Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VALUE OF SONOGRAPHIC ENDOMETRIAL FINDINGS IN PATIENTS UNDER TAMOXIFEN THERAPY *

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate endometrial alterations by means of transvaginal ultrasound and to correlate them with hysteroscopic and histological findings in patients under tamoxifen therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was developed in the period between January 2003 and December 2005, including patients under tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer, and presenting with endometrial thickening > 5 mm. The sonographic findings were correlated with hysteroscopic and anatomopathological results. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients, mean age 62.6 years, were selected. The mean time elapsed from the diagnosis of cancer was 4.3 years, and use of tamoxifen, three years. Twenty patients (80%) were asymptomatic, and five (20%) presented with bleeding. Ultrasound showed that 16% of patients had endometrial thickening ranging between 5 mm and 8 mm, 40% between 9 mm and 15 mm, and 44% above 15 mm. Hysteroscopy showed 40% of patients with atrophy, 16% with cystic atrophy, 28% with polyps and 16% with hyperplastic lesion. Anatomopathological study showed 35.2% of patients with normal results, 5.8% with atrophy, 29.4% with polyps and 11.7% with hyperplasia. One case of adenocarcinoma (5.8%) was observed. CONCLUSION: Combined ultrasound and hysteroscopy have proven to be important allies in the evaluation of patients under tamoxifen therapy. Ultrasonography presents low specificity for detecting endometrial thickening, while hysteroscopy is more accurate in the detection of polyps, hyperplasia and neoplastic alterations.
Voluntary Disclosure and Real Investment Distortions in IPOs

We examine the eects of IPO underpricing on capital investment e¢ ciency when informed insiders — concerned about their investment funding — strategically disclose value-relevant information to oset the informational advantage of informed traders. To induce participation by uninformed investors, managers can disclose information or alternatively choose not to disclose and issue the IPO at a discount to compensate for their expected loss from trading against the informed investors. As intensity of informed traders increases, this underpricing becomes severe and managers strategically respond by disclosing more often. We show that above a threshold, full disclosure emerges in equilibrium. But, extensive disclosure and consequent low average underpricing can in fact be indicative of under-investment because some …rms with positive NPV projects fail to go public. On the other hand, high average underpricing and less disclosure can be indicative of over-investment because some …rms with negative NPV projects succeed in going public.
Comparison of five D-dimer reagents and application of an age-adjusted cut-off for the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism in emergency department

There is still a considerable uncertainty concerning D-dimer cut-off values used in exclusion of venous thromboembolic (venous thromboembolism, VTE) disease, especially among the elderly patients. The objectives were to compare five different D-dimer reagents in the daily practice of an emergency department and to test retrospectively the performances of an age-adjusted cut-off. A total of 473 consecutive ambulatory outpatients suspected of VTE (confirmed VTE = 21) were included in this study. Five commercially available tests were assessed: STA-Liatest D-Di (LI), AxSYM-D-Dimer (AX), VIDAS D-Dimer (VI), INNOVANCE D-Dimer (IN), and HemosIL D-Dimer HS (HS). When using a cut-off value of 500 ng/ml fibrinogen equivalent units (FEUs), D-dimer reagents differ in their abilities to avoid further testing. Indeed, LI allowed exclusion of VTE diagnosis in statistically more patients than VI, AX, and IN but not HS. The use of an age-adjusted cut-off is cost-effective without increasing significantly the number of false negative results. The interest of such strategy is more or less pronounced, depending on the type of D-dimer reagent. The application of an age-adjusted cut-off may be useful to reduce differences among D-dimer reagents to lower costly imaging studies. Prospective validation studies on large cohorts of patients are required to determine the safety of such strategy.
Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with antibodies to heat shock protein 70 have poor prognoses.

