nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Analysis of natural killer activity and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity in healthy volunteers and in patients with primary lung cancer and metastatic pulmonary tumors

To clarify the contribution of ADCC and NK activities to host immune response against cancer, the characteristics of cells mediating these activities were examined in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of normal volunteers, and the changes of these activities were also evaluated in patients with lung cancer and metastatic pulmonary tumors before and after chemotherapy. OAT cells derived from small cell carcinoma of the lung and K-562 cells derived from erythroleukemia were used as target cells of ADCC and/or NK assay. ADCC and NK activities were not changed according to age, sex, and blood type. Mild and marked personal difference were observed in ADCC and NK activity, respectively. These activities were also influenced by environment. ADCC and NK activities of normal adult volunteers were diversely correlated at the coefficient of γ-0.426. NK activities were high against K-562 and CCRF-CEM cells, and low against BALL and OAT cells. NK activity against K-562 cells was strongly inhibited by K-562 or CCRF-CEM cells with high NK sensitivity, on the other hand, it was slightly inhibited by OAT and BALL cells with low NK sensitivity. NK activity against OAT cells was strongly inhibited by OAT, K-562 and CCRF-CEM cells, but not inhibited by BALL cells. The effector cells mediating NK activity were identified as non-adherent, E-receptor-positive, Fc-receptor-positive small lymphocytes. NK activity was not decreased before chemotherapy in patients with stage III primary lung cancer and metastatic pulmonary tumors. It was decreased only in patients of bad performance status, and it was significantly decreased in all patients after chemotherapy. ADCC also exhibited the tendency to decrease after chemotherapy in tumor-bearing patients. The recovery of NK-activity after chemotherapy well correlated with the effect of chemotherapy.
High blood pressure and obesity: disparities among four French Overseas Territories.

The epidemiological characteristics of hypertension and obesity in French Overseas Territories (FOTs) have never been compared.



This cross-sectional survey included representative population-based samples of 602, 601, 620 and 605 men and women aged more than 15 years, respectively, from four FOTs of Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and French Polynesia. Hypertension was defined as blood pressure (BP) at least 140/90 mmHg or the current use of antihypertensive treatment.



The prevalence of hypertension was 29.2% in Guadeloupe, 17.9% in French Guiana, 27.6% in Martinique and 24.5% in French Polynesia. Considering the Guadeloupe population as the reference group, prevalence of hypertension was significantly lower in French Guiana (P < 0.001), even after controlling for age and sex (P = 0.006). Awareness and treatment of hypertension were similar in French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe (68.8-75.1% and 69.0-73.4%, respectively). Awareness was lower in French Polynesia (50.0%, adjusted P value = 0.04), as was treatment of hypertension (32.4%, adjusted P value = 0.001). Control of hypertension was also lower in French Polynesia (8.8%, adjusted P value = 0.001) compared with the other territories (29.7-31.8%). French Polynesia had the highest prevalence of obesity (33.1%, adjusted P value < 0.001) as compared with the other territories (17.9-22.8%). It had also the largest population attributable fraction of hypertension due to obesity (35.5%) compared with Guadeloupe (13.3%), Martinique (12.3%) and French Guiana (23.6%).



Wide variations were observed in the prevalence and the management of hypertension between these FOTs, and an especially challenging low control of hypertension was found in French Polynesia. Obesity appears a key target to prevent hypertension, particularly in French Polynesia.
Cholesterol lowering and the use of healthcare resources. Results of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study.

Advances in the treatment of cardiovascular disease have increased costs; annual cardiovascular healthcare expenditure in the United States currently exceeds $100 billion. Physicians and third-party payers need to assess the economic impact of treatments that reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.



