Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma: a clinicopathologic study of 43 patients from the Nebraska Lymphoma Study Group.

PURPOSE To investigate whether primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMLBL) is a distinct clinicopathologic entity with a more aggressive course than other diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBL). MATERIALS AND METHODS All patients with CD20-positive DLBL who presented with a mediastinal mass measuring at least 5.0 cm and were treated with curative intent were identified. A control group of 352 patients with nonmediastinal DLBL was selected for comparison. RESULTS The 43 patients with PMLBL had a male to female ratio of 20:23 and a median age of 42 years. Stage I/II disease was present in 58% of the patients, with only 9% having bone marrow involvement. A complete remission was achieved in 63% of the patients, and the 5-year overall and failure-free survivals were 46% and 38%, respectively. Among the clinical variables, an elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase level, a low performance score, more than one extranodal site, and an intermediate or high International Prognostic Index score were predictive of poor survival. When compared with the DLBL group, a younger median age was the only clinical feature that was significantly different in the PMLBL group. CONCLUSION The clinical features of PMLBL do not appear to be significantly different from those of nonmediastinal DLBL. Although the younger age of onset, slight female predominance, mediastinal location, and size of the mass may justify the recognition of PMLBL as a clinical syndrome, additional evidence is needed to define it as a distinct disease entity.
Cultivation of forage sorghum varieties irrigated with saline effluent from fish-farming under semiarid conditions

This study aimed to evaluate the cultivation of forage sorghum subjected to different leaching fractions with saline effluent from fish-farming under semiarid conditions. The experiment was set in a randomized block design, with four blocks, in split plots, composed of four leaching fractions (0; 5; 10 and 15%) and three forage sorghum varieties ('Volumax', 'F305' and 'Sudao'). Irrigation was performed using saline effluent from fish farming with electrical conductivity of 2.5 dS m-1. The analyzed variables were: plant height; stem diameter; width, length and number of leaves; fresh and dry matter yield, and relative contents of potassium and sodium in the shoots. Forage sorghum under saline effluent irrigation and leaching fraction of 15% shows a yield increase of 25%, in comparison to sorghum without the leaching fraction. The variety 'Volumax' was more sensitive to salinity than the others, since it showed lower shoot growth and low values of leaf area, fresh matter and dry matter.
A Scale Mixture Perspective of Multiplicative Noise in Neural Networks

Author(s): Nalisnick, Eric; Anandkumar, Anima; Smyth, Padhraic | Abstract: Corrupting the input and hidden layers of deep neural networks (DNNs) with multiplicative noise, often drawn from the Bernoulli distribution (or 'dropout'), provides regularization that has significantly contributed to deep learning's success. However, understanding how multiplicative corruptions prevent overfitting has been difficult due to the complexity of a DNN's functional form. In this paper, we show that when a Gaussian prior is placed on a DNN's weights, applying multiplicative noise induces a Gaussian scale mixture, which can be reparameterized to circumvent the problematic likelihood function. Analysis can then proceed by using a type-II maximum likelihood procedure to derive a closed-form expression revealing how regularization evolves as a function of the network's weights. Results show that multiplicative noise forces weights to become either sparse or invariant to rescaling. We find our analysis has implications for model compression as it naturally reveals a weight pruning rule that starkly contrasts with the commonly used signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). While the SNR prunes weights with large variances, seeing them as noisy, our approach recognizes their robustness and retains them. We empirically demonstrate our approach has a strong advantage over the SNR heuristic and is competitive to retraining with soft targets produced from a teacher model.
Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease: Status and Perspectives

Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) is caused by progressive degeneration of melanin containing dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta in the upper brain stem. The loss of dopaminergic neurons results in a gradual decrease of dopaminergic input to the striatum leading to the cardinal symptoms rigidity, tremor, hypokinesia and occasionally postural instability. One of the prospects for a curative treatment for PD is to replace the lost dopaminergic neurons by intracerebral transplantation. Grafting of fetal midbrain dopaminergic neurons into the dopamine-depleted striatum has thus emerged as an experimental therapeutic approach for PD. Preclinical and clinical trials have demonstrated that such fetal dopaminergic neurons have the potential to markedly improve motor function in animal models and PD patients. Over the last decades, approximately 400 PD patients have been grafted, and graft survival in the dopamine-depleted striatum, with substantial motor improvements, has been reported particularly in younger patients. However, looking across all the studies, where several different protocols and donor ages have been used, the symptomatic relief is inconsistent and not yet of a magnitude that would justify treatment at a large scale. Ethical concerns related to the use of human fetal brain tissue, shortage of suitable donor tissue and a poor survival of grafted dopaminergic neurons has stimulated the search for other reliable sources of donor material and development of applicable gene technological techniques for improving graft survival, differentiation and functional integration. Expanded midbrain precursor cells, predifferentiated human embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells as well as human neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells have been proposed as promising alternative sources of donor cells. In this chapter we will review current status and discuss crucial issues that remain to be resolved to develop cell replacement into an effective and safe therapy.
Stability of Flavonoids in the Presence of Riboflavin‐photogenerated Reactive Oxygen Species: A Kinetic and Mechanistic Study on Quercetin, Morin and Rutin

Kinetic and mechanistic aspects on the stability of the flavones (FL) quercetin (Que), morin (Mor) and rutin (Rut), in methanolic solution and in the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by visible light‐promoted riboflavin (Rf, vitamin B2) photoirradiation were studied. The system was chosen as a model for the evaluation of the in vivo protective effect of biological targets by the flavones. The overall picture includes the vitamin as an endogenous natural photosensitizer. A systematic study on the effect of ROS on FL photostability shows that under work conditions Que is oxidized by singlet molecular oxygen (O2(1Δg)), superoxide radical anion (O2˙−) and hydrogen peroxide; Mor is degraded by O2(1Δg) and O2˙− whereas Rut only reacts with O2(1Δg). Que and Rut, with an extremely poor overall rate constant, are mainly physical quenchers of O2(1Δg). Mor, with O2(1Δg)‐interception ability slightly lower than the recognized synthetic antioxidant trolox (Tx), behaves as a typical sacrificial scavenger provided that ca 80% of the collisions with O2(1Δg) cause its own degradation, whereas this parameter reaches around 50% in the case of Tx.
Accidental Firearm Fatalities During Hunting

&NA; Swedish legislation concerning firearms is highly restrictive. It is illegal to possess weapons (except airguns) without a license. From 1970 through 1982, there were 79 accidental firearm fatalities in Sweden. This number, corresponding to 0.074/100,000/year, is very low in comparison with similar statistics worldwide. Of these fatalities, 47 were associated with hunting and were studied carefully. Despite an increase in both the popularity of hunting and in licensing of weapons, no change in the number of accidents per year could be confirmed. Twenty‐nine accidents occurred during small game hunting, of which 24 involved shotguns, and 18 occurred during moose hunting. The mean age overall was 46 years. All victims and shooters were men. Most accidents occurred before noon and during the autumn. During moose hunting, the victim most commonly was either mistaken for game or was standing beyond game. During small game hunting, the most common reason for death was improper handling of the weapon. Firing of defective weapons caused at least 10 fatal accidents. Alcohol inebriation was uncommon. It is unlikely that more restrictive firearm legislation would further decrease the number of fatal accidents. Instead, we believe that accidental firearm fatalities during hunting can be prevented by safer and more careful handling of weapons, including unloading weapons before transporting them; by replacing older weapons with more modern and safer ones; and by not allowing children to handle weapons. No shots should be fired until it is clarified that the target really is a game animal, and when hunting with rifles, the fields of fire should be clarified beforehand. Shooters at stand must be instructed not to leave their stands until explicitly told to do so.
I-limit superior and limit inferior

