Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preoperative Plasmapheresis for Elective Thymectomy in Myasthenia Patient: Is It Necessary?

Background. Role of plasmapheresis before thymectomy remains controversial. The aim of this study is to determine the peri-operative and post-operative outcome of a thymectomy between performing and not performing a pre-operative plasmaphreresis. Patients and Methods. A retrospective chart review study was conducted in Chiang Mai University Hospital between January 2006 and December 2011. There were 86 myasthenia patients divided into two groups; Preoperative plasmapheresis group (PPG) and no preoperative plasmapheresis group (NPPG). The primary outcome involved post-operative extubation and the secondary outcome included post-operative complications, 28 day mortality and length of hospital stay. Results. Eighty-six patients were enrolled in this study. The number of patients who had a history of myasthenic crisis at any time or within one month in the PPG was significantly more than those in the NPPG. Muscle power and forced expiratory vital capacity in the NPPG was higher than that in the PPG. The postoperative extubation rate was similar in both groups. After controlling for the propensity score, there were no statistically significant differences in both of primary and secondary outcomes. Conclusion. The results of this study shows no significant differences between both groups in all outcomes, therefore the pre-operative plasmaphresis is not necessary for elective thymectomy.
Maintenance of Residual Renal Function 10 Years after the Start of Hemodialysis: The Advantage of Tailored Schedules?

Maintenance of residual renal clearance is a clinical advantage, protecting against the long-term effects of uremia: although demonstrated in peritoneal dialysis, the strategies in hemodialysis are less clear. This case suggests that dialysis schedules individualized on the basis of renal clearances may help preserve residual function. SB is a 58 year-old male who started dialysis in emergency (creatinine 30.7 mg/dL) in 1993. He had a history of gout, small shrunken kidneys and moderate hypertension. The clinical diagnosis was vasculointerstitial nephropathy. Eighteen months after starting hemodialysis on a conventional thrice weekly schedule, the patient was switched to 2 sessions/week (creatinine clearance increased to 6 ml/min). Thereafter, clearances were checked in alternate months and treatment was tailored to an equivalent renal clearance 12 ml/min (1–2 sessions, 2-3.30 hours/week). Ten years after beginning dialysis, he is on a twice weekly schedule (3.30 hours), is normotensive, works full-time and does not want to go on a transplant waiting list.
College Students' Perceptions of Factors Influencing Research Participation

The study examined the factors that college students perceive to influence their ability to do research. Participants were 160 students from a teachers' college (males=71; females=81; mean age=27; SD=5.32). Data were collected using an open ended survey. For data analysis MS Excel was used. Students perceived a need for support in basic research processes: problem statement, method, analysis and report writing. Participants perceived plagiarism of projects to be rampant. A policy on supervising student research could enable students in their research efforts.
Subclinical rejection--a potential surrogate marker for chronic rejection--may be diagnosed by protocol biopsy or urine spectroscopy.

Our studies of protocol biopsy studies have shown that normal allograft histology can not be assumed by crude tests of renal function such as the serum creatinine concentration, and that there is a high prevalence of subclinical rejection in the first 6 months post-transplant (7, 13-17). The apparent ability of urine MR and IR spectra to reliably identify patients with normal allograft histology, if confirmed in a larger database, will preclude the need for a protocol biopsy in approximately 20-50% of patients. Conversely, finding urine MR or IR spectra characteristic of subclinical rejection would provide the opportunity for early treatment. The clear separation between patients with normal histology from those with subclinical rejection can be attributed to the use of the whole urine spectrum to develop the classifiers. Additional advantages of using MR or IR spectra of urine as a diagnostic tool compared to the biopsy include simplicity (i.e. no processing is required), low cost, rapid turnaround (i.e. < 15 minutes/sample), and, particularly, low risk, thus allowing for repetitive sampling. The ability to non-invasively diagnose acute inflammation in the kidney would be of great assistance in the post-transplant monitoring of renal transplant patients. Indeed, by following subclinical inflammation as detected in the MR/IR spectra it will be possible to tailor the intensity of the immunosuppression to the inflammatory status of the graft, thus minimising the risks of both insufficient and excessive immunosuppression. Furthermore, by following subclinical inflammation, as detected in the MR/IR spectra, it will be possible to test the hypothesis that subclinical rejection (i.e. persistence of its MR/IR spectral classifier) is a surrogate marker for the development of chronic rejection.
An evaluation of an online course for medical practitioners

