Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic impact of bone marrow fibrosis in primary myelofibrosis. A study of the AGIMM group on 490 patients

The prognostic significance of bone marrow (BM) fibrosis grade in patients with primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is still debated. A fibrosis grade greater than 1 was shown to associate with higher risk of death, and addition of fibrosis grade to IPSS score resulted in a more accurate prediction of survival. The aim of this study was to analyze the prognostic impact of BM fibrosis in 490 patients with PMF, evaluated at diagnosis, molecularly annotated and with extensive follow‐up information. We found that fibrosis grade 2 and greater on a 0–3 scale was associated with clinical characteristics indicative of a more advanced disease, such as anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, constitutional symptoms, larger splenomegaly and a higher IPSS risk category. Patients with higher grade of fibrosis were also more likely to have additional somatic mutations in ASXL1 and EZH2, that are prognostically adverse. Median survival was significantly reduced in patients with grade 2 and 3 fibrosis as compared with grade 1; this effect was maintained when analysis was restricted to younger patients. In multivariate analysis, fibrosis grade independently predicted for survival regardless of IPSS variables and mutational status; the adverse impact of fibrosis was noticeable especially in lower IPSS risk categories. Overall, results indicate that higher grades of fibrosis correlate with unique clinical and molecular aspects and represent an independent adverse variable in patients with PMF; these observations deserve confirmation in prospectively designed series of patients. Am. J. Hematol. 91:918–922, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Impaired BAX protein expression in breast cancer: Mutational analysis of the BAX and the p53 gene

We have previously shown that the pro‐apoptotic BAX protein is differentially expressed in breast cancer and in other epithelial tumors. In this line, a reduced BAX protein expression is a negative prognostic factor in various carcinomas including breast cancer. For p53, a trancriptional activator of BAX in apoptosis, mutations in the coding sequence were shown to modulate BAX protein expression in cell line models on the transcriptional level. We therefore investigated the BAX gene in 68 breast cancer specimens for the presence of mutations in the coding sequence by single‐strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)‐PCR and direct sequencing. The expression of BAX protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry. In addition, we screened for mutations in the exons 5–8 of the p53 gene by SSCP‐PCR to assess whether mutations in the DNA‐binding domain of this upstream regulator of BAX gene transcription are responsible for differences in BAX protein expression. As previously observed, BAX was differentially expressed in the breast cancer samples, but no mutations in the coding sequence of the BAX gene were found besides a polymorphism in exon 6 at the position 552 (G‐>A) and additional intronic polymorphisms. In contrast, we identified 16 of 68 (23.5%) tumors to bear mutations in the p53 gene. In the subset of BAX‐expressing tumors, the mutational inactivation of p53 did result in a reduced BAX protein expression (Fisher exact test, p = 0.047). Nevertheless, we identified a subset of BAX‐negative tumors lacking BAX or p53 mutations. Thus, additional, not yet identified regulators, apart from p53, appear to be involved in the regulation of BAX protein expression. Int. J. Cancer 87:517–521, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adaptive generalized function projective synchronization of a class of new chaotic systems

Adaptive generalized function projective synchronization (GFPS) of two uncertain chaotic systems, which is a further extension of many existing projection synchronization schemes, is investigated. First, a class of new four-dimensional autonomous chaotic systems are presented, and the dynamical features are illustrated in a wide ranges of chaotic or hyperchaotic parameters by showing Lyapunov exponent spectrum, Lyapunov dimension and phase portrait. Second, based on Lyapunov stability theory, the sufficient condition to GFPS between every two of the given systems with unknown parameters is given, together with a proposed adaptive control strategy with parameter update laws. Finally, numerical simulations are demonstrated to verify the effectiveness of the presented control method.
Output error voltages - a first method to detect and locate faults in matrix converters

This paper proposes a first diagnostic technique for the detection and location of open-circuit faults in the power switches of matrix converter drives. The proposed method relies on the continuous monitoring of the amplitude of the three output error voltages and works in a two-stage approach. In a first stage, if an open-circuit fault arises in the power converter, the error voltage associated with the output phase which contains the faulty element will rise considerably, hence triggering the indication of the fault. In a second stage, the exact location of the faulty element across the faulty phase will be done by monitoring the output error voltage of that phase when the reference input current and output voltage vectors lie within specific combinations of sectors, according to a table constructed for this purpose. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed diagnostic technique is effective in the detection and location of the faulty switch in a period of time as fast as one-eighteenth of the electrical period of the supply voltage of the converter and can be used independently of the type of load, both in steady-state and transient conditions.
Loss of Krüppel-Like Factor 4 Expression Contributes to Sp1 Overexpression and Human Gastric Cancer Development and Progression

