Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased serum C-reactive protein levels are associated with shorter survival and development of second cancers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by a heterogeneous clinical course, ranging from stable to more aggressive disease. Herein, we determined the prognostic significance of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in patients with CLL Methods: A retrospective cohort study reviewing the records of 107 consecutive treatment naïve patients with CLL and a control group comprised of apparently healthy individuals attending for periodic health examinations. Results: The median CRP level of patients with CLL was 0.19 mg/dL (0–2.9). In univariate analysis, high-CRP levels (≥0.4 mg/dL) were significantly associated with an increased risk of mortality (HR = 3.97, 95%CI 1.64–9.62, p = .002) and development of second solid cancers (HR = 4.54, 95%CI 1.57–13.11, p = .005), compared to low-CRP values (<0.4 mg/dL). In multivariate analysis, high-CRP retained statistical significance for all-cause mortality (HR = 2.81, 95%CI 1.04–7.57, p = .04) and the development of second solid malignancies (HR = 4.54, 95%CI 1.57–13.11, p = .005). Moreover, when compared to an apparently healthy population, CLL patients with high CRP levels had more than an eightfold risk of cancer. Conclusions: Elevated baseline CRP levels are associated with shorter survival and development of second cancers in patients with CLL. We suggest that increased CRP in patients with CLL may justify a more rigorous search for second cancers. KEY MESSAGES Elevated CRP levels are associated with a shorter overall survival in CLL. Elevated CRP levels are associated with an increased risk of second cancers in CLL. Increased CRP in patients with CLL may justify a more rigorous search for second cancers.
Identification and risk assessment of Swedish youth at risk of chlamydia

Aims: The aim of the study was to identify youth at high risk of chlamydia including variables related to sexual health and negative experiences of sexuality. Methods: In late 2009, a questionnaire on sexuality was answered by Swedish youth. The study sample was self-selected from different Internet communities. Data from 6544 sexually active participants, aged 15–24 years, were analyzed in a multivariable logistic regression model. Discriminative power was measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: In the univariate analysis, self-reported chlamydia was associated with most risk behavior variables, experience of coerced sex, and reimbursement for sex, with slight gender variation. The factors that best predicted self-reported chlamydia among females were number of partners, age, and having been reimbursed for sex. Among males, the number of partners and alcohol consumption were the strongest predictors. Increasing number of partners up to 10 during the past 12 months was the most important predictor for both genders. A skewed distribution of chlamydia was demonstrated, in that 37.6% of cases in females and 38.6% in males were estimated to occur among a tenth of the population. Conclusions: Testing, prevention, and care for chlamydia should be directed toward those most at risk, as they account for a large proportion of the total number of chlamydia cases. The special needs of the high-risk group need to be acknowledged and chlamydia regarded as a possible marker for risk behavior and negative sexuality experiences.
A Lagrangian Approach to Weakly Coupled Hamilton-Jacobi Systems

We study a class of weakly coupled Hamilton-Jacobi systems with a specific aim to perform a qualitative analysis in the spirit of weak KAM theory. Our main achievement is the definition of a family of related action functionals containing the Lagrangians obtained by duality from the Hamiltonians of the system. We use them to characterize, by means of a suitable estimate, all the subsolutions of the system, and to explicitly represent some subsolutions enjoying an additional maximality property. A crucial step for our analysis is to put the problem in a suitable random frame. Only some basic knowledge of measure theory is required, and the presentation is accessible to readers without background in probability.
Tuxford's Index of Nutrition: A Convenient Nomogram

Tuxford’s index, first described in 1917, was based on measurements, made in 1909 and 1910, of half a million elementary-school children in various parts of England (Tuxford, 1917). It is the ratio of weight to height graduated by age to allow for the changes which o a u r in the ratio with age. The index was again described in 1939, and formulae for use with British units were added to the original metric formulae (Tuxford, 1939). In 1942 Tuxford devised a new index to fit the proportions of London schoolchildren as shown by the 1938 measurements (Tuxford, 194.2). The new formula for boys is
Fungal Infections in Patients of Paediatric Age

