The splitting of words into stressed and unstressed syllables is the foundation for the scansion of poetry, a process that aims at determining the metrical pattern of a line of verse within a poem. ...Intricate language rules and their exceptions, as well as poetic licenses exerted by the authors, make calculating these patterns a nontrivial task. Some rhetorical devices shrink the metrical length, while others might extend it. This opens the door for interpretation and further complicates the creation of automated scansion algorithms useful for automatically analyzing corpora on a distant reading fashion. In this paper, we compare the automated metrical pattern identification systems available for Spanish, English, and German, against fine-tuned monolingual and multilingual language models trained on the same task. Despite being initially conceived as models suitable for semantic tasks, our results suggest that transformers-based models retain enough structural information to perform reasonably well for Spanish on a monolingual setting, and outperforms both for English and German when using a model trained on the three languages, showing evidence of the benefits of cross-lingual transfer between the languages.
Metabolic substrates and nutritional status play a major role in growth hormone (GH) secretion. Uncovering the mechanisms involved in GH secretion following oral glucose (OG) administration in normal ...and obese patients is a pending issue.
The aim of this study was to investigate GH after OG in relation with adiposity, insulin secretion and action, and ghrelin secretion in obese and healthy women, to further elucidate the mechanism of GH secretion after OG and the altered GH secretion in obesity.
We included 64 healthy and obese women. After an overnight fast, 75 g of OG were administered; GH, glucose, insulin and ghrelin were obtained during 300 minutes. Insulin secretion and action indices and the area under the curve (AUC) were calculated for GH, glucose, insulin and ghrelin. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were employed.
The AUC of GH (μg/L•min) was lower in obese (249.8±41.8) than in healthy women (490.4±74.6), P=0.001. The AUC of total ghrelin (pg/mL•min) was lower in obese (240995.5±11094.2) than in healthy women (340797.5±37757.5), P=0.042. There were significant correlations between GH secretion and the different adiposity, insulin secretion and action, and ghrelin secretion indices. After multivariate analysis only ghrelin AUC remained a significant predictor for fasting and peak GH.
Abstract
In this article, we present a quantitative study with Digital Humanities methods on an extensive corpus of Spanish contemporary song lyrics, a type of text related to poetry. On the one ...hand, poetry and songs not only have been connected since their origins, but they share some characteristics, such as the division in lines or the use of rhymes. On the other hand, Digital Humanities quantitative approaches have already been applied to poetry, but we still lack a study in the same fashion for lyrics. Taking advantage of the advances in automatic scansion and syllabification, rhyme detection, or Topic Modeling technologies, the present study analyzes Spanish contemporary song lyrics’ main thematic and structural properties, comparing them with those used in poetic texts. Our results offered new insights into the characteristics of the analyzed texts and their connections to poetic ones.
The recently identified myokine irisin conveys some of the benefits of exercise. Hypopituitarism with adult growth hormone deficiency (HP) is a situation characterized by decreased GH secretion and ...an altered body composition.
Our aim was to study the skeletal muscle hormone irisin in HP, and compare the results with a similar group of normal subjects.
Seventeen HP patients and fifty-one normal subjects of similar age and sex were studied. The diagnosis of GH deficiency was confirmed by the presence of pituitary disease and a peak GH secretion below 3 μg/L after an insulin tolerance test. The patients were adequately treated for all pituitary hormone deficits, except for GH. Fasting serum irisin was measured with an enzyme immunoassay, and HOMA-IR, QUICKI and HOMA-β were calculated.
Fasting irisin levels (ng/ml) were similar in normal 208.42 (168.44-249.23) and HP patients 195.13 (178.44-241.44). In the control group there were moderate significant positive correlations between irisin and BMI, waist circumference, leptin, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-β, triglycerides, and cholesterol. In the control group there were moderate significant negative correlations between irisin and IGF-I and QUICKI. In the hypopituitary group there were moderate significant positive correlations between irisin and body fat and HOMA-β.
We found similar irisin levels in GH deficiency hypopituitary patients when compared with normal subjects. The correlation between irisin and adiposity related factors suggests that that in the case of this clinical model, irisin is regulated by adiposity and not by GH.
Abstract Background There is still controversy about which preservation solution in pancreas transplantation could be the best. The aim of this study was to analyze our initial experience with ...Custodiol solution (CuS) compared with Viaspan solution (VS) and Celsior solution (CS) in pancreas transplantation. Methods A retrospective study included 94 consecutive pancreatic transplants, from 2007 until 2015. We compared 3 groups, depending on preservation solution: Viaspan (n = 41), Celsior (n = 40), or Custodiol (n = 13). The primary end point was patient and pancreas survival at 1 year after pancreas transplantation. Results The recipient and donor characteristics were similar except in cold ischemia time; it was higher with Celsior. No differences were found in postoperative complications and pancreas graft function at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year (glucose, HbA1c, C-peptide, creatinine). The pancreas and patient survival at 1 year was comparable (pancreas survival: VS, 80%; CS, 90%; CuS, 92%; log-rank, 0.875; and patient survival: VS, 92%; CS, 97%; CuS, 100%; log-rank, 0.9). Conclusions In our institution, the Custodiol solution in pancreas transplantation presented similar outcomes in terms of postoperative complications, pancreas graft function, and 1-year survival.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous group of tumors that affect different anatomical locations. Despite this heterogeneity, HNSCC treatment depends on the anatomical ...location, TNM stage and resectability of the tumor. Classical chemotherapy is based on platinum-derived drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin), taxanes (docetaxel, paclitaxel) and 5-fluorouracil
. Despite advances in HNSCC treatment, the rate of tumor recurrence and patient mortality remain high. Therefore, the search for new prognostic identifiers and treatments targeting therapy-resistant tumor cells is vital. Our work demonstrates that there are different subgroups with high phenotypic plasticity within the CSC population in HNSCC. CD10, CD184, and CD166 may identify some of these CSC subpopulations with NAMPT as a common metabolic gene for the resilient cells of these subpopulations. We observed that NAMPT reduction causes a decrease in tumorigenic and stemness properties, migration capacity and CSC phenotype through NAD pool depletion. However, NAMPT-inhibited cells can acquire resistance by activating the NAPRT enzyme of the Preiss-Handler pathway. We observed that coadministration of the NAMPT inhibitor with the NAPRT inhibitor cooperated inhibiting tumor growth. The use of an NAPRT inhibitor as an adjuvant improved NAMPT inhibitor efficacy and reduced the dose and toxicity of these inhibitors. Therefore, it seems that the reduction in the NAD pool could have efficacy in tumor therapy. This was confirmed by in vitro assays supplying the cells with products of inhibited enzymes (NA, NMN or NAD) and restoring their tumorigenic and stemness properties. In conclusion, the coinhibition of NAMPT and NAPRT improved the efficacy of antitumor treatment, indicating that the reduction in the NAD pool is important to prevent tumor growth.
Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines can induce antitumor immune responses in patients with malignant diseases, while the most suitable DC culture conditions have not been established yet. In this study we ...compared monocyte derived human DC from conventional cultures containing GM-CSF and IL-4/TNF-alpha (IL-4/TNF-DC) with DC generated by the novel protocol using GM-CSF and IFN-alpha (IFN-DC).
To characterise the molecular differences of both DC preparations, gene expression profiling was performed using Affymetrix microarrays. The data were conformed on a protein level by immunophenotyping, and functional tests for T cell stimulation, migration and cytolytic activity were performed.
Both methods resulted in CD11c+ CD86+ HLA-DR+ cells with a typical DC morphology that could efficiently stimulate T cells. But gene expression profiling revealed two distinct DC populations. Whereas IL-4/TNF-DC showed a higher expression of genes envolved in phagocytosis IFN-DC had higher RNA levels for markers of DC maturity and migration to the lymph nodes like DCLAMP, CCR7 and CD49d. This different orientation of both DC populations was confined by a 2.3 fold greater migration in transwell experiments (p = 0.01). Most interestingly, IFN-DC also showed higher RNA levels for markers of NK cells such as TRAIL, granzymes, KLRs and other NK cell receptors. On a protein level, intracytoplasmatic TRAIL and granzyme B were observed in 90% of IFN-DC. This translated into a cytolytic activity against K562 cells with a median specific lysis of 26% at high effector cell numbers as determined by propidium iodide uptake, whereas IL-4/TNF-DC did not induce any tumor cell lysis (p = 0.006). Thus, IFN-DC combined characteristics of mature DC and natural killer cells.
Our results suggest that IFN-DC not only stimulate adaptive but also mediate innate antitumor immune responses. Therefore, IFN-DC should be evaluated in clinical vaccination trials. In particular, this could be relevant for patients with diseases responsive to a treatment with IFN-alpha such as Non-Hodgkin lymphoma or chronic myeloid leukemia.
A chromium‐mediated synthesis of enantiopure sugar‐based halocyclopropanecarboxamides is reported. This reaction can be stereospecifically carried out on (E)‐ or (Z)‐α,β‐unsaturated amides and takes ...place with the formation of a new C‐Hal stereogenic center, which is generated with total stereoselectivity. Synthetic applications of the obtained halocyclopropanecarboxamides are also reported. The structure of the halocyclopropanes and derivatives were established by X‐ray analysis. A mechanism to explain these transformations is proposed.
The synthesis of enantiopure sugar‐based halocyclopropanecarboxamides through a chromium(III)‐mediated halocyclopropanation reaction is reported. This process took place in high yields and in a stereospecific manner starting from (E)‐ or (Z)‐α,β‐unsaturated amides derived from carbohydrates.
Abstract Context There is no uniform standard of care for acromegaly. Due to the high costs involved, steps must be taken to ensure the cost-effective delivery of treatment. Objective Taking the ...results of an earlier meta-analysis as a starting point, this study aims to determine whether treatment with long-acting somatostatin analogue (SSA) prior to surgery improves the cost-effectiveness of the treatment of acromegaly. Methods The results are presented as an Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) immediately after surgery, for the following year and over the next four decades. The cure rates percentage (95% CI) for the three randomized prospective controlled trials were 44.4% (34.2–54.7) and 18.2% (10.1–26.3) for preoperative treated and untreated patients respectively. The cost of pharmacological treatments was based on the number of units prescribed, dose and length of treatment. Results The mean (95% CI) ICER immediately after surgery was €17,548 (12,007–33,250). In terms of the postoperative SSA treatment, the ICER changes from positive to negative before two years after surgery. One decade after surgery the ICER per patient/year was €− 9973 (− 18,798; − 6752) for postoperative SSA treatment and €− 31,733 (− 59,812; − 21,483) in the case of postoperative pegvisomant treatment. Conclusions In centres without optimal surgical results, preoperative treatment of GH-secreting pituitary macroadenomas with SSA not only shows a significant improvement in the surgical results, but is also highly cost-effective, with an ICER per patient/year one decade after surgery, of between €− 9973 (− 18,798; − 6752) and €− 31,733 (− 59,812; − 21,483) for SSA and pegvisomant respectively.
A chromium-mediated novel synthesis of carbohydrate-derived di- and trisubstituted (E)-α,β-unsaturated esters or amides from a range of dichloroesters or amides and a variety of sugar aldehydes is ...reported. The process took place with total stereoselectivity and in high yields. A mechanism based on a sequential chromium-promoted aldol-type reaction and a completely stereoselective β-elimination reaction is proposed to explain these results.
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