Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Is Not Essential for B Cell Survival beyond Early Developmental Stages

Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (Btk) is a crucial regulator of B cell signaling and is a therapeutic target for lymphoma and autoimmune disease. BTK-deficient patients suffer from humoral immunodeficiency, as their B cells fail to progress beyond the bone marrow. However, the role of Btk in fully developed, mature peripheral B cells is not well understood. Analysis using BTK inhibitors is complicated by suboptimal inhibition, off-target effects, or failure to eliminate BTK’s adaptor function. Therefore a Btkflox/Cre-ERT2 mouse model was developed and used to excise Btk after B cell populations were established. Mice lacking Btk from birth are known to have reduced follicular (FO) compartments, with expanded transitional populations, suggesting a block in development. In adult Btkflox/Cre-ERT2 mice, Btk excision did not reduce FO B cells, which persisted for weeks. Autoimmune-prone B1 cells also survived conditional Btk excision, contrasting their near absence in global Btk-deficient mice. Therefore, Btk supports BCR signaling during selection into the FO and B1 compartments, but is not needed to maintain these cell populations. B1-related natural IgM levels remained normal, contrasting global Btk deficiency, but B cell proliferation and T-independent type II immunization responses were blunted. Thus, B cells have nuanced signaling responses that are differentially regulated by Btk for development, survival, and function. These findings raise the possibility that Btk may also be expendable for survival of mature human B cells, therefore requiring prolonged dosing to be effective, and that success of BTK inhibitors may depend in part on off-target effects.
Efficacy of Electrical Stimulation of the Occipital Nerve in Intractable Primary Headache Disorders: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses.

AIMS To determine the efficacy of occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) in reducing the intensity, duration, and frequency of medically intractable primary headaches. METHODS A systematic review was carried out by searching three electronic databases: the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PubMed, and Web of Science. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case series were eligible for inclusion. RCTs were assessed for quality of evidence by using the Cochrane Risk of Bias and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) tools. Descriptive statistics of reported outcomes in eligible studies are presented in tabular form. Meta-analyses of RCTs comparing ONS therapy to sham therapy in chronic migraine patients were conducted for the outcomes responder rate, headache frequency, and headache intensity. RESULTS Four RCTs, 1 follow-up study, and 19 case series met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the evidence was low, with all four RCTs assessed as having a high risk of bias and small sample size. Meta-analyses of three RCTs showed patients receiving ONS therapy had a significant reduction of 3 headache days per month (difference in means = -3.061; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -5.162 to -0.961; P = .004) and a significant reduction in Migraine Disability Assessment score (standardized difference in means [SDM] = -0.634; 95% CI = -0.933 to -0.335; P < .001) compared to sham (subthreshold) therapy. There were no statistically significant differences in reduction in pain intensity (SDM = -1.220; 95% CI = -2.489 to -0.049; P = .060) or in the number of responders (risk ratio [RR] = 1.581; 95% CI = 0.749 to 3.355; P = .229). CONCLUSION ONS may be effective when compared to sham therapy, but the small number of RCTs and the heterogeneity of outcomes suggest further research in this field is needed.
Tableau: a high-throughput and predictable VM scheduler for high-density workloads

In the increasingly competitive public-cloud marketplace, improving the efficiency of data centers is a major concern. One way to improve efficiency is to consolidate as many VMs onto as few physical cores as possible, provided that performance expectations are not violated. However, as a prerequisite for increased VM densities, the hypervisor's VM scheduler must allocate processor time efficiently and in a timely fashion. As we show in this paper, contemporary VM schedulers leave substantial room for improvements in both regards when facing challenging high-VM-density workloads that frequently trigger the VM scheduler. As root causes, we identify (i) high runtime overheads and (ii) unpredictable scheduling heuristics. To better support high VM densities, we propose Tableau, a VM scheduler that guarantees a minimum processor share and a maximum bound on scheduling delay for every VM in the system. Tableau combines a low-overhead, core-local, table-driven dispatcher with a fast on-demand table-generation procedure (triggered on VM creation/teardown) that employs scheduling techniques typically used in hard real-time systems. In an evaluation of Tableau and three current Xen schedulers on a 16-core Intel Xeon machine, Tableau is shown to improve tail latency (e.g., a 17X reduction in maximum ping latency compared to Credit) and throughput (e.g., 1.6X peak web server throughput compared to RTDS when serving 1 KiB files with a 100 ms SLA).
Temporal and Fine-Grained Pedestrian Action Recognition on Driving Recorder Database

