Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Environmental Turbulence on Nurse Performance

THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TURBULENCE ON NURSE PERFORMANCE Jeanne Salyer, R.N. , Ph.D. Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, 1992 Major Director: Barbara A. Mark, R.N. , Ph.D. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of environ­ mental turbulence on nurse performance. The conceptual model of environmental, sociodemographic, and personal factors affecting per­ formance was derived from Elliott and Eisdorfer's (1982) generic model depicting potential stressors, mediators of stress, psychological consequences, and behavioral outcomes. The potential stressors are characteristics of the internal (hospital) environment; the mediators include personal characteristics of the nurse and unit technical support systems; the psychological consequence is perceived environmental uncertainty; and the behavioral outcome is self-rated quality of nurse performance. The sample (N = 95) was randomly selected from among staff registered nurses working on 19 medical-surgical and pediatric units in a state-supported medical center hospital. Environmental turbulence, the potential stressor, was operationalized as: day-to-day change in acuity and occupancy, and number of admissions to/discharges from and number of transfers on and off a unit in a 24-hour period. Experience was operationalized as number of roles and clinical areas a nurse had worked in since graduation. Education reflected educational level attained. Five instruments were used: the Tolerance-Intolerance
Internet chat, disagreement, retail trading, and stock returns around earnings announcements

This study tests the Miller (1977) hypothesis as an explanation for stock price behavior around technology firms’ earnings announcements during the late 1990s. Specifically, we examine whether the anomalous tendency for stock prices to increase (decrease) before (after) earnings announcements during this period is associated with an increase (decrease) in investor disagreement before (after) the announcement. For a sample of high-tech stocks in 1998, we use the daily number of messages posted on a firm’s Internet message board (chat room) as a measure of the level of investor disagreement about the firm’s prospects. Consistent with Miller, we find that stocks with a larger increase in the level of disagreement before the announcement tend to have a larger pre-announcement price increase, and a larger price reversal after the earnings announcement. We also find that both small and large investors buy before the announcement and sell afterward, although large investors begin selling sooner than retail investors. In addition, we find our disagreement measure is directly related to net initiated order flow from retail investors, but not institutional investors. Finally, we find that the relative amount of retail versus institutional trading in a stock is positively related to the pre-announcement price runup and negatively related to the post-announcement reversal, and that disagreement is significantly associated with these return patterns only for the subsample of stocks with the highest proportion of retail trading. These results are consistent with the view that retail investors are less willing or less able to (short) sell than institutional investors, and they suggest the Miller hypothesis applies more to retail investors than to institutional investors in this setting. JEL Classification: D82, G14, G19.
Improving recommendation accuracy using networks of substitutable and complementary products

Recommender systems are ubiquitous in applications ranging from e-commerce to social media, helping users to navigate a huge selection of items and to meet a variety of special needs and user tastes. Incorporating contextual knowledge into such systems — such as relational information — has proven to be an effective way to improve recommendation accuracy. A popular line of research aims to model relationships between users, through their connections in a social network. In contrast, we aim to model complex relationships between products, using data based on co-purchase and co-browsing behavior. Modeling such networks presents a variety of challenges, in particular because the features that make two items complementary (or likely to be co-purchased) are far more complex than mere similarity. To model these complex relationships we develop a method based on pairwise ranking and embedding learning to build representations of items based on their co-purchasing and co-browsing statistics. We conduct experiments on Amazon product data to demonstrate that modeling such relationships significantly improves accuracy compared to competitive baselines.
Heat-related emergency hospitalizations for respiratory diseases in the Medicare population.

RATIONALE The heat-related risk of hospitalization for respiratory diseases among the elderly has not been quantified in the United States on a national scale. With climate change predictions of more frequent and more intense heat waves, it is of paramount importance to quantify the health risks related to heat, especially for the most vulnerable. OBJECTIVES To estimate the risk of hospitalization for respiratory diseases associated with outdoor heat in the U.S. elderly. METHODS An observational study of approximately 12.5 million Medicare beneficiaries in 213 United States counties, January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2008. We estimate a national average relative risk of hospitalization for each 10°F (5.6°C) increase in daily outdoor temperature using Bayesian hierarchical models. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS We obtained daily county-level rates of Medicare emergency respiratory hospitalizations (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, 464-466, 480-487, 490-492) in 213 U.S. counties from 1999 through 2008. Overall, each 10°F increase in daily temperature was associated with a 4.3% increase in same-day emergency hospitalizations for respiratory diseases (95% posterior interval, 3.8, 4.8%). Counties' relative risks were significantly higher in counties with cooler average summer temperatures. CONCLUSIONS We found strong evidence of an association between outdoor heat and respiratory hospitalizations in the largest population of elderly studied to date. Given projections of increasing temperatures from climate change and the increasing global prevalence of chronic pulmonary disease, the relationship between heat and respiratory morbidity is a growing concern.
RU486 Induces Pro‐Apoptotic Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Through the Induction of CHOP Expression by Enhancing C/EBPδ Expression in Human Renal Carcinoma Caki Cells

