Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retrospective Assessment of a Serum Proteomic Test in a Phase III Study Comparing Erlotinib plus Placebo with Erlotinib plus Tivantinib (MARQUEE) in Previously Treated Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND The VeriStrat test provides accurate predictions of outcomes in all lines of therapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated the predictive and prognostic role of VeriStrat in patients enrolled on the MARQUEE phase III trial of tivantinib plus erlotinib (T+E) versus placebo plus erlotinib (P+E) in previously treated patients with advanced NSCLC. METHODS Pretreatment plasma samples were available for 996 patients and were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry to generate VeriStrat labels (good, VS-G, or poor, VS-P). RESULTS Overall, no significant benefit in overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were observed for the addition of tivantinib to erlotinib. Regardless of treatment arm, patients who were classified as VS-G had significantly longer PFS (3.8 mo for T+E arm, 2.0 mo for P+E arm) and OS (11.6 mo for T+E, 10.2 mo for P+E arm) than patients classified as VS-P (PFS: 1.9 mo for both arms, hazard ratio [HR], 0.584; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.468-0.733; p < .0001 for T+E, HR, 0.686; 95% CI, 0.546-0.870; p = .0015 for P+E; OS: 4.0 mo for both arms, HR, 0.333; 95% CI, 0.264-0.422; p < .0001 for T+E; HR, 0.449; 95% CI, 0.353-0.576; p < .0001 for P+E). The VS-G population had higher OS than the VS-P population within Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance score (PS) categories. VS-G patients on the T+E arm had longer PFS, but not OS, than VS-G patients on the P+E arm (p = .0108). Among EGFR mutation-positive patients, those with VS-G status had a median OS more than twice that of any other group (OS: 31.6 mo for T+E and 22.8 mo for P+E), whereas VS-P patients had similar survival rates as VS-G, EGFR-wild type patients (OS: 13.7 mo for T+E and 6.5 mo for P+E). CONCLUSION In these analyses, VeriStrat showed a prognostic role within EGOC PS categories and regardless of treatment arm and EGFR status, suggesting that VeriStrat could be used to identify EGFR mutation-positive patients who will have a poor response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE This study suggests that VeriStrat testing could enhance the prognostic role of performance status and smoking status and replicates findings from other trials that showed that the VeriStrat test identifies EGFR mutation-positive patients likely to have a poor response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Although these findings should be confirmed in other populations, VeriStrat use could be considered in EGFR mutation-positive patients as an additional prognostic tool, and these results suggest that EGFR mutation-positive patients with VeriStrat "poor" classification could benefit from other therapeutic agents given in conjunction with TKI monotherapy.
Multidimensional Mining over Big Healthcare Data: A Big Data Analytics Framework

Nowadays, a great deal of attention is being devoted to big data analytics in complex healthcare environments. Fetal growth curves, which are a classical case of big healthcare data, are used in prenatal medicine to early detect potential fetal growth problems, estimate the perinatal outcome and promptly treat possible complications. However, the currently adopted curves and the related diagnostic techniques have been criticized because of their poor precision. New techniques, based on the idea of customized growth curves, have been proposed in literature. In this perspective, the problem of building customized or personalized fetal growth curves by means of big data techniques is discussed in this paper. The proposed framework introduces the idea of summarizing the massive amounts of (input) big data via multidimensional views on top of which well-known Data Mining methods like clustering and classification are applied. This overall defines a multidimensional mining approach, targeted to complex healthcare environments. A preliminary analysis on the effectiveness of the framework is also proposed. Keywords—Mining Big Data; Big Healthcare Data; Healthcare Systems.
Automatic Generation of Constrained Furniture Layouts

