Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adjuvant radiation therapy in gall bladder cancers: 10 years experience at Tata Memorial Hospital.

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE In gall bladder cancers, even after curative surgery, survivals are dismal and loco-regional failure accounts for 40-86%. Although these are considered radio-resistant, adjuvant radiation, with or without chemotherapy, has been tried to improve loco-regional control and overall survival rates. With an aim to evaluate the natural history of gall bladder cancers, role of radiation therapy (RT) and prognostication, a retrospective analysis was undertaken. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between 1991-2000, 60 patients with gall bladder cancer, treated with radical intent, were evaluated. Patients details including history, physical examination, liver function tests, ultrasonography of the abdomen and chest X-ray; and CT scan Abdomen if done, were noted. In patients who underwent surgery, surgical details, histopathology and pathological staging, were recorded. The details of post-operative adjuvant treatment, including radiation therapy details, as well as chemotherapeutic agents, number of cycles and type of infusion [bolus/infusion], were noted. RESULTS Sixty patients underwent surgery. On histopathological staging, 28 patients (46.5%) had stage II, 19 (32%) had stage III, 12 (20%) had stage-I and 1 patient had stage IV disease. Thirteen (21%) patents did not receive any adjuvant treatment, 32 (53%) patients received adjuvant RT alone, 8(14%) received post-operative CT+RT and 7 (12%) patients received CT alone. With a median follow-up of 18 months (12-124 months), 27 (45%) patients were disease free, 11 (19%) had local failures, 7 (11%) had loco-regional, 7 (11%) loco-regional+distant, 4 (7%) distant and 4 (7%) patients had local+distant failures. The Overall Disease Free Survival (DFS) and overall survival was 30% and 25%, at 5 years, respectively. Stage grouping ('P' = 0.007), Pathological T ('P' = 0.01) had significant impact on DFS on univariate analysis, where as histological grade ('P' = 0.06) showed trend towards significance. CONCLUSION Gall bladder cancers are aggressive and lethal. Early diagnosis and curative surgery, followed by appropriate adjuvant radiation therapy, may improve survivals, with no established consensus till date. Following curative surgery, pathological T stage and stage grouping, are the significant prognostic factors for outcome.
Israeli nurses' intention to report for work in an emergency or disaster.

PURPOSE This study investigates the effect of personal characteristics and organizational factors on nurses' intention to report for work in a national emergency. DESIGN A convenience sample was drawn of 243 Israeli registered nurses. A structured self-administered questionnaire collected data on (a) intention to report for work, (b) barriers preventing nurses from reporting for work, (c) perceived self-efficacy in emergency conditions, (d) risk appraisal of health hazards, (e) knowledge of nurses' roles in emergency work, (f) access to institutional support services, and (g) reporting to work in a past emergency. METHODS Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, t tests, and multiple regression analysis. FINDINGS Less than half of the nurses who said they had been asked to report for work in a past emergency had actually done so. The major barrier to reporting for work was childcare demands. There was a significant correlation between perceived knowledge, risk appraisal, self-efficacy, and intention to report. Self-efficacy, risk appraisal, working through an earlier emergency, perceived knowledge, and full or part-time working altogether. CONCLUSIONS Personal factors, such as perceived knowledge, risk appraisal, and self-efficacy, are more important to Israeli nurses than objective barriers in preventing them from reporting for emergency work. The level of perceived knowledge as to the demands on and duties of nurses in a large-scale emergency is low. Self-efficacy enhancing activities need to be introduced into nurse training for emergency preparedness. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This study makes an important contribution to research on the importance of perceived self-efficacy in the context of disaster planning.
Heterologous expression of WT and mutant photoreceptor peripherin/rds in Madin Darby canine kidney cells: an assessment of fusogenic function.

