Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surgery for papillary thyroid carcinoma: is lobectomy enough?

OBJECTIVE To further understanding of treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). DESIGN The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database was searched for patients who had undergone surgery for PTC. SETTING Areas covered by Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results population-based registries. PATIENTS Patients who had undergone PTC surgery between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 2001, were included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS Of the total 22,724 patients with PTC, 5964 patients underwent lobectomy. There were 2138 total and 471 disease-specific deaths. Controlling for tumor size, multivariate analysis revealed no survival difference between patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy and those who had undergone lobectomy. Increased tumor size, extrathyroidal extent, positive nodal status, and increased age displayed significantly worse DSS and OS (P < .001). Histologically, follicular PTC subtype did not affect DSS or OS. Patients who had received radioactive iodine had poorer DSS but improved OS. Patients undergoing external beam radiation therapy had poor DSS (hazard ratio, 4.48; 95% confidence interval, 3.30-6.06; P < .001) and OS (1.71; 1.42-2.07; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study compel us to reinvestigate the current PTC surgical recommendations of total thyroidectomy based on tumor size because this may not affect survival across all populations. In addition, the current use of external beam radiation therapy for the treatment of PTC should be reexamined.
Hyperbolic Graphs of Surface Groups

We give a sufficient condition under which the fundamental group of a reglued graph of surfaces is hyperbolic. A reglued graph of surfaces is constructed by cutting a fixed graph of surfaces along the edge surfaces, then regluing by pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of the edge surfaces. By carefully choosing the regluing homeomorphism, we construct an example of such a reglued graph of surfaces, whose fundamental group is not abstractly commensurate to any surface-by-free group, i.e., which is different from all the examples given in Mosher's paper 'A hyperbolic-by-hyperbolic hyperbolic group'.
Leader-Following Formation of Switching Multirobot Systems via Internal Model

In this paper, the leader-following formation problem of multirobot systems with switching interconnection topologies is considered. The robots are required to move in a formation with formation constrains described in terms of relative distances of the robots and the formation (as whole entity) is required to track the trajectory generated by an exosystem. The exosystem of the considered multirobot systems provides driving forces or environmental disturbance, whose dynamics is different from the dynamics of the robots. A systematic distributed design approach for the leader-following formation problem is proposed via dynamic output feedback with the help of canonical internal model.
Complete Nucleotide Sequence of CTX-M-15-Plasmids from Clinical Escherichia coli Isolates: Insertional Events of Transposons and Insertion Sequences

Background CTX-M-producing Escherichia coli strains are regarded as major global pathogens. Methodology/Principal Findings The nucleotide sequence of three plasmids (pEC_B24: 73801-bp; pEC_L8: 118525-bp and pEC_L46: 144871-bp) from Escherichia coli isolates obtained from patients with urinary tract infections and one plasmid (pEC_Bactec: 92970-bp) from an Escherichia coli strain isolated from the joint of a horse with arthritis were determined. Plasmid pEC_Bactec belongs to the IncI1 group and carries two resistance genes: bla TEM-1 and bla CTX-M-15. It shares more than 90% homology with a previously published bla CTX-M-plasmid from E. coli of human origin. Plasmid pEC_B24 belongs to the IncFII group whereas plasmids pEC_L8 and pEC_L46 represent a fusion of two replicons of type FII and FIA. On the pEC_B24 backbone, two resistance genes, bla TEM-1 and bla CTX-M-15, were found. Six resistance genes, bla TEM-1, bla CTX-M-15, bla OXA-1, aac6'-lb-cr, tetA and catB4, were detected on the pEC_L8 backbone. The same antimicrobial drug resistance genes, with the exception of tetA, were also identified on the pEC_L46 backbone. Genome analysis of all 4 plasmids studied provides evidence of a seemingly frequent transposition event of the bla CTX-M-15-ISEcp1 element. This element seems to have a preferred insertion site at the tnpA gene of a bla TEM-carrying Tn3-like transposon, the latter itself being inserted by a transposition event. The IS26-composite transposon, which contains the bla OXA-1, aac6'-lb-cr and catB4 genes, was inserted into plasmids pEC_L8 and pEC_L46 by homologous recombination rather than a transposition event. Results obtained for pEC_L46 indicated that IS26 also plays an important role in structural rearrangements of the plasmid backbone and seems to facilitate the mobilisation of fragments from other plasmids. Conclusions Collectively, these data suggests that IS26 together with ISEcp1 could play a critical role in the evolution of diverse multiresistant plasmids found in clinical Enterobacteriaceae.
Volatility Transfer from Developed Countries to Emerging Markets: Evidence from Nigeria

