Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anatomical distribution of colorectal carcinoma in Iran: a retrospective 15-yr study to evaluate rightward shift.

BACKGROUND Although more than two third of colorectal cancers are localized on the left side, recent studies suggest a right ward shift in anatomical distribution with increase in proximal colon cancers. The aim of the present study was to determine the anatomical distribution of colorectal cancer in a referral center over a 15 year period. METHOD Records of patients who underwent colectomy in the Cancer Institute of Iran from 1994 to 2009 were retrieved. Data including anatomical localization, year of diagnosis, patient age and gender, tumor histology and differentiation, and disease stage were extracted. Tumors located from the cecum to the distal transverse colon were classified as right side and those occurring from the splenic flexure to the descending colon as left-sided. Cancer of rectum and recto-sigmoid junction were considered as rectal cancers. RESULTS A total of 442 patients including 220 (49/8%) men and 222 (50/2%) women with mean age 53 were included. Most patients were in stages II and III (47.1% and 33% respectively). There were 157 (35.5 %) colon cancers and 285 (64.5%) rectal cancers. 43.3% of the colon cancers were right sided and 56.7% were left sided. There was no statistically significant increase in right sided cancer during the period of the study. There were no significant differences in age at diagnosis, gender, grade and stage of tumor between the right and the left sided cancers. CONCLUSION No proximal shift over time was identified in our study.
Manual Analysis of Structurally Informed Reordering in German-English Machine Translation

Word reordering is a difficult task for translation. Common automatic metrics such as BLEU have problems reflecting improvements in target language word order. However, it is a crucial aspect for humans when deciding on translation quality. This paper presents a detailed analysis of a structure-aware reordering approach applied in a German-to-English phrase-based machine translation system. We compare the translation outputs of two translation systems applying reordering rules based on parts-of-speech and syntax trees on a sentence-by-sentence basis. For each sentence-pair we examine the global translation performance and classify local changes in the translated sentences. This analysis is applied to three data sets representing different genres. While the improvement in BLEU differed substantially between the data sets, the manual evaluation showed that both global translation performance as well as individual types of improvements and degradations exhibit a similar behavior throughout the three data sets. We have observed that for 55-64% of the sentences with different translations, the translation produced using the tree-based reordering was considered to be the better translation. As intended by the investigated reordering model, most improvements are achieved by improving the position of the verb or being able to translate a verb that could not be translated before.
Finite-length analysis of low-density parity-check codes on the binary erasure channel

In this paper, we are concerned with the finite-length analysis of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes when used over the binary erasure channel (BEC). The main result is an expression for the exact average bit and block erasure probability for a given regular ensemble of LDPC codes when decoded iteratively. We also give expressions for upper bounds on the average bit and block erasure probability for regular LDPC ensembles and the standard random ensemble under maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. Finally, we present what we consider to be the most important open problems in this area.
Anti-Inflammatory Triterpenoids from the Stems of Microtropis Fokienensis

Three new ursane- and four new oleanane- type triterpenoids 1–7 were isolated, along with six known compounds 8–13, from the methanolic extract of Microtropis fokienensis. All structures were elucidated by mass and NMR spectroscopic methods. The isolates 4–10 and known compounds 14–17 that were previously isolated from this material were evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity based on effects against superoxide anion generation and elastase release by neutrophils in response to fMLP/CB. 11α,30-Dihydroxy-2,3-seco-olean-12-en-2,3-dioic anhydride (7) was the first triterpene anhydride from the genus of Microtropis to have the ring A expanded to a seven-membered ring; it showed significant anti-inflammatory activity against superoxide anion generation and elastase release. Unexpectedly, 30-hydroxy-2,3-seco-lup-20(29)-ene-2,3-dioic acid (17) showed the best effect against superoxide anion generation and elastase release with IC50 values of 0.06 ± 0.01 and 1.03 ± 0.35 µg/mL, respectively. Compound 17 had a dioic acid function, and compound 7 had an anhydride function modification in ring A; both showed promising activity in the target assays.
Asthma Education and Health Outcomes of Children Aged 8 to 12 Years

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the health outcomes of 8- to 12-year-old urban-dwelling children with moderate to severe persistent asthma who participated in a modified Open Airways for Schools (OAS) asthma education program. It was hypothesized that the intervention group would have improved health outcomes when compared to control. A 2-group, 3-points-in-time method was used to conduct the study. The intervention group demonstrated significant and sustained improvement in asthma knowledge. There was no significant difference between groups for quality of life or pulmonary function. While OAS is a good program for asthma education, the program alone may not be sufficient to improve risk factors associated with poor pulmonary function. Future studies should incorporate environmental interventions.
Engineering Record and Replay for Deployability

