Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spinal cord tethering following myelomeningocele repair.

OBJECT Symptom response to spinal cord untethering, and the impact of duraplasty and scoliosis on retethering, are poorly understood in tethering after myelomeningocele (MMC) repair. In this retrospective study, the authors examined the outcomes of children who developed first-time spinal cord tethering following MMC repair. The response of symptoms to untethering and the role of duraplasty and scoliosis in retethering are explored. METHODS The authors performed a review of 54 children with first-time symptomatic spinal cord tethering following MMC repair to determine the impact of untethering on symptoms, the impact of dural repair type on retethering, and the role of scoliosis on the prevalence and time to retethering. RESULTS The average patient age was 10.3 ± 4.9 years, and 44% were males. The most common presenting symptoms of tethered cord syndrome were urinary (87%), motor (80%), gait (78%), and sensory (61%) dysfunction. The average postoperative time to symptom improvement was 2.02 months for sensory symptoms, 3.21 months for pain, 3.50 months for urinary symptoms, and 4.48 months for motor symptoms, with sensory improvement occurring significantly earlier than motor improvement (p = 0.02). At last follow-up (an average of 47 months), motor symptoms were improved in 26%, maintained in 62%, and worsened in 11%; for sensory symptoms, these rates were 26%, 71%, and 3%, respectively; for pain, 28%, 65%, and 7%, respectively; and for urinary symptoms, 17%, 76%, and 7%, respectively. There was no difference in symptom response with type of dural repair (primary closure vs duraplasty). Symptomatic retethering occurred in 17 (31%) of 54 patients, but duration of symptoms, age at surgery, and type of dural repair were not associated with retethering. Scoliosis was not associated with an increased prevalence of retethering, but was associated with significantly earlier retethering (32.5 vs 61.1 months; p = 0.042) in patients who underwent additional untethering operations. CONCLUSIONS Symptomatic retethering is a common event after MMC repair. In the authors' experience, sensory improvements occur sooner than motor improvements following initial untethering. Symptom response rates were not altered by type of dural closure. Scoliosis was associated with significantly earlier retethering and should be kept in mind when caring for individuals who have had previous MMC repair.
Organisational amnesia: a serious public sector reform issue

Purpose – However well‐intentioned are public sector reform movements, they are often compromised by misunderstandings about meanings and directions and by the organisational amnesia that comes from too rapid change and too little attention to the past. A better appreciation of these problems is needed. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines discussion about factors that inhibit successful outcomes of many reform programmes with examples drawn mostly from the Australian experience.Findings – Reform programmes are likely to have better outcomes if they are designed with these possible impediments in view. Similarly theoretical understandings will be safer and sounder if more attention is given to administrative history and more care is taken to reconcile conflicting views.Originality/value – The paper focuses on issues that have not been given much attention in the literature of public sector reform.
Obesity and therapy-related toxicity in patients treated for small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND Obese individuals have altered pharmacokinetics for many medications when compared with the non-obese. For the oncologist treating an obese cancer patient, these changes in drug disposition may potentially cause increased therapy-related toxicity. As a consequence, oncologists frequently treat obese patients with dose reductions in an effort to decrease chemotherapy toxicity. However, little clinical data exist to either support or refute this policy. PURPOSE The clinical course of a cohort of patients treated for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) was evaluated to determine if the obese patients had an increase in therapy-related toxicity. METHODS The study sample included 262 patients with histologically confirmed SCLC treated in clinical trials from 1977 through 1993. Before 1986, patients with limited stage SCLC were treated with a cyclophosphamide-based regimen with (n = 47) or without (n = 46) chest radiotherapy. Subsequent patients with limited stage disease (n = 54) received etoposide and cisplatin plus twice-daily chest radiotherapy. Patients with extensive stage SCLC were randomly treated with standard-dose (n = 46) or high-dose etoposide plus cisplatin (n = 44); poor-risk patients with extensive stage disease (n = 25) were assigned to standard dose etoposide plus cisplatin. For all patients, actual body weight was used when determining initial doses of chemotherapy. The measure of relative weight was the body mass index (BMI), which was calculated from the pretreatment height and weight data. The BMI was evaluated both on a continuum and with patients grouped into BMI levels (normal, obese, and severely obese). Toxicity parameters were collected during induction chemotherapy and were compared with the BMI. In addition, the overall survival of the entire cohort was evaluated, with patients divided into different groups based on their BMI level. RESULTS We performed 170 comparisons between the BMI as a continuum or the BMI level and the 15 toxicity parameters. There were no consistent associations of significance found between increasing BMI or BMI levels and increasing toxicity from therapy. When survival was evaluated, no statistically significant differences were found between the survival of patients within the different BMI levels. CONCLUSIONS In this group of 262 patients with SCLC, obesity at the start of treatment was not associated with increased toxicity from treatment or a shortened survival. No support for empiric chemotherapy dose reductions based on ideal body weight was evident from this study.
Improvement of Evaluation Indices for Rear-End Collision Risk

