Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Harvesting and enrichment of hematopoietic progenitor cells mobilized into the peripheral blood of normal donors by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or G-CSF: potential role in allogeneic marrow transplantation.

To explore the use of stem/progenitor cells from peripheral blood (PB) for allogeneic transplantation, we have studied the mobilization of progenitor cells in normal donors by growth factors. Normal subjects were administered either granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) at 10 micrograms/kg/d, or G-CSF at 10 micrograms/kg/d, or a combination of G- and GM-CSF at 5 micrograms/kg/d each, administered subcutaneously for 4 days, followed by leukapheresis on day 5. Mononuclear cells expressing CD34 (CD34+ cells) were selectively enriched by affinity labeling using Dynal paramagnetic microspheres (Baxter Isolex; Baxter Healthcare Corp, Santa Ana, CA). The baseline CD34+ cells in peripheral blood before mobilization was 0.07% +/- 0.05% (1.6 +/- 0.7/microL; n = 18). On the fifth day after stimulation (24 hours after the fourth dose), the CD34+ cells were 0.99% +/- 0.40% (61 +/- 14/microL) for the 8 subjects treated with G-CSF, 0.25% +/- 0.25% (3 +/- 3/microL, both P < .01 v G-CSF) for the 5 subjects administered GM-CSF, and for the 5 subjects treated with G- and GM-CSF, 0.65% +/- 0.28% (41 +/- 18/microL, P < .5 v GM-CSF). Parallel to this increase in CD34+ cells, clonogenic assays showed a corresponding increase in CFU-GM and BFU-E. The total number of CD34+ cells collected from the G-CSF group during a 3-hour apheresis was 119 +/- 65 x 10(6) and was not significantly different from that collected from the group treated with G- and GM-CSF (101 +/- 35 x 10(6) cells), but both were greater than that from the group treated with GM-CSF (12.6 +/- 6.1 x 10(6); P < . 01 for both comparisons). Analysis of the CD34+ subsets showed that a significantly higher percentage of cells with the CD34+/CD38- phenotype is found after mobilization with G- and GM-CSF. In the G-CSF group, immunomagnetic selection of CD34+ cells permitted the enrichment of the CD34+ cells in the apheresis product to 81% +/- 11%, with a 48% +/- 12% yield and to a purity of 77% +/- 21% with a 51% +/- 15% recovery in the G- and GM-CSF group. T cells were depleted from a mean of 4.5 +/- 2.0 x 10(9) to 4.3 +/- 5.2 x 10(6) after selection, representing 99.9% depletion. We conclude that it is feasible to collect sufficient numbers of PB progenitor cells from normal donors with one to two leukapheresis procedures for allogeneic transplantation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dietary Fiber-mediated Mechanisms in Carcinogenesis1

Dietary fiber may affect the development of cancers of the gastroin testinal tract and the breast. The biological intermediates studied most have been fecal bile acids; both human and animal studies suggest a tumor-promoting role of bile acids in the development of colon tumors, although there are conflicting data from human studies. Short-chain fatty acids are major fermentation products of bacterial degradation of dietary fiber. If short-chain fatty acids explained the tumor-inhibiting properties of dietary fiber, the readily fermentable fibers such as guar and pectin would be more protective than cellulose and wheat bran, which has not been observed. Because these two hypotheses do not adequately explain modulation of tumor growth by dietary fiber, investigation of other intermediates is indicated. These include physical characteristics of the feces, such as abrasiveness; intestinal microflora; aqueous-phase bile acids, which may represent the bioavailable pool; alterations in mucins; mutagenicity of intestinal contents; alterations in mucosa! cytokinetics; activities of enzymes, such as ornithine decarboxylase or aryl hydrocar bon hydroxylase; neurogenic effects caused by changes in intestinal bulk or short-chain fatty acids; gut hormones or other peptide growth factors (local or systemic); enterohepatic circulation of hormones; transit time; pH; or decreased availability of total dietary energy.
Theory and practice of acoustic confusability

