Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Associations of Body Mass Index, Abdominal Adiposity, and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in a Large Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Increased body mass index (BMI) is an established colorectal cancer risk factor. High waist circumference or waist-hip-ratio (WHR) may better reflect an abnormal metabolic state and be more predictive of colorectal cancer risk than BMI. Methods: We examined BMI, waist circumference, WHR, and hip circumference in relation to colorectal cancer risk among 203,177 participants followed for 10 years. We derived standardized colorectal cancer risk estimates for each anthropometric parameter and compared predictive characteristics (Harrell's C-index). In women, we examined whether hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use modified the associations between anthropometric measures and colorectal cancer. Results: We ascertained 2,869 colorectal cancers. In men, increased colon cancer risks were associated with BMI [HR per SD, 1.14; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08–1.20], waist circumference (HR per SD, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.08–1.27), and WHR (HR per SD, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.04–1.14). In women, anthropometric variables were unrelated to colon cancer. For men and women, anthropometric variables were unrelated to rectal cancer. Compared with BMI, waist circumference and WHR did not materially influence colon cancer prediction models [C-index changes: −0.0041 and 0.0046 (men); 0.0004 and 0.0005 (women)]. In current HRT users, colon cancer was inversely or suggestively inversely associated with waist circumference (HR per SD, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.63–0.97) and WHR (HR per SD, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.76–1.01), but positively related to hip circumference (HR per SD, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.13–1.71). Conclusion: BMI, waist circumference, and WHR show comparable positive associations with colon cancer in men. Associations between anthropometric measures and colon cancer are weak or null in women, but there is some evidence for effect modification by HRT. Impact: These findings may improve our understanding of the relation of adiposity to colorectal cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(8); 1383–94. ©2013 AACR.
Scanning visual mental images: A window on the mind.

The process of mental scanning corresponds to the systematic shifting of attention over visualized objects. The first part of this article focuses on the role of mental scanning as an empirical method to assess the structural properties of the representations that underlie visual mental imagery. One theory of imagery posits that the metric properties of the surfaces of objects are made explicit in visual images. If so, then the time to scan across imaged objects should increase linearly with the distance scanned, and such results have been reported in a number of experiments. However, these results proved controversial. Various alternative accounts were proposed, and new studies conducted. The present review shows that the alternative accounts were not compelling, and that results from image scanning studies are best interpreted as reflecting the metric properties of imagery representations and also showing that imagery uses mechanisms that are used to encode and interpret objects during perception. The second part of this article focuses on the use of image scanning to examine whether verbal descriptions may be used to construct images with structural properties similar to those of images of previously seen objects. Newly constructed images have been shown to possess a structure very much like the structure of representations that arise from visual perception. Moreover, the scanning technique has been used to study which properties of descriptions allow them to be converted easily into images. Finally, the article considers the use of the mental scanning paradigm in neuroimaging studies. By examining the neural foundations of mental scanning. researchers are in a good position not only to learn more about imagery. but also to discover more about the roles of particular brain mechanisms.
Using the structure of Web sites for automatic segmentation of tables

Many Web sites, especially those that dynamically generate HTML pages to display the results of a user's query, present information in the form of list or tables. Current tools that allow applications to programmatically extract this information rely heavily on user input, often in the form of labeled extracted records. The sheer size and rate of growth of the Web make any solution that relies primarily on user input is infeasible in the long term. Fortunately, many Web sites contain much explicit and implicit structure, both in layout and content, that we can exploit for the purpose of information extraction. This paper describes an approach to automatic extraction and segmentation of records from Web tables. Automatic methods do not require any user input, but rely solely on the layout and content of the Web source. Our approach relies on the common structure of many Web sites, which present information as a list or a table, with a link in each entry leading to a detail page containing additional information about that item. We describe two algorithms that use redundancies in the content of table and detail pages to aid in information extraction. The first algorithm encodes additional information provided by detail pages as constraints and finds the segmentation by solving a constraint satisfaction problem. The second algorithm uses probabilistic inference to find the record segmentation. We show how each approach can exploit the web site structure in a general, domain-independent manner, and we demonstrate the effectiveness of each algorithm on a set of twelve Web sites.
Protein Tau: Prime Cause of Synaptic and Neuronal Degeneration in Alzheimer's Disease

