Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Strategies in the Treatment of Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that traditionally has been thought to possess the poor-risk features of both indolent lymphoma, with its incurability, and aggressive lymphoma, with its ability to proliferate rapidly. Although there is considerable debate as to whether MCL can be cured, a number of retrospective studies are beginning to suggest an improvement in overall survival over the past decade, likely coinciding with the introduction of rituximab, more intensive chemotherapy, and the increasing use of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in first remission. At present, intensive induction chemotherapy regimens consistently produce a response rate of >90%, sometimes even 100% in the first-line setting, and consolidation with ASCT in first remission can improve the complete response rate to 90%. The emergence of a more sophisticated understanding of the underlying pathogenesis, coupled with a host of new agents and targets, has again created new opportunities to improve the care of our patients with MCL. Here, we discuss many of these developments and how they may potentially affect the natural history of this disease. Clin Cancer Res; 18(13); 3499–508. ©2012 AACR.
A New Model for Workers' Retraining in Brazil.

Presents a framework for retraining Brazilian workers from industry, commerce and services activities, in order to make them useful for the new knowledge society in which we live. The approach presented is an alternative to the traditional retraining models which are solely based on training the workers in the fundamentals of information technologies, without going further on the essential skills and expertise that allow the workers to own a professional laterality degree. The model discussed in this article is based on field research undertaken by the author among employers and employees within the Brazilian productive environment, to analyse why the implementation of new technological innovations, mainly based on information technology, has barely leveraged their companies’ productivity. Based on this survey, a new information technology‐based training framework is presented to be deployed within the companies, through the development and use of a Web‐based instruction system.
Experience-dependent Enhancement of Linguistic Pitch Representation in the Brainstem Is Not Specific to a Speech Context

Neural representation of pitch is influenced by lifelong experiences with music and language at both cortical and subcortical levels of processing. The aim of this article is to determine whether neural plasticity for pitch representation at the level of the brainstem is dependent upon specific dimensions of pitch contours that commonly occur as part of a native listener's language experience. Brainstem frequency following responses (FFRs) were recorded from Chinese and English participants in response to four Mandarin tonal contours presented in a nonspeech context in the form of iterated rippled noise. Pitch strength (whole contour, 250 msec; 40-msec segments) and pitch-tracking accuracy (whole contour) were extracted from the FFRs using autocorrelation algorithms. Narrow band spectrograms were used to extract spectral information. Results showed that the Chinese group exhibits smoother pitch tracking than the English group in three out of the four tones. Moreover, cross-language comparisons of pitch strength of 40-msec segments revealed that the Chinese group exhibits more robust pitch representation of those segments containing rapidly changing pitch movements across all four tones. FFR spectral data were complementary showing that the Chinese group exhibits stronger representation of multiple pitch-relevant harmonics relative to the English group across all four tones. These findings support the view that at early preattentive stages of subcortical processing, neural mechanisms underlying pitch representation are shaped by particular dimensions of the auditory stream rather than speech per se. Adopting a temporal correlation analysis scheme for pitch encoding, we propose that long-term experience sharpens the tuning characteristics of neurons along the pitch axis with enhanced sensitivity to linguistically relevant variations in pitch.
Appraisers' views of teacher appraisal

Abstract This study is based on interviews with 41 appraisers which explored their views and experiences regarding teacher appraisal. The findings of the study were that the appraisers generally felt that teacher appraisal had been of value to both the appraisee and the appraiser. A number of shortcomings and critical comments were also made, particularly regarding the time-consuming nature of the appraisal process and the need for appraisers to develop more expertise in the conduct of classroom observation.
High power factor dimmable electronic ballast for multiple tubular fluorescent lamps

This paper presents a dimmable electronic ballast designed for multiple fluorescent lamps applications. A ZCS-PWM boost rectifier and a classical resonant full-bridge inverter compose this new electronic ballast, providing conditions for the obtaining of high input power-factor, and soft-switching processes for all semiconductor devices employed in the structure. The instantaneous average input current control technique is employed in the boost rectifier. Concerning the full-bridge inverter, it is controlled by the imposition of phase-shift in the current processed through the sets of resonant filters + lamps, according to an adaptation in a specially designed control IC, called IR2159. Experimental results are presented in order to validate the analyses developed in this paper.
Are costly apologies universally perceived as being sincere? : A test of the costly apology-perceived sincerity relationship in seven countries.

