Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outdoor Particulate Matter Exposure and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Particulate matter (PM) in outdoor air pollution was recently designated a Group I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This determination was based on the evidence regarding the relationship of PM2.5 and PM10 to lung cancer risk; however, the IARC evaluation did not include a quantitative summary of the evidence. Objective: Our goal was to provide a systematic review and quantitative summary of the evidence regarding the relationship between PM and lung cancer. Methods: We conducted meta-analyses of studies examining the relationship of exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 with lung cancer incidence and mortality. In total, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria and provided the information necessary to estimate the change in lung cancer risk per 10-μg/m3 increase in exposure to PM. We used random-effects analyses to allow between-study variability to contribute to meta-estimates. Results: The meta-relative risk for lung cancer associated with PM2.5 was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.14). The meta-relative risk of lung cancer associated with PM10 was similar, but less precise: 1.08 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.17). Estimates were robust to restriction to studies that considered potential confounders, as well as subanalyses by exposure assessment method. Analyses by smoking status showed that lung cancer risk associated with PM2.5 was greatest for former smokers [1.44 (95% CI: 1.04, 2.01)], followed by never-smokers [1.18 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.39)], and then current smokers [1.06 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.15)]. In addition, meta-estimates for adenocarcinoma associated with PM2.5 and PM10 were 1.40 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.83) and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.63), respectively. Conclusion: The results of these analyses, and the decision of the IARC Working Group to classify PM and outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic (Group 1), further justify efforts to reduce exposures to air pollutants that can arise from many sources. Citation: Hamra GB, Guha N, Cohen A, Laden F, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Samet JM, Vineis P, Forastiere F, Saldiva P, Yorifuji T, Loomis D. 2014. Outdoor particulate matter exposure and lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect 122:906–911; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1408092
Multi-Wavelength Brillouin Random Fiber Laser via Distributed Feedback From a Random Fiber Grating

Multi-wavelength (MW) laser sources with high optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNR) are of great interest for optical communications with ultrahigh data capacity as well as microwave and terahertz photonics. In this paper, we report the first demonstration of MW Brillouin random fiber laser in the telecom spectral window around 1.5 μm based on a unique random fiber grating (RFG). Random feedback by enhanced distributed Rayleigh scattering from the RFG basically enables a high-efficiency random lasing resonance of the Stokes wave via stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. A subfiber loop eventually delivers the cascading process for the high-efficiency generation of up to a 14-order Stokes’ comb with an ultrahigh OSNR of 41 dB and an optimized peak power discrepancy of 3.4 dB. Thanks to Rayleigh scattered random feedback from the RFG, single longitudinal mode operation of the Stokes laser emission is achieved.
Plan Recognition in Continuous Domains

Plan recognition is the task of inferring the plan of an agent, based on an incomplete sequence of its observed actions. Previous formulations of plan recognition commit early to discretizations of the environment and the observed agent's actions. This leads to reduced recognition accuracy. To address this, we first provide a formalization of recognition problems which admits continuous environments, as well as discrete domains. We then show that through mirroring---generalizing plan-recognition by planning---we can apply continuous-world motion planners in plan recognition. We provide formal arguments for the usefulness of mirroring, and empirically evaluate mirroring in more than a thousand recognition problems in three continuous domains and six classical planning domains.
Galilean-diagonalized spatio-temporal interest operators

This paper presents a set of image operators for detecting regions in space-time where interesting events occur. To define such regions of interest, we compute a spatio-temporal second-moment matrix from a spatio-temporal scale-space representation, and diagonalize this matrix locally, using a local Galilean transformation in space-time, optionally combined with a spatial rotation, so as to make the Galilean invariant degrees of freedom explicit. From the Galilean-diagonalized descriptor so obtained, we then formulate different types of space-time interest operators, and illustrate their properties on different types of image sequences.
Haste Makes Waste: Accelerated Molt Adversely Affects the Expression of Melanin-Based and Depigmented Plumage Ornaments in House Sparrows

