Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Comparative Effects of Methohexital, Propofol, and Etomidate for Electroconvulsive Therapy

The intravenous anesthetics which are commonly used for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) possess dosedependent anticonvulsant properties.Since the clinical efficacy of ECT depends on the induction of a seizure of adequate duration, it is important to determine the optimal dose of the hypnotic for use during ECT. We compared the duration of seizure activity and cognitive recovery profiles after different doses of methohexital, propofol, and etomidate administered to induce hypnosis prior to ECT. Ten outpatients with major depressive disorders receiving maintenance ECT participated in this prospective, randomized, cross-over study. Patients were premedicated with glycopyrrolate, 0.2 mg intravenously (IV), and labetalol, 20-30 mg IV, and hypnosis was induced with an IV bolus injection of methohexital or propofol (0.75, 1.0, and 1.5 mg/kg), or etomidate (0.15, 0.2, and 0.3 mg/kg), administered over 10-15 s. Adequate muscle paralysis was achieved with succinylcholine, 1.0-1.4 mg/kg IV. Each patient's seizure threshold was determined prior to enrollment in the study and the electrical stimulus variables were kept constant throughout the study period. After delivery of a bilateral electrical stimulus, the duration of the resulting electroencephalographic (EEG) and motor seizures were recorded. A total of 90 ECT treatments were evaluated. The durations of EEG and motor seizures were longest after etomidate and shortest after propofol. There were no significant dose-related differences in motor and EEG seizure durations (means +/- SD) after the low, intermediate, and high doses of etomidate of 44 +/- 11 and 77 +/- 19, 43 +/- 10 and 76 +/- 34, 42 +/- 16 and 78 +/- 56 s, respectively. Conversely, both methohexital and propofol, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.5 mg/kg, produced dosedependent decreases in motor and EEG seizure durations (i.e., 37 +/- 10 and 58 +/- 12, 36 +/- 8 and 62 +/- 24, and 29 +/- 13 and 48 +/- 20 for methohexital; 34 +/- 15 and 56 +/- 29, 31 +/- 8 and 50 +/- 17, and 20 +/- 6 and 33 +/- 12 for propofol, respectively). The awakening times were similar, regardless of the hypnotic or dose administered. The rate of cognitive recovery was prolonged after ECT treatments with a longer duration of seizure activity. Discharge time was 5-7 min longer after etomidate than methohexital or propofol. Etomidate, 0.15-0.3 mg/kg, has minimal effect on the duration of ECT-induced seizure activity. However, recovery of cognitive functions was prolonged after etomidate because of the longer period of seizure activity. Propofol and methohexital, at doses more than 1 mg/kg, lead to 35%-45% decreases in ECT-induced seizure duration compared to etomidate. We conclude that etomidate may be a useful alternative to propofol and methohexital for ECT therapy. (Anesth Analg 1995;81:596-602)
Predictive Power of Markets - Prediction Accuracy, Incentive Schemes, and Traders' Biases

Accurate predictions are essential in many areas such as business and sports forecasting. Prediction markets are a promising approach for predicting uncertain future events and developments. To give a few examples, prediction markets have been employed successfully to aggregate information on the expected outcome of elections, sports events, and Oscar winners. This work studies the prediction accuracy of markets in the field of sports forecasting as well as the impact of traders’ biases on their trading behavior. Traders indeed exhibit a substantial amount of biases in markets which were run for predicting the outcome of the FIFA World Cup 2006. Despite these biases, an empirical comparison of the markets and predictions derived from the FIFA world ranking, i.e. historic data, and betting odds shows that prediction markets are more accurate predictors than the FIFA world ranking and as accurate as betting odds from professional bookmakers. Betting odds, in turn, are known to predict extremely accurately. Traders’ biases thus do not necessarily lead to poor predictions in case of
Cow Based Natural Farming Practice for Poor and Small Land Holding Farmers:A Case Study from Andhra Pradesh, India

