Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finger ‘pebbles’

A 35-year-old obese man presented with a chief complaint of hand dryness of 5 years' duration. He was a store manager and denied exposure to chemicals, repetitive trauma, chronic irritation, and hard manual labor. However, he did admit to frequent hand washing. He had no itching or swelling in his hands, but on occasion he had tenderness in the dry areas. He had no personal or family history of diabetes, heart disease, or renal disease, and he stated that at his annual physical examination 6 months earlier, routine blood work was normal. He reported polyuria (every 2 hours), nocturia (five times per night), and polydipsia but no weakness, weight loss, visual changes, or neurosensory changes. Examination revealed xerosis of his hands and "pebbles" on the dorsal aspect of his fingers. The papules were most dense over the knuckles and interphalangeal joints (figures 1 through 3). He also had dozens of acrochordons (i.e., cutaneous papillomas, or skin tags) 1 to 4 mm in diameter on his neck, axilla, and groin. No other cutaneous lesions were noted. Specifically, there was no scleredema adultorum, necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum, acanthosis nigricans, bullae, or patchy pretibial pigmentation, although he did have several brown macules 1 to 5 mm in diameter on the sides of his lower legs. The macules had been present for years. Levels of hemoglobin A1c and glycated hemoglobin were 7.5% and 9.5%, respectively (normal, 4.4% to 5.9% and 5.0% to 7.3%). The patient was referred to his family physician, and his diabetes has been well controlled with insulin.
Audit Quality and Analyst Forecast Accuracy: The Impact of Forecast Horizon and Other Modeling Choices

SUMMARY: The accuracy and other properties of analyst earnings forecasts represent potentially useful proxies for the impact of audit quality on client financial reports. Extant research in the auditing literature, however, is characterized by diametrically opposite predictions and inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between audit quality and analyst forecast accuracy. We argue that a potential reason for the inconsistency in the literature reflects these studies' focus on end-of-year forecast accuracy, which is subject to competing effects of audit quality. High-quality auditors may simultaneously improve forecast accuracy through their impact on the decision usefulness of clients' prior period reports, and reduce forecast accuracy by constraining client attempts to manage earnings in the direction of the consensus forecast. We argue and present evidence in support of the conjecture that analysts' beginning-of-year forecasts are a superior metric for identifying the impact of audit quality o.
Postmarketing study for assessment of tolerability of a grass allergen immunotherapy tablet (GRAZAX) in patients with rhinitis or rhinoconjunctivitis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Many patients with grass pollen allergy in Spain have concomitant sensitization to other allergens such as profilin. Since this type of sensitization is more common in Mediterranean countries than in countries where most patients were enrolled in clinical trials on GRAZAX (Phleum pratense 75,000 SQ-T/2, 800 BAU, ALK), the aim of this study was to analyze tolerability to GRAZAX under clinical practice conditions in patients with grass pollen allergy. METHODS A total of 155 patients were enrolled consecutively in a prospective, open-label, observational study. Adverse reactions were recorded during the first month of treatment at 3 different timepoints: after the first dose, when patients were kept under observation for 30 minutes, and on days 15 and 30 after starting treatment RESULTS With the first dose, 117 adverse reactions were recorded in 63 patients (40.7%). The commonest reactions (>10% patients) were oral pruritus (25.2%) and throat irritation (24.5%). Ear pruritus was recorded in 7.7%. All reactions but 1 occurred within 30 minutes of administration and all were mild-to-moderate. At the end of treatment, the percentage of patients with adverse reactions had decreased significantly (21.3%). Most adverse reactions (95.2%) were mild-to-moderate and only 3 (1.4%) were severe. No serious adverse reactions were recorded. CONCLUSION GRAZAX seems to be well tolerated, and most reactions were mild-to-moderate. Many of these reactions occur with the first dose. Therefore, according to the Summary of Product Characteristics, the first dose has to be administered under medical supervision.
Sphingosine 1-Phosphate in Amniotic Fluid Modulates Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Human Amnion-derived WISH Cells*

