Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fenoldopam mesylate for the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT The development of contrast-induced nephropathy in patients undergoing invasive cardiac procedures is associated with a marked increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Fenoldopam mesylate, a specific agonist of the dopamine-1 receptor, preserves renal blood flow after iodinated contrast administration and has shown promise in ameliorating contrast nephropathy in previous observational and small randomized trials. OBJECTIVE To examine the efficacy of fenoldopam mesylate in preventing contrast nephropathy after invasive cardiovascular procedures. DESIGN Prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter randomized trial with serial serum creatinine levels measured at a central biochemistry laboratory (at baseline and 1, 24, 48, and 72 to 96 hours after study drug administration) and 30-day clinical follow-up. PATIENTS AND SETTING Between March 2001 and July 2002, 315 patients with creatinine clearance less than 60 mL/min (1.00 mL/s) at 28 centers in the United States were randomized to receive fenoldopam mesylate (n = 157) or placebo (n = 158). INTERVENTIONS Patients were hydrated and randomized to receive intravenous fenoldopam (0.05 microg/kg/min titrated to 0.10 microg/kg/min) vs matching placebo, starting 1 hour prior to angiography and continuing for 12 hours. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Contrast-induced nephropathy, defined as an increase of 25% or more in serum creatinine level within 96 hours postprocedure. RESULTS Mean (SD) patient age was 70 (11) years, and 49% had diabetes mellitus. Mean (SD) baseline creatinine clearance was 29.0 (10.0) mL/min (0.48 [0.16] mL/s) (range, 7.5-56.8 mL/min [0.12-0.94 mL/s]), and 157 (108) mL of contrast was administered during the procedures. The primary end point of contrast-induced nephropathy occurred in 33.6% of patients assigned to receive fenoldopam vs 30.1% assigned to receive placebo (relative risk, 1.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.79-1.57; P =.61). There were no significant differences in the 30-day rates of death (2.0% vs 3.8%, P =.50), dialysis (2.6% vs 1.9%, P =.72), or rehospitalization (17.6% vs 19.9%, P =.66) in fenoldopam vs placebo randomized patients, respectively. CONCLUSION The selective dopamine-1 agonist fenoldopam mesylate does not prevent further renal function deterioration after contrast administration in patients with chronic renal insufficiency.
The Relationship Between Self‐Efficacy Beliefs and Inventoried Vocational Interests

It has generally been assumed that a linear relationship exists between vocational interests and self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) suggested, however, that persons require some amount of reasonable challenge in activities to sustain their interest, and that the relationship of interest to self-efficacy thus may be curvilinear. This research extended and remedied previous literature and tested explicitly Bandura's concept of a threshold. Results suggest general support for a linear relationship between interest and self-efficacy (rs are .62–.68), although curvilinear self-efficacy terms contributed significantly to two of three regression equations. Contrary to predictions, plots suggest interest may be stable at lower levels of self-efficacy and may increase linearly at higher levels.
Undermining Stereotypes of Linguistic Groups Through Mediated Intergroup Contact

The article investigates majority group viewing of minority language media, with a particular focus on examining (a) motivations for viewing, (b) associations between viewing and stereotypes, and (c) the moderating effects of local minority language vitality and direct interpersonal contact. Among Finnish-speaking Finns (the majority group), traditional motivations (e.g., diversion) as well as intergroup motivations (e.g., seeking contact with the outgroup culture) were found to statistically predict Swedish language television viewing, and Swedish language television viewing predicted more positive stereotypes of Swedish-speaking Finns (the minority group). This latter effect was moderated by vitality, such that it was stronger in areas of higher Swedish (outgroup) vitality: The authors had predicted that the effect would be stronger in areas of lower vitality. The results are discussed in terms of intergroup contact theory and the effects of local variation in group vitality on the potential for media to influence intergroup attitudes, including the role of perceived threat from a large local minority population.
A Novel Monte-Carlo-Sampling-Based Receiver for Large-Scale Uplink Multiuser MIMO Systems