The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which simvastatin reduced the risk of death by 30% (P=.0003) over the median follow-up period of 5.4 years in patients with previous myocardial infarction or stable angina pectoris as a result of a 42% reduction in the risk of coronary deaths (P=.00001). In the present report, data prospectively collected from hospital admissions were analyzed to evaluate the impact of simvastatin on healthcare resource use and perform a cost-minimization analysis. In the placebo group (n=2223), there were 1905 hospitalizations (average duration, 7.9 days) for acute cardiovascular events or coronary revascularization procedures among 937 patients, whereas in the simvastatin group (n=2221), there were 1403 such hospitalizations (average duration, 7.1 days) among 720 patients (all differences, P<.0001). The corresponding number of hospital days was 15089 and 9951 in the two groups, respectively (34% reduction,P<.0001). In the United States, the resulting reduction in hospitalization costs over the 5.4 years of the trial would be $3872 per patient, reducing the effective cost of simvastatin by 88% to $0.28 per day.



In addition to reducing mortality and morbidity in coronary heart disease patients, simvastatin markedly reduces use of hospital services, thus offsetting most of its cost.
Effects of Bacille Calmette-Guérin after the first demyelinating event in the CNS.

cardiac complications on outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a meta-analysis.  Beleigoli AM, Boersma E, Diniz Mde F, Vidigal PG, LimaCosta MF, Ribeiro AL. C-reactive protein and B-type natriuretic peptide yield either a non-significant or a modest incremental value to traditional risk factors in predicting long-term overall mortality in older adults.
Better Guiding the Guided Range Image Filter for Range-Image Super-resolution

Range-image super-resolution has evolved in recent years to improve the images acquired by low-resolution range-cameras. In this regard, some local filtering based approaches are quite popular as they achieve reasonable quality range-images while maintaining high computational efficiency. In this work, we propose a novel and improved local approach, which is inspired by the popular Guided Image Filtering method, that employs information from an associated color image for the task of range-image super-resolution. Our approach accounts for consideration of the content of both color image and range image explicitly, to drive the enhancement process. We show that our filter reduces noise for noisy range-images along with better edge enhancement, especially for higher up-sampling factors. Our experimentation also demonstrate that our approach performs better than other prominent local filtering approaches both in terms of depth precision and spatial resolution without any considerable increase in computational time.
Nifedipine and angina pectoris. Short-term changes in quantitative coronary angiography with nifedipine and clinical response to treatment in effort-induced, mixed, and spontaneous angina pectoris.

Changes induced by nifedipine (10 mg sublingually) in the residual luminal diameter of significant (greater than 50 percent) coronary lesions were assessed angiographically in 69 patients with effort-induced angina (group 1), in 22 patients with mixed angina (group 2), and in 14 patients with Prinzmetal's angina (group 3). These changes were related to the clinical response to treatment with the same drug, as evaluated through diary records and Holter monitoring in the mixed (spontaneous component) and Prinzmetal forms and through exercise testing in effort-induced and mixed (effort-associated component) angina. In groups 1 and 2, segments of stenotic vessels showed either an increase or decrease or no change in diameter with the calcium antagonist; in group 3, the majority of the lesions had compliant portions which invariably responded with dilatation. Nifedipine failed to improve cases with exertional (20 percent [14/69] unchanged; 19 percent [13/69] worsened) and mixed (41 percent [9/22] exacerbated) forms; 100 percent of the 14 patients with the Prinzmetal form had relief of the anginal episodes. In group 1, the response to exercise tests was dissociated from the short-term vasomotor pattern, and the pressure-rate product failed to explain the clinical results. Forty-five percent (ten) of the patients in group 2 showed significant short-term widening of critical stenoses, as well as obvious improvement; patients who did worse with treatment in this group had reacted to nifedipine with narrowing of critical stenoses. These data suggest that the response to nifedipine of classic effort-induced angina is probably the net result of an interaction of changes in myocardial oxygen consumption and supply; coronary vasomotion has a role in mixed angina, and influences of nifedipine may be either favorable or unfavorable; stenotic lesions in the Prinzmetal form are quite sensitive to the relaxant action of calcium blockade, and this probably represents a background to the highly positive clinical response to treatment.
Comparative study of control selection in a national population-based case-control study: Estimating risk of smoking on cancer deaths in Chinese men

To assess the validation of a novel control selection design by comparing the consistency between the new design and a routine design in a large case-control study that was incorporated into a nationwide mortality survey in China.



