Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using antibodies in tumour immunotherapy

The role of antibodies as therapeutic cancer vaccines includes two distinct approaches, which are summarised in this review, namely anti-idiotypic vaccines and antigen–antibody complex therapies. Bispecific antibodies directed against T cells or antigen-presenting cells are also referenced. The report focuses on theoretical issues, laboratory data on the mechanism of action, examples of humoral and cellular immune induction, and novel therapeutic advances in vaccine development. The biology of antigen processing and recent advances in the field of dendritic cell biology are critical to understanding the potent immune response induction. Future directions include combination therapies to manipulate immune regulatory mechanisms and to enhance clinical effects. Additional applications of antibodies targeting costimulatory or regulatory receptors on antigen-presenting cells and T cells, neutralising immune suppressive cytokines, and depleting T regulatory cells hold promise for future mono- and particularly combination therapies.
Point: Sunscreen Use Is a Safe and Effective Approach to Skin Cancer Prevention

Sunscreens are an adjunct to clothing and other physical means of solar UV radiation protection. Earlier sunscreens filtered mostly the high-energy UVB wavelengths (290-320 nm), but more recent broad-spectrum products can effectively absorb the longer UVA wavelengths (320-400 nm) as well ([1][1]-[3
Technical Briefs

On the basis of this study it cannot be ruled out that the appraisal of the noise affects the association between air and road traffic noise exposure and children’s health and cognition. However, the conclusion is limited due to the relatively small group of annoyed children, which may have influenced group comparisons. Furthermore, the observed relation between annoyance and perceived health is possibly biased due to the fact that both were measured within the same questionnaire. These are the main conclusions of a cross-sectional multi-center study carried out among 2,844 school children (age 9-11 years) attending 89 primary schools around three European airports. The aim was to investigate how annoyance affects the relation between air and road traffic noise exposure and children’s health and cognition. Different, sometimes competing, working mechanisms of how noise affects children’s health are suggested. Some effects are supposed to be precipitated through (chronic) stress, while others may arise directly. There is still no theory that can adequately account for the circumstances in which noise will affect cognitive performance.
Utility based pricing and exercising of real options under geometric mean reversion and risk aversion toward idiosyncratic risk

We study the classical real option problem in which an agent faces the decision if and when to invest optimally into a project. The investment is assumed to be irreversible. This problem has been studied by Myers and Majd (Adv Futures Options Res 4:1–21, 1990) for the case of a complete market, in which the risk can be perfectly hedged with an appropriate spanning asset, by McDonald and Siegel (Q J Econ, 101:707–727, 1986), who include the incomplete case but assume that the agent is risk neutral toward idiosyncratic risk, and later by Henderson (Valuing the option to invest in an incomplete market, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=569865, 2006) who studies the incomplete case with risk aversion toward idiosyncratic risk under the assumption that the project value follows a geometric Brownian motion. We take up Henderson’s utility based approach but assume as suggested by Dixit and Pindyck (Investment under uncertainty, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1994) as well as others, that the project value follows a geometric mean reverting process. The mean reverting structure of the project value process makes our model richer and economically more meaningful. By using techniques from optimal control theory we derive analytic expressions for the value and the optimal exercise time of the option to invest.
Comparing Greenbook and Reduced Form Forecasts Using a Large Realtime Dataset

Many recent articles have found that atheoretical forecasting methods using many predictors give better predictions for key macroeconomic variables than various small-model methods. The practical relevance of these results is open to question, however, because these articles generally use ex post revised data not available to forecasters and because no comparison is made to best actual practice. We provide some evidence on both of these points using a new large dataset of vintage data synchronized with the Fed’s Greenbook forecast. This dataset consist of a large number of variables as observed at the time of each Greenbook forecast since 1979. We compare realtime, large dataset predictions to both simple univariate methods and to the Greenbook forecast. For inflation we find that univariate methods are dominated by the best atheoretical large dataset methods and that these, in turn, are dominated by Greenbook. For GDP growth, in contrast, we find that once one takes account of Greenbook’s advantage in evaluating the current state of the economy, neither large dataset methods, nor the Greenbook process offers much advantage over a univariate autoregressive forecast.
Carbohydrate Intake Is Associated with Diet Quality and Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in U.S. Adults: NHANES III

