Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research Question PICO Query Strategy Formulation T 1 : Query Formulation T 2 : Retrieval For Screening T 3 : Screening Prioritisation T 5 : BiasT 4 : Screening

Systematic reviews, in particular medical systematic reviews, are time consuming and costly to produce. The largest contributing factors to the time and monetary costs are the searching (including the formulation of queries) and screening processes. These initial processes involve researchers reading the abstracts of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of research articles to determine if the retrieved articles should be included or excluded from the systematic review. This research explores automatic methodologies to reduce the workload relating to the searching and screening processes.
A New Construction for Cancellative Families of Sets

Following [2], we say a family, $H$, of subsets of a $n$-element set is cancellative if $A \cup B = A \cup C$ implies $B =C$ when $A, B, C \in H$. We show how to construct cancellative families of sets with $c 2^{. 54797n}$ elements. This improves the previous best bound $c 2^{. 52832n}$ and falsifies conjectures of Erdos and Katona [3] and Bollobas [1].
Experimental effect of retinoic acids on apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy

Purpose This study was conducted to investigate whether retinoic acids (RAs) had any effect on apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy. Methods To investigate whether RAs had any effect on apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy, we housed 32 C57BL/6 male mice and induced diabetes in 24 by intra peritoneal injections of streptozotocin (STZ; Sigma, St Louis, MO) and treated 16 of the diabetic mice with the RAs, all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) (seven mice) and 4-[(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalenyl)carboxamido] benzoic acid (Am580) (nine mice). The other eight mice were used as diabetic controls. We then measured apoptosis in the retina by TdT-dUTP terminal nick-end labeling assay. Results RAs inhibited the apoptosis of retinal cells in diabetic retinopathy. Many apoptotic cells were observed in retinas of the eight diabetic control mice (mean value and SD: 37.8 ± 6.9), whereas when diabetic mice were treated with RAs, the number of apoptotic cells significantly decreased (mean value and SD: 9.9 ± 6.4 for the seven ATRA-treated diabetic mice and 9.8 ± 5.9 for the nine Am580-treated diabetic mice) (p < 0.05). Conclusion Treatment with RAs decreases apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy.
Opleiding Informatica GPU Based Generation and Real-Time Rendering of Semi-Procedural Terrain Using Features

Generation and real-time rendering of terrain is a complex and multifaceted problem. Besides the obvious trade-offs between performance and quality, many different generation and rendering solutions exist. Different choices in implementation will result in very different visuals, usability and tools for generation. In this thesis, a fast and intuitive terrain generation method based on sketching is proposed alongside a method for real-time generation and rendering of a detailed mesh using the GPU.
Depressive Symptoms, Antidepressant Use, and the Incidence of Diabetes in the Black Women’s Health Study

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship of depressive symptoms and use of antidepressants with incident type 2 diabetes in prospective data from a large cohort of U.S. African American women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS) is an ongoing prospective cohort study. We followed 35,898 women from 1999 through 2011 who were without a diagnosis of diabetes and who had completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in 1999. CES-D scores were categorized as <16, 16–22, 23–32, and ≥33, which reflected increasingly more depressive symptoms. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% CIs for incident diabetes using Cox proportional hazards models. The basic multivariable model included age, time period, family history of diabetes, and education. In further models, we controlled for lifestyle factors and BMI. We also assessed the association of antidepressant use with incident diabetes. RESULTS Over 12 years of follow-up, there were 3,372 incident diabetes cases. Relative to CES-D score <16, IRRs (95% CI) of diabetes for CES-D scores 16–22, 23–32, and ≥33 were 1.23 (1.12–1.35), 1.26 (1.12–1.41), and 1.45 (1.24–1.69), respectively, in the basic multivariate model. Multiple adjustment for lifestyle factors and BMI attenuated the IRRs to 1.11 (1.01–1.22), 1.08 (0.96–1.22), and 1.22 (1.04–1.43). The adjusted IRR for antidepressant use was 1.26 (1.11–1.43). Results were similar among obese women. CONCLUSIONS Both depressive symptoms and antidepressant use are associated with incident diabetes among African American women. These associations are mediated in part, but not entirely, through lifestyle factors and BMI.
Combined Nivolumab and Ipilimumab or Monotherapy in Untreated Melanoma.

