Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successful treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia in a patient with ataxia telangiectasia

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a rare autosomal recessive multisystem disorder characterised by cerebellar degeneration, immunodeficiency and cancer predisposition. Around 10% of AT patients develop lymphoid malignancies, but the development of myeloid leukaemia with AT (AT‐AML) is extremely rare, and there have been no previous publications regarding suitable therapies. Here, we first describe a successful therapeutic experience in a patient with AT‐AML (FAB‐M1) who attained remission after induction therapy and maintained stable disease for a year. To minimise therapy‐induced toxicity, low‐dose induction was applied first, though this was obviously insufficient and the patient subsequently responded well to dose‐intensified short‐term chemotherapy. In this report, we suggest a curative therapeutic approach for AT‐AML, though the issue of how best to manage patients with cancer complicated by immunodeficiency remains undecided.
Aboriginal Early School Leavers On- and Off-Reserve: An Empirical Analysis

Dans cet article, grâce aux données du fichier maître de l’Enquête auprès des peuples autochtones, nous analysons les déterminants du décrochage scolaire avant l’obtention d’un diplôme d’études secondaires chez les Autochtones, en tenant compte de deux facteurs : l’âge et le fait de vivre ou non dans une réserve. En matière de politiques publiques, certains phénomènes sont particulièrement importants : les taux de décrochage précoce sont négativement reliésà la présence d’uneécole secondaire dans la communauté où les individus habitent, au fait que le programme scolaire comporte un apprentissage pourtant sur l’histoire ou la réalité des peuples autochtones et au fait d’avoir un enseignant ou un aide-éducateur autochtone. Une analyse de décomposition du décrochage précoce par statuts résidentiels indique qu’une grande partie du tauxélevé de décrochage des Autochtones vivant dans des réserves est attribuableà des caractéristiques observables dont plusieurs peuventêtre modifiées grâceà des politiques appropriées visant par exempleà accroître les possibilités d’emploi ouà mettre en place des programmes scolaires et des environnements d’apprentissage adaptés aux différences culturelles.
Are Politics Local?

This article measures, compares, and analyzes the degree to which local factors, be they candidate qualities or district characteristics, affect electoral politics. It applies Morgenstern and Potthoff’s components-of-variance model to 56 parties or coalitions to measure the “local vote” and shows that only in some cases do local factors manifest themselves in voting patterns. To explain this finding, the authors argue that the type of executive system, ideological cohesion, and a country’s ethnic heterogeneity combined with federalism are all strongly tied to the local vote patterns. Statistical tests also show that in spite of the large literature on the incentives that electoral systems can offer to candidates to pursue a personal vote, the electoral system does not have a clear impact on the local vote.
Abdominal Wall Lift Versus Positive-Pressure Capnoperitoneum for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective:To compare intraoperative cardiac function, postoperative cognitive recovery, and surgical performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy with abdominal wall lift (AWL) versus positive-pressure capnoperitoneum (PPCpn). Summary Background Data:AWL has been proposed as an alternative approach to PPCpn to avoid adverse cardio-respiratory changes. However, the workspace obtained with the AWL is less optimal than PPCpn and previous studies documenting delayed postoperative recovery of consciousness following PPCpn have not assessed mental alertness despite its importance. Methods:Forty operations were randomized into AWL and PPCpn. A standard anesthetic protocol was followed. Cardiac indices were measured with an esophageal Doppler machine. An auditory vigilance test was used to measure alertness level following extubation. All operations were videotaped and human reliability assessment techniques were used to identify surgical errors. Results:There was a significant reduction in cardiac output during the first 20 minutes following CO2 insufflation in the PPCpn group, whereas in the AWL group it did not exhibit any significant change. Patients in AWL arm had better vigilance scores at 90 and 180 minutes following extubation compared with the PPn group (P < 0.05). Significantly more surgical errors were observed during surgery with AWL than with PPCpn (7.1 ± 1.1; versus 2.9 ± 0.4; P = 0.001). Conclusions:The AWL approach avoids fall in cardiac output associated with PPCpn during laparoscopic surgery and is associated with a more rapid recovery of postoperative cognitive function compared with PPCpn. However, AWL increases the level of difficulty in the execution of the operation.
The Effect of Cultural Distance on Tourism: A Study of International Visitors to Hong Kong

