Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stromal galectin-1 expression is associated with long-term survival in resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

The overall 5 year survival rate for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (i.e., PDAC) is a dismal 5%, although patients that have undergone surgical resection have a somewhat better survival rate of up to 20%. Very long-term survivors of PDAC (defined as patients with ≥ 10 year survival following apparently curative resection), on the other hand, are considerably less frequent. The molecular characteristics of very long-term survivors (VLTS) are poorly understood, but might provide novel insights into prognostication for this disease. In this study, a panel of five VLTS and stage-matched short-term survivors (STS, defined as disease-specific mortality within 14 months of resection) were identified, and quantitative proteomics was applied to comparatively profile tumor tissues from both cohorts. Differentially expressed proteins were identified in cancers from VLTS vs. STS patients. Specifically, the expression of galectin-1 was 2-fold lower in VLTS compared with STS tumors. Validation studies were performed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in two additional cohorts of resected PDAC, including: 1) an independent cohort of VLTS and 2) a panel of sporadic PDAC with a considerable range of overall survival following surgery. Immunolabeling analysis confirmed that significantly lower expression of stromal galectin-1 was associated with VLTS (p = 0.02) and also correlated with longer survival in sporadic, surgically-treated PDAC cases (hazard ratio = 4.9, p = 0.002). The results from this study provide new insights to better understand the role of galectin-1 in PDAC survival, and might be useful for rendering prognostic information, and developing more effective therapeutic strategies aimed at improving survival.
The Future of the Accounting Profession

The litigation crisis in this country is a subject of great importance to the chief executive officers of public accounting firms. I will first address the problem's magnitude and its source and then speculate on the developments we might expect in the future. Like all forecasts, mine will certainly be wrong. I hope that my degree of error on the pessimistic side will be considerable. Copyright 1993 by MIT Press.
East Asia Integrates: A Trade Policy Agenda for Shared Growth

Rapid and sustained growth in international trade has long been a hallmark of successful growth and development strategies in East Asia. Some success stories are well known: those of the newly industrializing economies (NIEs) such as the Republic of Korea, as well as middle-income economies such as Malaysia and the transition economy of China. More recent entrants to world markets that have seen rapid export growth include low-income economies such as Cambodia and Vietnam. Trade has been an important factor in growth in the region, enabling progress in poverty reduction. Although the 1997-98 financial crisis interrupted this progress, recovery since then has brought poverty rates in every emerging economy in the region to record lows, and in economies like that of Vietnam, trade growth has brought with it a rapid reduction in poverty. Intraregional trade in East Asia has grown faster than trade with any other market, and while the largest economies account for the bulk of this trade, the regional trade of most smaller economies has also grown. Trade integration has been marketled, stemming from a combination of unilateral reforms, fulfillment of multilateral commitments, and a pattern of relocation of production processes (see Kawai and Urata 2002). Intraregional trade has been driven not only by growing demand but increasingly by improved competitiveness in regional markets, as reflected in increased market shares (Figure 1). China has been particularly dynamic, but almost all countries increased their competitiveness in regional markets during 1995-2001.9 This increase was accomplished without loss of competitiveness in other markets; East Asia continued to expand its market shares in the European Union (EU) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) markets in the same period.
Comparative analysis of individuals with and without chiropractic coverage: patient characteristics, utilization, and costs.

BACKGROUND Back pain accounts for more than $100 billion in annual US health care costs and is the second leading cause of physician visits and hospitalizations. This study ascertains the effect of systematic access to chiropractic care on the overall and neuromusculoskeletal-specific consumption of health care resources within a large managed-care system. METHODS A 4-year retrospective claims data analysis comparing more than 700 000 health plan members with an additional chiropractic coverage benefit and 1 million members of the same health plan without the chiropractic benefit. RESULTS Members with chiropractic insurance coverage, compared with those without coverage, had lower annual total health care expenditures ($1463 vs $1671 per member per year, P<.001). Having chiropractic coverage was associated with a 1.6% decrease (P = .001) in total annual health care costs at the health plan level. Back pain patients with chiropractic coverage, compared with those without coverage, had lower utilization (per 1000 episodes) of plain radiographs (17.5 vs 22.7, P<.001), low back surgery (3.3 vs 4.8, P<.001), hospitalizations (9.3 vs 15.6, P<.001), and magnetic resonance imaging (43.2 vs 68.9, P<.001). Patients with chiropractic coverage, compared with those without coverage, also had lower average back pain episode-related costs ($289 vs $399, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Access to managed chiropractic care may reduce overall health care expenditures through several effects, including (1) positive risk selection; (2) substitution of chiropractic for traditional medical care, particularly for spine conditions; (3) more conservative, less invasive treatment profiles; and (4) lower health service costs associated with managed chiropractic care. Systematic access to managed chiropractic care not only may prove to be clinically beneficial but also may reduce overall health care costs.
Increasing within‐school competition: a case for department level performance indicators?

