Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concurrent imaging of vascularization and metabolism in a mouse model of paraganglioma under anti-angiogenic treatment

Rationale: Deregulation of metabolism and induction of vascularization are major hallmarks of cancer. Using a new multimodal preclinical imaging instrument, we explored a sequence of events leading to sunitinib-induced resistance in a murine model of paraganglioma (PGL) invalidated for the expression of succinate dehydrogenase subunit B (Sdhb-/-). Methods: Two groups of Sdhb-/- tumors bearing mice were treated with sunitinib (6 weeks) or vehicle (3 weeks). Concurrent Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with 2′ -deoxy-2′-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG), Computed Tomography (CT) and Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging (UUI) imaging sessions were performed once a week and ex vivo samples were analyzed by western blots and histology. Results: PET-CT-UUI enabled to detect a rapid growth of Sdhb-/- tumors with increased glycolysis and vascular development. Sunitinib treatment prevented tumor growth, vessel development and reduced FDG uptake at week 1 and 2 (W1-2). Thereafter, imaging revealed tumor escape from sunitinib treatment: FDG uptake in tumors increased at W3, followed by tumor growth and vessel development at W4-5. Perfused vessels were preferentially distributed in the hypermetabolic regions of the tumors and the perfused volume increased during escape from sunitinib treatment. Finally, initial changes in total lesion glycolysis and maximum vessel length at W1 were predictive of resistance to sunitinib. Conclusion: These results demonstrate an adaptive resistance of Sdhb-/- tumors to six weeks of sunitinib treatment. Early metabolic changes and delayed vessel architecture changes were detectable and predictable in vivo early during anti-angiogenic treatment. Simultaneous metabolic, anatomical and functional imaging can monitor precisely the effects of anti-angiogenic treatment of tumors.
Tuned near infrared fluorescent hyaluronic acid conjugates for delivery to pancreatic cancer for intraoperative imaging

The prognosis of pancreatic cancer remains poor. Intraoperative fluorescence imaging of tumors could improve staging and surgical resection, thereby improving prognosis. However, imaging pancreatic cancer with macromolecular delivery systems, is often hampered by nonspecific organ accumulation. Methods: We describe the rational development of hyaluronic acid (HA) conjugates that vary in molecular weight and are conjugated to near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) dyes that have differences in hydrophilicity, serum protein binding affinity, and clearance mechanism. We systematically investigated the roles of each of these properties on tumor accumulation, relative biodistribution, and the impact of intraoperative imaging of orthotopic, syngeneic pancreatic cancer. Results: Each HA-NIRF conjugate displayed intrapancreatic tumor enhancement. Regardless of HA molecular weight, Cy7.5 conjugation directed biodistribution to the liver, spleen, and bowels. Conjugation of IRDye800 to 5 and 20 kDa HA resulted in low liver and spleen signal while enhancing the tumor up to 14-fold compared to healthy pancreas, while 100 kDa HA conjugated to IRDye800 resulting in liver and spleen accumulation. Conclusion: These studies demonstrate that by tuning HA molecular weight and the physicochemical properties of the conjugated moiety, in this case a NIRF probe, peritoneal biodistribution can be substantially altered to achieve optimized delivery to tumors intraoperative abdominal imaging.
Determinants of academicians recycling behaviour

Article history: Received: November 3, 2019 Received in revised format: November 28 2019 Accepted: December 3, 2019 Available online: December 4, 2019 The main purpose of this study was to identify the determinants of recycling behaviour among academicians by utilizing the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). It also examined the mediating role of attitude in the relationship between environmental beliefs and recycling behaviour. An online survey was conducted among lecturers in a public university in Malaysia and 101 valid responses were received. Data was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. Out of the six proposed hypotheses, five were supported. Among the important and interesting findings were: (1) perceived behavioural control has an insignificant effect on recycling behaviour and (2) attitude plays a mediating role in the relationship between environmental belief and recycling behaviour. This study contributes to both theory and practice; it extends the TPB and also provides insightful information for university administrators and policy makers that help them plan effective strategies to enhance recycling behaviour among academicians and other stakeholders in the future. © 2020 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS PARTICIPATION AND CIGARETTE SMOKING IN ADOLESCENTS; PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

