Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hospital Volume and Late Survival After Cancer Surgery

Context:Although hospital procedure volume is clearly related to operative mortality with many cancer procedures, its effect on late survival is not well characterized. Objective:To examine relationships between hospital volume and late survival after different types of cancer resections. Design:Using the national Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database (1992–2002), we identified all patients undergoing major resections for lung, esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, colon, and bladder cancer (n = 64,047). Relationships between hospital volume and survival were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for patient characteristics and use of adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy. Study Participants: U.S. Medicare patients residing in SEER regions. Main Outcome Measures: 5-year survival. Results:Although there were statistically significant relationships between hospital volume and 5-year survival with all 6 cancer types, the relative importance of volume varied markedly. Absolute differences in 5-year survival probabilities rates between low-volume hospitals (LVHs) and high-volume hospitals (HVHs) ranged from 17% for esophageal cancer resection (17% vs. 34%, respectively) to only 3% for colon cancer resection (45% vs. 48%). Absolute differences in 5-year survival between LVHs and HVHs fell between these ranges for lung (6%), gastric (6%), pancreatic (5%), and bladder cancer (4%). Volume-related differences in late survival could not be attributed to differences in rates of adjuvant therapy. Conclusions:Along with lower operative mortality, HVHs have better late survival rates with selected cancer resections than their lower-volume counterparts. Mechanisms underlying their better outcomes and thus opportunities for improvement remain to be identified.
Capacity Limits and Performance Analysis of Cognitive Radio With Imperfect Channel Knowledge

Cognitive radio (CR) design aims to increase spectrum utilization by allowing the secondary users (SUs) to coexist with the primary users (PUs), as long as the interference caused by the SUs to each PU is properly regulated. At the SU, channel-state information (CSI) between its transmitter and the PU receiver is used to calculate the maximum allowable SU transmit power to limit the interference. We assume that this CSI is imperfect, which is an important scenario for CR systems. In addition to a peak received interference power constraint, an upper limit to the SU transmit power constraint is also considered. We derive a closed-form expression for the mean SU capacity under this scenario. Due to imperfect CSI, the SU cannot always satisfy the peak received interference power constraint at the PU and has to back off its transmit power. The resulting capacity loss for the SU is quantified using the cumulative-distribution function of the interference at the PU. Additionally, we investigate the impact of CSI quantization. To investigate the SU error performance, a closed-form average bit-error-rate (BER) expression was also derived. Our results are confirmed through comparison with simulations.
Comfort radicalism and NEETs: a conservative praxis

Young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) are construed by policy-makers as a pressing problem about which something should be done. Such young people’s lack of employment is thought to pose difficulties for wider society in relation to social cohesion and inclusion, and it is feared that they will become a ‘lost generation’. This paper draws upon English research, seeking to historicise the debate whilst acknowledging that these issues have a much wider purchase. The notion of NEETs rests alongside longstanding concerns of the English state and middle classes, addressing unruly male working-class youth as well as the moral turpitude of working class girls. Waged labour and domesticity are seen as a means to integrate such groups into society thereby generating social cohesion. The paper places the debate within it socio-economic context and draws on theorisations of cognitive capitalism, Italian workerism, as well as emerging theories of antiwork to analyse these. It concludes by arguing that ‘radical’ approaches to NEETs that point towards inequities embedded in the social structure and call for social democratic solutions veer towards a form of comfort radicalism. Such approaches leave in place the dominance of capitalist relations as well as productivist orientations that celebrate waged labour.
IL-7 Enhances the Survival and Maintains the Size of Naive T Cells1

T cells require continual presence of extrinsic signals from their in vivo microenvironment to maintain viability. T cells removed from these signals and placed in tissue culture atrophied and died in a caspase-independent manner. Atrophy was characterized by smaller cell sizes, delayed mitogenic responses, and decreased glycolytic rate. Bcl-2 expression remained constant in vitro despite ongoing cell death, indicating that endogenous Bcl-2 expression is insufficient to explain the life span and size control of lymphocytes in vivo and that cell-extrinsic signals provided may be required to maintain both cell viability and size in vivo. One such signal, IL-7, was found to maintain both the size and survival of neglected T cells in vitro. IL-7 was not unique, because the common γ-chain cytokines IL-2, IL-4, and IL-15, as well as the gp130 cytokine IL-6, also promoted both T cell survival and size maintenance. IL-7 did not induce resting T cells to proliferate. Instead, IL-7 stimulated neglected T cells to maintain their metabolic rate at levels comparable to freshly isolated cells. The survival and trophic effects of IL-7 could be separated because IL-7 was able to promote up-regulation of Bcl-2 and maintain cell viability independent of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin activity but was unable to prevent cellular atrophy when phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin were inhibited. These data demonstrate that T cells require the continuous presence of extrinsic signals not only to survive but also to maintain their size, metabolic activity, and the ability to respond rapidly to mitogenic signals.
Effect of vestibular stimulation on memory in postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

