Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of ovarian stimulation response in patients with breast cancer undergoing ovarian stimulation with letrozole and gonadotropins to patients undergoing ovarian stimulation with gonadotropins alone for elective cryopreservation of oocytes†

Abstract The primary objective of this study is to compare the oocyte yield in breast cancer patients undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) using letrozole and gonadotropins with patients undergoing COS with standard gonadotropins for elective cryopreservation of oocytes. Odds ratios (OR) for the number of mature oocytes were estimated. Pregnancy outcomes for breast cancer patients undergoing frozen-thawed 2-PN embryo transfers (FETs) after oncologic treatment were also noted. 220 and 451 cycles were identified in the breast cancer and the elective cryopreservation groups, respectively. Patients in the former group had lower peak estradiol levels [464.5 (315.5–673.8) pg/mL] compared to the latter [1696 (1058–2393) pg/mL; p < 0.01]. More oocytes were retrieved in the breast cancer group (12.3 ± 3.99) compared to the elective cryopreservation group (10.9 ± 3.86; p < 0.01). The odds for mature oocytes with letrozole and gonadotropins was 2.71 (95% CI 1.29–5.72; p = 0.01). Fifty-six FETs occurred in the breast cancer group. The clinical pregnancy and live birth rates per FET cycle were 39.7%, and 32.3%, respectively. Our findings suggest that COS with letrozole and gonadotropins yield more mature oocytes at lower estradiol levels compared to COS with gonadotropins alone. Breast cancer patients undergoing FET after oncologic treatment have live birth rates comparable to age-matched counterparts.
Corporate Venture Capitalists and Independent Venture Capitalists: What do they know, Who do They Know and Should Entrepreneurs Care?

There is an established body of research that has examined the value-added provided by venture capitalists for their portfolio companies. More recent work has started to look at the comparable activities of corporate venture capitalists. However, to date, the value-added provided by these two types of investors for their portfolio companies has not been compared systematically. This study undertakes such an evaluation by comparing the social capital-based and knowledge-based forms of value-added provided by independent and corporate venture capitalists to their portfolio firms. Primary data from US technology-based new firms that had received both corporate venture capital and independent venture capital funding is analysed. This study demonstrates that the value-adding contributions of corporate venture capital and independent venture capital investors are different both in their origins and in their consequences. Independent VCs add value in helping raise additional finance, recruiting key employees and professionalizing the organization--early-stage establishment activities we term 'enterprise nurturing'. Corporate venture capitalists are superior in helping the young firm build commercial credibility and capacity, and in providing technological support--growth-focused activities termed 'commerce building'. Importantly, the two forms of value-added appear complementary. It is concluded that it is in the interests of both portfolio companies and their investors that both sources of advice and support are available.
9 A Tunable Microfluidic Device for Drug Delivery

The field of microfluidics, small-scale tests from nanoscale to microscale, has grown dramatically over the past two decades as evidenced by greater than 30,000 papers published over the last 10 years on the topic [Web of Knowledge search using ‘microfluidic’ terms October 2011]. Microfluidic platforms, also known as lab-on-a-chip (LOC), include a set of miniaturized integrated unit operations that are touted to lead to fast, easy, precise control in biological and chemical systems. LOCs include the development of point-of-care (POC) medical diagnostic devices with the advantages of increased sensitivity, lower sample volumes, lower reagent volumes, low energy, low cost, low labor need, and less likelihood of human error (Xiao & Young, 2011). Due to these advantages, LOCs have substantial potential to be widely utilized in medicine for analytical and diagnostic assays, biosensors, and drug delivery.
Mechanisms underlying hemispatial neglect

If patients with left‐sided hemispatial neglect bisect lines incorrectly because hemianopia or sensory hemiinattention prevents them from seeing how far the line extends to the left, a strategy that ensures their seeing the left side of the line in their normal field should improve performance. If patients have hemispatial hypokinesia, moving the line toward the normal half of body space should improve performance.
TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS AMONG ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PLASMIDS

