Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Value of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-to-platelet ratio in diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B

AIM To investigate the value of the gamma-glutamyltraspeptidase (GGT)-to-platelet (PLT) ratio (GPR) in the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). METHODS We included 390 untreated CHB patients in this study. The GPR, aspartate aminotransferase (AST)-to-PLT ratio index (APRI), and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) of all patients were analysed to determine if these parameter were correlated with age, gender, medical history, liver function [total bilirubin (TBil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and AST], GGT, PLT count, or hepatic fibrosis stage. The GPR, APRI, and FIB-4, as well as the combination of the GPR and APRI or the GPR and FIB-4 were assessed in different cirrhosis stages using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to evaluate their value in diagnosing hepatic fibrosis in CHB patients. RESULTS The GPR, APRI, and FIB-4 were not correlated with CHB patients’ age, gender, or disease duration (P > 0.05), but all of these parameters were positively correlated with serum ALT, AST, GGT, and PLT count (P < 0.01). Additionally, the GPR, APRI, and FIB-4 were positively correlated with hepatic fibrosis (P < 0.01); the areas under the ROC curve for the GPR in F1, F2, F3, and F4 stages were 0.723, 0.741, 0.826, and 0.833, respectively, which were significantly higher than the respective values for the FIB-4 and APRI (F1: 0.581, 0.612; F2: 0.706, 0.711; F3: 0.73, 0.751; and F4: 0.799, 0.778). The respective diagnostic cut-off points for each stage were 0.402, 0.448, 0.548, and 0.833, respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were, respectively, 88.8% and 87.5% in F1, 72.7% and 89.7% in F2, 81.3% and 98.6% in F3, and 80% and 97.4% in F4 when the GPR and APRI were connected in parallel; 86.6% and 90.2%, 78.4% and 96%, 78.6% and 97.4%, and 73.2% and 97.9%, respectively, when the GPR and APRI were connected in series; 80.2% and 89%, 65% and 89%, 70.3% and 98.5%, and 78.8% and 96.8%, respectively, when the GPR and FIB-4 were connected in parallel; and 83.6% and 87.9%, 76.8% and 96.6%, 72.7% and 98%, and 74.4% and 97.7%, respectively, when the GPR and FIB-4 were connected in series. CONCLUSION The GPR, as a serum diagnostic index of liver fibrosis, is more accurate, sensitive, and easy to use than the FIB-4 and APRI, and the GPR can significantly improve the sensitivity and specificity of hepatic fibrosis diagnosis in CHB when combined with the FIB-4 or APRI.
NTR: An efficient trajectory-based routing protocol for the vehicular delay tolerant networks

Traditional vehicular routing protocols cannot accurately foresee future location of each vehicle for efficient packet forwarding. Recently, the data mining approach has been applied to analyze huge vehicle trajectory data. In this paper, we propose a novel trajectory-based routing (NTR) protocol to improve the packet replication efficiency of vehicles in the Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN). By integrating the data mining technique, NTR first establishes the trajectory tree of each vehicular node based on its trajectory data. With this kind of trajectory trees, NTR then predicts future location of each vehicle and derives its contact possibilities with all other vehicles. Hence, NTR creates the vehicle encounter trees and the packet delivery graphs to predict the optimal Store-CarryForward (SCF) route for spraying the optimal number of packet tokens among intermediate nodes from the packet source vehicle to the destination one. Finally, we use the Opportunistic Network Environment (ONE) simulator to perform simulations. From performance results, we conclude that NTR significantly outperforms several well-known VDTN routing protocols, in terms of the average packet delivery ratio, average end-to-end delay and average packet forwarding overhead.
Shielding gas effect on the structure of variable polarity GMA weldbrazed joints of galvanised sheets

The article presents the course and results of tests aimed to determine the effect of shielding gas on the shape of a weldbraze and on the structure of weldbrazed joints made of thin galvanised sheets. Test joints were made using innovative VP GMA weldbrazing utilising variable current and voltage waveforms. The tests involved the use of 3 types of shielding gases and mixtures, i.e. Ar, Ar + 1% O2 and Ar + 18% CO2, and required macro and microscopic metallographic examination of overlay brazes and weldbrazed joints. The tests conducted have revealed that the use of mixtures containing active gases, and CO2 in particular, increases the heat input of a weldbrazing process, improves the wettability of sheets and the geometry of weldbrazes, yet it also favours greater coat damage in the joining area and causes partial melting of workpieces.
Analisis Biomasa Dan Cadangan Karbon Pada Berbagai Umur Tegakan Damar (Agathis Dammara (Lamb.) Rich.) Di KPH Banyumas Timur

Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes global climate change seriously. Forests serve as an important asset that can absorb and store carbon in the form of biomass. One type of potential forest as a carbon sink is forests resin. The amount of carbon stored by standing very dynamic and varies according to the age of its standing. Therefore, studies will be needed to determine the effect of age on biomass and carbon stocks stands resin, determine the relationship between age and standing biomass and carbon stocks resin, and knowing the optimum resin stand age in storing biomass and carbon stocks. This research was conducted at the stands of resin RPH Karang Gandul, KPH Banyumas Timur for four weeks in May 2016. The method used is a survey with a sampling technique using cluster random sampling. Stands resin used in the study were classified into five age groups with 5 replicates. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with an error rate of 5% and continued with LSD for further test results were significant and regression analysis to determine the relationship of age with biomass and carbon stocks stands resin. The results showed that the age effect on biomass and carbon stocks stands resin, the relationship formed between the age of stand with biomass and carbon stocks are quadratic, and age optimum in storing biomass and carbon stocks is 35 years.
The Marine Natural Product Pseudopterosin Blocks Cytokine Release of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer and Monocytic Leukemia Cells by Inhibiting NF-κB Signaling

Pseudopterosins are a group of marine diterpene glycosides which possess an array of biological activities including anti-inflammatory effects. However, despite the striking in vivo anti-inflammatory potential, the underlying in vitro molecular mode of action remains elusive. To date, few studies have examined pseudopterosin effects on cancer cells. However, to our knowledge, no studies have explored their ability to block cytokine release in breast cancer cells and the respective bidirectional communication with associated immune cells. The present work demonstrates that pseudopterosins have the ability to block the key inflammatory signaling pathway nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) by inhibiting the phosphorylation of p65 and IκB (nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor) in leukemia and in breast cancer cells, respectively. Blockade of NF-κB leads to subsequent reduction of the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1). Furthermore, pseudopterosin treatment reduces cytokine expression induced by conditioned media in both cell lines investigated. Interestingly, the presence of pseudopterosins induces a nuclear translocation of the glucocorticoid receptor. When knocking down the glucocorticoid receptor, the natural product loses the ability to block cytokine expression. Thus, we hypothesize that pseudopterosins inhibit NF-κB through activation of the glucocorticoid receptor in triple negative breast cancer.
4. Purchasing

Highlights  Purchasing is important for incentivizing quality and efficiency. Countries are introducing complex payment reforms that require improved data collection and analysis and management to address adverse effects, including those on nonhealth sectors.  A growing share of Bank operations are supporting countries in purchasing reforms and most of this support is to performance-and results-based payments in low-income settings. In addition, the Bank helped in building institutional and administrative capacity and investment in information to assess provider performance.  Service use has increased when countries move from line-item budgets to paying providers for activities or performance. A change in provider payment method primarily benefits individuals seeking care. Demand-side barriers, such as user fees, and high administrative costs remain concerns for efficiency and financial sustainability of Bank support.  Purchasing reforms are likely not sustained unless they are embedded in overall health financing, and the broader public finance context and future financing are assured. The objective of purchasing is for providers to deliver quality care efficiently to individuals who need it. Purchasing is challenged by the financial incentives of various provider payment methods that transfer funds from the purchaser (e.g., government units and insurers) to providers and by the paucity of information on providers' reactions to these methods. Whether these incentives lead to the desired outcome heavily depends on the institutional context for providers and how they react to them. How did the World Bank Group support countries in purchasing, and what evidence is there for improved equity in financing and service use, financial protection, and efficiency? This chapter addresses these questions. It also includes findings from the country case studies presented in appendix E. Challenges Financial incentives set by the payment method may encourage providers to change the number of services, manage costs, and improve quality of care, all of which can affect efficiency (Ellis and McGuire 1996) (Table 4.1). Line-item budgets and hospital per diem are still common in middle-and low-income countries. But these two payment methods do not set incentives for providers to become more efficient or offer better care. To increase the number of health services, governments and
Spectrum-Based Multiple Fault Localization

Fault diagnosis approaches can generally be categorized into spectrum-based fault localization (SFL, correlating failures with abstractions of program traces), and model-based diagnosis (MBD, logic reasoning over a behavioral model). Although MBD approaches are inherently more accurate than SFL, their high computational complexity prohibits application to large programs. We present a framework to combine the best of both worlds, coined BARINEL. The program is modeled using abstractions of program traces (as in SFL) while Bayesian reasoning is used to deduce multiple-fault candidates and their probabilities (as in MBD). A particular feature of BARINEL is the usage of a probabilistic component model that accounts for the fact that faulty components may fail intermittently. Experimental results on both synthetic and real software programs show that BARINEL typically outperforms current SFL approaches at a cost complexity that is only marginally higher. In the context of single faults this superiority is established by formal proof.
Experimental and simulation study of flexural behaviour of woven Glass/Epoxy laminated composite plate

