Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manual Suture Less Small Incision Cataract Surgery in Patients with Uveitic Cataract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome of manual small incision cataract surgery (SICS) in eyes with uveitic cataract. Setting: Medical college hospital of the subcontinent. Design: Retrospective case series. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, patients who underwent SICS with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation for uveitic cataract from 2006 to 2009 were evaluated. Patients with less than 3 months follow-up were excluded. Post-operative vision and complications were analyzed. Results: A total of 54 patients completed the study. The mean age was 52.3 ± 9.3 years. The mean follow-up was 11.53 ± 5.05 months. The mean surgical time was (10.2 ± 3.8 min). Etiological diagnosis was possible in 31.41% (17/54) of patients. There was a statistically significant improvement in vision after surgery (P < 0.001). When uveitis was well-controlled, pre-operative corticosteroids did not change post-operative inflammation (P = 0.796). However, pre-operative corticosteroids were statistically significantly associated to final best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (P = 0.010). Conclusion: SICS with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation is safe in most cataracts due to uveitis and improves BCVA at 6 months. Inflammation should be well-controlled pre-operatively for at least 3 months. Posterior capsule opacification, macular edema and persistent uveitis were the main factors affecting visual outcome. SICS requires minimal instrumentation, surgical time is short and can also be performed in rural clinics and eye-camps, where phacoemulsification machines are unavailable. SICS may be a more practical and cost-effective technique for uveitic cataract, in such circumstances.
Comparative recovery of uninjured and heat-injured Listeria monocytogenes cells from bovine milk

The standard selective enrichment protocols of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were compared with an experimental nonselective broth enrichment (NSB) protocol and variations of the standard cold-enrichment (CE) protocol for the recovery of heat-injured Listeria monocytogenes. Bacterial cells (10(7)/ml) were suspended in sterile milk and heated at 71.7 degrees C in a slug-flow heat exchanger for holding times ranging from 1 to 30 s. Surviving cells were determined (50% endpoint) by the given protocols, and the following D values were obtained: NSB, D = 2.0 +/- 0.5 s; FDA, D = 1.4 +/- 0.3 s; USDA, D = 0.6 +/- 0.2 s; CE, D less than or equal to 1.2 s. The respective direct-plating media used in these enrichments were also analyzed for recovery, and the following D values were calculated from the enumeration of surviving cells; NSB, D = 2.7 +/- 0.8 s; FDA, D = 1.3 +/- 0.4 s; USDA, D = 0.7 +/- 0.2 s. The low levels of heat-injured L. monocytogenes cells which were detected at inactivation endpoints on the optimal nonselective media (25 degrees C for 7 days) failed to recover and multiply during experimental CEs (4 degrees C for 28 days). Initial inactivation experiments in which raw whole milk was used as the heating menstruum gave much lower recoveries with all protocols. The detectable limits for uninjured cells that were suspended in raw milk were similar (0.35 to 3.2 cells per ml) for the standard CE, FDA, and USDA protocols. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Earnings-Based and Accrual-Based Market Anomalies: One Effect or Two?

This paper investigates whether the accrual pricing anomaly documented by Sloan (1996) for annual data holds for quarterly data and whether this form of market mispricing is distinct from the post-earnings announcement drift anomaly. We find that the market appears to overestimate (underestimate) the persistence of the accrual (cash flow) component of quarterly earnings and, therefore, tends to overprice (underprice) accruals (cash flows). Moreover, the accrual (cash flow) mispricing appears to be distinct from post-earnings announcement drift. A hedge portfolio trading strategy that exploits both forms of market mispricing generates abnormal returns in excess of those based on unexpected earnings, accruals, or cash flow information alone.
THE STEAM ENGINE AND U.S. URBAN GROWTH DURING THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

There is an ongoing debate concerning the role that the steam engine played in fueling urban growth in the U.S. during the second half of the nineteenth century. While a consensus has been building that steam power played little or no role in affecting urban growth, we find evidence to the contrary by using previously untapped county-level data on steam power in manufacturing.
Diffusion of GIS technology in Botswana: Process and determinants

Computerised technology and geographical information systems (GIS) are increasingly used in developing countries. International aid organisations have been instrumental in providing initial financial and technical support for the introduction of GIS technology. However, the diffusion of this technology is fraught with the same problems as are associated with the transfer of computerised technology in general. In this paper we review the process and determinants of GIS diffusion in developing countries. Botswana is used as a case study to examine the extent and types of GIS applications in the government sector. The discussion is framed around five infrastructural components necessary for GIS diffusion (for example, personnel, data, technology, organisations/institutions, and finance) and has regard to contextual and management factors. We present the evolution of GIS use in Botswana over the past 20 years and identify the factors that affect the use of GIS technology and the efforts to coordinate GIS at t.
Disturbance of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-Mediated Beta Interferon Signaling in Cervical Carcinoma Cells

