Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stopping rules in veterinary randomized controlled trials.

Vet Med Today: Reference Point 1197 R controlled trials in human and veterinary medicine are used to test an intervention against a placebo, standard treatment, or both. Phase II and phase III trials involve lengthy enrollment periods and multiple veterinary centers to apply the intervention to many study subjects. Although interim analyses and stopping rules are commonly used in human research to assess the need for the continuation of a trial, they are rarely reported for veterinary RCTs. Early stoppage of RCTs is controversial because it has been associated with implausibly large treatment effects. Nonetheless, planned interim analyses and a priori stopping rules may help to satisfy the ethical obligations of applying interventions with uncertain effects to animals. Whereas all veterinary researchers are guided by ethical considerations, clinician investigators that use privately owned animals are unique in that they must simultaneously consider obligations to both the study subjects and their owners. The focus of this report is to review the ethical considerations and applications of stopping rules in veterinary RCTs in which privately owned animals are used.
Inhibition of 19S Antibody Synthesis by 7S Antibody

A brief course of treatment with 6-mercaptopurine prevented conversion of 19S to 7S antibodies during the immune response of rabbits to bovine gamma globulin. Specific reactive homologous 7S antibodies given intravenously to animals with such incompletely developed humoral reactions led to an abrupt fall in 19S antibodies. After a lag period the synthesis of 7S antibodies was apparently normal. These results suggest that the concentration of 7S antibodies controls the synthesis of 19S antibodies.
Framework for managing risk in privately financed market projects in Nigeria

Shortage of funds and the need to improve the living standards of the people are among the reasons advanced for the recent embrace of Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements in developing markets in Nigeria. Construction work generally, and especially projects procured using PPP arrangement are more risk prone than those procured using other forms. This is mainly due to the lengthy concession period and the multi-parties involved in the arrangement. It is therefore, an imperative to properly manage the multi-faceted risks associated with PPP market projects (MPs) in a developing economy like Nigeria. Review of the extant literature show that little has been done on risk management in PPP projects in Nigeria with no known effort on PPP MPs. This is due largely to the novelty of the PPP scheme in Nigeria. The main contribution of this research therefore, is better understanding of the risk management process in privately financed (PF) MPs in Nigeria. A holistic risk management framework is developed that identifies best practices in the risk management process with special emphasis on market projects. The structure specifies what should be done, who should do it and when it should be done throughout the whole life cycle of any PPP market project. Risks in (PF) MPs and their impacts were identified and assessed; allocation preferences of practitioners and mitigation measures to the risks were also assessed within the south-western part of the country Data for the study was collected through a mixed methods approach viz: quantitative and qualitative approaches. Questionnaires were administered to practitioners in the industry within the south-western zone of the country to gain general idea on risks that are likely to occur and affect PF MPs within the region. In-depth interviews were also conducted with stakeholders on three PF MPs in the region. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse data for the study. The research identified inadequate knowledge of risk management concept in the Nigerian construction industry; especially in PPP projects, as being responsible for the poor performance of PPP projects using the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) i.e. people, profit, and planet as yardstick. It is believed that the framework will serve as a useful tool for rapidly learning about the risks involved in PPP market projects and for understanding viable options for their effective management.
Putative pore‐loops of TMEM16/anoctamin channels affect channel density in cell membranes

• The recently identified TMEM16/anoctamin protein family includes Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels (TMEM16A and TMEM16B), a Ca2+‐activated non‐selective cation channel (TMEM16F) and proteins for which the function remains unclear. • TMEM16 channel proteins consist of eight putative transmembrane domains (TMs) with the 5th and 6th TMs flanking a loop predicted to protrude deep into the membrane. Recent studies suggest that this re‐entrant loop may compose part of the pore of TMEM16A channels while also containing residues involved in Ca2+ binding. • Here, we investigate the functional role of the putative pore‐loop by examining the electrophysiological properties of chimeras produced by transplanting this region between TMEM16 family members with different conduction properties and Ca2+ sensitivities. • We revealed that the putative pore‐loop of TMEM16 channels has an unexpected role in controlling the whole‐cell Ca2+‐activated Cl− conductance by regulating the number of functional channels present on the plasma membrane.
Is cocaine desire reduced by N-acetylcysteine?

