Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Prospective Blinded Comparison of Video Capsule Endoscopy Versus Computed Tomography Enterography in Potential Small Bowel Bleeding: Clinical Utility of Computed Tomography Enterography

Goals: To compare the efficacy of video capsule endoscopy (VCE) with computed tomography enterography (CTE) in potential small bowel (SB) bleeding, and to identify factors predictive of a high diagnostic yield for CTE. Background: In potential SB bleeding, CTE potentially detects some lesions missed by VCE, but few data have determined its clinical utility. Study: Consecutive patients with potential SB bleeding were prospectively enrolled. All underwent VCE and CTE within a 1-week interval. Definitive diagnoses were made by surgery or enteroscopy, except when a strategy of VCE and conservative management was suitable. The diagnostic yields and sensitivities of each investigation were measured. Results: Fifty-two patients were recruited (41 with overt and 11 with occult bleeding); 36 received a definitive diagnosis. The diagnostic yields and sensitivities of VCE and CTE were 59.6% and 30.8% (P=0.004), and 72.2% and 44.4% (P=0.052), respectively. The combined sensitivity of VCE and CTE (88.9%) was significantly greater than VCE (P=0.03) or CTE (P<0.01) alone. VCE was better for ulcers, enteritis, and angiodysplasia, whereas CTE was better for tumors and Meckel diverticula. Age below 40 years and severe bleeding were associated with a higher diagnostic yield for CTE [odds ratios (95% confidence interval)=7.3 (1.04-51.4), P=0.046 and 6.1 (1.4-25.5), P=0.014, respectively]. Conclusions: Both investigations complement each other in the diagnosis of potential SB bleeding. CTE should be considered when VCE is negative. Age below 40 years and severe bleeding were independent predictors of a higher diagnostic yield for CTE.
Clinical outcomes among renal transplant recipients with pre‐transplant weakly reactive donor‐specific antibodies

Alloantibody can lead to antibody‐mediated rejection and graft loss in renal transplantation, necessitating an assessment of cross‐match compatibility. Within the past decade, more specific solid phase assays of alloantibody have been widely adopted, allowing virtual cross‐matching based on unacceptable antigens, the threshold of which is determined by individual centers.
Islamist terrorism in Europe: a history

operative principle which maintains adherence to the new normative system of social behaviour. In this general ideological context the SS – and other elements within the armed forces – drive the application of ‘othering’ to its logical genocidal conclusion. Ignoring the humanity of the victims and accepting the righteousness of their ruthless annihilation becomes an unquestioned duty, of the masculinist SS code of “honour” and racial ‘duty’. This applied to the general context of a zealous Nazi state apparatus, but particularly to the context of a chaotic retreat and imminent defeat. Historical, ideological contexts certainly do provide clear evidence to account for the particular social pathology of genocidal Nazism. Manoschek interestingly draws attention to research which shows that clinically identifiable psychopathic behaviour is no less or more prevalent in brutal, autocratic societies than in more democratic systems based on the rule of law. Nevertheless, this particular reviewer would wish to emphasise the continuities at play in both German history and in that of modern Europe and North America, the self-image of which is rooted in the provenance of an Enlightenment tradition. It is an old story; the extreme aberration of one polity from an apparent Enlightenment norm can very easily divert attention from the economic and social continuities that characterise the evolution of social formations. Nazism does not have the monopoly on the strategic use/abuse of ‘othering’ and the demonization and discrimination of other races, cultures, classes and belief systems. The captains and crew of slave ships, the colonial police chiefs and judges, the corporate bosses who outsource production to cheap and dangerous sweatshops share a material, economic logic with the more obviously brutal and murderous Nazi strategists. Sadly, this connecting logic is too often neutralised by the enormity of Nazi crimes, behind which the ‘lesser’ crimes of conquerors, colonialists, slavers and ruthless exploiters of labour can so easily hide. All that said, the narrative of Manoschek’s book is utterly compelling, demanding reflection of both ordinary readers and of the many members of contemporary Austrian society that are happy to support the tawdry and ignorant politics of ethnic discrimination and xenophobia.
Paradoxical helminthiasis and giardiasis in Cape Town, South Africa: epidemiology and control.

