Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatic artery resistance in alcoholic liver disease

Patency and direction of flow in portal veins and their branches are generally assessed by duplex Doppler ultrasonography (DDUS), whereas few data are available on hepatic arterial hemodynamics. In this study, resistive (RI) and pulsatility indexes (PI) were calculated at DDUS in 21 controls, 22 chronic alcoholic patients without evidence of liver damage, 19 patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH), 30 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (CVH), 23 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, and 22 patients with viral‐related cirrhosis. Diagnosis was based on clinical and histological findings. Mean ± SD RI was similar in controls and CVH patients (0.64 ± 0.02 and 0.66 ± 0.04, respectively), significantly decreased in alcoholic patients without liver damage and AAH patients (0.61 ± 0.07 and 0.60 ± 0.07) (P < .05), and significantly increased in patients with alcoholic (0.72 ± 0.04) and viral‐related cirrhosis (0.74 ± 0.04) (P < .05). It was <0.60 in 9 of the 19 AAH patients (47%) and 11 of the 22 alcoholic patients without liver damage (50%), and >0.70 in 39 of the 45 cirrhotic patients (87%) and 12 of the 71 noncirrhotic patients pooled together (17%). A significant correlation was observed between RI and PI (r = .83; P < .05). The coefficients of variation for intraobserver variability were 6.3% ± 5.1% for RI and 10.1% ± 6.2% for PI, and the corresponding figures for interobserver variability were 5.2% ± 3.5% and 9.3% ± 4.6%. These findings support the existence of ethanol‐related hepatic arterial vasodilation in AAH and alcoholic patients without liver damage. Progression of liver damage from AAH to cirrhosis profoundly impairs the hepatic responsiveness as a consequence of fibrosis with vascular distortion.
The social embedding of management control in knowledge‐intensive firms

Purpose – The management and the control of knowledge‐intensive organizations have recently been subject to empirical studies. Much of the literature suggests that management control, defined and operationalized in a variety of ways and examined within different traditions, in essence affects co‐workers negatively. On the other hand, proponents of management control practices such as consultants stress the positive and productive aspects of such practices. Contrary to these skeptical and overtly rosy views, this paper seeks to contribute with a different perspective on the uses of total quality management (TQM) in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a study of the Swedish insurance company Agria employing a number of TQM methods and tools to monitor, control and evaluate the performance of the activities from a social embeddedness perspective.Findings – Seeking to encourage accounts within such an affirmative view, the paper calls for more research into the knowledge workers' p.
Reversing Age Related Changes of the Laryngeal Muscles by Chronic Electrostimulation of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve

Age related atrophy of the laryngeal muscles -mainly the thyroarytenoid muscle (TAM)- leads to a glottal gap and consequently to a hoarse and dysphonic voice that significantly affects quality of life. The aim of our study was to reverse this atrophy by inducing muscular hypertrophy by unilateral functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) in a large animal model using aged sheep (n = 5). Suitable stimulation parameters were determined by fatiguing experiments of the thyroarytenoid muscle in an acute trial. For the chronic trial an electrode was placed around the right RLN and stimulation was delivered once daily for 29 days. We chose a very conservative stimulation pattern, total stimulation time was two minutes per day, or 0.14% of total time. Overall, the mean muscle fiber diameter of the stimulated right TAM was significantly larger than the non-stimulated left TAM (30μm±1.1μm vs. 28μm±1.1 μm, p<0.001). There was no significant shift in fiber type distribution as judged by immunohistochemistry. The changes of fiber diameter could not be observed in the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle (PCAM). FES is a possible new treatment option for reversing the effects of age related laryngeal muscle atrophy.
An Empirical Study of the Effects of Service Quality, Perceived Value, Corporate Image, and Customer Satisfaction on Behavioral Intentions in the Taiwan Quick Service Restaurant Industry

This study aims at identifying the dimensions of service quality and examining the interrelationships among the service quality dimensions, service quality, perceived value, corporate image, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the quick service restaurant industry. The dimensions of service quality are built on a basis of formative indicators and a multi-level and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of service quality, perceived value, corporate image and customer satisfaction on behavioral intentions of customers in the quick service restaurant industry. The findings of this study are based on multiple regression analysis of a convenience sample of 686 respondents. The findings reveal that there are three primary dimensions and 10 sub-dimensions of service quality in the quick service restaurant industry.
Fibrinogen and lipid concentrations as risk factors for transient ischaemic attacks and minor ischaemic strokes.

