Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chloramidine/Bisindolylmaleimide-I-Mediated Inhibition of Exosome and Microvesicle Release and Enhanced Efficacy of Cancer Chemotherapy

Microvesicle (MV) release from tumour cells influences drug retention, contributing to cancer drug resistance. Strategically regulating MV release may increase drug retention within cancer cells and allow for lower doses of chemotherapeutic drugs. The contribution of exosomes to drug retention still remains unknown. Potential exosome and MV (EMV) biogenesis inhibitors, tested on human prostate cancer (PC3) cells for their capacity to inhibit EMV release, were also tested on PC3 and MCF-7 (breast cancer) cells for improving chemotherapy. Agents inhibiting EMV release most significantly, whilst maintaining cell viability, were chloramidine (Cl-amidine; 50 µM) and bisindolylmaleimide-I (10 µM). Apoptosis mediated by the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was significantly enhanced in PC3 cells in the presence of both these EMV inhibitors, resulting in a 62% (Cl-amidine + 5-FU) and 59% (bisindolylmaleimide-I + 5-FU) decrease in numbers of viable PC3 cells compared to 5-FU alone after 24 h. For MCF-7 cells, there were similar increased reductions of viable cells compared to 5-FU treatment alone ranging from 67% (Cl-amidine + 5-FU) to 58% (bisindolylmaleimide-I + 5-FU). Using combinatory treatment, the two EMV inhibitors further reduced the number of viable cancer cells tested. Neither inhibitor affected cell viability. Combining selected EMV inhibitors may pose as a novel strategy to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drug-mediated apoptosis.
Convolutional feature pyramid fusion via attention network

We present a novel fusion scheme between multiple intermediate convolutional features within convolutional neurual network (CNN) for dense correspondence estimation. In contrast to existing CNN-based descriptors that utilize a single convolutional activation, our approach jointly uses multiple intermediate features of CNN through the attention weight that balances the contribution of each features. We formulate the overall network as two sub-networks, correspondence network and attention network. The correspondence network is designed to provide multiple intermediate matching costs while the attention network is to learn the optimal weight between them. These two networks are learned in a joint manner to boost the correspondence estimation performance. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on various correspondence estimation tasks including depth estimation, optical flow, and semantic correspondence.
Gauging the Effects of Self-efficacy, Social Support, and Coping Style on Self-management Behaviors in Chinese Cancer Survivors

Background Better self-management control in cancer survivors would benefit their functional status, quality of life, and health service utilization. Factors such as self-efficacy, social support, and coping style are important predictors of self-management behaviors of cancer survivors; however, the impact of these factors on self-management behaviors has not yet been empirically tested in Chinese cancer survivors. Objectives The aim of this study was to examine how self-efficacy, social support, and coping style affect specific self-management behaviors. Methods A secondary data analysis was completed from a cross-sectional study. A total of 764 cancer survivors were recruited in the study. Validated instruments were used to assess patients' self-efficacy, social support, and coping style. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis. Results The SEM model fits the data very well, with root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.034; close-fit test cannot reject the hypothesis of root mean square error of approximation of 0.05 or less, comparative fit index of 0.91, Tucker-Lewis index of 0.90, and weighted root mean square residual of 0.82. For the measurement models in the SEM, all items loaded highly on their underlying first-order factors, and the first-order factors loaded highly on their underlying second-order factors (self-efficacy and social support, respectively). The model demonstrated that self-efficacy and social support directly and indirectly, via coping style, affect 3 self-management behaviors (ie, communication, exercise, and information seeking). Conclusion Our results provide evidence that self-efficacy and social support impose significant direct effects, as well as indirect effects via copying style, on the self-management of cancer survivors. Implications for Practice Our findings may help nurses to further improve their care of cancer survivors in terms of their self-management behaviors, specifically communication, exercise, and information seeking.
Overlapping Community Regularization for Rating Prediction in Social Recommender Systems

Recommender systems have become de facto tools for suggesting items that are of potential interest to users. Predicting a user's rating on an item is the fundamental recommendation task. Traditional methods that generate predictions by analyzing the user-item rating matrix perform poorly when the matrix is sparse. Recent approaches use data from social networks to improve accuracy. However, most of the social-network based recommender systems only consider direct friendships and they are less effective when the targeted user has few social connections. In this paper, we propose two alternative models that incorporate the overlapping community regularization into the matrix factorization framework. Our empirical study on four real datasets shows that our approaches outperform the state-of-the-art algorithms in both traditional and social-network based recommender systems regarding both cold-start users and normal users.
Multiple Redundant Medulla Projection Neurons Mediate Color Vision in Drosophila