RU486 (Mifepristone) is known as an antagonist of the progesterone receptor and glucocorticoid receptor. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying anti‐tumor activity of RU486 in renal carcinoma Caki cells. Treatment of Caki cells with RU486 was found to induce several signature ER stress markers; including ER stress‐specific XBP1 splicing, and the up‐regulation of glucose‐regulated protein (GRP)‐78 and CCAAT/enhancer‐binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) expression. RU486‐induced expression of CHOP involves the putative C/EBPδ site within the CHOP promoter region. Using a combination of C/EBPδ cDNA transfection, the luciferase assay with a mutated C/EBPδ binding site and siRNA‐mediated C/EBPδ knockdown, we found that the C/EBPδ site is required for RU486‐mediated activation of the CHOP promoter. In addition, RU486‐induced CHOP expression is down‐regulated by inhibition of the p38 MAPK and JNK signaling pathways at the post‐translational levels. RU486 dose‐dependently induced apoptotic cell death in renal carcinoma cells. Suppression of CHOP expression by CHOP siRNA attenuated RU486‐induced apoptosis. Taken together, RU486 induces pro‐apoptotic ER stress through the induction of CHOP expression. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 361–369, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Energy Efficiency of Repetition Coding and Parallel Coding Relaying Under Partial Secrecy Regime

This paper evaluates the secure energy efficiency (SEE) of a cooperative network subject to partial secrecy requirements, implemented through a fractional equivocation parameter θ ∈ (0, 1] that allows partial secrecy when θ <; 1. We assume that only the channel state information (CSI) of the legitimate channel is available, while the CSI with respect to the eavesdropper is unknown. Then, we propose a CSI-aided decode-and-forward (DF) scheme, in which the transmitter uses the available CSI in order to choose between direct and cooperative paths. Moreover, the relay employs either repetition coding (CSI-RC), i.e., source and relay use the same codebook, or parallel coding (CSI-PC), when different codebooks are used. By resorting to the Dinkelbach algorithm, we propose a joint power allocation scheme, which also optimizes θ to maximize the SEE. Our schemes are compared with the traditional DF, amplify- and-forward, and cooperative jamming (CJ). In most scenarios, CSI-RC performs best in terms of SEE. Nevertheless, we observe that CSI-PC achieves the highest SEE when θ → 1 and if the relay is close to either the transmitter or the receiver. Moreover, CJ also stands out to maximize the SEE if the relay is placed closer to the eavesdropper. In addition, the influence of θ in the system performance is evaluated, showing that a joint θ and power optimization considerably improves the SEE.
Geo-Economic Competition and Trade Bloc Formation: United States, German, and Japanese Exports, 1968–1992

In the post-cold war world, geo-economic competition is thought to be replacing geopolitical competition as the focus of great power relations. The cold war years corresponded to the period of U.S. hegemony in world trade and relations in the Western bloc. With the shrinking of the power gap between the United States and the other two great trading states, Japan and West Germany, as well as increased competition for trade shares, a division of the world economy into trade blocs has been anticipated. An examination of export shares for the three great powers with 114 partners in the past quarter century, 1968 to 1992, indicates there is not much evidence for the hypothesis of a world devolving into trade blocs. While regional links have intensified somewhat between the United States and its neighbors in the Americas and between West Germany and its European Union partners, Japan is broadening and deepening its export linkages with extraregional partners. Fears of the formation of blocs in the world trading system are greatly exaggerated.
Effects of the High Carbohydrate-Low Calorie Diet Upon Carbohydrate Tolerance in Diabetes Mellitus.

cases was cal-culated from dosages in use after years of treatment; whereas, the average 22.8 units with the high carbo-hydrate-low calorie diet was that of 200 cases selected at random, and represents dosages at the beginning and in the early as well as in the later stages of treatment. Since the selection was random, it should also be noted that no consideration was given to the care with which treatment was followed, whereas, the eight cases shown by Dr. Geyelin were carefully selected to exclude dietary irregularities. In order, therefore, to compare the two diets it is necessary to consider not only duration of treatment but also the care with which treatment was followed.
The influence of contractures and variation in measurement stretching velocity on the reliability of the Modified Ashworth Scale in patients with severe brain injury

