Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of EMDR and CBT on Low Self-esteem in a General Psychiatric Population: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Although low self-esteem has been found to be an important factor in the development and maintenance of psychopathology, surprisingly little is known about its treatment. This study investigated the effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), regarding their capacities in enhancing self-esteem in a general psychiatric secondary health care population. A randomized controlled trial with two parallel groups was used. Participants were randomly allocated to either 10 weekly sessions of EMDR (n = 15) or CBT (n = 15). They were assessed pre-treatment, after each session, post treatment and at 3 months follow-up on self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and Credibility of Core Beliefs), psychological symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory), social anxiety, and social interaction (Inventory of Interpersonal Situations) (IIS). The data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA for the complete cases (n = 19) and intention-to-treat (n = 30) to examine differences over time and between conditions. Both groups, EMDR as well as CBT, showed significant improvements on self-esteem, increasing two standard deviations on the main parameter (RSES). Furthermore, the results showed significant reductions in general psychiatric symptoms. The effects were maintained at 3 months follow-up. No between-group differences could be detected. Although the small sample requires to exercise caution in the interpretation of the findings, the results suggest that, when offering an adequate number of sessions, both EMDR and CBT have the potential to be effective treatments for patients with low self-esteem and a wide range of comorbid psychiatric conditions. This study was registered at www.trialregister. nl with identifier NTR4611.
Chaebol Firms＇ Real and Accrual-Based Earnings Management in the Pre-and Post-Asian Financial Crisis Periods

This paper examines chaebol (Korean business group) firms’ earnings management methods in pre-and post-financial crisis periods in Korea. The financial crisis resulted in chaebol firms increasing their reliance on the external capital markets as chaebol firms achieved internal financing through arbitrary transactions among their affiliated and contracted firms. This produced a higher demand for financial reporting transparency in chaebol firms and strengthened monitoring from investors. These changes in the business environment in Korea following the financial crisis are likely to have led chaebol firms to reduce earnings management by using managers’ discretion in accounting accruals and to seek alternative means to manage earnings through abnormal operating decisions which are referred to as real activities manipulation. The authors find that chaebol firms have significantly decreased accrual-based earnings management after the financial crisis of Asian compared to non-chaebol firms. The authors also find that chaebol firms have become more inclined to engage in real earnings management after the financial crisis. The results suggest that chaebol firms have shifted their earnings management methods from accruals manipulation to real activities manipulation which is harder to be detected by external auditors and regulators. This study provides insight into the changes in chaebol firms’ earnings management methods triggered by economic shock. The findings suggest that the shift in chaebol firms’ financing sources from internal to external capital markets and the increased demand for transparent financial information in the post-financial crisis period are likely to have influenced chaebol firms to substitute real earnings management for accrual-based earnings management after the financial crisis.
Export marketing performance in the Greek food and beverage industry

Greek export competitiveness has decreased continuously during the last decade and the external trade deficit grew to more than €20 billion in 2000. A major factor contributing to this trend is the lack of appropriate export marketing strategies. This thesis examines export marketing strategies of firms in the Greek food and beverage industry which are some of the most dynamic in Greece and contributed 20% to both total output and to total export earnings in 2000. Moreover, this sector is of wider interest because Greece is a member of the European Union and is at a similar stage of development as some other members such as Portugal and Ireland, which have similar structural characteristics and exporting contingencies. The aim of the thesis is to identify the nature of interdependencies at the firm level between internal and external environment, export marketing strategy, and export performance in the Greek food and beverage industry. In addition, the thesis aims to identify marketing practices that firms in this sector could use to improve export performance and competitiveness. It also seeks to provide insights for government policy makers to improve the competitive position of Greek exporters in general. The research employs a novel approach by integrating the research techniques of qualitative in-depth interviews, and quantitative multivariate analysis of exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The advantage of this integrated approach is that the qualitative analysis ensures data quality while the quantitative analysis provides results that can be tested statistically.
Risk of contralateral testicular cancer: a population-based study of 29,515 U.S. men.

