Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One-Carbon Metabolic Factors and Risk of Renal Cell Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background Nutrients related to one-carbon metabolism were previously shown to be significantly associated with the risk of cancer. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate potential relationships between one-carbon metabolic factors and renal cell cancer (RCC) risk. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched through March 2015 for observational studies of quantitative RCC risk estimates in relation to one-carbon metabolic factors. The relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) measured the relationship between one-carbon metabolic factors and RCC risk using a random-effects model. Results Of the 463 citations and abstracts identified by database search, seven cohorts from five observational studies reported data on 133,995 individuals, and included 2,441 RCC cases. Comparing the highest with the lowest category, the pooled RRs of RCC were 0.72 (95%CI: 0.52–1.00; P = 0.048) for vitamin B12. In addition, an increase in folic acid supplementation of 100 μg/day was associated with a 3% lower risk of RCC (RR, 0.97; 95%CI: 0.93–1.00; P = 0.048). Similarly, an increase of 5 nmol/L of vitamin B2 was associated with a reduced risk of RCC 0.94 (95%CI: 0.89–1.00; P = 0.045). Sensitivity analyses suggested that a higher serum vitamin B6 might contribute to a reduced risk of RCC (RR, 0.83; 95%CI: 0.77–0.89; P < 0.001). Conclusions Higher levels of serum vitamin B2, B6, B12, and folic acid supplementation lowered the risk of RCC among the study participants.
Assistance system for personal learning environments

In the recent years, the educational landscape has undergone several reversals and changes, the major concern is always improving the learning quality. We moved then from a teacher-directed learning to learner-centered learning. Thus, after having suffered from institutional constraints (imposed curriculum, fixed planning), the learner could today, thanks to technological evolution, rely on himself to control his learning. The Learning Environments came to enable learners to carry out their learning activities. Nevertheless, they remain limited to the personalization level. It is then obvious that the satisfaction of learners is not complete. The following question was arose: Can the learner build his/her own learning experience? This option has become plausible with the emergence of the Personal Learning Environments (PLE). However, with their advent, each learner has become master of his/her learning. So, we are faced with a complex and rich landscape characterized by the abundance and proliferation of web tools and resources. We have developed an assistance approach for PLE learners to face this complexity. We have developed also a prototype that implement our approach for experimental purpose. Experimental results are presented and they are very promising.
Lower limb biomechanics in femoroacetabular impingement syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective (1) Identify differences in hip and pelvic biomechanics in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) compared with controls during everyday activities (eg, walking, squatting); and (2) evaluate the effects of interventions on hip and pelvic biomechanics during everyday activities. Design Systematic review. Data sources Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus and SPORTDiscus until February 2017. Methods Primary aim: studies that investigated hip or pelvic kinematics and/or joint torques of everyday activities in patients with FAIS compared with the asymptomatic contralateral limb or a control group. Secondary aim: studies that evaluated effects of conservative or surgical interventions on patients with FAIS using pre-post or controlled clinical trial designs. Biomechanical data must have been collected using three-dimensional motion capture devices. Reporting quality was assessed using the Epidemiological Appraisal Instrument and data were pooled (standardised mean difference (SMD), 95% CI) where populations and primary outcomes were similar. Results Fourteen studies were included (11 cross-sectional and three pre/post intervention), varying between low and moderate reporting quality. Patients with FAIS walked with a lower: peak hip extension angle (SMD −0.40, 95% CI −0.71 to −0.09), peak internal rotation angle (−0.67, 95% CI −1.19 to −0.16) and external rotation joint torque (−0.71, 95% CI −1.07 to −0.35), and squatted to a lesser depth with no difference in hip flexion range. Pre/post intervention data were limited in number and quality, and to surgical cohorts. Conclusion This review suggests that patients with FAIS may demonstrate hip biomechanical impairments during walking and squatting, with minimal literature available to comment on other tasks. Clinical relevance The information presented in the review provides insight into the biomechanical differences associated with FAIS; however, the between-group differences were small to moderate. This information may aid in the development of management strategies for people with the condition. PROSPEROregistration number CRD42016038677.
Computational Radiomics System to Decode the Radiographic Phenotype.

