Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Counterfactual approach with survival or time to event outcomes: An application to an exhaustive cohort of Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma in the Rhône-Alps region of France

Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma (EOC) is a disease with poor prognosis, most often diagnosed at an advanced stage, thus necessitating aggres sive and complex surgery. The aim of this study was to compare Progression Free Survival (PFS) at 1st line treatment of EOC patients treated in high vs low-volume hospitals. This retrospective study using prospectively implemented databases was conducted o n an exhaustive cohort of 267 patients treated in first line during 2012 in the Rhone-Alps Region of France. In order to control for selection bias, a multivariate analysis and the Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) using the propensity score were adopted. An Adjusted Kaplan Meier Estimator (AKME) and a univariate Cox model in the weighted sample were then applied in order to determine the impact of the centralization of care on EOC. Patients treated in lower volume hospitals had a probability of relapse (including death) that was 1.5 times higher than for patients treated in higher volume hospitals (p=0.02). As reported in other countries, the concentration of care for EOC has a significant positive impact on patient outcomes .
GROWTH POTENTIAL OF INDIAN MUSTARD VAR. VARDAN TO VARYING LEVELS OF NITROGEN AND SULPHUR

The present investigation was carried out on Indian mustard var. Vardan during Nov., 2003 to March, 2004 at to find out the growth potential with varying levels of nitrogen (0, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 kg/ ha) and sulphur (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/ ha). It was observed that nitrogen application had significantly increased all the growth characters (plant height, number of branches, number of leaves, leaf area and number of primary secondary and tertiary branches). The application of sulphur upto 20 kg/ ha had significant effect in increasing the growth characters, over the control
Development of deep Vs profiles and site periods for the Canterbury region

Recent field investigations were carried out to define the shear wave velocity (VS) profile and site periods across the Canterbury region, supplementing earlier efforts in urban Christchurch. Active source surface wave testing, ambient wave field (passive) and H/V spectral ratio methods were used to characterise the soil profile in the region. H/V spectral ratio peaks indicate site periods in the range of 5-7 seconds across much of the Canterbury Plains, broadly consistent with those based on a 1D velocity model for the region. Site periods decrease rapidly in the vicinity of the Canterbury foothills and the Banks Peninsula outcrops. In Christchurch, the Riccarton Gravels result in a significant mode of vibration that has a much shorter period than the site period of the entire soil column down to basement rock.
Cross-Sectors Skill Intensity, Productivity and Temporary Employment

In this article, we study the impact of temporary employment (TE) on productivity and, in particular, we wonder if it differs according to sectors skill intensity. Our data set is an ad-hoc industry-level panel of European countries, which allows to deal with endogeneity problems. Our main result is that TE has a negative impact on productivity, but it is more damaging in skilled sectors. While an increase of 10 percentage points of the share of TE in skilled sectors decrease labour productivity growth about 1-1.5%, in unskilled sectors the decrease would be 0.5-0.8%. This result is robust to changes in the skill intensity index and in the sample composition. We also discuss policy implications of this result for labour market regulation.
DIFFERENT ANGIOTENSIN RECEPTOR BLOCKERS IN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED HYPERTENSIVE ADULT MALE ALBINO RATS

Zaki Youssef Abdel kader, El Sayed Mohamed Kamel, Fatma Atwa Ali, Sahar Kamal Younes Ali Clinical Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt Corresponding author: Sahar Kamal Younes Ali; Tel.0201147593693;email:saharkamal81@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Background: In treatment of hypertension, care should be taken for preventing hypertensive organ injuries as well as lowering blood pressure to the adequate level in order to decrease the risk of cardiovascular and renal diseases. Objectives: To assess and compare the possible protective effect of various angiotensin receptor blockers namely candesartan, olmesartan, telmisartan ,and valsaratn on cardiovascular and renal tissues in renal hypertensive rats Methods: In this study 72 adult male albino rats were used and divided into six equal groups (each of 12 rats): Group 1, control normal received the vehicle; Group 2, control renal hypertensive induced by left renal artery ligation received the vehicle and Group 3 treated renal hypertensive rats which is divided into four subgroups: subgroup (A) received candesartan ( 0.1 mg/kg/day); subgroup (B) received olmesartan ( 3mg/kg/day ); subgroup (C) received telmisartan ( 0.5 mg/kg/day),and subgroup (D) received valsartan (0.5 mg/kg/day). Rats received drugs orally by gavage once daily for 2 weeks. Results: The present study revealed that left renal artery ligation induced significant increases in mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), heart rate (HR), heart weight, cardiac fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis. Also, there were significant increases in serum level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), cardiac level of inteleukin1β (IL1β), and cardiac and renal levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) concomitant with significant reduction in cardiac and renal level of reduced glutathione (GSH). MABP was similarly reduced in candesartan, olmesartan, telmisartan and valsartan groups compared to control renal hypertensive group. Heart rate, cardiac weight, and cardiac fibrosis were significantly reduced in telmisartan and candesartan group. Telmisartan and candesartan suppressed serum level of TNFα and the cardiac level of IL-1β. Meanwhile, olmesartan and valsartan significantly decreased glomerulosclerosis index and renal level of MDA with significant increase in renal level of GSH. Conclusion: Telmisartan and candesartan exerted better cardioprotective effect via prevention of inflammatory cascade, and olmesartan and valsartan exerted better renoprotective effect via enhancement of antioxidant capacity.
Factors Informing the Smallholder Farmers' Decision to Adopt and Use Improved Cassava Varieties in the South-east Area of Nigeria

