Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What can Arab countries learn from the post-communist transition? MEDPRO Commentary, 31 May 2012

More than a year has passed since the start of the political uprising against the authoritarian regimes in the Arab world. But, as demonstrated by the ongoing unrest in Syria, the process is far from over. Meanwhile, nations that have already rid themselves of their authoritarian rulers (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen), must decide where to go now and how to manage their political and economic transitions. To a lesser extent, a similar challenge is being faced by those constitutional monarchies (such as Morocco or Jordan) that accelerated reforms in order to avoid political destabilisation. Many politicians and experts, especially those from Central and Eastern Europe, suggest that their Arab colleagues should learn from the post‐communist transition of the early 1990s. However, while learning from others’ experience is always a useful exercise, the geopolitical and socio‐economic context of the Arab revolution appears to be different, in many respects, from that of former Soviet bloc countries more than twenty years ago.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Animal Pathogen Listeria ivanovii, Which Provides Insights into Host Specificities and Evolution of the Genus Listeria

ABSTRACT We report the complete and annotated genome sequence of the animal pathogen Listeria ivanovii subsp. ivanovii strain PAM 55 (serotype 5), isolated in 1997 in Spain from an outbreak of abortion in sheep. The sequence and its analysis are available at an interactive genome browser at the Institut Pasteur (http://genolist.pasteur.fr/LivaList/).
Technological Forecasting & Social Change Institutional support , innovation capabilities and exports : Evidence from the semiconductor industry in Taiwan

Article history: Received 4 February 2014 Received in revised form 7 January 2016 Accepted 8 May 2016 Available online xxxx This paper examines the relationship between host-site institutional support, innovation capabilities and exports using data from a survey of 50 Taiwan semiconductor firms. Themajor questions asked in the paper are whether host-site institutional support is important in stimulatingfirm-level innovation capability, andwhether the latter is important in firms' exports. An evolutionary perspective was used to measure innovation capabilities using knowledge embodied inmachinery, training, processes and products. The statistical results show that innovation capability is correlated with institutional support. In addition, the findings also indicate that innovation capabilities (IC) enjoy a positive relationshipwith exports. The control variable of size had a positive effect in innovation capabilities and in exports, while human capital was critical in exports. The supply of R&D grants, R&D engineers and scientists, and support from universities and R&D labs has been viewed by firms as important in supporting innovation capability and semiconductor exports. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Protective effects of triptolide on retinal ganglion cells in a rat model of chronic glaucoma

Purpose: To study the effects of triptolide, a Chinese herb extract, on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in a rat model of chronic glaucoma. Methods: Eighty Wistar rats were randomly divided into triptolide group (n = 40) and normal saline (NS) group (n = 40). Angle photocoagulation was used to establish the model of glaucoma, with right eye as laser treated eye and left eye as control eye. Triptolide group received triptolide intraperitoneally daily, while NS group received NS. Intraocular pressure (IOP), anti-CD11b immunofluorescent stain in retina and optic nerve, RGCs count with Nissel stain and microglia count with anti-CD11b immunofluorescence stain in retina flat mounts, retinal tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- α mRNA detection by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, and double immunofluorescent labeling with anti-TNF- α and anti-CD11b in retinal frozen section were performed. Results: Mean IOP of the laser treated eyes significantly increased 3 weeks after photocoagulation ( P  0.05), with no statistical difference between the two groups ( P  0.05). RGCs survival in the laser treated eyes was significantly improved in the triptolide group than the NS group ( P  0.05). Microglia count in superficial retina of the laser treated eyes was significantly less in the triptolide group (30.40 ± 4.90) than the NS group (35.06 ± 7.59) ( P  0.05). TNF- α mRNA expression in the retina of the laser treated eyes in the triptolide group decreased by 60% compared with that in the NS group ( P  0.01). The double immunofluorescent labeling showed that TNF- α was mainly distributed around the microglia. Conclusion: Triptolide improved RGCs survival in this rat model of chronic glaucoma, which did not depend on IOP decrease but might be exerted by inhibiting microglia activities (cid:55)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:83)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:71)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:83)(cid:3)(cid:177)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:92)(cid:72) (cid:49)(cid:54)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:83)(cid:3)(cid:177)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:92)(cid:72) Figure 2 Mean iOP of the rats in the
Filtering of Segmentation Hierarchies for Improved Region-to-Region Matching

