Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consequences of screening in lung cancer: development and dimensionality of a questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to extend the Consequences of Screening (COS) Questionnaire for use in a lung cancer screening by testing for comprehension, content coverage, dimensionality, and reliability. METHODS In interviews, the suitability, content coverage, and relevance of the COS were tested on participants in a lung cancer screening program. The results were thematically analyzed to identify the key consequences of abnormal and false-positive screening results. Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory were used to analyze data. Dimensionality, objectivity, and reliability were established by item analysis, examining the fit between item responses and Rasch models. RESULTS Eight themes specifically relevant for participants in lung cancer screening results were identified: "self-blame,""focus on symptoms,""stigmatization,""introvert,""harm of smoking,""impulsivity,""empathy," and "regretful of still smoking. " Altogether, 26 new items for part I and 16 new items for part II were generated. These themes were confirmed to fit a partial-credit Rasch model measuring different constructs including several of the new items. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the reliability and the dimensionality of a condition-specific measure with high content validity for persons having abnormal or false-positive lung cancer screening results have been demonstrated. This new questionnaire called Consequences of Screening in Lung Cancer (COS-LC) covers in two parts the psychosocial experience in lung cancer screening. Part I: "anxiety,""behavior,""dejection,""sleep,""self-blame,""focus on airway symptoms,""stigmatization,""introvert," and "harm of smoking. " Part II: "calm/relax,""social network,""existential values,""impulsivity,""empathy," and "regretful of still smoking. "
[Assessment of flexibility in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis by curved planar reformation using multi-slice spiral CT scanning].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of curved planar reformation (CPR) using multi-slice spiral CT scanning to evaluate the coronal and sagittal plane in scoliosis so as to affirm the features of supine coronal and sagittal plane in idiopathic scoliosis. METHODS Thoracic and lumbar spine multi-slice spiral CT scanning was undertaken on 45 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), all female, age 10 - 18. CPR was used to reconstruct the spine coronal and sagittal planes respectively. The values of main curve and compensate curve Cobb angles were obtained and compared with those obtained by X-ray films. RESULTS The average CPR coronal main curve Cobb angle was smaller by 10.17 degrees than that obtained by standing position film. The average CPR coronal compensate curve Cobb angle was smaller by 6.97 degrees than that obtained by standing position film. For scoliosis coronal flexibility assessment, fulcrum-bending method offered better surgical correction result than other methods. Only the post-operational Cobb angle was different between the 10 - 14 year-old group and 15 - 18 year-old group. Bending film showed differences in correction rate and flexibility rate between the main thoracic group and main lumbar/thoracolumbar group. The correction rate and flexibility rate of main curve and compensate curve of the 10 - 14 year-old group were significantly higher than those of the 15 - 18 year-old group. In the sagittal plane, the CPR thoracic kyphotic angle (T5-T12) and upper thoracic curve kyphosis of the main thoracic group were both smaller than those of the main lumbar/thoracolumbar group. The CPR thoracic kyphotic angle (T5-T12) of the 10 - 14 year-old group was significantly smaller than that of the 15 - 18 year-old group. Correlation analysis showed that the CPR main curve flexibility and bending film flexibility were positively corrected with the surgical correction rate. CONCLUSION CPR using multi-slice spiral CT scanning is able to obtain multiple three-dimensional assessment by one scanning and is helpful in scoliosis curve type diagnosis and scoliosis 3D analysis.
Identifying Promising Research Frontiers of Pattern Recognition through Bibliometric Analysis

This paper aims at proposing a quantitative methodology to identify promising research frontiers (RFs) based on bibliographic information of scientific papers and patents. To achieve this, core technological documents are identified by suggesting several indices which measure paper impact, research impact, patent novelty, impact, marketability, and the right range to evaluate technological documents and which measure the research capability of research organizations (ROs) such as a RO’s activity, productivity, market competitiveness, and publication impact. The RFs can be identified by clustering core technological documents, and promising indices of each RF which are from the perspectives of growth, impact, marketability, and science-based effect, are calculated to promising RFs. As an illustration, this paper selects the case of pattern recognition technology among various technologies in the information and communication technology sector. To validate the proposed method, emerging technologies on the hype cycle are utilized, allowing analysts to compare the results. Comparing the results derived from scientific papers and patents, the results from scientific papers are proper to suggest themes for research (R) in relatively long-term perspective, whereas the results from patents are appropriate for providing themes for development (D) in terms of relatively short-term view. This approach can assist research organizations and companies in devising a technology strategy for a future direction of research and development.
Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Environments: Modeling Challenges for Resource and Environmental Economists

