Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repeated ovarian stimulation with corifollitropin alfa in patients in a GnRH antagonist protocol: no concern for immunogenicity

BACKGROUND One injection of corifollitropin alfa replaces the first seven daily FSH injections in controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) cycles. Repeated treatment with therapeutic proteins may cause immune responses or hypersensitivity reactions. We assessed the immunogenicity and safety of corifollitropin alfa treatment in up to three COS cycles. METHODS In this multicentre, phase III uncontrolled trial, patients (>60 kg) started treatment with one injection of 150 µg corifollitropin alfa on cycle Day 2 or 3 of menses and 0.25 mg ganielix on stimulation Day 5 or 6. Primary outcome measures were antibody formation against corifollitropin alfa (using highly sensitive radioimmunoprecipitation assay), hypersensitivity reactions, local tolerance and adverse events (AEs). RESULTS First, second and third COS cycles were started by 682, 375 and 198 patients, respectively. No clinically relevant immunogenicity or drug-related hypersensitivity was observed. For 192 patients undergoing their third cycle a post-treatment blood sample was negative in the anti-corifollitropin antibody assay, resulting in an upper limit of the one-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.5%. Most frequent AEs were procedural pain (17.7%, 95% CI: 14.9–20.8%), headache (9.1%, 95% CI: 7.0–11.5%) and pelvic pain (7.6%, 95% CI: 5.7–9.9%). Cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate after three cycles, including frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles and spontaneous pregnancies, was 61% (95% CI: 56–65%) after censoring for patients who discontinued. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with corifollitropin alfa can safely and effectively initiate and sustain ovarian stimulation during the first 7 days of COS in normal responder patients undergoing up to three treatment cycles, without concerns of immunogenicity. The trial was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00696878.
Sub-tagged Caches: Study of Variable Cache-Block Size Emulation

The performance of a cache of a given size depends significantly on the cache block size. Previous studies have shown that insufficient memory bandwidth, rather than raw memory latencies, will be the major obstacle to improving system performance. The cache block size has a large and varying impact on memory traffic and hit rate across programs, suggesting the need for variable block size caches. We propose sub-t agged caches, which extend sub-blocked caches by breaking up the address tag into a common block tag shared by all sub-blocks and a sub-tag unique to the specific sub-block. Sub-t agged caches allow words from different memory blocks to co-reside in a cache block, without changing the critical hit access path, and thus emulate variable address block sizes. Typically only a few address tag bits differ between the blocks involved in a cache conflict, thus motivating sub-t agged caches. Performance evaluation with SPEC2000 benchmarks shows that the miss ratio and memory traffic ratio of a column-associative sub-t agged cache is comparable to that of a four-way set-associative sub-blocked cache, while its average memory access time is 18% better on ave rage. Dynamic sub-block prefetching in conjunction with a sub-t agged cache emulates variable address and fetch block sizes. A comparative study of different variable block caches shows that while no single cache organization is best across all benchmarks, variable block size caches outperform fixed block size caches for seven of the twelve benchmarks. Among the different variable block size caches, the column-associative sub-blocked and sub-t agged cachesseem to perform the best. Column-associative sub-tagged cachesuniformly outperform direct-mapped decoupled sectored caches, while direct-mapped sub-tagged cachesperform better than decoupled sectored caches for nine of the twelve benchmarks.
Regenerative Potential of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: Age-Related Changes

Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that a therapeutic effect results from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) transplant. No systematic information is currently available regarding whether donor age modifies MSC regenerative potential on cutaneous wound healing. Here, we evaluate whether donor age influences this potential. Two different doses of bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs) from young, adult, or old mouse donors or two doses of their acellular derivatives mesenchymal stromal cells (acd-MSCs) were intradermally injected around wounds in the midline of C57BL/6 mice. Every two days, wound healing was macroscopically assessed (wound closure) and microscopically assessed (reepithelialization, dermal-epidermal junction, skin appendage regeneration, granulation tissue, leukocyte infiltration, and density dermal collagen fibers) after 12 days from MSC transplant. Significant differences in the wound closure kinetic, quality, and healing of skin regenerated were observed in lesions which received BM-MSCs from different ages or their acd-MSCs compared to lesions which received vehicle. Nevertheless, our data shows that adult's BM-MSCs or their acd-MSCs were the most efficient for recovery of most parameters analyzed. Our data suggest that MSC efficacy was negatively affected by donor age, where the treatment with adult's BM-MSCs or their acd-MSCs in cutaneous wound promotes a better tissue repair/regeneration. This is due to their paracrine factors secretion.
Anatomy of the high-frequency ambient seismic wave field at the TCDP borehole

[1] The Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP) installed a vertical seismic array between 950 and 1270 m depth in an active thrust fault environment. In this paper we analyze continuous noise records of the TCDP array between 1 and 16 Hz. We apply multiple array processing and noise correlation techniques to study the noise source process, properties of the propagation medium, and the ambient seismic wave field. Diurnal amplitude and slowness patterns suggest that noise is generated by cultural activity. The vicinity of the recording site to the excitation region, indicated by a narrow azimuthal distribution of propagation directions, leads to a predominant ballistic propagation regime. This is evident from the compatibility of the data with an incident plane wave model, polarized direct arrivals of noise correlation functions, and the asymmetric arrival shape. Evidence for contributions from scattering comes from equilibrated earthquake coda energy ratios, the frequency dependent randomization of propagation directions, and the existence of correlation coda waves. We conclude that the ballistic and scattered propagation regime coexist, where the first regime dominates the records, but the second is weaker yet not negligible. Consequently, the wave field is not equipartitioned. Correlation signal-to-noise ratios indicate a frequency dependent noise intensity. Iterations of the correlation procedure enhance the signature of the scattered regime. Discrepancies between phase velocities estimated from correlation functions and in-situ measurements are associated with the array geometry and its relative orientation to the predominant energy flux. The stability of correlation functions suggests their applicability in future monitoring efforts.
Release of Hypocretin (Orexin) during Waking and Sleep States

Hypocretin (Hcrt or orexin) somas are located in the hypothalamus and project widely to forebrain and brainstem regions, densely innervating monoaminergic and cholinergic cells. Loss of Hcrt function results in the sleep disorder narcolepsy. However, the normal pattern of Hcrt release across the sleep–wake cycle is unknown. We monitored Hcrt-1 release in the basal forebrain, perifornical hypothalamus, and locus ceruleus (LC) across the sleep–wake cycle using microdialysis in freely moving cats and a sensitive solid phase radioimmunoassay. We found that the peptide concentration in dialysates from the hypothalamus was significantly higher during active waking (AW) than during slow-wave sleep (SWS). Moreover, Hcrt-1 release was significantly higher during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep than during SWS in the hypothalamus and basal forebrain. We did not detect a significant difference in release across sleep–waking states in the LC, perhaps because recovered levels of the peptide were lower at this site. Because there was a trend toward higher levels of Hcrt-1 release during AW compared with quiet waking (QW) in our 10 min dialysis samples, we compared Hcrt-1 levels in CSF in 2 hr AW and QW periods. Hcrt-1 release into CSF was 67% higher during AW than during QW. Elevated levels of Hcrt during REM sleep and AW are consistent with a role for Hcrt in the central programming of motor activity.
Sectoral Shocks and Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom

In this paper, we use an open economy model of the United Kingdom to examine the extent to which monetary policy should respond to movements in sectoral inflation rates. To do this we construct a Generalised Taylor model that takes specific account of the sectoral make up of the consumer price index (CPI), where the sectors are based on the COICOP classification the UK CPI microdata. We calibrate the model for each sector using the UK CPI microdata and model the sectoral shocks that drive sectoral inflation rates as white noise processes, as in the UK data. We find that a policy rule that allows for different responses to inflation in different sectors outperforms a rule which just targets aggregate CPI. However, the gain is small and comes from partially looking through movements in aggregate inflation driven by movements in petrol price inflation, which is volatile and tends not to reflect underlying inflationary pressure.
Authenticating User Using Keystroke Dynamics and Finger Pressure

