Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Faculty development: Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Medical education has evolved to become a discipline in its own right. With demands on medical faculties to be socially responsible and accountable, there is now increasing pressure for the professionalisation of teaching practice. Developing a cadre of professional and competent teachers, educators, researchers and leaders for their new roles and responsibilities in medical education requires faculty development. Faculty development is, however, not an easy task. It requires supportive institutional leadership, appropriate resource allocation and recognition for teaching excellence. This guide is designed to assist those charged with preparing faculty for their many new roles in teaching and education in both medical and allied health science education. It provides a historical perspective of faculty development and draws on the medical, health science and higher education literature to provide a number of frameworks that may be useful for designing tailored faculty development programmes. These frameworks can be used by faculty developers to systematically plan, implement and evaluate their staff development programmes. This guide concludes with some of the major trends and driving forces in medical education that we believe will shape future faculty development.
Improving the quality of care for patients with pneumonia in very small hospitals.

BACKGROUND Despite the publication of guidelines for the management of pneumonia, significant variation in care continues to exist. While there have been several published reports of quality improvement projects for pneumonia, there are few data on the effectiveness of these efforts in small hospitals. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that a project implemented by a quality improvement organization in small hospitals would lead to an improvement in care that could not be accounted for by secular trends in the management of pneumonia. METHODS Medicare-insured hospital admissions for pneumonia were reviewed from 20 small hospitals in Oklahoma (intervention group) at baseline and after feedback. Project intervention included onsite feedback presentations to the medical staff, samples of performance improvement materials, and comparative measures of performance of predefined quality indicators. A second group of 16 demographically similar hospitals (control group) was selected for review during the same 2 periods. These hospitals subsequently underwent an identical intervention with a follow-up assessment. RESULTS Statistically significant improvements in process measures were demonstrated in the intervention hospitals, including performance of a sputum (P<.01) and blood (P<.001) cultures, antibiotic administration within 4 hours of hospital admission (P<.001), and administration of the first dose of antibiotic in the emergency department (P<.001). These measures in the control hospitals did not change significantly (P =.93, .08, .79, and .52, respectively) during the 2 periods. CONCLUSIONS Improvements in processes of care achieved by the intervention hospitals resulted from activities initiated because of participation in a quality improvement organization-directed project. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of quality improvement activities in very small hospitals.
Preoperative evaluation of carotid artery stenosis: comparison of contrast-enhanced MR angiography and duplex sonography with digital subtraction angiography.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Contrast-enhanced MR angiography and extracranial color-coded duplex sonography are noninvasive, preoperative imaging modalities for evaluation of carotid artery stenosis. Innovative techniques and improvements in image quality require frequent reassessment of accuracy, reliability, and diagnostic value compared with those of digital subtraction angiography (DSA). We evaluated contrast-enhanced MR angiography and duplex sonography compared with DSA for detection of high-grade carotid artery stenoses. METHODS Four readers, blinded to clinical symptoms and the outcome of other studies, independently evaluated stenoses on contrast-enhanced MR angiograms in 71 vessels of 39 symptomatic patients. Duplex sonography was also performed in all vessels. The severity of stenosis was defined according to North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial criteria (0-29%, 30-69%, 70-99%, 100%). Results of both modalities were compared with the corresponding DSA findings. RESULTS Contrast-enhanced MR angiography had a sensitivity and specificity of 94.9% and 79.1%, respectively, for the identification of carotid artery stenoses of 70% or greater. Sensitivity and specificity of duplex sonography were 92.9% and 81.9%, respectively. Combining data from both tests revealed a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 81.4%, respectively, for concordant results (80% of vessels). CONCLUSION Concordant results of contrast-enhanced MR angiography and duplex sonography increase the diagnostic sensitivity to 100%. The reliability of MR angiography is comparable to that of DSA. The combination of contrast-enhanced MR angiography and duplex sonography might be preferable over DSA for preoperative evaluation in most patients, thus reducing the risk of perioperative morbidity and improving the overall outcome.
Corporate sustainability and stock returns: evidence from a global dataset

Department of Finance Aalto University School of Business Thesis supervisor: Matthijs Lof This paper analyzes the relationship between corporate sustainability and long-run stock returns. A value-weighted portfolio of the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” lost an annual four-factor alpha of -4.3% from 2005 to 2016. The results are robust to controlling for different weighting methodologies, asset pricing models, comparing to industry-adjusted benchmarks, and geographical differences. These findings suggest overvaluation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors by the market, exhibited in the globally highest percentile of sustainable firms in their respective industries. For investors, these findings suggest using aggregate ESG ratings-based socially responsible investing (SRI) screens may dent their investment returns.
Experiment on fractional frequency transmission system

