Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the utility of Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript (CART), chromogranin A, and chromogranin B in neuroendocrine tumor diagnosis and assessment of disease progression.

CONTEXT Prognosis in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is often poor, frequently reflecting delayed diagnosis. Hence, accurate and practical NET markers are needed. Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide is a potential novel NET marker. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Circulating levels of CART peptide and the established NET markers chromogranin A (CgA) and chromogranin B (CgB) were measured using RIA in 353 patients with NET (normal renal function) and in controls. Clinical data were collected retrospectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) The comparative and combined utility of CART, CgA, and CgB for diagnosis and assessment of disease progression was measured in different NET subtypes. RESULTS CgA and CgB in combination improved diagnostic accuracy in patients with gut NETs, nongastroenteropancreatic NETs, and NETs with an unknown primary origin compared with each biomarker alone. Measuring CART did not further improve diagnosis in these NET subtypes. For pancreatic NETs, CgB was superior to CgA and CART in detecting stable disease (P < .007), whereas CgA and CART in combination were most effective in identifying progressive disease. In phaeochromocytomas/paragangliomas (PCC/PGL), CART was the most useful biomarker for identifying stable (P < .001) and progressive (P = .001) disease. Consistent with this, plasma CART decreased following PCC/PGL tumor resection, remaining low in all patients in remission, but increasing in those with progressive disease. CONCLUSIONS CART is a useful marker for identifying progressive pancreatic NETs. CART is superior to CgA and CgB in detecting stable and progressive PCC/PGLs, and may have a role as a surveillance marker for PCC/PGL patients.
Developing monocular visual pose estimation for arctic environments

Arctic regions present one of the harshest environments on Earth for people or mobile robots, yet many important scientific studies, particularly those involving climate change, require measurements from these areas. For the successful deployment of mobile sensors in the Arctic, a high‐quality localization system is required. Although a global positioning system can provide coarse positioning (within several meters), it cannot provide any orientation information. A single‐camera‐pose‐estimation system is presented, based on visual odometry techniques, which is capable of operating in the feature‐poor environments of the Arctic. To validate the system, a prototype rover was developed and fielded on a glacier in Alaska. The resulting pose estimates compare favorably to values obtained by hand registering the same video sequence. Although pose errors do accumulate over time, these errors are typical of a standard odometry system but obtained in an environment where standard odometry is not practical. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The endurance athletes heart: acute stress and chronic adaptation

The impact of endurance exercise training on the heart has received significant research and clinical attention for well over a century. Despite this, many issues remain controversial and clinical interpretation can be complex of biomarkers of cardiomyocyte insult. This review assesses the current state of knowledge related to two areas of research where problems with clinical decision making may arise: (1) the impact of chronic endurance exercise training on cardiac structure, function and electrical activity to the point where the athletic heart phenotype may be similar to the expression of some cardiac pathologies (a diagnostic dilemma referred to as the ‘grey-zone’) and (2) the impact of acute bouts of prolonged exercise on cardiac function and the presentation of biomarkers and cardiomyocyte insult in the circulatory system. The combination of acute endurance exercise stress on the heart and prolonged periods of training are considered together in the final section.
An Approximate Approach to Nonisothermal Emplacement of Kilometer‐Sized Kilometer‐Deep Sills at Calderas

Caldera unrest is often caused by kilometer‐sized kilometer‐deep sills. Still unanswered questions include the following: How do sills spread? Why can magma propagate for kilometers without solidifying? Why do ground deformation data rarely, if ever, detect sill propagation? We show that kilometer‐sized kilometer‐deep magmatic sills spread like hydraulic fractures in an infinite medium. How magma propagates depends on overburden pressure, magma viscosity, injection rate, and difference between magma and rock temperatures. A small lag, filled with vapors from the fluid and/or the rock, exists between the propagating magma and fracture fronts. If the sill spreads along an interface, the lag slightly affects isothermal sill spreading but takes a key role in the case of nonisothermal propagation: A sill would stop after few tens of meters without it, unless magma intrudes rocks that are as hot as the solidification temperature or has unrealistic overpressures, because spreading velocity decreases soon to the critical value at which the tip becomes blocked with solidified magma. The lag defers magma solidification as heat exchange between the magma and the rock is effective only behind the thermal‐insulating lag, where magma has some finite thickness and sill opening grows with distance from the tip faster than thickness of solidified magma. Thus, the critical velocity decreases, allowing greater maximum sill sizes. We also show that the ground deformation pattern does not change appreciably over time if the final sill radius is smaller than 2 to 3 km, explaining why deformation is usually attributed to the inflation of a stationary source.
The Effect of Women's Suggestive Clothing on Men's Behavior and Judgment: A Field Study

