Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COMPARISON OF MAMMOGRAPHY AND ULTRASOUND COMBINED VERSUS ULTRASOUND ALONE IN EARLY EVALUATION OF SYMPTOMATIC BREAST CANCERS IN PAKISTAN

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to detect diagnostic accuracy of mammography and ultrasound combined versus ultrasound alone in early evaluation of symptomatic breast lesions. Materials and Methods: All new patients who presented to the breast clinic with symptomatic breast lesions, during the year 2012, were included in the study. A total of 695 patients were registered. Their clinical findings, mammogram, ultrasound and histopathology were reviewed. Results: Mammogram and ultrasound combined detected 693 (99.71%) lesions in total. Mammogram failed to detect lesions in 1.43% of patients, whereas the failure rate of ultrasound was 0.43%. The incidence of microcalcifications on mammogram was 19.13%. Conclusion: Ultrasound is a useful tool in the initial evaluation of symptomatic breasts. For places such as Pakistan where mammogram is not available at every centre, ultrasound can be used as an effective alternative for the assessment of symptomatic breast lesions. Key words: Breast cancer, mammography, ultrasound
Avian influenza overview September – November 2017

Abstract Between 1 September and 15 November 2017, 48 A(H5N8) highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in poultry holdings and 9 H5 HPAI wild bird events were reported within Europe. A second epidemic HPAI A(H5N8) wave started in Italy on the third week of July and is still ongoing on 15 November 2017. The Italian epidemiological investigations indicated that sharing of vehicles, sharing of personnel and close proximity to infected holdings are the more likely sources of secondary spread in a densely populated poultry area. Despite the ongoing human exposures to infected poultry during the outbreaks, no transmission to humans has been identified in the EU. The report includes an update of the list of wild bird target species for passive surveillance activities that is based on reported AI‐infected wild birds since 2006. The purpose of this list is to provide information on which bird species to focus in order to achieve the most effective testing of dead birds for detection of H5 HPAI viruses. Monitoring the avian influenza situation in other continents revealed the same risks as in the previous report (October 2016‐August 2017): the recent human case of HPAI A(H5N6) in China underlines the continuing threat of this avian influenza virus to human health and possible introduction via migratory wild birds into Europe. Close monitoring is required of the situation in Africa with regards to HPAI of the subtypes A(H5N1) and A(H5N8), given the rapidity of the evolution and the uncertainty on the geographical distribution of these viruses. Interactions between EFSA and member states have taken place to initiate discussions on improving the quality of data collections and to find a step‐wise approach to exchange relevant (denominator) data without causing an additional resource burden.
Potential false-negative nucleic acid testing results for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 from thermal inactivation of samples with low viral loads

Abstract Background Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has spread widely throughout the world since the end of 2019. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) has played an important role in patient diagnosis and management of COVID-19. In some circumstances, thermal inactivation at 56 °C has been recommended to inactivate Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) before NAT. However, this procedure could theoretically disrupt nucleic acid integrity of this single-stranded RNA virus and cause false negatives in real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. Methods We investigated whether thermal inactivation could affect the results of viral NAT. We examined the effects of thermal inactivation on the quantitative RT-PCR results of SARS-CoV-2 particularly with regard to the rates of false-negative results for specimens carrying low viral loads. We additionally investigated the effects of different specimen types, sample preservation times and a chemical inactivation approach on NAT. Results Our work showed increased Ct values in specimens from diagnosed COVID-19 patients in RT-PCR tests after thermal incubation. Moreover, about half of the weak-positive samples (7 of 15 samples, 46.7%) were RT-PCR negative after heat inactivation in at least one parallel testing. The use of guanidinium-based lysis for preservation of these specimens had a smaller impact on RT-PCR results with fewer false negatives (2 of 15 samples, 13.3%) and significantly less increase in Ct values than heat inactivation. Conclusion Thermal inactivation adversely affected the efficiency of RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Given the limited applicability associated with chemical inactivators, other approaches to ensure the overall protection of laboratory personnel need consideration.
The influence of chemical modifications on the fragmentation behavior of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds in electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has been approved by the FDA as a general anesthetic because of its rapid onset and high potency. However, since 2013 an opioid epidemic involving fentanyl or fentanyl-related compounds (FRCs) has swept the United States and caused numerous deaths in every state. The identification of novel FRCs is complicated by the rapid turnover of modifications to the core fentanyl structure. In this study, a series of 16 FRCs were analyzed using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) to gain a deeper understanding of the conserved and unique fragmentation behaviors associated with substitution to the core fentanyl structure. This work provides an approach, based on the product ions from ESI-MS/MS, to identify the modification site(s) on the core fentanyl structure for FRCs. Five common locations of substitution to the core fentanyl structure were used to assess the effect of substitution on the fragmentation behavior of FRCs. The proposed fragmentation pathways are supported through the combination of isotopic labeling, multi-stage mass spectrometry (MSn ) and accurate mass measurements with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The identification of primary product ions specific to regions of substitution provides an additional tool for the identification of the location of substitution to the core fentanyl structure, which ultimately will assist toxicologists and seized drug analysts in the identification of emerging FRCs.
STAT5A induced LINC01198 promotes proliferation of glioma cells through stabilizing DGCR8

