Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospective cytomegalovirus monitoring during first‐line chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Little is known about the incidence and clinical impact of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients with acute myeloid leukemia at the time of diagnosis and during chemotherapy. The aims of the present study were to assess prospectively the incidence of active CMV infection in 69 consecutive patients with acute myeloid leukemia and to describe the outcomes of treatment. pp65 antigenemia was monitored at diagnosis, post‐induction and post‐consolidation chemotherapy, and whenever CMV reactivation was suspected. Patients with pp65 antigenemia received pre‐emptive anti‐CMV treatment. Fifty‐nine patients achieved complete remission. Baseline CMV serology results were available for 56 of the 59 patients: 52 patients (93%) were IgG positive. The overall incidence of pp65 antigenemia in patients in complete remission after chemotherapy was 35% (21/59): 9 patients after induction and 12 post‐consolidation. Sixteen of the 21 pp65‐positive patients received anti‐CMV treatment: 15 as pre‐emptive therapy and 1 for interstitial CMV pneumonitis. Five patients received no anti‐CMV treatment and did not develop CMV disease. Patients with pp65 antigenemia had more hospital admissions (2.57 vs. 2.16; P = 0.009), while patients with >10 pp65‐positive cells had more clinical complications (8/9 vs. 2/12; P = 0.002). In conclusion, patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving chemotherapy should be monitored for active CMV infection. CMV reactivation in these patients was associated with an increased number of hospital admissions, and high levels of pp65 antigenemia were associated with more clinical complications. Controlled studies are needed to assess the relevance of pre‐emptive anti‐CMV therapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia receiving chemotherapy. J. Med. Virol. 82: 1201–1207, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Effectiveness and tolerability of addition of risperidone in obsessive-compulsive disorder with poor response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors].

INTRODUCTION The addition of typical and atypical antipsychotics in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) resistant to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI) has been reported as a useful augmentation strategy. Although antipsychotic monotherapy has been associated with ineffectiveness and even increase of psychotic symptoms (especially in psychotic patients), antipsychotics as concomitant medications have proven to be effective in several case series and pilot clinical trials. The objective of this case series was to evaluate effectiveness of risperidone as add on therapy to current SRIs treatment in OCD refractory to treatment patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD Risperidone add on therapy in moderate and severe treatment resistant OCD patients was reviewed. Case reports were patients fulfilling the following criteria: a) treatment follow-up of at least 12 weeks; b) SRI adequate doses, y c) Y-BOCS score higher than 16 score before starting treatment. A three month follow-up period was reviewed. Risperidone starting dose was low (mean 1.5 mg/day) and was increased following clinical criteria. Therapeutic response and tolerability were evalated with the following scales: Y-BOCS, CGI of change, UKU (neurological subscale) and spontaneous reported adverse events. Response criteria were the following: at least 35% of reduction in Y-BOCS from basal score and final score less than 16 and CGI-C "much improved" or "very much improved" (score 1 or 2). Intention to treat analysis was performed (patients who reported at least one risperidone dose and effectiveness measure). RESULTS 31 patients had at least one effectiveness evaluation and 21/31 patients (67.8 %) were considered treatment responders. Mean risperidone dose was 3.8 mg/day. In general, risperidone was well tolerated: serious or unexpected adverse event were not reported. CONCLUSION Risperidone as add on therapy to SRI in moderate-severe, refractory to treatment OCD patients, may be an effective and safe strategy.
Craniectomy for acute ischemic stroke: how to apply the data to the bedside

Purpose of reviewMalignant hemispheric infarction is associated with a high mortality rate, approximately 80%, as a result of the development of intracranial pressure gradients, brain tissue shift, and herniation. By allowing the brain to swell outwards and equalizing pressure gradients, decompressive craniectomy appears to significantly reduce the mortality to approximately 20%. This review takes a comprehensive look at the evidence highlighting the benefits and limits of decompressive craniectomy in malignant cerebral infarction. Recent findingsThree recent European randomized trials have provided compelling evidence that decompressive hemicraniectomy for large hemispheric infarction is not only lifesaving, but also leads to improved functional outcome in patients 60 years of age or less when treated within 48 h of stroke onset. SummaryEarly decompressive hemicraniectomy (≤48 h) should be strongly considered in any patient 60 years old or less presenting with malignant hemispheric infarction. Further studies are needed to establish objective neuroimaging criteria for aggressive intervention, and to clarify the role of decompressive surgery in older patients (>60 years old) and perhaps, when delayed beyond 48 h.
Divalent Cations and Ligands Induce Conformational Changes That Are Highly Divergent among β1 Integrins*

