Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 Predicts Poor Survival in Gallbladder Cancer

Chemokine receptors play a prominent role in cancer progression and metastasis. This study investigated whether the expression of CXC chemokine receptor types 4 and 7 (CXCR4 and CXCR7, respectively), determined immunohistochemically, was associated with clinicopathological characteristics and postoperative survival in gallbladder cancer specimens from 72 patients. CXCR4 was detected in the cytoplasm and/or nucleus of gallbladder cancer cells, but CXCR7 was detected only in the cytoplasm. Expression of either CXCR7 or CXCR4 in the cytoplasm was associated with tumour stage. Expression of nuclear CXCR4 was associated with lymph node metastases and lymphatic invasion. Cytoplasmic expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 were each independent risk factors for worse postoperative survival. Further research is required to clarify the mechanisms involved in these associations and to determine their potential prognostic and therapeutic implications.
In vitro activity of rifaximin against bacterial enteropathogens causing diarrhoea in children under 5 years of age in Ifakara, Tanzania.

J Antimicrob Chemother 2001; 47: 904–905 Josep M. Sierra, Margarita M. Navia, Martha Vargas, Honorati Urassa, David Schellemberg, Joaquim Gascón, Jordi Vila and Joaquim Ruiz* Servicio de Microbiología, Unidad de Epidemiología y Bioestadística and Unitat Medicina Tropical, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain; Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre, National Institute for Medical Research, Ifakara, Tanzania
Bifidogenic Effects of Solid Weaning Foods With Added Prebiotic Oligosaccharides: A Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial

Objectives: Breast-fed infants have relatively high proportions of faecal bifidobacteria. This bifidogenic microbiota is at least partly explained by the high levels of prebiotic oligosaccharides in human milk. The present study aimed at testing the effect of solid foods with added prebiotic galacto- and fructo-oligosaccharides (GOS/FOS) on the composition of the intestinal microbiota of fully formula-fed infants during the weaning period. Methods: The study was a double-blind, randomised trial with an intervention period of 6 weeks. Infants aged 4 to 6 months who were about to start consuming solid foods were randomised to receive either weaning products with a mixture of GOS/FOS or control weaning products with maltodextrin. After an adjustment period, the presented daily dose of GOS/FOS was 4.5 g. Total numbers of bacteria and bifidobacteria in faecal samples were analysed with fluorescent in situ hybridization. Results: Thirty-five infants were included in the study, and 20 infants were included in a per-protocol analysis. In the GOS/FOS group, the faecal percentage of bifidobacteria significantly increased from 43% to 57% (P = 0.031) from week 0 to week 6, but did not significantly change in the control group (36% and 32%, respectively; P = 0.387). The change in the percentage of bifidobacteria between week 0 and week 6 in the GOS/FOS was significantly different from this change in the control group (P = 0.026). Conclusions: We conclude that addition of GOS/FOS to solid foods induces an increase in the faecal proportion of bifidobacteria in the intestinal microbiota of fully formula-fed infants with an established, mixed-type microbiota in the weaning period.
Epidemiological characteristics of thyroid nodules and risk factors for malignant nodules: a retrospective study from 6 304 surgical cases

Background The prevalence of thyroid nodules (TN) is increasing rapidly. This study analyzed the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of TN in surgically treated patients and identified the risk factors for malignant nodules (MN) to provide more understanding of the differential diagnosis of TN. Methods A total of 6 304 TN cases who underwent thyroid surgery were included in this retrospective study. The clinical data were collected to evaluate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and related risk factors for MN. The nature of TN (benign nodules (BN) or MN), medical records, laboratory data, and imaging data were analyzed. The risk factors for MN were screened using Spearman's rank correlation analysis and nonconditional binary Logistic regression analysis. Results The number of surgically treated TN cases increased yearly. A total of 34.33% of cases were MN and 65.67% were BN. Up to 56.74% of these cases underwent unnecessary surgery. Among the MN cases, papillary thyroid carcinoma accounted for 94%, in which 46.71% coexisted with benign thyroid disease and 32.28% with multiple foci. Single‐related factor analysis showed that age, employment, disease duration, history of breast nodules and/or hypertension, the levels of serum thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPoAb), and ultrasound features of TN were related to MN. Stepwise nonconditional binary Logistic regression analysis showed that 13 factors may be the independent risk factors for MN, including <40 years old, previous history of breast nodules and/or hypertension, disease duration <1 month, employment, hypoechoic nodule, irregular nodules, nodule calcification, solid echo nodule, fuzzy boundary, rich blood flow within nodules, abnormal lymph nodes around the neck, nodule diameter <1 cm, and abnormally high TgAb. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a rapid increase in surgically treated TN cases and ratio of MN and indicate unnecessary surgeries in some cases. This study also suggest that age, duration of thyroid disease, history of breast disease and/or hypertension, the levels of serum TSH, TgAb, and TPoAb, and ultrasound features of TN are related to MN, and some of these factors may be the risk factors for MN.
The effectiveness of treasury bills in stimulating growth of the Zimbabwean economy

