Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of three-dimensional fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (3D FLAIR) and proton density magnetic resonance imaging for the detection and evaluation of lesion extent of focal cortical dysplasia in patients with refractory epilepsy

Background: Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is often associated with epilepsy. Identification of FCD can be difficult due to subtle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes. Though fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence detects the majority of these lesions, smaller lesions may go unnoticed while larger lesions may be poorly delineated. Purpose: To determine the ability of a specialized epilepsy protocol in visualizing and delineating the extent of FCD. Material and Methods: We compared the imaging findings in nine patients with cortical malformation who underwent routine epilepsy MR imaging as well as a specialized epilepsy protocol. All imaging was done on a 1.5T MR unit. The specialized epilepsy protocol included 3D FLAIR in the sagittal plane as well as proton density (PD) and high-resolution T2-weighted (T2W) images in the transverse plane. Results: In all nine patients, the specialized protocol identified lesion anatomy better. In three patients in whom routine MRI was normal, the specialized epilepsy protocol including 3D FLAIR helped in identifying the lesions. One of these patients underwent surgery, and histo-pathology revealed a cortical dysplasia. In one patient, lesion characterization was improved, while in the remaining patients the extent of the FCD was more clearly demonstrated in the 3D FLAIR and PD images. Statistical analysis of images for cortical thickness, cortical signal intensity, adjacent white matter abnormalities, and gray–white matter junction showed significant statistical difference in the ability of 3D FLAIR to assess these aspects over conventional images. PD images were also found superior to the routine epilepsy protocol in assessment of cortical signal, adjacent white matter, and gray–white matter junction. Conclusion: Specialized MRI sequences and techniques should be performed whenever there is a high suspicion of cortical dysplasia, especially when they remain occult on conventional MR protocols. These techniques can also be used to define lesion extent more precisely.
Analysis of the Effect of Individual Characteristics, Employees’ Competency and Organizational Climate on Job Satisfaction and Employees’ Performance at a State-Owned Trading Company in Indonesia

Job satisfaction and employees’ performance are important for the organization to improve the company's competitive value. This research aims to know the influence of individual characteristic, employees’ competency and organizational climate toward job satisfaction and its implication on employees’ performance. The research method used in this research is cross sectional survey. The population of this research was from 4 cities with a total sample of 51 employees. Moreover, this research applied structural equation modeling with Partial Least Square approach for analyzing the data. The results showed that individual characteristics do not effect on job satisfaction, while employees’ competency and organizational climate have a significant effect on job satisfaction. Then, job satisfaction has a significant effect on employees’ performance. It is necessary to conduct training and education programs along with flexible structural support and adequate rewards for the employees to improve the job satisfaction. Those aspects are expected to improve the employees’ performance.
The challenges of clinical trials for adolescents and young adults with cancer

In the United States, Europe, and Australia, and probably all countries of the world, older adolescents and young adults with cancer are under‐represented in clinical trials of therapies that could improve their outcome. Simultaneously, the survival and mortality rates in these patients have mirrored the clinical trial accrual pattern, with little improvement compared with younger and older patients. This suggests that the relative lack of participation of adolescent and young adult patients in clinical trials has lessened their chances for as good an outcome as that enjoyed by patients in other age groups. Thus, increased availability of and participation in clinical trials is of paramount important if the current deficits in outcome in young adults and older adolescents are to be eliminated. Regardless of whether there is a causal relationship, the impact of low clinical trial activity on furthering our scientific knowledge and management of cancer during adolescence and early adulthood is detrimental. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008:50:1101–1104. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Frequency and Severity of Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Ear Damage in Transgenic Corn Hybrids Expressing Different Bacillus thuringiensis Cry Toxins

Abstract The frequency and severity of corn ear damage caused by western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith), were measured on transgenic corn, Zea mays L. , hybrids expressing two different insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) (Berliner) Cry toxins (Bt) selected to protect against damage caused by larval European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner). A field cage experiment deliberately infested with western bean cutworm egg masses resulted in less damage in the hybrid expressing the Cry1F protein and supported fewer western bean cutworm larvae than its non-Bt isoline. Corn hybrids expressing Cry1F, grown in small plot field experiments at three locations over two separate years and exposed to natural western bean cutworm infestations suffered less damage than non-Bt or Bt-hybrids expressing a Cry1Ab protein. Later maturing hybrids suffered more damage than shorter-season hybrids. Finally, corn ears observed in strip trials for several years in diverse agronomic conditions in farmer-cooperator fields corroborated the in-plant protection conferred by corn hybrids expressing the Cry1F protein in small plot field trials.
International Retirement Migration: A Case Study of US Retirees Living in Mexico