Objectives: To determine if carbohydrate intake, as a % of energy, was related to diet quality and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults in a cross-sectional and population-based study in the U.S. Methods: Data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988–1994) were utilized. The nationally representative sample of the U.S. population (3,754 men, 4,074 women, ages 25 to 64 years) was divided into quintiles of carbohydrate intake (% of energy), which was examined in relation to risk factors for CVD: systolic blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and concentrations of serum triglyceride, serum total and HDL cholesterol and plasma glucose. Results: When covariates (age, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol intake and total energy intake) were adjusted in multivariate analyses, carbohydrate intakes (% of energy) were inversely associated with BMI and serum total cholesterol concentration in men and BMI in women and positively associated with serum triglyceride concentration in women. When total sugar intake (% of energy) was further controlled as a step to understand the quality of carbohydrate, carbohydrate intakes (% of energy) was a stronger predictor of BMI and plasma glucose in men and BMI in women. A high carbohydrate diet (>57.4% of energy in men and >59.1% of energy in women) was associated with a low serum HDL-cholesterol concentration in men and high serum triglyceride in women. Conclusion: Moderately high carbohydrate (50% to 55% of energy) diets were associated with low CVD risks with favorable lipid profiles.
Synchronous 8-bit Non-Volatile Full-Adder based on Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic Tunnel Junction

With the continuous shrinking of technology node, conventional CMOS logic circuits suffer from high power issues due to both increasing leakage current and long traffic delay. Hybrid non-volatile (NV) logic-in-memory architecture, where emerging NV memories are distributed over a logic-circuit plane, has been widely investigated to overcome these limitations. Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is considered as one of the most promising NV candidates thanks to its non-volatility, fast access speed, infinite endurance and easy 3-D integration with CMOS technology. Recently, several 1-bit NV full-adder (FA) structures using MTJ have been proposed to build low-power high-density arithmetic/logic unit for processors. However, one of their major disadvantages is partial non-volatility since they only use MTJs as one of their operands. For the purpose of extending 1-bit NV-FA to multi-bit structure and realizing full non-volatility, synchronous 8-bit NV-FA architecture is presented in this paper, where all the input signals are stored in MTJs instead of CMOS registers. Three possible structures are proposed with respect to different locations of NV data. By using an industrial CMOS 28 nm design kit and a MTJ compact model, we validated their functionalities and compared their performances in terms of power consumption and area, etc.
Inflammatory Fibroid Polyps of the Gastrointestinal Tract: Evidence for a Dendritic Cell Origin

