Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Economic Impact of Medical Migration: An Overview of the Literature

This paper provides an overview of the evidence and applied literature on medical migration. The economic impacts of medical migration have been little researched, causing a polarisation in the debate between its critics and its proponents. The paucity of quantitative studies may be explained by the lack of comprehensive and consistent data. Investments in statistical resources on medical migration are therefore a major priority. The available evidence suggests that particularly English-speaking countries in Sub-Saharan African countries and the Caribbean with relatively few health workers and a high disease burden suffer most from the medical brain drain. However, the exodus of health workers is not the main cause of the health status crisis, but rather a symptom of deeper underlying problems, which often extend beyond the health sector towards the broader economic and political environment. In such situations, medical brain drain does pose challenges for human resource management and health service delivery. The only effective and long-term sustainable policy is one that addresses the underlying push and pull factors. Reforms have to be country-led, but may be supported via temporary migration schemes, remittances, enhancement of diaspora networks, and financial aid for which a strong moral case exists.
Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 13 is associated with advanced stage prostate cancer.

PURPOSE In order to investigate the possible involvement of a tumor suppressor gene(s) on chromosome 13 in prostatic neoplasms, we performed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis on normal and tumor pairs from 36 prostate cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Pure DNA was obtained from carcinoma cells and normal epithelium by tissue microdissection. The DNA had previously been analyzed for LOH on chromosomes 8 and 16. After an initial pilot experiment to determine the region(s) of significant LOH from 9 loci on chromosome 13q, 3 loci at and near the Rb1 locus (D13S153, D13S1319, and D13S1303) were chosen for further study. RESULTS The overall rate of LOH on chromosome 13 was 27.3%. Four tumors exhibited LOH at all 3 loci. Two tumors exhibited LOH at D13S153 but not at the other, more telomeric loci; two additional tumors had loss at D13S1303 or D13S1319 but not D13S153. These data suggest that a tumor suppressor gene involved in prostate cancer may be located just telomeric to Rb1. Analysis of clinical and pathological data from carcinomas with and without loss shows that chromosome 13q LOH is correlated with advanced stage prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS Our LOH data suggests that there may be a tumor suppressor gene telomeric to Rb1 that is potentially involved in prostate cancer progression. Identification of this gene may be valuable in providing diagnostic and prognostic information for prostate cancer patients.
Natural History and Risk Factors of Early Respiratory Responses to Exposure to Cotton Dust in Newly Exposed Workers

Objective: A prospective study of newly exposed cotton workers was performed to investigate the natural history of respiratory symptoms and lung function changes. Methods: A total of 157 workers naive to cotton dust exposure were investigated by questionnaire, spirometry, and skin tests. They were examined before employment (baseline) and at the end of the first week, and the first, third, sixth, and 12th month after starting work. Acute airway response was defined as either a cross-first-shift or a cross-week fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). The longitudinal change of lung function over the year was also calculated. Five hundred seventy-two personal dust sampling and 191 endotoxin measurements were performed to assess the exposure. Results: Forty percent of workers reported work-related symptoms in the first week of the study. Smoking, endotoxin, and dust concentrations were risk factors for all work-related symptoms. Acute airway responses were witnessed after immediate exposure. Female status was the only factor found to be predictive of acute airway response. The mean longitudinal fall in FEV1 at 1 year was 65.5 mL (standard error = 37.2). Age, early respiratory symptoms, and early fall in cross-week FEV1 were found to predict the 12-month fall in FEV1. Cross-first-shift and cross-week falls in FEV1 reduced in magnitude during the course of the study. Conclusions: This study of workers naive to cotton dust exposure has demonstrated that respiratory symptoms and acute airway responses develop early following first exposure, and a tolerance effect develops in those workers with the continued exposure. Current smoking and increasing exposure predicts the development of work-related lower respiratory tract symptoms, while early symptoms and acute airway changes across the working week predict the longitudinal loss of lung function at 1 year.
ELECTRIC FIELD EFFECTS IN SELECTED BIOLOGIC SYSTEMS *

