Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monitoring intravesical therapy for superficial bladder cancer using fluorescence in situ hybridization.

PURPOSE We evaluated fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for assessing the response to therapy in patients with superficial bladder cancer receiving bacillus Calmette-Guerin or other intravesical therapies. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 37 patients receiving intravesical therapy for superficial bladder cancer were enrolled in this study. Urine specimens were collected for FISH analysis just prior to the first intravesical therapy in 31 cases and just prior to or within 2 months following the last intravesical therapy in 37. FISH was done using the UroVysion probe set (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois) with results considered positive if 5 or more cells demonstrated polysomy. Biopsy, cystoscopy and/or cytology results were then compared to FISH results to evaluate the usefulness of the test for monitoring intravesical therapy. RESULTS Of the patients 25 had a negative and 12 had a positive post-therapy FISH result. All 12 patients with a positive post-therapy FISH result had tumor recurrence, while tumor recurrence was observed in 13 of the 25 with a negative post-therapy FISH result (HR 4.6, 95% CI 1.9 to 11.1, p <0.001). Of the patients with tumor recurrence 7 of 12 with a positive post-therapy FISH result had muscle invasive tumor and 2 of 25 with a negative post-therapy FISH result had muscle invasive tumor (HR 9.4, 95% CI 1.9 to 45.3, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS FISH appears to be useful for monitoring patients with superficial bladder cancer for the response to intravesical therapy. Patients with a positive FISH result at the end of treatment are at high risk for progression to muscle invasive bladder cancer.
A Stable Field-Emission Light Source With ZnO Nanoemitters

A field-emission cathode is fabricated with ZnO tetrapodlike nanoemitters. With a simple planar triode structure, a cathodoluminescent light source has been investigated. Because of the characteristics of surface-conduction electron-emission planar triode, this cathodoluminescent light source shows a very good performance. As experimental results show, the turn-on electric field is about 1 V/mum, whereas the current density is 1 muA/cm2. The threshold electric field is 1.6 V/mum, whereas the current density is 1 mA/cm2. When a pulse voltage with 4% duty cycle is applied on the gate electrode, the fluctuation of anode current is smaller than 15 % during 200 h.
Patients' satisfaction with reproductive health services at Gogo Chatinkha Maternity Unit, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.

UNLABELLED Patient satisfaction is an individual's state of being content with the care provided in the health system. It is important for reproductive health care providers to get feedback from women regarding satisfaction with reproductive health services. There is a dearth of knowledge about patient satisfaction in Malawi. AIM The specific objective of the study was to determine the extent to which women are satisfied with the care they receive when they come to deliver at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital maternity unit. METHODS A cross sectional study of postpartum women using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires was conducted between November 2008 and May 2009. The questionnaires captured mainly quantitative data. RESULTS 1562 women were interviewed. Most women were housewives (79%) who were referred from Health Centres within the city. Ninety five percent delivered a live baby. The majority of women (97.3%) were satisfied with the care they received from admission through labour and delivery and the immediate postpartum period. Most women cited doctors' and nurses' reviews (65%) as what they liked most about the care they received during their stay in the unit. Most women expected to receive efficient and definitive care. The women's knowledge on patient's rights was extremely low (16%) and equally very few women were offered an opportunity to give an opinion regarding their care by the doctors and nurses in the maternity unit. CONCLUSION Most women who deliver at the hospital are satisfied with the care offered. This satisfaction is mainly due to the frequent reviews of patients by nurses and doctors in the unit. There is a great need to educate both the population of women served and the health workers that serve them on patient's rights.
Clinical Decision Making of Experienced and Novice Nurses

Decision making is an important daily nursing activity. Given contradictory past findings concerning the ease of use of cognitive schema for reaching decisions among experts and novices, we chose to examine consistency of information as a parameter that may clarify the process of decision making. Ninety-two experienced nurses and 65 nursing students rated their decisional difficulty and levels of certainty in reaching a diagnosis for two scenarios: one including consistent information and one providing information that was partly inconsistent with the given diagnosis. For the consistent information, students showed more difficulty and less certainty in the given diagnosis than the experienced nurses. The inconsistent scenario was perceived as more difficult by nurses in comparison to students. The cognitive processes responsible for these results are discussed.
Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld. com/smpp/title~content=t713404048 Teachers' assessments of students' learning of mathematics Michael A. Buhagiar a; Roger Murphy b a Junior College, University of Malta, Msida, Malta b School of Education, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
The 43‐K protein, v1, associated with acetylcholine receptor containing membrane fragments is an actin‐binding protein.

