Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public health intervention in a cocaine-related syphilis outbreak.

BACKGROUND Cocaine users and prostitutes are at high risk for syphilis, but disease control is difficult among these populations. During a cocaine-related syphilis outbreak in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1989, we conducted a control program at sites where sex and drugs were sold. METHODS During a 2-week period, investigators recruited persons from these sites for interview, serologic testing, and empiric treatment. RESULTS Among 136 persons screened, 25 (18%) had early syphilis and 26 others (19%) had recent sexual contact with early syphilis patients. All were treated at initial screening at a cost of $402 and 12 investigator hours per case, compared to $470 and 20 hours per case when treated during routine investigator activities. This program may have contributed to a short-term decline in syphilis incidence in Chester by reducing the period of infectivity of these patients. CONCLUSIONS Screening and empiric treatment of persons at sites where sex and drugs are sold can be useful in short-term control of cocaine-related syphilis outbreaks.
Development of a Dipstick Assay for Detection of Leishmania-Specific Canine Antibodies

ABSTRACT A dipstick assay, based on Leishmania infantum antigen, for the rapid detection of Leishmania-specific antibodies in canine serum samples was developed and evaluated. After determination of optimal dipstick test conditions, test performance was compared with two existing serological tests, i.e., the direct agglutination test (DAT) and the fast agglutination screening test (FAST). In the present study the dipstick test had a sensitivity of 99.2% and a specificity of 87.9%. The DAT had a sensitivity of 97.7% and a specificity of 95.2%, whereas the FAST had also a sensitivity of 97.7% and a specificity of 93.0%. High degrees of agreement were observed between the dipstick test and DAT (93.7%; κ value, 0.86), between the dipstick test and FAST (91.8%; κ value, 0.82), and between the DAT and FAST (95.2%; κ value, 0.90). The high sensitivity and ease of performance make the dipstick test very suitable for surveillance surveys.
Modeling skewness with the linear stochastic plateau model to determine optimal nitrogen rates

Accurate modeling of skewness is needed to increase the actuarial fairness of crop insurance. We test Day's conjecture that crop yield skewness becomes negative as nitrogen rates increase and determine how well a linear response stochastic plateau (LRSP) production function matches the pattern of observed skewness using four long-term nitrogen experiments. Stillwater wheat is consistent with Day's conjecture, but the skewness for Lahoma and Altus wheat yields as well as Altus cotton yields are not. The LRSP assumes normal random effects and can explain only a small part of observed skewness, so a new LRSP with skew-normal random effects is introduced, which comes closer to explaining the observed skewness and should increase the accuracy of nitrogen rate recommendations. Negative skewness reduced optimal nitrogen rates and positive skewness increased optimal nitrogen rates.
Exporting and Performance: Evidence from Chilean Plants

Recent empirical evidence documents the superior characteristics of exporters relative to non-exporters. Three explanations for this phenomenon have been proposed: self-selection; learning-by-exporting; and conscious self-selection. We test these three hypotheses using plant-level data from Chile. We find that plants that enter international markets show superior initial performance compared with non-exporters, consistent with self-selection; we observe increases in productivity after plants begin to export, which is consistent with learning-by-exporting. We also find strong evidence supporting the idea that self-selection is a conscious process by which plants increase productivity with the purpose of becoming exporters.
Timing and persistence of effect of conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene in postmenopausal women

Objective:The aim of the study was to determine the time course of effect with conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene (CE/BZA) in nonhysterectomized postmenopausal women in five phase 3 trials. Methods:This post hoc analysis identified when CE 0.45 mg/BZA 20 mg and CE 0.625 mg/BZA 20 mg first achieved a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) versus placebo in individual trials and the duration the difference persisted for prespecified efficacy endpoints. Results:CE/BZA significantly reduced hot flush frequency beginning at weeks 2 to 4 and severity at weeks 3 to 6; benefits were maintained through month 24. Significant improvements in lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and femoral trochanter bone mineral density were evident at month 6 or 12 and changes in bone turnover markers at month 3 or 6; benefits were maintained throughout the studies (12 or 24 mo). In symptomatic women with less than 5% vaginal superficial cells at baseline, vaginal maturation index was significantly improved by week 4. Reductions in parabasal cells were maintained throughout the studies (through months 3 and 24), but superficial cell count changes persisted only with the higher CE/BZA dose. Menopause-Specific Quality of Life total and vasomotor domain scores were improved at all assessments, from months 3 through 24. Some measures of sleep, especially quality and time to fall asleep, improved during weeks 4 to 8 and were maintained in a majority of weeks thereafter. Conclusions:In the context of studies designed primarily to evaluate efficacy at final study endpoints, both doses of CE/BZA achieved significance versus placebo at early assessments for most outcomes, and benefits were well maintained.
Sport Policy and the New Public Management in the Caribbean

