Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of vitamin E on stroke subtypes: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Objective To evaluate the effect of vitamin E supplementation on incident total, ischaemic, and haemorrhagic stroke. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised, placebo controlled trials published until January 2010. Data sources Electronic databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) and reference lists of trial reports. Selection criteria Randomised, placebo controlled trials with ≥1 year of follow-up investigating the effect of vitamin E on stroke. Review methods and data extraction Two investigators independently assessed eligibility of identified trials. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Two different investigators independently extracted data. Risk ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) were calculated for each trial based on the number of cases and non-cases randomised to vitamin E or placebo. Pooled effect estimates were then calculated. Results Nine trials investigating the effect of vitamin E on incident stroke were included, totalling 118 765 participants (59 357 randomised to vitamin E and 59 408 to placebo). Among those, seven trials reported data for total stroke and five trials each for haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke. Vitamin E had no effect on the risk for total stroke (pooled relative risk 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.91 to 1.05), P=0.53). In contrast, the risk for haemorrhagic stroke was increased (pooled relative risk 1.22 (1.00 to 1.48), P=0.045), while the risk of ischaemic stroke was reduced (pooled relative risk 0.90 (0.82 to 0.99), P=0.02). There was little evidence for heterogeneity among studies. Meta-regression did not identify blinding strategy, vitamin E dose, or morbidity status of participants as sources of heterogeneity. In terms of absolute risk, this translates into one additional haemorrhagic stroke for every 1250 individuals taking vitamin E, in contrast to one ischaemic stroke prevented per 476 individuals taking vitamin E. Conclusion In this meta-analysis, vitamin E increased the risk for haemorrhagic stroke by 22% and reduced the risk of ischaemic stroke by 10%. This differential risk pattern is obscured when looking at total stroke. Given the relatively small risk reduction of ischaemic stroke and the generally more severe outcome of haemorrhagic stroke, indiscriminate widespread use of vitamin E should be cautioned against.
Eigen-Decomposition-Based Four-Component Decomposition for PolSAR Data

This paper presents an alternative way of the decomposition scheme for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images. The proposed method intends to solve overestimation of volume scattering power for oriented urban areas with large orientation angle. In this paper, the difference of primary and secondary dominant target scattering orientation angle is proposed to show the possible cause of the volume scattering overestimation problem. The results of the eigen-decomposition method are introduced into the model-based decomposition. This paper applies a lookup table (LUT) to link eigen-decomposition method and model-based decomposition method together to solve the overestimation of volume scattering power problem. Based on the LUT, a new four-component decomposition method is proposed. L-band fully polarimetric ESAR and EMISAR data are used to validate the proposed method. The results of the experiments show that the proposed method has better performance than four-component decomposition method in oriented urban areas with large orientation angle. Besides, the volume model can also be directly determined from image. In this case, it is potential to solve the alternate volume scattering model problem in model-based decomposition.
Everyday Discrimination and Nocturnal Blood Pressure Dipping in Black and White Americans

Objective: To investigate whether an association exists between experiences of everyday discrimination and blood pressure (BP) dipping in a biracial sample of black and white adults. Attenuated nocturnal BP dipping is closely linked to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Self-reported experiences of everyday discrimination have also been associated with negative cardiovascular health outcomes. Methods: Seventy-eight hypertensive and normotensive women and men (n = 30 black and 48 white) reported on their experiences of everyday discrimination (Everyday Discrimination Scale) and underwent two separate 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) sessions approximately 1 week apart. Results: Correlation analysis revealed that higher endorsement of everyday discrimination was significantly associated with less diastolic BP (DBP) and systolic BP (SBP) dipping (p < .05). Subsequent hierarchical regression analyses indicated that everyday discrimination explained 8% to 11% of the variance in SBP and DBP dipping above and beyond other demographic and life-style-related factors, including race, age, 24-hour BP, body mass index, and current socioeconomic status. The relationship between discrimination and dipping was significantly stronger on the second night of monitoring. Finally, analyses revealed that everyday discrimination mediated the relationship between race and BP dipping. Conclusions: These findings suggest that experiences of everyday discrimination are associated with less nocturnal SBP and DBP dipping above and beyond the effect of known covariates. The use of multiple ABPM sessions may facilitate the detection of relationships between psychological variables and BP dipping. BP = blood pressure; ABPM = ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; SBP = systolic blood pressure; BMI = body mass index; SES = socioeconomic status.
Interest-Rate Modelling in Collateralized Markets: Multiple Curves, Credit-Liquidity Effects, CCPs

