Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of faecal markers in screening for colorectal neoplasia: a European group on tumor markers position paper

Several randomized controlled trials have shown that population‐based screening using faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) can reduce mortality from colorectal neoplasia. Based on this evidence, a number of countries have introduced screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) and high‐risk adenoma and many others are considering its introduction. The aim of this article is to critically review the current status of faecal markers as population‐based screening tests for these neoplasia. Most of the available faecal tests involve the measurement of either occult blood or a panel of DNA markers. Occult blood may be measured using either the guaiac faecal occult blood test (gFOBT) or a faecal immunochemical test (iFOBT). Although iFOBT may require a greater initial investment, they have several advantages over gFOBT, including greater analytical sensitivity and specificity. Their use results in improved clinical performance and higher uptake rates. Importantly for population screening, some of the iFOBTs can be automated and provide an adjustable cutoff for faecal haemoglobin concentration. However, samples for iFOBT, may be less stable after collection than for gFOBT. For new centres undertaking FOBT for colorectal neoplasia, the European Group on Tumour Markers recommends use of a quantitative iFOBT with an adjustable cutoff point and high throughput analysis. All participants with positive FOBT results should be offered colonoscopy. The panel recommends further research into increasing the stability of iFOBT and the development of improved and affordable DNA and proteomic‐based tests, which reduce current false negative rates, simplify sample transport and enable automated analysis.
Tissue-Specific Microvascular Endothelial Cells Show Distinct Capacity To Activate NK Cells: Implications for the Pathophysiology of Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

The relevance of tissue specificity of microvascular endothelial cells (MECs) in the response to inflammatory stimuli and sensitivity to immune cell–mediated injury is not well defined. We hypothesized that such MEC characteristics might shape their interaction with NK cells through the use of different adhesion molecules and NK cell receptor ligands or the release of different soluble factors and render them more or less vulnerable to NK cell injury during autoimmune vasculitis, such as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). To generate a comprehensive expression profile of human MECs of renal, lung, and dermal tissue origin, we characterized, in detail, their response to inflammatory cytokines and to proteinase 3, a major autoantigen in GPA, and analyzed the effects on NK cell activation. In this study, we show that renal MECs were more susceptible than lung and dermal MECs to the effect of inflammatory signals, showing upregulation of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 on their surface, as well as release of CCL2, soluble fractalkine, and soluble VCAM-1. Proteinase 3–stimulated renal and lung MECs triggered CD107a degranulation in control NK cell. Notably, NK cells from GPA patients expressed markers of recent in vivo activation (CD69, CD107a), degranulated more efficiently than did control NK cells in the presence of renal MECs, and induced direct killing of renal MECs in vitro. These results suggest that, upon inflammatory conditions in GPA, renal MECs may contribute to the recruitment and activation of NK cells in the target vessel wall, which may participate in the necrotizing vasculitis of the kidney during this disease.
Optimization of the rotor geometry of a high-speed interior permanent magnet bearingless motor with segmented magnets

Bearingless motors combine the torque generation of electrical motors and the radial suspension force capabilities of traditional magnetic bearings. The magnetomotive force (MMF) distribution in the motor generates radial force interference. The interference force affects the angle between the actual and desired radial force. This angle is called the force error angle. For stable levitation of the rotor of the bearingless motor the force error angle must be minimized in the design phase of the machine. This paper presents an optimal rotor structure for minimization of the error angle in a high-speed interior permanent magnet bearingless motor with magnets embedded in the rotor surface.
Products of Commutators in Free Groups

Let F be the free group of rank 2, generated by x and y, and let w(x, y) ∈ F′ be a non-trivial word. We give elementary algebraic proofs and algorithms to (1) express [x, y]n as a product of [n/2] + 1 commutators and show this is the best possible; (2) show that (w(x, y))2 cannot be written as one w-word and if g ≠ 1 ∈ w(F) then show that the minimal number of w-words required to express gn as their product tends to infinity with n. Other results for free groups of higher rank are also presented.
Clinical Features of Refractory Ascites in Outpatients

