Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A single center comparison of long‐term outcomes of renal allografts procured laparoscopically versus historic controls procured by the open approach

We have previously reported that renal allografts procured by the laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (lapNx) demonstrate worse early renal outcomes but noninferior 1‐year renal function as compared to those procured by the standard open nephrectomy (openNx). We undertook this study to examine whether the apparent early dysfunction will impair long‐term renal allograft survival. We retrospectively updated the status of the first 132 consecutive adult left lapNx recipients at our center and the preceding 99 adult openNx recipients. With a mean follow‐up of 5.8 ± 2.0 years in lapNx and 8.7 ± 3.3 years in openNx, we found that death‐censored renal allograft survival was identical on univariate and multivariate analysis. Patient survival was worse (log rank P‐value = 0.048) in lapNx, but this finding did not persist in multivariate analysis. Combined graft‐patient survival as well as 1‐year mean serum creatinine levels were similar on univariate and multivariate analyses. We conclude that, despite having suffered early renal dysfunction, the lapNx cohort of renal allograft recipients enjoys similar long‐term renal allograft survival as compared to openNx.
The attitudes of cancer patients and their families toward the disclosure of terminal illness.

PURPOSE To ascertain the attitude of cancer patients and their families toward disclosure of terminal illness to the patient. PATIENTS AND METHODS We constructed a questionnaire that included demographic and clinical information and delivered it to 758 consecutive individuals (433 cancer patients and 325 families that have a relative with cancer) at seven university hospitals and one national cancer center in Korea. RESULTS 380 cancer patients and one member from each of 281 families that have a relative with cancer completed the questionnaire. Cancer patients were more likely than family members to believe that patients should be informed of the terminal illness (96.1% v 76.9%; P <.001). Fifty percent of the family members and 78.3% of the patients thought that the doctor in charge should be the one who informs the patient. Additionally, 71.7% of the patients and 43.6% of the family members thought that patients should be informed immediately after the diagnosis. Stepwise multiple logistic regression indicated that the patient group was more likely than the family group to want the patient to be informed of the terminal illness (odds ratio [OR], 9.76; 95% CI, 4.31 to 22.14), by the doctor (OR, 4.00; 95% CI, 2.61 to 6.11), and immediately after the diagnosis (OR, 3.64; 95% CI, 2.45 to 5.41). CONCLUSION Our findings indicated that most cancer patients want to be informed if their illness is terminal, and physicians should realize that the patient and the family unit may differ in their attitude toward such a disclosure. Our results also reflect the importance of how information is given to the patient.
“A Great Idea, Just Not Near Me!” Understanding Public Attitudes About Renewable Energy Facilities

ABSTRACT Generally, the growth of renewable energy sources is supported by the American public. However, gaining acceptance of large-scale renewable energy projects from local residents is often difficult. Like many other states in the United States, Utah has several proposed, under construction, and operational renewable energy facilities and potential for significant renewable energy growth. However, several energy projects have been met with considerable local opposition. This study was undertaken to better understand Utah residents’ attitudes toward wind and solar energy, and the variation in willingness to have utility-scale wind or solar facilities built in close proximity to their place of residence, using data collected through a statewide survey. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to explore relationships involving two dependent variables—general renewable energy attitudes, and respondents’ willingness to have utility-scale wind or solar facilities built within close proximity to their place of residence. Possible implications of these findings are advanced.
State Regulatory Roles: Choices in the Regulation of Building Safety

PROSPECTS FOR redefining important regulatory responsibilities in federal and state government have led to a revival in the study of approaches to regulation. The ways in which states regulate development and address issues affecting quality of life have been of particular interest. Ensuring building safety is a key public function that involves the adoption and enforcement of building codes. This, in turn, engenders a range of regulatory issues. With regard to governance, to what degree should local governments be allowed discretion in regulation? Concerning policy design and implementation, what are the mechanisms for oversight of local building regulation? In addressing these questions, this article considers the choices of state policy makers. Shortfalls in compliance with building codes are potentially serious problems for state and local officials. The Hyatt Skywalk disaster of 1981, involving the collapse of a concrete skywalk at a busy Kansas City hotel,
Monetary Policy and Interest Rate Caps: A Regime-Shift Approach

