Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumor neuroectodérmico primitivo renal (PNET): 26 casos. Estado actual de su diagnóstico y tratamiento.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) of the kidney and review the literature and the 25 cases previously reported as PNET. METHODS: A 39-year-old man who consulted for nephric colic is described. Ultrasound evaluation disclosed a mass arising from the left kidney. The clinical, radiological and pathologic features, treatment and differential diagnosis of small cell tumors are discussed, as well as the important role of immunohistochemical techniques (positive staining with O13 or 12E7 antibodies) and cytogenetic analysis [a characteristic chromosomal translocation t(11;22) (q24;q12) or variant translocation, such as t(21;22) (q22;q12), may be detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or polymerase chain reaction-reverse transcriptase (PCR-RT)]. RESULTS: Survival of our patient was 20 months. Only three of the 25 previously reported cases had a longer survival: 60, 48 and 24 months. Mean survival was 10 months. 95.24% of the cases were positive for NSE. Immunostaining (CD99) was performed in 16 patients and was found to be positive in all cases. Cytogenetic and molecular analyses were performed in 11 cases; PCR-RT was negative in two, as well as in the case described herein. CONCLUSIONS: PNET is a highly aggressive neoplasm that tends to recur locally and to metastasize. Despite the poor response to standard therapy combining surgical resection, postoperative irradiation and chemotherapy, the results might change due to current research on genetic therapy based on creating antisense oligonucleotides against the EWS-FLI 1 fusion gene.
Real Performance Evaluation On MQTT and COAP Protocol in Ubiquitous Network Robot Platform (UNRPF) for Disaster Multi-robot Communication

Disaster multi-robot has a significant role in a disaster area to do many tasks like detection of fire, search and rescue of victims, etc. It needs to build good communication between the operator and multi-robot and among multi-robot themselves to perform their tasks quickly and efficiently. This relates with the queue message protocol system. In this research, we implemented the queue message protocol on mesh topology and integrated it on the robot platform. Recently, development of IoT (Internet of Things) Technology causes development of communication protocol. MQTT and CoAP are among the communication protocols used for IoT needs. Â BothÂ protocols performance were compared when Â used and implemented into disaster multi-robot. We also integrated MQTT protocol and robotÂ platform python based (UNR-PF). The result shows that MQTT protocol is easier to beÂ implemented on to disaster multi-robot platform (UNR-PF) on mesh topology than CoAP, and that data transfer rate of MQTT protocol has data transfer rate higher than CoAP.
Job engagement, psychological well-being and organisational commitment: an empirical test of direct and indirect effects

This paper aims to investigate the direct effects of various components of job engagement with three dimensions of organisational commitment and indirect effects through the psychological well-being. This study empirically tested the relationships between the predictor and criterion variables of 431 IT employees working in India. Linear regression, multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis were employed to find out the strength of the relationship between the dimensions of engagement and commitment as well as to reveal to what extent psychological well-being influences to predict the commitment of employees. The results revealed that psychological well-being mediated the relationship between all the three dimensions of engagement and normative as well as continuance commitment. All the components of engagement have no indirect effect on affective commitment. The findings provide insights to implement the well-being programs in the organisation and vary the HR practices to obtain maximum effort from employees through engagement.
Cuidados Paliativos en pacientes oncológicos y no oncológicos con enfermedad terminal en un hospital de agudos

Fundamento y objetivo: describir distintas caracteristicas de las defunciones por cancer y procesos cronicos en un hospital de agudos con respecto a los cuidados paliativos. Material y metodo: estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo de 297 pacientes fallecidos por cancer, insuficiencia cardiaca cronica y enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva cronica. Se recogieron variables epidemiologicas, maniobras de reanimacion cardiopulmonar (RCP), sintomas, tratamientos paliativos y su duracion, participacion de la familia en las decisiones terapeuticas y retirada de medicacion no paliativa descritas en las historias clinicas de estos pacientes. Resultados: a pesar de que solo en el 32% de los casos se especificaba la orden de no realizar maniobras de RCP, el 8% de los pacientes fue sometido a resucitacion cardiopulmonar. En el 31% de los pacientes se retiro la medicacion no paliativa, de los cuales el 86% eran oncologicos. Conclusion: las medidas paliativas en cuanto al tratamiento y acceso a cuidados paliativos de los pacientes ICC y EPOC son menores que en los oncologicos
An empirical study of the performance of South African conglomerates