The market practice of extrapolating different term structures from different instruments lacks a rigorous justification in terms of cash flows structure and market observables. In this paper, we integrate our previous consistent theory for pricing under credit, collateral and funding risks into term structure modelling, integrating the origination of different term structures with such effects. Under a number of assumptions on collateralization, wrong-way risk, gap risk, credit valuation adjustments and funding effects, including the treasury operational model, and via an immersion hypothesis, we are able to derive a synthetic master equation for the multiple term structure dynamics that integrates multiple curves with credit/funding adjustments.
The Most Appropriate Sustainable Growth Rate Model For Managers And Researchers

The objectives of this paper are to analyze whether there is a significant difference among widely used Higgins model and Van Horne model and whether these two competing sustainable growth rate models (SGR) estimate divergences in ways that are systematically related to variations in common financial characteristics. We find that Higgins SGR when used as continuous and dichotomous variables is more affected by variations in financial characteristics than Van Hornes model. This study confirms that Higgins and Van Hornes models are qualitatively and approximately the same in relation to most common financial characteristics of a firm. However, if the Higgins model is used to compute SGR, it would give higher SGR for more profitable firms than Van Hornes. A firm with higher leverage is given higher SGR in Van Hornes than Higgins. Variations of liquidity, debt maturity and financial distress are trivial in economic sense. Finally, we find that the both Higgins and Van Hornes models result in approximately same (less than 4%) loss in sample size and not induce more sample-selection bias. We suggest that Higgins and Van Hornes models are equally preferable from both the managers and researchers point of view.
Enhancement of Latent Fingerprint Images with Segmentation Perspective

Latent fingerprints are of decisive influence when it comes to identifying suspects, as these are usually encountered at crime scenes. Also, these serve as a compelling evidence in a court of law. Some of the formidable challenges with latent fingerprints are deficient ridge information and poor ridge clarity due to background noise and non-linear distortions. An effective fingerprint enhancement scheme is suggested to meliorate the clarity and continuity of ridges and valleys in a latent fingerprint image. The proposed method deals with both local (minutia or singular points, ridge termination, bifurcation, broken ridges, short ridges, core and delta) and global features (ridge orientation and ridge frequency), while retaining the true ridge-valley structures and removing noise at the same time. The proposed design establishes scalability, accessibility and flexibility.
Benchmarking Audit Committee Effectiveness in Financial Reporting

This paper examines the effectiveness of UK audit committees in their primary responsibility of overseeing financial reporting. A logit regression approach is used to benchmark corporate financial reporting quality against financial reporting standards in the period from 1991 to 2000. Using a sample of companies that have been subject to adverse rulings by the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP), we test the impact of board and audit committee characteristics on the probability of compliance with financial reporting standards. Our results show that independent boards promote audit committee effectiveness in financial reporting and suggest that director share ownership and multiple directorships could undermine audit committee effectiveness in financial reporting. We also suggest that director financial literacy and an "active" audit committee may contribute to audit committee effectiveness.
TWO DCF APPROACHES FOR VALUING COMPANIES UNDER ALTERNATIVE FINANCING STRATEGIES (AND HOW TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM)

This is the sequel to the authors' 1989 article discussing the two basic discounted cash flow approaches for valuing debt-financed transactions and corporations: weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and adjusted present value (APV). The WACC method discounts all after-tax (but pre-interest) cash flows at the company's weighted average cost of capital. The APV method treats the value of a levered firm as the value of the same firm if financed entirely with equity plus the discounted value of the interest tax shields from the debt its assets will support. The authors argue that the WACC approach is more practical if the firm intends to hold its (market) leverage ratio relatively constant over time, but that the APV technique is the preferred method if the firm plans to reduce its leverage ratio according to a pre-determined schedule (as tends to be the case in highly leveraged transactions). 1997 Morgan Stanley.
Donkeys and bicycles: capital interactions facilitating timely compost application in Northern Ghana

Organic amendments such as compost are key to sustainable soil fertility management, but their use is constrained by a lack of appropriate vehicles with which to transport them to the fields. Farmers in the Northern Ghanaian Guinea Savanna tested individually owned headpans and bicycles, group-owned wheelbarrows and donkey carts, and hired handtrucks and bullock carts. They found a combination of donkey and bicycle best for compost carriage. The large donkey cart was preferred to the very large bullock cart due to the donkey's stamina and the time conflict between bullocks carrying compost and ploughing. However, the donkey cart was harder to access as it was owned in a group, whereas individually owned bicycles were always available. Timing was therefore the mechanism through which capital acted to determine the most appropriate vehicle. Human capital was the primary requirement for timely compost carriage, and financial capital replaced it when a high-capacity vehicle was substituted. The social capital involved in being in a donkey owning group gave farmers access to an outside source of financial capital for cart purchase, but cash limitation was the ultimate barrier to access to appropriate means of transport.
A comparison of the noise sensitivity of nine QRS detection algorithms

