Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeted therapies for gastric cancer: failures and hopes from clinical trials

Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. As surgery is the only curative treatment strategy and conventional chemotherapy has shown limited efficacy -with a median overall survival of 10 months- new treatments are urgently needed. Trastuzumab and Ramucirumab (targeting HER2 and VEGFR2, respectively) are the only targeted therapies approved so far. Indeed, most Phase III clinical trials evaluating molecular drugs in gastric cancer failed. This review will retrace the relevant clinical trials with molecular therapies performed in gastric cancer patients, discussing the possible reasons for their failure and indicating new perspective for a real improvement of the treatment of this disease.
Characterization of projected DWPF glasses heat treated to simulate canister centerline cooling

Liquid high-level nuclear waste will be immobilized at the Savannah River Site (SRS) by vitrification in borosilicate glass. The glass will be produced and poured into stainless steel canisters in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Eventually these canistered waste forms will be sent to a geologic repository for final disposal. In order to assure acceptability by the repository, the Department of Energy has defined requirements which DWPF canistered waste forms must meet. These requirements are the Waste Acceptance Preliminary Specifications (WAPS). The WAPS require DWPF to identify the crystalline phases expected to be present in the final glass product. Knowledge of the thermal history of the borosilicate glass during filling and cooldown of the canister is necessary to determine the amount and type of crystalline phases present in the final glass product. Glass samples of seven projected DWPF compositions were cooled following the same temperature profile as that of glass at the centerline of the full-scale DWPF canister. The glasses were characterized by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy to identify the crystalline phases present The volume percents of each crystalline phase present were determined by quantitative x-ray diffraction. The Product Consistency Test (PCI) was used to determine the more » durability of the heat-treated glasses. « less
To which extend is the "neural code" a metric ?

Here is proposed a review of the different choices to structure spike trains, using deterministic metrics. Temporal constraints observed in biological or computational spike trains are first taken into account. The relation with existing neural codes (rate coding, rank coding, phase coding, .) is then discussed. To which extend the "neural code" contained in spike trains is related to a metric appears to be a key point, a generalization of the Victor-Purpura metric family being proposed for temporal constrained causal spike trains
Increased arterial wave reflections predict severe cardiovascular events in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions.

AIMS Increased arterial wave reflections are associated with the presence and extent of coronary atherosclerosis and with cardiovascular mortality in selected populations. We prospectively evaluated their prognostic value in the short- and long-term following percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). METHODS AND RESULTS We non-invasively quantified wave reflections [expressed as augmentation index corrected for heart rate of 75 b.p.m. (AIx@75)] using applanation tonometry of the radial artery and a validated transfer function to obtain the corresponding aortic values in 262 patients undergoing PCI. During 2-year follow-up, 61 patients reached the primary endpoint [death, myocardial infarction (MI), and restenosis]. Increasing tertiles of Alx@75 were related to the rate of patients reaching the primary endpoint [15.2, 20 and 35.3%, respectively (P = 0.001)], as well as the secondary endpoints total mortality, myocardial infarction and death plus myocardial infarction (RR for the third vs. the first tertile 4.33, 3.25 and 3.46, respectively, P < 0.05). In a multivariable Cox-regression model, AIx@75 added prognostic value above and beyond clinical risk factors, angiographic variables, and medications (RR 1.8, 95%CI 1.18-2.76 per increasing AIx@75-tertile, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION Increased arterial wave reflections are independently associated with an increased risk for severe short- and long-term cardiovascular events in patients undergoing PCI.
Incidence of Heterotopic Ossification in Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy following Total Hip Arthroplasty

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a frequent complication of hip surgery. In this study the incidence of HO is analyzed in high risk patients who received radiation therapy (RT) after total hip replacement (THA) with regular and miniposterolateral hip approach. Two hundred and thirty five high risk patients received a single dose of 700 rad after THA. The incidence of HO was 15.7%. The incidence of HO in the high risk subgroup with the miniincision was lower (5.7%) but not significantly different (). Hypertrophic osteoarthritis was demonstrated to be the consistent predisposing factor for HO formation ().
Two Applications of Statistical Modetling to Natural Language Processing

