Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using mathematical modeling to predict survival of low‐grade gliomas

Pallud and colleagues have presented some interesting data concerning the long-term follow-up of low-grade gliomas, but why did they not pursue the implications of the mathematical model of glioma behavior that they championed in their previous work. If they had, they would have seen that there can be no dichotomy, no distribution of velocities that “results in two groups,” but rather a continuous gradation of velocities of glioma expansion contributing to survival differences. The two independent variables that Pallud and colleagues found to be statistically significant (p 0.034), velocity and size, are exactly what the mathematical model predicts for survival. Actually, these two variables combine seamlessly to produce a predicted survival for each patient; but in the available space and without access to the original data, we can illustrate only a sampling of predictions from the data provided in the manuscript (Table). For example, a tumor 80 mm in diameter would require only 2.5 years to grow enough to kill if expanding at 11 mm/year but would not yet have reached a fatal size within 11 years if only expanding at 2–3 mm/year. A few questions require clarification. First, if “patients were excluded when an oncological treatment was administered,. or when anaplastic transformation occurred.histologically. or when a contrast enhancement appeared on MRI,” who was left to die? Were all 143 patients “pure” low-grade gliomas until they died or were last seen alive? Second, what was “time zero” in this study? That is, what is the relation between the time for “the median tumor volume (estimated on MRI before surgery)” and the time to the beginning of “the overall median duration of clinical follow-up since radiological diagnosis”? Were there not magnetic resonance images on some patients being followed before any surgery (and after a radiological diagnosis), and were these excluded? Third, rather than a p value of 0.619 for the “random histological review.in 40 cases (28%),” would it not have been more interesting to review and compare all 22 cases in the “high-rate” group (ie, velocity 8mm/yr) with the 16 cases in the lowest of the “low-rate” group (ie, velocity 1mm/yr)? Can not neuropathology do better than to lump velocities of greater than 10-fold differences together? Finally, we offer a suggestion: We prefer the phrase “velocity of radial expansion” (which is more euphonious and would be half that of “diametric expansion”) to “growth rate” because the latter ambiguously implies proliferation, perhaps forgetting the cell loss factor, perhaps even including diffusion, whereas the mathematical model clearly separates net proliferation ( ) and net dispersal or diffusion (D), the product of which relate to the velocity.
On the Rate Region of the Vector Gaussian One-Helper Distributed Source-Coding Problem

In this paper we consider the rate region of the vector Gaussian one-helper distributed source coding problem. In particular, we derive optimality conditions under which a weighted sum rate is minimum by using a contradiction-based argument. When the sources are specified to be scalar, the optimality conditions can always be constructed for any weighted sum rate. In the derivation of the optimality conditions, we introduce a new concept of "source enhancement", which can be viewed as a dual to the well known "channel enhancement" technique. In particular, source enhancement refers to the operation of increasing the covariance matrix of a Gaussian source in a partial ordering sense. This new technique makes the derivation of the optimality conditions straightforward.
A PHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEW ON NATURAL ANTIULCER AGENTS

INTRODUCTION: Ulcer is a common disorder of the gastrointestinal system, which causes much discomfort to patients, disrupting their daily routines and causes mental agony. Peptic ulcer is defined as a break off in the continuity of the mucosa of stomach or duodenum as a consequence of some medications like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), gastric acids and pepsin finally causes lesions in intestinal mucosa. Basically, word “peptic” is derived from Greek term “peptikos” whose meaning is related to digestion . Various reports indicates that old age group patients are more prone to gastric ulcer. Younger individuals have higher risk of duodenal ulcers 3, . The pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease includes a complex imbalance between gastric offensive factors like acid, pepsin secretion, Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori), bile salts, ethanol, some medications like NSAIDS, lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide (NO) and defensive mucosal factors like prostaglandins (PG’s), gastric mucus, cellular renovation, blood flow, mucosal cell shedding, glycoproteins, mucin secretion, proliferation and antioxidant enzymes like catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione level. Peptic ulcer can be categorized on the basis of location and on the severity of disease. Numerous other factors are also responsible for progression of peptic ulcers like tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF α), reactive oxygen species (ROS), release of histamine, incidence of apoptosis and bile acids secretion. REVIEW ARTICLE
Image Compression by Learning to Minimize the Total Error

