Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservation of Spinal Instrumentation After Development of Postoperative Bacterial Infections in Patients Undergoing Spinal Arthrodesis

Study Design This is a retrospective review. Objective The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of medical and surgical management of postoperative infections after the placement of spinal instrumentation in the context of retaining the instrumentation. Summary of Background Data The implementation of spinal instrumentation for the treatment of various spinal conditions is associated with a risk of developing a postoperative wound infection. An aggressive medical and surgical approach is necessary for eradication of subfascial infections and treatment is often performed with the guidance of infectious diseases consultants. These medical specialists frequently recommend removal of the implanted spinal instrumentation due to the concern for the potential of persistent microbial infection resulting from the formation of bacteria harboring biofilm on the indwelling spinal hardware. Methods Of 854 consecutive patients who had undergone spinal instrumentation by the senior author, 17 patients were identified who developed postoperative infections, 16 of which were treated by the senior author. Results All patients underwent surgical debridement and received antimicrobial therapy in consultation with the infectious diseases consultants. Spinal instrumentation was preserved in all cases. Two patients had clinical and radiologic evidence of nonunion and later underwent a staged instrumentation revision procedure. Eradication of the infection was successful in all patients. The mean follow‐up period was 2.1 years (range, 12 mo to 4.5 y). Conclusions A combination of aggressive surgical debridement with microbial‐guided pharmacotherapy enabled infection cure in all patients with postoperative bacterial infections after spinal instrumentation. Adjunct measures including the use of wound vacuum devices and long‐term suppressive antimicrobial therapy were also used in high‐risk patients. These results show that postoperative bacterial infections in the setting of spinal instrumentation can be successfully treated without removing titanium alloy instrumentation.
Fospropofol assay issues and impact on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation.

Following i.v. administration, fospropofol is rapidly metabolized by alkaline phosphatase enzymes, releasing propofolFP. Several pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies have shown that propofolFP demonstrated differences in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles compared with propofol in a lipid solution [1–5]. We have recently discovered an assay problem that may have affected the measurement of propofolFP plasma concentrations in previously published studies. In the earlier studies [1–4,6], blood samples were collected in tubes containing sodium orthovanadate (SOV; 60 mg added as a solid powder to maintain 10 mg ml 1 concentration) to prevent further in-vitro conversion of fospropofol to propofol by alkaline phosphatase enzymes. This was found to result in incomplete dissolution of the SOV powder and variable concentrations of SOV that affected plasma pH and caused haemolysis of many samples, leading to changes in propofol extraction recovery and storage stability. As a result, the propofolFP concentrations obtained in previous studies [1–4,6] could possibly be inconsistent and unreliable as the impact of the above-mentioned factors was neither known nor controlled, and, therefore, the originally reported propofol pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic results and the derived conclusions could be inaccurate. It was shown that the assay and stability problem was limited to quantitation of propofolFP and that it did not affect the fospropofol concentrations. The new drug application for fospropofol disodium was submitted to the Food and
Ten arguments against ISO 9000

“Criticizing quality is like criticizing the Queen Mother” according to one contributor to John Seddon’s research for this attack on ISO 9000 ‐ commonly viewed as the quality standard to aspire to but, in Seddon’s view, a process which actively handicaps those companies which adopt it, and takes them further away from “quality” as it should be understood today. Lays down ten major arguments against the ISO standard, with case examples of what happened as a result of implementation and how those outcomes impacted on customer‐defined quality. Gives some background to the development of the standard, and argues that it is, at best, inappropriate and, at worst, a serious threat to organizational performance.
Public Procurement of Innovation