Objective: To determine the influence of contractures and different stretching velocities on the reliability of the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) in patients with severe brain injury and impaired consciousness. Design: Cross-section observational study. Setting: A rehabilitation centre for adult persons with neurological disorders. Subjects: Fifty patients with impaired consciousness due to severe cerebral damage of various aetiologies. Measurement protocol: Three experienced and trained medical professionals rated each patient in a randomized order once daily for two consecutive days. Shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee and ankle spasticity were assessed by the use of the MAS with different stretching velocities. The presence of contractures was assessed by a goniometer. Main outcome measures: Retest and inter-rater reliability (kw= weighted kappa) of the MAS. Results: The retest reliability of the MAS was good (shoulder joints (kw0.74), elbow joints (kw0.74), wrist joints (kw 0.72), knee joints (kw 0.72), ankle joints (kw 0.77)) and the inter-rater reliability was moderate (shoulder joints (kw 0.49), elbow joints (kw0.52), wrist joints (kw 0.51), knee joints (kw 0.54) ankle joints (kw 0.49)). The presence of contractures significantly influenced the reliability of MAS in shoulder and wrist joints. No influence of stretching velocity on the reliability of the MAS was found. Conclusion: In patients with impaired consciousness due to severe brain injury the MAS has good retest, but only limited inter-rater, reliability. The presence of contractures may influence reliability of the MAS, but stretching velocity does not.
A preference‐based free‐energy parameterization of enzyme‐inhibitor binding. Applications to HIV‐1‐protease inhibitor design

The interface between protein receptor‐ligand complexes has been studied with respect to their binary interatomic interactions. Crystal structure data have been used to catalogue surfaces buried by atoms from each member of a bound complex and determine a statistical preference for pairs of amino‐acid atoms. A simple free energy model of the receptor‐ligand system is constructed from these atom‐atom preferences and used to assess the energetic importance of interfacial interactions. The free energy approximation of binding strength in this model has a reliability of about ±1.5 kcal/mol, despite limited knowledge of the unbound states. The main utility of such a scheme lies in the identification of important stabilizing atomic interactions across the receptor‐ligand interface. Thus, apart from an overall hydrophobic attraction (Young L, Jernigan RL, Covell DG, 1994, Protein Sci 3:717–729), a rich variety of specific interactions is observed. An analysis of 10 HIV‐1 protease inhibitor complexes is presented that reveals a common binding motif comprised of energetically important contacts with a rather limited set of atoms. Design improvements to existing HIV‐1 protease inhibitors are explored based on a detailed analysis of this binding motif.
The economics of free

The gaming industry has seen dramatic change and expansion with the emergence of ‘casual’ games that promote shorter periods of gameplay. Free to download, but structured around micropayments, these games raise the complex relationship between game design and commercial strategies. Although offering a free gameplay experience in line with open access philosophies, these games also create systems that offer control over the temporal dynamics of that experience to monetize player attention and inattention. This article will examine three ‘freemium’ games, Snoopy Street Fair, The Simpsons’ Tapped Out and Dragonvale, to explore how they combine established branding strategies with gameplay methods that monetize player impatience. In examining these games, this article will ultimately indicate the need for game studies to interrogate the intersection between commercial motivations and game design and a broader need for media and cultural studies to consider the social, cultural, economic and political implications of impatience.
Effects of training on exercise‐induced muscle damage and interleukin 6 production

To address the question of whether the increased plasma concentration of interleukin 6 (IL‐6) following strenuous muscular work could be related to exercise‐induced muscle damage, 5 moderately active male volunteers underwent two isokinetic exercise sessions in the eccentric mode, separated by a period of 3 weeks during which the subjects underwent five training sessions. Before training, exercise was followed by severe muscle pain (delayed‐onset muscle soreness; DOMS), and by significant increases in plasma IL‐6 level and serum myoglobin concentration (SMb) (P < 0.001). After training, postexercise DOMS and SMb values were significantly lower than those measured before training. There was no significant difference between plasma IL‐6 levels measured at the same time points before and after training. We conclude that the hypothetical relationship between exercise‐induced muscle damage and increased postexercise levels of circulating IL‐6 is not substantiated by the present results. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Muscle Nerve 22: 208–212, 1999
Validation of inhalation provocation test in chronic bird-related hypersensitivity pneumonitis and new prediction score.

