Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synchronous and Metachronous Endocervical and Ovarian Neoplasms: Evidence Supporting Interpretation of the Ovarian Neoplasms as Metastatic Endocervical Adenocarcinomas Simulating Primary Ovarian Surface Epithelial Neoplasms

The vast majority of endocervical adenocarcinomas are high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-related neoplasms, characterized by p16 expression and frequent loss of hormone receptor expression, which infrequently metastasize to the ovaries. We report 10 cases of endocervical adenocarcinomas with ovarian metastases in which the ovarian tumors simulated primary ovarian surface epithelial neoplasms. The presence of HPV DNA was assessed to determine whether the ovarian neoplasms were metastases or independent neoplasms. Immunohistochemistry for hormone receptors and p16 was also performed. The ovarian metastases presented concurrently with the primary endocervical tumors in 5 cases, subsequent to the endocervical tumors in 3 cases, and prior to diagnosis of the endocervical tumors in 2 cases. The ovarian tumors ranged in size from 2 to 30 cm, with tumors in 7 cases measuring 10 cm or greater. The ovarian tumors were unilateral in 8 cases and bilateral in 2. In all cases, the ovarian tumors were initially diagnosed as or thought to represent independent primary ovarian surface epithelial tumors (atypical proliferative [borderline] tumors or well-differentiated carcinomas of endometrioid or mucinous type). The endocervical tumors ranged in size from microscopic foci to 3 cm, with depth of invasion ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 cm; in 2 cases, the invasive foci qualified as microinvasive according to Fédération Internationale de Gynecologie et d'Obstetrique staging criteria for cervical carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma in situ was identified in all tumors. In all cases, the paired endocervical and ovarian tumors contained identical HPV types. All evaluable tumors were diffusely positive for p16; and in 8 cases, there was absent or only limited expression of hormone receptors. Two of the minimally invasive endocervical tumors were initially interpreted as adenocarcinoma in situ and not recognized as unequivocally invasive even when evaluated in conjunction with the histologically identical ovarian tumors. HPV DNA detection in the ovarian tumors of 2 patients without known cervical disease led to discovery of occult cervical adenocarcinomas in those patients. Endocervical adenocarcinomas, including some qualifying as microinvasive, can metastasize to the ovaries and simulate primary ovarian surface epithelial neoplasms. The presence of HPV DNA in these ovarian tumors confirms that they are metastatic endocervical adenocarcinomas.
Heat-Induced Synthesis of ς32 inEscherichia coli: Structural and Functional Dissection ofrpoH mRNA Secondary Structure

ABSTRACT The heat shock response in Escherichia coli depends primarily on the increased synthesis and stabilization of otherwise scarce and unstable ς32 (rpoH gene product), which is required for the transcription of heat shock genes. The heat-induced synthesis of ς32 occurs at the level of translation, and genetic evidence has suggested the involvement of a secondary structure at the 5′ portion (nucleotides −19 to +247) ofrpoH mRNA in regulation. We now present evidence for the mRNA secondary structure model by means of structure probing of RNA with chemical and enzymatic probes. A similar analysis of several mutant RNAs with a mutation predicted to alter a base pairing or with two compensatory mutations revealed altered secondary structures consistent with the expression and heat inducibility of the corresponding fusion constructs observed in vivo. These findings led us to assess the possible roles of each of the stem-loop structures by analyzing an additional set of deletions and base substitutions. The results indicated not only the primary importance of base pairings between the translation initiation region of ca. 20 nucleotides (the AUG initiation codon plus the “downstream box”) and the internal region of rpoH mRNA but also the requirement of appropriate stability of mRNA secondary structures for characteristic thermoregulation, i.e., repression at a low temperature and induction upon a temperature upshift.
Assessment of the prognostic relevance of serum anti-p53 antibodies in epithelial ovarian cancer.