In this paper we define two alternatives to the familiar perplexity statistic (hereafter lexical perplexity), which is widely applied both as a figure of merit and as an objective function for training language models. These alternatives, respectively acoustic perplexity and the synthetic acoustic word error rate, fuse information from both the language model and the acoustic model. We show how to compute these statistics by effectively synthesizing a large acoustic corpus, demonstrate their superiority (on a modest collection of models and test sets) to lexical perplexity as predictors of language model performance, and investigate their use as objective functions for training language models. We develop an efficient algorithm for training such models, and present results from a simple speech recognition experiment, in which we achieved a small reduction in word error rate by interpolating a language model trained by synthetic acoustic word error rate with a unigram model.
Drug-Coated Balloons for Treatment of Carotid In-Stent Restenosis: Did We Find the Ace of Hearts?

Carotid in-stent restenosis (ISR) is a late complication of carotid artery stenting (CAS) that has a wide ranging prevalence (0–50%) mainly due to the different Doppler ultrasound criteria used for diagnosis and to the length of follow-up. Focusing on significant ISR [defined as a peak systolic velocity (PSV) . 300 cm/s] the incidence becomes 3% to 8%. There is general consensus that significant ISR should be treated due to a small risk of cerebral complications and/or progression to carotid occlusion. The endovascular technique is the most frequently used approach in these cases, including redilation with a conventional or cutting balloon and restenting. Regardless of the device used, restenosis tends to recur in up to 50% of cases, carrying a small risk of cerebral embolization. Treatment of ISR with drug-eluting stents has been recently proposed but with disappointing results due to stent distortion or compression. In recent years, drug-coated balloons (DCBs) have been found to be safe and effective devices to treat coronary ISR. The use of these devices has also expanded the treatment of peripheral artery disease with encouraging results; 2 articles were published in 2012 reporting initial favorable results with DCBs for the treatment of carotid in-stent restenosis. In this issue of the JEVT, Gandini et al. reported their personal experience with the use of DCBs in the treatment of significant carotid ISR. Among 41/865 (4.8%) consecutive patients with ISR, 9 showed symptomatic, recalcitrant restenosis despite an average of 3.460. 9 endovascular interventions. These patients were treated with a second-generation DCB (Dior II; EuroCOR, Bonn, Germany). Clinical success was reached in all patients but one who experienced a transient ischemic attack. The result over time (mean follow-up 36.662.7 months) was available in 8 of 9 patients (1 patient died from trauma 3 months after a favorable initial result) and is well depicted in the article’s Figure 2. At first glance, the typical dichotomic response to any endovascular intervention (responders vs. non-responders) can be seen: 3 of 8 patients developed new significant ISR (37% target vessel revascularization), whereas 5 patients did well during follow-up. The authors’ conclusion was in favor of DCBs as a moderately effective device in the setting of recurrent carotid ISR. An analysis of the study results that takes into consideration the individual PSV time courses rather than the dichotomic endpoint deserves additional comment. There is no doubt about the 3 patients who developed a new ISR (non-responders). However, the time interval between DCB and re-ISR (12, 18, and 24 months based on the first detection of a PSV .300 cm/s as shown in the figure) was
Polite computing

This paper presents politeness as a key social requirement for computer human interaction (CHI). Politeness is defined, in information terms, as offering the locus of control of a social interaction to another party. Software that creates pop-up windows is not illegal, but is impolite, as it preempts user choice. It is proposed that impolite software drives users away, while polite software attracts them. Specifying politeness suggests four requirements: (1) Respect user choice (2) Disclose yourself (3) Offer useful choices (4) Remember past choices. Software that ignores these rules may fail not by logic error but by social error. “Mr. Clippy” is an example of software that users often disable because it is impolite. Operating systems could support application politeness by providing an application source registry and a general meta-choice console. A future is envisaged where software politeness is a critical software success requirement.
Job Insecurity and Future Labour Market Outcomes

