julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
International Legal Scholarship as a Cooling Medium in International Law and Politics
2014-11-01

The article aims to contribute from a history of science angle to the recent debate on the relation between legal scholarship, utopian ideals, and practice, which was spurred by the EJIL Symposium on Antonio Cassese’s ‘Realizing Utopia’ and subsequent publications in this journal. It defends a conception of legal scholarship that keeps a reflexive distance vis-à-vis practice and current political trends in international relations. It focuses on traditional background assumptions of international legal scholarship, which constantly threaten this reflexive distance. Arguably these background assumptions are a 19th century legacy and today – in a context of fragmentation and globalization – stand in the way of developing the full potential of international legal scholarship as a medium of societal reflection. The classic role of the scholar as a law reformer in the current context turns out to be more problematic than it may have been in the past. Inspired by Kelsenian concerns and Nietzschean metaphorics, the article instead suggests that international legal scholarship functions as a cooling medium for the overheated discursive operations of the political, economic and legal subsystems of World Society.
South American giant short-faced bear (Arctotherium angustidens) diet: evidence from pathology, morphology, stable isotopes, and biomechanics
2014-11-01

Arctotherium angustidens Gervais and Ameghino, 1880 (the South American giant short-faced bear) is known for being the earliest (Ensenadan Age, early to middle Pleistocene) and largest (body mass over 1 ton) of five described Arctotherium species endemic to South America. Here we assess the diet of this bear from multiple proxies: morphology, biomechanics, dental pathology, stable isotopes and a previous study using geometric morphometric methodology. Results favor the idea of animal matter consumption, probably from large vertebrates in addition to vegetable matter consumption. Most probably, active hunting was not the unique strategy of this bear for feeding, since its large size and great power may have allowed him to fight for the prey hunted by other Pleistocene carnivores. However, scavenging over mega mammal carcasses was probably another frequent way of feeding. South American short-faced bears adjusted their size and modified their diet through Pleistocene times, probably as a response to the diversification of the carnivore guild (from the few precursory taxa that crossed the Panamanian Isthmus during the Great American Biotic Interchange).
Relevance of pelvic and para-aortic node metastases in early-stage ovarian cancer.
2014-11-01

A systematic lymphadenectomy in early-stage ovarian cancer leads to an upstaging in a few patients after detection of node metastases even in pelvic or para-aortic nodes, especially in patients with grade 3 tumours and serous cancers. Pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy may detect node involvement in early-stage ovarian cancer and might be helpful in correct staging.
Gamut Mapping for Digital Cinema
2014-11-01

To ensure consistent presentation of future wide-gamut digital cinema packages (DCPs) on standard gamut screens, a mandatory gamut mapping strategy has to be chosen. In this paper, current gamut mapping algorithms are evaluated with respect to their application in digital cinema. These algorithms include: “Simple Clip,” “Cusp Clip,” “Minimum delta E” (mindE), “Hue-preserving mindE,” “Weighted mindE,” and the mapping strategy that is used in current projectors. The gamut mapping algorithms under investigation will be provided as three-dimensional (3D) lookup tables for comparison. These can also be used to retrofit a more advanced gamut mapping strategy to standard gamut projectors. Therefore, the paper concludes with an analysis of the losses introduced by using 3D lookup tables for gamut mapping. The intent of this paper is to initiate a discussion about gamut mapping strategies for digital cinema, which may ultimately lead to an addendum to the SMPTE standards for digital cinema.
Quantification of wear-time adherence of&nbsp;removable appliances in young orthodontic patients in relation to their BMI: a preliminary study
2014-11-01

The orthodontic treatment of young patients with removable devices does not require BMI-dependent changes in the treatment strategy. However, the use of removable appliances during meal times raises the possibility of reducing food intake, and in this way the orthodontist may have an active role to play in weight reduction.
Niobium stripline resonators for microwave studies on superconductors
2014-11-01

