Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Tumor Border Configuration of Colorectal Cancer as a Histomorphological Prognostic Indicator

Histomorphological features of colorectal cancers (CRC) represent valuable prognostic indicators for clinical decision making. The invasive margin is a central feature for prognostication shaped by the complex processes governing tumor–host interaction. Assessment of the tumor border can be performed on standard paraffin sections and shows promise for integration into the diagnostic routine of gastrointestinal pathology. In aggressive CRC, an extensive dissection of host tissue is seen with loss of a clear tumor–host interface. This pattern, termed “infiltrative tumor border configuration” has been consistently associated with poor survival outcome and early disease recurrence of CRC-patients. In addition, infiltrative tumor growth is frequently associated with presence of adverse clinicopathological features and molecular alterations related to aggressive tumor behavior including BRAFV600 mutation. In contrast, a well-demarcated “pushing” tumor border is seen frequently in CRC-cases with low risk for nodal and distant metastasis. A pushing border is a feature frequently associated with mismatch-repair deficiency and can be used to identify patients for molecular testing. Consequently, assessment of the tumor border configuration as an additional prognostic factor is recommended by the AJCC/UICC to aid the TNM-classification. To promote the assessment of the tumor border configuration in standard practice, consensus criteria on the defining features and method of assessment need to be developed further and tested for inter-observer reproducibility. The development of a standardized quantitative scoring system may lay the basis for verification of the prognostic associations of the tumor growth pattern in multivariate analyses and clinical trials. This article provides a comprehensive review of the diagnostic features, clinicopathological associations, and molecular alterations associated with the tumor border configuration in early stage and advanced CRC.
The influence of Alexithymia and music on the Incidental Memory for Emotion Words

Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct which encompasses difficulties in identifying and expressing feelings along with an externally oriented cognitive style. We investigated whether congruent vs. incongruent emotional musical priming (happy and angry music) during encoding would moderate the effects of alexithymia on recognition rates. We found that high alexithymia scorers recognized fewer joy and anger words than low scorers. Angry music decreased recognition rates in high alexithymia scorers compared to low alexithymia scorers. The congruency and incongruency effects between music and words depended on alexithymia level. The anger deficit in high alexithymia scorers and the possible support provided by happiness cues are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards a SLA-based Approach to Handle Service Disruptions

Service-orientation enables cooperation between multiple organizations and has become a solution of choice to tackle the complexity of ubiquitous computing. The very nature of ubiquitous applications implies a need for dynamic solutions. Service oriented computing provides support for these dynamic applications. However, current solutions overlook important aspects, particularly when dynamically substituting services. Some applications may be mission-critical and therefore the disruption of a particular service could be harmful. Other applications may tolerate the disappearance of a service if the service returns within a predefined amount of time. Hence, guarantees regarding availability of services that compose an application are required. In this paper we propose to take into account service disruptions through service level agreements for dynamic service-oriented applications.
Multilingual Deterministic Dependency Parsing Framework using Modified Finite Newton Method Support Vector Machines

In this paper, we present a three-step multilingual dependency parser based on a deterministic shift-reduce parsing algorithm. Different from last year, we separate the root-parsing strategy as sequential labeling task and try to link the neighbor word dependences via a near neighbor parsing. The outputs of the root and neighbor parsers were encoded as features for the shift-reduce parser. In addition, the learners we used for the two parsers and the shift-reduce parser are quite different (conditional random fields and the modified finite-Newton method support vector machines). We found that our method could benefit from the two-preprocessing stages. To speed up training, in this year, we employ the MFN-SVM (modified finite-Newton method support vector machines) which can be learned in linear time. The experimental results show that our method achieved the middle rank over the 23 teams. We expect that our method could be further improved via well-tuned parameter validations for different languages.
R-loops Associated with Triplet Repeat Expansions Promote Gene Silencing in Friedreich Ataxia and Fragile X Syndrome

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) and Fragile X syndrome (FXS) are among 40 diseases associated with expansion of repeated sequences (TREDs). Although their molecular pathology is not well understood, formation of repressive chromatin and unusual DNA structures over repeat regions were proposed to play a role. Our study now shows that RNA/DNA hybrids (R-loops) form in patient cells on expanded repeats of endogenous FXN and FMR1 genes, associated with FRDA and FXS. These transcription-dependent R-loops are stable, co-localise with repressive H3K9me2 chromatin mark and impede RNA Polymerase II transcription in patient cells. We investigated the interplay between repressive chromatin marks and R-loops on the FXN gene. We show that decrease in repressive H3K9me2 chromatin mark has no effect on R-loop levels. Importantly, increasing R-loop levels by treatment with DNA topoisomerase inhibitor camptothecin leads to up-regulation of repressive chromatin marks, resulting in FXN transcriptional silencing. This provides a direct molecular link between R-loops and the pathology of TREDs, suggesting that R-loops act as an initial trigger to promote FXN and FMR1 silencing. Thus R-loops represent a common feature of nucleotide expansion disorders and provide a new target for therapeutic interventions.
Odour-based natal nest recognition in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a colony-breeding songbird