Now mobile devices are developed to serve various functions, storing the sensitive information. As a consequence, the authentication of users for mobile devices has become an important issue. Additionally, the development of the mobile system is moving forward to the touch screen system for user friendly and quick access mechanism. In this paper, we proposed behavioral manners of users over the touchpad acting like touch screen that is able to detect finger pressure. We study the potential of each biometrics behavioral by individual and couple, comprise with hold-time, inter-key and finger pressure. The finding has shown that, the finger pressure gives the discriminative information more than keystroke dynamics with the PNN analytical method. Moreover, using only the finger pressure produces high accuracy rate of 99%.
School Board Chairmen and School Superintendents: An Analysis of Perceptions concerning Special Interest Groups and Educational Governance

This study focuses on the perceptions of Virginia school board chairmen and superintendents as they relate to local governance issues. These perceptions provide great insight into the problems faced by Virginia school boards—both elected and appointed—in the aftermath of a 1992 law allowing communities to shift from appointed to elected school boards. All superintendents and school board chairmen in the state were surveyed on the following topics: their perceptions concerning school board members’ orientations toward their role as representatives (trustee vs. delegate), their personal attitudes concerning the electoral process, their assessment of interest group involvement in district decision making, their feelings concerning the public's support of school district policies, and their evaluation of the level of tension between the superintendent and the school board.
Fundamental Groups of Smooth Projective Varieties

This article is a brief survey of work related to the structure of topological fundamental groups of complex smooth projective varieties. These notes, which are based on a talk given at MSRI in April 1993, are intended as a brief guide to some recent work on fundamental groups of varieties. For the most part, I have just tried to explain the results (often in nonoptimal form) and give a few simple examples to illustrate their use. Proofs are either sketched or omitted entirely. The basic question that will concern us is: Which groups can be fundamental groups of smooth projective varieties? This is certainly of importance in the topological study of algebraic varieties, but it is also linked to broader issues in algebraic geometry. Let us call the class of such groups P . As an application of the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem [Mi], we can see that any group in P is the fundamental group of an algebraic surface, and in fact we can even arrange the surface to have general type. Thus failure to answer this question can be viewed as an obstruction to completely classifying algebraic surfaces (even up to homotopy). I should mention that there is also a nice survey article by Johnson and Rees [JR2] that reviews much of the work done on this problem prior to 1990. My own view of the subject has been shaped, to a large extent, by conversations and correspondence with many people, of whom I would especially like to mention Paul Bressler, Jim Carlson, Dick Hain, János Kollár, Madhav Nori, Mohan Ramachandran and Domingo Toledo. My thanks to F. Campana for catching a silly mistake in an earlier version of these notes.
Perfectionism, pre-competitive worry, and optimism in high-performance youth athletes

Different aspects of perfectionism have been associated with an array of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive, affective, and behavioural correlates in sport. However, relatively little is known about the links between athletes’ perfectionistic tendencies and their state-level thoughts and expectancies (i.e. mindset) in the lead up to competition. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, and the future-oriented thoughts (i.e. worries) and expectancies (i.e. optimism) of athletes as they prepared to compete. A sample of 144 male youth high-performance Canadian football players (M age = 16.41 years, SD = 1.48) completed domain-specific measures of perfectionism, pre-competitive worry, and optimism 24 h prior to the start of an important competition. Canonical correlation (R C) analysis produced two interpretable canonical functions. In the first canonical function, a canonical variate resembling a maladaptive profile of perfectionism (i.e. high strivings combined with high concerns) was positively correlated (R C1 = .66) with a canonical variate consisting of high worry and low optimism. In the second canonical function, a canonical variate resembling an adaptive profile of perfectionism (i.e. high strivings combined with low concerns) was positively correlated (R C2 = .48) with a canonical variate consisting of low worry and high optimism. The results highlight the importance of treating perfectionism as a multidimensional construct and indicate that the pre-competitive mindset of athletes (as reflected by the degree to which athletes worry and feel optimistic) appears to be associated with athletes’ perfectionistic orientations in sport.
Optimizing Dose Selection with Modeling and Simulation: Application to the Vasopeptidase Inhibitor M100240