The microtubule-associated protein Tau (MAPT) is a major component of the pathogenesis of a wide variety of brain-damaging disorders, known as tauopathies. These include Alzheimer's disease (AD), denoted as secondary tauopathy because of the obligatory combination with amyloid pathology. In all tauopathies, protein Tau becomes aberrantly phosphorylated, adopts abnormal conformations, and aggregates into fibrils that eventually accumulate as threads in neuropil and as tangles in soma. The argyrophilic neurofibrillary threads and tangles, together denoted as NFT, provide the postmortem pathological diagnosis for all tauopathies. In AD, neurofibrillary threads and tangles (NFTs) are codiagnostic with amyloid depositions but their separated and combined contributions to clinical symptoms remain elusive. Importantly, NFTs are now considered a late event and not directly responsible for early synaptic dysfunctions. Conversely, the biochemical and pathological timeline is not exactly known in human tauopathy, but experimental models point to smaller Tau-aggregates, termed oligomers or multimers, as synaptotoxic in early stages. The challenge is to molecularly define these Tau-isoforms that cause early cognitive and synaptic impairments. Here, we discuss relevant studies and data obtained in our mono- and bigenic validated preclinical models, with the perspective of Tau as a therapeutic target.
A Meta-Heuristic Algorithm for Vertex Covering Problem Based on Gravity

A new Meta heuristic approach called ”Randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm (RGES)” for solving large size set covering problems has been designed. This algorithm is found upon introducing randomization concept along with the two of the four primary parameters ’velocity’ and ’gravity’ in physics. A new heuristic operator is introduced in the domain of RGES to maintain feasibility specifically for the set covering problem to yield best solutions. The performance of this algorithm has been evaluated on a large set of benchmark problems from OR-library. Computational results showed that the randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm based heuristic is capable of producing high quality solutions. The performance of this heuristic when compared with other existing heuristic algorithms is found to be excellent in terms of solution quality. Keywords—Set covering Problem, Velocity, Gravitational Force, Newton’s Law, Meta Heuristic, Combinatorial optimization.
Changes in energy metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mouse lung and under in vitro conditions affecting aerobic respiration

Transcription profiling of genes encoding components of the respiratory chain and the ATP synthesizing apparatus of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was conducted in vivo in the infected mouse lung, and in vitro in bacterial cultures subjected to gradual oxygen depletion and to nitric oxide treatment. Transcript levels changed dramatically as infection progressed from bacterial exponential multiplication (acute infection) to cessation of bacterial growth (chronic infection) in response to host immunity. The proton-pumping type-I NADH dehydrogenase and the aa3-type cytochrome c oxidase were strongly down-regulated. Concurrently, the less energy-efficient cytochrome bd oxidase was transiently up-regulated. The nitrate transporter NarK2 was also up-regulated, indicative of increased nitrate respiration. The reduced efficiency of the respiratory chain was accompanied by decreased expression of ATP synthesis genes. Thus, adaptation of M. tuberculosis to host immunity involves three successive respiratory states leading to decreased energy production. Decreased bacterial counts in mice infected with a cydC mutant (defective in the cytochrome bd oxidase-associated transporter) at the transition to chronic infection provided initial evidence that the bd oxidase pathway is required for M. tuberculosis adaptation to host immunity. In vitro, NO treatment and hypoxia caused a switch from transcription of type I to type II NADH dehydrogenase. Moreover, cytochrome bd oxidase expression increased, but cytochrome c oxidase expression decreased slightly (nitric oxide) or not at all (hypoxia). These specific differences in respiratory metabolism during M. tuberculosis growth arrest in vitro and in vivo will guide manipulation of in vitro conditions to model bacterial adaptation to host immunity.
What Was I Cooking? Towards Deja Vu Displays of Everyday Memory

The recall of information associated with recent actions is problematic for all people, especially when one is prone to be distracted or interrupted. In this paper, we introduce Deja Vu Displays as resources for everyday memory recall. These displays augment "knowledge in the head" by visually displaying recent events as "knowledge in the world. " As an initial study, we present the design and evaluation of the Cook's Collage, a memory aid for cooking. Our initial studies indicate that people can benefit from this everyday memory aid, and that further exploration of the design and implementation of these displays is warranted.
Activity Prediction: A Twitter-based Exploration

Social media platforms allow users to share their messages with everyone else. In microblogs, e.g., Twitter, people mostly report on what they did, they talk about current activities, and mention things they plan to do in the near future. In this paper, we propose the task of activity prediction, that is, trying to establish a set of activities that are likely to become popular at a later time. We perform a small-scale initial experiment, in which we try to predict popular activities for the coming evening using Dutch Twitter data. Our experiment shows the feasibility and challenges of the task, with a simple method resulting in human-readable activities. This exploration also identifies several issues (e.g., temporal phrases and activity classification) that need to be addressed in future work.
Psychosocial predictors of failure to return to work in non-chronic non-specific low back pain: a systematic review

