Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SURGICAL TREATMENT OF GIANT PITUITARY ADENOMAS: STRATEGIES AND RESULTS IN A SERIES OF 95 CONSECUTIVE PATIENTS

OBJECTIVEGiant pituitary adenomas, defined as those measuring at least 4 cm in maximum diameter, are a therapeutic challenge. We report our experience in a large, consecutive series of patients with giant adenomas. METHODSBetween 1990 and 2004, 95 patients with a giant pituitary adenomas underwent surgery at our department. Nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma was the most frequent type (n = 70; 73.7%), whereas hormone-secreting adenomas numbered only 25 (26.3%). The mean age at the time of surgery (±standard error of the mean) was 48.4 ± 1.5 years; there were 66 men (69.5%) and 29 women (20.5%). RESULTSIn total, 111 surgical procedures were performed. Of these, 85 approaches (76.6%) were transsphenoidal and 26 (23.4%) were transcranial. Visual improvement occurred in 59 of the 79 patients with preoperative defect who could be evaluated after surgery (74.7%). Radical tumor excision was obtained in 14 patients (14.7%). Adjuvant medical and radiation therapies led to 74.5% (95% confidence interval, 62.7–86.4%) control of tumor growth at 5 years. This was not different in patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas compared with patients with hormone-secreting tumors. In the subgroup of patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, radiation therapy had a protective role against tumor growth (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONMaximal surgical removal of giant adenomas through the transsphenoidal or transcranial approach, or both, aimed to relieve compression of the optic pathway and reduce tumor volume as much as possible, offers the best chances to control the tumor when followed with adjuvant medical and radiation therapies.
Age of Female Adult Strangers as Determinant of Affective Behaviors of Japanese Toddlers.

The effect of the age of adult female strangers on the affective behaviors of tod dlers was examined among 60 Japanese 20to 28-month-olds. Investigated in Study 1 was the importance of age discrepancy between the mother and two types of female strangers: women age 23 and women over age 65. Study 2 was designed to compare reactions of toddlers to the mother and two types of strangers: men and women who were the mother's age, and men and women over 65. Toddlers directed nearly the same frequencies of proximal, active distal, and distal affective behaviors to female strangers of different ages. They fol lowed the documented patterns of discriminating a male stranger from all fe males by showing lower proportions of proximal and active distal affective be haviors to him. These results indicate that, at least in initial interactions, the affective behaviors of toddlers toward female adult strangers is not conditioned by age differences between those strangers.
A simulation study of selection methods to improve mastitis resistance of dairy cows.

Mastitis problems were assumed to decrease profitability of dairy cows through milk price, treatment cost, and involuntary culling cost. Milk price decreased through a stepwise function of SCC (actual French conditions). A continuous latent variate was supposed to trigger other costs through appropriate thresholds. The relative weights for one genetic standard deviation in the selection objective were 1, -. 07, and -. 14 for yield, SCC, and mastitis liability, respectively. Annual genetic gains were predicted for a conventional breeding scheme using statistical parameters from the literature. Selection on yield and log SCC, with or without mastitis culling rate, increased genetic gains for the overall profitability of . 7 or . 9%, respectively, compared with selection on yield only. Increases of log SCC and mastitis problems because of selection were substantially reduced (40 to 60%). Consequences from constraint of the genetic trend for mastitis liability to zero depended on the method used to assess mastitis problems. Use of log SCC had a significant and variable negative impact (-8.9 to -36% according to parameters) on overall efficiency compared with the relevant unconstrained selection. Simultaneous use of log SCC and culling rate had a moderate effect (-4.9 to -7.4%) on overall efficiency compared with that from unconstrained selection.
Antifungal prophylaxis during remission induction therapy for acute leukemia fluconazole versus intravenous amphotericin B

Background. Fungal infection is a frequent and often fatal complication in patients undergoing remission induction therapy for acute leukemia. Although candidiasis is the most common infection, mold infections are increasing in frequency. Fluconazole (FLU) is a new anti‐fungal agent that has been used successfully to treat Candida infections and has modest activity against aspergillosis in animal models. Subtherapeutic doses of amphotericin B (AMB) have been considered effective as prophylaxis in these patients. This study was designed to compare the efficacy and toxicity of these agents as anti‐fungal prophylaxis.
Epidemiology and outcome of acute lung injury in European intensive care units. Results from the ALIVE study.

