Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neoadjuvant docetaxel followed by adjuvant doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide in patients with stage III breast cancer.

BACKGROUND To evaluate clinical and pathologic response to neoadjuvant docetaxel therapy in patients with stage III breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty-five patients were planned to receive four cycles of docetaxel 100 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, followed by surgery, four cycles of doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 (AC) every 3 weeks, radiation therapy (RT), and tamoxifen when indicated. RESULTS After four cycles of neoadjuvant docetaxel, the clinical response rate within the breast was 59% (95% CI 42% to 73%) and overall (breast and axilla) was 49% (95% CI 38% to 72%) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. At the time of surgery, 10% (n=4) of patients had a pathologic complete response (pCR) in the breast, 27% (n=11) had a pCR within the axillary lymph nodes, and 7% (n=3) had a pCR in the breast and axilla (95% CI 2% to 21%). An additional 5% (n=2) had minimal residual invasive tumor (<5 mm). The 5-year overall survival rate was 80%. The percentage of patients with grade 3/4 neutropenia was similar during docetaxel (93%) and AC (86%), while a greater percentage of patients had febrile neutropenia during docetaxel treatment (27%) compared with AC treatment (7%). CONCLUSIONS Neoadjuvant docetaxel followed by surgery, adjuvant AC, hormonal therapy where indicated, and RT is an active regimen for patients with stage III breast cancer.
The New Economic Geography of IT Industries: The Impacts of the Internet on their Market Linkages and Agglomeration

We use the new economic geography perspective to explore the impacts of the Internet on the market linkages of two manufacturing and two service IT industries, and the consequential effects on their agglomeration. We study IT industry agglomeration at the county level across the entire United States during 1998-2004. The industries that we study are: computer manufacturing, semiconductors manufacturing, software publishing, and computer systems design and services. We develop a model of industrial agglomeration based on market potential for growth which incorporates Internet adoption. Using nonlinear regression for 3,142 counties, we find evidence that Internet adoption is a significant determinant of the market potential and agglomeration for all four IT industries. We report that the effect of the Internet appears to be less important for firms located in urban counties. In big cities, the overall concentration of IT manufacturing industries is declining, while that of IT service industries is increasing.
Acupressure therapy for insomnia in adolescents: a polysomnographic study

Background The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of acupressure therapy in a sample of adolescents with insomnia using a standard polysomnographic evaluation. Methods For this study, 25 adolescents affected by psychophysiological insomnia (mean age 15.04 ± 1.18 years, 12 boys) were enrolled. A device known as the Sea-Band® was used by the patients in order to improve their symptoms related to difficulty in falling asleep. All subjects enrolled underwent two sets of consecutive overnight polysomnographic studies in the Sleep Laboratory of the Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, comprising two studies at baseline (before treatment) and another two studies at the end of 6 months of treatment. Results At the end of 6 months of treatment, there was a significant increase in all macrostructural parameters of sleep duration, and a reduction in sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, and stage 2 sleep. Moreover, the study group showed a significant increase in percent sleep efficiency (P < 0.001) and in slow wave sleep representation. Conclusion Acupressure is a noninvasive, safe, and effective method for the management of insomnia in adolescents, with good compliance and no adverse effects.
B Cells with Regulatory Function in Animal Models of Autoimmune and Non-Autoimmune Diseases

Although the identification of B cell subsets with negative regulatory functions and the definition of their mechanisms of action are recent events, the important negative regulatory roles of B cells in immune responses are now broadly recognized. There is an emerging appreciation for the pivotal role played by B cells in several areas of human diseases including autoimmune diseases and non-autoimmune diseases such as parasite infections and cancer. The recent research advancement of regulatory B cells in human disease coincides with the vastly accelerated pace of research on the bridging of innate and adaptive immune system. Current study and our continued research may provide better understanding of the mechanisms that promote regulatory B10 cell function to counteract exaggerated immune activation in autoimmune as well as non-autoimmune conditions. This review is focused on the current knowledge of BREG functions studied in animal models of autoimmune and non-autoimmune diseases.
Hypermedia design for the mobile era

The daunting task of designing hypermedia applications for multi-channel access by heterogeneous devices has been the target of great attention by the academia and the practitioners' community. The plethora of client platforms poses many challenges, due to the diversity of the available capabilities and restrictions of these platforms. This paper presents an attempt for designing a conceptual model for hypermedia applications that allows for easy update and alteration of its content as well as its presentation and also allows for deployment in various mobile platforms.
From the Lab to the real world: affect recognition using multiple cues and modalities

