Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Additional adjuvant radiotherapy improves survival at 1 year after surgical treatment for pancreatic cancer patients with T4, N2 disease, positive resection margin, and receiving adjuvant chemotherapy

Background While adjuvant chemotherapy has been established as standard practice following radical resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the role of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) and which patients may benefit remains unclear. Methods This retrospective study included PDAC patients who received pancreatic surgery from April 2012 to December 2019 in Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University. Patients with carcinoma in situ, distant metastasis, and without adjuvant chemotherapy were excluded. Cox proportional hazards modeling of survival were constructed to find potential prognostic factors. Propensity score matching (PSM) and exploratory subgroup analyses were used to create a balanced covariate distribution between groups and to investigate therapeutic effect of radiotherapy in certain subgroups. Results A total of 399 patients were finally included, 93 of them receiving adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (C+R+) and 306 of them receiving chemotherapy only. Patients in C+R+ group were more likely to be male patients with T3-4 disease. Lymph node metastases was the only negative prognostic factor associated with overall survival (OS). Additional adjuvant RT was not associated with an OS benefit both before and after PSM. Surprisingly, a trend towards improved OS with RT among patients with either T4, N2 disease or R1 resection becomes significant in patients alive more than 1 year after surgery. Conclusion Adjuvant RT was not associated with an OS benefit across all patients, though did show a possible OS benefit for the subgroup with T4N2 disease or R1 resection at 1 year after surgery.
The Experiences of Newly Graduated Nurses during Their First Year of Practice

The present study aimed to explore the experiences of newly graduated nurses during their first year of practise. A qualitative descriptive design was employed in this study. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with newly graduated nurses to gather detailed descriptions and experiences during their transition to the workplace in the first year after graduation. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify patterns and themes in the collected data. Ethical considerations were strictly enforced throughout the study. There are two main themes: factors contributing to the integration of new nurses into the workplace and the difficulties faced by new nurses in a work environment. Within the first theme, three subthemes emerged: the positive role of trainers, the gradual handling of patients, and the benefit of pre-employment training and volunteering. The theme of difficulties faced included three subthemes: difficulty dealing with the health system and devices, fear of dealing with new patients, and difficulty applying policies and procedures in the workplace. The study provides insights into the challenges faced by newly graduated nurses and the factors that contribute to their integration into practise settings. Educational departments in hospitals’ support and efficient access to policies are crucial for these nurses as they begin their early professional years.
Artemisinin Confers Neuroprotection against 6-OHDA-Induced Neuronal Injury In Vitro and In Vivo through Activation of the ERK1/2 Pathway

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an age-related, progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the gradual and massive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). We have recently reported that artemisinin, an FDA-approved first-line antimalarial drug, possesses a neuroprotective effect. However, the effects and underlying mechanisms of artemisinin on Parkinson’s disease remain to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of artemisinin on 6-OHDA and MPP+ in neuronal cells and animal models, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that artemisinin significantly attenuated the loss of cell viability, LDH release, elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the collapse of the mitochondria trans-membrane potential and cell apoptosis in PC12 cells. Western blot results showed that artemisinin stimulated the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, its upstream signaling proteins c-Raf and MEK and its downstream target CREB in PC12 cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. In addition, the protective effect of artemisinin was significantly reduced when the ERK pathway was blocked using the ERK pathway inhibitor PD98059 or when the expression of ERK was knocked down using sgRNA. These results indicate the essential role of ERK in the protective effect of artemisinin. Similar results were obtained in SH-SY5Y cells and primary cultured neurons treated with 6-OHDA, as well as in cellular models of MPP+ injury. More interestingly, artemisinin attenuated PD-like behavior deficit in mice injected with 6-OHDA evaluated by behavioral tests including swimming test, pole-test, open field exploration and rotarod tests. Moreover, artemisinin also stimulated the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, inhibited apoptosis, and rescued dopaminergic neurons in SNc of these animals. Application of ERK pathway inhibitor PD98059 blocked the protective effect of artemisinin in mice during testing. Taking these results together, it was indicated that artemisinin preserves neuroprotective effects against 6-OHDA and MPP+ induced injury both in vitro and in vivo by the stimulation of the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Our findings support the potential therapeutic effect of artemisinin in the prevention and treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Production of Superior Pigs as Breeding Stocks by Improving Maternal Uterus and Placental Environment during Pregnancy

