Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Keratocyst Odontogenic Tumor (KCOT): Treatment Methods at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University

Many studies have been done about the treatment of KCOT, but the recurrence rate still remains high despite the combination of surgical techniques used, associated with or without the use chemical solutions such as Carnoy’s solution or Cryosurgery. Currently, there is no consensus concerning the therapeutic choice for the KCOT. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the different treatment methods used for the management of KCOT in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University and the results obtained from those treatment methods. Settings and Design: Clinical study was done at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University. Materials and Methods: Analytical retrospective review of 63 cases treated surgically from 2009 to 2015 at the Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University. All cases diagnosed as KCOT and registered in the archives were used. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Of the 63 cases, 55.56% were male and 44.44% female. The sex ratio was 1.25 in favor of male and the average age was 42 years. 81% of the lesions were located in the mandible. Of 40 cases treated by enucleation with peripheral ostectomy, curettage and electric cauterization with application of 2% iodine tincture, no recurrence was found. Of 20 cases treated by the same surgical method but without the application of 2% iodine tincture, recurrence was found in 3 cases (4.76%). 3 cases treated by resection had no recurrence. Significant relation between recurrence and type of treatment was found (P < 0.05). Conclusion: In our series, those cases that were treated by combination of surgical methods used with 2% iodine tincture showed an “improvement” in the reduction of recurrence, suggesting a future question to be examined in experimental study is to test the effectiveness of 2% iodine tincture.
Endothelin-converting Enzyme Activity in Human Cerebral Circulation

OBJECTIVE An increased level of endothelin (ET)-1 seems to be involved in the development of augmented cerebrovascular resistance in different pathological conditions, most notably vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Therefore, interfering with the ET synthesis or ET receptor blockade may be a promising approach in the treatment of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Although the receptors mediating the effects of ET-1 human cerebrovasculature are well characterized, data concerning the functionally relevant ET-converting enzyme (ECE) activity are scarce. METHODS ECE activity was determined in organ bath studies by the use of intraoperatively harvested human pial arteries. The level of ECE activity was analyzed by comparing the shift in the concentration effect curves obtained for ET-1 and its precursor, big ET-1. In addition, the presence of ECE-1&agr; immunoreactivity was studied in human cerebral tissue. RESULTS ECE-1&agr; immunoreactivity was found, although not consistently, in human cerebral arteries and was restricted to the endothelium. In isolated pial arterial segments, ET-1 and big ET-1 induced concentration-related contractions with mean pD2 values of 9.25 ± 0.34 and 7.13 ± 0.17, respectively, yielding a 123-fold shift of big ET-1 versus mature ET-1. Preincubation with phosphoramidon (10−4 mol/L) resulted in a small yet significant inhibition of the contraction induced by big ET-1. CONCLUSION The results of our study indicate the presence of functional ECE activity and ECE-1&agr; immunoreactivity in human cerebral arteries. Furthermore, the data suggest the presence of ECE-like activity that differs from that of ECE-1&agr;.
Subliminal perception in the brain: HDERP and fMRI data

La investigacion contenida en la presente tesis hace uso de las potencialidades de las tecnicas modernas de imagen cerebral para investigar la posibilidad de la existencia de la percepcion subliminal y las caracteristicas de esta. La tesis discurre por medio de una introduccion al punto de vista de la Neuroencia Cognitiva, un cuerpo formado por los tres proyectos de investigacion y una discusion general de los datos obtenidos y conclusiones. El primer proyecto de investigacion presentado usa la tecnica de electroencefalografia de alta densidad (HDERP) para estudiar los correlatos cerebrales del procesamiento semantico cosciente e inconsciente. Los resultados demuestran que la percepcion no consciente es posible y que las bases cerebrales de este procesamiento son diferentes a las de la percepcion cosciente. Los otros dos proyectos de investigacion emplean HDERP y Resonancia Magnetica Funcional (FMRI) para explorar las areas cerebrales implicadas en el procesamiento atentivo y no atentivo de las palabras, y la dinamica de estos procesos. De nuevo, los resultados muestran bases cerebrales y dinamicas difernciables para aquellos procesos dependientes de la atencion y aquellos que tienen lugar sin su participacion. Las conclusiones inciden en la existencia de la percepcion subliminal como algo separable del pocesamiento consciente.
Feasibility, psychometric performance, and stability across modes of administration of the CARES-SF.

