Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term survival of patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving esophagectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a cohort study

Purpose The role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and subsequent adjuvant therapy in the treatment of patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) is not well established. Patients and methods We retrospectively reviewed 228 patients with locally advanced ESCC receiving esophagectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy from January 2007 through December 2016. The probabilities of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by means of the Kaplan–Meier method and were compared with the use of the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses of predictors of DFS and OS were performed using a Cox proportional-hazards model. Propensity score matching analysis was performed for further analysis regarding the benefit of adjuvant therapy. Results The pathological complete response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was achieved in 13 of 228 patients (5.7%). With a median follow-up of 59.6 months, the median DFS and OS were 35.4 and 45.4 months, respectively. The multivariate Cox model determined chemotherapy regimens (P=0.003) and ypT category (P=0.006) were significant independent predictors of DFS; and chemotherapy regimens (P=0.001), ypT category (P<0.001), and ypN category (P=0.013) were significant independent predictors of OS. Furthermore, patients who received adjuvant therapy seemed to be associated with poorer survival (both DFS and OS) compared with those who did not in full cohort (P=0.001 and P=0.184, respectively) and matched cohort (P=0.251 and P=0.374, respectively). Conclusion Surgery following neoadjuvant chemotherapy was applicable. Chemotherapy regimens and ypT category were significant independent predictors of both DFS and OS and ypN category was also a significant independent predictor of OS. However, these patients did not seem to benefit from subsequent adjuvant therapy. The necessity of adjuvant therapy requires further investigation.
CHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF FORTIFIED BISCUITS WITH DRIED Spirulina ALGAE

The cyanobacterium Spirulina, a multicellular and filamentous blue green microalgae, is used in many countries of world including Egypt as human safe food. This research aims to study the nutritional values of dried Spirulina algae and prepare healthy and high nutritive values biscuits blends fortified with Spirulina algae. This study revealed that Spirulina algae contained high level of protein 67.0±5.2% as dry weight and interesting amounts of bioactive compounds with antioxidative activity such as phycocyanin (1254±23mg /100g) and β-carotene (85±5 mg/100g). Spirulina algae was rich in minerals such as Na (859 mg/100g), K (1399 mg/100g), Ca (689 mg/100g), P (960 mg/100g), Mg (400 mg/100g) and Fe (122 mg/100g) as average. Results indicated that biscuit blends fortified with dried Spirulina algae as 0.5, 1, 2 and 3, % lead to improve the organoleptic, chemical and nutritional properties for it. Biscuit blends were organoleptically accepted for panel test as soon as demonstrated high nutritional values, bioactive, protein and mineral content when compared with unfortified biscuit samples (control).
A Laboratory Study on Non-Invasive Soil Water Content Estimation Using Capacitive Based Sensors

Soil water content is an important parameter in many engineering, agricultural and environmental applications. In practice, there exists a need to measure this parameter rather frequently in both time and space. However, common measurement techniques are typically invasive, time-consuming and labour-intensive, or rely on potentially risky (although highly regulated) nuclear-based methods, making frequent measurements of soil water content impractical. Here we investigate in the laboratory the effectiveness of four new low-cost non-invasive sensors to estimate the soil water content of a range of soil types. While the results of each of the four sensors are promising, one of the sensors, herein called the “AOGAN” sensor, exhibits superior performance, as it was designed based on combining the best geometrical and electronic features of the other three sensors. The performance of the sensors is, however, influenced by the quality of the sensor-soil coupling and the soil surface roughness. Accuracy was found to be within 5% of volumetric water content, considered sufficient to enable higher spatiotemporal resolution contrast for mapping of soil water content.
A path analysis model suggesting the association of information and beliefs with self-efficacy in osteoporosis prevention among middle-aged and older community residents in urban Shanghai, China

Background Osteoporosis is a chronic disease whose prevention is more effective than treatment, but it may be necessary to change people’s self-efficacy to prevent this condition. This article aimed to study the pathway among information, beliefs and self-efficacy in osteoporosis prevention, and support further intervention. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among community residents over 40 years old from two volunteer communities in urban Shanghai, China. Of 450 middle-aged and older community residents who volunteered to participate in the study, 421 (93.5%) finished the field survey effectively. Results 62.9% of the residents were females. Their mean age was 64.4 ± 11.2 years. The residents showed low knowledge of osteoporosis-related information, and the mean percentage of correct response was just 61.2%. In univariate analysis, information (univariate β = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.15–0.38) and beliefs (univariate β = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.25–0.38) were associated with self-efficacy. Multivariate analysis showed that information (multiple β = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.09–0.36) and belief (multiple β = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.23–0.36) remained significant. And in the path analysis, self-efficacy was significantly predicted by beliefs (β = 0.81, p<0.001). Conclusions The study highlighted the urgency of conducting the osteoporosis preventive health promotion among middle-aged and older people as their lack of information and low level of beliefs and self-efficacy about osteoporosis prevention. Future interventions should focus on improving beliefs, especially perceived benefits, perceived threats, and action clues, on osteoporosis prevention in this group.
Knowledge, attitudes and practices with regard to schistosomiasis prevention and control: Two cross-sectional household surveys before and after a Community Dialogue intervention in Nampula province, Mozambique

