Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity of Tests under Covariate‐Adaptive Biased Coin Randomization and Generalized Linear Models

Some covariate‐adaptive randomization methods have been used in clinical trials for a long time, but little theoretical work has been done about testing hypotheses under covariate‐adaptive randomization until Shao et al. (2010) who provided a theory with detailed discussion for responses under linear models. In this article, we establish some asymptotic results for covariate‐adaptive biased coin randomization under generalized linear models with possibly unknown link functions. We show that the simple t‐test without using any covariate is conservative under covariate‐adaptive biased coin randomization in terms of its Type I error rate, and that a valid test using the bootstrap can be constructed. This bootstrap test, utilizing covariates in the randomization scheme, is shown to be asymptotically as efficient as Wald's test correctly using covariates in the analysis. Thus, the efficiency loss due to not using covariates in the analysis can be recovered by utilizing covariates in covariate‐adaptive biased coin randomization. Our theory is illustrated with two most popular types of discrete outcomes, binary responses and event counts under the Poisson model, and exponentially distributed continuous responses. We also show that an alternative simple test without using any covariate under the Poisson model has an inflated Type I error rate under simple randomization, but is valid under covariate‐adaptive biased coin randomization. Effects on the validity of tests due to model misspecification is also discussed. Simulation studies about the Type I errors and powers of several tests are
Real time measurements for quality control of industrial rod manufacturing

This work proposes a fully automated approach for vision-based quality control of manufactured metal rods. The proposed approach is able to detect the features of the rod (holes) and calculate the curvature of the object versus specifications. The proposed algorithm utilizes a single mono-ocular image. Initial results show that the proposed algorithm can operate under various camera geometric setups, as well as illumination conditions and backgrounds. This methodology is capable of processing an image in less than 0.2 second, using a general purpose laptop. Thus, we provide the capability for real time processing of manufactured parts on a moving conveyor.
MAPs/bFGF-PLGA microsphere composite-coated titanium surfaces promote increased adhesion and proliferation of fibroblasts

Infection and epithelial downgrowth are two major problems with maxillofacial transcutaneous implants, and both are mainly due to lack of stable closure of soft tissues at transcutaneous sites. Fibroblasts have been shown to play a key role in the formation of biological seals. In this work, titanium (Ti) model surfaces were coated with mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs) utilizing its unique adhesion ability on diverse inorganic and organic surfaces in wet environments. Prepared basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres can be easily synthesized and combined onto MAPs-coated Ti surfaces, due to the negative surface charges of microspheres in aqueous solution, which is in contrast to the positive charges of MAPs. Titanium model surfaces were divided into three groups. Group A: MAPs/bFGF-PLGA microspheres composite-coated Ti surfaces. Group B: MAPs-coated Ti surfaces. Group C: uncoated Ti surfaces. The effects of coated Ti surfaces on adhesion of fibroblasts, cytoskeletal organization, proliferation, and extracellular matrix (ECM)-related gene expressions were examined. The results revealed increased adhesion (P < 0.05), enhanced actin cytoskeletal organization, and up-regulated ECM-related gene expressions in groups A and B compared with group C. Increased proliferation of fibroblasts during five days of incubation was observed in group A compared with groups B and C (P < 0.05). Collectively, the results from this in vitro study demonstrated that MAPs/bFGF-PLGA microspheres composite-coated Ti surfaces had the ability to increase fibroblast functionality. In addition, MAPs/bFGF-PLGA microsphere composite-coated Ti surfaces should be studied further as a method of promoting formation of stable biological seals around transcutaneous sites.
Plasma ceruloplasmin, a regulator of nitric oxide activity, and incident cardiovascular risk in patients with CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Increased serum levels of the acute-phase reactant ceruloplasmin predict adverse clinical outcomes in the setting of acute coronary syndromes and heart failure, but their role in patients with CKD is unclear. This study investigated the relationship of ceruloplasmin with clinical outcomes in CKD, especially with regard to traditional cardiac biomarkers. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Serum ceruloplasmin levels in consecutive study participants with CKD (n=654; estimated GFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)) as well as a control group of non-CKD participants matched for age and sex (n=250) were measured. Study participants were enrolled during 2001-2006 from a population of patients presenting for elective diagnostic coronary angiography and prospectively followed for 3 years (median follow-up=1095 days) to determine incident major adverse cardiac events (defined as a composite of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and stroke). RESULTS Serum ceruloplasmin levels in CKD patients were elevated versus controls (median [interquartile range]; 25.5 [21.8-29.6] versus 22.7 [19.7-26.5] mg/dl; P<0.001) and associated with increased risk of future major adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.82; P=0.04). After adjusting for traditional risk factors, higher serum ceruloplasmin was still associated with higher risk of major adverse cardiac events at 3 years (hazard ratio, 1.61; 95% confidence interval, 1.15 to 2.25; P=0.01). CONCLUSION In CKD patients, increased serum ceruloplasmin, a regulator of nitric oxide activity, is associated with increased risk of long-term adverse cardiovascular events, even after multivariable model adjustment for traditional clinical and biologic risk factors.
Secular trends in the presentation and management of functioning insulinoma at the Mayo Clinic, 1987-2007.

OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to assess changes in the presentation and diagnostic and radiological evaluation of patients with surgically confirmed insulinoma at the Mayo Clinic 1987-2007. METHODS A retrospective analysis of patients with insulinoma was conducted. Patients with prior gastric bypass were excluded. RESULTS A total of 237 patients [135 women (57%)] were identified. Hypoglycemia was reported solely in the fasting state in 73%, the fasting and postprandial state in 21%, and exclusively postprandially in 6%. There was a predominance of men in the postprandial symptom group. Considering the period of study by quartile, outpatient evaluation increased from 35 to 83% and successful preoperative localization improved from 74 to 100% comparing the first to the fourth quartiles. Although the rates of localization by noninvasive techniques remained static at approximately 75%, the addition of invasive modalities has resulted in successful preoperative localization in all patients in the past 10 yr. The sensitivity and specificity of the established diagnostic criteria using insulin, C-peptide, proinsulin, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and glucose response to iv glucagon were greater than 90% and greater than 70%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Although fasting hypoglycemia is characteristic of patients with insulinoma, postprandial symptoms have been reported with increasing, albeit low, frequency. Trends in the evaluation and preoperative management include a shift to outpatient diagnostic testing, an emphasis on successful preoperative localization to avoid blind pancreatic exploration, and a validation of the diagnostic criteria for hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia.
Two-Photon Excitation in Fluorescence Polarization Receptor-Ligand Binding Assay

Fluorescence polarization is one of the most commonly used homogeneous assay principles in drug discovery for screening of potential lead compounds. In this article, the fluorescence polarization technique is combined with 2-photon excitation of fluorescence. Theoretically, the use of 2-photon excitation of fluorescence increases the volumetric sensitivity and polarization contrast of fluorescence polarization assays. The work in this report demonstrates these predictions for an estrogen receptor ligand binding assay.
Recovery and normalization of triple coincidences in PET.

PURPOSE Triple coincidences in positron emission tomography (PET) are events in which three γ-rays are detected simultaneously. These events, though potentially useful for enhancing the sensitivity of PET scanners, are discarded or processed without special consideration in current systems, because there is not a clear criterion for assigning them to a unique line-of-response (LOR). Methods proposed for recovering such events usually rely on the use of highly specialized detection systems, hampering general adoption, and/or are based on Compton-scatter kinematics and, consequently, are limited in accuracy by the energy resolution of standard PET detectors. In this work, the authors propose a simple and general solution for recovering triple coincidences, which does not require specialized detectors or additional energy resolution requirements. METHODS To recover triple coincidences, the authors' method distributes such events among their possible LORs using the relative proportions of double coincidences in these LORs. The authors show analytically that this assignment scheme represents the maximum-likelihood solution for the triple-coincidence distribution problem. The PET component of a preclinical PET/CT scanner was adapted to enable the acquisition and processing of triple coincidences. Since the efficiencies for detecting double and triple events were found to be different throughout the scanner field-of-view, a normalization procedure specific for triple coincidences was also developed. The effect of including triple coincidences using their method was compared against the cases of equally weighting the triples among their possible LORs and discarding all the triple events. The authors used as figures of merit for this comparison sensitivity, noise-equivalent count (NEC) rates and image quality calculated as described in the NEMA NU-4 protocol for the assessment of preclinical PET scanners. RESULTS The addition of triple-coincidence events with the authors' method increased peak NEC rates of the scanner by 26.6% and 32% for mouse- and rat-sized objects, respectively. This increase in NEC-rate performance was also reflected in the image-quality metrics. Images reconstructed using double and triple coincidences recovered using their method had better signal-to-noise ratio than those obtained using only double coincidences, while preserving spatial resolution and contrast. Distribution of triple coincidences using an equal-weighting scheme increased apparent system sensitivity but degraded image quality. The performance boost provided by the inclusion of triple coincidences using their method allowed to reduce the acquisition time of standard imaging procedures by up to ∼25%. CONCLUSIONS Recovering triple coincidences with the proposed method can effectively increase the sensitivity of current clinical and preclinical PET systems without compromising other parameters like spatial resolution or contrast.
Pax6 regulates proliferation and apoptosis of human retinoblastoma cells.

