Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Data on the quality of life after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for peritoneal malignancies: does it concern patients with gastric cancer?

Abstract Introduction. So far there are no reports devoted exclusively to the quality of life after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in metastatic gastric cancer. Current literature concerning this issue was, thus, reviewed in order to: 1) search for such data concerning metastatic gastric cancer; 2) assess if the latest reviews evenly pertain to all peritoneal surface malignancies; and 3) conclude if they are a reliable source of data for patients with metastatic gastric cancer. Materials and Methods. The electronic PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were retrieved for studies concerning the influence of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy on quality of life in patients with metastatic gastric cancer and regardless of initial diagnosis. The data on the number of patients with particular tumours were analysed and the results were presented in the form of a table. Results. Approximately half of all patients encompassed by the reviews had a form of primary peritoneal surface malignancies. Within peritoneal metastases, the most numerous were colorectal (21-24%) and ovarian cancers (5-15%). Gastric cancers and sarcomas were the smallest defined subgroups (4% each). Conclusions. The promising outcomes in quality of life after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in primary peritoneal surface malignancies might differ from rarely reported ones in metastatic gastric cancer. The problem needs further, gastric cancer-devoted investigations.
High Prevalence Of Intestinal Parasites In A Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution

A prospective study was carried out to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasite and its epidemiological risk factors among patients in admissions in Accident and Emergency Unit of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital a Tertiary Health Institution in Anambra State Nigeria between June 2008 and May. Standard parasitological procedures as recommended by World Health Organization were employed in sample collection and examination. Out of a total of 492 subjects examined, 190 (38.62%) were infected with one or more of the intestinal parasites. Age distribution of the prevalence of infection did not show a definite pattern but infection rate was highest among the subjects in the first decade of life (56.3%) and least among the subjects aged 60 years and above (30.0%). This observed difference in prevalence by age was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Entamoeba histolytica was the most prevalent parasite amongst the population (43.9%) while Giardia lamblia showed the least prevalence (12.4%). Comparing the distribution of parasites within the age groupings, Entamoeba histolytica was most encountered among the subjects in the first two decades of life while hookworm infection was most frequent among subjects aged 20 – 49 years in relation to the prevalence of the other parasites within each age grouping. The males showed a higher prevalence of intestinal parasite infections (40.31%) than the females (36.58%). However, this is not statistically significant (p>0.05). Occupational prevalence showed that infection rate was highest among the farmers (60.94%), followed by the pupils and preschool children (59.09%) while the civil servants showed the least prevalence (30.17%) of infection with intestinal parasites. Difference in occupational prevalence was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Distribution of intestinal parasite infections based on their major sources of drinking water showed that subjects who depend on the streams as their major source of drinking water recorded the highest level of prevalence, followed by those that drink well water while the subjects that depend on pipe-borne water and sachet water as major sources of drinking water recorded the least prevalence of intestinal parasite infections. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The study has documented a very high prevalence of intestinal parasite amongst subjects examined who were not diarrheal patients and do not manifest major symptoms of intestinal parasitic infection, re-emphasizing the need for intermittent de-worming even without the constitutional abdominal ache, vomiting and diarrhea. Hygienic food preparation and health education to encourage individuals to adopt behavioral change is advocated.
Upwelling-downwelling sequences in the generation of red tides m a coastal upwelling system

Differences in temporal and spatial hydrographic conditions, water circulation patterns derived from temperature-salinity properties, phytoplankton community composition and distribution were studied in 4 Ria systems (flooded tectonic valleys) in Galicia, NW Spain, from 18 to 21 September 1986. The Rias are affected by upwelling cycles which introduce nutrient-rich Eastern North Atlantic Water (ENAW). During upwelling relaxation periods, the Rias are prone to red tide outbreaks, espe- cially during autumn. In the northern most Ria (Muros), after an upwelling event on 18 September followed by a weak downwelling, a low chlorophyll a (chl a) maximum occurred over the shelf which corresponded to the distribution of a large dinoflagellate/red tide species community identified by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis of species. This community was identified in all of the other Rias studied, but at different locations. With stronger downwelling on 21 September in the Ria de Vigo. Ria water and the chl a maximum were confined to the Ria interior, which corre- sponded to a shift in the large dinoflagellate / red tide community. The chl a maximum in all Rias was predominantly due to Heterosjqma carterae. The increase in Gymnodinium catenatum cell numbers, from the northern to the southern Rias, corresponded to stronger downwelling events. It is proposed that upwelling-downwelling sequences, enhanced by the presence of inlets and embayments acting as catchment concentration zones, are important mechanisms for generating red tide blooms in coastal upwelling systems.
High-Performance Work System: An Essential Means

