Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secondary Endovascular and Conversion Procedures for Failed Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Can We Still Be Optimistic?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence, etiology, and outcome of secondary endovascular and “open” conversion procedures after failed endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). From January 1997 until December 2005, 625 patients with an infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm were treated by elective EVAR, with 98.7% (n = 617) primary EVAR success. The mean follow-up of the 617 patients was 46.7 ± 11.2 months. One hundred of these patients (16.2%) required secondary endovascular or peripheral procedures, and 39 (6.3%) patients underwent a secondary abdominal conversion. There were 5 acute conversions (0.8%) and 34 elective conversions (5.5%). The pre-EVAR anatomic suitability data, the main cause of the secondary procedure, and stent graft type were compared between patients with primary EVAR success, patients in need of a secondary endovascular or peripheral procedure, and patients with abdominal conversion. The overall main causes for reinterventions were proximal migration (n = 60; 9.7%), progressive kinking of the stent graft (n = 59; 9.6%), and late type III endoleak (n = 12; 1.9%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that factors significantly correlated with secondary procedures were the abdominal aortic aneurysm's maximum diameter, the proximal neck's width and length, and particularly the commercial withdrawal of the stent graft (p < .001). The morbidity and mortality rates of secondary endovascular or peripheral interventions were 0%. The mortality rate of acute secondary conversions was 20% (n = 1) and of elective secondary conversions was 8.8% (n = 3). The morbidity rates for acute and elective conversions were 0% and 65%, respectively. The aneurysm-related mortality rate in our series was below 1%. Abdominal conversion surgery still carries a high mortality rate, but the overall EVAR-related mortality rate remains low. Early pitfall detection and proper reintervention are crucial to long-term EVAR success.
Is intra-operative ultrasound still useful for the detection of a hepatic tumour in the era of modern pre-operative imaging?

BACKGROUND The current role of intra-operative ultrasound (IOUS) is questioned because of recent progress in medical imaging. The aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy of IOUS in the detection of a hepatic tumour (HT) compared with a pre-operative multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS This retrospective study included 418 patients evaluated using an 8-slice MDCT scan (SCAN8), 64-slice MDCT scan (SCAN64) and MRI alone or combined with a computed tomography (CT) scan. The pathological result was used as a gold standard. RESULTS Correlation rates for the number of detected lesions compared with pathology results were 0.627 for SCAN8, 0.785 for SCAN64, 0.657 for MRI and 0.913 for IOUS. Compared with pathology, the rate of concordance was significantly higher with IOUS (0.871) than with SCAN8 (0.736; P=0.011), SCAN64 (0.792; P<0.001) and MRI (0.742; P<0.001). IOUS was responsible for a change in operative strategy in 16.5% of patients. Surgery was extended in 12.4%, limited in 1.7% and abandoned in 2.4%. CONCLUSIONS Compared with cross-sectional pre-operative imaging, IOUS is still superior for the detection of HT and the planning of surgery. IOUS remains recommended as a routine procedure in patients having a hepatic resection in the era of modern pre-operative imaging.
Governance and Agricultural Production Efficiency: A Cross‐Country Aggregate Frontier Analysis

This study uses a stochastic frontier approach to investigate the relationship between six governance indicators and agricultural efficiency. We find that improvements in rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness enhance agricultural productivity significantly if each indicator enters the inefficiency equation independently. When all six indicators are included in the equation, we find that an improvement in rule of law raises agricultural efficiency significantly, but increases in voice and accountability and political stability appear to significantly reduce agricultural efficiency. Grouping the six indicators into three dimensions, we find that an improvement in ‘respect for institutional framework’ raises agricultural efficiency significantly, but an enhancement in ‘selection of authority’ reduces agricultural efficiency significantly. Our results imply that poorer countries can enhance their agricultural efficiency substantially by strengthening the state and citizens’ respect for institutional framework. However, our results show that greater democracy is associated with lower agricultural efficiency. This finding is consistent with interest group capture and political failure arguments of the political economy literature.
Nowcasting from disaggregates in the face of location shifts

Given a need for nowcasting, we consider how nowcasts can best be achieved, the use and timing of information, including disaggregation over variables and common features, and the role of automatic model selection for nowcasting missing disaggregates. We focus on the impact of location shifts on nowcast failure and nowcasting during breaks, using impulse saturation, its relation to intercept correction, and to robust methods to avoid systematic nowcast failure. We propose a nowcasting strategy, building models of all N disaggregate series by automatic methods, forecasting every variable each period, then testing for shifts in available measures, switching to robust forecasts of missing series when breaks are detected. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in the first trimester on subsequent pregnancy outcomes in an Australian population.

