Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health-related quality of life in patients treated with temozolomide versus procarbazine for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

PURPOSE To determine whether chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ) versus procarbazine (PCB) for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) was associated with improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). PATIENTS AND METHODS HRQOL was assessed at baseline and during treatment using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 and a Brain Cancer Module (BCM20) in two clinical trials that enrolled a total of 366 patients. Two hundred eighty-eight patients provided HRQOL data that could be used for analysis; 109 patients received TMZ in a phase II study, whereas 89 patients received TMZ and 90 received PCB in a randomized phase III study. Changes from baseline in the scores of seven preselected HRQOL domains (role and social functioning, global quality of life [QOL], visual disorders, motor dysfunction, communication deficit, and drowsiness) were calculated for all groups. Statistical significance, effect sizes, and proportions of patients with improved HRQOL scores (changes of > or = 10 points) were calculated. RESULTS Before disease progression, patients treated with TMZ were found to have an improvement in most of the preselected HRQOL domain scores compared with their baseline (pretreatment) scores. Those who were progression-free on TMZ at 6 months had improvement in all the preselected HRQOL domains. Conversely, patients treated with PCB reported deterioration in HRQOL that was independent of whether or not the disease had progressed by 6 months. Patients with disease progression, regardless of treatment, experienced a sharp decline in all domains at the time of progression. CONCLUSION Treatment with TMZ was associated with improvement in HRQOL scores compared with treatment with PCB. The deterioration reported by PCB-treated patients was likely because of toxicity. Delaying disease progression by treatment with TMZ is beneficial to the HRQOL status of patients with recurrent GBM.
Bacterial Pathogens Isolated from Patients with Bloodstream Infection: Frequencies of Occurrence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns from the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (United States and Canada, 1997)

ABSTRACT The SENTRY Program was established in January 1997 to measure the predominant pathogens and antimicrobial resistance patterns of nosocomial and community-acquired infections over a broad network of sentinel hospitals in the United States (30 sites), Canada (8 sites), South America (10 sites), and Europe (24 sites). During the first 6-month study period (January to June 1997), a total of 5,058 bloodstream infections (BSI) were reported by North American SENTRY participants (4,119 from the United States and 939 from Canada). In both the United States and Canada, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were the most common BSI isolates, followed by coagulase-negative staphylococci and enterococci.Klebsiella spp. , Enterobacter spp. ,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and β-hemolytic streptococci were also among the 10 most frequently reported species in both the United States and Canada. Although the rank orders of pathogens in the United States and Canada were similar, distinct differences were noted in the antimicrobial susceptibilities of several pathogens. Overall, U.S. isolates were considerably more resistant than those from Canada. The differences in the proportions of oxacillin-resistant S. aureus isolates (26.2 versus 2.7% for U.S. and Canadian isolates, respectively), vancomycin-resistant enterococcal isolates (17.7 versus 0% for U.S. and Canadian isolates, respectively), and ceftazidime-resistant Enterobacter sp. isolates (30.6 versus 6.2% for U.S. and Canadian isolates, respectively) dramatically emphasize the relative lack of specific antimicrobial resistance genes (mecA, vanA, and vanB) in the Canadian microbial population. Among U.S. isolates, resistance to oxacillin among staphylococci, to vancomycin among enterococci, to penicillin among pneumococci, and to ceftazidime amongEnterobacter spp. was observed in both nosocomial and community-acquired pathogens, although in almost every instance the proportion of resistant strains was higher among nosocomial isolates. Antimicrobial resistance continues to increase, and ongoing surveillance of microbial pathogens and resistance profiles is essential on national and international scales.
Correlation Between Insertion Torque and Survival Rates in Immediately Loaded Implants in the Maxilla: A Retrospective Study