Importance for organic and chemical free food consumption is growing rapidly. Consumers are ready to pay more money to get a quality food. Farmers need to hold this entrepreneurial opportunity to fasten economic empowerment. One such efforts done by a farmers' interest group was studied in this perspective. Formation and conduct of the group along with the group dynamics of the group members was studied and presented in this paper. Adopting case study method first hand information was collected with the help of well prepared interview schedule along with thorough discussions with the group members and by critical observations of the researcher. Group dynamics index (GDI) was developed to measure the group dynamics of the group members. This paper attempts to expose a better farming practice for the poor and marginal land holders to fetch more income to them.
An Offset-Tolerant Fast-Random-Read Current-Sampling-Based Sense Amplifier for Small-Cell-Current Nonvolatile Memory

Decreasing read cell current (<i>I</i><sub>CELL</sub>) has become a major trend in nonvolatile memory (NVM). However, a reduced <i>I</i><sub>CELL</sub> leaves the operation of the sense amplifier (SAs) vulnerable to bitline (BL) level offset and SA input offset. Thus, small- <i>I</i><sub>CELL</sub> NVMs suffer from slow read speed or low read yield. In this study, we propose a new current-sampling-based SA (CSB-SA) to suppress the offset due to device mismatch, while maintaining tolerance for insufficient precharge time. These features enable CSB-SA to achieve a read speed 6.3 ×-8.1× faster than previous SAs, for sensing 100 nA <i>I</i><sub>CELLs</sub> on a 2 K-cell bitline. We fabricated a CMOS-logic-compatible, 90 nm, 512 Kb OTP macro, using the CSB-SA. This OTP macro achieves a random access time of 26 ns for reading sub-200 nA <i>I</i><sub>CELL</sub>. Measurements confirm that this 90 nm CSB-SA is also capable of sub-100 nA sensing.
Single-handed or group practice, quality of care and patient satisfaction.

The Royal College of General Practitioners recently produced a profile of general medical practices in the UK.1 This stated that there are currently about 10 500 practices in the UK with an average list size of 6000 patients. Of all practices in the UK, 22% were single-handed in 2004. The paper also illustrated the …
β(1-3)(1-6)-D-glucans modulate immune status in pigs: potential importance for efficiency of commercial farming.

BACKGROUND In face of the challenge of the emergent diseases and the current efforts of the governments to create conditions to ban growth-promoting antibiotics and to improve efficiency of the commercial farming, new opportunities are created for natural, highly effective and cost affordable immunomodulators; able to induce and enhance resistance against diseases and to reduce farming-related stress. Supplementation of animal feed with β(1-3)(1-6)-D-glucans has been repeatedly shown to modulate the immune system ant to influence growth characteristics of farmed animals. MATERIALS AND METHODS In our study we focused on evaluation of effects of an insoluble, fungi-derived β(1-3)(1-6)-D-glucan as dietary supplement in piglets. We measured the growth, phagocytosis of peripheral blood cells and interleukin 2 (IL-2) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) production after feeding with 15 mg of glucan/kg/day. CONCLUSIONS Following supplementation, β(1-3)(1-6)-D-glucan has been shown to stimulate growth, phagocytic activity, and IL-2 production. In addition, it significantly lowered the cortisol and TNF-α levels after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.
The direct and indirect benefits of dispositional mindfulness on self-esteem and social anxiety

Abstract The current study investigated relationships between dispositional mindfulness, self-esteem, and social anxiety using self-report measures. Correlational data were collected from 205 Australian undergraduate students who completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Mindfulness significantly predicted high levels of self-esteem and low levels of social anxiety. Mediation analysis supported the role of self-esteem as a partial mediator between mindfulness and social anxiety. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Hepatic Free Fatty Acids in Alcoholic Liver Disease and Morbid Obesity