Existant financial theory is unable to explain whether on aggregate conglomeration is beneficial to either individual shareholders or to the economy. Both advantages and disadvantages can be listed for the conglomeration process and it is thus an empirical question as to whether or not shareholders really do benefit from conglomeration. In this paper the long-term profitability of conglomerates is examined in an attempt to determine whether or not such shareholders earn superior returns on aggregate. This is done by contrasting the stock market performance of a sample of South African (SA) conglomerates over a six-year period with the performance of the overall market. In addition, their performance is contrasted with that of a random portfolio of non-conglomerate companies. Finally, a pseudo-conglomerate portfolio was constructed for each conglomerate in such a way that each portfolio had the same asset structure as its matched conglomerate. The performance of the conglomerates was then contrasted with that of the pseudo-conglomerate portfolio using market returns, return on assets, and return on equity. The results indicate that on aggregate, the conglomerates significantly underperform non-conglomerates. This is consistent with the view that conglomeration is in the interest of management rather than that of the shareholders.
Bone Mineral Density Change Within 2 Years After Discontinuing Hormone Therapy In Postmenopausal Women

Objective To assess the rate of changes in vertebral and femoral BMD after HT cessation. Design Retrospective descriptive Study Setting Menopause Clinic, Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand Materials and Methods Medical records of 88 postmenopausal women who had taken HT for 1 to 5 years were reviewed. In all women, BMD was assessed within the last 6 months before HT withdrawal, then at least once within the first 24 months after treatment cessation. The rates of BMD changes were analyzed. Results Mean age of the assessed women was 54 + 5.6 years. Baselines BMD before starting HT were 0.979 + 0.130 g/cm 2 and 0.902 + 0.107 g/cm 2 at vertebral and femoral site, respectively. Mean vertebral BMD before and after discontinuation of HT were 1.004 + 0.134 g/cm 2 and 0.975 + 0.125 g/cm 2 while mean femoral BMD before and after discontinuation of HT were 0.903 + 0.108 g/cm 2 and 0.885 + 0.103 g/cm 2 . After cessation of HT, the rates of vertebral and femoral BMD changes were -1.33 % and -0.99%, respectively. The numbers of postmenopausal women who had accelerated bone loss of at least 3% were 23.9% and 18.2% at lumbar spines and femur, respectively. Conclusion According to this study, average rate of bone loss were not accelerated within the first 2 years after cessation of HT.
CYP2C0, VKORC1 and CYP4F2 Variant Frequencies in Patients on either Low or High Stable Warfarin Maintenance Therapy in the Ghanaian Population

IV LIST OF TABLES . XI LIST OF FIGURES . XIII ABBREVIATIONS . XIV CHAPTER ONE . 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.2 Pharmacogenetics and Warfarin maintenance dose . 3 1.2. 1 CYP2C9 and Warfarin maintenance dose. 4 1.2. 2 CYP4F2 and Warfarin maintenance dose . 5 1.2. 3 VKORC1 and Warfarin maintenance dose . 5 1.2. 4 Clinical Implications of the Genetic Mutation . 7 1.3 Problem Statement . 10 1.4 Justification . 11 1.5 Aim . 11 1.6 Specific Objectives. 11 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug. edu.gh
Brain magnetic resonance image analysis : segmentation and registration

Automatic and robust 3D brain magnetic resonance (MR) image analysis can assist in disease diagnosis, surgical planning and patient follow-up. As the most crucial techniques for brain image analysis, brain MR image segmentation benefits the pathology detection, volumetric morphometry, surface reconstruction and 3D visualisation; brain image registration helps with multi-modality image fusion, longitudinal analysis and population modelling. A variety of brain image segmentation and registration methods have been proposed. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of algorithm automation, accuracy and efficiency and the characteristics of existing methods for specific applications still can be more thoroughly investigated. Our work aims to obtain a good understanding in the underlying problems of brain image analysis, including brain segmentation, brain image registration and primary tissue classification, and propose possible improvements for the most popular and/or the most promising techniques. For brain segmentation, an improved Brain Extraction Tool (BET) method is proposed, which overcomes the weaknesses of the original method by enhancing the vertex displacement and embedding an independent brain surface reconstruction step during the iterative process of surface evolution. This strategy effectively deals with the surface self-intersection problem and results in faster algorithm convergence and better brain segmentation. For brain image registration, we propose a salient edge guided demons method, which uses salient edges detected in 3D scale-space rather than the whole image grid to drive the registration process. This method obtains statistically equal registration performance compared with the demons method using the whole image as demon points, while the execution time is dramatically reduced. For brain tissue classification, we compare the approaches using three main image based features: intensity, local prior and multi-atlas prior. The modelling of these features is described and the effectiveness of these features in brain tissue classification is investigated. This study provides a general guide on what image based features can be used for effective brain tissue classification.
Effects of Exchange Rate on Foreign Direct Investment Inflow in Nigeria

