Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment with transvaginal ultrasonography of endometrial thickness in women with postmenopausal bleeding.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the use of transvaginal ultrasonography in measuring endometrial thickness in postmenopausal women with bleeding, thus to determine the least invasive treatment. STUDY DESIGN We evaluated 168 women with postmenopausal bleeding by transvaginal ultrasonography and histological study of the endometrium. RESULTS No cancerous or precancerous lesions were found when endometrial thickness was under 10 mm. The mean endometrial thickness in women with cancerous and precancerous lesions was 10.75 +/- 1.63 mm, while in non-pathological lesions it was 1.36 +/- 1.18 mm. CONCLUSIONS To diagnose endometrial pathology, an endometrial thickness over 6 mm yields a sensitivity of 88.6%, a specificity of 90.6%, a positive predictive value of 92%, with 4.6% of false-positives and 4.6% of false-negatives (six small polyps and one irregular maturation). Although we are waiting for other prospective and multicentric studies, our present experience leads us to believe that Dilatation and Curettage (D&C) can be avoided in postmenopausal bleeding with endometrial thickness under or equal to 6 mm.
Desecuritization, Domestic Struggles, and Egypt’s Conflict with Ethiopia over the Nile River

ABSTRACT Egypt maintained a policy of antagonism at arm’s length toward Ethiopia throughout Husni Mubarak’s presidency. This pattern changed immediately following Mubarak’s ouster. The burst of rapprochement and diplomatic activism that took shape in the spring of 2011 signaled a fundamental shift in the content and form of Egyptian policy vis-à-vis Ethiopia, which was reflected in President Muhammad Mursi’s reluctance to respond belligerently to Ethiopian initiatives 2 years later that threatened to diminish the northward flow of the Nile. Cairo’s evident restraint during the Mursi era cannot be explained by a change in the strategic circumstances that confronted Egyptian policy-makers. A more promising explanation can be found in a reformulation of desecuritization theory, which highlights the internal dynamics whereby potentially dangerous aspects of a country’s external environment get transformed into matters of routine political contestation.
Boosting with Maximum Adaptive Sampling

Classical Boosting algorithms, such as AdaBoost, build a strong classifier without concern about the computational cost. Some applications, in particular in computer vision, may involve up to millions of training examples and features. In such contexts, the training time may become prohibitive. Several methods exist to accelerate training, typically either by sampling the features, or the examples, used to train the weak learners. Even if those methods can precisely quantify the speed improvement they deliver, they offer no guarantee of being more efficient than any other, given the same amount of time. This paper aims at shading some light on this problem, i.e. given a fixed amount of time, for a particular problem, which strategy is optimal in order to reduce the training loss the most. We apply this analysis to the design of new algorithms which estimate on the fly at every iteration the optimal trade-off between the number of samples and the number of features to look at in order to maximize the expected loss reduction. Experiments in object recognition with two standard computer vision data-sets show that the adaptive methods we propose outperform basic sampling and state-of-the-art bandit methods.
Genetic and pharmacological analysis of prostanoid receptor function.

