Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of lung surgery in the United Kingdom.

Thehistory oflungsurgery intheUnited Kingdom divides conveniently into three periods-namely, the period before the1914-18 war,theperiod between thewars, andtheperiod after the1939-45 war.These canberegarded respectively asthephases of innovation, development, andorganisation. Many advances anddevelopments weremadeduring the worldwars,butwerenotfully appreciated until after thewarswereover. IntheLettsomian lectures delivered in1921, Gask'stated "There isprobably no branch ofsurgery whichhasbeensomuch influenced bywarwoundsashasthesurgery ofthe chest. ItwassointheMiddle Agesanditwassoin thelast war. " Inashort andgeneral survey ofthis nature, any detailed discussion oftheorigins andfirst descriptions ofoperations wouldbeoutofplace. This account, therefore, should notbetakenaseither supporting orundermining existing claims topriority inthedescription ofsurgical procedures. Morriston Davies2 described thesepriorities inrespect of surgery forpulmonary tuberculosis, andmore recently Ochsner3 hasgivena comprehensive account ofthedevelopment oflung surgery with188 historical references toprogress insurgery for carcinoma andbronchiectasis. Otherexcellent historical references areavailable,4 5 asaretextbooks ofthoracic surgery of British authorship.6-10 O'Shaughnessy (ofNottingham)whowaskilled intheDunkirk beachhead in 1940wroteabookwithSauerbruch. "1 Eachofthese addstothestory ofthedevelopment oflung surgery, although itisdisarming toreadinStephen Paget's workthatthoracic surgery in1896"isnownearly at itszenith. " Suchenthusiastic andover-confident claims arecommonplace ineachperiod andthey addtotheproblem ofthedateatwhichahistory should start, andofwhatshould beexcluded. Thisarticle isthefirst ofaseries whichisintended todocumentthehistory ofthoracic medicine andsurgery inthe UnitedKingdom. Subsequent articles willdealwiththe history ofcardiac surgery, oesophageal surgery, thoracic anaesthesia, pulmonary medicine. andtuberculosis therapy. -Ed.
Appendiceal mucinous cystadenoma.

History A 46-year-old man presented to the surgical emergency department with a 4-week history of increasing abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed tenderness in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. There was no leukocytosis present and no elevated levels of C-reactive protein. An ultrasonographic (US) examination was performed as part of the work-up. Because a structure suggestive of an internal hernia was seen on US images, abdominal computed tomography (CT) was subsequently performed.
Metrics for Assessing Human Skill When Demonstrating a Bimanual Task to a Robot

One of the major challenges in Programming by Demonstration is deciding who to imitate. In this paper we propose a set of metrics for assessing how skilled a user is when demonstrating a bimanual task to a robot, that requires both a coordinated motion of the arms, and proper contact forces. We record successful demonstrations relative to the task goal and evaluate user performance with respect to 3 measures: the ability to maneuver the tool, the consistency in teaching, and the degree of coordination between the two arms. We present preliminary results on a scooping task.
Hematophagous Ectoparasites of Cliff Swallows Invade a Hospital and Feed on Humans

We describe a hospital infestation by 2 hematophagous ectoparasites of cliff swallows that nested in the window eaves. Breaks in window seals allowed entry of swallow ticks and swallow bugs. These pests emerged in large numbers in patient rooms, hallways, and stairwells; 17% of the ticks fed on humans.
Pathways to technology transfer and adoption: Achievements and challenges (mini-tutorial)

Producing industrial impact has often been one of the important goals of academic or industrial researchers when conducting research. However, it is generally challenging to transfer research results into industrial practices. There are some common challenges faced when pursuing technology transfer and adoption while particular challenges for some particular research areas. At the same time, various opportunities also exist for technology transfer and adoption. This mini-tutorial presents achievements and challenges of technology transfer and adoption in various areas in software engineering, with examples drawn from research areas such as software analytics along with software testing and analysis. This mini-tutorial highlights success stories in industry, research achievements that are transferred to industrial practice, and challenges and lessons learned in technology transfer and adoption.
Blood transfusions in septic shock: is 7.0g/dL really the appropriate threshold?