The factors influencing farmers’ adoption and use intensity decisions on improved cassava varieties were investigated. Data collected from 510 cassava farmers randomly selected among the users (62.9%) and non-users (37.1%) from Abia State, south-east, Nigeria were used for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics and tobit regression technique, with its associated elasticity decomposition framework were used in data analysis. Results revealed that plot size (p<0.01), farmer’s age (p<0.01), education status (p<0.01), and awareness through workshop and trainings (p<0.05) had significant positive influences on adoption and use while awareness through friends (p<0.01) and radio/television (p<0.01) had negative influences. Results were consistent for all three variants of the regression output considered. Elasticity results showed that the marginal effects of changes in all variables increased the elasticity of the probability of use more than they increased the probability of adoption for all households. The implication is that constant training and retraining of farmers on best farming and management practices would foster adoption and use of improved varieties to impact on the farmers’ wellbeing. Interactions among farmers during meetings, co-operatives, and other non-formal forums should be encouraged, but appropriately monitored, to ensure that only right messages were circulated to avoid distortion and negative outcomes. Keywords: adoption decisions, Manihot esculenta , improved varieties, rural farmers, tobit, use intensity
WHAT HAS JOB SATISFACTION GOT TO DO WITH EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT? A RESEARCH STUDY ON LMX AND WORK ATTITUDES

The purpose of the study is determining the effect of both leader-member relations (LMX) and job satisfaction on organizational commitment; taking jas mediating factor. According to the analysis it was found that high quality LMX pos itively affect job satisfaction. Additionally, the three stage of regression analysis between organiza tional commitment and LMX resulted with LMX affecting loyalty and necessity commitment. As main purpose of the study, the mediating affect of job satisfaction on relation between LMX and organizati onal commitment was measured, and it was found that job satisfaction mediates (by 60%) the rbetween loyalty commitment and LMX. Moreover, when gender differences in job satisfacti on were measured, it was found that female employees have higher job satisfaction level than t heir male workmates. Implication of the present study is that leaders should be aware of the import ant linkages between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and performance. Supervi sors need to be aware of how to maximize high LMX relationships among their subordinates.
Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management

This paper studies the strategies employed by Catholic and Protestant nonprofit hospitals in Germany and traces them back to the theological foundations of those religions, which shape managers' values. We find that Catholic nonprofit hospitals follow a strategy of horizontal diversification and maximization of the number of patients treated. By contrast, Protestant hospitals pursue a strategy of horizontal specialization and focus on vertical differentiation, putting in more sophisticated inputs and producing more complex services. These effects increase if the environment of a hospital gets more competitive. The results are consistent with the predictions of our model, which supports the differences between Catholic and Protestant values identified in the literature.
Incorporating 'in-game' scenarios into player-surface studies

To gain understanding of how different movements, in-game scenarios and surface properties affect the loading of the musculoskeletal system research is needed that combines all of these aspects. Before conducting this research it is important to know what soccer players themselves consider important with regard to their movements in a game situation, and what surface properties they prefer. From the results of a focus group and a questionnaire (completed by 58 players) it is clear that there are several movements and one-on-one situations that they consider important. There were differences in ratings between playing positions and playing levels, and it is important to consider these aspects in any future studies. All surface properties were considered important by the players and there were no differences in playing level or playing position. However, surface characteristics such as stud penetration and uniformity were rated lower in importance than: evenness of the surface, a smooth ball roll and predictable ball bounce. For most other properties intermediate values were preferred. A comparison between the rating of the two Loughborough University artificial turf pitches showed a significant difference in the rating for traction, which was confirmed by previous mechanical measurements. There were also differences in the rating for hardness and shock absorption between the surfaces, though this was not confirmed by previous mechanical measurements. This paper presents the findings of the player feedback study and makes recommendations for an experimental player-surface interaction study design from the outcomes.
Longevity of Diamond-Ground Concrete Pavements

