Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A tentative tumor–node–metastasis classification of thymoma

To establish a tumor–node–metastasis (TNM) classification of thymoma, 207 thymoma patients seen at the First Department of Surgery, Osaka University, and the Second Department of Surgery, Nagoya City University, were evaluated. Lymphogenous and hematogenous metastases of thymoma were infrequent, but their frequency increased with the duration of the course. Lymphogenous metastasis was observed in few cases, but it was considered to progress from anterior mediastinal lymph nodes to intrathoracic and then to extrathoracic lymph nodes. No particular characteristics were observed in hematogenous metastasis. On the basis of these observations, a TNM classification of thymoma was established and applied it to 207 thymoma cases, but it had little advantage over conventional clinical staging. High percentages of thymic carcinomas and thymic carcinoids were in Stage IVB, and the TNM classification of these tumors was considered to be more useful.
Web-Based Quality of Life Questionnaire Followed by Paper-Based Questionnaire for the Non-Responders: Daily Practice in Patients with Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Patient-related outcome measures (PROMS) play an increasingly important role in the planning and evaluation of medical care. A high response rate is crucial to get a good view of the patient population. Quality of life questionnaires in oncology are important in order to evaluate the impact of the disease or the treatment of cancer patients and guide treatment decisions. The traditional way to collect data is a paper-based questionnaire sent by post. However, online questionnaires seem an attractive and cheap way to send a survey. In this study we describe our experience with the introduction of digital questionnaires in daily practice and study factors that affect the response rate. Methods: The study design was an observational cohort study of patients who had a localized prostate cancer and underwent a Robot Assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RARP) at our institute. Validated questionnaires were mailed to the patients before the RARP and subsequently, 6 months, 1 and 2 years after surgery. After sending twice a digital questionnaire and without any response, we sent the patients a paper-based questionnaire with a stamped return envelope. Results: The response rate was higher when a reminder paperbased questionnaire was sent to the patients who did not respond to the web-based questionnaire. Furthermore, the elderly patients respond significantly more often than younger patients to both questionnaires (web-based or paper-based). Age was the strongest predictive factor for response on quality of life questionnaires. The fact that the patient no longer came to our institute for follow-up had no negative influence on the response rate.
Measuring the Organizational Impact of Information Technology Investment: An Exploratory Study

Organizations are investing ever-increasing amounts in information technology (IT). However, the existing literature provides little evidence of a relationship between IT investment and organizational strategic and economic performance. The exploratory research reported here appears to be the first to relate comprehensive sets of IT investment measures to organizational strategic and economic performance measures. Although the individual IT investment variables were found to be only weakly related to organizational strategic and economic performance, they were significantly related to performance when grouped and analyzed by means of canonical correlation. More specifically, canonical results suggest that organizational strategic and economic performance measures such as sales by employee, return on sales, sales by total assets, return on investment, and market to book value are affected by IT investment measures such as IT budget as percentage of revenue, the percentage of IT budget spent on training of employees, number of PCs per employee, and IT value as a percentage of revenue. The organizational performance measure growth in revenue and IT investment measure percentage of IT budget spent on staff were not significantly related to other measures and therefore were not indicated to be useful for investigating possible effects of IT investment on organizational strategic and economic performance. Finally, a model based on these results is suggested. The model depicts a framework for management evaluation of the relationship between IT investment and organizational performance.
Effective plaque removal with a new 8 French‐compatible atherectomy catheter

