Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evaluation of Diagnostic and Predictive Values of Helicobacter pylori Stool Antigen Test in Iranian Patients with Dyspepsia

Background and Objectives: Iran, as a developing country, is experiencing high burdens of Helicobacter pylori (Hp)-associated non-communicable diseases. Hp stool antigen test (HpSA) is widely used as an inexpensive and feasible noninvasive method to diagnose Hp infection, instead of invasive approaches. The current study aimed at evaluating the diagnostic and predictive values of HpSA test for Hp infection in Iranian patients with dyspepsia. Methods: The current cross sectional study was performed on 100 patients with dyspepsia. Gastric mucosal specimens were taken, processed, and examined according to the standard protocols. Simultaneously, stool samples were obtained and sent to laboratory for further analyses. Hp stool antigen titers were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Stool antigen titers were not associated with gender (P-value=0.284), but correlated to age (r=0.213, P-value=0.034). Considering 0.385 as a cutoff point, the HpSA test had 80.4% sensitivity and 85.7% specificity. Conclusion: Based on cost-effectiveness of HpSA test, the current study findings corroborated the use of HpSA test to detect and follow-up patients with Hp infection, as an alternative method to detect Hp rather than invasive procedures.
The Fertility of Second-Generation Political Immigrants in Taiwan

In contrast to the results in Mayer and Riphahn (2000) where no distinction is made between the causes of economic as well as political immigrants, this article shows that compared to native Taiwanese, the parental refugee experience results in a lower completed fertility of the children's family partly through inducing a higher female labor force participation (FLFP) of the second-generation immigrant family. In addition, the likelihood of a wife participating in the market sector increases with the number of political immigrant parents and in-laws, supporting the psychological conjecture generated from Borjas (1982) and Brenner and Kiefer (1981) in which completed fertility falls with the refugee experience shared with a couple's parents and in-laws.
Laser Speckle Strain Imaging reveals the origin of delayed fracture in a soft solid

An optical method to detect nanoscale damage makes unpredictable fracture predictable. Stresses well below the critical fracture stress can lead to highly unpredictable delayed fracture after a long period of seemingly quiescent stability. Delayed fracture is a major threat to the lifetime of materials, and its unpredictability makes it difficult to prevent. This is exacerbated by the lack of consensus on the microscopic mechanisms at its origin because unambiguous experimental proof of these mechanisms remains absent. We present an experimental approach to measure, with high spatial and temporal resolution, the local deformations that precipitate crack nucleation. We apply this method to study delayed fracture in an elastomer and find that a delocalized zone of very small strains emerges as a consequence of strongly localized damage processes. This prefracture deformation zone grows exponentially in space and time, ultimately culminating in the nucleation of a crack and failure of the material as a whole. Our results paint a microscopic picture of the elusive origins of delayed fracture and open the way to detect damage well before it manifests macroscopically.
Professional Quality of Life among Professional Care Providers at Cancer Palliative Care Centers in Bengaluru, India

Context: Being a professional care provider at cancer palliative care settings is demanding and stressful. Literature has indicated the prevalence of high burnout (BO) and distress; however, there is a dearth of studies in India, with no study available on professional quality of life in the field of palliative care. Aims: The aim of the present study was to explore the professional quality of life, namely-compassion satisfaction [CS], burnout [BO], and secondary traumatic stress [STS] among professional care providers at cancer palliative care centers. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive, and quantitative study was carried out at four cancer palliative care centers in Bengaluru after the permissions and ethical approvals. Subjects and Methods: The tools used were brief sociodemographic datasheet and professional quality of life (ProQoL)-Version 5 administered with 65 participants (mean age = 32.5 and standard deviation = 11.78) with work experience of at least 6 months. Analysis: A descriptive, correlational, and inferential analysis of the quantitative data was undertaken. Results: The results revealed that an average level of CS and BO was reported by 32 (49.2%) and 35 (53.8%) study participants, respectively, while 62 (95.4%) participants reported higher STS on ProQoL scale-Version 5. Significant differences in levels of CS, BO, and STS were found based on additional training taken in palliative care (P = 0.01), designation type (P < 0.001), and workplace type (P = 0.01). Conclusion: The overall results strongly suggest that a short intervention targeting STS and BO can help the study population and further enhance their CS and patient care.
Essays in experimental macroeconomics

