Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antifungal prophylaxis in cancer patients after chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation: systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of antifungal prophylaxis on all-cause mortality as primary outcome, invasive fungal infections (IFIs), and adverse events. Many studies have evaluated the role of antifungal prophylaxis in cancer patients, with inconsistent conclusions. METHODS We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials comparing systemic antifungals with placebo, no intervention, or other antifungal agents for prophylaxis in cancer patients after chemotherapy. The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, conference proceedings, and references were searched. Two reviewers independently appraised the quality of trials and extracted data. RESULTS Sixty-four trials met inclusion criteria. Antifungal prophylaxis decreased all-cause mortality significantly at end of follow-up compared with placebo, no treatment, or nonsystemic antifungals (relative risk [RR], 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.95). In allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients, prophylaxis reduced all-cause mortality (RR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.85), fungal-related mortality, and documented IFI. In acute leukemia patients, there was a significant reduction in fungal-related mortality and documented IFI, whereas the difference in mortality was only borderline significant (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.74 to 1.06). Prophylaxis with itraconazole suspension reduced documented IFI when compared with fluconazole, with no difference in survival, and at the cost of more adverse events. On the basis of two studies, posaconazole prophylaxis reduced all-cause mortality (RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.98), fungal-related mortality, and IFI when compared with fluconazole. CONCLUSION Antifungal prophylaxis decreases all-cause mortality significantly in patients after chemotherapy. Antifungal prophylaxis should be administered to patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT, and should probably be administered to high-risk acute leukemia patients.
Nucleotide sequence and T cell epitopes of a membrane protein of Francisella tularensis.

A 17-kDa major membrane protein of the facultative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis is recognized by T cells from individuals previously undergoing tularemia or tularemia vaccination. Here the nucleotide sequence of the encoding gene is presented. The A + T rich sequence deduced a protein of 149 amino acids with a predicted m.w. of 15,772. Evidence is presented suggesting that the 17-kDa protein is a lipoprotein. Also, homology was found to a peptidoglycan-associated lipoprotein of Escherichia coli. Thirteen overlapping synthetic peptides encompassing the entire deduced protein were tested on lymphocytes from F. tularensis-primed individuals. Three peptides induced a T cell response, as disclosed by lymphocyte proliferation and production of IL-2 and IFN-gamma. Out of five responding individuals, only one recognized more than one of the peptides. A murine mAb recognized an epitope separate from the T cell-reactive peptides. The identified T cell epitopes are presumably relevant to the host defense against F. tularensis, especially because IFN-gamma is known to enhance the antimicrobial activity of the host against intracellular bacteria.
DNA methylation, ageing and the influence of early life nutrition

It is well established that genotype plays an important role in the ageing process. However, recent studies have suggested that epigenetic mechanisms may also influence the onset of ageing-associated diseases and longevity. Epigenetics is defined as processes that induce heritable changes in gene expression without a change in the DNA nucleotide sequence. The major epigenetic mechanisms are DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA. Such processes are involved in the regulation of tissue-specific gene expression, cell differentiation and genomic imprinting. However, epigenetic dysregulation is frequently seen with ageing. Relatively little is known about the factors that initiate such changes. However, there is emerging evidence that the early life environment, in particular nutrition, in early life can induce long-term changes in DNA methylation resulting in an altered susceptibility to a range of ageing-associated diseases. In this review, we will focus on the changes in DNA methylation that occur during ageing; their role in the ageing process and how early life nutrition can modulate DNA methylation and influence longevity. Understanding the mechanisms by which diet in early life can influence the epigenome will be crucial for the development of preventative and intervention strategies to increase well-being in later life.
Diurnal variation in the b-wave implicit time of the human electroretinogram

Photopic electroretinograms (ERGs) elicited by light flashes were recorded for three normal human subjects who were exposed, throughout, to natural ambient light cycles over 24-h day–night periods. ERGs were recorded either with the adaptation state of the eyes maintained at the level set by the natural ambient lighting, or after 10 min dark adaptation. The amplitudes and implicit times of both the a- and b-wave components of the ERG were examined and of these, only the b-wave implicit time exhibited significant diurnal variation, such that the nighttime values were 20–40% greater than those recorded during daytime. Such diurnal variations were observed under both recording conditions and cannot, therefore, be attributed to diurnal changes in the adaptation state of the cone photoreceptors. ERGs were recorded at midday and midnight during 24-h exposure to the natural light cycle, but during the recording period, the short-term adaptation state of the eye was controlled by exposure to rod saturating background field, so that visual sensitivity was the same at both recording times. The b-wave implicit times recorded at midnight were, nonetheless, greater than those recorded at midday. This difference is not, therefore, determined by the short-term state of retinal adaptation, but reflects long-term light history. Measurements performed under 24-h continuous light exposure showed no variation in the b-wave implicit time, whereas some measurements made during extended dark adaptation provided limited evidence for implicit time changes. By controlling the wavelengths to which the eye was exposed during the daylight phase of the diurnal cycle, it was shown that the shifts in b-wave implicit time associated with the change from dark to light are triggered by the rod system, although they are most clearly observed in the cone-dominant responses to long-wavelength light. The results demonstrate a diurnal variation in the temporal responses of the post-photoreceptoral cone pathways of the human retina, which is triggered by activation of the rod photoreceptors.
Curcumin Interferes with HER-2 Signaling in a Redox-Dependent Manner in SK-BR-3 Human Breast Cancer Cells