Despite the development of more active, less toxic antifungal agents and the use of antifungal prophylaxis, the mycoses (especially those invasive) continue to be a serious infective complication in several patients’ outcomes, resulting in high mortality rates (Lehrnbecher et al., 2010). Both paediatric and adult patients are exposed to fungal infections, even if important differences of epidemiology, diagnostic approaches and therapeutic management have to be considered. To date, globally, these infections have been well studied in different populations of adult patients while thorough epidemiological analyses in paediatric patients, including immunocompromised subjects, e.g. children with haematological malignancies and preterm neonates, are fairly sparse.
Pain Management: Massage Therapy

Massage techniques (for example, acupressure, reiki, deep tissue massage or shiatsu1) involve working with pressure on various areas of the body, in order to improve health and well-being. In the second century B.C., massage therapy was already described in China, and soon thereafter in India and Egypt as well (Field, 1998). This makes massage one of the oldest healing methods. Today, the effects of massage are still a topic often discussed in the literature, and massage therapy is a commonly used type of alternative therapy in end-of-life care, as it can improve the quality of a patients’ life (AMTA, 2009).
Análisis comparativo de los estilos narrativos de personas con síntomas depresivos y obsesivo-compulsivos

Nos hemos propuesto desarrollar una herramienta para el analisis fenomenologico-narrativo de producciones autobiograficas, de personas con diagnostico de enfermedad mental. Nos interesa describir y caracterizar distintas estrategias y tipologias narratologicas. Hemos configurado tres grandes categorias: 1) el analisis de la coherencia narrativa; 2) el analisis de la composicion; 3) el analisis fenomenologico de las categorias vitales esenciales. A partir de dicho procedimiento hemos identificado diferentes estrategias y estilos narrativos que podrian estar asociados con concepciones de mundo y con distintos cuadros psicopatologicos.
Demographic fate of Arabidopsis thaliana cohorts of autumn‐ and spring‐germinated plants along an altitudinal gradient

1. Understanding how plants respond and adapt to varying environmental conditions has attracted the attention of plant ecologists for decades. To study this process, altitudinal gradients are used because of their inherent variation in environmental conditions. In the current scenario of global warming, altitudinal gradients may also represent a valuable resource to deepen our understanding about plant adaptive responses to predicted changes in environmental conditions.
Monolithic Integration of Silicon Nanowires With a Microgripper

Si nanowire (NW) stacks are fabricated by utilizing the scalloping effect of inductively coupled plasma deep reactive ion etching. When two etch windows are brought close enough, scallops from both sides will ideally meet along the dividing centerline of the windows turning the separating material column into an array of vertically stacked strings. Upon further thinning of these NW precursors by oxidation followed by oxide etching, Si NWs with diameters ranging from 50 nm to above 100 nm are obtained. The pattern of NWs is determined solely by photolithography. Various geometries ranging from T-junctions to circular coils are demonstrated in addition to straight NWs along specific crystallographic orientations. The number of NWs in a stack is determined by the number of etch cycles utilized. Due to the precise lithographic definition of NW location and orientation, the technique provides a convenient batch-compatible tool for the integration of NWs with MEMS. This aspect is demonstrated with a microgripper, where an electrostatic actuation mechanism is simultaneously fabricated with the accompanying NW end-effectors. Mechanical integrity of the NW-MEMS bond and the manipulation capability of the gripper are demonstrated. Overall, the proposed technique exhibits a batch-compatible approach to the issue of micronanointegration.
Retail city: the relationship between place attractiveness and accessibility to shops

