Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autologous hematopoetic cell transplantation: preferred consolidation treatment in low-risk AML?

In a study [1] presented in this issue of the journal, Beyar-Katz et al. show data on superior outcome of consolidation therapy by autologous hematopoetic cell transplantation (HCT) in favorable risk patients with AML, defined here as NPM1 mutated or core binding factor type leukemia. Authors report impressive differences in overall and relapse-free survival, e.g. overall survival at 3 years was 34 (21–56)% after chemotherapy but 75 (60–95)% after consolidation by autologous HCT. At first sight, this difference looks so impressive that any reader might conclude that superiority of autologous HCT over consolidation by chemotherapy is a sure thing. The authors state that this analysis reflects real-life data of a busy treatment center, which is surely the case. But the issue at stake here is the question of autologous transplant versus chemotherapy consolidation in patients with good risk leukemia who are not considered for allogeneic transplant because they have a chance of cure without it. For several reasons this study has to be considered to harbor biases, stated by the authors in the discussion section; the cohort of patients with autologous HCT consolidation differs in many ways from those undergoing chemotherapy consolidation, be it differences in age, secondary nature of the disease, as well as early relapse. Even if the groups were comparable for other variables, there remains the issue of stem cell mobilization which is not feasible in all patients. The bias is also reflected in the relatively low long-term survival in the – supposedly good-risk – patients consolidated by chemotherapy. They likely represented a subset with poor risk features. It is only randomized clinical trials that can provide a possibly unbiased view on the value of consolidation by autologous HCT. In such a study by the HOVON [2], not limited to low-risk patients, the differences in relapse was 58% vs. 70% (p1⁄4.02) in favor of autologous HCT, relapse-free survival was 38% vs. 29% (p1⁄4 .065), and survival was 44% vs. 41% at 5 years (p1⁄4 .86). Differences were not bigger in low-risk AML. This much smaller difference appears more realistic and leaves room for interpretation and debate on whether consolidation treatment by autologous HCT is to be preferred. Even in low-risk AML 30–50% of patients will relapse, and may require salvage by allogeneic HCT [3]. Toxicity of salvage allogeneic HCT in CR2 may well be higher if the patient has had a consolidation by autologous HCT as compared to chemotherapy in first remission [4]. Given these data, physicians may interpret data differently and the curve depicting the use of autologous HCT for AML in Europe as reported by the EBMT activity survey. Figure 1 shows that the enthusiasm for autologous HCT as a consolidation treatment has decreased, right around the time when well-matched unrelated donors became available.
Talking with ‘Others’: Experiences and perspective transformation in a short-term study abroad program

With the growth of short-term study abroad programs comes the need to develop impactful curricula and to provide supportive environments for deep learning abroad that is more than “upgraded” tourism but rather focused on educational outcomes. This qualitative case study investigates the experiences of five study abroad participants in Israel. Drawing from multiple data sources within an interpretive framework, the purpose of this study is to understand student experiences abroad. Data was analyzed inductively and thematically. Findings suggest that the holistic experience was anchored by (1) directed and diverse conversations, (2) hermeneutical reflections, (3) emotional disequilibrium, (4) intercultural competence development, and (5) student engagement in a classroom culture, which acted together as a gestalt. Results highlight the importance of dialogue, both with locals and within the classroom community, for transformative learning. These findings encourage international educators to provide instructional frames that encourage students to engage with local communities in critical ways.
Computed tomography indicators of cerebral microperfusion improve long term after carotid stenting in symptomatic patients.

OBJECTIVES We tested the hypothesis that computed tomography (CT) perfusion markers of cerebral microcirculation would improve 36 months after internal carotid artery stenting for symptomatic carotid stenosis while results obtained 6-8 weeks after the stenting procedure would yield a predictive value. METHODS We recruited consecutive eligible patients with >70% symptomatic carotid stenosis with a complete circle of Willis and normal vertebral arteries to the observational cohort study. We detected changes in the cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), mean transit time (MTT), time to peak (TTP) and permeability surface area-product (PS) before and after carotid stenting. We have also compared the absolute differences in the ipsilateral and contralateral CT perfusion markers before and after stenting. The search for regression models of "36 months after stenting" results was based on a stepwise analysis with bidirectional elimination method. RESULTS A total of 34 patients completed the 36 months follow-up (15 females, mean age of 69.68±S.D. 7.61 years). At 36 months after stenting, the absolute values for CT perfusion markers had improved: CBF (ipsilateral: +7.76%, contralateral: +0.95%); CBV (ipsilateral: +5.13%, contralateral: +3.00%); MTT (ipsilateral: -12.90%; contralateral: -5.63%); TTP (ipsilateral: -2.10%, contralateral: -4.73%) and PS (ipsilateral: -35.21%, contralateral: -35.45%). MTT assessed 6-8 weeks after stenting predicted the MTT value 36 months after stenting (ipsilateral: R2=0.867, contralateral R2=0.688). CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated improvements in CT perfusion markers of cerebral microcirculation health that persist for at least 3 years after carotid artery stenting in symptomatic patients. MTT assessed 6-8 weeks after stenting yields a predictive value.
Talking with Iranian trans women: Their experiences and identity development

