Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microsurgical excisions of vestibular schwannomas: A tumor-size-based analysis of neurological outcomes and surgical complications

Introduction: Vestibular schwannomas (VS) are benign tumors originating from Schwann cells in vestibulocochlear nerve. This study aimed at evaluating outcomes of microsurgical resections of VS based on tumor sizes in a South Asian country. Methods: The chart notes of 71 patients who underwent microsurgical resections of VS at a single academic center over a 20-year period (1990–2009) were reviewed, and relevant information was extracted. For analyzing outcomes, patients were divided into two groups based on tumor size at initial presentation: (1) Group A (tumor size ≤ 4 cm) and (2) Group B (tumor size > 4 cm). Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for comparison of proportions; the independent sample t-test was used for comparison of means. Results: The average tumor diameter was 4.1 ± 1.5 (range, 1–6.6) cm. Complete resection was achieved more frequently in patients in Group A (P < 0.001). Duration of hospital stay and cost of treatment were significantly higher in Group B patients (P < 0.003 and P < 0.04, respectively). The severity of postoperative facial nerve injury, assessed by House–Brackmann grading system, was significantly higher in Group B (P < 0.01). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak and lower cranial nerve deficits also occurred more frequently after resection in Group B (P = 0.031 and P = 0.003, respectively). Conclusion: We conclude that advanced stage tumors suggestive of delayed presentation are fairly common in Pakistan, and limit curative resection in the majority of patients. Postoperative morbidity is significantly higher in patients with tumor size > 4 cm.
Assessing some distinctive dimensions of performance feedback information in high performing plants

A primary function of the Performance Measurement System is to provide employees with information on their past performance, allowing them to assess the outcomes of their actions, and therefore if they are meeting or not the objectives they are given. This work aims at contributing to the understanding of how the effectiveness of performance feedback information can be improved by defining a set of distinct performance feedback dimensions based on a PMS literature review, and by validating it empirically on an international sample of 164 manufacturing organisations. The proposed dimensions are: relevance as performance feedback orientation to the achievement of objectives; dynamic adjustment of performance feedback; relevance as usefulness of cost performance feedback; relevance as usefulness of non‐cost performance feedback; timeliness of shop‐floor performance feedback; personal performance feedback; and feedback on the overall process performances. The analysis shows that these dimensions are distinct, thus allowing to deal with them separately both in PMS design and audit. As far as the effectiveness of the performance feedback is concerned, it emerges that for several dimensions higher scores are associated to higher operating performances (cost, time and quality), but in one case this only holds for managers and in another one only for supervisors.
Aneurysmal Bone Cyst of the Atlas: Successful Treatment through Selective Arterial Embolization: Case Report

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE:Aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are benign and expansile osteolytic lesions that can occur in any location in the spine, including the craniovertebral junction. Aggressive resection followed by bone grafting has been the mainstay of treatment, with selective arterial embolization as a presurgical adjunct. Complete excision of these lesions at the craniovertebral junction is associated with high surgical morbidity. We report a case of successful treatment of an ABC of the atlas in a child with selective arterial embolization alone. CLINICAL PRESENTATION:A 10-year-old girl presented with persistent neck pain after a snowboarding accident. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spine revealed an expansile cystic mass involving the right lateral mass of C1. Digital subtraction angiography revealed a tumor blush, which, along with the cystic appearance of the lesion, was consistent with an ABC. INTERVENTION:The arterial feeders to the lesion were selectively embolized with polyvinyl alcohol particles. Three sessions of embolization were required to eradicate the blood supply to the lesion completely. CONCLUSION:Complete surgical resection of ABCs at the craniovertebral junction can be associated with high morbidity secondary to the highly vascular and destructive nature of these lesions. The case discussed here demonstrates the viability of selective arterial embolization as a primary and stand-alone modality of treatment.
Development of Central Nervous System Metastases in Patients with Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer and Somatic EGFR Mutations Treated with Gefitinib or Erlotinib

