gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Phase II trial of capecitabine and irinotecan in combination with concurrent radiotherapy for neoadjuvant treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer (2005)

3589 Background: The safety of the combination of capecitabine, weekly irinotecan and concurrent radiotherapy (CapIri-RT) as neoadjuvant treatment in locally advanced rectal cancer has been established in a previous phase I trial. The present phase II study aimed at determing the efficacy and safety of CapIri-RT in a larger cohort of patients. Methods: Thirty-six patients with rectal cancer clinical stages T3/4 Nx or N+ were recruited to receive weekly neoadjuvant irinotecan 50mg/m2 (1 hour before radiation) and capecitabine (1000mg/m2; days 1–38) with a concurrent RT dose of 50.4 Gy (45+5.4 Gy). Surgery was scheduled 4–6 weeks after the completion of chemoradiation. Results: A total of 36 patients (median age 62; m/f: 27/9) were enclosed in the trial. The median distance of the tumor from the anal verge was 5 cm. Three patients suffered from a local recurrence. 30 patients have thus far completed chemoradiation. Main toxicity observed in these patients was (CTC grades 1/2/3/4 [n]): Anemia 22/8/-/- (median Hb decrease 2.1 g/dl; range 0–3.5); leukopenia 12/7/4/2 (grade 3/4 leucopenia lasting a median of 5 days; range 1–7), thrombocytopenia 1/-/-/-, diarrhea 13/11/4/-, nausea/vomiting 9/8/1/-, increased activity of transaminases 3/3/1/-. A 42-year old male patient had a reversible episode of ventricular fibrillation during chemoradiation, most probably caused by capecitabine. The relative dose intensity was (median/mean [%]): Irinotecan 100/90, capecitabine 100/90. In 13 patients dose reductions and/or postponement of chemotherapy was required. 28 patients underwent surgery thus far (deep-anterior resection n=22; exstirpation n=6). One patient died postoperative due to septic complications following a perirectal abscess. R0-resection was accomplished in all patients. Pathological complete remission was observed in five patients and a further nine patients showed microfoci of residual tumor only. Conclusions: Preoperative chemoradiation with CapIri-RT is feasible and more convenient than infusional 5-FU-based chemoradiation. The efficacy is promising with complete or nearly complete tumor remission in half of the patients. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Inhibition of bone resorption by inorganic phosphate is mediated by both reduced osteoclast formation and decreased activity of mature osteoclasts (1991)

High concentrations of inorganic phosphate (Pi) are known to inhibit bone resorption, although the mechanism(s) underlying this effect is unclear. To investigate whether Pi can inhibit the formation of osteoclasts we studied the effects of changes in Pi concentration between 1 and 4 mM on osteoclast-like cell formation in 1 week cultures of mouse bone marrow. Osteoclast-like cells were identified by multinuclearity, positive staining for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), and contraction in response to calcitonin. Increasing concentrations of Pi inhibited formation of these cells in a dose-dependent manner. To study effects of Pi on the bone-resorbing activity of mature osteoclasts we isolated osteoclasts from calcium-deficient egg-laying hens or rat pups and incubated them on sperm whale dentine slices. High Pi concentrations markedly reduced both the number of resorption pits formed per dentine slice and the mean area of each pit in both avian and mammalian systems. These data indicate that high concentrations of Pi act on bone directly, both to inhibit generation of new osteoclasts from their precursor cells and to inhibit bone resorption by mature osteoclasts. These effects of extracellular Pi concentration may play an important modulatory role on bone turnover in vivo and have potential importance in several disease states in which Pi metabolism is perturbed.
Information-theoretic occupancy grid compression for high-speed information-based exploration (2015)

