Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical characteristics of patients in a case control study of sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis may be affected by sex, race, and age. A Case Control Etiologic Study of Sarcoidosis (ACCESS) enrolled 736 patients with sarcoidosis within 6 mo of diagnosis from 10 clinical centers in the United States. Using the ACCESS sarcoidosis assessment system, we determined organ involvement for the whole group and for subgroups differentiated by sex, race, and age (less than 40 yr or 40 yr and older). The study population was heterogeneous in terms of race (53% white, 44% black), sex (64% female, 36% male), and age (46% < 40 yr old, 54% > or = 40 yr old). Women were more likely to have eye and neurologic involvement (chi(2) = 4.74, p < 0.05 and chi(2) = 4.60, p < 0.05 respectively), have erythema nodosum (chi(2) = 7.28, p < 0.01), and to be age 40 yr or over (chi(2) = 6.07, p < 0.02) whereas men were more likely to be hypercalcemic (chi(2) = 7.38, p < 0.01). Black subjects were more likely to have skin involvement other than erythema nodosum (chi(2) = 5.47, p < 0.05), and eye (chi(2) = 13.8, p < 0.0001), liver (chi(2) = 23.3, p < 0.0001), bone marrow (chi(2) = 18.8, p < 0.001), and extrathoracic lymph node involvement (chi(2) = 7.21, p < 0.01). We conclude that the initial presentation of sarcoidosis is related to sex, race, and age.
Can intraurethral stimulation inhibit micturition reflex in normal female rats?

ABSTRACT Objective The study was designed to determine the effect of low frequency (2.5Hz) intraurethral electrical stimulation on bladder capacity and maximum voiding pressures. Materials and Methods The experiments were conducted in 15 virgin female Sprague-Dawley rats (220–250g). The animals were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of urethane (1.5g/kg). Animal care and experimental procedures were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Antwerp University (code: 2013-50). Unipolar square pulses of 0.06mA were used to stimulate urethra at frequency of 2.5Hz (0.2ms pulse width) in order to evaluate the ability of intraurethral stimulation to inhibit bladder contractions. Continuous stimulation and intermittent stimulation with 5sec ‘‘on’’ and 5sec ‘‘off’’ duty cycle were applied during repeated saline cystometrograms (CMGs). Maximum voiding pressures (MVP) and bladder capacity were investigated to determine the inhibitory effect on bladder contraction induced by intraurethral stimulation. Results The continuous stimulation and intermittent stimulation significantly (p<0.05) decreased MVP and increased bladder capacity. There was no significant difference in MVP and bladder capacity between continuous and intermittent stimulation group. Conclusions The present results suggest that 2.5Hz continuous and intermittent intraurethral stimulation can inhibit micturition reflex, decrease MVP and increase bladder capacity. There was no significant difference in MVP and bladder capacity between continuous and intermittent stimulation group.
Identification of Genes with Allelic Imbalance on 6p Associated with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Southern Chinese

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy of epithelial origin. The etiology of NPC is complex and includes multiple genetic and environmental factors. We employed case-control analysis to study the association of chromosome 6p regions with NPC. In total, 360 subjects and 360 healthy controls were included, and 233 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on 6p were examined. Significant single-marker associations were found for SNPs rs2267633 (p = 4.49×10−5), rs2076483 (most significant, p = 3.36×10−5), and rs29230 (p = 1.43×10−4). The highly associated genes were the gamma-amino butyric acid B receptor 1 (GABBR1), human leukocyte antigen (HLA-A), and HLA complex group 9 (HCG9). Haplotypic associations were found for haplotypes AAA (located within GABBR1, p-value = 6.46×10−5) and TT (located within HLA-A, p = 0.0014). Further investigation of the homozygous genotype frequencies between cases and controls suggested that micro-deletion regions occur in GABBR1 and neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated 9 (NEDD9). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) using 11 pairs of NPC biopsy samples confirmed the significant decline in GABBR1 and NEDD9 mRNA expression in the cancer tissues compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissue (p<0.05). Our study demonstrates that multiple chromosome 6p susceptibility loci contribute to the risk of NPC, possibly though GABBR1 and NEDD9 loss of function.
Multimodality Treatment in Ewing's Sarcoma Family Tumors of the Maxilla and Maxillary Sinus: Review of the Literature

The Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) encompasses a group of highly aggressive, morphologically similar, malignant neoplasms sharing a common spontaneous genetic translocation that affect mostly children and young adults. These predominantly characteristic, small round-cell tumors include Ewing's sarcoma of the bone and soft tissue, as well as primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) involving the bone, soft tissue, and thoracopulmonary region (Askin's tumor). Extraosseous ESFTs are extremely rare, especially in the head and neck region, where literature to date consists of sporadic case reports and very small series. We hereby present a review of the literature published on ESFTs reported in the maxilla and maxillary sinus region from 1968 to 2016.
A Brief Survey of Low-Level Saliency Detection

Saliency detection is a challenging problem and one of the most active research topics in the field of computer vision. Application scenarios of saliency detection range from surveillance to retrieval, from industrial safety to sports analysis. Given the broad set of techniques used in saliency detection and the fast progress in this area, in this paper we briefly survey the corresponding literature on the low-level methods. In our thoroughly experimental comparison, the state-of-the-art research on saliency detection is analyzed and presented in detail. The advantages and the drawbacks of the methods are critically discussed, providing a comprehensive coverage of key aspects of low-level saliency detection. Finally, the development tendency of saliency detection is predicted.
Characteristics of authentic anger in hebrew speech

In this study we examine a number of characteristics of angry Hebrew speech. Whereas such studies are frequently carried out on acted speech, in this study we used recordings of participants in broadcasted, politically oriented talk shows. The recordings were audited and rated for anger content by 11 listeners. 12 utterances judged to contain angry speech were then analyzed along with 12 utterances from the same speakers that were judged to contain neutral speech. Various statistics of the F0 curve and spectral tilt were calculated and correlated with the degree of anger, giving a number of interesting results: for example, though pitch range was significantly correlated to anger in general, pitch range was significantly negative-correlated to the degree of anger. A separate test was conducted, judging only the textual content of the utterances, to examine the degree to which it influenced the listening tests. After neutralizing for the textual content, some of the acoustic measures became weaker predictors of anger, whereas mean F0 remained the strongest indicator of anger. Spectral tilt also showed a significant decrease in angry speech.
THE LOCALIZATION OF Mg-Na-K-ACTIVATED ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATASE ON RED CELL GHOST MEMBRANES

The lead salt method introduced by Wachstein and Meisel (12) for the cytochemical demonstration of ATPase activity was modified and used to determine sites of activity on red cell ghost membranes. Preliminary studies showed that aldehyde fixation and standard concentrations of the capture reagent Pb(NO3)2 resulted in marked inhibition of the ATPase activity of these membranes. By lowering the concentration of Pb2+ and incubating unfixed red cell ghosts, over 50% of the total ATPase activity, which included an ouabain-sensitive, Na-K-activated component, could be demonstrated by quantitative biochemical assay. Cytochemical tests, carried out under the same conditions, gave a reaction product localized exclusively along the inner surfaces of the ghost membranes for both Mg-ATPase and Na-K-ATPase. These findings indicate that the ATPase activity of red cell ghosts results in the release of Pi on the inside of the ghost membrane at sites scattered over its inner aspect. There were no deposits of reaction product on the outer surface of the ghost membrane, hence no indication that upon ATP hydrolysis Pi is released outside the ghosts. Nor was there any clear difference in the localization of reaction product of Mg-ATPase as opposed to that of Na-K-ATPase.
General Bayes filtering of quantized measurements

Quantized data is frequently encountered when data must be compressed for efficient transmission over communication networks. Since quantized measurements are not precise but are, rather, subsets (cells, bins, quanta) of measurement space, conventional filtering methods cannot be used to process them. In recent papers, Zhansheng Duan, X. Rong Li, and Vesselin Jilkov have devised generalizations of the Kalman filter that can process quantized measurements. In this paper I provide a theoretical foundation for processing such measurements, based on a Bayes filtering theory for “generalized measurements” mediated by “generalized likelihood functions. ” As a consequence, I also show that this theory (1) results in a general Bayes-optimal approach for filtering quantized measurements; (2) generalizes the Duan-Li-Jilkov filtering theory; and (3) can be extended to “noncooperatively quantized” measurements such as fuzzy Dempster-Shafer (FDS) quantized measurements. I conclude by arguing that quantized measurements provide a concrete, applications-based conceptual bridge between “probabilistic” and “nonprobabilistic” forms of expert-system reasoning.
The Fate of Arabidopsis thaliana Homeologous CNSs and Their Motifs in the Paleohexaploid Brassica rapa

