Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nucleophosmin gene mutations in acute myeloid leukemia.

CONTEXT Heterozygous mutation of the nucleophosmin gene (NPM1) has recently been described as one of the most frequent genetic lesions in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). OBJECTIVE (1) To discuss the clinical, morphologic, immunophenotypic, and genetic features of AML with NPM1 gene mutations, along with various detection methods, (2) To explore the mechanisms by which NPM1 gene mutations contribute to leukemogenesis. DATA SOURCES/EXTRACTION: Data were analyzed from 7 recently published papers. RESULTS NPM1 gene mutations tend to occur more frequently in women, and also tend to be associated with a higher white blood cell count. There is no significant age difference. NPM1-mutated AML is preferentially associated with AML with monocytic differentiation (in particular FAB M5b), lack of CD34, normal cytogenetics, FLT3 gene mutations, and a trend toward favorable clinical outcome, especially in patients without FLT3 gene mutation. NPM1 gene mutations cause a frame shift in the C-terminus of exon 12, disrupting the NPM nucleolar-localization signal or generating a leucine-rich nuclear export motif, resulting in abnormal cytoplasmic accumulation of NPM. Several methods are suitable for detecting NPM1 gene mutation, including molecular and immunohistochemical studies. These mutations may contribute to leukemogenesis, at least in part, through disruption of the p14(ARF) (alternative reading frame) MDM2-p53 pathway and centrosomal duplication. CONCLUSIONS Detection of NPM1 gene mutations may allow dissection of the heterogeneous group of AML with normal karyotype into prognostically different subgroups. Exploring the mechanisms may lead to a better understanding of how mutant NPM protein becomes leukemogenic, thereby providing insights for the development of new chemotherapeutic agents.
Prevalence by age and predictors of medullary thyroid cancer in patients with lower risk germline RET proto-oncogene mutations.

BACKGROUND Age-related risk of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) development in presymptomatic carriers of lower risk germline RET mutations is uncertain; such data may aid counseling patients regarding timing of thyroidectomy. METHODS From an institutional database and an exhaustive literature review, we identified 679 patients with American Thyroid Association (ATA) level A or B mutations who were identified because of family screening (index cases of MTC were excluded to minimize selection bias). We evaluated age at thyroidectomy or last evaluation if no thyroidectomy, preoperative calcitonin level (elevated or not), the mutated codon, and outcome (MTC vs. no MTC after thyroidectomy or no clinical evidence of MTC if thyroid intact). Data were used to estimate the cumulative prevalence of MTC and/or assess likelihood of MTC stratified by codon. After exclusion of cases with missing data or small representation, 503 patients with mutations in codons 533, 609, 611, 618, 620, 791, and 804 were analyzed. RESULTS 236 patients had MTC. Cumulative prevalence and median time to MTC varied by codon and within ATA risk levels (p<0.0001). Patients with a codon 620 mutation were 2.8-6.9 times more likely to have MTC than other level B mutation carriers, and 5.1-21.7 times more likely than level A mutation carriers included in our focus population. The youngest median time to MTC was 19 years for codon 620 and the oldest was 56 years for codon 611. Cumulative prevalence of MTC by age 20 was 10% or lower for codons 533, 609, 611, 791, and 804. By age 50, it ranged from 18% for codon 791 to 95% for codon 620. An elevated preoperative calcitonin level strongly predicted MTC on final pathology, though false-negative rates varied by codon (p<0.0001). Positive predictive values ranged from 76% to 100% by codon with an overall positive predictive value of 87% across codons. CONCLUSIONS This study offers a better understanding of the age-related development of MTC in lower risk RET mutation carriers, provides evidence of further distinctions between lower risk mutations within ATA subgroups, and clarifies the clinical significance of codon 791 mutations. The data support individualized "codon-based" management approaches coupled with clinical data such as calcitonin levels.
Effects of Case Studies and Simulated Patients on Students' Nursing Care Plan.

PURPOSE The aim of this study is to determine the effects of using case studies and simulated patients in teaching students to plan their nursing care. METHODS The study sample consisted of 70 second-year nursing students. Study data were collected using a questionnaire and by evaluating students' nursing care plans. RESULTS The highest percentages of diagnoses identified were altered oral mucous membrane, ineffective breathing pattern, disturbed sleep pattern: less than body requirement, impaired tissue integrity, pain, and risk for infection. CONCLUSIONS The use of simulated patients in nursing education appears to help students evaluate realistic medical cases and clinical problems, and plan their nursing care.
Breast Reconstruction With Autologous Fat Graft Mixed With Platelet-Rich Plasma

