Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unavailability of thymidine kinase does not preclude the use of German comprehensive prognostic index: results of an external validation analysis in early chronic lymphocytic leukemia and comparison with MD Anderson Cancer Center model

A comprehensive prognostic index that includes clinical (i.e., age, sex, ECOG performance status), serum (i.e., ß2‐microglobulin, thymidine kinase [TK]), and molecular (i.e., IGVH mutational status, del 17p, del 11q) markers developed by the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) was externally validated in a prospective, community‐based cohort consisting of 338 patients with early chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) using as endpoint the time to first treatment (TTFT). Because serum TK was not available, a slightly modified version of the model based on seven instead of eight prognostic variables was used. By German index, 62.9% of patients were scored as having low‐risk CLL (score 0–2), whereas 37.1% had intermediate‐risk CLL (score 3–5). This stratification translated into a significant difference in the TTFT [HR = 4.21; 95% C.I. (2.71–6.53); P < 0.0001]. Also the 2007 MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) score, barely based on traditional clinical parameters, showed comparable reliability [HR = 2.73; 95% C.I. (1.79–4.17); P < 0.0001]. A comparative performance assessment between the two models revealed that prediction of the TTFT was more accurate with German score. The c‐statistic of the MDACC model was 0.65 (range, 0.53–0.78) a level below that of the German index [0.71 (range, 0.60–0.82)] and below the accepted 0.7 threshold necessary to have value at the individual patient level. Results of this external comparative validation analysis strongly support the German score as the benchmark for comparison of any novel prognostic scheme aimed at evaluating the TTFT in patients with early CLL even when a modified version which does not include TK is utilized.
Neonatal encephalopathy: An inadequate term for hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy

This Point of View article addresses neonatal encephalopathy (NE) presumably caused by hypoxia–ischemia and the terminology currently in wide use for this disorder. The nonspecific term NE is commonly utilized for those infants with the clinical and imaging characteristics of neonatal hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Multiple magnetic resonance imaging studies of term infants with the clinical setting of presumed hypoxia–ischemia near the time of delivery have delineated a topography of lesions highly correlated with that defined by human neuropathology and by animal models, including primate models, of hypoxia–ischemia. These imaging findings, coupled with clinical features consistent with perinatal hypoxic–ischemic insult(s), warrant the specific designation of neonatal HIE. Ann Neurol 2012;72:156–166
Incentives Versus Synergies in Markets for Talent

We study what type of organization will host projects where talented individuals are pivotal. A cash-constrained and talented individual must invest in acquiring a skill essential to execute a project. Skill acquisition may be financed by either a corporation, which inserts the project into its pre-existing organization; or a specialist that finances single-project firms. The specialist can make talent the residual claimant. The corporation can exploit cross-project synergies by centralizing operations, which weakens incentives. Property rights may be weak: talent may leave and develop the project elsewhere after acquiring the skill. We find that weak property rights help corporations: for a given level of centralization, both effort and profits increase as property rights weaken. When the corporation can freely choose the strength of property rights and centralization, we find that, first, weak property rights are preferred; and, second, the corporation always chooses some centralization, eschewing first-best effort incentives. Moreover, whenever the corporation finances, it is socially deficient. We apply the model to examine several apparently puzzling phenomena in markets for talent. These include dominance by large firms despite severe conflicts of interest and high effort exertion by talent within large firms.
A single amino acid residue controls Ca2+ signaling by an octopamine receptor from Drosophila melanogaster

