Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neoplastic meningitis: survival as a function of cerebrospinal fluid cytology.

BACKGROUND : This retrospective comparison evaluated survival in 2 well-matched cohorts of patients with neoplastic meningitis (NM) presenting with or without positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology. METHODS : Two patient cohorts were studied: 42 individuals with (Group A) and 42 without (Group B) positive CSF cytology. Groups were matched with respect to age; primary tumor; Karnofsky performance status; site of NM disease (cranial nerves or spinal cord); treatment (radiotherapy and chemotherapy; systemic and intraventricular); and absence of CSF compartmentalization, NM-related encephalopathy, and neuroradiographic bulky central nervous system disease. Primary tumor histology included breast (28 patients), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (14 patients), nonsmall cell lung cancer (14 patients), melanoma (12 patients), and others (16 patients). NM at presentation revealed cranial neuropathy (40 patients) or spinal cord dysfunction (58 patients). Radiotherapy was administered to 69 patients (whole brain only in 14 patients [7 each in Groups A and B], restricted spine only in 51 patients [25 in Group A and 26 in Group B], and both whole brain and restricted spine in 4 patients [2 each in Groups A and B]). All patients received intraventricular chemotherapy and 60 (30 each in Groups A and B) received concurrent tumor-specific systemic chemotherapy. RESULTS : The median, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month survival rates for patients with NM were not significantly different between those patients with positive CSF cytology (18 weeks, 83%, 33%, and 9.5%, respectively) and those without positive CSF cytology (20 weeks, 90.5%, 40.5%, and 9.5%, respectively). All patients demonstrated progressive disease and died of either NM or systemic cancer. CONCLUSIONS : In patients with NM who were matched for known prognostic variables, the presence or absence of CSF cytology did not appear to influence survival. Cancer 2009. (c) 2009 American Cancer Society.
Association between antidepressants and breast/ovarian cancer

Introduction: Women are more vulnerable to the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) than men. Although several epidemiological studies have investigated the association between antidepressants and the risk of developing cancer, different methodologies were applied and as a result most of the results were inconsistent. A recent study by Cosgrove and colleagues at Harvard University investigated the relationship between prescriptions for antidepressants and breast/ovarian cancer, to determine whether such medications are associated with the development of cancer. Areas covered: This paper discusses the relationship between the use of antidepressants and breast/ovarian cancer risk in the context of the potential limitations and significance of this recent research. Expert opinion: Clinicians might need to be vigilant when treating female patients who require antidepressants, particularly those with other clinical risk factors in relation to breast/ovarian cancer; although more data will be necessary to evaluate the exact association between antidepressants and the development of such cancers.
Nonmetastatic Cancer of the Colon Associated With Pyogenic Liver Abscess

TO THE EDITOR: Sica et al. (1) present an interesting review of the potential renal complications associated with the use of oral sodium phosphate (NaP) as bowel preparation prior to colonoscopy. They make the important point that low levels of physician awareness and the time lag between phosphate exposure and presentation of nephropathy mean that the true incidence of this problem is probably underestimated. The data sources quoted, however, are now several years old, with neither published case reports (most recent case from 2005) (2) nor industry-sponsored review (Food and Drug Adminstration [FDA] data to October 2002) (3) reflecting raised awareness following recent publicity.
Statistical Analysis of On-Chip Power Delivery Networks Considering Lognormal Leakage Current Variations With Spatial Correlation