Efficient authoring of vast virtual environments hinges on algorithms that are able to automatically generate content while also being controllable. We propose a method to automatically generate furniture layouts for indoor environments. Our method is simple, efficient, human-interpretable and amenable to a wide variety of constraints. We model the composition of rooms into classes of objects and learn joint (co-occurrence) statistics from a database of training layouts. We generate new layouts by performing a sequence of conditional sampling steps, exploiting the statistics learned from the database. The generated layouts are specified as 3D object models, along with their positions and orientations. We incorporate constraints using a general mechanism -- rejection sampling -- which provides great flexibility at the cost of extra computation. We demonstrate the versatility of our method by accommodating a wide variety of constraints.
A note on transgenerational epigenetics affecting egg quality traits in meat-type quail

ABSTRACT 1. The aim of the following experiment was to estimate transgenerational epigenetic variance for egg quality traits using genealogical and phenotypic information in meat-type quail. Measured traits included egg length (EL) and width (EWD), albumen weight (AW), shell weight (SW), yolk weight (YW) and egg weight (EW). 2. A total of 391 birds were evaluated for egg quality by collecting a sample of one egg per bird, during three consecutive days, starting on the 14th d of production. Analyses were performed using mixed models including the random epigenetic effect. Variance components were estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood method. A grid-search for values for the auto-recursive parameter (λ) was used in the variance components estimation. This parameter is directly related to the reset (v) and epigenetic transmissibility (1 − v) coefficients. 3. The epigenetic effect was not significant for any of the egg quality traits evaluated. Direct heritability estimates for egg quality traits ranged in magnitude from 0.06 to 0.33, whereby the higher estimates were found for AW and SW. Epigenetic heritability estimates were low and close to zero (ranging from 0.00 to 0.07) for all evaluated traits. 4. The current breeding strategies accounting for additive genetic effect seem to be suitable for egg quality traits in meat-type quail.
High intensity, circuit-type integrated neuromuscular training alters energy balance and reduces body mass and fat in obese women: A 10-month training-detraining randomized controlled trial

This randomized controlled trial examined body mass, body composition, energy balance and performance responses of previously sedentary overweight/obese women to a circuit-type integrated neuromuscular training program with alternative modalities. Forty-nine healthy overweight or class I obese females (36.4±4.4 yrs) were randomly assigned to either a control (N = 21), training (N = 14) or training-detraining (N = 14) group. In weeks 1–20, the training groups trained three times/week using 10–12 whole-body exercises of progressively increased intensity/volume, organized in timed interval circuit form. In weeks 21–40, the training group continued training whereas the training-detraining group not. Heart rate, perceived exertion, blood lactate, exertion, oxygen consumption and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption were measured for one session/phase/person and exercise energy expenditure was calculated. Energy intake, habitual physical activity, resting metabolic rate, body composition, body mass, strength and maximal oxygen consumption were measured at baseline, mid-intervention and post-intervention. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine differences between three time points and three groups. In C, VO2max declined (p<0.013) and body fat (p<0.008), waist (p<0.059) and hip (p<0.012) circumferences increased after 40 weeks compared to baseline. Training reduced body mass (6%, p<0.001), body fat (~5.5%, p<0.001) and increased fat-free mass (1.2–3.4%, p<0.05), strength (27.2%, p<0.001) and endurance (26.8%, p<0.001) after a 10-month implementation period using a metabolic overload of only 5–12 metabolic equivalents of task-hours per week. Training induced a long-term negative energy balance during an exercise and a non-exercise day due to an elevation of resting metabolic rate (6%-10%, p<0.05) and exercise-related energy expenditure. Training had an 8% and 94% attrition and attendance rates, respectively. Training-induced gains were attenuated but not lost following a 5-month detraining. A 10-month implementation of a high-intensity interval type training program elicited both endurance and musculoskeletal gains and resulted in a long-term negative energy balance that induced a progressive and sustained reduction of body and fat mass. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03134781
Differential Expression of RAGE, EGFR and Ki-67 in Primary Tumors and Lymph Node Deposits of Breast Carcinoma