BACKGROUND Nivolumab (a programmed death 1 [PD-1] checkpoint inhibitor) and ipilimumab (a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 [CTLA-4] checkpoint inhibitor) have been shown to have complementary activity in metastatic melanoma. In this randomized, double-blind, phase 3 study, nivolumab alone or nivolumab plus ipilimumab was compared with ipilimumab alone in patients with metastatic melanoma. METHODS We assigned, in a 1:1:1 ratio, 945 previously untreated patients with unresectable stage III or IV melanoma to nivolumab alone, nivolumab plus ipilimumab, or ipilimumab alone. Progression-free survival and overall survival were coprimary end points. Results regarding progression-free survival are presented here. RESULTS The median progression-free survival was 11.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.9 to 16.7) with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, as compared with 2.9 months (95% CI, 2.8 to 3.4) with ipilimumab (hazard ratio for death or disease progression, 0.42; 99.5% CI, 0.31 to 0.57; P<0.001), and 6.9 months (95% CI, 4.3 to 9.5) with nivolumab (hazard ratio for the comparison with ipilimumab, 0.57; 99.5% CI, 0.43 to 0.76; P<0.001). In patients with tumors positive for the PD-1 ligand (PD-L1), the median progression-free survival was 14.0 months in the nivolumab-plus-ipilimumab group and in the nivolumab group, but in patients with PD-L1-negative tumors, progression-free survival was longer with the combination therapy than with nivolumab alone (11.2 months [95% CI, 8.0 to not reached] vs. 5.3 months [95% CI, 2.8 to 7.1]). Treatment-related adverse events of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 16.3% of the patients in the nivolumab group, 55.0% of those in the nivolumab-plus-ipilimumab group, and 27.3% of those in the ipilimumab group. CONCLUSIONS Among previously untreated patients with metastatic melanoma, nivolumab alone or combined with ipilimumab resulted in significantly longer progression-free survival than ipilimumab alone. In patients with PD-L1-negative tumors, the combination of PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade was more effective than either agent alone. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb; CheckMate 067 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01844505.).
Applications of Clustering Algorithms in the Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Data

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an experimental technique in chemistry that is used to assist in the identification of chemical compounds by means of fragmentation. However due to the amount of noise in the data, current methods of analysis are very manual and since the process can produce vast amounts of data, this makes the detection of key features very time-consuming. In this paper we present the results of applying various clustering techniques from the machine learning sphere to this domain. The results that were gathered are promising, in both the quantity and quality of features that were detected, indicating strong potential for automation in a key stage of the MS data analysis pipeline.
Clustered and leveled disjoint multipath routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks

In this paper we propose a new routing scheme which exploits the redundancy and geometrical properties of the wireless network. The approach we take is to combine the ideas of directional flooding, leveling, clustering and disjoint multipath routing to achieve an optimal routing scheme in terms of average energy consumed and total number of transmitted packets. Processing and structuring of the network before the implementation of the directional flooding algorithm improves the performance considerably when compared to the implementation of directional flooding algorithm without any preprocessing. We carry out extensive experimentation and simulations to corroborate our claims.
Enhanced data retention of damascene-finFET DRAM with local channel implantation and <100> fin surface orientation engineering

80nm damascene-finFET (d-finFET) 512M DRAM is fabricated on bulk <100> channel directional wafer (CW). We adopted damascene technology to form the fin only to the channel region of cell array transistor with self-aligned LCI (local channel ion implantation). From the reduced contact resistance, surface treatment, and electron mobility improvement of <100> CW, 50% increased on-current is achieved in d-finFET. Utilizing LCI to d-finFET, junction leakage of the storage node has been reduced. The characteristics of d-finFET and conventional finFET (c-finFET), and <110> CW and <100> CW were compared. Using the d-finFET scheme with LCI, data retention time is further improved from the previous work of c-finFET (Lee et al., 2004).
Differential reactions of HLA typing sera with cells homozygous for crossreacting antigens