When tissues are exposed to diverse physiological and pathological stimuli, arachidonic acid is liberated from membrane phospholipids and is converted to prostanoids, including the prostaglandins (PGs) and the thromboxanes (Tx’s), by the action of cyclooxygenase (COX). The COX reaction results in the formation of an unstable endoperoxide intermediate, PGH2, which, in turn, is metabolized to PGD2, PGE2, PGF2α, PGI2, and TxA2 by cell-specific isomerases and synthases. Prostanoids thus formed are immediately released outside of the cell, with little if any of the product remaining in the cell. Because they are either chemically or metabolically unstable, it is believed that prostanoids work only locally, near their site of production. PGI2 and TxA2 spontaneously degrade into inactive compounds under physiological conditions, and other PGs are enzymatically inactivated during a single passage through the lung. In addition, PGD2 and PGE2 are slowly dehydrated in biological fluids containing serum albumin to yield the cyclopentenone PGs, PGA2 and PGJ2, which contain an α,β-unsaturated ketone. Although prostanoids are generally regarded as hydrophobic compounds, they do not permeate the cell membrane freely. One PG transporter (PGT), a member of the organic anion transporter polypeptide family, has been identified and is found in a limited range of cells, where it is subject to regulation by humoral and physical stimuli. Indeed, vascular expression of the PGT appears to account for clearance of most classes of PGs when these compounds are infused into an animal and enter its pulmonary circulation. Indeed, PGI2, the only PG that is not a substrate for PGT, is also unique in that it is not subject to clearance during traversal of the pulmonary circulation. However, there is strong evidence that other transport systems mediate the uptake of at least some prostanoids, since despite the restricted expression of PGT, cyclopentenone PGs are efficiently transported into most cells. For more on transport and metabolism of prostanoids, see Fitzpatrick and Soberman (this Perspective series, ref. 1). Prostanoids, with the possible exception of the cyclopentenone PGs, are believed to exert their actions via membrane receptors on the surface of target cells. Indeed, a family of membrane receptors mediating their actions has been characterized and cloned, and knockout mice deficient in each of their genes have been developed. In addition, highly selective agonists and antagonists for the cloned receptors have been developed. Nuclear actions of prostanoids have also been reported and putative nuclear prostanoid receptors have been proposed, particularly for cyclopentenone PGs. In this article, we describe the current status of the studies on membrane prostanoid receptor biology and discuss the clinical potential of receptor-selective drugs. We then critically examine the current evidence for activation of nuclear receptors by prostanoids.
The hetF Gene Product Is Essential to Heterocyst Differentiation and Affects HetR Function in the Cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme

ABSTRACT A novel gene, hetF, was identified as essential for heterocyst development in the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme strain ATCC 29133. In the absence of combined nitrogen, hetF mutants were unable to differentiate heterocysts, whereas extra copies of hetF intrans induced the formation of clusters of heterocysts. Sequences hybridizing to a hetF probe were detected only in heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria. The inactivation and multicopy effects of hetF were similar to those of hetR, which encodes a self-degrading serine protease thought to be a central regulator of heterocyst development. Increased transcription ofhetR begins in developing cells 3 to 6 h after deprivation for combined nitrogen (N step-down), and the HetR protein specifically accumulates in heterocysts. In the hetFmutant, this increase in hetR transcription was delayed, and a hetR promoter::green fluorescent protein (GFP) transcriptional reporter indicated that increased transcription of hetR occurred in all cells rather than only in developing heterocysts. When a fully functional HetR-GFP fusion protein was expressed in the hetF mutant from a multicopy plasmid, HetR-GFP accumulated nonspecifically in all cells under nitrogen-replete conditions; when expressed in the wild type, HetR-GFP was observed only in heterocysts after N step-down. HetF therefore appears to cooperate with HetR in a positive regulatory pathway and may be required for the increased transcription of hetR and localization of the HetR protein in differentiating heterocysts.
Empathy: A Review of the Concept

The inconsistent definition of empathy has had a negative impact on both research and practice. The aim of this article is to review and critically appraise a range of definitions of empathy and, through considered analysis, to develop a new conceptualisation. From the examination of 43 discrete definitions, 8 themes relating to the nature of empathy emerged: “distinguishing empathy from other concepts”; “cognitive or affective? ”; “congruent or incongruent? ”; “subject to other stimuli? ”; “self/other distinction or merging? ”; “trait or state influences? ”; “has a behavioural outcome? ”; and “automatic or controlled? ” The relevance and validity of each theme is assessed and a new conceptualisation of empathy is offered. The benefits of employing a more consistent and complete definition of empathy are discussed.
4-hydroxy-2-nonenal mediates genotoxicity and bystander effects caused by Enterococcus faecalis-infected macrophages.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Enterococcus faecalis is a human intestinal commensal that produces extracellular superoxide and promotes chromosome instability via macrophage-induced bystander effects. We investigated the ability of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE), a diffusible breakdown product of ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, to mediate these effects. METHODS 4-HNE was purified from E faecalis-infected macrophages; its genotoxicity was assessed in human colon cancer (HCT116) and primary murine colon epithelial (YAMC) cell lines. RESULTS 4-HNE induced G(2)-M cell cycle arrest, led to formation γH2AX foci, and disrupted the mitotic spindle in both cell lines. Binucleate tetraploid cells that formed after incubation with 4-HNE were associated with the activation of stathmin and microtubule catastrophe. Silencing glutathione S-transferase α4, a scavenger of 4-HNE, increased the susceptibility of epithelial cells to 4-HNE-induced genotoxicity. Interleukin-10 knockout mice colonized with superoxide-producing E faecalis developed inflammation and colorectal cancer, whereas colonization with a superoxide-deficient strain resulted in inflammation but not cancer. 4-HNE-protein adducts were found in the lamina propria and macrophages in areas of colorectal inflammation. CONCLUSIONS 4-HNE can act as an autochthonous mitotic spindle poison in normal colonic epithelial and colon cancer cells. This finding links the macrophage-induced bystander effects to colorectal carcinogenesis.
Les clients comptes clés sont-ils vraiment traités différemment ? Le point de vue des clients