In this paper, we derive and empirically test a regime-shifting dynamic term structure model for pricing interest rate caps. The central state variables are the target rate of the Federal Reserve and its latent regime in which it fluctuates. These state variables are driven by a discrete time inhomogeneous Markov chain that captures the timing of FOMC meetings. The Fed Funds rate and the slope of the Libor-swap term structure complete the set of state variables. Their dynamics exhibit regime-shifts based on the latent regime of the target rate in both the physical and risk-neutral measures. The modelling approach for pricing at-the-money cap prices leads to an exponential affine analytical form where the regime-shift risk is priced. Allowing for this feature significantly helps the model to empirically match cap prices. The empirical analysis also indicates that the stable regime where the target rate is frequently at inertia is a state where market operators exhibit a higher level of risk aversion. It is also in this regime that the term structure of the mean Black implied volatilities is the highest and where cap price changes are the most sensitive to jumps in the target rate.
Introgression of mtDNA in Urosaurus lizards: historical and ecological processes

Introgression of mtDNA appears common in animals, but the implications of acquiring a novel mitochondrial genome are not well known. This study investigates mito‐genome introgression between the lizard species Urosaurus graciosus, a thermal specialist, and U. ornatus, a species that occupies a wider range of thermal environments. As ectotherms, their metabolic rate is strongly influenced by the thermal environment; with mitochondria being linked to metabolic rates, overall energy budgets could be impacted by introgression. I use mitochondrial gene trees, inferred from Bayesian analyses of Cyt‐B and ND1 gene sequences, along with morphology and microsatellites from nineteen populations of these two species to address if the direction and location of mito‐nuclear discordance match predictions of introgression resulting from past population expansions. MtDNA is expected to move from resident species into expanding or invading species. Second, does having a heterospecific form of mitochondria impact body size, a trait strongly associated with fitness? Multiple independent introgression events of historic origin were detected. All introgression was unidirectional with U. ornatus‐type mtDNA found in U. graciosus parental type individuals. This result was consistent with population expansions detected in U. graciosus but not U. ornatus. Females with heterospecific mtDNA were significantly smaller than homospecific forms, and heterospecific males had a different relationship of body mass to body length than those with homospecific mtDNA. These changes indicate a potential selective disadvantage for individuals with heterospecific mitochondria and are consistent with the theoretical expectation that deleterious alleles are more likely to persist in expanding populations.
Muscular system in the pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis (Teleostei: Scombridae)

The muscular system in the Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis is studied in detail. For the first time, a complete description of the muscular anatomy of a thunnid is provided here. Eighty‐two elements including subdivisions of components of the muscular system are identified. This is less than found in a basal perciform and two other investigated scombrid species, owing mainly to the absence or fusion of pectoral, pelvic and caudal fin muscles. The absence of elements of the basal perciform pattern was most prominent in the caudal fin, which includes only the flexor dorsalis, flexor ventralis, hypochordal longitudinalis, and interradialis. In the caudal fin, the medial fan‐shaped ray was identified as the first dorsal ray, judging from myological and neuroanatomical characters. The highly developed gill filament muscles in Thunnus orientalis and sheet‐like rectus communis control gill ventilation. Long body muscle tendons reduce the metabolic energy needed during rapid and continuous swimming. These characters are interpreted as adaptations in the context of the oceanic life style of the species. J. Morphol. 275:217–229, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cellular and biochemical changes in the aging mouse immune system.

My perspective is different from that of Dr. Weksler. I see age-related loss of responsiveness as a cardinal feature of immunosenescence, one that puts elderly people at risk of infection and perhaps neoplasia. It is possible that age-associated increases in the activity of some kinds of immune cells, which Dr. Weksler has emphasized, contribute to this decline in protective immunity, although this hypothesis needs a good deal of further investigation. I do not see autoimmunity as a major threat to the elderly or an important component of immunosenescence, although the jury is still out on this, and clearly investigators of autoreactivity have the potential for teaching us a lot about how the aged immune system works. Thus in my view one of the most pressing challenges for immunogerontologists is to figure out why the immune system generates fewer antibodies to specific antigens, fewer cytotoxic T cell effectors, and less protection against potential infections and pathologic agents in elderly humans and old mice. I will call this deficiency of function, and I think that some of the cross-wiring that Dr. Weksler and others have pointed out may give us a way of exploring it anew. I am not convinced by arguments to date that have suggested an important pathological implication for autoimmunity. Some autoimmune phenomena are demonstrated in elderly mice and humans, but their pathological implications are still mysterious; more work needs to be done to understand the implications for health and disease. The cellular and molecular basis for the agerelated decline in immune responsiveness can be enumerated in several ways. First, there is an agerelated change in T cell subsets. Figure I shows that there is an age-associated accumulation of memory (Pgp-lhi) T'cells. There is a decrease with age in the number of virgin T lymphocytes resulting in a relatively greater proportion of memory as com-
Systemic T cell expansion during localized viral infection

