Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expert Judgment In Audit Program Planning

Independent auditors collect, weight, and combine information in formulating an opinion about the fairness of their clients' financial statements. Auditors exercise professional judgment in determining the type and extent of information to collect and in assessing the implications of this information. The exact constitution of professional judgment is unknown but is certainly influenced by lengthy formal education and prior job experience. Because precise guidelines for information collection and evaluation in auditing do not exist, individual professional judgment plays an extremely important and pervasive role in auditing (Mautz [1959]). Since individual professional judgment is generally conceded to be very important in auditing, it should be the subject of a commensurate amount of systematic research. The several empirical studies that have been conducted (some of which are reviewed below) have generally reported substantial differences among the judgments made by individual auditors who served as subjects in the research. If auditors are, in fact, idiosyncratic in collecting, weighting, and/or combining information, then the validity of their judgments may be questioned, and research into the nature and costs of such differences may be in order.
Antimicrobial-induced endotoxin and cytokine activity in an in vitro model of septicemia in foals.

OBJECTIVE To determine which antimicrobials that are used to treat neonatal foals with septicemia attributable to Escherichia coli will minimize endotoxin release from bacteria and subsequent activity of inflammatory mediators while maintaining bactericidal efficacy. SAMPLE POPULATION Blood samples from 10 healthy foals. PROCEDURE Escherichia coli isolates A and B were isolated from 2 septicemic foals, and minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined for 9 antimicrobials. Five of these antimicrobials were tested in vitro at 2 and 20 times their respective MIC. Whole blood or mononuclear cells grown in tissue-culture media were incubated with 105 colony-forming units of E. coli and each antimicrobial or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution. After 6 hours, number of viable bacteria remaining was determined, and supernatant was tested for endotoxin and tumor necrosis activity. RESULTS Testing in whole blood was compromised by bactericidal effects of the blood itself. In mononuclear cell suspensions, each antimicrobial significantly reduced the number of viable bacteria to low or undetectable amounts. Antimicrobials did not differ significantly in efficacy of bacterial killing. Amikacin used alone or in combination with ampicillin resulted in significantly less endotoxin activity than did ampicillin, imipenem, or ceftiofur alone. There was a correlation between TNF-alpha and endotoxin activity. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Aminoglycosides appear less likely to induce endotoxemia and TNF-alpha synthesis during bactericidal treatment of E. coli septicemia, compared with beta-lactam antimicrobials. Use of ampicillin, imipenem, or ceftiofur in the treatment of septicemic neonatal foals should be accompanied by appropriate treatment for endotoxemia.
Facial nerve hemangioma.

Since Politzer first described vascular tumors of the temporal bone in 1901, they have occurred so infrequently that few surgeons or pathologists have gained familiarity with them. The great improvement in early diagnosis given by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium has shown that these tumors occur more frequently than was previously thought (1). There is some controversy over whether these lesions are true neoplasms or vascular malformations. At any rate, temporal bone hemangiomas (TBH) may behave aggressively, causing hearing loss and facial nerve paralysis, and therefore should be treated when symptomatic. Complete surgical removal of the lesion is the treatment of choice. Total removal with preservation of facial nerve
Inhibition of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor with tirofiban in unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND Antithrombotic therapy improves the prognosis of patients with acute coronary syndromes, yet the syndromes remain a therapeutic challenge. We evaluated tirofiban, a specific inhibitor of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor, in the treatment of unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction. METHODS A total of 1915 patients were randomly assigned in a double-blind manner to receive tirofiban, heparin, or tirofiban plus heparin. Patients received aspirin if its use was not contraindicated. The study drugs were infused for a mean (+/-SD) of 71.3+/-20 hours, during which time coronary angiography and angioplasty were performed when indicated after 48 hours. The composite primary end point consisted of death, myocardial infarction, or refractory ischemia within seven days after randomization. RESULTS The study was stopped prematurely for the group receiving tirofiban alone because of excess mortality at seven days (4.6 percent, as compared with 1.1 percent for the patients treated with heparin alone. The frequency of the composite primary end point at seven days was lower among the patients who received tirofiban plus heparin than among those who received heparin alone (12.9 percent vs. 17.9 percent; risk ratio, 0.68; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.53 to 0.88; P=0.004). The rates of the composite end point in the tirofiban-plus-heparin group were also lower than those in the heparin-only group at 30 days (18.5 percent vs. 22.3 percent, P=0.03) and at 6 months (27.7 percent vs. 32.1 percent, P=0.02). At seven days, the frequency of death or myocardial infarction was 4.9 percent in the tirofiban-plus-heparin group, as compared with 8.3 percent in the heparin-only group (P=0.006). The comparable figures at 30 days were 8.7 percent and 11.9 percent (P=0.03), respectively, and those at 6 months were 12.3 percent and 15.3 percent (P=0.06). The benefit was consistent in the various subgroups of patients and in those treated medically as well as those treated with angioplasty. Major bleeding occurred in 3.0 percent of the patients receiving heparin alone and 4.0 percent of the patients receiving combination therapy (P=0.34). CONCLUSIONS When administered with heparin and aspirin, the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor tirofiban was associated with a lower incidence of ischemic events in patients with acute coronary syndromes than in patients who received only heparin and aspirin.
Seroreactivity to and Avidity for Recombinant Antigens in Toxoplasmosis