This dissertation consists of four essays on laboratory experiments that test assumptions and predictions of (macro-) economic models. After a brief introduction, the first chapter tests whether participants of an intertemporal consumption/saving experiment treat debt differently than savings as a means to smooth consumption. The main finding is that deviations from optimal behavior are higher when subjects have to borrow than when they have to save in order to consume optimally. This suggests that subjects are averse to taking on debt. The second chapter (co-authored with Davud Rostam-Afschar) extends the experimental framework of the first chapter to include taxation. We test whether subjects comply with the Ricardian Equivalence Proposition, by varying the temporal structure of tax payments over the experimental life cycle. We find that subjects react strongly to tax rebates and increases even after subjects have repeated the experiment eight times. The third chapter (co-authored with Ciril Bosch-Rosa and Antoni Bosch-Domenech) tests whether the occurance of asset price bubbles in experimental asset markets depends on the cognitive ability of the subjects participating in these markets. We separate subjects according to their cognitive ability and find that while markets populated only with low ability subjects produce typical bubble and crash patterns, markets populated only by subjects with high ability do not bubble at all. The fourth chapter (co-authored with Philipp Pfeiffer) addresses the question whether people are non-indifferent towards the temporal resolution of consumption uncertainty. The experimental findings suggest that on average subjects prefer consumption uncertainty to be resolved early. However, this aggregate effect seems to be mostly driven by a minority of subjects who have a strong preference for early resolution. Most subjects appear to be indifferent towards the temporal resolution of consumption uncertainty. The fifth and final chapter provides a brief discussion and outlook.
Prognostic Significance of p53 and ras Gene Abnormalities in Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients with Stage I Disease after Curative Resection

We investigated the prognostic significance of p53 gene abnormalities and ras gene mutations in patients with curatively resected stage I lung adenocarciiioma. Formalin‐fixed and paraffin‐embedded tissues were obtained from 30 patients who had undergone curative resection for stage I lung adenocarciiioma. Abnormalities of the p53 gene were detected using polymcrasc chain reaction‐denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR‐DGGE) analysis and immunohistochemistry and ras mutations were detected using PCR‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the relationship between the presence of abnormalities of these genes and the patients’disease‐free survival. Eleven tumors (37%) had mutated p53 sequences and 11 (37%) showed p53 overexpression. A total of 15 tumors (50%) had p53 gene abnormalities and the concordance rate was 73%. Seven tumors (23%) showed mutated ras sequences. The univariate analysis revealed that the disease‐free survival of patients with any p53 abnormality was shorter than that of those without abnormalities (P=0.02, generalized Wilcoxon test), and survival of those with p53 protein overexpression was more significantly shorter (P=0.003, generalized Wilcoxon test). Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model indicated that the presence of p53 abnormalities was a significantly (P=0.01) unfavorable prognostic factor. There was no significant correlation between the presence of ras mutation and survival. These results suggest that analysis of the p53 gene may be helpful for the selection of high‐risk patients for clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for stage I lung adenocarcinoma.
Influence of the phytoplankton community structure on the spring and annual primary production in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Satellite ocean color observations revealed that unusually deep convection events in 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2013 led to an increased phytoplankton biomass during the spring bloom over a large area of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea (NWM). Here we investigate the effects of these events on the seasonal phytoplankton community structure, we quantify their influence on primary production, and we discuss the potential biogeochemical impact. For this purpose, we compiled in situ phytoplankton pigment data from five ship surveys performed in the NWM and from monthly cruises at a fixed station in the Ligurian Sea. We derived primary production rates from a light photosynthesis model applied to these in situ data. Our results confirm that the maximum phytoplankton biomass during the spring bloom is larger in years associated with intense deep convection events (+51%). During these enhanced spring blooms, the contribution of diatoms to total phytoplankton biomass increased (+33%), as well as the primary production rate (+115%). The occurrence of a highly productive bloom is also related to an increase in the phytoplankton bloom area (+155%) and in the relative contribution of diatoms to primary production (+63%). Therefore, assuming that deep convection in the NWM could be significantly weakened by future climate changes, substantial decreases in the spring production of organic carbon and of its export to deep waters can be expected.
Materialism and Psychological Well-being: A Meta-analytic Study

Materialism and Psychological Well-Being: A Meta-Analytic Study Kaylene J. Fellows School of Family Life, BYU Master of Science The scholarly study of materialism is becoming more common in a variety of disciplines. This thesis provides an empirical review of this burgeoning body of literature by conducting a meta-analysis of the relationship between materialism and psychological well-being. A weighted overall effect size from 47 published and unpublished samples indicated that materialism was significantly related to lower psychological well-being. This effect size was modest in strength (r = .159). Materialism scale, psychological scale valance, age of sample, and publication status of the study did not moderate this relationship. Culture did moderate the relationship, with a stronger relationship in individualistic cultures than in collectivist cultures. Implications for individuals, professionals, and organizations are discussed, and critiques of the extant literature, as well as suggestions for future research, are offered.
Differentiated haptic stimulation by modal synthesis of vibration field