OBJECTIVE Animal models suggest that N-acetylcysteine inhibits cocaine-seeking. The present pilot study evaluated whether N-acetylcysteine would suppress reactivity to cocaine-related cues in cocaine-dependent humans. METHOD In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 15 participants received N-acetylcysteine or placebo during a 3-day hospitalization. Participants were crossed over to receive the opposite condition on a second, identical 3-day stay occurring 4 days later. During each hospital stay, participants completed a cue-reactivity procedure that involved collecting psychophysical and subjective data in response to slides depicting cocaine and cocaine use. RESULTS While taking N-acetylcysteine, participants reported less desire to use and less interest in response to cocaine slides and watched cocaine slides for less time. CONCLUSIONS The inhibition of cocaine cue reactivity is consistent with existing preclinical data and supports the use of N-acetylcysteine as a treatment for cocaine dependence.
Role of ethnic places in maintaining cultural identity of business travelers

ROLE OF ETHNIC PLACES IN MAINTAINING CULTURAL IDENTITY OF BUSINESS TRAVELERS by Wen-chyi Chen The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding about the role of ethnic places in maintaining cultural identity of business travelers. A qualitative research design was employed for this study as cultural identity is unique and individualistic. A total often research partners, nine males and one female, who had at least a three-month business travel stay in the USA, participated in this study. Following data analysis, several themes emerged, among which were culture shocks, the experience at the grocery place, grocery store as a familiar place, and the role of the grocery store in the travel experience and adjustment. Ethnic places helped create a feeling of overall satisfaction with the travel experience. Practical applications supported by the study findings include travel marketers promoting ethnic places in a destination to attract more travelers in general to the destination and encourage business travelers to return to the destination. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my committee chair, Dr. Gonzaga da Gama, for his valuable suggestions and guidance during this research experience. Without his support and help, this thesis would not have been possible. I also want to thank Dr. Ranjan Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Tsu-Hong Yen for their valuable advice during the preparation of this thesis. I want to specially acknowledge them for really taking time from their busy schedules to provide feedback on my thesis. I would particularly like to thank my parents in Taiwan for their incredible support. They gave me the opportunity to study abroad and support me during my studies in a foreign land. I want to extend special thanks to my mother who always encouraged me, even when she was suffering from an illness. Their selfless love empowered me to achieve my goal and arrive at this stage. When times were difficult, I could always count on them. Finally, I would like to say a word of thanks to my peers and friends Hao, Venus, and Marianne. We went through this graduate program together and always supported and encouraged each other. We shared the joy and sorrow during the process of completing our graduate education. And now we have all achieved our goal. Also I want to say a word of thanks to all the research partners who participated in this thesis. Without your participation, this thesis would not be a reality. A final expression of gratitude is to my friend Andrew who assisted in editing my thesis. I am indeed very happy that I am surrounded with so many friends who are always there to help and support me.
Hepatitis C virus infection and lymphoproliferative diseases in France: a national study. The GERMIVIC Group.

The putative role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the pathophysiology of lymphoproliferative diseases (LPD) is supported by North American and southern European studies reporting high HCV seroprevalence in patients with B-cell-non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). In order to evaluate the situation in France, we conducted a retrospective national study about the association of chronic HCV infection and LPD. 72 Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases departments were contacted. Response rate was 51.4%. We recorded 43 LPD (19 males, 24 females): 31 B-cell-NHL, 4 Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, 3 chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 2 multiple myeloma, 2 lymphomas of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, and 1 Hodgkin's disease. Mean age at HCV diagnosis was 62 years (range 33-84). In 16 cases, LPD occurred in patients known to be HCV-infected. For 11 patients, LPD diagnosis preceded the diagnosis of HCV infection, whereas diagnosis was done simultaneously in 11 patients. For those with accurate infection date, mean interval between both events was 15.2 years. Fourteen patients had HCV extrahepatic manifestations: 9 mixed cryoglobulinemia, including 7 with NHL, 5 sicca syndrome (5 NHL), and both in one patient. Cohort of HCV-infected patients could be accurately determined for 16 departments, totaling 1,485 patients and 37 cases. Thus, from our data the frequency of LPD among HCV-infected patients approximates 2. 49%. Despite possible bias inherent to this retrospective study, our data support the hypothesis of HCV-associated LPD and particularly B-cell-NHL. In France, this association is much lower than in Italy. Further studies are needed to assess the precise role of HCV in the multistep process leading to monoclonal proliferation.
HIV risk behaviors among women living in low-income, inner-city housing developments.