Background. The purpose of this study was to review the authors’ experience of fat grafting, evaluating the effects related to the use of fat grafting with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the improvement of fat volume in breast reconstruction and comparing the results with a control group (only centrifuged fat grafting). Methods. A total of 50 patients aged between 19 and 60 years affected by breast soft-tissue defects were analyzed at the Plastic and Reconstructive Department of the University of Tor Vergata. They were treated with fat grafting + PRP. The control group (50 patients with breast soft-tissue defects) were treated with centrifuged fat grafting injection according to Coleman’s procedure. Results. The patients treated with PRP added to the autologous fat grafts showed a 69% maintenance of the contour restoring and of 3-dimensional volume after 1 year, whereas the patients of the control group treated with centrifuged fat grafting showed a 39% maintenance. Conclusion. PRP mixed with fat grafting leads to an improvement in maintaining breast volume in patients affected by breast soft-tissue defects.
Note. the Role of Returns Policies in Pricing and Inventory Decisions for Catalogue Goods

Manufacturers often use returns policies to encourage retailers to stock and price items more aggressively. We focus on the effect that such policies have on both a retailer's and a manufacturer's profits when the retailer must commit prior to the selling season to both a stocking quantity and a price at which to sell an item. Such a commitment is often necessary for retailers who sell primarily through catalogues.
Revising teacher candidates' views of science and self: can accounts from the history of science help?

Our inquiry uses accounts from the history of science to develop teacher-candidate (student teacher) understanding of the nature of science (NOS) in a science teacher education methods course. This understanding of the NOS is then used as a foundation for developing teacher candidate appreciation of the attributes of authentic science lessons. Based upon their understanding of the nature of science, teacher candidates plan and teach lessons and critique the experiences provided for students using their own conceptual framework of authentic science learning experiences. The study uses an instrumental case study approach in which a case is examined mainly to provide insight into an issue or for refinement of a theory; that is, does the use of the nature of science have utility for supporting teachers of science in their planning and teaching, and, in particular, for assisting them in teaching science authentically and developing a more positive perception of self as a teacher of science. Implications of this inquiry in informing the development and utility of nature of science understandings in teacher education methods courses are also considered.
The intranet's role in newcomer socialization in the hotel industry in Taiwan – technology acceptance model analysis

This study examined a research model for explaining the relationships of intranet adoption and newcomers' organizational socialization in the hotel industry. Data were gathered for a structural equation model (SEM) analysis, from 298 individual participants, who had only worked in a hotel for 6 months to 1 year. The research results demonstrated the mediation role of the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use of the intranet. The SEM results also revealed that usage of the intranet did increase the extent of an employee's socialization into the organization. Moreover, PU has direct and indirect effects on socialization. Tests on gender and age differences were conducted. The invariance analysis of the theory model showed that both males and females demonstrated the same patterns in performing technology acceptance factors and socialization, whereas different age groups demonstrated significantly different paths. The direct effect of PU was not significant for the newcomers aged over 35.
Environmental Policy Issues for Sustainable Economic Development in China

A central pillar of the sustainability movement is the call to include environmental accounting in standard measures of economic performance. This increased transparency would, in principle, mitigate the temptation of economic managers and policy makers to increase growth in material consumption at the expense of the environment. Moreover, as Repetto (1989) and others have argued, deducting depreciation of produced capital from NNP but not deducting depreciation of natural capital is inconsistent and debases NNP as a possible indicator of welfare. Based on the evidence available, it appears that while GNNP is substantially less than NNP, these adjustments do not adversely compromise existing estimates of economic growth for China.
Employment Concerns of People with Epilepsy and the Question of Disclosure: Report of a Survey of the Epilepsy Foundation

This article presents the results of a survey of the Epilepsy Foundation affiliates in the United States and Puerto Rico, regarding the employment-related questions and concerns of people with epilepsy. The survey also explored how Epilepsy Foundation affiliates advise people with epilepsy about disclosing epilepsy status in the employment-seeking process. Some of the major employment-related questions and concerns reported by the affiliates included identifying resources to help in finding a job, questions about disclosure of epilepsy status in job applications, questions about job-related discrimination or Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations, questions about the ADA, and questions about how to deal with co-workers or supervisors. Implications and design limitations are discussed.
MIDDLE MANAGERS: VICTIMS OR VANGUARDS OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MOVEMENT?

