Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cost‐effectiveness of patient‐controlled analgesia vs. standard care in patients presenting to the Emergency Department in pain, who are subsequently admitted to hospital

The clinical effectiveness of patient‐controlled analgesia has been demonstrated in a variety of settings. However, patient‐controlled analgesia is rarely utilised in the Emergency Department. The aim of this study was to compare the cost‐effectiveness of patient‐controlled analgesia vs. standard care in participants admitted to hospital from the Emergency Department with pain due to traumatic injury or non‐traumatic abdominal pain. Pain scores were measured hourly for 12 h using a visual analogue scale. Cost‐effectiveness was measured as the additional cost per hour in moderate to severe pain avoided by using patient‐controlled analgesia rather than standard care (the incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio). Sampling variation was estimated using bootstrap methods and the effects of parameter uncertainty explored in a sensitivity analysis. The cost per hour in moderate or severe pain averted was estimated as £24.77 (€29.05, US$30.80) (bootstrap estimated 95%CI £8.72 to £89.17) for participants suffering pain from traumatic injuries and £15.17 (€17.79, US$18.86) (bootstrap estimate 95%CI £9.03 to £46.00) for participants with non‐traumatic abdominal pain. Overall costs were higher with patient‐controlled analgesia than standard care in both groups: pain from traumatic injuries incurred an additional £18.58 (€21.79 US$23.10) (95%CI £15.81 to £21.35) per 12 h; and non‐traumatic abdominal pain an additional £20.18 (€23.67 US$25.09) (95%CI £19.45 to £20.84) per 12 h.
Nitric oxide does not modulate myocardial contractility acutely in in situ canine hearts.

The study was designed to assess the influence of nitric oxide (NO) on myocardial contractility in vivo. The left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) of 28 anesthetized, open-chest dogs was perfused with arterial blood via an extracorporeal circuit. In the LAD bed, segmental shortening (SS), an index of local myocardial contractility, was measured with ultrasonic crystals. Coronary blood flow (CBF) was measured by Doppler flow transducer and used to calculate myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2). Studies were performed with coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) constant (n = 23) or with CBF constant (n = 5). Measurements were obtained 1) during intracoronary infusions of the NO donors sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 80 ng/min) and nitroglycerin (NTG, 40 micrograms/min) and of a stimulator of endogenous NO release, acetylcholine (ACh, 20 micrograms/min), and 2) after inhibition of basal NO synthase activity with either NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 300 micrograms/min ic for 15 min) or NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA 2mg/min ic for 15 min). Decreases in SS (-38%) and MVO2 (-42%) during intracoronary isoflurane infusion verified responsiveness of preparation to negative inotropic agents. With CPP constant, SNP, NTG, and ACh caused increases in CBF (177, 28, and 280%, respectively) with no changes in SS or MVO2. Neither L-NAME nor L-NMMA affected SS, MVO2, or CBF. With CBF constant, the SNP- and ACh-induced decreases in CPP were accompanied by no changes in SS. In conclusion, NO had no direct influence on myocardial contractility or oxygen demand under baseline conditions, or when its local concentration was increased acutely with SNP, NTG, or ACh. An augmented SS secondary to increased CBF per se, i.e., Gregg's phenomenon, did not obscure potential negative inotropic effects of SNP and ACh with CPP constant.
L‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesias, motor fluctuations and health‐related quality of life: the COPARK survey

Studies assessing the correlations between L‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesias (LIDs) and motor fluctuations with health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have yielded conflicting results. This study aimed to assess the relationship between LIDs and motor fluctuations with HRQoL in patients with PD, and to assess the relative contribution of their severity and duration in a large sample of patients with PD.
Performance measurement of public facilities in Thailand : A case study of Dhanarak Asset Development

