Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PRAME as an Independent Biomarker for Metastasis in Uveal Melanoma

Purpose: Uveal melanoma (UM) can be classified by gene expression profiling (GEP) into Class 1 (low metastatic risk) and Class 2 (high metastatic risk), the latter being strongly associated with mutational inactivation of the tumor suppressor BAP1. Nevertheless, a small percentage of Class 1 tumors give rise to metastatic disease. The purpose of this study was to identify biomarkers of metastasis in Class 1 tumors. Experimental Design: A total of 389 consecutive patients with UM were assigned to Class 1 or Class 2 using a prospectively validated 12-gene prognostic classifier. Selected tumors were further analyzed using global GEP and single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays. PRAME (preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma) mRNA expression was analyzed in 64 Class 1 tumors by qPCR. Results: Among Class 1 UMs, the most significant predictor of metastasis was PRAME mRNA expression (P = 0.0006). The 5-year actuarial rate of metastasis was 0% for Class1PRAME−, 38% for Class1PRAME+, and 71% for Class 2 tumors. Median metastasis-free survival for Class1PRAME+ patients was 88 months, compared to 32 months for Class 2 patients. Findings were validated using three independent datasets, including one using disomy 3 to identify low-risk UM. Chromosome copy number changes associated with Class1PRAME+ tumors included gain of 1q, 6p, 8q, and 9q and loss of 6q and 11q. PRAME expression was associated with larger tumor diameter (P = 0.05) and SF3B1 mutations (P = 0.003). Conclusions: PRAME is an independent prognostic biomarker in UM, which identifies increased metastatic risk in patients with Class 1 or disomy 3 tumors. This finding may further enhance the accuracy of prognostic testing and precision medicine for UM. Clin Cancer Res; 22(5); 1234–42. ©2016 AACR.
Water-soluble metabolites of p-nitrophenol and 1-naphthyl N-methylcarbamate in flies and grass grubs. Formation of glucose phosphate and phosphate conjugates.

Metabolites isolated from houseflies dosed with 1-napththol or p-nitrophenol were identified as the phosphate and glucose phosphate conjugates of these phenols by titrations, hydrolysis, ionophoresis, i.r. spectra and mixed melting point. [(3)H]Carbaryl (1-naphthyl N-methylcarbamate) was metabolized by houseflies, blowflies and grass grubs to water-soluble metabolites which had chromatographic and ionophoretic behaviour similar to those of the conjugates of 1-naphthol with glucose, sulphate, phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate.
Psychometric testing of the Chinese version of nursing practice environment scale.

AIMS To test the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Nursing Practice Environment Scale (C-NPES) translated from the Lake's Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and to explore nurses' perceptions of the nursing work environments in Taiwan. BACKGROUND Magnet hospitals are characterised by professional autonomy, control over nursing practice, adequacy of staffing, supportive management and effective interdisciplinary relationships, which are successful in attracting and retaining nurses. In Taiwan, this concept has gained importance since the SARS crisis of 2003. However, there have been limited Chinese instruments based on magnet hospital traits to explore Taiwan's nursing work environment. DESIGN This study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. Purposive convenience samples of 842 nurses were recruited from five acute hospitals in Taiwan. Internal consistency reliability, content validity using expert review, construct validity using factor analysis and criterion-related validity were examined. RESULTS The Cronbach's alphas were 0.90 for the total scale and 0.87-0.65 for the subscales. The validity was obtained using a content validity index and principal component analysis of five-factor structure (variance explained 47.89%). The criterion-related validity was supportive of the turnover rate (t = 7.84, p < 0.001). The participants disagreed on staffing and resource adequacy and participation in hospital affairs but agreed on professional development. CONCLUSION The preliminary psychometric properties of C-NPES have been established. Considering cultural appropriateness, the subscales of staffing and participation in hospital affairs need advanced modification. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The C-NPES will provide hospital administrators with an overview of magnet hospital settings for nursing practice. It is beneficial for the stabilisation of the nursing workforce as well as for the optimisation of nursing work environments. Additionally, the use of professional development programs to enhance nurses' knowledge of SARS prevention is favorable.
P1 plasmid partition: in vivo evidence for the ParA‐ and ParB‐mediated formation of an anchored parS complex in the absence of a partner parS

ParA and ParB proteins and cis‐acting site, parS, are required to partition plasmid P1 faithfully to daughter cells. The process may initiate from plasmids paired by ParB at which recruited ParA then acts to effect the separation. We previously reported evidence for ParB‐mediated pairing of parS sites on plasmids in the absence of ParA. In DNA gyrase‐inhibited cells, the pairing prevented diffusion of transcription‐generated positive supercoils. This supercoil trapping was almost entirely in plasmid dimers, where the location of the parS sites in cis facilitated their pairing. Here we show that the addition of ParA blocked supercoil diffusion also in plasmid monomers. The possibility that this result is attributed to an enhancement by ParA of ParB‐mediated pairing in trans is consistent with our finding that ParA appeared to partially suppress the pairing defect of two mutant ParB proteins. However, enhanced pairing alone could not account for the diffusion barrier in plasmid monomers; it was manifest in monomers even when they were largely devoid of partners in the same cell. Apparently, ParA altered the ParB–parS complex such that it could no longer swivel, most likely by anchoring it, a reaction of probable relevance to partition.
Going where the epidemic is. Epidemiology and control of hepatitis C among injecting drug users.