Objectives: To identify psychosocial predictors of failure to return to work in non-chronic (lasting less than 3 months) non-specific low back pain (NSLBP). Methods: A systematic review of prognostic studies was carried out. Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL and PEDro electronic bibliographic databases up to April 2006 were searched. Included studies took baseline measures in the non-chronic phase of NSLBP (ie, within 3 months of onset), included at least one psychosocial variable and studied a sample in which at least 75% of participants had NSLBP. Baseline measures had to be used to predict at least one work-specific outcome. Results: The search identified 24 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. From these studies there is strong evidence that recovery expectation is predictive of work outcome and that depression, job satisfaction and stress/psychological strain are not predictive of work outcome. There is moderate evidence that fear avoidance beliefs are predictive of work outcome and that anxiety is not predictive of work outcome. There is insufficient evidence to determine whether compensation or locus of control are predictive of work outcome. Conclusions: To predict work outcome in non-chronic NSLBP, psychosocial assessment should focus on recovery expectation and fear avoidance. More research is needed to determine the best method of measuring these constructs and to determine how to intervene when a worker has low recovery expectations.
Comment on "Log or Linear? Distinct Intuitions of the Number Scale in Western and Amazonian Indigene Cultures"

Dehaene et al. (Reports, 30 May 2008, p. 1217) argued that native speakers of Mundurucu, a language without a linguistic numerical system, inherently represent numerical values as a logarithmically spaced spatial continuum. However, their data do not rule out the alternative conclusion that Mundurucu speakers encode numbers linearly with scalar variability and psychologically construct space-number mappings by analogy.
Propiedades psicométricas de la versión española abreviada del TCI-R (TCI-140) y su relación con las Escalas de la Personalidad Psicopatológica (MMPI-2 PSY-5) en pacientes

INTRODUCTION: The short version of the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R), the TCI-140, is presented. This study aimed: a) to obtain the psychometric properties of TCI-140; b) to analyze the relationship with the normal version of the TCI-R, and c) to study its convergent validity with the MMPI-2 PSY-5. METHOD: The TCI-R and MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales were administered to a sample of consecutive psychiatric inpatients with differential Axis I and II diagnoses. RESULTS: It was found that the TCI-140 dimensions showed reliability coefficients ranging from 0.67 (Reward dependence [RD]) to 0.86 (Self-Transcendence [ST]) and the reliability coefficients of PSY-5 ranging from 0.68 (CON) to 0.86 (NE/NEU). Correlations for the dimensions with the TCI-R original 240-item version and TCI-R 140 item version ranged from 0.91 (Self-Directedness [SD]) to 0.97 (ST). The dimensions had a normal distribution. Correlations of TCI-140 scales with PSY-5 scales provided preliminary evidence supporting the convergent validity of the constructs. Then, Novelty Seeking (NS) was associated with low Constraint, Harm Avoidance (HA) was associated with low Aggressiveness and Positive Emotionality/ Extraversion, and also with high Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism, Reward Dependence (RD) was associated with high Positive Emotionality/Extraversion. Persistence (PS) was related to high aggressiveness, and Positive Emotionality/ Extraversion. On the other hand, SD was correlated with low Psychoticism, and Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism, and also with high Positive Emotionality/Extraversion. Cooperativeness (C) had a relationship to high constraint and low psychoticism. Finally ST was associated with high psychoticism and Positive Emotionality/Extraversion. CONCLUSIONS: The short Spanish version of TCI-R is a useful inventory for the evaluation of the principals dimensions of temperament and character.
Substrate integrated waveguide quasi-elliptic filter using extracted-pole technique

In this paper, a novel substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) quasi-elliptic filter using extracted-pole technique is proposed. The filter is fabricated on a substrate with the standard PCB process, which takes the advantage of low cost and high selectivity. Simulated and experimental results of a four-pole inline filter with one transmission zero at every side of the passband are presented.
State-of-the-art progress in developing survivable routing schemes in mesh WDM networks

This article introduces the state-of-the-art progress in developing survivable routing schemes in the optical layer of modern mesh WDM networks. Emphasis is placed on the requirements for achieving survivability that keep stringent service continuity for bandwidth provisioning under any unexpected failure of network infrastructure (e.g., a link, node, or device). We first review the reported dynamic survivable routing schemes that find the least-cost working and protection path-pair for both dedicated and shared protection. With the knowledge of shared risk link group (SRLG), we define the cost function and link-state for solving the protection path for a given working path. This article also discusses the survivable routing schemes for spare capacity allocation that deal with multiple working paths, in which both span-oriented and path-oriented spare capacity allocation schemes will be defined and discussed.
Community HIV treatment advocacy programs may support treatment adherence.

