Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative gene expression analysis in renal biopsies: a novel protocol for a high-throughput multicenter application.

BACKGROUND Recent advances in gene expression analysis may add the quantification of mRNA species in renal biopsies to routine diagnostic procedures in nephrology. METHODS A systematic evaluation was performed on the relevant steps required to efficiently obtain cDNA from renal biopsies for high-throughput reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based mRNA quantification. RESULTS The protocol preserves mRNA integrity by a novel RNase inhibitor and allows meticulous microdissection followed by maximal RNA recovery from tissue samples. Reverse transcription was optimized to give the best yield from minimal starting material. RNA quantity and quality were systematically investigated by real-time RT-PCR and electrophoresis on a microfluidic system, respectively. The reported procedure offers high RNA preservation and increases the yield of cDNA significantly compared to former protocols. CONCLUSION The simplicity of biopsy material acquisition combined with the centrally performed processing makes this protocol suitable for a wide spectrum of expression analysis in diverse clinical settings.
The Effect of Dividend Bubble on Share Price: A Case of Nepalese Commercial Banks

This study examines the effect of dividend bubble on share price of Nepalese commercial banks. The market prices per share, dividend per share and dividend yield are dependent variables whereas earnings per share, dividend payout, return on assets, return on equity, size and leverage are independent variables. The study is based on 14 commercial banks of Nepal from 2007 to 2014, leading to a total of 112 observations. The data are collected from Banking and Financial Statistics and Bank Supervision Report published by Nepal Rastra Bank, annual report of Nepal Stock Exchange and the annual reports of the selected banks. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and effect of dividend bubble on share price of Nepalese commercial banks. The study reveals that dividend payout ratio and firm size are positively related to market price per share, dividend per share and dividend yield. It indicates that higher the dividend payout and firm size, higher would be the market price per share, dividend per share and dividend yield. Likewise, the result shows that return on assets and earnings per share are positively related to the market price per share and dividend per share. Similarly, the leverage ratio has positive relation with market price per share and dividend per share which indicates that higher the leverage, higher would be the market price per share and dividend per share. Moreover, return on equity has positive relation with market price per share. The result also shows that EPS and ROA have significant positive impact on MPS and DPS. However, ROE has negative impact on dividend yield. The beta coefficients for leverage and return on equity are significant at 5 percent level of significance.
Improving hand-washing performance - a crossover study of hand-washing in the orthopaedic department.

INTRODUCTION Effective hand-washing is essential for reducing the spread of infection in hospitals. We aimed to evaluate hand-washing performance of hospital personnel and to determine if this could be improved by education. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 55 personnel working in the orthopaedic department were asked to clean their hands using an alcohol gel containing a clear fluorescent substance. They were unaware of the assessment method. Performance was assessed by examining their hands under UV light to identify areas that had been neglected. Subjects could visualise which areas they had missed and were then educated regarding hand-washing technique and retested after 7 days. RESULTS Of the 55 subjects, 53 completed the study. Individual performance varied widely. Following a simple educational intervention, 49 out of 53 subjects improved from an average of 7.8% to 2.3% area missed (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS We suggest that hand-washing effectiveness needs to be improved and that a simple educational intervention can be effective.
Gender and time allocation of cohabiting and married women and men in France, Italy, and the United States

BACKGROUND Women, who generally do more unpaid and less paid work than men, have greater incentives to stay in marriages than cohabiting unions, which generally carry fewer legal protections for individuals that wish to dissolve their relationship. The extent to which cohabitation is institutionalized, however, is a matter of policy and varies substantially by country. The gender gap in paid and unpaid work between married and cohabiting individuals should be larger in countries where cohabitation is less institutionalized and where those in cohabiting relationships have relatively fewer legal protections should the relationship dissolve, yet few studies have explored this variation. OBJECTIVE Using time diary data from France, Italy, and the United States, we assess the time men and women devote to paid and unpaid work in cohabiting and married couples. These three countries provide a useful diversity in marital regimes for examining these expectations: France, where cohabitation is most “marriage like” and where partnerships can be registered and carry legal rights; the United States, where cohabitation is common but is short-lived and unstable and where legal protections vary across states; and Italy, where cohabitation is not common and where such unions are not legally acknowledged and less socially approved than in either France or the United States. RESULTS Cohabitating men’s and women’s time allocated to market and nonmarket work is generally more similar than married men and women. Our expectations about country differences are only partially borne out by the findings. Greater gender differences in the time allocated to market and nonmarket work are found in Italy relative to either France or the U.S.
The Reciprocal Relationship of Innovation Capabilities and Socioemotional Wealth in a Family Firm

