Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemotherapy versus transplants for acute myelogenous leukemia in second remission.

The best therapy for persons with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in 2nd remission is unknown. Bone marrow transplants from an HLA-identical sibling are reported to be better than chemotherapy but this is controversial. The objective of the study was to compare 3-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) in comparable subjects receiving chemotherapy or a transplant. 485 persons with AML in 2nd remission were studied. The chemotherapy cohort included 244 persons treated on trials of the British Medical Research Council, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and MD Anderson Hospital. The transplant cohort included 257 persons transplanted worldwide and reported to the international Bone Marrow Transplant Registry (16 were also chemotherapy subjects.) Subjects were selected for comparable age and year of treatment. Preliminary analyses identified two factors correlated with LFS: age < or = or > 30 years and 1st remission duration < or = or > 1 year; subsequent analyses were partitioned accordingly. Three-year probabilities of treatment-related mortality with chemotherapy and transplants were 7% (95% confidence interval, 3-15%) vs 56% (49-63%). Three-year leukemia relapse probabilities were 81% (74-86%) vs 41% (33-49%). Three-year probabilities of LFS were 17% (12-23%) vs 26 (20-32%). Cohort analysis showed significantly higher LFS with transplants vs chemotherapy in persons < or = 30 years and 1st remissions > 1 year (41% (29-53%) vs 17% (7-32%); P = 0.017) and those in > 30 years with 1st remissions < or = 1 year (18% (9-29%) vs 7% (2-16%); P = 0.046). Others had comparable LFS with both treatments. These data indicate better LFS with HLA-identical sibling transplants than chemotherapy in some persons with AML in 2nd remission.
Evaluation of cochlear function in normal-hearing young adults exposed to MP3 player noise by analyzing transient evoked otoacoustic emissions and distortion products.

OBJECTIVE Exposure to recreational noise may cause injuries to the inner ear, and transient evoked (TEOAEs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) may identify these cochlear alterations. The goal of this study was to evaluate TEOAEs and DPOAEs as a method to diagnose early cochlear alterations in young adults exposed to MP3 player noise. MATERIAL AND METHODS We performed a prospective study of the cochlear function in normal-hearing MP3 player users by analyzing TEOAE and DPOAE incidence, amplitude, and spectral content. We gathered a sample of 40 ears from patients between 19 and 29 years old (mean age 24.09 years, SD 3.9 years). We compared the results with those of a control group of 232 ears not exposed to MP3 noise from patients aged 18 to 32 years (mean age 23.35 years, SD 2.7 years). Fifty percent of ears were from females and 50% were from males. RESULTS Subjects who had used MP3 players for most years and for more hours each week exhibited a reduction in TEOAE and DPOAE incidence and amplitudes and an increase in DPOAE thresholds. TEOAEs showed a statistically significant lower incidence and amplitudes for normal-hearing subjects using MP3 players at frequencies of 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz. DPOAE incidence was lower at 700, 1000, 1500, and 2000 Hz; the amplitudes were lower at frequencies between 1500 and 6000 Hz; and the thresholds were higher for all frequency bands, statistically significant at frequencies from 1500 to 6000 Hz, p < . 05. CONCLUSIONS Cochlear impairment caused by MP3 player noise exposure may be detectable by analyzing TEOAEs and DPOAEs before the impairment becomes clinically apparent.
Emergence of Staphylococcus aureus Carrying Multiple Drug Resistance Genes on a Plasmid Encoding Exfoliative Toxin B

