Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cancer in indigenous people in Latin America and the Caribbean: a review

Cancer is a leading cause of death in Latin America but there have been few assessments of the cancer burden for the 10% of the population who are indigenous. Evidence from other world regions suggests cancer survival is poorer for indigenous people than for others due to a greater incidence of case‐fatal cancers, later stage at diagnosis, and less cancer treatment. A status report on the cancer profile of indigenous people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is therefore clearly warranted. We undertook a systematic review of the peer‐reviewed literature in academic databases, and considered evidence from cancer registries from 1980, to assess cancer epidemiology among indigenous people in LAC. We identified 35 peer‐reviewed articles pertaining to cancer in indigenous people. Rates of cervical cancer in parts of Brazil, Ecuador, and Guyana, stomach cancer rates in regions of Chile and gallbladder rates in Chile and Bolivia, were higher for indigenous compared to others. Breast cancer rates were lower in Ecuador, Brazil, and Chile. Six cancer registries in Brazil provided incidence data but no other reports of incidence, mortality, or survival were identified. There was a paucity of data surrounding the cancer burden of indigenous people in LAC. In view of predicted increases in cancer rates in ensuing decades, and the disparities in burden already experienced by indigenous people in the region, it is imperative that cancer profiles are obtained and cancer control measures identified and prioritized.
Promutagen activation by fish liver as a biomarker of littoral pollution

Metabolic activation of known promutagens by liver S9 fractions of Mugil sp. (grey mullet) from two zones of the South Atlantic Spanish littoral was determined and related to their pollution levels. Sediments from the putative contaminated area contained high concentrations of PAHs, PCBs and pesticides, and animals from the polluted site exhibited higher concentrations of metals than those from the reference area. Hepatic S9 fractions of mullets from the polluted site showed 5.1‐, 18.6‐ and 42.8‐fold higher capability to activate benzo(a)pyrene, 2‐acetyl‐aminofluorene and 2‐aminoanthracene, respectively, than those from reference animals. Cadmium, a highly toxic metal, was one of the pollutants detected in the contaminated area. Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) were exposed under controlled conditions to different Cd concentrations in order to investigate the effects of Cd on fish promutagen activation capability. A clear dose‐response relationship was observed between Cd concentration, EROD activity and metabolic activation of 2‐aminoanthracene and benzo(a)pyrene. Our data indicate that the enhanced promutagen activation by fish S9 fractions accompanying induction of EROD activity is a sensitive and reliable index of pollution in aquatic environments. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Haemorrhagic Transformation after Ischaemic Stroke in Patients Taking Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants

Background and Purpose To evaluate the frequency and outcome of haemorrhagic transformation (HT) after ischaemic stroke in patients treated with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs). Methods Patients with stroke on treatment with a NOAC were prospectively enrolled in this multicentre observational study between February 2012 and 2015. Brain imaging at admission and follow-up imaging until day 7 were reviewed for HT. Functional outcome was assessed by the modified Rankin scale (mRS) before the index event, at discharge, and at 3-months. Results 231 patients without recanalisation therapy (no-RT), and 32 patients with RT were eligible for analysis. Any HT was present at admission in 9/231 no-RT patients (3.9%, 95% CI 2.0 to 7.3) and in none of the patients with RT. In patients with follow-up imaging (no-RT, n=129, and RT, n=32), HT was present in 14.0% (no-RT; 95% CI, 8.9 to 21.1), and 40.6% (RT, 95% CI, 25.5 to 57.8), respectively. After adjustment for stroke severity, this difference between the no-RT and RT groups became non-significant. Symptomatic ICH was observed in 1 patient per group. HT was not associated with unfavourable outcome (mRS 3-6) at 3-months in multivariable analysis. Resumption of OAC after stroke was delayed in patients with HT compared to those without (15 d [IQR, 5–26] vs. 1 d [0–4], P<0.001). Conclusions The frequency and severity of HT after stroke on NOAC appears similar to previous reports for vitamin K antagonists and no anticoagulation. Whether asymptomatic HT should delay resumption of preventive anticoagulation requires further investigation.
Architecture for Improving Terrestrial Logistics Based on the Web of Things

