Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neoadjuvant therapy and risk of bronchopleural fistula after lung cancer surgery: a systematic meta-analysis of 14 912 patients.

OBJECTIVE Neoadjuvant therapy has been extensively analyzed in studies addressing the risk factors of bronchopleural fistula, but their results vary hugely. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to determine the association between neoadjuvant therapy and risk of bronchopleural fistula in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. METHODS We searched PubMed and EMBASE to identify the full-text literatures that met our eligibility criteria. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval served as the summarized statistics. Heterogeneity within this meta-analysis was evaluated by Q-test and I (2) statistic. Sensitivity analysis was performed for further assessments of robustness. Publication bias was detected by Begg's test and Egger's test. RESULTS Thirty studies enrolling 14 912 lung cancer cases were included into this meta-analysis. The incidence of bronchopleural fistula was 2.4% (354/14 912) in the large scale. Overall, neoadjuvant therapy significantly increased the risk of bronchopleural fistula after pulmonary resections (odds ratio: 2.166; 95% confidence interval: 1.398-3.357; P = 0.001). In subgroup analysis, neoadjuvant radiotherapy (odds ratio: 3.914; 95% confidence interval: 1.401-10.935; P = 0.009) and chemo-radiation (odds ratio: 2.533; 95% confidence interval: 1.353-4.741; P = 0.004) were significantly associated with the bronchopleural fistula risk but neoadjuvant chemotherapy was not (odds ratio: 1.857; 95% confidence interval: 0.881-3.911; P = 0.104). The impact of neoadjuvant therapy on bronchopleural fistula occurrence remains statistically prominent in the other subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Neoadjuvant therapy is significantly associated with the occurrence of bronchopleural fistula after lung cancer surgery. Both neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemo-radiation significantly increase the bronchopleural fistula risk but neoadjuvant chemotherapy does not. Some limitations still exist in this meta-analysis. The updated high-quality studies can help to further confirm and enrich our discoveries in the future.
Optimizing TCP Goodput and Delay in next generation IEEE 802.11 (ax) devices

In this paper we suggest three scheduling strategies for the IEEE 802.11ax transmis- sion of DL unidirectional TCP data from the Access Point to stations. Two strategies are based on the Single User operation mode and one is based on the Multi User operation mode, using Multi User Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) and OFDMA. We measure the Goodput of the system as a function of the time intervals over which these Goodputs are received in all three strategies. For up to 8 stations the MU strategy outperforms the SU. For 16 and 32 stations it is not clear whether MU outperforms SU or vice versa. For 64 stations the SU strategies outperform the MU significantly. We also checked the influence of the Delayed Acks feature on the received Goodputs and found that this feature has significance only when the TCP data segments are relatively short.
Self-Reported Listening Habits and Enjoyment of Music among Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients

Objectives: We sought to assess the associations between self-reported listening habits and enjoyment of music, and the following variables: Age at implantation, gender, prelingual versus postlingual deafness, duration of deafness, duration of cochlear implant (CI) use, type of CI, speech coding strategy, and speech perception abilities. Methods: A questionnaire on listening habits and enjoyment of music before the onset of deafness and after implantation was sent to 85 adult CI recipients who had been using the devices for at least 6 months. Results: Of the 53 responders, 39 (73.6%) listened to music after implantation. Listening to music was not significantly related to age at implantation, gender, duration of deafness, duration of CI use, type of CI device, speech coding strategy, or open-set speech perception abilities. The 14 nonlisteners were postlingually deafened. The ratings of enjoyment were the same for 22.6% of patients, improved for 26.4%, and worse for 50.9%. Only 2 of 13 patients who played a musical instrument and 14 of 24 patients who sang before the onset of deafness resumed their musical activities. Conclusions: Despite the decline in listening habits and in the enjoyment of music after cochlear implantation, most patients do listen to music. The changes in listening habits and enjoyment were not related to the selected background variables.
Expression of human CD81 differently affects host cell susceptibility to malaria sporozoites depending on the Plasmodium species

