Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Cancer Care Costs in a Country With Detailed Individual Data

Objective:To determine health system expenditure on cancers by time since diagnosis using data for an entire country. Methods:New Zealand cancer registry data was linked to hospitalization, pharmaceutical, outpatient, general practice, laboratory, and other datasets, with costs ascribed to each event occurring in 2006–2011. “Excess” cancer costs were estimated by subtracting “expected costs” for citizens without cancer from the “total cost” for cancer patients ($2011 inflation-adjusted). Gamma regressions were used to estimate costs per person-month. Results:For first adult cancer diagnosed that the excess cost per person was between US$3400 and US$4300 in the first month postdiagnosis (varied by sex and age), fell to US$50–US$150 per month at 2 or more years postdiagnosis (excluding those within a year of death), but increased again if dying from their cancer (US$3800–US$8300 in the last month of life). Such patterns varied by cancer, for example, in the first month postdiagnosis for 65 year olds it varied 20-fold from US$800 for prostate to US$15,900 for brain cancer.Per diagnosed case, total excess costs varied from US$8000 (melanoma) to US$98,000 (bone and connective tissue). Excess cancer costs made up 6.5% of total Vote:Health expenditure in 2010–2011, with colorectal (14.7%), breast (14.4%) being the top 2 contributors, and prostate, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, and lung each contributing about 6%. Conclusions:Costs vary substantially by time since diagnosis and cancer type. The results and regression equations reported in this paper can be used in modeling requiring cancer costs by time since diagnosis and proximity to death.
Impaction bone grafting of the acetabulum at hip revision using a mix of bone chips and a biphasic porous ceramic bone graft substitute

Background and purpose One of the greatest problems of revision hip arthroplasty is dealing with lost bone stock. Good results have been obtained with impaction grafting of allograft bone. However, there have been problems of infection, reproducibility, antigenicity, stability, availability of bone, and cost. Thus, alternatives to allograft have been sought. BoneSave is a biphasic porous ceramic specifically designed for use in impaction grafting. BoneSave is 80% tricalcium phosphate and 20% hydroxyapatite. Previous in vitro and in vivo studies have yielded good results using mixtures of allograft and BoneSave, when compared with allograft alone. This study is the first reported human clinical trial of BoneSave in impaction grafting. Methods We performed a single-institution, multi-surgeon, prospective cohort study. 43 consecutive patients underwent revision hip arthroplasty using BoneSave and allograft to restore missing bone in the acetabulum. 9 patients had cemented acetabular components implanted and 34 uncemented. 10 patients had cemented femoral components implanted and 1 had an uncemented femoral component. 32 patients did not have their femoral component revised. Results No patients were lost to follow-up. At a mean follow-up of 24 (11–48) months, there were no re-revisions and there was no implant migration. 1 acetabular component had confluent lucent lines at the implant-graft interface. Complications were rare (1 fracture, 2 dislocations). Patient satisfaction with the procedure was high. Interpretation Short-term results indicate that impaction grafting of BoneSave and allograft is an effective method of dealing with loss of bone stock at revision hip surgery.
Who drives economic reform in Vietnam's provinces? : research summary.

Vietnam keeps surprising the world with the speed and depth of its economic transformation. This research report suggests that the decentralisation of certain economic powers from central to provincial government has contributed to this success. Allowing provinces to find their own way forward was central to Vietnam's progress in institutional and economic development. Decentralisation brought about a number of inefficiencies, but these are outweighed by the gains resulting from policy experimentation at the provincial level. The main question of the report is who drives the economic reform process in the provinces, exploring the role of business and government and alliances between the two. This is a difficult undertaking because it involves dipping into sensitive issues of state-business relations and because there are enormous variations between provinces and over time. Key to the feasibility of this project was the collaboration of IDS with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). VCCI is an influential organisation with strong connections to business, government and the Communist Party. These connections are essential for access to political and business leaders and for understanding the economic reform process from private and public perspectives. Provincial government is by necessity involved in the economic reform process, but who is actually driving it? The research shows that in those provinces which are making most progress in economic reform, the private sector played an important role. Not against government but with government. There was no formal public-private coalition but the dynamic was one of proactive government seeking the input from the private sector, and the latter lobbying for and contributing to responsive and effective government. Both national and foreign enterprises played a role but small enterprises tended to be marginalised from the process. Some of the best insights come from comparing provinces and observing how different alignments of interest influenced the reform process.
The impact of industrial specialisation and diversity on innovation