Rhythmic activity of cells and cellular networks plays an important role in physiology. In the nervous system oscillations of electrical activity and/or second messenger concentrations are important to synchronize neuronal activity. At the molecular level, rhythmic activity can be initiated by different routes. We have recently shown that an octopamine‐activated G‐protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR; DmOctα1Rb, CG3856) from Drosophila initiates Ca2+ oscillations. Here, we have unraveled the molecular basis of cellular Ca2+ signaling controlled by the DmOctα1Rb receptor using a combination of pharmacological intervention, site‐directed mutagenesis, and functional cellular Ca2+ imaging on heterologously expressed receptors. Phosphorylation of a single amino acid residue in the third intracellular loop of the GPCR by PKC is necessary and sufficient to desensitize the receptor. From its desensitized state, DmOctα1Rb is resensitized by dephosphorylation, and a new Ca2+ signal occurs on octopamine stimulation. Our findings show that transient changes of the receptor's surface profile have a strong effect on its physiological signaling properties. We expect that the detailed knowledge of DmOctα1Rb‐dependent signal transduction fosters the identification of specific drugs that can be used for GPCR‐mediated pest control, since octopamine serves important physiological and behavioral functions in arthropods. —Hoff M. , Balfanz, S. , Ehling, P., Gensch, T. , Baumann, A. A single amino acid residue controls Ca2+ signaling by an octopamine receptor from Drosophila melanogaster. FASEB J. 25, 2484–2491 (2011). www.fasebj. org
A southwest oncology group and cancer and leukemia group B phase II study of doxorubicin, dacarbazine, ifosfamide, and mesna in Adults with advanced osteosarcoma, ewing's sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma

Ewing's sarcomas, osteosarcomas, and rhabdomyosarcomas are significantly more responsive to chemotherapy than other sarcomas. Adjuvant chemotherapy is used routinely based on data from randomized trials. Although a percentage of children with locally advanced or metastatic tumors remain curable, few data exist regarding the tumor's natural history or response and survival in adults.
Sichere Dienste-Suche in Sensornetzen

Im Rahmen der Arbeit wird mit Secure Content Addressable Network (SCAN) ein sicheres, verteiltes Diensteverzeichnis vorgestellt, mit Hilfe dessen in dienstorientierten Sensornetzen verfugbare Dienste sicher aufgefunden werden konnen. SCAN nimmt besondere Rucksicht auf die speziellen Eigenschaften von Sensorknoten, insbesondere auf die sehr beschrankten Ressourcen wie z.B. Hauptspeicher oder Rechenleistung.
Online searching styles: A case-study-based model of searching behavior

The model of operationalist and conceptualist searching styles describes searching behavior of experienced online searchers. It is based on the systematic observation of five experienced online searchers doing their regular, job‐related searches, and on the analysis of 10 to 13 searches conducted by each of them. Operational‐ist searchers aim at optimal strategles to achleve precise retrieval; they use a large range of system capabilities in their interaction. They preserve the specific meaning of the request, and the aim of their iterations is an answer set representing the request precisely. Conceptualist searchers analyze a request by seeking to fit it into a faceted structure. They first enter the facet that represents the most important aspect of the request. Their search is then centered on retrieving subsets from this primary set by introducing additional facets. In contrast to the operationalists, they are primarily concerned with recall. During the interaction they preserve the faceted structure, but may change the specific meaning of the request. Although not comprehensive, the model aids in recognizing special and individual characteristics of searching behavior which provide explanations of previous research and guidelines for further investigations into the search process.
Improving degenerate oligonucleotide primed PCR‐comparative genomic hybridization for analysis of DNA copy number changes in tumors