OBJECTIVES To re-examine the epidemiology of acute lung injury (ALI) in European intensive care units (ICUs). DESIGN AND SETTING A 2-month inception cohort study in 78 ICUs of 10 European countries. PATIENTS All patients admitted for more than 4 h were screened for ALI and followed up to 2 months. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Acute lung injury occurred in 463 (7.1%) of 6,522 admissions and 16.1% of all mechanically ventilated patients; 65.4% cases occurred on ICU admission. Among 136 patients initially presenting with "mild ALI" (200< PaO2/FiO2 < or =300), 74 (55%) evolved to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) within 3 days. Sixty-two patients (13.4%) remained with mild ALI and 401 had ARDS. The crude ICU and hospital mortalities were 22.6% and 32.7% (p<0.001), and 49.4% and 57.9% (p=0.0005), respectively, for mild ALI and ARDS. ARDS patients initially received a mean tidal volume of 8.3+/-1.9 ml/kg and a mean PEEP of 7.7+/-3.6 cmH2O; air leaks occurred in 15.9%. After multivariate analysis, mortality was associated with age (odds ratio (OR) =1.2 per 10 years; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05-1.36), immuno-incompetence (OR: 2.88; Cl: 1.57-5.28), the severity scores SAPS II (OR: 1.16 per 10% expected mortality; Cl: 1.02-1.31) and logistic organ dysfunction (OR: 1.25 per point; Cl: 1.13-1.37), a pH less than 7.30 (OR: 1.88; Cl: 1.11-3.18) and early air leak (OR: 3.16; Cl: 1.59-6.28). CONCLUSIONS Acute lung injury was frequent in our sample of European ICUs (7.1%); one third of patients presented with mild ALI, but more than half rapidly evolved to ARDS. While the mortality of ARDS remains high, that of mild ALI is twice as low, confirming the grading of severity between the two forms of the syndrome.
Correlation-based feature detection using pulsed neural networks

The feature extraction and detection in visual scenes set up the basis for robust image processing and scene analysis. While the receptive fields of simple cells in the visual cortex are modeled by Gabor functions, simple cells are commonly treated as linear filters. In this paper, we demonstrate how the non-linear operations on pulses like correlation, synchronization and detection of decorrelation can be used for implementation of feature detectors. Using essentially two data-driven adaption rules dependent on dendritic currents and to membrane potentials, linear detection of intensity gradients can be realized. As a technical application, a feature detector sensitive to orientation is presented.
On the Origin of the Meaning of All

The English lexical item all' is polysemous. The completive sense of all' exemplified in sentences such as John is all wet' has been treated as distinct from the familiar quantificational sense, but crosslinguistic and developmental data suggest they are in fact deeply related. In this paper I show that by assuming all' to be a degree modifier it is possible to derive these two surface senses from one uniform lexical entry, and that various other consequences follow from that assumption.
Paradigm Shift in the Concept of Hormonal Milieu of Prostate Cancer

Androgens and the androgen receptor have been implicated in a number of human diseases and conditions, most notably prostate cancer. [1] Huggins and Hodges in 1941 demonstrated that bilateral orchiectomy or estrogen treatment is an effective treatment for prostate cancer. [2] Based upon their findings, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has remained the main therapeutic option for patients with advanced prostate cancer for about 70 years. Different therapeutic approaches, including surgical or medical castration with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, and an antiandrogen therapy, have become the gold standard for prostate cancer treatment with metastases. ADTs are quite successful, leading to regression of tumors in a majority of cases; however, 12-18 months later, most prostate cancers recur in a more aggressive, castration-resistant form (castrationresistant prostate cancer (CRPC)) that is incurable. Median survival for these patients after recurrence is 24-36 months. [3, 4] New ADTs and other promising therapies for CRPC have been actively developed. [5] This review will provide an overview of prostate cancer aggressiveness and the androgen levels in blood and prostatic tissues, androgen milieu during ADT, androgen milieu during CRPC, and the prospects of ADT on the ground of the androgen milieu in the prostate.
Genetic dissection of the biotic stress response using a genome-scale gene network for rice

