Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatic Dysfunction During and After Lymphoma Chemotherapy in Patients With Hepatitis C

Background Hepatitis C is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. The literature regarding hepatic dysfunction in Hepatitis C patients during and after chemotherapy is limited. Purpose The goal of this study was to determine the incidence of hepatic dysfunction in Hepatitis C positive patients during and/or after chemotherapy for lymphoma. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed. Patients included in the study were anti-hepatitis C virus positive patients treated with chemotherapy for lymphoma at the BC Cancer Agency since 1999. Serum transaminases and bilirubin were the primary criteria used to define and evaluate severity of hepatic dysfunction. Information regarding clinical outcomes was also collected. Results Forty-one eligible patients were identified. Twenty-four patient charts had sufficient information for review. Four patients met criteria for acute chemotherapy-associated hepatic dysfunction. No deaths secondary to acute hepatic dysfunction were identified. Conclusions Hepatic dysfunction in patients with Hepatitis C being treated for lymphoma with chemotherapy occurs but is uncommon.
Evaluating query performance on object-relational spatial databases

The great popularity of geospatial data and increasing use in commercial as well as scientific applications is a significant event of our times. The overwhelming flow of data has made Database management systems (DBMS) a ubiquitous component for scientific research. However, although many database management systems have been built, there have been very few systematic comparisons of performance and functionalities especially few benchmark standards. In this paper, we aim to perform a performance evaluation for vector spatial databases and shows how the evaluation has been implemented in four spatial database systems, including object-relational database IBM DB2 Spatial Extender, Oracle Spatial, PostgreSQL and MySQL spatial. We expect this work to provide a standard benchmark in evaluating facilities and the efficiencies of various spatial database managers as well as guidance on selection for scientific application of spatial database.
Trustworthiness, friendships and self‐control: factors that contribute to young children's school adjustment

The aim of present study was to examine the relationship between young children's peer-reported trustworthiness and their school adjustment. Two hundred and eleven (103 male and 108 female) children in the United Kingdom (mean age = 6 years 2 months) took part in this study. Measures of peer-reported trustworthiness, child-rated school adjustment, and teacher-rated school adjustment were administered twice across a one-year period. Also, children's number of friendships, peer acceptance, and self-control were assessed at Time 2. Multisample path analyses were conducted separately by sex. For both samples there were direct longitudinal paths between peer-reported trustworthiness and changes in teacher-rated school adjustment. For boys, the longitudinal path between peer-reported trustworthiness and changes in child-rated loneliness was mediated by peer acceptance, and peer-reported trustworthiness mediated the relationship between self-control and teacher-rated school adjustment. Sex differences in peer-reported trustworthiness also emerged: girls were rated as more trustworthy by their peers than were boys. The findings support the hypothesis that young children's trustworthiness contributes to school adjustment, which is due in part to peer acceptance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Output Tracking Control for Fuzzy Systems Via Output Feedback Design

Fuzzy observer-based control design is proposed to deal with the output tracking problem for nonlinear systems. For the purpose of tracking design, the new concept of virtual desired variables and, in turn the so-called generalized kinematics are introduced to simplify the design procedure. In light of this concept, the design procedure is split into two steps: i) Determine the virtual desired variables from the generalized kinematics; and ii) Determine the control gains just like solving linear matrix inequalities for stabilization problem. For immeasurable state variables, output feedback design is proposed. Here, we focus on a common feature held by many physical systems where their membership functions of fuzzy sets satisfy a Lipschitz-like property. Based on this setting, control gains and observer gains can be designed separately. Moreover, zero tracking error and estimation error are concluded. Three different types of systems, including nonlinear mass-spring systems, dc-dc converters, and induction motors are considered to demonstrate the design procedure. Their satisfactory simulation results verify the proposed approach
Entrepreneurial Orientation and Corporate Governance Structures at the Firm Level in the South African Oil and Gas Industry

