Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with underlying severe emphysema

BACKGROUND Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) has recently re-emerged as a surgical option for the treatment of end stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to underlying severe emphysema. Advocates of LVRS claim that it represents a significant breakthrough in the management of this challenging group of patients while sceptics point to uncertainty about the effectiveness of the operation. METHODS A systematic review was conducted of the evidence on the effects of LVRS in patients with end stage COPD secondary to severe emphysema. RESULTS The most rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of LVRS came from case series. Seventy five potentially relevant studies were identified and 19 individual series met the methodological criteria for inclusion. The pattern of results was consistent across individual studies despite a significant degree of clinical heterogeneity. Significant short term benefits occurred across a range of outcomes which appeared to continue into the longer term. Physiological improvements were matched by functional and subjective improvements. Early mortality rates were low and late mortality rates compared favourably with those of the general COPD population. However, the entire research base for the intervention is subject to the limitations of study designs without parallel control groups. CONCLUSIONS LVRS appears to represent a promising option in the management of patients with severe end stage emphysema. However, until the results of ongoing clinical trials are available, the considerable uncertainty that exists around the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the procedure will remain.
Multi-view Pictorial Structures for 3D Human Pose Estimation

Pictorial structure models are the de facto standard for 2D human pose estimation. Numerous refinements and improvements have been proposed such as discriminatively trained body part detectors, flexible body models, and local and global mixtures. While these techniques allow to achieve state-of-the-art performance for 2D pose estimation, they have not yet been extended to enable pose estimation in 3D. This paper thus proposes a multi-view pictorial structures model that builds on recent advances in 2D pose estimation and incorporates evidence across multiple viewpoints to allow for robust 3D pose estimation. We evaluate our multi-view pictorial structures approach on the HumanEva-I and MPII Cooking dataset. In comparison to related work for 3D pose estimation our approach achieves similar or better results while operating on single-frames only and not relying on activity specific motion models or tracking. Notably, our approach outperforms state-of-the-art for activities with more complex motions.
Bovine Protein C Inhibitor Has a Unique Reactive Site and Can Transiently Inhibit Plasmin

Summary Protein C inhibitor (PCI) regulates the anticoagulant protein C pathway by neutralizing activated protein C and thrombin-thrombomodulin complex in the human hemostatic system. In this study, we cloned a full-length bovine PCI cDNA encoding a putative 19-residue signal peptide and a 385-residue mature protein; this showed 70.6%, 70.6%, 57.5% and 59.6% amino acid sequence homology with the human, rhesus monkey, rat and mouse PCIs, respectively. Bovine PCI mRNA (2.1 kb in size) was expressed strongly in the liver, and moderately in the kidney and testis, but not in other tissues tested. Bovine PCI has a putative reactive site peptide bond, Lys-Ser, that is different from the reactive site sequence (Arg-Ser) of other species’ PCI. We found that bovine PCI transiently inhibits bovine plasmin, but not human plasmin. Western blot analysis showed that the reactive site of bovine PCI is cleaved during the course of complex formation with bovine plasmin; degraded PCI is released from the complex gradually concomitant with the recovery of plasmin activity. These findings suggest that bovine PCI plays a role not only in the protein C pathway but also in the fibrinolytic activity of bovine hemostatic system. Abbreviations: PCI, protein C inhibitor, Serpin, serine protease inhibitor, APC, activated protein C, TM, thrombomodulin.
[Changing trends and regional anesthesia practices in Turkey].

OBJECTIVES Introduction of ultrasound into regional anesthesia (RA) practice has resulted in important changes and developments in RA. These developments have had a major influence on the way of practice and choice of blocks. The purpose of this study was to present the most recent instruments used in RA and clinical applications in our country. METHODS A questionnaire consisting of 10 questions were distributed to the participants of the National RA Congress in 2011. Besides demographic data, RA techniques used and the method of nerve location was questioned. Participants were asked whether they were satisfied with their training in RA and if they participated in a RA course. RESULTS A total of 95 participants filled out the forms. Spinal anesthesia was the most commonly performed technique. Peripheral nerve blocks constitute only 12% of RA practice. Axillary block was the most commonly performed peripheral nerve block technique. The most commonly used nerve localization methods were nerve stimulation and ultrasound. The majority of the participants (58%) were not satisfied with their RA training and half (50%) participated in a course for continuing medical education. CONCLUSION Nerve stimulation is the most performed method, whereas US is increasingly becoming popular. The most commonly performed blocks are central neuroaxial blocks. All in all, there is still room for improvement in RA training.
Communicating Scientific Uncertainty