BACKGROUND Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations during pregnancy have been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in a few studies but not in other studies. OBJECTIVES We assessed the serum 25(OH)D concentration at 10-14 wk of pregnancy and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes and examined the predictive accuracy. DESIGN In this nested case-control study, we measured serum 25(OH)D in 5109 women with singleton pregnancies who were attending first-trimester screening in New South Wales, Australia. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between low 25(OH)D concentrations and adverse pregnancy outcomes (small for gestational age, preterm birth, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, miscarriage, and stillbirth). The predictive accuracy of models was assessed. RESULTS The median (IQR) 25(OH)D concentration for the total population was 56.4 nmol/L (43.3-69.8 nmol/L). Serum 25(OH)D concentrations showed significant variation by parity, smoking, weight, season of sampling, country of birth, and socioeconomic status. After adjustment for maternal and clinical risk factors, low 25(OH)D concentrations were not associated with most adverse pregnancy outcomes. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and likelihood ratio for a composite of severe adverse pregnancy outcomes of 25(OH)D concentrations <25 nmol/L were 0.51 and 1.44, respectively, and, for risk factors alone, were 0.64 and 2.87, respectively. The addition of 25(OH)D information to maternal and clinical risk factors did not improve the ability to predict severe adverse pregnancy outcomes (AUC: 0.64; likelihood ratio: 2.32; P = 0.39). CONCLUSION Low 25(OH)D serum concentrations in the first trimester of pregnancy are not associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and do not predict complications any better than routinely assessed clinical and maternal risk-factor information.
Trends in Contraception and Sterilization in Australia

EDITORIAL COMMENT: The purpose of this comment is to encourage readers to give this paper the close attention it deserves ‐ the summary is too modest, and the important information in the tables may be overlooked if readers do not study them in conjunction with the text. It is noteworthy that of women aged 40–44 years in 1986, 35% had had a tubal ligation, another 11% had had a hysterectomy and a further 16% of these women had partners who had undergone vasectomy. In these data, which were collected in 1986, the condom made a miserable showing as a contraceptive, but as noted by the author ‘this is not to say that coitus‐related methods may not gain some support if the motivation for their use is not entirely contraceptive ‐ sexually transmitted diseases in general and AIDS in particular’. Enquiry of the manufacturers surprised the editor by revealing that total sales of condoms in Australia (2 per person per year or 34 million per year) have increased only about 50% in the last 10 years. This is in accord with the data in this paper and indicates that there has been little change since 1986.
Towards leadingful leadership literacies for higher education management

This paper locates ‘leadingful leadership literacies’ as a lens for considering changing contexts for leadership and work in higher education management. It makes a contribution to higher education leadership studies by offering an empirical account of expanded notions of leadership. These extend the field beyond those unwilling to critique managerialist knowledge claims. I will argue that not only managerialist practices per se are of concern as we face discontinuous change in the sector – changes which move well beyond rationalist truth claims – but that these remain largely unchallenged and have moved into spaces that should be (re)claimed by leadership.
A SUGGESTED ROLE FOR PRECOLOSTRUM IN PRETERM AND SICK NEWBORN INFANTS

ABSTRACT. Samples of precolostrum (colostrum gravidarum), colostrum and mature milk obtained from five women during their antenatal and postnatal periods were measured for IgA, IgG, IgM, alpha‐1‐antitrypsin, lactoferrin, lysozyme, B, A globulin (C3) and B, E globulin (C4) by single radial immunodiffusion. Protein concentrations in precolostrum were equal to or greater than those found in colostrum obtained during the first 12‐48 hours following delivery. Secretion of precolostrum is common, occurs early in the antenatal period and may often be of considerable volume. The anti‐microbial proteins contained within this milk can be preserved intact by freezing. This represents an untapped pool of bacteriostatic proteins with specific activity against neonatal pathogens. We suggest that a potential protective effect against serious infection may be obtained by administering precolostrum to “at risk” infants during the first few days of life.
What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and Employment Among Young Black Men in the 1980s

This paper shows a widening in black-white earnings and employment gaps among young men from the mid-l970s through the 1980s that differs among subgroups. Earnings gaps increased most among college graduates and in the midwest while gaps in employment-population rates grew most among high school dropouts. We attribute the differential widening to distinct shifts in demand for subgroups due to changes in industry and regional employment, the falling real minimum wage and deunionisation, the growth of the relative supply of black to white workers that was marked among college graduates, and to increased crime, that was marked among high school dropouts. The differential factors affecting the groups highlights the economic diversity of black Americans.
A review of twenty years of SERVQUAL research

