Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Scintigraphic Probability and Angiographic Diagnostic Certainty in Acute Pulmonary Embolism

The objectives of this study were to determine if diagnostic certainty on angiography correlates with scintigraphic probability for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. From a total of 160 consecutive patients who underwent both nuclear imaging and invasive selective pulmonary angiography, we reviewed the xenon-133 ventilation images in 2 posterior oblique views and the Tc-99m macroaggregated serum albumin perfusion scans and angiograms of 40 patients (15 men, 25 women; average age 57 years) who were discharged from the hospital on anticoagulants with a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. The angiograms were reviewed and the diagnosis of embolism was considered certain in the presence of an intraluminal filling defect, a trailing embolus, or a branch occlusion equal to or larger than a segmental branch (n = 29; 73%), and uncertain when the studies were reinterpreted as either equivocal or negative or in the presence of a single, small subsegmental filling defect of questionable clinical significance. The ventilation-perfusion scans were read as high (n = 18; 45%), intermediate (n = 10; 25%), or low (n = 12; 30%) probability. The proportion of patients with diagnostic certainty on angiography in the high-, intermediate-, and low-probability scintigraphic subgroups was, respectively, 100% (18 of 18), 70% (7 of 10), and 33% (4 of 12) (P = 0.004). In patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism based on selective angiography, a lower probability of pulmonary embolism on ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy correlates with a lesser degree of diagnostic certainty on angiography and a higher incidence of single subsegmental emboli.
Vendor managed inventory in the blood supply chain in Germany

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a generic framework for the assessment of VMI implementation. The framework is used for the analysis of multiple case studies in German hospitals to discuss the feasibility of VMI in the German blood supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is twofold. In a first step, the literature is reviewed and a generic theoretical VMI framework is developed. In a second step, the case study methodology is applied to 13 cases to assess the feasibility of VMI in the German blood supply chain.Findings – The paper contributes a generic framework for assessing the implementation of VMI in seven steps. The research proposed that hospitals hesitate to enter a VMI relationship for critical resources such as blood. Hospitals fear losing control over critical resources.Research limitations/implications – The unit of analysis is hospitals in Germany and the case studies do not target the suppliers in the supply chain. The paper contributes three propositions .
Effect of Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation on Diabetes Biomarkers: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials.

BACKGROUND Several studies have investigated the effect of Co-Q10 on diabetes biomarkers, but findings are inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials was conducted to summarize the effect of Co-Q10 supplementation on diabetes biomarkers. METHODS We searched Pubmed, EMBASE, Science direct, ISI web of science, and Google Scholar for randomized controlled trials from 1989 until March 2016. We included randomized controlled trials reporting fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin and HbA1c. In total, we found 16 articles that examined the effect of Co-Q10 on fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin and HbA1c. Mean ± standard deviations (SD) of defined outcomes were used for calculating standardized mean differences (SMD) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) between intervention and control treatments based on Hedges' estimator. RESULTS Our preliminary meta-analysis on 14 eligible studies regarding the effect of Co-Q10 supplementation on FBG indicated a slightly significant decrement (SMD:-0.28 mg/d; 95% CI: -0.12, 0.04), with a substantial between-study heterogeneity (Cochrane Q test, I2 = 93.9%, P < 0.0001). After removal of three studies, heterogeneity was eliminated and a slightly significant decrease was found in FBG (SMD: -0.20 mg/dL, 95% CI: -0.38, -0.02). The effect of Co-Q10 on HbA1c and fasting insulin was not significant. SMDs for the effect of Co-Q10 on HbA1c and fasting insulin were -0.05% (95% CI: -0.22, 0.12) and 0.12 pmol/L (95% CI: -0.21, 0.44), respectively. CONCLUSION Co-Q10 supplementation slightly but significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, but not fasting insulin and HbA1c. More long-term studies are necessary to examine the association between Co-Q10 supplementation and diabetes biomarkers. This study was funded by the School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.
Dual-Band Substrate Integrated Waveguide Textile Antenna With Integrated Solar Harvester

A dual-band wearable textile antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide technology is presented for operation in the [2.4-2.4835]-GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical band and the [2.5-2.69]-GHz 4G LTE band 7. The antenna features an integrated flexible solar harvesting system, consisting of a flexible solar cell, a power management system, and energy storage. All these components are judiciously positioned on the antenna platform in order not to affect its radiation performance. The measured reflection coefficients and radiation characteristics after bending and deploying the antenna on a human body prove that the antenna is well suited for on-body use. A measured on-body antenna gain and radiation efficiency of 5.0 dBi and 89% are realized. Measurements in a real-life situation have demonstrated the ability to scavenge a maximum of 53 mW by means of a single integrated flexible solar cell.
Business School Research in India: Seeking the Why of Management

