Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for leukemia with marrow grafts depleted of lymphocytes by counterflow centrifugation.

Eighty consecutive patients were transplanted with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical sibling marrow for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML, N = 29), acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL, N = 23), or chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML, N = 28). Donor marrow was depleted of lymphocytes using counterflow centrifugation. Median age of the recipients was 31 years. Pretransplant conditioning consisted of cyclophosphamide and fractionated total body irradiation (TBI) with a low (4.1 +/- 0.3 cGy/min) or high (13.1 +/- 1.6 cGy/min) midline average dose rate. In 43 patients, cytosine-arabinoside or anthracyclines were added to the conditioning regimen. Immunoprophylaxis posttransplant consisted of methotrexate (MTX) alone, cyclosporine A (CsA) in combination with MTX, or CsA alone; two patients received no immunoprophylaxis at all. Graft failure occurred in 4 of 77 evaluable patients (5%). The probability of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) greater than or equal to grade 2 at day 100 after transplantation was 15%. The projected 3-year estimate of extensive chronic GVHD was 12%. Only three patients died of cytomegalovirus-interstitial pneumonitis. The projected 3-year probability of relapse was 30% (95% confidence interval [CI], range 8% to 53%) in transplants for AML in first complete remission (CR1), 35% (95% CI, 1% to 69%) after transplantation for ALL in CR1, and 38% (95% CI, 2% to 74%) after transplantation for CML in first chronic phase (CP1). The projected 3-year probability of leukemia-free survival (LFS) was 56% (95% CI, 35% to 77%) after transplantation for AML-CR1, 42% (95% CI, 16% to 69%) in patients transplanted for ALL-CR1, and 49% (95% CI, 18% to 80%) after transplantation for CML-CP1. After transplantation for AML-CR1, ALL-CR1, or CML-CP1, the median follow-up time for leukemia-free survivors was 31+, 30+, and 21+ months, respectively. Probabilities of relapse, survival, and LFS in AML-CR1 and ALL-CR1 transplants were comparable with those reported in recipients of untreated grafts. In patients transplanted for CML-CP1, probability of relapse was higher and probability of LFS was lower than in recipients of untreated grafts. In transplants for leukemia in CR1 and CP1, preparative regimen and immunoprophylaxis posttransplant were not associated significantly with the probability of acute GVHD greater than or equal to grade 2, extensive chronic GVHD, relapse, survival, or LFS. In bone marrow transplantation for leukemia, counterflow centrifugation is a useful technique for the prevention of GVHD. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
TERT promoter mutations and polymorphisms as prognostic factors in primary glioblastoma

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) activity is up-regulated in several types of tumors including glioblastoma (GBM). In the present study, 128 primary glioblastoma patients were examined for single nucleotide polymorphisms of TERT in blood and in 92 cases for TERT promoter mutations in tumors. TERT promoter mutations were observed in 86% of the tumors and of these, C228T (−124 bp upstream start codon) was detected in 75% and C250T (−146 bp) in 25% of cases. TERT promoter mutations were associated with shorter overall survival (11 vs. 20 months p = 0.002 and 12 vs. 20, p = 0.04 for C228T and C250T, respectively). The minor alleles of rs2736100 and rs10069690 SNP's, located in intron 2 and the promotor regions, respectively, were associated with an increased risk of developing GBM (p = 0.004 and 0.001). GBM patients having both TERT promoter mutations and being homozygous carriers of the rs2853669 C-allele displayed significantly shorter overall survival than those with the wild type allele. The rs2853669 SNP is located in a putative Ets2 binding site in the promoter (−246 bp upstream start codon) close to the C228T and C250T mutation hot spots. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression regulated by TERT promoter status and polymorphism, what leads us to think that TERT and IL-6 plays a significant role in GBM, where specific SNPs increase the risk of developing GBM while the rs2853669 SNP and specific mutations in the TERT promoter of the tumor lead to shorter survival.
High-speed and high-output InP-InGaAs unitraveling-carrier photodiodes

The unitraveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) is a novel photodiode that utilizes only electrons as the active carriers. This unique feature is the key for its ability to achieve excellent high-speed and high-output characteristics simultaneously. To date, a record 3-dB bandwidth of 310 GHz and a millimeter-wave output power of over 20 mW at 100 GHz have been achieved. The superior capability of the UTC-PD for generating very large high-bit-rate electrical signals as well as a very high RF output power in millimeter/submillimeter ranges can lead to innovations in various systems, such as broadband optical communications systems, wireless communications systems, and high-frequency measurement systems. Accomplishments include photoreceivers of up to 160 Gb/s, error-free DEMUX operations using an integrated UTC-PD driven optical gate of up to 320 Gb/s, a 10-Gb/s millimeter-wave wireless link at 120 GHz, submillimeter-wave generation at frequencies of up to 1.5 THz, and photonic frequency conversion with an efficiency of -8 dB at 60 GHz. For the practical use, various types of modules, such as a 1-mm coaxial connector module, a rectangular-waveguide output module, and a quasi-optic module, have been developed. The superior reliability and stability are also confirmed demonstrating usefulness of the UTC-PD for the system applications.
Determinants of Patient Waiting Time in the General Outpatient Department of a Tertiary Health Institution in North Western Nigeria