Analysis of coastal climate change adaptation requires combining environmental and resource economics with other disciplines. Sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification, and increased storminess threaten to alter or intensify biophysical coastal changes. Communities respond in ways that neither maximize total economic value nor apply the appropriate spatial scale of policy response. Focusing on coastline change, particularly in North Carolina, we synthesize modeling approaches and empirical studies to identify research that is needed to support coastal climate adaptation policy. Modeling coastlines as coupled human–natural systems explains historical patterns of coastline change, clarifies the need for empirical estimates, and provides a roadmap for interdisciplinary policy analysis. Despite the extensive literature on coastal amenities, hazards, and ex post policy evaluation, more empirical information is needed to parameterize coupled models of complex coastal environments facing climate change. Extending coupled models of coastal adaptation to incorporate spatial dynamics and market and nonmarket values highlights fundamental problems with current governance structures. We conclude that to maximize total economic value in the coastal zone, adaptation will require governance coordination across multiple levels, attention to intensive and extensive margins of adaptation, and trade-offs across market and nonmarket values. These findings echo recent advances in fisheries bioeconomics.
Tristetraprolin (TTP) coordinately regulates primary and secondary cellular responses to proinflammatory stimuli

TTP is an anti‐inflammatory protein that acts by binding to AREs in its target mRNAs, such as Tnf mRNA, and promoting their deadenylation and decay. TNF released from inflammatory cells can then stimulate gene expression in tissue cells, such as fibroblasts. To determine whether TTP could affect the decay of TNF‐induced transcripts in fibroblasts, we exposed primary embryonic fibroblasts and stable fibroblast cell lines, derived from WT and TTP KO mice, to TNF. The decay rates of transcripts encoded by several early‐response genes, including Cxcl1, Cxcl2, Ier3, Ptgs2, and Lif, were significantly slowed in TTP‐deficient fibroblasts after TNF stimulation. These changes were associated with TTP‐dependent increases in CXCL1, CXCL2, and IER3 protein levels. The TTP‐susceptible transcripts contained multiple, conserved, closely spaced, potential TTP binding sites in their 3′‐UTRs. WT TTP, but not a nonbinding TTP zinc finger mutant, bound to RNA probes that were based on the mRNA sequences of Cxcl1, Cxcl2, Ptgs2, and Lif. TTP‐promoted decay of transcripts encoding chemokines and other proinflammatory mediators is thus a critical post‐transcriptional regulatory mechanism in the response of secondary cells, such as fibroblasts, to TNF released from primary immune cells.
Antimicrobial effects of Boesenbergia pandurata and Piper sarmentosum leaf extracts on planktonic cells and biofilm of oral pathogens.

Increasing awareness of hazards associated with the use of antibiotic and chemical agents has accelerated investigations into plants and their extracts as new sources of antimicrobial agents. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the effects of oil and 95% ethanol extracts of Boesenbergia pandurata rhizomes and Piper sarmentosum leaf against four oral pathogens which were Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus sp. , Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Candida albicans. Employing the disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods, the results showed that B. pandurata oil (BPO) was the most effective extract against C. albicans. Time-kill assay with the BPO demonstrated killing of C. albicans at concentrations equal to 2 and 2.5 times the MIC. The times required to reach the fungicidal endpoint at 2 and 2.5 times the MIC were 60 and 44 min, respectively. In addition, our results also demonstrated that the BPO possesses potent anti-Candida biofilm activity in vitro. Therefore, the BPO could be considered as a natural antifungal agent against Candida infections and has significant potential for further investigation.
Natural resource endowment and firm-level innovation in Africa: Evidence from cross-country analysis

This paper investigates the impact of a country’s natural resource endowment on the innovation propensity of firms in Africa. It was expected that firms in resource-rich countries have less incentive to innovate than firms in resource-poor countries due to the destructive effects of large resource rents on supportive institutions and political order. The data used for the empirical analysis were obtained from the World Bank’s enterprise surveys global development indicators and the African Economic Outlook reports. The hierarchical nature of the analysis called for a multilevel mixed effect modelling strategy. Results suggest that firms in resource-rich countries are not necessarily less innovative than firms in resource-poor countries. High natural resource endowment appeared to reduce firm-level innovation only if associated with poor institutional and technological capabilities. The innovativeness of firms in resource-rich sub-Saharan Africa countries was found to be lower than that of firms in North African countries. The negative effect of poor institutional quality appeared to be dampened among firms with better innovation capabilities. The findings imply that building effective institutional environments and enhancing firm-level innovative efforts would help mitigate the ‘resource curse’ which, in turn, is dictated by the resulting types of political settlements in resource-rich African countries.
On stability-instability conditions of a simple robust adaptive servo controller