Policy-makers in the European Union (EU) have increasingly emphasised public procurement as an instrument that can be used to stimulate innovation. These developments reflect and respond to a growing concern among EU member states and regions about how to maintain competitive advantage in an economic environment increasingly subject to global competition The Lisbon goals set for the EU in 2000 require it to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. In order to realize this ambition, the European Commission (EC) has urged EU member states to consider “encouraging public procurement of innovative products and services”. The EC has also recommended that, in order to create an innovative Europe, public procurement should be used to “drive demand for innovative goods, while at the same time improving the level of public services”. In line with this policy orientation, a recent high level policy report has put forward explicit arguments in favour of “using public procurement to encourage innovation by providing a ‘lead market’ for new technologies”. Generally, the research literature concurs with policy-makers’ claims that public procurement can be a useful instrument for stimulating innovation. The public sector can “play an important role as a stabilising and stimulating pacer in a situation where the private sector is confronted with extremely unstable environments”. In order to stimulate private sector innovation by creating demand, a public agency can perform direct procurement (buying something to fulfil intrinsic need), acting as a proxy customer (e.g. by creating standards) or as a linkage creator between suppliers and users. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an innovation theory-based approach to innovation policy regarding public procurement of innovations, by elaborating an institutional focus via research on innovation policy formulation as institutional design complemented by research on institutional determinants of innovation performance. Thus, the purpose is to explore and describe institutional aspects of policies for public procurement of innovations, with an emphasis on institutions as both outcomes of policy making and input factors affecting the success or failure of policy implementation. By relating an institutional perspective on public procurement of innovations to both the design of policy and its impact on innovation performance, it would become possible to describe and analyse processes involving public procurement of innovations in a better way, and thereby to derive implications for both researchers and practitioners. The empirical studies appended to this thesis demonstrate that institutions matter, i.e. that the behaviour and outcome of public procurement of innovations are affected by institutions. (Less)
An analysis of project selection and assignment criteria of danish tenders in europe

Public construction agencies are one of the largest developers within the Danish construction industry, where such agencies own and develop new public construction projects. Most of these projects are put out in European tender. This study analyses the selection and assignment criteria employed by these agencies in different types of public sector projects. Some of the objectives pursued by the study include the determination of 1/ the selection and assignment criteria mostly used in Danish public tenders 2/ how different types of projects use selection and assignment criteria in the bidding process, and 3/ any significant difference between the use of selection and assignment criteria in Danish public construction projects. The study uses a quantitative research approach where 157 Danish public tender cases were selected from the European Tenders Electronic Daily database between the period: January 2010 to March 2013. Fisher's Exact Test was conducted to determine if there was any significant use of some selection and assignment criteria. The findings of the study showed that invited tenders with pre-qualification and lowest price in 69.8% of the tenders are the most used selection and assignment criteria, with little regard to project type.
Modern pollen from small hollows reflects Athrotaxis cupressoides density across a wildfire gradient in subalpine forests of the Central Plateau, Tasmania, Australia

Pollen assemblages from 50 small hollows were used to resolve fire-caused vegetation patterns in a ~2-km2 subalpine landscape on the Central Plateau of Tasmania, Australia. Sites were characterized by varying abundance of the dominant tree species, Athrotaxis cupressoides, reflecting mortality from a wildfire that occurred 53 years prior to sampling. Sites were classified a priori based on fire-related Athrotaxis mortality as burned (100% standing dead), unburned (<5% standing dead), and mixed (intermediate proportions). Non-parametric analysis of variance and discriminant analysis were used to quantify the variability in key pollen taxa and pollen ratios among burn classifications. The ratio of Athrotaxis to Poaceae pollen was the clearest metric distinguishing among burn classifications. When discriminant analysis was informed with data from the eight most dominant pollen data, samples were classified with high accuracy (0.96–0.98). Macroscopic charcoal concentrations varied widely among sites, but median values were consistent with inferred fire patterns, increasing in abundance from unburned to burned sites. The results support the use of small hollows to resolve fine-scale vegetation patterns (e.g. within 100 m of a site). The discriminant analysis function was also applied to five late-Holocene pollen samples from the study area, to test the potential of these methods to classify samples with unknown group assignments. The posterior probability of assigned group membership ranged from 0.85 to 0.99, demonstrating the similarity of the fossil pollen to the calibration dataset. Our calibration dataset provides a means to classify fossil samples from the region in terms of Athrotaxis cover and fire-caused mortality. This approach could be applied to other regions to quantify disturbance-related vegetation patterns or spatial heterogeneity over Holocene timescales.
Study on a 3D Hydrogel-Based Culture Model for Characterizing Growth of Fibroblasts under Viral Infection and Drug Treatment