The objective of this study was to assess the prognostic relevance of preoperative serum anti-p53 antibodies in epithelial ovarian cancer. These autoantibodies were detected with a new generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in blood samples preoperatively drawn from 86 patients with this malignancy. Serum anti-p53 antibodies were found in 3 (10.0%) of the 30 patients with stage I-II and 15 (26.8%) of the 56 patients with stage III-IV epithelial ovarian cancer (P = 0.09). We assessed in detail 44 patients with stage III-IV disease who underwent six cycles of first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. A pathological complete response at second-look was achieved by none of the 15 patients with serum anti-p53 antibodies compared to 24.1% of the 29 patients without autoantibodies (P = 0.09). However, the preoperative serum anti-p53 antibody status had no prognostic relevance for progression-free survival and survival. In conclusion, the assessment of preoperative serum anti-p53 antibodies seems to have a limited clinical value in the management of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.
Fast Parallel-Prefix Architectures for Modulo 2n-1 Addition with a Single Representation of Zero

Novel modulo 2n-1 addition algorithms for residue number system (RNS) applications are presented. The proposed algorithms depart from the traditional approach of modulo 2n-1 addition by setting the input carry in the first stage of the addition to one, which only ever produces one representation of zero. The resulting architectures not only offer significant speedup in a modulo 2n-1 addition, but they can also offer a reduction in area and thus provide improvements in the cost functions area times delay2 and energy times delay. The superiority of these architectures is validated through back-annotated VLSI designs using 130 nm CMOS technology.
A fairytale narrative for community sport? Exploring the politics of sport social enterprise

ABSTRACT With voluntary sports clubs operating within competitive leisure markets and local governments responding to austerity by transferring sport facilities to community groups, such organisations are encouraged to become social enterprises. Driven by social entrepreneurs embracing ‘Robin Hood’ business models, they apparently deliver innovative solutions to social problems. Such fairytale narratives are increasingly popular in Scotland with its reputation as a ‘happening place’ for social policy innovation. Using case study material from an award-winning football social enterprise, I outline how time spent in their deprived community establishing needs and ownership aided success. Also, recruiting local youth workers, developing authentic partnerships, and creating a non-judgemental environment delivered a positive ‘ripple effect’ beyond that possible from class-blind sport provision. However, ‘win win’ rhetoric ignores stresses from meeting financial requirements and moral dilemmas from trade-offs between social and business goals. The organisation’s ‘non-establishment’ nature is partially undermined by emphasising local poverty of aspiration and the psychological thinking within Dweck’s ‘Growth Mindset’ and Duckworth’s ‘Grit’ research. The resulting focus on individual effort and learning from failure chimes with neoliberal thinking, ignoring how widening societal inequality and politics causes local problems and the need for structural changes for wider social impact.
The Digital Economy, ICT and Economic Growth in the CEE Countries

This paper focuses on the relationship between Information and Communication Technologies, GDP growth and productivity in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. It elaborates on measures of the digital economy/information society, emphasizing the role of complementary factors to ICT that are crucial for the productive use of these General Purpose Technologies. The paper discusses the impact of technical progress, induced by the development of ICT, on sources of economic growth by describing changes in the contribution of ICT capital and non-ICT capital, labour and TFP to GDP growth in the CEE and EU-15 countries.
Transient focal ischemia in rat brain differentially regulates mRNA expression of protease‐activated receptors 1 to 4

