Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Best evidence topic - Thoracic general Is there a role for the use of radical lymph node dissection in the surgical management of resectable non-small cell lung cancer?

Summary A best evidence topic in cardiothoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether there is any survival benefit to the employment of the technique of radical lymph node dissection in the management of operable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Altogether 305 papers were found using the reported search, of which eight presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. We conclude that extensive lymph node sampling is of benefit in accurately staging NSCLC, however, the design of studies in the literature has failed to account for the staging effect of extensive lymph node dissection on upstaging cancer patients when trying to determine a survival advantage. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The Protective Impact of Immigrant Concentration on Juvenile Recidivism: A Multilevel Examination of Potential Mechanisms

Both macro- and micro-level research suggests that immigration is unrelated or negatively associated with crime and violence. However, far less research has examined the indirect effects of immigrant concentration on individual-level criminal behavior, and specifically with respect to persistent offending. Moreover, researchers have only begun to explore the mechanisms that link neighborhood context, such as immigrant concentration, to individual outcomes. Thus, identification of the potential mechanisms that may mediate the effect of immigrant concentration on offending remains little understood. Using a unique sample of more than 26,000 youthful offenders from the state of Florida, multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analyses reveal that family structure, familial incarceration, and social ties partially mediate the effect of immigrant concentration on youth reoffending. Findings and implications from the present study are discussed, along with policy implications and future directions for research in this area.
Performance of a Three-Stage System for Multi-Document Summarization

Our participation in DUC 2003 was limited to Tasks 2, 3, and 4. Although the tasks differed slightly in their goals, we applied the same approach in each case: preprocess the data for input to our system, apply our single-document and multi-document summarization algorithms, post-process the data for DUC evaluation. We did not use the topic descriptions for Task 2 or the viewpoint descriptions for Task 3, and used only the novel sentences for Task 4. The preprocessing of the data for our needs consisted of term identification, part-of-speech (POS) tagging, sentence boundary detection and SGML DTD processing. With the exception of sentence boundary detection for Task 4 (the test data was sentence-delimited using SGML tags), each of these preprocessing tasks were performed on all of the documents. Details of each of these tasks are presented in Section 2. The summarization algorithms were enhanced versions of those presented by members of our group in the past DUC evaluations (Conroy et al., 2001; Schlesinger et al., 2002). The enhancements to the previous system are detailed in Section 3. Previous post-processing consisted of removing lead adverbs such as “And” or “But” to make our summaries flow more easily. For DUC 2003, we added more extensive editing, eliminating part or all of selected sentences. This post-processing is described in Section 4.
Characteristics of optimal solutions in resolving manipulator redundancy under inequality constraints

Presents our finding of a critical point that has not been reported thus far in the inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators under inequality constraints. The critical point, named algorithmic barrier was first encountered in the form of peculiar phenomena in our experiment with an 8-DOF robot, which we believe to have significance in the order of so-called algorithmic singularity. In addition, the paper deals with the characteristics of optimal solutions (COS) in resolving manipulator redundancy under inequality constraints. In order to analyze the COS, analytic functions of sufficient conditions and critical point conditions are derived. As a result, we find that COS is drastically affected by the introduction of inequality constraints. That is, COS under no inequality constraints is known to change only at algorithmic singularity while COS under inequality constraints turns out to change at semi-singularity and algorithmic barrier as well as algorithmic singularity. We prove the existence the critical points and present their analytical properties by using a planar 3-DOF manipulator.
Evidence for Interindividual Heterogeneity in the Glucose Gradient Across the Human Red Blood Cell Membrane and Its Relationship to Hemoglobin Glycation

OBJECTIVE—To determine whether interindividual heterogeneity in the erythrocyte (red blood cell [RBC]) transmembrane glucose gradient might explain discordances between A1C and glycemic control based on measured fructosamine. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We modeled the relationship between plasma glucose and RBC glucose as the concentration distribution (Ci-to-Co ratio) of a nonmetabolizable glucose analog 14C-3-O-methyl glucose (14C-3OMG) inside (Ci) and outside (Co) RBCs in vitro. We examined the relationship between that distribution and the degree of glycation of hemoglobin in comparison with glycation of serum proteins (fructosamine), the glycation gap. A1C, fructosamine, and in vitro determination of the 14C-3OMG distribution in glucose-depleted RBCs were measured in 26 fasted subjects. RESULTS—The Ci-to-Co ratio 0.89 ± 0.07 for 3-O-methyl-d-glucopyranose (3OMG) ranged widely (0.72–1.04, n = 26). In contrast, urea Ci-to-Co (1.015 ± 0.022 [range 0.98–1.07], P < 0.0001) did not. Concerning mechanism, in a representative subset of subjects, the Ci-to-Co ratio was retained in RBC ghosts, was not dependent on ATP or external cations, and was reestablished after reversal of the glucose gradient. The 3OMG Ci-to-Co ratio was not correlated with serum fructosamine, suggesting that it was independent of mean plasma glucose. However, Ci-to-Co did correlate with A1C (R2 = 0.19) and with the glycation gap (R2 = 0.20), consistent with a model in which differences in internal glucose concentration at a given mean plasma glucose contribute to differences in A1C for given level of glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS—The data demonstrate interindividual heterogeneity in glucose gradients across RBC membranes that may affect hemoglobin glycation and have implications for diabetes complications risk and risk assessment.
The Debate over Inclusive Fitness as a Debate over Methodologies