Acetylcholine receptor enriched membrane fragments were obtained from the electric organs of Torpedo marmorata. The purified membrane fragments contained several proteins in addition to the acetylcholine receptor subunits. One of these was shown to be actin by means of immune blotting with a monoclonal antibody. Brief treatment of the membranes with pH 11.0 buffer removed actin and the other non‐receptor proteins including the receptor‐associated 43 000 mol. wt. polypeptide. This polypeptide was shown to bind actin after transferring the proteins from one‐ and two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose paper and incubating the nitrocellulose blots with actin. Specifically bound actin was demonstrated using the monoclonal antibodies to actin. No calcium or calmodulin dependency of binding was observed. The findings suggest that the 43 000 mol. wt. polypeptide is a link between the membrane‐bound acetylcholine receptor and the cytoskeleton.
Factors influencing attainment of CEO position for women

Purpose This paper aims to determine possible differences in causes or characteristics between men and women in attaining the CEO position in large publicly listed companies in the USA. Design/methodology/approach T-test statistic, correlation analyses and logit model were used to determine the role individual factors (tenure in management roles, age of CEOs, number of children, years of education) and the firm-level factor (number of employees, net income) play in determining the likelihood of having a female CEO. Findings The research results show that years of education, the number of children and the number of employees in the business play significant roles in determining the likelihood of having a female CEO. An increase in the number of children and years spent in education lower the probability of the CEO being a woman, while having greater number of employees raises the likelihood of having a woman CEO. Research limitations/implications The findings are applicable to only the largest publicly traded firms in the USA and are not applicable to mid to small publicly listed, private or non-for-profit companies or institutions. This research is a starting point for future research of women and men CEOs of small and mid-size publicly traded and non-publicly traded firms in the USA. Originality/value Prior research has shown that having children is detrimental for women in management positions; this research specifically identifies this problem for the CEO position. It also reveals that having more of education does not translate to getting to the CEO position for women.
Ionophore-Resistant Mutants of Toxoplasma gondii Reveal Host Cell Permeabilization as an Early Event in Egress

ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular pathogen within the phylum Apicomplexa. Invasion and egress by this protozoan parasite are rapid events that are dependent upon parasite motility and appear to be directed by fluctuations in intracellular [Ca2+]. Treatment of infected host cells with the calcium ionophore A23187 causes the parasites to undergo rapid egress in a process termed ionophore-induced egress (IIE). In contrast, when extracellular parasites are exposed to this ionophore, they quickly lose infectivity (termed ionophore-induced death [IID]). From among several Iie− mutants described here, two were identified that differ in several attributes, most notably in their resistance to IID. The association between the Iie− and Iid− phenotypes is supported by the observation that two-thirds of mutants selected as Iid− are also Iie−. Characterization of three distinct classes of IIE and IID mutants revealed that the Iie− phenotype is due to a defect in a parasite-dependent activity that normally causes infected host cells to be permeabilized just prior to egress. Iie−parasites underwent rapid egress when infected cells were artificially permeabilized by a mild saponin treatment, confirming that this step is deficient in the Iie− mutants. A model is proposed that includes host cell permeabilization as a critical part of the signaling pathway leading to parasite egress. The fact that Iie−mutants are also defective in early stages of the lytic cycle indicates some commonality between these normal processes and IIE.
[The role of thiazides in the prophylaxis of recurrent calcium lithiasis].

OBJECTIVE To show the prolonged efficacy of thiazides in the prophylaxis and treatment of recurrences in patients with calcium oxalate and phosphate lithiasis. METHODS A randomised prospective study is conducted, with a three-year follow-up, in 150 patients diagnosed with recurrent calcium lithiasis. The patients are divided into three groups: A) 50 cases subject to observation with no treatment, B) 50 cases treated with 50 mg/day of hydrochlorothiazide, and C) 50 cases treated with 50 mg of hydrochlorothiazide and 20 mlEq of potassium citrate/day. Each group is subject to a renal study with imaging techniques and a urinary metabolic study at baseline, 12, 24 and 36 months. RESULTS The patients treated with thiazides (Groups B and C) obtain a significant reduction in lithiasis recurrence compared with the control group (Group A). The most common abnormality found in the metabolic study was hypercalciuria, 52% of cases; 16% present a mixed lithogenic pattern. The number of recurrences and need for new sessions of extracorporeal lithotripsy in patients with hypercalciuria treated with thiazides is significantly smaller than in Group A (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS We observe a significant relation between lithogenic pattern and lithiasis recurrence. Thiazides help us to control lithogenic factors and recurrences in patients with calcium lithiasis. This effect is prolonged and significant in patients with hypercalciuria.
Double‐chimaerism after transplantation of two human leucocyte antigen mismatched, unrelated cord blood units

