Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The prognosis of patients having received optimal therapy for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding might be worse in daily practice than in randomized clinical trials

Background Combination of endoscopic haemostatic and high-dose intravenous proton-pump inhibitors is considered to be the standard care for patients with acute peptic ulcer bleeding. Aim This study assessed predictive factors of rebleeding and death in unselected patients presented to our hospital. Methods Consecutive patients with nonmalignant bleeding ulcers and stigmata of recent haemorrhage who received optimal treatment, between 22 August 2003 and 15 October 2007, were studied retrospectively. Results Among 140 included patients, 45 (32%) rebled and 30 received another haemostatic endoscopy, which was successful in 20 cases. In multivariate analysis, the only significant predictive factor of rebleeding was duodenal site of the ulcer [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.75; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28–6.19]. In-hospital death occurred in 27 (19%) patients; with five deaths related to uncontrolled or recurrent bleeding. In multivariate analysis, predictors of in-hospital mortality were rebleeding (adjusted OR: 3.28; 95% CI: 1.17–9.16), a Rockall score higher than 6 (adjusted OR: 9.12; 95% CI: 2.57–44.29) and bleeding occurring in the intensive care unit (adjusted OR: 15.68; 95% CI: 4.41–55.82). Conclusion In unselected patients, rebleeding and mortality rates are substantially higher than those found in prospective randomized clinical trials. Intensive care unit stay is an important predictive factor of hospital mortality and should be considered in further therapeutic trials in ulcer bleeding.
Factors of Information Credibility for an Internet Advice Site

Information credibility is important to Internet advice site vendors because they primarily build a revenue stream based on how credible consumers consider the information on the website. Unless consumers believe the website’s information is credible, they are not likely to be willing to act on the advice. This paper reports on an empirical study of how individual differences and initial site impressions affect perceptions of website information credibility. Results confirm that most of the proposed individual difference and initial impression variables play an important role in how consumers view the credibility of an unfamiliar website. Implications are included regarding adapting websites to take into account initial site impressions and individual differences.
SafeTalk: Training Peers to Deliver a Motivational Interviewing HIV Prevention Program

As multiple effective interventions emerge to reduce the spread of HIV, there is a need to implement and disseminate such programs cost-effectively, such as by expanding service delivery through integration of peer supporters. The benefits of peer support are well established. However, knowledge about peer counseling initiatives remain limited. This pilot study tested the feasibility, fidelity, and acceptability of a motivational interviewing (MI) counseling training with individuals living with HIV to serve as peer counselors in order to address medication adherence and safer sex. We adapted, SafeTalk, an evidence-based intervention previously delivered by health professionals to reduce risky sexual behaviors among people living with HIV. We trained six peers in a 5-day program (24 hours total) over a 2-month period. We used a combination of training observation, pre-and posttests, debriefing, and the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI 3.1) scale 3.1 to assess implementation of the training. Results suggest the program was feasible, and there was positive acceptability. However, fidelity to MI was poor. While participants were dedicated and enthusiastic about the training and able to learn some skills and demonstrate the “spirit of MI,” they had difficulty with reflecting and moving away from giving direct advice. Training challenges and successes are discussed.
Endoscopic management of postcholecystectomy biliary leaks

Objective To evaluate the nature of bile duct injuries following cholecystectomy and the success of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in their identification and management. Design All patients referred for ERCP with a diagnosis of a postcholecystectomy bile leak were identified prospectively from October 1994 to August 2008. Setting The study was carried out in a district general hospital with the endoscopies performed by a single operator. Patients All patients had undergone imaging with at least two of abdominal ultrasound scanning, CT scanning or MR cholangiopancreatography. Interventions ERCP with treatment of a biliary leak by sphincterotomy and insertion of a temporary 7 Fr plastic biliary stent. Main outcome measurements Clinical healing of the injury was assessed as resolution of symptoms with normalisation of liver function tests, cessation of external drain output and a repeat ERCP with removal of the indwelling stent within 2–8 weeks and no further complications. Results 46 patients were identified, of whom 42 responded well to endoscopic treatment. Four patients ultimately needed surgery, of whom three had recurrent strictures. One patient had complete transection of the biliary duct and endoscopic treatment was not attempted. Conclusion ERCP, with sphincterotomy and temporary plastic stent placement, is successful in the early management of patients with postcholecystectomy biliary leaks, which most commonly involve the cystic duct stump. ERCP carried out in a district general hospital identifies those patients requiring further specialised hepatobiliary care in a tertiary centre.
Labor Market Concentration

