Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of an Epstein–Barr virus‐associated lymphoproliferative disorder in a patient treated with azacitidine for chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia

Some chemotherapeutic agents can cause iatrogenic lymphoproliferative disorders. In analogy to what has been observed with other nucleoside analogues such as cladribine and fludarabine, we document the first case of an Epstein–Barr virus‐positive, iatrogenic immunodeficiency‐associated, lymphoproliferative disease, formally resembling polymorphic post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disease in a patient treated with azacitidine (Vidaza) for chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML). A 78‐year‐old female patient was diagnosed with CMML in January 2012, and treatment with azacitidine was initiated, which lasted for five cycles from February until June 2012. The patient was hospitalized in June 2012 under the suspicion of pneumonia. Transformation of the CMML was suspected at that time too. During hospitalization, a generalized enlargement of the lymph nodes and the spleen was noticed. The patient rapidly deteriorated and finally died of respiratory insufficiency. At autopsy, an Epstein–Barr virus‐associated lymphoproliferative disorder, resembling polymorphic post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disease with involvement of the lymph nodes, the spleen and the lung and causing necrotizing pneumonia, was diagnosed. Diagnostic criteria for diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma or infectious mononucleosis‐like lymphoproliferative disease were not met. This is the first documented case of an azacitidine‐associated lymphoproliferative disease, raising awareness for possible not yet known side effects of this drug, which should be kept in mind by oncologists and pathologists. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Motorized head impulse rotator in patients with vestibular schwannoma

Conclusion. Motorized head impulse rotator is an effective technique to assess peripheral vestibular function. Approximately a quarter of patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS) had preserved preoperative responses. Vestibular disability could not be predicted based on vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) performance during motion stimuli, or in the caloric test. Objectives. To explore motorized head impulse rotator for evaluation of angular horizontal VOR in patients with VS, and to compare these responses to those of the caloric test and the symptoms. Patients and methods. We prospectively recorded head and eye position during unpredictable motorized head impulses in 38 patients with VS. We calculated gain and asymmetry of VOR (mean±95% CI), and the results were compared to those of the caloric test and a questionnaire regarding dizziness, hearing and quality of life. Results. The VOR during motorized impulses was abnormal in 71% of patients. Asymmetry in gain correlated significantly (p<0.001) with unilateral weakness in the caloric test. Preoperative gain was significantly lowered to 0.83±0.08 on the ipsilateral side compared to 0.98±0.06 on the contralateral side. Postoperative gain on the operated side of 0.53±0.05 was significantly different from preoperative gain (p<0.001). Findings in vestibular tests did not correlate with subjective sensation of dizziness.
Implications of family-friendly policies for organizational culture: findings from two case studies

Formal policies intended to enable employees to meet family commitments may be important indicators of an organization's intent, but they do not guarantee that the informal culture is supportive of employees' families or their attempts to manage occasionally conflicting priorities (Lewis, 1997; Lewis and Lewis, 1996). Two case studies were conducted to identify salient aspects of the culture of two organizations and the extent to which changes in culture result from the implementation of family-friendly policies.The wider issue of the ease with which purposive cultural change or organizational learning may be engendered to ameliorate employees' work—life balance is also considered.
The Association Between Accruals Quality and the Characteristics of Accounting Experts and Mix of Expertise on Audit Committees

Prior literature suggests a positive relationship between financial reporting quality and the presence of accounting experts on audit committees. This study investigates the association between accruals quality and the characteristics of accounting experts and mix of accounting and non-accounting (finance and supervisory) expertise on audit committees. Using post-SOX data, our results indicate a positive relationship between accruals quality and audit committee accounting experts who are independent, hold fewer multiple directorships, and have lower tenure in their firms. Furthermore, the results suggest that the most positive effect of accounting expertise on accruals quality is achieved when accounting expertise is combined with finance expertise in audit committees. Supervisory expertise, on the other hand, seems to have no incremental impact on the effectiveness of audit committees that include accounting and finance expertise. The findings highlight the contextual nature of accounting expertise in overseeing the quality of financial reporting.
The virtual web as a new entrepreneurial approach to network organizations

The term ‘virtual organization’ has become a very popular expression to describe a new evolving organizational form. However, for many people it is difficult to distinguish between the different forms of virtual organizations. From an inter-organizational perspective the virtual organization is a network of companies. This paper reviews first the different typologies of interorganizational networks before it presents a case study of a stable SME network. The member companies of this stable SME network have decided to extend their network, which leads to a virtual web. The ‘virtual web’ is basically a pool of independent enterprises that have generally agreed to co-operate. The partnerships deriving from the virtual web are called ‘virtual corporations’, which exist only for a certain period of time or for a particular project. Both concepts are described in detail. Based on the presented case study, possible implications of the evolution process from a stable network to a virtual web are identified. One o.
What do High-Interest Borrowers do with Their Tax Rebate?

