Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytotoxic drugs enhance the ex vivo sensitivity of malignant cells from a subset of acute myeloid leukaemia patients to apoptosis induction by tumour necrosis factor receptor‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand

Summary. We have studied the actions of tumour‐necrosis‐factor‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL) on cells isolated from patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Apoptosis induction was initially assessed by quantitative morphological analysis. Only 2/19 isolates showed a > 10% increase in apoptotic cells following TRAIL treatment. However, incubation with TRAIL combined with fludarabine, cytosine arabinoside or daunorubicin resulted in additive or super‐additive apoptosis induction in approximately half of the isolates. Molecular evidence of super‐additive apoptosis induction by TRAIL and cytotoxic agents was obtained by quantification of caspase 3 activation, detected by Western blot analysis of poly (ADP ribose) polymerase cleavage. The ability of TRAIL and daunorubicin to induce super‐additive apoptosis correlated with the ability of these agents to activate caspase 8 and to augment cellular levels of the truncated pro‐apoptotic form of the BCL‐2 family member BID. Our data suggest that co‐administration of TRAIL with conventional cytotoxic drugs may be of therapeutic value in some patients with AML.
LACUNAE

Objective: To characterize sports and recreation related (SR) injury episodes in the US population. SR activities are growing in popularity suggesting the need for increased awareness of SR injuries as a public health concern for physically active persons of all ages in the US population. Setting: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a face-to-face household survey conducted yearly by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Demographic and health data are collected from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, non-institutionalized population residing in the US. Methods: Medically attended injury events reported in the 1997–99 Injury Section of the NHIS were categorized according to the associated sport or recreational activity using a classification scheme based on the International Classification of External Causes of Injury system. Episodes where the injured person received any type of medical attention (that is, medical advice or treatment) from any health care provider were used to report the incidence, severity, and nature of SR injuries sustained by US citizens. Results: Annually, an estimated seven million Americans received medical attention for SR injuries (25.9 injury episodes per 1000 population). For 5–24 year olds, this national estimate was about 42% higher than estimates based on SR injuries seen only in emergency departments over a similar time frame. The highest average annual SR injury episode rates were for children ages 5–14 years (59.3 per 1000 persons) and persons aged 15–24 years (56.4 per 1000 persons). The SR injury episode rate for males was more than twice the rate for females. The age adjusted injury rate for whites was 1.5 times higher than for blacks (28.8 v 19.0 per 1000 population). Basketball was the most frequently mentioned SR activity when the injury episode occurred, with a rate of about four injury events per 1000 population. Strains and sprains accounted for 31% of injury episodes. An estimated 1.1 million SR episode related injuries involve the head or neck region, of which 17% were internal head injuries. The most common mechanisms of injury were struck by/against (34%), fall (28%), and overexertion (13%). Conclusion: As physical activity continues to be promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, SR injuries are becoming an important public health concern for both children and adults. Prevention efforts aimed at reducing SR injuries through targeting high risk activities, places of occurrence, activity, risk behaviors, and use of protective devices need to go beyond focusing on children and also consider physically active adults.
The Effect of Information Releases on the Pricing and Timing of Equity Issues: Theory and Evidence

This paper develops a formal model of the timing and pricing of new equity issues, assuming that managers are better informed than new investors about the quality of the firm. Firms will prefer to issue equity when the market is most informed about the quality of the firm. This implies that equity issues tend to follow information releases, such as earnings announcements. The model also predicts a relation between the timing and pricing of equity issues. The price drop at the time of the equity issue announcement should increase in the time since the last information release, and the price drop at issue should increase with the time since the last information release or issue announcement. We test the predictions of the theory on a sample of NYSE, AMEX and OTC firms who issued equity over the period 1978-1983. We find evidence that there is a clustering of equity issues following earnings announcements and annual reports, and also that the price drop at the time of the equity issue is increasing in the time since the announcement of the issue.
Segmentation of Low-Cost Remote Sensing Images Combining Vegetation Indices and Mean Shift

The development of low-cost remote sensing systems is important in small agriculture business, particularly in developing countries, to allow feasible use of images to gather information. However, images obtained through such systems with uncalibrated cameras have often illumination variations, shadows, and other elements that can hinder the analysis by image processing techniques. This letter investigates the combination of vegetation indices (color index of vegetation extraction, visual vegetation index, and excess green) and the mean-shift algorithm, based on the local density estimation in the color space on images acquired by a low-cost system. The objective is to detect green coverage, gaps, and degraded areas. The results showed that combining local density estimation and vegetation indices improves the segmentation accuracy when compared with the competing methods. It deals well with images in different conditions and with regions of imbalanced sizes, confirming the practical application of the low-cost system.
Tacrolimus Fujisawa.