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of treasury bills in stimulating growth of the Zimbabwean economy. Literature on the effectiveness of Treasury bills asserts that treasury bills contribute to the growth of the economy. Interviews were held with the Ministry of Finance, Banks and Pension Funds as well as the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). The researcher managed to interview eleven interviewees with all sectors of the economy being represented. Tables and content analysis were used to present data. The research found that the current status of treasury bills issuances in Zimbabwe is that most organisations are not participating in the market for securities. The Government issued treasury bills but their uptake has been very low. This is due to a number of factors which include too much debt in the market, insufficient capital, poor interbank trading, unavailability of collateral security for the lender-of-last- resort, as well as for the settlement systems such as ZimSwitch, RTGS and a poor cheque clearing system. Treasury bills were not found to be effective enough in Zimbabwe as money market instruments to mobilise funds for the government. They have not had a positive influence on the availability of liquidity in the Zimbabwean economy. The research recommends that Treasury bills should be affordable and attract an economically competitive benchmark value in the securities market. There should be a buy-back feature of TBs and there is need for more risk free instruments for money market borrowing. In order to stimulate growth of the Zimbabwean economy, the research recommends that the Government of Zimbabwe should continue with its cash budget approach and improve it. An area of further study is recommended to investigate the impact of dollarization on the performance of stock markets in Zimbabwe; in as far as they influence money supply and liquidity in the economy.
ABSEL Awareness among Business School Faculty

An e-mail survey of 14,497 business faculty members across all business disciplines was undertaken to investigate business simulation game adoption and usage behavior. The survey produced 1085 responses. While many issues were addressed in this survey, the current paper examines only the awareness of ABSEL among business faculty members. The survey results indicated that the overall level of awareness of ABSEL was only 13.7% among the 1056 respondents who answered the Yes/No question â€œI am familiar with ABSELâ€. Among current simulation game users, 28.0% were aware of ABSEL, among former simulation game users, 22.9% were aware of ABSEL but, not surprisingly, only 2.5% of non-users of simulation games were aware of ABSEL. The survey results suggest that advertising, direct mail and e-mail may be the best means of communication for ABSEL to increase awareness. A cooperative advertising effort between ABSEL and simulation game publishers might also be useful.
Audit committee independence, financial expertise and financial restatements: empirical evidence in Malaysia

This study examines the effect of audit committee characteristics namely audit committee independence, accounting background of the chairman of audit committee and financial expertise of audit committee members on the financial restatements of the public listed companies in Malaysia. Many studies that investigated the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial restatements were done in foreign countries. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature in this field of study in Malaysia. The theoretical foundation of this relationship was supported by agency theory. The main source of information for this study was obtained from the annual reports for the fiscal year 2014. By using the logistic regression analysis, the results show that there is negative relationship between the audit committee independence and financial restatements. However, with regards the results for the accounting background of the chairman of audit committee and the financial expertise of audit committee members show that the relationship are not statistically significant. In order to get better understanding of the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial restatements, this study also has discussed the implications and suggestions for future research.
Development and validation of an Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ)