Following polyploidy, duplicate genes are often deleted, and if they are not, then duplicate regulatory regions are sometimes lost. By what mechanism is this loss and what is the chance that such a loss removes function? To explore these questions, we followed individual Arabidopsis thaliana–A. thaliana conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) into the Brassica ancestor, through a paleohexaploidy and into Brassica rapa. Thus, a single Brassicaceae CNS has six potential orthologous positions in B. rapa; a single Arabidopsis CNS has three potential homeologous positions. We reasoned that a CNS, if present on a singlet Brassica gene, would be unlikely to lose function compared with a more redundant CNS, and this is the case. Redundant CNSs go nondetectable often. Using this logic, each mechanism of CNS loss was assigned a metric of functionality. By definition, proved deletions do not function as sequence. Our results indicated that CNSs that go nondetectable by base substitution or large insertion are almost certainly still functional (redundancy does not matter much to their detectability frequency), whereas those lost by inferred deletion or indels are approximately 75% likely to be nonfunctional. Overall, an average nondetectable, once-redundant CNS more than 30 bp in length has a 72% chance of being nonfunctional, and that makes sense because 97% of them sort to a molecular mechanism with “deletion” in its description, but base substitutions do cause loss. Similarly, proved-functional G-boxes go undetectable by deletion 82% of the time. Fractionation mutagenesis is a procedure that uses polyploidy as a mutagenic agent to genetically alter RNA expression profiles, and then to construct testable hypotheses as to the function of the lost regulatory site. We show fractionation mutagenesis to be a “deletion machine” in the Brassica lineage.
Beam Hardening Correction with an Iterative Scheme using an Exact Backward Projector and a Polychromatic Forward Projector

In computed tomography (CT), reconstructions from conebeam (CB) data acquired with a polychromatic X-ray device show so called beam hardening artifacts. Beam hardening artifacts are highly undesirable for a medical diagnosis, because details in the reconstructed image are severely disturbed or completely lost. In this work, we demonstrate the significant reduction of beam hardening artifacts by using an iterative reconstruction scheme which consists of a backward and a forward projector. For the backward projector, an exact reconstruction approach was used. The forward projector was extended by a polychromatic model to mimic a realistic X-ray device. The presented experiments use simulated CB data to restrict the evaluation to beam hardening artifacts. The discussion is focused on CB data acquired along a helical trajectory.
Bilgi Gorsellestirme Tekniklerinin Yazilim Kullanilabilirligi Acisindan Degerlendirilmesi

Information visualization is the use of computer-based, interactive visual representations of data to amplify cognition. It also aims to make large amounts of data easy to understand. It includes abstract tasks such as being understandable for users and decision making based on knowledge. There are a great number of data visualization techniques defined in literature. A successful visualization made by using these techniques enables more efficient usage of software systems in many areas. In this study, an evaluation method is presented for the measurement of usability that is one of the most significant factors affecting the success of information visualization. In this method which belongs to the heuristic evaluation methods in literature, visualizations are evaluated by usability experts using certain heuristic sets. A web based
Ability of Preseason Body Composition and Physical Fitness to Predict the Risk of Injury in Male Collegiate Hockey Players

