Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the use of videotaped objective structured clinical examination in the assessment of joint examination skills of medical students.

OBJECTIVE Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a key part of medical student assessment. Currently, assessment is performed by medical examiners in situ. Our objective was to determine whether assessment by videotaped OSCE is as reliable as live OSCE assessment. METHODS Participants were 95 undergraduate medical students attending their musculoskeletal week at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle (UK). Student performance on OSCE stations for shoulder or knee examinations was assessed by experienced rheumatologists. The stations were also videotaped and scored by a rheumatologist independently. The examinations consisted of a 14-item checklist and a global rating scale (GRS). RESULTS Mean values for the shoulder OSCE checklist were 17.9 by live assessment and 17.4 by video (n = 50), and 20.9 and 20.0 for live and video knee assessment, respectively (n = 45). Intraclass correlation coefficients for shoulder and knee checklists were 0.55 and 0.58, respectively, indicating moderate reliability between live and video scores for the OSCE checklists. GRS scores were less reliable than checklist scores. There was 84% agreement in the classification of examination grades between live and video checklist scores for the shoulder and 87% agreement for the knee (kappa = 0.43 and 0.51, respectively; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Video OSCE has the potential to be reliable and offers some advantages over live OSCE including more efficient use of examiners' time, increased fairness, and better monitoring of standards across various schools/sites. However, further work is needed to support our findings and to implement and evaluate the quality assurance issues identified in this work before justifiable recommendations can be made.
Is Informed Trading Different Across Investor Types?

In this study we compare the extent of informed trading across investor types in the Korean stock market using intraday quote and trade data from January 2006 to September 2013. We estimate for each stock the probability of information-based trading (PIN) using trades that are initiated by foreign institutional investors, domestic institutional investors, and domestic individual investors separately. The results show that PIN values of foreign and domestic institutional investors are much higher than those of individual investors. Contrary to the belief of some market participants, however, we find that PIN values of foreign institutional investors are lower than those of domestic institutional investors, suggesting that domestic institutional investors engage in more informed trading than foreign institutional investors. We also find a strong cross-sectional relation between PIN and stock/firm attributes.
Passivity-based 3D attitude coordination: Convergence and connectivity

In this paper we consider the problem of attitude coordination on balanced graphs, where the kinematics of each rigid-body is modeled on SE(3). We show that the kinematics on SE(3) satisfies a passivity property with a positive definite storage function and we propose an angular velocity control law for each rigid-body that decreases the sum of the storage functions of the individual rigid-bodies. Attitude coordination results if all rigid-bodies' rotation matrices are positive definite in the initial conditions and the communication graph is connected. We show that the speed of convergence in the attitude coordination problem is determined by the second smallest eigenvalue of graph Laplacian. Our results are also extended to the case when there are delays in communication among rigid-bodies, a leader and communication failures. Using the concept of brief instability we show that, for a given failure rate and bound, attitude coordination is still achieved. Finally, the results are validated in simulations and experiments.
Pediatric Safety Incidents From an Intensive Care Reporting System

Objectives: Adverse events impose a great burden on patients and the health care system, but not enough is known about how to address incidents involving pediatric patients. This study examined the demographic factors, types of events, contributing system factors, and harm associated with incidents that occur in pediatric intensive care units. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 2 years of data on all pediatric safety incidents and near misses reported to the voluntary provider-recorded Intensive Care Unit Safety Reporting System in regards to harm and contributing factors. Results: In 464 incidents reported from 23 intensive care units to the Intensive Care Unit Safety Reporting System, patients were physically injured in one third of incidents and harmed in some way in two thirds of incidents. Medication errors were the most common incident type, but were associated with less harm than other event types. Line, tube, and airway events comprised one third of incidents and were associated with more harm than other types. Patient contributing factors were a strong predictor of harm; training and education factors were also commonly cited. In multivariate analysis, patient factors were the strongest predictor of harm adjusting for age, sex, and race. Conclusions: Pediatric patients are commonly harmed in intensive care units. There are several potential ways to improve safety including protocols for high-risk procedures involving lines and tubes, improved monitoring, and staffing, training and communication initiatives. Providers may be able to identify patients at increased risk for harm and intervene to protect patient safety.
High throughput quantitative reverse transcription PCR assays revealing over‐expression of cancer testis antigen genes in multiple myeloma stem cell‐like side population cells