Numerous studies have shown that men overestimate the sexual intent of women based on their clothing style; however, this hypothesis has not been assessed empirically in a natural setting. This small field study measured the time it took for men to approach two female confederates sitting in a tavern, one wearing suggestive clothes and one wearing more conservative clothes. The behavior of 108 men was observed over 54 periods on 16 different nights in two different taverns. The time it took for the men to approach after initial eye contact was significantly shorter in the suggestive clothing condition. The men were also asked by male confederates to rate the likelihood of having a date with the women, and having sex on the first date. The men rated their chances to have a date and to have sex significantly higher in the suggestive clothing condition. Results are discussed with respect to men's possible misinterpretation that women's clothing indicates sexual interest, and the risks associated with the misinterpretation.
Initial tests on the three-dimensional movement of starch in sediments

Archaeological studies of microbotanical remains must consider taphonomic factors likely to have affected a recovered assemblage. One of the most fundamental taphonomic considerations is the movement of objects within a soil profile under the influence of groundwater. To this end, this study reports on initial tests involving the movement of starch granules in three dimensions within a constructed sand matrix. The results indicate that both lateral and upward as well as significant downward movement occurs under the influence of groundwater, with movement rates of up to 4mm/ day for some starch granules greater than 10μm in size.
Maternal Morbid Obesity and the Risk of Adverse Pregnancy Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether morbidly obese women have an increased risk of pregnancy complications and adverse perinatal outcomes. METHODS: In a prospective population-based cohort study, 3,480 women with morbid obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) more than 40, and 12,698 women with a BMI between 35.1 and 40 were compared with normal-weight women (BMI 19.8–26). The perinatal outcome of singletons born to women without insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was evaluated after suitable adjustments. RESULTS: In the group of morbidly obese mothers (BMI greater than 40) as compared with the normal-weight mothers, there was an increased risk of the following outcomes (adjusted odds ratio; 95% confidence interval): preeclampsia (4.82; 4.04, 5.74), antepartum stillbirth (2.79; 1.94, 4.02), cesarean delivery (2.69; 2.49, 2.90), instrumental delivery (1.34; 1.16, 1.56), shoulder dystocia (3.14; 1.86, 5.31), meconium aspiration (2.85; 1.60, 5.07), fetal distress (2.52; 2.12, 2.99), early neonatal death (3.41; 2.07, 5.63), and large-for-gestational age (3.82; 3.50, 4.16). The associations were similar for women with BMIs between 35.1 and 40 but to a lesser degree. CONCLUSION: Maternal morbid obesity in early pregnancy is strongly associated with a number of pregnancy complications and perinatal conditions. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2
The Facebook Influence Model: A Concept Mapping Approach

Facebook is a popular social media Web site that has been hypothesized to exert potential influence over users' attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework to explain influential aspects of Facebook. This mixed methods study applied concept mapping methodology, a validated five-step method to visually represent complex topics. The five steps comprise preparation, brainstorming, sort and rank, analysis, and interpretation. College student participants were identified using purposeful sampling. The 80 participants had a mean age of 20.5 years, and included 36% males. A total of 169 statements were generated during brainstorming, and sorted into between 6 and 22 groups. The final concept map included 13 clusters. Interpretation data led to grouping of clusters into four final domains, including connection, comparison, identification, and Facebook as an experience. The Facebook Influence Concept Map illustrates key constructs that contribute to influence, incorporating perspectives of older adolescent Facebook users. While Facebook provides a novel lens through which to consider behavioral influence, it can best be considered in the context of existing behavioral theory. The concept map may be used toward development of potential future intervention efforts.
Evaluating Memory Compression and Deduplication

