Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A prospective randomized study of the efficacy of routine elective lymphadenectomy in management of malignant melanoma. Preliminary results

To determine whether immediate or delayed lymphadenectomy is more beneficial than none in cases of localized (stage I) melanoma, we undertook in 1972 a prospective randomized study. Patients with midline trunk lesions were excluded as well as patients with lesions situated directly over the node‐bearing area. In addition, because of the low risk of metastasis, the protocol was changed to exclude level 2 lesions. Of the 173 patients studied, 63 were randomized to no lymphadenectomy, 56 to delayed (3 months) lymphadenectomy, and 54 to immediate lymphadenectomy. None of these regimens differed significantly from the others in its effect on length of survival or interval to metastasis. And of the 110 patients who underwent elective lymphadenectomy, 103 were without nodal involvement. Our preliminary conclusion is that elective node dissection is not beneficial in management of melanoma. However, disease progression was advanced significantly by age of the patient (>60 years) and by invasiveness (level 4 or 5) and thickness (>1.5 mm) of the melanoma.
Aetiology of acquired blepharoptosis in young adults

ABSTRACT Purpose: To identify the causes of blepharoptosis in young adults, and explore cases that do not fit into current diagnostic categories. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of all patients aged 18–40 years (“young adults”) with acquired blepharoptosis that presented to two specialist ocular plastics practices and a paediatric ophthalmologist over a period of up to 25 years. Each patient was classified according to diagnosis. Where the diagnosis was uncertain, the files were examined in detail to try and further establish a cause. Results: A total of 266 young adult patients were included. The most common causes of acquired blepharoptosis were trauma-related (28.2%) and anophthalmic blepharoptosis (19.9%). In 12.4% of the cases, a definite diagnosis could not be made. Of these, one-third had a history of soft contact lens use, a possible etiologic factor. Conclusions: The cause of acquired blepharoptosis can usually be established by an appropriate history and examination, with additional diagnostic tests sometimes required. Nearly half of all young adult ptosis is related to trauma or acquired anophthalmos. Around one in eight young adults have blepharoptosis of unknown cause, a group warranting further study.
Mycoplasmas in semen of chronic prostatitis patients

Objective. To evaluate the occurrence of mycoplasmas in the semen of chronic prostatitis patients. Material and methods. Genital mycoplasmas (Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Ureaplasma parvum) were sought in the semen of 121 chronic prostatitis patients [38 National Institutes of Health (NIH) category IIIa, 59 NIH category IIIb and 24 NIH category IV] and 40 controls. The commercially available kit Mycoplasma IST was applied to the semen samples of all 161 men, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to those of 60 randomly selected men. Results. Ureaplasmas were found in all study groups (at frequencies ranging from 12% to 25%) using the Mycoplasma IST test, but M. hominis was found only in one NIH category IIIb patient. Using PCR, most of the ureaplasmas appeared to be U. parvum, which was found in all prostatitis groups (18% of NIH category IIIa, 15% of NIH category IIIb and 25% of NIH category IV patients) but not in the controls. M. genitalium was found in 18% of the NIH category IIIa patients. All of the mycoplasmas occurred significantly more frequently in prostatitis patients than in controls and in NIH category IIIa patients than in controls. Conclusion. Mycoplasmas occur more frequently in the semen of prostatitis patients than in that of healthy controls, with U. parvum being the most frequently occurring species.
A 5'-proximal RNA sequence of murine coronavirus as a potential initiation site for genomic-length mRNA transcription