The metabolism of arachidonic acid, in particular the generation of prostaglandins (PGs), has been proposed to play a key role in the regulation of labor. Moreover, several extracellular proteins have been reported to modulate PG synthesis in amnion cells. In this study, we found that lipid components dissolved in the amniotic fluid modulate PG synthesis in WISH human amnion cells and identified one of these components as a sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). WISH cells express several S1P receptors including S1P1, S1P2, and S1P3. When WISH cells were stimulated with S1P, PGE2 synthesis increased in a concentration-dependent manner, showing maximal activity at around 100 nm. S1P treatment also caused the up-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA and protein, which was apparent within 3–12 h of stimulation. In terms of the intracellular signaling pathway of S1P-induced WISH cell activation, we found that S1P stimulated two kinds of MAPK, ERK, and p38 kinase. We examined the roles of these two MAPKs in S1P-induced COX-2 expression. S1P-induced COX-2 expression was blocked completely by PD-98059 but not by SB-203580, suggesting that ERK has a critical role in the process. Transfection of S1P1 or S1P3 but not of S1P2 antisense oligonucleotide inhibited S1P-induced COX-2 expression and PGE2 production in WISH cells, indicating the involvements of S1P1 and S1P3 in the processes. This study demonstrates the physiological role of S1P in amniotic fluid and its effect on the modulation of COX-2 expression and PGs synthesis in WISH cells.
A Note on Commodity Taxation and Economic Growth

This note reexamines the growth effects of commodity taxation and a manufacturing subsidy. By incorporating endogenous labor supply into a variety expansion model following Grossman and Helpman (1991), we derive new results. First, if households consider leisure to be important, an increase in the commodity tax rate can decrease the growth rate in the short run. Second, a small elasticity of substitution and a small manufacturing subsidy halt economic growth. Third, when the elasticity of substitution is small and sustained growth is possible, a decrease in the subsidy raises the short-run growth rate and decreases the long-run growth rate.
Estimating the Probability of Neonatal Early-Onset Infection on the Basis of Maternal Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To develop a quantitative model to estimate the probability of neonatal early-onset bacterial infection on the basis of maternal intrapartum risk factors. METHODS: This was a nested case-control study of infants born at ≥34 weeks' gestation at 14 California and Massachusetts hospitals from 1993 to 2007. Case-subjects had culture-confirmed bacterial infection at <72 hours; controls were randomly selected, frequency-matched 3:1 according to year and birth hospital. We performed multivariate analyses and split validation to define a predictive model based only on information available in the immediate perinatal period. RESULTS: We identified 350 case-subjects from a cohort of 608 014 live births. Highest intrapartum maternal temperature revealed a linear relationship with risk of infection below 100.5°F, above which the risk rose rapidly. Duration of rupture of membranes revealed a steadily increasing relationship with infection risk. Increased risk was associated with both late-preterm and postterm delivery. Risk associated with maternal group B Streptococcus colonization is diminished in the era of group B Streptococcus prophylaxis. Any form of intrapartum antibiotic given >4 hours before delivery was associated with decreased risk. Our model showed good discrimination and calibration (c statistic = 0.800 and Hosmer-Lemeshow P = .142 in the entire data set). CONCLUSIONS: A predictive model based on information available in the immediate perinatal period performs better than algorithms based on risk-factor threshold values. This model establishes a prior probability for newborn sepsis, which could be combined with neonatal physical examination and laboratory values to establish a posterior probability to guide treatment decisions.
Health Care Waste Management Guidance Note

This series is produced by the Health, Nutrition, and Population Family (HNP) of the World Bank’s Human Development Network. The papers in this series aim to provide a vehicle for publishing preliminary and unpolished results on HNP topics to encourage discussion and debate. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. Citation and the use of material presented in this series should take into account this provisional character. For free copies of papers in this series please contact the individual authors whose name appears on the paper.
Satisfaction and Academic Engagement among Undergraduate Students: A Case Study in Istanbul University

Academic engagement used to refer to the extent to which students identify with and value schooling outcomes, and participate in academic and non-academic school activities. This study aims to investigate the academic engagement and satisfaction from the school among the university students. The data is taken from the undergraduate students in School of Transportation & Logistics in Istanbul University. We used a questionnaire that consisted of two parts. First part of the questionnaire is about to measure the studentsâ€™ academic engagement that is improved by Schaufeli et al. Second part of the questionnaire is about to measure the studentsâ€™ satisfaction from the school. K-means cluster analysis is used to determine two groups of students, group the students in to two clusters based on their school satisfaction scores. We named these two groups as â€œsatisfiedâ€ and â€œunsatisfiedâ€ students. Secondly we investigate the relationships between the satisfaction scores and the academic engagement. By means of T Test we investigate whether the academic engagement differs between the clusters that are determined according to the studentsâ€™ satisfaction scores. Finally we found that academic engagement differs according to the identified clusters.
Apo E in multiple sclerosis and optic neuritis: the Apo E-o4 allele is associated with progression of multiple sclerosis