A traditional idea with respect to the interaction of electromagnetic fields and biologic systems is that specific effects can occur only when the incident energy is greater than the energy associated with a temperature that is characteristic of the biologic system (kT) . The functioning of the visual system and the effect of ionizing radiation are examples of these interactions. For energies less than kT, the only widely accepted effects are those due to heating. They occur at electric field strengths or incident energy densities that depend on frequency but that generally are quite high.l In the case of electrostatic fields (ESFs), an energistic analysis would lead to the conclusion that no biologic effects are possible, except for extremely high ESFs, because an insufficient amount of energy is coupled into the quasistatic biologic system. Indeed, the literature contains only a few reports of ESF-induced effects, which involved snails, fruit flies, moths, and There are, however, an increasing number of reports that describe biologic effects induced by electromagnetic fields at frequencies and intensities that do not induce heating.1*5-g Thus, in addition to energy-mediated interactions explainable by classic theory, there appears to be a second group unique to biologic systems. I n this group, the electromagnetic field does not supply the energy for a given process but merely furnishes the energy to control or trigger it. The more sensitive the particular system that is affected by the electromagnetic fields, the smaller is the energy required to produce the effect. Since low-level, trigger effects induced by electromagnetic fields do occur in mammalian systems, the question arises whether such effects could be induced by ESFs. In addition to framing the question as a parallel to the observed electromagnetic field effects, the question derives independently from the reports that consider the effect of direct electrical current on biologic systems. A variety of experiments have
A natural variant of type I antifreeze protein with four ice‐binding repeats is a particularly potent antifreeze

A 4.3‐kDa variant of Type I antifreeze protein (AFP9) was purified from winter flounder serum by size exclusion chromatography and reversed‐phase HPLC. By the criteria of mass, amino acid composition, and N‐terminal sequences of tryptic peptides, this variant is the posttranslationally modified product of the previously characterized AFP gene 21a. It has 52 amino acids and contains four 11‐amino acid repeats, one more than the major serum AFP components. The larger protein is completely α‐helical at 0 °C, with a melting temperature of 18 °C. It is considerably more active as an antifreeze than the three‐repeat winter flounder AFP and the four‐repeat yellowtail flounder AFP, both on a molar and a mg/mL basis. Several structural features of the four‐repeat winter flounder AFP, including its larger size, additional ice‐binding residues, and differences in ice‐binding motifs might contribute to its greater activity. Its abundance in flounder serum, together with its potency as an antifreeze, suggest that AFP9 makes a significant contribution to the overall freezing point depression of the host.
Poor compliance with ankle-foot-orthoses in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

AIM The aim of this study is to evaluate the compliance with ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) in patients previously prescribed and affected with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). METHODS Twenty-five Italian patients (8 males 17 females; mean age: 41.6 years, range 16-54) with severe bilateral footdrop (leg-sole angle alpha >105 degrees ) alone or associated with other problems (rotation, plantarflexor failure, knee flexor failure) were examined by a physiatrist (with measurement of the leg-sole angle alpha' with their footwear) and interviewed by a psychologist. RESULTS Only 5 patients (20%) used AFOs (3 prefabricated polypropylene AFOs, 2 custom-made short AFOs incorporated in high-top boots) with satisfactory functional results (alpha' <=94 degrees ; reported increased mobility and no more falls). The interview revealed that all patients had a bad relationship with their own body. The 3 subjects using prefabricated AFOs said that they hated them and one of them complained of pain. Patients not using AFOs justified their decision with statements such as: ''I am not yet ready to accept them'' (n=3) or ''I can still manage without them for a while'' (n=2) or both (n=15). Four patients had experienced pain during the trial, 2 had not found proper shoes to accommodate them and 12 were absolutely not interested in AFOs and, therefore, had not gone to an orthotist. CONCLUSION Compliance with AFOs is poor. Patients with CMT discard AFOs because they highlight their disability, are not essential for their limited daily walking and are uncomfortable. We suggest that prescription of AFOs be accompanied with psychological support and that research of more comfortable and cosmetically acceptable solutions for the problem of footdrop be stimulated.
Effects of green tea catechins with or without caffeine on glycemic control in adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND The effect of green tea catechins (GTCs) with or without caffeine on glycemic control is controversial. OBJECTIVE We aimed to identify and quantify the effects of GTCs or GTC-caffeine mixtures on glucose metabolism in adults. DESIGN A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify relevant trials of GTCs with or without caffeine on markers of glycemic control [fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting blood insulin (FBI), glycated hemoglobin (Hb A1c), and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)]. Weighted mean differences were calculated for net changes by using fixed-effects models. Prespecified subgroup analyses were performed to explore the influence of covariates on net changes in FBG and FBI concentrations. RESULTS Twenty-two eligible randomized controlled trials with 1584 subjects were identified. Pooled analyses showed that FBG (-1.48 mg/dL; 95% CI: -2.57, -0.40 mg/dL) decreased significantly with GTCs with or without caffeine, whereas FBI (0.04 μU/mL; 95% CI: -0.36, 0.45 μU/mL), Hb A1c (-0.04%; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.08%), and HOMA-IR (-0.05; 95% CI: -0.37, 0.26) did not. Subgroup analyses indicated that the glucose-lowering effect was apparent when the duration of follow-up was over a median of 12 wk. Overall, no significant heterogeneity was detected for FBG, FBI, Hb A1c, or HOMA-IR. CONCLUSIONS The meta-analysis showed that the administration of GTCs with or without caffeine resulted in a significant reduction in FBG. The limited data available on GTCs did not support a positive effect on FBI, Hb A1c, or HOMA-IR. Thus, more large and well-designed trials are needed in the future. This trial was registered at http://www.crd. york.ac. uk/prospero as CRD42012002139.
The Equilibrium and Optimal Timing of Price Changes