We propose information-theoretic strategies for Occupancy Grid (OG) compression to enable high-speed exploration on computationally constrained mobile robots. We first formulate optimal lossy compression for OGs based on the Principle of Relevant Information. The solution to this formulation is a simple compression algorithm that is motivated by rate distortion theory. We then compress OGs to different resolutions and develop a second optimization based on the Information Bottleneck method that chooses a resolution simultaneously maximizing compression and minimizing loss of information from the robot's sensor measurements. On computationally constrained systems, the resulting reduction in computational complexity enables planning over longer predictive horizons, leading to higher-speed operation. Using these techniques to adaptively optimize OG resolution as the robot enters a new area causes it to autonomously slow down in obstacle-dense locations and speed up in open expanses. We simulate and experimentally evaluate mutual information-based exploration through cluttered indoor environments with exploration rates that adapt based on environment complexity, leading to an order-of-magnitude increase in the maximum rate of exploration in contrast to non-adaptive techniques given the same finite computational resources.
IDQL: Implicit Q-Learning as an Actor-Critic Method with Diffusion Policies (2023)

Effective offline RL methods require properly handling out-of-distribution actions. Implicit Q-learning (IQL) addresses this by training a Q-function using only dataset actions through a modified Bellman backup. However, it is unclear which policy actually attains the values represented by this implicitly trained Q-function. In this paper, we reinterpret IQL as an actor-critic method by generalizing the critic objective and connecting it to a behavior-regularized implicit actor. This generalization shows how the induced actor balances reward maximization and divergence from the behavior policy, with the specific loss choice determining the nature of this tradeoff. Notably, this actor can exhibit complex and multimodal characteristics, suggesting issues with the conditional Gaussian actor fit with advantage weighted regression (AWR) used in prior methods. Instead, we propose using samples from a diffusion parameterized behavior policy and weights computed from the critic to then importance sampled our intended policy. We introduce Implicit Diffusion Q-learning (IDQL), combining our general IQL critic with the policy extraction method. IDQL maintains the ease of implementation of IQL while outperforming prior offline RL methods and demonstrating robustness to hyperparameters. Code is available at https://github.com/philippe-eecs/IDQL.
Distinguishing true and false source locations when locating multiple concurrent speech sources (2008)

A permutation problem arises in the case of locating multiple speech sources using several sensor arrays in the far field. The intersection of different direction of arrival (DOA) estimates between sensor arrays leads to a set of real source locations as well as a set of false intersections. This paper presents a novel method for pairing DOA estimates from different sensor arrays, resulting in the corresponding real intersection points. The algorithm presented is numerically efficient and suitable for real time implementations. Real room recordings are used to evaluate the method.
Indian VenaSeal™ Experience Study Extension: Outcomes of Nonthermal, Nontumescent Endovenous Ablation (VenaSeal™) for the Treatment of Truncal Reflux in Varicose Vein Disease – An Indian Perspective with 2-Year Follow-up (2023)

Background: Varicose vein disease is a common disease in nearly 37.25% of Indian population affecting quality of life. Endovenous thermal ablation has been the first-line treatment for superficial venous reflux. A new technique, available now, is nonthermal, nontumescent vein sealing system (VenaSeal™), which comprises endovenous delivery of cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive into the vein causing obliteration of lumen and has shown better results in terms of safety and efficacy. Being a new modality, only a handful of institutes across India perform this procedure and there is a scarcity of Indian data on its outcomes. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the outcomes of VenaSeal™ glue ablation in terms of vein occlusion rates and improvement in VCSS score. Materials and Methods: The Indian VenaSeal Experience Study was carried out a year back, which was a single-center prospective study of 50 patients over 1 year and 4 months with 3 and 6 months of follow-up, and we aimed to evaluate the outcomes of VenaSeal™ glue ablation in terms of vein occlusion rates and improvement in venous clinical severity score (VCSS). This is an extension of that study with 200 patients (378 limbs) with similar parameters for outcome evaluation. Results: The study showed the mean age of study group to be 48.6 years and majority (87%) had an early varicose vein (C2/C3) disease. The average length of vein treated per limb was 62.6 cm and the average glue used per limb was 3.05 ml. All patients showed improvement in VCSS score averaging 2.3 ± 1.6 ( P &lt; 0.0001, n = 378) with target vein occlusion rate of 98% at 6 months ( n = 182), 97% at 12 months ( n = 126), and 95% at 2 years ( n = 98). Conclusion: VenaSeal™ glue ablation procedure is a promising and effective modality for the treatment of varicose veins with excellent treatment success rates and maximum patient acceptability. However, complications such as severe phlebitis and anaphylaxis have been reported. It is a feasible option under local anesthesia, does not require tumescence, and hence an efficient outpatient department-based procedure.
Modulating Nanoparticle Superlattice Structure Using Proteins with Tunable Bond Distributions (2017)