The ability to record and replay program executions with low overhead enables many applications, such as reverse-execution debugging, debugging of hard-to-reproduce test failures, and "black box" forensic analysis of failures in deployed systems. Existing record-and-replay approaches limit deployability by recording an entire virtual machine (heavyweight), modifying the OS kernel (adding deployment and maintenance costs), requiring pervasive code instrumentation (imposing significant performance and complexity overhead), or modifying compilers and runtime systems (limiting generality). We investigated whether it is possible to build a practical record-and-replay system avoiding all these issues. The answer turns out to be yes - if the CPU and operating system meet certain non-obvious constraints. Fortunately modern Intel CPUs, Linux kernels and user-space frameworks do meet these constraints, although this has only become true recently. With some novel optimizations, our system 'rr' records and replays real-world low-parallelism workloads with low overhead, with an entirely user-space implementation, using stock hardware, compilers, runtimes and operating systems. "rr" forms the basis of an open-source reverse-execution debugger seeing significant use in practice. We present the design and implementation of 'rr', describe its performance on a variety of workloads, and identify constraints on hardware and operating system design required to support our approach.
SIAE Rare Variants in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Primary Antibody Deficiencies

Sialic acid acetylesterase (SIAE) deficiency was suggested to lower the levels of ligands for sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like receptors, decreasing the threshold for B-cell activation. In humans, studies of rare heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in SIAE gene in common autoimmune diseases, including juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), yielded inconsistent results. Considering the distinct pathogenesis of the two main subtypes of JIA, autoinflammatory systemic (sJIA) and autoimmune oligo/polyarticular (aJIA), and a predisposition to autoimmunity displayed by patients and families with primary antibody deficiencies (PADs), the aim of our study was to analyze whether SIAE rare variants are associated with both the phenotype of JIA and the autoimmunity risk in families with PADs. A cohort of 69 patients with JIA, 117 healthy children, 54 patients, and family members with PADs were enrolled in the study. Three novel SIAE variants (p.Q343P, p.Y495X, and c.1320+33T>C) were found only in patients with aJIA but interestingly also in their healthy relatives without autoimmunity, while none of PAD patients or their relatives carried SIAE defects. Our results show that SIAE rare variants are not causative of autoimmunity as single defects.
System-Level Throughput of Non-Orthogonal Access with SIC in Cellular Downlink When Channel Estimation Error Exists

We investigate the influence of channel estimation error on the achievable system-level throughput performance of non-orthogonal access with successive interference cancellation (SIC) in the cellular downlink. The channel estimation error in non-orthogonal access causes residual interference in the SIC process, which decreases the achievable user throughput. Furthermore, the channel estimation error causes error in the transmission rate control for the respective users, which may result in decoding error at not only the destination user terminal but also other user terminals for SIC. However, we show that by using a simple transmission rate back-off algorithm, the impact of the channel estimation error is effectively alleviated and non-orthogonal access with SIC achieves clear average and cell-edge user throughput gains relative to orthogonal access similar to the case with perfect channel estimation.
Visual Media and ASD: Impact on Social Interactions of Adolescents

There’s a wealth of research that provides evidence of an association between visual media and behavior problems among typically developing children. However, no research was located that examines the association between these variables in adolescents with ASDs. This current study begins to fill this gap in literature while examining possible positive effects of visual media on social behavior through the following research question: What effect does visual media have on the social interactions of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders? The design of the present study was a crosssectional, quantitative study in which twenty participants completed an online questionnaire. The present study found that adolescents with ASDs who had high language skills more frequently interacted with peers than adolescents with low language skills. This study also found that of adolescents who engage in visual media use weekly or more, 90% play video games, 85% use computers, 80% engage with Apps (via iPad/iPod/Kindle), 75% watch television, 35% use social media and 25% engage with other forms of visual media (DVDs, DS, and using iPad for Wikipedia) which is more than twice as often as another study (Mazurek et al., 2011). This study also showed that adolescents with ASDs who frequently use the computer have fewer interactions about visual media with their siblings. Future research should continue to explore the relationship between visual media and the social interactions of adolescents with ASDs. Interventions using visual media with adolescents with ASDs to help improve their social interactions, should be explored by social workers and other mental health professionals as an intervention. VISUAL MEDIA & ASD: IMPACT ON SOCIAL INTERACTIONS ii
Cash On Delivery Aid for Health

