Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer in Canada: A survey of genitourinary medical oncologists and urologists.

INTRODUCTION Uptake of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) for muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) has been low despite evidence of a survival benefit. The primary aim of this study was to better understand why the rates are low and determine what factors specifically influence the decision to recommend NC for MIBC. METHODS A 31-question survey was emailed between 2009 and 2011 to medical oncologists belonging to the Canadian Association of Genitourinary Medical Oncologists (CAGMO); and to urologists belonging to the Canadian Urologic Oncology Group (CUOG). We gathered data on practice characteristics, referrals for NC, factors influencing NC use, and chemotherapy regimens offered. Responses were summarized using descriptive statistics. RESULTS In total, 26/30 (87%) medical oncologists and 25/84 (30%) urologists, who were primarily academic, completed the survey. Most clinicians (medical oncologists 96%, urologists 88%) recommended NC for MIBC, because they considered it to be the standard of care, but most medical oncologists saw ≤6 referrals annually. Performance status, presence of comorbidities and renal function were key considerations in offering NC. NC was not offered if performance status ≥2 (medical oncologists 38%, urologists 44%), age >80 (medical oncologists 46%, urologists 39%), or glomerular filtration rate ≤40 mL/min (medical oncologists 81%, urologists 50%). CONCLUSIONS Most academic clinicians in Canada believe that cisplatin-based combination NC is the standard of care for MIBC and recommend it for patients with adequate performance status and renal function. Using a multidisciplinary approach to treat this disease may be one strategy to increase referral rates for NC and uptake of NC.
Tympanic Membrane Manipulation to Treat Symptoms of Patulous Eustachian Tube

Objective Patulous eustachian tube (PET) can have a significant negative impact on a patient’s quality of life. Previous work has demonstrated that temporarily mass loading and stiffening the tympanic membrane significantly reduces these symptoms. This study examined KTP laser myringoplasty (LM) and cartilage tympanoplasty (CT) as a means to manipulate the tympanic membrane to alleviate PET symptoms. Study Design Retrospective case review. Setting Academic tertiary care referral hospital. Patients Patients (n = 20) were identified from the senior authors’ (M.B.) specialty eustachian tube disorders clinic. Patients met previously established diagnostic criteria for PET. All patients had a clinically apparent flaccid segment of the eardrum and had symptom improvement after simple mass loading of their eardrum in the clinic. Interventions Patients in this study received either KTP LM (10 patients, 15 ears) or CT (10 patients, 11 ears) to treat their flaccid eardrum segment in an attempt to alleviate PET symptoms. Main Outcome Measures Preoperative and postoperative questionnaire scores and tympanometry measurements were compared. Results Patients undergoing CT for PET had a significant reduction in their symptoms of autophony (p ⩽ 0.001), conducted breath sounds (p = 0.001), and aural fullness (p = 0.009). KTP LM did not significantly reduce symptoms. Conclusion Cartilage tympanoplasty provides a safe and accessible surgical option for the treatment of PET and significantly reduces the symptoms of autophony, conducted breath sounds, and aural fullness. Further studies are needed to investigate whether addressing PET symptoms simultaneously from both the tympanic membrane and the eustachian tube orifice can improve patient symptoms even further.
The Role Of Mas Information In Organisations: An Empirical Study

Abstract This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the role of management accounting system (MAS) information in improving managers' performance, and their job satisfaction. Existing research on MAS information is extended by investigating the role of such information as a mediator in the relationships between managers' PEU (perceived environmental uncertainty) and their performance, and job satisfaction. Seventy department/section managers participated in the study. The results indicate that MAS information acts as a mediator in the relationship between managers' PEU and their performance. More specifically, as the managers' PEU increases, they use more MAS information which leads to an improvement in their performance. However, the results indicate that the relationship between managers' PEU and their job satisfaction is direct and inverse; MAS information does not act as a mediator in this relationship.
The Bright Side of Discretionary Accruals: Evidence from Finance and Innovation

We find cross‐sectional evidence that a financially constrained firm with patentable innovation opportunities can use discretionary accruals to reveal information about the firm's prospects and facilitate its financing activities. Specifically, using firms with patents in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) patent database, we find that among financially constrained firms, higher discretionary accruals are associated with more capital being raised, greater research and development (R&D) expenditures, more patents, more patent citations, and better operating performance in the future. These positive relationships are driven by firms that raise equity capital, especially those that raise equity capital from employees.
Education, meritocracy and redistribution