Inflammatory fibroid polyps (IFPs) are rare mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract that consist of spindle-shaped stromal cells and an inflammatory infiltrate rich in eosinophils. Their etiology and histogenesis remain unknown. Based on previous reports of their immunoreactivity for CD34 and c-kit biomarkers, IFPs have been thought to be related to gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). After reviewing the current literature and examining IFPs at the light microscopic level, we evaluated a series of IFPs using an extensive panel of immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization markers in an effort to gain insight into their etiology and histogenesis and to determine their true relationship to GISTs. Sixteen routinely processed IFP specimens (14 gastric, 1 ileal, and 1 rectal) were immunohistochemically stained for antibodies to CD34, HMB-45, desmin, smooth muscle actin, calponin, h-caldesmon, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, S-100 protein, epithelial membrane antigen, c-kit (CD117), stem cell factor (SCF/N19 or kit ligand), p53, bcl-2, cyclin D1, and human herpesvirus-8 (HHV8). In situ hybridization for Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA (EBER) was also performed. Ten cases were further evaluated for the dendritic cell markers fascin, CD21, CD23, and CD35. Stromal cells were diffusely positive for CD34 and fascin in all (100%) cases, and these stromal cells were, in addition, immunoreactive for calponin and smooth muscle actin in 88% and 25% of cases, respectively. CD35 was also found to be focally reactive in the stromal cells. Cyclin-D1 was overexpressed in all (100%) IFPs. All other immunohistochemical markers and EBER were negative in the stromal cells. These findings suggest that the proliferating stromal cells in IFPs are of dendritic cell origin, with some cases also exhibiting myofibroblastic features. Absence of c-kit, SCF, and h-caldesmon immunoreactivity fails to support a relationship to GISTs. We also conclude that Epstein Barr virus and HHV8 are unlikely etiologic agents of IFPs. Overexpression of cyclin D1 in all cases suggests that a defect in cell-cycle regulation may be involved in the growth of IFPs.
Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch for the repair of large abdominal wall defects

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) was used to repair 11 large abdominal wall defects in ten patients. Three patches were fixed to the adjacent abdominal aponeurosis with a single row of sutures; seven patches were implanted with a 1–2 cm overlap of patch and aponeurosis and a double row of sutures. Recurrent buttonhole hernias were found in two patients, in both of whom a single row of sutures had been used. This reherniation was due to insufficient anchorage of the patch to the fascia. It is concluded that ePTFE is a useful material to repair large abdominal wall defects provided the patch is fixed to the aponeurosis with an overlap and a double row of sutures to prevent buttonhole hernias.
Patients with the metabolic syndrome and a disturbed cortisol balance display more microalbuminuria

The objective of this study was to investigate whether patients with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and an imbalance in cortisol metabolism express increased urinary albumin excretion compared to those patients with metabolic syndrome alone. Seventy-four patients with MetS were evaluated using a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST) to identify disturbed cortisol balance (cortisol levels > 50 nmol/L after LDDST). The level of albumin in the urine was also evaluated. Disturbed cortisol balance was found in 8% of all evaluated patients with MetS. Microalbuminuria was present significantly more often (p<0.01) in those patients with MetS and an imbalance in cortisol metabolism compared with patients suffering MetS alone (urine albumin: 210 mg/L vs. 26 mg/L, respectively, p<0.01). A substantial percentage of patients with MetS had inappropriate cortisol homeostasis. Of importance, excretion of urinary albumin was increased in these patients. This observation may indicate that this subgroup within the MetS population has a higher cardiovascular risk and possible increased endothelial dysfunction, with a subsequent need for stricter control to prevent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
A Phase III Study of 5-Fluorouracil Versus 5-Fluorouracil Plus Interferon Alpha 2b Versus 5-Fluorouracil Plus Leucovorin in Patients With Advanced Colorectal Cancer: A Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG) Study

We conducted a phase III study in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma (ACC). The total number of patients randomized from October 1993 until July 1998 was 192, whereas therapy was started on 179 and 158 (82.3%) have been evaluable. The treatment schedules consisted of weekly bolus administration for 6 weeks of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), 600 mg/m2 (arm I) versus 5-FU (500 mg/m2) intravenous bolus and interferon-&agr;, 5 MU subcutaneously, three times a week (arm II) versus leucovorin 200 mg/m2 in 2-hour infusion and 5-FU 500 mg/m2 intravenous bolus at the midtime of leucovorin infusion (arm III) followed by a 2-week rest period. Treatment was continued for six cycles or until progression. This study failed to show any superiority of the modulated 5-FU versus single administration of 5-FU. There were no significant differences between the three arms in the overall response rate (10.3% versus 11.3% versus 12.9%, p = 0.95), the time to tumor progression (median, 3.9 versus 3.8 versus 6.0 months, p = 0.59), or survival duration (median, 14.7 versus 12.4 versus 16.3 months, p = 0.71). The incidence of severe (grades III and IV) toxicity was significantly higher in patients in arm II and III (24.5% and 18.6%) versus arm I (6.0%) (p = 0.01). Because modulated 5-FU failed to show superiority versus 5-FU, new agents and new strategies are needed for the treatment of advanced colorectal carcinoma.
The Impact of Spinal Cord Stimulation on Sleep Patterns

