Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Societal costs and effects of implementing population-based mammography screening in Greenland

ABSTRACT With a low breast cancer incidence and low population density, Greenland is geographically and organisationally challenged in implementing a cost effective breast cancer screening programme where a large proportion of the Greenlandic women will have to travel far to attend. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the cost effectiveness and cost utility of different strategies for implementing population-based breast cancer screening in Greenland. Two strategies were evaluated: Centralised screening in the capital Nuuk and decentralised screening in the five municipal regions of Greenland. A cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis were performed from a societal perspective to estimate the costs per years of life saved and per QALY gained. Two accommodation models for the women’s attendance were examined; accommodation in ordinary hotels or in patient hotels. The least costly accommodation model was the hotel model compared with the patient hotel model, regardless of screening strategy. The decentralised strategy was more cost effective compared with the centralised strategy, resulting in 0.5 million DKK per years of life saved (YLS) and 4.1 million DKK per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained within the hotel model. These ratios are significantly higher compared with findings from other countries. The sensitivity analysis showed a substantial gap between the most and least favourable model assumptions. The investigated strategies were all estimated to be extremely costly, mostly due to high transportation and accommodation costs and loss of productivity, and none would be accepted as cost-effective per YLS/QALY gained within a conventional threshold level. The least expensive strategy was regional screening with hotel accommodation.
Solution of a class of generalized assignment problem

The paper presents the solution of a multi objective multi-index generalized assignment problem using Fuzzy Programming Technique which is a new concept. It emphasizes on minimization of the job cost and time at different sites where the jobs are being performed using different machines (medium). Multi objective assignment problem or multi objective generalized assignment problem have been solved in different ways by different mathematicians. But they have considered only two indices (jobs and alternatives). Here we have considered more than two indices and so it becomes a multi-index generalized assignment problem which makes it superior to the previous methods. This type of problem has not been solved earlier by our proposed method. Moreover in this paper Fuzzy Programming Technique has been used considering linear, exponential and hyperbolic (non-linear) membership functions for getting optimal solutions. Finally a real life application has been presented.
Correlation of Genotype and In Vitro Susceptibilities of Cryptococcus gattii Strains from the Pacific Northwest of the United States

ABSTRACT Cryptococcus gattii emerged in North America in 1999 as a human and veterinary pathogen on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The emergent subtype, VGIIa, and the closely related subtype VGIIb can now be found in the United States in Washington, Oregon, and California. We performed multilocus sequence typing and antifungal susceptibility testing on 43 isolates of C. gattii from human patients in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho. In contrast to Vancouver Island, VGIIa was the most frequent but not the predominant subtype in the northwest United States. Antifungal susceptibility testing showed statistically significant differences in MICs between the subtypes. This is the first study to apply antifungal susceptibility testing to C. gattii isolates from the Pacific Northwest and the first to make direct comparisons between subtypes.
Reliability of lower limb kinematics, mechanics and energetics during gait in patients after stroke.

OBJECTIVE To assess the reliability of kinematic, mechanical and energetic gait variables at short (1 day) and medium (1 month) intervals in adult patients after stroke. DESIGN Prospective study. SUBJECTS Ten patients with chronic post-stroke (mean age 53.5 years; age range 25-80 years). METHODS Three-dimensional gait analysis was performed 3 times in these subjects: at baseline (T0), after 1 day (T1) and after 1 month (T2). The reliability of the gait analysis was tested by comparing gait variables measured at T1 and T0 (1 day interval), at T2 and T0 (1 month interval). The inter-session reliability of kinematic, mechanical and energetic variables was calculated by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS The reliability of kinematic variables ranged from excellent to moderate (ICC >or= 0.51), except for the ankle position at heel strike (ICC = 0.44). The reliability of mechanical and energetic variables ranged from excellent to good (ICC >or= 0.71). The most reliable variable was external mechanical work (ICC = 0.96). The kinematic, mechanical and energetic variables did not change significantly between T0, T1 and T2 (repeated-measures analysis of variance). CONCLUSION Kinematic, mechanical and energetic gait variables present good reliability when measured at 1 day and 1 month intervals in adult patients after stroke.
Microbial activities and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonization in the rhizosphere of the salt marsh plantInula crithmoides L. along a spatial salinity gradient

