Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age-related macular degeneration: diagnosis and management.

BACKGROUND Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blind registration in Western Europe and the third leading cause of blindness worldwide. METHODS The management of AMD is discussed with a review of current and new treatments. RESULTS Although there is no treatment for advanced dry AMD (geographic atrophy), there have been considerable advances in the management of neovascular AMD (nAMD). Established therapies for nAMD include laser photocoagulation and photodynamic therapy (PDT), but these have largely been superseded by agents which block the action of vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF agents). Current preventative strategies involve cessation of smoking and use of specific nutritional supplements to reduce the risk of developing nAMD. CONCLUSIONS There have been exciting advances in the treatment of nAMD and increased understanding of the genetics and pathogenic mechanisms involved will hopefully lead to the development of new therapies in the future.
Consumer-Driven Demand and Operations Management Models: A Systematic Study of Information-Technology-Enabled Sales Mechanisms

The consumer demand functions that drive traditional retail sales are the well-defined functions of price and product attributes (e.g., quality, style trends, etc.). However, these new sophisticated selling techniquesexamples are mixed sales channels, portals, group buying, and auctions, each of which is enabled by information technologies, the Internet, or bothare changing and expanding consumer-driven demand in many ways. The underlying pattern of demand created by these evolving mechanisms will be a marked departure from traditional factors driving consumer demand. To analyze and understand rational and strategic consumer demand, the editors have divided the book into five discrete sections that first consider rational consumer behavior and the endogenous decision making mechanisms behind it. They then present sections on organizational strategies, product strategies, operational strategies, and, finally, pricing strategies for managing rational/strategic consumer behavior. Together, this handbook provides the state-of-the-art OM models that will help the reader to understand and effectively respond to increasingly rational purchasing behavior. CONSUMER-DRIVEN DEMAND AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT MODELS has been developed by two of the leading researchers in the POM/Marketing interface. It is comprised of commissioned chapters by top research scholars in supply chain management, revenue management, and e-commerce among others, all of which are grounded in information technologies and consumer demand research.
Laser Effects On Dental Hard Tissues

The use of lasers in dentistry has been considered for over 20 years. Higher-energy density lasers were shown to fuse enamel but were potentially unsafe. Subsequently, low-energy density laser radiation was shown to affect artificial caries lesion formation. Recent studies have shown that carbon dioxide lasers can successfully be used at low-energy densities to fuse enamel, dentin, and apatite. Our studies have shown that specific wavelengths are highly efficient. These wavelengths are directly related to the infrared absorption regions of apatite. We have conducted studies with enamel and dentin, using pulsed CO2 laser radiation in the 9.32-μm to 10.49-μm region with energy densities in the 10 to 50 J.cm-2 range. This laser treatment caused surface fusion and inhibition of subsequent lesion progression and markedly improved the bonding strength of a composite resin to dentin. Similar studies have shown no pulpal damage or permanent deleterious effect on soft tissues. This improved understanding of the scientific rationale for the interaction of CO2 lasers with teeth can lead to several clinical applications. This will depend, however, on the development of a technology to direct a specific frequency laser beam precisely to a desired site.
Management of Acquired Coagulation Disorders in Emergency and Intensive-Care Medicine