Each week the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Centpr collects several megabytes of English text transcribed ftom radiologiss' dication and notes of their interpretations of medical diagnostic x-rays. It is desired to automate the extraction of diagnoses from these natural language reports. This paper reports on two aspects of this project requiring advanced statistical methods. First, the identification of pairs of words and phrases that tend to appear ogether (collocate) uses a hierarchical Bayesian model that adjuss to different word and word pair distributions in different bodies of texl Second, we present an analysis of data from experiments to compare the performance of the computer diagnostic progam to that of a panel of physician and lay readers of randomly sampled texts. A measure of inter-subject distance with respect o the diagnoses is defined for which estimaM variances and covariances are easily computed. This allows statistical conclusions about the similarities and dissimilarities among diagnoses @ the various programs and experts.
Energy Efficiency of Uplink Massive MIMO Systems With Successive Interference Cancellation

The energy efficiency (EE) of an uplink massive multiple-input multiple-output system depends strongly on the number of antennas at base stations (BSs) and the receiver architecture. The existing research has focused on linear receivers, such as those based on zero forcing (ZF) or linear minimum mean squared error detectors. In this letter, we investigate the EE when nonlinear successive-interference cancellation (SIC) receivers are employed at the BSs and provide an asymptotic analysis of the total transmit power with ZF-SIC. We show that to achieve the same spectrum efficiency, the SIC receivers require fewer antennas at BSs, but only moderate increase of the receiver complexity. As a result, the EE with the SIC receivers can be significantly higher than that with linear receivers, as demonstrated by the numerical results.
Koopmans' Analysis of Chemical Hardness with Spectral-Like Resolution

Three approximation levels of Koopmans' theorem are explored and applied: the first referring to the inner quantum behavior of the orbitalic energies that depart from the genuine ones in Fock space when the wave-functions' Hilbert-Banach basis set is specified to solve the many-electronic spectra of spin-orbitals' eigenstates; it is the most subtle issue regarding Koopmans' theorem as it brings many critics and refutation in the last decades, yet it is shown here as an irrefutable “observational” effect through computation, specific to any in silico spectra of an eigenproblem; the second level assumes the “frozen spin-orbitals” approximation during the extracting or adding of electrons to the frontier of the chemical system through the ionization and affinity processes, respectively; this approximation is nevertheless workable for great deal of chemical compounds, especially organic systems, and is justified for chemical reactivity and aromaticity hierarchies in an homologue series; the third and the most severe approximation regards the extension of the second one to superior orders of ionization and affinities, here studied at the level of chemical hardness compact-finite expressions up to spectral-like resolution for a paradigmatic set of aromatic carbohydrates.
Sperm Production Rate, Gonadal and Extragonadal Sperm Reserves in the Sokoto Red (Maradi) Buck in a Tropical Environment

28 healthy adult Maradi bucks were used to evaluate sperm production and sperm storage capacity in the breed. Daily sperm production (DSP) averaged 0.55±0.05x10 while the daily sperm production/g (DSP/g) was 1.37±0.12 x10. Gonadal sperm reserve was 1.99±0.18 x10, while the caput, upper corpus and lower corpus averaged 0.58±0.04 x10, 0.36±0.02 x10 and 0.33±0.08 x10 respectively. The proximal cauda, mid cauda, distal cauda and ductus deferens had values of 0.68±0.10 x10, 1.23±0.16 x10,1.87±0. x10and 0.17±0.05 x10 respectively. The relative contributions of the respective epididymal sections and ductus deferens to the total extragonadal sperm reserves were, 11.11%, 6.89%, 6.32%, 13.03%, 23.56%, 35.82% and 3.26% respectively. Gonadal sperm reserves were significantly higher (p<0.05) than caput reserves, upper corpus reserves, lower corpus reserves, proximal cauda reserves and ductus deferens reserves. Gonadal reserves were however similar (p>0.05) to mid cauda and distal cauda epididymal reserves. Keywords—Goats, Reserves, Sperm, Tropics
Properties Evaluation of Tencel/Cotton Nonwoven Fabric Coated with Chitosan for Wound Dressing