OBJECTIVES: To present the clinical features and outcomes of outpatients who suffer from refractory ascites. METHODS: This prospective observational study consecutively enrolled patients with cirrhotic ascites who submitted to a clinical evaluation, a sodium restriction diet, biochemical blood tests, 24 hour urine tests and an ascitic fluid analysis. All patients received a multidisciplinary evaluation and diuretic treatment. Patients who did not respond to the diuretic treatment were controlled by therapeutic serial paracentesis, and a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt was indicated for patients who required therapeutic serial paracentesis up to twice a month. RESULTS: The most common etiology of cirrhosis in both groups was alcoholism [49 refractory (R) and 11 non-refractory ascites (NR)]. The majority of patients in the refractory group had Child-Pugh class B cirrhosis (p=0.034). The nutritional assessment showed protein-energy malnutrition in 81.6% of the patients in the R group and 35.5% of the patients in the NR group, while hepatic encephalopathy, hernia, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, upper digestive hemorrhage and type 2 hepatorenal syndrome were present in 51%, 44.9%, 38.8%, 38.8% and 26.5% of the patients in the R group and 9.1%, 18.2%, 0%, 0% and 0% of the patients in the NR group, respectively (p=0.016, p=0.173, p=0.012, p=0.012, and p=0.100, respectively). Mortality occurred in 28.6% of the patients in the R group and in 9.1% of the patients in the NR group (p=0.262). CONCLUSION: Patients with refractory ascites were malnourished, suffered from hernias, had a high prevalence of complications and had a high postoperative death frequency, which was mostly due to infectious processes.
Velocity and Shear Stress Distribution Downstream of Mechanical Heart Valves in Pulsatile Flow

Ten mechanical valves (TAD 27 mm): Starr-Edwards Silastic Ball, Björk-Shiley Standard, Björk-Shiley Concave-Convex, Björk-Shiley Monostrut, Hall-Kaster (Medtronic-Hall), OmniCarbon, Bicer Val, Sorin, Saint-Jude Medical and Hemex (Duromedics) are investigated in a comparative in vitro study. The velocity and turbulent shear stress profiles of the valves were determined by Laser Doppler anemometry in two different downstream axes within a model aortic root. Depending on the individual valve design, velocity peaks up to 1.5 m/s and turbulent shear stress peaks up to 150 N/m2 were measured during the systolic phase. These shear stress peaks mainly occurred in areas of flow separation and intense momentum exchange. Directly downstream of the valves (measuring axis 0.55.dAorta) turbulent shear stress peaks occurred at peak systole and during the deceleration phase, while in the second measuring axis (1.5.dAorta) turbulence levels were lower. Shear stress levels were high at the borders of the fluid jets. The results are discussed from a fluid-dynamic point of view.
Comment extraction using declarative crowdsourcing(CoEx Deco)

In relational database systems declarative crowdsourcing enables the user to avoid the complexities while obtaining desired results from relation database. Our proposed system provides the user the facility to submit queries in the form of comments. In this way the user can ask for some specific information in a more expressive way and the results obtained will be more accurate and related according to the user's desire. In our presented system the user will place queries in the form of triplets. CoEx Deco is a system that will answer the user queries over a Simple Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) Query on Resource Description Framework (RDF) together obtaining data from crowd in form of triplet. We have made the user free to comment anything about a specific noun in form of triplet and our system will make a seamless integration of user entered data along with data collected from the crowd. In our presented system the user can enter the query in form of triplet and each triplet consists of a subject and an object, both labeled with a predicate. In other words we can say that the user can enter a query in the form of comments about a specific noun and each comment should contain these three things which are mentioned above. The query will be then executed and the user will get the desired results from the RDF database. RDF database is in the form of directed labeled graphs in which each edge represents a triplet. The graph matching technique is constructed by the patterns of triples. When a query is evaluated the input graph of RDF is matched against the inside variables of triple patterns. In this way the user can place more expressive queries which will be helpful in obtaining more accurate desired results.
Experimental Assessment of ABNO-Driven Multicast Connectivity in Flexgrid Networks

The increasing demand of internet services is pushing cloud services providers to increase the capacity of their data centers (DC) and create DC federations, where two or more cloud providers interconnect their infrastructures. As a result of the huge capacity required for the inter-DC network, the flexgrid optical technology can be used. In such scenario, applications can run in DCs placed in geographically distant locations, and hence, multicast-based communication services among their components are required. In this paper, we study two different approaches to provide multicast services in multilayer scenarios assuming that the optical network is based on the flexgrid technology: 1) establishing a point-to-multipoint optical connection (light-tree) for each multicast request, and 2) using a multipurpose virtual network topology (VNT) to serve both unicast and multicast connectivity requests. When that VNT is not able to serve an incoming request as a result of lack of capacity, it is reconfigured to add more resources. A control plane architecture based on the applications-based network operations (ABNO) one, currently being standardized by the IETF, is presented; workflows are proposed and PCEP extensions are studied for the considered approaches. The experimental validation is carried-out on a testbed setup connecting Telefonica, CNIT, and UPC premises.
Failure of Neutrophils to Recover Their Ability to Produce Superoxide after Stunning by a Conventional, Acidic, Lactate-Based Peritoneal Dialysis Solution

Exposure of human neutrophils to conventional, acidic, lactate-based peritoneal dialysis solutions for 5 minutes results in a depression of superoxide generation. In spite of restoration of extracellular pH to 7.4, these stunned cells failed to recover their ability to generate the anion after a period of an hour.
Concentric-ring electrode systems for noninvasive detection of single motor unit activity

