Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized clinical trial of a videotape intervention for women with chemotherapy-induced alopecia: a gynecologic oncology group study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To evaluate changes in body image and self-esteem in women with gynecologic malignancies who experience chemotherapy-induced alopecia and to examine the effectiveness of a videotape intervention on body image and self-esteem. DESIGN A prospective, randomized study. SETTING Subjects were accrued from 11 Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) member institutions participating in 14 GOG treatment protocols. SAMPLE 136 women with chemotherapy-induced alopecia, a mean age of 57.7 years, and advanced disease at study entry. METHODS Prior to the first course of chemotherapy, all subjects received standard counseling regarding hair loss. Body image and self-esteem scores were obtained prior to course 1 and 3 and after course 4 of chemotherapy. Prior to course 3, women with grade 2 alopecia were allocated randomly to the videotape intervention or no intervention. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Total body image and self-esteem as measured by the Body Cathexis/Self-Cathexis Scale (BCSCS). FINDINGS A small but statistically significant change (p = 0.045) in body image was observed after chemotherapy-induced alopecia, with no change in self-esteem. The videotape did not produce a significant effect on body image score. CONCLUSIONS The study results support prior studies that have reported changes in body image as a result of chemotherapy-induced alopecia. The intervention employed (a videotape) was not effective. The BCSCS is a simple and quick measurement for use in future studies IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Chemotherapy-induced alopecia has an adverse effect on body image. Novel interventions are needed to assist women in coping with this consequence of treatment.
A systematic collaborative overview of randomized trials comparing idarubicin with daunorubicin (or other anthracyclines) as induction therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia

A collaborative overview, using individual patient data, has been performed to compare idarubicin versus daunorubicin or other anthracyclines, when used with cytosine arabinoside as induction chemotherapy for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia. There were 1052 patients in five trials versus daunorubicin, 100 in one trial versus doxorubicin, and 745 in one trial versus zorubicin. In the trials of idarubicin versus daunorubicin, early induction failures were similar with the two treatments (20% idarubicin v 18% daunorubicin; P = 0.4), but after day 40 the later induction failures were fewer with idarubicin (17% v 29%; P < 0.0001). Therefore complete remission rates were higher with idarubicin (62% v 53%; P = 0.002). Among remitters, fewer of the patients allocated to idarubicin relapsed (P = 0.008) but slightly more died in remission, leading to a non‐significant benefit (P = 0.07) in disease‐free survival. Overall survival in these five trials was significantly better with idarubicin than with daunorubicin (13% v 9% alive at 5 years; P = 0.03). There was a trend (P = 0.006 for remission rate) for the benefit of idarubicin over daunorubicin to decrease with increasing age. There were no significant differences in outcome in the small trial comparing idarubicin versus doxorubicin, or in the large trial comparing idarubicin versus zorubicin. The induction regimens based on idarubicin achieved, in the particular circumstances of the trials reviewed here, better remission rates and better overall survival than those based on daunorubicin.
Citing your sources: How community journalists use social media for story content generation

While newspapers grapple with a transition to a digital world, community journalists continue to utilize the tools at their disposal to produce locally-focused, original content while combating declining readership and shrinking newsrooms. One of those tools is social media. Social media platforms have become seamlessly integrated into the on-the-job, day-to-day newsgathering routines of the community newspaper journalists involved in this study. This practice reflects the culture of newsroom socialization, which instills journalistic values across the organization. Drawing from 14 in-depth interviews with American journalists at daily community newspapers, this thesis seeks to understand the underlying values of why social media has become an integral part of newsgathering process, and how the practice has become socialized in those newsrooms. This study advances that core journalistic values do not change with the entry of social platforms into daily newswork.
Identification and expression of genes narL and narX of the nar (nitrate reductase) locus in Escherichia coli K-12