Peripherin/rds is proposed to function as a fusion protein within the rod outer segment and a fusion domain has been mapped to amino acids 311-325 within the C-terminus. To map regions within peripherin/rds required for membrane fusion a series of C-terminal mutants was analyzed. Madin Darby canine kidney cells were transiently transfected with an Xpress or FLAG epitope tagged peripherin/rds (wt) and three mutants of peripherin/rds. The mutants selected were a P296T mutant (replacement of the proline at position 296 with a threonine) and two C-terminal deletion mutants (one lacking the terminal 10 amino acids, Delta10 and one lacking the terminal 50 amino acids, Delta50). The wt protein, the P296T and Delta10 mutants were detected on SDS-PAGE as 84 kDa dimers, that resolved into 38-42 kDa monomers under reducing conditions. The Delta50 mutant showed a slightly increased mobility. The cellular localization of mutants differed from that of wt peripherin/rds. The wt Xpress-human and wt FLAG-bovine peripherin/rds were localized to both intracellular and plasma membranes. In contrast, the C-terminal deletion mutants were localized only to the intracellular membrane. The P296T mutant presented a still different pattern: initially the protein localized to intracellular membranes. Upon confluence, however, the localization appeared to become predominantly plasma membrane. To assess the fusion activity of the proteins, the cell membranes were fractionated using sucrose density gradient centrifugation and the various fractions identified based on immunoreactivity in Western blot analysis with Golgi (anti-rab 6) or plasma membrane (anti-ZO-3) specific marker proteins. All membrane fractions were assayed for fusion with ROS plasma membrane vesicles. The plasma membrane enriched fractions (isolated at densities of 1.08 and 1.125 g ml(-1)) containing tagged peripherin/rds and the Delta10 mutant promoted membrane fusion with ROS plasma membrane vesicles. In contrast, fusion was not detected with plasma membrane vesicles from mock-transfected cells or the Delta50 peripherin/rds deletion mutant. Fusion was enhanced in a less dense fraction enriched in the P296T mutant (isolated from the 1.04/1.02 interface) relative to wt. Fusion was dependent on the presence of peripherin/rds in the membranes and could be inhibited with trypsinolysis and competition studies with the bovine fusion peptide, PP-5. Peptide competition suggests that the fusion domain of human peripherin/rds is most likely identical to that characterized in bovine and corresponds to amino acid residues 312-326. The C-terminal deletion mutants have allowed us to predict the minimal region of the C-terminus necessary for fusion to include residues starting at number 335. In addition a second region important in the formation of a fusion competent peripherin/rds has been mapped to a region upstream of the fusion peptide domain.
Socioeconomic Change and Occupational Location for Successive Cohorts of American Male and Female Workers

Major changes have occurred in the occupational distribution of the American workforce during the past 20 years. These changes have occurred both within the working lives of cohorts, and through the process of cohort replacement. This paper uses 1973-1991 Current Population Survey data to examine the importance of within- and between-cohort change on the shifting occupational and skill distributions of men and women. Significant change is found for both genders, but it is more dramatic for women than for men, especially when the focus is on the skill rather than conventionally defined occupational groups. Decompositions that capture the effects of educational upgrading and industrial restructuring show that both forces play important roles in accounting for change. Men, however, have not upgraded their occupations as fast as educational and industrial change would predict, while women have upgraded at a faster rate than implied by underlying educational and industrial trends. Historical events have influenced the evolution of careers as well as their starting point. However, while the shape of cohort career trajectories reflects both historical and life-course processes, the portion of social change that can be characterized as "uneven"--which would therefore generate interactions between age and cohort--has been a comparatively unimportant force on the evolving occupational distribution of the American work force.
Investor's Overreaction to an Extreme Event: Evidence from the World Trade Center Terrorist Attack