The paper presents an emerging issue of fine-grained pedestrian action recognition that induces an advanced pre-crush safety to estimate a pedestrian intention in advance. The fine-grained pedestrian actions include visually slight differences (e.g., walking straight and crossing), which are difficult to distinguish from each other. It is believed that the fine-grained action recognition induces a pedestrian intention estimation for a helpful advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). The following difficulties have been studied to achieve a fine-grained and accurate pedestrian action recognition: (i) In order to analyze the fine-grained motion of a pedestrian appearance in the vehicle-mounted drive recorder, a method to describe subtle change of motion characteristics occurring in a short time is necessary; (ii) even when the background moves greatly due to the driving of the vehicle, it is necessary to detect changes in subtle motion of the pedestrian; (iii) the collection of large-scale fine-grained actions is very difficult, and therefore a relatively small database should be focused. We find out how to learn an effective recognition model with only a small-scale database. Here, we have thoroughly evaluated several types of configurations to explore an effective approach in fine-grained pedestrian action recognition without a large-scale database. Moreover, two different datasets have been collected in order to raise the issue. Finally, our proposal attained 91.01% on National Traffic Science and Environment Laboratory database (NTSEL) and 53.23% on the near-miss driving recorder database (NDRDB). The paper has improved +8.28% and +6.53% from baseline two-stream fusion convnets.
Vegetarian compared with meat dietary protein source and phosphorus homeostasis in chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are in positive phosphorus balance, but phosphorus levels are maintained in the normal range through phosphaturia induced by increases in fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) and parathyroid hormone (PTH). This provides the rationale for recommendations to restrict dietary phosphate intake to 800 mg/d. However, the protein source of the phosphate may also be important. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We conducted a crossover trial in nine patients with a mean estimated GFR of 32 ml/min to directly compare vegetarian and meat diets with equivalent nutrients prepared by clinical research staff. During the last 24 hours of each 7-day diet period, subjects were hospitalized in a research center and urine and blood were frequently monitored. RESULTS The results indicated that 1 week of a vegetarian diet led to lower serum phosphorus levels and decreased FGF23 levels. The inpatient stay demonstrated similar diurnal variation for blood phosphorus, calcium, PTH, and urine fractional excretion of phosphorus but significant differences between the vegetarian and meat diets. Finally, the 24-hour fractional excretion of phosphorus was highly correlated to a 2-hour fasting urine collection for the vegetarian diet but not the meat diet. CONCLUSIONS In summary, this study demonstrates that the source of protein has a significant effect on phosphorus homeostasis in patients with CKD. Therefore, dietary counseling of patients with CKD must include information on not only the amount of phosphate but also the source of protein from which the phosphate derives.
Are Kazakhstani Women Satisfied with Antenatal Care? Implementing the WHO Tool to Assess the Quality of Antenatal Services

