Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic Value of KRAS Mutation in Non-small Cell Lung Carcinoma

The kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene (KRAS) is found to be one of the most common mutated genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Decades have passed and researchers are still faced with difficulties understanding how the KRAS oncogene works and ways that it can be inhibited to provide NSCLC patients with a better prognosis. The three most common molecular methods for detecting the presence of KRAS are circulating free DNA (cfDNA), Sanger capillary sequencing and next generation sequencing (NGS). The specificity and sensitivity for detecting KRAS mutants has markedly improved and continues to advance by reducing cost and amount of specimen needed. In many cases of NSCLC, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are also found as frequently mutated. The discovery of an EGFR mutation is typically reflexed with KRAS testing since KRAS is found downstream of EGFR and tends to reduce the success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors used to treat EGFR mutated tumors. The trouble with KRAS is the insensitivity of upstream EGFR inhibition and the continuation of pathway signaling of BRAF/MEK/ERK leading to uncontrollable proliferation of the tumor cells. This literature review provides an overview of how KRAS is detected, how it effects downstream pathways and the future possibilities for treatment and more sensitive methodologies. Abbreviations KRAS: Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene NSCLC: Non-small Cell Lung Cancer cfDNA: circulating free DNA NGS: Next generation sequencing EGFR: Epidermal growth factor receptor MEK: ​Methyl Ethyl Ketone BRAF: B-Raf proto-oncogene ERK: ​Extracellular Receptor Kinase PNA: Peptide nucleic acid 1 PCR: Polymerase chain reaction TKI: Tyrosine kinase inhibitor DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid RNA: Ribonucleic acid GEF: Guanine nucleotide exchange factors GAP: GTPase activating protein SOS: Son of sevenless P13K: ​Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase AKT: Protein Kinase B mTOR: ​Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (a protein) FFPE: Formalin fixed paraffin embedded ddPCR: Droplet digital PCR Objectives 1. To establish the common mutations found in NSCLC. 2. To identify different methodologies used to detect the KRAS mutations in NSCLC patients. 3. To compare KRAS mutated tumors with EGFR mutated tumors and their effects on prognosis for NSCLC patients. 4. To identify new treatment options undergoing extensive research that inhibit downstream pathways to KRAS to stop proliferation. 5. To determine the future methods for detecting KRAS and how they will improve sensitivity and specificity. Introduction The most frequently mutated oncogene found in non-small cell lung carcinoma NSCLC is the kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene (KRAS). KRAS mutation remains one of the most untargetable mutations for NSCLC. Typically, KRAS occurs as a missense mutation (Kerr & Martins, 2017, p.30). According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, a missense mutation is when the change of a single base pair causes the substitution of a different amino acid in the resulting protein (National Human Genome Research Institute). The KRAS mutation
Do Environmental Messages Work on the Poor? Experimental Evidence from Brazilian Favelas

In developed countries, the combined use of monetary and nonmonetary incentives, such as subsidies and social norms, has been shown to encourage the adoption of energy-saving technologies and conservation behaviors. However, little is known about the effect of these approaches in developing countries, which account for most of the growth in energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Using a randomized experiment conducted in 17 favelas (shantytowns) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this paper investigates the interplay between three levels of monetary incentives and an environmental persuasion communication on the take-up of an energy-efficient lightbulb (a light-emitting diode or, LED). On average, the persuasive communication significantly increases LED take-up by 6 percentage points (a 13% increase). This effect is driven by a 13 percentage point (20%) increase in take-up at the middle price. Richer participants and females respond the most to the communication.
An Empirical Investigation of HRM Practices of Pakistani-Owned Smes in the UK

this article is based on empirical investigation of HRM practices of Pakistani-owned SMEs in the UK. The topic of the research was investigated through literature review and field survey. Keeping in view nature of research topic a semistructured questionnaire comprising a wide range of open-ended and close-ended questions was prepared to undertake field survey. The literature review contributed in making conceptual foundation of the study; whereas, field survey discovered useful primary data about HR concepts and their applications at managerial and operational levels of these companies. The study was mainly focused on recruitment & selection, training & development, rewards management, performance management and employment relations in these companies. It was aimed to explore strategic frameworks of these companies in organizing and managing their HR resources to survive, grow and compete in the UK’s multicultural business environment. The ultimate objective of the research was to discover some empirical facts and figures from the real world of these businesses in the interest of ethnic minority SMEs in general and Pakistani SMEs in particular. The findings of the research contain some valuable information for the students, researchers and practitioners in the field of human resource management. The study sensitizes contemporary researchers to pay some attention on an important but ignored business segment (ethnic minority SMEs) of the UK.
Sensitivity Enhancement of FBG-Based Strain Sensor

A novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based strain sensor with a high-sensitivity is presented in this paper. The proposed FBG-based strain sensor enhances sensitivity by pasting the FBG on a substrate with a lever structure. This typical mechanical configuration mechanically amplifies the strain of the FBG to enhance overall sensitivity. As this mechanical configuration has a high stiffness, the proposed sensor can achieve a high resonant frequency and a wide dynamic working range. The sensing principle is presented, and the corresponding theoretical model is derived and validated. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed FBG-based strain sensor achieves an enhanced strain sensitivity of 6.2 pm/με, which is consistent with the theoretical analysis result. The strain sensitivity of the developed sensor is 5.2 times of the strain sensitivity of a bare fiber Bragg grating strain sensor. The dynamic characteristics of this sensor are investigated through the finite element method (FEM) and experimental tests. The developed sensor exhibits an excellent strain-sensitivity-enhancing property in a wide frequency range. The proposed high-sensitivity FBG-based strain sensor can be used for small-amplitude micro-strain measurement in harsh industrial environments.
The ortholog of human solute carrier family 35 member B1 (UDP‐galactose transporter‐related protein 1) is involved in maintenance of ER homeostasis and essential for larval development in Caenorhabditis elegans

Although the solute carrier 35B1 (SLC35B1) is evolutionarily conserved, its functions in metazoans remain unknown. To elucidate its function, we examined developmental roles of an SLC35B1 family gene (HUT‐1: homolog of UDP‐Gal transporter) in Caenorhabditis elegans. We isolated a deletion mutant of the gene and characterized phenotypes of the mutant and hut‐1 RNAitreated worms. GFP‐HUT‐1 reporter analysis was performed to examine gene expression patterns. We also tested whether several nucleotide sugar transporters can compensate for hut‐1 deficiency. The hut‐1 deletion mutant and RNAi worms showed larval growth defect and lethality with disrupted intestinal morphology. Inactivation of hut‐1 induced chronic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and hut‐1 showed genetic interactions with the atf‐6, pek‐1, and ire‐1 genes involved in unfolded protein response signaling. ER ultrastructure and ER marker distribution in hut‐1‐deficient animals showed that HUT‐1 is required for maintenance of ER structure. Reporter analysis revealed that HUT‐1 is an ER protein ubiquitously expressed in tissues, including the intestine. Lethality and the ER stress phenotype of the mutant were rescued with the human hut‐1 ortholog UGTrel1. These results indicate important roles for hut‐1 in development and maintenance of ER homeostasis in C. elegans. —Dejima, K. ,Murata, D. , Mizuguchi, S. , Nomura, K. H. , Gengyo‐Ando, K. ,Mitani, S. , Kamiyama, S. , Nishihara, S. , Nomura, K. The ortholog of human solute carrier family 35 member B1 (UDP‐galactose transporter‐related protein 1) is involved in maintenance of ER homeostasis and essential for larval development in Caenorhabditis elegans. FASEBJ. 23, 2215–2225 (2009)
A Survey on Authentication Techniques and User Recognition

: Today Mobiles, Computer, Laptops, PDAs are becoming widely popular and largely used. The available authentication techniques are able to secure the device or the area by the use of Knowledge, Possession and Inherence factor. When the use of smart phones for authentication comes into consideration, it becomes a critical task because of complexity, security and the various fluctuations in the wireless medium. The various successful authentication systems in existence are dedicated fingerprint scanner, iris scanner and CCTV, etc. This paper provides the review for various existing authentication methods. Here we have listed authentication methods under the three main categories, first is an Integrated Windows Authentication, where the communication is done with the trusted Kerberos server to obtain a shared secret key. The second is a Basic Authentication system consisting of username/password and trust authentication. The third form of authentication system is a Multifactor Authentication method that is a process of computer access control in which combination of any two from possession, knowledge and Inherence is used to access the system or the area. The methods are discussed in detail throughout the paper.
Primary production determination in the South China Sea, Area I: Gulf of Thailand and east coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Primary production in the Gulf of Thailand and the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia was determined from in situ fluorescense, light intensity in September-October, 1995 cruise, and from the uptake of radioactive carbon incubation in the October, 1996 cruise. The primary production rate was found to be 0.20–0.61 and 0.29–0.47gC/m/day for the Gulf of Thailand and the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, respectively. At nearshore stations, higher rate of primary production was found at sea surface, and it gradually decreased with depth. However, at offshore stations, where subpycnocline chlorophyll maximum was found, the rate was increased again at this layer
Stability and Competitiveness in the European Monetary Union

