Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing patient safety culture in hospitals across countries

Objective It is believed that in order to reduce the number of adverse events, hospitals have to stimulate a more open culture and reflective attitude towards errors and patient safety. The objective is to examine similarities and differences in hospital patient safety culture in three countries: the Netherlands, the USA and Taiwan. Design This is a cross-sectional survey study across three countries. A questionnaire, the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (Hospital SOPS), was disseminated nationwide in the Netherlands, the USA and Taiwan. Setting The study was conducted in 45 hospitals in the Netherlands, 622 in the USA and 74 in Taiwan. Participants A total of 3779 professionals from the participating hospitals in the Netherlands, 196 462 from the USA and 10 146 from Taiwan participated in the study. Main Outcome Measures The main outcome measures of the study were 12 dimensions of patient safety culture, e.g. Teamwork, Organizational learning, Communication openness. Results Most hospitals in all three countries have high scores on teamwork within units. The area with a high potential for improvement in all three countries is Handoffs and transitions. Differences between countries exist on the following dimensions: Non-punitive response to error, Feedback and communication about error, Communication openness, Management support for patient safety and Organizational learning—continuous improvement. On the whole, US respondents were more positive about the safety culture in their hospitals than Dutch and Taiwanese respondents. Nevertheless, there are even larger differences between hospitals within a country. Conclusions Comparison of patient safety culture data has shown similarities and differences within and between countries. All three countries can improve areas of their patient safety culture. Countries can identify and share best practices and learn from each other.
The multiple communities of low-carbon transition: an assessment of communities involved in forest carbon measurement

In recent writing on sociotechnical transitions theory communities are mostly conceived of as being local and place-based (“grassroots”). In this paper the implications for sociotechnical transitions theory of having multiple communities operating at different geographical scales, and with different objectives, are examined through a case study of low-carbon innovation in forests. The focus of analysis is the communities promoting sociotechnical innovations in the measurement of forest carbon. Innovation is being driven by the international United Nations climate policy initiative “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation” (REDD+). The rise of REDD+ policy has prompted a flurry of activity in related scientific research, especially in the field of remote sensing. But other types of community are also actively positioning themselves as experts in forest carbon measurement: there are multiple communities at work, each with varying claims to innovation and expertise, from local (place-based) forest communities to international communities of foresters and forest ecologists. Recognition of the multiple communities operating within sociotechnical systems usefully draws our attention to the politics of innovation.
Frailty and Dialysis Initiation

Frailty is a physiologic state of increased vulnerability to stressors that results from decreased physiologic reserves or dysregulation of multiple physiologic systems. The construct of frailty has been operationalized as a composite of poor physical function, exhaustion, low physical activity, and weight loss. Several studies have now examined the prevalence of frailty among chronic kidney disease (CKD) or end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and have found frailty to be more common among individuals with CKD than among those without. Furthermore, frailty is associated with adverse outcomes among incident dialysis patients, including higher risk of hospitalization and death. Recent evidence shows that frail patients are started on dialysis earlier (at a higher estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]) on average than nonfrail patients, but it remains unclear whether these patients' frailty is a result of uremia or is independent of CKD. The survival disadvantage that has been associated with early initiation of dialysis in observational studies could be mediated in part through confounding on the basis of unmeasured frailty. However, available data do not suggest improvement in frailty upon initiation of dialysis; rather, the trajectory appears to be toward higher levels of dependence in activities of daily living (ADLs) after dialysis initiation. Overall, there are no data to suggest that frail patients derive any benefit from early initiation of dialysis either in the form of improved survival or functional status.
Young Age is not an Ominous Prognostic Factor in Breast Cancer Patients

Analysis of a series of 137 women 20–30 years of age, operated for breast carcinoma, excluding patients pregnant, lactating or with inflammatory cancer, showed that disease-free survival rates were similar and not lower than those reported for a large series of 716 breast cancer patients of all ages, treated and followed at the same Institute. Ten-year disease-free survival rates for the two series of 137 young women and 716 patients of all ages were 43.7% and 47.1% respectively. Even when considering the subgroups of patients with and without nodal axillary involvement, the corresponding figures for the two series considered were 72.6% vs. 72.1% (N−) and 25.1% vs. 24.5% (N+). It can be concluded that young age cannot be considered as an unfavorable prognostic factor.
Spliceosomal U snRNP Core Assembly: Sm Proteins Assemble onto an Sm Site RNA Nonanucleotide in a Specific and Thermodynamically Stable Manner