Abstract The receptor mechanism for color vision has been extensively studied. In contrast, the circuit(s) that transform(s) photoreceptor signals into color percepts to guide behavior remain(s) poorly characterized. Using intersectional genetics to inactivate identified subsets of neurons, we have uncovered the first-order interneurons that are functionally required for hue discrimination in Drosophila. We developed a novel aversive operant conditioning assay for intensity-independent color discrimination (true color vision) in Drosophila. Single flying flies are magnetically tethered in an arena surrounded by blue and green LEDs (light-emitting diodes). The flies’ optomotor response is used to determine the blue-green isoluminant intensity. Flies are then conditioned to discriminate between equiluminant blue or green stimuli. Wild-type flies are successfully trained in this paradigm when conditioned to avoid either blue or green. Functional color entrainment requires the function of the narrow-spectrum photoreceptors R8 and/or R7, and is within a limited range, intensity independent, suggesting that it is mediated by a color vision system. The medulla projection neurons, Tm5a/b/c and Tm20, receive direct inputs from R7 or R8 photoreceptors and indirect input from the broad-spectrum photoreceptors R1–R6 via the lamina neuron L3. Genetically inactivating these four classes of medulla projection neurons abolished color learning. However, inactivation of subsets of these neurons is insufficient to block color learning, suggesting that true color vision is mediated by multiple redundant pathways. We hypothesize that flies represent color along multiple axes at the first synapse in the fly visual system. The apparent redundancy in learned color discrimination sharply contrasts with innate ultraviolet (UV) spectral preference, which is dominated by a single pathway from the amacrine neuron Dm8 to the Tm5c projection neurons.
A simple care bundle for use in acute kidney injury: a propensity score-matched cohort study.

BACKGROUND Consensus guidelines for acute kidney injury (AKI) have recommended prompt treatment including attention to fluid balance, drug dosing and avoidance of nephrotoxins. These simple measures can be incorporated in a care bundle to facilitate early implementation. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of compliance with the AKI care bundle (AKI-CB) on in-hospital case-fatality and AKI progression. METHODS In this larger, propensity score-matched cohort of multifactorial AKI, we examined the impact of compliance with an AKI-CB in 3717 consecutive episodes of AKI in 3518 patients between 1 August 2013 and 31 January 2015. Propensity score matching was performed to match 939 AKI events where the AKI-CB was completed with 1823 AKI events where AKI-CB was not completed. RESULTS The AKI-CB was completed in 25.6% of patients within 24 h. The unadjusted case-fatality was higher when the AKI-CB was not completed versus when the AKI-CB was completed (24.4 versus 20.4%, P = 0.017). In multivariable analysis, AKI-CB completion within 24 h was associated with lower odds for in-hospital death [odds ratio (OR): 0.76; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.62-0.92]. Increasing age (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.03-1.05), hospital-acquired AKI (OR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.04-1.58), AKI stage 2 (OR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.53-2.39) and increasing Charlson's comorbidity index (CCI) [OR: 3.31 (95% CI: 2.37-4.64) for CCI of more than 5 compared with zero] had higher odds for death, whereas AKI during elective admission was associated with lower odds for death (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.16-0.52). Progression to higher AKI stages was lower when the AKI-CB was completed (4.2 versus 6.7%, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Compliance with an AKI-CB was associated with lower mortality and reduced progression of AKI to higher stages. The AKI-CB is simple and inexpensive, and could therefore be applied in all healthcare settings to improve outcomes.
Data Resource Profile: The Nordic Obesity Surgery Cohort (NordOSCo).

Data Resource Profile: The Nordic Obesity Surgery Cohort (NordOSCo) Wenjing Tao,* Miia Artama, My von Euler-Chelpin, Peter Konings, Rickard Ljung, Elsebeth Lynge, Guðrı́ður Helga Ólafsdóttir, Eero Pukkala, Pål Romundstad, Laufey Tryggvadottir, Karl Wahlin and Jesper Lagergren Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Health Protection, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere, Finland, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Icelandic Cancer Registry, Icelandic Cancer Society, Reykjavik, Iceland, Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, Helsinki, Finland, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, Department of Public Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, Faculty of Medicine, Laeknagardur, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland and Division of Cancer Studies, King’s College London, London, UK
Drosophila Larval Brain Neoplasms Present Tumour-Type Dependent Genome Instability

