Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The sharp end of medical practice: the use of acupuncture in obstetrics and gynecology

much of their critical sense and came under the influence of the Chinese propaganda. The heterogeneity of acupuncture textbooks, the absence of scientific data and, a fortiori, the impossibility to integrate or at the least reconcile the theory of acupuncture with our knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology should have prevented this development. Unfortunately, this was not the case and research into the effectiveness of acupuncture started. An unanswered question is if such research is justified. It will not be simple to dispel the a priori scepticism, not even by properly randomised investigations. Who would, for instance, seriously consider an announcement by NASA that, from analysis of electromagnetic radiation from Saturn, it appears that this heavenly body is made of cheese? As Skrabanek convincingly argued, randomised trials of absurb statements are more likely to mislead than to illuminate, because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this respect, the interpretation of unlikely results of scientific research does not differ from the Bayesian appraisal of findings that are certain, judged from strong empirical knowledge in clinical practice. In our view, Ewies and Olah present insufficient data to justify further research into acupuncture. The single acceptable trial with a positive result (correction of the breech position by moxa burnings adjacent to both little toes) has not been confirmed. The suggested physiological explanation for the effect seems is speculative. The WHO sees undeniable evidence ‘‘for the integration of acupuncture with conventional medicine’’, but this is not convincing. This bold statement is not based on a wellfounded scientific analysis. The fact that the WHO considers diseases such bacillary dysentery, paresis following stroke and sequelae of poliomyelitis as indications for acupuncture treatment is revealing. It is also of note that the anonymous author of the paper in the WHO chronicle of 1980 emphasised that the list of indications was not based on controlled clinical trials, but merely on ‘clinical experience’. We conclude that one certainly should keep an open mind in scientific research, but we should also keep in mind Kurtz’s statement that, if one fails to demarcate scientific questions from obvious absurdities, one’s open mind will change into an open sink. Research of the effectiveness of acupuncture is wasted energy.
Sorting out commodities

Far from being a self-enclosed system, capitalism is unable to create most of the skills, relations, and resources it needs to function. Capitalist accumulation depends on converting stuff created in varied ways, including photosynthesis and animal metabolism, into capitalist commodities. Capitalist commodities thus come into value by using—and obviating—non-capitalist social relations, human and non-human. How is this done? This article shows the importance of assessment practices in creating commodity value from non-capitalist value forms. Sorting mushrooms offers a startlingly clear example, because the mushrooms are basically unchanged except for sorting. Yet, similar practices are found in many commodity chains. Alienation cannot be taken for granted; it must be built into the commodity.
Suicides in close connection with psychiatric care: An analysis of 57 cases in a Swedish county

ABSTRACT— Among 523 suicides committed in 1977–1984, 10 took place in a psychiatric hospital ward, 17 after the patient had left the ward without permission, 21 while the patient was on leave and nine 0–7 days after discharge. These 57 subjects were compared with 271 suicides committed more than 7 days after discharge or during outpatient care only (PCO). The male:female ratio was 1.0 in the former (PCI) group and 2.0 in the PCO group. The median age of the PCI subjects was 38 years. The suicide method was hanging in all 10 suicides (2 males, 8 females) committed in the psychiatric hospital ward. Depressive syndromes and, particularly schizophrenic and paranoid psychoses were more frequent among the PCI than among the PCO subjects. The extent of psychiatric care, as assessed by the number of admissions, was much greater in the PCI than in the PCO subjects. Environmental factors that might have been of causative importance for the suicidal act were of various kinds and differed to some extent between the two grups. Among the PCI subjects women seemed to have experienced family troubles more often than men, and situations of stressful psychiatric rehabilitation were more common among men.
Binge alcohol-induced microvesicular liver steatosis and injury are associated with down-regulation of hepatic Hdac 1, 7, 9, 10, 11 and up-regulation of Hdac 3.