2Abstract Studies on retirement migration often focus at the national level. There is a lack of information on retirees who cross international borders searching for new homes at a later age. In this study we attempt to provide a snapshot of the background characteristics of U.S. retirees living in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. In addition we discuss several selected characteristics such as retirees’ social life and their decision to retire in Mexico. The data for the study come from non-random sample responses of 161 retirees participating in a survey. The findings suggest that respondents in general seem to lead a better life and express no regrets with their decision to retire in Mexico. Respondents are likely to have prior travel experience abroad and, in particular, the large majority of them have been in Mexico before. The study calls for more quantitative and qualitative research in this direction. Introduction Studies on migration of US retirees have generally focused on their displacement across state boundaries. Little is known about the migration pattern of retirees who are increasingly crossing borders and finding new homes at their later stage of life. Mattson (2004) sums up this situation “Academics probably know more about the annual migration of American White Pelicans to the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake, than they do of the hundreds of Americans who flock there year after year” (p.22A). This is the first of a series of papers emerging from an ongoing fieldwork study in the Guadalajara area, state of Jalisco, Mexico. In this initial report we choose to give a snapshot of some of the background characteristics of the retirees, giving especial emphasis to the following selected aspects: a) previous knowledge of Mexico and their decision to retire to Mexico, b) nature and length of stay, c) ownership of property and vehicle, d) frequency of contacts with families and friends in the United States, e) consumption of American television, and f) features of their social life. An in-depth look at these selected characteristics will further clarify our understanding on the life of retirees in these areas and the way they build communities.
First Febrile Seizures

Through interviews with parents, data were gathered about 910 first febrile seizures in children aged 8 to 34 months. A male preponderance of 57% was found (P <.001). In 29% of cases, there was a family history of febrile seizures. Eighteen percent of seizures were focal, and 7% lasted 15 minutes or more. Focal seizures were much more likely to be of long duration (P <.001). Otitis media was diagnosed in 32% of cases, and tonsillitis or upper respiratory infection in 12%. When compared to febrile seizures after the first birthday, febrile seizures in children aged 8 to 11 months were more than twice as likely to be longer than 15 minutes (P= .015). They were also much more likely to be followed by further seizures in the same illness (P <.001). Thus, febrile seizures in children younger than 1 year are more likely to have the characteristics known to increase the risk of later nonfebrile seizures.
Anatomic Success of Scleral Buckling for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment – A Retrospective Study of 524 Cases

Background/Aim: Our purpose was to investigate the anatomic success of scleral buckling surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Material and Methods: A total of 524 consecutive patients were retrospectively analysed. Several parameters including the lens status, number of breaks and extent of retinal detachment, preoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy and refractive errors were examined. The minimum follow-up was 6 months. The primary success rate was defined as anatomic success being stable over a period of at least 6 months after surgery. The secondary success rate was defined as anatomic success after the second intervention if necessary. Besides an analysis over all patients, the patients were grouped according to the severity of the preoperative situation in simple, medium and severe cases. Results: The overall primary anatomic success rate was 84.7% and the secondary success rate 96.4% after 1 initial scleral buckling surgery and 1 additional surgery in case of persisting retinal detachment, and 19.1% of the patients with an initially attached retina after 1 scleral buckling surgery experienced a redetachment in the postoperative course and were successfully treated in 60/85 cases. In phakic patients (n = 359) the primary success rate was 89.7%, whereas in pseudophakic patients (n = 165) a primary success rate of 73.9% was obtained. The primary success was additionally influenced by the extent of the retinal detachment measured in clock hours (p < 0.001), undetected holes (p = 0.004), small (p = 0.037) and no gas tamponade (p = 0.021). In simple, medium and severe cases, phakic patients always achieved better anatomic results (89.9, 89.1 and 90.2%) compared to pseudophakic ones (82.5, 70.3 and 36.4%). Conclusion: Scleral buckling is a very good surgical option in phakic patients irrespective of the preoperative severity and simple cases in pseudophakic patients. Scleral buckling represents a surgical technique worth being trained and performed in the light of favourable results especially in phakic eyes.
A controlled clinical trial on the effects of exercise on neuropsychiatric disorders and instrumental activities in women with Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the influence of a six-month exercise program on neuropsychiatric disorders and on the performance of instrumental activities in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS The study included 20 patients with AD in the mild to moderate stages of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) divided into two groups: the experimental group, composed of 10 women who participated in the six-month exercise program, and the control group, composed of the 10 remaining AD patients who did not take part in an exercise program during the same period. All participants were evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Exam for global cognitive function, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire for neuropsychiatric disorders, and the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire for the degree of functional impairment. RESULTS The control group showed functional and neuropsychiatric deterioration in the comparisons between pre- and post-intervention times and between groups. CONCLUSION The experimental group showed a propensity for less deterioration in neuropsychiatric disorders and performance of instrumental activities compared to the sedentary group.
New Developments in Joint Factor Analysis for Speaker Verification

