Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre‐ and postnatal diagnosis of limb anomalies: A series of 107 cases

This is a 3‐year retrospective study of 107 cases presenting with limb anomalies detected either on prenatal ultrasound scan, or after birth. These limb malformations are developmental anomalies, and can be isolated, syndromic, or associated with multiple malformations. Cases were ascertained through the prenatal diagnosis center, the pediatrics department, and the feto‐pathology department. Several criteria were analyzed including sex ratio, prenatal diagnosis, karyotype, termination of pregnancies, clinical or pathological examination, pediatric or surgical and/or genetic assessment, and whether or not a diagnosis was made. Positional deformities and syndactyly were excluded. Limb anomalies were detected prenatally in 45% of the cases, and a diagnosis was made in 78%, including isolated, syndromic, or chromosomal anomalies. Sixty‐one per cent of the infants had follow‐up, either pediatric, surgical, or genetic. Prenatal multidisciplinary assessment is fundamental to assist with counseling, as is the post‐natal follow‐up of the infant. The diagnosis, if made, will obviously influence the information that will be given to the parents and the management of the malformation. If the pregnancy is terminated, feto‐pathological examination is essential to help make a diagnosis, and guide recurrence risks. We are currently undertaking a prospective study, and we will develop a protocol of investigations in the future, depending on the type of the malformation identified. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ethnicity and Deprivation are Associated With Blindness Among Adults With Primary Glaucoma in Nigeria: Results From the Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey

Purpose:We explored the risk factors for glaucoma blindness among adults aged 40 years and above with primary glaucoma in Nigeria. Participants and Methods:A total of 13,591 participants aged 40 years and above were examined in the Nigeria Blindness Survey; 682 (5.02%; 95 CI, 4.60%-5.47%) had glaucoma by ISGEO’s criteria. This was a case-control study (n=890 eyes of 629 persons): glaucoma blind persons were cases and glaucoma not-blind were controls. Education and occupation were used to determine socioeconomic status scores, which were divided into 3 tertiles (affluent, medium, deprived). We assessed sociodemographic, biophysical, and ocular factors by logistic regression analysis for association with glaucoma blindness. Multinomial regression analysis was also performed with nonglaucoma as the reference category. Results:A total of 119/629 (18.9%; 95% CI, 15.9%-22.4%) persons were blind in both eyes; 510 were controls. There was interethnic variation in odds of blindness; age, male sex, socioeconomic status, prior diagnosis of glaucoma, hypertension, intraocular pressure, and lens opacity were associated with glaucoma blindness. Axial length, mean ocular perfusion pressure, and angle-closure glaucoma were associated with blind glaucoma eyes. In multivariate analysis, Igbo ethnicity (OR=2.79; 95% CI, 1.03-7.57) had higher risk as was being male (OR=4.59; 95% CI, 1.73-12.16) and unmarried (OR=2.50; 95% CI, 1.03-6.07). Deprivation (OR=3.57; 95% CI, 1.46-8.72), prior glaucoma diagnosis (OR=5.89; 95% CI, 1.79-19.40), and intraocular pressure (OR=1.07; 95% CI, 1.04-1.09) were also independent risk factors for glaucoma blindness. Conclusion:Approximately 1 in 5 people with primary glaucoma were blind. Male sex, ethnicity and deprivation were strongly associated with blindness. Services for glaucoma need to improve in Nigeria, focusing on poor communities and men.
Arabidopsis nph1 and npl1: Blue light receptors that mediate both phototropism and chloroplast relocation

UV-A/blue light acts to regulate a number of physiological processes in higher plants. These include light-driven chloroplast movement and phototropism. The NPH1 gene of Arabidopsis encodes an autophosphorylating protein kinase that functions as a photoreceptor for phototropism in response to low-intensity blue light. However, nph1 mutants have been reported to exhibit normal phototropic curvature under high-intensity blue light, indicating the presence of an additional phototropic receptor. A likely candidate is the nph1 homologue, npl1, which has recently been shown to mediate the avoidance response of chloroplasts to high-intensity blue light in Arabidopsis. Here we demonstrate that npl1, like nph1, noncovalently binds the chromophore flavin mononucleotide (FMN) within two specialized PAS domains, termed LOV domains. Furthermore, when expressed in insect cells, npl1, like nph1, undergoes light-dependent autophosphorylation, indicating that npl1 also functions as a light receptor kinase. Consistent with this conclusion, we show that a nph1npl1 double mutant exhibits an impaired phototropic response under both low- and high-intensity blue light. Hence, npl1 functions as a second phototropic receptor under high fluence rate conditions and is, in part, functionally redundant to nph1. We also demonstrate that both chloroplast accumulation in response to low-intensity light and chloroplast avoidance movement in response to high-intensity light are lacking in the nph1npl1 double mutant. Our findings therefore indicate that nph1 and npl1 show partially overlapping functions in two different responses, phototropism and chloroplast relocation, in a fluence rate-dependent manner.
Dissemination of Price Sensitive Information and Management of Voluntary Corporate Disclosure

