Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rosai-Dorfman disease in neuroradiology: imaging findings in a series of 10 patients.

OBJECTIVE Rosai-Dorfman disease is a rare disorder characterized histologically by lymphatic sinus dilatation due to histiocyte proliferation. Our goal was to describe the CT, MRI, and (18)F-FDG (FDG) PET findings in a series of patients with this diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the imaging studies of 10 patients with pathologically confirmed Rosai-Dorfman disease who were treated in our institution between January 2004 and December 2007. RESULTS We found the following areas of general involvement: three intracranial, seven head and neck, and three spinal, with some patients having more than one site. Specific sites of involvement included the following: intracranial meninges, n = 2; pituitary, n = 2; lacrimal gland, n = 1; paranasal sinus, n = 3; neck lymph nodes, n = 6; salivary gland, n = 3; tonsil, n = 1; skin, n = 1; spinal meninges, n = 2; vertebral body, n = 1; and thymus, n = 1. The MRI characteristics of the involved areas were generally T1 isointense, T2 isointense, diffusion isointense to gray matter, and intensely enhancing with gadolinium chelate contrast agents. CT images generally showed the lesions were hyperdense to gray matter and intensely enhancing. FDG PET showed variable uptake, with nodal and lacrimal disease generally being FDG avid and other sites not. CONCLUSION Rosai-Dorfman disease has a protean imaging appearance but most frequently presents as neck lymphadenopathy. The disease is frequently multifocal, and a diagnosis in one area should prompt suspicion that other sites may be involved also.
Navicular Stress Fractures: A Prospective Study on Athletes

Background: Navicular stress fractures of the foot often are difficult to diagnose and treat. Methods: Nineteen athletic patients seen from 1999 to 2003, were compared to a previously treated group of 22 athletes with similar injuries treated from 1994 to 1998. Based on the frontal plane CT images, a previously described classification system was used to assess the injury: type I dorsal cortical break; type II fracture extending into the navicular body; and type III fracture breaches two cortices. Nonoperative treatment was recommended for patients with type I injuries and open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) were recommended for those with type II and III injuries. The time to return to activity and ability to return to competition were assessed, along with differences between fracture type and gender. Results: Return to activity (RTA) was 4.0 months for the entire group. RTA for type I (four injuries), type II (eight injuries), and type III (seven injuries) was 3.8, 3.7, and 4.2 months, respectively. Fifteen of 16 competitive athletes returned to full competition, including all who had ORIF. Conclusions: Navicular stress fractures can take 4 months to heal with nonoperative or operative treatment. Surgery should be considered for more severe injuries, which can be assessed by CT scan.
Mining Tags from Flickr User Comments Using a Hybrid Ranking Model

In the Web2.0 era, user generated content has become the main source of information of many popular websites such as Flickr. In Flickr, each user can share his/her photos and browse others' easily. Tagging system is an important approach to the photo management in Flickr. Users can browse photos by clicking their attached tags. However, many photos have very few or even no tags, because only the up loader can mark tags for the photo. Meanwhile, when a user browses the photo he/she is interested in, he/she may have comments to express his/her independent viewpoint on the photo. Therefore, it is critical to recommend new tags or enrich the existing tag set based on user comments. Relying on Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, this paper introduces a word-based method in generating candidate tags extracted from user comments. In the phase of sorting and recommending tags, we propose an algorithm by jointly modeling the location information of candidate tags, statistical information and semantic similarity. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
Are Payoff Maximisers More Pro-social? Evidence from a Prisoner's Dilemma Experiment

In an experiment on finitely repeated Prisoner's Dilemma (hereafter FRPD), subjects who best-respond to a computer algorithm are also more cooperative when playing against other human players. The difference in cooperation rates increases as the subjects gain experience with the game. As a result, sophisticated players earn more than naifs, when paired with players of their own type.
MMSE transmit optimization for multi-user multi-antenna systems

We address the problem of linear mean square error (MSE) transmitter design for point-to-multipoint multiuser systems, where the transmitter is equipped with multiple antennas and each of the independent receivers has a single antenna. This downlink scenario is more difficult to handle than its uplink counterpart, since all users are coupled by transmit filters and powers. Our main result is to show that downlink and uplink share the same normalized MSE achievable region under a sum power constraint. Thus, the problem of downlink transmitter design can be solved by focusing on an equivalent uplink problem, which has a more suitable structure and allows for efficient algorithmic solutions. As application examples, we solve the problem of minimizing the maximal normalized MSE of all users (fairness), and the problem of minimizing the sum of all normalized MSE (overall efficiency).
The application of Hybrid Neural Network Algorithms in Intrusion Detection System