Microwave spectroscopy is a powerful experimental tool to reveal information on the intrinsic properties of superconductors. Superconducting stripline resonators, where the material under study constitutes one of the ground planes, offer a high sensitivity to investigate superconducting bulk samples. In order to improve this measurement technique, we have studied stripline resonators made of niobium, and we compare the results to lead stripline resonators. With this technique we are able to determine the temperature dependence of the complex conductivity of niobium and the energy gap meV. Finally we show measurements at the superconducting transition of a tantalum bulk sample using niobium stripline resonators.
BI-32 * RISK FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR PATIENTS WITH NEWLY DIAGNOSED GLIOBLASTOMA WHO DID NOT RECEIVE SALVAGE THERAPY
2014-11-01

BACKGROUND: A relevant fraction of patients does not receive salvage therapy at recurrence of glioblastoma initially treated according to current standards of care. Primary treatment may be of higher relevance in this patient group. Risk factors to prospectively determine which patients have a higher probability to receive salvage therapy have not been prospectively studied. METHODS: Patients (n = 1004) with first recurrence of a glioblastoma received no salvage treatment (n = 374; 37.3%, group N) or ≥1 line of postprogression therapy consisting of surgical resection +/- second radio- and/or chemotherapy (n = 630; 62.7%, group Y) in the prospectively assembled cohort of the German Glioma Network. Age, gender, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), extent of resection, O6-methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1/2 status as well as first line therapy were assessed as risk factors not to receive salvage therapy. RESULTS: Median overall survival in the whole cohort was 14.2 (95% confidence interval 13.4-15.0) months. It was 8.7 (95% CI 8.1-9.2) months in group N as opposed to 18.5 (95% CI 17.2-19.8) months in group Y patients. Positive prognostic factors to receive salvage treatment were age ≤ 60 years (odds ratio (OR), 2.9, p < 0.001), complete resection at first-line treatment (OR 1.8, p = 0.011) and KPS >70 (OR 1.7, p = 0.035), but not initial treatment with radiochemotherapy (versus radio- or chemotherapy) (OR 1.6, p = 0.051), gender (OR 1.1, p = 0.718), or MGMT (OR 1.5, p = 0.087). A multivariate analysis with test and validation set will be presented. CONCLUSION: In this analysis, the administration of salvage treatment expectedly was associated with prolonged survival. Older patients with incomplete resections or biopsies with lower KPS may particularly benefit from improved first-line treatment since these patients are less likely to receive salvage therapy. A concept of the EORTC and NOA proposes to assess the addition of bevacizumab to such patients with tumors lacking MGMT promoter methylation.
Follow-up in patients with low-risk cutaneous melanoma: is it worth it?
2014-11-01

Follow-up examinations in melanoma aim to detect recurrences or secondary melanomas in an early phase of development. Follow-up guidelines that have been developed in many European countries, the USA and Australia show varying recommendations and are controversial, especially in patients with melanomas of 1.0 mm tumor thickness or less. This group contains 50-70% of all melanoma patients and the majority is unlikely to develop recurrences. On the other hand, within this entity, subgroups at higher risk for recurrences can be defined who require a more intense follow-up. This article discusses recommendations for the frequency, duration and costs of follow-up in low-risk melanoma patients. Patient preferences are addressed and a risk-adapted follow-up scheme is proposed.
Placebo effects in children
2014-11-01

Placebo effects play a central role in medicine, whether in clinical routine in private practice or in a hospital setting, or during a clinical trial – with or without placebo application – or even without a doctor or other healthcare professional being around physically. Placebo effects are an immanent component of all and any treatments of any disease or condition [1]. As we do know that expectancy and especially learning play a crucial role in generating placebo effects, an interesting question arises with respect to placebo effects in children [2]: does less learning experience on the one hand, but higher learning capacity on the other hand result in lower or higher placebo responses in children compared with adolescents, and in adolescents compared with adults?
AT-59 * HIGH-DOSE MTX-BASED CHEMOTHERAPY FOR PRIMARY CNS LYMPHOMA: WITH OR WITHOUT WHOLE BRAIN RADIOTHERAPY? FINAL ANALYSIS OF G-PCNSL-SG-1
2014-11-01

