Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consolidation chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in stage III small-cell lung cancer following concurrent chemoradiotherapy: a retrospective study

Background Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is the standard treatment for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC). However, the efficacy of consolidation chemotherapy (CCT) in LD-SCLC remains controversial despite several studies that were performed in the early years of CCT use. The aim of this study was to reevaluate the effectiveness and toxicities associated with CCT. Methods This retrospective analysis evaluated 177 patients with stage IIIA and IIIB small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) who underwent CCRT from January 2001 to December 2013 at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed using Kaplan–Meier methods. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analyze patient prognosis factors. Results Among the 177 patients, 72 (41%) received CCT and 105 (59%) did not receive CCT. PFS was significantly better for patients in the CCT group compared to that for patients in the non-CCT group (median PFS: 17.0 vs 12.9 months, respectively, P=0.031), whereas the differences in OS were not statistically significant (median OS: 31.6 vs 24.8 months, respectively, P=0.118). The 3- and 5-year OS rates were 33.3% and 20.8% for patients in the CCT group and 27.6% and 6.7% for patients in the non-CCT group, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that having a pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen level <5 ng/mL (P=0.035), having undergone prophylactic cranial irradiation (P<0.001), and having received CCT (P=0.002) could serve as favorable independent prognostic factors for PFS. Multivariate analysis for OS also showed that having undergone PCI (P<0.001) and having received CCT (P=0.006) were independent significant prognostic factors. Conclusion CCT can improve PFS for patients with stage IIIA and IIIB SCLC following CCRT without significantly increasing treatment-related toxicities.
On doctors, mechanics and computer specialists

Our washing machine breaks down, or when our car starts to make strange noises. And for most of us commissioning an expert to solve the problem causes concern. This concern does not disappear even after repair and payment of the bill. On the contrary, one worries about paying for a service that was not provided, or receiving some unnecessary treatment. This article studies the economics underlying these worries. Under which conditions do experts have an incentive to exploit the informational problems associated with markets for diagnosis and treatment? What types of fraud exist? What are the methods and institutions for dealing with these informational problems? Under which conditions does the market provide incentives to deter fraudulent behavior? And what happens if all or some of those conditions are violate.
Evaluating the hedging performance of the constant-correlation GARCH model

This paper compares the performances of the hedge ratios estimated from the OLS (ordinary least squares) method and the constant-correlation VGARCH (vector generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity) model. These methods are evaluated based on the out-of-sample optimal hedge ratio forecasts. A systematic comparison is provided by examining ten spot and futures markets covering currency futures, commodity futures and stock index futures. Using a recently proposed test (Tse, 2000) for the constant-correlation assumption, it is found that the assumption cannot be rejected for eight of the ten series. To gain the maximum benefit of a time-varying hedging strategy the estimation data is kept up-to-date for the re-estimation of the hedge ratios. Both the constant hedge ratio (using OLS) and the timevarying hedge ratio (using constant-correlation VGARCH) are re-estimated on a day-by-day rollover, and the post-sample variances of the hedged portfolios are examined. It is found that the OLS hedge ratio performs better than the VGARCH hedge ratio. This result may be another indication that the forecasts generated by the VGARCH models are too variable.
Effect of Problem Based Learning Model on Mathematical Learning Outcomes of 6th Grade Students of Elementary School Accredited B in Kendari City

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of problem-based learning models towards the mathematics learning outcomes of 6th-grade students of an Elementary School accredited B in Kendari City. This study is quantitative experimental research. The population in this were all 6th-grade students of an Elementary School accredited B in Kendari City. The technique of determining the sample was done by cluster random sampling. Data analysis used is descriptive statistics and inferential statistics where the hypothesis test used is the t-test. The results showed the effect of problem-based learning models better than direct instruction and problem-based learning model positive effect on mathematics learning outcomes of 6th-grade students of an Elementary School Accredited B in Kendari City.
Natural and man-made V-gene repertoires for antibody discovery

Antibodies are the fastest-growing segment of the biologics market. The success of antibody-based drugs resides in their exquisite specificity, high potency, stability, solubility, safety, and relatively inexpensive manufacturing process in comparison with other biologics. We outline here the structural studies and fundamental principles that define how antibodies interact with diverse targets. We also describe the antibody repertoires and affinity maturation mechanisms of humans, mice, and chickens, plus the use of novel single-domain antibodies in camelids and sharks. These species all utilize diverse evolutionary solutions to generate specific and high affinity antibodies and illustrate the plasticity of natural antibody repertoires. In addition, we discuss the multiple variations of man-made antibody repertoires designed and validated in the last two decades, which have served as tools to explore how the size, diversity, and composition of a repertoire impact the antibody discovery process.
Downsizing Price Increases: A Greater Sensitivity to Price than Quantity in Consumer Markets