Orientation: Corporate governance systems (CGS) have been observed as one of the most important structures and mechanisms that regulate the relationships between executives and shareholders. By having well-defined and established CGS, company board members and executives are able to shape company vision and increase managerial commitment towards formulating strategies that espouse an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Firms with high levels of EO tend to be innovative and encourage creative initiatives in new products and technology developments. Research purpose: In an emerging economy such as South Africa, one of the primary goals of an organisation is growth and good governance, which can be achieved through wellgoverned structures and continuous innovation in the face of challenges. This study identified potential links between the multidimensional constructs of CGS and EO at the firm level in the South African oil and gas industry. Motivation for the study: One of the greatest challenges faced by organisations when implementing CGS is to ensure compliance. Research design, approach and method: Board members and senior decision-makers were surveyed in the South African oil and gas industry, using a structured questionnaire. A series of correlational analyses were used to determine the strength of relationships between the dimensions of EO and CGS. Main findings: By drawing extensively on existing theory on EO, this study found that the different dimensions of CGS have a significant and positive relationship with each of the EO dimensions – innovation, risk-taking and proactiveness. Practical/managerial implications: Corporate boards supportive of entrepreneurship must provide appropriate reward systems, top management support, explicit goals and appropriate organisational values which signal to employees that entrepreneurial behaviour action is desirable. Practitioners should scrutinise their governance structures in their organisations to ensure an alignment with EO practices. Contribution/value-add: Generally, research on EO and governance in Africa as a whole may be considered as valuable, as very few empirical studies have been previously conducted which focus on the nexus of CGS and EO. The study is one of the first to conduct empirical research on EO and CGS in an emerging market and unique industry context – the South African oil and gas industry.
Digit Ratios (2D:4D and other) and Relative Thumb Length: A Test of Developmental Stability

Sex and side differences in relative thumb length of children and adolescents have been reported by prior researchers. These findings mirror those reported for the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a likely biomarker for the organizational (permanent) effects of prenatal androgens on the human brain and body. The present study investigated relative thumb length, in particular, its associations with all possible digit ratios (2D:3D, 2D:4D, 2D:5D, 3D:4D, 3D:5D, and 4D:5D), in a sample of young adults (60 men and 64 women). Relative thumb length was less precisely measurable than direct or image-based finger-length measurements, as used in digit ratio research. There were no significant sex or side differences in relative thumb length. Contrary to expectation, thumb size was not positively correlated with any digit ratios. Relative thumb length appears to be developmentally unstable (decreases during childhood and adolescence). Additional findings, such as the magnitude ranking of sex differences in digit ratios and the comparability of direct versus image-based finger-length measurements, are also discussed.
Intention, Interpretation and Implementation: Some Paradoxes of Assessment for Learning across Educational Contexts

The language of formative assessment, sometimes referred to as ‘assessment for learning’ (AFL), is becoming ubiquitous within international educational discourse. Despite this, levels of common understanding might be considered questionable since the concept appears to have been subject to many different interpretations and to have resulted in varying implementations. The reason for this ambiguity partly lies in the way that the language of formative assessment or assessment for learning has increasingly been applied beyond the context of classroom practice; shifting the focus of assessment from explaining how classroom learning interactions can enhance individual development to considerations involving larger-scale, system-wide accountability purposes. This shift appears to contradict the original spirit of AFL and has led to a blurring of the formative and summative boundaries of assessment. This article presents some empirical data from a small-scale research project to suggest that this issue has a practical impact in the classroom. The article considers the variety of ways that the language of AFL is used by teachers in differing international contexts and suggests that a conflict of purpose might underlie such variations. The article goes on to suggest the need for further research addressing some of the fundamental paradoxes within assessment discourse caused by this conflation of purposes, and identifies areas for further research and investigation.
How different from pacemaker patients are recipients of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators with respect to psychosocial adaptation, affective disorders, and quality of life?

OBJECTIVE To assess differences in psychosocial adaptation, quality of life, and incidence of affective disorders between patients with pacemakers and those with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). DESIGN Patients aged 40–70 years who underwent a first pectoral implantation of a pacemaker or an ICD system were studied. All subjects were asked to complete the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD), the short form general health survey (SF-36), and a specially designed device related questionnaire. Data analysis was performed for three patient groups: pacemaker (n = 76), ICD patients who received therapeutic shocks (n = 45), and ICD patients who did not receive shocks (n = 31). RESULTS There were no differences between the three patient groups in HAD scores or in any of the SF-36 subscales or summary ratings. Probable depressive disorder (depression score > 10) was observed in 5.2%, 6.5%, and 6.6%, and probable anxiety disorder (anxiety score > 10) in 13.1%, 9.7%, 13.3% of the pacemaker, non-shocked ICD, and shocked ICD patients, respectively. There were no sex differences. However, patients in the shocked ICD group were more likely than those in the other groups to report limitations in their leisure activities, to perceive their device as a “life extender,” and to admit anxiety about battery depletion and technical problems. Forty per cent of shocked ICD patients would be interested in joining a support group. CONCLUSIONS Despite having distinctly different medical histories and treatments, patients with pacemakers and ICDs responded similarly to validated tools of health status assessment. ICD patients who had received shocks perceived their device as prolonging their life and had greater anxiety about technical problems. Their endorsement of the potential benefits of a support group warrants further investigation.
An optimization-based approach to human body motion capture using inertial sensors