En réaction aux évolutions des comportements d'achat de leurs clients (centralisation, coordination), mais aussi à la complexification des échanges interorganisationnels (internationalisation, évolution vers des offres solutions globales, etc.), de nombreuses entreprises industrielles ont mis en place des programmes de gestion des comptes clés. Ces programmes consistent à servir certains clients stratégiques d'une façon plus individualisée que ne le sont les clients traditionnels. L'objectif recherché est de parvenir à une création de valeur accrue. Cette recherche présente les résultats d'une étude menée auprès de 297 acheteurs professionnels. Sur la base du cadre des échanges relationnels, les auteurs proposent de tester l'hypothèse selon laquelle des clients comptes clés reçoivent un traitement plus relationnel que des clients traditionnels. Ils proposent aussi de tester l'hypothèse selon laquelle les clients comptes clés perçoivent une qualité de relation avec leur fournisseur supérieure à celle perçue par les clients traditionnels.
Characterization of signaling pathways to na+/H+ exchanger activation with epidermal growth factor in hepatocytes

To investigate the signaling pathways to Na+/H+ exchanger activation with epidermal growth factor in hepatocytes, we measured changes in cytosolic free calcium and intracellular pH levels at the single‐cell level using digital imaging fluorescence microscopy of fura‐2—or BCECF‐loaded hepatocytes in primary culture. Epidermal growth factor induced cytosolic free calcium oscillations consisting of periodic trains of spikes with a latency period of up to several minutes. These calcium responses were inhibited by tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein (100 μmol/L) and abolished by emptying of intracellular Ca2+ pools with 3 μmol/L thapsigargin, an inhibitor of Ca2+‐ATPase on the endoplasmic reticulum. Epidermal growth factor (1 nmol/L) induced an intracellular pH increase of 0.12 ± 0.07 units from the basal level of 7.25 ± 0.09 units after several minutes of latency. This effect was completely abolished by 1 mmol/L amiloride, an inhibitor of the Na+/H+ exchanger. The epidermal growth factor—induced intracellular pH increase was inhibited by pretreatment of hepatocytes with genistein (100 μmol/L), thapsigargin (3 μmol/L) or calmodulin inhibitor W‐7 (25 μmol/L), but not with protein kinase C inhibitor H‐7 (50 μmol/L) or with cyclic AMP—dependent kinase inhibitor H‐8 (60 μmol/L). Phorbol ester PMA (phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate), a potent activator of protein kinase C, induced a slight intracellular pH increase significantly smaller than that with epidermal growth factor, whereas this effect was completely blocked by pretreatment with H‐7, indicating that PMA‐induced intracellular pH increase is mediated by protein kinase C pathways, unlike epidermal growth factor. These data indicate that epidermal growth factor—induced intracellular pH increase mediated by activation of Na+/H+ exchanger in primary cultured hepatocytes depends on tyrosine kinase and is downstream from Ca2+ mobilization and Ca2+‐calmodulin—dependent pathways. (Hepatology 1994;20:966–974).
Acute Infantile Bilateral Striatal Necrosis: Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) Imaging and Review

