Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transvaginal measurement of cervical length in the prediction of successful induction of labour

Summary A total of 100 women with gestational ages of 34–42 weeks requiring induction of labour were consecutively recruited in a prospective study at the Medical College and Hospital, Baroda, India. The aim of this study was to determine the value of transvaginal measurement of cervical length in the prediction of successful vaginal delivery within 24 h. Induction of labour was carried out with Tab Misoprostol (25 μg). A Bishop's score and sonographic cervical assessment were performed prior to induction. Univariate and logistic regression analyses was used. A pre-induction cervical length measurement on TVS was an independent predictor of successful vaginal delivery. At ≤3 cm cervical length, the probability of a LSCS was <30%, while with 4 cm cervical length, the probability became >75%. One unit increase in cervical length increased the probability of LSCS by 45%. The cervical length measurement by TVS is therefore an independent predictor of successful labour induction and performs better than Bishop's score as a method of pre-induction cervical assessment.
The Impact of Economic Development on Democracy

Any account of the social and economic conditions of democracy must come to terms with the central finding of the cross-national statistical research: a sturdy (though not perfect) association between economic development and democracy. To tackle these questions of causation, we adopted a strategy of analytic induction based on comparative historical research. Our program of comparative historical research confirmed the conclusion of the cross-national statistical analyses of the correlates of political democracy: the level of economic development is causally related to the development of political democracy. However, the underlying reason for the connection, in our view, is that capitalist development transforms the class structure, enlarging the working and middle classes and facilitating their self-organization, thus making it more difficult for elites to exclude them politically. Simultaneously, development weakens the landed upper class, democracy's most consistent opponent.
Performance of a Modern Glucose Meter in ICU and General Hospital Inpatients: 3 Years of Real-World Paired Meter and Central Laboratory Results

Objective: Due to accuracy concerns, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidances to manufacturers that resulted in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services stating that the use of meters in critically ill patients is “off-label” and constitutes “high complexity” testing. This is causing significant workflow problems in ICUs nationally. We wished to determine whether real-world accuracy of modern glucose meters is worse in ICU patients compared with non-ICU inpatients. Design: We reviewed glucose results over the preceding 3 years, comparing results from paired glucose meter and central laboratory tests performed within 60 minutes of each other in ICU versus non-ICU settings. Setting: Seven ICU and 30 non-ICU wards at a 1,300-bed academic hospital in the United States. Subjects: A total of 14,763 general medicine/surgery inpatients and 20,970 ICU inpatients. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Compared meter results with near simultaneously performed laboratory results from the same patient by applying the 2016 U.S. Food and Drug Administration accuracy criteria, determining mean absolute relative difference and examining where paired results fell within the Parkes consensus error grid zones. A higher percentage of glucose meter results from ICUs than from non-ICUs passed 2016 Food and Drug Administration accuracy criteria (p < 10–10) when comparing meter results with laboratory results. At 1 minute, no meter result from ICUs posed dangerous or significant risk by error grid analysis, whereas at 10 minutes, less than 0.1% of ICU meter results did, which was not statistically different from non-ICU results. Conclusions: Real-world accuracy of modern glucose meters is at least as accurate in the ICU setting as in the non-ICU setting at our institution.
Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Thinking about International Economic Coordination

I should perhaps begin these remarks by emphasizing that I am not opposed to international cooperation in economic affairs. We as economists recognize that conflict in international trade and the development of protectionist policies would reduce the standard of living around the world. Moreover, the immediate effect of a shift to protectionism could be a major worldwide recession. The quiet exchange of macroeconomic forecasts and policy plans among government officials that occurs within the framework of the Bank for International Settlements, the OECD, the Group of 7 (the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada) and elsewhere plays an important role in the formulation of domestic economic policies. It is also important for maintaining friendly working relationships among governments that senior officials are not surprised by major policy shifts abroad. I start with these obvious remarks and with the assertion that I am not opposed to international cooperation in all economic matters because I do not want to be misunderstood when, as in this lecture, I stress the counterproductive consequences of the international coordination of macroeconomic policy. I do not deny that the economies of the world are linked in a way that makes the monetary and budget policies adopted in one country affect the economic performance of other countries. But I believe that many of the claimed advantages of cooperation and coordination are wrong, that there are substantial risks and disadvantages to the types of coordination that are envisioned, and that an emphasis on international coordination can distract attention from the necessary changes in domestic policy. Moreover, the attempt to pursue coordination in a wide range of macroeconomic policies is likely to result in disagreements and disappointments that
Retrospective analysis of extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