This paper describes the evaluation of an online training course in Neonatal Medicine, which involved medical practitioners from across Europe. The paper focuses on the findings from an analysis of the online discussion groups. The project aimed to develop an online course for practitioners and included the development of four modules. Delivery was achieved using hybrid technology via distribution of course materials on CD ROMs accompanied by an online learning environment and associated Web discussion boards. Twenty participants completed the programme over four months, supported by five tutors and one project manager. The main conclusion from the external evaluation was that the project had met its stated aims and objectives and that the project team had delivered a successful online course. Both tutors and tutees engaged enthusiastically with the course throughout. The most important element of the course was cited as being the opportunity the course afforded for the sharing of expertise and best practice with colleagues across Europe.
Essays in labour and family economics

Are the less healthy relatively less employed because they are unable to work? Or vice versa? In the first part of the thesis, I evaluate the impact of health shocks on individual labour market transitions in 27 EU countries and I explain these results through the heterogeneity in social security systems across members. In the second part, I investigate the mechanism through which tied transfers relate to both elderly and grandchildren care later on in life.
The Role of Optimism and Pessimism in Chronic Pain Patients Adjustment

This study analyses the relationships between patients' dispositional optimism and pessimism and the coping strategies they use. In addition, the coping strategies repercussions on adjustment to chronic pain were studied. Ninety-eight patients with heterogeneous chronic pain participated. The assessment tools were as follows: Life Orientation Test (LOT), the Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory (VPMI), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Impairment and Functioning Inventory for Chronic Pain Patients (IFI). The hypothetical model establishes positive relationships between optimism and the use of active coping strategies, whereas pessimism is related to the use of passive coping. Active coping is associated with low levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and high levels of functioning. However, passive coping is related to high levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and low levels of functioning. The hypothetical model was empirically tested using the LISREL 8.20 software package and the unweighted least squares method. The results support the hypotheses formulated regarding the relations among optimism, pessimism, coping and adjust of chronic pain patients. By analysing optimism among chronic pain patients, clinicians could make better predictions regarding coping and adjustment. Este trabajo analiza la relación entre el optimismo y pesimismo disposicional del paciente con dolor crónico y las estrategias de afrontamiento que utiliza. De igual forma, se estudia el efecto del tipo de afrontamiento sobre la adaptación del paciente a su dolor. Participaron 98 pacientes con dolor crónico heterogéneo. Los instrumentos de medida utilizados han sido: Test de Orientación Vital (LOT), Inventario Vanderbilt de afrontamiento al Dolor (VPMI), Cuestionario McGill de Dolor (MPQ), Escala Hospitalaria de Ansiedad y Depresión (HADS), y el Inventario de Deterioro y Funcionamiento para pacientes con dolor crónico (IDF). En el modelo hipotético se establecen relaciones entre el optimismo y el uso de estrategias activas de afrontamiento, mientras que el pesimismo se relaciona con las estrategias pasivas. A su vez, se establecen relaciones entre las estrategias activas y menores niveles de dolor percibido, baja depresión, ansiedad y deterioro y mayor nivel de funcionamiento, relacionándose las estrategias pasivas con altos niveles de dolor, ansiedad, depresión y deterioro y con bajos de funcionamiento diario. Este modelo hipotético fue contrastado empíricamente a través del programa LISREL 8.20. y el método de mínimos cuadrados no ponderados. Los resultados apoyan las hipótesis formuladas.
Research on Children's Concepts of God and Spirituality and Its Implications on Educational Inequality in Early Childhood Educational Reform in Hong Kong

In his 2006–2007 policy address, the chief executive of Hong Kong committed HK$2 billion to enhancing holistic early childhood education through the instigation of a school voucher scheme. The new paradigm of a child-centered curriculum is considered necessary to keep pace with international quality educational developments. The paradigm of spirituality education for young children, which enshrines interconnectedness (Taggart, 2001), is in essence the holistic education that is advocated in child-centered ideology. Religious education, in contrast, is underpinned by teacher-centered ideology and has the aim of transmitting traditional religious values to the younger generation. The article reports on six case studies on three faith schools that suggest that elements of spirituality are embedded in the newly advocated curriculum. The preliminary data collected, however, also suggest that there is a misunderstanding on the part of stakeholders in their view of the conceptualization of spirituality education as being nearly synonymous with religious education. Given these findings, I hope to arouse the public at large to the potential educational inequalities existed alongside the educational reform policy: first, to the parents when exercising their rights under the school voucher scheme; second, to faith schools being distracted from their school mission by a misconception that spirituality education and religious education are nearly synonymous.
Prediction of nodal metastasis and prognosis of breast cancer by ANN-based assessment of tumour size and p53, Ki-67 and steroid receptor expression.

