Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathogenesis and treatment of leukemia: an Asian perspective

Introduction: Leukemias occur worldwide, but there are important geographic differences in incidences. Areas covered: Three leukemias with special Asian perspectives, acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), T-cell large granular lymphocyte (T-LGL) leukemia and NK-cell leukemia. Expert opinion: In APL, China has made contributions in discovering the efficacy of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide. Some APL patients are potentially curable after treatment with ATRA or arsenic trioxide as a single agent. Combined treatment of APL with ATRA and arsenic trioxide induces remission with deeper molecular response. An oral formulation of arsenic trioxide is available, making outpatient treatment feasible. Future regimens for APL should examine how ATRA and arsenic trioxide can be optimally combined with other synergistic drugs. Asian patients with T-LGL leukemia present more frequently with pure red cell aplasia, but less frequently with neutropenia, recurrent infection, splenomegaly and rheumatoid arthritis as compared with Western patients. These differences have potential effects on treatment and disease pathogenesis. NK-cell leukemia is rapidly fatal and occurs almost exclusively in Asian and South American patients. Conventional anthracycline-based chemotherapy designed for B-cell lymphomas do not work in NK-cell leukemias. Novel therapeutic approaches targeting cellular signaling pathways or preferentially upregulated genes are needed to improve outcome.
Efficacy of chromium picolinate and chromium chloride as potential carcass modifiers in swine.

We conducted two experiments to evaluate the effects of chromium picolinate and chromium chloride (CrCl3) on growth performance, carcass composition, percentages and accretion rates of carcass tissues and chemical components, and blood metabolites in pigs. In Exp. 1, 35 individually penned pigs were fed a fortified, corn-soybean meal basal diet (.95% lysine) supplemented with 0, 200, or 400 micrograms/kg of Cr from chromium picolinate or 5,000 or 25,000 micrograms/ kg of Cr from CrCl3. Each diet was fed to seven pigs for 35 d (19.6 to 43.2 kg BW). Addition of 200 micrograms/kg of Cr from chromium picolinate increased ADG (P < .07) and ADFI (P < .03) but did not affect feed:gain ratio. Backfat measurements and longissimus muscle area were not affected by either source of Cr. The percentages of muscle, fat, bone, and skin from the right ham and the percentages of water, protein, lipid, and ash from the left carcass were not significantly altered by Cr. The addition of 200 micrograms/kg Cr from chromium picolinate increased (P < .07) the accretion rate of lipid in the carcass. In Exp. 2, 42 individually penned pigs (three from each of 14 litters) were fed a fortified, corn-soybean meal basal diet (.95% lysine from 19 to 55 kg; .80% lysine from 55 to 109 kg) without or with 200 micrograms/kg of Cr from chromium picolinate or 5,000 micrograms/kg of Cr from CrCl3. Dietary Cr addition had no effect on the performance or backfat measurements of the pigs; however, both sources of Cr increased (P < .07) longissimus muscle area. The percentages and accretion rates of muscle tissue were increased (P < .001) and the percentages of fat tissue were decreased (P < .001) in pigs fed Cr, with chromium picolinate being more effective than CrCl3 (P < .05). The percentages (P < .01) and accretion rates (P < .07) of carcass protein were increased and the percentages and accretion rates of carcass lipid were decreased (P < .04) in pigs fed Cr. No changes in blood metabolites occurred as a result of supplemental Cr in either experiment. These results suggest that chromium picolinate is more effective than CrCl3 and that Cr must be supplemented throughout the growing-finishing period to improve the carcass composition.
Adding Real-Time Bayesian Ranks to Error-Related Potential Scores Improves Error Detection and Auto-Correction in a P300 Speller

