Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Upper Eyelid Myectomy on Subsequent Chemodenervation in the Management of Benign Essential Blepharospasm

Purpose: Some patients with severe benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) become clinically refractory to chemodenervation with botulinum toxin. In these patients, surgical myectomy is an effective additive treatment for the management of this disabling condition. The purpose of this study is to determine how myectomy for BEB alters subsequent botulinum toxin administration. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 27 patients undergoing surgical myectomy for the treatment of refractory BEB was conducted. The frequency and dosage of botulinum toxin were compared between preoperative and postoperative treatments. Paired Student t tests were used to determine significance (&agr; = 0.05). Results: The mean interval between botulinum treatments was 10.1 weeks preoperatively and 15.7 weeks postoperatively (p < 0.001). The mean quantity of botulinum toxin administered was 68 units prior to myectomy and 64.9 units postoperatively (p = 0.227). When comparing the quantity of botulinum toxin injected into the upper eyelid region only (site of myectomy), there was a significant decrease in the dose administered preoperatively and postoperatively (46.8 units vs. 39.9 units, p = 0.00310). Conclusions: Upper eyelid myectomy is an effective treatment modality for BEB in those patients who are refractory to botulinum toxin injections. Myectomy for BEB decreases the morbidity, botulinum toxin treatment frequency, and long-term expense associated with this disabling condition.
Detecting Research Fronts Using Neural Network Model for Weighted Citation Network Analysis

We investigated the performance of different types of weighted citation networks to detect emerging research fronts by comparing existing studies and constructed citation networks and divided them into clusters. We also applied measures to such weighted citations as the differences in publication years between citing and cited papers and the similarities of their keywords to effectively detect emerging research fronts. However, the functions that decide the edge weight in the citation networks were decided based on experiments. For automatically deciding the effective weight's functions that depend on the dataset characteristics, a learning method is important. In this paper, we propose a novel learning method based on neural networks for deciding the edge weights for citation networks. We evaluated our proposed method in three research domains: gallium nitride, complex networks, and nano-carbon. We demonstrate that our proposed method has better performance of each approach than the existing methods by the following measures of extracted research fronts: visibility, speed, and topological and field relevance.
Conceptions of process in organization and management : the case of identity studies

Summary: "Creativity, innovation, and change are vital to the development and sustainability of all organizations. Yet, questions remain about exactly how novelty comes about, and what dynamic processes are involved in its emergence? Ideas of emergence and process, drawn from a variety of different philosophical traditions, have been the focus of increasing attention in management and organization studies. In this volume, these issues are brought to bear on novelty and innovation, by examining new organizational and product development processes, whether planned or unplanned. The contributions in this volume offer both theoretical insights and empirical studies on, inter alia, innovation, music technology. haute cuisine. pharmaceuticals, and theater improvisation. In doing so, they throw light on the importance of emergence, improvisation, and learning in orgaizations, and how both practitioners and scholars alike can best understand their own assumptions about process. In addition, the volume includes general essays on process perspectives in organization studies"--Book jacket.
Some Developments in the Theory of Shape Constrained Inference

Shape constraints enter in many statistical models. Sometimes these constraints emerge naturally from the origin of the data. In other situations, they are used to replace parametric models by more versatile models retaining qualitative shape properties of the parametric model. In this paper, we sketch a part of the history of shape constrained statistical inference in a nutshell, using landmark results obtained in this area. For this, we mainly use the prototypical problems of estimating a decreasing probability density on [0,∞) and the estimation of a distribution function based on current status data as illustrations.
A utility/cost analysis of breast cancer risk prediction algorithms

Breast cancer risk prediction algorithms are used to identify subpopulations that are at increased risk for developing breast cancer. They can be based on many different sources of data such as demographics, relatives with cancer, gene expression, and various phenotypic features such as breast density. Women who are identified as high risk may undergo a more extensive (and expensive) screening process that includes MRI or ultrasound imaging in addition to the standard full-field digital mammography (FFDM) exam. Given that there are many ways that risk prediction may be accomplished, it is of interest to evaluate them in terms of expected cost, which includes the costs of diagnostic outcomes. In this work we perform an expected-cost analysis of risk prediction algorithms that is based on a published model that includes the costs associated with diagnostic outcomes (true-positive, false-positive, etc.). We assume the existence of a standard screening method and an enhanced screening method with higher scan cost, higher sensitivity, and lower specificity. We then assess expected cost of using a risk prediction algorithm to determine who gets the enhanced screening method under the strong assumption that risk and diagnostic performance are independent. We find that if risk prediction leads to a high enough positive predictive value, it will be cost-effective regardless of the size of the subpopulation. Furthermore, in terms of the hit-rate and false-alarm rate of the of the risk prediction algorithm, iso-cost contours are lines with slope determined by properties of the available diagnostic systems for screening.
Pediatric Glioma at the Optic Pathway and Thalamus

