Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Clinical analysis of 939 patients with adrenal lesions detected by abdominal computed tomography].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence, etiology and clinical characteristics of adrenal lesions detected by abdominal computed tomography (CT). METHODS This retrospective study was conducted in patients with adrenal lesions detected by abdominal CT examinations in Nanfang Hospital between July, 2014 and June, 2015. The clinical data of the patients were collected for analysis of the demographics, comorbidities, imaging characteristics, biochemical profiles, clinical diagnosis and intervention. RESULTS A total of 939 patients with adrenal lesions were identified from 19 004 patients undergoing abdominal CT scan over the defined period. The mean age of the patients was 53.2 years and 560 of the patients were male. Among the total cases with adrenal lesions, the percentages of cases with adrenal masses tended to increase progressively with age. Endocrine studies were done in 270 of the total patients, which identified non-functioning masses in 38.9%, primary aldosteronism in 16.3%, Cushing's syndrome in 4.1%, subclinical Cushing's syndrome in 7.0%, and pheochromocytomas in 7.0% of the cases. Adrenal incidentalomas was detected in 191 patients, with a detection rate of 1.0% among the overall patients undergoing abdominal CT scans. Imaging study detected adenomas (70.3%), cortical carcinomas (2.4%), and metastases (0.5%). Of 191 patients with adrenal incidentalomas, only 76 (39.8%) underwent endocrine evaluation, including 34 with nonfunctioning adrenal masses, 17 with pheochromocytoma, 7 with primary aldosteronism, and 5 with subclinical Cushing's syndrome. CONCLUSION s The overall detection rates of adrenal lesions and adrenal incidentalomas by abdominal CT were 4.9% and 1.0%, respectively, in our cohort of patients undergoing the examination over the defined period. Although most of the lesions were benign and nonfunctioning, malignant and functional lesions were also detected. As many as 60% of the patients with adrenal incidentalomas did not have hormonal testing. Clinicians need to have greater awareness of adrenal incidentalomas and standard protocol for its management should be established.
CINSARC: a new look into an old concept gives hope for new treatments for synovial sarcomas.

Genomic instability is a characteristic of all human cancers with its frequency, causes and consequences having been extensively studied and reviewed (1-8). Genomic Instability can be manifested as: whole chromosome aneuploidy that later gives rise to chromosome instability (CIN), gene copy number alterations, structural chromosomal abnormalities like translocations, telomere dysfunction, and gene mutations (9).
Deep Shape from Silhouettes

Despite strong progress in the field of 3D reconstruction from multiple views, challenges from noise, transparencies and lack of texture remain. On the other hand, silhouette based reconstruction techniques ease the dependency of 3d reconstruction on image observations but need a large number of silhouettes as well as calibration information. In this paper, a novel end to end pipeline is proposed to produce high quality reconstructions from low quality 3D reconstruction from insufficient silhouettes, using a deep shape reconstruction architecture. Evaluations on ShapeNet [1] show that our reconstructions compared well with ground truth, qualitatively and quantitatively.
Disseminating the Results of Participant-Focused Research

Participant-focused research (PFR) includes the fisubjectsfl as full partners in the research process. As such, participants share in the products or outcomes of research. PFR goes beyond the traditional research approach of disseminating findings to other scientists and clinicians and includes participants and community residents in sharing the skills, knowledge, and resources of the study with the objective of empowering the participants. This article demonstrates the use of PFR in disseminating the results or products of study to the participants through two examples of long-term research projects conducted in Los Angeles. The first example is a community-based study of HIV prevention with low-income Latina women. The second example is an ethnographic study of health concerns and risks among adolescents in juvenile detention. These examples provide two approaches to dissemination of research findings and benefits to the participants and the community.
Du découpage à l'assemblage non anticipé de composants : Conception et mise en oeuvre du langage à composants Scl

