Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RNA expression of breast cancer resistance protein, lung resistance-related protein, multidrug resistance-associated proteins 1 and 2, and multidrug resistance gene 1 in breast cancer: correlation with chemotherapeutic response.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate whether expression of particular drug resistance genes in primary operable breast cancer correlates with response to first-line chemotherapy in advanced disease. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We determined mRNA levels of BCRP, LRP, MRP1, MRP2, and MDR1 in 59 primary breast tumor specimens of patients who received chemotherapy as first-line systemic treatment after diagnosis of advanced disease. The relative expression levels were measured by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR and subsequently analyzed in relation to the type of response to chemotherapy, the length of progression-free survival (PFS), and post-relapse overall survival. RESULTS For each of these drug resistance genes, a large variation in expression level was observed among the tumors of the different patients. When analyzing mRNA expression in relation to overall response, it was found that the median expression level of these five drug resistance genes in the responding tumors, as compared with nonresponding tumors, was markedly lower. Classification of tumors as high versus low with respect to the expression level of these genes showed that the overall response in the MDR1-high subset (17%), as compared with the MDR1-low subset (68%), was significantly lower (P = 0.005). Although similar differences in response rate were found for subsets of tumors stratified by the expression level of the other drug resistance genes, none of the observed differences were statistically significant. However, in the subgroup of patients treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil, Adriamycin/epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide), a correlation between response and the expression of BCRP and MRP1 (only PFS) was found, whereas such an association was not present in the cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil-treated group of patients. Furthermore, high expression of LRP as well as MDR1 was found to be significantly associated with a poor PFS (P = 0.04 and P < 0.001, respectively). For lung resistance-related protein, this association was limited to 5-fluorouracil, Adriamycin/epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide. Expression levels of BCRP, MRP1, or MRP2 were not related with the length of PFS. Furthermore, no correlation between the expression level of these drug resistance genes and post-relapse overall survival was found. CONCLUSIONS In this pilot study, MDR1 expression in primary breast tumors was inversely related with the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy, and high expression level was a significant predictor of poor prognosis for patients with advanced disease. Apart from MDR1, the expression levels of BCRP, LRP, and MRP1 might have some additional predictive value for clinical outcome.
Bacterial Community Affects Toxin Production by Gymnodinium catenatum

The paralytic shellfish toxin (PST)-producing dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum grows in association with a complex marine bacterial community that is both essential for growth and can alter culture growth dynamics. Using a bacterial community replacement approach, we examined the intracellular PST content, production rate, and profile of G. catenatum cultures grown with bacterial communities of differing complexity and composition. Clonal offspring were established from surface-sterilized resting cysts (produced by sexual crosses of strain GCDE06 and strain GCLV01) and grown with: 1) complex bacterial communities derived from each of the two parent cultures; 2) simplified bacterial communities composed of the G. catenatum-associated bacteria Marinobacter sp. strain DG879 or Alcanivorax sp. strain DG881; 3) a complex bacterial community associated with an untreated, unsterilized sexual cross of the parents. Toxin content (STX-equivalent per cell) of clonal offspring (134–197 fmol STX cell−1) was similar to the parent cultures (169–206 fmol STX cell−1), however cultures grown with single bacterial types contained less toxin (134–146 fmol STX cell−1) than offspring or parent cultures grown with more complex mixed bacterial communities (152–176 fmol STX cell−1). Specific toxin production rate (fmol STX day−1) was strongly correlated with culture growth rate. Net toxin production rate (fmol STX cell−1 day−1) did not differ among treatments, however, mean net toxin production rate of offspring was 8-fold lower than the parent cultures, suggesting that completion of the sexual lifecycle in laboratory cultures leads to reduced toxin production. The PST profiles of offspring cultures were most similar to parent GCDE06 with the exception of cultures grown with Marinobacter sp. DG879 which produced higher proportions of dcGTX2+3 and GC1+2, and lower proportions of C1+2 and C3+4. Our data demonstrate that the bacterial community can alter intracellular STX production of dinoflagellates. In G. catenatum the mechanism appears likely to be due to bacterial effects on dinoflagellate physiology rather than bacterial biotransformation of PST toxins.
Association Between Left Atrial Stiffness Index and Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence in Patients Undergoing Left Atrial Ablation