This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of whether and to what extent the organisation of industrial activity influences innovative output in investigating the European regional landscape. After a review of the related literature we build a model based on firstly, different kinds of diversity measures aiming at capturing potential Jacobs externalities, secondly a production specialisation measure aiming at capturing MAR externalities and thirdly region and sector specific variables. The model is tested onto an extended sample of 153 European regions and 16 manufacturing sectors and suggests that both kinds of externalities generate knowledge spillovers and positively influence innovation. However, the influence of Jacobs externalities is more important in the context of "high density" regions as well as for sectors with high technological intensities
The effects of cold exposure of pregnant sheep on foetal plasma nutrients, hormones and birth weight

1. Five pregnant sheep, with indwelling catheters positioned for withdrawal of maternal right-atrial and foetal arterial blood, were exposed for 2 h to neutral and to cold (– 1° and wool-clipped) environmental temperatures. Acute maternal cold exposure increased the concentrations of glucose, glycerol and non-esterified fatty acids in maternal plasma and increased the concentration of glucose in foetal plasma, but not glycerol or non-esterified fatty acids. The concentration of corticosteroids in maternal piasma increased. The concent ration of corticosteroids in foetal plasma did not change but the concentration of insulin increased. 2. Thirteen pregnant sheep were housed at thermoneutrality and thirteen similar, sheep fed the same amount of food, were clipped and exposed to cold during the last 5– 6 weeks of pregnancy. Chronic maternal cold exposure increased the birth weight of both single and twin lambs. 3. It is concluded that exposure of pregnant sheep to cold can alter the partition of some nutrients between mother and foetus in favour of the foetus, and it is suggested how this may be brought about.
The Distribution of Resources and Expertise and the Implementation of Schoolwide Reform Initiatives

Using a sample of 499 teachers from 23 schools engaged in locally-designed schoolwide reform initiatives, we analyzed how well access to expertise predicted the influence of reforms on teachers' practice. We relied on longitudinal data obtained from two surveys of teachers' social networks and self-reported effects of their school's initiative on their practice. Among resources analyzed, we found that access to materials and time for collaboration per se were not predictive of teacher change, but reported access to mentors and coaches was. We also found that when teachers received help from colleagues who had already been implementing their school's initiative, they were significantly more likely to change their practice. Taken together, these two findings suggest that interactions with colleagues function as continually changing resources that help individuals interpret and apply the demands of initiatives for their own practice, helping reduce variability in reform implementation.
Chapter 26 : Human Health Effects Workgroup Report

Observational epidemiological studies of human and animal populations have the advantage of investigating the effects of environmentally relevant exposures to naturally–occurring mixtures of toxins. Health effects may be identified in the target species of concern. These studies are difficult to implement however, as monitoring of cyanobacteria toxin occurrence in ambient water is essential to document exposure status, and specific associations between exposure and effect are difficult to establish in free– living populations.
Teaching journalism in a changing Islamic nation

the structure of the government, education system and media in one of the most technologically-advanced Islamic nations, the United Arab Emirates. the huge growth in technology and media there, and discusses UAE news values relative to Western news values in the context of issues of freedom of expression. This paper questions whether it is possible to apply Western notions to the practice or the teaching of journalism in this country.
Feature group matching for appearance-based localization