This paper aims to present Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are used in public real estate management practice in Thailand, and to discuss similarities and dissimilarities between theory and practice. The findings from a single case study are compared with data from 55 other public organisations in Thailand. The case study has been conducted at Dhanarak Asset Development Company Limited in Bangkok. Research methods include interviews, walk-through observations, and document analysis. The findings show that KPIs are linked to three main areas: adherence to policy, operating performance of the state enterprise, and organisational management. KPIs include both financial and non-financial indicators. Findings on an operational level are reported to the upper organisational level. Benchmarking of performance measurement results of government agencies are used to improve the country’s public performance management as a whole. Overall the findings support the three principles that reflect a change in public asset management according to Kaganova and Undeland (2006), and the strategic framework for public performance measurement that was developed by Jaaskelainen and Laihonen (2014). The findings can be used as input to a step-by-step plan to define prioritised KPIs in connection to the organisational context and the corporate strategy. The findings and reflections upon the findings can help to understand the impact of public real estate management on organisational performance and how to add value to the organisation.
Corporate Governance, Corporate Ownership, and the Role of Institutional Investors: A Global Perspective

We examine the relation between corporate governance and ownership structure, focusing on the role of institutional investors. In many countries, institutional investors have become dominant players in the financial markets. We discuss the theoretical basis for, history of, and empirical evidence on institutional investor involvement in shareholder monitoring. We examine cross-country differences in ownership structures and the implications of these differences for institutional investor involvement in corporate governance. Although there may be some convergence in governance practices across countries over time, the endogenous nature of the interrelation among governance factors suggests that variation in governance structures will persist.
Gastrointestinal Bleeding and Cutaneous Nodules

A 58-year-old man with a past medical history of hepatitis C and hypertension was referred to Baylor University Medical Center to evaluate occult gastrointestinal bleeding with double-balloon endoscopy. Before coming to Baylor, he complained of fatigue, shortness of breath, and noted melena. Upper endoscopy and colonoscopy were unrevealing. Capsule endoscopy at the outside hospital suggested a proximal bleed in the small bowel. Imaging included an ultrasound that showed a 6-mm common bile duct with cholelithiasis and an angiogram with findings of a proximal jejunal blush suggestive of the site of bleeding. At the outside hospital, he had an initial hematocrit of 23% and received 3 units of packed red blood cells. While his hematocrit rose with the transfusion, it further declined during treatment with a proton pump inhibitor, and he remained symptomatic. The patient's past medical history included a right carotid artery aneurysm resulting in a cerebrovascular accident that limited the use of his right arm, as well as a hiatal hernia, benign prostatic hypertrophy, chronic lower back pain, arthritis, Horner's syndrome, and a right knee surgery. His medications included ondansetron, pantoprazole, lisinopril, tramadol, docu-sate, and diphenhydramine. The family history was positive for strokes and diabetes. On physical examination, he was noted to have multiple cherry angiomas on his right arm, as well as a 5-cm hyperpig-mented cafe-au-lait macule on his right neck, axillary freckling, and palpable, nontender nodules on his abdomen and extremities. Suspecting neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), multiple Baylor physicians inquired about a history of this disease, and he denied any previous diagnosis or family history.
Technical and economic efficiencies in poultry production in Imo State, Nigeria.

This study was carried out to estimate the technical and economic efficiencies of poultry farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. The data was collected with semi-structured questionnaire from 140 randomly selected poultry farmers. A stochastic frontier production function was estimated by using the maximum likelihood estimation technique to obtain the technical and economic efficiencies of poultry farmers. The mean technical efficiency of poultry farmers was 75 percent, while their mean economic efficiency was 21 percent. The generalized likelihood test indicated that, the poultry farmers are not fully technically and economically efficient in resource use. There is 79% allowance to increase economic efficiency of poultry farmers by improvement in technical efficiency.
Farm Financial Performance