Background—Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with significant abnormalities of left atrial (LA) systolic and diastolic function. This study describes a novel measure, LA stiffness index, that estimates LA diastolic function and its association with clinical outcomes of catheter ablation. Methods and Results—A total of 219 AF patients referred for ablation (59% paroxysmal, mean CHA2DS2VASc score 1.7±1.4) were enrolled. Atrial pressure and volume loops were prepared from invasive pressure measures and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging volumetric data during sinus rhythm for all patients. An LA stiffness index was created, defined by the ratio of change in LA pressure to volume during passive filling of LA (&Dgr;P/&Dgr;V). Patients were followed prospectively. Mean LA stiffness index for AF patients was 0.6±0.5 mm Hg/mL (paroxysmal AF 0.51±0.4 and persistent AF 0.73±0.6; P<0.001). Linear regression analysis showed a rise in the stiffness index with age, increasing at a rate of 0.02 mm Hg/mL per year (P<0.001). The LA stiffness index was higher in patients with previous LA ablation(s) for AF (0.51±0.35 versus 0.83±0.70; P<0.001). Forty of 160 patients had recurrence after AF ablation with a mean follow-up of 10.4±7.6 months. Patients with recurrence had higher stiffness index than those without recurrence (0.83±0.46 versus 0.40±0.22; P<0.001). Conclusions—LA stiffness index, a novel measure to assess LA diastolic function, increases with age and is higher in persistent AF and in the setting of repeat AF ablation. Greater LA stiffness index was independently associated with recurrence of AF after LA ablation.
Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS(TM)): A Tool for Direct Fabrication of Metal Parts

For many years, Sandia National Laboratories has been involved in the development and application of rapid prototyping and dmect fabrication technologies to build prototype parts and patterns for investment casting. Sandia is currently developing a process called Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS~) to fabricate filly dense metal parts dwectly from computer-aided design (CAD) solid models. The process is similar to traditional laser-initiated rapid prototyping technologies such as stereolithography and selective laser sintering in that layer additive techniques are used to fabricate physical parts directly from CAD data. By using the coordinated delivery of metal particles into a focused laser beam apart is generated. The laser beam creates a molten pool of metal on a substrate into which powder is injected. Concurrently, the substrate on which the deposition is occurring is moved under the beam/powder interaction zone to fabricate the desired cross-sectiwal geometry. Consecutive layers are additively deposited, thereby producing a three-dmensional part. This process exhibits enormous potential to revolutionize the way in which metal parts, such as complex prototypes, tooling, and small-lot production parts, are produced. The result is a comple~ filly dense, near-net-shape part. Parts have been fabricated from 316 stainless steel, nickel-based alloys, H13 tool steel, and titanium. This talk will provide a general overview of the LENS~ process, discuss potential applications, and display as-processed examples of parts.
Human resources management practices in small and medium enterprises in two emerging economies in Asia: Indonesia and South Korea

This paper explores human resource management practices in small and medium enterprises Indonesia and South Korea. Despite the fact that these countries have been identified as strong emerging economies and the pivotal role that SMEs play in these countries, a relatively less attention has been paid to investigate HRM practices of SEMs. This study uses existing empirical research and published data to explore HRM practices of SMEs in the two countries. The analysis of HRM practices is made with respect to both cultural values orientations of the two nations and different theories and models of HRM practices. The findings reflect the aspects of universalistic, contingency, resources base, and institutional perspectives of the strategic HRM (SHRM) model. The evidence also indicates the simultaneous adoption of both convergence and divergence theories of international HRM. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided.
Subpixel Point Spread Function Estimation from Two Photographs at Different Distances

