Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic significance of Bcl-2 protein expression and Bcl-2 gene rearrangement in diffuse aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The prognostic significance of Bcl-2 protein expression and bcl-2 gene rearrangement in diffuse large cell lymphomas (DLCL) is controversial. Bcl-2 protein expression prevents apoptosis and may have an important role in clinical drug resistance. The presence of a bcl-2 gene rearrangement in de novo DLCL suggests a possible follicle center cell origin and perhaps a distinct clinical behavior more akin to low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of Bcl-2 protein expression and bcl-2 gene rearrangement (mbr and mcr) on survival of a cohort of patients with DLCL who were uniformly evaluated and treated with effective chemotherapy. Patients included the original MACOP-B cohort (n = 121) and the initial 18 patients treated with the VACOP-B regimen (total = 139). All patients had advanced-stage disease, were 16 to 70 years old, and corresponded to Working Formulation categories F, G, or H. No patients had prior treatment, discordant lymphoma, or human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity. Paraffin sections from diagnostic biopsies were analyzed for bcl-2 gene rearrangement including mbr and mcr breakpoints by polymerase chain reaction and Bcl-2 protein expression by immunohistochemistry. With a median follow-up of 81 months, overall (OS), disease-free (DFS), and relapse-free survival (RFS) were measured to determine the prognostic significance of these parameters. Analyzable DNA was present in 118 of 139 (85%) cases, with 14 demonstrating a bcl-2 rearrangement (11 mbr, 3 mcr). All 14 of these bcl-2 gene rearrangement-positive cases were found in the 102 patients with a B-cell immunophenotype, but the presence of this rearrangement had no significant influence on survival. Bcl-2 protein expression was interpretable in 116 of 139 (83%) cases, with immunopositivity detected in 54 of 116 (47%). Using a cut-off of greater than 10% Bcl-2 immunopositive tumor cells for analysis, positive Bcl-2 protein expression was seen in 28 of 116 (24%) patients and the presence of this expression correlated with decreased 8-year OS (34% v 60%, P < .01), DFS (32% v 66%, P < .001), and RFS (25% v 59%, P < .001). Bcl-2 protein expression remained significant in multivariate analysis that included the clinical international prognostic index factors and immunophenotype (P < .02). In conclusion, although bcl-2 gene rearrangement status could not be shown to have an impact on outcome, Bcl-2 protein expression is a strong significant predictor of OS, DFS, and RFS in DLCLs.
Comparison of classic laryngeal mask airway with Ambu laryngeal mask for tracheal tube exchange: A prospective randomized controlled study