In this study we focused on how human resource practices can be used to build and support highperformance work systems and, in turn, how it could contribute to organizational performance. Based on the literature review on strategic human resource management and organizational performance, we developed a parsimonious and prescriptive model for creating employee motivation and retention. We conducted a field study with 395 respondents from 34 manufacturing organizations to test a model linking four configurations of HR practices (acquisition, development, commitment, and retention) to two workforce characteristics: employee motivation and employee turnover. The result showed that a commitment configuration and acquisition configurations of HR practices were significantly related to employee motivation; and a development configuration of HR practices were significantly related to intention to turnover.
Role of yoga therapy on lipid profile in patients of hypertension and prehypertension

Background: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are one of the most prevalent cardiovascular disorders affecting 20% of world’s population. There is emerging data that yoga therapies may be useful in managing modest elevations in BP. Yoga, specific yogic exercise (Sudarshan kriya) taught as a training protocol under Art of living course (AOL), is especially attractive as a candidate therapy in the management of elevated BP because of its combination of gentle physical activity. Hence, this study was undertaken to compare the effects of SDK on blood lipid levels. Methods: A total of 300 patients of hypertension and prehypertension were taken in the study where control group were given drugs treatment and life style modification and yoga group additionally had undergone yoga training. Lipid levels were estimated in both groups at entry, 06 months and 12 months and analyzed. Results: Lipid levels at entry were same in both while the yoga therapy group showed decrease in TG, LDL and VLDL at six months and 12 months but decrease was not significant. HDL levels showed significant increase in yoga group (P<0.05) at six months which was maintained at 12 months more so in diabetic patients. Conclusions: Yoga therapy has beneficial effect on serum lipid levels and should be included in therapy along with other measures.
Global diversification and IPO returns q

A large number of newly listed firms have significant involvement in international business activity. In this paper, we examine the effect of international business activity on the pricing of initial public offerings (IPOs), post-IPO performance, and survival. In a large sample of U.S. IPOs over 1981–2012, we find that firms with exports and/or foreign sales prior to going public have significantly lower underpricing than firms without international business activity. Furthermore, firms with international business activity significantly outperform purely domestic IPO firms over 3and 5-year periods after going public and have a significantly higher survival rate. Overall, we provide strong evidence that global diversification has an economically significant effect on the valuation and subsequent performance of firms going public. 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Multivariate statistical analysis to support the minimum streamflow regionalization

This study aimed to develop a methodology based on multivariate statistical analysis of principal components and cluster analysis, in order to identify the most representative variables in studies of minimum streamflow regionalization, and to optimize the identification of the hydrologically homogeneous regions for the Doce river basin. Ten variables were used, referring to the river basin climatic and morphometric characteristics. These variables were individualized for each of the 61 gauging stations. Three dependent variables that are indicative of minimum streamflow (Q7,10, Q90 and Q95). And seven independent variables that concern to climatic and morphometric characteristics of the basin (total annual rainfall – Pa; total semiannual rainfall of the dry and of the rainy season – Pss and Psc; watershed drainage area – Ad; length of the main river – Lp; total length of the rivers – Lt; and average watershed slope – SL). The results of the principal component analysis pointed out that the variable SL was the least representative for the study, and so it was discarded. The most representative independent variables were Ad and Psc. The best divisions of hydrologically homogeneous regions for the three studied flow characteristics were obtained using the Mahalanobis similarity matrix and the complete linkage clustering method. The cluster analysis enabled the identification of four hydrologically homogeneous regions in the Doce river basin.
Investigation of Ethanol Based Secondary Fluids with Denaturing Agents and Other Additives Used for Borehole Heat Exchangers

