Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of venovenous and venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the treatment of neonatal respiratory failure.

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of venovenous to venoarterial bypass in an unselected cohort of infants with refractory cardiorespiratory failure. DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis. SETTING Two tertiary hospitals capable of providing extracorporeal life support for neonates with acute respiratory failure. PATIENTS All San Diego Regional Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Program patients treated after the adoption of a policy which eliminated traditional restrictions to venovenous support. INTERVENTIONS Venoarterial or venovenous extracorporeal life support. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Fifty-four infants were treated with venovenous bypass; 30 were treated with venoarterial bypass due to unsuccessful placement of the double lumen venovenous catheter or inability to exclude congenital heart disease before cannulation. No patient required conversion from venovenous to venoarterial ECMO. There were no differences in birth weight, gestational age, diagnosis, or pre-ECMO condition in the two groups. Patients who met ECMO criteria early were more likely to be successfully cannulated with a double-lumen venovenous catheter. Severe hemodynamic compromise was present before cannulation in a comparable percentage of venovenous and venoarterial patients. During venovenous bypass, mean Pao2 values were lower but remained in the normoxic range; Paco2 values, ventilatory setting, intravascular volume requirements, inotropic support, and mean duration of ECMO support were not different. The frequency rate of patient and mechanical complications were also comparable, except that the frequency of intravascular thrombosis was significantly lower in patients receiving venovenous ECMO. Survival, the frequency rate of chronic lung disease, and neurodevelopmental outcome were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that venovenous ECMO using a double-lumen venovenous catheter can provide results comparable with venoarterial bypass without the need for carotid artery ligation in an unselected population of neonatal ECMO candidates. In our experience, reported contraindications to venovenous ECMO did not prove to be valid.
Narrow-Linewidth 780-nm DFB Lasers Fabricated Using Nanoimprint Lithography

This letter presents narrow-linewidth 780-nm edge-emitting semiconductor DFB lasers fabricated without re-growth using UV-nanoimprinted surface gratings. The third-order laterally coupled ridge-waveguide surface gratings enable single mode operation, excellent spectral purity (40–55 dB side mode suppression ratio and 10-kHz linewidth), and good light–current–voltage characteristics in continuous wave operation (~112-mA threshold current, ~1.55-V opening voltage, and 28.9-mW output power from one facet at 300-mA current for 2.4-mm-long devices), which are vital in various applications, such as rubidium spectroscopy and atomic clock pumping. The low fabrication cost, high throughput, structural flexibility, and high device yield make the fabrication method fully compatible with large-scale mass production, enabling the fabrication of low-cost miniaturized modules.
Demographic, Hematologic, and Clinical Features of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Patients: Results from the First Polish Myelodysplastic Syndrome Registry

Epidemiological studies on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in Middle-Eastern Europe are scarce. No data about the demographic, clinical, and laboratory features of Polish MDS patients have been published. The aim of this study was to assess the epidemiological data and toxic exposure of Polish MDS patients and their association with hematological parameters and clinical outcomes. For 15 months, 966 living MDS patients were enrolled at 24 centers (12 university and 12 community hospitals). Follow-up was conducted for the next 55 months. The percentage of patients older than 80 years (16%) was between the values for Eastern and Western countries. In patients younger than 55 years, a female predominance was observed (male/female ratio 0.70:1 vs. 1.29:1; p < 0.001). Female patients had higher platelet counts (160 × 109/l vs. 111 × 109/l; p < 0.001). Patients exposed to chemicals were younger than patients without such exposure; their median age at MDS diagnosis was 66 vs. 70 years (p = 0.037). Smokers had significantly lower hemoglobin concentrations (8.6 vs. 9.1 g/dl; p = 0.032) and lower platelet counts (99 × 109/l vs. 137 × 109/l; p < 0.001) than nonsmokers. We provide the first description of the characteristics of Polish MDS patients. Females predominated in the group aged <60 years and they had higher platelet counts. The course of the disease is affected by toxic exposure and smoking.
African immigrants in South Africa : job takers or job creators?

