Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phase I/II Trial of Temozolomide (TMZ), Motexafin Gadolinium (MGd), and 60 Gy Fractionated Radiation (RT) for Newly Diagnosed Supratentorial Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM): Final Results of RTOG 0513

Purpose— Phase I: to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of motexafin gadolinium (MGd) given concurrently with temozolomide (TMZ) and radiotherapy (RT) in patients with newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Phase II: to determine whether this combination improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in GBM recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class III–V patients as compared to recently published historical controls. Methods and Materials— Dose escalation in phase I progressed through three cohorts until 2 of 6 patients experienced a dose limiting toxicity (DLT) or a dose of 5mg/kg was reached. Once a MTD was established, a one-sided one-sample log-rank test at significance level of 0.1 had 85% power to detect a median survival difference (13.69 vs. 18.48 months) with 60 deaths over a 12 month accrual period and an additional 18 months of follow-up. OS and PFS were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results— In phase I, 24 patients were enrolled. The MTD established was 5 mg/kg given intravenously 5 days a week for the first 10 RT fractions then 3 times a week for the duration of RT (1). The 7 patients enrolled to the third dose level and the 94 enrolled to phase II received this dose. Of these 101 patients, 87 were eligible and evaluable. Median survival time (MST) is 15.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 12.9–17.6), not significantly different from the historical control (p=0.36). Median PFS is 7.6 months (95% CI: 5.7–9.6). One patient (1%) experienced a grade 5 possibly related adverse event during the concurrent phase and none during the adjuvant TMZ. Conclusions— Treatment was well tolerated but median OS did not reach the protocol specified improvement over the historical control, indicating that the combination of standard RT with TMZ and MGd did not achieve a significant survival advantage.
Multicolor in vivo time‐lapse imaging at cellular resolution by stereomicroscopy

Intravital time‐lapse imaging has altered significantly many long‐standing rules of biological mechanisms, but being apparatus‐intense and laborious, time‐lapse imaging remained mostly restricted to specialized labs. We show that recently introduced fully automated fluorescence stereomicroscopes represent cost‐effective but powerful means of imaging dynamic events ranging from observing embryogenesis over several days to detailed tissue rearrangements and fast blood cell rolling in vivo. When combined with deconvolution approaches, even subcellular resolution in several colors can be achieved. Using three‐dimensional image recording, we show the spatial reconstruction of expression patterns. Furthermore, by combining three‐dimensional image recording over time with subsequent deconvolution analysis, we demonstrate that subcellular dynamics such as axonal pathfinding in vivo can be resolved. These findings promise that time‐lapse imaging using a stereomicroscope will become a hands‐on standard method for phenotype analysis in many fields of biology. Developmental Dynamics 235:1100–1106, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A presynaptic N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate autoreceptor in rat hippocampus modulating amino acid release from a cytoplasmic pool

A possible role of the N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor (NMDA‐R) as a presynaptic autoreceptor was investigated using Percoll‐purified hippocampus nerve terminals (synaptosomes). This preparation contained only a neglectable amount of postsynaptic structures. Two main effects of NMDA were observed. First, NMDA dose‐dependently (10–100 μm) and in the absence of Mg2+, stimulated basal release of aspartate and glutamate, but not of GABA. MK801 (10 μm), an open NMDA‐R‐channel blocker, reduced this effect even below control levels, indicating endogenous NMDA‐R activation. By superfusing synaptosomes, which prevents a tonic receptor occupation, also basal GABA release was stimulated by NMDA. The NMDA‐induced potentiation of amino acid superfusate levels was blocked both by MK801 and Mg2+ (1 m m), was slow in onset and returned to baseline after NMDA‐removal. The NMDA‐effect was also found in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, suggesting that amino acids were released from a non‐vesicular (cytoplasmic) pool. Secondly, in KCl‐depolarized synaptosomes exposed to 1 m m Mg2+, NMDA did not affect the release of the amino acids. MK801, however, reduced the KCl‐evoked Ca2+‐independent release of aspartate and glutamate, but not of GABA. l‐trans‐PDC, the selective inhibitor of the glutamate/aspartate transporter, prevented this MK801‐effect, suggesting a coupling between NMDA‐Rs and these transporters.
Cooperative Energy Efficient Management Scheme for Multimedia Information Dissemination

Information centric sensor network is a promising technology for multimedia sensor network due to the enhancement of transmission rate and reduced latency by using caches. Because of the limited energy in each sensor node, energy efficiency problem is crucial to be considered in information centric sensor network. In this paper, we cope with the energy efficient management problem in such network, in which both transmission energy and caching energy are considered. We derive the exact analytical expression for the energy consumption model in such network and propose cooperative energy efficient management scheme for multimedia information dissemination. We carry out extensive performance evaluations and our results show that the energy consumption can be minimized by cooperatively tuning the key parameters such as the cache size and caching probability.
The strategy of social protest