Gliomas are the most common pediatric tumors of the central nervous system. In this review, we discuss the clinical features, treatment paradigms, and evolving concepts related to two types of pediatric gliomas affecting two main locations: the optic pathway and thalamus. In particular, we discuss recently revised pathologic classification, which adopting molecular parameter. We believe that our review contribute to the readers’ better understanding of pediatric glioma because pediatric glioma differs in many ways from adult glioma according to the newest advances in molecular characterization of this tumor. A better understanding of current and evolving issues in pediatric glioma is needed to ensure effective management decision.
Ataxia‐telangiectasia: Mild neurological presentation despite null ATM mutation and severe cellular phenotype

Ataxia‐telangiectasia (A‐T) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, immunodeficiency, susceptibility to cancer, genomic instability, and sensitivity to ionizing radiation. A‐T is caused by mutations that eliminate or inactivate the nuclear protein kinase ATM, the chief activator of the cellular response to double strand breaks (DSBs) in the DNA. Mild A‐T is usually caused by ATM mutations that leave residual amounts of active ATM. We studied two siblings with mild A‐T, as defined by clinical examination and a quantitative A‐T neurological index. Surprisingly, no ATM was detected in the patients' cells, and sequence analysis revealed that they were homozygous for a truncating ATM mutation (5653delA) that is expected to lead to the classical, severe neurological presentation. Moreover, the cellular phenotype of these patients was indistinguishable from that of classical A‐T: all the tested parameters of the DSB response were severely defective as in typical A‐T. This analysis shows that the severity of the neurological component of A‐T is determined not only by ATM mutations but also by other influences yet to be found. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Sharing Your Mind With A Machine : A Brain-Computer Interface Approach

From Hippocrates who realized 24 centuries ago that the brain is crucial for sensation and intelligence, and Descartes, who analyzed systematically this relationship between mind and body, to recent cortical implants, promising to give disabled volunteers control over their limbs just by using will and imagination, the brain‟s ability to consciously modulate its interface channels to executive functions has been one of the cornerstones for the continuing progress of the human race. The real challenge in controlling machines solely by the power of imagination is to generate selectively, capture noninvasively and identify reliably the proper electromagnetic brain patterns corresponding to an optimal dictionary of desired actions. In the past two decades scientists have used two main approaches to establish brain-machine interfaces – the stimulated and the spontaneous command recognition. While the former methods detect subtle changes in the evoked brain responses to relevant / irrelevant stimulations, the latter techniques identify consciously-controlled general states of the mind, most often by measuring the brain activity oscillations or by pattern recognition. Although the stimulated approach requires external stimulation to operate properly, it offers the advantage of higher speed and flexibility. We propose a new method for a stimulus-driven brain-machine interface, which identifies the conscious modulations by a human operator in one of the fastest sensory systems of the cortex – the visual motion system. This imagination interface has the capacity to deliver up to 10 dual commands per second at high recognition rates. Further research with various types of visual motion has the potential to increase the dictionary volume sufficiently for a practical command system which can bypass the activation of any muscles in the human body.
Mapping Geotagged Tweets to Tourist Spots for Recommender Systems

We are developing a recommender system for tourist spots. The challenge is mainly to characterize tourist spots whose features change dynamically with trends, events, season, and time of day. Our method uses a one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM) to detect the regions of substantial activity near target spots on the basis of tweets and photographs that have been explicitly geotagged. A tweet is regarded as explicitly geotagged if the text includes the name of a target spot. A photograph is regarded as explicitly geotagged if the title includes the name of a target spot. To characterize the tourist spots, we focus on geotagged tweets, which are rapidly increasing on the Web. The method takes unknown geotagged tweets originating in activity regions and maps these to target spots. In addition, the method extracts features of the tourist spots on the basis of the mapped tweets. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our method through qualitative analyses using real datasets on the Kyoto area.
MicroRNA-195 inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion by targeting defective in cullin neddylation 1 domain containing 1 in cervical cancer

