Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A common polymorphism in XRCC1 as a biomarker of susceptibility for chemically induced genetic damage

We have recently demonstrated a significant dose–response relationship between vinyl chloride exposure and mutant p53 biomarkers in humans. The aim of this study was to examine a common polymorphism in the DNA repair gene XRCC1 as a potential biomarker of susceptibility modifying this relationship, consistent with the known mechanism of production of p53 mutations via vinyl chloride-induced etheno-DNA adducts, which are repaired by XRCC1. A cohort of 211 French vinyl chloride workers were genotyped for the XRCC1 codon 399 polymorphism (CGG>CAG; Arg>Gln). Among the homozygous Arg–Arg individuals, 34% were biomarker positive compared with 47% in the heterozygous Arg–Gln individuals (adjusted odds ratio 1.73, 95% CI0.93–3.22) and 66% in the homozygous Gln–Gln individuals (adjusted odds ratio 3.95, 95% CI 1.68–9.28), with a significant trend for increasing Gln allele dosage (p=0.002). These preliminary results suggest that a common polymorphism in a DNA repair gene can be an important biomarker of susceptibility for chemically induced genetic damage.
Early Warnings of Regime Shifts: A Whole-Ecosystem Experiment

High-frequency monitoring of manipulated and reference lakes enabled early detection of subsequent catastrophic regime shift. Catastrophic ecological regime shifts may be announced in advance by statistical early warning signals such as slowing return rates from perturbation and rising variance. The theoretical background for these indicators is rich, but real-world tests are rare, especially for whole ecosystems. We tested the hypothesis that these statistics would be early warning signals for an experimentally induced regime shift in an aquatic food web. We gradually added top predators to a lake over 3 years to destabilize its food web. An adjacent lake was monitored simultaneously as a reference ecosystem. Warning signals of a regime shift were evident in the manipulated lake during reorganization of the food web more than a year before the food web transition was complete, corroborating theory for leading indicators of ecological regime shifts.
Management of venous thromboembolic diseases and the role of thrombophilia testing: summary of NICE guidance

Venous thromboembolic diseases range from asymptomatic deep venous thrombosis (DVT) to fatal pulmonary embolism. Non-fatal venous thromboembolic diseases may also cause serious long term conditions such as post-thrombotic syndrome or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. In the United Kingdom, pathways to diagnosis and to decisions on long term treatment or further investigation for thrombophilia and cancer vary, so guidance is needed in these areas. This article summarises the most recent recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the management of confirmed or suspected venous thromboembolic diseases in adults (excluding pregnant women). 1 NICE recommendations are based on systematic reviews of best available evidence and explicit consideration of cost effectiveness. When minimal evidence is available, recommendations are based on the Guideline Development Group’s experience and opinion of what constitutes good practice. Evidence levels for the recommendations are given in italic in square brackets. ### Diagnostic investigations for deep venous thrombosis
Nomograms to predict serious adverse events in phase II clinical trials of molecularly targeted agents.

PURPOSE A tool that quantifies the risk of treatment-related toxicity based on individual patient characteristics can augment the informed consent process and safety monitoring in the setting of phase II cancer treatment trials of molecularly targeted agents (MTAs). METHODS A regression model was constructed to predict the risk of a serious adverse event (SAE) with an MTA and presented as a nomogram. Estimation of risk can be performed by integrating risk estimates from the nomogram and from a reference or average patient. Internal validation was performed using bootstrapping techniques. RESULTS A total of 578 patients were treated with one of 14 MTAs given alone or in combination on one of 27 clinical trials performed by the Princess Margaret Hospital Drug Development Program between 2001 and 2006. Approximately 50% and 24% of patients experienced an SAE and an attributable SAE (SAEatt) during cycle 1, respectively. Albumin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), number of target lesions, prior radiotherapy, Charlson score, age, and performance status were included in the optimal model as predictors of a cycle 1 SAE, whereas the number of prior chemotherapy regimens, baseline creatinine, LDH, prior radiotherapy, Charlson score, body-surface area, and performance status were included as predictors of an SAEatt. Moderate-good internal validity was demonstrated, with area under the curve estimates ranging from 56.7% to 86.1% for all SAEs and 63.0% to 89.7% for SAEatts. CONCLUSION A regression model was constructed that predicts the SAE and SAEatt risk for an individual patient during cycle 1 of phase II trial treatment with moderate to good internal validity. External validation is still required.
Assessment of Dengue fever severity through liver function tests.

