Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of UV index, latitude, and melanoma incidence in nonwhite populations--US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, 1992 to 2001.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the association between UV index, latitude, and melanoma incidence in different racial and ethnic populations in a high-quality national data set. DESIGN Descriptive study. SETTING Eleven US cancer registries that constitute the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER-11). PATIENTS Patients with malignant melanoma of the skin reported between 1992 and 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pearson correlation coefficients and regression coefficients were used to estimate the relationship of age-adjusted melanoma incidence rates (2000 US standard population) with the UV index or latitude within racial and ethnic groups. RESULTS A higher mean UV index was significantly associated with an increase in melanoma incidence only in non-Hispanic whites (r = 0.85, P = .001), although a nonsignificant association was noted in Native Americans (r = 0.42, P = .20). Negative, but not significant, correlations with incidence were observed in blacks (r = -0.53, P = .10), Hispanics (r = -0.43, P = .19), and Asians (r = -0.28, P = .41). Latitude also had a significant correlation with incidence only in non-Hispanic whites (r = -0.85, P = .001). A substantial portion of the variance in registry incidence in non-Hispanic whites could be explained by the UV index (R(2) = 0.71, P = . 001). CONCLUSIONS Melanoma incidence is associated with increased UV index and lower latitude only in non-Hispanic whites. No evidence to support the association of UV exposure and melanoma incidence in black or Hispanic populations was found.
Validating the DemTect with 18-Fluoro-2-Deoxy-Glucose Positron Emission Tomography as a Sensitive Neuropsychological Screening Test for Early Alzheimer Disease in Patients of a Memory Clinic

Objectives: The first study to validate the diagnostic value of the DemTect, a short neuropsychological screening test for dementia (8–10 min), using 18-fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in patients of a memory clinic. Methods: DemTect results were compared to the clinical diagnosis and to FDG-PET as a reference method for the early in vivo detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Results: 38 patients (age 65.2 ± 9.8 years, 16 men, 22 women) were investigated using clinical standard examination, FDG-PET, and cranial magnetic resonance imaging. According to NINCDS-ADRDA and Petersen’s criteria, 18 patients had dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and 13 patients received the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Compared to the clinical diagnosis, a DemTect cutoff score of ≤11 points demonstrated good sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (70.0%) for the detection of DAT, whereas the best cutoff score for MCI was ≤13 points with comparable sensitivity (84.6%) and specificity (85.7%). With regard to FDG-PET, the DemTect demonstrated excellent sensitivity (93%) and low specificity (50%) for the detection of AD-typical patterns of cerebral glucose metabolism (cutoff ≤13 points). Conclusion: DemTect is a favorable neuropsychological screening instrument for detecting cognitive dysfunction even in predementia stages of AD. For definite cross-sectional diagnosis, further diagnostic evaluation with higher specificity, e.g. comprehensive neuropsychological examination, FDG-PET or other biomarkers, is necessary.
Modelo cuantitativo ARIMAX- EGARCH para la predicción de la tasa de cambio colombiana (COP/USD)

La tasa de cambio COP/USD es una variable muy importante para la planeación financiera de compañías que enfrentan a diario el riesgo cambiario en Colombia. Por lo tanto, la capacidad de generar pronósticos y tener una herramienta para la toma de decisiones se hace fundamental. La investigación tiene como objetivo la construcción de un modelo econométrico para la realización del pronóstico diario de la tasa de cambio. El proceso se realizó por medio de un Modelo ARIMAX – EGARCH. Palabras-Clave: Tasa de cambio, ARIMAX, EGARCH ABSTRACT:
Gender‐adjusted and age‐adjusted economic inpatient burden of congestive heart failure: cost and disability‐adjusted life‐year analysis

The two components of disability‐adjusted life year (DALY), years of life lost (YLL) and years lived with disability (YLD), are underutilized in evaluating heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and in assessing the global burden of disease. We aim to describe both the direct (medical) and the indirect (morbidity and mortality) inpatient cost of congestive heart failure in a high‐income non‐Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Middle Eastern country in relation to YLL and YLD.
Financial distress prediction of Islamic banks using tree-based stochastic techniques

Financial distress is a socially and economically important problem that affects companies the world over. Having the power to better understand – and hence aid businesses from failing, has the potential to save not only the company, but also potentially prevent economies from sustained downturn. Although Islamic banks constitute a fraction of total banking assets, their importance have been substantially increasing, as their asset growth rate has surpassed that of conventional banks in recent years. The paper aims to discuss these issues. ,This paper uses a data set comprising 101 international publicly listed Islamic banks to work on advancing financial distress prediction (FDP) by utilising cutting-edge stochastic models, namely decision trees, stochastic gradient boosting and random forests. The most important variables pertaining to forecasting corporate failure are determined from an initial set of 18 variables. ,The results indicate that the “Working Capital/Total Assets” ratio is the most crucial variable relating to forecasting financial distress using both the traditional “Altman Z-Score” and the “Altman Z-Score for Service Firms” methods. However, using the “Standardised Profits” method, the “Return on Revenue” ratio was found to be the most important variable. This provides empirical evidence to support the recommendations made by Basel Accords for assessing a bank’s capital risks, specifically in relation to the application to Islamic banking. ,These findings provide a valuable addition to the limited literature surrounding Islamic banking in general, and FDP pertaining to Islamic banking in particular, by showcasing the most pertinent variables in forecasting financial distress so that appropriate proactive actions can be taken.
Bright Coherent Ultrahigh Harmonics in the keV X-ray Regime from Mid-Infrared Femtosecond Lasers