BACKGROUND The primary objective was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System-Short Form (the CARES-SF) as a quality of life instrument in clinical trials [10]. PATIENTS AND METHODS A heterogeneous sample of 485 cancer patients completed the CARES-SF before treatment (T1), one month later (T2), and three months following T2 (T3). At T3 the patients completed the questionnaire either by mail, in a telephone interview, or in the clinic. A sub-sample of patients completed the CARES-SF a fourth time (T4) one week following T3, for purposes of test-retest reliability estimation. RESULTS On average, the CARES-SF required 11 minutes for completion and could be completed by 90% of the patients without assistance. However, 82% of the patients reported difficulty with at least one item. Multitrait scaling analysis and factor analysis generally confirmed the hypothesized scale structure. Internal consistency reliability coefficients exceeded the 0.70 criterion for four of six multi-item scales. The test-retest reliability coefficients of the six scales were above 0.70. No systematic differences were found in the psychometrics of the CARES-SF across administration conditions. In the mail condition the proportion of missing items was significantly higher, and patients reported having significantly more problems than in both the telephone and in-clinic condition. According to expectation, selective scales distinguished clearly between patients differing in disease stage, performance status, treatment modality and tumor response. Additionally, selective scales were responsive to changes in health status over time. CONCLUSION These results lend support to the reliability and validity of the CARES-SF in assessing the quality of life of patients with cancer. At the same time, efforts to refine the questionnaire are recommended.
Physical Capacity in LVAD Patients: Hemodynamic Principles, Diagnostic Tools and Training Control

Over time left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) have become an alternative to heart transplantation because of enormous technical development and miniaturization. Most patients present a significant improvement in clinical conditions and exercise capacity. Nevertheless, exercise tolerance remains markedly limited even after LVAD implantation compared to a control group. The complex physiological and hemodynamic changes in LVAD patients, both at rest and during exercise, are not yet understood, or at least not completely. It is the aim of the present paper to describe the current state of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, the spectrum of diagnostic tools, including the noninvasive inert gas rebreathing method for measurement of cardiac output and associate parameters, are discussed. Options for training control in this special patient group are presented.
Effect of Varying Levels of Protein from Different Animal Sources on Growth and Survival of Carp, Cirrhinus mrigala, Reared in Cemented Cisterns

A total of 210 Cirrhinus mrigala fingerlings were distributed in completely randomized way into six treatments with 3 replicates each to determine the effect of protein from different plant sources on the growth and body composition of C. mrigala. Six experimental protein diets of varying protein level were formulated utilizing rice protein and rice bran viz.; as plant protein source like rice protein with 30% protein (RP30), rice protein with 35% protein (RP35) and rice protein with 40% protein (RP40). Similarly rice bran as protein source like rice bran with 30% protein (RB30), rice bran with 35% protein (RB35) and rice bran with 40% protein (RB40). Controlled group diet contained a balanced mixture of proteins from both plant sources. The daily feed ration was 8% body weight of fish. Highly significant (P<0.001) results were observed with respect to growth and body composition parameters. Highly significant (p<0.001) results were observed with respect to growth and body composition parameters. In conclusion, RB40 showed better growth performance of C. mrigala reared in cemented cisterns.
The role of carbon in fungal nutrient uptake and transport

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, which forms between plant hosts and ubiquitous soil fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota, plays a key role for the nutrient uptake of the majority of land plants, including many economically important crop species. AM fungi take up nutrients from the soil and exchange them for photosynthetically fixed carbon from the host. While our understanding of the exact mechanisms controlling carbon and nutrient exchange is still limited, we recently demonstrated that (i) carbon acts as an important trigger for fungal N uptake and transport, (ii) the fungus changes its strategy in response to an exogenous supply of carbon, and that (iii) both plants and fungi reciprocally reward resources to those partners providing more benefit. Here, we summarize recent research findings and discuss the implications of these results for fungal and plant control of resource exchange in the AM symbiosis.
Hybrid-Source Impedance Networks: Layouts and Generalized Cascading Concepts

Hybrid-source impedance networks have attracted attention among researchers because of their flexibility in performing buck-boost energy conversion. To date, three distinct types of impedance networks can be summarized for implementing voltage-type inverters with another three types summarized for current-type inverters. These impedance networks can in principle be combined into two generic network entities, before multiple of them can further be connected together by applying any of the two proposed generalized cascading concepts. The resulting two-level and three-level inverters implemented using the cascaded networks would have a higher output voltage gain and other unique advantages that currently have not been investigated yet. It is anticipated that these advantages would help the formed inverters find applications in photovoltaic and other renewable systems, where a high voltage gain is usually requested. Experimental testing for validating the extra boosting has already been conducted with some representative results presented at the end of this paper.
Particle Swarm Optimization with Intelligent Mutation for Nonlinear Mixed-Integer Reliability-Redundancy Allocation

As improving system reliability in a basic system has been always one of the important concerns in reliability engineering; many studies have been developed in this regard. In this paper, a novel intelligent PSO (PSO-IM) is proposed. In suggested approach two different types of mutation operator, which controlled by Fuzzy controller, are applied to standard PSO for finding the best solution of reliability-redundancy allocation problems (RRAP). Also a heuristic inertia weight equation is introduced in our proposed PSO-IM. The main objective of our solution is to achieve maximum reliability in a basic system with acceptable redundancy allocation subject to cost, weight, volume. The proposed method (PSO-IM) significantly improves the search ability of basic PSO and finds the maximum reliability in comparison with previous works.
JavaScript Zero: Real JavaScript and Zero Side-Channel Attacks