Abstract A product market is concentrated when a few firms dominate the market. Similarly, a labor market is concentrated when a few firms dominate hiring in the market. Using data from the leading employment website CareerBuilder.com, we calculate labor market concentration for more than 8,000 geographic–occupational labor markets in the United States. Based on the Department of Justice–Federal Trade Commission horizontal merger guidelines, the average market is highly concentrated. Going from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile in concentration is associated with a 5 percent (OLS) to 17 percent (IV) decline in posted wages, suggesting that concentration increases labor market power.
Measurement and Evaluation Techniques to Estimate the Degradation Produced by the Radiated Transients Interference to the GSM System

A common source of noise for digital communication systems is the radiated transient interference. As an example, it has been reported that the degradation is produced to the Global System for Mobile (GSM)-Railway signaling system when the impulsive noise is generated by sparks caused by the discontinuity between the catenary and the pantograph. Concerning the measurement and evaluation procedures defined in the electromagnetic compatibility standards, they are not suitable for these types of transient disturbances. Therefore, new techniques must be developed to determine, with a high confidence level, the degradation that impulsive noise will produce in communication systems. In this paper, novel time-domain measurement procedures are carried out to acquire transient interferences generated by sparks properly. Moreover, two different evaluation methodologies, employing base-band simulation and amplitude probability distribution detector, are used to analyze the impact of the disturbance applied into a GSM system interference scenario. Finally, the results obtained with the developed methodologies are successfully compared with a reference measure where the GSM downlink channel quality is monitored by a mobile station test unit.
Regulation of Sp1 by cell cycle related proteins

Sp1 transcription factor regulates the expression of multiple genes, including the Sp1 gene itself. We analyzed the ability of different cell cycle regulatory proteins to interact with Sp1 and to affect Sp1 promoter activity. Using an antibody array, we observed that CDK4, SKP2, Rad51, BRCA2 and p21 could interact with Sp1 and we confirmed these interactions by co-immunoprecipitation. CDK4, SKP2, Rad51, BRCA2 and p21 also activated the Sp1 promoter. Among the known Sp1-interacting proteins, E2F-DP1, Cyclin D1, Stat3 and Rb activated the Sp1 promoter, whereas p53 and NFkB inhibited it. The proteins that regulated Sp1 gene expression were shown by positive chromatin immunoprecipitation to be bound to the Sp1 promoter. Moreover, SKP2, BRCA2, p21, E2F-DP1, Stat3, Rb, p53 and NFkB had similar effects on an artificial promoter containing only Sp1 binding sites. Transient transfections of CDK4, Rad51, E2F-DP1, p21 and Stat3 increased mRNA expression from the endogenous Sp1 gene in HeLa cells whereas overexpression of NFkB, and p53 decreased Sp1 mRNA levels . p21 expression from a stably integrated inducible promoter in HT1080 cells activated Sp1 expression at the promoter and mRNA levels, but at the same time it decreased Sp1 protein levels due to the activation of Sp1 degradation. The observed multiple effects of cell cycle regulators on Sp1 suggest that Sp1 may be a key mediator of cell cycle associated changes in gene expression.
Work Support and Family Support as Predictors of Work-to-family Enrichment and Family-to-work Enrichment

Of late, the relationship between work–family enrichment and support has started gaining some attention within the organizational behaviour literature. However, support emerging from the family front has often been neglected in previous studies. The purpose of our research is to empirically estimate the role of both work support (WS) and family support (FS) as predictors of work-to-family enrichment (WFE) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE) among sales employees in Indian organizations. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 330 employees belonging to firms from some of the major sectors of Indian industry, namely manufacturing, IT, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and financial services. The study first validated the support scale in the Indian context using exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Further, structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS (version 20) was used to test the model. Results supported the 20-item work support and family support scale measuring work and family support in the Indian set-up. Further, results of SEM suggested that work as well as family support significantly predicts work-to-family enrichment as well as family-to-work enrichment. The study signals the importance of ensuring a supportive organizational environment for an effective workforce. This not only can help in enriching one’s work life, but also can impact one’s family life as well. The same phenomenon also applies to family front; a supportive family results in an improved enrichment in work domain. This study contributes to work–family literature by addressing role of support—both work and family—as predictors of WFE and FEW, which has rarely been studied in the Indian context.
Improving Exercise Tolerance and Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of mortality in the United States. Its symptoms, comorbidities, and sequelae also result in high morbidity and healthcare costs. The impact of progressive dyspnea, fatigue, exercise intolerance, and recurrent exacerbations in patients with COPD can be devastating to their quality of life. Unaddressed, these symptoms often result in depression and social isolation, causing further decline in exercise tolerance and functional performance. Assessing the physiologic, pharmacologic, and psychosocial factors that influence these elements can be challenging in the primary care setting. The present article describes a practical approach to assess functional performance and outlines pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies—particularly self-management education and pulmonary rehabilitation—to improve quality of life indicators.
H&#8734;Guaranteed Cost Computation for Uncertain Time-Delay Systems