Purpose: Gefitinib and erlotinib can penetrate into the central nervous system (CNS) and elicit responses in patients with brain metastases (BM) from non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there are incomplete data about their impact on the development and control of CNS metastases. Experimental Design: Patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC with somatic EGFR mutations initially treated with gefitinib or erlotinib were identified. The cumulative risk of CNS progression was calculated using death as a competing risk. Results: Of the 100 patients, 19 had BM at the time of diagnosis of advanced NSCLC; 17 of them received CNS therapy before initiating gefitinib or erlotinib. Eighty-four patients progressed after a median potential follow-up of 42.2 months. The median time to progression was 13.1 months. Twenty-eight patients developed CNS progression, 8 of whom had previously treated BM. The 1- and 2-year actuarial risk of CNS progression was 7% and 19%, respectively. Patient age and EGFR mutation genotype were significant predictors of the development of CNS progression. The median overall survival for the entire cohort was 33.1 months. Conclusions: Our data suggest a lower risk of CNS progression in patients with advanced NSCLC and somatic EGFR mutations initially treated with gefitinib or erlotinib than published rates of 40% in historical series of advanced NSCLC patients. Further research is needed to distinguish between the underlying rates of developing CNS metastases between NSCLC with and without EGFR mutations and the impact of gefitinib and erlotinib versus chemotherapy on CNS failure patterns in these patients. Clin Cancer Res; 16(23); 5873–82. ©2010 AACR.
Personal and Regional Determinants of Entrepreneurial Activities: Empirical Evidence from the Rem Germany

This paper contributes to empirical research in entrepreneurship by focusing on the link between two stylized facts that emerged from a number of studies for Germany and other countries: Entry rates differ between regions, and the propensity to become an entrepreneur is influenced by socio-demographic variables and attitudes. We develop a theoretical framework to discuss this link, and we test whether for a person of a given age, degree of schooling, attitude towards risk etc. regional variables do matter for the decision to start a new business ceteris paribus. Our econometric study is based on data for 10.000 persons from a recent representative survey of the population in ten German planning regions, the Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor (REM). We use a version of the probit model that takes care of the regional stratification of the data, and the results of the nonlinear models are carefully interpreted and illustrated. We find that the propensity to step into self-employment is, among others, higher for males, unemployed, people with contacts to a role model, and with past entrepreneurial experience, who live in more densely populated and faster growing regions with higher rates of new firm formation, while risk aversion and high prices of land have the opposite impact.
Client Co-Production in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services

A common characteristic of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firms is that clients routinely play a critical role in co-producing the service solution along with the service provider. This can have a profound effect on both the quality of the service delivered as well as the client's ultimate satisfaction with the knowledge-based service solution. Based on research conducted with an IT consulting firm and work done with other knowledge-intensive business service providers, this article describes clients' key role responsibilities that are essential for effective client co-production in KIBS partnerships. It then presents strategies that service providers can use to manage clients so they perform their roles effectively. By strategically managing client co-production, service providers can improve operational efficiency, develop more optimal solutions, and generate a sustainable competitive advantage.
Design of high speed high-voltage drivers based on stacked standard CMOS for various supply voltages

This paper presents a new concept for reducing on-resistance of high-voltage drivers based on stacked MOSFETs for various supply voltages. A theory to calculate gate voltages of an N-stacked CMOS driver to drive the maximum drain current at a minimum on-resistance is introduced. According to the calculated gate voltages, a circuit design methodology is described to generate them. The principle is applied on a 2-stack CMOS driver in 65-nm with a nominal voltage of the I/O-devices of 2.5 V. For various supply voltages, simulations show an improvement of 27%-86% reduction of the initial on-resistance and approximately 16%-83% improved rise and fall times of the output signal at a load capacitance of 150 pF if compared to previous work. The principle can be applied to N-stack driver transistors.
Atopic Dermatitis in Adults

&NA; Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronically relapsing eczematous disease, more common in infants and children than in adults and very rare after midlife. The diagnosis of AD is not always easy in adults, especially when the extension of lesions is limited and their distribution atypical. The aim of this study was to investigate epidemiologic and clinical features of adult AD. The medical files of 332 consecutive AD patients were reviewed to ascertain family and personal history of atopy, age at onset, morphology and localization sites of AD lesions, serum total immunoglobulin E levels, skin prick‐test and patch‐test results. The present study has show that the disease is more frequent in females and during the third decade of life, starts after the 18th year in slightly fewer than half the patients (47.6%), is prevalently localized in the limb flexures, eyelids, and perioral region, but also in the forehead, cheeks, and anterolateral region of the neck, where it is mainly mild to moderate. AD is of the intrinsic type in 30.4% of cases. Positive patch‐test reactions to chemical allergens have been observed in 23.8% of patients. These are very important, because they may influence the occupational choices and the development of hand dermatitis.
Status-seeking and economic growth: the Barro model revisited