This study focuses on the impact of cultural distance on the behavior of international pleasure tourists who visited Hong Kong. It analyzes data drawn from the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Visitor Profile Report, and tests whether cultural distance has a similar impact on behavior as noted in previous studies examining physical distance. The study concludes that cultural distance exerts a modest impact on such attributes as demand, travel party composition, trip profile, behaviors, expenditure and satisfaction.
The Bias in Price Elasticity Estimates Under Homothetic Separability: Implications for Analysis of Peak-Load Electricity Pricing

This article demonstrates that the assumption of a homothetically separable utility function places a priori restrictions on the parameters of the demand system. If these restrictions are unwarranted, an open question if they are not explicitly tested, they will lead to biased price elasticity estimates. In particular, we show that the uncompensated own-price elasticities must be smaller than the negative of the expenditure shares; that is, the price elasticity of peak electricity demand must be less than the negative of the share of expenditure devoted to peak electricity. This finding is probably not new to economists familiar with consumer demand analysis. Nevertheless, many recent studies of consumer demand for electricity under time-of-day rates explicitly impose this restriction. The resulting price elasticity estimates are usually quite large in absolute value (.5 to .8); but they are the product of restrictive a priori assumptions as well as information embodied in the sample data. The results of .
Different mechanisms for use‐dependent depression of two GABAA‐mediated IPSCs in rat hippocampus.

1. The mechanisms involved in the use‐dependent depression of GABAA,fast and GABAA,slow, two GABAA‐mediated IPSCs in the rat hippocampal slice preparation, were investigated by observing the effects of paired‐pulse depression and of baclofen and CGP 35348 on monosynaptic inhibitory currents recorded from CA1 pyramidal neurons. 2. The second of a pair of evoked responses that consisted of both inhibitory components was depressed and decayed more rapidly compared to the first at an interpulse interval (IpI) of 200 ms. This effect was due to a decrease in the amplitude of GABAA,slow, with no effect on the time constant of decay or on the amplitude or time constant of GABAA,fast. 3. The time course of paired‐pulse depression of both components at IpIs ranging from 5 to 2560 ms was compared. GABAA,slow was depressed maximally by 55% at IpIs of 80‐160 ms. GABAA,fast was depressed maximally by 38% at 5 ms, and recovered exponentially with a time constant of 130 ms. 4. GABAA,slow was more sensitive than GABAA,fast to depression by baclofen. GABAA,slow was susceptible to complete block, with an ED50 of approximately 200 nM for (+/‐)‐baclofen and 100 nM for the active enantiomer, (R)‐(+)‐baclofen. GABAA,fast was blocked by only 50% by the highest concentrations of baclofen tested (10‐100 microM (R)‐(+)‐baclofen), with an ED50 of approximately 2 microM for (+/‐)‐baclofen and 1 microM for (R)‐(+)‐baclofen. Paired‐pulse depression of GABAA,fast was not occluded by 10 or 100 microM (R)‐(+)‐baclofen. 5. The GABAB antagonist CGP 35348 (0.4‐1 mM), prevented paired‐pulse depression of GABAA,slow at IpIs of 160 to 200 ms, and reversed the depression of GABAA,fast by baclofen, but had no effect on paired‐pulse depression of GABAA,fast at IpIs of 20 to 40 ms. 6. It is concluded that use‐dependent depression of GABAA,slow, but not GABAA,fast, is mediated by a presynaptic GABAB receptor. It is speculated that use‐dependent depression of GABAA,fast, which occurs only over a much faster time scale, may be due to rapid postsynaptic GABAA receptor desensitization.
Job Changes and Hours Changes: Understanding the Path of Labor Supply Adjustment

We use British panel data to investigate single women’s labor supply changes in response to three reforms that affected individuals’ work incentives. We use these reforms to identify changes in labor supply. There is evidence of small hours of work effects for two of such reforms. A third reform in 1999 instead led to a significant increase in single mothers’ hours of work. The mechanism by which the labor supply adjustments were made occurred largely through job changes rather than hours changes with the same employer. This is little overall effect of the reforms on wages.
Animal models of transfusion-related acute lung injury

Objective:To examine the existing animal models of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) for insight into disease pathogenesis. Data Source:The data were taken from published research and from our own experimental results. Results:Animal models have disproved the microaggregate theory of acute lung injury from blood transfusions. The two major hypotheses of TRALI, passively transfused neutrophil and human leukocyte antigen antibodies and biologically active lipids that accumulate in older, cellular blood products, have been replicated in animal models. The proposed two-hit model of TRALI is also supported by animal studies. A new in vivo mouse model of TRALI based on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I antibodies has replicated several features of human TRALI, focusing prominently on the role of neutrophils. Conclusions:Experimental animal models support both the antibody and lipid theories of TRALI. The essential role of neutrophils to producing lung injury is common to all existing models of TRALI. There is a lack of clinically relevant animal models that explain why transfusion of donor antibodies to cognate antigens in the recipient does not always lead to TRALI.
Determinant Selection and Macrophage Function in Genetic Control of the Immune Response

