Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MRI of occult breast carcinoma in a high-risk population.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of cancer and the positive predictive value of biopsy in the first screening round of breast MRI in women at high risk of developing breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective review was performed of the records of 367 consecutive women at high risk of developing breast cancer who had normal findings on mammography and their first breast MRI screening examination during a 2-year period. The frequency of recommending biopsy at the first screening MRI study and the biopsy results were reviewed. RESULTS Biopsy was recommended in 64 women (17%). Biopsy revealed cancer that was occult on mammography and physical examination in 14 (24%) of 59 women who had biopsy and in 14 (4%) of 367 women who underwent breast MRI screening. Histologic findings in 14 women with cancer were ductal carcinoma in situ in eight (57%) and infiltrating carcinoma in six (43%). The median size of infiltrating carcinoma was 0.4 cm (range, 0.1-1.2 cm). Two patients had nodes that were positive for cancer. Biopsy revealed high-risk lesions (atypical ductal hyperplasia, atypical lobular hyperplasia, lobular carcinoma in situ, or radial scar) in 13 (4%) of 367 women and other benign findings in 32 (9%) of 367 women who had MRI screening. CONCLUSION Among women at high risk of developing breast cancer, breast MRI led to a recommendation of biopsy in 17%. Cancer was found in 24% of women who underwent biopsy and in 4% of women who had breast MRI screening. More than half the MRI-detected cancers were ductal carcinoma in situ.
Construct Validity of Almutairi’s Critical Cultural Competence Scale

Cultural diversity in health care settings can threaten the well-being of patients, their families, and health care providers. This psychometric study evaluated the construct validity of the recently developed four-factor, 43-item Critical Cultural Competence Scale (CCCS) which was designed to overcome the conceptual limitations of previously developed scales. The study was conducted in Canada with a random sample of 170 registered nurses. Comparisons with the Cultural Competence Assessment instrument, Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy, and Cultural Intelligence Scale provided mixed evidence of convergent validity. Modest correlations were found between the total scale scores suggesting that the CCCS is measuring a more comprehensive and conceptually distinct construct. Stronger correlations were found between the more conceptually similar subscales. Evidence for discriminant validity was also mixed. Results support use of the CCCS to measure health care providers’ perceptions of their critical cultural competence though ongoing evaluation is warranted.
Folksonomy Based Trend Analysis on Community Question Answering Sites: A Perspective on Software Technologies

In the booming era of online social media environment, community question answering (CQA) sites have become one of the popular resources for software engineers and software industries. Software engineers are increasingly sharing their questions and answers on CQA sites. Aims of the CQA sites are to provide useful and relevant information to the users. Analysis information of major programming languages using trend analysis can be useful for software engineers to understand the technological evolutions and popularity. Since most of the CQA sites consist of user assigned tags by which folksonomy can be efficiently utilized for developing suitable algorithm to find the trend of key programming technologies. In this paper, two techniques of trend analysis, namely, ARIMA time series model and fuzzy time series model have been applied on the tagging data to identify the trend. Trend analysis is being carried on key programming languages, namely, c#, Java, PHP, and python. In this paper, quality of the trend is measured by entropy, ZTrend, and quality of forecast is measured by MMRE, burst trend for key programming languages.
Kinetics and energetics of calcium efflux from intact squid giant axons.

The Ca efflux from intact squid axons consists of three major components: one that is activated by Cao, one that is activated by Nao and a residual flux that persists in the nominal absence of both Cao and Nao. The properties of these components have been investigated in unpoisoned axons and in axons poisoned with cyanide. 2. Under all conditions the shape of the curve relating Cao to Cao‐activated Ca efflux approximates to a section of a rectangular hyperbola, consistent with simple Michaelis activation. 3. The external Ca concentration giving half‐maximal activation of Cao‐activated Ca efflux is about 2 muM in unpoisoned axons immersed in Na‐ASW, but on poisoning changes progressively to values in the range 1‐10 mM. The residual efflux from unpoisoned axons may reflect activation by traces of Ca present immediately external to the axolemma. 4. The apparent affinity for Cao of Cao‐activated Ca efflux is very similar in unpoisoned axons immersed in sea waters containing Na, Li, Tris or K as major cation, whereas in poisoned axons the affinity in Na and Li is about the same but higher than that in choline and Tris. 5. In unpoisoned axons Ca influx increases linearly as Cao is increased from 2 muM to 110 mM. The absolute value of the Ca influx from 10 muM‐Cao is less than 1% of the Cao‐activated Ca efflux at this external Ca concentration. In poisoned axons the sizes of Cao‐activated Ca efflux and Ca influx were similar at all Ca concentrations examined. 6. The shape of the curve relating Nao to Nao‐activated Ca efflux approximates to a section of rectangular hyperbola in unpoisoned axons but is clearly sigmoidal in axons that have been fully poisoned with cyanide. The sigmoidal shape develops progressively during poisoning.
Cryopreserved rabbit amniotic membrane alleviated inflammatory response and fibrosis following experimental strabismus surgery in rabbits

