Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is it reasonable to treat early gastric cancer with signet ring cell histology by endoscopic resection? Analysis of factors related to lymph-node metastasis

Background/aim Early gastric cancer (EGC) with signet ring cell histology has a more favorable prognosis than other undifferentiated gastric adenocarcinomas. The presence of lymph-node metastasis is the most important factor in treating EGC by endoscopic resection. The aim of this study was to identify the factors predicting successful endoscopic treatment of EGC with signet ring cell histology. Methods Data from 215 patients who had undergone gastrectomy with D2 lymph-node dissection for EGC with signet ring cell histology between January 1999 and December 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. Associations between various clinicopathological factors and the presence of lymph-node metastasis were analyzed to identify factors predictive of lymph-node metastasis. Results The overall incidence of lymph-node metastasis was 7.9%: 1.9% with intramucosal cancer and 6% with submucosal cancer. Univariate analysis identified the depth of tumor invasion to the submucosa and positive lymphatic–vascular involvement as associated with lymph-node metastasis (both P<0.01). On multivariate analysis, positive lymphatic–vascular involvement was the most significant factor related to lymph-node metastasis (odds ratio: 43.7; 95% confidence interval: 8.7–220.9), followed by the depth of invasion (odds ratio: 4.87; 95% confidence interval: 1.02–23.21). Patients with EGC with signet ring cell histology and a diameter of less than 25 mm, invasion within the sm2 layer, and no lymphatic–vascular involvement had no lymph-node metastasis. Conclusion EGC with signet ring cell histology can be treated by endoscopic mucosal resection, if it is smaller than 25 mm, limited within the sm2 layer, and does not involve the lymphatic–vascular structure. More extensive prospective data are required to confirm definitive guidelines for the endoscopic treatment of patients with EGC with signet ring cell histology.
Hepatocyte growth factor preferentially activates the anti‐inflammatory arm of NF‐κB signaling to induce A20 and protect renal proximal tubular epithelial cells from inflammation

Inflammation induces the NF‐κB dependent protein A20 in human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEC), which secondarily contains inflammation by shutting down NF‐κB activation. We surmised that inducing A20 without engaging the pro‐inflammatory arm of NF‐κB could improve outcomes in kidney disease. We showed that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) increases A20 mRNA and protein levels in RPTEC without causing inflammation. Upregulation of A20 by HGF was NF‐κB/RelA dependent as it was abolished by overexpressing IκBα or silencing p65/RelA. Unlike TNFα, HGF caused minimal IκBα and p65/RelA phosphorylation, with moderate IκBα degradation. Upstream, HGF led to robust and sustained AKT activation, which was required for p65 phosphorylation and A20 upregulation. While HGF treatment of RPTEC significantly increased A20 mRNA, it failed to induce NF‐κB dependent, pro‐inflammatory MCP‐1, VCAM‐1, and ICAM‐1 mRNA. This indicates that HGF preferentially upregulates protective (A20) over pro‐inflammatory NF‐κB dependent genes. Upregulation of A20 supported the anti‐inflammatory effects of HGF in RPTEC. HGF pretreatment significantly attenuated TNFα‐mediated increase of ICAM‐1, a finding partially reversed by silencing A20. In conclusion, this is the first demonstration that HGF activates an AKT‐p65/RelA pathway to preferentially induce A20 but not inflammatory molecules. This could be highly desirable in acute and chronic renal injury where A20‐based anti‐inflammatory therapies are beneficial. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 1382–1390, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Do Foreign Stocks Substitute for International Diversification?

Using a novel sample of foreign securities available for trade in 42 countries during the last four decades (1979-2018), we characterize the rise in importance of foreign stocks for investors in their host countries and its implications for diversification benefits across industries and countries. We document a substantial increase in the number and the market value of stocks available for trade in markets outside of their home country (i.e., foreign stocks). The availability of foreign stocks in host countries allows domestic investors to increase their international diversification from home by investing in these stocks. We find that this rise in the number of foreign securities has led to the increase in the importance of industry effects relative to country effects on stock returns. Thus, we conclude that including foreign stocks in portfolio investments offers an effective substitute for international diversification, and significantly contributes towards increasing the integration of global markets.
Expression of CD4+CD28null T lymphocytes in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: Relation to microvascular complications, aortic elastic properties, and carotid intima media thickness

Cardiovascular risk in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is associated with endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and altered immunity. CD4+CD28null T‐cells are a subset of long‐lived cytotoxic CD4+ T‐lymphocytes with proatherogenic and plaque‐destabilizing properties. We hypothesized that the frequency of CD4+CD28null T‐cells may be altered in T1DM and related to vascular complications.
The Impact of Financial Distress on CEO Compensation in the United States