Previous studies have shown that narL+ is required for nitrate induction of nitrate reductase synthesis and for nitrate inhibition of fumarate reductase synthesis in Escherichia coli. We cloned narL on a 5.1-kilobase HindIII fragment. Our clone also contained a previously unidentified gene, which we propose to designate as narX, as well as a portion of narK. Maxicell experiments indicated that narL and narX encode proteins with approximate MrS of 28,000 and 66,000, respectively. narX insertion mutations reduced nitrate reductase structural gene expression by less than twofold. Expression of phi (narL-lacZ) operon fusions was weakly induced by nitrate but was indifferent to aerobiosis and independent of fnr. Expression of phi (narX-lacZ) operon fusions was induced by nitrate and was decreased by narL and fnr mutations. A phi (narK-lacZ) operon fusion was induced by nitrate, and its expression was fully dependent on narL+ and fnr+. Analysis of these operon fusions indicated that narL and narX are transcribed counterclockwise with respect to the E. coli genetic map and that narK is transcribed clockwise.
Benefits and Challenges of Teaching Nursing Online: Exploring Perspectives of Different Stakeholders.

BACKGROUND Recruiting and retaining faculty to teach courses is crucial for online nursing programs to succeed. The purpose of this study was to gain a fuller understanding of the benefits and challenges of teaching nursing courses online by exploring the perspectives of faculty, administrators, and instructional designers at three schools of nursing in the southeastern United States. METHOD This qualitative multiple case study explored perspectives of 21 participants from different stakeholder groups. Researchers used cross-case analysis and determined emerging themes in data collected from interviews, course demonstrations, and course documents. RESULTS Data analysis revealed themes regarding benefits and challenges for nursing instructors in (a) teaching strategies, (b) instructor availability, (c) training and support, and (d) institutional issues. CONCLUSION This study found gaps in perspectives between participant groups that indicated a need for institutions to address communication issues, training program objectives, and institutional policies and procedures regarding online course design and delivery to promote faculty success and satisfaction. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(8):433-440. ].
The Stock Market's Reaction to News of Food Tampering in the United States

This study examines the stock market's reaction to food tampering incidents to calculate the cost of such incidents to shareholders. It found that a firm loses approximately US$613 million in equity value on the day that news of a tampering incident is made public. The targeted firm also incurs additional costs that are associated with extra couponing to attract consumers after a tampering incident, litigation costs, and in some cases costs associated with removing the product from the market. Because food tampering incidents seem to only occur while the food item is in “the stream of commerce” and outside the manufacturer's direct control, the use of surveillance along the distribution channel and consumer education could be helpful in averting further incidents and possibly deaths.
Financial analysts’ role in valuation and stewardship

