Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An assessment of the immunological status of patients with renal cell carcinoma based on the relative abundance of T‐helper 1‐ and ‐2 cytokine‐producing CD4+ cells in peripheral blood

Objective To assess the immunological status of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), by analysing the proportion of cluster‐of‐differentiation 4‐positive (CD4+) cells showing intracellular cytokine production, i.e. interferon‐γ derived from T‐helper (Th) 1 and interleukin‐4 derived from Th2 cells, among peripheral blood lymphocytes from these patients
Trading Volume and Price Dispersion in Housing Markets

The positive volume‐price (return) relationship has been intensively studied and confirmed in both financial and real estate markets, yet their theoretic models offered few direct empirical support. This paper puts forward a liquidity premium model which explains the volume‐price (return) relationship by the volume‐price dispersion relationship. We posit that the extent of price dispersion depends on the level of price information available in the market (measured by the volume of past comparable transactions). The model is tested empirically in two sample periods on the transactions of housing units of an estate in Hong Kong from February 1992 to September 2000 (11,267 transactions), and from May 1991 to May 2008 (18,368 transactions), respectively. The results support our theoretical prediction that the magnitude of price dispersion, as measured by the residuals of a hedonic pricing model, is negatively and significantly related with the volume of transactions in the past 10‐day and 30‐day period windows. It implies that an increase in liquidity reduces pricing error risk, which in turn reduces the required risk premium in buyers' offering price, and thus a positive volume‐price (return) relationship.
Intermodal interferometer for strain and temperature sensing fabricated in birefringent boron doped microstructured fiber.

We present a compact in-line fiber interferometric sensor fabricated in a boron doped two-mode highly birefringent microstructured fiber using a CO(2) laser. The intermodal interference arises at the fiber output due to coupling between the fundamental and the first order modes occurring at two fiber tapers distant by a few millimeters. The visibility of intermodal interference fringes is modulated by a polarimetric differential signal and varies in response to measurand changes. The proposed interferometer was tested for measurements of the strain and temperature, respectively, in the range of 20-700 °C and 0-17 mstrain. The sensitivity coefficients corresponding to fringe displacement and contrast variations are equal respectively for strain -2.51 nm/mstrain and -0.0256 1/mstrain and for temperature 16.7 pm/°C and 5.74×10(-5) 1/°C. This allows for simultaneous measurements of the two parameters by interrogation of the visibility and the displacement of interference fringes.
Treatment of children and adolescents with stage II testicular and stages I and II ovarian malignant germ cell tumors: A Pediatric Intergroup Study--Pediatric Oncology Group 9048 and Children's Cancer Group 8891.

PURPOSE To determine whether children with localized gonadal malignant germ cell tumors (MGCT) stage II testicular and stages I and II ovarian treated with four cycles of standard-dose cisplatin combined with etoposide and low-dose bleomycin (PEB) have an event-free survival (EFS) of at least 85% without significant toxicity. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between May 1990 and July 1995, eligible pediatric patients with stage II or recurrent from stage I (as a stage II) testicular MGCT and stages I and II ovarian MGCT were enrolled onto this Pediatric Oncology Group and Children's Cancer Group study. PEB chemotherapy consisted of bleomycin 15 U/m2 on day 1, cisplatin 20 mg/m2/d on days 1 to 5, and etoposide 100 mg/m2/d on days 1 to 5. Patients received four cycles of therapy at 21-day intervals. RESULTS Seventy-four patients with a median age of 10.5 years (range, 8.7 months to 16.7 years) were enrolled. Primary sites included: stage II testicular (n = 17), stage I ovarian (n = 41), and stage II ovarian MGCT (n = 16). Treatment with standard PEB resulted in 6-year EFS of 95% and overall survival (OS) of 95.7%. EFS and OS by primary site were as follows: stage II testicular, 100% and 100%; stage I ovarian, 95.1% and 95.1%; and stage II ovarian, 87.5% and 93.8%, respectively. Two patients died from recurrent disease, and one patient died of secondary acute myelocytic leukemia. Infrequent grade 3 to 4 hematologic toxicity was reported. No grade 3 to 4 renal, pulmonary, or ototoxicity was observed. CONCLUSION Combination chemotherapy with PEB results in excellent EFS and OS with minimal toxicity in children and adolescents with localized gonadal MGCT.
Productivity Trends: Capital and Labor