Treatment advocacy (TA) programs, based in AIDS service organizations and clinics, aim to engage clients into care and support antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence through client-centered counseling; advocate for patients with providers; and provide social service referrals. Systematic evaluations of TA are lacking. We conducted a non-randomized evaluation examining relationships of TA participation to adherence, care engagement, social services utilization, unmet needs, patient self-advocacy, and adherence self-efficacy among 121 HIV-positive clients (36 in TA, 85 not in TA; 87% male, 34% African American, 31% White, 19% Latino). In multivariate models, TA participants (vs. non-TA participants) showed higher electronically monitored [85.3% vs. 70.7% of doses taken; b(SE) = 13.16(5.55), p < . 05] and self-reported [91.1% vs. 75.0%; b(SE) = 11.60(5.65), p < . 05] adherence; utilized more social service programs [Ms = 5.2 vs. 3.4; b(SE) = 1.97(0.48), p < . 0001]; and had fewer unmet social-service needs [Ms = 1.8 vs. 2.7; b(SE) = -1.06(0.48), p < . 05]. Findings suggest the need for a randomized controlled trial of TA.
Acute toxicity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with IMRT/VMAT.

PURPOSE To evaluate acute toxicity in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)/volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with or without cisplatin-based chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 45 newly diagnosed, histologically proven non-metastatic NPC patients treated with IMRT between May 2010 and December 2012, were evaluated retrospectively, 37 planned with Eclipse and 8 with Prowess Panther treatment planning system. The doses to the planning target volumes of primary tumor and involved lymph nodes, high risk region, and uninvolved regional nodal areas were 70 Gy, 60 Gy, and 54 Gy respectively and delivered simultaneously over 33 fractions to 39 patients. Another 6 patients irradiated with sequential boost technique. Some 84.4% of patients received chemotherapy. Acute toxicities were graded according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group scoring criteria and Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) for chemotherapy side effects. RESULTS Median age was 43 years (14-79) and all patients were WHO type II. Grade 1 mucositis and dysphagia were observed in 17 (37.8%), and 10 (22.2%) patients, respectively. The incidence of acute grade 2 mucositis and dysphagia was 55.6% and 68.9%, respectively. The most common chemoradiotherapy related acute toxicities were nausea, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. Grade 3 toxicity was detected in 13 (28.8%) cases. No grade 4 toxicity was occurred. Mean weight loss was 9%. None of the patients required the insertion of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy for nutritional support. Radiation therapy was completed without interruption in all patients. CONCLUSIONS IMRT is a safe and effective treatment modality, and well tolerated by patients in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. No unexpected side effects were observed.
Las Decisiones De Los Economistas: Coase Y Los Sesgos Cognitivos En El Trabajo Teórico (The Economists’ Decisions: Coase and Cognitive Biases in Theoretical Work)

Spanish Abstract: Este articulo revisa las ideas de Coase sobre la metodologia en economia a partir de su critica de Friedman y las compara con ideas provenientes de otros campos. Argumenta que su adaptacion de Kuhn es mas apropiada para la economia en su forma actual que para la epoca de la que Coase tomo sus ejemplos. Examina algunos trabajos de Coase en terminos del sesgo de confirmacion y contrasta sus ideas sobre el manejo del sesgo de confirmacion motivado con el manejo de los conflictos de interes en medicina. Finalmente, resalta la importancia del pluralismo en economia. English Abstract: The paper reviews Coase’s ideas on methodology as explored in his criticism of Friedman, and compares them with concepts from other fields. Coase’s adaptation of Kuhn is shown to be more accurate for current economics than for the examples Coase presents. Some of Coase’s work is examined in terms of confirmation bias, and his ideas on motivated confirmation bias are contrasted with protocols used in medicine to deal with conflicts of interest. Finally, the need for pluralism in economics is stressed.
Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis

Abstract : Analysts and analysts alone create intelligence. Although technological marvels assist analysts by cataloging and presenting data, information, and evidence in new ways, they do not do analysis. To be most effective, analysts need an overarching, reflective framework to add structured reasoning to sound, intuitive thinking. "Critical thinking" provides such a framework and goes further, positively influencing the entire intelligence analysis process. Analysts who adopt critical thinking stand to improve their analyses. This paper defines critical thinking in the context of intelligence analysis, explains how it influences the entire intelligence process, explores how it toughens the art of intelligence analysis, suggests how it may be taught, and deduces how analysts can be persuaded to adopt this habit.
A control framework of survivable multi-domain optical networks

Optical networks have been widely adopted as the transport network in research industry for years. To better utilize the high speed benefit of optical transport networks, control framework has become the focus of research in recent years. This paper presented a control framework integrated with a set of algorithms, schemes and protocols. First, a two-level hierarchical routing strategy was introduced. Based on the two-level inter-domain and intra-domain hierarchical control framework, an inter-domain routing algorithm, a ring-based topology aggregation scheme and a modified RSVP-TE signaling protocol were proposed. Simulations were done to evaluate the performances of proposed control framework. This paper aims to provide an efficient control framework in terms of inter-domain routing, intra-domain routing, topology aggregation and signaling.