As the technology scales into 90 nm and below, process-induced variations become more pronounced. In this paper, we propose an efficient stochastic method for analyzing the voltage drop variations of on-chip power grid networks, considering log-normal leakage current variations with spatial correlation. The new analysis is based on the Hermite polynomial chaos (PC) representation of random processes. Different from the existing Hermite PC based method for power grid analysis (Ghanta et al., 2005), which models all the random variations as Gaussian processes without considering spatial correlation, the new method consider both wire variations and subthreshold leakage current variations, which are modeled as log-normal distribution random variables, on the power grid voltage variations. To consider the spatial correlation, we apply orthogonal decomposition to map the correlated random variables into independent variables. Our experiment results show that the new method is more accurate than the Gaussian-only Hermite PC method using the Taylor expansion method for analyzing leakage current variations. It is two orders of magnitude faster than the Monte Carlo method with small variance errors. We also show that the spatial correlation may lead to large errors if not being considered in the statistical analysis.
Cerebrospinal fluid exposure of efavirenz and its major metabolites when dosed at 400 mg and 600 mg once daily: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND The optimal penetration of antiretroviral agents into the central nervous system may be a balance between providing adequate drug exposure to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication while avoiding concentrations associated with neuronal toxicities. METHODS Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) exposure of efavirenz and the metabolites 7-hydroxy (7OH) and 8-hydroxy (8OH) efavirenz were assessed after at least 12 weeks of therapy in HIV-infected subjects randomized to commence antiretroviral regimens containing efavirenz at either 400 mg or 600 mg once daily. RESULTS Of 28 subjects (14 and 14 on efavirenz 400 mg and 600 mg, respectively), CSF HIV RNA was undetectable in all. Geometric mean CSF efavirenz, 7OH-, and 8OH-efavirenz concentrations (with 90% confidence intervals [CIs]) for the 400-mg and 600-mg dosing groups were 16.5 (13-21) and 19.5 (15-25) ng/mL; 0.6 (.4-.9) and 0.6 (.4-1) ng/mL; and 5.1 (4.0-6.4) and 3.1 (2.1-4.4) ng/mL, respectively. Efavirenz concentration in CSF was >0.51 ng/mL (proposed CSF 50% maximal inhibitory concentration for wild-type virus) in all subjects, and 8OH-efavirenz concentration in CSF was >3.3 ng/mL (a proposed toxicity threshold) in 11 of 14 and 7 of 14 subjects randomized to the 400 mg and 600 mg doses of efavirenz, respectively. Whereas CSF efavirenz concentration was significantly associated with plasma concentration (P < .001) and cytochrome P450 2B6 genotype (CSF efavirenz GG to GT/TT geometric mean ratio, 0.56 [90% CI, .42-.74]), CSF 8OH-efavirenz concentration was not (P = .242 for association and CSF 8OH-efavirenz GG to GT/TT geometric mean ratio, 1.52 [90% CI, .97-2.36]). CONCLUSIONS With both doses of efavirenz studied, CSF concentrations were considered adequate to inhibit HIV replication, although concentrations of 8OH-efavirenz were greater than those reportedly associated with neuronal toxicity. CSF exposure of 8OH-efavirenz was not dependent on plasma exposure and, as we postulate, may be subject to saturable pharmacokinetic effects. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NCT01011413.
Visually Grounded Meaning Representations.

In this paper we address the problem of grounding distributional representations of lexical meaning. We introduce a new model which uses stacked autoencoders to learn higher-level representations from textual and visual input. The visual modality is encoded via vectors of attributes obtained automatically from images. We create a new large-scale taxonomy of 600 visual attributes representing more than 500 concepts and 700K images. We use this dataset to train attribute classifiers and integrate their predictions with text-based distributional models of word meaning. We evaluate our model on its ability to simulate word similarity judgments and concept categorization. On both tasks, our model yields a better fit to behavioral data compared to baselines and related models which either rely on a single modality or do not make use of attribute-based input.
Modeling the Impact of Uganda’s Safe Male Circumcision Program: Implications for Age and Regional Targeting

Background Uganda aims to provide safe male circumcision (SMC) to 80% of men ages 15–49 by 2016. To date, only 2 million men have received SMC of the 4.2 million men required. In response to age and regional trends in SMC uptake, the country sought to re-examine its targets with respect to age and subnational region, to assess the program’s progress, and to refine the implementation approach. Methods and Findings The Decision Makers’ Program Planning Tool, Version 2.0 (DMPPT 2.0), was used in conjunction with incidence projections from the Spectrum/AIDS Impact Module (AIM) to conduct this analysis. Population, births, deaths, and HIV incidence and prevalence were used to populate the model. Baseline male circumcision prevalence was derived from the 2011 AIDS Indicator Survey. Uganda can achieve the most immediate impact on HIV incidence by circumcising men ages 20–34. This group will also require the fewest circumcisions for each HIV infection averted. Focusing on men ages 10–19 will offer the greatest impact over a 15-year period, while focusing on men ages 15–34 offers the most cost-effective strategy over the same period. A regional analysis showed little variation in cost-effectiveness of scaling up SMC across eight regions. Scale-up is cost-saving in all regions. There is geographic variability in program progress, highlighting two regions with low baseline rates of circumcision where additional efforts will be needed. Conclusion Focusing SMC efforts on specific age groups and regions may help to accelerate Uganda’s SMC program progress. Policy makers in Uganda have already used model outputs in planning efforts, proposing males ages 10–34 as a priority group for SMC in the 2014 application to the Global Fund’s new funding model. As scale-up continues, the country should also consider a greater effort to expand SMC in regions with low MC prevalence.
COMMUNITY EFFECT OF HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE B VACCINATION IN INDIA