Local feature matching has become a commonly used method to compare images. For mobile robots, a reliable method for comparing images can constitute a key component for localization tasks. In this paper, we address the issues of appearance-based topological and metric localization by introducing a novel group matching approach to select less but more robust features to match the current robot view with reference images. Feature group matching is based on the consideration that feature descriptors together with spatial relations are more robust than classical approaches. Our datasets, each consisting of a large number of omnidirectional images, have been acquired over different day times (different lighting conditions) both in indoor and outdoor environments. The feature group matching outperforms the SIFT in indoor localization showing better performances both in the case of topological and metric localization. In outdoor SURF remains the best feature extraction method, as reported in literature.
Titin is a Target of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2: Implications in Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Background— Titin is the largest mammalian (≈3000 to 4000 kDa) and myofilament protein that acts as a molecular spring in the cardiac sarcomere and determines systolic and diastolic function. Loss of titin in ischemic hearts has been reported, but the mechanism of titin degradation is not well understood. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is localized to the cardiac sarcomere and, on activation in ischemia/reperfusion injury, proteolyzes specific myofilament proteins. Here we determine whether titin is an intracellular substrate for MMP-2 and if its degradation during ischemia/reperfusion contributes to cardiac contractile dysfunction. Methods and Results— Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy in rat and human hearts showed discrete colocalization between MMP-2 and titin in the Z-disk region of titin and that MMP-2 is localized mainly to titin near the Z disk of the cardiac sarcomere. Both purified titin and titin in skinned cardiomyocytes were proteolyzed when incubated with MMP-2 in a concentration-dependent manner, and this was prevented by MMP inhibitors. Isolated rat hearts subjected to ischemia/reperfusion injury showed cleavage of titin in ventricular extracts by gel electrophoresis, which was confirmed by reduced titin immunostaining in tissue sections. Inhibition of MMP activity with ONO-4817 prevented ischemia/reperfusion-induced titin degradation and improved the recovery of myocardial contractile function. Titin degradation was also reduced in hearts from MMP-2 knockout mice subjected to ischemia/reperfusion in vivo compared with wild-type controls. Conclusion— MMP-2 localizes to titin at the Z-disk region of the cardiac sarcomere and contributes to titin degradation in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Novel Human Embryonic Stem Cell Regulators Identified by Conserved and Distinct CpG Island Methylation State

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) undergo epigenetic changes in vitro which may compromise function, so an epigenetic pluripotency “signature” would be invaluable for line validation. We assessed Cytosine-phosphate-Guanine Island (CGI) methylation in hESCs by genomic DNA hybridisation to a CGI array, and saw substantial variation in CGI methylation between lines. Comparison of hESC CGI methylation profiles to corresponding somatic tissue data and hESC mRNA expression profiles identified a conserved hESC-specific methylation pattern associated with expressed genes. Transcriptional repressors and activators were over-represented amongst genes whose associated CGIs were methylated or unmethylated specifically in hESCs, respectively. Knockdown of candidate transcriptional regulators (HMGA1, GLIS2, PFDN5) induced differentiation in hESCs, whereas ectopic expression in fibroblasts modulated iPSC colony formation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed interaction between the candidates and the core pluripotency transcription factor network. We thus identify novel pluripotency genes on the basis of a conserved and distinct epigenetic configuration in human stem cells.
Exploring the Impacts of Analogies on Computer Hardware

In the last few decades, analogy, which is considered as a special case for reasoning, has attracted a great deal of attention from cognitive scientists. Although analogy was rarely applied in previous decades, now it is often considered by educators and researchers as a strategy to provide creative solutions and poetic writing (Paris & Glynn, 2004). Today, teaching models through analogy are used in different fields successfully and found to be beneficial for unobservable phenomena (Trey & Khan, 2008). Moving from the findings of previous studies, this study aims to explore the effects of detailed analogies on students’ learning success in studying the working rationale and hardware components of the computer. 86 students in 1st and 2nd grades of Computer and instructional Technology Department volunteered to participate in the study. The sample was divided into two groups randomly: the control group who received the lectures without using analogies and the experimental group who were taught using detailed analogies. The data was collected through preand post-tests at the beginning and at the end of one academic term. The results of the analyses show that the students’ success was significantly higher for the group taught via detailed analogies. Considering the low number of studies conducted to identify the effects of analogies on computer sciences learning, the findings of this present study are supposed to contribute to other studies in the field.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce

This study presents an extended technology acceptance model that integrates innovation diffusion theory to investigate what determine user mobile commerce acceptance. This paper models the factors relationships such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, personal innovativeness, subjective norms, behavioral control and intention to adopt mobile commerce. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from a survey of mobile commerce consumers. Empirical data from regression analysis reflects users ease of use influence behavioral intention to adopt mobile commerce. The majority of positive relationships between perceived ease of use, subjective norms, behavioral control and intention to adopt are supported by empirical data. Results also reveal that behavioral control and subjective norms influence perceived ease of use which affects then their adoption intention. The paper concludes some important implications for the practitioners.
Effects of Lactofermented Beetroot Juice Alone or with N-nitroso-N-methylurea on Selected Metabolic Parameters, Composition of the Microbiota Adhering to the Gut Epithelium and Antioxidant Status of Rats

