Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autophagy-Dependent Anticancer Immune Responses Induced by Chemotherapeutic Agents in Mice

The release of adenosine triphosphate through autophagy can promote antitumor immune responses. Antineoplastic chemotherapies are particularly efficient when they elicit immunogenic cell death, thus provoking an anticancer immune response. Here we demonstrate that autophagy, which is often disabled in cancer, is dispensable for chemotherapy-induced cell death but required for its immunogenicity. In response to chemotherapy, autophagy-competent, but not autophagy-deficient, cancers attracted dendritic cells and T lymphocytes into the tumor bed. Suppression of autophagy inhibited the release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from dying tumor cells. Conversely, inhibition of extracellular ATP-degrading enzymes increased pericellular ATP in autophagy-deficient tumors, reestablished the recruitment of immune cells, and restored chemotherapeutic responses but only in immunocompetent hosts. Thus, autophagy is essential for the immunogenic release of ATP from dying cells, and increased extracellular ATP concentrations improve the efficacy of antineoplastic chemotherapies when autophagy is disabled.
Safety of Topical Vancomycin for Pediatric Spinal Deformity: Nontoxic Serum Levels With Supratherapeutic Drain Levels

Study Design. Retrospective cohort analysis. Objective. To establish if drain levels exceed the minimum inhibitory concentrations for common pathogens (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, and Propionibacterium acnes—2 &mgr;g/mL; Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis—4 &mgr;g/mL). Evaluate the safety of topical vancomycin in pediatric patients undergoing spinal deformity surgery and determine if postoperative serum levels approach toxicity (25 &mgr;g/mL). Summary of Background Data. The application of topical vancomycin powder has decreased postoperative wound infections in retrospective analyses in the adult population with minimal local and systemic risks. The safety and efficacy of vancomycin powder has not been completely evaluated in the pediatric population after deformity surgery. Methods. Topical vancomycin powder (1 g) was applied during wound closure after instrumented posterior spinal fusion. All patients received intravenous perioperative antibiotics and a subfascial drain was used. Serum and drain vancomycin levels were collected immediately postoperatively and during the first 2 postoperative days (PODs). Complications were recorded. Results. The study population consisted of 25 patients with a mean age of 13.5 years (9.5–17.1 yr) and mean ± standard deviation body weight of 44.5 ± 18 kg. Underlying diagnoses included: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (12), neuromuscular scoliosis (10), and kyphosis (3). Mean serum vancomycin levels trended downward from 2.5 &mgr;g/mL (POD 0) to 1.9 &mgr;g/mL (POD 1) to 1.1 &mgr;g/mL (POD 2). Mean drain levels also trended downward from 403 &mgr;g/mL (POD 0) to 251 &mgr;g/mL (POD 1) to 115 &mgr;g/mL (POD 2). No vancomycin toxicity or deep wound infections were observed. One patient with neuromuscular scoliosis developed a superficial wound dehiscence that was managed with dressing changes. Conclusion. Topical application of vancomycin powder in pediatric spinal deformity surgery produced local levels well above the minimum inhibitory concentration for common pathogens and serum levels below the toxicity threshold (25 &mgr;g/mL). There were no deep wound or antibiotic related complications. Level of Evidence: 3
Antipsychotic prescription patterns in Xhosa patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

OBJECTIVE To examine the degree to which South African physicians use similar treatment guidelines in their prescription of antipsychotic medication. METHOD Data on the prescriptions for Xhosa patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were retrospectively examined to investigate differences between three catchment areas in the Western Cape, especially in terms of clozapine use. RESULTS There was an overall low rate (10.0%) of clozapine use and a relatively high occurrence of polypharmacy (28.6% of 510 patients). There were statistically significant differences between the three catchment areas in terms of clozapine (p=0.002) and haloperidol (p=0.001) use. Valkenberg hospital had the highest number of clozapine prescriptions and the lowest of haloperidol. Prescriptions of depot antipsychotics did not differ between catchment areas. CONCLUSION Discrepancies in antipsychotic medicine prescription patterns were evident between the examined hospitals. It is becoming paramount for practical implementation of guidelines to be improved in South Africa to address, e.g., low clozapine use and the high frequency of polypharmacy.
„Wenn die Welt im Arsch ist, wird der Arsch der Welt zu einem Ort, wo man es aushalten kann.“ Eine Analyse idiomatischer Phraseme mit dem Wort Arsch