Studies of chronic pain show sleep disturbances to be a prevalent symptom in 50–88% of patients and studies show improved pain to correspond with improved sleep. The impact of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on sleep in failed back surgery syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome, and neuropathic pain patients has not been studied prospectively.
Mortality Implications of Mortality Plateaus

This article aims to describe in a unified framework all plateau-generating random effects models in terms of (i) plausible distributions for the hazard (baseline mortality) and the random effect (unobserved heterogeneity, frailty) as well as (ii) the impact of frailty on the baseline hazard. Mortality plateaus result from multiplicative (proportional) and additive hazards, but not from accelerated failure time models. Frailty can have any distribution with regularly-varying-at-0 density and the distribution of frailty among survivors to each subsequent age converges to a gamma distribution. In a multiplicative setting the baseline cumulative hazard can be represented as the inverse of the negative logarithm of any completely monotone function. If the plateau is reached, the only meaningful solution at the plateau is provided by the gamma-Gompertz model.
Partner-Aware Prediction of Interacting Residues in Protein-Protein Complexes from Sequence Data

Computational prediction of residues that participate in protein-protein interactions is a difficult task, and state of the art methods have shown only limited success in this arena. One possible problem with these methods is that they try to predict interacting residues without incorporating information about the partner protein, although it is unclear how much partner information could enhance prediction performance. To address this issue, the two following comparisons are of crucial significance: (a) comparison between the predictability of inter-protein residue pairs, i.e., predicting exactly which residue pairs interact with each other given two protein sequences; this can be achieved by either combining conventional single-protein predictions or making predictions using a new model trained directly on the residue pairs, and the performance of these two approaches may be compared: (b) comparison between the predictability of the interacting residues in a single protein (irrespective of the partner residue or protein) from conventional methods and predictions converted from the pair-wise trained model. Using these two streams of training and validation procedures and employing similar two-stage neural networks, we showed that the models trained on pair-wise contacts outperformed the partner-unaware models in predicting both interacting pairs and interacting single-protein residues. Prediction performance decreased with the size of the conformational change upon complex formation; this trend is similar to docking, even though no structural information was used in our prediction. An example application that predicts two partner-specific interfaces of a protein was shown to be effective, highlighting the potential of the proposed approach. Finally, a preliminary attempt was made to score docking decoy poses using prediction of interacting residue pairs; this analysis produced an encouraging result.
Decomposition and factorization of sequential finite state machines

Algorithms for decomposing a finite-state machine into smaller interacting machines so as to optimize area and performance of the eventual logic implementation are presented. Cascade decomposition algorithms, which decompose a given machine into an independent and dependent component, have been proposed in the past. However, good cascade decompositions rarely exist in finite-state machine designs. A more powerful form of decomposition whereby both components of the decomposed machine interact with each other is proposed. This form of decomposition involves identifying subroutines or factors in the original machine, extracting these factors, and representing them as a separate factoring machine. The occurrences of these factors become calls to the factoring machine from the factored machine. Given a state-transition-graph description of a machine, algorithms which can identify factors in the machine that produce good decompositions have been developed. Experimental results indicate that this factoring technique is superior to cascade decomposition techniques. <<ETX>>
Effects of labor support from close female relative on labor and maternal satisfaction in a Thai setting.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of a close female relative providing emotional and physical support during active labor and birth. DESIGN Randomized, two-group controlled clinical trial. SETTING Regional teaching hospital in the eastern part of Thailand with 782 beds. PARTICIPANTS Primiparous women (N = 120) whose gestational ages were ≥ 36 weeks and who had uncomplicated pregnancies. METHODS Participants were randomly assigned to receive usual care and support from a chosen close female relative from admission until 2 hours after birth or usual care only. Within 24 hours of birth, labor outcomes (length of labor & type of birth) and levels of maternal satisfaction were assessed. RESULTS Those in the experimental group had a significantly shorter duration of active labor and were more satisfied with their childbirth experiences than those in the control group. Differences between groups with respect to incidence of spontaneous delivery were not found. CONCLUSIONS A close female relative was effective in providing supportive care during labor and delivery. The integration of this nursing intervention for women and their families at public hospitals in Thailand is supported.
Potential of a gypsum-free composting process of wheat straw for mushroom production