As social interactions are increasingly recognized as important determinants of microbial fitness, sociobiology is being enlisted to better understand the evolution of clinically relevant microbes and, potentially, to influence their evolution to aid human health. Of special interest are situations in which there exists a “tragedy of the commons,” where natural selection leads to a net reduction in fitness for all members of a population. Here, I demonstrate the existence of a tragedy of the commons among antibiotic resistance plasmids of bacteria. In serial transfer culture, plasmids evolved a greater ability to superinfect already‐infected bacteria, increasing plasmid fitness when evolved genotypes were rare. Evolved plasmids, however, fell victim to their own success, reducing the density of their bacterial hosts when they became common and suffering reduced fitness through vertical transmission. Social interactions can thus be an important determinant of evolution for the molecular endosymbionts of bacteria. These results also identify an avenue of evolution that reduces proliferation of both antibiotic resistance genes and their bacterial hosts.
BAFF may modulate the rate of B-cell repopulation after rituximab therapy for acute renal transplant rejection.

B cells are being increasingly recognized as important players in acute and chronic graft rejections. The lack of depletion of these cells under standard immunosuppressive agents may result in a recalcitrant chronic rejection with poor graft function recovery and graft loss (1– 4). We have recently reported complete depletion of circulating and intragraft B cells with reversal of acute rejection in the first randomized, prospective clinical trial of rituximab for treatment of CD20 renal rejection in 20 consecutive pediatric and young adult patients (2–23 years; 13.9 5.9) (1). Patients were randomized 1:1 to standard-of-care rejection therapy (CIS group; steroid pulsing and thymoglobulin therapy for steroid-resistant rejection) versus standard-of-care therapy combined with four doses (375 mg/m/dose) of rituximab (Rituximab immunosuppression [RIS] group). In this trial, we observed the recovery of peripheral B cells over a wide time range (3–12 months, 11.8 4.3 months). However, there is no clarity about what factors may affect rituximab efficacy and what parameters should be monitored in rituximabtreated patients to predict B-cell recovery. In this study, we further investigated the temporal role of B-cell activating factor (BAFF), key survival factor for B cells (5), in peripheral B-cell repopulation and its impact on serum levels of rituximab and graft outcomes after rituximab treatment of the rejection. Serum levels of BAFF were measured in all RIS and control immunosuppression (CIS) patients at time of acute rejection and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months follow-up by an ELISA (R&D Systems Inc., cat. No. DBLYS0; Minneapolis, MN). BAFF levels were correlated with the clinical parameters (recipient age, graft function [calculated creatinine clearance], circulating donor-specific antibody, and serum immunoglobulin levels)
Fluoxetine and Carbamazepine Concentrations in a Nursing Motier/Infant Pair

D epression occurs in 10% to 15% of women who give birth,' and postpartum decompensation in women with bipolar disorder is common.2 Few antidepressants have been evaluated in nursing mother/infant pairs. Information about serum drug concentrations in infants is minimal, and most data are for tricyclic antidepressants.3 However, a significant proportion of depressed patients do not respond to tricyclics. The serotoninspecific reuptake inhibitors (such as fluoxetine) are commonly used to treat these patients and are gaining popularity as first-line antidepressants. Carbamazepine is an alternative to lithium for mood stabilization. In this paper we present breast m'ilk and serum concentrations obtained from a breastfeeding mother/infant pair. The mother took fluoxetine, carbamazepine, and buspirone during pregnancy and postpartum for bipolar disorder. Patient Report
Quench Characteristics of High Temperature Superconducting Coil for Fault Current Limiting Application

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) has developed a prototype of high temperature superconducting (HTS) fault current limiter (FCL) in Dec. 2006. The ratings of the HTS FCL were 13.2 kV in voltage and 630 A in current at normal condition. This HTS FCL had a HTS coil composed of 7 concentric HTS windings for current limiting element which are wound by using unique bifilar method with YBCO coated conductor (CC). The CC wound on the bobbin was insulated with Kapton tape and the HTS coil was completed assembling the windings using copper connection parts. The HTS coil was cooled down to 65 K for the enhancement of cryo-dielectric performance and critical current capacity. The short-circuit test was performed with the asymmetrical prospective fault current of 10 kA. The resistance of HTS coil began to rise up from 0.624 ms after the fault. At about 1/4 cycle after the fault, the temperature of HTS coil exceeded its critical temperature. The resistance and temperature of HTS coil after 0.1 s from the fault was calculated to be about 11.8 Omega and 250 K respectively which was designed to be about 13 Omega and 300 K.
Carcass composition of Namaqua Afrikaner, Dorper and SA Mutton Merino ram lambs reared under extensive conditions