This prospective cohort study aimed to define gender-specific relationships that exist between participation in sports and smoking among older adolescents. The sample comprised 414 adolescents (270 females) from Bosnia and Herzegovina who were 16–17 years old at the baseline. The participants were tested over four occasions (T1, T2, T3 and T4), each divided by six months. The first test (T1) was performed at the beginning of the participants’ 3rd grade of high-school, while the last test (T4) was done at the end of their high-school education. A previously validated structured questionnaire was used to define participants’ involvement in sports and the prevalence of cigarette smoking. Although the odds ratio (OR) varied between time points, sports participation was found to be generally protective against cigarette smoking in males (T1: OR=3.83; 95%CI:1.89-7.09, T2: OR=1.31; 95%CI:0.76-2.67, T3: OR=2.72; 95%CI:1.35-5.50, T4: OR=1.41; 95%CI:0.71-2.81) and females (T1: OR=1.32; 95%CI:0.72-2.44, T2: OR=2.64; 95%CI:1.076.32, T3: OR=2.02; 95%CI:0.89-4.56, T4: OR=2.07; 95%CI:1.13-3.77). Trends over time revealed that smoking initiation preceded adolescent males quitting sports. No such association was evident for adolescent females.
Comparison of ThinPrep® and Conventional Preparations for Peritoneal and Pleural Cytology Smears

Aims: To compare the performance of ThinPrep® 5000 processor with the conventional method of preparing pleural and peritoneal smears as well as to study the possibility of replacement of the conventional method with ThinPrep® 5000 system. Methodology: Forty-one samples of serous fluid comprising 17 pleural fluids and 24 peritoneal fluids, were analyzed. Smears were prepared using ThinPrep® 5000 and conventional methods. All the slides were stained by the Pap method. Results: 98% of all cases showed monolayer architecture with minimal overlapping using ThinPrep® 5000 method. However, 73% of cells, prepared by conventional method, were either crowded, overlapped or both. In addition, the cytomorphology of cells prepared by ThinPrep® 5000 method was better preserved (61%) than those with conventional method (41%). However, conventional smears were cellular in 73% of the cases whereas with ThinPrep® 5000 method, high cellularity was only seen in 2%. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the use of ThinPrep® 5000 system in the diagnosis of pleural and peritoneal samples.
Atmospheric Circulation Response to Short-Term Arctic Warming in an Idealized Model

Recent Arctic sea ice loss in fall has been posited to drive midlatitude circulation changes into winter and even spring. Past work has shown that sea ice loss can indeed trigger a weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex, which can lead to delayed surface weather changes. But the mechanisms of such changes and their relevant time scales have remained unclear. This study uses large ensembles of idealized GCM simulations to identify how and over what time scales the atmospheric circulation responds to short-term surface heat flux changes in high latitudes. The ensemble-mean response of the atmospheric circulation is approximately linear in the amplitude of the surface forcing. It is also insensitive to whether the forcing is zonally asymmetric or symmetric, that is, whether stationary waves are generated or not. The circulation response can be decomposed into a rapid thermal response and a slower dynamic adjustment. The adjustment arises through weakening of vertical wave activity fluxes from the troposphere into the stratosphere in response to polar warming, a mechanism that differs from sudden stratospheric warmings yet still results in a weakened stratospheric circulation. The stratospheric response is delayed and persists for about 2 months because the thermal response of the stratosphere is slow compared with that of the troposphere. The delayed stratospheric response feeds back onto the troposphere, but the tropospheric effects are weak compared with natural variability. The general pathway for the delayed response appears to be relatively independent of the atmospheric background state at the time of the anomalous surface forcing.
Risk of Chronic Disease and Disability in Former Competitive Collegiate Athletes