Technological advances for improving supply chain efficiency present three key challenges for managing goods: tracking, tracing and monitoring (TTM), in order to satisfy the requirements for products such as perishable goods where the European Legislations requires them to ship within a prescribed temperature range to ensure freshness and suitability for consumption. The proposed system integrates RFID for tracking and tracing through a distributed architecture developed for heavy goods vehicles, and the sensors embedded in the SunSPOT platform for monitoring the goods transported based on the concept of the Internet of Things. This paper presents how the Internet of Things is integrated for improving terrestrial logistics offering a comprehensive and flexible architecture, with high scalability, according to the specific needs for reaching an item-level continuous monitoring solution. The major contribution from this work is the optimization of the Embedded Web Services based on RESTful (Web of Things) for the access to TTM services at any time during the transportation of goods. Specifically, it has been extended the monitoring patterns such as observe and blockwise transfer for the requirements from the continuous conditional monitoring, and for the transfer of full inventories and partial ones based on conditional queries. In definitive, this work presents an evolution of the previous TTM solutions, which were limited to trailer identification and environment monitoring, to a solution which is able to provide an exhaustive item-level monitoring, required for several use cases. This exhaustive monitoring has required new communication capabilities through the Web of Things, which has been optimized with the use and improvement of a set of communications patterns.
Practical design method for fiber-optic inband relaying in the presence of self-interference

This paper proposes a new type of fiber-optic relaying that extends the coverage of mobile networks. The antenna facing the evolved Node B (eNB) is geographically separated from the antenna facing the user equipment, and the two antennas are connected by an optical fiber. This paper presents a practical design method for fiber-optic inband relaying in the presence of self-interference, which is the interference between backhaul and access links. For two types of interference path loss models, the theoretical desired-to-undesired-signal ratio (DUR) in both uplink and downlink is investigated for a practical layout model as parameters of optical fiber length, and the distance between eNB and the antenna facing eNB. We also analyze the performance of both DUR and the signal-to-noise ratio versus carrier frequency.
Robust backstepping control of nonlinear systems using neural networks

A controller is proposed for the robust backstepping control of a class of general nonlinear systems using neural networks (NNs). A tuning scheme is proposed which can guarantee the boundedness of tracking error and weight updates. Compared with adaptive backstepping control schemes, we do not require the unknown parameters to be linear parametrizable. No regression matrices are needed, so no preliminary dynamical analysis is needed. One salient feature of our NN approach is that there is no need for the off-line learning phase. Three nonlinear systems, including a one-link robot, an induction motor, and a rigid-link flexible-joint robot, were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Modeling Motion of Body Parts for Action Recognition

This paper presents a simple and computationally efficient framework for human action recognition based on modeling the motion of human body parts. Intuitively, a collective understanding of human part movements can lead to better understanding and representation of any human action. In this paper, we propose a generative representation of the motion of the human body parts to learn and classify human actions. The proposed representation combines the advantages of both local and global representations, encoding the relevant motion information as well as being robust to local appearance changes. Our work is motivated by the pictorial structures model and the framework of sparse representations for recognition. Human part movements are represented efficiently through quantization in the polar space. The key discrimination within each action is efficiently encoded by sparse representation to perform classification. The proposed method is evaluated on both the KTH and the UCF action datasets and the results are compared against other state-of-the-art methods.
Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) for Environmental Development and Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance

Background: Only recently has the environment been clearly implicated in the risk of antibiotic resistance to clinical outcome, but to date there have been few documented approaches to formally assess these risks. Objective: We examined possible approaches and sought to identify research needs to enable human health risk assessments (HHRA) that focus on the role of the environment in the failure of antibiotic treatment caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Methods: The authors participated in a workshop held 4–8 March 2012 in Québec, Canada, to define the scope and objectives of an environmental assessment of antibiotic-resistance risks to human health. We focused on key elements of environmental-resistance-development “hot spots,” exposure assessment (unrelated to food), and dose response to characterize risks that may improve antibiotic-resistance management options. Discussion: Various novel aspects to traditional risk assessments were identified to enable an assessment of environmental antibiotic resistance. These include a) accounting for an added selective pressure on the environmental resistome that, over time, allows for development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB); b) identifying and describing rates of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the relevant environmental “hot spot” compartments; and c) modifying traditional dose–response approaches to address doses of ARB for various health outcomes and pathways. Conclusions: We propose that environmental aspects of antibiotic-resistance development be included in the processes of any HHRA addressing ARB. Because of limited available data, a multicriteria decision analysis approach would be a useful way to undertake an HHRA of environmental antibiotic resistance that informs risk managers. Citation: Ashbolt NJ, Amézquita A, Backhaus T, Borriello P, Brandt KK, Collignon P, Coors A, Finley R, Gaze WH, Heberer T, Lawrence JR, Larsson DG, McEwen SA, Ryan JJ, Schönfeld J, Silley P, Snape JR, Van den Eede C, Topp E. 2013. Human health risk assessment (HHRA) for environmental development and transfer of antibiotic resistance. Environ Health Perspect 121:993–1001; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1206316
Light and electron microscopic study of m2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor in the basal forebrain of the rat

The m2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor gene is expressed at high levels in basal forbrain, but the paucity of information about localization of the encoded receptor protein has limited the understanding of cellular and subcellular mechanisms involved in cholinergic actions in this region. The present study sought to determine the cellular localization of m2 protein, its relationship to cholinergic neurons, and its pre‐and postsynaptic distribution in the rat medial septum‐diagonal band complex using immunocytochemistry with polyclonal rabbit antibodies and a newly developed rat monoclonal antibody specific to the m2 receptor. Light microscopic colocalization studies demonstrated that m2 was present in a subset of choline acetyltransferase immunoreactive neurons, in choline acetyltransferase‐negative neurons, and in more neuropil elements than was choline acetyltransferase. Intraventricular injections of 192 IgG‐saporin, an immunotoxin directed to the low‐affinity nerve growth factor receptor, resulted in depletion of choline acetyltransferase‐immunoreactive neurons in the medial septum‐diagonal band complex, whereas m2 immunoreactivity in neurons and in the neuropil was unchanged. By electron microscopy, m2 receptor in medial septum‐diagonal band complex was localized to the plasmalemma of a small population of small to medium‐sized neurons, and it was also found in dendrites, axons, and axon terminals in the neuorpil Neurons expressing m2 immunoreactivity recived synaptic contacts from unlabelled axon terminals. A small distinct subpopulation of large neurons, unlabelled by m2 immunoreactivity, received synaptic contacts from m2‐immunoreactive terminals. Thus, m2 receptor is situated to mediate the local effects of acetylcholine on basal forebrain cholinergic and noncholinergic neurons and, also, at both pre‐and postsynaptic sites. © 1995 Willy‐Liss, Inc.
Inhibition of endotoxin-induced uveitis and potentiation of cyclooxygenase-2 protein expression by alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone.

