Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrafast sources of entangled photons for quantum information processing

Recent advances in quantum information processing (QIP) have enabled practical applications of quantum mechanics in various fields such as cryptography, computation, and metrology. Most of these applications use photons as carriers of quantum information. Therefore, engineering the quantum state of photons is essential for the realization of novel QIP schemes. A practical and flexible technique to generate high-purity entangled photon pairs is spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) which finds its use in many QIP applications such as quantum key distribution (QKD) and linear optics quantum computation. SPDC is often used with ultrafast lasers to generate photon pairs with precise timing and engineered spectral properties. In this thesis, we focused on two photonic QIP applications using ultrafastpumped SPDC. We first pursued the design and implementation of a pulsed narrowband polarization-entangled photon pairs at 780 nm for free-space entanglement-based QKD. We built and characterized a compact narrowband ultraviolet pump source and a polarization-entangled photon source based on SPDC in a polarization Sagnac interferometer. We then studied the generation of coincident-frequency entangled photons for Heisenberg-limited quantum metrology. Using extended phase-matching conditions in a periodically-poled KTP crystal, generation of coincident-frequency entanglement was verified and frequency indistinguishability was achieved for broadband signal and idler photons at ∼1. 58μm. We also developed a novel time domain characterization technique based on time-resolved single-photon upconversion. Using this technique, we measured the joint temporal density of a two-photon state for the first time and observed temporal anti-correlation for the coincident-frequency entangled state as predicted by Fourier duality. This new technique complements existing frequency domain methods for a more complete characterization of two-photon states. Thesis Supervisor: Franco N.C. Wong Title: Senior Research Scientist
Bilateral Multicanal Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Coexisting with a Vestibular Schwannoma: Case Report

We describe a rarely encountered case of coexisting bilateral multicanal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and vestibular schwannoma in a 56-year-old woman. The patient had presented with a 10-year history of dizziness and imbalance, and her vestibular findings were perplexing. We decided on a working diagnosis of BPPV and began treatment. After several months of canalith repositioning maneuvers had failed to resolve her symptoms, we obtained magnetic resonance imaging, which revealed the presence of the vestibular schwannoma. This case serves as a reminder of the importance of differentiating between central and peripheral vestibular disorders, as well as central and anterior canal BPPV-induced down-beating nystagmus in order to establish the correct diagnosis and initiate appropriate treatment.
The David and Goliath Principle

Two studies documented the “David and Goliath” rule—the tendency for people to perceive criticism of “David” groups (groups with low power and status) as less normatively permissible than criticism of “Goliath” groups (groups with high power and status). The authors confirmed the existence of the David and Goliath rule across Western and Chinese cultures (Study 1). However, the rule was endorsed more strongly in Western than in Chinese cultures, an effect mediated by cultural differences in power distance. Study 2 identified the psychological underpinnings of this rule in an Australian sample. Lower social dominance orientation (SDO) was associated with greater endorsement of the rule, an effect mediated through the differential attribution of stereotypes. Specifically, those low in SDO were more likely to attribute traits of warmth and incompetence to David versus Goliath groups, a pattern of stereotypes that was related to the protection of David groups from criticism.
Take that, stent nihilists: Additional evidence for the benefits of coronary stenting

Earlier this afternoon Mr. L. , a 61-year-old lawyer, carried a 50-pound backpack over mountains for 2 hr to prepare for his annual rafting trip down the Aniak River in Alaska. Three years ago, I stented an 80% lesion in his mid-left anterior descending artery. At that time, he did not want a trial of the guideline-recommended optimal antianginal therapy [2]. ‘‘I didn’t want to worry about chest pain when portaging my 200-pound raft around logjams on the Aniak,’’ he said. He does not doubt the value of his stent. Others are not so easily convinced. Consumer reports ranked coronary stents number 5 on its list of ‘‘10 Overused Tests and Treatments’’ [3] and one physician–author concluded that ‘‘coronary artery bypass grafting and angioplasty and stenting should be consigned to the annals of good ideas that proved bad [4]. ’’ Current antipathy toward stenting is largely due to the Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and AGgressive drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial [5], in which stenting failed to decrease myocardial infarction or death. With respect to health status, the COURAGE investigators concluded that stenting had ‘‘. small. benefits that disappeared by 36 months [6],’’ perhaps because half of medical-arm COURAGE patients were either asymptomatic at the start or crossed over to receive coronary intervention during the study. Critics of stenting in stable patients forget that entire medical specialties are devoted to therapies that, like stenting, ‘‘only’’ improve the quality of life. Interventionists should be quick to point out that the COURAGE findings regarding angina are an aberration. Other reports have documented larger benefits of stenting in symptomatic stable coronary patients [7,8]. These benefits may be even more dramatic in realworld series than in randomized trials [9]. In this issue of CCI, Bundhoo et al. [10] reported another such real-world trial of outcomes of 161 postcoronary bypass patients, who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on either vein graft or native coronary lesions. They conclude, no surprise, that vein graft PCI is associated with a higher repeat revascularization rate than is native vessel PCI. Their more important finding is that the mean angina class improved from 2.8–2.9 before PCI to 0.7 at 13-month follow-up (P < 0.0001). These findings are all the more dramatic when considering that PCI of postbypass patients often fails to achieve complete revascularization [11]. In summary, Bundhoo et al. have provided additional evidence that coronary stenting is effective in relieving angina caused by of hemodynamically significant epicardial coronary lesions—even in this difficult subset of postbypass patients. The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath exhorts physicians to avoid both overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. Bundhoo’s work will be valuable in refuting coronary stent nihilism.
Atrazine‐induced changes in aromatase activity in estrogen sensitive target tissues

