Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determining costs of health care services for cost-effectiveness analyses: the case of cervical cancer prevention and treatment.

OBJECTIVES To estimate costs for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer based on resource utilization and to compare those costs to published estimates and to local charges and reimbursements. DESIGN Cost estimates for cervical cancer prevention services were based on clinic staff time, use of specialized equipment and supplies, laboratory costs, and clinic overhead. Cost estimates for cervical cancer treatment were based on HMO expenditures for cervical cancer patients and control patients. These costs were adjusted for stage distribution and survival rates. Published cost estimates were obtained from a systematic review of the medical literature between 1990 and 1996. SETTING Three family planning clinics (for prevention costs) and a staff-model HMO (for treatment costs). PATIENTS For treatment costs: 98 cervical cancer patients and 133,058 female control patients, matched by age and chronic disease score. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Estimated costs for prevention and treatment of cervical cancer. Cost-to-charge and cost-to-reimbursement ratios. RESULTS Costs of cervical cancer prevention and treatment services have been determined using a variety of methods. We found substantial variation in these estimates, even for studies with similar methodologies. Detailed resource-based estimation suggests that prevention costs are generally lower than those previously published in the literature, whereas the costs of cervical cancer treatment are generally higher. CONCLUSIONS It is practical and desirable to employ resource use-based estimates of medical costs in cost-effectiveness analyses. Failure to do so for cervical cancer may affect policy recommendations by understating the relative benefits of prevention programs.
Resolving high Reynolds numbers in SPH simulations of subsonic turbulence

Accounting for the Reynolds number is critical in numerical simulations of turbulence, particularly for subsonic flow. For Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) with constant artificial viscosity coefficient , it is shown that the effective Reynolds number in the absence of explicit physical viscosity terms scales linearly with the Mach number — compared to mesh schemes, where the effective Reynolds number is largely independent of the flow velocity. As a result, SPH simulations with = 1 will have low Reynolds numbers in the subsonic regime compared to mesh codes, which may be insufficient to resolve turbulent flow. This explains the failure of Bauer & Springel (2011, arXiv:1109.4413v1) to find agreement between the moving-mesh code AREPO and the GADGET SPH code on simulations of driven, subsonic (v 0:3cs) turbulence appropriate to the intergalactic/intracluster medium, where it was alleged that SPH is somehow fundamentally incapable of producing a Kolmogorov-like turbulent cascade. We show that turbulent flow with a Kolmogorov spectrum can be easily recovered by employing standard methods for reducing away from shocks.
Risk factors for renal failure in pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia: A retrospective cohort study

In children receiving treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) there is often concern for the development of acute renal failure (ARF). Despite this, data are limited to define the incidence of ARF in this population. This study aims to evaluate the rate of ARF in AML patients and to delineate the impact of age, race, various co‐morbid conditions and antimicrobial agents on the development of ARF.
Evolution of Calciocarbonatite Magma: Evidence from the Sövite and Alvikite Association in the Amba Dongar Complex, India

CaCO3-rich carbonatites seem to be the most common and abundant carbonatite in many complexes. The Amba Dongar complex too, is dominantly composed of sovite. Its dike equivalent-(alvikite I and II), though volumetrically less abundant, occur in association with sovite. Majority of sovites samples are composed essentially of CaCO3 and MgO content is low (0.99% average) and goes up to maximum 3% in phlogopite-sovite. A small fraction of periclase was reported earlier from some sovite samples by Viladkar and Wimmenauer, [4]. In this paper I propose that sovites are crystallized from calciocarbonatite magma. Trace elements and REE distribution patterns suggest that sovite fractionated to Alvikite I and II. The C and O isotope data provides evidence to supports the mantle derivation of the carbonatite magma at Amba Dongar.
Insertion of primary syncytium-inducing (SI) and non-SI envelope V3 loops in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) LAI reduces neutralization sensitivity to autologous, but not heterologous, HIV-1 antibodies

