Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
At The Bedside: Clinical review of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for B cell malignancies

T cells kill microbial‐infected and malignant cells by detection of nonself antigens with the TCR. Tumor reactivity can be encoded genetically by introducing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) into T cells. CARs are composed of an antigen‐binding domain and an intracellular T cell activation domain. Early human trials evaluating CD19‐targeted CAR T cells for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) showed limited responses until CARs included a costimulation domain, and conditioning chemotherapy was given before T cell infusion. Clinical trials evaluating CD19‐targeted CAR T cells for B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B‐ALL) are demonstrating response rates up to 90%. However, these clinical outcomes are associated with a cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which is caused by T cell activation and manifests as high‐grade fever, hypotension, and other cardiovascular complications. It is currently managed conservatively but can be treated with cytokine‐directed therapy or with high‐dose steroids. Current efforts are dedicated to confirming the clinical efficacy and managing toxicities in multicenter Phase II trials. We present a thorough overview of the preclinical and clinical development of CAR T cell therapy that will highlight important areas for the basic researcher to investigate in the laboratory and contribute to this exciting field.
A critical review of partial-discharge models

Partial-discharge (PD) measurements in compliance with the standard IEC 60270 are based on the main quantity apparent charge. This term is deduced from a simple PD model comprising a capacitive network. However, from a physical point of view, a PD defect cannot be represented by a capacitance, as argued by Pedersen and his coworkers. As an alternative, Pedersen proposed a field theoretical approach that is based on a dipole model. This more sophisticated concept has been ignored in the past, whereas the capacitive PD model is accepted also nowadays. Apparently, the reason for that is that the charge transfer can easily be calculated for the capacitive equivalent circuit, which is not the case if the field theoretical approach based on the dipole concept is adopted. As will be reported in this article, the analysis can substantially be simplified if instead of gaseous discharges in spherical, elliptical, or cylindrical cavities, as commonly regarded in the relevant literature, the establishment of a dipole moment in a uniform field between solid dielectric layers is considered.
Adipose tissue blood flow and insulin disappearance from subcutaneous tissue

The disappearance rate of labeled insulin from subcutaneous tissue has shown wide variation, even using labeled insulin with biological properties identical to that of the unlabeled insulin. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of adipose tissue blood flow (ATBF) on the disappearance rate of soluble 131I‐labeled insulin from an injected depot subcutaneously in the frontal femoral region of 10 insulin‐treated diabetics. Changes in ATBF were induced by leg exercise on a bicycle ergometer in an upright position, by dynamic arm exercise in a supine position, and by local heating and cooling. The mean resting ATBF of the diabetics was 5.3 ±3.1 (ml · min−1 · 100 gm−1) and 6.7 ± 6.0 of the control subjects, difference (ns). Bicycling increased ATBF in 5 patients from 3.0 ± 0.7 to 7.7 ± 1.1, the disappearance constant (k) value of insulin from 0.484 ± 0.201 (min−1 · 10−2)to 0.937 ± 0.306, and the amount of insulin absorbed per hr from 24.7 ± 9.1% to 42.3 ± 10.5% (p < 0.05). Local cooling decreased ATBF in 6 diabetics from 6.6 ± 3.9 to 2.4 ± 1.1, the k value of insulin from 0.685 ± 0.163 to 0.362 ± 0.158, and the absorbed amount from 33.7 ± 3.9% to 17.4 ± 6.9% (p < 0.02). Dynamic arm exercise and local heating increased the ATBF, insulin disappearance, and absorbed amount of insulin. The skin and subcutaneous temperatures did not show any significant changes, except during local cooling and the subsequent local heating (p < 0.02). There was a correlation between ATBF and insulin absorbed per hr (r = 0.969, p < 0.001), which indicates that changes in subcutaneous tissue blood flow in the anterior thigh induce changes in insulin absorption from the injection site and might be of clinical importance.
Business Cycles ’ Characteristics of the Mediterranean Area Countries

In this paper we investigate the characteristics of business cycles fluctuations in the countries of the Mediterranean region by applying the Christiano-Fitzgerald bandpass filter to the output series of 12 Mediterranean countries over the period 1950-1998. The main properties of business cycle fluctuations (persistence, volatility, asymmetry and synchronization) are computed with reference to the deviation or growth cycle definition of the business cycle. Overall, the results of our analysis suggest, as expected, the existence of important differences in the characteristics of business cycle fluctuations among countries belonging to different economic level of development. Moreover, the average reduction of the degree of synchronization among Mediterranean countries seems to suggest a weakening of the economic links among Mediterranean countries, and thus a reduction of the economic importance of the links in this area in comparison to the European continental area.
Impact of tracking errors on dual diversity structure over the free space optics links