Denna uppsats har till syfte att undersoka hur idiomatiska frasem (fraseologiska ordforbindelser) med ordet Arsch (’rov’) anvands i det tyska spraket. Teoretisk utgangspunkt ar Elke Donalies definition av Phrasem och Dudens definition av idiomatisch. Metoden bygger pa en korpuslingvistisk analys, dar belaggen listas i sin grundform och efter det sorteras i olika kategorier beroende pa deras betydelse. Det som kunnat konstateras ar att det finns ett stort antal idiomatiska frasem som innehaller ordet Arsch. Det finns en grupp frasem som aven forekommer i varianter utan Arsch, vilket med andra ord innebar att det finns transformerade varianter. Baserat pa det har samtliga frasem indelats i huvudkategorierna transformerad och icke transformerad. Harefter har dessa frasem ytterligare delats in i de semantiska underkategorier som framstatt som relevanta; idiomatiska frasem innehallande ordet Arsch kan saledes uttrycka en ort, en subjektiv kansla, en beskrivning av en handling, en beskrivning av ett tillstand, en beskrivning av en egenskap/modalitet, en personbeteckning, en ordlek eller ett utrop. Den hoga frekvensen av funna frasem innehallande ordet Arsch liksom det faktum att dessa frasem anvands i manga olika sammanhang bekraftar dessutom antagandet att det i det tyska spraket foretradesvis valjs svordomar fran omradet fekalier.
Preliminary MW and MMW Reflection and Transmission Measurements of a Silicon Wafer under Illumination of Light for Reflected Phased Array Antennas

At microwave frequencies, the antenna beam scanning is commonly realized using phased array antennas. Such approach is expensive and very time consuming. As the frequency increases into the millimeter region, the complexity and the cost makes the realization of phased array antenna even more complex, less desirable and very difficult. A preliminary study of implementing a low weight and a low cost antenna at millimeter wave (MMW) frequency that can form and scan a beam is done. The antenna uses a semiconductor body, a MMW - and optical source. The optical source illuminates the semiconductor. In the semiconductor body the spatially varying density of charge carriers changes the relative dielectric constant of the semiconductor, such that it can reflect or transmit incident field from MMW source. Since the projection can be realized selectively a beam can be scan in the space
Récupération de l'énergie des vibrations mécaniques pour générer de l'électricité

La recuperation d'energie dans l'environnement et sa conversion en electricite a pour objectif d'augmenter l'autonomie de systemes portables ou abandonnes en remplacant ou en completant leur source primaire d'alimentation. Cette approche permet ainsi de reduire le nombre des piles, ou batteries communement utilisees pour alimenter ces systemes et qui sont des elements tres polluants pour l'environnement. La recuperation d'energie peut utiliser differentes sources telles le rayonnement solaire, les flux thermiques ou les vibrations mecaniques. L'energie mecanique disponible dans notre environnement est une source d'energie de densite importante (300μW.cm-3), presente dans tous les milieux meme hostiles. Il s'avere donc interessant de convertir cette energie mecanique en electricite pour alimenter des capteurs ou des actionneurs. Nous presentons dans cet article le principe de fonctionnement de la recuperation des vibrations mecaniques. Puis nous declinerons les trois principaux modes de transduction : par effet piezoelectrique, electrostatique et electromagnetique Enfin, ces trois principes de conversions des vibrations mecaniques en electricite seront compares du point de vue de l'efficacite, du rendement, ainsi que de leur integration et leur miniaturisation.
Taurine deficiency is a cause of vigabatrin‐induced retinal phototoxicity

