Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Processes of discontinuing chemotherapy for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer at the end of life.

PURPOSE Administration of chemotherapy close to death is widely recognized as poor-quality care. Prior research has focused on predictors and outcomes of chemotherapy administration at the end of life. This study describes processes of chemotherapy discontinuation and examines their relationships with timing before death, hospice referral, and hospital death. PATIENTS AND METHODS We reviewed health records of a prospective cohort of 151 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer who participated in a trial of early palliative care. Chemotherapy treatments during final regimen were qualitatively analyzed to identify categories of discontinuation processes. We then quantitatively compared predictors and outcomes of the process categories. RESULTS A total of 144 patients died, with 81 and 48 receiving intravenous (IV) and oral chemotherapies as their final regimen, respectively. Five processes were identified for IV chemotherapy: definitive decisions (19.7%), deferred decisions or breaks (22.2%), disruptions for radiation therapy (22.2%), disruptions resulting from hospitalization (27.2%), and no decisions (8.6%). The five processes occurred at significantly different times before death and, except for definitive decisions, ultimate decisions for no further chemotherapy and referral to hospice were often made months later. Among patients receiving oral chemotherapy, 83.3% (40 of 48) were switched from IV to oral delivery as their final regimen, sometimes concurrent with or even after hospice referral. CONCLUSION Date of last chemotherapy is not a proxy for when a decision to stop treatment is made. Patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer stop their final chemotherapy regimen via different processes, which significantly vary in time before death and subsequent end-of-life care.
Targeting mTOR Complexes in Ovarian Cancer

The mammalian (mechanistic) target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a key role in cell growth and proliferation and is regarded as an attractive therapeutic target for cancer therapy. Preclinical investigations have suggested that mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTORC2 are frequently activated in epithelial ovarian cancer, especially in clear cell carcinoma of the ovary. In mouse models of ovarian cancer, mTORC1 inhibitors have demonstrated promising antitumor activity against ovarian cancer both in the setting of monotherapy and when used in combination with cytotoxic agents. Based on these promising preclinical findings, mTORC1 inhibitors are currently being evaluated in phase I/II trials involving ovarian cancer patients. In an effort to overcome resistance to mTORC1 inhibitors, novel mTOR kinase inhibitors (TORKinib) that inhibit both mTORC1 and mTORC2 have recently been developed. In this report, we review the scientific rationale and evidence for the potential clinical benefits provided by mTOR inhibitors in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.
Ethnic differences in cardiac potassium channel variants: implications for genetic susceptibility to sudden cardiac death and genetic testing for congenital long QT syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To determine the spectrum, frequency, and ethnic-specificity of channel variants in the potassium channel genes implicated in congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) among healthy subjects. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Genomic DNA from 744 apparently healthy individuals-305 black, 187 white, 134 Asian, and 118 Hispanic--was subject to a comprehensive mutational analysis of the 4 LQTS-causing potassium channel genes: KCNQ1 (LQT1), KCNH2 (LQT2), KCNE1 (LQT5), and KCNE2 (LQT6). RESULTS Overall, 49 distinct amino acid-altering variants (36 novel) were identified: KCNQ1 (n = 16), KCNH2 (n = 25),KCNE1 (n = 5), and KCNE2 (n = 3). More than half of these variants (26/49) were found exclusively in black subjects. The known K897T-HERG and the G38S-min K common polymorphisms were identified in all 4 ethnic groups. Excluding these 2 common polymorphisms, 25% of black subjects had at least 1 nonsynonymous potassium channel variant compared with 14% of white subjects (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this study represents the first comprehensive determination of the frequency and spectrum of cardiac channel variants found among healthy subjects from 4 major ethnic groups. Defining the population burden of genetic variants in these critical cardiac ion channels is crucial for proper interpretation of genetic test results of individuals at risk for LQTS. This compendium provides a resource for epidemiological and functional investigation of variant effects on the repolarization properties of cardiac tissues, including susceptibility to lethal cardiac arrhythmias.
Optoelectronic method for detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer

The optoelectronic method is one of the most promising concepts of biophysical program of the diagnostics of CIN and cervical cancer. Objectives of the work are evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of the optoelectronic method in the detection of CIN and cervical cancer. The paper shows correlation between the pNOR number and sensitivity/specificity of the optoelectronic method. The study included 293 patients with abnormal cervical cytology result and the following examinations: examination with the use of the optoelectronic method — Truscreen, colposcopic examination, and histopathologic biopsy.Specificity of the optoelectronic method for LGSIL was estimated at 65.70%, for HGSIL and squamous cell carcinoma of cervix amounted to 90.38%. Specificity of the optoelectronic method used to confirm lack of cervical pathology was estimated at 78.89%. The field under the ROC curve for the optoelectronic method was estimated at 0.88 (95% CI, 0.84–0.92) which shows high diagnostic value of the test in the detection of HGSIL and squamous cell carcinoma.The optoelectronic method is characterised by high usefulness in the detection of CIN, present in the squamous epithelium and squamous cell carcinoma of cervix.
Hybrid Rate—Admittance Control With Force Reflection for Safe Teleoperated Surgery