Radiomics aims to quantify phenotypic characteristics on medical imaging through the use of automated algorithms. Radiomic artificial intelligence (AI) technology, either based on engineered hard-coded algorithms or deep learning methods, can be used to develop noninvasive imaging-based biomarkers. However, lack of standardized algorithm definitions and image processing severely hampers reproducibility and comparability of results. To address this issue, we developed PyRadiomics, a flexible open-source platform capable of extracting a large panel of engineered features from medical images. PyRadiomics is implemented in Python and can be used standalone or using 3D Slicer. Here, we discuss the workflow and architecture of PyRadiomics and demonstrate its application in characterizing lung lesions. Source code, documentation, and examples are publicly available at www.radiomics. io With this platform, we aim to establish a reference standard for radiomic analyses, provide a tested and maintained resource, and to grow the community of radiomic developers addressing critical needs in cancer research. Cancer Res; 77(21); e104-7. ©2017 AACR.
Length of Growing Period over Africa: Variability and Trends from 30 Years of NDVI Time Series

The spatial distribution of crops and farming systems in Africa is determined by the duration of the period during which crop and livestock water requirements are met. The length of growing period (LGP) is normally assessed from weather station data—scarce in large parts of Africa—or coarse-resolution rainfall estimates derived from weather satellites. In this study, we analyzed LGP and its variability based on the 1981–2011 GIMMS NDVI3g dataset. We applied a variable threshold method in combination with a searching algorithm to determine start- and end-of-season. We obtained reliable LGP estimates for arid, semi-arid and sub-humid climates that are consistent in space and time. This approach effectively mapped bimodality for clearly separated wet seasons in the Horn of Africa. Due to cloud contamination, the identified bimodality along the Guinea coast was judged to be less certain. High LGP variability is dominant in arid and semi-arid areas, and is indicative of crop failure risk. Significant negative trends in LGP were found for the northern part of the Sahel, for parts of Tanzania and northern Mozambique, and for the short rains of eastern Kenya. Positive trends occurred across western Africa, in southern Africa, and in eastern Kenya for the long rains. Our LGP analysis provides useful information for the mapping of farming systems, and to study the effects of climate variability and other drivers of change on vegetation and crop suitability.
Vehicle Detection Based on Semantic Component Analysis

Vehicle detection is a hot topic in traffic monitoring applications. Though many researchers has done a lot work towards this direction, the detection in occluded conditions is rarely explored and it still remains a challenge. In this work, we focus on the occlusion problem in vehicle detection and propose a novel method based on semantic component analysis and scale consideration. Two contributions are claimed in this procedure: 1) Tackling vehicle detection by semantic component detection and synthesis. 2) Addressing the scale variation of vehicles by simple yet effective standard component definition. The experimental results on two typical surveillance videos show that the proposed method can effectively detect the vehicles in the crowded traffic conditions with occlusion.
Automatic extraction of closed contours in the portuguese cadastral maps

The automatic extraction of closed contours is the most important and difficult problem in the automatic recognition of the Portuguese cadastral maps. Many difficulties such as gaps on contour, elements connected on contour, crossing of lines and the association of each entity to its contour have to be solved. In literature there are very few studies about the recognition of cadastral maps and the maps already studied are different than ours. Therefore our research mainly focused on appropriate computer vision algorithms that yield acceptable results. In this paper we present a sequence of algorithms to solve various problems in the contour extraction. The algorithms are completely different and each one tries to solve one specific problem of the analysis. The methods used were the Block-Fill algorithm, the Lohmann’s algorithm, the Seed-Segment algorithm and the Rosin-West’s vectorization algorithm. The architecture of our system is presented and the results are shown at the end of the paper.
Detection of Anti-Domain I β-2 Glycoprotein I Antibodies as New Potential Target in Antiphospholipid Syndrome Diagnosis