Here we show striking differences in conformational regulation among β1 integrins. Upon manganese stimulation, a β1 epitope defined by monoclonal antibody (mAb) 9EG7 was induced strongly (on α4β1), moderately (on α5β1), weakly (on α2β1), or was scarcely detectable (on α6β1 and α3β1). Comparable results were seen for the β1 epitope defined by mAb 15/7. Likewise, soluble ligands caused strong (α4β1), moderate (α5β1), weak (α2β1, α6β1), or minimal (α3β1) induction of the 9EG7 epitope. Exchange or deletion of α chain cytoplasmic tails did not alter Mn2+-induced 9EG7 epitope levels. Upon removal of calcium by EGTA or EDTA, the hierarchy of 9EG7 epitope induction was similar (α5β1 > α2β1 > α6β1 > α3β1), except that EGTA reduced rather than induced 9EG7 expression on α4β1. Thus in contrast to other β1 integrins, calcium uniquely supports constitutive expression of the 9EG7 epitope on α4β1. Likewise, calcium supported vascular cell adhesion molecule-stimulated 9EG7 appearance on α4β1, whereas calcium inhibited ligand-induced 9EG7 epitope on other integrins. Constitutive expression of 9EG7 on α4β1 was eliminated by a D698E mutation in α4, suggesting that Asp-698 may play a key role in maintaining atypical α4β1 response to calcium. In conclusion, our results (i) demonstrate that mAb such as 9EG7 and 15/7 have limited diagnostic utility as reporters of ligand or Mn2+ occupancy for β1 integrins, (ii) indicate pronounced differences in conformational flexibilities (α4β1 > α5β1> α2β1 > α6β1> α3β1), (iii) allow us to hypothesize that β1 integrins may differ markedly in conformation-dependent inside-out signaling, and (iv) have uncovered an atypical α4β1 response to calcium that requires α4 Asp-698.
Social Security and Sustainable Economic Growth: Based on the Perspective of Human Capital

China’s social security expenditure has rapidly grown during the past decade, and concerns about the impact of social security on productivity and sustained economic growth have attracted attention. Based on Chinese provincial panel data over the period 2007–2016, a threshold model analysis found that the impact of social security on productivity has a “double threshold” on human capital. Using dynamic panel data models and system General Moment Method estimators also found the existence of this threshold effect: When the human capital level is low or high, social security is favorable for sustained economic growth. However, if the human capital level is at the intermediate level, the function of social security is weak. The main conclusions were still valid after we examined the robustness of our results with several methods.
Academic Leadership and Knowledge Sharing in Nigerian Public Universities

Leadership is indispensable in the lives of organizations and academic institutions are no exception, however, academic leadership is exceptional in higher institutions. Debatably, leadership in academia goes beyond the institutions into the larger society, they strive to serve. Against this scenery, this study is aimed at empirically examining the influence of academic leadership (its components) on knowledge sharing(KS) among academics. A valid response rate of 391 was utilized in this study which was obtained from five hundred and ten (510) questionnaires (quota sampling technique was deployed) administered to lecturers in 13 public universities in north central region, Nigeria, while employing PLS-SEM to run the analysis. The findings reveal that four components of academic leadership out of six have positive significant influence on KS, however, the insignificant influence of ‘visionary and effective leadership’ was not predicted which may be due to study area-based issues – politicization of the emergence of academic leaders at the expense of merit criteria. Consequently, these six components of academic leadership may not be the only predictors of KS in academia. Hence, future research is called upon to widen the investigation by incorporating intervening variables and other relevant predictors to lend more credence to the model. Keywords: leadership, academic leadership, knowledge management, knowledge Sharing.
Design of a High-Efficiency Wireless Power Transfer System With Intermediate Coils for the On-Board Chargers of Electric Vehicles

In this paper, a high efficiency inductive wireless power transfer system for the on-board chargers of electric vehicles is proposed. In order to improve the power transfer efficiency, the proposed system adopts two additional intermediate coils with resonant capacitors, which increases the effective magnetizing impedance between the transmitter and receiver coils with no ferrites. The resonant tank of the proposed system is designed to operate the converter as a current source and as a voltage source at two different frequencies to implement the constant current (CC) mode charge and constant voltage (CV) charge, respectively. Since the proposed converter operates at a fixed frequency in each mode of charge operation, full soft switching of all the switching devices is possible and the zero phase angle condition can be achieved in both the CC and CV mode operations. A theoretical analysis based on a Thevenin model to come up with a suitable design for the battery charger and its closed-loop controller is presented and its superior performance is demonstrated by experimental results. A 6.6 kW prototype is implemented with a 200 mm air gap to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. Experimental results show that the dc to dc conversion efficiency of the proposed system is 97.08% at 3.7 kW of output power in the CV mode charge.
Chronic Organic Solvent Exposure Changes Visual Tracking in Men and Women