rFHIS paper is a summary account of pros ductivity trends since the turn of the century in the American economy, by major segments and industries. Different rates of productivity change in the various industries have significantly altered relative unit costs and prices of products, rates of output, and the distribution of resources by industry. At the national level, productivity growth has been of paramount importance in raising levels of living, in strengthening potential national security, and in the provision for future economic growth. Differences among nations in levels and rates of change in productivity are fundamental measures of comparative economic performance and play a crucial role in the competition among nations and groups of nations. The more we can learn of economic growth generally, and of productivity changes in particular, the better equipped we are to survive the competition and to enjoy continued advances in our planes of living.
Physiotherapy rehabilitation for individuals with lower limb amputation: a 15-year clinical series.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Individuals with amputations are a core group in Australian rehabilitation units that have a long index length of stay. The Repatriation General Hospital (RGH) offers general rehabilitation services to the population of Southern Adelaide (a population of 350,000) and includes an on-site prosthetic manufacturing facility. Using a physiotherapy database at the RGH, we sought to answer the following questions: What are the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients admitted for lower limb prosthetic rehabilitation over 15 years? What are the times to rehabilitation outcomes? How have these changed over 15 years with changes in service delivery? METHODS This paper is a retrospective observational study using a physiotherapy clinical database (1996-2010) of 531 consecutive individuals with lower limb amputation at one South Australian hospital (RGH). There were two changes in service delivery: 1) a multidisciplinary interim prosthetic programme (IPP) introduced in 1998 and 2) removable rigid dressings (RRDs) introduced in 2000. Outcome measures were patient demographics, clinical characteristics and time to rehabilitation outcome markers. RESULTS Mean age was 68 years (standard deviation [SD]: 15), with 69% male, 80% dysvascular and 68% transtibial. The overall median inpatient rehabilitation length of stay (RLOS) was 39 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 26-57). Individuals with amputation entering rehabilitation each year had a higher number of co-morbidities (β: 0.08; 95% confidence interval: 0.05-0.11). Introduction of the IPP was associated with a significant reduction in time to initial prosthetic casting, independent walking and inpatient RLOS. Introduction of RRDs was associated with a significant reduction in time to wound healing, initial prosthetic casting and independent walking. CONCLUSIONS Individuals with amputation were typically elderly dysvascular men with transtibial amputations. Introduction of the IPP and RRDs successfully reduced time to rehabilitation outcomes including independent walking, an outcome that is rarely reported but is of significance to patients and physiotherapists.
Finding a New Corporate Tax Base after the Abolishment of the One-Book System in EU Member States

Due to the implementation of international financial reporting standards in the European Union, member states with uniform accounting are expected to replace their current one-book system with a two-book system, which will separate tax accounting and financial accounting. This separation presents the challenge of defining a new tax base. Since a tax base is not required to provide information that helps users in economic decision making, tax accounting can be simplified compared to financial accounting. This paper discusses possible future tax bases of German companies. We develop a business model simulation based on empirical data to quantify the change in the tax burden of different industries induced by alternative tax accounting regulations. We identify a simplified tax base that avoids major shifts in the tax burden. Thus, the paper provides useful information for economists and politicians who make decisions about the new German tax accounting regulations. Moreover, this tax base and the identified drivers of sector-specific tax payments form an important basis for the discussion in other EU member states that face a comparable phase-out of one-book accounting.
Influence of endothelial nitric oxide synthase T-786C single nucleotide polymorphism on aneurysm size.

OBJECT Among patients with aneurysms, those with heterozygous (T/C) endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) T-786C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), a mutation reducing endothelial nitric oxide synthesis, are reported to have larger ruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) than those with homozygous (C/C or T/T) genotype. The authors tested patients harboring aneurysms for eNOS T-786C SNP in two populations--Japanese and Korean. METHODS The eNOS T-786C SNP was genotyped through direct sequencing in genomic DNA obtained from 336 Japanese and 191 Korean patients with lAs and 214 Japanese and 191 Korean control volunteers. Differences in genotype frequencies among the various aneurysm sizes were evaluated using the Fisher exact test. There was no significant difference in heterozygous (T/C) eNOS T-786C SNP between aneurysms 5 mm or smaller and those from 6 to 9 mm, and between lesions 5 mm or smaller and those 10 mm or larger in 336 Japanese patients harboring aneurysms--220 with ruptured and 116 with unruptured lesions--and in 191 Korean patients with ruptured aneurysms. CONCLUSION The eNOS T-786C SNP genotype does not influence the size of aneurysms.
Global and country-specific factors in real effective exchange rates

Using the Bayesian factor model, we decompose movements in real effective exchange rates, which can be considered a measure of external competitiveness, into global and country-specific factors. In data from a number of developed and developing countries, we find a particular global trend in these rates, but a substantial proportion of the variation in these rates is found to be country-specific. In addition, consistent with economic theory, this global factor is closely related to a trend in the global interest rate, while country-specific factors to idiosyncratic movements in countries’ own interest rates.
Impaired autophagy and delayed autophagic clearance of transforming growth factor β-induced protein (TGFBI) in granular corneal dystrophy type 2

