Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipoprotein changes in small‐for‐gestational‐age infants fed nucleotide‐supplemented milk formula

Morillas J, Moltó L, Robles R, Gil A, Sánchez‐Pozo A. Lipoprotein changes in small‐for‐gestational‐age infants fed nucleotide‐supplemented milk formula. Acta Prediatr 1994;83:481–5. Stockholm. ISSN 0803–5253
CD44 and hyaluronan engagement promotes dexamethasone resistance in human myeloma cells

Dexamethasone (Dex) is an effective therapeutic agent against multiple myeloma (MM); however, resistance to it often becomes a clinical issue. CD44 is an adhesion molecule that serves as a cell surface receptor for extracellular matrix components, including hyaluronan (HA). HA is an extracellular matrix component that is involved in survival and progression in MM. In the present report, we describe isolation of a CD44‐expressing population from a Dex‐sensitive MM cell line, RPMI8226, in which the CD44‐high population had a significantly higher potential to resist Dex than did the CD44‐low population. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CD44 engagement by an anti‐CD44 monoclonal antibody (mAb) or HA protects MM cells from Dex‐induced growth inhibition. The activity of HA was partially inhibited by blocking its binding to CD44, indicating that CD44 mediates HA activity promoting MM cell survival. CD44 engagement by an anti‐CD44 mAb led to phosphorylation and degradation of IκB‐α, thus preventing its Dex‐induced up‐regulation. Our data suggest that CD44 is not only an important mediator for the survival activity of HA, but it may also contribute to MM cell resistance to Dex.
Upregulation of Myocardial Estrogen Receptors in Human Aortic Stenosis

Background—Estrogen receptor (ER)–mediated effects have been associated with the modulation of myocardial hypertrophy in animal models and in humans, but ER expression in the human heart and its relation to hypertrophy-mediated gene expression have not yet been analyzed. We therefore investigated sex- and disease-dependent alterations of myocardial ER expression in human aortic stenosis together with the expression of hypertrophy-related genes. Methods and Results—ER-&agr; and -&bgr;, calcineurin A-&bgr;, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) mRNA were quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction in left ventricular biopsies from patients with aortic valve stenosis (n=14) and control hearts with normal systolic function (n=17). ER protein was quantified by immunoblotting and visualized by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. ER-&agr; mRNA and protein were increased 2.6-fold (P=0.003) and 1.7-fold (P=0.026), respectively, in patients with aortic valve stenosis. Left ventricular ER-&bgr; mRNA was increased 2.6-fold in patients with aortic valve stenosis (P<0.0001). ER-&agr; and -&bgr; were found in the cytoplasm and nuclei of human hearts. A strong inverse correlation exists between ER-&bgr; and calcineurin A-&bgr; mRNA in patients with aortic valve stenosis (r=−0.83, P=0.002) but not between ER-&agr; or -&bgr; and BNP mRNA. Conclusions—ER-&agr; and -&bgr; in the human heart are upregulated by myocardial pressure load.
Do Hospitals and Surgeons With Higher Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Volumes Still Have Lower Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rates?

Background—Studies that are the basis of recommended volume thresholds for CABG surgery are outdated and not reflective of recent advances in the field. This study examines both hospital and surgeon volume-mortality relations for CABG surgery through the use of a population-based clinical data set. Methods and Results—Data from New York’s clinical CABG surgery registry from 1997 to 1999 (total number of procedures, 57 150) were used to examine the individual and combined impact of annual hospital volume and annual surgeon volume on in-hospital mortality rates after adjusting for differences in severity of illness. Significantly lower risk-adjusted mortality rates occurred above all annual hospital volume thresholds between 200 and 800 and above all surgeon volume thresholds between 50 and 200. The number needed to treat (NNT) at higher-volume providers to avoid a death was minimized for a hospital threshold volume of 100 (NNT=50) and a surgeon threshold volume of 50 (NNT=118). The risk-adjusted mortality rate (RAMR) for patients undergoing surgery performed by surgeons with volumes of ≥125 in hospitals with volumes of ≥600 was 1.89%. The RAMR was significantly higher (2.67%) for patients undergoing surgery performed by surgeons with volumes of <125 in hospitals with volumes of <600. Conclusions—Higher-volume surgeons and hospitals continue to have lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, and patients undergoing surgery performed by higher-volume surgeons in higher-volume hospitals have the lowest mortality rates.
Flip Chip Reliability Modeling Based on Solder Fatigue as Applied to Flip Chip on Laminate Assemblies