OBJECTIVE To assess the utility of liver function tests (LFTs) for early recognition and prediction of severity of Dengue fever in hospitalized patients. STUDY DESIGN An analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Services Institute of Medical Science and Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, from September - December 2010. METHODOLOGY Admitted cases of Dengue fever were divided into 3 groups; mild, moderate and severe increases in aminotransferases. Elevation in LFTs was co-related with good or bad outcome i.e. (survival or complication free stay) or (death or complications). RESULTS were analyzed in SPSS version 18. RESULTS Out of the 353 patients with mean age of 37.12 ± 15.45 years, 245 (69.4%) were males and 108 (30.6%) were females. Seventy five patients (21.2%) had mild elevation of aminotransferases (2 fold increases), 265 patients (75.1%) had moderate increases (3 to 4 fold) and 13 (3.7%) had severe (> 4 fold increase). ALT was statistically higher in patients with septicemia, hepatic and renal failure (p-value ² 0.05). AST was higher in almost all complications. Prolonged hospital stay was associated with raised LFTs and greater complications and mortality. AST was found to be twice as much raised as ALT. CONCLUSION AST and ALT were statistically higher in patients with worse outcome thus can lead to early recognition of high risk cases.
Faecal Microbiota and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Levels in Faeces from Infants with Cow‘s Milk Protein Allergy

Background: The present study was designed to compare the faecal microbiota and concentrations of faecal short-chain fatty acid and ammonia between healthy and cow’s milk protein allergic (CMPA) infants. Methods: The population comprised 92 infants aged 2–12 months who were nonallergic (n = 46) or diagnosed as having CMPA (n = 46). Faecal samples were analyzed by fluorescent in situ hybridization and flow cytometry, using a panel of 10 rRNA targeted group- and species-specific oligonucleotide probes. Acetic, propionic, butyric, isocaproic and branched-chain short fatty acids (BCSFA) were measured by gas-liquid chromatography, lactate by enzymatic reaction, and pH and ammonia levels were determined. Results: CMPA infant faeces had significantly higher proportions of the Clostridium coccoides group and Atopobium cluster and a higher sum of the proportions of the different bacterial groups in comparison to healthy infant faeces. Faecal pH and ammonia did not significantly differ between CMPA and healthy infants. Faeces concentrations and percentages of butyric acid and BCSFA were higher in CMPA infants than in healthy infants. Conclusions: The findings clearly set a link between a dysbiosis in gut microbiota composition and the pathogenesis of CMPA. No single species or genus appeared to play an essential role, but dysbiosis led to biomarkers of CMPA among bacterial fermentation products.
Can we continue to neglect genomic variation in introgression rates when inferring the history of speciation? A case study in a Mytilus hybrid zone

The use of molecular data to reconstruct the history of divergence and gene flow between populations of closely related taxa represents a challenging problem. It has been proposed that the long‐standing debate about the geography of speciation can be resolved by comparing the likelihoods of a model of isolation with migration and a model of secondary contact. However, data are commonly only fit to a model of isolation with migration and rarely tested against the secondary contact alternative. Furthermore, most demographic inference methods have neglected variation in introgression rates and assume that the gene flow parameter (Nm) is similar among loci. Here, we show that neglecting this source of variation can give misleading results. We analysed DNA sequences sampled from populations of the marine mussels, Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis, across a well‐studied mosaic hybrid zone in Europe and evaluated various scenarios of speciation, with or without variation in introgression rates, using an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) approach. Models with heterogeneous gene flow across loci always outperformed models assuming equal migration rates irrespective of the history of gene flow being considered. By incorporating this heterogeneity, the best‐supported scenario was a long period of allopatric isolation during the first three‐quarters of the time since divergence followed by secondary contact and introgression during the last quarter. By contrast, constraining migration to be homogeneous failed to discriminate among any of the different models of gene flow tested. Our simulations thus provide statistical support for the secondary contact scenario in the European Mytilus hybrid zone that the standard coalescent approach failed to confirm. Our results demonstrate that genomic variation in introgression rates can have profound impacts on the biological conclusions drawn from inference methods and needs to be incorporated in future studies.
Cloud Scheduling Using Hybrid Heuristic Based HEFT and Enhanced GRASP Approach: A Study and Analysis

Cloud computing has emerged as a new marketoriented business model for elucidating large-scale problems in heterogeneous distributed systems. It provides defended, rapid, beneficial data storage and computing power with the assistance of internet. Cloud provides on-demand services for different QoS requirements of different users. So, scheduling the services is wearying one. In this paper, we proposed Hybrid heuristic based HEFT to provide efficient task scheduling in cloud environment. In addition, task duplication concept is combined with greedy randomized search procedure to solve optimization problems in heterogenous environment. Experimental results shows that the proposed algorithms are able to reduce the cost and time in significant manner.
Non-fragile static output feedback controller design for linear continue-time systems with delay