ABSTRACT The association of Sm proteins with U small nuclear RNA (snRNA) requires the single-stranded Sm site (PuAU4–6GPu) but also is influenced by nonconserved flanking RNA structural elements. Here we demonstrate that a nonameric Sm site RNA oligonucleotide sufficed for sequence-specific assembly of a minimal core ribonucleoprotein (RNP), which contained all seven Sm proteins. The minimal core RNP displayed several conserved biochemical features of native U snRNP core particles, including a similar morphology in electron micrographs. This minimal system allowed us to study in detail the RNA requirements for Sm protein-Sm site interactions as well as the kinetics of core RNP assembly. In addition to the uridine bases, the 2′ hydroxyl moieties were important for stable RNP formation, indicating that both the sugar backbone and the bases are intimately involved in RNA-protein interactions. Moreover, our data imply that an initial phase of core RNP assembly is mediated by a high affinity of the Sm proteins for the single-stranded uridine tract but that the presence of the conserved adenosine (PuAU…) is essential to commit the RNP particle to thermodynamic stability. Comparison of intact U4 and U5 snRNAs with the Sm site oligonucleotide in core RNP assembly revealed that the regions flanking the Sm site within the U snRNAs facilitate the kinetics of core RNP assembly by increasing the rate of Sm protein association and by decreasing the activation energy.
Ovariectomy induces osteoporosis in the maxillary alveolar bone: an in vivo micro-CT and histomorphometric analysis in rats.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether porotic changes occur in maxillary alveolar bone in ovariectomized rats. METHODS Thirty-two 6-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into an ovariectomy group (OVX) and a sham-ovariectomy group (sham). Twelve weeks after surgery, maxillae of 16 rats (eight OVX and eight sham) were analyzed by micro-CT. Inter-radicular alveolar bone of the maxillary first molar was reconstructed and analyzed. The remaining 16 maxillae were used for histochemistry, including hematoxylin-eosin staining and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase enzyme staining. RESULTS Three-dimensional reconstructed images of the irregular alveolar bone showed an intuitive view of porotic changes in the OVX group. The alveolar bone in OVX rats had a porous microarchitecture including lower bone mass and a looser structure of more widely separated trabeculae. Bone mineral density (BMD), bone volume fraction (BV/TV), and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th.) were significantly lower in the OVX group than those in the sham group (P < 0.05). Trabecular separation (Tb.Sp.) increased significantly in the OVX rats compared to the sham rats (P < 0.05). Histomorphometric analysis of alveolar bone also revealed porotic changes in the OVX rats. Bone area ratio significantly decreased in the OVX group compared with the sham group (P < 0.01). There were also more osteoclasts present in the alveolar bone of OVX rats compared to sham rats (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Ovariectomy induces osteoporosis in maxillary alveolar bone in rats, which may be related to the increased number of osteoclasts.
Managerial Trust in New Product Development Projects: Its Antecedents and Consequences

This research examines the impacts of relationship-based antecedents (e.g., procedural justice) and character-based antecedents (e.g., transactional leadership) on managerial trust in new product development (NPD) teams. The moderating impact of environmental turbulence on team performance is also investigated. Using data from 107 NPD projects in Turkey, we find that procedural justice, distributive justice, and transformational leadership are significantly related, and conflict is negatively related to managerial trust. We also find that managerial trust is significantly related to product success and team learning under both high and low environmental conditions, but it is significantly related to speed-to-market only under high-turbulent conditions. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications.
Stochastic Dominance Bounds on American Option Prices in Markets with Frictions

We derive equilibrium restrictions on the range of the transaction prices of American options on the stock market index and index futures. Trading over the lifetime of the options is accounted for, in contrast to earlier single-period results. The bounds on the reservation purchase price of American puts and the reservation write price of American calls are tight. We allow the market to be incomplete and imperfect due to the presence of proportional transaction costs in trading the underlying security and due to bid-ask spreads in option prices. The bounds may be derived for any given probability distribution of the return of the underlying security and admit price jumps and stochastic volatility. We assume that at least some of the traders maximize a time- separable utility function. The bounds are derived by applying the weak notion of stochastic dominance and are independent of a trader's particular utility function and initial portfolio position.
In vivo histological diagnosis for gastric cancer using endocytoscopy