Background: The amount of time a patient waits to be seen is one factor which affects utilization of healthcare services. Patients perceive long waiting times as barrier to actually obtaining services and keeping patients waiting unnecessarily can be a cause of stress for both patient and doctor. Aim: This study was aimed at assessing the determinants of patients’ waiting time in the general outpatient department (GOPD) of a tertiary health institution in northern Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among new patients attending the GOPD of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, North Western Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from 100 patients who were recruited into the study using a convenience sampling method. Data collected were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17; Chi-square test was used to compare differences between proportions with the level of statistical significance set at 5% (P < 0.05). Results: Sixty-one percent (59/96) of the respondents waited for 90-180 min in the clinic, whereas 36.1% (35/96) of the patients spent less than 5 min with the doctor in the consulting room. The commonest reason for the long waiting time in the GOPD was the large number of patients with few healthcare workers. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to increase the number of health workers in the GOPDs which serves as the gate way to the hospital if the aims of the Millennium Development Goals are to be realized.
CHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL STUDIES ON ARGEMONE MEXICANA.

Abstract Chemical and pharmacological studies of Argemone mexicana have been carried out. Chemical analysis revealed the presence of total alkaloids 0.125 per cent, consisting of protopine 0.084 per cent and berberine 0.041 per cent, tannin 1.10 per cent, resin 1.75 per cent, and a toxic principle in argemone oil. The main activity was related to the alkaloids, the protopine fraction stimulating heart, respiration, skeletal muscles, and blood pressure. The total alkaloidal fraction stimulated all the smooth muscles and antagonized the actions of acetylcholine, histamine, and 5‐hydroxytryptamine. Its oxytocic action resembled that of pitocin. Atropine, adrenergic blocking agents, and antihistaminics did not modify the response on blood pressure. The carotid occlusion reflex was inhibited, but responses to acetylcholine and catecholamines remained unaffected. It antagonized barbiturate‐induced depression and potentiated methamphetamine stimulation of spontaneous motility in mice. It produced a mild neuromuscular block of the diaphragm and showed antiacetylcholine action on the frog rectus.
Loss of the Putative Catalytic Domain of HDAC4 Leads to Reduced Thermal Nociception and Seizures while Allowing Normal Bone Development

Histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) has been associated with muscle & bone development [1]–[6]. N-terminal MEF2 and RUNX2 binding domains of HDAC4 have been shown to mediate these effects in vitro. A complete gene knockout has been reported to result in premature ossification and associated defects resulting in postnatal lethality [6]. We report a viral insertion mutation that deletes the putative deacetylase domain, while preserving the N-terminal portion of the protein. Western blot and immuno-precipitation analysis confirm expression of truncated HDAC4 containing N-terminal amino acids 1-747. These mutant mice are viable, living to at least one year of age with no gross defects in muscle or bone. At 2–4 months of age no behavioral or physiological abnormalities were detected except for an increased latency to respond to a thermal nociceptive stimulus. As the mutant mice aged past 5 months, convulsions appeared, often elicited by handling. Our findings confirm the sufficiency of the N-terminal domain for muscle and bone development, while revealing other roles of HDAC4.
Inhibition of de novo ceramide biosynthesis by FTY720 protects rat retina from light-induced degeneration[S]

Light-induced retinal degeneration (LIRD) in albino rats causes apoptotic photoreceptor cell death. Ceramide is a second messenger for apoptosis. We tested whether increases in ceramide mediate photoreceptor apoptosis in LIRD and if inhibition of ceramide synthesis protects the retina. Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 2,700 lux white light for 6 h, and the retinal levels of ceramide and its intermediary metabolites were measured by GC-MS or electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Enzymes of the de novo biosynthetic and sphingomyelinase pathways of ceramide generation were assayed, and gene expression was measured. The dosage and temporal effect of the ceramide synthase inhibitor FTY720 on the LIRD retina were measured by histological and functional analyses. Retinal ceramide levels increased coincident with the increase of dihydroceramide at various time points after light stress. Light stress in retina induces ceramide generation predominantly through the de novo pathway, which was prevented by systemic administration of FTY720 (10 mg/kg) leading to the protection of retinal structure and function. The neuroprotection of FTY720 was independent of its immunosuppressive action. We conclude that ceramide increase by de novo biosynthesis mediates photoreceptor apoptosis in the LIRD model and that inhibition of ceramide production protects the retina against light stress.
The Gowdy T 3 Cosmologies revisited

