Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of the payment vehicle in non-market valuations of a health care service: willingness-to-pay for an ambulance helicopter service

Abstract This study analyses the role of the payment vehicle when conducting non-market valuations of health care services using stated preference methods. Based on a contingent valuation study conducted in Denmark encompassing more than 3400 respondents three important conclusions are drawn. Firstly, it is found that the valuation of a publicly financed ambulance helicopter service is higher than for an identical privately financed service. Secondly, the results suggest that the public premium is likely to be partly driven by altruistic preferences, and that some citizens value access to this type of service for all. An important driver is also perceptions of quality of services across the private and public sector. Finally, it is shown that exclusion of protest bidders is problematic and may bias welfare estimates. The take home message is that it is difficult to isolate the value of a good per se, and that analysts should take care in applying the payment vehicle that is likely to be applied in real life when valuing non-market goods. There has been little awareness of the importance of choice of payment vehicle in the literature to date.
The Clinical and Radiological Presentation of Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistula

Study Design. Retrospective consecutive case series. Objective. To assess the symptoms, neurologic signs, and radiologic findings in a large series of patients with myelopathy due to spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF). Summary of Background. The clinical diagnosis of SDAVF is difficult because presenting symptoms and signs can be similar to those seen with spinal canal stenosis or peripheral nerve or root disorders. Methods. We reviewed 153 consecutive patients with SDAVF treated surgically at our institution between 1985 and 2008. Before surgery, all patients had detailed neurologic examination, 147 patients had spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and all but one, had spinal angiography. We evaluated associations between symptoms, physical signs, spinal cord T2 signal abnormality on MRI, and fistula level on angiogram. Results. Mean age was 63.5 years and 119 (77.8%) were men. Weakness and sensory changes are usually symmetric and ascend from the lower extremities. Presenting symptoms included leg weakness (74 patients, 48.4%), leg sensory disturbances (41 patients, 26.8%), pain involving back or legs (31 patients, 20.3%), and sphincter disturbances (6 patients, 3.9%). Worsening weakness with exertion was present in 66 (43.1%) patients and correlated with thoracic fistula location (P=0.04). Pinprick level was identified in 57 (37.3%) patients; L1 level (22.8%) was the most common, followed by T10 (19.3%). Fistula level (±2 levels) corresponded to pinprick level in only 40% of these patients. T2 signal abnormality involved the conus in 95% of our patients. Highest cord level of T2 signal hyperintensity (±2 levels) corresponded to pinprick level in 25% of cases. Conclusion. Leg weakness exacerbated by exercise, likely due to worsening hypertension in the arterialized draining vein, is a common manifestation of thoracic SDAVF. Although a sensory level is often found, it cannot reliably guide the level of imaging. Thus, the entire spine should be examined with MRI when an SDAVF is suspected.
The use of APACHE II scores to select candidates for left ventricular assist device placement. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation.