Passerine birds have an extensive repertoire of olfactory receptor genes. However, the circumstances in which passerine birds use olfactory signals are poorly understood. The aim of this study is to investigate whether olfactory cues play a role in natal nest recognition in fledged juvenile passerines. The natal nest provides fledglings with a safe place for sleeping and parental food provisioning. There is a particular demand in colony-breeding birds for fledglings to be able to identify their nests because many pairs breed close to each other. Olfactory orientation might thus be of special importance for the fledglings, because they do not have a visual representation of the nest site and its position in the colony when leaving the nest for the first time. We investigated the role of olfaction in nest recognition in zebra finches, which breed in dense colonies of up to 50 pairs. We performed odour preference tests, in which we offered zebra finch fledglings their own natal nest odour versus foreign nest odour. Zebra finch fledglings significantly preferred their own natal nest odour, indicating that fledglings of a colony breeding songbird may use olfactory cues for nest recognition.
The Effects of a KM Strategy on KM Performance in Professional Services Firms

Knowledge management KM is a critical issue in professional services firms PSFs. Many researchers define a KM strategy as a crucial driver of KM success in corporations. Research demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between KM strategy and the performance of KM processes, which are both closely related to KM success. In the longitudinal benchmark survey presented in this paper, based on an integrated KM framework and focusing on PSFs, the authors found evidence of such an effect, that is, KM strategy's impact on KM success.
A review of signals used in sleep analysis

This article presents a review of signals used for measuring physiology and activity during sleep and techniques for extracting information from these signals. We examine both clinical needs and biomedical signal processing approaches across a range of sensor types. Issues with recording and analysing the signals are discussed, together with their applicability to various clinical disorders. Both univariate and data fusion (exploiting the diverse characteristics of the primary recorded signals) approaches are discussed, together with a comparison of automated methods for analysing sleep.
Creative Interaction and Multiplexity in Intraorganizational Networks

In line with the emphasis on the social and collaborative aspects of creativity, this study examined the local structural patterns of embeddedness between creative interaction ties and three different types of existing relations among employees. Results based on sociometric network data from an advertising agency revealed that significant multiplexity exists, with advice ties being the most strongly associated with creative interaction, followed by knowledge ties and friendship ties. Furthermore, the structure of multiplexity shows that employees were likely to have reciprocal ties across multiple relations, to seek multiple types of resources from a single source, and to form embedded ties within the same work unit. Implications for the theory of embeddedness and practical implications for promoting organizational creativity are discussed.
Activity-dependent serotonergic excitation of callosal projection neurons in the mouse prefrontal cortex

Layer 5 pyramidal neurons (L5PNs) in the mouse prefrontal cortex respond to serotonin (5-HT) according to their long-distance axonal projections; 5-HT1A (1A) receptors mediate inhibitory responses in corticopontine (CPn) L5PNs, while 5-HT2A (2A) receptors can enhance action potential (AP) output in callosal/commissural (COM) L5PNs, either directly (in “COM-excited” neurons), or following brief 1A-mediated inhibition (in “COM-biphasic” neurons). Here we compare the impact of 5-HT on the excitability of CPn and COM L5PNs experiencing variable excitatory drive produced by current injection (DC current or simulated synaptic current) or with exogenous glutamate. 5-HT delivered at resting membrane potentials, or paired with subthreshold depolarizing input, hyperpolarized CPn and COM-biphasic L5PNs and failed to promote AP generation in COM-excited L5PNs. Conversely, when paired with suprathreshold excitatory drive generating multiple APs, 5-HT suppressed AP output in CPn L5PNs, enhanced AP generation in COM-excited L5PNs, and generated variable responses in COM-biphasic L5PNs. While COM-excited neurons failed to respond to 5-HT in the presence of a 2A receptor antagonist, 32% of CPn neurons exhibited 2A-dependent excitation following blockade of 1A receptors. The presence of pharmacologically revealed 2A receptors in CPn L5PNs was correlated with the duration of 1A-mediated inhibition, yet biphasic excitatory responses to 5-HT were never observed, even when 5-HT was paired with strong excitatory drive. Our results suggest that 2A receptors selectively amplify the output of COM L5PNs experiencing suprathreshold excitatory drive, while shaping the duration of 1A-mediated inhibition in a subset of CPn L5PNs. Activity-dependent serotonergic excitation of COM L5PNs, combined with 1A-mediated inhibition of CPn and COM-biphasic L5PNs, may facilitate executive function by focusing network activity within cortical circuits subserving the most appropriate behavioral output.
Emerging Literacy Views and Practices