Coagulation disorders usually confront the emergency physician as bleeding episodes or as abnormalities of laboratory tests. Bleeding has to be treated aggressively, while pathological coagulation tests should be related to a more differentiated diagnosis at first. The most common causes of acquired coagulation disorders are liver disease, vitamin K deficiency, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). More rarely, inhibitors, external factors such as drugs or extracorporeal circulation, or other diseases such as amyloidosis are present. Since localized hemorrhage is the most common bleeding source in liver disease, endoscopic and surgical therapeutic measures, respectively, are warranted. Careful and balanced substitution therapy according to laboratory findings should be initiated simultaneously and should consist of fresh frozen plasma (FFP), which contains all components of the coagulation system physiologically balanced. Prothrombin complex concentrates should be used in emergency situations only, keeping their potential hazards in mind. Adequate vitamin K substitution is indicated in liver disease as well as in coagulopathy due to vitamin K deficiency. Management of DIC primarily consists of aggressive treatment of the underlying disease. Substitution therapy is difficult and should be carefully monitored by the adequate laboratory tests. FFP is the adequate source of both procoagulants and inhibitors but may cause certain problems. Heparin therapy can be beneficial but is not recommended generally. Antithrombin III substitution cannot be assumed as established therapy so far. Inhibitors can lead to bleeding, but the most common inhibitor, lupus anticoagulant, rather predisposes to thrombosis. In bleeding patients with inhibitors against single clotting factors, treatment consists of adequate substitution before initiating the diagnostic workup.
Comparison of digital rectal examination, transrectal ultrasonography, and multicoil magnetic resonance imaging for preoperative evaluation of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE A prospective study was designed to compare the potentials of digital rectal examination (DRE), transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using integrated endorectal and pelvic phased-array coils for preoperative estimation of tumor volume and local extent of prostate cancer. METHODS Evaluation of 20 consecutive patients undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy included DRE, TRUS with a 7.5-MHz transducer, and MRI on a 1.5-tesla GE Signa system. Step sections (5 mm) of the entire specimen were performed, and tumor volume and percentage of gland involved were calculated. RESULTS DRE, TRUS, and endorectal and pelvic phased-array MRI showed 50, 75, and 95% of the cancers, respectively. There was a linear correlation on MRI between predicted tumor volume and pathological tumor volume (r = 0.82, p < 0.0001), but not between predicted volume on DRE or TRUS and real volume. The accuracy for detecting extracapsular penetration was 60% for DRE and TRUS and 79% for MRI. The accuracy for detecting seminal vesicle invasion was 60% for DRE, 66 for TRUS, and 89% for MRI. The negative predictive value for extracapsular and seminal vesicle extension was highest for MRI (85 and 93%, respectively). The accuracy for tumor location in the apex of the prostate was 30% for DRE, 47 for TRUS, and 89% for MRI. CONCLUSIONS MRI with integrated endorectal and pelvic phased-array coils satisfactorily predicted tumor volume and tumor extent preoperatively. Multicoil MRI can assist in decision making as it is valuable in the definition of patients that may benefit from surgery and can be of help for evaluating the risk of a positive margin, especially in the apical resection.
Virtual Misbehavior: Breaking Rules of Conduct in Online Environments

WELVE YEARS AGO, in the dead of winter, at the University of Oulu in Finland, a computer programmer named Jarkko Oikarinen created software for live, typed conversation among individuals and groups on the Internet. He called his software “Internet Relay Chat,” abbreviated as “IRC” (Oikarinen & Reed, 1993; see also Cheung, 1995; Reid, 1991; Surrat, 1996, pp. 27–29). Six years ago, in the dead of winter, at my apartment in Brooklyn, New York, I discovered Oikarinen’s creation and stumbled onto IRC for the first time. That fateful evening introduced me to life online in general, and in particular, to crime and punishment in virtual environments. What I encountered on IRC eventually led to the research I’m conducting for my doctoral dissertation. I’m studying the aspect of life in cyberspace that intrigues me the most: misbehavior in online environments. It seems that wherever people gather on the Internet to interact with each other, some folks make, follow, and enforce the rules of civilized online behavior, while others break those rules and misbehave. In my research, I’m examining the types of misbehavior in which people engage, the rules of conduct people break, and the ways people deal with such misbehavior in a variety of online environments. In this paper, I describe the path that led me to develop this research topic. My interest in online misbehavior grew out of experiences I had on IRC. On IRC, people gather in places they call “channels” to “chat” in real time by typing to each other. The more time I spent on IRC, the more I noticed things that drew my attention to misbehavior. Gradually, I came to suspect that dealing with misbehavior is a central part of life on IRC. Initially, I noticed that the IRC software itself includes features which anticipate a need to regulate conduct, as if predicting that people will misbehave. The original IRC program contained two features that remain key elements of the many versions of IRC released since 1988. First, every participant has access to an “ignore” command, which blocks incoming messages from selected other participants. Second, each IRC channel is controlled by certain participants called “operators. ” Channel operators have access to special commands (unavailable to ordinary users) to “kick” participants out of a channel or even “ban” them from entering a channel at all. Thus, individuals can ignore others whose comments they deem undesirable, and operators can kick and ban troublemakers so as to maintain order in their channels. These features of IRC (and there are others) provide built-in tools for dealing with misbehavior and regulating online conduct. The next hint I received that misbehavior figures prominently on IRC came from observing that IRC participants misbehave as often as they discuss rules of online conduct, which is to say, all the time. Misbehavior is a daily occurrence on IRC, something encountered routinely, dealt
International Accounting and Economic Development: The Interaction of Accounting, Economic, and Social Indicators