BACKGROUND The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is continuing to spread among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Australia; other forms of transmission are uncommon or rare. Control of the epidemic of this potentially serious viral infection will only be achieved when transmission among IDUs is addressed. OBJECTIVE To briefly review current knowledge about transmission and impact of HCV, so as to provide an informed basis for patient counselling. DISCUSSION As better understanding develops about the transmission of HCV and the diseases it causes, and as treatments for chronic HCV infection and knowledge of how to target these treatments improve, our ability to tackle this epidemic, both at personal and public health levels, increases. However, the mainstay of treatment will continue to be fully informed counselling, and we urgently need expansion of current harm reduction programs to stop continued transmission among IDUs.
Le fédéralisme financier en Allemagne: Coopération ou concurrence?

In this paper, German federalism is analysed with respect to its implications for public spending and revenue. Since the Second World War, taxing and spending competencies in Germany have become more and more centralised. This is demonstrated with respect to (1) changes of the power to tax, (2) the important territorial reforms, and (3) the increase of the federal influence on spending of sub-federal jurisdictions. In addition, the fiscal equalization system between jurisdictions is too egalitarian and the effects of German fiscal federalism on regional development are disastrous. Compared to unitary states with a powerful central government, this kind of cooperative federalism has the disadvantage of a federal state which cannot often decide anything without the consent of the states. Consequently, many reforms are blocked in the struggle between Bundestag and Bundesrat. It appears that only the introduction of fiscal competition between the states is able to improve economic policy in Germany.
The Northwick Park ‘Functional’ Psychosis Study: diagnosis and outcome

SYNOPSIS Three hundred and twenty-six consecutively admitted patients with functional psychotic illnesses to which no diagnostic classification had been applied were followed up after 2·5 years. They were examined in social, clinical and psychological terms and the CATEGO programme and DSM-III criteria were applied to data concerning the index episode to derive diagnostic classifications. The deterioration in occupational functioning and the hospital careers of patients with diagnostic classifications of schizophrenia were worse than those in the other groups and positive and negative features were also more severe in patients with a classification of schizophrenia. By contrast, no differences in psychological test performance were found between the groups based upon diagnostic classification. Impaired psychological test performance was found and it was strongly related to concurrent mental state abnormalities, particularly negative symptoms. It is concluded that the diagnostic classifications used were of limited value in predicting outcome in functional psychosis.
Responses to GABA, glycine and β-alanine induced in Xenopus oocytes by messenger RNA from chick and rat brain

Poly (A)+ messenger RNA (mRNA) was extracted from rat and chick brains, and injected into oocytes of Xenopus laevis. This led to the expression of receptors that evoked membrane currents in response to γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glycine and β-alanine. These currents all inverted at about the chloride equilibrium potential in the oocyte, and showed a marked rectification at negative potentials. Oocytes injected with mRNA from chick optic lobe gave large responses to GABA and β-alanine, but small responses to glycine. In contrast, one fraction of mRNA from rat cerebral cortex (obtained by sucrose density gradient centrifugation) caused oocytes to develop sensitivity to GABA, glycine and β-alanine, whereas a different fraction induced sensitivity to glycine and β-alanine, but very little to GABA. The pharmacological properties of the three amino acid responses also differed. Barbiturate and benzodiazepines potentiated the responses to GABA and β-alanine, but not to glycine. Strychnine reduced the responses to glycine and β-alanine, but not to GABA, whereas bicuculline reduced the responses to GABA and β-alanine, but not to glycine. We conclude that different species of mRNA code for receptors to GABA and glycine, and possibly also for separate β-alanine receptors.
Oral Tolerance to Ovalbumin in Mice: Induction and Long-Term Persistence Unaffected by Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin B and Clostridium perfringens Type A Enterotoxin