This paper investigates whether investors overreacted to the World Trade Center terrorist attack, using insurers' stock returns. Short-term abnormal return reversals are observed after the 9/11 attack. The reversals may reflect the substantially increased uncertainty surrounding insurer stocks after the event, meaning that the price reactions are efficient risk adjustments. However, after controlling for the change in risk, I still find evidence of price reversals, which I attribute to investor overreaction. To bolster this claim, I provide cross-sectional evidence that reversals are stronger for insurers with higher information asymmetry, which have wider ex-ante bid-ask spreads and smaller numbers of analysts following. This result indicates that the reversals are likely due to behavioral biases.
Epididymal Lipocalin-Type Prostaglandin D2 Synthase: Identification Using Mass Spectrometry, Messenger RNA Localization, and Immunodetection in Mouse, Rat, Hamster, and Monkey1

Abstract This study identified prostaglandin D2 synthase (PGDS) in murine epididymal fluid using a proteomic approach combining two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (MS). The caudal epididymal fluid was collected by retroperfusion, and proteins were separated by 2D gel electrophoresis followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization MS analyses after trypsin digestion. The identification was based on the protein-specific peptide map as well as on sequence information generated by nano-electrospray ionization MS/MS. By in situ hybridization, the mRNA was detected in caput, corpus, and cauda, but it was not detected in the initial segment. The PGDS protein was mostly detected in the corpus and cauda by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry using a specific polyclonal antibody. In caudal fluid, PGDS was distributed among several isoforms (pI range, 6.5–8.8), suggesting that this protein undergoes posttranslational modification of its primary sequence. After N-glycanase digestion, the molecular mass decreased from 20–25 to 18.5 kDa, its theoretical mass. The PGDS was also detected in the epididymis of rat, hamster, and cynomolgus monkey from the caput to the cauda. In conclusion, MS is a powerful and accurate technique that allows unambiguous identification of the murine epididymal PGDS. The protein is 1) present throughout the epididymis, except in the initial segment, with an increasing luminal concentration from distal caput to cauda; 2) a major protein in caudal fluid; 3) an N-glycosylated, highly polymorphic protein; and 4) conserved during evolution.
The New British Economy

The British economy has performed well since the recession of the early 1990s. How much of this is due to the revolution in information and communications technology (ICT)? We find that the stock of computing equipment has grown at a similar rate to that seen in the US, but there appears to have been no similar ICT-induced pick-up in productivity growth. We suggest that any underlying improvement in productivity growth has been obscured by a slowdown in manufacturing and by the need for the unemployed to be absorbed into employment. We find no evidence yet of any clear effect of ICT on pricing and suggest that any benefit of greater competition is likely to come about by encouraging productivity growth rather than by reducing margins. We argue that the main cause of Britain's improved performance lies in the labour market. Looking forward, we are optimistic that the benefits of ICT will become more apparent as the factors that have obscured it become less important.
Thymic microenvironment at the light microscopic level

The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ that serves the immune system by providing an optimal microenvironment for developing T cells to rearrange the genes encoding the T‐cell receptor and to undergo positive and negative selection in shaping the peripheral T‐cell repertoire. The microenvironment of the organ is peculiar among lymphoid organs, as the supporting stroma consists of reticular epithelial cells. Bone marrow‐derived interdigitating cells and macrophages are the main accessory cell populations. The epithelium, interdigitating cells, and macrophages each contribute to the T‐cell selection process. During the last decade knowledge has been gathered that these cell populations show a considerable heterogeneity, as documented for subcellular features and immunologic phenotype. This heterogeneity may reflect various stages in differentiation, but may otherwise be linked to the functional activity of the cells. The authors survey the major cell populations, i.e., epithelial cells and lymphocytes. Macrophages and interdigitating cells are briefly discussed. Emphasis is given to functional aspects of histologic/cytologic features. Microsc. Res. Tech. 38:216–226, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Induction of anti‐secretory factor in human milk may prevent mastitis

