Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk of relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia is related to RBC methotrexate and mercaptopurine metabolites during maintenance chemotherapy. Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.

PURPOSE During maintenance chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the cytotoxic metabolites of methotrexate (MTX polyglutamates) and mercaptopurine (6MP) (thioguanine nucleotides [6TGN]) accumulate intracellularly, including in erythrocytes (E-MTX and E-6TGN) with large interindividual variations. In the present Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (NOPHO) study, the relation of E-MTX and E-6TGN to relapse risk was explored. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hundred ninety-seven patients with non-B-cell ALL, aged 1 to 14 years, on oral MTX and 6MP had E-MTX and E-6TGN levels measured three to 35 (median, eight) and three to 75 (median, nine) times, respectively. For each patient, a mean of all E-MTX (mE-MTX) and E-6TGN (mE-6TGN) measurements was calculated, as well as the product of mE-MTX and mE-6TGN (mE-MTX-6TGN), since MTX and 6MP may have synergistic action. RESULTS For patients in remission, the median mE-MTX and mE-6TGN values were 4.7 nmol/mmol hemoglobin (Hgb) (range, 0.4 to 10.3) and 173 nmol/mmol Hgb (range, 58 to 846). With a median follow-up duration of 66 months for patients in remission, 64 patients relapsed. Cox regression analysis identified mE-MTX-6TGN and sex to be the most significant parameters to predict relapse (global P = .001). Factors that predicted a better prognosis were high mE-MTX 6TGN and female sex. Patients who had a mE-MTX-6TGN less than the product of the median mE-MTX and median mE-6TGN (813 [nmol/mmol Hgb]2) had a significantly poorer event-free survival (EFS) than did patients with higher values (5-year probability of EFS [pEFS5y], 0.70 v 0.86; P = .001). CONCLUSION The pharmacokinetics of MTX and 6MP may have significant influence on the risk of relapse. The value of dose adjustments by E-MTX and E-6TGN remains to be determined.
Calling um ... John or Calling John ! The perceptual effect of prosody in voice-activated system responses

In this paper we try to improve the humanmachine interaction of a voice-activated system by adding prosodic characteristics to the system. We focus on verbal hesitation, which is manifested by speech disfluencies. In humanhuman communication recent research shows that moderate disfluencies make speakers more credible. In addition, people tend to react more leniently to an erroneous answer, if the answer was given by the conversant in a hesitating manner, implying that the responding person is unsure of the correct answer. In this study we investigate the hypothesis that users will react in a similar way to voice activated systems. Specifically, we hypothesized that adding prosodic features to the system’s speech responses, will increase the user’s perception of the system credibility, his/her overall satisfaction and reduce frustration while using the system.
Molecular Basis of the Differential Sensitivity of Nematode and Mammalian Muscle to the Anthelmintic Agent Levamisole*

Levamisole is an anthelmintic agent that exerts its therapeutic effect by acting as a full agonist of the nicotinic receptor (AChR) of nematode muscle. Its action at the mammalian muscle AChR has not been elucidated to date despite its wide use as an anthelmintic in humans and cattle. By single channel and macroscopic current recordings, we investigated the interaction of levamisole with the mammalian muscle AChR. Levamisole activates mammalian AChRs. However, single channel openings are briefer than those activated by acetylcholine (ACh) and do not appear in clusters at high concentrations. The peak current induced by levamisole is about 3% that activated by ACh. Thus, the anthelmintic acts as a weak agonist of the mammalian AChR. Levamisole also produces open channel blockade of the AChR. The apparent affinity for block (190 μm at –70 mV) is similar to that of the nematode AChR, suggesting that differences in channel activation kinetics govern the different sensitivity of nematode and mammalian muscle to anthelmintics. To identify the structural basis of this different sensitivity, we performed mutagenesis targeting residues in the α subunit that differ between vertebrates and nematodes. The replacement of the conserved αGly-153 with the homologous glutamic acid of nematode AChR significantly increases the efficacy of levamisole to activate channels. Channel activity takes place in clusters having two different kinetic modes. The kinetics of the high open probability mode are almost identical when the agonist is ACh or levamisole. It is concluded that αGly-153 is involved in the low efficacy of levamisole to activate mammalian muscle AChRs.
Mast Cell Degranulation, Hepatic Glycogen Depletion, and Hyperglycemia in Compound 48/80 or Pilocarpine‐Treated Rats