This paper reexamines the Barro growth model taking into account status-seeking behavior. Agents care about both consumption and social status, which is determined by their relative consumption in society. Public capital as production input is financed by income tax or lumpsum tax. We discuss different measures to reach the optimal growth and optimal welfare in a decentralized economy and find that under some parameter conditions, there are some government sizes for which the decentralized growth is optimal, and this result does not require corrective taxation policy. We also find the superiority of income tax versus lump-sum tax from the point of view of optimal growth in a decentralized economy and of social welfare. Besides, we propose corrective tax programs with constant capital tax or subsidy and time-varying consumption tax that enable an economy to reach the first-best optimal growth. The extension to a congestion model modifies somewhat the results. We discuss conditions under which the first-best or the secondbest optimal growth is attained in a decentralized economy.
A Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure for the Two-Partition Problem

We present a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure ( GRASP ) for the network 2-partition problem. The heuristic is empirically compared with the Kernighan-Lin (K&L) method on a wide range of instances. The GRASP approach dominates K&L with respect to solution value on a large percentage of the instances tested. The ability of GRASP to find optimal solutions is assessed by comparing its performance with a general purpose mixed integer programming package.
Seeds—Health Benefits, Barriers to Incorporation, and Strategies for Practitioners in Supporting Consumption Among Consumers

This review provides an overview of the botany and classification of seeds, summarizes recent research examining the health benefits of seeds, and discusses barriers to incorporating seeds into Western diets. Strategies to help practitioners support their patients in incorporating more seed foods into the diet are suggested. Seed foods, including cereals and pseudocereals (whole grains), legumes, and nuts and oilseeds, are used as staple crops in traditional diets and still comprise nearly 50% of the world’s food supply. The health benefits of seeds are supported by both epidemiological evidence and intervention trials. The variety of specific health benefits attributable to at least 1 of the 3 categories of seeds includes lower rates of obesity; improved body composition; improved intermediate cardiometabolic risk factors such as blood triglycerides, postprandial insulin, and HbA1c; reduced inflammation; lower risk of metabolic syndrome; and lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Measurable health benefits can be achieved by incorporating seeds into the diet in modest amounts, either by adding them to an existing diet or using them to replace other foods. Barriers to incorporating seeds into diets include personal taste preferences, lack of knowledge or preparation skills, convenience, environmental defaults, allergies (ie, nuts), and issues of economic access. Practitioners can best support greater consumption of seeds by implementing SMART Goals (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, time limited) and by providing education or referring patients for skills training.
Use of Dried Blood Spots to Elucidate Full-Length Transmitted/Founder HIV-1 Genomes

Background: Identification of HIV-1 genomes responsible for establishing clinical infection in newly infected individuals is fundamental to prevention and pathogenesis research. Processing, storage, and transportation of the clinical samples required to perform these virologic assays in resource-limited settings requires challenging venipuncture and cold chain logistics. Here, we validate the use of dried-blood spots (DBS) as a simple and convenient alternative to collecting and storing frozen plasma. Methods: We performed parallel nucleic acid extraction, single genome amplification (SGA), next generation sequencing (NGS), and phylogenetic analyses on plasma and DBS. Results: We demonstrated the capacity to extract viral RNA from DBS and perform SGA to infer the complete nucleotide sequence of the transmitted/founder (TF) HIV-1 envelope gene and full-length genome in two acutely infected individuals. Using both SGA and NGS methodologies, we showed that sequences generated from DBS and plasma display comparable phylogenetic patterns in both acute and chronic infection. SGA was successful on samples with a range of plasma viremia, including samples as low as 1,700 copies/ml and an estimated ~50 viral copies per blood spot. Further, we demonstrated reproducible efficiency in gp160 env sequencing in DBS stored at ambient temperature for up to three weeks or at -20°C for up to five months. Conclusions: These findings support the use of DBS as a practical and cost-effective alternative to frozen plasma for clinical trials and translational research conducted in resource-limited settings.
On the deviations from purchasing power parity: the case of the Ringgit effective exchange rate

The paper investigates the extent to which the Ringgit exchange rate converges on its purchasing power parity level in the long run, using the cointegration and variance ratio tests. The results indicate that shifts in the real exchange rate are dominated by permanent stochastic shocks which prevent it from reverting to its PPP base level. Further analysis indicates that low frequency movements in the relative price of tradable goods and the external terms of trade cannot explain the long-run swing in the real exchange rate.
Bcs1p, an AAA‐family member, is a chaperone for the assembly of the cytochrome bc1 complex

Bcs1p, a mitochondrial protein and member of the conserved AAA protein family, is involved in the biogenesis of the cytochrome bc1 complex. We demonstrate here that Bcs1p is directly required for the assembly of the Rieske FeS and Qcr10p proteins into the cytochrome bc1 complex. Bcs1p binds to a precomplex in the assembly pathway of the cytochrome bc1 complex. Binding of Bcs1p to and release from this assembly intermediate is driven by ATP hydrolysis. We propose that Bcs1p acts as an ATP‐dependent chaperone, maintaining the precomplex in a competent state for the subsequent assembly of the Rieske FeS and Qcr10p proteins.
Negotiations between health and social goals over the lifespan: The role of future time perspective