The authors investigate the size and stability of departmental effects in English secondary schooling during a period in which extensions to parental choice and annual publication of school performance tables had significantly increased competitive pressures on schools. Their database of nearly 450 English secondary schools enables them to investigate departments in terms of both their unadjusted and value‐added average students’ performance in national examinations. They are interested in the nature of within‐school competition and concentrate upon two subjects, geography and history, which were optional subjects in each of these schools. In general, they find that relative departmental performance varies significantly over time and that few departments manage to persistently out‐perform the other subject in their school. They conclude that given the instability of relative departmental performance, publication of department‐level performance indicators is unlikely to generate strong incentives for departments to raise their effort and effectiveness.
The effect heterogeneity of central examinations: evidence from TIMSS, TIMSS‐Repeat and PISA

This paper uses extensive student‐level micro databases of three international student achievement tests to estimate heterogeneity in the effect of external exit examinations on student performance along three dimensions. First, quantile regressions show that the effect tends to increase with student ability—but it does not differ substantially for most measured family‐background characteristics. Second, central examinations have complementary effects to school autonomy. Third, the effect of central exit examinations increases during the course of secondary education, and regular standardised examination exerts additional positive effects. Thus, there is substantial heterogeneity in the central‐examination effect along student, school and time dimensions.
Competing Notions of Regionalism in South Korean Politics

Abstract In the past decade, ASEAN has been the primary driver of East Asian regionalism, and Korea has been an active supporter of ASEAN plus Three. Korea has explored the idea of an East Asian Community, and has been relatively open to notions of Asia–Pacific regionalism. The ROK has involved itself comparatively heavily in regional projects as both an initiator and a participant, but its notion of ‘region’ has oscillated between more and less inclusive forms of regionalism. This article examines how competing conceptions of region have influenced Korea's pursuit of regional initiatives. By revisiting historical understandings of Korea's regional identity, we explore the normative bases and material interests which motivate Korean regional initiatives, and assess the impact of its proposals.
Attitude Stability among Italian Elites

How stable are elite survey responses over time? Scattered previous research casts doubt on the standard assumption that elite political attitudes are significantly more stable than mass attitudes. After a discussion of problems of interpreting and measuring attitude stability, this study presents evidence from a six-year panel survey of Italian regional political elites. The respondents are full-time, highly successful, professional politicians. Their ideological commitments, their orientations to social and political conflict, their attitudes toward democratic institutions, their political style, and some aspects of their attitudes toward Italian regionalism are shown to be remarkably stable over this period. Some methodological lessons for elite survey research are drawn from these analyses, including (most basically) the comforting conclusion that the fundamental beliefs of elites can be measured with a high degree of reliability.
Immunogenicity and safety of a novel liposomal influenza subunit vaccine (INFLUSOME‐VAC) in young adults

Influenza and its complications account for substantial morbidity and mortality among young adults and especially among the elderly. In young adults, immunization provides 70–90% protection, while among the elderly the vaccine may be only 30–40% effective; hence the need for new, more immunogenic vaccines. We compared the safety and immunogenicity of a novel IL‐2‐supplemented liposomal influenza vaccine (designated INFLUSOME‐VAC) with that of a commercial subunit vaccine and a commercial split virion vaccine in young adults (mean age 28 years) in the winter of 1999–2000. Seventy‐three healthy young adults were randomly assigned to be vaccinated intramuscularly with the following: a commercial subunit vaccine (n = 17, group A), INFLUSOME‐VAC (n = 36, group B), and a commercial split virion vaccine (n = 20, group C). The three vaccines contained equal amounts of hemagglutinin (∼15 μg each) from the strains A/Sydney (H3N2), A/Beijing (H1N1), and B/Yamanashi. INFLUSOME‐VAC induced higher geometric mean HI titers and higher‐fold increases in HI titers against all three strains, compared with the two commercial vaccines. In addition, seroconversion rates for the A/Sydney and B/Yamanashi strains were significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared with the split virion vaccine, and significantly higher for the three strains compared with the subunit vaccine (69–97% vs 35–65%, P ≤ 0.02). Moreover, the anti‐neuraminidase response was significantly greater (P = 0.05) in group B vs group A. INFLUSOME‐VAC caused mild local pain at the injection site in a significantly higher proportion of the vaccinees (83%). Thus, INFLUSOME‐VAC is an immunogenic and safe vaccine in young adults. J. Med. Virol. 69:560–567, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Do Evidence-Based Guidelines Have an Impact in Primary Care? A Cross-Sectional Study of Swedish Physicians and Physiotherapists

