Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response assessment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia receiving imatinib mesylate (Glivec) therapy: experience from a single center in a developing country

Imatinib mesylate, a targeted inhibitor of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase, is a standard of care for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). There are few publications on responses of patients with CML from the Indian subcontinent. This study analyzed the response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and toxicities in patients with CML given imatinib. Analysis included patients with CML who received imatinib under the GIPAP program at our institution from January 2002 to December 2008. Standard criteria for hematological and cytogenetic responses were used. There were 400 patients, with a median follow-up of 47 months. One hundred and seventy received prior non-imatinib therapy and 230 patients received imatinib upfront. Ninety-five percent of patients achieved complete hematological response. The cumulative best rate of major cytogenetic response was 72%, with 53% complete cytogenetic response and 19% partial cytogenetic response. The estimated PFS and OS at median follow-up for the whole group was 76% and 94%, respectively. Differences in PFS and OS in prior non-imatinib and upfront imatinib groups were not statistically significant. However, better PFS and OS were seen in the upfront imatinib group. Imatinib was well tolerated in our study.
A literature review on the prosthetic treatment of structurally compromised teeth.

PURPOSE This article presents a review of the literature on biomechanical factors affecting the treatment outcome of prosthetic treatment of structurally compromised dentitions, with the main emphasis on often-compromised endodontically treated teeth. MATERIALS AND METHODS Articles cited in a MEDLINE/PubMed search were reviewed with a focus on factors influencing the risk for fatigue failures. RESULTS Technical failures in connection with fixed prosthodontics are often caused by fatigue fractures. The abutments, cement, and reconstruction are all subjected to stress caused by occlusal forces, and fatigue fracture may occur at the weakest point or where the maximum stress occurs. The weakest point is frequently in connection with endodontically treated teeth restored with posts and cores. CONCLUSION The literature points to nonaxial forces as a risk for fatigue fracture of teeth, cement, and restorative material. Favorable occlusal prosthesis design is probably more important for survival of structurally compromised endodontically treated teeth than is the type of post used.
Neuronal Factors Influencing the Decision to Swim in the Medicinal Leech

The initiation of leech (Hirudo medicinalis) swimming in isolated segmental nerve cord preparations requires only excitation of segmental swim gating and swim oscillatory interneurons. However, several observations indicate that when the entire isolated central nervous system (head ganglion through tail ganglion) is used, neuronal inputs from the head ganglion other than excitatory inputs to the segmental swim-generating network influence whether swimming results in response to a given stimulus. In this study, experiments were performed to demonstrate that the initiation of swimming is controlled by two parallel pathways emanating from the head ganglion that have opposite effects on the segmental swim-generating network. One pathway, the swim-activating system, excites the segmental swim-generating network, while the other pathway, the swim-inactivating system, suppresses it. The balance between the effects that the swim-activating and inactivating systems have on the segmental swim-generating network determines whether swimming occurs. Moreover, we identified a pair of interneurons, cells SIN1, in the leech head ganglion whose spiking activity must be suppressed in order for swimming to be initiated since their activity is incompatible with swimming. Depolarization of cell SIN1 during swimming indirectly inhibits segmental swim-gating interneurons and terminates ongoing swimming activity. Thus, cells SIN1 are most likely part of the swim-inactivating system in the leech head ganglion.
Budgetary Control and Performance: the Case of Councils in Mezam and Momo Divisions of Cameroon

The pursuit of quality service delivery in the public sector management in Cameroon necessitated the decentralisation of public sector management by transferring more power and resources to the local councils. This is in a bid to make them more self-governing. These councils are expected to meet the aspirations of their municipalities by carrying out approved projects efficiently and effectively. In this regard, this paper sets out to investigate the relationship between budgetary control and performance of local councils in Mezam and Momo Divisions of the North West Region of Cameroon, and the challenges these councils encounter in the process of budgetary control. Data was collected through a survey and analysed using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation technique to regress the relationship between the budgetary control variables and council performance. The empirical results showed that the key budgetary control variables (planning, participation, monitoring and control, motivation, communication, and responsibility) have a positively and statistically significant effect on performance of the councils. Effective performance of local councils in Mezam and Momo Divisions of the North West Region of Cameroon could then be attributed to effective presence of budgetary control requiring the availability of financial resources rationally allocated, qualified and experienced personnel, participation of all responsibility center managers in the planning and control processes, and regular communication and motivation of the council staff.
Treatment-Resistant Depression: Managed Care Considerations