Acute infantile bilateral striatal necrosis is a rarely described acute neurological syndrome associated with radiological findings. Its etiology and pathogenic mechanisms are unknown. Clinically, the syndrome usually follows respiratory illnesses and presents with an array of neurological findings, including axial ataxia, grimacing, mutism, head nodding, and high-pitched cry. This study follows a child with acute infantile bilateral striatal necrosis both clinically and radiologically. In addition, for the first time, the authors describe the serial findings of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) from onset of illness through 20 months. Their findings indicate an initial insult apparent on both magnetic resonance imaging and SPECT localized to the basal ganglia, which, although improved over time, does not fully regress. The residual lesion on SPECT was clinically associated with only mild attention deficit disorder and no motor pathology. The authors review the published literature concerning acute infantile bilateral striatal necrosis and suggest possible mechanisms of this poorly understood and probably underreported condition.
Hunting the game - Towards a game of testing adaptive systems

Testing adaptive systems shows some similarities to playing a game against a human. We investigate this analogy and consider the differences to the game of testing traditional systems. We map the task of revealing reachable failure situations to a stochastic game. This viewpoint enables us to evaluate and find good test strategies with methods normally used by game playing machines. A reference case is given which considers an exemplary adaptive, self-organizing system to be tested.
National and State-Specific Attitudes toward Smoke-Free Parks among U.S. Adults

Outdoor places, such as parks, remain a source of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. We assessed attitudes toward smoke-free parks among U.S. adults. Data came from the 2009–2010 National Adult Tobacco Survey, a landline and cellular telephone survey of noninstitutionalized adults aged ≥18 in the 50 U.S. states and D.C. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to assess the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of attitudes toward smoke-free parks, overall and by current tobacco use. Overall, 38.5% of adults reported favorable attitudes toward complete smoke-free parks; prevalence ranged from 29.2% in Kentucky to 48.2% in Maine. Prevalence of favorable attitudes toward smoke-free parks was higher among nonusers of tobacco (44.6%) and noncombustible-only users (30.0%) than any combustible users (21.3%). The adjusted odds of having a favorable attitude were higher among: women; Hispanics and Black non-Hispanics, American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanics, and other non-Hispanics; those with an unspecified sexual orientation; and those with children aged ≤17 in the household, relative to each characteristics respective referent group. Odds were lower among: any combustible tobacco and noncombustible-only tobacco users; adults aged 45–64; and those with some college or an undergraduate degree. Opportunities exist to educate the public about the benefits of smoke-free outdoor environments.
Expression of Kin17 promotes the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo

Kin17 protein is ubiquitously expressed in mammals and is correlated with vital biological functions. However, little is known about the role of Kin17 in the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the upregulation of Kin17 can promote the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. A series of assays was performed to study the effect of Kin17 in the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. The western blotting results revealed that Kin17 expression was increased in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues compared with that of the corresponding normal tissues. Moreover, ectopic upregulation of Kin17 expression promoted the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. These results indicated that Kin17 is involved in the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma, and that Kin17 has the potential to serve as a therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Polynomial based texture representation for facial expression recognition

In this paper, we propose a new polynomial based texture representation method for extracting information about facial expressions. While many appearance-based methods have been proposed over the years to improve the performance of facial expression recognition, most descriptors are usually unable to both provide precise multi-scale / multi-orientation analysis and handle the redundancy problem effectively. We will explain how coefficients obtained from polynomial projections of pixel intensities on a complete basis can be used for compact, hierarchical image approximation and structural analysis. We have tested our approach on two publicly available databases and achieved encouraging results comparable to the state of the art.
THE CLASSICAL THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AFTER SRAFFA

The purpose of the article is twofold. On the one hand, it evaluates the influence of Sraffa (1960) both on criticism of the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theory and on the development of a neo-Ricardian approach to international trade. On the other hand, it analyses the contribution of Sraffa (1930) to the interpretation of the principle of comparative advantage, and its consequences for the Classical theory of international trade. It concludes by showing that the originality of the Classical theory lies in the role that authors attribute to foreign trade in the development of the division of labour.
Méthodes statistiques pour la détection de QTL : nouveaux développements et applications chez le canard mulard