Atrazine (ATR) is a pesticide used widely throughout North America. Although not directly estrogenic, ATR treatment has been shown to increase aromatase activity in tumor cell lines. Thus, it is suggested that ATR can increase local tissue estrogen levels in estrogen sensitive target tissues through increased aromatase activity. Therefore the effect of ATR on aromatase activity was measured in human granulosa‐lutein cell cultures, cells that abundantly express aromatase, and endometrial stromal cell (ESC) cultures, cells that do not express aromatase. Aromatase activity was quantified by the tritiated water method and the specificity of the assay was confirmed by co‐incubation with 4‐hydroxyandrostenedione, an irreversible inhibitor of the catalytic activity of aromatase. Aromatase activity in ATR treated (1–10 µm) granulosa‐lutein cells was increased more than 2‐fold compared with control cultures. There were no treatment related changes in cellular protein and thus it is suggested that the ATR‐induced change in aromatase activity was not due to an increase in cell number. ATR‐treatment had no effect on ESC aromatase activity at any concentration tested. Similarly, there was no effect of ATR treatment on human recombinant aromatase activity in our cell‐free test system. Therefore it is concluded that µm concentrations of ATR can increase aromatase activity of human granulosa cells but not ESC and this effect is not elicited at the enzyme level. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The PII protein in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942 is modified by serine phosphorylation and signals the cellular N-status

The glnB gene product (PII protein) from Synechococcus sp. has previously been identified among 32P-labeled proteins, and its modification state has been observed to depend on both the nitrogen source and the spectral light quality (N. F. Tsinoremas, A. M. Castets, M. A. Harrison, J. F. Allen, and N. Tandeau de Marsac, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:4565-4569, 1991). As shown in this study, modification of the PII protein primarily responds to the N-status of the cell, and its light-dependent variations are are mediated through nitrate metabolism. Modification of the PII protein results in the appearance of three isomeric forms with increasing negative charge. Unlike its homolog counterparts characterized so far, PII in Synechococcus sp. is modified by phosphorylation on a serine residue, which represents a unique kind of protein modification in bacterial nitrogen signalling pathways.
Targeted case finding for COPD versus routine practice in primary care ( TargetCOPD ) : a cluster randomised controlled trial

Citation for published version (Harvard): Jordan, RE, Adab, P, Sitch, A, Enocson, A, Blissett, D, Jowett, S, Marsh, J, Riley, RD, Miller, MR, Cooper, BG, Turner, AM, Jolly, K, Ayres, JG, Haroon, S, Stockley, R, Greenfield, S, Siebert, S, Daley, AJ, Cheng, KK & Fitzmaurice, D 2016, 'Targeted case finding for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease versus routine practice in primary care (TargetCOPD): a cluster-randomised controlled trial', The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 720-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(16)30149-7
SVRG with adaptive epoch size

Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is a commonly used technique in large-scale machine learning tasks, but its convergence is slow due to the inherent variance. In recent years, a popular method, Stochastic Variance Reduced Gradient (SVRG), addresses this shortcoming via computing the full gradient of the entire dataset in each epoch. However, conventional SVRG and its variants usually need to identify a hyperparameter — the epoch size, which is essential to the convergence performance. Few previous studies discuss how to systematically find a suitable value for that hyper-parameter, which makes it hard to gain a good convergence performance in practical machine learning applications. In this paper, we propose a new stochastic gradient descent named AESVRG, which introduces variance reduction and computes the full gradient adaptively. Its enhanced implementation, AESVRG+, has a convergence performance that can outplay existing SVRG with fine-tuned epoch sizes. An extensive evaluation illustrates the significant performance improvement of our method.
Dietary habits contributing to breast cancer risk among Iranian women.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate demographic features, dietary habits, and some possible risk factors for being susceptible to breast cancer in Iranian women. MATERIALS AND METHODS A study of dietary habits and breast cancer was conducted among 53 Iranian women with histological confirmed disease and 40 matched controls. A dietary habits questionnaire was used to evaluate the pattern of selected food intakes. The risk of cancer was analyzed after adjustment for confounding factors. Age, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, educational status, parity, lactation, marital status, menopause, history of estrogen therapy, and family history of breast disease or cancer were assessed among participants. Special attention was given to the relationship between consumption of high fat meat, milk, yogurt and cheese as well use of frying oils for frying foods, use of olive/liquid oils for cooking, removing fat from meat and poultry, removing chicken skin and not use of mayonnaise as salad dressing and the risk of breast cancer. Moreover, salad, vegetable and fruit consumption, and eating outdoors owere investigated. RESULTS Our results revealed significant lower education and higher BMI and waist circumference levels in patients with breast cancer. There was significantly increased breast cancer risk in overweight women in comparison with normal weight (OR=2.91, 95%CI 1.24 to 6.82). High intake of fat dairy products including milk and cheese was found to be a statistically significant factor for increasing breast cancer risk in models adjusting for age, BMI and education. Use of olive/liquid oils for cooking and avoidance of mayonnaise as salad dressing are related to lower risk of breast cancer. The frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption was significantly lower in patients with breast cancer compared to healthy women. CONCLUSIONS Dietary habits might be risk factors for breast cancer among Iranian women. Adoption of a prudent diet could be an appropriate strategy for preventing breast cancer.
Impact of solar ultraviolet B radiation (290–320 nm) on vitamin D synthesis in children with type IV and V skin

DEAR EDITOR, Vitamin D deficiency contributes to osteomalacia (35 3% of cases) and rickets (7 6% of cases) in India, despite adequate sunlight throughout the year. As solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of the skin is essential for endogenous vitamin D synthesis, inadequate exposure to sunlight is an important contributing factor for vitamin D deficiency. Significant increases in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration have been described with exposure to artificial source UVB irradiation. The influence of (natural) solar UVB radiation on the cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D in children with type IV and V skin has not been well characterized. Also, there is a need to study the impact of various factors, including duration of exposure, percentage body surface area (BSA) exposed and best time of the day, on vitamin D synthesis. We assessed the impact of sunlight exposure on serum 25(OH)D levels and also its correlation with percentage BSA exposed in children during summer. The hourly UVB index (UVBI, lW cm ) was measured from 10 00 h to 15 00 h every day for 12 months (December 2012 to November 2013) by using a solar meter (Solartech Inc, Harrison Charter Township, MI, U.S.A.) in a single location in the city of Delhi (latitude 28 61° N). The weather status was also recorded. The impact of sunlight exposure on vitamin D concentration was assessed through an open exploratory study (between April 2014 and May 2014) on children, as an extension of an earlier study. The medical research ethics committee of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences approved this study. After consent had been obtained from their parents, healthy children were assigned to two groups: A and B. Group A had a school uniform giving an estimated sun exposure of 15% BSA (face, forearms and hands) while Group B had an
Concurrent Versus Terminal Feedback: It May Be Better to Wait

Background Feedback is an important feature of simulation-based education. This study investigated the optimal timing of feedback for technical skills learning in novices. Method Thirty novice endoscopists were pretested on a colonoscopy simulator task. Participants then received feedback either during (concurrent) or after (terminal) each of their 12 practice trials. Effectiveness of training was assessed using an immediate posttest and one week later on retention and transfer tests. Measures included execution time and blinded expert assessments. Results Both groups performed similarly on the pre-, post-, and retention tests. At transfer, the terminal feedback group performed significantly better as measured by execution time, checklist, and global rating scores. The concurrent feedback group’s performance decreased significantly on the transfer test as compared with the posttest and retention test. Conclusions Not all feedback conditions seem equally effective. The use of terminal feedback resulted in better learning as demonstrated by superior performance during transfer.
Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase level in predicting hypertension among male drinkers.

In a 10 year prospective study, we investigated the utility of the level of serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), a biological marker of alcohol consumption, in predicting the development of hypertension in Japanese male drinkers, all of whom lived in a rural community. The study included 77 men, aged 30-69 years, who were normotensive (SBP < or = 140 mmHg and DBP < or = 90 mmHg) and who had no prior history of antihypertensive treatment at baseline (1979-80). Hypertension was defined as SBP of > 140 mmHg and/or DBP of > 90 mmHg and/or starting antihypertensive medication. The age-adjusted relative risk for subjects with a serum GGT level of 20 U/l or higher compared with those with a level of < 10 U/l was 4.18 (95% confidence interval, 1.59-11.01, P = 0.004). The relative risk remained significant after adjustment for baseline BP level and the amount of alcohol consumption. These results suggest that the serum GGT levels may predict the future development of hypertension among drinkers.
CELLULAR FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF HAEMOPHILUS SPECIES, PASTEURELLA MULTOCIDA, ACTINOBACILLUS ACTINOMYCETEMCOMITANS AND HAEMOPHILUS VAGINALIS (CORYNEBACTERIUM VAGINALE)

