Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lymph nodes and survival in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

HYPOTHESIS Lymph node metastases decrease survival in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs). DESIGN Prospective database searches. SETTING National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Stanford University Hospital (SUH). PATIENTS A total of 326 patients underwent surgical exploration for pNETs at the NIH (n = 216) and SUH (n = 110). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Overall survival, disease-related survival, and time to development of liver metastases. RESULTS Forty patients (12.3%) underwent enucleation and 305 (93.6%) underwent resection. Of the patients who underwent resection, 117 (35.9%) had partial pancreatectomy and 30 (9.2%) had a Whipple procedure. Forty-one patients also had liver resections, 21 had wedge resections, and 20 had lobectomies. Mean follow-up was 8.1 years (range, 0.3-28.6 years). The 10-year overall survival for patients with no metastases or lymph node metastases only was similar at 80%. As expected, patients with liver metastases had a significantly decreased 10-year survival of 30% (P < .001). The time to development of liver metastases was significantly reduced for patients with lymph node metastases alone compared with those with none (P < .001). For the NIH cohort with longer follow-up, disease-related survival was significantly different for those patients with no metastases, lymph node metastases alone, and liver metastases (P < .001). Extent of lymph node involvement in this subgroup showed that disease-related survival decreased as a function of the number of lymph nodes involved (P = .004). CONCLUSIONS As expected, liver metastases decrease survival of patients with pNETs. Patients with lymph node metastases alone have a shorter time to the development of liver metastases that is dependent on the number of lymph nodes involved. With sufficient long-term follow-up, lymph node metastases decrease disease-related survival. Careful evaluation of number and extent of lymph node involvement is warranted in all surgical procedures for pNETs.
Modeling the Transcriptional Consequences of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Ablation in Ras-Initiated Squamous Cancer

Purpose: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)–targeted therapy is in clinical use to treat squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and other cancers of lining epithelium. RAS mutations in these tumors are a negative prognostic factor for response, and skin inflammation is an adverse reaction to therapy. We investigated transcriptional and biochemical changes that could account for the confounding effects of RAS activation and inflammation in a squamous tissue. Experimental Design: We carried out gene expression profiling on oncogenic Ras-transformed and wild-type mouse and human keratinocytes with EGFR ablated chronically by genetic deletion or acutely by drug treatment and followed leads provided by pathway analysis with biochemical studies. Results: We identified a 25-gene signature specific to the Ras–EGFR ablation interaction and a distinct 19-gene EGFR ablation signature on normal keratinocytes. EGFR ablation in the context of wild-type Ras reduces ontologies favoring cell-cycle control and transcription, whereas oncogenic Ras enriches ontologies for ion channels and membrane transporters, particularly focused on calcium homeostasis. Ontologies between chronic EGFR ablation and acute pharmacologic ablation were unique, both with and without Ras activation. p38α is activated in response to abrogation of EGFR signaling under conditions of Ras activation in both mouse and human keratinocytes and in RAS-transformed tumor orthografts of EGFR-ablated mouse keratinocytes. EGFR ablation in the absence of oncogenic Ras revealed Erk and interleukin-1β–related pathways. Conclusion: These findings reveal unrecognized interactions between Ras and EGFR signaling in squamous tumor cells that could influence the therapeutic response to EGFR ablation therapy. Clin Cancer Res; 18(1); 170–83. ©2011 AACR.
Regional Daily ET Estimates Based on the Gap-Filling Method of Surface Conductance