Abstract Introduction This research sought to discover the psychological experiences of trans women born and raised in Iran, which incorporates the cultural surround unique to Iran. Method Fourteen trans women aged from 18 to 48, narrated their lives through in-depth interviews. We applied Corbin and Strauss’ (2015) approach to analyze the data in developing a Grounded Theory. Results Confusing Gender Identity (the Core Category) and eight other categories, including macro- and micro-contextual factors, actions/interactions, and consequences, depicted the processes in trans women’s lives; namely Destructive Family Environments, Traumatic Backgrounds, Impediments in Legislative and Medical Systems, disturbed feelings about Masculine Violation, Insecure Relationships, Self-devaluation, Gray Fortunes, and Social Insecurity. A conceptual model is developed from the findings that represent their relationships most comprehensively. Conclusion Findings shed light on female trans individuals’ lives and clarifies the contextual factors in gender-related fields that need extra care from scientific, educational, legislative, and health care associations and professionals in Iran to enhance the overall health of the transgender community as well as the rest of the society. Also, as most findings of the transgender population result from western cultures, this research provided a comprehensive understanding of trans women in a different cultural and political climate.
WIDE: Physical-level CTC via Digital Emulation

Cross-Technology Communication (CTC) is an emerging technique that enables direct communication across different wireless technologies. Recent works achieve physical-level CTC by emulating the standard time-domain waveform of the receiver. This method faces the challenges of inherent unreliability due to the imperfect emulation. Different from analog emulation, we propose a novel concept named digital emulation, which stems from the following insight: The receiver relies on the phase shift to decode symbols rather than the shape of analog time-domain waveform. There are lots of phase sequences which satisfy the requirement of phase shift. The distortions of these phase sequences after WiFi emulation are different. We have the opportunity to select an appropriate phase sequence with the relatively small emulation errors to achieve a reliable CTC. The key point of digital emulation is generic and applicable to a set of CTCs, where the transmitter has a wider bandwidth for emulation and the receiver decoding is based on the phase shift. In this paper, we implement our proposal as WIDE, a physical-level CTC via digital emulation from WiFi to ZigBee. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the performance of WIDE. The results show that WIDE significantly improves the Packet Reception Ratio (PRR) from 41.7% to 86.2%, which is 2× of WEBee's, an existing representative physical-level CTC.
Study on usage of various criterias in the diagnosis of Atopic Eczema among South Indian population

Atopic Eczema (AE) is a specific chronic relapsing dermatitis with varied presentations. The etiopathogenesis of AE is largely speculative and over years has led to origin of various criteria like Hanifin, Rajka’s criteria (HRC), United Kingdom working party’s diagnostic criteria (UKWPDC) and millennium diagnostic criteria (MDC). These have originated in western countries and is used among Indian population without much validation studies. To validate HRC, UKWPDC and MDC in the diagnosis of AE among Indian population. A case-control study including 50 cases of AE and 30 age matched controls who are presenting to the DVL OPD of a tertiary teaching hospital. Defined case proforma was prepared highlighting the criteria’s of HRC, UKWDPC and MDC posing as a questionnaire to the cases/subjects. Total Serum IgE levels were estimated. Sensitivity, specificity, Positive predictive value (PPV), Negative predictive value (NPV) and Relative value were calculated for all criteria. The Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV was 100% for HRC and UKWPDC whereas there was a compromise in the specificity (32.5%) and lower relative value of (22.5%) for MDC. Some minor features of HRC and MDC criteria showed lower validity compared to major features. Though many upgradations are going on in HRC, UKWPDC it could still be considered and used as a diagnostic criterion considering the high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for diagnosis of AE.
Improvement of Working Memory is a Mechanism for Reductions in Delay Discounting Among Mid-Age Individuals in an Urban Medically Underserved Area.