We evaluate the ability of cryopreserved rabbit amniotic membrane (AM) transplantation to reduce postoperative inflammation and the extent of fibrosis following experimental strabismus surgery. Ten white rabbits underwent bilateral superior rectus (SR) muscle resection. In the left eye, the resected SR muscle was wrapped with cryopreserved rabbit AM. The right eye underwent SR resection only and served as a control. The eyes were enucleated 4 weeks after strabismus surgery. The degree of postoperative inflammatory infiltration, the extent of fibrosis, and profile of the relative expression of inflammatory mediators in the SR muscle were evaluated and compared between the two groups by histological analysis and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). There were statistically meaningful differences in the degree of postoperative inflammatory infiltration and extent of fibrosis between the eyes treated with cryopreserved rabbit AM after SR resection and those underwent SR resection only. A significant decrease in the expression of inflammatory cytokines [interleukin (IL)-12a, IL-12b, IL-17f, and tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-α)], and a markedly increased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines (transforming growth factor-beta-1(TGFβ-1) and IL-10) were observed in the eyes treated with cryopreserved rabbit AM. In this study, we demonstrate that cryopreserved rabbit AM is effective in reducing postoperative inflammation and extent of fibrosis in a rabbit model of strabismus surgery. Our results imply that cryopreserved AM allograft has anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring properties that can prevent postoperative adhesions following strabismus surgery.
Data spanning three decades illustrate racial disparities in likelihood of obesity

ABSTRACT Obesity rates have risen significantly in recent decades, with underprivileged Americans associated with higher rates of the condition. Risks associated with obesity, furthermore, appear unequally distributed across different racial/ethnic groups, according to the literature. The present study examined racial disparities in obesity as a function of socioeconomic factors, using a sample of American adults from a 32-year longitudinal study. We accounted for the time factor as we evaluated obesity’s associations with selected socioeconomic factors; we also examined race/ethnicity’s moderating role in obesity–socioeconomic status associations over time. We used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to obtain a final sample of 118,749 person-waves for analysis. A subsample of person-waves numbering 65,702 represented data from White respondents; one numbering 31,618 represented data from Black respondents; and one numbering 21,429 represented data from Hispanic respondents. Needing to consider repeated measures of the same variables over time, we chose generalized estimated equations (GEE) for use in the data analysis. Speaking generally, the obtained results suggested that for the two smaller subsamples, minority race/ethnicity could have introduced disadvantages that helped explain links between obesity and race/ethnicity. Results also showed that White–Black disparities in obesity have widened slightly in the past three decades, while White–Hispanic disparities have stabilized during the same time period.
Methylation Analysis of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Genes in Primary Gastrointestinal Lymphomas

The CIP/KIP family of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors may act as tumor suppressors. To assess promoter hypermethylation as a potential underlying mechanism for loss of expression, methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction for p21 and p27 genes was performed in 13 gastric low-grade mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas, 13 gastric high-grade B-cell lymphomas, and 14 intestinal diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. p21 and p27 genes were unmethylated in normal Peyer's patch and tonsillar tissues. Promoter hypermethylation of p21 gene was detected only in some gastric low-grade MALT lymphomas (4/13, 31%). All gastric and intestinal high-grade lymphomas revealed unmethylated status of p21 gene. p27 gene was unmethylated in all cases of low- and high-grade gastrointestinal lymphomas. These results suggest that p21 promoter methylation is involved in some low-grade MALT lymphomagenesis in stomach and seems to be an early event in the gastric lymphomagenesis. And promoter methylation is not the underlying mechanism for loss of p27 protein expression in the malignant lymphomas of the stomach and intestine.
Successful Treatment of Unicameral Bone Cyst by Single Percutaneous Injection of α-BSM

