Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethanol extract of Antrodia camphorata inhibits proliferation of HCT-8 human colorectal cancer cells by arresting cell cycle progression and inducing apoptosis.

Antrodia camphorata (AC) is well known in Taiwan as a traditional Chinese medicine, with a long history of use in treating cancer and inflammation. Previous studies have revealed that AC exhibits anticancer effects in various cancer cell lines. However, the inhibitory influence of AC on colorectal cancer (CRC) cell growth and survival remains unknown. The present study investigated the effects of AC on the proliferation, survival, and cell cycle‑ and apoptosis‑associated gene and protein expression in the HCT‑8 human CRC cell line in vitro. The antitumor activity of AC against HCT‑8 cells was assessed using cell viability and colony formation assays. Cell cycle distribution was analyzed by flow cytometry. Cell apoptosis and morphological alterations were assessed by Hoechst 33258 staining and microscopy. The mRNA expression of cell cycle‑ and apoptosis‑associated genes was determined by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and protein expression levels of B‑cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2), Bcl‑2 X associated protein (Bax) cyclin D1, cyclin dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) and MYC proto‑oncogene bHLH transcription factor (c‑Myc) were determined by western blotting. Treatment of HCT‑8 cells with various concentrations of AC (0.4‑1.2 mg/ml) resulted in dose‑ and time‑dependent reductions in cell viability. HCT‑8 cell cycle was arrested in the G0/G1 phase or G0/G1 and G2/M phases following AC treatment, compared with untreated cells. Furthermore, AC markedly inhibited HCT‑8 cell growth with induction of apoptotic alterations and inhibition of proliferation. AC treatment induced HCT‑8 cell apoptosis, upregulated expression of the apoptosis gene Bax, and downregulated Bcl‑2, cMyc, cyclin D1 and CDK4 protein expression levels. The present data demonstrated that AC exhibited antiproliferative and growth inhibition effects on HCT‑8 cells via induction of apoptosis and blocking of cell cycle progression, thus suggesting that it may have anticancer properties valuable for potential future therapeutic application for the treatment of CRC.
Train Duration Effects on Perception: Sensory Deficit, Neglect, and Cerebral Lateralization

Summary The mechanisms of conscious perception are uncertain. In a preliminary study, dramatic effects of train duration on perception in a patient with right brain stroke were noted. In this study, the mechanisms of train duration on perception of peripheral somatosensory stimuli are examined. Subjects included healthy adults and patients with right brain infarctions. Train duration effects on perception were examined in relation to cerebral infarction, handedness, age, elevated peripheral threshold via bupivacaine, and impaired attention via diazepam or scopolamine. Perceptual thresholds to electrical pulses on the hand decreased as train duration increased, but only over the first several hundred milliseconds. Compared to controls, right brain stroke patients showed much greater lowering of threshold in the affected hand as train duration was extended. Age and bupivacaine elevated thresholds, but had little or no influence on train duration effects. Diazepam and scopolamine had no effect on thresholds. Thresholds were lower in the left than right hand of healthy dextral subjects, irrespective of age. Sinistral subjects had less left/right asymmetry. Increased train duration effect in patients is not explained by a primary elevation in threshold or by impaired vigilance. Lower perceptual thresholds in the left hand of healthy dextral subjects is consistent with right cerebral dominance for externally directed attention.
Branded Solidarity in Fair Trade Communication on Facebook

Abstract The objective of fair trade to achieve economic justice through markets depends on establishing, via moral education, bonds of solidarity between Northern consumers and impoverished Southern producers. Moral education is increasingly realised by commercial brands who take advantage of the opportunities offered by social media. This article analyses the discursive construction of solidarity in the brand communication of Pukka (UK) and Pizca del Mundo (Poland) on Facebook. It identifies 3 discourses of solidarity: ‘solidarity through legitimation’, which presents the rationale for solidarity with Southern producers; ‘solidarity through affinity’, which constructs a moral economy between Southern producers and Northern consumers; and ‘solidarity through lifestyle’, which proposes everyday actions that can be undertaken by consumers to support Southern producers. These discourses are employed by the brands to different extents, with Pizca del Mundo attempting to establish a fair trade market in Poland and Pukka with an aim to increase sales of their fair trade products. The article concludes that primarily the discourses of ‘solidarity through legitimation’ and ‘solidarity through affinity’ serve moral education whose objective is to generate sustained commitment towards Southern producers as distant others.
Capacity Scaling of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we derive the general expressions of the throughput capacity scaling of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), and find that the strategy of an individual node determines the throughput of an MANET. We show that optimal strategies that maximize the throughput of the network can exist. Based on a game theoretic approach, we further show that the optimal strategies constitute Nash equilibria.
Manufacturing newsvendors and inventory pooling with nonlinear production costs

We discuss a manufacturing newsvendor problem with nonlinear production costs. We perform comparative statics with respect to the unit revenue, the production cost function and the demand distribution. We provide several specific examples. Then we analyse inventory pooling between manufacturing newsvendors with nonlinear production costs, which involves comparing joint production to individual production. We illustrate the findings by using examples with demands following i.i. d. uniform and normal distributions.
Frequency of primary solid malignant neoplasms in both sexes, as seen in our practice.

