Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prednisolone Prophase for a Week Versus Upfront Multiagent Chemotherapy in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: An Analysis With Reference to Induction Mortality in a Developing Country

In childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, high treatment-related mortality, especially in the induction phase of treatment, is a major challenge for developing countries. The reasons are multifactorial, including a late presentation with higher disease burden, malnourishment, and limited support services. These factors may aggravate the toxic effects of upfront multiagent chemotherapy in terms of severe neutropenic sepsis and tumor lysis. Therefore, instead of upfront chemotherapy, we offered prednisolone prophase for 1 week with the objective of balancing the antileukemic versus the toxic effect of treatment. The data of 538 patients who received induction with this approach (cohort B) are compared for induction mortality with previous records of 438 patients (cohort A) treated with upfront chemotherapy. In the presence of similar clinical characteristics including age, sex, risk group, and phenotype in both cohorts, a significant difference was found in overall induction mortality of 9% in cohort B versus 14% in cohort A (P<0.05). This difference was also significant in the high-risk and T-cell phenotype, which strengthens our hypothesis that patients with higher burden of disease may experience more fatal toxic effects with upfront intensive chemotherapy. Therefore, we suggest that the prednisolone prophase approach is beneficial to control the disease with less severe toxic effects in our settings.
Yaglom limit via Holley inequality

Fil: Ferrari, Pablo Augusto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Investigaciones Matematicas "Luis A. Santalo". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Matematicas "Luis A. Santalo"; Argentina
WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND FIRM VALUE: THE ROLE OF FIRM INNOVATIVENESS

There have been variations in working capital performance among firms and industries in various countries over the last decade. One of the causes of the variations is level of firm innovativeness. This study aims to examine the moderating role of firm innovativeness on the effect of working capital management on firm value between innovative and non-innovative firms in an emerging market. The study was carried out based on 400 listed firms in Bursa Malaysia for the period 2006-2015. By using a fixed regression estimation, the findings indicate that innovative firms have a better working capital performance than the non-innovative firms since they apply their innovative capabilities towards improving their working capital performance. This study suggests that firms need to align their innovative capabilities towards working capital management to improve firm value.
Characterization and amylolytic activity of yeast and mold strains from Thai sweet rice

Aims: The aim of this study was to isolate and identify the yeast and mold strains from the starter and to investigate their amylolytic activity. Methodology and results: Thirty-two yeasts were isolated from ten samples of look-paeng khao-mak, a traditional starter culture in the production of khao-mak (sweet rice) in several places in Thailand. All isolates were identified based on their morphological and biochemical characteristics including the sequencing of D1/D2 domain of large subunit (26S) ribosomal DNA analyses. They were identified as Saccharomycopsis fibuligera (9 isolates), Candida rugosa (2 isolates), C. tropicalis (1 isolate), Clavispora lusitaniae (1 isolate), Wickerhamomyces anomalus (15 isolates) and Meyerozyma guilliermondii (4 isolates). All isolates of S. fibuligera showed high amylolytic activity. One-hundred isolates of mold were isolated from twenty-one samples of look-paeng khao-mak. They were belonged to Amylomyces sp. (42 isolates), Rhizopus sp. (30 isolates), Mucor sp. (12 isolates) and Penicillium sp. (16 isolates) based on their morphological characteristics. Four isolates, LK4-1, LK8-2, LK12-5 and LK17-1 showed amylase activity ranged from 32.24 to 39.74 unit/mL by dinitrosalicylic acid (DNSA) method. The isolates LK4-1, LK8-2 and LK12-5 were identified as Amylomyces rouxii and LK17-1 was Rhizopus microsporus based on their morphological characteristics and the ribosomal RNAencoding DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Conclusion, significance and impact study: The characterization and evaluation of yeast and mold species based on their phenotypic and genetic characteristics including their amylase activity will be useful for the diversity and sweet rice production.
Enteral Nutrition in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease mediated by the immune system and is characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. One of the possible treatments for this pathology is a change in the type of diet, of which enteral nutrition (EN) is one. This study is to understand how the use of EN can affect the adult population diagnosed with IBD. We conducted a systematic review, meta-analysis, and a meta-regression. On the different databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane, LILACS, CINAHL, WOS), we found 363 registers with an accuracy of 12% (44 registers). After a full-text review, only 30 research studies were selected for qualitative synthesis and 11 for meta-analysis and meta-regression. The variables used were Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI), C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). EN has been shown to have efficacy for the treatment of Crohn’s disease and is compatible with other medicines. As for the CDAI or rates of remission, there were no differences between enteral and parenteral nutrition. Polymeric formulas have shown better results with respect to the CRP. The long-term treatment could dilute the good CDAI results that are obtained at the start of the EN treatment.
Prebiotic UG1601 mitigates constipation-related events in association with gut microbiota: A randomized placebo-controlled intervention study