BACKGROUND South Africa has endorsed a World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution calling for control of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). In Cape Town, services and housing that exist in old-established suburbs should minimise the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections, even when residents are poor. Where families live in shacks in densely-populated areas without effective sanitation, more than 90% of children can be infected by STHs. The humoral immune response to worms theoretically favours infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV. OBJECTIVES Obtain estimates of gender-, age-, school-related and overall prevalence of helminthiasis and giardiasis in a low-income but well-serviced community. Assess possible sources of infection. Alert health services to the need for control measures and the threat from protozoal pathogens. Warn that the immune response to intestinal parasites may favour tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS. METHODS A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of helminthiasis and giardiasis was carried out in a large, non-selective sample of children attending nine schools. Gender, school and age effects were related to non-medical preventive services, sewage disposal practices and possible sources of infection. RESULTS The overall STH infestation rate was 55.8%. Prevalence was inluenced by school and age but not by gender. Eggs and cysts were seen at the following prevalence: Ascaris 24.8%; Trichuris 50.6%; Hymenolepis nana 2.2%; Enterobius 0.6%; Giardia 17.3%; hookworm 0.08%; and Trichostrongylus 0.1%. Approximately 60% of sewage sludge is used in a form that will contain viable eggs and cysts. CONCLUSION Prevalence trends in this old community in Cape Town could indicate infection by swallowing eggs or cysts on food or in water, more than by exposure to polluted soil. Sewage sludge and effluent might be sources of infection. In adjacent, under serviced, newer communities, promiscuous defecation occurs. Probable vectors are discussed. The immune response to intestinal parasites might be a risk factor for HIV/AIDS and TB.
Do Long Format Advertisements Sell? Evidence from Indian Consumers

Indian firms are engaging consumers with long format advertisements (ads longer than 60 seconds in duration). Television (TV) spot costs are escalating for high viewership programmes. Limited attempt has been made to explore the impact of long format ads (ads longer than 60 seconds in duration) on consumer behaviour. The researcher explores the types of long format ads which increases the audience involvement leading to formation of purchase intentions (PI). Descriptive research design was used to conduct the research. Data was collected from 364 respondents. The conceptual framework was tested using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that entertaining and informative long format ads exhibit the strongest influence on audience involvement which leads to formation of PI. However, long format ads do not directly lead to formation of PI among the consumers. The mediation effect of message process involvement (MPI) and attitude towards the brand is statistically evident.
Dividend Smoothing and Signaling Under the Impact of the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparison of US and Southeast Asian Markets

Under the impact of the global financial crisis, firms experience more external financial constraints and this is a good opportunity to investigate dividend smoothing and signaling behavior. Using data from the US market where the crisis originates and five Southeast Asian markets which are slightly affected by the crisis, we find that US firms pursue dividend smoothing model and they also follow signaling theory by increasing dividends in the post-crisis period to earn good reputation. However, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia following dividend smoothing model fail to pay more dividends in the post-crisis period. Thailand and Singapore increase dividend payments in the post-crisis period but they fail to pursue the dividend smoothing model significantly.
A Known-Groups Evaluation of the Response Bias Scale in a Neuropsychological Setting

We evaluated the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Second Edition (MMPI-2) Response Bias Scale (RBS). Archival data from 83 individuals who were referred for neuropsychological assessment with no formal diagnosis (n = 10), following a known or suspected traumatic brain injury (n = 36), with a psychiatric diagnosis (n = 20), or with a history of both trauma and a psychiatric condition (n = 17) were retrieved. The criteria for malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MNCD) were applied, and two groups of participants were formed: poor effort (n = 15) and genuine responders (n = 68). Consistent with previous studies, the difference in scores between groups was greatest for the RBS (d = 2.44), followed by two established MMPI-2 validity scales, F (d = 0.25) and K (d = 0.23), and strong significant correlations were found between RBS and F (rs = .48) and RBS and K (r = −.41). When MNCD group membership was predicted using logistic regression, the RBS failed to add incrementally to F. In a separate regression to predict group membership, K added significantly to the RBS. Receiver-operating curve analysis revealed a nonsignificant area under the curve statistic, and at the ideal cutoff in this sample of >12, specificity was moderate (.79), sensitivity was low (.47), and positive and negative predictive power values at a 13% base rate were . 25 and . 91, respectively. Although the results of this study require replication because of a number of limitations, this study has made an important first attempt to report RBS classification accuracy statistics for predicting poor effort at a range of base rates.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of DDAVP in surgery and in bleeding episodes in haemophilia and von Willebrand's disease. A study on 43 patients.