In most digital cameras, and even in high-end digital single lens reflex cameras, the acquired images are sampled at rates below the Nyquist critical rate, causing aliasing effects. This work introduces an algorithm for the subpixel estimation of the point spread function (PSF) of a digital camera from aliased photographs. The numerical procedure simply uses two fronto-parallel photographs of any planar textured scene at different distances. The mathematical theory developed herein proves that the camera PSF can be derived from these two images, under reasonable conditions. Mathematical proofs supplemented by experimental evidence show the well-posedness of the problem and the convergence of the proposed algorithm to the camera in-focus PSF. An experimental comparison of the resulting PSF estimates shows that the proposed algorithm reaches the accuracy levels of the best nonblind state-of-the-art methods.
Induction of Systemic and Mucosal Immune Responses to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 by a DNA Vaccine Formulated with QS-21 Saponin Adjuvant via Intramuscular and Intranasal Routes

ABSTRACT Induction of mucosal and cell-mediated immunity is critical for development of an effective vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We compared intramuscular and intranasal immunizations with a DNA vaccine encoding env of HIV-1 and evaluated the QS-21 saponin adjuvant for augmentation of the systemic and mucosal immune responses to HIV-1 in a murine model. Vaccination via the two routes elicited comparable systemic immune responses, and QS-21 consistently enhanced antigen-specific serum immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a) production, delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, and cytolytic activity of splenocytes. Intestinal secretory IgA production and cytolytic activity of the mesenteric lymph node cells are preferentially elicited by intranasal immunization, and QS-21 augmented these activities as well. This adjuvant augmented production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) associated with decrease in IL-4 synthesis by antigen-restimulated splenocytes. The serum immunoglobulin subtype profile showed a dominant IgG2a response and less strong IgG1 and IgE production in a QS-21 dose-dependent manner. As expected, enhancements of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses by QS-21 were abrogated by treatment with anti-IL-2 and anti-IFN-γ monoclonal antibodies. These results suggest that the intranasal route of DNA immunization is more efficient than the intramuscular route in inducing mucosal immunity mediated by sIgA and mesenteric lymphocytes. Furthermore, QS-21 is able to act as a mucosal adjuvant in DNA vaccination and demonstrates its immunomodulatory property via stimulation of the Th1 subset. This study emphasizes the importance of the route of immunization and the use of an adjuvant for effective DNA vaccination against HIV-1.
Determinants of effective heart failure self-care: a systematic review of patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions

Context Disease management interventions for heart failure (HF) are inconsistent and very seldom incorporate the views and needs of patients and their caregivers into intervention design. Objective and data To improve intervention effectiveness and consistency, a systematic review identified 49 studies which examined the views and needs of patients with HF and their caregivers about the nature and determinants of effective HF self-care. Results The findings identify key drivers of effective self-care, such as the capacity of patients to successfully integrate self-care practices with their preferred normal daily life patterns and recognise and respond to HF symptoms in a timely manner. Conclusions Future interventions for HF self-care must involve family members throughout the intervention and harness patients’ normal daily routines.
Zero Triple Product Determined Matrix Algebras

Let A be an algebra over a commutative unital ring C. We say that A is zero triple product determined if for every C-module X and every trilinear map {⋅,⋅,⋅}, the following holds: if {x,y,z}=0 whenever xyz=0, then there exists a C-linear operator T:A3⟶X such that x,y,z=T(xyz) for all x,y,z∈A. If the ordinary triple product in the aforementioned definition is replaced by Jordan triple product, then A is called zero Jordan triple product determined. This paper mainly shows that matrix algebra Mn(B), n≥3, where B is any commutative unital algebra even different from the above mentioned commutative unital algebra C, is always zero triple product determined, and Mn(F), n≥3, where F is any field with chF≠2, is also zero Jordan triple product determined.
Managing the behavior of a patient with autism by sedation via submucosal route during dental treatment

