Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Letter to the Editor Renal Cell Carcinoma in Children

To the Editor I read with interest the recent report by Rao et al titled “Renal Cell Carcinoma in Children and Young Adults: Clinicopathological, Immunohistochemical, and VHL Gene Analysis of 46 Cases With Follow-up. ” The authors are to be commended for a detailed pathological analysis of a sizable cohort of pediatric renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases, confirming a high proportion of the translocation “TFE” subtype and a slightly increased prevalence of females in this young patient population. The authors discuss the clinical impact of lymph node involvement in pediatric RCC, in the absence of distant metastases, and report that 6 out of 13 of their cases with N + M0 disease, and 4 out of 8 cases with TFE + N + M0 disease specifically, died of disease. This contrasts with previously published findings suggesting that pediatric N + M0 RCC may have a more favorable prognosis. Indeed, the clinical course of TFE RCC can often be aggressive, as demonstrated by reports of patients who have died from their disease. However, the authors’ comments on the role of lymph node involvement must be taken with caution, as in their series of 46 patients, none were identified to have metastatic disease. Although the authors acknowledge that M-status was not defined in 8 of their cases (Mx), to find zero cases with M+ disease in the remaining 38 cases is a statistical improbability, given that a meta-analysis of pediatric RCC, including 243 cases, observed a 30% rate of metastatic disease in the pediatric population. Based on the discordance between the current results and the literature, I suspect that the data pertaining to M status are largely missing from the authors’ Department of Pathology archives (data source as per “Methods”). As such, no conclusions should be drawn about the prognosis of N + M0 cases from this cohort until clarification is provided that the patients with M0 disease had adequate staging evaluations and were found not to have distant metastatic disease. The Children’s Oncology Group AREN0321 protocol is prospectively testing the hypothesis that the prognosis of infants, children, and young adults with N + M0 pediatric RCC is favorable in the absence of adjuvant medical therapy.
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION IN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY IN IRAN

Production of knowledge in nursing and midwifery is essential to develop body of knowledge and improve quality of health care. In recent years, growth rate of scientific publication in Iran was significant as it could be considered as a scientific jihad. Although everyone is proud of this accomplishment, an important question remaining in nursing and midwifery is that how the pace of scientific publication in these fields is consistent with the pace of scientific publication in other scientific fields. This editorial tries to answer this question. Through searching the Scopus for Iranian papers during 2008-2012 articles, I found 1063 articles in nursing and midwifery indexed in the Scopus. The number of articles was almost doubled per year within the last five years, excluding 2012. It implies coordination of scientific publication in nursing and midwifery with rapid growth of total scientific activities in other scientific fields in the country. On the other hand, findings showed that only 29 articles (2.7%) published by Iranian nursing and midwifery researchers were review articles. While, in the UK, 13.5% of articles in nursing and midwifery was review articles. This finding along with the importance of review articles as credible scientific evidence for clinical decision-making and improving management procedures shows the necessity of writing review articles by senior researchers in Iran. Comparing nationality of authors between Iranian articles with the UK articles showed that only 154 Iranian articles (about 10%) had a non-native author; while, in the UK articles, about half of the articles had non-English collaborating authors. This finding reveals the necessity for further efforts to international studies. Through searching the Pubmed and Web of Science for Iranian articles during 2008-2012, we found 390 and 174 Iranian articles, respectively. The lower rate of articles indexed in these two databases, comparing to the Scopus, indicates the necessity of designing and conducting high quality studies and submitting articles in journals indexed in these two databases. Writing articles which observe principles of scientific writing in proper English language can increase the probability of acceptance of articles in more valid journals. Indexing Iranian nursing and midwifery journals in authoritative indexes can increase the rate of scientific publication. It
Efficient gravitational lens optical scalars calculation of black holes with angular momentum

We provide new very simple and compact expressions for the efficient calculation of gravitational lens optical scalars for Kerr space–time, which are exact along any null geodesic. These new results are obtained recurring to well-known results on geodesic motion that exploit obvious and hidden symmetries of Kerr space–time and contrast with the rather long and cumbersome expressions previously reported in the literature, providing a helpful improvement for the sake of an efficient integration of the geodesic deviation equation on Kerr geometry. We also introduce a prescription for the observer frame that captures a new notion of centre of the black hole, which can be used for any position of the observer, including those near the black hole. We compare the efficient calculation of weak lens optical scalars with the exact equations, finding an excellent agreement.
Standard Galactic field RR Lyrae II: a Gaia DR2 calibration of the period–Wesenheit–metallicity relation