Background: Breast cancer is a complex disease that results from the inheritance of a number of susceptible genes. Intensive search wok was conducted world-wide on molecular bases of breast cancer in order to achieve the best therapeutic modalities; however, breast cancer still remains a challengeable task. It is very important to determine if the biological parameters in metastatic regional lymph nodes are similar to that in the primary breast cancer because therapy is indicated for patients with synchronous metastatic regional lymph nodes of breast cancer. Difference in therapeutic response in cases of breast cancer may be assumed partially to variability in the biological behavior of tumor tissue in primary breast cancer and lymph node metastasis. Aim: Our aim is to evaluate any variability in the expression of three types of tissue markers in both the primary breast tumors and corresponding axillary lymph nodes in order to expect the targeted therapeutic effect on both sites. Material and Methods: Three markers from different categories; RAGE, EGFR and Ki-67 were immunohistochemicalyl studied for their expression in biopsy specimens from primary breast tumors and their corresponding axillary lymph nodes. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the expression of these markers between benign and malignant breast lesions. Although we found some differences in the expression of the three studied markers between primary breast cancer and corresponding axillary lymph nodes, yet these variations were mostly not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our findings support the validity of anti-RAGE and anti-EGFR therapy for treatment of both primary and nodal metastatic breast cancer in immunopositive cases.
High hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years associated with low socioeconomic status in a Swedish region: a cross-sectional study in primary care

Abstract Objective: There is a presumption that hospital readmission rates amongst persons aged ≥65 years are mainly dependent on the quality of care. In this study, our primary aim was to explore the association between 30-day hospital readmission for patients aged ≥65 years and socioeconomic characteristics of the studied population. A secondary aim was to explore the association between self-reported lack of strategies for working with older patients at primary health care centres and early readmission. Design: A cross-sectional ecological study and an online questionnaire sent to the heads of the primary health care centres. We performed correlation and regression analyses. Setting and subjects: Register data of 283,063 patients in 29 primary health care centres in the Region Örebro County (Sweden) in 2014. Main outcome measure: Thirty-day hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years. Covariates were socioeconomic characteristics among patients registered at the primary health care centre and eldercare workload. Results: Early hospital readmission was found to be associated with low socioeconomic status of the studied population: proportion foreign-born (r = 0.74; p < 0.001), proportion unemployed (r = 0.73; p < 0.001), Care Need Index (r = 0.74; p < 0.001), sick leave rate (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) and average income (r = −0.40; p = 0.03). The proportion of unemployed alone could explain up to 71.4% of the variability in hospital readmission (p < 0.001). Primary health care centres reporting lack of strategies to prevent readmissions in older patients did not have higher hospital readmission rates than those reporting they had such strategies. Conclusion: Primary health care centres localized in neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic status had higher rates of hospital readmission for patients aged ≥65. Interventions aimed at reducing hospital readmissions for older patients should also consider socioeconomic disparities. Key Points In Sweden, hospital readmission within 30 days among patients aged ≥65 has been used as a measure of quality of primary care for the elderly. However, in our study, elderly 30-day readmission was associated with low neighbourhood socioeconomic status. A simple survey in one Swedish region showed that the primary health care centres that lacked active strategies for working with aged patients did not have higher hospital readmission rates than those that reported having strategies. Interventions aimed at reducing elderly hospital readmissions should therefore also consider the socioeconomic disparities in the elderly.
Barriers to innovating with open government data: Exploring experiences across service phases and user types

Open government data (OGD) can enable outbound open innovation (OI) that is beneficial to society. However, innovation barriers hinder OGD users from generating value. While previous studies have detailed a large number of such barriers, little is known of how different types of OGD users are affected, and when the barriers appear in their innovation processes. To this end, this paper describes a case study of distributed service development in the Swedish public transport sector. The contribution to extant research is twofold. Firstly, based on an inductive analysis, three OGD user archetypes are proposed: employees, entrepreneurs and hobbyists. Secondly, the study finds that the significance of distinct innovation barriers varies across phases of the services’ lifecycles and depending on the OGD users’ motivation, objective, pre-conditions and approach. Drawing on these insights, we propose that OGD initiatives aimed at facilitating outbound OI to a greater extent should address the barriers that appear during diffusion of innovations, the barriers that are not directly related to the OGD provision, and the barriers that are experienced by non-obvious OGD user groups.
Cooperative SGD: A unified Framework for the Design and Analysis of Communication-Efficient SGD Algorithms

