Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma lipid profile in gynecologic cancers.

BACKGROUND Lipids are associated with cancer because they play a key role in the maintenance of cell integrity. We studied the relationship of plasma lipids with gynecologic cancer. METHODS A total of 196 female individuals were included in the study. Of these 50 were normal subjects. The remaining were cancer patients: 80 breast cancer, 40 ovarian cancer and 26 patients with other gynecologic cancers. Plasma levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol were estimated by using spectrophotometer. RESULTS In breast cancer patients there is moderate increase in the plasma levels of triglycerides (18%) and cholesterol (21%), and a high increase in LDL-cholesterol (43%), while there is a moderate decrease in HDL-cholesterol levels (30%) when compared with normal subjects. In ovarian cancer patients, there is a high decrease in the plasma levels of triglycerides (31%) and HDL-cholesterol (39%), while a moderate decrease in cholesterol (28%) and LDL-cholesterol levels (11%) when compared with normal subjects. In gynecologic cancers other than breast and ovarian cancer, there is a moderate decrease in plasma levels of the triglycerides (25%), cholesterol (21%), and HDL-cholesterol levels (27%), while a non-significant decrease in LDL-cholesterol (6.2%) when compared with normal subjects. CONCLUSIONS Plasma lipid levels, except HDL-cholesterol, are raised in breast cancer and are decreased in other gynecologic cancers. HDL-cholesterol is decreased in all gynecologic cancers. As there is an alteration in the plasma lipid profile during gynecologic cancers, it may be helpful for diagnosis of the disease.
Cytokine profile in Behçet uveitis.

OBJECTIVES Investigate the role of cytokines in Behçet uveitis. BACKGROUND Cytokines may take part in this pathogenetic mechanism. Elevated and/or altered levels of specific cytokines have been found in patients with Behçet's disease in many studies. METHODS Twenty patients with Behçet uveitis and 20 patients with Behçet's disease without uveitis were included to the study in compliance with International Study Group Criteria. Twenty non-Behçet uveitis patients were included in the study. In this group, active uveitis was found in 30 % and arthritis in 35% of patients. Serum levels of cytokines (Interleukin-2-4-6-8, IL-2-4-6-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, TNF-alpha) and local growth factor (vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF) were measured. RESULTS Levels of all cytokines were highest in Behçet patients without uveitis except for IL-2 and IL-6. These cytokines were also highest in patients with non-Behçet uveitis too. Despite the tendency of this distribution of cytokines, only three cytokines, TNF-alpha, IL-8 and IL-4 were significantly different from the controls. The levels of TNF-alpha, IL-8 and IL-4 were significantly lower in patients with Behçet uveitis than in Behçet patients without uveitis. Interestingly, the levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were statistically similar in all groups. VEGF showed no significant difference between the studied and control groups. However, in contrast to cytokines, only the levels of VEGF were correlated with the activity of uveitis (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Consistent with previous reports of different immune effectors in Behçet uveitis, it may be suggested that its underlying immunopathogenesis may be much different from other causes of endogenous uveitis (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 20). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj. sk.
Parasites alter the pathological phenotype of lupus nephritis

Abstract Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus and manifests with considerable phenotypic and histological heterogeneity. In particular, diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis (DPLN) and membranous lupus nephritis (MLN) represent morphologic forms that are polar opposites. DPLN is associated with autoimmune responses dominated by Th1 immune response associated with high levels of interferon (IFN)-γ. In contrast, a Th2 cytokine response is associated with the pathogenesis of MLN. MRL/lpr mice develop human LN-like immune complex-associated nephritis and provide a suitable histological model for human DPLN. Infection with Schistosoma mansoni skewed a Th2-type immune response induction and IL-10 in MRL/lpr mice, drastically changing the pathophysiology of glomerulonephritis from DPLN to MLN accompanied by increased IgG1 and IgE in the sera. T cells in 32-week-old MRL/lpr mice infected with S. mansoni expressed significantly more IL-4 and IL-10 than T cells of uninfected mice; T cells with IFN-γ were comparable between infected and uninfected MR/lpr mice. Thus, the helminthic infection modified the cytokine microenvironment and altered the pathological phenotype of autoimmune nephritis.
Debt Priority Structure, Market Discipline and Bank Conduct

We examine how debt priority structure affects bank funding costs and soundness. Leveraging an unexplored natural experiment that changes the priority of claims on banks’ assets, we document asymmetric effects that are consistent with changes in monitoring intensity by various creditors depending on whether creditors move up or down the priority ladder. The enactment of depositor preference laws that confer priority on depositors reduces deposit rates but increases nondeposit rates. Importantly, subordinating nondepositor claims reduces bank risk-taking, consistent with market discipline. This insight highlights a role for debt priority structure in the regulatory framework.Received September 1, 2016; editorial decision August 31, 2017 by Editor Philip Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.
Persistence of Child Malnutrition in Malawi: Explanations from Demographic and Health Surveys