Granular corneal dystrophy type 2 (GCD2) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by a progressive age-dependent extracellular accumulation of transforming growth factor β-induced protein (TGFBI). Corneal fibroblasts from GCD2 patients also have progressive degenerative features, but the mechanism underlying this degeneration remains unknown. Here we observed that TGFBI was degraded by autophagy, but not by the ubiquitin/proteasome-dependent pathway. We also found that GCD2 homozygous corneal fibroblasts displayed a greater number of fragmented mitochondria. Most notably, mutant TGFBI (mut-TGFBI) extensively colocalized with microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3β (MAP1LC3B, hereafter referred to as LC3)-enriched cytosolic vesicles and CTSD in primary cultured GCD2 corneal fibroblasts. Levels of LC3-II, a marker of autophagy activation, were significantly increased in GCD2 corneal fibroblasts. Nevertheless, levels of SQSTM1/p62 and of polyubiquitinated protein were also significantly increased in GCD2 corneal fibroblasts compared with wild-type (WT) cells. However, LC3-II levels did not differ significantly between WT and GCD2 cells, as assessed by the presence of bafilomycin A1, the fusion blocker of autophagosomes and lysosomes. Likewise, bafilomycin A1 caused a similar change in levels of SQSTM1. Thus, the increase in autophagosomes containing mut-TGFBI may be due to inefficient fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. Rapamycin, an autophagy activator, decreased mut-TGFBI, whereas inhibition of autophagy increased active caspase-3, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) and reduced the viability of GCD2 corneal fibroblasts compared with WT controls. These data suggest that defective autophagy may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of GCD2.
Option repricing, management turnover and restatement

This study examines the association between financial restatements and executive option repricings and tests whether stock option repricing reduces management turnover in restating firms. We found a positive association between financial restatement and management turnover and those financial restating firms are likely to implement option repricing when the manager’s equity compensation is large and the sensitivity of the option value is high. However, we found no evidence that executive option repricing reduces management turnover in financial restating firms. Our analysis showed that, although financial restating firms may implement option repricing to restore the option incentive effect, valuable managers often leave their jobs because of poor future prospects in restating firms. Our results, therefore, suggest that repricing of executive stock options is not an effective management retention strategy for financial restating firms but managers’ equity compensation and option value incentives are important determinants of option repricing.
Putting Strategic Human Resource Management in Context: A Contextualized Model of High Commitment Work Systems and Its Implications in China

This study contributes to strategic human resource management (HRM) research by offering a contextualized model of HRM effectiveness. Building on HR attribution theory, we propose that the high commitment work system will be more effective in a context when: (i) employees are conditioned to trust employers and (ii) regulatory institutions are less restrictive, giving management more autonomy in human resource decisions. In such contexts, we argue that employees are more inclined to view the high commitment work system as an expression of the employer's genuine concern for employees. Hence, employees are more likely to reciprocate with high commitment. We find our contextualized HRM effectiveness model particularly useful in understanding HRM – firm performance relations in China where business environments are currently under transformation on both trust and regulations.
HiPIMS Ion Energy Distribution Measurements in Reactive Mode

In this paper, mass spectrometry was used to measure the ion energy distributions of the main species during the sputtering of an aluminum target in a reactive Ar + N2 mixture. Both conventional magnetron sputtering (dc) and high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) were used. It appears that, in the HiPIMS, N+ and Al+ ions are significantly more energetic (up to 70 eV) than in the dc (<;40 eV). Furthermore, the HiPIMS Al+ signal is two orders of magnitude greater than in the dc, and time-resolved measurements indicate that most of the ion flux hits the substrate during the OFF time of the impulse sequence.
Gender Differences and Managerial Competencies

The basic competencies underlying the task of management are examined using the U S Merit Systems Protection Board's 1991 Federal First-Line Supervisors survey (based on the US. Office of Personnel Management's Management Excellence Inventory "job analysis") This paper tests whether male and female supervisors perceive the essential responsibilities of the managenal job similarly
Identifying CpG sites with different differential methylation frequencies in colorectal cancer tissues based on individualized differential methylation analysis

A big challenge to clinical diagnosis and therapy of colorectal cancer (CRC) is its extreme heterogeneity, and thus it would be of special importance if we could find common biomarkers besides subtype-specific biomarkers for CRC. Here, with DNA methylation data produced by different laboratories, we firstly revealed that the relative methylation-level orderings (RMOs) of CpG sites within colorectal normal tissues are highly stable but widely disrupted in the CRC tissues. This finding provides the basis for using the RankComp algorithm to identify differentially methylated (DM) CpG sites in every individual CRC sample through comparing the RMOs within the individual sample with the stable RMOs predetermined in normal tissues. For 75 CRC samples, RankComp detected averagely 4,062 DM CpG sites per sample and reached an average precision of 91.34% in terms that the hypermethylation or hypomethylation states of the DM CpG sites detected for each cancer sample were consistent with the observed differences between this cancer sample and its paired adjacent normal sample. Finally, we applied RankComp to identify DM CpG sites for each of the 268 CRC samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas and found 26 and 143 genes whose promoter regions included CpG sites that were hypermethylated and hypomethylated, respectively, in more than 95% of the 268 CRC samples. Individualized pathway analysis identified six pathways that were significantly enriched with DM genes in more than 90% of the CRC tissues. These universal DNA methylation biomarkers could be important diagnostic makers and therapy targets for CRC.
CEO Ownership, Leasing, and Debt Financing