The permeability of the political arena. The challenging group. The meaning of success. The strategy of thinking small. The limits of solidarity. The success of the unruly. Combat readiness. The historical context of challenges. The limits of pluralism. Challenging groups since 1945. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.
Exploiting spatial consistency for object classification and pose estimation

In this paper we present a novel object classification and pose recovery algorithm which takes advantage of existing 3D models and multiple synchronized and calibrated views. Having a calibrated scenario provides redundant data which can be exploited for gathering spatial consistency of an object's 3D pose and its class. In a first step, the cameras need to be calibrated and aligned to one common coordinate system. A training set of 3D models, a calibrated setup and Harris corner features are used to find the best fitting 2D projection for an object within the scene. The results are improved by aligning multiple synchronized views to gain spatial consistency. Our experiments using real data show the enhanced results using a calibrated setup over analyzing each camera separately.
Exploring the Evolving Landscape of API Security Challenges in the Healthcare Industry: A Comprehensive Review

This academic investigation offers a thorough exploration of API security challenges in the Healthcare sector. Through a meticulous review of existing literature, it identifies vulnerabilities and threats, including complex authentication issues, data leakage risks, injection attacks, and weaknesses in access control. The study also points out deficiencies in current security practices, such as improper documentation and tracking protocols. This research provides critical observation for improving healthcare API security and protecting patient data. By lobbying for reliable security practices, Key Players can successfully address these risks. Finally, this paper sheds light on the API security concerns in healthcare, allowing organizations to strengthen healthcare APIs and preserve sensitive patient information, with success validated by quantitative findings.
Constables for hire: the history of private ‘public’ policing in the UK

Most currently accepted theoretical generalisations on the state of British policing conclude that there is an innovative and ongoing blurring of the boundaries between the public and the private sectors. Many make reference to the practice of the private purchase of police services from public police forces, and some explicitly claim that this is a relatively recent innovation, growing in frequency. Yet this practice is not new; it has been a feature of public policing throughout the period of the ‘criminal justice state’ (c. 1825–1975). The origin, extent, visibility and development of the practice is described here, suggesting that historically it comprised a significant aspect of the British system of policing in many areas, and has always been structured by legislation, although in the period between 1950 and 1970 it may have reached a relatively low point. Accounts of policing which stress the relationship between privatisation and ‘late modernity’ thus need to be questioned.
The role of the hippocampus in organic amnesia June 10 , 2014

Organic amnesia is a neurological disorder characterised by severe impairment in episodic memory. In the past, hippocampal damage has been assumed to be both necessary and sufficient to cause organic amnesia, however more recent research refutes this, instead suggesting the contribution of an array of brain processes. The anatomically narrow research focus on the hippocampus must now be revised in order to advance our understanding of amnesia, and the workings of human memory. One structure alone does not explain the diversity of research findings in the laying down of memories. We must look beyond the hippocampus in the search for better ways to find memories that have been lost.
Localisation of a gene for prepubertal periodontitis to chromosome 11q14 and identification of a cathepsin C gene mutation

Prepubertal periodontitis (PPP) is a rare and rapidly progressive disease of young children that results in destruction of the periodontal support of the primary dentition. The condition may occur as part of a recognised syndrome or may occur as an isolated finding. Both autosomal dominant and recessive forms of Mendelian transmission have been reported for PPP. We report a consanguineous Jordanian family with four members affected by PPP in two nuclear sibships. The parents of the affected subjects are first cousins. We have localised a gene of major effect for PPP in this kindred (Zmax=3.55 for D11S901 at θ=0.00) to a 14 cM genetic interval on chromosome 11q14 flanked by D11S916 and D11S1367. This PPP candidate interval overlaps the region of chromosome 11q14 that contains the cathepsin C gene responsible for Papillon-Lefèvre and Haim-Munk syndromes. Sequence analysis of the cathepsin C gene from PPP affected subjects from this Jordanian family indicated that all were homozygous for a missense mutation (1040A→G) that changes a tyrosine to a cysteine. All four parents were heterozygous carriers of this Tyr347Cys cathepsin C mutation. None of the family members who were heterozygous carriers for this mutation showed any clinical findings of PPP. None of the 50 controls tested were found to have this Tyr347Cys mutation. This is the first reported gene mutation for non-syndromic periodontitis and shows that non-syndromic PPP is an allelic variant of the type IV palmoplantar ectodermal dysplasias.
Brucellosis: Review on the Recent Trends in Pathogenicity and Laboratory Diagnosis

Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection transmitted from animals to humans by the ingestion of infected food products, direct contact with an infected animal or inhalation of aerosols. The last method is remarkably efficient given the relatively low concentration of organisms (10 – 100 bacteria) needed to establish infection in humans, and has brought renewed attention to this old disease. Brucella is a facultative intracellular pathogen that has the ability to survive and multiply in the phagocytes and cause abortion in cattle and undulant fever in humans. Brucella spp particularly B. melitensis, B. abortus, and B. suis represent a significant public health concern. At present, B. melitensis is the principle cause of human brucellosis in India. Molecular studies have demonstrated the phylogenetic affiliation of Brucella to Agrobacterium, Ochrobactrum, and Rhizobium. Human brucellosis still presents scientists and clinicians with several challenges, with regard to the understanding of its pathogenic mechanism, severity, progression, and development of improved treatment regimens. Molecular studies have now highlighted the pathogenesis of Brucella, for the development of newer diagnostic tools that will be useful in developing countries where brucellosis is a common, but often a neglected disease. This review compiles all these issues in general and the pathogenicity and newer diagnostic tools in particular.
MM-ABR: an Enhanced ABR Algorithm with Multi-Metric Information for QUIC-based Video Streaming

DASH is becoming the unified adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming open-source standard in video streaming. However, existing ABR algorithms lack accuracy and real-time performance in bandwidth estimation. Incorporating a wider range of information can enhance ABR algorithm performance. Positioned at the application layer, QUIC offers high scalability and can provide richer decision-making information for ABR algorithms. In this paper, we introduce an enhanced ABR algorithm enriched with multi-metric information, referred to as MM-ABR. MM-ABR surpasses the capabilities of existing ABR algorithms by additionally predicting network congestion, thereby improving the smoothness of video playback. To obtain the multi-metric information required for MM-ABR, we extend the implementation of the QUIC protocol, which allows us to integrate not only more accurate bandwidth data but also RTT and packet loss information into the DASH client application. We conduct simulations using NS-3 and compare MM-ABR with traditional ABR algorithms. The results demonstrate that MM-ABR offers higher video quality and Quality of Experience (QoE).
Helping Hand or Hidden Hurdle: Proxy-Assisted HTTP-Based Adaptive Streaming Performance

HTTP-based Adaptive Streaming (HAS) has become a widely-used video delivery technology. Use of HTTP enables relatively easy firewall/NAT traversal and content caching. While caching is an important aspect of HAS, there is not much public research on the performance impact proxies and their policies have on HAS. In this paper we build an experimental framework using open source Squid proxies and the most recent Open Source Media Framework (OSMF). A range of content-aware policies can be implemented in the proxies and tested, while the player software can be instrumented to measure performance as seen at the client. Using this framework, the paper makes three main contributions. First, we present a scenario-based performance evaluation of the latest version of the OSMF player. Second, we quantify the benefits using different proxy-assisted solutions, including basic best effort policies and more advanced content quality aware prefetching policies. Finally, we present and evaluate a cooperative framework in which clients and proxies share information to improve performance. In general, the bottleneck location and network conditions play central roles in which policy choices are most advantageous, as they significantly impact the relative performance differences between policy classes. We conclude that careful design and policy selection is important when trying to enhance HAS performance using proxy assistance.
To see bruxism: a functional MRI study.

OBJECTIVE Since the pathophysiology of bruxism is not clearly understood, there exists no possible treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the cerebral activation differences between healthy subjects and patients with bruxism on behalf of possible aetiological factors. METHODS 12 healthy subjects and 12 patients with bruxism, a total of 24 right-handed female subjects (aged 20-27 years) were examined using functional MRI during tooth-clenching and resting tasks. Imaging was performed with 3.0-T MRI scanner with a 32-channel head coil. Differences in regional brain activity between patients with bruxism and healthy subjects (control group) were observed with BrainVoyager QX 2.8 (Brain Innovation, Maastricht, Netherlands) statistical data analysis program. Activation maps were created using the general linear model: single study and multistudy multisubject for statistical group analysis. This protocol was approved by the ethics committee of medical faculty of Kirikkale University, Turkey (02/04), based on the guidelines set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki. RESULTS The group analysis revealed a statistically significant increase in blood oxygenation level-dependent signal of three clusters in the control group (p<0.005), which may indicate brain regions related with somatognosis, repetitive passive motion, proprioception and tactile perception. These areas coincide with Brodmann areas 7, 31, 39 and 40. It is conceivable that there are differences between healthy subjects and patients with bruxism. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that there was a decrease of cortical activation pattern in patients with bruxism in clenching tasks. This indicates decreased blood flow and activation in regional neuronal activity. Bruxism, as an oral motor disorder concerns dentistry, neurology and psychiatry. These results might improve the understanding and physiological handling of sleep bruxism.
On the evolution of noise-dependent vocal plasticity in birds