Abstract After inadvertently committing an interpersonal transgression, an offender might make an effortful apology (e.g. cancelling an important meeting to make an apology as soon as possible). Such costly apologies signal the apologiser's sincere intention to restore the endangered relationship. The present study investigated this costly signalling model of apology across seven countries (Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and the U.S.). Participants were asked to imagine that a friend had committed an interpersonal transgression against them and had then apologised in either a costly or non-costly fashion. The results showed that costly apologies were perceived to be significantly more sincere than no cost apologies in the all seven countries. We further investigated whether religious beliefs would moderate the effect of costly apologies. Consistent with our prediction and evolutionary hypothesis, costly apologies were perceived to be significantly more sincere than no cost ap.
Unlearning Backdoor Threats: Enhancing Backdoor Defense in Multimodal Contrastive Learning via Local Token Unlearning

Multimodal contrastive learning has emerged as a powerful paradigm for building high-quality features using the complementary strengths of various data modalities. However, the open nature of such systems inadvertently increases the possibility of backdoor attacks. These attacks subtly embed malicious behaviors within the model during training, which can be activated by specific triggers in the inference phase, posing significant security risks. Despite existing countermeasures through fine-tuning that reduce the adverse impacts of such attacks, these defenses often degrade the clean accuracy and necessitate the construction of extensive clean training pairs. In this paper, we explore the possibility of a less-cost defense from the perspective of model unlearning, that is, whether the model can be made to quickly \textbf{u}nlearn \textbf{b}ackdoor \textbf{t}hreats (UBT) by constructing a small set of poisoned samples. Specifically, we strengthen the backdoor shortcuts to discover suspicious samples through overfitting training prioritized by weak similarity samples. Building on the initial identification of suspicious samples, we introduce an innovative token-based localized forgetting training regime. This technique specifically targets the poisoned aspects of the model, applying a focused effort to unlearn the backdoor associations and trying not to damage the integrity of the overall model. Experimental results show that our method not only ensures a minimal success rate for attacks, but also preserves the model's high clean accuracy.
Parallel Robot for Medical 3D-Ultrasound Imaging

Ultrasound 3D systems are being developed to potentially replace traditional 2D equipments in the diagnosis of vascular disease. Ultrasound is non-invasive, low-cost, and nonionizing. To allow the 3D reconstruction of ultrasound images, the probe position must be known at all time. Freehand tracking devices were first considered but they lacked constant precision. Robots are now being developed to perform the ultrasound scan, allowing a constant precision, a simple manipulation, and standardization. Researchers are currently experimenting semiautomated robot scans, for facilitating further the examination. Different applications call for different robot architectures. Peripheral arterial disease has not yet been considered for automation probably because lower limb vessel examination requires long acquisitions. This paper presents a new robot for an ultrasound robot design that addresses this problem. This parallel robot is able to perform multiple ultrasound 3D examinations on a human patient
Musical Community on the Internet: An On‐line Ethnography

Throughout much of its relatively short history, the Internet has been the focus of considerable speculation and theoretical discussion from a field now widely known as cultural studies. What ties a great deal of this scholarship together is a common understanding of the Internet as a site for the production of "cultural texts" and an approach that explores, as Rosemary Coombe puts it, "the relationship between the word and the world" (Coombe 1998:17). It is hardly surprising, then, that much of the critical commentary on the Internet comes out of English departments and communications or media studies programs because, after all, the Internet is indeed largely textual in nature, being made up of email, discussion groups, message services, websites, images, and other forms that lend themselves to symbolic analysis. Yet what troubles me about a great deal of this literature is that it tends to be concerned almost solely with social effects (real or imagined) rather than the various apparatuses (technological as well as social and political) and the people who are actively involved in using the Internet on a daily basis. I find an imbalance between the tendency to theorize the Internet at a general level and not enough close-to-the-ground ethnographic study of the new social spaces the Internet makes possible. Mizuko Ito, an anthropologist who has conducted on-line fieldwork, suggests that many of these studies erase the real world technological and social underpinnings of Internet phenomena: "Much of the social commentary around virtual worlds implicitly reinscribes a split between information (virtuality) and materials (reality), describing ways in which on-line spaces provide a space of 'pure' information that is both amputated from, and inconsequential for, real world physicality" (Ito 1997:88). Furthermore, it is too easy to forget that like the products of mass media, the "cultural texts" produced by the Internet are themselves public representational forms, a part of what might be called "public culture. " The danger of a purely textual approach is that it perpetuates "the fantasy that one can understand the workings of public cultural representations solely by interpreting/deconstructing [such] representations" (Ortner 1999: 55-56).
Critical Role of Leucine-Valine Change in Distinct Low pH Requirements for Membrane Fusion between Two Related Retrovirus Envelopes*

