Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased copy number of mitochondrial DNA predicts poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Change in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number has been reported in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, its prognostic implication in ESCC remains largely unknown. Using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR assay, the mtDNA copy number was assessed in a cohort of patients with ESCC (n=141) and normal esophageal tissues (n=45), and the association between variable mtDNA levels and clinical outcomes of patients with ESCC were studied. Data revealed that ESCC patients exhibited an increased mtDNA content compared to control subjects. Furthermore, increased mtDNA content was associated with a significantly increased risk of cancer-associated mortality. This molecular event was associated with poorer survival in patients with ESCC, and was an independent predictor of patient survival. Data demonstrated that increased mtDNA content is a common genetic event in ESCC and may be a predictive factor of poor prognosis for ESCC patients.
Visual pathways to the telencephalon in reptiles and mammals.

One approach to studying the evolution of behavior is to compare the functions of homologous structures in living species which approximate different evolutionary stages. Identifying homologous structures depends in turn on revealing similarities which are so extensive that they are indicative of descent from a common ancestry. In the present paper the visual pathways to the telencephalon are compared in birds, reptiles and mammals. All three vertebrate classes share two pathways, one which projects from the retina to the dorsal thalamus and then to the telencephalon and one which travels first to the optic tectum and from the tectum to the dorsal thalamus before projecting to the telencephalon. The similarities among these pathways in each class seem sufficient to support the proposition that pathways were already established in the common ancestors of these groups. Comparative studies of the structure and function of these pathways may provide a basis for tracing the evolution of behavior.
Lipid Peroxidation andVitamin E Level s in Preeclampsia

Twenty preeclamptic, 25 normotensive pregnant and 25 healthy nonpregnant women were analyzed with regard to serum malonaldehyde (MDA), vitamin E and lipid profile. In preeclampsia, MDA was significantly higher than control. MDA also showed high correlation to the level of blood pressure. Serum cholesterol and triglycerides were increased in normotensive women and still higher in preeclamptic women. A highly significant fall in vitamin E levels in preeclamptic women was noted as compared to control groups. Our study supports the view that an increased lipid peroxidation may be involved in vasoconstriction in preeclampsia.
Finitary coding for the sub-critical Ising model with finite expected coding volume

It has been shown by van den Berg and Steif that the sub-critical Ising model on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ is a finitary factor of a finite-valued i.i. d. process. We strengthen this by showing that the factor map can be made to have finite expected coding volume (in fact, stretch-exponential tails), answering a question of van den Berg and Steif. The result holds at any temperature above the critical temperature. An analogous result holds for Markov random fields satisfying a high-noise assumption and for proper colorings with a large number of colors.
Subtle Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease-Type Pathological Changes in Cerebrospinal Fluid are Common Among Neurologically Healthy Subjects.

BACKGROUND The neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has previously been shown to be rather common among the elderly. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to inspect the associations between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarker concentrations, age, the APOEɛ4 allele, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cognitive performance in a cohort of a neurologically healthy population. METHODS This study included 93 subjects (42 men, mean age 67 years) without previous neurological symptoms or subjective cognitive complaints. Their cognition was assessed, and CSF biomarkers and APOEɛ4 status were analyzed. RESULTS Of the studied subjects, 8.6% (n = 8) had a pathological CSF AD biomarker profile. An increase in age correlated positively with CSF tau pathology and negatively with global cognitive performance. CONCLUSION AD-type pathological changes in CSF and subtle cognitive impairment are common within a population with no previous memory complaints. Age was the main risk factor for the changes.
An improved real-time tracking scheme based on gradient projection for kinematically redundant manipulators

Gradient projection is the common inverse-solution method for kinematically redundant manipulators during realtime tracking the planned path in obstacles environment. However, the end-effector of kinematically redundant manipulators usually cannot achieve an ideal tracking of the planned path due to the calculation errors. This paper presents an improved real-time scheme based on the gradient projection for redundant manipulators to realize the accurate kinematically tracking in multi-obstacles environment. The real-time path is planned according to the shortest path principle. Gradient projection method is used to calculate the inverse kinematics on the basis of the planned path in real time. The strategy of fixing joint angles is proposed to restrict several joint motion by considering the priorities of the distance between manipulator and obstacles, and the singular position. The unrestricted joint angles are compensated by secondary calculation method to reduce the errors caused by gradient projection method. Then, the accurate tracking can be achieved and the object is thus grasped in multi-obstacles environment. The simulation results based on an 8-DOF planar manipulator show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and owns accurate tracking ability.
Comparative landscape genetics of two frugivorous bats in a biological corridor undergoing agricultural intensification