BACKGROUND The growth in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) use has been hampered by high morbidity and mortality rates and cost. The purpose of this study was to help improve patient selection for LVAD placement by determining whether the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring system, a multiparameter, physiology-based predictor of outcome, could be used to predict outcome after LVAD placement and thus help determine optimum timing of LVAD placement. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort observational study consisting of 2 groups: (1) 50 patients with severe heart failure who did not receive LVAD placement after initial evaluation and (2) 31 patients who did receive LVAD placement. Patients included in the study were in severe heart failure on the basis of 3 of the following: lung crackles, S3, peripheral edema, ejection fraction < 0.30, systolic blood pressure < 80 mm Hg, progressive prerenal azotemia, altered level of consciousness, gastrointestinal ischemia or congestion, or persistent although reversible pulmonary hypertension in spite of maximal medical therapy, including intravenous inotropes. The decision for LVAD placement was at the discretion of the attending physician. RESULTS Both LVAD- and non-LVAD-treated patients were similar in cause of heart failure, APACHE II scores, and other baseline laboratory parameters. Survival time with a log-logistic model was better for LVAD-treated patients, p=. 0266. Although Kaplan Meier analysis showed a trend toward better survival rates in the LVAD-treated patient, the Cox proportional hazards revealed that LVAD-treated patients had better survival (relative risk ratio, 95% confidence interval=0.305, 0.110 to 0.892; p=.0219) after adjustment for APACHE II score. Each unit increase in APACHE II independently predicted death (relative risk ratios, 95% confidence interval=1.139, 1.055 to 1.231; p=.0009). Patients with medium APACHE II (11 to 20) scores in particular benefitted from LVAD treatment. CONCLUSION LVAD placement for severe heart failure (not restricted to cardiogenic shock) improves survival. APACHE II can aid in deciding the timing of LVAD placement in patients with heart failure who may not have attained conventional hemodynamic criteria for LVAD placement. Patients who had APACHE II scores between 11 and 20 derived the greatest benefit from LVAD placement.
Multicenter evaluation of a polyurethaneurea vascular access graft as compared with the expanded polytetrafluoroethylene vascular access graft in hemodialysis applications.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to compare in a randomized, prospective, and controlled study, the performance of a multilayered, self-sealing polyurethane vascular access graft (PVAG) and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) vascular access grafts in hemodialysis applications. Performance measures included graft survival, complications, time to early cannulation, and hemostasis times after cannulation. STUDY DESIGN A total of 142 patients were randomized equally to receive one of the two grafts after meeting all eligibility requirements. All patients were followed up prospectively to 12 months or to the end of secondary patency. Specifically, this study documented the performance of the PVAG and ePTFE grafts by determining the patencies and complications for both grafts. RESULTS Patient characteristics between the two groups were similar with respect to risk factors and demographic characteristics (P >.05). Life-table patencies from the date of first dialysis were primary patency: PVAG 55% versus ePTFE 47% (6 months) and PVAG 44% versus ePTFE 36% (12 months) and secondary patency: PVAG 87% versus ePTFE 90% (6 months) and PVAG 78% versus ePTFE 80% (12 months). None of these differences were significant (P >.05). Both primary and secondary patencies were also not significantly different when the date of implantation was the starting point. Adverse events and complications were similar for the two groups, except the PVAG group had a higher incidence of technical complications manifested by graft kinking when compared with the control cohort (P <.05). Additionally, there was no significant difference in complication rates between these two groups with regard to infection and bleeding. When the time to hemostasis after cannulation was compared at 5minutes or less, there were more PVAG cannulation sites that achieved hemostasis compared with ePTFE sites, and this difference was significant (P <.0001). When time to first dialysis access was compared between the two grafts, 53.9% of all PVAG grafts were cannulated before 9 days versus none with the ePTFE grafts (P <.001). However, long-term graft survival was not significantly different when PVAG patients were stratified into early (< 9 days) and the late access (9 >/= days) groups (P =.29). CONCLUSIONS The PVAG graft allows for early access without compromising long-term performance. Both PVAG and standard ePTFE grafts have similar long-term outcomes, despite early access with the PVAG vascular access grafts.
Investigation of the role of polymorphisms at the alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase loci in genetic predisposition to alcohol‐related end‐organ damage

Little is known about factors determining individual susceptibility to the physical complications of alcohol abuse but genetically determined differences in ethanol metabolism may be important. The oxidative metabolism of alcohol is catalyzed by alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Polymorphisms have been observed at two of the five loci encoding alcohol dehydrogenase subunits: ADH2 (producing three β subunits) and ADH3 (producing two subunits) and also at the locus encoding the metabolically important form of aldehyde dehydrogenase, ALDH2. We have compared ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 allele frequencies in patients with alcohol‐related cirrhosis (n = 59) and chronic pancreatitis (n = 13) with 79 local healthy control subjects. The different alleles were detected with allele‐specific oligonucleotide probes after amplification of leukocyte DNA by the polymerase chain reaction.
Distribution and excretion of technetium in humans.

AbstractWidespread use of 99mTc as a tracer in medicine and large scale separation of 99Tc from fission product waste require that adequate knowledge of the metabolic properties of technetium be known so that realistic exposure limits can be imposed for the isotopes of interest. The present paper di
A generic approach to component-level evaluation in information retrieval

Research in information retrieval deals with the theories and models that constitute the foundations for any kind of service that provides access or pointers to particular elements of a collection of documents in response to a submitted information need. The specific field of information retrieval evaluation is concerned with the critical assessment of the quality of search systems. Empirical evaluation based on the Cranfield paradigm using a specific collection of test queries in combination with relevance assessments in a laboratory environment is the classic approach to compare the impact of retrieval systems and their underlying models on retrieval effectiveness. In the past two decades international campaigns, like the Text Retrieval Conference, have led to huge advances in the design of experimental information retrieval evaluations. But in general the focus of this system-driven paradigm remained on the comparison of system results, i.e. retrieval systems are treated as black boxes. This approach to the evaluation of retrieval system has been criticised for treating systems as black boxes. Recent works on this subject have proposed the study of the system configurations and their individual components. This thesis proposes a generic approach to the evaluation of retrieval systems at the component-level. The focus of the thesis at hand is on the key components that are needed to address typical ad-hoc search tasks, like finding books on a particular topic in a large set of library records. A central approach in this work is the further development of the Xtrieval framework by the integration of widely-used IR toolkits in order to eliminate
Macrophage polarization and bacterial infections

