Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insight in Psychosis: An Indicator of Severity of Psychosis, an Explanatory Model of Illness, and a Coping Strategy

Recent studies related to insight, explanatory models (EMs) of illness and their relationship to outcome of psychosis are reviewed. The traditional argument that insight predicts outcome in psychosis is not supported by recent longitudinal data, which has been analyzed using multivariable statistics that adjust for severity and quality of illness. While all cognition will have a neurobiological representation, if “insight” is related to the primary psychotic process, then insight cannot be seen as an independent predictor of outcome but a part of the progression of illness. The evidence suggests insight, like all EMs, is belief which interacts with the trajectory of the person's illness and the local culture to produce a unique understanding of the illness for the particular individual and his/her family.
Shiga toxin activatable by intestinal mucus in Escherichia coli isolated from humans: predictor for a severe clinical outcome.

BACKGROUND Some Escherichia coli produce Shiga toxin (Stx) in which cytotoxicity is increased (activated) by intestinal mucus and elastase (Stx2d(activatable)). These strains are highly virulent in mice, but their association with human disease is poorly understood. We investigated the prevalence of Stx2d(activatable) among Stx-producing E. coli (STEC) isolated from humans and the association between production of this Stx and the clinical outcome of infection. METHODS A total of 922 STEC isolates obtained from patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome or bloody or nonbloody diarrhea or from asymptomatic carriers were tested for the gene encoding Stx2d(activatable) by PCR and PstI restriction analysis. The toxin activatibility by human and mouse intestinal mucus and by an elastase was determined by quantifying the cytotoxicity using the Vero cell assay. RESULTS The stx(2d-activatable) gene was identified in 60 (6.5%) of 922 STEC strains; in 31 of these strains, it was the sole stx gene. Thirty of these 31 strains produced Stx2d(activatable). All of them lacked the intimin-encoding eae gene. Among eae-negative STEC, which typically cause mild diarrhea or asymptomatic infection, production of Stx2d(activatable) was significantly associated with the ability to cause severe disease, including bloody diarrhea (P<.001), and with systemic complications, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Production of Stx2d(activatable) by the infecting STEC may predict a severe clinical outcome of the infection, with progression to hemolytic uremic syndrome. A prompt and comprehensive subtyping of stx genes in STEC isolates is necessary to alert the treating physician that a patient is at risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, even though the infecting STEC lacks eae.
Indirect comparison of teriparatide, denosumab, and oral bisphosphonates for the prevention of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Objective:This study aims to compare the efficacy of teriparatide, denosumab, and oral bisphosphonates for reducing fracture risk in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Methods:We searched the literature, via PubMed, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, to screen citations from January 1996 to October 2014 for inclusion in this study. A mixed-treatment comparison meta-analysis within a Bayesian framework was performed by WinBUGS version 1.4. 3 software. The proportions of women with vertebral fractures and women with nonvertebral fractures were analyzed. Results:Our meta-analysis results indicated that all of the therapies—except etidronate—achieved a statistically significant reduction of fractures compared with placebo. Teriparatide and denosumab were more effective than alendronate and risedronate for reducing vertebral fracture (teriparatide vs alendronate: odds ratio [OR], 1.76; 95% CI, 1.03-2.98; teriparatide vs risedronate: OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.13-3.19; denosumab vs alendronate: OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.06-2.67; denosumab vs risedronate: OR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.16-2.92). Teriparatide, denosumab, alendronate, and risedronate also reduced the risk of nonvertebral fracture compared with placebo. Results of subgroup analysis showed that denosumab (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.37-0.98), alendronate (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.96), and risedronate (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.46-0.86) can reduce the risk of hip fracture and that risedronate (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.4-0.88) can also reduce the risk of upper-arm fracture. Conclusions:Teriparatide, denosumab, alendronate, and risedronate are effective in reducing the risk of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Furthermore, denosumab, alendronate, and risedronate can reduce the risk of hip fracture, and risedronate can also reduce the risk of upper-arm fracture.
Waiting times for surgical procedures.

