Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cetuximab for patients with colon cancer and hepatic metastasis complicated by liver dysfunction and icterus.

CASE REPORT A 65-year-old man with a chief complaint of hematochezia was diagnosed with cancer of the sigmoid colon in September 2007. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed multiple liver metastases. He was known to have pulmonary emphysema, but his medical history was otherwise unremarkable. He underwent sigmoidectomy on October 1, 2007, after having persistent anemia. The biopsy specimen revealed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. In November 2007, FOLFIRI (folinic acid [leucovorin]/5-fluorouracil [5-FU]/irinotecan) was started as first-line chemotherapy. After four cycles of FOLFIRI, a CT scan showed that the size of the multiple liver metastases remained stable. After 12 cycles, however, they progressed. In June 2008, second-line chemotherapy with FOLFOX (leucovorin/5-FU/oxaliplatin) was initiated. After four cycles of FOLFOX, the liver metastases appeared stable, without enlargement. After the eighth cycle of FOLFOX, the patient was admitted to Nagoya Kyoritsu Hospital with persistent fever. A CT scan at that time showed slightly enlarged liver metastases, but no other specific causes for the fever. He underwent several diagnostic tests, including blood cultures, which all turned out to be normal. The patient’s fever, therefore, was considered to be related to his tumor. He refused any treatment other than an antipyretic and was discharged. One month later, he was again admitted with general fatigue and anorexia. On admission, the patient’s enlarged liver was palpable 4 cm below the costal margin. A CT scan showed apparently enlarged liver masses in both the right and left lobes (Figure 1a-b). Laboratory data showed increased serum liver enzymes — aspartate transaminase (AST) 180 IU/L; alanine transaminase (ALT) 64 IU/L, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) 2,580 IU/L— and a total bilirubin of 2.6 mg/dL. KRAS status in the patient’s primary tumor specimen was evaluated using the Cycleave polymerase chain reaction method for codon 12, codon 13, and codon 16, which were found to have no mutations. In view of the patient’s deteriorated performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group PS 2) and liver dysfunction with icterus, we initiated cetuximab monotherapy (400 mg/m first dose, then 250 mg/m weekly) in December. After only two courses of chemotherapy, his performance status and fatigue improved, and we were able to continue cetuximab monotherapy on an outpatient basis. The treatment was generally well tolerated, though grade 2 skin toxicity was noted after two courses. After four courses of chemotherapy, a CT scan showed that the liver metastases were reduced in size (Figure 1c-d). Laboratory data showed a decrease in total bilirubin to 0.8 mg/dL and in liver enzyme levels (AST 45 IU/L, ALT 44 IU/L, LDH 208 IU/L). Irinotecan was added after the 10th course of cetuximab monotherapy, but his disease progressed after a total of 14 courses of cetuximab-based chemotherapy were administered. He received best supportive care until his death in June 2009.
The value relevance of information technology investment announcements: incorporating industry strategic IT role

This paper both confirms and extends the value relevance of information technology (IT) announcements found by K.S. Im et al. (2001) and B.L. Dos Santos et al. (1993). We extend their work by proposing that an overarching construct, the strategic IT role in an industry, accounts for the factors previously found to affect the stock market response to IT announcements. These results provide support for the value of capturing the nature of an industry's IT-related competitive maneuvering in studies striving to understand the conditions under which IT investments are likely to produce out-of-the-ordinary, positive returns.
The influence of viral, bacterial and parasitic infections on the development of neoplasia

tracted viral, bacterial and parasitic infections on one hand and development of tumours on the other. A relationship was proven between persistent infection with highly oncogenic types of human papilloma virus (HPV) and the development of precancerous lesions and uterine cervical cancer, a significant proportion of cancers of the anus, penis, vulva and vagina, and a lower proportion of cancers of the oral cavity and the larynx (infection with lowoncogenic types of the virus). It is estimated that around 54% of primary hepatic carcinomas worldwide (hepatocellular carcinoma – HCC) are directly linked to persistent infection with hepatitis type B virus (HBV) and 31% of the cancers result from persistent infection with hepatitis type C virus (HCV). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) induces increased morbidity due to certain malignant tumours. The index diseases for the acquired immune deficiency syndrome include Kaposi sarcoma, non-granulomatous lymphomas, primary cerebral lymphoma and carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), also known as human herpes virus (4-HH-4), induces Burkitt's lymphoma, but its DNA was also detected also in malignant granulomatosis and in tumours of nasopharynx. Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), particularly in certain regions of the globe, is linked to development of the T cell leukaemia. Among bacteria, relationships with cancer development are manifested by Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia trachomatis. The first has been classified as a group I carcinogen: chronic infection, with type A of H. pylori in particular, leading to gastric cancer and gastric lymphoma, Chlamydia trachomatis, and its serotypes G, I and D are thought to represent strong co-factors in development of cancer of the uterine cervix. The parasites with proven carcinogenic effects include Schistosoma haematobium, Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis. The common mechanism involves chronic inflammation which in the case of Schistosoma haematobium results in development of urothelial bladder cancers, particularly in certain endemic regions of the world. The remaining two parasites, particularly in eastern Asia endemically lead to cancers of the biliary ducts.
A Compact Microstrip Phase Shifter Employing Reconfigurable Defected Microstrip Structure (RDMS) for Phased Array Antennas