1-deamino-8-D-arginine-vasopressin (DDAVP), was used in a wide spectrum of clinical situations employing two different dosages (0.3 and 0.4 microgram/kg b.w.) for the management of 43 patients with factor VIII deficiencies--mild and moderate haemophilia A and von Willebrand's disease (vWD). In most instances, the drug was given in association with antifibrinolytics. Twenty-five dental extractions were carried out with two different protocols: one based upon a single infusion and the other based upon three infusions. Bleeding occurred in three patients regardless of the protocol used. The vasopressin analogue promptly stopped bleeding in 12 'spontaneous' open bleeds (haematuria, epistaxis, menometrorrhagia, gum bleeding) and it appears to be also effective in closed bleeds. DDAVP was used to minimize blood loss during surgical interventions and to avoid haemorrhage in the postoperative period. Nine surgical procedures were carried out in six vWD patients and three haemophiliacs. Bleeding occurred late in the postoperative period on one occasion only. No difference was demonstrated between the two doses of the drug either in terms of clinical benefit or rise of factor VIII coagulant activity. The efficacy of DDAVP and the absence of side-effects make this vasopressin analogue worthy of consideration as a reliable alternative to factor VIII concentrates in a wide variety of clinical situations.
Idade penal no jornalismo de referência: os sentidos centrais na cobertura do debate sobre redução da maioridade penal

This paper adopts a discursive perspective to understand the phenomena that involves journalism and public safety. It analyses the meaning cores that have most appeared in the journalistic discourse about the debate on the reduction of the penal age, stimulated, among other factors, by the vote of the PEC 171/1993. The observation was performed during the period from June 1 st to July 5 th 2015 in the newspapers Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo and O Estado de S. Paulo. The discursive sequences extracted from 60 reports pointed to four cores of meaning: political dispute/bargaining/temporary alliances; failure in the ECA (Legal Statute of Minors)/socio-educational system; violence of “minors” vs. violence practiced against “minors”; and the absence of national data for the debate on the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility.
Dissecting the relative contribution of OATP1B1-mediated uptake of xenobiotics into human hepatocytes using siRNA

Abstract 1. Organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B1 plays a pivotal role in the disposition of many anionic drugs. Significant overlap in substrate specificity between individual OATP isoforms has hampered the identification of the relative importance of individual isoforms for hepatic uptake of xenobiotics. 2. The present study focused on the use of siRNA technology to decrease OATP1B1 selectively in human hepatocytes. Following delivery of siRNA by the novel lipid, AtuFECT01, mRNA expression of OATP1B1 was reduced by 94%–98% with no significant toxicity. Off-target effects were also shown to be minimal as evidenced by the expression of common drug metabolizing enzymes, transporters, nuclear receptors and associated co-regulators. Uptake of estrone-3-sulfate (5 nM) by OATP1B1 was reduced by 82%–95%. This methodology was subsequently used to assess the relative contribution of OATP1B1 uptake in human hepatocytes for olmesartan (42%–62%), valsartan (28%–81%), rosuvastatin (64%–72%), pitavastatin (84%–98%) and lopinavir (64%–89%). These data are consistent with previous values obtained using a relative activity factor approach. 3. The siRNA approach provides a robust and reproducible method for assessing the relative contribution of OATP1B1 to hepatic uptake of new chemical entities. The technique also has potential utility in facilitating detailed characterization of drug–drug interactions involving hepatic drug transporters.
Factors Influencing Adoption, Productivity and Efficiency of Hybrid Rice in Bangladesh

Development and dissemination of hybrid rice technology can be one of the key strategies to meet growing demand for staple food in Bangladesh. A number of initiatives for hybrid rice research and development have been undertaken for the last couple of decades, but the adoption rate of hybrid rice is not encouraging. In recent years, although some studies have investigated the underlying socio-economic factors of hybrid rice adoption, research on estimating production efficiency of hybrid rice is relatively few. In addition, there is a bias in sample selection inherent in most of the technology adoption studies because rational farmers will always choose between hybrid and inbred rice depending on a host of price and non-price factors. Furthermore, the production function that uses observations from a single variety only may produce biased estimates of production efficiency. Given this backdrop, this paper adopted the recently developed method that corrects for sample selection bias in a stochastic frontier framework and simultaneously identifies the determinants of hybrid rice adoption and its farm-level productivity and efficiency while relaxing the assumption of perfect efficiency of the individual producers. A survey was conducted to collect primary data on inputs and outputs of hybrid and inbred rice production. Some key information on the socio-economic characteristics of the sample farmers was also collected. Using pre-tested structured questionnaire, a total of 336 and 180 rice farmers were selected and interviewed at six districts of Bangladesh for the crop year 2004 and 2005, respectively. Model diagnostics reveal that serious selection bias exists, justifying use of our sample selection approach. The results reveal that the producer's decision to choose hybrid rice is positively influenced by gross return per unit of land but negatively affected by a rise in relative prices of labour and phosphate fertilizer. Adoption of hybrid rice is significantly higher for pesticide and organic manure users. Land, irrigation and mechanical power are the significant determinants of hybrid rice productivity. Productivity of hybrid rice varies across regions. The mean technical efficiency of the hybrid rice producers is estimated at 0.86 with a range of 0.55 to 0.97, implying substantial scope to improve production by eliminating inefficiency. Policy implications include price policies to improve hybrid rice price, tenurial reform aimed at consolidating farm size and smooth operation of the mechanical power services and investment in irrigation to expand hybrid rice adoption and productivity in Bangladesh.
Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence on Inhibition