The purpose of this article is twofold; first, to provide a critical review of a number of approaches to corporate entrepreneurship and second, to do this by focusing on the role and fate of middle managers as corporate entrepreneurs. By concentrating on middle managers it is intended to highlight the contradictions that pervade the literature on corporate entrepreneurship. The article identifies three approaches to corporate entrepreneurship and examines how each provides different views and prescriptions for the middle manager as corporate entrepreneur. This article raises important issues for those seeking to implement entrepreneurial strategies or develop a general framework for innovation in large corporations.
Acute Antibody-Mediated Complement Activation Mediates Lysis of Pancreatic Islets Cells and May Cause Tissue Loss in Clinical Islet Transplantation

Background. Clinical islet transplantation is associated with loss of transplanted islets necessitating tissue from more than one donor to obtain insulin independence. The instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction (IBMIR) is one explanation to the tissue loss. Complement activation is an important cytotoxic component of the IBMIR, and in the present study, we have investigated this component in detail. Methods. Isolated human islets were analyzed by large particle flow cytometry and confocal microscopy after incubation in human ABO-compatible hirudin-plasma. Results. After incubation in plasma, the islets bound IgG and IgM, CIq, C4, C3 and C9. The binding of C3b/iC3b was evident already after 5 min. The binding of C3b/iC3b and the generation of C3a and sC5b-9 were inhibited by the complement inhibitor Compstatin. Lysis as reflected by propidium iodide (PI) staining and release of C-peptide was also inhibited by Compstatin. There were significant correlations between IgM/IgG versus C3b/iC3b and between sC5b-9 and C-peptide. Conclusion. The conclusion is that complement is activated by natural IgG and IgM antibodies already after 5 min. The complement activation leads to lysis of cells of the pancreatic islets. This very rapid reaction may be an essential entity of the damage induced by the IBMIR in clinical islet transplantation.
Loss Aversion and Inefficient Renegotiation

We propose a theory of inefficient renegotiation that is based on loss aversion. When two parties write a long-term contract that has to be renegotiated after the realization of the state of the world, they take the initial contract as a reference point to which they compare gains and losses of the renegotiated transaction. We show that loss aversion makes the renegotiated outcome sticky and materially inefficient. The theory has important implications for the optimal design of long-term contracts. First, it explains why parties often abstain from writing a beneficial long-term contract or why some contracts specify transactions that are never ex post efficient. Secondly, it shows under what conditions parties should rely on the allocation of ownership rights to protect relationship-specific investments rather than writing a specific performance contract. Thirdly, it shows that employment contracts can be strictly optimal even if parties are free to renegotiate.
Italy's Decline: Getting the Facts Right

The Italian economy is often said to be on a declining path. In this paper, we document that: (i) Italy’s current decline is a labor productivity problem (ii) the labor productivity slowdown stems from declining productivity growth in all industries but utilities (with manufacturing contributing for about one half of the reduction) and diminished interindustry reallocation of workers from agriculture to market services; (iii) the labor productivity slowdown has been mostly driven by declining TFP, with roughly unchanged capital deepening. The only mild decline of capital deepening is due to the rise in the value added share of capital that counteracted declining capital accumulation.
Serum GROβ: a potential tumor-associated biomarker for colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to confirm the potential of growth-related gene product β (GROβ) as a biomarker for colorectal cancer. We compared serum GROβ levels in patients with colorectal cancer, healthy individuals and individuals with non-tumor diseases. METHODS We measured serum GROβ levels with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in patients with colorectal cancer (123 preoperative samples and 66 postoperative samples), 88 healthy controls and 125 individuals with other diseases. Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) were measured in all samples with an immunoluminometric assay. Statistical analyses were performed to determine associations between serum GROβ levels and clinical parameters for colorectal cancer. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was analyzed for GROβ, CEA and CA19-9. RESULTS The serum GROβ levels were much higher in patients with colorectal cancer (median: 96.15 pg/ml) than those in healthy controls (median: 43.28 pg/ml, P < 0.01) and other disease controls (median: 57.30 pg/ml, P < 0.01). Serum GROβ levels in colorectal cancer were correlated positively with tumor-node-metastasis staging (P < 0.01) and the depth of infiltration (P < 0.05), but not with the histological grade, tumor embolus, lymph node metastasis, gross pathologic tumor type, or patient gender. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay for serum GROβ were 56.1% (69/123) and 95.31% (203/213), respectively. The area under the ROC curve constructed with GROβ (0.834) was larger than that constructed with CEA (0.739) or CA19-9 (0.676) for discriminating colorectal cancer from matched controls. CONCLUSION These preliminary results suggested that the serum GROβ level could be a useful biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnoses.
Elevated Transferrin Saturation and Risk of Diabetes

OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that elevated transferrin saturation is associated with an increased risk of any form of diabetes, as well as type 1 or type 2 diabetes separately. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used two general population studies, The Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS, N = 9,121) and The Copenhagen General Population Study (CGPS, N = 24,195), as well as a 1:1 age- and sex-matched population-based case-control study with 6,129 patients with diabetes from the Steno Diabetes Centre and 6,129 control subjects, totaling 8,535 patients with diabetes and 37,039 control subjects. RESULTS In the combined studies, odds ratios in those with transferrin saturation ≥50% vs. <50% were 2.1 (95% CI 1.3–3.4; P = 0.003) for any form of diabetes; 2.6 (1.2–5.6; P = 0.01) for type 1 diabetes; and 1.7 (1.4–2.1; P = 0.001) for type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Elevated transferrin saturation confers a two- to threefold increased risk of developing any form of diabetes, as well as type 1 and type 2 diabetes separately.
Do momentum strategies work? Australian evidence

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the profitability of momentum investment strategy and the predictive power of trading volume for equities listed in the Australian Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach - Following the Lee and Swaminathan's approach, portfolios on past returns and past trading volume is constructed. In this approach, all stocks are ranked independently on the basis of past returns and past trading volume. The stocks are then assigned to one of five portfolios based on past returns and one of three portfolios based on trading volume over the same period. Findings - A strong momentum effect for the Australian market during the period 1988 through 2002 is observed. Further, momentum plays an important role in providing information about stocks. Past trading volume appears to predict both the magnitude and persistence of price momentum. Research limitations/implications - Substantial momentum observed in monthly stock returns has investment implications. Abnormal returns vary from 0.3 to 7 per cent per month in the intermediate horizon. Originality/value - This study provides an out of sample evidence by examining the relationship between “trading volume” (measured by the turnover ratio) and “momentum” strategies in an Australian setting.
Pre‐oxygenation and apnoea in pregnancy: changes during labour and with obstetric morbidity in a computational simulation

Using the Nottingham Physiology Simulator, we investigated the effects on pre‐oxygenation and apnoea during rapid sequence induction of labour, obesity, sepsis, pre‐eclampsia, maternal haemorrhage and multiple pregnancy in term pregnancy. Pre‐oxygenation with 100% oxygen was followed by simulated rapid sequence induction when end‐tidal nitrogen tension was less than 1 kPa, and apnoea. Labour, morbid obesity and sepsis accelerated pre‐oxygenation and de‐oxygenation during apnoea. Fastest pre‐oxygenation was in labour, with 95% of the maximum change in expired oxygen tension occurring in 47 s, compared to 97 s in a standard pregnant subject. The labouring subject with a body mass index of 50 kg.m−2 demonstrated the fastest desaturation, the time taken to fall to an arterial saturation < 90% being 98 s, compared to 292 s in a standard pregnant subject. Pre‐eclampsia prolonged pre‐oxygenation and tolerance to apnoea. Maternal haemorrhage and multiple pregnancy had minor effects. Our results inform the risk‐benefit comparison of the anaesthetic options for Caesarean section.
Preference and Positioning Analyses of Overseas Destinations by Mainland Chinese Outbound Pleasure Tourists

The objective of this study is to explore the competitiveness of overseas destination countries where potential Mainland Chinese outbound tourists consider making an overseas travel and the positioning of these destination countries. According to the analysis of importance of a destination’s attributes, Mainland Chinese respondents considered “safety” and “beautiful scenery” to be the most important attributes. On the basis of KYST (Kruskal, Young, Shepard, and Torgerson) analysis, Mainland Chinese respondents perceived that the country pairs of Singapore and Thailand, Japan and South Korea, and Egypt and Germany showed a similar image. Results of the alternating least-square scaling (ALSCAL) analysis provided information on the relationship of competing countries to destination attributes. The results demonstrate competitiveness of destination countries and suggest strategies for destination markets to attract more Mainland Chinese tourists.
State antitrust enforcement in the US and implications for small business entry and relocation

This article examines the impact of the important, yet little studied, state-level antitrust enforcement activity on entry and relocation behaviour by small US firms. Feinberg and Husted (2011) have shown that this enforcement, especially nonhorizontal cases, may be viewed by potential entrants as a negative aspect of the state business climate. However, they did not pursue a more disaggregate analysis of small firm entry behaviour; nor did they investigate different responses between manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing firms. Another related issue is the extent to which state cases filed in tandem with federal investigations have the same impact on establishment entry as do purely ‘independent’ cases. These considerations are dealt with in this article. The author uses annual state-level data from the Statistics of US Business to examine entry and relocation reactions to state antitrust enforcement by firms within three small-business categories: 1–19 employees; 20–99 employees; 100–499 employees. Generally speaking, the smallest retail and wholesale firms seem to favour vigorous antitrust activity, especially enforcement targeted against cartel behaviour by suppliers. The largest small-firm retailers and wholesalers (those with 100–499 employees) seem somewhat threatened by such activity, especially the more controversial nonhorizontal enforcement. However, it must be acknowledged that the effects on entry or relocation of small firms – both positive and negative – are quite small.