ABSTRACT In the present study we show that malignant human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive cells lost their ability to synthesize endogenous beta interferon (IFN-β) upon tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) treatment. IFN-β transcription, however, was reinducible in nonmalignant HPV-positive cells, which was confirmed in functional protection assays against encephalomyocarditis virus or vesicular stomatitis virus infections. Addition of neutralizing antibodies against IFN-β blocked the antiviral effect, excluding the possibility that other IFN types were involved. Conversely, both malignant and immortalized cells could be protected against viral cytolysis when either IFN-β, IFN-α, or IFN-γ was added exogenously. This indicates that only the cross talk between TNF-α and the IFN-β pathways, and not IFN-α/β and IFN-γ signaling in general, is perturbed in cervical carcinoma cells. Notably, full virus protection was restricted exclusively to nonmalignant cells, indicating that the antiviral effect correlates with the growth-inhibitory and virus-suppressive properties of TNF-α. The IFN-regulatory factors IRF-1 and p48 (ISGF3γ) emerged as key regulatory molecules in the differential IFN-β response, since their transcription was either absent or only inefficiently enhanced in tumorigenic cells upon treatment with TNF-α. Inducibility of both genes, however, became reestablished in cervical carcinoma cells, which were complemented to nontumorigenicity after somatic cell hybridization. Complementation was paralleled by the entire reconstitution of cytokine-mediated IFN-β expression and the ability of TNF-α to exert an antiviral state. In contrast, under conditions where tumor suppression was not accomplished upon somatic cell hybridization, neither expression of IRF-1, p48, and IFN-β nor antiviral activity could be restored.
Information Technology Adoption in the Greek Banking Industry

Abstract In a global environment, information systems are influenced by national information technology infrastructure, government policies and cultural differences. The entire process of information technology adoption is different in different countries. Most research on information technology adoption has concentrated on firms in the UK or US. In this paper we attempt to better understand the determinants of information technology adoption in the Greek banking industry. In this empirical study we found that organizational culture, government policies, foreign exchange rates, and computer prices have significant impact on information technology adoption decisions made by banks.
Productivity Gains from the Implementation of Employee Training Programs

This paper utilizes data on the personnel policies and economic characteristics of businesses in the manufacturing sector to study the relationship between employee training and labor productivity. The major finding is that businesses that were operating below their expected labor productivity levels in 1983 implemented new employee training programs after 1983 which resulted in significantly larger increases in labor productivity growth between 1983 and 1986. This higher rate of productivity growth was sufficient to bring these businesses up to the labor productivity levels of comparable businesses by 1986. The positive effects of training implementation on productivity growth were shown to be inconsistent with a "Hawthorne Effect" interpretation because the implementation of new personnel policies other than training did not have significant effects on productivity growth.
To What Extent Does the Financial Reporting Process Curb Earnings Surprise Games?

Managers play earnings surprise games to avoid negative earnings surprises by managing earnings upward or by managing analysts' earnings expectations downward. We investigate the effectiveness of the financial reporting process at restraining earnings surprise games. Because the annual reporting process is subject to an independent audit and more rigorous expense recognition rules than interim reporting, it provides managers with fewer opportunities to manage earnings upward. We document that, relative to interim reporting, annual reporting reduces the likelihood of income-increasing earnings management and, to a lesser extent, of negative surprise avoidance, but increases the magnitude of downward expectations management. Our findings suggest that regulatory attempts to monitor corporations' internal checks and balances are likely to be more effective at curbing upward earnings management than at mitigating negative surprise avoidance.
Ciglitazone, a Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Inducer, Ameliorates Renal Preglomerular Production and Activity of Angiotensin II and Thromboxane A2 in Glycerol-Induced Acute Renal Failure