Brain-computer interface (BCI) spellers could improve access to communication for people with profound physical disabilities; however, improved speed and accuracy of these spellers is required to make them practical for everyday use. Here we introduce the combination of P300-speller confidence with the error-related potential (ErrP) to improve online single-trial error detection and correction accuracies in a BCI speller. First, we present a mechanism for obtaining P300-confidence using a real-time Bayesian dynamic stopping framework that makes novel use of additional stimuli that occur due to epoch and filter delays. Second, we propose an ensemble of decision trees to combine ErrP and P300-confidence features. Third, we describe the unique attentional differences between error and correct feedback in our spelling interface and discuss how these differences affect ErrP physiology. We tested online error detection on 11 typically developed adults using a BCI system trained on a previous day and found an average sensitivity of 86.67% and specificity of 96.59%. Automatic correction increased selection accuracy by 13.67% and utility grew by a factor of 4.48. We found, however, that the improved performance was primarily attributable to the inclusion of P300 confidence in error detection, calling into question the significance of single-trial ErrP detection.
Longitudinal Mediation Analysis with Time-varying Mediators and Exposures, with Application to Survival Outcomes

Abstract: 1 In this paper, we study the effect of a time-varying exposure mediated by a time-varying intermediate variable. We consider general longitudinal settings, including survival outcomes. At a given time point, the exposure and mediator of interest are influenced by past covariates, mediators and exposures, and affect future covariates, mediators and exposures. Right censoring, if present, occurs in response to past history. To address the challenges in mediation analysis that are unique to these settings, we propose a formulation in terms of random interventions based on conditional distributions for the mediator. This formulation, in particular, allows for well-defined natural direct and indirect effects in the survival setting, and natural decomposition of the standard total effect. Upon establishing identifiability and the corresponding statistical estimands, we derive the efficient influence curves and establish their robustness properties. Applying Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation, we use these efficient influence curves to construct multiply robust and efficient estimators. We also present an inverse probability weighted estimator and a nested non-targeted substitution estimator for these parameters.
[Effects of calcium way of Schwann cells on damage of peripheral nerve induced by acrylamide].

OBJECTIVE To explore the mechanism of Schwann cells on damage of peripheral nerve injured by acrylamide. METHODS (1) Animal model: the neurobehavior and pathologic changes within exposure and recovery period were observed. The changes of Synapsin-I and S-100beta were measured by immunohistochemical method. (2) Cell mode: in this study, primary culture of Schwann cells and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and the co-culture of the two cells were established before the test. The toxicity of ACR on nerve cells was measured by MTT. Intracellular calcium concentration was examined for the protection of Schwann cells. RESULTS Toxic symptoms of female were occurred obviously at cumulative dose (300-400 mg/kg). The reparative changes were found significantly after recovering 4 to 5 weeks. The signals of S-100beta were weakened after exposure. But within the extended recovery period, its positive signals were gradually increased in consistent with the decrease of toxic symptoms. The changes of Synapsin-I were consistent with that of S-100beta. Compared with non co-cultured neurons, co-cultured neurons have significant lower intracellular calcium concentration injured by acrylamide. CONCLUSION The calcium channel of Schwann cells effects on the repair of peripheral nerve which is injured by acrylamide and Synapsin-I may be a key role site.
Deposition of granular IgA relative to clinical lesions in dermatitis herpetiformis.

OBJECTIVE To compare the deposition of IgA and C3 in the skin of patients with active dermatitis herpetiformis relative to the sites of disease. DESIGN In the phase 1 study, skin biopsy specimens were obtained from erythematous perilesional skin, nonerythematous perilesional skin, and never-involved skin. In the phase 2 study, specimens from the nonerythematous perilesional and uninvolved skin from the same anatomic region were sampled. SETTING The Dermatology Clinic at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City. PATIENTS Patients with known dermatitis herpetiformis: 19 patients in the phase 1 study and 15 patients in the phase 2 study. Suppressive medications were stopped for 48 to 72 hours after biopsy specimens were obtained. All patients had active disease at the time that biopsy specimens were taken. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The intensity of IgA and C3 immunofluorescent staining in 6 sections from each skin biopsy specimen was graded by using a semiquantitative scale (0 to 3+) in a blinded fashion by a single observer. RESULTS Deposition of IgA was more intense in noninflamed perilesional skin in 11 of 19 patients compared with that in erythematous skin (P < .05). Erythematous skin was negative for IgA in 16% (3/19) of the specimens. Noninflamed perilesional skin showed more intense IgA deposition in 18 of 19 specimens compared with that in never-involved skin (P < .01); C3 was more intense in erythematous skin (P < .01). In the phase 2 study, skin from the same anatomic region revealed greater deposition of IgA near lesions in 12 of 15 patients (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS In patients with dermatitis herpetiformis, IgA is not uniformly distributed throughout the skin, and IgA is present in greater amounts near active lesions. The preferred biopsy site for the diagnosis of dermatitis herpetiformis is normal-appearing skin that is adjacent to an active lesion.
The Ionocraft: Flying Microrobots With No Moving Parts