This paper addresses the non-fragile static output feedback control problem for a class of linear continue-time systems with delay. By introducing a matrix transformation method, a novel non-fragile controller design is proposed which can solve the controller gain more easily and avoid complicated iteration calculation for non-linear matrix inequality. Then, the corresponding criteria can be obtained to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop systems and calculate the satisfactory non-fragile controller gain. Meanwhile, the proposed design scheme can also be applied in linear continue-time systems without delay so as to obtain satisfactory control results. Finally, a numerical example is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design scheme.
Epitope Mapping of the Hemagglutinin Molecule of a Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus by Using Monoclonal Antibodies

ABSTRACT We mapped the hemagglutinin (HA) antigenic epitopes of a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus on the three-dimensional HA structure by characterizing escape mutants of a recombinant virus containing A/Vietnam/1203/04 (H5N1) ΔHA and neuraminidase genes in the genetic background of A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (H1N1) virus. The mutants were selected with a panel of eight anti-HA monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), seven to A/Vietnam/1203/04 (H5N1) virus and one to A/Chicken/Pennsylvania/8125/83 (H5N2) virus, and the mutants’ HA genes were sequenced. The amino acid changes suggested three MAb groups: four MAbs reacted with the complex epitope comprising parts of the antigenic site B of H3 HA and site Sa of H1 HA, two MAbs reacted with the epitope corresponding to the antigenic site A in H3 HA, and two MAbs displayed unusual behavior: each recognized amino acid changes at two widely separate antigenic sites. Five changes were detected in amino acid residues not previously reported as changed in H5 escape mutants, and four others had substitutions not previously described. The HA antigenic structure differs substantially between A/Vietnam/1203/04 (H5N1) virus and the low-pathogenic A/Mallard/Pennsylvania/10218/84 (H5N2) virus we previously characterized (N. V. Kaverin et al., J. Gen. Virol. 83:2497-2505, 2002). The hemagglutination inhibition reactions of the MAbs with recent highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses were consistent with the antigenic-site amino acid changes but not with clades and subclades based on H5 phylogenetic analysis. These results provide information on the recognition sites of the MAbs widely used to study H5N1 viruses and demonstrate the involvement of the HA antigenic sites in the evolution of highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses, findings that can be critical for characterizing pathogenesis and vaccine design.
How technology management affects the development of service industries: A case study of China's telecommunications industry

China's telecommunications industry has been appreciably growing since many years and China now has world's largest telecommunications networks not only in terms of network capacity but also number of subscribers. This paper, aiming at investigating effects of technology management and technological capability on industrial development, lays emphasis on illustrating relationships among technology management, technological capability and telecommunications industry development and tries to explore how technology management affects industrial development. The paper argues that technological capability has the most significant effects on telecommunications industry development; technology management has more significant effects on telecommunications industry development than labor and capital. Technology management can exert influences on telecommunications industry development through technological capability, and by interacting with technological capability, effects of technology management are magnified. In the same way, technological capability has not only direct effects on industrial development, but also significant indirect effects by interacting with technology management. The findings in the paper have important managerial implications in terms of promoting technology management and technological capability for telecommunications industry to gain competitiveness, and improving synergy of technology management and technological capability to foster the development of telecommunications industry. The paper also contributes to the existing research in two different ways. First, the study demonstrates the effects of technology management at industrial level. Second, the exploration of technology management and technological capability and their interactions describes dynamics of the development of China's service industry from a new and complementary perspective.
Harnessing the sun

Now is the time to plan for the integration of significant quantities of solar energy into the electricity grid. Although solar energy constitutes a very small portion of our energy system today, the size of the resource is enormous: The earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the global population uses in an entire year. In addition, the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing very rapidly, sustaining an annual growth rate of more than 40% for the last decade. The combination of this rapid growth, falling costs, and a vast technical potential could make solar energy a serious contender for meeting our future energy needs.
The Effects of Nonpharmacological Interventions on Subjective Memory Complaints: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Subjective memory complaints (SMC) in the absence of psychiatric or neurological disorders are common among older adults. Although increasing numbers of individuals are suffering from SMC, research into interventions alleviating SMC is sparse. The present systematic review was conducted in order to present a clearer picture of the quality, quantity and outcomes of SMC intervention research. Methods: PubMed and PsychInfo were searched with a comprehensive search string delivering 4,496 hits. Abstracts and – if applicable – full texts of these studies were screened by independent raters according to predefined criteria. Fourteen relevant studies were included in the review. The categories of intervention were: conventional memory training (MT; n = 8), expectancy change (EC: cognitive restructuring, psychoeducation, etc.; n = 5), combined interventions (n = 5), physical training (n = 1), and physical and mental training combined (n = 2). The outcomes were: subjective memory measures, objective memory, depressive symptoms and well-being. Results: EC, followed by combined interventions, was most efficient in influencing subjective memory. MT or physical and mental training combined were not efficient. On objective memory, MT was the only efficient intervention. No effects were found on depressive symptoms and well-being, with low numbers of studies in these comparisons. Conclusion: EC seems to be most efficient in influencing SMC, whereas in objective memory MT is the only effective intervention. Depressive symptoms or well-being do not seem to be influenced significantly by any of the interventions. To date, the number of high-quality publications on SMC interventions is relatively low. More randomized controlled trials including measures of depressive symptoms and well-being are needed.
Bioassay-directed chemical analysis of Los Angeles airborne particulate matter using a human cell mutagenicity assay