In this paper, we examine the existence of volatility transfer from stock exchanges of 5 major developed economies of USA (NYSE), Canada (S&PTSX), France (CAC) Germany (DAX) and UK (FTSE) to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). To ascertain the relationship between these five bourses and the NSE, we employ the Ordinary Least Square Estimation (OLSE) technique. Moreover, we use the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model to determine the existence or otherwise of volatility transfer from these five advanced bourses to the NSE. The results of this study confirm the existence of volatility transfer from the NYSE, S&PTSX, CAC, DAX and FTSE to the NSE from January 1 st January 2006 to 15th March 2010. Following from this, it behooves on policy makers in Nigeria to pay particular attention to events in these bourses and in these economies and proactively take prompt actions when necessary. Keywords: Global Financial Crisis, Bourses, Contagion, GARCH, Meltdown, OLSE, Volatility Spillover, Volatility Transfer.
"Could someone please translate this?": activity analysis of wikipedia article translation by non-experts

Wikipedia translation activities aim to improve the quality of the multilingual Wikipedia through article translation. We performed an activity analysis of the translation work done by individual English to Chinese non-expert translators, who translated linguistically complex Wikipedia articles in a laboratory setting. From the analysis, which was based on Activity Theory, and which examined both information search and translation activities, we derived three translation strategies that were used to inform the design of a support system for human translation activities in Wikipedia.
Process Centered Software Development on Mobile Hosts

Software Development Environments have traditionally relied upon a central project database and (cid:2)le repository(cid:3) accessible to a programmer(cid:4)s workstation via a high speed local area net(cid:5) work connection(cid:6) The introduction of powerful mobile computers has demonstrated the need for a new model(cid:3) which allows for variable bandwidth machines as well as transient network connectivity to assist programmers in product development(cid:6) A new client(cid:5)server model is introduced which minimizes network tra(cid:7)c when bandwidth is limited(cid:6) To support discon(cid:5) nected operation(cid:3) I propose a process(cid:2)based checkout model by which process information and product (cid:2)les that may be needed during a planned period of dis(cid:5)connectivity are pre(cid:5)fetched with minimal user e(cid:8)ort(cid:6) Rather than selecting each (cid:2)le by hand(cid:3) which is tedious and error(cid:5) prone(cid:3) the user only informs the environment of the portion of the software development process intended to be executed while disconnected(cid:6) The environment is then responsible for pre(cid:5)fetching the necessary (cid:2)les(cid:6)
Processing resources reduce the effect of Alzheimer pathology on other cognitive systems

The cognitive abilities of older persons vary greatly, even among those with similar amounts of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology, suggesting differences in neural reserve. Although its neurobiologic basis is not well understood, reserve may reflect differences in the ability to compensate for the deleterious effects of pathology by recruiting alternative or additional brain networks to perform a specific task. If this is an effective compensatory strategy, then involvement of additional cognitive systems may help maintain function in other cognitive systems despite the accumulation of pathology. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that processing resources, specifically perceptual speed and working memory, modify the associations of AD pathology with other cognitive systems. Method: A total of 103 older participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project underwent detailed annual clinical evaluations and brain autopsy. Five cognitive systems including perceptual speed, working memory, semantic memory, visuospatial abilities, and episodic memory were assessed proximate to death, and AD pathology including tau tangles and amyloid load were quantified postmortem. Results: In multiple regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education, processing resources reduced the associations of tangles with other cognitive systems, such that persons with higher levels of perceptual speed and working memory performed better on semantic memory and visuospatial abilities despite the burden of tangles. Perceptual speed also reduced the associations of amyloid with semantic memory, visuospatial abilities, and episodic memory. Conclusion: These findings suggest that processing resources may help compensate for the deleterious effects of Alzheimer disease pathology on other cognitive systems in older persons.
Expression of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule‐1 (MAdCAM‐1) in acute and chronic inflammation

