Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age Distribution of Breast Cancer in the Middle East, Implications for Screening

To the Editor: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and 1–2% deaths among female populations throughout the world (1). An increase in incidence of breast cancer has been reported among women age 50 and older in many countries. This might be attributed to improvement in diagnostic techniques, changes in reproductive patterns and adopting Western lifestyles. An incidence rate of 22–24 (per 100,000) has been estimated for the Iranian female population, it is about one fourth that of developed countries (2,3). Some reports have shown that breast cancer occurs in the Iranian women at least one decade younger on average than populations in Western countries (4) where the median age of breast cancer presentation is around 50 and 60 years (5). The aim of this study was to describe the age distribution of breast cancer to compare this with other similar countries, and to discuss the implications with regard to breast cancer control in Iran. We used the data from Iranian National Cancer Registry (2003–2006), Tehran Population Based Cancer Registry (1998–2001) (6), and Ardabil Population Based Cancer Registry (1996–9) (7). The univariate analysis without age-period-cohort modeling for the incidence data was computed with 95% CI. The age-specific incidence of breast cancer in Iran is presented in Figure 1. The figure shows an overall increasing trend for age peaking at age 45–49 years with a declining trend for women older than 49 years, it also shows reported age specific incidence in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait, in comparison to Canada. The shape of the age-specific curve is similar in the three Middle East countries, and to Iran. In contrast, the increase in incidence with age is continuous in Canada, with the highest rates at older ages. We have presented a descriptive profile of the occurrence of breast cancer in the Iranian female population. Our findings indicate that Iranian women are experiencing a low incidence rate of breast cancer compared with some other developing countries. The predominance of breast cancers clinically in premenopausal women may be largely because of the population pyramid, but the declining rates in older ages is caused by the differing prevalence of breast cancer risk factors in women who are now premenopausal, compared with their older forbears. The results too indicate that breast cancer occurs in women in Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt on average at least one decade earlier than that of Canada, and other western countries. Although this is similar to what has been reported from other studies previously (7), it is a finding that is often misunderstood. Figure 2 emphasizes that the age-specific incidence of breast cancer at younger ages is usually lower than in countries such as Canada, except for Egypt, with the highest rates of those considered from the Middle East, possibly because Egypt is further
Psychosocial adjustment in women with breast cancer

There is a plethora of studies investigating psychosocial adjustment in women with breast cancer, its correlates, clinical course, and prognosis. These studies have been conducted with varying degrees of methodologic rigor. An assessment has been made of the quality of this existing evidence to identify from the best evidence the factors which predict the adjustment status of women with breast cancer. Studies have been reviewed, using methodologic standards for the critical appraisal of studies on prognosis, developed by Sackett and colleagues in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada). Few of the studies investigating psychosocial adjustment of women with breast cancer meet all of the criteria for reviewing studies of clinical course and prognosis. This review focuses the direction and methodologic rigor required in future investigations. In particular, studies are needed that employ prospective designs and that deliberately measure or control for the extraneous prognostic variables that may affect adjustment. Future investigations need to incorporate adequate precision in measurement so that measures of the psychosocial variables are objective, reliable, and valid.
Sectoral social dialogue at EU level: Problems and prospects of implementation

This article addresses current issues and relevant prospects of EU social dialogues at sectoral level. It examines fundamental difficulties ‘post-Lisbon’, especially as regards implementation, including procedures for follow-up and monitoring. The article also deals with the Commission’s most recent Staff Working Document on sectoral social dialogue, raises major caveats and elaborates on various prospects of most recent voluntary results (‘autonomous agreements’ and ‘process-oriented texts’).
Rethinking the measurement of capital flight: an application to Asian economies

This paper improves on the widely used residual method in order to estimate the magnitude of capital flight in eight Asian economies over the period of 1980–2004. The paper argues that as capital flight is a drain on financial resources for development, it is more appropriate to measure it against the size of the financial market, which can be proxied by money aggregate, in contrast to the common practice of measuring it as a percentage of gross domestic product. Using this more appropriate new measure, we find that capital flight is more severe in some financially underdeveloped countries than has been suggested previously. It is also found that while capital flight could be a dormant sideshow in a benign economic environment, it could have considerable impact on the availability of financial resources when activated.
Intravesicular Localization and Exocytosis of α-Synuclein and its Aggregates