From Long to Short When you play a string instrument, you raise the frequency, or pitch, of the note by shortening the vibrating portion of the string: Drop the length in half, and you hear a harmonic at double the frequency. It is possible to do essentially the same thing with light waves by using selective excitation and relaxation processes of the electrons in crystals or high-pressure gases through which the beam of light is directed to produce light harmonics. Over the past decade, researchers have been optimizing the conversion of red light to the far edge of the ultraviolet, which corresponds to tens of harmonics. Popmintchev et al. (p. 1287) now show that mid-infrared light can undergo a process in high-pressure gas to generate ultrahigh harmonics up to orders greater than 5000 in the x-ray regime. An electron excitation process in a high-pressure gas converts infrared light into a well-confined beam of x-rays. High-harmonic generation (HHG) traditionally combines ~100 near-infrared laser photons to generate bright, phase-matched, extreme ultraviolet beams when the emission from many atoms adds constructively. Here, we show that by guiding a mid-infrared femtosecond laser in a high-pressure gas, ultrahigh harmonics can be generated, up to orders greater than 5000, that emerge as a bright supercontinuum that spans the entire electromagnetic spectrum from the ultraviolet to more than 1.6 kilo–electron volts, allowing, in principle, the generation of pulses as short as 2.5 attoseconds. The multiatmosphere gas pressures required for bright, phase-matched emission also support laser beam self-confinement, further enhancing the x-ray yield. Finally, the x-ray beam exhibits high spatial coherence, even though at high gas density the recolliding electrons responsible for HHG encounter other atoms during the emission process.
T‐Cell Reactivity to Wheat Gluten in Patients with Insulin‐Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

Dietary wheat gluten has been associated with the risk of diabetes in animal models of human insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). To evaluate the role of wheat gluten as a T cell antigen in human IDDM, we studied the cell‐mediated immune response to wheat gluten in patients with IDDM and in control subjects. The cellular response to gluten was measured by the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation test, and the results were expressed as a stimulation index (SI). We observed an enhanced cellular immune response to gluten (SI ≥ 3) in seven of 29 patients with newly diagnosed IDDM (24.1%), in six of 39 patients with a longer duration of IDDM (15.4%), and in two of 37 non‐diabetic controls (5.4%). Reactivity of T cells to gluten was associated with IDDM at diagnosis (P = 0.03), whereas patients with longer duration of IDDM did not differ from controls (P = 0.16). Responses of T cells to gluten were low in general: the median SI (range) was 2.0 (1–8.6) in patients with newly diagnosed IDDM and 1.5 (1–5.8) in control subjects (P = 0.03). Cellular responsiveness to gluten was not associated with HLA‐DQB1 risk alleles for IDDM in patients. Although T cell responses to gluten were slightly increased in newly diagnosed patients the responsiveness was rare, and thus our results do not support a major role of gluten in the pathogenesis of human IDDM.
Managing Flexible Work Arrangements in Government: Testing the Effects of Institutional and Managerial Support

Recent research indicated that flexible work arrangements cannot only bring benefits for individuals and organizations but also pose various challenges. This study examined the relationship between telework and employee turnover intention and the roles of institutional and managerial support in moderating the relationship. The results showed that turnover intentions of nonteleworkers are significantly different depending on one’s ability to choose. Nonteleworkers by barrier reported the highest level of turnover intention, whereas nonteleworkers by choice expressed the lowest, even lower than that of teleworkers. Managerial and institutional support for telework decreased the intention of teleworkers to leave the agency further.
Is Extended-Hours Trading Indicative of Subsequent Returns?

Trading outside the main session occurs between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and between 4:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. It is typically dominated by institutional investors. This study examines whether trading in the extended hours is predictive of future returns. The article shows that when significant new earnings information is released during the extended-hours sessions, the extended-hours returns are positively and significantly associated with the following main session returns and even with long-term drift returns. The signal based on the extended-hours return is incrementally beneficial in predicting the future returns beyond the earnings surprise signal. The evidence is consistent with an underreaction to information on earnings news days and suggests that the return reaction during extended trading hours can help predict the return drift after earnings disclosure.
The boundary of corporate social responsibility reporting: the case of the airline industry