BACKGROUND Constipation is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder and its etiology is multifactorial. Growing evidence suggests that intestinal dysbiosis is associated with the development of constipation. Prebiotics are subjected to bacterial fermentation in the gut to produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which can help relieve constipation symptoms. The prebiotic UG1601 consists of inulin, lactitol, and aloe vera gel, which are known laxatives, but randomized, controlled clinical trials that examine the effects of this supplement on gut microbiota composition are lacking. AIM To assess the efficacy of the prebiotic UG1601 in suppressing constipation-related adverse events in subjects with mild constipation. METHODS Adults with a stool frequency of less than thrice a week were randomized to receive either prebiotics or a placebo supplement for 4 wk. All participants provided their fecal and blood samples at baseline and at the end of intervention. Gastrointestinal symptoms and stool frequency were evaluated. The concentrations of serum endotoxemia markers and fecal SCFAs were determined. The relative abundance of SCFA-producing bacteria and the gut microbial community in the responders and non-responders in the prebiotics supplementation group were evaluated. RESULTS There were no significant differences in gastrointestinal symptoms between groups, although the prebiotic group showed greater symptom improvement. However, after prebiotic usage, serum cluster of differentiation (CD) 14 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentrations were significantly decreased (CD14, P = 0.012; LPS, P < 0.001). The change in LPS concentration was significantly larger in the prebiotic group than in the placebo group (P < 0.001). Fecal SCFAs concentrations did not differ between groups, while the relative abundance of Roseburia hominis, a major butyrate producer, was significantly increased in the prebiotic group (P = 0.045). The abundances of the phylum Firmicutes and the family Lachnospiraceae (phylum Firmicutes, class Clostridia) (P = 0.009) were decreased in the responders within the prebiotic group. In addition, the proportions of the phylum Firmicutes, the class Clostridia, and the order Clostridiales were inversely correlated with several fecal SCFAs (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Alterations in gut microbiota composition, including a decrease in the phylum Firmicutes and an increase in butyrate-producing bacteria, following prebiotic UG1601 supplementation might help alleviate symptom scores and endotoxemia.
Parallel all the time: Plane Level Parallelism Exploration for High Performance SSDs

Solid state drives (SSDs) are constructed with multiple level parallel organization, including channels, chips, dies and planes. Among these parallel levels, plane level parallelism, which is the last level parallelism of SSDs, has the most strict restrictions. Only the same type of operations which access the same address in different planes can be processed in parallel. In order to maximize the access performance, several previous works have been proposed to exploit the plane level parallelism for host accesses and internal operations of SSDs. However, our preliminary studies show that the plane level parallelism is far from well utilized and should be further improved. The reason is that the strict restrictions of plane level parallelism are hard to be satisfied. In this work, a from plane to die parallel optimization framework is proposed to exploit the plane level parallelism through smartly satisfying the strict restrictions all the time. In order to achieve the objective, there are at least two challenges. First, due to that host access patterns are always complex, receiving multiple same-type requests to different planes at the same time is uncommon. Second, there are many internal activities, such as garbage collection (GC), which may destroy the restrictions. In order to solve above challenges, two schemes are proposed in the SSD controller: First, a die level write construction scheme is designed to make sure there are always N pages of data written by each write operation. Second, in a further step, a die level GC scheme is proposed to activate GC in the unit of all planes in the same die. Combing the die level write and die level GC, write accesses from both host write operations and GC induced valid page movements can be processed in parallel at all time. As a result, the GC cost and average write latency can be significantly reduced. Experiment results show that the proposed framework is able to significantly improve the write performance without read performance impact.
RAPD assessment for identification of clonal fidelity of microrhizome induced plants of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) cultivars

Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae) is a tropical herbaceous plant cultivated as annual. Nonavailability of quality planting materials of improved varieties is one of the important production constraints in turmeric. Large number of plants can be produced in vitro through microrhizome technology and it is advisable to check the clonal fidelity of these plants. In the present study microrhizome induction was carried out in three varieties of turmeric viz., Alleppey Supreme, Prabha and Lakadong. Most successful microrhizome induction was observed in the variety Alleppey Supreme in MS medium supplemented with 90gl -1 sucrose in Growtec culture vessels. The monomorphic pattern of RAPD profiles observed for the microrhizome derived plants in comparison with the mother plant confirmed the clonal fidelity. This recommends that planting material production through microrhizome technology is a safe method for multiplication of true-to-type plants in turmeric even after 30 subculture cycles. This is the first study that evaluates the applicability of RAPD markers in establishing clonal fidelity of turmeric plants raised through microrhizome technology.
The Relationship between Kitwood’s Model of Needs and a Student’s Music Therapy Practice in an Acute Assessment Unit for People Living with Dementia and Mental Health Issues