Purpose: Increasing evidence indicates that the transcription factor, Sp1, regulates the expression of multiple genes involved in tumor development and progression. We have recently reported that Sp1 overexpression is directly correlated with the angiogenic potential of and poor prognosis for human gastric cancer. However, the underlying mechanisms that result in Sp1 overexpression remain unclear. Experimental Design: The expression of Sp1 and Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), a potential tumor suppressor gene, in gastric cancer tissue was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Alterations of Sp1 and KLF4 expression were achieved by gene transfer and verified by Northern and Western blot analyses. Furthermore, Sp1 promoter activity assay, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay were done to identify the KLF4 binding sites on the Sp1 promoter. Results: Mutually exclusive expression of Sp1 and KLF4 was evident in gastric cancer and noncancerous tissue. Specifically, strong Sp1 expression but loss of KLF4 expression was found in cancer tissue, whereas the adjacent noncancerous tissue showed negative Sp1 expression but strong KLF4 expression. Enforced KLF4 expression repressed Sp1 expression at the promoter activity, mRNA, and protein levels. Moreover, a region within the proximal Sp1 promoter was identified to have overlapping KLF4- and Sp1-binding sites, to which KLF4 and Sp1 compete for binding. Sp1 positively regulated its own promoter, whereas KLF4 did the opposite. Conclusions: Our data suggests that disruption of KLF4-mediated negative regulation contributes to the molecular events of Sp1 overexpression and to the development and progression of human gastric cancer.
GENERATING LOW VOLTAGE GRIDS ON THE BASIS OF PUBLIC AVAILABLE MAP DATA

Being subject of historic growth and focusing on the load supply in the past, only few low voltage grid models are available for research purposes. Due to energy system changes with large amounts of renewable feed-in being redistributed within these grids, it becomes more important to create a reliable data basis to evaluate innovative control approaches. Facing this lack of data, in this paper, low voltage grids are constructed on the basis of public available geographical data from OpenStreetMaps (OSM) for selected residential areas. The presented approach includes the definition of the supply task in the study region, the positioning of low voltage substations and a fitness evaluation of the generated network to optimize the positioning process. In comparison to real network data it is demonstrated, that the proposed approach provides reasonable approximation of the real network for research purposes.
Microsatellite instability and prostate cancer: clinical and pathological implications

Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to discuss early and recent reports investigating microsatellite instability and mismatch repair expression in prostate cancer. Recent findings Human mismatch repair genes encode highly conserved interacting proteins that suppress genetic instability by correcting misincorporated nucleotides and insertion/deletion mispairs formed during DNA replication. Mismatch repair deficiency causes genetic instability at microsatellite sequences because of the cell's inability to correct errors caused by DNA polymerase slippage at repetitive sequences. Microsatellite instability is characteristic of mismatch repair deficiency, and has been used as a surrogate marker for the inactivation of mismatch repair genes. Inherited mismatch repair gene mutations predispose to gastrointestinal and genitourinary malignancies in a cancer predisposition syndrome known as hereditary non-polyposis colorectal carcinoma. Although strong evidence for an inherited predisposition to prostate cancer does not exist in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal carcinoma, mismatch repair deficiency and mismatch repair gene mutations have been described in sporadic prostate cancer and prostate cancer cell lines. Early reports detected microsatellite instability in prostate cancer, and correlated this genetic alteration to clinical and pathological findings in men diagnosed with this malignancy. Recent reports have identified mismatch repair gene mutations, mismatch repair deficiency and differential mismatch repair gene expression in prostate cancer. In addition, a prognostic role for mismatch repair gene expression in prostate cancer has been suggested. Summary The early identification of microsatellite instability in prostate cancer led to more specific investigation of mismatch repair gene expression. Although additional research is required, mismatch repair gene expression may have important biological and clinical significance in prostate cancer.
Enhancing write I/O performance of disk array RM2 tolerating double disk failures

With a large number of internal disks and the rapid growth of disk capacity, storage systems become more susceptible to double disk failures. Thus, the need for such reliable storage systems as RAID6 is expected to gain in importance. However RAID6 architectures such as RM2, P+Q, EVEN-ODD, and DATUM traditionally suffer from a low write I/O performance caused by updating two distinctive parity data associated with user data. To overcome such a low write I/O performance, we propose an enhanced RM2 architecture which combines RM2, one of the well-known RAID6 architectures, with a Lazy Parity Update (LPU) technique. Extensive performance evaluations reveal that the write I/O performance of the proposed architecture is about two times higher than that of RM2 under various I/O workloads with little degradation in reliability.
Do Crypto-Currencies Fuel Ransomware?

