Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MiRNAs for the Diagnostic Screening of Early Stages of Colon Cancer in Stool or Blood

It is essential that diagnostic screening for Colon cancer [CC], which is the process of looking for the disease in people showing no symptoms for malignancy, needs to be carried out on at the early stages of malignancy, in order to reduces mortality from this curable cancer, if it could be detected at the earliest possible stage of the disease by an accurate and cost effective diagnostic measures, as it is ascertained that mortality from this curable malignancy is preventable through an early effective screening paradigm. There are presently several CC screening methods: the immunological fecal occult blood test [FOBTi] is known to lack sensitivity and has stringent dietary requirements, which decrease compliance. The gold standard for CC screening is “colonoscopy”, is invasive and also costly, thus decreasing compliance, and could lead to mortality in some cases. Therefore, it has been correctly envisioned that a noninvasive sensitive screen, which does not require dietary restriction, would be a more convenient screening strategy. Colonoscopy screening is currently recommended for colorectal cancer [CRC]. Although it is a reliable screening method, it is an invasive procedure, usually accompanied by an abdominal pain, has potential serious complications and is relatively expensive, all are factors that have hampered its Worldwide application. A screening approach that employs the relatively stable and non-degradable micro[mi]RNA molecules when extracted from either the noninvasive human stool, or the semi-invasive blood samples by available commercial kits and manipulated thereafter, would therefore be more reliable than transcriptomic messenger [m]RNA-, mutation DNA-, epigeneticand/or proteomic-based tests. The miRNA approach utilizes reverse transcriptase [RT], followed by a modified quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction [qPCR]. In order to compensate for exosomal miRNAs, which are not measured by this test, a parallel test need to also be performed on stool or plasma’s total RNAs, and corrections for exsosomal loss made in order to obtain accurate results. Ultimately, a chip needs to be developed to facilitate diagnosis, as has been used for the quantification of genetically modified organisms [GMOs] in foods. The gold standard to which the miRNA test is compared to should be colonoscopy examination. If good laboratory performance criteria are met, then a miRNA test in human stool or blood samples --based on high throughput automated technologies and quantitative expression measurements currently employed in the diagnostic clinical laboratory-would ultimately be advanced to the clinical setting, making a Worldwide noticeable impact on the prevention of colon cancer. Correspondence to: Farid E Ahmed, Nancy C. Ahmed, GEM Tox Labs, Institute for Research in Biotechnology, 2905 South Memorial Drive, Greenville, NC 27834, USA, Tel: +1 [252] 864-1295; E-mail: gemtoxconsultants@yahoo.com
Modelling of material removal rate in the magnetic field and air-assisted electrical discharge machining

In the present research work, an attempt has been made to develop the mathematical model to predict the material removal rate in the electrical discharge machining process when the assistance of air and magnetic field is provided together. The proposed model incorporates the physical phenomenon occurred during electrical discharge machining such as the plasma column expansion and reduction in the mean free path of electron in the plasma column due to magnetic field. In addition, the model incorporates the effect of air on the material removal rate. The developed model correlates the material removal rate with the process parameters such as the peak current, pulse duration, duty cycle, air pressure and magnetic flux density. The experimental data were used to evaluate the constants for district processing conditions. The relation between air pressure and breakdown voltage in the liquid-air mixed dielectric has been established experimentally. The obtained expression of material removal rate has been validated for the experimental conditions other than that used for obtaining constants. The results show less than 10% error in the prediction by the model over the respective experimental values.
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Phoebe puwenensis

Abstract The first complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) sequence of Phoebe puwenensis was determined from Illumina HiSeq pair-end sequencing data in this study. The cpDNA is 152,746 bp in length, contains a large single-copy region (LSC) of 93,685 bp and a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,909 bp, which were separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IR) regions of 20,076 bp. The genome contains 127 genes, including 82 protein-coding genes, 8 ribosomal RNA genes, and 36 transfer RNA genes. The overall GC content of the whole genome is 39.1%, and the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 37.9%, 33.9%, and 44.4%, respectively. Further phylogenomic analysis showed that P. puwenensis and Phoebe neurantha clustered in a clade in Phoebe genus.
Adversarial examples detection through the sensitivity in space mappings