Organic solvents can change CNS sensory and motor function. Eye-movement analyses can be important tools when investigating the neurotoxic changes that result from chronic organic solvent exposure. The current research measured the eye-movement patterns of men and women with and without histories of chronic organic solvent exposure. A total of 44 volunteers between 18 and 41 years old participated in this study; 22 were men (11 exposed and 11 controls), and 22 were women (11 exposed and 11 controls). Eye movement was evaluated using a 250-Hz High-Speed Video Eye Tracker Toolbox (Cambridge Research Systems) via an image of a maze. Specific body indices of exposed and non-exposed men and women were measured with an Inbody 720 to determine whether the differences in eye-movement patterns were associated with body composition. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0. 0. The results indicated that exposed adults showed significantly more fixations (t = 3.82; p = 0.001; r = 0.51) and longer fixations (t = 4.27; p = 0.001, r = 0.54) than their non-exposed counterparts. Comparisons within men (e.g., exposed and non-exposed) showed significant differences in the number of fixations (t = 2.21; p = 0.04; r = 0.20) and duration of fixations (t = 3.29; p = 0.001; r = 0.35). The same was true for exposed vs. non-exposed women, who showed significant differences in the number of fixations (t = 3.10; p = 0.001; r = 0.32) and fixation durations (t = 2.76; p = 0.01; r = 0.28). However, the results did not show significant differences between exposed women and men in the number and duration of fixations. No correlations were found between eye-movement pattern and body composition measures (p > 0.05). These results suggest that chronic organic solvent exposure affects eye movements, regardless of sex and body composition, and that eye tracking contributes to the investigation of the visual information processing disorders acquired by workers exposed to organic solvents.
ADDITIONS TO CLASSICAL SEQUENCE OF PLEISTOCENE GLACIATIONS, SIERRA NEVADA, CALIFORNIA

Two additions are proposed to Black-welder's classical sequence of four Pleistocene glaciations (Tioga, Tahoe, Sherwin, and McGee) of the Sierra Nevada. The younger, the Tenaya, lies between Tioga and Tahoe, giving a three-fold subdivision of the Wisconsin. The older, named Mono Basin, fills the long-recognized gap between Tahoe and Sherwin; it is possibly Illinoian. Evidence for the Mono Basin glaciation is scanty because its ice streams were less extensive than the subsequent Tahoe glaciers.
Role of toll-like receptors in systemic sclerosis

Accumulative evidence demonstrates the crucial role of evolutionary conserved Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in identifying microbial or viral compounds. TLRs are also able to recognise endogenous molecules which are released upon cell damage or stress and have been shown to play a key role in numerous autoimmune diseases including systemic sclerosis (SSc). A classic feature of SSc, is vascular injury manifested as Raynaud's phenomenon and ischaemia of the skin, resulting in the release of endogenous TLR ligands during inflammation and local tissue damage. These locally released TLR ligands bind TLRs possibly complexed to autoantibodies, and initiate intracellular signalling pathways and may be one of the mechanisms that initiate and drive autoimmunity and subsequent fibrosis. Activation of the immune system results in interferon (IFN) sensitive gene transcription. There is also an IFN gene signature in SSc peripheral blood. TLRs may represent the link between immune activation, common in SSc, and tissue fibrosis. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms of TLR-mediated pathogenesis and therapies targeting individual TLRs, may provide a more specific approach of treating multi-systemic autoimmune diseases. This review aims to integrate the current knowledge of TLR function in the autoimmune disorders with particular emphasis on SSc. We suggest the TLR system as a new therapeutic target.
Re-examining the Higher Predictive Power of D/P and E/P during Recessions

In this study, we examine the differential predictive power of the dividend-price ratio [D/P] and the earnings-price ratio [E/P] for future stock returns during recessions versus during expansionary periods. We find that dividends do not decrease but prices decrease from the expansion periods to the recession periods resulting in the D/P increase during recessions. This increase in D/P during recessions is correlated with the increase in market returns following recessions. However, we find no significant difference in means of E/P between recession and expansion periods. Additionally, we find that the explanatory power of D/P and E/P for future market returns varies with time. D/P, E/P, and future market returns move together during the first two subperiods, peaking toward the end of recession periods. Particularly, D/P and future market return trend differently during expansion periods, but the trends are reset into tandem during recession periods, also explain why predictive regressions in studies using the full sample period present conflicting results.
Asymmetry and Spillover Effects in the North American Equity Markets

