Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Projecting Benefits and Harms of Novel Cancer Screening Biomarkers: A Study of PCA3 and Prostate Cancer

Background: New biomarkers for early detection of cancer must pass through several phases of development. Early phases provide information on diagnostic properties but not on population benefits and harms. Prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) is a promising prostate cancer biomarker still in early development. We use simulation modeling to project the impact of adding PCA3 to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening on prostate cancer detection and mortality in the United States. Methods: We used data from a recent study of PCA3 in men referred for prostate biopsy to extend an existing simulation model of PSA growth, disease progression, and survival. We specified several PSA-PCA3 strategies designed to improve specificity and reduce overdiagnosis. Using these strategies to screen a cohort of men biennially between ages 50 and 74, we projected true- and false-positive tests, overdiagnoses, and lives saved relative to a PSA-based strategy with a cutoff of 4.0 ng/mL for biopsy referral. Results: We identified several PSA-PCA3 strategies that substantially reduced false-positive tests and overdiagnoses while preserving the majority of lives saved. PCA3>35 for biopsy referral in men with PSA between 4.0 and 10.0 ng/mL retained 85% of lives saved while approximately halving false positives and reducing overdiagnoses by 25%. Conclusions: Adding PCA3 to PSA screening can significantly reduce adverse screening outcomes. Strategies can be identified that preserve most of the lives saved relative to PSA-based screening. Impact: Simulation modeling provides advance projections of population outcomes of new screening biomarkers and may help guide early detection research. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(4); 677–82. ©2015 AACR.
Testing Measurement Invariance of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief Scores across Spanish and Swiss Adolescents

Background Schizotypy is a complex construct intimately related to psychosis. Empirical evidence indicates that participants with high scores on schizotypal self-report are at a heightened risk for the later development of psychotic disorders. Schizotypal experiences represent the behavioural expression of liability for psychotic disorders. Previous factorial studies have shown that schizotypy is a multidimensional construct similar to that found in patients with schizophrenia. Specifically, using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), the three-dimensional model has been widely replicated. However, there has been no in-depth investigation of whether the dimensional structure underlying the SPQ-B scores is invariant across countries. Methods The main goal of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of the SPQ-B scores across Spanish and Swiss adolescents. The final sample was made up of 261 Spanish participants (51.7% men; M = 16.04 years) and 241 Swiss participants (52.3% men; M = 15.94 years). Results The results indicated that Raine et al.'s three-factor model presented adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Moreover, the results supported the measurement invariance (configural and partial strong invariance) of the SPQ-B scores across the two samples. Spanish participants scored higher on Interpersonal dimension than Swiss when latent means were compared. Discussion The study of measurement equivalence across countries provides preliminary evidence for the Raine et al.'s three-factor model and of the cross-cultural validity of the SPQ-B scores in adolescent population. Future studies should continue to examine the measurement invariance of the schizotypy and psychosis-risk syndromes across cultures.
Validazione italiana del questionario prolonged grief disorder (PG-12)

ITALIAN VALIDATION OF THE PROLONGED GRIEF DISORDER QUESTIONNAIRE (PG-12). Death or severe invalidity (e.g. vegetative state) of a family member causes deep emotional distress to the caregiver. In most cases elaboration of mourning at the loss unfolds in physiological times and modes, enabling the caregiver to react to the separation and resume their own daily life. In some cases, however, there is an incapacity to react and caregivers remain imprisoned in a condition they are unable to elaborate consisting of memories, regrets and a sense of guilt, that leads to their self isolation and prevents them from leading a full life as prior to the grief-causing event. This condition, not always classifiable as a major depressive disorder, is, according to a recent debate, more adequately described as the “Prolonged Grief Disorder”. The Prolonged Grief Disorder is a new diagnostic category, currently under examination in America for inclusion in the DSM V in order to give clinicians a picture that better describes the condition of these caregivers. The PG-12 is a questionnaire that is easy and quick to administer and score which can guide the clinician in the diagnosis of this condition. The present paper presents the methodology followed for the translation into Italian of this instrument and the data that emerged concerning its validity and applicability. 45 caregivers of vegetative state patients were enrolled. The PG-12 Italian version showed good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.88) and a mono factorial structure.
Interaction of Numerosity and Time in Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex

It has been proposed that numerical and temporal information are processed by partially overlapping magnitude systems. Interactions across different magnitude domains could occur both at the level of perception and decision-making. However, their neural correlates have been elusive. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans, we show that the right intraparietal cortex (IPC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are jointly activated by duration and numerosity discrimination tasks, with a congruency effect in the right IFG. To determine whether the IPC and the IFG are involved in response conflict (or facilitation) or modulation of subjective passage of time by numerical information, we examined their functional roles using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and two different numerosity–time interaction tasks: duration discrimination and time reproduction tasks. Our results show that TMS of the right IFG impairs categorical duration discrimination, whereas that of the right IPC modulates the degree of influence of numerosity on time perception and impairs precise time estimation. These results indicate that the right IFG is specifically involved at the categorical decision stage, whereas bleeding of numerosity information on perception of time occurs within the IPC. Together, our findings suggest a two-stage model of numerosity–time interactions whereby the interaction at the perceptual level occurs within the parietal region and the interaction at categorical decisions takes place in the prefrontal cortex.
Evolution of Social Networks

Modeling the evolution of networks is central to our understanding of large communication systems, and more general, modern economic and social systems. The research on social and economic networks is truly interdisciplinary and the number of proposed models is huge. In this survey we discuss a small selection of modeling approaches, covering classical random graph models, and game-theoretic models to analyze the evolution of social networks. Based on these two basic modeling paradigms, we introduce co-evolutionary models of networks and play as a potential synthesis.
Exploring Professional Knowledge in Music Education: A Narrative Study of Choral Music Educators in St. John's, NL

This thesis explores the professional knowledge of three choral music educators from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. My primary research purpose was to explain what constitutes the professional knowledge of each of the research participants as revealed through their life stories; to illustrate how such professional knowledge has been shaped by experiences throughout each of the participants’ lives; and to understand how the participants’ experiences of developing as educators within the specific social, cultural, and political contexts of Newfoundland and Labrador have shaped their professional knowledge. Through this inquiry, three choral music educators engaged in a process of teacher development, as they discovered for themselves, through a narrative process of self-exploration, the meaning that could be made of the relationships between their life experiences and their knowledge of music teaching and learning. Data-gathering included a series of four in-depth interviews, which consisted of open-ended questions that engaged the participants in reconstructing their life experiences and articulating their professional knowledge within the context of
Effects of Tier I Differentiation and Reading Intervention on Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and High Stakes Measures

This quasi-experimental study examined differences in student reading outcomes. Participants were third grade non-struggling readers. Intervention classrooms included core curriculum instruction plus evidence-based reading comprehension instruction and differentiated repeated readings. Comparison classrooms provided core curriculum instruction only. Significant group mean differences were found on four fluency-related measures, but not for three other measures. Non-significant mean score differences had moderate effect sizes in the direction of improved reading outcomes for the intervention group, including a statewide high stakes test (Hedges g = .41). Results suggest that the addition of evidence-based differentiated reading instruction is beneficial for Tier I.
A comparative study of effective way to modify moving object in video: Using different inpainting methods

The inpainting method is popular for various applications like images, videos, multimedia etc. the inpainting can be helpful for the hiding the useful information from the source it can be used in security purpose, intelligence bureau. A lot of researchers have worked in this area of video inpainting, in this paper we have discussed many inpainting methods and many examples to analyze inpainting methods, here we have taken a review of different inpainting methods used for images as well as videos and this is our proposed work to detect the text from the video and extract it from that video, inpainting can be done which already used in images for multimedia industries and smart phones used this technique for editing pictures but video inpainting is complex and challenging task can be done by using different inpainting methods.
Considering a healthy future

Trade-offs between current and future consequences are characteristic for the domain of health behavior. Therefore, both eating and exercising behavior could be determined by time orientation, which refers to an individual’s general orientation toward the present or the future. The main aim of this dissertation is to provide insight into the relations between time orientation and both eating and exercising behavior. The results of this dissertation confirm that time orientation is a shared determinant of eating and exercising behavior. Nevertheless, time orientation for food and for exercise are different constructs that, in turn, have differential relations with eating and exercising behavior. Specifically, eating behavior is mainly predicted by consideration of immediate consequences, whereas exercising behavior is mainly predicted by consideration of future consequences. In addition, these relations can be partly explained by construal level. Theoretically, the results of this dissertation contribute in various ways to a better understanding of the construct of time orientation and its relations with eating and exercising behavior. Methodologically, the results of this dissertation have several implications for the measurement of time orientation as well as the measurement of eating and exercising behavior. Practically, the results of this dissertation can be used in the development of campaigns to stimulate healthy eating and exercising behavior. Overall, the insights that have been gained in this dissertation contribute to a better understanding of individuals’ intertemporal decision making in the health domain and can ultimately be used in order to promote and stimulate healthy eating and exercising behavior.
A Surgeless Solid-State DC Circuit Breaker for Voltage-Source-Converter-Based HVDC Systems

