Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic effect of bevacizumab for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Background Several biomarkers have emerged as potential prognostic and predictive markers for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Successful inhibition of angiogenesis with the antivascular endothelial growth factor antibody, bevacizumab, has improved the efficacy seen with standard cytotoxic therapy of NSCLC. However, despite such enhanced treatment strategies, the prognosis for patients with advanced NSCLC remains poor. Patients and methods We assessed potential biomarkers in 161 NSCLC patients and 42 control patients. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods were used to evaluate three biomarkers: platelet-derived microparticle (PDMP), high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). We studied the effects of bevacizumab on the expression of these markers. We also analyzed the relationship of the newly designed risk factor (NDRF) to overall survival and disease-free survival. The NDRF classification of patients was determined from the levels of PDMP, HMGB1, and PAI-1. To determine the individual prognostic power of PDMP, HMGB1, and PAI-1, we evaluated associations between their levels and patient outcomes by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis in a derivation cohort. Results PDMP, HMGB1, and PAI-1 levels were higher in NSCLC patients compared with control patients. Notably, the difference in PDMP levels exhibited the strongest statistical significance (p<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that HMGB1 and PAI-1 levels were significantly correlated with PDMP levels. Patients who received standard chemotherapy with bevacizumab exhibited significantly reduced levels of all three markers compared with patients who received standard chemotherapy. NDRF3 status (high levels of all three markers) was significantly correlated with a poor prognosis (p<0.05 for overall survival and disease-free survival). Conclusion Our results demonstrate that abnormal levels of PDMP, HMGB1, and PAI-1 are related to each other in NSCLC. Moreover, our findings suggest that the vascular complications associated with these markers may contribute to a poor prognosis for NSCLC patients.
Activation of the MEK-ERK Pathway Is Necessary but Not Sufficient for Breaking Central B Cell Tolerance

Newly generated bone marrow B cells are positively selected into the peripheral lymphoid tissue only when they express a B cell receptor (BCR) that is nonautoreactive or one that binds self-antigen with only minimal avidity. This positive selection process, moreover, is critically contingent on the ligand-independent tonic signals transduced by the BCR. We have previously shown that when autoreactive B cells express an active form of the rat sarcoma (RAS) oncogene, they upregulate the receptor for the B cell activating factor (BAFFR) and undergo differentiation in vitro and positive selection into the spleen in vivo, overcoming central tolerance. Based on the in vitro use of pharmacologic inhibitors, we further showed that this cell differentiation process is critically dependent on the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase pathway MEK (MAPKK)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which is downstream of RAS. Here, we next investigated if activation of ERK is not only necessary but also sufficient to break central B cell tolerance and induce differentiation of autoreactive B cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrate that activation of ERK is critical for upregulating BAFFR and overcoming suboptimal levels of tonic BCR signals or low amounts of antigen-induced BCR signals during in vitro B cell differentiation. However, direct activation of ERK does not lead high avidity autoreactive B cells to increase BAFFR levels and undergo positive selection and differentiation in vivo. B cell-specific MEK-ERK activation in mice is also unable to lead to autoantibody secretion, and this in spite of a general increase of serum immunoglobulin levels. These findings indicate that additional pathways downstream of RAS are required for high avidity autoreactive B cells to break central and/or peripheral tolerance.
Do Clients Avoid “Contaminated” Offices? The Economic Consequences of Low-Quality Audits

ABSTRACT: This study investigates whether the market for audit clients penalizes auditors following association with low-quality audits. Specifically, we examine whether audit offices experience a loss in local market share following client restatements. We document that the frequency of restatement announcements within an office-year (“contamination”) is inversely related to subsequent year-over-year change in local market share. Further analysis indicates that restatements impair the office's ability to both attract and retain audit clients. We find that this effect is strongest in high competition markets and diminished in low competition markets. We also examine auditor retention decisions at the client level and find that the likelihood of auditor dismissal increases with contamination, even for non-restating clients. We also find that, on average, clients dismissing their auditor select less contaminated audit offices. Taken together, our results suggest that market forces penalize auditors for asso.
Mitigation of Engine Inlet Distortion Through Adjoint-Based Design

The adjoint-based design capability in FUN3D is extended to allow efficient gradient- based optimization and design of concepts with highly integrated aero-propulsive systems. A circumferential distortion calculation, along with the derivatives needed to perform adjoint-based design, have been implemented in FUN3D. This newly implemented distortion calculation can be used not only for design but also to drive the existing mesh adaptation process and reduce the error associated with the fan distortion calculation. The design capability is demonstrated by the shape optimization of an in-house aircraft concept equipped with an aft fuselage propulsor. The optimization objective is the minimization of flow distortion at the aerodynamic interface plane of this aft fuselage propulsor.
Facial Nerve Outcome after Vestibular Schwannoma Resection: A Comparative Meta-Analysis of Endoscopic versus Open Retrosigmoid Approach