This paper analyses the relationship between education, meritocracy and redistribution. It first questions the meritocratic ideal highlighting how it relates to normative expectations that do not hold fully neither in their logic nor in practice. It then complements the literature on persistent inequalities by focusing on the opportunities for change created by current trends in the economy and in social aspirations. As the meritocratic argument that education is strongly linked to certain rewards in the labour market comes under pressure, increasing social dissatisfaction with education and skills wastage could be expected, as already noted in part of the political economy literature. This literature, however, has tended to conclude from such observations that educational expansion cannot deliver equality. The paper contributes to the debate by focusing on the opportunities created by current trends for the reorganisation of the relationship between education, the economy and society.
The Influence of Financial Factors on Environmental Information Disclosure in China Chemical Industry

From the perspective of voluntary disclosure, this paper examines empirically the impact of specific corporate financial factors on environment voluntary disclosure. Using a sample of 138 chemical industry listed companies in China, we find that more and more companies disclose environment information, which illustrates the enhanced awareness of corporate social environment. Our findings also show that firm's size and ROE have stronger impact than debt to asset ratio and growth rate on the behaviour of the disclosure of environmental information. The result indicates that larger companies and those with better profitability are more likely to disclose environmental information.
Survival and cause specific mortality in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a long term outcome study in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1940–2004

Background and aims: We followed a population based cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from Olmsted County, Minnesota, in order to analyse long term survival and cause specific mortality. Material and methods: A total of 692 patients were followed for a median of 14 years. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs, observed/expected deaths) were calculated for specific causes of death. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine if clinical variables were independently associated with mortality. Results: Fifty six of 314 Crohn’s disease patients died compared with 46.0 expected (SMR 1.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9–1.6)), and 62 of 378 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients died compared with 79.2 expected (SMR 0.8 (95% CI 0.6–1.0)). Eighteen patients with Crohn’s disease (32%) died from disease related complications, and 12 patients (19%) died from causes related to UC. In Crohn’s disease, an increased risk of dying from non-malignant gastrointestinal causes (SMR 6.4 (95% CI 3.2–11.5)), gastrointestinal malignancies (SMR 4.7 (95% CI 1.7–10.2)), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (SMR 3.5 (95% CI 1.3–7.5)) was observed. In UC, cardiovascular death was reduced (SMR 0.6 (95% CI 0.4–0.9)). Increased age at diagnosis and male sex were associated with mortality in both subtypes. In UC but not Crohn’s disease, a diagnosis after 1980 was associated with decreased mortality. Conclusions: In this population based study of IBD patients from North America, overall survival was similar to that expected in the US White population. Crohn’s disease patients were at increased risk of dying from gastrointestinal disease and COPD whereas UC patients had a decreased risk of cardiovascular death.
The Experiences of Frontline Staff Working with Children Seeking Asylum

The focus of this paper is welfare professionals’ accounts of their work with children who are seeking asylum. The empirical basis is a commissioned study of children seeking asylum in Wales. As well as qualitative research with children (which is not discussed in this paper),  professionals took part in interviews and focus groups. This sample included staff from social services, health, housing, education, police and the voluntary sector. Research findings are presented in relation to the experience of these frontline staff. We attempt to identify some of the sites of tension and the nature of the professional dilemmas, as well as discussing the potential for the exercise of discretion to be exercised. We conclude that there is very little room for manoeuvre within the asylum system for welfare professionals, but that there is evidence of questioning and even minor challenge of current policy from frontline staff. We discuss the extent to which the professional dilemmas raised by the asylum system are of a different order from those experienced throughout social welfare work.
Forms of Capital

The text is devoted to the cultural capital (and its three main states: incorporation, objectification, institutionalization) and social capital. The author analyzes the issues of transfer and reproduction of these types of capital and their connection with individual and group. At the end of the paper the author focuses on the conversion phenomenon when one type of the capital turns to another. The author claims that economic capital is the basis for all other types of capitals.
Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena Electrical Characterization of Polymer-Layered Silicate Nanocomposites

An electric strength (ES) test campaign in alternated current and space charge (SC) measurements via the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) method has been carried out on films of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites. The nanocomposite materials were obtained by the dispersion by melt mixing of organically modified layered silicates in an LDPE matrix. Before the electrical tests, the materials were characterized by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The LDPE-silicate nanocomposites evidenced some smart behaviour in AC.
High Psychiatric Symptom Severity Is a Moderator of Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes Among Women in Single vs. Mixed Gender Group Treatment

Objective: This exploratory study examined psychiatric symptom severity as a moderator of outcomes among women receiving either the Women's Recovery Group (WRG), a new manualized group treatment for substance use disorders combining single-gender group composition and women-focused content, or Group Drug Counseling (GDC), an empirically supported mixed-gender group treatment. Methods: We used a mixed model analysis of variance. Results: We found a significant 3-way interaction effect of treatment condition, time, and baseline Brief Symptom Inventory scores as well as Beck Depression Inventory scores. Conclusion: Single-gender group treatment may confer added benefit for women with substance abuse and high psychiatric symptom severity than mixed-gender treatment.
An Economic Freedom Index for U.S. Metropolitan Areas