Objective: To investigate the association between apolipoprotein E (Apo E) genotype in multiple sclerosis (MS) and acute monosymptomatic optic neuritis (ON) in a genetically homogeneous population with a high frequency of the Apo o4 allele. Background: The association between heterozygosity of Apo o4 and the development of MS is thoroughly investigated, while the association between homozygosity of Apo o4 and the development of MS is insufficiently studied. The association between Apo E genotype and disease progression remains controversial. Methods: 475 patients were included, 385 with MS and 90 with ON, consecutively seen in the MS clinic in the County of Copenhagen. Clinical data were obtained from medical records and degree of disability was determined prospectively using the Kurtzke expanded disability status scale (EDSS). Blood samples were used for Apo E genotyping. Disease progression was evaluated by the progression index (PI=EDSS/disease duration). Apo E genotype distribution was compared with 361 healthy controls. Results: The Apo o genotype distribution in the MS and ON groups was similar to the controls. The rate of disease progression in the group of MS patients with a disease duration of 10 years or less was significantly faster in the Apo o4 positive group (heterozygosity and homozygosity for Apo o4) (PI=1.41) compared to the Apo o4 negative group (PI=0.92) (P=0.009). Observing the MS subgroups, we found that the group of patients with RRMS had a faster rate of disease progression in the Apo o4 positive group (PI=1.12) compared to the Apo o4 negative group (PI=0.77) (P=0.024). Conclusions: Apo E genotypes do not influence the development of MS and ON. The Apo o4 allele seems to predispose carriers with MS to a faster progression of disease.
An institutional perspective of public policy and network effects in the renewable energy industry: enablers or disablers of entrepreneurial behaviour and innovation?*

Abstract This study extends theory on the effects of public policies stimulating technology demand and of industry network ties on firm-level entrepreneurial behaviour. We take an institutional perspective to develop a theoretical model examining the mechanisms through which public policies, regulatory uncertainty, and industry network ties affect firm-level entrepreneurial decision-making processes and the ability to introduce highly innovative products and to sustain superior performance. We focus on firm-level effects, which enables the study of the tension between institutional pressures of homogeneity and competitive pressures of heterogeneity for entrepreneurial decision-making processes in environments characterized by policy-induced market demands. To test our hypotheses, we draw on data from a large-scale survey among German renewable energy firms. Our results show that public policies can constrain firm innovativeness and risk-taking behaviour because they steer firms towards a more conservative attitude and discourage the pursuit of high-risk innovation projects. However, firms can counteract these influences and enhance their innovativeness by maintaining close network ties with research associations as we find that innovativeness and a highly innovative product portfolio are key success factors. In summary, these findings provide important implications for the study of public policy effects, industry network ties and entrepreneurial behaviour.
Voluntary human capital disclosure in French annual reports

The aim of this paper is to analyse the characteristics and the determinants of voluntary human capital disclosure (HCD) in France using content analysis for 275 annual reports of 55 companies observed over the period 2006-2010. The study shows that firms provide more information on professional skills with emphasis on the narrative and photo forms. In addition, it confirms that the quantity of HCD increases with the firms age and the weight of activated goodwill. Besides, firm's that are less valued by the stock market disclose more on human resources. We found that belonging to high-tech sector discourages managers to disclose. However, variables measuring ownership structure, size, leverage, listing status and competitive pressure seem to be insignificant. The findings confirm that voluntary HCD is the result of a trade-off between the benefits of disclosing non financial information and the costs engendered by non-mandatory disclosure, especially when firm operates in a high-tech sector.
A multi-step method with signal quality assessment and fine-tuning procedure to locate maternal and fetal QRS complexes from abdominal ECG recordings

Non-invasive monitoring of fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) plays an important role in detecting and diagnosing fetal diseases. This study aimed to develop a multi-step method for locating both maternal and fetal QRS complexes from abdominal ECG (aECG) recordings. The proposed method included four major steps: abdominal ECG pre-processing, maternal QRS complex locating, maternal ECG cancellation and fetal QRS complex locating. Signal quality assessment (SQA) and fine-tuning for maternal ECG (FTM) were implemented in the first and third steps, respectively. The method was then evaluated using 75 non-invasive 4-channel aECG recordings provided by the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2013. The F1 measure, which is a new index introduced by Behar et al ( Proc. Comput. Cardiol. 40 297–300), was used to assess the locating accuracy. The other two indices, mean squared error of heart rate (MSE_HR) between the fetal HR signals estimated from the reference and our method (MSE_HR in bpm2) and root mean squared difference between the corresponding fetal RR intervals (MSE_RR in ms) were also used to assess the locating accuracy. Overall, for the maternal QRS complex, the F1 measure was 98.4% from the method without the implementation of SQA, and it was improved to 99.8% with SQA. For the fetal QRS complex, the F1 measure, MSE_HR and MSE_RR were 84.9%, 185.6 bpm2 and 19.4 ms for the method without both SQA and FTM procedures. They were improved to 93.9%, 47.5 bpm2 and 7.6 ms with both SQA and FTM procedures. These improvements were observed from each individual subject. It can be concluded that implementing both SQA and FTM procedures could achieve better performance for locating both maternal and fetal QRS complexes.
Optimal Income Taxation with Career Effects of Work Effort