ABSTRACT Retail city: the relationship between place attractiveness and accessibility to shops. Spatial Economic Analysis. This paper explores the role of retailers as an urban amenity. Using data for Swedish rural and city municipalities for 2002–08, ‘accessibility-to-shops’ measures are constructed for the shops in the municipalities and the hosting regions separately to examine the relationship between consumption possibilities and place attractiveness in a spatial continuum. Place attractiveness is proxied by a Q ratio for Swedish housing investment based on Tobin’s Q. Access to stores within municipal market boundaries is found to be relevant for the place attractiveness of city municipalities, whereas no such relationship is evident for rural municipalities.
The Role of Proximity in Willingness to Transact: The Effects of Trust and Culture

We seek to operationalie a new construct, proximity, and identify its role in customers' willingness to transact online. Trust is a well studied phenomenon in ecommerce, but it falls short in explaining some hitherto intangible aspects of online transactions such as how users feel about doing business with a particular company. There are clearly cultural differences in the need for face to face contact when doing business which spill over into the world of e-commerce. We use the proximity construct to effectively explain some differences in behavioural intention that cannot be explained by culture or trust alone.
Cascading Oscillators in Decoding Speech: Reflection of a Cortical Computation Principle

Abstract : Motivated by the possible role of brain rhythms in cortical function, we postulate a cortical computation principle by which decoding is performed within a time-varying window structure, synchronized with the input on multiple time scales. The windows are generated by a segmentation process, implemented by an array of cascaded oscillators. Correct segmentation is a critical prerequisite for correct decoding, and segmentation is correct as long as the oscillators successfully track the input rhythms. Syllabic segmentation utilizes flexible oscillators operating in the theta range (39Hz) by tracking the input syllabic rhythms, and prosodic segmentation is driven by flexible oscillators in the delta range(0.53 Hz), tracking prosodic rhythms. A model (TEMPO) was developed which is capable of explaining a variety of psychophysical and neuroimaging data difficult to explain by current models of speech perception, but emerging naturally from the architecture of the model. The key properties that enable such accountability are: (i) the capability of the oscillators to track and stay locked to the input rhythm, and (ii) the cascaded nature of the oscillators within the array.
A Live Attenuated Vaccine for Lassa Fever Made by Reassortment of Lassa and Mopeia Viruses

ABSTRACT Lassa virus (LASV) and Mopeia virus (MOPV) are closely related Old World arenaviruses that can exchange genomic segments (reassort) during coinfection. Clone ML29, selected from a library of MOPV/LASV (MOP/LAS) reassortants, encodes the major antigens (nucleocapsid and glycoprotein) of LASV and the RNA polymerase and zinc-binding protein of MOPV. Replication of ML29 was attenuated in guinea pigs and nonhuman primates. In murine adoptive-transfer experiments, as little as 150 PFU of ML29 induced protective cell-mediated immunity. All strain 13 guinea pigs vaccinated with clone ML29 survived at least 70 days after LASV challenge without either disease signs or histological lesions. Rhesus macaques inoculated with clone ML29 developed primary virus-specific T cells capable of secreting gamma interferon in response to homologous MOP/LAS and heterologous MOPV and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Detailed examination of two rhesus macaques infected with this MOPV/LAS reassortant revealed no histological lesions or disease signs. Thus, ML29 is a promising attenuated vaccine candidate for Lassa fever.
Imaging of biomedical data using a multiplicative regularized contrast source inversion method

In this paper, the recently developed multiplicative regularized contrast source inversion method is applied to microwave biomedical applications. The inversion method is fully iterative and avoids solving any forward problem in each iterative step. In this way, the inverse scattering problem can efficiently be solved. Moreover, the recently developed multiplicative regularizer allows us to apply the method blindly to experimental data. We demonstrate inversion from experimental data collected by a 2.33-GHz circular microwave scanner using a two-dimensional (2-D) TM polarization measurement setup. Further some results of a feasibility study of the present inversion method to the 2-D TE polarization and the full-vectorial three-dimensional measurement will be presented as well.
Continuity between wound macrophage and fibroblast phenotype: analysis of wound fibroblast phagocytosis.