Coronavirus transcription is a discontinuous process, involving interactions between a trans-acting leader and the intergenic transcription initiation sequences. A 9-nucleotide (nt) sequence (UUUAUAAAC), which is located immediately downstream of the leader at the 5' terminus of the mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) genomic RNA, contains a sequence resembling the consensus intergenic sequence (UCUAAAC). It has been shown previously that the presence of the 9-nt sequence facilitates leader RNA switching and may enhance subgenomic mRNA transcription. It is unclear how the 9-nt sequence exerts these functions. In this study, we inserted the 9-nt sequence into a defective interfering (DI) RNA reporter system and demonstrated that mRNA transcription could be initiated from the 9-nt sequence almost as efficiently as from the intergenic sequence between genes 6 and 7. Sequence analysis of the mRNAs showed that the 9-nt sequence served as a site of fusion between the leaders and mRNA. The transcription initiation function of the 9-nt sequence could not be substituted by other 5'-terminal sequences. When the entire 5'-terminal sequence, including four copies of the UCUAA sequence plus the 9-nt sequence, was present, transcription could be initiated from any of the UCUAA copies or the 9-nt sequence, resulting in different copy numbers of the UCUAA sequence and the deletion of the 9-nt sequence in some mRNAs. All of these heterogeneous RNA species were also detected from the 5'-terminal region of the viral genomic-length RNA in MHV-infected cells. These results thus suggest tha the heterogeneity of the copy number of UCUAA sequences at the 5' end, the deletion of the 9-nt sequence in viral and DI RNAs, and the leader RNA switching are the results of transcriptional initiation from the 9-nt site. They also show that an mRNA species (mRNA 1) that lacks the 9-nt sequence can be synthesized during MHV infection. Therefore, MHV genomic RNA replication and mRNA 1 transcription may be distinguishable.
Risk Misperceptions and Selection in Insurance Markets: An Application to Demand for Cancer Insurance

We test for the influence of optimism on selection in a hypothetical cancer-insurance market using a survey of 474 subjects. We elicit perceptions of baseline cancer risk and control efficacy and combine these with subject-specific cancer risks predicted by the Harvard Cancer Risk Index to develop measures of baseline and control optimism. Following Fang, Keane, and Silverman (2008), we hypothesize that a variable may lead to advantageous selection if it is positively correlated with both prevention effort and demand for insurance. We find evidence of selection from both baseline and control optimism, but little evidence of selection from cognitive ability and risk aversion. We then estimate a model that allows us to classify subjects according to their excess risk-reducing effort and excess insurance uptake that occurs solely because of baseline and control optimism. We find subjects who overinsure relative to a subject with accurate risk beliefs are likely to have lower expected treatment costs, ceteris paribus. This indicates that on net, baseline and control optimism leads to advantageous selection in our sample.
An Empirical Study of Customers' Perception of E-Banking Service Based on Time Usage

Banks have invested heavily in developing online competence in the hope of attracting customers to the new, cheaper service channel. This research attempts to investigate customers’ perception of different time usage of banking website services. This study adopts a convenient sampling strategy and chooses Northern Taiwan residents to be subjects. Research findings are as follows. It means two different types of customers(i.e., short-time usage, long-time usage online banking customers) have different value perceptions of exploration factor, security factor and specialty information service factor but similar evaluations of transaction technicalities factor, decision-making convenience factor and interactive interrogation factor. It implies that the utilitarian functions (transaction technicalities factor, decision-making convenience factor and interactive interrogation factor) are the essential website service for most online banking customers. The results show online banking services need to intensify the core functions and design these utilitarian features as effectively as possible to satisfy all online banking customers’ need. On the other hand, providing better service on exploration and specialty information factor is more successful to keep and attract long-time usage online banking customers.
Leadership Communication, Internal Marketing, and Employee Engagement: A Recipe to Create Brand Ambassadors

This chapter examines the internal communication practices of Lenovo, a $39 billion Fortune Global 500 technology company, and the world’s largest PC vendor. In particular, this study examines how this company uses social media as a form of internal marketing to foster employee engagement. Internal communications (or internal marketing) is generally led by marketing or PR professionals with expertise in human resources, public relations, marketing, social media, and/or employee engagement. One new way that companies are extending internal communication is by developing the use of their company intranets. Intranets can support an organization by sharing accurate leadership communication and company information on a timely basis to develop trust with employees and encourage them to act as brand ambassadors. This chapter describes how Lenovo has developed and uses its Lenovo Central intranet to engage employees in its mission and vision.
Patterns of plant species diversity following local extinction of the plains vizcacha in semi-arid scrub