OBJECTIVES Polls show that nearly two thirds of Canadians believe that waiting times prior to surgery have increased in recent years. A study was undertaken in Manitoba to determine whether public perceptions about long and increasing waits were valid. RESEARCH DESIGN Using administrative data, waiting times for 10 types of surgery-ranging from coronary artery bypass surgery and mastectomy to cataract surgery and hernia repairs-were studied over a 5-year period. RESULTS Using each patient's preoperative visit to the surgeon as the beginning of the waiting time, median waiting times for most of the procedures studied were found to have, in fact, remained stable or fallen slightly over the period studied. CONCLUSIONS Further, an examination of waiting times for cataract surgery demonstrated that allowing surgeons to practice in both public and private arenas seems to be counterproductive to providing good public service.
HMW-adiponectin associates with triglyceride concentrations in type 1 diabetic patients.

AIM The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between serum high molecular weight (HMW)-adiponectin concentration and fasting and postprandial blood glycemic and lipid parameters in type 1 diabetic patients. METHODS Type 1 diabetic patients treated with short-acting insulin analogs and healthy volunteers were recruited. The subjects were divided into two groups based on the mean HMW-adiponectin value of 12.2 mg/L: low HMW-adiponectin (men/women=7/2) and high HMW-adiponectin (men/women=3/8). Blood samples were collected after an overnight fast, and 30180 min after consuming white bread (B) or white bread with butter (BB). RESULTS Type 1 diabetic patients with high HMW-adiponectin had lower triglyceride and remnant like particle (RLP)-triglyceride concentrations than those with low HMW-adiponectin (p<0.01), and had a higher lipoprotein lipase mass (p<0.01) than healthy subjects (men/women=8/6). After B and BB meals, type 1 diabetic patients with high HMW-adiponectin consistently had lower triglyceride and RLP-triglyceride concentrations for up to 180 min than those with low HMW-adiponectin (p<0.01); however, apoB48 did not differ between these two groups. Fasting and postprandial plasma glucose were higher in both diabetic groups than in healthy subjects (p<0.001), with no significant difference between patient groups. CONCLUSION HMW-adiponectin is more strongly associated with very low density lipoprotein remnant metabolism than glucose utilization in type 1 diabetic patients receiving short-acting insulin analogs.
Ventilation strategies for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

To the Editor: Limiting plateau pressures in the respiratory system of patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) to 28 to 30 cm H2O may help guarantee lung protection. In the large multicenter Express trial, Dr Mercat and colleagues set positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) as high as possible to avoid plateau pressure above 28 to 30 cm H2O (mean, 27.5 cm H2O). In the lower PEEP (minimal distention) group in the Express trial, plateau pressure was kept as low as possible to maintain oxygenation targets (mean, 21 cm H2O). There was no difference in mortality between the 2 groups, but the higher PEEP/plateau pressure (increased recruitment) group showed a greater number of ventilator-free and organ failure–free days. Plateau pressure in the increased recruitment group dropped to 24 cm H2O within the first week. Two smaller trials (n=53 and n=103) showed that higher PEEP levels, comparable with the Express trial (14-16 cm H2O), can reduce mortality in ARDS, despite using plateau pressures that have been considered unsafe. Both studies started out with a plateau pressure of 32 and 31 cm H2O, respectively, but within 1 week they only needed a plateau pressure of 24 to 26 cm H2O. There are 2 main differences between these studies and the Express trial. In the smaller trials, plateau pressure before lung protective ventilation was 30 to 32 cm H2O compared with 23 cm H2O in the Express study, at comparable PEEP levels (8 cm H2O) and tidal volumes. Also, both smaller studies used standardized ventilator settings with the patients to see whether ARDS criteria (ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen over fraction of inspired oxygen [PaO2:FIO2] 200 mm Hg) were maintained over a set time period. Alterations in chest wall mechanics may also result in marked differences in the real transpulmonary pressure, leading to progressive lung derecruitment and ventilatorinduced lung injury (VILI). Recruitment maneuvers may improve lung function by allowing ventilation on the deflation limb of the pressure-volume curve, resulting in higher end-expiratory lung volumes at similar airway pressures and potentially minimizing VILI. Arbitrarily limiting plateau pressure without individualized settings, with potential resultant progressive lung derecruitment, may prevent advances in lung protective ventilation. An individually titrated recruitment maneuver leading to an early short-term increase in plateau pressure, especially in more severely hypoxemic patients with altered chest wall mechanics, may result in better oxygenation, rapid lowering of plateau pressure in the first week, and possibly improved outcome. Jack J. Haitsma, MD, PhD jack.haitsma@utoronto.ca Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine St Michael’s Hospital Toronto, Ontario, Canada Paolo Pelosi, MD Department of Ambient Health and Safety University of Insubria Varese, Italy
Stock Prices Informativeness, Financial Crisis and Liquidity Commonality: Evidence from Asian Stock Markets

