Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rituximab tolerability when given before or after CHOP

Study objective. To determine the tolerability of rituximab, specifically cytokine release syndrome/acute infusion reactions (CRS), when it is administered before or after cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Methods. This study is a retrospective analysis of patients identified through pharmacy chemotherapy records. Inclusion criteria were diagnosis of NHL, first cycle of rituximab with CHOP or modified CHOP (mCHOP), treated between 1/1/04 and 6/30/09, age 18 years and greater, and inpatient status. Patients were excluded if their records/information were unavailable. Patients were divided into two groups based on practices observed at our institution: rituximab followed by CHOP (R-CHOP) or CHOP followed by rituximab (CHOP-R). Patient records were reviewed to determine demographic data, CRS, vital signs, evidence of chills/rigors, use of rescue medications, and rituximab infusion rates. Results. One-hundred thirteen patients meeting the inclusion criteria were divided into two groups: R-CHOP (n = 29) and CHOP-R (n = 84). R-CHOP patients experienced numerically more CRS (65.5% vs. 42.9%, p = 0.0517) and significantly more chills/rigors (p = 0.0376). Maximum and minimum oxygen (O2) saturations were significantly lower in the R-CHOP group (p = 0.0444 and 0.0165, respectively). Maximum temperature was significantly higher in the R-CHOP group (p = 0.0047). There was no difference between groups in use of rescue medications (p = 1). R-CHOP patients required significantly more rate reductions (p = 0.0431) than CHOP-R patients, although there was no difference in final tolerated rate between groups. Conclusions. Patients with NHL who receive rituximab after CHOP experience significantly fewer chills/rigors, higher oxygen saturations, lower maximum temperatures, and fewer rate reductions than patients who receive rituximab before CHOP.
Identification, Characterization of Novel Halophilic Bacillus Cereus Ms6: a Source for Extra Cellular A-Amylase

Bacterial enzymes are the ones that are having wide variety of industrial applications. Among these enzymes, a-amylase having high demand in industries such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, food processing etc; So, in this study we have identified novel Bacillus cereus MS6 bacteria, which can produces extra cellular aamylase. Bacteria were isolated from sewage water of Mysore paper mill Bhadravathi, India. Bacterium was identified based on polyphasic taxonomic approach using phenotypic and genotypic methods. The bacteria are gram positive rod shaped, motile, Central Spore position and no swelling. The identification of the bacteria was confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies. The phylogenetic tree revealed that the cells fit in to an evolutionary cluster comprising members of Bacillus cereus with 99% similarity. Further, this bacterium was exploited to produce a-amylase, which was purified by DEAE-Cellulose anion exchange and sepharose gel filtration chromatography, resulted in high yield of enhanced purity. Purified alpha amylase was shown approximate molecular weight of about 27 kDa and the optimum activity of amylase was observed at 45 0 C and pH of 7.0
The toxic antigenic factors produced by Clostridium botulinum types C and D.

JANSEN, B. C. The toxic antigenic factors produced by Clostridium botulinum types C and D. Onder­ stepoort ]. vet Res., 38 (2), 93-98 (1971). The toxic factors produced by Clostridium botulinum (Van Ermengem, 1896), types C and D were determined. Monospecific antisera were prepared against the different factors. It was shown that type Coc produces factors C" C2 and D; type C f3 produces factor C 2 and type D produces factors C1 and D. It was also shown that the International Standard Type C Antitoxin contains antibodies against factors C1 , C2 and D and the International Standard TypeD Antitoxin contains antibodies against factors C1 and D.
Human Robot Collaboration to Reach a Common Goal in an Assembly Process

Enabling robotic systems to collaborate with humans is a challenging task, on different levels of abstraction. Such systems need to understand the context under which they operate, by perceiving, planning and reasoning to team up with a human. The robotic system should also have perspective taking capabilities in order to efficiently collaborate with the human. In this work an integrated cognitive architecture for human robot collaboration, that aims to develop perspective taking capabilities using human preferences, is proposed. This is achieved by developing a ‘mental model’ that takes human preferences, the knowledge of the task (including the objects), and the capabilities of the human and the robot. This mental model forms the basis of the cognitive architecture, to perceive, reason and plan in the human-robot collaborative scenario. The robotic platform guided by the cognitive architecture, performs ‘picking’, ‘showing’, ‘placing’ and ‘handover’ actions on real world objects (of interest in the assembly process) in coordination with the human. The goal is to answer the ‘how’ (how a manipulation action should be carried out by the robot in a dynamically changing environment) and the ‘where’ (where the manipulation action should take place) of the assembly process considering/given varying human preferences. We show that the proposed cognitive architecture is capable of answering these questions through various experiments and evaluation.
Cloud based system for measurement data management in large scale electronic production