Financial performance of broadacre and dairy farms is expected to strengthen in 2007-08 following the lowest incomes since 1992-93 in the previous year. Increased grain and livestock production, combined with higher commodity prices, are projected to boost farm cash incomes in 2007-08. Incomes in the wool industry are projected to increase threefold to more than $93 000 in 2007-08, the highest income recorded in real terms since 1987-88. Strong cash flows leading into 2007-08, combined with a recovery in grains receipts, are expected to enable most producers to rebuild livestock numbers and reduce debt.
Septal elicitation of hippocampal theta rhythm did not repair cognitive and emotional deficits resulting from vestibular lesions

Bilateral vestibular lesions cause atrophy of the hippocampus in humans and subsequent deficits in spatial memory and the processing of emotional stimuli in both rats and humans. Vestibular lesions also impair hippocampal theta rhythm in rats. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether restoring theta rhythm to the hippocampus of a rat, via stimulation of the medial septum, would repair the deficits caused by vestibular lesions. It was hypothesized that the restoration of theta would repair the deficits and the vestibular rats would exhibit behavior and EEG similar to that of the sham rats. Rats were given either sham surgery or bilateral vestibular deafferentation (BVD) followed in a later operation by electrode implants. Half of the lesioned rats received stimulation. Subjects were tested in open field, elevated T‐maze and spatial nonmatching to sample tests. BVD caused a deficit in hippocampal theta rhythm. Stimulation restored theta power at a higher frequency in the vestibular‐lesioned rats, however, the stimulation did not repair the cognitive and emotional deficits caused by the lesions. It was concluded that stimulation, at least in the form used here, would not be a viable treatment option for vestibular damaged humans. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Ultrasound criteria for in utero diagnosis of microcephaly

Microcephaly (small head) is clinically important only if there is concomitant micrencephaly (small brain). Extensive studies on patients in mental institutions have shown that there is close correlation among microcephaly, micrencephaly, and mental retardation when the head is more than three standard deviations below the norm. If the small head is less than two standard deviations below the norm, no strong correlation exists with either small brain or mental retardation. High‐resolution ultrasound permits imaging of the fetal head in utero, allowing accurate evaluation of head size and detection of intracranial anomalies. The microcephalics detected in utero over a 2‐year period form the basis of this series, showing close correlation with the known clinical data on children with microcephaly. An approach to ultrasound detection and evaluation of fetal microcephaly is proposed.
Lysis of human macrophages by cytolytic CD4+ T cells fails to affect survival of intracellular Mycobacterium bovis‐bacille Calmette‐Guérin (BCG)

Human CD4+, mycobacteria‐specific, cytolytic T cell clones were used to lyse BCG‐infected macrophages. and the effect on the subsequent growth and viability of the organisms was examined. The survival of released bacteria following cell lysis was assessed by both 3H‐uridine labelling and colony‐forming unit (CFU) estimation. The results indicate that even when effective antigen‐specific or lectin‐mediated cytolysis of the infected macrophages was achieved, there was no evidence for a direct mycobactericidal effect on the intracellular bacteria. This remained the case even if the period of co‐culture of T cells and macrophages was extended up to 48 h. Pretreatment of the macrophages with interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ) was not able to act together with T cell‐mediated lysis to produce inhibition of mycobacterial growth.
Analysing key concepts of organisation: knowledge management, competitive intelligence and competitive advantage

Today, due to the unstable environmental conditions some concepts such as knowledge management, competitive intelligence and competitive advantage have attracted researchers' attention. In this study, the goal is to explore these concepts and propose differences between the present mode and the ideal mode. Data collection is performed through the library, experimental and use of questionnaires. The method is semi-experimental and to clarify the desired outcomes, pre-test and post test are used. For this study, two groups of samples including theoreticians and experts and executives of small and medium enterprises are used. Further, this work is quite applied and by comparing the existing mode to the ideal one. An appropriate solution for better performance to the executive is presented. This study is absolutely new on its own in Iran.
Induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in transgenic mice expressing ovalbumin in oligodendrocytes