OBJECTIVES--To determine whether fibrinogen and lipid concentrations are risk factors for ischaemic stroke. DESIGN--Case-control study with a population based comparison within the overall study. SETTING--Oxfordshire community stroke project and a neurology clinic. SUBJECTS--105 patients who had a transient ischaemic attack or minor ischaemic stroke and 352 randomly chosen controls matched for age and sex from the same general practitioners as the incident cases. 52 controls were ineligible or refused interview. 104 cases and 241 controls gave blood samples for analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Response to structured questionnaire, height, weight, blood pressure, and serum concentrations of fibrinogen and lipids. RESULTS--Adjusted for other variables, odds ratios of ischaemic stroke were 1.78 (95% confidence interval 0.91 to 3.48; p = 0.09) [corrected] for fibrinogen concentrations greater than 3.6 g/l; 1.73 (0.90 to 3.29; p = 0.09) [corrected] for total cholesterol concentrations greater than 6.0 mmol/l; 1.34 (0.69 to 2.61; p greater than 0.4) for low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations greater than 3.5 mmol/l; and 0.32 (0.15 to 0.69; p = 0.002) for high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration greater than 1.2 mmol/l. Similar results emerged comparing only community derived cases with transient ischaemic attacks and controls. The effects of fibrinogen, total cholesterol, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol were significant in a test of trend after adjusting for all other variables in the study (chi 2 = 4.14, p less than 0.05; chi 2 = 4.31, p less than 0.05, and chi 2 = 12.15, p greater than 0.001, respectively). History of ischaemic heart disease and hypertension were the only other variables that showed significance, though both lost significance after adjustment (2.06, p = 0.08 and 1.53, p = 0.2, respectively). CONCLUSIONS--Fibrinogen and lipids are important risk factors for ischaemic stroke. The pattern of changes mirrors that found in ischaemic heart disease.
Home Market Effects and the Single-Sector Melitz Model

Increasing-returns-to-scale imperfect competition trade models predict a more than proportionate relationship between the larger country’s share in world endowments and its share in producing firms: the so called home market effect (HME). While this result plays a key role in empirical testing, its theoretical foundation typically posits a linear, friction-free and perfectly competitive outside sector. Replacing this assumption with firm heterogeneity and Melitz (2003) type selection-into-exporting, we demonstrate the existence of a weak and a strong HME. The HMEs are generally non-linear; they are magnified by lower trade costs or more pronounced productivity dispersion. The weak version of the HME continues to hold for general sampling distributions and if the conventional sorting condition fails. In terms of demand shares, a HME holds if demand shocks are due to endowment shocks but reverses in the case of productivity shocks. Finally and in contrast to the model with an outside sector, trade liberalization leads to convergence of real per capita income.
Optimal design method of three-phase rectifier with near-sinusoidal input currents

In this paper, an optimal design method of three-phase rectifier with near-sinusoidal input currents (RNSIC) is proposed. By using the proposed method, high power factor could be achieved as well as low input current harmonics, making the converter more practical. Moreover, based on the operation principle analysis of RNSIC, characteristic of the rectifier is discussed. Experimental results form three prototypes with different specifications are shown to confirm the validity of the analysis and the feasibility of the proposed optimal design method.
[Autosomal dominant limb-girdle muscular dystrophy associated with conduction defects (LGMD1B): a description of 8 new families with the LMNA gene mutations].

INTRODUCTION Limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 1b (LGMD1B), due to LMNA gene mutations, is a relatively rare form of LGMD characterized by proximal muscle involvement associated with heart involvement comprising atrio-ventricular conduction blocks and dilated cardiomyopathy. Its clinical and genetic diagnosis is crucial for cardiac management and genetic counselling. Seven LMNA mutations have been previously reported to be responsible for LGMD1B. PATIENTS AND METHODS We describe the neurological and cardiologic features of 14 patients belonging to 8 families in whom we identified 6 different LMNA mutations, 4 of them having never been reported. Results. Eleven patients had an LGMD1B phenotype with scapulohumeral and pelvic-femoral involvement. Thirteen patients had cardiac disease associating conduction defects (12 patients) or arrhythmias (9 patients). Seven patients needed cardiac device (pacemaker or implantable cardiac defibrillator) and two had heart transplantation. CONCLUSION This study allowed us to specify the clinical characteristics of this entity and to outline the first phenotype/genotype relations resulting from these observations.
Potential of Integrated [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron-Emission Tomography/CT in Identifying Vulnerable Carotid Plaques