Oral administration of dietary antigen (Ag) results in the systemic Ag-specific immunologic unresponsiveness termed oral tolerance. Its induction is of importance in the young where numerous symptoms are associated with IgE-mediated food-hypersensitivity reactions. Two related enterotoxins, cholera toxin and Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin, have been shown to abrogate oral tolerance (i.e. IgG and IgE antibody(Ab) unresponsiveness) to an unrelated and simultaneously fed Ag. However, a critical role has been suggested for the gut flora in recovery of a hyporesponsive state. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) and Clostridium perfringens type A enterotoxin (CPE), involved in many diarrheas, could affect the induction and long-term persistence of oral tolerance to ovalbumin (OVA). Using conventional and germ-free mice fed once or twice with enterotoxin plus OVA, we investigated the possible role of the indigenous gut flora. In addition, we tested the influence of CPE synthesized in vivo in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice on the induction of OVA-specific oral tolerance. Mice were immunized intraperitoneally with OVA twice, and IgG and IgE Ab levels were measured by ELISA. Neither SEB nor CPE, orally given or synthesized in vivo (CPE), prevented the induction of oral tolerance to OVA. Moreover, the IgG Ab unresponsiveness persisted over 2 mo in the conventional mice fed with toxin plus OVA as also observed in the OVA controls. The results indicate that, independent of the gut flora's influence, SEB and CPE did not affect the induction and long-term persistence of oral tolerance to co-ingested Ag.
Analysis of Water Vapor Correction for CloudSat W-Band Radar

We analyzed different models to estimate absorption at W-band by gaseous species by taking advantage of the collocated CloudSat-Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements. We used the power backscattered by the surface in the green visible wavelength of the lidar of CALIPSO as a reference to infer CloudSat's 94-GHz ocean surface backscatter in clear air and infer the attenuation introduced by gaseous absorption. Different millimeter-wave propagation models (MPMs) and different sources to determine the profile of atmospheric thermodynamic state are used to estimate CloudSat attenuation. These estimates are compared to the observations to calculate the residual dispersion. We show here that we need to adjust the empirical constants of preexisting water vapor absorption models to minimize the dispersion. Our results indicate an overestimation of absorption by the water vapor continuum at 94 GHz in Liebe-based MPM. We also propose a new empirical model to better represent the absorption of the water vapor continuum near 94 GHz. When this model is used in combination with the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System water vapor path and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office water vapor vertical profile distribution, it leads to the lowest dispersion of the data on a statistical basis (global data over one month). The improved model is expected to optimize water vapor correction applied to CloudSat data and, potentially, also to improve interpretation of brightness temperature measurements in the W-band (e.g., 85- and 98-GHz radiometric channels).
Detección de melanomas a partir de imágenes dermatoscópicas

La posibilidad de sobrevivir al cancer de piel tipo melanoma es mayor si se detecta y diagnostica en etapas tempranas. Por ello, este proyecto presenta la elaboracion de una herramienta basada en el procesamiento de imagenes, capaz de clasificar las lesiones a partir de imagenes dermatoscopicas. El proyecto se dividio en tres etapas: segmentacion, obtencion de caracteristicas y clasificacion. Para la segmentacion se implementaron el metodo de Otsu, la segmentacion semantica y operadores morfologicos para determinar el area correspondiente a la lesion. A partir de las imagenes segmentadas, se obtuvo un histograma de 250 palabras visuales de las imagenes mas representativas de cada clase utilizando descriptores de color y forma; por ultimo, se entreno un clasificador SVM con el cual se obtuvo una precision maxima del 78%, siendo los mejores resultados correspondientes al uso del espacio de color HSV e implementando un clasificador con kernel Gaussiano.
Packaged Optical Sensors Based on Regenerated Fiber Bragg Gratings for High Temperature Applications

We report on temperature sensors based on regenerated fiber Bragg gratings (RFBGs) for measurements up to 1100. The annealing process required to regenerate such gratings makes the optical fiber too delicate, thus making an adequate packaging necessary. Prior to the grating regeneration the optical fiber is protected with a ceramic tube which in turn is shielded with a thick metal casing. We have performed a thorough characterization of the thermo-optical response of both packaged and unpackaged RFBG sensors placing especial attention on possible residual hysteresis after several temperature cycling tests. The response and recovery times of packaged sensors were found to be, respectively, ~9 s and ~ 22 s.
Observation and Interpretation of Motional Sideband Asymmetry in a Quantum Electromechanical Device

Quantum electromechanical systems offer a unique opportunity to probe quantum noise properties in macroscopic devices, properties that ultimately stem from Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations. A simple example of this behavior is expected to occur in a microwave parametric transducer, where mechanical motion generates motional sidebands corresponding to the up-and-down frequency conversion of microwave photons. Because of quantum vacuum noise, the rates of these processes are expected to be unequal. We measure this fundamental imbalance in a microwave transducer coupled to a radio-frequency mechanical mode, cooled near the ground state of motion. We also discuss the subtle origin of this imbalance: depending on the measurement scheme, the imbalance is most naturally attributed to the quantum fluctuations of either the mechanical mode or of the electromagnetic field.
UNICORN: misuse detection for UNICOS

