Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unexpected premalignant gynecological lesions in women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy for utero-vaginal prolapse

Aim of the study Aim of the study was to estimate the incidence of unexpected premalignant gynecological lesions in women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy for utero-vaginal prolapse. Material and methods Eighty women with asymptomatic utero-vaginal prolapse were included in this prospective study for vaginal hysterectomy after preoperative preparation and after written informed consent. Women included in this study were screened preoperatively by high vaginal swab, Pap smear, endometrial biopsy and trans-vaginal ultrasound. Surgically removed uteri and ovaries were sent for histopathological examination. Results of histopathological examination as gold standard were compared with conventional gynecological screening methods. Results Histopathological examination of surgically removed uteri and ovaries after vaginal hysterectomy for uterovaginal prolapse showed abnormal findings in 61.25% (49/80) of studied cases (10 chronic cervicitis; 20 cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia-1 [CIN-1]; 5 CIN-2; 2 CIN-3; 10 simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia and 2 simple serous ovarian cyst). Also, histopathological examination showed premalignant changes in 33.75% (27/80) of studied cases (20 CIN-1; 5 CIN-2 and 2 CIN-3), which mean 50% sensitivity of pre-operative Pap smear to detect premalignant cervical changes. Conclusions Asymptomatic women with utero-vaginal prolapse may have associated premalignant lesions which may not be detected by conventional screening methods, and this should be explained preoperatively for women undergoing surgery, especially if conservative management was considered.
Evolution of the star formation histories of BLAST galaxies

We have measured star formation histories (SFHs) and stellar masses of galaxies detected by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (BLAST) over ∼9 deg2 centred on the Chandra Deep Field-South. We have applied the recently developed SFH reconstruction method of Dye et al. to optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared photometry of 92 BLAST galaxies. We find significant differences between the SFHs of low-mass (≲1011 M⊙) and high-mass (≳1011 M⊙) systems. On average, low-mass systems exhibit a dominant late burst of star formation which creates a large fraction of their stellar mass. Conversely, high-mass systems tend to have a significant amount of stellar mass that formed much earlier. We also find that the high-mass SFHs evolve more strongly than the low-mass SFHs. These findings are consistent with the phenomenon of downsizing observed in optically selected samples of galaxies.
First clinical experiences with a novel endoscopic over-the-scope clip system

Abstract We describe our experience with a new over-the-scope clip (OTSC) system (Padlock Clip™) in the treatment of 14 patients. Eight of the 14 patients were treated for closure of gastrointestinal fistulas (n = 4), iatrogenic gastrointestinal perforations (n = 2), or hemostasis of post-polypectomy bleeding (n = 2). The site of clipping was the lower gastrointestinal tract in five patients and the upper gastrointestinal tract in three patients. The clip was successfully delivered in seven out of the eight patients and clinical success was achieved in all patients. Endoscopic full thickness resection (EFTR) was performed to treat six patients: four with recurrent adenoma (n = 4), one with ulcerated nodules at ileorectal anastomosis, and one with a neuro-endocrine tumor of the rectum. A complete intestinal wall resection was achieved in three of the six patients (50 %) and an R0 resection in five of the six patients (83.3 %). No complications related to the procedure and no recurrence at endoscopic follow-up were observed in any patient. The novel Padlock Clip seems to be an effective and safe tool to treat gastrointestinal fistulas, perforations or post-polypectomy bleeding, and to perform EFTR.
Education management and leadership : a South African perspective

Education leadership and management have changed dramatically since 1994 with the changes in legislation governing schools. The new policies involve the learners, educators and parents to a larger extent in terms of managing schools. This text looks at these changes and the practical implications of the policies. It explores management skills such as communication, understanding systems, planning, and accountability. It gives detailed explanations of the new management systems by looking at different aspects of each piece of legislation as well as the way in which it relates to the numerous role-players involved in managing a school. This book has the advantage of taking into account all aspects of managing the whole school environment in a very practical manner.
Survey of CTX-M Gene Frequency in Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae Isolates Using the Combination Disk and PCR Methods in Ahvaz, Iran