Alcoholic liver disease is characterized by the accumulation of fat and inflammatory changes in the liver. Because free fatty acids, the precursors of triglycerides, can damage biological membranes, accumulation of free fatty acids in the liver might be in part responsible for the functional and morphological changes seen in alcoholic liver disease. We, therefore, determined the hepatic lipid composition in biopsies from 31 patients with alcoholic liver disease, 18 patients with morbid obesity, and 5 patients without evidence of liver disease. Free fatty acids were found in all liver biopsies. Patients with morbid obesity or alcoholic liver disease had significantly higher fatty acid and triglyceride levels than did controls (p <, 0.01). Patients with alcoholic liver disease had significantly higher fatty acid levels than did patients with morbid obesity (p < 0.05), while there was no difference in the triglyceride concentrations between these two groups. The distribution of the fatty acids in the free fatty acid fraction differed significantly from that in the triglyceride fraction indicating a preferential incorporation of unsaturated fatty acids into triglycerides. This difference in the distribution pattern was lost in patients with the most severe forms of alcoholic liver disease. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that accumulation of free fatty acids in patients with alcoholic liver disease may be responsible for or contribute to the observed functional and morphological damages.
Take-off and landing kinetics of a free-ranging gliding mammal, the Malayan colugo (Galeopterus variegatus)

Arboreal animals negotiate a highly three-dimensional world that is discontinuous on many spatial scales. As the scale of substrate discontinuity increases, many arboreal animals rely on leaping or gliding locomotion between distant supports. In order to successfully move through their habitat, gliding animals must actively modulate both propulsive and aerodynamic forces. Here we examined the take-off and landing kinetics of a free-ranging gliding mammal, the Malayan colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) using a custom-designed three-dimensional accelerometry system. We found that colugos increase the propulsive impulse to affect longer glides. However, we also found that landing forces are negatively associated with glide distance. Landing forces decrease rapidly as glide distance increases from the shortest glides, then level off, suggesting that the ability to reorient the aerodynamic forces prior to landing is an important mechanism to reduce velocity and thus landing forces. This ability to substantially alter the aerodynamic forces acting on the patagial wing in order to reorient the body is a key to the transition between leaping and gliding and allows gliding mammals to travel long distances between trees with reduced risk of injury. Longer glides may increase the access to distributed resources and reduce the exposure to predators in the canopy or on the forest floor.
The impact of alcohol dependence on social brain function

The impact of alcoholism (ALC) or alcohol dependence on the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and affective empathy (i.e. the different routes to understanding other people's minds) in schizophrenic patients and non‐schizophrenic subjects is still poorly understood. We therefore aimed at determining the extent to which the ability to infer other people's mental states and underlying neural mechanisms were affected by ALC. We examined 48 men, who suffered either from ALC, schizophrenia, both disorders or none of these disorders, using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing on a mind reading task that involves both cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. Using voxel‐based morphometry, we additionally examined whether between‐group differences in functional activity were associated with deficits in brain structural integrity. During mental state attribution, all clinical groups as compared with healthy controls exhibited poor performance as well as reduced right‐hemispheric insular function with the highest error rate and insular dysfunction seen in the schizophrenic patients without ALC. Accordingly, both behavioral performance and insular functioning revealed schizophrenia × ALC interaction effects. In addition, schizophrenic patients relative to non‐schizophrenic subjects (regardless of ALC) exhibited deficits in structural integrity and task‐related recruitment of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Our data suggest that ALC‐related impairment in the ability to infer other people's mental states is limited to insular dysfunction and thus deficits in affective empathy. By contrast, mentalizing in schizophrenia (regardless of ALC) may be associated with insular dysfunction as well as a combination of structural and functional deficits in the left vlPFC.
Optimal Dynamic Capital Requirements

