Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of novel agents on patient-relevant outcomes in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia who are not eligible for fludarabine-based therapy

Abstract Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an orphan disease that primarily affects the elderly. The majority of symptomatic patients eligible for frontline treatment are unfit for fludarabine based chemoimmunotherapy. Historical treatment includes chlorambucil (Chl), bendamustine/rituximab (BR), and chlorambucil/rituximab/ChlR combination. Clinical guidelines now recommend the use of novel agents, such as ibrutinib (Ibr), in both frontline and relapse settings and other novel agents, such as idelalisib (with rituximab), in relapse settings. Despite compelling clinical results for novel agents, follow-up in clinical trials is relatively short and, thus, the comparative long-term benefits are still unknown. Materials and methods: The authors developed a simulation model to generate treatment specific lifetime estimates of Overall Survival (OS) and Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) for treatment with BR, Chl, ChlR, and Ibr. Two potential clinical scenarios were modelled: with and without novel agents for treating CLL. The model was based on health states relating to first- and second-line progression-free survival (PFS), post-progression survival, and death. Results: Where novel agents were assumed unavailable, mean OS ranged from 5.4–8.5 years and QALYs from 3.5–6.1. Where novel agents were available, the mean OS increased to 10.0 years, with a corresponding increase in QALYs to 7.6. Frontline Ibr use followed by Physician’s Choice, including novel agents at relapse, resulted in projected increase in OS of between 18% (1.5 years) and 85% (4.6 years), corresponding to a 25–117% increase in QALYs, compared with currently available traditional therapies. Limitations: The limitations of this analysis include immature OS data and the assumption of equivalent efficacy across all novel agents in terms of their impact on PFS and OS. Conclusions: The use of novel agents is predicted to yield substantive gains in predicted lifetime OS and QALY improvements compared to traditional therapies in CLL patients who are ineligible for fludarabine-based chemoimmunotherapy.
Customers’ Perceptions on ESKOM’s Pre-Paid Billing System and the Effects on Their Satisfaction and Trust

Despite the increasing awareness of the paramount importance of customer satisfaction and trust in the context of large firms, research efforts focused on the investigation of the role of electricity pre-paid system performance on customer satisfaction and trust have largely remained scant, particularly in developing countries of Southern Africa. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to fill this void. Three research hypotheses are posited and a sample data of 151 collected from ESKOM company’ electricity pre-paid system customer is used to empirically test the hypotheses. The results of this study show that, the performance of the ESKOM prepaid billing system positively influences the customers’ satisfaction and trust in a significant way. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n9p119
Direct chronotropic effects of atrial and C‐type natriuretic peptides in anaesthetized dogs

1 . The chronotropic effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and C‐type natriuretic peptide (CNP) were investigated using injections (50 μg in 1 ml of Tyrode solution as bolus over 1 min) directly into the sinus node artery of 21 anaesthetized and vagotomized dogs which had been pretreated with a β‐adrenoceptor antagonist. The injections were also repeated following: (a) α‐adrenoceptor antagonism (prazosin) and muscarinic receptor antagonism (atropine); (b) inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis (indomethacin); (c) angiotensin II AT1 receptor antagonism (losartan); (d) histamine H1 (mepyramine) and H2 (cimetidine) receptor antagonism. 2 . The results obtained indicate that ANP had no significant effect on the basal sinus rate, whereas CNP produced a slight but significant increase of 12 ± 2 beats min−1. The effect of CNP was long‐lasting (return to pre‐injection levels after maximum effect in 17 ± 3 min) and was not influenced by the various antagonists mentioned above. 3 . During in vitro experiments on spontaneously beating right atria isolated from 6 dogs, the injection of CNP (50 μg in 1 ml of Tyrode solution) into the sinus node artery produced an increase in atrial rate of 14 ± 1 beats min−1. 4 . The results of this work indicate that CNP exerts a significant and prolonged positive chronotropic effect both in vivo and in vitro. Other studies are required to elucidate the mechanism of action of CNP on the heart conduction system, to ascertain the presence of natriuretic peptide receptor B in the region of the sinoatrial node and to determine the role of CNP in the control of heart rate.
Disparate Regions of Envelope Protein Regulate Syncytium Formation versus Spongiform Encephalopathy in Neurological Disease Induced by Murine Leukemia Virus TR