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the new 8 Fr guide catheter‐compatible Flexicut directional atherectomy device and to compare it with the conventional Atherocath GTO catheter. The 6 Fr Flexicut catheter has a larger cutting window and a titanium nitride‐coated cutter to effect more tissue removal as well as treat mildly calcified lesions. A group of 143 lesions in 117 consecutive patients treated with the Flexicut catheter in four centers were compared with a control group of 277 lesions in 212 consecutive patients treated with the GTO device. Postatherectomy luminal diameters were larger (2.92 ± 0.79 vs. 2.52 ± 0.64 mm; P < 0.0001), with more luminal gain (relative gain: 0.58 ± 0.24 vs. 0.48 ± 0.25; P = 0.0007) using fewer directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) cuts (12 ± 7 vs. 16 ± 9; P = 0.0001) in the Flexicut group. A residual diameter stenosis < 20% immediately after DCA was obtained in 77% of the lesions in the Flexicut group vs. 45% in the GTO group (P < 0.0001). Histology in the former group revealed large calcium speckles in the retrieved specimens. In the Flexicut group, there was a lower incidence of access site complications and damage to the coronary ostium (2.5% vs. 7.5%; P = 0.08). The new Flexicut catheter is more effective than the conventional GTO catheter with a trend for reduced guiding catheter‐related complications. Cathet Cardiovasc Intervent 2002;56:452–459. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction — Early Cardiac Impairment in Patients with Polymyositis/Dermatomyositis: A Tissue Doppler Imaging Study

Objective. To investigate early cardiac involvement in patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM), and to evaluate the risk factors for early cardiac impairment. Methods. The study population included 46 patients with PM/DM who did not have overt cardiovascular manifestations and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Traditional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were used to evaluate cardiac function in both groups. Clinical characteristics were recorded. Multivariate logistics regression analysis was applied to investigate risk factors for early cardiac impairment in patients with PM/DM. Results. No significant difference was found between patients and controls by traditional echocardiography. However, compared to controls, PM/DM patients had a significantly lower ratio of early diastolic mitral annulus velocity to late diastolic mitral annulus velocity (Em/Am; 1.23 ± 0.52, 1.79 ± 0.37, respectively; t = −4.485, p < 0.001) and a higher ratio of peak early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to Em (E/Em; 8.26 ± 2.57, 6.76 ± 1.17; t = 3.287, p < 0.05) as found by TDI measurements. There was no significant difference between the TDI variables of patients with PM and DM. The multivariate regression analysis showed that female sex (OR 11.044, 95% CI 1.066–114.357, p = 0.044), late onset (OR 1.157, 95% CI 1.047–1.278, p = 0.004), and duration of disease (OR 1.060, 95% CI 1.008–1.115, p = 0.023) were risk factors for abnormal left ventricular filling pressures. Conclusion. TDI is useful for detecting early cardiac impairment in patients with PM/DM. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is an early feature of cardiac involvement. Female sex, late onset, and long course of disease are 3 independent risk factors for predicting left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with PM/DM.
Maintenance pharmacotherapy of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an evidence-based approach

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem and its impact is increasing. Only smoking cessation and oxygen for -hypoxaemic patients have been shown to alter mortality, but modern pharmacological therapies can improve symptoms, lung function and quality of life. Treatment guidelines emphasise the use of bronchodilators as first-line treatment for COPD but make few recommendations about choosing a specific agent. In this review, the results of recent studies are examined to provide evidence-based guidance for the selection of appropriate maintenance therapy. Guidelines also support the use of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with more advanced disease, and the role of these agents is discussed.
Nucleotide sequence of the first cosmid from the Mycobacterium leprae genome project: structure and function of the Rif‐Str regions

The nucleotide sequence of cosmid B1790, carrying the Rif‐Str regions of the Mycobacterium leprae chromosome, has been determined. Twelve open reading frames were identified in the 36716bp sequence, representing 40% of the coding capacity. Five ribosomal proteins, two elongation factors and the β and β'subunits of RNA polymerase have been characterized and two novel genes were found. One of these encodes a member of the so‐called ABC family of ATP‐binding proteins while the other appears to encode an enzyme involved in repairing genomic lesions caused by free radicals. This finding may well be significant as M. leprae, an intracellular pathogen, lives within macrophages.
Prostacyclin enhances embryo hatching but not sperm motility.