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between insertion torque and the survival rate of immediately loaded implants placed in the maxilla. Methods: 390 NobelReplace (Nobel Biocare USA, Yorba Linda, CA) Select Tapered implants were placed in the maxillae of 145 patients over a 15-month period. The insertion torque was measured using a digital torque wrench. Results: Of the 390 implants, only 9 (2.3%) failed. The 381 successful implants were placed with an average insertion torque of 72.1 N.cm. Insertion torque values of failed implants varied between 45.8 and 134 N.cm, with an average of 69.2 N.cm. Of the 9 failed implants, 8 were abutments in multiple-unit implant-supported prostheses, and 1 was a single-unit implant. Conclusions: Although insertion torque undoubtedly plays an important role in the primary stability and successful osseointegration of implants, there seems to be no correlation between insertion torque and implant failure above 35 N.cm threshold of insertion torque. Immediate loading of implants in the maxilla is a successful and predictable treatment option with failure rates approaching those of traditional 2-stage surgery.
Incidence and Characteristics of Antiandrogen Withdrawal Syndrome in Prostate Cancer after Treatment with Chlormadinone Acetate

Objectives: In patients with progressive prostate cancer who have been treated with surgical or medical castration plus an antiandrogen, antiandrogen withdrawal can result in a significant decline in serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Although the incidence of antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome after combination treatment with the nonsteroidal antiandrogen flutamide has been thoroughly documented, the phenomenon clearly occurs in many other combination therapies and is presently being widely investigated. This paper would like to contribute to this effort by describing the endocrine withdrawal phenomenon in patients treated with combinations of castration plus chlormadinone acetate, ethynylestradiol or estramustine phosphate. Materials and Methods: Clinical records of 68 prostate cancer patients who had been treated with surgical castration plus the administration of chlormadinone acetate, ethynylestradiol or estramustine phosphate, and who had shown clinical progression associated with a steady increase in serum PSA, were investigated. Forty-one cases were evaluable for changes in PSA after discontinuation of the hormonal agents. Results: Of 28 patients who had been treated with chlormadinone acetate, 12 (42.9%) revealed 50% or more decline in PSA level following withdrawal of the agent. Among these, 5 cases (17.9%) showed subjective and/or objective improvements. There was no significant difference in histological grade of the tumor at diagnosis, mode of progression, time interval from the start of endocrine therapy to discontinuation of the hormonal agents, or PSA levels at withdrawal of the agents between patients who did develop antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome and those who did not. Conclusion: When a steady increase in serum PSA is noted in a prostate cancer patient who has been treated with castration plus a steroidal antiandrogen, discontinuation of the antiandrogen may benefit the patient.
Prediction of apoptosis protein locations with genetic algorithms and support vector machines through a new mode of pseudo amino acid composition.

Apoptosis is an essential process for controlling tissue homeostasis by regulating a physiological balance between cell proliferation and cell death. The subcellular locations of proteins performing the cell death are determined by mostly independent cellular mechanisms. The regular bioinformatics tools to predict the subcellular locations of such apoptotic proteins do often fail. This work proposes a model for the sorting of proteins that are involved in apoptosis, allowing us to both the prediction of their subcellular locations as well as the molecular properties that contributed to it. We report a novel hybrid Genetic Algorithm (GA)/Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach to predict apoptotic protein sequences using 119 sequence derived properties like frequency of amino acid groups, secondary structure, and physicochemical properties. GA is used for selecting a near-optimal subset of informative features that is most relevant for the classification. Jackknife cross-validation is applied to test the predictive capability of the proposed method on 317 apoptosis proteins. Our method achieved 85.80% accuracy using all 119 features and 89.91% accuracy for 25 features selected by GA. Our models were examined by a test dataset of 98 apoptosis proteins and obtained an overall accuracy of 90.34%. The results show that the proposed approach is promising; it is able to select small subsets of features and still improves the classification accuracy. Our model can contribute to the understanding of programmed cell death and drug discovery. The software and dataset are available at http://www.inb. uni-luebeck.de/tools-demos/apoptosis/GASVM.
Diagnostic utility of urine protein-to-creatinine ratio for identifying proteinuria in pregnancy