AIM To investigate the clinicopathologic features of patients with extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGISTs) in South Korea. METHODS A total of 51 patients with an EGIST were identified. The clinicopathologic features, including sex, age, location, tumor size, histology, mitotic rate, immunohistochemical features, genetic status and survival data, were analyzed. RESULTS The median age was 55 years (range: 29-80 years), and male:female ratio was 1:1.04. The most common site was in the mesentery (n = 15) followed by the retroperitoneum (n = 13) and omentum (n = 8). The median tumor size was 9.0 cm (range: 2.6-30.0 cm) and the median mitotic rate was 5.0/50HPF. (1/50 - 185/50). KIT was analyzed in 16, which revealed 10 cases with wild-type KIT and 6 cases with an exon 11 mutation. Among 51 patients, 31 patients had undergone surgery, and 10 had unresectable disease and had taken palliative imatinib, which resulted in 22.7 mo of progression-free survival. Of the patients who had undergone surgery, 18 did not take adjuvant imatinib, and 8 of these were categorized as "high risk" according to the risk criteria. However, the relapse-free survival was not different (P = 0.157) between two groups. CONCLUSION Because the biologic behaviors of GISTs differ according to the location of the tumor, a more stratified strategy is required for managing EGISTs including incorporation of molecular features.
Asymmetric distribution of charge on the cell wall of Bacillus subtilis

The cell wall of Bacillus subtilis is capable of binding different kinds of metal ions. The wall-ion complex appears to be dependent on both phosphoryl from teichoic acid and carboxylate from peptidoglycan. In the present study, cationized ferritin (CF) was used as a probe for charge distribution on the wall of B. subtilis 168. Detergent-extracted cell walls bound CF only on the outer wall face. Completed cell poles bound CF, but septa did not. When the walls were permitted to autolyze briefly, binding of CF occurred on both faces. In contrast, limited hydrolysis of the walls by egg white lysozyme resulted in the penetration of CF into the wall matrix. When walls were made teichoic acid-free, CF-binding asymmetry was preserved, suggesting that carboxyl groups were oriented toward the surface. Walls with carboxylates chemically neutralized also retained charge asymmetry. Phosphate-free and carboxyl-modified walls bound CF only poorly or not at all. These results indicate that negative charges contributed by both phosphate and carboxyl are responsible for the binding of CF and that the observed asymmetry in the distribution of the label is due to the orientation of teichoic acid and muramyl peptides toward the outside of the cell wall, above the plane of the glycan strands.
Simultaneous repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation does not speed fine movement in PD.

OBJECTIVE To reevaluate the effect of subthreshold repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on concurrent fine movement in PD. BACKGROUND A previous study showed a beneficial effect of rTMS on the performance of six patients with PD on the Grooved Pegboard test. METHODS The authors repeated this experiment in 11 patients with idiopathic PD who performed the test while the stimulating coil discharged continuously at 5 Hz, either over the contralateral motor cortex at just below the threshold for movement, or in the air near the head as a control. Patients were tested twice under both conditions. RESULTS Although some patients performed faster with rTMS, others showed the opposite effect. There was no significant effect of rTMS in the group, nor did baseline performance or the order of conditions interact with the effect of rTMS. CONCLUSIONS Based on this larger and more comprehensive study, simultaneous, 5-Hz subthreshold rTMS over the motor cortex does not have consistent or potentially therapeutic effects on movement in PD.
Using Dichotic Listening to Study Bottom-up and Top-down Processing in Children and Adults

The study examined top-down attention modulation of bottom-up processing in children and adults under conditions of varying bottom-up stimulus demands. Voiced and unvoiced consonant-vowel syllables were used in a dichotic-listening situation to manipulate the strength of the bottom-up stimulus-driven right ear advantage when subjects were instructed to focus attention on, and report, either the left or right ear stimulus. We predicted that children would differ from adults in their ability to use attention to modulate a lateralized ear advantage, and particularly when there was a conflict between the direction of the bottom-up ear advantage and the direction of the top-down attention instruction. Thirty children and 30 adults were presented with dichotic presentations of consonant-vowel syllables. The results showed that the voicing manipulation affected the strength of the ear advantage, and that the children performed significantly below the adults when the voicing parameter caused a strong conflict between bottom-up and top-down processing. Thus, children seem to lack the cognitive flexibility necessary to modulate a stimulus-driven bottom-up ear advantage, particularly in situations where right ear advantage (REA) is enhanced by the acoustic properties of the stimuli and attentional demands require a left ear shift. It is suggested that varying the stimulus demands in a dichotic-listening situation may be a novel way to study cognitive development.
Enhancing Spatial Representation in Primary and Secondary Coverage Location Modeling

