Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TUTORIAL IN BIOSTATISTICS META-ANALYSIS : FORMULATING , EVALUATING , COMBINING , AND REPORTING

Meta-analysis involves combining summary information from related but independent studies. The objectives of a meta-analysis include increasing power to detect an overall treatment e! ect, estimation of the degree of bene"t associated with a particular study treatment, assessment of the amount of variability between studies, or identi"cation of study characteristics associated with particularly e! ective treatments. This article presents a tutorial on meta-analysis intended for anyone with a mathematical statistics background. Search strategies and review methods of the literature are discussed. Emphasis is focused on analytic methods for estimation of the parameters of interest. Three modes of inference are discussed: maximum likelihood; restricted maximum likelihood, and Bayesian. Finally, software for performing inference using restricted maximum likelihood and fully Bayesian methods are demonstrated. Methods are illustrated using two examples: an evaluation of mortality from prophylactic use of lidocaine after a heart attack, and a comparison of length of hospital stay for stroke patients under two di! erent management protocols. Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Yield Curve Slope and Monetary Policy Innovations

We separate changes of the federal funds rate into two components; one reflects the Fed's superior forecasts about the state of the economy and the other component reflects the Fed's reaction to the public's forecast about the state of the economy. Romer and Romer (2000) found that the Fed reveals information about inflation when it tightens monetary policy. Their research has implications for measuring monetary policy as well. When the Fed raises short-term interest rates it leads to some combination of increased inflationary expectations and an increased real rate. In this paper we estimate a structural VAR that allows us to separate out (identify) components of federal funds changes that are due to inflationary expectations (thus neutral) and that part which is contractionary. Our measure of monetary policy is the part of federal funds changes that exclude the Fed's revelation of its asymmetric information about future inflation.
Assisted reproductive technology results: Why are live‐birth percentages so low?

The present bioessay aims to analyze the impact of parental age, cause of infertility, embryo chromosomal anomalies, assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatments, and environmental and occupational exposures to xenobiotics on ART results, particularly on live‐birth percentages per transfer. Special attention is paid to analyzing the effects of these factors on the mitochondrial, genetic, and epigenetic traits of gametes and embryos to ascertain the molecular/cellular mechanisms responsible for the relatively low percentages of live births reported year after year in ART cycles. The bias of age distribution of women attending fertility clinics toward the late thirties and beyond and the high incidence of mosaicism found in pre‐implantation embryos emerge as the two biggest players in this scenario. Parental reproductive aging and some causes of infertility are associated with mitochondrial, genetic, and epigenetic alterations to gametes. ART treatments such as ovarian stimulation, gamete/embryo cryopreservation, oocyte in vitro maturation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in vitro culture system, and embryo biopsy may also induce epigenetic changes in gametes and/or pre‐implantation embryos. Finally, exposure to numerous environmental chemicals is linked to sperm genetic and epigenetic defects. Whereas the selective transfer of euploid blastocysts may improve implantation and pregnancy percentages, especially in reproductively older women, it does not guarantee the total absence of mitochondrial and/or epigenetic defects in embryos. The presence of induced and/or inherited DNA epigenetic disturbances in ART offspring is unlikely to be prevented, even by replacing the whole cytoplasm of oocytes using nuclear‐genome‐transfer technology. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 81: 568–583, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
EDUCATION OR INFLATION?: THE MICRO AND MACROECONOMICS OF THE BRAZILIAN INCOME DISTRIBUTION DURING 1981-1995

This paper investigates the increases in inequality observed in Brazil during the 1980s, as well as the declines in the first half of the 1990s. It also documents the more cyclical trends in poverty during the same period. Using static decompositions of inequality by household characteristics, it quantifies the importance of education, race, geographic location and demographic structure of the household as determinants of inequality levels. Decomposing inequality by factor components reveals that almost half of overall inequality is due to the distribution of self-employment incomes. The causes of changes in inequality differ across the two decades. The rise in inequality in the 1980s appears to have been driven by increases in the educational attainment of the population, in a context of highly convex returns, and by high and accelerating inflation. In the 1990s, the fall in inequality was associated with increasing equality between urban and rural areas, declining returns to education, and falling inflation. Poverty dynamics were closely associated with real wage levels.
Islet amyloid with macrophage migration correlates with augmented β-cell deficits in type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract Aims: Islet amyloid is a hallmark in type 2 diabetic subjects, but its implication in clinical features and development of islet pathology is still unclear. Methods: From 118 autopsy cases with type 2 diabetes, 26 cases with islet amyloid deposition (DA+) were selected. Twenty diabetic subjects without obvious amyloid deposition (DA−) matched for the age and diabetes duration and 20 non-diabetic subjects (ND) served for comparison. We examined the severity of amyloid deposition and its relationships with population of endocrine cells, expression of cell damage markers or macrophage infiltration. Correlation of clinical profile with islet pathology was also sought on the subset of the investigated patients. Results: β-Cell volume density was nearly 40% less in DA+ and 20% less in DA− when compared to ND. Severity of amyloid deposition correlated with reduced volume densities of β-cell and α-cell, and increased body mass index (BMI), but not with duration of diabetes, age or HbA1c. Amyloid-rich islets contained an increased number of macrophages mixed with β-cells with oxidative stress-related DNA damage, characterized by γH2AX expression, and suppressed (pro)insulin mRNA expression. Conclusions: In Japanese type 2 diabetic patients, islet amyloid was more common with severe β-cell loss and high BMI, associated with macrophage infiltration.
Investor perceptions of the benefits of political connections: Evidence from China's A-share premiums