Although vigabatrin irreversibly constricts the visual field, it remains a potent therapy for infantile spasms and a third‐line drug for refractory epilepsies. In albino animals, this drug induces a reduction in retinal cell function, retinal disorganization, and cone photoreceptor damage. The objective of this study was to investigate the light dependence of the vigabatrin‐elicited retinal toxicity and to screen for molecules preventing this secondary effect of vigabatrin.
The Prader-Willi/Angelman imprinted domain and its control center

The present review focuses on the recent advances towards understanding the mode of operation of the imprinting center (IC) within the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndromes (PWS/AS) domain. Special emphasis is put on the elucidation of the functional interaction between the two parts of the center, AS-IC and PWS-IC. The recent studies, on which the review is based, reveal cis-acting elements and trans-acting proteins that constitute the two parts of the IC and presumably provide the molecular mechanism for this interaction. AS-IC acquires the primary imprint during gametogenesis by establishing the maternal epigenotype. The unmethylated maternal allele of the AS-IC binds, very likely, a trans-acting factor that confers methylation on the PWS-IC maternal allele after fertilization. It is assumed that the PWS-IC paternal epigenotype, once established, spreads across the entire PWS/AS domain in the soma.
Stable binding to E 2 F is not required for the retinoblastoma protein to activate transcription , promote differentiation , and suppress tumor cell growth

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRB) can inhibit cell cycle progression and promote differentiation. pRB interacts with a variety of transcription factors, including members of the E2F and C-EBP protein families and MyoD, and can either repress or activate transcription depending on the promoter under study. These biological and biochemical activities of pRB have been mapped previously to a core domain, referred to as the pRB pocket. Using a panel of synthetic pRB pocket mutants, we found that the acute induction of a G1/S block by pRB is linked to its ability to both bind to E2F and to repress transcription. In contrast, these functions were not required for pRB to promote differentiation, which correlated with its ability to activate transcription in concert with fate-determining proteins such as MyoD. All tumor-derived pRB mutants tested to date failed to bind to E2F and did not repress transcription. Despite an inability to bind to E2F, pRB mutants associated with a low risk of retinoblastoma, unlike high-risk mutants, retained the ability to activate transcription and promote differentiation. Thus, the pRB pocket participates in dual tumor suppressor functions, one linked to cell cycle progression and the other to differentiation control, and these functions can be genetically and mechanistically dissociated.
Pharmacokinetics of Morphine and its Glucuronidated Metabolites in Burn Injuries

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of major thermal burn injury and continuous intravenous morphine infusion on the disposition of morphine and its glucuronidated metabolites, morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) once a week for three weeks. CASE SUMMARIES: Five patients with major first-, second-, or third-degree burn injuries received long-term intravenous morphine infusion. The required dose varied greatly (from 4 to 39.5 mg/h). The steady-state concentrations of morphine, M3G, and M6G ranged from 20 to 452, 29 to 3436, and 20 to 1240 μmol/L, respectively. The systemic clearance (Cls) of morphine ranged from 14.8 to 40.3 mL/min/kg and did not change over time. The ratios of M6G and M3G to morphine were not affected by dose, even with the wide variation of intravenous dosage. Morphine kinetics appeared to be first-order. Mean recovery of morphine, M3G, and M6G in urine was 1.7 ± 1.0%, 42.0 ± 16.8%, and 11.8 ± 3.2%, respectively, and renal clearance ranged from 8 to 64, 26 to 325, and 59 to 589 mL/min, respectively. Mean pain intensity ratings at rest remained low and stable (0.7 ± 0.9 on day 7, 0.4 ± 0.3 on day 14, 0 ± 0 on day 21). DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first published report describing morphine, M3G, and M6G disposition in patients with major thermal burn injury. The Cls of morphine is similar to that observed in other patient populations and healthy subjects, suggesting that the presence of major burn injuries or a continuous morphine infusion over a three-week period may not contribute significantly to the variability among individuals. In these cases, the renal clearance of morphine and its glucuronides was within the range of values reported for other populations of patients and healthy subjects. Recovery of morphine and its glucuronides in urine was also similar to that in healthy individuals. CONCLUSIONS: These cases suggest that the effects of major burn injuries and of long-term intravenous infusion of morphine did not seem to modify morphine, M3G, and M6G disposition. Among patients with burn injuries, the severity of burns or duration of administration are not a cause of nonlinear kinetic of morphine or of morphine resistance. The morphine infusion rate was substantially variable and not directly related to its clearance, suggesting that monitoring of morphine should be focused on the clinical response.
Brain correlates of recognition of communicative interactions from biological motion in schizophrenia