During the last decade African immigrants have been met with and exposed to severe forms of hostility towards their presence in this country. A significant number of these migrants have successfully applied their entrepreneurial flair in establishing small enterprises and employing workers, often to the envy of their local counterparts. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study conducted in 2007 on job creation by African immigrant entrepreneurs for South Africans with face-to-face interviews with 120 African immigrant entrepreneurs. These findings were triangulated 7 non-governmental organisations that interact with immigrants in Cape Town. A review of the literature on migration, entrepreneurship and immigrant entrepreneurs formed the basis for the study The findings indicate that more than 80% of African immigrant entrepreneurs interviewed employ South Africans in their businesses. Despite a generally negative national perception towards immigrants, this study has also revealed that entrepreneurial skills are transferred from immigrant entrepreneurs to their South African employees. Whilst the study was only conducted in the suburban areas of Cape Town, the researcher believes that the results represent the general trend for South Africa. Furthermore, the study only involved those migrants who come from African continent. The overall result is the acknowledgement of the contribution that non-citizens are making to the country’s growth and development. The findings suggest recommendations geared towards policy changes regarding South African immigration law, an inclusive research about the role of immigrants on job creation in South Africa, as well as the consideration of immigrant entrepreneurs when allocating financial support.
Bus lane safety implications: a case study in Hong Kong

Bus lanes have been widely adopted in major cities such as Hong Kong to improve the efficiency of bus services and increase bus modal share. However, their impacts on road safety have been overlooked. This study employs two observational before–after study techniques aiming to examine whether accident occurrences of the roads equipped with bus lanes had been changed thereafter. On the seven studied sites, decrease in public bus accidents, both fatal and serious (FS) and fatal, serious and slight (FSS) were found; but, increase in other vehicle FS accident were found. Albeit only two of the decreases and neither of the increases were statistically significant at the 5% level, the results appear to suggest that only public buses have benefited in terms of road safety from the bus lane operation. Further investigation into the impacts on non-bus traffic is thus required to provide an insight for future bus lane planning regarding safety.
Measuring the Recreational Use Value of Migratory Shorebirds on the Delaware Bay

Abstract In this article we estimate the recreational use value of household trips to view shorebirds during the annual horseshoe crab/shorebird migration on the Delaware Bay. We use contingent valuation to estimate the value of day and overnight trips separately and use a discrete choice question followed by a payment-card question to generate our valuation data. Our best estimates for the value of a day trip are about $66–$90/household and for an overnight trip about $200–$425/household (2008$). Our data are from the 2008 season, and our average household size is 1.66. For some context, estimates from four other studies report values that vary from $63/trip/person to $442/trip/person. These studies vary in method and specific birding populations studied and mix day and overnight trips. JEL Classification Codes: Q5
The adoption of International Accounting Standards in the European Union

Abstract This paper discusses the IASB's process of developing accounting standards for adoption by listed companies within the European Union. Issues addressed include the structure of the IASB, its role as a global standard setter and its programme. Particular attention is given to two topics that are both controversial and important, accounting for financial instruments and reporting financial performance.
A Framework for Evaluating Process Quality for Audit Engagements

Abstract Audit quality has been researched from several perspectives. Most recent research has been oriented toward end user surrogates for audit quality. This study, on the other hand, focuses on the development of a more objective and comprehensive measure of audit quality based on an evaluation of the actual audit processes completed for a unique engagement. To achieve this objective, over 200 audit practitioners participated in a series of structured group processes designed to elicit group consensus, first on the factors affecting audit process quality and subsequently on objective measures of deviations in each of the identified factors. A separate group of approximately 100 practitioners provided relative weights for each identified factor's effect on overall audit quality. The combination of measures and corresponding weighting factors is used as the foundation for a comprehensive framework for evaluating audit process quality.
Fuzzy Portfolio Optimization of Onshore Wind Power Plants

In this paper we apply fuzzy set theory to the portfolio optimization of power generation assets, using a semi-mean absolute deviation (SMAD) model as a benchmark and a fuzzy semi-mean absolute deviation (FSMAD) model for comparison. The two models are applied to five onshore wind power plants in Germany considered for the portfolio analysis. The results show that the combinations of favorable assets for efficient portfolios are very similar, although the portfolio shares are markedly different. Also, the return and risk span of the SMAD model are much broader than those of the FSMAD model. The highest returns are generated by portfolios based on the latter model. Offering less portfolio choices, the FSMAD model thus facilitates decision-making. This is in compliance with the notion that portfolio optimization by fuzzy set theory is able to better account for the decision-maker’s preferences under real-world conditions.
Grey-based power control for DS-CDMA cellular mobile systems

The propagation channel of a mobile radio system exhibits severe signal shadowing and multipath fading, which results in wide variation of signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) at the receiver. To tackle this problem, power control is used to maintain the desired link quality and thus achieve higher capacity. In order to mitigate the channel variation effect precisely, a new application of grey theory to the power control strategy in the direct-sequence code-division multiple-access cellular mobile systems is introduced. This scheme aims to predict the SIR affected by the channel variation at the receiver and issue an appropriate control signal to the transmitter. The simulation results indicate that the grey-based scheme can offer less outage probability than the previous mechanisms.
Green Infrastructure Planning in Urban Sweden