Objective To evaluate the immediate effects of red blood cell transfusion on central venous oxygen saturation and lactate levels in septic shock patients with different transfusion triggers. Methods We included patients with a diagnosis of septic shock within the last 48 hours and hemoglobin levels below 9.0g/dL Patients were randomized for immediate transfusion with hemoglobin concentrations maintained above 9.0g/dL (Group Hb9) or to withhold transfusion unless hemoglobin felt bellow 7.0g/dL (Group Hb7). Hemoglobin, lactate, central venous oxygen saturation levels were determined before and one hour after each transfusion. Results We included 46 patients and 74 transfusions. Patients in Group Hb7 had a significant reduction in median lactate from 2.44 (2.00 - 3.22) mMol/L to 2.21 (1.80 - 2.79) mMol/L, p = 0.005, which was not observed in Group Hb9 [1.90 (1.80 - 2.65) mMol/L to 2.00 (1.70 - 2.41) mMol/L, p = 0.23]. Central venous oxygen saturation levels increased in Group Hb7 [68.0 (64.0 - 72.0)% to 72.0 (69.0 - 75.0)%, p < 0.0001] but not in Group Hb9 [72.0 (69.0 - 74.0)% to 72.0 (71.0 - 73.0)%, p = 0.98]. Patients with elevated lactate or central venous oxygen saturation < 70% at baseline had a significant increase in these variables, regardless of baseline hemoglobin levels. Patients with normal values did not show a decrease in either group. Conclusion Red blood cell transfusion increased central venous oxygen saturation and decreased lactate levels in patients with hypoperfusion regardless of their baseline hemoglobin levels. Transfusion did not appear to impair these variables in patients without hypoperfusion. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01611753
Community- and Individual-Level Socioeconomic Status and Breast Cancer Risk: Multilevel Modeling on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Background Previous research demonstrated increased risk of breast cancer associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES) measured at both the individual and community levels. However, little attention has been paid to simultaneously examining both measures. Objectives We evaluated the independent influences of individual and community SES on the risk of breast cancer using case–control data. Because our previous work suggests that associations may be stronger after including a latency period, we also assessed the effect of community-level SES assuming a 10-year latency period. Methods We obtained individual education for cases and matched controls diagnosed between 1987 and 1993 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA). We acquired community-level SES from census data for 1980 and 1990. Using SES data at diagnosis and 10 years earlier, we constructed models for breast cancer risk using individual-level SES only, community-level SES only, and a multilevel analysis including both. We adjusted models for other individual-level risk factors. Results Women with the highest education were at greater risk of developing breast cancer in both 1980 and 1990 [odds ratio (OR) = 1.17 and 1.19, respectively]. Similarly, women living in the highest-SES communities in 1990 had greater risk (OR = 1.30). Results were stronger in the analyses considering a latency period (OR = 1.69). Adjusting for intragroup correlation had little effect on the analyses. Conclusions Models including individual- or community-level measures of SES produced associations similar to those observed in previous research. Results for models including both measures are consistent with a contextual effect of SES on risk of breast cancer independent of individual SES.
Anticancer and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Ganoderma lucidum Extract Effects on Melanoma and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment

Among the most important traditional medicinal fungi, Ganoderma lucidum has been used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of numerous diseases, including cancer, in Oriental countries. The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anti-metastatic activities of Ganoderma lucidum extracts in melanoma and triple-negative breast cancer cells. Ganoderma lucidum extracts were prepared by using common organic solvents; MDA-MB 231 and B16-F10 cell lines were adopted as cellular models for triple-negative breast cancer and melanoma and characterized for cell viability, wound-healing assay and measurement of cytokines secreted by cancer cells under pro-inflammatory conditions (incubation with lipopolysaccharide, LPS) and pretreatment with Ganoderma lucidum extract at different concentrations. Our study demonstrates, for the first time, how Ganoderma lucidum extracts can significantly inhibit the release of IL-8, IL-6, MMP-2 and MMP-9 in cancer cells under pro-inflammatory condition. Interestingly, Ganoderma lucidum extracts significantly also decrease the viability of both cancer cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, with abilities to reduce cell migration over time, which is correlated with a lower release of matrix metalloproteases. Taken together, these results indicate the possible use of Ganoderma lucidum extract for the therapeutic management of melanoma and human triple-negative breast cancer.
High quality exposure fusion for mobile platforms