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), a nuclear transcription factor, modulates vascular responses to angiotensin II (AII) or thromboxane A2 (TxA2) via regulation of their gene/receptor. Increased vasoconstriction and deteriorating renal function in glycerol-induced acute renal failure (ARF) may be attributed to down-regulation of PPARγ. In this study, we investigated the effect of ciglitazone (CG), a PPARγ inducer, on AII and TxA2 production and activity in glycerol-induced ARF. Vascular responses to AII or 9,11-dideoxy-11α,9α-epoxymethano prostaglandin F2α (U46619), a TxA2 mimetic, were determined in preglomerular vessels following induction of ARF with glycerol. Renal damage and function were assessed in CG-treated (9 nmol/kg for 21 days) rats. PPARγ protein expression and activity, which were significantly lower in ARF rats, were enhanced by CG (26 and 30%). CG also increased PPARγ mRNA by 67 ± 6%, which was reduced in ARF. In ARF, there was significant tubular necrosis and apoptosis, a 5-fold increase in proteinuria and a 2-fold enhancement in vasoconstriction to AII and U46619. CG reduced proteinuria (49 ± 3%), enhanced Na+ (124 ± 35%) and creatinine excretion (92 ± 25%), markedly diminished tubular necrosis, and reduced ARF-induced increase in AII (40 ± 3%) and TxA2 (39 ± 2%) production, the attending increase in vasoconstriction to AII (36 ± 2%) and U46619 (50 ± 11%), and the increase in angiotensin receptor-1 (AT1) (23 ± 3%) or thromboxane prostaglandin (TP) receptor (13 ± 1%). CG reduced free radical generation by 55 ± 14% while elevating nitrite excretion (65 ± 13%). Our results suggest that enhanced activity of AII and TxA2, increased AT1 or TP receptor expression, and renal injury in glycerol-induced ARF are consequent to down-regulation of PPARγ gene. CG ameliorated glycerol-induced effects through maintaining PPARγ gene.
Clinical Profile of Pediatric Patients Hospitalized With Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

To update the clinical profile of pediatric patients hospitalized with RSV infection, we retrospectively reviewed the records of 246 children (male:female ratio 1.44:1) admitted during one season to a tertiary-care hospital. The most common admitting diagnoses were bronchiolitis (37.4%), pneumonia (32.5%), and possible septicemia (13%). Median age was 3 months; median length of stay, three days. Twice as many minorities were admitted with RSV infection as all other admissions during the same year. Family history of asthma, while common (35%), did not affect length of stay or complications. Of the 38 (15%) patients requiring intensive care, 29 (76%) underwent ventilation. Patients with underlying cardiopulmonary disease had more complications, were more likely to require intensive care (about 50%), and had significantly longer hospital stays than others. All three patients (1.2%) who died had congenital heart disease. Common risk factors included young age, chronic cardiopulmonary disease, male sex, and possibly family history of asthma. Although the most typical clinical diagnoses remain bronchiolitis and pneumonia, a systemic illness resembling the sepsis syndrome has emerged at our institution as a significant clinical presentation.
Social Capital and Community Strategies: Neighbourhood Development in Guatemala City

This article uses a social capital framework to analyse the strategies employed by two low–income communities in Guatemala City to improve their physical and social environment. The case studies provide examples of poor communities, without access to any form of insurance or welfare benefits, struggling to achieve neighbourhood development. They also demonstrate the way in which strategies can be defined by the issue of land tenure. Key strategies for development were found to be mobilization through community organization, informal links (including clientelistic relations) with powerful groups, and protest. The author concludes that social capital (within communities and between stakeholders) and some degree of security (land tenure) are critical ingredients for communities to develop effective strategies for neighbourhood development with other stakeholders.
Trading futures spread portfolios: applications of higher order and recurrent networks

This paper investigates the modelling and trading of oil futures spreads in the context of a portfolio of contracts. A portfolio of six spreads is constructed and each spread forecasted using a variety of modelling techniques, namely, a cointegration fair value model and three different types of neural network (NN), such as multi-layer perceptron (MLP), recurrent, and higher order NN models. In addition, a number of trading filters are employed to further improve the trading statistics of the models. Three different filters are optimized on an in-sample measure of down side risk-adjusted return, and these are then fixed out-of-sample. The filters employed are the threshold filter, correlation filter, and the transitive filter. The results show that the best in-sample model is the MLP with a transitive filter. This model is the best performer out-of-sample and also returns good out-of-sample statistics.
Plasmodium malariae Blood-Stage Dynamics

We examine the dynamics of parasitemia, fever, and gametocytemia reflected in the preintervention charts of 180 malaria-naive U.S. neurosyphilis patients infected with the USPHS strain of Plasmodium malariae, for malariatherapy, focusing on the 84 charts for which more than 35 days of patency preceded intervention and daily records encompassed 92% or more of the duration of each infection. Inoculum size did not influence any outcome variable. Fevers (days with temperatures ≥101 F) followed patterns that fit recognized brood structures more often than did our approximations of merogony cycles (via local peaks in parasitemia), but neither closely fit textbook quartan patterns. There were no discernable patterns in gametocytemia. Successful transmission to mosquitoes increased following subcurative drug treatment but did not depend on detectable gametocytemia.
Family Physician Implementation and Preventive Medicine; Opportunities and Challenges