This paper aims to describe how 27 large UK case companies sought to adapt their City and stock market disclosure policies to cope with the changes brought about by the publication in March 1994 of the Stock Exchange's Guidance on the Dissemination of Price-sensitive Information. Legislators and regulators have long sought to define and regulate the corporate decision problem in the price-sensitive information area. This paper employs corporate case interview data to describe models of corporate behaviour and to investigate how the case companies have dealt with this problem area. The paper concludes by (a), considering the effectiveness of regulation in providing a clear boundary for corporate behaviour, and (b), by discussing the relationship between this research and another major field study of corporate disclosure management (Gibbins, Richardson and Waterhouse, 1990), developing the disclosure model that they present.
Low Serum Potassium in Mid Life Associated with Decreased Cerebrospinal Fluid Aβ42 in Late Life

Low serum potassium increases risk of hypertension and stroke, and cardiovascular factors increase the risk of Alzheimer disease (AD). We examined the association between serum potassium and the biologic marker cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-beta (Aβ42), which is decreased in Alzheimer disease patients. Psychiatric examinations, laboratory and other tests were conducted on a population-based sample of 1080 women aged 46 to 60 in 1968, with follow-ups in 1974, 1980, and 1992. In 1992, cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 levels were obtained from 81 women. Increasing serum potassium in 1968 was associated with increasing cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 (beta = 153.9, P = 0.041) in 1992 using age-adjusted linear regression. Compared with the lowest tertile of potassium, the middle (beta = 95.3, P = 0.138) and highest tertiles (beta = 193.5, P = 0.004) had incrementally increased cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 levels. Associations remained after controlling for blood pressure and other factors, and were similar among the 17 women in 1974 with available serum potassium. Potassium in 1980 and 1992 was not associated with cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42. Findings suggest low serum potassium in mid life, but not late life, is associated with low cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 levels in late life. It is possible potassium co-varies with another variable that is associated with cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42. Nonetheless, serum potassium is a modifiable risk factor and further examination of the potassium-dementia relationship is warranted.
Intrauterine surgery--choices and limitations.

BACKGROUND The past decade has seen much progress in intrauterine surgery. Randomized trials have documented the benefit of some procedures of this type for the unborn child. METHOD Selective literature review RESULTS Randomized trials have demonstrated the benefit of fetoscopic laser coagulation of placental anastomoses in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and of intrauterine surgery via hysterotomy for the repair of spina bifida. Other fetoscopic procedures have yielded promising initial results but are not yet supported by findings from randomized trials. Some intrauterine surgical procedures must still be considered experimental in view of the lack of randomized trials and the rarity of the conditions they are designed to treat. Fetoscopic laser coagulation for TTTS is by far the most common procedure in fetal surgery; TTTS arises in roughly 1 in 2500 pregnancies. The other procedures discussed in this article are performed much less often and for rarer indications. In general, intrauterine surgery is indicated only to treat conditions that would otherwise lead to intrauterine death or irreversible prenatal damage. CONCLUSION Intrauterine surgery is a rapidly developing field. Prenatal intervention by laser coagulation is indicated to treat severe TTTS, as its benefit has been shown in a randomized trial. Not enough evidence is yet available for the possible benefit of intrauterine surgery to treat myelomeningocele and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Other indications are experimental. When an indication for intrauterine surgery exists, the parents should be informed and, depending on their wishes, referred to a center where it can be performed.
A knowledge‐based potential function predicts the specificity and relative binding energy of RNA‐binding proteins

RNA–protein interactions are fundamental to gene expression. Thus, the molecular basis for the sequence dependence of protein–RNA recognition has been extensively studied experimentally. However, there have been very few computational studies of this problem, and no sustained attempt has been made towards using computational methods to predict or alter the sequence‐specificity of these proteins. In the present study, we provide a distance‐dependent statistical potential function derived from our previous work on protein–DNA interactions. This potential function discriminates native structures from decoys, successfully predicts the native sequences recognized by sequence‐specific RNA‐binding proteins, and recapitulates experimentally determined relative changes in binding energy due to mutations of individual amino acids at protein–RNA interfaces. Thus, this work demonstrates that statistical models allow the quantitative analysis of protein–RNA recognition based on their structure and can be applied to modeling protein–RNA interfaces for prediction and design purposes.
Residents’ Attitudes toward Tourism Development: a Literature Review with Implications for Tourism Planning