BACKGROUND Delay discounting, or the tendency to devalue rewards as a function of their delayed receipt, is associated with myriad negative health behaviors. Individuals from medically underserved areas are disproportionately at risk for chronic health problems. The higher rates of delay discounting and consequent adverse outcomes evidenced among low-resource and unstable environments suggest this may be an important pathway to explain health disparities among this population. PURPOSE The current study examined the effectiveness of a computerized working memory training program to decrease rates of delay discounting among residents of a traditionally underserved region. METHODS Participants (N = 123) were recruited from a community center serving low income and homeless individuals. Subjects completed measures of delay discounting and working memory and then took part in either an active or control working memory training. RESULTS Analyses indicated that participants in the active condition demonstrated significant improvement in working memory and that this improvement mediated the relation between treatment condition and reductions in delay discounting. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that a computerized intervention targeting working memory may be effective in decreasing rates of delay discounting in adults from medically underserved areas (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT03501706).
The Role of Financial Behavior, Financial Attitude, Financial Strain, and Risk Tolerance in Explaining Financial Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of Financial Behavior, Financial Attitude, Financial Strain, and Risk Tolerance in explaining Financial Satisfaction among female workers. The sample used in this study are women who work in Jakarta and have a minimum education level of bachelor degree except in the Construction, Transportation and Warehousing, and Real Estate sectors. The sample in this study was 192 respondents selected by using the convenience sampling method. Data analysis techniques used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The result of this study indicated that Financial Behavior and Risk Tolerance have an influence on Financial Satisfaction, while Financial Attitude and Financial Strain have no effect on Financial Satisfaction.
Collisions-Free Distributed Optimal Coordination for Multiple Euler-Lagrangian Systems

Multiagent distributed optimal coordination (DOC) involves the motion conflicts of a large numbers of physical systems, which lead to significant safety challenges in terms of collision avoidance. This article studies the problem of <italic>secure</italic> DOC for multiple uncertain Euler–Lagrangian (EL) systems. The objective is to steer each EL agent to achieve the optimization task while avoiding collisions with other agents. The main challenge focuses on the co-design of optimal coordination strategy and collision avoidance mechanism. The safety barrier certificates in the closed form of path integrals are constructed, which generate provably collisions-free behaviors. With convex optimization and adaptive nonlinear control, a fully distributed protocol is proposed. Based on Lyapunov method and boundedness analysis for the barrier functions, it is proved that the protocol simultaneously guarantees the global convergence and collision avoidance of the EL systems in the presence of parametric uncertainties<! --[COMP: If the final page-length of the typeset T-AC proof does not exceed the permissible page-length limit (T-AC Technical Notes 8 pages; T-AC Regular Papers 16 pages), then delete the following query, or else retain it in the proofs: “Your article has exceeded the mandatory allowed page length. You must delete enough text and/or display equations to shorten [your technical note to 8 pages in length] [your regular paper to 16 pages in length] or it will not be published. ”]--> .
DRIFT happens, sometimes: Examining time based rater variance in a high-stakes OSCE

Abstract Introduction: Examiner based variance can affect test taker outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the examiner-based effect of DRIFT or differential rater functioning over time. Methods: Average station level scores from five administrations of the same version of a highstakes 12-station OSCE were analyzed for the presence of DRIFT. Results: Test-takers who were scored earlier appeared to receive a score advantage, while those who were scored later, appeared to receive neither a score advantage nor disadvantage due to the DRIFT behavior. A specific form of DRIFT, primacy (the assignment of progressively harsher scores), was present in one out of the 228 examiner scoring opportunities investigated in this study. In other words, less than 1% of the examiner scoring that took place displayed significant levels of DRIFT scoring behavior. Discussion and Conclusions: The noted score advantage influenced the test outcomes of only one examinee who performed close to the cut-score on all other stations. Prior publications report broader effects of DRIFT, but the current assessment context, particularly access to examiner training, may have had a modulating effect in the present study.
Development of Prediction Models on Base-Catalyzed Hydrolysis Kinetics of Phthalate Esters with Density Functional Theory Calculation.

Many phthalate esters (PAEs) are chemicals of high production volume and of toxicological concern. The second-order rate constant for base-catalyzed hydrolysis ( kB) is a key parameter for assessing environmental persistence of PAEs. However, the kB values for most PAEs are lacking, and the experimental determination of kB encounters various difficulties. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) methods were selected by comparing empirical kB values of five PAEs and five carboxylic acid esters with the DFT-calculated ones. Results indicate that PAEs with cyclic side chains are more vulnerable to base-catalyzed hydrolysis than PAEs with linear alkyl side chains, followed by PAEs with branched alkyl side chains. By combining experimental and DFT-calculated second-order rate constants for base-catalyzed hydrolysis of one side chain in PAEs ( kB_side chain), quantitative structure-activity relationship models were developed. The models can differentiate PAEs with the departure of the leaving group (or the nucleophilic attack of OH-) as the rate-determining step in the hydrolysis and estimate kB values, which provides a promising way to predict hydrolysis kinetics of PAEs. The half-lives of the investigated PAEs were calculated and vary from 0.001 h to 558 years (pH = 7∼9), further illustrating the necessity of prediction models for hydrolysis kinetics in assessing the environmental persistence of chemicals.
Effect of Sources, Split and Foliar Application of KCl and KClO3 on Availability and Uptake of Nitrogen in Aerobic Rice