Background Many animals display colorful signals in their integument which convey information about the quality of their bearer. Theoretically, these ornaments incur differential production and/or maintenance costs that enforce their honesty. However, the proximate mechanisms of production costs are poorly understood and contentious in cases of non-carotenoid-based plumage ornaments like the melanin-based badge and depigmented white wing-bar in house sparrows Passer domesticus. Costly life-history events are adaptively separated in time, thus, when reproduction is extended, the time available for molt is curtailed and, in turn, molt rate is accelerated. Methodology/Principal Findings We experimentally accelerated the molt rate by shortening the photoperiod in order to test whether this environmental constraint is mirrored in the expression of plumage ornaments. Sparrows which had undergone an accelerated molt developed smaller badges and less bright wing-bars compared to conspecifics that molted at a natural rate being held at natural-like photoperiod. There was no difference in the brightness of the badge or the size of the wing-bar. Conclusions/Significance These results indicate that the time available for molt and thus the rate at which molt occurs may constrain the expression of melanin-based and depigmented plumage advertisements. This mechanism may lead to the evolution of honest signaling if the onset of molt is condition-dependent through the timing of and/or trade-off between breeding and molt.
Exposure to Concentrated Ambient PM2.5 Shortens Lifespan and Induces Inflammation-Associated Signaling and Oxidative Stress in Drosophila

Exposure to ambient PM 2.5 is associated with human premature mortality. However, it has not yet been toxicologically replicated, likely due to the lack of suitable animal models. Drosophila is frequently used in longevity research due to many incomparable merits. The present study aims to validate Drosophila models for PM 2.5 toxicity study through characterizing their biological responses to exposure to concentrated ambient PM 2.5 (CAP). The survivorship curve demonstrated that exposure to CAP markedly reduced lifespan of Drosophila. This antilongevity effect of CAP exposure was observed in both male and female Drosophila, and by comparison, the male was more sensitive [50% survivals: 20 and 48 days, CAP- and filtered air (FA)-exposed males, respectively; 21 and 40 days, CAP- and FA-exposed females, respectively]. Similar to its putative pathogenesis in humans, CAP exposure-induced premature mortality in Drosophila was also coincided with activation of pro-inflammatory signaling pathways including Jak, Jnk, and Nf-κb and increased systemic oxidative stress. Furthermore, like in humans and mammals, exposure to CAP significantly increased whole-body and circulating glucose levels and increased mRNA expression of Ilp2 and Ilp5 , indicating that CAP exposure induces dysregulated insulin signaling in Drosophila. Similar to effects on humans exposure to CAP leads to premature mortality likely through induction of inflammation-associated signaling, oxidative stress, and metabolic abnormality in Drosophila, strongly supporting that it can be a useful model organism for PM 2.5 toxicity study.
A new method for text detection and recognition in indoor scene for assisting blind people

Developing assisting system of handicapped persons become a challenging ask in research projects. Recently, a variety of tools are designed to help visually impaired or blind people object as a visual substitution system. The majority of these tools are based on the conversion of input information into auditory or tactile sensory information. Furthermore, object recognition and text retrieval are exploited in the visual substitution systems. Text detection and recognition provides the description of the surrounding environments, so that the blind person can readily recognize the scene. In this work, we aim to introduce a method for detecting and recognizing text in indoor scene. The process consists on the detection of the regions of interest that should contain the text using the connected component. Then, the text detection is provided by employing the images correlation. This component of an assistive blind person should be simple, so that the users are able to obtain the most informative feedback within the shortest time.
Explicit, Neutral, or Implicit: A Cross-cultural Exploration of Communication-style Preferences in Human Robot Interaction