Communication-efficient SGD algorithms, which allow nodes to perform local updates and periodically synchronize local models, are highly effective in improving the speed and scalability of distributed SGD. However, a rigorous convergence analysis and comparative study of different communication-reduction strategies remains a largely open problem. This paper presents a unified framework called Cooperative SGD that subsumes existing communication-efficient SGD algorithms such as periodic-averaging, elastic-averaging and decentralized SGD. By analyzing Cooperative SGD, we provide novel convergence guarantees for existing algorithms. Moreover, this framework enables us to design new communication-efficient SGD algorithms that strike the best balance between reducing communication overhead and achieving fast error convergence with low error floor.
Improved Survival for Children and Young Adults With T-Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results From the Children's Oncology Group AALL0434 Methotrexate Randomization.

PURPOSE Early intensification with methotrexate (MTX) is a key component of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy. Two different approaches to MTX intensification exist but had not been compared in T-cell ALL (T-ALL): the Children's Oncology Group (COG) escalating dose intravenous MTX without leucovorin rescue plus pegaspargase escalating dose, Capizzi-style, intravenous MTX (C-MTX) regimen and the Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster (BFM) high-dose intravenous MTX (HDMTX) plus leucovorin rescue regimen. PATIENTS AND METHODS COG AALL0434 included a 2 × 2 randomization that compared the COG-augmented BFM (ABFM) regimen with either C-MTX or HDMTX during the 8-week interim maintenance phase. All patients with T-ALL, except for those with low-risk features, received prophylactic (12 Gy) or therapeutic (18 Gy for CNS3) cranial irradiation during either the consolidation (C-MTX; second month of therapy) or delayed intensification (HDMTX; seventh month of therapy) phase. RESULTS AALL0434 accrued 1,895 patients from 2007 to 2014. The 5-year event-free survival and overall survival rates for all eligible, evaluable patients with T-ALL were 83.8% (95% CI, 81.2% to 86.4%) and 89.5% (95% CI, 87.4% to 91.7%), respectively. The 1,031 patients with T-ALL but without CNS3 disease or testicular leukemia were randomly assigned to receive ABFM with C-MTX (n = 519) or HDMTX (n = 512). The estimated 5-year disease-free survival ( P = .005) and overall survival ( P = .04) rates were 91.5% (95% CI, 88.1% to 94.8%) and 93.7% (95% CI, 90.8% to 96.6%) for C-MTX and 85.3% (95% CI, 81.0%-89.5%) and 89.4% (95% CI, 85.7%-93.2%) for HDMTX. Patients assigned to C-MTX had 32 relapses, six with CNS involvement, whereas those assigned to HDMTX had 59 relapses, 23 with CNS involvement. CONCLUSION AALL0434 established that ABFM with C-MTX was superior to ABFM plus HDMTX for T-ALL in approximately 90% of patients who received CRT, with later timing for those receiving HDMTX.
A novel homodimer laccase from Cerrena unicolor BBP6: Purification, characterization, and potential in dye decolorization and denim bleaching

The white-rot fungus Cerrena unicolor BBP6 produced up to 243.4 U mL-1 laccase. A novel laccase isoform LacA was purified; LacA is a homodimer with an apparent molecular mass of 55 kDa and an isoelectric point of 4.7. Its optimal pH was 2.5, 4.0, and 5.5 when 2, 2’-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS), guaiacol, and 2, 6-dimethoxyphenol (2, 6-DMP) were used as the substrates, respectively. The optimal temperature was 60°C for ABTS and 80°C for both guaiacol and 2, 6-DMP. LacA retained 82–92% activity when pH was greater than 4 and 42%-92% activity at or below 50°C. LacA was completely inhibited by 0.1 mM L-cysteine, 1 mM Dithiothreitol, and 10 mM metal ions, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Co2+. LacA had good affinity for ABTS, with a Km of 49.1 μM and a kcat of 3078.9 s-1. It decolorized synthetic dyes at 32.3–87.1%. In the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT), LacA decolorized recalcitrant dyes such as Safranine (97.1%), Methylene Blue (98.9%), Azure Blue (96.6%) and simulated textile effluent (84.6%). With supplemented manganese peroxidase (MnP), Mn2+ and HBT, the purified LacA and BBP6 fermentation broth showed great potential in denim bleaching, with an up to 5-fold increase in reflectance values.
Evaluation of an enhanced recovery protocol on patients having radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

