Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Segmentation of Brain MR Images for Tumor Extraction by Combining Kmeans Clustering and Perona-Malik Anisotropic Diffusion Model

Segmentation of images holds an important position in the area of image processing. It becomes more important while typically dealing with medical images where pre-surgery and post surgery decisions are required for the purpose of initiating and speeding up the recovery process [5] Computer aided detection of abnormal growth of tissues is primarily motivated by the necessity of achieving maximum possible accuracy. Manual segmentation of these abnormal tissues cannot be compared with modern day’s high speed computing machines which enable us to visually observe the volume and location of unwanted tissues. A well known segmentation problem within MRI is the task of labeling voxels according to their tissue type which include White Matter (WM), Grey Matter (GM) , Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) and sometimes pathological tissues like tumor etc. This paper describes an efficient method for automatic brain tumor segmentation for the extraction of tumor tissues from MR images. It combines Perona and Malik anisotropic diffusion model for image enhancement and Kmeans clustering technique for grouping tissues belonging to a specific group. The proposed method uses T1, T2 and PD weighted gray level intensity images. The proposed technique produced appreciative results
Rapamycin promotes differentiation increasing βIII-tubulin, NeuN, and NeuroD while suppressing nestin expression in glioblastoma cells

Glioblastoma cells feature mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) up-regulation which relates to a variety of effects such as: lower survival, higher infiltration, high stemness and radio- and chemo-resistance. Recently, it was demonstrated that mTOR may produce a gene shift leading to altered protein expression. Therefore, in the present study we administered different doses of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin to explore whether the transcription of specific genes are modified. By using a variety of methods we demonstrate that rapamycin stimulates gene transcription related to neuronal differentiation while inhibiting stemness related genes such as nestin. In these experimental conditions, cell phenotype shifts towards a pyramidal neuron-like shape owing long branches. Rapamycin suppressed cell migration when exposed to fetal bovine serum (FBS) while increasing the cell adhesion protein phospho-FAK (pFAK). The present study improves our awareness of basic mechanisms which relate mTOR activity to the biology of glioblastoma cells. These findings apply to a variety of effects which can be induced by mTOR regulation in the brain. In fact, the ability to promote neuronal differentiation might be viewed as a novel therapeutic pathway to approach neuronal regeneration.
Hybrid DC–DC converter with high efficiency, wide ZVS range, and less output inductance

In this paper, a new soft switching direct current (DC)–DC converter with low circulating current, wide zero voltage switching range, and reduced output inductor is presented for electric vehicle or plug‐in hybrid electric vehicle battery charger application. The proposed high‐frequency link DC–DC converter includes two resonant circuits and one full‐bridge phase‐shift pulse‐width modulation circuit with shared power switches in leading and lagging legs. Series resonant converters are operated at fixed switching frequency to extend the zero voltage switching range of power switches. Passive snubber circuit using one clamp capacitor and two rectifier diodes at the secondary side is adopted to reduce the primary current of full‐bridge converter to zero during the freewheeling interval. Hence, the circulating current on the primary side is eliminated in the proposed converter. In the same time, the voltage across the output inductor is also decreased so that the output inductance can be reduced compared with the output inductance in conventional full‐bridge converter. Finally, experiments are presented for a 1.33‐kW prototype circuit converting 380 V input to an output voltage of 300–420 V/3.5 A for battery charger applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A daily diary study of posttraumatic stress, experiential avoidance, and emotional lability among inpatient nurses

Provider distress is endemic to a number of specialties including Oncology, Palliative Care, and Hospice. Provider distress is often studied as burnout, a sense of physical and emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) vicariously conditioned through exposure to patient trauma, and moral distress, distress and outrage regarding ethical conflict. Although provider distress is conceptualized as a dynamic process of emotion dysregulation evoked by workplace stressors, most studies use cross‐sectional designs that cannot capture variation in distress and its situational triggers. This study piloted the use of electronic daily diaries (EDDs) among inpatient Oncology and Palliative Care nurses. Nurses may experience stress when values or morals are threatened or when there are direct or threatened losses to their resources. Valued resources among nurses may differ by individual but may include peer support, patient gratitude, job stability, and time to deliver effective care. Resources and values are threatened, and distress is evoked by exposure to patient suffering, ethical conflicts, providing care perceived to be futile, or conflict with patients, peers, or family. When distressed, nurses may engage in experiential avoidance, the process of negatively evaluating, escaping, or avoiding unwanted thoughts, emotions, or sensations. Behaviorally, there may be attempts to distance oneself from the patient or to exhibit hostile or critical communication. A suspected consequence is emotional lability including vacillation between dysphoria and hyperarousal.
The association between clinical prognostic factors and epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) efficacy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients: a retrospective assessment of 94 cases with EGFR mutations