Cite this article: Venkiteswaran S, Hsu HC, Yang PA, Thomas T, Thomas TJ (2014) Curcumin Interferes with HER-2 Signaling in a Redox-Dependent Manner in SK-BR-3 Human Breast Cancer Cells. J Hum Nutr Food Sci 2(2): 1030. *Corresponding author Thomas TJ, Departments of Medicine, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, USA, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 125 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA, Email:
Optimal Asymmetric Resource Allocation for Multi-Relay Based LTE-Advanced Systems

In this paper, we propose a novel asymmetric resource allocation (RA) scheme for the decode-and-forward (DF) multi-relay based Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) system, with the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. Given a fixed total transmit time duration, the time slot durations for the two hops via each of the K relays are designed to be asymmetric, which increases the degree of freedom for transmission significantly. We propose an optimal algorithm to maximise the system capacity, with joint asymmetric time allocation, power allocation, and subcarrier selection/allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed asymmetric RA scheme provides an enhanced performance over algorithms with symmetric time slot allocation, and it is also robust against the variation of relay nodes' locations.
Psychosocial factors associated with cardiovascular reactivity in older adults.

&NA; This study examined associations of psychosocial factors with cardiovascular reactivity in two groups of men and women—spouse caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (M age = 69.4 N = 82) and controls (M age = 68.5, N = 78) group‐matched for age and gender. Cardiovascular responses to an emotional task (speech sample about one's spouse) yielded higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP, DBP) than a spoken cognitive task, which in turn yielded higher BPs and heart rate (HR) than the baseline rest period. HR was greater in response to the two tasks than in response to the baseline period, but it did not differ across tasks. Regression models of SBP, DBP, and HR reactivity in response to the two tasks demonstrated that after controlling for hypertension and gender, combinations of hostility, anger expression, avoidance coping, Type A behavior and Expressed Emotion (criticism) explained more reactivity in response to the emotional (8–12%) than the cognitive task (4–7%). Caregivers were more reactive than controls only if they were hypertensive. Psychosocial factors may be as important in explaining reactivity in older adults as in younger adults.
Mitochondrial function in sepsis: Acute phase versus multiple organ failure

Objective:To describe temporal changes in mitochondrial function during the septic process, including the recovery phase. Design:Literature review. Subjects:Clinical studies and laboratory models. Main Results:Biochemical and ultrastructural mitochondrial abnormalities have been recognized in in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro laboratory models of sepsis for >30 yrs. Short-term models show variable effects on mitochondrial function and structure; this is likely related to differences in model design, including species, organs studied, degree of septic insult, and degree of resuscitation. Longer-term models more consistently reveal mitochondrial dysfunction and damage. There is a rebound increase in oxygen consumption and resting energy expenditure in the recovery phase of sepsis. This could reflect mitochondrial recovery (biogenesis) that may restore the energy supply needed to fuel restorative metabolic processes and enable patient survival. Conclusion:Mitochondrial dysfunction seems to be intrinsically involved in the pathogenesis of multiple organ failure. As a consequence of a progressive decrease in energy availability, metabolism must decrease or the cell will die. The interplay between adenosine 5′-triphosphate supply and demand, dictated by the degree of mitochondrial dysfunction and the level of metabolic shutdown (analogous to a hibernation-type response), seems to be crucial in determining outcome. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Immunotherapeutic approaches in chronic myelogenous leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a stem cell disease in which BCR/ABL plays an important role as oncoprotein and also as a molecular and immunogenic target. In fact, several molecular targeted drugs and immunotherapies have been developed for this disease. In the current article, several immunotherapeutic approaches in CML, including interferon-α and vaccination, are discussed along with results from clinical trials and the value of such immunotherapies in the imatinib-era.
Consensus networks with time-delays over finite fields

ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate the consensus problem in networks with time-delays over finite fields. The delays are categorised into three cases: single constant delay, multiple constant delays, and time-varying bounded delays. For all cases, some sufficient and necessary conditions for consensus are derived. Furthermore, assuming that the communication graph is strongly connected, some of the obtained necessary conditions reveal that the conditions for consensus with time-delays over finite fields depend not only on the diagonal entries but also on the off-diagonal entries, something that is intrinsically distinct from the case over real numbers (where having at least one nonzero diagonal entry is a sufficient and necessary condition to guarantee consensus). In addition, it is shown that delayed networks cannot achieve consensus when the interaction graph is a tree if the corresponding delay-free networks cannot reach consensus, which is consistent with the result over real numbers. As for average consensus, we show that it can never be achieved for delayed networks over finite fields, although it indeed can be reached under several conditions for delay-free networks over finite fields. Finally, networks with time-varying delays are discussed and one sufficient condition for consensus is presented by graph-theoretic method.
Suicide Risk in College Students: The Effects of Internet Addiction and Drug Use

In Turkey, 788 young people aged between 15 and 24 years committed suicide in 2012, and 417 of these young people were college-aged (Turkiye iistatistik Kurumu [TUIK], 2013). College life signifies a period in which one prepares for both a profession and social life as an adult. Some traumas resulting from adolescence are resolved and some major goals for future life are clarified during this time. Therefore, the college years can be seen as a challenging period in which compulsive behavior is likely youths are faced many difficulties.Suicide is an act of aggression against oneself, and the intentional extermination of ones own life. It is defined as "all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result" (Durkheim, 1992). Suicide is reported as the second-most-common cause of death for college students (Taub & Thompson, 2013). College students at risk for suicide can be classified into two broad groups: those who come to college with a diagnosis of a psychological disorder, those who first experience affective disorders during their college education. According to the Suicide Prevention Source Center (2004), leaving home and progressing to university can exacerbate an existing emotional problem or trigger a new one. College students' mental health is likely to deteriorate when bad sleep habits, drug use or experimentation, and alcohol use and abuse are combined with academic and social stress (as cited in Taub & Thompson, 2013). A study by Ceyhun and Ceyhun (2003) concludes that suicide risk among college students is quite high.Factors leading to increased suicide risk in college students and others can be categorized as biological, psychological, or socio-cultural. Alcohol and drug use are seen as important risk factors for suicidal behavior (Sue, Sue, Sue, S Field, Diego, & Sanders, 2001; Hallfors et al., 2004; Karamustafaoglu et al., 2010; Morris et al., 1995; Remafedi, Farrow, & Deisher, 1991; Shamsian, 2001; Wichstrom, 2000; Yalcm, Ecsizoglu, Akkoc, Yacan, & Gurgen, 2009). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the above mentioned risk behaviors are not independent from each other, and risk behaviors bring about other risk behaviors. Therefore, it is important to examine the relationship between risk behaviors.Internet addiction can be seen as an important risk area as it has been seen frequently among college students in recent times. It cannot be ignored the positive effects of the internet on youth, but problematic Internet use and/or Internet addiction is a crucial and increasing problem (Bozoglan, Demirer, & $ahin, 2013; Li, O'Brien, S Niemz, Griffiths, & Banyard, 2005; $ahin, 2014; $ahin, Ozdemir, & Unsal, 2013). …
Citizens' Learning, Involvement, and Participation in Decision-Making Under the Democratic Ethos: A Theoretical Framework and the Israeli Experience

Abstract Public administration literature usually assumes that citizens' participation in administrative decision-making (PDM) processes can improve public sector performance and trust. In this article, we question the universality of this assumption, arguing that PDM processes will have positive results in terms of performance and trust only when there are available channels to influence policy outcomes and democratic participatory behavior. We construct theoretical arguments based on a mechanism of social learning and illustrate them by reference to the case of Israel. The framework highlights the centrality and importance of culture and social characters for the study and planning of public administration reforms.
Coding of Diagnoses, Comorbidities, and Complications of Total Hip Arthroplasty

International Classification of Diseases coding of patient charts is used by hospitals to allow for billing of patients. Coding information also is used for assessing physician effectiveness. The purpose of the current study was to examine hospital coding for patients having total hip arthroplasty. One hundred consecutive primary total hip replacements were done at one medical center by two orthopaedic surgeons. Patient charts were coded by hospital coders according to the Health Care Finance Administration guidelines. Subsequently, an orthopaedist-based team did a secondary review of these charts and the two sets of codes were compared. The diagnostic codes were similar between the two groups for 87% (174 of 200 codes) of the cases. Comorbidities generally were undercoded by the hospital coders who reported 2.9 comorbidities per patient, whereas the secondary review reported 3.7 comorbidities per patient. The hospital coders found a complication rate of 1.2 per patient, whereas the secondary review revealed a rate of 0.4 per patient. Based on the results of the current study, the authors conclude that it is important to ensure three issues regarding the standard of coding and quality control: (1) the qualifications of the coders; (2) an interaction between coders and healthcare professionals to check that coding is accurate and reproducible; and (3) communication among various health professionals (including the primary surgeon) and coders to determine what actually are appropriate diagnoses, comorbidities, and complications.
Transparent Butler Matrix using Micro-metal Mesh conductive film as a conducting element

