Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) for the rapid automated measurement of body fat tissue from whole body MRI

This paper will examine the technical issues relating to the feasibility of using Computer Assisted Diagnosis (CAD) techniques to automatically identify, localise, and accurately measure body fat tissue from a rapid whole body MRI exam. The aim of this work is the provision of an automated system, which assesses subjects’ whole body MRI scans and which provides numerical and visual feedback to illustrate the findings. The system generates real time results allowing for an initial assessment to be performed immediately following the completion of an MRI scan. The paper will focus on the specific issues relating to the formation, volume reconstruction, image processing and analysis of the whole body images. A working system and details of a prospective investigative study of 42 volunteers will be presented.
Crises financières, rôle de l'information et mimétisme légal”

Plusieurs phenomenes sont a l'origine des crises boursieres et l'aspect mimetique des com-portements des investisseurs prevaudrait sur l'analyse fondamentale des valeurs. En ce sens, l'interpretation de l'information semble jouer un role central lors de ces evenements particuliers. Une des nouveautes de la crise actuelle est liee a un alignement legislatif mondial des comptabilites financieres. Les normes IAS-IFRS auraient eu des effets procycliques engendres par un « mimetisme legal ». L'evaluation a la Juste Valeur et la valorisation des instruments finan-ciers, ont paru etre les principales courroies de transmission de la crise.
Potentially inappropriate drug use among hospitalised older adults: results from the CRIME study.

BACKGROUND Beers criteria and screening tool of older person's prescriptions (STOPP) criteria are widely used to assess potentially inappropriate drug use (PIDU). OBJECTIVE the aims of the present study are (i) to assess the prevalence of PIDU based on 2012 Beers criteria and STOPP criteria and (ii) to determine the impact of PIDU, as defined by these criteria, on health outcomes among older in-hospital patients. DESIGN prospective observational study. SETTING AND SUBJECTS a total of 871 in-hospital patients participating to the CRIteria to Assess Appropriate Medication Use among Elderly Complex Patients project. METHODS outcome measures were (i) adverse drug reactions (ADR); (ii) decline in functional status; (iii) combined outcome (ADR or declined in functional status). RESULTS the prevalence of PIDU was 58.4% applying Beers criteria, 50.4% applying STOPP criteria and 75.0% combining both sets of criteria. PIDU defined based on STOPP criteria was significantly associated with ADR [odds ratio (OR) 2.36; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-5.06], and decline in physical function (OR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.10-3.64), while, despite a positive trend, no significant association was observed for Beers criteria or the combination of both criteria. The combined outcome was significantly associated with PIDU defined based on Beers (OR: 1.74; 95% CI: 1.06-2.85), STOPP criteria (OR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.32-3.47) or both (OR 2.02; 95% CI: 1.06-3.84). CONCLUSIONS PIDU is common in hospitalised older adults and the combination of Beers and STOPP criteria might lead to the identification of a larger number of cases of PIDU than the application of a single set of criteria. STOPP criteria significantly predict all in-hospital outcomes considered, while Beers criteria were significantly associated with the combined outcome only.
Non-cholinergic excitation in neurons after a chronic glutamate receptor blockade

Previous experiments revealed a dramatic increase in excitatory acetylcholine transmission in hypothalamic cultures during a chronic decrease in glutamate activity. Data suggested that in the absence of glutamate excitation, acetylcholine becomes the major excitatory neurotransmitter. However, non-cholinergic excitatory activity was also detected in some neurons. Here, using calcium imaging in hypothalamic cultures chronically subjected to the glutamate receptor blockade, we demonstrate the contribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors, P2-purinoreceptors, histamine receptors, adrenoreceptors, and gap junctions, but not nitric oxide to this non-cholinergic excitation. We also show that the sensitivity of neurons to receptor agonists is increased following the blockade. Data suggest that multiple components contribute to the excitatory activity in hypothalamic neurons during a long-term decrease in glutamate activity.
Opposite roles of bradykinin B1 and B2 receptors during cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion injury in experimental diabetic rats

