Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentiation of extrahepatic bile duct cholangiocarcinoma from benign stricture: findings at MRCP versus ERCP.

PURPOSE To retrospectively evaluate criteria for differentiating extrahepatic bile duct cholangiocarcinoma from benign cause of stricture at magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and to compare diagnostic accuracy with this modality versus endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). MATERIALS AND METHODS MRCP and ERCP images in 50 patients (27 with cholangiocarcinoma [18 men, nine women; mean age, 58 years] and 23 with benign cause of stricture [13 men, 10 women; mean age, 60 years]) were retrospectively reviewed to assess the appearance of bile duct strictures. Final diagnosis was based on surgical or biopsy findings. Strictures were described according to their imaging appearance (irregular or smooth margins, asymmetric or symmetric narrowing, abrupt narrowing or gradual tapering, and presence or absence of double-duct sign). Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MRCP and ERCP were calculated by using ratings of confidence in image-based diagnosis. Lengths of stricture were electronically measured and compared by using the Student t test. RESULTS Among cholangiographic criteria for malignant biliary stricture, irregular margins and asymmetric narrowing were more common in cholangiocarcinomas (24 [89%] of 27 patients) than in benign strictures (six [26%] and eight [35%] of 23 patients, respectively). Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the two methods for differentiation of malignant from benign causes of biliary stricture were 81% (22 of 27), 70% (16 of 23), and 76% (38 of 50), respectively, for MRCP and 74% (20 of 27), 70% (16 of 23), and 72% (36 of 50), respectively, for ERCP. Mean length (+/- standard deviation) of cholangiocarcinomas was 30.0 mm +/- 8.5, and that of benign strictures was 13.6 mm +/- 9.1 (P <.001). CONCLUSION Accuracy of MRCP is comparable with that of ERCP. Regardless of modality, a lengthy segment of extrahepatic bile duct stricture with irregular margin and asymmetric narrowing suggests cholangiocarcinoma, and a short segment with regular margin and symmetric narrowing suggests benign cause.
An ultra scale‐down characterization of low shear stress primary recovery stages to enhance selectivity of fusion protein recovery from its molecular variants

Fusion proteins offer the prospect of new therapeutic products with multiple functions. The primary recovery is investigated of a fusion protein consisting of modified E2 protein from hepatitis C virus fused to human IgG1 Fc and expressed in a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. Fusion protein products inevitably pose increased challenge in preparation and purification. Of particular concerns are: (i) the impact of shear stress on product integrity and (ii) the presence of product‐related contaminants which could prove challenging to remove during the high resolution purification steps. This paper addresses the use of microwell‐based ultra scale‐down (USD) methods to develop a bioprocess strategy focused on the integration of cell culture and cell removal operations and where the focus is on the use of operations which impart low shear stress levels even when applied at eventual manufacturing scale. An USD shear device was used to demonstrate that cells exposed to high process stresses such as those that occur in the feed zone of a continuous non‐hermetic centrifuge resulted in the reduction of the fusion protein and also the release of glycosylated intracellular variants. In addition, extended cell culture resulted in release of such variants. USD mimics of low shear stress, hydrohermetic feed zone centrifugation and of depth filtration were used to demonstrate little to no release during recovery of these variants with both results verified at pilot scale. Furthermore, the USD studies were used to predict removal of contaminants such as lipids, nucleic acids, and cell debris with, for example, depth filtration delivering greater removal than for centrifugation but a small (∼10%) decrease in yield of the fusion protein. These USD observations of product recovery and carryover of contaminants were also confirmed at pilot scale as was also the capacity or throughput achievable for continuous centrifugation or for depth filtration. The advantages are discussed of operating a lower yield cell culture and a low shear stress recovery process in return for a considerably less challenging purification demand. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1973–1983. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Muslim immigrants and violent crime : can religion explain individual violent behavior? : a time series analysis of Danish and Norwegian violent crime data, 2004-2014