BACKGROUND Recently we discovered that the human oviduct synthesizes abundant prostacyclin (PGI(2)). Gene knock-out studies suggest that PGI(2) is essential to endometrial decidualization, but the effects of PGI(2) on sperm and embryos have not been reported. METHODS The effects of PGI(2) on human sperm were analysed by a computer-assisted semen analysis system. The effects of PGI(2) on mouse embryos were examined based on the rates of complete hatching. The expression of PGI(2) receptor (IP) was evaluated by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. The binding of PGI(2) to embryos was confirmed by radioligand binding assay. Finally, cAMP levels were assessed in PGI(2)-challenged embryos. RESULTS Iloprost (a stable PGI(2) analogue) did not affect the motility or the overnight survivability of human sperm. Western blot analysis did not detect IP in the sperm plasma membrane. In contrast, the hatching of mouse embryos was enhanced by iloprost (ED(50) 6.7 nmol/l). Exposure to iloprost during 8-cell to morulae or morulae to early blastocyst stages was critical to enhanced hatching. This coincided with the developmental stage-specific expression of IP. Although iloprost bound to blastocysts, it did not significantly increase cAMP. CONCLUSION PGI(2) enhanced the hatching of mouse embryos but not the motility of human sperm.
Streptococcus pneumoniae induced purpura fulminans in a patient with splenic hypoplasia

Purpura fulminans (PF) is a rare, lifethreatening medical emergency requiring prompt diagnosis and treatment. Common causes include Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae), Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, and fungal or viral infections. It usually occurs in immunocompromised hosts. We Shunsuke Kojima1, Eiji Hiraoka1, Jun Ehara1, Toshihiko Suzuki2, Enichi Nakatsuru3, Yasuhiro Norisue4 Affiliations: 1Department of Internal Medicine, M.D., Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, Chiba, Japan; 2Department of Nephrology, M.D., Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, Chiba, Japan; 3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, M.D., Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, Chiba, Japan; 4Department of Critical Care Medicine, M.D., Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, Chiba, Japan. Corresponding Author: Eiji Hiraoka, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, 3-432 Todaijima, Urayasu-city, Chiba, 279-0001, Japan; Email: eijih@jadecom.jp Received: 20 May 2017 Accepted: 04 July 2017 Published: 01 October 2017 experienced a rare case of purpura fulminans due to S. pneumoniae, who had no history of immunosuppressive disease. Case Report: A 57-year-old man was presented to our emergency department in shock state with flu-like symptoms. Empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics and intensive care were started. His condition rapidly deteriorated with multiple organ failure. Blood culture grew up S. pneumoniae. Purpuric skin change developed in all extremities followed by ischemic gangrene, which required amputation. He did not have any history of immunosuppressive disease. His abdominal CT scan showed small size of spleen. Howell-Jolly bodies were recognized in peripheral blood smear. The patient was finally diagnosed with PF with overwhelming pneumococcal sepsis. Although he had no history of immunodeficiency, he had evidence of Howell-Jolly bodies in peripheral blood smear, implying reduced splenic function, possibly due to splenic hypoplasia. To prevent this devastating condition, vaccination against S. pneumoniae may need to be considered for people with splenic hypoplasia. Conclusion: Since delay in therapy would lead to a poor outcome, clinicians should be alert to PF in patients in shock state, even lacking typical skin manifestation initially. Splenic hypoplasia may be a risk factor of this condition.
Twenty-Year Survivors of Kidney Transplantation

There have been few studies of patients with renal allografts functioning for more than 20 years. We sought to identify clinical factors associated with ultra longterm (>20 year) renal allograft survival and to describe the clinical features of these patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of the Irish Renal Transplant Database and included 1174 transplants in 1002 patients. There were 255 (21.74%) patients with graft function for 20 years or more. Multivariate analysis identified recipient age (HR 1.01, CI 1.01–1.02), gender (male HR 1.25, CI 1.08–1.45), acute rejection (HR 1.26, CI 1.09–1.45) and transplant type (living related donor vs. deceased donor) (HR 0.52, CI 0.40–0.66) as significantly associated with long-term graft loss. Median serum creatinine was 115 lmol/L. The 5-year graft survival in 20-year survivors was 74.7%. The mean age at death was 62.7 years (±10.6). The most common causes of death were cardiovascular disease and malignancy. The two major causes of graft loss were death (with function) and interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy. Comorbidities included skin cancer (36.1%), coronary heart disease (17.3%) and other malignancies (14.5%). This study identifies factors associated with long-term allograft survival and a high rate of morbidity and early mortality in long-term transplant recipients.
HER2 as a target for breast cancer therapy