Study Design. A cross-sectional study of physicians and physiotherapists in primary care. Objectives. To survey how familiar clinicians were with evidence-based guidelines for back pain and their opinion about their clinical usefulness and to compare self-reported practice behavior with the guidelines. Summary of Background Data. Guidelines, based on empirical evidence, are meant to ensure that patients get the most effective treatment. These evidence-based guidelines should steer clinical praxis, but clinicians may not read, let alone heed, them. Methods. Using a questionnaire, the authors surveyed all physicians and physiotherapists in primary health care in Örebro County, Sweden (N = 235). Results. Forty-two percent of the physicians and 37% of the physiotherapists were unfamiliar with the content of the guidelines, and 40% of the physicians and 25% of the physiotherapists were unfamiliar with the concept of ‘red flags. ’ Less than half of the clinicians, 47%, were familiar both with the content of the guidelines and the concept of red flags. Their opinion about the guidelines showed that 54% of the physicians and 56% of the physiotherapists agreed that the guidelines were useful in clinical praxis. Concerning the self-reported practice behavior, the majority indicated that they followed the key points in the guidelines. Conclusions. A relatively large proportion of clinicians were unfamiliar with the content of evidence-based guidelines and/or with the concept of red flags. The process of implementing research into clinical practice is in need of an overhaul, and the impact of guidelines on clinical practice may be questioned.
Farm diversification and regional investments: efficient instruments for the CAP rural development targets in rural regions of Finland?

This article investigates the distributional effects of rural policies when transferring the CAP direct payments to farm diversification and to the increased demand for regional investments by applying rural–urban social accounting matrices and computable general equilibrium model in two Finnish regions. Transferring subsidies to farm diversification did not accelerate regional growth when agricultural and food industries comprised the core of the economy. In contrast, if the relative importance of agriculture is minor, diversification increased regional income. The growing investments increased both regional GDP and employment. Positive effects, however, tend to accumulate in the urban centres. In addition, agricultural households suffered from welfare losses.
Global Marketers' Dilemma

Abstract Although brand name translation is meant to convey the brand message in a more articulate way, its effect on purchase intention is not always positive. Therefore, global marketers are facing the dilemma of whether to translate the brand name into local language or not, especially when it is a western brand product to be launched into the China market. It is believed that for certain kinds of western products the appearance of the Chinese in the brand name may jeopardize the “western image”-still a premium in the China market-of the products. This study is to investigate the influence of brand name Chinese translation on consumer purchase intention taking into consideration the moderating effects of the degree of product hedonism and the degree of consumer involvement in purchasing the product. A lab experiment in 2×2×2 factorial design with manipulation of translation (absence/presence), product hedonism (hedonic versus utilitarian product) and involvement (high versus low involvement product) is conducted. Results are discussed with implications to global marketers aiming at the China market.
Politics of Decentralization Policy: Explaining the Limited Success of the Croatian Case after 2001

The Croatian “decentralization package” from mid-2001 has shown how multiple pressures for shifting power to the local level may actually result in relative failure. The central government has ceded the control in particular policy sectors by shifting responsibilities for certain educational, welfare and health services to the counties and municipalities. However, the decentralization initiative was excessively marked as very limited and strongly labeled by the vertical policy dimension, expressing the dominance of top-down incentives of the central government in comparison to bottom-up initiatives stemming from the local government units. The 2001 decentralized package did not substantially increase the portion of local governments finance in total public finance, showing a failure to provide local government units with stronger fiscal capacity. The central government bodies also did not take into account the alternative proposals made by various policy actors ranging from academic institutions, researchers in NGOs, and associations of local government organizations. All these things have contributed to a relatively negligible influence of the horizontal policy dimension on the decentralization outcome. The whole process can therefore be described as centrally controlled decentralization, or decentralization from above.
Market Segmentation by Motivation: The Case of Switzerland

This study describes the segmentation of mature travel markets, as exemplified by Switzerland. Based on an extensive and representative travel survey covering 2,000 households and more than 11,000 trips, a situational, motivation-based travel market segmentation is proposed. The clustering of motivations proves to be a valuable means to segment markets. The results reveal a diminishing role of sociodemographic segment descriptors. It is more the (anticipated) travel profile and the attraction of a certain destination that determines Swiss travel behavior.
Outside directors on the board, competition and innovation