Combining degenerate oligonucleotide‐primed PCR (DOP‐PCR) with comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) has made it possible to analyze genomic changes in single cells. Although DOP‐PCR‐CGH methodology has been reported, the reproducibility of the method has been uncertain. We have developed a reproducible DOP‐PCR‐CGH protocol by systematically evaluating different labeling methods (including nick translation, PCR incorporation, and random‐primed labeling) and different hybridization mixtures (including amplified test DNA vs. amplified reference DNA, termed homo‐hybridization; and amplified test DNA vs. unamplified reference DNA or vice versa, termed hetero‐hybridization). We have analyzed DNA samples obtained from 16 tissue sources including fresh/frozen normal and tumor samples, formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tumor tissue, and tumor cell lines by using differently labeled probes and hybridization combinations, and we calculated the corresponding rate (CR) of DOP‐PCR‐CGH with standard CGH. We found that homo‐hybridization produced reproducible results with high CRs as compared to standard CGH (91–100% CR, mean 97%); In contrast, hetero‐hybridization failed to generate reproducible hybridization with low CRs (57–97% CR, mean 80%; χ2 = 1245.8, P < 0.0001), high background, uneven hybridization, and false deletions or amplifications. In addition, our improved DOP‐PCR protocol raised the amplification efficiency at least five times as compared to previously reported protocols, allowing for the detection of genomic imbalances in as little as 12.5 pg of starting DNA. In conclusion, the DOP‐PCR‐CHG homo‐hybridization method, especially when combined with labeling by nick translation, is reliable and reproducible. The method can be used in screening for genomic imbalances using minute amounts of tumor DNA, thereby facilitating CGH application. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 28:395–403, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A call admission control mechanism using MPP and 2-tier cell structure for mobile multimedia computing

A call admission control mechanism is proposed to provide a consistent QoS guarantee for multimedia traffic on a mobile computing environment. An adaptive bandwidth reservation based on an MPP(mobility pattern profile) and a 2-tier cell structure is proposed to determine the amount of bandwidth to be reserved in the cell and to control dynamically its amount according to network conditions. We also propose a call admission control based on this bandwidth reservation and "next-cell prediction" scheme using an MPP.
Decomposing the bid-ask spread of stock options: A trade and risk indicator model

In this paper, we develop an indicator model for option spread decomposition with explicit references to the stock market to measure the expected change in the value of an option, the trade flows of multiple option series for the modeling of a trade indicator to reflect private information signals, and the factors affecting the value an option portfolio for the modeling of three risk indicators to reflect the respective inventory risk exposure faced by the option market makers. The trade and risk indicator model is empirically tested using panel data obtained from the Australian Stock Exchange electronic limit order book. Empirical tests reveal that the adverse information component depends on the timing of trades, liquidity, option leverage, trade imbalance, and the option type. The results support multiple sources of inventory holding costs that relate to the attempt by market makers to maintain a delta neutral position and minimize their portfolio exposure to the change in the value and volatility of the underlying stock. The inventory holding costs also differ across option series and are a function of the directional change in inventory risk exposure.
Millimeter wave measurements of some low-loss dielectric plates by a novel cut-off circular waveguide method

An easy-to-treatment technique is proposed to measure low-loss dielectric plates by a cut-off circular waveguide method in millimeter wave region. The fringe effect can be corrected simply using correction charts calculated from the rigorous analysis based on Ritz-Galerkin method. Some low-loss dielectric plates were measured by this method to find out proper material for millimeter wave applications. It is found that modified polyolefin has an excellent electric characteristic of¿r=2.31 and tan ¿=1.3×10¿4, which is similar to PTFE.
Perfluorochemicals: Potential sources of and migration from food packaging

Perfluorochemicals are widely used in the manufacturing and processing of a vast array of consumer goods, including electrical wiring, clothing, household and automotive products. Furthermore, relatively small quantities of perfluorochemicals are also used in the manufacturing of food-contact substances that represent potential sources of oral exposure to these chemicals. The most recognizable products to consumers are the uses of perfluorochemicals in non-stick coatings (polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) for cookware and also their use in paper coatings for oil and moisture resistance. Recent epidemiology studies have demonstrated the presence of two particular perfluorochemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in human serum at very low part per billion levels. These perfluorochemicals are biopersistent and are the subject of numerous studies investigating the many possible sources of human exposure. Among the various uses of these two chemicals, PFOS is a residual impurity in some paper coatings used for food contact and PFOA is a processing aid in the manufacture of PTFE used for many purposes including non-stick cookware. Little information is available on the types of perfluorochemicals that have the potential to migrate from perfluoro coatings into food. One obstacle to studying migration is the difficulty in measuring perfluorochemicals by routine conventional analytical techniques such as GC/MS or LC-UV. Many perfluorochemicals used in food-contact substances are not detectable by these conventional methods. As liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) develops into a routine analytical technique, potential migrants from perfluoro coatings can be more easily characterized. In this paper, data will be presented on the types of perfluoro chemicals that are used in food packaging and cookware. Additionally, research will be presented on the migration or potential for migration of these chemicals into foods or food simulating liquids. Results from migration tests show mg kg-1 amounts of perfluoro paper additives/coatings transfer to food oil. Analysis of PTFE cookware shows residual amounts of PFOA in the low µg kg-1 range. PFOA is present in microwave popcorn bag paper at amounts as high as 300 µg kg-1.
Optimal Stochastic Policies in a Network Coding Capable Ad Hoc Networks

