Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Omission of Adjuvant Chemotherapy Is Associated With Increased Mortality in Patients With T3N0 Colon Cancer With Inadequate Lymph Node Harvest

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant chemotherapy for T3N0 colon cancer is controversial. National guidelines recommend its use in patients with stage II with high-risk features, including lymph node harvest of less than 12, yet this treatment is underused. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with T3N0 adenocarcinoma with inadequate lymph node harvest is beneficial. DESIGN: This was a retrospective population-based study of patients with resected T3N0 adenocarcinoma of the colon. SETTINGS: The National Cancer Database was queried from 2003 to 2012. PATIENTS: A total of 134,567 patients with T3N0 colon cancer were included in this analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The use of chemotherapy, short-term outcomes, and overall survival was evaluated. Clinicopathologic factors associated with omission of chemotherapy were also analyzed. RESULTS: Inadequate lymph node harvest was observed in 23.3% of patients, and this rate decreased over the study period from 46.8% in 2003 to 12.5% in 2012 (p < 0.0001). Overall 5-year survival for patients with T3N0 cancer was 66.8%. Inadequate lymph node harvest among these patients was associated with lower overall 5-year survival (58.7% vs 69.8%; p < 0.001). The use of adjuvant chemotherapy among patients with T3N0 cancer after inadequate lymph node harvest was only 16.7%. In a multivariable analysis, factors associated with failure to receive chemotherapy included advanced age (OR = 0.44 (95% CI, 0.43–0.45)), increased comorbidities (OR = 0.7 (95% CI, 0.66–0.76)), and postoperative readmission (OR = 0.78 (95% CI, 0.67–0.91)). Patients with inadequate lymph node harvest who received adjuvant chemotherapy had improved 5-year survival (chemotherapy, 78.4% vs no chemotherapy, 54.7%; p < 0.001). Even when controlling for all of the significant variables, the administration of chemotherapy remained a predictor of decreased mortality (HR = 0.57 (95% CI, 0.54–0.60); p < 0.001). LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by its retrospective, population-based design. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with T3N0 colon cancer with inadequate lymph node harvest who receive adjuvant chemotherapy have increased overall survival. Despite this survival benefit, a fraction of these patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Barriers to chemotherapy are multifactorial.
On the monotonicity of SIRMs connected type fuzzy reasoning method and SIC reasoning method

Yubazaki et al. have proposed “single input rule modules connected type fuzzy reasoning method” (SIRMs method, for short) whose final output is obtained by summarizing the product of the importance degrees and the inference results from single input fuzzy rule module. Another type of single input type fuzzy reasoning method proposed by Hayashi et al. (we call it “Single Input Connected fuzzy reasonig method” (SIC method, for short) in this paper) uses rule modules to each input item as well as SIRMs method. We expect that inference results of SIRMs method and SIC method have monotonicity if the antecedent parts and consequent parts of fuzzy rules in SIRMs rule modules have monotonicity. However, this paper points out that even if fuzzy rules in SIRMs rule modules have monotonicity, the inference results do not necessarily have monotonicity. Moreover, it clarifies the conditions for the monotonicity of inference results by SIRMs method and SIC method.
Congenital heart disease and the role of genetic factors in cardiac morphogenesis

Cardiovascular malformations are the most common types of birth malformations, causing a significant increase in mortality worldwide. The etiology of most of these abnormalities remains unknown, but the genetic factors involved are considered to have an increasingly important role. Advances in understanding normal molecular cardiac development have led to the identification of numerous genes required in cardiac morphogenesis and drove to the discovery of a growing number of monogenic causes of human cardiac malformations. Sequencing of the human genome and advances in molecular techniques have led to an increase in proving the crucial role of the genetic factors.
A generic 350 Mb/s turbo-codec based on a 16-states SISO decoder