New recording techniques for detecting surface electromyographic (EMG) signals based on concentric-ring electrodes are proposed in this paper. A theoretical study of the two-dimensional (2-D) spatial transfer function of these recording systems is developed both in case of rings with a physical dimension and in case of line rings. Design criteria for the proposed systems are presented in relation to spatial selectivity. It is shown that, given the radii of the rings, the weights of the spatial filter can be selected in order to improve the rejection of low spatial frequencies, thus increasing spatial selectivity. The theoretical transfer functions of concentric systems are obtained and compared with those of other detection systems. Signals detected with the ring electrodes and with traditional one-dimensional and 2-D systems are compared. The concentric-ring systems show higher spatial selectivity with respect to the traditional detection systems and reduce the problem of electrode location since they are invariant to rotations. The results shown are very promising for the noninvasive detection of single motor unit (MU) activities and decomposition of the surface EMG signal into the constituent MU action potential trains.
BiSpectral contactless hand based biometric system

This paper presents a contactless hand based biometric identification system using geometric and palm features. Hand images are acquired using two commercial webcams with 1200×1600 pixel resolution which are refered to as the “IR” and “visible” webcams. The IR webcam has been modified by exchanging the IR filter with a visible filter lens and reducing the gain and exposure time to improve the hand contour extraction. The hand was illuminated using 24 infra-red LEDs and 4 white light LEDs. Images acquired from the IR webcam were binarized and the normalized widths from the index to little finger were used as features. A Least Square Support Vector Machine was then used for verification. The palm features were obtained by the Orthogonal Line Ordinal Features approach applied to the image acquired by the visible webcam. The hand image from the visible webcam was segmented using an Active Shape Model guided by the hand contour from the IR webcam as an initial guest. A Hamming distance was used as verifier. More than 8000 hand images from three public databases were used in order to compare the features extraction approaches. A score level fusion of both biometrics is performed obtaining an Equal Error Rate of 0.17% with a proprietary database of 100 users acquired with the proposed device.
A Non-Rigid Image Registration Technique for 3D Ultrasound Carotid Images using a "Twisting and Bending" Model

Atherosclerosis at the carotid bifurcation resulting in cerebral emboli is a major cause of ischemic stroke. Most strokes associated with carotid atherosclerosis can be prevented by lifestyle/dietary changes and pharmacological treatments if identified early by monitoring carotid plaque changes. Sensitive monitoring of plaque changes in volume and morphology requires that 3D ultrasound (US) images of carotid plaque obtained at different time points be registered and evaluated for change. This registration technique should be non-rigid, since different head positions in image acquisitions cause relative bending and torsion in the neck, producing non-linear deformations between the images. We modeled the movement of the neck using a "twisting and bending model" with only six parameters for non-rigid registration. We used a Mutual Information (MI) based image similarity measure with the Powell optimization method as they have been used effectively in US image registration applications. For evaluation of our algorithm, we acquired 3D US carotid images from three subjects at two different head positions to simulate images acquired at different times. Then, we registered each image set using our "twisting bending model" based non-rigid registration algorithm. We calculated the Mean Registration Error (MRE) between the segmented vessel surfaces in the target image and the registered image using a distance-based error metric. We repeated the experiment with only rigid registration to compare the capabilities of the proposed algorithm in improving registration of 3D carotid US images. The average registration error was 1.03plusmn0. 23 mm using our non-rigid registration technique, while it was 1.50plusmn0. 50 mm when we applied the rigid registration alone
Serological Cross-Reactivity between Different Chlamydia-Like Organisms

ABSTRACT The serological cross-reactivity between different recently described Chlamydia-related organisms was determined. Mouse sera exhibited a strong reactivity against autologous antigen and closely related heterologous antigen but no cross-reactivity with distantly related species. These results are important to better interpret serological studies and assess the pathogenic role of these obligate intracellular bacteria.
Nonlesions, Misdiagnoses, Missed Diagnoses, and Other Interpretive Challenges in Fish Histopathology Studies

Differentiating salient histopathologic changes from normal anatomic features or tissue artifacts can be decidedly challenging, especially for the novice fish pathologist. As a consequence, findings of questionable accuracy may be reported inadvertently, and the potential negative impacts of publishing inaccurate histopathologic interpretations are not always fully appreciated. The objectives of this article are to illustrate a number of specific morphologic findings in commonly examined fish tissues (e.g., gills, liver, kidney, and gonads) that are frequently either misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, and to address related issues involving the interpretation of histopathologic data. To enhance the utility of this article as a guide, photomicrographs of normal and abnormal specimens are presented. General recommendations for generating and publishing results from histopathology studies are additionally provided. It is hoped that the furnished information will be a useful resource for manuscript generation, by helping authors, reviewers, and readers to critically assess fish histopathologic data.
External comparisons with the case-cohort design.