Women’s satisfaction is a part of the quality assurance process with potential to improve antenatal health services. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of women’s satisfaction with antenatal care in an urban Kazakhstani setting and investigate associated factors. A total of 1496 women who delivered in all maternity clinics from 6 February through 11 July 2013 in Semey, East Kazakhstan, filled out a standardized pretested questionnaire on satisfaction with antenatal care. Independent associations between dissatisfaction and its correlates were studied by logistic regression. Ninety percent of the women were satisfied with the antenatal care. Women who were dissatisfied had lower education. These women would have preferred more checkups, shorter intervals between checkups, more time with care providers, and shorter waiting times. The overall dissatisfaction was associated with long waiting times and insufficient information on general health in pregnancy, results of laboratory tests, treatment during pregnancy, and breastfeeding. Although most of the women in the study setting were satisfied with the new antenatal care model, we identified the main sources of dissatisfaction that should be addressed. Given that Semey is a typical Kazakhstani city, the results can be generalized to other Kazakhstani urban settings.
Myeloid neoplasms with concurrent BCR‐ABL1 and CBFB rearrangements: A series of 10 cases of a clinically aggressive neoplasm

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is defined by the presence of t(9;22)(q34;q11.2)/BCR‐ABL1. Additional chromosomal abnormalities confer an adverse prognosis and are particularly common in the blast phase of CML (CML‐BP). CBFB rearrangement, particularly CBFB‐MYH11 fusion resulting from inv(16)(p13.1q22) or t(16;16)(p13.1;q22), is an acute myeloid leukemia (AML)‐defining alteration that is associated with a favorable outcome. The co‐occurrence of BCR‐ABL1 and CBFB rearrangement is extremely rare, and the significance of this finding remains unclear. We identified 10 patients with myeloid neoplasms harboring BCR‐ABL1 and CBFB rearrangement. The study group included six men and four women with a median age of 51 years (range, 20‐71 years). The sequence of molecular alterations could be determined in nine cases: BCR‐ABL1 preceded CBFB rearrangement in seven, CBFB rearrangement preceded BCR‐ABL1 in one, and both alterations were discovered simultaneously in one patient. BCR‐ABL1 encoded for p210 kD in all cases in which BCR‐ABL1 preceded CBFB rearrangement; a p190 kD was identified in the other three cases. Two patients were treated with the FLAG‐IDA regimen (fludarabine, cytarabine, idarubicin, and G‐CSF) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI); seven with other cytarabine‐based regimens and TKIs, and one with ponatinib alone. At last follow up (median, 16 months; range 2‐85), 7 of 10 patients had died. The co‐existence of BCR‐ABL1 and CBFB rearrangement is associated with poor outcome and a clinical course similar to that of CML‐BP, and unlike de novo AML with CBFB rearrangement, suggesting that high‐intensity chemotherapy with TKI should be considered in these patients.
Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in an Urban Slum of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Background The objectives of this study were to assess the tuberculosis (TB) burden and to provide an insight into the type of circulating M. tuberculosis species in urban slums of Bangladesh. We also aimed to test the feasibility of a larger transmission study in this setting. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban slum of Dhaka city. The household members were actively screened to assess the presence of TB-related signs and symptoms; cough ≥3 weeks and body mass index (BMI) <17 kg/m2. Sputum specimens from suspects were collected for acid fast bacilli (AFB) microscopy, culture and drug susceptibility testing. Genotyping of M. tuberculosis was done using spoligotyping and variable number tandem repeats of mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units typing. Results Among 9,877 adult screened for pulmonary TB (PTB), 25 were positive for AFB on microscopy and/or culture and the prevalence of new PTB cases was estimated to be 253/100,000. Only one child TB case was diagnosed among 5,147 child screened. Out of 26 cases, 21(81%) had cough for several duration and 5(19%) did not present with cough at the time of screening. One multidrug resistant case was found. Fifty two percent of all TB cases had BMI <17 kg/m2 (p = <0.001). Among the 20 analyzed isolates, 13 different spoligotype patterns were identified in which 5 clusters contained 12 strains and 8 strains had unique pattern. Conclusions The study revealed high prevalence of TB in urban slums. Screening using low BMI can be beneficial among risk group population. It is important to conduct larger study to validate clinical variables like cough <3 weeks and low BMI to define TB suspect and also to investigate the transmission of TB in slum settings.
Contactless testing: Possibility or pipe-dream?

