Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic model of pulmonary adenocarcinoma by expression profiling of eight genes as determined by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

PURPOSE Recently, several expression-profiling experiments have shown that adenocarcinoma can be classified into subgroups that also reflect patient survival. In this study, we examined the expression patterns of 44 genes selected by these studies to test whether their expression patterns were relevant to prognosis in our cohort as well, and to create a prognostic model applicable to clinical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS Expression levels were determined in 85 adenocarcinoma patients by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Cluster analysis was performed, and a prognostic model was created by the proportional hazards model using a stepwise method. RESULTS Hierarchical clustering divided the cases into three major groups, and group B, comprising 21 cases, had significantly poor survival (P =.0297). Next, we tried to identify a smaller number of genes of particular predictive value, and eight genes (PTK7, CIT, SCNN1A, PGES, ERO1L, ZWINT, and two ESTs) were selected. We then calculated a risk index that was defined as a linear combination of gene expression values weighted by their estimated regression coefficients. The risk index was a significant independent prognostic factor (P =.0021) by multivariate analysis. Furthermore, the robustness of this model was confirmed using an independent set of 21 patients (P =.0085). CONCLUSION By analyzing a reasonably small number of genes, patients with adenocarcinoma could be stratified according to their prognosis. The prognostic model could be applicable to future decisions concerning treatment.
POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF IBADAN AND IKEJA ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES IN NIGERIA’S POWER SECTOR REFORMS: AN EMPIRICAL INTERROGATION

Achieving stable electricity power supply has been a problem in Nigeria since independence. The devastating consequences on social life and economic development encouraged the state to embrace privatization as a panacea, and coupled with testimonial of improved performance of power supply from both developed and developing countries experiences. However, since Nigeria’s decision to privatize resides with political leadership in the sector laden with interest, to what extent can one posit that political considerations does not interfere with pre-privatization selection process of private ownership and post-privatization management respectively. The uncertainty around this informs this study. This research adopts survey research design using questionnaire to elicit data from residential and commercial customers of Ibadan and Ikeja distribution companies, with Policy Choice theory as its theoretical anchor. Descriptive and multiple regression statistics were employed for the data analysis. The findings show that political interests overshadowed national interest in the selection process of private distribution companies and their post-privatization operations having a negative effect on performance. Thus, we recommend citizens’ intensive demand for due process and transparency from policy makers and a more proactive oversight by the legislative arm of government.
Identifying the Elasticity of Experience and Its Effect on Market Structure

Experience is a factor of production. Practice makes perfect. But when prior production enters the firm's current production function, standard dynamic models of firm production like the Olley and Pakes (1996) proxy model suffer from a simultaneity problem. Furthermore, flexible inputs are chosen dynamically and firms may even choose negative markups temporarily to increase their stock of experience. So identification approaches that are based on assuming zero or positive markups will not work (like Gandhi, Navarro, and Rivers 2019). I develop an identification approach that works for this problem. My approach only requires panel data on firm input and output choice so it can be broadly applied. I use this appoach to study the evolution of learning rates (the rate at which firms learn from experience over time) and how differences in learning rates help explain differences in the firm size distribution across industries.
Lipopolysaccharide Preparation Extracted from Porphyromonas gingivalis Lipoprotein-Deficient Mutant Shows a Marked Decrease in Toll-Like Receptor 2-Mediated Signaling

ABSTRACT We recently demonstrated that a new PG1828-encoded lipoprotein (PG1828LP) was able to be separated from a Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preparation, and we found that it exhibited strong cell activation, similar to that of Escherichia coli LPS, through a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-dependent pathway. In order to determine the virulence of PG1828LP toward cell activation, we generated a PG1828-deficient mutant of P. gingivalis strain 381 by allelic exchange mutagenesis using an ermF-ermAM antibiotic resistance cassette. A highly purified preparation of LPS from a PG1828-deficient mutant (ΔPG1828-LPS) showed nearly the same ladder-like patterns in silver-stained gels as a preparation of LPS from a wild-type strain (WT-LPS), as well as Limulus amoebocyte lysate activities that were similar to those of the WT-LPS preparation. However, the ability of the ΔPG1828-LPS preparation to activate NF-κB in TLR2-expressing cells was markedly attenuated. Cytokine production by human gingival fibroblasts was also decreased in response to the ΔPG1828-LPS preparation in comparison with the WT-LPS preparation, and the activity was comparable to the stimulation of highly purified lipid A of P. gingivalis by TLR4. Further, lethal toxicity was rarely observed following intraperitoneal injection of the PG1828-deficient mutant into mice compared to that with the wild-type strain, while the ΔPG1828-LPS preparation showed no lethal toxicity. Taken together, these results clearly indicate that PG1828LP plays an essential role in inflammatory responses and may be a major virulence factor of P. gingivalis.
Testing of an off-chip NoC protocol using a BIST/Synthesizable Testbench approach

