Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Birth Size and Breast Cancer Risk: Re-analysis of Individual Participant Data from 32 Studies

BACKGROUND Birth size, perhaps a proxy for prenatal environment, might be a correlate of subsequent breast cancer risk, but findings from epidemiological studies have been inconsistent. We re-analysed individual participant data from published and unpublished studies to obtain more precise estimates of the magnitude and shape of the birth size-breast cancer association. METHODS AND FINDINGS Studies were identified through computer-assisted and manual searches, and personal communication with investigators. Individual participant data from 32 studies, comprising 22,058 breast cancer cases, were obtained. Random effect models were used, if appropriate, to combine study-specific estimates of effect. Birth weight was positively associated with breast cancer risk in studies based on birth records (pooled relative risk [RR] per one standard deviation [SD] [= 0.5 kg] increment in birth weight: 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.09) and parental recall when the participants were children (1.02; 95% CI 0.99-1.05), but not in those based on adult self-reports, or maternal recall during the woman's adulthood (0.98; 95% CI 0.95-1.01) (p for heterogeneity between data sources = 0.003). Relative to women who weighed 3.000-3.499 kg, the risk was 0.96 (CI 0.80-1.16) in those who weighed < 2.500 kg, and 1.12 (95% CI 1.00-1.25) in those who weighed > or = 4.000 kg (p for linear trend = 0.001) in birth record data. Birth length and head circumference from birth records were also positively associated with breast cancer risk (pooled RR per one SD increment: 1.06 [95% CI 1.03-1.10] and 1.09 [95% CI 1.03-1.15], respectively). Simultaneous adjustment for these three birth size variables showed that length was the strongest independent predictor of risk. The birth size effects did not appear to be confounded or mediated by established breast cancer risk factors and were not modified by age or menopausal status. The cumulative incidence of breast cancer per 100 women by age 80 y in the study populations was estimated to be 10.0, 10.0, 10.4, and 11.5 in those who were, respectively, in the bottom, second, third, and top fourths of the birth length distribution. CONCLUSIONS This pooled analysis of individual participant data is consistent with birth size, and in particular birth length, being an independent correlate of breast cancer risk in adulthood.
Applications of neuro-fuzzy classification, evaluation and forecasting techniques in agriculture

Aim of the present article is to show the results obtained from the application of neuro-fuzzy methodology in the solution of agriculture problems like the Bactrocera Oleae (olive fly) infestation in the Liguria region olive grows. The research is focused to create an informatic decisional instrument to support experts in the applications of Integrated Pest Management strategies against the Bactrocera Oleae infestation. The system will suggest types of treatments for each monitored farm in order to optimize the quality of the olive oil and improve the economic and environmental impact of these treatments. Statistical and forecast analyses on data sets referred to agronomic case studies, like the growth of olive fly, are actually made using standard and model approaches like analytical; these dates instead present characteristics (big variability and non-linearity) which make them complex to be treat mathematically. Agronomic research needs to introduce new analysis techniques of taken dates and information, for example neuro-fuzzy methodologies that allow a large use of infestation dates with a good flexib ility degree.
Faster Scalar Multiplication for Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems

In Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECC), a scalar multiplication of a base point is the most time-consuming operation. Thus, a lot of improvemnets on the scalar multiplication algorithms have been proposed. In TwC 2013, Shirase introduced a new strategy for computing a scalar multiplication efficiently by transforming a base point to a new base point with its x-coordinate value 0 [Shi13]. In fact, Shirase showed that the strategy is efficient for ECADD in the projective coordinates. This paper applies Shirase's strategy to ECDBL in the projective coordinates, and to ECADD and ECDBL in the Jacobian coordinates, and evaluates the efficiency of Shirase's strategy for computing a scalar multiplication.
A System for Human Gait Analysis Based on Body Sensor Network

This paper presents a new system for human gait data acquisition and analysis. The system is based on a network of wearable nodes with embedded sensors, which consists of two data acquisition nodes and a handled control center node. And the system is not restricted to a specific environment in the experiment. In this paper, we discuss the initial design of the hardware for data acquisition and the software for data analysis. Then ten subjects took participate in the actual environment test and each subject tested for five times. The experimental results demonstrate that the system has a good performance to acquire gait parameters, such as gait cycle, stride length, and gait phases, which can provide important clues for the diagnosis of the disease.
Large oncosomes mediate intercellular transfer of functional microRNA