Objective: To evaluate urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPC) alone and with uric acid and clinical factors to predict or exclude significant proteinuria in preeclampsia evaluations. Methods: Retrospective cohort study patients undergoing evaluation for preeclampsia. Greater than 300 mg of protein in a 24-h collection was the gold standard defining proteinuria against which UPC performance was measured. Bivariable, multivariable, and Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) analyses were performed. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios were calculated for multiple cut-points of UPC alone and with uric acid. Results: In a cohort of 356 patients, the area under the curve for UPC in the diagnosis of proteinuria was 0.81. No single cut-point of UPC was diagnostic of preeclampsia. UPC values ≤0.08 or ≥1.19 have useful negative or positive predictive values of 86% and 96%. Uric acid and clinical factors did not improve the detection of significant proteinuria. Conclusion: Extreme values of UPC ratio ≤0.08 or ≥1.19 have favorable predictive values, which could enable the rapid diagnosis of preeclampsia without a 24-h urine collection.
Overexpression of aflR Leads to Upregulation of Pathway Gene Transcription and Increased Aflatoxin Production in Aspergillus flavus

The aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway regulatory gene, aflR, encodes a putative 47-kDa protein containing a zinc cluster DNA binding motif. It is required for the transcription of all of the characterized aflatoxin pathway genes in both Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of aflR overexpression on temporal gene expression, aflatoxin production, and nitrate inhibition of aflatoxin biosynthesis in A. flavus. An inducible expression construct was made by fusing the coding region of aflR to the promoter region of the A. flavus adh1 gene. This construct was transformed into A. flavus 656-2 (FGSC A1010), a strain mutated at the aflR locus. Strain 656-2 containing the adh1(p)::aflR construct had induced transcription of two early aflatoxin pathway genes, nor-1 and pksA, and produced wild-type concentrations of aflatoxin in a temporal pattern similar to that of wild-type strains of A. flavus. Strains 656-2 and 86-10 (FGSC A1009) an aflatoxigenic strain, were transformed with a construct containing the constitutive promoter gpdA driving aflR. Transformants of these strains constitutively expressed aflR, fas-1A, pksA, nor-1, and omtA but did not constitutively produce aflatoxin. Strain 86-10 containing the gpdA(p)::aflR construct produced 50 times more aflatoxin than 86-10, but the temporal pattern of aflatoxin production was the same as for 86-10, and aflatoxin production was also induced by sucrose. The addition of 10 g of nitrate per liter to sucrose low salts medium inhibited aflatoxin production by both strain 86-10 and a transformant of 86-10 containing the gpdA(p)::aflR construct, indicating that nitrate inhibition of aflatoxin biosynthesis does not occur solely at the level of aflR transcription. These studies show that constitutive overexpression of the pathway transcriptional regulatory gene aflR leads to higher transcript accumulation of pathway genes and increased aflatoxin production but that the initiation of aflatoxin biosynthesis is not solely regulated by the transcriptional activities of the biosynthetic pathway.
Effects of Using Eggshell Waste as a Calcium Source in the Diet of Rhode Island Red Roosters on Semen Quality, Gonadal Development, Plasma Calcium and Bone Status