ABSTRACT We report the complete nucleotide sequence and analysis of pETBTY825, a Staphylococcus aureus TY825 plasmid encoding exfoliative toxin B (ETB). S. aureus TY825 is a clinical isolate obtained from an impetigo patient in 2002. The size of pETBTY825, 60.6 kbp, was unexpectedly larger than that of the archetype pETBTY4 (∼30 kbp). Genomic comparison of the plasmids shows that pETBTY825 has the archetype pETBTY4 as the backbone and has a single large extra DNA region of 22.4 kbp. The extra DNA region contains genes for resistance to aminoglycoside [aac(6′)/aph(2″)], macrolide (msrA), and penicillin (blaZ). A plasmid deletion experiment indicated that these three resistance elements were functionally active. We retrospectively examined the resistance profile of the clinical ETB-producing S. aureus strains isolated in 1977 to 2007 using a MIC determination with gentamicin (GM), arbekacin (ABK), and erythromycin (EM) and by PCR analyses for aac(6′)/aph(2″) and msrA using purified plasmid preparations. The ETB-producing S. aureus strains began to display high resistance to GM, which was parallel with the detection of aac(6′)/aph(2″) and mecA, after 1990. Conversely, there was no significant change in the ABK MIC during the testing period, although it had a tendency to slightly increase. After 2001, isolates resistant to EM significantly increased; however, msrA was hardly detected in ETB-producing S. aureus strains, and only five isolates were positive for both aac(6′)/aph(2″) and msrA. In this study, we report the emergence of a fusion plasmid carrying the toxin gene etb and drug resistance genes. Prevalence of the pETBTY825 carrier may further increase the clinical threat, since ETB-producing S. aureus is closely related to more severe impetigo or staphylococcal scalded-skin syndrome (SSSS), which requires a general antimicrobial treatment.
Análisis de posición de un mecanismo de cuatro barras utilizando coordenadas naturales

En este articulo se propone la utilizacion de coordenadas naturales en la formulacion de las ecuaciones de restriccion de un mecanismo de cuatro barras para resolver el problema de posicion de forma cerrada o analitica, con el objetivo de evitar las complejidades que conlleva el uso del metodo tradicional en el cual se utilizan coordenadas angulares y, donde las restricciones se derivan de la condicion de cierre de lazo. Se modelo utilizando coordenadas naturales en un mecanismo de cuatro barras junto con un punto del acoplador, debido que la trayectoria deseada de este punto es un problema de especial importancia en la sintesis dimensional. Las restricciones obtenidas se resolvieron de forma analitica, para luego ser implementas en la simulacion del mecanismo para cada una de sus configuraciones. Finalmente se concluyo que el uso de coordenadas naturales para la solucion del problema de posicion de un mecanismo de cuatro barras, origina ecuaciones de restriccion que pueden resolverse analiticamente de forma sencilla, y de esta manera proporcionando una solucion alterna al problema de posicion.
Intravenous ribavirin therapy for adenovirus pneumonia

We report on the effectiveness of intravenous ribavirin for severe adenoviral pneumonia in a 10‐month‐old male following orthotopic liver transplantation. On day 20 post‐transplantation, he developed high fever, marked respiratory compromise, and hypoxemia. The chest radiograph showed bilateral pulmonary infiltrates. Samples of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid grew adenovirus, serotype 1. Marked clinical and radiological improvement was noted after intravenous ribavirin therapy. A prospective clinical trial is needed to determine the efficacy of ribavirin therapy for severe adenovirus disease. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2000; 29:69–73. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Efficiency of the Schroth and Vojta Therapies in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis

Idiopathic scoliosis is one 3 of the most frequent spine diseases in adolescents. It is characterized by an inclination in the frontal plane of the vertebrae and a rotation in the transverse plane. This paper aims to demonstrate the efficiency of the Vojta and Schroth therapies for recovering the adolescents with scoliosis. The research was performed on three female subjects, aged between 11 and 13 years old. Following the assessment and individualized physical therapy programs, we can say that the originally established hypothesis was confirmed. The results demonstrated that the two forms of therapy are effective, obtaining 6 to 20-degree improvements in the Cobb angle.
Prenatal diagnosis of galactosialidosis

The second prenatal diagnosis of galactosialidosis is reported. Neuraminidase and β‐galactosidase activities in cultured amniotic cells were deficient, this being confirmed by skin fibroblast enzyme assay on the affected fetus after interruption of the pregnancy. Cultured placental cells demonstrated the same enzyme deficiencies. Analysis of deproteinized amniotic fluid showed the presence of abnormal oligosaccharides specific for a‐neuraminidase deficiency.
SPRINT PATTERNS IN RUGBY UNION PLAYERS DURING COMPETITION