A nationwide mortality study was conducted during 1989-1991. Surviving spouses or other relatives of all adults who died during 1986-1988 provided detailed information about their own as well as the deceased person's smoking history. In this study, 130,079 males who died of various smoking-related cancers at age 35 or over were taken as cases, while 103,248 male surviving spouses (same age range with cases) of women who died during the same period and 49,331 males who died from causes other than those related to smoking were used as control group 1 and control group 2, respectively. Consistency in the results when comparing cases with each of the control groups was assessed.



Consistency in the results was observed in the analyses using different control groups although cancer deaths varied with region and age. Equivalence could be ascertained using a 15% criterion in most cancer deaths which had high death rates in urban areas, but they were uncertain for most cancers in rural areas irrespective of whether the hypothesis testing showed significant differences or not.



Sex-matched living spouse control design as an alternative control selection for a case-control study is valid and feasible, and the basic principles of the equivalence study are also supported by epidemiological survey data.
Recovery from neutropenia can be predicted by the immature reticulocyte fraction several days before neutrophil recovery in autologous stem cell transplant recipients

The duration of neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ⩽100/μl) identifies cancer patients at risk for infection. A test that precedes ANC⩾100/μl would be of clinical value. The immature reticulocyte fraction (IRF) reflects erythroid engraftment and hence a recovering marrow. We evaluated the IRF as predictor of marrow recovery among 90 myeloma patients undergoing their first and second (75 patients) melphalan-based autologous stem cell transplantation (Mel-ASCT). The time to IRF doubling (IRF-D) preceded ANC⩾100/μl in 99% of patients after the first Mel-ASCT by (mean±s.d.) 4.23±1.96 days and in 97% of the patients after the second Mel-ASCT by 4.11±1.95 days. We validated these findings in a group of 117 myeloma patients and 99 patients with various disorders undergoing ASCT with different conditioning regimens. We also compared the time to hypophosphatemia and to absolute monocyte count⩾100/μl to the time to ANC⩾100/μl. These markers were reached prior to this ANC end point in 55 and 25% of patients but were almost always preceded by IRF-D. We conclude that the IRF-D is a simple, inexpensive and widely available test that can predict marrow recovery several days before ANC⩾100/μl.
Multiclinic Evaluation of Timoiol in the Treatment of Mild-to-Moderate Essential Hypertension

In a double-blind (DB), multicenter, clinical trial, 355 patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension, characterized by a diastoiic blood pressure (DBP) of 95-115 mm Hg, received either timoiol (T) 10-30 mg twice-a-day, or placebo (P). After 12 weeks of treatment, the mean supine BP for the T group was 145/94 mm Hg (baseline [BL] = 154/103), and for the P group, 155/102 (BL = 156/103). Fifty-seven percent (74/129) of the patients receiving T and 13% (15/114) of the patients receiving P had a reduction in supine DBP (SDBP) to 90 mm Hg or less or had a reduction greater than 10 mm Hg but not to 90 mm Hg. The reduction in SDBP for the T group was significantly greater than the reduction for the P group. After Week 12, patients responding to T continued to receive T (T/T group), while patients receiving P who did not respond were then treated with T (P/T group). Results obtained after 24 weeks of timoiol treatment for the T/T group and after 12 weeks of timoiol treatment for the P/T group were similar to those observed for the T group at 12 weeks. During the 12-week DB study, the incidence of adverse experiences was not significantly different between the T and P groups. Safety evaluations, including complete ophthalmologic exams, have not revealed any toxic effects for T. Withdrawal of timoiol for 2 weeks after 24 weeks of treatment for the T/T group and after 12 weeks of treatment for the P/T group was not associated with any rebound phenomena.
New measure of health-related quality of life for patients with oropharyngeal mucositis: development and preliminary psychometric evaluation.