This article analyzes the recent debate surrounding inclusive fitness and argues that certain limitations ascribed to it by critics—such as requiring weak selection or providing dynamically insufficient models—are better thought of as limitations of the methodological framework most often used with inclusive fitness (quantitative genetics). In support of this, I show how inclusive fitness can be used with the replicator dynamics (of evolutionary game theory, a methodological framework preferred by inclusive fitness critics). I conclude that much of the debate is best understood as being about the orthogonal issue of using abstract versus idealized models.
Analysis and Identifi cation of Astaxanthin and its Carotenoid Precursors from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Astaxanthin (3,3’-dihydroxy-β,β’-carotene-4,4’dione), a particular carotenoid, is widely used as food colourant in aquaculture industries. Since the animals involved are unable to synthesize astaxanthin, this compound has to be supplemented to the feed to ensure proper pigmentation like their wild brethren (Tejera et al., 2007). Moreover, there has recently been interest in the medical properties of astaxanthin. Many studies have demonstrated that astaxanthin may possess powerful antioxidant activity, which may be ten times stronger than that of other carotenoids such as β-carotene, zeaxanthin, and canthaxanthin (Nakano et al., 1999). Therefore, astaxanthin exerts a protective effect against chronic diseases such as cancer and other degenerative diseases (Hussein et al., 2006). The red yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (previously named Phaffi a rhodozyma, a moderately psychrophilic yeast) has been regarded as one of the promising microbiological production systems for natural astaxanthin (DomínguezBocanegra et al., 2007). In X. dendrorhous, astaxanthin represents about 85% of the total carotenoids content. Considerable research efforts have been devoted to improve the astaxanthin production. The production of astaxanthin in X. dendrorhous can be increased by classical mutagenesis (An et al., 1989; Bon et al., 1997). In our laboratory, X. dendrorhous strains were successively treated with UV radiation and mutagenic chemicals, and then screened for high-yield mutants. During that process, we isolated more than twenty mutants that produced more astaxanthin, but their colony’s colour was obviously different, indicating different accumulation of carotenoids intermediates. In order to understand the changes in the carotenoids’ synthesis pathway, it would be valuable to develop a reliable and applicable method to characterize the carotenoid profi le of X. dendrorhous. Preferably, the method should be able to identify and quantify astaxanthin and other carotenoids simultaneously. Over the years, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been widely applied in carotenoids analysis using isocratic or gradient mobile phases in either normal-phase or reversedphase mode (Su et al., 2002). Rao et al. (2005) isolated and characterized some minor impurities of astaxanthin using a normal-phase silica gel column with n-hexane/acetone/tetrahydrofuran as mobile phase and identifi ed related impurities by EMS and NMR spectroscopy. Lin et al. (2005) developed a reversed-phase HPLC method to analyse carotenoids in spear shrimp shells. Reversedphase liquid chromatography with typical eluents, including methanol, acetonitrile, and water, was Analysis and Identifi cation of Astaxanthin and its Carotenoid Precursors from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
Graph Connectivity and Network Coding

Graph Connectivity and Network Coding LEUNG, Kai Man Master of Philosophy Department of Computer Science and Engineering The Chinese University of Hong Kong 2011 In this thesis we present a new algebraic formulation to compute edge connectivities in a directed graph, using the ideas developed in network coding. This reduces the problem of computing edge connectivities to solving systems of linear equations, thus allowing us to use tools in linear algebra to design new algorithms. Using the algebraic formulation we obtain faster algorithms for computing single source edge connectivities and all pairs edge connectivities, in some settings the amortized time to compute the edge connectivity for one pair is sublinear. Through this connection, we have also found an interesting use of expanders and superconcentrators to design fast algorithms for some graph connectivity problems.
Application of Query Expansion Technology in Audit Judgment