Bradykinin receptors play important roles in cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury of non‐diabetics. Their functions in diabetics, however, have not been studied. In this study, we hypothesized that bradykinin 1 receptor (B1R) and bradykinin 2 receptor (B2R) would be upregulated and participate in the regulation of diabetic ischaemic stroke. To investigate this, we first evaluated B1R and B2R expression at different time points after I/R in non‐diabetic and diabetic rats (Sprague–Dawley) by using real‐time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunofluorescence. Then, pharmacological inhibitors were separately administered via the tail vein to analyse their effects on cerebral ischaemia in diabetics. Both receptors were significantly upregulated after cerebral I/R in non‐diabetic and diabetic rats. B1R expression in diabetic rats increased in a sharper manner than in non‐diabetic rats, whereas B2R expression increased to the same level during the early stage of reperfusion but later became lower. Interestingly, the upregulated B1R was expressed in astrocytes, whereas B2R was mainly located in neurons in the ischaemic penumbra. Functional studies showed that inhibition of B1R significantly reduced infarct volume, neurological deficits, cell apoptosis, and neuron degeneration, probably by attenuating blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption and post‐ischaemic inflammation, at 24 h after reperfusion. In contrast, B2R antagonist had opposite effects, and exacerbated BBB penetrability and tissue inflammation. These findings suggest that B1R and B2R have detrimental and beneficial effects, respectively in diabetic cerebral ischaemia, which might open new avenues for the treatment of ischaemic stroke in diabetic patients through selective pharmacological blockade or activation.
Life history change in commercially exploited fish stocks: an analysis of trends across studies

Age and size at maturation have declined dramatically in many commercial fish stocks over the past few decades – changes that have been widely attributed to fishing pressure. We performed an analysis of such trends across multiple studies, to test for the consistency of life history changes under fishing, and for their association with the intensity of exploitation (fishing mortality rate). We analyzed 143 time series from 37 commercial fish stocks, the majority of which originated from the North Atlantic. Rates of phenotypic change were calculated for two traditional maturation indices (length and age at 50% maturity), as well as for probabilistic maturation reaction norms (PMRNs). We found that all three indices declined in heavily exploited populations, and at a rate that was strongly correlated with the intensity of fishing (for length at 50% maturity and PMRNs). These results support previous assertions that fishing pressure is playing a major role in the life history changes observed in commercial fish stocks. Rates of change were as strong for PMRNs as for age and size at 50% maturity, which is consistent with the hypothesis that fishing‐induced phenotypic changes can sometimes have a genetic basis.
Transient tachypnea of the newborn.

1. Lokesh Guglani, MD* 2. Satyan Lakshminrusimha, MD* 3. Rita M. Ryan, MD* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, University at Buffalo, Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY The birth of a child is preceded by several changes to prepare for the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life. The five major events that establish the lungs as the organ of gas exchange at birth include: clearance of fetal lung fluid, establishment of spontaneous breathing, decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance, release of surfactant, and cessation of the right-to-left shunting of venous blood returning to the heart. (1) During fetal life, fluid is secreted into the alveoli to maintain normal growth and function, (2) and fetal lung volume approximates the functional residual capacity that would be established once air breathing is initiated. (3) Clearance of lung fluid can be affected by several factors, and its impairment culminates in tachypnea and could necessitate transfer to an intensive care unit for monitoring and respiratory support. Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN), which is believed to result from incomplete resorption of fluid from the lungs of the newborn, presents an important diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma in the newborn nursery. This review focuses on TTN, with emphasis on fetal lung fluid mechanics and possible mechanisms of fetal lung fluid resorption as well as its pathophysiology, clinical and diagnostic features, and management. Some neonatologists refer to TTN as retained fetal lung liquid syndrome. The lungs are filled with liquid in utero, which increases from 4 to 6 mL/kg body weight at mid-gestation to about 30 to 50 mL/kg near term in fetal lambs. (4) Jost and Policard (5) first demonstrated that fluid within the fetal lung arises from the lung and contributes to the volume of amniotic fluid. The rate of production ranges from 2 mL/kg per hour in the initial part of pregnancy to 5 mL/kg per hour at term, thereby contributing one third to one half of the daily turnover of amniotic fluid. …
Performance, Design, and Analysis in Microbial Source Tracking Studies

Microbial source tracking (MST) includes a group of methodologies that are aimed at identifying, and in some cases quantifying, the dominant source(s) of fecal contamination in resource waters, including drinking, ground, recreational, and wildlife habitat waters. MST methods can be grouped into two major types. Library-dependent methods are culture based and rely on isolate-by-isolate typing of bacteria cultured from various fecal sources and from water samples These isolates are matched to their corresponding source categories by direct subtype matching (41, 70) or by statistical means (23, 37, 40, 41, 80, 83, 102). In contrast, library-independent methods frequently are based on sample-level detection of a specific, host-associated genetic marker in a DNA extract by PCR (6, 11, 26, 88). Analyses of certain chemicals associated with sewage, including fecal sterols (29, 30, 47), optical brighteners (29, 30, 68), and host mitochondrial DNA (67), have also been utilized for what can be more broadly termed fecal source tracking; however, in this review we compare the performance of only fecal source tracking studies in which the target(s) is microbial. Mounting pressure to determine the origin of nonpoint source fecal pollution, as exemplified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's total maximum daily load program, has led to a steady increase in manuscript submissions and grant applications that include MST approaches. At the same time, resource managers concerned with water quality and regulatory pressures struggle with the choice of methodology in the face of requirements for immediate application. Although there has been significant progress in the MST field over the last 10 years, variability among performance measurements and validation approaches in laboratory and field studies has led to a body of literature that is very difficult to interpret, both for scientists and for end users (99). In this review, we first consider the development and validation of MST methods in a historical context to describe the lessons learned in early studies. Next, uniform performance characteristics are introduced to allow comparison of method performance across MST studies (Tables ​(Tables11 and ​and2),2), and this is followed by a discussion of considerations for field study design and implementation. TABLE 1. Performance statistics for tests in which results were based on isolate-by-isolate classification into the various known-source categoriesa TABLE 2. Performance statistics for tests in which MST methods were tested with reference samples to determine the ability or failure to detect the sole source of fecal contamination
Taming Liquid Crystal Self‐Assembly: The Multifaceted Response of Nematic and Smectic Shells to Polymerization