Ground source heat pumps are commonly used in Sweden. The dominating method of exchanging heat with the ground is by circulation of a secondary fluid through borehole heat exchangers inserted into energy wells. Due to the environmental reasons and relatively good thermophysical properties, aqueous solutions of ethanol are recommended and are commonly used for the borehole heat exchanger application in Sweden and other Nordic countries. The primary idea of using these fluids is to decrease the freezing point of the fluid since many borehole loops in Northern Europe operate near or below the freezing point of water. The available ethanol based commercial products consist of ethyl alcohol with up to 10% of denaturing agents without any corrosion inhibitors. The main denaturing agents used to prevent from drinking are mixtures of isopropyl alcohol, n-butanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone. These denaturing agents in commercial secondary fluids can influence the fluid’s thermophysical properties and thereby affect the pressure drop and heat transfer in the borehole heat exchanger. These not well defined effects of additives can cause uncertainties in the ground source heat pump design and operation. The thermophysical properties of a few aqueous ethanol solutions are experimentally studied in this paper including a field sample, a pure mixture of ethanol and ethanol including additives are compared with reference data. The density of 20 wt-% solution of ethanol including additives and the field sample were higher than pure 20 wt-% ethanol sample. The additives increased the specific heat capacity by 2.3% at -10 oC and 1% at 0 oC. A decrement by 10.5% in the dynamic viscosity was observed. Presence of additives increased the thermal conductivity values by around 1.5% at -8 oC and 4.3% at +40 oC. Some implications in terms of pressure drop and fluid to pipe thermal resistance are observed when these properties are applied in borehole heat exchangers, as the occurrence for laminar or turbulent varies at given temperature levels. An alternative would be to replace the denaturing agents with corrosion inhibitors to decrease the concentration of additives, improve corrosion protection of the systems and still fulfill the market recommendations.
Genomic analysis of prevalent Staphylococcus epidermidis multidrug-resistant strains isolated during eight years in a single children hospital in México City.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a human commensal and pathogen worldwide distributed. In this work, we surveyed for multi-resistant S. epidermidis strains in eight years at a children health-care unit in México City. Multidrug-resistant S. epidermidis were present in all years of the study. Resistance to methicillin, beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides were included. To understand the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance and its association with virulence and gene exchange, we sequenced the genomes of 17 S. epidermidis isolates. Whole-genome nucleotide identities between all the pairs of S. epidermidis strains were about 97% to 99%. We inferred a clonal structure and eight Multilocus Sequence Types (MLST´s) in the S. epidermidis sequenced collection. The profile of virulence includes genes involved in biofilm formation and phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs). However, half of the S. epidermidis analyzed lacked the icaoperon for biofilm formation. Likely, they are commensal S. epidermidis strains but multi-antibiotic resistant. Uneven distribution of insertion sequences, phages, and CRISPR-Cas immunity phage systems suggest frequent horizontal gene transfer. Rates of recombination between S. epidermidis strains were more prevalent than the mutation rate and affected the whole genome. Therefore, the multidrug-resistance, independently of the pathogenic traits, might explain the persistence of specific highly adapted S. epidermidis clonal lineages in nosocomial settings.
Antimicrobial patterns of Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from broiler chickens

E. coli infections in avian species are an economic threat to the poultry industry worldwide. The spread of MDR bacteria has been recognized as an increasing problem in the veterinary and medical fields. The current study aimed to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial patterns of avian Pathogenic E. coli isolated from broiler chickens. Results of in-vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that E. coli isolates were more sensitive to imipenem only (72.4%). On the other hand, they were highly resistant to most of used antimicrobials including ciprofloxacin (95.9%), amikacin (94.9%), cefotaxime sodium (92.9%), gentamicin (89.9%), cefotriaxone (89.9%), topramycin (87.8%), sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprime (85.7%), ceftazidim (84.7%). Also, they were resistant to cefoprazone (79.9%), doxycycline (72.4%) and amoxycillin/clavulinic acid (69.4%). All the tested isolates of E. coli (100%) were multi drug resistant (MDR). PCR was applied on 15 MDR E. coli isolates to determine 4 genes responsible for antibiotic resistance included ampC, blaCTX, blaSHV and tetA (A). The results revealed that that ampC and blaCTX genes were the most prevalent found in all isolates (100%) while tetA (A) and blaSHV genes were harbored in 14 isolates (93.3%).
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF CLADANTHUS SCARIOSUS(ASTERACEAE) WILD GROWN IN MOROCCO

Cladanthus Cass. [Syn. Ormenis (Cass.) Cass. ] is a genus of the family Asteraceae, endemic to the Mediterranean region and related to the tribe Anthemideae (1). It comprises 15 species including C. scariosus (Ball) Oberpr. & Vogt [Bas. Santolina scariosa; Syn. Ormenis scariosa Litard. & Maire] from Morocco where is concentrates 1/3 of the species of the genus (2). Some of these are perennial, suffruticose and strongly aromatic plants. C. mixta (L.) Chev. is used in Morocco as chamomile and this is commonly called Moroccan chamomile. In the same country, C scariosus is fairly common in open places, on sandstone substrates (3) and is characterized by a strong aromatic character, this has motivated the authors – some of which were previously occupied by other species of the same genus (4) – to undertake such study phytochemical. In this study, the authors present the results of chemical composition of the essential oil of Cladanthus scariosus wild grown in many regions of Morocco (5). Hydrodistillation of C. scariosus aerial parts, collected on the thermo-mediterranean belt of the central High Atlas – Oukeimeden, from Marrakech to Quarzazate – during the flowering phase gave a pale yellow oil. Overall, sixty-four compounds were identified, representing 92.7% of the total components. The main class of the oil was represented by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (39.8%) with germacrene D (20.7%) as the most abundant component of the class and of the oil. Monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes and oxygenated sesquiterpenes were present in similar amount (14.8%-15.1%). In these classes the main products were α-pinene (4.8%) and sabinene (6.9%) among the monoterpene hydrocarbons, (E)-chrysanthenyl acetate (8.3%) among the oxygenated monoterpenes and τ –muurolol (4.2%) and (E,E)-farnesyl acetate (3.9%) among the oxygenated sesquiterpenes. It is also noteworthy the good presence of chamazulene (7.1%).
Parameter stability and semiparametric inference in time-varying ARCH models