In this paper, we propose low-complexity algorithms based on Monte Carlo sampling for signal detection and channel estimation on the uplink in large-scale multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems with tens to hundreds of antennas at the base station (BS) and a similar number of uplink users. A BS receiver that employs a novel mixed sampling technique (which makes a probabilistic choice between Gibbs sampling and random uniform sampling in each coordinate update) for detection and a Gibbs-sampling-based method for channel estimation is proposed. The algorithm proposed for detection alleviates the stalling problem encountered at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in conventional Gibbs-sampling-based detection and achieves near-optimal performance in large systems with M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation ( M-QAM). A novel ingredient in the detection algorithm that is responsible for achieving near-optimal performance at low complexity is the joint use of a mixed Gibbs sampling (MGS) strategy coupled with a multiple restart (MR) strategy with an efficient restart criterion. Near-optimal detection performance is demonstrated for a large number of BS antennas and users (e.g., 64 and 128 BS antennas and users). The proposed Gibbs-sampling-based channel estimation algorithm refines an initial estimate of the channel obtained during the pilot phase through iterations with the proposed MGS-based detection during the data phase. In time-division duplex systems where channel reciprocity holds, these channel estimates can be used for multiuser MIMO precoding on the downlink. The proposed receiver is shown to achieve good performance and scale well for large dimensions.
From Discipline to Flexibilization? Rereading Foucault in the Shadow of Globalization

Michel Foucault was the great theorist of the fordist mode of social regulation. Writing at the zenith of the postwar Keynesian welfare state, he taught us to see the dark underside of even its most vaunted achievements. Viewed through his eyes, social services became disciplinary apparatuses, humanist reforms became panoptical surveillance regimes, public health measures became deployments of biopower, and therapeutic practices became vehicles of subjection. From his perspective, the components of the postwar social state constituted a carceral archipelago of disciplinary domination, all the more insidious because self-imposed. Granted, Foucault did not himself understand his project as an anatomy of fordist regulation. Positing a greater scope for his diagnosis, he preferred to associate disciplinary power with “modernity” simpliciter. And most of his readers, including me, followed suit. As a result, the ensuing debates turned on whether the Foucauldian picture of modernity was too dark and one-sided, neglecting the latter’s emancipatory tendencies. 1 Today, however, circumstances warrant a narrower reading. If we now see ourselves as standing on the brink of a new, postfordist epoch of globalization, then we should reread Foucault in that light. No longer an interpreter of modernity per se, he becomes a theorist of the fordist mode of social regulation, grasping its inner logic, like the Owl of Minerva, at the moment of its historical waning. From this perspective, it is significant that his great works of social analysis – Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, Discipline and Punish, The History of Sexuality, volume one – were written in the 1960s and 1970s, just as the OECD countries abandoned Bretton Woods, the international financial framework that undergirded national Keynesianism and thus made possible the welfare state. In other words, Foucault mapped the contours of the disciplinary society just as the ground was being cut out from under it. And although it is only now with hindsight becoming clear, this was also the moment at which discipline’s successor was struggling to be born. The irony is plain: whether we call it postindustrial society or neoliberal globalization, a new regime oriented to “deregulation” and “flexibilization” was about to take shape just as Foucault was conceptualizing disciplinary normalization. Of course, to read Foucault in this way is to problematize his relevance to the present. If he theorized fordist regulation, then how does his diagnosis relate to
Informed lay preferences for delivery of racially varied pharmacogenomics

Objectives To understand public perceptions and opinions of three options for prescribing medicine: individualized genetic testing, race-based prescription, and traditional prescription.Methods Focus groups in urban, suburban, and rural communities over-sampled for minority groups conducted from February through April, 2001 in Georgia.Results Group members (N = 102) identified individualized genetic testing as providing the best quality of care (60% of talk turns; 75% in postdiscussion anonymous survey), but stipulated the need for protection from the invasion of privacy, discrimination, and prohibitive cost. Most individuals chose genetic testing because it provided individualized attention, and African-Americans indicated they would choose genetic testing even if the costs were high. Overall, individuals were suspicious of race-based prescription. Analyses for degree of suspicion revealed a main effect for race and an interaction effect for race and gender.Conclusions If issues of cost, discrimination, and privacy are addressed, lay individuals prefer genetic testing as the basis for prescription of medicines that exhibit racially patterned response variation.
Cognitive Impairment in Affective Disorders: Relation to Illness Characteristics

Previous research has shown cognitive disturbances after recovery in affective disorder. In the present follow-up study of old-age patients with recurrent depression cognitive function in the euthymic phase was investigated and compared with measures of illness. Cognitive decline correlated with the number of hospital admissions and the number of episodes and less with the duration of illness and slightly negatively with age at onset. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between cognitive impairment and intensity of illness, defined as the number of admissions divided by the number of years of illness. Especially patients with decreasing cycle lengths suffered cognitive impairment.Current or previous treatment or differences in social characteristics could not explain the dysfunctions. However, it is discussed whether the findings may be a result of a kindling-like phenomenon suggesting a connection between kindling in the limbic system, recurrence of phases, and cognitive dysfunction in affectiv.
Disconfirming communication and self-verification in marriage: Associations among the demand/withdraw interaction pattern, feeling understood, and marital satisfaction