Abstract We examined changes in the diversity of herbaceous plant species at colony sites of the plains vizcacha ( Lagostomus maximus ) following local extinctions of this species in semi-arid scrub of central Argentina. These large rodents live in social groups, share a communal burrow system, and forage in a common home range around the burrow system. Through intense herbivory, vizcachas create large open patches in the understory of a landscape dominated by dense bunch grass and shrubs. In heavily grazed areas at the centers of vizcacha colonies, species richness of forbs was significantly higher than species richness of grasses. In lightly grazed areas at colony edges, both plant groups were equally common. Following local extinction of vizcachas, the number of forb species declined on colony sites as the cover of grasses increased, and within a year grass species were more numerous than forbs at the edges of colonies. Species richness of grasses increased slowly in the areas that had been heavily grazed by vizcachas. Five years after the population crash of vizcachas, species richness of grasses in centers of extinct colonies was less than 50% of the species richness in areas that had been lightly grazed at colony edges. In contrast, grass cover in areas that had been heavily grazed increased to levels similar to the ungrazed matrix within 2-3 years after extinction. Thus, the major transition in physical structure of the plant community occurred much more rapidly than the recovery of plant species richness.
A Decidable Intuitionistic Temporal Logic

We introduce the logic $\sf ITL^e$, an intuitionistic temporal logic based on structures $(W,\preccurlyeq,S)$, where $\preccurlyeq$ is used to interpret intuitionistic implication and $S$ is a $\preccurlyeq$-monotone function used to interpret temporal modalities. Our main result is that the satisfiability and validity problems for $\sf ITL^e$ are decidable. We prove this by showing that the logic enjoys the strong finite model property. In contrast, we also consider a `persistent' version of the logic, $\sf ITL^p$, whose models are similar to Cartesian products. We prove that, unlike $\sf ITL^e$, $\sf ITL^p$ does not have the finite model property.
Peritoneal Fluid and Solute Transport with Different Polyglucose Formulations

Objective To study peritoneal fluid and solute transport characteristics using different polyglucose solutions with and without the addition of glucose. Design Thirty-one rats were divided into three groups. A 4-hour dwell study with frequent dialysate and blood samples was performed in each rat using 25 mL of 7.5% polyglucose solution (PG, n = 11),7.5% polyglucose + 0.35% glucose solution (PG1, n = 12), or 3.75% polyglucose + 1.93% glucose solution (PG2, n = 8). Radiolabeled human albumin (RISA) was added to the solutions as an intraperitoneal volume (IPV) marker. In addition, polyglucose degradation was evaluated ex vivo over 24 hours. Experimental Animals Thirty-one male Sprague Dawley rats (300 g) were used. Main Outcome Measures Fluid and solute (glucose, urea, sodium, potassium, and total protein) transport characteristics as well as changes in dialysate osmolality were evaluated. Results The IPV was higher in the PG1 and PG2 groups than in the PG group during the first 2 hours of the dwell. The IPV, in fact, decreased during the first hour of the dwell in the PG group. However, the net ultrafiltration at 4 hours tended to be lower in the PG2 (3.2 ± 1.5 mL) group compared to the PG (5.1 ± 2.3 mL) and the PG1 groups (5.2 ± 2.1 mL) (p = 0.07), and no significant difference was found between the PG and PG1 groups. Adding glucose to the PG solution increased the RISA elimination rate (KE, representing the fluid absorption rate from the peritoneal cavity): 25.5 ± 8.2, 37.5 ± 12.2, and 42.5 ± 8.9 μL/ min for the PG, PG1, and the PG2 group, respectively, p < 0.01. Dialysate osmolality (Dos) increased with the dwell time in the PG and PG1 groups but decreased in the PG2 group. The increase in Dos was partially due to the degradation of glucose polymer, which was supported by the marked increase in osmolality over 24 hours of incubation of PG solution with peritoneal fluid, ex vivo. The diffusive mass transport coefficient for the investigated solutes did not differ among the three groups (except for glucose, which was significantly lower in the PG group). The sieving coefficient for sodium was significantly higher in the PG group compared to the PG1 group (p < 0.05). Conclusion Our results suggest that, although there was an initial decrease in the intraperitoneal dialysate volume, significant amounts of fluid can be removed by polyglucose solution during a single 4-hour dwell in rats, despite the low osmolality of the solution. The positive fluid removal induced by the PG solution is partially due to the lower fluid absorption rate associated with this solution and may, to some extent, also be due to the degradation of glucose polymer within the peritoneal cavity, resulting in increased dialysate osmolality. The addition of glucose to the polyglucose solution does not seem to improve ultrafiltration in a 4-hour dwell in the rat model. However, the peritoneal fluid absorption rate may be increased, and peritoneal transport of glucose and sodium may be altered, by adding glucose to the polyglucose solution.
Fibrinolytic properties of one-chain and two-chain human extrinsic (tissue-type) plasminogen activator.