We assessed the effect of distribution of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine in the private health care sector on Hib meningitis admissions at a referral hospital in India. The annual mean number of Hib cases was 10.7 before Hib vaccine introduction, falling to 3.8 cases following introduction (P 0.0001). By contrast, the mean of annual numbers of pneumococcal cases were 3.0 and 4.6, (P 0.55). Even at relatively low coverage through private sector distribution, Hib vaccine has significant community impact on Hib disease.
Surfactant inhibition in experimental meconium aspiration

Human meconium components were separated into a water‐methanol soluble phase containing mainly proteins and bilirubin and a chloroform soluble phase containing free fatty acids, triglycerides and cholesterol. Various amounts of original meconium, the water‐methanol soluble fraction or the chloroform soluble fraction were added to standard suspensions of porcine surfactant (Curosurf). In a pulsating‐bubble or Wilhelmy‐balance system, meconium and its subfractions inhibited surfactant activity, but the chloroform soluble fraction had the highest specific inhibitory activity. Original meconium in saline (130 or 65 mg/ml) was instilled into the airways of ventilated near‐term newborn rabbits (dose 6 ml/kg). Lung‐thorax compliance was reduced by 38% in animals aspirating the higher dose and by 27% in the low‐dose group. Histological sections showed intra‐alveolar accumulation of fine meconium particles in experimental animals, but no plugging of larger airways. We conclude that respiratory failure from meconium aspiration may be mediated, in part, by inactivation of surfactant.
A comparison of hydroponic and soil-based screening methods to identify salt tolerance in the field in barley

Success in breeding crops for yield and other quantitative traits depends on the use of methods to evaluate genotypes accurately under field conditions. Although many screening criteria have been suggested to distinguish between genotypes for their salt tolerance under controlled environmental conditions, there is a need to test these criteria in the field. In this study, the salt tolerance, ion concentrations, and accumulation of compatible solutes of genotypes of barley with a range of putative salt tolerance were investigated using three growing conditions (hydroponics, soil in pots, and natural saline field). Initially, 60 genotypes of barley were screened for their salt tolerance and uptake of Na+, Cl–, and K+ at 150 mM NaCl and, based on this, a subset of 15 genotypes was selected for testing in pots and in the field. Expression of salt tolerance in saline solution culture was not a reliable indicator of the differences in salt tolerance between barley plants that were evident in saline soil-based comparisons. Significant correlations were observed in the rankings of genotypes on the basis of their grain yield production at a moderately saline field site and their relative shoot growth in pots at ECe 7.2 [Spearman’s rank correlation (rs)=0.79] and ECe 15.3 (rs=0.82) and the crucial parameter of leaf Na+ (rs=0.72) and Cl– (rs=0.82) concentrations at ECe 7.2 dS m−1. This work has established screening procedures that correlated well with grain yield at sites with moderate levels of soil salinity. This study also showed that both salt exclusion and osmotic tolerance are involved in salt tolerance and that the relative importance of these traits may differ with the severity of the salt stress. In soil, ion exclusion tended to be more important at low to moderate levels of stress but osmotic stress became more important at higher stress levels. Salt exclusion coupled with a synthesis of organic solutes were shown to be important components of salt tolerance in the tolerant genotypes and further field tests of these plants under stress conditions will help to verify their potential utility in crop-improvement programmes.
REPRODUCTIVE ADAPTATIONS AMONG VIVIPAROUS FISHES (CYPRINODONTIFORMES: POECILIIDAE)