Teleoperated surgical systems have great potential to improve the performance of surgeons, and their use has spread worldwide in recent years. However, there are some issues that need to be resolved to make robotic surgery more reliable. For instance, the safety of current teleoperated surgical systems is dependent on the performance of the human operator, but human operators can sometimes commit errors. Therefore, a mechanism to ensure the safety of teleoperated surgery should be developed. This paper presents a hybrid system for rate control and admittance control for use in bilateral teleoperation. The proposed control system autonomously avoids excessive contact forces by switching between the rate control mode and the admittance control mode in a stable manner. The stability of the proposed control scheme was analyzed, and the system was found to be able to keep the contact force within an acceptable range. The performance of the proposed control scheme was verified through simulations and experiments. The results of the experiments and simulations showed that the proposed control scheme makes it possible to avoid excessive contact force in a stable manner.
Instrumental Gestures and Musical Composition

Real time and gestual monitoring of the production of synthesised sound has been part of the permanent preoccupations of musical informatics since its beginning. The conditions imposed by the standard mode of communication with the computer and by the time taken by calculation at the start of musical informatics placed the musician in a situation far removed from his usual action or description modes, and, in particular, ruled out an instrumental type of relationship. Today, as real time synthesis has been possible for several years, numerous devices are being developed to meet the specific demands of the instrumental Relationship efficiently and in a differentiated way. However, in complete contrast to questions relative to synthesis or compositional models, gestual monitoring has given rise especially to technical developments, with a view to approaching as near as possible given traditional instrumental situations, at the expense of sufficient theoretical reflection focused fundamentally on the role of the instrumental gesture, its status and its application in an informatic tool for musical creation. It is, however, apparent that the instrumental gesture is not mere monitoring. In " natural " sound production by acoustic instruments, this gesture participates intimately with the physical phenomenon and directly determines some of its decisive attributes for perception and musicality. It has simultaneously a concrete function : required for sound production and a symbolic one : the instrument and its accompanying gesture are two causes that combine to produce the sound effect, and, for this reason, the sound effect bears the perceptual indices that are specifically related to the gesture. The indices may remain present and significant in the sound object when this contributes to the composition of a musical structure. In the perspective of creating concepts and pertinent tools for computer assisted musical creation, it seems vital to us to consider the question of the musical gesture more in depth that from purely superficial ergonomic considerations. The object of this paper is to present, whilst attempting to situate it in the general conceptual framework of composition, a particular point of view taking the instrumental gesture, via the computer, as an object that composition may operate on. From this we have deduced the functional specificities that should be included in the conception of a musical creation informatic tool.
The Speed of Individual Face Categorization

How fast does the human visual system discriminate individual faces? To address this question, we used a continuous-stimulation paradigm in which event-related potentials (ERPs) to a face stimulus are recorded with respect to another face stimulus, rather than to a preceding blank-screen baseline epoch. Following the shift between two face stimuli, posterior sites showed an early negative ERP deflection that started at 130 ms and peaked at 160 ms, the latency of the N170, an ERP component associated with discriminating faces from objects. The ERP we recorded was larger in amplitude when the preceding stimulus was perceived as a different individual face rather than the same individual face, although face pairs were of equal physical distance in the two conditions. These findings provide direct evidence that individual face discrimination in humans can take place as early as 130 ms following stimulus onset, during the same time window as face detection.
Phosphate buffers in capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry using atmospheric pressure photoionization and electrospray ionization.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been combined with atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) for mass spectrometric (MS) detection. Separation conditions using potassium phosphate buffer and ammonium formate buffer have been compared for analysis of eleven pharmaceutical bases. The results showed improvements in separation efficiency and peak symmetry when phosphate buffer was used. The low flow in CE may enable utilization of these advances with MS detection. Compared with ESI, the APPI technique provided a cluster-free background. The enhanced signal-to-noise ratio in the total ion current (TIC) and the reduced spectral background indicated that the APPI process is less affected by non-volatile salts in the CE buffers. This results in a wider range of choice of CE buffers in CE/MS analysis when APPI is the ionization method.
Results from Scottish emergency care summary