Purpose – This paper reviews 20 years (1988‐2008) of research on the SERVQUAL scale for measuring service quality.Design/methodology/approach – A range of studies that have applied the SERVQUAL scale in this 20‐year period are examined in a non‐exhaustive review of the literature. These studies are selected from well‐known databases – such as “ABI/Inform”, “ScienceDirect”, and “EBSCOhost”. Findings – The paper identifies and summarizes numerous theoretical and empirical criticisms of the SERVQUAL scale. Despite these criticisms, the paper concludes that SERVQUAL remains a useful instrument for service‐quality research.Originality/value – The paper provides a useful source of information on SERVQUAL and its applications. In particular, the paper summarizes a selection of 30 applications of SERVQUAL.
Genetic Evidence for Antagonism Between Pak Protein Kinase and Rho1 Small GTPase Signaling in Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton During Drosophila Oogenesis

During Drosophila oogenesis, basally localized F-actin bundles in the follicle cells covering the egg chamber drive its elongation along the anterior–posterior axis. The basal F-actin of the follicle cell is an attractive system for the genetic analysis of the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, and results obtained in this system are likely to be broadly applicable in understanding tissue remodeling. Mutations in a number of genes, including that encoding the p21-activated kinase Pak, have been shown to disrupt organization of the basal F-actin and in turn affect egg chamber elongation. pak mutant egg chambers have disorganized F-actin distribution and remain spherical due to a failure to elongate. In a genetic screen to identify modifiers of the pak rounded egg chamber phenotype several second chromosome deficiencies were identified as suppressors. One suppressing deficiency removes the rho1 locus, and we determined using several rho1 alleles that removal of a single copy of rho1 can suppress the pak phenotype. Reduction of any component of the Rho1-activated actomyosin contractility pathway suppresses pak oogenesis defects, suggesting that Pak counteracts Rho1 signaling. There is ectopic myosin light chain phosphorylation in pak mutant follicle cell clones in elongating egg chambers, probably due at least in part to mislocalization of RhoGEF2, an activator of the Rho1 pathway. In early egg chambers, pak mutant follicle cells have reduced levels of myosin phosphorylation and we conclude that Pak both promotes and restricts myosin light chain phosphorylation in a temporally distinct manner during oogenesis.
Trials of Intervention Principles: Evaluation Methods for Evolving Behavioral Intervention Technologies

In recent years, there has been increasing discussion of the limitations of traditional randomized controlled trial (RCT) methodologies for the evaluation of eHealth and mHealth interventions, and in particular, the requirement that these interventions be locked down during evaluation. Locking down these interventions locks in defects and eliminates the opportunities for quality improvement and adaptation to the changing technological environment, often leading to validation of tools that are outdated by the time that trial results are published. Furthermore, because behavioral intervention technologies change frequently during real-world deployment, even if a tested intervention were deployed in the real world, its shelf life would be limited. We argue that RCTs will have greater scientific and public health value if they focus on the evaluation of intervention principles (rather than a specific locked-down version of the intervention), allowing for ongoing quality improvement modifications to the behavioral intervention technology based on the core intervention principles, while continuously improving the functionality and maintaining technological currency. This paper is an initial proposal of a framework and methodology for the conduct of trials of intervention principles (TIPs) aimed at minimizing the risks of in-trial changes to intervention technologies and maximizing the potential for knowledge acquisition. The focus on evaluation of intervention principles using clinical and usage outcomes has the potential to provide more generalizable and durable information than trials focused on a single intervention technology.
An Optimization-Based Econometric Framework for the Evaluation of Monetary Policy

This paper considers a simple quantitative model of output, interest rate and inflation determination in the United States, and uses it to evaluate alternative rules by which the Fed may set interest rates. The model is derived from optimizing behavior under rational expectations, both on the part of the purchasers of goods (who choose quantities to purchase given the expected path of real interest rates), and upon that of the sellers of goods (who set prices on the basis of the expected evolution of demand). Numerical parameter values are obtained in part by seeking to match the actual responses of the economy to a monetary shock to the responses predicted by the model. The resulting model matches the empirical responses quite well and, once due account is taken of its structural disturbances, can account for our data nearly as well as an unrestricted VAR. The monetary policy rule that most reduces inflation variability (and is best on this account) requires very variable interest rates, which in turn is possible only in the case of a high average inflation rate. But even in the case of a constrained-optimal policy, that takes into account some of the costs of average inflation and constrains the variability of interest rates so as to keep average inflation low, inflation would be stabilized considerably more and output stabilized considerably less than under our estimates of current policy. Moreover, this constrained-optimal policy also allows average inflation to be much smaller.
Expertise In Corporate-Tax Planning - The Issue Identification Stage