Financial analysts intermediate in capital markets by bridging significant gaps in the information held by firms and investors. Through their valuation and monitoring activities, financial analysts are viewed by many as important in ensuring the efficient allocation of capital, increasing market liquidity and improving investor confidence (Beyer et al. 2010). Yet despite their significance in the corporate information environment, analysts are also regularly criticised for lacking objectivity. Since the high profile corporate scandals of the early 2000s and the financial crisis of 2007– 2008, important concerns have been raised about financial analysts’ capabilities and effectiveness. Threats to analysts’ impartiality introduced by a need to maintain relationships with management and to help maximise brokerage and investment banking income are often accepted as inescapable features of the information environment. In light of this, it is unsurprising that the literature on the financial analysts and their outputs is so vast. Researchers have exploited the availability of large databases to address various questions, such as how analysts perform relative to mechanical models in earnings forecasting, how influential analysts’ outputs are in security price formation and how successful analysts are in processing accounting information of various kinds. Nevertheless, there are important issues left untouched by academic research. The prior literature also stands accused of having a comparatively narrow topical and methodological focus (e.g. Bradshaw 2011). Moreover, the regulatory and institutional environment of analysts is a highly dynamic one. We are therefore pleased to introduce this special issue of Accounting Business Research, with the wide variety of subjects it covers and the range of theoretical and methodological approaches taken to address them. Aiming to assess the validity of concerns about the rigour and objectivity of analysts’ research, Salzedo et al. (2018) apply manual content analysis and natural language processing
The relationship between cartilage loss on magnetic resonance imaging and radiographic progression in men and women with knee osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between radiographic progression of joint space narrowing and cartilage loss on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA), and to investigate the location of MRI-based cartilage loss in the knee and its relation to radiographic progression. METHODS Two hundred twenty-four men and women (mean age 66 years) were studied. Radiographs and MRI of the more symptomatic knee were obtained at baseline and at 15- and 30-month followup. Radiographs of the knee (with weight-bearing) were read for joint space narrowing (scale 0-3), with progression defined as any worsening in score. We used a semiquantitative method to score cartilage morphology in all 5 regions of the tibiofemoral joint, and defined cartilage loss as an increase in score (scale 0-4) at any region. We examined the relationship between progression of joint space narrowing on radiographic images and cartilage loss on MRI, using a generalized estimating equation proportional odds logistic regression, adjusted for baseline cartilage score, age, body mass index, and sex. The medial and lateral compartments were analyzed separately. RESULTS In the medial compartment, 104 knees (46%) had cartilage loss detected by MRI. The adjusted odds ratio was 3.7 (95% confidence interval 2.2-6.3) for radiographic progression being predictive of cartilage loss on MRI. However, there was still a substantial proportion of knees (80 of 189 [42%]) with cartilage loss visible on MRI when no radiographic progression was apparent. Cartilage loss occurred frequently in the central regions of the femur and tibia as well as the posterior femur region, but radiographic progression was less likely to be observed when posterior femur regions showed cartilage loss. Radiographic progression appeared specific (91%) but not sensitive (23%) for cartilage loss. Overall findings were similar for the lateral compartment. CONCLUSION While our results provide longitudinal evidence that radiographic progression of joint space narrowing is predictive of cartilage loss assessed on MRI, radiography is not a sensitive measure, and if used alone, will miss a substantial proportion of knees with cartilage loss.
Extending memory capacity of neural associative memory based on recursive synaptic bit reuse

Neural associative memory (AM) is one of the critical building blocks for cognitive workloads such as classification and recognition. It learns and retrieves memories as humans brain does, i.e., changing the strengths of plastic synapses (weights) based on inputs and retrieving information by information itself. One of the key challenges in designing AM is to extend memory capacity (i.e., memories that a neural AM can learn) while minimizing power and hardware overhead. However, prior arts show that memory capacity scales slowly, often logarithmically or in squire root with the total bits of synaptic weights. This makes it prohibitive in hardware and power to achieve large memory capacity for practical applications. In this paper, we propose a synaptic model called recursive synaptic bit reuse, which enables near-linear scaling of memory capacity with total synaptic bits. Also, our model can handle input data that are correlated, more robustly than the conventional model. We experiment our proposed model in Hopfield Neural Networks (HNN) which contains the total synaptic bits of 5kB to 327kB and find that our model can increase the memory capacity as large as 30X over conventional models. We also study hardware cost via VLSI implementation of HNNs in a 65nm CMOS, confirming that our proposed model can achieve up to 10X area savings at the same capacity over conventional synaptic model.
Effect Of Non- Surgical Periodontal Treatment On Glycemic Control Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients With Periodontitis.