In this thesis, I evaluate the extent to which biodiversity is affected, and taken into consideration by, urban planning. Based on landscape ecology, I apply an interdisciplinary approach. In addition to natural science, I have included social and political sciences, as methods from these two disciplines were required to study issues dealing with both biodiversity and urban planning. Urbanisation affects biodiversity in several ways. For example, changes in vegetation structures as well as an increased fragmentation of natural habitats will take place. In a fragmented environment an increased nest predation rate occurs. In the smaller spatial scale, predation rate was found to be higher closer to the edge of natural habitat patches than further inside. I also carried out research in order to identify the local and regional effects that cities have on compositional and structural elements of biodiversity. The amount and quality of green space and natural vegetation increased from the centre to the periphery of the city. Avian species richness showed the same trend with the exception of avian generalists, which showed the opposite trend. Certain qualities such as old-growth trees and dead wood, as well as availability of green space, were identified as being important for avian diversity. These findings emphasise the importance of urban green space with natural structures to maintain high ecological diversity. Based on analyses of policy documents, I examined whether Swedish local authorities and planners take urban green spaces into consideration as potential multifunctional systems, including the maintenance of biodiversity. The result showed that Swedish planners and local decision-makers have not fully understood the multiple uses of urban green space, for example, the same area can act as a recreation area, improve the local climate, and maintain biodiversity. A normative model for conservation planning in urban landscapes was defined and operationalised by using landscape ecological principles. Urban planners were interviewed about their interest, ability, and knowledge with respect to planning for functional networks of green spaces in relation to the normative model. The unanimous view was that planners were interested in the concept of biodiversity. However, they were restricted by the extent of their knowledge, by personnel lacking suitable qualifications, and by inadequacies within their organisations. To deal with this, better integration of natural, social, and political sciences in education, as well as policy implementation should be developed.
Chemicals causing mammary gland tumors in animals signal new directions for epidemiology, chemicals testing, and risk assessment for breast cancer prevention

Identifying chemical carcinogens in animal studies is currently the primary means of anticipating cancer effects in humans. Animal studies to evaluate potential chemical carcinogenicity are particularly important for breast cancer because environmental and occupational epidemiologic research is sparse. Chemicals that increased mammary gland tumors in animal studies were compiled from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP), and other sources. Summary assessments of the carcinogenic potential for each chemical and potentially exposed populations were also compiled. In all, 216 chemicals were identified that have been associated with increases in mammary gland tumors in at least 1 study. These include industrial chemicals, chlorinated solvents, products of combustion, pesticides, dyes, radiation, drinking water disinfection byproducts, pharmaceuticals and hormones, natural products, and research chemicals. Twenty‐nine are produced in the U.S. at >1 million pounds/year; 35 are air pollutants, 25 have involved occupational exposures to >5000 women, and 73 have been present in consumer products or as contaminants of food. Thus, exposure is widespread. Nearly all of the chemicals were mutagenic and most caused tumors in multiple organs and species; these characteristics are generally believed to indicate likely carcinogenicity in humans. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive list developed of animal mammary gland carcinogens and, along with associated data, is publicly available at URL: www.silentspring. org/sciencereview and at URL: www.komen. org/environment. Valuable information from cancer bioassays is not well utilized in risk assessment and regulatory processes, suggesting a need to strengthen chemicals testing and risk assessment as tools for breast cancer prevention. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
The ecological footprint of Santiago de Chile

Abstract In the case of Santiago de Chile, this paper explains how the ecological footprint of a city can be calculated and how this footprint can be compared with the biological capacity available for human use. As ecological footprints provide an easily communicable way of measuring the ecological bottom‐line condition for sustainability, it is a useful tool for promoting a sustainable future. It is particularly useful for cities, as it is in cities where the battle for sustainability will be won or lost. While cities are the largest contributors to Gross World Product, they are also the largest consumers and waste producers. This is particularly critical in a world that is already overloaded with human activities and, in addition, is rapidly urbanizing. To make cities win the battle for sustainability we must understand the economics of cities, not just in monetary terms, but in terms of resource allocation. Human activities depend on the provision of resources, the absorption of waste and other essent.
Excess body weight and increased Breslow thickness in melanoma patients: a retrospective study