Aims: This study examined the place of exchange rate in determining foreign direct investment inflow into the Nigerian economy using time series data from 1980 to 2017. Study Design: Historical research design method was adopted for the study, it uses secondary sources and a variety of primary documentary evidence. Place and Duration of Study: Department of economics, faculty of social sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, between September 2010 and May 2018. Methodology: The method adopted for this study was the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation approach and error correction mechanism within the framework of dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimation. The analysis began with a verification of the unit root properties of the variables. The Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philips-Perron (PP) unit root procedures were employed and both tests indicate that the variables were integrated of either order I(0) or order I(1). This warranted the use of Bounds testing approach in determining the cointegration among the variables in the various equations in the selected countries. Analysis using the Bounds testing approach to cointegration confirmed the existence of long run relation among the variables of the models. In determining the impact of exchange rate on foreign direct investment inflow in Nigeria, we estimated an ARDL model. Results: The results indicate that exchange rate affects FDI in both the long and short run. The result also reveals that the impact of exchange rate on FDI in the short run continuous up to three periods after the initial disturbance. Conclusion: This study concluded that exchange rate appreciation will lead to increases in foreign direct investment inflow. The study therefore recommended, amongst others, that government should apply exchange rate regime that is competitive at the international market so as to attract more FDI inflow to the Nigeria economy.
What Farmer Types are Most Likely to Adopt Joint Venture Farm Business Structures?

Joint venture (JV) farm structures have the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of traditional family farms. However, such structures are not widely adopted within the farm business community. Furthermore, knowledge on the relative attractiveness of different JV models to farmers is limited. We use a choice experiment to explore what JV structures are preferred by Australian farmers, and how farmers&#8217; socio&#8208;demographic and attitudinal characteristics influence the type of JV structure preferred. A latent class analysis revealed significant unobserved preference heterogeneity amongst the population. We identify four latent classes that differ in their preferences regarding the number of JV partners, access to new machinery, and/or the opportunity for additional annual leave. All classes of farmers displayed positive preferences for operational decision&#8208;making with other JV partners, although they varied in their preferences towards final operational responsibility. The diversity in preferences shows that there is no &#8216;one size fits all&#8217; JV design, leaving opportunities for a range of JV decision models. Such flexibility in JV design is likely to have advantages when seeking JV partners, with a significant proportion of the sampled population open to collaborative decision&#8208;making models.
Disclosure of Fair Value Measurement in Goodwill Impairment Test and Audit Fees

Recent increases in the occurrence and magnitude of goodwill impairment charges highlight the increasing importance of the role of the auditor in goodwill accounting. This study examines the association between disclosures about the fair value measurement of goodwill and audit fees. We find that goodwill-related disclosures are positively related to audit fees, consistent with the idea that auditors increase their audit efforts to mitigate potential reputational and litigation losses (“audit risk effect”). Additionally, our results indicate that the information asymmetry and investor scrutiny moderate the association between goodwill-related disclosures and audit fees. One possible explanation is that auditors take goodwill-related disclosures as a signal of truthful goodwill accounting and this “signaling effect” partially offsets the “audit risk effect” of goodwill-related disclosures when information asymmetry or investor scrutiny is perceived as high.
Performance Comparison of PSO and Hybrid PSO-GA in Hiding Fuzzy Sensitive Association Rules

Explosion of data analysis techniques facilitate organizations to publish microdata about individuals. While the released data sets provide valuable information to researchers, it is possible to infer sensitive information from the published non-sensitive data using association rule mining. An association rule is characterized as sensitive if its confidence is above disclosure threshold. These sensitive rules should be made uninteresting before releasing the dataset publicly. This is done by modifying the data that support the sensitive rules, so that the confidence of these sensitive rules is reduced below disclosure threshold. The main goal of the proposed system is to hide a set of sensitive association rules by perturbing the quantitative data that contains sensitive knowledge using PSO and hybrid PSO-GA with minimum side effects like lost rules, ghost rules. The performance of PSO and Hybrid PSO-GA approach in effectively hiding fuzzy association rule is also compared. Experimental results demonstrate that hybrid approach is efficient in terms of lost rules, number of modifications, hiding failure.
Cotton Plantations in India: The Environmental and Social Challenges