In this paper, a new approach for high quality automated exposure fusion on mobile or handheld devices is presented. A utilization of the device's viewfinder screen video feed data is proposed, in order to increase the overall performance of the exposure fusion, both in static scenes and in scenes with moving objects. The introduced novelties are computationally inexpensive, since the preview video is of low frame resolution. The proposed extensions are embedded to an existing exposure fusion algorithm, and the performed experimental tests show that the new extended algorithm is better than its predecessor, both visually and in terms of objective quality measures.
Arctic Humidity Inversions: Climatology and Processes

AbstractThe occurrence and characteristics of Arctic specific humidity inversions (SHIs) were examined on the basis of two reanalyses (ERA-Interim and JRA-55) and radiosonde sounding data from 2003 to 2014. Based on physical properties, the SHIs were divided into two main categories: SHIs below and above the 800-hPa level. Above the 800-hPa level, SHIs occurred simultaneously with relative humidity inversions and without the presence of a temperature inversion; these SHIs were probably formed when a moist air mass was advected over a dry air mass. SHIs below the 800-hPa level occurred simultaneously with temperature inversions in conditions of high relative humidity, which suggests that condensation had an important role in SHI formation. Below the 800-hPa level, SHI occurrence had a large seasonal and spatial variation, which depended on the surface heat budget. In winter, most SHIs were formed because of surface radiative cooling, and the occurrence of SHIs was high (even exceeding 90% of the time) on c.
Querying Life Science Ontologies with SemFacet

Faceted search is the de facto query paradigm in e-commerce and it has been recently adapted for the Semantic Web. In this demonstration we present our faceted search system SemFacet and show how it can enhance access to RDF and OWL 2 datasets and OWL 2 ontologies in the domain of life sciences. SemFacet combines keyword and faceted search and it is based on a solid theory, in particular it employs novel ontology projection techniques to enable faceted navigation for OWL 2. SemFacet relies on PAGOdA and HermiT for logical reasoning and on JRDFox and Sesame for storing and querying RDF triples.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with white matter integrity in aging

Aging is associated with reduced neural integrity, yet there are remarkable individual differences in brain health among older adults (OA). One factor that may attenuate age‐related neural decline is cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). The primary aim of this study was to link CRF to neural white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging in OA.
Long-term durability of immune responses after hepatitis A vaccination among HIV-infected adults.

BACKGROUND Vaccination provides long-term immunity to hepatitis A virus (HAV) among the general population, but there are no such data regarding vaccine durability among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults. METHODS We retrospectively studied HIV-infected adults who had received 2 doses of HAV vaccine. We analyzed blood specimens taken at 1 year, 3 years, and, when available, 6-10 years postvaccination. HAV immunoglobulin G (IgG) values of ≥10 mIU/mL were considered seropositive. RESULTS We evaluated specimens from 130 HIV-infected adults with a median age of 35 years and a median CD4 cell count of 461 cells/mm(3) at or before time of vaccination. Of these, 49% had an HIV RNA load <1000 copies/mL. Initial vaccine responses were achieved in 89% of HIV-infected adults (95% confidence interval [CI], 83%-94%), compared with 100% (95% CI, 99%-100%) of historical HIV-uninfected adults. Among initial HIV-infected responders with available specimens, 90% (104 of 116; 95% CI, 83%-95%) remained seropositive at 3 years and 85% (63 of 74; 95% CI, 75%-92%) at 6-10 years. Geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) among HIV-infected adults were 154, 111, and 64 mIU/mL at 1, 3, and 6-10 years, respectively, compared with 1734, 687, and 684 mIU/mL among HIV-uninfected persons. Higher GMCs over time among HIV-infected adults were associated with lower log(10) HIV RNA levels (β = -.12, P = .04). CONCLUSIONS Most adults with well-controlled HIV infections had durable seropositive responses up to 6-10 years after HAV vaccination. Suppressed HIV RNA levels are associated with durable HAV responses.
Drinking Water with Uranium below the U.S. EPA Water Standard Causes Estrogen Receptor–Dependent Responses in Female Mice