It is known that risk of cerebrovascular accident is not only associated with degree of carotid artery stenosis but probably more importantly with type of plaque: vulnerable vs stable. Myriad studies have looked at this issue with high-resolution MR imaging but the present one used FDG-PET and CT. Fifty patients with transient ischemic attack/stroke who had ipsilateral stenosis and plaque along with contralateral asymptomatic plaque were imaged. High uptake was seen in ipsilateral plaques when compared with contralateral asymptomatic ones but these differences were not significant. CT also showed larger lipid-rich necrotic cores and thicker arterial walls in symptomatic plaques, but again these differences were not significant. Thus, it remains to be determined if the combination of FDG-PET/CT is valuable. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is a need for improved risk stratification of patients with TIA/stroke and carotid atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate the potential of integrated 18F-FDG PET/MDCT in identifying vulnerable carotid plaques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty patients with TIA/stroke with an ipsilateral carotid plaque causing <70% stenosis and a plaque on the contralateral asymptomatic side underwent integrated 18F-FDG PET/MDCT within 36.1 ± 20.0 days (range, 9–95 days) of the last symptoms. Carotid plaque 18F-FDG uptake was measured as both the mean and maximum blood-normalized SUV, known as the TBR. Using MDCT, we assessed volumes of vessel wall and individual plaque components. RESULTS: Mean TBR was only significantly larger in the ipsilateral plaques of patients who were imaged within 38 days (1.24 ± 0.04 [SE] versus 1.17 ± 0.05, P = .014). This also accounted for maximum TBR (1.53 ± 0.06 versus 1.42 ± 0.06, P = .015). MDCT-assessed vessel wall and LRNC volumes were larger in ipsilateral plaques of all patients (982.3 ± 121.3 versus 811.3 ± 106.6 mm3, P = .016; 164.7 ± 26.1 versus 134.3 ± 35.2 mm3, P = .026, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, 18F-FDG PET only detected significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral asymptomatic plaques in patients with TIA/stroke who were imaged within 38 days, whereas MDCT detected larger vessel wall and LRNC volumes, regardless of time after symptoms. In view of the substantial overlap in measurements of both sides, it remains to be determined whether the differences we found will be clinically meaningful.
The Value Relevance of Book Values, Earnings and Cash flows: Evidence from South Korea

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative and incremental value relevance of book value, accounting earnings and cash flows in security prices . The study basically uses Myers (1977), Ohlson (1995) and Feltham and Ohlson (1995) valuation model and the paper perform s analyses for all samples divided into profit/loss firms and earnings managed/non-earnings managed firms to observe changes in value relevance over the periods of 1994-2005 in Korean stock markets(4,865 firm-year observations) . The empirical results of the paper indicate that book value is the most value relevant variable and cash flows have more value relevance than accounting earnings in all samples, subsamples and periods. The results also show that combined value relevance of book value and cash flows is more value relevant than that of book value and accounting earnings, suggesting that cash flows can be a substitute for accounting earnings in equity valuation model. The important contribution of the study is documenting the deteriorated value relevance of accounting earnings and the increased value relevance of cash flows in equity valuation. This may be just limited to the period of 1994-2005 in Korean stock markets, or this could be the true pattern in which accounting earnings play no significant role in security prices.
El gobierno de las cajas de ahorro españolas

Our aim is to analyse corporate governance of Spanish savings banks. Regional governments design some of the members of the governing bodies of Spanish savings banks. Such participation affects their public image and stability. Furthermore, public administrations involvement has implications in saving banks efficiency, either technical or allocative.In this respect, our analysis shows empirical evidence in favour of the hypothesis that a higher participation of regional governments in the board of directors reduces Spanish savings bank efficiency
Real convergence in some Central and Eastern European countries

This article examines the real convergence hypothesis in some Central and East European countries (both towards the German and the US economies) by means of using time series techniques during the period 1950 to 2003. No evidence is found of real convergence for the whole period. However, when one allows for structural breaks, evidence is found of a catch-up process during the 1990s to 2003 period for Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary towards Germany and only for Poland towards the US economy.
Foreign Direct Investment and Stock Market Development: Ghana's Evidence

Using multivariate cointegration and Innovation Accounting Methods, this paper examines the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on stock market development in Ghana. The paper finds long-run relationship between FDI and stock market development in Ghana. Using impulse responses and Variance Decomposition from Vector Error Correction Model we find that shocks in FDI significantly influence the development of stock market in Ghana
Public service quality and customer satisfaction: exploring the attributes of service quality in the public sector

Beyond the existing SERVQUAL-based research, the authors develop an alternative model of public service quality. The various sources of public service quality are explored and a new classification scheme formulated by using critical incidents technique. Four main qualities of public service are identified: process quality, outcome quality, design quality, and relationship quality. The findings suggest that the critical attributes of public service quality for customer satisfaction differ according to the types of customers in the public sector. Final customers (beneficiaries) give priority to the process and outcome qualities, whereas intermediary customers (social workers) have high regard for the design and relationship qualities.
Revisioning comparative welfare state studies: an ‘indigenous dimension’