α-Synuclein (α-syn), particularly in its aggregated forms, is implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and other related neurological disorders. However, the normal biology of α-syn and how it relates to the aggregation of the protein are not clearly understood. Because of the lack of the signal sequence and its predominant localization in the cytosol, α-syn is generally considered exclusively an intracellular protein. Contrary to this assumption, here, we show that a small percentage of newly synthesized α-syn is rapidly secreted from cells via unconventional, endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi-independent exocytosis. Consistent with this finding, we also demonstrate that a portion of cellular α-syn is present in the lumen of vesicles. Importantly, the intravesicular α-syn is more prone to aggregation than the cytosolic protein, and aggregated forms of α-syn are also secreted from cells. Furthermore, secretion of both monomeric and aggregated α-syn is elevated in response to proteasomal and mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular defects that are associated with Parkinson's pathogenesis. Thus, intravesicular localization and secretion are part of normal life cycle of α-syn and might also contribute to pathological function of this protein.
Identity Politics and Local Political Culture

Using the Social Capital Benchmark Survey (SCBS) data sets, the authors conducted a multilevel comparative study of identity politics and political culture in the United States and 30 urban communities. Analysis showed that gender, race, class, and religion predict political ideology, electoral behavior, and political protest in the national sample. Replications in the community samples, however, revealed significant differences in the patterns of relationships among those variables. Some patterns deviated markedly from the national norm, particularly with respect to race as a predictor of political protest. Using an index of new political culture, the authors show that “place matters” as a contextual influence on the strength and direction of relationships between social identity (particularly race and religion) and political outcomes.
Urotensin II stimulates vascular endothelial growth factor secretion from adventitial fibroblasts in synergy with angiotensin II.

BACKGROUND The adventitia plays an important role in and is considered to be the initiating site for vascular remodeling. Urotensin II (UII) and angiotensin II (Ang II) are the two most important vascular peptides involved in vascular remodeling in the adventitia. Nevertheless, little is known about their effect on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It was hypothesized that both UII and Ang II could induce VEGF expression in adventitial fibroblasts and VEGF may play a role in cell proliferation and collagen I synthesis induced by UII or Ang II. METHODS AND RESULTS Growth-arrested adventitial fibroblasts were incubated in serum-free medium with UII and/or Ang II and inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway or VEGF-neutralizing antibodies. The VEGF expression was evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while the proliferation and collagen I synthesis were detected using methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay and ELISA. It was found that: (1) both UII and Ang II could stimulate VEGF expression in adventitial fibroblasts and they had a synergistic effect; (2) MAPK pathway inhibitors could inhibit VEGF secretion induced by UII and/or Ang II; and (3) VEGF-neutralizing antibodies could inhibit UII/Ang II-induced cell proliferation and collagen synthesis in adventitial fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS Induction of VEGF expression may be a new mechanism involved in vascular remodeling for UII and Ang II.
A Simple Model of Speculation - Welfare Analysis and Some Problems in the Decision Making Theory

This article analyzes the effect of speculation on the economic welfare from various criteria, using a simple Edgeworth box within a three-period Walrasian competition framework. Here “speculation” is defined as a series of transition processes of each agent’s spontaneous production of private information, the exchange of commodities based on it under the externality environment, and finally its spillover into public. The methodology and implications are closely related with the concepts of herd behavior by Banerjee (1992), informational externality by Stein (1987), information sharing by Shapiro (1985), and economic value of speculation by Hirshleifer (1971, 1975, 1977). It is explicitly shown that the complete sharing of produced information under externality environment, if not accompanied by almost sure productivity effect, does not necessarily attain the non-negative economic value especially in terms of ex-ante expected utility. The implication is consistent with Aoki (2005). Lastly some criticisms about why this could happen are discussed.
Comparison of Policy Realization Strategies for LTE Networks

Efficient radio resource usage and quality of service (QoS) provision are important criterions in order to choose the right QoS policy for the LTE operators. In our previous work, we have proposed to add a new database named as BSLRC (Base Station Load and Radio Conditions) to optimize the operator policy with regard to the radio efficiency. Some concrete voice capacity estimations were also proposed. In this paper, we extend our earlier work by addressing some novel concerns. As a first step, we start by calculating the signaling load due to the use of BSLRC. Then, for voice services the BSLRC method is compared with the explicit congestion notification (already proposed for LTE systems). Both BSLRC and ECN (Explicit Congestion Notification) share the same objective of optimizing the choice of codec rate with regard to radio use efficiency. We also propose some capacity estimates for video services as an extension to our previously proposed voice capacity estimations over LTE systems.
Global export of Hong Kong television: Television broadcasts limited