The representation and manipulation of visual content in a computer vision system requires a suitable abstraction of raw visual content such as pixels in an image. In this thesis, we study region-based feature representations and in particular, hierarchical segmentations because they do make no assumptions about region granularity. Hierarchical segmentations create a large feature space that increases the cost of subsequent processing in computer vision systems. We introduce a segment filter to reduce the feature space of hierarchical segmentations by identifying unique regions in the images. The filter uses appearance-based properties of the regions and the structure of the segmentation for the selection of a small set of descriptive regions. The filter works in two phases: selection with a criteria based on relative region size and a sorting based on a variational criteria. The filter is applicable to any hierarchical segmentation algorithm, in particular to bottom-up and region growing approaches. We evaluate the filter’s performance against an extensive set of ground-truth regions from a dataset containing image sequences with scenes of different complexity. We demonstrate a novel region-to-region image matching approach as a possible application of our segment filter. A reduced segmentation tree is reconstructed based on the set of regions provided by the filtering. The reduction of the feature space by the segment filter simplifies our region-to-region matching approach. The correspondences between regions from two different images is established by a similarity measure. We use a modified mutual information measurement to compute the similarity of regions. The identified region correspondences are refined using the reduced segmentation tree. Our region-to-region matching approach is evaluated with an extensive set of ground-truth correspondences. This evaluation shows the large potential of both, our filtering and our matching approach.
Expression of Androgen Receptor Splice Variants in Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases is Associated with Castration-Resistance and Short Survival

Background Constitutively active androgen receptor variants (AR-V) lacking the ligand binding domain (LBD) may promote the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The expression of AR-Vs in the clinically most important metastatic site, the bone, has, however, not been well documented. Our aim was therefore to compare levels of AR-Vs in hormone-naive (HN) and CRPC bone metastases in comparison to primary PC and non-malignant prostate tissue, as well as in relation to AR protein expression, whole-genome transcription profiles and patient survival. Methodology/Principal Findings Hormone-naïve (n = 10) and CRPC bone metastases samples (n = 30) were obtained from 40 patients at metastasis surgery. Non-malignant and malignant prostate samples were acquired from 13 prostatectomized men. Levels of full length AR (ARfl) and AR-Vs termed AR-V1, AR-V7, and AR-V567es mRNA were measured with RT-PCR and whole-genome transcription profiles with an Illumina Beadchip array. Protein levels were examined by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Transcripts for ARfl, AR-V1, and AR-V7 were detected in most primary tumors and metastases, and levels were significantly increased in CRPC bone metastases. The AR-V567es transcript was detected in 23% of the CRPC bone metastases only. A sub-group of CRPC bone metastases expressed LBD-truncated AR proteins at levels comparable to the ARfl. Detectable AR-V567es and/or AR-V7 mRNA in the upper quartile, seen in 1/3 of all CRPC bone metastases, was associated with a high nuclear AR immunostaining score, disturbed cell cycle regulation and short survival. Conclusions/Significance Expression of AR-Vs is increased in CRPC compared to HN bone metastases and associated with a particularly poor prognosis. Further studies are needed to test if patients expressing such AR-Vs in their bone metastases benefit more from drugs acting on or down-stream of these AR-Vs than from therapies inhibiting androgen synthesis.
ESTIMAÇÃO DE ENERGIA PARA O CALORÍMETRO DE TELHAS DO ATLAS BASEADA NA FILTRAGEM DE WIENER-HOPF

Nos sistemas de calorimetria de altas energias, quando se opera em condicoes de alta luminosidade, ha empilhamento de sinais. Desta forma, um modelo deterministico do sinal, tipicamente adotado para a estimacao da energia, torna-se inviavel para niveis intensos de sobreposicao. Este trabalho propoe um metodo de estimacao de energia para o calorimetro de telhas do experimento ATLAS no LHC, baseado na teoria do Filtro de Wiener-Hopf, onde um modelo para a representacao dos dados nao e necessario. Conjuntos de dados de simulacao foram utilizados para projetar e avaliar a eficiencia do metodo em condicoes de alta luminosidade.Os resultados mostram que a eficiencia da abordagem baseada no Filtro de Wiener-Hopf proposta neste trabalho supera o metodo atualmente utilizado para estimacao da energia no calorimetria de telhas do ATLAS em condicoes severas de empilhamento de sinais.
PLEASE NOTE! THIS IS PARALLEL PUBLISHED VERSION / SELF-ARCHIVED VERSION OF THE OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The concept of corporate capital structure is dynamic in nature as the changing economic and business situations influence on it. Financial crisis of 2007-2008, among other things, have led companies to bring important changes in their capital structure. In turn, capital structure has also influenced corporate risks and the weighted average cost of capital of the firms. However, this topic is under-researched in general and in the context of Nordic countries, in particular. This paper examines the determinants that have affected firm-level corporate capital structure across Nordic countries during the financial crisis sub-period (2007-10). In addition, we also study and compare the same phenomenon during the pre (2003-06) and post financial crisis (2011-17) sub-periods. The principal finding of the study underlines that during the pre-financial crisis period, firms producing high accountingand market returns borrow less, thus rendering their capital structure more towards equity capital as more debt increases fixed cash outflows in the form of debt servicing. However, during and post financial crisis sub-periods firms giving better performance, with reference to the same benchmarks, borrow more. Several factors can be attributed this finding such as high risk premium to the equity investments due to adverse equity investment climate, falling interest rates during the financial crisis and increasing non-performing assets accumulated with banks. The current paper contributes to the body of knowledge, both academic and practitioners, in several ways. First, the study identifies the key determinants affecting capital structure in the pre, during and post financial crisis sub-periods and thus portraying a comprehensive and indepth picture. Second, the study explores how the capital structure affects the risk and weighted average cost of capital (WACC).
Development of an efficient plant regeneration protocol for sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) cv. Blesbok

