Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of the FIGO 2009 Staging System for Carcinoma of the Vulva

Background The previous (1988) International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) vulval cancer staging system failed in 3 important areas: (1) stage 1 and 2 disease showed similar survival; (2) stage 3 represented a most heterogeneous group of patients with a wide survival range; and (3) the number and morphology of positive nodes were not taken into account. Objective To compare the 1988 FIGO vulval carcinoma staging system with that of 2009 with regard to stage migration and prognostication. Methods Information on all patients treated for vulval cancer at the Queensland Centre for Gynecological Cancers, Australia, between 1988 to the present was obtained. Data included patients’ characteristics as well as details on histopathology, treatments, and follow-up. We recorded the original 1988 FIGO stage, reviewed all patients’ histopathology information, and restaged all patients to the 2009 FIGO staging system. Data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method to compare relapse-free survival and overall survival. Results Data from 394 patients with primary vulval carcinoma were eligible for analysis. Patients with stage IA disease remained unchanged. Tumors formerly classified as stage II are now classified as stage IB. Therefore, FIGO 2009 stage II has become rare, with only 6 of 394 patients allocated to stage II. Stage III has been broken down into 3 substages, thus creating distinct differences in relapse-free survival and overall survival. Prognosis of patients with stage IIIC disease is remarkably poor. Conclusion The FIGO 2009 staging system for vulval carcinoma successfully addresses some concerns of the 1988 system. Especially, it identifies high-risk patients within the heterogeneous group of lymph node–positive patients.
A fuzzy compensated PID controller for formation control of mobile robots

In this paper, a fuzzy compensated PID control system is proposed for formation control of mobile robots. The control system consists of a kinematic controller based on the leader-follower approach and a dynamic controller to handle dynamics effects of mobile robots. To maintain the desired formation of mobile robots, the dynamic controller is equipped with a PID controller; however, the PID controller has poor performance in nonlinear and changing environments. So a fuzzy compensator is added to improve control performance. Finally, the proposed control system has been evaluated through computer simulation to demonstrate the improved results.
The computational nature of memory modification

Retrieving a memory can modify its influence on subsequent behavior. Whether this phenomenon arises from modification of the contents of the memory trace or its accessibility is a matter of considerable debate. We develop a computational theory that incorporates both mechanisms. Modification of the contents of the memory trace occurs through classical associative learning, but which memory trace is accessed (and thus made eligible for modification) depends on a structure learning mechanism that discovers the units of association by segmenting the stream of experience into statistically distinct clusters (latent causes). New memories are formed when the structure learning mechanism infers that a new latent cause underlies current sensory observations. By the same token, old memories are modified when old and new sensory observations are inferred to have been generated by the same latent cause. We derive this framework from probabilistic principles, and present a computational implementation. Simulations demonstrate that our model can reproduce the major experimental findings from studies of memory modification in the Pavlovian conditioning literature, including dependence on the strength and age of memories, the interval between memory retrieval and extinction, and prediction errors following retrieval.
The Neuropsychiatric Mental Status Examination

Neuropsychiatric disorders can cause a wide range of effects. Many aspects of behavior, cognition, and personality can be impacted. This article illustrates sensitive interview techniques for obtaining structured pertinent information to capture the effects of neuropsychiatric disorders. It then goes on to explain the components of the cognitive evaluation, with an emphasis on the hierarchical nature of cognition. It includes practical comments about evaluating cognitive dysfunctions, along with recommendations regarding the use of practical batteries. The mental status examination is then presented in detail, including nuances in assessing activity, mood, and perceptual disturbances. The manuscript content provides a template for the overall evaluation of neuropsychiatric patients.
ICA filters for lighting invariant face recognition

The use of ICA (independent component analysis) for the construction of filters for lighting invariant face recognition is investigated. ICA is used to provide filters which are applied as a pre-processing step to a low dimensional PCA subspace representation of the databases. Test faces imaged under varying illumination from a face database are classified using a support vector classifier. The ICA pre-filter recognition results are compared against those using LoG (Laplacian of Gaussian) filter of various spatial resolutions and no pre-filtering. The ICA pre-filters are shown to be very effective at selectively reducing the effect of illumination variance in object and face recognition without the need for tuning the filters to the orientations and spatial resolutions present in the images.
A Molecular Model for the Differential Activation of STAT3 and STAT6 by the Herpesviral Oncoprotein Tip

