Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual Somatostatin Receptor/FDG PET/CT Imaging in Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumours: Proposal for a Novel Grading Scheme with Prognostic Significance

Background: PET scans using FDG and somatostatin receptor imaging agents have both been used to study neuroendocrine tumours. Most reports have documented the sensitivity and specificity of each radiopharmaceutical independently, and even suggested the superiority of one over the other for different grades of disease. Aim: The aim of this work was to develop a grading scheme that describes the joint results of both the FDG and somatostatin receptor imaging PET scans in staging subjects with neuroendocrine tumours in a single combined parameter. The grading scheme that has been developed is referred to as the NETPET grade. Methods: This is a retrospective study which assessed subjects who had both FDG and somatostatin receptor PET imaging at our institution within 31 days of each other. The NETPET grade was assigned by experienced nuclear medicine physicians and compared with other clinical data such as WHO grade and overall survival. Results: In the period 2011-2015 we were able to recruit 62 subjects with histologically proven metastatic neuroendocrine tumour for review. The NETPET grade incorporating both the FDG and somatostatin receptor imaging results was significantly correlated with overall survival by univariate analysis (p=0.0018), whereas in this cohort the WHO grade at the time of diagnosis did not correlate with survival. Conclusions: The NETPET grade has promise as a prognostic imaging biomarker in neuroendocrine tumours. It permits the capturing of the complexity of dual radiotracer imaging in a single parameter which describes the subjects' disease and is readily amenable to use in patient management and further research.
Perceived Health Contributes to the Attractiveness of Facial Symmetry, Averageness, and Sexual Dimorphism

Symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism (femininity in female faces, masculinity in male faces) are attractive in faces. Many have suggested that preferences for these traits may be adaptations for identifying healthy mates. If they are, then the traits should be honest indicators of health and their attractiveness should result from their healthy appearance. Much research has focused on whether these traits honestly signal health. Here we focused on whether the appeal of these traits results from their healthy appearance. Specifically, we tested whether the attractiveness of symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism is reduced or eliminated when perceived health is controlled, in two large samples of Western faces and a large sample of Japanese faces. The appeal of symmetric faces was largely due to their healthy appearance, with most associations between symmetry and attractiveness eliminated when perceived health was controlled. A healthy appearance also contributed to the appeal of averageness and femininity in female faces and masculinity in male faces, although it did not fully explain their appeal. These results show that perceptions of attractiveness are sensitive to a healthy appearance, and are consistent with the hypothesis that preferences may be adaptations for mate choice.
Meditation and marijuana.

Using a questionnaire survey, the authors sought to discover the effect of meditation on their subjects' use of marijuana. While only' 15 percent of a nonmeditating control group had decreased or stopped their use of marijuana during the preceding three months, among the meditators proportions ranging from half to three-quartens (depending on the length of time since their initiation) had decreased or stopped their use during the first three months after initiation into meditation. The authors found that the longer a person had practiced meditation, the more likely it was that he had decreased or stopped his use of marijuana.
Right ventricular pressure waveform and wave reflection analysis in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

BACKGROUND Cardiac index is an important determinant of outcome in patients with idiopathic pulmonary artery hypertension (IPAH). An implantable hemodynamic monitor (IHM) [Chronicle; Medtronic; Minneapolis, MN; a system limited to investigational use only] that records right ventricular (RV) pressure waveforms continuously may increase our understanding of IPAH and improve therapeutic selections and outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the RV pressure waveform utilizing an IHM can be used to estimate the magnitude of pressure wave reflection and cardiac index in patients with IPAH in acute settings. METHODS In eight patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, RV pressure waveforms were recorded utilizing the IHM, and breath-by-breath cardiac index was recorded during acute IV epoprostenol infusion at 3, 6 and 9 ng/kg/min. Late systolic pressure augmentation and cardiac index were estimated using the RV pressure waveforms and correlated with direct measurement of cardiac index. RESULTS At baseline, the cardiac index was 2.1 +/- 0.2 L/min/m(2), total pulmonary resistance index was 38 +/- 2 Wood U/m(2), and RV systolic pressure was 92 +/- 4 mm Hg. Wave reflection accounted for 29 +/- 1 mm Hg of the RV systolic pressure. During epoprostenol infusion, total pulmonary resistance index and wave reflection decreased (- 15 +/- 4 Wood U/m(2), p < 0.001, and - 5 +/- 2 mm Hg, p < 0.05, respectively). The breath-by-breath cardiac index correlated with the RV pressure waveform cardiac index estimates (r(2) = 0.95). CONCLUSIONS RV pressure waveform analysis provides continuous hemodynamic assessments including cardiac index in acute settings. Once confirmed in long-term settings, this information may prove useful in optimizing a treatment regimen in patients with IPAH.
Combination of Pancuronium and Metocurine: Neuromuscular and Hemodynamic Advantages over Pancuronium Alone

