Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monoclonal antibodies: potential new therapeutic treatment against multiple myeloma

Despite recent treatments, such as bortezomib, thalidomide, and lenalidomide, therapy of multiple myeloma (MM) is limited, and MM remains an incurable disease associated with high mortality. The outcome of patients treated with cytotoxic therapy has not been satisfactory. Therefore, new therapies are needed for relapsed MM. A new anticancer strategy is the use of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) that represent the best available combination of tumor cytotoxicity, environmental signal privation, and immune system redirection. Clinical results in patients with relapsed/refractory MM suggest that MoAbs are likely to operate synergistically with traditional therapies (dexamethasone), immune modulators (thalidomide, lenalidomide), and other novel therapies (bortezomib); in addition, MoAbs have shown the ability to overcome resistance to these therapies. It remains to be defined how MoAb therapy can most fruitfully be incorporated into the current therapeutic paradigms that have achieved significant survival earnings in patients with MM. This will require careful consideration of the optimal sequence of treatments and their clinical position as either short‐term induction therapy, frontline therapy in patients ineligible for ASCT, or long‐term maintenance treatment.
Generalizing Tableau to Any Color of Teaching Boards

Teaching boards are omnipresent in classrooms throughout the world. Tableau is a software environment for processing images from teaching-boards acquired using portable digital cameras and cell-phones. The previous versions of Tableau were restricted to white-board processing. This paper generalizes the enhancement algorithm to work with boards of any color, being the first software environment able to process non-white boards.
A novel dual-band bandpass filter using stub-loaded resonators

A novel compact dual-band bandpass filter using novel stub-loaded resonators(SLRs) is proposed in this paper. The proposed dual-band bandpass filter comprises two folded mirror-symmetry SLRs, the open stub loaded inside the open loop in the paper is bifid and folded to increase the length of the stub- loaded line for increase the tuning range of even-mode frequency without a size increase. Two paths of coupling for the two resonators exist, by introducing zero-degree feed line structure and spur-line, A filter with six transmission zeros is designed, greatly improve the selectivity.
Observations on Traction Epiphyses.

IN considering the subject of epiphyses I have come to the conclusion that they are of at least three kinds. The first are those which appear at the articular ends of long bones, whose shape corresponds more or less exactly with the cartilage-covered area. These may be spoken of as pressure epiphyses, since they transmit the weight of the body from bone to bone. The second kind form knob-like processes or, in some cases, caps over the tops of knobs where important muscles are attached to bones. Traction epiphyses will, perhaps, be a good name for these, since they are concerned with the pull of muscles. The third kind includes those epiphyses which represent parts of the skeleton at one time of functional importance, but which, having lost their function, have now become fused with neighbouring bones, and only appear as separate ossifications in early life. These I propose to speak of as atavistic epiphyses. On a former occasion I J called the attention of the Society to two examples of what I thought were atavistic epiphyses in man's pelvis-the tuberosity of the ischium representing the hypoischium of reptiles, and the little centre of ossification which appears at the angle of the pubis corresponding to the epipubis of amphibians and reptiles. I now wish to make a few remarks on traction epiphyses. In the first place, these are, I believe, more modern structures, phylogenetically, than pressure epiphyses. There is a widespread belief among anatomists that epiphyses of all kinds are found in mammals alone. I do not know where this idea originated, or how I came to hear it, but I am sorry to say I have been in the habit of teaching it up to a few months ago. On making sections of the bones of reptiles I have found
Effet de la hiérarchie sociale sur le comportement alimentaire du porc dans un contexte d'antibiothérapie administrée par l'aliment

In the pig industry, bacterial diseases are usually treated with in-feed antibiotics. Irregular ingestion can decrease treatment efficiency and promote the selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of social rank on individual feeding patterns in pigs. A total of 108 barrows of 49.5  4.71 kg were housed in groups of 12 pigs distributed into 3 replicates of 3 pens each. The IVOG feeding-stations registered individual feeding data during a 10-day period of medicated feed (chlortetracycline). Two social rank tests were done to determine social ranks in each group. Spearman’s rank correlation tests confirmed inconsistency in social rank determination from one test to the other. Three clusters were established based on feeding data. The number of dominant and subordinate pigs was not significantly different from one cluster to the other. Therefore, no clear relationship could be demonstrated between social ranks and individual feeding patterns.
Exercise, unlike insulin, promotes glucose transporter translocation in obese Zucker rat muscle.