Abstract One of the major themes in the literature on the New Public Management is the extent to which it can be seen as an expression of policy convergence globally, although there is significant divergence as to the meaning, causes, character and consequences of this convergence. In the context of public sport policy, however, the issue has not been directly examined. In this article, the extent to which the approach to public sport policy in Trinidad and Tobago can be seen as an expression of policy convergence or resurgence is examined in the context of the explosion of such policies around the world during the last decade of the twentieth century.
Rebates, Loans, and Customers' Choice of Appliance Efficiency Level: Combining Stated-and Revealed-Preference Data

Residential customers' choice of efficiency level for appliances, and their participation in demand-side management (DSM) programs, are examined using data on customers' stated preferences in hypothetical (i.e., conjoint-type) situations and their revealed preferences in real-world choices. The analysis provides information on customers' willingness to pay for energy savings, the importance of rebates in customers' decisions, and customers' response to DSM programs that offer loans for purchases of high-efficiency appliances. An estimated model is used to forecast the decisions of customers under: higher rebates, replacement of rebates with finance programs, offering of loans and rebates as alternative options for customers, and the elimination of DSM programs. We find that attractive loans (e.g., low interest rates, long repayment periods) are necessary to have the same effect as rebates. Programs that offer customers the option of loans or rebates are found to be far more effective than programs that offer only loans or only rebates.
Antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolated from animals and feed in Poland

Five hundred and sixty Salmonella isolates belonging to 42 serovars were tested for antimicrobial resistance with ATBVET. The strains were collected from poultry, pigs, animal feed, and several other sources during two-year period (2000-2001). The survey showed the recent trends in Salmonella antimicrobial resistance. A frequency of the isolation of resistant strains has been increasing. A high number of tested Salmonella strains were resistant to nitrofurantoin, doxycycline, streptomycin, tetracycline, flumequine, and oxolinic acid. Of the 20 antimicrobials used only colistin was active against all tested isolates. Few strains revealed apramycin, gentamycin, kanamycin and ciprofloxacin resistance. A decrease in quinolone efficacy was observed. No Salmonella showing extended-spectrum β-lactamase activity was found. Differences were noted in antimicrobial resistance depending on Salmonella serovar and the source of isolation. Multiresistance was observed in the majority of S. Hadar and S. Gallinarum strains. However, S. Typhimurium revealed the most complex resistance patterns. Salmonellas originating from swine were more resistant than those from poultry and feed. It is concluded that Salmonella antibiotic resistance should be evaluated continuously because of serious human and animal health implications.
What is an Individual Organism? A Multilevel Selection Perspective

Most biologists implicitly define an individual organism as “one genome in one body. ” This definition is based on physiological and genetic criteria, but it is problematic for colonial organisms. We propose a definition based instead on the evolutionary criteria of alignment of fitness, export of fitness by germ‐soma specialization, and adaptive functional organization. We consider how these concepts apply to various putative individual organisms. We conclude that complex multicellular organisms and colonies of eusocial insects satisfy these three criteria, but that, in most cases (with at least one notable exception), colonies of modular organisms and genetic chimeras do not. While species do not meet these criteria, they may meet the criteria for a broader concept—that of an evolutionary individual—and sexual reproduction may be a species‐level exaptation for enhancing evolvability. We also review the costs and benefits of internal genetic heterogeneity within putative individuals, demonstrating that high relatedness is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for individuality, and that, in some cases, genetic variability may have adaptive benefits at the level of the whole.
Prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women in Mumbai, India: Experience from 1993-2004 and 2008

Aim: Prevalence of HIV among pregnant women in India is of great concern, especially to prevent HIV in children. Mother–to-child transmission of HIV is the most common cause of transmission of HIV in children. Prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women in India has ranged from 0.7% to 1.2%. Thus, estimating prevalence of HIV in pregnant women would aid in developing and prioritizing prevention of parent-to-child transmission of HIV programs. Materials and Methods: All pregnant women referred to the antenatal clinic from 1993 onward were tested for HIV infection by ELISA test after pretest counseling. A woman was diagnosed to be HIV infected if she tested positive on more than two HIV ELISA tests. Prevalence of HIV infection in them was calculated and also whether there was an increasing trend was determined. Results: A total of 123,439 pregnant women were tested for HIV from 1993 to 2004, of which 1797 women were HIV infected. Overall, the prevalence rate was found to be 1.4%. Prevalence rose from 0.76% in 1993 to 2.37% in 1998. However, from 2004, the prevalence has decreased to 0.6%. Conclusion: Prevalence of HIV in pregnant women in Mumbai is decreasing.
On the Effectiveness of Feature Set Augmentation Using Clusters of Word Embeddings

