Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Matched Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Risk in Vietnam

Background. Vietnam has a low age-standardized incidence of breast cancer, but the incidence is rising rapidly with economic development. We report data from a matched case-control study of risk factors for breast cancer in the largest cancer hospital in Vietnam. Methods. 492 incident breast cancer cases unselected for family history or age at diagnosis and 1306 control women age 25–75 were recruited from the National Cancer Hospital (BVK), Hanoi. Structured interviews were conducted and pathology data was centrally reported at the National Cancer Hospital of Vietnam, in Hanoi. Results. Our analysis included 294 matched pairs. Mean age at diagnosis was 46.7 years. Lower mean parity, older age at first parity, increasing weight and BMI at age 18, and increasing BMI at diagnosis were positively correlated with breast cancer cases compared to controls. Age at first menarche and duration of breastfeeding were not statistically different between cases and controls. Conclusions. In this study we demonstrate that breast cancer in Vietnam is associated with some but not all of the published risk factors from Western populations. Our data is consistent with other studies of breast cancer in Asian populations.
Reduced neurofilament expression in cutaneous nerve fibers of patients with CMT2E

Objective: To investigate the effects of NEFL Glu396Lys mutation on the expression and assembly of neurofilaments (NFs) in cutaneous nerve fibers of patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2E (CMT2E). Methods: A large family with CMT2E underwent clinical, electrophysiologic, and skin biopsy studies. Biopsies were processed by indirect immunofluorescence (IF), electron microscopy (EM), and Western blot analysis. Results: The clinical features demonstrated intrafamilial phenotypic variability, and the electrophysiologic findings revealed nerve conductions that were either slow or in the intermediate range. All patients had reduced or absent compound muscular action potential amplitudes. Skin biopsies showed axons labeled with the axonal markers protein gene product 9.5 and α-tubulin, but not with NFs. The results of Western blot analysis were consistent with those of IF, showing reduced or absent NFs and normal expression of α-tubulin. EM revealed clusters of regenerated fibers, in absence of myelin sheath abnormalities. Both IF and EM failed to show NF aggregates in dermal axons. The morphometric analysis showed a smaller axonal caliber in patients than in controls. The study of the nodal/paranodal architecture demonstrated that sodium channels and Caspr were correctly localized in patients with CMT2E. Conclusions: Decrease in NF abundance may be a pathologic marker of CMT2E. The lack of NF aggregates, consistent with prior studies, suggests that they occur proximally leading to subsequent alterations in the axonal cytoskeleton. The small axonal caliber, along with the normal molecular architecture of nodes and paranodes, explain the reduced velocities detected in patients with CMT2E. Our results also demonstrate that skin biopsy can provide evidence of pathologic and pathogenic abnormalities in patients with CMT2E.
Anxiety and Communication Competence in the Honors Basic Public Speaking Course: An Intervention and Formative Assessment

This case study examines the effectiveness of a formative assessment intervention in an honors section of a basic public speaking course. Previous research has found significantly higher levels of public speaking anxiety among honors students than among non-honors students and has therefore identified them as a population at risk for high public speaking anxiety (PSA). This analysis tested a one-hour tutoring session designed to aid students in maximizing learning outcomes for the first speech of the course and to enhance markers of student development through reduced PSA and increased self-perceived communication competence (SPCC). Results indicated significant and sustained reductions in honors students’ PSA directly after the intervention and significant increases in these students’ SPCC after the classroom delivery of the first speech. We posit that students may have benefited from a sleeper effect due to the intervention, needing the catalytic event of the speaking experience to activate their enhanced feelings of competence. Implications include the potential to harness the effectiveness of such tutoring sessions to assist at-risk students.
Corruption and Productivity: Firm-level Evidence

