Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized study of high-dose split course radiotherapy preceded by high-dose chemotherapy versus high-dose radiotherapy only in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. An EORTC Lung Cancer Cooperative Group trial.

BACKGROUND The treatment results of radiotherapy in stage III non-small-cell lung cancer are very poor. Several phase II studies showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy was feasible in this patient group and suggested that treatment outcome might improve. A randomized phase II study was performed addressing the response rate and morbidity of high-dose split course radiotherapy (RT) versus the same radiotherapy preceded by high-dose chemotherapy (CT) in patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Seventy eligible patients were randomized in this study. CT consisted of cisplatin 100 mg/m2 days 1 and 22, and vindesine 3 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 22 and 29. Radiotherapy started on day 43 in the combined arm and immediately in the RT-only arm. The primary tumour and the regional nodes were treated by 30 Gy/10 fractions/2 weeks and after the split by a second course of 25 Gy/10 fractions/2 weeks. In the combined arm a third CT cycle was planned during the split between RT courses. RESULTS In the CT + RT arm 34 patients were evaluable for response and toxicity and 30 patients in the RT only arm. After completion of treatment 7 patients had a complete response (2 in the CT plus RT arm, 5 in the RT alone arm) and 26 patients a partial response (13 in the CT plus RT arm, 13 in the RT alone arm) for an overall response rate of 52% (95% CI 39%-65%). Acute toxicity was worse in the combined treatment arm with grade 4 leucocytopenia in 8 patients and thrombocytopenia grade 4 in one patient. Three patients had reversible renal toxicity grade 2. There was one toxic death in the RT plus CT arm. There was no enhancement of acute or late radiation pulmonary or oesophageal toxicity. Time to progressive disease (median 30 vs. 35 weeks) and overall survival time (median 12 months) were equal in both treatment arms. CONCLUSION High-dose radiotherapy preceded by high-dose chemotherapy was more toxic than radiotherapy alone and did not result in this study in any benefit in terms of response rate, time to progressive disease and overall survival.
Supporting cells regulate the remodelling of aminoglycoside‐injured organ of Corti, through the release of high mobility group box 1

To examine whether an inflammatory process occurs in the amikacin‐poisoned cochlea, we investigated the presence of the cytokines tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin (IL)‐1β, and IL‐10. No TNF‐α, IL‐1β or IL‐10 was detected in the cochlear perilymph after the loss of most auditory hair cells, indicating the absence of severe inflammation. In contrast, we observed a significant and temporary increase in the level of extracellular high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a late mediator of inflammation that also functions as a signal of tissue damage. This increase coincided with epithelial remodelling of the injured organ of Corti, and occurred concomitantly with robust and transient cytoplasmic expression of acetylated HMGB1 within the non‐sensory supporting cells, Deiters cells. Here, HMGB1 was found to be enclosed within vesicles, a number of which carried the secretory vesicle‐associated membrane‐bound protein Rab 27A. In addition, transient upregulation of receptor for advanced glycation end‐products (RAGE), an HMGB1 membrane receptor, was found in most epithelial cells of the scarring organ of Corti when extracellular levels of HMGB1 were at their highest. Altogether, these results strongly suggest that, in stressful conditions, Deiters cells liberate HMGB1 to regulate the epithelial reorganization of the injured organ of Corti through engagement of RAGE in neighbouring epithelial cells.
Directors' Remuneration Before and after the Crisis: Measuring the Impact of Reforms in Europe

In this paper we measure the impact of recent reforms on directors’ remuneration by comparing the remuneration practices at large European listed companies before and after the financial crisis. We analyse the data concerning directors’ remuneration at FTSE Eurofirst 300 Index companies and assess to what extent the changes occurred between 2007 and 2010 reflect the economic crisis determined by the 2008 financial turmoil and the remuneration reforms generated by the same. Our analysis reveals that country-specific characteristics such as corporate governance, firm ownership, and the nature and quality of the legal system still have a relevant impact on the level and structure of directors’ pay.Section I briefly connects our work with previous studies in this area, while section II introduces some core aspects of recent EU and national reforms. In section III, we analyse the data concerning remuneration governance and disclosure, and show that all firms have experienced improvements. However, variations persist reflecting national regulations and practices. Moreover, companies with more dispersed ownership tend to comply better with remuneration governance and disclosure requirements. Our data confirm and extend to Europe theoretical predictions and previous country-specific empirical evidence about the impact of ownership concentration on remuneration governance and disclosure. In section IV, we analyse pay structure and levels. We measure the level of total compensation, the variable component including the estimated value of annual stock grants and stock options. The evolution of total compensation between 2007 and 2010 reveals that pay practices are permeable to the effect of the financial crisis. Board total compensation decreases in most European countries. However, significant differences emerge between financial and non-financial companies, with board compensation at financial firms decreasing rather significantly, while non-financial firms experience less relevant changes. Also the CEO compensation level and structure significantly changed in 2010 relative to 2007, mainly as a result of the reduction in variable cash compensation. This is partly due to the negative performance of firms in 2010. However, our results show that these changes may be also related to other factors, in particular the regulatory pressure on financial firms in the relevant period. Indeed, several items in the pay structure of financial firms go in the direction indicated by regulators, i.e. better focus on the risk implications of pay, appropriate balance between variable and fixed compensation, and a substantial portion of variable compensation awarded in shares or share-linked instruments. Section V concludes by advancing some policy suggestions.
No Significant Difference in Service Learning Online.