This paper presents a less conservative approach to compute, with any prescribed accuracy, the H∞guaranteed cost of time-delay continuous-time linear time-invariant systems subjected to polytopic uncertainties. The proposed analysis approach is based on a branch-and-bound algorithm that incorporates a recent LMI-based analysis formulation and a new polytope partition strategy. In the branch-and-bound algorithm, the upper bound function is defined as the worst case guaranteed H∞disturbance attention level computed for the subpolytopes achieved with successive partitions of the polytope which describes the uncertainty domain. The lower bound function is defined as the worst case H∞norm computed in the polytope and subpolytope vertices. The difference between the upper and lower bound functions converges to zero as the initial polytope is split into smaller subpolytopes resulting in the H∞guaranteed cost for the whole initial polytope with the required accuracy. It is also presented an algorithm to implement a d−dimensional simplex subdivision technique to be used in the branch-and-bound algorithm.
Linking-In through Education? Exploring the Educational Question in Africa from the Perspective of Flows and (dis) Connections

Education is the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and considered an important gateway to many other SDGs being achieved. Education is, however, frequently interpreted in terms of its technical aspects, i.e., furthering skills and knowledge and strengthening human capital for promoting development. By contrast, this paper focuses less on this technical aspect and instead analyses the current educational landscape in Africa as a field in which flows of investment, ideas, and people influence connections between Africans and the rest of the world. As an effect of the structural adjustment programs in the 1980s, public spending on education in many African countries went down, allowing private education initiatives to spring up. These were, for a large part, financed by Western and Arab countries. Over the last fifteen years, investment flows in education from emerging global powers like China, Brazil, Malaysia, and Turkey have contributed to an increasingly diversified educational landscape in Africa. This paper argues that these investments not only allow Africans to improve their educational levels but that these diverse forms of education also have an influence on connections and social orientations in African societies. Educational programs go together with specific worldviews. In addition, people develop their social networks through educational trajectories. Both orientations and connections influence people’s choices and opportunities in their further lives, and thus individual and societal development. Interestingly, often investments in education by external parties are not isolated endeavors, but also used as a means to get linked-in in local societies for such diverse purposes as religion or business interests. Illustrating my argument with examples taken from my research on Gulf charities and on Turkish schools in Africa, I will explore how the new connectivities that come with the changing educational landscape in Africa shape (possible) local development trajectories in the current era of intensified globalization characterized by intensified flows of capital, people, and ideas.
Metastases from Carcinomas of the Pancreas Simulating Primary Mutinous Tumors of the Ovary: A Report of Seven Cases

We report seven patients with mutinous tumors of the ovary that we interpreted as metastases from adenocarcinomas of the exocrine pancreas. The ovarian metastases closely resembled primary mutinous tumors of the ovary. The patients' ages ranged from 29 to 87 years (average, 63 years). The ovarian and pancreatic tumors were discovered synchronously in five patients. In two patients, the pancreatic tumor preceded the ovarian tumor by 9 months and 8.5 years, respectively. In four patients, the clinical presentation simulated primary ovarian cancer. The ovarian tumors were typically large, multi-loculated cystic neoplasms. Six of them were bilateral: the status of the opposite ovary is not known in one case. Microscopically, they manifested varying degrees of differentiation, usually containing foci resembling mucinous cystadenoma, mucinous tumor of borderline malignancy, and well-differentiated mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. The primary pancreatic tumors were typical ductal adenocarcinomas in six patients and mucinous cystadenocarcinoma in the seventh. Features pointing toward the metastatic nature of the ovarian tumors included bilaterality, surface desmoplastic implants, and extraovarian spread. The possibility of metastases should be strongly considered whenever evaluating mucinous ovarian tumors, especially those that are bilateral or have other unusual features. The pancreas is an important source of metastatk tumors that simulate primary ovarian mucinous cystadenocarcinomas and borderline tumors.
General and program-specific moderators of two eating disorder prevention programs.

OBJECTIVE To investigate general and program-specific factors hypothesized to moderate the effects of two eating disorder prevention programs. METHOD High-risk adolescent girls (N = 481; M age = 17) were randomized to a dissonance-based thin-ideal internalization reduction program, a healthy weight management program, an expressive-writing control condition, or an assessment-only control condition. Participants completed diagnostic interviews and surveys at pretest, post-test, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up. RESULTS Dissonance program effects on bulimic symptoms were stronger for participants with initial elevations in body image distress, bulimic symptoms, and thin-ideal internalization. Healthy weight program effects on bulimic symptoms were stronger for adolescents with initial elevations in body image distress, bulimic symptoms, readiness to change, body mass, and emotional eating. CONCLUSION Overall, intervention effects tended to be amplified for high-risk versus low-risk adolescents. However, certain moderator effects appeared to be specific to the two different prevention programs.
The preoperative intraocular pressure level predicts the amount of underestimated intraocular pressure after LASIK for myopia