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variants (CNVs) are found at different rates in human cancer. To determine if these genetic lesions appear in Drosophila tumors we have sequenced the genomes of 17 malignant neoplasms caused by mutations in l(3)mbt, brat, aurA, or lgl. We have found CNVs and SNPs in all the tumors. Tumor-linked CNVs range between 11 and 80 per sample, affecting between 92 and 1546 coding sequences. CNVs are in average less frequent in l(3)mbt than in brat lines. Nearly half of the CNVs fall within the 10 to 100Kb range, all tumor samples contain CNVs larger that 100 Kb and some have CNVs larger than 1Mb. The rates of tumor-linked SNPs change more than 20-fold depending on the tumor type: at late time points brat, l(3)mbt, and aurA and lgl lines present median values of SNPs/Mb of exome of 0.16, 0.48, and 3.6, respectively. Higher SNP rates are mostly accounted for by C > A transversions, which likely reflect enhanced oxidative stress conditions in the affected tumors. Both CNVs and SNPs turn over rapidly. We found no evidence for selection of a gene signature affected by CNVs or SNPs in the cohort. Altogether, our results show that the rates of CNVs and SNPs, as well as the distribution of CNV sizes in this cohort of Drosophila tumors are well within the range of those reported for human cancer. Genome instability is therefore inherent to Drosophila malignant neoplastic growth at a variable extent that is tumor type dependent.
A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Feasibility of a Multicomponent Delirium Prevention Intervention Versus Usual Care in Acute Stroke

Background: Delirium after acute stroke is a serious complication. Numerous studies support a benefit of multicomponent interventions in minimizing delirium-related complications in at-risk patients, but this has not been reported in acute stroke patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of conducting a randomized (delirium care) versus usual standardized stroke care (usual care) in reducing delirium in acute stroke. Objective: This pilot study assessed the feasibility of (1) enrollment within the 48-hour window when delirium risk is greatest, (2) measuring cognitive function using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, (3) delivering interventions 7 days per week, and (4) determining delirium incidence in stroke-related cognitive dysfunction. Methods: A 2-group randomized controlled trial was conducted. Patients admitted with ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes and 50 years or older, English speaking, and without delirium on admit were recruited, consented, and randomized to usual care or delirium care groups. Results: Data from 125 subjects (delirium care, n = 59; usual care, n = 66) were analyzed. All Montreal Cognitive Assessment subscales were completed by 86% of subjects (delirium care, mean [SD], 18.14 [6.03]; usual care, mean [SD], 17.61 [6.29]). Subjects in the delirium care group received a mean of 6.10 therapeutic activities (range, 2–23) and daily medication review by a clinical pharmacist using anticholinergic drug calculations. Delirium incidence was 8% (10/125), 3 in the delirium care group and 7 in the usual care group. Conclusion: Findings support the feasibility of delivering a multicomponent delirium prevention intervention in acute stroke and warrants testing intervention effects on delirium outcomes and anticholinergic medication administration.
Patterns of Financial Behavior Among Rural and Urban Clients: Some Evidence from Tamil Nadu, India

There is by now ample evidence that the poor lack access to basic financial services. It is, therefore, no surprise that financial inclusion has become a focus of attention for development professionals seeking to alleviate poverty around the world. However, the nature of poverty and deprivation, the livelihood, and the financial needs of the poor vary widely across different contexts. In India, for instance, the financial needs and practices of the poor differ across rural and urban areas. An in-depth understanding of the financial behavior of the rural and urban poor is essential for designing the right product-mix that addresses their needs. Our study contributes to this goal by examining how the rural and urban poor in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, manage their money. We adopted the “Q-squared” methodology (combining quantitative and qualitative methods) to gain a holistic understanding of the financial behavior of these two distinct populations. We used financial diaries to collect data on income, consumption, savings, borrowing and lending from a sample of poor households over a period of six months. Our research subjects were mostly women. In general, the study found that these populations shared a similar practice of diversifying portfolios of savings, borrowing and insurance products. At the same time, the research found evidence of diverse financial needs of the rural and urban poor. Mainly, the study found that the two disctinct populations differ in (a) the activities for which they use the various financial tools and (b) the degree of access to a diversified portfolio of services.
A Dual Reporter Iodinated Labeling Reagent for Cancer Positron Emission Tomography Imaging and Fluorescence-Guided Surgery

The combination of early diagnosis and complete surgical resection offers the greatest prospect of curative cancer treatment. An iodine-124/fluorescein-based dual-modality labeling reagent, 124I-Green, constitutes a generic tool for one-step installation of a positron emission tomography (PET) and a fluorescent reporter to any cancer-specific antibody. The resulting antibody conjugate would allow both cancer PET imaging and intraoperative fluorescence-guided surgery. 124I-Green was synthesized in excellent radiochemical yields of 92 ± 5% (n = 4) determined by HPLC with an improved one-pot three-component radioiodination reaction. The A5B7 carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-specific antibody was conjugated to 124I-Green. High tumor uptake of the dual-labeled A5B7 of 20.21 ± 2.70, 13.31 ± 0.73, and 10.64 ± 1.86%ID/g was observed in CEA-expressing SW1222 xenograft mouse model (n = 3) at 24, 48, and 72 h post intravenous injection, respectively. The xenografts were clearly visualized by both PET/CT and ex vivo fluorescence imaging. These encouraging results warrant the further translational development of 124I-Green for cancer PET imaging and fluorescence-guided surgery.
Fusion Based on Visible Light Positioning and Inertial Navigation Using Extended Kalman Filters

