Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Final data from CALM: A phase II study of Coxsackievirus A21 (CVA21) oncolytic virus immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma.

9030 Background: CVA21 (CAVATAK) is a novel bio-selected oncolytic and immunotherapeutic strain of Coxsackievirus A21. Intratumoral (i.t) CVA21 injection initiates preferential tumor cell infection, cell lysis and enhancement of a systemic anti-tumor immune response. Presented are the final data of the open-label, multicenter Phase II CALM (CAVATAK in Late stage Melanoma) study. Methods: The CALM study investigated the efficacy and safety of i.t CVA21 in 57 patients with treated or untreated unresectable Stage IIIC-IVM1c melanoma. Pts received up to 3 x 108 TCID50CVA21 i.t on study days 1,3,5, 8 and 22, and then every three weeks for a further 6 injections. Pts displaying immune-related progression-free survival (irPFS) or better at 6 mos were eligible for 9 additional injections. Key eligibility criteria were ≥ 18 yrs old, ECOG PS 0-1, and at least 1 injectable cutaneous, subcutaneous, or nodal melanoma metastasis ≥ 1.0 cm. The primary endpoint was to achieve > 9 of 54 evaluable pts with irPFS at 6 mos.
From tokens to key players: The influence of board gender and ethnic diversity on corporate discrimination lawsuits

Does the appointment of more women and ethnic minority directors on corporate boards help combat discriminatory work environments? This empirical study addresses this question by exploring the occurrence of large-scale discrimination lawsuits. Drawing from social identity theory and empathy-based perspectives, we propose that a greater presence of female and minority directors on boards reduces the likelihood of large-scale discrimination lawsuits given their propensity to advocate for underrepresented groups in the workplace. Our analysis of data from 452 US firms from 2010–2015 indicates that a higher proportion of female and minority directors on boards is associated with a lower likelihood of such lawsuits. Specifically, the likelihood of such lawsuits is lower where there are three or more (a critical mass) female and minority directors. “Token” appointments (one or two female or minority directors) do not reduce the occurrence of these lawsuits. Further, the joint presence of minority and female directors on boards significantly reduces the likelihood of such lawsuits. Finally, we found that female CEOs help in reducing the occurrence of such lawsuits when the board has two or more female directors. Overall, our findings highlight the utility of greater gender and ethnic diversity on boards in combating workplace discrimination.
A Biclustering Approach to Recommender Systems

Recommendation systems are a core component of many e-commerce industries and online services since they ease the discovery of relevant products. Because catalogs are huge, it is impossible for an individual to manually search for an item of interest, hence the need for some automatic ﬁltering process. Many approaches exist, from content-based ones to collaborative ﬁltering that include neighborhood and model-based techniques. Despite these intensive research activities, numerous challenges remain to be addressed, particularly under real-time settings or regarding privacy concerns, which motivates further work in this area. We focus on techniques that rely on biclustering, which consists in simultaneously building clusters over the two dimensions of a data matrix. Although it was little considered by the recommendation system community, it is a well-known technique in other domains such as genomics. In this report, we present the diﬀerent biclustering-based approaches that were explored. We then are the ﬁrst to perform an extensive experimental evaluation to compare these approaches with one another, but also with the current state-of-the-art techniques from the recommender ﬁeld. Existing evaluations are often restrained to a few algorithms and consider only a limited set of metrics. We then expose a few ideas to improve existing approaches and address the current challenges in the design of highly eﬃcient recommendation algorithms, along with some preliminary results.
Original paper Transvascular pulmonary valve implantation – early results of the first Polish experience

Aim: Assessment of early results of the pulmonary artery valve transvascular implantation (PAVTI). Methods: Study group consisted of 4 patients (3 women), aged 27-31 years, with pulmonary homograft dysfunction (stenosis in all patients and concomitant pulmonary regurgitation in two of them). The reasons for homograft implantation were total repair of tetralogy of Fallot (2 patients) and Ross procedure due to congenital aortic valve stenosis (2 patients). Qualification to PAVTI was based on clinical evaluation, echocardiographic studies and assessment of morphological and functional features of right ventricle and homograft with the use of cardiac magnetic resonance Artyku3 oryginalny/Original paper
Cross-shift Reduction in Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide among CementWorkers