Background and Aim: Exchanging endotracheal tube (ETT) with classic laryngeal mask airway™ (CLMA™) prior to emergence from anaesthesia is a safe technique to prevent the coughing and haemodynamic changes during extubation. We had compared CLMA™ and AMBU laryngeal mask™ (ALM™) during ETT/laryngeal mask (LM) for haemodynamic changes and other parameters. Methods: A total of 100 American Society of Anesthesiologist Grade I and II adult female patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia were selected and randomly divided into two groups of 50 patients each. In Group I, CLMA™ and in Group II, ALM™ was placed prior to tracheal extubation. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded during ETT/LM exchange. Glottic view was seen through the LM using flexible fibrescope. Coughing/bucking during removal of LM, ease of placement and post-operative sore throat for both groups were graded and recorded. Statistical Analysis: Data within the groups was analysed using paired t-test while between the groups was analysed using unpaired t-test. Chi-square test was used to analyse grades of glottic view, coughing, and post-operative sore throat. Results: In Group I, there was a significant rise in systolic blood pressure and heart rate in contrast to insignificant rise in Group II. Glottis view was significantly better in Group II. Incidence of coughing, ease of placement and post-operative sore throat was identical between both groups. Conclusion: ALM™ is superior to CLMA™ for exchange of ETT before extubation due to greater haemodynamic stability during exchange phase and is better positioned.
Cost per patient-year in response using a claims-based algorithm for the 2 years following biologic initiation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract Objective: To estimate cost per patient-year in response during 2 years following biologic initiation among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Adults newly initiating biologics for RA (etanercept, abatacept, adalimumab, certolizumab, golimumab, or infliximab) between January 2009 and July 2011 were identified in the MarketScan Commercial Database. Eligible patients were continuously enrolled 6 months before (pre-index) and 24 months after (post-index) their first (index) biologic claim. Biologic effectiveness was assessed using six criteria during 2-year follow-up: treatment adherence ≥80%, no biologic dose escalation, no biologic switch, no new disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, no new/increased glucocorticoid dose, and limited intra-articular joint injections (≤2). After a 90-day period of non-response for a treatment failure, effectiveness or failure of subsequent treatment was assessed again for the index biologic or new biologic (after switching). Post-index RA-related medical, pharmacy, and drug administration costs were attributed to the index biologic. Cost per patient-year in response was calculated as RA-related costs divided by duration of response. Results: Overall, 15.0% of patients (1229/8193) did not fail any criterion for 2 years and were effectively treated. Mean duration of response was highest for etanercept (538.3 days), followed by golimumab (537.0 days; p = 0.864), adalimumab (534.7 days; p = 0.301), certolizumab (524.0 days; p = 0.165), infliximab (480.0 days; p < 0.001), and abatacept (482.3 days; p < 0.001). Total disease-related cost per patient-year in response was lower for patients initiated on etanercept ($25,086) than for patients initiated on adalimumab ($25,960), certolizumab ($26,339), golimumab ($26,332), abatacept ($35,581), or infliximab ($36,107). Limitations: This study was limited to employer-paid commercial insurance. Database analyses cannot determine reasons for failing criteria. The algorithm was not designed and validated for 2 years of follow-up. Conclusions: An effectiveness algorithm estimated that initiating etanercept was the most effective treatment during 2 years of follow-up, with the lowest cost per patient-year in response.
Corporate Governance Disclosure Index–Executive Pay Nexus: The Moderating Effect of Governance Mechanisms

This paper first employs principal component analysis technique to develop and introduce an alternative UK corporate governance disclosure index to the US‐centric ones. Second, we then investigate whether this new corporate governance disclosure index can determine the level of executive pay (including CEOs, CFOs, and all executive directors) in UK listed firms, and consequently ascertain whether the governance mechanisms can moderate the pay‐for‐performance sensitivity. Employing data on corporate governance, executive pay and performance from 2008 to 2013, we find that, on average, better‐governed firms tend to pay their executives lower compared with their poorly‐governed counterparts. Additionally, our findings suggest that the pay‐for‐performance sensitivity is generally positive, but improves in firms with high corporate governance quality, implying that the pay‐for‐performance sensitivity is contingent on the quality of internal governance structures. We interpret our findings within the predictions of optimal contracting theory and managerial power hypothesis.
Conditions that elevate intracellular cyclic AMP levels promote spore formation in Dictyostelium.

We have been using sporogenous mutants of Dictyostelium discoideum strain V12M2 to study regulation of cell fate during terminal differentiation of spores and stalk cells. Analyses of intracellular cAMP accumulation, cAMP secretion, cAMP binding to cell surface receptors, and chemotactic sensitivity to exogenous cAMP during aggregation showed that all of these functions were identical in V12M2 and HB200, a sporogenous mutant. We used several methods of altering intracellular cAMP levels in HB200 cells to test the hypothesis that intracellular cAMP levels affect cell fate. First, HB200 amoebae were treated with 5 mM caffeine for 4 h during growth, washed, and allowed to develop in the absence of caffeine. Treated cells had normal levels of intracellular cAMP and adenylate cyclase activities at the beginning of differentiation; by 6 h development, they contained two to three times more intracellular cAMP and two times more GTP-dependent adenylate cyclase activity than untreated cells. However, their level of basal Mn++-dependent adenylate cyclase activity was the same as untreated controls. Thus, treatment of growing HB200 amoebae with caffeine for only 4 h leads to hyperinduction of a GTP-dependent regulator (or inhibition of a negative regulator) of adenylate cyclase during subsequent differentiation, without induction of basal activity. The fraction of amoebae forming spores increased twofold when HB200 amoebae were treated with caffeine during growth. Spore (but not stalk cell) differentiation by such treated cells was blocked by inhibitors of cAMP accumulation. Second, cells grown on nutrient agar accumulated higher levels of intracellular cAMP and formed more spores in vitro than cells grown in shaken suspension. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Controlled Exposures of Healthy and Asthmatic Volunteers to Concentrated Ambient Fine Particles in Los Angeles