Herein, we investigate the use of proteins with tunable DNA modification distributions to modulate nanoparticle superlattice structure. Using beta-galactosidase (βgal) as a model system, we have employed the orthogonal chemical reactivities of surface amines and thiols to synthesize protein-DNA conjugates with 36 evenly distributed or 8 specifically positioned oligonucleotides. When these are assembled into crystalline superlattices with gold nanoparticles, we find that the distribution of DNA modifications modulates the favored structure: βgal with uniformly distributed DNA bonding elements results in body-centered cubic crystals, whereas DNA functionalization of cysteines results in AB<sub>2</sub> packing. We probe the role of protein oligonucleotide number and conjugate size on this observation, which revealed the importance of oligonucleotide distribution in this observed assembly behavior. These results indicate that proteins with defined DNA modification patterns are powerful tools for controlling nanoparticle superlattices architecture, and establish the importance of oligonucleotide distribution in the assembly behavior of protein-DNA conjugates.
Another Cause of Hyperglyceroluria (2013)

To the Editor: We read with interest the report of Barić et al (1) on glyceroluria and neonatal hemochromatosis. They state that glyceroluria has also been described in humans as a consequence of urine contamination, in fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency and in glycerol kinase deficiency. Recently, we reported on another cause of hyperglyceroluria, namely a homozygous mutation in the aquaporin 7 gene (2). This disorder was detected in 7 children from 3 families, and in 1 of the mothers. Two of these children (from different families) were asymptomatic, as was the mother with this mutation. Two other children presented learning problems, and the remaining 3 showed delayed (psycho)motor development associated, in 1 or 2 patients, with epilepsy, hypotonia, autism, dolichocephaly, discrete facial dysmorphism, and small testes. One patient had mild proteinuria. Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone, measured in 4 children, was mildly increased or in the upper normal range. Serum thyroid hormone levels were normal except in 1 patient with a mildly decreased free thyroxin. All individuals with the mutation showed a mild platelet secretion defect with reduced ATP secretion. Because 3 of the 8 affected individuals were asymptomatic, it is uncertain whether the neurological and morphological features of the phenotype are part of this disorder. In our experience, this tubular hyperglyceroluria is not so rare because we discovered these 3 families in the course of 6 years.
Insights into the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction on 2D Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides (2022)

Understanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) behaviors over two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D-TMDs) is critical for the development of nonprecious HER electrocatalysts with better activity. In this work, by combining density functional theory calculations with microkinetic modeling, we thoroughly investigated the HER mechanism on 2D-TMDs. We find an important dependence of simulated cell size on the calculated hydrogen adsorption energy and the activation barrier for MoS2. Distinct from previous “H migration” mechanisms proposed for the Heyrovsky reaction, the rate-determining step for MoS2, we propose that the Mo site only serves as the stabilized transition state rather than H adsorption. In comparison to transition-metal electrocatalysts, we find that the activation barrier of the Heyrovsky reaction on 2D-TMDs scales with the hydrogen adsorption energy exactly as for transition metals except that all activation energies are displaced upward by ca. 0.4 eV. This higher Heyrovsky activation barrier is responsible for the substantially lower activity of 2D-TMDs. We further show that this higher activation barrier stems from the more positively charged adsorbed hydrogen on the chalcogenides interacting repulsively with the incoming proton. Based on these insights, we discuss potential strategies for the design of nonprecious HER catalysts with activity comparable to Pt.
Hypoglossal canal dural arteriovenous fistula: incidence and the relationship between symptoms and drainage pattern (2013)