BACKGROUND To determine the frequency of various histologic types of primary solid malignant neoplasms in males and females, in our practice, in a large series of surgical biopsies. METHODS A retrospective study of 20,000 consecutive surgical biopsies in the section of Histopathology, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKU), Karachi, in 2004. RESULTS Squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity was the commonest malignant neoplasm in males followed by diffuse Large B cell, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Prostatic adenocarcinoma. In females, infiltrating Ductal carcinoma of the breast was overwhelmingly the commonest malignant neoplasm followed by Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and esophagus. CONCLUSION Out of 20,000 biopsies, there were 4616 (23.08%) malignant neoplsms. Carcinoma of oral cavity is very common in our population in both sexes.
The Propensity to Split and CEO Compensation

We analyze the relation between the delta and vega of a CEO's compensation and the propensity of the firm to engage in a split. Controlling for other well-known factors, we find that CEOs with compensation that has higher levels of delta are more likely to split their shares. Furthermore, the choice of split factor is inversely related to delta and directly related to vega, a result driven by the volatility effect of stock splits. Our results are economically significant: for the average firm in our sample, a stock split results in a CEO wealth gain of $4.9 million.
Complete genomic sequence of a dengue type 2 virus from the French West Indies.

Severe forms of dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever, and dengue shock syndrome, were not prominent in the Americas until the epidemic of Cuba in 1981. Since that time, they have spread to other countries in Central and South America, correlating with the spread of dengue type 2 viruses related to Southeast Asian strains. We report here the complete genomic sequence of a dengue type 2 virus isolated during the epidemic in La Martinique in 1998. This constitutes the first complete genetic characterization of a dengue virus strain from French West Indies, and also the first molecular identification in this region of a dengue 2 strain phylogenetically related to the emerging American type 2 dengue viruses.
Health of females in Jamaica: using two cross-sectional surveys

Background: The 21st Century cannot see the examination of health status of elderly, population, children and adolescents; but not for females. Aims: current study are 1) to examine the health conditions; 2) provide an epidemiological profile of changing health conditions in the last one half decade (2002-2007); 3) evaluate whether self-reported illness is a good measure of health status; 4) compute the mean age of females having particular health conditions; 5) calculate the mean age of being ill compared with those who are not ill; and 6) assess the correlation between health status and income quintile. Methods and Results: In 2002, a subsample of 12,675 females was extracted from the sample of 25,018 respondents and for 2007; a subsample of 3,479 females was extracted from 6,783 respondents. Results: There is reduction in the mean age of females reported being diagnosed with chronic illness such as diabetes mellitus (60.54 ± 17.14 years); hypertension (60.85 ± 16.93 years) and arthritis 59.72 ± 15.41 years). The greatest decline in mean age of chronically ill diagnosed females was in arthritic cases (by 7.41 years). Concurrently, the mean age of females with unspecified health conditions fell by (33%, from 54.62 ± 21.77 years in 2002 to 36.42 ± 23.69 years in 2007). Conclusion: Although healthy life expectancy for females at birth in Jamaica was 66 years, improvements in their health status cannot be neglected as there are shits in health conditions (to diabetes mellitus) as well as the decline in ages at which females are being diagnosed with particular chronic illnesses.
Socio-economic status, smoking during pregnancy and birth outcomes: an analysis of cross-sectional community studies in Liverpool (1993–2001)

Objective: To assess the influence of socio-economic status on pregnancy outcomes in smoking mothers. Study design: Retrospective analysis. Methods: Parent-completed questionnaires addressing pregnancy smoking patterns and birth outcomes. Were distributed via children aged 5–11 years attending 10 primary schools in Merseyside. Data from three communitybased cross-sectional surveys undertaken in 1993, 1998 and 2001 were analysed. Townsend score was used as an indicator of household socioeconomic status. Results: 82.2 percent (n = 3730) of respondents were classified as low (disadvantaged) socio-economic status. One-third of mothers smoked during pregnancy and this proportion was significantly higher among disadvantaged than advantaged categories (37.7% versus 14.6%; p < 0.001). The logistic regression analysis showed that only maternal smoking during preg-nancy was a significant risk factor for adverse birth outcomes when socioeconomic variables were controlled. Conclusion: Birth outcomes were worse in babies of smoking mothers during pregnancy independent of household's socio-economic status.
Frame-Based CT Image Reconstruction via the Balanced Approach

