Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of POCT in the diabetic clinic in a large hospital.

AIM Point-of-care testing (POCT) is gaining renewed interest, especially in resource-limiting primary health care, due to rise in prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases hence POCT needscontinuous appraisal. METHODS Random glucose and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured in 104 diabetic patients using standard laboratory multichannel analyzer 917. The utility of venous blood compared to capillary blood in measuring HbA1c was evaluated in a subset of 20 patients using a POCT device, DCA Vantage. Lastly, the POCT was validated against the laboratory multichannel analyser 917, in measurement of HbA1c in a second subset of 46 patients. RESULTS Random blood glucose levels and HbA1c levels moderately correlated (r2 = 0.56; p < 0.0001). Random glucose tests showed that 41% of the patients had poor glycaemic control while HbA1c showed 74%. Venous and capillary blood in HbA1c showed strong correlation (r2 = 0.89440; p < 0.001. There was also strong correlation (r = 0.9802; p < 0.0001) in HbA1c measured using the DCA Vantage and the standard laboratory analyser, Multichannel Analyser 917. CONCLUSION Venous or capillary blood can be used in POCT for HbA1c. POCT is ideal for monitoring glucose control and management of diabetes in resource-limited countries such as South Africa.
Protecting Human Research Participants

Research with human subjects can occasionally result in a dilemma for investigators. When the goals of the research are designed to make major contributions to a field, such as improving the understanding of a disease process or determining the efficacy of an intervention, investigators may perceive the outcomes of their studies to be more important than providing protections for individual participants in the research.
Enhancing Loan Quality Through Transparency: Evidence from the European Central Bank Loan Level Reporting Initiative

We explore whether transparency in banks’ securitization activities enhances loan quality. We take advantage of a novel disclosure initiative introduced by the European Central Bank, which requires, as of January 2013, banks that use their asset-backed securities as collateral for repo financing to report securitized loan characteristics and performance in a standardized format. We find that securitized loans originated under the transparency regime are of better quality with a lower default probability, a lower delinquent amount, fewer days in delinquency and lower losses upon default. Additionally, banks with more intensive loan level information collection and those operating under stronger market discipline experience greater improvement in their loan quality under the new reporting standards. Overall, we demonstrate that greater transparency has real effects by incentivizing banks to improve their credit practices.
The Global Preference for Dividends in Declining Markets

Investors globally prefer dividend-paying stocks over nondividend-paying stocks more in declining than in advancing markets, even accounting for firm-level growth opportunities, size and risk effects. Dividend-paying stocks outperform nondividend-paying stocks, from 0.63% (China) to 3.79% (Canada) more per month in declining than in advancing markets. In declining markets, dividend-paying firms outperform by more than any underperformance in advancing markets. The results are robust across dividend taxation regimes, legal environments, emerging and developed markets, periods prior to and after the 2008 global financial crisis, the exclusion of the dividend declaration month and in respect to segmented or integrated international capital markets.
A tumor growth model with deformable ECM

Existing tumor growth models based on fluid analogy for the cells do not generally include the extracellular matrix (ECM), or if present, take it as rigid. The three-fluid model originally proposed by the authors and comprising tumor cells (TC), host cells (HC), interstitial fluid (IF) and an ECM, considered up to now only a rigid ECM in the applications. This limitation is here relaxed and the deformability of the ECM is investigated in detail. The ECM is modeled as a porous solid matrix with Green-elastic and elasto-visco-plastic material behavior within a large strain approach. Jauman and Truesdell objective stress measures are adopted together with the deformation rate tensor. Numerical results are first compared with those of a reference experiment of a multicellular tumor spheroid (MTS) growing in vitro, then three different tumor cases are studied: growth of an MTS in a decellularized ECM, growth of a spheroid in the presence of host cells and growth of a melanoma. The influence of the stiffness of the ECM is evidenced and comparison with the case of a rigid ECM is made. The processes in a deformable ECM are more rapid than in a rigid ECM and the obtained growth pattern differs. The reasons for this are due to the changes in porosity induced by the tumor growth. These changes are inhibited in a rigid ECM. This enhanced computational model emphasizes the importance of properly characterizing the biomechanical behavior of the malignant mass in all its components to correctly predict its temporal and spatial pattern evolution.
A 50 Gb/s NRZ Modulated 850 nm VCSEL Transmitter Operating Error Free to 90 °C

We report on the properties of an 850 nm vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) transmitter running at 50 Gb/s with NRZ modulation from 30 °C to 90 °C. This is the highest transmitter operating temperature at 50 Gb/s for a VCSEL link of any wavelength. This achievement is made possible by a combination of a high speed VCSEL design and driver and receiver circuits that incorporate equalization. Without equalization, the highest temperature attained with bit error ratio <;1E-12 is 57 °C.
M-band nonlinear subband decompositions with perfect reconstruction

We investigate nonlinear multirate filterbanks with maximal decimation and perfect reconstruction. Definitions of the desired properties of such structures are given for general nonlinear filterbanks. We then consider a triangular representation of linear filterbanks and see that it may be easily extended to the nonlinear case. Furthermore, general nonlinear filterbanks are presented, for which perfect reconstruction is either inherently guaranteed or ensured subject to an easily verified condition. Extensions to bidimensional filters are also discussed and an application for nonlinear multiresolution schemes to feature sieves is shown.
Caries prevalence, severity, and pattern in preschool children.

