Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An in-depth Monte Carlo study of lateral electron disequilibrium for small fields in ultra-low density lung: implications for modern radiation therapy

Modern radiation therapy techniques such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) use tightly conformed megavoltage x-ray fields to irradiate a tumour within lung tissue. For these conditions, lateral electron disequilibrium (LED) may occur, which systematically perturbs the dose distribution within tumour and nearby lung tissues. The goal of this work is to determine the combination of beam and lung density parameters that cause significant LED within and near the tumour. The Monte Carlo code DOSXYZnrc (National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON) was used to simulate four 20 × 20 × 25 cm3 water–lung–water slab phantoms, which contained lung tissue only, or one of three different centrally located small tumours (sizes: 1 × 1 × 1, 3 × 3 × 3, 5 × 5 × 5 cm3). Dose calculations were performed using combinations of six beam energies (Co-60 up to 18 MV), five field sizes (1 × 1 cm2 up to 15 × 15 cm2), and 12 lung densities (0.001 g cm−3 up to 1 g cm−3) for a total of 1440 simulations. We developed the relative depth-dose factor (RDDF), which can be used to characterize the extent of LED (RDDF <1.0). For RDDF <0.7 severe LED occurred, and both lung and tumour dose were drastically reduced. For example, a 6 MV (3 × 3 cm2) field was used to irradiate a 1 cm3 tumour embedded in lung with ultra-low density of 0.001 g cm−3 (RDDF = 0.2). Dose in up-stream lung and tumour centre were reduced by as much as 80% with respect to the water density calculation. These reductions were worse for smaller tumours irradiated with high energy beams, small field sizes, and low lung density. In conclusion, SBRT trials based on dose calculations in homogeneous tissue are misleading as they do not reflect the actual dosimetric effects due to LED. Future clinical trials should only use dose calculation engines that can account for electron scatter, with special attention given to patients with low lung density (i.e. emphysema). In cases where tissue inhomogeneity corrections are applied, the nature of the correction used may be inadequate in predicting the correct level of LED. In either case, the dose to the tumour is not the prescribed dose and clinical response data are uncertain. The new information from this study can be used by radiation oncologists who wish to perform advanced radiation therapy techniques while avoiding the deleterious predictable dosimetric effects of LED.
Futures Trading and Spot Market Volatility: A Case of S&P CNX Nifty Index

An attempt is made here to investigate the relationship between stock market volatility and trading activity (trading volume and open interest) in Nifty futures market using the GARCH framework. The study uses daily closing price of Nifty and trading volume, and open interest for Nifty index futures for the period July 1, 2000 to February 28, 2008. The study considers only near-month contract data since most trading activities taken place in this contract. Open interest and volume are used as measures of futures trading activity. The study decomposes series of futures trading volume and open interest into expected and unexpected components by an appropriate ARMA procedure. Then, the study introduces futures trading variables such as expected and unexpected futures volume and open interest in GARCH and GJR GARCH models to examine their effects on spot market volatility. The results show that the spot market volatility bears a positive relationship with unexpected trading volume and open interest in Nifty futures market. But, the same bears a negative relationship with expected futures trading volume and open interest.
Predictors of Bacterial Vaginosis in Adolescent Women Who Douche

Objective: Risk factors for bacterial vaginosis (BV) include douching and sexual activity, although the exact cause of BV is unknown. Goal: The goal of this study was to determine the relative significance of douching as a risk factor for BV. Study Design: Two hundred fifty adolescent women who regularly douched were enrolled into a randomized douching intervention trial. Behavioral questionnaires and testing for sexually transmitted diseases and BV were performed. Associations between baseline characteristics and behaviors were compared for teens who were BV-positive and BV-negative at baseline. Results: Positive correlates of BV included multiple partners, recent sexual intercourse, douching after menses, recent douching, and gonorrhea. Of these, douching after menses showed the strongest association (odds ratio, 5.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.99–13.15) in a multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Douching after menses was strongly correlated with BV; however, difficulty remains in trying to evaluate douching and sexual behavior independently.
Clinical implications of nodal marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma among Japanese: study of 65 cases

