Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Docetaxel plus prednisone or mitoxantrone plus prednisone for advanced prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND Mitoxantrone plus prednisone reduces pain and improves the quality of life in men with advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer, but it does not improve survival. We compared such treatment with docetaxel plus prednisone in men with this disease. METHODS From March 2000 through June 2002, 1006 men with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer received 5 mg of prednisone twice daily and were randomly assigned to receive 12 mg of mitoxantrone per square meter of body-surface area every three weeks, 75 mg of docetaxel per square meter every three weeks, or 30 mg of docetaxel per square meter weekly for five of every six weeks. The primary end point was overall survival. Secondary end points were pain, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and the quality of life. All statistical comparisons were against mitoxantrone. RESULTS As compared with the men in the mitoxantrone group, men in the group given docetaxel every three weeks had a hazard ratio for death of 0.76 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.62 to 0.94; P=0.009 by the stratified log-rank test) and those given weekly docetaxel had a hazard ratio for death of 0.91 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.75 to 1.11; P=0.36). The median survival was 16.5 months in the mitoxantrone group, 18.9 months in the group given docetaxel every 3 weeks, and 17.4 months in the group given weekly docetaxel. Among these three groups, 32 percent, 45 percent, and 48 percent of men, respectively, had at least a 50 percent decrease in the serum PSA level (P<0.001 for both comparisons with mitoxantrone); 22 percent, 35 percent (P=0.01), and 31 percent (P=0.08) had predefined reductions in pain; and 13 percent, 22 percent (P=0.009), and 23 percent (P=0.005) had improvements in the quality of life. Adverse events were also more common in the groups that received docetaxel. CONCLUSIONS When given with prednisone, treatment with docetaxel every three weeks led to superior survival and improved rates of response in terms of pain, serum PSA level, and quality of life, as compared with mitoxantrone plus prednisone.
Electric Load Forecasting in Smart Grid Using Long-Short-Term-Memory based Recurrent Neural Network

—Electric load forecasting plays a vital role in smart grid. Short term electric load forecasting predicts the load that is several hours to several weeks ahead. Due to the nonlinear, non-stationary and nonseasonal nature of the electric load time series, accurate forecasting is challenging. This paper explores Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) based Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to deal with this challenge. LSTM-based RNN is able to exploit the long term dependencies in the electric load time series for more accurate forecasting. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate that LSTM-based RNN is capable of forecasting accurately the complex electric load time series with a long forecasting horizon. Its performance compares favorably to many other forecasting methods.
About the Article Entitled “Transplantation of Cryopreserved Teeth: a Systematic Review”

Firstly, evidence-based medical practice (EBMP) mainly comprises 4 steps: (1) formulation of a clear clinical question from an “individual” case, (2) compilation of relevant clinical studies that are the “current best evidence”, (3) critical appraisal of the quality, validity, and usefulness of the studies retrieved, and (4) implementation of findings in the case of the “individual” patient and generally in “routine clinical practice” (Slim 2005; Bhandari and Giannoudis, 2006). Identification and critical appraisal of the evidence, therefore, lies at the heart of EBMP. Unfortunately, Osathanon did not clearly stratify the included primary articles according to the hierarchy of evidence. In vitro and in vivo study results were mixed with clinical evidence. The best evidence of each subtopic is unclear. Mixing the evidence can mislead readers to prematurely include CTT in clinical practice. This is considered as the major drawback of this review. Many, including the Cochrane Collaboration, discourage an inclusion of different study types to address a specific question and generate a single summary estimate (Moher et al., 2007; Wille-Jørgensen and Renehan, 2008).
Marrow transplantation for malignant plasma cell disorders: Summary of the Seattle experience *

28 patients with plasma cell malignancies received marrow transplants from identical twins (N = 8), HLA‐identical family members (N = 15), HLA partially‐matched relatives (N = 3) or cryopreserved autologous marrow (N = 2). Treatment regimens included cyclophosphamide (CY) and total body irradiation (TBI) for 15 patients and busulphan (BU) and CY for 13 patients. 3 of 8 twins are alive, 2 without disease at 24 and 34 months, and 1 is alive and well at 116 months without evidence of disease except for at small residual monoclonal protein spike. 12 of the 18 allografted patients died of transplant‐related causes and 2 died of progressive disease. 4 of 18 allograft receipients are alive; 2 are free of disease at 16 and 15 months, 1 is alive at 6 months without disease except for persistent monoclonal Kappa protein. 1 patient is alive with residual marrow involvement and a persistent IGA lambda monoclonal protein at 7 months. 1 of the 2 autograft recipients is alive 2 months after transplant and is not yet evaluable for tumor response and the other patient died early of transplant‐related complications. Both CY+TBI and BU + CY resulted in remissions in patients with advanced plasma cell malignancies. However, the optimal treatment regimen and timing of transplantation remain to be determined.
The effects of histamine on rat and monkey retinal ganglion cells