Remote sensing allows regional evapotranspiration (ET) values to be obtained. Surface conductance is a key variable in estimating ET and controls surface flux interactions between the underlying surface and atmosphere. Limited by the influence of clouds, ET can only be estimated on cloud-free days. In this study, a gap-filling method is proposed to acquire daily surface conductance, which was coupled into a Penman-Monteith (P-M) equation, to estimate the regional daily ET over the Hai River Basin. The gap-filling method is coupled with the canopy conductance, surface conductance and a simple time extension method, which provides more mechanisms and is more comprehensive. Field observations, including eddy covariance (EC) fluxes and meteorological elements from automatic weather station (AWS), were collected from two sites for calibration and validation. One site is located in Guantao County, which is cropped in a circular pattern with winter wheat and summer maize. The other site is located in Miyun County, which has orchard and summer maize crops. The P-M equation was inverted to the computed surface conductance at the field scale, and latent heat fluxes from EC were processed and converted to daily ET. The results show that the surface conductance model used in the gap-filling method performs well compared with the inverted surface conductance, which suggests that the model used here is reasonable. In addition, the relationship between the results estimated from the gap-filling method and EC measurements is more pronounced than that between the other method and the EC measurements. The R 2 values improve from 0.68 to 0.75 at the Guantao site and from 0.79 to 0.88 at the Miyun site. The improvement mainly occurs during the growing crop season, according to the temporal variations in the results.
Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design to Requirements Elicitation - A Case Study

It is already agreed that requirements have a critical impact on the quality and users satisfaction of the resulting software. In this work, web information systems are reviewed from the perspective of organizational semiotics as being part of an organization, which comprises work practices, rules and views of the same system by different stakeholders. This paper presents a case study, where artifacts of the organizational semiotics are exploited in a collaborative and participatory way to requirements elicitation of a web information system
Dietary Flavonoids and Colorectal Adenoma Recurrence in the Polyp Prevention Trial

Two recent case-control studies suggested that some flavonoid subgroups may play a role in preventing colorectal cancer. Previous prospective cohort studies generally reported no association; however, only a small subset of flavonoids was evaluated and partial flavonoid databases were used. We used the newly constructed U.S. Department of Agriculture flavonoid database to examine the association between consumption of total flavonoids, 6 flavonoid subgroups, and 29 individual flavonoids with adenomatous polyp recurrence in the Polyp Prevention Trial. The Polyp Prevention Trial was a randomized dietary intervention trial, which examined the effectiveness of a low-fat, high-fiber, high-fruit, and high-vegetable diet on adenoma recurrence. Intakes of flavonoids were estimated from a food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression models (adjusted for age, body mass index, sex, regular non–steroidal anti-inflammatory use, and dietary fiber intake) were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for both any and advanced adenoma recurrence within quartiles of energy-adjusted flavonoid intake (baseline, during the trial, and change during the trial). Total flavonoid intake was not associated with any or advanced adenoma recurrence. However, high intake of flavonols, which are at greater concentrations in beans, onions, apples, and tea, was associated with decreased risk of advanced adenoma recurrence (4th versus 1st quartile during the trial; odds ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.11, 0.53; Ptrend = 0.0006). Similar inverse associations were observed to a smaller extent for isoflavonoids, the flavonol kaempferol, and the isoflavonoids genistein and formononetin. Our data suggest that a flavonol-rich diet may decrease the risk of advanced adenoma recurrence. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(6):1344–53)
Aquaculture biological waste as culture medium to cultivation of Ankistrodesmus gracilis ( Reinsch )

Current study investigated the effectiveness of different macrophytes as culture media for Ankistrodesmus gracilis in laboratory conditions. Significant difference (p < 0.05) was reported in cell density with regard to conventional culture medium (CHU12) and macrophytes culture media. Mean cell density in NPK, Eichhornia crassipes and E. azurea media was higher (p < 0.05) than in conventional culture medium. Chlorophyll-a was higher than 1 g.L-1, except in CHU12 (0.7 ± 0.4 g.L -1) and T. domingensis (0.8 ± 0.3 g.L-1) media. Nitrate decreased sharply as from the 7th-day of the experiment. Ammonium and total phosphorus were highest in culture media and ranged between 0.4 g.L-1 (P. cordata medium) and 1.7 g.L-1 (CHU12 medium) for ammonium, and between 0.8 g.L -1 (CHU12 medium) and 1.9 g.L -1 (T. domingensis medium) for total phosphorus. Results revealed inorganic fertilizer and macrophytes combined with vitamins may be effective as culture media and strongly supports the growth of Ankistrodesmus gracilis, since cell density and biochemical composition are similar to or higher than conventional culture medium (CHU12). Macrophyte is a tool for aquaculture since biological wastes may be used with nutrients to improve the cultivation of microalgae.
Universal Real-time Monitoring System Based on Ethernet in Test and Measurement Domain