This paper deals with entrepreneurship in family firms by researching how technology‐based innovation capabilities influence the socioemotional dimensions of the owning family and vice versa. In combination with dynamic capabilities, the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective offers a framework that enables an investigation of the nature of innovation capabilities in family firms. Studying a single firm, we identify a positive reciprocal relationship between innovation capabilities and SEW. We find that this reciprocal relationship within the family business presents itself in a synergistic fashion, yielding synergies between financial wealth and SEW. The findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses.
A Composite Strategy for Power Oscillation Damping Control Using Local and Wide Area Feedback Signals

Non-local measurements from wide area measurement systems can be used to synthesize feedback signals for FACTS or HVDC based power oscillation damping controllers. Although non-local feedback signals may have better damping influence than local feedback signals, they involve greater complexity and reduced robustness due to the possibility of partial or complete loss of communication. A composite control strategy is proposed in this paper, which uses both local and non-local feedback channels to achieve enhanced damping and improved robustness. Special local signals and their non-local equivalents are identified for series reactive and shunt real power injection devices, which facilitate the design of controllers with a simple structure and fewer parameters. Unlike modal speed signals, synthesis of these signals does not require an online eigen-solution. Case studies are presented which demonstrate the efficacy and robustness of this strategy.
Rehospitalization in the First Two Weeks After Discharge From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background. High-risk newborns are known to have higher than average utilization of services after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Most studies on this subject report aggregate data over periods ranging from 1 to 3 years postdischarge. Little is known about events that are temporally close to NICU discharge. Objectives. To characterize rehospitalizations within the first 2 weeks after discharge from six community NICUs. Methods. We scanned electronic databases and reviewed the charts of rehospitalized infants from six NICUs in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program. We subdivided infants into five groups based on gestational age (GA) and birth hospitalization length of stay (LOS): 1) ≥37 weeks' GA with <4 days LOS (n = 2593); 2) ≥37 weeks' GA with ≥4 days' LOS (n = 1133); 3) from 33 to 36 weeks' GA with <4 days' LOS (n = 545); 4) from 33 to 36 weeks' GA with ≥4 days' LOS (n = 1196); and 5) <33 weeks' GA (n = 587). We performed bivariate and multivariate analyses to identify predictors that might be useful for practitioners. Results. There were 6054 newborns discharged alive from the six study NICUs between August 1, 1992 and December 31, 1995, and 99.5% of these infants remained in the health plan during the 2 weeks after NICU discharge. The overall rehospitalization rate was 2.72%, which is 20% higher than the rate among healthy term newborns in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (2.26%). The two most common reasons for rehospitalization were jaundice (62/165, 37.6%) and feeding difficulties (25/165, 15.2%). Infants with 33 to 36 weeks' GA and <4 days' LOS were rehospitalized at a significantly higher rate than were all other infants (5.69%); 71% of infants in this group were rehospitalized for jaundice. The following variables predicted rehospitalization in multivariate models: <33 weeks' GA (adjusted OR [AOR]: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.10–3.21), from 33 to 36 weeks' GA with <96 hours' LOS (AOR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.87–4.62), and birth at facility B, which had the highest rehospitalization rate of the six facilities (AOR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.39–2.65). Conclusions. The rate of rehospitalization among NICU graduates is higher than among healthy term infants. Most of the rehospitalizations among infants with from 33 to 36 weeks' GA and <4 days' LOS are for illnesses that are not life-threatening. Collaborative studies and new process and outcomes measures are needed to assess the effectiveness of follow-up strategies in high-risk newborns.
Experience With More Than 500 Minimally Invasive Hepatic Procedures