As the cost of goods increase, manufacturers routinely pass these costs on to consumers through higher prices. A less obvious strategy is to maintain price, but to reduce the size of the product. In many ways, this downsizing should mirror a straight price increase when it comes to consumer behavior. Marketplace and experimental data show this is not the case and that consumers are more sensitive to changes in price than to changes in quantity.
Optimal Incentive Contracts When Agents Can Save, Borrow, and Default☆

The standard Principal-Agent (PA) model assumes that the principal can control the agent's consumption profile. In an intertemporal setting, however, Rogerson (1985a) shows that given the optimal PA contract, the agent has an unmet precautionary demand for savings. Thus the standard PA model is invalid if the agent has access to credit markets. In this paper we generalize the standard PA model to allow for saving and borrowing by the agent. We show that the impact of such access critically depends upon the treatment of default. If default is notpermitted, efficiency is strictly reduced by the introduction of credit markets, and the equilibrium level of borrowing or saving is indeterminate in the model. If default is allowed, however, the optimal contract depends upon the level of bankruptcy protection in the economy, which is described by a minimum level of wage income. We show that there is an optimal intermediate range of bankruptcy protection. Within this range, allowing default increases efficiency in the economy relative to the case of no default. Also, the model predicts specific levels of consumer debt, interest and default rates as function of the level of bankruptcy protection level.
The Evolution of Rest-Frame K-Band Properties of Early-Type Galaxies from z = 1 to the Present

We measure the evolution of the rest-frame K-band fundamental plane from z = 1 to the present by using IRAC imaging of a sample of early-type galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field-South at z ~ 1 with accurately measured dynamical masses. We find that M/LK evolves as Δ ln(M/LK) = (-1.18 ± 0.10)z, which is slower than in the B band [Δ ln(M/LB) = (-1.46 ± 0.09)z]. In the B band, the evolution has been demonstrated to be strongly mass-dependent. In the K band, we find a weaker trend: galaxies more massive than M = 2 × 1011 M☉ evolve as Δ ln(M/LK) = (-1.01 ± 0.16)z; less massive galaxies evolve as Δ ln(M/LK) = (-1.27 ± 0.11)z. As expected from stellar population models, the evolution in M/LK is slower than the evolution in M/LB. However, when we make a quantitative comparison, we find that the single-burst Bruzual-Charlot models do not fit the results well, unless large dust opacities are allowed at z = 1. Models with a flat IMF fit better; Maraston models with a different treatment of AGB stars fit best. These results show that the interpretation of rest-frame near-IR photometry is severely hampered by model uncertainties and therefore that the determination of galaxy masses from rest-frame near-IR photometry may be harder than was thought before.
Salt Tolerant and Sensitive Rice Varieties Display Differential Methylome Flexibility under Salt Stress

DNA methylation has been referred as an important player in plant genomic responses to environmental stresses but correlations between the methylome plasticity and specific traits of interest are still far from being understood. In this study, we inspected global DNA methylation levels in salt tolerant and sensitive rice varieties upon salt stress imposition. Global DNA methylation was quantified using the 5-methylcytosine (5mC) antibody and an ELISA-based technique, which is an affordable and quite pioneer assay in plants, and in situ imaging of methylation sites in interphase nuclei of tissue sections. Variations of global DNA methylation levels in response to salt stress were tissue- and genotype-dependent. We show a connection between a higher ability of DNA methylation adjustment levels and salt stress tolerance. The salt-tolerant rice variety Pokkali was remarkable in its ability to quickly relax DNA methylation in response to salt stress. In spite of the same tendency for reduction of global methylation under salinity, in the salt-sensitive rice variety IR29 such reduction was not statistically supported. In ‘Pokkali’, the salt stress-induced demethylation may be linked to active demethylation due to increased expression of DNA demethylases under salt stress. In ‘IR29’, the induction of both DNA demethylases and methyltransferases may explain the lower plasticity of DNA methylation. We further show that mutations for epigenetic regulators affected specific phenotypic parameters related to salinity tolerance, such as the root length and biomass. This work emphasizes the role of differential methylome flexibility between salt tolerant and salt sensitive rice varieties as an important player in salt stress tolerance, reinforcing the need to better understand the connection between epigenetic networks and plant responses to environmental stresses.
What determines the FDI mode of entry ?