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how foreign and domestic investors differ in their beliefs about the relative merits of a firm's political connections. Design/methodology/approach - – These differences are employed to explain cross-sectional variation in the previously documented premium in A-share prices relative to otherwise equivalent foreign currency denominated B-shares for Chinese firms. Findings - – Chinese domestic individual investors were excluded from owning B-shares of Chinese firms prior to February 20, 2001. The authors find that firms with more political connections have higher premiums and a smaller reduction in premiums associated with this event. Research limitations/implications - – This is consistent with domestic block holders deriving additional benefits from politically connected firms. Practical implications - – The findings also have important policy implications by showing that government can have a strong effect on the economy even without applying macro-policy tools. Social implications - – Government ownership in listed companies can result in discrepancies among classes of investors with respect to their valuations. Furthermore, the prohibition of short sales prevents arbitrage from correcting this bias, and eventually the role of the market in allocating resources efficiently is undermined. Originality/value - – The authors investigate the role of political connections as implied by the proportion of state ownership in explaining the A-share premium. Unlike previous studies that associate state ownership with political risk, the paper relates state ownership to political connections that are particularly beneficial to domestic large block shareholders. This interpretation is consistent with the findings and with previous literature on state ownership and political connections of Chinese firms.
Nonviolence in Ethnopolitics: Strategies for the Attainment of Group Rights and Autonomy

lowed was not ethnic war but protracted negotiations between Russian and Tatar officials that culminated, in February 1994, in a powerand revenue-sharing treaty that gave Tatarstan virtual independence and preempted open rebellion. In April 1999, the Canadian government took another step away from its long-standing opposition to autonomy for Native Americans and gave selfgovernment to the newly created, resource-rich territory of Nunavut, which
Platelet proteome reveals novel pathways of platelet activation and platelet-mediated immunoregulation in dengue

Dengue is the most prevalent human arbovirus disease worldwide. Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes syndromes varying from self-limiting febrile illness to severe dengue. Although dengue pathophysiology is not completely understood, it is widely accepted that increased inflammation plays important roles in dengue pathogenesis. Platelets are blood cells classically known as effectors of hemostasis which have been increasingly recognized to have major immune and inflammatory activities. Nevertheless, the phenotype and effector functions of platelets in dengue pathogenesis are not completely understood. Here we used quantitative proteomics to investigate the protein content of platelets in clinical samples from patients with dengue compared to platelets from healthy donors. Our assays revealed a set of 252 differentially abundant proteins. In silico analyses associated these proteins with key molecular events including platelet activation and inflammatory responses, and with events not previously attributed to platelets during dengue infection including antigen processing and presentation, proteasome activity, and expression of histones. From these results, we conducted functional assays using samples from a larger cohort of patients and demonstrated evidence for platelet activation indicated by P-selectin (CD62P) translocation and secretion of granule-stored chemokines by platelets. In addition, we found evidence that DENV infection triggers HLA class I synthesis and surface expression by a mechanism depending on functional proteasome activity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cell-free histone H2A released during dengue infection binds to platelets, increasing platelet activation. These findings are consistent with functional importance of HLA class I, proteasome subunits, and histones that we found exclusively in proteome analysis of platelets in samples from dengue patients. Our study provides the first in-depth characterization of the platelet proteome in dengue, and sheds light on new mechanisms of platelet activation and platelet-mediated immune and inflammatory responses.
Electron Trap Transformation Under Positive-Bias Temperature Stressing