PURPOSE To assess whether the Pax6 gene is involved in the development of retinoblastoma. METHODS Three human retinoblastoma cell cultures were transfected with human Pax6 specific double-stranded, small interfering siRNA molecules RH-1 and RH-2. In addition, untreated control groups and negative control groups (CT groups) transfected with siRNA without homology to the human genome were formed for all three cell culture lines. RESULTS After Pax6 gene was silenced by siRNA, the percentage of tumor cell survival decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Correspondingly, the percentage of apoptotic cells to total cells was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the three retinoblastoma cell lines transfected with siRNA than in the CT control groups and the untreated control groups. In a parallel manner, the cell cycle was significantly (P < 0.01) altered in the transfected study groups, with reduced percentages of retinoblastoma cells in the S-phase. The cell-cycle-associated protein P21 was upregulated, and the protein P27 was slightly upregulated in the transfected retinoblastoma cell lines, in comparison to the control groups. CONCLUSIONS Silencing the Pax6 gene with short interfering RNA resulted in an inhibited growth and an increased apoptosis of cultured human retinoblastoma cells. It was paralleled by upregulation of the P21 and P27 proteins.
Percolating silicon nanowire networks with highly reproducible electrical properties

Here, we report the morphological and electrical properties of self-assembled silicon nanowires networks, also called Si nanonets. At the macroscopic scale, the nanonets involve several millions of nanowires. So, the observed properties should result from large scale statistical averaging, minimizing thus the discrepancies that occur from one nanowire to another. Using a standard filtration procedure, the so-obtained Si nanonets are highly reproducible in terms of their morphology, with a Si nanowire density precisely controlled during the nanonet elaboration. In contrast to individual Si nanowires, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are highly consistent, as demonstrated here by the similar electrical properties obtained in hundreds of Si nanonet-based devices. The evolution of the Si nanonet conductance with Si nanowire density demonstrates that Si nanonets behave like standard percolating media despite the presence of numerous nanowire-nanowire intersecting junctions into the nanonets and the native oxide shell surrounding the Si nanowires. Moreover, when silicon oxidation is prevented or controlled, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are stable over many months. As a consequence, Si nanowire-based nanonets constitute a promising flexible material with stable and reproducible electrical properties at the macroscopic scale while being composed of nanoscale components, which confirms the Si nanonet potential for a wide range of applications including flexible electronic, sensing and photovoltaic applications.
Phase measurement of acoustic fields based on a moving target

A new technique to measure phase distribution of ultrasound beams is presented. This method is based on the phase measurement of the Doppler signal backscattered by a moving target traveling at constant velocity, which represents a scanning element exploring the held under examination. It is produced by mechanical equipment consisting of a modified string phantom in which the commonly used cotton thread was substituted by a thin nylon thread with some tight knots over it. The thread diameter was chosen small enough to produce knots smaller than the acoustic field wavelength in order to have "pointlike" moving targets. This paper describes how the Doppler signal phase is related to the phase field and the numerical method to extract a phase field distribution from the backscattered signal. Experimental results obtained for two circular transducers, strongly and weakly focused, respectively, are finally shown and commented.
A software-based mobile DVB-T2 measurement receiver

The second generation DVB standard for digital terrestrial broadcasting (DVB-T2) is already in regular operation in several countries around the world. The networks operated in these countries are primarily optimized for stationary reception. Consequently, all currently available commercial receivers have been optimized for the stationary use case. However, thanks to a wide range of parameter configurations, the DVB-T2 standard is also well-suited for mobile reception, which is currently evaluated in a field trial with DVB-T2 in the northern part of Germany. As no mobile measurement receivers are available, we developed the world's first software-based mobile DVB-T2 measurement receiver for evaluating the performance of DVB-T2 within this field trial. Besides the decoding of the Transport Stream, the receiver is also able to measure detailed transmission channel characteristics and link them to their geographical position using GPS data.
How Chief Academic Officers at Private Hispanic-Serving Institutions Use the National Survey of Student Engagement in Assessing Outcomes.