Word clusters have been empirically shown to offer important performance improvements on various tasks. Despite their importance, their incorporation in the standard pipeline of feature engineering relies more on a trial-and-error procedure where one evaluates several hyper-parameters, like the number of clusters to be used. In order to better understand the role of such features we systematically evaluate their effect on four tasks, those of named entity segmentation and classification as well as, those of five-point sentiment classification and quantification. Our results strongly suggest that cluster membership features improve the performance.
The Microeconomic Consequences of Corporate Mergers

The objective of this study is to examine empirically the validity of a series of allegations regarding the economic effects of mergers. These alleged effects of mergers can be classified into two groups: The first is concerned with the possible impairment of market competition (the market level); the second deals with the impact of mergers on the firms concerned and on their stockholders (the firm level). The current study is restricted to the latter (firm level) effects. Despite the impressive number of mergers in the United States, the empirical evidence regarding their effects is still scanty. The few microeconomic studies that have been published are mainly concerned with the profitability of mergers, and the conclusions reached are often contradictory. ' The current study examines, in addition to the profitability of mergers, such aspects as risk, growth, capital structure, income tax savings, earnings per share, etc. The conclusion is that the long-run profitability of acquiring firms is probably somewhat higher than that of comparable nonmerging firms. The evidence is largely negative, however, with respect to other alleged effects of mergers; the characteristics of merging firms are hardly distinguishable from those of comparable nonmerging firms.
Color Space Transformation Network

Deep networks have become very popular over the past few years. The main reason for this widespread use is their excellent ability to learn and predict knowledge in a very easy and efficient way. Convolutional neural networks and auto-encoders have become the normal in the area of imaging and computer vision achieving unprecedented accuracy levels in many applications. The most common strategy is to build and train networks with many layers by tuning their hyper-parameters. While this approach has proven to be a successful way to build robust deep learning schemes it suffers from high complexity. In this paper we introduce a module that learns color space transformations within a network. Given a large dataset of colored images the color space transformation module tries to learn color space transformations that increase overall classification accuracy. This module has shown to increase overall accuracy for the same network design and to achieve faster convergence. It is part of a broader family of image transformations (e.g. spatial transformer network).
Failure to detect, in human sera, antibodies cross-reactive with group-specific antigens of murine leukemia virus.

The sera of 25 adult cancer patients and controls, 52 children with various neoplasms, 20 juvenile patients with connective tissue disorders, and 31 healthy laboratory workers potentially exposed to RNA tumor viruses were screened in sensitive radioimmunoassays for antibodies cross-reacting with highly purified groupspecific antigen of murine leukemia virus (p30). No antibody activity was detected. -J Natl Cancer Inst 52: 1409-1413, 1974.
Functional Involvement of E-Cadherin in TGF-β1-Induced Cell Cluster Formation of In Vitro Developing Human Langerhans-Type Dendritic Cells1

Epithelial Langerhans cells (LC) represent immature dendritic cells that require TGF-β1 stimulation for their development. Little is known about the mechanisms regulating LC generation from their precursor cells. We demonstrate here that LC development from human CD34+ hemopoietic progenitor cells in response to TGF-β1 costimulation (basic cytokine combination GM-CSF plus TNF-α, stem cell factor, and Flt3 ligand) is associated with pronounced cell cluster formation of developing LC precursor cells. This cell-clustering phenomenon requires hemopoietic progenitor cell differentiation, since it is first seen on day 4 after culture initiation of CD34+ cells. Cell cluster formation morphologically indicates progenitor cell development along the LC pathway, because parallel cultures set up in the absence of exogenous TGF-β1 fail to form cell clusters and predominantly give rise to monocyte, but not LC, development (CD1a−, lysozyme+, CD14+). TGF-β1 costimulation of CD34+ cells induces neoexpression of the homophilic adhesion molecule E-cadherin in the absence of the E-cadherin heteroligand CD103. Addition of anti-E-cadherin mAb or mAbs to any of the constitutively expressed adhesion molecule (CD99, CD31, LFA-1, or CD18) to TGF-β1-supplemented progenitor cell cultures inhibits LC precursor cell cluster formation, and this effect is, with the exception of anti-E-cadherin mAb, associated with inhibition of LC generation. Addition of anti-E-cadherin mAb to the culture allows cell cluster-independent generation of LC from CD34+ cells. Thus, functional E-cadherin expression and homotypic cell cluster formation represent a regular response of LC precursor cells to TGF-β1 stimulation, and cytoadhesive interactions may modulate LC differentiation from hemopoietic progenitor cells.
Ski patrollers: Reluctant role models for helmet use