BACKGROUND: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) presents a unique challenge in managed care, requiring review of both the clinical and economic components of care. OBJECTIVES: To review the TRD disease state as well as data supporting the various therapeutic options available for the treatment of persistent depression in managed care. SUMMARY: While there is no consensus on the definition of TRD, persistent disease can generally be defined as depression that fails to respond to adequate treatment. When initial treatment is not effective or tolerable after 6 to 8 weeks of therapy, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) treatment guidelines recommend dose titration, augmentation, or switching. In the case of a therapy switch, the body of evidence suggests that selection of an agent with a different mechanism of action than the initial agent may be the most effective treatment. Furthermore, when patients maintain continuous therapy for the recommended treatment duration, outcomes are improved compared with patients who discontinue therapy early. As a result, the most effective treatment strategies promote improved patient compliance as well as the use of agents associated with a reduced incidence of premature discontinuation and therapy change early in the treatment program. While data supporting these clinically effective components of therapy exist, few data are available demonstrating the most cost-effective therapeutic options for TRD. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis suggests that managed care providers could benefit from a model that they can customize to evaluate the overall cost effectiveness of different strategies in the management of depression.
Product Market Competition and Agency Conflicts: Evidence from the Sarbanes Oxley Law

We study the effect of product market competition on the alignment of incentives between management and shareholders in public U.S. firms. We find that competition reduces agency conflicts. Firms in less competitive industries are less efficient than firms in more competitive industries and the Sarbanes Oxley regulation, aimed at mitigating agency conflicts, improved efficiency mainly in the less competitive industries. Product market competition is also a substitute for other governance mechanisms as firms in less competitive industries are more likely to employ stronger governance mechanisms to align management interests with those of the shareholders.
The validation of the persian version of the infidelity questionnaire

The present study aims to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Infidelity Questionnaire (INFQ). Specifically, INFQ assesses the possible elements of sexual and emotional infidelity. The instrument was translated through the back-translation strategy and revised by three panels. The validity and reliability of the INFQ were examined in the current study. Results showed that the Persian version of the infidelity questionnaire has reasonable internal consistency. The validity was achieved when the results showed that there were significant relationships between personality issues and seduction, leisure activities and social background, and between parenting, social background and sexuality. These findings proved the validity and applicability of the Persian version of INFQ in the Iranian community.
Multiexponential proton relaxation processes of compartmentalized water in gels

The proton relaxation times, T1 and T2, of water in Sephadex gels, exhibiting pores of varying size (i.e., with exclusion limits of molecular weight between l03 and 105) and water contents in the range 30 to 70% (w/w, weight of water to total weight), were measured at 20 MHz in the temperature range 5 to 50°C. Multiexponential analysis of the relaxation curves revealed the existence of two relaxation components in all gel systems. A component with long T1 and T2 (T1,1 and T2,1) is associated with a large water fraction α1,1 and α2,1 and a component with short T1 and T2 (T1,2 and T2,2 with a small water fraction α1,2 and α2,2 An analysis of the temperature behavior of the relaxation components gives insight into the relaxation mechanisms. The relaxation process in water, compartmentalized in the gel matrix, is mainly controlled by dipole‐dipole interactions. In addition, proton exchange processes between hydration water and hydroxyl groups of the matrix chain contribute under specific conditions and lead to a dramatic enhancement of the relaxation rate. In particular, for gels with small pores and with low water content proton exchange is observed. Compartments of water in gels could be models for compartments of water in biological tissues.
Fertility and histological studies of the contralateral testes in two different intra- and extra-abdominal rat models of unilateral cryptorchidism.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of location of the testis on both testicular development and fertility in unilateral cryptorchidism. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-nine Wistar King A newborn male rats were divided into three groups. In group 1 (15 rats) intra-abdominal unilateral cryptorchidism were created by the intra-abdominal fixation of the testis in the neonatal period. In group 2 (16 rats) extra-abdominal unilateral cryptorchidism was created by extra-abdominal fixation of the gubernaculum in the neonatal period. In group 3, 18 rats underwent a sham operation as controls. At 90 days of age, fertility was then assessed in each rat by housing it with two mature virgin females for 2 weeks. Thereafter, at 115-120 days of age, the rats were killed and their testes removed for histological examination. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the pregnancy rate between females coupled with rats from any group, but the mean number of offspring was significantly lower in females coupled with rats in group 1 than in group 2. Furthermore, histological examination of both the cryptorchid and contralateral scrotal testes showed more severe changes in the intra-abdominal than the extra-abdominal testes. CONCLUSION These results suggest that intra-abdominal cryptorchid testes are significantly more impaired than extra-abdominal cryptorchid testes, and that such impairment might be caused by exposure of the testis to a higher temperature. The more severely impaired undescended testes may thus induce the degeneration of the contralateral scrotal testis and thereby cause subfertility in the intra-abdominal unilateral cryptorchid rat model.
Abiotic Factors and Trap Design Modulate the Performance of Traps Used to Monitor the Plum Curculio

