Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Limited-stage mantle cell lymphoma: treatment outcomes at the Princess Margaret Hospital

Abstract Mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare cancer, with the majority of patients (pts) presenting in stage III-IV and the outcomes are poor. To determine the curability of localized MCL, we examine stage I-II pts at our institution between 1990–2007. 26 pts with stage I (38%) and stage II (62%) were referred. Sites involved were head and neck in 73%. Five had a blastoid variant. Five patients were treated with palliative intent. Analysis was focused on pts treated with a curative intent (21 pts): 17 CT+RT, 2 RT, 2 CT followed by ASCT. 13 patients received CHOP, 5-RCHOP, 1-CVP; most received 6 cycles. The RT median dose was 35Gy and IFRT for the majority. For 21 pts treated with a curative intent, median follow up was 5.8 years. The overall response rate was 95%. Among the 19 CR/CRu pts, 9 relapsed for a 5-year relapse rate of 46%. Relapses were mainly observed at distant sites, 3 were in GI tract, 1 had both local and distant relapse. Median PFS and OS were 3.2 and 6.4years, respectively. 5-year OS was 62%. In univariate analysis, blastoid variant and stage II were prognostic factors for PFS. Multivariate analysis could not be performed due to the small sample size. With a treatment approach using combined CT+RT for stage I-II MCL, local control was achieved in 94%. Systemic relapse remains a significant problem, especially for stage II and blastoid variant. Radiotherapy should remain part of curative treatment plan in stage I-II MCL.
Optimal choice of arithmetic compactors for mixed-signal systems

Compaction circuits that have been used for mixed-signal systems testing constitute a part of encoding/decoding device for an arithmetic error-control code (ECC). These circuits are commonly referred to as residue computing circuits (RCCs). As ECCs originated primarily to protect data transfers over binary channels, their design methodology has been mostly oriented towards a binary case. A non-binary design technique has only been considered for a special type of compaction modulus. In this work, we consider a design technique for a multiple-bit arithmetic compaction circuit with an arbitrary compaction modulus. It is assumed that the data being compacted are fuzzy. This in turn distorts the result of compaction increasing the aliasing rate. Even though the fault free system's distortion is small, the compaction circuit may aggravate it beyond the acceptable levels making the method impractical. We design a low cost compactor that does not increase the distortion. The circuit can be used for off-line and on-line mixed-signal testing, as well as fault-tolerant data processing and noise-tolerant data transmission.
Quantitative Determination of Relevant Amounts of Blood Coagulation Factor XI Activity in a Specific Brand of Intravenous Immunoglobulin

Background: Residual content of activated procoagulant components, particularly FXIa, has been suggested to play a relevant role in the increased thrombogenic potential of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) from a specific manufacturer. Methods: Flebogamma, Flebogamma DIF and other marketed IVIG preparations (products A 5%, A 10%, B1 5%; B2 10%, C 10%, D 5% and E 10%) were tested for the presence of procoagulant activities: coagulation (pro)enzymes (one stage clotting assays for FXII, FXI, FIX, FX, FVII and FII using the corresponding prothrombin time (DG-PT) and APTT (DG-APTT) reagents); FXI antigen level (FXI:Ag) (ELISA); thrombin generation (TGT using the Technothrombin TGA) and non-activated partial thromboplastin time (NaPTT). Results: Clotting activity was detected in lots of product A 5% corresponding to the year 2010 (0.08-0.10 IU/ml FXI:C), while in all other products and coagulation factors clotting activity was below the detection limit of the assays (between DIF, Flebogamma and product A 5% from a lot corresponding to the year 2007 showed clotting times similar to those of the assay controls (233-272 s) Conclusion: Lots from the year 2010 of 5% and 10% products from manufacturer A showed significant procoagulant potential. FXIa seemed to be present in significant amounts in lots corresponding to 2010 of product A 5%.
Thoracic complications following lung transplantation: 64‐MDCT findings

