Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stabilisation of a severe case of P.O.E.M.S. syndrome after tamoxifen administration.

Sir: In the absence of consistently effective treatment for plasma cell dyscrasia with polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes (P.O.E.M.S. syndrome), it seemed of interest to report a possible response to tamoxifen therapy. A 56 year old man had been treated since 1982 for a sensorimotor neuropathy with oedema of the lower limbs. Since 1980 he had suffered from impotence, testicular atrophy, hypertrichosis and gynaecomastia. Nerve biopsy showed moderate decrease ofmyelinated fibres, without specific uptake in immunofluorescence and with no amyloid deposits. A monoclonal lambda IgG dysglobulinaemia (17 g/l, IgA 2 5 g/l, IgM 0-15 g/l) appeared as a complication after 6 months. Vertebra D12 was radio-opaque, and the diagnosis of plasmocytoma was confirmed by guided biopsy (the specimen showed preferential, especially lambda, IgG uptake in plasma cells). Iliac bone biopsy showed moderate plasmacytic infiltration. The C.S. F. protein level was 3 g/l, with an immunoelectrophoretic profile comparable to that of serum (IgG = 0 40 g/l). Different treatments were undertaken: radiotherapy of vertebra D12 (3,300 rads) in 1982; sequential chemotherapy associating melphalan and prednisone (3 treatments) or melphalan, lomustine, cyclophosphamide and prednisolone (6 treatments); and combinations of vincristine, doxorubicin and dexamethasone according to the protocol of advanced multiple myeloma refractory to alkylating agents. ' This last treatment resulted in medullary aplasia with septicaemia. All these treatments were ineffective. Weak-
Lower Extremity Motor Impairments in Ambulatory Chronic Hemiparetic Stroke: Evidence for Lower Extremity Weakness and Abnormal Muscle and Joint Torque Coupling Patterns

Although global movement abnormalities in the lower extremity poststroke have been studied, the expression of specific motor impairments such as weakness and abnormal muscle and joint torque coupling patterns have received less attention. We characterized changes in strength, muscle coactivation and associated joint torque couples in the paretic and nonparetic extremity of 15 participants with chronic poststroke hemiparesis (age 59.6 ± 15.2 years) compared with 8 age-matched controls. Participants performed isometric maximum torques in hip abduction, adduction, flexion and extension, knee flexion and extension, ankle dorsi- and plantarflexion and submaximal torques in hip extension and ankle plantarflexion. Surface electromyograms (EMGs) of 10 lower extremity muscles were measured. Relative weakness (paretic extremity compared with the nonparetic extremity) was measured in poststroke participants. Differences in EMGs and joint torques associated with maximum voluntary torques were tested using linear mixed effects models. Results indicate significant poststroke torque weakness in all degrees of freedom except hip extension and adduction, adductor coactivation during extensor tasks, in addition to synergistic muscle coactivation patterns. This was more pronounced in the paretic extremity compared with the nonparetic extremity and with controls. Results also indicated significant interjoint torque couples during maximum and submaximal hip extension in both extremities of poststroke participants and in controls only during maximal hip extension. Additionally, significant interjoint torque couples were identified only in the paretic extremity during ankle plantarflexion. A better understanding of these motor impairments is expected to lead to more effective interventions for poststroke gait and posture.
Sense of Virtual Community: Determinants and the Moderating Role of the Virtual Community Origin

has become an interesting topic for IT professionalsand management researchers. Despite the explosive growth of virtual communities on the Internet, limited empirical researchhas been conducted to study the issues related to the psychological states of the virtual community members.The objective of this study is to enhance the existing knowledge about virtual communities by introducing a new construct, sens eof virtual community, and empirically validating the effects of virtual community characteristics on the sense of virtualcommunity. This study intends to answer the following questions:• What is the
New Venture Risk Taking – Perceptions and Preferences?