We investigate the influence of non-executive outside directors on firms' innovative performance for a sample of 1,393 listed firms in the EU - 15 member states plus Norway and Switzerland in the period 2005 to 2010. Our results show that the fraction of non-executive outside directors on the board is associated with a significant decrease in the number of patent applications if competition in the market is low. This may indicate that restrictive monitoring and lower advising competences of outside directors mitigate executives' incentives to innovate. In industries with effective competition, the negative influence of outsiders is offset by the pressure to focus on innovation strategies.
Religious Traditionalism and Latino Politics in the United States

This article examines how and why ethnic context conditions the link between religious traditionalism and the political attitudes and behaviors of Latinos in the United States. Existing research shows that the impact of religious traditionalism on political attitudes varies by policy and religious context. Through an analysis of issue attitudes, ideology, and partisanship, we confirm this existing work and also show that religious traditionalism influences Latino political behavior differently than it influences Anglo politics. The impact of religious traditionalism is not nearly as strong among Latinos as among Anglos. To the extent that traditionalism does influence political attitudes and behavior, it generally produces greater ideological conservatism but does not translate into support for the Republican Party—the latter is quite different from its impact in the Anglo population.
A Wideband Full-Corporate-Feed Waveguide Slot Planar Array

A wideband full-metal planar antenna array with full-corporate feed-network is proposed. Cavity and slot are used as the basic radiation element and T-shaped walls are employed in the cavity to achieve wide bandwidth. E-plane waveguide feed-network configuration is utilized so as to suppress wave leakage between adjacent layers when the antenna is fabricated by a conventional machining technique. An 8 × 8 antenna array prototype with optimized parameters is tested. Experimental results show that the bandwidth of VSWR <; 2.0 is up to 36.9% (10.24 - 14.87 GHz). More than 60% aperture efficiency and higher than 23.4 dBi gain are achieved over the operational bandwidth.
Tourism Sustainability and Health Impacts in High Altitude Adventure, Cultural and Ecotourism Destinations: A Case Study of Nepal's Sagarmatha National Park

Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) is an ACE (adventure, cultural and ecotourism) high altitude destination. Many researchers argue that tourism development in the region is not sustainable and does not comply with ecotourism concepts. They report that SNP suffers considerable environmental, sociocultural and economic impacts. Health issues, despite the number of ailments commonly experienced by tourists, remain neglected in tourism literature. This study aims to investigate the health consequences of visiting SNP. Seven hundred and fifty questionnaires were given out during three separate seasons in 1999, of which 448 completed usable questionnaires were returned giving a 59.7% response rate. The results showthat despite good travel preparation, the majority of tourists (89.4%) suffer some form of health ailment. The most common ailments are mountain sickness, musculoskeletal pain, diarrhoea and respiratory infection. The study also shows several significant relationships between the incidence of health ailments and demographic profiles, motivation and satisfaction. It proposes that for high altitude ACE destinations like SNP, health issues should be a core component of destination management in order to ensure the sustainability of tourism development. High risk groups should be identified and tourism education should be targeted to both tourists and locals.
Incremental changes and dual-track transition: understanding the case of China

Dual-track transition in China Fan Gang This paper explains why China has taken the ‘incremental approach’ to economic reform, while others have taken a ‘radical approach’; why China has been successful in its gradual transition in the 1980s, while others had failed in the 1970s; and why and how the reform ‘objective model’ has evolved over time in China. When comparing China with the former socialist economies which are undertaking reforms, the paper gives particular attention to the following two factors. First, the initial economic situations, especially the growth of real incomes during the pre-reform period. This first factor determines what approach to reform would be politically ‘acceptable’. The second factor is the economic structures inherited from the previous regime. Specifically, did there exist a repressed sector which could serve as a source from which the new system could emerge and develop? This second factor determines what approach is economically ‘feasible’. Different approaches are therefore rationalized as ‘conditional optimum’ in different circumstances. The paper also investigates the special problems and difficulties for an incremental ‘dual-track’ transition, such as delayed ownership reform in the state sector, distorted allocation of resources between the state and non-state sectors, and macroeconomic instability during the transition. A better formulation of reform strategies and stabilization policies is recommended, although it is recognized that incremental reform is, in many ways, a spontaneous, ‘bottom-up’, process.
Why Do Public Employees Desire Intrinsic Nonmonetary Opportunities?

Public administration research has consistently demonstrated that public employees possess a higher desire for intrinsic nonmonetary opportunities than their private sector counterparts. Yet it is not entirely clear why. Researchers have largely assumed that public service motivation is the reason for these findings. However, no empirical research to date has directly tested this assumption while also taking into account alternate explanations. This study aims to fill that gap in the literature by empirically investigating the relationship that public service motivation has to the intrinsic nonmonetary preferences of public employees while controlling for several confounding explanations. This article closes with some summary findings, a discussion of contributions to the current literature on public service motivation, and the identification of a few issues that deserve further investigation.