Information about health effects from controlled exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution is relatively limited but potentially critical in urban locations such as Los Angeles, where abundant mobile sources generate combustion-related particles. Nonsmoking healthy (n = 12) and asthmatic (n = 12) volunteers, age 18-45 yr, were exposed to concentrated ambient particulates (CAP) in the fine (PM 2.5) size range at an average concentration of 174 µg/m 3 (range 99-224), and to filtered air (FA). Exposures used a two-stage Harvard virtual-impactor concentrator and whole-body chamber and lasted 2 h with alternating rest-exercise periods. Neither group showed significant (p < .05) changes in spirometry or routine hematologic measurements attributable to CAP exposure, relative to FA. Both groups showed CAP-related decreases of columnar cells in postexposure induced sputum, slight changes in certain mediators of blood coagulability and systemic inflammation, and modest increases in parasympathetic stimulation of heart rate variability. Systolic blood pressure decreased in asthmatics and increased in healthy subjects during CAP exposure relative to FA. Cardiovascular (but not respiratory) symptoms increased slightly with CAP in both groups. In summary, the urban fine PM exposures elicited different biologic endpoints with statistically significant differences between CAP and FA. The observed changes in blood inflammation and heart-rate variability were consistent with systemic (rather than respiratory) effects reported from other laboratory and epidemiologic studies. Further studies involving other biologic endpoints, PM size modes, and risk factors will be needed to clarify these results.
Companion Bills and Cross-Chamber Collaboration in the U.S. Congress

The U.S. House and Senate were designed to have an adversarial relationship. Yet, House members and senators often collaborate on the introduction of “companion” bills. We develop a theory of these cross-chamber collaborations, which asserts that companion bill introductions are driven by legislators’ desire to increase the probability of bill passage and the relational difficulties in developing companion bill partnerships. To test the expectations emerging from our theory, we develop a novel data set of every companion bill introduction in the 111th and 112th U.S. Congress. Then, using social networking techniques, we develop an empirical model of partner selection in companion bill introduction. Our results are supportive of our expectations, and suggest that companion bills are more likely to survive chamber deliberation and are typically introduced by senior members with secure electoral margins.
Do Italians Really Do it Better? Evidence of Migrant Pay Disparities in the Top Italian Football League

This study contributes to research on migrant pay disparities by analysing the impact of players' domestic/foreign status on performance-based pay offered to professional footballers, to understand if foreign players benefit from a preferential labour market. We used information from publicly available data of 275 footballers who played for two consecutive seasons in the Italian league Serie A. We found that the relationship between previous and current performance was partially mediated by the current salary. This result reinforced earlier findings on the pay-performance relationship, where seasonal performance is particularly relevant. Moreover, our results show that pay discrimination does not indicate a straightforward (dis)advantage for one group, but presents a more complex picture. We have examined possible underlying reasons for these disparities and offered suggestions for further research. We conclude by discussing how clubs and managers could consider incentives to strengthen pay-performance relationships by being sensitive to the complex influence of players' origins.
Sense of connection, identity and academic success in distance education: sociologically exploring online learning environments