Combination of pancuronium and metocurine or pancuronium and d-tubocurarine produces potentiation of neuromuscular blocking effects such that administration of relatively small doses of these drugs can yield clinically effective neuromuscular blockade. The clinical characteristics of the block produced in A. S. A. class I-II patients during N2O-narcotic-thiopental anesthesia by the pancuronium-metocurine combination at the calculated ED95 (N = 8) and at twice the ED95 (N = 9) were compared with the block produced by pancuronium alone at its ED95 (N = 20) and at twice the ED95 (N = 6). Onset time (from drug injection to 95% twitch suppression) and the maximum twitch depression achieved were comparable between corresponding groups, but the 25% recovery time (from drug injection to 25% recovery of twitch height) was significantly shorter in the groups that received the pancuronium-metocurine combination. Furthermore, at twice the ED95, heart rate increased significantly more in the pancuronium group than in the pancuronium-metocurine combination group. Mean systemic blood pressure did not change significantly in either group. We conclude that patients given a combination of pancuronium and metocurine in large doses experience less hemodynamic change and more rapid recovery of neuromuscular function than do patients given equivalent doses of pancuronium alone.
Unfolding the Proactive Process for Creativity

The authors integrate the employee proactivity, information exchange, and psychological safety perspectives to develop a model of individual creativity. Proactive employees prepare themselves with resources in anticipation of effecting changes. The authors propose that proactive employees seek informational resources through exchanging with others in the workplace. Information exchange, in turn, fosters the development of trust relationships that provide psychological safety for creative endeavors. The authors collected time-lagged data from a sample of 190 matched employee–manager pairs in a specialty retail chain. The results showed that proactive employees engaged in more information exchange and, by so doing, built stronger trust relationships with supervisors and colleagues. These trust relationships, in turn, increased employee creativity. The relationship between information exchange and employee creativity was fully mediated by trust. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for creativity theory and research.
Relationship between Communication Satisfaction and Organizational Identification: An Empirical Study

The purpose of this study was to take a preliminary look at the relationship between communication satisfaction and organizational identification. Communication Satisfaction refers to the degree of satisfaction of tin employee with the organization's total communication and Organizational Identification is one of the forms of an individual's attachment to an organization that has been recognized as having important implications for organizational effectiveness. Data was collected using an adapted version of the Down's, (1990) Communication Audit Questionnaire (CAQ) and the six-item Organizational Identification Scale developed by Ashforth (1992). The results were analysed with correlation analysis for studying the relationships between the employee's overall communication satisfaction, the various dimensions of communication satisfaction and organizational identification. It was found that the communication satisfaction composite and its dimensions have significant positive relationships with organizational identification. The limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Low- and high-frequency variability as a function of spectral properties in the bright X-ray binary GX 5-1

ABSTRA C T We report on a detailed analysis of data obtained over nearly four years with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer of the Z source GX 5 ‐ 1. From a spectral analysis using a hardness ‐intensity diagram it was found that the source traced out the typical Z-shaped pattern. The study of the power spectral properties showed that when the source moved on the horizontal branch towards the normal branch the fractional rms amplitudes and time-scales of all variability decreased, while their FWHMs increased. The frequency separation of the two kHz QPO peaks decreased from 344 ^ 12 to 232 ^ 13 Hz, while the frequency of the lower and upper kHz QPO increased from 172 ^ 10 to 608 ^ 6 Hz and from 516 ^ 10 to 840 ^ 12 Hz, respectively. At low frequencies, besides the horizontal branch oscillation (HBO) and its second harmonic, two additional broad Lorentzian components were needed to obtain acceptable fits. These broad Lorentzians have Q-values of , 1 ‐2 and frequencies 0.5 and 1.5 times the HBO frequency. When interpreted as being related to the HBO, they seem to favour disc models for the HBO over the magnetic beat-frequency model. The frequency of the normal branch oscillations changed slightly and non-monotonically, while on the normal branch between , 6 Hz at both ends and 5:25 ^ 0:05 Hz near the middle of the branch. It evolved into a flat-topped noise component on the flaring branch. We compared the timing properties of the some of the Z sources. We also compare the timing properties and colour ‐ colour diagrams (CDs) of GX 5 ‐1 with those of the back hole candidate XTE J1550 ‐ 564 and the atoll source 4U 1608 ‐ 52. The CDs are strikingly similar when a colour scheme commonly employed in back hole studies is used. However, this may be a degeneracy as the CDs turn out to be more complicated when colours common in neutron star studies are employed. Apart from some remarkable similarities between the CD of XTE J1550 ‐ 564 and that of 4U 1608 ‐ 52, several differences can be seen between these CDs and that of GX 5 ‐1. Conclusions on spectral states or properties based solely on the use of CDs using the ‘black hole scheme’ should be regarded with caution.
Community Choice between Volunteer and Professional Fire Departments