RR Lyrae stars have long been popular standard candles, but significant advances in methodology and technology have been made in recent years to increase their precision as distance indicators. We present multiwavelength (optical UBVRcIc and Gaia G, BP, RP; near-infrared JHKs; mid-infrared [3.6], [4.5]) period–luminosity–metallicity (PLZ), period–Wesenheit–metallicity (PWZ) relations, calibrated using photometry obtained from the Carnegie RR Lyrae Program and parallaxes from the Gaia second data release for 55 Galactic field RR Lyrae stars. The metallicity slope, which has long been predicted by theoretical relations, can now be measured in all passbands. The scatter in the PLZ relations is on the order of 0.2 mag, and is still dominated by uncertainties in the parallaxes. As a consistency check of our PLZ relations, we also measure the distance modulus to the globular cluster M4, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, and our results are in excellent agreement with estimates from previous studies.
Merger induced clump formation in distant infrared luminous starburst galaxies

While the formation of stellar clumps in distant galaxies is usually attributed to gravitational violent disk instabilities, we show here that major mergers also represent a competitive mechanism to form bright clumps. Using ∼0.1″ resolution ACS F814W images in the entire COSMOS field, we measured the fraction of clumpy emission in 109 main sequence (MS) and 79 Herschel-detected starbursts (off-MS) galaxies at 0.5 < z < 0.9, representative of normal versus merger induced star-forming activity, respectively. We additionally identify merger samples from visual inspection and from Gini-M20 morphological parameters. Regardless of the merger criteria adopted, the clumpiness distribution of merging systems is different from that of normal isolated disks at a > 99.5% confidence level. The former reaches higher clumpiness values up to 20% of the total galaxy emission. We confirm the merger induced clumpiness enhancement with novel hydrodynamical simulations of colliding galaxies with gas fractions typical of z ∼ 0.7. Multi-wavelength images of three starbursts in the CANDELS field support the young nature of clumps, which are likely merger products rather than older preexisting structures. Finally, for a subset of 19 starbursts with existing near-infrared rest frame spectroscopy, we find that the clumpiness is mildly anti-correlated with the merger phase, which decreases toward final coalescence. Our result can explain recent ALMA detections of clumps in hyperluminous high-z starbursts, while normal objects are smooth. This work raises a question as to the role of mergers on the origin of clumps in high redshift galaxies in general.
Hybrid Zero Dynamics Inspired Feedback Control Policy Design for 3D Bipedal Locomotion using Reinforcement Learning

This paper presents a novel model-free reinforcement learning (RL) framework to design feedback control policies for 3D bipedal walking. Existing RL algorithms are often trained in an end-to-end manner or rely on prior knowledge of some reference joint trajectories. Different from these studies, we propose a novel policy structure that appropriately incorporates physical insights gained from the hybrid nature of the walking dynamics and the well-established hybrid zero dynamics approach for 3D bipedal walking. As a result, the overall RL framework has several key advantages, including lightweight network structure, short training time, and less dependence on prior knowledge. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method on Cassie, a challenging 3D bipedal robot. The proposed solution produces stable limit walking cycles that can track various walking speed in different directions. Surprisingly, without specifically trained with disturbances to achieve robustness, it also performs robustly against various adversarial forces applied to the torso towards both the forward and the backward directions.
Squeezing formalism and canonical transformations in cosmology

Canonical transformations are ubiquitous in Hamiltonian mechanics, since they not only describe the fundamental invariance of the theory under phase-space reparameter-isations, but also generate the dynamics of the system. In the first part of this work we study the symplectic structure associated with linear canonical transformations. After reviewing salient mathematical properties of the symplectic group in a pedagogical way, we introduce the squeezing formalism, and show how any linear dynamics can be cast in terms of an invariant representation. In the second part, we apply these results to the case of cosmological perturbations, and focus on scalar field fluctuations during inflation. We show that di↵erent canonical variables select out di↵erent vacuum states, and that this leaves an ambiguity in observational predictions if initial conditions are set at a finite time in the past. We also discuss how the e↵ectiveness of the quantum-to-classical transition of cosmological perturbations depends on the set of canonical variables used to describe them. Keywords: quantum field theory on curved space, physics of the early universe, inflation
Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole in the treatment of enteric fever.