To make systems infinitely scalable is the holy grail of chip design and crux that needs to be solved in order to invent a sustainable design methodology. Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been suggested as this solution as it replaces the traditional buses for on-chip interconnection purposes. However, to reach infinite scalability, off-chip extensions to the NoC protocols are needed in order to maintain scalability at an affordable cost of manufacturability. Going off-chip introduces more levels of complexity when it comes to testing, not only should the chip testing be speedy, the off-chip connections must also be testable in a fast manner, the fastest way being a set of BISTs testing the whole structure in parallel. In this paper, we present a BIST approach for testing an off-chip NoC protocol used in a 4×4 Network-on-Chip configuration. It has 16 processor-nodes implemented on four interconnected plesiochronous Altera Stratix-II FPGA boards, each board hosting a Quad-core NoC.
Cancer survivorship research in Europe and the United States: Where have we been, where are we going, and what can we learn from each other?

The growing number of cancer survivors worldwide has led to of the emergence of diverse survivorship movements in the United States and Europe. Understanding the evolution of cancer survivorship within the context of different political and health care systems is important for identifying the future steps that need to be taken and collaborations needed to promote research among and enhance the care of those living after cancer. The authors first review the history of survivorship internationally and important related events in both the United States and Europe. Lessons learned from survivorship research are then broadly discussed, followed by examination of the infrastructure needed to sustain and advance this work, including platforms for research, assessment tools, and vehicles for the dissemination of findings. Future perspectives concern the identification of collaborative opportunities for investigators in Europe and the United States to accelerate the pace of survivorship science going forward. Cancer 2013;119(11 suppl):2094‐108. © 2013 American Cancer Society.
Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review

The use of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS; also known as “drones”) for professional and personal-leisure use is increasing enormously. UAS operate at low altitudes (<500 m) and in any terrain, thus they are susceptible to interact with local fauna, generating a new type of anthropogenic disturbance that has not been systematically evaluated. To address this gap, we performed a review of the existent literature about animals’ responses to UAS flights and conducted a pooled analysis of the data to determine the probability and intensity of the disturbance, and to identify the factors influencing animals’ reactions towards the small aircraft. We found that wildlife reactions depended on both the UAS attributes (flight pattern, engine type and size of aircraft) and the characteristics of animals themselves (type of animal, life-history stage and level of aggregation). Target-oriented flight patterns, larger UAS sizes, and fuel-powered (noisier) engines evoked the strongest reactions in wildlife. Animals during the non-breeding period and in large groups were more likely to show behavioral reactions to UAS, and birds are more prone to react than other taxa. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of wildlife disturbance and suggest guidelines for conservationists, users and manufacturers to minimize the impact of UAS. In addition, we propose that the legal framework needs to be adapted so that appropriate actions can be undertaken when wildlife is negatively affected by these emergent practices.
Utility-owned DG units' impacts on distribution system operation

This paper presents a new paradigm for distribution system operation in the presence of utility-owned distributed generation (DG) sources. The paper proposes the concept of goodness factors for DG units, based on a computation of incremental contribution of DG units to system losses. The incremental contributions of a DG unit to active and reactive power losses in the distribution system are termed as the active / reactive Incremental Loss Indices (ILI). The goodness factors are integrated directly into the distribution system operations model, which is based on an optimal power flow (OPF) framework. This model seeks to minimize the distribution company's (disco's) energy costs in the short term taking into account the goodness factor of each DG unit. The disco is assumed to be owner of the DG units and hence is responsible for their scheduling and dispatch. Analysis was carried out considering an 18-bus distribution network extracted from the well-known IEEE-30 bus system.
Understanding the Consumer Confidence Index in Colombia: A structural FAVAR analysis

El Indice de Confianza del Consumidor (ICC) es un instrumento relevante para el analisis economico, dada su oportuna publicacion y sus capacidades de pronostico. A pesar de que existe una gran cantidad de trabajos que estudian la relacion entre el ICC y los agregados macroeconomicos, y en particular con el consumo privado, son pocos los estudios que han analizado los factores fundamentales que definen el comportamiento del ICC. De hecho, no hay ningun estudio al respecto para el caso colombiano. Con este documento tratamos de resolver este problema. Estimamos un modelo VAR estructural de factores (SFAVAR) y realizamos una descomposicion historica de choques del ICC para obtener los errores estructurales que determinaron la dinamica del ICC en anos recientes. Nuestros resultados sugieren que el comportamiento observado del ICC obedecio tanto a cambios en sus determinantes como a choques no fundamentales relacionados, posiblemente, con eventos coyunturales de naturaleza no economica, socio-politica y/o electoral. Adicionalmente, un ejercicio contrafactual permite ver que el pronostico del consumo privado mejora cuando se utiliza una serie del ICC que no esta afectada por los choques no explicados por sus fundamentales.
Comparing Articulatory and Acoustic Strategies for Reducing Non-Native Accents