An objective of this work was to assess the biological activity of beetroot juice (Chrobry variety, Beta vulgaris L. ssp. vulgaris), which was lactofermented by probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus brevis 0944 and Lactobacillus paracasei 0920. The oxidative status of blood serum, kidneys, and liver of rats consuming the fermented beetroot juice were determined. The experimental rats were divided into four groups on diet type: Basal diet, basal diet supplemented with fermented beetroot juice, basal diet and N-nitroso-N-methylurea treatment, and basal diet supplemented with fermented beetroot juice and N-nitroso-N-methylurea treatment. Mutagen N-nitroso-N-methylurea, which was added to diet in order to induce aberrant oxidative and biochemical processes and disadvantageous changes in the count and metabolic activity of the gut epithelium microbiota. The nutritional in vivo study showed that supplementing the diet of the rats with the lactofermented beetroot juice reduced the level of ammonia by 17% in the group treated with N-nitroso-N-methylurea. Furthermore, the positive modulation of the gut microflora and its metabolic activity was observed in groups of rats fed with the diet supplemented with the fermented beetroot juice. A concomitant decrease in the β-glucuronidase activity was a consequence of the gut epithelium microbiota modulation. The antioxidant capacity of blood serum aqueous fraction was increased by about 69% in the group of rats treated N-nitroso-N-methylurea mixed with the fermented beetroot juice and N-nitroso-N-methylurea versus to the N-nitroso-N-methylurea treatment, whereas the antioxidant parameters of the blood serum lipid fraction, kidneys, and liver remained unchanged.
Organization Science

S trategy research typically traces stable performance differences among firms to a priori heterogeneity in initial resource endowments or in expected flows of resources. The objective of this paper is to explore how this heterogeneity is created and how it affects firm technological performance. Within the framework of an evolutionary view of technological change, we develop the notion of technological preadaptation to describe that part of a firm's prior experience that is accumulated without anticipation of subsequent uses. In particular, we hypothesize that (technological) performance differences are positively related to (1) firms' stock of relevant skills and knowledge potentially available for applications other than those for which they were originally developed and (2) the extent to which firms actually build on these skills and knowledge in new domains. The empirical setting is fiber optics technology as it evolved for use in long-distance communications between 1970 and 1995. We find that " preadapted " firms that consistently leveraged their prior experience achieved higher levels of performance than did firms that did not leverage that experience or did not have prior experience. The study illustrates the importance of preadaptation in capability development and technological competition.
A biopsychosocial perspective on parenting and developmental psychopathology

Abstract Although considerable research has examined the relations between parental behavior and a range of child developmental outcomes, much of this work has been conducted at a very broad level of behavioral analysis. A developmental psychopathology framework and recent research conducted within this framework point to the need for models of parenting and child psychopathology that offer greater specificity regarding processes that may be implicated in the effects of these relationships. In addition, recent animal work and some human work has focused more on the proximal biological and social mechanisms through which parenting affects child outcomes. Our conceptualization of parenting effects acknowledges that family and child factors are embedded in a dynamic biological and social context that is key to understanding developmental trajectories of child adjustment. In this paper, we review two areas of research that are illuminating the biological processes underlying links between parenting and child psychopathology: molecular genetics and psychophysiology. We adopt a biopsychosocial perspective on developmental psychopathology that implies that a set of hierarchically organized, but reciprocally interacting, processes, from the genetic to the environmental, provide the essential elements of both normative and nonnormative development (Gottlieb, 2007). New directions stimulated by this general approach are discussed, with an emphasis on the contextual and developmental issues and applications implied by such a perspective.
Virtual reality and augmented reality as a training tool for assembly tasks

In this paper we investigate whether virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) offer potential for the training of manual skills, such as for assembly tasks, in comparison to conventional media. We present results from experiments that compare assembly completion times for a number of different conditions. We firstly investigate completion times for a task where participants can study an engineering drawing and an assembly plan and then conduct the task. We then investigate the task under various VR conditions and context-free AR. We discuss the relative advantages and limitations of using VR and AR as training media for investigating assembly operations, and we present the results of our experimental work.