To clarify the clinical presentation and outcome of nodal marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma (NMZBL), 65 Japanese patients with this disease were studied and compared with the published literature from western countries. The clinical findings of our 65 cases were similar to those of their cases in some aspects: (1) 58% of the patients were >60 years old (median age, 64 years); (2) there was a slight female predominance; (3) 90% of the patients exhibited asymptomatic lymphadenopathy in the head and neck area; (4) only a minority of patients had B symptoms (6%) and poor performance status (8%); and (5) only 5% of patients were positive for M‐protein. However, the 65 patients in this series exhibited relatively longer 5‐year overall survival (85%) and failure‐free survival (60%) than the NMZBL series published in western literature, suggesting that NMZBL should be classified as indolent lymphoma. Moreover, based on the histological findings, we further classified four histological subtypes as follows: (1) splenic type (n = 7); (2) floral type (n = 9); (3) mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type (n = 29); and (4) diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) + MALT type (n = 20). DLBCL + MALT type exhibited significantly poorer 5‐year overall survival than the splenic variant. The recognition of DLBCL + MALT type appears important. No API2–MALT1 fusion transcript was detected in any of the 14 cases examined. (Cancer Sci 2007; 98: 44–49)
THE ISLANDS PROJECT. I. ANDROMEDA XVI, AN EXTREMELY LOW MASS GALAXY NOT QUENCHED BY REIONIZATION

Based on data aquired in 13 orbits of Hubble Space Telescope time, we present a detailed evolutionary history of the M31 dSph satellite Andromeda XVI, including its lifetime star formation history (SFH), the spatial distribution of its stellar populations, and the properties of its variable stars. And XVI is characterized by prolonged star formation activity from the oldest epochs until star formation was quenched ∼6 Gyr ago, and, notably, only half of the mass in stars of And XVI was in place 10 Gyr ago. And XVI appears to be a low-mass galaxy for which the early quenching by either reionization or starburst feedback seems highly unlikely, and thus it is most likely due to an environmental effect (e.g., an interaction), possibly connected to a late infall in the densest regions of the Local Group. Studying the SFH as a function of galactocentric radius, we detect a mild gradient in the SFH: the star formation activity between 6 and 8 Gyr ago is significantly stronger in the central regions than in the external regions, although the quenching age appears to be the same, within 1 Gyr. We also report the discovery of nine RR Lyrae (RRL) stars, eight of which belong to And XVI. The RRL stars allow a new estimate of the distance, (m − M)0 = 23.72 ± 0.09 mag, which is marginally larger than previous estimates based on the tip of the red giant branch.
Experimental research on the transmission characteristic of monolithic radial transmission lines

An experiment system of a scaled-down monolithic radial transmission line (MRTL) for future Z-pinch drivers was established to testify the validity of 3-D electromagnetic (EM) simulation. The MRTL had a hyperbolic impedance profile. Being immersed in deionized water, the MRTL was composed of two flat aluminum plates separated by a distance of 1 cm. The radius of both plates was 0.5 m, which corresponds to a one-way transit time of about 15 ns for the EM wave from the outer circumference to the center. As this was a linear system, the experiment could be performed at a low voltage. A high voltage pulse was divided into 21 low voltage pulses by a 1-way to 21-way convertor. 20 of the 21 pulses were fed into the MRTL by BNC connectors while the other one was connected to an oscilloscope. The input BNC connectors were uniformly distributed around and connected to the outer circumference of the MRTL. All input voltage pulses were same with each other, with a waveform of rectangle, about 2 ns in rise time, 10 ns in full width at half maximum (FWHM) and 30 V in amplitude. 20 paralleled resisters, each of which was 154 Ω in resistance, were put around the center to match the output impedance of the MRTL. The waveform of the output voltage on the load was measured and compared to the result from 3-D EM simulation of the same hyperbolic line. The two waveforms nearly superimposed onto each other, which validated the correctness of both the experimental method and 3-D EM simulation method.
Sternal cables are not superior to traditional sternal wiring for preventing deep sternal wound infection.