In this empirical study, we examine the effect of CEO stock ownership on leasing. Although financial contracting theory suggests that ownership structure is potentially an important determinant of debt financing and leasing, its effect on leasing has not been previously explored. We also control for explanatory factors that have been found important in other leasing studies. We find that CEO ownership is positively related to companies' leasing and debt financing activity, consistent with contracting theory. This suggests that CEOs with large ownership stakes engage in more leasing to reduce their exposure to obsolescence and other asset-specific risks.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Optical Imaging for Dominant-hemisphere Perisylvian Arteriovenous Malformations

OBJECTIVE:In this study, we developed an a priori system to stratify surgical intervention of perisylvian arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in 20 patients. We stratified the patients into three categories based on preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language activation pattern and relative location of the AVM. METHODS:In Group I (minimal risk), the AVM was at least one gyrus removed from language activation, and patients subsequently underwent asleep resection. In Group II (high risk), the AVM and language activation were intimately associated. Because the risk of postoperative language deficit was high, these patients were then referred to radiosurgery. In Group III (indeterminate risk), the AVM and language were adjacent to each other. The risk of language deficit could not be predicted on the basis of the fMRI alone. These patients underwent awake craniotomy with electrocortical stimulation mapping and optical imaging of intrinsic signals for language mapping. RESULTS:All patients from Group I (minimal risk) underwent asleep resection without deficit. All Group II (high-risk) patients tolerated radiosurgery without complication. In Group III (indeterminate risk), three patients underwent successful resection, whereas two underwent aborted resection after intracranial mapping. CONCLUSION:We advocate the use of fMRI to assist in the preoperative determination of operability by asleep versus awake craniotomy versus radiosurgery referral. In addition, we advocate the use of all three functional mapping (fMRI, electrocortical stimulation mapping, and optical imaging of intrinsic signals) techniques to clarify the eloquence score of the Spetzler-Martin system before definitive treatment (anesthetized resection versus radiosurgery versus intraoperative resection versus intraoperative closure and radiosurgery referral).
Lifestyle Meets Market: Bohemian Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries

By linking lifestyle studies with creative industries research, this article opens a new perspective on creativity and innovation management. We argue that artists in the creative industries have to bridge the gap between artistic work and the economic need for self-management, and that a bohemian lifestyle essentially supports them in doing so. The bohemian lifestyle, which is characterized by a devotion to art for arts sake, is an essential source for work motivation of artists and an increasing number of other creative workers. The article draws upon an empirical study into artistic work and employment in German theatres. Enacting a bohemian lifestyle enables actors as bohemian entrepreneurs to integrate intensive self-management and self-marketing as well as subordination of private life to work into their artistic work life. Analysing the link between lifestyle and creative work is crucial for understanding the way in which creative workers become artists and, at the same time, entrepreneurs of their creative talent.
Affective Processing in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and Offspring of Bipolar Parents.

BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by biased processing of emotional information. However, little research in this area has been conducted in youth with BD and at-risk individuals. The goal of this study was to determine whether children with BD displayed comparable or more severe manifestations of this bias relative to offspring of parents with BD. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sample (n = 57 children and adolescents) included 18 individuals with BD (age: 13.63 ± 2.99; 8 females), 16 offspring of parents with BD (age: 11.83 ± 2.96; 9 females) and 23 healthy controls (HC) (age: 12.789 ± 3.087; 8 females). All participants performed the Affective Go/No-Go (AGN) and the Rapid Visual Processing (RVP) tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). RESULTS Relative to HC, individuals with BD responded faster to correct trials and committed an elevated number of commission errors across all affective conditions of the AGN task. By contrast, BD offspring showed intact performance accuracy but quicker response times than HC. Post-hoc analyses revealed that this behavioral pattern was observed in BD offspring with mental health problems but not in healthy BD offspring. Overall, mean reaction times and total number of errors in the RVP task were comparable across groups. CONCLUSIONS In line with previous findings, subjects with BD encountered difficulties in processing affective information. The tendency toward faster but accurate responses to affective stimuli observed in BD offspring may be a marker of attentional bias toward affective information and constitute a vulnerability marker for mood disorder.