A compact phase shifter using reconfigurable defected microstrip structure (RDMS) is proposed for phased array antennas. A complete phase shifter design scheme that serves as an engineering guidance is described. Stepwise phase shifters that have phase-shifting ranges of 90° and 180° with a step size of 45° are designed, fabricated, and tested. The experimental results demonstrate that the size, maximum insertion loss of the phase shifters, and the quantity of the lumped elements are reduced by 80%-90%, 25%-30%, and 50%, respectively, compared to our previous work. Subsequently, a four-element phased array is built employing such RDMS-based phase shifters, realizing a size reduction of 55% in the array size. The measurement results show that the phased array antenna is able to switch its main beam between -15°, 0°, and 15° in the H-plane, with the average realized gain around 10 dBi.
Suppressors of Cleavage-Site Mutations in the p62 Envelope Protein of Semliki Forest Virus Reveal Dynamics in Spike Structure and Function

ABSTRACT The E2 spike glycoprotein of Semliki Forest virus is produced as a p62 precursor protein, which is cleaved by host proteases to its mature form, E2. Cleavage is not necessary for particle formation or release but is necessary for infectivity. Previous results had shown that phenotypic revertants of cleavage-deficient p62 mutants are generated, and here we show that these may contain second-site suppressor mutations in the vicinity of the cleavage site. These hot-spot sites were mutated to abolish the generation of such suppressor mutations; however, secondary mutations in another distant domain of the E2 protein appeared instead, all of which still caused cleavage-deficient mutations. Such mutants grew very poorly and were inefficient in virus entry and release. The mutated sites define domains of the spike protein which probably interact to regulate its structure and function. Because of their highly attenuated phenotype and the lower probability of reversion, the new mutations close to the cleavage site were used to make new helper vectors for packaging of recombinant RNA into infectious particles, thus increasing further the biosafety of the vector system based on the Semliki Forest virus replicon.
The use of chronic gingivitis as reference status increases the power and odds of periodontitis genetic studies: a proposal based in the exposure concept and clearer resistance and susceptibility phenotypes definition.

AIM Current literature on chronic periodontitis genetics encompasses numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms-focused case-control studies with inconsistent and controversial results, which typically disregards the exposure concept embraced by case-control definition. Herein, we propose a case-control design reappraisal by clear phenotype selection, where chronic gingivitis represents a genetically resistant phenotype/genotype opposing the susceptible cohort. MATERIAL AND METHODS The hypothesis was tested in healthy, chronic periodontitis and gingivitis groups through Real-time PCR-based allelic discrimination of classic variants IL1B-3954, IL6-174, TNFA-308, IL10-592 and TLR4-299. RESULTS Observed allele/genotype frequencies characterize the healthy group with an intermediate genetic profile between periodontitis and gingivitis cohorts. When comparing genotype/allele frequencies in periodontitis versus healthy and periodontitis versus gingivitis scenarios, the number of positive associations (2-4) and the degree of association (p and odds ratio values) were significantly increased by the new approach proposed (periodontitis versus gingivitis), suggesting the association of IL1B-3954, TNFA-308, IL10-592 and TLR4-299 with periodontitis risk. Power study was also significantly improved by the new study design proposed when compared to the traditional approach. CONCLUSIONS The data presented herein support the use of new case-control study design based on the case-control definition and clear resistance/susceptibility phenotypes selection, which can significantly impact the study power and odds of identification of genetic factors involved in PD.
Renal cell carcinoma with isolated breast metastasis

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a highly prevalent disease worldwide with many cases being metastasised to various organs during the time of initial presentation. Metastatic RCC to the breast is a rare entity and can mimic primary breast carcinoma. In this article, we present a 63-year-old Caucasian woman presented with a breast mass that was detected by screening mammography and found to have a biopsy proven grade-II clear RCC in the breast tissue. Despite the high incidence and prevalence of primary breast cancer, metastasis from extramammary should be suspected in patients with a prior history of other cancers. In this brief literature review, we also highlight the survival benefit from surgery and close follow-up in selected group of patients with metastatic, metachronous and solitary RCC.
BVF: Enabling Significant On-Chip Power Savings via Bit-Value-Favor for Throughput Processors