A large number of well‐characterized HLA typing sera were used in a standard cytotoxicity technique to evaluate the frequency with which homozygous cells reacted to antisera directed against a crossreacting specificity. Four of 15 anti‐HLA‐A1 sera reacted with cells homozygous for HLA‐A11 bet not with A11 heterozygotes. Similar dosage effects were noted with anti‐A3 sera and A11 cells, with anti‐A28 sera and A2 cells, with anti‐A23 sera and A24 cells, and with anti‐A24 sera and A23 cells. No dosage effects were seen with anti‐A1 sera and A3 cells, with anti‐ A3 sera and A1 cells, and with anti‐A11 sera and either A1 or A3 cells. Dosage effects were also not seen with anti‐B51 or ‐B35 sera and cells containing antigens of the B5 crossreacting group. Dosage is a property of the individual serum and does not occur with all samples sharing the same primary specificity. As noted by red cell serologists, sera demonstrating dosage effects are common with some specificities but absent with others. The reactions noted may be a quantitative effect of epitopes present on certain antigens. Caution should be observed when interpreting an HLA phenotype that appears to contain two crossreacting antigens at the same locus, unless the sera used have been shown not to manifest dosage effects.
Why CCR2 and CCR5 Blockade Failed and Why CCR1 Blockade Might Still Be Effective in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background The aim of this study was to provide more insight into the question as to why blockade of CCR1, CCR2, and CCR5 may have failed in clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, using an in vitro monocyte migration system model. Methodology/Principal Findings Monocytes from healthy donors (HD; n = 8) or from RA patients (for CCR2 and CCR5 antibody n = 8; for CCR1 blockade n = 13) were isolated from peripheral blood and pre-incubated with different concentrations of either anti-CCR1, anti-CCR2, or anti-CCR5 blocking antibodies (or medium or isotype controls). In addition, a small molecule CCR1 antagonist (BX471) was tested. Chemotaxis was induced by CCL2/MCP-1 (CCR2 ligand), CCL5/RANTES (CCR1 and CCR5 ligand), or by a mix of 5 RA synovial fluids (SFs), and cellular responses compared to chemotaxis in the presence of medium alone. Anti-CCR2 antibody treatment blocked CCL2/MCP-1-induced chemotaxis of both HD and RA monocytes compared to isotype control. Similarly, anti-CCR5 antibody treatment blocked CCL5/RANTES-induced chemotaxis of RA monocytes. While neither CCR2 nor CCR5 blocking antibodies were able to inhibit SF-induced monocyte chemotaxis, even when both receptors were blocked simultaneously, both anti-CCR1 antibodies and the CCR1 antagonist were able to inhibit SF-induced monocyte chemotaxis. Conclusions/Significance The RA synovial compartment contains several ligands for CCR1, CCR2, and CCR5 as well as other chemokines and receptors involved in monocyte recruitment to the site of inflammation. The results suggest that CCR2 and CCR5 are not critical for the migration of monocytes towards the synovial compartment in RA. In contrast, blockade of CCR1 may be effective. Conceivably, CCR1 blockade failed in clinical trials, not because CCR1 is not a good target, but because very high levels of receptor occupancy at all times may be needed to inhibit monocyte migration in vivo.
Tales from the Crypt … omnesia