This paper uses longitudinal survey data to test the degree to which measures of job insecurity are correlated with changes in labour market status. Three major findings are reported. First, the perceived probability of job loss is only weakly related to both exogenous job separations and subsequent transitions to unemployment and inactivity. Second, while fears of job loss tend to persist across time and job spells, they do so at a highly diminishing rate, suggesting that the impacts on other outcomes (such as psychological well-being) may be quite limited. Third, quit intentions are strongly correlated with both voluntary separations and transitions to alternative employment. The desire to quit, however, does not appear to diminish greatly across successive employment spells.
Turbulent regimes in the tokamak scrape-off layer

The non-linear turbulent regimes in the tokamak scrape-off layer (SOL) are identified according to the linear instability responsible for the perpendicular transport. Four regions of the SOL operational parameters are determined where turbulence is driven by the inertial or resistive branches of the ballooning mode or of drift waves. The analysis, based on the linear electrostatic drift-reduced Braginskii equations, evaluates the pressure scale length self-consistently from the balance between plasma losses at the vessel and perpendicular turbulent transport. The latter is estimated by assuming that turbulence saturation occurs due to a local flattening of the plasma gradients and associated removal of the linear instability drive; it is also shown that transport is led by the mode that maximizes the ratio of the linear growth to the poloidal wavenumber. The methodology used to identify the turbulent regimes is confirmed by the results of non-linear simulations of SOL turbulence. The identification of the turbulent regimes, the predicted pressure scale length, and the poloidal wavenumber of the leading mode are in reasonable agreement with non-linear simulation results.
Characterization of 17-dihydroexemestane glucuronidation: potential role of the UGT2B17 deletion in exemestane pharmacogenetics

Objective Exemestane is a third-generation aromatase inhibitor used in the treatment of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Reduction to form 17-dihydroexemestane and subsequent glucuronidation to exemestane-17-O-glucuronide is a major pathway for exemestane metabolism. The goal of this study was to analyze 17-dihydroexemestane anti-aromatase activity, characterize the 17-dihydroexemestane glucuronidation pathway, and determine whether the functional polymorphisms in active UGTs could play a role in altered 17-dihydroexemestane glucuronidation. Methods Homogenates from a HEK293 aromatase-overexpressing cell line (HEK293-aro) were used to examine exemestane versus 17-dihydroexemestane anti-aromatase activities. UGT-overexpressing cell lines and a panel (n=110) of human liver microsome (HLM) were screened for glucuronidation activity against 17-dihydroexemestane. UGT2B17 genotyping and liver mRNA expression were performed by real-time PCR. Results The inhibition of estrone formation from androst-4-ene-3,17-dione in HEK293-aro cell homogenates was similar for 17-dihydroexemestane (IC50=2.3±0.83 μmol/l) and exemestane (IC50=1.4±0.42 μmol/l). UGTs 2B17 and 1A4 were high-expression hepatic UGTs that exhibited activity against 17-dihydroexemestane, with UGT2B17 exhibiting a 17-fold higher Vmax/KM than UGT1A4. The rate of exemestane-17-O-glucuronide formation was shown to be significantly (P<0.001) decreased (14-fold) in HLMs exhibiting the UGT2B17(*2/*2) deletion genotype versus wild-type UGT2B17(*1/*1) HLMs; a 36-fold lower Vmax/KM (P=0.023) was observed in UGT2B17(*2/*2) versus UGT2B17(*1/*1) HLMs. A significant (P<0.0001, R2=0.72) correlation was observed between HLM exemestane-17-O-glucuronide formation and liver UGT2B17 expression. Conclusion These data suggest that 17-dihydroexemestane is an active metabolite of exemestane and that the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism could play an important role in determining levels of excretion of 17-dihydroexemestane and overall exemestane metabolism.
Outcome-Based Quality Control by a Dental Reference Profile of a Population-Based Study (SHIP-0)