ABSTRACT To improve serodiagnostic methods for the diagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, a new test system has been developed and evaluated based on the use of recombinant antigens. Five recombinant Toxoplasma gondii antigens (ROP1, MAG1, SAG1, GRA7, and GRA8) were cloned in Escherichia coli, purified, and applied directly onto nitrocellulose membranes in a line assay (recomLine Toxoplasma). A panel of 102 sera from 25 pregnant women with supposed recent toxoplasmosis and from two symptomatic children was compared to a panel of 71 sera from individuals with past infection. Both panels were analyzed using a recombinant line assay for immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM, and IgA antibodies and a reference enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Within the IgM-positive samples, antibodies against ROP1 were predominant regardless of the infection state. In IgG analysis a characteristic antibody pattern was found for very recent infections. This pattern changed to a different one during the time course of infection: antibodies against GRA7 and GRA8 were characteristic for very early IgG, whereas antibodies against SAG1 and MAG1 appeared significantly later. These results were further confirmed by determination of the IgG antibody avidity for every single recombinant antigen. In the time course of infection, IgG antibodies against the early recognized antigens matured significantly earlier than those directed against the later antigens did. The IgA patterns did not give reliable information about the infection time points. The data revealed that the recombinant line assay provides valuable information on the actual state of infection, especially during the early infection time points.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and increased risk for peptic ulcer disease in elderly persons.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relative risk for peptic ulcer disease that is associated with the use of nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. DESIGN Nested case-control study. SETTING Tennessee Medicaid program. PARTICIPANTS Medicaid enrollees 65 years of age or older were included in the study. The 1415 case patients had been hospitalized for confirmed peptic ulcer disease at some point from 1984 through 1986. The 7063 control persons represented a stratified random sample of other Medicaid enrollees. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The estimated relative risk for the development of peptic ulcer disease among current users of nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, compared with that among nonusers, was 4.1 (95% CI, 3.5 to 4.7). For current users, the risk increased with increasing dose, from a relative risk of 2.8 (CI, 1.8 to 4.3) for the lowest to a relative risk of 8.0 (CI, 4.4 to 14.8) for the highest dose category. The risk was greatest in the first month of use (relative risk, 7.2; CI, 4.9 to 10.5). If the association is fully causal, 29% of peptic ulcers in the study sample resulted from the use of these drugs, and the excess risk associated with such use was 17.4 hospitalizations for ulcer disease per 1000 person-years of exposure. CONCLUSIONS These data support other findings indicating that a clinically significant risk for serious ulcer disease is associated with the use of nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The data show that this risk increases with dose and recency of use and that use of these drugs may be responsible for a large proportion of peptic ulcer disease among elderly persons.
Patient-specific time to peak abdominal organ enhancement varies with time to peak aortic enhancement at MR imaging.

PURPOSE To retrospectively evaluate the relationship between the times to peak enhancement of the liver, pancreas, and jejunum with respect to the time to peak aortic enhancement at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS The committee on human research approved this study and waived written informed consent. This study was HIPAA compliant. The study retrospectively identified 141 patients (63 men, 78 women; mean age, 57 years) who underwent abdominal MR imaging by using a test bolus that was monitored approximately every second for 2 minutes with a spoiled gradient-echo T1 transverse section through the upper abdomen. The times to peak enhancement of the aorta, liver, pancreas, and jejunum were recorded and correlated with the time to peak aortic enhancement, age, and sex by means of univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses. RESULTS The mean time to peak aortic enhancement was 21.1 seconds (range, 8.7-41.8 seconds). The times to peak enhancement of the liver, pancreas, and jejunum were positively and linearly correlated with the time to peak aortic enhancement (r = 0.69, 0.86, and 0.80, respectively, all P < .001) and were 3.39, 1.64, and 2.04 times longer than the time to peak aortic enhancement, respectively. Age, sex, and history of heart disease did not give additional predictive information for determining the time to peak visceral enhancement. CONCLUSION The times to peak enhancement of the liver, pancreas, and jejunum are linearly related to that of the aorta. These results could potentially allow tailored patient- and organ-specific scan delay optimization at contrast material-enhanced MR image evaluation.
Development of the utero‐placental circulation: The role of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide in trophoblast invasion and spiral artery transformation