An experiment was conducted to study the inheritance of improved growth phenotypes in pigs born to sows injected with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) prior to mating. Twelve sows were assigned into a randomized design with 3 groups and each group consisted of 4 sows as replications. The first group consisted of sows without PMSG and HCG injection prior to mating as a control group (NSO). The second group consisted of sows injected with PMSG and HCG prior to mating to improve endogenous secretion of pregnant hormones that improve prenatal growth of the piglets (SO). The third group consisted of female pigs born to PMSG and HCG-injected mother in SO group that were mated after maturity without PMSG and HCG injection (F1SO). The number of sows used in each group consisted of 2 sows with 11 litter size and 2 sows with 12 litter size at parturition and total of born pigs observed in this study was 138 pigs. The results of experiment showed that injection of the sows with PMSG and HCG prior to mating improved body weight, body length and leg heights and decreased within-litter variation that finally increased total weight of live born pigs per sow. Sows injected with PMSG and HCG prior to mating produced pigs with higher pre-weaning growth rate and higher survival rate with a higher weaning weight and total weaned pigs per sow. The female pigs born to SO sows produced piglets with similar growth phenotypes as their mothers that was significantly higher and better that the growth phenotypes of the pigs born to NSO sows. The results of this experiment strongly confirm that the improvement of uterine and placental environment by improving endogenous secretion of pregnant hormones during pre-implantation and during the whole pregnancy by injecting the mothers with PMSG and HCG prior to mating improve prenatal and postnatal growth phenotypes of pigsand the improved growth phenotypes are inherited to their offspring. It was concluded that this simple and relatively cheap technique could be used to improve growth genotype expression to produce a superior pigs either as a finisher or as a parent stock.
Pulse Amplitude Equalization of Amplified Dispersive Wave Radiation Emitting Around 1 μm

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, pulse amplitude equalization for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ultrashort pulse laser source generated by shifting the spectrum of a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.55~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser in a highly nonlinear fiber via dispersive wave radiation. Three optimized nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM)-based pulse amplitude equalizers (PAEs) were designed to reduce the severe pulse amplitude fluctuation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> source, which was caused by the long pulse duration of 1550 nm pump laser. As a result, the clock amplitude jitter of the pulse train efficiently decreased from 40.2 % to 12.1 % by employing a reflection-type PAE composed of a fiber circulator and a NOLM. This scheme provides a new way to meet the requirement for an equalized pulse amplitude operation in many fields.
Comparing Additionality of Tuberculosis Cases Using GeneXpert or Smear-Based Active TB Case-Finding Strategies among Social Contacts of Index Cases in Nepal

This study compares the yield and additionality of community-based active tuberculosis (TB) active case-finding strategies using either smear microscopy or GeneXpert as the TB diagnostic test. Active case-finding strategies screened social contacts of index cases and high-risk groups in four districts of Nepal in July 2017–2019. Two districts (Chitwan and Dhanusha) applied GeneXpert testing and two districts (Makwanpur and Mahotarri) used smear microscopy. Two control districts implemented standard national TB program activities. Districts implementing GeneXpert testing screened 23,657 people for TB, tested 17,114 and diagnosed 764 TB cases, producing a yield of 4.5%. Districts implementing smear microscopy screened 19,961 people for TB, tested 13,285 and diagnosed 437 cases, producing a yield of 3.3%. The screening numbers required were 31 for GeneXpert and 45.7 for smear districts. The test numbers required were 22.4 and 30.4 for GeneXpert and smear. Using the TB REACH additionality method, social contact tracing for TB through GeneXpert testing contributed to a 20% (3958/3322) increase in district-level TB notifications, smear microscopy 12.4% (3146/2798), and −0.5% (2553/2566) for control districts. Therefore, social contact tracing of TB index cases using GeneXpert testing should be implemented throughout Nepal within the TB FREE initiative to close the notification gap and accelerate progress toward END TB strategy targets.
SdoNet: Speed Odometry Network and Noise Adapter for Vehicle Integrated Navigation

The emerging applications of the Internet of Things (IoT), such as driverless cars, have an increasing need for precise vehicle positioning. Inertial navigation systems (INSs) became a possible component of autonomous driving systems due to low computational load, fast response, and high autonomy. However, error accumulation presents a significant challenge. Although nonholonomic constraints (NHCs) and odometry (ODO) have been demonstrated to improve INS, NHC is not always reliable, and ODO is often inaccessible in many applications. To address these issues, we propose a novel untethered pseudo-odometry, SdoNet, a convolutional neural network that estimates vehicle velocity from raw inertial measurement unit (IMU) observations to extend NHC as a 3-D velocity constraint without needing a hardware-wheeled ODO. To eliminate the influence of interference features on the accuracy of SdoNet, we improve the SdoNet by incorporating a residual module, attention mechanism, and soft threshold to guide the network to eliminate interference features. Moreover, a lightweight noise adapter network is proposed to adjust the constraint measurement noise covariance dynamically to apply the velocity constraint properly. The proposed approach is validated on the KITTI data set, demonstrating that SdoNet enhances the network’s learning ability and achieves robust and accurate velocity regression, especially in noisy IMU observations. The mean absolute speed regression error of SdoNet is lower than the two types of long short-term memory networks by 52.52% and 71.86%, respectively. Compared to the process using only NHC, the absolute translation error is reduced by approximately 44.00% after employing the pseudo-ODO velocity constraint and further reduced by around 11.31% after employing the noise adapter.
A latent variable modelling approach for the pooled analysis of individual participant data on the association between depression and chlamydia infection in adolescence and young adulthood in the UK

