Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stem cell collection in unmanipulated HLA-haploidentical/mismatched related transplantation with combined granulocyte-colony stimulating factor-mobilised blood and bone marrow for patients with haematologic malignancies: the impact of donor characteristics and procedural settings

Unmanipulated haploidentical/mismatched related transplantation with combined granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor‐mobilised peripheral blood stem cells (G‐PBSCs) and granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor‐mobilised bone marrow (G‐BM) has been developed as an alternative transplantation strategy for patients with haematologic malignancies. However, little information is available about the factors predicting the outcome of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection and bone marrow (BM) harvest in this transplantation. The effects of donor characteristics and procedure factors on CD34+ cell yield were investigated. A total of 104 related healthy donors received granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF) followed by PBSC collection and BM harvest. Male donors had significantly higher yields compared with female donors. In multiple regression analysis for peripheral blood collection, age and flow rate were negatively correlated with cell yield, whereas body mass index, pre‐aphaeresis white blood cell (WBC) and circulating immature cell (CIC) counts were positively correlated with cell yields. For BM harvest, age was negatively correlated with cell yields, whereas pre‐BM collection CIC counts were positively correlated with cell yield. All donors achieved the final product of ≥6 ×106 kg−1 recipient body weight. This transplantation strategy has been shown to be a feasible approach with acceptable outcomes in stem cell collection for patients who received HLA‐haploidentical/mismatched transplantation with combined G‐PBSCs and G‐BM. In donors with multiple high‐risk characteristics for poor aphaeresis CD34+ cell yield, BM was an alternative source.
It's not what you are, it's what you know: experience, beliefs, and the detection of deception in employment interviews

This study investigated the ability of more or less experienced employment interviewers and laypersons to detect deception in employment interviews. Although correct beliefs about indicators of deception led to higher deception detection accuracy, more experienced employment interviewers did not show more accurate beliefs about indicators of deception and did not perform better at detecting deception than less experienced interviewers and laypersons. Furthermore, more experienced interviewers showed a less-pronounced tendency of judging messages as true irrespective of their actual truthfulness (truth bias) than less experienced interviewers and laypersons. It is suggested that experience in employment interviewing does not automatically lead to higher deception detection abilities in employment interviews, but that correcting people’s beliefs about indicators of deception can do so.
Optimization Based Flow Control with Improved Performance

Optimization based flow control has been proposed in [2] to improve the network performance with congested bottle links. This rate-based technique has advantages over traditional window based heuristic algorithms in that the optimal performance in terms of maximal aggregate utility function can be achieved when each source adaptively adjusts its data rate. Several decentralized optimization algorithms have been applied to the flow control. However, one of most important features of these algorithms: the relation between the convergence speed and network parameters is not well studied, experimentally or theoretically. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. The first contribution is that we propose Aitken-extrapolation to accelerate the convergence process. Secondly, we compare the convergence speed of various algorithms by theoretic analysis and simulations. Based on the results, the network parameters can be appropriately chosen to improve network performance.
Influence of Hot-Etching Surface Treatment on Zirconia/Resin Shear Bond Strength

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of hot-etching surface treatment on the shear bond strength between zirconia ceramics and two commercial resin cements. Ceramic cylinders (120 units; length: 2.5 mm; diameter: 4.7 mm) were randomly divided into 12 groups (n = 10) according to different surface treatments (blank control; airborne-particle-abrasion; hot-etching) and different resin cements (Panavia F2.0; Superbond C and B) and whether or not a thermal cycling fatigue test (5°–55° for 5000 cycles) was performed. Flat enamel surfaces, mounted in acrylic resin, were bonded to the zirconia discs (diameter: 4.7 mm). All specimens were subjected to shear bond strength testing using a universal testing machine with a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. All data were statistically analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and multiple-comparison least significant difference tests (α = 0.05). Hot-etching treatment produced higher bond strengths than the other treatment with both resin cements. The shear bond strength of all groups significantly decreased after the thermal cycling test; except for the hot-etching group that was cemented with Panavia F2.0 (p < 0.05). Surface treatment of zirconia with hot-etching solution enhanced the surface roughness and bond strength between the zirconia and the resin cement.
Experimental African Trypanosome Infection by Needle Passage or Natural Tsetse Fly Challenge Thwarts the Development of Collagen-Induced Arthritis in DBA/1 Prone Mice via an Impairment of Antigen Specific B Cell Autoantibody Titers