Objective:To evaluate our experience with more than 500 minimally invasive hepatic procedures. Summary Background Data:Recent data have confirmed the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive liver surgery. Despite these reports, no programmatic approach to minimally invasive liver surgery has been proposed. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent a minimally invasive procedure for the management of hepatic tumors between January 2001 and April 2008. Patients were divided into 3 groups: laparoscopy with intraoperative ultrasound and biopsy only, laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and minimally invasive resection. To compare the various forms of surgery, we analyzed the incidence of complications, tumor recurrence, mortality, and cost. Statistical analysis was performed using χ2 analysis, Student t test, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with the log-rank test, and multivariable Cox models. Results:A total of 590 minimally invasive hepatic procedures were performed during 489 operative interventions. The representative tumor histologies were: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; N = 210), colorectal carcinoma (N = 40), miscellaneous liver metastases (N = 42), biliary cancer (N = 20), and benign tumors (N = 176). Thirty-five patients underwent laparoscopic ultrasound and confirmatory biopsy alone; 201 patients underwent 240 laparoscopic RFAs, and 253 patients underwent 306 minimally invasive resections. Conversion rates to open surgery for the RFA and resection group were 2% overall. One hundred ninety-nine (40.6%) patients were cirrhotic; 31 resections were performed in cirrhotic patients. Complication and mortality rates for RFA and resection were comparable (11% vs. 16%, and 1.5% vs. 1.6%). However, complication rates (14% vs. 29%; P = 0.02) and mortality (0.3% vs. 9.7%; P = 0.006) rates were higher in the cirrhotic versus noncirrhotic resection group. Overall recurrence rates for RFA and resection groups were 24% and 23%, respectively. Local recurrence rates were higher in the RFA group (6.3% versus 1.5%; P < 0.06). Overall patient survival differed between HCC patients receiving RFA alone and those receiving RFA and OLT (P < 0.0001). Overall survival for cancer patients receiving RFA versus resection differed significantly when unadjusted for other covariates (P = 0.01), and remained marginally significant in a multivariable model (P = 0.056). Conclusions:Minimally invasive hepatic surgery has become a viable alternative to open hepatic surgery. Our present data are equivalent or superior to those encountered in any large open series. Our experience with RFA confirms a low local recurrence rate and an excellent technique for bridging patients to transplantation. Morbidity and mortality rates for minimally invasive hepatic resections in cirrhotics, is similar to other reported open resection series. This series confirmed excellent interim survival rates after laparoscopic HR and superiority over RFA in the treatment of cancer, with significantly lower local tumor recurrence rate.
Assessment of Advanced Natural Ventilation Space Cooling Potential across Southern European Coastal Region

Analyzing the Köppen–Geiger climate classification and available climate data for the southern European Mediterranean coast, eight reference geolocations were selected for this analysis: the cities of Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome, Koper, Split, Athens and Nicosia. The first part of the research applies the climate potential for natural ventilation (CPNV) methodology that evaluates the theoretical availability of natural ventilation (NV) for each city location corresponding to human hygrothermal conditions. The second part of the article evaluates possible cooling energy savings (ES) applying the advanced natural ventilation (ANV) space-cooling strategy. A hypothetical four-story atrium office building model is designed for the building performance simulation (BPS) using mixed-mode (or hybrid-mode) and night-time natural ventilation (NNV) approaches. The objective is to present a comparison overview of possible space cooling ES between chosen geolocations. In the context of the current European Union’s (EU) energy transition (ET) process, the article displays ANV possibilities, as a renewable energy resource (RES), in the reduction of building space cooling energy demands (ED) on the electricity grid.
A Microfounded Model of Money Demand Under Uncertainty, and some Empirical Evidence

In this article we derive a microfounded model of money demand under uncertainty built on intertemporally optimizing risk-averse households. Deriving a complete solution of the optimization problem taking the intertemporal budget constraint into account where linearization procedures in our paper take a risky steady state as benchmark. The solution leads to ambiguous effects w.r. t. to the impact of capital market risk as well as ination risk, which is due to the interplay of substitution and opposing income effects. The econometric results reveal that U.S. households increase their demand for money in response to positive changes in ination risk and capital market risk, respectively, with both effects lasting permanently.
Risk of testicular cancer in cohort of boys with cryptorchidism

Abstract Objective: To determine the risk of testicular cancer in relation to undescended testis and its treatment based on recorded details of the maldescent, treatment, and biopsy from case notes. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London. Subjects: 1075 boys with cryptorchidism treated by orchidopexy or hormones at the hospital during 1951-64. Main outcome measures: Relative risk of testicular cancer in the cohort compared with men in the general population. Results: 12 testicular cancers occurred in 11 of the patients during follow up to mid-1990 (relative risk of cancer in males with cryptorchidism=7.5 (95% confidence interval 3.9 to 12.8)). The relative risk fell significantly beyond 15 years after orchidopexy but did not decrease with younger age at orchidopexy. Risk was significantly raised in testes that had had biopsy samples removed during orchidopexy (relative risk=66.7 (23.9 to 143.3) compared with a testis in a man in the general population) and was significantly greater in these testes than in undescended testes that had not had biopsy samples taken at orchidopexy (6.7 (2.7 to 13.5)). No reasons for biopsy or distinguishing clinical aspects of the testes that had had biopsy samples taken and later developed malignancies were evident in the case notes. No histological abnormalities were evident at initial biopsy except in one testis that had features of dysgenesis. Conclusions: Biopsy seems to be a stronger risk factor for testicular cancer than any factor previously identified. The trauma of open biopsy may contribute substantially to risk of malignancy or the testes may have been selected for biopsy on the basis of clinical factors predictive of malignancy but not mentioned in the case notes. Key messages The reasons for increased risk of testicular cancer in cryptorchidism are unclear Risk of testicular cancer was determined in follow up of 1075 boys with cryptorchidism treated during 1951-64 The relative risk of testicular cancer in the cohort compared with men in the general population was 7.5 and did not decrease with younger age at orchidopexy Risk was much greater in undescended testes from which a biopsy sample had been taken during orchidopexy than in those with no biopsy Biopsy was a stronger risk factor for testicular cancer than any factor previously identified
Vocal cord paralysis and cystic kidney disease in Hajdu‐Cheney syndrome