Scientific results are always afflicted with some uncertainty, especially where emerging technologies are concerned. While there are normative and practical reasons to call for an open admission of scientific uncertainties, concerns about detrimental effects of such communication on public engagement with science have been raised in the literature. The present study was conducted to investigate how the communication of scientific uncertainty in nanotechnology influences laypeople’s interest in science and new technologies, beliefs about the nature of science, and trust in scientists. In a longitudinal field experiment, 945 participants were exposed to six real-world media reports (TV features and newspaper articles) on nanotechnology. Contrary to our expectations, the communication of scientific uncertainties was unable to change general beliefs about the nature of science. However, it had no detrimental effect on the trust in scientists, and with respect to interest in science and new technologies, slightly positive effects were observed.
Character education: A role for literature in cultivating character strengths

Positive psychology is devoted to studying the flourishing human life beyond the mere absence of illness. The ability to know, measure and cultivate those elements that contribute to such a life is transforming many fields. The emerging applied field of positive education is using the findings of positive psychology to more effectively educate for psychological well-being alongside that of traditional academic learning. One crucial area of study in positive psychology is character strengths. Individuals who are not only cognizant of their strength profile but also use their strengths daily are happier, higher achieving, more resilient and more satisfied with their lives. These findings give new life and scope to what schools might call “character education”. This paper argues that by cleverly capitalizing on the existing skills of regular classroom teachers all schools, regardless of their human and financial resources, location or demography, can begin embedding principles of positive psychology. Accessible, empirically-based, and well-integrated curricula are needed to bring to scale the work of positive psychology. We need to promote robust, cross-curricular learning in our students and better equip regular classroom teachers for the task. English literature, by virtue of its content and pedagogy, presents a rich opportunity for an innovative model. Learning about character strengths through literature provides a medium for robust debate, higher-order understanding and personal reflection and cultivation. More than merely achieving the agenda of positive education, the science of well-being also has a great deal to offer our study of literature. Using character strengths in our literature study can enrich the analytical process. After providing an empirical and theoretical base, this paper offers a sample unit of work on the strength of hope. Designed for an upper-secondary English classroom, it vitally demonstrates that a rich focus on well-being in literature need not come at the expense of academic rigor, deep ethical and emotional competencies or analytical essay writing.
Task-relationship-self : a framework for understanding service encounter behaviors

Research conducted over past decades has investigated selected service encounter behaviors from either a customer or service provider perspective. However, a comprehensive, dual-perspective framework is lacking. Such a framework is needed to organize knowledge of these behaviors, and thereby provide structure, clarity, and parsimony to the field. This paper describes a three-tier framework of service encounter behavior that was developed by applying grounded theory principles to interviews with customers, service employees, and other stakeholders. These informants described many ways in which they behave when executing service exchanges, dealing with service difficulties, and managing themselves in the process. Using an iterative inductive approach, a conceptual framework was developed in which specific (Tier 1) behaviors were placed within broader (Tier 2) categories, and these lower classification levels were, in turn, interpreted within a conceptual space defined by the (Tier 3) dimensions of task, relationship, and self. This framework was then elaborated and refined by reference to the psychology and marketing literature, a set of 157 audio-recorded service interactions, and an expert panel study. The paper includes comparisons between the framework and those previously proposed, propositions regarding service encounter processes and outcomes, and implications for future research and practice.
Are all subtypes created equal? The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy against non-subtype B HIV-1.

Currently, 24 active antiretroviral agents are available for use in the United States. These agents target and interrupt an array of HIV functions, including reverse transcription, proteolysis, envelope fusion, and integration [1]. When used in a variety of combinations, these agents have greatly reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with natural HIV infection in the United States [2]. In this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Geretti et al. [3] demonstrate in an observational study that modern combination antiretroviral therapy works, even when the infecting virus is non–subtype B HIV-1. Specifically, this study examined the rates of viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy during infection with subtypes A, C, and D and with the circulating recombinant form (CRF) 02_AG. This is important, because modern antiretroviral therapy was developed on the basis of investigations of subtype B HIV-1 infection, even though this subtype accounts for only 12% of worldwide infections and is almost nonexistent in many regions [4].
APOE genotype and gender effects on Alzheimer disease in 100 adults with Down syndrome