An efficient and reproducible plant regeneration protocol for the South African sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) cultivar Blesbok was developed in this study. The effect of different hormone combinations and type of explant on shoot regeneration was evaluated in order to optimize the regeneration protocol. Explants in the form of stem sections, leaf discs, apical shoots and axillary buds derived from in vitro stock plant cultures were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 36 combinations of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1 mg/L). The highest percentage of shoot regeneration was obtained when apical shoot explants (31%) and axillary bud explants (22%) were cultivated on MS supplemented with 0.01 mg/L NAA + 1 mg/L BAP. Leaf discs and stem section explants produced highly recalcitrant callus that did not regenerate into shoots in shoot induction medium (SIM). Callus from apical shoots explants cultured on SIM developed into shoots. The shoots rooted readily on root induction medium (RIM) and then in hormone free MS medium. Regenerated plants appeared normal and showed a 100% survival rate when transferred to soil. The regeneration protocol described in this study will be used in a plant transformation protocol to produce transgenic sweet potato with broad virus resistance.
Comment Palliative chemotherapy : Do we need yet another end-point ?

In a disease with a prevalence as high as observed in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the benefit of a novel palliative treatment is typically demonstrated by an improvement in survival that is balanced against the treatment-induced morbidity, as any intervention has its risk of toxic side-effects. The smaller the benefit, the more difficult this trade-off becomes. Patient-related outcomes (PROs) are used whenever benefit and risk are to be aligned. Reporting toxicity has been graded and standardised by the use of Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAEs), developed by the National Cancer Institute. Opinions differ whether toxicity scoring by investigators is sufficiently representative of the patient’s qualitative perspective of benefit or harm and whether it should not be complemented by one or more aspects of patient health status, e.g. Quality of Life (QoL). QoL is considered to be a multi-domain concept with physical, psychological, emotional and social components, that is increasingly used in phase 3 trials. Recently, the current standards for analysing aspects relating to QoL or symptom control in randomised controlled trials were reviewed and found to be poor. In this issue, Scagliotti et al. report on a novel end-point for weighting the clinical benefit-risk of a first-line chemotherapy regimen in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): survival-without-toxicity is defined as the interval between the date of randomisation to the first date of any grade 3 or 4 toxicity (regardless of drug causality) or death from any cause. This end-point was first coined by Pujol et al. in an un-
Atypical Antipsychotics: Do Their Direct Actions on Adipocytes Contribute to Metabolic Disturbances?

The introduction of Atypical Antipsychotics (AAP) has improved the treatment of many psychiatric disorders by reducing the incidence of extrapyramidal side effects, but it has come at the expense of developing severe metabolic disturbances. Although the AAP were initially developed for the treatment of schizophrenia, their use has been expanded to include treatment of bipolar disorder, autism, posttraumatic stress disorder, dementia, and as ‘off label’ therapy for major depression. The current dogma posits that both therapeutic and negative side-effects of the AAP are due to their exclusive actions within the brain. Here we argue that very little consideration has been given to the potential actions of the AAP in peripheral sites, constituting a serious deficit in our understanding of the full spectrum of the biological action of these drugs.
A critical appraisal of the evidence for using cardiotocography plus ECG ST interval analysis for fetal surveillance in

We appraised the methodology, execution and quality of the five published meta-analyses that are based on the five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compared cardiotocography (CTG) +ST analysis to CTG. The meta-analyses contained errors, either created de novo in handling of original data, or from a failure to recognize essential differences among the RCTs, particularly in their inclusion criteria and outcome parameters. No meta-analysis contained complete and relevant data from all five RCTs. We believe that one RCT excluded in two of the meta-analyses should have been included, while one RCT that was included in all meta-analyses, should have been excluded. After correction of the uncovered errors and exclusion of the RCT that we deemed inappropriate, our new meta-analysis showed that CTG+ST monitoring significantly reduces the fetal scalp blood sampling usage (risk ratio 0.64; 95% confidence interval 0.47-0.88), total operative delivery rate (0.93; 0.880.99), and metabolic acidosis rate (0.61; 0.41-0.91).
Suppression of Proinflammatory Cytokines Interleukin-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Astrocytes by a V1 Vasopressin Receptor Agonist: A cAMP Response Element-Binding Protein-Dependent Mechanism