Frame-based regularization method as one kind of sparsity representation method has been developed in recent years and has been proved to be an efficient method for CT image reconstruction. However, most of the developed CT image reconstruction methods are analysis-based frame methods. This paper proposes a novel frame-based balanced hybrid model with two sparse regularization terms for CT image reconstruction. We generalize the fast alternating direction method to solve the proposed model so that every subproblem can be easily solved. The numerical experiments suggest that the proposed hybrid balanced-based wavelet regularization scheme is efficient in terms of reducing the defined reconstruction root mean squared error and improving the signal to noise ratio in CT image reconstruction.
Atopic versus infectious diseases in childhood: a question of balance?

There is an increasing interest in the concept that respiratory tract infections during early childhood may in some circumstances confer protection against sensitisalion 10 ueroallergens, via “bystander” stimulation of Th‐1 associated immune functions in the regional lymph nodes draining the airway mucosa. We hypothesise below that this phenomenon may be but one component of a broader process operative during early postnatal life, in which generalised contact with the microbial environment plays an obligatory role in stimulating the functional maturation of the Th‐1 arm of the immune response. We argue further that one of the most potent sources of such stimulation is provided by the normal commensal flora of the gasirointesiinal tract, which is establish during early infancy.
A study on the impact of the capacity configuration of HPWS to the active power characteristics and indexes

Hybrid Photovoltaic/Wind Power Generation System with Storage Bank (HPWS) is a new form of power generation. Starting with a summary of the typical structure, technical characteristic of HPWS, this paper further designs an optimization model of battery storage about charging and discharging, and assigns the minimum fluctuation of power as the optimum objective function, a new concept of initial capacity of battery storage in each step and a control policy for charging and discharging as the constraint condition. Based on the model, three indexes of the power fluctuation of HPWS are put forward, combined with LPSP, EXC, which are commonly used to measure the system reliability, moreover, the five indexes can be used to appraise the total output power characteristics comprehensively. Finally, the paper use the Matlab to analyze the change tendencies of output power with the battery capacity and the guide role of the indexes for determining the optimum size of a HPWS.
["Melanoma 92". epidemiological study of uveal melanoma in France].

PURPOSE The purposes of this study were to evaluate the incidence of uveal melanoma in France in 1992, to describe the characteristics of the tumors and their treatments. METHODS This was a retrospective and multicentric study. First a questionnaire was sent to 4575 French ophthalmologists asking whether they had established a diagnosis of uveal melanoma during 1992, and if so, to describe the tumor and its management. Then the patients files were reviewed in the specialized treatment centers (Paris, Lyon, Nice, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand). All the data were statistically analysed. RESULTS 412 new cases of uveal melanomas were registered (incidence 0.7/100000) affecting 234 females and 178 males. The cases ranged in age from 7 to 93 years (mean 61.5 years). There were 5 (1%) isolated tumors of the iris, 75 (18%) of the ciliary body, either isolated (10%) either associated to iris and/or to choroïdal tumors and 332 (81%) choroïdal melanomas. 201 (53%) tumors were posterior to the equator and 153 (40%) had a margin at less than 3 mm of the optic disc; 87 (21%) melanomas were detected in asymptomatic patients. In 29 (7%) other cases, the diagnosis was established after enlargement of the tumor. In all other eyes, symptoms were present. 17% of the melanomas were T1, 34% were T2, et 48% were T3. 353 (86%) melanomas were pigmented, 30 (7%) were achromic and 29 (7%) of the mixed color type. 156 (38%) tumors were associated with a retinal detachment. In 12 cases (3%), at presentation there was an extrascleral extension. 9 patients (2%) had metastases (7 to the liver, 1 to the lungs and 1 to the lungs and bones). The study of the patients residence and work did not show any environmental risk factor. The initial treatment was protontherapy in 251 patients (63%), plaque therapy in 91 (23%), enucleation in 40 (10%), and other methods in 18. CONCLUSION This was the first epidemiologic study conducted in France on this subject. It describes the clinical features of the disease, its geographical display and its management in this country.
Electronic health records: essential tools in integrating substance abuse treatment with primary care

