Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urinary expression of novel tissue markers of kidney injury after ureteroscopy, shockwave lithotripsy, and in normal healthy controls.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) and ureteroscopy (URS) are minimally invasive treatment alternatives for kidney stones. Although less invasive, SWL subjects the renal parenchyma to a high level of energy and the potential to cause renal injury. The ability to detect renal injury post-SWL in a reliable and noninvasive way would be clinically beneficial. Kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) are two proteins secreted by the kidney into the urine and have been found to be sensitive markers of acute kidney injury in transplant patients. The aim of this work was to measure urinary levels of KIM-1 and NAG in patients with kidney stone who were treated by SWL or URS and in nonstone volunteers. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with kidney stones who were treated by SWL (n = 50) or URS (n = 10) were recruited. Voided urine samples were collected before and 2 to 3 hours after URS and SWL. In addition, further urinary specimens were collected 2 days and 2 weeks post-SWL treatment. Voided urine samples from healthy volunteers were also collected. RESULTS Mean KIM-1 values were increased in patients with kidney stones when compared with volunteers. KIM-1 and NAG levels significantly increased post-SWL and returned to baseline within 2 weeks post-SWL. Poor kidney function was significantly associated with increased biomarker activity both in baseline and post-SWL measurements. There was no significant change in urinary KIM-1 and NAG concentrations before and after URS. CONCLUSIONS Kim-1 and NAG levels significantly increased post-SWL treatment suggesting a potential role for these urinary markers in identifying patients at higher risk of tissue injury.
New Measures of Monetary Policy Surprises and Jumps in Interest Rates

We propose new surprise measures to characterise two important dimensions of monetary policy. Our measures outperform the traditional monetary shocks in explaining variation of interest rates in the event-study framework. We also study the extent to which the ECB caused jumps in euro area interest rates. The new surprises still prevail upon the traditional ones. Jumps play a great role in the variation of interest rates and the ECB induced several jumps with its decisions, but its predictability has improved over time. We find that, although the surprise measures become somewhat distorted due to money market tensions during the financial turmoil, our model still provides an interesting insight into interest rate behaviour throughout the crisis.
EXPLORING MULTIFRAME LEADERSHIP IN PROMOTING EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN INDONESIA

Effective school leadership is one of significant key to implementing reform policies. In addition, effective leadership in schools depends largely on the ability of the leaders to develop and engage in complex thinking, and the ability to use multiple frames of reference to analyze and solve problems. This paper aims to consider a new approach which is multiframe leadership to address the issue of school leadership in Indonesia. This study used the "multiframe" (structural, human resource, political, and symbolic) organizational theory of Bolman and Deal (2003) to examine aspects of leadership, organizational and management. This paper details definitions and concepts of multiframe leadership, possibilities to implementation, and the implications of this new leadership reform toward the school leader, teachers, and educational policies in Indonesia. The review of literature led this paper to four main findings. First, the structural frame emphasized goals, specialized roles and formal relationships. Problems and performance gaps arise from structural deficiencies and can be improved through restructuring. Second, the challenge for human resource frame is to tailor organizations to the people, and particularly to find ways for these individuals to "buy in" to what they are charged to do. Third, from the political perspective, different interests complete for power and scarce resources and conditions emerge around special interests and also change as issues in the organization change. It is not practical to view each member as a person only interested in doing their work or playing their structured role. Every member is a part of a vast coalition made of various and conflicting interests. To manage in this environment, a leader must identify the alliances and agendas of every constituent, and they must protect their own positions as leaders by maintaining a sizeable alliance on their side. And, fourth, the symbolic frame sees an organization as cultures motivated by rituals, ceremonies, heroes and myths rather than by rules, policies and managerial authority. This study demonstrates how the multiframe thinking can be used to provide a meaningful guidance and valuable insight for school leaders to analyze, manage and lead the school effectively. In conclusion, by viewing an organization through the structural, human resources, political and symbolic frames, school leaders are better able to avoid and solve unforeseen problems. Keywords: Multiframe Leadership, School Principals, School Leadership
Denighting: Enhancement of nighttime images for a surveillance camera