ABSTRACT Online learning increasingly embodies distance education as a flexible delivery mode in higher education in Australia and beyond. Attractive to adult learners, among others, its market advantages are well-documented, as are its challenges which vary by degree and technological delivery style. Nevertheless, for geographical reasons, notably rurality/remoteness, and caring responsibilities, for many students, it remains the only option for career change/progression as online degrees are increasingly marketed and pursued for employment reasons. Despite increasing popularity, online study is characterised by high attrition rates. “Sense of connection” is one way to identify if students feel isolated or connected to others sharing/delivering their higher education experience – classmates and lecturers – while self-identifying as a university student generally or part of one’s course specifically may help further knowledge of the complex relationship self- and social-identity play in the process of achieving academic success. Quantitative and qualitative data generated from telephone interviews with 122 undergraduates enrolled in arts, paramedics, policing and science courses at a rural-regional Australian university are presented to reveal if and how identity and perceived sense-of-connection affected student experiences.
DBDiaSNP: An Open-Source Knowledgebase of Genetic Polymorphisms and Resistance Genes Related to Diarrheal Pathogens.

Diarrhea is a highly common infection among children, responsible for significant morbidity and mortality rate worldwide. After pneumonia, diarrhea remains the second leading cause of neonatal deaths. Numerous viral, bacterial, and parasitic enteric pathogens are associated with diarrhea. With increasing antibiotic resistance among enteric pathogens, there is an urgent need for global surveillance of the mutations and resistance genes primarily responsible for resistance to antibiotic treatment. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms are important in this regard as they have a vast potential to be utilized as molecular diagnostics for gene-disease or pharmacogenomics association studies linking genotype to phenotype. DBDiaSNP is a comprehensive repository of mutations and resistance genes among various diarrheal pathogens and hosts to advance breakthroughs that will find applications from development of sequence-based diagnostic tools to drug discovery. It contains information about 946 mutations and 326 resistance genes compiled from literature and various web resources. As of March 2015, it houses various pathogen genes and the mutations responsible for antibiotic resistance. The pathogens include, for example, DEC (Diarrheagenic E.coli), Salmonella spp. , Campylobacter spp. , Shigella spp. , Clostridium difficile, Aeromonas spp. , Helicobacter pylori, Entamoeba histolytica, Vibrio cholera, and viruses. It also includes mutations from hosts (e.g., humans, pigs, others) that render them either susceptible or resistant to a certain type of diarrhea. DBDiaSNP is therefore intended as an integrated open access database for researchers and clinicians working on diarrheal diseases. Additionally, we note that the DBDiaSNP is one of the first antibiotic resistance databases for the diarrheal pathogens covering mutations and resistance genes that have clinical relevance from a broad range of pathogens and hosts. For future translational research involving integrative biology and global health, the database offers veritable potentials, particularly for developing countries and worldwide monitoring and personalized effective treatment of pathogens associated with diarrhea. The database is accessible on the public domain at http://www.juit. ac.in/attachments/dbdiasnp/ .
Seroprevalence Study of Bovine Neosporosis in Mexico

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to obtain epidemiologic information on bovine neosporosis in dairy herds of the Mexican central plateau. Sera were collected from 1,003 cows from 50 dairy herds. Forty-three herds (group A) had been experiencing a high abortion rate. The abortion rates for the remaining 7 herds (group B) were within normal limits for Mexico. Five-hundred sixty-one (56%) of the 1,003 sera were positive. The seroprevalence of Neospora caninum antibodies was 72% (95% Cl = 6875%) in group A and 36% (95% Cl = 31–40%) in group B. These results clearly show that infection with N. caninum is widespread in Mexican dairy herds, as indicated by seropositive cows in group A and group B herds at the time of the sample collection.
Chromophore formation in green fluorescent protein.