Constitutive STAT signaling provides growth promoting signals in many forms of malignancy. We performed molecular modeling and molecular dynamics studies of the interaction between the regulatory Src homology 2 (SH2) domains of STAT3 and 6 with phosphorylated peptides of the herpesviral oncoprotein Tip, which facilitates Src kinase mediated STAT-activation and T cell proliferation. The studies give insight into the ligand binding specificity of the STAT SH2 domains and provide the first model for the differential activation of STAT3 or STAT6 by two distinct regions of the viral Tip protein. The biological relevance of the modeled interactions was then confirmed by activation studies using corresponding recombinant oncoproteins, and finally by respective recombinant viruses. The functional data give experimental validation of the molecular dynamics study, and provide evidence for the involvement of STAT6 in the herpesvirus induced T cell proliferation.
An API proposal for integrating sensor data into web apps and WebRTC

Today we use smartphones and personal computers everywhere to communicate in ways made possible by the ubiquity of the Internet: we exchange emails and instant messages, make voice and video calls and participate in social media. WebRTC furthers the possibilities of audio and video communications and true peer-to-peer communications as it brings these capabilities also to an universal platform: the browser. But communication is more than just audio or video sharing, communication is about providing features capable of filling the distance void. Today we have sensors that can provide data to enrich communication by enabling the usage of information about the context of the remote peer, e.g.: providing temperature information, speed or acceleration. Mobile devices, being equipped with a range of sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers are prime terminals to enrich communications with context data, but all types of devices can make use of external sensing devices or even reach out to sensor networks. As the browser becomes a fundamental platform, sensor data is also relevant to non WebRTC web applications. In this paper, we present an API proposal to enable web applications to access sensor data and an extension to WebRTC to enable peer-to-peer exchange of sensor data, bringing nearby sensor streams to web applications and multimedia communication over the web. Telemedicine, Meteorology or Seismology are prime examples of the applicability of this technology, that also enables new types of context-aware and context-based applications and communications.
Pseudomonas syringae Catalases Are Collectively Required for Plant Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT The bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 must detoxify plant-produced hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in order to survive in its host plant. Candidate enzymes for this detoxification include the monofunctional catalases KatB and KatE and the bifunctional catalase-peroxidase KatG of DC3000. This study shows that KatG is the major housekeeping catalase of DC3000 and provides protection against menadione-generated endogenous H2O2. In contrast, KatB rapidly and substantially accumulates in response to exogenous H2O2. Furthermore, KatB and KatG have nonredundant roles in detoxifying exogenous H2O2 and are required for full virulence of DC3000 in Arabidopsis thaliana. Therefore, the nonredundant ability of KatB and KatG to detoxify plant-produced H2O2 is essential for the bacteria to survive in plants. Indeed, a DC3000 catalase triple mutant is severely compromised in its ability to grow in planta, and its growth can be partially rescued by the expression of katB, katE, or katG. Interestingly, our data demonstrate that although KatB and KatG are the major catalases involved in the virulence of DC3000, KatE can also provide some protection in planta. Thus, our results indicate that these catalases are virulence factors for DC3000 and are collectively required for pathogenesis.
Mobility, Data Mining and Privacy: The GeoPKDD Paradigm

The technologies of mobile communications and ubiquitous computing pervade our society, and wireless networks sense the movement of people and vehicles, generating large vol-umes of mobility data. Miniaturization, wearability, perva-siveness of mobile devices are producing traces of our mobile activity, with increasing positioning accuracy and semantic richness: location data from mobile phones (Global System for Mobile Communications: GSM cell positions), Geographic Positioning System (GPS) tracks from mobile devices receiving geo-positions from satellites, etc. The objective of the GeoPKDD (Geographic Privacy-aware Knowledge Discovery and Delivery), a project funded by Euro-pean Commission under the Future and emerging technologies (FET) program of the 6th Framework(FP6), has been to discover useful knowledge about human movement behavior from mobility data, while preserving the privacy of the people under observation. Pursuing this ambitious objective, the GeoPKDD project has started a new exciting multidis-ciplinary research area, at the crossroads of mobility, data mining, and privacy. This paper gives a short overview of the envisaged research challenges and the project achieve-ments.
Selective Inhibition of Systemic Anti-OVA IgE Production in Response to Oral Pre-Treatment with OVA-Liposome Conjugates

