Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A systematic review of primary active surveillance management of low-risk papillary carcinoma

Purpose of review Active surveillance is close follow-up of neoplasms, with predetermined intervention triggers. We systematically reviewed the published English language literature on primary active surveillance of low-risk papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Recent findings We searched seven electronic databases (1980–2015), supplemented with a hand search. Two reviewers independently screened 1715 citations and reviewed 32 full-text papers, ultimately including two papers. Data were independently abstracted. There were two Japanese single-center, single-arm studies reporting on 1235 and 322 patients with PTC microcarcinoma (primary ⩽1 cm in diameter) confined to the thyroid. Mean study follow-up was of 5.0 and 6.5 years, respectively. Disease triggers for thyroidectomy included progression of the primary tumor or incident metastatic disease. The rates of thyroidectomy were 15.5% (191/1235) and 8.7% (28/322) in respective studies. The incidence of primary tumor enlargement ≥3 mm in maximal diameter was 4.6% (58/1235) and 5.0% (16/322). The incidence of nodal metastases was 1.5% (19/1235) and 0.9% (3/322). There were neither reports of PTC-related death nor development of distant metastatic disease. Quality of life, psychosocial health, and economic outcomes were not reported. Summary In two Japanese single-arm studies, active surveillance of PTC microcarcinoma was relatively well tolerated; however, more long-term outcome research is needed.
Mantle cell lymphoma: natural history defined in a serially biopsied population over a 20-year period.

BACKGROUND The histological, immunological and molecular characteristics of mantle cell lymphoma have only recently been delineated. Amongst these characteristics possible factors of prognostic significance include histological growth pattern and blastoid change. PATIENTS AND METHODS 66 previously untreated cases of mantle cell lymphoma were identified in a retrospective analysis. In 50 cases serial biopsies had been taken during the disease and in 20 cases autopsies had been performed. Besides established factors of prognostic significance, histological growth pattern and blastoid change were examined. RESULTS 32 patients achieved an initial complete remission or good partial remission with most cases relapsing or progressing within 2 years. The median survival was 36 months. Factors predicting a poor outcome were high presenting stage, age > 70, low sodium, low albumin and splenomegaly. Blastoid transformation was also a poor prognostic feature, occurring in 32% of cases during life and in 70% of autopsies. Histological growth pattern had no influence on outcome. CONCLUSION This study emphasises the difficulties in treating mantle cell lymphoma and the high frequency and prognostic importance of histological transformation.
Visualization of seminiferous tubules in rat testes in normal and diseased conditions by high‐resolution MRI

Rat seminiferous tubules were visualized for the first time using high‐spatial‐resolution MRI and their MRI features were investigated under normal and various kinds of pathological conditions. All testes images were obtained at 4.7 T with a dedicated quadrature surface coil. T2‐ and T 2* ‐weighted images with in‐plane resolution of 66 × 66 μm2 demonstrated numerous tubular structures with low‐signal‐intensity walls and high‐signal‐intensity lumens tightly packed throughout the entire testicle. The tubular structures were attributed to the seminiferous tubules in the histological specimens. In testicular ischemia, T 2* ‐weighted images demonstrated prominent low‐signal‐intensity bands along the radiate veins and normal‐appearing seminiferous tubules. As the ischemic condition persisted, the contour of the seminiferous tubules became less visible on both T2‐ and T 2* ‐weighted images, reflecting the disorganization of the seminiferous epithelia and severe interstitial edema. Changes in the images of testes treated with glycerol or diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen hormone, were also investigated. In the chronic spermatogenic impairment caused by these substances, extensive shrinkage of the seminiferous tubules was demonstrated. High‐resolution MRI aids in noninvasive evaluation of seminiferous tubules, and therefore has potential as a diagnostic test for human testes. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
3D triangular mesh optimization in geometry processing for CAD