Human affect sensing can be obtained from a broad range of behavioral cues and signals that are available via visual, acoustic, and tactual expressions or presentations of emotions. Affective states can thus be recognized from visible/external signals such as gestures (e.g., facial expressions, body gestures, head movements, etc.), and speech (e.g., parameters such as pitch, energy, frequency and duration), or invisible/internal signals such as physiological signals (e.g., heart rate, skin conductivity, salivation, etc.), brain and scalp signals, and thermal infrared imagery. Despite the available range of cues and modalities in human-human interaction (HHI), the mainstream emotion research has mostly focused on facial expressions (Hadjikhani & De Gelder, 2003). In line with this, most of the past research on affect sensing and recognition has also focused on facial expressions and on data that has been posed on demand or acquired in laboratory settings. Additionally, each sense such as vision, hearing, and touch has been considered in isolation. However, natural human-human interaction is multimodal and not occurring in predetermined, restricted and controlled settings. In the day-to-day world people do not present themselves to others as voiceor body-less faces or faceor body-less voices (Walker-Andrews, 1997). Moreover, the available emotional signals such as facial expression, head movement, hand gestures, and voice are unified in space and time (see Figure 1). They inherently share the same spatial location, and their occurrences are temporally synchronized. Cognitive neuroscience research thus claims that information coming from various modalities is combined in our brains to yield multimodally determined percepts (Driver & Spence, 2000). In real life situations, our different senses receive correlated information about the same external event. When assessing each others’ emotional or affective state, we are capable of handling significantly variable conditions in terms of viewpoint (i.e. frontal, profile, even back view), tilt angle, distance (i.e., face to face as well as at a distance) , illumination (i.e., both day and night conditions), occlusions (e.g., even when some body parts are occluded), motion (e.g., both when stationary and moving, walking and talking) and noise (e.g., while many people are chatting and interacting simultaneously).
Prevalence and Correlates of Cognitive Impairment in Adults with Subjective Memory Complaints in Primary Care Centres

Aims: To examine the prevalence and correlates of cognitive impairment (CI) in adults over 50 years old attending primary care centres with complaints of memory failure. Methods: A sample of 580 individuals aged 50+ years with no previous diagnosis of dementia was assessed by use of the Mini Mental State Examination, the Cambridge Cognitive Assessment-Revised and the California Verbal Learning Test – to evaluate CI-dependent variables – and administration of a questionnaire on memory complaints and other instruments – to measure correlates. Results: The prevalence of CI was 46.20% and positive associations were found for age, gender, level of education, subjective memory complaints, instrumental activities of daily living, reading habits and frequency of leisure activities. In the logistic regression, modelled CI was associated with older age, gender (49.12% women, 39.66% men), instrumental activities of daily living, and reading habits. Conclusion: Almost half of the adults aged 50+ years attending primary care centres with subjective memory complaints were affected by CI. Early evaluation of cognitive functioning is essential to establish adequate preventive and intervention strategies.
Amorphous silica nanoparticles trigger nitric oxide/peroxynitrite imbalance in human endothelial cells: inflammatory and cytotoxic effects

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of noxious effects of amorphous silica nanoparticles on human endothelial cells. Methods Nanoparticle uptake was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Electrochemical nanosensors were used to measure the nitric oxide (NO) and peroxynitrite (ONOO−) released by a single cell upon nanoparticle stimulation. The downstream inflammatory effects were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and flow cytometry, and cytotoxicity was measured by lactate dehydrogenase assay. Results We found that the silica nanoparticles penetrated the plasma membrane and rapidly stimulated release of cytoprotective NO and, to a greater extent, production of cytotoxic ONOO−. The low [NO]/[ONOO−] ratio indicated increased nitroxidative/oxidative stress and correlated closely with endothelial inflammation and necrosis. This imbalance was associated with nuclear factor κB activation, upregulation of key inflammatory factors, and cell death. These effects were observed in a nanoparticle size-dependent and concentration-dependent manner. Conclusion The [NO]/[ONOO−] imbalance induced by amorphous silica nanoparticles indicates a potentially deleterious effect of silica nanoparticles on vascular endothelium.
Tangeretin Regulates Platelet Function Through Inhibition of Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase and Cyclic Nucleotide Signaling

Objective—Dietary flavonoids have long been appreciated in reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors, but their mechanisms of action are complex in nature. In this study, the effects of tangeretin, a dietary flavonoid, were explored on platelet function, signaling, and hemostasis. Approach and Results—Tangeretin inhibited agonist-induced human platelet activation in a concentration-dependent manner. It inhibited agonist-induced integrin &agr;IIb&bgr;3 inside-out and outside-in signaling, intracellular calcium mobilization, and granule secretion. Tangeretin also inhibited human platelet adhesion and subsequent thrombus formation on collagen-coated surfaces under arterial flow conditions in vitro and reduced hemostasis in mice. Further characterization to explore the mechanism by which tangeretin inhibits platelet function revealed distinctive effects of platelet signaling. Tangeretin was found to inhibit phosphoinositide 3-kinase–mediated signaling and increase cGMP levels in platelets, although phosphodiesterase activity was unaffected. Consistent with increased cGMP levels, tangeretin increased the phosphorylation of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein at S239. Conclusions—This study provides support for the ability and mechanisms of action of dietary flavonoids to modulate platelet signaling and function, which may affect the risk of thrombotic disease.
Numbers of Fiber-to-Fiber Contacts in General Fiber Assemblies