Oropharyngeal mucositis (OM) causes profound impairment of patients' health-related quality of life (HQoL). The aim of the article is to describe the development and preliminary validation of an HQoL instrument, OMQoL, specifically for patients with OM.



First, a qualitative phase was conducted to generate items (n = 23). Face validity was assessed by focus group interviews (n = 13). Expert content review (n = 7) was used to ensure content validity. The second step was a quantitative validation phase comprised a multicenter study (n = 210) to help identify subscales of the instrument addressing different dimensions of OM and to measure reliability.



The qualitative interview generated 171 items. Using focus group discussion and expert content review, items were reduced to 41 items. Factor and scaling analyses of these 41 items resulted in 4 subscales, contributed by 31 items, depicting problems with symptoms, diet, social function, and swallowing. The floor effect was modest. The factorial structure was satisfactory with loading >0.40 on each subscale for all items. All corrected item-total corrections were higher than 0.40 (r = 0.457-0.874). The internal consistency reliability of each subscale was high, with Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0.906 to 0.934. The test-retest reliability of the individual items using weighted kappa was good (kappa values 0.610-0.895). The intraclass correlation results for the subscale totals were all in excess of 0.70 (0.864-0.934).



An initial psychometric analysis of the OMQoL was encouraging. The OMQoL could provide a valuable tool for the assessment of HQoL of patients with OM.
Collaboration in open-source hardware: third-party variations on the arduino duemilanove

This paper looks at collaboration in open-source hardware: physical goods whose digital design files are shared for others to make or modify. Through research into nine variations on the Arduino Duemilanove (an electronic circuit board) and interviews with their developers, we explore the process and outcome of open-source hardware development. We find a structure that differs substantially from that of most open-source software projects, involving many small-scale collaborations rather than a centralized process. We discuss three possible reasons for this structure: differing component selections, the investment required for prototyping, and the lack of software collaboration tools.
Randomized trial of radiation-free central nervous system prophylaxis comparing intrathecal triple therapy with liposomal cytarabine in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Developing optimal radiation-free central nervous system prophylaxis is a desirable goal in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, to avoid the long-term toxicity associated with cranial irradiation. In a randomized, phase II trial enrolling 145 adult patients, we compared intrathecal liposomal cytarabine (50 mg: 6/8 injections in B-/T-cell subsets, respectively) with intrathecal triple therapy (methotrexate/cytarabine/prednisone: 12 injections). Systemic therapy included methotrexate plus cytarabine or L-asparaginase courses, with methotrexate augmented to 2.5 and 5 g/m(2) in Philadelphia-negative B- and T-cell disease, respectively. The primary study objective was the comparative assessment of the risk/benefit ratio, combining the analysis of feasibility, toxicity and efficacy. In the liposomal cytarabine arm 17/71 patients (24%) developed grade 3-4 neurotoxicity compared to 2/74 (3%) in the triple therapy arm (P=0.0002), the median number of episodes of neurotoxicity of any grade was one per patient compared to zero, respectively (P=0.0001), and even though no permanent disabilities or deaths were registered, four patients (6%) discontinued intrathecal prophylaxis on account of these toxic side effects (P=0.06). Neurotoxicity worsened with liposomal cytarabine every 14 days (T-cell disease), and was improved by the adjunct of intrathecal dexamethasone. Two patients in the liposomal cytarabine arm suffered from a meningeal relapse (none with T-cell disease, only one after high-dose chemotherapy) compared to four in the triple therapy arm (1 with T-cell disease). While intrathecal liposomal cytarabine could contribute to improved, radiation-free central nervous system prophylaxis, the toxicity reported in this trial does not support its use at 50 mg and prompts the investigation of a lower dosage.
Saturation of 2′, 2′-difluorodeoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate accumulation by mononuclear cells during a phase I trial of gemcitabine