The purpose of this study was to characterize sprint patterns of rugby union players during competition. Velocity profiles (60 m) of 28 rugby players were initially established in testing from standing, walking, jogging, and striding starts. During competition, the individual sprinting patterns of 17 rugby players were determined from video by using the individual velocity profiles. Forwards commenced sprints from a standing start most frequently (41%), whereas backs sprinted from standing (29%), walking (29%), jogging (29%), and occasionally striding (13%) starts. Forwards and backs achieved speeds in excess of 90% maximal velocity (&OV0312;max) on 5 ± 4 and 9 ± 4 occasions (∼50% of the sprints performed), respectively, during competition. The higher frequency of sprinting for the backs compared with the forwards highlights the importance of speed training for this positional group. The similar relative distribution of velocities achieved during competition for forwards and backs suggests both positional groups should train acceleration and &OV0312;max qualities. The backs should have a higher total volume of sprint training. Sprinting efforts should be performed from a variety of starting speeds to mimic the movement patterns of competition.
Development of sexual behaviour in commercially-housed broiler breeders after mixing

1. It has been reported that broiler breeder males behave aggressively towards females during mating. However, the cause of this aggressive sexual behaviour is not yet clear. In this experiment we studied the development of the sexual behaviour in male and female broiler breeders from mixing (20 weeks of age) until complete development of the behaviour (28 weeks of age) to formulate hypotheses on the causes of the aggressive mating behaviour. 2. Behaviour was observed on 8 farms with commercially-housed Ross 308 broiler breeder parent stock (males and females) at 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 weeks of age, either observed by direct observations at 6 different locations in two units per farm, or recorded on video tape in one unit per farm for more detailed observations. 3. Broiler breeder males behaved aggressively towards females both during and outside the mating context. Some elements of courtship behaviour were not observed. Upon male approach hens either did not respond or they ran away. Males frequently used forced behaviour before mating (pushing hens into a crouch position). The majority of the matings did not succeed (no copulation, due to frequent escape of hens) and was forced (no voluntary crouching of the hen). Rough male behaviour did not decrease, neither did hens show habituation or a more “normal” response over the 8 weeks observation period. 4. We conclude that both male and female sexual behaviour of commercially-housed broiler breeders seem to be incomplete and may be indicative of poor welfare and stress, especially in the hens. We hypothesise that factors like separate rearing (common practice under commercial conditions), large group sizes and stocking density may play an important role in the development and performance of sexual behaviour and should be further studied.
Small intestinal submucosa for pubourethral sling suspension for the treatment of stress incontinence: first histopathological results in humans.

PURPOSE Small intestinal submucosa (SIS), a biomatrix of porcine origin, is used in pubourethral sling operations for female urinary stress incontinence, among other urological and surgical indications. To our knowledge we report the first histopathological examination of this biomatrix in human subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a series of 15 patients with pubourethral sling procedures using SIS 3 reoperations were necessary because of recurrent urinary stress incontinence at a mean of 12.7 months. Biopsies were taken from the implantation site of the SIS band under the vaginal mucosa. Several immunohistochemical reactions were used to identify any inflammatory reaction. RESULTS The biopsies under investigation showed nothing more than focal residues of the SIS implant without any evidence of a specific tissue reaction. There were no changes that might point to a foreign body reaction. There was likewise no evidence of any significant immunological reaction and in particular no evidence of any chronic inflammatory reaction. CONCLUSIONS The morphological findings point to outstandingly good biocompatibility of SIS. During healing the material is incorporated into the body without any foreign body or inflammatory reaction. The results of the first histological investigation of SIS in human subjects emphasize the special status of SIS among implant materials.
Biochemical mechanisms of the antileishmanial activity of sodium stibogluconate

Pentavalent antimonial agents such as sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam; Burroughs Wellcome Co., London, United Kingdom) are the drugs of choice for the treatment of leishmaniasis, but their biochemical mechanisms of action are virtually unknown. The viability of Leishmania mexicana (WR 227) promastigotes and amastigotes was decreased 40 to 61% by a 4-h exposure to 500 micrograms of Sb (in the form of stibogluconate) per ml. Such exposure also resulted in a 51 to 65% decrease in incorporation of label into DNA, RNA, and protein; a 56 to 65% decrease in incorporation of label into purine nucleoside triphosphate; and a 34 to 60% increase in incorporation of label into purine nucleoside monophosphate and diphosphate. It is postulated that the apparent decrease in ATP and GTP synthesis from ADP and GDP contributes to decreased macromolecular synthesis and to decreased Leishmania viability. Further experiments suggested that inhibition of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle may partially explain the inability to phosphorylate ADP.
Distribution of ARF6 between Membrane and Cytosol Is Regulated by Its GTPase Cycle*

The ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) subfamily of small GTPases regulates intracellular transport. Although much is known about how ARF1 regulates transport in the secretory pathways, regulation of the endocytic pathways by ARF6 remains less understood. In particular, whereas cycling of ARF1 between membrane and cytosol represents a major mechanism of regulating its function, this regulation has been questioned for ARF6. In this study, we found that ARF6 is distributed both on membranes and in the cytosol. Cytosolic ARF6 is recruited to membranes in a GTP-dependent manner that is fundamentally similar to ARF1. However, unlike ARF1, release of membrane-bound ARF6 to the cytosol requires hydrolysis of GTP that is sensitive to the level of magnesium. These findings suggest that the GTPase cycle of ARF6 also regulates its distribution between membrane and cytosol and that this form of regulation will also likely be important for the function of ARF6. Moreover, as ARF6 has little intrinsic ability to hydrolyze GTP, magnesium concentration most likely affects the release of membrane-bound ARF6 by altering the activity of its GTPase-activating protein.
Etude de la fiabilité de composants GaN en conversion d'énergie

L’industrie des transports aeronautique et terrestre voit une augmentation constante de l’electrification de ses fonctions. Les actionneurs mecaniques ou hydrauliques sont au fil des evolutions technologiques remplaces par des actionneurs electriques.Les composants qui dominent le marche actuellement ne semblent plus capables de suivre la tendance. En effet, les composants de puissance a base de silicium regnent toujours sur le marche actuel, grâce a leur faible cout. Ce materiau commence par contre a atteindre ses limites theoriques en termes de performances. Dans ce contexte, differentes structures en semi-conducteurs a large bande interdite sont en train d’emerger afin de succeder au silicium.Cette etude a pour objectif d’evaluer la fiabilite des transistors de puissance a base de Nitrure de Gallium. Ces composants semblent etre tres prometteurs pour des applications moyennes puissances. Cependant, les mecanismes de defaillance dont peuvent souffrir ces composants ne sont pas encore suffisamment etudies. L’etude consiste en l’application de vieillissements alliant contraintes thermiques et electriques. Ces vieillissements sont effectues a differentes conditions de tension et de temperature. L’objectif de cette methode est, dans un premier temps, d’isoler l’effet de chaque facteur de stress sur l’etat des composants, et dans un second temps, d’identifier les mecanismes de defaillances actives en fonction des conditions de vieillissement.Ce travail a permis d’identifier l’existence de differents mecanismes de defaillance pouvant etre actives selon les conditions de vieillissement. En effet, il est apparu que la gamme de temperature de vieillissement utilisee influe grandement sur la predominance des mecanismes de defaillance actives. Les resultats obtenus remettent en question les normes de qualification actuellement appliquees aux composants en Nitrure de Gallium. Ces normes devraient revoir a la hausse les temperatures de vieillissement utilisees afin de couvrir des gammes plus proches des temperatures d’utilisation pour ce type de composants.
Kir2.2 inward rectifier potassium channels are inhibited by an endogenous factor in Xenopus oocytes independently from the action of a mitochondrial uncoupler

We previously showed inhibition of Kir2 inward rectifier K+ channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes by the mitochondrial agents carbonyl cyanide p‐trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP) and sodium azide. Mutagenesis studies suggested that FCCP may act via phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐bisphosphate (PIP2) depletion. This mechanism could be reversible in intact cells but not in excised membrane patches which preclude PIP2 regeneration. This prediction was tested by investigating the reversibility of the inhibition of Kir2.2 by FCCP in intact cells and excised patches. We also investigated the effect of FCCP on Kir2.2 expressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells. Kir2.2 current, expressed in Xenopus oocytes, increased in inside‐out patches from FCCP‐treated and untreated oocytes. The fraction of total current that increased was 0.79 ± 0.05 in control and 0.89 ± 0.03 in 10 µM FCCP‐treated (P > .05). Following “run‐up,” Kir2.2 current was re‐inhibited by “cramming” inside‐out patches into oocytes. Therefore, run‐up reflected not reversal of inhibition by FCCP, but washout of an endogenous inhibitor. Kir2.2 current recovered in intact oocytes within 26.5 h of FCCP removal. Injection of oocytes with 0.1 U apyrase completely depleted ATP (P < .001) but did not inhibit Kir2.2 and inhibited Kir2.1 by 35% (P < .05). FCCP only partially reduced [ATP] (P < .001), despite inhibiting Kir2.2 by 75% (P < .01) but not Kir2.1. FCCP inhibited Kir2.2 expressed in HEK cells. The recovery of Kir2.2 from inhibition by FCCP requires intracellular components, but direct depletion of ATP does not reproduce the differential inhibitory effect of FCCP. Inhibition of Kir2.2 by FCCP is not unique to Xenopus oocytes. J. Cell. Physiol. 219: 8–13, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Local Tree Hunting: Finding Closest Contents from In-Network Cache