This paper is the first attempt to produce an economic freedom index for local economies in the U.S. It provides a more comprehensive measure of the restrictions government places upon economic freedom compared to simple fiscal measures like total government spending or revenue. That makes it a valuable tool for a wide variety of researchers seeking to investigate the impact of government upon society, including regional economists and researchers in state and local public finance. The two economic freedom indices of nations have stimulated a large body of such research. There are several similar indices that provide the same tool for those examining state governments. Like the other two sets of indices, higher levels of local economic freedom are found to be correlated with positive economic outcomes such as higher per capita income and lower unemployment.
Poxviral Protein A52 Stimulates p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Activation by Causing Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-associated Factor 6 (TRAF6) Self-association Leading to Transforming Growth Factor β-activated Kinase 1 (TAK1) Recruitment*

Background: Activation of p38 MAPK by poxviral A52 is TRAF6-dependent, but the mechanism is unknown. Results: Disruption of either an identified TRAF6-binding motif or of A52 dimerization prevents TRAF6 oligomerization, TAK1 recruitment, and p38 activation. Conclusion: A52 activates p38 MAPK activation by causing TRAF6 oligomerization, leading to TAK1 recruitment. Significance: This work reveals the molecular basis for poxviral activation of p38 MAPK. Vaccinia virus encodes a number of proteins that inhibit and manipulate innate immune signaling pathways that also have a role in virulence. These include A52, a protein shown to inhibit IL-1- and Toll-like receptor-stimulated NFκB activation, via interaction with interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 2 (IRAK2). Interestingly, A52 was also found to activate p38 MAPK and thus enhance Toll-like receptor-dependent IL-10 induction, which was TRAF6-dependent, but the manner in which A52 manipulates TRAF6 to stimulate p38 activation was unclear. Here, we show that A52 has a non-canonical TRAF6-binding motif that is essential for TRAF6 binding and p38 activation but dispensable for NFκB inhibition and IRAK2 interaction. Wild-type A52, but not a mutant defective in p38 activation and TRAF6 binding (F154A), caused TRAF6 oligomerization and subsequent TRAF6-TAK1 association. The crystal structure of A52 shows that it adopts a Bcl2-like fold and exists as a dimer in solution. Residue Met-65 was identified as being located in the A52 dimer interface, and consistent with that, A52-M65E was impaired in its ability to dimerize. A52-M65E although capable of interacting with TRAF6, was unable to cause either TRAF6 self-association, induce the TRAF6-TAK1 association, or activate p38 MAPK. The results suggest that an A52 dimer causes TRAF6 self-association, leading to TAK1 recruitment and p38 activation. This reveals a molecular mechanism whereby poxviruses manipulate TRAF6 to activate MAPKs (which can be proviral) without stimulating antiviral NFκB activation.
Open Parallel Cooperative and Competitive Decision Processes: A Potential Provenance for Quantum Probability Decision Models

In recent years quantum probability models have been used to explain many aspects of human decision making, and as such quantum models have been considered a viable alternative to Bayesian models based on classical probability. One criticism that is often leveled at both kinds of models is that they lack a clear interpretation in terms of psychological mechanisms. In this paper we discuss the mechanistic underpinnings of a quantum walk model of human decision making and response time. The quantum walk model is compared to standard sequential sampling models, and the architectural assumptions of both are considered. In particular, we show that the quantum model has a natural interpretation in terms of a cognitive architecture that is both massively parallel and involves both co-operative (excitatory) and competitive (inhibitory) interactions between units. Additionally, we introduce a family of models that includes aspects of the classical and quantum walk models.
Determinants of house prices in Seoul: A quantile regression approach

This paper estimates house price determinants in the Korean housing market, focusing on Seoul and employing the method of a quantile regression of a hedonic price model. With this quantile regression approach, how implicit prices of housing characteristics vary in each quantile of house prices is investigated. The data sample for this paper comprises court auction data collected from district courts of Seoul between 2006 and 2012. The hedonic variables employed in this research include building age, size, floor height, and floor level, proximity to metro station and high school and scenic view. As dependent variables, house prices in three sub-regions of Seoul are considered. Those prices between before and after the 2008 financial crisis are compared to determine the impact of the crisis. The empirical analysis finds that school proximity has the largest effect on the prices among dummy variables and that the level of the effect is larger in lower quantiles (lower-priced houses). By contrast, scenic view has a larger effect in higher quantiles (higher-priced houses), while its effect is statistically insignificant in lower quantiles. The effects of both school proximity and scenic view are also found to decrease in magnitude after the crisis.
CXCR4 Protein Epitope Mimetic Antagonist POL5551 Disrupts Metastasis and Enhances Chemotherapy Effect in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