This paper analyzes the impact of tracking errors on the time diversity structure in relation to beam tracking over free-space optics (FSO) links. The paper proposes a time-diversity scheme with beam tracking introducing a powerfading model for an FSO system that utilizes beam tracking through atmospheric turbulence. Further, the paper derives a closed-form bit error rate (BER) for no-diversity and dual-diversity schemes, taking into account the tracking error, coherence of the diversity signals and photo detector noise. It is shown that time diversity is a clever mitigation technique for improving transmission reliability for the FSO system with beam tracking. Comparing with space diversity, time diversity is cost effective and easy to use in FSO.
Enhanced life-role participation in response to comprehensive gait training in chronic-stroke survivors

Purpose: Intensive gait training can produce improvements in gait and function (>6 months after stroke); however, findings are mixed for enhanced life-role participation. Therefore, it is unclear if improved gait and function translate into life-role participation gain. Our objective was to evaluate whether intensive gait therapy can produce improvements in life-role participation for chronic-stroke survivors, according to a comprehensive measure dedicated to life-role participation. Methods: In conjunction with a clinical gait-training trial, we conducted a secondary analysis for a 44-member cohort with stroke (>6 months). Gait-training interventions included functional neuromuscular stimulation, body-weight supported treadmill training, over-ground gait training and exercise for 1.5 hours/day, 4 days/week for 12 weeks. Study measures included Tinetti Gait (gait impairment), Functional Independence Measure (FIM, function), Stroke Impact Scale subscale of life-role participation (SIS part) and Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART, life-role participation). Analysis included Wilcoxon signed rank test and polytomous universal regression model. Results: Gait interventions produced significant improvement in CHART (p = 0.020), SIS part (p = 0.011), FIM (p < 0.0001), and Tinetti Gait (p < 0.0001). Age, gender and time since stroke did not predict response to treatment. Conclusions: Intensive gait therapy resulted in significant gain in life-role participation, according to a comprehensive measure, so dedicated. Implications for Rehabilitation It is important to measure life-role participation in rehabilitation intervention studies, and using a homogeneous measure of life-role participation provides clear results. Intensive gait training produced a significant improvement in life-role participation in the chronic phase after stroke. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) had no significant additive effect on life-role participation during the treatment phase, but FES did have an additive effect during the follow-up period in enhancing life-role participation beyond that obtained using an identical comprehensive gait-training intervention without FES.
Academic and social achievement goals: Their additive, interactive, and specialized effects on school functioning.

BACKGROUND Students' pursuit of academic and social goals has implications for school functioning. However, studies on academic and social achievement goals have been relatively independent and mainly conducted with students in culturally Western settings. AIMS Guided by multiple-goal perspectives, this study examined the role of academic and social achievement goals in outcome variables relevant to academic (achievement, effort/persistence), social (peer relationship satisfaction, loneliness), and socio-academic (cooperative learning, competitive learning, socially regulated, and self-regulated learning) functioning. SAMPLE A total of 356 Indonesian high-school students (mean age = 16 years; 36% girls) participated in the study. METHODS A self-report survey comprising items drawn from pre-existing instruments was administered to measure distinct dimensions of achievement goals and outcomes under focus. Regression analysis was performed to examine additive, interactive, and specialized effects of achievement goals on outcomes. RESULTS Aligned with the hierarchical model of goal relationships (Wentzel, 2000, Contemp. Educ. Psychol., 25, 105), academic and social achievement goals bore additive effects on most outcomes. Findings also revealed a specialized effect on academic achievement and notable interactive effects on cooperative learning. In general, mastery-approach and performance-approach goals were more adaptive than their avoidance counterparts. The effects of social development goals were positive, whereas those of social demonstration-approach goals were mixed. Contrary to prior findings, social demonstration-avoidance goals did not appear to be inimical for school functioning. CONCLUSIONS Findings underscore the importance of both academic and social achievement goals in day-to-day school functioning and the need to consider the meaning of goals and the coordination of multiple goals from cultural lenses.
Insights into the putative catechin and epicatechin transport across blood-brain barrier.