The implementation of a 350 Mb/s 16-state SISO turbo decoder and its corresponding coder are described. It performs within 1.8 dB of Shannon's limit in terms of error correction. Implemented in 0.13 /spl mu/m low-leakage technology, this codec occupies 10 mm/sup 2/ and is designed using a Matlab-to-RTL design flow.
Design and FEM Analysis of a New and Simple Electro-Thermal Actuated Microgripper

In this paper, the dynamic and electric analysis of a novel electrostatically actuated microdevice is presented. This device consist of an arrangement of four parallel microcantilevers, which is fed with 1 V. The analysis was carried out by Finite Element Method (FEM) in Ansys Workbench in order to obtain: current intensity, temperature distribution, Joule effect, structural deformation, natural frequency, and reaction force, which characterize the microgripper performance. The material used in the analysis was Silicon. A thermoelastic model, that describes the behavior mechanical of the device, is developed. The device had an initial gap of 28 µm and a final gap of ~ 4 µm, the force of subjection in grippers is 0.4 µN.
Effects of Variables on Parental Perceptions of Staffings

This study explored the relationship between parental satisfaction with special education IEP staffings and six variables. Together the six variables accounted for 78% of the variance in satisfaction. Simply allowing enough time for a staffing accounted for the most variance. In addition, the following three variables also had a statistically significant impact on satisfaction: (a) input from a number of people to formulate a good educational program, (b) attribution of blame to sources other than the parents, and (c) amount of parent participation. Preparing parents for what to expect, and the number of people present at a staffing had relatively minor, though statistically significant, contributions to the total explained variation in satisfaction. Strategies are discussed for improving parental satisfaction with staffings.
FFLO state in thin superconducting films

We present the analysis of the inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superconducting state in thin superconducting films in the parallel magnetic field. For the tetragonal crystal symmetry (relevant to CeCoIn5 —the most probable candidate for the FFLO state formation) we predict a very peculiar in-plane angular dependence of the FFLO critical field due to the orbital effect. In the uniform superconducting state the critical field should be isotropic. The magnetic field pins also the direction of the FFLO modulation permitting thus to study the critical-current anisotropy. Our calculations reveal a strong critical-current anisotropy in the FFLO state in sharp contrast with the usual superconducting state. The predicted characteristic anisotropies of the critical field and critical current may provide an unambiguous probe of the FFLO phase formation.
A synergistic approach to efficient web searching

The continuing growth of the Internet contents makes difficult the information access, inducing the task of information retrieval highly critical. The search engines often return a huge quantity of Web data, which is irrelevant to the input query. The emergency of personalization in the web search activities demands stable synergies for retrieving relevant information which meets the user needs. This work proposes an agent-based system for supporting customized Web searches. The system replies to a typical web query providing ad-hoc user-profiled links to web pages. the basis of a learning activity, which constitute an initial knowledge The agents collect locally the knowledge during an initial user querying/answering interaction phase and then interpret the meaning of collected information, by exploiting ontologies: they discover new semantic correlations among query terms, in order to refine the description of queries. These queries are used in the web search to provide more relevant replies, which reflect the user preferences and interest. This proposal represents a valid support for evidence-based applications, where sensitive contexts such as health care, medicine require high quality and unambiguous information in the specialized lexical domain.
Bounded , Efficient , and Doubly Robust Estimation with Inverse Weighting

Consider the problem of estimating the mean of an outcome in the presence of missing data or estimating population average treatment effects in causal inference. A doubly robust estimator remains consistent if an outcome regression model or a propensity score model is correctly specified. We build on the nonparametric likelihood approach of Tan and propose new doubly robust estimators. These estimators have desirable properties in efficiency if the propensity score model is correctly specified, and in boundedness even if the inverse probability weights are highly variable. We compare new and existing estimators in a simulation study and find that the robustified likelihood estimators yield overall the smallest mean squared errors.
Online bijspijkeronderwijs in de praktijk