AIM To determine caries prevalence, severity, and pattern in preschool children of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 789 randomly selected preschool children, 379 (48%) male and 410 (52%) female, with mean age of 4.7 (SD 0.5) years were examined for dental caries using World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria. RESULTS The overall caries prevalence among the sample was 74.8%. The mean decayed, missing, and filled (dmft) score was 6.1 (SD 3.9) with a decay component of 4.66, a missing component of 0.54, and a filled component of 0.92. There was no significant difference (p>.05) in caries prevalence and severity in relation to gender of the children. However, the caries prevalence and severity were significantly higher (p<.05) among children from government preschools as compared to those from private preschools. Among the posterior teeth, mandibular second molars (54.3%), and among anterior teeth, maxillary central incisors (27.9%) had the highest caries prevalence. Among the molars, caries prevalence was generally high in lower molars while among the anterior teeth, upper teeth generally had a higher caries prevalence. The majority of the children (50.3%) had both posterior and anterior tooth caries, 42.2% had posterior tooth caries only, while very few (7.5%) children had only anterior tooth caries. CONCLUSION Caries prevalence and severity are very high in the study population, and most children have posterior tooth caries. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Early measures such as fissure sealants, topical fluoride applications (as early as safely possible), and dietary fluoride supplements (where indicated) are needed to prevent caries of deciduous molars in high caries populations.
Effects of Quantitative Easing Monetary Policy Exit Strategy on East Asian Currencies

type="main"> With the end of the Federal Reserve Board's quantitative easing monetary policy, it is expected that the federal funds rate will be raised from almost 0% in the near future. We investigate the effects of changes in monetary policy, especially the effects of raising interest rates in the United States on East Asian currencies. Specifically, we use data on interest rates as a monetary policy instrument to investigate how changes in the US interest rates affect interest rates, exchange rates, and capital flows in East Asian emerging market economies. The analytical results suggest that East Asian countries would face capital outflows that depreciate their home currencies, with upward pressure against their own interest rates when the Federal Reserve Board raises the interest rate.
Silicone oil microdroplets and protein aggregates in repackaged bevacizumab and ranibizumab: effects of long-term storage and product mishandling.

PURPOSE To quantify levels of subvisible particles and protein aggregates in repackaged bevacizumab obtained from compounding pharmacies, as well as in samples of bevacizumab and ranibizumab tested in controlled laboratory experiments. METHODS Repackaged bevacizumab was purchased from four external compounding pharmacies. For controlled laboratory studies, bevacizumab and placebo were drawn into plastic syringes and incubated at -20°C, 4°C, and room temperature (with and without exposure to light) for 12 weeks. In addition, mechanical shock occurring during shipping was mimicked with syringes containing bevacizumab. Particle counts and size distributions were quantified by particle characterization technology. Levels of monomer and soluble aggregates of bevacizumab were determined with size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC). RESULTS Repackaged bevacizumab from the compounding pharmacies had a wide range of particle counts (89,006 ± 56,406 to 602,062 ± 18,349/mL). Bevacizumab sampled directly from the original glass vial had particle counts of 63,839 ± 349/mL. There was up to a 10% monomer loss in the repackaged bevacizumab. Laboratory samples of repackaged bevacizumab and placebo had initial particle counts, respectively, of 283,675 ± 60,494/mL and 492,314 ± 389,361/mL. Freeze-thawing of both bevacizumab and placebo samples led to >1.2 million particles/mL. In all repackaged samples, most of the particles were due to silicone oil. SE-HPLC showed no significant differences for repackaged samples incubated in the laboratory under various conditions, compared with bevacizumab directly from vial. However, repeated freeze-thawing caused a more than 10% monomer loss. CONCLUSIONS Bevacizumab repackaged in plastic syringes could contain protein aggregates and is contaminated by silicone oil microdroplets. Freeze-thawing or other mishandling can further increase levels of particle contaminants.
How Citizens View Government Performance Reporting

