and IL-6 were measured using commercially available kits in 102 patients on hemodialyses, 17 on hemodiafiltration, 44 on peritoneal dialyses, and 22 healthy volunteers. Results. In hemodialyzed and peritoneally dialyzed patients with residual renal function, serum prohepcidin (264.21 ± 95.84 vs. 341.84 ± 90.45 ng/mL, p < 0.01; 142.76 ± 57.87 vs. 238.42 ± 84.32 ng/mL, p < 0.01, respectively) and hepcidin (178.89 ± 89.87 vs. 295.76 ± 129.65 ng/mL, p < 0.01; 108.43 ± 75.49 vs. 186.53 ± 119.62 ng/mL, p < 0.01, respectively) were significantly lower than in anuric patients. In peritoneal effluent, prohepcidin level was significantly higher than in ultrafiltrate of HD/HDF patients. In multiple regression analysis, residual renal function, ferritin, and hsCRP were predictors of hepcidin in hemodialyzed patients, while residual renal function and ferritin were predictors of hepcidin in peritoneally dialyzed patients. Conclusions. Residual renal function seems to play a pivotal role in hepcidin levels in dialyzed patients. In addition, the presence of low-grade inflammation, more pronounced in anuric patients, and functional iron deficiency may also contribute to the elevated hepcidin. The removal of prohepcidin with ultrafiltrate/peritoneal effluent may partially explain its lower concentration in peritoneal dialysis and hemodiafiltration.
Lower Bound on the Redundancy of PIR Codes

We prove that the redundancy of a k-server PIR code of dimension s is Ω( √ s) for all k > 3. This coincides with a known upper bound of O( √ s) on the redundancy of PIR codes. The same lower bound was proved independently by Mary Wootters [3] using a different method. Given two binary vectors u = (u1, u2, . . . , un) and v = (v1, v2, . . . , vn), we define their product uv componentwise, namely uv def = (u1v1, u2v2, . . . , unvn) (1) where u1v1, u2v2, . , unvn are computed in GF(2). Note that the product operation in (1) distributes over addition in Fn 2 . Thus (1) turns the vector space F n 2 into an algebra An over F2. This algebra An is unital, associative, and commutative. Given a set X ⊆ Fn 2 , we define the square of X as the set of products of the elements in X. Explicitly, X is defined as follows: X def = { uv : u, v ∈ X } (2) The following lemmas follow straightforwardly from the definitions in (1) and (2), along with the fact that An is a commutative algebra. We let 〈X〉 denote the linear span over F2 of a set X ⊆ Fn 2 . Lemma 1. |X2| 6 |X| ( |X|+ 1 ) /2. Proof. If |X| = r, then X consists of the ( 2 ) vectors uv = vu for some u 6= v in X, along with the r vectors uu = u for some u ∈ X. Some of these vectors may coincide. Lemma 2. If a, b ∈〈X〉, then ab ∈ 〈 X 〉 . Proof. Let X = {x1, x2, . , xr}. Write a = ∑i αixi and b = ∑i βixi for some binary coefficients α1, α2, . αr, β1β2, . , βr. Then
FACTORIAL VALIDITY AND PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE GREEK VERSION OF THE ALMOST PERFECT SCALE REVISED (APS-R)

Factorial validity and the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) were examined. A non-clinical sample of 308 adults (university students, professors and high school teachers) filled in the APS-R translated in Greek. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model. A two-step cluster analysis of participants' responses to High Standards and Discrepancy subscales resulted in the identification of two types of perfectionists (adaptive and maladaptive) and one group of non-perfectionists. Differences between adaptive, maladaptive and non-perfectionists in relation to their gender, age and group membership (students or professors) were also examined. Results provided initial support for the validity and the applicability of the APS-R-Greek version to non-clinical samples of adults.
Direct numerical simulations of aeolian sand ripples

Significance Wind ripples decorate the flanks of dunes in amazingly regular patterns, on both Earth and Mars. Their emergence at a wavelength much larger than the grain size is currently unexplained. We report direct numerical simulations of grains interacting with a wind flow that are, for the first time to our knowledge, able to reproduce the spontaneous growth of ripples with an initial wavelength and a propagation velocity linearly increasing with the wind speed. We propose a new formation mechanism, involving resonant grain trajectories tuned with the ripple wavelength. We also show that the product of the ripple wavelength and velocity is a proxy for the sediment flux, opening a promising perspective from which to perform remote measurements of sand mass transfers, on Mars in particular. Aeolian sand beds exhibit regular patterns of ripples resulting from the interaction between topography and sediment transport. Their characteristics have been so far related to reptation transport caused by the impacts on the ground of grains entrained by the wind into saltation. By means of direct numerical simulations of grains interacting with a wind flow, we show that the instability turns out to be driven by resonant grain trajectories, whose length is close to a ripple wavelength and whose splash leads to a mass displacement toward the ripple crests. The pattern selection results from a compromise between this destabilizing mechanism and a diffusive downslope transport which stabilizes small wavelengths. The initial wavelength is set by the ratio of the sediment flux and the erosion/deposition rate, a ratio which increases linearly with the wind velocity. We show that this scaling law, in agreement with experiments, originates from an interfacial layer separating the saltation zone from the static sand bed, where momentum transfers are dominated by midair collisions. Finally, we provide quantitative support for the use of the propagation of these ripples as a proxy for remote measurements of sediment transport.
Mobility and degradation of trinitrotoluene/metabolites in soil columns: Effect of soil organic carbon content