Many programs require more RAM to hold their data than a typical computer has. Theoretically, both the compression and deduplication can trade the rich computing capacity for more available RAM space. This paper comprehensively evaluates the performance behaviour of memory compression and memory deduplication by using seven real memory traces. The experimental results give two implications: (1) Memory deduplication greatly outperforms memory block compression. (2) Fixed-size partition (FSP) achieves the best performance in contrast to Content-defined Chunking (CDC) and Sliding Block (SB). The optimal chunking size of FSP is equal to the size of a memory page. The analysis results in this paper should be able to provide useful insights for designing or implementing systems that require abundant memory resources to enhance the system performance.
Uncovered transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for refractory ascites: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Several trials showed that uncovered transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is superior to paracentesis for the control of refractory ascites. However, the results for encephalopathy and mortality were not consistent across trials. We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials of TIPS for refractory ascites to assess the overall treatment effects and to explore potential reasons of heterogeneity. METHODS Pertinent studies were retrieved trough MEDLINE (1968-2004), EMBASE (1986-2004), the Cochrane Library (2004;4), and reference lists of key articles. Outcome measures were recurrence of ascites, encephalopathy, and mortality. Metaregression analysis was used to explore heterogeneity. RESULTS Five trials were identified including 330 patients. Successful TIPS placement ranged from 77% to 100% and portosystemic pressure gradient reduction ranged from 6.0 to 14.0 mm Hg. Metaregression analysis showed that bilirubin levels and successful TIPS placement rates were associated significantly with log-odds ratio for death after TIPS, explained heterogeneity of trials for mortality, and suggested an outlier trial. After exclusion of the outlier trial, pooled odds ratios for recurrence of ascites with TIPS was . 14 (confidence interval, .07-.27), for encephalopathy was 2.26 (confidence interval, 1.35-3.76), and for mortality was . 74 (confidence interval, .40-1.37), without any significant heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS Uncovered TIPS is significantly better than paracentesis for control of refractory ascites. Although it increases encephalopathy, it also is associated with a trend toward improvement of survival. Future TIPS trials should select patients on the basis of bilirubin levels and predictors of the risk for post-TIPS encephalopathy, and assess costs and quality of life.
Drug-Eluting Balloon in Peripheral Intervention for Below the Knee Angioplasty Evaluation (DEBATE-BTK): A Randomized Trial in Diabetic Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia

Background— The 1-year restenosis rate after balloon angioplasty of long lesions in below-the-knee arteries may be as high as 70%. Our aim was to investigate the efficacy of a paclitaxel drug-eluting balloons versus conventional percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for the reduction of restenosis in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia undergoing endovascular intervention of below-the-knee arteries. Methods and Results— The Drug-Eluting Balloon in Peripheral Intervention for Below the Knee Angioplasty Evaluation (DEBATE-BTK) is a randomized, open-label, single-center study comparing drug-eluting balloons and PTA. Inclusion criteria were diabetes mellitus, critical limb ischemia (Rutherford class 4 or higher), significant stenosis or occlusion >40 mm of at least 1 below-the-knee vessel with distal runoff, and life expectancy >1 year. Binary in-segment restenosis at a 1-year angiographic or ultrasonographic follow-up was the primary end point. Clinically driven target lesion revascularization, major amputation, and target vessel occlusion were the secondary end points. One hundred thirty-two patients with 158 infrapopliteal atherosclerotic lesions were enrolled. Mean length of the treated segments was 129±83 mm in the drug-eluting balloon group compared with 131±79 mm in the PTA group (P=0.7). Binary restenosis, assessed by angiography in >90% of patients, occurred in 20 of 74 lesions (27%) in the drug-eluting balloon group compared with 55 of 74 lesions (74%) in the PTA group (P<0.001); target lesion revascularization, in 12 (18%) versus 29 (43%; P=0.002); and target vessel occlusion, in 12 (17%) versus 41 (55%; P<0.001). Only 1 major amputation occurred, in the PTA group (P=0.9). Conclusions— Drug-eluting balloons compared with PTA strikingly reduce 1-year restenosis, target lesion revascularization, and target vessel occlusion in the treatment of below-the-knee lesions in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01558505.
Warfarin Use and Risk of Stroke in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Hemodialysis

AbstractIn spite of the substantial burden of atrial fibrillation and associated elevated ischemic stroke risk in patients undergoing hemodialysis, the role of warfarin in these high-risk patients remains uncertain. Our objective was to clarify the association between warfarin use and risk of stroke for patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing dialysis.PubMed and Embase from January 1966 to January 2015 were searched to identify relevant studies. Inclusion criteria were cohort studies, patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing hemodialysis, and reported quantitative estimates of the multivariate adjusted relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for future stroke associated with warfarin use. We identified 8 studies, with a total of 9539 participants and 706 stroke events. Three studies reported total stroke as primary endpoint and other studies reported ischemic stroke as primary endpoint. Pooling the results showed that warfarin use was associated with higher risk of any stroke (RR 1.50, 95% CI: 1.13–1.99). By stroke type, warfarin was not significantly linked to risk of ischemic stroke (RR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.65–1.57, P = 0.97), but was related to greater hemorrhagic stroke risk (RR 2.30, 95% CI: 1.62–3.27). Warfarin heightened overall bleeding risk (RR 1.27, 95% CI: 1.03–1.56), but not death (RR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.37–1.21). Among patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing hemodialysis, use of warfarin is associated with a higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke, but did not increase overall mortality.
Myocardial Consumption of Oxygen and Carbohydrates in Newborn Sheep