*University of Southern California; tUniversity of Colorado at Boulder. We would like to thank Gilbert Bloom of KPMG Peat Marwick, Bob Rosen of Ernst & Young, Wayne Gazur, Robert Jamison, Sally Jones, Stewart Karlinsky, and David Mason for their assistance in validating the instruments; Eugene Willis and the AICPA for allowing us to collect data at the National Tax Education Program; Stephen Conrad of Arthur Andersen, John Lanning of KPMG Peat Marwick, Jerry Marrs of Ernst & Young, and Randy Stein of Coopers & Lybrand for allowing us to collect data at their respective firms; Minou Bohlin, Linda Levy, David Mason, and Paul Walker for their research assistance; and Vairum Arunachalam for his assistance in collecting data. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of three anonymous referees, Alison Ashton, Robert Ashton, C. Brian Cloyd, David Frederick, Joan Luft, Robert Libby, Laureen Maines, Mark Nelson, Michael Roberts, Frank Selto, D. Shores, Ira Solomon, Rick Tubbs, S. Mark Young, and workshop participants at Arizona State University, Cornell University, Duke University, Indiana University, the University of Illinois Tax Symposium, the Journal of Accounting Research Conference, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Utah, and University of Wisconsin. Finally, the financial support of the KPMG Peat Marwick Foundation and the University of Colorado is gratefully acknowledged. 1 We infer expertise in this study from the level of performance in a specific task, here issue identification in tax planning. This inference is consistent with much of the literature on expertise in accounting and other disciplines (e.g., Bonner and Lewis [1990],
Dual-Kalman-Filter-Based Identification and Real-Time Optimization of PV Systems

In this paper, the use of the Dual Kalman Filter for the identification of photovoltaic system parameters is presented. The system includes the photovoltaic source, the dc/dc converter and the battery/dc bus and both its states and parameters in the actual operating conditions are identified. In particular, the proposed approach gives the confidence interval for the system settling time, which is used for the real-time optimization of the perturbative maximum power point tracking algorithm. The proposed technique is implemented by using a Field-Programmable Gate Array and it is validated by means of both simulation and experimental results.
Incidence and frequency rates of childhood cancer in Namibia.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the extent of paediatric malignancy in an African country and to compare these findings with paediatric cancer rates in other countries. DESIGN A retrospective descriptive study which calculated incidence and frequency rates from the data obtained from a 6-year survey of childhood cancer in Namibia. SETTING Children from the general community who were referred by primary care physicians or clinics and diagnosed in peripheral district hospitals or a tertiary care institution. PATIENTS A total of 163 children less than 15 years of age diagnosed with any malignant neoplasm, intracranial tumour or histiocytosis between 1983 and 1988. INTERVENTION None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The minimum overall incidence of childhood cancer recorded in Namibia was lower than the rates usually reported by economically privileged countries. The rates of certain malignancies corresponded to the rates recorded in other African countries. RESULTS The overall incidence of childhood cancer was 55.5 per million. Tumours of the central nervous system occurred most commonly (18%), followed by renal tumours (14%), leukaemia (12%) and lymphoma (11.5%). The 5.8 per million incidence rate of retinoblastoma was similar to the rates recorded in other African countries but higher than in the UK or the USA. The incidence rates per million children for renal tumours, malignant bone tumours and soft-tissue sarcomas were 7.4, 4.8 and 5.2, respectively, which correspond with the rates in Western Europe and the USA. The incidence rate of CNS tumours was only 9.3 per million. Both leukaemia (6.5 per million) and lymphoma (6.3 per million) had rates far lower than those recorded in central Africa or developed Western countries. CONCLUSION The incidence pattern of childhood cancer in Namibia demonstrates features of both the patterns described as typical for Africa and those described for industrialised countries.
R2P in the UN Security Council: Darfur, Libya and beyond

It has been argued that consensus on the responsibility to protect (R2P) was lost in the United Nations Security Council as a result of the NATO-led intervention in Libya in 2011. This argument assumes that there was more agreement on R2P before the Libyan intervention than there was afterwards. Yet, a close examination of the Security Council’s use of language on R2P shows the opposite: R2P was highly contentious within the Security Council prior to the Libyan intervention, and less so afterwards. Not only has the Council used R2P language more frequently since 2011, but also negotiating this language has become quicker and easier. To demonstrate this I compare negotiations on Darfur with deliberations during and after the Arab Spring. Resolution 1706 on Darfur was the first time the Security Council referred to R2P in a country-specific resolution – and indeed it was the only country-specific resolution to refer to R2P before 2011 – making it an apt point of comparison. Via focused analysis on how the language used in Security Council resolution evolves over time, this article demonstrates that the Council has found ‘agreed language’ on R2P that is acceptable to members, both for thematic resolutions and country-specific resolutions. Language on R2P in Security Council resolutions has shifted from contentious to commonplace.
E‐commerce: consumer protection issues and implications for research and education

The impact of e-commerce on consumers, public policy, business and education is examined. It behoves academics and students alike to keep abreast of new developments in this field and to contribute to the public debate on the widespread effects of e-commerce. A discussion of public policy initiatives, research questions and ideas for future research are given.