Summary Using enterprise data for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, this study examines the effects of corruption on productivity. Corruption is narrowly defined as the occurrence of informal payments to government officials to ease the day-to-day operation of firms. The effects of this “bribe tax” on productivity are compared to the consequences of red tape, which may be understood as imposing a “time tax” on firms. When testing effects in the full sample, only the bribe tax appears to have a negative impact on firm-level productivity, while the effect of the time tax is insignificant. We also find that the surrounding environment influences the way in which firm behaviour affects firm performance. In particular, in countries where corruption is more prevalent and the legal framework is weaker, bribery is more harmful for firm-level productivity.
DP RIETI Discussion Paper Series 11E-025 Simulating Heterogeneous Multinational Firms

This paper develops a micro-simulation framework for multinational entry and sales activities across countries. The model is based on Eaton, Kortum, and Kramarz’s (2010) quantitative trade model adapted towards multinational production. Using micro data on Japanese manufacturing firms, we illustrate the empirical regularities of multinational entry and sales activity and estimate the model’s structural parameters with simulated method of moments. We demonstrate that our adapted model is able to replicate important dimensions of the in-sample moments conditioned in our estimation strategy and does a reasonable job in external model validation tests. We can replicate activity under an economic period with a far different level of FDI barriers than was conditioned upon in our estimation sample. Overall, we demonstrate the richness of the simulation framework as a quantitative tool for FDI policy analysis.
The new leaders : guidelines on leadership diversity in America

Achieving benefits from leadership diversity -- Challenging the barriers to opportunity -- Setting goals for sustained leadership development --Establishing accountability for diversity -- Creating meaningful developme opportunities -- Using recruitment to build diversity -- Step one : discover (and rediscover) diversity problems in your organization -- Step two : strengthen top-management commitment -- Step three : choose solutions that f a balanced strategy -- Step four : demand results and revisitthe goals -- St five : use building blocks to maintain momentum -- Conclusion: Meeting the challenges of leadership diversity -- Appendix: The GOLD research project.
Prevalence and Associated Factors of Diabetes Mellitus among Tuberculosis Patients in South-Eastern Amhara Region, Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study

Background The association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) is re-emerging worldwide. Recently, the prevalence of DM is increasing in resource poor countries where TB is of high burden. The objective of the current study was to determine the prevalence and analyze associated factors of TB and DM comorbidity in South-Eastern Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Methods This was a facility based cross-sectional study. All newly diagnosed TB patients attending selected health facilities in the study area were consecutively screened for DM. DM was diagnosed based on the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic, lifestyles and clinical data. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with TB and DM comorbidity. Result Among a total of 1314 patients who participated in the study, the prevalence of DM was estimated at 109 (8.3%). Being female [odds ratio (OR) 1.70; 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.10–2.62)], patients age [41–64 years (OR 3.35; 95% CI (2.01–5.57), 65–89 years (OR 3.18; 95% CI (1.52–6.64)], being a pulmonary TB case [(OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.09–2.63)] and having a family history of DM [(OR 4.54; 95% CI (2.36–8.73)] were associated factors identified with TB and DM comorbidity. Conclusion The prevalence of DM among TB patients in South-Eastern Amahra Region is high. Routine screening of TB patients for DM is recommended in the study area.
Normal Aging in the Basal Ganglia Evaluated by Eigenvalues of Diffusion Tensor Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The age effect on the diffusion pattern in the basal ganglia differs from that in the white matter. The main purpose of our study was to provide further insight into the change of water diffusion in the basal ganglia during human brain aging by using the eigenvalues of DTI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined 71 healthy subjects (mean age, 41.8 ± 14.5 years; age range, 20–79 years). The values of MD, FA, and the eigenvalues λ1 and λ23 (λ23 = [λ2 + λ3] / 2) were determined in regions of the head of the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and in some regions of white matter. The age-dependence of these measurements was tested for statistical significance by using the Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: A significant reduction of MD with aging was found in the head of caudate nucleus (r = −0.319, P = .007) and putamen (r = −0.410, P < .001), and an increase in FA with aging was found in the putamen (r = 0.535, P < .001). Eigenvalue λ23 showed a significant age-related decrease in the putamen (r = −0.451, P < .001) and the head of the caudate nucleus (r = −0.312, P = .008), but no significant changes of λ23 were found in the globus pallidus. The results for eigenvalue λ1 in the head of caudate nucleus (r = −0.299, P = .011) were close to statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The eigenvalues provide more insights into the different diffusion patterns in the basal ganglia during human brain aging.
Retention of Prose Materials as a Function of Postacquisition Testing.