The literature on optimal income taxation has operated on the assumption that wage rates are generated exogenously by innate ability and therefore do not respond to behavior and taxation. This is in stark contrast to a large empirical literature documenting a strong effect of work effort on future wage rates. Considering a two-period Mirrlees model where work effort as young affects the wage rate as old, we provide analytical characterizations and numerical simulations of optimal nonlinear tax schedules that depend on per-period earnings and potentially on age. We show that career effects of work effort have important implications for the optimal tax schedule in both the age-independent and age-dependent cases. In the age-independent case, the presence of career effects make marginal tax rate schedules less progressive than in standard models with exogenous wage rates. In the age-dependent case, career effects create a strong argument for lower taxes on the old, opposite the recommendation in the recent literature on age-dependent taxation. This result is driven by a combination of career incentive effects and the fact that increasing earnings over the career path for each ability level imply a negative correlation between age and innate ability, conditional on earnings, creating an equity argument for lower income taxes on the old.
Resting-state brain correlates of instantaneous autonomic outflow

A prominent pathway of brain-heart interaction is represented by autonomic nervous system (ANS) heartbeat modulation. While within-brain resting state networks have been the object of intense functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) research, technological and methodological limitations have hampered research on the central correlates of cardiovascular control dynamics. Here we combine the high temporal and spatial resolution as well as data volume afforded by the Human Connectome Project with a probabilistic model of heartbeat dynamics to characterize central correlates of sympathetic and parasympathetic ANS activity at rest. We demonstrate an involvement of a number of brain regions such as the Insular cortex, Frontal Gyrus, Lateral Occipital Cortex, Paracingulate and Cingulate Gyrus and Precuneous Cortex, as well as subcortical structures (Thalamus, Putamen, Pallidum, Brain-Stem, Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Right Caudate) in the modulation of ANS-mediated cardiovascular control, possibly indicating a broader definition of the central autonomic network (CAN). Our findings provide a basis for an informed neurobiological interpretation of the numerous studies which employ HRV-related measures as standalone biomarkers in health and disease.
Prediction of BRCA1/2 mutation status in patients with ovarian cancer from a hospital-based cohort

Purpose: To describe patient, tumor, and family histories of cancer in a hospital-based cohort of patients with ovarian cancer and to identify the predictive value of these characteristics for (non)carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.Methods: Women diagnosed with invasive ovarian cancer between 1999 and 2003 in the west region of The Netherlands and unselected for age at diagnosis or cancer family history were included. Information was gathered on patient and tumor characteristics; p53; HER-2/neu, and KI-67 protein-expression; BRCA1/2 mutations; and family histories of cancer. Prediction tests were constructed using multivariate analyses.Results: Our study included 85 women (mean age at diagnosis, 57.6 years; standard deviation, 11.0 years). Six of these women had been previously or concurrently diagnosed with another tumor. Of the ovarian cancers, 41 (48.2%) were in an early stage (FIGO I or II). Five pathogenic mutations (6.1%) and six unclassified variants (7.3%) were identified in BRCA1/2; when the total sensitivity of the mutation scanning was taken into account, it was estimated to reflect seven pathogenic mutations (8.5%) and eight unclassified variants (9.8%). Sixty-nine women (81.2%) had at least one relative with cancer. A personal history of breast cancer and a family history of breast, ovarian, or uterine/endometrioid cancer were found to predict the presence of pathogenic mutations.Conclusion: As the combination of a personal history of breast cancer and a family history of breast, ovarian, or uterine/endometrioid cancer had good predictive value for the presence of a pathogenic BRCA1/2 mutation, the presented prediction test is a useful instrument to identify those women eligible for DNA testing.
Estimating Future Room Occupancy Fluctuations to Optimize Hotel Revenues

ABSTRACT This study proposes a hotel demand estimation mechanism that assesses the likelihood of forthcoming occupancy peaks and troughs applicable to different hotel classifications. In anticipating rate fluctuations, the approach is less dependent than many prevailing hotel forecasts on short-term seasonal-related factors. In operating revenue management systems, hotel managers should predict forthcoming occupancy upturns and downturns to prepare accurate mid- to long-run estimates. The proposed approach reduces the financial risks associated with volatile occupancy rates and facilitates efficient resource management. The average contraction period for Hong Kong hotel occupancies from one peak point to the next trough was found to exceed the duration of the corresponding expansion period.