Prostate cancer cells release atypically large extracellular vesicles (EVs), termed large oncosomes, which may play a role in the tumor microenvironment by transporting bioactive molecules across tissue spaces and through the blood stream. In this study, we applied a novel method for selective isolation of large oncosomes applicable to human platelet-poor plasma, where the presence of caveolin-1-positive large oncosomes identified patients with metastatic disease. This procedure was also used to validate results of a miRNA array performed on heterogeneous populations of EVs isolated from tumorigenic RWPE-2 prostate cells and from isogenic non-tumorigenic RWPE-1 cells. The results showed that distinct classes of miRNAs are expressed at higher levels in EVs derived from the tumorigenic cells in comparison to their non-tumorigenic counterpart. Large oncosomes enhanced migration of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), an effect that was increased by miR-1227, a miRNA abundant in large oncosomes produced by RWPE-2 cells. Our findings suggest that large oncosomes in the circulation report metastatic disease in patients with prostate cancer, and that this class of EV harbors functional molecules that may play a role in conditioning the tumor microenvironment.
Development, Implementation, and Outcomes of Post-stroke Mood Assessment Pathways: Implications for Social Workers

ABSTRACT Depression and anxiety are prevalent in the stroke population and can have a significant impact on the patient and their family’s long-term outcomes, however the screening for these conditions does not meet best practice recommendations. To address this deficit, this study developed “Post-Stroke Mood Assessment Pathways” and embedded them into practice by utilising the PARiHS framework (for the implementation of evidence-based practice), in conjunction with staff training. The study examined the rates of mood screening, clinical interviews, and completion of interventions for stroke patients through a retrospective chart audit (n = 213) one year prior to, and one year post-implementation (n = 238) of the pathways. The data show statistically significant increased documentation around mood screening and clinical interview 95% CI [4.86, 19.88], p < . 0012 and specifically, an increase in the number of patients who had a clinical interview following the introduction of the pathways 95% CI [8.05, 19.69], p < . 0001. IMPLICATIONS Implementing post-stroke mood assessment pathways assists in meeting the National Stroke Foundation Guidelines (2017) by providing clinically validated tools to screen for depression and anxiety in the stroke population. The social work profession is well positioned to incorporate post-stroke mood screen and assessments into their roles in view of their professional commitment to enhancing social and emotional functioning of patients and families.
On the growth rates of human malignant tumors: Implications for medical decision making

Testicular carcinomas, pediatric tumors, and some mesenchymal tumors are examples of rapidly proliferating cell populations, for which the tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) can be counted in days. Cancers from the breast, prostate, and colon are frequently slow‐growing, displaying a TVDT of months or years. Irrespective of their growth rates, most human tumors have been found: to start from one single cell, to have a long subclinical period, to grow at constant rates for long periods of time, to start to metastasize often even before the primary is detected, and to have metastases that often grow at approximately the same rate as the primary tumor. The recognition of basic facts in tumor cell kinetics is essential in the evaluation of important present‐day strategies in oncology. Among the facts emphasized in this review are: (1) Screening programs. Most tumors are several years old when detectable by present‐day diagnostic methods. This makes the term “early detection” questionable. (2) Legal trials. The importance of so‐called doctor's delay is often discussed, but the prognostic value of “early” detection is overestimated. (3) Analyses of clinical trials. Such analysis may be differentiated depending on the growth rates of the type of tumor studied. Furthermore, uncritical analysis of survival data may be misleading if the TVDT is not taken into consideration. (4) Analyses of epidemiological data. If causes of malignant tumors in humans are searched for, the time of exposure must be extended far back in the subject's history. (5) Risk estimations by insurance companies. For the majority of human cancers, the 5‐year survival rate is not a valid measurement for cure. Thus, basic knowledge of tumor kinetics may have important implications for political health programs, legal trials, medical science, and insurance policies. J. Surg. Oncol. 1997;65:284–297. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Epidemic Dynamics and Thresholds in Agent-Based Simulations under Realistic Resources and Cost Conditions

Critical threshold is one of the most important epidemiological indicators of whether or not an epidemic outbreak has occurred. Recent studies have been overly focused on ways that the power-law connectivity distribution features of social networks affect epidemic dynamics and spreading situations. Two important factors have been overlooked as a result: resource limitations and transmission costs associated with face-to-face interactions and daily contact. Our two main findings are: (a) a significant critical threshold does exist when resources and costs are taken into consideration, and that threshold has a lower bound whenever contagion events occur in scale-free social networks; and (b) the spread of epidemics in scale-free social networks remains controllable as long as resources are properly restricted and consumed costs in the form of public health strategies are significantly increased.
Validation by Measurements of an IC Modeling Approach for SiP Applications

The growing importance of signal integrity (SI) analysis in integrated circuits (ICs), revealed by modern system-in-package methods, is demanding for new models for the IC sub-systems which are both accurate, efficient and extractable by simple measurement procedures. This paper presents the contribution for the establishment of an integrated IC modeling approach whose performance is assessed by direct comparison with the signals measured in laboratory of two distinct memory IC devices. Based on the identification of the main blocks of a typical IC device, the modeling approach consists of a network of system-level sub-models, some of which with already demonstrated accuracy, which simulated the IC interfacing behavior. Emphasis is given to the procedures that were developed to validate by means of laboratory measurements (and not by comparison with circuit-level simulations) the model performance, which is a novel and important aspect that should be considered in the design of IC models that are useful for SI analysis.
A MITF Mutation Associated with a Dominant White Phenotype and Bilateral Deafness in German Fleckvieh Cattle