Background: LINC01198 has been suggested to be able to predict overall prognosis for glioma; however, it has been little described in glioma. Results: It was shown that LINC01198 was markedly enriched in neoplasmic tissues relative to normal controls; and that elevated LINC01198 significantly correlated with unfavorable overall prognosis. Moreover, activation of STAT5A, identified as transcription factor (TF), can induce the expression of LINC01198. DGCR8, a kind of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), was identified to be able to bind with LINC01198 that can stabilize the DGCR8. Five differential miRNAs with most significant difference, including miR-21-5p, miR-34-5p, miR-1246, miR-4488 and miR-494, were obtainable after silencing of DGCR8. Conclusions: Together, the data we presented here suggested that STAT5 induced LINC01198 promotes proliferation and motility of glioma cells through stabilizing DGCR8 in glioma cells. Methods: Expression of LINC01198 was appraised by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH) in glioma clinical specimens, totaling 100 cases. Post hoc statistical analysis was conducted. In vitro, LINC01198 was stably silenced or re-expressed by transfection with lentiviral-based vectors. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation (CHIP) was applied to identify the relevant TFs that can bind with LINC01198, which was corroborated with electrophoretic mobility shift (EMSA) assay. RNA-immunoprecipitation (RIP) was used to identify the RNA-binding protein that can bind with LINC01198. Moreover, miRNA microarray was used to screen out differential miRNAs after silencing of DGCR8.
S3 guideline for actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) – short version, part 2: epidemiology, surgical and systemic treatment of cSCC, follow‐up, prevention and occupational disease

Actinic keratoses (AKs) are common lesions in light‐skinned individuals that can potentially progress to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). Both conditions may be associated with significant morbidity and constitute a major disease burden, especially among the elderly. To establish an evidence‐based framework for clinical decision making, the guidelines for actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma were developed using the highest level of methodology (S3) according to regulations issued by the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF). The guidelines are aimed at dermatologists, general practitioners, ENT specialists, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and radiation oncologists in hospitals and office‐based settings as well as other medical specialties involved in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with AKs and cSCC. The guidelines are also aimed at affected patients, their relatives, policy makers and insurance funds. In the second part, we will address aspects relating to epidemiology, etiology, surgical and systemic treatment of cSCC, follow‐up and disease prevention, and discuss AKs and cSCC in the context of occupational disease regulations.
The appropriate treatment for elderly gastric cancer patients

Gastric cancer has continued to rise in the elderly as life expectancies increase. The current standard of care practices is often based on clinical trials consisting of much younger patient population and these treatment guidelines need to be assessed for their direct applicability to the elderly population, both in the context of their increased comorbidities as well as differences in their disease pathophysiology and presentation. This article reviews the current state of medical knowledge in the management of gastric cancer and presents evidence from the National Cancer Database (NCDB), with a special focus on the additional considerations that need to be made in the treatment of elderly patients with gastric cancer.
Political Connections, Family Ownership and Firms’ Performance in Malaysia

Suhaily Hasnana, Ili Syahirah Kamaruzamanb, Zuraidah Mohd Sanusic, Mazurina Mohd Alid, aAccounting Research Institute/Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, b,cAccounting Research Institute, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, dFaculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, Email: asuhaily77@gmail.com, bilikamad@yahoo.com, czuraidah@uitm.edu. my, dmazurina@uitm.edu. my
Presence and abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton in a Biofloc production system using two carbon sources: 1) Molasses and 2) Molasses + rice powder, culturing Oreochromis niloticus

Biofloc technology consists in propitiate formation of flocs in a culture of Oreochormis niloticus, having as carbon source molasses and rice powder. It was used a conical container of 450 L, where 30 tilapias were introduced with an average length of 5.0 ± 0.95 cm and weight of 4.2 ± 1.08 g. To guarantee formation of flocs and development of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, it was maintained a relation C/N=20:1. With molasses it was obtained six genders of phytoplankton, being 35% of total; ciliates with 12 genders corresponding to 60% and only one genus of rotifers (5%). With molasses mixed with rice powder, it was obtained three genders of phytoplankton, being the 27.27% of total; five genders of ciliates corresponding to 45.45% and three genders of rotifers (27.27%). The results of this research provide insight into changes in communities of microalgae, ciliates and rotifers during the experimentation period and the used carbon source, which allows to know the contribution of Biofloc as source of in situ natural food, this is very important in fish and crustaceans diet of commercial importance, mainly in larval stages of ornamental fish.
Partial Pooling with Cross-Country Priors: An Application to House Price Shocks