Laxmaiah Manchikanti1*, Kimberly A Cash2, Carla D McManus3, Kim S Damron3, Vidyasagar Pampati4 and Frank JE Falco5 1Medical Director of the Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, KY, and Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA 2Research Coordinator at the Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, KY, USA 3Nursing Administrator at the Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, KY, USA 4Statistician at the Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, KY, USA 5Medical Director of Mid Atlantic Spine & Pain Physicians, Newyark, Director, Pain Medicine Fellowship Program, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of PM&R, Temple University Medical School, Philadelphia, PA, USA
EXAMINATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF SEVERAL MESOSCALE MODELS FOR CONVECTIVE FORECASTING DURING IHOP

The International H2O Project (IHOP) carried out an extensive field project in the Southern Plains from 13 May to 25 June of 2002. The main focus of IHOP is to improve the characterization of the four-dimensional distribution of water vapor and its application to improving the understanding and prediction of convection. The four main components of the program are quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), convective initiation (CI), atmospheric boundary layer processes, and instrumentation. During IHOP, the Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) ran experimental versions of local and national scale models, both to assist with nowcasting and short-range forecasting for the project, and to determine whether such models could provide useful forecast and nowcast guidance for convective weather. The FSL has been involved in model development through two main efforts, the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC; Benjamin et al. 2003) model, a national scale model, and with smaller scale models designed to run onsite at a National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) using local analyses that take advantage of locally-available data. Such local datasets can be used to initialize a model through analyses from FSL’s Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS, McGinley et al., 1991; homepage at http://laps.fsl.noaa.gov). LAPS is currently running in AWIPS at WFOs on an hourly cycle with a 10-km grid spacing. During IHOP LAPS was run at a 12and 4km horizontal grid resolution and used to initialize some of the models that FSL ran. One goal of a short-range model is to provide better prediction of precipitation without a spin-up period. To aid in this goal a “hotstart” scheme was developed using the LAPS cloud analysis to prescribe a vertical velocity profile where sufficiently deep clouds are present at initialization time (Schultz 1995; Schultz and Albers 2001; Shaw et al. 2001). The three-dimensional dynamical relationship between mass and momentum is adjusted by the LAPS balance algorithm (McGinley and Smart 2001) to force consistency with the diagnosed cloud vertical motions and allow for a smooth model start. During IHOP a 12-km horizontal resolution MM5 hotstart initialized with LAPS was run, with a nested 4km version covering the IHOP experimental domain, (Fig. 1). LAPS also was used to initialize a similar 12km setup for the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. In addition to these models initialized with LAPS, FSL ran a 10-km version of the RUC model. The RUC model employs a 3DVar analysis for the mass fields, and initial RUC hydrometeor fields are adjusted to correspond to base scan reflectivity patterns at the initial time, but without any modification of the initial vertical velocity field (in contrast to the hotstart method). The experimental model runs for IHOP were archived by UCAR’s Joint Office for Science Support at http://www.joss. ucar.edu/ihop. The models run by FSL for IHOP are summarized in Table 1.
Aetiologies and therapies of nodding syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Nodding syndrome (NS) is a childhood epileptic disorder of unknown aetiology confined to parts of South Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Patients suffer from atonic seizures that result in characteristic head nodding, and may develop other neurological, endocrinological and psychiatric manifestations. The objective of this study was to adopt a non-judgemental approach to review the hypothesised aetiologies and therapeutic options available for NS. To explore the reported association between NS and Onchocerca volvulus (OV) a meta-analysis of the prevalence of OV among NS cases and controls was performed.
Connecting flow-topography interactions, vorticity balance, baroclinic instability and transport in the Southern Ocean: the case of an idealized storm track