The noise sensitivities of nine different QRS detection algorithms were measured for a normal, single-channel, lead-II, synthesized ECG corrupted with five different types of synthesized noise: electromyographic interference, 60-Hz power line interference, baseline drift due to respiration, abrupt baseline shift, and a composite noise constructed from all of the other noise types. The percentage of QRS complexes detected, the number of false positives, and the detection delay were measured. None of the algorithms were able to detect all QRS complexes without any false positives for all of the noise types at the highest noise level. Algorithms based on amplitude and slope had the highest performance for EMG-corrupted ECG. An algorithm using a digital filter had the best performance for the composite-noise-corrupted data. <<ETX>>
Interorganizational Trust: Origins, Dysfunctions and Regulation of Rigidities

This conceptual paper extends research on the downsides of developing trust to partners in interorganizational relationships. The idea developed captures that, although interorganizational trust generates benefits, a parallel process also produces undesired rigidities. Firms' flexibility in meeting a changing environment may thus be hampered rather than enabled by the created interorganizational relationship. First, we theorize on the micro-processes of how and why such rigidities develop already at low levels of trust and accumulate in parallel to the positive trust effects as trust builds stronger over time. Second, we propose that the trust dysfunctions can be distinguished and moderated separately from trust benefits. In doing so, we identify and discuss the moderating potential of a set of handling tactics when trust develops rigidities in the relationship: competing, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating and compromising tactics. We discuss implications in relation to research on trust, inertia and interorganizational governance.
Early Weight Gain Predicts Retinopathy in Preterm Infants: New, Simple, Efficient Approach to Screening

BACKGROUND. The risk for sight-threatening retinopathy of prematurity is predicted by using gestational age and/or weight at birth. All infants below a threshold undergo serial ophthalmologic examinations for identification of those who would benefit from treatment (∼10%). We hypothesized that factoring in postnatal weight gain could identify children at risk for sight-threatening retinopathy of prematurity more specifically and earlier. METHODS. Weekly weights from birth to postmenstrual week 36 were retrospectively entered into a surveillance system that gave an alarm when the rate of weight gain decreased to a certain level. For all children (N = 354) screened and/or treated for retinopathy of prematurity at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in 2004–2007, weekly weights were recorded. One child was excluded because of known nonphysiologic weight gain (hydrocephalus). RESULTS. For 127 (36%) of 353 children, no alarm was given; for 40%, alarm at low risk was given after postmenstrual week 32. None of those children developed retinopathy of prematurity requiring treatment. Of the remaining 24% of children who received alarm at high or low risk before 32 postmenstrual weeks, 41% developed proliferative retinopathy of prematurity and 29% were treated because of sight-threatening disease. The median time from alarm to treatment was 9 weeks. CONCLUSIONS. The weight, insulin-like growth factor, neonatal retinopathy of prematurity algorithm detected early 100% of infants who developed retinopathy of prematurity requiring treatment and correctly predicted the majority who did not require treatment. With this simple postnatal evaluation, costly stressful eye examinations can be markedly reduced (∼75% of infants). In addition, early identification of children at risk may lead to the initiation of interventions and possibly prevent sight-threatening retinopathy of prematurity.
Developmentally regulated alternative splicing of densin modulates protein–protein interaction and subcellular localization

Densin is a member of the leucine‐rich repeat (LRR) and PDZ domain (LAP) protein family that binds several signaling molecules via its C‐terminal domains, including calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII). In this study, we identify several novel mRNA splice variants of densin that are differentially expressed during development. The novel variants share the LRR domain but are either prematurely truncated or contain internal deletions relative to mature variants of the protein (180 kDa), thus removing key protein–protein interaction domains. For example, CaMKIIα coimmunoprecipitates with densin splice variants containing an intact C‐terminal domain from lysates of transfected HEK293 cells, but not with variants that only contain N‐terminal domains. Immunoblot analyses using antibodies to peptide epitopes in the N‐ and C‐ terminal domains of densin are consistent with developmental regulation of splice variant expression in brain. Moreover, putative splice variants display different subcellular fractionation patterns in brain extracts. Expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP)‐fused densin splice variants in HEK293 cells shows that the LRR domain can target densin to a plasma membrane‐associated compartment, but that the splice variants are differentially localized and have potentially distinct effects on cell morphology. In combination, these data show that densin splice variants have distinct functional characteristics suggesting multiple roles during neuronal development.
Managing Personal Computer Use: The Role of Corporate Management Information Systems