BACKGROUND Tumour stage and the appropriate course of treatment in patients with breast cancer are primarily characterized by the state of metastasis in the axillary lymph nodes. In recent years, substantial research has focused on the prediction of lymph node status based on various pathological and molecular markers in order to obviate the necessity to carry out axillary dissection. In the present study, artificial neural network (ANN) is employed as the analysis platform to examine the prognostic significance of a group of well-established prognostic markers for breast cancer outcome prediction in terms of nodal status. Furthermore, we investigated existing interactions between these markers. PATIENTS AND METHODS The data set contained 66 patient records, where 5 pathological and molecular markers including tumour size, oestrogen receptor status (ER), progesterone receptor status (PR), Ki-67 and p53 expression had been assessed for each patient. The spread of metastasis to the axillary lymph nodes was clinically diagnosed and patients were accordingly categorized into node-positive and node-negative groups. The aforementioned markers were analyzed using a probabilistic neural network (PNN) for nodal status prediction which was considered as the network output. Furthermore, the interactions between these markers were evaluated using different marker combinations as the network input for finding the best marker arrangement for nodal predication. RESULTS The best prediction accuracy was obtained by a 3-marker combination including tumour size, PR and p53 with 71% accuracy for nodal prediction. Leaving out ER and PR from the full marker set showed approximately the same variations in the results, which is an indication of the direct correlation of these two markers. Furthermore, tumour size was proved to be the most significant individual marker for predicting nodal metastasis. However, when used in combination with Ki-67 the prediction results drop significantly. CONCLUSION The results presented here indicate that molecular and pathological markers can provide useful information for early-stage prognosis. However, the interactions between these markers must be considered in order to achieve accurate and reliable prediction.
Reduction and Equivalence of Nonlinear Distributed Symmetric Control Systems

This paper considers the ‘reduction’ problem for large-scale distributed control systems. In particular, we consider control-theoretic concepts for control systems containing multiple instances of identical controllers or components where the overall system is invariant with respect to interchanging these identical components. The mai n results are invariance of controllability, motion planning and optimal control properties for an equivalence class of symmetric systems of this type.
Functional imaging of unilateral tinnitus using fMRI

Conclusions. This article shows that the inferior colliculus plays a key role in unilateral subjective tinnitus. Objectives. The major aim of this study was to determine tinnitus-related neural activity in the central auditory system of unilateral tinnitus subjects and compare this to control subjects without tinnitus. Subjects and methods. Functional MRI (fMRI) was performed in 10 patients (5 males) with unilateral tinnitus (5 left-sided, 5 right-sided) and 12 healthy subjects (6 males); both groups had normal hearing or mild hearing loss. fMRI experiments were performed using a 3T Philips Intera Scanner. Auditory stimuli were presented left or right and consisted of dynamically rippled broadband noise with a sound pressure level of 40 or 70 dB SPL. The responses of the inferior colliculus and the auditory cortex to the stimuli were measured. Results. The response to sound in the inferior colliculus was elevated in tinnitus patients compared with controls without tinnitus.
Culture in business relationship interaction: an individual perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework for studying the intercultural aspect of dyadic business relationship interaction from an individual perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual in nature. Perspectives on culture and cultural concepts are discussed and critically reviewed for the question of applicability in the study of business relationship interaction from an individual perspective. Findings – By focusing on the application of culture in individual sensemaking of interaction events in a business relationship context, a suitable perspective on culture is chosen. A conceptual framework consisting of the concepts related to the chosen perspective is developed. Moreover, propositions concerning the study of culture in individual sensemaking of interaction events are suggested. Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests several opportunities for further research, particularly concerning the application of the reviewed concepts to t.
Creative cities and the film industry: Antalya's transition to a Eurasian film centre

In the knowledge era, cites are competing to attract and retain creative industries and workers for securing their economic, social and urban growth as well as ensuring their creative city formation. During the last decade rapidly growing popularity of creative cities has encouraged many cities seeking creativity to specialise in specific sectors of the creative industries. In this context, the paper explores creativity strategies and the role of film industry in creative city formulation. Antalya, Turkey is investigated as an emerging film industry-oriented creative city due to recent industry developments, its natural and constructed assets and amenities along with its openness to creativity. This paper also examines some of the creative city examples, scrutinises potentials and constraints of Antalya and Turkish film industry, and provides discussion and recommendation for Antalya's transition to a Eurasian film centre.
Mapping the Binding Site of TRPV1 on AKAP79: Implications for Inflammatory Hyperalgesia