The fractional frequency transmission system (FFTS) is a very promising long-distance transmission approach, which uses lower frequency (50/3 Hz) to reduce the electrical length of the ac power line, and thus, its transmission capacity can be increased several fold. This paper introduces the experimental installation of FFTS and primary experiment results. The experiment uses the phase-controlled cycloconverter as the frequency changer, stepping up 50/3 Hz electricity to 50 Hz electricity and supplying it to the utility grid. Thus, a new flexible ac transmission system device is successfully established in this experiment. The synchronizing process of 50/3 Hz transmission system with 50 Hz utility system is introduced in this paper. The experiment results show that a 1200 km/500 kV transmission line can transmit more than 2000 MW electric power when employing the FFTS. The experiment also illustrates that there is no essential difficulty to realize FFTS in engineering practice.
Urethroplasty for balanitis xerotica obliterans.

OBJECTIVE To review the results of different methods of urethroplasty for anterior urethral strictures caused by balanitis xerotica obliterans (BXO). PATIENTS AND METHODS Twenty-eight patients underwent urethroplasty for BXO; 12 had a one-stage pedicled penile skin-flap urethroplasty and 16 excision and a two-stage free-graft urethroplasty using nongenital skin. RESULTS The treatment failed in all patients undergoing a one-stage pedicle penile skin urethroplasty because the disease recurred with BXO, whereas the treatment failed in only one patient using a two-stage free graft procedure. CONCLUSION A two-stage free-graft urethroplasty using nongenital skin is recommended for anterior urethral strictures caused by BXO.
Impact of Dumping of Municipal Solid Waste on Households Near Dumping Yard in Karnataka

Environmental pollution includes air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. Solid waste is not just deleterious to a single part of environment but to the whole environment. Solid waste problem surpasses traditional environmental boundaries and augment air, water as well as land pollution. It is the most visible form of environmental problem in many urban regions. The increased generation in solid waste and diversification in solid waste generation is attributed to many factors such as rising population, changing income, consumption pattern, economic development, urbanization and International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 08 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TERHADAP PERINGKAT SUKUK KORPORASI DI INDONESIA

This study aims to estimate the influence of corporate governance mechanisms that are implemented throughinstitutional ownership, independent commissioners, audit committees, managerial ownership, blockholderand the number of ratings of corporate sukuk in Indonesia during the 2007-2009 periods. This study usesmultinomial logistic regression models because there are three categories of sukuk ratings, namely: AA, A, andBBB for 33 sample firms that issued sukuk in the Indonesia. The results of empirical studies have found that theaudit committee and the number of blockholder as an indicator of corporate governance mechanisms affect theranking of corporate sukuk significantly. To be able to increase the ranking of the sukuk is the study recommendsthat the existence of audit committees and the blockholder must be a serious concern for companies thatissue a sukuk in improving the ranking of the sukuk issuance
Electronic follow-up of facial lacerations in the emergency department

It is often difficult for emergency department staff to follow up the primary closure of simple facial lacerations. This is important to allow closure of the feedback loop. Consecutive patients who were sutured by a single operator using the same technique were asked to send a photograph of the laceration six months and 12 months afterwards. The patients had Internet access and a digital camera, or a mobile phone with a camera. They were given a leaflet with the details of the email address or mobile number to send the picture to. A reminder telephone call was made to each patient at six months and 12 months, and the email address or mobile number to send the picture to was given again. In each telephone call patients were asked to grade the healing on a 5-point scale from 1 = very happy to 5 = very unhappy. At 13 months all patients were re-contacted and reminded again. Fifty patients were included in the study (33 males). The cause of injury was sport in 17 patients, assault in 18 and accidents in 15. At six months, 23 patients stated that they were happy and 27 were very happy with the scar. The mean score was 1.5. At 12 and 13 months, four patients were happy and 46 very happy. The mean score was 1.1. Twenty-four patients said they would use a computer/camera to send in the follow-up image, and 26 patients had a mobile phone with a camera and said they would use that. Despite the reminders, no patients sent a photograph. The results provide no evidence to support the use of photographs sent by email or text message for the follow-up of facial lacerations sutured in the emergency department.
Multi-frame elastography using a handheld force-controlled ultrasound probe