Objectives. The aim was to develop an instrument for quality control in dental practices. We compared the number of teeth of subjects of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-0) with those from patients of dental practices. Methods. Patients from seven dental practices (n = 1,497) were randomly sampled by age strata and gender for a period of two years. Dental status derived from patient files was transformed into practice profiles using age-specific number of teeth as a parameter. Practice profiles were compared with a nomogram, which was based on the age-specific number of teeth of 3,990 SHIP-0 participants regularly visiting the dentist. Further, negative binomial regression models were evaluated to model associations between the number of teeth with age and dental practices, including interactions. Results. The practice profiles ranged between the 45th and 95th quantile curves of the reference population SHIP-0. The rate ratios (RR) for the number of missing teeth ranged from 0.37 to 0.67 (p < 0.001) between the different dental practices, indicating lower risk for higher numbers of missing teeth in comparison to SHIP-0. Conclusions. This study showed considerable differences between dental practices and the reference population of SHIP-0 regarding the pattern of tooth loss and confirms the value of nomograms to compare age-specific numbers of teeth between patients of dental practices and a population-based-study as a tool for quality control. For further analyses, the socioeconomic status of patients and relevant risk factors will be used to adjust for structural differences in order to improve the validity of the comparisons.
Magnitude of trachoma and barriers to uptake of lid surgery in a rural community of northern Nigeria

AIMS. A population-based cross-sectional survey for trachoma prevalence was conducted in a subdistrict of northern Nigeria. The objectives of the survey were to determine the magnitude and pattern of trachoma and the barriers to uptake of lid surgery in the area. METHODS. A total of 2903 people of all ages were examined out of 3715 registered eligible persons. The study population was chosen by a two-stage cluster random sampling technique. Each person was examined for signs of trachoma. The World Health Organization (WHO) simplified trachoma grading was used. Persons with trichiasis that had not attended hospital were asked why they had not sought hospital treatment. RESULTS. A blindness prevalence of 1.5% (95% CI 0.4%–2.7%) was found in the study population. About 20% of the blindness were due to trachoma. The prevalence of trichiasis among women 15 years and above was found to be 8.6% (95% CI 6.8%10.7%). The prevalence of active trachoma among children was 11.8% (95% CI 10.1%13.3%). Over 90% of people with trichiasis have not sought medical attention. The major identified factor that prevents people from accessing hospital treatment for trichiasis was cost (57%). CONCLUSION. This study suggests that trachoma is of public health significance in this area; as such, an effective trachoma control program with emphasis on lid surgery should be established.
Early and Prolonged Antiretroviral Therapy Is Associated with an HIV-1-Specific T-Cell Profile Comparable to That of Long-Term Non-Progressors

Background Intervention with antiretroviral treatment (ART) and control of viral replication at the time of HIV-1 seroconversion may curtail cumulative immunological damage. We have therefore hypothesized that ART maintenance over a very prolonged period in HIV-1 seroconverters could induce an immuno-virological status similar to that of HIV-1 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs). Methodology/Principal Findings We have investigated a cohort of 20 HIV-1 seroconverters on long-term ART (LTTS) and compared it to one of 15 LTNPs. Residual viral replication and reservoirs in peripheral blood, as measured by cell-associated HIV-1 RNA and DNA, respectively, were demonstrated to be similarly low in both cohorts. These two virologically matched cohorts were then comprehensively analysed by polychromatic flow cytometry for HIV-1-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell functional profile in terms of cytokine production and cytotoxic capacity using IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α production and perforin expression, respectively. Comparable levels of highly polyfunctional HIV-1-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells were found in LTTS and LTNPs, with low perforin expression on HIV-1-specific CD8+ T-cells, consistent with a polyfunctional/non-cytotoxic profile in a context of low viral burden. Conclusions Our results indicate that prolonged ART initiated at the time of HIV-1 seroconversion is associated with immuno-virological features which resemble those of LTNPs, strengthening the recent emphasis on the positive impact of early treatment initiation and paving the way for further interventions to promote virological control after treatment interruption.
Toxicity and bioaccumulation of biosolids‐borne triclosan in terrestrial organisms