OBJECTIVES Deep sternal wound infection is a devastating complication of cardiac surgery. In the current era of increasing patient comorbidity, newer techniques must be evaluated in attempts to reduce the rates of deep sternal wound infection. METHODS A randomized controlled trial comparing sternal closure with traditional sternal wires in figure-8 formation with the Pioneer cabling system® from Medigroup after adult cardiac surgery was performed. RESULTS A total of 273 patients were enrolled with 137 and 135 patients randomized to sternal wires and cables group, respectively. Baseline characteristics between the two groups were well balanced. Deep sternal wound infection occurred in 0.7% of patients in the wires group and 3.7% of patients in the cables group (absolute risk difference = -3.0%, 95% confidence interval: -7.7 to 0.9%; P = 0.12). Patients in the cables group were extubated slightly earlier than those in the sternal wires group postoperatively (9.7 vs 12.8 h; P = 0.03). There was, however, no significant difference in hospital and follow-up pain scores or analgesia requirements. CONCLUSIONS The Pioneer sternal cabling system appears to facilitate early extubation after adult cardiac surgery, but it does not reduce the rate of deep sternal infectionAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ANZCTR-ACTRN12615000973516.
Optimal power adaptation for OFDM systems with ideal bit-interleaving and hard-decision decoding

We derive power adaptation strategies optimizing the error rates of broadband bit-interleaved coded OFDM systems performing hard-decisions after the demodulation and ideal interleaving. The adaptive subchannel power allocation is based on either perfect or outdated channel state information in a time-division duplex transmission. We find that for an average bit error rate level of 10/sup -6/ a gain of up to 4 dB can be achieved by the proposed adaptation in Rayleigh fading channels.
Local recurrence following ‘curative’ surgery for large bowel cancer: I. The overall picture

The Large Bowel Cancer Project is a collaborative prospective study of 4228 patients with a histologically proven adenocarcinoma, of whom 2336 (55 per cent) survived a ‘curative’ resection. Follow‐up information is available on 2220 patients (95 per cent). Subsequently, 309 (14 per cent) have developed a local recurrence confirmed by: biopsy (127; 41 per cent), clinical examination (77; 25 per cent), X‐ray (15; 5 per cent), a raised CEA (2; 1 per cent), or some other method — e.g. CT scan or a confident unbiopsied laparotomy finding (88; 29 per cent).
Fibreoptic bronchoscopy in mechanically ventilated ARDS patients – a reply

We thank € Ozdilek et al. for their interest in our work [1]. The key question asked by the authors relates to whether PEEP needs to be discontinued during flexible bronchoscopy in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) whose lungs are ventilated using a lungprotective ventilation strategy? We demonstrated that totalPEEP increases substantially after a bronchoscope is inserted into the tracheal tube and may cause pneumothorax [2]. Logically, PEEP should be set to zero during the procedure. However, the increase in PEEP we observed is unlikely to be continuous, as suctioning would disrupt this. Indeed, stopping PEEP during the procedure may lead to alveolar de-recruitment in severe ARDS patients. We hope that it will be soon possible to engineer a flexible bronchoscope with a reduced external diameter and a larger suction channel to mitigate either problem. The development of a new generation of flexible bronchoscopes is encouraging [3, 4]. It has been suggested that the largest possible tracheal tube diameter should be used in order to reduce airway resistance [5]. However, switching a tracheal tube that is already in place for a larger one, before performing a bronchoscopy in patients with ARDS whose lungs are ventilated, has not yet been recommended, to our knowledge. We agree with € Ozdilek et al. that our lung model does not accurately replicate the complex pathophysiology of an ARDS lung. We have described the limitations of this model in our paper.
Development and Validation of a Racial Discrimination Measure for Cambodian American Adolescents.