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria forms an intrinsic chromophore through cyclization and oxidation of an internal tripeptide motif [Prasher, D. C. , et al. (1992) Gene 111, 229-233; Cody, C. E. , et al. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 1212-1218]. We monitored the formation of the chromophore in vitro using the S65T-GFP chromophore mutant. S65T-GFP recovered from inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli lacks the mature chromophore, suggesting that protein destined for inclusion bodies aggregated prior to productive folding. This material was used to follow the steps leading to chromophore formation. The process of chromophore formation in S65T-GFP was determined to be an ordered reaction consisting of three distinct kinetic steps. Protein folding occurs fairly slowly (k(f) = 2.44 x 10(-3) s(-1)) and prior to any chromophore modification. Next, an intermediate step occurs that includes, but is not necessarily limited to, cyclization of the tripeptide chromophore motif (k(c) = 3.8 x 10(-3) s(-1)). The final and slow step (k(ox) = 1.51 x 10(-4) s(-1)) in chromophore formation involves oxidation of the cyclized chromophore. Since the chromophore forms de novo from purified denatured protein and is a first-order process, we conclude that GFP chromophore formation is an autocatalytic process.
Economics, security, and individual-level preferences for trade agreements

ABSTRACT Empirical research on the determinants of individual-level support for trade liberalization has focused almost entirely on the economic effects of trade. Yet, international relations scholarship has long recognized that commerce also has a variety of security implications. This paper explores if and when security considerations influence individual attitudes toward trade. In this study, we ask two questions: First, to what extent do expectations about the security implications of trade affect individual-level attitudes toward trade agreements? Second, does the introduction of security concerns into the discussion of trade agreements influence how heavily individuals weigh their economic costs and benefits? We employ an original experiment embedded in a conjoint survey to investigate the relative impact of a variety of economic and security considerations on respondents’ support for trade. Our findings suggest that security information matters and undermines the appeal of some, though not all, economic arguments for trade liberalization among our respondents.
Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

A firsthand account and incisive analysis of modern protest, revealing internet-fueled social movements greatest strengths and frequent challenges To understand a thwarted Turkish coup, an antiWall Street encampment, and a packed Tahrir Square, we must first comprehend the power and the weaknesses of using new technologies to mobilize large numbers of people. An incisive observer, writer, and participant in todays social movements, Zeynep Tufekci explains in this accessible and compelling book the nuanced trajectories of modern protestshow they form, how they operate differently from past protests, and why they have difficulty persisting in their long-term quests for change. Tufekci speaks from direct experience, combining on-the-ground interviews with insightful analysis. She describes how the internet helped the Zapatista uprisings in Mexico, the necessity of remote Twitter users to organize medical supplies during Arab Spring, the refusal to use bullhorns in the Occupy Movement that started in New York, and the empowering effect of tear gas in Istanbuls Gezi Park. These details from life inside social movements complete a moving investigation of authority, technology, and cultureand offer essential insights into the future of governance.
Using satellite data to identify the causes of and potential solutions for yield gaps in India’s Wheat Belt

Food security will be increasingly challenged by climate change, natural resource degradation, and population growth. Wheat yields, in particular, have already stagnated in many regions and will be further affected by warming temperatures. Despite these challenges, wheat yields can be increased by improving management practices in regions with existing yield gaps. To identify the magnitude and causes of current yield gaps in India, one of the largest wheat producers globally, we produced 30 meter resolution yield maps from 2001 to 2015 across the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), the nation’s main wheat belt. Yield maps were derived using a new method that translates satellite vegetation indices to yield estimates using crop model simulations, bypassing the need for ground calibration data. This is one of the first attempts to apply this method to a smallholder agriculture system, where ground calibration data are rarely available. We find that yields can be increased by 11% on average and up to 32% in the eastern IGP by improving management to current best practices within a given district. Additionally, if current best practices from the highest-yielding state of Punjab are implemented in the eastern IGP, yields could increase by almost 110%. Considering the factors that most influence yields, later sow dates and warmer temperatures are most associated with low yields across the IGP. This suggests that strategies to reduce the negative effects of heat stress, like earlier sowing and planting heat-tolerant wheat varieties, are critical to increasing wheat yields in this globally-important agricultural region.