RATIONALE Diverse autoantibodies are present in most patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We hypothesized that specific autoantibodies may associate with IPF manifestations. OBJECTIVES To identify clinically relevant, antigen-specific immune responses in patients with IPF. METHODS Autoantibodies were detected by immunoblots and ELISA. Intrapulmonary immune processes were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Anti-heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) IgG was isolated from plasma by immunoaffinity. Flow cytometry was used for leukocyte functional studies. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS HSP70 was identified as a potential IPF autoantigen in discovery assays. Anti-HSP70 IgG autoantibodies were detected by immunoblots in 3% of 60 control subjects versus 25% of a cross-sectional IPF cohort (n = 122) (P = 0.0004), one-half the patients with IPF who died (P = 0.008), and 70% of those with acute exacerbations (P = 0.0005). Anti-HSP70 autoantibodies in patients with IPF were significantly associated with HLA allele biases, greater subsequent FVC reductions (P = 0.0004), and lesser 1-year survival (40 ± 10% vs. 80 ± 5%; hazard ratio = 4.2; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-8.6; P < 0.0001). HSP70 protein, antigen-antibody complexes, and complement were prevalent in IPF lungs. HSP70 protein was an autoantigen for IPF CD4 T cells, inducing lymphocyte proliferation (P = 0.004) and IL-4 production (P = 0.01). IPF anti-HSP70 autoantibodies activated monocytes (P = 0.009) and increased monocyte IL-8 production (P = 0.049). ELISA confirmed the association between anti-HSP70 autoreactivity and IPF outcome. Anti-HSP70 autoantibodies were also found in patients with other interstitial lung diseases but were not associated with their clinical progression. CONCLUSIONS Patients with IPF with anti-HSP70 autoantibodies have more near-term lung function deterioration and mortality. These findings suggest antigen-specific immunoassays could provide useful clinical information in individual patients with IPF and may have implications for understanding IPF progression.
High-fidelity initialization of long-lived quantum dot hole spin qubits by reduced fine-structure splitting

We demonstrate an on-demand hole spin qubit initialization scheme meeting four key requirements of quantum information processing: fast initialization (1/e \ensuremath{\sim} 100 ps), high fidelity ($Fg99%$), long qubit lifetime ($2{T}_{h}g{T}_{2}^{*}\ensuremath{\simeq}10\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ns}$), and compatibility with optical coherent control schemes. This is achieved by rapidly ionizing an exciton in an InGaAs quantum dot with very low fine-structure splitting at zero magnetic field. Furthermore, we show that the hole spin fidelity of an arbitrary quantum dot can be increased by optical Stark effect tuning of the fine-structure splitting close to zero.
Modeling of Bimorph Type Cantilever for Actuators

A general bending theory for multilayered cantilever with a point load is developed. Based on this theory, a magnetostrictive bimorph type cantilever is modeled for an actuator. The bending and loading characteristics of the cantilever system are discussed systematically, and the optimal conditions, namely the proper balance in choosing the sublayer and substrate thicknesses, as well as material selection, is presented for actuator application. Our discussion may be helpful to the designing and fabricating of the giant magnetostrictive cantilever actuators with more realistic and optimal geometry.
Modelling GaN-HEMT Dynamic ON-state Resistance in High Frequency Power Converter

In order to model GaN device dynamic RDSon value due to trapped charge, a measurement circuit to accurately measure device dynamic RDSon value under different OFF-state time and ON-state time is at first proposed. Based on measurement results, an analytical model with different cells is proposed to represent dynamic RDSon evolution. It is then represented as a behavioural voltage source to compensate device ON-state VDS voltage, which can be implemented easily into device manufacturer model in Spice-type electrical circuit simulator. The model is then validated by comparing with the measurement on device dynamic RDSon value of different switching frequencies, where the model agrees with experimental results on both transient and stabilized dynamic RDSon value.
Identifying Cheating Users in Online Courses

Students interact with online courses mainly in two ways: by reviewing the course materials and by solving exercises. However, there are cases in which student behaviour differs and tends to become more focused on solving exercises without looking at course materials. This type of interaction could be an indicative of unethical behavior, such as students who collaborate by sharing answers with one another or fake accounts that are used by students to obtain the correct answers for exercises. In this paper, we propose several metrics to identify these two types of cheating based on co-occurring events and measures of interaction with the course. From the pool of accounts in the course, the pairs of accounts that solve exercises very close in time are considered to be potential collaborating accounts. The proposed metrics are computed for these pairs of accounts and K-means clustering is used to separate pairs of real students who collaborate with respect to students who use fake accounts to harvest the correct answers to exercises. A generalization accuracy over 95% to classify these types of cheating is achieved by using a Support Vector Machine (SVM).
It could have been me: Proximity motivates disaster giving

Effects of physical proximity of potential donors to a disaster location were studied. Physical proximity increased counterfactual thoughts, that is, thoughts that the donors themselves might have suffered from the event if the circumstances had been a bit different. Counterfactuals, in turn, increased reported willingness to help the victims of the disaster. The same effects were found for hypothetical proximity, in the form of a desire to visit the impacted location before the disaster occurred. The pattern was consistent across five correlational and experimental studies, which focused on a range of real-life and fictitious disasters. The findings are important because they can explain why people and governments often dwell on relatively minor problems at home rather than thousands of people suffering and dying overseas. The findings also suggest an easy and cost-effective way of boosting donations to disaster victims.
Assessing Mozambique’s Software Industry to Foster Local Universities-Industry Collaboration