The increase in immigration over the last decades has resulted in more support for populist and anti-immigration parties in Europe. Rising fear of immigration seems to have a strong connection to Muslim immigrants. This could reflect medias strong focus on conflicts and violence in the Middle East, or be due to several terrorist attacks in Europa that has been connected to Islamic extremists. By analyzing violent crime statistics from Denmark and Norway over an 11-year period, this paper investigates if there is a rational reason for fearing Muslim immigrants. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression model is employed to suit the data, which contains large numbers of zero-values. The results of this analysis show that there is no direct connection between personal religion and individual violent behavior. A strong positive effect of immigrants from countries in North Africa and the Middle East is however detected. This could indicate that cultural and country specific factors can indeed affect individual behavior. Even though an effect of specific regions are caught, the crime statistics show that crime in immigrant groups from North African and Middle Eastern countries has been decreasing steadily from 2009.
US REITs' Returns Sensitivity to Interest Rates after the Global Financial Crisis

Purpose: This paper investigates whether US REITs’ returns have been sensitive to the monetary policy introduced after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Design/methodology/approach: For the period from 1995 to 2015, we tested the correlation between US REITs’ returns and interest rates, since the central banks commonly use interest rates as a tool to implement their policy. Then, using three sub-periods, we observed how the sensitivity of US REITs to interest rates changed according to the different economic environments. Using two risk factors — the stock market and the changes in long-term interest rates — we created a multifactor model based around the classical CAPM (Sharpe, 1964) and an elaboration of intertemporal CAPM (Merton, 1973). Findings: We found that the stock market was statistically significant for all subperiods considered, and changes in long-term interest rates were statistically significant only for the subperiod 2009–2015. We also found that an increase in 10-year US Treasuries’ yields corresponded to a decrease in US REITs’ market returns. Practical implications: Our findings confirm the sensitivity of US REITs’ performance under post-crisis monetary policy and suggest that the monetary policy has been successful in sensitizing the real estate market and improving its performance after lowering interest rates. Originality/value: The paper provides a further evidence of the sensitivity of indirect real estate investment to interest rates variation during a period of economic turmoil.
UXT interacts with the transcriptional repressor protein EVI1 and suppresses cell transformation

The EVI1 transcriptional repressor is critical to the normal development of a variety of tissues and participates in the progression of acute myeloid leukaemias. The repressor domain (Rp) was used to screen an adult human kidney yeast two‐hybrid library and a novel binding partner designated ubiquitously expressed transcript (UXT) was isolated. Enforced expression of UXT in Evi1‐expressing Rat1 fibroblasts suppresses cell transformation and UXT may therefore be a negative regulator of Evi1 biological activity. The Rp‐binding site for UXT was determined and non‐UXT‐binding Evi1 mutants (Evi1Δ706–707) were developed which retain the ability to bind the corepressor mCtBP2. Evi1Δ706–707 transforms Rat1 fibroblasts, showing that the interaction is not essential for Evi1‐mediated cell transformation. However, Evi1Δ706–707 produces an increased proportion of large colonies relative to wild‐type, showing that endogenous UXT has an inhibitory effect on Evi1 biological activity. Exogenous UXT still suppresses Evi1Δ706–707‐mediated cell transformation, indicating that it inhibits cell proliferation and/or survival by both Evi1‐dependent and Evi1‐independent mechanisms. These observations are consistent with the growth‐suppressive function attributed to UXT in human prostate cancer. Our results show that UXT suppresses cell transformation and might mediate this function by interaction and inhibition of the biological activity of cell proliferation and survival stimulatory factors like Evi1.
The next ascent : an evaluation of the Aga Khan Rural Support Program, Pakistan