OBJECTIVES This study describes the prevalence and predictors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among women living in low-income, inner-city housing developments. METHODS Anonymous questionnaires were administered to 671 women living in 10 inner-city, low-income housing developments in five US cities to determine their levels of HIV risk behavior and predictors of HIV risk practices. RESULTS Approximately one third of women were at high risk for HIV because of the risk behavior of their sexual partners. HIV risk was highest among women who accurately perceived themselves to be at increased HIV risk, held strong beliefs about barriers to condom use, and reported weak behavioral intentions to reduce risk. Women at higher risk were also younger and reported higher rates of alcohol and substance use. CONCLUSIONS HIV prevention efforts are needed for inner-city women. Interventions should focus on overcoming women's barriers to condom use, strengthening their intentions to change behaviors, and managing the risk related to their use of substances.
Gender Heterogeneity in Ease of Access to Credit: The Case of a Ghanaian MFI

Ozet: Microfinance has been proposed as a way of bridging the gender gap in access to finance but the question that still remains is whether the gap is really closed or not. It is on record that in the formal financial sector, one of the causes of the gap is educational characteristics of households and owners of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) especially those in developing countries like Ghana. The question of whether education is an issue of easing access to credit in the informal sector has not been answered. The paper examines the effects of reading ability and level of schooling on ease of access to micro-credit among 485 women and men entrepreneurs in two districts in Ghana. The econometric estimation methods adopted in the study are probit and IV probit which corrects for possible endogeneity. Results show that controlling for other household covariates and enterprise characteristics, education of enterprise owners eases access to credit in the informal sector and there is significant difference in access to credit among men and women borrowers. Other sources of differences in access to micro-credit are past credit relationship of borrowers, location of borrowers and their businesses and household size. The paper offers recommendations from the supply side to promote sustainable micro-financing of SMEs in the informal sector.
Value of blood pressure self-monitoring as a predictor of progression of diabetic nephropathy.

OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of self-monitoring of blood pressure values (BP(S)) as compared with office blood pressure measurements (BP(O)) on the progression of diabetic nephropathy. DESIGN Long-term, follow-up cohort study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Hypertensive, type 1 diabetic patients with overt diabetic nephropathy were investigated. Patients initially participated in a hypertension treatment and teaching programme including extensive advice on blood pressure self-monitoring. Self-monitoring and office blood pressure values were continuously assessed during the entire follow-up period. Progression of diabetic nephropathy over the study period was individually assessed as the mean decline of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) per patient per year. Baseline and follow-up parameters were included in stepwise multiple regression analyses with the decline of GFR per year as the dependent variable. RESULTS Seventy-seven type 1 diabetic patients (37 women, 40 men) were followed for a mean period of 6.2 +/- 2.8 years (mean +/- SD; range 2-12) resulting in a total of 481 patient-years. During the follow-up period, mean BP(O) decreased from 166/95 at baseline to 154/89 mmHg during follow-up, and mean BP(S) fell from 159/93 to 138/83 mmHg. The mean decline of GFR was 4.1 +/- 5.6 ml/min per year. Loss of kidney function was significantly correlated with proteinuria, blood pressure and glycosylated haemoglobin values. In the multiple regression analyses, BP(S) predicted the loss of renal function better than BP(O) (R2 = 0.52 versus 0.42). The simple correlation between BP(S) and GFR decline was higher compared to BP(O) and GFR (r = -0.42; P < 0.0001 versus -0.33; P < 0.004). CONCLUSION Blood pressure self-monitoring values are a better predictor of progression of diabetic nephropathy when compared with office blood pressure measurements.
Multi-level Anomaly Detection in Industrial Control Systems via Package Signatures and LSTM Networks

We outline an anomaly detection method for industrial control systems (ICS) that combines the analysis of network package contents that are transacted between ICS nodes and their time-series structure. Specifically, we take advantage of the predictable and regular nature of communication patterns that exist between so-called field devices in ICS networks. By observing a system for a period of time without the presence of anomalies we develop a base-line signature database for general packages. A Bloom filter is used to store the signature database which is then used for package content level anomaly detection. Furthermore, we approach time-series anomaly detection by proposing a stacked Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) network-based softmax classifier which learns to predict the most likely package signatures that are likely to occur given previously seen package traffic. Finally, by the inspection of a real dataset created from a gas pipeline SCADA system, we show that an anomaly detection scheme combining both approaches can achieve higher performance compared to various current state-of-the-art techniques.
Credit Rating Agencies, Financial Market Stability and Efficiency

Do rating agencies increase or decrease financial market stability? This paper analyzes whether credit rating agencies may help to avoid inefficient self-fulfilling credit defaults. If investors follow risk-dominant strategies, we show that rating announcements and investors' private information are complements as far as highly-rated entities are concerned. This helps to stabilize investment behavior and increase efficiency. Rating agencies may even spark off a virtuous circle that increases aggregate information precision. Lack of private information, however, endangers market stability and may trigger credit crises. For lowly-rated entities the opposite holds as private information turns into a substitute for the agencies' services.
A comparison of transdermal and oral HRT for menopausal symptom control.