In sedation via the submucosal route, the drug is administered through the maxillary buccal submucosa. It is time saving, effective, and safe. Patients with autism, a mental disorder, often find it hard to make relationships with other people. These patients display a strong resistance to dental treatment and sedation. This study reports a successful case of behavioral management during dental treatment, using sedation via the submucosal route. The patient was strongly resistant to sedation via the oral, intramuscular, and intravenous routes. The drug used was 9 mg (0.1 mg/kg) of midazolam. Through this case report, we reaffirm the significance of sedation via the submucosal route, and expect that it will be used more frequently for patients with autism, who display behaviors that are difficult to manage, patients with other disabilities, and children.
Activated Endocannabinoid System in Coronary Artery Disease and Antiinflammatory Effects of Cannabinoid 1 Receptor Blockade on Macrophages

Background— Cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor blockade with rimonabant represents a clinical therapeutic strategy for obesity. Recently, the role of the endocannabinoid system has been described in peripheral organs. We sought to determine whether the endocannabinoid system could be involved in human atherosclerosis and whether CB1 receptor blockade could modulate proinflammatory activity in macrophages. Methods and Results— mRNA expression levels of CB1 receptor in coronary atherectomy samples were significantly higher in patients with unstable angina than in those with stable angina (3.62±2.96-fold; n=7; P<0.05). Immunoreactive area analysis of the coronary artery showed that CB1 receptor expression was greater in lipid-rich atheromatous plaques than in fibrous plaques, especially in CD68 macrophages (9.5±1.2% versus 0.6±0.6%; n=5; P<0.01). Levels of blood endocannabinoids were significantly higher in patients with coronary artery disease (n=20) than those without coronary artery disease (n=20) (median [interquartile range]: anandamide, 1.048 pmol/mL [0.687 to 1.387 pmol/mL] versus 0.537 pmol/mL [0.468 to 0.857 pmol/mL], P<0.01; 2-arachidonoyl glycerol, 13.30 pmol/mL [6.65 to 16.21 pmol/mL] versus 7.67 pmol/mL [6.39 to 10.03 pmol/mL], P<0.05). In cultured macrophages, expression of CB1 receptor was significantly increased during monocyte-macrophage differentiation (1.78±0.13-fold; n=6; P<0.01). CB1 receptor blockade in macrophages induced a significant increase in cytosolic cAMP (29.9±13.0%; n=4; P<0.01), inhibited phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (−19.1±12.6%, n=4; P<0.05), and resulted in a significant decrease in the production of proinflammatory mediators (interleukin-1β, −28.9±10.9%; interleukin-6, −24.8±7.6%; interleukin-8, −22.7±5.2%; tumor necrosis factor-α, −13.6±4.8%; matrix metalloproteinase-9, −16.4±3.8%; n=4 to 8; P<0.01). Conclusions— Patients with coronary artery disease demonstrated the activation of the endocannabinoid system with elevated levels of blood endocannabinoids and increased expression of CB1 receptor in coronary atheroma. CB1 receptor blockade exhibited antiinflammatory effects on macrophages, which might provide beneficial effects on atherogenesis.
Diffusive and convective cosmic ray transport in elliptical galaxies