This study examines the link between communication and self-verification in marriage. A theoretical model that explains the relationships among disconfirming communication, perceptions of self-confirmation, and marital satisfaction is proposed and tested. The demand/withdrawal conflict pattern in marriage is hypothesized to result in the disconfirmation of the demanding spouse’s identity (i.e., feeling misunderstood). Furthermore, the affect of the demand/withdrawal interaction pattern is predicted to be mediated by perceptions of self-confirmation. Fifty-three married couples completed questionnaires that measured the perceived quality of the marriage, the perception that they are understood (or self-verified) by their spouse, and the degree to which the demand/withdrawal pattern of communication occurs during conflicts. Results indicate that both husbands and wives feel less verified by their partner when their partner withdraws from conflict. Results also indicate that the influence of demand/withdrawal on marital satisfaction is completely mediated by self-verification for husbands and partially mediated by self-verification for wives.
Attributions of poverty among social work and non-social work students in Croatia.

AIM To investigate how students in Croatia perceive causes of poverty and to examine the differences in attributions of poverty between students of social work, economics, and agriculture. METHODS The study included 365 participants, students of social work (n=143), economics (n=137), and agriculture (n=82). We used the newly developed Attribution of Poverty Scale, consisting of 4 factors, as follows: individual causes of poverty (eg, lack of skills and capabilities, lack of effort, poor money management, alcohol abuse); micro-environmental causes (eg, poor family, region, single parenthood); structural/societal causes (eg, poor economy, consequences of political transition, war); and fatalistic causes (eg, bad luck, fate, God's will). We also used a questionnaire that measured 5 dimensions of students' personal values: humanistic values, family values, striving for self-actualization, traditional values, and hedonistic values. In both questionnaires, items were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. RESULTS Students of all three faculties put most emphasis on structural causes of poverty (mean+/-standard deviation=3.54+/-0.76 on a 1-5 scale), followed by environmental (3.18+/-0.60), individual (2.95+/-0.68), and fatalistic causes (1.81+/-0.74). Social work students perceived individual factors as significantly less important causes of poverty (ANOVA, F-value=12.55, P<0.001) than students of economics and agriculture. We found a correlation between humanistic values and perceived structural (r=0.267, P<0.001) and micro-environmental causes of poverty (r=0.185, P<0.001), and also between traditional values and structural (r=0.168, P<0.001), micro-environmental (r=0.170, P<0.001), and fatalistic causes of poverty (r=0.149, P<0.001). CONCLUSION Students see structural/societal factors, such as poor economy and political transition as main causes of poverty in Croatia. Individual factors connected with individual's personal characteristics were considered less important, while luck and fate were considered as least important. Students of social work perceived individual causes to be less important than students of agriculture and economics. Students with strong humanistic and traditional values put more emphasis on external sources of poverty.
Applicability of the Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production for Assessing Creative Potential of Hong Kong Adolescents

This study explored the applicability of the Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) in the Hong Kong Chinese cultural context. The psychometric properties of scores on the TCT-DP were examined in a sample of 2,368 Hong Kong Chinese students aged 12 to 16. The study compared the TCT-DP’s internal consistency, interrater, and test-retest reliability coefficients for the Hong Kong sample to previously reported findings for European samples. Structural, concurrent, and discriminant validity of the test scores were evaluated. Our data provided encouraging empirical evidence for the reliability and structural and discriminant validity of the TCT-DP. The psychometric properties of the test were comparable to those obtained for European samples. However, the very low stability of Humor and Unconventionality b scales is of some concern. No sex differences were observed with regard to the test scores.
Counselor Trainees' Perceptions of Clients Based on Client Sexual Orientation.