Modern web browsers are ubiquitously used by billions of users, connecting them to the world wide web. From the other side, web browsers do not only provide a unified interface for businesses to reach customers, but they also provide a unified interface for malicious actors to reach users. The highly optimized scripting language JavaScript plays an important role in the modern web, as well as for browser-based attacks. These attacks include microarchitectural attacks, which exploit the design of the underlying hardware. In contrast to software bugs, there is often no easy fix for microarchitectural attacks. We propose JavaScript Zero, a highly practical and generic fine-grained permission model in JavaScript to reduce the attack surface in modern browsers. JavaScript Zero facilitates advanced features of the JavaScript language to dynamically deflect usage of dangerous JavaScript features. To implement JavaScript Zero in practice, we overcame a series of challenges to protect potentially dangerous features, guarantee the completeness of our solution, and provide full compatibility with all websites. We demonstrate that our proof-of-concept browser extension Chrome Zero protects against 11 unfixed state-of-the-art microarchitectural and sidechannel attacks. As a side effect, Chrome Zero also protects against 50 % of the published JavaScript 0-day exploits since Chrome 49. Chrome Zero has a performance overhead of 1.82% on average. In a user study, we found that for 24 websites in the Alexa Top 25, users could not distinguish browsers with and without Chrome Zero correctly, showing that Chrome Zero has no perceivable effect on most websites. Hence, JavaScript Zero is a practical solution to mitigate JavaScript-based state-of-the-art microarchitectural and side-channel attacks.
Associations between stomach cancer incidence and drinking water contamination with atrazine and nitrate in Ontario (Canada) agroecosystems, 1987-1991.

BACKGROUND Nitrate and atrazine are two chemicals that are heavily used in certain sectors of agriculture. They are suspected to be associated with the development of certain types of tumours. METHODS Existing data were obtained on the incidence of specific types of cancers, contamination of drinking water with atrazine and nitrate, and related agricultural practices for the 40 ecodistricts in the province of Ontario. The data were merged into a georelational database for geographical and statistical analyses. Weighted (by population size) least squares regression analyses were conducted while controlling for confounding socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Maximum likelihood spatial error models were estimated when least square regression error terms were found to be spatially autocorrelated using the Moran's I statistic. RESULTS Atrazine contamination levels (range 50-649 ng/l, maximum acceptable concentration [MAC] = 60000 ng/l) were positively associated (P < 0.05) with stomach cancer incidence and negatively associated with colon cancer incidence. Nitrate levels, (range 0-91 mg/l, MAC = 10 mg/l) were negatively associated with stomach cancer incidence. CONCLUSION The associations found at the ecodistrict level, both positive and negative, if confirmed by other studies, raise serious questions about maximum allowable limits for atrazine, as well as possibilities of complex trade-offs among disease outcomes, and interactions of biophysical and social mechanisms which might explain them. Although the negative associations appear to have no direct biological explanations, such counter-intuitive outcomes may occur in complex systems where social and biological variables interact.
The Interplay of Architecture and Correlated Variability in Neuronal Networks

This much is certain: neurons are coupled, and they exhibit covariations in their output. The extent of each does not have a single answer. Moreover, the strength of neuronal correlations, in particular, has been a subject of hot debate within the neuroscience community over the past decade, as advancing recording techniques have made available a lot of new, sometimes seemingly conflicting, datasets. The impact of connectivity and the resulting correlations on the ability of animals to perform necessary tasks is even less well understood. In order to answer relevant questions in these categories, novel approaches must be developed. This work focuses on three somewhat distinct, but inseparably coupled, crucial avenues of research within the broader field of computational neuroscience. First, there is a need for tools which can be applied, both by experimentalists and theorists, to understand how networks transform their inputs. In turn, these tools will allow neuroscientists to tease apart the structure which underlies network activity. The Generalized Thinning and Shift framework, presented in Chapter 4, addresses this need. Next, taking for granted a general understanding of network architecture as well as some grasp of the behavior of its individual units, we must be able to reverse the activity to structure relationship, and understand instead how network structure determines dynamics. We achieve this in Chapters 5 through 7 where we present an application of linear response theory yielding an explicit approximation of correlations in integrate– and–fire neuronal networks. This approximation reveals the explicit relationship between correlations, structure, and marginal dynamics. Finally, we must strive to understand the functional impact of network dynamics and architecture on the tasks that a neural network performs. This need motivates our analysis of a biophysically detailed model of the blow fly visual system in Chapter 8. Our hope is that the work presented here represents significant advances in multiple directions within the field of computational neuroscience.
Toward altering milk composition by genetic manipulation: current status and challenges.