A 10 wk trial was conducted to investigate the effect of using ground, sterilized eggshell as a calcium source in breeder male diets. Live performance, semen quality, gonadal and visceral organ characteristics, plasma calcium concentration and bone mineralization were evaluated. Forty-five Rhode Island Red cockerels aged 25 wk were caged individually in a conventional open-sided house. The birds were randomly divided into three groups, each group consisting of 15 birds. Group 1 (Control) was provided with a standard breeder ration which contained all the calcium carbonate as fine limestone, whereas Groups 2 and 3 were placed on diets in which 50% and 100%, respectively, of the limestone was replaced with ground eggshell. The birds were given free access to food and water, and exposed to a 16L:8D photoperiod. Throughout the study, body weight, feed consumption, spermatocrit, semen volume, sperm concentration and total sperm number/ejaculation of the three bird groups were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. Seminal plasma pH and Ca ++ concentration were not affected by dietary treatments. Autopsies at the end of the study showed that comb weight, testes weight, ductus deferens weight and length, and giblets weight of the birds did not differ among the treatment groups. In addition, packed cell volume and plasma calcium and phosphorus concentrations did not exhibit a difference among cockerels fed the different calcium sources. No significant differences were found in any aspect of the tibia parameters (weight, length, breaking strength and ash content). The weights and lengths of the humerus from the three bird groups were comparable whatever the calcium source. Similar observations were also found in the parameters of the tarsometatarsus and keel bones. It was apparent that eggshell can be fully used as a calcium source in diets without any detrimental effects on the live performance, semen quality, reproductive development and calcium homeostasis of breeder male chickens.
Adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells promotes intestinal tumorigenesis and is associated with decreased NK cells and IL‐22 binding protein

High number of regulatory T cells (Tregs), both circulating and at the tumor site, often indicates a poor prognosis in CRC patient's possibly impairing natural killer (NK) cell function. To determine the role of Tregs in CRC development and their effects on NK cells, we created novel transgenic Rag‐Apc mice that lack T cells and develop spontaneous intestinal tumors, and we adoptively transferred Tregs or transiently depleted NK cells during initial stages of tumorigenesis. In 6‐weeks old Rag‐Apc mice containing microscopic intestinal tumors adoptive transfer of Tregs or transient NK cell depletion dramatically associated with an increase in intestinal tumor multiplicity and tumor size, with significantly decreased survival rates. Importantly, Treg transfer increased small intestinal polyp formation up to 65% (P < 0.0005) and increased colon tumors multiplicities by 84% (P < 0.0001) with a significant decrease in NK cells as compared to control mice. Similarly, in NK depleted mice, colon tumor multiplicities increased up to 40% and small intestinal polyp formation up to 60% (P < 0.0001). Treg transfer or NK cell transient depletion markedly increased interleukin (IL)‐22 systemically and the inflammatory signaling molecules P2X7R, and STAT3 in the tumors; and impaired production of the tumor suppressor interferon (IFN)‐γ systemically. Notably, IL‐22 binding protein (IL‐22 BP) was associated with NKs and a significant decrease was seen at the tumor site in mice adoptively transferred with Tregs or depleted of NK cells. Our results suggest that adoptive transfer of Tregs aggressively promote intestinal tumorigenesis by decreasing NK cell number and activity by modulating IL‐22 BP. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The foetal and maternal pharmacology of some of the drugs used for the relief of pain in labour.

In 1923, in the first issue of this journal, there was reported an attempt to improve the quality of analgesia in labour by the use of a combination of drugs (Donovan and Gwathmey, 1923). Some of these drugs are still in use half a century later and, although one author has commented on the paucity of the clinical pharmacological data available on one of the oldest analgesic drugs (Hamilton, 1963), advances have been made in understanding their maternal and foetal effects. This paper reviews the applied pharmacology of some of the drugs used to produce analgesia in modern obstetric practice.
[Effect of granulocyte colony stimulating factor on myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the bone marrow and peripheral blood: a preliminary study].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the bone marrow and peripheral blood, and explore the relationship between MDSC and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). METHODS Bone marrow, peripheral blood and peripheral blood stem cells were obtained from 12 healthy hemopoietic stem cell donors before and on day 5 after G-CSF mobilization. Flow cytometry was employed to examine the number of MDSC, and the relationship between MDSC number and the incidence of GVHD was analyzed. RESULTS In normal physiological conditions, MDSC could be detected in the peripheral blood and bone marrow with a cell percentages of (1.35±0.35)% and (2.44±1.11)%, respectively, showing a significantly higher cell percentage in the bone marrow (P=0.015). On the 5th day after G-CSF mobilization, the percentage of MDSCs increased to (4.01±1.82)% in the peripheral blood and to (4.38±2.19)% in the bone marrow, showing no significant difference between them (P=0.083). The mobilization caused a significant increase in the number of MDSCs in the peripheral blood (P=0.047) but not in the bone marrow (P=0.761). The number of MDSCs in the collected samples showed a significant inverse correlation to the incidence of GVHD (P=0.048). CONCLUSIONS MDSCs are present in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of healthy donors, with a greater number in the bone marrow. G-CSF can mobilize the MDSCs from the bone marrow to the peripheral blood to increase number of MDSCs in the peripheral blood, which may contribute to a lowered incidence of GVHD in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Parametric Density Recalibration of a Fundamental Market Model to Forecast Electricity Prices