In this study, different Tencel/cotton ratios and needle punching densities were used to make Tencel/cotton nonwoven, which was then coated with chitosan to fabricate a double-layer wound dressing. The nonwoven-chitosan dressing, prepared by using the immersion-precipitation phase-inversion method, had properties that could control the evaporation water loss, promote the fluid drainage, and inhibit the invasion of exogenous micro-organisms. These results indicated that the nonwoven-chitosan membrane could be a potential material for use as a wound dressing.
Pelvic Osteomyelitis in Children: A Comparison of Decades From 1980–1989 With 1990–2001

Since 1980, 64 children with pelvic osteomyelitis (40 boys) were treated at a major pediatric referral center. The average age was 11 years and 6 months. The presenting complaints included pain in 61 children, fever in 30, and altered weight-bearing in 31. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was elevated in 56 and there was leukocytosis in 19. The most commonly affected sites were the ilium in 21 and the acetabulum in 20, followed by the pubis in 11 and the ischium in 10. Culture results were negative in 32 and positive for Staphylococcus aureus in 26. Treatment consisted of intravenous antibiotics in 62 and irrigation and debridement in five children, all of whom presented since 1990. The infection resolved in 62 children and persisted in two. Three developed complications, including fusion of the sacroiliac joint in one, deformity of the acetabulum in one, and one child with an underlying protein C deficiency developed thromboembolism. Recent patients have demonstrated increased severity, likely due to increased virulence of the organism.
The 9.7 and 18 μm silicate absorption profiles towards diffuse and molecular cloud lines-of-sight

Context. Studying the composition of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) is crucial for understanding the cycle of dust in our galaxy. Aims. The mid-infrared spectral signature of amorphous silicates, the most abundant dust species in the ISM, is studied in different lines-of-sight through the Galactic plane, thus probing different conditions in the ISM. Methods. We have analysed ten spectra from the Spitzer archive, of which six lines-of-sight probe diffuse interstellar medium material and four probe molecular cloud material. The 9.7 μm silicate absorption features in seven of these spectra were studied in terms of their shape and strength. In addition, the shape of the 18 μm silicate absorption features in four of the diffuse sightline spectra were analysed. Results. The 9.7 μm silicate absorption bands in the diffuse sightlines show a strikingly similar band shape. This is also the case for all but one of the 18 μm silicate absorption bands observed in diffuse lines-of-sight. The 9.7 μm bands in the four molecular sightlines show small variations in shape. These modest variations in the band shape are inconsistent with the interpretation of the large variations in τ9.7/E(J − K) between diffuse and molecular sightlines in terms of silicate grain growth. Instead, we suggest that the large changes in τ9.7/E(J − K) must be due to changes in E(J − K).
Attenuated Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 1 (HPIV1) Expressing the Fusion Glycoprotein of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) as a Bivalent HPIV1/RSV Vaccine