Background: Alzheimer disease (AD) neuropathology is present in Down syndrome (DS) after age 35, but dementia onset varies from ages 40 to 70 years. Because of small sample sizes and nonuniform determination of dementia, previous studies produced differing results on the influence of APOE subtypes on AD in DS. Objective: To determine the influence of the APOE genotype and gender on development of AD in adults with DS to ascertain similarities with AD in the general population. Methods: A total of 100 adults with DS (ages 35 to 79 years), almost all of whom were longitudinally assessed by neurologists, underwent APOE genotyping. Dementia onset was determined using criteria applied from the Tenth International Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. This cohort contains the largest number of DS subjects with dementia (n = 57) in a single study, thus increasing reliability of the results. Results: The ε2 allele frequency was 4% in those with dementia versus 13% in those without dementia (p = 0.03); ε4 allele frequency was 18% in those with dementia versus 13% in those without dementia (p = 0.45). Using APOE-ε3/3 as the reference group, the risk ratio for the development of AD at any given time was 0.34 for the APOE-ε2/3 group (p = 0.04) and 1.44 for the APOE-ε(3/4,4/4) group (p = 0.25). Women were 1.77 times as likely to dement as men at any given point in time (p = 0.04). Conclusions: The ε2 allele confers a protective effect, and women with DS have an increased risk for AD, as in the general population. In this sample, ε4 does not confer a significantly increased risk for AD in DS.
Isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeaeMutants That Show Enhanced Trafficking across Polarized T84 Epithelial Monolayers

ABSTRACT Initiation of a gonococcal infection involves attachment ofNeisseria gonorrhoeae to the plasma membrane of an epithelial cell in the mucosal epithelium and its internalization, transepithelial trafficking, and exocytosis from the basal membrane. Piliation and expression of certain Opa proteins and the immunoglobulin A1 protease influence the transcytosis process. We are interested in identifying other genetic determinants of N. gonorrhoeaethat play a role in transcellular trafficking. Using polarized T84 monolayers as a model epithelial barrier, we have assayed an N. gonorrhoeae FA1090 minitransposon (mTn) mutant bank for isolates that traverse the monolayer more quickly than the isogenic wild-type (WT) strain. From an initial screen, we isolated four mutants, defining three genetic loci, that traverse monolayers significantly more quickly than their WT parent strain. These mutants adhere to and invade cells normally and do not affect the integrity of the monolayer barrier. Backcrosses of the mutations into the WT FA1090 strain yielded mutants with a similar fast-trafficking phenotype. In two mutants, the mTns had inserted 370 bp apart into the same locus, which we have namedfit, for fast intracellular trafficker. Backcrosses of one of these mutants into the MS11A genetic background also yielded a fast-trafficking mutant. The fit locus contains two overlapping open reading frames, fitA and fitB, whose deduced amino acid sequences have predicted molecular weights of 8.6 and 15.3, respectively. Neither protein contains a signal sequence. FitA has a potential helix-turn-helix motif, while the deduced sequence of FitB offers no clues to its function. fitA orfitB homologues are present in the genomes ofPseudomonas syringae and Rhizobium meliloti, but not Neisseria meningitidis. Replication of the MS11AfitA mutant in A431 and T84 cells is significantly accelerated compared to that of the isogenic WT strain. In contrast, growth of this mutant in liquid media is normal. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that traversal of N. gonorrhoeaeacross an epithelial barrier is linked to intracellular bacterial growth.
Scaling functions to body size: theories and facts

[⇓][1]\`Why do small animals live faster and shorter? ' \`What sets the pace of life? ' These are questions that have interested biologists for more than 150 years, leading to debates between theorists and experimentalists that continue today. As early as 1839, Sarrus and Rameaux ([1839][2])
Resistance of Hepatitis C Virus to Ns3–4A Protease Inhibitors: Mechanisms of Drug Resistance Induced by R155Q, A156T, D168A and D168V Mutations

Background/aims One of the main issues in the development of antiviral therapy is the emergence of drug-resistant viruses. In the case of hepatitis C virus (HCV), selection of drug-resistant mutants was evidenced by in vitro studies on protease inhibitors (PIs); for example, BILN-2061, VX-950 and SCH-6. Four mutations in the HCV protease (R155Q, A156T, D168A and D168V) have been identified in vitro in the HCV replicon system that confer resistance to BILN-2061 (a reference inhibitor). However, the molecular mechanism of drug resistance is still unknown. The aim of this study is to unravel, using an molecular modelling strategy, the structural basis of such molecular mechanism of HCV resistance to PIs. We focused on protease mutations conferring HCV resistance to BILN-2061 and described for the first time such mechanism at a molecular level. Methods The structures of drug-resistant NS3 proteases were obtained by mutation of selected residues (R155Q, A156T, D168A and D168V) and the ternary complexes formed between NS3–4A and BILN-2061 were optimized using GenMol software (www.3dgenoscience.com; Genoscience, Marseille, France). Results Two mechanisms were evidenced for viral resistance to BILN-2061. A ‘direct’ resistance mechanism is based on contacts between the mutated R155Q and A156T protease residues and its inhibitor. In the ‘indirect’ resistance mechanism, the mutated D168A/V residue is not in close contact with the drug itself but interacts with other residues connected to the drug. Conclusions These data provide new insights in the understanding of the mechanisms of HCV drug escape, and may allow predicting potential cross-resistance phenomenon with other PIs. This approach can be used as a basis for future rational PI drug design candidates.
Transmission d’entreprises PME saines en Scop au regard de la relève de la direction : une étude exploratoire de faisabilité en France