The paper studies the stability properties of a new adaptive servo controller possessing a robust servo structure and an error driven fixed regulation loop. This loop is designed to satisfy the disturbance rejection requirements and the reference tracking is ensured via an adaptive feedforward block. At both design stages a priori knowledge about the process dynamics may be easily incorporated. Global convergence of the scheme is established under the standard strictly positive real (SPR) condition. Two stability-instability boundaries for the adaptive system are derived, one based on the, now well known, low gain stability concept and a new (explicitly) gain-dependent boundary obtained for the single parameter adaptation case via Lyapunov techniques. In both cases the SPR assumption is obviated.
The Lens Has a Specific Influence on Optic Nerve and Tectum Development in the Blind Cavefish Astyanax

We used the teleost Astyanaxmexicanus to examine the role of the lens in optic nerve and tectum development. This speciesis unusually suited for studies of nervous system development and evolution because of its two extant forms: an eyed surface dwelling (surface fish) and several blind cave dwelling (cavefish) forms. Cavefish embryos initially form eye primordia, but the lens eventually dies by apoptosis, then the retina ceases to grow, and finally the degenerating eyes sink into the orbits. Transplantation of an embryonic surface fish lens into a cavefish optic cup restores eye development. We show here that retinal nerve fibers are formed and project to the optic tectum in cavefish embryos. In adult cavefish that have completed lens degeneration, however, the number of retinal axons in the optic nerve is substantially reduced compared to surface fish. The presumptive brain domains of embryonic cavefish are not altered relative to surface fish based on expression of the regional marker genes Pax6, Pax2.1, and engrailed2. In contrast, the adult cavefish brain is elongated, the optic tectum is diminished in volume, and the number of tectal neurons is reduced relative to surface fish. Unilateral transplantation of an embryonic surface fish lens into a cavefish optic cup increases the size of the optic nerve, the number of retinotectal projections from the restored eye, and the volume and neuronal content of the contralateral optic tectum. The results suggest that the lens has a specific influence on optic nerve and tectum development during eye growth in Astyanax.
The Role of Long-Term Memory in a Test of Visual Working Memory: Proactive Facilitation but No Proactive Interference

We report 4 experiments examining whether associations in visual working memory are subject to proactive interference from long-term memory (LTM). Following a long-term learning phase in which participants learned the colors of 120 unique objects, a working memory (WM) test was administered in which participants recalled the precise colors of 3 concrete objects in an array. Each array in the WM test consisted of 1 old (previously learned) object with a new color (old-mismatch), 1 old object with its old color (old-match), and 1 new object. Experiments 1 to 3 showed that WM performance was better in the old-match condition than in the new condition, reflecting a beneficial contribution from LTM. In the old-mismatch condition, participants sometimes reported colors associated with the relevant shape in LTM, but the probability of successful recall was equivalent to that in the new condition. Thus, information from LTM only intruded in the absence of reportable information in WM. Experiment 4 tested for, and failed to find, proactive interference from the preceding trial in the WM test: Performance in the old-mismatch condition, presenting an object from the preceding trial with a new color, was equal to performance with new objects. Experiment 5 showed that long-term memory for object-color associations is subject to proactive interference. We conclude that the exchange of information between LTM and WM appears to be controlled by a gating mechanism that protects the contents of WM from proactive interference but admits LTM information when it is useful.
The putative trans-activator in the MAgag region of Rous sarcoma virus is not required for cell transformation

A stop codon created by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis in the proposed transcriptional trans-activator of Rous sarcoma virus (S. Broome and W. Gilbert, Cell 40:537-546, 1985) which truncated the trans-activator by half did not alter the transforming activity or the replication of the virus in primary chicken embryo fibroblasts. This result proves that this trans-activator is not essential for transformation of primary cells by Rous sarcoma virus.
The New American Slavery: Capitalism and the Ghettoization of American Prisons as a Profitable Corporate Business

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Predictive Torque Control Scheme for Three-Phase Four-Switch Inverter-Fed Induction Motor Drives With DC-Link Voltages Offset Suppression