Collagen-induced arthritis is a B cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Recently published studies have demonstrated that in some rare cases pathogens can confer protection from autoimmunity. Trypanosoma brucei parasites are tsetse fly transmitted extracellular protozoans causing sleeping sickness disease in humans and Nagana in livestock in sub-Saharan endemic areas. In the past, we demonstrated that trypanosome infections impair B cell homeostasis and abolish vaccine-induced protection against unrelated antigens. Hence, here we hypothesized that trypanosome infection can affect the onset of CIA by specifically dampening specific B-cell responses and type II collagen antibody titers in DBA/1 prone mice. We observed a substantial delay in the onset of collagen-induced arthritis in T. brucei-infected DBA/1 mice that correlates with a drastic decrease of type II collagen titers of the different IgG isotypes in the serum. Treatment of infected mice with Berenil, a trypanocidal drug, restored the development of CIA-associated clinical symptoms. Interestingly, these data were confirmed by the challenge of immunized DBA/1 prone mice with T. brucei-infected tsetse flies. Together, these results demonstrate that T. brucei infection is impairing the maintenance of the antigen specific plasma B cell pool driving the development of CIA in DBA/1 prone mice.
Human interleukin-23 receptor antagonists derived from an albumin-binding domain scaffold inhibit IL-23-dependent ex vivo expansion of IL-17-producing T-cells

Engineered combinatorial libraries derived from small protein scaffolds represent a powerful tool for generating novel binders with high affinity, required specificity and designed inhibitory function. This work was aimed to generate a collection of recombinant binders of human interleukin‐23 receptor (IL‐23R), which is a key element of proinflammatory IL‐23‐mediated signaling. A library of variants derived from the three‐helix bundle scaffold of the albumin‐binding domain (ABD) of streptococcal protein G and ribosome display were used to select for high‐affinity binders of recombinant extracellular IL‐23R. A collection of 34 IL‐23R‐binding proteins (called REX binders), corresponding to 18 different sequence variants, was used to identify a group of ligands that inhibited binding of the recombinant p19 subunit of IL‐23, or the biologically active human IL‐23 cytokine, to the recombinant IL‐23R or soluble IL‐23R‐IgG chimera. The strongest competitors for IL‐23R binding in ELISA were confirmed to recognize human IL‐23R‐IgG in surface plasmon resonance experiments, estimating the binding affinity in the sub‐ to nanomolar range. We further demonstrated that several REX variants bind to human leukemic cell lines K‐562, THP‐1 and Jurkat, and this binding correlated with IL‐23R cell‐surface expression. The REX125, REX009 and REX128 variants competed with the p19 protein for binding to THP‐1 cells. Moreover, the presence of REX125, REX009 and REX115 variants significantly inhibited the IL‐23‐driven expansion of IL‐17‐producing primary human CD4+ T‐cells. Thus, we conclude that unique IL‐23R antagonists derived from the ABD scaffold were generated that might be useful in designing novel anti‐inflammatory biologicals. Proteins 2014; 82:975–989. © 2013 The Authors. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Interventions for treating traumatized necrotic immature permanent anterior teeth: inducing a calcific barrier & root strengthening.

BACKGROUND Apical barrier formation and root strengthening procedures have been extensively described in the literature. This systematic review attempts to establish where the effects of interventions using multi-visit apexification, single visit apical plug techniques and root strengthening procedures are consistent and where they may vary significantly. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the relative effectiveness of apexification and apical plug techniques as well as root strengthening procedures for treating traumatized necrotic immature permanent anterior teeth through a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Reported immediate and/or long-term adverse events and effects of the materials and techniques are also evaluated. SEARCH STRATEGY & SELECTION CRITERIA Structured electronic and hand search was performed with no restriction on the language of publication. Only randomized controlled trials comparing different apical barrier formation techniques and root strengthening procedures in traumatized necrotic immature anterior teeth were assessed. RESULTS Two hundred studies were identified but only two were suitable for inclusion. Included studies investigated multi-visit apexification techniques using calcium hydroxide and tricalcium phosphate. There were no eligible studies investigating root strengthening procedures or any other intervention for apical barrier formation in necrotic immature anterior teeth. No reliable information was available on long-term adverse effects of the reported interventions or cost implications. CONCLUSIONS Based on two included studies, there is weak evidence supporting the use of either calcium hydroxide or tricalcium phosphate for apical barrier formation in necrotic immature anterior teeth employing multi-visit apexification techniques. The evidence is insufficient to provide guidelines for practice. There was no reliable evidence on adverse events or long-term effects after the use of calcium hydroxide or tricalcium phosphate justifying caution in their use in apical barrier formation techniques.
Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Correlates of Idiom Understanding: How Many Hemispheres Are Involved?