The objective of this study was to quantify, in vivo, constitutive and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α)‐enhanced expression of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule‐1 (MAdCAM‐1) in different tissues from healthy wild‐type mice (C57BL/6) as well as interleukin‐10 (IL‐10)‐deficient mice with and without active colitis. Using the dual radiolabel monoclonal antibody technique, we found substantial constitutive expression of MAdCAM‐1 in the intestine, colon, and mesenteric lymph nodes. MAdCAM‐1 expression in these tissues was significantly enhanced, in a time‐dependent manner, by systemic administration of TNF‐α. Maximum surface expression was observed at 18 h after TNF‐α administration and remained significantly elevated at 48 h post‐TNF‐α injection. No significant constitutive nor TNF‐α‐induced expression of MAdCAM‐1 was detected in skeletal muscle, brain, or heart. In IL‐10‐deficient (IL‐10 k/o) mice with no clinical or histological evidence of colitis, constitutive and TNF‐α‐induced expression of MAdCAM‐1 in the intestine, cecum, and colon was not different from those values obtained with healthy wild‐type controls. IL‐10‐deficient mice with active colitis exhibited a four‐ to fivefold greater expression of MAdCAM‐1 in the cecum and colon compared with their healthy controls or to IL‐10 k/o mice with no evidence of colitis. Taken together, these data demonstrate that TNF‐α enhances surface expression of MAdCAM‐1 in intestinal and colonic tissues to the same extent in both wild‐type and IL‐10 k/o mice with no colonic inflammation, whereas IL‐10 k/o mice with active colitis exhibited a profound up‐regulation of MAd‐CAM‐1 in the colon. J. Leukoc. Biol. 65: 349–355; 1999.
Revisiting AdaBoost for Cost-Sensitive Classification. Part I: Theoretical Perspective

Boosting algorithms have been widely used to tackle a plethora of problems. In the last few years, a lot of approaches have been proposed to provide standard AdaBoost with cost-sensitive capabilities, each with a different focus. However, for the researcher, these algorithms shape a tangled set with diffuse differences and properties, lacking a unifying analysis to jointly compare, classify, evaluate and discuss those approaches on a common basis. In this series of two papers we aim to revisit the various proposals, both from theoretical (Part I) and practical (Part II) perspectives, in order to analyze their specific properties and behavior, with the final goal of identifying the algorithm providing the best and soundest results.
Diagnostic Markers for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

Purpose: Early detection would significantly decrease the mortality rate of ovarian cancer. In this study, we characterize and validate the combination of six serum biomarkers that discriminate between disease-free and ovarian cancer patients with high efficiency. Experimental Design: We analyzed 362 healthy controls and 156 newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients. Concentrations of leptin, prolactin, osteopontin, insulin-like growth factor II, macrophage inhibitory factor, and CA-125 were determined using a multiplex, bead-based, immunoassay system. All six markers were evaluated in a training set (181 samples from the control group and 113 samples from OC patients) and a test set (181 sample control group and 43 ovarian cancer). Results: Multiplex and ELISA exhibited the same pattern of expression for all the biomarkers. None of the biomarkers by themselves were good enough to differentiate healthy versus cancer cells. However, the combination of the six markers provided a better differentiation than CA-125. Four models with <2% classification error in training sets all had significant improvement (sensitivity 84%-98% at specificity 95%) over CA-125 (sensitivity 72% at specificity 95%) in the test set. The chosen model correctly classified 221 out of 224 specimens in the test set, with a classification accuracy of 98.7%. Conclusions: We describe the first blood biomarker test with a sensitivity of 95.3% and a specificity of 99.4% for the detection of ovarian cancer. Six markers provided a significant improvement over CA-125 alone for ovarian cancer detection. Validation was performed with a blinded cohort. This novel multiplex platform has the potential for efficient screening in patients who are at high risk for ovarian cancer.
Wavelet chaotic neural networks and their application to continuous function optimization