Multiple myeloma (MM) stem cells, proposed to be responsible for the tumourigenesis, drug resistance and recurrence of this disease, are enriched in the cancer stem cell‐like side population (SP). Cancer testis antigens (CTA) are attractive targets for immunotherapy because they are widely expressed in cancers but only in limited types of normal tissues. We designed a high throughput assay, which allowed simultaneous relative quantifying expression of 90 CTA genes associated with MM. In the three MM cell lines tested, six CTA genes were over‐expressed in two and LUZP4 and ODF1 were universally up‐regulated in all three cell lines. Subsequent study of primary bone marrow (BM) from eight MM patients and four healthy donors revealed that 19 CTA genes were up‐regulated in SP of MM compared with mature plasma cells. In contrast, only two CTA genes showed a moderate increase in SP cells of healthy BM. Furthermore, knockdown using small interfering RNA (siRNA) revealed that LUZP4 expression is required for colony‐forming ability and drug resistance in MM cells. Our findings indicate that multiple CTA have unique expression profiles in MM SP, suggesting that CTA may serve as targets for immunotherapy that it specific for MM stem cells and which may lead to the long‐term cure of MM.
Export Promotion, Sales and Profits: A Structural Equation Modelling

Export promotion can be a differentiator for sales and profits. More research works are needed to explicitly delve into developing concrete models and multi-dimensional scales to strengthen the theoretical foundations for measuring export performance. This study uses SEM to model on export promotion, firm's quality reputation, product and service quality for generating sales with profit. The respondents were the Johor State manufacturing exporters selected from the Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers Directory based on Krejcie and Morgan sampling plan. Respondents answered a self-administered survey questionnaire. Results indicated that the observable variable of export promotion comprises of management of sales promotion activities, selecting and participating in relevant trade fairs, preparation of product literature, and evaluating channel performance. The latent variables that have loaded highly into enhancing firm's quality are improving products, providing better service quality and gaining reputation. The latent variables of sales performance that loaded in the observable measure of export sales are export sales efficiency and export sales growth. Profits measure was found to comprise of export profitability and profit margin. Structural equation modelling of good fitting has shown that export promotion enhances firm's quality and will lead to higher sales with profits. Future research and practical implications are reported. Keyword : export, export promotion, products, service quality, export performance
Antidiarrhoeal activity of hot water extract of black tea (Camellia sinensis)

The effect of a hot water extract of black tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze, Theaceae) on upper gastrointestinal transit and on diarrhoea was investigated employing conventional rodent models of diarrhoea. Black tea extract was found to possess antidiarrhoeal activity in all the models of diarrhoea used. Naloxone (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) signiﬁcantly inhibited the antidiarrhoeal activity of the extract as well as loperamide, thus indicating a role of the opioid system in the antidiarrhoeal activity of the extract. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Impact of Sustainability Performance on Financial Performance: An Empirical Study of Global Fortune (N100) Firms

Last three decades have witnessed a huge amount of research trying to establish how company's sustainability performance (SP) is related with financial performance (FP). Researchers have applied various methods and theoretical frameworks to investigate this relationship but results are still fragmented and competing. In this article, we analyze the relationship between SP measures (Economic, Environmental, and Social) and FP. Data for the for all SP dimensions are obtained by applying manual content analysis technique on the sustainability reports of Global Fortune N100 firms from 2007 to 2011. Differently from previous contributions, in this article sustainability disclosure (SD) and SP are considered jointly through a composite index. To best of our knowledge, the time series is the longest in this field of research. Finally, the compliance of sustainability report with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines ensures a high degree of comparability and quality of information provided by the companies. Results obtained from fixed effect regression models reveal that the economic performance information is not relevant, while the impact of environmental and social dimensions of sustainability remains relevant and significant across different measures of FP. No evidence shows any relation between SP and ownership structure. The use of control sample further corroborates the relevance of sustainability dimension to explain changes in FP.
Customer service quality in the Greek Cypriot banking industry

Purpose – To measure the service quality perceptions of Greek Cypriot bank customers and to examine the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth, in the light of changing bank market dynamics due to EU accession.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 260 retail bank customers responded to a Greek translated version of SERVQUAL. After descriptive and factor analysis, multivariate regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of service quality dimensions on overall customer satisfaction and the impact of satisfaction on positive word of mouth.Findings – The SERVQUAL scale proved to be of a three‐dimensional structure in this study. Results revealed that the expectations of bank customers were not met where the largest gap was obtained in the responsiveness‐empathy dimension. Reliability items had the highest effect on customer satisfaction, which in turn had a statistically significant impact on the positive word of mouth.Research limitations/implicatio.
Porous hydroxyapatite for grafting the maxillary sinus: a comparative histomorphometric study in sheep.