There are various kinds of indices to evaluate collision risk against forward obstacles, which are used to determine the timing of collision warning provision in forward obstacle collision warning systems (FCWSs) and advanced emergency braking systems. A previous study proposed a deceleration for collision avoidance (DCA) method, which can evaluate a collision risk more precisely than other conventional indices. However, the calculation process of DCA assumed that a following vehicle (FV) performs a uniform motion within a driver's constant reaction time. The assumption causes underestimation of collision risk when the FV accelerates and overestimation when it decelerates. Consequently, this paper shows a detailed calculation process of an improved DCA based on an expanded assumption that the FV maintains a uniformly accelerated motion within the reaction time. Moreover, stimulus-response experiments were conducted to measure the driver's reaction time when he/she adjusts the brake pedal depression. Numerical simulations, where DCA is used for the FCWS, were performed to show that the improved DCA (with a new setting for the driver reaction time) describes the collision risk more properly compared to the conventional DCA.
Why Women Don't Run

Abstract Women are dramatically underrepresented in all of America's elective political institutions. Previous research has demonstrated that once women choose to become candidates they not only receive equal levels of party and financial support, but are just as likely as equally situated men to win. The primary reason for women's underrepresentation is that women are significantly less likely to choose to run than men. Using survey data from four different age cohorts in a central New York county, this paper provides some additional insight into why women are so much less likely to become candidates for political office than men. The findings suggest that a multiplicity of factors including political gender role socialization, a lack of political confidence, family responsibilities and the relatively few numbers of visible women role models in politics all contribute to why women don't run.
Thecal vascularity in ovarian follicles of different size and rank in the lizard Anolis carolinensis

Ovarian follicular histology of the lizard Anolis carolinensis was studied in relation to follicular size and rank. The structure of the Anolis follicular granulosa is similar to that described in other reptiles. Changes in the granulosa during follicular hypertrophy are also similar to those described in other species. Follicles of low rank in the linear size‐gradation exhibited atresia.
CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING AMONG SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN IN CANADA: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND ACCULTURATION

Cervical cancer screening by Papanicolaou (Pap) smear lowers the incidence and provides early detection of cervical cancer and is a preventative health care measure that should be available on a regular basis to all women at risk. As the population of ethnic women increases, it is important to assess whether these women are aware of and are utilizing this health service. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 124 South Asian women, aged 18 to 60 years. Sixty-two South Asian students were selected from a university setting and 62 Tamil women were selected from a community center for South Asian women. This study examined the knowledge and use of Pap smears in South Asian women in Canada, and whether their level of acculturation or formal education influenced whether they know about and receive Pap smears. Low level of knowledge about the Pap test and a low prevalence of Pap testing behaviour was significantly correlated ( p < 0.001) with a low level of formal education, education taking place outside of Canada, and a low index of acculturation. South Asian students were significantly more acculturated than Tamil women ( p < 0.001). In conclusion, there was a low level of knowledge and prevalence of cervical cancer screening among South Asian women. This study highlights the need for educational interventions in Canada directed to ethnic women especially from South Asia.
Developmental role of endogenous retinoids in the determination of morphallactic field in budding tunicates

We have extracted retinoids from the budding tunicate Polyandrocarpa misakiensis and, using HPLC, identified some major peaks as cis-retinal, all-trans-retinal and all-trans-retinoic acid, of which cis-retinal was most abundant (~2 micromolar). In developing buds, the amount of cis-retinal was about one-fifth that of the adult animals. In those buds, aldehyde dehydrogenase, which could metabolize retinal in vitro, was expressed in epithelial cells and then in mesenchymal cells at the proximal extremity, that is, the future developmental field of the bud. Exogenous retinoic acid comparable to the endogenous level could induce an additional field at the distal end of the bud, resulting in a double monster. The induction always accompanied an ectopic expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase. The results of this work suggest that retinoic acid or related molecule(s) act as an endogenous trigger of morphallactic development of Polyandrocarpa buds.
Human Resource Management: Ethics and Employment