This study examines the business strategies of media exports by a dominant television company in Hong Kong. It is found that there are four strategies: co‐operative contract, joint venture, barter trade, and management consultancy. These strategies vary with the importing state's reactions as well as interactions between the media exporter and the importing state. The authors argue for a re‐examination of the two conventional approaches in the discussion of media imperialism, namely, the traditional theories of media imperialism and the free market approach. The new approach should emphasize the interactions among the media exporters, the state, and the audience.
Ethylene Modulates Gene Expression in Cells of the Marine SpongeSuberites domuncula and Reduces the Degree of Apoptosis*

Sponges (phylum Porifera) live in an aqueous milieu that contains dissolved organic carbon. This is degraded photochemically by ultraviolet radiation to alkenes, particularly to ethylene. This study demonstrates that sponge cells (here the demosponge Suberites domuncula has been used), which have assembled to primmorphs, react to 5 μm ethylene with a significant up-regulation of intracellular Ca2+concentration and with a reduction of starvation-induced apoptosis. In primmorphs from S. domuncula the expression of two genes is up-regulated after exposure to ethylene. The cDNA of the first gene (SDERR) isolated from S. domuncula encodes a potential ethylene-responsive protein, termed ERR_SUBDO; its putativeM r is 32,704. Data bank search revealed that the sponge polypeptide shares high similarity (82% on amino acid level) with the corresponding plant molecule, the ethylene-inducible protein from Hevea brasiliensis. Until now no other metazoan ethylene-responsive proteins have been identified. The second gene, whose expression is up-regulated in response to ethylene is a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Its cDNA, SDCCdPK, encodes a M r54,863 putative kinase that shares 69% similarity with the corresponding enzyme from Drosophila melanogaster. The expression of both genes in primmorphs from S. domuncula is increased by ≈5-fold after a 3-day incubation period with ethylene. It is concluded that also metazoan cells, with sponge cells as a model, may react to ethylene with an activation of cell metabolism including gene induction.
Benchmarking industry—science relations: the role of framework conditions

Within the Framework of the EU initiative ‘Benchmarking Europe's Industrial Competitiveness’, a project benchmarking industry-science relations (ISR) was carried out covering eight EU countries, the USA and Japan. In these countries ISR were compared in order to assess the role of framework conditions in the interaction between industry (private business-enterprise sector) and science (higher-education institutions and public-sector research establishments), and to recommend areas for policy improvement. Benchmarking ISR focuses on identifying good practices in shaping ISR-relevant framework conditions given the specific features of a national innovation system. The paper presents the methodology employed and the main findings. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
The long memory of time‐varying beta: examination of three emerging Asian stock markets

Reviews previous research on the nature of beta and investigates the stochastic structure of time‐varying beta in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore using the bi‐variate GARCH‐in‐mean model and fractional tests. Develops mathematical models and applies them to 1989‐1998 daily data from all three stock markets. Presents the results, which suggest, in contrast to other findings, that all three time‐varying betas are slowly mean‐reverting (long memory).
Urban Infrastructure Dynamics: Market Regulation and the Shaping of District Energy in UK Cities

This paper explores the interaction between urban-scale energy infrastructure and the regulatory regime which underpins the liberalisation of energy systems. Using the example of district energy in a number of UK cities, we outline the ways in which the structure of national electricity markets and the activities of the energy regulator influence and shape the development of low-carbon infrastructure in cities. We draw upon recent contributions to the sociotechnical systems literature which highlights the role of cities in shaping infrastructure transitions and argue that the influence of sector regulation has been underrepresented and underexplored. Our study points to significant tensions and misalignments between a regulatory regime designed to promote economic efficiencies in incumbent national infrastructure sectors and the development of district energy systems at the urban scale. We propose that regulation needs to evolve from its traditional emphasis on promoting competition and short-term efficiencies towards a more dynamic model which is open to alternative logics and low-carbon transition pathways.
Subclinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and early age-related macular degeneration in a multiracial cohort: the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship of subclinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. METHODS This study included 6176 white, black, Hispanic, and Chinese participants aged 44 to 84 years from 6 communities in the United States. Measurements of subclinical CVD were performed according to standardized protocols. Fundus images were graded using the Wisconsin Age-Related Maculopathy Grading System. RESULTS In analyses controlled for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and study location, early AMD was associated with a higher serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (odds ratio per 15 mg/dL, 1.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.36) and the presence of echolucent carotid artery plaque (odds ratio for present vs no plaque, 0.37; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-0.74) in the whole cohort. Interactions of race/ethnicity and early AMD were found for carotid intima-media thickness, increasing severity of maximum carotid artery stenosis, serum triglyceride level, subclinical CVD severity, and Agatston calcium score. CONCLUSION Few associations were found between subclinical CVD and CVD risk factors with early AMD. The findings of associations of early AMD with some signs of subclinical atherosclerotic CVD are different among the 4 racial/ethnic groups, which suggests that care must be taken in generalizing from one racial/ethnic group to another.
A survey of energy demand elasticities in support of the development of the NEMS