Author(s): Drew, Daniel | Advisor(s): Pister, Kristofer S J | Abstract: Enabling a future full of insect-scale robots will require progress on a huge number of fronts, one of which is the development of mobility platforms designed to operate beyond the scaling frontier of commercially available solutions. The vast majority of researchers seeking to create functional centimeter-scale flying robots have turned towards biomimetic propulsion mechanisms, specifically flapping wings. In this work I take a very different tack, investigating a propulsion mechanism with no natural analogue --- electrohydrodynamic thrust. Electrohydrodynamics (EHD), specifically in the context of corona discharge based systems, has been a long studied and, until relatively recently, often poorly understood phenomenon. The beginning of this dissertation focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of the thrust mechanism. The bulk of my work has focused on developing proof of concept demonstrators for EHD at the meso-scale. Starting with rapidly prototyped materials and quickly moving to microfabricated electrodes, a series of prototypes elucidate the potential for EHD to yield high thrust-to-weight ratio fliers. Initial demonstrations have been backed up by more rigorous investigations of electrode geometric and density effects. Quadrotor systems begin to suffer from decreased performance at and below the centimeter scale, especially with regards to increasing demands on durability of rotory components (which may not exist at scale), efficiency of available DC motors, and propeller figures of merit. Simply replacing the rotors with EHD thrusters, however, allows us to sidestep some of the unfavorable scaling laws of propeller-based propulsion while maintaining the ability to transfer domain knowledge from the rich world of quadcopter design and control. Demonstrating repeatable takeoff and rudimentary (open-loop) attitude control is trivial with external power supplied to the simple quad-thruster design. Through a combination of design and methodology (e.g., with regards to assembly) improvements, functional EHD-based ``ionocraft'' can now be built in about half an hour, with near 100% success rate. Controlled flight is now within reach. Merely hovering with tethered power and an off-board controller is only the beginning. The final sections of this work outline a variety of paths forward, towards better performance of a meso-scale ionocraft, autonomous operation, and further miniaturization. Ultimately, I believe the future is bright for ionocraft. While electrohydrodynamics may not be the most power efficient mechanism, nor the easiest to grasp conceptually, it is certainly the simplest to design; put two asymmetric electrodes close to eachother, apply a high voltage, and away it goes! In the words of a respected professor, how hard could it be?
BREAST FEEDING: REASONS FOR GIVING UP AND TRANSIENT LACTATIONAL CRISES

ABSTRACT. A prospective study of the course of breast feeding was carried out in a group of 150 mothers. The reasons for terminating breast feeding before six months and the occurrence of transient lactational crises were recorded. 23% of mothers gave up breast feeding because of lactational difficulties. 12% stopped for external reasons and 65% carried on beyond six months. 36% of mothers experienced one or more transient lactational crises, which were successfully overcome by proper breast feeding techniques in a few days.
Mutation in yaaT Leads to Significant Inhibition of Phosphorelay during Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT In the course of a Bacillus subtilis functional genomics project which involved screening for sporulation genes, we identified an open reading frame, yaaT, whose disruptant exhibits a sporulation defect. Twenty-four hours after the initiation of sporulation, most cells of the yaaT mutant exhibited stage 0 of sporulation, indicating that the yaaT mutation blocks sporulation at an early stage. Furthermore, the mutation in yaaT led to a significant decrease in transcription from a promoter controlled by Spo0A, a key response regulator required for the initiation of sporulation. However, neither the level of transcription of spo0A, the activity of σH, which transcribes spo0A, nor the amount of Spo0A protein was severely affected by the mutation in yaaT. Bypassing the phosphorelay by introducing an spo0A mutation (sof-1) into the yaaT mutant suppressed the sporulation defect, suggesting that the yaaT mutation interferes with the phosphorelay process comprising Spo0F, Spo0B, and histidine kinases. We also observed that mutation of spo0E, which encodes the phosphatase that dephosphorylates Spo0A-P, suppressed the sporulation defect in the yaaT mutant. These results strongly suggest that yaaT plays a significant role in the transduction of signals to the phosphorelay for initiation of sporulation. Micrographs indicated that YaaT-green fluorescent protein localizes to the peripheral membrane, as well as to the septum, during sporulation.
Polyhydroxybutyrate as a drug carrier.