We propose a new method for strain field estimation in quasi-static ultrasound elastography based on matching RF data frames of compressed tissues. The method benefits from using a handheld force-controlled ultrasound probe, which provides the contact force magnitude and therefore improves repeatability of displacement field estimation. The displacement field is estimated in a two-phase manner using triplets of RF data frames consisting of a pre-compression image and two post-compression images obtained with lower and higher compression ratios. First, a reliable displacement field estimate is calculated for the first post-compression frame. Second, we use this displacement estimate to warp the second post-compression frame while using linear elasticity to obtain an initial approximation. Final displacement estimation is refined using the warped image. The two-phase displacement estimation allows for higher compression ratios, thus increasing the practical resolution of the strain estimates. The strain field is computed from a displacement field using a smoothness- regularized energy functional, which takes into consideration local displacement estimation quality. The minimization is performed using an efficient primal-dual hybrid gradient algorithm, which can leverage the architecture of a graphical processing unit. The method is quantitatively evaluated using finite element simulations. We compute strain estimates for tissue-mimicking phantoms with known elastic properties and finally perform a qualitative validation using in vivo patient data.
Are Several G Proteins Involved in the Different Effects of Endothelin‐1 in Mouse Striatal Astrocytes?

Abstract: High‐affinity specific receptors of endothelin (ET‐1) were identified on primary cultures of mouse embryo striatal astrocytes by binding experiments performed with 125I‐ET‐1. Stimulation of production of inositol phosphates, a biphasic increase of the intracellular calcium concentration, and inhibition of cyclic AMP accumulation were observed in the same cells under ET‐1 stimulation. Pretreatment of these cells with Bordetella pertussis toxin affected these effects to different extends, an observation suggesting that they are mediated by multiple transduction pathways, possibly involving several guanine nucleotide‐binding proteins.
Foreign Direct Investment, Non‐Traded Goods and Real Wages

Using a three-sector general equilibrium model with non-traded goods, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers. We show that foreign direct investment increases the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers alike, but widens the gap between the two under plausible conditions.
Indoor Air Pollution from Burning Biomass & Child Health

With approximately 3 billion people worldwide utilizing biomass as a source of energy, the World Health Organization rates Indoor smoke from biomass such as solid fuels as one of the major contributor to environmental exposure with one quarter of deaths and disease burden in children under 5 years of age. The ideal way to prevent or reduce the serious health impacts would be the withdrawal or reduction of exposure to these pollutants. This can be achieved with sustainable interventions such as key national and local level stakeholders to address the problem.
Keratinocyte growth factor ameliorates mucosal injury in an experimental model of colitis in rats.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is known to enhance tissue repair in the skin; however, its role in the gastrointestinal tract is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exogenous KGF in an experimental model of colitis in rats. METHODS KGF was administered before or after induction of colitis with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid/ethanol. In the first two study groups, KGF (5 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally 24 hours and 1 hour before induction of colitis; animals were killed 8 hours (n=10) and 1 week (n=10) after injury. In subsequent study groups, KGF or vehicle treatment was begun 24 hours after the induction of colitis at doses of 5 (n=20), 1 (n=10), and 0.1 (n=10) mg/kg intraperitoneally and continued once daily for 1 week. Colonic tissue samples were evaluated macroscopically and microscopically for mucosal injury and assayed for myeloperoxidase activity. RESULTS Administration of KGF after but not before induction of colitis significantly ameliorated tissue damage. Macroscopic necrosis and microscopic ulcerations were reduced by 40%-50% at KGF doses of 1 and 5 mg/kg. CONCLUSIONS Exogenous KGF has a key role in mucosal healing in an experimental model of colitis in rats.
Ultrafast Pulsed All-Fiber Laser Based on Tapered Fiber Enclosed by Few-Layer WS2 Nanosheets

We demonstrate all-fiber mode-locked laser based on a tapered optical fiber saturable absorber (SA) enclosed in tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets. Tapered fibers were fabricated using the standard flame brushing method to an interaction length of 3 mm with waist diameters of 10 and 15 μm. WS2 nanosheets were prepared via a liquid phase exfoliation method to form a uniform dispersion. Subsequently, the WS2 nanosheets were optically deposited along the interaction length of the tapered fibers by evanescent field interactions. We built a ring laser including the fabricated mode-lockers. The SA with a 10-μm taper diameter delivers the pulses with a pulse duration of 369 fs and 3-dB spectral bandwidth of 7.5 nm; on the other hand, the output pulses using the mode-locker with 15-μm waist diameter were found to have 563-fs pulse duration and 5.2 nm of 3-dB bandwidth. It is shown that the smaller waist diameter of tapered fiber causes wider spectral bandwidth of the ultrafast pulses and narrower 3-dB bandwidth.
Factors Affecting for Deposit Mobilization in Sri Lanka