Universities-Industry Collaboration (UIC) is recognized as being used as a vehicle aiming to produce positive impacts towards real-life issues, research and the quality of education. Although extensive research has been carried out on UIC, a lack of market-oriented research projects towards software industry has remained unclear in emerging countries. Hence, this study has a twofold purpose: firstly, it summarizes current efforts regarding the use of software in Mozambique and, secondly, based on said analysis it proposes a mechanism as a means to accelerate collaborations between academics and industry partners to raise the quality of education. The data were mainly collected through semi-structured interviews targeted at participants from two groups of companies: IT and non-IT companies. Based on the findings, most companies use Java, Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), and C# as the primary programming languages and the use of proprietary database management systems prevail over open-source in both companies. A minor number of companies also develop in-house software. Key findings include lack of necessary skills matching to labor market needs, predominance of foreign software packages usage, and lack of collaborative projects between universities and local market. The findings are of a high value to Information Technology (IT) industry professionals & practitioners, academic & research community, and other stakeholders groups in Mozambique and beyond.
Assessment of the Effect of Rural Transportation Cost On Agricultural Productivity in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

This study assessed the effect of rural-urban transportation on agricultural produce in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. Primary data obtained from 90 rural farming households were analysed using frequency count, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis and mean score from a 3 point Likert type of scale. Results of the study revealed that majority of the farmers were married males in their active productive age of 41-60 years and a household size of 4-9 members. Farming in the area was still on a subsistence level as only 22.2% of the farmers cultivated above 3 hectares of farm land. The major modes of transporting farm produce identified in the area include the use of tricycle (92.2%), motorcycle (70%), and pick up van (64.9%). Furthermore, annual cost of transportation and number of years spent schooling (education) were negatively related to farmers’ income at 1% and 10% level of significance respectively. The major challenges faced by farmers in transporting their produce were bad road network (M= 2.4) and high transportation cost (M = 2.3). It was recommended that government should provide good road network and transportation facilities as it will ease the movement of farm produce to urban areas and as well increase farmers’ productivity and better their standard of living.
Would Regulation of Web Site Privacy Policy Statements Increase Consumer Trust

Proponents of e-commerce have known for some time that limited participation by consumers partially reflects their concern over the privacy of personal information. To address consumer concerns, web site operators have employed security mechanisms, including privacy policy statements to increase their perceived trustworthiness. While empirical evidence is limited, there is some question regarding the ability of privacy policy statements to engender significantly greater levels of trust. The limited effectiveness of such statements may reflect their voluntary implementation, self-enforcement, and\or significant variance (protection and enforcement) from one web site to another. One possible remedy would be the imposition of legally mandated statements. This study examined the efficacy of legally mandated privacy policies vis-a-vis both voluntary statements of varying degrees of protection and the absence of any such statement. The results were mixed, as legally mandated privacy policy statements were found to be comparable to strong voluntary statements, but superior to none, weak or moderate policies. Perhaps more important, the nature of the privacy policy statement interacted with type of information requested.
A multifaceted intervention to reduce pandrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection in 3 intensive care units in a Thai tertiary care center: a 3-year study.

BACKGROUND We sought to determine the long-term effect of a multifaceted infection-control intervention to reduce the incidence of pandrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection in a Thai tertiary care center. METHODS A 3-year, prospective, controlled, quasi-experimental study was conducted in medical intensive care, surgical intensive care, and coronary care units for a 1-year period before intervention (period 1), a 1-year period after intervention (period 2), and a 1-year follow-up period (period 3). The interventions in period 2 included strictly implementing contact isolation precautions and appropriate hand hygiene, active surveillance, cohorting patients who were colonized or infected with pandrug-resistant A. baumannii, and environmental cleaning with 1:100 sodium hypochlorite solution. All interventions were continued in period 3, but environmental cleaning solutions were changed to detergent and phenolic agents. RESULTS Before the intervention, the rate of pandrug-resistant A. baumannii colonization and/or infection was 3.6 cases per 1000 patient-days. After the intervention, the rate of pandrug-resistant A. baumannii colonization and/or infection decreased by 66% in period 2 (to 1.2 cases per 1000 patient-days; P < .001) and by 76% in period 3 (to 0.85 cases per 1000 patient-days; P < .001). The monthly hospital antibiotic cost of treating pandrug-resistant A. baumannii colonization and/or infection and the hospitalization cost for each patient in the intervention units were also reduced by 36%-42% (P < .001) and 25%-36% (P < .001), respectively, during periods 2 and 3. CONCLUSIONS A multifaceted intervention featuring active surveillance and environmental cleaning resulted in sustained reductions in the rate of pandrug-resistant A. baumannii colonization and infection, the cost of antibiotic therapy, and the cost of hospitalization among intensive care unit patients in a developing country.
Exploring perceptions of instructors about childbirth preparation training courses: A qualitative study