Diamond grinding restores a smooth riding surface with the desirable friction characteristics on concrete pavements. This technique was first used in 1965 on a 19-year-old section of I-10 in California to eliminate excessive faulting. Since then, diamond grinding has become a major element of concrete pavement restoration projects. Despite this long history, little valid documentation of the performance of diamond-ground pavements exists. In recognition of the critical need for such information, the Portland Cement Association, in association with the American Concrete Pavement Association and the International Grooving and Grinding Association, sponsored a study of the performance of diamond-ground pavements. The study involved conducting a comprehensive review of existing information on diamond grinding, data collection, data analysis, and documentation of the study findings. Extensive field surveys were conducted to obtain the performance data needed for the analysis. In all, 60 pavement sections in 18 states were surveyed. In addition, performance data for 133 sections were obtained from an earlier study of the performance of diamond-ground pavements. The Long-Term Pavement Performance database also was used because the SPS-6 sections (concrete pavement rehabilitation) provide opportunity for the direct, side-by-side comparison of the performance of diamond-ground pavement sections and other rehabilitation alternatives. Various analyses were conducted to document the performance of diamond-ground pavements, including an evaluation of faulting performance, longevity of diamond-ground texture, and the effects of diamond grinding on service life. Presented are a brief description of the work conducted and a summary of the findings.
The World Bank's endeavours to reform the forest concessions' regime in Central Africa: Lessons from 25 years of efforts

At the beginning of the 1990s, the World Bank introduced conditionalities to reform the forest concession regime in Central Africa and continuously intervened, inter alia, in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and the DRC up to 2010. The reforms were designed to achieve two immediate objectives: (i) increase the price of the resource through competitive market procedures or, if inapplicable, through taxation, (ii) break down the patronage system that governed the forest permits allocation. These efforts have been supported by national reformers, and fought against by various vested interests such as the timber companies, but also officials in the forest departments. Because of the difficult political economy, reform ambitions have been lowered, and only a certain proportion of the policy measures initially contemplated has been implemented. This called for a completion of the reform agenda and fine tuning. But by the middle of the 2000s, the evolution of paradigms in tropical forestry gave the critics of the WB policy of concession reforms opportunities to challenge the orientations followed hitherto in Central Africa. The 2013 Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) report of the WB forestry policy, criticizing the WB's management efforts to reform concession regimes in Africa, testified to this change of paradigm. The critics are of mixed mind, with community advocates favoring more pressure on the African governments to dismantle the concession regime and proponents of "performance-based aid" seeing REDD+ as an opportunity to withdraw from direct sectoral intervention. Paradoxically, in spite of REDD+ initiatives and rhetoric, forestry has tumbled in the national policy agendas and forest concessions or protected areas are encroached by agribusiness plantations and mines with the implicit support of large fractions within governments. (Resume d'auteur)
Give Me a Break? New Zealand Visitor Arrivals and the Effects of 9/11

We analyse monthly short-term visitor arrival time series for New Zealand, to assess the effect of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the number of visitors to New Zealand. Somewhat misleading reports from the media concerning these data are highlighted. We demonstrate that while some historical events have had a marked structural effect on trends in visitor arrivals to New Zealand, 9/11 was not one of these. Our conclusions are drawn on the basis of an initial nonparametric analysis, followed by a new iterative approach to fitting parametric structural break models, motivated by iterative methods for seasonal data. Our new approach has potential applications for model-based seasonal adjustment, in addition to thedating of structural changes.
On the effect of polydispersity and rotation on the Brinkman force induced by a cloud of particles on a viscous incompressible flow

In this paper, we are interested in the collective friction of a cloud of particles on the viscous incompressible fluid in which they are moving. The particles velocities are assumed to be given and the fluid is assumed to be driven by the stationary Stokes equations. We consider the limit where the number N of particles goes to infinity with their diameters of order 1/N and their mutual distances of order (1/N)^{1/3}. The rigorous convergence of the fluid velocity to a limit which is solution to a stationary Stokes equation set in the full space but with an extra term, referred to as the Brinkman force, was proven by Desvillettes, Golse and Ricci when the particles are identical spheres in prescribed translations. Our result here is an extension to particles of arbitrary shapes in prescribed translations and rotations. The limit Stokes-Brinkman system involves the particle distribution in position, velocity and shape, through the so-called Stokes' resistance matrices.
In Vitro Culture of Fibroblast-Like Cells From Sheep Ear Skin Stored at 25-26°C for 10 Days After Animal Death