Performance reporting to citizens is an important way to keep government accountable and transparent. This study uses data from a national online survey to examine the sources through which citizens obtain performance information about local government, how much they trust these sources, and their assessments of local government efforts at performance reporting. Results suggest that by far the most common source of information about local government performance is the local news, followed by the informal channel of friends or neighbors. The most trusted sources are nonprofit or civic associations, followed by colleges or universities. Levels of trust of government agencies and officials as sources of performance information were much lower. Ratings of local government efforts at performance reporting were positively associated with the presence of Web-based performance information, releasing an annual report, holding public meetings, and sending households a local government "report card. " There was a strong positive association between government efforts at performance reporting and trust of government as a performance information source.
Electric Power for Rural Growth: How Electricity Affects Rural Life in Developing Countries

A comprehensive analysis of the effects of rural electrification on rural industries, communities, and households in parts of India, Columbia, and Indonesia is presented. The study covers a wide range of social and economic effects, examining (1) agricultural, commericial, and industrial productivity, income and employment; (2) social benefits and their distribution by income class, gender, and age; and (3) benefit/cost ratios-both financial and social. Factors that affect success or failure of electrification projects are examined.
Migration of encephalitogenic CD8 T cells into the central nervous system is dependent on the α4β1‐integrin

Although CD8 T cells are key players in neuroinflammation, little is known about their trafficking cues into the central nervous system (CNS). We used a murine model of CNS autoimmunity to define the molecules involved in cytotoxic CD8 T‐cell migration into the CNS. Using a panel of mAbs, we here show that the α4β1‐integrin is essential for CD8 T‐cell interaction with CNS endothelium. We also investigated which α4β1‐integrin ligands expressed by endothelial cells are implicated. The blockade of VCAM‐1 did not protect against autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and only partly decreased the CD8+ T‐cell infiltration into the CNS. In addition, inhibition of junctional adhesion molecule‐B expressed by CNS endothelial cells also decreases CD8 T‐cell infiltration. CD8 T cells may use additional and possibly unidentified adhesion molecules to gain access to the CNS.
Allocative Inefficiency in the Production of Hospital Services

Researchers have offered numerous theoretical models of hospital behavior that suggest inefficiency in the provision of hospital services. ' Explanations of inefficiency are tied to the organization and regulation of the industry, principal-agent problems, and the dominance of third-party reimbursement. Eakin and Kniesner [3] use a non-minimum cost function to obtain estimates of allocative inefficiency for 331 U.S. short-term hospitals. In this paper, I fill a void in the hospital cost literature by investigating variations in allocative inefficiency in the short-term hospital industry. This is done by regressing the allocative inefficiency estimates from Eakin and Kniesner against hospital characteristics predicted by theory as determinants of inefficiency. I define allocative inefficiency at the firm level, but from a social point of view. Specifically, allocative inefficiency results from the technically efficient employment of inputs in a combination which is not cost-minimizing. A hospital may choose a non-cost-minimizing set of inputs if it evaluates the shadow prices of inputs as being different from the actual prices. A shadow price is the hospital's internal perception of the unit cost of an input. This perception may differ from the actual input price if, for example, the input enters directly into the hospital's objective function. The hospital is assumed to minimize shadow cost by equating the marginal rate of technical substitution and the ratio of input shadow prices. Thus, it is the shadow cost function that is dual to the underlying technology. The hospital is modelled as a multiproduct firm. A modified translog cost function is used to develop a system of observed cost and share equations which is estimated via seemingly unrelated non-linear regressions. Empirical results indicate that overcapitalization and underemployment of physicians increase short-term hospital costs by about 5 percent. Hospital care expenditures are about 4.5 percent of the gross national product, which is almost three times the percentage in 1960. Thus, 5 percent represents a large amount in actual dollars. Further investigation identifies hospital size, market share, regulations and geographic region as the hospital characteristics related to the measure of allocative inefficiency. This paper is organized as follows. In section II, I develop the empirical model based on a non-minimum cost function. The traditional minimum cost function is a special case and thus
Surface Display of N-Terminally Anchored Invasin by Lactobacillus plantarum Activates NF-κB in Monocytes

ABSTRACT The probiotic lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum is a potential delivery vehicle for mucosal vaccines because of its generally regarded as safe (GRAS) status and ability to persist at the mucosal surfaces of the human intestine. However, the inherent immunogenicity of vaccine antigens is in many cases insufficient to elicit an efficient immune response, implying that additional adjuvants are needed to enhance the antigen immunogenicity. The goal of the present study was to increase the proinflammatory properties of L. plantarum by expressing a long (D1 to D5 [D1-D5]) and a short (D4-D5) version of the extracellular domain of invasin from the human pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. To display these proteins on the bacterial surface, four different N-terminal anchoring motifs from L. plantarum were used, comprising two different lipoprotein anchors, a transmembrane signal peptide anchor, and a LysM-type anchor. All these anchors mediated surface display of invasin, and several of the engineered strains were potent activators of NF-κB when interacting with monocytes in cell culture. The most distinct NF-κB responses were obtained with constructs in which the complete invasin extracellular domain was fused to a lipoanchor. The proinflammatory L. plantarum strains constructed here represent promising mucosal delivery vehicles for vaccine antigens.
PENGARUH INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY SET, KEBIJAKAN UTANG DAN UKURAN PERUSAHAAN TERHADAP KEBIJAKAN DIVIDEN PADA PERUSAHAAN MANUFAKTUR YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA (BEI)