We characterize welfare maximizing capital requirement policies in a macroeconomic model with household, firm and bank defaults calibrated to Euro Area data. We optimize on the level of the capital requirements applied to each loan class and their sensitivity to changes in default risk. We find that getting the level right (so that bank failure risk remains small) is of foremost importance, while the optimal sensitivity to default risk is positive but typically smaller than under Basel IRB formulas. When starting from low levels, initially both savers and borrowers benefit from higher capital requirements. At higher levels, only savers are in favour of tighter and more time-varying capital charges.
Effect of recipient sensitization (peak PRA) on graft outcome in haploidentical living related kidney transplants

Objective. To evaluate the influence of pre‐transplant recipient sensitization on the outcome of 1‐haploidentical live related donor (LRD) kidney transplants. Method. We reviewed 141 consecutive cyclosporine‐treated adult haploidentical first transplants for which panel reactive antibody (PRA) levels were available. Patients were divided into three groups according to their peak PRA levels: group I, PRA=0 (n=97); group II, PRA =1–50% (n=24); and group III, PRA=51–100% (n=20). Results. Differences in PRA were associated with significant differences in short‐ and longer‐term graft survival, unrelated to patient survival. Graft survival at 1, 3, and 5 yr was only 74, 40, and 27% in group III, compared to 92, 87, and 52% in group II, and 96, 91, and 85% in group I (p<0.001). Increasing PRA was associated with shorter time‐to‐graft failure. In group III, 20% lost their transplant from acute rejection in the first 6 months, versus 4% in group II and 3% in group I (p<0.01). Graft survival in group II diverged from that of group I only after 3 yr, due to an increase in loss from chronic rejection. Hospitalization was longer in group III, in association with a significantly higher incidence of acute rejection during the first 3 months after transplantation (p<0.02). Serum creatinine was higher in sensitized than nonsensitized patients at all time points. Conclusions. Sensitization has a significant negative impact on the outcome of haploidentical LRD kidney transplants. Sensitized potential recipients and their potential donors should be aware of this in arriving at informed decision‐making for transplantation. These patients may benefit from more sensitive cross‐match testing, more intense or more novel immunosuppression, or immunomodulation to modify their immune responsiveness.
Stuck in a Paradigm

The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) came as a surprise for most economists, and henceforth was at the same time a crisis for economics. This thesis attempts to offer an explanation for this that goes beyond scapegoating. In order to do so, an interpretation of economics before and during the GFC is developed, based on the ideas of Thomas Kuhn. The paradigm of mainstream economics is analysed. The main ingredients of this paradigm – the DSGE model, the Efficient Market Hypothesis and the Great Moderation – did not prepare economist for the GFC. The GFC is an anomaly, something that does not fit in the existing paradigm. The fact that economists did not anticipate the GFC is a consequence of the paradigm within which they worked. To avoid a similar scenario in the future, economists have to think beyond the borders of the existing paradigm. This requires an adjustment of mainstream economics, or even a completely different paradigm.
A comparative study of the attitudes of managers, employees and clients in the field of social barriers of family planning counseling in health care centers of Isfahan in 2012

Background: Appropriate family planning counseling for informed choice, the right and responsible use of contraceptive methods is very important. Various barriers such as social barriers can have the effect on family planning counseling. In addition, investigation of those barriers from the perspective of managers, staff and clients, who are major members in health care system, has great importance. The present study was conducted with the goal of comparing managers’, employees’, and clients’ viewpoints about social barriers in family planning counseling in health care centers in Isfahan in 2012. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional one-step three-group comparative descriptive study conducted on 295 subjects including 59 managers, 110 employees, and 126 clients in medical health care centers in Isfahan in 2012. Managers and employees were selected by census sampling and the clients were recruited through convenient random sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher made questionnaire, which was designed in two sections of fertility and personal characteristics and viewpoint measurement. Descriptive and inferential statistical test were used to analyze the data. Results: The obtained results showed significant difference between mean scores of viewpoints in three groups of managers, employees, and clients concerning social barriers in family planning counseling (P = 0.001). In addition, most of the managers and employees reported social barriers as the barriers in process of family planning in a large level and clients reported it in moderate level. Conclusion: The results express the necessity of health services managers’ planning to modify or delete social barriers, especially the agreed barriers from the viewpoint of managers and employees that effect on family planning counseling and quality of service provided by them.
The histochemical localization of cholinesterases in the central nervous system of the rat