This is the fourth independent evaluation by the World Bank's Operations Evalauuation Department of the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) in northern Pakistan. Requested and funded by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and some of its co-donors, the evaluation was undertaken to assist the AKRSP in shifting its strategy to accommodate a changing environment and new challenges. It looked at both the period since the last, 1995 evaluation and the full period since program initiation in 1982. Some of the lessons from this experience have broad relevance for the rural development community. In rural areas, broad and sustained gains in economic and social welfare must be based on stabe increases in output. Increased output requires that appropriate technology be available that yields relatively quick returns. The program has pursued a high input/high output strategy that has expolited complementarities among the program components and efficiently used the region's scarce community facilitation and program managmeent skills. Expansion (scaling up) is a slow process even with skilled facilitators, as there are few economies of scale. However, expansion by grafting new programs into locations with similar circumstances offers substantial leverage. Partnerships with actionable and measurable commitments should be formally agreed at the start of a program to ensure role clarity and create performance incentives. Exit strategies should be agreed with communities at the outset.
Predicting the outcome of eating disorders using structural equation modeling.

OBJECTIVE There is a need for models that predict accurately the course of mental disorders. METHOD Eating-disordered female inpatients were assessed longitudinally at the beginning of treatment (t1), at the end of treatment (t2), at 2 or 3-year follow-up (t3), and at 6-year follow-up (t4). The sample consisted of 196 women with bulimia nervosa (BN) purging type, 103 women with anorexia nervosa (AN), and 68 women with binge eating disorder (BED; N=367). Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to predict the women's status at 6-year follow-up. RESULTS The results for BN and BED show that the specific eating disorder pathology was influenced mainly by specific eating disorder pathology at earlier time points and not by non-eating-specific (general) psychopathology. Similarly, general psychopathology was influenced mainly by general psychopathology at earlier time points. For AN patients, both categories of psychopathology (eating specific and general) were relevant for the 6-year outcome. The potential impact of 14 factors on the level of pathology was estimated (a) at baseline (at the beginning of treatment), (b) during the course of illness (baseline controlled), and (c) on the 6-year outcome of eating disorders (baseline and course controlled). Although there were many correlations between potential factors and baseline pathology, there was only a limited number of significant correlations with the 6-year outcome. This effect was mediated largely by the level of general psychopathology. DISCUSSION The models for outcome prediction based on structural equation modeling techniques were very similar for BN and BED. For both BN and BED, there were almost entirely separate predictions for the specific eating disorder on the one hand and non-eating-related (general) psychopathology on the other hand. This was true to a lesser degree for AN. CONCLUSIONS The use of refined path analytic methods in follow-up studies on larger general populations will be helpful to increase our understanding of the course of illness of psychiatric disorders.
Interleukin‐6 messenger RNA expression and interleukin‐6 protein secretion in cells isolated from normal human bone: Regulation by interleukin‐1

Recent evidence suggests that cytokines, in addition to regulating hematopoiesis and immune functions, may be important paracrine regulators of bone turnover. Interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) and IL‐6 are cytokines that are produced by and affect both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cell types. IL‐1 stimulates bone resorption and inhibits osteoblast proliferation and collagen production. Previous reports that IL‐6 was secreted in murine osteoblast and bone organ cultures in response to IL‐1 and PTH suggested that IL‐6 has paracrine effects on bone resorption or formation. To determine whether IL‐6 has a paracrine function in human bone, IL‐6 expression in cells isolated from normal human bone was investigated. IL‐6 mRNA levels in untreated cultures were low and variable, and IL‐6 secretion was undetectable. PTH had no effect on IL‐6 mRNA levels or IL‐6 secretion. IL‐1β increased IL‐6 mRNA levels, maximally 40‐fold at 12 h. IL‐1β increased IL‐6 secretion to 0.13 nM, more than 80‐fold that of untreated controls at 12 h. IL‐1β also increased IL‐1β mRNA levels, maximally 9‐fold at 12 h, but did not increase cellular levels or secretion of IL‐1β protein. Recombinant human IL‐6 at 0.5–5 nM stimulated resorption in neonatal mouse calvarial organ cultures but had no effect on human bone‐derived cell DNA synthesis or type I procollagen mRNA levels. The results suggest that IL‐6 production by human osteoblasts may function to enhance osteolytic activity of IL‐1 but does not affect proliferative and matrix biosynthetic aspects of bone formation that were tested. Because osteoblasts and bone marrow cells are in close proximity, IL‐6 produced by osteoblasts may also function to amplify IL‐1 stimulation of immune responses and hematopoiesis in bone marrow.
Granulocyte apoptosis and the control of inflammation.