Audit judgments run through the whole audit process, and play a vital role in audit. But because of the development of the audit decision support system, the traditional process of the audit judgment is no longer adapted to the computer audit environment. In this paper, by study of the available Chinese query expansion technology, the paper proposes to improve the performance of Chinese information retrieval systems by expanding queries using automatically acquired related term groups, and uses it into the audit judgment and raises an overall design idea for the audit judgment for the computer audit environment. The paper designs a specific flowchart for the audit of an electrical company’s main business income. Keywords-document retrieval; audit decision support system; audit judgment
Combining Multiple Image Features to Guide Automatic Portrait Cropping for Rendering Different Aspect Ratios

Nowadays there exists a large variety of aspect ratios used for both image rendering (e.g. print media, TV, cinema screens etc.) and image acquisition devices (e.g. still and video cameras, scanners etc.). In order to maintain the image’s original aspect ratio when adjusting for a different media, some level of cropping may be required, but the automatic zoom and crop method may not produce satisfactory results regarding image contents. This paper proposes an automatic method that analyses images and estimates the relevant content areas, avoiding distortions and main subject chopping. The analysis is performed by four feature extractors, each producing a grayscale image which indicates relevant image areas. The outputs of these extractors are then combined by means of a Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization. Experiments involving a subjective evaluation of a set of automatically cropped images have shown that 77% of the 35 human observers considered images adjusted by the proposed approach better than or similar to the outputs of the automatic zoom and crop method.
A game theoretical approach to the management of node clusters in DR-OSTC based MISO cooperative communications

In this paper, the problem of node management in cooperative transmissions exploiting Distributed Randomized — Orthogonal Space Time Coding (DR-OSTC) schemes is tackled. In particular, resorting to game theory, a novel strategy able to manage node participation in a distributed cooperative link using a simple randomized coding rule is derived. The proposed solution guarantees the participation of a proper number of nodes to a virtual antenna array (hence avoiding an energy waste) without requiring any overhead for node management.
Letter to the Editor a Bepposax Observation of the Super-soft Source Cal 87

We report on a BeppoSAX Concentrator Spectrometer observation of the super-soft source (SSS) CAL 87. The X-ray emission in SSS is believed to arise from nuclear burning of accreted material on the surface of a white dwarf (WD). An absorbed blackbody spectral model gives a χ 2 ν of 1.18 and a temperature of 42± 13 11 eV. However, the derived luminosity and radius are greater than the Eddington limit and radius of a WD. Including an O viii edge at 0.871 keV gives a significantly better fit (at >95% confidence) and results in more realistic values of the source luminosity and radius. We also fit WD atmosphere models to the CAL 87 spectrum. These also give reasonable bolometric luminosities and radii in the ranges 2.7–4.8×10 36 erg s −1 and 8–20×10 7 cm, respectively. These results support the view that the X-ray emission from CAL 87 results from nuclear burning in the atmosphere of a WD.
Evaluation of glutamatergic treatment in reducing nicotine seeking behavior in rats

Although pharmacotherapy and psychosocial support can help smokers to quit, the high relapse rates indicate a high unmet need for more effective treatment. Recent studies have highlighted changes in glutamate (GLU) homeostasis in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to the nucleus accumbens (Nacc) as vital in the reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. Restoring basal concentrations of extracellular GLU, thereby increasing tonic activation of the presynaptic group II metabotropic GLU receptors (mGluR2/3) by a single injection of N- acetylcysteine (N-AC) prevented cues-induced cocaine- and heroin-seeking behavior in rats. Although nicotine-associated cues reinstate drug-seeking by acting on GLU transmission in the Nacc it is still not clear whether N-AC can inhibit cue-induced reinstatement in abstinent rats after nicotine self-administration. It is also not clear whether chronic N-AC treatment could elicit an enduring reduction in cue-induced reinstatement. Rats were trained to associate discriminative stimuli (S D s) with intravenous nicotine vs. saline in two-lever operant cages. Reinforced response was followed by cue (CSs). Re-exposure to nicotine S D+ /CS + , but not saline S D- /CS-, revived responding at the previously reinforced lever. A single dose of N-AC (100 mg/kg i.p.) increased extracellular GLU in the Nacc only in rats with an history of nicotine self-administration. Moreover, the same dose of N-AC induced a short-term reduction of cue-induced nicotine-seeking behavior that was completely prevented by pre-treatment with the selective mGluR2/3 antagonist LY341495 (1 mg/kg i.p.). Chronic treatment with N-AC (100 mg/kg) during 14 days of cues exposure therapy, induced long- lasting anti-relapse activity that was still present 50 days after the end of the treatment. To investigate the molecular mechanism in the Nacc underlying chronic N-AC effect, rats were killed at different time points. Western blot analysis revealed that 7 days after treatment, chronic N-AC restored the expression of proteins crucial for GLU homeostasis, while 51 days after treatment the expression of mGluR2 was increased only in chronic N-AC treated rats. Overall, the results of the Thesis suggest a potential therapeutic use of N-AC for cue-controlled nicotine-seeking behavior.
Calculating Selectional Preferences of Transitive Verbs in Korean