Wheat straw based composting generates a selective substrate for mushroom production. The first phase of this process requires 5 days, and a reduction in time is wished. Here, we aim at understanding the effect of gypsum on the duration of the first phase and the mechanism behind it. Hereto, the regular process with gypsum addition and the same process without gypsum were studied during a 5-day period. The compost quality was evaluated based on compost lignin composition analysed by py-GC/MS and its degradability by a commercial (hemi-)cellulolytic enzyme cocktail. The composting phase lead to the decrease of the pyrolysis products 4-vinylphenol and 4-vinylguaiacol that can be associated with p-coumarates and ferulates linking xylan and lignin. In the regular compost, the enzymatic conversion reached 32 and 39% for cellulose, and 23 and 32% for xylan after 3 and 5 days, respectively. In absence of gypsum similar values were reached after 2 and 4 days, respectively. Thus, our data show that in absence of gypsum the desired compost quality was reached 20% earlier compared to the control process.
Introducing the Turbo-Twin-HMM for Audio-Visual Speech Enhancement

Models for automatic speech recognition (ASR) hold detailed information about spectral and spectro-temporal characteristics of clean speech signals. Using these models for speech enhancement is desirable and has been the target of past research efforts. In such model-based speech enhancement systems, a powerful ASR is imperative. To increase the recognition rates especially in low-SNR conditions, we suggest the use of the additional visual modality, which is mostly unaffected by degradations in the acoustic channel. An optimal integration of acoustic and visual information is achievable by joint inference in both modalities within the turbo-decoding framework. Thus combining turbo-decoding with Twin-HMMs for speech enhancement, notable improvements can be achieved, not only in terms of instrumental estimates of speech quality, but also in actual speech intelligibility. This is verified through listening tests, which show that in highly challenging noise conditions, average human recognition accuracy can be improved from 64% without signal processing to 80% when using the presented architecture.
staxanthin-enriched-diet reduces blood pressure and improves cardiovascular arameters in spontaneously hypertensive rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of astaxanthin-enriched diet on blood pressure, cardiac hypertrophy, both vascular structure and function and superoxide (•O2−) production in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Twelve-week-old SHR were treated for 8 weeks with an astaxanthin-enriched diet (75 or 200 mg/kg body weight per day). Systolic blood pressure was monitorized periodically during the study by the tail cuff method. At the end of the study animals were sacrificed and heart, kidneys and aorta were removed. Left ventricular weight/body weight ratio was used as left ventricular hypertrophy index (LVH). Vascular function and structure were studied in conductance (aortic rings) and resistance (renal vascular bed) • − ascular function ardiovascular remodeling xidative stress arteries. Also O2 production was evaluated by lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence. Systolic blood pressure was lower in astaxanthin-treated groups than the control group from the first week of treatment, and LVH was significantly reduced. Astaxanthin improved endothelial function on resistance arteries, but had no effect on aorta. These effects were accompanied by a decrease in oxidative stress and improvements in NO bioavailability. Taken together, these results show that diet supplemented with astaxanthin has beneficial effects on hypertension, by decreasing blood pressure values, improving g and cardiovascular remodelin