Adaptations for placing a maximum number of mature offspring in the next generation fall between the two adaptive extremes of having either high reproductive rates and low survival rates or low reproductive rates and high survival rates. Among the fishes, both extremes have been realized; for example, the ling, Molva molva may produce 20-30 X 106 eggs at a single spawning (Blaxter, 1969), whereas some species of viviparous fishes have only one to four well-developed young at a time. Among the variable reproductive adaptations in teleosts, a remarkable array is found within a single family of viviparous fishes, the Poeciliidae. All but one of the 150 species of poeciliids known (Rosen and Bailey, 1963; Bussing, 1963, 1966; Hubbs and Peden, 1969; Miller, 1975; Miller and Minckley, 1970; Rivas, 1969; Rivas and Fink, 1970; Rosen and Kallman, 1969) are viviparous. Brood sizes within the family range from a few to 315 young at a time (Krumholz, 1948). Production of small numbers of young which are born in an advanced state of development clearly places poeciliids at one end of the array of reproductive adaptations. Although poeciliids seemingly have sacrificed quantity for quality, they have not done so to the same degree nor by the same mechanism; thus a fairly wide range of productivity levels persists within the family. Once internal fertilization evolved, various modifications in the reproductive system were possible. For example, adjust-
Utility of Corrected QT Interval in Orthostatic Intolerance

We performed this study to determine whether electrocardiographic corrected QT (QTc) interval predicts alterations in sympathovagal balance during orthostatic intolerance (OI). We reviewed 1,368 patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of OI who underwent electrocardiography and composite autonomic function tests (AFTs). Patients with a positive response to the head-up tilt test were classified into orthostatic hypotension (OH), neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS), or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) groups. A total of 275 patients (159 OH, 54 NCS, and 62 POTS) were included in the final analysis. Between-group comparisons of OI symptom grade, QTc interval, QTc dispersion, and each AFT measure were performed. QTc interval and dispersion were correlated with AFT measures. OH Patients had the most severe OI symptom grade and NCS patients the mildest. Patients with OH showed the longest QTc interval (448.8±33.6 msec), QTc dispersion (59.5±30.3 msec) and the lowest values in heart rate response to deep breathing (HRDB) (10.3±6.0 beats/min) and Valsalva ratio (1.3±0.2). Patients with POTS showed the shortest QTc interval (421.7±28.6 msec), the highest HRDB values (24.5±9.2 beats/min), Valsalva ratio (1.8±0.3), and proximal and distal leg sweat volumes in the quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test. QTc interval correlated negatively with HRDB (r = −0.443, p<0.001) and Valsalva ratio (r = −0.425, p<0.001). We found negative correlations between QTc interval and AFT values representing cardiovagal function in patients with OI. Our findings suggest that prolonged QTc interval may be considered to be a biomarker for detecting alterations in sympathovagal balance, especially cardiovagal dysfunction in OH.
Hitting a Moving Target: A Model for Malaria Elimination in the Presence of Population Movement

South Africa is committed to eliminating malaria with a goal of zero local transmission by 2018. Malaria elimination strategies may be unsuccessful if they focus only on vector biology, and ignore the mobility patterns of humans, particularly where the majority of infections are imported. In the first study in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa designed for this purpose, a metapopulation model is developed to assess the impact of their proposed elimination-focused policy interventions. A stochastic, non-linear, ordinary-differential equation model is fitted to malaria data from Mpumalanga and neighbouring Maputo Province in Mozambique. Further scaling-up of vector control is predicted to lead to a minimal reduction in local infections, while mass drug administration and focal screening and treatment at the Mpumalanga-Maputo border are predicted to have only a short-lived impact. Source reduction in Maputo Province is predicted to generate large reductions in local infections through stemming imported infections. The mathematical model predicts malaria elimination to be possible only when imported infections are treated before entry or eliminated at the source suggesting that a regionally focused strategy appears needed, for achieving malaria elimination in Mpumalanga and South Africa.
Kinetics of desmosome assembly in Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells: temporal and spatial regulation of desmoplakin organization and stabilization upon cell-cell contact. I. Biochemical analysis