Previous research from our laboratory has demonstrated that V1 vasopressin receptor agonist (V1 agonist) induces a complex intracellular Ca2+-signaling cascade in cortical astrocytes that is initiated by G-protein-coupled V1a vasopressin receptor-mediated cytoplasmic and nuclear Ca2+ rise and converges during activation of the nuclear transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). In the current study, we pursued the downstream functional consequences of V1 agonist-induced Ca2+-signaling cascade for gene expression. Because astrocytes can exert immune effects analogous to immune cells in the periphery, we investigated V1 agonist regulation of cytokine gene expression in astrocytes. Results from gene array studies indicated that V1 agonist dramatically decreased the mRNA level of five cytokines. Two prominent proinflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), were selected for detailed analysis, and their expression was also confirmed with reverse transcriptase-PCR. Furthermore, ELISA analyses demonstrated that the peptide level of IL-1β and TNF-α in the astrocyte medium was also decreased in response to V1 agonist. Using CREB antisense to determine the causal relationship between V1 agonist-induced CREB activation and suppression of IL-1β and TNF-α, we demonstrated that decreased IL-1β and TNF-α gene expression was dependent on upstream CREB activation. V1 agonist-induced decrease of cytokine release from cortical astrocytes was also shown to be neuroprotective in cortical neurons. To our knowledge, this is the first documentation of V1 agonist modulation of cytokine gene expression in any cell type. Implications for vasopressin as an antipyretic agent and the role of vasopressin in neurodegeneration, autoimmune diseases, stress, and neuropsychiatric behaviors are discussed.
TREAT TO TARGET : A PROPOSED NEW PARADIGM FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF CROHN ’ S DISEASE Short title : Treat to target in Crohn ’ s disease

The traditional management of CD, based on progressive, step-wise treatment intensification with re-evaluation of response according to symptoms, does not improve long-term outcomes of CD and places patients at risk for bowel damage. The introduction of novel therapies and the development of new approaches to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis led to better outcomes for patients. Prominent among these is a “treat to target” strategy that is based on regular assessment of disease activity using objective clinical and biological outcome measures and the subsequent adjustment of treatments. This approach is complementary to the concept of early intervention in high risk patients. This review evaluates current literature on this topic and proposes a definition for the concept treating to targets for Crohn's disease.
Experimental Validation of a Numerical Model for Thermoacoustic Imaging Applications

Owing to its intrinsic advantages of favorable contrast and spatial resolution, microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging (TAI) has drawn great attention in biomedical imaging applications, such as breast cancer detection. Many experimental studies have demonstrated the promising potential of TAI. Several TAI modeling studies have also been published that facilitate the design and optimization of TAI systems. However, experimental validation of the modeling results is rarely seen; thus it is highly desirable to prove the effectiveness of the modeling approach. In this letter, the TAI modeling approach previously described by our group is validated by experiments. A three-dimensional printed polymer slab with featured structures is used as the sample to be investigated by both the model and the experiment. Images are obtained to reveal the featured structures in the slab from both the modeling and experimental results. Rigorous comparisons between the modeling and experimental imaging results are carried out. The achieved good agreement between the images corroborates the validity of the TAI modeling approach and thereby encourages more applications of it.
Pancreatic cancer in young adults: changes, challenges, and solutions

: Despite improvements in multidisciplinary treatments, survival of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients remains dismal. Studies dealing with early onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC) patients are scarce. In this review, we discuss differences between EOPC and late-onset pancreatic cancer based on findings in original papers and reviews with a focus on morphology, genetics, clinical outcomes and therapy. In conclusion, families with a positive history of PC and patients with BRCA 1 or 2 mutations should be monitored. Patients with EOPC usually present with better overall fitness compared to the average PC population, however often with even more aggressive cancer behaviour. Therefore, potent state-of-the-art multi-modal systemic therapies should be applied whenever possible. Large-scale registries and randomized clinical trials dealing with EOPC in regard to distinct biology and outcome are warranted. or BRCA2 mutations, the mean age of pancreatic cancer diagnosis was significantly lower, suggesting that mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genetic factors for early onset of pancreatic cancer. Interestingly, in one of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma subtypes defined by Waddell et al 44 (unstable), loss of BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 was frequently observed. Overlap of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma subtypes based on whole-genome and whole-exome studies. 42–45 study compared adjuvant chemotherapy with modified (m)-FOLFIRINOX to gemcitabine. After a median follow-up of 30.5 months, the median DFS was 21.6 months in the m-FOLFIRINOX arm versus 12.8 months in the gemcitabine arm. the 54.4 respectively, providing high-level evidence