Structural non-competiveness and unruly policies have provoked severe financial instability and put certain euro zone countries in a shocking situation. Indeed, the entire European Union is at economic and political systemic risk. In this paper we shall analyze the coinciding conditions which helped generate this perfect and fatal storm: a) the structures of the European economy and of some Member States; b) the non-optimal currency zone that is the euro area; c) the profligate policies of certain governments and institutions; and d) the deficit in European economic governance. Newer and tougher mechanisms for European financial stability and detailed government measures for budget sustainability and structural reforms need to be most effective to be able to address the risks and challenges many States, and the Union itself, are facing.
Signaling Democracy: Patron-Client Relations and Democratization in South Korea and Poland

Facing massive protests, why did incumbent regimes in both South Korea and Poland repress movements for democratization in the early 1980s but make democratic concessions to the opposition in the late 1980s? I demonstrate how the United States and the Soviet Union as superpower patron states influenced democratic transitions in South Korea and Poland. The different outcomes across time are partially attributed to superpower policies toward their client states. Absent in 1980 were strong, credible signals from the United States and the Soviet Union to their respective client states to support political liberalization. But in the late 1980s superpowers affected the calculus of client state elites by either signaling or encouraging governments to make concessions to the opposition.
Growth Maximising Patent Lifetime

Using a vertical differentiation model of endogenous growth with stochastic R&D activity, we characterise the optimal patent lifetime a government would set in order to maximise economic growth. We show that a finite patent lifetime does exist and is unique provided that the expected rate of return from R&D is sufficiently large. Additionally, we analyse the impact of the level of competition in the R&D sector, the interest rate, the monopoly profit and the productivity parameter of research technology on this optimal patent lifetime.
Fatal Outcome of Imatinib in a Patient with Idiopathic Hypereosinophilic Syndrome

Cytokine storm is a poorly explained clinical entity caused by an undesired and aggrandized immune system response leading to unregulated activation of the proinflammatory cascade, often contributing to multisystem organ failure and even death. Its potentially diverse etiologies and sepsis-like presentation have made it even more challenging to diagnose, and so far, no well-established treatment protocol has been proposed. Its association with certain medications, especially with monoclonal antibodies, has well been reported in literature. To the best of our knowledge, so far, no previous case of cytokine storm associated with imatinib has been reported. We herein present a case report of a 77-year-old male with a past medical history of hypereosinophilic syndrome who developed acute fatal cytokine storm following treatment with imatinib. This study highlights a life-threatening complication of the medication that may be underrecognized.
Comprehensive Supersense Disambiguation of English Prepositions and Possessives

Semantic relations are often signaled with prepositional or possessive marking—but extreme polysemy bedevils their analysis and automatic interpretation. We introduce a new annotation scheme, corpus, and task for the disambiguation of prepositions and possessives in English. Unlike previous approaches, our annotations are comprehensive with respect to types and tokens of these markers; use broadly applicable supersense classes rather than fine-grained dictionary definitions; unite prepositions and possessives under the same class inventory; and distinguish between a marker’s lexical contribution and the role it marks in the context of a predicate or scene. Strong interannotator agreement rates, as well as encouraging disambiguation results with established supervised methods, speak to the viability of the scheme and task.
Gendered Responses to Stress: Differences Across Type of Stressor and Mental Health Outcomes

It is well known in mental health literature that men and women tend to manifest distinct mental health outcomes. Specifically, women tend to report higher levels of internalizing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, whereas men tend to report higher levels of externalizing symptoms, such as alcohol abuse and antisocial behavior. This research will further explore the relationship between stress and mental health, as well as the moderating effect of gender. Drawing from the differential vulnerability hypothesis and self-salience theory, I take a novel approach to examining a variety of stressors and mental health outcomes. I assess whether stressors that are particularly salient to either men (masculine-salient) or women (femininesalient) differentially shape internalizing and externalizing mental health outcomes by gender. I expected feminine-salient stressors to be more detrimental for women’s internalizing outcomes and masculine-salient stressors to be more detrimental for men’s externalizing outcomes. I used data from the National Health, Well-being, and Perspectives Survey to examine these hypotheses. Contrary to expectations, some stressors appeared gender-neutral and had a consistent effect on internalizing outcomes across gender. For example, poor physical health and daily strain increased internalizing outcomes for both men and women to the same extent. In other instances, gender moderated the stress-health association in a manner opposite than expected. For example, men’s internalizing outcomes were more strongly impacted by a perceived threat to the safety of one’s significant others than women’s internalizing outcomes. The implication of these findings for the proposed theory and future research are discussed.
Epigenetics as a basis for diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders: challenges and opportunities

Neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, are complex entities that can be caused by biological and social factors. In a subset of patients with congenital neurodevelopmental disorders, clear diagnosis can be achieved using DNA sequence-based analysis to identify changes in the DNA sequence (genetic variation). However, it has recently become clear that changes to the secondary modifications of DNA and histone structures (epigenetic variation) can also cause neurodevelopmental disorders via alteration of neural gene function. Moreover, it has recently been demonstrated that epigenetic modifications are more susceptible to alterations induced by environmental factors than are DNA sequences, and that some drugs commonly used reverse mental-stress induced alterations to histone modifications in neural genes. Therefore, application of diagnostic assays to detect epigenetic alterations will provide new insight into the characterization and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders.
The global burden of chronic kidney disease and the way forward.

BACKGROUND Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing worldwide at an annual growth rate of 8%. Regional differences exist in the epidemiology of the condition, and non-Whites are more affected. METHODS An English-language literature search using Medline (January 1984-October 2003) was done to assess research/review articles on burden and prevention of CKD. Particular attention was paid to epidemiology and prevention of chronic kidney diseases. RESULTS The prevalence of CKD is higher in developing countries than in the developed world. The most common causes of CKD in the developing countries are chronic glomerulonephritis and systemic hypertension, diabetic nephropathy being the most common cause in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Factors contributing to the regional differences in the etiology and prevalence of CKD are race and ethnicity, genetic predisposition, increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, mortality caused by other disease, obesity, and possibly cigarette smoking. The control of hypertension, dyslipidemia, proteinuria, obesity, avoidance of low birth weight, smoking, and preventing ingesting of heavy metals such as lead are intervention strategies that retard or prevent progression of renal diseases. The magnitude of the existing burden of illness caused by renal failure, the projections for increasing incidence of CKD, and the limitations of our existing treatments for renal insufficiency all point to the need for clinical and population-based interventions aimed at prevention of CKD. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive health education campaign and screening of the general populace are needed in order to detect chronic kidney disease early. These measures will ensure appropriate and timely institution of proven measures to halt or reduce progression of CKD.
Reusable Sols Encoder for Dsrc Applications

A protocol which is mainly used for intelligent transportation system is the dedicated short range communication (DSRC). By this protocol the information signals which are transmitted are encoded by using either FM0 or Manchester codes. The designing of VLSI architecture is limited by the code diversity between these two codes that supports the both. Hence this paper gives a new VLSI architecture design which can be fully reused by using both the codes. This proposed design is based on similarity oriented logic simplification (SOLS) technique which achieves an efficient performance compared with sophisticated works.
Courtship Behavior in the Dwarf Seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae

The seahorse genus Hippocampus (Syngnathidae) exhibits extreme morpho- logical specialization for paternal care, with males incubating eggs within a highly vascularized brood pouch. Dwarf seahorses, H. zosterae, form monoga- mous pairs that court early each morning until copulation takes place. Daily behavioral observations of seahorse pairs (n = 15) were made from the day of introduction through the day of copulation. Four distinct phases of seahorse courtship are marked by prominent behavioral changes, as well as by differences in the intensity of courtship. The first courtship phase occurs for one or two mornings preceding the day of copulation and is characterized by reciprocal quivering, consisting of rapid side-to-side body vibrations displayed alternately by males and females. The remaining courtship phases are restricted to the day of copulation, with the second courtship phase distinguished by females pointing, during which the head is raised upward. In the third courtship phase, males begin to point in response to female pointing. During the final phase of courtship, seahorse pairs repeatedly rise together in the water column, eventually leading to females transferring their eggs directly into the male brood pouch during a brief midwater copulation. Courtship activity level (representing the percentage of time spent in courtship) increased from relatively low levels during the first courtship phase to highly active courtship on the day of copulation. Males more actively initiated courtship on the days preceding copulation, indicating that these seahorses are not courtship-role reversed, as has previously been assumed.