Geometry processing in CAD proposes rigorous requirements on mesh quality. In this paper an integrated triangular mesh optimization method is proposed. Edge marking function and local edge operations are used to improve the vertex sampling. Modified weighted centroidal Voronoi tessellation is employed to regularize the triangle geometry. A simulated annealing algorithm is proposed for optimizing the vertex connectivity. Finally, a signal processing filter is developed for mesh denoising. In every optimization stage, the shape deviations from original mesh are prevented, and the boundaries and features are well preserved. Since all modifications are performed locally, the error-prone global parameterization is avoided. This technique has been deployed in real-world product design. Its advantage and robustness are verified by many examples implemented in the geometric design software PUM 2.0 developed by Peking University.
Target of Rapamycin and LST8 Proteins Associate with Membranes from the Endoplasmic Reticulum in the Unicellular Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

ABSTRACT The highly conserved target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase is a central controller of cell growth in all eukaryotes. TOR exists in two functionally and structurally distinct complexes, termed TOR complex 1 (TORC1) and TORC2. LST8 is a TOR-interacting protein that is present in both TORC1 and TORC2. Here we report the identification and characterization of TOR and LST8 in large protein complexes in the model photosynthetic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We demonstrate that Chlamydomonas LST8 is part of a rapamycin-sensitive TOR complex in this green alga. Biochemical fractionation and indirect immunofluorescence microscopy studies indicate that TOR and LST8 exist in high-molecular-mass complexes that associate with microsomal membranes and are particularly abundant in the peri-basal body region in Chlamydomonas cells. A Saccharomyces cerevisiae complementation assay demonstrates that Chlamydomonas LST8 is able to functionally and structurally replace endogenous yeast LST8 and allows us to propose that binding of LST8 to TOR is essential for cell growth.
Identical Ring Cleavage Products during Anaerobic Degradation of Naphthalene, 2-Methylnaphthalene, and Tetralin Indicate a New Metabolic Pathway

ABSTRACT Anaerobic degradation of naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, and tetralin (1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene) was investigated with a sulfate-reducing enrichment culture obtained from a contaminated aquifer. Degradation studies with tetralin revealed 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthoic acid as a major metabolite indicating activation by addition of a C1 unit to tetralin, comparable to the formation of 2-naphthoic acid in anaerobic naphthalene degradation. The activation reaction was specific for the aromatic ring of tetralin; 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-naphthoic acid was not detected. The reduced 2-naphthoic acid derivatives tetrahydro-, octahydro-, and decahydro-2-naphthoic acid were identified consistently in supernatants of cultures grown with either naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, or tetralin. In addition, two common ring cleavage products were identified. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-resolution GC-MS analyses revealed a compound with a cyclohexane ring and two carboxylic acid side chains as one of the first ring cleavage products. The elemental composition was C11H16O4 (C11H16O4-diacid), indicating that all carbon atoms of the precursor 2-naphthoic acid structure were preserved in this ring cleavage product. According to the mass spectrum, the side chains could be either an acetic acid and a propenic acid, or a carboxy group and a butenic acid side chain. A further ring cleavage product was identified as 2-carboxycyclohexylacetic acid and was assumed to be formed by β-oxidation of one of the side chains of the C11H16O4-diacid. Stable isotope-labeling growth experiments with either 13C-labeled naphthalene, per-deuterated naphthalene-d8, or a 13C-bicarbonate-buffered medium showed that the ring cleavage products derived from the introduced carbon source naphthalene. The series of identified metabolites suggests that anaerobic degradation of naphthalenes proceeds via reduction of the aromatic ring system of 2-naphthoic acid to initiate ring cleavage in analogy to the benzoyl-coenzyme A pathway for monoaromatic hydrocarbons. Our findings provide strong indications that further degradation goes through saturated compounds with a cyclohexane ring structure and not through monoaromatic compounds. A metabolic pathway for anaerobic degradation of bicyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with 2-naphthoic acid as the central intermediate is proposed.
Levels of interleukin-18 are markedly increased in Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric mucosa among patients with specific IL18 genotypes.