PURPOSE The efficacy of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) on endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) was investigated in rats. Several studies have demonstrated that there are various inflammatory reactions mediated by an alpha-MSH receptor in macrophages. In addition, as it is known that cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is induced by a variety of stimuli and plays an important role in inflammation, COX-2 expression was also investigated in macrophage cells treated with alpha-MSH in vitro to clarify its anti-inflammatory effect. METHODS EIU was induced in male Lewis rats by a footpad injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The number of infiltrating cells and protein concentration in the aqueous humor collected 24 hours after the LPS treatment was determined. The levels of prostaglandin (PG)-E2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 production were determined. RAW 264.7 cells were pretreated with various concentrations of alpha-MSH for 24 hours and subsequently incubated with 10 microg/mL LPS for 24 hours. COX-2 protein expression was analyzed by Western blot analysis. RESULTS alpha-MSH suppressed the development of EIU in a dose-dependent fashion. The treatment with alpha-MSH reduced the PGE2, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and MCP-1 concentrations in aqueous humor. The COX-2 protein expression in the alpha-MSH group decreased. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that alpha-MSH has an antiocular inflammatory effect, by suppression of PGE2, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and MCP-1 production and blocking of COX-2 expression.
Differing brain structural correlates of familial and environmental risk for major depressive disorder revealed by a combined VBM/pattern recognition approach

Background Neuroimaging traits of either familial or environmental risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) have been interpreted as possibly useful vulnerability markers. However, the simultaneous occurrence of familial and environmental risk might prove to be a major obstacle in the attempt of recent studies to confine the precise impact of each of these conditions on brain structure. Moreover, the exclusive use of group-level analyses does not permit prediction of individual illness risk which would be the basic requirement for the clinical application of imaging vulnerability markers. Hence, we aimed to distinguish between brain structural characteristics of familial predisposition and environmental stress by using both group- and individual-level analyses. Method We investigated grey matter alterations between 20 healthy control subjects (HC) and 20 MDD patients; 16 healthy first-degree relatives of MDD patients (FH+) and 20 healthy subjects exposed to former childhood maltreatment (CM+) by using a combined VBM/pattern recognition approach. Results We found similar grey matter reductions in the insula and the orbitofrontal cortex in patients and FH+ subjects and in the hippocampus in patients and CM+ subjects. No direct overlap in grey matter alterations was found between FH+ and CM+ subjects. Pattern classification successfully detected subjects at risk for the disease even by strictly focusing on morphological traits of MDD. Conclusions Familial and environmental risk factors for MDD are associated with differing morphometric anomalies. Pattern recognition might be a promising instrument in the search for and future application of vulnerability markers for MDD.
Lossless data compression using optimal tree machines

We discuss a lossless data compression system that uses fixed tree machines to encode data. The idea is to create a sequence of tree machines and a robust escape method aimed at preventing expansion of the encoded string for data whose statistics deviate from those represented by the machines. The resulting algorithm is shown to have superior compression of short files compared to other methods.
Synthesis of P4VP-b-PBLG Diblock Copolymers and Their Self-Assembly Behavior

Well-defined P4VP-b-PBLG diblock polymer composed of poly (4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) and poly (γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG) was synthesized by click reaction with alkyne- and azide-functionalized homopolymers. Besides, P4VP blocks were synthesized by copper-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) with a chlorine-containing alkyne bifunctional initiator, and the azido-terminated PBLG homopolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of γ-benzyl-L-glutamate with an amine-containing azide initiator. In addition, the synthesized P4VP-b-PBLG with different block ratios has been characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Gel permeation chromatograph (GPC) and fourier transform infrated spectroscopy (FT-IR). Then, the self-assembly behaviors of P4VP-b-PBLG have been studied by changing parameters like dripping speed and block ratio. The morphologies of self-assembly of spherical, disk-like and ellipsoid-like shape particles have been observed and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These results have provided guidelines for the design of macromolecular self-assembly.
Optimizing bowel preparation for colonoscopy: a guide to enhance quality of visualization

Colonoscopy is an important screening and therapeutic modality for colorectal cancer. Unlike other screening tests, colonoscopy is dependent on pre-procedure bowel preparation. If the bowel preparation is poor, significant pathology may be missed. Many factors are known to improve bowel preparation. This review will highlight those factors that may optimize the bowel preparation, including choice of bowel preparation, grading or scoring of the bowel preparation, special factors that influence preparation, and diet prior to colonoscopy that affects bowel preparation. The aim of the review is to offer suggestions and guide endoscopists on how to optimize the bowel preparation for the patients undergoing colonoscopy.
Supernumerary Isochromosome 1, idic(1)(p12), Leading to Tetrasomy 1q in Burkitt Lymphoma