In order to successfully implement reliable flip chip packaging technology it is desirable to ensure solder fatigue as the limiting mechanical failure mechanism. Doing so enables the packaging engineer to design to specific reliability standards, as solder fatigue is a known and predictable failure mechanism. Indeed, other flip chip failure modes such as silicon fracture and underfill delamination are ill-defined in terms of practical failure models, and often lead to unpredictable and early reliability failures. Solder fatigue models can serve as valuable tools in predicting and maintaining solder fatigue as a failure mode throughout all stages of flip chip design, qualification and implementation into a production application. A 63Sn/Pb solder fatigue model has been previously developed based on a correlation of flip chip solder fatigue data combined with nonlinear finite element analysis. This model has been successfully applied in the prediction of PBGA and CSP fatigue lives as well as a parametric study investigating the reliability of flip chip assemblies and the influence of specific design parameters. In this investigation, flip chip reliability predictions are generated based on solder fatigue modeling and compared to actual thermal cycling reliability data. The influence of both solder fatigue and underfill delamination are considered in interpretation of the experimental data.
Genetic Spot Optimization for Peak Power Estimation in Large VLSI Circuits

Estimating peak power involves optimization of the circuit's switching function. The switching of a given gate is not only dependent on the output capacitance of the node, but also heavily dependent on the gate delays in the circuit, since multiple switching events can result from uneven circuit delay paths in the circuit. Genetic spot expansion and optimization are proposed in this paper to estimate tight peak power bounds for large sequential circuits. The optimization spot shifts and expands dynamically based on the maximum power potential (MPP) of the nodes under optimization. Four genetic spot optimization heuristics are studied for sequential circuits. Experimental results showed an average of 70.7% tighter peak power bounds for large sequential benchmark circuits was achieved in short execution times.
Comparing the clinical outcomes in stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung tumors between Ray-Tracing and Monte-Carlo algorithms

Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes between the groups using Ray-Tracing (RAT) and Monte-Carlo (MC) calculation algorithms for stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of lung tumors. Materials and Methods Thirty-five patients received SBRT with CyberKnife for 47 primary or metastatic lung tumors. RAT was used for 22 targets in 12 patients, and MC for 25 targets in 23 patients. Total dose of 48 to 60 Gy was prescribed in 3 to 5 fractions on median 80% isodose line. The response rate, local control rate, and toxicities were compared between RAT and MC groups. Results The response rate was lower in the RAT group (77.3%) compared to the MC group (100%) (p = 0.008). The response rates showed an association with the mean dose to the gross tumor volume, which the doses were re-calculated with MC algorithm in both groups. However, the local control rate and toxicities did not differ between the groups. Conclusions The clinical outcome and toxicity of lung SBRT between the RAT and MC groups were similar except for the response rate when the same apparent doses were prescribed. The lower response rate in the RAT group, however, did not compromise the local control rates. As such, reducing the prescription dose for MC algorithm may be performed but done with caution.
Curcumin Enhances the Effect of Chemotherapy against Colorectal Cancer Cells by Inhibition of NF-κB and Src Protein Kinase Signaling Pathways

Objective Development of treatment resistance and adverse toxicity associated with classical chemotherapeutic agents highlights the need for safer and effective therapeutic approaches. Herein, we examined the effectiveness of a combination treatment regimen of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and curcumin in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Methods Wild type HCT116 cells and HCT116+ch3 cells (complemented with chromosome 3) were treated with curcumin and 5-FU in a time- and dose-dependent manner and evaluated by cell proliferation assays, DAPI staining, transmission electron microscopy, cell cycle analysis and immunoblotting for key signaling proteins. Results The individual IC50 of curcumin and 5-FU were approximately 20 µM and 5 µM in HCT116 cells and 5 µM and 1 µM in HCT116+ch3 cells, respectively (p<0.05). Pretreatment with curcumin significantly reduced survival in both cells; HCT116+ch3 cells were considerably more sensitive to treatment with curcumin and/or 5-FU than wild-type HCT116 cells. The IC50 values for combination treatment were approximately 5 µM and 1 µM in HCT116 and 5 µM and 0.1 µM in HCT116+ch3, respectively (p<0.05). Curcumin induced apoptosis in both cells by inducing mitochondrial degeneration and cytochrome c release. Cell cycle analysis revealed that the anti-proliferative effect of curcumin and/or 5-FU was preceded by accumulation of CRC cells in the S cell cycle phase and induction of apoptosis. Curcumin potentiated 5-FU-induced expression or cleavage of pro-apoptotic proteins (caspase-8, -9, -3, PARP and Bax), and down-regulated anti-apoptotic (Bcl-xL) and proliferative (cyclin D1) proteins. Although 5-FU activated NF-κB/PI-3K/Src pathway in CRC cells, this was down-regulated by curcumin treatment through inhibition of IκBα kinase activation and IκBα phosphorylation. Conclusions Combining curcumin with conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-FU could provide more effective treatment strategies against chemoresistant colon cancer cells. The mechanisms involved may be mediated via NF-κB/PI-3K/Src pathways and NF-κB regulated gene products.
Family Rituals and Deviant Behavior