Abstract The minimal access retrosigmoid endoscopic approach to vestibular schwannoma (VS) resection has been used with promising results. However, it has not been compared with the standard open approach in the literature. We performed a meta-analysis review for all articles describing both approaches for VS from 1996 to 2011. We found 1861 articles. After review and discussion, we narrowed our study to 25 articles, 4 endoscopic and 21 open. The total number of patients was 3026 for open and 790 for endoscopic. The mean tumor sizes in the open and endoscopic series were 2.5 cm and 2.7 cm, respectively. Good facial nerve outcome was achieved in 67% of the open series patients and in 94% of the endoscopic series patients. Other outcomes in the open and endoscopic series were the following: gross total resection, 91% versus 97%; functional hearing, 22.6% versus 46%; wound infection, 1.3% versus 2.6%; and recurrence, 5.4% versus 2.2%. We acknowledge the limitations of our study, but we can state that the endoscopic approach is not inferior to the standard open approach. In expert hands the endoscopic approach can offer as good a result as the open, with potential benefits such as less pain and a shorter length of stay in the hospital. There is a need for more controlled studies for a definitive comparison.
High purity hydrogen generation via partial dehydrogenation of fuels

This thesis work have been developed in the general context of the development of more electrified and environmentally friendly means of transport, in order to significantly reduce greenhouse gases emissions. More specifically, the objective of this thesis project was to study the feasibility of the concept of on-board hydrogen generation by catalytic partial dehydrogenation (PDh) of fuel. The hydrogen produced serves to power a fuel cell system that replaces vehicles auxiliary power units. At the same time the fuel, that is only partially dehydrogenated, maintains its properties and can be re-injected into the fuel pool.This thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part describes the research on the PDh of kerosene to produce hydrogen on-board an aircraft. The choice of the catalyst is crucial: it should allow to produce high purity hydrogen without compromising the original properties of kerosene. Advanced materials, composed by metals impregnated on different supports, have been developed, characterized and evaluated as a catalysts in the reaction of PDh. The influence of catalyst composition on the activity, selectivity and stability as well as the deactivation mechanisms were studied. One of the optimized catalytic materials, composed of a 1% Pt - Sn 1% (w/w) active phase supported on a γ-alumina with controlled porosity, allowed a hydrogen production of 3500 NL•h-1•kgcat-1, with a purity of 97.6% vol. and a lifetime of 79 h, which corresponds to 3.5 kW of electric power supplied by fuel cells.The second part of the manuscript describes a study on diesel and gasoline and asses the feasibility of hydrogen generation by PDh of fuels different from kerosene. The results obtained with the previously mentioned catalyst are encouraging and show the possibility of applying this concept to other fields of transportation beside the aviation. The most significant results obtained with gasoline and diesel surrogates are respectively a hydrogen productivity value of 3500 et 1800 NL•h-1•kgcat-1 with lifetimes of 29 and 376 h and a purity that exceeds 99% vol. in both cases.
Numerical Study on Localization of Phase Transformation in NiTi Shape Memory Wires

Martensitic phase transformation in NiTi shape memory alloys (SMA) can spread either homogenously or in localized martensitic transformation bands. Transformation band propagation is usually observed in particular loading modes (tension) and geometries of specimen (wires, thin ribbons). In this work, a well established NiTi SMA constitutive model is enhanced so that strain softening of the material response during stress induced phase transition is covered. A nonlocal integral averaging technique is adopted and the model is implemented into a finite element (FE) software. A simple validating simulation of a NiTi superelastic wire loaded in tension is performed.
Efficient and quantitative analysis of photon density of states for two-dimensional photonic crystals with omnidirectional light propagation

Omnidirectional light propagation in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PCs) has been investigated by extending the formerly developed 2D finite element analysis (FEA) of in-plane light propagation in which the corresponding band structure (BS) and photon density of states (PDOS) of 2D PCs with complex geometry configurations had been calculated more accurately by using an adaptive FEA in real space for both the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. In this work, by adopting a waveguiding theory under the consideration of translational symmetry, the omnidirectional PDOS corresponding to both the radiative and evanescent waves can be calculated accurately and efficiently based on the in-plane dispersion relations of both TE and TM modes within the irreducible Brillouin zone. We demonstrate that the complete band gaps shown by previous work considering only the radiative modes will be closed by including the contributions of the evanescent modes. These results are of general importance and relevance to the spontaneous emission by an atom or to dipole radiation in 2D periodic structures. In addition, it may serve as an efficient approach to identifying the existence of a complete photonic band gap in a 2D PC instead of using time-consuming 3D BS calculations.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) Summer 10-6-2011 TAXONOMY OF TECHNOLOGICAL IT OUTSOURCING RISKS : SUPPORT FOR RISK IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION

The past decade has seen an increasing interest in IT outsourcing as it promises companies many economic benefits. In recent years, IT paradigms, such as Software-as-a-Service or Cloud Computing using third-party services, are increasingly adopted. Current studies show that IT security and data privacy are the dominant factors affecting the perceived risk of IT outsourcing. Therefore, we explicitly focus on determining the technological risks related to IT security and quality of service characteristics associated with IT outsourcing. We conducted an extensive literature review, and thoroughly document the process in order to reach high validity and reliability. 149 papers have been evaluated based on a review of the whole content and out of the finally relevant 68 papers, we extracted 757 risk items. Using a successive refinement approach, which involved reduction of similar items and iterative re-grouping, we establish a taxonomy with nine risk categories for the final 70 technological risk items. Moreover, we describe how the taxonomy can be used to support the first two phases of the IT risk management process: risk identification and quantification. Therefore, for each item, we give parameters relevant for using them in an existing mathematical risk quantification model.
Changes in behavioural response of Mediterranean seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) under different feeding distributions

Captive-induced behavioural deviations may involve many aspects of fish behaviour such as swimming activity and enhancement of individual aggressiveness. We studied seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) behaviour as a function of manual and automatic feeding distribution modes. Under manual mode, the food is distributed over an extended area for a longer period, and its precise location is not always predictable, while with pneumatic automatic feeders, fish receive the same amount of resource, which is concentrated in the same surface area over a shorter period. We compared seabass behaviour under automatic and manual conditions collecting video image recordings before, during, and after feeding distribution, in the morning and in afternoon, on two different days, and analysing data within independent sessions of measurements. Feeding modes significantly affected swimming behaviour: automatically-fed fish were characterised by vertical movements through the water column (towards the surface and bottom) and by horizontal swimming. Manually-fed fish were instead characterised by sharp direction changes during their swimming, mostly towards the surface. Feeding distribution induced changes in collision frequency and elicited aggressive behaviour. In particular, agonistic behaviour (i.e. a fish attacks another fish) was almost exclusively recorded during the feeding under automatic distribution, whereas it was constantly expressed during all the distribution phases under manual mode.
On the estimation of rapidly time-varying channels

Relying on the basis expansion model (BEM) for rapidly time-varying channels, we propose a novel training-based BEM channel estimation approach. While the existing approach applies a rectangular window to the received sequence and employs a BEM with a period equal to the window length, the novel approach applies a general window to the received sequence and employs a BEM with a period equal to a multiple of the window length. Simulation results show that these extensions can significantly improve the channel estimation performance.
Did My Coupon Campaign Accomplish Anything ? An Application of Selection Models to Retailing

Evaluation of the efficacy of an intervention is often complicated because the intervention is not randomly assigned. Usually, interventions in marketing, such as coupons or retention campaigns, are directed at customers because their spending is below some threshold or because the customers themselves make a purchase decision. The presence of nonrandom assignment of the stimulus can lead to overor underestimating the value of the intervention. This can cause future campaigns to be directed at the wrong customers or cause the impacts of these effects to be overor understated. This paper gives a brief overview of selection bias, demonstrates how selection in the data can be modeled, and shows how to apply some of the important consistent methods of estimating selection models, including Heckman’s two-step procedure, in an empirical example. Sample code is provided in an appendix.
Comparison study of graphite nanosheets and carbon black as fillers for high density polyethylene

In this work, the properties of high density polyethylene (HDPE)/graphite nanosheets (GN) and HDPE/carbon black (CB) nanocomposites prepared by melt mixing were studied. GN-filled HDPE nanocomposites exhibited very low percolation threshold (ca. 6 wt%) as compared with that of HDPE/CB (ca. 22 wt%). Moreover, the impact strength and processing properties of HDPE/GN nanocomposites were superior to those of HDPE/CB within a certain content of fillers. The large aspect ratio of GN plays an important role in reducing the percolation threshold of HDPE/GN nanocomposites. Furthermore, the tensile fracture morphology revealed the formation of continuous conducting networks after the content of GN reached the critical percolation threshold. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis illustrated a decreasing degree of crystallinity of HDPE/GN nanocomposites, while the crystalline temperature varied slightly. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers
Teratogenic Effects of the Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles on the Pregnant Female Rats And Their Off Springs.