This article presents an economic model for community choice between volunteer and professional fire protection services. Using data from the Indiana State Fire Marshal and the 1991 U.S. census, regression techniques were used to estimate the share of county population served by volunteer fire protection from variables measuring community demands for fire protection and relative costs of volunteer and professional departments. The results provide evidence that professional departments are cost-effective at high levels of fire protection and volunteer departments are cost-effective at low levels of fire protection. Per capita income, population density, education, property value, percentage of renters, farm receipts, and the percentage of commuters were found to be significant determinants of fire protection choice.
2012 Hokyu Hwang walter w . Powell Decoupling revisited : Common pressures , divergent strategies in the U

As the members of an organizational field adopt similar practices, considerable variation in enactment can ensue. Field-level theories, however, do not yet explain how and why organizations vary in their use of standard practices. To tackle this issue, we focus on the infiltration of managerial practices into a sector traditionally motivated by norms of charity, using data drawn from a random sample of 200 nonprofit organizations. We first carry out an inductive content analysis of interviews with executive directors (eDs) about their use of strategic planning, which reveals three main rationales for adoption— associational, managerial, and opportunistic—and two outcomes—symbolic adoption and symbolic implementation. we then use Qualitative Comparative analysis (QCa) to consider which combinations of organizational attributes and rationales are associated with the outcomes of decoupling or routinization. our study shows creative yet patterned possibilities in the uses of a standard practice, with both adoption and implementation taking on symbolic meaning. The findings afford a deeper understanding of how multiple forms of decoupling can be used to understand micro-processes of variation, extending research on divergent outcomes of field-wide isomorphic pressures.
Dual-chamber pacing or ventricular backup pacing in patients with an implantable defibrillator: the Dual Chamber and VVI Implantable Defibrillator (DAVID) Trial.

CONTEXT Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy with backup ventricular pacing increases survival in patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Most currently implanted ICD devices provide dual-chamber pacing therapy. The most common comorbid cause for mortality in this population is congestive heart failure. OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of dual-chamber pacing compared with backup ventricular pacing in patients with standard indications for ICD implantation but without indications for antibradycardia pacing. DESIGN The Dual Chamber and VVI Implantable Defibrillator (DAVID) Trial, a single-blind, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A total of 506 patients with indications for ICD therapy were enrolled between October 2000 and September 2002 at 37 US centers. All patients had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 40% or less, no indication for antibradycardia pacemaker therapy, and no persistent atrial arrhythmias. INTERVENTIONS All patients had an ICD with dual-chamber, rate-responsive pacing capability implanted. Patients were randomly assigned to have the ICDs programmed to ventricular backup pacing at 40/min (VVI-40; n = 256) or dual-chamber rate-responsive pacing at 70/min (DDDR-70; n = 250). Maximal tolerated medical therapy for left ventricular dysfunction, including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers, was prescribed to all patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Composite end point of time to death or first hospitalization for congestive heart failure. RESULTS One-year survival free of the composite end point was 83.9% for patients treated with VVI-40 compared with 73.3% for patients treated with DDDR-70 (relative hazard, 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-2.44). The components of the composite end point, mortality of 6.5% for VVI-40 vs 10.1% for DDDR-70 (relative hazard, 1.61; 95% CI, 0.84-3.09) and hospitalization for congestive heart failure of 13.3% for VVI-40 vs 22.6% for DDDR-70 (relative hazard, 1.54; 95% CI, 0.97-2.46), also trended in favor of VVI-40 programming. CONCLUSION For patients with standard indications for ICD therapy, no indication for cardiac pacing, and an LVEF of 40% or less, dual-chamber pacing offers no clinical advantage over ventricular backup pacing and may be detrimental by increasing the combined end point of death or hospitalization for heart failure.
Kernel Estimator and Bandwidth Selection for Density and its Derivatives The kedd Package Version 1 . 0 . 3 by Arsalane