MicroRNAs (miRs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, have been demonstrated to perform promoting or suppressive roles in various types of human malignancy. Deregulation of miR-195 has been observed in numerous types of human cancer, including cervical cancer; however, the detailed molecular mechanism of miR-195 underlying the malignant progression of cervical cancer remains largely unclear. In the present study, miR-195 was significantly down-regulated in cervical cancer tissue samples compared with adjacent non-tumor tissue samples, and the reduced expression level of miR-195 was associated with node metastasis and an advanced clinical stage in cervical cancer. Furthermore, the patients with low miR-195 expression levels demonstrated shorter survival times when compared with those with high miR-195 expression levels. In vitro experiments indicated that miR-195 exerted suppressive effects on the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Luciferase reporter gene assay identified defective in cullin neddylation 1 domain containing 1 (DCUN1D1) as a novel target gene of miR-195 and the expression level of DCUN1D1 was identified to be negatively regulated by miR-195 in cervical cancer cells. DCUN1D1 was significantly upregulated in cervical cancer, with a negative correlation to miR-195 expression. Furthermore, upregulation of DCUN1D1 was associated with the malignant progression and poor prognosis of cervical cancer. DCUN1D1 overexpression attenuated the suppressive effects of miR-195 on the malignant phenotypes of cervical cancer cells. Notably, the expression levels of miR-195 were significantly lower in HeLa [human papilloma virus (HPV)18+] and SiHa (HPV16+) cells compared with those in C33A (HPV−) cells, and knockdown of E6 using small interfering RNA significantly increased the miR-195 expression while the DCUN1D1 expression level was reduced in HeLa and SiHa cells. Thus, these findings indicate that miR-195 exerts a suppressive role in cervical cancer by targeting DCUN1D1. Therefore, miR-195 may present as a potential therapeutic candidate for cervical cancer.
The Olfactory System as a Puzzle: Playing With Its Pieces

The mammalian olfactory bulb (OB) has all the features of a whole mammalian brain but in a more reduced space: neuronal lamination, sensory inputs, afferences, or efferences to other centers of the central nervous system, or a contribution of new neural elements. Therefore, it is widely considered as “a brain inside the brain. ” Although this rostral region has the same origin and general layering as the other cerebral cortices, some distinctive features make it very profitable in experimentation in neurobiology: the sensory inputs are driven directly on its surface, the main output can be accessed anatomically, and new elements appear in it throughout adult life. These three morphological characteristics have been manipulated to analyze further the response of the whole OB. The present review offers a general outlook into the consequences of such experimentation in the anatomy, connectivity and neurochemistry of the OB after (a) sensory deprivation, mainly by naris occlusion; (b) olfactory deinnervation by means of olfactory epithelium damage, olfactory nerve interruption, or even olfactory tract disruption; (c) the removal of the principal neurons of the OB; and (d) management of the arrival of newborn interneurons from the rostral migratory stream. These experiments were performed using surgical or chemical methods, but also by means of the analysis of genetic models, some of whose olfactory components are missing, colorless or mismatching within the wild‐type scenario of odor processing. Anat Rec, 296:1383‐1400, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Locoregional therapy as a bridge to liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma within Milan criteria: from a transplant oncology viewpoint.

The role of bridging locoregional therapy (LRT) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within Milan criteria before liver transplantation (LT) has been controversial. Recently, Agopian et al . (1) retrospectively investigated the impact of bridging LRT on post-LT HCC recurrence and survival based on 3,601 patients undergoing LT from 2002 to 2013, collected in the US Multicenter HCC Transplant Consortium.
The Role of the Middle Management in Different Segments of the Schooling Path

This research focuses on middle management (so called “funzioni strumentali”), in Italian schools, seen as a transversal role that represent a model of organization anchored to the intermediate roles, that are able to support and drive the complex management of the school system. The school itself is at the same time an independent organization as well as a public service that provides its specific task in order to deliver its educational aim. As results, it is a complex organization composed by many variables and rules, both formal and informal, which create a unique setting of relationship between different professionals who work there. In order to face all the concerns and discussions addressed to the educational system by the organization itself and its users, we should focus on the organization of roles, functions and professionalism that characterizes the school nowadays. Overall, it should be noted that these particular middle managers are qualitative professionals working in schools. In an attempt to clarify the different facets in which are represented, their position seems to slip between staff leadership and extra-disciplinary specializations, leaving a complex interactions system without a clear division of roles and responsibilities. Probably, at an institutional level, the lack of an overall vision of the school system affects the definition of the tasks and responsibilities of these managers, leaving space to interpretation on their actual role. In an attempt to clarify different facets of them, it seems that the role of the instrumental functions differs in various segments of the schooling path. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016. v5n2p63
The role of ethylene in the regulation of ovary senescence and fruit set in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

