Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A dimensional structure of nurse-patient interactions from a caring perspective: refinement of the Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction Scale (CNPI-Short Scale).

AIM This paper reports the development of a short version of the Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction Scale. BACKGROUND Since the 1980s several instruments have been developed to assess external aspects of caring. They involve using an inductive process of knowledge development to investigate the underlying structure of caring, and few reflect an explicit underlying caring theory. We developed the Caring Nurse-Patient Interactions Scale (CNPI-Long Scale) based on both inductive and deductive processes to assess attitudes and behaviours associated with Watson's 10 carative factors. Two issues led us to abridge our original 70-item scale into a more concise Short Scale (CNPI-Short Scale). First, many of our subscales were moderately to highly correlated, which is an empirical reflection of the theoretical non-independence of the carative factors. Secondly, a 70-item questionnaire was difficult to be deal with in the clinical research setting with severely ill patients because of its length. METHOD Items selected were determined by factor analysis, with specific theoretical and empirical requirements. Data were collected in September 2003 from 377 nursing students beginning their first, second or third year of a nursing programme. RESULTS The Short Scale comprises 23 items, reflecting four caring domains: Humanistic Care (four items), Relational Care (seven), Clinical Care (nine) and Comforting Care (three). All items are related to their theoretical domain alone (i.e. factor loading >or=0.40). Alpha coefficients for the four domains were adequate (0.63-0.74, 0.90-0.92, 0.80-0.94 and 0.61-0.76 respectively). CONCLUSIONS The CNPI-Short Scale, has potential for use in clinical research settings, particularly when questionnaire length is an issue. It is a useful tool for research aimed at demonstrating that caring is indeed fundamental to nursing.
Cost implications of microfinance regulation: lessons from Ghana

ABSTRACT The paper examines the impact of the costs associated with regulation on Microfinance Institutions in Ghana. To achieve the paper objective, we use a unique set of field data from 25 Microfinance Institutions from different regions of Ghana and opinions gathered from the managers of the sampled MFIs. We find that regulation increases an array of doing business costs that MFIs tend to pass to their micro-clients by increasing the interest rates. Furthermore, we find that the costs of regulation have adverse effects on outreach: reduction in percent of female borrowers. These findings are corroborated by the comparison analysis we conducted on Ghanaian MFIs that report to the Mixmarket. Regulatory instruments need to be well designed to achieve their dual roles of providing sound financial services and protecting micro-clients without jeopardizing the outreach mission of the MFIs.
Hyaluronic acid in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.

OBJECTIVES We examined the efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction of intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. METHODS One hundred patients with mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the knee entered a randomized blind-observer trial of 6 months HA vs placebo. Primary efficacy criteria were pain on walking, measured with a visual analogue scale, and the Lequesne Index. RESULTS For pain on walking, a significant difference in favour of HA was found for completed patients at week 5, the end of the course of injections, and at month 6, the end of the study (P = 0.0087 and P = 0.0049, respectively). Further analysis using the Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) also showed a significant benefit favouring HA at month 6 (P = 0.0010). For the Lequesne Index, a significant difference in favour of HA was found at week 5 (P = 0.030) and at month 2 (P = 0.0431), but this was only of borderline significance at month 4 (P = 0.0528). Patients' global assessment of efficacy favoured HA at month 6 (P = 0.012). Improvement in other secondary criteria was generally superior in the HA group compared to placebo both at week 5 and month 6. Adverse events, mainly local injection site reactions, occurred in both groups with equal frequency. CONCLUSIONS The study demonstrated that five weekly intra-articular injections of sodium hyaluronate (Hyalgan) were superior to placebo and well tolerated in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee with a symptomatic benefit which persisted for 6 months.
Syndicated Lending: The Role of Relationships for the Retained Share