BACKGROUND Binge, as well as chronic, alcohol consumption affects global histone acetylation leading to changes in gene expression. It is becoming increasingly evident that these histone-associated epigenetic modifications play an important role in the development of alcohol-mediated hepatic injury. METHODS C57BL/6 mice were gavaged 3 times (12-hour intervals) with ethanol (EtOH; 4.5 g/kg). Hepatic histone deacetylase (Hdac) mRNAs were assessed by qRT-PCR. Total HDAC activity was estimated by a colorimetric HDAC activity/inhibition assay. Histone acetylation levels were evaluated by Western blot. Liver steatosis and injury were evaluated by histopathology, plasma aminotransferase (ALT) activity, and liver triglyceride accumulation. Expression of fatty acid synthase (Fas) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1a (Cpt1a) was also examined. HDAC 9 association with Fas promoter was analyzed. RESULTS Binge alcohol exposure resulted in alterations of hepatic Hdac mRNA levels. Down-regulation of HDAC Class I (Hdac 1), Class II (Hdac 7, 9, 10), and Class IV (Hdac 11) and up-regulation of HDAC Class I (Hdac 3) gene expression were observed. Correspondent to the decrease in HDAC activity, an increase in hepatic histone acetylation was observed. These molecular events were associated with microvesicular hepatic steatosis and injury characterized by increased hepatic triglycerides (48.02 ± 3.83 vs. 19.90 ± 3.48 mg/g liver, p < 0.05) and elevated plasma ALT activity (51.98 ± 6.91 vs. 20.8 ± 0.62 U/l, p < 0.05). Hepatic steatosis was associated with an increase in FAS and a decrease in CPT1a mRNA and protein expression. Fas promoter analysis revealed that binge EtOH treatment decreased HDAC 9 occupancy at the Fas promoter resulting in its transcriptional activation. CONCLUSIONS Deregulation of hepatic Hdac expression likely plays a major role in the binge alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis and liver injury by affecting lipogenesis and fatty acid β-oxidation.
Te Puawaitanga: Partnerships with tamariki and whānau in bicultural early childhood care and education

This project sought to document, explore, and theorise the experiences of a diverse range of voices of tamariki/children, whānau/families, and educators from early childhood centres where the programmes reflect the bicultural mandate contained within key regulatory and curriculum statements. These include the Ministry of Education’s Desirable Objectives and Practices (DOPs) (Ministry of Education, 1996a) requirement 10c, whereby management and educators are required to implement policies, objectives, and practices that “reflect the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua and the principle of partnership inherent in Te Tiriti o Waitangi”, and the national early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, which states that, “In early childhood settings, all children should be given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi” (Ministry of Education, 1996b, p. 9).
Modern Location Factors in Dynamic Regions

Globalization has had an enormous impact on traditional industrial structures. It almost seems that everything is everywhere the same. And yet, in reality, some regions in a single industrialized country enjoy rapid economic growth while others are downsizing or stagnating. Thus there must be some remaining regional competitive advantages—even in the “Age of Globalization”. This paper engages in a quest to discover what these modern location factors might be and how and why they are necessary in creating dynamics and regional growth. In doing so, we link the driving forces behind these modern location factors with regional performance and eventually arrive at a concept of a regional lifecycle and its key dynamics. Using data that paint a comprehensive picture of industry and regional development in Germany we try to find empirical evidence for our approach.
Longitudinal cohort study of risk factors in cancer patients of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw.

PURPOSE The reported incidence of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) ranges from 0.94% to 18.6%. This cohort study aimed to calculate the incidence of and identify the risk factors for ONJ in patients with cancer treated with intravenous zoledronate, ibandronate, and pamidronate. PATIENTS AND METHODS Data analyzed included age, sex, smoking status, underlying disease, medical and dental history, bisphosphonates (BP) type, and doses administered. Relative risks, crude and adjusted odds ratios (aORs), and cumulative hazard ratios for ONJ development were calculated. RESULTS We included 1,621 patients who received 29,006 intravenous doses of BP, given monthly. Crude ONJ incidence was 8.5%, 3.1%, and 4.9% in patients with multiple myeloma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer, respectively. Patients with breast cancer demonstrated a reduced risk for ONJ development, which turned out to be nonsignificant after adjustment for other variables. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that use of dentures (aOR = 2.02; 95% CI, 1.03 to 3.96), history of dental extraction (aOR = 32.97; 95% CI, 18.02 to 60.31), having ever received zoledronate (aOR = 28.09; 95% CI, 5.74 to 137.43), and each zoledronate dose (aOR = 2.02; 95% CI, 1.15 to 3.56) were associated with increased risk for ONJ development. Smoking, periodontitis, and root canal treatment did not increase risk for ONJ in patients receiving BP. CONCLUSION The conclusions of this study validated dental extractions and use of dentures as risk factors for ONJ development. Ibandronate and pamidronate at the dosages and frequency used in this study seem to exhibit a safer drug profile concerning ONJ complication; however, randomized controlled trials are needed to validate these results. Before initiation of a bisphosphonate, patients should have a comprehensive dental examination. Patients with a challenging dental situation should have dental care attended to before initiation of these drugs.
Marginal intra‐industry trade and adjustment costs in the first phase of transition: A Hungarian‐Polish comparison