Disappointingly, Greenhalgh and colleagues did not compare England’s summary care record with Scotland’s emergency care summary.1 Established in 2006, the emergency care summary store currently automatically receives twice daily all prescribing and adverse reaction updates from all Scottish practices. Over 200 000 records are accessed every month by clinicians working in NHS24, accident and emergency departments, and …
H∞ control with look-ahead for lane keeping in autonomous vehicles

In this paper a path tracking control for an autonomous vehicle is developed using the H∞ technique. The lateral control problem is reformulated as the control of two variables: the lateral error and the derivative of the look-ahead error, defined as the distance between a virtual point on the vehicle longitudinal axis in front of the CoG and the reference trajectory. This approach is based on the fact that while driving on a constant curvature trajectory the derivative of the look-ahead error must be 0. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated with experiments on a 2013 Dodge Dart equipped with throttle, brake and steer-by-wire system and in simulation on CarSim. A model of the vehicle is identified, validated by experimental tests and used to tune the simulator. The steering actuator dynamics is also taken into account since it significantly affects the dynamics of the total system.
Redesigned-Scale-Free CORDIC Algorithm Based FPGA Implementation of Window Functions to Minimize Area and Latency

One of the most important steps in spectral analysis is filtering, where window functions are generally used to design filters. In this paper, we modify the existing architecture for realizing the window functions using CORDIC processor. Firstly, we modify the conventional CORDIC algorithm to reduce its latency and area. The proposed CORDIC algorithm is completely scale-free for the range of convergence that spans the entire coordinate space. Secondly, we realize the window functions using a single CORDIC processor as against two serially connected CORDIC processors in existing technique, thus optimizing it for area and latency. The linear CORDIC processor is replaced by a shift-add network which drastically reduces the number of pipelining stages required in the existing design. The proposed design on an average requires approximately 64% less pipeline stages and saves up to 44.2% area. Currently, the processor is designed to implement Blackman windowing architecture, which with slight modifications can be extended to other widow functions as well. The details of the proposed architecture are discussed in the paper.
Aberrant expression of developmentally important signaling molecules in cloned porcine extraembryonic tissues

Early embryonic losses are common in cloned embryos in the current cloning system. However, the reasons for embryonic losses in early developmental stages of cloned embryos remain unclear. To elucidate the cause of early defective development in cloned embryos, two porcine clones including extraembryonic tissues were obtained at 26 days of gestation. The expression of various molecules in developmentally important signaling pathways, including Notch, hedgehog (Hh), receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT), wingless related (Wnt), and transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β), was then examined in the extraembryonic tissues. Western blot analysis showed that the expression of key molecules involved in the Notch, Hh, RTK, and JAK/STAT signaling pathways was downregulated, whereas most Wnt and TGF‐β signaling pathway molecules were upregulated in cloned extraembryonic tissues compared to normal extraembryonic tissues. These results indicate that unbalanced coordination of signaling pathways might impair the early development of cloned embryos postimplantation, thereby resulting in embryonic losses during the first trimester.
HELMINTH INFRACOMMUNITIES OF RANA VAILLANTI BROCCHI (ANURA: RANIDAE) IN LOS TUXTLAS, VERACRUZ, MEXICO

A total of 76 adult individuals of Rana vaillanti were collected in Laguna Escondida, Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, and their helminth infracommunity structure was determined. Among the 21 helminth taxa collected (10 digeneans, 8 nematodes, and 3 acanthocephalans), the digenean Langeronia macrocirra reached the highest prevalence (64.4%), mean abundance (6.6), and mean intensity (10.4), as well as the highest total number of individuals (499). Only 2 frogs were uninfected, the remainder harbored between 1 and 7 helminth species and 1–102 individuals; mean species richness and abundance were 3.49 ± 0.22 and 16.1 ± 16.3, respectively. Langeronia macrocirra dominated in 50.6% of the infracommunities, with relatively low Berger– Parker index values (0.56); for this reason, the evenness was high (0.70 ± 0.31), and consequently, diversity values are the highest recorded to date in species of Rana. However, patterns of helminth infracommunity richness and diversity were similar to those previously observed in amphibians. This structure is attributed to the feeding habits (between 66.7 and 81% of helminth species parasitizing R. vaillanti enter using the food web dynamics) and low vagility (the remainder species infect by host penetration).
The magnitude and distribution of infectious intestinal disease in Malta: a population-based study