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of V3 loops from naturally occurring viruses on the neutralization sensitivity of a molecularly cloned virus. A selection of well-defined syncytium-inducing (SI) and non-SI V3 loops of a single human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected individual (H594) and the V3 regions of two SI laboratory strains were inserted in an infectious molecular clone of human immunodeficiency type 1 LAI. Neutralization was performed with a heterologous serum pool and autologous patient serum, using the virus reduction neutralization assay and peripheral blood lymphocytes as target cells. High sensitivity of the chimeric viruses containing the laboratory strain V3 regions to neutralization by H594 sequential sera as well as the heterologous serum pool was found. A statistically significant correlation between the sensitivities of these viruses was seen. In contrast, insertion of the primary isolate NSI and SI envelope V3 loops significantly reduced the neutralization by autologous serum but not by the heterologous serum pool. No correlation was found between the neutralization of the viruses with laboratory strain-derived V3 regions and the viruses with primary isolate V3 domains. We conclude that heterologous antibodies are able to neutralize infectious molecular clones with V3 loops of both SI and NSI viruses, regardless of whether they originated from laboratory strains or primary isolates. However, serum of patient H594 discriminated between the two types of viruses and showed reduced neutralization of the viruses with the autologous NSI and SI primary isolate V3 loops. These results indicated that the neutralization sensitivity of the viruses depended on the capacity of the V3 region to influence the conformation of the virus envelope. These V3-dependent conformational changes partially explain the neutralization sensitivity of laboratory strains and the relative neutralization resistance of primary isolates.
Recognition of chitin and proteins in invertebrate cuticles using analytical pyrolysis/gas chromatography and pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Flash pyrolysis/gas chromatography (py/GC) and py/GC/mass spectrometry (MS) have been utilized to characterize the cuticles of invertebrates chemically. Pyrolysis products have been identified and assigned to specific cuticular components. Acetylpyridones, acetamidofuran, 3-acetamido-5-methylfuran and 3-acetamido-(2 and 4)-pyrones are proposed as characteristic pyrolysis markers for chitin. Pyrolysis products displaying ions of m/z 70, 154, 168, 194 are thought to derive from diketopiperazine structures and provide potential markers for proteins and peptides in which proline, alanine, valine, arginine and glycine are the dominant amino acids. These products, constituting specific pyrolysis markers for invertebrate cuticles, may reflect the amino acid composition of their constituent structural proteins. The source of the various pyrolysis products of proteins has been verified by pyrolysis of reference proteins, peptides and amino acid mixtures. The presence of additional pyrolysis products related directly to histidine and catechol moieties is consistent with the chemical structure and composition proposed for arthropod cuticles based on recent work utilizing solid state 13C and 15N nuclear magnetic resonance. This study constitutes the first comprehensive chemical characterization of the pyrolysis products of invertebrate cuticles and provides the basis for future investigations requiring qualitative screening for cross-linked chitin and proteins in modern and fossil cuticles and in materials, e.g. geopolymers, that may be derived from them.
Display of Holistic Haptic Sensations by Combined Tactile and Kinesthetic Feedback

This article presents conceptual as well as experimental work toward the display of holistic haptic sensations in telepresence and virtual environment applications. (In this context holistic is understood in the sense of not neglecting an essential component.) In contrast to most existing developments, the presented haptic humansystem interface is a combination of dedicated subsystems for both kinesthetic and tactile display. With respect to the mechanical coupling of both subsystems, we propose two basic approaches. One is based on a parallel kinematic system setup and forms the conceptual basis of a multifingered experimental feedback device generating vibrotactile, thermal, and wrist/finger kinesthetic stimuli. Another is to demonstrate the potential to reduce the design complexity of tactile display subsystems in haptic human-system interfaces with a serial kinematic structure. For verification purposes, a tactile actuator array providing spatially distributed tactile shape display on a single fingertip has been combined with a single-fingered kinesthetic display. Each of the investigated combined haptic systems features significant functional advances compared to existing developments. The usability of our systems has been demonstrated in haptic exploration and object identification experiments in virtual environments.
Adenylate Cyclases in the Vertebrate Retina: Distribution and Characteristics in Rabbit and Ground Squirrel