Social groups have different rules and preferences for what they consider acceptable behavior and a social behavior that is favorable in a certain cultural context may be unacceptable in another. In this study, we evaluate the effects of robot communication style on how participants from two distinct cultures (Indian and American) perceive them; the robots use or violate cultural norms. We recruited participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk to watch a short video of three humanoid robots interacting, and explore the impact of this difference on how participants perceive robot appropriateness for a range of tasks. Results indicate an association between participant culture and their preferred robot communication style for the task of older adult care.
Use of failure-to-rescue to identify international variation in postoperative care in low-, middle- and high-income countries: a 7-day cohort study of elective surgery

Background The incidence and impact of postoperative complications are poorly described. Failure-to-rescue, the rate of death following complications, is an important quality measure for perioperative care but has not been investigated across multiple health care systems. Methods We analysed data collected during the International Surgical Outcomes Study, an international 7-day cohort study of adults undergoing elective inpatient surgery. Hospitals were ranked by quintiles according to surgical procedural volume (Q1 lowest to Q5 highest). For each quintile we assessed in-hospital complications rates, mortality, and failure-to-rescue. We repeated this analysis ranking hospitals by risk-adjusted complication rates (Q1 lowest to Q5 highest). Results A total of 44 814 patients from 474 hospitals in 27 low-, middle-, and high-income countries were available for analysis. Of these, 7508 (17%) developed one or more postoperative complication, with 207 deaths in hospital (0.5%), giving an overall failure-to-rescue rate of 2.8%. When hospitals were ranked in quintiles by procedural volume, we identified a three-fold variation in mortality (Q1: 0.6% vs Q5: 0.2%) and a two-fold variation in failure-to-rescue (Q1: 3.6% vs Q5: 1.7%). Ranking hospitals in quintiles by risk-adjusted complication rate further confirmed the presence of important variations in failure-to-rescue, indicating differences between hospitals in the risk of death among patients after they develop complications. Conclusions Comparison of failure-to-rescue rates across health care systems suggests the presence of preventable postoperative deaths. Using such metrics, developing nations could benefit from a data-driven approach to quality improvement, which has proved effective in high-income countries.
Activation of the motor protein upon attachment: Anchors weigh in on cytoplasmic dynein regulation

Cytoplasmic dynein is the major minus‐end‐directed motor protein in eukaryotes, and has functions ranging from organelle and vesicle transport to spindle positioning and orientation. The mode of regulation of dynein in the cell remains elusive, but a tantalising possibility is that dynein is maintained in an inhibited, non‐motile state until bound to cargo. In vivo, stable attachment of dynein to the cell membrane via anchor proteins enables dynein to produce force by pulling on microtubules and serves to organise the nuclear material. Anchor proteins of dynein assume diverse structures and functions and differ in their interaction with the membrane. In yeast, the anchor protein has come to the fore as one of the key mediators of dynein activity. In other systems, much is yet to be discovered about the anchors, but future work in this area will prove invaluable in understanding dynein regulation in the cell.
The cerebellar cognitive affective/Schmahmann syndrome scale

Cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS; Schmahmann's syndrome) is characterized by deficits in executive function, linguistic processing, spatial cognition, and affect regulation. Diagnosis currently relies on detailed neuropsychological testing. The aim of this study was to develop an office or bedside cognitive screen to help identify CCAS in cerebellar patients. Secondary objectives were to evaluate whether available brief tests of mental function detect cognitive impairment in cerebellar patients, whether cognitive performance is different in patients with isolated cerebellar lesions versus complex cerebrocerebellar pathology, and whether there are cognitive deficits that should raise red flags about extra-cerebellar pathology. Comprehensive standard neuropsychological tests, experimental measures and clinical rating scales were administered to 77 patients with cerebellar disease-36 isolated cerebellar degeneration or injury, and 41 complex cerebrocerebellar pathology-and to healthy matched controls. Tests that differentiated patients from controls were used to develop a screening instrument that includes the cardinal elements of CCAS. We validated this new scale in a new cohort of 39 cerebellar patients and 55 healthy controls. We confirm the defining features of CCAS using neuropsychological measures. Deficits in executive function were most pronounced for working memory, mental flexibility, and abstract reasoning. Language deficits included verb for noun generation and phonemic > semantic fluency. Visual spatial function was degraded in performance and interpretation of visual stimuli. Neuropsychiatric features included impairments in attentional control, emotional control, psychosis spectrum disorders and social skill set. From these results, we derived a 10-item scale providing total raw score, cut-offs for each test, and pass/fail criteria that determined 'possible' (one test failed), 'probable' (two tests failed), and 'definite' CCAS (three tests failed). When applied to the exploratory cohort, and administered to the validation cohort, the CCAS/Schmahmann scale identified sensitivity and selectivity, respectively as possible exploratory cohort: 85%/74%, validation cohort: 95%/78%; probable exploratory cohort: 58%/94%, validation cohort: 82%/93%; and definite exploratory cohort: 48%/100%, validation cohort: 46%/100%. In patients in the exploratory cohort, Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores were within normal range. Complex cerebrocerebellar disease patients were impaired on similarities in comparison to isolated cerebellar disease. Inability to recall words from multiple choice occurred only in patients with extra-cerebellar disease. The CCAS/Schmahmann syndrome scale is useful for expedited clinical assessment of CCAS in patients with cerebellar disorders.awx317media15678692096001.
ABCC1-Exported Sphingosine-1-phosphate, Produced by Sphingosine Kinase 1, Shortens Survival of Mice and Patients with Breast Cancer

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a bioactive sphingolipid mediator, has been implicated in regulation of many processes important for breast cancer progression. Previously, we observed that S1P is exported out of human breast cancer cells by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter ABCC1, but not by ABCB1, both known multidrug resistance proteins that efflux chemotherapeutic agents. However, the pathologic consequences of these events to breast cancer progression and metastasis have not been elucidated. Here, it is demonstrated that high expression of ABCC1, but not ABCB1, is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Overexpression of ABCC1, but not ABCB1, in human MCF7 and murine 4T1 breast cancer cells enhanced S1P secretion, proliferation, and migration of breast cancer cells. Implantation of breast cancer cells overexpressing ABCC1, but not ABCB1, into the mammary fat pad markedly enhanced tumor growth, angiogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis with a concomitant increase in lymph node and lung metastases as well as shorter survival of mice. Interestingly, S1P exported via ABCC1 from breast cancer cells upregulated transcription of sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1), thus promoting more S1P formation. Finally, patients with breast cancers that express both activated SPHK1 and ABCC1 have significantly shorter disease-free survival. These findings suggest that export of S1P via ABCC1 functions in a malicious feed-forward manner to amplify the S1P axis involved in breast cancer progression and metastasis, which has important implications for prognosis of breast cancer patients and for potential therapeutic targets. Implication: Multidrug resistant transporter ABCC1 and activation of SPHK1 in breast cancer worsen patient's survival by export of S1P to the tumor microenvironment to enhance key processes involved in cancer progression. Mol Cancer Res; 16(6); 1059–70. ©2018 AACR.
Long-term survival and causes of death in patients with ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome without obstructive coronary artery disease