Background: We have previously reported that intraperitoneal injection with OVA-liposome conjugates induces OVA-specific and IgE-selective unresponsiveness in mice. Methods: In the present study, the effects of oral pre-treatment with OVA-liposome conjugates or with plain OVA solution on anti-OVA IgG antibody production were investigated in mice after subsequent immunization with alum-adsorbed OVA. Control mice received only the immunization. Results: The levels of serum anti-OVA IgG antibody in mice receiving oral administration of OVA-liposome were comparable to those in the control mice. However, in mice receiving oral administration of the same dose of plain OVA, levels of serum anti-OVA IgG antibody were significantly lower than those in control mice. Surprisingly, anti-OVA IgE antibody production was completely inhibited in mice receiving oral administration of OVA-liposome conjugates. Splenic CD4+ T cells of mice receiving oral administration of OVA-liposome and those of control mice produced comparable levels of cytokines, while those of mice receiving oral administration of plain OVA solution produced significantly lower levels of cytokines than those in the other two groups. Conclusion: Orally administered OVA-liposome did not affect anti-OVA IgG production but did inhibit anti-OVA IgE antibody production, while orally administered OVA solution inhibited production of both IgG and IgE antibodies. These results suggest that antigen-liposome conjugates can possibly be orally administered in order to control antigen-specific IgE antibody production, without affecting IgG antibody production.
Apatinib in the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma with KRAS mutation

Activating KRAS mutations in lung adenocarcinoma are characterized with treatment resistance and poor prognosis. As a small molecule inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) tyrosine kinase, apatinib has been proven successful in advanced gastric cancer and breast cancer. In this study, we show the result of apatinib as salvage treatment in lung adenocarcinoma patients with KRAS mutation. Four advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with KRAS mutation were orally administered apatinib (250 mg/d) after second-line treatment. One patient showed progressive disease, while 3 patients showed stable disease response to apatinib, with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 3.8 months (1.5–5.5 months). The main toxicities were hoarseness and hemoptysis, which were manageable. Therefore, apatinib might be an optional choice for advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with KRAS mutation in post second-line treatment.
The cognitive neuropsychiatry of auditory verbal hallucinations: an overview.

INTRODUCTION The cognitive neuropsychiatric approach to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) attempts to explain the phenomena in cognitive or information-processing terms and ultimately their brain bases. METHODS A narrative review of the literature and an overview of this special issue of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. RESULTS First, an operational definition of AVHs is offered. Next, clues to etiology are derived from a detailed consideration of the clinical phenomenology of "voices", their form and content. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies suggest the importance of left-side language areas in the generation/perception of AVHs. CONCLUSIONS Existing cognitive neuropsychiatric models provide a useful framework for the understanding of AVHs. However, data need to be applied more specifically to these models so that they may be refined.
SDNShield: Reconciliating Configurable Application Permissions for SDN App Markets

The OpenFlow paradigm embraces third-party development efforts, and therefore suffers from potential attacks that usurp the excessive privileges of control plane applications (apps). Such privilege abuse could lead to various attacks impacting the entire administrative domain. In this paper, we present SDNShield, a permission control system that helps network administrators to express and enforce only the minimum required privileges to individual controller apps. SDNShield achieves this goal through (i) fine-grained SDN permission abstractions that allow accurate representation of app behavior boundary, (ii) automatic security policy reconciliation that incorporates security policies specified by administrators into the requested app permissions, and (iii) a lightweight thread-based controller architecture for controller/app isolation and reliable permission enforcement. Through prototype implementation, we verify its effectiveness against proof-of-concept attacks. Performance evaluation shows that SDNShield introduces negligible runtime overhead.
Two-Dimensional, Near-Shore, Large-Scale Marine Benthic Imagery: Creating a Valuable Tool for Coral Reef Conservationists and Managers

Author(s): Hanna Holloway, Nathaniel | Abstract: Coral reefs are an essential part of most coastal, tropical communities, contributing $30 billion a year to economies in the form of good and services. Coral reefs support fisheries and provide food, economic opportunities, and ecosystem services; they have great social and economic importance to these coastal communities. However, many studies have shown that reefs are declining globally, and have been for decades. Governments and nongovernmental organizations alike have rallied behind the need to properly manage and conserve reefs all across the globe. Monitoring is a critical part of any management plan to inform scientists and managers on the status of the reef and to document changes overtime. The objective of this report is to identify the monitoring needs of coral reef managers and conservationists; propose two-dimensional, near-shore, large-scale, marine benthic imagery (coral reef photomosaics) as a valuable monitoring tool; and outline the work that has been done as part of this capstone project to make the creation of coral reef photomosaics less expensive and more accessible to the coral reef management community.
Chronic Opioid Use After Surgery: Implications for Perioperative Management in the Face of the Opioid Epidemic