Rice is a staple food for one-half the world's population and a model for other monocotyledonous species. Thus, efficient approaches for identifying key genes controlling simple or complex traits in rice have important biological, agricultural, and economic consequences. Here, we report on the construction of RiceNet, an experimentally tested genome-scale gene network for a monocotyledonous species. Many different datasets, derived from five different organisms including plants, animals, yeast, and humans, were evaluated, and 24 of the most useful were integrated into a statistical framework that allowed for the prediction of functional linkages between pairs of genes. Genes could be linked to traits by using guilt-by-association, predicting gene attributes on the basis of network neighbors. We applied RiceNet to an important agronomic trait, the biotic stress response. Using network guilt-by-association followed by focused protein–protein interaction assays, we identified and validated, in planta, two positive regulators, LOC_Os01g70580 (now Regulator of XA21; ROX1) and LOC_Os02g21510 (ROX2), and one negative regulator, LOC_Os06g12530 (ROX3). These proteins control resistance mediated by rice XA21, a pattern recognition receptor. We also showed that RiceNet can accurately predict gene function in another major monocotyledonous crop species, maize. RiceNet thus enables the identification of genes regulating important crop traits, facilitating engineering of pathways critical to crop productivity.
Sieve Tube Geometry in Relation to Phloem Flow

This work describes a novel method for imaging cell anatomy and cell wall features by scanning electron microscopy. The method was used to image sieve plates and sieve element geometry at high resolution to correlate sieve tube–specific conductivity with phloem flow measurements. Sieve elements are one of the least understood cell types in plants. Translocation velocities and volume flow to supply sinks with photoassimilates greatly depend on the geometry of the microfluidic sieve tube system and especially on the anatomy of sieve plates and sieve plate pores. Several models for phloem translocation have been developed, but appropriate data on the geometry of pores, plates, sieve elements, and flow parameters are lacking. We developed a method to clear cells from cytoplasmic constituents to image cell walls by scanning electron microscopy. This method allows high-resolution measurements of sieve element and sieve plate geometries. Sieve tube–specific conductivity and its reduction by callose deposition after injury was calculated for green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), bamboo (Phyllostachys nuda), squash (Cucurbita maxima), castor bean (Ricinus communis), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Phloem sap velocity measurements by magnetic resonance imaging velocimetry indicate that higher conductivity is not accompanied by a higher velocity. Studies on the temporal development of callose show that small sieve plate pores might be occluded by callose within minutes, but plants containing sieve tubes with large pores need additional mechanisms.
Design of an Automatic Password Protection Mechanism for Digital Documents

Maintaining digital security and privacy are critical issues in the modern workplace. Sensitive and proprietary data is frequently transmitted electronically, and with the large volume of such transmissions, it is inevitable that some material will be inadvertently sent to unintended recipients, leading potentially to the unintended revelation of private data. The paper reports on the design of an automatic mechanism for password protection of digital documents on a per-user basis. Recommended practices and details of architecture, approach and implementation are presented for the specific protection of Microsoft Excel documents, although the scheme can be generalized to other digital document management software.
Authentic happiness theory supported by impact of religion on life satisfaction: A longitudinal analysis with data for Germany

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey, this paper assesses the relationship between life satisfaction and religious practice. It is shown that individuals who become more religious over time record long term gains in life satisfaction, while those who become less religious record long term losses. This result holds net of the effects of personality traits, and also in fixed effects panel models. The paper has significant implications for the current paradigm theory in SWB research, namely set-point theory. This theory holds that the long term SWB of adult individuals is stable, because SWB depends on personality traits and other stable genetic factors. New evidence in this paper about the effects of consciously chosen life goals, including religious ones, on SWB is hard to reconcile with set-point theory. It is more in line with authentic happiness theory.
On the Conformation of the COOH-terminal Domain of the Large Mechanosensitive Channel MscL

