Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The level of urinary secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) of patients with IgA nephropathy is elevated and associated with pathological phenotypes

Recent studies have demonstrated deposition of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in glomeruli of some patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN). The aim of this study is to investigate the levels of urinary sIgA in IgAN patients with different pathological phenotypes and whether it could be used as a non‐invasive biomarker for assessment of kidney injury in IgAN. Urine samples from 202 patients with IgAN were collected on the day of renal biopsy. Forty‐eight fulfilled the histopathological criteria of Haas‐I or II (group 1), 60 fulfilled Haas‐III (group 2) and 94 patients fulfilled Haas‐IV or V (group 3). Urine samples from 60 healthy sex‐ and age‐matched volunteers with negative urinalysis were collected as normal controls. Urinary sIgA was detected by sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and was corrected by urinary creatinine. In comparison with normal controls, the levels of urinary sIgA were significantly higher in IgAN [2·22 (0–43·82) μg/mg Cr versus 1·08 (0–16·49) μg/mg Cr, P < 0·001]. The levels of urinary sIgA were significantly higher in group 3 than that in group 2 and group 1 [3·54 (0–43·82) μg/mg Cr versus 1·63 (0–15·88) μg/mg Cr versus 0·91 (0–11·79), P < 0·001], and group 2 than group 1 (P = 0·014). The levels of urinary sIgA were associated positively with proteinuria (r = 0·443, P < 0·001), serum creatinine (r = 0·376, P < 0·001) and histopathological parameters, such as ratio of global sclerosis (r = 0·356, P < 0·001), ratio of total crescents (r = 0·339, P < 0·001) and ratios of cellular crescents (r = 0·231, P < 0·001). The levels of urinary sIgA were associated closely with histopathological phenotypes of IgAN and might be used as a non‐invasive biomarker to evaluate kidney injury in IgAN.
Improving Survival and Neurologic Function for Younger Age Groups After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Sweden: A 20-Year Comparison*

Objective: To describe changes in the epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Sweden with the emphasis on the younger age groups. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: Sweden. Patients: Patients were recruited from the Swedish Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation from 1990 to 2012. Only non–crew-witnessed cases were included. Intervention: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Measurement and Main Results: The endpoint was 30-day survival. Cerebral function among survivors was estimated according to the cerebral performance category scores. In all, 50,879 patients in the survey had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, of which 1,321 (2.6%) were 21 years old or younger and 1,543 (3.0%) were 22–35 years old. On the basis of results from 2011 and 2012, we estimated that there are 4.9 cases per 100,000 person-years in the age group 0–21 years. The highest survival was found in the 13- to 21-year age group (12.6%). Among patients 21 years old or younger, the following were associated with an increased chance of survival: increasing age, male gender, witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, ventricular fibrillation, and a short emergency medical service response time. Among patients 21 years old or younger , there was an increase in survival from 6.2% in 1992–1998 to 14.0% in 2007–2012. Among 30-day survivors, 91% had a cerebral performance category score of 1 or 2 (good cerebral performance or moderate cerebral disability) at hospital discharge. Conclusions: In Sweden, among patients 21 years old or younger, five out-of-hospital cardiac arrests per 100,000 person-years occur and survival in this patient group has more than doubled during the past two decades. The majority of survivors have good or relatively good cerebral function.
Diagnosis and treatment of cervical spine clinical instability.

Spinal instability is a major cause of neck pain, but unfortunately the concept of spinal instability is often ambiguous and poorly defined. For clarity, instability will be referred to as clinical instability throughout this paper. Clinical instability is defined as the inability of the spine under physiological loads to maintain its normal pattern of displacement so that there is no neurological damage or irritation, no development of deformity, and no incapacitating pain. This paper reviews the kinematics and stabilization system of the spine and discusses the etiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options for cervical spine clinical instability. A case report of a patient with cervical spine clinical instability is included to illustrate its presentation and management. Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2001;31(4):194–206.
A ZigBee-Based Wireless Sensor Network Node for Ultraviolet Detection of Flame

This paper describes a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network node for the ultraviolet (UV) detection of flame. The sensor node is composed of a ZnSSe UV photodetector, a current-sensitive front end including a high-gain current-to-voltage amplifier with 120 dB and a logarithm converter, and a transceiver operated at a 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. A passive photodetector is designed to have a cutoff at 360 nm and convert the UV emission of flame into picoamperes. Including mixed signal processing and ZigBee transmission, the speed of flame detection is as fast as 70 ms. The sensor node consumes only an average of 2.3 mW from a 3.3-V supply. The performance of a prototype sensor node was verified when the luminous flame was imaged onto the sensor node with different angles ranging from -30° to 30° and distances of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 m enabling effective fire safety applications.
An investigation into the determinants of user acceptance of personalization in online banking