Background Unicameral bone cyst (UBC) is a benign bone lesion, recognized for its high rate of recurrence and need for repeat procedures to achieve healing. We hypothesized that the osteoconductive material apatitic calcium phosphate (α-BSM) could be effective in filling and stimulating resolution of UBC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical and radiographic outcomes of UBC treated by a single injection of α-BSM. Methods Thirteen patients (6 male, 7 female) with a mean age of 10.5 years, underwent single percutaneous injection of α-BSM for presumed UBC. The aspiration of the cysts was followed by vigorous saline lavage using 2 wide bore needles to disrupt the cyst walls. α-BSM “paste” was then injected under fluoroscopic guidance. Radiographs were digitized to measure cystic area (millimeter squares) on 2 orthogonal views. Healing was rated according to a modified Neer outcome grading system. Nine of the 13 patients had had pathologic fractures in the past. Eleven of the 13 patients had had past unsuccessful treatment: multiple steroid injections in 6, curettage and bone grafting in 3, and bone marrow and demineralized bone matrix (Grafton) injection in 2. Results Five cysts were grade 1 (healed 100%), 6 grade 2 (healed >50%), 2 grade 3 (healed <50% with increased cortical thickness), and none grade 4 (recurrence/enlargement). The average resolution of cystic area in 11/13 cysts was 85.7% at final follow-up of 35.8 months (P=0.0001) with 2.8 mm of average gain in cortical thickness (P=0.0018). None of the 13 lesions required an additional procedure or repeat injection. All patients were clinically asymptomatic at latest follow-up. Conclusions This is the first study quantifying cyst resolution objectively according to actual decrease in area (millimeter squares). A single injection of α-BSM is a safe, minimally invasive and efficacious method to treat UBC in the pediatric population. Level of Evidence Case series, level IV
SLURP-1 modulates corneal homeostasis by serving as a soluble scavenger of urokinase-type plasminogen activator.

PURPOSE Our previous study revealed the immunomodulatory property of the secreted lymphocyte antigen (Ly6)/urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR)-related protein-1 (SLURP1), abundantly expressed in the cornea and associated with the hyperkeratotic disorder Mal de Meleda. Here, we test the hypothesis that SLURP1 modulates the functions of membrane-tethered uPAR by acting as a soluble scavenger of its ligand urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). METHODS Human corneal limbal epithelial (HCLE) and mouse corneal stromal fibroblast MK/T-1 cells were employed to examine the effect of SLURP1 on cell proliferation and migration. Human corneal limbal epithelial cell clones stably expressing SLURP1 under the control of cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter were generated using lentiviral vectors. Recombinant 6× His-mouse Slurp1 and maltose-binding protein (MBP)-mouse uPA were expressed in Escherichia coli and partially purified using nickel-ion and amylose columns, respectively. Slurp1 interaction with uPA was detected using ligand blots, ELISA, pull-down assays, and immunofluorescent staining. RESULTS Stable expression of SLURP1 in HCLE cells was confirmed by immunoblots and immunofluorescent staining. Human corneal limbal epithelial and MK/T-1 cell proliferation and migration rates were suppressed by exogenous SLURP1. Ligand blots, ELISA, and pull-down assays indicated that Slurp1 efficiently interacts with uPA. Immunofluorescent staining demonstrated that exogenous SLURP1 decreased the amount of cell surface-bound uPA in the leading edges of migrating cells. In gap-filling assays, wild-type HCLE cells responded to uPA by increasing their velocity and closing larger area, while the SLURP1-expressing HCLE cells failed to do so. CONCLUSIONS SLURP1 modulates corneal homeostasis by serving as a soluble scavenger of uPA and regulating the uPA-dependent functions of uPAR.
Molecular Characterization of α-Thalassemia in Adana, Turkey: A Single Center Study

Background/Aim: α-Thalassemia (α-thal) is a widespread genetic disorder throughout the world caused primarily by reduced synthesis of the α-globin chains, and it has been found at a high incidence in Turkey. Our aim in this study was to determine the frequency and molecular properties of α-thal in Adana, Turkey. Material and Methods: A total of 3,000 individuals comprising premarital couples or patients with anemia were screened between 2007 and 2008. Hematological parameters were analyzed using an automatic cell counter, and to detect the carriers of hemoglobin variants, high-performance liquid chromatography was used. Molecular screening of the α-globin gene was carried out by an Alpha-Globin StripAssay® which is based on multiplex PCR for specific amplification. Results: We have identified 225 cases with α-thal and found that the prevalence of α-thal is 7.5% in this area. In molecular analyses, the α-thal gene mutations α3.7, α4. 2, --MED, --20.5, αPA-2α, αααanti-3.7, and αPA-1α were detected. Conclusion: Our results showed that the α-thal mutations represent a great heterogeneity and that the -α3.7 deletion has the highest frequency in Adana.
Recognizing Septic Cutaneous Pustules as a Manifestation of Disseminated Melioidosis

Melioidosis is an infection caused by the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. This disease is endemic in Southeast Asia and North Australia with sporadic occurrence in temperate countries. Any organ can be involved in melioidosis it causes an acute inflammatory reaction with rapid development of small abscesses which tend to coalesce to form larger abscesses. Cutaneous manifestations vary greatly. We report a man with disseminated melioidosis who presented with cutaneous lesions.
Microdissection and whole chromosome painting. Improving sex chromosome analysis in Triportheus (Teleostei, Characiformes)