Agricultural intensification in tropical landscapes poses a new threat to the ability of biological corridors to maintain functional connectivity for native species. We use a landscape genetics approach to evaluate impacts of expanding pineapple plantations on two widespread and abundant frugivorous bats in a biological corridor in Costa Rica. We hypothesize that the larger, more mobile Artibeus jamaicensis will be less impacted by pineapple than the smaller Carollia castanea. In 2012 and 2013, we sampled 735 bats in 26 remnant forest patches surrounded by different proportions of forest, pasture, crops and pineapple. We used 10 microsatellite loci for A. jamaicensis and 16 microsatellite loci for C. castanea to estimate genetic diversity and gene flow. Canonical correspondence analyses indicate that land cover type surrounding patches has no impact on genetic diversity of A. jamaicensis. However, for C. castanea, both percentage forest and pineapple surrounding patches explained a significant proportion of the variation in genetic diversity. Least‐cost transect analyses (LCTA) and pairwise G″st suggest that for A. jamaicensis, pineapple is more permeable to gene flow than expected, while as expected, forest is the most permeable land cover for gene flow of C. castanea. For both species, LCTA indicate that development may play a role in inhibiting gene flow. The current study answers the call for landscape genetic research focused on tropical and agricultural landscapes, highlights the value of comparative landscape genetics in biological corridor design and management and is one of the few studies of biological corridors in any ecosystem to implement a genetic approach to test corridor efficacy.
Pragmatics of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer

With the development in silicon micromachining technology over two decades the Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) have been found to be a good substitute for piezoelectric transducers. CMUTs have the advantage of being fully compatible when integrated with the on chip electronics resulting in the production of acutely low cost and high performance devices with both 1D and 2D arrays. The CMUTs can be fabricated with various geometries like circular, square, rectangular and hexagon. The geometry plays a significant role in the development of the ultrasonic transducers. The importance of CMUT is being discussed in this paper including the pull in voltage, C-V characteristics, resonantfrequency and the deflection profiles of the designed CMUT. Time dependent analysis, stationary analysis and the Eigen frequency have been done in COMSOL. Finite element modelling is realized with 3D model of CMUT. CMUTs finds application in medical imaging, nondestructive testing, distance measuring etc.
Gender specific considerations in atrial fibrillation treatment: a review

ABSTRACT Introduction: Distinct differences in clinical presentation, utilization of therapy and outcome of atrial fibrillation (AF) management are observed in men vs women. This review focuses on our current knowledge on these sex-specific variations and how those impact the detection of AF and therapeutic decisions. Areas covered: The current article reviews reports illustrating gender-related differences in the incidence, prevalence, clinical presentations, different risk factors, pathophysiology, therapeutic strategies, procedural parameters in catheter ablation for AF and complications and long-term outcome of ablative therapy including arrhythmia recurrence and quality of life. Some of these areas have been investigated widely providing conclusive evidences, whereas others have many unanswered questions or conflicting findings that need clarifications. Expert opinion: Attainment of sinus rhythm and healthy quality of life as well as prevention of complications, especially stroke, are the main goals of AF management. Sex-specific variations are evident in many areas in the spectrum of AF that should be addressed by large population-based or randomized trials to facilitate customization of AF-therapy to maximize success in both genders.
Neural-Symbolic Machine Learning for Retrosynthesis and Reaction Prediction.

Reaction prediction and retrosynthesis are the cornerstones of organic chemistry. Rule-based expert systems have been the most widespread approach to computationally solve these two related challenges to date. However, reaction rules often fail because they ignore the molecular context, which leads to reactivity conflicts. Herein, we report that deep neural networks can learn to resolve reactivity conflicts and to prioritize the most suitable transformation rules. We show that by training our model on 3.5 million reactions taken from the collective published knowledge of the entire discipline of chemistry, our model exhibits a top10-accuracy of 95 % in retrosynthesis and 97 % for reaction prediction on a validation set of almost 1 million reactions.
Phenotypes of office systolic blood pressure according to both brachial and aortic measurements: frequencies and associations with carotid hypertrophy in 1861 adults