In this paper we extend concepts of statistical limit superior and inferior (as introduced by Fridy and Orhan) to I−limit superior and inferior and give some I−analogue of properties of statis- tical limit superior and inferior for a sequence of real numbers. Also we extend the concept of the statistical core to I−core for a complex num- ber sequence and get necessary conditions for a summability matrix A to yield I−core {Ax }⊆I −core {x} whenever x is a bounded complex number sequence.
Examination of Stigmatizing Beliefs about Depression and Stigma-Reduction Effects of Education by Using Implicit Measures

Stigmatizing beliefs about depression have been viewed as a barrier to seeking professional treatments. To reconsider frameworks used in previous research, the present study utilized Brief Implicit Association Tests (BIATs) and examined the following two topics: (i) whether participants tend to hold dangerous beliefs about depression, and (ii) whether stigmatizing beliefs can be reduced through education. Japanese university students (48 women, 82 men; M age = 20.2yr.) voluntarily participated in the study and were randomly assigned to three conditions in which they received different educational texts (biomedical, psychosocial, and bio-psychosocial). Participants completed repeated assessments (baseline, post-education, and 4-wk. follow-up), in which they were administered BIATs measuring beliefs about being weak-willed and dangerousness of people with depression, along with explicit measures of blameworthiness, dangerous beliefs, and of other related variables. BIATs at baseline indicated that the participants did not tend to hold the belief about dangerousness. There was no significant reduction of beliefs about being weak-willed and dangerousness of people with depression, which were measured by BIATs, after reading the educational texts.
IL-21 Stimulates Human Myeloma Cell Growth through an Autocrine IGF-1 Loop

IL-21 is a member of the type I cytokine family related most closely to IL-2 and IL-15. IL-21 is a pleiotropic cytokine, produced by T, NKT, and dendritic cells, which modulates lymphoid and myeloid cell functions. Besides its activities on normal lymphoid cells, it has been shown that IL-21 is a growth factor for myeloma cells. In the present study, we demonstrate that IL-21 generated myeloma colonies from 9 of 24 human myeloma cell lines (HMCL) in a collagen-based assay. Of major interest, the capacity of IL-21 to stimulate clonogenicity was restricted to CD45− HMCL. We found that IL-21 induced tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT-3, STAT-1, and Erk1/2. Interestingly, an Akt activation was observed lately after 30 min to 1 h of IL-21 stimulation, indicating that this Akt phosphorylation could be due to an IGF-1 autocrine loop. This hypothesis was sustained both by the fact that IL-21 treatment induced an IGF-1 mRNA synthesis and that an antagonistic anti-IGF-1 receptor mAb (AVE1642) strongly inhibits the IL-21-induced clonogenicity. Thus, we demonstrated by quantitative PCR that IL-21 induced clonogenicity through an autocrine IGF-1 secretion in HMCL and primary myeloma cells. Because we have previously demonstrated that CD45 phosphatase inhibits the IGF-1 signaling, this inhibitory effect of CD45 explains why the IL-21-induced clonogenicity was restricted to CD45− HMCL. These results support that therapy against IGF-1R, which are presently under investigation in multiple myeloma, could be beneficial, not only to suppress IGF-1-mediated myeloma cell growth, but also IL-21-mediated myeloma cell growth.
Monitoring of basophil activation using CD63 and CCR3 in allergy to muscle relaxant drugs.

Allergic or pseudoallergic reactions that occur during anesthesia have been increasing for the last few years. To date, the diagnosis of allergy to muscle relaxants remains difficult. In this respect, we developed a flow cytometric method for the study of drug-induced basophil degranulation using CD63 and CCR3. Fifty patients who developed clinical features evocative of allergic reactions immediately after induction of anesthesia were included and classified into two groups. Group 1 (n = 39) comprised true allergic patients, who developed typical signs of shock associated to positive skin testing. Group 2 (n = 11) consisted of patients whose clinical history was not typical and skin testing was negative or nonconclusive. Seventeen control subjects were also studied in this report. We compared data from flow cytometry to skin tests, specific IgE, and histamine release results. Flow cytometry showed a sensitivity of 54%, while that of specific IgE was similar, at 62%. Interestingly, when considering the sensitivity of IgE + CD63 for diagnosis, we reached a sensitivity value of 80%. Of 15 negative results for specific IgE, we found 7 positive CD63 tests, while histamine release gave positive results in only 2 cases. Furthermore, the CD63 protocol showed good specificity (100%). We conclude that our flow cytometry protocol is a promising tool in allergy diagnosis since it is specific and complementary to specific IgE detection.
Against Identity Threat Demystifying Values-Affirmation Interventions : Writing About Social Belonging Is a Key to Buffering