UNLABELLED The identification of mechanisms associated with phenolic neuroprotection is delayed due to a lack of information regarding the ability of phenolic compounds to enter the central nervous system (CNS). The aim of this work was to evaluate the transmembrane transport of catechin and epicatechin across blood-brain barrier (BBB). Two BBB cell lines, RBE-4 cells (immortalized cell line of rat capillary cerebral endothelial cells) and hCMEC/D3 (immortalized human cerebral microvessel endothelial cell line), were used. HPLC-DAD/MS was used to detect these compounds and their metabolites in the studied samples. The metabolites of the tested flavan-3-ols were synthesized to be used as standards. Catechin and epicatechin could cross both cells in a time-dependent manner. This transport was stereoselective (epicatechin ≫ catechin), involving one or more stereoselective entities. Additionally, these cells were capable of metabolizing these compounds, particularly by conjugation with glucuronic acid, since this metabolite was detected in the basolateral media. Several studies suggest that blood levels of catechin and epicatechin are far below the levels used in this study and that these compounds appeared mainly as methyl, sulfate and glucuronide metabolites. Nevertheless, the information obtained by this study is valuable for the new insights about flavan-3-ols transport. IN CONCLUSION (i) catechin and epicatechin are capable of crossing the BBB; (ii) a stereoselective process was involved in the passage of these compounds across BBB cells; (iii) these endothelial cells have enzymes capable of metabolizing these compounds.
A two-year prospective study of psychache and its relationship to suicidality among high-risk undergraduates.

OBJECTIVES Edwin Shneidman's theory of suicide was tested by examining the relationships of depression, hopelessness, and psychache with suicide ideation, longitudinally. DESIGN Forty-one high-risk students who were suicide ideators completed questionnaires measuring depression, hopelessness, psychache, and suicide ideation at baseline and 2 years later. RESULTS Regression analyses showed that at baseline and at follow-up, psychache was the only unique contributor to the statistical prediction of suicide ideation. When examining change over time, change in psychache was the only factor that added significant unique variance to the prediction of change in suicide ideation. CONCLUSIONS Results support Shneidman's assertion that other psychological factors, such as depression and hopelessness, are only important to suicide insofar as their relationship with psychache, and that psychache and suicide ideation co-vary over time.
Long-segment posterior instrumentation and fusion with freeze-dried allograft in congenital scoliosis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of long-segment posterior instrumentation and allograft application in obtaining fusion in congenital scoliosis. METHODS Twenty-one patients with congenital scoliosis who were treated with long-segment posterior instrumentation (>6 levels) and freeze-dried allograft and followed up for more than 24 months were reviewed. Six patients were excluded from the study due to anterior procedures. Fifteen patients with congenital scoliosis (13 females, 2 males; mean age: 12.2 ± 3 years, range: 7-17 years) were retrospectively reviewed. Mean follow-up time was 30.9 ± 9.4 (range: 24 to 48) months. Six patients had laminectomy either due to previous posterior surgeries or to address intraspinal pathologies during the posterior fusion procedure. Preoperative, postoperative and final follow-up anteroposterior and lateral spine X-rays were reviewed. Fusion was graded according to the classification reported by Bridwell et al. RESULTS Two patients were graded as 'no fusion' (pseudarthrosis), four patients as 'probably fused', and nine patients as 'definitely fused'. The major curve was corrected from an average of 68 ± 18.6 to 39.3 ± 12.2 degrees (p<0.001). Mean correction lost in the major curve was an average of 4.5 ± 5.2 degrees in the latest follow-up. There was significant correction in the compensatory curve (preoperative 37.9 ± 13.2 degrees, postoperative 20.2 ± 6.6 degrees; p=0.001). Preoperative and postoperative global thoracic kyphosis were 39.5 ± 13.3 and 32.3 ± 7.9 degrees, respectively (p=0.018). Preoperative and postoperative global lumbar lordosis was 36.3 ± 7.4 and 36.1 ± 8.9 degrees, respectively (p=0.883). Successful fusion was detected in %86.7 of patients in the final follow-up. CONCLUSION The usage of allograft alone to achieve fusion increases the rates of pseudarthrosis while additional anterior procedure decreases the pseudarthrosis rate in patients with congenital scoliosis that require long-segment posterior instrumentation. Further studies should be performed to assess the efficacy of the usage of polysegment pedicle screw instrumentation.
OncoSurge: a strategy for long‐term survival in metastatic colorectal cancer

OncoSurge is a combined modality strategy for the management of colorectal cancer with hepatic metastases. It has emerged as a result of new and expanded patient selection criteria for resectability of metastases, coupled with more effective neoadjuvant and postoperative chemotherapy. By bringing together these developments in surgery and medical oncology, the new approach promises to increase significantly the resectability rate and long‐term survival in colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases.
Expression pattern and clinicopathologic significance of NKD1 in human primary hepatocellular carcinoma