Triclosan (TCS) is a common constituent of personal care products and is frequently present in biosolids. Application of biosolids to land transfers significant amounts of TCS to soils. Because TCS is an antimicrobial and is toxic to some aquatic organisms, concern has arisen that TCS may adversely affect soil organisms. The objective of the present study was to investigate the toxicity and bioaccumulation potential of biosolids‐borne TCS in terrestrial micro‐ and macro‐organisms (earthworms). Studies were conducted in two biosolids‐amended soils (sand, silty clay loam), following U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) guidelines. At the concentrations tested herein, microbial toxicity tests suggested no adverse effects of TCS on microbial respiration, ammonification, and nitrification. The no observed effect concentration for TCS for microbial processes was 10 mg/kg soil. Earthworm subchronic toxicity tests showed that biosolids‐borne TCS was not toxic to earthworms at the concentrations tested herein. The estimated TCS earthworm lethal concentration (LC50) was greater than 1 mg/kg soil. Greater TCS accumulation was observed in earthworms incubated in a silty clay loam soil (bioaccumulation factor [BAF] = 12 ± 3.1) than in a sand (BAF = 6.5 ± 0.84). Field‐collected earthworms had a significantly smaller BAF value (4.3 ± 0.7) than our laboratory values (6.5–12.0). The BAF values varied significantly with exposure conditions (e.g., soil characteristics, laboratory vs field conditions); however, a value of 10 represents a reasonable first approximation for risk assessment purposes. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:646–653. © 2011 SETAC
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 1-1-2010 Exploring the Impact of Fit between Context Factors and Pricing Model Choice on the Success of IT Outsourcing MegaDeals

The interplay between internal and external contextual factors and pricing model choice in IT outsourcing (ITO) contracts is still an under-researched area in the ITO literature. However, as past and current examples of outsourcing failures indicate, an informed selection of an adequate pricing model indeed plays a crucial, if not decisive role to ensure a successful deal outcome and to mitigate risks in the wake of the deal. Based on contingency theory, the paper at hand explores 60 ITO megadeals (> EUR 50 million) for the impact of the alignment of business objectives and market factors with pricing model choice on ITO deal performance. Our empirical results, which were based on a fitas-gestalts conceptualization, suggest that a high congruence of business objectives and market characteristics with pricing model attributes in ITO contracts engender better cost control and service results and a higher level of satisfaction after ITO deals than a low congruence of these factors. Our findings offer several interesting implications that can be used to improve pricing configurations in ITO deal contracts.
Consequences of selection for lean growth and prolificacy on piglet survival and sow attribute traits

Pig breeding programs focus on growth and carcase composition traits in the growing pig as well as higher reproductive performance of sows leading to considerable genetic gain in these traits. These changes in genetic potential have consequences for piglet survival and husbandry requirements of sows. For example, comparison of body composition and physiological state of piglets from boars born in 1977 versus 1998 showed that selection had resulted in lower maturity of piglets at birth Canario et al., 2007). Further, Ball et al. (2008) reviewed nutrient requirements of sows concluding that recommendations have not kept pace with the increases in animal performance.
Rabies virus glycoprotein variants display different patterns in rabies monosynaptic tracing

Rabies virus (RV) has been widely used to trace multi-synaptic neuronal circuits. The recent development of glycoprotein-deficient rabies virus (RV-ΔG) expressing various proteins has enabled analyzes of both the structure and function of neuronal circuits. The main advantage of RV-ΔG is its ability to trace monosynaptic circuits by the complementation of rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG), but it has the disadvantage of cytotoxicity. Several strain variants of RV have different biological characteristics, such as synaptic spreading and cytotoxicity, mainly due to amino acid mutations in RVG. We developed an improved protocol for the production of a highly attenuated strain of RV-ΔG and assessed whether RVG variants affect rabies monosynaptic tracing and the health of infected neurons. We demonstrated that (1) rabies monosynaptic tracing with RVG variants traced different subsets of presynaptic partners, (2) RVG of the attenuated strain also labeled astrocytes, and (3) the cytotoxicity of RV-ΔG did not depend on RVG but on RV-ΔG. These findings indicate that RVG variants are an important determinant of rabies monosynaptic tracing.