ABSTRACT Live attenuated recombinant human parainfluenza virus type 1 (rHPIV1) was investigated as a vector to express the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion (F) glycoprotein, to provide a bivalent vaccine against RSV and HPIV1. The RSV F gene was engineered to include HPIV1 transcription signals and inserted individually into three gene locations in each of the two attenuated rHPIV1 backbones. Each backbone contained a single previously described attenuating mutation that was stabilized against deattenuation, specifically, a non-temperature-sensitive deletion mutation involving 6 nucleotides in the overlapping P/C open reading frames (ORFs) (CΔ170) or a temperature-sensitive missense mutation in the L ORF (LY942A). The insertion sites in the genome were pre-N (F1), N-P (F2), or P-M (F3) and were identical for both backbones. In vitro, the presence of the F insert reduced the rate of virus replication, but the final titers were the same as the final titer of wild-type (wt) HPIV1. High levels of RSV F expression in cultured cells were observed with rHPIV1-CΔ170-F1, -F2, and -F3 and rHPIV1-LY942A-F1. In hamsters, the rHPIV1-CΔ170-F1, -F2, and -F3 vectors were moderately restricted in the nasal turbinates, highly restricted in lungs, and genetically stable in vivo. Among the CΔ170 vectors, the F1 virus was the most immunogenic and protective against wt RSV challenge. The rHPIV1-LY942A vectors were highly restricted in vivo and were not detectably immunogenic or protective, indicative of overattenuation. The CΔ170-F1 construct appears to be suitably attenuated and immunogenic for further development as a bivalent intranasal pediatric vaccine. IMPORTANCE There are no vaccines for the pediatric respiratory pathogens RSV and HPIV. We are developing live attenuated RSV and HPIV vaccines for use in virus-naive infants. Live attenuated RSV strains in particular are difficult to develop due to their poor growth and physical instability, but these obstacles could be avoided by the use of a vaccine vector. We describe the development and preclinical evaluation of live attenuated rHPIV1 vectors expressing the RSV F protein. Two different attenuated rHPIV1 backbones were each engineered to express RSV F from three different gene positions. The rHPIV1-CΔ170-F1 vector, bearing an attenuating deletion mutation (CΔ170) in the P/C gene and expressing RSV F from the pre-N position, was attenuated, stable, and immunogenic against the RSV F protein and HPIV1 in the hamster model and provided substantial protection against RSV challenge. This study provides a candidate rHPIV1-RSV-F vaccine virus suitable for continued development as a bivalent vaccine against two major childhood pathogens.
Activity of the ligand for c‐mpl, thrombopoietin, in early haemopoiesis

We examined the role of the ligand for c‐mpl, thrombopoietin (TPO), in murine early haemopoiesis, using a serum‐free culture system. TPO in combination with the ligand for c‐kit (SF) or interleukin‐3 (IL‐3) supported colony formation by marrow cells of 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU)‐treated mice, whereas TPO alone yielded no colony. When blast cell colonies grown in the presence of TPO plus SF or TPO plus IL‐3 were individually replated in suspension cultures containing serum and several growth factors, various combinations of myeloid lineages were seen, indicating that the progenitors supported by TPO plus SF or TPO plus IL‐3 are multipotential. Delayed addition experiments demonstrated that TPO has the potential to effectively support the survival of haemopoietic progenitors. We then studied the effects of TPO on proliferative kinetics of cycling progenitors. TPO hastened IL‐3‐dependent growth of progenitors by shortening the time required for cell cycling. These results suggest that TPO, as a single factor, can support the survival of haemopoietic progenitors and TPO synergizes with SF or IL‐3 to act on early multipotential haemopoietic progenitors.
The role of climate in shaping zooplankton communities of shallow lakes

We analyzed data from 81 shallow European lakes, which were sampled with standardized methods, for combined effects of climatic, physical, and chemical features of food‐web interactions, with a specific focus on zooplankton biomass and community structure. multiple‐regression analysis showed that total phosphorus (TP) generally was the most important predictor of zooplankton biomass and community structure. Climate was the next most important predictor and acted mainly through its effect on pelagic zooplankton taxa. Benthic and plant‐associated taxa (typically almost half the total zooplankton biomass) were, however, affected mainly by macrophyte coverage. Neither climate nor TP affected the relation between small and large taxa, and we found only a weak trend with increasing TP of increasing mean crustacean body mass. Dividing the data set into three climate zones revealed a pronounced difference in response to lake productivity between cold lakes, with long periods of ice cover, and the two warmer lake types. These ÂÂiceÂÂ lakes differed from the others with respect to the effect of TP on chlorophyll a, the zooplankton : chlorophyll a ratio, the chlorophyll a :TP ratio, and the proportion of cyclopoids in the copepod community. Our data suggest that bottom‐up forces, such as nutrient concentration, are the most important predictors of zooplankton biomass. In addition, climate contributes significantlyÂ—possibly by affecting top‐down regulation by fishÂ—and may interact with productivity in determining the zooplankton standing biomass and community composition. Hence, the present study suggests that food‐web dynamics are closely linked to climatic features.
Elevation of Nerve Growth Factor and Antisense Knockdown of TrkA Receptor during Contextual Memory Consolidation