The four-switch three-phase (B4) inverter, having a lower number of switches, was first presented for the possibility of reducing the inverter cost, and it became very attractive as it can be utilized in fault-tolerant control to solve the open/short-circuit fault of the six-switch three-phase (B6) inverter. However, the balance among the phase currents collapses due to the fluctuation of the two dc-link capacitor voltages; therefore, its application is limited. This paper proposes a predictive torque control (PTC) scheme for the B4 inverter-fed induction motor (IM) with the dc-link voltage offset suppression. The voltage vectors of the B4 inverter under the fluctuation of the two dc-link capacitor voltages are derived for precise prediction and control of the torque and stator flux. The three-phase currents are forced to stay balance by directly controlling the stator flux. The voltage offset of the two dc-link capacitors is modeled and controlled in the predictive point of view. A lot of simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed control scheme.
Pharmacological manipulation of nitric oxide levels in mouse follicle cultures demonstrates key role of extrafollicular control of ovulation.

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in ovulation, but it is uncertain whether the mechanisms responsible are systemic or local. In vivo and in perfused ovaries, inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) reduces ovulation. This study used a well-characterized system of isolated follicle culture to assess which isoforms of NOS might be involved at the follicular level. METHODS NOS inhibitors, stimulators and NO donors were used to manipulate the environment of mouse cultured follicles, selectively targeting different isoforms of NOS. Follicle survival and ovulation in vitro were monitored using established markers. RESULTS Inhibition of endothelial NOS did not affect survival or ovulation of cultured follicles. Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) had mild effects in this system, generally inhibitory of ovulation. NO donors had variable inhibitory effects, including toxic effects. Stimulators of iNOS appeared to show mixed, mostly inhibitory, effects that possibly involved different mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that relatively minor effects on survival and ovulation in vitro are achieved by modulating the NO pathway, and the marked effects of NOS inhibitors in vivo do not occur in vitro. It is therefore probable that the effects of NOS inhibitors in vivo are mediated via effects outside the follicle.
The aadA Gene of Plasmid R100 Confers Resistance to Spectinomycin and Streptomycin in Myxococcus xanthus

ABSTRACT Plasmids with the aadA gene from plasmid R100, which confers resistance to the aminoglycosides spectinomycin and streptomycin in Escherchia coli, can be introduced into wild-type Myxococcus xanthus, strain DK1622, by electroporation. Recombinant M. xanthus strains with integrated plasmids carrying the aadA gene acquire resistance to high levels of these antibiotics. Selection foraadA in M. xanthus can be carried out independently of, or simultaneously with, selection for resistance to kanamycin. The kinds and frequencies of recombination events observed between integrative plasmids with aadA and the M. xanthus chromosome are similar to those observed after the transformation of yeast. Cleavage of integrative plasmid DNA at a site adjacent to a region of homology between the plasmid and the M. xanthus genome favors the targeted disruption ofM. xanthus genes by allele replacement.
Phase I trial of capecitabine rapidly disintegrating tablets and concomitant radiation therapy in children with newly diagnosed brainstem gliomas and high-grade gliomas.

BACKGROUND We conducted a phase I study to estimate the maximum tolerated dose and describe the dose-limiting toxicities and pharmacokinetics of oral capecitabine rapidly disintegrating tablets given concurrently with radiation therapy to children with newly diagnosed brainstem or high-grade gliomas. METHODS Children 3-21 y with newly diagnosed intrinsic brainstem or high-grade gliomas were eligible for enrollment. The starting dose was 500 mg/m(2), given twice daily, with subsequent cohorts enrolled at 650 mg/m(2) and 850 mg/m(2) using a 3 + 3 phase I design. Children received capecitabine at the assigned dose daily for 9 wks starting from the first day of radiation therapy (RT). Following a 2-wk break, patients received 3 courses of capecitabine 1250 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days followed by a 7-day rest. Pharmacokinetic sampling was performed in consenting patients. Six additional patients with intrinsic brainstem gliomas were enrolled at the maximum tolerated dose to further characterize the pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles. RESULTS Twenty-four patients were enrolled. Twenty were fully assessable for toxicity. Dose-limiting toxicities were palmar plantar erythroderma (grades 2 and 3) and elevation of alanine aminotransferase (grades 2 and 3). Systemic exposure to capecitabine and metabolites was similar to or slightly lower than predicted based on adult data. CONCLUSIONS Capecitabine with concurrent RT was generally well tolerated. The recommended phase II capecitabine dose when given with concurrent RT is 650 mg/m(2), administered twice daily. A phase II study to evaluate the efficacy of this regimen in children with intrinsic brainstem gliomas is in progress (PBTC-030).