This M.A. dissertation presents a study of the influence of financial distress on CEO compensation in the United States. It focuses on the four main components of executive compensation: salary, bonus, restricted stock and stock options. More specifically, I apply linear regression to panel data on publicly listed firms from 2007 to 2016. Financial information and compensation data are drawn from Compustat and ExecuComp. This study reveals that base salary and discretionary bonuses tend to be unaffected by distress, whereas performance-based bonuses and restricted stock are significantly lower in distressed firms. Stock options showed ambiguous results: although the fair value of options was not seen to change, there was a significant decrease in the value realized upon exercising stock options.
Squeezing the Toothpaste Tube: Will Tackling Court Delay Result in Pre-Court Delay in its Place?

This article is the first to report on a study that tracked all the care proceedings initiated by an English local authority over a one-year period, obtaining factual information and opinions from the social workers involved in the case through the use of guided interviews. The main objective of the researchers was to contribute to understanding of ways in which children are kept waiting in difficult and insecure situations for decisions to be made about their long-term future. This article focuses in particular on the problem of delays that occur prior to a case coming into the court arena. The article offers evidence that current initiatives to reduce court delay may have the unintended result of increasing pre-court delay.
Measuring the Effect of Classification Accuracy on User Experience in a Physiological Game

Physiological games use classification algorithms to extract information about the player from physiological measurements and adapt game difficulty accordingly. However, little is known about how the classification accuracy affects the overall user experience and how to measure this effect. Following up on a previous study, we artificially predefined classification accuracy in a game of Snake where difficulty increases or decreases after each round. The game was played in a laboratory setting by 110 participants at different classification accuracies. The participants reported their satisfaction with the difficulty adaptation algorithm as well as their in-game fun, with 85 participants using electronic questionnaires and 25 using paper questionnaires. We observed that the classification accuracy must be at least 80% for the physiological game to be accepted by users and that there are notable differences between different methods of measuring the effect of classification accuracy. The results also show that laboratory settings are more effective than online settings, and paper questionnaires exhibit higher correlations between classification accuracy and user experience than electronic questionnaires. Implications for the design and evaluation of physiological games are presented.
How do innovators stay innovative? A longitudinal case analysis

Purpose How can some companies be the innovation leader in their industry over prolonged periods of time, whereas others cannot? The purpose of this study is to understand a firm’s capability to be a successful serial innovator and to generate a constant stream of industry-leading innovations. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a longitudinal case study approach to gain an understanding of what and how Singapore Airlines sustained service innovation for over 30 years. The study uses triangulation, whereby the core data from in-depth interviews with senior and middle management and frontline employees were complemented with academic research, case studies, annual reports, observations and archival documents. In total, 240 single-spaced pages of interview transcripts with over 130,000 words were analyzed and coded using MAXQDA for identifying repeated patterns of meaning. Findings The authors identified three key institutional foundations for service innovation: innovation climate (i.e. leadership and service culture), human capital (i.e. recruitment, training and development and engagement and incentives) and resource configurations (i.e. systems, structure and processes). These foundations enabled the organization to build the following four service innovation-related dynamic capabilities: embrace ambidexterity, institutionalize learning and knowledge integration, orchestrate collaboration and reinvent customer value. Interestingly, these institutional foundations and capabilities remained largely stable across 30 years; what changed were the contexts and specifics, not the foundations and capabilities. Research limitations/implications Data were collected only from one company. Because of the method of thematic analysis, the generalizability of the findings needs further investigation. Originality/value This study is the first to investigate the drivers of industry-leading sustained service innovation over a prolonged period of time. The proposed framework provides a fuller and more integrated picture of sustained service innovation than past cross-sectional studies.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents of affluent schools in Karachi.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents of affluent schools of Karachi. METHOD This descriptive study is part of an ongoing nationwide project funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, to develop growth centile charts of our children. This survey of three affluent schools of Karachi was done over a period of three months (from Sept to end Nov, 2007) including 398 children. Socio-economic group was decided based on monthly income and items such as computer, fridge, television, car etc. Students from Class 1-10 representing age group 6 to 17 years were included; children were divided into groups A, B, and C representing age of 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years respectively. The children included were healthy with no history of chronic infection and immunization up-to-date as per the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) schedule of the country. Body weight was measured in minimum clothing to the nearest 0.1 kg using a weight scale with calibration done after every 25 readings. Body height was measured in the erect position without shoes to the nearest 0.1 cm using wall mounted stadiometers. A twenty four hour diet chart was obtained using specially designed questionnaires. The reference definitions used were those given by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) according to which children having their BMI plotted above 95th centile are obese and BMI between 85th-95th centiles were "at risk for overweight. " RESULTS Data of 398 students belonging to affluent schools is presented. Out of these 398, 24 (6%) were above the 95th centile (obese) while 77 (19.35%) were between 85th-95th centiles on NCHS charts (at risk for overweight). The children in group A (6-9 years) showed daily caloric intake of 2220+/-816 kcal/day, group B showed caloric intake of 2133+/-942 kcal/day and group C a caloric intake of 1976+/-873 kcal/day. Apart from the overall data, children above 95th centile and between 85th to 95th centile showed a daily caloric intake of 1861+/-849 and 2056+/-895 kcal per day, respectively. Approximately 85% of the students when asked about their daily schedule were leading a predominantly sedentary life style, due to tuitions, television viewing or internet surfing or indoor games like play stations (not requiring physical activity). CONCLUSION Even with our small sample size the percentage of obese and overweight children were 6% and 19% of the population studied. This study suggests that overweight and obesity among these children maybe due to their sedentary lifestyle and/or lack of intake of proper food (imbalance in the intake of daily calories, carbohydrate, fat and protein).
The Effect of Drug Use on Wages:A Human Capital Interpretation