De heterogeniteit van de instroom bij hogeronderwijsinstellingen zal in de komende jaren toenemen door een toename in het aantal buitenlandse studenten en door de ‘gevolgen’ van tweede fase van het studiehuis. Voor sommige studenten is het gebrek aan voorkennis zelfs zo groot dat bijspijkeronderwijs voorafgaande aan de opleiding noodzakelijk is. Dit artikel is opgedeeld in twee delen: het eerste deel bestaat uit een literatuurstudie naar de ervaringen met bijspijkeronderwijs en met ervaringen met afstandsleren. Op basis van algemeen didactische scenario’s en resultaten van onderzoeken naar online afstandsonderwijs zijn vijf aandachtspunten in het online bijspijkermodel geidentificeerd: 24 uur per dag online beschikbaar, adaptief, interactief, snelle feedback, en flexibele leermethodes en toetsing. In het tweede deel wordt het model getoetst aan de hand van de implementatie van twee bijspijkercursussen bij de Universiteit Maastricht. Verder onderzoek zal nodig zijn om te kijken of het succes van de cursussen veroorzaakt wordt door een selectiebias en/of wat de specifieke achtergronden zijn van deelnemers aan de zomercursus.
Transducing Bacteriophage for Bacillus cereus

A phage, designated CP-51, that carries out generalized transduction in Bacillus cereus 569 was isolated from soil. All auxotrophic mutants tested, those requiring tryptophan, histidine, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, or phenylalanine, were transduced to prototrophy. The phage was extremely unstable when stored at 2 to 4 C, but stability was enhanced by storage at higher temperatures. The optimal temperature of those tested for maintenance of plaque-forming units was 15 C.
Differential use of Alcian blue and toluidine blue dyes for the quantification and isolation of anionic glycoconjugates from cell cultures: application to proteoglycans and a high-molecular-weight glycoprotein synthesized by articular chondrocytes.

Alcian blue and toluidine blue dyes form complexes with anionic glycoconjugates (AG) such as proteoglycans (PG) and glycosaminoglycans (GAG). However, the Alcian blue-AG complexes do not readily dissociate, while the toluidine blue-AG complexes do so in salt solutions. This differential dissociation of the dye-AG complexes has been utilized in the analysis and isolation of radiolabeled AG elaborated by articular chondrocyte cultures incubated with the radiolabeled precursors of AG. For the rapid quantification of newly synthesized (35)S-labeled PG, small replicate aliquots of the radiolabeled culture media were applied directly to cellulose acetate strips, stained with Alcian blue and the stained immobilized radiolabeled PG was quantified by liquid scintillation counting. Comparison of anionic glycoconjugates quantified in the culture media employing toluidine blue and Alcian blue staining on cellulose acetate trips gave similar results. Staining on cellulose acetate strips using these two dyes is particularly suited for the simultaneous processing of large numbers of samples, as illustrated by the screening of the effects of biological materials and drugs on AG synthesis, in cultures labeled with [(35)S]-sulfate and [(3)H]-glucosamine. The Alcian blue and toluidine blue precipitation methods yielded similar results for the total AG recovered from the media of TGF-beta-stimulated chondrocytes. Electrophoretic analysis of toluidine blue- and Alcian blue-precipitated AG followed by autoradiography and Alcian blue staining in combination with silver nitrate demonstrated that both dyes yielded similar pattern of bands on gels. However, some AG from Alcian blue precipitate did not enter the gel, suggesting incomplete dissociation of Alcian blue-AG complex. The application of the toluidine blue precipitation method, in combination with enzymatic digestion of the GAG chains of the PGs, is illustrated by the isolation of a non-PG high-molecular-weight AG, as well as the PGs from the media of chondrocyte cultures stimulated by TGF-beta.
Heuristic-based user interface evaluation at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