BACKGROUND The cellular immune response in gastric mucosa infected with Helicobacter pylori is proposed to be predominantly of the T helper cell type 1 type. METHODS Interleukin (IL)-18, IL-12, and interferon (IFN)-gamma levels were measured in gastric mucosal biopsy specimens by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; IL18 polymorphisms were determined by PCR. RESULTS Biopsy specimens from 128 patients (56 with nonulcer dyspepsia, 28 with gastric ulcers, 28 with duodenal ulcers, and 16 with gastric cancer) were examined; 96 patients had H. pylori infection. IL-18 levels were markedly up-regulated in mucosa infected with H. pylori (P < .001), whereas IL-12 and IFN-gamma levels were independent of H. pylori status. IL-18 levels correlated with IFN-gamma levels only in infected patients (R = 0.31 to R = 0.51). IL-18 levels were the determining factor for monocyte infiltration in H. pylori-infected mucosa (P < .001). H. pylori-infected patients displaying IL18 -607C/C and -137G/G had higher IL-18 levels than did those with other genotypes and were more likely to experience treatment failure. CONCLUSION H. pylori infection induces IL-18 in the gastric mucosa. H. pylori-infected patients with IL18 -607C/C and -137G/G have higher IL-18 levels, which causes severe gastric inflammation. IL18 genotype might be a marker for predicting the effects of eradication therapy.
Heavyweight airdrop flight control using backstepping sliding mode with adaptive function approximation

This paper investigates the problem of designing a novel adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller for heavyweight airdrop operations. The design objective is to guarantee tracking performance of the aircraft states in cargo extraction, in the presence of bounded nonlinear uncertainties without the prior knowledge of the bounds. Based on the aircraft-cargo model in strict-feedback form, a backstepping sliding mode controller with adaptive function approximation is developed. The complex nonlinear uncertainty is factorized into a known matrix and an uncertainty function. We use adaptation strategy to approximate the function to achieve robustness, and the knowledge of the bounds on the complex uncertainty is not required. The stability and robustness properties of the control method are proved using Lyapunov theory. Simulations show good performance and robust operation of the controller, and the airdrop mission performance indexes are satisfied in the presence of ±15% aerodynamic data uncertainty and ±0.01 rad/s pitch rate disturbance.
Smoking at age 18-20 and suicide during 26 years of follow-up-how can the association be explained?

OBJECTIVES Several studies have shown a relation between smoking and suicide. It is not clear if this relation should be considered causal, or if other risk factors for suicide, left unmeasured in many studies, might explain the smoking-suicide association. The aim of this cohort study was to analyse the role of smoking and other potential risk factors measured in adolescence on subsequent suicide. METHODS Information on smoking, and other potential risk factors from childhood and adolescence was collected among 49 323 men, born 1949-1951, at conscription for compulsory military training in the years 1969-1970. Mortality data were obtained from the Swedish cause of death register for the years 1971-1996. RESULTS There was a clear trend of increasing suicide risk with increasing intensity of smoking reported at conscription. Those smoking >20 cigarettes/day had a strongly increased relative risk of suicide (OR = 3.03, 95% CI: 1.72, 5.34) during the first 13 years of follow-up. From 14 to 26 years after conscription, the risk was only slightly weaker (OR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.36, 4.72). When we adjusted for other risk factors for suicide measured at the conscription examination (psychiatric diagnosis, parental divorce, low emotional control, medication for nervous problems, contact with police and childcare, heavy alcohol consumption, drug use, and education) in a multivariate analysis, the trend with smoking intensity disappeared, and there was no longer an increased relative risk for the heavy smokers (follow-up years 1-13: OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.53, 1.82; years 14-26: OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.87). CONCLUSION The increased risk of suicide among smokers was almost entirely explained by an increased prevalence of heavy alcohol consumption and low mental well-being among smokers. That is, the association between smoking and suicide is probably due to confounding by these other factors. These results do not support the hypothesis that tobacco consumption itself is a risk factor for suicide.
3D Tomographic Pattern Synthesis for Enhancing the Quantification of COVID-19