Blood glucose, hepatic glycogen, and mean carotid blood pressure were determined in anesthetized Sprague‐Dawley rats receiving an i.v. infusion of Compound 48/80, pilocarpine, or Ringer's solution as a control. Histochemical determinations of the integrity and number of hepatic mast cells and hepatic glycogen content also were performed at the light microscopic level, and the results compared to those from rats whose livers were treated topically with each of these compounds. Compound 48/80 produced a marked decrease in mean carotid blood pressure, while pilocarpine produced a slight increase in this parameter. Injection of either Compound 48/80 or pilocarpine provoked an increase in blood glucose and a decrease in hepatic glycogen as well as in the number of hepatic mast cells. Infusion produced no change in glycogen within cardiac or skeletal muscle. The application of Compound 48/80 or pilocarpine to the surface of the liver evoked no alteration in the histochemical appearance of hepatic glycogen. However, the topical application of these substances elicited a significant decrease in the number of Falck‐Hillarp‐positive hepatic mast cells. Blood glucose was higher in rats that survived 30 min or more after injection of either compound. However, glucose levels were significantly higher in rats that survived 30 min or longer following Compound 48/80 infusion than in those surviving pilocarpine treatment. These results provide evidence that the i.v. injection of Compound 48/80 or pilocarpine causes: (a) hyperglycemia; (b) depletion of hepatic glycogen, and (c) a concomitant decrease in the number of Falck‐Hillarp‐positive mast cells. The degree of hyperglycemia appeared to correlate with the length of survival of the rats and to be independent of the hyper‐ or hypotensive effects elicited by either chemical.
The Effect of Service Quality on Banks Marketing Performance: An Empirical Investigation of Managers Perspectives

The aim of this empirical research is to examine the relationship between the service quality dimensions (functional and technical) and bank marketing performance in the banking sector of Jordan. The service quality and performance literatures were carefully reviewed from which theoretical gaps were found that needed more empirical investigation. Consistent with the majority of previous research, this research employed a quantitative method to test the research model and hypotheses. A questionnaire was designed to collect data in relation to the service quality and marketing performance at banks operating in Jordan. Based on a multi-item construct of the service quality and marketing performance, primary data were collected from 174 managers working for 21 banks during 2005. The effects of the service quality dimensions on banks marketing performance were examined by using descriptive and analytical statistical methods such as multiple and simple regression analyses. The results indicate that the functional and technical quality dimensions, collectively, are significantly and positively related to the banks marketing performance. The results also indicate that reliability and responsiveness, respectively, are the strongest predictors in explaining variations of the banks marketing performance assessed by financial, market and customer based criteria. The research results and findings also indicated that the service quality at banks should include two dimensions, namely; functional and technical quality. Further, the functional quality is still more important than the technical quality and has a stronger relationship with all the banks marketing performance indicators. The technical quality should be part of service quality at banks, because it has a positive and significant relationship with banks ROI. Finally, research findings, contributions, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.
Orientation Strategies in Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery

Objective: The aims of this study were to (1) describe the visual attention strategies employed by surgeons that are associated with high performance in reorientation and (2) identify key structures guiding attention deployment of the surgeon in the process of self-orientation in common clinical natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) scenarios. Background: Disorientation has been identified as one of the major barriers to be overcome before widespread clinical NOTES uptake. Understanding disorientation requires description of key perceptual-motor factors leading to disorientation, assessment of their relative impact, and quantification of navigation performance. Methods: Twenty-one surgeons were shown a series of 8 images acquired during human NOTES operations from the flexible endoscope from different perspectives to induce disorientation. Gaze behavior was recorded using an eye tracker as the subjects were asked to establish the image orientation. Main outcome measures were times taken to establish orientation, eye-tracking parameters, and fixation sequences on organs and structures/regions of interest (ROI). Results: High-performance subjects had a lower number of fixations and normalized dwell time per ROI compared with others, suggesting a more structured and focused approach to orientation. Orientation strategies associated with high performance were described using a validated algorithm for comparing visual reorientation behavior and amount of visual attention on individual ROIs in each scenario were quantified. Key areas of organs and structures during reorientation were illustrated using dwell time normalized visual maps. Conclusions: Targeted orientation strategies revealed in this study are expected to aid in decreasing the learning curve associated with NOTES and increase performance even for experienced surgeons and gastroenterologists. Crucially, these data can provide guidance for designing orientation friendly NOTES platforms.
Comparison of Fractional Erbium‐Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet and Carbon Dioxide Lasers in Resurfacing of Atrophic Acne Scars in Asians