Aim: The aim of the study was to try to induce anti‐secretory factor (AF) in human milk and possibly prevent mastitis. Methods: Forty mothers who had normal deliveries and healthy full‐term infants were randomly divided into two groups, 3–7 days postpartum. The experimental group received a food inducing AF. The control group received the same type of food, without AF‐inducing properties. Milk was tested for AF after the mothers had eaten the cereals for 4–5 wk. AF was determined by intravenous injection of milk samples into rats measuring their capacity to prevent secretion into a gut loop of the rat injected with cholera toxin. Results: The median levels of AF differed between the experimental (n= 12) and control groups (n= 16): 1.1 (0.7–1.25) units vs 0.1 (0.0–0.25) units, Z =–4.492, p > 0.0001 (11 mothers dropped out and one milk sample is missing from one of the control mothers). The frequency of mastitis in the experimental compared with the control group was reduced (p= 0.0086, permutation test). The median AF levels in mothers with or without mastitis differed; 0.0 (0.0–0.1) vs 0.5 (0.2–1.1), Z =–2.399, p= 0.017.
Wage Inequality and Demand for Skill: Evidence from Five Decades

Using the 1940–90 Censuses, the author examines long-run changes in male wage inequality and skill premiums and investigates the extent to which shifts in observable measures of skill supply and demand can account for relative wage fluctuations across decades. A simple supply and demand framework is reasonably successful in accounting for movements in the education premium but is less successful in explaining changes in overall wage inequality. While the difference between the 90th and 10th percentiles of the log wage distribution fell sharply in the 1940s and grew at an accelerating rate in the 1980s, relative demand for the most versus the least skilled workers rose steadily throughout the period. The pace of industrial change and, in particular, the expansion of medium-skilled sectors such as blue-collar manufacturing appear to have been inversely related to overall wage inequality growth.
Predicting Project Portfolio Success by Measuring Management Quality—A Longitudinal Study

Many firms struggle with managing a portfolio of multiple interdependent projects. Therefore, practitioners and researchers are eager to learn which factors affect project portfolio success and how it can be increased. However, it takes some time for changes in management practices to reveal their potential. Thus, it is interesting to know how portfolio success can be predicted and what the possible indicators of this eventual success will look like. For this purpose, we propose the concept of management quality, which allows the anticipation of project portfolio success much earlier than the time at which established success criteria become measurable. We conceptualize and empirically validate management quality as a multidimensional construct consisting of information quality, allocation quality, and cooperation quality. We demonstrate the prognostic relevance of management quality to project portfolio success on a longitudinal sample of project portfolios with multiple informants over a time period of two years. Our results show a strong positive influence and thus support the notion of a causal link between management quality and portfolio success.
The Management of Resources

This article contributes to the understanding of competitive dynamics and resource management by studying empirically the element of time in the relationship between resource management actions and firm performance. It shows that four types of actions identified on the basis of the literature on competitive dynamics and resource management, namely, actions to structure, bundle, and leverage resources in product and regulatory arenas, differ in the time they take to positively affect firm performance, in the persistence of this positive impact, and in their total impact on performance over time. Better understanding of the temporal dimension of the action–performance relationship is important for theory and practice. On the theory side, time is a dimension of competitive strategy that has long been argued to be important but that is often neglected by researchers. In particular, existing theories in competitive strategy offer very few arguments that can be used to predict the timing of the impact of firm actions on performance. Regarding practice, managers need to know which actions can improve their firm performance in the short, medium, or long term and how sustainable the improvement is likely to be.
Apixaban as an Alternate Oral Anticoagulant for the Management of Patients With Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia

Due to the pronounced hypercoagulable state in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), alternatives to heparin that do not interact with HIT antibodies are needed for anticoagulation management. This study was designed to determine whether the oral factor Xa inhibitor apixaban could be used. Functional platelet activation with apixaban in the presence of HIT antibodies was evaluated by the 14C-serotonin release assay (SRA; washed platelets) and the heparin-induced platelet aggregation assay (PA-HIT; platelet-rich plasma). A consistent absence of platelet activation by apixaban (0.05-50 μg/mL) was observed: SRA (n = 35) 11 ± 4% and PA-HIT (n = 37) 8 ± 3% (mean ± standard error of the mean; positive is >20%) versus heparin (0.1 U/mL) 82 ± 3% SRA and 78 ± 6% PA-HIT (P < 0.01) versus enoxaparin (10 μg/mL) 73 ± 5% SRA and 62 ± 7% PA-HIT. Apixaban may provide an option for oral anticoagulation in patients with HIT, particularly for extended management and prevention.
An Overview of African Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research