Objective: Assessment of changes in fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) across the shift was performed among cement production workers and controls. FENO was used as a possible marker of eosinophilic inflammation in the airways. In addition, the relations between personal total dust exposure and FENO changes across the work shift were examined. Methods: Pre-and post-shift FENO levels were determined among 55 non-smoking dust exposed cement production workers and among 31 non-smoking mineral water factory workers as controls. The FENO levels were examined for three consecutive days among the exposed and two consecutive days among controls. Personal total dust levels were collected in the breathing zone of each participant using cellulose acetate filters on the first day of FENO examination. A three-piece Millipore cassette was used to place the filters and the cassette was connected to a Side Kick Cassela pump at a flow rate of 2 l/minute. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in FENO levels among exposed workers, but not among controls. The reduction in FENO levels among the exposed was observed on each day of FENO examination. The cross-shift reduction in FENO levels among the exposed did not show possible associations with personal total dust exposure levels (r=-0.175, 95% CI: -0.36, 0.04). The geometrical mean for total dust exposure were 8.3 mg/m3 and 0.28 mg/m3, among exposed workers and controls, respectively. Conclusion: The results show a cross-shift reduction of FENO among cement workers and indicate that dust exposure is not associated with this finding. The reason for the reduction in FENO across the shift is unknown. Researchers in this field should be aware of potential unknown confounders when performing future studies.
A study of waist circumference, waist-hip ratio as markers of type 2 diabetes mellitus and their correlation with family history of diabetes

Background: Type 2 Diabetes, is almost an ‘epidemic’ in India. A lot has to be done to prevent or at least postpone its onset. Hence finding bio-markers is important to warn people and create awareness. In India people pay a lot of importance to Family History, and though a positive family history, may predict Diabetes, we wanted to study its correlation to other bio-markers. Methods: Waist circumference, Waist hip ratio was measured in 184 Type 2 Diabetes patients . And history of Diabetes in mother, father or both was recorded . Data tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis. Results: Of the total number (n=184) type 2 diabetes patients studied, males were 93, females 91. 74.2 % males and 83.5 % females had a waist circumference above cut-off (90 cms for males and 80cms for females). 35 males and 42 females had a family history of diabetes. Of these, Father was diabetic in 16 males and 16 females, while mother was diabetic in 19 males and 26 females. Conclusions: Waist circumference and waist hip ratio above cut-off values emerged as common positive findings in majority of type 2 diabetic patients. Family history, individually as Paternal or Maternal Diabetes did not show statistically significant correlation with waist circumference or Waist-hip ratio.
Study of ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis in respiratory ICU patients and the impact of aerosolized antibiotics on their outcome

Background Lower respiratory tract infections in intubated patients include ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis (VAT) and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Aerosol delivery to intubated patients has improved with advances in techniques and with the development of newer aerosol generators. Aim The aim of the current study was to assess VAT and study the effect of aerosolized antibiotics (AAs) as an adjuvant to systemic antibiotic (SA) on outcome in VAT patients over 18 months, starting from December 2013, who were admitted to the respiratory ICU of Ain Shams University Hospital. Patients and methods Seventy-four patients out of 104 mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the respiratory ICU were subjected to serial mini-BAL sputum sampling from the first day of mechanical ventilation (MV). Thirty-two patients who developed VAT were divided into two groups: group I (13 VAT patients who received AAs in the form of ceftazidime 500 mg/12 h+amikacin 400 mg/12 h added to the SA) and group II (10 VAT patients who received only SA). The current study included only those patients whose relatives agreed to share in the study. All patients were subjected to daily assessment for signs of respiratory tract infection and to twice weekly chest radiography, leukocytic count evaluation, and microbiological assessment using mini-BAL. Results VAT incidence was found to be 22.1%. Eighty percent of patients who received AAs showed clinical improvement in the form of significant decrease in temperature, amount of sputum, and leukocytic count, and significant increase in PaO2/FiO2 ratio, in comparison with 30% in the SA group. Conclusion The incidence of VAT was found to be 22.1%, and was mainly caused by Gram-negative bacteria. AAs adjuvant to SA were effective in rapid resolution of signs of respiratory infection, in causing decreased bacterial load, reduced bacterial resistance, reduced progression of VAT to ventilator-associated pneumonia, reduced days of SA use, decreased MV days and ICU stay days, and probably reduced cost of ICU admission, but did not affect mortality.
Women’s preferences for male facial masculinity are not condition-dependent in a large online study