The kedd package providing additional smoothing techniques to the R statistical system. Although various packages on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) provide functions useful to nonparametric statistics, kedd aims to serve as a central location for more specifically of a nonparametric functions and data sets. The current feature set of the package can be split in four main categories: compute the convolutions and derivatives of a kernel function, compute the kernel estimators for a density of probability and its derivatives, computing the bandwidth selectors with different methods, displaying the kernel estimators and selection functions of the bandwidth. Moreover, the package follows the general R philosophy of working with model objects. This means that instead of merely returning, say, a kernel estimator of rth derivative of a density, many functions will return an object containing, it's functions are S3 classes (S3method). The object can then be manipulated at one's will using various extraction, summary or plotting functions. Whenever possible, we develop a graphical user interface of the various functions of a coherent whole, to facilitate the use of this package.
Causal relationship of Helicobacter pylori with iron-deficiency anemia or failure of iron supplementation in children.

BACKGROUND & AIMS We investigated Helicobacter pylori (H pylori)-infection as a cause of iron deficiency (ID) and iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) or treatment failure of iron supplementation. METHODS We randomized 200 Hp-infected children (positive urea breath test) 2-5 years of age with IDA (hemoglobin level <110 g/L; serum ferritin level <12 microg/L; and soluble transferrin receptor >8.3 mg/L) or ID (serum ferritin level <12 microg/L or soluble transferrin receptor level >8.3 mg/L) to 1 of 4 regimens: 2-week anti-Hp therapy (amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and omeprazole) plus 90-day oral ferrous sulfate (anti-Hp plus iron), 2-week anti-Hp therapy alone, 90-day oral iron alone, or placebo. Sixty noninfected children with IDA received iron treatment as negative control. RESULTS Hp-infected children receiving iron had significantly less frequent treatment failure compared with those with no iron in correcting IDA (11% [95% confidence interval (CI), 2%-20%] for anti-Hp plus iron, 0% for iron alone vs 33% [95% CI, 26%-46%] for anti-Hp and 45% [95% CI, 31%-59%] for placebo; chi(2) = 127; P < . 0001), ID (19% [95% CI, 8%-30%] for anti-Hp plus iron, 7% [95% CI, 0%-14%] for iron alone vs 65% [95% CI, 52%-78%] for anti-Hp alone, and 78% [95% CI, 66%-90%] for placebo; chi(2) = 124; P < . 0001), or anemia (34% [95% CI, 20%-40%] for anti-Hp plus iron, 27% [95% CI, 14%-40%] for iron alone vs 65% [95% CI, 52%-78%] for anti-Hp alone and 78% [95% CI, 66%-90%] for placebo; chi(2) = 46; P < . 0001). Cure rates of IDA, ID, or anemia with iron were comparable with that of the negative control group. Improvements in iron status also were significantly greater in groups with iron. CONCLUSIONS H pylori is neither a cause of IDA/ID nor a reason for treatment failure of iron supplementation in young Bangladeshi children.
The Role of Philanthropic Foundations in the Reproduction and Production of Hegemony: Rockefeller Foundations and the Social Sciences

The substantive focus is upon the relation between Rockefeller philanthropy and the development of the social sciences during the period, 1910 to 1940. Two major propositions are examined. First, that philanthropic foundations attempt to maintain the social order rather than alter it. Specifically, that during the period under study philanthropic foundations were key institutions in both the reproduction and production of cultural hegemony. Second, that a “critical-conflict” perspective has most value when one is attempting to understand the nature and sources of change in the systematic production of both knowledge and intellectuals. Attention is focussed upon the process by which Rockefeller policy for the social sciences emerged. The policy is described and analysed. The ideological viewpoint of Rockefeller philanthropy as identified in the policy-making process is located in the wider political economy. Confirmation is provided for the two propositions. Hegemony, ideology and social class are essential concepts when one is attempting to understand and explain the role of philanthropy in capitalist societies.
Paraeducator Relationships with Parents of Students with Significant Disabilities

This study examined the relationships between parents of students with significant disabilities and paraeducators who supported the students in inclusive educational settings to gain an understanding from several perspectives on the role paraeducator—parent relationships played in education of students with significant support needs. The study included the perspectives of parents, paraeducators, and teachers of students with significant support needs. We conducted in-depth interviews with 17 participants; 16 of them represented three program sites for students with significant support needs in the same district, and 1 was the district coordinator of programs for students with significant support needs. Results revealed five types of relationships between parents and paraeducators: close and personal friendship, routine limited interactions, routine extended interactions, tense relationship, and minimal relationship. Results indicated that it is important for paraeducators and parents to communicate because paraeducators spend more time with the students and gain insight into their academic and social behaviors. However, for paraeducator—parent relationships to be beneficial in the students' education, they must remain within the limits and boundaries established by the teacher.