Abstract: Adenylate cyclase activity and the effects of EGTA, 5′‐guanylylimidodiphosphate (GPP(NH)P), and dopamine were measured in microdissected layers of rod‐dominant (rabbit) and cone‐dominant (ground squirrel) retinas. The distribution of basal enzyme activity was similar in both species, with the highest levels found in the inner plexiform and photoreceptor cell inner segment layers. EGTA inhibited adenylate cyclase in the inner retina of both species and stimulated activity in rabbit outer and inner segment layers, but had no effect in these layers from ground squirrel. Enzyme activity was stimulated in all regions by GPP(NH)P, except in the outer segments of the photoreceptors. Dopamine stimulated the enzyme in the outer and inner plexiform and inner nuclear layers in rabbit, but only in the inner plexiform layer in ground squirrel. These data demonstrate that the enzymatic characteristics of adenylate cyclase vary extensively from region to region in vertebrate retina and suggest that cyclic AMP may have multiple roles in this tissue. A model for the distribution of the different forms of adenylate cyclase in retina is proposed.
The Home Bias and Capital Income Flows Between Countries and Regions

This paper documents a marked increase in international consumption risk sharing throughout the recent globalization period. Unlike earlier studies that have found it difficult to document a consistent effect of financial globalization on international consumption comovements, we make use of the information implicit in the relative levels of consumption and output to measure long-run risk sharing among OECD countries and US federal states. We derive our empirical setup from a deliberately simplistic model in which countries can trade perpetual claims to each other’s output (Shiller securities). This model allows us to identify the channels through which improvements in international risk sharing have come about. The model predicts crosscountry and cross-regional income flows with considerable precision. Both international income flows as well as consumption risk sharing have increased since 1990, in line with the gradual removal of country portfolio home bias documented elsewhere. Still, the increase in international income flows falls short of explaining all of the consumption risk sharing we see in international data. We show that heterogeneity in countries’ gross foreign asset positions is important in explaining this result. While countries with less portfolio home bias enjoy better consumption risk sharing, our findings also suggest that heterogeneity in country portfolios opens a separate channel for consumption risk sharing, possibly through asymmetric valuation effects that have been emphasized in the recent literature.
``Locusts are now our beef'': Adult mortality and household dietary use of local environmental resources in rural South Africa1

There is currently a lack of research on the association between demographic dynamics and household use of natural resources in rural Africa. Such work is important because in rural Africa natural resources buffer households against shocks, offering both sustenance and income-generating potential. Aims: The article focuses on adult mortality as a household shock, examining use of local environmental resources as related to household dietary needs. Methods: The authors analyze two sources of data collected during May—December 2004 in the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) in rural South Africa. Quantitative analyses use survey data from 240 households, stratified by adult mortality experience. Qualitative data are based on 31 interviews with members of households having recently experienced adult mortality. Results: The interviews provide insight into a variety of household-level mortality impacts and also suggest the importance of proximate resources in the maintenance of food security following the loss of an adult household member. Quantitatively, there are significant differences, both in patterns of usage of the natural environment and in levels of food security, between households that have lost an adult and those that have not. The association between mortality and household use of local environmental resources is further shaped by the gender of the deceased and the time elapsed since the death. Conclusions: Adult mortality, particularly the death of a male wage-earner, affects household food security. Time allocation is affected as resource collection responsibilities shift, and wild foods may substitute for previously purchased goods.
Conformation of β2-Microglobulin Amyloid Fibrils Analyzed by Reduction of the Disulfide Bond*

