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The purpose of this research was to investigate attitudes of both students and teachers concerning Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the L2 classroom. The study was a descriptive, qualitative, mixedmethods case study whose data were taken from a purposive, convenient sample at a private, English-speaking university during the Summer Semester 2023 in Beirut, Lebanon. Data collection primarily involved an online survey on Google forms which was given to a sample of 49 students taking a research-based English 202 course of which 46 were completed. Afterwards, six English teachers and six students were chosen based on their voluntary will to participate in individual interviews for the former and semi-structured focus group interviews for the latter. The findings revealed that approximately 85% of students did indeed use AI unethically to get ideas for their assignments, assist them in their projects' “blue-prints” or do their assignments/projects altogether. The findings also revealed that a “love/hate” relationship seemed to dictate students' relationships with AI, where students did indeed make use of AI but were distrusting of it for privacy and equity concerns. Finally, findings also revealed that most of the interviewed instructors' readiness to undergo training for AI was more to monitor students' potential misuse of it. The article purposes a suggestive revamping of course learning objectives due to students' inclinations to misuse AI to do their coursework with 89.4% of students willing to use AI to complete their coursework should university punitive measures be removed; furthermore, the article equally proposes future research investigating the impact and use of AI in the higher educational classroom on student performance and that it be used with a “grain of salt” as it may unleash a Pandora's box of future generations graduating without the necessary know-how in delicate professions of medicine, nursing, engineering, architecture among others.

This paper assesses the feasibility of concrete mixtures containing high replacement rates of fine and/or coarse waste brick aggregates. Three mixture series prepared with different water-to-cement ratios are tested for workability, compressive strength, split tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, water permea-bility (by capillary or under pressure), and drying shrinkage. Test results showed that the concrete proper-ties remarkably degrade when the coarse natural aggregate fraction (i.e., retained on sieve No. 4) is fully replaced by recycled waste bricks, given their increased porosity that reduces the concrete density and weakens its skeleton. In contrast, the strength and durability remained almost unaltered when the fine natural aggregate fraction was replaced by 50 % recycled waste bricks, and considerably better than equivalent mixtures made using the same amount of recycled fine aggregates derived from hardened waste concrete.

About half of the mammalian genome is constituted of repeated elements, among which endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are known to influence gene expression and cancer development. The HP1 (Heterochromatin Protein 1) proteins are known to be essential for heterochromatin establishment and function and its loss in hepatocytes leads to the reactivation of specific ERVs and to liver tumorigenesis. Here, by studying two ERVs located upstream of genes upregulated upon loss of HP1, Mbd1 and Trim24, we show that these HP1-dependent ERVs behave as either alternative promoters or as putative enhancers forming a loop with promoters of endogenous genes depending on the genomic context and HP1 expression level. These ERVs are characterised by a specific HP1-independent enrichment in heterochromatin-associated marks H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 as well as in the enhancer-specific mark H3K4me1, a combination that might represent a bookmark of putative ERV-derived enhancers. These ERVs are further enriched in a HP1-dependent manner in H3K27me3, suggesting a critical role of this mark together with HP1 in the silencing of the ERVs, as well as for the repression of the associated genes. Altogether, these results lead to the identification of a new regulatory hub involving the HP1-dependent formation of a physical loop between specific ERVs and endogenous genes.

Due to the construction of underground structures and hazardous waste storages, understanding and modelling of water flow through concrete has become a major topic for life-span analyses. The water retention curve (WRC) is an essential unsaturated soil function, which can be determined not only for soil samples, but also for other porous media. This paper deals with the determination of drying water retention curve for six different concrete mixtures that provide a substantial characteristic for the investigation and modelling of seepage through the pores of concrete. According to the complex pore system of the concrete, the bimodal function of van Genuchten (1980) and Fredlund and Xing (1994) models were used for curve fitting. The fitted curves were used to estimate the permeability function using Fredlund et. al (1994) model.