Nighttime images of a scene from a surveillance camera have lower contrast and higher noise than their corresponding daytime images of the same scene due to low illumination. Denighting is an image enhancement method for improving nighttime images, so that they are closer to those that would have been taken during daytime. The method exploits the fact that background images of the same scene have been captured all day long with a much higher quality. We present several results of the enhancement of low quality nighttime images using denighting.
Defense factors in clam extrapallial fluids

The extrapallial fluid of clams is located between the external epithelium of the mantle and the Inner face of the shell. The pallial line separates the fluid into central and peripheral extrapallial fluids (CEF and PEF, respectively). These fluids are the sites of biomineralization, but th(,ir role in other biological processes, such as defense, remains unknown. A comparative study of some characteristics of the cellular and humoral fractions of the extrapallial fluids and hemolymph of the Manila clam Ruditapesphilippinarum was carried out. Both CEF and PEF contained abundant hemocytes cornparable to those found in hemolymph. Total and viable hemocyte counts were high especially In the CEF. Extrapallial fluid cell lysate and supernatant showed significant bacteriolytic (lysozyme-like) activity. The CEF was found to be bacteriologically sterile. This sterility may result from the presence in the CEF of significant defense factors in the form of numerous macrophage-like cells and high lysozyme activity. These findings are of interest in the case of bivalves susceptible to shell diseases such as R. philippinarum, which is suscept~ble to a bacterial disease caused by Vibrio tapetis.
The J-curve effect and US agricultural and industrial trade

This paper examines the J-curve hypothesis for US agricultural and manufactured goods, using the Shiller lag model. The results support the J-curve effect for agricultural goods, but not for manufactured goods. These findings explain why many studies in the literature fail to support the J-curve phenomenon. There are two explanations for these findings: (1) the aggregation bias of data that combine both agricultural and manufactured goods and (2) the country under study is often an industrial nation like the US or Japan with a high proportion of manufactured goods in both exports and imports.
Effect of iodine intake on thyroid diseases in China.

BACKGROUND Iodine is an essential component of thyroid hormones; either low or high intake may lead to thyroid disease. We observed an increase in the prevalence of overt hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, and autoimmune thyroiditis with increasing iodine intake in China in cohorts from three regions with different levels of iodine intake: mildly deficient (median urinary iodine excretion, 84 microg per liter), more than adequate (median, 243 microg per liter), and excessive (median, 651 microg per liter). Participants enrolled in a baseline study in 1999, and during the five-year follow-up through 2004, we examined the effect of regional differences in iodine intake on the incidence of thyroid disease. METHODS Of the 3761 unselected subjects who were enrolled at baseline, 3018 (80.2 percent) participated in this follow-up study. Levels of thyroid hormones and thyroid autoantibodies in serum, and iodine in urine, were measured and B-mode ultrasonography of the thyroid was performed at baseline and follow-up. RESULTS Among subjects with mildly deficient iodine intake, those with more than adequate intake, and those with excessive intake, the cumulative incidence of overt hypothyroidism was 0.2 percent, 0.5 percent, and 0.3 percent, respectively; that of subclinical hypothyroidism, 0.2 percent, 2.6 percent, and 2.9 percent, respectively; and that of autoimmune thyroiditis, 0.2 percent, 1.0 percent, and 1.3 percent, respectively. Among subjects with euthyroidism and antithyroid antibodies at baseline, the five-year incidence of elevated serum thyrotropin levels was greater among those with more than adequate or excessive iodine intake than among those with mildly deficient iodine intake. A baseline serum thyrotropin level of 1.0 to 1.9 mIU per liter was associated with the lowest subsequent incidence of abnormal thyroid function. CONCLUSIONS More than adequate or excessive iodine intake may lead to hypothyroidism and autoimmune thyroiditis.
Postoperative neurological deterioration in pediatric moyamoya disease: watershed shift and hyperperfusion.