Fujisawa has launched the immunosuppressant tacrolimus extensively for use in organ transplantation. The compound has also been developed for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, for which it has been launched in the US, Japan, Switzerland, Canada and Germany [425053], [426616], [435668], [447770]. Tacrolimus has also been developed for chronic rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and several other autoimmune diseases [351891], [352195], [360717]. By March 2002, tacrolimus had entered phase III trials for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Japan [442503]. This evaluation will focus on the development of tacrolimus for this indication.
The immunosuppressive molecule HLA-G and its clinical implications

Human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) is a non-classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule that, through interaction with its receptors, exerts important tolerogenic functions. Its main physiological expression occurs in placenta where it seems to participate in the maternal tolerance toward the fetus. HLA-G has been studied as a marker of pregnancy complications such as abortion or pre-eclapmsia. Although HLA-G is not expressed in most adult tissues, its ectopic expression has been observed in some diseases such as viral infections, autoimmune disorders, and especially cancer. HLA-G neo-expression in cancer is associated with the capability of tumor cells to evade the immune control. In this review, we will summarize HLA-G biology and how it participates in these physiopathological processes. Special attention will be paid to its role as a diagnostic tool and also as a therapeutic target.
The domestic market for small-scale chainsaw milling in Cameroon: Present situation, opportunities and challenges

In 1994 Cameroon adopted a new forest law that focussed on the large-scale, export-oriented industrial forest sector while timber produced through small-scale logging for the domestic market was ignored, even in official statistics, and is generally produced without a valid permit. As Cameroon prepares to implement the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) it recently signed with the European Union, promising a legal framework for all national timber production, this occasional paper presents a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the country's domestic timber market. By adding our estimates for small-scale production of sawn wood sold on the domestic market to national statistics, total national production would amount to about 4.3 million cubic metres per year, in other words close to double the official figure for Cameroonian timber production. Our research also found that the domestic market is profitable for thousands of Cameroonians. Its informal structure, however, contributes to maintaining a huge, inescapable payment system run by State agents to launder the timber sold on local markets, informal transactions that are worth about 6 billion F CFA each year. The paper concludes with technical options to improve market operating conditions. These options may prove ineffective unless they are accompanied by determined efforts to fight the corruption that permeates the industry.
Quantification of the Cell-Substratum Contact and Cell Lift-off Under Different Intra/Extracellular Conditions

Analyses of images of the cell-to-substratum region of contact have been carried out by the means of total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy during both the formation and the dissolution of cellular contacts. The evolutions of the cellular contacts are visualized during the adhesion process under normal and virus-infected intracellular conditions, and during the lift-off process under various toxicities of the extracellular medium fluid. Then, propositions are developed for quantifying the cell viabilities by estimating the increase in the area of contact for the adhesion process and by specifying the maximum intensity of the TIRF image for the lift-off process.
Delayed Onset and Reduced Cognitive Deficits through Pre-Conditioning with 3-Nitropropionic Acid is Dependent on Sex and CAG Repeat Length in the R6/2 Mouse Model of Huntington's Disease.

BACKGROUND Impairments in energy metabolism are implicated in Huntington's disease (HD) pathogenesis. Reduced levels of the mitochondrial enzyme succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), the main element of complex II, are observed post mortem in the brains of HD patients, and energy metabolism defects have been identified in both presymptomatic and symptomatic HD patients. OBJECTIVE Chemical preconditioning with 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP), an irreversible inhibitor of SDH, has been shown to increase tolerance against experimental hypoxia in both heart and brain. Here we studied the effect of chronic preconditioning in the R6/2 mouse model of HD using mice carrying CAG repeat lengths of either 250 or 400 repeats. Both are transgenic fragment models, with 250CAG mice having a more rapid disease progression than 400CAG mice. METHODS Low doses of 3-NP (24 mg/kg) were administered via the drinking water and the effect on phenotype progression and cognition function assessed. RESULTS After 3-NP treatment there were significant improvements in all aspects of the behavioural phenotype, apart from body weight, with timing and magnitude of improvements dependent on both CAG repeat length and sex. Specifically, a delay in the deterioration of general health (as shown by delayed onset of glycosuria and increased survival) was seen in both male and female 400CAG mice and in female 250CAG mice and was consistent with improved appearance of 3-NP treated R6/2 mice. Male 250CAG mice showed improvements but these were short term, and 3-NP treatment eventually had deleterious effects on their survival rate. When cognitive performance of 250CAG mice was assessed using a two-choice discrimination touchscreen task, we found that female mice showed significant improvements. DISCUSSION Together, our results support the idea that energy metabolism contributes to the pathogenesis of HD, and suggest that improving energy deficits might be a therapeutically useful target.
Identification and Analysis of Staphylococcus aureus Components Expressed by a Model System of Growth in Serum