Purpose of review Macrophages are the first line of defense against pathogens, and the mode of their activation will determine the success or failure of the host response to pathogen aggression. Based on limited numbers of markers, activated macrophages can be classified as classically activated (M1) macrophages that support microbicidal activity or alternatively activated (M2) macrophages that are not competent to eliminate pathogens. The development of high-throughput gene expression methods affords a reappraisal of the concept of macrophage activation in human infectious diseases. Recent findings By combining microarray data and conventional approaches, it is becoming clear that the M1 polarization program is associated with gastrointestinal infections (e.g. typhoid fever and Helicobacter pylori gastritis) and active tuberculosis. An M2 signature is observed in lepromatous leprosy, Whipple's disease, and localized infections (keratitis, chronic rhinosinusitis). However, these findings could not be predicted from the analysis of the M1/M2 programs of macrophages stimulated in vitro. Summary The reappraisal of macrophage polarization by high-throughput methods is critical to understanding the role of macrophage polarization in infectious diseases. Only the identification of individual profiles will support promising therapeutic approaches based on target determination.
Design and testing of piezoelectric energy harvesting devices for generation of higher electric power for wireless sensor networks

This paper reports our design and testing results on the electric output performance of a vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesting device (PEHD). The PEHD is a cantilever with a sandwich structure and seismic mass attached to the tip. The geometric parameters of the device are based on optimization design with a volume of around 1cm3 and at a targeted resonant frequency of 80–100 Hz. A maximum output power of 370µW at 15.5 volts into a 325kΩ resistive load is generated at the resonant frequency of 87Hz and under an acceleration of 0.23g. Quite remarkably, this power is a very encouraging power figure that gives the prospect of being able to power a wider range of applications than is currently possible in wireless sensor network.
Atherosclerosis precursors in Finnish children and adolescents. XIII. Serum and hair copper and zinc concentrations

ABSTRACT. The copper and zinc status of 3–18‐year‐old Finnish children was estimated by analysing 3,480 serum copper and zinc concentrations, 853 hair copper and 868 hair zinc concentrations. Both copper and zinc have been proposed to be connected with the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, zinc is essential for normal growth and development. The mean serum copper concentration of 3‐year‐old children was 21.2 μmol/l and the concentration was significantly lower in older age groups. The average serum zinc concentration showed a narrow variation between 14.1 and 15.0 μmol/l in all age groups, nevertheless girls had significantly lower and boys higher values with increasing age. The distribution of hair copper concentration was skewed within the age groups; the median vaned between 9.7 μg/g and 29.8 μg/g for 3‐year‐old urban girls and 18‐year‐old rural girls, respectively. Some rural girls had exceptionally high hair copper levels. Hair zinc concentrations increased with age. In the three youngest age groups (3, 6 and 9 years) the distribution was skewed and the levels low compared with results from the USA where a zinc concentration below 30 μg/g is found to be associated with the zinc deficiency syndrome.
Fast exact minimization of BDD's

We present a new exact algorithm for finding the optimal variable ordering for reduced ordered binary decision diagrams (BDD's). The algorithm makes use of a lower bound technique known from very large scale integration design. Up to now this technique has been used only for theoretical considerations and it is adapted here for this purpose. Furthermore, the algorithm supports symmetry aspects and uses a hashing based data structure. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the efficiency of our approach. We succeeded in minimizing several functions, including adders with up to 64 variables, for which all other previously presented approaches fail.
Expressed Emotion in Staff Working with the Long-Term Adult Mentally Ill

Staff-patient relationships in long-term settings were examined in 35 staff and 61 patients. Measures were also taken of the staff's general health, their coping style in relation to work events, and job satisfaction. A range of ratings of EE was evident in staff descriptions of patients under their care. Strain and criticism in the relationship were not associated with identified stressors in the workplace, or the general health of the carer. When patients were grouped according to high-EE and low-EE interviews, there were no significant differences in their symptoms. Criticism was associated with other patient characteristics, including aggressive and attention-seeking behaviour, underactivity, and limited social interaction. The findings have implications for staff training and for the maintenance of optimal staff-patient relationships in services supporting severely disabled patients.
Occurrence of fumonisins B1 and B2 in asparagus from Shandong province, P.R. China

Thirty samples of asparagus spears were collected from the fields in Shandong province, China, in July 2004, and were analysed for the occurrence of fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1 and FB2) by HPLC coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Twenty-four samples (80%) contained fumonisins, ranging from 24 to 670 ng g−1 (average 123 ng g−1) and 17 to 138 ng g−1(average 35 ng g−1) for FB1 and FB2, respectively. The total amount of fumonisins (FB1 and FB2) in all samples ranged from 47 to 714 ng g−1 (average 158 ng g−1) (based on dry weight). This is the first report on the natural occurrence of FB1 and FB2 in asparagus spears in China.
A Theory of Practice-Based Analysis of Green Information Systems (Green IS) Use

This paper is concerned with understanding how Green Information Systems ('Green IS') are initiated and used in organisations. We argue that Green IS can be studied from a practice perspective and draw from Bourdieu's Theory of Practice. Data is collected from a case study of an Asian telecommunications organisation focusing on two Green IS practices-Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC) software and the Sustainable Document and Application Management (SDAM) software. The findings show that the use of UCC and SDAM have emerged through a complex relationship between employees' and managements' 'green' dispositions and the prevalence of green culture set forward by top management via pre-defined ecosustainability strategies. The paper contributes to IS research by offering an understanding of how Green IS as practice emerged in organisation through practice-based evidence and insights from the existing literature. Further, the paper demonstrates the utility of the Theory of Practice, a social theory less used in broader IS research, to future Green IS research and practice.
On the Metaplasia of bronchial Epithelium.