General formulas are derived for the estimation of the number of fiber-to-fiber contacts in fiber assemblies with arbitrary distributions of orientation and fiber length. The average number of contacts per unit volume of an assembly ñv is given by where In this equation fi is the density function of orientation, D is the diameter of the cross section of the fiber, Lv is the total length of fiber per unit volume, and θ, φ, and θ', φ' are respective polar angles characterizing the orientation of two fibers to be brought into contact each other. The application of this general result is shown to lead to the same results in the special cases considered by van Wyk, and Kallmes and Corte.
Degradation of Head Direction Cell Activity during Inverted Locomotion

Head direction (HD) cells in the rat limbic system carry information about the direction the head is pointing in the horizontal plane. Most previous studies of HD functioning have used animals locomoting in an upright position or ascending/descending a vertical wall. In the present study, we recorded HD cell activity from the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus while the animal was locomoting in an upside-down orientation. Rats performed a shuttle-box task requiring them to climb a vertical wall and locomote across the ceiling of the apparatus while inverted to reach an adjoining wall before ascending into the reward compartment. The apparatus was oriented toward the preferred direction of the recorded cell, or the 180° opposite direction. When the animal was traversing the vertical walls of the apparatus, the HD cells remained directionally tuned as if the walls were an extension of the floor. When the animal was locomoting inverted on the ceiling, however, cells showed a dramatic change in activity. Nearly one-half (47%) of the recorded cells exhibited no directional specificity during inverted locomotion, despite showing robust directional tuning on the walls before and after inversion. The remaining cells showed significantly degraded measures of directional tuning and random shifts of the preferred direction relative to the floor condition while the animal was inverted. It has previously been suggested that the HD system uses head angular velocity signals from the vestibular system to maintain a consistent representation of allocentric direction. These findings suggest that being in an inverted position causes a distortion of the vestibular signal controlling the HD system.
Noninvasive assessment of CO2-induced cerebral vasomotor response in normal individuals and patients with internal carotid artery occlusions.

To evaluate the CO2-induced vasomotor reactivity of the cerebral vasculature, relative changes of blood flow velocity within the middle cerebral artery were measured by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography during normocapnia and various degrees of hypercapnia and hypocapnia. We studied 40 normal individuals and 40 patients with unilateral and 15 patients with bilateral internal carotid artery occlusions. When blood flow velocity changes as percent of normocapnic values were plotted against end-tidal CO2 volume percent, a biasymptotic curve (a tangent-hyperbolic function) gave the best fit of the scattergram. The distance between the upper and lower asymptotes was defined as cerebral vasomotor reactivity. In the normal individuals, mean +/- SD vasomotor reactivity was 85.63 +/- 15.96%. In patients with internal carotid artery occlusions, vasomotor reactivity was significantly lower than normal on both the occluded (mean 45.2%, median 50.4%; p less than 0.0001) and the nonoccluded (mean +/- SD 67.7 + 13.3%, p less than 0.01) sides in the unilateral group and on both sides (mean +/- SD 36.6 +/- 15.9% and 44.9 +/- 24.6%, p less than 0.0001) in the bilateral group. The difference between vasomotor reactivity for symptomatic and asymptomatic unilateral occlusions was also highly significant (mean 37.6% and 62.9%, p less than 0.006). Vasomotor reactivity was also significantly lower in patients with low-flow infarctions on computed tomography than in patients with normal scans (mean +/- SD 36.7 +/- 25% and 60.2 +/- 16.9%, p less than 0.008). A striking association of low-flow infarctions, ischemic ophthalmopathy, and hypostatic transient ischemic attacks was found with vasomotor reactivities of less than 34% or even paradoxical reactions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Prioritizing Crop Management to Increase Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Australian Sugarcane Crops