Signal plasticity is considered an important step in the evolution of animal communication. In acoustic communication, signal transmission is often constrained by background noise. One adaptation to evade acoustic signal masking is the Lombard effect, in which an animal increases its vocal amplitude in response to an increase in background noise. This form of signal plasticity has been found in mammals, including humans, and some birds, but not frogs. However, the evolution of the Lombard effect is still unclear. Here we demonstrate for the first time the Lombard effect in a phylogentically basal bird species, the tinamou Eudromia elegans. By doing so, we take a step towards reconstructing the evolutionary history of noise-dependent vocal plasticity in birds. Similar to humans, the tinamous also raised their vocal pitch in noise, irrespective of any release from signal masking. The occurrence of the Lombard effect in a basal bird group suggests that this form of vocal plasticity was present in the common ancestor of all living birds and thus evolved at least as early as 119 Ma.
Effect of Gender on Environmental Awareness of Post - graduate Students

Aims: It was aimed in the present study to explore the effect of gender on environmental awareness of the post-graduate students. When education diversity was controlled to be science and social-science the environmental awareness was expected to be influenced by the gender of individuals. Study Design: In order to test the above objective the present study used comparative analyses in respect of the gender taking the subjects from science and social-science discipline represented from different areas. Place and Duration of Study: Place of the study was the post-graduate students selected from Karnatak and Bangalore Universities of Karnataka State, duration of the study was between February 2011 to July 2012. Methodology: The students of science discipline pursuing their 3rd semester of course in Botany, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Applied Genetics, Physics and Zoology in Karnatak and Bangalore Universities were included in the study. However, in the Bangalore University the environmental science students were added to the science discipline as the course is offered in the university. The students included for the social-science discipline were from 3rd semester courses of Economics, History, Political Science, Social Work and Sociology. On the subjects the environmental awareness test developed by Jha (1998) was administered in group and the responses were obtained by the subjects. Sample: The included total subjects for the study were 605 post-graduate students comprising from science and social-science discipline. The age range of the students was between 22 to 24 years. For the obtained data after calculating mean and SD for the groups, ‘t’ analyses was carried out to find significant difference between the groups. Results: Statistical results using the ‘t’ test revealed no significant difference between the male and the female students of both science and social-science students of Karnatak University (Dharwad Science Male mean 50.54 (SD 11.15)/Female mean 51.41 (SD 08.15), ‘t’ 0.54, p>0.05. Dharwad Social-Science Male mean 51.02 (SD 09.07)/Female mean 51.68 (SD 07.34),‘t’ 0.51, p>0.05). The study also did not find significant difference between the male and the female science students of Bangalore university. However, there was difference between the social-science students in relation to their gender, the awareness results favouring the females (Bangalore Science Male mean 49.75 (SD 11.73)/Female mean 53.97, (SD 07.37), ‘t’ 2.26, p0.05). Conclusion: It was evidenced in the present study that gender has no significant effect on environmental awareness of the post-graduate students. Out of the four comparative analyses, in three the results are in accordance with the hypothesis and in one comparative analysis it was found that the females have higher environmental awareness. This implies that gender significance study on effect of environmental awareness needs further careful verification with control of other variables.
In vivo uptake of inhaled particles by airway phagocytes is enhanced in patients with mild asthma compared with normal volunteers

Background: The uptake of inhaled particulate matter by airway phagocytes is an important defence mechanism contributing to the clearance of potentially toxic substances, including aeroallergens, from the lung. Since airway monocytes and macrophages can also function as antigen presenting cells, their ability to engulf materials deposited on the airway surface is of particular interest in patients with allergic asthma. To determine whether airway mononuclear phagocytes of patients with allergic asthma might have enhanced phagocytic activity, the in vivo uptake of inhaled radiolabelled particles was compared in 10 patients with mild allergic asthma and 8 healthy (non-allergic) individuals. Methods: Phagocyte function was assessed by quantifying the proportion of radioactivity associated with cellular and supernatant fractions of induced sputum 2 h after inhalation of radiolabelled sulfur colloid particles. All subjects were pretreated with albuterol before sputum induction. A standardised breathing pattern was used to target aerosol deposition in the bronchial airways. Results: In vivo particle uptake by airway cells was significantly greater in patients with asthma than in healthy volunteers (57.2% (95% CI 46.5% to 67.9%) vs 22.3% (95% CI 4.9% to 39.6%), p<0.01), as was in vitro phagocytosis of opsonised zymosan-A bioparticles. There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.85, p<0.01) between the percentage of sputum mononuclear phagocytes and the percentage uptake of particles in the patients with asthma but not in the control subjects. Conclusions: In vivo particle uptake by airway macrophages is enhanced in persons with mild asthma. Enhanced uptake and processing of particulate antigens could contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of allergic airways disease and may contribute to the increased risk of disease exacerbation associated with particulate exposure.