Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breast cancer surveillance practices among women previously treated with chest radiation for a childhood cancer.

CONTEXT Women treated with chest radiation for a pediatric malignancy have a significantly increased risk of breast cancer at a young age and are recommended to have an annual screening mammogram starting at age 25 years or 8 years after radiation, whichever occurs last. OBJECTIVE To characterize the breast cancer surveillance practices among female pediatric cancer survivors who were treated with chest radiation and identify correlates of screening. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Between June 2005 and August 2006, a 114-item questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 625 women aged 25 through 50 years who had survived pediatric cancer, who had been treated with chest radiation, and who were participating in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), a North American cohort of long-term survivors diagnosed from 1970-1986. Comparisons were made with similarly aged pediatric cancer survivors not treated with chest radiation (n = 639) and the CCSS siblings cohort (n = 712). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Screening mammogram within the previous 2 years. RESULTS Of 1976 cancer survivors and siblings who were contacted, 87.9% participated. Among the 551 women with a history of chest radiation, 55% reported a screening mammogram in the past 2 years (ages 25-39 years, 36.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 31.0%-42.0%; ages 40-50 years, 76.5%; 95% CI, 71.3%-81.7%). In comparison, 40.5% of survivors without chest radiation and 37.0% of CCSS siblings reported a screening mammogram in the same time interval. Notably, among women with a history of chest radiation, 47.3% (95% CI; 41.6%-53.0%) of those younger than 40 years had never had a mammogram and only 52.6% (95% CI; 46.4%-58.8%) of women aged 40 through 50 years were being regularly screened (2 mammograms within 4 years). Screening rates were higher among women who reported a physician recommendation than those who did not (ages 25-39 years, 76.0% vs 17.6%; ages 40-50 years, 87.3% vs 58.3%). In multivariate models, the association was particularly strong for younger women (ages 25-39 years, prevalence ratio [PR], 3.0; 95% CI, 2.0-4.0; ages 40-50 years, PR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.6). CONCLUSIONS In this cohort of women who had childhood cancer treated with chest radiation, 63.5% of those aged 25 through 39 years and 23.5% of those aged 40 through 50 years had not had mammography screening for breast cancer within the previous 2 years despite a guideline recommendation that survivors of childhood cancer who were treated with chest radiation should undergo annual screening mammography.
Automatic Speaker Recognition of Identical Twins

Automatic speaker recognition systems typically rely on parameters derived from resonance features of the vocal tract. Th is implies that the more similar the geometry of two vocal tracts is, the more similar will be the respective similarity coeffi cients, or likelihood ratios (LRs). Quite obviously this problem is particularly relevant to related speakers, most extremely for identical (monozygotic) twins. Th is paper is about an experiment with 9 male and 26 female pairs of identical twins who produced one read and one spontaneous speech sample. An automatic system for forensic speaker recognition (Batvox 3.1) was used to calculateinter-speaker (non-target), (2) intratwin pair, and (3) intra-speaker (target) LR distributions. Results show that in certain conditions an automatic Bayesian-based system is capable of distinguishing even the vast majority of very similar sounding voices such as those of identical twins. However, the performance of the system used here was superior for male as compared to female voices. Quite obviously the sex-related diff erence was enhanced by the genetic similarity factor.
Phase I trial of docetaxel with estramustine in androgen-independent prostate cancer.

PURPOSE To evaluate the toxicity, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of docetaxel when combined with oral estramustine and dexamethasone in a phase I study in patients with progressive metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-four men were stratified into minimally pretreated (MPT) and extensively pretreated (EPT) groups. Estramustine 280 mg PO tid was administered 1 hour before or 2 hours after meals on days 1 through 5, with escalated doses of docetaxel from 40 to 80 mg/m2 on day 2. Treatment was repeated every 21 days. RESULTS Thirty-four patients were assessable for toxicity and 33 for response. In the MPT patients, dose-limiting myelosuppression was reached at 80 mg/m2, with six patients experiencing grade 3/4 granulocytopenia. In EPT patients, escalation above 70 mg/m2 was not attempted. Fourteen MPT (70%) and six EPT (50%) patients had a > or = 50% decline in serum PSA on two consecutive measurements taken at least 2 weeks apart. The overall 50% PSA response rate was 63% (95% confidence interval [CI], 28% to 81%). Of the 18 patients with bidimensionally measurable disease, five (28%; 95% CI, 11% to 54%) achieved a partial response. At the time of entry onto the study, 15 patients required narcotic analgesics for bone pain; after treatment, eight (53%) discontinued their pain medications. The area under the curve for docetaxel increased linearly from 40 to 70 mg/m2. At 80 mg/m2, the measured area under the curve was 8.37 (standard deviation, 0.724), which was significantly higher than the previously reported values. CONCLUSION The recommended phase II dose of docetaxel combined with estramustine is 70 mg/m2 in MPT patients and 60 mg/m2 in EPT patients. This combination is active in men with androgen-independent prostate cancer.
Minimal Residual Disease Studies by Flow Cytometry in Acute Leukemia