One-week prose retention was examined as a function of four activities immediately following reading. Completion questions as an immediate activity with knowledge of results produced significantly better delayed retention than did questions without knowledge of results or presentation of statements equivalent in information to the questions with knowledge of results. These three conditions yielded performance significantly superior to the nonactivity control. Knowledge of results did not increase retention for correctly answered immediate questions, and it significantly increased delayed performance for immediate questions incorrectly answered. The immediate activity facilitation findings were attributed to two processes, practice at retrieval of stored information and addition of answers to items not recallable immediately after reading. No delayed retention difference occurred between passage information and equivalent randomly presented statements.
Occurrence of Salmonella spp. and generic Escherichia coli on beef carcasses sampled at a brazilian slaughterhouse

A total of 120 beef carcasses were analyzed during processing at a slaughterhouse in southern Brazil. The carcasses were sampled by swab at three different steps of the slaughter line and then they were tested for Salmonella and E. coli. The Salmonella isolates were also examined for antimicrobial susceptibility. Salmonella prevalence distribution was modeled and the probability of contamination was simulated using @Risk program and 10,000 interactions. Results demonstrated that 4 beef carcasses (3.3%) were positive for Salmonella only in the first point. The six isolates of Salmonella were classified: S. Newport (n = 3), S. Saintpaul (n = 2) and S. Anatum (n = 1). No Salmonella strains exhibited resistance to any of the antimicrobials tested. As expected, the most contaminated point with E. coli was the first point (hide), presenting counts from 0.31 to 5.07 log cfu/100 cm2. Much smaller E. coli counts were observed in the other points. Results indicated low levels of Salmonella and E. coli on the beef carcasses analyzed and also low probability of contamination of the carcasses by Salmonella, suggesting adequate microbiological quality.
Government Policy Response to War-Expenditure Shocks

Abstract The U.S. has experienced three episodes in which public expenditure temporarily increased to very high levels: the Civil War, World War I and World War II. These wars share a set of stylized facts regarding the behavior of tax revenue, government debt, primary deficit, inflation and output. I present a theory of government policy determination, whose primary ingredients are intertemporal distortion-smoothing and limited commitment, that matches these regularities qualitatively and displays empirically plausible quantitative behavior.
Financial Integration and Consumption Comovements in the Nordic Countries

The cross-country correlations between annual per capita consumption growth in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) during the period 1973-1996 are much lower than predicted by the basic theory of international financial integration. Capturing that the consumption behavior of parts of the population may be myopic and that some external consumption risks may be uninsured, this paper attempts to shed light on this observation. We find some evidence of myopic consumption behavior in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Taking this into account, the financial markets of the Nordic economies seem to be well integrated. It proves hard to identify uninsured external consumption risks at the aggregate level.
High versus Moderate Intensity Running Exercise to Impact Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: The Randomized Controlled RUSH-Study