To date, the majority of studies examining experiences of racial discrimination among youth use measures initially developed for African American and Latino adults or college students. Few studies have attended to the ways in which discrimination experiences may be unique for Asian American youth, particularly subgroups such as Southeast Asians. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to describe the development of a racial discrimination measure using community-based participatory research with Cambodian American adolescents and (b) to psychometrically test the measure with respect to validity and reliability. This research used mixed-methods and comprised 3 phases. Phase 1 consisted of qualitative focus group research to assess community-identified needs. Phase 2 included quantitative survey development with community members and resulted in an 18-item measure assessing the frequency of ethnicity-based discrimination. Phase 3 involved psychometric testing of the measure's validity and reliability (n = 423). Exploratory factor analysis procedures yielded a 3-factor structure describing peer, school, and police discrimination from all items, capturing 96% of the combined variance. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the data demonstrated good fit with the 3-factor structure (CFI = .98; RMSEA = .054), with factor loadings ranging from . 59 to . 96 and all estimates statistically significant at the p < . 05 level. Correlational analyses of racial discrimination subfactors and depression supported concurrent validity. In sum, this measure can be used to examine the degree and sources of racial discrimination reported by Cambodian American adolescents and potentially other adolescents of Southeast Asian descent living in diverse urban communities.
Requirement for Leptin in the Induction and Progression of Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis1

Recent evidence indicates that leptin modifies T cell immunity, and may provide a key link between nutritional deficiency and immune dysfunction. To study the influence of leptin on autoimmunity, susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis induced by immunization with a myelin-derived peptide was examined in leptin-deficient, C57BL/6J-ob/ob mice, with or without leptin replacement, and in wild-type controls. Leptin replacement converted disease resistance to susceptibility in the C57BL/6J-ob/ob mice; this was accompanied by a switch from a Th2 to Th1 pattern of cytokine release and consequent reversal of Ig subclass production. Our findings suggest that leptin is required for the induction and maintenance of an effective proinflammatory immune response in the CNS.
Metabolic clearance rate of progesterone: comparison between ovariectomized, pregnant, pseudopregnant and deciduoma-bearing pseudopregnant rats.

The metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of progesterone was studied by the single intravenous injection method (10,11) in pregnant rats, pseudopregnant rats with or without deciduomata and ovariectomized rats. The disappearance of progesterone from peripheral serum apparently followed a double exponential curve. The MCR was analyzed, therefore, in terms of a two-compartment model and was found to be similar in all conditions examined. The mean MCR during pregnancy, calculated from values obtained on days 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 21, was 32.79 ± 2.71 I/day. A similar value was obtained for days 6 and 10 of ordinary pseudopregnancy (29.91 ± 2.17 I/day), on days 10 and 16 of pseudopregnancy in deciduomabearing rats (38.19 ± 4.19 I/day), and 6 days after ovariectomy of cyclic rats (25.53 ± 0.30 I/day). Production rates of progesterone (MCR × peripheral serum concentration) were: pregnant, day 10: 2.13 mg/day; day 15: 4.55 mg/day; deciduoma-bearing pseudopregnant, day 10: 2.86 mg/day; day 16: 1.37 mg/day; ordinary pse.
Rat Strains Differ in Susceptibility to Ureaplasma parvum-Induced Urinary Tract Infection and Struvite Stone Formation