Anti-cardiolipin antibodies (ACL) and anti-β-2-glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-2GPI) represent two out of three laboratory criteria for detection of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). The domain I (DI) in anti-β-2-glycoprotein I is a new target for better identification of antibodies and may be associated with thrombotic risk in antiphospholipid syndrome. Anti-β2GPI antibodies specifically reacting with DI have a particular clinical importance being more commonly detected among patients with APS and other autoimmune diseases. This observation implies that compared with antibodies targeting the whole molecule, anti-DI antibodies have higher specificity for APS. Routine testing for anti- DI antibodies in clinical practice can be used for an easy differentiation of subjects carrying clinically meaningful anti- β2GPI antibodies from those individuals with a benign autoantibody profile. The aim of our study was to determine the significance of the domain I in the anti-β-2-glycoprotein I as a new biomarker for determining thrombotic risk in antiphospholipid syndrome. We investigate the DI anti-β2GPI on a group of 74 patients with antiphospholipid syndrome diagnosis. All patients have positive antibodies in at least one class ACL and anti-β2GPI antibodies. We detect DI anti-β2GPI positivity in 21 samples in our group. The thrombotic complications had been observed in 21 from 74 patients. The incidence of thrombotic complications in the total group was established as 28.4%, in comparison to the group DI anti-β2GPI positive with the incidence of thrombotic complications 57%. Performing of assay improved a positive predictive value from 25% pre-test to 68% for patients with positive test. The new chemiluminescent method for detection of DI anti-β2GPI shows a better compliance with clinical outcome than the actual diagnostic scheme.
Reducing the CP content in broiler feeds: impact on animal performance, meat quality and nitrogen utilization

Reducing the dietary CP content is an efficient way to limit nitrogen excretion in broilers but, as reported in the literature, it often reduces performance, probably because of an inadequate provision in amino acids (AA). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of decreasing the CP content in the diet on animal performance, meat quality and nitrogen utilization in growing-finishing broilers using an optimized dietary AA profile based on the ideal protein concept. Two experiments (1 and 2) were performed using 1-day-old PM3 Ross male broilers (1520 and 912 for experiments 1 and 2, respectively) using the minimum AA:Lys ratios proposed by Mack et al. with modifications for Thr and Arg. The digestible Thr (dThr): dLys ratio was increased from 63% to 68% and the dArg:dLys ratio was decreased from 112% to 108%. In experiment 1, the reduction of dietary CP from 19% to 15% (five treatments) did not alter feed intake or BW, but the feed conversion ratio was increased for the 16% and 15% CP diets (+2.4% and +3.6%, respectively), while in experiment 2 (three treatments: 19%, 17.5% and 16% CP) there was no effect of dietary CP on performance. In both experiments, dietary CP content did not affect breast meat yield. However, abdominal fat content (expressed as a percentage of BW) was increased by the decrease in CP content (up to +0.5 and +0.2 percentage point, in experiments 1 and 2, respectively). In experiment 2, meat quality traits responded to dietary CP content with a higher ultimate pH and lower lightness and drip loss values for the low CP diets. Nitrogen retention efficiency increased when reducing CP content in both experiments (+3.5 points/CP percentage point). The main consequence of this higher efficiency was a decrease in nitrogen excretion (−2.5 g N/kg BW gain) and volatilization (expressed as a percentage of excretion: −5 points/CP percentage point). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that with an adapted AA profile, it is possible to reduce dietary CP content to at least 17% in growing-finishing male broilers, without altering animal performance and meat quality. Such a feeding strategy could therefore help improving the sustainability of broiler production as it is an efficient way to reduce environmental burden associated with nitrogen excretion.
Anion conductive polymer nanofiber composite membrane: effects of nanofibers on polymer electrolyte characteristics