This paper studies the welfare properties of the equilibrium timing of price changes. Staggered price-setting has the advantage that it permits rapid adjustment to firm-specific shocks but the disadvantage that it causes price level inertia and therefore increases aggregate fluctuations. Because each firm ignores its contribution to inertia, staggering can be a stable equilibrium even if it is highly inefficient. In addition, there can be multiple equilibria in the timing of price changes; indeed, whenever there is an inefficient staggered equilibrium, there is also an efficient equilibrium with synchronized price-setting.
Tourism development, quality of life and exogenous shocks. A systemic analysis framework

The purpose of this paper is to propose an analytical framework describing a trinity relationship between tourism development (TD), quality of life of residents (QoL), and shocks or disturbances (SD) (defined here as occurrences, expected or unexpected, outside the dominion of both TD and QoL, but capable to impact both). The impacts of TD on QoL have been studied on numerous occasions in the literature, but the possible effects of QoL on TD have only been implicitly considered in a number of studies. Moreover, the influence of SD on both TD and QoL has only been tacitly covered in the literature, so that the overall relation between these three constructs has remained unstructured, and, thus, incompletely formulated. This unfinished specification has left a gap in the understanding of the behavior of TD and a failure to fully recognize the potentials of QoL and SD as active factors that contribute to the trends and patterns of TD. The proposed framework contributes to a better understanding of both TD and QoL, thereby providing opportunities for their improvement. Additionally, understanding the possible implications of SD for both TD and QoL provides prospects for improving the preparedness and responsiveness, and potentially speeding up the recovery after unexpected events.
Does Credit Competition Affect Small-Firm Finance?

While relaxation of geographical restrictions on bank expansion permitted banking organizations to expand across state lines, it allowed states to erect barriers to branch expansion. These differences in states' branching restrictions affect credit supply. In states more open to branching, small firms borrow at interest rates 80 to 100 basis points lower than firms operating in less open states. Firms in open states also are more likely to borrow from banks. Despite this evidence that interstate branch openness expands credit supply, we find no effect of variation in state restrictions on branching on the amount that small firms borrow.
Cervix cancer. Treatment with combination vincristine and high doses of methotrexate

Patients with carcinoma of the cervix (31) and of the vulva (2) were treated with high doses of Methotrexate. The objective response rate was 17% with a median duration of 3 months. Three toxic deaths occurred. The response rate of high dose methotrexate in advanced and prior treated cervix cancer does not differ from that reported in prior studies with conventional doses of intravenous methotrexate. Cancer 43:459–464, 1979.
Intelligent time series fast forecasting for fashion sales: A research agenda

Forecasting for the time series sales data of fashion products is crucial for many fashion companies. However, both the traditional statistical methods and the more advanced intelligent artificial intelligence (AI) methods suffer serious drawbacks in which the former's performance depend highly on the time series data's features whereas the latter ones are slow. There is hence a need to call for the development of an intelligent time series forecasting system which is fast, versatile and can achieve a reasonably high accuracy. In this paper, we explore this issue and propose a research agenda for future studies around intelligent fast forecasting system for the prediction of fashion sales time series.
Hemoglobin E disorder: Newborn screening program

Hemoglobin E (Hb E) disorder is an important kind of hemoglobinopathy. It can be seen around the world with the highest prevalence in Southeast Asia. The screening for this disorder becomes the public health policies in many countries. The screening can be performed in several population groups. The newborn screening program for Hb E disorder is an important issue in pediatric genetics. In this brief review, the author discusses on important laboratory tests for screening for Hb E disorder in newborn.
Are social norms the best predictor of outcomes among heavy-drinking college students?