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) can be used as an alternative polymer to polylactide-glycolides for drug carrier production. It is a linear homopolymer biosynthesized by various strains of bacteria by condensation of D(-)-B-hydroxybutyric acid and used as an energy and carbon source. PHB can be obtained by extraction from bacteria or by chemical synthesis. To be suitable as drug carrier the polymer has to be biocompatible, biodegradable in certain applications, and nontoxic. PHB seems to be biocompatible and biodegrades readily to carbon dioxide in bacteria; however, in humans, the reports are few and contradictory. The polymer is nontoxic and its monomer seems to be tolerated well in relatively high concentrations. Possible applications include implants and i.m. -administered particulates for controlled release and i.v. -injected colloidal carriers for drug targeting.
Improved depth perception with three-dimensional auxiliary display and computer generated three-dimensional panoramic overviews in robot-assisted laparoscopy

Abstract. In comparison to open surgery, endoscopic surgery offers impaired depth perception and narrower field-of-view. To improve depth perception, the Da Vinci robot offers three-dimensional (3-D) video on the console for the surgeon but not for assistants, although both must collaborate. We improved the shared perception of the whole surgical team by connecting live 3-D monitors to all three available Da Vinci generations, probed user experience after two years by questionnaire, and compared time measurements of a predefined complex interaction task performed with a 3-D monitor versus two-dimensional. Additionally, we investigated whether the complex mental task of reconstructing a 3-D overview from an endoscopic video can be performed by a computer and shared among users. During the study, 925 robot-assisted laparoscopic procedures were performed in three hospitals, including prostatectomies, cystectomies, and nephrectomies. Thirty-one users participated in our questionnaire. Eighty-four percent preferred 3-D monitors and 100% reported spatial-perception improvement. All participating urologists indicated quicker performance of tasks requiring delicate collaboration (e.g., clip placement) when assistants used 3-D monitors. Eighteen users participated in a timing experiment during a delicate cooperation task in vitro. Teamwork was significantly (40%) faster with the 3-D monitor. Computer-generated 3-D reconstructions from recordings offered very wide interactive panoramas with educational value, although the present embodiment is vulnerable to movement artifacts.
Image 2 speech : Automatically generating audio descriptions of images

This paper proposes a new task for artificial intelligence. The image2speech task generates a spoken description of an image. We present baseline experiments in which the neural net used is a sequence-to-sequence model with attention, and the speech synthesizer is clustergen. Speech is generated from four different types of segmentations: two that require a language with known orthography (words and first-language phones), and two that do not (pseudo-phones and second-language phones). BLEU scores and token error rates indicate that the task can be performed with better than chance accuracy. Informal perusal of the output (phone strings, word strings, and synthesized audio) suggests that the audio contains complete, intelligible words organized into intelligible sentences, and that the most salient errors are caused by mis-recognition of objects and actions in the image.
Effect of anisotropy on characteristics and behavior of shear horizontal SAWs in resonators using langasite