The current study was aimed to assess effect of vestibular stimulation on memory in postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis. 30 post menopausal women with diagnosed Osteoporesis for past 5 years were recruited for the study after written informed consent by convenient sampling. Permission obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of GEMS Hospital, Srikakulam. After selection they were randomly grouped into control and intervention groups. Vestibular stimulation was achieved by swinging on a swing, according to their comfort. (Back to front direction) as previously described. Standardized spatial and verbal memory test was used to assess the spatial and verbal memory. Vestibular stimulation is found to be an effective method to improve cognition. Hence we recommend further detailed studies to support implementation of vestibular stimulation in clinical practice.
A Molecular-Modeling Toolbox Aimed at Bridging the Gap between Medicinal Chemistry and Computational Sciences

In the current era of high-throughput drug discovery and development, molecular modeling has become an indispensable tool for identifying, optimizing and prioritizing small-molecule drug candidates. The required background in computational chemistry and the knowledge of how to handle the complex underlying protocols, however, might keep medicinal chemists from routinely using in silico technologies. Our objective is to encourage those researchers to exploit existing modeling technologies more frequently through easy-to-use graphical user interfaces. In this account, we present two innovative tools (which we are prepared to share with academic institutions) facilitating computational tasks commonly utilized in drug discovery and development: (1) the VirtualDesignLab estimates the binding affinity of small molecules by simulating and quantifying their binding to the three-dimensional structure of a target protein; and (2) the MD Client launches molecular dynamics simulations aimed at exploring the time-dependent stability of ligand–protein complexes and provides residue-based interaction energies. This allows medicinal chemists to identify sites of potential improvement in their candidate molecule. As a case study, we present the application of our tools towards the design of novel antagonists for the FimH adhesin.
Local intensity area descriptor for facial recognition in ideal and noise conditions

Abstract. We propose a local texture descriptor, local intensity area descriptor (LIAD), which is applied for human facial recognition in ideal and noisy conditions. Each facial image is divided into small regions from which LIAD histograms are extracted and concatenated into a single feature vector to represent the facial image. The recognition is performed using a nearest neighbor classifier with histogram intersection and chi-square statistics as dissimilarity measures. Experiments were conducted with LIAD using the ORL database of faces (Olivetti Research Laboratory, Cambridge), the Face94 face database, the Georgia Tech face database, and the FERET database. The results demonstrated the improvement in accuracy of our proposed descriptor compared to conventional descriptors [local binary pattern (LBP), uniform LBP, local ternary pattern, histogram of oriented gradients, and local directional pattern]. Moreover, the proposed descriptor was less sensitive to noise and had low histogram dimensionality. Thus, it is expected to be a powerful texture descriptor that can be used for various computer vision problems.
E-language, I-language and the order of parameter setting

1 The problem: learnability of underlying structure All the various grammatical characteristics of adult grammar will eventually appear in child language. They will do so successively, and reveal a learnability hierarchy that holds for all primary learners of the language. As a matter of fact Brown (1973:313ff) showed how 13 grammatical morphemes of English obey such an order of appearance. What we value in Brown is his attention to the order of learning step and his attempt to derive that order from the interaction of system factors and input factors. The first grammatical characteristics in child language are not arbitrary choices. They remind one of a Greenberg-like language typology. An explanatory relation between language typology, child language and universal grammar was brought to the fore in Jakobson (1942) for phonological features and, as he pointed out, the same relationship is likely to appear in syntax as well. Chomsky (1981) has proposed that primary language acquisition might be seen as a stepwise procedure that sets yes/no parameters in an a priori frame. This tallies well with Jakobson’s conception of language acquisition. The parameters of grammar are set according to a kind of learnability hierarchy. The setting of some typological parameters should be understood as a precondition for the setting of other more language specific parameters. Since child language acquisition is responsive to the typological features of the target language, it must be successful in picking up evidence from the input. However, there is a paradox here. The right selection of evidence must often abstract away from other construction specific and language specific features. For example, a so-called V-second language like Dutch moves all finite verbs into an operator position <+C>, where <+C> is defined as the first position c-commanding the predication IP/VP on the righthand side. The X <+C> head marks a prospective operator head and Spec,C a prospective operator phrase, as in (1). The V-second rearrangement of the finite verb V<+fin/+C> takes place only in root sentences and not in subordinates. Yet, as we will show in detail, practically all sentences addressed to the child are root sentences and these invariably have the finite verb in the <+C> position.
Beyond Benford's Law: Distinguishing Noise from Chaos

