Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison Between Digital Subtraction Angiography and Real-time Fluoroscopy to Detect Intravascular Injection During Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Injections

Background and Objective Infrequent but serious complications of transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) are thought to be due to inadvertent intravascular injection (embolization of corticosteroid particulates via the vertebral or thoracolumbar radiculomedullary arteries). Recent studies suggest that real-time fluoroscopy often fails to detect intravascular injection and that digital subtraction angiography (DSA) may help reduce the incidence of accidental vascular injection. The goal of this prospective study was to evaluate the sensitivity of real-time fluoroscopy versus DSA in detecting intravascular injection during TFESI. Methods From September 2012 to July 2013, 239 consecutive patients were enrolled and received 249 fluoroscopically guided TFESI using the classic technique by one physician. We collected data of patient demographics, reason for TFESI, occurrence of accidental intravascular injection based on real-time fluoroscopic images and DSA, and spinal levels at which TFESI was performed. Intravascular spread was assessed initially using real-time fluoroscopy and subsequently with DSA. Results The overall incidence of intravascular injection was 12.4% (31/249). Real-time fluoroscopy failed to detect 9 cases of intravascular injections that were subsequently detected by DSA (real-time fluoroscopy sensitivity, 71.0%). Conclusions Digital subtraction angiography is superior to real-time fluoroscopy for detecting intravascular injections.
Disaster Communication on the Internet: A Focus on Mobilizing Information

While local television news is the most cited source for seeking news and information, many individuals also report finding their news from the Internet. During a disaster, people need access to accurate information and clear, specific instructions to help them act appropriately. Therefore, it is important to assess the volume and scope of emergency information being disseminated on local television news websites. This study analyzed the content of 293 emergency-related stories on 119 local television news websites. Mobilizing information (MI), information found in news that can cue people to act on preexisting attitudes, also was explored. Results showed that emergency information was present on nearly all (96%) of the sites examined. A majority of news stories focused on natural disasters (52%) and most frequently discussed multiple disasters (e.g., hurricanes and pandemics). Mobilizing information was present in fewer than half of the stories (44%); stories were more likely to contain identificational MI than either locational or tactical MI (p < .05). There were also significant differences in type of MI present according to U.S. region. More stories by wire and syndicated services included MI (p < 0.05). Implications for future research on inclusion of MI in general health and emergency stories are discussed.
Client influence on valuation: Perceptual analysis of the driving factors

Abstract Recent behavioural real estate research effort on valuation bias judgement suggests that client influence is an important source of such bias. This paper, therefore, considers the theoretical potentials for client influence to bias valuations, and empirically analyse the factors impacting on the extent of influence client may exert on estate surveyors and valuers. To accomplish this aim, questionnaires were randomly administered to samples of estate surveyors and valuers in Lagos Metropolis. Using mean rating point, the survey ranked three factors; integrity of valuer or valuation firm, importance of the valuation outcome to the client and client size, as the most significant clients’ influencing factors. The results of the Chi‐square test did not, however, provide any statistical relationship between the size of firm, amount of experience and education of estate surveyors and valuers and their perception on the comparative importance of the identified clients’ influencing factors.
Tourist Attitudes Towards the Environment

Abstract This article evaluates the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) as a tool for measuring the economic benefits of the provision of non-marketed tourism products. CVM was used to measure skiers' willingness to pay (WTP) for an environmentally friendly ski destination. Skiers from three different nationalities were surveyed, and although they were more likely to visit a resort that is environmentally responsible, not all of them would pay more for the privilege. Use of the CVM indicated a strong correlation between WTP and the cost of the holiday, level of income, and level of environmental conscience. The authors conclude that although CVM can provide useful data for tourism decision-makers, it does have its limitations.
Regulating prospero mRNA stability determines when neural stem cells stop dividing

During Drosophila and vertebrate brain development, termination of neural stem cell (neuroblast) proliferation and their differentiation require the conserved transcription factor Prospero/Prox1. It is not known how the level of Prospero is regulated to produce an expression peak in pupal neuroblasts, which terminates proliferation. Here, we use single molecule fluorescent in situ hybridisation to show that larval neurons and terminal pupal neuroblasts selectively transcribe a long prospero isoform containing a 15 kb 3′ UTR stabilised by binding to the conserved RNA-binding protein Syncrip/hnRNPQ. The long prospero isoform and Syncrip are both required to stop neuroblasts dividing. Our results demonstrate an unexpected function for mRNA stability in limiting neuroblast proliferation required for normal brain development. Given that Prox1 regulates vertebrate neuroblasts and other stem cells, our findings suggest widespread roles for regulated mRNA stability in stem cell biology.
Population and Development in the Third World