The immune response to insulin, in both mouse and guinea pig, is under control of H-linked immune response genes. When immunized with either pork or beef insulin in CFA, both strain 2 and 13 guinea pigs respond by antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation and synthesis of specific antibody. The specificities of the elicited antibodies and indistinguishable between these inbred strains. By constrast, strain 2 T cells recognized a distinct region of the A chain alpha loop consisting of amino acid residues 8, 9 and 10, while strain 13 T cells see an as yet undefined region of the B chain. H2b (A chain alpha loop responder) and H2d (B chain responder) mice similarly discriminate which areas of the molecule are recognized by their T lymphocytes. The function of the Ir gene in both the guinea pig and mouse appears to be an intramolecular selection of discrete regions within the antigen for recognition by the T cell. The data presented suggest that this function operates at the level of the macrophage.
Communication atmosphere in humans and robots interaction based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process

Communication atmosphere in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is estimated by integrating emotional states of humans and robots based on the concept of Fuzzy Atmosfield (FA), where human emotion is estimated from bimodal communication cues (i.e., speech and facial expression) and robot emotion is generated by emotional expression synthesis. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is used for dynamic weight calculation of emotional states of humans and robots in the FA model, in which a three-level hierarchy is adopted for the analysis of communication atmosphere and four acoustic cues (i.e., volume, rate, pitch, and duration) are utilized to calculate the dynamic weights. Experiment is conducted in a multi-modal emotional communication based humans-robots interaction (MEC-HRI) system, by which experimental results demonstrate the validity of proposed FA model. Understanding the communication atmosphere can help to facilitate smooth communication between humans and robots by adjusting robot behavior for emotion expression. The proposal is being planned for an atmosphere representation system for realizing causal communication in HRI and background music is being considered for the FA model.
Resolving Conflicts Within Multicultural Teams in Industrial Enterprises

The aim of this paper is to highlight the issue of resolving conflicts within multicultural teams in industrial enterprises. The authors build upon the concept of multiculturalism which seeks for possible ways to enable different cultures to coexist and the means of communication between them. The authors base the study on the assumption that extensively developed intercultural relationships lead to mutual understanding between people and consequently to less interpersonal conflicts. In the introduction part, the authors explain the importance of increased attention and interest in the area of multiculturalism. Industrial enterprises nowadays are increasingly aware of this issue as they become more open to different cultures and they are confronted with intensive international migration and previously isolated societies become more pluralistic. As a result of these processes, individuals are more frequently in contact with members of different cultures. “Think globally, act locally” has become a slogan for our society. This way of thinking and acting was transferred to almost all areas of life (economic, political, and educational) and it is applied in the context of schools, societies, and enterprises as well. The ability to understand and accept cultural diversity is becoming essential in the ordinary working environment. It helps to create connections between emotional perception and rational acceptance. In practice, the offer of training seminars about intercultural differences is widespread. Enterprises supporting the knowledge improvement of their own employees have understood that a friendly working environment leads to increased motivation, consequently reflected in their performance. The training focused on skills development in this area can help to reduce interpersonal misunderstandings, bring new ways of conflict resolution and harmony in the workplace and thereby also increase productivity. The authors focus on the “outdoor method” as an actual phenomenon, which is used in teaching the topic of tolerance towards cultural diversity. They describe the individual stages of this method
Reading ability and processing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy

We analysed the reading abilities and processing of 21 children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), 11 matched children suffering from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and 42 children receiving normal education. The principal result observed was that the DMD children exhibited a reading age which was significantly lower than the SMA children compared with their chronological age. These learning disabilities were not related to a deficit in non‐verbal performance intelligence, but psycholinguistic evaluation showed a deficit in verbal intelligence, especially in the Similarities and Arithmetic WISC‐R subtests, in phonological abilities, oral word repetition, and in digit span score. The results for the DMD children were heterogeneous, and ranged from normal to greater or lesser involvement. In an attempt to clarify the nature of this reading impairment in DMD children, the three groups (DMD, SMA, and normal control children) were tested by reading aloud a list of single words and non‐words. The DMD children were significantly impaired in reading non‐words, suggesting reading disability similar to dysphonetic dyslexia, the most frequent subtype of developmental dyslexia. These results are discussed in the light of psychometric data available for our DMD population and in the light of previous studies. The practical consequences of diagnosis on rehabilitation are very important. The precise description of the cognitive deficits seen in DMD is of value for future clinical and genetic studies.
The Role for Discretionary Fiscal Policy in a Low Interest Rate Environment