COOH-terminal (S3) domains are conserved within the MscL family of bacterial mechanosensitive channels, but their function remains unclear. The X-ray structure of MscL from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TbMscL) revealed cytoplasmic domains forming a pentameric bundle (Chang, G., R.H. Spencer, A.T. Lee, M.T. Barclay, and D.C. Rees. 1998. Science. 282:2220–2226). The helices, however, have an unusual orientation in which hydrophobic sidechains face outside while charged residues face inside, possibly due to specific crystallization conditions. Based on the structure of pentameric cartilage protein , we modeled the COOH-terminal region of E. coli MscL to better satisfy the hydrophobicity criteria, with sidechains of conserved aliphatic residues all inside the bundle. Molecular dynamic simulations predicted higher stability for this conformation compared with one modeled after the crystal structure of TbMscL, and suggested distances for disulfide trapping experiments. The single cysteine mutants L121C and I125C formed dimers under ambient conditions and more so in the presence of an oxidant. The double-cysteine mutants, L121C/L122C and L128C/L129C, often cross-link into tetrameric and pentameric structures, consistent with the new model. Patch-clamp examination of these double mutants under moderately oxidizing or reducing conditions indicated that the bundle cross-linking neither prevents the channel from opening nor changes thermodynamic parameters of gating. Destabilization of the bundle by replacing conservative leucines with small polar residues, or complete removal of COOH-terminal domain (Δ110–136 mutation), increased the occupancy of subconducting states but did not change gating parameters substantially. The Δ110–136 truncation mutant was functional in in vivo osmotic shock assays; however, the amount of ATP released into the shock medium was considerably larger than in controls. The data strongly suggest that in contrast to previous gating models (Sukharev, S., M. Betanzos, C.S. Chiang, and H.R. Guy. 2001a. Nature. 409:720–724.), S3 domains are stably associated in both closed and open conformations. The bundle-like assembly of cytoplasmic helices provides stability to the open conformation, and may function as a size-exclusion filter at the cytoplasmic entrance to the MscL pore, preventing loss of essential metabolites.
A Phylogenetic Study of SPBP and RAI1: Evolutionary Conservation of Chromatin Binding Modules

Our genome is assembled into and array of highly dynamic nucleosome structures allowing spatial and temporal access to DNA. The nucleosomes are subject to a wide array of post-translational modifications, altering the DNA-histone interaction and serving as docking sites for proteins exhibiting effector or “reader” modules. The nuclear proteins SPBP and RAI1 are composed of several putative “reader” modules which may have ability to recognise a set of histone modification marks. Here we have performed a phylogenetic study of their putative reader modules, the C-terminal ePHD/ADD like domain, a novel nucleosome binding region and an AT-hook motif. Interactions studies in vitro and in yeast cells suggested that despite the extraordinary long loop region in their ePHD/ADD-like chromatin binding domains, the C-terminal region of both proteins seem to adopt a cross-braced topology of zinc finger interactions similar to other structurally determined ePHD/ADD structures. Both their ePHD/ADD-like domain and their novel nucleosome binding domain are highly conserved in vertebrate evolution, and construction of a phylogenetic tree displayed two well supported clusters representing SPBP and RAI1, respectively. Their genome and domain organisation suggest that SPBP and RAI1 have occurred from a gene duplication event. The phylogenetic tree suggests that this duplication has happened early in vertebrate evolution, since only one gene was identified in insects and lancelet. Finally, experimental data confirm that the conserved novel nucleosome binding region of RAI1 has the ability to bind the nucleosome core and histones. However, an adjacent conserved AT-hook motif as identified in SPBP is not present in RAI1, and deletion of the novel nucleosome binding region of RAI1 did not significantly affect its nuclear localisation.
Communication theory & research : an EJC anthology