The human cell mutagenicity of Los Angeles airborne fine particulate matter is examined via bioassay-directed chemical analysis. A 1993 composite fine particle sample is separated via liquid chromatography into fractions containing organic compounds of varying polarity. Samples are analyzed by the h1A1v2 human cell mutagenicity assay to identify those fractions that contain human cell mutagens and by GC/MS to identify the chemical character of those mutagens. Those subfractions that contain unsubstituted polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) are responsible for a considerable portion of the mutagenic potency of the whole atmospheric sample. Six unsubstituted PAC (cyclopenta[cd]pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[ghi]perylene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, and benzo[k]fluoranthene) account for most of the mutagenic potency that can be assigned to specific compounds within the atmospheric samples. Important semipolar mutagens that are quantified include 2-nitrofluoranthene and 6H-benzo[cd]pyren-6-one. A large number of other aromatic organics are identified as candidates for future testing as pure compounds in the human cell assay, at which time it should be possible to account for more of the mutagenic potency of the atmospheric samples.
A Review: A Singer Identification and Analysis of Musical Performance

: This paper aims to review/survey a singer identification and classification of musical performance and also classified by extracting audio features from real sample sounds. This study provides an overview of various feature and model-based approaches developed in past for robust singer voice identification. The importance and discussion of some standard methods applied for robust singer voice verification tasks have been highlighted. The main focus is to summarily introduce popular state-of-the-art techniques adopted for enhancing singer voice verification performance in noisy conditions.
L‐asparaginase treatment in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Asparaginases are a cornerstone of treatment protocols for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are used for remission induction and intensification treatment in all pediatric regimens and in the majority of adult treatment protocols. Extensive clinical data have shown that intensive asparaginase treatment improves clinical outcomes in childhood ALL. Three asparaginase preparations are available: the native asparaginase derived from Escherichia coli (E. coli asparaginase), a pegylated form of this enzyme (PEG‐asparaginase), and a product isolated from Erwinia chrysanthemi, ie, Erwinia asparaginase. Clinical hypersensitivity reactions and silent inactivation due to antibodies against E. coli asparaginase, lead to inactivation of E. coli asparaginase in up to 60% of cases. Current treatment protocols include E. coli asparaginase or PEG‐asparaginase for first‐line treatment of ALL. Typically, patients exhibiting sensitivity to one formulation of asparaginase are switched to another to ensure they receive the most efficacious treatment regimen possible. Erwinia asparaginase is used as a second‐ or third‐line treatment in European and US protocols. Despite the universal inclusion of asparaginase in such treatment protocols, debate on the optimal formulation and dosage of these agents continues. This article provides an overview of available evidence for optimal use of Erwinia asparaginase in the treatment of ALL. Cancer 2011. © 2010 American Cancer Society.
Infectious Complications in Chronic Dialysis Patients

Surprisingly little formal research has examined the issue of major bacterial infections in chronic dialysis patients. This is a surprising situation, because uremia is a classic state of immune hyporesponsiveness, and infection rates are believed to be several times higher in dialysis populations than in age-matched segments of the general population. The present paper focuses on the clinical epidemiology of major bacterial infections in dialysis patients, associations between bacterial infections and cardiovascular disease, and interventions aimed at averting these infections.
Effects of fading and partial-band noise jamming on a fast FH/BFSK acquisition receiver with noise-normalization combination

We present the performance analysis of a fast frequency-hopped (FH) binary orthogonal frequency-shift keying acquisition receiver for communication against adverse environments. The receiver employs noncoherent, noise-normalized, matched-filtered (MF) correlation detection for rapid acquisition in the search mode. Our analysis includes four types of communication environments, namely additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, AWGN channel with partial-band noise jamming, fading channels, and fading channels with partial-band noise jamming. The considered fading channels include Nakagami-m, Rician, and Rayleigh amplitude models. Based on Beaulieu's (see ibid., vol.38, no.9, p.1463, 1990) convergent series approach, efficient analytical formulas are developed for performance evaluation. Example performance results for various environments are presented in terms of two acquisition probabilities, namely the detection probability and the false alarm probability of the noise-normalized MF detector. It is analytically shown that with a short MF correlation length and with a sufficiently large ratio of signal power to noise power the fast FH diversity combining yields noticeable performance improvement for environments with strong fading. When the MF correlation is lengthened, this improvement tends to fade away and the diversity combining results in performance loss.