A structural Bayesian vector autoregression model predicts that - when accompanied by a decline in consumer confidence - a one-percent decrease in house prices is associated with a contraction of economic activity by 0.2 to 1.2 percent after one year. Results point to important second-round effects and additional exercises highlight the amplifying role of (i ) the mortgage rate and (ii ) consumers' expectations. A novel econometric approach exploits information available from the cross section. Shrinkage towards a cross-country average model helps to compensate for small country samples and reduces estimation uncertainty. As a by-product, the method delivers measures of cross-country heterogeneity.
Economic Roundtable--Prioritizing Homeless Assistance Using Predictive Algorithms, An Evidence-Based Approach

In this article, we present a predictive model for identifying homeless persons likely to have high future costs for public services. We developed the model by linking administrative records from 2007 through 2012 for 7 Santa Clara County, California agencies and identifying 38 demographic, clinical, and service utilization variables with the greatest predictive value. We modeled records for 57,259 individuals from 2007 to 2009, and the algorithm was validated using 2010 and 2011 records to predict high-cost status in 2012. A business case scenario shows that two-thirds of the top 1,000 high-cost users predicted by the model are true positives, with estimated posthousing cost reductions of more than $19,000 per person in 2011. The model performed very well in giving low scores to homeless persons with one-time cost spikes, achieving the desired result of excluding cases with single-year rather than ongoing high costs.
On global smooth solutions to the 3D Vlasov–Nordström syst Sur les solutions régulières du système de Vlasov–Nordströ tridimensionnel

The Vlasov–Nordström system is a relativistic model describing the motion of a self-gravitating collisionless gas. A tional existence result for global smooth solutions was obtained in [Comm. Partial Differential Equations 28 (2003) 1863 We give a new proof for this result.  2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. Résumé Le système de Vlasov–Nordström est un modèle relativiste décrivant l’évolution d’un ensemble de particules mass mises au champ gravitationnel qu’elles génèrent collectivement. Un théorème d’existence conditionnelle a été démo [Comm. Partial Differential Equations 28 (2003) 1863–1885]. Nous donnons ici une nouvelle preuve de ce résultat.  2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. MSC:85A05; 82C22
Bank Liquidity, Small Business Lending, and Real Outcomes

Combining a novel and detailed SBA loan-level database with time-varying, bank-specific liquidity shocks, we evaluate the effects of bank liquidity conditions on small business lending and subsequent job and business creations, while differentiating borrowers by size and age. To establish causality, we construct time-varying, bank-specific liquidity shock measures that exploit exogenous liquidity windfalls to local bank branches resulting from the shale development activities since 2003. Our results suggest that positive liquidity shocks enhance bank lending only to relatively large and established small businesses, not to very small and young ones. Moreover, using comprehensive establishment dynamic data from the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS), we show that positive liquidity shocks facilitate jobs created by relatively large small business and lower their exit rates. Our results are not driven by changes in local economic conditions due to the shale boom, as we exclude borrowers located in counties with any shale development. Our findings suggest that banks are adequate to promote access to finance for certain types of small business borrowers, but not necessarily for all. JEL: G21, G28, G30, E24, Q40
Leaving Country for Living: Household Level Welfare Assessment from the Destination Preference Lens in Bangladesh

Down memory lane of the economy of Bangladesh, international migration has been a pillar to the economy. Firstly, the study deals with the factors affecting destination preference of the migrant-sending household and then it tries to screne out the impact of international migration on the household welfare from the lens of diversified destination preferences. Considering sample size of 3782 household, the study conducted the entire research with the secondary data of Household Income and Expenditure Survey Bangladesh, 2016. Sorting the migrated countries among seven regions, Multinomial Logistic Regression has been used to find out the determinants behind migrants’ destination preferences. Additionally, to measure the household welfare based on migrant’s destination preference, the Ordinary Least Squares regression model and Quantile regression model have been used. Therefore, the result exhibits that migrant characteristic like age, gender, years of schooling, and household characteristics like heads’ age, sex, schooling year, region, and earning status plays a significant role in deciding the migration destination. It is also evident that economic and subjective welfare varies among the households for sending migrants in different regions. Total expenditure and wealth index decrease to the households who send migrants to South-East Asia rather than Middle-East. The wealth score is higher for the households who send migrants to Europe, North-America, and Oceania over Middle-East. Subjective welfare index also varies among the household based on choosing migration destination. Therefore, it can be concluded that destination preference affects the economic and subjective welfare of the household.
A Unified Economic Explanation for Profitability Premium and Value Premium