Background Recognition of communicative interactions is a complex social cognitive ability which is associated with a specific neural activity in healthy individuals. However, neural correlates of communicative interaction processing from whole-body motion have not been known in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Therefore, the current study aims to examine the neural activity associated with recognition of communicative interactions in SCZ by using displays of the dyadic interactions downgraded to minimalistic point-light presentations. Methods Twenty-six healthy controls (HC) and 25 SCZ were asked to judge whether two agents presented only by point-light displays were communicating or acting independently. Task-related activity and functional connectivity of brain structures were examined with General Linear Model and Generalized Psychophysiological Interaction approach, respectively. Results HC were significantly more efficient in recognizing each type of action than SCZ. At the neural level, the activity of the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) was observed to be higher in HC compared with SCZ for communicative v. individual action processing. Importantly, increased connectivity of the right pSTS with structures associated with mentalizing (left pSTS) and mirroring networks (left frontal areas) was observed in HC, but not in SCZ, during the presentation of social interactions. Conclusion Under-recruitment of the right pSTS, a structure known to have a pivotal role in social processing, may also be of importance for higher-order social cognitive deficits in SCZ. Furthermore, decreased task-related connectivity of the right pSTS may result in reduced use of additional sources of information (for instance motor resonance signals) during social cognitive processing in schizophrenia.
Effect of dynamic feature for human activity recognition using smartphone sensors

Human activity recognition (HAR) from time series sensor data collected by low cost inertial sensors attached to small portable devices like smartphones are increasingly gaining attention in various fields especially for health care, medical, millitary and security applications. The need for efficient time series data analysis for recognition of human activities has enhanced research efforts in this area. For correct recognition of human activities, efficient feature selection from the time series data is important. In this work an approach for dynamic feature extraction from time series human activity data is proposed and classification results with dynamic features and static features are compared. The efficiency of dynamic features over static features are noted by simulation experiments with benchmark data set with different classifiers available in machine learning domain. Experiments are also done with convolutional neural networks(CNN) for activity recognition using extracted dynamic features. It is found that CNN provides better recognition accuracy for dynamic activity recognition with dynamic features compared to conventional classifiers such as multilayer perceptron (MLP), support vector machine(SVM) or k-nearest neighbour(KNN) though it takes higher computational time and memory resources.
Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX): towards a holistic understanding of the feedbacks and interactions in the land–atmosphere–ocean–society continuum in the northern Eurasian region

Abstract. The northern Eurasian regions and Arctic Ocean will very likely undergo substantial changes during the next decades. The Arctic–boreal natural environments play a crucial role in the global climate via albedo change, carbon sources and sinks as well as atmospheric aerosol production from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, it is expected that global trade activities, demographic movement, and use of natural resources will be increasing in the Arctic regions. There is a need for a novel research approach, which not only identifies and tackles the relevant multi-disciplinary research questions, but also is able to make a holistic system analysis of the expected feedbacks. In this paper, we introduce the research agenda of the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX), a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary and international program started in 2012 ( https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex/ ). PEEX sets a research approach by which large-scale research topics are investigated from a system perspective and which aims to fill the key gaps in our understanding of the feedbacks and interactions between the land–atmosphere–aquatic–society continuum in the northern Eurasian region. We introduce here the state of the art for the key topics in the PEEX research agenda and present the future prospects of the research, which we see relevant in this context.
Triacylglycerol accumulation and change in fatty acid content of four marine oleaginous microalgae under nutrient limitation and at different culture ages