BACKGROUND The efficacy of fractional erbium‐doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) and carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers are well substantiated. OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy and safety of these two laser systems for treatment of atrophic scars in dark‐skinned patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty‐four subjects with acne scars were randomly treated with a fractional Er:YAG laser on one side and a fractional CO2 laser on the other side. All subjects received two treatments with a 2‐month interval. Objective and subjective assessments were obtained at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months after the final treatment. RESULTS At the 6 month follow up, 55% and 65% of Er: YAG and CO2 laser sites, respectively, were graded as having more than 50% improvement of scars. Improvement progressed significantly from 1‐ to 6‐month follow‐up (p < .001). There was no significant difference in clinical improvement between the two systems at 1‐ (p = .90), 3‐ (p = .54), and 6‐month (p = .87) follow‐up. Reduction in scar volume corresponded to clinical evaluation. CONCLUSIONS Fractional Er:YAG and CO2 lasers provided comparable outcomes of scar treatment, but fractional CO2 laser was associated with greater treatment discomfort.
Obstacles to SME Growth in Peru: An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Labor Constraints on Firm Performance

Several studies have shown that access to finance is critical for firm growth, but scant research has demonstrated the impact of human capital constraints on firm performance. This study analyzes the impact of labor constraints on firm growth with an emphasis on small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). In Peru, SMEs play a critical role in the economy, accounting for nearly all businesses and employing over half of the active working population. According to the 2010 World Bank Enterprise Surveys, over one-third of all Peruvian firms cite an inadequately trained workforce as the major obstacle to growth. Using OLS regression analyses, this study investigates how human capital constraints affect firm performance and whether these effects vary by firm size. The findings of this analysis indicate the importance of looking beyond credit constraints to help fuel small business growth in developing countries. Complex labor regulations are found to have a negative impact on firm growth, with a larger effect on small businesses. These results have important policy implications for incentivizing governments to invest in long-term policies that benefit both the firm and the worker.
Shared Services in Finance and Accounting

Contents: List of figures List of tables Lists of abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction: why use shared services? Part I The Basis for Shared Services: Processes covered by shared service organizations The location of shared service organizations Benefits and obstacles to setting up a shared service organization IT for shared service organizations People - incentives, retention and training Performance measurement Service pricing and service level agreements The structure of shared service organizations. Part II Implementing Shared Services: Pre-assessment The feasibility study and business case Design Implementation Optimization. Afterword: Future Trends References and information sources Index.
Active branchial and ram gill ventilation in fishes.

1. Characteristics of cyclic breathing movements have been examined in a number of fish species at rest and during swimming acceleration to velocities above those sufficient to induce transfers from active to passive gill ventilation (ram gill ventilation). They were trained to swim in one of several types of swimming tunnels after electrode implants to permit recording of ECG's and ventilatory muscle EMG's.2. Transfer to the ram mode of gill breathing is marked by a drop-out of individual cyclic breathing movements as swimming increases from rest. When the swimming speed reaches about 65 cm· sec-1, most fish that use ram gill ventilation complete conversion to the ram mode (35 to 82 cm·sec-1, range of all fish tested). This is equivalent to an across-gill differential pressure of 2.1 cm H2O as measured with a combined impact-reverse pitot tube as an approximate model. Generally, a fish must be swimming to ram gill ventilate, but some exceptions are noted such as the shark-riding remoras.3. Control of the.
Parcel based classification for agricultural mapping and monitoring using multi-temporal satellite image sequences

In this paper, we propose a new approach to pixel and parcel-based classification of multi-temporal optical satellite imagery. We first restore missing data due to clouds and shadows based on vector and raster data fusion in different phases of classification methodology. Pixel-based classification maps are derived from an ensemble of neural networks, in particular multilayer perceptrons (MLPs). The proposed approach is applied for regional scale crop classification using multi-temporal Landsat-8 images for the JECAM site in the Kyivska oblast of Ukraine in 2013. The obtained results on crop area estimates are also compared to official statistics.
Modelling the transport of ionizing radiation using the finite element method

Radiation therapy treatment planning is based on the calculation of the absorbed dose in the patient domain. For exact dose calculations, the solution of three coupled Boltzmann transport equations (BTEs) is needed to cover the transport of photons, electrons and positrons. In many situations, however, two coupled systems for photons and electrons are enough. The use of numerical methods in finding the exact solution of the unknown particle fluxes is necessary. In the stationary case, the BTE has six variables, three spatial, two directional and one energy variable. In this paper, we describe an approach in which the finite element method (FEM) is used to solve the six-dimensional problem. For the coupled photon–electron system, the variational formulation and the existence and uniqueness of the solution are derived. We simulate the solution of two coupled BTEs describing the travelling of photons and electrons in two spatial dimensions. The results are compared to Monte Carlo calculations with good agreement.
Do financial markets discipline firms for illegal corporate behaviour

This paper examines the relationship between the discovery of illegal behaviour by companies on the stock price. It examines whether shareholders care about illegal corporate behaviour and punish companies by driving the stock price down. The empirical results show that stock prices react negatively on the announcement date of corporate malfeasance. We examine different impacts of the type of illegal behaviour, the level of misconduct, the phase and the magnitude.
Genetic analysis of age‐at‐onset traits based on case–control family data