Neural networks have been shown to be pow-erful tools for solving optimization problems. In this paper, we first retrospect Chen’s chaotic neural network and then propose several novel chaotic neural networks. Second, we plot the figures of the state bifurcation and the time evolution of most positive Lyapunov exponent. Third, we apply all of them to search global minima of continuous functions, and respec-tively plot their time evolution figures of most positive Lyapunov exponent and energy func-tion. At last, we make an analysis of the per-formance of these chaotic neural networks.
Normalized phase shift motion energy neuron populations for image velocity estimation

Motion energy neurons are commonly used in biologically motivated algorithms for image velocity estimation. These algorithms typically use a large population of neurons tuned to different locations in the spatial-temporal frequency domain, with each neuron requiring a complex-valued separate spatio-temporal image filter. Here, we show that it is possible to construct a large population of motion energy neurons by combining the outputs of a much fewer number of filters with differing phase shifts. With spatial pooling, the velocity estimation using this phase-tuned population is more reliable than estimation using a more conventional frequency-tuned population. In addition, we show that by normalizing the population response, we can obtain a confidence measure for the resulting velocity estimates.
Evaluation of snow cover fraction for regional climate simulations in the Sierra Nevada

Mountain snow cover plays an important role in regional climate due to its high albedo, its effects on atmospheric convection, and its influence on runoff. Snowpack water storage is also a critical water resource and understanding how it varies is of great social value. Models are often employed to reconstruct snowpack and explore and understand snow cover variability. Here, we use a new, accurate satellite‐derived snow product to evaluate the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model, combined with the Noah land surface model with multi‐parameterization options (Noah‐MP), to simulate snow cover fraction (SCF) and snow water equivalent (SWE) in a 3‐km domain over the central Sierra Nevada. WRF/Noah‐MP SWE simulations improve on previous versions of the Noah land surface model by removing an early bias in snow melt, though a 2‐day positive melt bias in SWE timing remains significant at the 90% confidence level. In addition, WRF/Noah‐MP identifies the areas where snow is present to within 94.3% and captures large‐scale variability in SCF. Temporal root mean squared error (RMSE) of the domain‐average SCF was 1938.6 km2 (24%). However, our study shows that WRF/Noah‐MP struggles to simulate SCF at finer spatial scales. The parameterization for SCF fails to produce temporal variations in grid‐scale SCF, and depletion occurs too rapidly. As a result, the WRF/Noah‐MP SCF parameterization reduces to a binary function in mountain environments. Sensitivity tests show that adjustment of the parameterization may improve simulation of SCF during accumulation or melt but does not remove the bias for the entire snow season. Although WRF/Noah‐MP accurately simulates the presence or absence of snow, high‐resolution, reliable SCF estimates may only be attainable if snow depletion parameterizations are designed specifically for complex topographical areas.
Corporate Governance in India - Evolution and Challenges

While recent high-profile corporate governance failures in developed countries have brought the subject to media attention, the issue has always been central to finance and economics. The issue is particularly important for developing countries since it is central to financial and economic development. Recent research has established that financial development is largely dependent on investor protection in a country - de jure and de facto. With the legacy of the English legal system, India has one of the best corporate governance laws but poor implementation together with socialistic policies of the prereform era has affected corporate governance. Concentrated ownership of shares, pyramiding and tunneling of funds among group companies mark the Indian corporate landscape. Boards of directors have frequently been silent spectators with the DFI nominee directors unable or unwilling to carry out their monitoring functions. Since liberalization, however, serious efforts have been directed at overhauling the system with the SEBI instituting the Clause 49 of the Listing Agreements dealing with corporate governance. Corporate governance of Indian banks is also undergoing a process of change with a move towards more market-based governance.
ARM Based Solar Tracking System