The book examines ethics and employment issues in contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM). Written by an international team of academics from universities in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand, it examines the problems and opportunities facing employers and employees. The book subdivides into three sections: Part I assesses the context of HRM; Part II analyses contemporary debates, continuity and change in HRM; and Part III proposes likely developments for the future seeking to identify a more proactive HRM approach towards ethical issues arising in employment. Distinctive features include: Comprehensive analysis of continuity and change in employment and HRM; In-depth assessment of the ethical contribution and potential of HRM; Timely evaluation of the ethical achievements to-date of HRM in individualized employment relations, HRM partnerships, HRM and employee performance, and strategic HRM; Detailed recommendations for HR managers and general managers encouraging more ethically aware practice; Guidance on ethical approaches to leadership, knowledge management and collective employment relations; Analysis of alternative futures for HRM as a profession and advice on how to create more rigorous and independent professional practice; A vision of a more innovative, cooperative and ethically sensitive set of HRM practices; Clear proposals for HRM on how to attain more ethical conduct.
How Auditory Experience Differentially Influences the Function of Left and Right Superior Temporal Cortices

To investigate how hearing status, sign language experience, and task demands influence functional responses in the human superior temporal cortices (STC) we collected fMRI data from deaf and hearing participants (male and female), who either acquired sign language early or late in life. Our stimuli in all tasks were pictures of objects. We varied the linguistic and visuospatial processing demands in three different tasks that involved decisions about (1) the sublexical (phonological) structure of the British Sign Language (BSL) signs for the objects, (2) the semantic category of the objects, and (3) the physical features of the objects. Neuroimaging data revealed that in participants who were deaf from birth, STC showed increased activation during visual processing tasks. Importantly, this differed across hemispheres. Right STC was consistently activated regardless of the task whereas left STC was sensitive to task demands. Significant activation was detected in the left STC only for the BSL phonological task. This task, we argue, placed greater demands on visuospatial processing than the other two tasks. In hearing signers, enhanced activation was absent in both left and right STC during all three tasks. Lateralization analyses demonstrated that the effect of deafness was more task-dependent in the left than the right STC whereas it was more task-independent in the right than the left STC. These findings indicate how the absence of auditory input from birth leads to dissociable and altered functions of left and right STC in deaf participants. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Those born deaf can offer unique insights into neuroplasticity, in particular in regions of superior temporal cortex (STC) that primarily respond to auditory input in hearing people. Here we demonstrate that in those deaf from birth the left and the right STC have altered and dissociable functions. The right STC was activated regardless of demands on visual processing. In contrast, the left STC was sensitive to the demands of visuospatial processing. Furthermore, hearing signers, with the same sign language experience as the deaf participants, did not activate the STCs. Our data advance current understanding of neural plasticity by determining the differential effects that hearing status and task demands can have on left and right STC function.
The Conditional CAPM, Cross-Section Returns and Stochastic Volatility

Bansal and Yaron (2004) demonstrate, by calibration, that the Consumption-Based Capital Asset Pricing Model (CCAPM) can be rescued by assuming that consumption growth rate follows a stochastic volatility model. They show that the conditional equity premium is a linear function of conditional consumption and market return volatilities, which can be estimated handily by various Generalized Autoregressive Conditonal Heterskedasticity (GARCH) and Stochastic Volatility (SV) models.We find that conditional consumption and market volatilities are capable of explaining cross-sectional return differences. The Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) volatility can explain up to 55% variation of return and the EGARCH model augmented with (cay) -a cointegrating factor of consumption, labor income and asset wealth growth- greatly enhance model performance. We proceed to test another hypothesis: if Bansal and Yaron estimator is an unbiased estimator of true conditional equity premium, then the instrumental variables for estimating conditional equity premium should no longer be significant.We demonstrate that once the theoretical conditional risk premium is added to the model, it renders all instrumental variables redundant. Also, the model prediction is consistent with observed declining equity premium.
JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS DECEMBER 1975 RISK AND THE RATE OF RETURN ON FINANCIAL ASSETS: SOME OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES

Strides have been made recently in the discovery and refinement of theoretical models which purport to describe the relationship between asset prices and their risk attributes. (See especially Lintner [13,14,15], Sharpe [19], Mosin [17,18] and Fama [7,8.9].) The models have gained widespread acceptance because of their intuitive appeal and because most reported empirical evidence [1,4,5,11,20,21] allegedly supports their predictive value. It is our purpose to analyze critically one aspect of the nature of this evidence, reveal its inherent weakness, and to design an alternative test to examine the risk-return function. After observing the performance of an extremely large number of issues over long periods of time, we find little support for the notion that risk premiums have, in fact, manifested themselves in realized rates of return.
Immunopathology and Infectious Diseases p 47 phox Deficiency Induces Macrophage Dysfunction Resulting in Progressive Crystalline Macrophage Pneumonia

Nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate oxidase-deficient (p47 / ) mice are a model of human chronic granulomatous disease; these mice are prone to develop systemic infections and inflammatory diseases. The use of antibiotic (Bactrim) prophylaxis in a specific pathogen-free environment, however, impedes infection in the majority of p47 / mice. We examined infection-free p47 / mice between 1 and 14 months of age and found that they developed proliferative macrophage lesions containing Ym1/ Ym2 protein and crystals in lung, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen. Here, we show that the lung lesions progressed from single macrophages with intracellular Ym1/Ym2 protein crystals to severe diffuse crystalline macrophage pneumonia without histological evidence of either granulation tissue or pulmonary fibrosis. Ym1/Ym2 is a chitinase-like secretory protein that is transiently induced in alternatively activated macrophages during T-helper (Th)2-biased pathogenesis and during chemical and traumatic inflammation. Bronchoalveolar lavage from p47 / mice contained significantly higher levels of Th-1 (interferon), Th-2 (interleukin-4), and Th-17 (interleukin-17)-associated cytokines than wildtype mice, as well as copious amounts of interleukin12, indicating that Ym1-secreting p47 / macrophages are also integrated into classically activated macrophage responses. These results suggest that p47 / macrophages are extremely pliable, due in part to an intrinsic dysfunction of macrophage activation pathways that allows for distinct classical or alternative activation phenotypes. (Am J Pathol 2009, 174:153–163; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2009.080555)
Beneficial effect of matching at the HLA-A and -B amino-acid triplet level on rejection-free clear graft survival in penetrating keratoplasty1

Objective. The beneficial effect of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching on long-term prognosis in penetrating keratoplasty is now unequivocal but has to be weighed against the additional waiting period on an individual basis. HLAMatchmaker is a molecularly based algorithm for histocompatibility determination that can identify immunologically acceptable mismatches and thus potentially reduce time on the waiting list dramatically without negatively affecting prognosis. Methods. The HLAMatchmaker algorithm (triplet-string matching) was applied on each of 545 normal-risk keratoplasties for which complete HLA type was known at split-level resolution. Two homogenous groups were defined. Group I consisted of the 147 penetrating keratoplasties with up to 13 triplet-string mismatches (the typical upper limit of foreign in case of a single HLA-A or HLA-B allele mismatch) and was compared to the remaining 398 patients with more triplet mismatches (group II) using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank statistics. Analysis of clear graft survival on the basis of conventional HLA-A and HLA-B matching was performed as well. Reduction of time on the waiting list as compared to conventional HLA-A and HLA-B matching was predicted individually. Results. Triplet-string matching yielded 85% rejection-free clear graft survival 3 years after penetrating keratoplasty in group I but only 76% in group II (P <0.05), whereas conventional HLA-A and HLA-B matching did not result in any statistically significant reduction of immune reactions because of lack of statistical power (P =0.08). Triplet-string matching (13 mismatches accepted) reduces median time on the waiting list by 80%. Conclusions. Triplet-string matching seems to improve mid- to long-term prognosis in penetrating keratoplasties while simultaneously reducing time on the waiting list in most cases. It should thus be considered for histocompatibility determination in penetrating keratoplasty.
Large Artery Revascularization

Purpose of Review: Large artery cerebrovascular disease accounts for approximately 20% of ischemic strokes. This review describes anatomic, epidemiologic, imaging, and therapeutic aspects of large vessel obstructive disease, with emphasis on revascularization methods. Recent Findings: Considerable data have accumulated regarding the natural history, diagnosis, and optimal management of carotid disease, and the evidence regarding the optimal management of subclavian/brachiocephalic, vertebral, and intracranial obstructive disease continues to accrue. Advanced vascular imaging modalities have become integral to clinical decision making in the setting of complex cerebrovascular anatomy and physiology. The medical therapy and the surgical techniques have evolved remarkably over the past decades. Novel catheter-based endovascular therapies have rapidly emerged as an alternative or, in some cases, first-line treatment for large artery cerebrovascular disease. Summary: The evidence related to the diagnosis and treatment of large artery cerebrovascular disease has expanded remarkably. Sophisticated imaging protocols have minimized the need for invasive methods, and the efficacy of medical therapy (with newer antiplatelet agents and statins) has improved outcomes related to vascular disease. Endarterectomy and stenting have proven to be effective methods for carotid artery revascularization and stroke prevention. The best approach to patients with severe extracranial vertebral or intracranial stenosis warrants further investigation.