This study focused on reviewing a student’s music therapy practice at an acute assessment unit for people living with dementia and mental health issues, finding links between the placement philosophy, and new ideas about practice. Kitwood’s (1997) book on personhood and the needs of people who are living with dementia and other mental health issues appeared to resonate with the student music therapists’ practice. This was supported by the active use of his model of needs by nursing staff at the placement. Investigations looked specifically at Kitwood’s model of needs; how music therapy links with his philosophy and how interventions during practice connected to those needs. The data was draw from descriptive clinical notes using secondary analysis. The rich qualitative data was analysed using deductive and inductive methods. Findings are presented under Kitwood’s model of needs, forming the five categories for the study. The main themes within these categories were then summarised and explanations given under both Kitwood’s model of needs and music therapy interventions used to meet them. Though the findings are qualitative, specific to this study and not necessarily generalisable, several links within music therapy practice, and nursing practice revealed the importance and need for more person-centred individualised care programmes for patients in mental health settings.
Discovery of Nobiletin from Citrus Peel as a Potent Inhibitor of β-Amyloid Peptide Toxicity

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), evokes oxidative and inflammatory cascades, which ultimately lead to the death of neurons. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the effect of nobiletin, a representative compound of citrus peel, in preventive and therapeutic approaches against neuronal damage by exposure to Aβ25–35. Nobiletin significantly ameliorated Aβ25–35-mediated cell death by restoring abnormal changes in intracellular oxidative stress, cell cycle, nuclear morphology, and activity of apoptotic caspase. Regarding anti-inflammatory responses, nobiletin significantly suppressed interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, nitric oxide (NO), and prostaglandin E2 production in response to Aβ stimulation. Moreover, nobiletin inhibited Aβ-stimulated inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expression, which was attributed to the blockade of nuclear factor-κB p65 and phosphorylation of its inhibitor, IκB-α. Interestingly, nobiletin decreased expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 without affecting extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 activation. Taken together, the novel data implicate nobiletin as a potential candidate for the prevention of AD through the inhibition of oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammation.
Collisionless Reconnection and High-Energy Particle Acceleration in Solar Flares

Observations with the Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT) and the Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) on board Yohkoh show that the reconnection process is common to impulsive and gradual flares. We apply the collisionless reconnection theory—more exactly, the model of a high-temperature turbulent-current sheet (HTTCS)—to the coronal conditions derived from the Yohkoh data on the site and mechanism of magnetic energy transformation into kinetic and thermal energies of “superhot” plasma and accelerated particles. We consider the reconnecting current sheet as the source of flare energy and the first-step mechanism in a two-step acceleration of electrons and ions to high energies. According to our model, reconnected field lines rapidly move out of the HTTCS, being frozen into superhot plasma, and form magnetic loops on the upstream side of a fast oblique collisionless shock (FOCS) situated above the soft X-ray-emitting loops of a strong magnetic field. The electrons and ions energized and preaccelerated by the HTTCS are trapped in magnetic loops. The top of each loop moves with a high speed toward the FOCS, while its feet penetrate through the shock front. For these reasons, two mechanisms—the adiabatic heating inside the collapsing trap and acceleration by the shock front at the two feet of the trap—efficiently increase the particle energy. The lifetime of an individual collapsing trap can be identified with the observed few-second delay to higher energies of hard X-ray and gamma-ray emission. The trap of accelerated electrons can be seen as the coronal hard X-ray “above-the-loop-top source. ” Precipitation of accelerated electrons from the trap through the FOCS into the chromosphere is responsible for the hard X-ray “footpoint sources. ” The model explains timing, location, and motion of the hard X-ray sources in solar flares as well as the observed relative intensity of the coronal and chromospheric hard X-ray sources and other physical properties.
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Preserves Leg Lean Mass in Geriatric Patients.

AIM To examine changes in lean mass during hospitalization in geriatric patients and the effect of muscle activation by neuromuscular electrical stimulation. METHODS Thirteen patients (69-94 years) at a geriatric ward completed tests at hospital admission (day 2-3) and discharge (day 8-10). One leg received daily stimulation of the knee extensors while the other leg served as a control leg. Lean mass was evaluated by DEXA scans and muscle thickness by ultrasound scans. Muscle biopsies were collected from both legs at admission and discharge in 9 patients and analyzed for fibre size, satellite cell number and activation and expression of genes associated with muscle protein synthesis and breakdown, connective tissue and cellular stress. RESULTS The relative decline in leg lean mass and midthigh region lean mass was larger in the control (-2.8±1.5%) vs. the stimulated leg (-0.5±1.4%, p<0.05). Although there were no changes in fibre size or satellite cell number, the mRNA data revealed that, compared to control, the stimulation resulted in a downregulation of Myostatin (p<0.05) and a similar trend for MAFbx (p=0.099), together with an upregulation of Collagen I (p<0.001), TenascinC (p<0.001), CD68 (p<0.01) and Ki67 (p<0.05) mRNA. CONCLUSION These findings demonstrate a moderate decline in leg lean mass during a hospital stay in geriatric patients, while leg lean mass was preserved with daily neuromuscular electrical muscle activation. At the cellular level the stimulation had a clear influence on suppression of atrophy signaling pathways in parallel with a stimulation of connective tissue and cellular remodeling processes.
Single-Crystalline γ-Ga2S3 Nanotubes via Epitaxial Conversion of GaAs Nanowires.