Despite the increasing evidence of association between chlamydia infection and depression, currently there is a paucity of research with limited scope to understand better the temporal nature of the relationship between them. We consider this problem in adolescence and young adulthood by pooled analysis of 7250 participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. We propose a latent variable modelling approach which can handle harmonization of categorical variables including ordinal measures from the two studies as well as measurement error and time trends.
Case report: the effects of cerebellar tDCS in bilingual post-stroke aphasia

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation may be a useful neuromodulation tool for enhancing the effects of speech and language therapy in people with aphasia, but research so far has focused on monolinguals. We present the effects of 9 sessions of anodal cerebellar tDCS (ctDCS) coupled with language therapy in a bilingual patient with chronic post-stroke aphasia caused by left frontal ischemia, in a double-blind, sham-controlled within-subject design. Language therapy was provided in his second language (L2). Both sham and anodal treatment improved trained picture naming in the treated language (L2), while anodal ctDCS in addition improved picture naming of untrained items in L2 and his first language, L1. Picture description improved in L2 and L1 after anodal ctDCS, but not after sham.
Hybrid materials based on Fe2O3/metal-oxide reinforced polyaniline: Synthesis, characterization and their electrochemical properties

Polyaniline (PANI)-Fe2O3/CuO and PANI -Fe2O3/ZnO hybrid materials were developed and prepared by in situ polymerization at 0°C using ammonium persulfate as oxidant. The resulting products are investigated for their structural properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the results confirm the formation of the hybrid architecture. In addition, the electrochemical properties of the hybrid products are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and optical properties were determined using UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectrophotometer (UV-Vis DRS). Compared to PANI/ZnO or CuO, Fe2O3/CuO or ZnO exhibit significantly improved properties. Based on the obtained results, the products thus open the way for a variety of electrical and sensors applications.
Orbital forcings of a fluid ellipsoid. Inertial instabilities and dynamos

Inertial instabilities are fluid instabilities excited by mechanical forcings (e.g. tides, precession) in fluid bodies (e.g. planetary liquid cores or stellar envelopes) orbited by celestial companions. The nonlinear outcome of these instabilities can drive self-sustained, dynamo magnetic fields. Thus they could be an alternative to thermo-chemical convection to generate magnetic fields in geophysics and astrophysics. These instabilities have only been studied in idealised models, which challenges the extrapolation towards the relevant regimes in geophysics and astrophysics. Recent laboratory and numerical studies, performed in the achievable range of parameters (i.e. large deformations and overestimated diffusive effects), seem apparently not in agreement with theoretical predictions representative of celestial fluid bodies (i.e. extremely small deformations and vanishing diffusive effects). Several physical ingredients have been also neglected, such as the orbital eccentricity. This could drive additional tidal effects, as a result of the time-dependent forcing. Similarly, density variations have been largely neglected in these models. However, rotationally powered magnetic fields in stably stratified stellar envelopes could reconcile astronomical observations with dynamo models. In this thesis we have adopted more realistic models, by combining theoretical tools (linear stability analyses in unbounded and bounded fluids enclosed in ellipsoids) and numerical ones (direct numerical simulations) to study rotationally driven inertial instabilities. We show, with a linear stability analysis in bounded ellipsoidal geometry, that bulk diffusion cannot be neglected emph{a priori} compared to the boundary layer diffusion in laboratory experiments and simulations. This phenomena is not expected in celestial fluid bodies. We also show that an orbital eccentricity could generate additional instabilities in deformed bodies, for orbital configurations which were believed to be linearly stable. Finally, we have studied the dynamo capability of tidal flows in stably stratified fluid envelopes. These are idealised models of hot, intermediate-mass stars (i.e. with a mass ranging from one to eight solar masses). Approximatively 10~% of hot stars exhibit observable magnetic fields. We show that the tidal instability can drive dynamo magnetic fields of large wavelength in stably stratified fluids. Predictions obtained with this tidal model seem consistent with the ultra-weak magnetism of rapidly rotating, tidally deformed Vega-like stars.
Leakage Current Behavior in HfO2/SiO2/Al2O3 Stacked Dielectric on 4H-SiC Substrate