The dynamical balance of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its implications on the functioning of the world ocean are not fully understood and poorly represented in global circulation models. In this study, the sensitivities of an idealized Southern Ocean (SO) storm track are explored with a set of eddy-rich numerical simulations. The classical partition between barotropic and baroclinic modes is sensitive to current–topography interactions in the mesoscale range 10–100 km, as comparisons between simulations with rough or smooth bathymetry reveal. Configurations with a rough bottom have weak barotropic motions, ubiquitous bottom form stress/pressure torque, no wind-driven gyre in the lee of topographic ridges, less efficient baroclinic turbulence and, thus, larger circumpolar transport rates. The difference in circumpolar transport produced by topographic roughness depends on the strength with which (external) thermohaline forcings by the rest of the world ocean constrain the stratification at the northern edge of the SO. The study highlights the need for a more comprehensive treatment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) interactions with the ocean floor, including realistic fields of bottom form stress and pressure torque. It also sheds some light on the behavior of idealized storm tracks recently modeled: (i) the saturation mechanism, whereby the circumpolar transport does not depend on wind intensity, is a robust and generic attribute of ACC-like circumpolar flows; (ii) the adjustment toward saturation can take place over widely different timescales (from months to years) depending on the possibility (or not) for barotropic Rossby waves to propagate signals of wind change and accelerate/decelerate SO wind-driven gyres. The real SO having both gyres and ACC saturation timescales typical of our “no gyre” simulations may be in an intermediate regime in which mesoscale topography away from major ridges provides partial and localized support for bottom form stress/pressure torque.
Lack of Correlation between Facial Sexual Dimorphism, Fluctuating Asymmetry and Self-Perceived Attractiveness in Men and Women

Human morphological sexual dimorphism and fluctuating asymmetry have been suggested to signal ‘individual quality’ and are therefore expected to covary as well as to correlate with surrogate fitness/quality measures like attractiveness and dominance. While some case studies indeed found support for these hypotheses, the overall evidence is not overwhelming. However, most previous research used a limited number of landmarks to quantify masculinity and asymmetry. We here present results based on high-density 3D scans covering the entire facial area. In spite of these more detailed measurements, no significant associations were detected. These results are in line with conclusions of recent meta-analyses and cast doubt on the role of masculinity and fluctuating asymmetry as signals of (genetic) quality.
Never Give Up: Learning Directed Exploration Strategies

We propose a reinforcement learning agent to solve hard exploration games by learning a range of directed exploratory policies. We construct an episodic memory-based intrinsic reward using k-nearest neighbors over the agent's recent experience to train the directed exploratory policies, thereby encouraging the agent to repeatedly revisit all states in its environment. A self-supervised inverse dynamics model is used to train the embeddings of the nearest neighbour lookup, biasing the novelty signal towards what the agent can control. We employ the framework of Universal Value Function Approximators (UVFA) to simultaneously learn many directed exploration policies with the same neural network, with different trade-offs between exploration and exploitation. By using the same neural network for different degrees of exploration/exploitation, transfer is demonstrated from predominantly exploratory policies yielding effective exploitative policies. The proposed method can be incorporated to run with modern distributed RL agents that collect large amounts of experience from many actors running in parallel on separate environment instances. Our method doubles the performance of the base agent in all hard exploration in the Atari-57 suite while maintaining a very high score across the remaining games, obtaining a median human normalised score of 1344.0%. Notably, the proposed method is the first algorithm to achieve non-zero rewards (with a mean score of 8,400) in the game of Pitfall! without using demonstrations or hand-crafted features.
Stochasticity of Deterministic Gradient Descent: Large Learning Rate for Multiscale Objective Function