This paper clarifies and expands the ‘perceptions’ view of entrepreneurial risk taking and provides two additional concepts to explain why entrepreneurs undertake risky new ventures. The utility-maximizing model of entrepreneurship is extended to include these additional concepts. We argue that entrepreneurs will truncate risk-reducing information-search, firstly because the delay involved in search activity may cause the loss of additional income associated with first-mover advantages, and secondly because the entrepreneur’s psychic involvement in the process of becoming an entrepreneur and/or pioneer might be so important that he/she trades off risk reduction to become an entrepreneur sooner
Comparative Studies on the Fecundity, Egg Survival, Larval Feeding, and Development of Chilo partellus and Chilo orichalcociliellus (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) on Five Grasses

Abstract Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Chilo orichalcociliellus Strand (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) are gramineous stem borers that occur sympatrically in the southern coastal area of Kenya. Evidence over a 30-yr period indicates that the indigenous stem borer, C. orichalcociliellus, is being gradually displaced by the exotic stem borer, C. partellus. Comparative laboratory studies were conducted in several large-stemmed grasses to examine factors that may be involved in the displacement of C. orichalcociliellus, and to examine other possible effects of the invasion of C. partellus into Kenya. C. partellus had a higher fecundity than C. orichalcociliellus at 25 and 28°C, but not at 31°C. In addition, more C. partellus than C. orichalcociliellus eggs survived to the first instar. C. partellus larvae developed faster than C. orichalcociliellus in maize and sorghum. In this shorter developmental time, C. partellus consumed more maize than C. orichalcociliellus, but both species consumed equal amounts of sorghum. On a daily basis, C. partellus consumed more maize and sorghum than C. orichalcociliellus. A few C. orichalcociliellus survived to the pupal stage in napier and guinea grasses, whereas no C. partellus survived. The shorter developmental period of C. partellus may give this species a competitive advantage over the slower developing C. orichalcociliellus. However, the ability of C. orichalcociliellus to complete development in two native grasses in which C. partellus did not survive may provide a refuge that has allowed C. orichalcociliellus to escape extirpation from the coastal area of Kenya.
Consumers' acceptability and rejection of food traceability systems, a French-German cross-comparison.

Food traceability is mandatory since 1st January 2005 in the EU. Traceability of products and activities in the food supply chain is a new factor of competitiveness in agribusiness that connects producers to consumers and is deemed to be an important criterion of perception of food product quality and safety for consumers. Within the food industry, traceability is absolutely essential to provide consumer assurance about the sources and safety of food, to allow identification of the source of infected or substandard product, for disease control and residue monitoring, for support measure verification, and to satisfy the requirements of labelling regulations. Despite growing interest in traceability systems and recognition of the need to act more market oriented, very little research has been done on consumer needs and perception of traceability. Researchers as well as managers have mainly focused on technical solutions. This paper tries to contribute to i) get a deeper understanding of the role of the "ability-to-trace" in consumer decision-making process with respect to food, ii) measure consumers' acceptability for food traceability, iii) check the differences of these matters across France and Germany.
Returns, Volatility and Liquidity on the ASX: Undisclosed vs. Disclosed Limit Orders

This paper investigates the information content of the two types of limit orders on the Australian Stock Exchange ASX: undisclosed orders (ULOs) and limit orders. Given the large order quantity contained in ULOs, we attempt to examine the impact of ULO submissions, cancellations and executions on price changes and volatility over differing intervals within a day. Motivation is generated by the ASX decision to abolish the use of ULOs in favour of iceberg orders. Intraday analysis shows that the impact of both ULO and disclosed order submissions are no longer than one day. ULO buying/selling order submissions at the best bid/ask price increase/decrease returns and price volatility significantly more than disclosed orders. The cancellations of ULOs cause significantly larger price volatility than disclosed limit order cancellations. Compared with disclosed limit order submissions, there is an increase in liquidity from the significantly reduced spread upon DLO submissions.
Epstein‐barr virus subtype distribution in angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy

The tissues of 16 patients bearing a T‐cell lymphoma of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type (AILD‐TCL) were investigated for the distribution of Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) subtypes 1and 2. EBV‐association had been proven in these cases by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for EBV‐DNA, in situ hybridization (ISH) for EBV‐encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBER) and immunohistology for EBV‐encoded latent membrane protein (LMP). PCR and EBER‐ISH produced mostly identical results, but some cases were positive with only one of the 2 methods employed. LMP was detected in a few large cells of 8/13 cases. Twelve cases were investigated for the distribution of EBV subtypes. One case contained EBV genome of subtype 2, 3 cases contained subtype 1 and 4 cases contained both subtypes. Four cases could not be typed. These finclings suggest that in AILD, as in AIDS‐associated lymphomas and lymphomas of the lethal midline granuloma type, subtype 2 of EBV may occur, perhaps in relation to an immunodysfunction developing progressively in these patients.
GBA-associated PD presents with nonmotor characteristics

Objective: To evaluate whether there exists distinct characteristics in glucocerebrosidase (GBA)–associated Parkinson disease (PD) with regard to motor and nonmotor symptoms as well as imaging characteristics assessed by transcranial sonography (TCS). Methods: Twenty patients with PD with heterozygous GBA mutations (N370S, L444P) (GBA-PD) in comparison to 20 patients with sporadic PD negative for GBA mutations (sPD) were included. We assessed motor impairment with the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale–III. Nonmotor symptoms were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, revised form of the Beck Depression Inventory, Parkinson Disease Sleep Scale, Sniffin’ Sticks, and Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale items 9–12. TCS imaging was used to detect morphologic characteristics. Results: Patients with GBA-PD more often had a variety of nonmotor symptoms, namely dementia, neuropsychiatric disturbances, and autonomic dysfunction, and had more severe cases, than patients with sPD. They also demonstrated a higher prevalence of a reduced echogenicity of the brainstem raphe assessed by TCS. Conclusions: Especially nonmotor symptoms seem to be very common in GBA-PD. Further studies are needed to validate these observations in order to better understand the pathogenesis of GBA-PD and develop specific therapeutic concepts.
Visual and Phonetic Memory in Preschool Children: Evidence for Coding Flexibility

This study examined visual and verbal (phonetic) memory coding in 22 preschool children 4 to 5 yr. of age. A major goal was to determine whether these children would code visual items phonetically during input in a short-term memory task as older children and adults often appear to do. Items to be remembered were visually presented letters that varied in visual as well as phonetic similarity. Subjects labeled each letter during presentation, and serial recall was probed either visually or verbally. Recall scores were analyzed according to planned individual comparisons and a 4-factor analysis of variance: probe modality (visual, verbal) × visual similarity (low, high) × phonetic similarity (low, high) × serial position (1, 2, 3, 4). Data indicated (1) a significant detrimental effect of high phonetic similarity for subjects whose recall was probed verbally, (2) a significant facilitating effect of high visual similarity, and (3) significant interactions indicating differential effects of phonetic similarity and probe modality on the serial position curve. These findings suggest flexibility of coding in children of the age range tested.
Banking market structure and bank intermediation strategies in emerging markets : three essays