While several studies have found evidence for conditional-dependent effect on women’s preferences for male masculinity, others have questioned the relative importance of these effects. In this study, we evaluated variation in women’s preference for male facial masculinity in a forced-choice experiment. Nearly 1200 participants scored preference for manipulated photos and surface scans. Between-individual variation in preferences were relatively small, especially for the evaluation of the surface scans. Nevertheless, preferences from the evaluations of photos and scans correlated positively, indicating that both stimuli provide similar biological information. Only few condition-dependent variables correlated significantly with preference for masculinity, and not all in predicted directions. Stronger preference for masculine male faces – albeit only significant for the photos – with higher own women attractiveness was observed as expected. Yet, for perceived infectability, consistently across the photos and scans, a negative association with preference for masculine faces was observed, which is opposite to theoretical predictions. In addition, no effects of pathogen exposure, germ aversion (a correlate of disgust), relational status, preference for short term relationships and sociosexuality were detected. Thus, overall, our study is in line with recent large studies that also find only very weak condition-dependent effects, if any.
Importance of spatio–temporal connectivity to maintain species experiencing range shifts

Climate change can affect the habitat resources available to species by changing habitat quantity, suitability and spatial configuration, which largely determine population persistence in the landscape. In this context, dispersal is a central process for species to track their niche. Assessments of the amount of reachable habitat (ARH) using static snap‐shots do not account, however, for the temporal overlap of habitat patches that may enhance stepping‐stone effects. Here, we quantified the impacts of climate change on the ARH using a spatio–temporal connectivity model. We first explored the importance of spatio–temporal connectivity relative to purely spatial connectivity in a changing climate by generating virtual species distributions and analyzed the relative effects of changes in habitat quantity, suitability and configuration. Then, we studied the importance of spatio–temporal connectivity in three vertebrate species with divergent responses to climate change in North America (grey wolf, Canadian lynx and white‐tailed deer). We found that the spatio–temporal connectivity could enhance the stepping‐stone effect for species predicted to experience range contractions, and the relative importance of the spatio–temporal connectivity increased with the reduction in habitat quantity and suitability. Conversely, for species that are likely to expand their ranges, spatio–temporal connectivity had no additional contribution to improve the ARH. We also found that changes in habitat amount (quantity and suitability) were more influential than changes in habitat configuration in determining the relative importance of spatio–temporal connectivity. We conclude that spatio–temporal connectivity may provide less biased and more realistic estimates of habitat connectivity than purely spatial connectivity.
Cation-exchanged NaY Zeolite: Effect of temperature and ion concentration to membrane performance

Zeolite membranes possess well defined pore structures which able to separate gasses with high selectivity. The separation between adsorptive and non-adsortive gasses depends on the affinity of permeating gas molecules with the zeolites structures whereby different types of cations resides in the zeolitic framework will affect the permeselectivity of the membranes. Several efforts have been made to modify zeolite membranes in order to enhance their capability in gas separation by ion exchange process. Here, investigations were performed on the ion exchange process of zeolite NaY membrane with Ag+ cation at different concentrations (0.1M, 0.025M) and temperatures (ambient temperature and 80°C). The results revealed that temperature plays significant role in maintaining the morphologies of zeolite NaY membranes. Dealumination process was also observed to occur simultaneously with the ion exchange process. Overall, CO2/CH4 selectivity of the cation-exchanged NaY zeolite membranes increased by 100% with less CO2 flux reductions were recorded by samples which had been ion exchanged with less concentrated ion exchange solution i.e. 0.0125M at ambient temperature. Nevertheless, CO2/CH4 selectivity decreased for membrane samples which had been ion exchanged at higher temperature (80°C) due to dissolution of the zeolite membranes layer.
Diabetic Retinopathy Detection and Grading Using Machine Learning