This article presents an experimental comparison of two types of techniques, articulatory and acoustic, for transforming nonnative speech to sound more native-like. Articulatory techniques use articulators from a native speaker to drive an articulatory synthesizer of the non-native speaker. These methods have a good theoretical justification, but articulatory measurements (e.g., via electromagnetic articulography) are difficult to obtain. In contrast, acoustic methods use techniques from the voice conversion literature to build a mapping between the two acoustic spaces, making them more attractive for practical applications (e.g., language learning). We compare two representative implementations of these approaches, both based on statistical parametric speech synthesis. Through a series of perceptual listening tests, we evaluate the two approaches in terms of accent reduction, speech intelligibility and speaker quality. Our results show that the acoustic method is more effective than the articulatory method in reducing perceptual ratings of non-native accents, and also produces synthesis of higher intelligibility while preserving voice quality.
Cellular Compartments of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication In Vivo: Determination by Presence of Virion-Associated Host Proteins and Impact of Opportunistic Infection

ABSTRACT Antigens derived from host cells are detectable in the envelope of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and result in a distinctive viral phenotype reflecting that of the host cell. An immunomagnetic capture assay targeting discriminatory host proteins was developed to differentiate between HIV-1 derived from macrophages and lymphocytes. HIV-1 propagated in macrophages or lymphocytes in vitro was selectively captured by monoclonal antibodies directed against the virally incorporated cell-type-specific host markers CD36 (macrophages) and CD26 (lymphocytes). Furthermore, by targeting these markers, virus of defined cellular origin was selectively captured from a mixed pool of in vitro-propagated viruses. This technique was further refined in order to determine the impact of opportunistic infection on HIV-1 expression from these cellular compartments in vivo. Analysis of cell-free virus purified from plasma of patients with HIV-1 infection suggested that in those with an opportunistic infection, viral replication occurred in activated lymphocytes. Interestingly, there was also significant replication in activated macrophages in those patients with untreated pulmonary tuberculosis. Thus, in addition to lymphocytes, the macrophage cellular pool may serve as an important source of cell-free HIV-1 in patients with opportunistic infections that lead to marked macrophage activation. This novel viral capture technique may allow researchers to address a wide range of important questions regarding virus-host dynamics.
Shared medical appointments for patients with a nondiabetic physical chronic illness: A systematic review

Objectives Shared medical appointments are group appointments, with an optional individual consultation, for patients diagnosed with chronic illnesses. Shared medical appointments improve diabetes management, but little is known about their use for other illnesses. The objective was to determine the effect that shared medical appointments have on patients with a physical chronic illness, healthcare providers, and the healthcare system. Methods A systematic review was conducted searching databases from January 1970 to September 2016. Eligible trials evaluated shared medical appointments for patients with a homogeneous chronic illness, excluding diabetes and mental illness. Screening, data extraction, and risk of bias were conducted independently by two authors. Analysis was descriptive. Results Of 2364 citations, nine randomized trials were included. Shared medical appointments were evaluated for cardiovascular illnesses (four studies), breast cancer, chronic kidney disease, Parkinson’s disease, stress urinary incontinence, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Compared to usual care, no negative effects on patient quality of life, knowledge and satisfaction were reported. One study reported no difference in healthcare provider satisfaction. Another study showed fewer hospital admissions for patients who attended shared medical appointments. Discussion Few rigorous studies evaluated the use of shared medical appointments for chronic illnesses. Overall, there appears to be no patient harms. Further studies should include more objective outcomes and larger sample sizes.
Fluorescent Magnetopolymersomes: A Theranostic Platform to Track Intracellular Delivery