Allan and Anne Findlay argue that a nation's human population is a vital resource in the development process. Changes in its composition - increased life expectancy combined with a falling birth rate, for example - can have profound effects upon a society. Warfare and mass migration of male workers also have long-reaching effects on those left behind. The rapid growth of Third World populations has often incorrectly been identified as the major force preventing more rapid economic development. Population pressure has been known to generate technological breakthroughs. Their final chapter examines family planning programmes, and concludes by asking who benefits most from population policies and questioning the right of developed countries to advocate family planning programmes for Third World nations.
Competitive advantage in interfirm cooperation: old and new explanations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how different strategy theories complement each other with respect to understanding competitive advantage of a single firm that utilizes interfirm cooperation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an analytical review of three schools of strategy research in order to highlight their contributions, shortcomings, and interrelations with respect to sustainable competitive advantage and to clarify their explanations of competitive advantage in interfirm cooperation. On the basis of this analysis, an integrated perspective that captures industry, organization, and relationship attributes is proposed.Findings – The paper suggests that old and new paradigms in strategic management (industrial organization economics, resource‐based theories, and the relational view) are applicable alongside each other when analyzing how a single firm gains competitive advantage by utilizing interfirm cooperation. It is argued here that no paradigm can be used to substit.
Combining clinical, pathology, and gene expression data to predict recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND & AIMS In approximately 70% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by resection or ablation, disease recurs within 5 years. Although gene expression signatures have been associated with outcome, there is no method to predict recurrence based on combined clinical, pathology, and genomic data (from tumor and cirrhotic tissue). We evaluated gene expression signatures associated with outcome in a large cohort of patients with early stage (Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer 0/A), single-nodule HCC and heterogeneity of signatures within tumor tissues. METHODS We assessed 287 HCC patients undergoing resection and tested genome-wide expression platforms using tumor (n = 287) and adjacent nontumor, cirrhotic tissue (n = 226). We evaluated gene expression signatures with reported prognostic ability generated from tumor or cirrhotic tissue in 18 and 4 reports, respectively. In 15 additional patients, we profiled samples from the center and periphery of the tumor, to determine stability of signatures. Data analysis included Cox modeling and random survival forests to identify independent predictors of tumor recurrence. RESULTS Gene expression signatures that were associated with aggressive HCC were clustered, as well as those associated with tumors of progenitor cell origin and those from nontumor, adjacent, cirrhotic tissues. On multivariate analysis, the tumor-associated signature G3-proliferation (hazard ratio [HR], 1.75; P = .003) and an adjacent poor-survival signature (HR, 1.74; P = .004) were independent predictors of HCC recurrence, along with satellites (HR, 1.66; P = .04). Samples from different sites in the same tumor nodule were reproducibly classified. CONCLUSIONS We developed a composite prognostic model for HCC recurrence, based on gene expression patterns in tumor and adjacent tissues. These signatures predict early and overall recurrence in patients with HCC, and complement findings from clinical and pathology analyses.
Phase I Trial of Sorafenib in Combination with Gefitinib in Patients with Refractory or Recurrent Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: To evaluate the combination of sorafenib and gefitinib in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Experimental Design: In this dose-escalation trial, patients received oral sorafenib (200-400 mg) twice daily with gefitinib (250 mg orally) once daily to identify the recommended dose for phase II trials (RDP; part A). The pharmacokinetics of the RDP were characterized further in additional patients (part B) receiving single-agent gefitinib or sorafenib for 21 days followed by a 7-day washout with crossover to the other agent for an additional 21 days. Patients then received the combination of sorafenib plus gefitinib in 28-day cycles. Safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor efficacy were evaluated. Potential drug-drug interactions and the relationship between pharmacokinetics and toxicity were also assessed. Results: Thirty-one patients were treated (n = 12, part A; n = 19, part B). Most adverse events were grade 1/2. The most frequent grade 3/4 events included diarrhea and elevated alanine aminotransferase (both 9.7%). One dose-limiting toxicity occurred (part A: elevated alanine aminotransferase at 400 mg twice daily). Gefitinib had no effect on sorafenib pharmacokinetics. However, gefitinib Cmax (26%) and area under the curve (38%) were reduced by concomitant sorafenib. One patient had a partial response; 20 (65%; n = 8, part A; n = 12, part B) had stable disease ≥4 months. The RDP was sorafenib 400 mg twice daily with gefitinib 250 mg once daily. Conclusions: Sorafenib combined with gefitinib is well tolerated, with promising efficacy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Studies to further investigate the significance of the reduction in gefitinib exposure by sorafenib are warranted.
A contribution to the automation and to the evaluation of open-system software architectures