The traditionally wired interfaces of many electronic systems are in many applications being replaced by wireless interfaces. Testing of electronic systems (both integrated circuits and printed circuit boards) still requires physical electrical contact through probe needles and/or sockets. This paper addresses the state-of-the-art, options, and hurdles-still-to-take of contactless testing, which would resolve many test challenges due to shrinking size and pitch of pads and pins and inaccessibility of advanced assembly techniques as System-in-Package (SiP) and 3D stacked ICs.
The small‐molecule MERTK inhibitor UNC2025 decreases platelet activation and prevents thrombosis

Essentials Signaling by Gas6 through Tyro3/Axl/Mer receptors is essential for stable platelet aggregation. UNC2025 is a small molecule inhibitor of the Mer tyrosine kinase. UNC2025 decreases platelet activation in vitro and thrombus formation in vivo. UNC2025's anti‐platelet effect is synergistic with inhibition of the ADP receptor, P2Y12.
Assessment of Non-Wetting Materials for Use in Refractories for Aluminium Melting Furnaces

The addition of non-wetting materials is a common practise to enhance the corrosion resistance of aluminacontaining refractories (aluminous, andalusite, mullitic, high-alumina) used as the linings for molten aluminium melting/holding furnaces. These additives assist in the lowering the extent of reactions between molten aluminium and the refractory. In recent years, research has been conducted to investigate the effect of adding Ba-, Ca-, B-, and P-containing materials to enhance the corrosion resistance of these alumina-containing refractories to molten aluminium and its alloys. However, there is ambiguity concerning the role of these additives particularly with regard to the interfacial mechanisms. The key aspects related to current knowledge in this research area are considered, with focus on the mechanisms affecting corrosion behaviour at high temperatures and the relevant thermodynamic and kinetic considerations.
Magnetotransport response in the 3D topological insulator Bi2Te3 with indium superconducting electrodes

This report studied the magneto-transport properties in the hybrid structure which combines thin flakes of 3D topological insulator (TI) Bi2Te3 with topside indium superconducting electrodes. The observed anomalous magnetoresistance suggests two critical transitions. The first transition, obtained approximately at T = 3.4 K, is attributed to superconductivity in the indium electrodes. While the second transition, observed at lower temperature, is attributed to the proximity effect generated from the interface between the TI and the superconductor.
Simulation tools for cloud computing: A survey and comparative study

Today, cloud computing has become a promising paradigm that aims at delivering computing resources and services on demand. The adoption of these services has been rapidly increasing. One of the main issues in this context is how to evaluate the ability of cloud systems to provide the desired services while respecting the QoS constraints. Experimentation in a real environment is a hard problem. In fact, the financial cost and the time required are very high. Also, the experiments are not repeatable, because a number of variables that are not under control of the tester may affect experimental results. Therefore, using simulation frameworks to evaluate cloud applications is preferred. This paper presents a survey of the existing simulation tools in cloud computing. It provides also a critical and comparative analysis of the studied tools. Finally, it stands out a major challenge to be addressed for further research.
Semantic Ambiguity Resolution in Patients With Bipolar Disorder—An Event-Related Potential Study