Institutions of higher education are realizing the importance of service learning initiatives in developing awareness of students’ civic responsibilities, leadership and management skills, and social responsibility. These skills and responsibilities are the foundation of program outcomes in accredited higher education business programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. In an attempt to meet the needs of the student market, these institutions of higher education are delivering more courses online. This study addresses a comparison of traditional and online delivery of service learning experiences. Results demonstrate no significant difference in outcomes between the online and face-to-face models.
Use of cytomegalovirus immune globulin and ganciclovir for the prevention of cytomegalovirus disease in lung transplantation

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and disease continue to be significant causes of morbidity and mortality in lung transplant recipients. The potential benefits of CMV prophylaxis extend beyond prevention of the immediate CMV infection to potentially preventing CMV‐associated complications, including superinfection due to Aspergillus bacteria, and other opportunistic infections, and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). Longer courses of prophylactic intravenous (IV) ganciclovir, sequential IV/oral therapy, addition of intravenous CMV immune globulin (CMV‐IGIV), surveillance tests, and investigation of the role of hypogammaglobulinemia are a few of the strategies and issues being evaluated to improve CMV prophylaxis and, consequently, graft and patient survival.
Control and Performance of Strategic Alliances in Emerging Countries: The Case of International Joint Ventures in Vietnam

The research aims at understanding the nature of control and its impact on performance of international joint ventures (IJV) in Vietnam. The case studies permit to identify principal determinants of control in IJV, namely capital contribution, technological and managerial contribution, strategic importance of the IJV and partners’ relative bargaining power. Besides, the results show that the control of IJV in Vietnam corresponds to a system combining two subsystems of control, one specific to foreign partner and the other specific to local partner. The control of local partner is operational and decentralized whereas the control of foreign partner is essentially strategic and financial. Beyond the clear distinction between foreign control and local control of international joint venture, the results show that the perception of performance of international joint venture could vary depending on whether it is analysed from the viewpoint of foreign partner or vietnamese partner. The research ends with conclusions, limitations and our proposal for further research.
Triclinic nematic colloidal crystals from competing elastic and electrostatic interactions

Competing forces drive ordering The power and beauty of liquid crystals come from their tendency to order loosely over long length scales. This ordering can be tweaked using external fields, or via tailored boundary conditions, or embedded objects. Mundoor et al. deposited luminescent nanorods into a liquid crystal solvent (see the Perspective by Blanc). This caused a competition between local electrostatic interactions and the elastic ordering of the liquid crystal. The nanorods ordered into a triclinic structure not otherwise attainable. The authors further adjusted the structure using external fields. Science, this issue p. 69; see also p. 40 Competing elastic and electrostatic forces acting on gold nanorods in a nematic host yield triclinic colloidal crystals. [Also see Perspective by Blanc] The self-assembly of nanoparticles can enable the generation of composites with predesigned properties, but reproducing the structural diversity of atomic and molecular crystals remains a challenge. We combined anisotropic elastic and weakly screened electrostatic interactions to guide both orientational and triclinic positional self-ordering of inorganic nanocrystals in a nematic fluid host. The lattice periodicity of these low-symmetry colloidal crystals is more than an order of magnitude larger than the nanoparticle size. The orientations of the nanocrystals, as well as the crystallographic axes of the ensuing triclinic colloidal crystals, are coupled to the uniform alignment direction of the nematic host, which can be readily controlled on large scales. We examine colloidal pair and many-body interactions and show how triclinic crystals with orientational ordering of the semiconductor nanorods emerge from competing long-range elastic and electrostatic forces.
Effects of training on employee commitment, retention and performance: A case study of a Local Municipality in South Africa

The principal purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of training on employee commitment, retention and performance in a Local Municipality situated in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Based on convenience sampling method, a total of one hundred and thirty employees were selected and participated in the study. A questionnaire structured in a likert scale format was employed to gather data on training, employee commitment, retention and performance. Data was analysed using SPSS statistical package. The Cronbach’s alpha of 0.813 and the Keiser-Meyer-Olkin of 0.865 were obtained from the data analysed. The findings derived from multiple regression analysis using the ordinary least squares regression technique confirmed that; training has a significant effect on employee commitment, retention and performance enhancement within the local municipality examined. KEY WORDS : Local Municipality, training, employee commitment, retention, performance multiple regression analysis
Evaluation of target organ damage in arterial hypertension: which role for qualitative funduscopic examination?