Les composants logiciels sont des entites logicielles reutilisables promettant une reduction des couts lies au developpement, a la maintenance et a l'evolution d'un logiciel. Actuellement, de nombreuses propositions se reclament du mode de developpement par assemblage de composants logiciels. Malgre un vocabulaire parfois commun (composant, port, interface, service, connexion, connecteur), ces propositions sont disparates de par leurs origines, leurs objectifs, leurs concepts ou encore leurs mecanismes. De plus, elles restent difficiles a utiliser en pratique par manque de veritables langages de programmation semantiquement fondes et concretement utilisables. Devant tant de profusion, nous nous interessons, dans cette these, aux problematiques suivantes: qu'est-ce qu'un langage a composants? Quels sont les avantages de ces langages? Comment realiser un langage a composants? Cette these propose donc Scl, un langage de programmation a composants permettant de mettre en pratique reellement la programmation par composants (PPC). De par sa conception, Scl se veut etre un langage : (i) minimal dans le sens ou toutes les abstractions et tous les mecanismes qui lui sont integres repondent a un besoin identifie ; (ii) simple car ses abstractions et ses mecanismes sont de haut niveau ; (iii) detaille car nous avons aborde un ensemble de questions souvent oubliees dans les autres propositions comme l'auto-reference, le passage d'arguments ou le statut des composants de base (collections, entiers, etc) dans un monde unifie ; (iv) dedie a la PPC, car prenant en compte les deux preoccupations que nous jugeons majeures en PPC et qui sous-tendent toute l'etude: le decouplage et la non-anticipation. Le coeur de Scl repose principalement sur les concepts de composant, de port, de service, de connecteur et de « code glue » ainsi que sur les mecanismes de liaison de ports et d'invocation de service. La separation des preoccupations au niveau du code occupe une part importante de l'etude qui etablit un lien entre la programmation par composants et la programmation par aspects (PPA). Scl propose dans ce cadre une amelioration des approches dites « symetriques » de la PPA, via une unification des concepts d'aspect et de composant et via un ensemble de differents types de liaisons de ports qui permettent d'utiliser un meme composant de facon standard ou de facon transversale. Scl integre aussi un mecanisme general permettant d'etablir des connexions entre composants basees sur les changements d'etats de leurs proprietes sans que leurs programmeurs n'aient a ecrire une ligne de code specifique a cet effet. Deux prototypes de Scl sont egalement presentes, le premier et le plus abouti est ecrit en Smalltalk et le second en Ruby.
Essential Trace Elements and Cancer

The immune system (immunoglobulins, cell mediated immunity, phagocytosis complement, lysosomes, interferon, metabolic function, hormones, metabolic and respiratory alkalosis) is the natural mechanism which defends against cancer. Trace elements zinc, selenium, molybdenum, and manganese augment this natural mechanism. Zinc is essential for normal development and maintenance of the thymus. Reduced antibody synthesis during zinc deficiency relates in part to interference with T-Iymphocyte helper function. Zinc promotes B-cell function by acting as a mitogen for animal and human lymphocytes. Zinc is essential for the normal bactericidal and phagocytic function of granulocytes. Zinc's essential role in protein synthesis makes it essential for normal complement production. Acrodermatitis enteropathica, failure to absorb zinc because of an inborn error of metabolism, is marked by all the above defects. Blood and serum from cancer patients generally show subnormal zinc levels. Zinc prevents the growth of experimentally induced cancers. Zinc deficiency depresses killer cell activity. Zinc deficiency promotes cancer by inhibiting normal vitamin A and lipid metabolism and DNA repair. The parents of pyroluric patients presumably deficient in zinc have an increased
A General Theory for Deadlock-Free Adaptive Routing Using a Mixed Set of Resources

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the design of deadlock-free fully adaptive routing algorithms for a general class of network topologies and switching techniques in a single, unified theory. A general theory is proposed that allows the design of deadlock avoidance-based as well as deadlock recovery-based wormhole and virtual cut-through adaptive routing algorithms that use a homogeneous or a heterogeneous (mixed) set of resources. The theory also allows channel queues to be allocated nonatomically, utilizing resources efficiently. A general methodology for the design of fully adaptive routing algorithms applicable to arbitrary network topologies is also proposed. The proposed theory and methodology allow the design of efficient network routers that require minimal resources for handling infrequent deadlocks.
Relationship between hematocrit and renal function in men and women.