We examine the determinants of the mode of entry of multinational rms into the foreign economy using a novel rm-level dataset on German outbound FDI. Further, we allow the rm to select its investment mode (M&A vs. Green eld investment) and its ownership mode (wholly-owned vs. partially-owned) simultaneously. We avoid the assumption of the independence of irrelevant alternatives by employing a simulated maximum likelihood estimator of a probit model. We nd that as e¢ ciency increases the rm is less likely to choose any mode of entry relative to a wholly-owned Green eld a¢ liate. Firms with a high experience with host economy tend to select Green eld entries to M&A entries regardless of the ownership structure. A high level of Corruption and a long distance from Germany both reduce the probability of M&A as a mode of entry. Keywords : mode of entry, multinational rms, mergers and acquisitions, simulated likelihood, ownership structure, corruption JEL Code : F 200, F 230 The authors are grateful to Beatrix Stejskal-Passler, Alexander Lipponer and the research centre of Deutsche Bundesbank for the kind support and hospitality. The authors thank Heinz Herrmann and Alfons Weichenrieder for helpful comments. The usual disclaimer applies.
The Successive Nature of City Parks: Making and Remaking Unequal access over Time

This study examines the historical establishment and shifting residential access to city parks over time. It begins by engaging and extending a theory of urbanization as socioenvironmental succession. It then assembles and analyzes longitudinal data on city park creation and neighborhood change in Houston from 1947 to 2015. Results reveal how socially privileged residents have long enjoyed unequal access to city parks as well as strong influence over where new ones are established. At the same time, growing minority populations have managed to gain more equitable access not by having new parks come to them so much as by moving into neighborhoods where Whites once lived. These dynamics obscure past processes and patterns of inequality while allowing newer, unexpected ones to emerge. We conclude with a discussion of what these findings imply for understanding not just unequal access to city parks but broader processes of urbanization.
High and Low Contrast Visual Acuity Are Not Affected in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The afferent visual system may be affected by neuro-degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) based on observations of visual function impairment and retinal inclusions on histopathology in ALS patients. To test the hypothesis that visual acuity is impaired in ALS, we compared three measures of visual acuity in ALS patients (n = 25) attending a multidisciplinary ALS clinic and age matched control subjects (n = 25). Bilateral monocular and binocular visual acuities were assessed using high contrast (black letters on white background) and low contrast (2.5%, 1.25% grey letters on white background) visual acuity charts under controlled lighting conditions following refraction. Binocular summation was calculated as the difference between binocular and best monocular acuity scores. There were no associations between binocular or monocular high contrast visual acuity or low contrast visual acuity and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis (generalized estimating equation models accounting for age). Binocular summation was similar in both amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and control subjects. There was a small magnitude association between increased duration of ALS symptoms and reduced 1.25% low contrast visual acuity. This study does not confirm prior observations of impaired visual acuity in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and does not support this particular measure of visual function for use in broad scale assessment of visual pathway involvement in ALS patients.
Organic Food Perception: Fad, or Healthy and Environmentally Friendly? A Case on Romanian Consumers

The main purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ perceptions of organic food and examine whether organic food products are perceived in the North-West Region of Romania as offering health and environmental benefits or as simply another sine qua non condition to be integrated into the luxurious yuppie lifestyle. The inspiration for our study came from witnessing the stereotypical image of organic food consumers as “stylish, trendy, fancy consumers” in the last three to five years. Scientific evidence on the perceptions of organic food is based on a probabilistic survey. The results indicate an environmental consciousness of organic food consumers in North-Western Region of Romania in terms of organic food: a high percentage of consumers believe that organic food is healthier than conventional food (87%) and that it contributes to environmental protection more than conventional food (75%). A statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed between people with higher education and those without higher education concerning the following beliefs: belief that most people consume organic products because they are in fashion, and belief that organic food contributes to environmental protection.
Contributions of Voltage-Gated Ca2+ Channels in the Proximal versus Distal Dendrites to Synaptic Integration in Prefrontal Cortical Neurons