We have described a novel pathway available for the clearance of extravasated granulocytes from inflamed tissues whereby aging granulocytes undergo apoptosis, a process which leads to their phagocytosis by inflammatory macrophages. By contrast with necrosis, which may also be seen at inflamed sites, apoptosis represents a granulocyte fate which by a number of mechanisms would tend to limit inflammatory tissue injury and promote resolution rather than progression of inflammation: (i) apoptosis is responsible for macrophage recognition of senescent neutrophils with intact cell membranes which exclude vital dyes and retain their potentially histotoxic granule contents; (ii) the apoptotic neutrophil loses its ability to secrete granule enzymes on deliberate external stimulation; (iii) the macrophage possesses a huge phagocytic capacity for apoptotic neutrophils which it rapidly ingests and degrades without disgorging neutrophil contents; and (iv) the macrophage utilizes a novel phagocytic recognition mechanism which fails to trigger the release of pro-inflammatory macrophage mediators during the phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils. Preliminary characterization of the recognition mechanism implicates the integrin alpha v beta 3 (vitronectin receptor) and CD36 (thrombospondin receptor) on the macrophage surface. Macrophage phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils is greatly influenced by the microenvironmental pH and by the presence of cationic molecules. Moreover, it can be specifically modulated by external cytokines and intracellular second messenger systems. By controlling the functional longevity of neutrophil and eosinophil granulocytes and their subsequent removal by macrophages, granulocyte apoptosis, with its potential for modulation by external mediators, is likely to play a key dynamic role in the control of the 'tissue load' of granulocytes at inflamed sites. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Transformer Winding Deformation Diagnosis Using Middle Band Frequency Response Analysis

The sensitivity of frequency response on different frequency spectrums is analyzed by sensitivity analysis. And more analysis is simulated by computer. Then the relation of transformer parameters' changing when the winding deformed are figured out by analysis of capacitance and inductance. Furthermore, dependent on the statistics of winding deformation, the probability of different kind of deformations are given. At last, the conclusion is that the middle band frequency response is the most sensitive in the testing of transformer winding deformation using FRA method,.
Optimization of diffusion measurements using Cramer‐Rao lower bound theory and its application to articular cartilage

A novel approach to optimized diffusion measurements by minimizing the Cramer‐Rao lower bound (CRLB) with respect to the b‐values used for diffusion measurement was investigated. The applicability of the CRLB to these measurements is shown by the close agreement between the CRLB prediction and the actual precision obtained from experimental results. Where studies using a propagation‐of‐errors approach have restricted the optimization of the diffusion measurement to two b‐values and to specific diffusion coefficient values, the CRLB approach sets no bounds on the number of b‐values and is applicable to any system. The optimal number of b‐values depends on the ratio of the maximum and minimum diffusion coefficients in the sample (the Dratio) and on the number of acquisitions. For a Dratio above 6.8 the optimal number of b‐values increases to three; at a Dratio of 21.8 it increases to four. The optimized sampling schemes for ADC measurements in a variety of representative tissues found in the human body are given. For cartilage the optimal five‐point acquisition scheme requires one measurement at a b‐value of 0 and four at 1036 sec mm−2, whereas brain requires one at 0, three at 660, and one at 1987 sec mm−2. Magn Reson Med 50:1069–1076, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The First Certifying Examination in Geriatric Medicine