Joint factor analysis (JFA) is widely used by state-of-the-art speech processing systems for tasks such as speaker verification, language identification and emotion detection. In this paper we introduce new developments for the JFA framework which we validate empirically for the speaker verification task but in principle may be beneficial for other tasks too. We first propose a method for obtaining improved recognition accuracy by better modeling supervector estimation uncertainty. We then propose a novel approach we
Possible plasmid nature of the determinant for production of the antibiotic nisin in some strains of Streptococcus lactis.

During recent investigations into the genetics of lactic streptococci performed in our laboratory, some observations were made which indicated that gene(s) determining the production of the polypeptide antibiotic nisin (Nis) in some strains of Streptococcus lactis may be located on a plasmid (Kozak, Rajchert-Trzpil & Dobrzanski, 1973a, 1974). The evidence included (i) the frequent and spontaneous occurrence of stable nisin-negative (Nis-) clones in populations of some nisin-producing (Nis+) strains at frequencies of 0.03 to 0.82% and (ii) an increase in the frequency of stable Nisclones as a result of growth of some Nis+ strains in the presence of proflavin (Pro), ethidium bromide (EB) or at the elevated temperature of 40 "C. A 5.4to g5-fold increase occurred following growth with Pro or EB and a 1.4to 20-fold increase as a result of growth at 40 "C. We tested for the presence of plasmid DNA in certain of these S. lactis nisin-producing strains and in Nisclones isolated from them after treatment with Pro and EB (Kozak et al. 1973a9 1974)-
Role of waist measures in addition to body mass index to assess the hypertension risk in children

Abstract Aim: This study aimed to evaluate whether waist measures, including waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), can improve the ability of body mass index (BMI) to assess the hypertension risk when used as continuous variables. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 82 432 Chinese children aged 9–17 years were included. Elevated BP was defined using age-sex-and-height-specific references. Logistic regression model and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were performed after BMI and waist measures were converted into age-and-sex-based z-scores. Results: WHtR, but not WC, was associated with elevated BP after adjusting for BMI, with the odds ratios ranging between 1.14 (95% confidence interval: 1.04, 1.25) and 1.30 (1.21, 1.39) for one unit increase in WHtR z-score. Combined use of BMI and WHtR z-scores showed a significantly larger AUC than BMI alone (p < 0.05), while joint use of BMI and WC was not better than BMI alone. Conclusion: WHtR, rather than WC, provided further information on hypertension risk beyond that provided by BMI alone when used as a continuous variable. This study suggests WHtR, in addition to BMI, should be included for the assessment of childhood adiposity in routine paediatric practice.
Genetic relatedness in early associations of Polistes dominulus: from related to unrelated helpers

Indirect benefits obtained through the reproduction of relatives are fundamental in the formation and maintenance of groups. Here, we examine the hypothesis that females of the temperate paper wasp Polistes dominulus preferentially form groups with close relatives. Genetic relatedness data were obtained for 180 groups of females collected at the early stages of the nesting cycle of a large population of P. dominulus in two sites in southwestern Spain. Average within‐group relatedness values ranged from 0.189 to 0.491. Foundresses on early nests were significantly more closely related than females in winter aggregations or in stable groups (just before workers emerged). Within‐group relatedness values were independent of group size. The vast majority of worker‐producing nests (c. 85%) had one or more females that were unrelated (or distantly related) to the remaining members of the group. These results provide further support to the hypothesis that indirect fitness benefits alone are unlikely to explain why P. dominulus foundresses form cooperative associations.
The wealth effect of share buybacks: evidence from Malaysia

This paper investigates stock market reactions surrounding the announcement of actual share buybacks by companies listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia from 2007 through 2011. An event study methodology was used to examine stock price reactions to 100 announcements of share buybacks involving 100 different listed companies. The market-adjusted return model (MARM) was used to capture the abnormal returns as share buybacks mostly involved actively traded companies. Overall, the CAAR, which was used to measure the wealth effect, showed an uptrend, but was not statistically significant for about 12 days after the event day before stabilising. This showed a positive wealth effect arising from the announcement. Thus, one can weakly conclude that the market generally responded favourably to the announcement of share buybacks. The evidence tends to support the signalling hypothesis and is consistent with the under valuation hypothesis.
Comparing Ex-offenders Who Use and Decline Job Readiness Training