ABSTRACT A model system mimicking Staphylococcus aureusbacteremia was developed by growth in serum under microaerobic conditions. Eight genes induced by growth in serum were identified, including an antimicrobial peptide biosynthesis locus, amino acid biosynthetic loci, and genes encoding putative surface proteins. Nine independent insertions were found in the major lysine biosynthesis operon, which encodes eight genes, is repressed by lysine in vitro, and is expressed in vivo.
ADC architecture with direct binary output for digital controllers of high-frequency SMPS

Without adopting encoder to convert "thermometer code" into binary code, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture with direct binary code output is proposed for digital controllers of high-frequency switching mode power supply (SMPS). It can provide large conversion ranges with required precision and reduce ADC circuit complexity. The output can be compressed into a much shorter addressing character in logarithmic law and lead to reduction of memory size in the look-up table of the digital compensator
Practices of insurance operators in Malaysia: conventional vs. unconventional life insurance.

Risk is part and parcel of our daily life and we have been trying to find out the way to protect ourselves in the case of misfortune. That is the reason why insurance came to play an important role in our life. Unfortunately, insurance seems to be not fully complied with unconventional (Islamic) aspect and hence, it has been modified to ensure unconventional requirements. However, to our knowledge, no research has been done to what extent these two differ and hence, the objective of this research is to examine the current practices of conventional and unconventional life insurance practices in Malaysia. Interviews and the questionnaires have been conducted and the findings show that there are no significant differences in practices except for product development and allocation of premium contribution.
Molecular Analysis, Tissue Profiles, and Seasonal Patterns of Cytosolic and Mitochondrial GPDH in Freeze-Resistant Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax)

Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) is an anadromous teleost that, beginning in late fall, accumulates plasma glycerol in excess of 200 mM, which subsequently decreases in the spring. The activity of cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (cGPDH) is higher (i) in liver of smelt than in that of Atlantic salmon and capelin (nonglycerol accumulators), (ii) in liver of smelt maintained at 1°C than in that of smelt held at 8°–10°C, and (iii) in smelt liver than in smelt muscle, heart, brain, or kidney. In addition, transcript levels of cGPDH in liver peak in December during the onset of glycerol production and then decline over the remainder of the season. There are four cGPDH protein isoforms in smelt liver that are present regardless of glycerol production status. A minimum of four cGPDH gene copies identified by Southern blotting provide adequate genetic potential to yield multiple protein isoforms. A full-length cDNA for smelt mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (mGPDH) was cloned and characterized. The 2,790-bp cDNA contains a 109-bp 5′UTR, a 2,193-bp open reading frame, and a 488-bp 3′UTR; transcripts are ubiquitously expressed in both warm- and cold-acclimated smelt tissues. Smelt mGPDH encodes a 730-aa protein that clusters with that of zebrafish and frog and contains several common structural motifs. mGPDH transcript levels generally increase late in the seasonal glycerol cycle, and mGPDH enzyme activity increases significantly during the glycerol decrease phase. Taken together, these findings suggest that liver cGPDH and mGPDH play a key role in the glycerol accumulation and decrease phases, respectively.
Dynamic sub-channel allocation with adaptive beamforming for broadband OFDM wireless systems

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been widely regarded as an effective modulation technique for mitigating the effects of ISI in a frequency selective fading channel and for providing reliable high data rate transmission over wireless links. Adaptive antenna arrays at the base and mobile stations can achieve further increases in system's capacity and bandwidth efficiency, as well as in QoS improvement in conventional OFDM systems. The conventional adaptive antenna arrays based OFDM systems always use the sub-carriers characterized by the first largest eigenvalues to transmit the OFDM block symbols. In this paper and in contrast to previous work, we propose dynamic sub-channel allocation with adaptive beamforming for broadband OFDM wireless transmission systems. The proposed system adaptively selects the eigenvectors associated with the relatively large sub-channel eigenvalues to generate the beamforming weights at the mobile and base stations and then dynamically assigns the corresponding best sub-channels to transmit the OFDM block symbols. It is shown by simulation that, without adding much complexity, the proposed system can achieve a better performance than an adaptive antenna arrays based OFDM system without dynamic sub-channel allocation over multipath fading channels. Simulation results also reveal that the proposed system is not too sensitive to channel estimation errors.
Multivariate evaluation of prognostic factors in localized neuroblastoma.