On April 22, 1988, the first Certifying Examination in Geriatric Medicine was administered jointly by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Family Practice to 4,282 diplomates (ABIM = 2,202; ABFP = 2,080). This paper addresses both an analysis of the examination and the relationship between performance on that examination and a group of characteristics of the examinees, collected as part of the registration process. The pass rate was 56%. Performance on the examination was positively correlated with scores on the general certifying examinations and with training in geriatric medicine. Data provided by the candidates in an addendum to the application were also available for analysis and were used to derive correlations with groups of questions. The performance of candidates was positively correlated with seeing large numbers of elderly in hospitals, nursing homes, or home settings, working in a University Hospital, teaching and research, and the size of the community in which the candidate practiced. Physicians from long‐term care settings did exceptionally well. Working in a solo practice setting was negatively correlated with performance on the examination as was working in a for‐profit setting.
Genetically Determined Differences in Brain Response to a Primary Food Reward

Combining genetic and neuroimaging techniques may elucidate the biological underpinnings of individual differences in neurophysiology and potential vulnerabilities to disease. The TaqIA A1 variant is associated with diminished dopamine D2 receptor density, higher body mass, and food reinforcement. It also moderates the relationship between brain response to food and future weight gain. This suggests that the polymorphism is associated with a fundamental difference in the neurophysiology of food that may predispose toward overeating. An alternative possibility is that factors, such as impulsivity, eating style, reward drive, and perception, which may covary with the polymorphism, influence reward coding and eating behavior. To distinguish between these alternatives, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural response to the ingestion of palatable and caloric milkshakes in healthy subjects with (A1+; n = 13) and without (A1−; n = 13) the TaqIA A1 allele. The groups were selected from a larger group to be matched for linked individual factors such as age, gender, education, body mass index, impulsivity, eating style, and perceptual responses to the milkshake. We demonstrate an interaction between genotype (A1+ vs A1−) and stimulus (milkshake vs a tasteless/odorless baseline) in the midbrain, thalamus, and orbital frontal cortex; whereas A1− shows increased responses to milkshake, A1+ shows decreased responses to milkshake relative to baseline. This interaction occurs despite similar ratings of milkshake pleasantness, intensity, and familiarity. We therefore conclude that there is a specific association between the TaqIA A1 polymorphism and brain response during ingestion of a palatable food.
Group B Streptococcus colonization during pregnancy and maternal‐fetal transmission in Zimbabwe

Objective. To explore risk factors for group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonization during pregnancy and at delivery, estimate the predictive value of early GBS colonization for colonization at delivery and in the newborn, and explore the relationship to adverse perinatal factors. Design and setting. Cohort study of pregnant women from three communities in Zimbabwe. Methods. Information collected by questionnaire at inclusion and from delivery records. Vaginal and rectal swabs collected for GBS culture at 20 and 26 weeks gestation, at delivery and from the newborn infant. Main outcome measures. GBS colonization in pregnancy, colonization of mother and newborn, and perinatal factors. Results. GBS culture results were obtained at one or more occasion for 780 (75.2%) of 1,037 women recruited. Altogether, 470/780 women (60.3%) tested positive for GBS, with colonization rates at 20, 26 weeks and delivery of 47%, 24.2% and 21%, respectively. Positive GBS culture at 20 and 26 weeks gestation had a low positive predictive value on colonization at delivery and in the newborn. Women living in rural areas were significantly more often colonized than those who lived in urban areas (p < 0.001). Other socio‐economic, demographic and obstetric factors were not statistically associated with GBS colonization. GBS transmission was not statistically significantly associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Conclusions. GBS colonization was common among pregnant women in Zimbabwe. Dwelling in a rural area was significantly associated with GBS colonization while other risk factors were not. Early GBS colonization had a low predictive value for colonization at delivery and colonization was not associated with adverse perinatal outcome.