This paper present the design and performance results of transparent Butler Matrix (BM) using Micro-metal Mesh (MM) conductive film as a conducting element and a glass as a substrate. The transparent Micro-metal Mesh (MM) conductive film have a very remarkable properties. Not only high optical transparency, it also high in electrical conductivity. It has a sheet resistance of 0.7 Ω/sq and a visible-light transmission (VBLT) of 75% respectively. The transparent Butler Matrix (BM) operates at 2.45 GHz frequency. These type of Butler Matrix (BM) can be installed to the glass surface of the building for the future 5G wireless communication internally where beam forming is required.
Generación de lenguas basada en conocimiento lingüístico

El procesado de lenguaje natural es uno de los ambitos de la inteligencia artificial m´as importante de cara a la interaccion entre personas y maquinas. Para que esta interaccion sea posible, hace falta que nuestro sistema sea capaz de comprender el lenguaje natural en un ambito concreto y que ademas pueda generar respuestas en un idioma que entienda el usuario. En esta tesis se va a tratar sobre las aproximaciones que pueden tomarse para generar texto en lenguaje natural desde cualquier fuente de informacion, ya sea textual, numerica o de otro tipo. Para centrar el procesado de lenguaje en un ambito concreto se hara una revision del estado actual de los chatbot, un area de mucha atencion recientemente que cubre todos los aspectos del procesado de lenguaje. Para aplicar las tecnicas estudiadas, haremos una peque˜na prueba de concepto con un chatbot acotado a un ambito especifico. Con esto, se dara una idea de cuales pueden ser algunas aproximaciones tanto a la comprension como a la generacion de lenguaje para resolver un problema concreto y se veran alternativas reales a la hora de crear un sistema conversacional. ---ABSTRACT---Natural language processing is one of the most important subjects in artificial intelligence when dealing with machine person interaction. To make this interaction possible we need our system to be able to understand natural language in a given domain and to answer in a language that the user comprehends. In this thesis, we will go through the techniques that can be used to generate text in natural language from any source, be it textual, numeric or other kind. We will then focus natural language processing in the area of conversational systems. This kind of systems have got many attention in recent years and they serve as a great example of the whole process in NLP. Lastly, we will apply some of this methods in the creation of a chatbot in a specific domain. This way, we will have an idea of how can natural language understanding and generation be approached.
Stability Analysis of Positive Systems With Bounded Time-Varying Delays

This brief addresses stability of the discrete-time positive systems with bounded time-varying delays and establishes some necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability of such systems. It turns out that, for any bounded time-varying delays, the magnitude of the delays does not affect the stability of these systems. In other words, system stability is completely determined by the system matrices.
Including older people with dementia in research: Challenges and strategies

This paper examines key challenges and strategies for including older people with dementia in an ethnographic study of quality of life in institutional care settings. The methods of interview and observation are described in relation to meeting four research challenges: verbal communication impairment, memory loss, decision-making capacity, and emotional disposition. A range of strategies for privileging the voice of the person with dementia is recommended which include: using different methods bespoke to each person with dementia; greater flexibility and time; preliminary meetings with the person with dementia; discussions with formal and informal carers; and research training. The researchers also conclude that the use of observation and interview are 'meaning-making occasions' which are qualitatively different but equally valuable for understanding quality of life in care settings.
Infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae: clinical spectrum, pathogenesis, immunity, and treatment.

Virtually every attempt to rank bacterial causes of community-acquired pneumonia in adults has placed Streptococcus pneumoniae at the top of the list, although the actual proportion of cases of pneumonia proven to be caused by this organism has varied from 15% to 76% in representative series. In the absence of an epidemic of meningocococcal disease, S. pneumoniae is also the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in adults and the second most common in young children, ranking behind Haemophilus influenzae type b. Blood cultures are positive in 15%-30% of cases of pneumococcal pneumonia, depending upon the population under study and, to a lesser extent, the serotype. Bacteremia-so-called primary bacteremia-may occur without an apparent source; when the disease is associated with an acute, nonspecific febrile illness in young children, harmful consequences may result if antibiotic therapy is not given. Pneumococcal empyema, endocarditis, and pericarditis occur, albeit much less commonly now than in former years. Septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, and peritonitis are seen only infrequently. Other syndromes of serious infection, such as brain abscess, pyomyositis, and peritonitis, are rare. Among less serious disease states, such as otitis media or acute sinusitis, S. pneumoniae remains the most commonly isolated bacterial pathogen when carefully aspirated material is cultured.