Background The deleterious impact of uranium on human health has been linked to its radioactive and heavy metal–chemical properties. Decades of research has defined the causal relationship between uranium mining/milling and onset of kidney and respiratory diseases 25 years later. Objective We investigated the hypothesis that uranium, similar to other heavy metals such as cadmium, acts like estrogen. Methods In several experiments, we exposed intact, ovariectomized, or pregnant mice to depleted uranium in drinking water [ranging from 0.5 μg/L (0.001 μM) to 28 mg/L (120 μM). Results Mice that drank uranium-containing water exhibited estrogenic responses including selective reduction of primary follicles, increased uterine weight, greater uterine luminal epithelial cell height, accelerated vaginal opening, and persistent presence of cornified vaginal cells. Coincident treatment with the antiestrogen ICI 182,780 blocked these responses to uranium or the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol. In addition, mouse dams that drank uranium-containing water delivered grossly normal pups, but they had significantly fewer primordial follicles than pups whose dams drank control tap water. Conclusions Because of the decades of uranium mining/milling in the Colorado plateau in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest, the uranium concentration and the route of exposure used in these studies are environmentally relevant. Our data support the conclusion that uranium is an endocrine-disrupting chemical and populations exposed to environmental uranium should be followed for increased risk of fertility problems and reproductive cancers.
Evidence for Anion-Permselective Membrane in Crayfish Muscle Fibers and Its Possible Role in Excitation-Contraction Coupling

Under certain conditions only, isolated crayfish skeletal muscle fibers change in appearance, becoming grainy, darkening, and seemingly losing their striations. These changes result from development of large vesicles on both sides of the Z-line. The longitudinal sarcoplasmic reticulum remains unaffected. The vesicles are due to swelling of a transverse tubular system (TTS) which is presumably homologous with the T-system tubules of other muscle fibers. The vesiculations occur during efflux of water or on reducing external K or Cl, but only when KCl can leave the fiber. They never result from osmotic, ionic, or electrical changes when KCl cannot leave. Inward currents, applied through a KCl-filled intracellular cathode, also cause the vesiculations. These are not produced when the cathode is filled with K-propionate, nor by outward or longitudinal currents. Thus the transverse tubules swell only when Cl leaves the cell. Accordingly, their membrane is largely or exclusively anion-permselective. These findings also indicate that the TTS forms part of a current loop, connecting with the exterior of the fiber probably through radial tubules (RT) possessing membrane of low conductivity. Thus, part of the current flowing inward across the sarcolemma during activity can return to the exterior through the membrane of the TTS. The structure and properties of the latter offer the possibility for an efficient electrical mechanism to initiate excitation-contraction coupling.
Fetal Growth Restriction Induces Heterogeneous Effects on Vascular Biomechanical and Functional Properties in Guinea Pigs (Cavia porcellus)