Plasmodium sporozoites can enter host cells by two distinct pathways, either through disruption of the plasma membrane followed by parasite transmigration through cells, or by formation of a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) where the parasite further differentiates into a replicative exo‐erythrocytic form (EEF). We now provide evidence that following invasion without PV formation, transmigrating Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites can partially develop into EEFs inside hepatocarcinoma cell nuclei. We also found that rodent P. yoelii sporozoites can infect both mouse and human hepatocytes, while human P. falciparum sporozoites infect human but not mouse hepatocytes. We have previously reported that the host tetraspanin CD81 is required for PV formation by P. falciparum and P. yoelii sporozoites. Here we show that expression of human CD81 in CD81‐knockout mouse hepatocytes is sufficient to confer susceptibility to P. yoelii but not P. falciparum sporozoite infection, showing that the narrow P. falciparum host tropism does not rely on CD81 only. Also, expression of CD81 in a human hepatocarcinoma cell line is sufficient to promote the formation of a PV by P. yoelii but not P. falciparum sporozoites. These results highlight critical differences between P. yoelii and P. falciparum sporozoite infection, and suggest that in addition to CD81, other molecules are specifically required for PV formation during infection by the human malaria parasite.
Caffeine consumption decreases the response to bronchoprovocation challenge with dry gas hyperventilation.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether caffeine consumption affects bronchoprovocation challenge (BPC). DESIGN A prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover trial. PATIENTS Eleven nonsmoking men, aged 18 to 42 years, with normal baseline spirometry and evidence of exercise-induced bronchospasm. INTERVENTION On three separate test days, each individual received, in random order, either placebo, 5 mg/kg caffeine, or 10 mg/kg caffeine, and then underwent BPC with eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation (EVH). RESULTS Caffeine (10 mg/kg) significantly reduced bronchoconstriction compared to placebo (p = 0.02). The reduction in bronchoconstriction correlated with the serum level of caffeine (p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS Caffeine decreases bronchoconstriction due to EVH. Caffeine should be eliminated from diet prior to BPC.
Robust contourlet-based watermarking for depth-image-based rendering 3D images

In this paper, we propose a new blind watermarking scheme for depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) 3D images. The center view and the depth map are available at the content provider side. After applying contourlet transform (CT) to the center view, we embed the watermark into the selected contourlet subbands of the center view by quantization on certain contourlet coefficients. The virtual left and right views are generated from the watermarked center view and the associated depth map using DIBR technique at the receiver side. The statistical differences between quantized and unquantized contourlet coefficients are used for watermark extraction. The watermark can be detected with a low bit error rate (BER) from the center view, the left and right views even when each view is distorted and distributed separately. The simulation results demonstrate that our scheme keeps good perceptual quality of the watermarked images under both objective and subjective image quality estimations. Moreover, compared with other related methods, the proposed scheme has better performance in terms of robustness against image compression, noise addition and geometric attacks such as rotation, scaling and cropping.
Prevalence and types of hyponatraemia, its relationship with hyperglycaemia and mortality in ill pet rabbits