Background: The mechanism of viral membrane fusion is still poorly understood. Results: We show that a leucine-valine change in the JSRV and ENTV Env is responsible for their distinct low pH requirements for fusion. Conclusion: The Leu-Val change likely stabilizes an intermediate induced by receptor binding. Significance: This work represents a unique example whereby a simple Leu-Val change has critical impact on virus entry. Many viruses use a pH-dependent pathway for fusion with host cell membrane, the mechanism of which is still poorly understood. Here we report that a subtle leucine (Leu)-valine (Val) change at position 501 in the envelope glycoproteins (Envs) of two related retroviruses, jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) and enzootic nasal tumor virus (ENTV), is responsible for their distinct low pH requirements for membrane fusion and infection. The Leu and Val residues are predicted to reside within the C-terminal heptad repeat (HR2) region of JSRV and ENTV Envs, particularly proximal to the hairpin turn of the putative six-helix bundle (6HB). Substitution of the JSRV Leu with a Val blocked the Env-mediated membrane fusion at pH 5.0, whereas replacement of the ENTV Val with a Leu rendered the ENTV Env capable of fusing at pH 5.0. A Leu-Val change has no apparent effect on the stability of native Env, but appears to stabilize an intermediate induced by receptor binding. These results are consistent with the existence of at least two metastable conformations of these viral glycoproteins, the native prefusion conformation and a receptor-induced metastable intermediate. Collectively, this work represents an interesting perhaps unique example whereby a simple Leu-Val change has critical impact on pH-dependent virus fusion and entry.
Neuronal Oscillations with Non-sinusoidal Morphology Produce Spurious Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling and Directionality

Neuronal oscillations support cognitive processing. Modern views suggest that neuronal oscillations do not only reflect coordinated activity in spatially distributed networks, but also that there is interaction between the oscillations at different frequencies. For example, invasive recordings in animals and humans have found that the amplitude of fast oscillations (>40 Hz) occur non-uniformly within the phase of slower oscillations, forming the so-called cross-frequency coupling (CFC). However, the CFC patterns might be influenced by features in the signal that do not relate to underlying physiological interactions. For example, CFC estimates may be sensitive to spectral correlations due to non-sinusoidal properties of the alpha band wave morphology. To investigate this issue, we performed CFC analysis using experimental and synthetic data. The former consisted in a double-blind magnetoencephalography pharmacological study in which participants received either placebo, 0.5 or 1.5 mg of lorazepam (LZP; GABAergic enhancer) in different experimental sessions. By recording oscillatory brain activity with during rest and working memory (WM), we were able to demonstrate that posterior alpha (8–12 Hz) phase was coupled to beta-low gamma band (20–45 Hz) amplitude envelope during all sessions. Importantly, bicoherence values around the harmonics of the alpha frequency were similar both in magnitude and topographic distribution to the cross-frequency coherence (CFCoh) values observed in the alpha-phase to beta-low gamma coupling. In addition, despite the large CFCoh we found no significant cross-frequency directionality (CFD). Critically, simulations demonstrated that a sizable part of our empirical CFCoh between alpha and beta-low gamma coupling and the lack of CFD could be explained by two-three harmonics aligned in zero phase-lag produced by the physiologically characteristic alpha asymmetry in the amplitude of the peaks relative to the troughs. Furthermore, we showed that periodic signals whose waveform deviate from pure sine waves produce non-zero CFCoh with predictable CFD. Our results reveal the important role of the non-sinusoidal wave morphology on state of the art CFC metrics and we recommend caution with strong physiological interpretations of CFC and suggest basic data quality checks to enhance the mechanistic understanding of CFC.
Developing the intercultural perspective in foreign language teaching in Colombia: a review of six journals

The steadfast spread of English as the dominant world language has heightened the need to integrate culture in the foreign language teaching (FLT) curriculum, but how does this process crystallize in countries such as Colombia? The results of this review provide insight on the status of the intercultural perspective in FLT in Colombia by looking at the epistemological, theoretical, practical, and ideological issues that have sprung out of the thrust to articulate the cultural dimension in language teaching. This paper reviews six major refereed journals, concentrating on the types of articles published and the characteristics of research on culture. Findings indicate that the influence of sociocultural perspectives has propelled language teachers to move from a linguistic approach toward an intercultural approach to language and culture. Researchers favor qualitative research designs to explore linguistic and social issues, such as intercultural communication, cultural representations, and identity. The c.
Projection-based measure for efficient feature selection

The attribute selection techniques for supervised learning, used in the preprocessing phase to emphasize the most relevant attributes, allow making models of classification simpler and easy to understand. Depending on the method to apply: starting point, search organization, evaluation strategy, and the stopping criterion, there is an added cost to the classification algorithm that we are going to use, that normally will be compensated, in greater or smaller extent, by the attribute reduction in the classification model. The method proposed in this work utilizes a measure based on projections to guide the selection of the attributes. The algorithm (SOAP: Selection of Attributes by Projection) has some interesting characteristics: lower computational cost (O(mn log n) m attributes and n examples in the data set) with respect to other typical algorithms due to the absence of distance and statistical calculations; its applicability to any labelled data set, that is to say, it can contain continuous and discrete variables, with no need for transformation. The performance of SOAP is analysed in two ways: percentage of reduction and classification. SOAP has been compared to CFS [4] and ReliefF [8]. The results are generated by C4.5 before and after the application of the algorithms.
Bronchodilator tolerance: the impact of increasing bronchoconstriction