Flexural behaviour of cross ply laminated woven Glass/Epoxy composite plate has been investigated in this article. Flexural responses are examined by a three point bend test and tensile test carried out on INSTRON 5967 and Universal Testing Machine INSTRON 1195 respectively. The finite element model is developed in ANSYS parametric design language code and discretised using an eight nodded structural shell element. Convergence behaviour of the simulation result has been performed and validated by comparing the results with experimental values. The effects of various parameters such as side-to-thickness ratio, modular ratio on flexural behaviour of woven Glass/Epoxy laminated composite plate are discussed in details.
Drosophila Golgi membrane protein Ema promotes autophagosomal growth and function

Autophagy is a self-degradative process in which cellular material is enclosed within autophagosomes and trafficked to lysosomes for degradation. Autophagosomal biogenesis is well described; however mechanisms controlling the growth and ultimate size of autophagosomes are unclear. Here we demonstrate that the Drosophila membrane protein Ema is required for the growth of autophagosomes. In an ema mutant, autophagosomes form in response to starvation and developmental cues, and these autophagosomes can mature into autolysosomes; however the autophagosomes are very small, and autophagy is impaired. In fat body cells, Ema localizes to the Golgi complex and is recruited to the membrane of autophagosomes in response to starvation. The Drosophila Golgi protein Lva also is recruited to the periphery of autophagosomes in response to starvation, and this recruitment requires ema. Therefore, we propose that Golgi is a membrane source for autophagosomal growth and that Ema facilitates this process. Clec16A, the human ortholog of Ema, is a candidate autoimmune susceptibility locus. Expression of Clec16A can rescue the autophagosome size defect in the ema mutant, suggesting that regulation of autophagosome morphogenesis may be a fundamental function of this gene family.
Alignment of Mitotic Chromosomes in Human Cells Involves SR-Like Splicing Factors Btf and TRAP150

Serine-arginine-rich (SR) or SR-like splicing factors interact with exon junction complex proteins during pre-mRNA processing to promote mRNA packaging into mature messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) and to dictate mRNA stability, nuclear export, and translation. The SR protein family is complex, and while many classical SR proteins have well-defined mRNA processing functions, those of other SR-like proteins is unclear. Here, we show that depletion of the homologous non-classical serine-arginine-rich (SR) splicing factors Bcl2-associated transcription factor (Btf or BCLAF) and thyroid hormone receptor-associated protein of 150 kDa (TRAP150) causes mitotic defects. We hypothesized that the depletion of these SR-like factors affects mitosis indirectly through an altered expression of mitotic checkpoint regulator transcripts. We observed an altered abundance of transcripts that encode mitotic regulators and mitotic chromosome misalignment defects following Btf and/or TRAP150 depletion. We propose that, in addition to their previously reported roles in maintaining mRNA distribution, Btf and TRAP150 control the abundance of transcripts encoding mitotic regulators, thereby affecting mitotic progression in human cells.
Filler model based confidence measures for spoken dialogue systems: a case study for Turkish

Because of the inadequate performance of speech recognition systems, an accurate confidence scoring mechanism should be employed to understand user requests correctly. To determine a confidence score for a hypothesis, certain confidence features are combined. The performance of filler-model based confidence features have been investigated. Five types of filler model networks were defined: triphone-network; phone-network; phone-class network; 5-state catch-all model; 3-state catch-all model. First, all models were evaluated in a Turkish speech recognition task in terms of their ability to tag correctly (recognition-error or correct) recognition hypotheses. The best performance was obtained from the triphone recognition network. Then, the performances of reliable combinations of these models were investigated and it was observed that certain combinations of filler models could significantly improve the accuracy of the confidence annotation.
Silicon Nanowires for Photovoltaics : from the Material to the Device

Silicon Nanowire (SiNW) based solar cells offer an interesting choice towards low-cost and highly efficient solar cells. Indeed solar cells based on SiNWs benefit from their outstanding optical properties such as extreme light trapping and very low reflectance. In this research project, we have fabricated disordered SiNWs using a low-cost top-down approach named the Metal-Assisted-Chemical-Etching process (MACE). The MACE process was first optimized to reduce the strong agglomeration observed at the top-end of the SiNWs by tuning the wettability properties of both the initial substrate and the SiNWs surface. By combining the MACE process with the nanosphere lithography, we have also produced ordered SiNW arrays with an accurate control over the pitch, diameter and length. The optical properties of these SiNW arrays were then investigated both theoretically and experimentally in order to identify the geometrical configuration giving the best optical performance. Disordered and ordered SiNW arrays have been integrated into two types of solar cells: heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) and hybrid devices. SiNW based HIT devices were fabricated by RF-PECVD and the optimization of the process conditions has allowed us to reach efficiency as high as 12.9% with excellent fill factor above 80%. Hybrid solar cells based on the combination of SiNWs with an organic layer have also been studied and characterized. The possible transfer of this concept to the thin film technology is finally explored.
An outdoor cognition system integrated on a regular smartphone device