Prevalence of hyponatraemia has not been extensively studied in pet rabbits, and the reference data for calculated plasma tonicity and osmolarity are not available. This retrospective clinical study reports the prevalence of hyponatraemia, hyposmolarity and hypotonicity in ill pet rabbits (n=356). The relationship between sodium and glucose levels was studied (n=134). Mortality rates within seven days associated with different sodium levels were calculated in ill rabbits (n=322). Venous blood samples in lithium heparin were processed using iStat EC8+ cartridges. The 95% RI for plasma sodium, calculated osmolarity and tonicity from 51 healthy pet rabbits were 136–147 mEq/l, 284–312 mOsm/l and 278–302 mOsm/l, respectively. The prevalence of hyponatraemia, hypotonicity and hyposmolarity was 39.0 per cent, 28.7 per cent and 18.0 per cent, respectively. Pseudohyponatraemia was present in 28.1 per cent and true hyponatraemia was present in 71.9 per cent of the cases of hyponatraemia. Sodium levels less than 129 mEq/l were found to be associated with 2.3-fold increase in mortality risk. Plasmatic sodium levels in rabbits decrease in conditions of hyperglycaemia in a similar manner as it occurs in human beings. As hyperglycaemia is quite a common condition in rabbits, simultaneous measurement of plasmatic sodium along with glucose in ill rabbits is advised. Hyponatraemia is a common condition in ill rabbits and, depending on its type (true hyponatraemia or pseudohyponatraemia), of varying clinical relevance. Calculation of plasmatic tonicity is necessary for differentiation of types of hyponatraemia.
Core Outcome Measures for Clinical Research in Acute Respiratory Failure Survivors. An International Modified Delphi Consensus Study

Rationale: Research evaluating acute respiratory failure (ARF) survivors' outcomes after hospital discharge has substantial heterogeneity in terms of the measurement instruments used, creating barriers to synthesizing study data. Objectives: To identify a minimum set of core outcome measures that are essential to include in all clinical research studies evaluating ARF survivors after discharge. Methods: We conducted a three‐round modified Delphi consensus process with 77 participants (47% female, 55% outside the United States), including clinical researchers from more than 16 countries across six continents, patients/caregivers, clinicians, and research funders. Participants reviewed standardized information on measure instruments for seven consensus‐derived outcomes plus one recommended outcome. Measurements and Main Results: Response rates were 91 to 97% across the three rounds. Among 75 measurement instruments evaluated, the following met a priori consensus criteria: EQ‐5D and 36‐item Short Form Health Survey version 2 (optional) for the “satisfaction with life and personal enjoyment” and “pain” outcomes, and both the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Impact of Events Scale‐Revised for the “mental health” outcome. No measures reached consensus for the following outcomes: cognition, muscle and/or nerve function, physical function, and pulmonary function. All measures considered for pulmonary function met consensus criteria for exclusion. The following measures did not reach the threshold for consensus but achieved the highest scores for their respective outcomes: the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (cognition), manual muscle testing and handgrip dynamometry (muscle and/or nerve function), and 6‐minute‐walk test (physical function). Conclusions: This Core Outcome Measurement Set is recommended for use in all clinical research evaluating ARF survivors after hospital discharge. In the future, researchers should evaluate measures for outcomes not reaching consensus.
Why governments intervene: Exploring mixed motives for public policies on corporate social responsibility

Why are national governments increasingly adopting policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Government CSR policies have been explained either as a means of substituting or supporting (mirroring) domestic political-economic institutions and policies, or as a means for government to promote international competitiveness of domestic businesses. Both sets of explanations see governments as driving CSR policies to meet particular national government goals. Support is found for the thesis that CSR policies are often related to international competitiveness, yet our findings suggest that government goals in this regard are not necessarily pre-defined.
Bayesian Estimation of the Storage Model using Information on Quantities

This paper presents a new strategy to estimate the rational expectations storage model. It uses information on prices and quantities – consumption and production – in contrast to previous approaches which use only prices. This additional information allows us to estimate a model with elastic supply, and to identify parameters such as supply and demand elasticities, which are left unidentified when using prices alone. The estimation relies on the Bayesian methods popularized in the literature on the estimation of DSGE models. It is carried out on a market representing the caloric aggregate of the four basic staples – maize, rice, soybeans, and wheat – from 1961 to 2006. The results show that to be consistent with the observed volatility of consumption, production, and price, elasticities have to be in the lower ranges of the elasticities in the literature, a result consistent with recent instrumental variable estimations on the same sample.
Oxidative stress-induced diseases and tea polyphenols