PURPOSE This experimental study in adult female sheep examined the value of nonresorbable porous hydroxyapatite (HA) as a grafting material in a single-stage sinus-lift procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two titanium plasma-flame-sprayed cylindric implants were placed bilaterally in each of 54 sinuses in 27 adult female sheep. In 2 groups of 18 sinuses each, the subantral hollow space was filled with porous HA or autogenous cancellous bone harvested from the iliac crest, respectively. Eighteen sinuses were not augmented and served as controls. The time course of new bone formation and bone remodeling was evaluated by sequential polyfluorochrome labeling. Observation periods were 12, 16, and 26 weeks after the surgical procedure. Six sinuses per observation period and test group were available for histologic evaluation. RESULTS All implants were osseointegrated in the local host bone. New bone formation was observed in a triangular area bounded by the implant surface, local buccal antral wall, and submucous connective tissue around all implants. The mean length of bone-implant contact was 3.9 +/- 0.3 mm in the control group, 5.7 +/- 0.3 mm in the autogenous bone group, and 5.9 +/- 0.3 mm in the group augmented with porous HA. During the observation period, the relative length of direct bone-implant contact increased from 20% to 25.1% in the control group, from 30.4% to 35.5% in the autogenous bone group, and from 29.8% to 41.7% in the HA group. At a distance of 1 mm from the implant, the mean bone volume was 29.7 +/- 15.7% in the autogenous bone group. In the group augmented with HA the mean bone volume was 11.2 +/- 13.0%. DISCUSSION There was no significant difference between HA and autogenous bone regarding bone-implant contact (P = .89). CONCLUSIONS Both groups showed a significantly greater bone-implant contact (HA: P = .002; autogenous bone: P = .0005) than the empty control group. However, since the results varied widely, the use of HA alone for sinus grafting should be used with discretion in sinus-lift procedures.
Commentary: Models and correlates of firesetting behavior.

From antiquity, fire has played an integral role in human survival. Numerous references to its mythical and religious significance can be found in ancient biblical and mythological texts. In modern times, however, fire has been less a symbol of reverence and too often a tool of violence and destruction. Every year in the United States, approximately 500,000 incendiary and suspect fires occur, causing over $2 billion in losses, 3,500 injuries, and 750 deaths. According to Lyman, “when measured on a cost per incident basis, arson is the most expensive crime committed. ” No other area of forensic practice has been more detrimentally affected by inaccurate presumption than firesetting. Fineman contends that such widespread misunderstanding is largely due to the failure of mental health professionals to dispel misconceptions about fire-related behavior. Clearly, it is incumbent on mental health professionals to work with investigators and professionals across disciplines in an effort to facilitate a better understanding of firesetting phenomena. The paper that we have been asked to comment on is potentially an important source of data on this complex behavior. We will begin by reviewing the literature on juvenile firesetting to place this article in the context of present knowledge. Theoretical Models of Firesetting Behavior
Circadian rhythms of digestive enzymes in the small intestine of the rat. II. Effects of fasting and refeeding.

The effects of fasting were examined on the rhythmic changes in the activities of maltase [EC 3.2. 1.20] and leucine aminopeptidase [EC 3.4. 11.1] in the small intestine of rats which has been kept under scheduled feeding conditions. Irrespective of whether the rats had been kept on a daytime or nighttime feeding schedule, the rhythms of maltase and leucine aminopeptidase persisted when the animals were starved. However, the amplitude of the leucine aminopeptidase rhythm began to decrease from the first day of fasting, while that of maltase did not. Conspicuous rhythms persisted for at least 2 days during fasting, but they gradually became vague and disappeared after 5 days. When rats were refed after fasting, the leucine aminopeptidase activity increased within a few hours, but the maltose activity did not. It is suggested that the rhythms of the digestive enzymes in the small intestine of rats are not a direct consequence of food intake, but are triggered off by the anticipatory mechanism which operates when rats expect to be fed. The rhythmic change of leucine aminopeptidase seemed to be intensified by food intake.
Strategic Balance Sheet Adjustments Under First-Time IFRS Adoption and the Consequences for Earnings Quality

We study the consequences of mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards for earnings quality. On transitioning from local GAAP to IFRS, firms can make strategic balance sheet adjustments that in turn affect future reported earnings. We predict that earnings quality after IFRS adoption depends on the measurement and recognition choices made at the time of first-time IFRS adoption. When firms “clean up” the balance sheet by eliminating accumulated accruals bloat they have greater scope for accounting discretion in the years immediately after first-time adoption. Using a large sample of international firms, we model strategic balance sheet adjustments occurring on mandatory IFRS adoption and establish evidence that these adjustments are negatively associated with earnings quality in subsequent periods. Overall, our evidence is consistent with uneven IFRS implementation and enforcement around the world.
The disruption and dissolution of directed forgetting : Inhibitory control of memory