Background The Community Dialogue Approach is a promising social and behaviour change intervention, which has shown potential for improving health seeking behaviour. To test if this approach can strengthen prevention and control of schistosomiasis at community level, Malaria Consortium implemented a Community Dialogue intervention in four districts of Nampula province, Mozambique, between August 2014 and September 2015. Methodology/Principal findings Cross-sectional household surveys were conducted before (N = 791) and after (N = 792) implementation of the intervention to assess its impact on knowledge, attitudes and practices at population level. At both baseline and endline, awareness of schistosomiasis was high at over 90%. After the intervention, respondents were almost twice as likely to correctly name a risk behaviour associated with schistosomiasis (baseline: 18.02%; endline: 30.11%; adjusted odds ratio: 1.91; 95% confidence interval: 1.14–2.58). Increases were also seen in the proportion of people who knew that schistosomiasis can be spread by infected persons and who could name at least one correct transmission route (baseline: 25.74%; endline: 32.20%; adjusted odds ratio: 1.36; 95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.84), those who knew that there is a drug that treats the disease (baseline: 29.20%, endline: 47.55%; adjusted odds ratio: 2.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.67–2.87) and those who stated that they actively protect themselves from the disease and cited an effective behaviour (baseline: 40.09%, endline: 59.30%; adjusted odds ratio: 2.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.40–3.28). The intervention did not appear to lead to a reduction in misconceptions. In particular, the belief that the disease is sexually transmitted continued to be widespread. Conclusions/Significance Given its overall positive impact on knowledge and behaviour at population level, Community Dialogue can play an important role in schistosomiasis prevention and control. The intervention could be further strengthened by better enabling communities to take suitable action and linking more closely with community governance structures and health system programmes.
New Cu4Na4- and Cu5-Based Phenylsilsesquioxanes. Synthesis via Complexation with 1,10-Phenanthroline, Structures and High Catalytic Activity in Alkane Oxidations with Peroxides in Acetonitrile

Self-assembly of copper(II)phenylsilsesquioxane assisted by the use of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) results in isolation of two unusual cage-like compounds: (PhSiO1,5)12(CuO)4(NaO0.5)4(phen)4 1 and (PhSiO1,5)6(PhSiO1,5)7(HO0.5)2(CuO)5(O0.25)2(phen)3 2. X-Ray diffraction study revealed extraordinaire molecular architectures of both products. Namely, complex 1 includes single cyclic (PhSiO1,5)12 silsesquioxane ligand. Four sodium ions of 1 are additionally ligated by 1,10-phenanthrolines. In turn, “sodium-less” complex 2 represents coordination of 1,10-phenanthrolines to copper ions. Two silsesquioxane ligands of 2 are: (i) noncondensed cubane of a rare Si6-type and (ii) unprecedented Si7-based ligand including two HOSiO1.5 fragments. These silanol units were formed due to removal of phenyl groups from silicon atoms, observed in mild conditions. The presence of phenanthroline ligands in products 1 and 2 favored the π–π stacking interactions between neighboring cages. Noticeable that in the case of 1 all four phenanthrolines participated in such supramolecular organization, unlike to complex 2 where one of the three phenanthrolines is not “supramolecularly active”. Complexes 1 and 2 were found to be very efficient precatalysts in oxidations with hydroperoxides. A new method for the determination of the participation of hydroxyl radicals has been developed.
Impact of educational levels on survival rate

Abstract Among living donor liver transplantation recipients, the impact of educational levels on survival has rarely explored. Thus, the purpose of study is to analyze the survival rate differences across educational levels among recipients who underwent living donor liver transplantation. We retrospectively analyzed 2007 adult recipients who underwent living donor liver transplantation in a single large center. The educational level was divided into three categories: middle school or lower, high school, and college or higher. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality after living donor liver transplantation. Stratified log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model were employed for statistical analysis. The incidence rates of all-cause mortality were 23.85, 20.19, and 18.75 per 1000 person-year in recipients with middle school or lower, high school, and college or higher education groups, respectively. However, the gender-stratified log-rank test has not shown a statistically significant difference (P = .3107). In the unadjusted model, hazard ratio (HR) was 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.79–1.33] in high school and 1.23 (95% CI = 0.93–1.64) and in middle school or lower educational level, respectively; In the full adjusted model, the HR of high school was 0.98 (95% CI = 0.75–1.28) and the HR of middle school or lower was 1.01 (95% CI = 0.74–1.37). Although study population of this study is large, we could not find significant survival rate differences by the levels of education. Social selection and high compliance rate might contribute to this result.
Roadside Exposure and Inflammation Biomarkers among a Cohort of Traffic Police in Kathmandu, Nepal