Solar energy systems have emerged as a viable source of renewable energy over the past two or three decades, and are now widely used for a variety of industrial and domestic applications. Such systems are based on a solar collector, designed to collect the sun’s energy and to convert it into either electrical power or thermal energy. In general, the power developed in such applications depends fundamentally upon the amount of solar energy captured by the collector, and thus the problem of developing tracking schemes capable of following the trajectory of the sun throughout the course of the day on a year. This project is designed with ARM7TDMI processor. The ARM7TDMI processor does the job of fetching the input from the sensor and gives command to the motor to run in order to tackle the change in the position of the sun.
Periodic H2 synthesis for spacecraft attitude control with magnetorquers and reaction wheels

Particularly attractive for small satellites, the use of magnetic torquers for attitude control is still a difficult problem. Indeed, equations are naturally time-varying and suffers from controllability issues. In this paper, a generic model, taking different kinds of pointing and different kinds of actuators into account, is proposed, linearized and then discretized. Recent studies demonstrate how combining magnetorquers and reaction wheels is attractive. Following this line, latest LMI synthesis techniques for static periodic controller are applied in this paper to the attitude control problem of a spacecraft equipped with both actuation systems. Simulation results are provided, showing the performance of the obtained control law.
Design & development of UWB notch antenna with fractal geometry

This paper presents the design of coplanar waveguide fed ultra wide band Antenna with fractal geometry having frequency Notch characteristics. The designed antenna shows a dual band notch characteristic. For increasing bandwidth Sierpinski fractal is responsible, which is etched from the circular radiator. Elliptical type of slot responsible for creating notched band centered at 5.2 GHz for wireless local area network rejection has been used in this work. The RFID rejection band centered at 7 GHz is achieved by using a opposite U shaped fractal curve at feed line. Sierpinski fractal slot on the radiator has contributed to the resultant bandwidth of 1.8-11.5 GHz with VSWR<;2 by increasing the characteristics of matching at lower frequencies with an exception of two notched bands. A theoretical formulation to calculate the notch frequency is also validated.
Presence of a p53 gene deletion in patients with multiple myeloma predicts for short survival after conventional-dose chemotherapy.

In multiple myeloma (MM), previous studies showed that mutations of the p53 gene are rare events in patients with newly diagnosed disease, but it is not known whether deletions of p53 are of any significance in MM. To address this question, we used interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a DNA probe specific for the p53 locus at 17p13 and investigated bone marrow plasma cells from 72 patients with MM (59 patients = 81.9% before therapy). By FISH, deletions of p53, which were found to be predominantly monoallelic, were detected in 32.8% and 54.5% of patients with newly diagnosed and relapsed MM, respectively. Karyotypes from six of the patients with a p53 deletion by FISH showed a structural abnormality of 17p in only one of them. Additional FISH studies including a distal-17p probe (specific for the D17S34 locus) provided evidence for an interstitial deletion on 17p resulting in loss of p53 hybridization signals in myeloma cells. Among all 59 patients with newly diagnosed MM, presence of a p53 deletion was associated with stage III (P = .054), but not with other laboratory and clinical parameters. Patients with a p53 deletion had significantly shorter survival time compared with those without a deletion, both from the time of diagnosis (median 13.9 v 38.7 months; P < .0001) and from the time of initiation of induction treatment consisting of conventional dose chemotherapy (median 15.9 months v median not reached at 38 months; P < .0002). On stepwise multivariate regression analysis, presence of a p53 deletion was the most significant independent parameter predicting for shortened survival (P = .002). We conclude that a p53 gene deletion, which can be identified by interphase FISH in almost a third of patients with newly diagnosed MM, is a novel prognostic factor predicting for short survival of MM patients treated with conventional-dose chemotherapy.