LANGUAGE IMPORTANCE SCORE

A system and method are disclosed for classifying videos based on a Language Importance Score (LIS) indicating how important it is to understand a certain language to be able to understand a given video. The method extracts video features directly from the video after it has been uploaded rather than by analysing viewing patterns from logs. The level of LIS is classified as LOW, MID, or HIGH based on the degree of ease for a user to understand. Global/multilingual video platforms can use this system to optimize search to improve viewer experience effectively

Language Importance Score

A system and method are disclosed for classifying videos based on a Language Importance Score (LIS) indicating how important it is to understand a certain language to be able to understand a given video. The method extracts video features directly from the video after it has been uploaded rather than by analysing viewing patterns from logs. The level of LIS is classified as LOW, MID, or HIGH based on the degree of ease for a user to understand. Global/multilingual video platforms can use this system to optimize search to improve viewer experience effectively

Die Lehrgestalt der Soziologie in anderen Studiengängen

Anhand einer schriftlichen und telefonischen Befragung von 131 Hochschullehrern in 71 verschiedenen Studiengängen wird in der Studie nach der gegenwärtigen Lehrgestalt der Soziologie in anderen Studiengängen gefragt, um Informationen über den Beitrag der Soziologie zu der Berufsqualifikation in anderen Studiengängen zu gewinnen, sei es im Bereich der Architektur, Agrarwissenschaft, Medizin, Sportwissenschaft, Informatik o.ä. Dabei werden Fragen des Erhalts des fachwissenschaftlichen Standards ebenso angesprochen wie Probleme der Abstimmung des soziologischen Lehrangebots auf die Berufsanforderungen des jeweiligen Studiengangs. Aus der Analyse der Prüfungsordnungen und Studienordnungen wird das Ausmaß der curricularen Einbindung soziologischer Lehrangebote ermittelt. Es zeigt sich, daß die Soziologie es schwer hat, eine Lehrgestalt für andere Studiengänge anzunehmen, da sie im Grunde weder 'Praktiken' noch Informationen für berufliche Verwendung liefert. (ICA

Text based user comments as a signal for automatic language identification of online videos

Identifying the audio language of online videos is crucial for industrial multi-media applications. Automatic speech recognition systems can potentially detect the language of the audio. However, such systems are not available for all languages. Moreover, background noise, music and multi-party conversations make audio language identification hard. Instead, we utilize text based user comments as a new signal to identify audio language of YouTube videos. First, we detect the language of the text based comments. Augmenting this information with video meta-data features, we predict the language of the videos with an accuracy of 97% on a set of publicly available videos. The subject matter discussed in this research is patent pending

Local tumor control and toxicity in HIV-associated anal carcinoma treated with radiotherapy in the era of antiretroviral therapy

PURPOSE: To investigate the outcome of HIV-seropositive patients under highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) with anal cancer treated with radiotherapy (RT) alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy (CT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical outcome of 81 HIV-seronegative patients (1988 – 2003) and 10 consecutive HIV-seropositive patients under HAART (1997 – 2003) that were treated with 3-D conformal RT of 59.4 Gy and standard 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin-C were retrospectively analysed. 10 TNM-stage and age matched HIV-seronegative patients (1992 – 2003) were compared with the 10 HIV-seropositive patients. Pattern of care, local disease control (LC), overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and toxicity were assessed. RESULTS: RT with or without CT resulted in complete response in 100 % of HIV-seropositive patients. LC was impaired compared to matched HIV-seronegative patients after a median follow-up of 44 months (p = 0.03). OS at 5 years was 70 % in HIV-seropositive patients receiving HAART and 69 % in the matched controls. Colostomy-free survival was 70 % (HIV+) and 100 % (matched HIV-) and 78 % (all HIV-). No HIV-seropositive patient received an interstitial brachytherapy boost compared to 42 % of all HIV-seronegative patients and adherence to chemotherapy seemed to be difficult in HIV-seropositive patients. Acute hematological toxicity reaching 50 % was high in HIV-seropositive patients receiving MMC compared with 0 % in matched HIV-seronegative patients (p = 0.05) or 12 % in all HIV-seronegative patients. The rate of long-term side effects was low in HIV-seropositive patients. CONCLUSION: Despite high response rates to organ preserving treatment with RT with or without CT, local tumor failure seems to be high in HIV-positive patients receiving HAART. HIV-seropositive patients are subject to treatment bias, being less likely treated with interstitial brachytherapy boost probably due to HIV-infection, and they are at risk to receive less chemotherapy

Ionizing radiation and inhibition of angiogenesis in a spontaneous mammary carcinoma and in a syngenic heterotopic allograft tumor model: a comparative study