Planners are increasingly turning to tourism as a viable economic development strategy, as many communities experience industrial restructuring. Consequently, many residents are exposed to tourism for the first time, whereas established destinations experience increasing volumes of tourists. Planners are now challenged with understanding how the public perceives tourism in order to gain local support for tourism projects and initiatives. By exploring the literature on resident attitudes toward tourism development, this article examines (1) resident attitudes toward tourism in relation to socioeconomic factors; (2) spatial factors; (3) economic dependency; (4) resident and community typologies; (5) measuring residents’ attitudes tourism development; and (6) theoretical perspectives such as community attachment, social exchange theory, and growth machine theory. This literature review provides planners with a basis for initiating citizen participation processes related to tourism issues and identifying groups of people concerned about, or opposed to, tourism planning and development in their communities.
Inattentive Voters and Welfare-State Persistence

Welfare-state measures often tend to persist even when they seem to have become suboptimal due to changes in the economic environment. This paper proposes an information-based explanation for the persistence of the welfare state. I present a structural model where rationally inattentive voters decide upon implementations and removals of social insurance. In this model, welfare-state persistence arises from disincentive effects of social insurance on attentiveness. The welfare state crowds out private financial precautions and with it agents‘ attentiveness to changes in economic fundamentals. When welfare-state arrangements are pronounced, agents realize changes in economic fundamentals later and reforms have considerable delays.
Choice of Selling Mechanism at the IPO: the Case of the French Second Market

This study examines the choice of flotation mechanism within the framework of the French Second Market. Between 1983 and 1996, a firm that opted for a quotation on the Second Market, had the choice between lir an auction-like procedure lthere were two variantsr and liir a fixed-price introduction procedure. Several interesting results are presented. First, the choice for an auction-like procedure appears to be positively related to firm valuation uncertainty at the IPO. Second, the likelihood of opting for an auction-like procedure decreases as the reputation of the investment bank guiding the flotation increases. Third, the likelihood of opting for an auction is increasing in the number of secondary shares sold by venture capitalists and investment banks. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003.
Education and Signaling: Evidence from a Highly Competitive Labor Market

This paper directly tests for differences in returns to education between the employed and self‐employed in Hong Kong. Using a step‐function, we find significantly smaller returns for the self‐employed, suggesting that in the highly competitive labor market of Hong Kong education plays a signaling role. This pattern persists for both genders, when accounting for self‐selection into employment status and when accounting for self‐employed professionals who signal.
Developing graduate managers for hospitality and tourism

Development of managers is key to the future health of hospitality and tourism: sectors increasingly affected by trends in globalisation and pressures on competitiveness. Reporting on a round table event, driving forces affecting the development of the sectors are identified; major stakeholder views are offered and the ensuing discussion of graduate profiles was organised into three main scenarios: professional developers, portfolio strategists and pragmatic mavericks. The scenarios identify varying approaches for graduates, higher education institutions and employers. One outcome of the analysis is to note high levels of interdependency between these stakeholders in ensuring any desired outcomes and argues for long‐term, strategic co‐operation.
A financial model of flexible manufacturing systems planning under uncertainty: identification, valuation and applications of real options

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) have been considered to be essential for manufacturers to succeed in the uncertain market place. Flexibility typically comes at a price and is only valuable as a hedge against environmental uncertainty. It is important to determine an appropriate level of flexibility in the production system while considering the tradeoffs between its costs and benefits. This paper proposes to apply a real option theoretic approach to the modeling and analysis of various types of uncertainty involved in an FMS's operational environment. In comparison with financial options, real options in the context of an FMS, namely, production options, are identified and accordingly a pricing model for production options is proposed based on the option theory. Based on the valuation of production options, a general framework of flexibility planning is formulated. The real option approach surmounts traditional discounted cash flow analysis based valuation methods that tend to ignore the upside potentials to an investment from management flexibility. The proposed model is tested in a refrigerator company that deals with high product variety and uncertain demand.
Single step synthesis and organization of gold colloids assisted by copolymer templates

We report here an original single-step process for the synthesis and self-organization of gold colloids by simply incorporating gold salts into a solution prepared using polystyrene (PS)-polymethylmethacrylate copolymer and thiolated PS with propylene glycol methyl ether acetate as a solvent. The spin-coating and annealing of this solution then allows the formation of PS domains. Depending on the polymer concentration of the as-prepared solution, there can be either one or several gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) per PS domain. For high concentrations of Au NPs in PS domains, the coupling between plasmonic NPs leads to the observation of a second peak in the optical extinction spectrum. Such a collective effect could be relevant for the development of optical strain sensors in the near future.
Executive Pay and Firm Performance

This study examines the effects of executive compensation policy and organizational structure on the performance of 439 large U.S. corporations between 1981 and 1985. Companies with long-term incentive plans enjoyed significantly greater increases in ROE (return on equity) than did companies without such plans, and by 1985 long-term incentive plans had been nearly universally adopted by large corporations. Corporate success was not significantly related to the level of, or degree of equity in, executive pay, or to the steepness of pay differentials across executive ranks; it was, however, positively related to the extent of hierarchical structure, which appears to have been the primary mechanism for sorting individuals by human capital endowments and performance.
High Pressure Operation of the Photon-Assisted Cascaded Electron Multiplier