Object The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence, radiographic findings, relationship between presenting symptoms for treatment and drainage pattern, and treatment outcomes of hypoglossal canal dural arteriovenous fistula (HC-dAVF). Methods During a 16-year period, 238 patients underwent endovascular treatment for cranial dAVF at a single center. The incidence, radiographic findings, relationship between presenting symptoms for treatment and drainage pattern, and treatment outcomes of HC-dAVF were retrospectively evaluated. Results The incidence of HC-dAVF was 4.2% (n = 10). Initial symptoms were tinnitus with headache (n = 6), tinnitus only (n = 1), ocular symptoms (n = 1), otalgia (n = 1), and congestive myelopathy (n = 1). Presenting symptoms requiring treatment included ocular symptoms (n = 4), hypoglossal nerve palsy (n = 4), aggravation of myelopathy (n = 1), and aggravation of tinnitus with headache (n = 1). While the affected HC was widened in 4 of 10 patients, hypersignal intensity on source images was conspicuous in all 7 patients who underwent MR angiography (MRA). All ocular symptoms and congestive myelopathy were associated with predominant drainage to superior ophthalmic or perimedullary veins due to antegrade drainage restriction. All patients who underwent transvenous coil embolization (n = 8) or transarterial N -butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA) embolization (n = 1) improved without recurrence. One patient who underwent transarterial particle embolization had a recurrence 12 months posttreatment and was retreated with transvenous embolization. Conclusions The incidence of HC-dAVF was 4.2% of all cranial dAVF patients who underwent endovascular treatment. Source images of MRA helped to accurately diagnose HC-dAVF. More aggressive symptoms may develop as a result of a change in the predominant drainage route due to the development of venous stenosis or obstruction over time. Transvenous coil embolization appears to be the first treatment of choice.
Numerical modelling of caldera dynamical behaviour (1991)

The study of the mechanics of caldera formation can yield valuable insight into the behaviour of near-surface magma chambers and their mechanical interaction with the crust. We have addressed the problem of physical processes responsible of long-term ground deformation from the emplacement of magma in the crust to a final resurgent stage. A mechanical model based on a thermally coupled elastovisco-plastic rheology and a finite deformation formulation has been used, and solved via a finite element approximation. The history of an ideal caldera is modelled in the following two stages. (1) A doming phase corresponding to the growth of the magma chamber. This stage is constrained by values of amplitude, half-width and time constant of regional doming and by a range of realistic over-pressures. This uplift is linked to the plastic strain field within the crust, which strongly depends upon the pressure and temperature fields. (2) A resurgence phase which results from a collapse stage, with an instantaneous change in shape of the topography. The magma chamber is passive and this stage is basically similar to a crater relaxation process. The rebound amplitude and half-width are controlled by the length-scale of the collapse. A gravitational rebound is a very likely mechanism explaining large caldera uplift without over-pressure mechanisms. For most intracrustal loading processes, the crustal deformation is critically influenced by the relative importance of the upper crustal rheology (pressure-dependent plasticity) versus the lower crustal rheology (temperature-dependent viscosity). Because the upper part of the crust can deform without time-dependent dissipation, it may be responsible for large uplift variations that can occur for moderate loading variations. By contrast the creep of the middle crust acts as a regulating medium.
Abstract 20: Endothelial {alpha}Enac Subunit is Involved in Shear Stress Sensing and Endothelium Stiffness In Vivo (2013)