This paper proposes a dc circuit breaker for voltage source converter (VSC) based high-voltage dc transmission (HVDC) systems. Technical challenges for applying dc circuit breakers are to increase blocking voltage and to suppress surge voltage at the current clearing. The proposed dc circuit breaker is a solid-state breaker which consists of a number of semiconductor devices in series. It maintains equal voltage balancing among the devices to apply it to high-voltage applications. Moreover, the surge voltage across the circuit breaker is reduced by employing a freewheeling diode. Considering a system rated at 300 MW in power and 250 kV in dc voltage, the conduction loss of the proposed circuit breaker is estimated to be 0.045% of the rated power. The value is smaller than the power loss of the VSCs. A downscaled HVDC system rated at 10 kW in power and 360 V in dc voltage was built and tested. A series of experimental results demonstrates the dc fault clearing and rapid restoration of power transmission.
Monitoring and Control of Robotized Laser Metal-Wire Deposition

The thesis gives a number of solutions towards full automation of the promising manufacturing technology Robotized Laser Metal-wire Deposition (RLMwD). RLMwD offers great cost and weight saving potentials in the manufacturing industry. By metal deposition is here meant a layered manufacturing technique that builds fully-dense structures by melting metal wire into solidifying beads, which are deposited side by side and layer upon layer. A major challenge for this technique to be industrially implemented is to ensure process stability and repeatability. The deposition process has shown to be extremely sensitive to the wire position and orientation relative to the melt pool and the deposition direction. Careful tuning of the deposition tool and process parameters are therefore important in order to obtain a stable process and defect-free deposits. Due to its recent development, the technique is still manually controlled in industry, and hence the quality of the produced parts relies mainly on the skills of the operator. The scientific challenge is therefore to develop the wire based deposition process to a level where material integrity and good geometrical fit can be guaranteed in an automated and repeatable fashion. This thesis presents the development of a system for on-line monitoring and control of the deposition process. A complete deposition cell consisting of an industrial robot arm, a novel deposition tool, a data acquisition system, and an operator interface has been developed within the scope of this work. A system for visual feedback from the melt pool allows an operator to control the process from outside the welding room. A novel approach for automatic deposition of the process based on Iterative Learning Control is implemented. The controller has been evaluated through deposition experiments, resembling real industrial applications. The results show that the automatic controller increases the stability of the deposition process and also outperforms a manual operator. The results obtained in this work give novel solutions to the important puzzle towards full automation of the RLMwD process, and full exploitation of its potentials.
Risk factors and treatment of deep sternal wound infection after cardiac operation.

OBJECTIVE Although deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) after cardiac surgery is infrequent, its consequences are serious. The purposes of this study were to define the risk factors, and to establish the best surgical treatment for DSWI. METHODS Retrospective analysis for 863 patients who underwent cardiac surgery was performed. The patients were divided into the DSWI group (n=17) and the non-infection group (n=846). Preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative variables were compared between the two groups using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The modality of treatment for DSWI was also analyzed. RESULTS The incidence of DSWI was 1.97%. Independent predictors for DSWI were concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with valve or aortic surgery [odds ratio, 4.1; 95% confidence interval, (1.1, 15.1)] and postoperative use of intraaortic balloon pumping [4.4, (1.6, 12.3)]. An independent predictor in isolated CABG patients was emergency operation [10.9, (2.7, 44.7)]. Four of 17 patients died. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was cultured from 10 (58.8%) patients, and all four of the deceased subjects died of its infection. Seventeen patients were treated by debridement, primary closure, and the addition of an omentum or muscle flap if necessary. CONCLUSIONS Patients in poor perioperative condition are at high risk for the development of this infection. It was difficult to establish the best treatment, owing to the small series of this study. Mortality and morbidity of DSWI due to MRSA was high.
Risk Factors for Foot Amputation in Patients Hospitalized for Diabetic Foot Infection