Determinism and randomness are two inherent aspects of all physical processes. Time series from chaotic systems share several features identical with those generated from stochastic processes, which makes them almost undistinguishable. In this paper, a new method based on Benford's law is designed in order to distinguish noise from chaos by only information from the first digit of considered series. By applying this method to discrete data, we confirm that chaotic data indeed can be distinguished from noise data, quantitatively and clearly.
Malignant cells facilitate lung metastasis by bringing their own soil

Metastatic cancer cells (seeds) preferentially grow in the secondary sites with a permissive microenvironment (soil). We show that the metastatic cells can bring their own soil—stromal components including activated fibroblasts—from the primary site to the lungs. By analyzing the efferent blood from tumors, we found that viability of circulating metastatic cancer cells is higher if they are incorporated in heterotypic tumor–stroma cell fragments. Moreover, we show that these cotraveling stromal cells provide an early growth advantage to the accompanying metastatic cancer cells in the lungs. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that partial depletion of the carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, which spontaneously spread to the lung tissue along with metastatic cancer cells, significantly decreases the number of metastases and extends survival after primary tumor resection. Finally, we show that the brain metastases from lung carcinoma and other carcinomas in patients contain carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, in contrast to primary brain tumors or normal brain tissue. Demonstration of the direct involvement of primary tumor stroma in metastasis has important conceptual and clinical implications for the colonization step in tumor progression.
Dose-Dense Primary Chemotherapy, as Part of Multidisciplinary Treatment, for Inoperable Stage III B Breast Cancer – Long-Term Results of a Phase II Trial

Background: Primary chemotherapy as part of multidisciplinary approach is the established treatment for inoperable stage III B breast cancer. The primary endpoints were conversion to operable disease and feasibility of conservative surgery (breast-conserving therapy: BCT); secondary were clinical and pathological complete response rate, local and distant control and safety of the primary regimen. Methods: Between 1998 and 2001, 40 inoperable breast cancer patients ≤60 years, 72% T4abc and 28% T4d, received 6 cycles of primary PEV dose-dense regimen: cisplatin 50 mg/m2, epirubicin 100 mg/m2 and vinorelbine 25 mg/m2, i.v. (q 14). Modified radical mastectomy (MRM) or BCT was performed, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy. Results: All patients were converted to operable disease, and BCT was feasible in 24% of T4abc patients. After a median follow-up of 84 months (range 58–96), local and distant relapses were 7.5% (0% in BCT ) and 25% (25% in BCT), respectively. Clinical response was 80% (clinical complete response [cCR]: 20%); pathological complete response (pCR) was 40% in breast, 50% in axilla (pLN0); 32% both in breast and axilla. Neutropenia (G4, 30%), leukopenia (G4, 25%), alopecia (G2, 100%), nausea and vomiting (G4, 20%) were the most common toxicities. Conclusions: The PEV dose-dense regimen seems to be highly effective in terms of resectability and pCR. Toxicity, mainly hematological, was acceptable. Successful BCT is feasible, in selected patients, without compromising local and distant control.
Zoophilia—Implications for Therapy

An exploratory, descriptive study of 82 men and 11 women who have had sexual relations with animals reveals that the majority of its subjects report being happy and not wanting to change. The study involved a 350-item, 23-page, anonymous questionnaire which was self-administered and returned via postal mail. Subjects reported that acceptance of their bestiality and zoophilia is the most important factor for their sense of well-being. Clinically, it appears that in most cases of true zoophilia, this condition is not treatable; the sexual acting out can be stopped when the person is highly motivated, but the attraction and the desire will always be there. Zoophiles may come to the attention of sex therapists, counselors, and educators for a variety of other reasons. Living a life of secrecy, as many zoophiles do, can lead to many psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation, and suicide ideation. However, many will not reveal their true selves unless they feel they can trust the mental health professional to be confidential, nonjudgmental, open-minded, and accepting. It is therefore imperative to learn more about the phenomena of bestiality and zoophilia so that sex therapists, counselors, and educators can understand zoophiles' therapeutic needs, and be able to discuss these issues with clients and students in a supportive, empathic manner.
A Scalable Visualization for Dynamic Data in Software System Hierarchies