In test and measurement systems, real-time monitoring is the effective method for obtaining the running condi- tions and making fault diagnosis in testing system. In this paper, a universal real-time monitoring system based on User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is discussed. Firstly, the component structure of monitoring system is introduced, and compari- sons of various kinds of data transmission modes between the front-end acquisition module and the back-end monitoring module are made. Secondly, the characteristics and data communication mode of UDP are discussed, and the general pro- cess of real-time data analysis and curve plotting are studied. Meanwhile, a multi-channel data acquisition and monitoring system application instance for aerospace testing is designed and analyzed. It is demonstrated that the proposed design method can satisfy the test requirements, and because of the universality, which can be applied to other test fields by means of appropriate transformation or revise.
Interpreting Deposition Behavior of Polydisperse Surface-Modified Nanoparticles Using QCM-D and Sand-Packed Columns

The rising use of surface-modified engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) will result in their increased presence in aquatic environments; hence, a better understanding of their environmental fate is needed. In this study, silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) capped with organic acids of varying alkyl-chain length were used as model functionalized ENPs. Particle deposition kinetics were evaluated using sand-packed columns and a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). In general, an increase in solution ionic strength resulted in increased particle deposition in both columns and the QCM-D. However, the overall trends in Si-NC deposition with regard to alkyl-chain length differed in the two experimental systems, revealing how the system geometry can play a key role in defining the contribution of different particle retention mechanisms. To interpret these differences in the Si-NC deposition behavior, multiple characterization techniques were used: dynamic light scattering, nanoparticle tracking analysis, scanning ion occlusion sensing, and laser Doppler velocimetry. QCM-D also revealed insights into the influence of the particle surface coatings on particle stability. The ratio of the two QCM-D output parameters revealed that the rigidity of the particle-collector interfacial bonds varied with the alkyl-chain length, whereby particles capped with longer alkyl chains were less rigidly attached to the silica surface. Moreover, it is shown that the interpretation of ENP deposition behavior using QCM-D is limited by the presence of large-particle aggregates (‡ 700 nm in this study) which do not fully couple to the QCM-D sensor. Under such conditions, QCM-D measurements of ENP deposition should be interpreted with caution as the microbalance response cannot be directly considered as deposited mass. This study improves our understanding of the role that surface modifiers and ENP aggregates play in ENP deposition kinetics in efforts to predict the transport and fate of ENPs in natural and engineered aquatic environments.
Cachexia in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: new insights and therapeutic perspective

Cachexia and muscle wasting are well recognized as common and partly reversible features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), adversely affecting disease progression and prognosis. This argues for integration of weight and muscle maintenance in patient care. In this review, recent insights are presented in the diagnosis of muscle wasting in COPD, the pathophysiology of muscle wasting, and putative mechanisms involved in a disturbed energy balance as cachexia driver. We discuss the therapeutic implications of these new insights for optimizing and personalizing management of COPD‐induced cachexia.
Inclusion Mechanism and Heat Stability of the Complex of 4'-Hydroxychalcone and Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin

Purpose: To study the inclusion mechanism and heat stability of the complex formed between 4'hydroxychalcone and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) Methods: The inclusion mechanism of the complex of 4'-hydroxychalcone and HP-β-CD was investigated by phase solubility method. The physicochemical properties of the complex were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and x-ray diffractometry (XRD) while the heat stability of the complex was measured by thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC). Results: The stability constants of the complexes were higher than those of β-CD at all temperatures. For the formation of the complex, Gibbs energy (-16.87 KJ/mol at 20 °C) was negative, and positive entropy (31.15 KJ/mol) along with a slightly positive enthalpic change (163.89 J/mol) was also found. IR and XRD analysis showed that the physical phase of 4-hydroxylchalcone was changed and completely dispersed in HP-β-CD while TG/DSC data indicate that the starting decomposition temperature of 4'hydroxychalcone (200 °C) was significantly enhanced to 397 °C due to the formation of inclusion complex with HP-β-CD in the solid state. Conclusion: The stability constant of HP-β-CD for 4'-hydroxychalcone is higher than that of β-CD. The inclusion is a spontaneous process, driven by hydrophobic forces. The heat stability of 4’hydroxychalcone is significantly enhanced by complexing with HP-β-CD.
Suradnja roditelja i škole