ABSTRACT The murine leukemia virus (MLV) TR1.3 provides an excellent model to study the wide range of retrovirus-induced central nervous system (CNS) pathology and disease. TR1.3 rapidly induces thrombotic events in brain microvessels and causes cell-specific syncytium formation of brain capillary endothelial cells (BCEC). A single amino acid substitution, W102G, in the MLV envelope protein (Env) regulates the pathogenic effects. The role of Env in determining this disease phenotype compared to the induction of spongiform encephalomyelitis with a longer latency, as seen in several other MLV and in human retroviruses, was determined by studying in vitro-attenuated TR1.3. Virus cloned from this selection, termed TRM, induced progressive neurological disease characterized by ataxia and paralysis and the appearance of spongiform neurodegeneration throughout the brain stem and spinal cord. This disease was associated with virus replication in both BCEC and highly ramified glial cells. TRM did not induce syncytium formation, either in vivo or in vitro. Sequence and mutational analyses demonstrated that TRM contained a reversion of Env G102W but that neurological disease mapped to the single amino acid substitution Env S159P. The results demonstrate that single nucleotide changes within disparate regions of Env control dramatically different CNS disease patterns.
Dermatoglyphics: a genetic marker of early childhood caries.

BACKGROUND It is an accepted fact that genetics plays an important role in determination of palmar dermatoglyphic patterns. Since caries is a multifactorial disease with the influence of genetic pattern, this study was undertaken to explore the possibility of dermatoglyphics as a noninvasive and early predictor of dental caries in children, so as to initiate preventive oral health measures at an early age. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study group comprised of 200 children aged between 4 and 5 years. The dmfs score was evaluated. The experimental group (Group 1), comprised of 100 children with early childhood caries (ECC) with dmfs >5. The control group (Group 2) comprised of 100 children with dmfs score of 0. RESULTS An increased frequency of ulnar loops in caries-free children and whorls in children with ECC was observed. Low mean atd angle and low mean. Total ridge count was observed in the ECC group. CONCLUSION There is definite variation in dermatoglyphics between the ECC and caries-free group, indicating that dermatoglyphic patterns can be used as a predictive tool for children with ECC.
MAGNETIC INTERACTIONS IN COALESCING NEUTRON STAR BINARIES

It is expected on both evolutionary and empirical grounds that many merging neutron star (NS) binaries are composed of a highly magnetized NS in orbit with a relatively low magnetic field NS. I study the magnetic interactions of these binaries using the framework of a unipolar inductor model. The electromotive force generated across the non-magnetic NS as it moves through the magnetosphere sets up a circuit connecting the two stars. The exact features of this circuit depend on the uncertain resistance in the space between the stars . Nevertheless, I show that there are interesting observational and/or dynamical effects irrespective of its exact value. When is large, electric dissipation as great as ∼1046 erg s−1 (for magnetar-strength fields) occurs in the magnetosphere, which would exhibit itself as a hard X-ray precursor in the seconds leading up to merger. With less certainty, there may also be an associated radio transient. When is small, electric dissipation largely occurs in the surface layers of the magnetic NS. This can reach ∼1049 erg s−1 during the final ∼1 s before merger, similar to the energetics and timescales of short gamma-ray bursts. In addition, for dipole fields greater than ≈1012 G and a small , magnetic torques spin up the magnetized NS. This drains angular momentum from the binary and accelerates the inspiral. A faster coalescence results in less orbits occurring before merger, which would impact matched-filtering gravitational-wave searches by ground-based laser interferometers and could create difficulties for studying alternative theories of gravity with compact inspirals.
Determination of the orientation of C60 adsorbed on Au(111) and Ag(111).

Adsorbate bonding and preferred adsorption sites and rotational orientations of C 60 on Au(111) and Ag(111I) were studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and related techniques. Spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopy and barrier height measurements indicated that bonding occurs by charge transfer from the metal to C 60 . The internal structure of adsorbed C 60 observed by STM was found to be a strong function of the adsorption site, the molecular orientation, and the tunneling bias. Occupied state images were found to reflect the adsorption site symmetry while unoccupied state images reflected the molecular symmetry
Empathy-based helping: is it selflessly or selfishly motivated?

A substantial body of evidence collected by Batson and his associates has advanced the idea that pure (i.e., selfless) altruism occurs under conditions of empathy for a needy other. An egoistic alternative account of this evidence was proposed and tested in our work. We hypothesized that an observer's heightened empathy for a sufferer brings with it increased personal sadness in the observer and that it is the egoistic desire to relieve the sadness, rather than the selfless desire to relieve the sufferer, that motivates helping. Two experiments contrasted predictions from the selfless and egoistic alternatives in the paradigm typically used by Batson and his associates. In the first, an emphatic orientation to a victim increased personal sadness, as expected. Furthermore, when sadness and empathic emotion were separated experimentally, helping was predicted by the levels of sadness subjects were experiencing but not by their empathy scores. In the second experiment, enhanced sadness was again associated with empathy for a victim. However, subjects who were led to perceive that their moods could not be altered through helping (because of the temporary action of a "mood-fixing" placebo drug) were not helpful, despite high levels of empathic emotion. The results were interpreted as providing support for an egoistically based interpretation of helping under conditions of high empathy.
Frequency and significance of swallowing during prolonged apnea in infants.

