Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renin-Angiotensin System Blockers May Prolong Survival of Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Erlotinib

AbstractThe aim of this study is to determine whether renin-angiotensin system blockers (RASBs), which include angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin-2 receptor 1 blockers (ARBs), improve the overall survival (OS) of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The medical charts of 117 patients with metastatic NSCLC were retrospectively assessed. Thirty-seven patients (RASB group) using RASBs during systemic treatment were compared with 80 controls (control group) who did not use RASBs following the diagnosis of NSCLC. The histological tumor subtype, performance status, age, sex, smoking status, comorbidities, other medications, chemotherapeutics (CT), and erlotinib that were received in any line of treatment were recorded. We compared the OS of the patients in the RASB and control groups.The median (±SD) age of the patients was 61 (±1) years and all patients were administered systemic treatment (CT or erlotinib). The patients in RASB group were more likely to be smokers, have hypertension and ischemic heart disease, and use erlotinib, thiazides, beta-blockers, and calcium-channel blockers (P < 0.05 for all) compared with the control group. The median follow-up time was 18.9 months (range 1–102 months) for the entire group. The median follow-up period was longer for RASB group than control group (17 vs 11 months, P = 0.033). The most commonly prescribed RASB agent was valsartan (n = 12/37). At the time of the analysis, 98 (83.7%) of all patients had died. In the univariate analysis, the median OS was longer in the RASB group compared with the control group (17 [±4.1] vs 12 [±1.4] months, P = 0.016). Interestingly, further analyses revealed that RASBs significantly improved OS only if used with erlotinib concurrently (34 [±13.8] vs 25 [±5] months, P = 0.002) and the OS benefit was more attributable to ARBs because only 4 patients received ACEI and erlotinib concurrently. However, the benefit of ARBs on OS disappeared in the multivariate analysis.The use of ARBs during erlotinib treatment may prolong OS of patients with metastatic NSCLC.
Cocaine Activation Discriminates Dopaminergic Projections by Temporal Response: An fMRI Study in Rat

We applied a sensitive new functional magnetic resonance imaging technique to identify the pattern and determinants of cocaine-induced brain activation in drug-naive rats. At doses greater than 0.1 mg/kg iv, cocaine produced robust activation throughout cortex with the largest magnitude increase in frontal neocortex. Additionally, we detected selective activation within dopamine-innervated subcortical regions including dorsomedial and ventrolateral striatum, nucleus accumbens region, and dorsal thalamus. Although dose response was similar among activated regions, temporal response differentiated regions along distinct anatomical boundaries with basal ganglia and limbic cortical structures, reaching maximum activation later than frontal neocortex. Pharmacological specificity was demonstrated by blocking cocaine-induced activation with SCH-23390, a selective D1 antagonist. Our data demonstrate the utility of fMRI to identify spatiotemporal patterns of cocaine-induced brain activation and implicate D1 dopaminergic mechanisms in acute cocaine action.
CD31 and CD34 Expression as Immunohistochemical Markers of Endothelial Transdifferentiation in Human Cutaneous Melanoma