It has been reported that NKD1 was an antagonist of the canonical Wnt/β‐catenin pathway. While there is little information regarding NKD1 expression pattern in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic significance and expression pattern of NKD1 in HCC. NKD1 protein expressions in 69 paired HCC cancer/adjacent non‐cancerous tissues were detected by Western blot. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on 58 cases of HCC with integrated clinical information. NKD1 protein expression was divided into normal and low expression group and correlations between NKD1 protein expression and clinicopathologic factors were then evaluated. Western blot results showed that NKD1 protein levels were significantly lower in cancerous tissues compared with corresponding normal tissue (p < 0.05). In addition, we found that the level of NKD1 protein expression in HCC was significantly associated with tumor size (p = 0.011), intra or extra‐hepatic metastasis (p = 0.010) and differentiation (p = 0.003). This is to our knowledge the first report investigating NKD1 protein expression pattern in HCC. Our data show that decreased NKD1 protein expression is associated with clinicopathologic factors, and suggest that NKD1 may play an important role in the development of HCC and could serve as a novel biomarker for HCC after further investigation.
Acoustical Analysis of Posed Prosodic Expressions: Effects of Emotion and Sex

Prosodic expression is an important channel of emotional communication and can be assessed through computerized acoustical analysis. Fundamental Frequency (F0) is the most commonly studied acoustic measure and considered the best index of perceived pitch. In this study, we examined two factors that can influence prosodic expression, sex and emotion type, A special feature is the use of a neutral expression as a control measure. We also described procedures for eliciting posed prosodic expression via an experimental task from the New York Emotion Battery. Subjects were healthy men (n=10) and women (n=9), matched for. age (M = 29.2 yr.) and education (M= 15.6 yr). Subjects were asked to intone neutral-content sentences with happy, sad, and neutral prosody. F0 mean and standard deviation were measured using the Computerized Speech Lab program. Initial findings indicated that women produced significantly higher F0 values than did men and that happy sentences were produced with significantly higher F0 values than were sad sentences. When semitone conversions were applied and neutral prosody was subtracted out, differences remained for emotion type but not for sex. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for the assessment and treatment of prosody in clinical populations.
An Improved Wideband Balanced Filter Using Internal Cross-Coupling and  $3/4\lambda$ Stepped-Impedance Resonator

In this letter, an improved wideband balanced filter with increased selectivity for differential-mode (DM) response and enhanced rejection for common-mode (CM) response is proposed. Prototype-based on Optimum Distributed Highpass Filter, a λ/4 internal cross-coupling section is introduced. Meanwhile, 3λ/4 stepped-impedance resonators (SIRs) are also presented as the first and third branch lines to jointly enhance CM rejection with five transmission zeros (TZs). Moreover, λ/4 parallel-coupled lines are accepted as the vertical parts of 3λ/4 SIRs to increase DM selectivity. For demonstration, the proposed balanced filter is designed, simulated, and fabricated. Measured and simulated results are in agreement with each other approximately, indicating that favorable DM transmission with 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 59% is covered by acceptable CM suppression with fractional bandwidth of 118% more than 18.2 dB. Compared with other published works based on branch-line structure, the proposed filter in this letter features the multiple transmission poles (TPs) and TZs in DM response, as well as the maximum amount of TZs in CM response.
Relationship between the chemical and morphological characteristics of human dentin after Er:YAG laser irradiation

Abstract. The effects of laser etching on dentin are studied by microenergy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (μ-EDXRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to establish the correlation of data obtained. Fifteen human third molars are prepared, baseline μ-EDXRF mappings are performed, and ten specimens are selected. Each specimen received four treatments: acid etching (control-CG) or erbium:yttrium–aluminum–garnet (Er:YAG) laser irradiation (I—100 mJ, II—160 mJ, and III—220 mJ), and maps are done again. The Ca and P content are significantly reduced after acid etching (p<0.0001) and increased after laser irradiation with 220 mJ (Ca: p<0.0153 and P: p=0.0005). The Ca/P ratio increased and decreased after CG (p=0.0052) and GI (p=0.0003) treatments, respectively. CG treatment resulted in lower inorganic content (GI: p<0.05, GII: p<0.01, and GIII: p<0.01) and higher Ca/P ratios than laser etching (GI: p<0.001, GII: p<0.01, and GIII: p<0.01). The SEM photomicrographies revealed open (CG) and partially open dentin tubules (GI, GII, and GIII). μ-EDXRF mappings illustrated that acid etching created homogeneous distribution of inorganic content over dentin. Er:YAG laser etching (220 mJ) produced irregular elemental distribution and changed the stoichiometric proportions of hydroxyapatite, as showed by an increase of mineral content. Decreases and increases of mineral content in the μ-EDXRF images are correlated to holes and mounds, respectively, as found in SEM images.
Visual Odometry with Dense Probabilistic Egomotion Estimation

We present a novel approach to 6D visual odometry for vehicles with calibrated stereo cameras. A dense probabilistic egomotion (5D) method is combined with robust stereo feature based approaches and Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF) techniques to provide high quality estimates of vehicle’s angular and linear velocities. Experimental results show that the proposed method compares favorably with state-the-art approaches, mainly in the estimation of the angular velocities, where significant improvements are achieved.