Insulin or exercise stimulates skeletal muscle glucose transport, most likely by increasing both the number and activity of glucose transporters in the plasma membrane. Skeletal muscle glucose transport of genetically obese Zucker rats (fa/fa) displays a severe insulin resistance that results, at least in part, from a failure of net transporter translocation to the cell membrane (King, P., E. D. Horton, M. Hirshman, and E. S. Horton. J. Clin, Invest. 90: 1568-1575, 1992). The purpose of the present study was to determine if the obese rat muscle was also resistant to the action of acute exercise to increase glucose transport and, if so, to determine if the defect involved transporter translocation as seen in the resistance to insulin. The muscle glucose transport system was investigated in plasma membranes isolated from postprandial, sedentary or acutely exercised, lean and obese Zucker rats. Measurements of D- and L-glucose uptake by membrane vesicles under equilibrium exchange conditions indicated that an acute bout of exercise resulted in a threefold increase in the maximum velocity (Vmax) for lean animals (5.7 vs. 17.6 nmol.mg protein-1.min-1) and a 4.5-fold increase in the Vmax for obese rats (4.1 vs. 18.6 nmol.mg protein-1.min-1). For both lean and obese animals, this increase in transport was associated with an increase in transporter number measured by cytochalasin B binding (1.6- and 2.2-fold, respectively) and with an increase in the average carrier turnover number (1.9- and 2.0-fold, respectively). The results indicate that, unlike a maximal insulin stimulus, acute exercise of the obese Zucker rat promotes both transporter translocation and transporter activation in skeletal muscle.
Legislative Life in the 1990s: A Comparison of Black and White State Legislators

Although the number of black state legislators has increased dramatically in the last several decades, there is relatively little known about these important officeholders and how they compare to their white colleagues. Through a nationwide survey conducted in 1991-92, we gain some information on these legislators. The results depict some similarities among black and white legislators in terms of background characteristics and public policy concerns. The more obvious trends in the survey findings, however, are the many significant racial differences between these lawmakers, especially their perceptions of black legislative life and racial progress. While region, racial composition of district, party status, and gender serve to condition these racial disparities, significant differences in black-white legislative views remain. As more African Americans are elected to high state office, expectations that black officials may be able to address issues important to black (and perhaps other) citizens are raised. Following the 1994 elections, there were 529 black state legislators, more than three times as many as there were in 1969. The states, moreover, are the most fiscally healthy level of government, and this factor along with the increased devolution of power from Washington has propelled black state legislators to the forefront in terms of meeting minority needs. As important as black legislators are, surprisingly little is known about who they are, what they have accomplished, and what kinds of barriers they encounter. Even less is known about how they and their white colleagues view one another. Since African Americans are relatively new to most state legislatures, this lack of knowledge is not surprising. Yet it is important to know how white and black legislators work together, how their backgrounds compare, what their political ideologies and policy concerns are, and how white legislators perceive black officeholders' political actions. These racial comparisons are
Black Males Left Behind

Despite the overall economic gains in the 1990s, many young black men continue to have the poorest life chances of anyone in our society. Joblessness and low earnings among these less-educated young adults are contributing to reductions in marriage, increases in nonmarital childbearing, and a host of other social problems. In Black Males Left Behind, Ronald Mincy has assembled a distinguished group of experts who examine how less-educated black men fared relative to other less-educated young people during the economic expansion of the 1990s and why. Chapters explore the roles of the macroeconomy, the deconcentration of blue-collar employment, criminal justice policy, and the employment aspirations of young less-educated black men and consider their implications for the design of employment services, welfare-to-work policies, workforce development policy, and child support enforcement. Two chapters comprehensively review policy opportunities to assist less-educated young black fathers and discuss how to overcome political resistance to initiatives serving less-educated black men. This book makes a compelling case for greater public attention to a serious domestic problem.
Countercyclical and Time-Varying Risk Aversion and the Equity Premium

This paper tests the counter-cyclicality of aggregate risk aversion and price of market risk using a novel testing approach introduced in Antell and Vaihekoski (2015) for conditional asset pricing models. Cohen et al. (2015) report experimental evidence that the risk aversion is countercyclical, although empirical support from financial studies is at best inconclusive. This paper applies the new testing approach for the Merton (1973, 1980) model with time-varying risk aversion. The testable implications link realized equity premium to, among others, changes in conditional variance, its long-term persistence, and changes in the time-varying risk aversion. Empirically, testing is conducted using monthly US stock market data from 1928 to 2013, and using (asymmetric) GARCH models to estimate conditional variance. We compare various methods to model economic expectations regarding the state of the economy. Unlike the traditional estimation approach, the results from the new estimation approach give support for time-varying and countercyclical behavior for the risk aversion.
Copy number and sequence variants implicate APBA2 as an autism candidate gene