To better document and describe the phenomenon of swallowing during apneic spells, we compared the frequency of swallowing during epidsodes of prolonged apnea with nonapnea control periods in 9 preterm and 1 term infant. Infants with a history of idiopathic prolonged apnea were studied for 2 to 3 h by monitoring, electrocardiogram, nasal air flow, oral CO2, abdominal respiratory movements, chin electromyogram, pharyngeal pressure, and pH. In 7 of the infants, additional observations were performed without the intrapharyngeal recording devices. One or more swallows occurred during 75% of the 100 spells observed. Swallows were far more common during apneic spells than during nonapnea control periods, and were more frequent during mixed and obstructive apnea than during central apnea (p less than .01). Asphyxia, regurgitation, and the intrapharyngeal recording devices did not appear to cause the increased frequency of swallows during apneic spells. Swallowing was temporally related to spontaneous recovery from apnea, with a swallow usually preceding recovery by 5 to 6 s. During apneic spells, we observed that swallows were often associated with a brief obstructed inspiratory effort ("swallow-breath"), a normal component of nonfeeding swallows in infants. These swallow-breaths were interspersed with higher amplitude "ordinary" obstructed breaths during apneic episodes. Thus, 2 distinctly different types of obstructed inspiratory efforts were identified during mixed and obstructive apnea episodes in infants. The sequence of events during apneic spells in the term and preterm infants was similar.
Long-term exercise and atherogenic activity of blood mononuclear cells in persons at risk of developing ischemic heart disease.

CONTEXT Increasing evidence demonstrates that atherosclerosis is an immunologically mediated disease in which the secretion of atherogenic and atheroprotective cytokines, by infiltrating blood mononuclear cells, plays an important role. It is not known whether long-term exercise alters this atherogenic and atheroprotective activity directly. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of long-term exercise on the atherogenic activity of blood mononuclear cells in persons at risk of developing ischemic heart disease. DESIGN Before-after trial using a 6-month individualized, supervised exercise program, with an enrollment period from December 1996 to October 1997. SETTING Hospital-based community wellness center. PARTICIPANTS Of 110 persons who responded to a public request for volunteers, 52 met the inclusion criteria (risk ratio for myocardial infarction > or =1.7 based on serum complement and/or C-reactive protein levels, and normal exercise treadmill test results). Forty-three of the 52 enrollees (25 women [mean age, 49.7 years] and 18 men [mean age, 48.1 years]) completed the study; 9 withdrew for personal reasons. Additional risk factors for ischemic heart disease included hypercholesterolemia (65.1 %), a family history of coronary heart disease (62.8%), inactivity (60.5%), hypertension (32.6%), obesity (25.6%), smoking (11.6%), and diabetes mellitus (4.7%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Blood levels were compared at baseline and after the exercise program had been completed for the following: spontaneous and phytohemagglutinin-induced production of interleukin 1 alpha, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interferon gamma (atherogenic cytokines), and interleukin 4, interleukin 10, and transforming growth factor beta 1 (atheroprotective cytokines) by blood mononuclear cells; lymphocyte phenotypes and mitogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin; and serum C-reactive protein levels. RESULTS Subjects exercised for a mean of 2.5 (range, 0.3-7.4) hours per week. Mononuclear cell production of atherogenic cytokines fell by 58.3 % (P<.001) following the exercise program, where as the production of atheroprotective cytokines rose by 35.9% (P<.001). Changes in transforming growth factor beta 1 and in phytohemagglutinin-induced atherogenic cytokine production after the exercise program were proportionate to the time subjects spent performing repetitive lower-body motion exercises (P<.02), indicating a dose-response relationship. After the exercise program, changes in cellular function were reflected systemically by a 35% decrease in serum levels of C-reactive protein (P=.12). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that long-term exercise decreases the atherogenic activity of blood mononuclear cells in persons at risk of developing ischemic heart disease. This may be a mechanism whereby physical activity protects against ischemic heart disease.
Becoming Reflective: Designing for Reflection on Physical Performances

Learners’ physical performances can serve as focal objects for reflection and insight across a variety of contexts and content areas. This session brings together a set of projects that leverage the physical performances of learners, construct concrete and abstract representations of those performances, and investigate how learners reflect on and understand the relationships between their performances and target content—physics, health and fitness, data literacy and navigation, animal foraging, and climate change. The session will share findings and design principles from each of the studies around constructing technological scaffolds for physical performance reflections. The symposium highlights the various ways performance can be used to engage learners, and how different settings and learning goals affect the designs of performance representations.
Myxopapillary ependymoma results of nucleolar organizing region staining