In this paper, we consider the problem of lossy image compression. Recently, machine learning techniques have been introduced as effective mechanisms for image compression. The compression involves storing only the grayscale image and a few carefully selected color pixel seeds. For decompression, regression models are learned with the stored data to predict the missing colors. This reduces image compression to standard active learning and semisupervised learning problems. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm that makes use of all the colors (instead of only the colors of the selected seeds) available during the encoding stage. By minimizing the total color prediction error, our method can achieve a better compression ratio and better colorization quality than previous methods. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.
Inactivation of p34cdc2 kinase by the accumulation of its phosphorylated forms in porcine oocytes matured and aged in vitro

Culturing of matured porcine oocytes in vitro results in the enhancement of their cytoplasmic ability for oocyte activation (so-called ageing), although they are arrested at metaphase II. The enhanced ability for oocyte activation is related to decreased activity of the maturation promoting factor (MPF). In the present study we clarified the molecular mechanism of MPF inactivation during ageing, especially the changes in the phosphorylation status of p34cdc2, a catalytic subunit of MPF, compared with that in fertilised oocytes. The MPF activity decreased gradually when maturation culture was prolonged from 36 to 72 h, confirming the decreasing MPF activity in aged oocytes. The activity of 48 h matured oocytes also decreased after in vitro fertilisation. Immunoblotting of p34cdc2 with anti-PSTAIRE antibody revealed that the culturing of matured oocytes induces a gradual increase in pre-MPF, which is a p34cdc2 and cyclin B complex inactivated by phosphorylation at the inhibitory phosphorylation site of p34cdc2. In contrast, pre-MPF decreased after fertilisation, indicating the degradation of cyclin B. These results suggest that the molecular mechanisms of inactivation of MPF are different between oocyte activation and ageing, and that the mechanism during ageing might be based on the inhibitory phosphorylation of p34cdc2, whereas that of oocyte activation is based on the degradation of cyclin B.
The hazards of anesthesia and surgery in bleomycin-treated patients.

T HE USE OF bleomycin therapy in the treatment of certain cancers before definitive surgery is gaining increasing acceptance. It is our belief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center that antecedent bleomycin therapy predisposes the patient to the postoperative development of the acute adult respiratory distress syndrome. Included in this report is data that confirms that the problem exists and identifies the tentative cause and solution. Initially the problem of acute postoperative respiratory failure occurred in patients receiving antecedent bleomycin therapy for dysgenetic neoplasm of the male gonads and metastatic teratocarcinoma of the testicle. The increasing use of bleomycin over the following several years had made the recognition of the problem more important, as evidenced by a report by Nygaard et al.’ in January 1978 of pulmonary complications in a group of patients with esophageal cancer treated by bleomycin before the definitive surgery. A potent and effective chemotherapeutic agent bleomycin is well known to produce acute interstitial pneumonia or chronic fibrotic changes in the lung. Five patients who received bleomycin 612 mo prior to surgery developed severe respiratory distress 3-5 days following surgery. Despite aggressive respiratory care including respirator support, positive end-expiratory pressure and, in one case, the use of a membrane oxygenator for 8 days, all 5 patients died from a rapidly progressing interstitial pneumonia. Autopsy in each case revealed increased size and weight of the lungs with abnormal amounts of interstitial fluid. On microscopic and ultramicroscopic examination of the lungs, there was interstitial fibrosis, destruction of Type I and Type II pneumocytes, alveolar wall and capillary damage, all consistent with the general diagnosis of adult respiratory distress syndrome. Cultures for bacterial and viral pathogens were negative in vivo and at autopsy. It was felt that two factors might be related to the high postoperative mortality in these bleomycin-treated patients. One was the concentration of inspired oxygen during the long surgical
In brief