The Center for Global Development (CGD) has been working on a new approach to foreign aid called Cash on Delivery Aid (COD Aid) in which donors commit to make payments in direct proportion to measured progress towards a shared objective. The COD Aid approach builds on a trend in foreign aid modalities to pay for results and give greater autonomy to recipient countries in determining how to spend aid funds (summarized by the term “country ownership”). The approach has been described in detail in Birdsall and Savedoff, Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid (2010), which includes a specific proposal to help countries achieve universal primary schooling and a chapter exploring applications of the concept to other sectors. Additional materials are available on the CGD website (www.cgdev.org).
The Weaver GIRK2 Mutation Leads to Decreased Levels of Serum Thyroid Hormone: Characterization of the Effect on Midbrain Dopaminergic Neuron Survival

The selective neurodegenerative changes occurring in the weaver mutant cerebellum and midbrain are linked to a point mutation in an inward rectifying potassium channel (GIRK2). However, given that GIRK2 is widely expressed in the CNS, it is not understood why this mutation only leads to neuroanatomically selective and developmentally specific neuronal cell death. Here we show that the phenotype of the weaver mutant mouse includes hypothyroidism, which is associated with delays in somatic development and decreased expression of striatal transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha). Since thyroid hormone has major effects on brain development, further studies were performed to address whether some of pathological changes detected the weaver mutant mouse are due to the reduced thyroid hormone levels. We observed that daily thyroid hormone replacement was able to stimulate somatic growth and restore TGF-alpha expression to wild-type levels, indicating that while these mice are responsive to thyroid hormone they possibly have a defect in the ability to regulate its release at the level of the hypothalamic pituitary axis. However, when we assessed whether thyroid hormone replacement could rescue midbrain dopaminergic neurons we found that this treatment accelerated rather than attenuated neurodegeneration. We did not observe that thyroid hormone was able to directly regulate expression of GIRK2 mRNA levels in the midbrain and therefore, speculate that the mechanism by which thyroid hormone accelerates midbrain dopaminergic neurodegeneration is by enhancing the maturation of the striatonigral inputs. In summary, we detected reduced levels of serum thyroid hormone in the weaver mutant mouse, which appears to be responsible for delays in somatic growth and the onset of neurodegenerative changes in the midbrain.
brachyury null mutant-induced defects in juvenile ascidian endodermal organs

We report the isolation of a recessive ENU-induced short-tailed mutant in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis that is the product of a premature stop in the brachyury gene. Notochord differentiation and morphogenesis are severely disrupted in the mutant line. At the larval stage, variable degrees of ectopic endoderm staining were observed in the homozygous mutants, indicating that loss of brachyury results in stochastic fate transformation. In post-metamorphosis mutants, a uniform defect in tail resorption was observed, together with variable defects in digestive tract development. Some cells misdirected from the notochord lineage were found to be incorporated into definitive endodermal structures, such as stomach and intestine.
Application of fecal steroid techniques to the reproductive endocrinology of female verreaux's Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi)

Solid phase extraction, high performance liquid chromatography, and radioimmunoassay were used to test the validity of fecal steroid analysis for assessing ovarian function in sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi). Daily fecal samples were collected over a 4 month period from two cycling female sifaka, and single samples were collected from females during normal gestation and males while housed at the Duke University Primate Center. Tests of radioimmunoassay validity indicated that solid phase extraction and microradioimmunoassay techniques were reliable and accurate methods for quantifying ovarian steroids in sifaka feces. The progesterone (P4) antibody specifically quantitated only P4, while several estrogen metabolites made small contributions to immunoreactive measures of estradiol (E2). A 1:10 dilution reduced these contributions to 3–15% of the estimated E2 concentration. Although the spectral data suggested that E2 was not the major metabolite present, it accounted for the majority of the immunoreactivity at normal assay dilutions. Fecal profiles of immunoreactive E2 and P4 in the conceptive female resembled serum profiles of other strepsirhines. E2 and P4 were elevated at the end of the conceptive cycle and were more markedly increased in late pregnancy in the two pregnant females. Mating behavior and indices of sexual interest were observed in conjunction with E2 peaks, although not all peaks were accompanied by observations of sexual behavior. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Spontaneous Excitation Patterns Computed for Axons with Injury-like Impairments of Sodium Channels and Na/K Pumps