Background Childbirth preparation training courses on maternal and neonatal health increase awareness, and capability of pregnant women in overcoming fear and anxiety and managing labor pains. Objective To identify the affecting factors and barriers of these courses from the perspective of their instructors. Methods This qualitative study of the content analysis type, has been conducted on 16 certified teachers of the training courses of the Hamadan city in 2015. Data were collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews and were then analyzed by using MAXQDA10 application. Results Participants’ experiences are indicated on three main themes including the objectives of the course, facilitators and barriers. The main objectives of the course were reported as to improve maternal and newborn health, promote natural childbirth and preparedness for parenting and breastfeeding. The main facilitators of the successful implementation include observing educational standards, strengthening the communication and relationship between mothers and staff, mobilization, and the role of instructor. The major barriers are reported as inadequate support from management system, insufficient intra-sector collaboration, poor attitude of obstetricians and physicians, inadequate access, theory-practice gap and not intended to labor naturally. Conclusion The results of our study show that multiple factors are involved in the participation of pregnant women in antenatal classes. Promoting natural childbirth requires intra-sector and inter-sectoral collaboration, as well as the community participation.
Serological markers of hepatitis B infection in infants presenting for their first immunization

Introduction: Hepatitis B vaccine can prevent perinatal transmission if administered within 24 hours of birth. Nigerian infants are known to present late for their first immunizations and may acquire the virus either vertically or horizontally before receipt of the first dose of hepatitis B immunization. This study evaluated serological markers for hepatitis B virus infection in Nigerian infants prior to receipt of the first dose of hepatitis B immunization. Method: Blood samples obtained prior to the receipt of hepatitis B vaccine from infants presenting for their first immunization were analysed for HBsAg, antiHBc and antiHBe. Results: The mean age at presentation of the 153 infants studied was 14.3±15.6 days while only two infants presented on the first day of life. The prevalences of HBsAg and antiHBc were 16.3% and 15.7% respectively. Of those positive for either HBsAg or antiHBc 20(47.6%) were positive for antiHBe. The presence of HBsAg was not significantly associated with sex, age, circumcision, ear piercing and blood transfusion. Conclusion: Majority of the infants did not receive hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. Institutional delivery should be encouraged while emphasizing to mothers and health care workers that hepatitis B vaccination must commence within 24 hours of birth.
Exploring Factors Influencing the Use of Enterprise Social Networks in Multinational Professional Service Firms

ABSTRACT Organizations are increasingly implementing enterprise social networks (ESNs) for improved communication and collaboration, as well as enhanced knowledge sharing and innovation among employees. However, the paradoxical relationship between ESN implementation and the promised benefits has been attributed to employees’ underutilization. Our research focuses on factors influencing employees’ decision to use ESN in their work role and draws on case studies of two multinational professional service firms (PSFs) based in Australia. Qualitative data were collected during ten semi-structured interviews with employees from both organizations, to determine their perceptions of ESN usage and capture the factors that influence their use behavior. The findings illustrate that the likelihood of ESN use is significantly influenced by technological, organizational, social and individual factors. A successful ESN use within an organization involves the nexus between these four factors and recommendations are made, as guidelines for organizational actors about how ESNs usage can be increased.
Effect of task complexity on mental performance during immersion hypothermia.

The effect of task complexity on the decrement in mental performance during immersion hypothermia was studied. Psychometric tests of varying length and complexity were administered: 1) prior to cold water immersion (baseline); 2) soon after immersion to the neck in cold (8 degrees C) water but prior to any decrease in core temperature; and 3) after 55 to 80 min of immersion when core temperature had decreased 2-4 degrees C. Results indicated that tests placing relatively minimal cognitive demands on individuals, such as auditory attention, the Benton visual recognition test and forward digit span, were unaffected by either initial cold water immersion or central cooling. On the other hand, tests requiring relatively greater mental manipulation and short term memory (i.e., backward digit span) or processing and analysis (i.e., Stroop test) showed a slight improvement upon cold water immersion (perhaps related to increased arousal and/or learning) but a significant decrement following central cooling of 2-4 degrees C. Thus, relatively simple tasks were unaffected by central cooling, whereas more complex tasks were adversely affected. Cold water immersion itself did not interfere with performance of any tasks. Central nervous system cooling probably interferes with mental processing although discomfort and/or the physiological and physical effects of cold on the neuromuscular aspects of speech, required for responses to some of the tasks, may also affect performance.