During the study of a case of unresolved pneumonia, which contained both areas of organization and abscesses, one field was found which contained two medium-sized bronchi, the mucosa of which was replaced by granulation tissue covered by stratified squamous epithelium. The region from which this block came was then more carefully searched and as many as twelve bronchi were found which showed a like condition. Similar metaplasias of the bronchial epithelium have been recorded from time to time, but this was an unusually good example, on account of its wide extent and owing to the fact that, among the squamous cells, islands of columnar cells remained. The term " metaplasia" was introduced by Virchow about I854 and was defined by him as the direct change of one cell into another cell which was architecturally different but which had not completely given up its characteristics or structure. Schridde holds that this view is untenable, as no facts to support it have been observed either in intraor extrauterine life. He designates it " direct metaplasia" as opposed to his own theory of " indirect metaplasia. " He believes that the formative cells of the growing layers of any kind of epithelium, or their immediate daughter cells, may give up their specific attributes and revert to a cell which has all the powers of differentiation possessed by the embryonic cells from which the epithelium developed. In other words, such cells may form any type of epithelium, but their power of differentiation is limited to the formation of the epithelial tissues and does not include the transformation into connective tissue or endothelium. Schridde states that by the atypical differentiation of such cells a kind of epithelium
Risks and suggestions to prevent falls in geriatric rehabilitation: a participatory approach

Objective The objective of this study was to establish the rates and to gather information from patients, staff and family members on risks and potential measures to prevent patient falls on geriatric rehabilitation units in a hospital. Methods The falls recorded in the geriatric rehabilitation units between January 2006 and December 2008 were reviewed to establish their rates (falls/1000 patient days) and locations. Twenty-eight interviews with ten patients, twelve staff and six family members were conducted in one of the units. The identified risks and suggestions were organised using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) areas—body function and structure, activity and participation, personal and environmental factors. Results The rates of falls (mean±SD) on the two units evaluated were 7±4 and 8±4. The several risks and potential interventions to prevent falls that emerged from the 28 interviews were presented on figures and tables including examples of the participant quotes. Conclusions The findings highlight the complexity of the problem and the value of the approach used to increase our understanding of the issues considering the perspectives of patients, staff and family members. The results are being used to construct context-specific interventions to reduce the rates of falls.
Hepatitis B Virus Core Protein Phosphorylation Sites Affect Capsid Stability and Transient Exposure of the C-terminal Domain*

Background: Exposure and phosphorylation of the core protein C-terminal domain (CTD) regulate important viral functions. Results: Empty capsids contain at least two populations of CTDs with different rates of exposure that are influenced by phosphorylation. Conclusion: Adding negative charge to CTDs increases capsid stability and decreases CTD exposure. Significance: Phosphorylation is used to tune HBV core protein function. Hepatitis B virus core protein has 183 amino acids divided into an assembly domain and an arginine-rich C-terminal domain (CTD) that regulates essential functions including genome packaging, reverse transcription, and intracellular trafficking. Here, we investigated the CTD in empty hepatitis B virus (HBV) T=4 capsids. We examined wild-type core protein (Cp183-WT) and a mutant core protein (Cp183-EEE), in which three CTD serines are replaced with glutamate to mimic phosphorylated protein. We found that Cp183-WT capsids were less stable than Cp183-EEE capsids. When we tested CTD sensitivity to trypsin, we detected two different populations of CTDs differentiated by their rate of trypsin cleavage. Interestingly, CTDs from Cp183-EEE capsids exhibited a much slower rate of proteolytic cleavage when compared with CTDs of Cp183-WT capsids. Cryo-electron microscopy studies of trypsin-digested capsids show that CTDs at five-fold symmetry vertices are most protected. We hypothesize that electrostatic interactions between glutamates and arginines in Cp183-EEE, particularly at five-fold, increase capsid stability and reduce CTD exposure. Our studies show that quasi-equivalent CTDs exhibit different rates of exposure and thus might perform distinct functions during the hepatitis B virus lifecycle. Our results demonstrate a structural role for CTD phosphorylation and indicate crosstalk between CTDs within a capsid particle.