ABSTRACT Reentry research has primarily focused on systemic and structural issues, with relatively little attention paid to the individual differences among ex-offender participation in community-based reentry services. Researchers often assume that the limiting factor for utilization of reentry services is the capacity for these services, without taking into account individual agency. This study examines factors that contribute to whether individuals participate or forego services, using data from a North Texas nonprofit client support organization, Texas ReEntry Services. Utilizing descriptive statistics and logistic regression, the researchers examine individuals who participate in the Job Readiness Program and compare them to individuals who do not utilize this service. Initial findings suggest that only a small percentage of unemployed ex-offenders take advantage of employment training and other free services.
The Effect of Structural Defects on Magnetic Switching in Thin Ferromagnetic Patterned Films

We have utilized micromagnetic simulations to study the effect of structural defects on the magnetic switching behavior of thin elliptical permalloy films. The nonmagnetic void was found to tend to pin the adjacent magnetic moment, which changes the local equilibrium magnetization configurations and alters the switching behavior of magnetization, leading to a large variation in switching fields. In particular, for the case of voids close to the edge, the curling effect of voids is significant and induces the occurrence of the multiple-stage magnetization reversal, leading to significantly large switching fields
Do institutional investors have private information about CEO turnovers

Using a large sample of transaction-level institutional trading data, we empirically analyze, for the first time in the literature, the role of institutional investors as producers of information about firms undergoing CEO turnovers. We make use of institutional “net buy” (number of shares bought minus shares sold, normalized by shares outstanding) as our measure of institutional trading. We find that institutional trading prior to a CEO turnover has significant predictive power for the nature of a CEO turnover (forced versus voluntary). Institutions seem to obtain some of this private information by analyzing the trading of corporate board members and other firm insiders prior to a CEO turnover. In other words, our analysis of the lead-lag relationship between insider trading and institutional trading indicates that, contrary to some popular conjectures, corporate boards are not merely responding to selling pressure by institutional investors when firing poorly performing CEOs. However, our results also suggest that institutions do not merely learn from insider trading, but produce information over and above that contained in such trading. Further, we find that institutional trading prior to a forced CEO turnover has significant predictive power for the announcement e↵ect of such a turnover: a larger amount of selling of the firm’s equity by institutions is associated with a more positive announcement e↵ect. Institutional trading immediately after a forced CEO turnover also has significant predictive power for subsequent long-run stock returns: the larger the net buying by institutions, better the subsequent long-run stock returns. This indicates that institutions are also able to generate private information about the quality of the incoming CEO after a forced CEO turnover. Finally, we find that, consistent with their generating a significant and persistent informational advantage over retail investors, institutional investors are able to realize significant abnormal profits (net of commissions and trading costs) by trading in the equity of firms undergoing forced CEO turnovers. Overall, our results are consistent with institutional investors playing a significant role as information producers around CEO turnovers and being rewarded substantially for such information production. JEL Classification : G23, G34
Developing Standards for Postpartum Hemorrhage in a Resource-Limited Country

Traditionally, standards of care have been developed by a panel of experts and then implemented by a multidisciplinary team. We studied the feasibility of involving health professionals of all grades and policymakers in the establishment of standards for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in Malawi. The team established these standards using evidence from Malawi national guidelines and World Health Organization (WHO) manuals. They agreed on 10 objectives and developed the structure, process, and outcome for each objective. The standards addressed different aspects of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The involvement of both health professionals and policymakers might promote ownership, sustainability, and allocation of resources for implementation.
Information storage and retrieval in spin-glass like neural networks

The link between the structure of a neural network and its attractor states is investigated, with a view to designing associative memories based on such networks. It is shown that, for any preassigned set of states to be memorized, the parameters of the network can be completely calculated in most cases so as to guarantee the stability of these states. The spin glass formulation of the neural network problem leads to particularly simple results which, in some cases, allow an analytical evaluation of the attractivity of the memorized states Dans la perspective de la realisation de memoires associatives a l'aide de reseaux de neurones, nous etudions la relation entre la structure d'un reseau et ses etats attracteurs; nous montrons que, quel que soit l'ensemble des etats que l'on desire memoriser, il est generalement possible de calculer tous les parametres du reseau de facon a assurer la stabilite de ces etats. Le formalisme des verres de spins conduit a des resultats particulierement simples qui permettent, dans certains cas, d'evaluer analytiquement leur attractivite