Reactive oxide species are the middle products of normal metabolism, and play a crucial role in cell signaling transduction. On the contrary, accumulation of excess reactive oxide species results in oxidative stress that often brings multifarious impairment to cells, including decrease of ATP level in cells, elevation of cytosolic Ca2+, DNA damage, dysfunction of biological function in lipid bilayer and so on. These effects will finally lead to all kinds of diseases. Tea polyphenols are widely considered as a kind of excellent antioxidant agents. It can be antioxidants by directly scavenging reactive oxide species or chelating transition metals, and indirectly upregulating the activity of antioxidant enzymes. In addition, tea polyphenols have also been observed a potent pro-oxidant capacity, which directly leads to the generation of reactive oxide species, and indirectly induces apoptosis and death of cancer cells. The underlying characters of its pro-oxidant activity in some diseases is not well understood. The present review we will discuss the dual character of tea polyphenols, both antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties, in some human diseases induced by oxidative stress.
Parametric Photonic Channelized RF Receiver

A new class of photonic channelized radio-frequency (RF) receiver is proposed and demonstrated. The new device relies on generation of high fidelity signal copies by wavelength multicasting in a self-seeded, two-pump parametric mixer. Signal copying to widely spaced wavelengths enables channelization of the full RF bandwidth using a single periodic filter. The channelization uses freely tunable frequencies of newly generated copies and eliminates the need for construction of a dense, narrowband filter bank. The new concept is demonstrated by channelization of four subcarrier channels with 1-GHz spacing and greater than 20-dB extinction ratio between extracted channels.
Epidural Technique for Postoperative Pain: Gold Standard No More?

Abstract Epidural analgesia is a well-established technique that has commonly been regarded as the gold standard in postoperative pain management. However, newer, evidence-based outcome data show that the benefits of epidural analgesia are not as significant as previously believed. There are some benefits in a decrease in the incidence of cardiovascular and pulmonary complications, but these benefits are probably limited to high-risk patients undergoing major abdominal or thoracic surgery who receive thoracic epidural analgesia with local anaesthetic drugs only. There is increasing evidence that less invasive regional analgesic techniques are as effective as epidural analgesia. These include paravertebral block for thoracotomy, femoral block for total hip and knee arthroplasty, wound catheter infusions for cesarean delivery, and local infiltration analgesia techniques for lower limb joint arthroplasty. Wound infiltration techniques and their modifications are simple and safe alternatives for a variety of other surgical procedures. Although pain relief associated with epidural analgesia can be outstanding, clinicians expect more from this invasive, high-cost, labour-intensive technique. The number of indications for the use of epidural analgesia seems to be decreasing for a variety of reasons. The decision about whether to continue using epidural techniques should be guided by regular institutional audits and careful risk-benefit assessment rather than by tradition. For routine postoperative analgesia, epidural analgesia may no longer be considered the gold standard.
Necromarketing as Advertising Strategy in American Television

Abstract Significant research has been conducted regarding fear appeals, but little empirical evidence concerning death appeals is found. This study determined to what extent necromarketing exists in advertisements in American television. Through a content analysis of 1012 American television advertisements, this study found what product categories employ this marketing strategy and which consumer groups were targeted. Findings show that implicit necromarketing is a more commonly used marketing tactic than explicit necromarketing; the industries of entertainment promotions and insurance use necromarketing appeals more often than others, and necromarketing appeals were more heavily used during primetime. His study forms the base for future studies investigating the impact death has on purchase intentions.
A new hepadnavirus endemic in arctic ground squirrels in Alaska