Our intuition tells us that using drugs use such as heroin, cocaine, psychedelics, hashish, and even marijuana and alcohol can have serious effects on our personal life and may have broader detrimental impacts on society at large. The adverse medical consequences of extensive use are well established (see Refs. 1–4 for overviews of this literature). The host of potential ills imposed on society includes the disruption of the family unit, crime, automobile and job-related accidents, as well as lost production from absenteeism, tardiness, and workers leaving the labor force. This last general category, the impact of drug use on workers, is the focus of this study. Several studies have explored the aggregate economic costs of drug use in the United States and suggest that output losses are substantial. For example, the 1984 Research Triangle Institute study by Harwood et al. (5) estimated the economic cost of lost wages associated with marijuana use to be almost $26 billion. Kolb et al. (6) focused on personal impacts by examining drug use before, during, and after enlistment by a group of Navy personnel. They concluded that drug
Gamification of the sales process at a telecommunications company to improve the motivation of the salesforce

Improving the motivation of the salesforce is an important goal which can lead to increased sales revenues. This study aims to understand how game elements can be applied to achieve this goal, and it contributes to both the sales literature and the newly emerging gamification literature by developing a gamified solution for the shop-in-shop sales channel of a telecommunications company in Finland (the case company), being the first study to apply gamification in the context of sales. The solution was developed by applying design-based research methodology in a cyclical process involving four interviews with a sales manager and two field observations of the sales process at the case company. The designed solution exemplifies the use of game elements in the light of theoretical concepts from the self-determination theory and the flow theory. Validated through further interviews with two salespeople from the case company and two salespeople from a company in the electricity production and distribution industry, the proposed solution can in future research be implemented and tested in other sales contexts.
Determinants of effective working capital management - a discriminant analysis approach

Currently, many financial analysts rely on traditional financial ratios for assessing the effectiveness of the working capital management. They correlate corporate performance in this area with the so-called “ideal” ratios. The present study sough to examine the validity of such practices and a. to identify a method of classifying those companies which manage their working capital more effectively than others; b. to determine the factors which lead to the effectiveness of working capital management process; c. to make recommendations for managers in this area. The primary method adopted for the study was the well known statistical tool – Multivariate Discriminant Analysis – based on computer processing of financial data obtained from the balance sheets of the 72 large Indian companies which participated in the study. This was supplemented by an analysis of the responses of these companies to a questionnaire relating to their managers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the working capital management process in their respective organizations. The discriminant analysis showed that the prime determinants of effectiveness of the working capital management, in order of relative importance, were: 1. Profit After Tax as a percentage of sales 2. Sales as number of times of total assets 3. Quick assets as a percentage of current liabilities 4. Receivables as number of days’ sales This was in significant contrast to the current practice which emphasizes the organization’s performance in relation to current ratio and debt-equity relationship. The authors recommend that the financial managers in the companies and the analysts in the financial institutions and commercial banks should pay more formal and explicit attention to these factors in their financial analysis. Also, they recommend that these variables should be reflected in the planning and information system of companies for keeping a track of the effectiveness of the working capital management.
Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders among MS patients from Latin America

Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis have been extensively documented. The focus of this review will be on cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in multiple sclerosis patients from Latin America, in the context of international literature. Multicentre studies carried out in Latin America have shown that 43% of the patients have cognitive impairment and 34.5% in early stages of the disease, 29% depression and 20.9% neuropsychiatric disorders. The profile of cognitive impairment corresponds to alterations in visual and verbal memory, in attention, in information processing speed and in verbal fluency. The neuropsychiatric profile showed disorders in anxiety, depression, apathy and irritability domains. In the region, there exist validations of the multiple sclerosis neuropsychological screening questionnaire (MSNQ), the brief repeatable battery of neuropsychological tests (BRB-N) and the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis (BICAMS), as well as of the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT) and the symbol digit modalities test (SDMT). A study showed that 53% of the patients who met the NEDA3 condition had cognitive impairment. This finding highlights the need for taking cognitive assessment into account when determining therapeutic efficacy.
Effective Learning of Writing and Reading at Preschool Age with a Multisensory Method: A Pilot Study

The readiness of preschool children (3½ to 5 years old) for writing and reading was investigated using educational material specially designed for this purpose. 17 children participated in a three-month pilot program divided into monthly periods during which the language material was presented to them and subsequently, their behavior towards it was observed and recorded. 42.7% of the observations made in all three months (n = 408), showed occupation of the children with language material from 5 to 15 min. and another 49.0% occupation from 15 to 30 min. Children were involved with the language material mostly individually (92.2%). The materials that mostly attracted their interest were the tombolas and the four-letter cards. Writing was the most popular activity (93.9%), followed by identifying (69.9%), reading (14.5%) and combining (6.3%).
Evaluation of simple clinical signs of illness in young infants (0-2 months) and its correlation with WHO IMCI algorithm (7 days to 2 months).

OBJECTIVE To evaluate simple clinical signs of illness in young infants (0 to 2 months) and to correlate with WHO IMCI algorithm (7 days-2 months). DESIGN Prospective observational. Study conducted in the outpatient department and emergency room of a pediatric tertiary level hospital. METHODS Four hundred and ninety seven young infants (0 to 2 months) presenting to outpatient department or emergency room were recruited. Detailed history, clinical examination including all signs in IMCI algorithm was recorded in the pre-designed proforma. The study subjects were investigated and managed according to the protocol of treating unit, which served as gold standard. The diagnostic and therapeutic agreement between the gold standard and IMCI was computed. The study subjects were analyzed as one age group (0 to 2 months) and also after de- segregating into early and late neonatal age group (0 to 7 days and 7 days to 2 months age). RESULTS Mean number of illnesses in 0 to 7 days, 7 days-2 months and 0-2 months groups were 1.97, 2.0 and 2.02 respectively. Those who required referral as per IMCI algorithm had higher proportion of co-morbidities. The referral criteria were fairly sensitive (78 to 85 percent) in predicting hospitalization with moderately high specificity (78 percent). Diagnostic agreement between gold standard and IMCI module was complete in 57 to 68 percent. Amongst diagnostic mismatch, under-diagnosis was found more frequently (72 to 82 percent) than over-diagnosis (17 to 29 percent). The sensitivity of algorithm to identify serious bacterial infections was quite high (96 to 98 percent) with moderately good specificity (80 to 92 percent). Jaundice was single most important complaint accounting for 47 to 62 percent of diagnostic mismatch. CONCLUSION IMCI algorithm appears to be a promising, feasible and useful intervention strategy to triage and treat young infants in 7 days-2 months age group. This tool remains effective even when extended to 0 to 7 days age group. However a further increase in its sensitivity can be achieved by including yellowness of lower extremities/ palms/ soles as a criterion.
Trade and Economic Impacts of Destination-Based Corporate Taxes

Current US proposals for destination-based corporate taxes that effectively combine a value-added tax (VAT) and a wage subsidy raise important policy questions for countries considering them, and for their trading partners. This tax/subsidy package would not create trade barriers or export subsidies, and any changes in trade would result from the measures’ distributional consequences or short-run impacts on output. The package would leave business profits and rents untaxed, placing the burden of the tax entirely on consumers, with no offset from exchange rate appreciation. If anything, its introduction could cause a short-run real exchange rate depreciation. A key concern regarding this package is its small, volatile, and vulnerable revenue yield. At current US consumption and labor shares of gross domestic product (GDP), a 20 percent corporate cash-flow tax with a wage subsidy would generate only around 2 percent of GDP in revenues, a result that could be obtained with much less volatility from a 2.8 percent tax without the wage subsidy. Under the tax/subsidy regime, revenues would become negative if consumption and labor shares returned to their historical norms, requiring increases in other taxes. A 20 percent tax would raise consumer prices by up to 27 percent, taking into account state sales taxes, sharply cutting the living standards of people on fixed incomes. The average combined consumption tax rate of 33 percent would be the highest in the world and more than double the world-average VAT rate, creating incentives for avoidance and evasion.