Personalization is an innovative strategy which enables the bank to further differentiate from its competitors by drawing the client into increasingly deeper levels of mutually beneficial relationships. However, for any personalization effort to succeed both the bank and its client need to perceive it as being relevant and beneficial to their interests. The bank needs the client implicit and explicit consent to use their personal data to enable them tailor the clients experience to suit s/he? s purposes as well as meet their goals. On the other hand the client needs to see its relevance and desirability as well as trust the bank to deliver what it promises. Since such decisions are based on previous experience, a major determinant of success of the personalization effort is thus a function of the client? s perception of the bank and their current relationship with it. Consequently in this research we have focused on understanding the underlying factors involved in the client? s relationship with the bank and how they influence the acceptance of five concrete personalization features, namely adaptive login feature, adaptable settings, emails, adaptive banners adverts and adaptive financial advice. We adopted this approach because we view personalization as a relationship marketing strategy and therefore propose that the basic underlying factors in relationship marketing would be major determinants of acceptance of personalization. We used the Commitment-Trust Theory (Morgan and Hunt, 1994) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) as analytical tools to model the relationship between the basic relationship marketing constructs and the specific highlighted personalization features. We added the variable Control (data) to our models because it has been indicated in research as being important in acceptance of personalization. We found that clients in general want more personalization. We also found that five variables namely, Control (self-efficacy), Contro (data), Relationship terminations costs, Relationship benefit and Subjective norm were significant determinants of acceptance of personalization in online banking. At lower levels we found various issues which linked these variables to the acceptance of the personalized features. For instance we found that clients were more sensitive to control of content than they were to control of the interface. This clearly raises issue of data control in acceptance. Also their perception of self competence on the site determined how effectively they used it. While we found as stated earlier that clients desire more personalization, the observed level of acceptance was relatively low. This shows there is a gap between what is on offer or how it is being offered and what they really want. There is a lot of room for improvement, a lot of the clients are passively engaged because it is a necessary service which they need. The bank, however, needs to take them from there to a position where they are actively engaged and driving the process.
Evaluation of NOC Standardized Outcome of “Health Seeking Behavior” in Nurse‐managed Clinics

This study evaluated the accomplishment of the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) outcome “Health Seeking Behavior” in 5 nurse-managed clinics. Nurse practitioners and registered nurses rated patients on 11 indicators of health seeking behaviors, and recorded their level of knowledge of the patient. A total of 556 evaluations were collected. Health seeking behavior scores were lowest in a rural county school-based clinic and highest in a federally qualified health center. Ratings increased with nurses' knowledge of patients and for older patients.
When job dissatisfaction leads to customer-oriented citizenship behaviors

This thesis places boundary conditions on the withdrawal model in the frontline setting of service organizations by considering continuance commitment and supervisory support as moderators of the relationship between job dissatisfaction and customer-oriented citizenship behaviors (COCBs). Departing from traditional research in the areas of the service-profit chain and employee withdrawal, the author advances our understanding of conditions that may lead frontline service employees who are dissatisfied to deposit COCBs into the organizational system. Specifically, based on principles derived from social exchange theory, high continuance commitment and high supervisory support are expected to lead to COCBs, because under this condition the benefits of performing such behaviors are increased (i.e., promotion-based, reciprocity-based), while the costs are decreased (i.e., opportunity costs). Utilizing a sample of 127 frontline employees from both the financial services and travel agency industries, the hypothesized relationships are empirically supported using moderated hierarchical regression analysis. To conclude discussion, implications of the results for both academics and practitioners are considered along with future research directions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my supervisor, Professor Bulent Menguc1 for being a mentor to me throughout my Master's degree at Brock University. His continued support, wisdom, motivation, and guidance are invaluable and for this I am extremely thankful. I would also like to thank my internal committee members, Professor Herb MacKenzie and Professor Peter Yannopoulos, and external examiner, Professor Rick Iverson, for their insightful comments with earlier versions of this thesis. To Sharon Broderick, Paul Davis, and Shari Sekel, I am especially thankful for the assistance provided during the data collection process. Finally, I am forever thankful for my amazing friends and family. Without the support of my parents in particular, my achievements both academically and in other facets of life would not be possible.
Imaging of Saddle Point Electron Emission in Slow p-He Collisions.