Minimal residual disease (MRD) assays are increasingly important in the clinical management of patients with acute leukemia. Among the methods available for monitoring MRD, flow cytometry holds great promise for clinical application because of its simplicity and wide availability. Several studies have demonstrated strong correlations between MRD levels by flow cytometry during clinical remission and treatment outcome, lending support to the reliability of this approach. Flow-cytometric detection of MRD is based on the identification of immunophenotypic combinations expressed on leukemic cells but not on normal hematopoietic cells. Its sensitivity depends on the specificity of the immunophenotypes used to track leukemic cells and on the number of cells available for study. Immunophenotypes that allow detection of 1 leukemic cell in 10,000 normal cells can be identified in at least 90% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; immunophenotypes that allow detection of 1 leukemic cell in 1,000–10,000 normal cells can be identified in at least 85% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Identification of new markers of leukemia by gene array technology should lead to the design of simple and reliable antibody panels for universal monitoring of MRD. Here we review the relative advantages and disadvantages of flow cytometry for MRD studies, as well as results obtained in correlative studies with treatment outcome.
Incremental deployment strategies for router-assisted reliable multicast

Incremental deployment of a new network service or protocol is typically a hard problem, especially when it has to be deployed at the routers. First, an incrementally deployable version of the protocol may be needed. Second, a systematic study of the performance impact of incremental deployment is needed to evaluate potential deployment strategies. Choosing the wrong strategy can be disastrous, as it may inhibit reaping the benefits of an otherwise robust service and prevent widespread adoption. We focus on two router-assisted reliable multicast protocols, namely PGM and LMS. Our evaluation consists of three parts: 1)selection and classification of deployment strategies; 2) definition of performance metrics; and 3) systematic evaluation of deployment strategies. Our study yields several interesting results: 1)the performance of different deployment strategies varies widely, for example, with some strategies, both PGM and LMS approach full deployment performance with as little as 5% of the routers deployed; other strategies require up to 80% deployment to approach the same level; 2) our sensitivity analysis reveals relatively small variation in the results in most cases; and 3) the impact associated with partial deployment is different for each of these protocols; PGM tends to impact the network, whereas LMS the endpoints. Our study clearly demonstrates that the choice of a strategy has a substantial impact on performance
Measurements of HNO 3 and N 2 O 5 using Ion drift – Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry during the MCMA – 2006 Campaign

Measurements of HNO3 and N2O5 using Ion drift – Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry during the MCMA – 2006 Campaign J. Zheng, R. Zhang, E. C. Fortner, L. Molina, A. C. Aiken, J. L. Jimenez, K. Gäggeler, J. Dommen, S. Dusanter, P. S . Stevens, and X. Tie Dept. Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77843, TX, USA Molina Center for Energy and the Environment, La Jolla, CA, USA Dept. Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland Dept. Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA now at: Dept. Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA Received: 18 January 2008 – Accepted: 22 January 2008 – Published: 6 March 2008 Correspondence to: R. Zhang (zhang@ariel.met.tamu.edu) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.
Role of Humor in the Persuasiveness of Entertainment Narratives on Unprotected Sexual Behavior

Past research involving the persuasive impact of entertainment narratives on health attitudes and behavior has largely been limited to dramatic narratives. The current research focuses on humorous narratives related to unprotected sex. We conducted an experiment (N = 161) in which female viewers were exposed to a humorous story line about unprotected sex, an identical story line with humor edited out, or a story line unrelated to unprotected sex. Our findings suggested that humor increased perceived severity of unintended pregnancy, while having no effect on counterarguing. Also, the presence of humor reduced behavioral intentions to engage in unprotected sex. Implications of the findings for safe sex communication are discussed.
Career Choice Patterns

Data on 76,015 male and 51,110 female college freshmen at 248 colleges and universities were analyzed to determine how father's education and high school grades were related to career choice. It was found that students at each high school grade average level tend to have different career choices depending on their father's education. A separate study of career choices of women indicated that those who choose nontraditional careers (traditional careers are teacher, nurse, social worker, clerical worker, and laboratory technician) have highly educated fathers, even though the same careers (e.g., pharmnacist and engineer) draw men whose fathers have relatively little education.
The bHLH Transcription Factor, Hairy, Refines the Terminal Cell Fate in the Drosophila Embryonic Trachea