β2-Microglobulin (β2-m), a major component of dialysis-related amyloid fibrils, has an intrachain disulfide bond buried inside the native structure. We examined the conformation of β2-m amyloid fibrils by analyzing the reactivity of the disulfide bond to a reducing reagent, dithiothreitol. Although the disulfide bond in the native structure was highly protected from reduction, the disulfide bonds in the amyloid fibrils prepared at pH 2.5 were progressively reduced at pH 8.5 by 50 mmdithiothreitol. Because β2-m amyloid fibrils prepared under acidic conditions have been known to depolymerize at a neutral pH, we examined the relation between depolymerization and reduction of the disulfide bond. The results indicate that the disulfide bonds in the amyloid fibrils were protected from reduction, and the reduction occurred during depolymerization. On the other hand, the disulfide bonds of immature filaments, the thin and flexible filaments prepared under conditions of high salt at pH 2.5, were reduced at pH 8.5 more readily than those of amyloid fibrils, suggesting that the disulfide bonds are exposed to the solvent. Taken together, the disulfide bond once exposed to the solvent upon acid denaturation may be progressively buried in the interior of the amyloid fibrils during its formation.
Effects of total flavonoids of Hippophae rhamnoides L. on intracellular free calcium in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells of spontaneously hypertensive rats and Wistar-Kyoto rats.

OBJECTIVE To explore the effects of total flavonoids of Hippophae rhamnoides L. (TFH), quercetin (Que) and isorhamnetin (Isor) on the intracellular free calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). METHODS Fluo 3-acetoxymethylester (Fluo-3/AM) was used to observe the effects of TFH (100 mg/L) and its essential monomers, namely Que (10(-4) mol/L) and Isor (10(-4) mol/L) on changes of [Ca(2+)](i) in cultured SHR and WKY VSMC (abbr. to Ca-SHR & Ca-WKY) following exposure to high K(+), norepinephrine (NE) and angiotensin II (Ang II), and to compare with the effects of verapamil (Ver). RESULTS (1) TFH, Que and Isor had inhibitory effects on resting Ca-SHR (P < 0.05), but had no significant effects on Ca-WKY (P > 0.05). (2) High K(+) could increase Ca-SHR more significantly than Ca-WKY (P < 0.05); TFH, Que and Isor could inhibit the elevation of [Ca(2+)](i) induced by high K(+)-depolarization, with the effects similar to that of Ver, and the effect on Ca-SHR was more significant than that on Ca-WKY (P < 0.05). (3) NE and Ang II could increase Ca-SHR more significantly than Ca-WKY (P < 0.05), TFH, Que and Isor had remarkably inhibitory effect on the elevation of Ca-SHR and Ca-WKY induced by NE or Ang II. (4) In the absence of extracellular Ca(2+), TFH, Que and Isor also had certain inhibitory effect on Ca-SHR and Ca-WKY induced by NE, and the effect on the former was more significant than that on the latter (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION TFH, Que and Isor might decrease the levels of [Ca(2+)](i) in VSMCs by blocking both voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDC) and receptor-operated calcium channels (ROC) in physiological or pathological state, which may be one of the important mechanisms of their hypotensive and protective effects on target organs in patients with hypertension.
The Analysis of Decision Making Behaviors and Perceived Problem Solving Skills in Adolescents

The aim of the study is to analyze decisional self-esteem, decisional stress and perceived problem-solving skills of secondary education students and to find out whether there is a significant difference in adolescent’s decision-making behaviors, and problem-solving skills from the aspect of some socio-demographic variables (gender, age, school type and education level of the parents). For this purpose, 498 subjects (273 female, 255 male) from secondary education students were given The Scale of Decision Making Behaviors (Radford, Mann, Ohta and Nakane, 1993) and Problem-Solving Inventory (Heppner and Petersen, 1982). According to the findings of the study, significant differences were observed among male and female adolescents considering decisional self-esteem and decisional stress, but on the other hand, no difference was observed when their perceived problem-solving skills were considered. Gender and school type were found to be as effective variables on the behaviors of decision-making and also the school type and the education level the mothers were found to be as effective variables on perceived problem-solving skills. The study has indicated that students from private schools are more skillful in cognitive processes such as decision-making and problemsolving than the students from Anatolian high-schools and State-high schools.
Biological variation: back to basics