Analysis of phagocytic activity in wound fibroblasts was chosen as a means to assess the possible continuity between macrophage and fibroblast phenotypes. Fibroblast phagocytosis of uncoated, IgG-coated, or collagen-coated fluorescent beads was analyzed by flow cytometry in vivo and in vitro. Phagocytosis of fluorescent beads by procollagen I-positive cells (fibroblasts) was evaluated in vivo by injecting beads into subcutaneously implanted sponge wounds in anesthetized Fisher rats. Phagocytic activity of a purified population of wound fibroblasts was measured in vitro and correlated with oxidation state using hydroethidium. In the wound environment, 50-60% of the cells that engulfed uncoated, IgG-coated, or collagen-coated beads were procollagen I-positive cells (i.e., fibroblasts). Procollagen I-positive cells engulfed uncoated and IgG-coated beads in preference to collagen-coated beads in vivo. Cultured wound fibroblasts engulfed uncoated, IgG-coated, and collagen-coated particles. The majority of fibroblasts that engulfed beads were in an elevated oxidation state. We conclude that substantial fibroblast phagocytosis occurs in the wound, but scavenger receptor-mediated fibroblast phagocytosis is different from that of macrophages. Additional markers will be helpful in defining the macrophage fibroblast continuum.
VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and VEGFR-3 and their roles in lymphatic metastasis of tumors

Lymphatic metastasis is one of the critical metastatic routes of malignant tumors, and the involvement of lymph nodes is usually one of the key predictors of prognosis. In recent years, studies on animal models and clinical studies have suggested that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C/VEGF-D/VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3) signaling system plays important roles in the process of lymphatic metastasis of tumors. In this article, we have reviewed the recent advances in research on the roles and mechanisms of VEGF-C/VEGF-D/VEGFR-3 signaling system in lymphatic metastasis of tumors.
Will You Be in Hospital Next Year : Leveraging Machine Learning in Improving Healthcare

According to some recent study from the American Hospital Association, more than 71 million individuals in the United States are admitted to hospitals each year. However, a considerable number of hospital admissions turn out to be unnecessary, and studies have shown that much money (e.g., over $30 billion in 2006) has been wasted on such unnecessary admissions. In this paper, we study the problem of predicting how many days a patient will spend in a hospital in the next year. Such prediction is valuable, since once known, health care providers can develop new care plans and strategies to reach patients before emergencies occur, thereby reducing the number of unnecessary hospitalizations. We focus on leveraging machine learning algorithms in this study. Specifically, we model the predictive problem in two different ways, either as a multi-class classification task, or as a regression task. We discuss the details of the algorithms we employ for each aspect, and present results from an extensive experimental evaluation.
Current choice of treatments for neovascular AMD

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in developed countries with the neovascular form accounting for the majority of severe vision loss in the disease. The management of wet age-related macular degeneration has improved drastically in the past decade as anti-VEGF agents took its place at the forefront of treatment. As the choice of therapy is based on a number of factors, this review summarizes the pivotal studies that brought these agents to use and compares the different agents currently available. This review also briefly describes the promising new therapies that are in development.
A method for software reuse through large component libraries

Although reuse is recognized as a promising approach to producing cheaper and better software, the industrial penetration of reuse methodology has not been impressive. Generally, reuse is restricted to localized contexts, i.e. within a project team or potentially within a small company. The REBOOT project addresses the problem of supporting massive inter-group reuse from a library with a large number of components, and in this paper we discuss in particular the specific technical problems resulting from the size of the library. The first prototype version of the REBOOT reuse environment is finished, and is now being evaluated. <<ETX>>
Reference data on reaction time and aging using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board: A cross-sectional study of 354 subjects from 20 to 99 years of age