Background: Injuries in collegiate ice hockey can result in significant time lost from play. The identification of modifiable risk factors relating to a player’s physical fitness allows the development of focused training and injury prevention programs targeted at reducing these risks. Purpose: To determine the ability of preseason fitness outcomes to predict in-season on-ice injury in male collegiate ice hockey players. Study Design: Prognostic cohort study. Level of Evidence: Level 3. Methods: Athlete demographics, percentage body fat, aerobic capacity (300-m shuttle run; 1-, 1.5-, 5-mile run), and strength assessment (sit-ups, push-ups, grip strength, bench press, Olympic cleans, squats) data were collected at the beginning of 8 successive seasons for 1 male collegiate ice hockey team. Hockey-related injury data and player-level practice/game athlete exposure (AE) data were also prospectively collected. Seventy-nine players participated (203 player-years). Injury was defined as any event that resulted in the athlete being unable to participate in 1 or more practices or games following the event. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine the ability of the independent variables to predict the occurrence of on-ice injury. Results: There were 132 injuries (mean, 16.5 per year) in 55 athletes. The overall injury rate was 4.4 injuries per 1000 AEs. Forwards suffered 68% of the injuries. Seventy percent of injuries occurred during games with equal distribution between the 3 periods. The mean number of days lost due to injury was 7.8 ± 13.8 (range, 1-127 days). The most common mechanism of injury was contact with another player (54%). The odds of injury in a forward was 1.9 times (95% CI, 1.1-3.4) that of a defenseman and 3 times (95% CI, 1.2-7.7) that of a goalie. The odds of injury if the player’s body mass index (BMI) was ≥25 kg/m2 was 2.1 times (95% CI, 1.1-3.8) that of a player with a BMI <25 kg/m2. The odds ratios for bench press, maximum sit-ups, and Olympic cleans were statistically significant but close to 1.0, and therefore the clinical relevance is unknown. Conclusion: Forwards have higher odds of injury relative to other player positions. BMI was predictive of on-ice injury. Aerobic fitness and maximum strength outcomes were not strongly predictive of on-ice injury.
Losing Your Gut Feelings. Intuition in Depression

Whereas in basic research, intuition has become a topic of great interest, clinical research and depression research in specific have not applied to the topic of intuition, yet. This is astonishing because a well-known phenomenon during depression is that patients have difficulties to judge and decide. In contrast to healthy individuals who take most daily life decisions intuitively (Kahneman, 2011), depressed individuals seem to have difficulties to come to fast and adaptive decisions. The current article pursues three goals. First, our aim is to establish the hypothesis that intuition is impaired in depression against the background of influential theoretical accounts as well as empirical evidence from basic and clinical research. The second aim of the current paper is to provide explanations for recent findings on the depression-intuition interplay and to present directions for future research that may help to broaden our understanding of decision difficulties in depression. Third, we seek to propose ideas on how therapeutic interventions can support depressed individuals in taking better decisions. Even though our knowledge regarding this topic is still limited, we will tentatively launch the idea that an important first step may be to enhance patients’ access to intuitions. Overall, this paper seeks to introduce the topic of intuition to clinical research on depression and to hereby set the stage for upcoming theory and practice.
The effectiveness of earlier oocyte retrieval in the case of a premature luteinizing hormone surge on hCG day in in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer cycles

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of earlier oocyte retrieval in IVF patients with a premature LH surge on hCG day. Methods One hundred forty IVF patients (164 cycles) with premature LH surge on hCG day were included, retrospectively. We divided them into 2 study groups: LH surge with timed ovum pick-up (OPU) 36 hours after hCG injection (group B, 129 premature cycles), and LH surge with earlier OPU within 36 hours after hCG injection (group C, 35 cycles). Control groups were tubal factor infertility without premature LH surge (group A, 143 cycles). Results The mean age (year) was statistically higher in group C than in groups A or B (38.2±5.4 vs. 36.2±4.2 vs. 36.8±4.9, respectively; p=0.012). The serum LH levels (mIU/mL) on hCG day were significantly higher in group B and C than in group A (22.7±14.9 vs. 30.3±15.9 vs. 3.2±2.9, respectively; p>0.001). Among groups A, B, and C, 4.9%, 31.7%, and 51.4% of the cycles, respectively, had no oocytes, and the overall rates of cycle cancellation (OPU cancellation, no oocyte, or no embryos transferrable) were 15.4%, 65.9%, and 74.3%, respectively. The fertilization rate (%) was significantly higher in group B than in group C (73.2±38.9 vs. 47.8±42.9, p=0.024). The clinical pregnancy rate was significantly higher in group C than in groups A and B (44.4% vs. 27.3% vs. 9.1%, respectively, p=0.021). However, the miscarriage rate was also higher in group C than in group B (22% vs. 0%, respectively, p=0.026). Conclusion Earlier OPU may not be effective in reducing the risk of cycle cancellation in patients with premature LH surge on hCG day. A larger scale study will be required to reveal the effectiveness of earlier ovum retrieval with premature LH surge.
Circulating Insulin-Like Growth Factor I Mediates Exercise-Induced Increases in the Number of New Neurons in the Adult Hippocampus