Deposit mobilization is the process of public cash or funds accumulation by the financial institutes via its different routes, for instance, savings, current, fixed deposit accounts and other specialized schemes. The main objective of this study is to investigate the most effective factors affecting deposit mobilization, followed by a random sampling method, in which 120 deposit account holders were selected as a sample from three different convenient sample areas. The Questionnaires are equipped with questions to obtain primary data . The data has been analyzed using “Descriptive statistics” and “Regression analysis”. The study reveals that, there is a significant and positive relationship between deposit mobilization and deposit interest rate, security, branch expansion, services, technology and awareness. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between living area and the amount of deposits and the demographic variables, such as, gender, occupation, education level and income significantly affect for deposit mobilization.
Effects of listening to Holy Qur’an recitation and physical training on dialysis efficacy, functional capacity, and psychosocial outcomes in elderly patients undergoing haemodialysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether listening to Holy Qur’an recitation would augment the beneficial effects of physical exercise on physiological and psychological measures in elderly patients undergoing haemodialysis. Fifty-three male haemodialysis patients were randomly assigned to an intervention group (listening to Holy Qur’an recitation in combination with endurance–resistance training, n = 28) or a control group (endurance–resistance training only, n = 25). Functional capacity was assessed using the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) and the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT). Psychosocial outcomes were assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Dialysis adequacy (Kt/V) was calculated for all patients. After intervention, a significant Group × Period interaction effect was observed for all measured parameters (p < 0.05), except for 6MWT performance (p > 0.05). All measured parameters were significantly improved over baseline in both groups, except for Kt/V in the control group (p > 0.05). Moreover, final measurements were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group for all measured parameters, except for 6MWT performance and the physical component summary of the SF-36 (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the present study showed that listening to a recitation of the Holy Qur’an in combination with interdialytic endurance–resistance training induced an improvement in physical condition and quality of life and a large reduction in anxiety among patients undergoing haemodialysis.
Cerebrovascular reactivity in migraineurs Vasorreatividade cerebral em migranosos

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CR) assessed by transcranial Doppler (TCD) has been evaluated among migraineurs with conflicting results. We assessed the CR using the breath holding index (BHI) among 228 migraineurs during ictal or interictal phase and 56 controls. Migraineurs exhibited increased BHI values in the interictal phase and reduced BHI in the ictal phase when compared to controls.
Psychopathic Traits and Endocrine Function as Predictors of Costly and Non-Costly Reactive Aggression

I investigated factors of psychopathy (fearless dominance, self-centered impulsivity) and hormones (testosterone, cortisol, estradiol) in predicting costly and non-costly reactive aggression. I hypothesized that whereas self-centred impulsivity (SCI) would promote costly aggression, fearless dominance (FD) would promote non-costly aggression. Costly aggression was measured using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm and noncostly aggression was measured using one-shot dictator games. In women (n = 97; Mage = 19.86 years), greater SCI and lower baseline estradiol predicted greater costly aggression; also, greater FD predicted greater non-costly aggression, particularly among women with lower SCI. In men (n = 104; Mage = 20.15 years), psychopathy and endocrine function did not predict costly aggression; however, greater FD and greater increases in testosterone were associated with greater non-costly aggression. Thus, there are sex-specific links between psychopathic personality traits, hormones, and aggressive behaviour, and psychopathic traits and endocrine function predict aggressive behaviour independently of each other.
The gastrulation defective gene of Drosophila melanogaster is a member of the serine protease superfamily.

The establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity in the oocyte involves two sets of genes. One set belongs to the gurken-torpedo signaling pathway and affects the development of the egg chorion as well as the polarity of the embryo. The second set of genes affects only the dorsal-ventral polarity of the embryo but not the eggshell. gastrulation defective is one of the earliest acting of this second set of maternally required genes. We have cloned and characterized the gastrulation defective gene and determined that it encodes a protein structurally related to the serine protease superfamily, which also includes the Snake, Easter, and Nudel proteins. These data provide additional support for the involvement of a protease cascade in generating an asymmetric signal (i.e., asymmetric Spätzle activity) during establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity in the Drosophila embryo.