OBJECT Young patients with moyamoya disease frequently exhibit extensive cerebral infarction at the time of initial presentation, and even in the early postoperative period. To investigate clinical characteristics in the early postoperative period, the authors prospectively analyzed findings of MR imaging, MR angiography, and SPECT before and after surgery. The authors focused in particular on how postoperative neurological deterioration occurred. METHODS Between August 2005 and June 2009, 22 patients younger than 18 years of age with moyamoya disease were treated at Miyagi Children's Hospital. The mean patient age (+/- SD) was 8.58 +/- 4.55 years (range 2-17 years). Superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery bypass and indirect bypass of encephalosynangiosis between the brain surface and the temporal muscle, galea, and dura mater were performed in 35 hemispheres. Magnetic resonance imaging and MR angiography were performed before surgery, at 7 days postoperatively, and 3-6 months after surgery. A (123)I-isopropyl iodoamphetamine SPECT scan was also obtained pre- and postoperatively. RESULTS During the postoperative period, neurological deterioration was observed after 15 operations (10 cases of motor paresis, 1 of aphasia, and 4 of sensory disturbance) in 13 patients. All symptoms had resolved by the time of discharge, except in 2 patients who suffered cerebral infarction. All patients exhibited disappearance (94.3%) or reduction (5.7%) of transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) during the follow-up period. Perioperative studies revealed 2 different types of radiological findings, focal uptake decrease on SPECT indicative of cerebral ischemia due to dynamic change in cerebral hemodynamics caused by bypass flow, the so-called watershed shift, and perioperative edematous lesions on MR imaging due to cerebral hyperperfusion. The frequent occurrence of preoperative TIAs was significantly associated with watershed shift, whereas preoperative MR imaging findings and preoperative SPECT findings were not. Age at operation was the only factor significantly associated with postoperative hyperperfusion. CONCLUSIONS In young patients, moyamoya disease exhibits rapid progression, resulting in poor clinical outcome. The risk of postoperative neurological deterioration in very young moyamoya patients with frequent TIAs should be noted. The findings in this study showed that direct bypass is not completely safe in patients with moyamoya disease because it causes dynamic change in postoperative cerebral hemodynamics.
Retirement Behaviour in OECD Countries

This paper examines the impact of old-age pension systems and other social transfer programmes on the retirement decision of older males in OECD countries. For each of the 55-59, 60-64 and 65+ age groups, a new panel dataset of retirement incentives embedded in those schemes is constructed, focusing mainly on the implicit tax rate on continued work. These currently differ widely across OECD countries: they are high in most Continental European Countries, compared with Japan, Korea, English-speaking and Nordic countries. Simple cross-country correlations and panel data econometric estimates both show that implicit taxes on continued work have sizeable effects on the departure of older male workers from the labour force .
Low Birth Weight: A Risk Factor for Development of Diabetic Nephropathy?

It has been demonstrated that intrauterine growth retardation, defined as birth weight below the 10th percentile, gives rise to a reduction in nephron number. Oligonephropathy has been suggested to increase the risk for systemic and glomerular hypertension in adult life as well as enhance risk for expression of renal disease after exposure to potentially injurious renal stimuli. The aimof this study was to determine if low birth weight is a risk factor for development of diabetic nephropathy. In a case-control study, we investigated 184 (110 men) insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients with diabetic nephropathy (persistent albuminuria >300 mg/24 h)(age [mean ± SD] 41.0 ± 9.3 years, duration of diabetes 26.9 ± 8.2 years) and 182 (111 men) normoalbuminuric (<30 mg/24 h) IDDM patients (age 42.1 ± 9.8 years, duration of diabetes 25.8 ± 8.6 years). Information about weight at birth was obtained from the midwife's original registrations. In women below the 10th percentile in birth weight (≤2,700 g, n = 16), 75% had nephropathycompared with only 35% among patients whose birth weights were above the 90th percentile (≥4,000 g, n = 17) (P = 0.05). In men below the 10th percentile in birth weight (≤ 2,910 g, n = 22), the prevalence of patients with nephropathy (50%) was similar to the prevalence among patients above the 90th percentile in birth weight (≥4,200 g, n = 24) (54%). Weights at birth (means ± SD) were similar in patients with and without diabetic nephropathy: men, 3,548 ± 554 and 3,555 ± 493 g; women, 3,265 ± 621 and 3,373 ± 577 g, respectively. Adult height was significantly correlated with weight at birth (r = 0.18, P = 0.008 for men; r = 0.28, P < 0.001 for women). Men with diabetic nephropathy were significantly shorter than men with normoalbuminuria (176.9 ± 7.1 vs. 179.4 ± 6.5 cm, P < 0.01). In conclusion, our study supports the hypothesis that genetic predispositionor factors operating in utero or early childhood or both contribute to the development of diabeticnephropathy.
Relative Bioavailability and Antioxidant Potential of Two Coenzyme Q10 Preparations