By photopolymerizing liquid crystal shells, their rich variety of self-assembled structures can be rendered permanent and the lifetime extended from days to months, without removing the characteristic responsiveness. If polymerization is carried out close to either boundary of the nematic phase, the process triggers the transition into the adjacent phase, to higher or to lower degree of order.
Expression of ZNF148 in different developing stages of colorectal cancer and its prognostic value

It has been speculated that zinc finger protein 148 (ZNF148) is a tumor suppressor. However, to the authors' knowledge, little is known about the clinical significance of ZNF148 expression in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The objective of the current study was to clarify the association between ZNF148 expression and the postoperative prognosis of patients with CRC.
BDNF is required for the induction of a presynaptic component of the functional conversion of silent synapses

Long‐term potentiation (LTP) has received attention because of its proposed role in learning and memory. Despite substantial effort the pre‐ or postsynaptic expression site of LTP remains unsettled. It has been proposed that LTP is expressed postsynaptically through the functional conversion of “silent synapses. ” We had shown that Schaffer collateral (SC) silent and “functional synapses,” which lack and express AMPA receptors, respectively exhibit distinct transmitter release properties. Therefore the functional conversion of silent synapses with LTP should be associated with presynaptic modifications. We now show that the pairing‐induced LTP at SC synapses is mediated by combined pre‐ and postsynaptic modifications involving the postsynaptic emergence of an AMPA response coupled with an enhanced glutamate release. BDNF replicates the changes associated with this LTP by activating TrkBRs, suggesting that the neurotrophin is required for the coordinated changes on both sides of the synaptic cleft. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Blood plasma levels of lipoperoxides, glutathione peroxidase, beta carotene, vitamin A and E in women with habitual abortion

The plasma levels of lipoperoxides, glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px), reduced glutathione (GSH), beta carotene, vitamin A, E, some plasma biochemical and blood haematological parameters were investigated in 40 women with habitual abortion (HA) and controls. The levels of GSH, vitamin A, E and beta carotene were significantly lower in women with HA than in controls. However, the plasma levels of lipid peroxidation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glucose and blood haemoglobin were significantly higher in HA than in controls. In addition, plasma levels of GSH‐Px, AST, ALT, total bilirubin, total protein, albumin, sodium, potassium, calcium and number of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelet and values of packet cell volume showed no significant differences between HA and controls. According to the results of this study, we observed that the levels of lipid peroxidation were increased and plasma levels of vitamin A, E and beta carotene were decreased in HA. The decrease of those antioxidants may play a significant role in women with habitual abortion. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Improving Fuzzy Analogy Based Software Development Effort Estimation

Analogy-based estimation has recently emerged as a promising technique and a viable alternative to other conventional estimation methods. One of the most important research areas for analogy-based cost estimation is how to predict the effort of software projects when they are described by mixed numerical and categorical data. To address this issue, we have proposed, in an earlier work, a new approach called fuzzy analogy combining the key features of fuzzy logic and analogy-based reasoning. However, fuzzy analogy may only be used when the possible values of the categorical attributes are derived from a numerical domain. The current study aims to extend our former approach to correctly handle categorical data. To this end, the fuzzy k-modes algorithm is used with two initialization techniques. The performance of the proposed approach was compared with that of classical analogy using the International Software Benchmarking Standards Group (ISBSG) dataset. The obtained results show significant improvement in estimation accuracy.
PPRP: Predicted Position Based Routing Protocol Using Kalman Filter for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network