Caruso S, Crino’ F, Milazzo M, Vitulo P, Bertani A, Marrone G, Mamone G, Maruzzelli L, Miraglia R, Carollo V, Luca A, Gridelli B. Thoracic complications following lung transplantation: 64‐MDCT findings. Clin Transplant 2011: 25: 673–684. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Current situation and future prospects of rural areas in the Central and East

Seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre sind die Disparitäten zwischen ländlichen und städtischen Regionen in den MOEL gestiegen. Trotz einiger gemeinsamer Merkmale bilden ländliche Räume jedoch keine homogene Einheit. Auf NUTS-3-Ebene werden mit Hilfe der Clusteranalyse fünf Regionstypen unterschieden: a) agrarisch geprägte Regionen mit niedrigstem Einkommen und sehr hoher Arbeitslosenrate, b) agrarisch geprägte Regionen mit niedrigem Einkommen, c) durchschnittlich entwickelte Regionen mit mittlerem Einkommen und hoher Arbeitslosenrate, d) industriell geprägte Regionen mit leicht überdurchschnittlichem Einkommen und e) Hauptstadtregionen und andere große Städte mit hohem BIP pro Kopf. Politikmaßnahmen zur ländlichen Entwicklung sollten die Eigenheiten der einzelnen Region berücksichtigen und insbesondere den Aufbau regionaler Institutionen, die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Agrarund Ernährungssektors, nicht-landwirtschaftliche Erwerbsquellen sowie Pendlerbewegungen und Migration einbeziehen. Schlagworte: ländlicher Raum, Regionalpolitik, Clusteranalyse, MOEL
Multilayer feedforward neural networks with single powers-of-two weights

A new algorithm for designing multilayer feedforward neural networks with single powers-of-two weights is presented. By applying this algorithm, the digital hardware implementation of such networks becomes easier as a result of the elimination of multipliers. This proposed algorithm consists of two stages. First, the network is trained by using the standard backpropagation algorithm. Weights are then quantized to single powers-of-two values, and weights and slopes of activation functions are adjusted adaptively to reduce the sum of squared output errors to a specified level. Simulation results indicate that the multilayer feedforward neural networks with single powers-of-two weights obtained using the proposed algorithm have generalization performance similar to that of the original networks with continuous weights. >
OWL-T: A Task Ontology Language for Automatic Service Composition

In order to satisfy incremental business demands, it is often required to combine functionalities of several services together. A number of approaches for service composition have been therefore proposed in both academic and industrial communities. These approaches, such as BPEL, WSCI, etc. can be categorized into static, manual service composition methods. In addition, by applying Semantic Web technologies, many research works have been investigated to support automatic service composition. Despite of the significant results being achieved, the task of service composition is still a challenging and complex issue. The main reason is that the former approaches require too much detail and technical interventions for defining business processes while the latter approaches are not much scalable for sophisticated applications. In this paper, we will introduce our approach for developing an ontology/language based on the OWL, called OWL-T (T stands for task), which can be used for users describing and specifying formally and semantically their needs at a high-level abstraction, which can be then transformed into executable business processes by underlying systems. The OWL-T aims at facilitating the modeling of complex demands or systems without regarding details of low-level and technical aspects of underlying infrastructure.
Segmentation of polycystic kidneys from MR images

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a disorder characterized by the growth of numerous fluid filled cysts in the kidneys. Measuring cystic kidney volume is thus crucial to monitoring the evolution of the disease. While T2-weighted MRI delineates the organ, automatic segmentation is very difficult due to highly variable shape and image contrast. The interactive stereology methods used currently involve a compromise between segmentation accuracy and time. We have investigated semi-automated methods: active contours and a sub-voxel morphology based algorithm. Coronal T2- weighted images of 17 patients were acquired in four breath-holds using the HASTE sequence on a 1.5 Tesla MRI unit. The segmentation results were compared to ground truth kidney masks obtained as a consensus of experts. Automatic active contour algorithm yielded an average 22% ± 8.6% volume error. A recently developed method (Bridge Burner) based on thresholding and constrained morphology failed to separate PKD from the spleen, yielding 37.4% ± 8.7% volume error. Manual post-editing reduced the volume error to 3.2% ± 0.8% for active contours and 3.2% ± 0.6% for Bridge Burner. The total time (automated algorithm plus editing) was 15 min ± 5 min for active contours and 19 min ± 11 min for Bridge Burner. The average volume errors for stereology method were 5.9%, 6.2%, 5.4% for mesh size 6.6, 11, 16.5 mm. The average processing times were 17, 7, 4 min. These results show that nearly two-fold improvement in PKD segmentation accuracy over stereology technique can be achieved with a combination of active contours and postediting.
Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment normalizes tuberculosis granuloma vasculature and improves small molecule delivery