Although improvement of children's nutrition in Malawi has long been a key policy issue, child malnutrition problem in the country remains serious. This paper set out to understand why child malnutrition in Malawi has remained persistently high over the years. The study focuses on child stunting and underweight. Datasets from Malawi's DHS for 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2010 were used to investigate this problem. The main finding is that stunting was most prevalent in 2000 and 2004 but child underweight was prominent throughout the period. The reason for this persistence is that the factors that contribute to child malnutrition did not change significantly since 1992. Policies that can change this situation are suggested.
Three essays on the role of external governance mechanisms in managerial real decisions

This thesis conducts empirical examination of new factors influencing both real activities manipulation and investment efficiency based on the U.S. case, extending the extant literature exploring these issues as in response to the prevalence and the detrimental effects on firms’ future values of these two firm-level real actions. First, the thesis investigates the effect of corporate reputation as an external governance mechanism on real activities manipulation as managerial myopia, finding that there is a significantly negative relationship between corporate reputation ranking as disclosure and both real activities manipulation through sales, overproduction and discretionary expenditures and the two aggregate measures of real actions, and that corporate reputation really matters for the market response to real activities management as myopic behaviour. Second, the thesis examines the impact of media coverage on real activities management, finding that there is significantly negative association between the level of media coverage and both real earnings management through sales, overproduction and discretionary expenditures and the one aggregate measures of real actions; that positive news reduces real activities management through the three ways; and that the greater positive of news tone, the greater degree of reducing real earnings management. Third, the thesis explores how media coverage affects investment efficiency. It finds comprehensive and robust evidence that media coverage improves investment efficiency. Specifically, media coverage reduces information asymmetries, alleviates financial constraints, improves external monitoring, and, by doing so, facilitates project acceptance and abandonment. The effect of media coverage on investment efficiency is more pronounced for firms characterised by more severe information and agency problems, when firms depend on external financing, and when media reports contain original news about corporate fundamentals. These findings suggest that media coverage improves investment efficiency by mitigating information asymmetries and agency problems.
Plasticity of synaptic endings in the cochlear nucleus following noise‐induced hearing loss is facilitated in the adult FGF2 overexpressor mouse

In adult mammals a single exposure to loud noise can damage cochlear hair cells and initiate subsequent episodes of degeneration of axonal endings in the cochlear nucleus (CN). Possible mechanisms are loss of trophic support and/or excitotoxicity. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), important for development, might be involved in either mechanism. To test this hypothesis, we noise‐exposed FGF2 overexpressor mice and observed the effects on synaptic endings by immunolabelling for SV2, a synaptic vesicle protein, at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after noise exposure. SV2 staining was observed in two major locations; perisomatic, representing axo‐somatic terminals, and neuropil, representing axo‐dendritic terminals. The wildtype (WT) lost both perisomatic and neuropil clusters with an intervening period of modest recovery for the perisomatic. In contrast, in the overexpressor, the perisomatic clusters remained unchanged after intervening periods of increase. The neuropil clusters underwent a period of initial decline, followed by a transient recovery and ultimate decline. Changes in SV2 immunostaining correlated with changes in vesicular glutamate and GABA transporters at synapses and, in the overexpressor, with staining changes for FGF2 and FGF receptor 1. These molecules may contribute to the synaptic reorganization after noise damage; they may protect and/or aid recovery of synapses after overstimulation.
H∞ Control for Continuous-time Systems with Multiple Input Delays: A Smoothing Estimation Approach

This paper is concerned with the finite horizon H∞ full-information control for continuous-time systems with multiple input delays. The main contributions of the paper are two folds. First, parallel to the duality between the LQR of linear systems without delays and the optimal filtering, we establish a duality between the H∞ full-information control of systems with multiple input delays and an H∞ smoothing of a stochastic backward system without involving delays. The duality allows us to address the complicated multiple input delays problem via the standard projection and innovation analysis. Secondly, by defining a stochastic indefinite linear space and applying a re-organized innovation analysis, an explicit controller is constructed in terms of two standard Riccati differential equations
A hybrid license plate extraction method based on edge statistics and morphology