Abstract In this paper we examine the issue of asymmetry in the return and volatility spillover effects from the US equity market into the Canadian and Mexican equity markets. We model the conditional volatility of the returns in each of the three markets using the asymmetric power model of Ding, Granger and Engle (1993). The empirical findings indicate that the US market has a significant impact on the returns in the Canadian and Mexican markets. However, the findings for Canada vary considerably from those for Mexico. In particular, the empirical results indicate that volatility spillover effects, but not return spillover effects, exhibit an asymmetric behavior, with negative shocks from the US equity market impacting on the conditional volatility of the Canadian and Mexican equity markets more deeply than positive shocks. Moreover, while the impact of positive shocks from the US equity market is not much different between the two markets, this is not the case with negative shocks, which affect the volatility of the Mexican market more intensely than the volatility of the Canadian market.
Short-Term Momentum (Almost) Everywhere

Abstract Is there a short-term reversal effect outside the universe of individual stocks? To answer this, we investigate a comprehensive dataset of more than two centuries of returns on five major asset classes: equity indices, government bonds, treasury bills, commodities, and currencies. Contrary to stock-level evidence, we find a striking short-term momentum pattern: the most recent month’s return positively predicts future performance. The effect is not explained by established return predictors—including the standard momentum—and is robust to many considerations. The short-term momentum is strongest among assets of high idiosyncratic volatility and in periods of elevated return dispersion. Also, the strategy payoffs display partial commonality across different asset classes.
Can C3 Laminectomy Reduce Interlaminar Bony Fusion and Preserve the Range of Motion After Cervical Laminoplasty?

Study Design. Retrospective comparative study. Objective. To investigate whether the resection of C3 lamina during cervical laminoplasty can prevent C2-C4 interlaminar bony fusion and preserve the range of motion (ROM) postoperatively. Summary of Background Data. Interlaminar bony fusion is a common complication after cervical laminoplasty, especially in the C2-C4. Laminectomy, rather than laminoplasty, of C3 has been recently introduced. Its advantages include minimizing muscle detachment at C2 and reducing postoperative neck pain. Methods. A total of 59 patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy that involved three or more levels, including C3, were consecutively treated with laminoplasty and followed up for more than 3 years after surgery. The first 45 patients underwent open-door laminoplasty at C3 (Lp group) and the subsequent 14 patients underwent laminectomy at C3 rather than laminoplasty (Ln group). The Lp group was further divided into two subgroups based on the development of interlaminar bony fusion at C2-C3 and/or C3-C4: Lp-NF (nonfusion) and Lp-F (fusion) groups. Clinical outcomes and radiographic parameters were assessed pre- and postoperatively. Results. Nineteen out of 45 patients who underwent laminoplasty demonstrated fusion at 3-year follow up. Fusion developed more commonly in those patients who had a smaller preoperative ROM at C2-C4 segments (Lp-F 14.3° ± 6.9° vs. Lp-NF 21.4° ± 5.3°, P = 0.013). The neck disability index (range, 13.4 ± 7.3 to 6.3 ± 5.2, P < 0.001), visual analog scale for neck pain (range, 2.5 ± 1.7 to 0.9 ± 1.3, P = 0.027), Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score (range, 14.3 ± 1.9 to 16.0 ± 2.4, P < 0.001), and JOA recovery rate (63.4 ± 19.8%) in the Ln group improved postoperatively; however, there was no significant difference in the improvement of these clinical outcomes among all three groups. Postoperative cervical ROM was significantly reduced in all groups; however, the extent of reduction was significantly smaller in the Ln group (10.5°; range, 44.2° ± 9.1° to 33.7 ± 6.0°) than in the Lp-NF (15.1°; range, 45.4° ± 8.5° to 30.3° ± 7.4°) or Lp-F (18.2°; range, 39.6° ± 9.3° to 21.4° ± 10.3°) groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion. C3 laminectomy with laminoplasty can prevent interlaminar bony fusion at C2-C4 and, ultimately, result in better preservation of cervical ROM than C3 laminoplasty. Furthermore, it yields similar clinical outcomes when compared with C3 laminoplasty. Level of Evidence: 3
Pentylenetetrazole decreases metabolic glutamate turnover in rat brain

Seizures were induced in rats by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ, 70 mg/kg), followed, 30 min later, by injection of [1‐13C]glucose and [1,2‐13C]acetate. Analyses of extracts from cortex, subcortex and cerebellum were performed using 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy and HPLC. It could be shown that PTZ affected different brain regions differently. The total amounts of glutamate, glutamine, GABA, aspartate and taurine were decreased in the cerebellum and unchanged in the other brain regions. GABAergic neurones in the cortex and subcortex were not affected, whereas those in the cerebellum showed a pronounced decrease of GABA synthesis. However, glutamatergic neurones in all brain regions showed a decrease in glutamate labelling and in addition a decreased turnover in cerebellum. It could be shown that this decrease was in the metabolic pool of glutamate whereas release of glutamate was unaffected since glutamine labelling from glutamate was unchanged. Aspartate turnover was also decreased in all brain regions. Changes in astrocyte metabolism were not detected, indicating that PTZ had no effect on astrocyte metabolism in the early postictal stage.