Many researchers have sought to identify the antecedents of deviant behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore whether family rituals might contribute to social control, and thereby reduce deviant behavior. Walter Reckless' containment theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. This theory suggests that both inner and outer containment variables control social behavior. It was proposed that meaningful family rituals would contribute to the development of inner and outer containment, and therefore, reduce the number of deviant behaviors committed by the respondents. In this study, the inner containment variable was self-esteem, and the outer containment variables were participation in conforming activities with family members both inside and outside the home, and participation in extracurricular activities. Two hundred and seven incarcerated respondents and 217 college students responded to three survey instruments, the Family Rituals Questionnaire, the Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory, and a Family Information Inventory. Findings indicated that the college students reported experiencing more meaningful family rituals than the incarcerated respondents. Results indicate that the two groups differed significantly on all of the major variables. However, meaningful family rituals had little association with self-esteem, and self-esteem had no relationship with deviant behavior. Meaningful family rituals did account for some variation in participation in conforming activities with family members inside and outside the home and for participation in extracurricular activities. However, the variables that were most significant for explaining deviant behavior were the risk factors of age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, neighborhood crime, and parents's deviance. Future research should explore the role of risk factors in explaining deviant behavior and study the role of meaningful family rituals and the role they might play in creating a qualitative difference in family life.
Becoming a teacher of young children

This is a comprehensive, observation oriented introduction to the field of preschool, kindergarten and primary grade teaching. It is organized around four characteristics essential to effective teaching of young children; professional commitment, sensitivity to development, organizational and managerial skills and curriculum resourcefulness. Part 2 of the book presents three sets of paired chapters covering cognitive, physical and social development. The first chapter in each case summarizes what is known about that area of development and the second one shows how to observe and record behavior and ability in that area, and then describes how to plan developmentally sound lessons. This new edition offeres three new chapters: play, diversity and literacy and literature. In addition, a new discussion of co-operative learning has been added to the chapter on teaching techniques, and a discussion of children in poverty has been added to the chapter on issues and perspectives.
Investigating Teacher-Student Interactions That Foster Self-Regulated Learning

This article describes the use of qualitative methods to study young children's engagement in self-regulated learning. In particular, it describes how fine-grained analyses of running records have enabled us to characterize what teachers say and do to foster young children's metacognitive, intrinsically motivated, and strategic behavior during reading and writing activities in their classrooms. This article argues that in-class observations followed by semistructured, retrospective interviews ameliorate many of the difficulties researchers have experienced in past studies of young children's motivation and self-regulation. The observations and interviews provide evidence of children in kindergarten through Grade 3 engaging in self-regulatory behaviors, such as planning, monitoring, problem-solving, and evaluating, during complex reading and writing tasks. Also, they reveal variance in young children's motivational profiles that is more consistent with older students than has heretofore been assumed. Moreover, the in situ investigations of young children's self-regulated learning offer important insights into the nature and degree of support young children require to be successfully self-regulating.
Relationships between preschool aged children's self-concepts and their parents' attitudes

approved: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between preschool aged children's self-concepts and their parents' attitudes. Thirty-three children, 18 boys and 15 girls, and their parents acted as subjects for this study. The mean age of the children was 3 years 8 months, and their mean IQ score was 109. All subjects came from the middle and upper socioeconomic classes. A modified version of the Self Concept and Motivation Inventory, designed for this study, was used to assess the children's selfconcepts, while a modified version of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument was used to assess parental attitudes. The Pearson product moment correlation method was used to test all hypotheses. The . 10 level of significance was used as the criterion for statistical
Systematic analysis and modeling of integrated inductors and transformers in RF IC design

An efficient modeling technique and a novel CAD tool for the accurate prediction of the performance of integrated inductors and transformers is presented. This generic and process-independent approach generates lumped-element models that easily plug into the RF IC design flow. Their accuracy is established through comparisons with measurements of numerous fabricated inductor structures. This paper intends to provide answers to vital questions in regard to existing limits and future expectations of the performance of on-chip inductors using comprehensive nomographs and quantitative analysis of spiral inductor families. An LNA design paradigm depicts how first-time-working silicon can be achieved when on-chip inductors' coupling is taken into account during the layout design process, minimizing risk, time, and cost.
Disease activity, cumulative damage and quality of life in systematic lupus erythematosus: results of a cross-sectional study