Summary. The small number of progenitor cells is the major limitation to the use of umbilical cord blood (UCB) for the transplantation of adults. We tested the hypothesis that two units transplanted simultaneously could each contribute to haematopoietic reconstitution. A patient with advanced acute lymphocytic leukaemia received a mismatched, unrelated UCB transplant using units from two donors after conditioning. The recipient achieved a complete remission without graft‐versus‐host disease. Double chimaerism was documented in several leucocyte subpopulations; both units contributed to haematopoiesis until relapse. Triple chimaerism was present from relapse until death due to leukaemia. This approach may potentially improve UCB transplantation outcome for adults lacking a histocompatible donor.
Epidemiology of fungal infections in solid organ transplant patients

The epidemiology of fungal infection in solid organ transplant patients is of concern due to the high mortality associated with this complication. Rates of fungal infections vary by type of transplant recipient. Most of these infections occur two to six months after transplantation. Liver transplant recipients are more likely to have early fungal infection which is often due to Candida species. Exogenous and endogenous Candida infection may occur in the immunosuppressed patient in the intensive care unit. Patients with chronic rejection are more likely to have late infection (after six months) which may be due to Aspergillus or endemic fungi such as Cryptococcus. Lung and heart–lung transplant recipients are more predisposed to infection with Aspergillus and other filamentous fungi, due to exposure of the transplanted organ to the external environment. Preventative measures such as environmental controls and chemoprophylaxis may be beneficial in high‐risk patients. Emerging fungal pathogens such as the dematiaceous fungi may cause skin or soft tissue infection, or more serious systemic infections. Fungal infection should be ruled out in the solid organ transplant patient with early brain abscess. Characteristic risk factors in high‐risk types of solid organ transplant recipients should be recognized for early diagnosis and treatment of these infections associated with high morbidity and mortality.
Pulmonary sarcoidosis in children: Serial evaluation of bronchoalveolar lavage cells during corticosteroid treatment

The clinical course of sarcoidosis in children has not been well defined. Eight children with symptomatic sarcoidosis included in this study underwent pulmonary function tests and bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) before treatment and during steroid therapy. At the start of therapy, functional parameters, mostly dynamic lung compliance and lung transfer factor for CO, were impaired. This was associated with abnormalities of BAL cell populations: increased total cell number with a high proportion of lymphocytes, modifications of lymphocyte subpopulation with an elevated CD4+/CD8+ ratio, and enhanced ability of alveolar macrophages to release hydrogen peroxide. Although respiratory abnormalities seemed to be similar at the initial stage of sarcoidosis in children and adults, the course of the disease appeared to be different. Despite the absence of respiratory symptoms and disappearance of chest radiographic abnormalities on prolonged steroid treatment, we found slow improvement of pulmonary functions associated with persistence of BAL lymphocytosis and elevated CD4+/CD8+ ratios. However, the ability of alveolar macrophages to release hydrogen peroxide was significantly reduced after 6 months of steroid treatment, and it remained identical to the control group. Therefore, the evaluation of disease activity appears to be critical for therapy in pediatrics, and for this purpose studies of alveolar macrophage activation may be of particular interest. Pediatr Pulmonol. 1993; 16:41–47. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Appendicitis Presenting Concurrently with Cecal Arteriovenous Malformation in a Child

Acute appendicitis is a commonly diagnosed surgical problem in the pediatric population. Arterio-venous malformations (AVM) of the colonic tract are rarely reported in the pediatric literature. A 13-year old boy who presented with acute appendicitis with concurrent cecal AVM is reported in whom appendectomy was done. Later on radiological investigations AVM was confirmed.
Mechanisms, Bayesianism, and process tracing

ABSTRACT This essay examines the role of mechanisms and Bayesian inference in process tracing. With respect to mechanisms, I argue that the core of process tracing with causal inference is the identification of mechanisms understood as intervening events. Events are different from standard intervening variables when used with process tracing, because events are treated as sets in which cases can have membership. With respect to Bayesian analysis, I concur with recent writings that suggest Bayesian inference is at the heart of process tracing. The Bayesian nature of process tracing explains why it is inappropriate to view qualitative research as suffering from a small-N problem and certain standard causal identification problems. More generally, the paper shows how the power of process tracing as a qualitative methodology depends on and grows from its set-theoretic underpinnings.
Correlation of Aspergillus niger broth rheological properties with biomass concentration and the shape of mycelial aggregates