Abstract:Managing the influx of personal computers (pc) presents a significant dilemma for most management information systems (mis) executives. On the one hand, too tight control will limit the creative use of pcs and may in fact force users “underground” (where formal standards, methodologies, and controls have little effect). A laissez-faire approach, on the other hand, can often lead to inappropriate, ineffective applications being developed by users on their pcs.This article presents the results of a field study of how eight firms are striking this balance, and it suggests two frameworks for understanding how firms must change their pc management practices in different circumstances.
Do Labour Parties Suffer from Declining Turnout? Evidence from Norwegian Local Elections

Abstract The argument that declining voter turnout harms social democratic parties has received little support in research on national elections, but partisan consequences of declining turnout in local elections has been less explored. Norwegian local elections – where both turnout and support for the Labour Party have declined since the early 1960s – are used as a test case. Analyses of aggregate data gave no systematic support for the hypothesis that Labour suffers from lower turnout. Declining turnout and declining Labour Party vote were not causally related, and the correlation between the two variables seemed to be the result of other long-term social changes. Analyses of survey data pointed to three flaws in the premises on which the hypothesis was based. First, the effect of declining turnout on the biased class composition of the abstainers was ambiguous. Second, the Norwegian Labour Party suffers less from differential turnout than before as a result of declining class voting. Third, the Labour Party may suffer from a demobilisation of the working class, but the party may also benefit from a demobilisation of the young.
Comparative Susceptibility of Selected Avian and Mammalian Species to a Hong Kong–Origin H5N1 High-Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Virus

Abstract Seventeen avian species and two mammalian species were intranasally inoculated with the zoonotic A/chicken/Hong Kong/220/97 (chicken/HK) (H5N1) avian influenza (AI) virus in order to ascertain a relative range of susceptible hosts and the pathobiology of the resultant disease. A direct association was demonstrated between viral replication and the severity of disease, with four general gradations being observed among these species. These gradations included the following: 1) widespread dissemination with rapid and high mortality, 2) neurological disease relative to viral neurotropism, 3) asymptomatic infection or only mild transient depression associated with minor viral replication, and 4) absence of disease relative to minimal to no viral replication. This investigation not only demonstrates that the chicken/HK virus could infect multiple avian species, but also that the virulence of the chicken/HK virus varied significantly among avian species, including those species that are members of the same order.
Judging Social Rights

1. Aims and methods Part I. The Case for Constitutional Social Rights: 2. The case for social rights 3. The value of courts in light of the alternatives 4. A basic interpretive approach Part II. A Theory of Judicial Restraint: 5. Institutional approaches to judicial restraint 6. Democratic legitimacy 7. Polycentricity 8. Expertise 9. Flexibility Part III. Incrementalism: 10. Incrementalism as a general theme.
Post-Accra: is there space for country ownership in global health?

Abstract On 4 September 2008 the Accra Agenda for Action, which emphasised that country ownership over health must be strengthened, was agreed upon. While the Agenda for Action, which builds on the 2005 Paris Declaration, is a major step forward, there are still structural factors that impede developing country ownership in health. This paper outlines the key issues in the governance and resourcing of public health in low- and middle-income countries focusing on three major structural challenges for developing countries: the proliferation of initiatives, donor influence on priority setting and donors' lack of accountability, and the sustainability of current levels and types of external financing. How can these structural obstacles be overcome? Three avenues hold considerable promise: creating new mechanisms to hold donors to account, developing national plans and strengthening national leadership in health, and building South–South collaborative networks through bilateral, multilateral and plurilateral relations.
Use of antiparkinsonian drugs in Denmark: Results from a nationwide pharmacoepidemiological study

The objective of the present study was to record the use of antiparkinsonian drugs (APD) in Denmark and discuss estimates of the incidence and prevalence rates of Parkinson's disease (PD). The main indication for treatment with APD is idiopathic PD. The use of APD is, therefore, an indicator of the epidemiology of PD and Parkinsonism. We used a drug tracer design, which previously has been found applicable in estimating the frequency of PD. From a national prescription database, all persons who purchased APD from 1995 to 2002 could be identified on an individual level. Results show an age‐standardized prevalence rate for APD purchase of 164.0 persons per 100,000, and an incidence rate of 55.9 persons per 100,000. The total number of persons purchasing APD was 11,656 per year on average. Our results showed higher figures of persons purchasing APD than the estimated prevalence of idiopathic PD in Denmark, which is approximately 100 persons per 100,000, corresponding to 5,000 to 6,000 persons. The differences might in part be explained by other indications for APD prescription in addition to PD and in part by misdiagnosis. However, the possibility of somewhat higher incidence and prevalence rates of PD than hitherto estimated should be considered. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society