Adversarial examples (AEs) against deep neural networks (DNNs) raise wide concerns about the robustness of DNNs. Existing detection mechanisms are often limited to a given attack algorithm. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a robust detection approach that remains effective for a large group of attack algorithms. In addition, most of the existing defences only perform well for small images (e.g. MNIST and Canadian institute for advanced research (CIFAR)) rather than large images (e.g. ImageNet). In this paper, the authors propose a robust and effective defence method for analysing the sensitivity of various AEs, especially in a much harder case (large images). Their method first creates a feature map from the input space to the new feature space, by utilising 19 different feature mapping methods. Then, a detector is learned with the machine-learning algorithm to recognise the unique distribution of AEs. Their extensive evaluations on their proposed detector show that their detector can achieve: (i) low false-positive rate (<1%), (ii) high true-positive rate (higher than 98%), (iii) low overhead (<0.1 s per input), and (iv) good robustness (work well across different learning models, attack algorithms, and parameters), which demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed detector in practise.
Refinement of Optimal Interpolation Factor for DFT Interpolated Frequency Estimator

Frequency estimation is a fundamental problem in many areas. The previously proposed q-shift estimator (QSE), which interpolates the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) coefficients by a factor of q, enables the estimation accuracy to approach the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB). However, it becomes less effective when the number of samples is small. In this letter, we provide an in-depth analysis to unveil the impact of q on the convergence of QSE, and derive the bounds of a refined region of q that ensures the convergence of QSE to the CRLB even with a small number of samples. Simulations validate our analysis, showing that the refined interpolation factor is able to reduce the estimation mean squared error of QSE by up to 13.14 dB when the sample number is as small as 8.
Importance of electrode position in bioelectrical impedance analysis

analyses. Contrary to Abernathy’s assertion, smoking is quiteunlikely to account for the increased mortality in heavier peoplebecause in virtually all studies heavier people have smoked lessthan thin people.Although Abernathy would prefer to discard height and weighttables. the excess mortality and morbidity associated with over-weight is not eliminated just by dismissing the tables. We concurthat long-term weight loss for obese people is seldom achieved.This is all the more reason to have clear and sound weight guide-lines that can be used as a criteria for avoiding weight gains aswe age. Clearly, the focus must be primarily on prevention ofweight gain rather than on treatment after it has already occurred.Harvard School of Public HealthDepartment of Nutrition665 Huntington AvenueBoston, MA 02115
Investigation of Household Refrigerator System with Varied Capillary Tube Length

In this paper, the performance of R600a was investigated in a household refrigerator originally designed to work with R134a using varied capillary tube length (1.0, 1.15, 1.30 and 1.45 m). The refrigerator was instrumented with four thermocouples at the inlet and outlet of the major components. Also, two pressure gauges were connected to the compressor to measure the suction and discharge of the compressor. The experimental results were used to evaluate the performance of the system. The results showed that at optimal capillary tube length the COP and cooling capacity of R600a in the system increased with 45% and 4.2% respectively and the power consumption reduced with 25% using 1.30 m varied capillary tube length compared to R134a. Conclusively, R600a can serve as a retrofit in the household refrigerator systems originally designed to work with R134a refrigerant.
Listeriolysin O promotes the intravacuolar growth of Listeria monocytogenes in epithelial cells

Abstract Upon entry into host cells, Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) was described to escape rapidly from internalisation vacuoles and proliferate only after gaining access to the cytosol. Vacuole escape depends upon three secreted virulence factors: the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO) and two phospholipases. To quantify the dynamics of vacuolar escape, we used FAST fluorescent tags to monitor bacterial secretion into enclosed compartments. By tracking fluorescently-labelled vacuoles, we quantified the heterogeneity of Lm residence time in primary vacuoles formed in epithelial LoVo cells. Although half of the bacterial population escaped from vacuoles within 13 minutes after internalisation, a fraction of it remained entrapped several hours in Long Residence Vacuoles (LRV), for both wild type and LLO-deficient strains. Unexpectedly, Lm replicated inside LRVs at a rate similar to that in the cytosol. LRVs were decorated with LLO-FAST and LLO was necessary for bacterial proliferation in these compartments, suggesting that permeation of vacuolar membranes sustained growth. LRVs displayed similarities with the spacious Listeria-containing phagosomes described in macrophages, and could constitute an alternative replication niche for Lm in epithelial cells.
Narrative survey of renal nurses - An enquiry of challenging clinical situations with adults on haemodialysis approaching end of life