Entrepreneurship education quite often concentrates on business-plan and startup courses. Higher education institutions -such as universities or collegesdo not differ significantly from this general trend. These courses do play a very important role in giving students technical knowledge about entrepreneurship and -through itthey also increase their self-efficacy perceptions. However, the decision to create a firm not only depends on knowing how to do it and feeling able. There are other important elements that also have to be taken into account. According to the literature, the intention to be an entrepreneur would be the single best predictor of actual firm-creation behaviour. In this sense, an entrepreneur would make his decision based on three elements: his personal preference or attraction towards entrepreneurship; the perceived social valuation of that career option; and, thirdly, his perceived feasibility (self-efficacy perceptions). Unfortunately, there is not a validated instrument to measure abilities, attitudes and intentions towards entrepreneurship. In this sense, we have developed an Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ), based on an integration of psychology and entrepreneurship literature, as well as previous empirical research in this field. These items are designed as likert-type scales. It also includes other items about knowledge of the entrepreneurial world, family background, labour experience and business objectives, to test their relationships with entrepreneurial intention. This EIQ has been recently validated on a sample of 354 last-year university students of business and economics. In this paper we describe the main characteristics and psychometric properties of the EIQ. Traditional reliability measures, as Cronbach’s α, confirm that items used in each construct are adequate. Besides, general results strongly support the validity of the entrepreneurial intention model. Therefore, there would be a solid base for designing and implementing entrepreneurship courses trying to affect personal preferences and perceived social valuation of entrepreneurship. Only for those people that already show a sufficiently high level of these features, a business-plan course would achieve all its potential to increase entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the intention to become an entrepreneur.
Evaluating the cost of medications for ambulatory HIV-infected persons in association with landmark changes in antiretroviral therapy.

Costs of medications for ambulatory HIV-infected people increase as knowledge of antiretroviral therapy and therapy for opportunistic infection grows. We evaluated the evolution of drug costs for HIV-infected persons who attend a university clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. Cross-sectional abstracts of a cohort of patients for four periods, corresponding to landmark changes in therapy, who attended the clinic between June 1995 and September 1996 were obtained. Monthly medication costs for all patients were calculated. Mean costs increased significantly (p < .01) from period 1 ($447 U.S.) to period 4 ($1048 U.S.). Multivariate analysis only revealed higher costs for patients with a CD4+ count <200 cells/mm3 (p < .001). The proportion of costs attributable to antiretroviral therapy increased from 34% in period 1 to 53% in period 4. Combination therapy increased >10-fold, from 8% in period 1 to 94% in period 4. Protease inhibitor use also increased significantly, from 4% in period 2 to 53% in period 4. We quantified the increase in costs of medications from mid-1995 to late 1996. Increases in costs appear to be the result of increasing complexity of drug regimens, particularly antiretroviral therapy in combinations.
The influence of rhythm and personality in the endurance response to motivational asynchronous music

Abstract In this study, we examined participants' responses to motivational asynchronous music by isolating rhythmical properties and exploring personality correlates. Fifty-eight physically active participants (41 men and 17 women) aged 22.3 ± 6.4 years performed an isometric weight-holding task on three occasions while being randomly exposed to no music, rhythm and motivational music. The rhythm and music conditions were edited portions of the same musical selection and had identical fast tempi, although the rhythm condition contained no melody, harmonies or lyrics. Participants each completed a copy of Cattell's 16PF following the third and final trial. A repeated-measures analysis of variance found the participants held the weight suspended for significantly longer when listening to motivational music in comparison to rhythm or no music. When listening to rhythm, participants endured the task for significantly longer than when listening to no music. The response to music was found to be significantly related to liveliness, while sensitivity correlated with responses to music factors (harmony, melody, lyrics, etc.) not present in the rhythm condition. These results suggest that responses to motivational music are subtle in nature and are determined by both musical factors and individual characteristics, and potentially an interaction between the two.
Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease

For the last 50 years, levodopa has been the cornerstone of Parkinson’s disease management. However, a majority of patients develop motor complications a few years after therapy onset. Deep brain stimulation has been approved by the FDA as an adjunctive treatment in Parkinson disease, especially aimed at controlling these complications. However, the exact mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation, the best nucleus to target as well as the best timing for surgery are still debatable. We here provide an in-depth and critical review of the current literature on this topic.
Income Classification Shifting and Financial Analysts’ Forecasts

Income classification shifting involves misclassifying core expenses into non-core items to boost core earnings. Managers engage in classification shifting because they believe they can manage the perceptions of investors and financial analysts. We examine analysts’ earnings forecasts to determine whether analysts can identify classification shifting ex post and how they respond to shifted income statement components. Analysts play a role as information intermediaries between firms and investors. We find that analysts respond less to increased core earnings from classification shifting. However, analysts fail to gauge the full impact of classification shifting, leading to more optimistically biased and less accurate forecasts.
Horizontal Depth: A New Database on the Content of Preferential Trade Agreements