Accounting and Economic Development Diversity in International Accounting Accounting Information Adequacy and Macroeconomic Determinants of Economic Growth: Cross-Country Evidence Basic Needs and Economic Systems: A Sensitivity Analysis Lending to Developing Countries and the Welfare of Man: An Empirical Investigation Economic Freedom, Human Development, and Accounting Disclosure Requirements of Global Stock Exchanges: An Empirical Investigation Political, Financial, and Economic Risks and Accounting Disclosure Requirements of Global Stock Exchanges Human Development, Economic Development, and Accounting Disclosure Requirements of Global Stock Exchanges Managerial, Academic, and Professional Influences and Disclosure Adequacy: An Empirical Investigation Welfare of the Common Man and Accounting Disclosure Adequacy: An Empirical Investigation Levels of Financial Disclosure, by European Firms and Relation to Country Return and Risk Determinants of Prediction Performance of Earnings Forecasts Internationally: The Effects of Disclosure, Economic Risk, Alignment of Financial and Tax Accounting Economic, Political, and Civil Indicators and Disclosure Adequacy Disclosure Adequacy and Country Risk The Effects of Country Return and Risk Differences on Predication Performance of Earning Forecasts Cultural Studies and Accounting Research Cultural Determinism and Systematic Risk of Global Stock Exchanges Cultural Determinism and Compensation Practices Cultural Determinism and Professional Self-Regulation of Accounting Concepts Economic Freedom and Macro-Economic Determinants of Economic Growth: Cross-Country Evidence
The research of relationship benefits outcomes model in services markets

In recent years, as the relationship marketing becomes an important part of enterprises' marketing activities, more enterprises start to take seriously to the relationship with the customers, based on this, there comes the concept of relationship benefits. Scholars believe that the establishment of strong customer relationship should be an important means for an enterprise to gain competitive advantage. Enterprises hope the customers can take the largest benefits from the relationship and perceive the best relationship quality, as a result, enterprises hope to have the loyalty and positive word of mouth from customers. This paper firstly explores the basic dimensions of relationship benefits in services markets based on literature review for the past years, then analyzes the influence mechanism of relationship benefits on relationship quality and relationship marketing outcomes. Finally, this paper builds a relationship benefits outcomes model. The findings of this paper are directions for future research and managerial implications.
Utilization of e-commerce by commercial printing companies

Executive Summary There have been numerous changes in the printing industry over the past several years. The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL, 2004) notes that these changes are both cyclical and structural. Cyclical changes are those that are impacted by the upward and downward trends in the economy, while structural changes are those that impact the way we transmit information and how we do business. Examples of structural change include: • alternatives to print such as Internet, email, and CDs • mergers and acquisitions • automation technology. Structural changes have forced printing companies to redefine their business models and to expand their product and service offerings. Today's printing company is more likely a total solutions provider that realizes that value-added services such as fulfillment , variable data printing, and mailing will be the fastest growing services over the next two years (NAPL, 2004). Respondents participating in a study entitled Industry Trends in Fulfillment, Finishing and Distribution (Cummings & Chhita, 2004) conducted at the Printing Industry Center at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) were asked to list all value-added services offered by their company. The respondents were provided with a definition for value-added services and a list of services based on the latest trends in the industry. The majority of the value-added services listed were technology-based. Industry research at the time suggested that fulfillment was the primary value-added service being offered by printing companies. However, based on the results from the Center research, e-commerce was reported to be the number one service (71%) currently being offered, followed by fulfillment (52%). The unanticipated results prompted the researchers to consider whether the respondents had a clear understanding of the definition of e-commerce. If e-commerce had been previously explained, would it have generated the same response rate? This research was conducted in conjunction with the research on Media Distribution in the Printing Industry. The sample consisted of 16 U.S. printing company executives. Each participant was asked a set of three questions focusing on the definition and benefits of e-commerce. The primary objectives of this research were to: 1. to understand how print service providers define e-commerce 2. to understand who benefits from e-commerce services; the printer, the customer or the end user of printed materials 3. to explore how printing companies are utilizing e-commerce in their business strategies. 4 Analysis of the survey revealed the following key findings: • The definition of e-commerce …
Altered expression of nuclear factor-kappaB in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in chronic haemodialysis patients.

with the development of antibodies to fixed antigens in the glomerulus thought to be central [5]. These antibodies form in situ antigen–antibody complexes (Ag–Ab), leading to activation of complement and resulting in damage to the integrity of the GBM. The histopathological and clinical differences between the two diseases have been explained by such factors as differences in kinetics of antibody deposition, the role of complement and neutrophils and subsequent changes in the glomerular filtration barrier [5]. The development of glomerular crescents requires disruption of the GBM integrity sufficient to allow the efflux of cells and macromolecules into Bowman’s space [6]. More recent work has called these older theories into question, with emerging evidence that MN may be due to circulating rather than in situ Ag–Ab complexes, involving immunoglobulin subclass IgG4 [7]. It therefore remains unclear at present whether transformation of MN to CGN represents an increase in severity of a common underlying pathology or the development of a second separate process. In summary, given the previous case described [4] and the case we present here, conversion of MN to CGN should be considered a potentially reversible condition with appropriate immunosuppression therapy. Further research is required to clarify optimum treatment regimes.
Enterprise Statistics -at a Glance, 2008