Inflammation causes hyperalgesia, an enhanced sensitivity to noxious stimuli. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), a thermo-TRP ion channel activated by painful levels of heat, is an important contributor because hyperalgesia is reduced when TRPV1 is either genetically deleted or pharmacologically blocked. Inflammatory mediators such as prostaglandin-E2 or bradykinin cause hyperalgesia by activating cellular kinases that phosphorylate TRPV1, a process that has recently been shown to rely on a scaffolding protein, AKAP79, to target the kinases to TRPV1. Here we use Förster resonance energy transfer, immunoprecipitation, and TRPV1 membrane trafficking experiments to identify a key region on AKAP79, between amino acids 326–336, which is responsible for its interaction with TRPV1. A peptide identical to this domain inhibited sensitization of TRPV1 in vitro, and when covalently linked to a TAT peptide to promote uptake across the cell membrane the peptide inhibited in vivo inflammatory hyperalgesia in mice. Critically, it did so without affecting pain thresholds in the absence of inflammation. These results suggest that antagonizing the TRPV1–AKAP79 interaction will be a useful strategy for inhibiting inflammatory hyperalgesia.
Image Schemas: From Linguistic Analysis to Neural Grounding

Irnage Schemas: From linguistic analysis to neural grounding Ellen Dodge and George Lakoﬂ Abstract What are image schemas? Why should the same primitive image—schemas occur in the world’s languages, even though spatial relations differ widely? What meth- odologies should we use to study them? How is linguistic theory affected by the answers to these questions? We argue that common primitive image-schemas arise from common brain structures, and that linguistic theory must be based on, and consistent with, what we know about the brain and experience. Focusing on motion-related experiences, we show how linguistics and neuroscience, when taken together, increase our understanding of image schemas. First, we look at how image schemas are expressed in language. Then, working from the assump~ tion that linguistic structure is an expression of neural structure, we shift our at- tention to the brain, showing how recent findings in neuroscience can support an analysis of image schemas that relates the structure of experience, thought, and language to neural structure. This analysis not only enhances our current under- standing of image schemas, but also suggests future avenues for image schema research. Key Words: primitive image schema, LOCOMOT ION schema, Cog theory, secondary sen sory—motor areas 1 . Introduction The idea of image schemas emerged from the empirical research on spatial- relations terms by Len Talmy (1972, 1975, 1978, 1983) and Ron Langacker (1976, 1987) in the mid—l970’s. They found, independently, that (1) even closely related languages vary widely in the meanings of their spatial-
Source-channel coding for very-low bandwidth sources

We address the source-channel coding problem of a sensor observing a slowly time-varying Gaussian source and communicating its information to a receiver through a Gaussian channel. Due to the slowly time-varying characteristic of the source, we consider that the sensor is capable of using many channel dimensions per source symbol. Under an energy constraint per source realisation, we derive a theoretical lower bound on the MSE distortion as well as an analytical upper bound based on a practical coding scheme involving a linear uniform quantizer followed by an orthogonal modulation and a MAP receiver. Other coding schemes coupled with an MMSE estimator are also proposed and their performances are compared. An extension to the case where the sensor has the capability of encoding a sequence of N source components is studied and a general upper bound in that case is obtained.
APA evidence-based guidelines for the management of acute pancreatitis Working Group IAP / APA Acute Pancreatitis

Background: There have been substantial improvements in the management of acute pancreatitis since the publication of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) treatment guidelines in 2002. A collaboration of the IAP and the American Pancreatic Association (APA) was undertaken to revise these guidelines using an evidence-based approach. Methods: Twelve multidisciplinary review groups performed systematic literature reviews to answer 38 predefined clinical questions. Recommendations were graded using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The review groups presented their recommendations during the 2012 joint IAP/APA meeting. At this one-day, interactive conference, relevant remarks were voiced and overall agreement on each recommendation was quantified using plenary
Autonomy and Coordination: Controlling External Influences on Decision Making

In order to achieve optimal results, an agent's way of decision making might need to change according to the circumstances. One of the aspects an agent can adapt is the way it processes external events. Therewith it controls to what extend it is being influenced by external factors. We argue that influence control is a form of metareasoning. In this paper, we propose a model for metareasoning that allows the agent to select and prioritize heuristics for event processing. The model includes a performance measure based on goal achievement, a selection mechanism to select desired attitude and a control mechanism to adapt its attitude. We describe how to specify these components and we discuss the agent's performance in a scenario involving coordination.