Sugarcane production relies on the application of large amounts of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. However, application of N in excess of crop needs can lead to loss of N to the environment, which can negatively impact ecosystems. This is of particular concern in Australia where the majority of sugarcane is grown within catchments that drain directly into the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Multiple factors that impact crop yield and N inputs of sugarcane production systems can affect N use efficiency (NUE), yet the efficacy many of these factors have not been examined in detail. We undertook an extensive simulation analysis of NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems to investigate (1) the impacts of climate on factors determining NUE, (2) the range and drivers of NUE, and (3) regional variation in sugarcane N requirements. We found that the interactions between climate, soils, and management produced a wide range of simulated NUE, ranging from ∼0.3 Mg cane (kg N)-1, where yields were low (i.e., <50 Mg ha-1) and N inputs were high, to >5 Mg cane (kg N)-1 in plant crops where yields were high and N inputs low. Of the management practices simulated (N fertilizer rate, timing, and splitting; fallow management; tillage intensity; and in-field traffic management), the only practice that significantly influenced NUE in ratoon crops was N fertilizer application rate. N rate also influenced NUE in plant crops together with the management of the preceding fallow. In addition, there is regional variation in N fertilizer requirement that could make N fertilizer recommendations more specific. While our results show that complex interrelationships exist between climate, crop growth, N fertilizer rates and N losses to the environment, they highlight the priority that should be placed on optimizing N application rate and fallow management to improve NUE in Australian sugarcane production systems. New initiatives in seasonal climate forecasting, decisions support systems and enhanced efficiency fertilizers have potential for making N fertilizer management more site specific, an action that should facilitate increased NUE.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE CELLULAR INFILTRATE ON THE EVOLUTION AND INTENSITY OF DELAYED HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS

When a delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction is elicted in a sensitive animal at a skin site in which an accumulation of mononuclear cells has been induced by a prior injection of a nonspecific stimulus, those properties characteristic of a DTH reaction, i.e. erythema, edema, and induration, become evident much more rapidly and intensely than a reaction in an unprepared skin site. This rapid, intense reaction has the histology of a classical delayed reaction and persists as long or longer than a classical DTH reaction in the same animal. Two facts are evident from these observations. Firstly, early in the development of a delayed reaction, the slow accumulation of mononuclear cells may be completely independent of the presence of specific antigen. Secondly, there is a reaction between specific antigen and an antibody-like substance which may or may not be attached to cells. The reaction develops so rapidly at a prepared site that the pharmacological mediators which are responsible for edema must be presumed to be released abruptly. A classical delayed reaction is attributable to the time needed for the accumulation of cells in sufficient numbers. It follows that the rate-limiting step in a classical delayed reaction is the process of cell accumulation. The present observations indicate that this process is independent of the presence of specific antigen.
Different outcomes of never-treated and treated patients with schizophrenia: 14-year follow-up study in rural China.

BACKGROUND The long-term outcome of never-treated patients with schizophrenia is unclear. AIMS To compare the 14-year outcomes of never-treated and treated patients with schizophrenia and to establish predictors for never being treated. METHOD All participants with schizophrenia (n = 510) in Xinjin, Chengdu, China were identified in an epidemiological investigation of 123 572 people and followed up from 1994 to 2008. RESULTS The results showed that there were 30.6%, 25.0% and 20.4% of patients who received no antipsychotic medication in 1994, 2004 and 2008 respectively. Compared with treated patients, those who were never treated in 2008 were significantly older, had significantly fewer family members, had higher rates of homelessness, death from other causes, being unmarried, living alone, being without a caregiver and poor family attitudes. Partial and complete remission in treated patients (57.3%) was significantly higher than that in the never-treated group (29.8%). Predictors of being in the never-treated group in 2008 encompassed baseline never-treated status, being without a caregiver and poor mental health status in 1994. CONCLUSIONS Many patients with schizophrenia still do not receive antipsychotic medication in rural areas of China. The 14-year follow-up showed that outcomes for the untreated group were worse. Community-based mental healthcare, health insurance and family intervention are crucial for earlier diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation in the community.
Novel White Matter Tract Integrity Metrics Sensitive to Alzheimer Disease Progression

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Along with cortical abnormalities, white matter microstructural changes such as axonal loss and myelin breakdown are implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Recently, a white matter model was introduced that relates non-Gaussian diffusional kurtosis imaging metrics to characteristics of white matter tract integrity, including the axonal water fraction, the intra-axonal diffusivity, and the extra-axonal axial and radial diffusivities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study reports these white matter tract integrity metrics in subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (n = 12), Alzheimer disease (n = 14), and age-matched healthy controls (n = 15) in an effort to investigate their sensitivity, diagnostic accuracy, and associations with white matter changes through the course of Alzheimer disease. RESULTS: With tract-based spatial statistics and region-of-interest analyses, increased diffusivity in the extra-axonal space (extra-axonal axial and radial diffusivities) in several white matter tracts sensitively and accurately discriminated healthy controls from those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.82–0.95), while widespread decreased axonal water fraction discriminated amnestic mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer disease (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.84). Additionally, these white matter tract integrity metrics in the body of the corpus callosum were strongly correlated with processing speed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (r = |0.80–0.82|, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings have implications for the course and spatial progression of white matter degeneration in Alzheimer disease, suggest the mechanisms by which these changes occur, and demonstrate the viability of these white matter tract integrity metrics as potential neuroimaging biomarkers of the earliest stages of Alzheimer disease and disease progression.