Background The pair-rule gene, hairy, encodes a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor and is required for patterning of the early Drosophila embryo and for morphogenesis of the embryonic salivary gland. Although hairy was shown to be expressed in the tracheal primordia and in surrounding mesoderm, whether hairy plays a role in tracheal development is not known. Principal Findings Here, we report that hairy is required for refining the terminal cell fate in the embryonic trachea and that hairy's tracheal function is distinct from its earlier role in embryonic patterning. In hairy mutant embryos where the repressive activity of hairy is lost due to lack of its co-repressor binding site, extra terminal cells are specified in the dorsal branches. We show that hairy functions in the muscle to refine the terminal cell fate to a single cell at the tip of the dorsal branch by limiting the expression domain of branchless (bnl), encoding the FGF ligand, in surrounding muscle cells. Abnormal activation of the Bnl signaling pathway in hairy mutant tracheal cells is exemplified by increased number of dorsal branch cells expressing Bnl receptor, Breathless (Btl) and Pointed, a downstream target of the Bnl/Btl signaling pathway. We also show that hairy genetically interacts with bnl in TC fate restriction and that overexpression of bnl in a subset of the muscle surrounding tracheal cells phenocopied the hairy mutant phenotype. Conclusions/Significance Our studies demonstrate a novel role for Hairy in restriction of the terminal cell fate by limiting the domain of bnl expression in surrounding muscle cells such that only a single dorsal branch cell becomes specified as a terminal cell. These studies provide the first evidence for Hairy in regulation of the FGF signaling pathway during branching morphogenesis.
Knowledge and Beliefs About Abnormal Pap Test Results and HPV Among Women with High-Risk HPV: Results from In-Depth Interviews

ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore women's knowledge and understanding of abnormal Pap tests and HPV. Forty-four in-depth interviews were conducted with low-income, high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) positive women (ages 18–64 years). Major themes regarding abnormal Pap test results were: (a) getting cancer; (b) need for repeat Pap testing; (c) need for additional tests/treatment; (d) low concern; (e) variety of causes; (f) sexual transmission; and (g) connection to HPV/other sexually transmitted disease (STD). Major themes related to HPV were: (a) getting follow-up care and (b) association of HPV with cancer. Findings indicate a need for clear, consistent educational messages.
Salvage of the Septic Ankle with Concomitant Tibial Osteomyelitis

Five patients with concomitant distal tibia osteomyelitis and ankle sepsis with an open, draining wound were treated. All of the patients were men with an average age of 54.8 years. All of the bone infections were polymicrobial and had open draining wounds. A standardized protocol of radical soft tissue and bone debridement, soft tissue transfer, intravenous antibiotics, and delayed ankle fusion was employed. All five fusions were successful on first attempt, with an average time to fusion of 3.5 months. All patients were free of infection at an average follow-up of 27 months. We believe our aggressive treatment protocol can salvage these extremities and preclude amputation in properly selected cases.
Thermal equation of state of CaGeO3 perovskite

Abstract Pressure-volume-temperature data have been obtained for CaGeO3 perovskite up to 9.6 GPa and 1100 K using a cubic anvil, DIA-type high-pressure apparatus in conjunction with synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The data were analyzed using Birch-Murnaghan equation of state and thermal pressure approach with the bulk modulus at ambient pressure, KT0, and its pressure derivative, K′T0, constrained by previous measurements. A fit of the unit-cell volume data to the high-temperature Birch-Murnaghan (HTBM) equation of state gives (∂KT/∂T)P = -0.025 ± 0.015 GPa/K, a = 1.047 ± 0.356 × 10-5/K, and b = 3.282 ± 0.735 × 10-8/K2 for the thermal expansion α expressed by a + bT. The thermal pressure approach yields αKT = 4.04 ± 0.37 × 10-3 GPa/K and (∂2P/∂T2)V = 6.17 ± 1.28 × 10-6 GPa/K2. The energy dispersive X-ray diffraction data reveal no indication of a structural phase transition over the P-T range of the current experiment. A systematic relationship, KS0 = 6720/V(molar) - 13.07 GPa, has been established based on these isostructural analogues, which predicts KS0 = 261(15) for MgSiO3 perovskite and 225(8) for CaSiO3 perovskite, respectively.
Slum inhabitants’ perceptions and decision-making processes related to an innovative sanitation service: evaluating the Blue Diversion Toilet in Kampala (Uganda)

The inadequate provision of sanitation in informal urban settlements, also known as slums, continues to be an important issue. New technologies and services are being designed to solve this problem. However, the history of failed sanitation programmes and projects highlights a lack of understanding of how slum inhabitants decide on investing in such products and services. In this paper, we gather perspectives from potential clients and investigate how slum inhabitants (1) perceive the current situation and whether they desire improvements of sanitation, (2) how they evaluate a new toilet that is still in development, and how (3) social processes and (4) constraints affect decisions. Data were collected through interviewing 1538 people within a general household survey. People using shared and public latrines desire an improvement of their sanitation facilities. The lack of water for washing is perceived by residents as a the biggest problem when accessing current latrines. The new toilet was mostly evaluated positively: people like it, expect large health benefits from it and it complies with cultural norms. However, people also expect some problems with the functioning of the toilet and expect opposition to pay for the service, due to the high costs and a lack of space to set up new toilets.
Theta–gamma coupling increases during the learning of item–context associations