Network coding is a promising technology that increases system throughput by reducing the number of packet transmissions from the source node to the destination node in a saturated traffic scenario. Nevertheless, some packets can suffer from end-to-end delay, because of a queuing delay in an intermediate node waiting for other packets to be encoded with exclusive or (XOR). In this paper, we analyze the delay according to packet arrival rate and propose two network coding schemes, iXOR (Intelligent XOR) and oXOR (Optimal XOR) with Markov Decision Process (MDP). They reduce the average delay, even under an unsaturated traffic load, through the Holding-χ strategy. In particular, we are interested in the unsaturated network scenario. The unsaturated network is more practical because, in a real wireless network, nodes do not always have packets waiting to be sent. Through analysis and extensive simulations, we show that iXOR and oXOR are better than the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) without XOR (the general forwarding scheme) and XOR with DCF with respect to average delay as well as delivery ratio.
One step model predictive control of five level ANPC permanent magnet motor drive

Five-level active neutral-point clamped (5L-ANPC) converter is an interesting topology for high-power medium-voltage motor drives. In addition to a neutral point potential in the DC-link, it has a flying capacitor in each phase. Controlling these internal inverter voltages while producing desired torque and flux for the motor is a challenging control problem. In published articles that use model predictive control (MPC) to control the ANPC inverter as an induction motor drive, prediction horizon was equal to two steps. In this paper, using MPC with one step prediction horizon and a cost function with variable weighting factors, not only the four internal voltages of the inverter is controlled and the desired torque and magnetic flux for permanent magnet motor is produced, but also the magnitude of common mode voltage (CMV) is limited to one sixth of DC-link voltage. In this paper according to one step prediction horizon, the number of calculations and the complexity is less than other articles while the quality of motor and inverter variables are the same as other articles.
Proof Procedure and Answer Extraction in Petri Net Model of Logic Programs

A proof procedure and answer extraction in a high-level Petri net model of logic programs is discussed. The logic programs are restricted to the Horn clause subset of first-order predicate logic and finite problems. The logic program is modeled by a high-level Petri net and the execution of the logic program or the answer extraction process in predicate calculus corresponds to a firing sequence which fires the goal transition in the net. For the class of the programs described above, the goal transition is potentially firable if an only if there exists a nonnegative T-invariant which includes the goal transition in its support. This is the main result proved. Three examples are given to illustrate in detail the above results. >
Development of a Tetracycline-Inducible Gene Expression System for the Study of Helicobacter pylori Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Deletion mutants and animal models have been instrumental in the study of Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis. Conditional mutants, however, would enable the study of the temporal gene requirement during H. pylori colonization and chronic infection. To achieve this goal, we adapted the Escherichia coli Tn10-derived tetracycline-inducible expression system for use in H. pylori. The ureA promoter was modified by inserting one or two tet operators to generate tetracycline-responsive promoters, named uPtetO, and these promoters were then fused to the reporter gfpmut2 and inserted into different loci. The expression of the tetracycline repressor (tetR) was placed under the control of one of three promoters and inserted into the chromosome. Conditional expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in strains harboring tetR and uPtetO-GFP was characterized by measuring GFP activity and by immunoblotting. The two tet-responsive uPtetO promoters differ in strength, and induction of these promoters was inducer concentration and time dependent, with maximum expression achieved after induction for 8 to 16 h. Furthermore, the chromosomal location of the uPtetO-GFP construct and the nature of the promoter driving expression of tetR influenced the strength of the uPtetO promoters upon induction. Integration of uPtetO-GFP and tetR constructs at different genomic loci was stable in vivo and did not affect colonization. Finally, we demonstrate tetracycline-dependent induction of GFP expression in vivo during chronic infection. These results open new experimental avenues for dissecting H. pylori pathogenesis using animal models and for testing the roles of specific genes in colonization of, adaptation to, and persistence in the host.
Understanding the Massive Online Reviews: a Novel Representative Subset Extraction method