Consider the problems facing a research student trying to think of a novel experiment to test a theoretical idea that forms the core of her doctoral thesis. Given the limitations of time and energy, it is likely that the student is working in constrained circumstances. She probably has not read everything she should have and is unlikely to have understood everything she has read. Unless she is particularly assiduous, she will not have made notes on everything she has read or discussed with her adviser, and it is certain that she will not have perfect recall for the material to which she has been exposed. Nevertheless, our hypothetical student is determined to excel, and as the midnight oil burns away, she suddenly has a creative insight, and the next experiment comes to her in a flash. Eureka! The next day she proudly presents her idea to her adviser, convinced that suitable praise will be lavished on her. Now imagine her disappointment when the adviser (wise and all-knowing as this hypothetical adviser is) tells her that it is an excellent idea. So good in fact, that it was published by John Doe 5 years ago. Worse, the adviser told them to go and read Doe’s work 3 months ago, or perhaps worse yet, the adviser is John Doe. The student’s apparent flash of creative genius was in fact a memory but was not experienced as such. In fact, the student appears to have unconsciously plagiarized the prior event, mistaking something old for something new. She thought someone else’s idea was her new idea, a rather disturbing metacognitive error. Informal discussion with colleagues indicates that such experiences are not uncommon. It is not just struggling students who make such errors; the literature contains a number of anecdotal accounts of how famous academics have unwittingly plagiarized others. Freud’s “discovery” that everyone starts life initially bisexual was in fact a plagiarized idea. His colleague Fliess had suggested this to him 2 years earlier. Freud initially denied that Fliess had told him this, claiming the idea as his own, before later recollecting the original exchange and acknowledging his plagiarism (Taylor, 1965). Skinner (1983), in a review of his own experience as an older academic, acknowledged that a dispiriting experience of his later life had been to generate seemingly novel and insightful ideas, only to discover that they were old ideas that he had published many years before. In the creative industries, there are numerous cases in which successful prosecutions have been based on the notion of unconscious plagiarism. Perhaps the most famous case is that of George Harrison, who was found guilty of copyright infringement (i.e., plagiarism) of the Chiffon’s hit “He’s So Fine” with his own song “My Sweet Lord” (Bright Tunes Music Corp v. Harrisongs Music Ltd., 1976).
Anti-apoptotic Role of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK)

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) has an anti-apoptotic role in anchorage-dependent cells via an unknown mechanism. To elucidate the role of FAK in anti-apoptosis, we have established several FAK cDNA-transfected HL-60 cell lines and examined whether FAK-transfected cells have resistance to apoptotic stimuli. FAK-transfected HL-60 (HL-60/FAK) cells were highly resistant to apoptosis induced with hydrogen peroxide (1 mm) and etoposide (50 μg/ml) compared with the parental HL-60 cells or the vector-transfected cells, when determined using viability assay, DNA fragmentation, and flow cytometry analysis. Because no proteolytic cleavage of pro-caspase 3 to mature caspase 3 fragment was observed in HL-60/FAK cells, FAK was presumed to inhibit an upstream signal pathway leading to the activation of caspase 3. HL-60/FAK activated the phosphatidylinositide 3′-OH-kinase-Akt survival pathway and exhibited significant activation of NF-κB with marked induction of inhibitor-of-apoptosis proteins (IAPs: cIAP-1, cIAP-2, XIAP), regardless of the hydrogen peroxide-treated or untreated conditions, whereas no significant IAPs were detected in the parental or vector-transfected HL-60 cells. Apoptotic agents induced higher NF-κB activation in HL-60/FAK cells than in HL-60/Vect cells, and it appeared that sustained NF-κB activation is critical to the anti-apoptotic states in HL-60/FAK cells. Mutagenesis of FAK cDNA revealed that Y397 and Y925, which are involved in the tyrosine-phosphorylation sites, were prerequisite for the anti-apoptotic activity as well as induction of IAPs, and that K454, which is involved in the kinase activity, was also required for the full anti-apoptotic activity of FAK. Taken together, we have demonstrated definitively that FAK-transfected HL-60 cells, otherwise sensitive to apoptosis, become resistant to the apoptotic stimuli. We conclude that FAK activates the phosphatidylinositide 3′-OH-kinase-Akt survival pathway with the concomitant activation of NF-kB and induction of IAPs, which ultimately inhibit apoptosis by inhibiting caspase-3 cascade.
Orc1 Controls Centriole and Centrosome Copy Number in Human Cells

Centrosomes, each containing a pair of centrioles, organize microtubules in animal cells, particularly during mitosis. DNA and centrosomes are normally duplicated once before cell division to maintain optimal genome integrity. We report a new role for the Orc1 protein, a subunit of the origin recognition complex (ORC) that is a key component of the DNA replication licensing machinery, in controlling centriole and centrosome copy number in human cells, independent of its role in DNA replication. Cyclin A promotes Orc1 localization to centrosomes where Orc1 prevents Cyclin E-dependent reduplication of both centrioles and centrosomes in a single cell division cycle. The data suggest that Orc1 is a regulator of centriole and centrosome reduplication as well as the initiation of DNA replication.
Modeling Waste to Energy systems in Kumasi, Ghana