Using a broad set of stocks traded in Asian stock markets from 2000 to 2012, we document that firm-specific commonality in liquidity is positively related with firm-specific stock price synchronicity. Our result suggests that higher firm opacity due to stock price synchronicity increases uncertainty about firm intrinsic value, which in turn causes stock liquidity comovement. However, the adverse impact of firm opacity on commonality in liquidity is not apparent in countries with higher stock market capitalization, lower stock market volatility, higher funding liquidity, and higher interest rate. Concomitantly, higher firm opacity does not exacerbate firm-specific commonality in liquidity when the proportion of firm’s stocks owned by investment firms is low, and the country where the firm is located have better governance quality. During the 2007-2009 crisis period particularly, higher stock market capitalization and funding liquidity as supply-side factors are no longer significant in tempering the positive link between synchronicity and liquidity commonality, while higher correlated trading behavior in exacerbating liquidity commonality is more prevalent in several types of institutional investors.
Ejaculation Preserving Technique in TURP Is it safe

Background: The treatment of bladder outlet obstruction in patients diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia using the transurethral resection of the prostate procedure often presents with retrograde ejaculation as a complication due to bladder neck stenosis. Objective: To determine the safety and ease of use of the ejaculation preservation technique of the transurethral resection of the prostate procedure. Patients and Methods: The study was done in Samarra city in Iraq, included 30 patients between the ages of 50 and 62 years. The resection of the prostate was done a centimeter above the verumontanum in order to preserve the paraculcular tissue. The patients were assessed for the degree of ejaculate using the Ejaculation Projection Score. The patients were also evaluated for erectile function using the International Index of Erectile Function and for urinary retention using the International Prostate Symptom Score. The assessments were done preoperative, 4 months and 36 months after the ejaculation-preserving transurethral resection of the prostate procedure. Results: The maximum flow rate increased from 5.4ml/s to 21±5.2ml/s (n=29, p-value<0.001). IPSS improve from 24 to 5±2.5 (n=29, p-value<0.001). The quality of life score improved from 5.7 to 1.4±1.0 (n=29, p-value<0.001). The residual urine volume reduced from 150ml to 23± 14 (n=29, p-value<0.001). The erectile function reduced from 4 to 3.7 while the EPS reduced from 3.5±0.5 to 3.3+-0.5 (p-value=0.57). 96.7% of the patients ejaculated postoperatively. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS version 15 for windows, P value and T test for significance of results being P value < 0.05. Conclusion: There is evidence to show that the ejaculation preserving technique of the transurethral resection of the prostate is safe and secure to use. It protects anterograde ejaculation while reducing urine retention.
Why Pay Dividends and Issue Equity Simultaneously?