Background/aim: Aortic SBP (aSBP) associates with arterial damage more consistently than brachial SBP (bSBP). However, it is unknown how often aSBP is normal in the presence of elevated bSBP, and vice versa; if SBP phenotyping on the basis of bSBP and aSBP cut-off values improves cardiovascular risk stratification. We tested the frequency of four office SBP phenotypes: type I (both normal bSBP and aSBP); type II (high bSBP but normal aSBP); type III (normal bSBP but high aSBP), and type IV (both high bSBP and aSBP), the probability of each phenotype to be associated with increased arterial damage, using type Ia (i.e. normal bSBP and low-normal aSBP) as reference. Methods: In 1861 participants (age: 54 years, 49.1% men), we measured simultaneously bSBP, aSBP, and carotid cross-sectional wall area with ultrasound. Results: Depending on the applied cut-off values, type II and type III phenotypes represented together 5–11% of the population (0.9–3.4 and 1.8–10.3%, respectively) and type IV around 20%. Subgroups with phenotypes, Ib (i.e. normal bSBP and high-normal aSBP), II, III, and IV had gradually significantly higher probability (by 1.37–1.91, 2.3–3.3, 3.3–8.9 times, and 4.18–6.25, respectively) to present elevated carotid artery cross-sectional wall area compared with the reference group, even after adjustment for DBP and other confounders. Conclusions: Type II (i.e. isolated high bSBP) and type III (i.e. isolated high aSBP) office SBP phenotypes were common and had intermediate level (between types I and IV) of arterial damage.
A New Method for Environmental Flow Assessment Based on Basin Geology: Application to the Ebro Basin

The determination of environmental flows is one of the commonest practical actions implemented on European rivers to promote their good ecological status. In Mediterranean rivers, groundwater inflows are a decisive factor in streamflow maintenance. This work examines the relationship between the lithological composition of the Ebro basin (Spain) and dry‐season flows, in order to establish a model that can assist in the calculation of environmental flow rates. The explanatory variable used in the proposed model is easy to calculate and is sufficiently powerful to take into account all the required characteristics. The model has a high coefficient of determination, indicating that it is accurate for the intended purpose. The advantage of this method is that it requires very little data and provides a simple estimate of environmental flow. The results of this research also contribute to knowledge of the variables that influence low‐flow periods on rivers in the Ebro basin.
Rize: A proposed requirements prioritization technique for agile development

Prioritizing requirements before each iteration is a crucial part in the software development. The success of each internal or external release highly depends on properly prioritized requirements. However, requirements prioritization is considered as one of the most challenging phases in software development life cycle (SDLC) due to the absence of a simple, highly customizable, and time savings prioritization technique. Furthermore, as the existing prioritization techniques were not designed to handle issue starvation situation, so a new prioritization technique is required that can handle the issue starvation situation effectively and overcome the limitations of the existing techniques. In this paper, we have proposed a new requirements prioritization technique that is easy to use and understand, highly customizable, scalable, saves time and can handle the issue starvation scenario. Furthermore, we have shown the effectiveness of our proposed approach using a fictional scenario.
Stroke Patterns in Northeast Malaysia: A Hospital-Based Prospective Study

All patients with a first-ever stroke admitted to the HUSM (Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia) from 1997 to 1998 were included in this study. All risk factors were determined and analysed prospectively. There were 158 cases of stroke admitted during the study period. The majority of the patients were Malays (86.1%), with a male preponderance. The mean age (SD) of the patients with stroke was 59.3 (12.28) years. Hypertension was present in both cerebral infarct and intracerebral haemorrhage patients at almost the same rate (65.2 and 69.2%, respectively). The overall mortality was 37%, and most patients died in the 1st month after stroke (34%). We hope this study will highlight the problems associated with the presentation and management of stroke in Southeast Asia.
A low percentage of HER‐2 amplification whereas indicates poor prognosis in salivary carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma: a study of 140 cases

BACKGROUND Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) has been found in many malignant tumours including salivary malignancy. HER-2-targeted therapy has been applied in the treatment of HER-2-overexpressing carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the status of HER-2 in salivary invasive carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (ICXPA) in a relatively large Chinese sample, which may provide HER-2-targeted therapy with profound support in the future. METHODS AND RESULTS We collected 140 ICXPAs and their related clinicopathological and follow-up data. All cases were examined for HER-2 expression by immunohistochemistry and gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization, if necessary. The study showed that the ratio of HER-2 positivity was only 25% (35/140) in all cases, but the positive ratio in ICXPAs with luminal differentiation for malignant component (32/79, 40.5%) was much higher than that in cases with non-luminal differentiation (3/61, 4.9%). The overexpression of HER-2 was closely associated with gender, histological grade and N stage. HER-2-positive tumours conferred short overall survival time (P = 0.036) and short disease-specific survival time (P = 0.042) in patients, but HER-2 status was not an independent predictor of prognosis. CONCLUSIONS Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 amplification is significantly associated with cell differentiation of the malignant component in ICXPA and it implies an unfavourable prognosis. Although HER-2 positivity is not common in the tumour, HER-2-targeted therapy for those HER-2-positive patients is still worth expecting.
Novel Peptidase Kunitz Inhibitor from Platypodium elegans Seeds Is Active against Spodoptera frugiperda Larvae.