Introduction: Vasculogenic mimicry, as previously described in aggressive melanoma, is characterized by the de novo generation of intratumoral patterned vascular channels, composed of PAS-positive basement membrane in the absence of endothelial cells, providing additional microcirculation, in support to the classic tumoral angiogenesis. Methods: We investigated the immunohistochemical expression of two endothelial markers, CD31 and CD34, in tumoral cells of 60 melanomas (45 primary cutaneous and 15 metastatic) as possible evidence of vasculogenic mimicry. In addition we investigated the relationship between CD31 and CD34 expression and three pathological markers such as Clark’s level, and skin ulceration, predictive of melanoma’s aggressive behaviour, and mitotic index. Results: No cases of common melanocytic nevi immunoreacted with CD31 or CD34. Random CD31 immunoreactivity was present in 6% of Clark’s level I/II, 50% of Clark's level III and 80% Clark's level IV/V. CD34 was negative in Clark's level I/II but randomly stained the 20% and 55% of level III and IV/V respectively. 66% (10/15) of metastatic melanomas were CD31 positive showing a canalicular immunostaining pattern, conversely CD34 expression was never found. 7/8 cutaneous ulcerated melanomas immunostained for CD31 and 4/8 for CD34. CD31 immunostained 88% high/intermediate MI, and 53% of low MI melanomas. CD34 decorated the 29% of high/intermediate and 38% of low MI melanomas. Conclusions: CD31 and CD34 immunoreactivity closely parallel both the different morphologic steps of melanocytic tumor progression and the presence of histological parameters related to the aggressive behaviour. Their expression could be related to endothelial transdifferentiation of melanoma cells although a consequent functional role has not been demonstrated yet.
The expressions of stem cell markers: Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, nucleostemin, Bmi, Zfx, Tcl1, Tbx3, Dppa4, and Esrrb in bladder, colon, and prostate cancer, and certain cancer cell lines

Uncontrolled self-renewal plays a direct function in the progression of different types of carcinomas. The same molecular pathway that manages self-renewal in normal stem cells also seems to manage cancer stem cells. Here, we examine the expressions of self-renewal regulatory factors Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, nucleostemin, Zfx, Esrrb, Tcl1, Tbx3, and Dppa4 in tissue samples of colon, prostate, and bladder carcinomas as well as cancer cell lines HT-29, Caco-2, HT-1376, LNCaP, and HepG2. We used reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to examine expressions of the above mentioned regulatory factors in cancer cell lines HT-29, Caco-2, HT-1376, LNCaP, and HepG2 and in 20 tumor tissue samples. Total RNA was isolated by the ISOGEN method. RNA integrity was checked by agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry. Expressions of Oct4 and nucleostemin at the protein level were determined by immunocytochemistry. A significant relationship was found between tumor grade and self-renewal gene expression. Expressions of stem cell specific marker genes were detected in all examined cancer cell lines, in 40% to 100% of bladder cancer samples, and in 60% to 100% of colon and prostate cancer samples. Oct4 expressed in 100% of tumor tissue samples. Our data show that stem cell markers Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, nucleostemin, Bmi, Zfx, Esrrb, Tcl1, Tbx3, and Dppa4 significantly express in cancer cell lines and cancer tissues. Hence, these markers might be useful as potential tumor markers in the diagnosis and/or prognosis of tumors.
HIV-1 Tat and Viral Latency: What We Can Learn from Naturally Occurring Sequence Variations

Despite the effective use of antiretroviral therapy, the remainder of a latently HIV-1-infected reservoir mainly in the resting memory CD4+ T lymphocyte subset has provided a great setback toward viral eradication. While host transcriptional silencing machinery is thought to play a dominant role in HIV-1 latency, HIV-1 protein such as Tat, may affect both the establishment and the reversal of latency. Indeed, mutational studies have demonstrated that insufficient Tat transactivation activity can result in impaired transcription of viral genes and the establishment of latency in cell culture experiments. Because Tat protein is one of highly variable proteins within HIV-1 proteome, it is conceivable that naturally occurring Tat mutations may differentially modulate Tat functions, thereby influencing the establishment and/or the reversal of viral latency in vivo. In this mini review, we summarize the recent findings of Tat naturally occurring polymorphisms associating with host immune responses and we highlight the implication of Tat sequence variations in relation to HIV latency.
Learning to unlearn: antecedents of E-banking adoption – an eclectic approach

This present research is a modest attempt to determine the changes taking place in e-banking and to understand customers’ expectations regarding e-banking. It is very crucial in the outlook of the banks to have the knowledge about the personality trait and the expectations of the customers. So the primary purpose of the research is to explore the personality trait towards the web marketing expectations of the customers in using the e-banking services. The survey collected 231 completed and valid questionnaires. Applying multivariate analysis of variance, Karl Pearson's correlation coefficient, and linear regression, this study examines the impact of personality factors and the expectations of Web Marketing Mix leading to e-Banking Adoption. The proposed model is evaluated using SEM and found to be consistent with an acceptable degree of model fitness.
Information and the Market for Lemons