BACKGROUND Although risk estimates for synchronous and metachronous contralateral testicular cancers vary widely, many clinicians recommend routine biopsy of the contralateral testis for patients diagnosed with unilateral testicular cancer. We evaluated the risk of contralateral testicular cancer and survival in a large population-based cohort of men diagnosed with testicular cancer before age 55 years. METHODS For 29 515 testicular cancer cases reported to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program from 1973 through 2001, we estimated the prevalence of synchronous contralateral testicular cancer, the observed-to-expected ratio (O/E) and 15-year cumulative risk of metachronous contralateral testicular cancer, and the 10-year overall survival rate of both synchronous and metachronous contralateral testicular cancer, using the Kaplan-Meier method for the two latter assessments. Age-adjusted multivariable analyses were used to examine risk according to histologic type of the original cancer. RESULTS A total of 175 men presented with synchronous contralateral testicular cancer; 287 men developed metachronous contralateral testicular cancer (O/E = 12.4 [95% confidence interval {CI} = 11.0 to 13.9]; 15-year cumulative risk = 1.9% [95% CI = 1.7% to 2.1%]). In the multivariable analysis, only nonseminomatous histology of the first testicular cancer was associated with a statistically significantly decreased risk of metachronous contralateral testicular cancer (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.46 to 0.79; P<.001). Increasing age at first testicular cancer diagnosis was associated with decreasing risk of nonseminomatous metachronous contralateral testicular cancer (odds ratio = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.86 to 0.94). The 10-year overall survival rate after metachronous contralateral testicular cancer diagnosis was 93% (95% CI = 88% to 96%), and that after synchronous contralateral testicular cancer was 85% (95% CI = 78% to 90%). CONCLUSIONS The low cumulative risk of metachronous contralateral testicular cancer and favorable overall survival of patients diagnosed with metachronous contralateral testicular cancer is in accordance with the current U.S. approach of not performing a biopsy on the contralateral testis.
Shear Elastic Wave Refraction on a Gap between Piezoelectric Crystals with Uniform Relative Motion

The ability of acoustic waves to pass through a slot or vacuum (air) gap between piezoelectric crystals which are not contacting with each other, for the first time has noted Kaliski (Kaliski, 1966). In those years the interest of a researchers to the phenomenon first of all was connected to the being widely discussed problem of generation and amplification of ultrasonic waves that propagate along boundary of a piezoelectric medium adjoining semiconductor with a drift current (Gulyaev, 2005). More important it turned out to use Kaliski's idea of acoustic wave passage through a gap of piezoelectric crystals in metrological purposes. Firstly for development of contactless measurements of electro-acoustic fields in crystals, at which are excluded or minimized the distortions caused by own loading action of transducer. Secondly for search of effective ways of contactless excitation of acoustic oscillations in solids. Because of anisotropy and of weakly expressed transversal piezoelectricity the case of cubic piezoelectric crystals that has considered Kaliski for shear waves of horizontal polarization (Kaliski, 1966) have not shown the proper efficiency of wave passage through a gap even with very small thickness and under condition of almost sliding incidence. Therefore in subsequent this phenomenon due to similarity to tunnel transition in the quantum mechanics (Landau & Lifshitz, 1991) named by acoustic tunneling (Balakirev & Gilinskii, 1982), began to be considered for more suitable crystals of tetragonal and hexagonal systems. The being reviewed cycle of investigations for case of strictly plane boundaries (a Balakirev & Gorchakov, 1977; Balakirev & Gorchakov, 1986), was finished (Balakirev et al., 1978) by experimental detection of effect. By common result of the quoted works was the conclusion that the efficiency of acoustic tunneling is caused essentially by electromechanical coupling factor of crystals H, and with growth of thickness of a gap is very decreasing. The passage of an acoustic wave through a gap will be especially appreciable at angle of incidence α∼π/2−H 2(1+H 2)−1. So, even for such strong piezoelectric, as BaTiO3, we have H 2 75°. Therefore the opportunity of acoustic tunneling to using is very being complicated.
Molecular basis of dihydrouridine formation on tRNA

Dihydrouridine (D) is a highly conserved modified base found in tRNAs from all domains of life. Dihydrouridine synthase (Dus) catalyzes the D formation of tRNA through reduction of uracil base with flavin mononucleotide (FMN) as a cofactor. Here, we report the crystal structures of Thermus thermophilus Dus (TthDus), which is responsible for D formation at positions 20 and 20a, in complex with tRNA and with a short fragment of tRNA (D-loop). Dus interacts extensively with the D-arm and recognizes the elbow region composed of the kissing loop interaction between T- and D-loops in tRNA, pulling U20 into the catalytic center for reduction. Although distortion of the D-loop structure was observed upon binding of Dus to tRNA, the canonical D-loop/T-loop interaction was maintained. These results were consistent with the observation that Dus preferentially recognizes modified rather than unmodified tRNAs, indicating that Dus introduces D20 by monitoring the complete L-shaped structure of tRNAs. In the active site, U20 is stacked on the isoalloxazine ring of FMN, and C5 of the U20 uracil ring is covalently cross linked to the thiol group of Cys93, implying a catalytic mechanism of D20 formation. In addition, the involvement of a cofactor molecule in uracil ring recognition was proposed. Based on a series of mutation analyses, we propose a molecular basis of tRNA recognition and D formation catalyzed by Dus.
For love or money? What motivates people to know the minds of others?