The relationship between disease activity, cumulative damage and self-reported quality of life was examined in 96 patients with Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Disease activity was measured by the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and cumulative damage by the Systematic Lupus International Cooperating Clinics/ACR damage index (DI). Quality of life was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form 20 (SF-20) self-report questionnaire which consists of six subscales. The study population was predominantly Caucasian (91 %) and female (90%). The mean (± s.d.) age was 42.0 ± 11.0 years and disease duration was 7.5 ± 5.5 years. SLEDAI scores varied from 0-28, with a mean (± s.d.) of 4.8 ± 5.2. The mean (± s.d.) DI score was 0.74 ± 1.06, with a range of 0-5. Subscales of the SF-20 varied from 0-100 and the range of mean (± s.d.) scores varied from 35.0 ± 42.2 to 70.5 ± 28.7. There was no correlation between SLEDAI and DI scores or between SLEDAI scores and any of the six subscales of the SF-20. Likewise there was no correlation between DI scores and SF-20 subscales with the exception of Health perception (r = 0.34, P = 0.02). These results indicate that there are at least three independent dimensions of health status in SLE, namely disease activity, cumulative damage and quality of life. Furthermore, the extent of inflammatory disease activity and irreversible target organ damage are not the sole determinants for quality of life in SLE patients.
Observance of hand washing procedures performed by the medical personnel after the patient contact. Part II

ObjectivesThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) state that adequate hand hygiene maintained by medical personnel is an indispensable prerequisite for controlling nosocomial infections. The recommendations of CDC and WHO emphasize the obligation to wash hands after each contact with a patient, after the exposure to a potentially infectious material or upon the contact with objects surrounding the patient.Materials and MethodsThe study was performed by quasi-observation among the group of 188 medical staff members (nurses and physicians) working in three selected hospitals of the Łódź Province. The procedure of hand washing/disinfection performed directly after the patient contact according to the recommendations of CDC and WHO was observed. The results were subject to statistical analysis (p < 0.05). ResultsDuring 1544 h of observations, 4101 activities requiring hand washing were recorded. The medical personnel followed the hand hygiene procedures after the patient contact in 26.4% of the situations that require hygiene according to the guidelines. The level of observance of the hand washing procedures depended significantly on the type of performed activity, profession, degree of workload, index of activity, and time of duty hours. The mean time of hand washing after patient contact was 9.2 s for physicians and 6.7 s for nurses.ConclusionBoth the level of observance of hygienic procedures after the contact with patients as well as the time of hand washing are insufficient. There is an urgent need to work out educational programs on maintaining proper hand hygiene for medical personnel.
Joint uplink and downlink resource allocation in full-duplex OFDMA networks

In this paper, we study resource allocation in full-duplex OFDMA networks. We explore the joint optimization of subcarrier assignment, uplink-downlink user pairing, and power allocation to maximize the overall throughput with consideration of self-interference and inter-node interference. By using the dual method, we can decompose the original optimization problem into a primal problem and a dual problem. We adopt the concave-convex procedure to transform the primal problem into a tractable form through sequential convex approximations while we utilize the sub-gradient method to solve the dual problem. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can always achieve better throughput in comparison with the existing algorithms.
CIESIN Thematic Guide to Night-time Light Remote Sensing and its Applications

Night-time light imagery stands unique amongst remote sensing data sources as it offers a uniquely 'human' view of the Earth's surface. The presence of lighting across the globe is almost entirely due to some form of human activity be it settlements, shipping fleets, gas flaring or fires associated with swidden agriculture. This extensively illustrated guide introduces users to the types of night-time light data available, its characteristics and limitations. It details the distinguishing features of the stable lights, radiance calibrated and time series Average DN datasets. The latter currently spans the period 1992-2003. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the datasets are presented using a range of techniques including temporal color composites. Preliminary analysis of this time series reveals considerable differences in brightness between data collected from different platforms. The second part of the guide examines how this interesting data source has been used and may be used to derive useful information about human presence and practice on Earth. Topics range from population and light pollution to economic activity, greenhouse gas emissions and using night-time lights to help with disaster management. Consideration is also given to the ecological ramifications of night-time lighting. With these elements set out, the final section explores other potential sources of night-time light data and how future systems may enhance our existing capabilities to understand the human environment through this the observation of lights at night.
Investigations on Event Evolution on TDT

Topic detection and tracking approaches monitor broadcast news in order to spot new, previously unreported events and to track the development of the previously spotted ones. The dynamical nature of the events makes the use of state-of-the-art methods difficult. We present a new topic definition that has potential to model evolving events. We also discuss incorporating ontologies into the similarity measures of the topics, and illustrate a dynamic hierarchy that decreases the exhaustive computation performed in the TDT process. This is mainly work-in-progress.