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of quantitative markers of target organ damage, such as echocardiographically documented left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), carotid structural changes and microalbuminuria with that of retinal abnormalities detected by qualitative funduscopic examination in a large selected population of patients with essential hypertension. METHODS Eight hundred consecutive untreated (n = 232) and treated (n = 568) hypertensive patients (386 men, 414 women, mean age 52.7 +/- 11.8 years) referred for the first time to our out-patient clinic were included in the study. In order to search for target organ damage, they were submitted to the following procedures: 1) amydriatic retinography, 2) 24-hour urine collection for microalbuminuria, 3) echocardiography, and 4) carotid ultrasonography. Retinal changes were evaluated according to the Keith, Wagener and Barker (KWB) classification by two physicians, who had no knowledge of the patients' characteristics. Microalbuminuria was defined as a urinary albumin excretion > 30 and < 300 mg/24 hours, LVH as a left ventricular mass index > or = 134 g/m2 in men and > or = 110 g/m2 in women; finally carotid plaque was defined as a focal thickening > 1.3 mm. RESULTS Hypertensive retinopathy was the most frequent (KWB grade I 46%, II 32%, III-IV < 2%) marker of target organ damage, followed by carotid plaques (43%), LVH (22 %, eccentric LVH was the prevalent type and was 1.8 times as frequent as the concentric one) and microalbuminuria (14%). CONCLUSIONS At variance with the markers of cardiac, macrovascular and renal damage, an extremely high prevalence of retinal abnormalities (narrowings and initial arterio-venous crossings) were found in our population. If, as suggested by the WHO/ISH guidelines, these retinal abnormalities were considered as a reliable marker of target organ damage, then almost all patients would be affected by hypertensive vascular disease. Based on this evidence it is suggested that retinal abnormalities included in funduscopic grades I and II of the KWB classification should not be considered among the criteria for the quantitative detection of target organ damage.
Effect of Epidural Steroid Injection on Bone Mineral Density and Markers of Bone Turnover in Postmenopausal Women

Study Design. A prospective, observational study. Objective. To evaluate the effect of epidural steroid injection (ESI) on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. Summary of Background Data. ESIs are used to treat the pain associated with radiculopathy. Although it is known that exogenous steroid use can disrupt skeletal architecture, it is less clear whether ESIs result in a decrease of BMD. Methods. Twenty-eight postmenopausal women experiencing radiculopathy elected L4–L5 ESI treatment. We had a 50% dropout rate due to noncompliance with study requirements. BMD of the hip, femoral neck, and spine along with markers of bone turnover, bone specific-alkaline phosphatase and serum C-telopeptide of collagen I (CTX), was evaluated at baseline preinjection and 3 and 6 months postinjection. Results. There was a significant decline in the hip BMD of 0.018 g/cm2 (0.028 ± 0.007, P = 0.002) at 6 months compared with baseline. We compared this decline with an age-matched control population that exhibited a decline of 0.003 g/cm2, significantly less than our study population (P = 0.007). Bone-specific alkaline phosphatase increased significantly by 2.33 U/L from 3 to 6 months (P = 0.012), but the rise of CTX was not significant. Conclusion. A single ESI in postmenopausal women adversely affects BMD of the hip. This is in conjunction with a rise in bone remodeling activity, as evidenced by an increase in bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and CTX. In addition, when compared with an age-matched control population, our study population exhibited a greater decline in BMD. Our findings show that epidural administration of corticosteroids has a deleterious effect on bone, which should be considered when contemplating treatment options for radiculopathy. The resulting decrease in BMD, while slight, suggests that ESIs should be used with caution in those at a risk for fracture.
Prion Protein is Not Detectable in Dental Pulp from Patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