We have examined, repeated and extended earlier numerical calculations of Berger and Moncrief for the evolution of unpolarized Gowdy T 3 cosmological models. Our results are consistent with theirs and we support their claim that the models exhibit AVTD behaviour, even though spatial derivatives cannot be neglected. The behaviour of the curvature invariants and the formation of structure through evolution both backwards and forwards in time is discussed.
Optimizing the Popularity of Twitter Messages through User Categories

In this paper, we investigate how the category of a Twitter user can be used to better predict and optimize the popularity of tweets. The contributions of this paper are threefold. First, we compare the influence of content features on the popularity of tweets for different user categories. Second, we present a regression model to predict the popularity of tweets given the content features as input. To construct this model, we interpolate a generic regression model, which is trained on all data, and a category-specific model, which is only trained on tweets from users of the same category as the user of the given tweet. In this way we can combine the advantage of the robustness of a generic model, with the ability of category-specific models to pick up on category-specific influence of content features. The third contribution is the investigation of the feasibility of boosting the popularity of a tweet by setting up an experiment in which we proactively adapt content features in order to optimize the popularity of tweets. Based on this research, we conclude that the introduction of user categories leads to a more precise analysis and better predictions. In the hands-on experiment, we observed a gain in popularity by proactively adapting content features.
Automatic segmentation of coronary morphology using transmittance-based lumen intensity-enhanced intravascular optical coherence tomography images and applying a localized level-set-based active contour method

Abstract. Lumen segmentation from clinical intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT) images has clinical relevance as it provides a full three-dimensional perspective of diseased coronary artery sections. Inaccurate segmentation may occur when there are artifacts in the image, resulting from issues such as inadequate blood clearance. This study proposes a transmittance-based lumen intensity enhancement method that ensures only lumen regions are highlighted. A level-set-based active contour method that utilizes the local speckle distribution properties of the image is then employed to drive an image-specific active contour toward the true lumen boundaries. By utilizing local speckle properties, the intensity variation issues within the image are resolved. This combined approach has been successfully applied to challenging clinical IV-OCT datasets that contains multiple lumens, residual blood flow, and its shadowing artifact. A method to identify the guide-wire and interpolate the lost lumen segments has been implemented. This approach is fast and can be performed even when guide-wire boundaries are not easily identified. Lumen enhancement also makes it easy to identify vessel side branches. This automated approach is not only able to extract the arterial lumen, but also the smaller microvascular lumens that are associated with the vasa vasorum and with atherosclerotic plaque.
Document expansion for speech retrieval

Methods of document expansion for a speech retrieval document by a recognizer. A database of vectors of automatic transcriptions of documents is accessed and the vectors are truncated by removing all terms that are not recognizable by the recognizer to create truncated vectors. Terms in the vectors are then weighted to associate the truncated vectors with the untruncated vectors. Terms not recognized by the recognizer are then added back to the weighted, truncated vectors. The retrieval effectiveness may then be measured.
Double‐Network Hydrogels with Extremely High Mechanical Strength

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Forty-eight Hours of Postoperative Pain Relief after Total Hip Arthroplasty with a Novel, Extended-Release Epidural Morphine Formulation

Background: Epidural morphine has proven analgesic efficacy in the postoperative period and is widely used. This study evaluated the efficacy of extended-release epidural morphine (EREM; DepoDur; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Chadds Ford, PA; SkyePharma, Inc., San Diego, CA) in providing pain relief for 48 h after surgery. Methods: Patients (n = 200) scheduled to undergo total hip arthroplasty were randomized to receive a single dose of 15, 20, or 25 mg EREM or placebo. After surgery and after asking for pain medication, patients had access to intravenous patient-controlled analgesia fentanyl for breakthrough pain as needed. Postoperative intravenous patient-controlled analgesia fentanyl use, time to first postoperative fentanyl use, pain intensity at rest and with activity, patient and surgeon ratings of pain control, and adverse events were recorded. Results: All EREM dosages reduced the mean (± SD) fentanyl use versus placebo (510 ± 708 vs. 2,091 ± 1,803 &mgr;g; P < 0.0001) and delayed the median time to first dose of fentanyl (21.3 vs. 3.6 h; P < 0.0001). All EREM groups had significantly improved pain control at rest through 48 h postdose (area under the curve [0–48 h]) compared with placebo (P < 0.0005). More EREM-treated patients rated their pain control as good or very good compared with placebo (at 24 h: 90 vs. 65%, P < 0.0001; at 48 h: 83 vs. 67%, P < 0.05). No supplemental analgesia was needed in 25% of EREM-treated patients and 2% of placebo-treated patients at 48 h (P < 0.05). The safety profile of EREM was consistent with that of other epidurally administered opioid analgesics. Conclusions: EREM provided significant postoperative pain relief over a 48-h period after hip surgery, without the need for indwelling epidural catheters.
Hyperspectral classification using spectral magnitude and gradient