BACKGROUND: The combined treatment modality of ionizing radiation (IR) with inhibitors of angiogenesis (IoA) is a promising treatment modality based on preclinical in vivo studies using heterotopic xeno- and allograft tumor models. Nevertheless reservations still exist to translate this combined treatment modality into clinical trials, and more advanced, spontaneous orthotopic tumor models are required for validation to study the efficacy and safety of this treatment modality. FINDINGS: We therefore investigated the combined treatment modality of IR in combination with the clinically relevant VEGF receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor PTK787 in the MMTV/c-neu induced mammary carcinoma model and a syngenic allograft tumor model using athymic nude mice. Mice were treated with fractionated IR, the VEGFR-inhibitor PTK787/ZK222584 (PTK787), or in combination, and efficacy and mechanistic-related endpoints were probed in both tumor models. Overall the treatment response to the IoA was comparable in both tumor models, demonstrating minimal tumor growth delay in response to PTK787 and PTK787-induced tumor hypoxia. Interestingly spontaneously growing tumors were more radiosensitive than the allograft tumors. More important combined treatment of irradiation with PTK787 resulted in a supraadditive tumor response in both tumor models with a comparable enhancement factor, namely 1.5 and 1.4 in the allograft and in the spontaneous tumor model, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that IR in combination with VEGF-receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors is a valid, promising treatment modality, and that the treatment responses in spontaneous mammary carcinomas and syngenic allografts tumor models are comparable

Can PSMA PET/CT help in dose-tailoring in post-prostatectomy radiotherapy?

There are few randomized trials to evaluate the use of PSMA-PET in the planning of post-prostatectomy radiotherapy. There are two unresolved questions 1) should we increase the dose to lesions visible on PSMA-PET 2) can we reduce dose in the case of a negative PSMA-PET. In this review, we summarize and discuss the available evidence in the literature. We found that in general, there seems to be an advantage for dose-increase, but ta large recent study from the pre-PSMA era didn't show an advantage for dose escalation. Retrospective studies have shown that conventional doses to PSMA-PET-positive lesions seem sufficient. On the other hand, in the case of a negative PSMA-PET, there is no evidence that dose-reduction is possible. In the future, the combination of PSMA-PET with genomic classifiers could help in better identify patients who might benefit from either dose- de-or -increase. We further need to identify intraindividual references to help identify lesions with higher aggressiveness

Vorschlag für einen „Check Verbraucherpolitik und Verbraucherbeteiligung“

Wirken politische Maßnahmen so, wie sie sollen? Stehen Kosten und Nutzen solcher Maßnahmen in einem angemessenen Verhältnis? Die Forderung nach einer stärkeren empirischen Evidenz für die Bewertung und Planung politischer Maßnahmen kommt von verschiedenen Seiten. Anhänger einer stärkeren Deregulierung und Privatisierung fordern mehr Evidenz, weil sie skeptisch sind gegenüber staatlicher Regulierung. Lobbyismus- Kritiker fordern mehr Evidenz, weil sie damit den Einfluss von Interessengruppen sichtbar machen und zügeln wollen. Und Anhänger eines nachhaltigen, strategischen Konzepts glauben, dass politische Maßnahmen so weniger anfällig werden für die Hektik der Tagespoliti

Influencing Factors on Radiotherapy Outcome in Stage I-II Glottic Larynx Cancer—A Multicenter Study

Background and Purpose: Larynx cancer represents one of the most frequently diagnosed head and neck malignancies, which is most often confined to the glottic area. The aim of this study was to report the oncological outcome and identify prognostic factors in early-stage glottic squamous cell carcinoma treated with radiotherapy. Material and Methods: Patients (n = 761) diagnosed and treated in 10 centers between 1990 and 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Probabilities of loco-regional control (LRC) and overall survival (OS) were calculated and possible prognostic factors were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: The median follow-up was 63 months (range: 2-243). Three hundred and sixty-four, 148 and 249 patients had cT1a, cT1b, and cT2 stage I-II disease, respectively. Five and 10-years LRC/OS rates in the whole cohort were 83/82% and 80/68%, respectively. Three patients developed distant recurrences. In univariate analysis, male sex (HR: 3.49; 95% CI: 1.47-11.37; p < 0.01), T2 vs. T1a (HR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.08-2.43; p = 0.02) and anterior commissure involvement (ACI) (HR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.38-2.45; p < 0.01) were associated with impaired LRC. In multivariate analysis, male sex (HR: 3.42; 95% CI: 1.44-11.17; p < 0.01) and ACI (HR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.01-2.28; p = 0.047) remained poor prognostic factors. No relation of treatment technique and biologically equivalent dose (BED) to oncological outcome was identified except for higher BED10(L = 25; T = 1) yielding better LRC in T1a tumors (p = 0.04) in univariate analyses. Conclusion: Our results highlight the negative impact of ACI on tumor control. A less-expected finding was the impact of sex on tumor control. Further research is needed to validate its prognostic value and investigate any related biologic or behavioral factors, which may be modified to improve oncologic outcome

Can PSMA PET/CT help in dose-tailoring in post-prostatectomy radiotherapy?

There are few randomized trials to evaluate the use of PSMA-PET in the planning of post-prostatectomy radiotherapy. There are two unresolved questions 1) should we increase the dose to lesions visible on PSMA-PET 2) can we reduce dose in the case of a negative PSMA-PET. In this review, we summarize and discuss the available evidence in the literature. We found that in general, there seems to be an advantage for dose-increase, but ta large recent study from the pre-PSMA era didn’t show an advantage for dose escalation. Retrospective studies have shown that conventional doses to PSMA-PET-positive lesions seem sufficient. On the other hand, in the case of a negative PSMA-PET, there is no evidence that dose-reduction is possible. In the future, the combination of PSMA-PET with genomic classifiers could help in better identify patients who might benefit from either dose- de-or -increase. We further need to identify intraindividual references to help identify lesions with higher aggressiveness