This work presents a hybrid license plate extraction algorithm based on the edge statistics and morphology for monitoring the highway ticketing systems. The method can improve the location rate only by the edge statistics. The proposed approach can be divided into four sections, which are, vertical edge detection, edge statistical analysis, hierarchical-based license plate location, and morphology-based license plate extraction. The algorithm can quickly and correctly detect the region of vehicle license plates. Under the experiment databases, which were taken from real scene, 9786 from 9825 images are successfully detected. The average accuracy of locating vehicle license plate is 99.6%.
Designing and developing OM research – from concept to publication

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify similarities and differences between qualitative-based and quantitative-based research, and to present recommendations for designing and conducting the research so that the possibilities of publishing it in leading Operations Management (OM) journals are improved. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes its outset in contributions made at the 2016 European Operations Management Association Young Scholars Workshop. The theme of the workshop was “Designing and developing research projects in Operations Management – from concept to publication. ” Taking the perspectives of the case researcher, the survey researcher and the editor/reviewer, the authors present and discuss the views on and experiences with designing research for publication. Findings The authors identify a number of recommendations that researchers should use when designing, conducting, and presenting their research for publication. The recommendations include the need to clearly and concisely establish relevance, account for choice of methodology as well as the operationalization, sampling, analytical, and validation methods used, and demonstrate the contribution of the paper in the discussion section. Furthermore, the authors draw attention to the importance of developing a publication strategy as early as possible. Other important aspects include the title of the paper, keywords selection, and rejection criteria. Finally, the authors stress the importance of “total quality management” in designing and executing OM research. Originality/value Going beyond the standard author guidelines found at journal web sites, the authors present a collection of viewpoints, which are based on the authors’ experiences as reviewers, editors, and evaluators of OM research projects and their designs.
Perivalvular abscesses associated with endocarditis. Clinical features and diagnostic accuracy of two-dimensional echocardiography.

OBJECTIVE To determine the clinical implications of the development of a perivalvular abscess in the course of an infective endocarditis and evaluate the utility of two-dimensional echocardiography in the diagnosis of this complication. DESIGN Retrospective clinical review. Investigator-blinded comparative echographic case-control study. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS Forty patients with infective endocarditis and a histologically proved diagnosis of perivalvular abscess. INTERVENTION Two-dimensional echocardiograms corresponding to 36 of these 40 patients were blindly compared with two-dimensional echocardiograms of 20 randomly chosen patients with infective endocarditis in whom myocardial abscesses had not been demonstrated during surgery. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS During surgery or at autopsy, 40 patients had a total of 41 definite perivalvular abscesses. Native valve endocarditis was present in 27 patients, and prosthetic valve endocarditis was present in 13 patients. Abscesses were more frequent in aortic-valve endocarditis (57.5 percent) than in infections of other valves, and the infecting organism was more often Staphylococcus (42.5 percent of cases). The hospital mortality rate was 90 percent in the 10 patients who did not receive surgical treatment, as compared with 26.6 percent in the 30 operated-on patient (p < 0.001). Sensitivity and specificity for the detection of abscesses associated with endocarditis were 80.5 percent and 85 percent, respectively, for transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that transthoracic echocardiography remains an accurate method for the diagnosis of abscesses associated with endocarditis, even in the presence of a prosthetic valve, and it could help to indicate early surgery in these patients.
Capital structure and religion. Some international evidence

In the recent years, an increasing number of papers deepened cross-disciplinary studies, examining how different cultural values influence financial variables. The main objective of our paper is to test if the dominant world religions (Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Judaic), and, moreover, some Christian denominations (Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity) are related to some patterns in capital structure. Our paper considers distinctly the category of countries in which Agnostics, Atheists and non-religious people are predominant. The results are promising. Companies located in the states with predominance of Islamic religion have a lower leverage, while the ones from predominantly Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Hindu and Judaic countries, as well as those in mainly Agnostic, Atheist and non-religious ones, are indebted more than those from mainly Protestant countries. The debt maturity seems to be correlated to the dominant religions or denominations, with companies in the predominantly Eastern Orthodox, Buddhist and Agnostic, Atheist and non-religious countries relying more on short term debt, and those in the majority Catholic, Judaic and Hindu countries on long term debt.
Superior immunogenicity of seasonal influenza vaccines containing full dose of MF59® adjuvant