Deficits in inhibitory function are assumed to underlie psychopathology in bipolar disorder (BD), especially in states of mania. A subdomain of inhibition, semantic inhibition (SI), referring to the suppression of irrelevant word meanings, may underlie formal thought disorder, such as flights of ideas. In the present study, we investigated SI in patients with BD during semantic ambiguity resolution using behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures. We presented 14 patients with BD with current manic, hypomanic, or mixed clinical states and 28 healthy controls sequentially with word triplets containing either a homonym (e.g., “organ”) or a comparable unambiguous word (e.g., “piano”). Participants were instructed to make a decision whether or not the target word was related to the meaning field of the first two words. The inappropriate homonym meaning had to be inhibited to correctly perform the target decision. In addition to reaction times (RT) and error rates (ER), the N400 ERP component to the target, an electrophysiological index of semantic processing, was analyzed as measure of the amount of SI that had taken place. Analyses of the behavioral data revealed that BD patients exhibited an overall worse performance in terms of RT and ER. In the ERP data, we found differences in N400 amplitude to ambiguous and unambiguous conditions over the right hemisphere in patients with BD depending on target congruence: In incongruent trials, N400 amplitude was smaller in ambiguous than in unambiguous words. In congruent trials, in contrast, N400 amplitude was larger in ambiguous than in unambiguous words. Such ERP differences between ambiguous and unambiguous words were absent in controls. We conclude that N400 amplitude differences in the ambiguous and unambiguous conditions of the BD group may reflect insufficient suppression of irrelevant homonym meanings in the right hemisphere. Disturbed SI processes might contribute to formal thought disorder in BD.
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in the Elderly: Are Drug-coated Balloons the Future?

Background: Balloon angioplasty revolutionised percutaneous treatment for coronary ar-tery disease four decades ago, but vessel-threatening dissections, elastic recoil and restenosis were major drawbacks to an otherwise successful long-lasting intervention. Subsequent advances with bare metal stents and then drug eluting stents followed, aiming to mitigate the risks of acute vessel closure and restenosis. However, stent implantation often necessitates dual antiplatelet therapy for a pro-longed period of time, which in itself can lead to adverse outcomes, especially in the frail elderly pop-ulation at higher risk of bleeding. More recently, bioabsorbable stents have been implemented in clini-cal practice enabling earlier intimal coverage of the stent and apposition. However, another addition to the armamentarium of percutaneous coronary intervention is the use of drug-coated balloons without the need for deploying any coronary stents or scaffolds. Drug-coated balloons are semi-compliant balloons coated with an antiproliferative agent that is rapidly released on contact with the vessel intima exerting an anti-restenotic effect. The absence of a metallic scaffold means that the need for antiplatelet therapy can potentially be negated in the longer term if required. In this article, we will review the history of percutaneous coronary intervention and the available evi-dence for the appropriate use of drug-coated balloons especially in the elderly population. Conclusion: We will conclude this review by demonstrating the potential use of drug-coated balloon rather percutaneous stenting through case examples.
Bit-commitment-based quantum coin flipping

In this paper we focus on a special framework for quantum coin-flipping protocols, bit-commitment-based protocols, within which almost all known protocols fit. We show a lower bound of 1/16 for the bias in any such protocol. We also analyze a sequence of multiround protocols that tries to overcome the drawbacks of the previously proposed protocols in order to lower the bias. We show an intricate cheating strategy for this sequence, which leads to a bias of 1/4. This indicates that a bias of 1/4 might be optimal in such protocols, and also demonstrates that a more clever proof technique may be required to show this optimality.
Dupilumab for the treatment of asthma

ABSTRACT Introduction: Dupilumab is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody directed against the α subunit of the interleukin (IL)-4 receptor (IL-4Rα). Since the activation of IL-4Rα is utilized by both IL-4 and IL-13 to mediate their pathophysiological effects, dupilumab behaves as a dual antagonist of these two sister cytokines, which blocks IL-4/IL-13-dependent signal transduction. Areas covered: Herein, the authors review the cellular and molecular pathways activated by IL-4 and IL-13, which are relevant to asthma pathobiology. They also review: the mechanism of action of dupilumab, the phase I, II and III studies evaluating the pharmacokinetics as well as the safety, tolerability and clinical efficacy of dupilumab in asthma therapy. Expert opinion: Supported by a strategic mechanism of action, as well as by convincing preliminary clinical results, dupilumab currently appears to be a very promising biological drug for the treatment of severe uncontrolled asthma. It also may have benefits to comorbidities of asthma including atopic dermatitis, chronic sinusitis and nasal polyposis.