This study was carried out in a Mediterranean salt marsh in semiarid Southeast Spain to assess whether a spatial salinity gradient can affect the microbiological and biochemical properties (labile C fractions, biomass C, oxidoreductases, and hydrolases) of the rhizosphere soil ofInula crithmoides and the extent of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization in its roots. There were no significant differences in the soluble C fractions (water-soluble C and water-soluble carbohydrates) or the microbial biomass C values of the rhizosphere soil ofI. crithmoides among the different zones of the salt marsh. Dehydrogenase activity, hydrolases (urease, protease, phosphatase, and β-glucosidase) and the extent of AM colonization inI. crithmoides roots were greater in the higher salt marsh zones, corresponding to those of lower rhizosphere soil salinity. This study shows that soil salinity is inversely associated with some parameters related to soil microbial activity, such as dehydrogenase activity and some hydrolases, as well as the extent of colonization by AM fungi, which can improve plant performance. However, bioactive organic matter fractions that determine soil productivity are not related to soil salinity.
In Vivo Effects of Arsenite on Meiosis, Preimplantation Development, and Apoptosis in the Mouse1

Abstract Inorganic arsenic, an environmental contaminant, produces a variety of stress responses in mammalian cells, including metabolic abnormalities accompanied by growth inhibition and carcinogenesis. Much of the toxicity of arsenic is known to stem from its uncoupling effects on mitochondria. Because previously we had shown that mitochondrial dysfunction can disrupt oocyte and embryo development, we investigated effects of arsenite on meiotic progression and early embryo development in mice. Six-week-old CD-1 mice were treated with 0 (solvent as control), 8 mg/kg (a dose previously established in mice as the maternal no-observed-adverse-effect level), and 16 mg/kg doses of sodium arsenite every 2 days for a total of seven i.p. injections ver a period of 14 days. The incidence of meiotic anomalies, characterized by spindle disruption and/or chromosomal misalignment, was significantly increased in arsenite-treated groups (25% after 8 mg/kg and 62.5% after 16 mg/kg), compared to normal metaphase II in control oocytes. Further, arsenite treatment significantly decreased cleavage rates of zygotes at 24 h, morula formation at 72 h, and development to blastocysts at 96 h in a dose-dependent manner. The total cell number in developed blastocysts did not differ significantly between the 8 mg/kg arsenite treatment and control groups, but was significantly reduced in the 16 mg/kg arsenite treatment group. Moreover, the percentage of apoptotic nuclei was significantly increased in blastocysts following 16 mg/kg arsenite treatment. These data suggest that arsenite causes meiotic aberrations, which may contribute to decreased cleavage and preimplantation development, as well as increased apoptosis.
Measuring quality of life in patients with myocardial infarction or stroke: a feasibility study of four questionnaires in The Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE--To test in patients with a history of myocardial infarction or stroke the feasibility of four quality of life measurements--the Nottingham health profile (NHP), the heart patients psychological questionnaire (HPPQ), the sickness impact profile (SIP), and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD). DESIGN--Subjects were tested and retested after an interval of 14 days: questionnaires were self assessed. SUBJECTS--Participants were randomly selected from the Rotterdam stroke data bank (stroke patients; n = 16, mean (SD) age 66.0 (11.0) years and from the population based Rotterdam study (myocardial infarction; n = 20, mean (SD) age 72.7 (7.9) years, controls; n = 17, mean (SD) age 72.8 (7.3) years. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Mean (SD) administration times for the NHP, HPPQ, SIP, and HAD were 7.9 (3.5), 10.5 (4.3), 21.0 (9.8), and 5.5 (2.8) minutes respectively. On average, the test-retest reliability was good, with Spearman correlations ranging from 0.31 to 0.95. In spite of the limited size of the study, all instruments were able to show differences between the study groups. For instance, median SIP total scores for myocardial infarction and stroke patients were 12.4 (interquartile range 7.0-19.1) and 11.4 (5.9-15.4) respectively, compared with 7.7 (3.7-11.3) in the control group (p values of 0.04 and 0.14 respectively). CONCLUSIONS--This study suggests that use of the four instruments tested may be feasible and reliable for assessing aspects of quality of life in patients with a history of a myocardial infarction or stroke.
Risk Preferences, Transaction Costs, and Choice of Marketing Contracts: Evidence from a Choice Experiment with Fresh Vegetable Producers

ABSTRACT Growers’ preferences for a number of marketing contract attributes, as well as the effect of growers’ risk aversion levels on the choice of marketing contracts, were examined with the use of a choice experiment. The main data source for the study is a mail survey administrated to wholesale tomato growers. The findings validate the transaction cost hypothesis and indicate heterogeneity in preferences. On the other hand, risk preferences had limited impact on contract choice.
Earnings forecasts in enterprise information systems environment