Context. An analytical solution of the generalized diffusive and convective transport equation is derived to explain the transport of cosmic ray protons within elliptical galaxies. Aims. Cosmic ray transport within elliptical galaxies is an interesting element in understanding the origin of high energetic particles measured on Earth. As probable sources of those high energetic particles, elliptical galaxies show a dense interstellar medium as a consequence of activity in the galactic nucleus or merging events between galaxies. Thus it is necessary for an appropriate description of cosmic ray transport to take the diffusive and convective processes in a dense interstellar environment into account. Here we show that the transport equations can be solved analytically with respect to the given geometry and boundary conditions in position space, as well as in momentum space. Methods. From the relativistic Vlasov equation, which is the most fundamental equation for a kinetic description of charged particles within the interstellar medium in galaxies, one finds a generalized diffusion-convection equation in quasilinear theory. This has the form of a “leaky box” equation, meaning particles are able to escape the confinement region by diffusing out of the galaxy. We apply here the “diffusion approximation”, meaning that diffusion in gyrophase and pitch angle are the fastest particle-wave interaction processes. An analytical solution can be obtained using the “scattering time method”, i.e. separation of the spatial and momentum problems. Results. The spatial solution is shown using a generalized source of cosmic rays. Additionally, the special case of a jet-like source is illustrated. We present the solution in momentum space with respect to an escape term for cosmic ray protons depending on the spatial shape of the galaxy. For a delta-shape injection function, the momentum solution is obtained analytically. We find that the spectral index measured on Earth can be obtained by appropriately choosing of the strength of Fermi I and Fermi II processes. From these results we calculate the gamma-ray flux from pion decay due to proton-proton interaction to give connection to observations. Additionally we determine the escape-spectrum of cosmic rays. The results show that both spectra are harder than the intrinsic powerlaw spectrum for cosmic rays in elliptical galaxies.
Lightweight Framework for Reliable Job Scheduling in Heterogeneous Clouds

It is crucial to ensure reliability, security and stability of cloud services without sacrificing too much resources in the area of workload management in clouds. The paper evaluates and compares lightweight decentralized algorithms for scheduling a workload part of which could be unreliable, in the context of {\em heterogeneous} cloud data centers. This unreliability could be caused by various types of failures or attacks. The framework for robust workload scheduling efficiently combines classic fault tolerant and security tools, such as packet/job scanning, with workload scheduling, and it does not use any heavy resource consuming tools, e.g., cryptography or non-linear optimization. More speciﬁcally, the framework uses a novel objective function to allocate jobs to servers and constantly decides which job to scan based on a formula associated with the objective function. In previous work it was shown how to set up the objective function and the corresponding scanning procedure of the {\em central job scheduler} to make the system provably stable, provided a specific capacity condition is satisfied. As a result, it was shown that the framework assures cloud stability even though naive scanning-all and scanning-none strategies are not stable for both centralized and decentralized scheduling in {\em homogeneous} data centers. In this work we extend the work to {\em heterogeneous} data centers, for which we show that decentralized algorithms based on Join Shortest Queue and Join Shortest Work policies are {\em stable} for every workload within the system capacity, while the algorithms based on popular Power of Two Choices, Round Robin and Uniform Random policies are {\em not stable} for a substantial amount of workloads even within the system capacity.
The ability of the skin to absorb heat; The effect of repeated exposure and age

Summary Background When heat is applied to the skin, it is dissipated due to conductive heat flow in the tissue and the blood. While heat flow has been studied after applying a single heat exposure, the physiology of repeated exposures to local heat has not been well investigated. Material/Methods Twenty male and female subjects in the age range of 20–65 years old participated in a series of experiments during which a thermode was placed on their leg above the quadriceps muscle for 20 minutes, and on 3 sequential days, to see the effect of repeated local heat on skin blood flow, skin temperature, and on caloric transfer from a thermode used to raise skin temperature. Results The results of the experiment showed that, for young subjects, to raise skin temperature to 40 degrees C required more than double the calories required in older subjects. Further, in the younger subjects, the blood flow response in the first 20 minutes of heat exposure was over 30% higher than that seen in the older subjects. However, on the 2nd and 3rd day, the blood flow response of the younger subjects, was not significantly different between day 2 and 3, but was significantly less than day 1. There was no statistical difference in the blood flow response between day 1, 2 and 3 in the older subjects. In the younger subjects, in the 2 and 3rd day, the number of calories needed to warm the skin was also significantly less than that seen in the first day. Conclusions In younger subjects but not older subjects, there appears to be some degree of acclimatization with an enhanced blood flow response in the first day that was protective to the skin which was not seen in repeated heat exposure.