This article revisits Akerlof's (1970) classic adverse-selection market and asks the following question: do greater information asymmetries reduce the gains from trade? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is no. Better information on the selling side worsens the "buyer's curse," thus lowering demand, but may shift supply as well. Whether trade increases or decreases depends on the relative sizes of these effects. A characterisation is given. On the other hand, improving the buyer's information--i.e., making private information public--unambiguously improves trade so long as market demand is downward sloping. Copyright 2001 by the RAND Corporation.
The effects of graphic advertisements on texting and driving

This study examined the effects of fear appeals on texting and driving frequency from the perspective of terror management theory. Undergraduate students (N=17) participated in a driving simulation program while texting in front of a graphic, deathrelated advertisement versus a neutral one. It was hypothesized that the drivers would be more inclined to text and drive, because of the importance of close relationships when mortality concerns are salient. In this study, it was found that drivers in the death condition had significantly more collisions, exceeded the speed limit more, spent more time speeding, travelled a greater distance speeding, spent more time out of their lane, drove a greater distance out of their lane, swerved over the center line, failed to use their turning signal more, and rushed through the course faster. The current results call into question the efficacy of fear appeals in advertising campaigns.
An improved immune inspired hyper-heuristic for combinatorial optimisation problems

The meta-dynamics of an immune-inspired optimisation system NELLI are considered. NELLI has previously shown to exhibit good performance when applied to a large set of optimisation problems by sustaining a network of novel heuristics. We address the mechanisms by which new heuristics are defined and subsequently generated. A new representation is defined, and a mutation-based operator inspired by clonal-selection introduced to control the balance between exploration and exploitation in the generation of new network elements. Experiments show significantly improved performance over the existing system in the bin-packing domain. New experiments in the job-scheduling domain further show the generality of the approach.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 5-15-2012 THE BLOGOSPHERE AS ŒUVRE : INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ON BLOGGERS

Blogging has often been described as writing an online diary but, nowadays, it is more diverse and a considerable amount of blogs forms a common interconnected resource – the blogosphere – with comprehensive societal impact. While various studies have inquired social-psychological influences on the intention to contribute to an individual blog, the perceptions related to creating such a common valuable good have not yet been focussed. Therefore, we introduce a new construct – the œuvre of blogging – to better account for the notion of the blogosphere as a collective outcome. Furthermore, we propose a research model to inquire the influence of individual and collective beliefs on the œuvre in comparison to short-term blogging activity. We conducted an online survey with 509 international distributed bloggers to test our model. The results of our study provide support for the importance of an œuvre construct to explain influences on bloggers and blogging.
Microtubular apparatus of melanophores: three dimensional organization

Microtubular organization in the melanophores of the angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare, has been studied by serial thin sectioning. The course of microtubules has been followed in sets of transverse serial sections taken from the centrosphere and a segment of a cell process, respectively. Microtubules arise from a prominent zone in the cell center, the central apparatus, which is composed of numerous, small, electron-dense aggregates. the number of these loosely distributed densities is highest in the center of the centrosphere, but they may also be found at its periphery. Microtubules insert into, or becomes part of, the dense material, or at least start in its vicinity. Dense aggregates may be separated from centrioles by several micrometers rather than only being closely associated with these organelles. At some distance from the organizing zone, most of the microtubules gradually assume a cortical arrangement, i.e., take a course within about 100 nm of the limiting membrane. Serial sections were used to trace all microtubules within a 6μm-long segment of a cell process. 94 percent of the microtubules observed in this segment run its entire length; it is conceivable, therefore that a considerable number of microtubules extend between the initiating site in the centrosphere and the outermost cell region. A three-dimensional model of the 6μm-long segment reveals that, despite changes in the cell process outline, microtubules maintain a strictly cortical arrangement which gives the impression of a microtubule "palisade" lining the cortex of the cell process. The features of the microtubular apparatus of angelfish melanophores are discussed in relation to factors controlling microtubule initiation and distribution.
TLR4 Endogenous Ligand S100A8/A9 Levels in Adult-Onset Still’s Disease and Their Association with Disease Activity and Clinical Manifestations