In injured neurons, “leaky” voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) underlie dysfunctional excitability that ranges from spontaneous subthreshold oscillations (STO), to ectopic (sometimes paroxysmal) excitation, to depolarizing block. In recombinant systems, mechanical injury to Nav1.6-rich membranes causes cytoplasmic Na+-loading and “Nav-CLS”, i.e., coupled left-(hyperpolarizing)-shift of Nav activation and availability. Metabolic injury of hippocampal neurons (epileptic discharge) results in comparable impairment: left-shifted activation and availability and hence left-shifted INa-window. A recent computation study revealed that CLS-based INa-window left-shift dissipates ion gradients and impairs excitability. Here, via dynamical analyses, we focus on sustained excitability patterns in mildly damaged nodes, in particular with more realistic Gaussian-distributed Nav-CLS to mimic “smeared” injury intensity. Since our interest is axons that might survive injury, pumps (sine qua non for live axons) are included. In some simulations, pump efficacy and system volumes are varied. Impacts of current noise inputs are also characterized. The diverse modes of spontaneous rhythmic activity evident in these scenarios are studied using bifurcation analysis. For “mild CLS injury”, a prominent feature is slow pump/leak-mediated EIon oscillations. These slow oscillations yield dynamic firing thresholds that underlie complex voltage STO and bursting behaviors. Thus, Nav-CLS, a biophysically justified mode of injury, in parallel with functioning pumps, robustly engenders an emergent slow process that triggers a plethora of pathological excitability patterns. This minimalist “device” could have physiological analogs. At first nodes of Ranvier and at nociceptors, e.g., localized lipid-tuning that modulated Nav midpoints could produce Nav-CLS, as could co-expression of appropriately differing Nav isoforms.
Homing and Long-Term Engraftment of Long- and Short-Term Renewal Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC) and short-term hematopoietic stem cells (ST-HSC) have been characterized as having markedly different in vivo repopulation, but similar in vitro growth in liquid culture. These differences could be due to differences in marrow homing. We evaluated this by comparing results when purified ST-HSC and LT-HSC were administered to irradiated mice by three different routes: intravenous, intraperitoneal, and directly into the femur. Purified stem cells derived from B6.SJL mice were competed with marrow cells from C57BL/6J mice into lethally irradiated C57BL/6J mice. Serial transplants into secondary recipients were also carried out. We found no advantage for ST-HSC engraftment when the cells were administered intraperitoneally or directly into femur. However, to our surprise, we found that the purified ST-HSC were not short-term in nature but rather gave long-term multilineage engraftment out to 387 days, albeit at a lower level than the LT-HSC. The ST-HSC also gave secondary engraftment. These observations challenge current models of the stem cell hierarchy and suggest that stem cells are in a continuum of change.
Anti-Hu associated paraneoplastic sensory neuronopathy with upper motor neurone involvement

Paraneoplastic neurological syndrome is characterised by neuronal degeneration with lymphocytic infiltration in various regions of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Motor neurone symptoms may occur as a remote effect of malignancy, and have been considered because of the involvement of lower motor neurones. A case is reported of an 80 year old woman suffering from paraneoplastic sensory neuronopathy with anti-Hu antibody. Postmortem examination showed adenocarcinoma of the gall bladder and small cell carcinoma of the duodenum. Neuronal loss with lymphocytic infiltration was found in the dorsal root ganglia, brain stem, and cerebellum. Despite the absence of upper motor neurone signs, there was severe loss of Betz cells and degeneration of the bilateral pyramidal tracts. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of upper motor neurone involvement in anti-Hu associated paraneoplatic syndrome.
Prevalence of bipolar disorder: a further study in The Netherlands.

Regeer EJ, Rosso ML, ten Have M, Vollebergh W, Nolen WA. Prevalence of bipolar disorder: a further study in The Netherlands. Bipolar Disord 2002: 4(Suppl. 1): 37–38. © Blackwell Munksgaard, 2002
Studies of Schwann cell proliferation. I. An analysis in tissue culture of proliferation during development, Wallerian degeneration, and direct injury

In this paper the stimuli for and pattern of Schwann cell proliferation are defined under various experimental conditions. We used a tissue culture system in which fetal rat dorsal root ganglia, treated to eliminate contaminating fibroblasts (Wood, P., 1976, Brain Res. 115:361- -375), appear to recapitulate many aspects of the developing peripheral nervous system. We observed that: (a) proliferation of Schwann cells on neurites is initially rapid, but, as each neurite becomes fully ensheathed, division slows considerably and is confined to the periphery of the outgrowth; (b) during the period of rapid proliferation, excision of the ganglion causes a rapid decay in the number of dividing cells; (c) excision of the ganglion from more established cultures in which there was little ongoing proliferation resulted in a small increase in labeling at the site of excision for all Schwann cells and a substantial increase in labeling for myelin- related cells with a peak labeling period at 4 d; (d) direct mechanical injury during Wallerian degeneration is mitogenic for Schwann cells; (e) a variety of potential mitogens failed to stimulate Schwann cell proliferation, and (f) replated cells have a slightly higher level of proliferation and show a small and variable response to the addition of cAMP.