Business schools have of late been questioned about the value that they add to society through their research activities. Traditionally research in organizational sciences has been skewed in favor of empirical studies with too little focus on consolidation and theory building. Management education in India is booming and this is the time for young professors to choose their path. There are three options available (i) focus on teaching and consulting, (ii) conduct empirical studies, and (iii) focus on building relevant theory grounded in the Indian context. The choice will have critical implications to the future of management in our country.
DISINTEGRATION OF THE CELLS OF SIPHONOUS GREEN ALGA CODIUM EDULE (BRYOPSIDALES, CHLOROPHYTA) UNDER MILD HEAT STRESS 1

The siphonous green alga Codium edule P. C. Silva (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) has the highest covering ratio among the macroalgae on the coral reef of Nanwan Bay in southern Taiwan, but its population in the subtidal region drastically decreases from July to September each year. The objective of this study was to determine whether the high temperature of summer could be the basis for this population decrease. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements revealed that when the algae were incubated at 35°C (a temperature that can be reached in southern Taiwan during the summer), their photosynthetic activities were almost completely inhibited after about 8 h. The circadian rhythm of photosynthesis was disrupted at a temperature as low as 32°C. TEM studies showed that 4 h incubation at 35°C induced a decrease in turgidity accompanied by vacuole shrinkage and plasmolysis. The marked disintegrative changes, including damage to organelles, such as chloroplasts and nuclei, occurred after about 8 h, at which time central vacuoles collapsed and the cell interior was then filled with numerous small vesicles. Our results suggested that the rise in seawater temperature during the summer could be one of the major causes of the massive death of C. edule in the field.
Meridional overturning circulation in the South Atlantic at the last glacial maximum

The geostrophic shear associated with the meridional overturning circulation is reflected in the difference in density between the eastern and western margins of the ocean basin. Here we examine how the density difference across 30°S in the upper 2 km of the Atlantic Ocean (and thus the magnitude of the shear associated with the overturning circulation) has changed between the last glacial maximum and the present. We use oxygen isotope measurements on benthic foraminifera to reconstruct density. Today, the density in upper and intermediate waters along the eastern margin in the South Atlantic is greater than along the western margin, reflecting the vertical shear associated with the northward flow of surface and intermediate waters and the southward flowing North Atlantic Deep Waters below. The greater density along the eastern margin is reflected in the higher δ18O values for surface sediment benthic foraminifera than those found on the western margin for the upper 2 km. For the last glacial maximum the available data indicate that the eastern margin foraminifera had similar δ18O to those on the western margin between 1 and 2 km and that the gradient was reversed relative to today with the higher δ18O values in the western margin benthic foraminifera above 1 km. If this reversal in benthic foraminifera δ18O gradient reflects a reversal in seawater density gradient, these data are not consistent with a vigorous but shallower overturning cell in which surface waters entering the Atlantic basin are balanced by the southward export of Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water.
Gentamicin‐Induced Hair Cell Death Is Not Dependent on the Apoptosis Receptor Fas

Objectives/Hypothesis The hair cells are the most vulnerable elements in the cochlea, and damage to them is the most common cause of sensorineural hearing loss. Understanding the intracellular events that lead to the death of hair cells is a key to developing protective strategies. The Fas death receptor–mediated apoptotic pathway is well studied and plays an important role in the elimination of damaged cells in a number of different cellular systems. We have studied the role of the Fas receptor in aminoglycoside‐mediated toxicity in vitro. We employed the MRL/MpJ‐Fas lpr/lpr mouse, which does not express a functional Fas receptor.
Complex Minkowski Reduction and a Relaxation for Near-Optimal MIMO Linear Equalization

First, this letter presents a Minkowski reduction algorithm working directly on complex lattices. Then, a relaxation is proposed to Minkowski criterion by restricting the search of basis vectors within sublattices whose dimensions are determined by an integer parameter $\beta $ , and a reduction algorithm following the relaxed criterion is also developed. Simulation results show that when employed to assist linear equalization for multiple-input multiple-output systems, the proposed algorithms can achieve tremendous computational savings compared with the most efficient real-domain Minkowski reduction algorithm, without causing noticeable performance degradation.
A Multivariate Computational Method to Analyze High-Content RNAi Screening Data

High-content screening (HCS) using RNA interference (RNAi) in combination with automated microscopy is a powerful investigative tool to explore complex biological processes. However, despite the plethora of data generated from these screens, little progress has been made in analyzing HC data using multivariate methods that exploit the full richness of multidimensional data. We developed a novel multivariate method for HCS, multivariate robust analysis method (M-RAM), integrating image feature selection with ranking of perturbations for hit identification, and applied this method to an HC RNAi screen to discover novel components of the DNA damage response in an osteosarcoma cell line. M-RAM automatically selects the most informative phenotypic readouts and time points to facilitate the more efficient design of follow-up experiments and enhance biological understanding. Our method outperforms univariate hit identification and identifies relevant genes that these approaches would have missed. We found that statistical cell-to-cell variation in phenotypic responses is an important predictor of hits in RNAi-directed image-based screens. Genes that we identified as modulators of DNA damage signaling in U2OS cells include B-Raf, a cancer driver gene in multiple tumor types, whose role in DNA damage signaling we confirm experimentally, and multiple subunits of protein kinase A.
Turkey's Emergence as a Geopolitical Power Broker