Power reduction is one of the primary tasks for designing modern processors, especially for high-performance throughput processors such as GPU due to their high power budget. In this paper, we propose a novel circuit-architecture co-design scheme to harvest enormous power savings for GPU on-chip SRAM and interconnects. We propose a new 8T SRAM that exhibits asymmetric energy consumption for bit value 0/1, in terms of read, write and standby. We name this feature Bit-Value-Favor (BVF). To harvest the power benefits from BVF on GPUs, we propose three coding methods at architectural level to maximize the occurrence of bit-1s over bit-0s in the on-chip data and instruction streams, leading to substantial chip-level power reduction. Experimental results across a large spectrum of 58 representative GPU applications demonstrate that our proposed BVF design can bring an average of 21% and 24% chip power reduction under 28nm and 40nm process technologies, with negligible design overhead. Further sensitivity studies show that the effectiveness of our design is robust to DVFS, warp scheduling policies and different SRAM capacities. CCS CONCEPTS • Computer systems organization → Single instruction, multiple data; • Hardware → Static memory; Power estimation and optimization; Dynamic memory;
Perceived needs, psychological distress and quality of life of elderly cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE Very few findings regarding the perceived needs of elderly cancer patients have been reported. This study investigated needs and psychological distress perceived by and/or quality of life of elderly cancer patients. METHODS Randomly selected ambulatory patients with cancer participated in this study. The patients were asked to complete the Short-form Supportive Care Needs Survey questionnaire, which covers five domains of need (health system and information, psychological, physical, care and support, and sexual); the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C 30. RESULTS Complete data were available for 619 cancer patients, including 113 subjects who were over 70 years old. The needs and the psychological distress perceived by the elderly patients were comparable with those perceived by relatively younger patients, although elderly patients perceived fewer sexual needs. Regarding the quality of life global health status, most symptom-related quality of life parameters were not significantly different between the two groups, while significant differences were observed with regard to several functional domains, including physical, emotional and social domains in addition to financial difficulties. CONCLUSIONS Only a few differences in the needs and the psychological distress perceived by patients existed between the elderly and the younger subjects, although some differences in the quality of life domains were noted, probably as a result of the influence of aging itself. Medical staff should provide elderly cancer patients with good clinical care similar to that provided to younger patients while considering the different impacts of aging on each quality of life dimension.
Emotional adjustment of newly blinded soldiers.

One hundred and fifty newly blinded soldiers were given a thorough psychiatric evaluation of their previous civilian and military background and their emotional response to their disability. Of this number, 59% were found to be well adjusted to their blindness; 18% were definitely mal-adjusted; and 23% showed mild or borderline symptoms. The criteria for an adequate adjustment in the newly blinded soldier were a complete freedom from anxiety, depression, or undesirable aggressive behavior, or other psychiatric symptoms; a realistic acceptance of their disability; an appreciation of the need to undergo orientation and rehabilitation procedures; and a definite motivation towards the reestablishment of themselves as useful and productive citizens. Maladjustment appeared in the form of anxiety symptoms, mood disturbances, aggressive behavior, excessive dependency and apathy, unrealistic attitudes, guilt reactions, and mental confusion with memory difficulty. These abnormal responses were determined by preexis.
Individual trajectories of cognitive decline in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

The course of decline was studied in 16 patients with probable or definite dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) over 2.7 to 6.8 years from first to last evaluation. Overall severity of dementia was measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), at approximately annual intervals. An initial plateau phase, during which language and cognitive functions did not change for periods of 9 to 35 months, was observed in 5 patients who initially had an isolated memory impairment without significant impairment of nonmemory language or visuospatial function. Once nonmemory functions began to decline, the rate of decline was remarkably steady in most individual patients but varied markedly among patients. The initial rate of decline after the plateau phase, as measured with the WAIS and DRS, was a significant predictor of subsequent rate in individual patients (r = .66, p less than .01, and r = .67, p less than .01, for the WAIS and DRS, respectively). The MMSE was a less reliable measure of longitudinal change in dementia severity and did not predict future rates of decline (r = .29). These results demonstrate a biphasic trajectory of decline in patients with DAT. Stable interindividual differences in rate of decline may provide a basis for designing more sensitive studies of treatments intended to slow or halt the progress of DAT.
Physical and functional interactions between protein tyrosine phosphatase alpha, PI 3-kinase, and PKCdelta.