Mammalian retinas receive input from the posterior hypothalamus, and the neurotransmitter in this pathway is histamine. To determine whether histamine influences ganglion cells, we analyzed the effects of histamine on their maintained and light-evoked activity in vitro. In monkeys, histamine increased the maintained firing rate in 42% of ganglion cells, decreased it in 38%, and had no effect in 20%. When histamine and the HR3 agonist, methylhistamine, were applied to the same cells in succession, their effects were sometimes different, a finding suggesting that at least one other histamine receptor is present. In addition, the responses of some ganglion cells to full-field light stimuli were decreased by histamine and methylhistamine. In rats, the effects of histamine were somewhat different. Histamine increased the maintained firing rate of 82% of ganglion cells. Methylhistamine and the HR2 agonist, dimaprit, had the same effects as histamine. In some cells, histamine increased the light responses, but in others it decreased them. Histamine had no effect on ganglion cells in either species when synaptic transmission was blocked by low Ca2+/high Mg2+ Ames medium. Thus, the major effects of histamine were on the maintained activity of retinal ganglion cells. In both rats and monkeys, 80% or more of the ganglion cells were affected by histamine, and these responses were mediated by at least two of the histamine receptor subtypes.
Beyond the conventional description of dynamic force spectroscopy of adhesion bonds

Dynamic force spectroscopy of single molecules is described by a model that predicts a distribution of rupture forces, the corresponding mean rupture force, and variance, which are all amenable to experimental tests. The distribution has a pronounced asymmetry, which has recently been observed experimentally. The mean rupture force follows a (lnV)2/3 dependence on the pulling velocity, V, and differs from earlier predictions. Interestingly, at low pulling velocities, a rebinding process is obtained whose signature is an intermittent behavior of the spring force, which delays the rupture. An extension to include conformational changes of the adhesion complex is proposed, which leads to the possibility of bimodal distributions of rupture forces.
Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication PrinciplesThe role of customer satisfaction, customer value and service experience in telecommunication industry

This paper examines the effect of offline service quality experience on customer satisfaction and expectation of using e-service with the moderating influences of customer value and service experience. Data from a survey of 400 telecom customers (both landline and mobile) were used to test the research model. The analytical results indicate that high perception (vs. low perception) of traditional service will result in higher expectation of using e-service. Next, customer satisfaction shows the perfect mediation role of the relationship between offline service quality and expectation of using e-service. No moderating effects of customer value and service experience were found in this study but direct effects.
Quality of Life in Patients with Thyroid Eye Disease

Purpose To evaluate quality of life (QOL) before and after corticosteroid therapy for thyroid eye disease (TED) and to determine the impact of the disease on QOL. Methods A modified TED-QOL questionnaire was completed by consecutive patients before and at least 6 months after steroid therapy. All patients were clinically and biochemically euthyroid during the course of the study. QOL was assessed in subscales of visual function, psychosocial, and educational/counseling; TED was classified by severity score (NOSPECS) and Mourits’ clinical activity score. Results Overall, 61 patients including 18 (29.5%) male and 43 (70.5%) female subjects with mean age of 37.3±13.7 (range, 18–33) years were enrolled. Mean duration of thyroid dysfunction and TED were 40.1±44.8 and 26.5±38.2 months, respectively. Mean disease severity and activity significantly decreased, and visual and psychosocial function scores significantly improved following corticosteroid therapy for TED. Psychosocial score was significantly worse than visual function score before but not after steroid treatment. Linear regression analysis and Spearman correlation test showed no significant correlation between duration of thyroid dysfunction, duration of TED, disease severity and activity on one hand, and QOL scores on the other hand, before or after treatment. Conclusion TED seems to adversely affect psychosocial activity more than visual function. Corticosteroid therapy significantly improves QOL. No significant correlation seems to exist between QOL scores and the severity or activity of TED.
Digital Mammographic Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) using Adaptive Level Set Segmentation