We present a potential theranostic delivery platform based on the amphiphilic diblock copolymer polybutadiene-block-poly (ethylene oxide) combining covalent fluorescent labeling and membrane incorporation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for multimodal imaging. A simple self-assembly and labeling approach to create the fluorescent and magnetic vesicles is described. Cell uptake of the densely PEGylated polymer vesicles could be altered by surface modifications that vary surface charge and accessibility of the membrane active species. Cell uptake and cytotoxicity were evaluated by confocal microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, iron content and metabolic assays, utilizing multimodal tracking of membrane fluorophores and nanoparticles. Cationic functionalization of vesicles promoted endocytotic uptake. In particular, incorporation of cationic lipids in the polymersome membrane yielded tremendously increased uptake of polymersomes and magnetopolymersomes without increase in cytotoxicity. Ultrastructure investigations showed that cationic magnetopolymersomes disintegrated upon hydrolysis, including the dissolution of incorporated iron oxide nanoparticles. The presented platform could find future use in theranostic multimodal imaging in vivo and magnetically triggered delivery by incorporation of thermorepsonsive amphiphiles that can break the membrane integrity upon magnetic heating via the embedded superparamagnetic nanoparticles.
MOOC (massive open online course) with efficient file hierarchy in cloud

MOOC is a massive open online course. In the MOOC all the files such as eBooks and PDF etc. are publicly visible to everyone. When the files are publicly visible to unauthorized domains they are said to be less secure. We propose a system where the files will be visible publicly for the other domains and cannot be downloaded and also hide the files which the author of a domain doesn't want to display publicly. Even though the files are visible to other domains they need to get the permission of the author of that particular domain. The author of that domain will generate a key on request based generation and deliver it to the requester. Only with the help of the key sent by the author the file can be downloaded. The file is encrypted and decrypted with the famous CP-ABE algorithm. To fight against unauthorized information leakage, sensitive data must to be encrypted before outsourcing so as to provide end to-end data confidentiality assurance in the cloud. Ordinary data encryption techniques prevent cloud from performing any meaningful operation of the underlying cipher text-policy, making the computation of encrypted data a very big problem. And interactive discussion forums to course videos in the Mooc will be incorporated. We propose a live video conferencing tool the MOOC. The proposed scheme achieves scalability due to its hierarchical structure and live interactions.
The influence of inclusion of either an antibiotic or a probiotic in the diet on the development of digestive enzyme activity in the pig

The aim of the present experiment was to determine the influence of either probiotic or antibiotic inclusion in the diets of pigs from birth on the development of enzyme activity in the small intestine. Pigs were fed on creep feed and grower diets containing either a probiotic, an antibiotic or no added growth promoter. At 7, 17, 42 and 80 d of age pigs from each treatment group were sampled to investigate the development of carbohydrase and peptidase activity in the mucosa at five sites along the small intestine. Inclusion of either the probiotic or antibiotic had a significant effect on the development of sucrase (sucrose α-D-glucohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.48), lactase (β-D-galactoside galactohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.23) and tripeptidase (EC 3.4.11.4) activities before weaning but had no effect on depeptidase (EC 3.14.13.11) activity. The study of the distribution of enzyme activity along the small intestine showed significant differences between the proximal and distal sections associated with weaning.
Diagnostic and Prognostic Significance of Inflammatory Markers in Lung Cancer-Associated Pleural Effusions

Besides massive expression in inflammatory pleural effusions, inflammatory markers are also present in cancer-induced pleural effusions. Recent advances in cancer biology point to a role of inflammatory signaling in cancer and encourage reconsidering the diagnostic and prognostic value of inflammatory markers. Here an attempt was made to relate protein levels of inflammatory markers to underlying malignant processes in the pleural space. Pleural effusions from lung cancer patients (n=116) were subjected to a multifactorial analysis covering 13 inflammatory markers. The composition of tumor-associated effusions was compared with that of parainflammatory pleural effusions (n=30), transudates (n=18), and serum values, and evaluated in relation to cancer origin, histology, cytology, pleural involvement, treatment history, and survival time. Inflammatory markers were significantly expressed in pleural effusions of paraneoplastic origin when compared to transudates and most serum levels. Values in pleura-invading and metastatic tumor-associated effusions were typically higher than those of other tumors. Many markers correlated negatively with survival, most prominently IL-8 (r=–0.36, p=0.001) and VEGF (r=–0.35, p=0.001). It appears that most inflammatory markers are highly expressed in tumor-associated pleural effusions, reflecting to some extent tumor origin and localization. Despite the lower efficacy of inflammatory markers in the differentiation between exudative pleural effusions, some inflammatory markers may represent potential prognostic markers of malignant processes in the pleural space.
On the application of fuzzy comprehensive appraisal in human capital evaluation of logistics enterprises

In the age of knowledge economy, the talent is the most valuable resource. The important aspects of improving organizational efficiency and enhancing organizational vitality include: how to manage persons reasonably and effectively, and how to choose talents. For the management of the human capital, first we should have the method and standard for the appraisal before we begin to evaluate the hum-an capital. This paper aims to study the application of fuzzy comprehensive appraisal in human capital evaluation of logistics enterprises through introducing the present method of human capital evaluation as well as the special nature of human capital.