This study evaluated the differences in the muscle-fat-bone yield of Namaqua Afrikaner (NA), Dorper (D) and SA Mutton Merino (SAMM) ram lambs. The breeds constituted an indigenous, hardy and late maturing, fat-tailed breed (NA), an early maturing, commercial meat breed (D) and a late maturing commercial dual-purpose breed (SAMM). Lambs were slaughtered at 35 (± 8) days post weaning. Carcasses were cooled for 24 h, separated into retail cuts (leg, loin, rib, and shoulder), weighed and deboned. Meat and fat were separated after deboning and weighed to calculate the muscle-fat-bone yield per cut. Least-square means were computed for the respective breeds, using slaughter age as covariate. Results for percentage meat indicate that, with exception of the rib, retail cuts from the NA breed contained a lower percentage of meat than D and SAMM breeds, particularly in the valuable loin and leg cuts. The shoulder of the NA had a lower percentage meat than that of the D. The percentage fat in retail cuts did not differ between breeds for any of the cuts. In comparison with both D and SAMM, NA contained a higher percentage bone in all cuts. Dorper and SAMM carcasses did not differ in terms of the percentage of bone, fat or muscle for any of the retail cuts. The lower meat yield, particularly in the more expensive loin and leg of the NA, when compared to the commercial meat breed (D) could make the former less preferred for meat production. However, the NA compared more favourably than the dual-purpose SAMM. Differences in carcass composition could be attributed to the fact that the NA is an unimproved and late maturing sheep breed.
Strong tremor near Parkfield, CA, excited by the 2002 Denali Fault earthquake

We show clear evidence of non‐volcanic tremor triggered by 2002 Mw7.8 Denali Fault earthquake near Parkfield. Triggered tremor is identified as bursts of high‐frequency (∼2–8 Hz), non‐impulsive seismic energy whose envelope is coherent among many stations and has the same periodicity as the passing surface waves. The tremor originates from at least three hypocenters near the San Andreas fault with differing frictional regimes, two in the creeping section and the other where the San Andreas is transitional between creeping and locked. All the sources originate below the seismogenic zone, suggesting that transitional frictional properties are necessary conditions for tremor generation. Tremor is excited by the Love waves when the San Andreas is sheared in a right‐lateral sense, encouraging slip, and is absent when the San Andreas is sheared in a left‐lateral sense, consistent with a simple frictional response to the driving stress.
ROUND TABLE Pancreatic Cancer Imaging : Which Method ?

Pancreatic cancer is the 10 most common malignancy and the 4 largest cancer killer in adults. Surgery offers the only chance of curing these patients. Complete surgical resection is associated with a 5-year survival rate of between 20 and 30%. The challenge is how to best select those patients for curative surgery. Early studies demonstrated excellent sensitivity of EUS in detecting pancreatic tumors in comparison to CT. Similarly, EUS showed an 85-94 % accuracy rate for T staging and 70-80 % accuracy rate for N staging. Later studies report on substantially less TN staging accuracy for EUS. Possible explanations and the problem of vascular involvement assessment by EUS will be provided. Considering the role of EUS in M staging and a comparison between EUS, MRI, and positron emission tomography, scanning will be presented. A diagnostic algorithm for the evaluation of patients with a suspected pancreatic mass will be offered, stressing the pivotal role of EUS.
Complement component C1q inhibits β‐amyloid‐ and serum amyloid P‐induced neurotoxicity via caspase‐ and calpain‐independent mechanisms