While substance use problems are considered to be common in medical settings, they are not systematically assessed and diagnosed for treatment management. Research data suggest that the majority of individuals with a substance use disorder either do not use treatment or delay treatment-seeking for over a decade. The separation of substance abuse services from mainstream medical care and a lack of preventive services for substance abuse in primary care can contribute to under-detection of substance use problems. When fully enacted in 2014, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 will address these barriers by supporting preventive services for substance abuse (screening, counseling) and integration of substance abuse care with primary care. One key factor that can help to achieve this goal is to incorporate the standardized screeners or common data elements for substance use and related disorders into the electronic health records (EHR) system in the health care setting. Incentives for care providers to adopt an EHR system for meaningful use are part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act 2009. This commentary focuses on recent evidence about routine screening and intervention for alcohol/drug use and related disorders in primary care. Federal efforts in developing common data elements for use as screeners for substance use and related disorders are described. A pressing need for empirical data on screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for drug-related disorders to inform SBIRT and related EHR efforts is highlighted.
Dynamics and Causality among Exports, Imports and Income in Bangladesh

There exists a wide range of theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth in both developed and developing countries. The early literature focused mostly on the role of export in economic growth. The spectacular success of the outward oriented policies in the East Asian countries provided a basis for the adoption of such policies in developing countries. Accordingly, the literature tried to support or reject the logic of universal application of export led growth policy in developing countries. The dynamic linkages between export and import or import and income did not receive much attention in the literature. But experience shows that in many countries export is highly dependent on import of capital goods and intermediate inputs as well as raw materials giving a case of trivariate causality between exports, imports and economic growth. The relationship between foreign trade and economic growth has long been discussed by different schools of thought. The theoretical standpoints can be summarised in terms of technological know how, market expansion, resource allocation, ease of balance of payments, employment generation and income creation (Hossain and Salim 2009). Karl Marx focuses on the role of exchange in economic growth. In his opinion, the expansion of production needs a growing
Underwater running on uneven terrain

In this work a punting gait model, describing a robot running underwater, is studied with respect to unknown variations of the ground and design parameters of the robot. The model, described through a dynamical system, is actuated with an open-loop control and exhibits self-stabilizing running, represented by the limit cycle of the system, on flat terrain. By introducing a simulated uneven terrain and by keeping the same open-loop control, it appears that the self-stable gait is not affected by disturbances until a certain threshold, when the robot falls to the ground. Moreover, the stability appears to be proportional to the density of the robot and inversely proportional to the drag coefficient of the body, thus suggesting some criteria for the design of underwater running robots.
Alteration of the chemical environment disrupts communication in a freshwater fish

It is well established that changes to the chemical environment can impair development, physiology and reproductive biology; by contrast, impacts on communication have not been widely reported. This is surprising given that chemical communication is the most widely used sensory modality in nature, and that variation in the chemical composition of the environment is the rule, not the exception. Here, we show that chemically mediated species recognition in a swordtail fish, Xiphophorus birchmanni, can be hindered by anthropogenic disturbance to the signalling environment. Females have a strong preference for conspecific male chemical cues, yet they hybridize in nature with the congener X. malinche. Wild-caught females showed a strong preference for conspecifics when tested in clean water, but failed to show a preference when tested in stream water subject to sewage effluent and agricultural runoff. We hypothesized that this was due to the interaction between chemical communication systems and humic acid (HA), a ubiquitous, natural product elevated to high levels by anthropogenic processes. When exposed to elevated concentrations of HA, female X. birchmanni again lost their preference for conspecific male chemical cues, while visual mating preferences and motivation to mate were retained. Sub-lethal concentrations of seemingly benign substances can thus have a drastic effect on natural populations through their specific impact on communication systems.
Analysis and Design of a Nonisolated Bidirectional ZVS-PWM DC–DC Converter With Coupled Inductors

A new zero-voltage-switched bidirectional dc-dc converter with coupled inductors is proposed in the paper. The proposed converter can operate with a steep conversion ratio, soft switching, a continuous inductor current, and fixed switching frequency. It can also operate with the switch stresses of a conventional pulsewidth-modulation-tapped/coupled-inductor converter regardless of the direction of power flow and without any voltage spikes across the switches during turn-OFF. These features are due to a very simple auxiliary circuit that is operational regardless of the direction of power flow and absorbs energy from the leakage inductance of the coupled inductors during switch turn-OFF. In the paper, the operation and design of the converter are discussed and its feasibility is confirmed with experimental results obtained from a prototype.