We report here a series of experiments establishing a role for nerve growth factor and its high-affinity receptor TrkA in contextual memory consolidation. In all experiments, we trained rats in a novel chamber using tone and shock. Our first experiment revealed that endogenous nerve growth factor (NGF) increases in the hippocampus at a critical time during consolidation that occurs 1 week after training. NGF levels at other intervals (24 hr and 2 and 4 weeks after training) did not differ from those of naive control animals. In our second experiment, we blocked effects that NGF has at 1 week after training by infusing antisense TrkA phosphorothioate DNA oligonucleotide. Reduction of septohippocampal TrkA receptor expression selectively impaired memory consolidation for context but not for tone. Animals with antisense TrkA oligonucleotide infused into the medial septal area or CA1 of the hippocampus froze less when placed in the training chamber than did animals infused with inactive randomized oligonucleotide. At 4 weeks after training, antisense TrkA oligonucleotide had no effect on freezing. Third, we correlated levels of freezing with choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) immunohistochemistry. Antisense TrkA infused into CA1 of the hippocampus reduced cell body cross-sectional area for cholinergic cells in the medial septal area and decreased the density of hippocampal terminals labeled for ChAT and VAChT proteins. Cholinergic cell body measurements were significantly correlated with freezing. Taken together, these results indicate a role for nerve growth factor acting via the TrkA receptor on ChAT and VAChT proteins in contextual memory consolidation.
Hiding relaxed memory consistency with compilers

We present a compiler technique, which is based on Shasha and Snir's delay set analysis, to hide the underlying related memory consistency model for an optimizing compiler for explicitly parallel programs. The compiler presents programmers with a sequentially consistent view of the underlying machine irrespective of whether it follows a sequentially consistent model or a related model. To hide the underlying relaxed memory consistency model and to guarantee sequential consistency, our algorithm inserts fence instructions by identifying memory-barrier nodes. We reduce the number of fence instructions by exploiting the ordering constraints of the underlying memory consistency model and the property of fence and synchronization operations. We introduce dominators with respect to a node in a control flow graph to identify memory-barrier nodes. We also show that minimizing the number of memory-barrier nodes by using dominators with respect to a node is NP-hard.
Drawing Huge Graphs by Algebraic Multigrid Optimization

We present an extremely fast graph drawing algorithm for very large graphs, which we term ACE (for Algebraic multigrid Computation of Eigenvectors). ACE exhibits a vast improvement over the fastest algorithms we are currently aware of; using a serial PC, it draws graphs of millions of nodes in less than a minute. ACE finds an optimal drawing by minimizing a quadratic energy function. The minimization problem is expressed as a generalized eigenvalue problem, which is solved rapidly using a novel algebraic multigrid technique. The same generalized eigenvalue problem seems to come up also in other fields; hence ACE appears to be applicable outside graph drawing too.
Success factors for implementing global information systems

Before taking on global systems, project managers must conduct a proper process analysis and educatetop management, as well as end users.In today's globalized business environment, firms must learn to manage increasingly complex networks of subsidiaries, customers, and suppliers. Information systems support this effort by providing supply chain information, facilitating communication among supply chain partners and managers' decisions when coordinating the networks. "Global coordination," according to [5], "is one of the most important functions firms perform for optimal global operations to achieve operational flexibility. "