The Epithelial Sodium Channel (ENaC) is a key actor in renal sodium homeostasis. The expression of α β γ ENaC subunits has been shown in the endothelium and vascular smooth muscle, suggesting a role in vascular function. We recently demonstrated that endothelial ENaC is involved in aldosterone-modulated endothelial stiffness. It has been proposed that ENaC may act as a mechanosensor, as a member of the degenerin channel family acting as sensors in C. elegans. We hypothesized that the endothelial αENaC subunit is involved in shear stress sensing in the vascular tree. We used mice with conditional αENaC subunit gene inactivation in the endothelium only (Endo-αENaC Knock Out mice) and their controls. Renal function was explored using metabolic cages. Vascular reactivity was assessed by pressure myograph in mesenteric arteries. Endothelial stiffness was analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in open aortic rings. Renal function and sodium excretion (in basal state and after 1 mM NaCl acute challenge) were not affected, indicating that endothelial ENaC is not involved in sodium balance. Endothelial stiffness was decreased in aorta by acute incubation with benzamil (15min, 1μM) and by the absence of αENaC expression in the endothelium (Cortical stiffness; WT 0.9±0.15, WT Benzamil 0.6±0.10, KO 0.6±0.12, KO Benzamil 0.6±0.11 pN/nm). Ex vivo vascular contraction induced by phenylephrine and potassium chloride were not modified in Endo-αENaC Knock Out mice, nor the vasodilatory response to acetylcholine. Myogenic tone was also similar between the two groups. However, a striking difference was observed regarding flow-mediated vasodilation that is blunted in Endo-αENaC Knock Out mice. Similar results were observed after acute ex vivo benzamil (1μM) treatment in WT mesenteric arteries. In aorta, phosphorylation of eNOS, Akt and Myosin Light Chain were increased in Endo αENaC KO mice as compared to WT (1.00±0.3 vs 2.28±0.2, 1.00±0.1 vs 1.58±0.3, 1.00±0.3 vs 1.65±0.2). Our results demonstrate that the αENaC subunit in endothelial cells is part of the flow-sensing machinery in the vessel. We also showed that in vivo ENaC inhibition (using genetic or pharmacological approaches) reduces endothelial stiffness. Whether these two findings are linked remain to be explored.
Dual-Phase Molecular-like Charge Transport in Nanoporous Transition Metal Oxides (2018)

The conductivity of porous films in the presence of a large concentration of electrolyte is modeled considering two behaviors: “molecular-like” behavior corresponding to a single electrical phase with localized redox species surrounded by an electrolyte and “dual-phase material-like” behavior corresponding to two distinct conductive electrical phases. In the first case, both simple redox and ion-coupled redox couples are considered. In the second case, a transition from insulating to metallic behavior of the electronic phase is described, showing the interplay between diffusion and migration of charge carriers. The effect of electrochemical doping is systematically investigated, leading to the delineation of the experimental criteria to discriminate between these two types of behaviors in porous films. Application of the model to electrodeposited cobalt oxide films shows that these films, despite their molecular electrocatalytic activity, have a dual-phase material-like conductive behavior arising from nanocrystallites of cobalt oxide surrounded by an electrolyte phase, thus revealing the complexity of electrodeposited catalytic metal oxide materials.
A New Class of Rateless Codes Based on Reed–Solomon Codes (2015)

Erasure codes, such as LT and Raptor codes, are designed for the purpose of erasure-resilient distribution of data over computer networks. To achieve a small reception overhead, however, LT and Raptor codes must be used with a large design length <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> , making these codes unsuitable for real-time applications. In this paper, we propose a new class of erasure codes based on Reed–Solomon codes that unlike other Reed–Solomon-based erasure codes are rateless and also, unlike other rateless codes, guarantee zero overhead even for small <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> . Moreover, they have a reasonable computational complexity of coding when <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> is not too large. In fact, a practical implementation of subfield subcodes of Reed-Solomon codes with arbitrarily large block lengths is presented.
A New M-ary Sequence Family Constructed From Sidel'nikov Sequences (2007)

In this paper, for a positive integer M and a prime p such that , families of M-ary sequences using the M-ary Sidel'nikov sequences with period are constructed. The family has its maximum magnitude of correlation values upper bounded by and the family size is +M-1 for p=2 or for an odd prime p.