AIM To examine usefulness of virtual biopsy using endocytoscopy by comparing the in vivo endocytoscopic and histopathological images of gastric cancers. METHODS Endocytoscopy was performed in 30 patients with early gastric cancer. Of these, 26 patients showed well differentiated adenocarcinomas, while 4 patients showed poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas (including one signet ring cell carcinoma). Cancerous and non-cancerous areas were observed after double staining with 0.05% crystal violet and 0.1% methylene blue. The endocytoscopic images obtained were evaluated by an expert endoscopist and an expert pathologist without knowledge of patient clinical data, and endocytoscopic and histopathological diagnoses were compared. RESULTS The endocytoscopic images of the cancerous area were assessed as evaluable in 25 (83.3%) and 27 (90%) patients by endoscopist A and pathologist B, respectively, and those of the non-cancerous area as evaluable in 28 (93.3%) and 23 (76.7%) patients by the endoscopist and pathologist, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of gastric cancer diagnosis using evaluable endocytoscopic images were 88.0% and 92.9%, and 90.6% by endoscopist A, and 88.9% and 91.3%, and 90.0% by pathologist B, respectively. Evaluation of the diagnostic concordance rate between the endoscopist and the pathologist by inter-observer agreement calculation revealed no significant difference between the two observers. The inter-observer agreement (κ-value) for endocytoscopic diagnosis was 0.745. CONCLUSION Endocytoscopy is useful for the differentiation of cancerous from non-cancerous gastric mucosa, making it a promising tool for virtual biopsy.
Immigration and the Access to Social Housing in the UK

This paper investigates the impact of immigration on the probability of being in social housing in the UK. In recent years immigrant households are slightly more likely than natives to be in social housing but once one controls for relevant household characteristics immigrants are significantly less likely to be in social housing than natives. However, there has been change over time – the immigrant penalty has fallen over time probably because of changes in allocation rules. Overall we find that the rising number of immigrants and the change in the allocation rules can explain about one-third of the fall in the probability of being in social housing with two-thirds being the result of the fall in the social housing stock.
A study of clinico‐pathological parameters and O6 – methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status in the prognostication of gliosarcoma

Gliosarcoma is a rare variant of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with similar clinical presentation and prognosis but a distinct genetic profile. The clinicopathological features of 22 cases of gliosarcoma were analyzed with respect to age, sex, KPS score, operative diagnosis, extent of resection and histopathological subtype (predominantly sarcomatous [PS], predominantly gliomatous [PG] or mixed). Twelve cases were PS, six were PG and four were mixed. The histological subtype did not correlate with the operative diagnosis; however, it did significantly correlate with the extent of resection (P = 0.014). In 14 cases with available survival data it was found that none of the clinicopathological parameters significantly correlated with survival (P > 0.05). Methyl guanine DNA methyl transferase promoter methylation studies were performed using methylation‐specific PCR in 16 cases which showed a methylation rate of 31.25% (5/16). The promoter methylation status did not correlate with the histological subtype and did not significantly affect survival (P > 0.05). Although gliosarcomas continue to be treated in the same way as GBM, the role of chemotherapy with temozolomide is not clear. This cohort is the largest to date to uniformly receive the Stupp's protocol which is currently “standard of care” for GBM. A median overall survival of 18.5 months is substantially higher than previous studies, suggesting that temozolomide should be included in gliosarcoma therapy.
Unusual hyperpigmentation developing in congenital reticular ichthyosiform erythroderma (ichthyosis variegata)

We present an unusual new clinical feature which developed in a patient with congenital reticular ichthyosiform erythroderma. This rare ichthyotic disorder is characterized by erythematous ichthyotic skin surrounding slowly enlarging areas of normal skin, and by a pathognomonic ultrastructural pattern, namely perinuclear deposits of a filamentous material in vacuolized keratinocytes. At the age of 18 years, a 23‐year‐old woman developed several irregular hyperpigmented macules on her limbs, which were almost black in colour. These lesions have not been observed in the other patients affected by the disease nor, to our knowledge, in other ichthyotic disorders. Electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the lesions were strictly related to the ichthyotic skin and that their dark colour was especially due to melanosome accumulation in activated dendritic melanocytes. An unusual postinflammatory hyperpigmentation, in which the lack of pigment deposition in the keratinocytes is due to a transfer defect in pathological cells, is hypothesized. A characteristic hyperplastic stimulation of the epidermis is also taken into consideration to explain the lack of a similar picture in other erythrodermic ichthyotic disorders with a continuous inflammatory process.
Common risk factors in the returns of shipping stocks

The knowledge of risk factors that determine an industry's expected stock returns is important to assess whether this industry serves as a separate asset class. This study analyses the macroeconomic risk factors that drive expected stock returns in the shipping industry and its three sectors: container, tanker, and bulker shipping. Our sample consists of the monthly returns of 48 publicly-listed shipping companies over the period from January 1999 to December 2007. We use shipping stocks together with a set of country or other industry indices to estimate the macroeconomic risk profiles and the corresponding factor risk premiums. Using a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) model to estimate factor sensitivities, we document that shipping stocks exhibit remarkably low stock market betas. We also provide evidence that a multidimensional definition of risk is necessary to capture the risk-return spectrum of shipping stocks. A one-factor model produces large pricing errors, and hence it must be rejected based on tests of the model's orthogonality conditions using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). In contrast, when the change in the trade-weighted value of the US$, the change in G-7 industrial production, and the change in the oil price are added as additional risk factors, the resulting multifactor model is able to explain the cross-section of expected stock returns. The risk-return profile of shipping stocks differs from country and other industry indices. However, the sensitivities to global systematic risk factors are similar across all three sectors of the shipping industry. Overall, our results suggest that shipping stocks have the potential to serve as a separate asset class. Our findings also have important implications for computing the cost of equity capital in the shipping industry.
On the Value Relevance of Asymmetric Financial Reporting Policies