Aims We aimed to study survival and causes of death in patients with ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (STE-ACS) with and without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods and results We included 4793 consecutive patients with STE-ACS triaged for acute coronary angiography at a large cardiac invasive centre (2009-2014). Of these, 88% had obstructive CAD (stenosis ≥50%), 6% had non-obstructive CAD (stenosis 1-49%), and 5% had normal coronary arteries. Patients without obstructive CAD were younger and more often female with fewer cardiovascular risk factors. Median follow-up time was 2.6 years. Compared with patients with obstructive CAD, the short-term hazard of death (≤30 days) was lower in both patients with non-obstructive CAD [hazard ratio (HR) 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.27-0.89, P = 0.018] and normal coronary arteries (HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.11-0.83, P = 0.021). In contrast, the long-term hazard of death (>30 days) was similar in patients with non-obstructive CAD (HR 1.15, 95% CI 0.77-1.72, P = 0.487) and higher in patients with normal coronary arteries (HR 2.44, 95% CI 1.58-3.76, P < 0.001), regardless of troponin levels. Causes of death were cardiovascular in 70% of patients with obstructive CAD, 38% with non-obstructive CAD, and 32% with normal coronary arteries. Finally, patients without obstructive CAD had lower survival compared with an age and sex matched general population. Conclusions STE-ACS patients without obstructive CAD had a long-term risk of death similar to or higher than patients with obstructive CAD. Causes of death were less often cardiovascular. This suggests that STE-ACS patients without obstructive CAD warrant medical attention and close follow-up.
Muscle wasting in male TNF-&agr; blocker naïve ankylosing spondylitis patients: a comparison of gender differences in body composition

Objective To assess gender differences in body composition (BC) in a cohort of AS patients naïve to TNF-α blockers. Methods Patients included fulfilled the Modified New York criteria for AS. Demographic information and disease activity measures (ASDAS and BASDAI) were reported. BC was measured by whole body DXA. Body fat percentage (BF%), fat mass index (FMI), fat free mass index (FFMI) and android/gynoid fat ratio were reported and compared between men and women and with the reference population (percentiles). Results Seventy consecutive patients were included; 60% were men. Demographic variables were similar, except for dyslipidaemia (57.1% of men; 14.3% of women). Women had significantly more fat (BF%, FMI), and less muscle (FFMI) than men, but below the median of the reference population. Male AS patients had a markedly low FFMI (31.7th percentile) compared with the reference population. In the whole group, after multivariate analysis, an ASDAS CRP >3.5 was related to lower fat free mass content. In men, a significant relationship between having a high disease activity (ASDAS, BASDAI) and lower BF% or FMI percentile was found, but in women it was the opposite. Conclusion Muscle wasting, measured as low FFMI compared with the reference population, was found in male TNF-α blocker naïve AS patients, especially in those with active disease. Women had higher volumes of body fat than men, but near the median of the reference population. The relationships between fat content and disease activity support the complex association between adipose tissue and inflammation.
Effects of Hypertonic Saline and Sodium Lactate on Cortical Cerebral Microcirculation and Brain Tissue Oxygenation

Background: Hyperosmolar solutions have been used in neurosurgery to modify brain bulk. The aim of this animal study was to compare the short-term effects of equivolemic, equiosmolar solutions of hypertonic saline (HTS) and sodium lactate (HTL) on cerebral cortical microcirculation and brain tissue oxygenation in a rabbit craniotomy model. Methods: Rabbits (weight, 1.5 to 2.0 kg) were anesthetized, ventilated mechanically, and subjected to a craniotomy. The animals were allocated randomly to receive a 3.75 mL/kg intravenous infusion of either 3.2% HTS (group HTS, n=9), half-molar sodium lactate (group HTL, n=10), or normal saline (group C, n=9). Brain tissue partial pressure of oxygen (PbtO2) and microcirculation in the cerebral cortex using sidestream dark-field imaging were evaluated before, 20 and 40 minutes after 15 minutes of hyperosmolar solution infusion. Global hemodynamic data were recorded, and blood samples for laboratory analysis were obtained at the time of sidestream dark-field image recording. Results: No differences in the microcirculatory parameters were observed between the groups before and after the use of osmotherapy. Brain tissue oxygen deteriorated over time in groups C and HTL, this deterioration was not significant in the group HTS. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that equivolemic, equiosmolar HTS and HTL solutions equally preserve perfusion of cortical brain microcirculation in a rabbit craniotomy model. The use of HTS was better in preventing the worsening of brain tissue oxygen tension.