Building on prior literature that constrained individuals consume the most out of a tax rebate, we study the tradeoffs high interest borrowers face when they received their 2008 tax stimulus checks. We find a persistent decline in payday borrowing in the pay cycles that follow the receipt of the tax rebate. The reduction in borrowing is a significant fraction of the mean outstanding loan (12%) and appears fairly persistent over the time, but is moderate in dollar magnitude (about $35) relative to the size of the rebate check ($600 per person). In trying to reconcile this finding with the cost of not retiring expensive payday debt, we find substantial heterogeneity across borrowers. Among individuals that we classify as temptation spenders (e.g. those that use 400% APR loans to buy electronic goods or go on vacation), we find no reduction in payday borrowing after the tax rebate is issued, but this group represents only a small fraction of payday borrowers. A second group for which we find no debt retirement post-check is the set of borrowers that appear to use what should be short-term payday loans as a long-term financing solution. We infer that the marginal use of the tax rebate for this group was to deal with regular monthly obligations, such as paying down late utility bills or making rent payments.
Trend-following and Momentum Strategies in Futures Markets

Constructing a time-series momentum strategy involves the volatility-adjusted aggregation of univariate strategies and therefore relies heavily on the efficiency of the volatility estimator and on the quality of the momentum trading signal. Using a dataset with intra-day quotes of 12 futures contracts from November 1999 to October 2009, we investigate these dependencies and their relation to timeseries momentum profitability and reach a number of novel findings. First, momentum trading signals generated by fitting a linear trend on the asset price path maximise the out-of-sample performance while minimizing the portfolio turnover, hence dominating the ordinary momentum trading signal in literature, the sign of past return. Second, the results show strong momentum patterns at the monthly frequency of rebalancing, relatively strong momentum patterns at the weekly frequency and relatively weak momentum patterns at the daily frequency. In fact, significant reversal effects are documented at the very short-term horizon. Finally, regarding the volatility-adjusted aggregation of univariate strategies, the Yang-Zhang range estimator constitutes the optimal choice for volatility estimation in terms of maximizing efficiency and minimizing the bias and the ex-post portfolio turnover.
An Analysis of the Underground Economy and its Macroeconomic Consequences

This paper develops a dynamic computable general equilibrium model in which optimizing agents evade taxes by operating in the underground economy. The cost to firms of evading taxes is that they find themselves subject to credit rationing from banks. Our model simulations show that in the absence of budgetary flexibility to adjust expenditures, raising tax rates too high drives firms into the underground economy, thereby reducing the tax base. Aggregate investment in the economy is lowered because of credit rationing. Taxes that are too low eliminate the underground economy, but result in unsustainable budget and trade deficits. Thus, the optimal rate of taxation, from a macroeconomic point of view, may lead to some underground activity.
Divided Government: America is Not “Exceptional”

America is thought to be an exceptional political system, and, in many of its particulars, it certainly differs from the institutional arrangements found in most of the world's democracies. Its separation-of-powers regime is thought to have spawned, in recent decades, the phenomenon of divided government in which partisan control of political institutions is divided between the major parties. By implication, it is suggested that this robust regularity in which Democrats control the legislature and Republicans the executive is a consequence of its institutional arrangements and, therefore, distinguishes America from its parliamentary counterparts elsewhere. In this article, the authors suggest that parliamentary regimes, too, experience divided government. Specifically, minority governments, in which the executive is controlled by parties that, between them, control less than a legislative majority, is the closest analogue to divided government in America. In each case, the executive needs to seek support in the legislature beyond its own partisan base. Thus, divided government per se does not distinguish parliamentary and separation-of-powers regimes. What does, however, are the constitutional roots of this phenomenon: divided governments are negotiated in parliamentary regimes whereas they are mandated electorally in separation-of-powers regimes.
An Investigation of Part-Whole Biases in Contingent-Valuation Studies

Abstract Part-whole bias is a possible explanation for nonuse contingent-valuation estimates that are insensitive to marginal changes in environmental commodities. Our empirical analyses reveal no statistically significant differences in willingness to pay of independent samples of nonusers to prevent 2000, 20,000, or 200,000 migratory waterfowl deaths in the Central Flyway, all numbers less than 2% of the waterfowl population. Five alternative propositions for explaining this empirical findings do not provide a completely satisfactory explanation. More research is necessary to investigate appropriate commodity metrics, sample sizes for small changes in environmental commodities, and consider how respondents evaluate small changes in environmental commodities.
Graduate Students Perceptions' on Multicultural Education: A Qualitative Case Study