Background A common mechanism of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics is the production of beta-lactamase by Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, nonderivative extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) from the TEM and SHV enzymes, such as CTX-M, that were related to different geographical regions have been recognized. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of the CTX-M gene in ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates in hospitalized patients in the teaching hospitals of Ahvaz, Iran. Methods Enterobacteriaceae isolates from clinical specimens (other than stool), such as wounds, blood, urine, trachea, discharge, and abscess, were collected and examined. All the isolates were identified using standard biochemical tests. The combination test was carried out based on CLSI criteria for the phenotypic detection of ESBL-producing isolates. After DNA extraction, the CTX-M and CTX-M-1 genes were amplified using PCR among phenotypically positive ESBL isolates. Results Among 240 Enterobacteriaceae isolates, Escherichia coli and Enterobacter were the most common isolates with 171 (71.3%) and 65 (27.1%), respectively. The combination test results also showed that 108 (45%) Enterobacteriaceae isolates were phenotypic ESBL producers, but 104 (96%) isolates were positive for the blaCTX-M gene and 99 (92%) were positive for the blaCTX-M-1 gene according to the PCR method. Conclusions The results of this study phenotypically and genotypically confirmed the high frequency of ESBL-producing strains, such as the CTX-M and CTX-M-1 genes, among Enterobacteriaceae isolates in our region. Therefore, use of antibiotic susceptibility testing for the detection of ESBL isolates prior to the prescription of beta-lactam antibiotics is recommended. This could help prevent the spread of bacteria strains that are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics.
A SURVEY ON CERTAIN PATTERN PROBLEMS

The paper contains all the definitions and notations needed to understand the results concerning the field dealing with occurrences of patterns in permutations and words. Also, this paper includes a historical overview on the results obtained in this subject. The authors tried to collect all the currently existing references to the papers directly related to the subject. Moreover, a number of basic approaches to study the pattern problems are discussed. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 05A05, 05A15; Secondary 30B70, 42C05
Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction

Context. A new reduction of the astrometric data as produced by the Hipparcos mission has been published, claiming accuracies for nearly all stars brighter than magnitude Hp = 8 to be better, by up to a factor 4, than in the original catalog ue. Aims. The new Hipparcos astrometric catalogue is checked for the quality of the data and the consistency of the formal errors as well as the possible presence of error correlations. The differences with the earlier publication are explained. Methods. The internal errors are followed through the reduction proc ess, and the external errors are investigated on the basis of a comparison with radio observations of a small selection of stars, and the distribution of negative parallaxes. Error co rrelation levels are investigated and the reduction by more than a factor 10 as obtained in the new catalogue is explained. Results. The formal errors on the parallaxes for the new catalogue are confirmed. The presence of a small amount of additional noise , though unlikely, cannot be ruled out. Conclusions. The new reduction of the Hipparcos astrometric data provides an improvement by a factor 2.2 in the total weight compared to the catalogue published in 1997, and provides much improved data for a wide range of studies on stellar luminosities and local galactic kinematics.
Does Public Spending Crowd Out Private Investment? Evidence from a Panel of 14 OECD Countries

This paper is concerned with the empirical relationship between government spending and private investment. A panel of 14 OECD countries is used. We present evidence which suggests the existence of a significant crowding-in effect of private investment by public investment, through the positive impact of infrastructure on private investment productivity. Moreover, government consumption appears to crowd out private investment. The implications of these results are of foremost importance when it comes to fiscal consolidation. Deficit reductions engineered through cuts in public investment could severely impinge upon private capital accumulation and growth prospects.
Through the looking glass : controversy, scandal and political careers

This work measures whether MPs are held individually accountable for their actions through a novel analysis of the 1997 and 2010 UK general elections. Previous research suggests that MPs’ behaviour has little effect on their careers; however, developments in the media’s aggressive reporting style, the rise of personality politics and decline in traditional voting patterns indicate that this is an opportune time to examine the effect of political controversies (including scandals) on MPs’ careers. This analysis focuses on three crucial stages that form a chain of accountability: (1) exposure: the media publicises the controversy and a perception is formed; (2) internal sanction: an MP retires before an election; (3) electoral sanction: voters punish MPs at the polls. Data on MP-specific controversies between the 1992 and 1997 and the 2005 and 2010 elections was sourced from The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and their respective Sunday editions. This work also contains an original analysis of the 2009–2010 MP expenses scandal that utilises British Election Study panel survey data to examine how information on MP malfeasance affects voters’ perceptions of MPs. The findings indicate that political controversy is linked to whether an MP retires, with those MPs from the governing party driving the result in both the 1997 and 2010 elections. Overall, voters do not hold MPs responsible for their actions at the polls. Analysis of the expenses scandal supports these general findings: constituent perceptions of their MPs’ expenses behaviour respond to public information, but do not translate into election results. Internal sanction is shown to be the most powerful form of political accountability in the chain. While identifying any individual MP accountability is novel, the overall results are in line with traditional analyses of the strength of party politics, and indicate the importance of electoral system design for accountability.
Retrospective Study Investigating the Seroprevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Manitoba, Canada: 2011–2014