In this paper, a novel measurement data management system, based on cloud technology, is proposed. The system aims at maximizing the potential of the information assets of large electronic manufacturing companies through the collection, management and analysis of the so called Big Data generated by means of test processes, performed during the life-cycle of the products.
Third-order thermo-mechanical properties for packs of Platonic solids using statistical micromechanics

Obtaining an accurate higher order statistical description of heterogeneous materials and using this information to predict effective material behaviour with high fidelity has remained an outstanding problem for many years. In a recent letter, Gillman & Matouš (2014 Phys. Lett. A 378, 3070–3073. ()) accurately evaluated the three-point microstructural parameter that arises in third-order theories and predicted with high accuracy the effective thermal conductivity of highly packed material systems. Expanding this work here, we predict for the first time effective thermo-mechanical properties of granular Platonic solid packs using third-order statistical micromechanics. Systems of impenetrable and penetrable spheres are considered to verify adaptive methods for computing n-point probability functions directly from three-dimensional microstructures, and excellent agreement is shown with simulation. Moreover, a significant shape effect is discovered for the effective thermal conductivity of highly packed composites, whereas a moderate shape effect is exhibited for the elastic constants.
Safety of losartan in hypertensive patients with thiazide-induced hyperuricemia.

BACKGROUND Losartan, an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, has been shown to decrease serum uric acid and to increase urinary excretion of uric acid. METHODS To determine if this effect can increase the risk of acute urate nephropathy, 63 hypertensive patients with thiazide-induced asymptomatic hyperuricemia (serum uric acid 7.0 to 12.0 mg/dl) were randomized double-blind to losartan 50 mg every day (q.d.), losartan 50 mg plus hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 50 mg q.d. , HCTZ 50 mg q.d. , or placebo for three weeks. To potentiate the risk of crystal formation, patients received a 2 g/kg protein diet one day prior to each clinic visit on days 0 (baseline), 1, 7, and 21. RESULTS Adverse events typically associated with acute urate nephropathy, for example, flank pain, hematuria, or increased blood urea nitrogen/creatinine, were not reported. Uric acid excretion and urine pH increased four and six hours after losartan on day 1 compared with day 0. Dihydrogen urate, the primary risk factor for crystal formation, decreased at four and six hours on day 1 compared with day 0 associated with the concurrent rise in urine pH. Day 7 and 21 changes, compared with day 0, in uric acid excretion rate, urine pH, and dihydrogen urate with losartan were comparable to day 1 results but were not statistically significant. Serum uric acid was significantly reduced after 21 days of therapy with losartan. CONCLUSION Losartan decreased serum uric acid and increased uric acid excretion without increasing urinary dihydrogen urate, the primary risk factor for acute urate nephropathy, during 21 days of dosing in hypertensive patients with thiazide-induced hyperuricemia.
Mesenchymal/Stromal Gene Expression Signature Relates to Basal-Like Breast Cancers, Identifies Bone Metastasis and Predicts Resistance to Therapies

Background Mounting clinical and experimental evidence suggests that the shift of carcinomas towards a mesenchymal phenotype is a common paradigm for both resistance to therapy and tumor recurrence. However, the mesenchymalization of carcinomas has not yet entered clinical practice as a crucial diagnostic paradigm. Methodology/Principal Findings By integrating in silico and in vitro studies with our epithelial and mesenchymal tumor models, we compare herein crucial molecular pathways of previously described carcinoma-derived mesenchymal tumor cells (A17) with that of both carcinomas and other mesenchymal phenotypes, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), breast stroma, and various types of sarcomas. We identified three mesenchymal/stromal-signatures which A17 cells shares with MSCs and breast stroma. By using a recently developed computational approach with publicly available microarray data, we show that these signatures: 1) significantly relates to basal-like breast cancer subtypes; 2) significantly relates to bone metastasis; 3) are up-regulated after hormonal treatment; 4) predict resistance to neoadjuvant therapies. Conclusions/Significance Our results demonstrate that mesenchymalization is an intrinsic property of the most aggressive tumors and it relates to therapy resistance as well as bone metastasis.
Preclinical evaluation of an mRNA HIV vaccine combining rationally selected antigenic sequences and adjuvant signals (HTI-TriMix)