The authors conducted a national survey of Head Start preschool teachers to assess their views and practices related to emerging literacy. Results indicated that Head Start teachers use a variety of strategies to promote emerging literacy, with a major focus on book knowledge/appreciation and print awareness skills. The teachers indicated that they least frequently used strategies to improve phonological awareness skills. Many of the strategies teachers reported using involved creating opportunities for children to engage in emerging literacy activities and arranging the environment to improve emerging literacy. Overall, Head Start teachers endorsed the idea that emerging literacy skill instruction should occur on a daily basis. The authors also provide implications for the current study as it relates to research and practice.
Bayesian object matching based on MCMC sampling and Gabor filters

We study an object recognition system where Bayesian inference is used for estimating the probability distribution of matching object locations on an image. The representation of the object contains two parts: the likelihood part that defines the probability of perceiving a given (gray scale) image corresponding to the matched object detail, and the prior part that defines the probability of variation of the object, including elastic distortions and interclass variations. The application we are studying is related to recognition of faces and recovering the shape of human heads. The prior consists of covariance model for the face, which encodes the correlations of matching point locations over different face images. The approach is closely related to eigenshapes and linear object classes. In the likelihood part, measurement of point correspondence is based on Gabor filter responses. In addition to matching filter amplitudes, we compute also the discrepancy of the filter phases, which increases the spatial accuracy of the matched locations. The similarity is based on measuring the distribution of Gabor filter responses in a given object location, and finding a low dimensional subspace to model the variation. The probability of match is proportional to the angle between the subspace and the vector of Gabor filter responses. The object matching is carried out as Bayesian inference: the goal is to find the posterior probability distribution of the possible matches given the image and the object prior. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, such as Gibbs and Metropolis sampling, to estimate the posterior probability of matches. In the paper we present MCMC methods suitable for the matching task and present some preliminary results.
A Novel Stream Cipher for Video Compressed by H.264

The characteristics of video data are very large amount and real time processing request, and H.264 is a high-complexity video compression standard, so a high speed arithmetic is needed for encrypting video data which is encoded by H.264 standard. But, for a high security video application, it’s difficult to find an algorithm to meet the two requests: high security, high speed. A new stream cipher is introduced at this article which uses a parameter to balance the security and computing speed, and then the requests for security and computing speed will be fit, by encrypting important data with high-security parameter and encrypting unimportant data with high-speed parameter.
Determinants of Use Intensity in Social Networking Sites - A Cross-cultural Study of Korea and USA

This study examined the antecedents and consequences of intensity of SNS use in a cross-cultural context. A survey of 977 SNS users was performed in Korea and USA, and the causal relationship was tested using structural equation modelling. Consumer innovativeness, propensity to share information, and privacy concern affected intensity of SNS use and the usage of SNS enabled social capital. In addition, the effects of innovativeness and privacy concern on intensity of SNS use were greater in the U.S. sample than in the Korean sample. This moderation effects come from the differences of collectivism and individualism and the implications and further researches were suggested.
Glu‐50 in the catalytic chain of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase plays a crucial role in the stability of the R quaternary structure

Glu‐50 of aspartate transcarbamoylase from Escherichia coli forms a set of interdomain bridging interactions between the 2 domains of the catalytic chain; these interactions are critical for stabilization of the high‐activity high‐affinity form of the enzyme. The mutant enzyme with an alanine substituted for Glu‐50 (Glu‐50 → Ala) exhibits significantly reduced activity, little cooperativity, and altered regulatory behavior (Newton CJ, Kantrowitz ER, 1990, Biochemistry 29:1444–1451). A study of the structural consequences of replacing Glu‐50 by alanine using solution X‐ray scattering is reported here. Correspondingly, in the absence of substrates, the mutant enzyme is in the same, so‐called T quaternary conformation as is the wild‐type enzyme. In the presence of a saturating concentration of the bisubstrate analog N‐phosphonacetyl‐L‐aspartate (PALA), the mutant enzyme is in the same, so‐called R quaternary conformation as the wild‐type enzyme. However, the Glu‐50 → Ala enzyme differs from the wild‐type enzyme, in that its scattering pattern is hardly altered by a combination of carbamoyl phosphate and succinate. Addition of ATP under these conditions does result in a slight shift toward the R structure. Steady‐state kinetic studies indicate that, in contrast to the wild‐type enzyme, the Glu‐50 → Ala enzyme is activated by PALA at saturating concentrations of carbamoyl phosphate and aspartate, and that PALA increases the affinity of the mutant enzyme for aspartate. These data suggest that the enzyme does not undergo the normal T to R transition upon binding of the physiological substrates and verifies the previous suggestion that the interdomain bridging interactions involving Glu‐50 are critical for the creation of the high‐activity, high‐affinity R state of the enzyme.
The role of the gap effect in the orienting of attention: Evidence for express attentional shifts