We present the operation of the recently introduced Photon Assisted Cascaded Electron Multiplier (PACEM) in xenon at high pressure. The PACEM is a multi step electron multiplier where the VUV electroluminescence produced in the electron avalanches is used for signal propagation: the VUV electroluminescence produced in the first element of the cascade induces the emission of photoelectrons from a CsI photocathode placed on the top-surface of the second element. These photoelectrons are further multiplied, via charge avalanche. A metallic mesh electrode placed between the first and the second elements of the cascade completely blocks the charge transfer between them. Optical gains of 103 were achieved in xenon at atmospheric pressure, dropping to 25 at 3.3 bar, for applied voltages of 700 and 1100 V, respectively. Taking into account the subsequent charge multiplication, total gains are higher than those obtained with a triple GEM and double THGEM.
Centralized class specific dictionary learning for wearable sensors based physical activity recognition

With recent progress in pervasive healthcare, physical activity recognition with wearable body sensors has become an important and challenging area in both research and industrial communities. Here, we address a novel technique for a sensor platform that performs physical activity recognition by leveraging a class specific regularizer term into the dictionary pair learning objective function. The proposed algorithm jointly learns a synthesis dictionary and an analysis dictionary in order to simultaneously perform signal representation and classification once the time-domain features have been extracted. Specifically, the class specific regularizer term ensures that the sparse codes belonging to the same class will be concentrated thereby proving beneficial for the classification stage. In order to develop a more practical approach, we employ a combination of an alternating direction method of multipliers and a l1 − ls minimization method to approximately minimize the objective function. We validate the effectiveness of our proposed model by employing it on two activity recognition problem and an intensity estimation problem, both of which include a large number of physical activities. Experimental results demonstrate that classifiers built in this dictionary learning based framework outperforms state of art algorithms by using simple features, thereby achieving competitive results when compared with classical systems built upon features with prior knowledge.
Torque and histomorphometric evaluation of c.p. titanium screws blasted with 25- and 75-microns-sized particles of Al2O3.

A comparison was made between screw-shaped c.p. titanium implants blasted with either 25- or 75-microns particles of Al2O3. The implant surfaces were investigated with respect to topography and composition before implantation in rabbit bone. Grit blasting with 25- or 75-microns particles produced two different surface roughnesses, but no significant difference in the surface composition for the two surfaces. After 12 weeks insertion time in the rabbit tibia and femur, a higher removal torque and more bone-to-metal contact was found for the implants blasted with 75-microns particles compared with the 25-microns-blasted ones.
Study on Diastolic Dysfunction in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and its Correlation with Glycosylated Haemoglobin (HbA1C).

INTRODUCTION Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) represents the first stage of diabetic cardiomyopathy preceding changes in systolic function, reinforcing the importance of early examination of ventricular function in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the incidence of asymptomatic LVDD in newly diagnosed normotensive cases of type 2 diabetes subjects, and its relation to glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C), age at the time of diagnosis, body mass index (BMI) and serum total cholesterol. AIM AND OBJECTIVE To study the incidence of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and its correlation with HbA1C in normotensive, newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was done in western U.P. on 100 patients of newly diagnosed (within 1 month) type 2 DM between patients 30 and 60 years of age, visiting the Medicine and Endocrinology outpatient Department of LLRM Medical College, Meerut. Patients with established type 2 diabetes and already taking antidiabetic treatment, cardiac diseases like valvular heart disease, ischemic and hypertensive heart disease, congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, renal failure, chronic pulmonary disease, severe anaemia and haemoglobinopathies were excluded from the study. These patients were informed about the study and informed consent was obtained before proceeding with the investigations. Patients selected were evaluated with relevant investigations like fasting and post prandial blood sugar, HbA1C level, lipid profile and 2D echocardiography to assess LVDD. These selected patients were divided in 2 groups; one with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and second group of subjects without LVDD. Various parameters like HbA1C, age, body mass index and serum cholesterol were evaluated between these 2 groups. Statistical analysis was performed using Student t-test, Chi-square and Fisher Exact-test. RESULTS Out of 100 patients 65 were males and 35 females. Mean age of the population was 50.08 ± 6.32 years. Overall incidence of LVDD was 41%. Grade 1 LVDD was most common. Mean HbA1C level of LVDD group was found higher as compared to those without LVDD. CONCLUSION LVDD is very common at the time of diagnosis of type 2 DM even in normotensive patients independent of confounding effect of hypertension, ischemia and BMI. HbA1C and age, were found to be strong indicators of LVDD in newly diagnosed cases of Type 2 DM.