Triportheus fish species present 2n = 52 chromosomes. The karyotypes show similar macrostructure and a ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system, which probably represents synapomorphy for the genus. A probe of the Z chromosome was obtained from T. nematurus through microdissection, followed by unspecific amplification via DOP-PCR. This probe was used for WCP (whole chromosome painting) through fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) in several other Triportheus species, to analyze the differentiation of the ZZ/ZW system. The homology between this probe and chromosomes of species from other genera, putatively related to Triportheus, was also examined to search for evidence about evolution of their sex chromosomes. Complete homology was found among the Z chromosomes of all Triportheus species, while only small positive signals were found on the W chromosomes. Hybridization signals were absent in species from other genera. The present results reinforce both the conservative nature of Z chromosomes and the hypothesis that the ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system is a synapomorphic feature of Triportheus. On the other hand, besides reduction of size, W chromosomes have undergone accentuated composition changes in relation to Z chromosomes, since only a small region, usually located in the short arm, kept homology with the Z chromosomes.
An approach to characterize a software process

Process improvement is a cyclic activity consisting of several phases. According to the Quality Improvement Paradigm, the first phase is characterization. This paper presents a developed methodology for characterizing a software process. The methods include software process assessment and modeling. Using an assessment driven process modeling methodology we can create a descriptive model that characterizes the current process, and a prescriptive model containing improvement suggestions. The selected processes are reviewed and the process components are gathered according to a software engineering process meta-model. The SPICE assessment model is utilized in process reviews. In a case study the methodology is applied to characterize the software process of a small enterprise. The current process is defined and its process capability and product quality are determined. The enterprise's process guide, the produced work products and the projects workload are analyzed. This paper reports the experiences of using the methodology and presents a way to analyze the implications caused by the differences between the existing process guidance and the actually implemented process.
Sevoflurane, but not Propofol, Significantly Prolongs the Q-T Interval

Prolongation of the Q-T interval may be associated with polymorphic ventricular tachycardia known as torsade de pointes, syncope and sudden death. Existing data show that isoflurane prolongs the Q-T interval, whereas halothane shortens it. The aim of this study was to determine whether sevoflurane or propofol affects the Q-T interval. Thirty female patients undergoing gynecologic surgery were randomly assigned to two groups, one receiving inhaled induction with sevoflurane and the other receiving total IV anesthesia with propofol. Before and 20 min after the induction, a six-lead electrocardiogram was recorded, and blood pressure was measured. The Q-T interval and heart rate adjusted Q-T interval (Q-Tc interval) were significantly prolonged during the administration of anesthesia with sevoflurane, while the Q-T interval was significantly shortened, and the Q-Tc interval was statistically unaffected during propofol anesthesia administration. We conclude that, in otherwise healthy female patients, sevoflurane prolongs the Q-Tc. Implications In this study, we evaluated the effect of sevoflurane induction and anesthesia versus propofol induction and anesthesia on the Q-T interval. Sevoflurane significantly prolonged the Q-T interval and the heart rate adjusted Q-T interval, whereas propofol shortened the Q-T interval but not the heart rate adjusted Q-T interval.
Heterogeneities in transmission rates and the epidemiology of schistosome infection

Previous theoretical studies have suggested that heterogeneities in transmission rates can have significant effects on the epidemiology of parasite infections. However, the magnitude of these effects in practice remains uncertain because of the difficulty of quantifying such heterogeneities under natural conditions. In this paper we consider the effects of heterogeneous rates of contact with infective water bodies on the basic reproductive rate, R0, of human schistosomes. In particular, we examine the theoretical effects of differences in the distribution of contacts among individuals and among sites. We find that an individual’s contribution to R0 depends not only on the net contact rate but also on how these contacts are distributed among sites - the contact pattern. Our analysis of field data suggests a substantial impact of heterogeneous contact rates on R0 in practice. Significant reductions in R0 may be possible if schistosomiasis control efforts are targeted at certain sites and, especially, certain individuals.
An adaptive ranging model under changeable environment

Due to the complexity of the indoor environment, this paper proposes an adaptive ranging T-S model (ADRTS). The new model can be through self-learning to range and improve the ranging accuracy. The proposed method exploits the adaptive to range precisely under the changeable environments. Compared with the classical ranging model, the proposed model is with high accuracy under the indoor environment about localization, and it is feasible and simple. In the indoor environment, the simulation experiment indicates that this method is feasible and effective for improving ranging accuracy and will help to improve the accuracy of localization of node.