Two experiments examined for the first time whether the specific content of participant-generated affirmation essays—in particular, writing about social belonging—facilitated an affirmation intervention’s ability to reduce identity threat among negatively stereotyped students. Study 1, a field experiment, revealed that seventh graders assigned to a values-affirmation condition wrote about social belonging more than those assigned to a control condition. Writing about belonging, in turn, improved the grade point average (GPA) of Black, but not White students. In Study 2, using a modified “belonging-affirmation” intervention, we directly manipulated writing about social belonging before a math test described as diagnostic of math ability. The more female participants wrote about belonging, the better they performed, while there was no effect of writing about belonging for males. Writing about social belonging improved performance only for members of negatively stereotyped groups. Implications for self-affirmation theory and practice are discussed.
Usefulness of home blood pressure measurement in the morning in type 1 diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE —Recently, repeated home blood pressure (HBP) measurements in the morning for a long period have been shown to have a stronger predictive power for mortality in patients with hypertension than occasional casual/clinic blood pressure (CBP) measurements. We studied whether HBP in the morning in type 2 diabetic patients is useful for prediction of diabetic complications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —The occurrence of diabetic complications (nephropathy, retinopathy, coronary heart disease [CHD], and cerebrovascular disease [CVD]) were examined in relation to morning HBP as well as to CBP in 170 type 2 diabetic patients treated with antidiabetic and antihypertensive drugs. Blood pressure was measured at the clinic during the day and at home after awakening in the morning. Clinic hypertension (CH) and morning hypertension (MH) were defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥130 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥85 mmHg. The relation of CH and MH to the prevalence of these events was examined. RESULTS —There were no significant differences in the prevalence of nephropathy, retinopathy, CHD, and CVD between the two groups with ( n = 131) and without CH ( n = 39), whereas the prevalences of these events in the patients with MH ( n = 97) were significantly higher ( P n = 73). The prevalence of nephropathy was highly associated with systolic MH. CONCLUSIONS —Elevations of HBP in the morning in diabetic patients are strongly related to microvascular and macrovascular complications, especially nephropathy. It is concluded that the control of MH may prevent vascular complications in type 2 diabetic patients.
Regulation of Snf1 Kinase

The yeast Snf1 kinase and its metazoan orthologues, the AMP-activated protein kinases, are activated in response to nutrient limitation. Activation requires the phosphorylation of a conserved threonine residue in the activation loop of the catalytic subunit. A phosphopeptide antibody was generated that specifically recognizes Snf1 protein that is phosphorylated in its activation loop on threonine 210. Using this reagent, we show that phosphorylation of threonine 210 correlates with Snf1 activity, since it is detected in cells subjected to glucose limitation but not in cells grown in abundant glucose. A Snf1 mutant completely lacking kinase activity was phosphorylated normally on threonine 210 in glucose-starved cells, eliminating the possibility that the threonine 210 modification is due to an autophosphorylation event. Cells lacking the Reg1 protein, a regulatory subunit for the Glc7 phosphatase, showed constitutive phosphorylation of Snf1 threonine 210. Exposure of cells to high concentrations of sodium chloride also induced phosphorylation of Snf1. Interestingly, Mig1, a downstream target of Snf1 kinase, is phosphorylated in glucose-stressed but not sodium-stressed cells. Finally, cells lacking the γ subunit of the Snf1 kinase complex encoded by the SNF4 gene exhibited normal regulation of threonine 210 phosphorylation in response to glucose limitation but are unable to phosphorylate Mig1 efficiently. Our data indicate that activation of the Snf1 kinase complex involves two steps, one that requires a distinct upstream kinase and one that is mediated by the γ subunit of the kinase itself.
Multilocus heterozygosity, parental relatedness and individual fitness components in a wild mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus population