Polazeci od suradnje roditelja i ucitelja jos iz vremena kad skolovanje nije bilo obvezno, preko vremena prvih roditeljskih sastanaka, dolazi se do sredisnje teme ovog rada – suradnje roditelja i skole kao uvijek aktualne pedagoske problematike. Tako se od razmisljanja o suradnji roditelja i skole nekada doslo do suradnje roditelja i skole danas. Istaknute su dobrobiti suradnje, razlicita gledista i definicije suradnje te razliciti aspekti suradnje roditelja i skole. Procjena suradnje roditelja i skole danas temelji se na empirijskom dijelu ovog rada. Rezultati tog dijela rada pokazuju da su stajalista roditelja o suradnji sa skolom pretežno pozitivna te da su uvjetovana razlicitim cimbenicima (tri ekstrahirana cimbenika su suradnja, akcija i pomoc, evaluacija). Utvrđen je i nizak angažman roditelja u suradnickim aktivnostima sa skolom. Istraživanju u empirijskom dijelu ovog rada, koji ispituje stajalista roditelja prema suradnji sa skolom, prislo se iskljucivo s polazista roditelja
EXTRACTING THE X FACTOR IN HUMAN PARSING 3 Factored module Factored task Aggregation module Input Main task Shared features Silhouette Body parts The X Factor bottleneck layers bottleneck layers bottleneck layers Initial module bottleneck layers initial block

We propose a real-time and lightweight multi-task style ConvNet (termed a Factored ConvNet) for human body parsing in images or video. Factored ConvNets have isolated areas which perform known sub-tasks, such as object localization or edge detection. We call this area and sub-task pair an X factor. Unlike multi-task ConvNets which have independent tasks, the Factored ConvNet’s sub-task has direct effect on the main task outcome. In this paper we show how to isolate the X factor of foreground/background (f/b) subtraction from the main task of segmenting human body images into 31 different body part types. Knowledge of this X factor leads to a number of benefits for the Factored ConvNet: 1) Ease of network transfer to other image domains, 2) ability to personalize to humans in video and 3) easy model performance boosts. All achieved by either efficient network update or replacement of the X factor whilst avoiding catastrophic forgetting of previously learnt body part dependencies and structure. We show these benefits on a large dataset of images and also on YouTube videos.
Multi-task Learning for Author Profiling with Hierarchical Features

Author profiling is an important but challenging task. In this paper, we propose a novel Multi-Task learning framework for Author Profiling (MTAP), in which a document modeling module is shared across three different author profiling tasks (i.e., age, gender and job classification tasks). To further boost author profiling, we integrate hierarchical features learned by different models. Concretely, we employ CNN, LSTM and topic model to learn the character-level, word-level and topic-level features, respectively. MTAP thus leverages the benefits of supervised deep neural neural networks as well as an unsupervised probabilistic generative model to enhance the document representation learning. Experimental results on a real-life blog dataset show that MTAP has robust superiority over competitors and sets state-of-the-art for all the three author profiling tasks
Quantitative Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Spectroscopic Imaging of the Brain: A Didactic Review