BACKGROUND To compare clinical efficacy, side effects and continuation rates using oral hormone therapy (HT), percutaneous gel, and transdermal patch. METHODS Eighty-eight symptomatic menopausal women were allocated into 3 groups (oral, gel, patch); the patch group was further subdivided to be given either reservoir or matrix patch. After one year of follow up, symptomatic improvement, side effects and continuation rates were assessed and compared. Statistical analysis was performed using multiple analysis of variants and chi-square tests wherever appropriate, with p value < or = 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS Percentage of patients showing complete relief from vasomotor symptoms at one year were 62%, 95%, and 100% among oral, gel, and patch groups, respectively. Similarly, above-mentioned percentages were 30%, 65%, and 68% for psychological disturbances; 64%, 100%, and 100% for genital symptoms; 40%, 90%, and 100% for urinary symptoms. Incidence of side effects, such as breakthrough bleeding [6 (60%), 6 (71%), and 5 (66%) among oral, gel, and patch groups at 6 months] and mastodynia [5 (14%), 6 (20%), and 5 (18%)] was comparable among three groups. Skin intolerance was significantly higher (92% of patients) in the reservoir patch group compared to the matrix patch (22% of patients) and gel (10% of patients) at first month. Continuation rate for one year was comparable among oral, gel, and matrix patch: 81%, 83%, and 88%, respectively. However, continuation rate was 50% among reservoir patch group. CONCLUSION Transdermal HT performed significantly better than oral HT in menopausal symptom control. Reservoir patch was unsuitable in tropical climate where matrix patch and gel performed better.
The Buck Stops There: The Impact of Perceived Accountability and Control on the Intention to Delegate to Software Agents

Joe Valacich was the accepting Senior Editor. Stout, N. , A. R. Dennis, and T. M. Wells (2014) “The Buck Stops There: The Impact of Perceived Accountability and Control on the Intention to Delegate to Software Agents,” AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, (6) 1, pp. 1-14.
Why Not a CEO Term Limit?

In this Essay, I ask: Why not require a mandatory CEO term limit? My purpose is not to propose a term limit, but rather to ask why CEO term limits are out-of-bounds – not addressed within the corporate governance scholarship – when they have long been advocated for directors and, more recently, public company auditors.The traditional answer has been that CEOs are agents of the corporation, subject to control by the board, which holds primary responsibility for the firm’s business and affairs. Senior officers are largely shielded from outside interference, permitting them to execute consistent, long-term business strategies under board oversight. Variations in governance can be privately ordered among shareholders, directors, and officers, but in most circumstances, corporate law defers to the board in how it directs the CEO.Recent regulation has called that deference into question. New laws – in particular, Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank – regulate director and officer conduct in response to the real possibility that long-term CEOs can control the board (rather than the other way around). Corporate law's traditional deference to private ordering has begun to give way to a new understanding of how shareholders, directors, and officers interact. With that change, there may also be a shift in how officers are controlled – including the possibility of a growing acceptance of regulation, such as a CEO term limit, that supplements or supersedes board oversight.
Seasoned Equity Offerings by New Economy Companies in Australia

Several recent papers present models to explain the probability and timing of seasoned equity offerings. Using a unique database of Australian new economy companies, we find no single model is adequate. The variables that are important in determining the probability of an SEO provide only limited support for explanations based on signalling models, market feedback and near-term liquidity needs. Similarly, the duration between an IPO and the first SEO is not explained by signalling or by near-term liquidity needs, and is only partially explained by market feedback.
Patient temperature: an introduction to the clinical guideline for the prevention of unplanned perioperative hypothermia.

As early as 1989, the legislation that created the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now known as the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality) called for the development, periodic review, and update of clinically relevant guidelines. These guidelines could assist physicians, educators, and health care practitioners in determining how diseases, disorders, and other health conditions could effectively be prevented, diagnosed, treated and managed clinically. As the process fo r developing clinical practice guidelines has evolved, professional groups of health care practitioners have become involved in identifying health conditions affecting select patient populations and examining the ways in which different aspects of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, management, and the care process fit together.
Understanding Chinese Business Behaviour: A Historical Perspective

The behaviour of Chinese business has been studied by a variety of Strategic management scholars (see in particular Hafsi and Tian, 2005; Peng, 2006; Peng and Heat, 1996). Most of these studies rely on traditional data gathering, either in the form of interviews or published data banks. Very little attention has been given to history as a determinant of strategic behaviour. In this paper, we propose that the cognitive orientation of Chinese managers is dominated by their knowledge and understanding of Chinese history. We take the Three Kingdoms historic novel as a proxy to history to derive basic behavioral norms and values, and discuss their implications for business behaviour. The paper is divided into six parts: (1) the history of the Three Kingdoms, and its importance for China; (2) methodological considerations; (3) roles, values and norms of behaviour of the key characters; (4) the importance of advisors to the kings; (5) general norms of behaviour; (6) consequences of these arguments for research about China and business relations in China.