Importance of the field: Differential levels of HER2 expression in normal versus HER2-overexpressing breast carcinomas, together with the demonstration of a key role for HER2 in tumor progression, make HER2 an ideal target for specific therapeutic approaches. Areas covered in this review: This review considers the clinical value of trastuzumab and lapatinib, the two HER2-targeted therapies approved for clinical practice. References were chosen by searching the PubMed and MEDLINE datasets using as search term: ‘HER2’, in association with ‘prognosis’, ‘response’, ‘trastuzumab’, ‘lapatinib’ and ‘resistance’. What the reader will gain: This review deals with HER2 as a target for breast carcinoma treatment, focusing on anti-HER2 therapies used in clinical practice, their merits and shortcomings. Take home message: The benefit of anti-HER2 therapies demonstrated in clinical trials indicates that HER2 is, to date, one of the most promising molecules for targeted therapy. Nevertheless, since tumor cells utilizing alternative growth signaling pathways through transmembrane receptors as well as intracellular signaling transduction molecules can bypass HER2 blockade, a future ambitious aim is the successful combination of anti-HER2 strategies with drugs directed to molecules that contribute to anti-HER2 resistance.
Magnetic resonance neurography‐surgical correlation of neurologic thoracic outlet syndrome

For evaluation of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), 3 Tesla magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) is being increasingly used. The authors report the findings on 3 T MRN with surgical correlation in a rare case of neurologic TOS caused by anomalous costal pseudoarthrosis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery, 2011.
Reply to cytotoxicity of silver dressings—time to think and react by Nagoba et al

Dear Editors, The recent letter to the journal entitled ‘Cytotoxicity of silver dressings – time to think and react’ by Nagoba et al. provides a stimulus to react and provide evidence that supports the safety of silver. It is acknowledged that laboratory and some animal data exist that show silver and indeed other antibacterial agents to have a deleterious effect on various cells that facilitate wound closure, and these have been adequately quoted in the letter. However, evidence also exists that demonstrates even the most potent modern-day forms of silver, in terms of speed of bacterial kill, do not have a deleterious effect on similar cell types (1,2), and there is no evidence of haematological or biochemical indicators of toxicity associated with silver absorption (3). The consistency in outcomes seen in laboratory is not reflected in the clinical use of modern-day silver dressings, where little or no evidence is seen to show silver delays wound healing in practice (4). This poses conflicting evidence from the laboratory and preclinical studies to the wealth of positive experiences seen and reported with the use of silver. Consensus statements on antibacterials used in wound healing put forward the view that silver has a place in the armamentarium of compounds available to combat not just infection but as a topical option in combating the threat of antibacterial resistance development associated with the management of at-risk wounds. They also provide a framework for use of silver, which ensures choosing appropriate concentrations for appropriate time periods and use on appropriate wounds. Regular surveillance of progress at two weekly intervals will aid decision making of when to stop use and revert to non-medicated dressings (5). On the basis of published evidence obtained from clinical practice, it is simply untrue that current silver-containing dressings are unsafe and will impair wound healing. Rapid speed of bacterial kill in wounds that have delayed healing, and then the cessation of antibacterial therapy will create a biological and cellular environment necessary to increase the trajectory of wound closure. Evidence shows that in chronic wounds high levels of silver can rapidly reduce the signs and symptoms of infection and result in faster healing when compared with lower silver release systems (6). With bacterial resistance development in the UK being recently quoted as on the same national threat level as terrorism, we need to keep all antibacterial options open. Potency and safety will always be key considerations and higher silverreleasing dressings have recently been demonstrated to provide fast and effective kill in the laboratory of a series of NDM-1 strains that are resistant to most antibiotics (7). At the same time cytotoxicity seen in the laboratory has not been reflected in clinical practice. It is concluded that silver should remain an integral component of topical antibacterial options available in managing at-risk or infected wounds.
A Comparison of Domain-based Word Polarity Estimation using different Word Embeddings