Chronic exposure to β‐agonists causes tolerance to their bronchodilator effects, which is best demonstrated during acute bronchoconstriction. The aim of the present study was to assess whether tolerance becomes more evident with increasing bronchoconstriction, as might occur in acute asthma. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study comprising 15 patients, the treatments were salbutamol 400 µg q.i. d. or placebo given via Diskhaler® for 28 days with a 2‐week washout between treatments. Patients attended on days 14, 21 and 28. Bronchoconstriction was induced on two of these three occasions to achieve a reduction in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of 0 (no methacholine), 15 and 30% (using methacholine) in a randomised order. Immediately after this, salbutamol 100 µg, 100 µg and 200 µg was inhaled at 0, 5, and 10 min. FEV1 was measured over 40 min. Dose/response curves were plotted and values for the area under the curve (AUC)0–40 FEV1 were compared between treatments and by degree of bronchoconstriction. Regular salbutamol resulted in attenuation of the acute response to β‐agonist, which was increasingly evident with greater bronchoconstriction. With a reduction in FEV1 of 0, 15 and 30%, the AUC0–40 FEV1 with salbutamol were 11.2, −14.6 and −35.7% respectively, compared to placebo. There was a linear relationship between the magnitude of bronchoconstriction and the between-treatment differences in AUC0–40 FEV1. Increasing bronchoconstriction conferred greater susceptibility to the effects of bronchodilator tolerance.
Bilateral De Quervain Syndrome after Aromatase Inhibitor Administration: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Aromatase inhibitors are widely used as one of the main treatment options of both early and advanced hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Unfortunately, musculoskeletal symptoms are often presented in patients treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs), and, although the pathogenesis is unknown, postulated mechanisms have been described. Herein, to our knowledge, we present the first report of bilateral De Quervain syndrome related with AIs therapy with a review of the relevant literature.
[Placental characteristics of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome].

OBJECTIVE To explore the prevalence, number and size of anastomoses, placenta sharing and placental cord insertion in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). METHODS A total of 97 monochorionic placentas were collected from June 2013 to June 2014 during fetoscopic laser surgery or selective feticide. After eliminating 23 placentas of selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR), 79 placents were analyzed. There were 24 placentas of TTTS and 32 placentas of normal monochorionic twins (McT) without complex twin preganancy. Placental sharing, placental cord insertion, angioarchitecture and diameter of vascular anastomosis were assessed by placental injection with colored dye and compared between TTTS and McT without complex twin preganancy. RESULTS (1) Arterio-arterial (AA) anastomoses were detected in 37.5% of TTTS placentas versus 75.0% in normal McT placentas (P<0.01). (2) The median number of AA anastomoses in TTTS group was significantly less than that in normal group (0.0 vs 1.0, P<0.01). And the median total diameter of AA anastomoses in TTTS group was significantly smaller than that in normal group (0.00 vs 2.25 mm, P<0.01). (3) The incidence of placentas with at least one cord non-central insertion (70.8% vs 62.5%, P>0.05), velamentous insertion (25.0% vs 6.3%, P>0.05) in TTTS and normal McT had no difference respectively. The placental territory discordance (PTD) had no difference between TTTS and normal McT (0.33 vs 0.22, P>0.05). CONCLUSION AA anastomosis occurs less frequently in TTTS placentas, supporting the concept of a protective role of AA anastomoses in TTTS. McT placentas without AA anastomosis have high risk for TTTS. The compensatory ablitiy of AA anastomosis may determine the time of TTTS onset. Non-central or velamentous cord insertion, placental sharing discordance are not risk factors for TTTS.
Short-Term Predictive Validity of Demographic, Affective, Personal, and Cognitive Variables in Relation to Two Criterion Measures of Cheating Behaviors

For a sample of 148 community college students, the short-term predictive validity of each of 18 variables was examined in relation to each of two criterion measures of cheating behavior: (a) incidence (presence or absence) of cheating on an objective final examination in an introductory psychology course and (b) the amount of cheating on this examination. The following conclusions became evident: (1) level of academically related anxiety does exhibit a small but statistically significant correlation with each indicator of cheating, whereas the constructs of locus of control, need for approval, and achievement motivation do not; (2) self-reported grade point average displays an inverse relationship with cheating behavior; (3) each measure of cheating is negatively associated to a moderate degree with the actual score earned on a final examination; and (4) optimally-weighted combinations of selected predictor variables do yield slightly more valid forecasts of cheating behavior than does any one predictor variable alone.