Mood affects social cognition and “theory of mind”, such that people in a persistent negative mood (i.e., dysphoria) have enhanced abilities at making subtle judgements about others’ mental states. Theorists have argued that this hypersensitivity to subtle social cues may have adaptive significance in terms of solving interpersonal problems and/or minimising social risk. We tested whether increasing the social salience of a theory of mind task would preferentially increase dyspshoric individuals’ performance on the task. Forty-four dysphoric and 51 non-dysphoric undergraduate women participated in a theory of mind decoding task following one of three motivational manipulations: (i) social motivation (ii) monetary motivation, or (iii) no motivation. Social motivation was associated with the greatest accuracy of mental state decoding for the dysphoric group, whereas the non-dysphoric group showed the highest accuracy in the monetary motivation condition. These results suggest that dysphoric individuals may be especially, and preferentially, motivated to understand the mental states of others.
Event-Related Potentials (P300 - MMN) and Neuropsychological Assessment in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients

Background: Mental retardation in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy may be seen. This is related to the lack of dystrophin in different brain localizations, especially in the hippocampus. Dystrophin has a role in neurogenesis and plasticity during brain development and functioning of the hippocampus. Event related potentials are responsible for information processing in the hippocampus, as well as throughout the brain. Methods: To examine the cognitive functions in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, P300, mismatch negativity potentials and neuropsychological tests were obtained from 10 Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and 10 healthy control boys. In order to verify if data followed a normal distribution curve, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were used. Homogeneity of variance was evaluated with the Levene test. The two groups were compared with the Mann-Whitney U-test for independent samples. The linear associations between mismatch negativity quantitative parameters and full-scale IQ, performance IQ and verbal IQ were examined by using Pearson’s correlations. Results: Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients had lower IQ scores than the control group. However, they showed similar performance in Event related potentials that demonstrates no central auditory information processing and auditory deficit in these patients. Nihal Olgac Dundar1, Ferah Kızılay2, Ozgur Duman3, Cıgıl Fettahoglu3, Sibel Ozkaynak2, Bumin Nuri Dundar1* and Senay Haspolat3 1Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Izmir, Turkey 2Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey 3Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey Event-Related Potentials (P300 MMN) and Neuropsychological Assessment in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Patients Conclusion: This is the first study that evaluates cognitive functions with mismatch negativity, P300 and neuropsychological tests together in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. In the future, it is appropriate to do larger studies in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient groups with genetic defects that cause mental retardation.
Multiple stimulus presentation yields larger deficits in children with developmental dyslexia: A study with reading and RAN-type tasks

In this study, we examined the effect of multiple versus single stimulus presentation in typically developing readers and children with developmental dyslexia. The tasks involved either reading single words or arrays of words or naming single or multiple colors and digits (rapid automatized naming or RAN). To be able to compare these sets of conditions, we recorded total response times (i.e., the time between stimulus onset and the end of the participant’s vocal response) in all cases. The study included 43 typically developing readers and 25 children with dyslexia. Results indicate that typically developing readers have a clear advantage with multiple over single items on both RAN and reading tasks. The children with dyslexia showed a moderate advantage for multiple stimuli in naming colors and digits but presented the opposite pattern in reading. With regard to reading, the disproportionate impairment of the children with dyslexia in dealing with multiple arrays suggests difficulty in integrating the multiple subcomponents of the reading task over and above the basic nuclear deficit in decoding words. Regarding the RAN tasks, results confirm that the requirement of integrating multiple subcomponents may be critical in mediating the predictive value of these measures on reading.
Nitrogen Loss from Pristine Carbonate-Rock Aquifers of the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory (Germany) Is Primarily Driven by Chemolithoautotrophic Anammox Processes

Despite the high relevance of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) for nitrogen loss from marine systems, its relative importance compared to denitrification has less been studied in freshwater ecosystems, and our knowledge is especially scarce for groundwater. Surprisingly, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA)-based studies identified zones with potentially active anammox bacteria within two superimposed pristine limestone aquifer assemblages of the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory (CZE; Germany). We found anammox to contribute an estimated 83% to total nitrogen loss in suboxic groundwaters of these aquifer assemblages at rates of 3.5–4.7 nmol L−1 d−1, presumably favored over denitrification by low organic carbon availability. Transcript abundances of hzsA genes encoding hydrazine synthase exceeded nirS and nirK transcript abundances encoding denitrifier nitrite reductase by up to two orders of magnitude, providing further support of a predominance of anammox. Anammox bacteria, dominated by groups closely related to Cand. Brocadia fulgida, constituted up to 10.6% of the groundwater microbial community and were ubiquitously present across the two aquifer assemblages with indication of active anammox bacteria even in the presence of 103 μmol L−1 oxygen. Co-occurrence of hzsA and amoA gene transcripts encoding ammonia mono-oxygenase suggested coupling between aerobic and anaerobic ammonium oxidation under suboxic conditions. These results clearly demonstrate the relevance of anammox as a key process driving nitrogen loss from oligotrophic groundwater environments, which might further be enhanced through coupling with incomplete nitrification.
The Profitability Premium in Real Estate Investment Trusts