Three-dimensional (3D) in vitro tissue models provide an approach for the systematic, repetitive, and quantitative study of drugs. In this study, we constructed an in vitro 3D acrylated hyaluronic acid (AHA) hydrogel model encapsulating fibroblasts, performed long-period 3D culture, and tested cellular topological changes and proliferation variation in the presence of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) as an infecting virus and acyclovir (ACV) as the treatment drug. The AHA hydrogels were formed by using Michael addition chemistry of bis-cysteine containing MMP-degradable cross-linker onto AHA prefunctionalized with cell adhesion peptides (RGD). Cellular structures of 3T3 fibroblasts in hydrogel presented different morphological evolution processes and proliferation rates between different groups, including HSV-1 treated alone, ACV treated alone, HSV-1 and ACV cotreated, and control samples. In AHA hydrogel, ACV blocked HSV-1 infection/replication on fibroblasts. Yet, the proliferation of ACV-treated fibroblasts was slower than that of the control group. A significantly longer period was required for cells in 3D AHA gel to regain a healthy status when compared with cells in two-dimensional (2D) culture. This hydrogel-based 3D culture model potentially lays a foundation for analyzing the response of self-organized 3D tissues to viruses and drugs in a way that is closer to nature.
From serendipity to sustainable competitive advantage: insights from Houston's Farm and their journey of co‐innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of a strategic approach to collaborative innovation and the use of a value chain research methodology for identifying opportunities for co‐innovation.Design/methodology/approach – Value chain analysis is used to map three flows in the Houston Farms value chain; material flow, information flow and relationships. Having diagnosed the current level of co‐innovation we then identify improvement projects and opportunities for co‐innovation to reduce cost and add value, for the benefit of the value chain as a whole.Findings – The application of the value chain analysis methodology to the Houston Farms value chain revealed the importance of strategy and robust processes in key areas for co‐innovation – R&D and new product development. It also revealed that small businesses can enjoy a degree of success as a result of comparative advantage in certain areas but that sustainable competitive advantage cannot occur by chance – identifying the pote.
Antecedents of knowledge generation competence and its impact on innovativeness

Purpose – This study aims to present the conceptualization and measurement of knowledge generation competence (KGC) as the fundament for firm's internal knowledge generation. Furthermore, it seeks to assess different antecedents of a firm's KGC and its potential for improving a firm's innovativeness.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by nationwide mail survey in the German automation and the consulting industry. The final sample consists of 110 respondents (response rate of 32.9 percent). The measurement model was tested by using structural equation modeling applying partial least squares (PLS) estimation. PLS was also used to investigate the relationships between KGC, its antecedents and innovativeness.Findings – The findings support the conceptualization and measurement of knowledge generation competence (KGC). The included dimensions explained 47.6 percent of the variance of knowledge generation competence. Furthermore, most of the relationships included in the research model were suppor.
Construction of Agrobacterium strains by electroporation of genomic DNA and its utility in analysis of chromosomal virulence mutations

We have extended the technique of electroporation as a genetic tool for manipulating the Agrobacterium tumefaciens chromosome. We used this technique to introduce chromosomal DNA into recipient A. tumefaciens strains by electroporation and constructed isogenic chvE mutants that share the same chromosomal background but differ in their types of pTi (octopine or nopaline). Both nopaline and octopine pTi-carrying chvE mutants were deficient in vir regulon induction and exhibited similar reductions in host range.
Molecular cloning of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase beta.

Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaM-kinase IV), which plays crucial roles in the functioning of Ca2+ in the central nervous and immune systems, is markedly activated upon phosphorylation through the action of CaM-kinase kinase. Our previous immunotitration analysis suggested the existence of an isoform different from CaM-kinase kinase alpha, the beta isoform, in rat brain [Okuno, S. , Kitani, T. , and Fujisawa, H. (1996) J. Biochem. 119, 1176-1181]. In the present study, cDNA for CaM-kinase kinase beta was cloned from a rat cerebellar cDNA library. The coded protein consisted of 587 amino acids with a molecular weight of 64,445. Western blot analysis revealed that CaM-kinase kinase beta significantly existed only in the brain. The enzyme was not significantly detected in the retina where CaM-kinase kinase alpha exists.
Dynamic Proxy Selection for Group Smartphone Energy Saving

Smartphones and tablets are becoming more and more closely integrated with our daily lives. Smart devices have rapidly substituted traditional computers when it comes to performing certain daily activities such as web-browsing, email services, news feed, and etc. However despite the popularity of smart devices in recent years, smart devices continue to have a major critical flaw in their battery life. Several studies had been carried out to optimize energy consumption of individual smartphone through power management (managing GSM, Wi-Fi, and GPS), workload migration (cloud computing), and consolidation (virtual machine). However, unlike previous studies that focus on single phone energy saving methods, we propose a unique method whereby multiple smartphones collaborate to reduce energy consumption. In a phone grouping event, a proxy selection framework is vital to ensure that the workload can be delegated among all users, and that is delegated via a fair system. In this paper, a proxy selection framework is designed to ensure a self-sustained, fair, and efficient system that monitors user’s characteristics and performs maintenance operations dynamically. This framework is implemented on real smartphones to experiment on various proxy selection techniques and to verify its overhead and energy saving. Real world traces is used to test the framework on different social activity scenarios. By using this framework, we can save up to 75% of energy in comparison to a normal usage of individual phones. However, there are two main limitations to this framework. The first is that the framework will not
Low‐dose preoperative radiation postpones recurrences in operable rectal cancer: Results of a randomized multicenter trial in western norway