There has been increasing interest in enhancing natural attenuation of munitions-contaminated soils. Present study reports the effect of increasing soil organic matter content on fate and mobility of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and metabolites in soil columns. This study was performed using 30-cm-long columns containing a top 5 cm of contaminated soil as a source layer and an uncontaminated soil (25 cm) adjusted to 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 3.0% organic carbon (OC) content using compost. Contaminated soil layer was fortified with uniformly ring-labeled 14C-trinitrotoluene (TNT) or 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT); in total there were 8 treatments. Columns were leached with synthetic rain water under unsaturated flow conditions in downside up direction. There was significant increase in the retention of both 14C-TNT and 14C-DNT in soils with increasing soil OC content and in 3.0% soil OC content column < 1% TNT/DNT was recovered in the leachate. Further, degradation of TNT and metabolites from contaminated soil was significantly increased and resulted in greater soil-bound residues. Formation of monoamino-dinitrotoluene (ADNTs), diamino-mononitrotoluene (DANTs) and monoamino-mononitrotoluene (ANTs) metabolites was greatly enhanced with increase in OC content of soils. Study suggests that increasing OC content of contaminated soil to 3.0% significantly enhanced the reduction of nitroaromatics to more polar amine metabolites and the formation of soil-bound residues.
Alpha 1-adrenergic receptor coupling with Gh in the failing human heart.

BACKGROUND We recently demonstrated that Gh, which transfers the signal from the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor to the 69-kD phospholipase C, is the previously identified tissue-type transglutaminase (TGase II). The alpha 1-adrenergic receptor mediates actions of the sympathetic nervous system, including cardiac, arteriolar, and smooth muscle contractions. In human cardiac tissue, the expression of the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor is increased under pathophysiological conditions, but changes in the physiological response are small. Therefore, it has been suggested that the other components involved in the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor-mediated signaling pathway are probably altered. METHODS AND RESULTS Immunological and biochemical studies with nonfailling and failing human heart tissues revealed that the GTP-binding and TGase activities of human heart TGase II (hhG alpha n) are downregulated in both ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathic human heart. In ischemic cardiomyopathy, the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor number increased twofold (27.0 fmol/mg) compared with the nonfailing (12.8 fmol/mg) and the dilated cardiomyopathic (15.6 fmol/mg) heart tissues, but the coupling of hhG alpha h with the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor did not increase. The intrinsic activity of hhG alpha h, was greatly decreased in membrane fractions, whereas the cytosolic TGase activity was not changed. In the dilated cardiomyopathic human heart, these intrinsic enzyme activities of hhG alpha h were also downregulated in the membrane fraction, whereas the amount of hhG alpha h protein was greatly increased (2.8-fold) compared with the nonfailing heart. CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study clearly demonstrate that the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor in human heart couples with Gh (TGase II) and indicate that downregulation of hhG alpha h activity is associated with human cardiac failure but that the mechanism differs between ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathies.
Additive Effects of the Risk Alleles of PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in a Chinese Population

Recent genome-wide association studies have identified that variants in or near PNPLA3, NCAN, GCKR, LYPLAL1, and TM6SF2 are significantly associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in multiple ethnic groups. Studies on their impact on NAFLD in Han Chinese are still limited. In this study, we examined the relevance of these variants to NAFLD in a community-based Han Chinese population and further explored their potential joint effect on NAFLD. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (PNPLA3 rs738409, rs2294918, NCAN rs2228603, GCKR rs780094, LYPLAL1 rs12137855, and TM6SF2 rs58542926) previously identified in genome-wide analyses, to be associated with NAFLD were genotyped in 384 NAFLD patients and 384 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We found two out of the six polymorphisms, PNPLA3 rs738409 (OR = 1.52, 95%CI: 1.19–1.96; P = 0.00087) and TM6SF2 rs58542926 (OR = 2.11, 95%CI: 1.34–3.39; P = 0.0016) are independently associated with NAFLD after adjustment for the effects of age, gender, and BMI. Our analysis further demonstrated the strong additive effects of the risk alleles of PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 with an overall significance between the number of risk alleles and NAFLD (OR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.34–2.01; P = 1.4 × 10-6). The OR for NAFLD increased in an additive manner, with an average increase in OR of 1.52 per additional risk allele. Our results confirmed that the PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 variants were the most significant risk alleles for NAFLD in Chinese population. Therefore, genotyping these two genetic risk factors may help identify individuals with the highest risk of NAFLD.