With the globalisation and integration of world financial markets, the application of enterprise information systems has become more and more popular in the financial service sector. This paper examines the analyst's decision regarding allocation of effort to the precision and timeliness of earnings forecasts with financial decision support systems. Once an analyst decides to follow a firm, the analyst must choose the level of effort to devote to generating outputs, such as earnings forecasts. This paper provides insights into this by examining three issues concerning the forecasts of the individual analyst. First, forecast accuracy and frequency are modelled simultaneously. Then, whether these two effort allocation choices are complements or substitutes is tested. Finally, how competition affects these two characteristics is examined. The accuracy and frequency are examined with simultaneous equations. Results from this analysis suggest that analysts allocate effort among these two forecast criteria in a complementary way. Finally, empirical results reveal a positive association between competition and forecast frequency by the individual analyst. However, a significant association between competition and the individual analyst's forecast accuracy is not found.
Cognitive abnormalities in multiple sclerosis: a psychometric and MRI study

SYNOPSIS This study reports the cognitive abnormalities of a group of 58 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS). The psychometric functions measured were: ‘IQ deficit’, verbal and visual memory, abstracting ability, visual and auditory attention and naming ability. The presence of brain pathology was investigated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A group of 46 physically disabled controls without significant brain disease was used for comparison. Normative MRI data were obtained from a groulp of 40 normal volunteers. The psychometric performance of the MS group was compared to the previously reported findings in patients with clinically isolated syndromes. MS patients had widespread cognitive deficits sparing naming ability and affecting verbal memory less severely than other intellectual functions. The overall performance on psychometric tests was related to the severity of the MRI abnormalities and to the duration of the illness, but was not significantly influenced by the presence of psychiatric morbidity or the degree of physical disability. Patients with clinically isolated syndromes occupied an intermediate position between MS patients and disabled controls in terms cognitive and MRI abnormalities.
GRECO: GREen communicating objects

GRECO is a french ANR (National Research Agency) project whose aim is to design an energy efficient wireless platform that would be totally autonomous thanks to energy harvesting capabilities and adaptive power managing. To reach this goal, GRECO partners are developing a complete modeling that will be used to evaluate the different power optimization strategies leading to energy neutral operations. The power manager can tune various parameters at the different layers of the protocol stack, but this demo illlustrates the behavior of the power manager at the MAC layer only by adapting the wake-up period of the nodes.
Assuring Development Gains from the International Trading System and Trade Negotiations

The present note draws on the results of intergovernmental discussions in the Trade and Development Board and its subsidiary bodies since UNCTAD X, as well as on analyses by the UNCTAD Secretariat. Its main objective is to facilitate the thematic session's discussion of Assuring development gains from the international trading system and trade negotiations within the conference theme of Enhancing coherence between national development strategies and global economic processes towards economic growth and development, particularly of developing countries. These discussions could explore policy approaches and UNCTAD's contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including the commitment “to an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system”. The fundamental challenge is to make the international trading system ensure commercially meaningful and measurable development gains for developing countries from international trade and trade negotiations.
Four exemplary preceptors' strategies for efficient teaching in managed care settings

To identify time-efficient and educationally effective methods for teaching in ambulatory care and managed care settings, the authors studied four exemplary preceptors who taught family medicine clerks in managed care clinics. They interviewed all four preceptors and observed three of them. All of these preceptors claimed to practice more efficiently with students than without them. Analysis of 33 patients encounters involving students revealed that each of the five students observed spent an average of 12.0 minutes conducting a history and physical examination, 2.2 minutes presenting the case to the preceptor, 7.9 minutes observing the preceptor reviewing and/or repeating the examination with the patient, and 1.8 minutes receiving direct instruction and feedback from the preceptor. The total time per patient encounter was 23.7 minutes, 11.7 minutes of which directly involved the preceptor. The authors then compared these 33 encounters with encounters involving the preceptors alone; these encounters took an average of 10.6 minutes of the preceptors' time. The 1.1-minute difference between the amount of time preceptors spent in encounters involving students and the amount of time they spent in encounters on their own was not statistically significant as measured by t-test (p < .05). However, in calculating this time difference, possible time saved by students' assistance with charting was not accounted for. In interviews the preceptors identified three major instructional strategies for time-efficient teaching; planning and preparing; teaching with patients; and charting, giving feedback, and reflecting. Students described these preceptors as enthusiastic teachers and good role models; however, they also felt that their first two years of education had not prepared them for seeing patients in fast-paced ambulatory care settings. The challenge for medical schools is to better prepare both students and preceptors for learning and teaching in productivity driven ambulatory care and managed care environments.
Effects of Rest Interval Length on Smith Machine Bench Press Performance and Perceived Exertion in Trained Men