To date, Several focusing techniques have been proposed to realize localized stimulation on haptic interfaces: phased arrays of actuators with delayed excitation, or time reversal techniques which require a preliminary learning phase. Additionally, these techniques are sensitive to parameters variation and disturbances. Modal decomposition allows to realize arbitrary vibration fields congruent with the boundary conditions and in this paper, Modal decomposition is proposed to realize a desired vibration velocity field in order to have differentiated stimuli. The experimental results validate the ability of the method to approximate satisfactorily a desired reference form. The psychophysical evaluations show that users can differentiate and localize the stimulation while exploring a surface with two fingers.
BOUNDARY EFFECTS IN THE ELECTROMAGNETIC RESPONSE OF A METAMATERIAL IN THE CASE OF NORMAL INCIDENCE

In this paper we investigate boundary effects and other consequences of spatial dispersion by analyzing in detail the response of a metamaterial half-space to a monochromatic plane wave normally incident from free-space. The metamaterial is composed of an orthorhombic lattice of identical particles, each of which exhibits both an electric and magnetic response. Rather than relying on the conventional boundary conditions and the Clausius-Mossotti equations, we use instead the point-dipole interaction model and an expansion of polarization in eigenmodes to determine the structure's dispersion relation and electromagnetic response. Using the nearest- neighbor approximation, we show how truncating the crystal lattice excites an "ordinary" mode and two "extraordinary" modes that are necessary to satisfy the boundary conditions at the interface. For most cases, the extraordinary modes are evanescent, and thus form a thin transition layer at the surface. However, under certain conditions, typically near particle resonances, either one or both of these modes can be propagating.
Principles of interference microscopy for the measurement of surface topography

Interference microscopy plays a central role in noncontact strategies for process development and quality control, providing full 3D measurement of surface characteristics that influence the functional behavior of manufactured parts. Here I briefly review the history and principles of this important technique, then concentrate on the details of hardware, software, and applications of interference microscopy using phase-shifting and coherence scanning measurement principles. Recent advances considered here include performance improvements, vibration robustness, full color imaging, accommodation of highly sloped surfaces, correlation to contact methods, transparent film analysis, and international standardization of calibration and specification.
n-3 fatty acid ethyl ester administration to healthy subjects and to hypertriglyceridemic patients reduces tissue factor activity in adherent monocytes.

n-3 Fatty acids are known to influence several functions of monocytes, including adhesion, cytokine synthesis, and superoxide generation. Monocytes express tissue factor, a membrane-bound glycoprotein, that acts as a catalyst in the coagulation cascade. In this study we evaluated the effects of administration of n-3 fatty acid ethyl esters to healthy volunteers and to hypertriglyceridemic patients on tissue factor activity (TF activity) in adherent monocytes. n-3 Fatty acids containing 75% eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (ratio of EPA to DHA, 1.34) were administered (3 g/d) to normal volunteers for 18 weeks. In addition, the effects of this treatment were evaluated in 30 hypertriglyceridemic patients for 24 weeks by using a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. TF activity in adherent monocytes was evaluated with a one-stage clotting assay. Plasma and monocyte fatty acid compositions were determined by gas-liquid chromatography. In healthy volunteers, n-3 fatty acids significantly reduced TF activity in adherent monocytes either in the unstimulated condition or after exposure to endotoxin. The inhibitory effect was observed after 12 weeks of treatment and was more pronounced after 18 weeks (> 70%, P < .001 versus baseline). Concomitantly, levels of EPA and DHA increased in plasma and monocyte lipids. Interestingly, after stopping treatment, monocyte TF activity remained inhibited for at least 14 weeks. Treatment with n-3 fatty acids for 24 weeks also resulted in a significant reduction of TF activity in adherent monocytes from hypertriglyceridemic patients (-31% and -40% in unstimulated and endotoxin-stimulated cells; P < .05 versus baseline). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Parameter-Free Generalized Moment Limiter for High- Order Methods on Unstructured Grids