This article suggests that deterministic Gradient Descent, which does not use any stochastic gradient approximation, can still exhibit stochastic behaviors. In particular, it shows that if the objective function exhibit multiscale behaviors, then in a large learning rate regime which only resolves the macroscopic but not the microscopic details of the objective, the deterministic GD dynamics can become chaotic and convergent not to a local minimizer but to a statistical distribution. A sufficient condition is also established for approximating this long-time statistical limit by a rescaled Gibbs distribution. Both theoretical and numerical demonstrations are provided, and the theoretical part relies on the construction of a stochastic map that uses bounded noise (as opposed to discretized diffusions).
VisMaker: a Question-Oriented Visualization Recommender System for Data Exploration

The increasingly rapid growth of data production and the consequent need to explore data to obtain answers to the most varied questions have promoted the development of tools to facilitate the manipulation and construction of data visualizations. However, building useful data visualizations is not a trivial task: it may involve a large number of subtle decisions that require experience from their designer. In this paper, we present VisMaker, a visualization recommender tool that uses a set of rules to present visualization recommendations organized and described through questions, in order to facilitate the understanding of the recommendations and assisting the visual exploration process. We carried out two studies comparing our tool with Voyager 2 and analyzed some aspects of the use of tools. We collected feedback from participants to identify the advantages and disadvantages of our recommendation approach. As a result, we gathered comments to help improve the development of tools in this domain.
A Retrodirective Wireless Power Transfer Scheme for Ambient Backscatter Systems

One of the key challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT) is to sustainably power the large number of IoT devices in real-time. In this paper, we consider a wireless power transfer (WPT) scenario between an energy transmitter (ET) capable of retrodirective WPT and an energy receiver (ER) capable of ambient backscatter in the presence of an ambient source (AS). The ER requests WPT by backscattering signals from an AS towards the ET, which then retrodirectively beamforms an energy signal towards the ER. To remove the inherent directlink ambient interference, we propose a scheme of ambient backscatter training. Specifically, the ER varies the reflection coefficient multiple times while backscattering each ambient symbol according to a certain pattern called the training sequence, whose design criterion we also present. To evaluate the system performance, we derive an analytical expression for the average harvested power at the ER. Our numerical results show that with the proposed scheme, the ER harvests tens of $\mu$W of power, without any CSI estimation or active transmission from the ER, which is a significant improvement for low-power and low-cost ambient backscatter devices.
Momentum-resolved analysis of condensate dynamic and Higgs oscillations in quenched superconductors with time-resolved ARPES

Higgs oscillations in nonequilibrium superconductors provide a unique tool to obtain information about the underlying order parameter. Several properties like the absolute value, existence of multiple gaps, and the symmetry of the order parameter can be encoded in the Higgs oscillation spectrum. Studying Higgs oscillations with time-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has the advantage over optical measurements that a momentum-resolved analysis of the condensate dynamic is possible. In this paper, we investigate the time-resolved spectral function measured in ARPES for different quench protocols. We find that analyzing amplitude oscillations of the ARPES intensity in the whole Brillouin zone allows to understand how the condensate dynamic contributes to the emerging of collective Higgs oscillations. Furthermore, by evaluating the phase of these oscillations, the symmetry deformation dynamic of the condensate can be revealed, which gives insight about the ground state symmetry of the system. With such an analysis, time-resolved ARPES experiments might be used in the future as a powerful tool in the field of Higgs spectroscopy.
Power-Expected-Posterior Priors as Mixtures of g-Priors in Normal Linear Models

One of the main approaches used to construct prior distributions for objective Bayes methods is the concept of random imaginary observations. Under this setup, the expected-posterior prior (EPP) offers several advantages, among which it has a nice and simple interpretation and provides an effective way to establish compatibility of priors among models. In this paper, we study the power-expected posterior prior as a generalization to the EPP in objective Bayesian model selection under normal linear models. We prove that it can be represented as a mixture of $g$-prior, like a wide range of prior distributions under normal linear models, and thus posterior distributions and Bayes factors are derived in closed form, keeping therefore computational tractability. Comparisons with other mixtures of $g$-prior are made and emphasis is given in the posterior distribution of g and its effect on Bayesian model selection and model averaging.