The fibrinolytic properties of two molecular forms of extrinsic (tissue-type) plasminogen activator, purified from human melanoma cells in culture, were compared. One form, obtained under protection of aprotinin, consisted of a single polypeptide chain with M, = 72,000 while the other form, obtained without aprotinin, consisted of two polypeptide chains with M, = 30,00040,000 each. The two forms had the same fibrinolytic activity (clot lysis time) in a purified system composed of fibrin and plasminogen, and both forms dissolved ‘261-fibrinogenlabeled plasma clots immersed in whole plasma at very similar rates. However, sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis revealed that ’“I-labeled one-chain plasminogen activator was converted into a two-chain form during the lysis of a purified fibrin clot. Therefore, the kinetic parameters of the activation of native (NH2 terminus Glu) plasminogen were determined in a system containing aprotinin (1,000 kallikrein inhibitor units/ml), which prevented the conversion of the onechain form into the two-chain form. The rate of plasmin formation was measured by using ‘2SI-labeled plasminogen and by quantitation of the plasmin B-chain by sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis. In the presence of fibrin (1 mg/ml) one-chain plasminogen activator had an apparent Michaelis constant of 2.42 PM and a catalytic rate constant of 0.22 s-’ corresponding to a second-order rate constant of 89 n”‘s-’. These kinetic parameters for the two-chain form were 1.07 PM, 0.10 s” and 94 11“‘s-l. In the absence of fibrin the apparent Michaelis constants were larger than 100 PM and the second-order rate constants 0.32 and 0.36
No Gender Influences on Clinical Outcomes or Durability of Repair Following Carotid Angioplasty With Stenting and Carotid Endarterectomy

Introduction To determine if gender influences clinical outcomes and durability of repair after carotid angioplasty with stenting (CAS) or carotid endartercetomy (CEA), an analysis of patient records was performed. Methods This study included 89 CAS patients (47 men and 42 women) and 93 CEA patients (53 men and 40 women). Patients underwent duplex scans 6, 12, 24 months postprocedure. The outcomes of periprocedural mortality, major adverse events, strokes, and myocardial infarctions were assessed. Incidence of critical restenosis and recurrence of symptoms was also assessed. Results No significant differences were noted between men and women who had undergone either CAS or CEA (P > .05) for clinical outcomes and durability of repair. No differences for periprocedural mortality, major adverse events, critical restenosis, recurrent neurologic symptoms, and adverse event free survival were found. Conclusions These results do not indicate substantial gender influences on clinical outcomes or durability of repair following CAS and CEA.
Lack of allelic deletion and point mutation as mechanisms of p53 activation in human malignant melanoma