Air pollution is a major environmental problem in the Kathmandu Valley. Specifically, roadside and traffic-related air pollution exposure levels were found at very high levels exceeding Nepal air quality standards for daily PM2.5. In an exposure study involving traffic police officers, we collected 78 blood samples in a highly polluted spring season (16 February 2014–4 April 2014) and 63 blood samples in the less polluted summer season (20 July 2014–22 August 2014). Fourteen biomarkers, i.e., C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukins (IL1-β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) were analyzed in collected blood samples using proinflammatory panel 1 kits and vascular injury panel 2 kits. All the inflammatory biomarker levels were higher in the summer season than in the spring season, while particulate levels were higher in the spring season than in the summer season. We did not find significant association between 24-hour average PM2.5 or black carbon (BC) exposure levels with most of analyzed biomarkers for the traffic volunteers working and residing near busy roads in Kathmandu, Nepal, during 2014. Inflammation and vascular injury marker concentrations were generally higher in females, suggesting the important role of gender in inflammation biomarkers. Because of the small sample size of female subjects, further investigation with a larger sample size is required to confirm the role of gender in inflammation biomarkers.
An Improved Routing Schema with Special Clustering Using PSO Algorithm for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network

Energy efficiency and energy balancing are crucial research issues as per routing protocol designing for self-organized wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Many literatures used the clustering algorithm to achieve energy efficiency and energy balancing, however, there are usually energy holes near the cluster heads (CHs) because of the heavy burden of forwarding. As the clustering problem in lossy WSNs is proved to be a NP-hard problem, many metaheuristic algorithms are utilized to solve the problem. In this paper, a special clustering method called Energy Centers Searching using Particle Swarm Optimization (EC-PSO) is presented to avoid these energy holes and search energy centers for CHs selection. During the first period, the CHs are elected using geometric method. After the energy of the network is heterogeneous, EC-PSO is adopted for clustering. Energy centers are searched using an improved PSO algorithm and nodes close to the energy center are elected as CHs. Additionally, a protection mechanism is also used to prevent low energy nodes from being the forwarder and a mobile data collector is introduced to gather the data. We conduct numerous simulations to illustrate that our presented EC-PSO outperforms than some similar works in terms of network lifetime enhancement and energy utilization ratio.
Analyzing of Gender Behaviors from Paths Using Process Mining: A Shopping Mall Application

The study presents some results of customer paths’ analysis in a shopping mall. Bluetooth-based technology is used to collect data. The event log containing spatiotemporal information is analyzed with process mining. Process mining is a technique that enables one to see the whole process contrary to data-centric methods. The use of process mining can provide a readily-understandable view of the customer paths. We installed iBeacon devices, a Bluetooth-based positioning system, in the shopping mall. During December 2017 and January and February 2018, close to 8000 customer data were captured. We aim to investigate customer behaviors regarding gender by using their paths. We can determine the gender of customers if they go to the men’s bathroom or women’s bathroom. Since the study has a comprehensive scope, we focused on male and female customers’ behaviors. This study shows that male and female customers have different behaviors. Their duration and paths, in general, are not similar. In addition, the study shows that the process mining technique is a viable way to analyze customer behavior using Bluetooth-based technology.
Increased Methamphetamine, Injection Drug, and Heroin Use Among Women and Heterosexual Men with Primary and Secondary Syphilis — United States, 2013–2017

During 2013-2017, the national annual rate of reported primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis cases in the United States increased 72.7%, from 5.5 to 9.5 cases per 100,000 population (1). The highest rates of P&S syphilis are seen among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (collectively referred to as MSM) (2), and MSM continued to account for the majority of cases in 2017 (1). However, during 2013-2017, the P&S syphilis rate among women increased 155.6% (from 0.9 to 2.3 cases per 100,000 women), and the rate among all men increased 65.7% (from 10.2 to 16.9 cases per 100,000 men), indicating increasing transmission between men and women in addition to increasing transmission between men (1). To further understand these trends, CDC analyzed national P&S syphilis surveillance data for 2013-2017 and assessed the percentage of cases among women, men who have sex with women only (MSW), and MSM who reported drug-related risk behaviors during the past 12 months. Among women and MSW with P&S syphilis, reported use of methamphetamine, injection drugs, and heroin more than doubled during 2013-2017. In 2017, 16.6% of women with P&S syphilis used methamphetamine, 10.5% used injection drugs, and 5.8% used heroin during the preceding 12 months. Similar trends were seen among MSW, but not among MSM. These findings indicate that a substantial percentage of heterosexual syphilis transmission is occurring among persons who use these drugs, particularly methamphetamine. Collaboration between sexually transmitted disease (STD) control programs and partners that provide substance use disorder services will be important to address recent increases in heterosexual syphilis.
PIKfyve/Fab1 is required for efficient V-ATPase and hydrolase delivery to phagosomes, phagosomal killing, and restriction of Legionella infection