An effective method for detecting computer misuse is the automatic auditing and analysis of on-line user activity. This activity is reflected in the system audit record, by changes in the vulnerability posture of the system configuration, and in other evidence found through active testing of the system. In 1989 we started developing an automatic misuse detection system for the Integrated Computing Network (ICN) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Since 1990 this system has been operational, monitoring a variety of network systems and services. We call it the Network Anomaly Detection and Intrusion Reporter, or NADIR. During the last year and a half, we expanded NADIR to include processing of audit and activity records for the Cray UNICOS operating system. This new component is called the UNICOS Real-time NADIR, or UNICORN. UNICORN summarizes user activity and system configuration information in statistical profiles. In near real-time, it can compare current activity to historical profiles and test activity against expert rules that express our security policy and define improper or suspicious behavior. It reports suspicious behavior to security auditors and provides tools to aid in follow-up investigations. UNICORN is currently operational on four Crays in Los Alamos' main computing network, the ICN.
Spread of Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains of the Beijing Genotype in the Archangel Oblast, Russia

ABSTRACT A collection of 119 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the Archangel Oblast, Russia, in 1998 and 1999 were studied by using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with the IS6110 probe and spoligotyping. Resistance of the strains to antituberculosis drugs was analyzed by the BACTEC method, and mutations associated with rifampin resistance were detected by using the Inno-LiPA Rif. TB test. RFLP analysis and spoligotyping demonstrated that 53 (44.5%) of the strains belonged to the Beijing genotype. These strains showed a significantly higher rate of resistance than M. tuberculosis strains of other genotypes circulating in the region. In particular, 43.4% of the strains of the Beijing genotype were multidrug resistant; in contrast, only 10.6% of the other strains were. Of the strains of the Beijing genotype, 92.5% were part of a cluster, while only 33.3% of the remaining strains were clustered. Analysis of the medical records of the patients demonstrated that individuals infected with a strain of the Beijing genotype were significantly more likely to be alcohol abusers and to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prior to the tuberculosis diagnosis. Multivariate analysis showed that both variables were independently associated with infection by strains belonging to the Beijing genotype. Our study demonstrated that strains of the Beijing genotype are an important cause of tuberculosis in the Archangel Oblast and that dissemination of these strains is associated with the high incidence of drug resistance.
Image understanding for global lifelog media cloud

We implemented media lifelog system with highlighting system with image analysis, video analysis and audio segmentation modules. Image analysis module has image classification, saliency region detection, face detection and facial expression recognition process. Video analysis module has cut detection and key frame detection process. And the result images of key frame detection is used as the input of image analysis module. Audio analysis module has audio segmentation process. ImageNet data is used for training and test database. The image classification accuracy is 83%. Automatic cut detection F1 score is 0.70. Cut detection F1 score is 0.80. Audio segmentation F score is 0.53. And facial expression recognition precision rate is 94.8% at 0.756 sec on a mobile phone.
The importance of variance reduction in policy gradient method

Reinforcement learning (RL) has been applied to a wide range of motion control problems in robotics. In particular, policy gradient method (PGM) emerges as a powerful subset of RL that can learn effectively from one's experience. However, when the dynamics is stochastic and is short of samples for learning, the performance of PGM becomes inconsistent and heavily relies on the tweaking of the learning rate. In this work, we argue that this degeneration is mainly due to the high variance in the gradient. Through theoretical justifications, simulations and experiments, we verify that by applying a variance suppression, which is called local baseline, on the gradient, PGM can then be applied to some previously untouchable problems.
Why Do Americans Want Children

FOR THE PAST HALF-CENTURY, demographers have been preoccupied with the issue of fertility reduction. In his influential book, Theory of Fertility Decline, Caldwell (1982: 350) asserted that "[t]he fundamental challenge in the demographic field is to explain the onset of fertility decline. " The basic premise of Caldwell's "wealth flows' theory is that high fertility has been economically advantageous "to most families over most of human history,' because children created "wealth' (broadly defined to include "all the money, goods, services and guarantees that one person provides to another"), and that "wealth flows' were directed upward from the younger to the older generation (ibid.: 334, 333). He concluded that " [t]he onset of
The Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis on Foreign Workers in Taiwan

Having experienced an economic crisis earlier, Taiwan was on its way to recovery when the crisis struck in 1997. In general, Taiwan's labor market was hardly affected by the crisis. Although the demand for foreign workers continues, there will be a decline in the employment of foreign workers in the future. The completion of construction projects and the upgrading of the economic structure would imply a lesser demand for foreign workers in the next few years. In the future, while the Taiwanese labor market would be more restrictive of less-skilled workers, it would be more open to professionals and highly skilled.