In a local immune response, the priming and expansion of the antigen‐specific T cell population has been thought to largely take place in the draining lymphoid tissue. This model was primarily based on indirect enumeration of antigen‐specific T cells by limiting dilution analyses. Here, tetrameric MHC class I complexes were used to evaluate the contribution of different secondary lymphoid organs in a local immune response by following the CD8+ T cell responses against the immunodominant epitopes of influenza A virus and herpes simplex virus‐1. Mice were either intranasally infected with influenza A virus and developed pneumonia or were intradermally injected with herpes simplex virus‐1. Remarkably, even though these viruses cause a local infection, the spleen of infected animals contains approximately 50‐fold more antigen‐specific cytotoxic T cells than the draining lymph nodes. Although antigen‐specific T cells in spleen appear not to have experienced any recent encounter with antigen, this population is actively dividing, and over time, the formation of a memory T cell population is observed. These data reveal that there is a remarkably large and distinct population of antigen‐specific T cells in spleen in the course of a local antigenic challenge. This T cell compartment may not only form the foundation of a memory T cell pool but could also provide a safeguard against systemic spreading of an infection.
Isobavachalcone isolated from Psoralea corylifolia inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis via inhibiting the AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway in colorectal cancer cells

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common form of cancer associated with a high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Given the limited efficacy of current therapies for CRC, interest in novel therapeutic agents isolated from natural sources has increased. We studied the anticancer properties of isobavachalcone (IBC), a flavonoid isolated from the herb Psoralea corylifolia, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine, in an in vitro model of CRC. Materials and methods: Cell viability and growth of CRC cells were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 and colony formation assays following treatment with varying concentrations of IBC, respectively. Apoptosis was examined by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining and flow cytometry with Annexin V/propidium iodide double staining. Western blot analysis was used to analyze expression of apoptosis-associated protein pathway and the AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway. Results: Initial experiments showed that IBC inhibited proliferation and colony formation of human CRC cell lines in dose- and time-dependent manners. The antiproliferative effect of IBC resulted from induction of apoptosis, as evidenced by morphological changes in the nucleus, flow cytometry analysis, upregulation of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP, changes in the ratio of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and the pro-apoptotic protein Bax, translocation of Bax from the cytosol to the mitochondria, and decreased expression of two inhibitors of apoptosis family proteins, XIAP, and survivin. Western blot analysis of signaling pathway proteins demonstrated that IBC downregulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which has previously been associated with CRC, by inhibiting the AKT/GSK-3β signaling pathway. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that IBC inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis through inhibition of the AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway in CRC. These results suggest the potential of IBC as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of CRC.
Propagation and Bulblet Enhancement of Rhodophiala pratensis from Seeds Germinated In Vitro

Rhodophiala pratensis is an endemic geophyte from Chile with great importance to the national market of cut flowers and potted and garden plants. However, many geophytes have conservation issues and are considered endangered species. Efficient and controlled propagation techniques have been useful for the commercial production of this species and for its conservation. A micropropagation protocol using seeds was developed to determine an optimum method to increase bulb production rates and plant production. The effect of sucrose levels in the medium on the growth of bulbs was tested in vitro (30, 60 and 90 g L -1 ). Then, the effects on shoot and bulb induction of the cytokinin BAP at concentrations of 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 mg L -1 with the auxin NAA at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 mg L -1 were analyzed. The germination rate after eight weeks increased to 86% with very low contamination (7%). Bulb growth increased when high levels of sucrose were added to the medium; the optimum sucrose concentration was 90 g L -1 . Acclimatization was successful, with a plant survival rate of 63% and an average bulb growth of 0.5 cm. This is the first study to demonstrate the possibility of propagating R. pratensis seeds in vitro.
CEO Pay Equalization; Convergence Among the European Countries and the United States An Empirical Panel Data Analysis (1981- 2006)

In the present paper an attempt will be made to examine whether ceo pay equalization (convergence) takes place in the Western World. This analysis will be based on the method of estimation of entrepreneurial reward according to (Georgiou, 2009). It will be shown that there is no convergence in each of the three periods 1981–89, 1990–99 and 2000–06. Panel data will be elaborated through the Eviews software package.
Association of Diabetes and Body Mass Index with Levels of Prostate-Specific Antigen: Implications for Correction of Prostate-Specific Antigen Cutoff Values?