Recently, companies are getting better at identifying their business expectations: they need an architecture that is in line with these latter. This explains why Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) grew markedly these last years and why more and more organizations are attracted by this challenge; its strengths (reusability, costs benefits and productivity increase) perfectly correlate with companies needs. This technology could bring a lot of benefits but there may also appear some major complications while disrupting the company organization to adopt it. First and foremost among these is the risk of not being able to favorably answer to expectations in terms of quality of services. As these risks are distributed through all the services, the question of evaluating the quality of SOAs has recently arisen, especially prior to switching to an SOA. This paper presents a model (the SOAQE model) which has been validated by the software engineering community as the groundwork for the implementation of our prototype and whose mission is to decompose any service oriented architecture with the aim of evaluating it easier, and a tool (the SOAQE tool) which has been imagined by our team to assess the quality of an SOA. The latter offers a new way of collecting the results of the quality evaluation of an SOA as we intend to get a finite value plus an advanced graphical visualization of the results.
Potential Benefits of Combination Therapy as Primary Treatment for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Objective We analyzed the effectiveness of combination therapy (CT) for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) and the utility of intratympanic dexamethasone injection (ITDI) reapplication as salvage treatment for ISSNHL refractory to CT. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Academic university hospital. Subjects and Methods We reviewed 229 patients with ISSNHL and divided these patients into 2 groups according to treatment: systemic steroid therapy (SST) and CT groups. The SST group received prednisolone therapy. The CT group also received ITDI daily. Patients who demonstrated no recovery (<10 dB) after initial treatment were defined as refractory and received salvage ITDI therapy: ITDI reapplication in the CT group and ITDI application in the SST group. Results Hearing recovery rates were 77.8% (77/99) in the CT group and 60.8% (79/130) in the SST group. The difference was statistically significant (P = .011). Initial pure-tone audiometry and vertigo were affective factors on hearing recovery rates in the CT group. After salvage therapy, hearing improvement of 10 dB or greater was noted in 6 of the 22 (27.3%) patients in the CT group and 16 of the 51 (31.4%) patients in the SST group. The difference in efficacy of salvage therapy between the CT and SST groups was simply not significant (P = .612). Conclusions Combination therapy was more effective for ISSNHL in achieving hearing gain than SST alone. Furthermore, ITDI reapplication for ISSNHL refractory to CT was as effective as salvage ITDI for ISSNHL refractory to SST.
Isolation and Characterization of Griffithsin, a Novel HIV-inactivating Protein, from the Red Alga Griffithsia sp.*

Griffithsin (GRFT), a novel anti-HIV protein, was isolated from an aqueous extract of the red alga Griffithsia sp. The 121-amino acid sequence of GRFT has been determined, and biologically active GRFT was subsequently produced by expression of a corresponding DNA sequence in Escherichia coli. Both native and recombinant GRFT displayed potent antiviral activity against laboratory strains and primary isolates of T- and M- tropic HIV-1 with EC50 values ranging from 0.043 to 0.63 nm. GRFT also aborted cell-to-cell fusion and transmission of HIV-1 infection at similar concentrations. High concentrations (e.g. 783 nm) of GRFT were not lethal to any tested host cell types. GRFT blocked CD4-dependent glycoprotein (gp) 120 binding to receptor-expressing cells and bound to viral coat glycoproteins (gp120, gp41, and gp160) in a glycosylation-dependent manner. GRFT preferentially inhibited gp120 binding of the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 2G12, which recognizes a carbohydrate-dependent motif, and the (mAb) 48d, which binds to CD4-induced epitope. In addition, GRFT moderately interfered with the binding of gp120 to sCD4. Further data showed that the binding of GRFT to soluble gp120 was inhibited by the monosaccharides glucose, mannose, and N-acetylglucosamine but not by galactose, xylose, fucose, N-acetylgalactosamine, or sialic acid-containing glycoproteins. Taken together these data suggest that GRFT is a new type of lectin that binds to various viral glycoproteins in a monosaccharide-dependent manner. GRFT could be a potential candidate microbicide to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and AIDS.
Plagiarism Education: Strategies for Instructors

Plagiarism among college and university students is a growing concern. Some authors feel that plagiarism is an issue that is here to stay. Several research studies focus on self-reported plagiarism rates. In these studies, students report on the frequencies of their engagement in plagiarism. Although these studies are helpful in determining plagiarism rates, they are only an initial step. Other research on plagiarism examines reasons why students plagiarize, and one of the recurring reasons is that students are unclear regarding what plagiarism entails and how to avoid it. Research on plagiarism needs to examine plagiarism education strategies for instructors and their effectiveness. Students are who are educated on plagiarism may plagiarize less. This paper will share a number of strategies centering on plagiarism education that educators can use in their classrooms with their students. The activities suggested can be modified by instructors to fit the needs of their classes.
The unbearable lightness of skill: the changing meaning of skill in UK policy discourses andsome implications for education and training