BACKGROUND Periodontitis and Diabetes Mellitus are two closely, bidirectional linked disease where periodontitis is a well-known complication of diabetes it is also considered to be a cause for poor glycaemic control. The present study objective was to evaluate the glycaemic control in patients suffering from both Diabetes Mellitus and Periodontitis after non-surgical periodontal treatment. METHODS A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted with two groups of patients attending Diabetic Clinic, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, during six months from September 2013 to February 2014. Forty-six diabetes mellitus subjects who were undergoing non-surgical treatment of periodontal disease that includes mechanical removal of supra- and sub gingival bacterial plaque with scalers, antibiotics and or root canal if required while 46 subjects with diabetic mellitus having periodontal disease did not had treatment for periodontal disease. HbA1c was compared at base line and at three months. Data was compiled and analysed through SPSS version 16. Quantitative variables like HbA1c was presented as mean±SD. Qualitative variables like gender, education status, economic status, treatment for diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease were described by using frequency percentages. The t-test was applied to assess statistical significance in mean difference HbA1c between two groups. p-value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS Forty-six subjects who received non-surgical treatment for periodontitis 43 (93.5%) received scaling only while 3 (6.5%) received scaling plus antibiotics. Fall in the level of HbA1c was observed among subjects with treatment of periodontal disease indicating a good control of diabetes while in group without treatment there was either no change or increase in HbA1c. Mean HbA1c at baseline in group with treatment of periodontitis at baseline was 7.672±. 6414 and without treatment was 6.957±. 3494. (t= -1.008, p<.279). Mean HbA1c after 3 months in group with treatment of periodontitis was 6.867±. 6168, and in group without treatment was 6.983±. 3678. (t=6.641, p<.000). CONCLUSIONS Non-surgical periodontal treatment is associated with improved glycaemic control (reduced HbA1c level) in type 2 diabetic patients.
Exchange-traded products in Germany: development and substitution of exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded commodities and exchange-traded notes

Research background: Exchange-traded products (ETPs) are one of the most rapidly growing categories of financial products. Their fast development has been boosted by innovative features. Three main categories of ETPs are exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs). ETCs and ETNs remain least known, even though their number on some stock exchanges is high. In Europe, Germany is one of the largest and most active ETPs markets. ETCs and ETNs are debt instruments, in contrast with the most popular ETFs, which are equity securities. Therefore, they offer investors different advantages, but also expose them to other types of risks. Purpose of the article: The key aim of the article is to present the features of ETPs and to provide in-depth insight into the issues linked with the development of ETPs market in Germany, with the special emphasis on the ETCs and ETNs. Methods: In the main empirical part of the article, German ETPs market is analyzed using descriptive statistics and technological substitution framework (employed for the analysis of innovations in order to evaluate the changing market shares of, first, ETFs versus ETCs and ETNs, as well as, second, ETFs versus other types of investment funds). The period of the analysis is 2010–2016 in the former case and 2007–2016 in the latter. Findings & Value added: Share of ETPs other than ETFs in the total market in Germany remains low. Even though the market position of the leading products, i.e. ETFs, is still very strong, some substitution has been observed, especially after 2015. Predictions indicate that this trend will continue in the upcoming years. The results of the analysis of the investment funds’ market confirm the substitution between ETFs and traditional investment funds over 2007–2017, in particular in the first years of this time period.
Debt covenants and analysts’ information environment

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether private information from financial covenants in syndicated loans affects analysts’ information environment. Specifically, we examine the relationship between the number of financial covenants and common information in analysts’ forecasts, defined as the common-to-total information ratio. We demonstrate that the common information in analysts’ forecasts increases significantly after loan initiation when loans impose more financial covenants. We also find that the effect is more pronounced for balance sheet-based covenants relative to income statement-based covenants. Our evidence suggests that analysts use financial covenant information in loan contracts to shape their forecast behavior.
Pharmacovigilance in hospice/palliative care: net effect of pregabalin for neuropathic pain