The plasma and cellular pharmacology of 2′, 2′-difluorodeoxycytidine (dFdC, Gemcitabine) was studied during a phase I trial. The steady-state concentration of dFdC in plasma was directly proportional to the dFdC dose, which ranged between 53 and 1,000 mg/m2 per 30 min. The cellular pharmacokinetics of an active metabolite, dFdC 5′-triphosphate (dFdCTP), were determined in mononuclear cells of 22 patients by anion-exchange highpressure liquid chromatography. The rate of dFdCTP accumulation and the peak cellular concentration were highest at a dose rate of 350 mg/m2 per 30 min, during which steady-state dFdC levels of 15–20 μM were achieved in plasma. A comparison of patients infused with 800 mg/m2 over 60 min with those receiving the same dose over 30 min demonstrated that the dFdC steady-state concentrations were proportional to the dose rate, but that cellular dFdCTP accumulation rates were similar at each dose rate. At the lower dose rate, the AUC for dFdCTP accumulation was 4-fold that observed at the higher dose rate. Consistent with these observations, the accumulation of dFdCTP by mononuclear cells incubated in vitro was maximal at 10–15 μM dFdC. These studies suggest that the ability of mononuclear cells to use dFdC for triphosphate formation is saturable. In the design of future protocols, a dose rate should be considered that produces maximal nucleotide analogue formation, with increased intensity being achieved by prolonging the duration of infusion.
Self-Administration of Intravenous Nicotine in Male and Female Cigarette Smokers

Although nicotine is the main addictive chemical in tobacco, there have been few studies of pure nicotine self-administration in humans. The goal of this study was to test the parameters of an intravenous (IV) nicotine self-administration model using nicotine doses presumed to be within the range of those of average intake from cigarette smoking. Six male and four female smokers participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, which consisted of one adaptation and three experimental sessions. In each experimental session, subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three doses of nicotine (0.1, 0.4, or 0.7 mg). The lowest nicotine dose, 0.1 mg, was chosen to be approximately half the amount of nicotine inhaled from one puff of a cigarette. During each experimental session, subjects first sampled the assigned nicotine dose and placebo and then had the opportunity to choose between nicotine and placebo for a total of six choices over a 90-min period. Out of six options, the average (SEM) number of nicotine choices were 3.0 (0.48) for 0.1 mg, 4.7 (0.48) for 0.4 mg and 4.5 (0.46) for 0.7 mg, indicating a significant effect of nicotine dose on nicotine choice. Both the 0.4 and 0.7, but not the 0.1 mg, nicotine doses were preferred to placebo. These higher doses also produced increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and ratings of drug liking and high. Overall, these findings indicate that smokers chose both the 0.4 and the 0.7 mg nicotine doses over placebo. Our model may be useful in the evaluation of the effects of both behavioral and pharmacological manipulations on nicotine self-administration in humans.
Transplant-related mortality in patients older than 60 years undergoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Although high-dose therapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a widely used method of dose intensification in patients with hematological malignancies, patients aged over 60 are generally excluded. We evaluated high-dose therapy and ASCT in 29 cases involving 27 such patients (median age 63 years; range 61–68) with different malignancies. Patients were eligible if they had a good performance status, normal cardiac, respiratory, and hepatic function and a serum creatinine concentration of less than 2 mg/dl (<5 mg/dl in myeloma patients). Engraftment was assessable in 27 procedures. The median time to attain 0.5 and 1 × 109 PMN/l was 13 days (range 9–30) and 14 days (range 10–66), respectively. The median time taken to reach a platelet count greater than 50 × 109/l was 14 days (range 8–223). Five patients (17%) died in the first 100 days after transplant, in two cases due to disease progression. The remaining three patients died as a consequence of transplant-related complications, with an overall transplant-related mortality of 10%. Five patients relapsed and died between 5 and 36 months after transplant. The remaining 17 patients are still alive without disease progression, with an actuarial overall survival of 47% at 42 months (95% CI 33–61). We consider that high-dose therapy with ASCT should be considered in those elderly patients with good performance status and without general organ impairment. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2001) 27, 21–25.