An important goal in many planning contexts is maximizing primary and secondary (or backup) coverage while locating a specified number of service facilities. In general, we are interested in providing the greatest level of coverage to demand that is continuously distributed across space. A critical issue is how to represent continuous demand in coverage analysis, reducing or eliminating error and uncertainty. This paper evaluates representation issues in primary and secondary coverage location modeling. To overcome representational limitations, enhancements for spatial coverage abstraction are introduced and incorporated in a mathematical optimization model. In addition to model improvements, this paper introduces a new and novel error assessment approach arising due to the existence of multiple objectives. Surveillance sensor siting in an urban area is utilized to assess enhanced modeling capabilities.
Regulation of Neutrophil Adhesion by Pituitary Growth Hormone Accompanies Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Jak2, p125FAK, and Paxillin1

Neutrophil adhesion is fundamentally important during the onset of inflammatory responses. The adhesion signaling pathways control neutrophil arrest and extravasation and influence neutrophil shape and function at sites of inflammation. In the present study the intracellular signaling pathways for the adhesion of human neutrophils by pituitary growth hormone (GH) were examined. Pituitary GH triggered the tyrosine phosphorylation of Janus kinase 2 (Jak2) and STAT3 in neutrophils. In addition, pituitary GH treatment resulted in the morphological changes and the tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (p125FAK) and paxillin. Preincubation with genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, blocked the GH-stimulated adhesion and Jak2, STAT3, p125FAK, and paxillin phosphorylation. Confocal microscopy revealed that pituitary GH stimulates the focal localization of p125FAK, paxillin, phosphotyrosine, and filamentous actin filament into the membrane rufflings and uropods of human neutrophils. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed a physical association of Jak2 with p125FAK via STAT3 in vivo. Also an in vitro kinase assay showed an augmentation of p125FAK autophosphorylation as a result of pituitary GH treatment. These results suggest that pituitary GH modulates neutrophil adhesion through tyrosine phosphorylation of Jak2, p125FAK, and paxillin and actin polymerization.
Transfusion from male-only versus female donors in critically ill recipients of high plasma volume components*

Objective:To reduce the incidence of transfusion-related acute lung injury (ALI), the American Association of Blood Banks recently recommended rapid implementation of strategies to minimize transfusion of high plasma volume components, fresh frozen plasma and apheresis platelets, from potentially alloimmunized donors, especially females. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of transfusing components from male-only vs. female donors on development of ALI, gas exchange, and outcome in critically ill patients. Design:In this retrospective case-control study, we identified patients who received high plasma volume components from male-only donors and compared them with patients matched by severity of illness, postoperative state, and number of transfusions but who received high plasma volume components from female donors. Setting:Four intensive care units at a tertiary medical center. Patients:Critically ill patients who received >2 units of fresh frozen plasma or apheresis platelets. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:From a database of 3,567 patients who received a total of 46,101 units of fresh frozen plasma and 6,251 units of apheresis platelets, we identified 112 patients who received three or more male-only donor components and 112 matched controls. Baseline characteristics, ALI risk factors, and development of ALI were similar between the two groups. Arterial oxygenation (Pao2/Fio2) worsened after the female (mean difference −52, 95% confidence interval −14 to −91, p = .008) but not after male-only donor product transfusion (mean difference 22, 95% confidence interval −23 to 67, p = .325). Male-only component recipients had more ventilator-free days (median 28 vs. 27, p = .006) and a trend toward lower hospital mortality rates (14% vs. 24%, p = .054). Conclusions:In critically ill recipients of high plasma volume components, gas exchange worsened significantly after transfusion of female but not male donor components. Prospective studies are needed to evaluate the effect of recommendations by the American Association of Blood Banks on outcome of transfused critically ill patients.
Future sea changes: Indigenous women's preferences for adaptation to climate change on South Goulburn Island, Northern Territory (Australia)

Research on South Goulburn Island aimed to improve understanding of Indigenous perspectives on climate change and options for adaptation within the scope of the local coastal, marine environment and resources utilized by the community. We also aimed to promote awareness among community members of western scientific concepts of climate change. Workshops and interviews with participants emphasized the use of participatory, visual techniques to encourage discussion and visioning of the future. Participants indicated very limited understanding of western concepts and English language terms associated with climate change and why change was occurring. However, in deeper conversations, many reported observing unusual patterns of environmental change they could not explain by other means. These observations, combined with changes in customary practices and loss of local knowledge in recent years, worried participants, particularly the elderly. The idea that climate change was resulting from human impacts on the environment was an easy concept for most participants to grasp. The demonstrated worldviews of participants was dominated by social and cultural links to the past and present, but had weaker links to western concepts of ‘the future’. Thus, discussions around planning adaptation did not generally fit easily into peoples' framings of their worlds. People's preferences for adaptation included building general community capacity, drawing from customary knowledge, being more involved in decision-making and learning more about scientific knowledge on climate change. Enabling collection of plant and animal foods and associated interaction with the landscape was also considered important for improving community independence, resilience and well-being for adaptation.
Policy Implications Arising from the Impact of the Last Recession on the Capital Structure of UK SMEs