In this paper we introduce an assistive device dedicated to visual impaired / blind people completely integrated on a regular smartphone. The framework is designed to detect and localize static and dynamic obstacle during user navigation. We start by selecting a reduced and relevant set of FAST interest points based on a regular grid and Harris-Laplacian operator. Then, we construct a global image representation using VLAD (Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptor) that is further whitened using PCA (Principal Component Analysis). At the end the image patch is fed to a SVM (Support Vector Machine) system that uses a statistical procedure to distinguish between different types of obstacles.
Description of Closure of Cyclic Stress-Strain Loop and Ratcheting Based on Y-U Model

This paper proposes a cyclic plasticity model to describe the closure of a cyclic stress-strain hysteresis loop based on the Y-U model. In this model, the backstress moves in a cyclic memory surface following a newly proposed kinematic hardening law. For this model just the same Y-U parameters can be used, and no additional material parameters are needed. By using a supplementary rule, this model is also able to describe ratcheting.
Femoral Component Revision of Total Hip Arthroplasty.

Modern primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) is among the most successful operations in medicine. It has been a consistently effective treatment for end-stage osteoarthritis of the hip. With the increasing number of primary THA procedures being performed and the decreasing age of patients undergoing the procedure, there is an inevitable associated increase in revision burden for arthroplasty surgeons. Revision THA is most often indicated for instability, aseptic loosening, osteolysis, infection, periprosthetic fracture, component malposition, and catastrophic implant failure. Understanding the etiology of THA failure is essential for guiding clinical decision making. Femoral component revision presents a complex challenge to the arthroplasty surgeon because of modern implant design as well as bone loss in the proximal femur. Thorough patient evaluation, defect classification, and well-executed surgical reconstruction based on comprehensive preoperative planning may determine the postoperative results. Knowledge of various reconstructive options and the indications for each is necessary to achieve a successful outcome. This article highlights the most common indications for revision after THA and offers recommendations for how to approach revision of the femoral component. Specifically, the authors review preoperative assessment, common classification systems for femoral deficiency, techniques for component extraction, and modalities of femoral component fixation. [Orthopedics. 2016; 39(6):e1129-e1139. ].
Do protective behavioral strategies mediate the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol use in college students?

OBJECTIVE Heavy alcohol use among college students represents a public health problem on American college campuses. Use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) has been shown to be related to reduced alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems, but the relationship of PBS to other alcohol-related constructs is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of PBS mediated the relationship between positively and negatively reinforcing drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. METHOD Data were collected on 254 undergraduate students at a large, public university in the northeast region of the United States. Approximately one third (n = 90) of the participants were volunteers, whereas the remaining individuals enrolled in the study as an option for satisfying an alcohol-related campus judicial sanction. RESULTS Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationships between positively reinforcing (i.e., social and enhancement) drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Use of PBS did not mediate the relationship between negatively reinforcing (i.e., coping) drinking motives and alcohol use or alcohol-related problems. The theoretical models accounted for 26% of the variance in alcohol use and 24% of the variance in alcohol-related problems. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that PBS should be incorporated into theoretical models devoted to understanding college student drinking.
Exposure to HIV Partner Counseling and Referral Services and Notification of Sexual Partners among Persons Recently Diagnosed with HIV

Objective: Among HIV-infected persons, we evaluated use of client partner notification (CPN) and health-department partner notification strategies to inform sex partners of possible HIV exposure, and prior exposure to partner counseling and referral services. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study of 590 persons diagnosed with HIV in the prior 6 months at 51 HIV test, medical, and research providers in Chicago and Los Angeles in 2003 and 2004. Logistic regression was used to identify independent correlates of using CPN to notify all locatable partners. Results: Participants reported a total of 5091 sex partners in the 6 months preceding HIV diagnosis; 1253 (24.6%) partners were locatable and not known to be HIV-positive. Of 439 participants with ≥1 locatable partners, 332 (75.6%) reported notifying 696 (55.5%) partners by CPN (585, 84.1%), health-department partner notification (94, 13.5%), or other means (17, 2.4%); 208 (47.4%) used CPN to notify all locatable partners. Independent correlates of CPN included having fewer locatable partners and discussing the need to notify partners with an HIV medical-care provider (black and Hispanic participants only). Many participants reported that their HIV test or medical-care provider did not discuss the need to notify partners (48.8%, 33.7%, respectively) and did not offer health-department partner-notification services (60.8%, 52.8%). Conclusion: Many locatable sex partners who might benefit from being notified of potential HIV exposure are not notified. In accordance with national policies, HIV test and medical-care providers should routinely provide partner counseling and referral services to HIV-infected clients so that all locatable partners are notified and provided an opportunity to learn their HIV status.