ABSTRACT Fruit set is the developmental transition from ovary to young fruit, and generally requires pollination and fertilization. Although the mechanism for fruit set remains elusive, several lines of evidence have demonstrated that fruit set is triggered by activated metabolism of or increased sensitivity to the plant hormones auxin or gibberellins (GAs), which stimulate cell division and expansion within the ovary. Our recent study with tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) suggested that the gaseous hormone ethylene connects auxin and GA, suppressing initiation of fruit set by down-regulating GA accumulation. By contrast, reduced sensitivity to ethylene triggers accumulation of GA, but not auxin, through increasing bioactive GA biosynthesis and decreasing GA inactivation. These changes induce parthenocarpy accompanied by pollination-independent cell expansion in the ovary. Here, we provide evidence that ethylene likely promotes mRNA expression of the senescence-associated genes SlSAG12 and SlNAP in unpollinated ovaries. These results suggest that ethylene acts downstream of auxin and upstream of GA, and also suggest that ethylene promotes senescence of ovary that fail to set fruit in tomato.
Self-reported use of nutrition labels to make food choices is associated with healthier dietary behaviours in adolescents

Abstract Objective The study aimed to examine nutrition label use and dietary behaviours among ethnically diverse middle- and high-school students, in Texas, USA. Design The School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) survey is a cross-sectional statewide study using a self-administered questionnaire to assess nutrition and physical activity behaviours. Height and weight measurements were used to determine BMI. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine associations between nutrition label use and dietary behaviours, with gender, grade, ethnicity, BMI, parent education, socio-economic status and nutrition knowledge as covariates. Setting Participants from 283 schools, weighted to represent Texas youth. Subjects SPAN 2009–2011 included 6716 8th and 11th graders (3465 girls and 3251 boys). The study population consisted of 39·83 % White/Other, 14·61 % African-American and 45·56 % Hispanic adolescents; with a mean age of 14·9 years, and 61·95 % at a healthy weight, 15·71 % having overweight and 22·34 % having obesity. Results Adolescents who did not use nutrition labels had 1·69 times greater odds of consuming ≥1 sugary beverages/d (P<0·05). Adolescents who used nutrition labels had 2·13 times greater odds of consuming ≥1 fruits and vegetables/d (P<0·05). Adolescents who used nutrition labels had significantly higher healthy eating scores than those who did not (P<0·001). For every 1-point increase in nutrition knowledge, adolescents had 1·22 greater odds of using nutrition labels. Conclusions Nutrition label use is associated with healthier dietary behaviours in adolescents. Intervention strategies for youth should include efforts to teach adolescents to use labels to make healthy food choices.
DEFINITIONS OF TR ANS PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE FIRST TWENTY --THREE YEARS

Recent criticisms of transpersonai psychology resulting from the attempt to make the area an APA division have highlighted the need for a clear, precise, and current definition of transpersonal psychology (Letters, 1986; May, 1986; Vich, 1986), but the difficulties in defining transpersonal psychology have existed since the beginning of the transpersonal psychology movement in the late 1960s (Lajoie, 1991; Lajoie & Shapiro, 1992). By now, however, a rich volume of literature has accumulated, including a substantial number of contributions which contain a variety of definitions of transpersonal psychology. We felt that a systematic survey of these definitions would provide a greater understanding of the field and help to generate a precise, contemporary definition of transpersonal psychology.
Neighborhood Social Processes and Adolescent Sexual Partnering: A Multilevel Appraisal of Anderson’s Player Hypothesis

Abstract:An increasing amount of sociological research is directed at unpacking the social processes behind neighborhood effects on youth behavioral outcomes. The goal of the current study is to build upon these prior efforts and advance research on neighborhood cultural mechanisms and adolescent sexual-partnering behaviors. We formulate and test a series of multilevel hypotheses informed by Anderson’s research on the relationship between neighborhood cultural processes and multiple sexual partnering or “player-like” sexual behavior. The hypotheses are tested using data from a multisite sample of African American adolescent males from the Family and Community Health Study. Results from a series of multilevel models provide evidence of both contextual and indirect effects of neighborhood culture on sexual partnering; moreover, these effects are conditioned by neighborhood structural deprivation.