Background. Although myxopapillary ependymomas are generally benign with a tendency for slow growth and local recurrence, they are capable of spread within the nervous system and of extraneural metastasis. Histologic features have not been helpful in determining which patients are at risk for recurrence or dissemination, making management decisions difficult.
Hemodynamic Effects of Ketamine in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Pulmonary and systemic vascular responses to ketamine (2 mg · kg−1, intravenously) were studied during cardiac catheterization in 20 children with congenital heart lesions. Pulmonary and systemic resistances (Rp, Rs), ratios between pulmonary and systemic flows (&OV0422;p/&OV0422;s), and left to right (L → R) and right to left shunts (R → L) were calculated before and after ketamine administration. Statistically significant (P < 0.05) but clinically minor increases in heart rate (106.8 to 109.9 beats/min), mean pulmonary artery pressure (20.6 to 22.8 mm Hg), and Rp/Rs (0.12 to 0.14) were seen after ketamine. There were no significant changes in systemic arterial pressure, Rs, &OV0422;p/&OV0422;s, L → R, R → L, or arterial oxygen or carbon dioxide tensions. No patient had any major untoward effects from ketamine administration. It is concluded that the hemodynamic alterations after ketamine administration in children undergoing cardiac catheterization are small and do not alter the clinical status of the patients or the information obtained by cardiac catheterization.
The Cooperative Learning Effects on English Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation of EFL Freshmen.

This experimental study aims to investigate the effects of using cooperative learning to enhance the English reading comprehension and learning motivation of EFL freshmen by comparing the cooperative learning instruction and traditional lecture instruction. This experiment was implemented in a Freshman English Reading course, a two credit course, with two hours of instruction per week, over a full semester. Seventy-eight EFL freshmen taking Freshman English Reading courses participated in this study, with 44 participants in the experimental group and 34 in the comparison group. We employed a pretest-posttest comparison group quasi-experimental design. The experimental group received a reciprocal cooperative learning instruction, whereas the comparison group received a traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were administered three English-reading achievement tests and an English learning motivation scale. The data were analyzed by means, standard deviations, t tests, and one-way ANCOVA. The findings indicate statistically significant differences in favor of cooperative learning instruction on English reading comprehension, particularly among medium- and low-proficiency students. Cooperative learning instruction also created a significantly positive effect on student motivation toward learning English reading. In conclusion, we strongly suggest teachers use cooperative learning instruction in university-level EFL reading classes.
Influenza C virus hemagglutinin: comparison with influenza A and B virus hemagglutinins

The complete nucleotide sequence of the influenza C/California/78 virus RNA 4 was obtained by using cloned cDNA derived from the RNA segment. This gene is 2,071 nucleotides long and can code for a polypeptide of 654 amino acids. Although there are no convincing sequence homologies between RNA 4 and the hemagglutinin genes of influenza A and B viruses, we suggest, on the basis of structural features, that RNA 4 of the influenza C virus codes for the hemagglutinin. The structural features which are common to the hemagglutinins of influenza A, B, and C viruses include (i) a hydrophobic signal peptide, (ii) an arginine cleavage site between the hemagglutinin 1 and 2 subunits, (iii) hydrophobic regions at the amino and carboxyl termini of the hemagglutinin 2 subunit, and (iv) several conserved cysteine residues. Additional evidence that RNA 4 of influenza C virus codes for the hemagglutinin is that the tripeptide Ile-Phe-Gly, known to be present at the amino terminus of the hemagglutinin 2 subunit of influenza C virus, is encoded by RNA 4 at a point immediately adjacent to the presumptive arginine cleavage site. The lack of primary sequence homology between the influenza C virus hemagglutinin and the influenza A or B virus hemagglutinins, which all have similar functions, might be attributed to convergent rather than divergent evolution. However, the structural similarities among the influenza A, B, and C virus hemagglutinins strongly suggest that the three hemagglutinin genes have diverged from a common precursor.
Optical properties of shallow tropical cumuli derived from ARM ground‐based remote sensing

This paper presents results from ground‐based remote sensing of optical properties of shallow convective clouds over the Nauru ARM site using the technique developed by McFarlane et al. (2002). Herein, the results of a pilot study are presented with analysis of about six months of cloud data. The effective radius re shows large spatial variability, with the frequency of occurrence relatively narrow near the cloud base, and gradually widening aloft. Available column data for LWC and re allow derivation of the pdf of the optical thickness τ. The pdf shows that clouds with τ in the range 5 to 10 are most frequent, but there is a long tail with clouds up to τ = 100. These results are discussed in the context of traditional observations of cloud microstructure using an instrumented aircraft.