Introduction and Overview - Denis McQuail PART ONE: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION Research into International Television Flows - Preben Sepstrup A Methodological Contribution The Mythology about Globalization - Marjorie Ferguson The inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting Channels Revisited - Els De Bens and Hedwig de Smaele PART TWO: AUDIENCE Five Traditions in Search of the Audience - Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Karl Erik Rosengren Resisting American Hegemony - Daniel Biltereyst PART THREE: POLICY AND POLITICS Accountability of Meida to Society - Denis McQuail A Reponse Who's Afraid of Infotainment? - Kees Brants Political Communication Systems All Change - Jay G Blumler A Response to Kees Brants 'Four Mothers' - Dafna Lemish and Inbal Barzel The Womb in the Public Sphere A Critical Review and Assessment of Herman and Chomsky's 'Propaganda Model' - Jeffery Klaehn PART FOUR: JOURNALISM The Sacred Side of Professional Journalism - Thorbj[um]orn Broddason Telling Stories - Peter Golding Sociology, Journalism and the Informed Citizen Beyond Journalism - Jo Bardoel A Profession between Information Society and Civil Society Journalistic Codes of Ethics in Europe - Tiina Laitila 'Infosuasion' in European Newspapers - Rossella Savarese A Case Study on War in Kosovo News Production in Contemporary Russia - Olessia Koltsova PART FIVE: MEDIA CULTURE European Soap Operas - Tamar Liebes and Sonia Livingstone The Diversification of Genre Gendering the Internet - Liesbet van Zoonen Claims, Controversies and Cultures Lifestyle Segmentation - Patrick Vyncke Consumer Culture, Islam and the Politics Lifestyle - Baris Kilichay nad Mutlu Binarck Fashion for Veiling in Contemporary Turkey
Response of Last Instar Helicoverpa armígera Larvae to Bt Toxin Ingestion: Changes in the Development and in the CYP6AE14, CYP6B2 and CYP9A12 Gene Expression

Bt crops are able to produce Cry proteins, which were originally present in Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria. Although Bt maize is very efficient against corn borers, Spanish crops are also attacked by the earworm H. armigera, which is less susceptible to Bt maize. Many mechanisms could be involved in this low susceptibility to the toxin, including the insect's metabolic resistance to toxins due to cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. This paper examines the response of last instar H. armigera larvae to feeding on a diet with Bt and non-Bt maize leaves in larval development and in the gene expression of three P450 cytochromes: CYP6AE14, CYP6B2 and CYP9A12. Larvae fed on sublethal amounts of the Bt toxin showed reduced food ingestion and reduced growth and weight, preventing most of them from achieving the critical weight and pupating; additionally, after feeding for one day on the Bt diet the larvae showed a slight increase in juvenile hormone II in the hemolymp. Larvae fed on the non-Bt diet showed the highest CYP6AE14, CYP6B2 and CYP9A12 expression one day after feeding on the non-Bt diet, and just two days later the expression decreased abruptly, a finding probably related to the developmental programme of the last instar. Moreover, although the response of P450 genes to plant allelochemicals and xenobiotics has been related in general to overexpression in the resistant insect, or induction of the genes when feeding takes place, the expression of the three genes studied was suppressed in the larvae feeding on the Bt toxin. The unexpected inhibitory effect of the Cry1Ab toxin in the P450 genes of H. armigera larvae should be thoroughly studied to determine whether this response is somehow related to the low susceptibility of the species to the Bt toxin.
2012 updated consensus guidelines for the management of abnormal cervical cancer screening tests and cancer precursors.

To the Editor: I have a question about the article by Massad et al in the April 2013 issue of the journal. On page 840, the authors state, "For women aged 21–24 years with CIN 1 after ASC-H or HSIL cytology, observation for up to 24 months using both colposcopy and cytology at 6-month intervals is recommended, provided the colposcopic examination is adequate and endocervical assessment is negative (BIII). ” Yet, on the same page, under the heading "Management of Women With CIN 1 or No Lesion Preceded by ASCH or HSIL," the recommendation is, "When CIN 2+ is not identified histologically, either a diagnostic excisional procedure or observation with co-testing at 12 months and 24 months is recommended, provided in the latter case that the colposcopic examination is adequate and the endocervical sampling is negative. " Why is the recommended management for women aged 21–24 years more aggressive than for older women?
Automated meshing of sparse 3D point clouds

We propose a novel method that uses simulated annealing to create an optimal surface mesh by selecting a subset of a 3D point cloud and a triangulation that reliably represents the actual topology of the scene. This method provides a number of advantages: it copes well with noisy data, it produces a simplified mesh, particularly for scenes that contain many planes and, unlike greedy search techniques, it is much more likely to converge to a global minimum.