Alteration of lipid biosynthesis is one of important biochemical changes when oleaginous microalgae grow under varied environmental conditions. The effects of culture age and nutrient limitation on triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation and fatty acid content were investigated in four eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)‐rich marine microalgae. The amounts of TAGs in Chaetoceros sp. , Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Nannochloropsis oculata increased sharply from day 4 to day 11, and then the former two remained nearly unchanged while the latter declined gradually during the batch culture. In contrast, no marked increase in TAG accumulation was observed in Pavlova viridis during the culture. Changes in total fatty acid (TFA) content mirrored those observed for TAG accumulation, while the EPA content reached a maximum generally at day 7 or 11 in the range of 11 − 32 mg g−1 dry cell weight (DCW) and then declined. Nitrogen limitation led to a gradual increase in the amounts of TAGs from N. oculata pronouncedly but almost no change in other three species. The TFA content of the cultures after 5 days of nitrogen limitation was nearly twice that after 1 day in Chaetoceros sp. , P. tricornutum and P. viridis, while the lowest increase (220 − 283 mg g−1 DCW) was observed in N. oculata. TAGs increased gradually under phosphorus limitation in all four species but not sharply compared with that under nitrogen limitation in N. oculata. The TFA content increased gradually under phosphorus limitation and after 5 days of phosphorus limitation it was 1.5 − 2 times that after 1 day. The EPA content was generally not significantly affected by nitrogen or phosphorus limitation. Culture age and nutrient limitation could be useful variables for optimizing TAG accumulation and fatty acid content with potential for biodiesel production.
PLM-integriertes Anforderungsmanagement

Kurzfassung Die Erfüllung der Kundenanforderungen hat wesentlichen Einfluss auf den Produkterfolg. Eine Steigerung der Dokumentationsqualität ist daher das vorrangige Ziel im Anforderungsmanagement. Da trotz korrekt formulierter Anforderungen häufig Fehler durch Missinterpretation entstehen, rückt aktuell die Qualität der Interpretation von Anforderungsdokumenten in den Fokus der Betrachtung. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde von den Autoren der Ansatz eines PLM-integrierten Anforderungsmanagements entwickelt, dessen Teilaspekt – die SITIO – die Interpretationsqualität durch Nutzung von Effekten der linguistischen Pragmatik nachhaltig verbessern kann.
Effect of preoperative short course famotidine on TILs and survival in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Histamine receptor antagonists have been shown to induce tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in colonic cancers and improve survival. The role of histamine receptor anatagonists in breast cancer is unclarified. AIM To evaluate the role of histamine receptor antagonists in inducing (TILs) in breast cancer. METHOD Forty-five patients with operable breast cancers (25 cases who received preoperative famotidine and 20 controls) were studied for the effect of famotidine in inducing TILs and survival in breast cancer. RESULTS Significant TILs were seen in 75% (18/24) of cases as opposed to 35% (7/20) controls. In logistic regression analysis the only variable found to be predictive of TILs was famotidine, odds ratio 7.324 (1.693-31.686) P=0.008. In Cox's regression presence of TILs was favorably associated with improved disease free survival at a median follow up of 35.56 months. The hazard ratio for disease relapse was 3.327 (1.174-9.426) P=0.024 in TIL negative as compared to TIL positive patients. Famotidine use alone was not significant in the original model, however, on incorporation of quadrant of involvement in addition to other established prognostic factors in the above multivariate model, it assumed borderline significance with a hazard ratio for disease free survival 3.404 (1.005-11.531, P=0.049). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative short course famotidine induces TILs in breast cancer. Patients with TILs demonstrable in tumor specimens had an improved disease free survival. Famotidine may improve disease free survival in breast cancer and these findings need validation in larger population subsets.
Review of DISC 2012

The 26th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2012) was held on 16– 18 October in sunny Salvador, Brazil. The conference was organized by the Distributed Systems Laboratory (LaSiD) of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Some 90 people (local organization included) attended the conference. The technical programme consisted of 4 tutorials, 27 regular paper presentations (27 papers were accepted out of 112 submissions), 24 brief announcements and 2 keynote presentations. This year a workshop on Advances on Distributed Graph Algorithms (ADGA) was also co-located with DISC.