The appreciation of the substantial influence of biological variation (BV) on laboratory testing and interpretation of laboratory results has represented a milestone in the history of laboratory medicine. It has paved the way for a wide series of studies aimed to accurately define the components of BV, set analytical quality specifications and related goals for internal quality control and external quality assessment programs, along with specific criteria for data interpretation, including the reference change value (RCV) [1–3]. The unquestionable importance of quality specifications based on BV in the hierarchy of models defined in the Stockholm Conference in 1999 [4, 5] represented a breakthrough in promoting the generation and application of data on BV. This issue has been for long recognized in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine as an essential concept for defining the appropriateness of reference values for specific constituents, and for supporting the adoption of RCV in the interpretation of data from serial measurements [6–16]. In this issue of the journal, we publish an article about structure and criteria used for the generation of the BV database [17] along with a commenting Editorial, which are aimed to update our knowledge in this field and encouraging the revision and update of BV database, to reassure that the information is prominently evidence-based [18]. A number of problems are increasingly recognized as a source of debate and concern. First, in an era of global harmonization, mystification should be prevented in the broad range of terms and symbols used to define the components of BV [19]. Therefore, we recognize and support the recent proposition by Simundic et al. to adopt a consistent and harmonized use of terms and symbols as follows [20]: – CVI: within-subject biological variation (variation within a single individual estimated as a pooled variation from a group of individuals); – CVG: between-subject biological variation (variation between the central tendencies of a group of individuals); – CVA: analytical variation (analytical imprecision); should always be clarified, giving mode of derivation and type (such as reproducibility, reliability, or total) and number of analyses, runs, and time period; – RCV: reference change value (difference required for significance for 2 serial results from an individual); should always be accompanied by the formula used, namely, × × 1 2 1 2 2 2 A I 2 ( CV CV ) ; Z the Z-score should be defined to state the probability and whether unidirectional or bidirectional differences were calculated; and – II: index of individuality (ratio of analytical and withinsubject to between-subject biological variation); should always be accompanied with the formula used for calculation: the preferred × 1 2 2 2 A I G ( CV CV ) /CV or the now seemingly more usual CVI/CVG.
Shared genetic contributions to pathological gambling and major depression in men.

CONTEXT Although pathological gambling (PG) and major depression (MD) frequently co-occur, little is known regarding the relative contributions of environmental and genetic factors to the codevelopment of the disorders. OBJECTIVES To estimate environmental and genetic contributions to PG and MD as defined in DSM-III-R and the lifetime co-occurrence of PG and MD. DESIGN Survey data from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry were examined in biometric models. SETTING Telephone interview. PARTICIPANTS Of 10, 253 eligible participants, 7869 were successfully interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Estimated genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental contributions to PG and MD and their lifetime co-occurrence in bivariate models. RESULTS Elevated odds ratios for MD were associated with those of PG (4.06; 95% confidence interval, 2.68-6.13), and the association remained significant following adjustment for sociodemographic and other psychiatric variables (odds ratio = 1.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-3.45). The best-fitting bivariate model indicated that 66% of the variance in PG and 41% of the variance in MD were owing to genetic factors, and 34% of the variance in PG and 59% of the variance in MD were owing to unique environmental factors. There was a substantial correlation between the genetic components of PG and MD (r(A) = 0.58), with 34% of the genetic variance for each disorder also contributing to that of the other. The best-fitting model estimated that 100% of the total overlap between PG and MD was genetic. CONCLUSIONS The correlation between PG and MD in middle-aged men appears to be largely influenced by overlapping genetic factors. Future research is needed to determine the extent to which these findings extend to other groups (eg, women), identify specific genes, and generate improved prevention and treatment strategies.