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive mature B-cell neoplasm. The cytogenetic hallmark are MYC-involving translocations, most frequently as t(8;14)(q24;q32). Additional cytogenetic abnormalities are seen in the majority of cases. The most frequent additional aberration involves the long arm of chromosome 1, either as partial or complete trisomy 1q. A very rare additional aberration is a supernumerary isochromosome 1q, i(1)(q10), resulting in tetrasomy 1q. The biological significance of this aberration is unclear. We present a highly aggressive case of BL in a child with immature B-cell immunophenotype (IP) and supernumerary i(1)(q10). Diagnostic karyotyping showed 47,XY,+i(1)(q10),t(8;14)(q24;q32)[2]/47,idem,del(15)(q24)[21]/46,XY[2]. aCGH analysis detected a gain of 1p12qter and a loss of 15q22q25. FISH analysis confirmed the isodicentric chromosome 1, which has not previously been reported in BL. In the literature, supernumerary i(1)(q10) was found in 11 cases of which >80% presented with immature B-cell IP and >60% relapsed or died. Tetrasomy 1q resulting from supernumerary idic(1)(p12) or i(1)(q10) is a rare genetic event in BL and probably associated with immature B-cell IP. We propose that high amplification of genes on chromosome 1p12qter may contribute to the BL IP and disease progression.
Glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in cirrhosis are normalized after liver transplantation

Cirrhosis is often associated with insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. We evaluated if these alterations are restored by liver transplantation (LT). Glucose tolerance (oral glucose tolerance test [OGTT]), peripheral insulin sensitivity (euglycemic insulin clamp technique), glucose oxidation (indirect calorimetry), nonoxidative glucose disposal, and insulin secretion (hyperglycemic clamp technique) were measured in 6 patients (Group 1) before and 6 months after LT, in 12 patients (Group 2) who underwent LT 6 to 30 months previously, and in 6 healthy individuals (controls). In Group 1, glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (3.24 ± 0.37 mg/kg/min) were normalized after LT (8.6 ± 0.77 mg/kg/min; P < .0001; P = not significant vs. controls). The improved insulin‐mediated glucose uptake was the result of a normalization of nonoxidative glucose disposal. Fasting insulin and C‐peptide decreased from 24.6 ± 3.3 μU/mL and 4.37 ± 0.46 ng/dL, respectively, to 12.7 ± 1.9 μU/mL and 2.46 ± 0.5 ng/dL (controls: 10.0 ± 3 μU/mL and 1.45 ± 0.34 ng/dL). The glucose‐induced increase of insulin concentration, which was higher before LT, showed a significant reduction, although the first phase of β‐cell secretion remained significantly higher compared with that of controls. All these findings were also confirmed in Group 2. The present data indicate that LT normalizes glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in cirrhotic patients through an improvement of both hepatic glucose clearance and the peripheral glucose disposal. The latter effect may be the result of the correction of chronic hyperinsulinemia. An increased first‐phase β‐cell insulin secretion in response to high glucose levels persists, suggesting that a memory of previous insulin resistance is maintained.
Field Test Results of the E-VSB System in Korea

This paper presents and analyses field test results of the Enhanced-VSB (E-VSB) system proposed by Zenith/ATI and adopted as an Advanced Television Standard Committee (ATSC) standard. The possibility of successful reception at outdoor and indoor test points according to types of antennas, noise margin, and ease of reception are measured to analyse performance improvement of the E-VSB system. Verification of backward compatibility between the E-VSB and conventional 8-VSB systems, selection of test points, and configurations of the transmitter and the test vehicle are also presented. The field test results show that the E-VSB system does not only outperform the 8-VSB system at severe multipath environment such as indoor reception, but also is fully backward compatible with it