A dominantly inherited syndrome associated with hypopigmentation, heterochromia irides, colobomatous eyes and bilateral hearing loss has been ascertained in Fleckvieh cattle (German White Fleckvieh syndrome). This syndrome has been mapped to bovine chromosome (BTA) 22 using a genome-wide association study with the bovine high density single nucleotide polymorphism array. An R210I missense mutation has been identified within microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) as responsible for this syndrome. The mutation is located in the highly conserved basic region of the protein and causes a negative-dominant effect. SOX10 and PAX3 promoter binding site mutations in MITF could be ruled out as causative for the German White Fleckvieh syndrome. Molecular characterization of this newly detected bovine syndrome means a large animal model is now available for the Tietz syndrome in humans.
The Distribution of Sums of Path Gains in the IEEE 802.15.3a UWB Channel Model

When multipath arrival times and gains are specified by the IEEE 802.15. 3a ultra-wideband (UWB) channel model, formulas are derived for the characteristic function of the sum of gains arriving in a given time window. These formulas are first used to determine structural properties of the corresponding distributions and densities. The formulas are then used to compute the distribution and density functions by numerically inverting the characteristic function. For small time windows, the densities of the path-gain sums are bimodal and therefore highly non-Gaussian
Optimal transmit precoding for distributed estimation in correlated wireless sensor networks

In this paper we present optimal transmit precoding schemes for distributed estimation in a correlated wireless sensor network. The presented schemes employ linear preprocessing with multiple transmit antennas and are based on a coherent MAC between the multiple sensors and the fusion center. In this context, we derive the closed form expression for the optimal transmit processing scheme which minimizes the variance of the estimate at the fusion center. Further, we also develop a low complexity transmit scheme for scenarios with partial Channel State Information (CSI) availability. Closed form expressions are also derived to characterize the asymptotic variance of the optimal full CSI, partial CSI and other suboptimal transmit processing schemes. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed schemes for distributed estimation in a wireless sensor network.
Differences on Personality Measures Related to Recruit Attrition

Abstract : The present study attempts to shed further light on the phenomena of attrition by focussing on attrition during recruit training. This choice was influenced by the studies of Porter and Steers (1979) who indicate that the initial period of membership in an organization is the most critical as that is when most attrition occurs, and by VanMannen and Schein (1977) who point out that a large number of studies demonstrate that early organizational experiences impact on one's later organizational behaviour.
Faster DB-scan and HDB-scan in Low-Dimensional Euclidean Spaces

We present a new algorithm for the widely used density-based clustering method dbscan. For a set of [Formula: see text] points in [Formula: see text] our algorithm computes the dbscan-clustering in [Formula: see text] time, irrespective of the scale parameter [Formula: see text] (and assuming the second parameter MinPts is set to a fixed constant, as is the case in practice). Experiments show that the new algorithm is not only fast in theory, but that a slightly simplified version is competitive in practice and much less sensitive to the choice of [Formula: see text] than the original dbscan algorithm. We also present an [Formula: see text] randomized algorithm for hdbscan in the plane — hdbscan is a hierarchical version of dbscan introduced recently — and we show how to compute an approximate version of hdbscan in near-linear time in any fixed dimension.
Tri-band rat-race coupler using resonators

This paper presents a novel method to design a tri-band rat-race coupler by using resonators in π-shaped structure. The proposed structure demonstrates tri-band performance and a compact size due to π-shaped structure. In order to achieve tri-band operation, we use resonators and stubs with conventional rat-race coupler structure. By sharing the stub with resonator of two adjacent π-shaped circuits and making stubs inside the tri-band rat-race coupler, compactness is well kept. Compare to the size of 1 GHz conventional rat-race coupler, 84% reduction is archived by our proposed structure. We demonstrate that insertion losses are better than 4 dB, the reflection coefficients are better than 10 dB, and the isolations are better than 22 dB. In phase difference is less than 2.3°.
Chapter 3 14-3-3 Isoform specific redundancy in Arabidopsis development