OBJECTIVE This research was designed to evaluate the relative contribution of social norms, demographics, drinking motives, and alcohol expectancies in predicting alcohol consumption and related problems among heavy-drinking college students. METHOD Participants included 818 (57.6% women) first-year undergraduates who reported at least one heavy-drinking episode in the previous month. In addition to providing demographic information (gender and fraternity/sorority membership) participants completed Web-based assessments of social norms (perceived descriptive norms regarding typical student drinking, injunctive norms regarding friends' and parents' approval), motives (social, enhancement, coping, and conformity), and expectancies and evaluations of positive and negative alcohol effects. RESULTS Regression results indicated that descriptive and injunctive norms were among the best predictors of college student drinking. With respect to alcohol problems, results indicated that coping motives accounted for the largest proportion of unique variance. Finally, results revealed that alcohol consumption mediated the relationships between predictors and problems for social norms, whereas coping motives, negative expectancies, and evaluation of negative effects were directly associated with alcohol problems despite having relatively weak or null unique associations with consumption. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study substantiate social norms as being among the best predictors of alcohol consumption in this population and suggest that drinking to cope is a better predictor of problems. The findings are discussed in terms of practical prevention and treatment implications.
An international investigation of the factors that determine conditional gold betas

We investigate the unconditional and conditional gold betas of four country-based gold industry portfolios. First, we document the similarity of unconditional gold betas across countries. Second, we find that the factors affecting conditional gold betas are different in the Australian and South African gold sectors relative to their North American counterparts. Only the gold bullion return volatility shows a negative association with conditional gold betas in Australian and South African gold mining firms. Moreover, gold price does not appear to play a systematic role in determining Australian or South African conditional gold betas. We discuss possible explanations for these findings.
Contralateral limb deficit after ACL-reconstruction: an analysis of early and late phase of rate of force development

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a unilateral anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) on maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and explosive strength of both the involved limb and the uninvolved limb. Nineteen male athletes completed a standard isometric testing protocol 4 months post-ACLR, while 16 healthy participants served as a control group (CG). The explosive strength of the knee extensors and flexors was assessed as RFD obtained from the slope of the force–time curves over various time intervals. Both muscle groups of the involved limb had significantly lower MVC compared to the uninvolved. The involved limb also had significantly lower RFD in the late phase of contraction (140–250 ms) for both knee extensors and flexors (P < 0.05). There was no difference in MVC between the uninvolved limb and the CG. However, RFD of the uninvolved limb was lower compared to CG for both knee extensors (0–180 ms; P < 0.01) and flexors (0–150 ms; P < 0.05). ACLR leads to lower MVC and explosive strength of the involved limb. As a consequence of potential crossover (presumably neural-mediated) effects, explosive strength deficits could be bilateral, particularly in the early phase of the contraction (<100 ms).
The Certification Role of Large Customers in the New Issues Market

Using a sample of 1,429 IPOs from 1997 to 2005, this paper examines the certification role of large customers in the new issues market. We find that IPO firms that have product market relationships with large customers experience higher valuation at the time of their IPOs compared to those without such relationships. This higher valuation is more pronounced when product market relationships are able to alleviate IPO uncertainties or ease product market frictions, when synergistic gains from the relationships are larger, and when large customers have stronger certifying abilities. We also find that IPO valuation is higher when product market relationships are effectively governed by interfirm arrangements such as customer equity ownership in IPO firms, long-term purchase agreements, and strategic alliances. The results are remarkably similar when we examine post-IPO long-run operating performance instead of IPO valuation. Finally, we find that large customers realize significant positive abnormal returns around their suppliers' preliminary prospectus filing dates, suggesting that some of the benefits from product market relationships accrue to large customers.
Data sharing on the cloud: A scalable proxy-based protocol for privacy-preserving queries

Outsourcing data on the cloud poses many challenges related to data owners and users privacy, specially when some data processing capabilities are delegated to the cloud infrastructure. In this paper we address the problem of executing privacy-preserving equality queries in a scenario where multiple data owners outsource their databases to an untrusted cloud service provider, accepting encrypted queries coming from authorized users. We propose a highly scalable proxy re-encryption scheme so that (i) the cloud service provider can return only the encrypted data that satisfies user's query without decrypting it, and (ii) the encrypted results can be decrypted using the user's key. We analyze the computation efficiency and the security of the scheme against proxy under the standard Diffie-Hellman assumption, reporting also some experimental results, which show encouraging speed up in comparison with previously proposed similar schemes.