Aim: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with a variety of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood which could involve remodeling processes of the vascular walls that could start in the fetal period. However, there is no consensus whether this remodeling affects in a similar way the whole vascular system. We aimed to determine the effects of FGR on the vasoactive and biomechanical properties of umbilical and systemic vessels in fetal guinea pigs. Methods: FGR was induced by implanting ameroid occluders at mid-gestation in uterine arteries of pregnant guinea pigs, whilst the control group was exposed to simulated surgery. At the term of gestation, systemic arteries (aorta, carotid and femoral) and umbilical vessels were isolated to determine ex vivo contractile and biomechanical responses (stretch-stress until rupture) on a wire myograph, as well as opening angle and residual stresses. Histological characteristics in tissue samples were measured by van Gieson staining. Results: Aorta and femoral arteries from FGR showed an increased in biomechanical markers of stiffness (p < 0.01), contractile capacity (p < 0.05) and relative media thickness (p < 0.01), but a reduced internal diameter (p < 0.001), compared with controls. There were no differences in the biomechanical properties of carotid and umbilical from control and FGR fetuses, but FGR umbilical arteries had a decreased contractile response to KCl (p < 0.05) along with a reduced relative media thickness (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Altogether, these changes in functional, mechanical and morphological properties suggest that FGR is associated with a heterogeneous pro-constrictive vascular remodeling affecting mainly the lower body fetal arteries. These effects would be set during a pathologic pregnancy in order to sustain the fetal blood redistribution in the FGR and may persist up to adulthood increasing the risk of a cardiovascular disease.
Scanpath Complexity: Modeling Reading Effort Using Gaze Information

Measuring reading effort is useful for practical purposes such as designing learning material and personalizing text comprehension environment. We propose a quantification of reading effort by measuring the complexity of eye-movement patterns of readers. We call the measure Scanpath Complexity. Scanpath complexity is modeled as a function of various properties of gaze fixations and saccades- the basic parameters of eye movement behavior. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our scanpath complexity measure by showing that its correlation with different measures of lexical and syntactic complexity as well as standard readability metrics is better than popular baseline measures based on fixation alone.
Broad Programming by IL-2 Receptor Signaling for Extended Growth to Multiple Cytokines and Functional Maturation of Antigen-Activated T Cells1

Coincident production of IL-2 and induction of high-affinity IL-2R upon TCR engagement has precluded a clear distinction for the biological outcome of signaling through TCR/costimulatory molecules vs the IL-2R. Using a novel transgenic mouse on the IL-2Rβ−/− genetic background, this study has separated the relative outcome of signaling through the TCR and IL-2R. We show that stimulation through the TCR and CD28 or CD40 ligand directly leads to T cell activation and several rounds of proliferation in an IL-2-independent fashion. However, this stimulation is insufficient for extended T cell growth to multiple cytokines or differentiation into CTL or IFN-γ-secreting effector T cells. IL-2 is required for these functions in part by regulation of cyclin D3 and granzyme B. Somewhat less efficiently, IL-4 stimulation of these transgenic T cells redundantly rescued many of these activities. These data demonstrate a fundamental requirement for IL-2 and perhaps other common γ-chain-dependent cytokines to promote selective gene expression by Ag-activated T cells for their subsequent growth and differentiation into effector T lymphocytes.
Somewhat homomorphic encryption scheme for arithmetic operations on large integers

Homomorphic encryption allows for processing encrypted data without the need to decrypt them. This technique aggregates privacy and security for data processing in unreliable environments. In this paper, we propose a new encryption scheme oriented for calculating arithmetic functions of large integer numbers. Our proposal is an extension of the encryption scheme proposed in [1]. We also provide an implementation of both the original and the proposed scheme. Even though the total number of allowed homomorphic operations is limited in our scheme, our results show that the new extension is more efficient in terms of processing and that the ratio between the ciphertext and plaintext sizes is similar to that of the original scheme.
Tracking Mobile Sinks via Analysis of Movement Angle Changes in WSNs

Existing methods for tracking mobile sinks in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) often incur considerable energy consumption and overhead. To address this issue, we propose a Detour-Aware Mobile Sink Tracking (DAMST) method via analysis of movement angle changes of mobile sinks, for collecting data in a low-overhead and energy efficient way. In the proposed method, while a mobile sink passes through a region, it appoints a specific node as a region agent to collect information of the whole region, and records nodes near or on its trajectory as footprints. If it needs information from the region agent in a future time it will construct an energy efficient path from the region agent to itself by calculating its own movement angles according to the footprints, as well as getting rid of detours by analyzing these movement angles. Finally, the performance of the tracking method is evaluated systematically under different trajectory patterns and footprint appointment intervals. The simulation results consolidate that DAMST has advantages in reducing energy consumption and data overhead.