A novel Kunitz-type inhibitor from Platypodium elegans seeds (PeTI) was purified and characterized. The mass spectrometry analyses of PeTI indicated an intact mass of 19 701 Da and a partial sequence homologous to Kunitz inhibitors. PeTI was purified by ion exchange and affinity chromatographies. A complex with a 1:1 ratio was obtained only for bovine trypsin, showing a Ki = 0.16 nM. Stability studies showed that PeTI was stable over a wide range of temperature (37-80 °C) and pH (2-10). The inhibitory activity of PeTI was affected by dithiothreitol (DTT). Bioassays of PeTI on Spodoptera frugiperda showed negative effects on larval development and weight gain, besides extending the insect life cycle. The activities of digestive enzymes, trypsin and chymotrypsin, were reduced by feeding larvae with 0.2% PeTI in an artificial diet. In summary, we describe a novel Kunitz inhibitor with promising biotechnological potential for pest control.
Requirements Engineering Approaches to derive Enterprise Information Systems from Business Process Management: a Systematic Literature Review

The advent of Business Process Management offered a new approach to improve business and IT strategic alignment in organizations throughout development of process-aware Enterprise Information Systems. For that matter, extracting software requirements from business process models leverages engineering of adaptive information systems, which are able to adjust to changes in operation as of process redesign. This study describes a systematic literature review in Requirements Engineering approaches to derive Enterprise Information Systems from Business Process Management, aiming to provide the state-of-the-art academic overview on this research topic. Results reveal six different approach types, with variations on software development degree of automation, suggesting diverse strategies for process-oriented information systems adoption.
Research Methods in Occupational Health Psychology

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Flow Virometry: a Powerful Tool To Functionally Characterize Viruses

ABSTRACT For several decades, flow cytometry has been a common approach to analyze cells and sort them to near-purity. It enables one to probe inner cellular molecules, surface receptors, or infected cells. However, the analysis of smaller entities such as viruses and exocytic vesicles has been more difficult but is becoming mainstream. This has in part been due to the development of new instrumentation with resolutions below that of conventional cytometers. It is also attributed to the several means employed to fluorescently label viruses, hence enabling them to stand out from similarly sized particles representing background noise. Thus far, more than a dozen different viruses ranging in size from 40 nm to giant viruses have been probed by this approach, which was recently dubbed “flow virometry. ” These studies have collectively highlighted the breadth of the applications of this method, which, for example, has elucidated the maturation of dengue virus, served as quality control for vaccinia vaccines, and enabled the sorting of herpes simplex virus discrete viral particles. The present review focuses on the means employed to characterize and sort viruses by this powerful technology and on the emerging uses of flow virometry. It similarly addresses some of its current challenges and limitations.
International comparison of liver transplant programmes: differences in indications, donor and recipient selection and outcome between Italy and UK

Comparing liver transplant (LT) programmes internationally can improve outcomes by stimulating cross‐national learning. Yet, comparison of crude outcomes, by using registry data, is limited by missing data, not allowing proper risk‐adjustment for donor‐ and recipient‐related factors. The objective of this study was to compare two European LT programmes based on high‐quality national longitudinal databases prospectively collected in Italy and UK respectively.
El Sistema-inspired ensemble music training is associated with changes in children’s neurocognitive functional integration: preliminary ERP evidence

ABSTRACT Children (aged 9–12) training in an El Sistema-inspired program (OrKidstra) and a matched comparison group participated in an auditory Go/No-Go task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Entire-sweep waveform patterns correlated with known ERP peaks associated with executive and other cognitive functions and indicated that the spread of neural activity in the initial 250 ms of executive attention processing (pre-P300) showed higher level of topographical overlap in OrKidstra children. In these children, late potentials (post-P300) concurrent with response control were more widely distributed and temporally coordinated. Intensive ensemble music training, we suggest, may be associated with neuroplastic changes facilitating integration of neural information.
Clinical trial registration: A practical perspective

The increase in the number of clinical trials, driven mainly for career advancement mandated by regulatory bodies such as Medical Council of India risks output of substandard publications and also wastage of resources. There are also concerns of inadequate reporting and wilful concealment of results. The quality and quantity of the output become questionable evidences for medical practice. Lack of transparency can lead to disillusionment of the public in the medical field. Clinical trials registration seeks to regulate and streamline the clinical trials by mandating registration in various registries, through free for registration sites such as Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI). The guidelines are based on the World Health Organisation's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). This review aims to highlight the types of registries, the registration process, the data that need to be registered, the guide to use the CTRI and the search options in CTRI and ICTRP. The role of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is also highlighted in regard to not only registration but also on the publication of trial registration number in the manuscript.