Traditionally, we have assessed firm success relative to a two factor model using say size and a book-to-market ratio. However, recently Novy-Marx (2013) suggests that these measures may simple be a proxy for profitability in firms. The argument is that traditional profitability measures can be manipulated by management and thus cloud the relationship between measured profits and firm success. However, a cleaner measure of profitability better predicts performance than does size and book-to-market. Thus, the traditional empirical factors are replaced with a stronger theoretically predictive variable. Also, in that context at least for REITs, size and book-to-market lose their explanatory power.
Predictive Value of Preablation Stimulated Thyroglobulin and Thyroglobulin/Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Ratio in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Purpose: Recent studies have shown that thyroglobulin (Tg) concentration is a useful tumor marker in follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients after thyroidectomy and subsequent radioiodine (I-131) therapy. However, its role is controversial after total or near-total thyroidectomy before the first I-131 ablative treatment. So, we used thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels to normalize predictive values of Tg for DTC. Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis. A total of 244 patients with DTC who had undergone a total thyroidectomy and subsequent I-131 therapy were included. Exclusion criteria were patients with high serum Tg antibody (TgAb) concentration and in whom it was not measured. Patients were divided into 2 groups as M1 and M0, according to whether the patient present with or without distant metastases. Results: Preablative stimulated Tg in group M0 ranged between 0.1 and 348.9 ng/mL and group M1 between 0.2 and 1000 ng/mL. Tg/TSH ratios ranged 0.000667 to 12.143 ng/IU and 0.002948 to 12500 ng/IU. Both Tg and Tg/TSH values were significantly different between the 2 groups (the Wilcoxon rank sum test: Tg P < 0.0001 [z = 8.785]; Tg/TSH P < 0.0001 [z = 8.850]). The areas under receiver operating characteristic curves for Tg concentrations and Tg/TSH ratios were 0.913 and 0.916, respectively. Conclusion: Both Tg and Tg/TSH ratios might be considered predictive markers for metastases of DTC just after total thyroidectomy before the first I-131 ablative therapy.
Computational reflection

Abstract Computational reflection is the activity performed by a computational System when reasoning about (and by that possibly affecting) itself. This paper presents an introduction to computational reflection (thereafter called reflection). A definition of reflection is presented, its utility for knowledge engineering is discussed and architectures of languages that support it are studied. Examples of such procedural, logic-based, rule-based and object-oriented languages are presented. The paper elaborates on the design of these languages and the reflective functionality that results, elucidating concepts such as procedural reflection, declarative reflection, theory relativity of reflection, etc. The paper concludes with an assessment of outstanding problems and future developments in the area.
Effect of iodine supply on neonatal thyroid volume and TSH

A cross‐sectional study was performed to prove the correlation between iodine intake and neonatal thyroid volume in a randomized group of 100 mother/newborn pairs. Thyroid volume and iodine excretion were measured by ultrasound and urinary iodine excretion, respectively. Iodine intake and, nutritional and smoking habits were estimated by questionnaire. In 89 mother/child‐pairs the data were complete for all parameters and have been analyzed: 32 mothers substituted with iodine tablets, average dose 175 |ig K‐Iodide/day. Iodine excretion of prenatally iodine‐subsituted newborns increased by 62% whereas neonatal thyroid volume was reduced by 18% compared with the non‐iodine‐supplemented group. Smoker's newborns (n = 8) had a thyroid volume 20% larger than that of newborns of non‐smokers. Neonatal TSH‐screening values remained within normal limits.
Market orientation of value chains: A conceptual framework based on four case studies from the food industry

Purpose – This paper extends the concept of market orientation from the firm to the value chain level and seeks to develop empirically founded propositions on determinants of different levels of market orientation of value chains.Design/methodology/approach – Four case studies on value chains within the areas of agribusiness and fisheries are conducted. For each value chain, desk research is combined with interviews with decision‐makers of all types of value chain members. Interview guidelines were derived from a conceptual model of potential determinants of value chain market orientation.Findings – Degree of market orientation of value chains is found to be related to degree of heterogeneity and dynamism of end‐users served, nature of chain relationships, regulations and prevailing mental models of decision‐makers. Short and balanced chains are believed to further upstream market orientation.Research limitations/implications – The results point at two areas, where additional research on market orientatio.