This paper considers an overlapping generations model where investors trade in a firm's stock. Investment risk is partly determined by the volatility of the stock price at which current investors can sell their shares to the next generation of investors. It is shown that asymmetric reporting of good and bad news is value relevant as it affects the allocation of risk among future generations of shareholders.
In Short Supply: Short Sellers and Stock Returns

We examine the economic determinants of short-sale supply, and its consequences for future stock returns. Lendable supply increases with expected borrowing costs and decreases with financial statement constructs that indicate overvaluation. Although rising loan fees help ease supply constraints, we find shares are still least available when they are most attractive to short sellers. Using a number of firm characteristics, we derive useful instruments for real-time loan supply and demand conditions in the lending market. Further, we show that (1) when lendable supply is binding (non-binding), short-sale supply (demand) is the main predictor of future stock returns, (2) abnormal returns to the short-side of nine well-known market anomalies are attributable solely to “special” stocks, and (3) loan fees significantly reduce the profitability of the short side and several of these anomalies cease to be profitable. Overall our evidence highlights the central role played by the supply of lendable shares in equity price formation and returns prediction.
Households Forming Inflation Expectations: Active and Passive Absorption Rates

Recent research has established that households absorb from professional forecasters as they form their inflation expectations. Professionals forecasts are transmitted, or absorbed, throughout the population slowly but eventually. This provides the microfoundations for sticky information expectations. Using a unique survey-based dataset for the UK that distinguishes between professional and non-professional forecasts and where the former is further categorize by occupations, the present paper attempts to identify the professional forecaster. The paper also considers whether absorption rates take place heterogeneously amongst the absorbing agents. We identify active and passive absorbers amongst the agents and they are distinguished by their respective absorption rates. The present analyses also consider whether these absorption rates are non-linear.
Tyrosinase: a developmentally specific major determinant of peripheral dopamine

L‐3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine, the immediate precursor of dopamine, can be formed by two enzymes: tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in catecholamine‐producing neurons and chromaffin cells and tyrosinase in melanocytes. In this study we examined whether tyrosinase contributes to production of dopamine. Deficiency of TH caused marked reductions in norepinephrine in albino and pigmented 15‐day‐old mice. In contrast, peripheral levels of dopamine were reduced only in albino TH‐deficient mice and were higher in pigmented than in albino mice, regardless of the presence or absence of TH. We next examined age‐related changes in dopamine and cutaneous expression of tyrosinase and melanin in albino and pigmented TH wild‐type mice. We found that the differences in peripheral dopamine between pigmented and albino mice disappeared with advancing age following changes in expression and function of tyrosinase. In young animals, tyrosinase was present in epidermis but did not produce detectable melanin. With advancing age, tyrosinase was localized only around hair follicles, melanin synthesis became more pronounced, and dopamine synthesis decreased. The data reveal a previously unrecognized TH‐independent major pathway of peripheral dopamine synthesis in young, but not adult, mice. The transient nature of this source of dopamine reflects a developmental switch in tyrosinase‐dependent production of dopamine to production of melanin. —Eisenhofer, G. , Tian, H. , Holmes, C. , Matsunaga, J., Roffler‐Tarlov, S. , Hearing, V.J. Tyrosinase: a developmentally specific major determinant of peripheral dopamine. FASEB J. 17, 1248–1255 (2003)
Influence of Molecular Size and Ligninase Pretreatment on Degradation of Lignins by Xanthomonas sp. Strain 99

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the molecular size of lignin in several preparations and extent of degradation (mineralization) by Xanthomonas sp. strain 99. The influence of ligninase pretreatment was also examined. Five synthetic lignins and one 14C-methylated spruce lignin were used. The extent of mineralization to 14CO2 was greatest for the samples containing the most low-molecular-weight material, and the low-molecular-weight portions were preferentially (or perhaps solely) degraded. Pretreatment of the five synthetic lignins with crude ligninase increased their molecular size and decreased their degradability by the xanthomonad. Pretreatment of the methylated spruce lignin with crude ligninase caused both polymerization and depolymerization but resulted in a net decrease in bacterial degradability. Our results suggest that the xanthomonad can degrade lignins only up to a molecular weight of 600 to 1,000.