BACKGROUND: This is the final report of the G-PCNSL-SG-1 trial after a median follow-up of 81.2 months. METHODS: G-PCNSL-SG-1 (www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00153530) had randomised immunocompetent patients with newly diagnosed PCNSL to high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) - based chemotherapy followed by whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or chemotherapy alone. We hypothesized that the omission of WBRT from first-line treatment would not compromise overall survival (OS; primary endpoint), using a non-inferiority design with a margin of 0.9. FINDINGS: Of 551 patients who entered the study 524 fulfilled the eligibility criteria, 410 entered the post-HDMTX phase (intention-to-treat, ITT population), and 320 were treated per protocol (PP). OS with versus without WBRT was different neither in the ITT (HR 0.997, 95%CI 0.79-1.26, p = 0.98) nor in the PP population (HR 1.03, 95%CI 0.79-1.35, p = 0.82). In the ITT population CR patients experienced neither a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit from the last HDMTX-based CHT (PFS-2) (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.60-1.19, p = 0.33) nor an OS benefit (HR 1.13, 95% CI 0.77-1.66, p = 0.53) with WBRT. In CR patients of the PP population, WBRT conferred a benefit for PFS-2 (HR 0.68, 95%CI 0.46-1.01, p = 0.057), but no OS benefit (HR 1.06, 95%CI 0.69-1.63, p = 0.78). In non-CR patients of the ITT population, a benefit of PFS-2 (HR 0.58, 95%CI 0.44-0.77, p < 0.001), but not of OS (HR 0.86, 95%CI 0.64-1.16, p = 0.32) was found with WBRT; in non-CR patients of the PP population, WBRT conferred a benefit of PFS-2 over CHT alone (HR 0.41, 95%CI 0.29-0.57, p < 0.001) and a trend for OS, too (HR 0.76, 95%CI 0.54-1.08, p = 0.12). INTERPRETATION: Despite improvement in PFS, particularly in patients without CR to HDMTX-based CHT, no significant difference in OS was found when WBRT was omitted from primary therapy in this long-term follow-up analysis. The PFS afforded by WBRT has to be balanced against its long-term toxicity.
Study of the structure of a superconducting state of Co-doped BaFe2As2 multiband compounds
2014-11-01

The terahertz and infrared spectra of the complex dynamic conductivity, as well as the temperature dependences of the density of a superconducting condensate and the electronic specific heat of superconducting Ba(Fe1 − x Co x )2As2 compounds, have been analyzed within a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-like model of a multiband superconductor with strong coupling. It has been shown that the superconducting state of these compounds is determined by three (one electronic and two hole) weakly interacting condensates. The order parameters of the condensates are: Δ1 ≈ 15 cm−1, Δ2 ≈ 21 cm−1, and Δ3 ≈ 30–35 cm−1. The results significantly refine the existing notions on the structure of the superconducting state of Co-doped BaFe2As2 multiband compounds.
NI-41 * PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF 18FET-PET IN NEWLY DIAGNOSED HIGH GRADE GLIOMA
2014-11-01

PURPOSE: Despite advances in diagnosis and use of different therapeutic regimen in high grade gliomas (HGG), the prognosis for patients remains grim. Additional pre-therapeutic information is needed to tailor the management. In order to gain additional prognostic information at primary diagnosis we investigated the value of dynamic [18F]fluoroethyltyrosine (FET)-PET in patients with newly diagnosed HGG. METHODS: 131 patients with histologically verified HGG (61 WHO IIIÂ°; 70 WHO IVÂ°) and dynamic FET-PET prior to histopathological assessment were retrospectively evaluated. FET-PET analysis comprised the assessment of maximal tumor uptake (SUVmax/BG) and biological tumor volume (BTV), as well as kinetic evaluation including time-to-peak (TTP). The prognostic influence of PET parameters and clinical parameters on progression free and overall survival (PFS and OS) was evaluated using uni- and multivariate Cox-regression and Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. RESULTS: Median PFS and OS were 19.2 and 46.2 months in gliomas WHO IIIÂ° and 10.3/14.2 months in IVÂ° respectively. SUVmax/BG and BTV were significantly higher in WHO IVÂ° compared to WHO IIIÂ° gliomas. Median TTP was 12.5 minutes in both groups. The OS of WHO IIIÂ° glioma patients with TTP &gt; 12.5 minutes was significantly longer compared to TTP â¤ 12.5 minutes. In multivariate analysis, TTP was a significant prognostic factor for both OS and PFS besides WHOÂ°, MGMT, and age. WHO and TTP reached a similar fit for the prognostic evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: Early TTP is associated with worse outcome in patients with newly diagnosed HGG. In the preoperative setting, TTP can be a valuable non-invasive prognostic marker with comparable significance to WHO grade. Additionally, TTP can help identify highly aggressive tumors among WHO IIIÂ° glioma and might help adjusting standard treatment towards an individualised, risk-adapted therapy regime.
Electrosurgery in Gynecology - a Comparison of Available Instruments that Coagulate and Cut Tissue.
2014-11-01