SUMMARY How to retrieve the closest content from an in-network cache is one of the most important issues in Information-Centric Networking (ICN). This paper proposes a novel content discovery scheme called Local Tree Hunting (LTH). By adding branch-cast functionality to a lo-cal tree for content requests to a Content-Centric Network (CCN) response node, the discovery area for caching nodes expands. Since the location of such a branch-casting node moves closer to the request node when the content is more widely cached, the discovery range, i
Stage- and Region-Specific Expression of Estrogen Receptor α Isoforms during Ontogeny of the Pituitary Gland.

The expression time course of estrogen receptor α (ERα) was analyzed by RT-PCR in fetal and newborn rat pituitaries. In addition to the classical ERα messenger RNA (mRNA), three shorter transcripts were detected and subsequently cloned. Sequence analysis showed that they corresponded to ERα mRNAs lacking exon 3 (which encodes a zinc finger in the DNA-binding domain), exon 4 (which encodes the nuclear localization signal and part of the steroid-binding domain), or both exons 3 and 4. As analyzed by RT-PCR and ribonuclease protection assay, the respective expression levels of the different transcripts varied dramatically during pituitary development; short forms appeared 4 days before full-length ERα mRNA. On Western blots from rat pituitaries of different ages, an ERα-specific antiserum labeled four protein bands of the expected molecular weights, revealing that all four ERα mRNAs are translated in vivo. Immunocytochemistry, using the same antiserum, showed the ERα to be present first in the cytosol of int.
Gene conversion can create new MHC allees

Summary: It is possible to measure gene conversion of MHC genes with the help of a semi‐nested PCR assay. Several considerations are of utmost importance when such an assay is set up. Using this assay, we have found that gene conversion occurs in MHC class II genes in mouse sperm, but not in somatic cells tested. Although this gene conversion occurs in germline cells, it is already completed in spermatogonia, and consequently is a mitotic event unlinked to meiosis. The frequency of gene conversion events in MHC class II genes varies strongly from one allele to another, with the highest detected frequencies as high as 1/40,000 for an individual heterozygous for both donor and acceptor sequences. Deletions or insertions in one gene relative to the other seem to lower the efficiency of gene conversion considerably. Stretches within MHC genes amenable to gene conversion are located in CpG clusters, whereas MHC genes not involved in gene conversion have background CpG levels. DNA damage, either chemical or radiation induced, increases the frequency of gene conversion of MHC class II genes in cultured cells of the fibroblastoid lineage. The effect of chemical DNA damage seems roughly dose dependent, whereas irradiation has a maximal effect at low doses.
Selection of a network of large lakes and reservoirs suitable for global environmental change analysis using Earth Observation

ABSTRACT The GloboLakes project, a global observatory of lake responses to environmental change, aims to exploit current satellite missions and long remote-sensing archives to synoptically study multiple lake ecosystems, assess their current condition, reconstruct past trends to system trajectories, and assess lake sensitivity to multiple drivers of change. Here we describe the selection protocol for including lakes in the global observatory based upon remote-sensing techniques and an initial pool of the largest 3721 lakes and reservoirs in the world, as listed in the Global Lakes and Wetlands Database. An 18-year-long archive of satellite data was used to create spatial and temporal filters for the identification of waterbodies that are appropriate for remote-sensing methods. Further criteria were applied and tested to ensure the candidate sites span a wide range of ecological settings and characteristics; a total 960 lakes, lagoons, and reservoirs were selected. The methodology proposed here is applicable to new generation satellites, such as the European Space Agency Sentinel-series.