The functional interaction of cells in the formation of tissues requires the establishment and maintenance of cell-cell contact by the junctional complex. However, little is known biochemically about the mechanism(s) that regulates junctional complex assembly. To address this problem, we have initiated a study of the regulation of assembly of one component of the junctional complex, the desmosome, during induction of cell-cell contact in cultures of Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells. Here we have analyzed two major protein components of the desmosomal plaque, desmoplakins I (Mr of 250,000) and II (Mr of 215,000). Analysis of protein levels of desmoplakins I and II by immunoprecipitation with an antiserum that reacts specifically with an epitope common to both proteins revealed that desmoplakins I and II are synthesized and accumulate at steady state in a ratio of 3-4:1 (in the absence or presence of cell-cell contact). The kinetics of desmoplakins I and II stabilization and assembly were analyzed after partitioning of newly synthesized proteins into a soluble and insoluble protein fraction by extraction of whole cells in a Triton X-100 high salt buffer. In the absence of cell-cell contact, both the soluble and insoluble pools of desmoplakins I and II are unstable and are degraded rapidly (t1/2 approximately 8 h). Upon induction of cell-cell contact, the capacity of the insoluble pool increases approximately three-fold as a proportion of the soluble pool of newly synthesized desmoplakins I and II is titrated into the insoluble pool. The insoluble pool becomes relatively stable (t1/2 greater than 72 h), whereas proteins remaining in the soluble pool (approximately 25-40% of the total) are degraded rapidly (t1/2 approximately 8 h). Furthermore, we show that desmoplakins I and II can be recruited from this unstable soluble pool of protein to the stable insoluble pool upon induction of cell-cell contact 4 h after synthesis; significantly, the stabilization of this population of newly synthesized desmoplakins I and II is blocked by the addition of cycloheximide at the time of cell-cell contact, indicating that the coordinate synthesis of another protein(s) is required for protein stabilization.
Absorption and Retention of Lead by Infants

Summary: Eighty-nine metabolic balance studies were performed with 12 normal infants ranging in age from 14–746 days. Intake and fecal and urinary excretions of lead were determined and net absorption and net retention were calculated. Subjects were fed milk or formula and commercially prepared strained foods. Intakes of lead ranged from 0.83–22.61 μg/kg/day with a mean of 9.43 μg/kg/day. Urinary excretion averaged 1.02 (SD 0.68) μg/kg/day and was positively correlated with lead intake (Fig. 1). Fecal excretion was highly correlated with intake of lead (Fig. 2); fecal excretion exceeded intake in 10 studies. In 61 balance studies with lead intakes greater than 5 μg/kg/day, net absorption averaged 41.5% of lead intake and net retention averaged 31.7% of intake.Retention of lead was highly correlated with lead intake (Fig. 3). Urinary plus fecal excretion of lead exceeded intake in 19 of 28 balances in which lead intakes were less than 5 μg/kg/day. Absorption and retention of lead were inversely correlated with intake of calcium (Fig. 4). Absorption and retention of lead accounted for greater percentages of intake of lead in this study of infants and young children than have been reported in studies of older subjects.Speculation: Highly efficient absorption and retention of ingested lead by young children may be partly responsible for the high prevalence of lead intoxication in this age group.
Market Structure, Financial Dependence and Industrial Growth: Evidence from the Banking Industry in Emerging Asian Economies

In this study, we examine the role of market structure for growth in financially dependent industries from 10 emerging Asian economies over the period of 1995–2011. Our approach departs from existing studies in that we apply four alternative measures of market structure based on structural and non-structural approaches and compare their outcomes. Results indicate that higher bank concentration may slow down the growth of financially dependent industries. Bank competition on the other hand, allows financially dependent industries to grow faster. These findings are consistent across a number of sensitivity checks such as alternative measures of financial dependence, institutional factors (including property rights, quality of accounting standards and bank ownership), and endogeneity consideration. In sum, our study suggests that financially dependent industries grow more in more competitive/less concentrated banking systems. Therefore, regulatory authorities need to be careful while pursuing a consolidation policy for banking sector in emerging Asian economies.