S100A8/A9 has been suggested as a marker of disease activity in patients with adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD). We evaluated the clinical significance of S100A8/A9 as a biomarker and its pathogenic role in AOSD. Blood samples were collected prospectively from 20 AOSD patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs). Furthermore, skin and lymph node biopsy specimens of AOSD patients were investigated for S100A8/A9 expression levels via immunohistochemistry. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of active AOSD patients and HCs were investigated for S100A8/A9 cell signals. S100A8/A9, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in active AOSD patients were higher than those of HCs. S100A8/A9 levels correlated positively with IL-1β, TNF-α and C-reactive protein. The inflammatory cells expressing S100A8/A9 were graded from one to three in skin and lymph node biopsies of AOSD patients. The grading for S100A8/A9 was more intense in the skin lesions with karyorrhexis, mucin deposition, and neutrophil infiltration. Like lipopolysaccharide (LPS), S100A8/A9 induced phosphorylation of p38 and c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) in PBMCs, suggesting that S100A8/A9 activates Toll-like receptor 4 signaling pathways. These findings suggest that S100A8/A9 may be involved in the inflammatory response with induction of proinflammatory cytokines and may serve as a clinicopathological marker for disease activity in AOSD.
Protein Docking: Combining Symbolic Descriptions of Molecular Surfaces and Grid-Based Scoring Functions

With the growing number of known 3D protein structures, computing systems, that can predict where two protein molecules interact with each other is becoming of increasing interest. A system is presented, integrating preprocessing like the computation of molecular surfaces, segmentation, and searching for complementarity in the general framework of a pattern analyzing semantic network (ERNEST). The score of coarse symbolic computations is used by the problem independent control strategy of ERNEST to guide a more detailed analysis considering steric clash and judgements based on grid-based surface representations. Successful examples of the docking system are discussed that compare well with other approaches.
Contesting the Status of Relief Workers during the New Deal

Drawing on feminist and historical institutionalist studies of the welfare state as well as the concept of classification struggles developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this article examines how the creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) influenced the subsequent political mobilization of the unemployed in the United States. The WPA combined features of both the liberal, nationally administered social insurance tier and the nonliberal, state-administered public assistance tier of the U.S. welfare state. By positioning its workers in contradictory ways that resembled both public employment and public assistance, the WPA gave rise to a struggle over their status and rights, manifested in part by the activities and claims of the Workers Alliance of America. A careful examination of this struggle suggests that although the constitution of relief recipients as a clearly demarcated pariah class may facilitate social control, attempts by the state to regulate ill-defined subjects encourage political contention over how those subjects will be constituted.
Dopaminergic axons in different divisions of the adult rat striatal complex do not express vesicular glutamate transporters

Midbrain dopamine neurons signal rapid information about rewards and reward‐related events. It has been suggested that this fast signal may, in fact, be conveyed by co‐released glutamate. Evidence that dopamine neurons co‐release glutamate comes largely from studies involving cultured neurons or tissue from young animals. Recently, however, it has been shown that this dual glutamatergic/dopaminergic phenotype declines with age, and can be induced by injury, suggesting that it is not a key feature of adult dopamine neurons. Here, we provide further support for this view by showing that dopaminergic axons and terminals in subregions of the adult striatum do not express vesicular glutamate transporters (VGluT1, VGluT2 or VGluT3). Striatal tissue from the adult rat was immunolabelled to reveal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; biosynthetic enzyme of dopamine) and one of the three known VGluTs. Importantly, we compared the immunogold labelling for each of the VGluTs associated with TH‐positive structures with background labelling at the electron microscopic level. In addition, we carried out a subregional analysis of the core and shell of the nucleus accumbens. We found that dopaminergic axons and terminals in the dorsolateral striatum and ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens core and shell) do not express VGluT1, VGluT2 or VGluT3. We conclude, therefore, that in the normal, adult rat striatum, dopaminergic axons do not co‐release glutamate.
Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment OGLE‐1999‐BUL‐32: the longest ever microlensing event – evidence for a stellar mass black hole?