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a constantly deteriorating disease, being one of the leading causes of vision impairment and blindness. Subtle distinction among different grades and existence of many significant small features make the task of recognition very challenging. In addition, the present approach of retinopathy detection is a very laborious and time-intensive task, which heavily relies on the skill of a physician. Automated detection of diabetic retinopathy is essential to tackle these problems. Early-stage detection of diabetic retinopathy is also very important for diagnosis, which can prevent blindness with proper treatment. In this paper, we developed a novel system which performs the early-stage detection by identifying all microaneurysms (MAs), the first signs of DR, along with correctly assigning labels to retinal fundus images which are graded into five categories. We have tested our system on the largest publicly available IDRiD diabetic retinopathy dataset, and achieved 77.85% accuracy with Gabor features and Naïve Bayes Classification.
Application of social network analysis to the study of post-injury rehabilitation and health service utilisation

Increasingly used in medical domains such as epidemiology to understand and describe the topology of illness and disease pathways, Social Network Analysis (SNA) has not been used in the context of post-crash rehabilitation and care. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of using SNA to study post-crash treatment pathways among a large group of injured persons compensated and treated under the Victorian Transport Accident Commission scheme. We demonstrate that, with minor conceptual adaptation, SNA can provide new insights for rehabilitation researchers and injury compensation scheme managers attempting to effectively understand and predict individual and population-level patterns of recovery.
Keratitis induced by Allovahlkampfia spelaea in experminental rat model: a trial for treatment with ellagic acid

Members of family Acanthamoebidae and Vahlkampfiidae are amphizoic, occurring as human parasite causing many diseases. This study was aims to evaluate the efficacy of ellagic acid (EA) to ameloriate the histological changes in cornea and the changes in oxidative stress markers in different organs of rats infected with Allovahlkampfia spelaea . Thirty rats were intraocular infected with trophozites of A. spelaea . Fourteen days later, rats divided into four groups, treated with chlorhexidine (CHX), EA, EA plus CHX, and lubricant eye drops for 14 days, respectively. All eyes were examined clinically then rats were killed and their corneas, brain, liver, ling, kidney and spleen were excised and used for histological and biochemicals evaluation. Eyes from A. spelaea infected rats showed corneal ulcer with disruption of corneal layer, congestion and infilteration of the inflammatory cell in stromal layer. However, the cornea of CHX, EA, and the combination of CHX and EA treated rats showed hyperplasia in the epithelial layer of cornea, hyperplasia in the epithelial layer of cornea with stromal vascularization and epithelial hyperplasia, stromal vascularization with fibroblast cell activation, respectively. The activity of acetylchoinestase in the brain and the markers of oxidative stress in the brain, lung, liver, kidney and spleen were altered in infected rats with A. spelaea and restored by treatment with CHX, EA, or the combination of CHX and EA. In conclusion infection with A. spelaea induced keratitis and biochemical changes in organs of rats, these changes were ameloriated by the treatment with CHX or EA or the combination of both with the priority of the later one.
Validation of a Skinfold Prediction Equation Based on Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry to Estimate Body Fat Percentage in Women