We have used the 5′ flanking sequence of the myelin basic protein gene known to include the core promoter and a strong oligodendrocyte (ODC)‐specific enhancer to target expression of the well‐studied model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) to ODC in transgenic mice. OVA protein was detected in a tissue‐ and cell‐specific manner in these "ODC‐OVA" mice. Without immunization, CD4 T cells and B cells remained ignorant of the neo‐self antigen expressed in the central nervous system (CNS), as indicated by unimpaired development and lack of activation of OVA/IAb‐specific TCR transgenic T cells in these mice, and the ability to mount normal OVA‐specific recall and antibody responses. Upon immunization with OVA in complete Freund's adjuvant, about half of the transgenic mice developed neurological symptoms characteristic of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Mononuclear infiltrates in the brain and spinal cord contained both macrophages and T cells, similar to classical models of EAE induced by immunization with CNS antigens in adjuvant. The wealth of immunological reagents available to study and manipulate the OVA‐specific response should make this new model useful for the investigation of components and mechanisms involved in CNS‐specific autoimmunity.
Effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor on electrocardiogram changes after carbon monoxide poisoning in rats

Carbon monoxide (CO), which is produced by the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons, has many toxic effects on different organs, especially the brain and heart. CO-induced cardiotoxicity leads to several deleterious effects, including electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities. The present study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulation factor (G-CSF) on ECG after CO poisoning in rats. Single and multiple doses of G-CSF (10, 50, and 100 µg/kg) were administered to groups, each containing 5 male Wistar rats (16 groups for ECG analysis and 16 groups for pathological analysis). Rats were already exposed to CO at either 1,500 or 3,000 ppm concentrations for 60 minutes. ECG findings (e.g., ST-segment and T-wave changes), cardiac arrhythmias (e.g., heart blocks and ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias), and histological changes were determined after G-CSF administration. At 3,000 ppm, frequencies of ST elevation, depression, and T inversion in ECG were significantly reduced after G-CSF treatment. Also, some of the cardiac arrhythmias (e.g., atrioventricular block type 1 and 2) after CO poisoning were suppressed after G-CSF treatment. However, G-CSF did not show protective effects on cardiomyocyte pathological consequences in CO-poisoned rats. Therefore, G-CSF could protect against ECG changes after CO-induced cardiac ischemia, but did not affect pathological changes.
Sex differences in brain/body relationships of Rhesus monkeys and humans.

Les AA tentent de determiner si l'on peut mettre en evidence un dimorphisme sexuel dans la relation entre la taille du cerveau et le poids du corps chez le macaque. Les resultats sont compares avec les donnees chez l'humain et interpretes dans un contexte d'evolution
Evaluating The Effect Of Industry Specialist Duration On Audit Quality And Audit Fees

Using a sample of 11,322 observations during the period 2006 to 2010, we evaluate whether industry specialist duration (i.e., the amount of time an auditor has been considered an industry specialist) affects audit quality and audit fees. We find that auditors with longer specialist durations provide higher audit quality, compared to auditors with shorter durations. We also find that when auditors are neither long nor short duration specialists and receive positive abnormal audit fees, they trend to decrease audit quality. Lastly, we find that audit quality does not decrease when long and short duration specialists receive positive abnormal fees. Thus, our findings do not support the argument for mandatory auditor rotation.
Product Attributes as Purchase Determinants of Imported Fruits in Indian Consumers

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the consumer perceptions and purchase determinants of imported fruits in an emerging economy such as India. A consumer survey was conducted in one of the major urban cities of India. Item measures were related to consumer perceptions, purchase determinants, and consumer-reported willingness to pay price premiums. The data analysis was undertaken using techniques like exploratory factor analysis, logistic regression, and analysis of variance. Consumers associate imported fruits with health, safety, taste, and free from chemicals, whereas extrinsic factors such as storage conditions, store image, appearance, label, country of origin, and price also influence the willingness to purchase imported fruits. The demographic factors having the most impact on consumers’ attribute ratings for imported fruits are age, gender, income, and education. This study highlights the significant purchase determinants that can help marketers of imported fruits to gain higher share in Indian markets.
Workplace diversity in the United States: the perspective of Peter Drucker