Incidents of ransomware have been escalating, which could be fueled in part by the diffusion of crypto-currencies. Without crypto-currencies, the creation of ransomware is less desirable because other forms of payment are more traceable. The risk from ransomware can be considerable, and some companies hold supplies of bitcoins in reserve to pay extortionists if necessary. Here, the authors examine crypto-currencies’ effects on ransomware and look at what might influence a victim’s decision to pay.
Conformational flexibility may explain multiple cellular roles of PEST motifs

PEST sequences are one of the major motifs that serve as signal for the protein degradation and are also involved in various cellular processes such as phosphorylation and protein–protein interaction. In our earlier study, we found that these motifs contribute largely to eukaryotic protein disorder. This observation led us to evaluate their conformational variability in the nonredundant Protein Data Bank (PDB) structures. For this purpose, crystallographic temperature factors, structural alignment of multiple NMR models, and dihedral angle order parameters have been used in this study. The study has revealed the hypermobility of PEST motifs as compared to other regions of the protein. Conformational flexibility may allow them to participate in number of molecular interactions under different conditions. This analysis may explain the role of protein backbone flexibility in bringing about multiple cellular roles of PEST motifs. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tree-structured speaker clustering for speaker-independent continuous speech recognition

A cleaning purge head for a baghouse traveling centrally of the clean air plenum to isolate and back flush with high pressure air successive compartments of filter bags arranged in two parallel banks of filters. Through a depressible seal, the purge head communicates with a pressure chamber supplying cleaning air. A cam activated valve regulates the bursts of cleaning air supplied to successive filter bag compartments as a delivery conduit registers therewith such that the purge head alternates in cleaning the two banks of filters on successive passes through the baghouse.
Enhanced performance of ZnO nanocomposite transistor by external mechanical force

A simple route of external mechanical force is presented for enhancing the electrical properties of polymer nanocomposite consisted of nanowires. By dispersing ZnO nanowires in polymer solution and drop casting on substrates, nanocomposite transistors containing ZnO nanowires are successfully fabricated. Even though the ZnO nanowires density is properly controlled for device fabrication, as-casted device does not show any detectable currents, because nanowires are separated far from each other with the insulating polymer matrix intervening between them. Compared to the device pressed at 300 kPa, the device pressed at 600 kPa exhibits a significantly enhanced performance. Such an improved device performance would be realized by the contacts improvement and the increase of the number of electrical path induced by external force. This approach provides a viable solution for serious contact resistance problem of nanocomposite materials and broadens their use in a variety of applications.
An algorithm of lane change using two-lane NaSch model in traffic networks

Few researches focus on lane change decisions achieving space or time optimality. In order to improve traffic efficiency, this paper studies the lane change problem. The goal of the lane change problem is to reduce the additional road space before all vehicles change to their target lanes. The widely adopted Nagel-Schreckenberg (NaSch) model is utilized, which reflects plenty of natural characteristics of actual traffic. An optimal lane change algorithm is proposed. Simulation shows that our approach outperforms the random lane change method. Typically, the performance is improved by 77.4% when the density of vehicles is 80% and the percentage of vehicles that requires lane change is 100%.
Inhaling Nitrous Oxide Reduces the Induction Dose Requirements of Propofol

Inhaling nitrous oxide (N2O) before propofol induction appears to decrease propofol usage. To investigate the efficacy of N2O as a component of the drugs used to induce anesthesia, the effect of inhaling a N2O:oxygen (O2) mixture on the dose of propofol required to induce anesthesia was determined in a double-blinded manner. We randomized 117 unpremedicated patients scheduled for elective surgery into three groups. Group FN received 1 &mgr;g/kg fentanyl and breathed 4 L/min N2O + 2 L/min O2. Group PN received placebo and breathed 4 L/min N2O + 2 L/min O2. Group FO received 1 &mgr;g/kg fentanyl and breathed 6 L/min O2. Propofol was infused at 20 mg/min after 1 min of gas mixture inhalation, and the infusion stopped when there was loss of response to verbal command. The mean (sd) propofol dose was 0.75 (0.30), 0.84 (0.26), and 1.33 (0.51) mg/kg, and the induction time 133 (57), 142 (47), and 226 (78) s for Groups FN, PN, and FO, respectively. We conclude that inhalation of 66% N2O in O2 1 min before the IV induction of anesthesia with propofol at 20 mg/min, reduces the induction dose of propofol by 44% and decreases the time required for the induction of anesthesia (P < 0.001). Implications This prospective, randomized, double-blinded study shows that the inhalation of nitrous oxide can reduce the dose of propofol required to induce anesthesia. The technique leads to good induction conditions with reduced usage of propofol.
Methods for stochastic spectral synthesis