The SDF-1 receptor CXCR4 has been associated with early metastasis and poorer prognosis in breast cancers, especially the most aggressive triple-negative subtype. In line with previous reports, we found that tumoral CXCR4 expression in patients with locally advanced breast cancer was associated with increased metastases and rapid tumor progression. Moreover, high CXCR4 expression identified a group of bone marrow–disseminated tumor cells (DTC)-negative patients at high risk for metastasis and death. The protein epitope mimetic (PEM) POL5551, a novel CXCR4 antagonist, inhibited binding of SDF-1 to CXCR4, had no direct effects on tumor cell viability, but reduced migration of breast cancer cells in vitro. In two orthotopic models of triple-negative breast cancer, POL5551 had little inhibitory effect on primary tumor growth, but significantly reduced distant metastasis. When combined with eribulin, a chemotherapeutic microtubule inhibitor, POL5551 additively reduced metastasis and prolonged survival in mice after resection of the primary tumor compared with single-agent eribulin. Hypothesizing that POL5551 may mobilize tumor cells from their microenvironment and sensitize them to chemotherapy, we used a “chemotherapy framing” dosing strategy. When administered shortly before and after eribulin treatment, three doses of POL5551 with eribulin reduced bone and liver tumor burden more effectively than chemotherapy alone. These data suggest that sequenced administration of CXCR4 antagonists with cytotoxic chemotherapy synergize to reduce distant metastases. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(11); 2473–85. ©2015 AACR.
Moral Hazard, Trust and Economic cooperation

Summary: The paper examines the drivers of trust in economic cooperation. Our research has focused on the role of two factors on the basis of the widely referred trust model: faith in loyalty and capability. The empirical results clearly confirm the hypothesis of the theoretical model, namely, which partners will trust each other if their faith is high both in loyalty and in competence. Our research has also pointed out that the level of trust between partners is determined differently by the two examined factors: it is statistically proved that the impact of faith in loyalty is higher. By using one of the theoretical models of new institutional economics, the article analyzes the impact of moral hazard (through the trust) in cooperation arrangements.
Levels of serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and leptin and their correlation in depression.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between leptin and cytokines in depressed patients. METHODS Thirty-three unmedicated patients (24 female, nine male) with depressive disorder and 23 healthy controls (16 female, seven male) were assessed for serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and leptin. RESULTS Levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in depressed patients were higher than in normal controls. There were significantly lower leptin levels in depressed patients than in normal controls. There were also significant differences in the leptin levels, being higher in female than in male patients, and in female than in male controls. CONCLUSIONS IL-6 and TNF-alpha cytokines and leptin are important in the psychoimmunology of depressed patients. There were gender differences in leptin levels in depression.
Opening detrusor pressure and the influence of age on success following colposuspension

Women with urodynamic stress incontinence (USI) have lower opening and closing detrusor pressures than women without USI. This study was undertaken to determine whether a change occurs in opening and closing detrusor pressures after colposuspension, whether cure is associated with change, and whether age influences cure.
Plasma methoxytyramine: clinical utility with metanephrines for diagnosis of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma

Context Measurements of plasma methoxytyramine, the O-methylated dopamine metabolite, are useful for detecting rare dopamine-producing pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) and head and neck paragangliomas (HNPGLs), but utility for screening beyond that achieved using standard measurements of normetanephrine and metanephrine is unclear. Objective Evaluation of the additional utility of methoxytyramine compared to plasma normetanephrine and metanephrine for diagnosis of PPGLs and HNPGLs. Design Comparative prospective study. Methods Comparison of mass spectrometric-based measurements of plasma methoxytyramine, normetanephrine and metanephrine in 1963 patients tested for PPGLs at six tertiary medical centers according to reference intervals verified in 423 normotensive and hypertensive volunteers. Results Of the screened patients, 213 had PPGLs and 38 HNPGLs. Using an upper cut-off of 0.10 nmol/L for methoxytyramine, 0.45 nmol/L for metanephrine and age-specific upper cut-offs for normetanephrine, diagnostic sensitivity with the addition of methoxytyramine increased from 97.2% to 98.6% for patients with PPGLs and from 22.1% to 50.0% for patients with HNPGLs, with a small decrease in specificity from 95.9% to 95.1%. Addition of methoxytyramine did not significantly alter areas under receiver operating characteristic curves for patients with PPGLs (0.984 vs 0.991), but did increase (P < 0.05) areas for patients with HNPGLs (0.627 vs 0.801). Addition of methoxytyramine also increased the proportion of patients with PPGLs who showed highly positive predictive elevations of multiple metabolites (70.9% vs 49.3%). Conclusions While the benefit of additional measurements of plasma methoxytyramine for the detection of PPGLs is modest, the measurements do assist with positive confirmation of disease and are useful for the detection of HNPGLs.