Although the physiological significance of continued formation of new neurons in the adult mammalian brain is still uncertain, therapeutic strategies aimed to potentiate this process show great promise. Several external factors, including physical exercise, increase the number of new neurons in the adult hippocampus, but underlying mechanisms are not yet known. We recently found that exercise stimulates uptake of the neurotrophic factor insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) from the bloodstream into specific brain areas, including the hippocampus. In addition, IGF-I participates in the effects of exercise on hippocampal c-fos expression and mimics several other effects of exercise on brain function. Because subcutaneous administration of IGF-I to sedentary adult rats markedly increases the number of new neurons in the hippocampus, we hypothesized that exercise-induced brain uptake of blood-borne IGF-I could mediate the stimulatory effects of exercise on the adult hippocampus. Thus, we blocked the entrance of circulating IGF-I into the brain by subcutaneous infusion of a blocking IGF-I antiserum to rats undergoing exercise training. The resulting inhibition of brain uptake of IGF-I was paralleled by complete inhibition of exercise-induced increases in the number of new neurons in the hippocampus. Exercising rats receiving an infusion of nonblocking serum showed normal increases in the number of new hippocampal neurons after exercise. Thus, increased uptake of blood-borne IGF-I is necessary for the stimulatory effects of exercise on the number of new granule cells in the adult hippocampus. Taken together with previous results, we conclude that circulating IGF-I is an important determinant of exercise-induced changes in the adult brain.
An Extra Nucleotide in the Consensus Catalytic Core of a Viroid Hammerhead Ribozyme

Hammerhead ribozymes catalyze self-cleavage of oligomeric RNAs generated in replication of certain viroid and viroid-like RNAs. Previous studies have defined a catalytic core conserved in most natural hammerheads, but it is still unknown why some present deviations from the consensus. We have addressed this issue in chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid (CChMVd), whose (+) hammerhead has an extra A (A10) between the conserved A9 and the quasi-conserved G10.1. Effects of insertions at this position on hammerhead kinetics have not hitherto been examined. A10 caused a moderate decrease of thetrans-cleaving rate constant with respect to the CChMVd (+) hammerhead without this residue, whereas A10→C and A10→G substitutions had major detrimental effects, likely because they favor catalytically inactive foldings. By contrast, A10→U substitution induced a 3–4-fold increase of the rate constant, providing an explanation for the extra U10 present in two natural hammerheads. Because A10 also occupies a singular and indispensable position in the global CChMVd conformation, as revealed by bioassays, these results show that some hammerheads deviate from the consensus due to the involvement of certain residues in critical function(s) other than self-cleavage. Incorporation of the extra U10 into a model hammerhead also caused a similar increase in the rate constant, providing data for a deeper understanding of the hammerhead structural requirements and for designing more efficient ribozymes.
Software Development Issues of a Distributed Mobile-Commerce System

The proliferation of mobile devices such as smart phones and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) opens new ways for developing mobile E-commerce systems (so called Mobile-commerce or M-commerce system). In Mcommerce systems, we still see many common components that we have in standard E-commerce applications, such as web servers and database servers. However, these new applications raise some unique challenges. For example, the limitations of mobile devices (e.g., small screen size and reduced CPU performance) implies that software development is partly different from desktop applications. Questions which are posed when designing M-commerce system include: “What kind of information do the users want to access via mobile devices? ”, “How can we provide useful applications with limited user input facility? ”, “How can we test a distributed M-commerce system? ” In this paper, we discuss about some software development issues for mobile commerce systems from our experiences while developing an M-commerce system for tourists. Our prototype, easyHotel, is an useful software that allows booking hotel rooms via mobile phones.