The aim of this study was to identify and quantify risk factors for amputation in diabetic patients hospitalized for foot infections. This cross-sectional study comprised 100 patients with diabetic infectious complications in the lower limbs. The variables investigated were related to diabetes, infection, and treatment compliance. Multiple Cox regression analysis was performed to identify the variables independently associated with the outcome of amputation. The most prevalent chronic complications were neuropathy and hypertension. Most patients presented with a neuroischemic foot (86%). The Morisky test showed that 72% were not compliant with diabetes treatment. Regarding patient outcome, 61% progressed to amputation, 14% to debridement, and 9% to revascularization. The results showed a 42% higher risk for progression to amputation in patients with previous use of antimicrobials. Also, the amputation risk was 26% higher for those less compliant with diabetes treatment. An increase of one point in the Wagner ulcer classification criteria corresponded to a 65% increase in the risk of amputation. Undergoing conservative, nonsurgical procedures prior to admission provided a 63% reduction in the risk of amputation. Knowledge of these factors is critical to enable multidisciplinary teams to develop treatment plans for these patients so as to prevent the need for amputation.
Supervised sharing of virtual channels in Networks -on-Chip

Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) for embedded multiprocessor architectures require special mechanisms for sharing resources such as links and queues in network routers. A widely used solution is virtual-channel flow control which prevents head-of-line blocking and isolates different data streams. However, the number of virtual channels (VCs) is limited by the available buffer space in the routers. Due to the evergrowing number of applications and mutual exclusive requirements it may not be possible to assign each application a unique VC. In this paper we present a Resource Broker (RB) which is an overarching mechanism that schedules NoC traffic. It allows predictable and efficient sharing of VCs without compromising isolation and Quality-of-Service guarantees. We show that by managing the NoC traffic with the RB, we drastically reduce blocking and improve the overall utilization and hence the system performance.
Congestion management of self similar IP traffic - weighted probability normal and exponential RED

Schemes described in the literature on network congestion management are in general based on queue management. Also it is widely accepted that Poisson model is not sufficient to characterize the traffic in current Internet. In this paper, we first discuss the details of alternate RED (Random Early Detection) algorithm for traffic congestion management in IP networks having self similar input. We proceed by considering the basic scheme of Normal RED as proposed by Floyd et.al. (1993), and Weighted RED for the Poisson input model, and then explain a new AQM (Active Queue Management) proposed by us (Suresh and Gol, 2005). We then discuss a new AQM called Weighted Probability RED proposed for self similar traffic. Our modification to the RED algorithm takes into consideration probability values corresponding to the average queue lengths for computing the marking/dropping probability Verification of the algorithms proposed vis-a-vis Weighted RED as well as the ones proposed by us, has been done by simulating self-similar traffic. Results of the verification have been discussed in the paper
Early Skewed Distribution of Total and HIV-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Memory Phenotypes during Primary HIV Infection Is Related to Reduced Antiviral Activity and Faster Disease Progression

The important role of the CD8+ T-cells on HIV control is well established. However, correlates of immune protection remain elusive. Although the importance of CD8+ T-cell specificity and functionality in virus control has been underscored, further unraveling the link between CD8+ T-cell differentiation and viral control is needed. Here, an immunophenotypic analysis (in terms of memory markers and Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) expression) of the CD8+ T-cell subset found in primary HIV infection (PHI) was performed. The aim was to seek for associations with functional properties of the CD8+ T-cell subsets, viral control and subsequent disease progression. Also, results were compared with samples from Chronics and Elite Controllers. It was found that normal maturation of total and HIV-specific CD8+ T-cells into memory subsets is skewed in PHI, but not at the dramatic level observed in Chronics. Within the HIV-specific compartment, this alteration was evidenced by an accumulation of effector memory CD8+ T (TEM) cells over fully differentiated terminal effector CD8+ T (TTE) cells. Furthermore, higher proportions of total and HIV-specific CD8+ TEM cells and higher HIV-specific TEM/(TEM+TTE) ratio correlated with markers of faster progression. Analysis of PD-1 expression on total and HIV-specific CD8+ T-cells from PHI subjects revealed not only an association with disease progression but also with skewed memory CD8+ T-cell differentiation. Most notably, significant direct correlations were obtained between the functional capacity of CD8+ T-cells to inhibit viral replication in vitro with higher proportions of fully-differentiated HIV-specific CD8+ TTE cells, both at baseline and at 12 months post-infection. Thus, a relationship between preservation of CD8+ T-cell differentiation pathway and cell functionality was established. This report presents evidence concerning the link among CD8+ T-cell function, phenotype and virus control, hence supporting the instauration of early interventions to prevent irreversible immune damage.
Geometrization of Three-Dimensional Orbifolds via Ricci Flow

A three-dimensional closed orientable orbifold (with no bad suborbifolds) is known to have a geometric decomposition from work of Perelman along with earlier work of Boileau-Leeb-Porti and Cooper-Hodgson-Kerckhoff. We give a new, logically independent, unified proof of the geometrization of orbifolds, using Ricci flow. Along the way we develop some tools for the geometry of orbifolds that may be of independent interest.