Significance Tuberculosis (TB) is the second most lethal pathogen worldwide. Pulmonary granulomas are a hallmark of this disease. By discovering similarities between granulomas and solid cancerous tumors, we identified a novel therapeutic target for TB, the abnormal granuloma-associated vasculature that contributes to the abnormal granuloma microenvironment. We then asked if we could “normalize” granuloma vasculature by blocking VEGF signaling, an approach originally shown to enhance cancer treatment. Our results demonstrate that bevacizumab, a widely prescribed anti-VEGF antibody for cancer and eye diseases, is able to create more structurally and functionally normal granuloma vasculature and improve the delivery of a low-molecular-weight tracer. This effect suggests that vascular normalization in combination with anti-TB drugs has the potential to enhance treatment in patients with TB. Tuberculosis (TB) causes almost 2 million deaths annually, and an increasing number of patients are resistant to existing therapies. Patients who have TB require lengthy chemotherapy, possibly because of poor penetration of antibiotics into granulomas where the bacilli reside. Granulomas are morphologically similar to solid cancerous tumors in that they contain hypoxic microenvironments and can be highly fibrotic. Here, we show that TB-infected rabbits have impaired small molecule distribution into these disease sites due to a functionally abnormal vasculature, with a low-molecular-weight tracer accumulating only in peripheral regions of granulomatous lesions. Granuloma-associated vessels are morphologically and spatially heterogeneous, with poor vessel pericyte coverage in both human and experimental rabbit TB granulomas. Moreover, we found enhanced VEGF expression in both species. In tumors, antiangiogenic, specifically anti-VEGF, treatments can “normalize” their vasculature, reducing hypoxia and creating a window of opportunity for concurrent chemotherapy; thus, we investigated vessel normalization in rabbit TB granulomas. Treatment of TB-infected rabbits with the anti-VEGF antibody bevacizumab significantly decreased the total number of vessels while normalizing those vessels that remained. As a result, hypoxic fractions of these granulomas were reduced and small molecule tracer delivery was increased. These findings demonstrate that bevacizumab treatment promotes vascular normalization, improves small molecule delivery, and decreases hypoxia in TB granulomas, thereby providing a potential avenue to improve delivery and efficacy of current treatment regimens.
An active monitoring system for real-time face-tracking based on mobile sensors

Surveillance systems frequently use fixed or semimobile cameras. However, in many cases, the use of intelligent mobile sensors is preferrable over fixed sensors, because the system configuration can be modified according to particular environmental conditions or adapted to compensate for one or more malfunctioning sensors. This paper proposes a real-time surveillance system based on a mobile sensor. Using an Android smartphone and a face-tracking algorithm, the system can move autonomously to track the human face with the longest presence in the video field. In addition, the system can be connected to a computer performing face-recognition through a wireless connection provided by the smartphone. This way the mobile sensor can track a determined human face. The paper provides some experimental results to validate system performance.
Evolutionary patterns of hepatitis B virus quasispecies under different selective pressures: correlation with antiviral efficacy