Twenty-three patients with typhoid fever diagnosed by blood culture were treated with co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole, 1 :5) at a dosage of 10 mg trimethoprim/kg/day in two divided daily doses for 10 days. Twenty-two patients responded, the mean period to defervescence being three days and to relief of toxaemia being 1-7 days. Another nineteen patients with similarly proven typhoid were treated with chloramphenicol (100 mg/kg/day) in four divided daily doses for 10 days. Eighteen patients responded, defervescence occurring in an average of 4-1 days and relief of toxaemia in a mean of 2-6 days. None of the patients included in the study developed complications, relapses or became a convalescent carrier during the period of observation.
Immunological skin tests and hematological indices in Nigerian users of skin lightening creams

Background/Objective: Skin lightening is a common practice in various black communities worldwide. This affects the epidermal layer of the skin that plays important role in innate immune function of the skin. This study was carried out to assess immunologic skin tests and hematological indices in the users of skin lightening creams. Subjects and Methods: Sixty participants took part in this study. Thirty of them were those who had used skin lightening creams for at least two years while the remaining thirty who had never bleached served as controls. The laboratory investigations performed included full blood count, packed cell volume (PCV), total and differential white blood cell count), Mantoux skin test (In vivo measurement of Type IV hypersensitivity) and skin prick test (In vivo detection of Type 1 hypersensitivity). Results: The mean values of PCV and neutrophils were significantly lower while the mean value of lymphocytes was higher in the users of skin lightening creams when compared with the controls. There was significantly increased diameter of skin reaction to Mantoux test in the users of skin lightening creams when compared with the controls. Skin prick test also showed significantly increased reaction diameter with dog epithelia antigen in the users of skin lightening creams when compared with controls. Significantly higher proportions of the users of skin lightening creams were positive to GS2 cockroach antigen, standardized mite antigen and mouse epithelia antigen when compared with the controls. Conclusion: The present study shows that skin lightening creams cause disruption in the normal immunologic functions (Types I and IV hypersensitivity states) of the skin and certain hematological parameters. There is need for public awareness programs to enlighten the populace about the danger involved in the practice of skin lightening.
Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Cafeteria Diet Fed Sprague Dawley Rats

Diet plays a major role in the body physiology and metabolism. The quantity, nature and stability of the macronutrients present in the diet have a major impact on the composition of gut microbiota. Gut microbiota plays a major role in the body metabolism and leads to obese or lean phenotype. Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria are the major microbes that inhabit in the region of the gut. We made an attempt to study the effects of Cafeteria (CAF) diets and normal chow diets on diet consumption, weight gain, metabolism and composition of gut microbiota in fecal and cecum samples from three weeks old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (n = 18/group) using 16S rDNA high throughput sequencing. Results revealed that distinctive diet based phenotypical changes were observed in some of the Cafeteria diet fed rats. Interestingly, some weight gain resistant (WGR) animals in Cafeteria diet fed groups show similar trend like that of control normal chow fed rats. Fecal microbiome analysis indicates that the ratio of Bacteriodetes is higher than the Firmicutes in cecum samples of Cafeteria diet fed rats whereas no significant difference is found in fecal samples of Cafeteria diet fed rats and as well as in control rats. Further analysis of other taxa at the level of family and genus of microbial abundance are also discussed. Our study suggests that contribution of gut microbiota towards obesity is not at the phylum level, and microbiome composition even at the level of species or strain may exert impact on the metabolism of the Cafeteria diet.
Ethical issues in new uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis

The use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to screen embryos for aneuploidy and genetic disease is growing. New uses of PGD have been reported in the past year for screening embryos for susceptibility to cancer, for late-onset diseases, for HLA-matching for existing children, and for gender. These extensions have raised questions about their ethical acceptability and the adequacy of regulatory structures to review new uses. This article describes current and likely future uses of PGD, and then analyses the ethical issues posed by new uses of PGD to screen embryos for susceptibility and late-onset conditions, for HLA-matching for tissue donation to an existing child, and for gender selection. It also addresses ethical issues that would arise in more speculative scenarios of selecting embryos for hearing ability or sexual orientation. The article concludes that except for sex selection of the first child, most current extensions of PGD are ethically acceptable, and provides a framework for evaluating future extensions for nonmedical purposes that are still speculative.
Associations BetweenMyside Bias on an Informal Reasoning Task and Amount of Post-Secondary Education

One hundred and twelve undergraduate university students completed an informal reasoning task in which they were asked to generate arguments both for and against the position they endorsed on three separate issues. Performance on this task was evaluated by comparing the number of arguments they generated which endorsed (myside arguments) and which refuted (otherside arguments) their own position on that issue. Participants generated more myside arguments than otherside arguments on all three issues, thus consistently showing a myside bias effect on each issue. Differences in cognitive ability were not associated with individual differences in myside bias. However, year in university was a significant predictor of myside bias. The degree of myside bias decreased systematically with year in university. Year in university remained a significant predictor of myside bias even when both cognitive ability and age were statistically partialled out. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Blockchain technology for providing an architecture model of decentralized personal health information

The personal health information (PHI) is an activity among the health-care providers and the patients in terms of managing the data which is sensitive to the parties. The PHI data have been maintained by multiple health-care providers, thus resulting in separated data. Moreover, the PHI data are stored in the provider’s database, hence the patients have no authority to manage their own information. Therefore, in this article, we propose a conceptual model for managing the PHI data which is derived from several health-care providers by relying on the blockchain technology in the peer-to-peer overlay network. In addition, we elaborate the security analysis that might be occurring in the proposed model. By leveraging on our model, it allows the patients and the providers to collect effectively the PHI data onto a single view as well guarantee of data integrity. The blockchain offers an immutable of the data record without having to trust a third party. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is promising to be developed due to the high success rate in terms of data dissemination.
No . 142 R & D Networks : Theory , Empirics and Policy Implications

We study a structural model of R&D alliance networks in which firms jointly form R&D collaborations to lower their production costs while competing on the product market. We derive the Nash equilibrium of this game, provide a welfare analysis and determine the optimal R&D subsidy program that maximizes total welfare. We also identify the key firms, i.e. the firms whose exit would reduce welfare the most. We then structurally estimate our model using a panel dataset of R&D collaborations and annual company reports. We use our estimates to identify the key firms and analyze the impact of R&D subsidy programs. Moreover, we analyze temporal changes in the rankings of key firms and how these changes affect the optimal R&D policy.
[Assessment of the nutritional status of a group of people older than 50 years by means of dietary and body composition parameters].

OBJECTIVE To assess the nutritional status of elder adults by means of dietary and body composition parameters. METHODOLOGY The sample comprised 49 adults, older than 50 years (23 men and 26 women) with a mean age of 54.84±4.56 years, working at a private university. The body composition was analyzed by using anthropometric parameters. The energy and nutrients intake was gathered by means of a registry of all the foods and beverages consumed during 3 days that was filled-up by each (previously instructed) participant and estimating the amounts through photographic models. Total energy requirements were estimated by the Harris-Benedict and FAO/WHO calculations. RESULTS The body mass index was similar (p=0.018) in both men and women (26.1±1.9 and 24.4±2.8 kg/m²). The percentage of fat obtained by anthropometrics was 29.6±3.6 and 36.8±3.1% (p=0.000) in men and women, respectively. The level of physical activity was very light to light. Daily energy intake was appropriate for total energy demands when these were calculated by the calculations proposed by FAO/WHO. The caloric profile indicated an unbalance with high proteins and lipids and low carbohydrates intake. As for the micronutrients, the diets assessed indicated a deficient intake of folic acid and vitamins D and E, in both genders, and zinc and selenium also in women. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS We have found overweight problems according to the BMI and the waist circumference, and obesity according to the body fat percentage, with the potential risk for the development of an associated complication. It would be advisable to improve the quality of the diets consumed by increasing the amount of some micronutrients and fiber, and by promoting an increase in the physical activity.