Titanium dioxide TiO2 nanoparticles are manufactured worldwide in large quantities for use in a wide range of applications including pigment and cosmetic manufactures. Although TiO2 is chemically inert, nanoparticles can cause negative health effects. The present study investigates the teratogenic effects of TiO2 on pregnant albino rats and their fetuses. Pregnant albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) were injected intraperitoneally with TiO2, 0.5 mg/kg/day, from the5 th day of gestation till the end of lactation. The animals were sacrificed at the end of gestation and during lactation. Fetuses were removed from the uterus and evaluated for mortality rate, growth parameters, morphological and skeletal malformations as well as histological study of brain, liver and kidney. The data revealed that fetal weights were significantly reduced in most study groups. It was found that severe degenerative changes were observed in the liver, kidney as well as the brain following TiO2 administration.Titanium dioxide pretreatment was able to increase the level of lipid peroxidation significantly. The correlation noted between GSH levels and the Titanium dioxide effects is significant. Our findings suggest the need for great caution to handle the nanomaterials as Titanium dioxide
Isoniazid-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains arising from mutations in two different regions of the katG gene.

OBJECTIVE To analyze and compare the mutations in two different regions of the katG gene, which is responsible for isoniazid (INH) resistance. METHODS We analyzed 97 multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in cultures of sputum samples obtained from the Professor Hélio Fraga Referral Center, in Brasília, Brazil. Another 6 INH-sensitive strains did not present mutations and were included as controls. We used PCR to amplify two regions of the katG gene (GenBank accession no. U06258)-region 1, (from codon 1 to codon 119) and region 2 (from codon 267 to codon 504)-which were then sequenced in order to identify mutations. RESULTS Seven strains were resistant to INH and did not contain mutations in either region. Thirty strains carried mutations in region 1, which was characterized by a high number of deletions, especially at codon 4 (24 strains). Region 2 carried 83 point mutations, especially at codon 315, and there was a serine-to-threonine (AGC-to-ACC) substitution in 73 of those cases. The analysis of region 2 allowed INH resistance to be diagnosed in 81.4% of the strains. Nine strains had mutations exclusively in region 1, which allowed the proportion of INH-resistant strains identified to be increased to 90.6%. CONCLUSIONS The number of mutations at codon 315 was high, which is consistent with cases described in Brazil and in other countries, and the analysis of region 1 resulted in a 9.2% increase in the rate at which mutations were identified.
Neurological Complications and MRI

Cerebrovascular disease (cerebral infarction, intracranial haemorrhage, vasculopathy) are common manifestations of SCD associated with significant morbidity and mortality. These neurological complications and potential corresponding neuropsychological compromise may have devastating consequences for a child with SCD. This chapter aims to review the neurological complications in SCD using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as both a qualitative and quantitative tool for detecting abnormality. Advanced MRI pulse sequences, such as high-resolution 3D T1-weighted imaging for brain volumetrics, diffusion tensor imaging for white matter integrity and non-invasive perfusion MRI for cerebral blood flow measurement, can give additional information about the structure and function of brain tissue beyond the scope of conventional clinical imaging. These studies have set to establish quantitative biomarkers that relate to disease severity and neuropsychological sequelae.
Suitability and utility of the CORE–OM and CORE–A for assessing severity of presenting problems in psychological therapy services based in primary and secondary care settings

Background There is a need for reliable assessment tools that are suitable for the counselling and the psychological therapy services in primary and secondary care settings. Aims To test the suitability and utility of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE–OM) and CORE–Assessment (CORE–A) assessment tools. Method Service intake data were analysed from counselling and psychological therapy services in 32 primary care settings and 17 secondary care settings. Results Completion rates exceeded 98% in both of the settings sampled. Intake severity levels were similar but secondary care patients were more likely to score above the risk cut-off and the severe threshold and to have experienced their problems for a greater duration. Conclusions The CORE–OM and CORE–A are suitable assessment tools that show small but logical differences between psychological therapy services in primary- and secondary-based care.
Low-Complexity Banded Equalizers for OFDM Systems in Doppler Spread Channels

Recently, several approaches have been proposed for the equalization of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals in challenging high-mobility scenarios. Among them, a minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) block linear equalizer (BLE), based on a band LDL factorization, is particularly attractive for its good tradeoff between performance and complexity. This paper extends this approach towards two directions. First, we boost the BER performance of the BLE by designing a receiver window specially tailored to the band LDL factorization. Second, we design an MMSE block decision-feedback equalizer (BDFE) that can be modified to support receiver windowing. All the proposed banded equalizers share a similar computational complexity, which is linear in the number of subcarriers. Simulation results show that the proposed receiver architectures are effective in reducing the BER performance degradation caused by the intercarrier interference (ICI) generated by time-varying channels. We also consider a basis expansion model (BEM) channel estimation approach, to establish its impact on the BER performance of the proposed banded equalizers.