Empirical evidence shows that inhibition is a process strongly implicated in the dominion and acquisition of social, emotional and behavioral skills. However, despite the agreement on its importance in various areas, there is still divergence in terms of its conceptual and operational definition. Mainly, a deep debate exists whether inhibition is a unitary construct or must be fragmented into a set of processes. The objective of this study is to describe the findings and the most significant positions in relation to the study of this construct by first, making an explanatory proposal for interference control, based on a non-inhibitory approach; and secondly, describing the most representative 1, 2 and 3 factor models, to finally list some of the contributions and findings proposed as the main source of evidence for the fragmented approach.
Lexical Effects on Spoken Word Recognition by Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users

Objective The purposes of this study were 1) to examine the effect of lexical characteristics on the spoken word recognition performance of children who use a multichannel cochlear implant (CI), and 2) to compare their performance on lexically controlled word lists with their performance on a traditional test of word recognition, the PB-K. Design In two different experiments, 14 to 19 pediatric CI users who demonstrated at least some open-set speech recognition served as subjects. Based on computational analyses, word lists were constructed to allow systematic examination of the effects of word frequency, lexical density (i.e., the number of phonemically similar words, or neighbors), and word length. The subjects' performance on these new tests and the PB-K also was compared. Results The percentage of words correctly identified was significantly higher for lexically “easy” words (high frequency words with few neighbors) than for “hard” words (low frequency words with many neighbors), but there was no lexical effect on phoneme recognition scores. Word recognition performance was consistently higher on the lexically controlled lists than on the PB-K. In addition, word recognition was better for multisyllabic than for monosyllabic stimuli. Conclusions These results demonstrate that pediatric cochlear implant users are sensitive to the acoustic-phonetic similarities among words, that they organize words into similarity neighborhoods in long-term memory, and that they use this structural information in recognizing isolated words. The results further suggest that the PB-K underestimates these subjects' spoken word recognition.
Development of an Instrument for the Management of Computer User Attitudes in Hospitals

Abstract Measuring and managing user attitudes toward various aspects of computer systems is an important part of making those systems effective. In this paper, results of an effort to adapt and test a technique for measuring user satisfaction in hospitals are presented. These results include extensive empirical tests of the technique. Comparison norms for hospital computer user satisfaction are also presented and interpreted. Analysis software for using the technique as a management tool is presented. Finally, experiences using the concept are presented.
Idiosyncratic and International Transmission of Shocks in the G7: Does EMU Matter?

This paper analyzes the transmission of shocks across the Group of Seven industrialized countries (G7) before and after the introduction of the euro. We estimate global vector autoregressive (VAR) models for different periods to investigate changes in the domestic and international adjustment of macroeconomic variables following supply, demand, and nominal shocks. The shocks are identified with robust sign restrictions, which we derive from a small open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. Specifically, we analyze the adjustment of output, inflation, and the real effective exchange rate following those shocks. Our results indicate that changes in the adjustment are due to global convergence rather than to regional-specific convergence.
Pre-service Teacher Education and Classroom Management: An Evaluation of EDU5572

Childhood emotional, behavioural and learning problems are prevalent in elementary classroom settings. It is therefore imperative to evaluate pre-service teacher training in classroom management. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a proactive behavioural management course taught at a Canadian teacher’s college. The first study examined a sample of 69 pre-service teachers at the start and completion of this course. Using random assignment, the second study compared 50 pre-service teachers who completed the course to 32 pre-service teachers who did not take the course. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy, teaching style, and teaching attitudes and partook in simulated classroom scenarios. Significant findings highlight the positive influence of this course on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy, teaching style, emotions and reactions towards children, and their use of classroom management strategies. This research may further the development of pre-service teacher training in classroom management.