1IBL-CNRS, 1 rue du Pr. Calmette, BP447, 59021 Lille Cedex, France; 2Laboratoire de Neuropathologie, HP PitieSalpetriere, 75651 Paris, Cedex 13, France; 3Departement d'Ontologie Conservatrice-Endodontie, Faculte de Chirurgie dentaire, BP 84215, 44042 Nantes Cedex 1, France; 4Laboratoire de Neurovirologie et Neuropathologie Experimentale, CEA, BP 6, 92265 Fontenay aux Roses Cedex, France; and 5Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies, National Institute ofNeurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USAl *corresponding author, jean-yves.cesbron@pasteur-lille.fr Prion Protein is Not Detectable in Dental Pulp from Patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Serving well by selling well : studies on customer service representatives' ambidexterity and its effectiveness

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Do Firms Have Financing Preferences Along Their Life Cycles? Evidence from Iberia

Building on the biological concept of a life cycle, the paper analyzes the issue of the strategic financing choice of firms through the lens of the life cycle framework. Using data for the 1994-2003 period, from a sample of Iberian firms the paper investigates 379 start-ups (789 firm year observations) and 2 325 firms (19 647 firm year observations) distributed by the other three phases of the life cycle model adopted for the study.Univariate results document that the debt ratio increases over the life cycle of firms. This empirical finding is consistent with the conjecture that firms tend to adopt specific financing strategies as they progress along the phases of their life cycles.We found evidence that can be interpreted as consistent with a pecking order model of financing. Findings also indicate that the theory that short-term debt may have a role in firm strategic financing choice. A significant industry effect for all variables included in the analysis was found as well.Overall, findings provide support to the notion that the design of financing strategy is influenced, among other factors, by asymmetric information considerations, and growth opportunities.
Developmental kinetics of in vitro produced bovine embryos: the effect of sex, glucose and exposure to time-lapse environment

In this study, a simple time-lapse video recording system was used to compare developmental kinetics of female and male bovine embryos produced in vitro. Following embryo sex determination, the timing of each cleavage up to the 4-cell stage was compared between the sexes from the videotapes after culture in the presence and absence of glucose. In the second experiment, the consequences of exposure to a time-lapse video recording (TL) environment were studied by culturing embryos further until day 7 in an incubator, followed by collection and sex determination of morulae and blastocysts. In the absence of glucose, female embryos cleaved earlier than male ones. In the presence of glucose, however, male embryos cleaved earlier than female ones. There was no difference in the number of morulae/blastocysts in the absence of glucose, but in the presence of glucose more male than female embryos reached the morula and blastocyst stage. Exposure to the TL environment itself also had a sex-related effect, being more detrimental to male than female embryos. The difference in the number of functional X chromosomes between the sexes during early preimplantation development could explain these findings. In females, an increased capacity for oxygen radical detoxification through the pentose phosphate pathway could result in a reduced cleavage rate. Furthermore, glucose may influence the expression of enzymes located on the X chromosome. According to these results, a simple time-lapse video recording system is suitable for investigating embryo developmental kinetics and perhaps for the selection of embryos with the greatest developmental potential.
Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans.

Pharmacological sodium nitrate supplementation has been reported to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise in humans. In this study, we hypothesized that dietary supplementation with inorganic nitrate in the form of beetroot juice (BR) would reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and enhance the tolerance to high-intensity exercise. In a double-blind, placebo (PL)-controlled, crossover study, eight men (aged 19-38 yr) consumed 500 ml/day of either BR (containing 11.2 +/- 0.6 mM of nitrate) or blackcurrant cordial (as a PL, with negligible nitrate content) for 6 consecutive days and completed a series of "step" moderate-intensity and severe-intensity exercise tests on the last 3 days. On days 4-6, plasma nitrite concentration was significantly greater following dietary nitrate supplementation compared with PL (BR: 273 +/- 44 vs. PL: 140 +/- 50 nM; P < 0.05), and systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced (BR: 124 +/- 2 vs. PL: 132 +/- 5 mmHg; P < 0.01). During moderate exercise, nitrate supplementation reduced muscle fractional O2 extraction (as estimated using near-infrared spectroscopy). The gain of the increase in pulmonary O2 uptake following the onset of moderate exercise was reduced by 19% in the BR condition (BR: 8.6 +/- 0.7 vs. PL: 10.8 +/- 1.6 ml.min(-1). W(-1); P < 0.05). During severe exercise, the O2 uptake slow component was reduced (BR: 0.57 +/- 0.20 vs. PL: 0.74 +/- 0.24 l/min; P < 0.05), and the time-to-exhaustion was extended (BR: 675 +/- 203 vs. PL: 583 +/- 145 s; P < 0.05). The reduced O2 cost of exercise following increased dietary nitrate intake has important implications for our understanding of the factors that regulate mitochondrial respiration and muscle contractile energetics in humans.