Abstract All published studies on effects of abiotic factors on plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Hersbt), adults have taken a retrospective approach. Here, we present the results of experiments where factors and their levels were determined and controlled a priori. We compared the effectiveness of miniature pyramidal traps (45 by 20 by 20 cm) constructed of four kind of materials—wood, geotextile, nylon screening, and corrugated plastic—to monitor overwintered and summer adults of univoltine plum curculio. We also studied the effects of photoperiod, temperature, wind, and rain on pyramidal trap effectiveness. The experiments, which were replicated over time, were done in two controlled chambers that were divided into four sections, corresponding to simulated combinations (wind or no wind/rain or no rain). The temperatures tested (15, 20, and 25°C) were randomly assigned in the chambers. During scotophase, geotextile traps captured significantly more overwintered and summer adults than traps made of other materials. The maximum proportion of captures (for overwintered and summer adults) during photophase was obtained at 25°C, and it was significantly different than captures at 15 and 20°C. During scotophase, significantly more overwintered and summer plum curculios were caught at 20 and 25°C than at 15°C. Our experiments demonstrated that geotextile is a good alternative to wooden pyramidal trap. Our results suggest that captures were higher 1) at night, 2) during warmer periods (20 and 25°C), 3) when wind velocity was low and 4) during or shortly after rainfall, and 5) that photoperiod is a factor having an important predictive value for plum curculio captures.
Abrupt Decrease in Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Salinity at End of Little Ice Age

A 420-year history of strontium/calcium, uranium/calcium, and oxygen isotope ratios in eight coral cores from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, indicates that sea surface temperature and salinity were higher in the 18th century than in the 20th century. An abrupt freshening after 1870 occurred simultaneously throughout the southwestern Pacific, coinciding with cooling tropical temperatures. Higher salinities between 1565 and 1870 are best explained by a combination of advection and wind-induced evaporation resulting from a strong latitudinal temperature gradient and intensified circulation. The global Little Ice Age glacial expansion may have been driven, in part, by greater poleward transport of water vapor from the tropical Pacific.
Dual, multilayered somatosensory maps formed by antennal tactile and contact chemosensory afferents in an insect brain

The antennae of most insects move actively and detect the physical and chemical composition of objects encountered by using their associated tactile sensors. Positional information is required for these sensory modalities to interpret the physical environment. Although we have a good understanding of antennal olfactory pathways, little is known about the destinations of antennal mechanosensory and contact chemosensory (gustatory) receptor neurons in the central nervous system. The cockroach Periplaneta is equipped with a pair of long, thin antennae, which are covered in bristles. The distal portions of each antenna possess about 6,500 bimodal bristles that house one tactile sensory and one to four contact chemosensory neurons. In this study, we investigated the morphologies of bimodal bristle receptor afferents by staining individual or populations of bristles. Unlike olfactory afferents, which project exclusively into the glomeruli in the ventral region of the deutocerebrum, both the presumptive mechanosensory and the contact chemosensory afferents projected into the posterior dorsal region of the deutocerebrum and the anterior region of the subesophageal ganglion. Each afferent showed multilayered segmentation and spatial occupation reflecting its three‐dimensional position in the periphery. Presumptive contact chemosensory afferents, characterized by their thin axons and unique branching pattern, occupied more medioventral positions compared with the presumptive tactile afferents. Furthermore, projection fields of presumptive contact chemosensory afferents from single sensilla tended to be segregated from each other. These observations suggest that touch and taste positional information from the antenna is precisely represented in primary centers in a modality‐specific manner. J. Comp. Neurol. 493:291–308, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interactive web-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme: a randomised controlled feasibility trial