This paper proposes an explanation, according to a given investment policy and capital structure, for why some firms pay dividends and issue equity simultaneously. For individual investors, this combination invites additional taxes, wasteful flotation costs, and adverse selection. Within the framework presented herein, dividend policy is tailored for the median shareholder's personal consumption-optimum if the shareholder is dividend-seeking. As long as private benefits from saving taxes and transaction costs outweigh pro-rata costs of equity issue, controlling shareholders find it reasonable to receive positive dividends. They compel the firm to issue equity to finance profitable investment projects.
Institutional Quality, Conflict and Aid Dependency

This study attempts to explore the impact of foreign aid on the quality of governance and how conflicts, whether internal or external affect the overall situation. Conflicts affect governance directly by creating instability which adversely affects economic development as investment climate is fouled and output drops leading to fall in revenues. In this vicious cycle governance is left with no funds to improve institutional quality. Annual data from 1984 to 2010 have been used for the Asian developing economies. The results indicate a negative impact from the confluence of foreign aid in a climate of conflicts that leads to institutional deterioration. These results are robust for various alternative specifications.
Effect of Chelating Agents on the Susceptibility of Some Strains of Gram-Negative Bacteria to Some Antibacterial Agents

The effects of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and related chelating agents on the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other strains of gram-negative bacteria to some β-lactam antibiotics and some non-antibiotic antibacterial agents have been studied by two methods: (i) the determination of minimal inhibitory concentrations in the presence and absence of a chelating agent; and (ii) pretreatment with a chelating agent, followed by exposure for up to 120 min at 37 C to a β-lactam drug in a nutrient medium or to the other type of antibacterial agent in a non-nutrient environment. The pretreatment technique gave the more significant results, especially with chlorhexidine, cetrimide, and benzalkonium chloride. Chelating agents that had previously been found to give a low order of activity as measured by effects on bacterial viability nevertheless appeared to induce some changes in the surface layers of the treated organisms, rendering them susceptible to sub-inhibitory concentrations of non-antibiotic drugs.
UNPACKING INTERUNIT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES

We examine the success of knowledge transfer within an MNE network by unpacking aggregate knowledge flows into individual projects. We assess knowledge transfer performance along two dimensions: utilization of transferred knowledge and transfer cost. We argue that the substitutive versus complementary nature of subunits' activities is a key determinant of knowledge utilization at the target subunit. Further, we posit that headquarters' incentives and monitoring are crucial factors affecting both the utilization and transfer cost dimensions. Our empirical results, based on 141 individual intersubunit knowledge transfer projects involving 49 subunits in 12 European countries largely support our arguments. Our methodology highlights the fact that aggregate measures of interunit knowledge flows can be misleading since they may include individual projects with widely differing levels of success. Copyright (C) 2015 Strategic Management Society.
Product Market Competition and Agency Conflicts: Evidence from the Sarbanes Oxley Act

We use the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) as a natural experiment of a shock to internal governance to examine the link between product market competition and internal governance mechanisms. Consistent with the notion that product market competition is a close substitute for internal governance, we find that firms in concentrated industries experienced a larger improvement in operational efficiency after the approval of SOX than did firms in non-concentrated industries. These gains in efficiency appear to come from a significant reduction in production and administrative costs. Several robustness tests confirm that our main results are not driven by unobservable factors unrelated to changes in corporate governance.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator and Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire differences between bipolar patients and unipolar depressed patients.

OBJECTIVES The current study was designed to compare personality differences between bipolar patients and unipolar depressed patients, as evaluated on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). METHODS A group of bipolar and a group of unipolar depressed patients filled out the MBTI, the TPQ, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the CAGE questionnaire. The two groups were compared with each other as to responses on the above surveys, and subgroups of bipolar depressed and bipolar patients with manic symptoms were also compared. RESULTS Bipolar patients were found to be significantly more extroverted (p = 0.004) and less judging (p = 0.007) on the MBTI. They were significantly more novelty seeking (p = 0.004) and less harm avoidant (p = 0.002) on the TPQ. Of the above differences, only the TPQ harm avoidance scale appeared strongly linked to the patients' level of depression. CONCLUSION Significant differences in personality exist between bipolar disorder and unipolar depressed patients.
Combining Mean-Reversion of Sales Growth and Low Valuation Multiples into Single Investment Strategy