Background: As the population is ageing, and with the rising incidence of type 2 diabetes, the demographics of people on dialysis therapy are changing, with an older population living with multiple co-morbidities. As such, the meaning of haemodialysis (HD) has shifted from a short-term therapy for those awaiting a kidney transplant to a palliative therapy that focuses on quality of life. Methods: A narrative inquiry focused on nurses' experiences of caring for adult persons on HD approaching end of life. Registered and enrolled nurses working in HD inpatient and outpatient units at one tertiary level hospital service in Southeast Queensland constituted the sample. Results: Fifty-five of a possible 130 nurses (40% response) completed narratives. Just over half of the nurses had 10 or more years of nephrology nursing experience. Nurses experienced moral discomfort when challenges associated with: (1) poorly implemented end-of-life care; (2) contested decisions to start or stop HD; and (3) limited opportunities to settle disagreements within the service context. Conclusions: Nephrology nursing practice has not kept up with changing patient demographics, leaving nurses unprepared for the emotional and moral decisions to be made in everyday practice. It is timely to make explicit the palliative intent of HD therapy for persons with multiple co-morbidities, providing a space for advance care planning, open and supported discussions about quality of life, and transparent shared decision making when patients are considering to cease therapy.
Finding new lanes: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‐cells for myeloid leukemia

Myeloid leukemia represents a heterogeneous group of cancers of blood and bone marrow which arise from clonal expansion of hematopoietic myeloid lineage cells. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has traditionally been treated with multi‐agent chemotherapy, but conventional therapies have not improved the long‐term survival for decades. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is an indolent disease which requires lifelong treatment, is associated with significant side effects, and carries a risk of progression to potentially lethal blast crises.
Strain and Damage Sensing Property of Self-compacting Concrete Reinforced with Carbon Fibers

Present paper investigated the strain and damage sensing property on concrete cubes embedded with carbon fibers. Concrete cubes of dimension 150 mm have been casted with different concentration of carbon fibers to study the strain and damage sensing property under cyclic loading that can be further used for health monitoring as non-destructive testing (NDT) approach. All the specimens were tested under cyclic loading within elastic region of the sample for three cycles of loading with a maximum load of 195kN for strain sensing test. During cyclic loading, fractional change in resistance (FCR) is calculated and co-relation with the stress is plotted. During strain sensing test, gauge factors (GF) were also calculated during loading and unloading on the samples. From obtained results, it is found that the concrete sample containing 1.5% of carbon fibers by weight of cement gives best co-relation between stress and FCR that can be further used for health monitoring purpose. Along with strain sensing property, damage sensing property and ultimate load carrying capacities of all the specimens are also reported in present paper with detailed explanation.
Modelling Of PAFC Based Scattering Monitoring System for the Characterization of the Therapeutic Micro-Bubbles

In recent years, researchers are eagerly developing the Ultrasound Cavity Agents (UCA) as a therapeutic agent, so that they can deliver the drugs to an intended place in a guided manner with minimal invasiveness and maximum effectiveness. However, control dissolution of the drug is still an issue because the shell of the micro-bubble sometimes collapses instantaneously and start releasing the drug at a faster rate. This sudden rise in the pressure's level can rupture the capillaries and sometimes blood vessels also. Therefore, in such cases, it is a great challenge to examine the dynamics of the micro-bubble as well as the health of the blood vessel. In this essence, this paper presents a study based on the finite element method to examine the potential use of Photo-Acoustic Flow Cyclometery (PAFC) to resolve this issue. The presented model is based on the study of the intensity variations of the optical scatterings engender by the micro-bubbles through PAFC. The results of the study reveal that the proposed model has the potential to be used as a new mechanism to examine the growth of the micro-bubble as well as the health of the blood vessel. Moreover, by analysing the scattering pattern, one can also able to predict the value of the cavitation threshold and the size of the micro-bubble. Hence, the authors envisioned that the modified PAFC system can lead the path of a low-cost and real-time examiner for accurate target drug delivery as well as for the health of the blood vessel. Which in turn potentially increases the localized concentration of the drug to reduce the concerned side-effects of medicine on the other part of the body.
Preference for shared decision-making in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine preference for collaborative decision-making in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients and methods: A national online survey identified five hundred Japanese patients with RA who met study eligibility criteria. Subjects were queried regarding their preference for shared decision-making (SDM), using a questionnaire developed by Baars et al. to evaluate preference for SDM among Dutch patients. Participants in this study were asked to identify a number of clinical and socioeconomic characteristics, medical history, and treatment details. Multivariable regression analyses were applied to determine factors that were related to patient preference for SDM. Results: The study showed that 52% of patients surveyed considered shared medical decision-making “Very important” on a 4-item Likert scale. Females and patients with RA in Japan who are treated with biologic agents are more likely to have a preference for SDM. On the other hand, patients with a comorbidity of depression are less likely to prefer SDM. Conclusion: A majority of Japanese patients with RA prefer a collaborative role in medical decision-making. Treatment with biologic agents is associated with a higher likelihood of preference for SDM.
A prospective study comparing induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation versus chemoradiation alone in stage III non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Although concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) is the standard of care for stage III non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC), the five years overall (OS) survival is very poor. Most of the patients developed distant metastasis later which can be improved by induction chemotherapy. Aims: This study was designed to observe the difference in epidemiology, acute toxicities, overall responses [complete response (CR)+partial response (PR)] after treatment completion, disease-free survival (DFS) and progression-free survival (PFS) at the end of the study. Settings and Design: This was a prospective, interventional, randomized hospital-based study. Methods and Material: Eligible patients were randomized into arm A (CCRT with weekly paclitaxel(P) + Carboplatin(C) with 66 Gray radiation) and arm B (two cycles of induction chemotherapy consisted of P+C followed by CCRT as of arm A. During treatment weekly, after completion of treatment at 6th week and thereafter 3 monthly evaluation was done till the end of study. S tatistical analysis used: Chi-Square and Fisher Exact test did statistical analysis, t-test with 95%CI, Kaplan Meier survival analysis, Log Rank test using SPSS version 18. Results: Among 44 patients, male (88.6%), Smokers (85.1%) were predominant with the most common histology was squamous cell carcinoma (52.4%). Overall response (Complete Response +Partial Response) was higher in Arm B 66.66% but statistically non-significant. Acute toxicities in both the arms were comparable and similar. DFS and PFS in the induction chemotherapy arm (Arm B) were numerically superior to concurrent chemoradiation arm (Arm A) but statistically nonsignificant Conclusion: To conclude there were no significant differences in results between two arms in the present study population. Further studies with the larger sample size and longer duration of follow up are necessary.
Investigating the nature of and relation between masculinity and religiosity and/or spirituality in a postcolonial and post-apartheid South Africa