The two-dimensional velocity distribution of electrons emitted in 5 ‐ 15 keV p-He collisions has been measured for completely determined motion of the nuclei, that is, as a function of the impact parameter and in a well defined scattering plane. The electrons are emitted preferentially in the scattering plane and in the forward direction. The velocity distributions show sharp structures that vary strongly with impact parameter and projectile velocity. The results are compared to classical trajectory calculations. [S0031-9007(96)01614-6] PACS numbers: 34.50. Fa
Tick Size and Trading Costs on the Korea Stock Exchange

The Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) imposes larger mandatory tick sizes on higher priced stocks. In this study, we examine the effects of tick size on spreads, depths, and quote clustering using trade and quote data for a large sample of KSE-listed stocks. Our results indicate that large tick sizes imposed on high-price stocks are significant binding constraints on absolute spreads, resulting in large spreads for these stocks. We do not find any convincing evidence of larger market depths associated with larger tick sizes. On the contrary, we find stocks that move to smaller tick categories actually exhibit an increase in market depths. Our results also show that quote clustering on the KSE is negatively related to the tick size. Overall, our findings indicate that step-increasing tick sizes are detrimental to market quality, although the adverse effect of binding tick sizes is somewhat mitigated by lower negotiation costs.
Anesthesia management in neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses

the next day. Patients with Klippel–Feil syndrome have a potential airway problem with severe limitation of neck movement as a result of fusion of cervical vertebrae, and atlantooccipital abnormalities, spinal canal stenosis and scoliosis (4) and patients with Chiari type I malformation are at considerable risk of respiratory depression (5). Anesthesiologists should be aware of the possibility of difficulty in airway management. Evaluation for rib and vertebral anomalies and for upper airway defects and cardiac and renal function are recommended (3). Farid et al. (6) described multiple anesthetic challenges in a patient with Klippel–Feil syndrome undergoing cardiac surgery and they recommended awake intubation using a fiberoptic bronchoscope. Burns et al. reported the anesthetic management of a patient with Klippel–Feil syndrome and congenital hydrocephalus, undergoing Cesarean section. They performed awake nasal intubation using a fiberoptic bronchoscope (7). Fiberoptic tracheal intubation or use of a laryngeal mask were suggested as the techniques of choice (4). We were faced with a dilemma for use of fiberoptic intubation, because of which the patient had dystonic movements on the upper part of the body and tongue, which would make awake intubation with the fiberoptic bronchoscope difficult. The decision was made to induce anesthesia and intubate the patient using direct laryngoscopy under remifentanil infusion. First attempt at intubation of trachea was successful even though he had a Mallampati score of 4 with restricted neck mobility. We avoided using muscle relaxants and used a shortacting-opioid, remifentanil instead and expected a rapid return of spontaneous ventilation if intubation had failed. Administration of remifentanil in combination with propofol provided good conditions for tracheal intubation. Farid et al. decided to intubate the patient with Klippel–Feil syndrome and Chiari I malformation using direct laringoscopy based on the patient’s previous anesthetic history. They were not successful even if the patient had no airway problem in previous anesthetics (6). Sakai et al. (8) describe anesthesia for a child with Klippel–Feil syndrome complicated by severe scoliosis. Despite easily ventilation with LMA, they encountered difficulty in intubation through LMA as a result of distorted airway. Chiari type I and Klippel–Feil syndrome encompasses an large constellation of clinical features that affect most organs. Anesthesiologis should expect to face challenges. Fiberoptic bronchoscope should always be available in the anesthesia unit. Ozlem S. Cakmakkaya* Guner Kaya* Fatis Altintas* Mefkur Bakan* Abdullah Yildirim† *Department of Anaesthesiology, †Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Cerrahpasa Medical School, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey (email: sercakmakkaya@hotmail.com; serpilcakmakkaya@yahoo.com)
Do medical students have the knowledge needed to maximize organ donation rates?