This paper proposes a new approach to hybrid forecasting methodology, characterized as the statistical recalibration of forecasts from fundamental market price formation models. Such hybrid methods based upon fundamentals are particularly appropriate to medium term forecasting and in this paper the application is to month-ahead, hourly prediction of electricity wholesale prices in Spain. The recalibration methodology is innovative in seeking to perform the recalibration into parametrically defined density functions. The density estimation method selects from a wide diversity of general four-parameter distributions to fit hourly spot prices, in which the first four moments are dynamically estimated as latent functions of the outputs from the fundamental model and several other plausible exogenous drivers. The proposed approach demonstrated its effectiveness against benchmark methods across the full range of percentiles of the price distribution and performed particularly well in the tails.
Inelastic carrier lifetime in graphene

We consider hot carrier inelastic scattering due to electron--electron interactions in graphene, as functions of carrier energy and density. We calculate the imaginary part of the zero-temperature quasiparticle self-energy for doped graphene, utlizing the $G_0W$ and random phases approximations. Using the full dynamically screened Coulomb interaction, we obtain the inelastic quasiparticle lifetimes and associated mean free paths. The linear dispersion of graphene gives lifetime energy dependences that are qualitatively different from those of parabolic-band semiconductors. We also get good agreement with data from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments.
Histological evidence of testicular dysgenesis in contralateral biopsies from 218 patients with testicular germ cell cancer

This study was prompted by a hypothesis that testicular germ cell cancer may be aetiologically linked to other male reproductive abnormalities as a part of the so‐called ‘testicular dysgenesis syndrome’ (TDS). To corroborate the hypothesis of a common association of germ cell cancer with testicular dysgenesis, microscopic dysgenetic features were quantified in contralateral testicular biopsies in patients with a testicular germ cell tumour. Two hundred and eighty consecutive contralateral testicular biopsies from Danish patients with testicular cancer diagnosed in 1998–2001 were evaluated retrospectively. Two hundred and eighteen specimens were subsequently included in this study, after 63 patients who did not meet inclusion criteria had to be excluded. The presence of carcinoma in situ (which is believed to originate from transformed gonocytes) was detected in 8.7% of biopsies. The incidence of other dysgenetic features was immature tubules with undifferentiated Sertoli cells, 4.6%; microcalcifications (microliths), 6.0%; and the presence of a Sertoli‐cell‐only pattern in at least a few tubules, 13.8%. The cumulative incidence of one or more signs of testicular dysgenesis was 25.2%. In a few patients, areas with immature and morphologically distorted tubules were also noted. Spermatogenesis was qualitatively normal in 51.4%, whereas 11.5% had very poor or absent spermatogenesis. It is concluded that microscopic testicular dysgenesis is a frequent feature in contralateral biopsies from patients presenting with testicular germ cell neoplasms of the adolescent and young type. The findings therefore support the hypothesis that this cancer is part of a testicular dysgenesis syndrome. The presence of contralateral carcinoma in situ was higher in the present study than previously reported. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.