The finance literature offers ambiguous predictions about the impact of lending relationships on the share retained by lead arrangers in syndicated loans. While some literature indicates that lending relationships can help to alleviate post contractual agency conflicts, others imply that relationship lead arrangers may use their information advantage to exploit syndicate participants. Using syndicated loans made to U.S. firms, this article shows that lead arrangers retain a smaller share in lending relationships with firms. This result suggests that the agency-conflict-mitigating feature of a lending relationship outweighs the information-exploitation- facilitating feature. Consistent with the view that reputational concerns mitigate agency conflicts and make relationships less relevant, the impact on the retained share is stronger for non-top-tier and smaller lead arrangers. This article also shows that the effect of lending relationships is concentrated in loan contracts that include covenants.
Biomechanical comparison of intramedullary and percutaneous pin fixation for proximal humeral fracture fixation.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanical strength and durability of intramedullary nailing (IM) and percutaneous pinning (PP) for fixation of three-part proximal humeral fractures using a cadaveric model. DESIGN Three-part surgical neck fractures were created in paired embalmed cadaveric humeri. Fractures were fixed with IM and PP fixation. The fixation stiffness and durability was assessed under cyclic rotational loading (infraspinatus) ramping from 0.1 to 1.25 Newton-meters for 10,000 cycles. The specimen were then torsionally loaded to failure. SETTING Mechanical testing was performed using a servohydraulic test system (MTS, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.). INTERVENTION PP fixations were accomplished using standard multiplane techniques. IM fixation was attained using an 11.0-millimeter-diameter curved rod interlocked proximally with three splayed 5.0-millimeter cancellous screws and distally with three 3.5-millimeter cortical screws. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS During cyclic loading the reconstruction stiffness, angular migration, and angular displacement per cycle were measured and compared between fixation methods. The ultimate torque at failure, absolute angular migration, and reconstruction stiffness during failure were recorded and compared between fixation methods during destructive testing. RESULTS The intramedullary device had greater stiffness and less angular displacement of fragments during cyclic loading. When loading the reconstructions to failure, the intramedullary device proved to have greater failure torques, stiffness, energy absorbed, and angular displacement before failure. CONCLUSIONS This biomechanical study showed that the IM device provided a stronger, more stable, and durable fixation option than did PP fixation for large-fragment multipart proximal humeral fractures with minimal comminution.
The development of the osteocranium of Pleurodeles waltlii Michahelles

Under optimal conditions the development of the osteocranium covers the major part of the larval period and lasts about three and a half months. The earliest ossifications are of dermal origin and concern the tooth‐bearing bones. The poorly developed enchondral ossifications found in Urodela, appear at a much later stage, just before metamorphosis.
Determinants of continuance intention and word of mouth for hotel branded mobile app users.

This study examined the cognitive and affective factors that influence users' post-adoption behavioral intention. Specifically, based on the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) (Bhattacherjee, 2001b) the impact of cognitive factors (i.e., perceived usefulness, confirmation of expectations, mobility, personalization and responsiveness) and affective factors (i.e., satisfaction, perceived enjoyment) on hotel branded mobile applications (apps) users' continuance intention and WOM were examined. Hospitality firms invest considerable resources on technology solutions that are aimed at improving the consumer experience. However, for investments to be profitable firms must ensure that technology solutions are continuously used and ensure post-adoptive behaviors such as continuance intention and WOM. Data for the study were collected from 550 hotel branded mobile app users. After data were collected and cleaned, Partial Least-Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results of the structural model indicated that continuance intention and WOM were directly influenced by satisfaction and perceived enjoyment; with satisfaction exerting the most influence on continuance intention. Conversely, perceived enjoyment was most influential to WOM. All cognitive factors were found to influence satisfaction and enjoyment, except for responsiveness and perceived usefulness. The results show that contextual factors have a more significant impact than previously established constructs. The results of the study allow hoteliers and hospitality technology consultants to identify the influential factors impacting post-adoptive behaviors. The study extends the literature on post-adoptive behavior and the ECM by including context specific factors (i.e. perceived mobility, personalization and responsiveness). This study contributes to the scare literature in the lodging industry literature examining users' evaluations of mobile apps and post-adoptive behaviors in the hospitality industry. The study adds to the post-adoptive behavior literature by adding WOM as a second outcome to continuance intention. The treatment of contextual factors in this study, allowed to show the impact technology characteristics have on technology post-adoption.
Blockchain and Associated Legal Issues for Emerging Markets

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), is a tamper-evident and tamper-resistant digital ledger implemented in a distributed fashion.1 This emerging technology, which enables direct transactions within a ledger without need for a central authority or trusted intermediary, has the potential to re-engineer economic models and enable the creation of markets and products previously unavailable or unprofitable across emerging markets. However, in considering the potential benefits of blockchain, organizations must also consider the associated risks and how they can be managed. These risks include jurisdictional challenges, crypto assets, privacy and data protection, double spending, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Several risks have been identified and overcome at similar innovative leaps in the recent past, including the commercialization of the Internet and cloud computing. It is essential that enterprises understand all risks inherent in blockchain systems, including being able to clearly identify who is accountable and legally responsible.
Case Report of Human Urinary Myiasis Caused by Clogmia albipunctata (Diptera: Psychodidae) with Morphological Description of Larva and Pupa

Background: Urinary myiasis is a form of myiasis caused mainly by larvae of Fannia scalaris, Musca, Sarcophaga, Lucilia, Wohlfahrtia, Calliphora, and rarely by Eristalis and Clogmia albipunctata. Methods: This report presents a case of female patient complaining of dysuria and frequency of micturition associated with intermittent passage of small, motile, dark-colored worm-like organisms in urine. She was a married housewife aged 24 years old referred from the Tropical Outpatient Clinic of Beni-Suef University Hospital, Egypt. The patient was subjected to a full questionnaire sheet and investigations such as CBC, stool and urine analysis and urinary ultrasonography. Collected larvae and pupae from urine samples were examined macroscopically and microscopically. Results: The examined larvae and pupae belonged to C. albipunctata. Ivermectin was prescribed to the patient with complaint withdrawal and complete disappearance of the larvae from urine. Conclusion: This study reports the first case of urinary myiasis caused by C. albipunctata in Beni-Suef Governorate, the second in Egypt and third case worldwide. The study throws some light on the medical importance and management of urinary myiasis.
Detecting differentially expressed genes using calibrated bayes factors