The case-cohort design can be an economic alternative to the standard cohort design. Prentice (Biometrika 1986;73:1-11) showed how the case-cohort design can be used to obtain relative risk estimates for comparisons within the cohort being studied. In this paper, the authors consider ways in which the case-cohort design can be used for comparing risk in exposure groups within the cohort to the risk in an external population. The problem reduces to estimating the number of expected cases at each exposure level in the total cohort, when exposure status is available only for members of a subcohort, i.e., a random sample of the total cohort. The authors describe theoretical and empirical properties of several variations of the design and analysis of case-cohort studies. Empirical properties were examined by replicating the selection of the subcohort in a study of second cancer risk after chemotherapy for a first cancer. Use of a case-cohort design in that study would have saved five-sixths of the cost of gathering covariate information at the price of only an 11% loss in efficiency relative to a full cohort study.
Zinc oxide thin film fabricated by thermal evaporation method for water splitting application

The aim of this paper is to fabricate zinc oxide (ZnO) photoelectrode by a modified thermal evaporation system for water splitting application. At first, zinc thin film has been deposited on bare fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate by a modified thermal evaporation system with chamber pressure 0.05 mbar, source temperature 700°C, source substrate distance 3 cm and deposition time 5 min. For obtaining ZnO thin film, the prepared zinc film is annealed at 500°C for 2 hours in atmosphere. The prepared ZnO film is characterized and investigated the photoelectrochemical performance and suitability for splitting of water.
Influence of seasonal variability and conservation tillage on flower production and boll retention of Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

An experiment was conducted at Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, to monitor flower and boll production in Bt transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) hybrid (RCH 2 Bt. hybrid) as influenced by climatic factors and conservation tillage practices in selected treatments. Two reduced tillage (RT) systems, with limited soil disturbance in the form of inter-culture operations (RT1) and no soil disturbance (RT2), were compared with the conventional tillage treatment (CT). The tillage treatments comprised subplots with and without green ma- nure. Conservation-tillage treatments had 1215% more bolls retained on a plant than the conventional tillage. Ir- respective of the tillage systems, flower and boll production varied among years. Flower production correlated negatively with the maximum and minimum temperature (P
On the bandwidth of printed frequency selective surfaces for designing high impedance surfaces

In this paper a simple approach for defining the FSS printed element shape with wider band performance is presented. By means of circuit theory, it is demonstrated that the patch FSS with a small gap between the conductive squares is the best choice in designing a wideband AMC. Instead, for designing an extreme homogeneous HIS structure conserving a good bandwidth the meandered shape results a good compromise.
Increased prevalence of white matter hyperintensities in patients with panic disorder

The aim of the current study is to compare the prevalence, severity and location of cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMH) between patients with panic disorder (PD) and healthy control subjects. Patients with PD (n = 24) and matched healthy control subjects (n = 24) were scanned using a 3.0 Tesla whole-body magnetic resonance scanner. Axial T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images were acquired and evaluated for the prevalence, severity and location of WMH using the modified composite scale of Fazekas and Coffey and coded separately for deep and periventricular WMH. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between WMH and the diagnosis of PD. A greater severity of total WMH was associated with a diagnosis of PD in a dose-dependent pattern (odds ratio [OR] = 8.8, P = 0.005 for mild WMH; OR = 27.7, P = 0.007 for moderate to severe WMH). Deep WMH, where most group differences originated, were predominantly located in the frontal region of the brain (n = 16 in PD, n = 1 in control). The current report is the first study to report an increased prevalence of WMH in patients with PD.
AP-1 Is a Key Regulator of Proinflammatory Cytokine TNFα-mediated Triple-negative Breast Cancer Progression*

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents a highly aggressive form of breast cancer with limited treatment options. Proinflammatory cytokines such as TNFα can facilitate tumor progression and metastasis. However, the mechanistic aspects of inflammation mediated TNBC progression remain unclear. Using ChIP-seq, we demonstrate that the cistrome for the AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun is comprised of 13,800 binding regions in TNFα-stimulated TNBC cells. In addition, we show that c-Jun regulates nearly a third of the TNFα-regulated transcriptome. Interestingly, high expression level of the c-Jun-regulated pro-invasion gene program is associated with poor clinical outcome in TNBCs. We further demonstrate that c-Jun drives TNFα-mediated increase of malignant characteristics of TNBC cells by transcriptional regulation of Ninj1. As exemplified by the CXC chemokine genes clustered on chromosome 4, we demonstrate that NF-κB might be a pioneer factor required for the regulation of TNFα-inducible inflammatory genes, whereas c-Jun has little effect. Together, our results uncover AP-1 as an important determinant for inflammation-induced cancer progression, rather than inflammatory response.