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine if an interactive web-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programme is a feasible alternative to conventional PR. Design Randomised controlled feasibility trial. Setting Participants with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were recruited from PR assessments, primary care and community rehabilitation programmes. Patients randomised to conventional rehabilitation started the programme according to the standard care at their referred site on the next available date. Participants 103 patients were recruited to the study and randomised: 52 to conventional rehabilitation (mean (±SD) age 66 (±8) years, Medical Research Council (MRC) 3 (IQR2–4)); 51 to the web arm (mean (±SD) age 66 (±10) years, MRC 3 (IQR2–4)). Participants had to be willing to participate in either arm of the trial, have internet access and be web literate. Interventions Patients randomised to the web-based programme worked through the website, exercising and recording their progress as well as reading educational material. Conventional PR consisted of twice weekly, 2 hourly sessions (an hour for exercise training and an hour for education). Outcome measures Recruitment rates, eligibility, patient preference and dropout and completion rates for both programmes were collected. Standard outcomes for a PR assessment including measures of exercise capacity and quality of life questionnaires were also evaluated. Results A statistically significant improvement (p≤0.01) was observed within each group in the endurance shuttle walk test (WEB: mean change 189±211.1; PR classes: mean change 184.5±247.4 s) and Chronic Respiratory disease Questionnaire-Dyspnoea (CRQ-D; WEB: mean change 0.7±1.2; PR classes: mean change 0.8±1.0). However, there were no significant differences between the groups in any outcome. Dropout rates were higher in the web-based programme (57% vs 23%). Conclusions An interactive web-based PR programme is feasible and acceptable when compared with conventional PR. Future trials maybe around choice-based PR programmes for select patients enabling stratification of patient care. Trial registration number ISRCTN03142263; Results.
Isokinetic trunk strength and lumbosacral range of motion in elite female field hockey players reporting low back pain.

This study was funded, in part, by a Small Faculties Grant from the University of Alberta. Physical therapists have reported an increased incidence of low back pain (LBP) in female field hockey (FH) players, commonly accompanied by decreased trunk range of motion (ROM) and strength. The purpose of this study was to compare lumbosacral sagittal ROM and isokinetic trunk strength in three groups of women: 1) FH athletes with a history of chronic LBP, 2) pain-free FH athletes, and 3) an age-matched, healthy nonathletic control group. Photographs (35 mm) of subjects wearing spinal motion markers were used to determine the limits of lumbosacral saggital ROM in standing. Eccentric and concentric isokinetic trunk flexion and extension torques were measured in sitting through 60 degrees of trunk movement using a Kin-Com dynamometer set at 60 degrees /sec. The ANOVA showed that the pain group had 12 degrees and 18 degrees less extension (p < .01), as well as 18 degrees and 24 degrees less total ROM (p < .001) than the pain-free and control groups, respectively. Only peak (p < .001) and average (p < .03) eccentric extension torques were weaker in the pain group than in the nonathletic control group. These results suggest that physical therapists should perform preseason screening of trunk strength and lumbosacral ROM. In-season trunk extension stretching and strengthening is needed in the training regimes of these athletes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1992;16(3):129-135.
Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ): French Validation of a Transdiagnostic Measure of Repetitive Negative Thinking

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a transdiagnostic process involved in the onset and maintenance of many psychological disorders. The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (Ehring et al., 2011) is a content-independent scale composed of 15 items that assesses RNT from a transdiagnostic perspective in both clinical and general populations. The aim of the current research was to translate and validate the French version of the PTQ through two studies (total N = 1016) following the steps for the trans-cultural validation of psychometric instruments (Hambleton et al., 2006). An exploratory factor analysis conducted on a first community sample revealed a latent structure composed of 10 items distributed on one common factor, labeled RNT, and three subfactors that evaluated the repetitive characteristic of RNT, the intrusiveness of RNT and the effect of RNT on mental resources. This factorial structure was confirmed in two confirmatory factor analyses in community and clinical samples. Scale score reliability indices were good and confirmed the validity of the instrument. The French version of the PTQ is a good content-independent instrument to assess RNT in general and clinical populations of French speakers.
Oral exposure to industrial effluent with exceptionally high levels of drugs does not indicate acute toxic effects in rats

The Patancheru area near Hyderabad in India is recognized as a key link in the global supply chain for many bulk drugs. A central treatment plant receives wastewater from approximately 90 different manufacturers, and the resulting complex effluent has contaminated surface, ground, and drinking water in the region. Ecotoxicological testing of the effluent has shown adverse effects for several organisms, including aquatic vertebrates, at high dilutions. In addition, a recent study of microbial communities in river sediment indicated that the contamination of antibiotic substances might contribute to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes. In an attempt to start investigating how exposure to effluent‐contaminated water may directly affect humans and other terrestrial vertebrates, rats were tube‐fed effluent. Several pharmaceuticals present in the effluent could be detected in rat blood serum at low concentrations. However, results from exploratory microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays indicated no marked effects on hepatic gene transcription after 5 d of exposure. Clinical analysis of blood serum constituents, used as biomarkers for human disease did not reveal any significant changes, nor was there an effect on weight gain. The authors could not find evidence for any acute toxicity in the rat; however, the authors cannot rule out that higher doses of effluent or a longer exposure time may still be associated with risks for terrestrial vertebrates. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2013;32:577–584. © 2012 SETAC