Background: The development of a prophylactic vaccine against HIV-1 has so far not been successful. Therefore, attention has shifted more and more toward the development of novel therapeutic vaccines. Here, we evaluated a new mRNA-based therapeutic vaccine against HIV-1-encoding activation signals (TriMix: CD40L + CD70 + caTLR4) combined with rationally selected antigenic sequences [HIVACAT T-cell immunogen (HTI)] sequence: comprises 16 joined fragments from Gag, Pol, Vif, and Nef). Methods: For this purpose, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-1-infected individuals on cART, lymph node explants from noninfected humans, and splenocytes from immunized mice were collected and several immune functions were measured. Results: Electroporation of immature monocyte-derived dendritic cells from HIV-infected patients with mRNA encoding HTI + TriMix potently activated dendritic cells which resulted in upregulation of maturation markers and cytokine production and T-cell stimulation, as evidenced by enhanced proliferation and cytokine secretion (IFN-&ggr;). Responses were HIV specific and were predominantly targeted against the sequences included in HTI. These findings were confirmed in human lymph node explants exposed to HTI + TriMix mRNA. Intranodal immunizations with HTI mRNA in a mouse model increased antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses. The addition of TriMix further enhanced cytotoxic responses. Conclusion: Our results suggest that uptake of mRNA, encoding strong activation signals and a potent HIV antigen, confers a T-cell stimulatory capacity to dendritic cells and enhances their ability to stimulate antigen-specific immunity. These findings may pave the way for therapeutic HIV vaccine strategies based on antigen-encoding RNA to specifically target antigen-presenting cells.
Maximum volume criterion for user selection of multiuser MIMO downlink with multiantenna users and block diagonalization beamforming

Compared with capacity-achieving dirty paper coding [1], block diagonalization (BD) algorithm [2] is known as a suboptimal but more practical beamforming scheme for multiuser MIMO downlink systems with multiantenna users. However BD suffers from two major drawbacks: the dimensionality constraint on antennas arrangement and the difficulty in handling spatially correlated users. User selection capable of selecting some most sum-rate-contributive users is a promising measure to alleviating this situation.
Identifying repeated structural elements in folded proteins

A previously described method for partitioning amino acid dihedral angle space generates a set of cluster centers which may be used to represent residue backbones in three dimensional protein structures (R.T. Miller et al., 1993). 99 non-homologous polypeptide chains are extracted from Brookhaven Protein Data Bank files and abstracted into sequences of these cluster centers, then this data set is examined for repeated sub-sequences. Repeated sequences of amino acid conformational clusters indicate duplicated motifs or sub-structures in folded proteins, independent of amino acid sequence identity. This representation is significantly more detailed than standard secondary structure descriptors (helix, strand, turn, etc.) and facilitates the identification of common structural elements without regard to sequence length. The work presented examines the degree to which three example proteins share sub-structures with the remainder of the data set (ribonuclease A, erythrocruorin, and actinozanthin), the specification of /spl alpha/-helices and /spl beta/-strands under this system, and the sensitivity of the method to visual differences between structures. <<ETX>>
Towards to responsive web services for smart home LED control with Raspberry Pi. A first approach.

Today, the constant evolution of the technology has enabled people to access information which were not possible before. The concept of Internet of Things (IoT) is a new step of processing information technology, which allows people to understand about their environment and how they can control the variables that affect their lives. One of these variables is to handle events that occur within houses. Our proposal in this paper is describe an university project whose purpose is the first approximation of a system using Web technology Raspberry Pi to control different LED devices, allowing inclusion of modules and be a real alternative in the implementation of a Smart Home. As a result of our proposal, we have offered an alternative to Smart Home environment to a big set of people allowing the control home applications that use LED technology. In addition, we conducted a test with students to obtain new guidelines that were not considered at first instance and, through the testing with people, we observed non-functional characteristics that were relevant in our work.
Ethnic food: the other in ourselves

Food is a powerful cultural signifier. It can connote inclusiveness, belonging, attachment and be a symbolic expression of social binding. Similarly, food can signify exclusiveness, generate stereotypes and feelings of revulsion and disgust which demarcate boundaries between the us and the other. As Marcel Proust’s teasoaked sweet Madeleine illustrates, food can produce good memories as much as recall painful experiences. Food is as much a nutritional and physiological requirement as it is cultural, symbolic and meaningful. Multiethnic societies praise their food diversity and flag it as a marker of inclusiveness. Australian cuisine is supposed to be a representation of cultural and ethnic diversity underpinned by its culinary variety in foods and tastes. As the food writer Cherry Ripe claims, ‘. we have become some of the most eclectic eaters in the world. ’1 Banning the ‘ethnicity factor’ from the Australian cuisine would be unthinkable. Yet this is not universally the case. For example, a 2009 article in the New York Times read, ‘A walled city in Tuscany clings to its ancient menu. ’2 The article reflected on the Italian right-wing city council of Lucca and its controversial decision to ban ‘ethnic’ restaurants from its historical centre. Ethnic food was regarded as a malaise that destabilised the concept of Italian cuisine, its culinary roots and essential traditions. Ethnic food and the ‘other from within’ constituted a threat to Italian-ness. Based on these case studies, this chapter explores the concept of ethnic food as a site of struggle where the national is challenged, destabilised and re-invented. It examines how representations of ethnic food are contextual and evaluates the meanings of a national cuisine by asking: does what is on your plate change who you think you are?
UNDER THE LIGHT OF V ARIATIONAL I NFERENCE