In this analog study, the authors examined how client sexual orientation, counselor trainee homophobia, and counselor trainee gender affected counselor trainees' (N = 162) assignment of positive and negative adjectives to clients. A series of multiple regression analyses revealed that client sexual orientation, counselor trainee gender, and counselor trainee homophobia significantly predicted counselor trainees' perceptions of clients. Implications for counselor training and research are discussed.
Making a difference : sustainability reporting, accountability and organisational change.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of corporate processes for developing a sustainability report, the hurdles faced by organisations and the way in which organisational change towards improved accountability occurs and can lead to changes in sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach - This research involves engagement through an action research approach involving the observation of corporate meetings, the provision of feedback on those meetings by the researchers and review of internet and hard copy sustainability reporting. Findings - The study identified a number of impediments to the development of a sustainability reporting framework and its integration into planning and decision making, as well as forces for change. These were analysed using the organisational literature, particularly Kurt Lewin's integrated model of planned change. Differences were observed between the state-owned organisation and prior studies of shareholder owned companies in their motivations for achieving sustainability and greater accountability. Practical implications - From the organisation's perspective, the study provided immediate feedback which enhanced reporting practices and the incorporation of sustainability issues into decision making. The study has the potential to improve practice in other organisations through the identification of impediments to and forces for change not considered in prior theorising. Originality/value - The action research approach contributes to knowledge and theorising in a way which could not have been achieved through interviews alone. It assisted change within the organisation in: adopting a sustainability reporting framework; integrating sustainability issues into planning and decision making; and, further embedding sustainability and accountability values. The findings in the state owned organisation contrast recent findings for shareholder-owned companies.
Principal-Agent Problems Based on Credibility Measure

Principal-agent problems exist in all walks of social life, and agency theory is an essential approach to dealing with them under incomplete information. Due to incomplete information, it is necessary for the principal to design an optimal incentive scheme to induce the agent to choose the action which is the best possible for maximizing his own utility. In order to depict the incomplete information, the approach based on probability measure was provided in the literature. However, the Ellsberg paradox indicates that probability measure is not always appropriate to describe the vagueness and ambiguity in practical agency problems. Alternatively, this paper employs a fuzzy variable to characterize incomplete information in the agent's ability and applies a method based on credibility measure to deal with optimal contracting problems. With this in mind, a class of novel fuzzy agency models is developed. Under some particular assumptions, the sufficient and necessary conditions for optimal contracts are proven by the variational method, and the proposed work is supported with some numerical examples that illustrate the validity. Finally, three comparative results are presented to demonstrate the main innovations and the contributions to agency theory made by this work.
A Review of Research on Driving Styles and Road Safety

Objective: The aim of this study was to outline a conceptual framework for understanding driving style and, on this basis, review the state-of-the-art research on driving styles in relation to road safety. Background: Previous research has indicated a relationship between the driving styles adopted by drivers and their crash involvement. However, a comprehensive literature review of driving style research is lacking. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted, including empirical, theoretical, and methodological research, on driving styles related to road safety. Results: A conceptual framework was proposed whereby driving styles are viewed in terms of driving habits established as a result of individual dispositions as well as social norms and cultural values. Moreover, a general scheme for categorizing and operationalizing driving styles was suggested. On this basis, existing literature on driving styles and indicators was reviewed. Links between driving styles and road safety were identified and individual and sociocultural factors influencing driving style were reviewed. Conclusion: Existing studies have addressed a wide variety of driving styles, and there is an acute need for a unifying conceptual framework in order to synthesize these results and make useful generalizations. There is a considerable potential for increasing road safety by means of behavior modification. Naturalistic driving observations represent particularly promising approaches to future research on driving styles. Application: Knowledge about driving styles can be applied in programs for modifying driver behavior and in the context of usage-based insurance. It may also be used as a means for driver identification and for the development of driver assistance systems.
The Scenario : Damage and Remodelling of the Microvasculature in Systemic Sclerosis

Fibrosis of the skin and of internal organs, autoimmunity, and vascular inflammation are hallmarks of Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). The injury and activation of endothelial cells, with hyperplasia of the intima and eventual obliteration of the vascular lumen, are early features of SSc. Reduced capillary blood flow coupled with deficient angiogenesis leads to chronic hypoxia and tissue ischemia, enforcing a positive feed-forward loop sustaining vascular remodelling, further exacerbated by extracellular matrix accumulation due to fibrosis. Despite numerous developments and a growing number of controlled clinical trials no treatment has been shown so far to alter SSc natural history, outlining the need of further investigation in the molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. We review some processes potentially involved in SSc vasculopathy, with attention to the possible effect of sustained vascular inflammation on the plasticity of vascular cells. Specifically we focus on mesenchymal transition, a key phenomenon in the cardiac and vascular development as well as in the remodelling of injured vessels. Recent work supports the role of transforming growth factor-beta,Wnt, and Notch signaling in these processes. Importantly, endothelial-mesenchymal transition may be reversible, possibly offering novel cues for treatment.