Electron detrapping in the TiN/HfO2 gate n-MOSFET under dynamic positive-bias temperature instability (PBTI) is examined. Similar to hole detrapping under dynamic negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI), electron detrapping per relaxation cycle is a constant under a low oxide stress field (~ 5.5 MV/cm), independent of the number of times the transistor is stressed and relaxed, and it progressively decreases with the number of stress/relaxation cycles at a higher oxide stress field (~7 MV/cm). Analysis shows that the decrease is due to a portion of the electron trap states being transformed into deeper levels, thereby increasing the emission time of the trapped electrons. However, unlike hole detrapping, the decrease in electron detrapping is not accompanied by a correlated increase in the stress-induced leakage current, and it can be reversed with a moderate negative gate voltage. These differences from NBTI suggest that distinct defects are active under PBTI.
[Early femoral osteolysis following Charnley-Kerboull total hip arthroplasty combining a 22-mm zirconia head on polyethylene].

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY New bearings have been developed to reduce polyethylene wear. Zirconia ceramic is one proposal with attractive tribologic properties. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the clinical and radiological results at least two years after implantation in a continuous series of total hip arthroplasties combining a zirconia head with polyethylene socket. MATERIAL AND METHODS The series included 56total hip arthroplasties performed in 51 patients (30 females and 21 males), mean age 52.2 +/- 12 years (25-76 years). Prostheses were implanted for primary degenerative disease (43%) and dysplasia (27%). The femoral component was a stainless steel stem with a Morse cone measuring 11degrees 25' for 27 hips and 5 degrees 40' for 28 hips. A 22-mm stabilized yttrium tetragonal polycrystalline zirconia head (Y-TZP) was used. The transtrochanteric approach was used for all arthroplaties with implantation of a cemented Charnley-Kerboull prosthesis. Clinical outcome was assessed with the Postel-Merle-d'Aubligné (PMA) score. Acetabular cup wear and periprosthetic osteolysis were measured on successive AP x-rays of the pelvis. RESULTS Mean follow-up was 32 months (24-48). None of the patients were lost to follow-up. Mean function score at last follow-up was 17.8 +/- 0.2 (16-18) versus 12.2 +/- 2.6 preoperatively (Wilcoxon, p < 0.0001). There were no cases of implant migration (femoral or acetabular). An endosteal defect by femoral osteolysis in the calcar femoral was observed in 19 of 55 cases. It appeared early between first and second post-operative year and did not progress later. Its surface remained less than 1 cm2 in all cases. We were unable to identify any factor predictive of these osteolytic lesions. DISCUSSION The short-term clinical results with this type of arthroplasty was comparable with earlier results described with classical Charnely-Kerboull implants using a metal-polyethylene bearing. The Merkel osteolysis observed in this series occurred early for one-third of the hips with no measurable polyethylene wear. We suggest surgeons should be cautious about using the zirconia head. We are continuing our surveillance of these patients.
A parallel Lagrangian-ACO heuristic for project scheduling

In this paper we present a parallel implementation of an existing Lagrangian heuristic for solving a project scheduling problem. The original implementation uses Lagrangian relaxation to generate useful upper bounds and provide guidance towards generating good lower bounds or feasible solutions. These solutions are further improved using Ant Colony Optimisation via loose and tight couplings. While this approach has proven to be effective, there are often large gaps for a number of the problem instances. Thus, we aim to improve the performance of this algorithm through a parallel implementation on a multicore shared memory architecture. However, the original algorithm is inherently sequential and is not trivially parallelisable due to the dependencies between the different components involved. Hence, we propose different approaches to carry out this parallelisation. Computational experiments show that the parallel version produces consistently better results given the same time limits.
Accountability: a missing construct in models of adherence behavior and in clinical practice

Piano lessons, weekly laboratory meetings, and visits to health care providers have in common an accountability that encourages people to follow a specified course of action. The accountability inherent in the social interaction between a patient and a health care provider affects patients’ motivation to adhere to treatment. Nevertheless, accountability is a concept not found in adherence models, and is rarely employed in typical medical practice, where patients may be prescribed a treatment and not seen again until a return appointment 8–12 weeks later. The purpose of this paper is to describe the concept of accountability and to incorporate accountability into an existing adherence model framework. Based on the Self-Determination Theory, accountability can be considered in a spectrum from a paternalistic use of duress to comply with instructions (controlled accountability) to patients’ autonomous internal desire to please a respected health care provider (autonomous accountability), the latter expected to best enhance long-term adherence behavior. Existing adherence models were reviewed with a panel of experts, and an accountability construct was incorporated into a modified version of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. Defining accountability and incorporating it into an adherence model will facilitate the development of measures of accountability as well as the testing and refinement of adherence interventions that make use of this critical determinant of human behavior.
Quality of care for comorbid conditions during the transition to survivorship: differences between cancer survivors and noncancer controls.