As the philosopher John Searle claimed, idiomatic expressions are so pervasive in everyday language that speakers seem to follow an implicit rule: Speak idiomatically unless there is some special reason not to (Searle, 1979, p. 50). Figurative language is extremely pervasive in everyday language: according to an estimate proposed by Jackendoff (1995), there are as many fixed expressions as there are words in American English, more or less 80,000 (Jackendoff, 1995). Some years ago, Pollio, Barlow, Fine, and Pollio (1977) estimated that people use about 6 nonliteral fixed expressions per minute of discourse, specifically 1.8 new metaphors and 4.08 conventionalized metaphors (as John is an elephant or That lawyer is a shark). Assuming that people engage in conversation on average 2 hours a day, a person utters 4.7 million novel metaphors and 21.4 million frozen ones over a 60-year average lifespan. In this chapter, we review the literature concerning the neural architecture underlying idiom comprehension in language-unimpaired and language-impaired participants. Just some words on the limitation of this review chapter: we only consider studies on the neuropsychological and neurophysiological correlates of idiom comprehension and leave aside studies concerning other forms of figurative language (e.g., metaphor, proverbs; see Thoma & Daum, 2006). Since we are specifically interested in the brain areas recruited during idiom processing, we did not consider the (few) studies on idiom comprehension that employed event-related scalprecorded brain potentials (for an overview, see Vespignani, Canal, Molinaro, Fonda,
Antioxidant modulation of skin inflammation: preventing inflammatory progression by inhibiting neutrophil influx.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that antioxidants might affect local inflammation by impairing inflammatory cell influx. DESIGN A laboratory study using a Swiss-Webster mouse model of local inflammation. SETTING A university-affiliated hospital. METHODS Intradermal injection of 30 micrograms of S. minnesota endotoxin (LPS) to Swiss-Webster mice initiates a local inflammatory reaction characterized by an early rise in vascular permeability and a later infux of neutrophils. Animals were pretreated intraperitoneally with either pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC, 2 mmol/kg), which inhibits free radical generation, or dimethylthiourea (DMTU, 450 mg/kg), a free radical scavenger. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Histologic findings of tissue samples taken at sites of injection; local changes in tissue vascular permeability (PI) determined by iodine-125 albumin injection before sacrifice; neutrophil accumulation quantified by tissue myeloperoxidase levels; tissue levels of the endothelial adhesion molecules intercellular adhesion molecule-1 protein (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 protein (VCAM-1) assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot, respectively. RESULTS Neither antioxidant had a significant effect on the early increase in PI, but both decreased the late rise in PI and reduced neutrophil influx. Both ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 were upregulated in response to LPS; however, only the increase in VCAM-1 was attenuated by antioxidant pretreatment. CONCLUSION These data suggest that antioxidants disrupt the propagation phase of an inflammatory response possibly by altering neutrophil migration.
O ct 2 01 3 Phenomenology of single and double diffraction dissociation

Measurements at the lhc have shown that there are sizable disagreements among Monte Carlo (mc) implementations of “soft” processes based on cross sections proposed by various physics models, and that it is not possible to reliably predict all such processes, or even all aspects of a given process, using a single model [1, 2, 3]. In the cdf studies of diffraction at the Tevatron, all processes are well modeled by the mbr (Minimum Bias Rockefeller) mc simulation, which is a stand-alone simulation based on a unitarized Regge-theory model, renorm [4], employing inclusive nucleon parton distribution functions (pdf’s) and qcd color factors. The renorm model was updated in a presentation at eds-2009 [5] to include a unique unitarization prescription for predicting the total pp cross section at high energies, and that update has been included as an mbr option for simulating diffractive processes in pythia8 since version pythia8.165 [6], to be referred here-forth as pythia8-mbr. In this paper, we briefly review the cross sections [7] implemented in this option of pythia8 and compare the sd and dd predictions with lhc measurements.
Techniques for efficient MATLAB-to-C compilation

MATLAB to C translation is foreseen to raise the overall abstrac-tion level when mapping computations to embedded systems (pos-sibly consisting of software and hardware components), and thus for increasing productivity and for providing an automated model-driven design-flow. This paper describes recent work developed in the context of MATISSE, a MATLAB to C compiler targeting embedded systems. We introduce several techniques to allow the efficient generation of C code, such as weak types, primitives and matrix views. We evaluate the compiler with a set of 9 publicly available benchmarks, targeting both embedded systems and a desktop system. We compare the execution time of the generated C code with the original code running on MATLAB, achieving a geometric mean speedup of 8.1x, and qualitatively compare our results with the performance of related approaches. The use of the new techniques allowed the compiler to achieve performance im-provements of 46% on average.
Crystal structure of a heterotetrameric NMDA receptor ion channel