In a series of directed-forgetting (DF) experiments it was found that inhibition of a to-be-forgotten (TBF) list could be disrupted by a secondary task and completely abolished by a concurrent memory load during second to-be-remembered (TBR) list learning. Similarly, inhibition was found to be wholly abolished when the TBF and TBR list were strongly associated but not when weakly associated. These findings suggest that inhibition in the DF procedure depends on how powerfully the second TBR list competes in memory with the representation of the TBF list. When the representation of the TBR list is impoverished or when it is too similar to the TBF list then competition is weak and inhibition is as a consequence weak or does not occur at all. © 2000 Academic Press A fundamental problem facing any memory system is how to select individual items from a range of related items, all of which are (equally) available for recall. For instance, recalling the comments of person A from yesterday’s meeting rather than those of B and C, recalling fact X rather than the related facts Y and Z, or, more mundanely, simply recalling where one parked one’s car today as opposed to yesterday or the day before (Bjork, 1989) all require resolution of competing responses in memory. This problem may be especially acute for very recently encoded knowledge, much of which may be in a highly accessible state for some limited period after encoding. Short-term retention, over a period of hours or possibly longer, of a very detailed record of experience may occur because it is not possible at the moment of encoding to fully determine what should be retained
¡ ect of the Gala ¤ pagos hotspot on sea £ oor volcanism along the Gala ¤ pagos Spreading Center ( 90 . 9 ^ 97 . 6 ‡ W )

Studies along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and East Pacific Rise (EPR) show that seamount abundance is a strong function of spreading rate. At the MAR, small axial seamounts are a dominant morphologic feature of the inner valley floor, while at the EPR seamounts are rarely observed within the neovolcanic zone. The Gala¤pagos Spreading Center (GSC) provides an excellent location to test the influence of hotspot-related magma supply variations on seamount formation at a relatively constant spreading rate. In this study, we use multibeam bathymetry data to examine the distribution of axial seamounts with distance from the hotspot along the GSC. A numerical algorithm is developed to identify isolated volcanic edifices by searching bathymetry for closed, concentric contours protruding above the surrounding seafloor. Seamount populations are fit with a maximum likelihood model to estimate the total number of seamounts per unit area and the characteristic seamount height. The number of seamounts in the axial zone decreases significantly as the Gala¤pagos hotspot is approached, varying from MAR-like abundances west of 95.5‡W to EPR-like abundances east of 92.7‡W. The along-axis variation in seamount density corresponds to a change in lava flow morphology from dominantly pillow flows in the west to a combination of pillows and sheet/lobate flows in the east. These changes in volcanic style suggest a transition from point-source to fissure-fed eruptions as magma supply increases. We find no evidence for along-axis variations in lava viscosity and, therefore, interpret the differences in seamount abundance and flow morphology to indicate an increase in effusion rates approaching the hotspot. Comparing seamount abundance with axial morphology, crustal thickness, and the presence and depth of an axial magma chamber (AMC), we find that the transition from point-source to fissure-fed eruptions is most sensitive to the presence of a steady-state AMC. In summary, the correlation between seamount abundance, lava morphology, and magma supply at the GSC suggests that effusion rate is directly related to the presence of a steady-state crustal magma chamber. = 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of staphylococcus aureus isolated from various clinical specimens in south east Nigeria

The global problem of increasing trend in antimicrobial resistance is particularly pressing in the developing countries, where antibiotic resistant bacteria is often the severe etiologic agent in hospital-acquired infections. This study was aimed to evaluate the frequency and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from various clinical specimens of out-patients attending Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, Nigeria. A total of 424 various clinical specimens comprising urine, pus, high vaginal swab, wound swab, throat swab, blood and stool were collected and cultured on Mannitol salt and MacConkey agar. S. aureus was identified based on their conventional cultural characteristics, Gram staining reaction and standard biochemical tests. All the isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by the disk diffusion technique according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines on Muller Hinton Agar. In all, 104 Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated from the 424 clinical specimens (24.5% prevalence rate) with 40 (38.5%) of the isolates being methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and 64(61.5%) being methicillin susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) respectively. The highest prevalence was recorded in wound swab 10 (29.4%) while the least was observed in blood specimen 1(6.7%). Generally, the isolates showed high resistance to ampicillin (76.9%), penicillin G (81.7%), Nalidixic acid (72.1%), chloramphenicol (70.1%) and were considerably sensitive to gentamycin (68.3%), ciprofloxacin (61.5%) and cefpodoxime (66.3%). Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference on rate of resistance across the various clinical specimens (P< 0.05). This study highlighted high prevalence and antibiotic resistance; thus, the need to adopt new strategies in the control of antibiotic resistance cannot be overemphasized.