Summary: We measured blood flow to the myocardium of the left ventricular free wall, and blood glucose, lactate, pyruvate, and oxygen concentrations simultaneously in the aorta and coronary sinus 13 times in seven previously instrumented newborn sheep, 4 to 25 days after birth. We calculated arteriovenous difference and consumption of oxygen, glucose, lactate, and pyruvate by the newborn myocardium. Results were compared with recently obtained measurements in the myocardium of fetal and adult sheep (6). Myocardial consumption of oxygen in the newborn (577 ± 38 μM·min−1·100 g LV−1) was higher than in either the fetuses or the adults. This was associated with a greater myocardial blood flow (201 ± 21 mm·min−1·100 g LV−1) in the newborns. However, the increased myocardial oxygen consumption in the newborns was commensurate with their increased cardiac work as compared with both the fetuses and adults.Although there is an abrupt postnatal increase in arterial glucose concentration, there was no significant difference in either the myocardial consumption of glucose or the contribution of glucose to the total myocardial energy supply among fetal, newborn or adult sheep. Postnatal decreases in myocardial consumption of lactate and pyruvate are not compensated for by an increase in glucose consumption. In newborn sheep, carbohydrates including glucose, lactate, and pyruvate supply the substrate for no more than approximately one-fourth of the total myocardial energy demands (carbohydrate/oxygen quotient was 0.26). Speculation: Although glucose and lactate supply most of the substrate for myocardial energy supply in the lamb fetus, postnatally there is an abrupt decrease in lactate utilization that is not compensated for by an increase in glucose utilization. The identity of the primary myocardial energy substrate(s) in newborn and adult sheep remains to be determined.
Evidence that in vitro adherence of Klebsiella pneumoniae to ciliated hamster tracheal cells is mediated by type 1 fimbriae

Clinical isolates of fimbriated and nonfimbriated Klebsiella pneumoniae were examined for the ability to adhere to hamster tracheal cells cultured in vitro. Fimbriated-phase K. pneumoniae adhered preferentially to ciliated cells, whereas nonfimbriated-phase organisms were not adherent. The adherence was inhibited by D-mannose but not D-glucose, suggesting that type 1 fimbriae serve as the adhesin in the attachment process.
A New Evolutionary Algorithm for Solving Many-Objective Optimization Problems

In this paper, we focus on the study of evolutionary algorithms for solving multiobjective optimization problems with a large number of objectives. First, a comparative study of a newly developed dynamical multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (DMOEA) and some modern algorithms, such as the indicator-based evolutionary algorithm, multiple single objective Pareto sampling, and nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, is presented by employing the convergence metric and relative hypervolume metric. For three scalable test problems (namely, DTLZ1, DTLZ2, and DTLZ6), which represent some of the most difficult problems studied in the literature, the DMOEA shows good performance in both converging to the true Pareto-optimal front and maintaining a widely distributed set of solutions. Second, a new definition of optimality (namely, L-optimality) is proposed in this paper, which not only takes into account the number of improved objective values but also considers the values of improved objective functions if all objectives have the same importance. We prove that L-optimal solutions are subsets of Pareto-optimal solutions. Finally, the new algorithm based on L-optimality (namely, MDMOEA) is developed, and simulation and comparative results indicate that well-distributed L-optimal solutions can be obtained by utilizing the MDMOEA but cannot be achieved by applying L-optimality to make a posteriori selection within the huge Pareto nondominated solutions. We can conclude that our new algorithm is suitable to tackle many-objective problems.
Loss of Heterozygosity and Immunohistochemistry of Adenocarcinomas of the Esophagus and Gastric Cardia

Purpose: Adenocarcinomas of the distal esophagus and gastric cardia are two tumors that have many features in common. They have similar prognoses, treatment modalities, and patterns of dissemination. The etiology is different, with gastroesophageal reflux disease playing a major role for esophageal adenocarcinoma, in contrast to adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia. In the present study, we investigated several genetic and immunohistochemical features of adenocarcinomas of the distal esophagus and gastric cardia. Experimental Design: Sixty-two resection specimens of either adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia were carefully selected. The genetic analysis included loss of heterozygosity of several tumor suppressor genes known to be involved in esophagogastric carcinogenesis. Immunohistochemical studies included the analysis of p53, c-Met, c-erbB-2, β-catenin, and cyclooxygenase-2. In addition, a mutation analysis of the Tcf1 gene was done by direct sequencing. Results: Patients with cardiac carcinoma had a significantly worse tumor stage and poorer differentiation on histology. Loss of heterozygosity analysis did not reveal significant differences between esophageal adenocarcinoma and cardiac adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed significantly more nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, compared with patients with cardiac carcinoma. No mutation was found in the Tcf1 gene in either tumor type. Conclusions: Although adenocarcinomas of the distal esophagus and gastric cardia have many features in common, we have found some evidence that they might form two different entities.