Degeneration or survival of cerebral tissue after ischemic injury depends on the source, intensity, and duration of the insult. In the model of focal ischemia, reduced blood flow results in a cascade of pathophysiologic events, including inflammation, excitotoxicity, and platelet activation at the site of injury. One serine protease that is associated closely with and produced in response to central nervous system (CNS) injury is thrombin. Thrombin enters the injury cascade in brain either via a compromised blood‐brain barrier or possibly from endogenous prothrombin. Thrombin mediates its action through the protease‐activated receptor family (PAR‐1, ‐3, and ‐4). PARs belong to the superfamily of G protein‐coupled receptors with a 7‐transmembrane domain structure and are activated by proteolytic cleavage of their N‐terminus. We showed that thrombin can be neuroprotective or deleterious when present at different concentrations before and during oxygen‐glucose deprivation, an in vitro model of ischemia. We examined the change in mRNA expression levels of PAR‐1 to 4 as a result of transient focal ischemia in rat brain, induced by microinjection of endothelin near the middle cerebral artery. Using semiquantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis, after ischemic insult on the ipsilesional side, PAR‐1 was found to be downregulated significantly, whereas PAR‐2 mRNA levels decreased only moderately. PAR‐3 was upregulated transiently and then downregulated, and PAR‐4 mRNA levels showed the most striking (2.5‐fold) increase 12 hr after ischemia, in the injured side. In the contralateral hemisphere, mRNA expression was also affected, where decreased mRNA levels were observed for PAR‐1, ‐2, and –3, whereas PAR‐4 levels were reduced only after 7 days. Taken together, these data suggest involvement of the thrombin receptors PAR‐1, PAR‐3, and PAR‐4 in the pathophysiology of brain ischemia. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Racemic Citalopram: A 5-Year Experience in Sweden, 1992–1997

Racemic citalopram (CIT) was introduced in Sweden in 1992 for management of major depression. During a 5-year period, 1992 to 1997, serum samples of CIT and desmethylcitalopram (DCIT) were collected for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) from patients from all over Sweden. These samples were accompanied by clinical information on a specially designed TDM request form. They represented men and women of various ages (11–94 years) usually on multiple concomitant medications and treated in a naturalistic setting. The TDM samples eligible for evaluation (n = 749), all trough values at steady state, were studied with respect to inter- and intraindividual pharmacokinetic variability. Extensive, interindividual serum concentration variability was seen on all dose levels. For dose-corrected concentrations (C/D) and for clearance (Cl) we found the coefficient of variation (CV) to be approximately 55% for all variables (C/D CIT, C/D DCIT, the ratio DCIT to CIT, and for Cl CIT). The intraindividual variations over time for the same parameters were 30% to 35%. On a population level, signs of a possible saturation of CYP2D6 associated with increasing DCIT-to-CIT ratios with increasing daily doses was observed. Age and gender affected the pharmacokinetics of CIT and DCIT. Women showed significantly higher C/D CIT and C/D DCIT and lower Cl CIT values compared with men, and patients aged more than 65 years had higher C/D CIT and C/D DCIT and lower Cl CIT values compared with younger patients. Finally, concomitant medication affected the outcome of serum concentrations by a general increase in C/D CIT and C/D DCIT but without alteration in the DCIT-to-CIT ratio. Thus, this tendency of changes in the CIT disposition when multiple drugs are used (and multiple diseases are prevailing? ) seems more general in character than specific for a certain drug or type of drugs.
Determining the Minimal Clinically Important Difference and Responsiveness of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI): Further Data

Aims: To determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and its responsiveness to change in inflammatory skin diseases. Methods: A longitudinal study: at stage 1, patients completed the DLQI and a disease severity global question; at stage 2, a global rating of change in quality of life (QoL; Global Rating of Change Questionnaire, GRCQ) was added and used as an anchor to measure the MCID of the DLQI. Results: 192 patients completed stage 1 and 107 completed stage 2. The mean DLQI score at stage 1 was 9.8 and 7.4 at stage 2 with a mean change of 2.4 (p < 0.0001). 31 patients experienced a ‘small change' in their QoL (±3 and ±2) on the GRCQ. The mean corresponding change in DLQI scores was 3.3, which is regarded as the approximate MCID. Conclusions: Previous estimates of the MCID of the DLQI have varied from 3 to 5. Although this study demonstrated a MCID of 3.3, we recommend that the MCID in inflammatory skin diseases should be 4.
A novel pixel/subpixel target detection method for hyperspectral image