We recently reported an autistic proband and affected sibling with maternally inherited microduplications within the 15q13.1 and 15q13.3 regions that contain a total of 4 genes. The amyloid precursor protein‐binding protein A2 (APBA2) gene is located within the 15q13.1 duplication and encodes a neuronal adaptor protein essential to synaptic transmission that interacts directly with NRXN1 at the presynaptic membrane. We interpreted this as evidence for a putative role of APBA2 in autism as larger maternal duplications of 15q11‐q13 are the most common known cause of autism. We therefore resequenced 512 subjects with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 463 controls, and identified 7 novel nonsynonymous coding variants in ASD subjects compared with 4 in controls. Five of the seven variants in the ASD group were predicted to affect protein function, alter residues conserved across 18 species, or both. All of the variants for which parental DNA was available were inherited. We also found two different nonsynonymous variants in two siblings with autism: (1) a paternally inherited heterozygous 6 bp deletion and (2) a maternally inherited heterozygous missense mutation, the latter also found in a single control. These results indicate compound heterozygous mutations of APBA2 in this autism sibship. The co‐occurrence of two nonsynonymous mutations in both affected siblings in a single family, each transmitted from a different unaffected parent, suggest a role for APBA2 mutations in rare individuals with ASD.
Proximity detection with RFID in the Internet of Things

The RFID technology has opened a new world of possibilities for development of novel devices that can identify objects, monitor the status of objects, and take actions. These devices make further inroads towards the concept known as the Internet of Things. Recently, we have introduced a novel device called Sense-a-Tag (ST), which when added to standard RFID systems increases their capabilities. In this paper, we explore the potential of an ST-based RFID system for proximity detection. We first survey potential solutions for proximity detection and point out to their problems. Then we discuss several applications of ST-based RFID systems. Finally, we experimentally characterize the proximity detection performance of these systems.
Constructing the Core User Set for Collaborative Recommendation Based on Samples Selection Idea

As an effective recommendation technology to solve "information overload" problem, collaborative filtering has widly attracted attention of scholars from various fields. First, this paper proposes a method for measuring the recommending ability of user based on popularity and long-tailed distribution. Then, a global core user set is constructed for recommadition based on the recommending ability and samples selection idea in data mining, aimming to take advantage of users in the different part of the long tail distribution and reduce computing complexity of the algorithm without lowing the recommended performance. Experimental results show that the algorithm is effective and can be used to solve the real-time problem and cold start recommendation.
Reusing dynamic redistribution to eliminate cross-server operations and maintain semantics while scaling storage systems

Distributed file systems that scale by partitioning files and directories among a collection of servers inevitably encounter cross-server operations. A common example is a rename that moves a file from a directory managed by one server to a directory managed by another. Systems that provide the same semantics for cross-server operations as for those that do not span servers traditionally implement dedicated protocols for these rare operations. This thesis explores an alternate approach, with simplicity as a goal, that exploits the existence of dynamic redistribution functionality (e.g., for load balancing, incorporation of new servers, and so on). When a client request would involve files on multiple servers, the system can redistribute those files onto one server and have it service the request. Although such redistribution is more expensive than a dedicated cross-server protocol, preliminary analysis of NFS traces indicates that such operations are extremely rare in file system workloads. Thus, when dynamic redistribution functionality exists in the system, cross-server operations can be handled with very little additional implementation complexity.
Development of esophageal epithelium in the fetal and neonatal mouse

Development of the fetal mouse esophageal epithelium was followed using light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and radioautography. At 15 days of gestation in the cervical (C), mediastinal (M), and abdominal (A) segments of the esophagus, the epithelium was two or three cells thick, and only cells located in the basal (germinal) layer incorporated tritiated thymidine. Ciliated cells were sparse in all three segments. At 17 days of gestation, longitudinal mesenchymal ridges became more differentiated in the distal segment. Labeling indices were lower than at preceding stages in each segment. Ciliated cells had increased in number and appeared to be evenly distributed along the whole esophagus. In periodic acid‐Schiff (PAS)‐stained sections, an increasing proximodistal distribution of glycogen stores was observed, with greatest concentrations found in segment A. At 18 days of gestation, labeling indices were comparable in segments C and M (11.7% ± 2.9% and 12.8% ± 1.9%, respectively) but remained higher in segment A (17.9% ± 2.0%). Ciliated cells were still present. At this stage, transverse circular furrows and ridges started to appear. They increased in number at 4 days after birth and were very closely distributed in the adult. In longitudinal sections, these ridges corresponded to projections of stratum granulosum and of the overlying stratum corneum. After birth, ciliated cells desquamated rapidly but some patches were still present at 4 days. At 8 days, the esophageal epithelium was not yet keratinized.
Bit-Level Soft Run-Length Limited Decoding Algorithm for Visible Light Communication

In this letter, we proposed a bit-level soft (BLS) run-length limited (RLL) decoding algorithm for visible light communication (VLC). Conventional RLL encoding is only used for dimming control, and the lack of effective RLL decoding is a long-standing issue in VLC systems. Therefore, an RLL decoding method that utilizes soft information from the channel to produce BLS output is proposed for enhancing the performance of the system. The BLS RLL decoder is conjugated with a Reed-Solomon decoder that can efficiently utilize bit-level information from RLL decoding output. The simulation results show that the bit error rate performance of our proposed RLL decoding provides a significant gain over that of the conventional RLL decoding and compares favorably with that of the referenced RLL decoding methods.
The Limits to Globalization: Technology Districts and International Trade