In this study, we investigate the deposition of high-k dielectric materials, namely Al2O3 and HfO2, using atomic layer deposition for 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor applications. C-V measurements reveal that the HfO2/SiO2/Al2O3/4H-SiC structure exhibits lower interface state density (Dit) and a reduced number of fixed interface trap charges (Neff) than the HfO2/Al2O3/SiO2/4H-SiC structure. Furthermore, we observe significant degradation of the interface properties when annealing at 400 °C compared with 300 °C, as evidenced by atomic force microscopy images. Transmission electron microscopy analysis shows that the SiO2/SiC surface is inhomogeneous and contains carbon clusters, while the Al2O3/SiC interface displays a more uniform structure. The I-V curves demonstrate a reduced leakage current for the high-k dielectric stacked structure to (10−11 A/cm2), and the breakdown electric field of the HfO2/SiO2/Al2O3/4H-SiC structure reaches 9.6 MV/cm.
Hybrid Beamforming for Utility Maximization in Multiuser Broadband Millimeter Wave Systems

Hybrid beamforming (HBF) has been considered as a key technology in millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems, since it can significantly reduce the number of radio frequency chains, and in turn the hardware cost and power consumption, while providing performance comparable to that of a fully-digital beamforming architecture. Conventional HBF designs mostly focused on the spectral efficiency maximization for a certain HBF connection architecture such as fully-connected or partially-connected one. In this article, we investigate HBF optimization with the objective of sum-utility maximization (SUM) for multi-user broadband mmWave MIMO systems with arbitrarily connected architectures. In particular, we show that the SUM HBF optimization can be equivalently converted to a specific weighted mean square error minimization (WMMSE) problem, which leads to a convenient algorithmic approach to directly tackle the difficulty of the SUM problem. Furthermore, by utilizing the alternating minimization and manifold optimization methods, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm to solve the non-convex WMMSE problem and prove its convergence. Simulation results demonstrate the fast convergence as well as the significant performance improvement of the proposed algorithm over the conventional ones.
Linking Ethnicity Targeting with Artificial Intelligence and Data Collection: Perceptions and Behavioral Responses of Black Consumers

Abstract Data-centric targeting with artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming advertising by using machine learning and big data to target consumers, creating value for both consumers and brands. Despite the growing interest in ethnicity targeting in social media, there is still much to learn about leveraging ethnicity data for advertising research and practice. In this study, we surveyed 1,030 Black U.S. social media users to explore their understanding of AI and data gathering related to ethnicity. We focused on ethnic affinity targeting (EAT), a controversial tactic used by social media platforms. Our results indicate that the ethical aspects of persuasion knowledge, specifically appropriateness beliefs, affect consumers’ coping strategies through distinct mechanisms. Consumers’ ethnic identification and the stability of their affinity feelings toward social media also influence intentions to use specific coping strategies. These findings suggest that consumers’ perceptions of ethnicity targeting depend on how advertisers collect and use ethnicity data and underscore the importance of diverse perspectives to inform algorithm transparency practices and policies.
The TAx4 experiment

The Telescope Array (TA) experiment consists of a surface detector (SD) array covering 700 km$^2$ in area and three fluorescence detector (FD) stations and explores the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We found the evidence of a hotspot in the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above 57 EeV. New SDs and FDs are planned to be constructed for the TAx4 experiment to cover 4 times larger area than TA to observe cosmic rays especially with the highest energies using high statistics. This project is expected to clarify not only the source of the hotspot but also the energy spectrum and the composition at the highest energies. The five-year proposal for TAx4 SD was accepted in the spring of 2015. The proposal for constructing 2 FD stations was also accepted in 2016. The current status and the future prospects of the TAx4 experiment are shown.
Multi-octave spanning nonlinear interactions induced by femtosecond filamentation in polycrystalline ZnSe

We report on filamentation and supercontinuum generation in polycrystalline ZnSe by intense femtosecond laser pulses whose center wavelength is tunable in the 1.5–2.4 μm range. By varying the input pulse energy, single and multiple filamentation regimes were accessed, as verified by the measurements of near field intensity distributions. Along with supercontinuum generation, efficient simultaneous generation of broadband second, third, and fourth harmonics is observed. We uncover that extremely efficient harmonics generation stems from randomly quasi phase matched three wave mixing processes, which are facilitated by filamentation of the input beam, as verified by the spectral and energy conversion dynamics, and by polarization measurements.