The implementation of large-scale genome mapping and sequencing has improved the understanding of animal genetics. A large number of gene sequences are now available to serve as regulatory elements or genes of interest. Although the central thrust of this work is focused on understanding disease states, the manipulation of normal metabolic processes is feasible. To date, the genetic manipulation of livestock has been limited to the permanent addition of genes of clinical interest. This study explores the utility of genetically engineered cattle as a means of altering milk composition to improve the functional properties of milk, increasing marketability. Improvements would include increasing the concentration of valuable components in milk (e.g., casein), removing undesirable components (e.g., lactose), or altering composition to resemble that of human milk as a means of improving human neonatal nutrition. The protracted time lines of genetically modifying dairy cattle has prompted the development of animal models. A model for dwarf goats is discussed in terms of circumventing the lengthy time lines involved in generating transgenic cattle and allowing for an accelerated expansion of research in molecular genetics of dairy animals. Thus, the genetic manipulation of dairy cattle is feasible and could have significant impacts on milk quality, attributes of novel dairy products, and human health.
Econometric evidence of cross-market effects of generic dairy advertising

We estimate a dairy demand system to evaluate generic dairy advertising in the US, 1990-2005. Previous empirical studies of generic dairy advertising focus only on the market of the advertised good, ignoring potential spill-over and feedback effects. We specify an LA|AIDS model of dairy demand, which allows consistent estimation of cross-price and cross-advertising effects across dairy product markets, and is flexible and satisfies the axioms of consumer theory. We use the non-linear 3SLS estimator to address endogenous prices and serial correlation, and conduct bootstrapping to generate empirical distributions of elasticity estimates. Results suggest that cross-market effects are economically and statistically important. Thus, econometric dairy demand models that ignore cross-advertising and cross-price effects are mis-specified. Previous work that ignores substitution between fluid milk and cheese overstates producers' returns to generic advertising for either product. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Implications of kangaroo care for growth and development in preterm infants.

OBJECTIVE To review research on kangaroo care with implications for growth and development in preterm infants. DATA SOURCES Nursing, medical, and child development research literature was searched through PubMed through 2003 using the search terms kangaroo Care, skin-to-skin, growth/development, and premature infants. STUDY SELECTION Randomized controlled trials, pretest-posttest designs, and other comparative studies of kangaroo care were reviewed. Reports exploring parent perspectives were examined for attachment and parent-infant interaction findings. Theory and research regarding growth in preterm infants were explored. DATA EXTRACTION Research on topics of kangaroo care, skin-to-skin contact, preterm infant growth, preterm infant weight gain, and failure to thrive was evaluated. DATA SYNTHESIS Research on kangaroo care reports physiologic safety for preterm infants and increased attachment for parents. Attachment promotes nurturing behaviors that support growth and development. Weight gain as a benefit of kangaroo care remains in question. CONCLUSIONS Kangaroo care is safe for preterm infants and may have important benefits for growth and development. Suggestions are made for future research on effects of KC on preterm infants.
Adaptive blind decoding of unitary space-time constellations in ISI channels

Blind equalization and decoding of unitary space-time codes is considered for inter-symbol interference (ISI) channels. Previously, an adaptive equalization method that can equalize channel blindly was proposed, by exploiting the structure of the codes proposed by Hochwald et al. In this paper, the performance of the decoder followed by this equalizer is investigated. After giving a modified version of the algorithm in order to avoid undesired convergence, a generalized likelihood ratio test based non-coherent decoder is presented. Semi-analytic methods are developed to investigate the performance of non-coherent decoder followed by zero-forcing and minimum-mean squared-error equalizers. Simulation results indicate that the performance of the algorithm is in between ZF and MMSE equalizers.
Crosstalk between Wnt and bone morphogenic protein signaling: A turbulent relationship

The Wnt and the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) pathways are evolutionarily conserved and essentially independent signaling mechanisms, which, however, often regulate similar biological processes. Wnt and BMP signaling are functionally integrated in many biological processes, such as embryonic patterning in Drosophila and vertebrates, formation of kidney, limb, teeth and bones, maintenance of stem cells, and cancer progression. Detailed inspection of regulation in these and other tissues reveals that Wnt and BMP signaling are functionally integrated in four fundamentally different ways. The molecular mechanism evolved to mediate this integration can also be summarized in four different ways. However, a fundamental aspect of functional and mechanistic interaction between these pathways relies on tissue‐specific mechanisms, which are often not conserved and cannot be extrapolated to other tissues. Integration of the two pathways contributes toward the sophisticated means necessary for creating the complexity of our bodies and the reliable and healthy function of its tissues and organs. Developmental Dynamics 239:16–33, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.