With NEMS, there has been increased interest in modeling energy markets and a resurgent interest in energy elasticities of demand. Since such elasticities are often a convenient way to summarize the responsiveness of demand to such things as own prices, cross prices, income, or other relevant variables, a substantial amount of resources have been devoted to estimating demand elasticities, at various levels of aggregation using a variety of models. The goal of this project is to survey these works for the U.S. on energy demand elasticities, do a critical analysis of them, attempt to come up with summary elasticities, discuss the scope and breadth of the work that has been done, and make suggestions for further research.
Providing for the Public Good: Corporate–Community Relations in the Era of the Receding Welfare State

In his pioneering research on corporate–community ties in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Galaskiewicz (1985a) examined the social conditions that guided corporate philanthropy in a given metropolitan area. Two conditions, however, suggest the need for revisiting the type of research taken on in that original study. First, Galaskiewicz's study lacked a comparative dimension for examining the institutional environments that drive variation across localities. Second, a great deal has changed in the institutional conditions that drive corporate ties to their communities since the 1980s and early 1990s, the most important institutional change coming from the Tax Reform Act of 1986. We identify two significant factors that contribute to variation in local philanthropic commitments of corporations to the metropolitan communities in which they are headquartered. First, local corporate tax rates increase corporate giving overall, but they drive down corporate commitments to their localities. Second, the local state's involvement in the Low–Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program of 1986 also drives down local corporate giving. Thus, activist states that are successful in capturing the fiscal resources of corporations through a variety of institutional mechanisms end up driving down the philanthropic commitments of the corporations that are headquartered in those localities. We illuminate these relationships through in–depth qualitative research in three case cities and data on a nationally representative sample of 2,776 corporations.
An Outbreak of Mupirocin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus on a Dermatology Ward Associated with an Environmental Reservoir

Abstract Objective: To investigate a cluster of mupirocin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus on a dermatology ward. Design: An outbreak of mupirocin-resistant S aureus was noted on the dermatology ward during a prospective epidemiologic study of methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA) and borderline methicillin-susceptible S aureus (BMSSA). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of whole-cell DNA digested with Sma I was used as a marker of strain identity. Setting and Patients: An 850-bed university hospital with a 12-bed inpatient dermatology ward. Most patients have severe, exfoliating dermatologic disorders. Results: MRSA or BMSSA were isolated from 13 patients on the dermatology ward over a 14-month period. Eleven of these isolates (84.6%) were mupirocin-resistant. Nine isolates were present on admission (81.8%); 8 of these patients had been hospitalized on the same ward within the last two months. Nasal and hand cultures from 36 personnel were negative for mupirocin-resistant MRSA or BMSSA. Extensive environmental culturing revealed that a blood pressure cuff and the patients' communal shower were positive for mupirocin-resistant BMSSA. PFGE of all mupirocin-resistant isolates demonstrated that the nine patients and both environmental sources had identical DNA typing patterns. Interventions: Changing of blood pressure cuffs between patients and more stringent cleaning of communal areas was initiated. Repeat environmental cultures were negative. Conclusions: S aureus is not usually associated with an environmental reservoir; however, these patients all had severe desquamation, which may have prolonged environmental contamination.
The Role of Co-regulation in Synchronous Online Learning Environment

Synchronous online learning environment is becoming increasingly popular because of its ability to promote emergent interactions through real-time feedback. This study examined the role of co-regulation in synchronous online learning environment to capture the dynamics of social interaction in learning. A study was conducted to examine the relationships between co-regulation strategies and group performance. Results indicated that the use of orientation, executing, and planning strategies were positively related to group performance, but only the orientation strategy predicted group performance. The high performance groups adopted more orientation and executing strategies than low performance groups. Implications for teachers, students, and educational technologists are discussed.