The spectral variations caused by geometry and incident illumination may influence classification accuracy using spectral information alone. In this paper, spectral gradient derived from original spectral data was combined with spectral data for improved classification. The performance of spectral gradient in lithologic mapping was evaluated. Two classification methods, i.e. spectral angle mapper (SAM) and extended one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) were used. The results showed that joint use of spectral magnitude and gradient in hyperspectral image classification outperformed the results using the spectral magnitude data alone, and thus is an effective method for hyperspectral classification.
Proposed academic students' performance prediction model: A Malaysian case study

This paper describes the performance of Engineering Electrical Degree students at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. The study was based on longitudinal progress of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for every semester until graduation for three consecutive intakes of matriculation students namely July 2005, July 2006 and July 2007. Then, the same methodology was applied to consecutive intakes of students that are Diploma holders for July 2006, July 2007 and July 2008. The outcomes of the research indicates that the there is a correlation between students abilities in semester one with the final overall academic performance irrespective of gender. It can be ascertained that the abilities and strong engineering fundamentals are strong factors in influencing the overall academic performance. A prediction model was then proposed to predict the overall students' performance.
High-level synthesis for low power based on network flow method

We propose an effective algorithm for power optimization in behavioral synthesis. In previous work, it has been shown that several hardware allocation/binding problems for power optimization can be formulated as network flow problems and cand be solved optimally. However, in these formulations, a fixed schedule was assumed. In such a context, one key problem is that given an optimal network flow solution to a hardware allocation/binding problem for a given schedule, how to generate a new optimal network-flow solution rapidly for a local change of the given schedule. To this end, from a comprehensive analysis of the relation between network structure and flow computation, we devise a two-step procedure: Step 1) a max-flow computation step which finds a valid (maximum) flow solution while retaining the previous (maximum flow of minimum cost) solution as much as possible and Step 2) a min-cost computation step which incrementally refines the flow solution obtained in Step 1, using the concept of finding a negative cost cycle in the residual graph for the flow. The proposed algorithm can be applied effectively to several important high-level optimization problems (e.g., allocations/bindings of functional units, registers, buses, and memory ports) when we have the freedom to choose a schedule that will minimize power consumption. Experimental results (for bus synthesis) on benchmark problems show that our designs are 4%-40% more power-efficient over the designs produced by a random-move based solution and a clock-step based optimal solution, which is due to a) exploitation of the effect of scheduling and b) optimal binding for every schedule instance. Furthermore, our algorithm is about 2.6 times faster in run time over the full network flow based (optimal) algorithm, which is due to c) our novel (two-step) mechanism which utilizes the previous flow solution to reduce redundant flow computations.
Electrical Coupling among Irregular-Spiking GABAergic Interneurons Expressing Cannabinoid Receptors

Anatomical studies have shown that the G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptor-1 (CB1) is selectively expressed in a subset of GABAergic interneurons. It has been proposed that these cells regulate rhythmic activity and play a key role mediating the cognitive actions of marijuana and endogenous cannabinoids. However, the physiology, anatomy, and synaptic connectivity of neocortical CB1-expressing interneurons remain poorly studied. We identified a population of CB1-expressing interneurons in layer II/III in mouse neocortical slices. These cells were multipolar or bitufted, had a widely extending axon, and exhibited a characteristic pattern of irregular spiking (IS) in response to current injection. CB1-expressing-IS (CB1-IS) cells were inhibitory, establishing GABAA receptor-mediated synapses onto pyramidal cells and other CB1-IS cells. Recently, electrical coupling among other classes of cortical interneurons has been shown to contribute to the generation of rhythmic synchronous activity in the neocortex. We therefore tested whether CB1-IS interneurons are interconnected via electrical synapses using paired recordings. We found that 90% (19 of 21 pairs) of simultaneously recorded pairs of CB1-IS cells were electrically coupled. The average coupling coefficient was ∼6%. Signaling through electrical synapses promoted coordinated firing among CB1-IS cells. Together, our results identify a population of electrically coupled CB1-IS GABAergic interneurons in the neocortex that share a unique morphology and a characteristic pattern of irregular spiking in response to current injection. The synaptic interactions of these cells may play an important role mediating the cognitive actions of cannabinoids and regulating coherent neocortical activity.