To investigate the role of the p53 tumor‐suppressor gene in the development of human melanoma, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of p53 was studied in 46 cases of melanoma by a polymerase‐chain‐reaction/restriction‐fragment‐length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP) analysis, and p53 mutations were assessed in 51 cases of melanoma by a polymerase‐chain‐reaction/ single‐strand‐conformation polymorphism (PCR/SSCP) analysis. Frozen tumors and paraffin samples were used in the study. We were not able to detect any allelic loss in 12 BstU1 informative cases or any single mutation in exons 5 to 8 of the p53 gene. Our results, together with other findings at the DNA level, suggest that the p53 gene appears not to be commonly involved in the development of melanoma, at least by its most frequent mechanisms of deletion of one allele and/or mutation in the other.
Ontogenetic development, differentiation, and phenotypic expression of macrophages in fetal rat lungs

Development, differentiation, and distribution of macrophages in fetal rat lungs were investigated immunohistochemically using anti‐rat macrophage monoclonal antibodies. In the lung buds, RM‐1+ macrophages were first detected on fetal day 13, and some showed reactivity for TRPM‐2. They populated in the peribronchial mesenchyme of the lung buds, proliferated in loco, and showed no peroxidase activity in any intracellular organelles. Their immunophenotypic and ultrastructural features were consistent with those of primitive/fetal macrophages. By fetal day 16, some of them expressed ED1, but ED1+ cells were a minor subpopulation throughout the fetal period. On fetal day 18, ED2+ macrophages developed; some also were positive for RM‐1, but the others were negative. Both the RM‐1+ and ED2+ macrophages were major macrophage subpopulations and expressed Ki‐M2R and/or TRPM‐3; ED2+ and/or Ki‐M2R+ cells are regarded as pulmonary interstitial resident macrophages. In organ culture, a similar expression of differentiation antigens by macrophages was confirmed. None of these macrophages cytochemically showed any peroxidase activity in vivo or in vitro. In the fetal stage, both RM‐1+ and ED2+ macrophage subpopulations showed proliferative potential, suggesting their ability to proliferate and survive in vivo.
Scenario analysis as a strategic management tool

This paper is about the role of scenarios in strategic management. Generally, a scenario depicts some feasible future state of an organisation’s environment and mostly includes the dynamic sequence of interacting events, conditions and changes that is necessary to reach that state. The scenario approach changed considerably during the last two decades. This is reflected in the different functions ascribed to scenarios. The more traditional functions (in first generation scenarios) are tool for evaluation and selection of strategies, integration of various kinds of data, and exploration and identification of future possibilities. The more recent ones (in second generation scenarios) are making managers aware of environmental uncertainties, stretching of managers’ mental models, and triggering and accelerating processes of organisational learning. The paper discusses especially the latter cluster of functions which are closely linked to each other. By linking the dynamic scenario-development process to Kolb’s learning cycle and strategic management, the strategic learning cycle can be enhanced. The strategic learning cycle elucidates a number of bottlenecks that may seriously hinder learning within strategic management (e.g. cognitive inertia and feedback lags). Scenarios seem to dissolve these bottlenecks and in doing so support strategic learning.
Toward a cognitive reconceptualization of meditation.

Although pioneers like Brosse (1946), Das & Gastaut (1955), Anand, Chhina & Singh (1961a), Wenger & Bagchi (1961), and Kasamatsu & Hirai (1969) began to examine the physiology of meditation in yogis and Zen masters almost as soon as practical measuring devices came into existence, the field of scientific research into meditation really began with Wallace's (1970a) investigation, which concluded that "transcendental meditation produces a fourth major state of consciousness which is physiologically and biochemically unique" (p, 30). Whereas previous investigators had had to use small numbers of highly experienced subjects and thus conduct their research under relatively uncontrolled field conditions, Wallace had available a large number of subjects who had learned the standardized TM technique and was able to bring them into the laboratory and study them under rigorously controlled conditions. His findings led many other researchers to begin research in this area; thus, hundreds of studies have been conducted within the past five years alone.