Target detection is always one of the most important issues in hyperspectral image (HSI) processing. Traditional methods for hyperspectral image target detection always face the problem of lack of information. The training set might be limited in number and incomplete. Sometimes, we even do not have the training set, and the only known prior information is a reference target spectral library. Thus, traditional machine learning approaches cannot perform well in these situations due to the lack of information. This paper puts forward an unsupervised method for detecting pixel/subpixel targets in HSI. In this paper, data field theory is first introduced into the data modeling. Combining with the endmember extract technique, the samples in the high-dimension spectral space are mapped into a low-dimension feature space. Then, an unsupervised learning method is applied to detect the pixel/subpixel targets based on the target properties. According to the experimental results, our method can effectively detect pixel/subpixel targets in HIS with low false alarm rate.
A safer future : global public health security in the 21st century

The World Health Report 2007 - A Safer Future : Global Public Health Security in the 21st Century marks a turning point in the history of public health, and signals what could be one of the biggest advances in health security in half a century. It shows how the world is at increasing risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics, industrial accidents, natural disasters, and other health emergencies which can rapidly become threats to global public health security. The report explains how the revised International Health Regulations (2005), which came into force this year, helps countries to work together to identify risks and act to contain and control them. The regulations are needed because no single country, regardless of capability or wealth, can protect itself from outbreaks and other hazards without the cooperation of others. The report says the prospect of a safer future is within reach -- and that this is both a collective aspiration and a mutual responsibility.
Diagnostic value of troponin T for alterations in left ventricular mass and function in dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is related to left ventricular (LV) mass in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Furthermore, cTnT reflects the severity of systolic dysfunction in patients with heart diseases. We tested the diagnostic value of cTnT for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and LV systolic dysfunction in a large group of clinically stable hemodialysis patients without heart failure. RESULTS CTnT was significantly (P < 0.001) higher in patients with LVH than in those with normal LV mass. In a multiple logistic regression model, adjusting for potential confounders (including cardiac ischemia), systolic pressure and cTnT (both P = 0.003) were the strongest correlates of LVH. Similarly, cTnT was significantly higher (P = 0.005) in patients with systolic dysfunction than in those with normal LV function and in a multiple logistic regression model cTnT ranked as the second independent correlate of this alteration after male sex. Serum cTnT had a high positive prediction value for the diagnosis of LVH (87%) but its negative prediction value was relatively low (44%). The positive predictive value of cTnT for LV dysfunction was low (25%) while its negative predictive value was high (93%). A combined analysis including systolic pressure (for the diagnosis of LVH) and sex (for the diagnosis of LV systolic dysfunction) augmented the diagnostic estimates to an important extent (95% positive prediction value for LVH and 98% negative prediction value for LV systolic dysfunction). CONCLUSIONS CTnT has a fairly good diagnostic potential for the identification of LVH and for the exclusion of LV systolic dysfunction in patients with ESRD without heart failure. This marker may be useful for the screening of alterations in LV mass and function in clinically stable hemodialysis patients.
An effective technique to improve generator-set efficiency for charging battery using IPMSG

In order to use a generator-set for charging battery of the stand-alone hybrid renewable power generation system in remote area efficiently, the generator-set needs to be operated in various speeds considering battery voltage. The conventional field excited synchronous generator, which is used to convert mechanical power to electrical power from internal combustion engine (ICE), cannot handle this important function. Therefore, this paper presents an effective technique to improve the efficiency of the generator-set using interior permanent magnet synchronous generator (IPMSG). Two designed IPMSGs including 6 cm and 8 cm stator core lengths, which are be able to operate in the maximum efficiency speed region of the ICE, are proposed for selecting the appropriate generator in this study. Finally, the testing results show that the proposed 8 cm stator core length IPMSG with suitable operation can be effectively and efficiently used as the generator-set for charging the 48 V battery systems.
Antiviral Activity of Trappin-2 and Elafin In Vitro and In Vivo against Genital Herpes