In a framing essay commenting on a symposium devoted to Turkey's role in a dynamic geopolitical world system, a prominent American political geographer presents the case for Turkey's evolution from regional power within that system to a key geopolitical balancing agent, reflecting its pivotal location within Eurasia. After first exploring the implications of the collapse of the USSR for U.S.-Turkey relations, he critically assesses the ruling Turkish political party's (AKP) recent foreign policy formulation of Turkey as a leader/role model of its own "civilizational basin" (Middle Eastern and Central Eurasian countries). Citing a range of linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and religious differences between Turkey and the Arab lands, he argues that Turkey's true civilizational basin is limited to Central Asia, where Russia holds geopolitical primacy, and advocates a broader framing of Turkey's geopolitical orientation as reflecting location, economics, oil, water, and natural interests. Such a conceptualization suggests that Turkey's pivotal role as balancing power may not be broadly defined as a bridge between Europe and Eurasia, but rather as a bridge between the EU and Russia. Also, the country's status as a role model may be more applicable for regional powers sandwiched between great powers than for emerging Islamic democracies per se.
Operating Factors That Help to Improve Performance in Subsidiaries with Low Absorptive Capacity

This article aims to investigate the process of knowledge transfer from headquarters to subsidiaries located in developing countries. We studied four cases with activities in the industrial sector. The results obtained reveal that an efficient transfer of knowledge depends on the contribution of headquarters to overcoming cultural differences; evolution of the learning process and the contribution of the recipient; and implementation and consolidation of new knowledge in the subsidiary. The cultural influence is decisive in the evolution of the performance of the subsidiary through the local production and sale of new competitive products. The weak absorption capacity of local individuals means that the business model of the headquarters cannot be replicated in the Mozambican market.
English in the world : teaching and learning the language and literatures

in that it is concerned with modelling native-speaker language use and acquisition. Nevertheless, the issues raised here are of considerable potential relevance to SLA researchers. For example, we might ask whether SLA involves not only the acquisition of a new grammar but also the acquisition of a new parsing system, or whether the parsing system built up for the LI can be used to parse any language learned subsequently. We might consider to what extent second language (L2) learners' problems can be attributed to processing difficulties, as opposed to competence difficulties. Certain researchers are beginning to ask this kind of question (Sharwood Smith, in press; Zobl, 1986). Berwick and Weinberg's book provides an extremely important springboard from which one can consider the potential relevance of these issues to the L2 field.
Angiotensin-II receptor blocker exerts cardioprotection in diabetic rats exposed to hypoxia.

BACKGROUND Hypoxia caused by sleep apnea might be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events in subjects with metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of hypoxia on the left ventricular (LV) myocardium and evaluate the cardioprotective effect of an angiotensin-II receptor blocker (ARB) in diabetic rats. METHODS AND RESULTS Male Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats at 30 weeks of age (n=30) were divided into 2 groups that were treated with vehicle or candesartan 0.2 mg x kg(-1) x day (-1). The animals were housed in a hypoxic gas chamber (oxygen, 10.0+/-0.5%, mean +/- standard deviation) for 2 weeks. Hypoxia increased right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure (hypoxia; 78+/-14 mmHg vs control; 22+/-5, p<0.05), but did not increase LV systolic pressure (131+/-23 mmHg vs 121+/-10). Hypoxia exacerbated the degeneration of cardiomyocytes, and accelerated the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the myocardium. Treatment with ARB decreased RV and LV pressures (46+/-7 and 100+/-18 mmHg, respectively), suppressed the expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF, and preserved the fine structure of the LV myocardium. CONCLUSIONS ARB exhibited cardioprotection under hypoxia, in part through the reduction of blood pressure and cytokine expression, in OLETF rats. Thus, ARB might be a potent agent for the treatment of diabetic patients with the complication of sleep apnea.
Effects of marketing and relationship variables on service intermediaries' promotional program participation

Many service companies sell services through independent intermediaries. Using the Taiwanese life insurance industry as a research context, the author investigates the influence of a life insurance company's marketing (product attractiveness and financial incentives) and relationship (interpersonal relationships and bargaining costs) variables on banks' participation in its promotional program. Both marketing and relationship variables significantly affect the bank's participation, though the marketing variables are more important determinants of participation. Product attractiveness dominates all other factors. Finally, these variables have independent rather than contingent effects on the bank's decisions.
Class careers as sequences : An optimal matching analysis of work-life histories