Dual inhibition of neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP) and angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) has gained increasing interest in the treatment of hypertension, heart failure, and renoprotection. Specifically, M100240, the thioester of the dual ACE/NEP inhibitor MDL100,173, has been evaluated in the management of hypertension. A model‐based analysis, including simulations, was employed to characterize the relationship between individual M100240 drug exposure and neurohormonal response and to optimize the dose selection for future clinical studies. Sixty‐two healthy subjects and 189 hypertensive patients were studied after oral once‐daily administration of 2.5, 5, 10, 25, or 50 mg M100240. Pharmacokinetic‐biomarker and blood pressure response models were fitted to the data with the computer program NONMEM. A direct inhibitory Emax model adequately described the relationship between MDL100,173 concentration and ACE activity. No clear concentration or dose‐dependent NEP or blood pressure responses were evident. Given a target 90% ACE inhibition, simulation reveals that (1) 50 mg M100240 once daily produces adequate ACE inhibition 24 hours postdose in only 20% of subjects, and (2) higher and/or more frequent doses on the order of 25 mg three times daily or 50 mg twice daily are required to achieve the target ACE inhibition in at least 50% of patients over 24 hours. Insufficient blood pressure—lowering effects were observed in healthy subjects and hypertensive patients due to inadequate ACE and NEP inhibition with once‐daily oral doses of up to 50 mg of M100240. Divided doses might provide target ACE inhibition in more patients.
Temperature dependence of the evaporation coefficient of water in air and nitrogen under atmospheric pressure: study in water droplets.

The evaporation coefficients of water in air and nitrogen were found as a function of temperature by studying the evaporation of a pure water droplet. The droplet was levitated in an electrodynamic trap placed in a climatic chamber maintaining atmospheric pressure. Droplet radius evolution and evaporation dynamics were studied with high precision by analyzing the angle-resolved light scattering Mie interference patterns. A model of quasi-stationary droplet evolution accounting for the kinetic effects near the droplet surface was applied. In particular, the effect of thermal effusion (a short-range analogue of thermal diffusion) was discussed and accounted for. The evaporation coefficient alpha in air and in nitrogen were found to be equal. The alpha was found to decrease from approximately 0.18 to approximately 0.13 for the temperature range from 273.1 to 293.1 K and follow the trend given by the Arrhenius formula. The agreement with condensation coefficient values obtained with an essentially different method by Li et al. [Li, Y. ; Davidovits, P.; Shi, Q. ; Jayne, J.; Kolb, C. ; Worsnop, D. J. Phys. Chem. A. 2001, 105, 10627] was found to be excellent. The comparison of experimental conditions used in both methods revealed no dependence of the evaporation/condensation coefficient on the droplet charge nor the ambient gas pressure within the experimental parameters range. The average value of the thermal accommodation coefficient over the same temperature range was found to be 1 +/- 0.05.
Synthesis and characterization of nanoscale dendritic RGD clusters for potential applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery

Spatial control over the distribution and the aggregation of arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) peptides at the nanoscale significantly affects cell responses. For example, nanoscale clustering of RGD peptides can induce integrins to cluster, thus triggering complete cell signaling. Dendrimers have a unique, highly branched, nearly spherical and symmetrical structure with low polydispersity, nanoscale size, and high functionality. Therefore, dendrimers are a class of ideal scaffold for construction of nanoscale dendritic RGD clusters in which RGD loading degree and cluster size can be finely adjusted. This new type of nanoscale dendritic RGD cluster will aid us to better understand the impact of spatial arrangement of RGD on cellular responses and to engineer RGD to trigger more favorable cellular responses. In this study, nanoscale dendritic RGD clusters were synthesized based on Starburst™ anionic G3.5 and cationic G4.0 polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers. The multiple terminal functional groups on the outermost layer of the dendrimer were coupled with RGD tripeptides. Biofunctionalized dendrimer structures were found to be highly dependent on the generation and the extent of peptide modification (ie, number of peptides per PAMAM dendrimer). Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated PAMAM dendrimers were utilized to monitor cellular internalization of dendrimers by adherent fibroblasts. Anionic G3.5-based dendritic RGD clusters have been shown to have no negative effect on fibroblast viability and a concentration-dependent effect on lowering cell adhesion on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) as that of free RGD. A similar concentration-dependent effect in cell viability and adhesion was also observed for cationic G4.0-based dendritic RGD clusters at lower but not at high concentrations. The results imply that the synthesized nanoscale dendritic RGD clusters have great potential for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications.
A VLT VIMOS integral‐field spectroscopic study of perturbed blue compact galaxies: UM 420 and UM 462★

We report on optical integral-field spectroscopy of two unrelated blue compact galaxies mapped with the 13 x 13 arcsec 2 Visible Multi-Object Spectrograph integral field unit at a resolution of 0.33 x 0.33 arcsec 2 . Continuum and background subtracted emission line maps in the light of [O III] λ5007, Hα and [N II] λ6584 are presented. Both galaxies display signs of ongoing perturbation and/or interaction. UM 420 is resolved for the first time to be a merging system composed of two starbursting components with an 'arm-like' structure associated with the largest component. UM 462 which is a disrupted system of irregular morphology is resolved into at least four starbursting regions. Maps of the Hα radial velocity and full width at half-maximum are discussed. No underlying broad-line region was detected from either galaxy as the emission lines are well fitted with single Gaussian profiles only. Electron temperatures and densities as well as the abundances of helium, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur were computed from spectra integrated over the whole galaxies and for each area of recent star formation. Maps of the O/H ratio are presented: these galaxies show oxygen abundances that are ∼20 per cent solar. No evidence of substantial abundance variations across the galaxies that would point to significant nitrogen or oxygen self-enrichment is found (≲0.2 dex limit). Contrary to previous observations, this analysis does not support the classification of these blue compact dwarf galaxies as Wolf-Rayet galaxies as the characteristic broad-emission-line features have not been detected in our spectra. Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich emission-line-ratio diagrams which were constructed on a pixel-by-pixel basis indicate that the optical spectra of these systems are predominantly excited by stellar photoionization.
Computational versus Psychophysical Bottom-Up Image Saliency: A Comparative Evaluation Study

The predictions of 13 computational bottom-up saliency models and a newly introduced Multiscale Contrast Conspicuity (MCC) metric are compared with human visual conspicuity measurements. The agreement between human visual conspicuity estimates and model saliency predictions is quantified through their rank order correlation. The maximum of the computational saliency value over the target support area correlates most strongly with visual conspicuity for 12 of the 13 models. A simple multiscale contrast model and the MCC metric both yield the largest correlation with human visual target conspicuity (>;0.84). Local image saliency largely determines human visual inspection and interpretation of static and dynamic scenes. Computational saliency models therefore have a wide range of important applications, like adaptive content delivery, region-of-interest-based image compression, video summarization, progressive image transmission, image segmentation, image quality assessment, object recognition, and content-aware image scaling. However, current bottom-up saliency models do not incorporate important visual effects like crowding and lateral interaction. Additional knowledge about the exact nature of the interactions between the mechanisms mediating human visual saliency is required to develop these models further. The MCC metric and its associated psychophysical saliency measurement procedure are useful tools to systematically investigate the relative contribution of different feature dimensions to overall visual target saliency.