Partant des recherches sur les transmissions d’entreprises familiales, nous nous interrogeons sur la pertinence de leurs conclusions dans le cas du passage d’une PME saine en societe cooperative de production (Scop). L’accent est mis sur l’aspect humain du processus, qui implique autant le predecesseur, ou cedant, et le futur dirigeant que les salaries. Nous appuyant sur les resultats d’une enquete aupres de dirigeants de cooperative concernes par leur propre releve et acteurs dans des processus de transmission en Scop, nous montrons qu’il faut nuancer l’importance des elements explicatifs de la transition – place du deuil, role des etapes cles, role des salaries –, l’integration du nouveau comme le desengagement de l’ancien etant facilites par rapport aux cas d’entreprises familiales classiques. A partir de l’experience des successions au sein meme des Scop, cette etude exploratoire a permis d’identifier des conditions de transformation d’une PME saine en Scop dans un contexte ou les acteurs du mouvement cooperatif se sont plus fortement mobilises que par le passe pour ce mode de creation.
Abstract and concrete self-evaluative goals.

Assuming that people often hold the abstract goal of acquiring accurate feedback but recognize that acquiring favorable feedback can make the self-evaluative process more comfortable, the authors posited that low-level construals (of how action is performed) would elicit greater self-enhancement motivation than would high-level construals (of why action is performed). Individuals chronically using low-level construals had greater interest in downward social comparison (DSC) and less interest in negative feedback (NF; Studies 1 and 3). Decreases in temporal distance (which foster low-level construals) also elicited greater interest in DSC and less interest in NF (Studies 2 and 4). The latter effect was explained by participants' aversion to inconvenience (Study 5) and not by approach-avoidance conflict (Study 6). These results suggest that the level of abstraction at which people construe self-evaluative situations can influence their feedback preferences.
Competitive priorities, competitive advantage and performance of real estate firms in Dubai

Despite the central role of the real estate sector in a given economy, there is a distinct lack of research that is focused in the area. In Dubai there is not only a marked lack of study, there is also a need for a study which is focused on the competitive priorities, competitive advantage and performance of the real estate firms in the Emirate. This study attempted to address this research issue by examining competitive priorities, competitive advantage and performance of real estate firms in Dubai.
Social Interactions and Crime Revisited: An Investigation Using Individual Offender Data in Dutch Neighborhoods

Abstract Using data on the age, sex, ethnicity, and criminal involvement of more than 14 million residents of all ages residing in approximately 4,000 Dutch neighborhoods, we test if an individual's criminal involvement is affected by the proportion of criminals living in his or her residential neighborhood. We develop a binomial discrete choice model for criminal involvement and estimate it on individual data. We control for both the endogeneity that may be related to unobserved neighborhood characteristics and for sorting behavior. We find significant social interaction effects, but our findings do not imply multiple equilibria or large multiplier effects.
Self-serving tendencies in retrospective reasoning in accounting narratives: does a capital market environment matter?

Studies of verbal behaviour in the context of financial accounting narratives have evidenced selfpresentational tendencies in corporate framing activities. Different authors demonstrated the tendency to attribute positive effects or outcomes to the company’s own actions or corporate origins (company strategy, decisions, know how, human resources potential, etc.) and negative outcomes to external events or chance factors (business climate, inflation, market prices, government policy, weather). This explanation pattern is considered as self-serving as it leads to define situations to the company’s own advantage. In organizational research verbal impression management and related self-serving tendencies are seen as purposive, goal-directed behaviour. This type of research typically relies on a motivational explanation of such behaviour. Also studies of self-serving tendencies within the context of accounting narratives are generally set within a capital market environment were motivational factors for purposeful image management are strong. However, attributional biases could be the result of informational processes (the subjective salience of an interpretive context) rather than of impression management processes, i.e. the result of the fact that people usually intend or expect to be successful (on the basis of prior experience or prior cognitive beliefs) with their actions (the results of which they report on) rather than being motivated by the desire to construct a positive (or non-negative) image of the personal involvement in the outcomes commented on. In this paper we treat a capital market context as a pivotal variable to discern situations of strong and weak motivational influences and contrast the selfserving reasoning tendencies in public and private companies, the central assumption being, that when a motivational explanation prevails significant differences in self-serving patterns should be revealed. A second purpose of the paper is to explore the impact of the nature of the effect explained on the selfserving tendencies. Previous research has only taken into account the (positive or negative) evaluative character of the explained effect, but has ignored other content characteristics of the explained effect. Our research reveals that the self-serving character of the explanation strongly depends on the nature of the accounting effect explained with ramifications on the public/private dichotomy.