The aim of this study is to examine the effect ofthe investmentopportunity set , the debt policy and the company sizeon the dividend policy. The population inthis study are allcompanies listedon theIndonesia Stock Exchangein the period of 2008-2011. The research samplewasdeterminedbypurposivesamplingto obtain asample of120companies. Technick analysis is a multiple regression. This study showed that the investment opportunity set has a positive and significant effect on dividend policy, the debt policy significantly and negatively affected the dividend policy and the company size insignificantly influenced the dividend policy in manufacturing companies. Keywords : investment opportunity set, debtpolicy, the company size
The Main and Interaction Effects of Package Tour Dimensions on the Russian Tourists’ Satisfaction

ABSTRACT This study aims to identify the effects of package tour dimensions on overall customer satisfaction. A literature review and analysis of data obtained from 4029 Russian tourists visiting Antalya, Turkey, enabled the authors to identify the dimensions of a typical package tour process. Thereafter, the main and interaction effects of package tour dimensions (‘Flight,’ ‘Transfer Services,’ ‘Vehicle,’ ‘Info,’ ‘Hotel.’ and ‘Guide’) on overall customer satisfaction were tested by ordinal regression analysis. Inclusion of the interaction effects between ‘Transfer Services’ and ‘Vehicle’ and between ‘Guide’ and ‘Info,’ significantly improved the research model. This result indicates that low performance of ‘Vehicle’ and ‘Info’ can be tolerated by well-organized ‘Transfer Services’ and professional ‘Guide’ services.
Determination and Pharmacokinetic Study of Pachymic Acid by LC-MS/MS.

Poria cocos is a well-known medicinal plant widely used in China and other East Asian countries owing to its various therapeutic effects. Pachymic acid (PA) is a bioactive lanostrane-type triterpenoid from Poria cocos. In this paper, a method of high-performance liquid chromatographic (LC) coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (QQQ-MS/MS) was developed and validated to investigate the concentration of PA in rat plasma. Samples were prepared by a liquid-liquid extraction, and chromatographic separation was achieved with a Phenomenex Gemini C18 column (50 mm×2.0 mm i.d.) using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.05% formic acid (85 : 15, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The detection was performed on an Applied Bio-Systems API 4000 MS/MS with an electrospray ionization (ESI) inlet in negative multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Standard curves of samples in plasma were linear (R(2)=0.9948) over the concentration range of 5-500 ng/mL, and acceptable accuracy and precision were achieved. The lower limit of quantification and detection were 5 and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively. The method was used successfully to study the pharmacokinetics of PA in rats for oral administration. The main pharmacokinetic parameters of elimination half-life (t1/2), area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUC0→∞), plasma clearance (CL), and apparent volume of distribution (Vd) for the PA group were 4.96±1.33 h, 1466.9±361.7 ng·h/mL, 6.82±1.73 L/h, and 48.85±9.47 L, respectively. This LC-MS/MS method can be developed further for clinical investigation of PA-containing products.
Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma and Breast Implants: A Systematic Review

Background: In recent years, there have been growing concerns about a possible association of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma—in particular, anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)—and breast implants. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze all reported cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurring in patients with breast implants. Methods: The authors conducted a systematic literature review of reported cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients with breast implants. Publications were identified with a search algorithm, forward searches, and expert nominations. After references were reviewed and assessed for inclusion or exclusion, case-based data were independently abstracted, reconciled, and adjudicated by multiple investigators. The data were then synthesized and analyzed. Results: Of 884 identified articles, only 83 were relevant to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma involving the breast, and 34 were included in our study. Thirty-six cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients with implants were found, of which 29 (81 percent) were ALCLs. Although detailed clinical information was lacking in many cases, ALCL often involved the capsule and/or presented as an unexplained seroma or mass, was negative for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) expression, and had a relatively indolent clinical course when it developed adjacent to a breast implant. Conclusions: A form of ALCL, which clinically behaves more like the less aggressive primary cutaneous form of ALK–negative ALCL rather than the more aggressive systemic form, may be associated with breast implants. Future research on the epidemiology and biology of this rare disease is clearly needed to better understand its nature.