The interplay between health and social goals in relation to age and future time perspective was examined among 131 older and 131 younger adults via surveys and future time manipulations (limited, unchanged, and expansive). Being older was associated with weaker physical activity intentions and social activity intentions as mediated by a limited future time perspective. Physical activity intentions decreased in the limited condition and increased in the expansive condition, social activity intentions increased in all conditions, and preference toward health (over social) goals decreased in both the limited and expansive conditions. The results suggest that anticipated endings may become salient in all conditions and favor social goals, which are emotionally relevant.
ELL (The Equivalent Length of Life); or, Another Attempt at Measuring Development

The pursuit of an adequate measure of development which would easily allow international comparisons has certainly been one of the main research interests of development specialists in the past ten years. Numerous proposals have been made but there seems to be quite a large consensus on the two minimal conditions that an ideal development index should fulfill: firstly, it should measure results and not inputs; secondly, it should be sensitive to the distribution of the benefits of development among the population.
The influence of heart rate on augmentation index and central arterial pressure in humans

1 Arterial stiffness is an important determinant of cardiovascular risk. Augmentation index (AIx) is a measure of systemic arterial stiffness derived from the ascending aortic pressure waveform. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of heart rate on AIx. We elected to use cardiac pacing rather than chronotropic drugs to minimize confounding effects on the systemic circulation and myocardial contractility. 2 Twenty‐two subjects (13 male) with a mean age of 63 years and permanent cardiac pacemakers in situ were studied. Pulse wave analysis was used to determine central arterial pressure waveforms, non‐invasively, during incremental pacing (from 60 to 110 beats min−1), from which AIx and central blood pressure were calculated. Peripheral blood pressure was recorded non‐invasively from the brachial artery. 3 There was a significant, inverse, linear relationship between AIx and heart rate (r=−0.76; P < 0.001). For a 10 beats min−1 increment, AIx fell by around 4 %. Ejection duration and heart rate were also inversely related (r=−0.51; P < 0.001). 4 Peripheral systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure increased significantly during incremental pacing. Although central diastolic pressure increased significantly with pacing, central systolic pressure did not. There was a significant increase in the ratio of peripheral to central pulse pressure (P < 0.001), which was accounted for by the observed change in central pressure augmentation. 5 These results demonstrate an inverse, linear relationship between AIx and heart rate. This is likely to be due to alterations in the timing of the reflected pressure wave, produced by changes in the absolute duration of systole. Consideration of wave reflection and aortic pressure augmentation may explain the lack of rise in central systolic pressure during incremental pacing despite an increase in peripheral pressure.
Pain Management in Cancer Patients Using a Mobile App: Study Design of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Despite the availability of effective medications and clinical guidelines for pain management, pain control is suboptimal in a sizeable proportion of patients with cancer pain. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend a comprehensive and multimodal approach for management of cancer pain. We developed a mobile phone application, ePAL, based on clinical guidelines to empower patients for cancer pain management by prompting regular pain assessments and coaching for self-management. Objective The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of a multidimensional mobile phone-based pain management application, ePAL, on controlling cancer pain and improving quality of life in patients with cancer pain being treated at an academic palliative care clinic. Methods The study will be implemented as a 2-arm randomized controlled trial with 110 adult patients with CP who own a mobile phone over a follow-up period of two months. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention group receiving ePAL and usual care or to a control group receiving only usual care. The brief pain inventory will be used to assess our primary outcome which is pain intensity. We will also evaluate the effect of the intervention on secondary outcomes which include the effect of the intervention on hospital utilization for pain crisis, quality of life, adherence to analgesic medications, barriers to pain control, anxiety and patient engagement. Instruments that will be used in evaluating secondary outcomes include the Brief Pain Inventory, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, Barriers Questionnaire-II, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General, Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue. The intention-to-treat approach will be used to evaluate outcomes. Our primary outcome, pain intensity, measured longitudinally over eight weeks, will be assessed by mixed model repeated analysis. Effect sizes will be calculated as mean group differences with standard deviations. Results The study is still in progress. We hope to have results by the end of 2015. Conclusions The multidimensional approach to pain management implemented on a mobile phone application could lead to significant improvements in patient outcomes. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02069743; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02069743 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6Qb65XGGA).