We describe the discovery of the longest microlensing event ever observed, OGLE-1999-BUL-32, also independently identified by the MACHO collaboration as MACHO-99-BLG-22. This unique event has an Einstein radius crossing time of 640 d. The high-quality data obtained with difference image analysis shows a small but significant parallax signature. This parallax effect allows one to determine the Einstein radius projected on to the observer plane as r E 29.1 au. The transverse velocity projected on to the observer plane is about 79 km s - 1 . We argue that the lens is likely to have a mass of at least a few solar masses, i.e. it could be a stellar black hole. The black hole hypothesis can be tested using the astrometric microlensing signature with the soon-to-be installed Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Deep X-ray and radio images may also be useful for revealing the nature of the object.
A review of measures used to assess HIV-related stigma among young people living with HIV: missing accounts of sex and gender

ABSTRACT Most studies of HIV-related stigma focus on adult populations. This study reviews empirical studies that measure HIV-related stigma among young people living with HIV (YLHIV). Using Earnshaw and Chaudoir’s (2009) framework, studies that assessed, enacted, internalized, perceived and anticipated stigma were coded and then evaluated on their use of sex or gender according to the following criteria: (i) recruiting equal number of young men and women; (ii) asking some questions/subsections of young men/women only; (iii) treating sex/gender as a covariate, or stratifying by or controlling for sex/gender; (iv) acknowledging the importance of sex/gender considerations in the discussion. Of the 2272 abstracts initially screened, 27 papers were eligible for analysis. While several studies (n = 12) measured all four types of stigma, four measured anticipated and internalized stigma and one measured perceived and internalized stigma. Moreover, two measured perceived and enacted stigma and two others measured only enacted stigma. Two studies measured only perceived stigma, and two assessed only internalized stigma. Most (n = 15) studies did not account for sex- or gender-based differences regarding HIV-related stigma and 10 did not report on participants’ sexual orientation. Of the 19 studies that included both male and female YLHIV, 6 did not account for sex/gender in their analyses. Very few (n = 6) studies reported on transgender YLHIV. Overall, a limited amount of HIV-related stigma research involved young people, despite the fact that this population experiences over 40% of annual incident rates globally. Additionally, overlooking sex- and gender-based differences is concerning given the evidence on gender differences regarding perceived HIV stigma and social rejection, discrimination, shame and psychological distress. Gender-specific stigma should be considered in future studies. A failure to do so leaves open the possibility of missing (or misunderstanding) relevant considerations (e.g. sex/gender-based differences or similarities) that may be amenable to stigma-reduction interventions.
Electronic monitoring of medication adherence in early maintenance phase treatment for pediatric leukemia and lymphoma: identifying patterns of nonadherence.

OBJECTIVE To describe patterns of treatment adherence to early maintenance phase therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL). METHODS Using an objective observational method (electronic monitoring), adherence was examined for 139 patients aged 7-19 years diagnosed with ALL or LBL across 6 centers. RESULTS The mean adherence percentage was 86.2%. Adherence rates declined over the 1-month of follow-up to 83%. 3 linear trajectories of 6-mercaptopurine adherence were identified: (1) exemplary adherence (n = 99): Averaging nearly 100%; (2) deteriorating (n = 23): Adherence decreased from 100 to 60%; and (3) chronically poor adherence (n = 9): Averaging 40%. CONCLUSIONS Adherence promotion interventions might be tailored to subgroups of patients who demonstrated problematic patterns of treatment adherence that could place them at risk for relapse. This research demonstrates the importance of using objective real-time measures of medication adherence for measuring and documenting adherence patterns.