Although there is now widespread agreement in the economics profession that discretionary counter-cyclical'fiscal policy has not contributed to economic stability and may have actually been destabilizing at particular times in the past, there is one important condition when discretionary fiscal policy can play a constructive role: in a sustained downturn when aggregate demand and interest rates are low and when prices are falling or may soon be falling. This short note begins by summarizing the general case against using fiscal policy for stabilization. It next considers the argument for using a hyperexpansive' monetary policy to reduce the risk that a low rate of inflation will lead to a deflationary situation in which monetary policy becomes ineffective. Such a policy would increase the risk of asset price bubbles and of a misaligned exchange rate. Discretionary fiscal policy provides an alternative way to stimulate the economy when aggregate demand and interest rates are low and when prices are falling or may soon be falling. A stimulus can be achieved without increasing budget deficits if the fiscal policy acts by providing an incentive for increased private spending. Specific examples for the U.S. and Japan are considered.
The Iowa Department of Public Health Gambling Treatment Services: Four Years of Evidence

Please direct all correspondence to Dr. Howard J. Shaffer, Division on Addictions, Harvard Medical School, 350 Longwood Avenue, Suite 200, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. In addition, once final, copies of this report will be available from the Division on Addictions’ website (www.hms.harvard.edu/doa). Once connected to the homepage, click on the library and archives link to access and download a pdf file. You must have Adobe Acrobat reader to view this report.
ICA-based classification scheme for EEG-based brain-computer interface: the role of mental practice and concentration skills

This article explores the use of independent component analysis (ICA) approach to design a new EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) for natural control of prosthetic hand grasp. ICA is a useful technique that allows blind separation of sources, linearly mixed, assuming only the statistical independence of these sources. This suggests the possibility of using ICA to separate different independent brain activities during motor imagery into separate components. This work provides a natural basis for developing an efficient BCI based on single-source data obtained by independent component analysis of multi-channel EEG. The tasks to be discriminated are the imagination of hand grasping and opening and the resting state. The results indicate that the proposed scheme can improve the classification accuracy of the EEG patterns. Imagery is the essential part of the most EEG-based communication systems. Thus, the quality of mental rehearsal, the degree of imagined effort, and mind controllability should have a major effect on the performance of EEG-based BCI. We are going to examine the role of mental practice and concentration skills on the performance of BCI. The surprising results indicate that mental training has a significant effect on the performance of BCI over the primary motor cortex, temporal, and frontal areas. This supports the hypothesis that mental practice is an effective method for performance enhancement and motor learning skill.
Human Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Farm Household Earnings

Farm households in modern environments engage in multiple productive activities. In this paper we formulate and estimate a profit maximization model in which human capital enhances earnings through both activity-specific effects and across-activity factor allocation. Our purpose is to decompose these contributions. The model is estimated using Chinese household data that contain detailed activity information. We find that schooling and experience improve the allocation of family-supplied inputs between agricultural and non-agricultural uses, counting for 46 percent of their total returns. The evidence suggests that studies ignoring activity choice could substantially undervalue the role of human capital in development.
Management Trainee Core Competencies in the Hospitality Industry: Differences Between Managers and Scholars

The purpose of the study is to examine the core competencies of management trainees in the hospitality industry. Preferred management trainee core competencies are compared between industries and educational institutions, and fuzzy linguistic and grey situation decision-making models are applied to rank the importance of each core competency. The results indicate that preferred core competencies differ substantially between hospitality managers and scholars. Preliminary phases of the study yield the development of an instrument for determining the importance of certain core competencies in newly-hired management trainees. Finally, suggestions are given for hospitality and educational institutions attempting to improve the preparation of individuals for successful entry into the hospitality and tourism industry.
Human Resource Management and Performance in the UK Hotel Industry

This article examines the relationship between human resource management and performance in the UK hotel industry. Using data from over 200 hotels, the results demonstrate, first, that the relationship between HRM and performance is dependent upon the business strategy the hotel is pursuing; second, that hotels pursuing an HRM approach coupled with a quality focus within their business strategy perform best; and, finally, that HRM is more likely to contribute to competitive success where it is introduced as an integrated and coherent package, or bundle of practices.