A key point in Sentiment Analysis is to determine the polarity of the sentiment implied by a certain word or expression. In basic Sentiment Analysis systems this sentiment polarity of the words is accounted and weighted in different ways to provide a degree of positivity/negativity. Currently words are also modelled as continuous dense vectors, known as word embeddings, which seem to encode interesting semantic knowledge. With regard to Sentiment Analysis, word embeddings are used as features to more complex supervised classification systems to obtain sentiment classifiers. In this paper we compare a set of existing sentiment lexicons and sentiment lexicon generation techniques. We also show a simple but effective technique to calculate a word polarity value for each word in a domain using existing continuous word embeddings generation methods. Further, we also show that word embeddings calculated on in-domain corpus capture the polarity better than the ones calculated on general-domain corpus.
Advanced Glycation End Products Predict Loss of Renal Function and Correlate With Lesions of Diabetic Kidney Disease in American Indians With Type 2 Diabetes

We examined associations of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) with renal function loss (RFL) and its structural determinants in American Indians with type 2 diabetes. Data were from a 6-year clinical trial that assessed renoprotective efficacy of losartan. Participants remained under observation after the trial concluded. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured annually. Kidney biopsies were performed at the end of the trial. Five AGEs were measured in serum collected at enrollment and at kidney biopsy. RFL was defined as ≥40% decline of measured GFR from baseline. Of 168 participants (mean baseline age 41 years, HbA1c 9.2%, GFR 164 mL/min, and albumin-to-creatinine ratio 31 mg/g), 104 reached the RFL end point during median follow-up of 8.0 years. After multivariable adjustment, each doubling of carboxyethyl lysine (hazard ratio [HR] 1.60 [95% CI 1.08–2.37]) or methylglyoxal hydroimidazolone (HR 1.30 [95% CI 1.02–1.65]) concentration was associated with RFL. Carboxyethyl lysine, carboxymethyl lysine, and methylglyoxal hydroimidazolone correlated positively with cortical interstitial fractional volume (partial r = 0.23, P = 0.03; partial r = 0.25, P = 0.02; and partial r = 0.31, P = 0.003, respectively). Glyoxyl hydroimidazolone and methylglyoxal hydroimidazolone correlated negatively with total filtration surface per glomerulus (partial r = −0.26, P = 0.01; and partial r = −0.21, P = 0.046, respectively). AGEs improve prediction of RFL and its major structural correlates.
MglA and MglB are required for the intramacrophage growth of Francisella novicida

Francisella novicida is a facultative intracellular pathogen capable of growing in macrophages. A spontaneous mutant of F. novicida defective for growth in macrophages was isolated on LB media containing the chromogenic phosphatase substrate 5‐bromo‐4‐chloro‐3‐indolyl phosphate (X‐p) and designated GB2. Using an in cis complementation strategy, four strains were isolated that are restored for growth in macrophages. A locus isolated from one of these strains complements GB2 for both the intracellular growth defect and the colony morphology on LB (X‐p) media. The locus consists of an apparent operon of two genes, designated mglAB, for macrophage growth locus. Both mglA and mglB transposon insertion mutants are defective for intracellular growth and have a phenotype similar to GB2 on LB (X‐p) media. Sequencing of mglA cloned from GB2 identified a missense mutation, providing evidence that both mglA and mglB are required for the intramacrophage growth of F. novicida. mglB expression in GB2 was confirmed using antiserum against recombinant MglB. Cell fractionation studies revealed several differences in the protein profiles of mgl mutants compared with wild‐type F. novicida. The deduced amino acid sequences of mglA and mglB show similarity to the SspA and SspB proteins of Escherichia coli and Haemophilus spp. In E. coli, SspA and/or SspB influence the levels of multiple proteins under conditions of nutritional stress, and SspA can associate with the RNA polymerase holoenzyme. Taken together, these observations suggest that in Francisella MglA and MglB may affect the expression of genes whose products contribute to survival and growth within macrophages.