Funding for cancer research in the European Union lags far behind that in the United States and varies enormously from one EU country to another, a new survey by the European Cancer Research Managers Forum shows. Produced with the support of the European Commission, the survey is the first comprehensive analysis of cancer research funding in Europe. It identified 139 sources of non-commercial financing that provided €1.43bn (£1bn; …
Facet-Based Investigation on EM Scattering From Electrically Large Sea Surface With Two-Scale Profiles: Theoretical Model

This paper is aimed at developing an applicable and feasible facet model, which formulation should be tractable and time saving for personal computers to take charge of the efficient evaluation on the complex reflective function of large-scope 2-D oceans, either in the monostatic or bistatic case. The sea surface is envisaged as a two-scale profile on which the long waves are locally approximated by planar facets. The microscopic profile within a facet is assumed to be represented by a set of sinusoidal ripple patches. The complex reflective function of each modified facet is evaluated by a modified formula of the original Bass and Fuks' two-scale model, in which the phase factor of each facet is with the capillary wave modification. Several examples with application to the frozen or time-evolving case are given to prove the implementation.
The Black Hole Mass-Galaxy Bulge Relationship for QSOs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3

We investigate the relationship between black hole mass, MBH, and host galaxy velocity dispersion, σ*, for QSOs in Data Release 3 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We derive MBH from the broad Hβ line width and continuum luminosity and the bulge stellar velocity dispersion from the narrow [O III] line width (σ[O III]). At higher redshifts, we use Mg II and [O II] in place of Hβ and [O III]. For redshifts z < 0.5, our results agree with the MBH-σ* relationship for nearby galaxies. For 0.5 < z < 1.2, the MBH-σ* relationship appears to show evolution with redshift in the sense that the bulges are too small for their black holes. However, we find that part of this apparent trend can be attributed to observational biases, including a Malmquist bias involving the QSO luminosity. Accounting for these biases, we find ~0.2 dex evolution in the MBH-σ* relationship between now and redshift z ≈ 1.
American and Taiwanese Perceptions Concerning Privacy, Trust, and Behavioral Intentions in Electronic Commerce

Although the World Wide Web has opened the door for businesses and consumers across the globe, many issues and challenges remain in order to take full advantage of this unprecedented opportunity. More specifically, businesses engaged in electronic commerce can take advantage of current technologies that allow them to collect vast amounts of information about their customers. Although many companies use this information to tailor products and services to improve their relationship with their customers, many people simply do not trust most organizations that require the exchange of personal information. Recent studies suggest that many people either decline to provide this information over the Internet or simply provide false information. As electronic commerce companies extend their reach globally, the issues concerning privacy and trust must be extended beyond a single national culture. This study proposes and tests a Privacy-Trust-Behavioral Intention Model from a global perspective. More specifically, this study compares American and Taiwanese perceptions concerning online privacy and how it relates to the level of trust with a companyâ€™s electronic commerce web site. In turn, the model suggests that trust is an important intermediary variable that influences behavioral intentions for online transactions.
Symptoms of depression and anxiety in Serbian patients with systemic sclerosis: impact of disease severity and socioeconomic factors