It is now well known that in order to establish human hemochorial placentation and to provide a progressive increase in blood supply to the growing fetus, the uterine spiral arteries must undergo considerable alterations. This physiological modification is thought to be brought about by the interaction of invasive cytotrophoblast with the spiral artery vessel wall. Despite intensive research our understanding of the mechanisms that control human trophoblast invasion in normal, let alone abnormal pregnancy, are sill poorly understood. This is partly due to difficulties in obtaining “true” placental bed biopsies and most investigators have relied on in vitro models of trophoblast invasion. This article describes the morphological changes that occur within the placental bed throughout human pregnancy along with a review of the various studies which have attempted to sample the placental bed. Thereafter, follows a review of the evidence that invasive trophoblast can release the vasoactive agents nitric oxide and/or carbon monoxide which, in turn, could contribute to early physiological changes in spiral arteries prior to destruction of the smooth muscle within the vessel wall. Current evidence supports the idea that trophoblast‐derived carbon monoxide may contribute to spiral artery modification. In contrast there is no evidence for a similar role by nitric oxide. Microsc. Res. Tech. 60:402–411, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hegemonism and Small States in the Contemporary International System: A Study of Ukraine

The contemporary international system comprises dominant and small states that participate in the international politics. Given the varying degrees of development of national powers and differences in both domestic and international tangential powers of states create unequal and asymmetrical economic and political relationship in the international system. The states with developed national powers, high domestic and high international tangential powers tend to dominate and perpetuate hegemonism on the small states-the developing states in the world politics. The state of Ukraine in Europe is under the hegemonism of Russia with threats of losing its territory of Crimea to Russia’s hegemonic stance. The study adopts realism as its theoretical framework of analysis in explaining the factors of hegemonism in the international politics. Its methodology is secondary sources of data collection. The study investigates the relationship of Ukraine with hegemonic powers particularly the threats of Russia to annex Ukraine Crimean territory.
Clinical utility of viscoelastic tests of coagulation in patients with liver disease

The prothrombin time (PT) and international normalised ratio (INR) are used in scoring systems (Child‐Pugh, MELD, UKELD) in chronic liver disease and as a prognostic tool and for dynamic monitoring of hepatic function in acute liver disease. These tests are known to be poor predictors of bleeding risk in liver disease; however, they continue to influence clinical management decisions. Recent work on coagulation in liver disease, in particular thrombin generation studies, has led to a paradigm shift in our understanding and it is now recognised that haemostasis is relatively well preserved. Whole blood global viscoelastic tests (TEG®/ROTEM®) produce a composite dynamic picture of the entire coagulation process and have the potential to provide more clinically relevant information in patients with liver disease. We performed a systematic review of all relevant studies that have used viscoelastic tests (VET) of coagulation in patients with liver disease. Although many studies are observational and small in size, it is clear that VET provide additional information that is in keeping with the new concepts of how coagulation is altered in these patients. This review provides the basis for large scale, prospective outcome studies to establish the clinical value of these tests.
Approaches to workforce housing in London and Chicago: from targeted sectors to income-based eligibility

Abstract In many cities, people with jobs essential to daily urban life—bus drivers, teachers, police, nurses and the like—cannot afford housing in proximity to their work. Municipal efforts to counter such job–housing imbalances include targeting such workers specifically or moderate-income households, more broadly, for housing support. This article investigates and assesses housing policy for modest-income workers in two cities, Chicago and London. Based on review of documents and key informant interviews, each city’s policy context, aims, means and outcomes are analyzed. Effective strategies include working with public, private and third-sector partners to find upstream cost-effective solutions, increasing shared equity/ownership products and developing mechanisms to ensure long-term affordability of workforce housing. While each city’s policies reflect local conditions, they also are indicative of broad trends in intermediate housing policy: an increase in stakeholders involved in programme administration and delivery, a continued focus on homeownership, rising income thresholds for eligibility and a shift away from targeting employment sectors.
Simultaneous analysis of host and pathogen interactions during an in vivo infection reveals local induction of host acute phase response proteins, a novel bacterial stress response, and evidence of a host‐imposed metal ion limited environment

A fundamental goal in the study of infections is to understand the dynamic interplay between host and pathogen; however, direct in vivo interrogation of this disease process via transcriptional profiling has been lacking. Here we describe the development and application of novel bacterial RNA amplification technology to simultaneously identify key elements of both host and pathogen responses in a murine infection model. On the bacterial side, we found induction of an unusual pattern of stress response genes, a response to host‐induced metal ion limitation, and a failure to achieve stationary phase in vivo. On the mammalian side, we observed the surprising induction of several genes encoding acute phase response proteins including hepcidin, haptoglobin, complement C3 and metallothionein 1 at the site of infection, as well as other mediators of innate immunity. Thus, our results reveal host–pathogen cross‐talk not predicted by previous in vitro analyses and provide the framework to eavesdrop on a broad array of host–pathogen interactions in vivo. As described here, the comprehensive examination of host–pathogen interactions during an infection is critical to the discovery of novel approaches for intervention not predicted by current models.
Medium voltage planning tool based on utilities best practices and multi-objective optimization