PURPOSE Building on previous research documenting differences in preventive care quality between cancer survivors and noncancer controls, this study examines comorbid condition care. METHODS Using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) -Medicare database, we examined comorbid condition quality of care in patients with locoregional breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer diagnosed in 2004 who were age ≥ 66 years at diagnosis, who had survived ≥ 3 years, and who were enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare. Controls were frequency matched to cases on age, sex, race, and region. Quality of care was assessed from day 366 through day 1,095 postdiagnosis using published indicators of chronic (n = 10) and acute (n = 19) condition care. The proportion of eligible cancer survivors and controls who received recommended care was compared by using Fisher's exact tests. The chronic and acute indicators, respectively, were then combined into single logistic regression models for each cancer type to compare survivors' care receipt to that of controls, adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic variables and controlling for within-patient variation. RESULTS The sample matched 8,661 cancer survivors to 17,322 controls (mean age, 75 years; 65% male; 85% white). Colorectal cancer survivors were less likely than controls to receive appropriate care on both the chronic (odds ratio [OR], 0.88; 95% CI, 0.81 to 0.95) and acute (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.85) indicators. Prostate cancer survivors were more likely to receive appropriate chronic care (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.19 to 1.38) but less likely to receive quality acute care (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.87). Breast cancer survivors received care equivalent to controls on both the chronic (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.17) and acute (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.13) indicators. CONCLUSION Because we found differences by cancer type, research exploring factors associated with these differences in care quality is needed.
Performance of a real-time PCR assay in routine bovine mastitis diagnostics compared with in-depth conventional culture

Reliable identification of the aetiological agent is crucial in mastitis diagnostics. Real-time PCR is a fast, automated tool for detecting the most common udder pathogens directly from milk. In this study aseptically taken quarter milk samples were analysed with a real-time PCR assay (Thermo Scientific PathoProof Mastitis Complete-12 Kit, Thermo Fisher Scientific Ltd.) and by semi-quantitative, in-depth bacteriological culture (BC). The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the real-time PCR assay in routine use. A total of 294 quarter milk samples from routine mastitis cases were cultured in the national reference laboratory of Finland and examined with real-time PCR. With BC, 251 out of 294 (85·7%) of the milk samples had at least one colony on the plate and 38 samples were considered contaminated. In the PCR mastitis assay, DNA of target species was amplified in 244 samples out of 294 (83·0%). The most common bacterial species detected in the samples, irrespective of the diagnostic method, was the coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) group (later referred as Staphylococcus spp.) followed by Staphylococcus aureus. Sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) for the PCR assay to provide a positive Staph. aureus result was 97·0 and 95·8% compared with BC. For Staphylococcus spp. , the corresponding figures were 86·7 and 75·4%. Our results imply that PCR performed well as a diagnostic tool to detect Staph. aureus but may be too nonspecific for Staphylococcus spp. in routine use with the current cut-off Ct value (37·0). Using PCR as the only microbiological method for mastitis diagnostics, clinical relevance of the results should be carefully considered before further decisions, for instance antimicrobial treatment, especially when minor pathogens with low amount of DNA have been detected. Introducing the concept of contaminated samples should also be considered.
Inducible Macrolide Resistance inCorynebacterium jeikeium

ABSTRACT Corynebacterium jeikeium is an opportunistic pathogen primarily of immunocompromised (neutropenic) patients. Broad-spectrum resistance to antimicrobial agents is a common feature of C. jeikeium clinical isolates. We studied the profiles of susceptibility of 20 clinical strains of C. jeikeium to a range of antimicrobial agents. The strains were separated into two groups depending on the susceptibility to erythromycin (ERY), with one group (17 strains) representing resistant organisms (MIC > 128 μg/ml) and the second group (3 strains) representing susceptible organisms (MIC ≤ 0.25 μg/ml). The ERY resistance crossed to other members of the macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSb) group. Furthermore, this resistance was inducible with MLSb agents but not non-MLSb agents. Expression of ERY resistance was linked to the presence of an allele of the class X erm genes,erm(X)cj, with >93% identity to other ermgenes of this class. Our evidence indicates that erm(X)cj is integrated within the chromosome, which contrasts with previous reports for the plasmid-associated erm(X) genes found inC. diphtheriae and C. xerosis. In 40% ofC. jeikeium strains, erm(X)cj is present within the transposon, Tn5432. However, in the remaining strains, the components of Tn5432 (i.e., the erm and transposase genes) have separated within the chromosome. The rearrangement of Tn5432 leads to the possibility that the other drug resistance genes have become included in a new composite transposon bound by the IS1249 elements.