Polymer composite membranes composed of anion conductive polymer nanofiber mats and the corresponding polymer matrix were prepared and characterized for future alkaline fuel cells. In this paper, electrospinning was attempted to fabricate anion conductive nanofiber mats. The anion conductivity of the composite membrane was higher than the corresponding membrane without nanofibers under all conditions due to outstanding anion conductive characteristics of the nanofibers. In addition, because of the rigid and anisotropic structure of the nanofibers, membrane stabilities such as reductive degradation resistance and mechanical strength were very much improved. The gas permeability and excessive hydration swelling that will degrade fuel cells after long-term operation were suppressed in the nanofiber composite membrane. These results indicated that excellent properties of the anion conductive nanofibers were demonstrated even in the composite membrane, leading to the potential application of anion conductive nanofibers in future fuel cells. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry
Detecting Egregious Conversations between Customers and Virtual Agents

Virtual agents are becoming a prominent channel of interaction in customer service. Not all customer interactions are smooth, however, and some can become almost comically bad. In such instances, a human agent might need to step in and salvage the conversation. Detecting bad conversations is important since disappointing customer service may threaten customer loyalty and impact revenue. In this paper, we outline an approach to detecting such egregious conversations, using behavioral cues from the user, patterns in agent responses, and user-agent interaction. Using logs of two commercial systems, we show that using these features improves the detection F1-score by around 20% over using textual features alone. In addition, we show that those features are common across two quite different domains and, arguably, universal.
Chapter 2 Improved Targeting of Cancers with Nanotherapeutics

Targeted cancer nanotherapeutics offers numerous opportunities for the selective uptake of toxic chemotherapies within tumors and cancer cells. The unique properties of nanoparticles, such as their small size, large surface-to-volume ratios, and the ability to achieve multivalency of targeting ligands on their surface, provide superior advantages for nanoparticle-based drug delivery to a variety of cancers. This review highlights various key concepts in the design of targeted nanotherapeutics for cancer therapy, and discusses physicochemical parameters affecting nanoparticle targeting, along with recent developments for cancer-targeted nanomedicines.
The Lifecycle Effects of Corporate Takeover Defenses

We document that the relation between firm value and the use of takeover defenses is positive for young firms but becomes negative as firms age. This value reversal pattern reflects specific changes in the costs and benefits of takeover defenses as firms age and arises because defenses are sticky and rarely removed. Firms can attenuate the value reversal by removing defenses, but do so only when the defenses become very costly and adjustment costs are low. The value reversal explains previous mixed evidence about takeover defenses and implies that firm age proxies for takeover defenses’ heterogeneous impacts on firm value.
In silico analysis of Brucella abortus Omp2b and in vitro expression of SOmp2b

Purpose At present, there is no vaccine available for the prevention of human brucellosis. Brucella outer membrane protein 2b (Omp2b) is a 36 kD porin existed in common Brucella pathogens and it is considered as priority antigen for designing a new subunit vaccine. Materials and Methods In the current study, we aimed to predict and analyze the secondary and tertiary structures of the Brucella abortus Omp2b protein, and to predict T-cell and B-cell epitopes with the help of bioinformatics tools. Subsequently, cloning and expression of the short form of Omp2b (SOmp2b) was performed using pET28a expression vector and Escherichia coli BL21 host, respectively. The recombinant SOmp2b (rSOmp2b) was purified with Ni-NTA column. Results The recombinant protein was successfully expressed in E. coli host and purified under denaturation conditions. The yield of the purified rSOmp2b was estimated by Bradford method and found to be 220 µg/mL of the culture. Conclusion Our results indicate that Omp2b protein has a potential to induce both B-cell– and T-cell–mediated immune responses and it can be evaluated as a new subunit vaccine candidate against brucellosis.
A General Nogood-Learning Framework for Pseudo-Boolean Multi-Valued SAT