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis is currently not nationally notifiable in Canada. This for the most part accounts for gross under-estimation of true incidence and prevalence of HGA and would potentially culminate in clinical missed opportunities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the seroprevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in a Canadian jurisdiction with known established black-legged tick populations.
Effect of Palm Oil Bio-Based Plasticizer on the Morphological, Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

Abstract: Flexible poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was fabricated using a palm oil-based alkyd as aco-plasticizer to di-octyl phthalate (DOP) and di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP). The effects of theincorporation of the palm oil-based alkyd on morphological, thermal and mechanical propertiesof PVC compounds were studied. Results showed the incorporation of the alkyd enhanced themechanical and thermal properties of the PVC compounds. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) results showed that the polar –OH and –C=O groups of alkyd have good interaction withthe –C–Cl group in PVC via polar interaction. The morphological results showed good incorporationof the plasticizers with PVC. Improved tensile strength, elastic modulus, and elongation at breakwere observed with increasing amount of the alkyd, presumably due to chain entanglement of thealkyd with the PVC molecules. Thermogravimetric analysis results conﬁrmed that the alkyd hasimproved the thermostability of the PVC compounds. Keywords: biodegradable; biocompatible; plasticizer; poly(vinyl chloride)
Chinese Language Processing with Complex Network Theory

We defined two kinds of Chinese words network (CWN) in this paper. The nodes in the network are composed by the Chinese characters, phrases or classical idioms from authority dictionaries. Studying the network characters and giving a new evolution model to simulate the CWN, we found that the phrase construction follows random and preferential choosing method and we found 55 Chinese characters used by ten thousand distinct phrases. Finally, the Chinese words network exhibiting Small-world character will make it easy to search information as fast as English language.
Personal and Institutional Investment Required: The Relationship between Commitment and Persistence for Underrepresented First-Year Community College Students

The African proverb “It takes a village. ” embodies the interdependence of the student experience and the spirit of personal and institutional investment required. Retention and student persistence continue to challenge higher education institutions and specifically community colleges. Using a non-experimental design, this study explored the influence of underrepresented students’ psychosocial behavior on their persistence. The study surveyed a population of 2,993 incoming first-year students. Two hundred seventyseven students responded to the 62-item survey, and 204 met the underrepresented-student criteria. Three binary logistic regressions were run to understand the relationships of the 10 psychosocial behaviors and the three dichotomous dependent variables of persistence. The 10 psychosocial variables accounted for 14.3% of the variance in persistence among underrepresented community college students. The dichotomous dependent variable of persistence was measured by passing 67% of credits attempted, second semester reenrollment, and a GPA of 1.50 or greater. The study found: (a) there is no statistically significant relationship among the Freeman-Butler commitment subscales or four of the remaining psychosocial factors (academic selfefficacy, resiliency, campus engagement, and social comfort) with the dichotomous dependent variable of persistence; (b) Student academic engagement was a significant predictor for GPA among the 204 underrepresented community college students; (c) Educational commitment, resiliency, and campus engagement were trending toward statistical significance for passing 67% of credits attempted, and GPA of 1.50 and greater vii respectively; (d) 14.3% of the variability in persistence was explained by the 10 psychosocial skills for underrepresented community college students. Document Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership First Supervisor Janice Kelly Second Supervisor Byron Hargrove Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: https://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/194 Personal and Institutional Investment Required: The Relationship between Commitment and Persistence for Underrepresented First-Year Community College Students
Composite Indicators for the Euro Area Economic Activity