Different capital-structure theories are reviewed in order to formulate testable propositions concerning the levels of debt in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and a number of regression models are developed to test the hypotheses, The statistical results indicate that age and profitability, are negatively related to gearing, whereas size, asset structure, risk, nondebt tax shields, and the level of debtors each have a positive relationship with gearing. These relationships are maintained over time, but the magnitude and significance of the coefficients vary over business economic cycles, The results indicate that the last recession may have changed the borrowing behaviour of small businesses. After the dramatic experiences of the longest and deepest UK recession, small-business owners appear to be more cautious in raising external finance, and the results suggest that they may wish to grow only when there are sufficient internally generated funds, especially profits, to finance new investments. The results also suggest that the last recession had an effect on the lending behaviour of financial institutions, which still appear to be more cautious in their lending policies—even after the recession. The authors examine a number of policy implications that emanate from the findings, and discuss a number of possible actions that the government could undertake in order to enhance the financial development and prosperity of SMEs across the economic cycle.
Additive Intensity Regression Models in Corporate Default Analysis

We consider additive intensity (Aalen) models as an alternative to the multiplicative intensity (Cox) models for analyzing the default risk of a sample of rated, nonfinancial U.S. firms. The setting allows for estimating and testing the significance of time-varying effects. We use a variety of model checking techniques to identify misspecifications. In our final model, we find evidence of time-variation in the effects of distance-to-default and short-to-long term debt. Also we identify interactions between distance-to-default and other covariates, and the quick ratio covariate is significant. None of our macroeconomic covariates are significant. Copyright The Author, 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.
Influences on the value relevance of equity and net income in the U.K.

Discusses the increasing use of valuation models in accounting and finance research, identifies potential difficulties in the conventional model and develops a simple version (which can deal with negative earnings) of the Edwards, Bell and Ohlson model, estimated from 1987‐1997 UK data. Finds it sensitive to firm size, dividend policy and return on equity; but not to capital structure. Compares consistency with other research and considers the underlying reasons for the results.
Reduction-in-force (RIF) : new developments and a brief historical analysis of a business strategy

After nearly three decades of corporate restructurings and reorganizations, the modern firm has continued to resort to reduction-in-force (RIF) strategies. This article presents an overview and a brief historical analysis of some of the most popular RI F concepts that have been adopted by companies and governmental agencies on a global scale since the late 1970s. The research found that most RIF tools have their root in the core-periphery model. While some of the more 'classic' RIF strategies have remained popular, the paper showcases two contemporary practices, the traditional (non-selective) layoffs and stealth layoffs, that currently impact the corporate landscape. A discussion of modern-day restructuring and RIF practices is timely given the high levels of layoffs currently occurring in the global automotive, retail, and finance-related industries. In this paper, a particular focus is placed on presenting practical implications of the conduct of R IF for the firm, the managers, and the individual employees.
Spatio‐temporal modeling of nanoparticle delivery to multicellular tumor spheroids

The inefficiency of nanoparticle penetration in tissues limits the therapeutic efficacy of such formulations for cancer applications. Recent work has indicated that modulation of tissue architecture with enzymes such as collagenase significantly increases macromolecule delivery. In this study we developed a mathematical model of nanoparticle penetration into multicellular spheroids that accounts for radially dependent changes in tumor architecture, as represented by the volume fraction of tissue accessible to nanoparticle diffusion. Parameters such as nanoparticle binding, internalization rate constants, and accessible volume fraction were determined experimentally. Unknown parameters of nanoparticle binding sites per cell in the spheroid and pore shape factor were determined by fitting to experimental data. The model was correlated with experimental studies of the penetration of 40 nm nanoparticles in SiHa multicellular spheroids with and without collagenase treatment and was able to accurately predict concentration profiles of nanoparticles within spheroids. The model was also used to investigate the effects of nanoparticle size. This model contributes toward the understanding of the role of tumor architecture on nanoparticle delivery efficiency. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2008;101: 388–399. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.