Review of Iran’s experiences regarding health following Islamic Revolution suggests that two major events influenced on health system structure; establishment of Primary Health Care (PHC) [1] and integration of medical education in former ministry of health and formation of Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME). [2] Both of these important developments began in the first decade after the revolution resulting from immediate needs of the country and spirit of social justice that dominated the country. In fact, these two major events occurred for development of health services to disadvantages parts of the country, especially rural and remote areas, as well as provision of human resources for delivering necessary health services. Outcome of development, in various social and economical aspects, and interventions in the health system had sharp improvements in important health indicators such as maternal mortality, [3] life expectancy, [4] control of infectious diseases [5] and provision of manpower. [6]
Calcium‐ and Vitamin D3‐Fortified Milk Reduces Bone Loss at Clinically Relevant Skeletal Sites in Older Men: A 2‐Year Randomized Controlled Trial

In this 2‐year randomized controlled study of 167 men >50 years of age, supplementation with calcium‐vitamin D3‐fortified milk providing an additional 1000 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D3 per day was effective for suppressing PTH and stopping or slowing bone loss at several clinically important skeletal sites at risk for fracture.
AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE DESIGN OF AN EU APPORTIONMENT FORMULA RELATED TO PROFIT GENERATING FACTORS

The European Commission (EC) has the intention to establish a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, which requires an allocation formula to fairly distribute the consolidated tax base among all group entities. A fair distribution would mean that the allocation is closely related to the profit generating factors of the underlying entities. The EC supposes that fixed tangible assets, sales and labour are the dominant factors in the generation of profit. This paper analyses the profit generating capacity of these factors and of the alternative factor intangible assets. The results show that the proposed factors only explain 28% of the variation in profit. Moreover, the results indicate that recognized intangibles do not increase R2 significantly. However, for R&D intensive companies, adding the market less book value to proxy for unrecognized intangibles, increases the explanatory power with 30%. This suggests that for these companies unrecognized intangibles could be important in generating profit.
Population Growth and Economic Development: Test for Causality

This paper examines the existenceof a long-run relationship between population and per capita income in Pakistan for the period 1960-2001 using cointegration analysis. Unit root results show that population is integrated of order zero while per capita income is integrated of order one; further, Johansen’s procedure showthat no long-run cointegrating relationship exists. Thus, population growth neither causes per capita income growth nor is caused by it. A corollary is that population growth neither stimulates per capita income growth nor reduces it.
Urban Leadership and Community Involvement: Ingredients for Good Governance?

The article asks how political leadership and community involvement together can contribute to legitimate and effective policy making in the context of urban governance. Particularly, the question is discussed if the interplay between both increases capacities for governing localities. Conceptually, this is based on Jessop’s assumption that every mode of coordination is failure prone and that there is a need for enduring “metagovernance. ” The concept of metagovernance is then linked with considerations on institutional contexts and a comparison of four case studies, situated in different contexts. Whereas the case studies can show different practices or failures of metagovernance in the interaction between political leaders and involved societal actors, the institutional contexts are shown to more or less facilitate these practices.
Intellectual capital and financial performance of Indian banks

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate empirically the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance of 65 Indian banks for a period of ten years from 1999 to 2008.Design/methodology/approach – Reserve Bank of India's database and Annual reports, especially the profit and loss accounts and balance sheets of the banks for the relevant years have been used to obtain the data. Value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC™) method is applied for measuring the value based performance of banks. Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) are used to measure the profitability and productivity of Indian banks, measured by assets turnover ratio (ATO). The intellectual capital (human capital and structural capital) and physical capital of selected banks have been analyzed and their impact on corporate performance has been measured using multiple regression technique.Findings – The analysis indicates that the relationships between the performance of a bank's intellectual capi.
Best manufacturing practices : what do the best-performing companies do?

Purpose – Research on best practices suffers from some fundamental problems. The problem addressed in the article is that authors tend to postulate, rather than show, the practices they address to be best – whether these practices do indeed produce best performance is often not investigated.Design/methodology/approach – This article assumes that the best performing companies must be the ones deploying the best practices. In order to find out what are those practices, the highest performing companies in the 2002 International Manufacturing Strategy Survey database were identified, and the role 14 practices play in these companies was investigated.Findings – Process focus, pull production, equipment productivity and environmental compatibility appear to qualify as best practices. Quality management and ICT may have been best practice previously, but lost that status. E‐business, new product development (NPD), supplier strategy and outsourcing are relatively new, cannot yet be qualified as, but may develop i.