This study aimed to assess symptoms of depression and anxiety in Serbian patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to estimate the impact of disease severity and socioeconomic factors on development of depression and anxiety in SSc. Thirty-five patients with SSc and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals participated. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were evaluated using the Beck’s depression inventory and Zung’s anxiety self-assessment scale. We estimated the impact of gender, age, economic status, marital status, disease duration, disease subset (limited or diffuse), and some clinical features on development of depressive symptoms and anxiety in patients with SSc. Symptoms of depression were found in 68.6% of patients (compared with 23.3% in the control group), were more frequent in patients with longer disease duration and in female and older patients, and were more common in unemployed and retired patients than in employed individuals. No differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms was noticed between patients with limited and diffuse SSc or those with or without restrictive lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, finger-tip ulcers, and heart involvement. Symptoms of depression were associated with severe pain. Symptoms of anxiety were found in 80% of patients compared with 13.3% of healthy individuals and were equally as frequent in patients of different gender, age, socioeconomic status, and disease duration and severity. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are common in Serbian patients with SSc. Depressive symptoms depended mostly on socioeconomic factors, disease duration, and pain intensity, whereas disease severity had no significant impact on development of depressive symptoms and anxiety.
Full-Vectorial Analysis of Optical Waveguide Discontinuities Using Denman–Beavers Iterative Scheme

An accurate and efficient full-vectorial numerical approach for analyzing three-dimensional optical waveguide discontinuities is proposed, where the resulting square root of the characteristic matrix from the field-based operators is approximated by the Denman-Beavers iterative scheme with a branch-cut rotation in the complex plane. Both the magnetic and electric field formulations are rigorously derived along with the robust perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary conditions. Numerical results from a typical buried waveguide, a channel waveguide, and a rib waveguide show that the present scheme is more accurate and stable than the widely used Padé approximation, while the computational load is comparative.
Effect of MW-assisted roasting on nutritional and chemical properties of hazelnuts

In order to enhance the flavor, texture, color, and appearance of hazelnuts, they are roasted during postharvest processing. In this study, raw hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.) were roasted using microwave (MW) and MW-assisted hot air methods under various roasting conditions. The hazelnuts roasted were then examined to determine the percent DPPH radical scavenging activity, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, resistant starch, non-resistant starch, total starch, and protein concentration. The roasting experiments were done using a completely randomized factorial arrangement of two roasting types by three roasting times (9, 15, and 21 min) by three roasting temperatures (70, 90, and 110°C) using three replications within each experiment. These roasting methods were found to yield significant differences in antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, resistant starch, non-resistant starch, and protein concentration between MW and MW-assisted hot air roasting processes, while no difference was found in percent DPPH radical scavenging activity and total starch. The results obtained may be of great importance to the food research community and industrial hazelnut roasting technologies.
Toxicity, Anti-Lipid Peroxidation, Invitro and Invivo Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Annona Muricata Ethanol Stem Bark Extract

The presence of natural antioxidant capacity in plants has been well documented world over. There is an increasing demand for natural antioxidant to replace synthetic additives in the food and pharmacologicals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the invivo antioxidant potential of ethanol extract of Annona muricata against CCl4- induced toxicity in rats as well as its invitro antioxidant effect and lipid peroxidation. The extract was prepared by cold maceration using absolute ethanol. The invitro antioxidant properties of the extract was determined using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhdrazyl) radical and invivo antioxidant enzymes were assayed to evaluate the biological activities of the extract. The polyphenol content of the extract was determined and it contained alkaloids, tannin, flavonoids, phenol in appreciable amount. In the invivo studies, the animals were grouped into three (3) groups of 15 rats each. Group 1 served as control and received 1ml/kg b.w of olive oil orally for 28 days. Group 2 rats were orally administered 1ml/kg CCl4 mixed with olive oil (1:10) daily for 28 days while group 3 rats were administered 1ml/kg CCl4 and 200 mg/kg b.w of Annona muricata stem extract. Three of the rats from each group were sacrificed on days 1, 8, 15, 22 and 28. The plant extract showed remarkable hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced oxidative stress as revealed from serum enzyme markers. CCl4 induced a significant rise (p<0.001) in aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and MDA (malondialdehyde) level in the serum with a reduction in catalase activity. Treatment of rats with the plant extract (200mg/kg b.w) significantly altered both serum enzymes activities and oxidant levels to near normal against CCl4 – treated rats. The invivo and invitro rapid radical scavenging studies were positive for the stem bark extract. This study suggests that the possible mechanism of the exhibited biological activities of the extract may be due to free radical scavenging owing to the presence of polyphenols in the extract. The plant extract possesses, antioxidant, anti-lipid peroxidation effect and is hepatoprotective. These may be the rationale for its folkloric uses and pharmacological effects.
Perianal Crohn Disease: Predictors of Need for Permanent Diversion