Based on the advantages and disadvantages of the improved GA and LM algorithm, in this paper, the Hybrid Neural Network Algorithm (HNNA) is presented. Firstly, the algorithms use the advantage of the improved GA with strong whole searching capacity to search global optimal point in the whole question domain. Then, it adopts the strongpoint of the LM algorithm with fast local searching to fine search near the global optimal point. The paper used respectively the three algorithms, namely the Improved GA, LM algorithm and HNNA, to adjust the input and output parameters of the ANN model, and adopt the theories of the fusion of the multi-classifiers to structure the Intrusion Detection System. By repeatedly experiment, it is found that the HNNA is better in stability and convergence precision than LM algorithm and improved GA from the training result. The testing results are also proved that the detection rate of the multiple classifiers intrusion detection system based on HNNA learning algorithm, including all attack categories that has a few or many training samples, is higher than the IDS that use LM and improved GA learning algorithm, and the false negative rate is less. So, the HNNA is proved to be feasible in theory and practice.
A dataset for Arabic text detection, tracking and recognition in news videos- AcTiV

Recently, promising results have been reported on video text detection and recognition. Most of the proposed methods are tested on private datasets with non-uniform evaluation metrics. We report here on the development of a publicly accessible annotated video dataset designed to assess the performance of different artificial Arabic text detection, tracking and recognition systems. The dataset includes 80 videos (more than 850,000 frames) collected from 4 different Arabic news channels. An attempt was made to ensure maximum diversities of the textual content in terms of size, position and background. This data is accompanied by detailed annotations for each textbox. We also present a region-based text detection approach in addition to a set of evaluation protocols on which the performance of different systems can be measured.
Inhibition of Human Natural Killer Cell Activity by Influenza Virions and Hemagglutinin

ABSTRACT Natural killer (NK) cells keep viral infections under control at the early phase by directly killing infected cells. Influenza is an acute contagious respiratory viral disease transmitted from host-to-host in the first few days of infection. The evasion of host innate immune defenses including NK cells is important for its success as a viral pathogen of humans and animals. NK cells encounter influenza virus within the microenvironment of infected cells. It therefore is important to investigate the direct effects of influenza virus on NK cell activity. Recently we demonstrated that influenza virus directly infects human NK cells and induces cell apoptosis to counter their function (H. Mao, W. Tu, G. Qin, H. K. W. Law, S. F. Sia, P.-L. Chan, Y. Liu, K.-T. Lam, J. Zheng, M. Peiris, and Y.-L. Lau, J. Virol. 83:9215-9222, 2009). Here, we further demonstrated that both the intact influenza virion and free hemagglutinin protein inhibited the cytotoxicity of fresh and interleukin-2 (IL-2)-activated primary human NK cells. Hemagglutinin bound and internalized into NK cells via the sialic acids. This interaction did not decrease NKp46 expression but caused the downregulation of the ζ chain through the lysosomal pathway, which caused the decrease of NK cell cytotoxicity mediated by NKp46 and NKp30. The underlying dysregulation of the signaling pathway involved ζ chain downregulation, leading to decreased Syk and ERK activation and granule exocytosis upon target cell stimulation, finally causing reduced cytotoxicity. These findings suggest that influenza virus developed a novel strategy to evade NK cell innate immune defense that is likely to facilitate viral transmission and also contribute to virus pathogenesis.
Phase 2 trial of erlotinib with or without PF-3512676 (CPG 7909, a Toll-like receptor 9 agonist) in patients with advanced recurrent EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer

This phase 2 study assessed PF-3512676 plus erlotinib in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer after prior chemotherapy failure. Patients were randomized 1:1 to PF-3512676 (0.20 mg/kg injected subcutaneously once weekly) plus erlotinib (150 mg daily) or erlotinib alone. The primary objective was to estimate progression-free survival (PFS). Patients received PF-3512676 plus erlotinib (n = 18) or erlotinib alone (n = 21). The study was halted because an unplanned interim analysis indicated that large improvement in PFS with addition of PF-3512676 would be unlikely. In the PF-3512676-plus-erlotinib and erlotinib-alone arms, median PFS was 1.6 and 1.7 mo (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.5–2.0; P = 0.9335), respectively. Salient grade ≥ 3 adverse events in PF-3512676-plus-erlotinib and erlotinib-alone arms were diarrhea (5/0), dyspnea (5/6), fatigue (4/1), other flu-like symptoms (2/0), anemia (2/1), and lymphocytopenia (based on laboratory values, 1/4). Adding PF-3512676 to erlotinib did not show potential for increased progression-free survival over erlotinib alone in patients with advanced recurrent epidermal growth factor receptor-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
Decoupled Closely Spaced Heptaband Antenna Array for WWAN/LTE Smartphone Applications

A planar antenna array, which is closely placed with an infinitesimal distance of only 4 mm between array elements yet well decoupled by a deliberately designed small-size protruded ground, is presented. The well-designed protruded ground has two types of behaviors: reducing the coupling in between the array elements and improving impedance matching to enhance the bandwidth. At the lower bands of GSM850/900 and the upper bands of GSM1800/1900/UMTS/LTE2300/2500, the good radiation efficiencies of better than 43% and 50% respectively are obtained, and simultaneously the isolations of better than 10 dB are achieved in between the antenna elements. A prototype is made and tested, with S-parameters, radiation efficiency, radiation pattern, and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) presented.
Body weight patterns from 20 to 49 years of age and subsequent risk for diabetes mellitus: the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study.