With the rapid development of smart technology, the need for location-based services (LBS) increases every day. Since classical positioning technology such as GPS cannot satisfy the needs of indoor positioning, new indoor positioning technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Visible light communication (VLC), have already cut a figure. VLC positioning has been proposed because it has higher accuracy, costs less, and is easier to accomplish in comparison to the other indoor positioning technologies. However, the practicality of VLC positioning is limited since it is easily affected by multipath effects and the layout of LEDs. Thus, we propose a fusion positioning system based on extended Kalman filters, which can fuse the VLC position and the inertial navigation data. The accuracy of the fusion positioning system is in centimeters, which is better compared to the VLC-based positioning or inertial navigation alone. Furthermore, the fusion positioning system has high accuracy, saves energy, costs little, and is easy to install, making it a promising candidate for future indoor positioning applications.
Dynamic Associations Between Borderline Personality Disorder and Stressful Life Events Over Five Years in Older Adults

The time course of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is far more variable than traditionally assumed. Shifting environmental conditions are theorized to account, at least in part, for fluctuations in symptom presentation over time. In the present study, we evaluated the reciprocal influences of stressful life events and borderline pathology in a representative community sample of 1,630 older adults assessed 3 times over 5 years. An autoregressive cross-lagged model revealed strong, but imperfect, stability in symptoms of BPD over the study time frame. After adjusting for this continuity in BPD, the prospective effect of life stress on borderline pathology was virtually nil, contrary to expectations. On the other hand, borderline pathology was prospectively related to subsequent dependent event (i.e., stressors to which individuals may have contributed), but not independent event (i.e., fateful stressors), exposure. This pattern of associations was consistent with a stress generation effect. We conclude that stressful life events do not substantially redirect the trajectory of BPD in older adults, possibly owing to inertia of borderline pathology at this developmental stage. Instead, symptoms of BPD seem to promote stress exposure, thereby setting the stage for continued social impairment and comorbid psychiatric problems.
Eddy Current Analysis of Litz Wire Using Homogenization-Based FEM in Conjunction With Integral Equation

A new method is introduced to evaluate the macroscopic permeability of a litz wire which is composed of stranded conductors. In this method, an integral equation is solved for the complex magnetization in the litz wire generated due to the proximity effect. The macroscopic permeability computed from the magnetization is used in the homogenization-based finite-element analysis of eddy currents in a litz-wire coil. It is shown that the wire twist has a little effect on the complex permeability.
Does Exporting Improve Matching? Evidence from French Employer-Employee Data

Does opening a market to international trade affect the pattern of matching between firms and workers? This paper answers this question both theoretically and empirically in three parts. We set up a model of matching between heterogeneous workers and firms in which variation in the worker type at the firm level exists in equilibrium only because of the presence of search costs. When firms gain access to the foreign market, their revenue potential increases. When stakes are high, matching with the right worker becomes particularly important because deviations from the ideal match quickly reduce the value of the relationship. Hence, exporting firms select sets of workers that are less dispersed relative to the average. We then document a novel fact about the hiring decisions of exporting firms versus non-exporting firms in a French matched employer-employee dataset. We construct the type of each worker using both a traditional wage regression and a model-based approach and construct measures of the average worker type and worker type dispersion at the firm level. We find that exporting firms feature a lower type dispersion in the pool of workers they hire. This effect is comparable and larger than the common finding in the literature that exporters pay higher wages because, among other factors, they employ better workers. The matching between exporting firms and workers is even tighter in sectors characterized by better exporting opportunities as measured by foreign demand or tariff shocks. Finally, we show that revenue loss is lower relative to the optimum allocation for exporting and more productive firms. This analysis is suggestive of the potenti al presence of additional gains from trade due to improved sorting.
Learning autoencoders with low-rank weights

In this work we propose to regularize the encoding and decoding weights of an autoencoder using low-rank penalty in the form of nuclear norm. Such a formulation models redundancy in the network. We show that our proposed method yields better classification accuracy (on an average) and denoising results than other stochastic and deterministic regularization techniques used in deep autoencoders. Our method is also considerably faster compared to these techniques. The experiments have been carried out on benchmark deep learning datasets.