RATIONALE Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an immunologically mediated lung disease induced by the inhalation of any of a wide variety of antigens. For example, bird-related HP (BRHP) results from the inhalation of avian antigens. The clinical features of chronic HP, including imaging and histological findings, are similar to those of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Despite its status as the "gold standard," the inhalation provocation test (IPT) is rarely performed, because the methods and the criteria are not standardized. In 2000, we reported the utility of IPT for pigeon dropping extracts. OBJECTIVES The purpose of the current study was to validate the utility and safety of the test, and to differentiate chronic HP from other interstitial lung diseases. METHODS A total of 28 patients with chronic BRHP and 19 control subjects were evaluated in this retrospective study. We validated the previous criteria and proposed new criteria using prediction scores. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS In the IPT using pigeon dropping extracts, the previous criteria showed a sensitivity of 78.6% and a specificity of 94.7% in this retrospective study. The increases in the peripheral white blood cell count and C-reactive protein levels are good indicators of a positive response to the inhalation challenge. We propose the use of the IPT prediction score (∆WBC [%] + 2 × ∆P[a - a]O2 [mm Hg], where WBC is white blood cell) and the prediction rule, which showed high sensitivity and specificity values of 92.9 and 94.7%, respectively. Two (1.5%) out of a total of 130 subjects who underwent the tests required treatment after the challenge. CONCLUSIONS The IPT is a useful and safe tool for the diagnosis of chronic HP. The IPT prediction score that we have proposed has high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of chronic BRHP.
Management of Cancer-Related Fatigue

Fatigue is among the most commonly reported symptoms of patients with cancer, with prevalence exceeding 60% in many studies. It is among the most distressing symptoms associated with cancer and cancer treatments because it substantially disturbs patients' quality of life and ability to function optimally on a daily basis. Although the development of this condition has been associated with a number of factors, its etiology remains poorly understood. Important elements to include in any definition of cancer-related fatigue include its pervasiveness, persistence, detrimental effect on quality of life, and its inability to be relieved by rest or sleep. Several validated questionnaires can be used to measure fatigue in patients with cancer, and research efforts are currently focused on ways to distinguish it from depression with which it shares many symptoms. All patients with cancer should be evaluated for fatigue, and treatment options should be considered for those who are experiencing excessive levels of fatigue. Treatment should be individualized according to the underlying pathology when a specific cause has been identified (e.g., anemia, sleep disorder, depression, or metabolic disorder). Nonspecific therapies may be useful in short- and long-term cancer-related fatigue management in many patients. In addition to older therapies, such as hematopoietics, antidepressants, corticosteroids, and psychostimulants, the effectiveness of the new wake-promoting agent modafinil is currently being studied. A more thorough evaluation of the various therapeutic options is required to better define their efficacy and safety profiles in this patient population.
Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Classical Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Due to 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency

OBJECTIVE Despite earlier detection, treatment, and surgical advances, fertility prognosis in women with classical 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) is still low, especially in the salt-wasting (SW) form. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analysed the course and outcome of four pregnancies in two simple virilizing (SV) and one SW patient. RESULTS The evaluation of carrier status indicated that all three fathers had two normal CYP21 genes. During the pregnancy, the dose of prednisolone was increased in one of the SV patients and the SW patient. In the SW patient who developed pre-eclampsia, the dose of fludrocortisone was also increased. Three patients gave birth to a total of four healthy girls who were heterozygotes for 21-OHD with normal genitalia (one by vaginal delivery and three by Caesarean section). Family studies revealed that the mother of the SW patient has nonclassical 21-OHD. CONCLUSION Improving a low birth rate in females with SW 21-OHD remains a problem and new approaches are required. If the mother has 21-OHD (even nonclassical 21-OHD), pre-conception counselling and paternal genotyping are advisable and prenatal dexamethasone therapy should be considered.
Characterization of the Structure and Function of a New Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase (p38β)*

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascades represent one of the major signal systems used by eukaryotic cells to transduce extracellular signals into cellular responses. Four MAP kinase subgroups have been identified in humans: ERK, JNK (SAPK), ERK5 (BMK), and p38. Here we characterize a new MAP kinase, p38β. p38β is a 372-amino acid protein most closely related to p38. It contains a TGY dual phosphorylation site, which is required for its kinase activity. Like p38, p38β is activated by proinflammatory cytokines and environmental stress. A comparison of events associated with the activation of p38β and p38 revealed differences, most notably in the preferred activation of p38β by MAP kinase kinase 6 (MKK6), whereas p38 was activated nearly equally by MKK3, MKK4, and MKK6. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo experiments showed a strong substrate preference by p38β for activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2). Enhancement of ATF2-dependent gene expression by p38β was ∼20-fold greater than that of p38 and other MAP kinases tested. The data reported here suggest that while closely related, p38β and p38 may be regulated by differing mechanisms and may exert their actions on separate downstream targets.