Physicians, policymakers, and researchers are increasingly focused on finding ways to decrease opioid use and overdose in the United States both of which have sharply increased over the past decade. While many efforts are focused on the management of chronic pain, the use of opioids in surgical patients presents a particularly challenging problem requiring clinicians to balance 2 competing interests: managing acute pain in the immediate postoperative period and minimizing the risks of persistent opioid use after the surgery. Finding ways to minimize this risk is particularly salient in light of a growing literature suggesting that postsurgical patients are at increased risk for chronic opioid use. The perioperative care team, including surgeons and anesthesiologists, is poised to develop clinical- and systems-based interventions aimed at providing pain relief in the immediate postoperative period while also reducing the risks of opioid use longer term. In this paper, we discuss the consequences of chronic opioid use after surgery and present an analysis of the extent to which surgery has been associated with chronic opioid use. We follow with a discussion of the risk factors that are associated with chronic opioid use after surgery and proceed with an analysis of the extent to which opioid-sparing perioperative interventions (eg, nerve blockade) have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic opioid use after surgery. We then conclude with a discussion of future research directions.
Design Methodology of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine for a Screwdriver Application

In this paper, a novel methodology is presented in order to design a permanent magnet synchronous machine associated with a gearbox for a screwdriver application. The study shows how, from specification such as maximum volume, maximum heating, torque, and speed profiles, it is possible to formulate the sizing problem. The modeling is based on a purely analytical formulation. We will show that it is possible to establish rules in order to make optimal choices of materials (magnets and stator core). The optimization of the pole pair number and the choice of the gear ratio will also be discussed. Finally, the finite element method will be used to validate the designed machine.
The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Customs

The world financial crisis which started in the United States (US) in July 2007, has already had a spill-over effect on the world economy turning it into a global, synchronised recession. The associated unprecedented collapse in world trade was due to a number of reasons including the fall in aggregate demand, increasing protectionist measures, and withdrawal of trade credits. The recession has concurrently adversely affected all tax revenues including taxes/duties collected by customs agencies. In response to the crisis, the World Customs Organization (WCO) has recommended a number of processes to reduce the negative effects of reduction in trade and to promote best practices in sustaining the global trading system. The impact of the crisis has been particularly severe on export-driven economies such as Mauritius. Beyond an Additional Stimulus Package, the Mauritius Customs Department has been developing and introducing various administrative measures aimed at facilitating trade and managing risk to mitigate the impact of the recession.
α4-Containing GABAA Receptors are Required for Antagonism of Ethanol-Induced Motor Incoordination and Hypnosis by the Imidazobenzodiazepine Ro15-4513

Alcohol (ethanol) is widely consumed for its desirable effects but unfortunately has strong addiction potential. Some imidazobenzodiazepines such as Ro15-4513 are able to antagonize many ethanol-induced behaviors. Controversial biochemical and pharmacological evidence suggest that the effects of these ethanol antagonists and ethanol are mediated specifically via overlapping binding sites on α4/δ-containing GABAA-Rs. To investigate the requirement of α4-containing GABAA-Rs in the mechanism of action of Ro15-4513 on behavior, wildtype (WT) and α4 knockout (KO) mice were compared for antagonism of ethanol-induced motor incoordination and hypnosis. Motor effects of ethanol were tested in two different fixed speed rotarod assays. In the first experiment, mice were injected with 2.0 g/kg ethanol followed 5 min later by 10 mg/kg Ro15-4513 (or vehicle) and tested on a rotarod at 8 rpm. In the second experiment, mice received a single injection of 1.5 g/kg ethanol ± 3 mg/kg Ro15-4513 and were tested on a rotarod at 12 rpm. In both experiments, the robust Ro15-4513 antagonism of ethanol-induced motor ataxia that was observed in WT mice was absent in KO mice. A loss of righting reflex (LORR) assay was used to test Ro15-4513 (20 mg/kg) antagonism of ethanol (3.5 g/kg)-induced hypnosis. An effect of sex was observed on the LORR assay, so males and females were analyzed separately. In male mice, Ro15-4513 markedly reduced ethanol-induced LORR in WT controls, but α4 KO mice were insensitive to this effect of Ro15-4513. In contrast, female KO mice did not differ from WT controls in the antagonistic effects of Ro15-4513 on ethanol-induced LORR. We conclude that Ro15-4513 requires α4-containing receptors for antagonism of ethanol-induced LORR (in males) and motor ataxia.
The Mathematical Procedure of Coarse Graining: From Grad's Ten-Moment Equations to Hydrodynamics

We employ systematic coarse graining techniques to derive hydrodynamic equations from Grad’s ten‐moment equations. The coarse graining procedure is designed such that it manifestly preserves the thermodynamic structure of the equations. The relevant thermodynamic structure and the coarse graining recipes suggested by statistical mechanics are described in detail and are illustrated by the example of hydrodynamics. A number of mathematical challenges associated with structure‐preserving coarse graining of evolution equations for thermodynamic systems as a generalization of Hamiltonian dynamic systems are presented. Coarse graining is a key step that should always be considered before attempting to solve an equation.