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by neuronal loss, β‐amyloid (Aβ) plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Complement protein C1q has been found associated with fibrillar Aβ deposits, however the exact contributions of C1q to Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown. There is evidence that C1q, as an initiator of the inflammatory complement cascade, may accelerate disease progression. However, neuronal C1q synthesis is induced after injury/infection suggesting that it may be a beneficial response to injury. In this study, we report that C1q enhances the viability of neurons in culture and protects neurons against Aβ‐ and serum amyloid P (SAP)‐induced neurotoxicity. Investigation of potential signaling pathways indicates that caspase and calpain are activated by Aβ, but C1q had no effect on either of these pathways. Interestingly, SAP did not induce caspase and calpain activation, suggesting that C1q neuroprotection is in distinct from caspase and calpain pathways. In contrast to Aβ‐ and SAP‐induced neurotoxicity, neurotoxicity induced by etoposide or FCCP was unaffected by the addition of C1q, indicating pathway selectivity for C1q neuroprotection. These data support a neuroprotective role for C1q which should be further investigated to uncover mechanisms which may be therapeutically targeted to slow neurodegeneration via direct inhibition of neuronal loss.
Adjuvant regional chemotherapy in advanced pancreatic cancer: results of a prospective study.

BACKGROUND/AIMS In order to improve the dismal prognosis of patients suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer we treated 20 patients with adjuvant regional chemotherapy following resection of the tumor. METHODOLOGY All tumors were classified UICC stage III (TxN1M0). Regional chemotherapy consisted of Mitoxantrone 10 mg/m2 day 1, Folinic Acid 170 mg/m2 and 5-FU 600 mg/m2 days 2-4, and cis-Platinum 60 mg/m2 day 5 for up to 6 cycles. In a total of 101 cycles toxicities WHO III occurred in 6%, WHO IV in 0%. RESULTS The median survival times, compared to institutional historical controls (treated vs. controls) were 18.5 vs. 9.3 months (p < 0.0006). Hepatic disease progression seemed to be suppressed. CONCLUSION In conclusion regional chemotherapy seems to be effective for adjuvant treatment in resected pancreatic cancer.
Human saliva proteome analysis and disease biomarker discovery

Human saliva is an attractive body fluid for disease diagnosis and prognosis because saliva testing is simple, safe, low-cost and noninvasive. Comprehensive analysis and identification of the proteomic content in human whole and ductal saliva will not only contribute to the understanding of oral health and disease pathogenesis, but also form a foundation for the discovery of saliva protein biomarkers for human disease detection. In this article, we have summarized the proteomic technologies for comprehensive identification of proteins in human whole and ductal saliva. We have also discussed potential quantitative proteomic approaches to the discovery of saliva protein biomarkers for human oral and systemic diseases. With the fast development of mass spectrometry and proteomic technologies, we are enthusiastic that saliva protein biomarkers will be developed for clinical diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases in the future.
Improving the enrichment procedure for Enterobacteriaceae detection 2 3

The current ISO standard method for detection of Enterobacteriaceae (21528-1:2004) includes enrichment in EE broth, which has been shown to be inhibitory to some members of this family, notably Cronobacter spp. A shortened procedure omitting the EE broth has been proposed, however competition from Gram-positive flora may be detrimental to the effective recovery of low levels of target organisms in some sample matrices. In this study we investigated novel cost effective modifications, designed to improve ISO 21528-1:2004 for the detection of Enterobacteriaceae. Initial experiments used a worse-case scenario involving stressed Enterobacteriaceae strains known to grow poorly in laboratory media as well as representative background competitors from powdered milk. The interaction between the Enterobacteriaceae and their competitors was characterised and additives to enhance the growth of target strains over non-target strains were investigated. Supplementation of BPW with 40 μM 8 hydroxyquinoline, 0.5g L-1 ammonium iron(III) citrate, 0.1 g L-1 sodium deoxycholate and 0.1g L-1 sodium pyruvate (BPW-S) improved the recovery of Enterobacteriaceae from artificially and naturally contaminated samples. This improvement of the pre-enrichment broth may also be of interest for methods designed to detect specific foodborne pathogens belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae (e.g. Salmonella spp., Cronobacter spp.) that require a pre-enrichment step in BPW.
Experiences Running and Optimizing the Berkeley Data Analytics Stack on Cray Platforms