There is now a considerable amount of data to support the hypothesis that cholinergic transmission occurs at certain synapses in the central nervous system (Feldberg, '45, '50, '51; Koelle and Gilman, '49). One line of evidence is based upon the parallelism found between known cholinergic neurons of the peripheral nervous system and certain regions of the central nervous system with respect to their high concentrations of acetylcholine ( ACh), choline acetylase and specific (true, aceto-, or acetyl-) cholinesterase (ChE). Burgen and Chipman ( '51) recently demonstrated for various regions of the dog's brain relatively close correlations between their own figures for specific ChE activity and those of Feldberg and Vogt ('48) for choline acetylase and of MacIntosh ('41) for ACh. It has been pointed out frequently that conventional determinations of ChE activity employing homogenates, while providing quantitative results, leave much to be desired as far as details of localization are concerned. Thus, when a region of the brain is found to have high activity it.is impossible to be certain whether it is attributable to enzyme associated with the entering axons, with neurons originating in
A Prospective Study in the Evaluation of Quality of Life After Vulvar Cancer Surgery

Objective The aim of this study was to prospectively monitor the patients’ quality of life (QoL) after vulvar cancer surgery. Design The design was prospective clinical study. Setting The study was set in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2nd Medical Faculty of the Charles University and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic. Methods A group of 36 patients underwent vulvar cancer surgery: 24 patients were subject to inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy (RAD) and 12 to sentinel lymph node biopsy. To evaluate QoL, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, QoL questionnaires (QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CX24) were administered to patients before and 6 and 12 months after surgery. Results In patients with vulvar cancer after inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy, increased fatigue and impaired lymphedema were observed. In the group of patients after sentinel lymph node biopsy, none of the QoL variables worsened postoperatively. Comparing both groups 12 months after surgery, the RAD group had significantly worse outcomes in body image and cognitive functioning than the sentinel lymph node biopsy group. Patients in the RAD group, who received adjuvant radiotherapy (n = 13), had worse QoL in symptom experience (P < 0.05) at 6 and 12 months after the surgery than patients without radiotherapy (n = 11). Conclusions Less radical surgery showed objectively better QoL results.
Which Competitive Advantage(s)? Competitive Advantage–Market Performance Relationships in International Markets

Business scholars and managers stress the importance of achieving and sustaining competitive advantage as a critical strategic step in enabling superior firm performance. Yet which types of competitive advantage may yield the best performance outcomes—and what contingency factors may affect this—remains largely unexplored. This article examines the contribution of price, product, and service advantages to market performance in international ventures. Applying customer value logic to the literature on value creation and value capture, the authors posit that the symmetric achievement of all pairs of advantages leads to increased market performance. The findings confirm this conjecture, while for the product–service advantage pairing, even asymmetry in achievement has a positive market performance effect when the asymmetry is toward service. Using primary data from a sample of U.K. manufacturing exporters, the authors find that price advantage has a direct positive effect on market performance, while the strong positive effect of service advantage is further strengthened (and the nonsignificant effect of product advantage becomes negative) when the distributor has high-quality relationships with the overseas customers and there is available production capacity, even in technologically turbulent environments.
The impact of European Union accession on regional income convergence within the Visegrad countries

ABSTRACT The impact of European Union accession on regional income convergence within the Visegrad countries. Regional Studies. This paper applies regional dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to simulate the growth of regional per-capita income within the Visegrad group of countries. It shows how regional income differentials would evolve in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia if they did not join the European Union. We find that all regions would grow at a slower pace without European Union membership and that the European Union structural policies play a key role here. Finally, we prove the impact of accession on the evolution of regional income inequalities, although its magnitude differs significantly between countries.