A common interest in microarray data analysis is to identify genes having changes in expression values between different biological conditions. The existing methods include using two-sample t-statistics, modified t-statistics (SAM), Bayesian t-statistics (Cyber-T), semiparametric hierarchical Bayesian models, and nonparametric permutation tests. All these methods essentially compare two population means. Unlike these methods, we consider using Bayes factors to compare gene expression levels that allows us to compare two population distributions. To adapt the use of Bayes factors to microarray data, we propose a new calibration approach that weighs two types of prior predictive error probabilities differently for each gene and, at the same time, controls the overall error rate for all genes. Moreover, a new gene selection algorithm based on the calibration approach is developed and its properties are examined. The proposed method is shown to have a smaller false discovery rate (FDR) and a smaller false non-discovery rate (FNDR) than several existing methods in several simulations. Finally, a data set from an affymetrix microarray experiment to identify genes associated with the mature osteoblast differentiation is used to further illustrate the proposed methodology.
Potent synergy of ceftobiprole plus daptomycin against multiple strains of Staphylococcus aureus with various resistance phenotypes.

OBJECTIVES Ceftobiprole is a broad-spectrum cephalosporin that demonstrates activity against Staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin, including strains with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides and lipopeptides. The addition of this agent provides a potential therapeutic option for difficult-to-treat infections. Synergy has been demonstrated between β-lactams combined with glycopeptides and lipopeptides against S. aureus. This study sought to determine whether ceftobiprole was synergistic with daptomycin, vancomycin or standard-of-care combination agents (gentamicin or rifampicin) against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains with varying degrees of vancomycin susceptibility. METHODS Broth microdilution MICs of ceftobiprole, daptomycin, vancomycin, rifampicin and gentamicin were evaluated for 20 MRSA isolates. Combination MICs were additionally evaluated in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of ceftobiprole to assess synergism. Time-kill curves for five representative isolates were performed utilizing combinations of ceftobiprole plus daptomycin, vancomycin, rifampicin and gentamicin to further quantify the degree of synergy for each regimen. RESULTS Ceftobiprole plus daptomycin represented the most potent combination with a 4-fold decrease in MIC and synergy against all strains evaluated in time-kill evaluations. Additionally, binding studies demonstrated enhanced daptomycin binding in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of ceftobiprole. CONCLUSIONS The use of combination therapy with ceftobiprole may provide a needed addition for the treatment of Gram-positive infections resistant to daptomycin or vancomycin. Consistent with what has been observed with other β-lactams, ceftobiprole increased bodipy-tagged daptomycin binding on the surface of S. aureus, potentially explaining this potent synergy observed in time-kill evaluations. More detailed evaluation of ceftobiprole is warranted to better characterize observed synergy.
Information Exchange in Retail Markets with Uncertainty about Downstream Costs

An information exchange between two producers selling independent products to the same retailer can have ambiguous effects on market efficiency and surplus. When a retailer's costs are unobservable the producers may have an incentive to communicate about their negotiations with that retailer. If each producer is allowed to place one offer the producers will have no incentive to exchange information. However, the retailer may communicate that he refused the first offer to the other firm which subsequently might place a lower offer. When one firm is allowed to place a second offer, two equilibria involve communication between the producers. In a separating equilibrium an information exchange ensures that agreement will always be found. In a hybrid equilibrium, the likelihood that agreement is found is less likely.
Rethinking Privacy and Security Mechanisms in Online Social Networks