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is synthesized by the human body and found in certain foods. Daily supplementation of CoQ10 could protect against heart disease but the bioavailability of CoQ10 supplements depends on the formulation taken. We compared the bioavailability and antioxidant properties of two commercial CoQ10 formulations, a commercial grade CoQ10 powder (commercial grade CoQ) and a new BT-CoQ10 BIO-TRANSFORMED® (BT-CoQ10) obtained by fermentation of a soy-based, CoQ10-rich media with baker’s yeast. Eleven healthy individuals participated in a randomized two-way crossover trial, with a 3-week washout period. Capsules containing 300 mg of either BT-CoQ10 or commercial grade CoQ10 were given daily for 1 week and multiple blood samples were taken for CoQ10, glutathione and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) determination. In 3 subjects, baseline plasma CoQ10 levels were lower prior to BT than prior to commercial grade CoQ treatment. In the remaining participants, ingestion of BT vs. commercial grade CoQ significantly increased maximum plasma CoQ10 concentration (+126%, p = 0.04) and tended to increase CoQ10 area under the curve from 0 to 24 h (+160%, p = 0.07). One week of treatment with each formulation increased plasma CoQ10 but did not alter plasma glutathione or GPx activity. The enhanced bioavailability of the BT product might be due to its predominantly reduced, hydrophilic membrane-complex form.
Developing Communication Skills of EFL Teacher Trainees

Higher Education Council of Turkey has added a one term course named as “Effective Communication Skills” to the curriculum since 2006 in Foreign Language Education Departments because of the crucial importance of communication in the information society. In order to test the effectiveness of this course, a research project was developed by looking at the pre-and post course interviews conducted with first year teacher trainees about communication skills compared with the fourth year students’ ideas who did not take the course. This paper describes both the significance of effective communication skills and the benefits of the course for developing teacher trainees’ effective communication skills. The implementations and suggestions for teacher education has also been discussed.
Awareness and Perception of Epidural Labor Analgesia Amongst Parturient in South Eastern Nigeria

This study was carried out to assess the awareness, perceptions, acceptance, and the level of utilization of epidural analgesia in relation to other methods of labor pain relief among prospective parturient attending the ante-natal clinic in south eastern Nigeria. Women attending the ante-natal clinic were interviewed using interviewer administered questionnaires containing both open and closed questions, to evaluate their awareness, perceptions, acceptance and level of utilization of labor analgesia in general and epidural analgesia in particular. Data were analysed using SPSS Statistics Version 21.0. The study included 150 women with mean age of 29.63±5.02. Most of the respondents (94.7%) had at least secondary school education. More than half the respondents (62.7%) knew about labor analgesia and 38.7% knew about epidural labor analgesia. Source of knowledge to vast majority (75.6%) were doctors and nurses. Majority of the multiparous respondents (81.27%) had moderate or severe pain in the previous confinement and only 53% had pain relieve. Of those who had pain relieve, two third hard breathing exercises while 4.8% had epidural analgesia. Majority of the respondents (72.7%) would want to have labor analgesia, and 53.3% desired epidural in their next delivery. There is poor level of awareness and utilization of epidural labor analgesia by women attending an antenatal clinic in south eastern Nigeria.
The Structure of the Product Space and the Evolution of Comparative Advantage