In this report we describe the clinical history and symptoms in a 36‐year‐old male with Hajdu‐Cheney syndrome, an autosomal dominant condition with dissolution of the terminal phalanges (acro‐osteolysis), characteristic craniofacial dysmorphism, and musculoskeletal alterations. He was admitted at that age because of progressive respiratory problems, with Cheyne‐Stokes respiration and bilateral vocal cord paralysis. Terminal renal failure with cystic renal disease was diagnosed at the age of 14 years. The findings in the present patient illustrate the risk of progressive neurologic degeneration with involvement of the cranial nerves in patients with Hajdu‐Cheney syndrome. Moreover, we confirm that cystic renal changes are an integral part of Hajdu‐Cheney syndrome, and agree that Hajdu‐Cheney syndrome and Serpentine fibula syndrome are probably variant examples of the same disease.
Facing History: Positioning and Identity Negotiation in Adolescents’ Narratives of Controversial History

This article addresses two understudied topics in history and identity research: How individuals assign and take up positions while they explain controversial history and the personal identity negotiation they experience in this process. The study uses positioning analysis to examine adolescents’ negotiation of history and identity through their historical explanations. Positioning analysis examines the cluster of social rights and duties, which people assume and assign to others to make sense of society and themselves. This study conducts an in-depth analysis of the historical narratives of two 16-year-old Mexican and Spanish adolescents about the 16th century Hispanic Conquest of Mexico. The analysis focuses on the positions that participants establish to explain history and how they use these positions to configure their own identities. The outcomes show three common types of positioning used by participants to explain the Conquest, which oscillate between the legitimization and rejection of colonialism. Findings also suggest that positions allow adolescents to mediate tensions between cultural affiliation and historical explanation, as well as creating their own versions of collective and personal identities. Finally, the implications of these findings for historical understanding and the analysis of the psychological impact of colonialism are discussed.
Changes in glycosaminoglycan epitope levels in knee joint fluid following injury.

OBJECTIVE To measure the levels of epitope on the chondroitin sulfate (CS) and keratan sulfate (KS) chains of proteoglycan fragments in synovial fluids from injured and contralateral uninjured knees of patients with traumatic cruciate ligament and/or meniscus damage. METHODS Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to determine the levels of monoclonal antibody epitopes 3-B-3 and 7-D-4 (CS), and 5-D-4 (KS), in paired joint fluids from the injured and uninjured knees of trauma patients. RESULTS Levels of the CS epitopes were increased in the trauma joint fluids from most patients, with higher levels of 3-B-3 epitope in 12 of the 16 patients, but the difference did not achieve significance; however, 7-D-4 levels were higher in 15 patients, and the difference was highly significant (P = 0.0005). In contrast, the KS epitope detected by 5-D-4 was decreased in 13 of 15 patients, and the difference was significant (P = 0.0074). CONCLUSION The increased level of 7-D-4 epitope on proteoglycans in joint fluid from injured knees may reflect the response of the articular cartilage to acute trauma resulting in altered expression of specific CS epitopes on cartilage proteoglycans. The fall in KS epitope levels may reflect the synthesis of proteoglycans that have lower KS content.
Finding Paradise Within: How Spirituality Protects Palliative Care Clients and Caregivers From Depression

The aims of this article are to explore the experience of depression among palliative care clients and caregivers, describe the strategies they use in coping with depression, and clarify the role of spirituality in preventing and/or overcoming depression. This article discusses an aspect of the findings of a larger doctoral study that explored the nature of spirituality and spiritual engagement from the viewpoint of individuals with life-limiting conditions and their caregivers. van Manen’s phenomenology was used in the study. The data generated from the doctoral study were subjected to secondary analysis to uncover the experience of depression. The methodology underpinning the secondary analysis was phenomenology also by van Manen. Fourteen clients and caregivers from across regional and rural South Australia informed the study. Data collection involved in-depth nonstructured home-based interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The findings highlighted relate to participants succumbing to depression, but having spiritual beliefs and practices helped them cope. One of the most insightful understanding was the role spirituality played in protecting individuals from depression, encapsulated in the theme “finding paradise within. ” Spirituality, understood from a religious or secular perspective, must be embedded in palliative care as it assisted in preventing and overcoming depression.