This thesis focuses on bank market structure and the effect of changes to this structure on intermediation strategies using a dataset that covers many regions of the world. Employing different estimation techniques and methodologies, and using a novel approach to each line of research, this thesis provides the following robust results: first, increase banking competition weakens the effectiveness of monetary policy. This is because an increase in the degree of market power increases the response of bank lending to the monetary policy stance. Second, competition increases stability as banks diversify across and within their business activities. Third, the high net-interest margin and relatively low insolvency risk among banks in developing countries could be attributed to a high degree of market power and the use of internal capital financing. The thesis makes the following contributions to the literature: first, in order to gain new insights and provide new dimensions to the existing literature, each of the three core chapters employs an estimation strategy that is new in the literature and which offers more scope for investigation. For instance, the positive influence of revenue diversification on the competition-stability nexus is new in the literature. Second, this thesis is first in considering how various measures of market power and a variety of bank funding strategies impact on banks performance. Furthermore, considering the banking structure-risk-lending channel hypothesis in assessing banks’ response to monetary shocks is also new in the monetary policy transmission literature. In conclusion, this thesis gives rise to important public policy recommendations. First, the strong link between market imperfections and the effectiveness of monetary policy indicators requires regulation that can resolve and offset the adverse effects of further increases in the degree of bank market power on the effectiveness of monetary transmission. Second, given the results of the role of diversification on the competition-stability relationship, there is no evidence to support regulatory initiative that restricts banks diversification activities. The third and final recommendation is on the concept of market power: bank market power in itself is not detrimental to banking activities, but the level and the application of it could negatively affect bankinsolvency risk. Therefore, supervisory, regulatory and competition authorities should coordinate to put in place a comprehensive framework that allows banks to have a considerable amount of market power that is robust and consistent with any competition policy
Architectural Model of a Biological Retina Using Cellular Automata

Developments in neurophysiology focusing on foveal vision have characterized more and more precisely the spatiotemporal processing that is well adapted to the regularization of the visual information within the retina. The works described in this article focus on a simplified architectural model based on features and mechanisms of adaptation in the retina. Similarly to the biological retina, which transforms luminance information into a series of encoded representations of image characteristics transmitted to the brain, our structural model allows us to reveal more information in the scene. Our modeling of the different functional pathways permits the mapping of important complementary information types at abstract levels of image analysis, and thereby allows a better exploitation of visual clues. Our model is based on a distributed cellular automata network and simulates the retinal processing of stimuli that are stationary or in motion. Thanks to its capacity for dynamic adaptation, our model can adapt itself to different scenes (e.g., bright and dim, stationary and moving, etc.) and can parallelize those processing steps that can be supported by parallel calculators.
The Relevance of Human Resource Accounting to Effective Financial Reporting