This paper establishes a robust stylized fact: changes in the revealed comparative advantage of nations are governed by the pattern of relatedness of products at the global level. As countries change their export mix, there is a strong tendency to move towards related goods rather than to goods that are farther away. The pattern of relatedness of products is only very partially explained by similarity in broad factor or technological intensities, suggesting that the relevant determinants are much more product-specific. Moreover, the pattern of relatedness of products exhibits very strong heterogeneity: there are parts of this ‘product space’ that are dense while others are sparse. This implies that countries that are specialized in a dense part of the product space have an easier time at changing their revealed comparative advantage than countries that are specialized in more disconnected products.
IMF Programs and the Risk of a Coup d’état

Leaders use the distribution of economic rents to maintain the political support of regime elites. When countries join International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs, they are often required to implement a variety of free market-inspired reforms—such as privatization, reductions in government spending, and the restructuring of financial institutions—as a condition for receiving program funds. These types of reforms can diminish a leader’s capacity to redistribute wealth, which ultimately increases the risk of a coup. More specifically, when a leader begins the implementation of an IMF arrangement, the leader’s action provides public information about the leader’s weakened ability to redistribute wealth in the future. Thus, the act of implementing an IMF program provides each individual elite with information about his or her expected value of rents in the future, and this information gives elites who stand to be harmed by a reform an incentive to launch a coup.
Brachial plexus Anesthesia with Verapamil and or Morphine

UNLABELLED Calcium channel blockers potentiate the analgesic properties of both local anesthetics and opioids. We examined the analgesic effects of administering morphine, verapamil, or its combination into the brachial plexus sheath with lidocaine in 75 patients undergoing upper extremity orthopedic surgery. All patients received brachial plexus anesthesia with 40 mL of 1.5% lidocaine and epinephrine 5 microg/mL. In addition, patients were randomized to 1 of 5 groups: Group 1 received IV saline; Group 2 received IV verapamil 2.5 mg and morphine 5 mg; Group 3 received IV verapamil 2.5 mg and morphine 5 mg was added to the lidocaine solution; Group 4 received IV morphine 5 mg and verapamil 2.5 mg was added to the lidocaine solution; and Group 5 received verapamil 2.5 mg and morphine 5 mg were added to the lidocaine solution. Postoperatively, patients rated their pain (0-10) at 1, 6, 12, and 24 h. Patients were instructed to take 1 acetaminophen 325 mg/oxycodone 5 mg tablet every 3 h whenever the pain score exceeded 3. Analgesic duration was significantly increased in those patients receiving brachial plexus blocks with morphine (Groups 3 and 5) (P < 0.005). The total 24 h acetaminophen/oxycodone use was also less in Groups 3 and 5 (P < 0. 03). Duration of anesthesia (time of abolition of pinprick response) was significantly increased in those patients receiving brachial plexus blocks with verapamil (Groups 4 and 5) (P = 0.002). We conclude that the addition of verapamil to brachial plexus block with lidocaine can prolong the duration of sensory anesthesia, but it had no effect on analgesic duration of 24 h analgesic use. IMPLICATIONS The addition of verapamil to brachial plexus block with lidocaine and morphine prolongs the duration of sensory anesthesia, but has no effect on analgesic duration or 24 h analgesic use.
International competition, income distribution and economic growth

This paper shows that the neo-Keynesian case for wage-led growth does not generally hold in an open economy model. Wage increases cause a loss of competitiveness that reduces the trade balance. If the economy is relatively open to trade and price elasticities satisfy certain restrictions, the worsening of the trade balance more than outweighs the increase in workers' consumption, thus reducing the growth rate. The main theoretical innovation is a flexible markup pricing rule that allows changes in unit labor costs and exchange rates to affect profit margins. Implications for international relations and class conflict are discussed. Copyright 1989 by Oxford University Press.