BACKGROUND Obesity in middle age is a well-known risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the importance of weight and weight gain at younger ages is less certain. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship of body weight patterns from 20 to 49 years of age with the subsequent risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus. SETTING An ongoing longitudinal study of former medical students. PARTICIPANTS Nine hundred sixteen white men without diabetes at 50 years of age. MEASUREMENTS Weight and height measured in medical school, then assessed by mailed questionnaire to 49 years of age. MAIN OUTCOME Incident type 2 diabetes mellitus based on physician self-report. RESULTS During 14 255 person-years of follow-up, there were 35 incident cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus (2.5 per 1000 person-years). After simultaneous adjustment for age, physical activity, lifetime maternal history of diabetes, and smoking, body mass indexes (BMIs; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) at 25, 35, and 45 years of age were all strongly associated with diabetes risk (relative risks for overweight [BMI> or =25.0] vs. not overweight, >3.0; all Ps<.05), as were maximum and average BMI to 49 years of age. The relationship of BMI at 25 years of age to diabetes risk was substantially attenuated by adjustment for BMI at 45 years of age and average BMI, but was independent of weight change, weight variability, or maximum BMI. CONCLUSION In men, overweight at 25 years of age strongly predicts diabetes risk in middle age, largely through its association with overweight at 45 years of age and high average BMI to 49 years of age.
Cultural Variations in Motivational Responses to Felt Misunderstanding

Three studies examined cultural variations in the motivational consequences of being misunderstood by others. Study 1 found that European American students who felt misunderstood by others performed progressively better academically, whereas Asian and Asian American students who felt misunderstood by others performed progressively worse. In Studies 2 and 3, felt misunderstanding was experimentally manipulated, and motivational responses were measured with a handgrip task (Study 2) and prefrontal electroencephalography (EEG) asymmetry (Study 3). Across the two studies, Asians and Asian Americans showed more withdrawal-related responses but European Americans showed either no difference (Study 2) or more motivated responses (Study 3) after being misunderstood versus being understood. Together, these studies demonstrate systematic cultural variations in motivational responses to felt misunderstanding.
Designing synchronization protocols in networks of coupled nodes under uncertainty

This paper considers the problem of synchronizing the outputs of nodes in a network of N coupled dynamical systems in the presence of uncertainty. A computational approach is used to design coupling dynamics that ensure synchrony when nodes are subject to model uncertainty and that minimize nodal deviation from synchrony in the presence of input noise. The main result of this paper recasts the problem of designing the coupling a robust stability problem with a structured uncertainty element. A coupling satisfying the criteria of this robust stability problem can then be designed through an application of the small-gain theorem and μ-synthesis techniques.
Estimating Causal Power between Binary Cause and Continuous Outcome

Previous studies of causal learning heavily focused on binary outcomes; little is known about causal learning with continuous outcomes. The present paper proposes a qualitative extension of the causal power theory to the situation where a binary cause influences a continuous effect, and induces causal power under various ceiling situations with the continuous outcomes. To test the predictions, we systematically manipulated the type of outcome (continuous vs. percentage vs. binary) and the contingency information. The experiment shows that people estimate causal strength based on the linear-sum rule for continuous outcomes and the noisy-OR rule for binary outcomes. In the partial ceiling situation where causal power is partially inferred but not precisely estimated, the distribution of participants’ judgments was bimodal with one mode at the minimum value and the other at the maximum value, suggesting some participants made conservative estimates while others made optimistic estimates. These results are generally consistent with the predictions of the causal power theory. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.
Production of Small Noncoding RNAs from the flamenco Locus Is Regulated by the gypsy Retrotransposon of Drosophila melanogaster