Successful somatic cell nuclear transfer aka cloning requires good quality undamaged nuclear DNA from desired cell types. In vitro culture of cells is one way of ensuring nuclear integrity. Cellular contents including nucleus gradually decompose postmortem, if not preserved within a reasonable time, leading to cell and ultimately nuclear DNA damage. The goal of this study was to determine time limits within which live and culturable cells can be obtained, after death of an animal, using sheep as a model. How long the somatic cells are alive and have potential to replicate after the animal death is not precisely known. Here we show, for the first time, that the sheep ear skin stored at 25-26°C after animal death can be cultured up to 10 days postmortem. The culture confluence is inversely correlated with increasing postmortem time interval. The cultured fibroblast-like cells have 95±5.2 % post cryopreservation cell-viability; have normal karyotype, and a comparable growth profile to that of fresh tissue derived cells. This study shows that sheep skin has potential for in vitro culture of its cells up to 10 days postmortem. Cultured cells can be successfully used for preservation of biodiversity for possible future cloning of animals.
BACTERIOLOGICAL PROFILE AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF BLOOD CULTURE ISOLATES

Background: Bloodstream infection (BSI) is an important cause of mortality and morbidity and among the most common health-care associated infections. In this study we described the frequency of occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of nosocomial and community-acquired BSI isolates from a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 850-bed Rasul Akram university hospital from April 2006 to April 2007. All patients with a positive blood culture were enrolled. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed with disk diffusion and E-test MIC. Results: During the study period, 456 isolates were obtained from blood cultures, from a total of 8818 collected sets, among which 291were felt to represent true bacteremia and 98 were nosocomial. Acinetobacter spp. were the most frequently isolated agents in the hospital and community acquired BSIs (32%), followed by Escherichia coli (13.7%) and Klebsiella spp. (12%). The most effective antibiotics for gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria were ciprofloxacin (13% resistance rate) and vancomycin and oxacillin (with 13% resistance rate), respectively. Analysis of antibiotic resistance pattern showed that 20.43% of Acinetobacter spp. and 15.4% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were multi drug resistant (MDR), while 48.7% of Klebsiella spp were ESBL-producing isolates and 15% of Staphylococcus aureus were oxacillin-resistant. Conclusion: We did not observe any vancomycin-resistant strains among isolates of S. aureus. Rifampin and ciprofloxacin showed good activity against most of gram-positive and gram-negative organisms, respectively. Carbapenems (imipenem and meropenem) were highly active against strains of Enterobacteriaceae (E. coli, Klebsiella) that showed resistance to third generation of cephalosporines.
Community Structure, Diversity, Biomass and Net Production in a Rehabilitated Subtropical Forest in North India

Gangetic alluvial plain in north India constitutes significant proportions of barren sodic lands. A representative site, where afforestation was carried out during 1960s to rehabilitate the site under forest ecosystem, was selected to assess the restoration success. Three stands (S1, S2, and S3) were selected in a semi-natural subtropical forest at Banthra, Lucknow (26°45’ N, 80°53’ E) on the basis of different vegetation morphology and basal area gradient. Species composition and their growth forms were studied in overstory, understory and ground layer vegetation, in which dominants were assorted. Among the dominants few species were common in the three stands as also in different strata, which perhaps indicate their natural regeneration. Classification of individuals among the different size classes indicated ‘L’ shape distribution in which most of the individuals remained confined in younger groups. Biomass increased from the stand S1 to S3 stand in overstory, and vise versa for understory. Stand S2 consisted of predominance of ground layer biomass over the other stands. Biomass allocation in different plant components differed significantly between the overstory and understory for aerial woody components (stem and branch). Annual litter fall did not differ significantly among the stands, where as fine root biomass (up to 45 cm soil depth) decreased from S1 to S3 stands. Rainy and summer seasons contributed to two-third proportion of total annual fine root production. The state of this rehabilitated forest when compared with the degraded and reference forest of the region indicated that structural complexity, biomass and production levels have been achieved to 70% of the reference forest site even after having a different species composition.
An evaluation of growth and symmetry in thoroughbred foals and Holstein calves.

II DECLARATION III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV LIST OF FIGURES VIII LIST OF TABLES X GLOSSARY OF TERMS XIII CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO GROWTH IN THE LARGE UNGULATES 3 2.1 GROWTH IN FARM ANIMALS 3 2.2 DEVELOPMENTAL STABILITY/SYMMETRY 4 2.3 GROWTH AND CHANGES IN THE THOROUGHBRED FOAL 9 2.3.1 Growth 9 2.3.1.1 Average Daily Gain (ADG) 10 2.3.1.2 Bone Growth 14 2.3. 2 Weaning 16 2.3. 3 Post Weaning Nutrition and Feeding 19 2.3. 3.1 Developmental Orthopaedic Disease (DOD) 24 2.3. 4 Exercise 26 2.4 ASSESSING GROWTH 28 2.5 CONCLUSIONS 29 CHAPTER THREE A COMPARISON OF PHOTOGRAPHIC AND TAPE MEASUREMENTS IN HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CALVES USING IMAGE ANALYSIS, AND THE EFFECTS WEANING TIME WILL HAVE ON GROWTH AND RELATIVE ASYMMETRY. 30 3.