Objective To investigate the evolution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) quasispecies (QS) within the reverse transcriptase (RT) region during the early stage of entecavir treatment and its impact on virological response, and to compare evolutionary patterns under different selective pressures. Methods 31 patients with chronic hepatitis B receiving entecavir (17 responders and 14 partial responders according to the HBV DNA levels at week 48) and 25 patients receiving lamivudine (14 responders and 11 non-responders) as controls were included. An average of 26 clones (2892 total from both groups) spanning the RT region per sample was sequenced. Results QS complexity and diversity, in addition to alanine aminotransferase and HBV DNA levels, were comparable between responders and partial responders at baseline. However, QS complexity in responders at week 4 was statistically lower than that in partial responders at the nucleotide level (0.6494 vs 0.7723, p=0.039). Net changes in diversity as well as the viral nucleotide substitution rate of responders were higher than those of partial responders, and both correlated with virological responses at both week 48 and the final visit (mean: 28 months). A preliminary model of QS evolution variables predicted 16 of 17 responders and 13 of 14 partial responders in the entecavir group. Despite significant differences between responders to entecavir and responders to lamivudine at week 4, the characteristics of QS were quite similar between partial responders to entecavir and non-responders to lamivudine. Conclusions The evolutionary patterns of HBV RT QS differ between responders and partial responders during the early stage of entecavir treatment. Characteristics of HBV QS evolution during the first 4 weeks contribute to the prediction of long-term virological responses. The similar patterns of HBV RT QS in partial responders and non-responders receiving different nucleoside analogues may imply a novel mechanism of drug resistance, which warrants further investigation.
An Inquiry into the Antecedents of Consumer Purchase of Non-Deceptive Counterfeit Goods: Theory, Practice and Problems

With counterfeit good consumption growing at alarming rates each year, this topic is increasingly demanding attention of marketing academics. This dissertation examines two sets of factors that influence consumer attitude toward counterfeits: sociocultural influences and psychological influences. Based on a review of the literature, two constructs, namely information susceptibility and normative susceptibility are combined to form a group of sociocultural influences expected to influence consumer attitude toward counterfeits. In addition, five constructs are combined to represent psychological influences, namely value consciousness, self-identity, integrity, materialism and perceived risk. Data was collected through a web-based survey and features a cross-sectional design. Utilizing a sample of 228 respondents, confirmatory factor analysis coupled with structural equation modeling was employed to analyze hypothesized relationships. Results suggest the most significant influence on consumer attitude toward counterfeits is integrity; the more integrity held by a consumer, the less favorable their attitude toward counterfeits. In addition, materialism and normative susceptibility were also found to be positively related to consumer attitude toward counterfeits. Consumer attitude toward counterfeits was also shown to have positive significance as a mediating variable between
Research Utilization among Nurses at a Teaching Hospital in Kenya.

INTRODUCTION In the era of evidence based practice (EBP), health care delivery should be grounded on new or validated knowledge and evidence from research. The aim of the study was to assess research utilization by nurses and the influencing factors at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest teaching hospital in Kenya. METHODS The study employed a descriptive design that utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. It incorporated the Barriers to Research Utilization Scale. It was conducted in six specialized care areas at KNH. Data was collected using questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion and in-depth interviews. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 13 and qualitative data analyzed using themes. RESULTS The study found that 20.6% of the nurses were participating in research related to their work and 53.6% of these were implementing research findings to practice. Over 2/3 (70.5%) of the respondents were basing their evidence for practice on the knowledge gained during their nursing school. The three greatest barriers to research utilization were that research reports are not readily available (68.7%), unclear implications for practice (66.5%) and inadequate facilities for implementation (66.4%). CONCLUSION It is recommended that sensitization trainings on nursing research/ utilization of findings in nursing practice be established to create awareness, motivate and enhance nurses' abilities and also facilities should be provided to enable implementation.
Regulation of the assembly and expression of variable-region genes.