Intact NMDA receptor structure revealed For brains to develop and form memories, a signal must be transmitted from one neuron to the next. Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter that excites the receiving nerve cell by binding to an ion channel called an N-Methyl-d-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor. This activates the NMDA receptors, causing calcium ions to flood in, triggering signal transduction. Either under- or overactivation can result in a variety of neurological disorders and diseases. Karakas and Furukawa describe the crystal structure of an intact NMDA receptor composed of four separate subunits. Science, this issue p. 992 Specific interactions between key neuronal receptor subunits and domains are critical for functional regulation. N-Methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors belong to the family of ionotropic glutamate receptors, which mediate most excitatory synaptic transmission in mammalian brains. Calcium permeation triggered by activation of NMDA receptors is the pivotal event for initiation of neuronal plasticity. Here, we show the crystal structure of the intact heterotetrameric GluN1-GluN2B NMDA receptor ion channel at 4 angstroms. The NMDA receptors are arranged as a dimer of GluN1-GluN2B heterodimers with the twofold symmetry axis running through the entire molecule composed of an amino terminal domain (ATD), a ligand-binding domain (LBD), and a transmembrane domain (TMD). The ATD and LBD are much more highly packed in the NMDA receptors than non-NMDA receptors, which may explain why ATD regulates ion channel activity in NMDA receptors but not in non-NMDA receptors.
Variations in Conceptual Modeling: Classification and Ontological Analysis

Conceptual models are aimed at providing formal representations of a domain. They are mainly used for the purpose of understanding and communicating about requirements for information systems. Conceptual modeling has acquired a large body of research dealing with the semantics of modeling constructs, with the goal to make models better vehicles for understanding and communication. However, it is commonly known that different people construct different models of a given domain although all may be similarly adequate. The premise of this paper is that variations in models reflect vagueness in the criteria for deciding how to map reality into modeling constructs. Exploring model variations as such can contribute to research that deals with the semantics of modeling constructs. This paper reports an exploratory study in which empirically obtained model variations were qualitatively analyzed and classified into variation types. In light of the identified variation types, we analyzed two ontology-based modeling frameworks in order to evaluate their potential contribution to a reduction in variations. Our analysis suggests that such frameworks may contribute to more conclusive modeling decision making, thus reducing variations. However, since there is no complete consistency between the two frameworks, in order to reduce variations, a single framework should be systematically applied.
Rational Associahedra and Noncrossing Partitions

Each positive rational number x>0 can be written uniquely as x=a/(b-a) for coprime positive integers 0 0 a simplicial complex \Ass(x)=\Ass(a,b) called the {\sf rational associahedron}. It is a pure simplicial complex of dimension a-2, and its maximal faces are counted by the {\sf rational Catalan number} \Cat(x)=\Cat(a,b):=\frac{(a+b-1)! }{a! \,b! }. The cases (a,b)=(n,n+1) and (a,b)=(n,kn+1) recover the classical associahedron and its "Fuss-Catalan" generalization studied by Athanasiadis-Tzanaki and Fomin-Reading. We prove that \Ass(a,b) is shellable and give nice product formulas for its h-vector (the {\sf rational Narayana numbers}) and f-vector (the {\sf rational Kirkman numbers}). We define \Ass(a,b) via {\sf rational Dyck paths}: lattice paths from (0,0) to (b,a) staying above the line y = \frac{a}{b}x. We also use rational Dyck paths to define a rational generalization of noncrossing perfect matchings of [2n]. In the case (a,b) = (n, mn+1), our construction produces the noncrossing partitions of [(m+1)n] in which each block has size m+1.
Regret in cancer-related decisions.

Decision-related regret is a negative emotion associated with thinking about a past or future choice. The thinking component generally takes the form of a wish that things were otherwise and involves a comparison of what actually did or will take place with some better alternative--a "counterfactual thought. " For predecisional (anticipated) regret, the thinking involves a mental simulation of the outcomes that might result from different choice options. Prior research has focused on regret associated with decision outcomes, addressing especially (a) the comparison outcome selected and (b) whether the outcome resulted from action or inaction. More recent research examines regret associated with the choice itself and with the preceding decision process. Interest here has focused on the justifiability of the choice made or the process used. In this article, the authors review current regret research and propose directions for extending it to cancer-related decisions.
Neuroendocrine tumors and fibrosis: An unsolved mystery?

Neuroendocrine tumors are a heterogeneous group of slow‐growing neoplasms arising mainly from the enterochromaffin cells of the digestive and respiratory tract. Although they are relatively rare, their incidence is rising. It has long been observed that they often are associated with the development of fibrosis, both local and distant. Fibrotic complications, such as carcinoid heart disease and mesenteric desmoplasia, may lead to considerable morbidity or even affect prognosis. The elucidation of the pathophysiology of fibrosis would be of critical importance for the development of targeted therapeutic strategies. In this article, the authors review the available evidence regarding the biological basis of fibrosis in neuroendocrine tumors. They explore the role of the tumor microenvironment and the interplay between tumor cells and fibroblasts as a key factor in fibrogenesis and tumor development/progression. They also review the role of serotonin, growth factors, and other peptides in the development of carcinoid‐related fibrotic reactions. Cancer 2017;123:4770‐90. © 2017 American Cancer Society.