Preferential trade agreements are an important feature of the global trade system. Several questions, ranging from the rationale for preferential arrangements to their impact on members, non-members and the broader multilateral trade system, are at the forefront of academic and policy debates in trade policy. This paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it presents a new database that offers a detailed assessment of the content of preferential arrangements, examining the coverage and legal enforceability of provisions. The database covers 279 agreements signed by 189 countries between 1958 and 2015, which reflects the entire set of preferential trade agreements in force and notified to the World Trade Organization as of 2015. Second, the paper presents some novel stylized facts on preferential arrangements based on the analysis of the data. The key insight is that preferential trade agreements became deeper over time. A growing number of these treaties cover an extended set of policy areas, frequently with legally enforceable provisions, in areas under the current World Trade Organization mandate and in four leading areas outside the current World Trade Organization mandate: competition policy, investment, movements of capital, and intellectual property rights protection. Accounting for the changing coverage of preferential trade agreements, that is, their “horizontal depth,” is essential to gain a more complete and accurate understanding of where the global trading system is going and how its governance can be improved.
Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

Significance Understanding olfactory communication in natural vertebrate populations requires knowledge of how genes and the environment influence highly complex individual chemical fingerprints. To understand how relevant information is chemically encoded and may feed into mother–offspring recognition, we therefore generated chemical and genetic data for Antarctic fur seal mother–pup pairs. We show that pups are chemically highly similar to their mothers, reflecting a combination of genetic and environmental influences. We also reveal associations between chemical fingerprints and both genetic quality and relatedness, the former correlating positively with substance diversity and the latter encoded mainly by a small subset of substances. Dissecting apart chemical fingerprints to reveal subsets of potential biological relevance has broad implications for understanding vertebrate chemical communication. Chemical communication underpins virtually all aspects of vertebrate social life, yet remains poorly understood because of its highly complex mechanistic basis. We therefore used chemical fingerprinting of skin swabs and genetic analysis to explore the chemical cues that may underlie mother–offspring recognition in colonially breeding Antarctic fur seals. By sampling mother–offspring pairs from two different colonies, using a variety of statistical approaches and genotyping a large panel of microsatellite loci, we show that colony membership, mother–offspring similarity, heterozygosity, and genetic relatedness are all chemically encoded. Moreover, chemical similarity between mothers and offspring reflects a combination of genetic and environmental influences, the former partly encoded by substances resembling known pheromones. Our findings reveal the diversity of information contained within chemical fingerprints and have implications for understanding mother–offspring communication, kin recognition, and mate choice.
Quantum system modelling

The presented paper introduces the complex probabilities (multi-models) being represented in spectral area (modulus and phases) with similar attributes as, for example, Fourier series. Each probabilistic model component is newly composed of a phase parameter that characterises the composition rules of universal models and must be quantised to fulfill the single-valuedness condition. The algorithm for identification of modulus and phase parameters is also presented together with its interpretation with respect to complementarity principle.
Oral health and changes in weight and waist circumference among community-dwelling older adults in Brazil.

BACKGROUND The authors conducted a study to evaluate the association between changes in weight and waist circumference (WC) and oral health status among older adults in Brazil. METHODS The study sample consisted of community-dwelling people representing the population 60 years and older in the city of São Paulo who were enrolled in the Health, Well-being and Aging cohort study. Changes in weight and WC were classified as stable (within 5 percent of the second-wave weight and WC), loss (5 percent or more decrease since the second wave) and gain (5 percent or more increase since the second wave). The following baseline characteristics were the independent variables: sociodemographic variables (age, sex and education), general health data (number of self-reported chronic diseases, physical activity, weight, WC and smoking status) and oral health (edentulism, need for dental prostheses). RESULTS The incidence of weight (33.2 percent) and WC (35.3 percent) gain was higher than that of loss (13.5 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively). Neither weight nor WC gains were associated with dental status. The risk of weight and WC loss was higher among edentulous participants than among dentate participants. CONCLUSION The results of this study show that edentulism status was a significant predictor of weight and WC loss, independent of socioeconomic and general health status. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Edentulism has a significant impact on weight and WC, which highlights the importance of an integrated approach to health care among health care professionals.