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has affected 1.8 million people and resulted in more than 110,000 deaths as of April 12, 2020. Several studies have shown that tomographic patterns seen on chest Computed Tomography (CT), such as ground-glass opacities, consolidations, and crazy paving pattern, are correlated with the disease severity and progression. CT imaging can thus emerge as an important modality for the management of COVID-19 patients. AI-based solutions can be used to support CT based quantitative reporting and make reading efficient and reproducible if quantitative biomarkers, such as the Percentage of Opacity (PO), can be automatically computed. However, COVID-19 has posed unique challenges to the development of AI, specifically concerning the availability of appropriate image data and annotations at scale. In this paper, we propose to use synthetic datasets to augment an existing COVID-19 database to tackle these challenges. We train a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to inpaint COVID-19 related tomographic patterns on chest CTs from patients without infectious diseases. Additionally, we leverage location priors derived from manually labeled COVID-19 chest CTs patients to generate appropriate abnormality distributions. Synthetic data are used to improve both lung segmentation and segmentation of COVID-19 patterns by adding 20% of synthetic data to the real COVID-19 training data. We collected 2143 chest CTs, containing 327 COVID-19 positive cases, acquired from 12 sites across 7 countries. By testing on 100 COVID-19 positive and 100 control cases, we show that synthetic data can help improve both lung segmentation (+6.02% lesion inclusion rate) and abnormality segmentation (+2.78% dice coefficient), leading to an overall more accurate PO computation (+2.82% Pearson coefficient).
End-to-end Whispered Speech Recognition with Frequency-weighted Approaches and Layer-wise Transfer Learning

Whispering is an important mode of human speech, but no end-to-end recognition results for it were reported yet, probably due to the scarcity of available whispered speech data. In this paper, we present several approaches for end-to-end (E2E) recognition of whispered speech considering the special characteristics of whispered speech and the scarcity of data. This includes a frequency-weighted SpecAugment policy and a frequency-divided CNN feature extractor for better capturing the high frequency structures of whispered speech, and a layer-wise transfer learning approach to pre-train a model with normal speech then fine-tuning it with whispered speech to bridge the gap between whispered and normal speech. We achieve an overall relative reduction of 19.8% in PER and 31.9% in CER on a relatively small whispered TIMIT corpus. The results indicate as long as we have a good E2E model pre-trained on normal speech, a relatively small set of whispered speech may suffice to obtain a reasonably good E2E whispered speech recognizer.
Children's OMNI scale of perceived exertion: mixed gender and race validation.

PURPOSE The newly developed Children's OMNI Scale of Perceived Exertion (category range: 0 to 10) was validated using separate cohorts of female and male, African American and white subjects. Each of the four cohorts contained 20 clinically normal, nonobese children, 8-12 yr of age. METHODS A cross-sectional, perceptual estimation paradigm using a single multi-stage cycle ergometer test protocol was used. Oxygen uptake (VO2; mL x min(-1)), heart rate (HR; beats x min(-1)) and ratings of perceived exertion for the overall body (RPE-Overall), legs (RPE-Legs), and chest (RPE-Chest) were determined at the end of each continuously administered 3-min power output (PO) (i.e., 25, 50, 75, and 100 W) test stage. RESULTS The range of responses over the four POs for all cohorts was VO2: 290.8 to 1204.0 mL x min(-1); HR: 89.2 to 164.4 beats x min(-1); and RPE-Overall, RPE-Legs, and RPE-Chest: 0.85 to 9.1. First-order correlation and linear regression analyses were performed for each cohort separately and the total sample using a repeated measures paradigm over the four POs. For all correlation/regression paradigms RPE-Overall, RPE-Legs, and RPE-Chest distributed as a positive linear function of both VO2 and HR; r = 0.85 to 0.94; P < 0.01. Differences between RPE-Overall, RPE-Legs, and RPE-Chest were examined with ANOVA for the repeated measures paradigm. RPE-Legs was higher (P < 0.01) than RPE-Chest and RPE-Overall at 25, 50, 75, and 100 W. RPE-Chest did not differ from RPE-Overall at 25 and 50 W but was lower (P < 0.01) than RPE-Overall at 75 and 100 W. CONCLUSION The psycho-physiological responses provide validity evidence for use of the Children's OMNI Scale over a wide range of dynamic exercise intensities.
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs): Review and Evaluation