Abstract Given the potential importance of self-employment for African economic development, the present paper provides an overview of the current state of entrepreneurship research in Africa. This is based on the compilation of a bibliography of African entrepreneurship research. To our best knowledge, this is the first time that such a bibliography has been attempted for Africa. We analyze the frequency and topics of research outputs since 1963 and provide an overview of the main themes and topics in African entrepreneurship research. It is shown that in Africa, the government impacts on entrepreneurship both directly (through for instance taxation, education and training policies as well as privatization) and indirectly through, for example, contributing to an uncertain policy environment, damaging social capital and creating institutional features that keep African firms small. The smallness of African firms, and the role of social network capital in overcoming the negative features limiting African firm growth and survival, are important topics for future research on African entrepreneurship.
Understanding the Discount: Evidence from European Property Shares

Executive Summary. This paper investigates why a set of seventy-two European property shares were traded below their net asset values in the year 2002. The findings indicate an average discount to asset value of 36%, which turns out to be highest among the U.K. companies in the sample. When these discounts are related to a wide set of variables, a significantly negative relation can be seen between property share discounts and firm size, liquidity, the level of focus on property types, and index-membership. The latter two parameters have not been considered before in previous literature and allow the model to explain over half of the observed cross-sectional variation in closed-end discounts.
Diffusion-weighted imaging in the head and neck region: usefulness of apparent diffusion coefficient values for characterization of lesions.

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate the role of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values calculated from diffusion-weighted imaging for head and neck lesion characterization in daily routine, in comparison with histopathological results. METHODS Ninety consecutive patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a university hospital for diagnosis of neck lesions were included in this prospective study. Diffusion-weighted echo-planar MRI was performed on a 1.5 T unit with b factor of 0 and 1000 s/mm2 and ADC maps were generated. ADC values were measured for benign and malignant whole lesions seen in daily practice. RESULTS The median ADC value of the malignant tumors and benign lesions were 0.72×10-3 mm2/s, (range, 0.39-1.51×10-3 mm2/s) and 1.17×10-3 mm2/s, (range, 0.52-2.38×10-3 mm2/s), respectively, with a significant difference between them (P < 0.001). A cutoff ADC value of 0.98×10-3 mm2/s was used to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions, yielding 85.3% sensitivity and 78.6% specificity. The median ADC value of lymphomas (0.44×10-3 mm2/s; range, 0.39-0.58×10-3 mm2/s) was significantly smaller (P < 0.001) than that of squamous cell carcinomas (median ADC value 0.72×10-3 mm2/s; range, 0.65-1.06×10-3 mm2/s). There was no significant difference between median ADC values of inflammatory (1.13×10-3 mm2/s; range, 0.85-2.38×10-3 mm2/s) and noninflammatory benign lesions (1.26×10-3 mm2/s; range, 0.52-2.33×10-3 mm2/s). CONCLUSION Diffusion-weighted imaging and the ADC values can be used to differentiate and characterize benign and malignant head and neck lesions.
Should Monetary Policy Respond To Asset Price Bubbles? Revisiting the Debate

Recent events have highlighted the importance of asset prices to central bank decisions. We argue that, in response to asset price bubbles, central banks should ‘lean against the wind’ (LATW hereafter). Even if the bubbles themselves are not significantly affected by LATW, macroeconomic performance can be improved if monetary policy reacts to asset price misalignments over and above the reaction to fixed horizon inflation forecasts. In addition, it might reduce the probability of bubbles arising at all. This article restates the case for LATW, and reviews the debate. In particular I respond to various criticisms that have been made against LATW and briefly consider alternative policies designed to make the financial system less cyclical.