During the past several years, it has become increasingly evident that the regulation of immunoglobulin (Ig) gene assembly and expression is intrinsically related to the progression of B-cell precursors to the B-cell differentiation stage. The general focus of this review is to describe in detail the mechanism of Ig variable-region gene assembly and to explore the possible regulatory mechanisms that the cell exploits to control these genomic rearrangement events. Because assembly of the variable region of the T-cell antigen-receptor genes appears to be mediated by the same molecular elements, the general principles we describe should apply to both Ig and T cell-receptor variable-region genes. The immune system is capable of responding to an almost infinite number of antigenic challenges by producing a tremendous diversity of antibody specificities. Each antibody molecule consists of heavy (H) and light (L) immunoglobulin polypeptide chains. The carboxy terminus of H and L chains is a region of constant amino acid sequence. The constant region of the H chain is involved in a variety of effector functions, such as Fe-receptor binding and complement fixation. The amino terminus of both these chains contains a region of variable amino acid sequences (designated the variable region) that are usually unique to the chains in a given antibody molecule; the variable regions of a single H and L chain interact to form an antigen-binding pocket. It is now clear that the DNA sequences encoding
An efficient way to filter out data dependences with a sufficiently large distance between memory references

There are a number of data dependence tests that have been proposed in the literature. The most widely used approximate data dependence tests are the Banerjee inequality and the GCD test. In this paper we consider parallelization for microprocessors with the multimedia extensions. For the short SIMD parallelism extraction it is essential that, if dependency exists, then the distance between memory references is greater than or equal to the number of data processed in the SIMD register. This implies that some loops that could not be vectorized on traditional vector processors can still be parallelized for the short SIMD execution. In this paper we present an accurate and simple method that can filter out data dependences with a sufficiently large distance between memory references for linear array references within a nested loop. The presented method is suitable for use in a dependence analyzer that is organized as a series of tests, progressively increasing in accuracy, as a replacement for the GCD or Banerjee tests.
Hypertension, small size, and deep venous drainage are associated with risk of hemorrhagic presentation of cerebral arteriovenous malformations.

OBJECTIVE To identify clinical and angiographic factors of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) associated with hemorrhage to improve the estimation of the risks and help guide management in clinical decision making. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive adults who have presented during the past 3 years to our institution with cerebral AVMs. Angiographic and clinical parameters were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression analysis to analyze factors associated with hemorrhagic presentation. RESULTS The group had a mean age of 37.8 years; 53% were men, 48% presented with intracranial hemorrhage, and 40% presented with seizures. All 10 patients with cerebellar AVMs presented with hemorrhage. The following factors were independently associated with AVM hemorrhage: history of hypertension (P = 0.019; odds ratio [OR] = 5.36), nidal diameter <3 cm (P = 0.023: OR = 4.60), and deep venous drainage (P = 0.009: OR = 5.77). Dural arterial supply (P = 0.008; OR = 0.15) was independently associated with decreased risk of bleed. Location, nidal aneurysms, patient age, and smoking were not associated with increased or decreased bleeding risk. CONCLUSION In this study, we found small AVM size and deep venous drainage to be positively associated with AVM hemorrhage. Dural supply was associated with a decreased likelihood of hemorrhagic presentation. Hypertension was found to be the only clinical factor positively associated with hemorrhage, a finding not previously reported. Smoking, although associated with increased risk of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, was not associated with a higher risk of AVM hemorrhage.
Induction of Aortic and Coronary Athero-arteriosclerosis in Rats Fed a Hypervitaminosis D, Cholesterol-Containing Diet 1

Summary Massive athero-arteriosclerotic lesions of the aorta and coronary arteries were induced in 100% of the young adult male rats fed a purified basal ration supplemented with 1.5% cholesterol, 0.5% cholic acid, and 1.25 million USP units of vitamin D2 (viosterol)/kg of diet for an experimental period of 6 weeks. Rats fed a similar diet with the cholesterol and cholic acid omitted showed extensive arteriosclerotic lesions but no lipid-stainable material (true atheromata) was present at the sites of arterial injury. No abnormal microscopic findings were observed in the aorta and coronary arteries of rats fed the basal ration alone or the basal ration plus cholesterol and cholic acid without the vitamin D2 supplement.