In inertial human motion capture, a multitude of body segments are equipped with inertial measurement units, consisting of 3D accelerometers, 3D gyroscopes and 3D magnetometers. Relative position and orientation estimates can be obtained using the inertial data together with a biomechanical model. In this work we present an optimization-based solution to magnetometer-free inertial motion capture. It allows for natural inclusion of biomechanical constraints, for handling of nonlinearities and for using all data in obtaining an estimate. As a proof-of-concept we apply our algorithm to a lower body configuration, illustrating that the estimates are drift-free and match the joint angles from an optical reference system.
The Socio-Cultural Context of Adolescents’ Notions of Sex and Sexuality in Rural South-Eastern Nigeria

Interest in the socio-cultural context of adolescents’ sexual knowledge and behaviour has proliferated recently. But the irony is that very little of this debate is informed by what adolescents themselves say about sex, sexuality, and their experiences of them. This study uses data emerging from a survey of adolescent boys in rural south-eastern Nigeria to track the influence of socio-cultural forces on adolescents’ views of sex, sexuality, and sexual relationships. Findings suggest that social gatekeepers (parents, mass media, peers, teachers and others), local gender norms, and cultural narratives about sex, sexuality, and sexual expectations exert considerable influence on adolescents’ ideas of sex, sexuality, and relationships. We argue that the mediation of adolescents’ notions of sex and sexuality by prevailing and deeply embedded patriarchal norms of gender relations and sexuality may facilitate unsafe sexual practices among male adolescents and sustain the cultural devaluation of women. We conclude that sexuality education programmes urging courses of action, which involve only individual adolescents, must find ways to identify and reach out to those groups and individuals that are critical to shaping the behaviours and views of adolescents on sex and sexuality.
Career Adaptability and Intention to Leave among ICT Professionals: An Exploratory Study.

Adaptability was found to be one of the important aspects for employees in order for them to survive in their career especially to those in the ICT industry. The ICT work nature involved with consistent work changes, intensive creative thinking, and advanced technological upgrading. Although organizations supposed to encourage career adaptability among the employees, previous studies however showed that such encouragement contributed to the employees’ turnover rather than retention. In order to generalize the previous findings into the Malaysian work context, this study explored whether career adaptability would have such influence on intention to leave the organization and the career. Findings of this study found that career concern, career control, career curiosity and career confidence were negatively correlated to both intentions to leave. However, only career control and career confidence were found to be significance in explaining the study model in multiple regression analyses. Implications of this study and recommendation for future studies were discussed.
Immunogenicity of an inactivated monovalent 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in pregnant women.

BACKGROUND Although pregnant women are at increased risk of severe illness following influenza infection, there is relatively little information on the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines administered during pregnancy. METHODS We conducted a clinical trial that enrolled 120 pregnant women in which participants were randomly assigned to receive an inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine containing either 25 μg or 49 μg of hemagglutinin (HA) in a 2-dose series with a 21-day period between administration of the first and second doses. RESULTS Following the first vaccination, HA inhibition (HAI) titers of ≥1:40 were detected in 93% (95% confidence interval [CI], 82%-98%) of subjects who received the 25-μg dose and 97% (95% CI, 88%-100%) of subjects receiving the 49-μg dose. In cord blood samples, HAI titers of ≥1:40 were found in 87% (95% CI, 73%-96%) of samples from the 25-μg dose group and in 89% (95% CI, 76%-96%) from the 49-μg dose group. Microneutralization titers tended to be higher than HAI titers, but the patterns of response were similar. CONCLUSIONS In pregnant women, 1 dose of an inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine containing 25 μg of HA elicited an antibody response typically associated with protection against influenza infection. Efficient transplacental transfer of antibody was also documented.
Stimulus-dependent EEG activity reflects internal updating of tactile working memory in humans