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to investigate some dynamic aspects of the smooth adjustment hypothesis (SAH) associated with intra-industry trade (IIT). The structure of trade expansion in Hungary and Poland over the period 1990-1998 and its implications for labour market adjustment is examined. Design/methodology/approach - The paper applies an econometric approach and considers three-digit International Standard Industry Classification classified data. The paper uses a model developed by recent empirical literature, both in static and dynamic forms and tests whether the results are sensitive for the choice of length of period and marginal intra-industry indices. Findings - The econometric analysis suggests that changes in domestic consumption and productivity have significant influence on employment changes. Significant and negative relationships were found between trade openness and employment changes. The calculations provide some evidence to support SAH, especially for Poland. However, the effects of IIT on employment changes are small especially to additional hypotheses. The estimations show that partial trade liberalisation in Hungary and Poland has led to lower adjustment costs. Originality/value - The paper is one of the first to focus on labour market adjustment costs in transition countries. Its results also reveal that the estimations on the impacts of trade liberalisations should be interpreted only with care due to sensitivity on the length of time period and applied econometric techniques.
Explaining Elite Attitudes On the Georgia Flag

Confederate symbols continue to spark controversy throughout the South. Analysis of a survey of Georgia campaign contributors reveals that a variety of factors—racial attitudes, conservative identity, and traditionalist values—help account for support for the state flag, which contains the Confederate battle emblem. Older respondents were more likely to support the flag as well. The results are consistent with a "symbolic politics" approach, where symbols trigger affective responses based on earlier socialization experiences. Contributors who grew up outside the South respond differently to the flag, providing additional support for the symbolic politics argument.
Disruption of the RAD52 gene alters the spectrum of spontaneous SUP4-o mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Defects in the RAD52 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae confer a mutator phenotype. To characterize this effect in detail, a collection of 238 spontaneous SUP4-o mutations arising in a strain having a disrupted RAD52 gene was analyzed by DNA sequencing. The resulting mutational spectrum was compared to that derived from an examination of 222 spontaneous mutations selected in a nearisogenic wild-type (RAD52) strain. This comparison revealed that the mutator phenotype was associated with an increase in the frequency of base-pair substitutions. All possible types of substitution were detected but there was a reduction in the relative fraction of A.T----G.C transitions and an increase in the proportion of G.C----C.G transversions. These changes were sufficient to cause a twofold greater preference for substitutions at G.C sites in the rad52 strain despite a decrease in the fraction of G.C----T.A transversions. There were also considerable differences between the distributions of substitutions within the SUP4-o gene. Base-pair changes occurred at fewer sites in the rad52 strain but the mutated sites included several that were not detected in the RAD52 background. Only two of the four sites that were mutated most frequently in the rad52 strain were also prominent in the wild-type strain and mutation frequencies at almost all sites common to both strains were greater for the rad52 derivative. Although single base-pair deletions occurred in the two strains with similar frequencies, several classes of mutation that were recovered in the wild-type background including multiple base-pair deletions, insertions of the yeast transposable element Ty, and more complex changes, were not detected in the rad52 strain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dual Invasive Infection with Phaeoacremonium parasiticum and Paraconiothyrium cyclothyrioides in a Renal Transplant Recipient: Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature of Phaeoacremonium Phaeohyphomycosis

ABSTRACT Despite increasing reports of human infection, data about the optimal care of Phaeoacremonium infections are missing. We report a case of an infection due to Phaeoacremonium parasiticum and Paraconiothyrium cyclothyrioides, initially localized to skin and soft tissue, in a kidney transplant patient. Despite surgical drainage and excision of the lesion and combination antifungal therapy with voriconazole and liposomal amphotericin B, a disseminated infection involving the lungs and brain developed and led to death. We performed a systematic literature review to assess the general features and outcome of human infections due to Phaeoacremonium species. Thirty-six articles were selected, and 42 patients, including ours, were reviewed. Thirty-one patients (74%) were immunocompromised because of organ or bone marrow transplantation (n = 17), diabetes or glucose intolerance (n = 10), rheumatoid arthritis or Still's disease (n = 4), chronic hematological diseases (n = 3), or chronic granulomatous disease (n = 3). Ten patients (24%) reported initial cutaneous trauma. Skin and soft tissue infections represented 57% of infections (n = 24), and disseminated infections, all occurring in immunocompromised patients, represented 14% of infections (n = 6). The main antifungal drugs used were azoles (n = 41) and amphotericin B (n = 16). Surgical excision or drainage was performed in 64% of cases (n = 27). The cure rate was 67% (n = 28). There were 10% cases of treatment failure or partial response (n = 4), 19% relapses (n = 8), and 7% losses to follow-up (n = 3). The death rate was 19% (n = 8). Management of Phaeoacremonium infections is complex because of slow laboratory identification and limited clinical data, and treatment relies on a combination of surgery and systemic antifungal therapy.
Prion formation, but not clearance, is supported by protein misfolding cyclic amplification