One main concern of the deep learning community is to increase the capacity of representation of deep networks by increasing their depth. This requires to scale up the size of the training database accordingly. Indeed a major intuition lies in the fact that the depth of the network and the size of the training set are strongly correlated. However recent works tend to show that deep learning may be handled with smaller dataset as long as the training samples are carefully selected (let us mention for instance curriculum learning). In this context we introduce a scalable and efficient active learning method that can be applied to most neural networks, especially Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to design an active learning selection scheme based on a variational inference for neural networks. We also deduced a formulation of the posterior and prior distributions of the weights using statistical knowledge on the Maximum Likelihood Estimator. We describe our strategy to come up with our active learning criterion. We assess its consistency by checking the accuracy obtained by successive active learning steps on two benchmark datasets MNIST and USPS. We also demonstrate its scalability towards increasing training set size.
Biofilm problems in dental unit water systems and its practical control

Dental chair units (DCUs) contain integrated systems that provide the instruments and services for a wide range of dental procedures. DCUs use water to cool and irrigate DCU‐supplied instruments and tooth surfaces during dental treatment. Water is supplied to these instruments by a network of interconnected narrow‐bore (2–3 mm) plastic tubes called dental unit waterlines (DUWLs). Many studies over the last 40 years demonstrated that DUWL output water is often contaminated with high densities of micro‐organisms, predominantly Gram‐negative aerobic heterotropic environmental bacteria, including Legionella and Pseudomonas species. Untreated DUWLs host biofilms that permit micro‐organisms to multiply and disperse through the water network and which are aerosolized by DCU instrument use, thus exposing patients and staff to these micro‐organisms, to fragments of biofilm and bacterial endotoxins. This review concentrates on how practical developments and innovations in specific areas can contribute to effective DUWL biofilm control. These include the use of effective DUWL treatment agents, improvements to DCU supply water quality, DCU design changes, development of automated DUWL treatment procedures that are effective at controlling biofilm in the long‐term and require minimal human intervention, are safe for patients and staff, and which do not cause deterioration of DCU components following prolonged use.
Verbal and Gestural Communication in Children With Bilateral Perisylvian Polymicrogyria

We assessed intelligence and receptive and expressive language skills in 6 children, ages 7 years 9 months to 12 years 4 months, with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria of variable extent and with dysarthria of different severity. In view of the recent findings of a close relationship between word and gesture, we also examined the communicative use of gesture. We found that mental retardation was related to the extent of cortical malformation; lexical comprehension, but not morphosyntactic comprehension, and verbal production were more compromised than expected from nonverbal intellectual abilities; lack of verbal language was not compensated by the use of referential gestures. Results are discussed suggesting that compromised verbal and gestural communication in bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria are not due simply to mental retardation and/or dysarthria but also to dysfunction of Sylvian fissure areas concerned with the totality of language processing.
Digital video

Issues addressed at three Digital Systems Information Exchange meetings, held in November 1990 and March and September 1991, are summarized. The meetings explored digital developments, looked for areas of actual or potential commonality, and examined possible common frameworks for manipulating digital images. Progress in the area of digital video standards is discussed. The three main standards concern still-picture compression, video teleconferencing, and full-motion compression on digital storage media, Products being developed using standard digital video formats are surveyed. They include multimedia products, CD players, HDTV, and receivers. <<ETX>>
Non‐antagonistic relationship between mitogenic factors and cAMP in adult Schwann cell re‐differentiation

The expression of myelination‐associated genes (MGs) can be induced by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) elevation in isolated Schwann cells (SCs). To further understand the effect of known SC mitogens in the regulation of SC differentiation, we studied the response of SCs isolated from adult nerves to combined cAMP, growth factors, including neuregulin, and serum. In adult SCs, the induction of MGs by cAMP coincided with the loss of genes expressed in non‐myelin‐forming SCs and with a change in cell morphology from a bipolar to an expanded epithelial‐like shape. Prolonged treatment with high doses of cAMP‐stimulating agents, as well as low cell density, was required for the induction of SC differentiation. Stimulation with serum, neuregulin alone, or other growth factors including PDGF, IGF and FGF, increased SC proliferation but did not induce the expression of MGs or the associated morphological change. Most importantly, when these factors were administered in combination with cAMP‐stimulating agents, SC proliferation was synergistically increased without reducing the differentiating activity of cAMP. Even though the initiation of DNA synthesis and the induction of differentiation were mostly incompatible events in individual cells, SCs were able to differentiate under conditions that also supported active proliferation. Overall, the results indicate that in the absence of neurons, cAMP can trigger SC re‐differentiation concurrently with, but independently of, growth factor signaling. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.