SUMMARY Routine sources of information on infectious intestinal disease (IID) capture a fraction of the actual disease burden. Population studies are required to measure the burden of illness. A retrospective age-stratified cross-sectional telephone study was carried out in Malta in order to estimate the magnitude and distribution of IID at population level. A random sample of 3504 persons was interviewed by a structured questionnaire between April 2004 and December 2005. The response rate was 99·7%. From the study, the observed standardized monthly prevalence was 3·18% (95% CI 0·7–5·74) with 0·421 (95% CI 0·092–0·771) episodes of IID per person per year. The monthly prevalence was higher in the <5 years age group and in females aged 31–44 years. The mean duration of illness was 6·8 days and a median duration of 3 days. A bimodal seasonal distribution was observed with peaks in June–July and October–November.
Building Robots: Expectations and Experiences

In tlie four years that llie MU Mobile lbbot Project has been 1 General Theme at the Start in existence, we have built ten robots that focus research in various areas, aimed primarily towards discerning what is involved in building intelligent, useful autonomous creatures. Many of the preconceived notions entertained before we started turned out to be misguided, many issues we thought would be hard have worked successfully from day one, and subsystems we imagined to be trivial have become tremendous time sinks. Oddly enough, one of our biggest failures has led to many of our favorite successes. The general problem we set out to solve four and a half years ago was how to build a brain, or, to answer the question of what it would take to build something that we would consider clever. What were the essential components that would be needed to create an intelligent entity and how should those components be put together? The ideas we started with took a route that was different from the traditional thinking in Artificial Intelligence at that time. Namely, our From early meter-high, offboard-computer based robots, to sleek walking creatures, soda can collection machines and one cubic inch bugs, the MIT Mobot Line exhibits a wide variety of talents, sensing strategies and locomotion approaches. Central throughout is a common methodology for organizing the sensors, actuators and computational elements to effectively control complexity. A basic tenet is that it is important to build complete systems that exist in real world noise. This avoids the trap of building
Predictive risk factors of residual cholesteatoma in children: a study of 256 cases.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine which children are at risk of having residual cholesteatoma develop after initial surgery for either cholesteatoma or severe retraction pocket. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of each patient and assessing whether predictive factors exist to propose a well-guided therapeutic approach. DESIGN This was a retrospective study. Mean follow-up period (after the last eradication intervention) was 42 months. PATIENTS Two hundred thirty-one children (256 ears) with either cholesteatoma (n = 157) or severe retraction pockets (n = 99), both treated surgically, composed the patient group. METHODS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS univariate analysis of event-free survivals (using log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier estimate) and multivariate analysis (using Cox regression model) of clinical history, surgical observations, residuals occurrence (using Kaplan-Meier's statistical method) were used. RESULTS Posterior mesotympanum involvement, ossicular chain interruption after disease excision (and moreover combination of both), relative lack of experience of the surgeon, and presumed incomplete removal were identified as independent risk factors highly correlated with residuals' development (relative risks ranging from 2.02-4.84). Disease extension, type of process (cholesteatoma vs. retraction pocket), eventual surgical history, and surgical method initially used (closed or open) showed no such correlation. CONCLUSION The identification of any of these factors should instigate a mandatory second-look procedure regardless of other initial surgical findings and of technique used. The authors propose to advance this procedure from 12 to 9 months when all these factors are found in one child.
Effect of acute tensile loading on gender‐specific tendon structural and mechanical properties

Stretching is commonly used prior to exercise, as it is thought to reduce the risk of injury, and it is also used in the preconditioning of tendon grafts. As tendon properties have been shown to be different between genders, it is proposed that stretching will differentially affect the structure. Here we examine the effect of acute stretch on the mechanical properties of both male and female medial gastrocnemius tendon. Female [20 years ± 1 (SEM), n = 17] and male (22 years ± 1, n = 18) subjects underwent a 5‐min passive dorsiflexion stretch. Prior to and post stretch medial gastrocnemius tendon stiffness (K), length (l) and cross‐sectional area (csa) were measured using ultrasonography and dynamometry. Stiffness and Young's modulus (ε) were significantly reduced with stretch for both genders (p < 0.05). Females showed significantly (p < 0.05) greater pre‐ to poststretch decreases in K (22.4 vs. 8.8%) and ε (20.5 vs. 8.4%) in comparison to males. The present results show that stretching acutely reduces stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius tendon in females and males, with females showing significantly greater change. The observed disparity between genders may be due in part to variations in tendon moment arm and intrinsic differences in tendon composition. These differential changes in tendon mechanical properties have functional, motor control, and injury risk implications, as well as possible implications for preconditioning of tendon grafts. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 510–516, 2009