Background Falls among older adults is one of the major public health challenges facing the rapidly changing demography. The valid assessment of reaction time (RT) and other well-documented risk factors for falls are mainly restricted to specialized clinics due to the equipment needed. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board has the potential to be a multi-modal test and intervention instrument for these risk factors, however, reference data are lacking. Objective To provide RT reference data and to characterize the age-related changes in RT measured by the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Method Healthy participants were recruited at various locations and their RT in hands and feet were tested by six assessors using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Reference data were analysed and presented in age-groups, while the age-related change in RT was tested and characterized with linear regression models. Results 354 participants between 20 and 99 years of age were tested. For both hands and feet, mean RT and its variation increased with age. There was a statistically significant non-linear increase in RT with age. The averaged difference between male and female was significant, with males being faster than females for both hands and feet. The averaged difference between dominant and non-dominant side was non-significant. Conclusion This study reported reference data with percentiles for a new promising method for reliably testing RT. The RT data were consistent with previously known effects of age and gender on RT.
Polylogarithmic Bounds on the Competitiveness of Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays

We consider the problem of online Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays (MPMD) recently introduced by Emek et al, (STOC 2016). This problem is defined on an underlying n-point metric space. An adversary presents real-time requests online at points of the metric space, and the algorithm is required to match them, possibly after keeping them waiting for some time. The cost incurred is the sum of the distances between matched pairs of requests (the connection cost), and the sum of the waiting times of the requests (the delay cost). We prove the first logarithmic upper bound and the first polylogarithmic lower bound on the randomized competitive ratio of this problem. We present an algorithm with a competitive ratio of O(log n), which improves the upper bound of O(log2 n + log Δ) of Emek et al, by removing the dependence on Δ, the aspect ratio of the metric space (which can be unbounded as a function of n). The core of our algorithm is a deterministic algorithm for MPMD on metrics induced by edge-weighted trees of height h, whose cost is guaranteed to be at most O(1) times the connection cost plus O(h) times the delay cost of every feasible solution. The reduction from MPMD on arbitrary metrics to MPMD on trees is achieved using the result on embedding n-point metric spaces into distributions over weighted hierarchically separated trees of height O(log n), with distortion O(log n). We also prove a lower bound of [EQUATION] on the competitive ratio of any randomized algorithm. This is the first lower bound which increases with n, and is attained on the metric of n equally spaced points on a line.
Use of fluorescence genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) to detect the presence of alien chromatin in wheat lines differing in nuclear DNA content.

BACKGROUND Many times small differences in genome size are reported between or within plant species in which no cytologic confirmation is made. Attempts to repeat these studies have met with limited success. The controversy then becomes whether or not these small differences that were not confirmed cytologically are real. The present study was undertaken to determine if the approximately 1% nuclear variation seen by flow cytometry among wheat lines selected for aluminum response was due to actual chromatin differences. METHODS The three parental wheat cultivars used in the aluminum selection along with the isolines resulting from the selection were analyzed. One parental line had previously been reported to have alien chromatin substituted for the corresponding wheat homologous chromatin. Genomic in situ hybridization was used to determine the presence or absence of rye chromatin in three cultivars and six near-isolines of wheat. RESULTS Upon observing metaphase chromosomes of the Century parent and its isolines, two of the chromosomes were observed to be one-half yellow-orange, indicating rye chromatin with the remaining portion of the chromosomes and the other 40 wheat chromosomes having no label indicating wheat chromatin. In the Chisholm parent and its isolines, none of the chromosomes were labeled, indicating the absence of rye chromatin. In addition, none of the third parents' chromosomes had the rye yellow-orange signal. CONCLUSIONS The wheat lines with the larger DNA contents were observed to have alien DNA present. DNA differences between the normal wheat chromosomes and the substituting alien chromatin were calculated based on total chromosome length. The increase in genome size of the wheat lines containing the alien chromatin appears to be the result of the alien chromatin having approximately 43% more DNA than the wheat chromatin it is replacing. Thus, the small DNA difference previously reported by flow cytometry was demonstrated to be a real DNA variation due to the presence of small fragments of alien chromosomes added to the wheat genome.