Protective mechanisms based on RNA silencing directed against the propagation of transposable elements are highly conserved in eukaryotes. The control of transposable elements is mediated by small noncoding RNAs, which derive from transposon-rich heterochromatic regions that function as small RNA-generating loci. These clusters are transcribed and the precursor transcripts are processed to generate Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs), which silence transposable elements in gonads and somatic tissues. The flamenco locus is a Drosophila melanogaster small RNA cluster that controls gypsy and other transposable elements, and has played an important role in understanding how small noncoding RNAs repress transposable elements. In this study, we describe a cosuppression mechanism triggered by new euchromatic gypsy insertions in genetic backgrounds carrying flamenco alleles defective in gypsy suppression. We found that the silencing of gypsy is accompanied by the silencing of other transposons regulated by flamenco, and of specific flamenco sequences from which small RNAs against gypsy originate. This cosuppression mechanism seems to depend on a post-transcriptional regulation that involves both endo-siRNA and piRNA pathways and is associated with the occurrence of developmental defects. In conclusion, we propose that new gypsy euchromatic insertions trigger a post-transcriptional silencing of gypsy sense and antisense sequences, which modifies the flamenco activity. This cosuppression mechanism interferes with some developmental processes, presumably by influencing the expression of specific genes.
Curriculum and instruction trends in British Columbia: three decades through the eyes of teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine the instructional and curricular practices and trends in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, as seen through the eyes oftwo teachers who have been teaching in a central British Columbia district for more than 25 years. Two teachers were interviewed and gave their views on what guided their practice over the decades examined. There are some limitations to the study, and recommendations for further research are made.
Effects of Obesity on Postoperative Complications After Breast Reconstruction Using Free Muscle-Sparing Transverse Rectus Abdominis Myocutaneous, Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator, and Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Flap: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Although several studies have found obesity to increase the risk of postoperative morbidity in autologous breast reconstruction, there remains some controversy over the influence of obesity for muscle-conserving abdominal flaps, including muscle-sparing transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (msTRAM), deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP), and superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) flaps. This review evaluates the effects of obesity on complications in breast reconstruction using muscle-conserving abdominal flaps and compares them to those for conventional free transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flaps. Methods A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, Ovid, and Cochrane databases for studies reporting complication rates for obese and nonobese patients undergoing breast reconstruction using msTRAM, DIEP, and SIEA flaps and conventional free TRAM flaps. The pooled relative risks (RRs) of the obesity for flap-related and donor complications were estimated in the muscle-conserving flaps by meta-analytic methodology and the pooled complication rates in obese patients were compared between muscle-conserving flaps and conventional TRAM flaps. Here, only those studies following the World Health Organization definition of obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2) were included. Results A total of 17 articles were analyzed. Eight studies were used to compute the obesity-related risks of flap-related and donor complications for msTRAM, DIEP, and SIEA flaps. Obesity increased the risk of total flap loss [RR, 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.85–3.33], partial flap loss (RR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.01–5.02), abdominal bulge or hernia (RR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.00–2.95), and overall abdominal complications (RR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.10–2.14). The results of a pooled analysis with 15 studies are consistent with those of the meta-analysis. In comparison to free TRAM flaps, muscle-conserving abdominal flaps showed a lower pooled incidence of flap loss, fat necrosis, and abdominal bulge or hernia in obese patients. Conclusions This review suggests that obesity increases the risk of both flap-related and donor-site complications in breast reconstruction using msTRAM, DIEP, and SIEA flaps. In comparison to conventional TRAM flaps, however, muscle-conserving abdominal flaps may have an advantage in reducing the morbidity in obese patients.
Detecting social problems in cancer patients

Diagnosis of and treatment for cancer may not only create physical and emotional difficulties for patients but may also have an impact on social aspects of patients' lives. Screening for social problems has not become part of routine oncology practice. This may be due to lack of a suitable questionnaire. This paper presents a psychometric analysis of the Problems Checklist with a view to assessing its usefulness as a screening tool for social problems in oncology. Evaluation was undertaken using data from an earlier study of 505 patients who completed the checklist. Frequency of endorsement, missing values, factor analysis and reliability and validity analysis of the summated scales were carried out. Missing data rates ranged from 4 to 18% over the 16 items. Fourteen items were well endorsed. Factor analysis produced a four‐factor structure with components labelled daily living, relationships, economics and emotions. Reliability and validity tests endorsed the factor structure with the components on economics and emotions being particularly credible. Difficulties with relationships are harder to measure and results from the analysis suggest that this is an area that warrants further investigation. The checklist is a useful tool for highlighting problems. As a tool for screening for social problems it has some limitations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An interleaving scheme to reduce DC-link current harmonics of dual traction inverters in hybrid electric vehicles

In traction inverters of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), DC-link capacitors, which are usually bulky and expensive, present an obstacle for improving the power density and reliability. This paper introduces an interleaving scheme to reduce the DC-link current harmonics of dual traction inverters in HEVs. The DC-link current expression is derived considering the modulation schemes, modulation index, displacement power factor (DPF), and interleaving angle. Based on the current analysis, proper interleaving angles to reduce the DC-link current harmonics are obtained for different operating modes of the electric traction machines. With the proposed interleaving angles, the DC-link current harmonics are reduced. Therefore, the required DC-link capacitance is reduced and the lifetime of the capacitor is improved. The effectiveness of the proposed interleaving scheme is verified by simulation results.