In the field of minimally invasive gynecology the use of electrosurgical or energy-based devices has become extremely important for rapid preparation and short reconvalescence. The instruments that are on the market vary regarding their technical characteristics, specifications, and handling. We provide an overview of selected instruments that are appropriate for gynecological laparoscopy and review possible indications and limitations.
AI-28 * RECURRENT GLIOBLASTOMAS AFTER TREATMENT WITH BEVACIZUMAB
2014-11-01

Bevacizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor, has been evaluated in the treatment of patients with primary or recurrent glioblastoma. We aimed to characterize neuropathological and molecular features in recurrent malignant gliomas after failure of Bevacizumab treatment. We evaluated 11 patients with high-grade astrocytomas (10 glioblastomas, 1 anaplastic astrocytomas) before and after Bevacizumab treatment. Clinical records and neuroimaging findings were retrospectively reviewed for each patient. Histological features included morphology, vessel density, cellularity and proliferation. Immunohistochemical studies were performed for selected signaling molecules, including cMET, phosphoAkt, phosphoRPS6K, phosphoMET, phosphoMAPK (ERK1/2), phosphoSTAT3 and phosphor-mTOR. In addition, we performed a gene amplification analysis of cMET. As a reference cohort, primary and recurrent tumors from 22 patients with high-grade astrocytomas (21 glioblastomas, 1 anaplastic astrocytoma) without Bevacizumab treatment were studied. Radiographic recurrence occurred most often at the initial tumor site in both patient groups. Histologically, most recurrences after Bevacizumab treatment showed reduced vessel density and less prominent microvascular proliferation as compared to the corresponding primary tumors. Whereas most investigated signaling molecules showed variable results, expression of cMET protein was upregulated in 6/10 patients following Bevacizumab treatment. In addition one recurrent tumor after Bevacizumab treatment showed MET gene amplification. Based on our data set, a common feature after bevacizumab treatment is altered vascular morphology and upregulation of cMET protein expression. Thus, therapeutic strategies combining VEGF and cMET inhibition may augment clinical efficacy over VEGF inhibition alone in glioblastoma.
Abstract PR07: RNAi mouse models: Revolutionizing drug discovery in vivo
2014-11-01

Abstract RNA interference is a powerful tool for studying gene function, however, the reproducible generation of RNAi tools including RNAi transgenic mice remains a significant limitation. One main hurdle is the identification of potent RNAi triggers, or short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs), that will induce stable and regulated gene silencing. Due to the lack of understanding of the requirements for shRNA biogenesis and target suppression, many predicted shRNAs fail to efficiently induce gene suppression. We have developed a “Sensor assay” that enables the biological identification of effective shRNAs at large scale and show that our assay reliably identifies potent shRNAs that are surprisingly rare and predominantly missed by existing algorithms. In addition, we have engineered a new miRNA scaffold, miR-E, that is more efficiently processed and thus produces more potent knockdown of target genes than our previous miR30 system. By combining our sensored miR-E based shRNAs with high efficiency ES cell targeting, we have developed a fast, scalable pipeline for the production of shRNA transgenic mice with reversible gene silencing. We show that RNAi can cause sufficient knockdown to recapitulate the phenotypes of knockout mice, particularly in cancer models. More importantly, unlike traditional knockout models, RNAi has the powerful advantage of reversibility, since the endogenous gene remains intact. Using this system, we generated a number of inducible RNAi transgenic lines and demonstrate how this approach can identify predicted phenotypes and also unknown functions for well-studied genes. In addition, through regulated gene silencing we are able to mimic drug therapy in mice without the actual drug molecule, allowing us to determine the therapeutic value and/or toxic effects associated with systemic gene suppression. Using this approach, we have been able to pinpoint potential toxicities associated with gene inhibition, results that will guide drug development to avoid target failures which will likely cause harmful and intolerable effects in patients. In a model of hepatocellular carcinoma, we demonstrate that short-term inhibition of a ribosomal protein is sufficient to induce stable cell cycle arrest of liver tumor cells. This system provides a cost-effective and scalable platform for the production of RNAi transgenic mice targeting any mammalian gene – mice with enormous predictive power that will shape our development of better tolerated therapies. This abstract is also presented as Poster B30. Citation Format: Prem Premsrirut, Lukas Dow, Gregory Hannon, Johannes Zuber, Scott Lowe, Lars Zender, Christof Fellmann. RNAi mouse models: Revolutionizing drug discovery in vivo. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer; Nov 5-8, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2014;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR07.
University knowledge and firm innovation. Evidence from European countries
2014-11-01