ABSTRACT With the rapid turnover of health care information and the ongoing need for content revision, traditional textbooks may no longer serve as reliable, current resources for nursing students. Nurse educators, challenged to select relevant resources, are looking to handheld technology, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), for teaching and learning. The National League for Nursing Task Group on Instructional Technology has undertaken a review of articles in an attempt to summarize current literature regarding the use of PDAs in nursing. This article reports on the task group's findings. The task group identified a variety of articles and summarized relevant information for nursing education. Findings from the literature indicate that PDA use in the classroom and clinical setting has become more prevalent. However, only a small number of articles provide evidence about the effectiveness of PDAs in nursing. Most provide descriptive information and are also of value.
A Green and Robust Optimization Strategy for Energy Saving Against Traffic Uncertainty

This paper introduces a green and robust optimization scheme based on hose model with bound of link traffic (HLT), in order to achieve power savings in the networks with traffic uncertainty. Most of the studies on green communications nowadays are based on estimates of real traffic matrix. However predicting the traffic matrix is a difficult task for network operators. Further, these models may not be fully applicable in a context where the traffic often fluctuates. By using HLT, the knowledge of the exact traffic information is not required. The traffic is specified by the total outgoing and incoming amount at each node and the total traffic going through each link. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem, with an objective to reduce the flow through each link and allow the links to be put to sleep mode. We develop a heuristic to mitigate the limitations of the MILP formulation. Simulation results show that green HLT, while being robust to traffic uncertainty, achieves power efficiency comparable to the models where the knowledge of the traffic information is required.
Systematic review and meta‐analysis of the efficacy of epidermal grafting for wound healing

Autologous skin grafting is an important method for wound coverage; however, it is an invasive procedure and can cause donor site morbidity. Epidermal grafting (EG) enables epidermal transfer to wounds with minimal donor site morbidity. However, data to date have been heterogeneous. This study aims to synthesise the current evidence on EG for wound healing to establish the efficacy of this surgical technique. A comprehensive search in the MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases was conducted. The endpoints assessed were proportion of wounds healed and mean wound‐healing time. This systematic review was conducted and reported according to the Meta‐Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines. We identified 1568 articles, of which seven articles were included in this review – a total of 209 wounds in 190 patients. The mean wound duration was 17·06 weeks (95% CI 8·57–25·55). Of these, 71·5% (95% CI 56·7–84·2) of the wounds achieved complete healing. Mean time for complete wound healing was 5·53 weeks (95% CI 3·18–7·88). The mean donor site healing time was 7·48 days (95% CI 4·83–10·13), with no reported donor site morbidity. The current data are small and lack level 1 evidence.
Borderline Personality Symptomatology as a Mediator of the Link Between Child Maltreatment and Adult Suicide Potential

The present study tests borderline personality symptoms as meditational pathways between child maltreatment and suicide potential among college students. A sample of 268 participants completed a questionnaire battery including demographic data, the Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale, Inventory of Altered Self-Capacities, and Personality Assessment Inventory. Results: Three multiple mediation models (1 for each type of child maltreatment) were conducted. Results demonstrated that the same set of borderline personality characteristics mediated the relations between each type of child maltreatment (i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) and suicide potential. The mediating borderline symptoms were affective dysregulation, identity problems, and paranoia. The meditation model is discussed with regard to attachment, trauma, and suicide theories, as well as suicide risk assessment.