The “gap effect” refers to the finding that saccadic latencies are typically reduced when the fixation point is removed just prior to the presentation of a target. One explanation for this effect is that the removal of the fixation point causes the disengagement of covert attention and allows for extremely rapid movements of attention (express attentional shifts). However, previous research regarding express attentional shifts has yielded equivocal results. The present study used a variation of a peripheral cueing paradigm with a discrimination task (Experiment 1) and a detection task (Experiment 2) to further examine this issue. The results from eye movement and keypress latencies indicated that there were express attentional shifts with the discrimination task but not in the detection task. This pattern of results may have been due to differences in how attention was allocated between the two tasks. Thus, evidence for express attentional shifts was found, but only under certain conditions.
Progressing single biomolecule force spectroscopy measurements for the screening of DNA binding agents

Recent studies have indicated that the force–extension properties of single molecules of double stranded (ds) DNA are sensitive to the presence of small molecule DNA binding agents, and also to their mode of binding. These observations raise the possibility of using this approach as a highly sensitive tool for the screening of such agents. However, particularly for studies employing the atomic force microscope (AFM), several non-trivial barriers hinder the progress of this approach to the non-specialist arena and hence also the full realization of this possibility. In this paper, we therefore address a series of key reproducibility and metrological issues associated with this type of measurement. Specifically, we present an improved immobilization method that covalently anchors one end (5′ end) of a dual labelled (5′-thiol, 3′-biotin) p53 DNA molecule onto a gold substrate via gold–thiol chemistry, whilst the biotinylated 3′ end is available for ‘pick-up’ using a streptavidin modified AFM tip. We also show that co-surface immobilization of DNA with 6-mercapto–1-hexanol (MCH) can also lead to a further increase the measured contour length. We demonstrate the impact of these improved protocols through the observation of the cooperative transition plateau in a DNA fragment of approximately 118 bp, a significantly smaller fragment than previously investigated. The results of a comparative study of the effects of a model minor groove binder (Hoechst 33258) and an intercalating drug (proflavine), alone, as a mixture and under different buffer conditions, are also presented.
Effects of Program Implementation on Adolescent Drug Use Behavior

This study evaluated the relationship between level of program implementation and change in adolescent drug use behavior in the Midwestern Prevention Project (MPP), a school- and community-based program for drug abuse prevention. Trained teachers implemented the pro gram with transition year students. Implementation was measured by teacher self-report and validated by research staff reports. Adolescent drug use was measured by student self-report; an expired air measure of smoking was used to increase the accuracy of self-reported drug use. Regression analyses were used to evaluate adherence; exposure, or amount of implementation; and reinvention. Results showed that all schools assigned to the program condition adhered to the research by implementing the program. Exposure had a significant effect on minimizing the increase in drug use from baseline to one year. Exposure also had a larger magnitude of intervention effect than experimental group assignment. Reinvention did not affect drug use. Results are discussed in terms of research assumptions about quality of program implementation, and possible school-level predictors of implementation.
A social psychological approach to understanding moral panic

While moral panic remains a key sociological concept, it has been criticized for its lack of explanatory force. This article reports the results of a study designed to examine whether a social psychological approach to moral panic can (a) theorize the content as well as process of moral panic, and (b) understand both the cause and the impact of this response. This approach was tested in relation to the topic of asylum seekers. The research was based on a qualitative analysis of 120 newspaper articles, 8 focus groups with members of the host community and 25 semi-structured interviews with people who have sought asylum in the United Kingdom. A theoretical framework of social representations and social identity theory was used to explore psychological processes that may underpin host receptivity to moral panic discourse about asylum seekers and the impact such a moral panic may have on those labelled as ‘folk devils’. Results indicated that social psychological processes are one of the contributory factors to host receptivity to moral panic, and strategies adopted by ‘folk devils’ to cope with stigmatized group membership were identified. Implications of the findings for future moral panic research are discussed.