A lack of phenotype in a loss-of-function mutant could be caused by genetic redundancy in which a closely related gene compensates for the loss of the mutant allele(s). In this Chapter, we show the involvement of six non-epsilon Arabidopsis 14-3-3 members (three most similar pairs) in root and shoot growth/ development. The root phenotyping on all 24 14-3-3 loss-of-function mutants (Chapter 2) has shown that 14-3-3's are involved in Root System Architecture (RSA). However, the effects of isoform specific gene mutations are strongly affected by the mutant background they are made in; e.g. pkl but not nkl, ukl and ckl demonstrate a shorter primary root (PR) phenotype. Another example is found within the total lateral root size (TRL) where the TRL of the quadruple mutant klpc is reduced just like the triple mutant pkl, whereas the triple mutant ckl showed an increased TRL. The twelve triple and three quadruple mutants show a linear relationship between PR and TRL length, which indicates that 14-3-3's are equally involved in both PR and TLR growth. The shoot phenotyping was performed in long day (LD) and short day (SD) conditions and on the double and quadruple mutants. This revealed that the quadruple mutant klun is delayed in bolting under LD conditions and does not bolt under SD conditions. Moreover, the non-bolting klun phenotype under SD conditions was accompanied by a reduced total exposed leaf area, and fewer leaves were produced. The double mutants kl, pc and the quadruple mutants klpc and unpc are early flowering under SD conditions. The root and shoot phenotyping results clearly show the involvement of 14-3-3 proteins in Arabidopsis development and growth. 14-3-3 Isoform specific redundancy in Arabidopsis development 45 3 Introduction Plant development and growth are tightly controlled by intrinsic and external cues that involve 14-3-3 proteins. The function of dimeric 14-3-3 is the binding of target proteins in a phosphorylation dependent manner. 14-3-3 Binding translates into multiple outcomes such as protein stability, changes in activity, differences in subcellular localization. To date, few phenotypes have been described for Arabidopsis 14-3-3 mutants in the literature and the phenotypes described showing the role of 14-3-3 in plant development. The single mutants of 14-3-3 mu and upsilon both show a delayed flowering phenotype under long day conditions (Mayfield et al. 2007). Analysis of the At14-3-3 omicron mutant phenotype during iron stress showed that 14-3-3 OMICRON is necessary for the induction of Fe-deficiency-tolerance …
Intrahepatic Infiltrating NK and CD8 T Cells Cause Liver Cell Death in Different Phases of Dengue Virus Infection

Elevated liver enzyme level is an outstanding feature in patients with dengue. However, the pathogenic mechanism of liver injury has not been clearly demonstrated. In this study, employing a mouse model we aimed to investigate the immunopathogenic mechanism of dengue liver injury. Immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice were infected intravenously with dengue virus strain 16681. Infected mice had transient viremia, detectable viral capsid gene and cleaved caspase 3 in the liver. In the mean time, NK cell and T cell infiltrations peaked at days 1 and 5, respectively. Neutralizing CXCL10 or depletion of Asialo GM1+ cells reduced cleaved caspase 3 and TUNEL+ cells in the liver at day 1 after infection. CD8+ T cells infiltrated into the liver at later time point and at which time intrahepatic leukocytes (IHL) exhibited cytotoxicity against DENV-infected targets. Cleaved caspase 3 and TUNEL+ cells were diminished in mice with TCRβ deficiency and in those depleted of CD8+ T cells, respectively, at day 5 after infection. Moreover, intrahepatic CD8+ T cells were like their splenic counterparts recognized DENV NS4B99–107 peptide. Together, these results show that infiltrating NK and CD8+ T cells cause liver cell death. While NK cells were responsible for cell death at early time point of infection, CD8+ T cells were for later. CD8+ T cells that recognize NS4B99–107 constitute at least one of the major intrahepatic cytotoxic CD8+ T cell populations.
Sub-pixel change detection for urban land-cover analysis via multi-temporal remote sensing images

Conventional change detection approaches are mainly based on per-pixel processing, which ignore the sub-pixel spectral variation resulted from spectral mixture. Especially for medium-resolution remote sensing images used in urban land-cover change monitoring, land use/cover components within a single pixel are usually complicated and heterogeneous due to the limitation of the spatial resolution. Thus, traditional hard detection methods based on pure pixel assumption may lead to a high level of omission and commission errors inevitably, degrading the overall accuracy of change detection. In order to address this issue and find a possible way to exploit the spectral variation in a sub-pixel level, a novel change detection scheme is designed based on the spectral mixture analysis and decision-level fusion. Nonlinear spectral mixture model is selected for spectral unmixing, and change detection is implemented in a sub-pixel level by investigating the inner-pixel subtle changes and combining multiple composition evidences. The proposed method is tested on multi-temporal Landsat Thematic Mapper and China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite remote sensing images for the land-cover change detection over urban areas. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is confirmed in terms of several accuracy indices in contrast with two pixel-based change detection methods (i.e. change vector analysis and principal component analysis-based method). In particular, the proposed sub-pixel change detection approach not only provides the binary change information, but also obtains the characterization about change direction and intensity, which greatly extends the semantic meaning of the detected change targets.