Within the framework of a common monetary policy, the monitoring of economic developments in the euro area, on a regular basis, is of particular importance. Despite of the ongoing improvement, the data available for the euro area as a whole are still relatively limited and released with some lag. The assessment of the economic situation requires synthetic measures representative of activity in the economy as a whole. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the best measure acknowledged for this purpose. However, GDP is only made available on a quarterly basis and released with a significant lag, which makes it difficult to assess economic activity on a regular and timely basis. In fact, the first estimate for the euro area GDP in a given quarter is released 70 days after the end of that quarter. (1) Thus, one needs to resort to other synthetic measures which provide information on economic developments in the euro area on a more timely and frequent basis. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the performance of several economic composite indicators, which are currently released on a regular basis by several institutions, including the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). The aim of this article is to assess to what extent these composite indicators allow the monitoring of GDP growth. For this purpose, we resort both to time and frequency domain analysis. This article is organised as follows. Section 2 makes a brief description of the methodology used to evaluate the composite indicators. Section 3 presents the main features of the indicators released by the different institutions and makes an overall assessment of their performance. Section 4 addresses other issues regarding the practical use of the indicators and section 5 concludes.
The Efficiency Cost of Increased Progressivity

Increases in income tax progressivity generally entail some efficiency cost due to increased distortion of individuals' labor supply decisions. This paper quantifies the magnitude of the efficiency cost of several policies which would increase the progressivity of the U.S. individual income tax. The analysis differs from previous work on this topic in allowing for complex nonlinear tax schedules similar to those which actually exist. The efficiency cost of increased progressivity is found to vary considerably with the type of tax reform considered. Expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC) is found to be a particularly efficient means of increasing progressivity. Using the labor supply parameters I consider most reasonable, I find that the efficiency cost of expanding the EITC financed by increased tax rates in the intermediated brackets is less than 20 cents per dollar transferred from the upper income groups to the lower income groups.
'Child' headed households in Rwanda : challenges of definition and livelihood needs

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Impaired OMA1-dependent cleavage of OPA1 and reduced DRP1 fission activity combine to prevent mitophagy in cells that are dependent on oxidative phosphorylation

ABSTRACT Mitochondrial dynamics play crucial roles in mitophagy-based mitochondrial quality control, but how these pathways are regulated to meet cellular energy demands remains obscure. Using non-transformed human RPE1 cells, we report that upregulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation alters mitochondrial dynamics to inhibit Parkin-mediated mitophagy. Despite the basal mitophagy rates remaining stable upon the switch to dependence on oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondria resist fragmentation when RPE1 cells are treated with the protonophore carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone. Mechanistically, we show that this is because cleavage of the inner membrane fusion factor L-OPA1 is prevented due to the failure to activate the inner membrane protease OMA1 in mitochondria that have a collapsed membrane potential. In parallel, mitochondria that use oxidative phosphorylation are protected from damage-induced fission through the impaired recruitment and activation of mitochondrial DRP1. Using OMA1-deficient MEF cells, we show that the preservation of a stable pool of L-OPA1 at the inner mitochondrial membrane is sufficient to delay mitophagy, even in the presence of Parkin. The capacity of cells that are dependent on oxidative phosphorylation to maintain substantial mitochondrial content in the face of acute damage has important implications for mitochondrial quality control in vivo.
Evaluation of ECG criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy before and after aortic valve replacement using magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE Evaluation of different electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (ECG-LVH criteria) using left ventricular mass index (LVMI) determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, the relation between LVMI regression after aortic valve replacement and corresponding ECG changes regarding LVH was studied. METHODS A group of 31 patients with severe aortic valve disease was studied to assess the presence of ECG-LVH and to measure LVMI and LV end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI); 13 patients were restudied at 9.8 +/- 2.7 months after aortic valve replacement. RESULTS Three criteria had a sensitivity of 100% (SV1 + RV5 or RV6 > 3.0 mV; SV1 or SV2 + RV5 > or = 3.5 mV; SV1 or SV2 + RV5 or RV6 > 3.5 mV), at the cost of specificity (50%, 44.4% and 44.4%, respectively). The R in I > 1.4 mV had a specificity of 100%, at the cost of both sensitivity and accuracy (13.6% and 54.5%, respectively). The Romhilt-Estes point score system, using > or = 4 points as cut-off value for LVH, provided the overall best accuracy of 79.5%. The number of Romhilt-Estes points also showed the best correlation with LVMI, both before and after aortic valve replacement (r = 0.81 and r = 0.67, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Substantial differences in sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and correlation with LVMI were found among several ECG-LVH criteria. No single criterion performed optimally since the highest sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and correlation with LVMI were found with different criteria. The present study may therefore contribute to a more targeted use of the existing ECG-LVH criteria.