Minimizing the production energy and resources consumption are the key principle for engineering sustainability. In the case of concrete structures, this concept can be achieved by the use of materials in the most efficient way considering in the mix design the optimal mechanical and durability properties. The substitution of ordinary Portland cement for other supplementary cementitious materials is assessing the possibility of enhancing the sustainability and decreasing the environmental impact of concrete. Mass concrete is rich in cementitious materials which results in high temperature within the concrete, hence several hazards such as cracking or temperature differences between the interior and the surface of concrete could be prevented. An experimental study evaluated on several one cubic meter sized concrete elements in which during the primary phase of hydration, the temperature variation is recorded in several location offsets with respect to time. Thermal variations results are analyzed in accordance with the cement type, CO2 emission production of cement, compressive strength, water tightness, drying shrinkage and rapid chloride migration coefficient. The results indicate that slag cement CEM III/B 32.5, that incorporates highest amount of slag, ensured improved mechanical, thermal and durability properties in comparison with ordinary Portland cement CEM I 32.5.

Background: The present study evaluated the relative survival benefits associated with enasidenib and current standard of care (SoC) therapies for patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and an isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) mutation who are ineligible for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)., Methods: Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis compared survival outcomes observed with enasidenib 100 mg daily in the phase I/II AG221-C-001 trial and SoC outcomes obtained from a real-world chart review of patients in France., Results: Before matching, enasidenib (n = 195) was associated with numerically improved overall survival (OS) relative to SoC (n = 80; hazard ratio [HR], 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61-1.11). After matching and adjusting for covariates (n = 78 per group), mortality risk was significantly lower with enasidenib than with SoC (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.47-0.97). The median OS was 9.26 months for enasidenib (95% CI, 7.72-13.24) and 4.76 months for SoC (95% CI, 3.81-8.21). Results remained robust across all sensitivity analyses conducted., Conclusions: PSM analyses indicate that enasidenib significantly prolongs survival relative to SoC among patients with R/R AML and an IDH2 mutation who are ineligible for HSCT. Future prospective studies are needed to validate these findings using other data sources and to assess the comparative efficacy of enasidenib for other treatment outcomes., (© 2021 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a rapidly progressive hematological malignancy that is difficult to cure. The prognosis is poor and treatment options are limited in case of relapse. A comprehensive assessment of current disease burden and the clinical efficacy of non-intensive therapies in this population are lacking. We conducted two systematic literature reviews (SLRs). The first SLR (disease burden) included observational studies reporting the incidence and economic and humanistic burden of relapsed/refractory (RR) AML. The second SLR (clinical efficacy) included clinical trials (phase II or later) reporting remission rates (complete remission [CR] or CR with incomplete hematologic recovery [CRi]) and median overall survival (mOS) in patients with RR AML or patients with de novo AML who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy. For both SLRs, MEDLINE ® /Embase ® were searched from January 1, 2008 to January 31, 2020. Clinical trial registries were also searched for the clinical efficacy SLR. After screening, two independent reviewers determined the eligibility for inclusion in the SLRs based on full-text articles. The disease burden SLR identified 130 observational studies. The median cumulative incidence of relapse was 29.4% after stem cell transplant and 46.8% after induction chemotherapy. Total per-patient-per-month costs were $28,148-$29,322; costs and health care resource use were typically higher for RR versus non-RR patients. Patients with RR AML had worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores than patients with de novo AML across multiple instruments, and lower health utility values versus other AML health states (i.e. newly diagnosed, remission, consolidation, and maintenance therapy). The clinical efficacy SLR identified 50 trials (66 total trial arms). CR/CRi rates and mOS have remained relatively stable and low over the last 2 decades. Across all arms, the median rate of CR/CRi was 18.3% and mOS was 6.2 months. In conclusion, a substantial proportion of patients with AML will develop RR AML, which is associated with significant humanistic and economic burden. Existing treatments offer limited efficacy, highlighting the need for more effective non-intensive treatment options., Competing Interests: Esther Oliva has received honoraria from AbbVie, Alexion, Amgen, Apellis, Celgene, and Novartis, and has served on the speakers’ bureau for Celgene and Novartis. Sarah Ronnebaum, Omer Zaidi, and Dipen Patel are employees of OPEN Health, which received funding by Celgene Corporation to conduct the review. Salem Abi Nehme and Clara Chen are employees and stockholders of Bristol Myers Squibb. Salem Abi Nehme was an employee of Celgene Corporation at the time the research was initiated. Antonio Almeida has received honoraria from Bristol Myers Squibb, and has served as a speaker and consultant for AbbVie and Novartis., (AJBR Copyright © 2021.)