Aims: To evaluate the statistical significance of the parameters that affect underestimation of intraocular pressure (IOP) after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for myopia. Methods: In this prospective case series study, patient age, axial length, preoperative corneal curvature, preoperative central corneal thickness (CCT), preoperative IOP, and ablation depth were studied to determine whether they affect the underestimation of IOP in the right eyes of 100 consecutive patients who underwent LASIK. Results: The preoperative IOP was the most important parameter for an amount of underestimated Goldmann applanation tonometric IOP (GAT) and non-contact tonometric IOP (ncIOP) at 1 month (r = 0.654, p<0.0001, R2 = 0.427, and r = 0.694, p<0.0001, R2 = 0.481, respectively) and 3 months (r = 0.637, p<0.0001, R2 = 0.406, and r = 0.726, p<0.0001, R2 = 0.527, respectively). Patient age was statistically significant for underestimating the GAT at 1 month, and both the ablation depth and CCT were statistically significant parameters for underestimating the ncIOP at 1 month and at 3 months by stepwise multiple regression analysis (F>4.000). However, these parameters had small bivariate correlation coefficients, and were considered as minor parameters. Conclusion: Preoperative IOP is the most important parameter that affects an underestimation of IOP after LASIK for myopia. Eyes with a higher true IOP have a larger underestimation of the IOP after LASIK for myopia. From these results, the importance of the modulus of elasticity on IOP measurements was discussed.
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy-Associated Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Risk

The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly modified the course of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, with longer survival and improved quality of life of HIV-infected subjects. However, HAART regimens, especially those including protease inhibitors, have been shown to cause in a high proportion of HIV-infected patients a metabolic syndrome (lipodystrophy/lipoatrophy, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance) that may be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (coronary artery disease and stroke). A careful stratification of the cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular monitoring of patients under HAART is needed according to the most recent clinical guidelines.
Economic Impacts of the Possible China–US Trade War

ABSTRACT This article uses a multi-country global general equilibrium (GE) model to numerically simulate the effects of possible China–US trade wars. We introduce an endogenous trade imbalance structure with trade cost into the model which helps to explore both tariff and non-tariff trade war effects. Our simulation results show that China will be significantly hurt by the China–US trade war, but negative impacts are affordable. The US can gain under unilateral sanction measures to China, but will lose if China takes retaliation measures. Comparing the effects under mutual trade war, China will lose more than the US. Introducing non-tariff barrier trade wars will intensify the negative effects, and comparatively negative effects to China are larger than to the US. Mexico’s involvement in trade war with the US will strengthen the negative effects and comparatively hurt the US more. Under non-cooperative and cooperative Nash bargaining equilibrium, the US can gain more than China in trade war negotiation, which means the US has stronger bargaining power than China. Additionally, trade wars between China and the US will hurt most countries and the world especially in GDP and manufacturing employment, but benefit their welfare and trade.
Rescue of ΔF508-CFTR (Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator) by Curcumin: Involvement of the Keratin 18 Network

The most common mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, ΔF508, causes retention of ΔF508-CFTR in the endoplasmic reticulum and leads to the absence of CFTR Cl– channels in the plasma membrane. ΔF508-CFTR retains some Cl– channel activity so increased expression of ΔF508-CFTR in the plasma membrane can restore Cl– secretion deficiency. Recently, curcumin was shown to rescue ΔF508-CFTR localization and function. In our previous work, the keratin 18 (K18) network was implicated in ΔF508-CFTR trafficking. Here, we hypothesized that curcumin could restore a functional ΔF508-CFTR to the plasma membrane acting via the K18 network. First, we analyzed the effects of curcumin on the localization of ΔF508-CFTR in different cell lines (HeLa cells stably transfected with wild-type CFTR or ΔF508-CFTR, CALU-3 cells, or cystic fibrosis pancreatic epithelial cells CFPAC-1) and found that it was significantly delocalized toward the plasma membrane in ΔF508-CFTR-expressing cells. We also performed a functional assay for the CFTR chloride channel in CFPAC-1 cells treated or not with curcumin and detected an increase in a cAMP-dependent chloride efflux in treated ΔF508-CFTR-expressing cells. The K18 network then was analyzed by immunocytochemistry and immunoblot exclusively in curcumin-treated or untreated CFPAC-1 cells because of their endogenic ΔF508-CFTR expression. After curcumin treatment, we observed a remodeling of the K18 network and a significant increase in K18 Ser52 phosphorylation, a site directly implicated in the reorganization of intermediate filaments. With these results, we propose that K18 as a new therapeutic target and curcumin, and/or its analogs, might be considered as potential therapeutic agents for cystic fibrosis.