La recherche de QTL par regression des phenotypes sur les probabilites de transmission (modele Haley-Knott) est une methode tres largement utilisee quand on dispose de grandes familles phenotypees par des caracteres gaussiens. L'objectif de cette these d'un point de vue methodologique, est de proposer une methode de detection de QTL qui prend en compte des effectifs de familles petits d'une part, et l'existence de caracteres discrets d'autre part. Ainsi, nous proposons, pour repondre a la premiere question, une approche de detection de QTL integrant dans le calcul du merite genetique des individus marques, les performances calculees sur n generations de descendants. L'obtention d'un merite genetique deregresse comme substitut de phenotypes, propose notamment par Weller et al (1990) et Tribout et al (2008), est donc generalisee. Ensuite, sont presentes les resultats de comparaisons d'un modele supposant la normalite des donnees a un modele a seuils faisant l'hypothese d'une distribution continue sous jacente a la distribution observee dans la detection de QTL des caracteres discrets. Nous demontrons ici que le modele discret est plus precis et plus puissant quand le caractere etudie possede trois modalites distribuees de facon desequilibree dans la population.Dans la deuxieme partie de la these, l'analyse des donnees du protocole GENECAN a ete realisee. Il s'agit d'identifier les regions du genome ou locus a caractere quantitatif (QTL), associees a des caracteres d'interet mesures sur des canards mulards gaves. Le canard mulard est un hybride interspecifique obtenu par croisement d'une cane commune (Anas platyrhynchos) et d'un canard de Barbarie (Cairina moschata). Trois cents quarante deux canes communes concues en back-cross (BC) ont ete generees par croisement d'une lignee de canard Kaiya et d'une lignee de canard Pekin lourd. Ces femelles BC ont ete accouplees avec des canards de Barbarie pour produire 1600 canards mulards sur lesquels sont effectuees des mesures de croissance, de metabolisme au cours de la periode de croissance et du gavage, d'aptitude au gavage et de qualites du magret et du foie gras. La valeur phenotypique des femelles BC marquees a ete estimee, pour chaque caractere, comme etant la valeur moyenne des phenotypes de sa progeniture et ponderee par un coefficient de determination (CD) fonction du nombre de descendants et de l'heritabilite du caractere etudie. Une carte genetique de 91 marqueurs microsatellites reparties sur 16 groupes de liaison (GL) et couvrant un total de 778 cM a ete utilisee. Dans le cadre de l'analyse uni-caractere, vingt-deux QTL significatifs a 1% au niveau du chromosome ont ete cartographies. Ces QTLs sont pour la plupart impliques dans la variabilite de la qualite du magret et du foie gras. Les zones chromosomiques d'interet, identifiees dans le cadre de cette etude devront dans le futur, etre densifiees en marqueurs pour faire l'objet d'une cartographie fine.
Single-ended D flip-flop with implicit scan mux for high performance mobile AP

A novel high-speed single-ended D flip-flop based on a SR(set/reset)-type latch is presented in this paper. The SR-type latch is adapted to implement a dynamic stage for high-speed operation and modified to add a scan mux without setup time degradation on a data path. The proposed flip-flop enables to achieve the high-speed operation having the comparable hold time characteristics to a conventional master-slave flip-flop without any writeability issue at low voltage. The simulated and the measured results were made using a 14nm FinFET process. The data-to-output latency of the proposed flip-flop decreased by 51% while the power delay product improved by 41% as compared with the master-slave flip-flop. A test chip was fabricated in SS, TT, FF, SF and FS process corners and tested at −25C and 100C with a 50mV voltage step from 0.45V to 1.00V. It indicates both the master-slave and the proposed flip-flops can work down to 0.50V whereas conventional pulse-based flip-flops have writeability problems at 0.60V. Two product-level CPU designs were also fabricated for performance comparison, leading to 8.5% speed improvement by applying the proposed high-speed flip-flop.