Cotton, one of the principal cash crops of India, contributes significantly to the country’s economy and foreign exchange earnings. Approximately 60 million people depend on cotton production and related industries for their livelihoods. Although India has the largest cotton plantation area, in terms of yield, it is far behind. Even though cotton occupies only five percent of India’s total cultivable land, approximately 50 percent of pesticides used in India are consumed by the cotton cultivation, causing environmental pollution and health hazard. The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers further increases the problem. Many social issues such as child labor, women labor, extremely small landholdings and unviable livelihoods are associated with cotton plantations. Recently, due to the norms set up by the textile importing countries, these issues have assumed great importance. This article, after giving a brief introduction to the cotton plantation sector in India, will deal with the environmental and social challenges of the cotton plantations.
CEO duality and corporate performance: evidence in the Brazilian capital market

CEO duality is the practice in which the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has both the presidency of the company as the chairman of its Board of Directors. The literature so far shows the positive and negative impact on organizational performance when this happens. The approach of the Agency theory suggests that these two functions should be exercised by different people. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the relationship between CEO duality and the corporate performance of companies listed on the Brazil Index (IBrX100) in the 2008 to 2013 period. The sample comprised 70 companies, totaling 420 observations in a balanced panel data. To investigate the relationship proposed by this study, two statistical strategies were used: the method of Ordinary Least Squares and Probit. The results showed that the duality did not affect the organizational performance when compared to the other explanatory variables. However, the performance was affected by the boar size and by the share concentration, as they were the only significant variables, meeting the findings of Daily and Dalton (1997) and Moscu (2013). This result confirms the premise that when duality exists, decisions generally tend to be centralized to avoid loss of control by managers.
Italian Consumers’ Preferences for Pasta and Consumption Trends: Tradition or Innovation?

Abstract The aim of this study is to know Italian consumers’ preferences for Pasta and consumption habits. Food culture and concerns about food security and product innovation were investigated. A sample of Italian consumers was interviewed. Consumer’ profile, motivations and purchasing behavior were described. Relationships between observed variables and the latent constructs that explain the preferences were highlighted. There is asymmetric information between consumers and producers. Consumers believe Pasta is made with Italian grains, and therefore it is healthy and safe, although that’s not always the case. Intrinsic and extrinsic high quality, which derives from growing and production technologies, is required.
Impact of meteorological drought on agriculture in the Tensift watershed of Morocco

Located in the mid-west of Morocco, the Tensift watershed shelters the Takerkoust dam, which provides a part of the water used for irrigation of the N'fis agricultural area, which is an important irrigated area of the Tensift watershed. This study deals with the impact of droughts on water inflows to the Takerkoust dam and how the water shortage caused by droughts affects agricultural production in the N'Fis area. The standardized precipitation index (SPI) was used to illustrate the temporal evolution of drought periods. The trend observed on data showed that the Tensift watershed experienced a succession of droughts and humid periods of varying intensities. Periods of drought have negatively affected water inflows to the Takerkoust dam, and therefore the amount of water allocated to agricultural irrigation. Years that experienced droughts showed a restriction of more than 50% of water volume planned for irrigation. During periods of water scarcity, farmers reduce or completely avoid irrigation of annual crops to save water for irrigation of perennial crops. The water shortage for irrigation has led in some cases to a drop of up to 100% of the surface allocated to the production of annual crops.
Comparison of Methods to Digest Midsagittal Sections of Lung Tissue and an Evaluation of Their Effect on the Composition of Standard Silica

There is an association between exposure to silica dust and the development of silicosis. Studies have shown that the weight of silica dust retained in the lung is related to the presence and severity of silicosis. To study the dust retained in the lung a method of isolating it is required. Some studies suggest that lung tissue digestion methods, using acids, alkalis, or heat, alter the composition of silica dust retained in the lung. This study aimed to investigate whether methods used to digest lung tissue and isolate the retained dust are suitable for midsagittal sections of lung from deceased South African gold miners with silicosis. Ten methods were identified to digest lung tissue in the literature. Seven of these methods were carried out on midsagittal lung sections from cases with either moderate or marked sili- cosis. Of these, four methods digested a substantial portion of the lung
Of rights and rescue: a curious confluence?

ABSTRACT This article considers the recent proposals for the reform of corporate rehabilitation procedures. It examines the impetus for reform, the main features of the proposals and the underlying corporate insolvency landscape in the UK. The article attempts to determine whether the proposals are sufficiently robust in terms of balancing the interests of corporate creditors and the potential for corporate rescue, and how corporate creditors might respond if they consider that their rights are unduly or unfairly relegated. It also questions the utility of the proposed reforms for companies of all sizes, and whether there are omissions in terms of realising their objectives.