In this paper, we develop a complete methodology for detecting time-varying/non time-varying parameters in ARCH processes. For this purpose, we estimate and test various semiparametric versions of the time-varying ARCH model (tv-ARCH) which include two well known non stationary ARCH type models introduced in the econometric literature. Using kernel estimation, we show that non time-varying parameters can be estimated at the usual parametric rate of convergence and for a Gaussian noise, we construct estimates that are asymptotically efficient in a semiparametric sense. Then we introduce two statistical tests which can be used for detecting non time-varying parameters or for testing the second order dynamic. An information criterion for selecting the number of lags is also provided. We illustrate our methodology with several real data sets.
Comparison of CPU and GPU bayesian estimates of fibre orientations from diffusion MRI

Background The correct estimation of fibre orientations is a crucial step for reconstructing human brain tracts. Bayesian Estimation of Diffusion Parameters Obtained using Sampling Techniques (bedpostx) is able to estimate several fibre orientations and their diffusion parameters per voxel using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) in a whole brain diffusion MRI data, and it is capable of running on GPUs, achieving speed-up of over 100 times compared to CPUs. However, few studies have looked at whether the results from the CPU and GPU algorithms differ. In this study, we compared CPU and GPU bedpostx outputs by running multiple trials of both algorithms on the same whole brain diffusion data and compared each distribution of output using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Results We show that distributions of fibre fraction parameters and principal diffusion direction angles from bedpostx and bedpostx_gpu display few statistically significant differences in shape and are localized sparsely throughout the whole brain. Average output differences are small in magnitude compared to underlying uncertainty. Conclusions Despite small amount of differences in output between CPU and GPU bedpostx algorithms, results are comparable given the difference in operation order and library usage between CPU and GPU bedpostx.
PARAMETRIC STUDY ON THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY, REDUCE OPERATION COST AND ENVIRONMENT IMPACT OF STABILIZATION UNITY IN OIL PROCESS.

Ahmed Ould Brahim and Souad Abderafi. Laboratory for Analysis and Synthesis of Industrial Processes (LASPI), Mohammadia School of Engineers (EMI) Mohammed V University in Rabat, Ibn Sina, B.P. 765, Agdal, , Rabat,10090, Moroc. Manuscript Info Abstract . Manuscript History
Anchoring and Property Prices: The Influence of Echelle Des Crus Ratings on Land Sales in the Champagne Region of France

Although evidence for anchoring effects has been produced in experimental settings, there have been relatively few studies testing for anchoring in actual markets. We analyze a large data set of vineyard sales in the Champagne region of France to determine whether Echelle Des Crus (EDC) ratings are an anchor in the land market. The EDC is a set of numerical scores for villages in the region that was used as part of a price-setting system for wine grapes that began in 1919 and persisted until 1990. Although grape prices are now determined in a market and the EDC no longer plays a direct role in determining them, we test whether the EDC continues to be an anchor for participants in the land market. The econometric challenge is to separately identify anchoring effects from the effects of relevant information the EDC may convey about vineyard quality. We instrument for the EDC using the average attributes of vineyards in neighboring villages, which are unlikely to be correlated with errors in prices because only the characteristics of the vineyard itself affect the rents from grape production. We find strong evidence for anchoring effects in the land market, which is further supported by analyses of grape prices. We also examine whether the anchoring effect is diminishing over time as market participants come to rely more on objective information to determine prices. We find, instead, that effect of the EDC persists many years after it became obsolete.
Response of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa to mid- and long-term exposure to pCO2 and temperature levels projected in 2100

Response of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa to midand long-term exposure to pCO2 and temperature levels projected in 2100 R. Rodolfo-Metalpa, S. Martin, C. Ferrier-Pagès, and J.-P. Gattuso Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco (Principality), France International Atomic Energy Agency-Marine Environment Laboratories, 4 Quai Antoine Ier, 98000 Principality of Monaco, France CNRS, Laboratoire d’océanographie de Villefranche, Villefranche-sur-Mer Cedex, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie–Paris 6, France Received: 28 June 2009 – Accepted: 30 June 2009 – Published: 16 July 2009 Correspondence to: R. Rodolfo-Metalpa (riccardo@rodolfo-metalpa.com) Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.