ABSTRACT Serine protease inhibitor elafin (E) and its precursor, trappin-2 (Tr), have been associated with mucosal resistance to HIV-1 infection. We recently showed that Tr/E are among principal anti-HIV-1 molecules in cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) fluid, that E is ∼130 times more potent than Tr against HIV-1, and that Tr/E inhibited HIV-1 attachment and transcytosis across human genital epithelial cells (ECs). Since herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is a major sexually transmitted infection and risk factor for HIV-1 infection and transmission, we assessed Tr/E contribution to defense against HSV-2. Our in vitro studies demonstrated that pretreatment of endometrial (HEC-1A) and endocervical (End1/E6E7) ECs with human Tr-expressing adenovirus (Ad/Tr) or recombinant Tr/E proteins before or after HSV-2 infection resulted in significantly reduced virus titers compared to those of controls. Interestingly, E was ∼7 times more potent against HSV-2 infection than Tr. Conversely, knockdown of endogenous Tr/E by small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly increased HSV-2 replication in genital ECs. Recombinant Tr and E reduced viral attachment to genital ECs by acting indirectly on cells. Further, lower viral replication was associated with reduced secretion of proinflammatory interleukin 8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and decreased NF-κB nuclear translocation. Additionally, protected Ad/Tr-treated ECs demonstrated enhanced interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) nuclear translocation and increased antiviral IFN-β in response to HSV-2. Lastly, in vivo studies of intravaginal HSV-2 infection in Tr-transgenic mice (Etg) showed that despite similar virus replication in the genital tract, Etg mice had reduced viral load and TNF-α in the central nervous system compared to controls. Collectively, this is the first experimental evidence highlighting anti-HSV-2 activity of Tr/E in female genital mucosa.
Estimating the effective number of looks in interferometric SAR data

The probability density function (pdf) of the multi-look interferometric phase between two complex synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is parameterized by the number of looks and the complex correlation coefficient. In practice, adjacent pixels in a real SAR interferogram, are statistically dependent due to filtering, and hence, the number of looks is usually smaller than the number of samples averaged. It has been shown that compensation with an effective number of looks, rather than an intractable rederivation of the pdf, can account for the statistical dependence. This paper addresses the challenge of how to determine a suitable value for the effective number of looks. It is shown that an optimum value can be found via a maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE) based on the interferometric phase pdf. However, since such an MLE is computationally intensive and numerically unstable, an estimator based on the method of moments (MoM) possessing similar fidelity is proposed. MoM is fast and robust and can be used in operational applications, such as determining constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection thresholds for moving-target detection in SAR along-track interferometry.
A taxonomy for goal setting in the care of persons with dementia

OBJECTIVE: Develop a taxonomy for understanding and classifying goals in the care of persons with dementia.DESIGN: Qualitative study using open-ended interviews with key informants and the constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis.SETTING: The geriatric assessment center at a large academic medical center in Connecticut.PARTICIPANTS: Key informant interviews with 36 subjects: consecutive patients receiving geriatric assessment at the center and their primary family caregivers, case managers, and physicians of patients.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Goals, or desired outcomes, for the patient’s care as described by patients, primary family caregivers, case managers, and physicians were the main measurements. Participant interviews were conducted until the point of theoretical saturation, i.e., until further interviews no longer provided new concepts. All participants articulated at least one goal. Specific goals were characterized by a limited number of goal attributes resulting in a taxonomy, or consistent classification system, for reported goals. These attributes include domain (or content), specificity, time frame, and level of challenge.CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggested that patients, primary family caregivers, and clinicians can articulate goals of care and may bring differing perspectives to the goal-setting process. The research identified a taxonomy that may facilitate negotiation of goals by revealing important, and perhaps overlooked, aspects of goals and the goal-setting process.