We jointly explain the gross profitability premium and the value premium in a dynamic structural model. Co-existence and negative correlation between profitability and value factors in the data challenge existing asset pricing models because high (low) gross profitability firms resemble growth (value) firms. We demonstrate that the profitability premium is driven by more productive firms having higher exposures to aggregate demand shocks, whereas the value premium is created by high book-to-market firms having more assets in place relative to growth options in their asset composition. Our model replicates co-existence of negatively correlated profitability premium and value premium. We also uncover a novel profitability decomposition and the stronger return predictive power of transitory profitability as evidenced
The Attitude of UAE Mothers towards Breastfeeding in Abu Dhabi

Department of Health (DOH) the regulator of Abu Dhabi region in UAE launched its Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) on March 21, 2016. There has been little success to this program in transforming the breastfeeding experience of Abu Dhabi mothers. This paper tries to analyze the attitude of Abu Dhabi mothers towards breastfeeding and to explore the factors that modulates maternal attitude. A quasi experimental design has been with mixed methods approach to guide this study. A convenient sampling of 384 women visiting maternal clinics were recruited to answer an IOWA questionnaire. The overall breastfeeding experience of UAE mothers are suboptimal. The UAE mother prefers formal feeding over breastfeeding due to their processional commitments. Multiple factors modulate maternal attitude to breastfeeding.
Probing the Influence of Internet of Things (IOT) Usage on the Grassroots Innovators’ Sustainability: A Malaysian Perspective

This paper aims to investigate the basis of the influence of Internet of Things (IoT) usage on the grassroots innovators’ sustainability in Malaysia. The study provides the basis for a framework for futher study on the issue. The result provides that the determinants of IoT usage is important to ensure the sustainability of grassroots innovators. The IoT usage can be used elsewhere in many organisations in improving skills and services. The study is an attempt to construct a new framework using The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) - perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of us (PEOU), Unified Theory of Acceptance (UTAUT) – performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions) and Use of Technology and Diffusion Innovation Theory (DOI) - relative advantages, complexity, observability, compatibility. Efficacy expectation is used to measure the usage behaviour. The novelty of this study results from an operational experiment converted into academic research and it is the first study in Malaysia of this kind.
The Correlation of Oil and Equity Prices: The Role of Zero Lower Bound∗

Since 2008, oil and equity prices have moved together much more than they did previously. We show that this increased comovement is due in part to increased responsiveness of both oil prices and equity prices to macroeconomic news. Before 2008, there is little evidence that oil prices were responsive to macroeconomic news. Since 2008, reflecting the low interest rate environment and the relatively constrained monetary policy during this period (i.e. the zero lower bound), oil and equity prices have become more responsive to macroeconomic news. This finding suggests that different rules apply at the zero lower bound, implying the potential for large fiscal multipliers at the zero lower bound. JEL Classifications: F31, F41, E30, E01, C81
BRAND IMAGE AND PROMOTIONAL MIX ON CONSUMER BUYING DECISION OF BEVERAGE IN MAIDUGURI METROPOLITAN COUNCIL, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

Consumers are often bombarded with variety of products by different marketers in a competitive market place. The objective of the study therefore, was to evaluate the influence of advertising on consumer buying decision. Survey research design was adopted on the study guide. Convenient sampling techniques were used in which four hundred (400) copies of research questionnaires were administered to beverage consumers in Maiduguri metropolitan Council, Borno State, Nigeria, out of which three hundred and eighty-four (384) copies of the questionnaire were filled and returned. Pearson Product Correlation was used to analyse the data generated from the respondents. The findings revealed that brand image, advertising, sales promotion and personal selling have significant influence on consumer buying decision at . 01 level (2-tailed). The study concluded that the way a product is promoted coupled with the brand integrity of such product encourages consumers to purchase it and make repeat purchase of it, as well as enhances the referral of such product to other prospects. The study therefore recommended to the organization especially those engaged in the marketing of fast-moving consumer goods, to focus on distinct promotional mix, as the study empirically proved that perception of brand image is capable of influencing consumer buying decision on sustainable basis. It is also recommended that each marketing company should adopt a combination of promotional mix that can bring about distinct outcomes in terms of turnover, improved market share, customer retention, profitability and productivity among others.