Objective This study aimed to examine the association of clinical prognostic factors with epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) efficacy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods The demographic and clinical characteristics of 94 patients with stage IV NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed, and the association between clinical factors and EGFR-TKIs efficacy was evaluated. Results Of the 94 stage IV NSCLC patients enrolled in this study, a 74.5% objective response rate (ORR) and 97.9% disease control rate (DCR) were observed for EGFR-TKIs treatment, and a higher ORR was seen in patients with 0 and 1 ECOG scores than those with 2 or greater scores (P = 0.049). The subjects had a median PFS of 11 months and a median OS of 31 months after EGFR-TKIs treatment. ECOG score and timing of targeted therapy were factors affecting PFS, and ECOG score, smoking status and brain metastasis were factors affecting OS. In addition, ECOG score was an independent prognostic factor for PFS in stage IV NSCLC patients, and the patients with EGFR 19del mutation had a longer PFS than those with exon 21 L855R mutation (P = 0.003), while ECOG score and brain metastasis were independent prognostic factors for OS. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate that EGFR-TKI therapy results in survival benefits for EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC patients, regardless of gender, smoking history, pathologic type, type of EGFR mutations, brain metastasis and timing of targeted therapy. ECOG score is an independent prognostic factor for PFS, and ECOG score and brain metastasis are independent prognostic factors for OS in advanced NSCLC patients.
OPTIMIZATION OF HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR GEOTHERMAL DISTRICT HEATING

This paper analyzes the optimal configuration and operating parameters of a heat exchanger in a geothermal district heating system. An optimization algorithm is presented for the nonlinear constrained problem to maximize the annual net profit for a system of counter-flow heat exchangers. Several parameters that affect the net profit are examined, including the mass flow rates of working fluids and heat transfer area, which both directly affect the outgoing temperatures. The performance of the heat exchanger and fuel savings by reducing fuel consumption to generate heat are modeled within the problem formulation. Also, power input to the pump for fluid circulation is included. By formulating these multiple parameters over a wide range of design conditions, the algorithm presents a useful new design tool for the improvement of heat exchanger networks in geothermal systems.
Identification of vascular patients at very high risk for recurrent cardiovascular events: validation of the current ACC/AHA very high risk criteria

Aims To validate and assess performance of the current ACC/AHA very high risk criteria in patients with clinically manifest arterial disease. Methods and results Data were used from the SMART study (n = 7216) and REACH Registry (n = 48 322), two prospective cohorts of patients with manifest atherosclerotic arterial disease. Prevalence and incidence rates of recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were calculated, according to the ACC/AHA VHR criteria (cardiovascular disease combined with diabetes, smoking, dyslipidaemia, and/or recent recurrent coronary events). Performance of the ACC/AHA criteria was compared with single very high risk factors in terms of C-statistics and Net Reclassification Index. All patients were at VHR according to the ESC guidelines (incidence of recurrent MACE in SMART was 2.4/100PY, with 95% CI 2.3-2.5/100PY and in REACH 5.1/100PY with 95% CI 5.0-5.3/100PY). In SMART 57% of the patients were at VHR according to the ACC/AHA criteria (incidence of recurrent MACE 2.7/100PY, 95% CI 2.5-2.9/100PY) and in REACH this was 64% (5.9/100PY, 95% CI 5.7-6.1/100PY). The C-statistic for the ACC/AHA VHR criteria was 0.53 in REACH and 0.54 in SMART. Very high risk factors with comparable or slightly better performance were eGFR < 45, polyvascular disease and age >70 years. Around two third of the patients meeting the ACC/AHA VHR criteria had a predicted 10-year risk of recurrent MACE <30%. Conclusion The ACC/AHA VHR criteria have limited discriminative power. Identifying patients with clinically manifest arterial disease at VHR for recurrent vascular events using eGFR <45, polyvascular disease, or age >70 years performs as well as the ACC/AHA VHR criteria.
Temperature and Tissue Type Impact Development of Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Sri Lanka

Abstract Bat bugs (Cimex adjunctus Barber) (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) collected from big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus Palisot de Beauvoir) in Colorado, United States were assessed for the presence of Bartonella, Brucella, and Yersinia spp. using molecular techniques. No evidence of Brucella or Yersinia infection was found in the 55 specimens collected; however, 4/55 (7.3%) of the specimens were positive for Bartonella DNA. Multi-locus characterization of Bartonella DNA shows that sequences in bat bugs are phylogenetically related to other Bartonella isolates and sequences from European bats.
Ultrasensitive sensor based on nano-Cu/polyaniline/nickel foam for monitoring H2O2 in exhaled breath