Modeling Waste to Energy systems in Kumasi, Ghana Emma Wikner Functioning solid waste management is of great importance both for people’s health and for environmental protection. The urban areas in Third World countries face a huge challenge in constructing operational and sustainable solid waste management systems. At the same time, these countries need more energy for development. The energy needs to be produced in a sustainable way, preferably from renewable sources which have a minimum environmental impact. One possibility is to use solid waste to generate electricity in centralized plants. The purpose of this thesis was to compare benefits and environmental impacts between incineration, anaerobic digestion and landfill with gas collection as methods of solid waste management. All of these systems were assumed to generate electricity. To compare the different systems, a software model was created in MATLAB, Simulink. The impact categories compared in the study were emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil sources and methane (CH4) expressed as CO2 equivalents in global warming potential (GWP) and emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (NOX) expressed as SO2 equivalents as acidifying effect. The comparison was based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and material flux analysis (MFA). The study area was the city of Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana with a population of more than 1.9 million citizens. The metropolitan area of Kumasi generates about 1 100 ton of solid waste per day. It is assumed that 70 % of the waste produced is collected. The rest of the solid waste is indiscriminately dumped in rivers or drainage systems or burned. Today, the collected waste is brought to the landfill in the outskirts of the city. The landfill is engineered and there are wells for gas collection, but the landfill gas is not collected at present. The results from the modeling was that the incineration scenario generated most electricity, 191 000 MWh/year, the anaerobic digestion system generated 37 800 MWh/year and the landfill with gas collection system 24 800 MWh/year. The incineration plant contributed most to emissions of both NOX and SO2. The emissions expressed in SO2 equivalents were 315 ton/year. The modeled landfill and anaerobic digestion scenario emitted 12 and 22 ton SO2 equivalents per year respectively. The GWP of the landfill with gas collection scenario was 114 000 ton CO2 equivalents per year. Modeled emissions from the incineration system were 81 000 ton CO2 from fossil sources per year, while the anaerobic digestion scenario emitted 11 000 ton CO2 equivalence per year.
Insurance premium optimization using motor insurance policies — A business growth classification approach

The most common business insurance is the general liability insurance, providing businesses with coverage for damage caused to others, as a result of their business operations. In this paper, we investigate how changes to the main insurance premium driver, a company's insured revenue, can be estimated using a random forest classification. We find that information about a business customer from its motor vehicle insurance policy, can be used to classify shrinking, stable and growing businesses. The integration of the model into an insurance CRM system, may provide an economical useful solution for traditional insurance companies to increase insurance premiums in an efficient way by only reaching out to the most promising companies to do business with.
Listening to Students from Refugee Backgrounds: Lessons for Education Professionals.

This article is based on a study that examined how students from refugee backgrounds cope with victimization and bullying in three urban high schools in the United States. Qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were employed. Twelve high school students from refugee backgrounds participated in the study, which involved focus group interviews. Data were analyzed using the process of coding. Students reported a wide range of victimization and bullying experiences from verbal to physical assaults. Further, students reported multiple ways of coping with victimization and bullying. The study provides practical lessons for teachers and administrators to mitigate bullying among refugee students.
Toward development of high secure sensor network nodes using an FPGA-based architecture

In the last years research on wireless sensor networks (WSN) has focused on how to build power-aware sensor networks. Due to the limited resources an effective, efficient cryptosystem is needed to provide security and at the same time save power and memory. Efficient usage of strong cryptographic algorithms for WSNs is an open problem. To solve this problem we propose in this paper a new architectural concept for WSN sensor nodes. In our concept, power-saving and cost-saving FPGA chips build the main component of our senor nodes. The proposed architecture is of significant importance since it presents a new trend towards providing security for WSNs and reducing power consumption.