ABSTRACT Individuals with struvite uroliths are susceptible to recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI), sepsis, and renal disease. Unfortunately, little is known about the host-specific factors that predispose to this disease. In order to develop a rodent model that can address this problem, we inoculated female Fischer 344 (F344), Lewis (LEW), Sprague-Dawley (SD), and Wistar (WIS) rats with a host-adapted strain of Ureaplasma parvum. Animals were necropsied at 2 weeks postinoculation; 100% of F344, 42% of SD, 10% of LEW, and 10% of WIS rats remained infected. Severe bladder lesions and struvite calculi were seen in 64% of F344 rats; in other rat strains, bladder lesions were mild or absent. F344 rats with struvite uroliths had the highest urinary levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as GRO/KC, interleukin-1α (IL-1α), and IL-1β. F344 rats without struvite stones at necropsy had milder bladder lesions and significantly lower urinary levels of proinflammatory cytokines but a more prominent inflammatory response than did other rat strains. Based on our results, struvite stone formation is linked to a robust inflammatory response that does not resolve UTI but instead promotes damage to surrounding tissues.
Recovery of functional status after right hemisphere stroke: relationship with unilateral neglect.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate relationships between unilateral spatial neglect and both overall and cognitive-communicative functional outcomes in patients with right hemisphere stroke. DESIGN Assessment of overall and cognitive-communicative function was conducted on admission to acute rehabilitation, at discharge, and at 3-month follow-up. SETTING Urban, acute inpatient rehabilitation facility. PATIENTS Fifty-two consecutive admissions of adult right-handed patients with a single, right hemispheric stroke, confirmed by computed tomography scan. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The FIM instrument and reading comprehension and written expression items of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Functional Assessment Scale(R). RESULTS Patients made significant functional gains between admission and discharge, and between discharge and follow-up on the FIM. Severity of neglect was correlated with total, motor, and cognitive FIM scores at admission, discharge, and follow-up. Subjects with neglect had significantly more days from onset to admission and a longer length of rehabilitation stay than subjects without neglect. FIM outcomes were significantly different for subject groups with more severe neglect. Both the presence of neglect and its severity were significantly related to functional outcomes for reading and writing. CONCLUSIONS Patients with neglect show reduced overall and cognitive-communicative functional performance and outcome than patients without neglect. Further studies are needed to explore causal relationships between these factors.
The Identification of Prx1 Transcription Regulatory Domains Provides a Mechanism for Unequal Compensation by thePrx1 and Prx2 Loci*

Transcription regulatory domains of the Prx1a and Prx1b homeoproteins were analyzed in transient transfection assays using artificial promoters as well as an established downstream target promoter (tenascin-c). Activation and repression domains were detected in their common amino end. In the carboxyl end of Prx1a an activation domain and an inhibition/masking region (OAR domain) were detected. The Prx1b isoform, generated by alternative splicing, does not contain these carboxyl activation or inhibition domains. Instead, the data demonstrate that the carboxyl tail of Prx1b contains a potent repressor region. This difference in the carboxyl tail accounts for a 45-fold difference observed in transcription regulatory activity between Prx1a and Prx1b. The data also support the likelihood that this difference between Prx1a and Prx1b is higher in the presence of still undetermined cofactors. DNA binding affinities of Prx1a, Prx1b, and a series of truncation mutants were also examined. The carboxyl tail of Prx1a, which inhibited transcription activation in the transfection assays, also inhibited DNA binding. These differences in biochemical function between Prx1a and Prx1b, as well as the recently described activities of Prx2, provide a mechanism for the unequal compensation between the Prx1 and Prx2 loci.
Fill Rate Approximations for a Perishable Inventory System with Positive Lead Time and Fixed Case Pack Size Using a Modified (R,S,Nq)-Replenishment Policy in a Lost Sales Environment

This paper provides an approximation for the customer service level for a perishable item in a stochastic lost sales environment using a periodic review inventory control system in which demand is discrete and case pack sizes are fixed. We first show that the customer service level is virtually independent of the shelf life, when using an inventory replenishment policy which has been developed specifically for perishables. This result enables us to approximate the service level for perishables in a lost sales environment by using available results for the non-perishable lost sales problem. Since the lost sales problem for non-perishable items is also notoriously difficult to analyse, we develop new approximations which link the service level in a lost sales system to the service level in a backordering system for non-perishable items. The backordering system for non-perishable items is relatively simple to analyse. In this way we provide new approximations for the lost sales system for both non-perishable items and (due to the result that the service level is virtually independent of the shelf life) also for perishable items. These new approximations are tested for perishable items in a typical retail environment in which the lead time, review period and case pack size are relatively small and in which demand may follow a week pattern or not. The best approximation performs very well: it has an average approximation error equal to -0,19%.