Phase-amplitude cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between theta (4–12 Hz) and gamma (30–100 Hz) oscillations occurs frequently in the hippocampus. However, it still remains unclear whether theta–gamma coupling has any functional significance. To address this issue, we studied CFC in local field potential oscillations recorded from the CA3 region of the dorsal hippocampus of rats as they learned to associate items with their spatial context. During the course of learning, the amplitude of the low gamma subband (30–60 Hz) became more strongly modulated by theta phase in CA3, and higher levels of theta–gamma modulation were maintained throughout overtraining sessions. Furthermore, the strength of theta–gamma coupling was directly correlated with the increase in performance accuracy during learning sessions. These findings suggest a role for hippocampal theta–gamma coupling in memory recall.
Intercultural reflection through the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters: students’ accounts of their images of alterity

ABSTRACTThe Council of Europe's Autobiography of Intercultural Encounter (AIE) is a tool to develop intercultural competence (IC) in education by encouraging users to reflect upon and learn from momentous intercultural encounters they have experienced face to face. Its parallel resource, the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media (AIEVM), helps users explore the intercultural experiences they have encountered through images portrayed in television, films or the Internet. Both of them favour the analysis of the image of the other as either somebody the user has personally met or somebody featured in photographs, portraits or paintings. This paper looks into the intercultural reflection the AIE fosters through a case study of three autobiographies. The stories show the complexities behind the image of the other(s) and how they are seen by the users of the AIE. The findings indicate that the users have developed intercultural attitudes, skills and knowledge, and take action as an impo.
School-based mentors' affective commitment to the mentor role: Role clarity, self-efficacy, mentor education and mentor experience as antecedents

Mentors’ commitment to the mentor role is assumed to affect the quality of mentoring. Although studies have examined affective commitment as a potential source of favourable outcomes in work life, not much has been written about mentors’ commitment to their role as mentors. Based on social exchange theory, this article provides additional insight by exploring the statistical associations between school-based mentors’ affective commitment as the dependent variable and role clarity, selfefficacy, mentor education and mentor experience as antecedents. Results indicate that role clarity and self-efficacy present the strongest associations. Mentor education is also highlighted as an interesting antecedent to affective commitment.
Bosentan added to sildenafil therapy in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension

The safety and efficacy of adding bosentan to sildenafil in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients was investigated. In this prospective, double-blind, event-driven trial, symptomatic PAH patients receiving stable sildenafil (≥20 mg three times daily) for ≥3 months were randomised (1:1) to placebo or bosentan (125 mg twice daily). The composite primary end-point was the time to the first morbidity/mortality event, defined as all-cause death, hospitalisation for PAH worsening or intravenous prostanoid initiation, atrial septostomy, lung transplant, or PAH worsening. Secondary/exploratory end-points included change in 6-min walk distance and World Health Organization functional class at 16 weeks, change in N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) over time, and all-cause death. Overall, 334 PAH patients were randomised to placebo (n=175) or bosentan (n=159). A primary end-point event occurred in 51.4% of patients randomised to placebo and 42.8% to bosentan (hazard ratio 0.83, 97.31% CI 0.58–1.19; p=0.2508). The mean between-treatment difference in 6-min walk distance at 16 weeks was +21.8 m (95% CI +5.9–37.8 m; p=0.0106). Except for NT-proBNP, no difference was observed for any other end-point. The safety profile of bosentan added to sildenafil was consistent with the known bosentan safety profile. In COMPASS-2, adding bosentan to stable sildenafil therapy was not superior to sildenafil monotherapy in delaying the time to the first morbidity/mortality event. COMPASS-2: adding bosentan was not superior to sildenafil alone in delaying time to first morbidity/mortality event http://ow.ly/NiM65
Understanding recovery: the perspective of substance misusing offenders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically regard the concept of recovery from the perspective of substance misusing offenders. It intended to understand how these individuals came to define recovery by asking “what does recovery mean to you? ” Design/methodology/approach – In total, 35 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with individuals with a history of heroin and crack cocaine use as well as convictions for a range of offences. Interviews took place in both prison and community settings, reflecting a spectrum of experience. Findings – Whilst the constellation of recovery varied, it was at times made up of the same “stars” – and some re-occurring themes emerged; recovery was transient, fragile and unpredictable, it was ongoing, lacking a definitive end, it was more than abstinence and often involved a total psychological overhaul, recovery was about reintegrating with society and feeling “normal”. Practical implications – Practitioners and services need to value the individual interpret.