Although welfare states have been categorised according to a wide but never conclusive range of dimensions, little attention has been paid to the specific forms of recognitive justice that influence the development of the welfare state, particularly in countries where internally colonised indigenous peoples not only constitute a disproportionate number of welfare recipients, but also hold additional rights to those associated with citizenship. Socio-economic disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples are considerable in ‘liberal’ welfare states where significant recognition of indigenous rights has been made and where indigenous peoples now play a significant role in delivering social provision. Such disparities are narrower in the ‘social democratic’ welfare states, such as Norway, Sweden and Finland (where Sami people live), which have focused largely on the application of more universalistic social rights but have provided little space for indigenous-focused social provision. Uncertainty thus remains about the best mix of recognition and redistribution needed to produce good outcomes for indigenous peoples in terms of both welfare and greater indigenous autonomy and control. Drawing on the cases of New Zealand and Australia, this article proposes a framework for examining different welfare states that aims to shed some light on this critical issue.
Time-averaged concentration of dialysate sodium relates with sodium load and interdialytic weight gain during sodium-profiling hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Factors determining sodium level during sodium-profiling hemodialysis rarely have been studied. We hypothesized that the time-averaged concentration of dialysate sodium (TAC(Na)) is related to intradialytic sodium load and interdialytic complications. METHODS Eleven patients underwent 6-week periods of (1) conventional hemodialysis with a dialysate sodium concentration of 138 mmol/L (TAC(138)) and (2) sodium-profiling hemodialysis with a dialysate sodium concentration of 150 to 138 mmol/L (TAC(Na), 140 mmol/L [TAC(140)]) and (3) 155 to 130 mmol/L (TAC(Na), 147 mmol/L [TAC(147)]). Serum sodium level, weight gain, 24-hour blood pressure, and intradialytic and interdialytic discomfort were compared. RESULTS Serum sodium levels increased during the TAC(140) and TAC(147) periods (P < 0.05 compared with predialysis serum sodium). Intradialytic change in sodium level correlated positively with TAC(Na) (r = 0.945; P < 0.001). Regression analysis indicates that positive sodium load occurred with TAC(Na) more than 137.8 mmol/L. Interdialytic weight gain increased in proportion to TAC(Na) (P < 0.05 compared with each other period), with a positive correlation (r = 0.823; P < 0.001). TAC(Na) causing interdialytic weight gain less than 3 kg was estimated to be less than 143.5 mmol/L. Intradialytic hypotension decreased, but interdialytic discomforts increased during the TAC(147) period (P < 0.05 compared with TAC(138) and TAC(140)). Mean 24-hour blood pressures and pressure loads increased during the TAC(147) period (P < 0.05 compared with TAC(138) and TAC(140)). Mean diastolic blood pressure correlated positively with TAC(Na) (r = 0.354; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION TAC(Na) is a factor determining sodium load and interdialytic complications during sodium-profiling hemodialysis. Defining the optimal TAC(Na) for individual centers based on their protocols will be helpful to avoid sodium load and excessive weight gain.
Performance Persistence of Equity Funds in Hungary

This study examines the phenomenon of performance persistence of equity funds in Hungary in two time perspectives: 1-year and 6-month perspectives. The empirical results confirm the occurrence of performance dependence in consecutive periods. There is also a strong evidence of short-term persistence in the total horizon of the study (from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2009), and in several sub-periods. The 1-year persistence was also found in the tested sample and, in general, depended on the measure applied. Furthermore, I observed performance reversal, which can be partly explained by trend changes in the financial markets. The persistence of equity funds performance in Hungary is shaped by market factors rather than the diversity of managerial characteristics.
Asset Prices and the Heterogeneous Impact of News

This paper analyzes a general equilibrium exchange economy with a continuum of agents who have "catching up with the Joneses" preferences and differ with respect to the curvature of their utility functions and - as a peculiarity - the impact of news about uncertainty. The dynamic redistribution of wealth among the agents generates endogenously the state-dependent preferences of the representative agent and the variation in the pricing kernel volatility, i.e. the price of risk. The model exhibits many of the empirically observed properties of the unconditional and conditional moments of stock returns. Indeed, the new source of heterogeneity has a strong impact on asset prices whereas heterogeneity in risk aversion has just a marginal effect once it is estimated from data. In particular the heterogeneous impact of news helps in explaining the equity premium and risk-free rate puzzles, the high and countercyclical Sharpe ratio, the long-horizon predictability of excess returns and the GARCH and leverage effects in return volatility.