Enterprise Statistics at a Glance 2008 brings together data from various Forfas publications, and from the Central Statistics Office and other bodies in a single, accessible format. It presents statistics on areas relevant to the performance of the Ireland’s enterprise sector: employment and output; international trade in goods and services; inward and outward foreign direct investment flows; and business R&D and innovation. Altogether, the statistics in this booklet highlight some of the key trends in the activities of enterprises based in Ireland and help describe how they are developing and changing over recent years.
Passenger Knowledge of Airline Safety Information

Five hundred passengers participated in an investigation into their knowledge of the pre-flight briefing and the safety card information. Although general knowledge was good (78%), a tendency was observed for passengers to overestimate their ability to recall some aspects of the pre-flight briefing and safety card. Males had a higher score on questions regarding safety information than females, although this difference may be due to the fact that the majority of business passengers are male, and that business passengers travel more frequently than any other passenger group. Some aspects of the pre-flight briefing and the safety card information were identified as requiring clarification in order to ensure that all passengers are to utilise the information correctly in an emergency. Self-reports of attention to safety information were high, with 79.9% of passengers reporting paying attention to the briefing on most flights, and 59.7% reporting reading the card on most flights. However, it is suggested that these percentages are likely to overestimate the actual percentage of passengers who pay attention. Frequent passengers reported paying the least attention to briefings and safety cards, though they also had more knowledge of safety information than less frequent passengers. To ensure the safety of all passengers, it is important that both frequent and infrequent passengers are motivated to pay more attention to safety information and to increase their knowledge. Included in the report are several suggestions made by passengers regarding methods which they believe, if used, could increase attention. Starting in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics, the Cranfield Institute of Technology was granted university status in 1969. In 1993 it changed its name to Cranfield University.
Clinical, structural, biochemical and X‐ray crystallographic correlates of pathogenicity for variants in the C‐propeptide region of the COL3A1 gene

Vascular Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (vEDS) is a heritable disorder of connective tissue caused by pathological variants in the COL3A1 gene, which encodes the α1 chain of type III collagen. Type III collagen is a major component of skin, arterial walls, and the gastrointestinal tract. Collagen III protein deficiency manifests as an increased risk of rupture, perforation, and dissection of these structures. The most disruptive gene variants affect the collagen helix via glycine substitutions or splice donor site mutations. The C‐propeptide region of COL3A1 includes exons 49–52 and has a crucial role in initiating the C‐terminal assembly of procollagen monomers in the early stages of collagen biosynthesis. Nineteen COL3A1 variants have previously been reported in these exons, of which four were associated with a severe vEDS phenotype. We identified two novel C‐propeptide missense variants; p.Pro1440Leu, p.Arg1432Leu, and a non‐stop mutation, c.4400A > T, p. (*1467Leuext*45). These variants produce variable phenotypes ranging from obvious acrogeria to classical or hypermobile EDS. A previously reported variant p.Lys1313Arg is of unknown clinical significance but likely benign, based on this study. Assigning disease pathogenicity remains complex, clinical phenotyping and crystal structure evidence being crucial. We briefly compare reported phenotypes for patients with missense variants in the C‐propeptide domain for other human collagen disorders including COL1A1 and COL1A2 (osteogenesis imperfecta). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The FYVE Domain of Early Endosome Antigen 1 Is Required for Both Phosphatidylinositol 3-Phosphate and Rab5 Binding

Early endosome antigen 1 (EEA1) is 170-kDa polypeptide required for endosome fusion. EEA1 binds to both phosphtidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) and to Rab5-GTP in vitro, but the functional role of this dual interaction at the endosomal membrane is unclear. Here we have determined the structural features in EEA1 required for binding to these ligands. We have found that the FYVE domain is critical for both PtdIns3P and Rab5 binding. Whereas PtdIns3P binding only required the FYVE domain, Rab5 binding additionally required a 30-amino acid region directly adjacent to the FYVE domain. Microinjection of glutathione S-transferase fusion constructs into Cos cells revealed that the FYVE domain alone is insufficient for localization to cellular membranes; the upstream 30-amino acid region required for Rab5 binding must also be present for endosomal binding. The importance of Rab5 in membrane binding of EEA1 is underscored by the finding that the increased expression of wild-type Rab5 increases endosomal binding of EEA1 and decreases its dependence on PtdIns3P. Thus, the levels of Rab5 are rate-limiting for the recruitment of EEA1 to endosome membranes. PtdIns3P may play a role in modulating the Rab5 EEA1 interaction.