A sensitive, rapid and easy operated sensor for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) determination in exhaled breath was developed in this study. The polyaniline (PANI) film and Cu nanoparticles (NPs) were successively electrochemical deposited on the surface of the three-dimensional nickel foam (NF), i.e., synthetized nano-Cu/polyaniline/NF. The Ni foam facilitates the charge and mass transfer, and it also provides a large amount of anchoring sites for Cu NP deposition. The synergistic electro-catalytic actions between Cu NPs and PANI highly enhanced the reduction current of H2O2. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range for monitoring H2O2 extends from 0.01 to 500 nM (R2 = 0.998), and the limit of detection is 0.0026 nM. Integrating with collection of exhaled breath in a fritted midget bubbler, the developed sensor can clearly identify the difference of H2O2 levels between the smokers and non-smokers, as well as before and after smoking for these subjects. Its application performance indicates the developed sensor possesses a great potential for routine analysis of H2O2 in exhaled breath.
Mobile Technology Interventions for Asthma Self-Management: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Mobile technology interventions (MTI) are becoming increasingly popular in the management of chronic health behaviors. Most MTI allow individuals to monitor medication use, record symptoms, or store and activate disease-management action plans. Therefore, MTI may have the potential to improve low adherence to medication and action plans for individuals with asthma, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Objective A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of MTI on clinical outcomes as well as adherence in individuals with asthma. As the use of evidence-based behavior change techniques (BCT) has been shown to improve intervention effects, we also conducted exploratory analyses to determine the role of BCT and engagement with MTI as moderators of MTI efficacy. Methods We searched electronic databases for randomized controlled trials up until June 2016. Random effect models were used to assess the effect of MTI on clinical outcomes as well as adherence to preventer medication or symptom monitoring. Mixed effects models assessed whether the features of the MTI (ie, use of BCT) and how often a person engaged with MTI moderated the effects of MTI. Results The literature search located 11 studies meeting the inclusion criteria, with 9 providing satisfactory data for meta-analysis. Compared with standard treatment, MTI had moderate to large effect sizes (Hedges g) on medication adherence and clinical outcomes. MTI had no additional effects on adherence or clinical outcomes when compared with paper-based monitoring. No moderator effects were found, and the number of studies was small. A narrative review of the two studies, which are not included in the meta-analysis, found similar results. Conclusions This review indicated the efficacy of MTI for self-management in individuals with asthma and also indicated that MTI appears to be as efficacious as paper-based monitoring. This review also suggested a need for robust studies to examine the effects of BCT use and engagement on MTI efficacy to inform the evidence base for MTI in individuals with asthma.
Letter: FibroTest for staging fibrosis in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

SIRS, We thank Dr Farkas and colleagues for their comments on our article. 2 They sought to determine whether the calculation formula developed in our article showed any association with colectomy in their 73 UC patients treated with ciclosporin. They reported that 39.7% patients needed either early (within 3 months) or late (over 3 months) colectomy during the mean 4.2 year follow-up period. The sensitivity of the calculation formula in predicting the response to intravenous ciclosporin was 72.7% and they concluded that the utility of the formula was not confirmed in daily practice. However, the primary end-point in our article was not colectomy during the 4.2 year follow-up period but early colectomy within 3 months after ciclosporin treatment. The reason why we chose early colectomy as the primary end-point in our article was that several other critical factors such as dosage and period of thiopurine treatment were likely to affect late colectomy. Predictive formulae or decision trees should be modified by each institution, according to the differences in clinical background, the dosage and period of treatment, and the differences in clinical end-points. Still, it was noteworthy that their multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that, of the examined variables during the mean follow-up period of more than 4 years, a Lichtiger score on the third day was significant. The message we attempted to deliver through our article is that predictive formulae or decision trees can be constructed by the combination of simple clinical markers. We agree with their comments that further studies are needed to validate the novel calculating formula proposed in our article.
Extreme learning machines for reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks from expression time series