The somatostatin analogue, TT-232 inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in a variety of tumor cells both in vivo and in vitro. While the early transient activation of Erk/MAPK was found to be important for the induction of cell cycle arrest, the signaling pathway leading to the activation of Erk/MAPK had not been fully established. Here we present evidence that activation of the Erk/MAPK pathway by TT-232 involves PI 3-kinase, PKCdelta and the protein tyrosine phosphatase alpha (PTPalpha). We show a physical interaction of PI 3-kinase and PKCdelta with PTPalpha and show that the tyrosine phosphatase plays a role in the activation of MAPK. In this process, PTPalpha Ser-180 and Ser-204 phosphorylation is critical for the induction of phosphatase activity, which is required for dephosphorylation of pp60(c-src). Taken together, we demonstrate the physical and functional association between PI 3-kinase, PKCdelta and PTPalpha in a signaling complex that mediates the antitumor activity of the somatostatin analogue TT-232.
Levofloxacin Treatment Failure in a Patient with Fluoroquinolone‐Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Pneumonia

The frequency of fluoroquinolone‐resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae has increased as fluoroquinolone administration for treatment of respiratory tract infections has increased. Levofloxacin treatment failed in a patient who had pneumococcal pneumonia and had received three previous courses of levofloxacin therapy. Susceptibility testing revealed high‐level resistance to levofloxacin (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] > 32 μg/ml), and cross‐resistance to moxifloxacin (MIC 4 μg/ml), trovafloxacin (6 μg/ml), and gatifloxacin (12 μg/ml). Sequencing of the quinolone‐resistance determining region revealed a mutation of serine‐81 to phenylalanine (Ser81→Phe) in the gyrA region of DNA gyrase and a Ser79→Phe mutation in the parC region of topoisomerase IV. The patient was treated successfully with intravenous ceftriaxone followed by oral cefprozil. Clinicians must be aware of local resistance patterns and the potential for fluoroquinolone treatment failures in patients with infections caused by S. pneumoniae.
Unintended pregnancy and the changing demography of American women, 1987–2008

BACKGROUND In 1987, the U.S. unintended pregnancy rate was 59 per 1,000 women aged 15–44; the rate fell to 54 in 2008. Over this period, American women experienced dramatic demographic shifts, including an aging population that was better educated and more racially and ethnically diverse. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explain trends in unintended pregnancy and understand what factors contributed most strongly to changes in rates over time, focusing on population composition and group-specific changes. METHODS We used the 1988 and 2006–10 waves of the National Survey of Family Growth and employed a decomposition approach, looking jointly at age, relationship status, and educational attainment. RESULTS When we decomposed by the demographic factors together, we found that changes in population composition contributed to an increase in the overall rate, but this was more than offset by group-specific rate declines, which had an impact nearly twice as great in the downward direction. Increases in the share of the population that was cohabiting and the share that was Hispanic were offset by declines in rates among married women. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that a combination of compositional shifts and changes in group-specific rates drove unintended pregnancy, sometimes acting as counterbalancing forces and at other times operating in tandem.
Comparison between CVS and early amniocentesis

Cederholm and Axelsson’s (1997) paper on the relative value of first-trimester transabdominal chorionic villus sampling (CVS) over early secondtrimester amniocentesis (EA) for prenatal diagnosis (PND) is at variance with most published results (Hansen et al., 1992; Henry and Miller, 1992). In Cederholm and Axelsson’s report, in a series of 147 amniocenteses, spontaneous loss followed in 6·8 per cent and repeats reached 19·0 per cent. (On the other hand, ambiguous results were obtained in 4·6 per cent in the CVS series of 174 cases, against 0·7 per cent in EA material; the repeat rate was 5·2 per cent; and fetal loss occurred in 1·7 per cent.) With such values, it is not surprising that CVS appeared to fare better than amniocentesis. However, this is not the experience of the large majority of PND centres. In our lab, for instance, in a series of 1012 amniotic fluids studied in 1996, the 131 collected at 10–13 weeks’ pregnancy performed much better: spontaneous loss followed in 0·8 per cent of the cases and the success rate was 99·2 per cent, with a mean culture time and result of 10·1 days. It would be interesting to try and detect the parameters for such a discrepancy: there will certainly be differences in the structure of the material from each series, which should be thoroughly analysed. We also put much emphasis on the experience of the person doing the EA sampling, on an exact estimation of gestational age, and on the lab’s technique and ability. From our point of view, in agreement with the majority of authors, under good conditions amniocentesis is still safer and performs better than CVS. We have little experience of CVS, but even comparing our EA data with Cederholm and Axelsson’s CVS data, we do not feel it acceptable to perform a similar comparative study, since our abortion risk is so small after EA and the physician gets correct information within 7–10 days after sampling. In our opinion, the results published by the MRC Working Party (1991) remain a useful guideline for people working in this field.
Death anxiety in Malaysian and Australian university students.

Abstract Reported death anxiety in Malaysian and Australian individuals was compared. The Malaysian subjects were 125 university students residing in Australia, and the Australian subjects were 159 students at the same institutions. As predicted, Australian students had significantly, but only slightly, higher death anxiety scores than Malaysian students. Females had significantly higher death anxiety scores than males in both samples. The findings are explained in terms of factors in Eastern cultures that more effectively control fear of death.