Prion diseases are fatal transmissible neurodegenerative disorders that affect animals including humans. The kinetics of prion infectivity and PrPSc accumulation can differ between prion strains and within a single strain in different tissues. The net accumulation of PrPSc in animals is controlled by the relationship between the rate of PrPSc formation and clearance. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) is a powerful technique that faithfully recapitulates PrPSc formation and prion infectivity in a cell-free system. PMCA has been used as a surrogate for animal bioassay and can model species barriers, host range, strain co-factors and strain interference. In this study we investigated if degradation of PrPSc and/or prion infectivity occurs during PMCA. To accomplish this we performed PMCA under conditions that do not support PrPSc formation and did not observe either a reduction in PrPSc abundance or an extension of prion incubation period, compared to untreated control samples. These results indicate that prion clearance does not occur during PMCA. These data have significant implications for the interpretation of PMCA based experiments such as prion amplification rate, adaptation to new species and strain interference where production and clearance of prions can affect the outcome.
Macroeconomic Stability and Heterogeneous Expectations

The late 2000s financial crisis resulted in the collapse of large financial institutions, in the bailout of banks by national governments and downturns in stock markets around the world. Such a large set of outcomes put classical economic thinking under huge pressure. The 2007 crisis made many policy makers in a state of ”shocked disbelief”, as Alan Greenspan declared. Furthermore the recent macroeconomic literature have been stressing the role of heterogeneous expectations in the formulation of monetary policy and recent laboratory experiments provided more evidence about this phenomenon. We use a simple model made by the standard aggregate demand function, the New Keynesian Phillips curve and a Taylor rule to deal with different issues, such as the stabilizing effect of different monetary policies in a system populated by heterogeneous agents. The response of the system depends on the ecology of forecasting rules, on agents sensitivity in evaluating the past performances of the predictors and on the reaction to inflation. In particular we investigate whether the policy makers can sharpen macroeconomic stability in the presence of heterogeneous expectations about future inflation and output gap and how this framework is able to reduce volatility and distortion in the whole system.
Value for money drivers in public private partnership schemes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate value for money drivers in public private partnership (PPP) schemes.Design/methodology/approach – Three case studies of PPP construction projects in the UK were undertaken.Findings – PPP contracts commonly require the private agent to take responsibilities for the performance of the asset over a long term, at least for a significant part of its useful life, so that efficiencies arising from long term asset management can be obtained. The evidence is finely balanced on the usefulness of such initiatives in realizing efficiency gains, although there is clear benefit of risk transfer.Practical implications – The findings highlight the challenge of designing and implementing innovative partnership plans to manage public services more effectively. More emphasis needs to be placed on strategies for the transfer of risk, value for money drivers and project expertise for the successful conclusions of PPP contracts.Originality/value – The paper contributes to t.
Optimal Trade Execution Under Stochastic Volatility and Liquidity

Abstract We study the problem of optimally liquidating a financial position in a discrete-time model with stochastic volatility and liquidity. We consider the three cases where the objective is to minimize the expectation, an expected exponential or a mean-variance criterion of the implementation cost. In the first case, the optimal solution can be fully characterized by a forward-backward system of stochastic equations depending on conditional expectations of future liquidity. In the other two cases, we derive Bellman equations from which the optimal solutions can be obtained numerically by discretizing the control space. In all three cases, we compute optimal strategies for different simulated realizations of prices, volatility and liquidity and compare the outcomes to the ones produced by the deterministic strategies of Bertsimas and Lo (1998; Optimal control of execution costs. Journal of Financial Markets, 1, 1–50) and Almgren and Chriss (2001; Optimal execution of portfolio transactions. Journal of Risk, 3, 5–33).
An Integrated Model of Excellent Leadership in Public Relations: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation

This study investigates the role of leadership in facilitating strategic communication management and effective public relations practice by proposing a set of dimensions measuring corporate communication executives’ perceptions on leadership. A measurement methodology was applied and suggested to facilitate empirical investigation. Data from two groups of senior corporate communicators and public relations executives (N = 384) nationwide were used to assess the validity and reliability of proposed leadership dimensions that contribute to effective communication management. Results from both groups demonstrated strong support for the proposed higher-order measurement model. The analysis suggested that 6 major dimensions (self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic decision making capability, and communication knowledge management capability) are crucial for communication executives to expand their influence in the institutional context and generate desired communication outcomes. The findings offer insights on both leadership and corporate communications that may account for significant nonfinancial indictors of organizational effectiveness.