Motivation The reconstruction of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from genes profiles has a growing interest in bioinformatics for understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms in cellular systems. GRNs explicitly represent the cause-effect of regulation among a group of genes and its reconstruction is today a challenging computational problem. Several methods were proposed, but most of them require different input sources to provide an acceptable prediction. Thus, it is a great challenge to reconstruct a GRN only from temporal gene expression data. Results Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is a new supervised neural model that has gained interest in the last years because of its higher learning rate and better performance than existing supervised models in terms of predictive power. This work proposes a novel approach for GRNs reconstruction in which ELMs are used for modeling the relationships between gene expression time series. Artificial datasets generated with the well-known benchmark tool used in DREAM competitions were used. Real datasets were used for validation of this novel proposal with well-known GRNs underlying the time series. The impact of increasing the size of GRNs was analyzed in detail for the compared methods. The results obtained confirm the superiority of the ELM approach against very recent state-of-the-art methods in the same experimental conditions. Availability and implementation The web demo can be found at http://sinc.unl. edu.ar/web-demo/elm-grnnminer/. The source code is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/sourcesinc/files/elm-grnnminer. Contact mrubiolo@santafe-conicet.gov. ar. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Semantic representations in the temporal pole predict false memories

Significance False memories can arise in daily life through a mixture of factors, including misinformation and prior conceptual knowledge. This can have serious consequences in settings, such as legal eyewitness testimony, which depend on the accuracy of memory. We investigated the brain basis of false memory with fMRI, and found that patterns of activity in the temporal pole region of the brain can predict false memories. Furthermore, we show that each individual has unique patterns of brain activation that can predict their own idiosyncratic set of false-memory errors. Together, these results suggest that the temporal pole may be responsible for the conceptual component of illusory memories. Recent advances in neuroscience have given us unprecedented insight into the neural mechanisms of false memory, showing that artificial memories can be inserted into the memory cells of the hippocampus in a way that is indistinguishable from true memories. However, this alone is not enough to explain how false memories can arise naturally in the course of our daily lives. Cognitive psychology has demonstrated that many instances of false memory, both in the laboratory and the real world, can be attributed to semantic interference. Whereas previous studies have found that a diverse set of regions show some involvement in semantic false memory, none have revealed the nature of the semantic representations underpinning the phenomenon. Here we use fMRI with representational similarity analysis to search for a neural code consistent with semantic false memory. We find clear evidence that false memories emerge from a similarity-based neural code in the temporal pole, a region that has been called the “semantic hub” of the brain. We further show that each individual has a partially unique semantic code within the temporal pole, and this unique code can predict idiosyncratic patterns of memory errors. Finally, we show that the same neural code can also predict variation in true-memory performance, consistent with an adaptive perspective on false memory. Taken together, our findings reveal the underlying structure of neural representations of semantic knowledge, and how this semantic structure can both enhance and distort our memories.
Chemoimmunotherapy versus chemotherapy for metastatic malignant melanoma.

BACKGROUND Malignant melanoma, one of the most aggressive of all skin cancers, is increasing in incidence throughout the world. Surgery remains the cornerstone of curative treatment in earlier stages. Metastatic disease is incurable in most affected people, because melanoma does not respond to most systemic treatments. A number of novel approaches are under evaluation and have shown promising results, but they are usually associated with increased toxicity and cost. The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy has been reported to improve treatment results, but it is still unclear whether evidence exists to support this choice, compared with chemotherapy alone. No language restrictions were imposed. OBJECTIVES To compare the effects of therapy with chemotherapy and immunotherapy (chemoimmunotherapy) versus chemotherapy alone in people with metastatic malignant melanoma. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Register (14 February 2006), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2005), MEDLINE (2003 to 30 January 2006 ), EMBASE (2003 to 20 July 2005) and LILACS (1982 to 20 February 2006). References, conference proceedings, and databases of ongoing trials were also used to locate trials. SELECTION CRITERIA All randomised controlled trials that compared the use of chemotherapy versus chemoimmunotherapy on people of any age, diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two authors independently assessed each study to determine whether it met the pre-defined selection criteria, with differences being resolved through discussion with the review team. Two authors independently extracted the data from the articles using data extraction forms. Quality assessment included an evaluation of various components associated with biased estimates of treatment effect. Whenever possible, a meta-analysis was performed on the extracted data, in order to calculate a weighed treatment effect across trials. MAIN RESULTS Eighteen studies met our criteria and were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 2625 participants. We found evidence of an increase of objective response rates in people treated with chemoimmunotherapy, in comparison with people treated with chemotherapy. Nevertheless, the impact of these increased response rates was not translated into a survival benefit. We found no difference in survival to support the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy in the systemic treatment of metastatic melanoma, with a hazard ratio of 0.89 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.11, p=0.31). Additionally, we found increased hematological and non-hematological toxicities in people treated with chemoimmunotherapy. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS We failed to find any clear evidence that the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy increases survival of people with metastatic melanoma. Further use of combined immunotherapy and chemotherapy should only be done in the context of clinical trials.