This paper presents the results of a heuristic‐based user interface evaluation of the gateway to electronic media services (GEMS) system at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. GEMS provides access to multimedia resources, bibliographic information, electronic document management, selective dissemination of information (SDI), booking of facilities, and several other services. Results of an evaluation of GEMS, based on Nielsen’s ten‐user interface heuristics involving 88 students, are described. Details of a separate task‐based study, involving 52 other participants, of the University’s OPAC interface are also given as a means to compare GEMS with the OPAC in terms of usability, task performance and other factors.
Prescription drug advertising, disease knowledge, and older adults’ optimistic bias about the future risk of alzheimer’s disease

Abstract This study aims to broaden the scope of knowledge on the role of direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising (DTCA) in the construction of consumers’ optimistic bias regarding health issues and their intentions for coping actions. Based on an online survey of U.S. adults aged 65 years or older (N = 622), this study revealed that (a) respondents were optimistically biased in estimating their future risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); (b) exposure to DTCA for AD medicine related negatively to optimistic bias when respondents had a low level of knowledge about AD, while the relationship disappeared when knowledge was high; (c) optimistic bias was negatively associated with intentions to seek information about AD and professional help to discuss it; and (d) optimistic bias mediated the relationship between the DTCA exposure × AD knowledge interaction and information- and help-seeking intentions. Implications for the theory and practice of DTCA are discussed.
Barro-Gordon Revisited: Reputational Equilibria in a New Keynesian Model

The aim of this paper is to solve the inconsistency problem a la Barro/Gordon within a New Keynesian model and to derive time-consistent interest rate rules of Taylor-type. We find a multiplicity of time-consistent rules. In contrast to the famous Kydland/Prescott-Barro/Gordon approach, implementing a monetary rule where the cost and benefit resulting from inconsistent policy coincide – which implies a net gain of inconsistent policy behavior equal to zero – is not optimal. Instead, the solution can be improved by moving into the time-consistent area where the net gain of inconsistent policy is negative. When additionally considering a cost-push shock, the area of time-consistent simple rules of Taylor type becomes graphically smaller. Finally, we find that numerous estimated Taylor rules are time-inconsistent since the empirically observed coefficient on inflation is too low.
Household instability and self-regulation among poor children

Past research suggests that poverty may negatively influence children's psychological and behavioral health by increasing their exposure to chaotic living conditions in the household. The present study provides a descriptive ‘snapshot’ of instability in low-income households, and examines the associations between exposure to major destabilizing events over the course of a year and three domains of poor urban children's self-regulation. Descriptive analyses suggest that although caregivers from unstable households report higher average levels of health problems and depression, they also have greater assets/savings, are more educated, and are less likely to be immigrants than caregivers from stable households. Results of propensity score-matched regression analyses reveal that high levels of household instability are significantly and negatively associated with preschoolers' effortful control and global attention/impulsivity control, but not with their executive function. Children from mildly unstable homes (i.e., those who had experienced a single destabilizing event in the past year) showed no significant differences in any domain of self-regulation relative to their peers from stable households, suggesting a dose-response relationship between the number of destabilizing events experienced by children and their outcomes. Implications for theories of poverty-related adversity, stress, and parenting are discussed in addition to future directions for research.
The importance of management practices in IS project performance: An empirical study

Purpose – The literature on software project management is extended into the broader domain of large‐scale IS management by studying enterprise‐wide system upgrade projects. In particular; examines the role that the intervention of project management practices (formal project methodologies and outsourcing) play in large and/or complex IS projects, which result in good project performance.Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was completed by 449 information systems managers about a specific upgrade project. The primary analytical approach used was structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings – It was found that neither project complexity nor project size are good indicators of meeting a project's target date. Large projects that adopted formal project management practices were more probable to meet the project target date. Projects with a high degree of complexity which involved outsourcing and adopted formal project management practices, were more likely to meet the project target date.Practic.
A study of taxonomical relationships among species of Korean Allium sect. Sacculiferum (Alliaceae) and related species using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers

Morphological differences among Korean Allium subgenus Rhizirideum sect. Sacculiferum and some related species are minor, making species delimitation difficult. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) was employed to assess genetic diversity and relationships. Thirty-four accessions, representing six taxa of A. thunbergii, A. sacculiferum, A. deltoides-fistulosum, A. cyaneum var. cyaneum, A. cyaneum var. deltoides, A. anisopodium, were sampled in this study. The ISSR markers revealed high polymorphism among taxa studied. In the phenetic analysis, accessions of A. saccul(ferum and A. deltoides-fistulosum are nested within A. thunbergii accession group; A. cyaneum var. cyaneum and A. cyaneum var. deltoides are separated from the above sect. Sacculiferum group: the status of putative A. anisopodium is less clear, with a position between sect. Sacculiferum and A. cyaneum. We propose that A. deltoidesfistulosum and A. sacculiferuin be sunk into A. thunbergii and that the putative A. anisopodium be recognized as A. cyaneum var. deltoides.
Phase I Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Study of SJG-136, a Novel DNA Sequence Selective Minor Groove Cross-linking Agent, in Advanced Solid Tumors

Purpose: This phase I study assessed the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of SJG-136, a sequence-specific DNA cross-linking agent, in patients with advanced cancer. Experimental Design: In schedule A, seven patients received escalating doses of SJG-136 (6, 12, 24, and 48 μg/m2) daily for 5 of 21 days. Blood samples were collected for PK analysis on days 1 and 5 of cycle 1. In schedule B, SJG-136 was given daily for 3 of 21 days (N = 17; doses 20, 25, 30, and 35 μg/m2). Blood samples were collected on days 1 and 3 of cycles 1 and 2 for PK and PD analysis. Patients in schedule B received dexamethasone and early diuretic care. Results: Schedule A—dose-limiting toxicities included grade 3 edema, dyspnea, fatigue, and delayed liver toxicity (grade 3–4). PK analysis revealed dose-dependent increases in AUC and Cmax. Substantial changes in volume of distribution at steady-state occurred after repeated dosing in some patients prior to the onset of edema. Schedule B—the same toxicities were manageable with steroid premedication and diuretic support. No significant myelosuppression occurred on either schedule. DNA interstrand cross-links correlated with systemic exposure of SJG-136 following the second dose in cycle 1 and were still detectable immediately before cycle 2. Conclusions: The MTD of SJG-136 in this study was 30 μg/m2 administered on a daily 3× basis with no myelosuppression effects. Coupled with supportive management, SJG-136 is now advancing to a phase II trial in ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 17(11); 3794–802. ©2011 AACR.
Systemic Disease during Streptococcus pneumoniae Acute Lung Infection Requires 12-Lipoxygenase–Dependent Inflammation

Acute pulmonary infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae is characterized by high bacterial numbers in the lung, a robust alveolar influx of polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs), and a risk of systemic spread of the bacterium. We investigated host mediators of S. pneumoniae-induced PMN migration and the role of inflammation in septicemia following pneumococcal lung infection. Hepoxilin A3 (HXA3) is a PMN chemoattractant and a metabolite of the 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) pathway. We observed that S. pneumoniae infection induced the production of 12-LOX in cultured pulmonary epithelium and in the lungs of infected mice. Inhibition of the 12-LOX pathway prevented pathogen-induced PMN transepithelial migration in vitro and dramatically reduced lung inflammation upon high-dose pulmonary challenge with S. pneumoniae in vivo, thus implicating HXA3 in pneumococcus-induced pulmonary inflammation. PMN basolateral-to-apical transmigration in vitro significantly increased apical-to-basolateral transepithelial migration of bacteria. Mice suppressed in the expression of 12-LOX exhibited little or no bacteremia and survived an otherwise lethal pulmonary challenge. Our data suggest that pneumococcal pulmonary inflammation is required for high-level bacteremia and systemic infection, partly by disrupting lung epithelium through 12-LOX–dependent HXA3 production and subsequent PMN transepithelial migration.