Anum ber of spectral modeling approaches in the engineering and estimation lit.erature are potentially applicable to stochas. ic synthesis in computer graphics. Two specific approaches are developed. The orthogonality principle of estimation theory is used to derive a stochastic subdivision construction with specified autocorrelation and spectrum properties; this approach also provides an alternative theoretical basis for the popular fractal subdivision algorithms. A shaped Poisson point process is a second approach which conver:iently separates the spectral and graphic modeling problems. Synthetic textures and terrains are presented as a means of visually evaluating the constructed noises .
Adaptive response and human benefit: Part I. A microdosimetry dose-dependent model

Purpose: It is important to evaluate how adaptive response may be of human benefit from the risks of ionizing radiation. The purpose of this work is to develop and apply a microdosimetric dose response model capable of explicitly determining, for broad beam exposures, the threshold and progressive activation of natural spontaneous and radiation damage protective mechanisms associated with adaptive response and other cellular negative response behavior. Materials and methods: A biophysical model was developed quantifying the accumulation of Poisson distributed microdose specific energy hits to cell critical nucleus volumes. The model was applied to the adaptive response data of Wiencke et al., Redpath et al., Azzam et al. and Pohl-Ruling et al. The model was also applied to non-adaptive response data showing dose response reductions below the zero dose natural spontaneous level and to data exhibiting mid-range non-monotonic dose response plateaus. Results: We find good fits of the model to all data. For adaptive response, a significant result is, that only one or two specific energy hits of low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation in the cell nucleus activates the protective mechanisms for both the natural spontaneous and radiation damage. Several data support a dose plateau for radon progeny alpha production of chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes. Using the model, a bystander factor of about 30 is obtained with the model for high dose rate, in vitro alpha particle data. For low dose rate in vivo, the bystander effect is minimal suggesting for alphas that the bystander effect may be dose rate dependent. There is no evidence of bystander effects in the low LET adaptive response data analysis. Conclusions: The microdosimetry model allows concise determinations of specific energy hits within the cell critical nucleus volume to activate both protective and damage mechanisms. One or two low LET hits can result in reduction of both zero dose natural spontaneous and radiation-induced, carcinogenic causing damage. The model should be useful in comparing in vitro and in vivo broad beam to single track microbeam exposure data. The model is capable of determining, to an accuracy of ± one specific energy hit, the minimum threshold for induction of radioprotective mechanisms – crucial to assessing the potential human benefit of adaptive response and other negative dose response behavior.
Comparison of gene expression data from human and mouse breast cancers: Identification of a conserved breast tumor gene set

The aim of our work was to establish a database for breast cancer gene expression data in order to compare human and mouse breast cancer. We identified human and mouse homologues genes and compared the expression profile of 24 human breast tumors with 6 WAP‐SVT/t breast tumors (WAP‐SVT/t animals, line 8). Our studies confirmed the heterogeneity in gene expression of human as well as mouse breast cancer cells. However, 63 genes were found to be differentially expressed (upregulated: 40; downregulated: 23 genes) in at least 75% of the breast tumors of both species. To differentiate between early and late events in tumor formation, we compared the 63 differentially expressed genes with a mouse data set obtained from hyperplastic mammary glands. This revealed that the majority of the early deregulated genes are cell proliferation specific. These early changes seem to be necessary although not sufficient for breast cancer formation. Late alterations concern mainly genes belonging to the category of cell communication and metabolism. Interestingly, most of the 63 conserved genes are commonly associated with tumorigenesis. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Minimally Invasive Vacuum-Assisted Closure Therapy With Instillation (Mini-VAC-Instill) for Pleural Empyema

Enthusiasm for minimally invasive thoracic surgery is increasing. Thoracoscopy plays a significant therapeutic role in the fibrinopurulent stage (stage II) of empyema, in which loculated fluid cannot often be adequately drained by chest tube alone. For some debilitated and septic patients, further procedures such as open-window thoracostomy (OWT) with daily wound care or vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy are necessary. In the present article, we propose a new option of minimally invasive VAC therapy including a topical solution of the empyema without open-window thoracostomy (Mini-VAC-instill). Three patients who underwent surgery using this technique are also presented. The discussion is focused on the advantages and disadvantages of the approach.