We present a mammographic computer aided diagnosis (CAD) system, which uses an adaptive level set segmentation method (ALSSM), which segments suspicious masses in the polar domain and adaptively adjusts the border threshold at each angle to provide high-quality segmentation results. The primary contribution of this paper is the adaptive speed function for controlling level set segmentation. To assess the efficacy of the system, 60 relatively difficult cases (30 benign, 30 malignant) from the Digital Database of Screening Mammography (DDSM) are analyzed. The segmentation efficacy is analyzed qualitatively via visual inspection and quantitatively via the area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (Az) and classification accuracies. For the ALSSM, the best results are 87% overall accuracy, Az=0.9687 with 28/30 malignant cases detected. The qualitative and quantitative results show that the ALSSM provides excellent segmentation and classification results and compares favorably to previous CAD systems in the literature which also used the DDSM database.
A parallel surrogate-assisted multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for computationally expensive optimization problems

This paper presents a new efficient multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for solving computationally-intensive optimization problems. To support a high degree of parallelism, the algorithm is based on a steady-state design. For improved efficiency the algorithm utilizes a surrogate to identify promising candidate solutions and filter out poor ones. To handle the uncertainties associated with the approximative surrogate evaluations, a new method for multi-objective optimization is described which is generally applicable to all surrogate techniques. In this method, basically, surrogate objective values assigned to offspring are adjusted to consider the error of the surrogate. The algorithm is evaluated on the ZDT benchmark functions and on a real-world problem of manufacturing optimization. In assessing the performance of the algorithm, a new performance metric is suggested that combines convergence and diversity into one single measure. Results from both the benchmark experiments and the real-world test case indicate the potential of the proposed algorithm.
Quantitative proteomic analysis of cabernet sauvignon grape cells exposed to thermal stresses reveals alterations in sugar and phenylpropanoid metabolism

Grapes (Vitis vinifera) are a valuable fruit crop and wine production is a major industry. Global warming and expanded range of cultivation will expose grapes to more temperature stresses in future. Our study investigated protein level responses to abiotic stresses, with particular reference to proteomic changes induced by the impact of four different temperature stress regimes, including both hot and cold temperatures, on cultured grape cells. Cabernet Sauvignon cell suspension cultures grown at 26°C were subjected to 14 h of exposure to 34 and 42°C for heat stress, and 18 and 10°C for cold stress. Cells from the five temperatures were harvested in biological triplicates and label‐free quantitative shotgun proteomic analysis was performed. A total of 2042 non‐redundant proteins were identified from the five temperature points. Fifty‐five proteins were only detected in extreme heat stress conditions (42°C) and 53 proteins were only detected at extreme cold stress conditions (10°C). Gene Ontology (GO) annotations of differentially expressed proteins provided insights into the metabolic pathways that are involved in temperature stress in grape cells. Sugar metabolism displayed switching between alternative and classical pathways during temperature stresses. Additionally, nine proteins involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway were greatly increased in abundance at extreme cold stress, and were thus found to be cold‐responsive proteins. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD000977 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000977).
Sleep deprivation does not affect seizure frequency during inpatient video-EEG monitoring

Objective: To determine whether acute sleep deprivation facilitates seizures during inpatient monitoring in a controlled protocol. Methods: Eighty-four patients with medically refractory partial epilepsy undergoing inpatient monitoring were assigned in consecutive blocks to either sleep deprivation every other night or to normal sleep. In both groups, subjects were requested to stay awake during the day, from 6 am to 10 pm. In the sleep deprivation group, patients also stayed awake between 10 pm and 6 am every other night beginning with Day 2. Patients were removed from sleep deprivation if they had two or more secondarily generalized seizures within 24 hours. Patients were removed from the normal sleep group and were sleep deprived if they did not have a complex partial or secondarily generalized seizure by Day 6 of monitoring. In these patients removed from sleep deprivation or from normal sleep, data were analyzed up to and including the day of removal from the protocol. Results: The sleep deprivation and normal sleep subjects did not differ in age, sex, seizure localization, or percent dosage reduction in antiepileptic drugs from baseline at days 1 to 3 of monitoring. Protocol duration was 6.5 ± 2.4 days (mean ± SD) for the sleep deprivation group and 5.8 ± 2.0 days for the normal sleep group. Seizures per day for complex partial, secondarily generalized, and combined complex partial and secondarily generalized, calculated from admission until end of protocol, did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusion: Acute sleep deprivation did not affect seizure frequency during inpatient monitoring in our patients with intractable complex partial seizures with secondary generalization.
Placement of an Aortohepatic Conduit as an Alternative to Standard Arterial Anastomosis in Liver Transplantation