AbstractThe proportion of traded goods in world output has been rising steadily over the past several decades. When we look at specific products exported by the advanced industrial nations, increasing export specialization is evident. Such specialization cannot be explained by conventional notions of comparative advantage, nor entirely by the new trade theory based on economies of scale. Rather, a significant proportion must be due to technological or “absolute” advantages on the part of the specialized exporter, and a significant dimension of technological advantage is product-based and renewed through learning, giving rise to dynamic economies of variety as a source of export specialization. Industries characterized by such product-based learning and absolute advantage tend to have important developmental effects on their host economies because they earn quasi-rents. Such industries also tend to be organized into production networks combining the advantages of specialization and flexibility, which are k.
Diffusion-weighted imaging of breast cancer with the sensitivity encoding technique: analysis of the apparent diffusion coefficient value.

PURPOSE The usefulness of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the field of neuroradiology has been established. Despite its high contrast resolution, DWI has the disadvantages of susceptibility artifact and chemical shift artifact. We performed DWI of breast cancer with the sensitivity encoding (SENSE) technique. METHODS The subjects were 60 female patients with breast mass. All patients underwent MRI including SENSE-DWI and were diagnosed histologically. Of these patients, 55 were diagnosed with breast cancer and the remaining five were diagnosed with benign mass. The histological diagnoses of breast cancer were as follows: 39 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC); 11 cases of IDC with a predominant intraductal component and non IDC (pure or predominant NIDC); and five cases of special types of cancer. The MR system used was a Gyroscan Intera 1.5T (Philips Medical Systems). In addition to routine MRI for breast cancer, including contrast-enhanced dynamic, SENSE-DWI was obtained. The accuracy of the positional information of SENSE-DWI was visually compared with that of conventional images. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of breast mass were analyzed with SENSE-DWI. RESULTS The accuracy of positional information was adequate for diagnosing of all patients. The mean ADC value of breast cancer was 1.021x10(-3) mm2/s and that of benign mass was 1.488x10(-3) mm2/s (p=0.0002). The mean ADC value of IDC was 0.968x10(-3) mm2/s and that of pure or predominant NIDC was 1.218x10(-3) mm2/s (p=0.0011). CONCLUSION SENSE-DWI was of sufficient quality to support diagnosis of breast mass. SENSE-DWI may permit the acquisition of more detailed information about lesions, including tumor cellularity, that is difficult to obtain with conventional techniques.
Comparative risk of microalbuminuria and proteinuria in UK residents of south Asian and white European ethnic background with type 2 diabetes: a report from UKADS

Abstract Objective: This study investigated and compared the prevalence of microalbuminuria and overt proteinuria and their determinants in a cohort of UK resident patients of white European or south Asian ethnicity with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Research design and methods: A total of 1978 patients, comprising 1486 of south Asian and 492 of white European ethnicity, in 25 general practices in Coventry and Birmingham inner city areas in England were studied in a cross-sectional study. Demographic and risk factor data were collected and presence of microalbuminuria and overt proteinuria assessed. Trial registration number: ISRCTN 38297969. Main outcome measures: Prevalences of microalbuminuria and overt proteinuria. Results: Urinary albumin:creatinine measurements were available for 1852 (94%) patients. The south Asian group had a lower prevalence of microalbuminuria, 19% vs. 23% and a higher prevalence of overt proteinuria, 8% vs. 3%, χ2 = 15.85, 2df, P = 0.0004. In multiple logistic regression models, adjusted for confounding factors, significantly increased risk for the south Asian vs. white European patients for overt proteinuria was shown; OR (95% CI) 2.17 (1.05, 4.49), P = 0.0365. For microalbuminuria, an interaction effect for ethnicity and duration of diabetes suggested that risk for south Asian patients was lower in early years following diagnosis; OR for SA vs. WH at durations 0 and 1 year were 0.56 (0.37, 0.86) and 0.59 (0.39, 0.89) respectively. After 20 years’ duration, OR = 1.40 (0.63, 3.08). Limitations: Comparability of ethnicity defined groups; statistical methods controlled for differences between groups, but residual confounding may remain. Analyses are based on a single measure of albumin:creatinine ratio. Conclusions: There were significant differences between ethnicity groups in risk factor profiles and microalbuminuria and overt proteinuria outcomes. Whilst south Asian patients had no excess risk of microalbuminuria, the risk of overt proteinuria was elevated significantly, which might be explained by faster progression of renal dysfunction in patients of south Asian ethnicity.