Family studies are a useful alternative to twin studies for disentangling genetic and environmental effects on human diseases. However, although age‐at‐onset traits are often of interest, family‐based quantitative genetic analysis of such data is still not commonly used. One reason is that we need multiple random components to capture the genetic and environmental contributions, so it becomes hard to use the existing frailty models for correlated survival data. In this paper we consider the alternative accelerated failure‐time models with random effects. The method allows both left truncation and right censoring, and it can deal with an arbitrary family structure and multiple random components. For estimation we use the h‐likelihood procedure, which avoids the integration of the random effects in the marginal likelihood approach. To deal with large cohort data, we propose a case–control scheme, where we ascertain all families with at least two events and a subsample of control families. A pseudo‐h‐likelihood approach is used to analyse the ascertained data. We study the performance of the method using simulated data, and provide an illustration with analysis of melanoma in the Swedish population. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vigabatrin but not valproate prevents development of age‐specific flexion seizures induced by N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) in immature rats

In immature rats, N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) induces several seizure types: flexion seizures (FS; in rats younger than 3 weeks), clonic seizures (in animals older than 3 weeks), and clonic–tonic seizures (CTS; in rats of all ages). FS represent a model of human infantile spasms. Effects of vigabatrin and valproate against all types of NMDA‐induced seizures were studied in rats at postnatal days 12 (P12) and 25 (P25). NMDA (60 or 300 mg/kg) was injected to animals pretreated with vigabatrin (300–1,200 mg/kg; 24 h before NMDA) or valproate (100–400 mg/kg; 15 min before NMDA). Vigabatrin suppressed FS in P12 rats, but was ineffective against CTS in both age groups. Valproate suppressed CTS in P12, but not in P25 rats. Clonic seizures were rare in NMDA‐treated P25 rats, but valproate pretreatment increased their incidence significantly. Neither drug decreased NMDA‐induced mortality, which occurred within ∼15 min after NMDA administration and reached almost 100% in all groups.
Destabilizing Financial Advice: Evidence from Pension Fund Reallocations

We document a novel channel through which coordinated noise trading exerts externalities on financial markets dominated by institutional investors. We exploit a unique set of events where Chilean pension fund investors followed an influential financial advisory firm that recommended frequent switches between equity and bond funds. The recommendations, which mostly followed short-term trends, generated large and coordinated fund flows. These flows resulted in substantial price pressure and increased volatility in financial markets. Pension funds increased cash holdings as a response. Our findings suggest that giving retirement savers unconstrained reallocation opportunities may exert negative externalities on financial markets.
Te mporal integration for live conversational

The difficulty in detecting short asynchronies between corresponding audio and video signals demonstrates the remarkable resilience of the perceptual system when integrating the senses. Thresholds for perceived synchrony vary depending on the complexity, congruency and predictability of the audiovisual event. For instance, asynchrony is typically detected sooner for simple flash and tone combinations than for speech stimuli. In applied scenarios, such as teleconference platforms, the thresholds themselves are of particular interest; since the transmission of audio and video streams can result in temporal misalignments, system providers need to establish how much delay they can allow. This study compares the perception of synchrony in speech for a live two-way teleconference scenario and a controlled experimental set-up. Although methodologies and measures differ, our explorative analysis indicates that the windows of temporal integration are similar for the two scenarios. Nevertheless, the direction of temporal tolerance differs; for the teleconference, audio lead asynchrony was more difficult to detect than for the experimental speech videos. While the windows of temporal integration are fairly independent of the context, the skew in the audio lead threshold may be a reflection of the natural diversion of attending to a conversation.
On the optimality of public signals in the presence of private information

SYNOPSIS AND INTRODUCTION: Security regulation relies heavily on the public disclosure of information by firms. Mandated public disclosure has expanded beyond the traditional accounting statements to include information on a firm's segmental performance, competitive environment, RD Hirshleifer 1971; Marshall 1974; Ng 1975; OhIson and Buckman 1981), and many others have reported on how private information acquisition will change in response to the public signal (e.g., Gonedes 1980; Gonedes et al. 1976; Hakansson 1977; Lundholm 1991; Verrecchia 1982a). However, little attention has been focused on how welfare will change in response to public information, taking into account both the direct effect of the public signal and its indirect effect due to the change in private information acquisition. In this article, we present three different models designed to elucidate how the disclosure of public information can enhance the welfare of traders in a financial market when some or all traders also have access to costly private information. We begin our investigation by revisiting the work of Diamond (1985). In an economy where traders have the opportunity to acquire private signals about a single asset's payoff, Diamond shows that traders unanimously prefer the release of a public signal sufficiently precise to eliminate all private information acquisition. This is a potentially impor-