The main responsibility in the implementation of multicultural education, which includes notions like equality, respect, and peace, as well as an equal opportunity for success for all students, belongs to teachers. The teachers‟ perception of and attitude towards multicultural education are directly related to how they will implement multicultural education. Some past studies indicate that there is an undeniable effect of culture on education, yet teaching candidates and managers often don't have sufficient knowledge of multicultural education. Data gathered from this study is expected to contribute to the literature on multicultural education practices expected to be included in Turkey‟s educational programs.
Dietary Supplementation with Virgin Coconut Oil Improves Lipid Profile and Hepatic Antioxidant Status and Has Potential Benefits on Cardiovascular Risk Indices in Normal Rats

ABSTRACT Research findings that suggest beneficial health effects of dietary supplementation with virgin coconut oil (VCO) are limited in the published literature. This study investigated the in vivo effects of a 5-week VCO-supplemented diet on lipid profile, hepatic antioxidant status, hepatorenal function, and cardiovascular risk indices in normal rats. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: 1 control and 2 treatment groups (10% and 15% VCO-supplemented diets) for 5 weeks. Serum and homogenate samples were used to analyze lipid profile, hepatorenal function markers, hepatic activities of antioxidant enzymes, and malondialdehyde level. Lipid profile of animals fed VCO diets showed significant reduction in total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels; high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level increased significantly (p < .05) compared to control; and there were beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk indices. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA), a lipid peroxidation marker, remarkably reduced and activities of hepatic antioxidant enzymes—superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)—were markedly increased in VCO diet–fed rats. The VCO diet significantly modulated creatinine, sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl−), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) compared to control. The findings suggest a beneficial effect of VCO on lipid profile, renal status, hepatic antioxidant defense system, and cardiovascular risk indices in rats.
Isolation and Characterization of a Phosphorus-Solubilizing Bacterium from Rhizosphere Soils and Its Colonization of Chinese Cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis)

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) can promote the dissolution of insoluble phosphorus (P) in soil, enhancing the availability of soluble P. Thus, their application can reduce the consumption of fertilizer and aid in sustainable agricultural development. From the rhizosphere of Chinese cabbage plants grown in Yangling, we isolated a strain of PSB (YL6) with a strong ability to dissolve P and showed that this strain promoted the growth of these plants under field conditions. However, systematic research on the colonization of bacteria in the plant rhizosphere remains deficient. Thus, to further study the effects of PSB on plant growth, in this study, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was used to study the colonization of YL6 on Chinese cabbage roots. GFP expression had little effect on the ability of YL6 to grow and solubilize P. In addition, the GFP-expressing strain stably colonized the Chinese cabbage rhizosphere (the number of colonizing bacteria in the rhizosphere soil was 4.9 lg CFU/g). Using fluorescence microscopy, we observed a high abundance of YL6-GFP bacteria at the Chinese cabbage root cap and meristematic zone, as well as in the root hairs and hypocotyl epidermal cells. High quantities of GFP-expressing bacteria were recovered from Chinese cabbage plants during different planting periods for further observation, indicating that YL6-GFP had the ability to endogenously colonize the plants. This study has laid a solid and significant foundation for further research on how PSB affects the physiological processes in Chinese cabbage to promote plant growth.
Antimicrobial Effect of Continuous Lidocaine Infusion in a Staphylococcus aureus-Induced Wound Infection in a Mouse Model

AbstractContinuous infusion of local anesthetics in surgical wounds has been shown to be an effective technique for postoperative analgesia. To investigate the potential antimicrobial effect of continuous local anesthetic infusion, we adapted a mouse model of surgical wound infection to examine effects on antibacterial response. Forty male BALB/c mice were randomized into 2 groups. An incision wound was made over the dorsal flank and instilled with Staphylococcus aureus. An osmotic pump was then implanted to deliver either 0.9% NaCl or 2% lidocaine continuously. Each wound was cultured postoperatively at 2 days, and the colony count of S. aureus was determined. Results showed that the number of colony-forming units of S. aureus measured in wounds treated with lidocaine displayed a nearly 10-fold reduction compared to the wounds in the saline group (P = 0.009). The demonstrated antibacterial activity indicates that local anesthetic infusion may play a role in prophylaxis for surgical wound infections.
Student Impacts on Urban Neighbourhoods: Policy Approaches, Discourses and Dilemmas