Orientations of langasite (LGS) with Euler angles (0°, μ, 90°) are potentially useful for applications in wireless SAW sensors because of wide variation of their temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF), between -50 and +50 ppm/°C, combined with high values of electromechanical coupling coefficient, especially if thick electrodes are utilized. The nature and characteristics of shear-horizontally polarized SAWs (SHSAWs) propagating in these orientations are investigated using a combination of numerical techniques: analysis of the BAW slowness surface and its effect on the SH-SAW structure; visualization of displacements that follow wave propagation in the grating; calculation of admittance of infinite periodic gratings; and analysis of SAW dispersion in the gratings, including possible interaction between SH-SAWs and parasitic Rayleigh SAWs. The characteristics of SH-SAWs propagating in symmetric cuts (velocities, localization depth, electromechanical coupling, etc.) are supplemented by analysis of propagation directions deviating from the YZ-plane toward the x-axis of LGS, for the temperature compensated cut with Euler angles (0°, 22°, 90°) and one more orientation for comparison. This extended analysis reveals that in actual devices, the anisotropy may be a reason for strong interaction between SH-SAWs and parasitic Rayleigh SAWs and cause degradation of the device's performance.
Paravertebral Analgesia with Levobupivacaine Increases Postoperative Flap Tissue Oxygen Tension after Immediate Latissimus Dorsi Breast Reconstruction Compared with Intravenous Opioid Analgesia

BackgroundDirectly measured tissue oxygen tension (Pto2) reflects the adequacy of local tissue oxygenation and influences surgical wound healing. Epidural analgesia increases Pto2 compared with intravenous morphine analgesia after abdominal surgery. The authors tested the hypothesis that paravertebral regional anesthesia and analgesia would increase Pto2 compared with intravenous opioid-based anesthesia and analgesia. MethodsTwenty patients scheduled to undergo mastectomy with immediate latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction were randomized to receive either general anesthesia with postoperative intravenous morphine analgesia or combined general–paravertebral anesthesia with continuous paravertebral postoperative analgesia using levobupivacaine in this prospective, cohort study. All patients had a local tissue oxygen sensor implanted in the flap muscle. Data were downloaded continuously for 20 h postoperatively. ResultsThe mean Pto2 over the 20-h period was significantly higher in patients receiving paravertebral anesthesia (75 ± 38 vs. 44 ± 23 mmHg [mean ± SD]; P = 0.03). Intraoperative blood loss was less in paravertebral patients (1.2 ± 0.4 vs. 1.7 ± 0.5 l; P = 0.04). Dynamic visual analog scale pain scores were significantly lower in paravertebral patients. Intraoperative and postoperative fluids administered, hemoglobin, core temperature, intraoperative end-tidal carbon dioxide, and mean arterial pressure were similar in both groups. ConclusionThe postoperative latissimus dorsi flap Pto2 was higher for 20 h after breast reconstruction with paravertebral analgesia compared with intravenous morphine analgesia.
Ion release from a novel orthodontic resin bonding agent for the reduction and/or prevention of white spot lesions. An in vitro study.

OBJECTIVE To measure ion release from four sol-gel bioactive glass-containing orthodontic resin bonding agents (BAG-Bonds) following immersion into simulated body fluid (SBF) at pH values of 4 and 7. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four BAG-Bonds, two containing fluoride, were developed. Prepared in our laboratory, the BAG-Bonds were composed of a mixture of resin monomers and bioactive glasses (BAGs). Workability of the final BAG-Bonds determined the amount of filler added to each, and this varied according to BAG composition. Commercially available Transbond-XT was used as the control. Three disks (10 mm × 2 mm) of each material were individually suspended in 3.5 mL of SBF at pH 4 and pH 7. SBF was analyzed to measure pH and ions released at 1 hour, 10 hours, and 100 hours. Calcium was measured by atomic absorption analysis, phosphate by ultraviolet visible spectrometry, and fluoride by an ion-specific electrode. The data were compared using a three-way analysis of variance, with P ≤ . 05. RESULTS Significant differences in calcium and phosphate ion release were found between the four BAG-Bonds and the control at multiple time points. Significant changes in pH were also found. There was no measureable release of fluoride from any of the materials. CONCLUSIONS The BAG-Bonds showed the capacity for buffering acidic oral environments and significant release of calcium ions into their surrounding environment, and they hold the potential to be biomimetic bonding agents that may reduce white spot lesion formation.