HOW CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS AT PRIVATE HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS USE THE NATIONAL SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ASSESSING OUTCOMES by Michael Bernard Schulte, M.A.A. , B.S. Dissertation Director: Dr. Dorothy H. Ettling University of the Incarnate Word, 2012 Five chief academic officers (CAOs) represented their institutions and served as a purposeful sample to qualitatively explore how they used National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results to facilitate institutional effectiveness and promote undergraduate student success. All these private Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) participated in NSSE within a specified time frame and were located in one accrediting and geographical region. The two-phased grounded theory research established three axial relationships between the eight coded themes: Actioning (strategizing and prioritizing), analyzing (evidencing, benchmarking, and disaggregation), and culturing (institutionalizing, integrating, and participating). The grounded theory emerged as a synthesis pyramid operationalized within outcomes assessment. Findings indicated that NSSE results are utilized by CAOs in a variety of ways. These included: benchmarking educational practices and peer institutions, linking accreditation and assessment via quality enhancement and strategic plans, formulating and making decisions collaboratively, and using other assessments and results with NSSE results.
Effects of laparoscopic ovarian drilling in treating infertile anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome patients with and without metabolic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of laparoscopic ovarian drilling in treating infertile polycystic ovarian syndrome in patients with and without metabolic syndrome. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING A university-affiliated hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS A total of 89 infertile anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome patients, who underwent laparoscopic ovarian drilling with completed metabolic screening and seen over a 5-year period from 2002 to 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The clinical, hormonal, and metabolic characteristics as well as spontaneous ovulation rates, reproductive outcomes, and diabetes risks during pregnancy observed after laparoscopic ovarian drilling. RESULTS Approximately one fifth (21%) of polycystic ovarian syndrome patients had the metabolic syndrome. There were no differences in spontaneous ovulation rates (68% vs 61%, P=0.76), cumulative pregnancy rates (68% vs 61%, P=0.77), and diabetes risks during pregnancy (64% vs 42%, P=0.13) between patients with and without metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSION Laparoscopic ovarian drilling was equally effective in inducing ovulation in polycystic ovarian syndrome patients with metabolic syndrome. Thus, patients with metabolic syndrome should not be precluded from laparoscopic ovarian drilling, which has the additional advantage of enabling full tubo-peritoneal assessment at the same time.
Vestibular Compensation Affects Endogenous Phosphorylation of Frog Brain Proteins

Abstract: The effect of unilateral labyrinthectomy followed by the process of vestibular compensation on the incorporation of radioactive phosphate into frog brain proteins was investigated. Phosphoproteins were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by autoradiography. The present data show that unilateral labyrinthectomy affects the incorporation of 32P into various frog brain proteins. In particular, the phosphorylation of a 20‐kDa protein appeared enhanced during early stages of vestibular compensation (4–12 days). This 20‐kDa protein was shown to be immunologically related to myelin basic protein and its phosphorylation was regulated by an endogenous calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase. These data might indicate that in addition to neuronal components, components of glial origin are also involved in biochemical events that lead to functional recovery after neuronal lesions.
Rapid detection and typing of dengue viruses from clinical samples by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction

We report on the development and application of a rapid assay for detecting and typing dengue viruses. Oligonucleotide consensus primers were designed to anneal to any of the four dengue virus types and amplify a 511-bp product in a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). First, we produced a cDNA copy of a portion of the viral genome in a reverse transcriptase reaction in the presence of primer D2 and then carried out a standard PCR (35 cycles of heat denaturation, annealing, and primer extension) with the addition of primer D1. The resulting double-stranded DNA product of the RT-PCR was typed by two methods: dot blot hybridization of the 511-bp amplified product to dengue virus type-specific probes or a second round of PCR amplification (nested PCR) with type-specific primers, yielding DNA products the unique sizes of which were diagnostic for each dengue virus serotype. The accumulated data demonstrated that dengue viruses can be accurately detected and typed from viremic human serum samples.
Craving in intermittent and daily smokers during ad libitum smoking.

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to assess average and peak craving intensity among nondaily intermittent smokers (ITS) in smoking episodes and when not smoking compared to that of daily smokers (DS). METHODS Two hundred and twelve ITS and 194 DS monitored their smoking and craving for 3 weeks using Ecological Momentary Assessment methods. Craving was assessed (0-100 scale) when subjects lit a cigarette and at random times when not smoking; 48,469 observations were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS ITS experienced craving, including intense craving; their 95th percentile intensity averaged 77.7 ± 22.5 out of 100 (higher among DS: 89.1 ± 14.5). ITS reported lower craving than DS, both when smoking and when not smoking. In both groups, craving was less intense when not smoking (DS: 71.1 ± 20.7 vs. 59.83 ± 21.97; ITS: 59.91 ± 23.03 vs. 26.63 ± 19.87), but the difference was significantly greater among ITS. Among ITS, the probability of smoking rose continuously as craving increased over the full range of the scale. In contrast, among DS the probability of smoking rose until the midpoint of the scale, after which the relationship flattened. Findings were mostly similar for ITS with and without a history of past daily smoking. CONCLUSIONS ITS do experience craving, including intense craving. The relationship between craving and smoking is stronger among ITS because DS experience moderate craving even between cigarettes. In contrast, ITS appear to experience craving in limited situations associated with smoking, suggesting that their craving and smoking may be driven by transient cues rather than endogenous needs.