The Berkeley Data Analytics Stack (BDAS) is an emerging framework for big data analytics. It consists of the Spark analytics framework, the Tachyon in-memory filesystem, and the Mesos cluster manager. Spark was designed as an in-memory replacement for Hadoop that can in some cases improve performance by up to 100X. In this paper, we describe our experiences running BDAS on the new Cray Urika-XA extreme analytics platform, on Cray XC systems, and on a prototype Aries-based system with node-local SSDs. We discuss how we configured and optimized the BDAS stack, and describe the execution environment used on each platform. BDAS applications differ significantly from traditional HPC applications: they run in the Java Virtual Machine, and communicate via TCP/IP. We explore how Cray system capabilities, such as the Aries interconnect and SSDs, can be better leveraged to improve performance of these types of applications. Keywords-Spark; Tachyon; Berkeley Data Analytics Stack; Urika-XA; Cray XC; data analytics; big data
Monolayer spreading of polydimethylsiloxane oil on surfactant solutions.

The radial spreading rate of polydimethylsiloxane oil monolayers on various surfactant solutions is measured by observing Teflon tracer particles with a video microscope. We find that a simple model, based solely on Marangoni driven surface tension gradients, accurately predicts the power-law behavior observed for these expanding monolayers. In addition, we document observations of so-called pseudopartial wetting, and discuss its connection to more classical wetting theories.
THE COST EFFECTIVENESS OF STRATEGIES FOR THE TREATMENT OF INTESTINAL PARASITES IN IMMIGRANTS

A BSTRACT Background Currently, more than 600,000 immigrants enter the United States each year from countries where intestinal parasites are endemic. At entry persons with parasitic infections may be asymptomatic, and stool examinations are not a sensitive method of screening for parasitosis. Albendazole is a new, broad-spectrum antiparasitic drug, which was approved recently by the Food and Drug Administration. International trials have shown albendazole to be safe and effective in eradicating many parasites. In the United States there is now disagreement about whether to screen all immigrants for parasites, treat all immigrants presumptively, or do nothing unless they have symptoms. Methods We compared the costs and benefits of no preventive intervention (watchful waiting) with those of universal screening or presumptive treatment with 400 mg of albendazole per day for five days. Those at risk were defined as immigrants to the United States from Asia, the Middle East, subSaharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Cost effectiveness was expressed both in terms of the cost of treatment per disabilityadjusted life-year (DALY) averted (one DALY is defined as the loss of one year of healthy life to disease) and in terms of the cost per hospitalization averted. Results As compared with watchful waiting, presumptive treatment of all immigrants at risk for parasitosis would avert at least 870 DALYs, prevent at least 33 deaths and 374 hospitalizations, and save at least $4.2 million per year. As compared with watchful waiting, screening would cost $159,236 per DALY averted. Conclusions Presumptive administration of albendazole to all immigrants at risk for parasitosis would save lives and money. Universal screening, with treatment of persons with positive stool examinations, would save lives but is less cost effective than presumptive treatment. (N Engl J Med 1999;340:773-9.)
Unified Space-Vector Modulation Scheme for Multilevel Inverters

This study examines the space-vector modulation of multilevel inverters. The focus of the paper is to unify the advantageous features of existing fast modulation algorithms and to simplify the switching state selection in order to minimize the number of the device switchings and the du/dt across the switching devices. The scheme is discussed from a five-level inverter viewpoint, but it is applicable irrespective of the number of voltage levels or topology used. The functionality of the modulation scheme is verified by means of computer simulations.
Structure of the GAF domain, a ubiquitous signaling motif and a new class of cyclic GMP receptor

GAF domains are ubiquitous motifs present in cyclic GMP (cGMP)‐regulated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, certain adenylyl cyclases, the bacterial transcription factor FhlA, and hundreds of other signaling and sensory proteins from all three kingdoms of life. The crystal structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae YKG9 protein was determined at 1.9 Å resolution. The structure revealed a fold that resembles the PAS domain, another ubiquitous signaling and sensory transducer. YKG9 does not bind cGMP, but the isolated first GAF domain of phosphodiesterase 5 binds with Kd = 650 nM. The cGMP binding site of the phosphodiesterase GAF domain was identified by homology modeling and site‐directed mutagenesis, and consists of conserved Arg, Asn, Lys and Asp residues. The structural and binding studies taken together show that the cGMP binding GAF domains form a new class of cyclic nucleotide receptors distinct from the regulatory domains of cyclic nucleotide‐regulated protein kinases and ion channels.