This study compared two different rest intervals (RI) between sets of resistance exercise. Ten resistance-trained men (M age=24.3, SD = 3.5 yr.; M weight = 80.0 kg, SD = 15.3; M height = 1.75 m, SD = 0.04) performed five sets of Smith machine bench presses at 60% of one repetition maximum, either with 1.5 min. or 3 min. RI between sets. Their repetition performance, total training volume, velocity, fatigue, rating of perceived exertion, and muscular power were measured. All of these measures indicated that performance was significantly better and fatigue was significantly lower in the 3min. RI as compared with the 1.5 min. RI, except the rating of perceived exertion which did not show a significant difference. A longer RI between sets promotes superior performance for the bench press.
Is our peer-reviewed literature sustainable?

This paper presents a snapshot of a content-analysis study of five years of issues for the four key technical communication journals. Using coding schemes for topics and types of research used to generate data on which conclusions are based, the authors coded all articles in the last five years of our major journals. This paper reviews the current state of the peer-reviewed literature to determine topics covered and overlooked; research methods; dominant authors (if any); the assessed level of consistency between the editorial focus of each journal as stated in its editorial mission and the peer-reviewed literature that is actually published in the journal; and the similarities and distinctions between and among the journals.
The relationship between plasma lactate parameters, Wpeak and 1-h cycling performance in women.

PURPOSE The relationship between six descriptors of lactate increase, peak VO2, Wpeak, and 1-h cycling performance were compared in 24 trained, female cyclists (peak VO(2) = 48.11 +/- 6.32 mLxkg(-1)xmin(-1). METHODS The six descriptors of lactate increase were: 1) lactate threshold (LT; the power output at which plasma lactate concentration begins to increase above the resting level during an incremental exercise test), 2) LT(1) the power output at which plasma lactate increases by 1 mM or more), 3) LT(D) (the lactate threshold calculated by the D-max method), 4) LT(MOD) (the lactate threshold calculated by a modified D-max method), 5) L4 (the power output at which plasma lactate reaches a concentration of 4 mmolxL(-1), and 6) LT(LOG) (the power output at which plasma lactate concentration begins to increase when the log ([La(-1]) is plotted against the log (power output). Subjects first completed a peak VO(2) test on a cycle ergometer. Finger-tip capillary blood was sampled within 30 s of the end of each 3-min stage for analysis of plasma lactate. Endurance performance was assessed 7 d later using a 1-h cycle test (OHT) in which subjects were directed to achieve the highest possible average power output. RESULTS The mean power output (W) for the OHT (+/- SD) was 183.01 +/- 18.88, and for each lactate variable was:LT (138.54 +/- 46.61), LT(1) (179.17 +/- 27.25), LT(log) (143.97 +/- 45.74), L4 (198.09 +/- 33.84), LT(D) (178.79 +/- 24.07), LT(MOD)(212.28 +/- 31.75). Average power output during the OHT was more strongly correlated with all plasma lactate parameters (0.61<r<0.84) and W(peak) (r = 0.81) than with peak VO(2) (r = 0.55). The six lactate parameters were strongly correlated with each other (0.54<r<0.91) and of six lactate parameters, LT(D) correlated best with endurance performance (r = 0.84). CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that plasma lactate parameters and W(peak) provide better indices of endurance performance than peak VO(2) and that, of the six descriptors of lactate increase measured in this study, LT(D) is most strongly related to 1-h cycling performance in trained, female cyclists.
Types of Capital and Ethnic Identity

The main objective of our study is to establish the local specificity of the Catholic populations from the villages located in the central area of Moldova and the inter-ethnic relations. We conducted our research in the field in two communities from Bacău County and in two communities from Neamţ County. In our quantitative research we used the inventory of social representations of various forms of capital, based on a questionnaire which was applied to 466 proportionately distributed subjects from the 4 communities indicated above. Among other results, even though they perceive themselves as poor, the Romanians show the greatest respect for their traditions and have “monopoly” over the political capital and over the symbolic capital, respectively.
New insights into the role of NK cells in cancer immunotherapy

Repetitive infusions of ex vivo expanded NK cells induced antitumor T-cell responses in a metastatic lung cancer mouse model. These were further potentiated by Treg depletion. Thus the combination of NK cell-based immunotherapy with other treatment modalities in the direction of adaptive response enhancement might promote long lasting antitumor immunity.