We present evidence for a novel member of the hepadnavirus family that is endemic in wild arctic ground squirrels (Spermophylus parryi kennicotti) in Alaska. This virus, designated arctic squirrel hepatitis virus (ASHV), was initially detected in the livers of animals bearing large hepatic nodules by nucleic acid hybridization with hepadnavirus probes and in plasma by cross-reactivity with antibodies to hepadnavirus surface and core antigens. The complete nucleotide sequence of the 3,302-bp-long ASHV genome was determined and compared with those of ground squirrel hepatitis virus (GSHV) and woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV); all sequences were organized into four open reading frames, designated pre-C/C, pre-S/S, pol, and X. Despite roughly equivalent variability among the three rodent hepadnaviruses (around 16% base and 19% amino acid exchanges), ASHV appeared to be more closely related to GSHV than to WHV in phylogenetic analysis. Accordingly, preliminary studies of the pathology of ASHV infection suggested that ASHV may be a less efficient oncogenic agent than WHV. About one-third of aged animals maintained in captivity, including virus-infected as well as uninfected squirrels, developed large liver nodules, consisting of hepatocellular adenomas or carcinomas or nonmalignant lesions characterized by drastic microvesicular steatosis. ASHV-infected arctic ground squirrels may serve as a new model with which to analyze the contribution of hepadnavirus- and host-specific determinants to liver pathology and tumorigenesis.
A Functional Homolog of Escherichia coliNhaR in Vibrio cholerae

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli NhaR controls expression of a sodium/proton (Na+/H+) antiporter, NhaA. TheVibrio cholerae NhaR protein shows over 60% identity to those of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enteritidis. V. cholerae NhaR complements an E. coli nhaR mutant for growth in 100 mM LiCl–33 mM NaCl, pH 7.6, and enhances the Na+-dependent induction of an E. colichromosomal nhaA::lacZ fusion. These findings indicate functional homology to E. coli NhaR. TwoV. cholerae nhaR mutants were constructed by using kanamycin resistance cartridge insertion at different sites to disrupt the gene. Both mutants showed sensitivity to growth in 120 mM LiCl, pH 9.2, compared with the wild-type strain and could be complemented by the introduction of V. cholerae nhaR on a low-copy-number plasmid. An nhaR mutation had no detectable effect on the virulence of the V. cholerae strain in the infant mouse model, suggesting that the antiporter system involved is not required in vivo, at least in this animal model.
Factor XI Assembly and Activation on Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells in Culture

Summary Biotin-FXI optimally bound to HUVEC in the presence of 40 nM high molecular weight kininogen (HK) and ≥ ≥7 μM Zn2+. There was little specific FXI binding in the absence of added HK and at concentrations of Zn2+ <15 μM. FXI and prekallikrein, but not prothrombin, blocked biotin-FXI binding to HUVEC in the presence of HK with an IC50 of 18 nM and 180 nM, respectively. Monoclonal antibody HKL16 and peptide SDD31 also inhibited biotin-XI binding in the presence of HK with an IC50 of 4.7 nM and 50 μM, respectively. Alternatively, peptide T249-F260 of FXI’s apple domain 3 and heparin monosulfate were weak inhibitors of FXI binding to HUVEC. FXI bound to HUVEC with an apparent K d of 6.9 ± 3.0 nM and B max of 13 ± 2.6106 sites/cell. FXI bound to HK on HUVEC, but not prothrombin, became converted to FXIa. FXI activation on HUVEC resulted from tissue culture media bovine factor XIIa. HUVEC grown in human factor XII-deficient serum did not support FXI activation. FXI binding to HUVEC in culture was mostly mediated by HK and FXI activation on HUVEC is dependent on cell-associated factor XIIa.
Chip-in-substrate package, CiSP, technology

The structure of chip-in-substrate package, CiSP, is shown. The thin chips (50mum) are bonded on the organic substrate (BT) flatly. Subsequently, the chips are covered among the build-up dielectric layer, which can be either a RCC (resin coated copper) material or an organic dielectric material (ABF) by a lamination process. Via holes on the chip's I/O pad and substrate are drilled by laser. The interconnection between chip and substrate is created by Cu without bump. The main issue is focused on the interfaces among different materials. This shorter interconnection can match the demand for fast electrical response application. At the same time, the stresses simulation for the interfaces or each key location in a CiSP is also investigated to optimize the manufacturing processes