Despite recent advances in uncovering the neural signature of tactile working memory processing in animals and humans, the representation of internally modified somatosensory working memory content has not been studied so far. Here, recording EEG in human participants (n = 25) performing a modified delayed match-to-sample task allowed us to disambiguate internally driven memory processing from encoding-related delay activity. After presentation of two distinct vibrotactile frequencies to different index fingers, a visual cue indicated which of the two previous stimuli had to be maintained in working memory throughout a retention interval for subsequent frequency discrimination against a probe stimulus. During cued stimulus maintenance, α activity (8–13 Hz) over early somatosensory cortices was lateralized according to the cued tactile stimulus, even though the location of the stimuli was task irrelevant. The task-relevant memory content, in contrast, was found to be represented in right prefrontal cortex. The key finding was that the visually presented instructions triggered systematic modulations of prefrontal β-band activity (20–25 Hz), which selectively reflected the to-be-maintained frequency of the cued tactile vibration. The results expand previous evidence for parametric representations of vibrotactile frequency in the prefrontal cortex and corroborate a central role of dynamic β-band synchronization during active processing of an analog stimulus quantity in human working memory. In particular, our findings suggest that such processing supports not only sustained maintenance but also purposeful modification and updating of the task-relevant working memory contents.
Individualism/Collectivism and Academic Self-Enhancement in New Zealand Māori University Students

The present study had several aims: to examine horizontal/vertical individualism/collectivism in a New Zealand Māori sample; to determine whether these cultural orientations contribute to academic self-enhancement; and to investigate if self-enhancement affects intentions to continue studies in higher education. A quantitative questionnaire was distributed to a nonprobability convenience sample of 71 Māori university students. All participants had either studied within the past year or were currently studying, and were recipients of a Māori-specific bursary for higher education studies. Results revealed the sample scored high on measures of horizontal collectivism and academic self-enhancement. ANOVAs showed some significant differences between our sample and other cultural samples on some of the cultural orientations. A series of standard multiple regressions revealed that combined, the cultural orientations predicted academic self-enhancement, although only horizontal collectivism made a significant negative contribution. Academic intentions were not predicted by self-enhancement. The findings have implications for policy development and educational strategies oriented toward enhancing the academic success of Māori in higher education.
The Saint John's Experience Project: Challenging Men's Perceptions of Normative Gender Role Conflict

This study investigated the relationship between college males' self-reported gender role conflict (GRC) and their perceptions of their peers' GRC. A social norms intervention involving GRC was also tested. Ninety-seven college students completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS), a self-report measure, and a modified GRCS that assessed perceptions of peer GRC. The men in the sample significantly overestimated normative GRC in three of the four factors and the GRCS as a whole. Additionally, participants in the intervention more accurately estimated peer GRC and reported lower restrictive emotionality at follow-up. These results support social norms theory and replicate earlier findings. Recommendations are offered for further investigation of the social norms method regarding gender roles.
Osteoid osteoma of the elbow : A review of six cases.

Six cases of osteoid osteoma of the elbow were reviewed to determine the spectrum of clinical, pathologic and radiologic findings. Since osteoid osteoma of the elbow may masquerade as a nonspecific synovitis, the diagnosis is challenging and frequently delayed. The histology is, however, indistinguishable from that of osteoid osteoma occurring in typical locations. The radiologic features of osteoid osteoma of the elbow include the following triad: (a) osteosclerosis, usually a dominant feature at initial imaging and typically enveloping the nidus; (b) joint effusion; and (c) periosteal reaction that can involve both the bone in which the osteoid osteoma arises and adjacent bones. Awareness of these features will facilitate correct diagnosis, thereby facilitating timely and appropriate treatment.
Association between the RAD51 135 G>C Polymorphism and Risk of Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of 19,068 Cases and 22,630 Controls

Background RAD51 135G>C can modify promoter activity and the penetrance of BRCA1/2 mutations, which plays vital roles in the etiology of various cancer. To date, previous published data on the association between RAD51 135G>C polymorphism and cancer risk remained controversial. Recent meta-analysis only analyzed RAD51 135G>C polymorphism with breast cancer risk, but the results were also inconsistent. Methods A meta-analysis based on 39 case-control studies was performed to investigate the association between cancer susceptibility and RAD51 135G>C. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the association in different inheritance models. Heterogeneity among studies was tested and sensitivity analysis was applied. Results Overall, no significant association was found between RAD51 135G>C polymorphism and cancer susceptibility in any genetic model. In further stratified analysis, significantly elevated breast cancer risk was observed in BRCA2 mutation carriers (recessive model: OR = 4.88, 95% CI = 1.10–21.67; additive model: OR = 4.92, 95% CI = 1.11–21.83). Conclusions This meta-analysis suggests that RAD51 variant 135C homozygote is associated with elevated breast cancer risk among BRCA2 mutation carriers. Moreover, our work also points out the importance of new studies for RAD51 135G>C association in acute myeloid leukemia, especially in Caucasians, where at least some of the covariates responsible for heterogeneity could be controlled, to obtain a more conclusive understanding about the function of the RAD51 135G>C polymorphism in cancer development.