Aspergillus niger was grown in a 7‐L chemostat at biomass levels of 7 to 9 gL−1; dilution rates of 0.03, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.009 h−1; and dissolved oxygen tensions of 7%, 12%, and 40% of air saturation. Broth rheological measurements were made on‐line, while off‐line image analysis was used to measure mycelial morphology, including characterization of mycelial aggregates (clumps). Under all conditions, more than 87% of the hyphase were in clumps, the shape of which determined the rheological characteristics of the broth. In particular, the power law consistency index could be correlated with the biomass concentration and the roughness factor of the clumps, which describes their hairiness. A decrease in specific growth rate decreased roughness, possibly due to changes in the amount of clump breakup. However, decreases of roughness with increasing dissolved oxygen tension might rather imply some effect on hyphal–hyphal interactions within the clumps. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Default mode network maturation and psychopathology in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND The human default mode (DMN) is involved in a wide array of mental disorders. Current knowledge suggests that mental health disorders may reflect deviant trajectories of brain maturation. METHOD We studied 654 children using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans under a resting-state protocol. A machine-learning method was used to obtain age predictions of children based on the average coefficient of fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFFs) of the DMN, a measure of spontaneous local activity. The chronological ages of the children and fALFF measures from regions of this network, the response and predictor variables were considered respectively in a Gaussian Process Regression. Subsequently, we computed a network maturation status index for each subject (actual age minus predicted). We then evaluated the association between this maturation index and psychopathology scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). RESULTS Our hypothesis was that the maturation status of the DMN would be negatively associated with psychopathology. Consistent with previous studies, fALFF significantly predicted the age of participants (p < .001). Furthermore, as expected, we found an association between the DMN maturation status (precocious vs. delayed) and general psychopathology scores (p = .011). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that child psychopathology seems to be associated with delayed maturation of the DMN. This delay in the neurodevelopmental trajectory may offer interesting insights into the pathophysiology of mental health disorders.
Immunodetection of Enamel‐ and Cementum‐Related (Bone) Proteins at the Enamel‐Free Area and Cervical Portion of the Tooth in Rat Molars

Enamel and dentin at the cervical portion of the tooth are frequently covered by a collagen‐free matrix referred to as acellular afibrillar cementum (AAC). It is believed that AAC deposition occurs when the enamel organ is displaced or disrupted, and mesenchymal cells from the dental follicle gain access to the tooth surface, differentiate into cementoblasts, and secrete noncollagenous proteins typically found in collagen‐based mineralized tissues. A similar thin layer of mineralized matrix is found at the enamel‐free area (EFA) of rodent molars, but in this case the matrix is covered by inner enamel epithelium (IEE) throughout development. We have, therefore, used this site as a paradigm to test the hypothesis that typical mesenchymal matrix proteins can also be found in association with epithelial cells. To this end, we have analyzed the presence and distribution of enamel‐ and cementum‐related matrix proteins at the EFA and at the cervical portion of the tooth. Rat mandibular molars were processed for colloidal gold immunolabeling with antibodies to amelogenins, bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteopontin (OPN), osteocalcin (OC), and dentin sialoprotein (DSP), and the plasma proteins α2HS‐glycoprotein and albumin. The EFA matrix was immunoreactive for amelogenins as well as for BSP, OPN, OC, and α2HS‐glycoprotein, but not for albumin and DSP. The AAC was, similar to the EFA matrix, labeled for BSP, OPN, OC, and α2HS‐glycoprotein. These data show for the first time that the EFA matrix is comprised of a mixture of enamel‐ and cementum‐related proteins, a situation that parallels the distribution of matrix constituents at the cervical portion of the tooth. Since the EFA matrix is deposited on top of the mineralized dentin, and since the enamel organ seals off the forming matrix, it is concluded that EFA cells are responsible for the production of these proteins. Consistent with previous reports showing that epithelial cells can produce both BSP and OPN in some circumstances, the data also suggest that AAC may be deposited by cells of epithelial origin. Furthermore, they lend support to the possibility that cells derived from Hertwig's epithelial root sheath may likewise be capable of producing cementum matrix proteins.
Homicide Followed by Suicide: A Quebec Case Series, 1988–1990

Homicide followed by suicide is a rare but tragic event. Psychiatrists and mental health professionals are often called upon to comment publicly on the event or to help the “hidden victims,” the survivors of the tragedy. There were 39 such cases in Quebec between 1988 and 1990, and they have been reviewed through the examination of the coroner's files. The epidemiological rates of homicide, suicide, homicide-suicide and the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the perpetrators and victims are presented and compared with the international literature. Sociological and psychopathological hypotheses are presented with a special reference to the possibility of various subgroups of perpetrators. Research needs to be pursued along the lines of more detailed case studies of psychopathological characteristics using the psychological autopsy approach. The reconstruction of the couple's relationship and of the final circumstances leading up to the tragedy may provide warning indices that could be helpful in preventing such tragedies.