BACKGROUND Anemia is a known complication of renal insufficiency, but the relationship between level of renal function and magnitude of reduction in hematocrit is not well defined. Men have higher hematocrit and absolute glomerular filtration rate (GFR) than women; however, it is unknown whether the level of clearance associated with decreased hematocrit is the same in men and women. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of 12,055 adult ambulatory patients. General linear models were used to analyze the relationship between hematocrit and Cockcroft-Gault equation estimated creatinine clearance (C(Cr); mL/min) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula estimated the GFR indexed to body surface area (mL/min/1.73 m(2)). RESULTS The hematocrit decreased progressively below estimated C(Cr) 60 mL/min in men and 40 mL/min in women. Compared with subjects with C(Cr)> 80 mL/min, men with C(Cr) 60 to 50 mL/min, 50 to 40 mL/min, 40 to 30 mL/min, 30 to 20 mL/min, and < or =20 mL/min had mean hematocrits that were lower by 1.0, 2.4, 3.7, 3.5, and 10.0%, respectively; the corresponding reductions in women with C(Cr) 40 to 30 mL/min, 30 to 20 mL/min, and < or =20 mL/min were 1.7, 2.9, and 6.3% (all P < 0.05). This between-sex difference diminished when renal function measurement was indexed to body size. Compared with subjects with GFR> 80 mL/min/1.73 m(2), men with GFR 50 to 40 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 40 to 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 30 to 20 mL/min/1.73 m(2), and < or =20 mL/min/1.73 m(2) had mean hematocrits that were lower by 2.0, 4.4, 5.3, and 9.4%; the corresponding reductions in women with GFR 50 to 40 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 40 to 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 30 to 20 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and < or =20 mL/min/1.73 m(2) were 0.6, 1.6, 3.8, and 5.3% (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS A decrease in hematocrit is apparent even among patients with mild to moderate renal insufficiency. At any given level of renal function below estimated C(Cr) 60 mL/min, men have a larger decrease in hematocrit than women.
Robust blind adaptive beamforming by maximum likelihood with EM algorithm

In array signal processing, blind beamforming plays a crucial role nowadays, since it does not depend on the assumption of known source signal bandwidth and the interference/noise spectral shape. Blind beamforming can be achieved in the sense of maximum likelihood. However, it would involve a complicated adaptation procedure. We derive an expectation-maximization (EM) blind beamforming algorithm and successfully avoid the high computational complexity usually associated with other existing EM procedures. In a wide variety of signal-to-noise ratio conditions, our new algorithm greatly outperforms the popular blind beamformer based on the constant-modulus criteria according to the Monte Carlo experiments.
FLAG epitope positioned in an external loop preserves normal biophysical properties of CFTR

Schultz, Bruce D. , Akira Takahashi, Chongguang Liu, Raymond A. Frizzell, and Marybeth Howard. FLAG epitope positioned in an external loop preserves normal biophysical properties of CFTR. Am. J. Physiol. 273 (Cell Physiol. 42): C2080–C2089, 1997. —We asked whether inclusion of the FLAG epitope in the fourth extracellular loop of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (M2–901/CFTR), which permits detection of cell surface expression, affected CFTR’s biophysical properties or channel regulation by kinases, phosphatases, and nucleotides. Channel activity of M2–901/CFTR was evaluated in numerous cell types and expression systems to characterize its gating and regulation. Our results show that M2–901/CFTR required adenosine 38,58-cyclic monophosphate-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation to initiate channel activity. Subsequently, ATP alone was sufficient to support channel gating, and ADP inhibited channel opening. Current fluctuation analysis indicated that the nucleotide-dependent gating rates were indistinguishable from those of wild-type (wt) cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Channel conductance in symmetric Cl2 (11.2 pS), anion permeability ratio (1.66), and block by gluconate indicate that the anion conduction pathway is indistinguishable from wtCFTR. Sulfonylureas (glibenclamide and LY-295501) inhibited M2–901/ CFTR channel activity by an identical mechanism to that described for wtCFTR. Finally, CFTR-dependent insertion and retrieval of cell membrane was unaffected by the presence of the FLAG epitope. These results indicate that this structural alteration does not affect the control mechanisms for channel gating and suggest that the fourth extracellular loop of CFTR does not contribute to the ion pore. Detection of M2–901/CFTR by a commercially available monoclonal antibody (M2), together with presentation of normal functional properties, makes M2–901/CFTR a valuable tool to evaluate CFTR protein expression and cellular location.
The interaction between taxoids and serine/threonine protein phosphatase activities during taxan-induced apoptosis of HL 60 leukemic cells