New edition vehicles are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) device which provides the vehicle position in the form of latitude and longitude, this position is used as a location_id of the vehicle at time t during routing in Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). The location_ids are susceptible to have an error in position due to several factors such as line-of-sight, signal fading and tunnels just for an instance. Thus, Position based routing protocol experiences poor performance. To minimize the effect of position error, this work proposes a Predicted Position Based Routing Protocol (PPRP) for VANET. PPRP predicts the vehicle location based on previous and current location using Kalman Filter (KF) to improve the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), average delay and throughput. Before applying KF into routing its effectiveness is verified and found satisfactory results which advocate KF, to be used in routing. The proposed routing protocol is simulated on NS-3.23 simulator. VANETMOBISIM is used to get the vehicular mobility of 25, 50, 75 and 100 vehicles running on a city road network of 1000 * 1000 m2 area. The performance of the proposed routing protocol is evaluated and compared with other prediction based routing protocol. Simulation is conducted for 250m and 500m transmission range using Winner-II and Two-ray ground propagation model with IEEE 802.11p standard.
Expropriation of the Biggest Shareholdings Based on Principal Component Analysis in Neural Networks

The neural networks may play an important role in statistical model building. As the basic model building tool of the mathematics and economics neural networks can help specialist and researcher. The neural networks will improve the financial research work. The expropriation is a kind of extra interest, which exceeds the income of the biggest shareholdings normally, illegally occupied by the biggest ones. After the true repayment of control power and social expenditure, it should be shared originally by the small ones commonly. The empirical evidence results indicate that the expropriation of extra interest from the primary power is negatively related to the income per share. Consequently, we provide theoretical and practical evidence for neural networks as a standard approach.
Range use of the forest chimpanzees of Kibale: Implications for the understanding of chimpanzee social organization

We contrast the range use patterns of male and female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) based on repeated sightings over three years of 19 individuals in the Kanyawara community of Kibale Forest Reserve, Uganda. Depending on how home range size was calculated, male chimpanzees used an area that was 1.5 to 2 times greater than that of females. There was no difference between the sexes in whether their home ranges were used in a clumped or uniform fashion. However, males were more likely to be seen in boundary areas than females. These results are discussed in light of previously proposed models of chimpanzee social organization. It is concluded that the scenario in which females have smaller core areas within the defended home range of the males is most strongly supported by the range use patterns observed in Kibale chimpanzees. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ec 2 00 2 HOLOGRAPHY AND INFRARED CONFORMALITY IN TWO DIMENSIONS

This is a very brief review of some results from Refs. [2] and [3]. In holographic renormalization, we studied the RG flow of a 2d N = (4, 4) CFT perturbed by a relevant operator, flowing to a conformal fixed point in the IR. Here, the supergravity dual is displayed, and the computation of correlators is discussed. The sample stress-energy correlator given here provides an opportunity to explicitly compare Zamolodchikov’s Cfunction to the proposal for a “holographic C-function”. First, I will recall how to compute correlators holographically, even in the presence of domain walls (for a review, see [1]). As a simple analogy to keep in mind, consider a medieval castle where soldiers are practicing cannon-firing from atop the castle walls into the interior courtyard. Let us say that when the wall has height h0, a horizontally fired cannon ball hits the ground precisely in the middle of the courtyard. A priori the height of the wall h and the angle of firing θ would of course be independent boundary conditions, but by requiring that the cannon ball always hit the center of the courtyard, these two become related: h = h0/ cos 2 θ − r tan θ, for a circular wall of radius r, and neglecting air resistance. For an uneven castle wall, where the height of the wall varies as h(x) with the distance x around the circumference of the castle, the same relation relates θ(x) to h(x). Going back to AdS/CFT, the requirement that a bulk field φ vanishes in the deep interior relates a radial derivative at the boundary φ(1)(x) to the boundary value φ(0)(x). This relation encodes the desired boundary correlator
Oncogenesis of Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid neoplasms encompass a variety of lesions that range from benign adenomas to malignancies. These latter can be well-differentiated, poorly differentiated or undifferentiated (anaplastic) carcinomas. More than 95% of thyroid cancers are derived from thyroid follicular cells, while 2-3% (medullary thyroid cancers, MTC) originate from calcitonin producing C-cells. Over the last decade, investigators have developed a clearer understanding of genetic alterations underlying thyroid carcinogenesis. A number of point mutations and translocations are involved, not only in its tumorigenesis, but also as have potential use as diagnostic and prognostic indicators and therapeutic targets. Many occur in genes for several important signaling pathways, in particular the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Sporadic (isolated) lesions account for 75% of MTC cases, while inherited MTC, often in association with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type 2A and 2B syndromes, constitute the remainder. However, non-MEN familial MTC may also occur. Advances in genetic testing have revolutionized the management of MTC, with prospects of genetic screening, testing and early prophylactic thyroidectomy. Ethical concerns of these advances are addressed.