Ski helmets reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but usage rates are low. Ski patrollers could serve as role models for helmet use, but little is known about their practices and beliefs. A written survey was distributed to ski patrollers attending continuing education conferences. The questions addressed included helmet use rates, prior TBI experiences, perceptions of helmet risks and benefits and willingness to serve as safety role models for the public. To assess predictors of helmet use, odds ratios (OR) were calculated, after adjusting for skiing experience. Ninety-three ski patrollers participated and the main outcome was self-reported helmet use of 100% while patrolling. Helmet use was 23% (95% CI 15–32%). Common reasons for non-use included impaired hearing (35%) and discomfort (29%). Most patrollers believed helmets prevent injuries (90%; 95% CI 84–96%) and that they are safety role models (92%; 95% CI 86–98%). However, many believed helmets encourage recklessness (39%; 95% CI 29–49%) and increase injury risks (16%; 95% CI 7–25%). Three factors predicted 100% helmet use: perceived protection from exposure (OR = 9.68; 95% CI 3.14–29.82) or cold (OR = 5.68; 95% CI 1.27–25.42); and belief that role modelling is an advantage of helmets (OR = 4.06; 95% CI 1.29–12.83). Patrollers who believed helmets encourage recklessness were eight times less likely to wear helmets (OR = 0.13; 95% CI 0.03–0.58). Ski patrollers know helmets reduce serious injury and believe they are role models for the public, but most do not wear helmets regularly. To increase helmet use, manufacturers should address hearing- and comfort-related factors. Education programmes should address the belief that helmets encourage recklessness and stress role modelling as a professional responsibility.
In the Other Room: Entering the Culture of Motherhood

240 volume 1, number 1 While most of the chapters work together to build a cohesive whole, the chapter on filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah struggles to fit in. The disjuncture between still and filmic representations seems marked here, and the verbal descriptions of scenes from the film prove difficult to follow or visualize. A unique strength of the book is the way in which Liss weaves personal narrative into scholarly prose. The short “interlude” on the maternal care given by her ten-year-old son during her battle with breast cancer is particularly compelling. The transitions between the two voices are not always seamless, but this blend of the personal and the political, so to speak, will make her art historical discussions accessible even to lay readers.
The Role of Auditors in Preventing, Detecting, and Reporting Fraud: The Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The primary objective of this study is to investigate internal and external auditor perceptions regarding their responsibilities related to preventing, detecting, and reporting fraud. Moreover, the study explores the procedures that internal and external auditors follow to detect fraud during an audit. This study features a survey of 53 auditors in the United Arab Emirates. The results indicate that internal auditors are primarily responsible for identifying incidents of fraud. The results also demonstrate that the procedures followed by external auditors are slightly more rigorous than those followed by internal auditors. The principal contribution is that internal auditors are primarily responsible for identifying fraud and are consequently more concerned about reporting incidents related to fraud. The results provide empirical support for the notion that external auditors should increase the degree to which they seek to detect and report incidents of fraud as well.
Decisions and the involvement of cancer patient survivors: a moral imperative

Purpose The aim of this study was to review the experiences of direct involvement in patient survivorship for treatment and research. Methods This is a narrative-focused review of the following two recent experiences of patient involvement: the Chordoma Foundation and the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation. Results These two examples represent concrete experiences that patients have built to favor a real involvement in the care and treatment of tumors. These experiences are profoundly modifying how cancer research is conducted and draw attention to the psychosocial dimensions of health care. Conclusion These examples represent the new scenario in which modern medicine faces completely new challenges, copes with new needs, and cooperates with new health care professionals. Implications Involving patients in a new perspective raises practical and ethical challenges for organizations to work together, for health providers to be professionally skilled and for the government to promote safeguarding policies.
Corporate Governance, Family Ownership and Firm Value: The Canadian Evidence

We analyse the relationship between firm value, as measured by Tobin's q, and newly released indices of effective corporate governance for a sample of 263 Canadian firms. The results indicate that corporate governance does matter in Canada. However, not all elements of measured governance are important, and the effects of governance do differ by ownership category. For the entire sample of firms we find no evidence that a total governance index affects firm performance. This is mainly because we find no evidence that board independence, the most heavily-weighted sub-index, has any positive effect on firm performance. Indeed, for family-owned firms we find that the effect is negative. In general, sub-indices measuring effective compensation, disclosure and shareholder rights practices enhance performance and this is true for most ownership types. We also find no evidence that governance practices are endogenous.
Y not introgress? Insights into the genetics of speciation in European rabbits

Hybridization between genetically divergent populations is common in nature. By comparing the rate of gene flow throughout the genome, loci that impede genetic mixing, and therefore underlie reproductive isolation, can be identified, providing key insights into the process of speciation. In a previous issue of Molecular Ecology, Geraldes et al. (2008) report the geographical distribution of Y chromosome lineages in wild populations of rabbits from across the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. Y chromosomes showed a high level of differentiation between rabbit subspecies on either side of a hybrid zone, despite clear evidence for gene flow at other loci. This provocative result suggests a role for the Y chromosome in reproductive isolation, and adds to a growing list of nascent species with mosaic patterns of differentiation across their genomes.