Background: MF59-adjuvanted influenza vaccines have superior immunogenicity in older adults compared with non-adjuvanted vaccines. We assessed whether changing formulation (i.e., increasing H3N2 antigen or decreasing the quantity of adjuvant) of the licensed, MF59-adjuvanted trivalent influenza subunit vaccine Fluad® (Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics) improves the risk-benefit profile in vaccinees aged ≥65 years. Results: A significant dose-response relationship was observed between antibody levels and MF59 dose; full dose formulations elicited the strongest immune responses, meeting immunogenicity licensure criteria by Day 8. Doubling H3N2 antigen content did not increase the response to this antigen. Increased frequency of circulating CD4+ T-cells specific for vaccine antigens were detected by Day 8; magnitude and functional profile of the CD4+ T-cell response was comparable across the different vaccination groups. Mild to moderate solicited local reactions were more common with vaccines formulated with higher doses of MF59®, but there were no MF59- or antigen dose-related increase in the frequency of solicited systemic reactions or unsolicited adverse events and serious adverse events. Methods: We report on 357 subjects who received one of eight intramuscular vaccine formulations. Hemagglutination-inhibiting antibodies were assayed on Days 1, 8 and 22; magnitude and functional profile of CD4+ T-cell responses to vaccine antigens were assessed in subsets. Solicited adverse reactions were reported via diary cards for seven days after vaccination and spontaneous adverse events were monitored throughout the study. Conclusion: This study confirms that the current formulation is the optimal one for MF59-adjuvanted influenza vaccine for use in older adults.
12.7 A 96%-efficiency and 0.5%-current-cross-regulation single-inductor multiple floating-output LED driver with 24b color resolution

Lighting flicker, a rapid and repeated change over time in the brightness of light, has long been known to cause illness in humans that ranges from headaches to seizures. Thus, [1] has specified the dimming frequency, fDIM, larger than 3kHz to achieve a no-observable-effect flicker level. State-of-the-art LED drivers employ the SIMO topology with four channels in Fig. 12.7. 1, to deliver energy to each LED using the time-multiplexing (TM) control technique [2-4], in which the luminance is controlled by the dimming signals. Two major shortcomings for such approaches are: (1) Sequential dimming signals; and (2) Current cross-regulation (CCR) effects. In [2], the LED drivers with TM control result in only 9b color resolution at the dimming frequency of 1.5kHz, which may cause flicker hazard. Besides, the complete white-red-green-blue (WRGB) sequence needs a total of four switching periods to light up the 4 LEDs separately. On the other hand, due to inherent rising and falling delay of the hysteretic current control (HCC) circuit, tdr and tdf respectively, the CCR effect seriously affects the accuracy of the controller when the inductor current slope is varied. For example, with L=15μH, VIN=20V, VR=2.5V, VG=3.5V, tdr=300ns and tdf=250ns, the SIMO will result in 4% CCR between Iavg,R and Iavg,G when the average LED current is 1A. More specifically, with the same color in the sequence, voltage regulation may be disregarded when regulated constant current through the sensing resistor RSEN is used as a negative feedback control. However, when different colors are in sequence, where VO, =VR, VG, VB, or VW, are different, large voltage cross-regulation (VCR) across the RSEN occurs and so does the CCR. The CCR effects become an open question for enhancing LED current accuracy. For alleviating the CCR effect, the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) has been applied for TM control in [3]. However, with the limited output current in DCM, low output power resulted and large output capacitors were required to suppress the VCR. In this paper, a single-inductor multiple-floating-output (SIMFO) LED driver with an average-current-correction (ACC) technique is presented. The developed ACC technique is used to alleviate the CCR effect to about 0.5%. The developed LED driver using the floating output topology offers the following salient features: (1) A complete WRGB sequence is operated in only one switching cycle; (2) All LEDs can be dimmed simultaneously and each LED can also be dimmed individually to achieve 24b color resolution at fDIM=3kHz without flicker hazard; and (3) Achieving high output power and power efficiency (96%).
The Effects of the Severity of Periventricular Leukomalacia on the Neuropsychological Outcomes of Preterm Children

This study investigates the developmental outcomes of preterm children according to severity of periventricular leukomalacia. One hundred preterm children with periventricular leukomalacia evident on brain magnetic resonance imaging and who had undergone neuropsychologic evaluation were selected. Intellectual disability was noted in 27.8% of the children with mild periventricular leukomalacia, 53.2% with moderate periventricular leukomalacia, and 77.1% with severe periventricular leukomalacia. The rates of major neurodevelopmental impairments such as cerebral palsy or intellectual disability were related to the severity of periventricular leukomalacia but not to gestational age or epilepsy. There were significant differences in the intelligence quotient (IQ) and social maturity quotient between 3 groups of periventricular leukomalacia. The performance IQ was significantly lower than the verbal IQ. Behavioral problems were noted in about one-third of the children but the rate was not related with the severity of periventricular leukomalacia. Our study revealed the significant associations between severity of periventricular leukomalacia and cognitive and social adaptive functions in the preterm children.