The fatty acid composition of 35 Haemophilus influenzae strains was found to be grossly similar and characterized by relatively large amounts of 14:0, 3‐OH‐14:0, 16:1 and 16:0. The three C18 fatty acids 18:2, 18:1 and 18:0 were also present, but in much lower concentrations. This general pattern was also found for most of the other species of Haemophilus examined (H. aegyptius, H. aphrophilus, H. canis, H. gallinarum, H. haemolyticus, and H. parainfluenzae). Small but distinct quantitative discrepancies were detected for H. ducreyi and the haemin‐independent species H. paraphrohaemolyticus, H. paraphrophilus and H. suis. Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans was found to be indistinguishable from H. influenzae. Pasteurella multocida also exhibited a fatty acid pattern closely related to that of Haemophilus, but could be distinguished by its higher concentration levels of the C18 fatty acids. The fatty acid pattern of H. vaginalis was considerably different from those of the other species examined. This species lacked 3‐OH‐14:0 and 18:2 and contained small amounts of 14:0 and 16:0, whereas 18:1 and 18:0 were the major constituents.
Get in the game: applying gamification to on-the-job safety.

Grants Office, LLC (“Grants Office”) is a New York limited liability company located in Rochester, NY. Established in 2000, Grants Office has been instrumental in helping numerous clients understand and negotiate the grants process. Led by President and CEO Michael Paddock, who has over seventeen years of strategic grants development consulting experience, Grants Office has successfully secured over $200 million in grant funding for clients since its inception.
To operate or not on elderly patients with aortic stenosis: the decision and its consequences

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the application of guidelines in the decision making process leading to medical or surgical treatment for aortic stenosis in elderly patients. DESIGN Cohort analysis based on a prospective inclusive registry. SETTING 205 consecutive patients (⩾ 70 years) with clinically relevant isolated aortic stenosis and without serious comorbidity, seen for the first time in the Doppler-echocardiographic laboratories of three university hospitals in the Netherlands. RESULTS The initial choice was surgery in 94 patients and medical treatment in 111. Only 59% of the patients who should have had valve replacement according to the practice guidelines were actually offered surgical treatment. These were mainly symptomatic patients under 80 years of age with a high gradient. Operative mortality (30 days) was only 2%. The three year survival was 80% in the surgical group (17 deaths among 94 patients) and 49% in the medical group (43/111). Multivariate analysis showed that only patients with a high baseline risk, mainly determined by impaired left ventricular function, had a significantly better three year survival with surgical treatment than with medical treatment. CONCLUSIONS In daily practice, elderly patients with clinically relevant symptomatic aortic stenosis are often denied surgical treatment. This study indicates that a surgical approach, especially where there is impaired systolic left ventricular function, is associated with better survival.
Psychometric Properties of the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) in Alcohol-Dependent Patients

Background A high prevalence of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is found in patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). In the few existing studies, mixed results regarding the psychometric properties of common screening instruments for PTSD have been reported for patients with SUDs. No results are available for the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), an established self-report measure for PTSD. Methods The authors assessed 105 patients with alcohol dependence according to DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) (70% male) 2 weeks after their admission to an inpatient detoxification unit. Participants were administered the PDS, the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), as well as measures of depression and anxiety. Patients with other substance use disorders were excluded as were patients reporting no traumatic event. Results Internal consistencies were good to very good for the total scale (.93) and the subscales of the PDS (.82–.91). In our sample, the PDS had a high specificity (.89) but only moderate sensitivity (.57). Diagnostic agreement with the SCID was 83% (.46). The results of a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis suggested that a PDS score of 8 was the optimal cutoff to screen for PTSD. The highest diagnostic agreement between PDS and SCID (89%; .60) was achieved using a cutoff score of 24. Conclusions These findings confirm previous results suggesting that the psychometric properties of self-report measures of PTSD in patients with SUDs might differ from those in the general population. When the PDS is used in recently detoxified patients with alcohol dependence, it seems advisable to modify the cutoff score of this instrument to improve its sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy.
Putative Preneoplastic Changes Identified by Enzyme Histochemical and Immunohistochemical Techniques

Microscopic evaluation of whole-mount colons stained with methylene blue and/or hexosaminidase has identified putative preneoplastic lesions in the colons of rodents treated with carcinogen and in the grossly normal colons of humans. Enzyme histochemistry with glycol methacrylate sections has permitted the identification of putative premalignant lesions in rodent livers, human and rodent colons, and human prostates. Immunohistochemistry with paraffin-embedded tissues has been used to identify and characterize putative premalignant lesions in human colons and prostates.