In recent decades firms have intensified the exploration of external sources of knowledge to enhance their innovation capabilities. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the factors that affect the importance of academic knowledge for firms' innovative activities. An integrated approach that simultaneously considers country-level and firm-level factors is adopted. Regarding the former factors, the analysis shows that the entrepreneurial orientation of university and the quality of academic research increase the importance of knowledge transfers from universities to firms. This suggests that the environmental and institutional context contribute to explain cross-national disparities in university-industry interactions and in the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. In regard to the latter factors, the results indicate that firms oriented toward open search strategies and radical innovations are more likely to draw knowledge from universities. Furthermore, firms belonging to high technology sectors and firms with high absorptive capacity place greater value on the various links with universities. With respect to firm size the estimates show an inverted U-shaped relation with the importance of universities as a source of knowledge. However, the greatest benefits from interacting with universities are achieved by small and young research-active firms.
Plato’s unwritten doctrines: a discussion
2014-11-02

The Editor has received a letter from prof. Thomas Szlezák in connection to prof. Tanja Staehler’s paper Theuth versus Thamus: the esoteric Plato revisited, published in this Journal vol. 7 1 2013. We reproduce here both his letter and her response to it.
Nep1-like proteins from three kingdoms of life act as a microbe-associated molecular pattern in Arabidopsis
2014-11-03

Significance Peptide fragments of Nep1-like proteins (NLPs), occurring in diverse microorganisms of three different kingdoms of life, were found to trigger immunity in the model plant Arabidopsis , indicating that they act as a microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP). A synthetic peptide of 24 aa from the central part of the downy mildew HaNLP3 protein was found to activate the plant immune system and trigger resistance to this pathogen. Strikingly, not only peptides of oomycete NLPs, but also those of bacteria and fungi were shown to act as a MAMP. This unprecedented broad taxonomic distribution demonstrates that the occurrence of a MAMP is not necessarily restricted to a class of microorganisms but can occur in a wide range of species from the tree of life.
The influence of accretion geometry on the spectral evolution during thermonuclear (type I) X-ray bursts
2014-11-03

Neutron star (NS) masses and radii can be estimated from observations of photospheric radius-expansion X-ray bursts, provided the chemical composition of the photosphere, the spectral colour-correction factors in the observed luminosity range, and the emission area during the bursts are known. By analysing 246 X-ray bursts observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer from 11 low-mass X-ray binaries, we find a dependence between the persistent spectral properties and the time evolution of the black body normalisation during the bursts. All NS atmosphere models predict that the colour-correction factor decreases in the early cooling phase when the luminosity first drops below the limiting Eddington value, leading to a characteristic pattern of variability in the measured blackbody normalisation. However, the model predictions agree with the observations for most bursts occurring in hard, low-luminosity, 'island' spectral states, but rarely during soft, high-luminosity, 'banana' states. The observed behaviour may be attributed to the accretion flow, which influences cooling of the NS preferentially during the soft state bursts. This result implies that only the bursts occurring in the hard, low-luminosity spectral states can be reliably used for NS mass and radius determination.