INTRODUCTION The chronic shortage of organs for donation could be improved by increasing the numbers of potential and actual donors. Physicians can play a key role in solving this problem but may miss opportunities because they lack knowledge about organ donation to answer questions or concerns. Education of physicians early in their careers may lead to better procurement rates for donor organs. We carried out a study at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. , to determine whether medical students have sufficient knowledge of topics shown to affect organ donation rates. METHODS Medical students from years 1-4 completed a self-administered questionnaire. Section 1 tested general knowledge about organ donation; section 2 tested the students' ability to identify potential donors; and section 3 dealt with the approach to the potential donor's family. Univariate predictors of mean test scores were assessed using the t-test. RESULTS Of 322 medical students who received the questionnaire, 260 (81%) responded. The mean age of the students was 25 years and 54% were men. The mean knowledge score was 6.7 out of a possible score of 14. Third-year students had the best knowledge scores (7.6), followed by fourth- (7.4), second- (6.6) and first-year students (5.7). Teaching about organ donation and a student's comfort with approaching a family for organ donation were also predictive of higher knowledge scores. There was no correlation between knowledge score and age, gender or whether the student was carrying a signed donor card. Knowledge scores were low in all 3 sections. Thirty-six percent of students did not know that brain death means that the patient is dead rather than in a coma. Half the medical students believed that people of certain religious groups should not be approached about organ donation. CONCLUSIONS Medical students possess limited knowledge about organ donation topics important for maximizing procurement rates. A teaching intervention designed to target these shortcomings may be beneficial.
Outcome of Critically Ill Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Patients in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of prior use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on outcome of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). This study was a retrospective chart review of 242 HIV-infected patients who required 259 consecutive admissions to a university-affiliated hospital ICU during a 3-year period. Patient demographics, CD4 count, admission diagnosis, prior HAART, Pneumocystis jiroveci prophylaxis, length of stay, and ICU and hospital mortality were determined. Overall hospital mortality was 39%. Comparing patients who had received HAART before an ICU admission to those who had not, we found no difference between ICU or hospital mortality, need of mechanical ventilation, ICU and hospital length of stay, and incidence of P jiroveci . Pulmonary diagnosis was the most frequent ICU admission diagnosis (30%). Logistic regression analysis showed HIV-related illness and mechanical ventilation were significant independent predictors of increased hospital mortality.
The State of Our Cities: Evidence from Karnataka

With the rapid pace of urbanization in India, adequate and reliable data is required to understand the complex forces shaping the cities and to implement effective urban policies. However, there is a glaring dearth of information and data in this area. This book attempts to fill this vacuum. Given the importance of cities in Karnataka's economic growth and development, the book undertakes a review of 15 major cities in the state. It develops indicators and benchmarks for six thematic areas that capture the dynamics and potential of urban areas: (i) history and governance; (ii) demographics; (iii) economic dimensions; (iv) infrastructure and public services; (v) resources; and (vi) quality of life. Providing a comparison of the cities along these dimensions, the book underlines the importance of sharing best practices and fostering competition among cities for infrastructure, public services, and investment. It also includes factsheets on each of the 15 cities, which provide a snapshot of key socio-economic dimensions. This book is an important starting point for researchers and policymakers to start thinking analytically and systematically for better cities, public services, and financing of services. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship. com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780198080381/toc.html
EMNE catch‐up strategies in the wind turbine industry: Is there a trade‐off between output and innovation capabilities?

Emerging economy multinationals (EMNEs) are catching up with advanced economy MNEs (AMNEs) even in emerging, high technology industries, where their knowledge-based disadvantages are most severe. We explain this phenomenon by distinguishing between output and innovation capabilities. Successful EMNEs' focus on output capabilities need not facilitate innovation catch-up. We compare the knowledge bases of an industry-leading AMNE and a fast-follower EMNE using patent data, buttressed by qualitative information. The AMNE's knowledge base is deeper and composed of more distinct technology groups than that of the EMNE. The EMNE has caught up in terms of output capabilities, but still lags in terms of innovation capabilities. Our in-depth comparative case analysis contributes to the literature on knowledge strategies and their impact on firm capabilities.
Resource utilization among intensive care patients. Managed care vs traditional insurance.

BACKGROUND There is considerable evidence that members of managed care organizations use fewer hospital resources than patients covered by traditional health insurance. While intensive care might seem to be an unlikely setting for such differences to exist, the relationship between health coverage and use of intensive care has not been examined. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of consecutive intensive care unit admissions at a regional tertiary care teaching hospital. Patients in managed care plans (n = 159) and with traditional insurance (n = 389) were compared with respect to length of stay, hospital charges, charges for specific services, and use of mechanical ventilation. The analysis controlled for severity of illness, as measured by the Mortality Probability Model, case mix, and mortality. The whole sample as well as subsamples representing medical, emergency surgery, and elective surgery patients were examined. RESULTS The managed care group, on average, had short stays (both hospital and intensive care unit), lower charges, and less use of mechanical ventilation than the traditionally insured group. Average differences of about 30% to 40% were observed. The finding held for the whole sample as well as the medical and emergency surgery subsamples. The differences were more pronounced in the patients with lowest severity of illness. CONCLUSION Even in a setting where there would appear to be relatively little room for discretion in treatment decisions, incentives associated with type of health insurance seemed to affect resource use.