Human resource Accounting (HRA) involves accounting for expenditure related to human asset in and organization as opposed to traditional accounting which merely expense these costs and reduces profit which to your mind sub optimise financial reporting. As a result of this agitation and need for harmonization of human with other resources in financial reporting, this study was carried out.The work of Ashton (2005) using the Skandia Model of intellectual Capital of value creation was extensively reviewed to justify the need of evaluating intellectual capital in organizations. This study using Oceanic Bank Plc as a case study adopted the Lev and Schwartz model to determine the value of human resources, simple linear regression was used to analyse the impact of human resource financial reporting using investment in human capital, profitability and capital employed. Secondary data obtained from the annual reports and accounts of Oceanic Bank plc for 2002-2006 was used.It was discovered that human resources has a positive effect on the profit and capital employed by the bank, leading credence to the findings of Ashton, that there is association between components of intellectual capital and firm-and market-level financial outcomes. It is also in support of Akintoye (2003) that the published Financial Statement may be incomplete without accounting for human resources. The very hot debates on the adoption of and convergence with international Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) from 2004 and the eventual break down of assets to components is suggesting the possibility of an exposure draft on this all important asset very soon.It was recommended that the likely length of time an employee will spend in an organization should be considered during recruitment and such estimated human resources be capitalized and amortized overtime.
Hemodynamic effects of i.v. milrinone lactate in pediatric patients with septic shock. A prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, interventional study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the hemodynamic effects of i.v. milrinone lactate in pediatric patients with nonhyperdynamic septic shock. Specifically we tested the hypothesis that i.v. milrinone would increase cardiac index by 20% and decrease systemic vascular resistance index by 20% during a 2-h study period. DESIGN Prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, descriptive, interventional study. SETTING Twenty-six-bed pediatric ICU at Children's Medical Center of Dallas and a 10-bed pediatric trauma ICU at Parkland Memorial Hospital. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS Twelve patients (age range, 9 months to 15 years) with nonhyperdynamic septic shock despite administration of catecholamines (cardiac index [CI] normal [3.5 to 5.5 L/min/m2] or low [< or =3.5 L/min/m2]; systemic vascular resistance index [SVRI] normal [800 to 1,600 dyne.s.cm5/m2] or high [> or =1,600 dyne.s.cm5/m2]; and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure [PCWP] normal [8 to 12 mm Hg] or higher) with clinical signs of poor perfusion were enrolled, randomized, and treated in a blinded fashion with i.v. milrinone and placebo. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized into two groups. Group A received a loading dose of 50 micrograms/kg i.v. of milrinone followed by a continuous i.v. infusion of 0.5 microgram/kg/min while group B received an equal volume loading dose and continuous infusion of placebo. After 2 h, group A received an equal-volume loading dose followed by a continuous infusion of placebo while the milrinone infusion continued, while group B received a 50 micrograms/kg loading dose of milrinone followed by a continuous infusion of 0.5 microgram/kg/min while the placebo infusion remained. Outcome variable were measured at baseline, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0 h. Echocardiographic measurements were taken at baseline, hour 2, and hour 4 in all subjects. No changes in other inotropic or mechanical ventilatory support were allowed during the study period. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Milrinone significantly increased CI, stroke volume index (SVI), right and left ventricular stroke work index, and oxygen delivery (Do2) at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 h postloading dose (p < 0.05) while significantly decreasing SVRI, pulmonary vascular resistance index, and mean pulmonary arterial pressure at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 h postloading dose (p < 0.05). No clinically or statistically significant changes in heart rate, systolic and diastolic BP, mean systemic arterial pressure, or PCWP were observed during milrinone treatment compared to placebo. CONCLUSIONS CI, SVI, and Do2 significantly increased while SVRI significantly decreased when compared to placebo after i.v. administration of milrinone to pediatric patients with nonhyperdynamic septic shock. No adverse effects were observed. In a volume-resuscitated pediatric patient with septic shock, when administered in addition to catecholamines, milrinone will improve cardiovascular function.
Creating a universal SNP and small indel variant caller with deep neural networks

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a rapidly evolving set of technologies that can be used to determine the sequence of an individual’s genome1 by calling genetic variants present in an individual using billions of short, errorful sequence reads2. Despite more than a decade of effort and thousands of dedicated researchers, the hand-crafted and parameterized statistical models used for variant calling still produce thousands of errors and missed variants in each genome3,4. Here we show that a deep convolutional neural network5 can call genetic variation in aligned next-generation sequencing read data by learning statistical relationships (likelihoods) between images of read pileups around putative variant sites and ground-truth genotype calls. This approach, called DeepVariant, outperforms existing tools, even winning the “highest performance” award for SNPs in a FDA-administered variant calling challenge. The learned model generalizes across genome builds and even to other mammalian species, allowing non-human sequencing projects to benefit from the wealth of human ground truth data. We further show that, unlike existing tools which perform well on only a specific technology, DeepVariant can learn to call variants in a variety of sequencing technologies and experimental designs, from deep whole genomes from 10X Genomics to Ion Ampliseq exomes. DeepVariant represents a significant step from expert-driven statistical modeling towards more automatic deep learning approaches for developing software to interpret biological instrumentation data.
Organizational Culture Profiles of the Chinese Contractors

China’s high-speed economic growth in the past decade has brought about a good opportunity for the development of China’s construction industry. The value of the total investment in fixed assets in 1999 amounted to 2988 billion RMB Yuan while it was only 91 billion in 1980(National Bureau of Statistics, 2000). However, the Chinese contractors are often accused of poor performance and low effectiveness in terms of quality, and profitability (Yao, 1998, Sha and Lin, 2001). How to improve the effectiveness of the Chinese construction companies remains a focus of investigation.