Abstract Paclitaxel and docetaxel (taxoids) are chemotherapy agents whose mode of action is through an effect on cellular microtubules. Several studies have investigated their potential in the treatment of myeloid malignancies. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential role of the serine/threonine protein phosphatase system in docetaxel/paclitaxel induced cytotoxicity on HL 60 cells. The IC50 dose of paclitaxel and docetaxel were found as 20 and 5 nM respectively using trypan blue dye exclusion and XTT assays. Treating HL 60 cells with docetaxel and paclitaxel resulted in dose and time dependent cytotoxicity. Docetaxel induced the decrease in the activity of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and increase in the activity of PP2 subgroups, while paclitaxel induced the increase in the activity of PP1 and decrease in the activity of PP2 subgroups. Potential use of specific protein phosphatase inhibitors or activators in combination with taxoids will open new windows in the treatment of myeloid leukemias.
Performance with the 20 + 2L lateral wall cochlear implant.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the operating characteristics of the Nucleus 20 + 2L lateral wall cochlear implant including speech recognition results. STUDY DESIGN This was a prospective randomized study involving five different modes of stimulation. SETTING This study was carried out in an academic, tertiary referral center. PATIENTS The patients included in this study were adult cochlear implant candidates ages 44-74 years. Length of deafness ranged from 1 to 58 years with a variety of etiologies. INTERVENTIONS All patients were implanted with a 20 + 2L implant, which includes an intrascalar electrode array and an apically placed extracochlear, titanium encased ball electrode in contact with the endosteum of the apical turn. All patients underwent psychophysical and speech recognition testing in five different modes of electrode configuration. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) The main outcome measures included thresholds, comfort levels, dynamic ranges, and speech recognition results obtained in five electrode configuration modes. RESULTS Thresholds were significantly lower (repeated measures ANOVA) in both monopolar conditions when compared to bipolar mode of stimulation. A binomial statistical analysis indicated that in five of nine patients activated in all five modes of stimulation, the monopolar modes of stimulation resulted in improved speech recognition scores. CONCLUSIONS The results of the study demonstrate the feasibility of the use of an apical lateral cochlear wall electrode in conjunction with an intrascalar electrode array. It further demonstrated the superiority of monopolar stimulation in selected patients.
Less jitter sensitive NTF design for NRZ multi-bit continuous-time Delta-Sigma modulators

This paper studies the clock jitter error in multi-bit continuous-time Delta-Sigma modulators with non-return-to-zero (NRZ) feedback waveform. It proposes a few useful formulas for the design of a less jitter sensitive NTF. The analytic results and MATLAB simulations show that in the design of an NTF, there is a trade-off between the in-band quantization noise and the jitter induced noise of the modulator.
Household Transmission of Gastroenteritis

Transmission of infectious gastroenteritis was studied in 936 predominately Hispanic households in northern California. Among 3,916 contacts of 1,099 primary case-patients, the secondary attack rate was 8.8% (95% confidence interval 7.9–9.7); children had a 2- to 8-fold greater risk than adults. Bed-sharing among children in crowded homes is a potentially modifiable risk.
Effects on asymmetric dimethylarginine of HMR 3339, a novel selective estrogen receptor modulator: a 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-ranging study in healthy postmenopausal women