Excess body weight has been shown to increase the risk for development of several common cancers, such as postmenopausal breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, and esophagus cancers. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the potential relationship between excess body weight, assessed in terms of BMI, and Breslow thickness in 605 patients affected by primary cutaneous melanoma. Particularly, we evaluated the occurrence of thick melanoma (>1 mm) in overweight compared with nonoverweight patients. The effect of BMI (≥25 vs. <25 kg/m2) on the risk of having a diagnosis of thick melanoma was estimated in terms of odds ratio (OR) by logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, and histological type. Significant differences in overweight versus nonoverweight patients were found with respect to sex distribution. In fact, the occurrence of thick melanoma was greater in overweight women than in nonoverweight women (OR=1.64). When the analysis was restricted to postmenopausal women, the corresponding OR increased further to 2.50. In conclusion, a positive association between excess body weight and the risk of thick melanoma was found only in female patients. On stratifying patients into subgroups, the relationship between the risk of being diagnosed with a thick melanoma (>1.0 mm) and overweight status (BMI≥25 kg/m2) was significantly affected by both sex and menopausal status. Despite limitations because of both the study design and the relatively small numbers of patients in certain subgroups, overweight status may be associated with an increased Breslow thickness in postmenopausal women.
Understanding the Attitude of Men towards Fairness Cream in India

The attitude and behavioural intention of men towards purchase and consumption of fairness cream have been investigated. We carried out an empirical study with a structured questionnaire. Results showed that attitude towards fairness cream and perceived behavioural control significantly influenced behavioural intention towards fairness cream. Subjective norm was not significant in influencing behavioural intention. Further, subjective knowledge of men significantly influence attitude, and attitude was mediating the effect of subjective knowledge to behavioural intention.
"Adaptive response" - some underlying mechanisms and open questions

Organisms are affected by different DNA damaging agents naturally present in the environment or released as a result of human activity. Many defense mechanisms have evolved in organisms to minimize genotoxic damage. One of them is induced radioresistance or adaptive response. The adaptive response could be considered as a nonspecific phenomenon in which exposure to minimal stress could result in increased resistance to higher levels of the same or to other types of stress some hours later. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying the adaptive response may lead to an improvement of cancer treatment, risk assessment and risk management strategies, radiation protection, e.g. of astronauts during long-term space flights. In this mini-review we discuss some open questions and the probable underlying mechanisms involved in adaptive response: the transcription of many genes and the activation of numerous signaling pathways that trigger cell defenses - DNA repair systems, induction of proteins synthesis, enhanced detoxification of free radicals and antioxidant production.
Insider Trading and the Bid-Ask Spread

This study examines the intertemporal and cross-sectional association between the bid-ask spread and insider trading. Empirical results from the cross-sectional regression analysis reveal that market makers establish larger spreads for stocks with a greater extent of insider trading. The time-series regression analysis, however, finds no evidence of spread changes on insider trading days. These results suggest that although market makers may not be able to detect insider trading when it occurs, they protect themselves by maintaining larger spreads for stocks with a greater tendency of insider trading. The results also reveal that market makers establish larger spreads when there are unusually large transactions. In addition, this study finds that spreads are positively associated with risk and negatively with trading volume, the number of exchange listings, share price, and firm size.
Inhibition of the IL-4/IL-13 receptor system prevents allergic sensitization without affecting established allergy in a mouse model for allergic asthma.

BACKGROUND IL-4 and IL-13 are considered as key regulators for the development of atopic disease. OBJECTIVE This study addresses the therapeutic potential of an IL-4/IL-13 inhibitor on the basis of a mutated IL-4 variant (Q116D, Y119D) during allergic sensitization and in established disease in a murine asthma model with persistent airway pathologic condition. METHODS BALB/c mice were sensitized with ovalbumin intranasally. Mice were treated with the IL-4/IL-13 inhibitor during the sensitization phase or alternatively after ovalbumin allergy was established. Specific antibodies were measured, and histologic lung sections were examined for goblet cell metaplasia. In addition, bronchoalveolar lavages were performed and checked for airway eosinophilia, IL-5 levels, and the number of IL-4 secreting CD4(+) T cells. Furthermore, airway responsiveness to inhaled methacholine was assessed. RESULTS The inhibition of the IL-4/IL-13 system during allergic sensitization resulted in a dose-dependent reduction of ovalbumin-specific IgEs and inhibition of airway eosinophilia together with decreased IL-5 levels and decreased numbers of IL-4 secreting CD4(+) T cells. Moreover, goblet cell metaplasia and airway responsiveness to methacholine could be reduced significantly by the IL-4/IL-13 inhibitor. However, the inhibition of the IL-4/IL-13 system at various time points after allergy was established showed only little effect on all measured allergic parameters. CONCLUSION Although the inhibition of the IL-4/IL-13 system can efficiently prevent the development of the allergic phenotype, these cytokines seem to play a minor role in established allergy. This is relevant for estimating the therapeutic effects of IL-4/IL-13 inhibitors in patients with allergic asthma.