With billions of users, Online Social Networks(OSNs) are amongst the largest scale communication applications on the Internet. OSNs enable users to easily access news from local and worldwide, as well as share information publicly and interact with friends. On the negative side, OSNs are also abused by spammers to distribute ads or malicious information, such as scams, fraud, and even manipulate public political opinions. Having achieved significant commercial success with large amount of user information, OSNs do treat the security and privacy of their users seriously and provide several mechanisms to reinforce their account security and information privacy. However, the efficacy of those measures is either not thoroughly validated or in need to be improved. In sight of cyber criminals and potential privacy threats on OSNs, we focus on the evaluations and improvements of OSN user privacy configurations, account security protection mechanisms, and trending topic security in this dissertation. We first examine the effectiveness of OSN privacy settings on protecting user privacy. Given each privacy configuration, we propose a corresponding scheme to reveal the target user's basic profile and connection information starting from some leaked connections on the user's homepage. Based on the dataset we collected on Facebook, we calculate the privacy exposure in each privacy setting type and measure the accuracy of our privacy inference schemes with different amount of public information. The evaluation results show that (1) a user's private basic profile can be inferred with high accuracy and (2) connections can be revealed in a significant portion based on even a small number of directly leaked connections. Secondly, we propose a behavioral-profile-based method to detect OSN user account compromisation in a timely manner. Specifically, we propose eight behavioral features to portray a user's social behavior. A user's statistical distributions of those feature values comprise its behavioral profile. Based on the sample data we collected from Facebook, we observe that each user's activities are highly likely to conform to its behavioral profile while two different user's profile tend to diverge from each other, which can be employed for compromisation detection. The evaluation result shows that the more complete and accurate a user's behavioral profile can be built the more accurately compromisation can be detected. Finally, we investigate the manipulation of OSN trending topics. Based on the dataset we collected from Twitter, we manifest the manipulation of trending and a suspect spamming infrastructure. We then measure how accurately the five factors (popularity, coverage, transmission, potential coverage, and reputation) can predict trending using an SVM classifier. We further study the interaction patterns between authenticated accounts and malicious accounts in trending. At last we demonstrate the threats of compromised accounts and sybil accounts to trending through simulation and discuss countermeasures against trending manipulation.
Cardiac Insulin Signaling Regulates Glycolysis Through Phosphofructokinase 2 Content and Activity

Background The healthy heart has a dynamic capacity to respond and adapt to changes in nutrient availability. Diabetes mellitus disrupts this metabolic flexibility and promotes cardiomyopathy through mechanisms that are not completely understood. Phosphofructokinase 2 (PFK‐2) is a primary regulator of cardiac glycolysis and substrate selection, yet its regulation under normal and pathological conditions is unknown. This study was undertaken to determine how changes in insulin signaling affect PFK‐2 content, activity, and cardiac metabolism. Methods and Results Streptozotocin‐induced diabetes mellitus, high‐fat diet feeding, and fasted mice were used to identify how decreased insulin signaling affects PFK‐2 and cardiac metabolism. Primary adult cardiomyocytes were used to define the mechanisms that regulate PFK‐2 degradation. Both type 1 diabetes mellitus and a high‐fat diet induced a significant decrease in cardiac PFK‐2 protein content without affecting its transcript levels. Overnight fasting also induced a decrease in PFK‐2, suggesting it is rapidly degraded in the absence of insulin signaling. An unbiased metabolomic study demonstrated that decreased PFK‐2 in fasted animals is accompanied by an increase in glycolytic intermediates upstream of phosphofructokianse‐1, whereas those downstream are diminished. Mechanistic studies using cardiomyocytes showed that, in the absence of insulin signaling, PFK‐2 is rapidly degraded via both proteasomal‐ and chaperone‐mediated autophagy. Conclusions The loss of PFK‐2 content as a result of reduced insulin signaling impairs the capacity to dynamically regulate glycolysis and elevates the levels of early glycolytic intermediates. Although this may be beneficial in the fasted state to conserve systemic glucose, it represents a pathological impairment in diabetes mellitus.
Functional impairment of CMV‐reactive cellular immunity during pregnancy

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital viral infection. Mother‐to‐child transmission can cause severe child disability. Intact CMV‐specific cell‐mediated immunity (CMI) was shown to prevent uncontrolled replication in healthy individuals. This study aimed to determine whether CMV‐specific CMI is impaired in pregnant women, thus potentially increasing the overall risk for active CMV replication and transmission. CMV‐specific CMI in peripheral blood of 60 pregnant women was determined using T‐Track® CMV for detection of IE‐1 and pp65‐reactive effector cells by IFN‐γ ELISpot, and compared to the CMV‐IgG and ‐IgM serostatus. CMV‐specific CMI was detected in 65% of CMV‐seropositive pregnant women. Five percent of CMV‐IgG seronegative women showed IE‐1‐ but not pp65‐reactive cells. The overall number of CMV‐reactive cells in pregnant women was significantly lower compared to a matched non‐pregnant control group (P < 0.001). No significant difference in CMV‐specific CMI was detected in the course of the three trimesters of pregnancy of CMV‐IgG seropositive women. Postpartum (median days postnatal = 123), IE‐1‐ and pp65‐specific CMI remained significantly lower than in the non‐pregnant control group (P < 0.001 and 0.0032, respectively). Functional analysis of CMV‐reactive immune cells using T‐Track® CMV therefore suggests a systemic down‐regulation of CMV‐specific CMI in pregnant women. Further studies are needed to investigate whether this may be indicative of a higher susceptibility to CMV reactivation or transmission. J. Med. Virol. 89:324–331, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.