PURPOSE A multitude of risk factors has been described for patients with neuroblastoma. Little is known about the mutual interrelationship of these factors and their impact on patients with localized disease only. PATIENTS AND METHODS We investigated the possible influence of 37 variables univariately on event-free survival (EFS) in 308 consecutive patients with neuroblastoma stages I-III using Kaplan-Meier estimates. The chi 2 test was applied to detect nonrandom correlations, and the Cox's regression model was used for the multivate evaluation of identified factors. RESULTS Seventeen factors appeared to influence EFS in stage I-III patients (p < 0.05, log-rank > 3.84), whereas 10 factors were found in the subgroup of stage III patients with midline crossing tumors (= stage III*, n = 128). The majority of univariately identified risk factors showed a nonrandom correlation to several others (p < 0.05). The multivariate analysis according to Cox selected for the patients with stages I-III the factors lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p = 0.0011), resectability (p = 0.0167), weight loss (p = 0.0185), tumor extension beyond midline (p = 0.0207), and age (p = 0.0233). For stage III* patients the model identified the factors LDH (p = 0.0089), weight loss (p = 0.0135), resectability (p = 0.0408), and age (p = 0.0700). The identification of these independent risk factors permitted the description of risk groups with EFS ratios after > 6 years between 22% and 96%. CONCLUSIONS Risk estimation of high discriminating power is possible for patients with localized neuroblastoma using simple, readily available clinical data.
Retention of Vitamin C in Drying Processes of Fruits and Vegetables—A Review

This article presents a review of drying processes of fruits and vegetables in which vitamin C degradation was considered. Vitamin C is an important and essential nutrient for humans and it can be taken as an index of nutrient quality of processes. Many researchers have reported the effect of different drying methods and the influence of drying conditions on the vitamin C content. In addition, the effect of other parameters related to the sample structure or to pretreatments on the final quality of the dried product is discussed. Vitamin C degradation mechanisms proposed in the literature, models applied to describe its kinetics, and recent advances in drying processes aiming high retention of this nutrient are also provided.
Effect of swab type and storage temperature on the isolation of Chlamydia trachomatis from clinical specimens

We evaluated various swabs for the recovery of Chlamydia trachomatis and found that only 7 of 14 swabs tested resulted in a greater than 50% recovery of organisms. Storage of chlamydial specimens at 4 degrees C for more than 1 day resulted in a rapid loss of viability, whereas freezing of specimens at -70 degrees C resulted in only a marginal decrease in the isolation rate.
Survey of the 1998 optical biosensor literature

The utilization of optical biosensors to study molecular interactions continues to expand. In 1998, 384 articles relating to the use of commercial biosensors were published in 130 different journals. While significant strides in new applications and methodology were made, a majority of the biosensor literature is of rather poor quality. Basic information about experimental conditions is often not presented and many publications fail to display the experimental data, bringing into question the credibility of the results. This review provides suggestions on how to collect, analyze and report biosensor data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nitric oxide neurotoxicity in neurodegenerative diseases.

Nitric oxide (nitrogen monoxide; NO) is a simple molecule with diverse biological functions. NO and related reactive nitrogen oxide species (RNOS) mediate intricate physiological and pathophysiological effects in the central nervous system. Depending on environmental conditions, NO and RNOS can initiate and mediate neuroprotection or neurotoxicity either exclusively or synergistically with other effectors. The focus of this review is limited to the neuroprotectant/neurotoxic role of NO in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Dementia Complex (aka HIV--Associated Dementia; HAD) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease), Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease. This review will shed light on the question: "How important is NO in neurodegenerative diseases? "
An Extensible Dialogue Script for a Robot Based on Unification of State-Transition Models

We propose extension-by-unification method to improve reusability of the dialogue components in the development of communication function of the robot. Compared to previous extension-by-connection method used in behavior-based communication robot developments, the extension-by-unification method has the ability to decompose the script into components. The decomposed components can be recomposed to build a new application easily. In this paper, first we, explain a reformulation we have applied to the conventional state-transition model. Second, we explain a set of algorithms to decompose, recompose, and detect the conflict of each component. Third, we explain a dialogue engine and a script management server we have developed. The script management server has a function to propose reusable components to the developer in real time by implementing the conflict detection algorithm. The dialogue engine SEAT (Speech Event-Action Translator) has flexible adapter mechanism to enable quick integration to robotic systems. We have confirmed that by the application of three robots, development efficiency has improved by 30%.