Objective: To investigate the short-term effects of three different doses of the selective estrogen receptor modulator HMR 3339 in comparison with placebo and raloxifene on asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. Design: This study was a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-ranging study. Ninety-four healthy postmenopausal women received daily doses of either placebo (n = 16), HMR 3339 2.5 mg (n = 20), HMR 3339 10 mg (n = 19), HMR 3339 50 mg (n = 20), or raloxifene 60 mg (n = 19) for 12 weeks. Fasting plasma concentrations of ADMA, arginine, and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) were measured at baseline and after 4 and 12 weeks by high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: HMR 3339 induced a dose-dependent reduction of ADMA and SDMA concentrations, with the largest effects (P < 0.01 for both) in the HMR 3339 50 mg group compared with baseline and placebo (at 12 weeks: −7.0% [95% CI, −14.2% to 0.2%] for ADMA and −16.2% [95% CI, −22.4% to −10.0%] for SDMA). Twelve weeks of raloxifene 60 mg significantly reduced SDMA (P = 0.03) but not ADMA concentrations. Arginine concentrations were not altered by any treatment. Conclusions: The reduction of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor ADMA by HMR 3339 may potentially have a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system in postmenopausal women.
A Morphological Classification Scheme for the Mandibular Hypoplasia in Treacher Collins Syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS: Pre-operative virtual planning along with use of prefabricated cutting jigs allows for precise complex fibula reconstruction of the mandible in the pediatric population. Additionally, virtual planning facilitated concomitant orthognathic procedures in patients with hemifacial microsomia. Our early success in this patient population leads us to suggest that while the free fibula can be safely and successfully used after multiple prior surgical interventions in the same anatomic region, it can also be a powerful tool for primary correction of congenital mandibular hypoplasia.
Dexmedetomidine: A Novel Sedative-Analgesic Agent

Since the first report of clonidine, an α2-adrenoceptor agonist, the indications for this class of drugs have continued to expand. In December 1999, dexmedetomidine was approved as the most recent agent in this group and was introduced into clinical practice as a short-term sedative (<24 hours). α2-Adrenoceptor agonists have several beneficial actions during the perioperative period. They decrease sympathetic tone, with attenuation of the neuroendocrine and hemodynamic responses to anesthesia and surgery; reduce anesthetic and opioid requirements; and cause sedation and analgesia. They allow psychomotoric function to be preserved while letting the patient rest comfortably. With this combination of effects, α2-adrenoceptor agonists may offer benefits in the prophylaxis and adjuvant treatment of perioperative myocardial ischemia. Furthermore, their role in pain management and regional anesthesia is expanding. Side effects consist of mild to moderate cardiovascular depression, with slight decreases in blood pressure and heart rate. The development of new, more selective α2-adrenoceptor agonists with improved side effect profiles may provide a new concept for the administration of perioperative anesthesia and analgesia. This review aims to give background information to improve understanding of the properties and applications of the novel α2-adrenoceptor agonist, dexmedetomidine.
CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL WITH MOTHERS

population is almost entirely devoid of active immunization. The position is only slightly better in Australia, though it is to be hoped that the encouragement of immunization in infancy with "triple antigen" is tending to improve the situation. There is also the problem of knowing what immunizing injections any given patient has received. So, for a long time to come reliance for tetanus prophylaxis must be placed mainly on the use of tetanus antitoxin serum, with its attendant risks.
Compact Dual-Band Bandpass Filter Using Quadruple-Mode Square Ring Loaded Resonator (SRLR)

A compact quadruple-mode square ring loaded resonator (SRLR) is proposed in this letter. Distinct mode splitting characteristics of the quadruple-mode SRLR are investigated and explained by using even- and odd-mode analysis. It results to excite four resonant modes which are applied to produce two pairs of transmission poles for dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) design. Based on the unique characteristics of the proposed SRLR, a miniaturized dual-band BPF operating at 2.45 GHz and 5.20 GHz for WLAN applications was designed and fabricated. Multiple transmission zeros are generated to improve the selectivity of the filter. Measurements are in good agreement with the simulations. Also, the circuit size occupies only 0. 11λg×0. 23λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency of the first passband.