Purpose – The emergence of diversity in organizations is typically traced to the 1960s when legislation was enacted in the USA to prohibit discrimination against ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, and religion. However, Peter Drucker found that workplace diversity had its origin in the aftermath of World War I. In response, this paper aims to address the historical evolution of workplace diversity through the lens of Drucker.Design/methodology/approach – The paper traces the historical evolution of Drucker's perspective on workplace diversity and the circumstances that catapulted him to advocate for understanding and valuing diversity in organizations. Further, it uses passages from Peter Drucker's published accounts to illustrate his understanding of demographic trends and how these trends impacted the competitiveness of the organization and management of workplace diversity.Findings – Drucker's early life experiences influenced him to become a tenacious advocate for workplace diversity. As a refl.
Peer-to-Peer Sharing of Private Goods: Sellers’ Response and Consumers’ Benefits

We study how the presence of consumers’ peer-to-peer sharing option in addition to exclusive ownership affects sellers’ pricing and product design decisions, as well as consumers’ benefits. We identify the conditions in which a seller would accommodate or hinder sharing by pricing the product appropriately. The seller’s profit can be enhanced by accommodating sharing when consumer valuation heterogeneity is neither too high nor too low. Second, sharing does not always improve consumers’ access to goods, and consumers’ access is the most constrained in product categories of medium intrinsic value. Third, existing consumers who seek exclusive ownership may end up being worse off in markets where, without the sharing option, the seller would price the product such that sharing consumers could afford to own the product. Finally, sharing enhances the seller’s incentive to improve product quality in markets where sharing consumers cannot afford to own the product if sharing is precluded.
The Long-Term Performance Consequences Of Strategic Partnerships In High Tech Industries

In this paper, we examine how inter-firm partnerships impact long-term operating performance. With a global economy, rapid product cycles, capital constraints and advances in technology, firms seldom possess all the capabilities necessary to maintain and grow market share. Consequently, firms rely on a variety of partnerships. Theory suggests that firms enter such relationships to improve performance through access to new products, new markets, or new capabilities. Yet, relatively little is known about the long-term impact of collaborative arrangements such as alliances and established major customer relationships, although such dual partnership arrangements can have a major impact on the firm’s performance success. Our empirical results indicate that inter-firm partnerships affect operating performance, but the impact often depends on the industry, the nature of the firm, and the type of partnership.
Visual Capacity Analysis of Wireless Networks

This paper models and analyzes an asymptotic visual capacity based on distortions by encoding and wireless transmission. In a limited 2-dimensional area, there are N source and destination node pairs. They are transmitting, receiving and relaying others' traffic. The analysis covers encoding distortion, wireless transmission error and end-to-end delay distribution. Our simulation results show that the visual capacity of the network decreases over the rate of 1/(n log n).
Headline earnings per share: financial managers’ perceptions and actual disclosure practices in South Africa

Earnings per share (EPS) is a key ratio which must be disclosed in the financial statements of South African listed enterprises. It is used to compare the performance of an enterprise over time and to compare its performance with that of other enterprises. Financial analysts also use EPS to calculate the price‐earnings (PE) ratio. In South Africa, listed companies are required to disclose three EPS measures, namely basic EPS (BEPS), diluted EPS (DEPS) and headline EPS (HEPS). This article reports on the results of a study of financial managers’ perceptions of the importance of HEPS and the actual disclosure practices relating to HEPS in selected listed companies’ annual reports. This article also reports on financial managers’ perceptions of selected other accounting measures of performance (such as EPS) and other financial indicators not ordinarily found in the annual report (such as the PE ratio), of the importance of EPS measures in general and of headline EPS in particular. The study found support for.