The chemical transformation of nanowire templates into nanotubes is a promising avenue toward hollow one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures. To date, high-quality single crystalline tubes of non-layered inorganic crystals have been obtained by solid-state reactions in diffusion couples of nanowires with deposited thin film shells, but this approach presents issues in achieving single-phase tubes with a desired stoichiometry. Chemical transformations with reactants supplied from the gas- or vapor-phase can avoid these complications, allowing single-phase nanotubes to be obtained through self-termination of the reaction once the sacrificial template has been consumed. Here, we demonstrate the realization of this scenario with the transformation of zincblende GaAs nanowires into single-crystalline cubic γ-Ga2S3 nanotubes by reaction with sulfur vapor. The conversion proceeds via the formation of epitaxial GaAs-Ga2S3 core-shell structures, vacancy injection and aggregation into Kirkendall voids, elastic relaxation of the detached Ga2S3 shell, and finally complete incorporation of Ga in a crystalline chalcogenide tube. Absorption and luminescence spectroscopy on individual nanotubes show optoelectronic properties, notably a ~3.1 eV bandgap and intense band-edge and near band-edge emission consistent with high-quality single crystals, along with transitions between gap-states due to the inherent cation-vacancy defect structure of Ga2S3. Our work establishes the transformation of nanowires via vapor-phase reactions as a viable approach for forming single-crystalline hollow 1D nanostructures with promising properties.
Palaeoenvironmental changes at Col des Tribes (Montagne Noire, France), a reference section for the Famennian of north Gondwana-related areas

Abstract We present detailed biostratigraphy based on conodonts and palaeoenvironmental trends deduced from microfacies and conodont abundance through the Famennian (Late Devonian) at Col des Tribes (Montagne Noire, France). The succession is characterized by micritic limestones deposited in settings oscillating between mid to outer ramp. Facies contain poor fauna, widely dominated by nektonic organisms. This section is complete and one of the most conodont-rich for the Famennian of the north Gondwana-related area. The Upper Kellwasser event (Frasnian–Famennian boundary) and the Hangenberg (Devonian–Carboniferous boundary) have been lithologically identified. They are characterized by decimetre-thick black dysoxic to anoxic argillaceous sediments. The Condroz and annulata events, although not materialized by lithological changes, have been positioned due to the precise stratigraphy. The first event occurred during the deposition of condensed ferruginous facies (griotte limestones) and the second event during the deposition of micrites barren of benthic fauna. The combination of information from both facies and conodont biofacies changes allows a general sea-level curve through the entire Famennian for north Gondwana to be proposed for the first time. At Col des Tribes, the general trend is a slight deepening upwards from triangularis to trachytera zones, then a pronounced shallowing-upwards trend from upper trachytera to praesulcata zones. This curve correlates with the well-known reference curve from Euramerica concerning the late Famennian (trachytera to praesulcata Zones). There are some discrepancies in minor cycles which can be explained by tectonical phenomena at the onset of the edification of the Variscan belt in Europe.
Upadacitinib and filgotinib: the role of JAK1 selective inhibition in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease characterized by joint involvement, extra-articular manifestations, comorbidities, and increased mortality. In the last few decades, the management of RA has been dramatically improved by the introduction of a treat-to-target approach aiming to prevent joint damage progression. Moreover, the increasing knowledge about disease pathogenesis allowed the development of a new drug class of biologic agents targeted on immune cells and proinflammatory cytokines involved in RA network. Despite the introduction of several targeted drugs, a significant proportion of RA patients still fail to achieve the clinical target; so, more recently the focus of research has been shifted toward the inhibition of kinases involved in the transduction of the inflammatory signal into immune cells. In particular, two Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, baricitinib and tofacitinib, have been licensed for the treatment of RA as a consequence of a very favorable profile observed in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted across different RA subpopulations. Both these new compounds are active on the majority of four JAK family members (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2), whereas the most recent emerging approach is directed toward the development of JAK1 selective inhibitors (upadacitinib and filgotinib) with the aim to improve the safety profile by minimizing the effects on JAK3 and, especially, JAK2. In this narrative review, we discuss the rationale for JAK inhibition in RA, with a special focus on the role of JAK1 selective blockade and a detailed description of available data from the results of clinical trials on upadacitinib and filgotinib.