We formulate a general framework for pseudo-Boolean multi-valued nogood-learning, generalizing conflict analysis performed by modern SAT solvers and its recent extension for disjunctions of multi-valued variables. This framework can handle more general constraints as well as different domain representations, such as interval domains which are commonly used for bounds consistency in constraint programming (CP), and even set variables. Our empirical evaluation shows that our solver, built upon this framework, works robustly across a number of challenging domains.
Size-selective opening of the blood–brain barrier by targeting endothelial sphingosine 1–phosphate receptor 1

Significance The blood–brain barrier (BBB) poses a major obstacle for drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). This study revealed that genetic or pharmacological targeting of sphingosine 1–phosphate receptor-1 (S1P1) facilitates a small-molecule-selective BBB opening, without major signs of CNS inflammation or injury. This size-selective BBB opening could be attributed to changes in the cytoskeletal association of tight junction proteins. Importantly, BBB opening by pharmacological blockage of S1P1 was reversible, suggesting that targeting S1P1 may be a promising strategy for the safe delivery of therapeutic agents into the CNS to treat neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases and neurological cancers. The vasculature of the central nervous system (CNS) forms a selective barrier termed the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Disruption of the BBB may contribute to various CNS diseases. Conversely, the intact BBB restricts efficient penetration of CNS-targeted drugs. Here, we report the BBB-regulatory role of endothelial sphingosine 1–phosphate (S1P) receptor-1, a G protein-coupled receptor known to promote the barrier function in peripheral vessels. Endothelial-specific S1pr1 knockout mice (S1pr1iECKO) showed BBB breach for small-molecular-mass fluorescence tracers (<3 kDa), but not larger tracers (>10 kDa). Chronic BBB leakiness was associated with cognitive impairment, as assessed by the novel object recognition test, but not signs of brain inflammation. Brain microvessels of S1pr1iECKO mice showed altered subcellular distribution of tight junctional proteins. Pharmacological inhibition of S1P1 function led to transient BBB breach. These data suggest that brain endothelial S1P1 maintain the BBB by regulating the proper localization of tight junction proteins and raise the possibility that endothelial S1P1 inhibition may be a strategy for transient BBB opening and delivery of small molecules into the CNS.
Evaluation of the Community-Based Chronic Disease Prevention Program Meta Salud in Northern Mexico, 2011–2012

Introduction Meta Salud is a community health worker–facilitated intervention in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and was adapted from Pasos Adelante, a similar evidence-based intervention developed for a Latino population in the United States–Mexico border region. The objective of this study was to examine outcomes for Meta Salud and compare them with outcomes for Pasos Adelante. Methods This pretest–posttest study took place during 13 weeks among low-income residents of an urban area. The program provided information on topics such as heart health, physical activity, nutrition, diabetes, healthy weight, community health, and emotional well-being; included individual and group activities aimed at motivating behavior change; and encouraged participants to engage in brisk physical activity. Results We found significant decreases from baseline to conclusion in body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, weight, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. From baseline to 3-month follow-up, we found significant decreases in body mass index, waist circumference, weight, LDL cholesterol, and glucose, and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Outcomes for Meta Salud were similar to those found for Pasos Adelante. Conclusion The physiological improvements found among participants in Meta Salud and comparable changes among participants in Pasos Adelante suggest a scalable and effective behavioral intervention for regions of the United States and Mexico that share a common boundary or have similar cultural and linguistic characteristics.
A GPU-Parallel Algorithm for Fast Hybrid BFS-DFS Graph Traversal

It seems natural to use the GPUs (Graphical Processing Units) for performing analytics on big graphs, due to the notable boost in high performance computing that their introduction has determined and to the huge volume of connected data that is being gathered and processed nowadays. A parallel strategy to speed-up the visit of all nodes of a graph based on the precomputation of critical frontiers is proposed in this paper: step by step the critical frontiers are reused so that all threads work optimally. The resulting algorithm is an asynchronous hybrid between Breadth and Depth First Search (BFS and DFS), called HBDFS. Tests with both real and synthetic heterogeneous datasets show a consistent dominance of the proposed approach over the baseline parallel BFS, achieving up to a 30 times speed-up with just a 20% memory overhead