Aim: To investigate the effect of KCl and KClO3 as sources of potassium in aerobic rice with four types of split doses and two levels of foliar applications of potassium. Study Design: The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute, Karaikal, Puducherry. Methodology: The rice variety PMK 4 was tested with two sources of potassium viz., Potassium chloride (KCl) and Potassium chlorate (KClO3), four types of split application viz., K control (S1), basal with no split (S2), two splits (S3) and three splits (S4) along with foliar application treatments viz., no foliar (F1) and foliar spray (F2). Results: The results of field experiment revealed that the N availability in soil was more at all stages of crop growth by two and three split doses of potassium. The KClO3 increased the available N status at active and panicle initiation stages. Whereas in flowering stage, the KCl Original Research Article Babu et al.; IJECC, 11(3): 55-72, 2021; Article no.IJECC. 68502 56 recorded the higher available N status in soil. The nitrogen uptake at active tillering stage and flowering stage was evidently improved with three split doses of potassium. Whereas in panicle initiation stage, the two split doses registered higher N uptake. The nitrogen uptake by both grain and straw was conspicuously higher in three and two split doses of potassium. Conclusion: The split applications tested in this investigation influenced the available N status in soil. Almost in all the stages, three split applications retained more available N in soil. This implies the positive interaction of potassium with nitrogen.
Assessing the Impact of Corporate Governance Index on Financial Performance in the Romanian and Italian Banking Systems

Background: Our study aims to verify the impact of corporate governance index on financial performance, namely return on assets (ROA), general liquidity, capital adequacy and size of company expressed as total assets in the banking sector for both a developing and a developed country. In addition, we investigate the interactive effect of corporate governance on a homogenous and a heterogeneous banking system. These two banking systems were chosen in order to assess the impact of corporate governance on two distinct types of banking system: a homogenous one such as the Romanian one and a heterogeneous one such as the Italian one. The two systems are very distinct; the Romanian one is represented by only 34 banks, while the Italian one comprises more than 350 banks. Thus, our research question is how a modification in corporate governance legislation is influencing the two different banking systems. The research implication of our study is whether a modification in legislation, thus in the index of corporate governance, is feasible for two different banking sectors and what the best ways to increase the financial performance of banks are without compromising their resilience. Methods: Using survey data from the Italian and Romanian banking systems over the period 2007–2018, we find that the corporate governance has a significant, positive and long-lasting effect on profitability and capital adequacy in both countries. Results: Taking the size of the company into consideration, the impact of the Index of Corporate Governance (ICG) on a homogenous banking system is positive while the impact on a heterogeneous banking system is negative. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of the impact of IGC on financial performance and sheds light on the importance of the size of the company. Therefore, one can state that the corporate governance principles applied do not encourage the growth of large banks in heterogeneous banking sectors, thereby suggesting new avenues of research associated with new perspectives.
Nanoscale Strategies to Enhance the Energy Storage Capacity of Polymeric Dielectric Capacitors: Review of Recent Advances

Abstract This review provides a detailed overview of the latest developments using nanoscale strategies in the field of polymeric and polymer nanocomposite materials for emerging dielectric capacitor-based energy storage applications. Among the various energy storage devices, solid-state dielectric capacitors possess the advantage of high-power density which makes them highly attractive for pulsed power applications. Polymers are particularly suitable for dielectric energy storage applications because of their high breakdown strength, low dielectric loss, formability, self-healing capability, flexibility, solvent processability, and graceful breakdown failure. Strategies to enhance the dielectric breakdown strength of polymeric dielectric capacitors are emphasized in this review. General background on breakdown mechanism, breakdown characteristics, and factors influencing polymer dielectrics breakdown are introduced. Given that polymers have low permittivity, strategies to substantially enhance dipole mobility and hence the permittivity, are highlighted. We discuss strategies to address permittivity contrast between nanofillers and the polymer matrix including the potential for developing gradient permittivity structured nanofillers. To improve the compatibility of nanofiller with polymer and minimize nanofiller aggregation, different routes to surface functionalize nanoparticles are presented. An outlook and future perspectives section are provided for the design of high energy density polymer film capacitors.