Aerobic exercise positively impacts cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases; however, the most effective exercise training strategies have yet to be identified. To determine the effect of high intensity (interval) training (HI(I)T) versus moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICE) training on cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiorespiratory fitness we conducted a 16-week crossover RCT with partial blinding. Eighty-one healthy untrained middle-aged males were randomly assigned to two study arms: (1) a HI(I)T-group and (2) a sedentary control/MICE-group that started their MICE protocol after their control status. HI(I)T focused on interval training (90 sec to 12 min >85–97.5% HRmax) intermitted by active recovery (1–3 min at 65–70% HRmax), while MICE consisted of continuous running at 65–75% HRmax. Both exercise groups progressively performed 2–4 running sessions/week of 35 to 90 min/session; however, protocols were adjusted to attain similar total work (i.e., isocaloric conditions). With respect to cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiorespiratory fitness both exercise groups demonstrated similar significant positive effects on MetS-Z-Score (HI(I)T: −2.06 ± 1.31, P = . 001 versus MICE: −1.60 ± 1.77, P = . 001) and (relative) VO2max (HI(I)T: 15.6 ± 9.3%, P = . 001 versus MICE: 10.6 ± 9.6%, P = . 001) compared with the sedentary control group. In conclusion, both exercise programs were comparably effective for improving cardiometabolic indices and cardiorespiratory fitness in untrained middle-aged males.
MOTIVES FOR SPORTS PARTICIPATION , ATTITUDES TO SPORT AND GENERAL HEALTH STATUS OF THE SLOVENIAN ARMED FORCES EMPLOYEES

The purpose of this research was to study the motives for sports participation, general health status, attitudes to sport, general satisfaction with life and self-motivation. Factorial structure of the sport participation motives, the differences of the incentive systems among the employees and the correlation between the incentive systems and other variables were also in the focus of interest. The Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Self-motivation Inventory (SMI) and the Questionnaire of Attitudes Towards Sport (SS) were used. Employees of the Slovenian army (N=137; 73 soldiers, 36 non-commissioned officers and 28 officers) collaborated in the research. A positive attitude to sport of the army employees was obtained. They mainly do sports in order to develop and maintain their physical abilities, to remain healthy and in good physical condition. They like taking up activities which they are good at. As the least motivating factors they indicated the wishes of their parents and close friends, who liked to watch their performance, and the desire to be popular. The level of self-motivation of the employees in the Slovenian Armed Forces was high as well; the highest being among the commissioned officers. The study has shown above-average levels of general health status and satisfaction with life. The non-commissioned officers expressed the highest level of satisfaction with life among the respondents. Factor analysis gave 7 incentives. The employees, who valued the motives of a group atmosphere and productivity motives, also had a more positive attitude to sports. The employees who valued health, competence and professional promotion motives, along with the group atmosphere motives, were more selfmotivated. One discriminant function was obtained by the discriminant analysis and was named intrinsic motivation and satisfaction with life. The highest level of discrimination of the discriminant function occurred between the non-commissioned and commissioned officers (expressed as high), on one hand, and soldiers on the other (expressed as low).
Phytochemical Analysis and In Vitro Antimicrobial and Free-Radical-Scavenging Activities of the Essential Oils from Euryops arabicus and Laggera decurrens

The essential oils of the aerial part of two Asteraceae species, namely Euryops arabicus Steud. and Laggera decurrens (Vahl.) Hepper and Wood, were studied by GC and GC/MS. In parallel the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were evaluated. The investigation led to the identification of 48 and 44 compounds for both plants, respectively. The essential oil of E. arabicus was rich in oxygenated sesquiterpenes (39.9%). The oil also contained a high content of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (24.1%). Compounds such as caryophyllene oxide (8.6%), T-cadinol (7.0%), spathulenol (5.2%), (E)-β-caryophyllene (6.0%) and 2-epi-(E)-β-caryophyllene (6.0%) were the main constituents of the oil. Oxygenated monoterpenes also predominated in L. decurrens (46.3%). The thymoquinone-derivative, 3-methoxy-2-methyl-5-(1-methylethyl)-2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione (28.1%), thymol (5.7%) and eudesma-11-en-4a-ol (7.0%) were the most abundant constituents. Both essential oils showed antimicrobial activity with MIC-values between 0.13–5.25 mg/mL. Furthermore, only the essential oil of L. decurrens exhibited a strong antioxidant activity (91%) at 500 µg/mL.
In vivo functional properties of juxtaglomerular neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb

Juxtaglomerular neurons represent one of the largest cellular populations in the mammalian olfactory bulb yet their role for signal processing remains unclear. We used two-photon imaging and electrophysiological recordings to clarify the in vivo properties of these cells and their functional organization in the juxtaglomerular space. Juxtaglomerular neurons coded for many perceptual characteristics of the olfactory stimulus such as (1) identity of the odorant, (2) odorant concentration, (3) odorant onset, and (4) offset. The odor-responsive neurons clustered within a narrow area surrounding the glomerulus with the same odorant specificity, with ~80% of responding cells located ≤20 μm from the glomerular border. This stereotypic spatial pattern of activated cells persisted at different odorant concentrations and was found for neurons both activated and inhibited by the odorant. Our data identify a principal glomerulus with a narrow shell of juxtaglomerular neurons as a basic odor coding unit in the glomerular layer and underline the important role of intraglomerular circuitry.
Compiler Technology for Migrating Sequential Code to Multi-threaded Architectures

Executing sequential code in parallel on a multithreaded machine has been an elusive goal for many years. It has recently become quite important due to the widespread introduction of multi-cores in PCs. Automatic multi-threading could not be achieved so far because classic compiler analysis was not powerful enough and program behavior was found to be in many cases input dependent. Run time, speculative thread level parallelization, introduced in 1995, was a welcome but somewhat different avenue for advancing parallelization coverage. In this paper we introduce a novel analysis technique, Hybrid Analysis (HA), which unifies static and dynamic memory reference techniques into a seamless compiler framework which extracts almost maximum available parallelism from scientific codes and generates minimum run time overhead. We will present how we can extract maximum information from the quantities that could not be sufficiently analyzed through static compiler methods and generate sufficient conditions which, when evaluated dynamically, can validate optimizations. A large number of experiments confirm the viability of our techniques, which have been fully implemented in the Polaris compiler.
Cost analysis of NOx control alternatives for stationary gas turbines

The use of stationary gas turbines for power generation has been growing rapidly with continuing trends predicted well into the future. Factors that are contributing to this growth include advances in turbine technology, operating and siting flexibility and low capital cost. Restructuring of the electric utility industry will provide new opportunities for on-site generation. In a competitive market, it maybe more cost effective to install small distributed generation units (like gas turbines) within the grid rather than constructing large power plants in remote locations with extensive transmission and distribution systems. For the customer, on-site generation will provide added reliability and leverage over the cost of purchased power One of the key issues that is addressed in virtually every gas turbine application is emissions, particularly NO{sub x} emissions. Decades of research and development have significantly reduced the NO{sub x} levels emitted from gas turbines from uncontrolled levels. Emission control technologies are continuing to evolve with older technologies being gradually phased-out while new technologies are being developed and commercialized. The objective of this study is to determine and compare the cost of NO{sub x} control technologies for three size ranges of stationary gas turbines: 5 MW, 25 MW and 150 MW. The purpose of the comparison is to evaluate the cost effectiveness and impact of each control technology as a function of turbine size. The NO{sub x} control technologies evaluated in this study include: Lean premix combustion, also known as dry low NO{sub x} (DLN) combustion; Catalytic combustion; Water/steam injection; Selective catalytic reduction (SCR)--low temperature, conventional, high temperature; and SCONO{sub x}{trademark}.
Near Oracle Performance of Signal Space Greedy Methods

Compressive sampling (CoSa) is a new methodology which demonstrates that sparse signals can be recovered from a small number of linear measurements. Greedy algorithms like CoSaMP have been designed for this recovery, and variants of these methods have been adapted to the case where sparsity is with respect to some arbitrary dictionary rather than an orthonormal basis. In this work we present an analysis of this so-called Signal Space CoSaMP method when the measurements are corrupted with mean-zero white Gaussian noise. We establish near-oracle performance for recovery of signals sparse in some arbitrary dictionary.