Background: In a recent study, an inverse association between diabetes and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels was observed, and several studies reported lower PSA levels in groups with higher body mass index. However, all of the studies were conducted in populations with intensive PSA screening and the role of diabetes severity, duration, and therapy are yet to be explored. Methods: Associations of diabetes duration and treatment, hemoglobin A1c, and BMI with PSA levels were assessed among 778 men ages 50 to 74 years, randomly chosen from the 2000 to 2002 baseline recruitment of a large population-based cohort study in Germany (prevalence of diabetes, 17%), using linear regression analyses. Results: PSA values were significantly reduced in men with insulin treatment (−39%; P = 0.006) and oral diabetic medication (−24%; P = 0.030), and in men with elevated (6.1-6.9%) and highly (≥7%) elevated hemoglobin A1c values (−15%, P = 0.004 and −29%, P = 0.003, respectively). PSA reduction was not associated with duration of diabetes. Obesity was possibly associated with a reduction of PSA levels (−14%; P = 0.096). Conclusions: Our study suggests that more severe forms of diabetes are associated with lower PSA levels and confirms the magnitude of reduction in PSA levels in diabetic men overall. The observed PSA reduction parallels reported risk reduction of prostate cancer among diabetic men. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(5):1350–6)
Relationship between Interest Rates and Gearing Ratios of Firms Listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange

Purpose: The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between interest rates and gearing ratios of firms listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange.Methodology: The study was carried out using a longitudinal research design, employing secondary quantitative data. The population for this study constituted of all listed companies in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. As at December 2013, there are 62 companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This study did not sample and hence a census survey was carried out for the study. The study used secondary data. All the data was collected by review of documents, annual reports of the companies, the Nairobi Securities Exchange Handbooks and published books of accounts. The selected period was year 2009 to year 2013 (5 years). The researcher used frequencies, averages and percentages in this study. The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to generate the descriptive statistics and also to generate inferential results. Regression analysis was used to demonstrate effect of interest rate on the gearing ratio of listed firms.Results: These results showed that there is a negative relationship between gearing ratio and interest expense and profitability as supported by beta coefficients of -0.486 and -0.129 respectively. Firm size had a positive correlation (0.275), which means that an increase in firm size causes an increase in the gearing ratio. The analysis also yields results that showed that interest expense, firm size and profitability were statistically significant.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: the study recommended that; the firms should adopt strategies that increase their firm size resulting to a scenario whereby they increase their collateral and thus granting them the ability to access more debt, firms should ensure that they optimize their profits so as to reduce their gearing ratio and thus cause growth, firms should seek to adopt other ways of financing their activities since interest expense had a negative relationship with gearing ratio.
An escaped herd of Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica, Schinz 1838, Bovidae) begins the re-colonization of the Pyrenees

Abstract In January 2000, the last Pyrenean wild goat, Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica, died in Ordesa National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees. Since that time, there has been an intense debate over the possibility of using individuals from other extant subspecies to restore the Iberian wild goat C. pyrenaica in the Pyrenees. In the late 1990s, some Iberian wild goats of the hispanica subspecies escaped from an enclosure in Guara Nature Park, also in the Spanish Pyrenees. Between 2006 and 2012, four annual counts were conducted to quantify the demographics of the population. This expanding but isolated population numbered at least 86 free-living Iberian wild goats in 2012, reproducing in the wild with a positive increasing trend (λ=1.067). Given the small number of original animals that escaped, new releases are necessary to insure the genetic variability of the small population, but only if a clear decision on its conservation is finally made. In addition, the population is sympatric with a population of several hundred feral goats, C. hircus, which should be monitored closely, in order to detect any problems with competence or hybridization, although the latter has not been demonstrated in the wild.
Modeling of Fog and Smoke Attenuation in Free Space Optical Communications Link Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

This paper theoretically and experimentally investigate the spectrum attenuation of free space optical (FSO) communication systems operating at visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelengths (0.6 μm <; λ <; 1.6 μm) under fog and smoke in a controlled laboratory condition. Fog and smoke are generated and controlled homogeneously along a dedicated atmospheric chamber of length 5.5 m. A new wavelength dependent empirical model is proposed to predict the fog and smoke attenuation operating at visible and NIR wavelengths. Comparison of the new proposed model with the measured continuous attenuation spectrum from visible-NIR in the fog and smoke channels shows a close relationship than the semi-empirical Kim and Kruse fog models. The experimental results also show the selection for the possible appropriate wavelengths from visible-NIR for FSO links to achieve the maximum link span in dense fog conditions.