Software systems can grow large, consisting of thousands of hierarchically organized elements like directories, subdirectories, files, and functions. Moreover, those hierarchy elements can carry additional information worth investigating for a software developer. Getting an overview of both the hierarchy and the attached static or dynamic data can become a tedious task if it is not supported by a visually scalable visualization technique. In this paper, we use a hierarchy visualization based on the visual metaphor of indentation to generate an overview of the software system hierarchy and easily attach additional attributes. The extra information is aligned with the hierarchy elements and, hence, supports visual comparisons of the attachments on different levels of hierarchical granularity. Through interaction, we provide additional views on the data, e.g., by filtering, hierarchy transformations, or details-on-demand. We illustrate the usefulness of our hierarchy visualization technique by means of an application example exploring data from the open-source software project jEdit. We investigated the readability of the hierarchy visualization with a user experiment, comparing indentation to node-link diagrams for varying sizes of a hierarchy.
Neuropsychological measures predict decline to Alzheimer's dementia from mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE Studies of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) show elevated rates of conversion to dementia at the group level. However, previous studies of the trajectory of MCI identify great heterogeneity of outcomes, with a significant proportion of individuals with MCI remaining stable over time, changing MCI subtype classification, or reverting to a normal cognitive state at long-term follow-up. METHOD The present study examined individual outcomes at 20 months in a group of older adults classified according to MCI subtypes. A total of 106 participants, 81 with different subtypes of MCI and 25 healthy controls, undertook longitudinal neuropsychological assessment of visual and verbal memory, attentional processing, executive functions, working memory capacity, and semantic memory. RESULTS At 20 months 12.3% of the MCI group progressed to dementia, 62.9% continued to meet MCI criteria, and 24.7% reverted to unimpaired levels of function. A discriminant function analysis predicted outcome at 20 months on the basis of baseline neuropsychological test performance with 86.3% accuracy. The analysis indicated that a pattern of impairments on visual episodic memory, verbal episodic memory, short-term memory, working memory, and attentional processing differentiated between participants who developed dementia, recovered from MCI, or remained in stable MCI. CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study raise questions regarding the specificity of existing criteria for the subtypes of MCI, with these results indicating a high degree of instability in classification over time. In addition, the results suggest that multidomain MCI is the most reliable precursor stage to the development of AD.
Changes in the size and composition of intracellular pools of nonesterified coenzyme A and coenzyme A thioesters in aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria

Intracellular levels of three coenzyme A (CoA) molecular species, i.e., nonesterified CoA (CoASH), acetyl-CoA, and malonyl-CoA, in a variety of aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria were analyzed by the acyl-CoA cycling method developed by us. It was demonstrated that there was an intrinsic difference between aerobes and facultative anaerobes in the changes in the size and composition of CoA pools. The CoA pools in the aerobic bacteria hardly changed and were significantly smaller than those of the facultatively anaerobic bacteria. On the other hand, in the facultatively anaerobic bacteria, the size and composition of the CoA pool drastically changed within minutes in response to the carbon and energy source provided. Acetyl-CoA was the major component of the CoA pool in the facultative anaerobes grown on sufficient glucose, although CoASH was dominant in the aerobes. Therefore, the acetyl-CoA/CoASH ratios in facultatively anaerobic bacteria were 10 times higher than those in aerobic bacteria. In Escherichia coli K-12 cells, the addition of reagents to inhibit the respiratory system led to a rapid decrease in the amount of acetyl-CoA with a concomitant increase in the amount of CoASH, whereas the addition of cerulenin, a specific inhibitor of fatty acid synthase, triggered the intracellular accumulation of malonyl-CoA. The acylation and deacylation of the three CoA molecular species coordinated with the energy-yielding systems and the restriction of the fatty acid-synthesizing system of cells. These data suggest that neither the accumulation of acetyl-CoA nor that of malonyl-CoA exerts negative feedback on pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, respectively.
Genetic analysis of Escherichia coli from porcine postweaning diarrhoea

SUMMARY A total of 79 Australian isolates of beta-haemolytic Escherichia coli from cases of porcine postweaning diarrhoea (PWD), and 18 isolates of serotype O 149:K91:K88 (F4) from unweaned pigs from Australia, Indonesia and Denmark, were examined by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. These were divided into 57 electrophoretic types (ETs), with an overall mean genetic diversity per enzyme locus of 0·466. This value closely resembled that previously recorded for the whole species. Not only was the collection diverse, but there was considerable genetic heterogeneity amongst PWD isolates of the same serogroup. Isolates from serogroups O 8 and O 138 were most varied, whilst many from serogroups O 141 and O 149 were more closely related. In contrast, the isolates from the unweaned pigs all belonged to only one ET.