The electrogenesis of synaptically activated dendritic Ca2+-mediated potentials, which may contribute to synaptic signal integration in pyramidal cells, was examined in rat layers V–VI prefrontal cortical (PFC) neurons in vitro. Intrasomatically recorded suprathreshold synaptic responses evoked by stimulation of the distal dendrites were attenuated by focal Cd2+ application to the proximal apical dendritic stem (100–200 μm from soma), but not to the apical dendritic tuft (>500 μm from soma). With use of intracellular QX-314 and Cs+ to block Na+ and K+ currents, intrasomatic recordings revealed that the Cd2+-induced attenuation of synaptic responses was attributable to the blockade of a dendritic Ca2+-mediated “hump” potential and high-threshold Ca2+ spike activated by NMDA EPSPs. The hump potential was not blocked by bath application of Ni2+ (100 μm) but was blocked by focal application of Cd2+ to the proximal but not distal apical dendrites, suggesting that it was generated by Ca2+ channels located in the proximal dendrites. Direct patch-clamp recordings made from the distal apical tuft of layers V–VI PFC neurons revealed that layers I–II synaptic stimulation or intradendritic depolarizing current pulses evoked tetrodotoxin- and QX-314-sensitive Na+ spikes. Unlike in the stem of the apical dendrite, Ca2+spikes were not easily evoked in the distal apical tuft when Na+ channels were blocked. When triggered, the Cd2+-sensitive Ca2+ spikes in the dendritic tuft were nonregenerative and had very high activation thresholds (approximately +10 mV). These results suggested that the high voltage-activated Ca2+ potentials that amplify distal EPSPs are primarily generated in the proximal stem of the apical dendrite and not within the fine dendritic branches of the apical tuft of layers V–VI PFC neurons.
Coalition-Stable Equilibria in Repeated Games

It is well-known that subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium does not eliminate incentives for joint-deviations or renegotiations. This paper presents a systematic framework for studying non-cooperative games with group incentives, and offers a notion of equilibrium that refines the Nash theory in a natural way and answers to most questions raised in the renegotiation-proof and coalition-proof literature. Intuitively, I require that an equilibrium should not prescribe in any subgame a course of action that some coalition of players would jointly wish to deviate, given the restriction that every deviation must itself be self-enforcing and hence invulnerable to further self-enforcing deviations. The main result of this paper is that much of the strategic complexity introduced by joint-deviations and renegotiations is redundant, and in infinitely-repeated games with discounting every equilibrium outcome can be supported by a stationary set of optimal penal codes as in Abreu (1988). In addition, I prove existence of equilibrium both in stage games and in repeated games, and provide an iterative procedure for computing the unique equilibrium-payoff set
Autonomic Neural Control of the Cerebral Vasculature: Acute Hypotension

Background and Purpose— The effect of antihypertensive drugs on autonomic neural control of the cerebral circulation remains unclear. This study was designed to compare middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity responses to acute hypotension with and without &agr;1-adrenoreceptor blockade (Prazosin) in young, healthy humans. Methods— Acute hypotension was induced nonpharmacologically in 6 healthy subjects (mean±SE; 28±2 years) by releasing bilateral thigh cuffs after 9 minutes of suprasystolic resting ischemia before and after an oral dose of Prazosin (1 mg/20 kg body weight). Results— Prazosin had no effect on thigh cuff release-induced reductions in mean arterial pressure and middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity. However, Prazosin attenuated the amount of peripheral vasoconstriction through the arterial baroreflex as evidenced by a slower return of mean arterial pressure to baseline (P=0.03). Immediately after cuff release, cerebral vascular conductance index increased through cerebral autoregulation and returned to resting values as a result of an increased perfusion pressure mediated through arterial baroreflex mechanisms. The rate of regulation, an index of cerebral autoregulation, was attenuated with Prazosin (control versus Prazosin; rate of regulation=0.204±0.020 versus 0.006±0.053/s, P=0.037). In addition, as mean arterial pressure was returning to resting values, the rate of change in cerebral vascular conductance index was decreased with Prazosin (0.005±0.006/s) compared with control (0.025±0.005/s; P=0.010). Conclusions— These data suggest that during recovery from acute hypotension, decreases in cerebral vascular conductance index were mediated by increases in arterial blood pressure and sympathetically mediated cerebral vasoconstriction.
Probabilistic radio-frequency fingerprinting and localization on the run

Indoor localization is a key enabler for pervasive computing and network optimization. Wireless local area network (WLAN) positioning systems typically rely on fingerprints of received signal strength (RSS) measures from access points. In this paper, we review approaches for modeling full distributions of Wi-Fi signals, including Bayesian graphical models, smoothing, compressive sensing, and random field differentiation and concentrate on the Kullback-Leibler divergence metric that compares multivariate RSS distributions. We provide theoretical insights on the required spatial density of fingerprints and on the number of samples necessary, during tracking or during signal map building, to differentiate among signal distributions and to provide accurate location estimates. We validate our methods on contrasting datasets where we obtain state-of-the-art localization results. Finally, we exploit datasets collected by a self-localizing mobile robot that continuously records Wi-Fi along with ground truth position, where we define increasingly denser fingerprint grids and study asymptotic localization accuracy. ® 2014 Alcatel-Lucent.