Objective:Fissures, fistulas, abscesses, and anal canal stenosis are manifestations of perianal Crohn disease (CD). There are no known predictors of which patients will fail sphincter-sparing surgical therapy and ultimately require fecal diversion. Methods:Of 356 consecutive patients with CD, 24% (86) had perianal CD (age range, 14–83 years), and women were slightly more frequently affected. Clinical variables were examined for factors predictive of the need for permanent fecal diversion. Results:CD associated with perianal CD was limited to the small bowel and/or ileocolic area in 23% of patients; the remainder had colorectal CD. Eighty-six patients underwent 344 operations. Forty-two patients (49%) ultimately required permanent diversion; among them were 21 of 32 patients (66%) with anal stricture and 12 of 20women (60%) with rectovaginal fistula. Univariate analyses of clinical variables were performed with respect to need for permanent fecal diversion. Significant univariate predictors were the presence of colonic CD (P = 0.0045, odds ratio [OR] 5.4), avoidance of ileocolic resection (P = 0.0147, OR 0.4), and the presence of an anal stricture (P = 0.0165, OR 3.0). In multivariate logistic regression, the presence of colonic disease and anal canal stricture were predictors of permanent diversion. The OR associated with the risk of permanent diversion in the presence of colonic disease and in the absence of anal stricture was 10 (P = 0.0345). In the presence of both colonic disease and anal canal stenosis, the OR associated with permanent stoma was 33 (P = 0.0023). Conclusions:The management of perianal CD continues to be challenging. Roughly half of patients required permanent fecal diversion, which was even more frequently true for patients with colonic CD and anal stenosis. Recognizing these tendencies will assist both patients and surgeons in planning optimal treatment.
Soluble CD40L in peripheral artery disease

Summary Although soluble CD40L (sCD40L, possibly derived from platelets and pro-inflammatory in vitro) may be implicated in thrombosis and haemostasis, there are little data in peripheral artery disease (PAD). We hypothesised the following: (a) that sCD40L relates to the clinical severity of PAD; and (b) that peripheral artery angioplasty acutely raises sCD40L levels. sCD40L was compared to established platelet markers soluble P selectin, platelet microparticles and platelet surface expression of CD62 and CD63. We recruited 36 healthy controls, 33 patients with intermittent claudication (IC), and 33 with symptomatically more severe critical limb is chaemia (CLI), measuring plasma markers by ELISA and membrane markers by flow cytometry. Eleven patients with CLI subsequently underwent peripheral artery angioplasty: blood was taken before and 10 minutes after the intervention. Results show that sCD40L was raised in IC at median 68 (IQR 28–333) pg/ml and in CLI at 64 (34–282) pg/mL compared to 35 (IQR 28–55) pg/ml in the healthy controls (p=0.009). Levels were no different between IC and CLI. The same distribution pattern was present for soluble P selectin, %platelets CD62+ve and CD63+ve. sCD40L failed to correlate significantly with ABPI (p=0.264), unlike %platelets CD62+ve (p=0.0032) and CD63+ve (p=0.009). Pre-angioplasty sCD40L level of 72 (35–610) ng/ml rose to 100 ng/ml (IQR=60–237)(p=0.018) post–angioplasty. Plasma sCD40L, in addition to other platelet indices, is raised in peripheral atherosclerosis and is increased by peripheral artery angioplasty, although levels seem unrelated to clinical severity. Failure to correlate with other markers suggest the platelet may not be the sole source of sCD40L, and that other cells may contribute to plasma levels.