This paper presents the methodology and its correspondent software conceived by Daimon Engineering to propose the medium voltage distribution system work plan of CELESC. To accomplish this job, a specially designed computer program has been created to take into account several technical variables, according to the type of problem (overcapacity of conductors and voltage drops). As a result of this approach, Daimon Engineering has been able to propose a set of alternatives for each problem, such as installation of air-break switches, feeders reconductoring, installation of capacitor banks, installation of voltage regulators etc. across the grid. To optimize the solutions, the developed computer program uses a posteriori approach in terms of preference articulation for solving multi-objective problems. In addition, to enhance the input data quality, another module, in the same software has been implemented to ease the user to find the alternatives to the network problems. This is accomplished by using concepts of Knowledge Management which will feed the software database with information from the organization memory, providing suggestions to the user in order to find the appropriate solutions.
Requirements for a location-based access control model

Location-based access control (LBAC) takes a mobile user's current position into account when making the decision if he should be allowed to access a particular resource like a file or service. For example using LBAC we can enforce that a nurse is only allowed to view a patient's data using a PDA when she stays at the premises of the hospital. There are a couple of research papers that propose data models for LBAC; almost all of them are extensions of Role-based Access Control (RBAC). In the paper at hand we first motivate the employment of LBAC by some application scenarios before we review the most important LBAC-models. Despite the body of research in the field of LBAC we could identify requirements that cannot be covered with the available models; these requirements are discussed in detail.
The growing impact of lyophilized cell-free protein expression systems

ABSTRACT Recently reported shelf-stable, on-demand protein synthesis platforms are enabling new possibilities in biotherapeutics, biosensing, biocatalysis, and high throughput protein expression. Lyophilized cell-free protein expression systems not only overcome cold-storage limitations, but also enable stockpiling for on-demand synthesis and completely sterilize the protein synthesis platform. Recently reported high-yield synthesis of cytotoxic protein Onconase from lyophilized E. coli extract preparations demonstrates the utility of lyophilized cell-free protein expression and its potential for creating on-demand biotherapeutics, vaccines, biosensors, biocatalysts, and high throughput protein synthesis.
VLSI implementation of LNS arithmetic unit by LUT partitioning

The main motto of every electronic industry is to achieve low power. An efficient way to achieve this is by adapting different architectural modifications in the design. This paper proposes low power implementation of Logarithmic Number System (LNS) arithmetic unit on a FPGA. Power reduction is achieved by partitioning technique. The influence of partitioned memory on the power dissipated and delay required for performing arithmetic operations like add and sub in LNS are measured. Two design parameters namely MSB and LSB techniques are exploited to minimize the power dissipation. Only one of the sub-LUT is activated upon each operation which depends on MSB or LSB and also on the sign of operands. The synthesis is carried out using Xilinx ISE and the hardware is implemented on ZYBO Zynq-7000 development board. A considerable amount of reduction in power was obtained.
Construction and analysis of a sequence-ready map in 4q25: Rieger syndrome can be caused by haploinsufficiency of RIEG, but also by chromosome breaks approximately 90 kb upstream of this gene.

The autosomal dominant disorder Rieger syndrome (RIEG) shows genetic heterogeneity and has a phenotype characterized by malformations of the anterior segment of the eye, failure of the periumbilical skin to involute, and dental hypoplasia. The main locus for RIEG was mapped to the 4q25-q27 chromosomal segment using a series of cytogenetic abnormalities as well as by genetic linkage to DNA markers. Recently, a bicoid-related homeobox transcription factor gene called RIEG has been cloned, characterized, and proven to cause the 4q25 linked RIEG. Its mode of action in the pathogenesis of RIEG was not conclusively proven, since most etiological mutations detected in the RIEG sequence caused amino acid substitutions or splice changes in the homeodomain. Through FISH analysis of a 460-kb sequence-ready map (PAC contig) around RIEG that we report in this paper, we demonstrate that the 4q25 linked RIEG disorder can arise from the haploid, whole-gene deletion of RIEG, but also from a translocation break 90 kb upstream from the gene. The data provide conclusive evidence that physical or functional haploinsufficiency of RIEG is the pathogenic mechanism for Rieger syndrome. The map also defines restriction fragments bearing sequences with a potential key regulatory role in the control of homeobox gene expression.