This study calculates the selectional preference strength between transitive verbs and their co-occurring objects, and thereby investigates how much they are co-related to each other in Korean. The selectional preference strength is automatically measured in a bottom-up way, and the outcomes are evaluated in comparison with a manually constructed resource that indicates which verb takes which class(es) of nouns as its dependents. The measurement offered by this study not only can be used to improve NLP applications, but also has a theoretic significance in that it can play a role as distributional evidence in the study of argument structure.
A Rapid Clustering Algorithm for Efficient Rendering

Hierarchical radiosity using object clusters greatly improves rendering times and reduces memory consumption of radiosity computations. The key feature of the algorithm is using a hierarchy of object clusters to approximate the energy exchange between surfaces. The cluster hierarchy used for this purpose however, must accurately reflect the actual scene geometry to justify this approach. Bad clusters easily lead to rendering artifacts. Inspired by the results of our hierarchical bounding volume optimization for ray tracing, we applied the same scheme to a clustering algorithm for hierarchical radiosity. Using an object-oriented framework, the extension of the implementation was straight forward and seems to be promising. Due to the good performance of our hierarchy regarding ray tracing, the same data structure could successfully be used for two things: visibility checks based on ray casting and energy exchange for the radiosity computation. In this short paper, first results regarding our new clustering scheme will be presented. The properties of the underlying bounding volume optimization give reason for interesting applications enhancing various rendering techniques. Some of these new ideas will be discussed here. 1. Bounding Volume Hierarchies
Low-Density Parity-Check Coded Recording Systems With Run-Length-Limited Constraints

We propose two techniques for the low-density parity-check (LDPC) coded partial response channel with run-length-limited (RLL) constraints. The first is a modification of the selective flipping technique so that side information is not needed. The second is based on the estimation of flipped bits for the selective flipping technique. The second technique can achieve significant performance improvement over the simple selective flipping technique either with side information or without side information. We also incorporate these two techniques into a known technique to design LDPC coded recording systems that can meet strict RLL constraints without performance degradation.
Protective effect of tanshinone IIA on the brain and its therapeutic time window in rat models of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion

The aims of the present study were to investigate the protective effect of tanshinone IIA on the brain and its therapeutic time window in a rat model of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. The rat model of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion was established by suture occlusion. In an initial experiment, male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into control cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rat model, tanshinone IIA1 (TSA1), tanshinone IIA4 (TSA4), tanshinone IIA6 (TSA6) and tanshinone IIA12 (TSA12) groups (n=8 per group). The rats in the control group were given 4 ml phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) intraperitoneally following suture occlusion. The other groups were respectively treated with 25 mg/kg tanshinone IIA intraperitoneally at 1, 4, 6 and 12 h following the initiation of reperfusion and once a day for a total of three days. The grades of neurologic impairment and volume of cerebral infarction of each group were measured 72 h after suture occlusion. In another experiment, 16 male SD rats were randomly divided into a 6 h reperfusion group and a 24 h reperfusion group following drug administration. The rats in each group were further divided into a control subgroup (4 ml PBS) and a tanshinone IIA subgroup (25 mg/kg). The rats were immediately administered their respective treatments following the establishment of the model. The rats were decapitated 6 and 24 h after the initiation of reperfusion. The expression levels of cytoplasmic thioredoxin (Trx-1) and mitochondrial thioredoxin (Trx-2) in the ischemic penumbra were determined by western blot analysis. The nitric oxide (NO) levels, and total NO synthase (tNOS) and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) activities in the rat blood were measured using a reagent kit. The changes in cerebral blood flow were evaluated by Doppler imaging. The grade of neurological impairment of the TSA1 group was statistically lower than that of the other groups (P<0.05). The cerebral infarction volume results showed that the volumes of infarction in the TSA1 and TSA4 groups were lower than those in the other groups (P<0.05). Tanshinone IIA significantly increased cerebral blood flow compared with that of the control group (P<0.05). Moreover, tanshinone IIA significantly increased the expression levels of Trx-1 and Trx-2 compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). Tanshinone IIA significantly decreased the NO levels and iNOS and tNOS activities compared with those of the control group (P<0.05). However, the iNOS activity in the rats in the 6 h reperfusion group was not statistically significantly different from that of the respective control group (P>0.05). Tanshinone IIA has a protective effect on the cranial nerves when administered during the initial stages of cerebral ischemia. This protective effect is associated with an improvement of cerebral blood flow as well as an increase in anti-oxygen radical and anti-inflammatory activities.