A randomized, multicenter clinical trial was conducted in Western Norway to study the effectiveness of preoperative radiation therapy in operable rectal cancer, given at a dosage of 3150 cGy in 18 fractions, 2 to 3 weeks before radical surgery. Three hundred nine patients were entered into the trial between May 1976 and December 1985. After radiation no tumor was seen in 4.5% of the patients. There was no increased morbidity or mortality at surgery. the 5‐year survival for evaluable patients was 57.5% in the control group and 56.7% in the radiotherapy group. For patients operated on for cure the 5‐year survival was 60.9% and 64.2% in the control group and radiotherapy group, respectively. Radiation significantly delayed both local and distant recurrences in patients in the radiation group who had curative resection from 13.3 months in controls to 27.1 months. the local recurrence rate in the corresponding groups was 21.1% and 13.7%, respectively. We conclude that higher preoperative radiation doses should be used in new trials as a higher dosage may transform the observed positive effects into a survival benefit.
Collaborative consumption: business model opportunities and barriers for fashion libraries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore barriers and opportunities for business models based on the ideas of collaborative consumption within the fashion industry. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a multiple-case study of Scandinavian fashion libraries – a new, clothes-sharing concept that has emerged as a fashion niche within the last decade. Findings – It is concluded that fashion libraries offers interesting perspectives, e.g. by allowing people to experiment with styles without having to pay the full cost and becoming a meeting place for young designers and end consumers. However, at present fashion libraries remain a small-scale phenomenon with difficulties reaching the mainstream market, not least due to limited financial and human resources as well as conventional fashion consumption patterns. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to the new phenomenon of fashion libraries and does not cover other types of collaborative consumption within the fashi.
Labour Taxation and Foreign Direct Investment

This paper analyzes the implications of effective taxation of labor for profits and, hence, the location decision of a multinational enterprise. We set up a stylized partial equilibrium model and, presuming that worker effort is a function of net wages, assume that a higher employee-borne tax burden reduces effort. In turn, this raises a firm’s production costs and reduces efficiency. Accordingly, we show that a higher employee-borne income tax negatively influences a multinational’s profit by reducing manager effort. Furthermore, we compile data on personal income tax profiles for 49 economies and the year 2002. We decompose tax profiles into the component borne by employers and that borne by employees. We then determine effective tax rates for employees across four centiles of the distribution of gross wages: 33, 100, 167, and 500 percent of the average, following the OECD’s Taxing Wages Approach. Apart from describing features of the personal income tax data, we use them to shed light on their role for bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks among the economies considered. Not surprisingly, personal income tax rates turn out relatively less important than profit tax rates for bilateral FDI stocks. The employee-borne part of labor taxes determines bilateral FDI significantly different from zero: both a higher employee-borne tax rate on average wages and, in particular, an increase in the progression from the average wage to five times the average wage is less conducive to headquarters location and, hence, reduces a country’s bilateral outward FDI stocks.
Interaction Effects of Country of Origin with Branding, Price, and Perceived Performance Risk

In an experiment, products from less developed countries received lower evaluations than those from industrialized countries under all tested conditions. Product country of origin interacted with other variables, so that evaluation differences between LDCs and ICs was significantly reduced when the product carried a famous brand name or low financial risk. Product performance risk did not interact with origin.
Experimental study of attenuation and dispersion over a broad frequency range: 1. The apparatus

[1] We have developed a new experimental method to investigate the anelasticity of a polycrystalline solid at high homologous temperature (T/Tm = 0.6–0.7). By using a rock analogue (borneol polycrystals) and a partially molten rock analogue (borneol + melt) having low melting and eutectic temperatures (Tm = 204.5°C, Te = 43°C), respectively, testing high homologous temperature can occur near room temperature. An apparatus is described for cyclic compressive, Young's modulus type attenuation experiments over a wide range of frequencies (10–10−4 Hz) and at small strain amplitudes (10−6–10−5). Creep tests to measure steady state viscosity can also be performed. Details of the apparatus, including its piezoelectric actuator, dual laser displacement meters and trio of load cells, are discussed. Attenuation spectra and modulus dispersion measured for aluminum, acrylic plastic, and a rock analogue are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the method.