By engulfing potentially harmful microbes, professional phagocytes are continually at risk from intracellular pathogens. To avoid becoming infected, the host must kill pathogens in the phagosome before they can escape or establish a survival niche. Here, we analyse the role of the phosphoinositide (PI) 5-kinase PIKfyve in phagosome maturation and killing, using the amoeba and model phagocyte Dictyostelium discoideum. PIKfyve plays important but poorly understood roles in vesicular trafficking by catalysing formation of the lipids phosphatidylinositol (3,5)-bisphosphate (PI(3,5)2) and phosphatidylinositol-5-phosphate (PI(5)P). Here we show that its activity is essential during early phagosome maturation in Dictyostelium. Disruption of PIKfyve inhibited delivery of both the vacuolar V-ATPase and proteases, dramatically reducing the ability of cells to acidify newly formed phagosomes and digest their contents. Consequently, PIKfyve- cells were unable to generate an effective antimicrobial environment and efficiently kill captured bacteria. Moreover, we demonstrate that cells lacking PIKfyve are more susceptible to infection by the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. We conclude that PIKfyve-catalysed phosphoinositide production plays a crucial and general role in ensuring early phagosomal maturation, protecting host cells from diverse pathogenic microbes. Importance Cells that capture or eat bacteria must swiftly kill them to prevent pathogens from surviving long enough to escape the bactericidal pathway and establish an infection. This is achieved by the rapid delivery of components that produce an antimicrobial environment in the phagosome, the compartment containing the captured microbe. This is essential both for the function of immune cells and for amoebae that feed on bacteria in their environment. Here we identify a central component of the pathway used by cells to deliver antimicrobial components to the phagosome and show that bacteria survive over three times as long within the host if this pathway is disabled. We show that this is of general importance for killing a wide range of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria, and that it is physiologically important if cells are to avoid infection by the opportunistic human pathogen Legionella.
Time and age trends in smoking cessation in Europe

Background Smoking is the main risk factor for most of the leading causes of death. Cessation is the single most important step that smokers can take to improve their health. With the aim of informing policy makers about decisions on future tobacco control strategies, we estimated time and age trends in smoking cessation in Europe between 1980 and 2010. Methods Data on the smoking history of 50,228 lifetime smokers from 17 European countries were obtained from six large population-based studies included in the Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts (ALEC) consortium. Smoking cessation rates were assessed retrospectively, and age trends were estimated for three decades (1980–1989, 1990–1999, 2000–2010). The analyses were stratified by sex and region (North, East, South, West Europe). Results Overall, 21,735 subjects (43.3%) quit smoking over a total time-at-risk of 803,031 years. Cessation rates increased between 1980 and 2010 in young adults (16–40 years), especially females, from all the regions, and in older adults (41–60 years) from North Europe, while they were stable in older adults from East, South and West Europe. In the 2000s, the cessation rates for men and women combined were highest in North Europe (49.9 per 1,000/year) compared to the other regions (range: 26.5–32.7 per 1,000/year). A sharp peak in rates was observed for women around the age of 30, possibly as a consequence of pregnancy-related smoking cessation. In most regions, subjects who started smoking before the age of 16 were less likely to quit than those who started later. Conclusions Our findings suggest an increasing awareness on the detrimental effects of smoking across Europe. However, East, South and West European countries are lagging behind North Europe, suggesting the need to intensify tobacco control strategies in these regions. Additional efforts should be made to keep young adolescents away from taking up smoking, as early initiation could make quitting more challenging during later life.
Embedded Processing and Compression of 3D Sensor Data for Large Scale Industrial Environments

This paper presents a scalable embedded solution for processing and transferring 3D point cloud data. Sensors based on the time-of-flight principle generate data which are processed on a local embedded computer and compressed using an octree-based scheme. The compressed data is transferred to a central node where the individual point clouds from several nodes are decompressed and filtered based on a novel method for generating intensity values for sensors which do not natively produce such a value. The paper presents experimental results from a relatively large industrial robot cell with an approximate size of 10 m × 10 m × 4 m. The main advantage of processing point cloud data locally on the nodes is scalability. The proposed solution could, with a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet local network, be scaled up to approximately 440 sensor nodes, only limited by the processing power of the central node that is receiving the compressed data from the local nodes. A compression ratio of 40.5 was obtained when compressing a point cloud stream from a single Microsoft Kinect V2 sensor using an octree resolution of 4 cm.