The authors apply optimal matching techniques to class careers from age 15 to age 35 for two moderately large samples, as a means of exploring the utility of this sequence-oriented approach for the analysis of work-life social mobility. They first apply multi-dimensional scaling techniques to the inter-sequence distances generated by the optimal matching algorithm in order to test whether the technique locates sequences in a coherent and interpretable space. They find the space to be highly patterned and reasonably interpretable. Next they run the two moderately large samples (each approximately 1500 sequences) through the analysis and examine the nature of the set of clusters that emerges. They find the clusters to be distinct and an intuitively attractive grouping of the sequences. Finally, they consider how the clusters are distributed across cohorts : the distributions change markedly, though this is largely due to changes in the distribution of classes over time. They briefly discuss means of separating 'pure sequence' change from change in the gross 'class time-budget' of cohorts, and consider means of applying statistical models to the problem. They conclude by endorsing Optimal Matching Analysis, especially as a means of exploratory analysis of longitudinal data
New Machine Learning Methods Demonstrate the Existence of a Human Stylome

Earlier research has shown that established authors can be distinguished by measuring specific properties of their writings, their stylome as it were. Here, we examine writings of less experienced authors. We succeed in distinguishing between these authors with a very high probability, which implies that a stylome exists even in the general population. However, the number of traits needed for so successful a distinction is an order of magnitude larger than assumed so far. Furthermore, traits referring to syntactic patterns prove less distinctive than traits referring to vocabulary, but much more distinctive than expected on the basis of current generativist theories of language learning.
Commodity Food Prices: Review and Empirics

The present paper provides a literature review of studies examining the potential causes and consequences of recent surges in food and agricultural commodity prices. Furthermore, this paper uses the structural trend methodology proposed by Koopman et al. (2009) to analyze movements in the IMF monthly commodity food price index for the period 1992(11)–2012(10) and to provide forecasts for the period 2012(11)–2014(12). The empirical results indicate that commodity food prices present seasonality and cyclicality with the longest periodicity of two years. The empirical findings identify certain structural breaks in commodity food price series as well as outliers. These structural breaks seem to capture the trend component of the price series well, while the outliers take account of temporal effects, that is, short-lived spikes. Finally, the presented forecasts show high and volatile commodity food prices.
Visualizing Pneumococcal Infections in the Lungs of Live Mice Using Bioluminescent Streptococcus pneumoniaeTransformed with a Novel Gram-Positive luxTransposon

ABSTRACT Animal studies with Streptococcus pneumoniae have provided valuable models for drug development. In order to monitor long-term pneumococcal infections noninvasively in living mice, a novel gram-positive lux transposon cassette, Tn4001 luxABCDE Kmr, that allows random integration oflux genes onto the bacterial chromosome was constructed. The cassette was designed so that the luxABCDE and kanamycin resistance genes were linked to form a single promoterless operon. Bioluminescence and kanamycin resistance only occur in a bacterial cell if this operon has transposed downstream of a promoter on the bacterium's chromosome. S. pneumoniae D39 was transformed with plasmid pAUL-A Tn4001 luxABCDEKmr, and a number of highly bioluminescent colonies were recovered. Genomic DNA from the brightest D39 strain was used to transform a number of clinical S. pneumoniae isolates, and several of these strains were tested in animal models, including a pneumococcal lung infection model. Strong bioluminescent signals were seen in the lungs of the animals containing these pneumococci, allowing the course and antibiotic treatment of the infections to be readily monitored in real time in the living animals. Recovery of the bacteria from the animals showed that the bioluminescent signal corresponded to the number of CFU and that the lux construct was highly stable even after several days in vivo. We believe that thislux transposon will greatly expand the ability to evaluate drug efficacy against gram-positive bacteria in living animals using bioluminescence.
Tariffs and Trusts, Profiteers and Middlemen: Popular Explanations for the High Cost of Living, 1897-1920

After decades of decline, US prices rose about 2.5 percent a year from 1897 to World War I and then more than doubled between 1914 and 1920. Popular explanations for these events can be studied via editorials and editorial cartoons, which reflected and contributed to an outpouring of public concern. While economists then and now adduced monetary causes for the price increases, popular theories blamed the tariff, monopolies, middlemen, profiteers, supply and demand, lazy farmers, incompetent housewives, and more. These explanations supported important political positions, and they had significant consequences, because worries over the high cost of living more powerfully shaped Progressive era public policy than has been appreciated. Tariff reduction, parcel post, antitrust prosecution, cold storage legislation, farm credit, standardization of weights and measures, and other reforms were importantly motivated by worries over high prices. Thus, apparently incorrect public understanding of economic events can sometimes lead to desirable public policies.