INTRODUCTION Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are multimodal perioperative care protocols that are designed to shorten recovery time and reduce complication rates.1,2 An ERAS protocol was implemented in the Saskatoon Health region for radical cystectomy patients in 2013. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of the protocol for patients having radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. METHODS Length of stay, early in-hospital complication rates, 30-day readmission rates, age, and gender were collected for patients seen for bladder cancer requiring radical cystectomy in Saskatoon between January 2007 and December 2016. Of these patients, 176 were pre-ERAS implementation (control group) and 84 were post-ERAS implementation (experimental group). The data from each variable was compared between the groups using a Z-test. RESULTS There was no significant difference in age or gender of patients between the groups. Average length of stay pre-ERAS was 14.25±14.57 days, which is significantly longer than the post-ERAS average of 10.91±8.56 days (p=0.043). There was no significant difference in 30-day readmission rate (19.87% pre-ERAS vs. 19.05% post-ERAS; p=0.873) or complication rate (51.7% pre-ERAS vs. 46.4% post-ERAS; p=0.425). CONCLUSIONS The implementation of an ERAS protocol for radical cystectomy reduces length of stay, with no effect on early complication rates or 30-day readmission rates. This indicates that the protocol is safe for patients when compared to previous practices and is an effective means of reducing length of stay.
The rhetoric and reality of technology-enhanced learning developments in UK higher education: reflections on recent UCISA research findings (2012–2016)

ABSTRACT This article reviews the investment that UK higher education institutions have made in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) services in recent years, and considers the impact this has had on academic practice. Drawing on UCISA survey and case study research, our analysis shows that whilst the range of centrally supported TEL tools and services in support of teaching and learning has increased across the sector, evidence of transformational change in pedagogic practice through their use has been harder to discern. We observe an increasing number of TEL systems that instructors are being encouraged to engage with as part of their academic practice; however, there have been limited changes in the mode of course delivery, with content-focused and supplementary uses of the web still very much in vogue. The evidence suggests a gap between the institutional rhetoric on TEL developments and the reality of academic practice across the sector. Using Barnett’s “conditions of flexibility” as a frame of reference [Barnett, R. (2014). Conditions of flexibility: Securing a more responsive higher education system. York: The Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy. ac.uk/system/files/conditions_of_flexibility_securing_a_more_responsive_higher_education_system. pdf], the article discusses the factors behind this mismatch, exploring how a balanced institutional focus on service development and academic support may be needed to foster transformative and sustainable changes in the way that TEL tools are employed in course design and delivery.
Treatments of uremic pruritus: A systematic review

Till now many treatments attempted to relieve uremic pruritus (UP) though none of them are definite treatment. In this study, we gathered all studies conducted on UP treatment since 2000–2016. We conducted a systematic review by searching the electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar). Patients were with chronic kidney disease who complained of UP. Clinical trials and pilot studies in English and Persian which were done on patients with ESRD who complained of itching between 2000 till 2016 were gathered. A total of 166 articles were collected. After excluding articles 41 articles were remaining. Then UP treatments classified into two main groups: Medical (chemical and herbal medicine) and non‐medical. Most studies measured UP by VAS scoring system in which patients described the severity. This scoring system is individual dependent. There are lots of studies on UP treatment though there are lots of controversies in studies. Finding a definite cure for this unpleasant symptom can improve patients’ quality of life. Conducting further studies for each treatment on larger population is essential to improve quality of life among the end stage renal disease patients.