This paper provides evidence on the impacts that students have had on neighbourhoods in five case study cities in the UK. Drawing on extensive qualitative interview data in these cities, the paper shows how national policy towards higher education had unintended and unanticipated problems for urban policy-makers. It argues that responses to these problems are shaped by discourses about what is normalised student behaviour and, implicitly, class-based ideologies. These are argued to shape the way in which the problems created by studentified neighbourhoods are perceived and the way in which local actors subsequently respond.
The Association Between Preoperative Hemoglobin A1C and Postoperative Glycemic Variability on 30-Day Major Adverse Outcomes Following Isolated Cardiac Valvular Surgery

BACKGROUND: Preoperative hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and postoperative glycemic variability predict major adverse events (MAEs) after coronary artery bypass grafting in a protocolized glycemic control setting. However, the influence of preoperative HbA1c and postoperative glycemic variability in isolated cardiac valvular surgery is unknown. In this study, we sought to establish (a) whether preoperative HbA1c could identify patients at increased risk of MAEs and (b) whether postoperative glycemic variability was associated with MAEs after isolated cardiac valvular surgery. METHODS: Patients >18 years of age undergoing isolated valve surgery from January 2008 to December 2013 were enrolled in this prospective, single-center, observational cohort study with IRB approval. Patient demographics, intraoperative data, and postoperative MAEs were extracted from the institutional Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS) database. The primary outcome, MAEs, was a composite of in-hospital death, myocardial infarction, reoperations, sternal infection, cardiac tamponade, pneumonia, stroke, or renal failure. Glycemic variability in the postoperative period was assessed by the coefficient of variation. Patents were stratified by HbA1c levels (<6.5% or ≥6.5%) and assessed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the enrolled 763 patients, 109 (14.3%) had a preoperative HbA1c level ≥6.5%. Patients with HbA1c ≥6.5% were older (70 [63–79] vs 66 [56–75], P < .001) and had a higher incidence of dyslipidemia (83.5% vs 57.0%, P < .001) and congestive heart failure (39.5% vs 27.8%, P = .01). The calculated STS risk score for morbidity and mortality was also statistically higher in this group (0.18 [0.13–0.27] vs 0.13 [0.09–0.21], P < .001). The occurrence of MAEs was similar between the 2 groups (13.8% in HbA1c ≥6.5% vs 11.0% in HbA1c <6.5%, P = .40). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that neither preoperative HbA1c ≥ 6.5% (odds ratio [OR] 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78–2.82; P = .23) nor postoperative glycemic variability (CV per quartile; OR 1.05, 95% CI: 0.85–1.30; P = .67) was found to be associated with MAEs. An HbA1c ≥ 6.5% was associated with the increased glycemic variability in the postoperative period (0.173 [0.129–0.217] vs 0.141 [0.106–0.178], P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study did not show an association between preoperative HbA1c and postoperative glycemic variability with MAEs after isolated cardiac valvular surgery. Specifically, lack of association between postoperative glycemic variability and MAEs is noteworthy and is in contrast to our previous finding in CABG patients. Future studies should focus a targeted glycemic variability reduction in CABG patients and evaluate the reduction in MAEs, without risk of employing a one-size fits all approach when approaching other cardiac procedures.
Transparency and International Portfolio Holdings

Does country transparency affect international portfolio investment? We examine this question by constructing new measures of transparency and by making use of a unique micro dataset on portfolio holdings of emerging market funds around the world. We distinguish between government and corporate transparency. There is clear evidence that funds invest systematically less in less transparent countries. There is also some evidence that during crises, funds flee from non-transparent countries to a greater extent.
Changes in chaebol firms’ overinvestment after the Asian financial crisis: a long-term perspective

This paper examines chaebol firms’ overinvestment practices before and after a financial crisis in Korea. In comparison to non-chaebol firms, chaebol firms significantly reduced overinvestment after the Asian financial crisis. Also, chaebol firms were less inclined to engage in earnings management for overinvestment after the financial crisis. The results suggest that governance and financial reforms focusing on chaebol firms and emphasizing long-term firm value after the crisis discouraged chaebol firms’ overinvestment practices, bringing about a sharp rebound in their business performance.
An empirical study on the impact of culture on audit‐detected accounting errors

This study draws on the theoretical framework of Hofstede's model to examine the impact of different cultural dimensions on audit‐detected accounting errors. Based on the accounting errors detected in 80 foreign enterprises of different cultures operating in China, we test the direct effect of the cultural dimensions, power distance and individualism, on the magnitude of accounting errors. The results indicate that power distance and individualism have significant explanatory power in describing the differences in the relative magnitude of errors. Centralization of power in a few individuals, management override of controls, and less competent personnel are important attributes of a large power distance enterprise that contribute to larger errors. Enterprises of an individualist culture, which are characterized by higher personnel turnover and more reliance on accounting numbers for individual performance evaluation, are found to have larger errors. These results should be useful for auditors in assessing.