The paper traces how the meaning of ‘skill’ has broadened considerably since the 1950s through an examination of the relevant policy literature. It stresses the central role of both the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) and Further Education Unit (FEU) in re-defining ‘skill’ in the late 1970s and 1980s. Core (or key) skills, which have come to dominate contemporary education and training debates, are seen as an extension of this agenda. Recent usage of the term, skill, is found to be more applicable to a vision of a low skill economy than that of a high skill one, presenting policy makers with range of difficult problems with regard to vocational education and training (VET) policy. I'm not against skills as such … so long as it really is skills we're talking about. (Hart 1978:205) … nothing is more false than the claim that, for a given assertion, its use is its meaning. On the contrary, its use may depend upon its lack of meaning, its possession of wholly different and incompatible meanings in different contexts, and the fact that, at the same time, it as it were emits the impression of possessing a consistent meaning. (Gellner 1973:42)
Analytical evaluation of a second generation assay for chromogranin A; a dual-site study

*Corresponding author: Yolanda B. de Rijke, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, E-mail: y.derijke@erasmusmc.nl Johannes G. Krabbe: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Medisch Spectrum Twente, Medlon BV, Enschede, The Netherlands Phillip J. Monaghan and Joanne Russell: The Christie Pathology Partnership, Manchester, UK Letter to the Editor
Health disparities--less talk, more action.

During the past decade, hundreds of articles have been published documenting the existence of racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care — a data deluge that has led many observers to suggest that it is time to stop documenting disparities and turn our efforts to doing something about them. Three articles in this issue of the Journal once again document the existence of disparities — albeit with a slightly different twist — by looking at time trends.1–3 For most of the areas studied, disparities between white patients and black patients have not substantially improved during the past .
Making tourism work for the poor: Strategies and challenges in southern Africa

This article analyses strategies for 'pro-poor tourism' (PPT), ie strategies that increase the benefits to poor people from tourism development. Based on an international review of six pro-poor tourism case studies, it outlines the wide range of pro-poor tourism strategies used and their impacts to date, with particular focus on southern African case studies. By analysing their progress, problems and the critical factors influencing them, the article identifies implications for the way forward. This review underpins four propositions. First, despite commercial constraints, much can be done to enhance the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction, and a 'PPT' perspective assists in this endeavour. Secondly, PPT strategies can, and should be, incorporated by all actors in tourism, whether in government or business, at local or policy level. Thirdly, a wide range of impacts on poor people, going well beyond jobs, need to be recognised and enhanced. Finally, PPT strategies are difficult, but particularly relevant in southern Africa given the challenges of economic and political transformation, as well as the opportunity to influence international discussions on 'sustainable tourism' at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.
Reply to “Comments on Reply to Comments on “Wideband Coupled-Line Filters With High-Impedance Short-Circuited Stubs” ”

The author (Ahn) would like to thank the commenters (Juan and Enrique) for their continuous concern and interest. The second comments appear to be the same as the first ones, and the suggested characteristic impedance is believed to be incorrect at Θ = 90 °, which will be elucidated in a manner different from the first reply.
Management Forecasts at Walgreen Company: The Best Laid Plans

This paper provides a unique comparison of a firm? s own confidential financial forecasts and what actually transpired. In January 1990 the Walgreen Company, the national leader in the drugstore industry by sales and profit measures, generated five-year financial projections solely for internal use. They reveal how Walgreen Company planned to allocate its expanding annual cash flows: despite reinvestment of cash into ongoing expansion at a record rate and periodic dividend increases, the Company planned to hold $1.05b in cash and marketable securities in 1994. In striking contrast to Walgreen? s internal forecasts, the firm held only $108.4m in 1994 -almost $1 billion less than projected. This paper examines in detail the causes and consequences of the deviations from the company? s plans. While many financial ratio measures indicate excellent performance over this period, other data hint that agency concerns may well be relevant even in a high growth firm like Walgreen Company. The findings in this paper suggest that whether in the future companies like these will be able to successfully defend themselves against the perils raised by Jensen (1993) depends vitally on a firm? s ability to adapt and respond as its growth opportunities change.
Tri-Band Fractal Patch Antenna for GSM and Satellite Communication Systems

Due to their smaller size and light weighted structures patch antennas are accustomed in modern communication Technology. With additional size in reduction, micro strip antennas are commonly used in handsets, GPS receivers etc. This paper presents a novel design of fractal shape patch antenna using U-slot on patch and defected ground structure. Due to slots on patch and ground, tri-band resonating response is attained with maximum gain and directivity of 4.22dB and 6.51dBi showing high impedance bandwidth and radiation efficiency. The antenna showed good VSWR of 1.63 to 1.02 thus, showing high efficiency. As evident in the simulation results, the proposed antenna has been found useful for W-LAN, GSM, Radio Satellite, Fixed Satellite Services (RSS) & (FSS) and satellite communication systems.