Introduction Real-world effectiveness of many medications has been poorly researched, including in hospice/palliative care. Directly extrapolating findings from other clinical settings may not yield robust clinical advice. Pharmacovigilance studies provide an opportunity to understand better the net impact of medications. The study aimed to examine immediate and short-term benefits and harms of pregabalin in routine practice for neuropathic pain in hospice/palliative care. Methods A consecutive cohort of 155 patients from 62 centres in 5 countries was started on pregabalin and studied prospectively. Data were collected at three time points: baseline; day 7 (immediate, short-term harms); ad hoc reports of any harms ≤21 days; and day 21 (short-term benefits). Results Median dose for 155 patients at day 21 was 150 mg/24 h. Benefits were reported by 61 patients (39%), of whom 11 (7%) experienced complete pain resolution. Harms were reported by 51 (35%) patients at or before 7 days, the most frequent of which were somnolence, fatigue, cognitive disturbance and dizziness. 10 patients (6%) ceased pregabalin due to harms, but 82 patients (53%) were being treated at 21 days. In regression modelling, people with worse baseline pain derived more benefit (OR=8.5 (95% CI 2.5 to 28.68). Conclusions Pregabalin delivered benefit to many patients, with 4 of 10 experiencing pain reductions by 21 days. Harms, occurring in 1 in 3 patients, may be difficult to detect in clinical practice, as they mostly involve worsening of symptoms prevalent at baseline.
Toxic Arbitrage

Short lived arbitrage opportunities arise when prices adjust with a lag to new information. They are toxic because they expose dealers to the risk of trading at stale quotes. Hence, theory implies that more frequent toxic arbitrage opportunities and a faster arbitrageurs' response to these should impair liquidity. We provide supporting evidence using data on triangular arbitrage. As predicted, illiquidity is higher on days when the fraction of toxic arbitrage opportunities and arbitrageurs' relative speed are higher. Overall, our findings suggest that the price efficiency gain of high frequency arbitrage comes at the cost of increased adverse selection risk.
Enhanced Toll‐like receptor (TLR) responses of TNFR‐associated factor 3 (TRAF3)‐deficient B lymphocytes

The key role of TRAF6 in TLR signaling pathways is well known. More recent evidence has implicated TRAF3 as another TRAF family member important to certain TLR responses of myeloid cells. Previous studies demonstrate that TRAF3 functions are highly context‐dependent, displaying receptor and cell‐type specificity. We thus examined the TLR responses of TRAF3−/−mouse B lymphocytes to test the hypothesis that TRAF3 plays distinct roles in such responses, depending on cell type. TRAF3−/− DC are known to have a defect in type 1 IFN production and here, showed diminished production of TNF and IL‐10 and unaltered IL‐6. In marked contrast, TRAF3−/− B cells made elevated amounts of TNF and IL‐6 protein, as well as IL‐10 and IP‐10 mRNA, in response to TLR ligands. Also, in contrast to TRAF3−/− DC, the type 1 IFN pathway was elevated in TRAF3−/− B cells. Increased early responses of TRAF3−/− B cells to TLR signals were independent of cell survival or proliferation but associated with elevated canonical NF‐κB activation. Additionally, TRAF3−/− B cells displayed enhanced TLR‐mediated expression of AID and Ig isotype switching. Thus, TRAF3 plays varied and cell type‐specific, biological roles in TLR responses.
[Association between parainfluenza virus infection and climatic factors in children].

OBJECTIVE To study the association between acute respiratory human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) infection and climatic factors in children. METHODS A total of 2 526 throat swab samples were collected from children with acute respiratory infection who visited the Pediatric Clinic of Shanghai Jiading Nanxiang Hospital between 2011 and 2013. HPIV was detected by multiplex RT-PCR. Related meteorological data were collected, including monthly mean temperature, monthly mean humidity, and monthly total rainfall. The association between HPIV detection rate and climatic factors was analyzed by Spearman's or Pearson test. RESULTS During the three years, the overall HPIV detection rate was 5.62% (142/2 526), and HPIV-1 was the most common type (46.5%), followed by HPIV-3 (31.0%), HPIV-2 (17.6%), and HPIV-4 (4.9%). There were significant differences in the detection rates of HPIV-1 and HPIV-2 in different seasons, and the detection rates of both were the highest in summer (P<0.05). HPIV positive rate was positively correlated with monthly mean temperature (r=0.598; P<0.01) and monthly total rainfall (rs=0.602; P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS The activity of HPIV in children is correlated with climatic factors, particularly temperature and rainfall.