This article presents background information related to methodology for estimating brain metabolite concentration from magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging measurements of living human brain tissue. It reviews progress related to this methodology, with emphasis placed on progress reported during the past 10 years. It is written for a target audience composed of radiologists and magnetic resonance imaging technologists. It describes in general terms the relationship between MRS signal amplitude and concentration. It then presents an overview of the many practical problems associated with deriving concentration solely from absolute measured signal amplitudes and demonstrates how a various signal calibration approaches can be successfully used. The concept of integrated signal amplitude is presented with examples that are helpful for qualitative reading of MRS data as well as for understanding the methodology used for quantitative measurements. The problems associated with the accurate measurement of individual signal amplitudes in brain spectra having overlapping signals from other metabolites and overlapping nuisance signals from water and lipid are presented. Current approaches to obtaining accurate amplitude estimates with least-squares fitting software are summarized.
A novel stress measurement system with handhold electrodes in massage chairs

In this paper, a novel stress measurement system using electrocardiograph (ECG) in massage chairs is presented. Unlike most of the existing stress monitoring systems, the proposed ECG monitoring system consists of handhold electrodes. We propose two algorithms to reduce main problems of dry and noncontact electrodes from the coupling between the skin and electrodes. Those algorithms are thresholding method based on the median absolute deviation for R-peak detection and reconstruction of missing data using K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm. We show experimental results for the developed stress measurement system.
Seasonal Effects on Human Striatal Presynaptic Dopamine Synthesis

Past studies in rodents have demonstrated circannual variation in central dopaminergic activity as well as a host of compelling interactions between melatonin—a scotoperiod-responsive neurohormone closely tied to seasonal adaptation—and dopamine in the striatum and in midbrain neuronal populations with striatal projections. In humans, seasonal effects have been described for dopaminergic markers in CSF and postmortem brain, and there exists a range of affective, psychotic, and substance abuse disorders that have been associated with both seasonal symptomatic fluctuations and dopamine neurotransmission abnormalities. Together, these data indirectly suggest a potentially crucial link between circannual biorhythms and central dopamine systems. However, seasonal effects on dopamine function in the living, healthy human brain have never been tested. For this study, 86 healthy adults underwent 18F-DOPA positron emission tomography scanning, each at a different time throughout the year. Striatal regions of interest (ROIs) were evaluated for differences in presynaptic dopamine synthesis, measured by the kinetic rate constant, Ki, between fall–winter and spring–summer scans. Analyses comparing ROI average Ki values showed significantly greater putamen 18F-DOPA Ki in the fall–winter relative to the spring–summer group (p = 0.038). Analyses comparing voxelwise Ki values confirmed this finding and evidenced intrastriatal localization of seasonal effects to the caudal putamen (p < 0.05, false-discovery rate corrected), a region that receives dopaminergic input predominantly from the substantia nigra. These data are the first to directly demonstrate a seasonal effect on striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis and merit future research aimed at elucidating underlying mechanisms and implications for neuropsychiatric disease and new treatment approaches.
Probing the Electronic Structure of Small Molecular Anions by Photoelectron Imaging

We outline the methodology of negative-ion photoelectron imaging and general aspects of interpretation of the results using the CS2- and S2- anions as model systems. The CS2- images are recorded using 800, 530, 400, and 267 nm photons. The observed transitions result in the formation of CS2 in the X 1Σg+, a 3B2, b 3A2, and A 1A2 states. The S2- measurements are carried out at the same wavelengths with the exception of 800 nm. The resulting images reveal the detachment transitions assigned to the X 3Σg-, a 1Δg, b 1Σg+, c 1Σu-, and A‘ 3Δu states of the neutral. The choice of detachment wavelengths serves as a “zoom” selectively focusing on chosen transitions, in some cases allowing the observation of their vibrational structure. The photoelectron spectra and angular distributions obtained from the images are used to discuss the electronic structure and detachment dynamics. In particular, two approaches to interpreting the angular distributions are discussed. One method employs the Cooper−Zare central-potent.
Initial solid tumor testing (Stage 1) of AZD1480, an inhibitor of Janus kinases 1 and 2 by the pediatric preclinical testing program

AZD1480 is an ATP competitive inhibitor of Janus kinases 1 and 2 (JAK1, 2) that has been shown to inhibit the growth of solid tumor models. This agent was selected for testing the putative role of JAK/STAT signaling in the standard PPTP solid tumor models.