Matings between relatives lead to a decrease in offspring genetic diversity which can reduce fitness, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. Because alpine ungulates generally live in small structured populations and often exhibit a polygynous mating system, they are susceptible to inbreeding. Here, we used marker‐based measures of pairwise genetic relatedness and inbreeding to investigate the fitness consequences of matings between relatives in a long‐term study population of mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) at Caw Ridge, Alberta, Canada. We first assessed whether individuals avoided mating with kin by comparing actual and random mating pairs according to their estimated genetic relatedness, which was derived from 25 unlinked polymorphic microsatellite markers and reflected pedigree relatedness. We then examined whether individual multilocus heterozygosity H, used as a measure of inbreeding, was predicted by parental relatedness and associated with yearling survival and the annual probability of giving birth to a kid in adult females. Breeding pairs identified by genetic parentage analyses of offspring that survived to 1 year of age were less genetically related than expected under random matings. Parental relatedness was negatively correlated with offspring H, and more heterozygous yearlings had higher survival to 2 years of age. The probability of giving birth was not affected by H in adult females. Because kids that survived to yearling age were mainly produced by less genetically related parents, our results suggest that some individuals experienced inbreeding depression in early life. Future research will be required to quantify the levels of gene flow between different herds, and evaluate their effects on population genetic diversity and dynamics.
Konow : A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories 1189

Jack Knetsch, and Richard Thaler 1986); resolution of social choice problems such as locating nuclear-waste facilities (Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Iris Bohnet, and Bruno Frey 1997); public-utility regulation (Edward Zajac 1985); and labor unemployment due to efficiency wages (e.g., George Akerloff and Janet Yellen 1990). The view that “By now we have substantial evidence suggesting that fairness motives affect the behavior of many people” (Ernst Fehr and Klaus Schmidt 1999) is expressed in mainstream economics. This contrasts with the traditional belief of many economists that justice is chimerical or amorphous. A more sympathetic stance placed it outside the domain of economics, better left to philosophers, political scientists, or sociologists. There has been a steady trend, however, of increasing interest in and acceptance of justice in the economics profession, even partially displacing efficiency.2 This is not to say, of course, that economists are or should be abandoning their traditional
LOW FREQUENCY MAGNETIC FIELDS INDUCED BY CAR TIRE MAGNETIZATION

Alternating magnetic fields have been measured in a variety of different cars, the dominant contribution being from magnetized tires. Magnetic field strengths have been measured as a function of frequency directly at the tires and at different positions in rolling cars. Measurements at the tires showed field strengths up to 100 microtesla (&mgr;T). In the interior of rolling cars, close to the wheels at foot regions and at the back seat, field strengths of several &mgr;T were obtained in the 10–200 hertz (Hz) frequency domain. In some cases measured field values were considerably higher than those found in previous studies. Purposely magnetizing single tires made it possible to study the influence of various parameters. Degaussed tires retained low field values over prolonged time under conditions of normal use.
Economic Integration and the Two Margins of Trade: The Impact of the Barcelona Process on North African Countries' Exports

According to recently developed models of trade based on imperfect competition and heterogeneous firms, lower trade costs increase bilateral trade, not only through a rise in the mean value of individual shipments (the intensive margin of trade), but also through an increase in the number of exporting firms (the extensive margin of trade). The main aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the effects of the EuroMediterranean (EuroMed) agreements on both margins of trade. Using highly disaggregated export data for four North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) over the 1995‐2008 period, we estimate the impact of the EuroMed agreements on both trade margins, thus providing empirical evidence about the validity of theoretical predictions. Our results show that North African countries enjoyed significant positive returns from the Barcelona Process, through increased exports of manufactured products to the four most populated continental countries in the European Union.