A parameter-free limiting technique is developed for high-order unstruc- tured-grid methods to capture discontinuities when solving hyperbolic conserva- tion laws. The technique is based on a "troubled-cell" approach, in which cells re- quiring limiting are first marked, and then a limiter is applied to these marked cells. A parameter-free accuracy-preserving TVD marker based on the cell-averaged so- lutions and solution derivatives in a local stencil is compared to several other mark- ers in the literature in identifying "troubled cells". This marker is shown to be reliable and efficient to consistently mark the discontinuities. Then a compact high- order hierarchical moment limiter is developed for arbitrary unstructured grids. The limiter preserves a degree p polynomial on an arbitrary mesh. As a result, the solution accuracy near smooth local extrema is preserved. Numerical results for the high-order spectral difference methods are provided to illustrate the accuracy, effectiveness, and robustness of the present limiting technique. AMS subject classifications: 65M70, 76M20, 76M22
Association between MUC 5 B polymorphism and susceptibility and severity of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Objectives: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a group of lung diseases that cause irreversible architectural distortion and impair gas, and finally progressive pulmonary functional decline and death, in which the common variant in the promoter region of the mucin 5B (MUC5B) gene may be involved. The present study aims to investigate whether variants within the MUC5B gene rs35705950 contributed to IPF susceptibility and severity in Chinese Han Population. Methods: A total of 187 patients diagnosed with IPF and 250 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All subjects were genotyped for MUV5B SNP rs35705950. The demographic, comorbidity, clinical and functional data were recorded. Results: The rs35705950 of MUC5B were found significantly associated with increased risk of IPF susceptibility. One way ANOVA analysis found that there was a significant decreased FVC (P < 0.0001) and DLco (P < 0.0001) in correction with the minor allele of the SNP rs35705950. In the 5 years’ followup, the carriers of the minor allele T increased mortality (P = 0.0294). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the MUC5B polymorphism rs35705950 is associated with increased risk of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis susceptibility, severity, and the decreased overall survival.
Estimation of light penetration, and horizontal and vertical visibility in oceanic and coastal waters from surface reflectance

[1] We present algorithms for the estimation of the vertical diffuse attenuation coefficient, K d (m -1 ), and the beam attenuation coefficient, c (m -1 ), at 490 nm from irradiance reflectance. Our aim is to retrieve as analytically as possible [K d (490) + c(490)] -1 , a proxy for vertical visibility. The two algorithms are based on the semianalytical retrieval of the absorption coefficient a (m -1 ) and the backscattering coefficient b b (m -1 ) from reflectance at two wavelengths, 490 and 709 nm. The use of a near-infrared wave band allows a small number of simple assumptions to be made, (1) light absorption at 709 nm is only due to pure seawater, and (2) there exists a constant ratio between the particulate backscattering coefficients at 490 and 709 nm. To estimate c(490), we developed an empirical relationship between b and b b for particles. Algorithm development, testing, and validation are achieved using data from the literature, a synthetic data set, and a large in situ data set of inherent and apparent optical properties measured in various environments. The algorithms are found to be valid both in coastal and oceanic waters, and largely insensitive to regional peculiarities in the inherent optical properties. The values of K d (490) and c(490) are retrieved within a factor of 2.21 and 2.91 (95% confidence interval), respectively, using independent in situ data sets. This performance for K d (490) is better or comparable to that of recently published algorithms. This study opens the way to the development of simple semianalytical ocean color algorithms that make the best use of spectral information.
Platelet Aggregation and Activation under Complex Patterns of Shear Stress

Summary Arterial stenosis results in a complex pattern of blood flow containing an extremely fast flow in the throat of stenosis and a post-stenosis low flow. The fast flow generates high shear stress that has been demonstrated in vitro to activate and aggregate platelets. One potential problem of these in vitro studies is that platelets are invariably exposed to a high shear stress for a period that is significantly longer than they would have experienced in vivo. More importantly, the role of the poststenosis low flow in platelet activation and aggregation has not been determined. By exposing platelets to a shear profile that contains both high and low shear segments, we found that platelets aggregate when they are exposed to a high shear stress of 100 dyn/cm2 for as short as 2.5 s, a period that is significantly shorter than those previously reported (30–120 s). Platelet aggregation under this condition requires a low shear exposure immediately after a high shear pulse, suggesting that post-stenosis low flow enhances platelet aggregation. Furthermore, platelet aggregation under this condition is not activation-dependent because the CD62P expression of sheared platelets is significantly less than that of platelets treated with ADP. Based on these findings, we propose that shear-induced platelet aggregation may be a process of mechanical crosslinking of platelets, requiring minimal platelet activation. This process may function as a protective mechanism to prevent in vivo irreversible platelet activation and aggregation under temporary high shear.
Altered patterns of the interferon‐inducible gene IFI16 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: immunohistochemical study including correlation with retinoblastoma protein, human papillomavirus infection and proliferation index

Aims: To investigate whether the expression of interferon (IFN)‐inducible gene IFI16 is inversely related to proliferative activity in vivo, we compared immunohistochemical reactivity of IFI16 in a series of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) with their proliferation index and the cell cycle regulator pRb. As human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is manifested by changes in the function or expression level of host genes such as IFN‐inducible genes, we also investigated the presence of HPV DNA to determine whether head and neck cancers associated with HPV DNA can be distinguished from tumours that are presumably transformed by other mechanisms.