Many researchers found that investing in stocks with low/high valuation multiples generates above-average/below-average long-term returns. At the same time the abundant research confirms that corporate sales growth and profitability are strongly mean-reverting, but stock markets seem to neglect this mean-reversion. This creates investment opportunities for those market participants who are aware of that phenomenon. We compared profitability of investment strategies based on valuation multiples and corporate sales growth on the Polish stock market in the period between 1999 and 2011. The simple strategies of investing in 20% stocks with the lowest/highest multiples generated above-average/below-average returns. At the same time the average return of low sales growth stocks significantly surpassed the return of high sales growth stocks. However, combining low/high multiples with low/high sales growth into two-factor strategies generates returns that are higher/lower than the returns of any single-factor strategy.
A Tight Upper Bound on Channel Capacity for Visible Light Communications

Since the optical wireless channel in visible light communication (VLC) systems is subject to the non-negativity of the signal and the average optical power, the classic Shannon channel capacity formula is not applicable to VLC systems. To derive a simple closed-form upper bound on channel capacity, sphere packing argument method has been applied previously. However, there is an obvious gap between the existing sphere-packing upper bounds and the lower bounds at high optical signal-to-noise-ratios (OSNRs), which is mainly caused by the inaccurate mathematical approximation of the intrinsic volumes of the simplex. In this letter, a tight sphere-packing upper bound is derived with a new approximation method. Numerical results demonstrate that compared to the existing sphere-packing upper bounds, our proposed upper bound is tighter at high OSNRs.
Distinct aging profiles of CD8+ T cells in blood versus gastrointestinal mucosal compartments

A hallmark of human immunosenescence is the accumulation of late-differentiated memory CD8+ T cells with features of replicative senescence, such as inability to proliferate, absence of CD28 expression, shortened telomeres, loss of telomerase activity, enhanced activation, and increased secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Importantly, oligoclonal expansions of these cells are associated with increased morbidity and mortality risk in elderly humans. Currently, most information on the adaptive immune system is derived from studies using peripheral blood, which contains approximately only 2% of total body lymphocytes. However, most lymphocytes reside in tissues. It is not clear how representative blood changes are of the total immune status. This is especially relevant with regard to the human gastrointestinal tract (GALT), a major reservoir of total body lymphocytes (approximately 60%) and an anatomical region of high antigenic exposure. To assess how peripheral blood T cells relate to those in other locations, we compare CD8+ T cells from peripheral blood and the GALT, specifically rectosigmoid colon, in young/middle age, healthy donors, focusing on phenotypic and functional alterations previously linked to senescence in peripheral blood. Overall, our results indicate that gut CD8+ T cells show profiles suggestive of greater differentiation and activation than those in peripheral blood. Specifically, compared to blood from the same individual, the gut contains significantly greater proportions of CD8+ T cells that are CD45RA- (memory), CD28-, CD45RA-CD28+ (early memory), CD45RA-CD28- (late memory), CD25-, HLA-DR+CD38+ (activated) and Ki-67+ (proliferating); ex vivo CD3+ telomerase activity levels are greater in the gut as well. However, gut CD8+ T cells may not necessarily be more senescent, since they expressed significantly lower levels of CD57 and PD-1 on CD45RO+ memory cells, and had in vitro proliferative dynamics similar to that of blood cells. Compartment-specific age-effects in this cohort were evident as well. Blood cells showed a significant increase with age in proportion of HLA-DR+38+, Ki-67+ and CD25+ CD8+ T cells; and an increase in total CD3+ ex-vivo telomerase activity that approached significance. By contrast, the only age-effect seen in the gut was a significant increase in CD45RA- (memory) and concurrent decrease in CD45RA+CD28+ (naïve) CD8+ T cells. Overall, these results indicate dynamics of peripheral blood immune senescence may not hold true in the gut mucosa, underscoring the importance for further study of this immunologically important tissue in evaluating the human immune system, especially in the context of chronic disease and aging.