Background The aim of this study was to assess the impact of placement of an aortohepatic conduit on graft and patient survival after liver transplantation (LT) in selected patients with an inadequate recipient hepatic artery (HA) for a standard arterial anastomosis. Material/Methods Of 331 patients who underwent deceased donor LT, 25 (7.6%) who received placement of an aortohepatic conduit at the time of transplantation were included. Clinical characteristics and outcomes, including postoperative complications, conduit patency, and graft and patient survival rates, were analyzed. Results All 25 patients included in this study presented a high preoperative Model for End-stage Liver Disease score (25.4±8.6; range, 6–42) and high rates of retransplantation (n=11, 44%) or previous abdominal – pelvic surgery (n=5, 20%). The observed postoperative vascular complications were portal vein thrombosis in 3 cases (12%) and anastomosis-site bleeding of the aortohepatic conduit in 1 case (4%); there was no HA thrombosis or stenosis in our analysis. With a median follow-up of 37 months (range, 0–69 months), all aortohepatic conduits were patent, and the graft and patient survival rates were 84% and 68%, respectively. The causes of death were graft failure (n=4), pneumonia (n=3), and cerebrovascular accidents (n=1). Conclusions Our results indicate that placement of an aortohepatic conduit is a feasible alternative to a standard arterial anastomosis in selected patients whose HA and surrounding potential inflow arteries are not suitable for standard arterial anastomosis.
Temporal Bone Results and Hearing Preservation with a New Straight Electrode

Due to improved technology, cochlear implant (CI) candidacy has been widened towards patients with usable residual hearing in the low frequency range. These patients might benefit from additional acoustic amplification provided that residual hearing can be preserved with cochlear implantation. To provide a high probability of hearing preservation, a new electrode array was designed and developed at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover. This ‘Hybrid-L’ electrode array has 22 electrodes spread over 15 mm with an overall insertion depth of 16 mm. The straight electrode with modiolus facing contacts is designed for a round window insertion. It shall provide the full range of the currently most advanced Nucleus CI system. A temporal bone study demonstrated the favorable insertion characteristics and minimized trauma to intracochlear structures. Compared to standard CI electrodes especially no basilar membrane perforation could be found. So far, 4 patients have been implanted and residual hearing could be preserved. One patient was fitted and showed a marked additional benefit from the electroacoustic stimulation compared to either acoustic or electrical stimulation alone. These results are very encouraging towards a concept of reliable hearing preservation with cochlear implantation.
Activity of Inferior Temporal Cortical Neurons Predicts Recognition Choice Behavior and Recognition Time during Visual Search

Although the selectivity for complex stimuli exhibited by neurons in inferior temporal cortex is often taken as evidence of their role in visual perception, few studies have directly tested this hypothesis. Here, we sought to create a relatively natural task with few behavioral constraints to test whether activity in inferior temporal cortex neurons predicts whether or not a monkey will recognize and respond to a complex visual object. Monkeys were trained to freely view an array of images and report the presence of one of many possible target images previously associated with a hand response. On certain trials, the identity of the target was swapped during the monkeys' targeting saccade. Furthermore, the response association of the preswap target and the postswap target differed (e.g., right-to-left target swap). Neural activity in cells selective for the preswap target was significantly higher when the monkeys' response matched the hand association of the preswap target. Furthermore, the monkeys' response time was predicted by the magnitude of the presaccadic firing rate on nonswap trials. Our results provide additional support for the role of inferior temporal cortex in object recognition during natural behavior.
Unique Early Gene Expression Patterns in Human Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Grafts Compared to Deceased Donor Grafts

Because of inherent differences between deceased donor (DD) and living donor (LD) liver grafts, we hypothesize that the molecular signatures will be unique, correlating with specific biologic pathways and clinical patterns. Microarray profiles of 63 biopsies in 13 DD and 8 LD liver grafts done at serial time points (procurement, backbench and postreperfusion) were compared between groups using class comparisons, network and biological function analyses. Specific genes were validated by quantitative PCR and immunopathology. Clinical findings were also compared. Following reperfusion, 579 genes in DD grafts and 1324 genes in LDs were differentially expressed (p < 0.005). Many upregulated LD genes were related to regeneration, biosynthesis and cell cycle, and a large number of downregulated genes were linked to hepatic metabolism and energy pathways correlating with posttransplant clinical laboratory findings. There was significant upregulation of inflammatory/immune genes in both DD and LD, each with a distinct pattern. Gene expression patterns of select genes associated with inflammation and regeneration in LD and DD grafts correlated with protein expression. Unique patterns of early gene expression are seen in LD and DD liver grafts, correlating with protein expression and clinical results, demonstrating distinct inflammatory profiles and significant downregulation of metabolic pathways in LD grafts.