This article narrates the researcher’s intention in using a mixed methodology for investigating the correlation between two key research concepts that form part of a larger research study. The larger study aims to reflect on how South African men understand their masculine role from and within their specific religion/spirituality by measuring the nature of the relationship between the constructs of masculine ideology and religious orientation in the development of a male gender identity. Subsequently, the first level of exploration includes the distribution of two inventory scales to a wide selection of men in South Africa for determining the nature and degree of correlation between the two concepts of ‘masculinity’ and ‘religiosity/spirituality’ from this specific sample of men. The research question to be answered is as follows: is there a correlation between the results of the two inventory scales (Masculine Attitude Norms Inventory II/Masculinities Representations Inventory [MANI II/MRI] and Religious Orientation Scale – Revised [I/E-Revised]) which measures male attitude norms, on the one hand, and religious orientation, on the other hand, of a selected sample of South African men? This question is answered through the administration of two widely validated and reliable inventory scales aimed at measuring male ideology and representations and religious orientation, respectively. Consequently, the researcher aims to motivate her choice of employing these scales before a post-foundational practical theological and narrative approach to research is used in ‘thickening’ the discourses resulting from these inventories, and narrates what she aims to achieve through the employment of these specific methodologies. Therefore, this article does not aim to narrate any research findings but forms part of Phase 1 of the larger research project delineated into different phases. The researcher concludes with a suggested research methodology, which aims at the decolonisation of the constructs of masculinity and religiosity and/or spirituality in the specific context of postcolonial and post-apartheid South Africa.
Guiding Them to Graduate School: Professional Development for Undergraduates Participating in Engineering Research Programs

Katy Luchini-Colbry is the Director for Graduate Recruiting at the College of Engineering at Michigan State University, where she completed degrees in political theory and computer science. A recipient of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, she received her Ph.D. and M.S.E. in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan. She has published more than a dozen papers related to her interests in educational technology and enhancing undergraduate education through hands-on learning. As a volunteer for Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, Luchini-Colbry facilitates interactive seminars on interpersonal communications and problem solving skills for engineering students across the U.S.
Human motion analysis in medical robotics via high-dimensional inverse reinforcement learning

This work develops a novel high-dimensional inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm for human motion analysis in medical, clinical, and robotics applications. The method is based on the assumption that a surgical robot operators’ skill or a patient’s motor skill is encoded into the innate reward function during motion planning and recovered by an IRL algorithm from motion demonstrations. This class of applications is characterized by high-dimensional sensory data, which is computationally prohibitive for most existing IRL algorithms. We propose a novel function approximation framework and reformulate the Bellman optimality equation to handle high-dimensional state spaces efficiently. We compare different function approximators in simulated environments, and adopt a deep neural network as the function approximator. The technique is applied to evaluating human patients with spinal cord injuries under spinal stimulation, and the skill levels of surgical robot operators. The results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.