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to validate an alternative skinfold equation for women created from dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Anthropometrics and a whole-body DXA scan were completed on 77 women (mean age: 28.0 ± 10.2 years). Four Jackson-Pollack (JP) skinfold prediction equations and the DXA criterion (DC) equation were compared to DXA-derived body fat percentage (%BF). One-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant differences (p ≤ .001) in the %BF with post hoc-comparisons revealing significant differences among JP7 (21.3 ± 5.7), JP4 (21.4 ± 5.7), JP3a (22.2 ± 5.9), and JP3b (22.6 ± 5.7) when compared to the DXA-derived %BF; no significant difference existed between DC %BF (26.5 ± 5.6) and DXA-derived %BF (26.5 ± 5.4) (p = 1.0). The DC equation more accurately predicted %BF in women volunteers compared to Jackson-Pollack equations.
Ambient PM2.5 influences productive activities in public sector bureaucracies

Fine particles (PM2.5) can penetrate buildings through ventilation and air conditioning systems, exposing indoors workers to pollution levels similar to those prevailing outdoors. This letter investigates the immediate influence of fine particle pollution on the productive activity of local government bureaucracies, linking novel data on the daily output of local governments in municipalities of the Athens metropolitan area, Greece, to PM2.5 levels recorded nearby. To address biases introduced by omitted variables and measurement error, I use the plausibly exogenous variation introduced by the basin’s horizontal ventilation, instrumenting PM2.5 levels with local wind strength. Estimates suggest a statistically and quantitatively significant negative effect from PM2.5 on the output of public administrations. Increasing PM2.5 levels by 1% decreases the activity proxy by around 0.25%. Results point to the influence PM2.5 can have on activities that are mentally but not physically demanding and suggest that costs from PM2.5 will increase with the share of global income produced by office workers.
1 MHz 48–12 V Regulated DCX With Single Transformer

In this article, a 1-MHz-regulated DCX (RDCX) with single transformer is proposed for high-power-density high-efficiency 48–12 V dc–dc conversion. In the proposed converter, a dc transformer (DCX) works at fixed switching frequency to realize isolation and output power conversion and an auxiliary pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter is applied to realize voltage regulation. The auxiliary dc–dc is fed from the auxiliary winding of the transformer and its output is in series with the input dc source. The output regulation is achieved by regulating the output voltage of auxiliary dc–dc converter. Furthermore, only a small portion of power is dealt by the auxiliary PWM dc–dc converter. Thus, the total efficiency is a little bit lower than the DCX and higher than that of conventional two-stage solution. The operation principle and the design guidelines of the proposed RDCX are presented in this article. A 360 W 40–60 V/12 V dc–dc prototype is built to verify the theoretical analysis and design guidelines. In the prototype, 9.1% of load power is dealt by the auxiliary dc–dc at nominal 55 V input voltage and, at worst case, which happens rarely and the duration is short, 50% of load power is dealt by the auxiliary dc–dc stage. Finally, 97.3% peak efficiency is achieved.
Development of Life-Worldly Communication Scale for Older Persons: A Pilot Study

Objectives: Our prior study revealed that the speech duration of older people in long-term care facilities in Japan is four minutes in one day, owing to the lack of “life-worldly communications. ” This study is a pilot study for the development and validation of the Life-Worldly Communication Scale (LWCS) that can efficiently measure the life-worldly communication duration of older people. Methods: The subjects were 65 individuals, 65 years of age or older, who were chosen among people living in long-term care facilities and in home care in Japan. The items of LWCS were generated from related literature. The content validity of LWCS was examined from the content validity ratio. Construct validity of LWCS was verified by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Convergent or discriminant validity was examined from the relation between LWCS and the life-worldly communication time or depression level. Reliability was examined by inspecting internal consistency and stability. Results: The LWCS proved satisfactory in the goodness-of-fit index (GFI = .92, NFI = .91, CFI = .99, RMSEA =.03) by confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent validity of LWCS was supported by a significant correlation between LWCS and the life-worldly communication time ( r = .62, P <.001). Reliability of LWCS was confirmed by internal consistency (Cronbach’s α =. 90) and stability (test-retest, r =.70, p <. 01). Conclusions: The reliability and validity of the LWCS were confirmed in the study population. However, the number of items included in each factor was insufficient. Efforts to improve LWCS are needed in the future.