With the widespread use of e-commerce, explosive online reviews often get overwhelming to online consumers to read, leading to the depression of decision making in purchasing. To deal with the information overload problem caused by large-scale online reviews, this study focuses on the representative review extraction problem and formulates this problem as an optimization model with a submodularity property. Then, to analyze and draw topic information from the original review collection, the topic model of LDA is adopted in this study to semantically measure the similarity between each pair of reviews for the optimization model. Furthermore, a greedy extraction method named RR with a satisfactory error bound is proposed to extract a representative subset of reviews from the original review collection based on the optimization model. Experiments on real data and a user study are conducted in this study. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is of high efficiency and scalability, and performs better than benchmark methods in terms of coverage, which proves that it can help online consumers better capture the main ideas of the whole set of original reviews in a limited time.
Systematic design of programs with sub-word parallelism

Upcoming processor generations increasingly provide instructions for sub-word parallelism. Thus, parallel execution of 2, 4 or 8 instructions (add, sub) or of complex instructions (sum of differences) with an input of 2, 4 or 8 operand pairs becomes possible. The exploitation of sub-word parallelism is still weakly supported by current compilers. To close this gap we present an approach to generate programs for processors with sub-word parallelism. To this end we adapt methods from the design of parallel processor arrays. An algorithm representing short term analysis filtering is used to illustrate the approach.
Real-Time RT-PCR for the Measurement of Prostate-Specific Antigen mRNA Expression in Benign Hyperplasia and Adenocarcinoma of Prostate

Abstract Since PSA is supposed to play an active role in the progression of prostate cancer, we applied a quantitative RT-PCR to measure the absolute levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) mRNA expression in benign and malignant prostatic tissue. Consecutive fine needle prostate biopsy material from 59 patients (43 with prostate adenocarcinoma and 16 with benign prostatic hyperptrophy; BPH) was used for the measurement of PSA mRNA expression. In addition, we evaluated the correlation between PSA synthesis and PSA circulating levels in the same patients. The relationship between PSA mRNA expression and histological grade was also evaluated. PSA mRNA was measured with a quantitative RT-PCR, based on the use of fluorogenic probes, according to the TaqMan reaction system. The mRNA expression for PSA in prostate adenocarcinoma biopsies was highly variable, ranging from 2×104 to 2.1×108 molecules/μg total RNA with a mean value of 2.5×107 and significantly higher (p = 0.006) than that found in BPH patients (mean: 1.3×106 and range: 6.9×102 to 8×106). The mRNA PSA expression in needle biopsy material did not seem to be related to PSA circulating levels in prostate cancer patients (r = 0.281), whereas in BPH patients the two parameters correlated significantly (r = 0.667, p < 0.01). A reduction of PSA mRNA expression in samples with a lower grade of differentiation (Gleason score 9–10) was also observed. Even though a mean increase of PSA expression was demonstrated in cancer samples, this small difference does not confirm a significant role of PSA proteolytic activity in prostate cancer progression. In conclusion, the assay procedure we proposed represents a reliable basis for more extensive study of PSA physiopathology in prostate cancer.