ABSTRACT This paper explores the boundary of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. We present a conceptual analysis of boundary definitions and an empirical analysis of boundary construction in practice. Boundary is an important, yet under-analysed concept, as it specifies the limits of accountability: what activities stakeholders may expect an organization to report on. The adoption of a narrow boundary will omit many impacts from disclosure, reducing the usefulness of CSR reports. Historically, boundary has been unchallenged, based on financial reporting concepts of control and significant influence. Recent thought suggests boundaries should vary on an issue-by-issue basis rather than being applied universally on an organizational level. A thematic analysis of 15 CSR reporting guidelines was undertaken to identify what constitutes boundary within CSR reporting. The emergent 40 determinants were ordered and classified into three boundary constructs: reputation management; ownership and control; accountability. Reporting content of 35 airline companies was coded according to these constructs, on an issue-by-issue basis (using relevant global reporting initiatives [GRI] indicators). Correlation analysis indicates: the adoption of selective, narrow definitions of boundary; an inverse relationship between boundary determination and stakeholder consultation, and; companies that claim compliance to GRI, on average, select narrower boundaries than non-signatories. Implications for research and for practice are highlighted.
Prostacyclin and prostaglandin E2 secretions by bovine pulmonary microvessel endothelial cells are altered by changes in culture conditions

The isolation and culture of pulmonary microvascular endothelial (MVE) cells from bovine lungs were established. Primary and early passaged cultures grew best in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% equine plasma‐derived serum, bovine retinal growth extract (1%), and heparin (90 μ/ml) on gelatin coated plates. A second tissue culture procedure was prepared in which the isolation technique was the same except the culture medium consisted of DMEM supplemented with 10% plasma‐derived serum. Either growth medium produced homogeneous, long term, serial cultures for up to 16 passages. MVE cells were characterized in part based on their morphology by light and electron microscopy and positive reaction to Factor VIII‐related antigen and uptake of 1,1′‐dioctacecyl‐1,3,3,3′3‐tetramethyl‐indocarbocyanine perchlorate acetylated low density lipoprotein (Dil‐Ac‐LDL). MVE cells were also positive for angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) activity and the presence of ACE was localized on the cells by indirect immunofluorescence. MVE cells maintained in the presence of heparin and growth factor principally synthesized prostaglandin (PG) E2 (1512 ± 159 pg/mg protein at 15 min) and smaller amounts of prostacyclin (PGl2) and thromboxane (Tx) A2 (316 ± 43 and 588 ± 105 pg/mg protein/15 min respectively) as measured by radioimmunoassay. However, prostanoid release was not elevated from basal levels upon incubation with arachidonic acid, bradykinin, or ionophore A23187. In contrast, MVE cells cultured without heparin and growth factor secreted more PGl2 than PGE2 (862 ± 84 and 89 ± 12 respectively). Incubation with arachidonic acid, bradykinin, or ionophore A23187 induced significant increases in PGl2 and PGE2 production (P ≤ 0.01). Pulmonary artery endothelial (PAE) cell cultures used as a control for comparison predominantly synthesized PGl2. These findings suggest that in vitro the vessel source and culture conditions may qualitatively and quantitatively affect the pattern and levels of prostanoid synthesized and secreted.
Evidence for an association between genetic variants of the fatty acid desaturase 1 fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS1 FADS2) gene cluster and the fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes

The present study gives further evidence for the recently found association between variants of the fatty acid desaturase 1 fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS1 FADS2) gene cluster and PUFA in blood phospholipids and explores this association for cellular fatty acids in erythrocyte membranes. In a subgroup of adults participating in the Bavarian Nutrition Survey II, a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in Bavaria, Germany, allelic variation in three selected loci of the FADS1 FADS2 gene cluster was analysed and used for haplotype construction. Associations with plasma phospholipid PUFA (n 163) and PUFA in erythrocyte membranes (n 535) were investigated by regression analysis. All haplotypes of the original five-loci haplotypes of our previous study could be replicated. In addition, associations with serum phospholipid PUFA were confirmed in the present data set. Although less pronounced, associations between FADS1 FADS2 haplotypes and PUFA in erythrocyte membranes, particularly arachidonic and dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, could be established. We provide the first replication of the association of the FADS1 FADS2 gene cluster with PUFA in blood phospholipids. For the first time, such associations were also shown for PUFA in cell membranes.
Utilities and Quality-Adjusted Life Years

Utilities and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are reviewed, with particular focus on their use in technology assessment. This article provides a broad overview and perspective on these two techniques and their interrelationship, with reference to other sources for details of implementation. The historical development, assumptions, strengths/weaknesses, and applications of each are summarized. Utilities are specifically designed for individual decision-making under uncertainty, but, with additional assumptions, utilities can be aggregated across individuals to provide a group utility function. QALYs are designed to aggregate in a single summary measure the total health improvement for a group of individuals, capturing improvements from impacts on both quantity of life and quality of life– with quality of life broadly defined. Utilities can be used as the quality-adjustment weights for QALYs; they are particularly appropriate for that purpose, and this combination provides a powerful and highly useful variation on cost-effectiveness analysis known as cost-utility analysis.
The Impact of Rule of Law and Other Macro-Economic Variables on Performance of the Stock Markets

This research study investigated the impact of rule of law and other macro-economic variables on the performance of the stock markets. The independent variables for the study are rule of law, real interest rate, consumer price index inflation, gross capital formation, gdp per capita and trade. In the study, some of the advanced and emerging countries are selected. The data is examined annually from 2005 to 2015 in panel form. The measuring variable for the study which correlates the performance of stock markets with the economy is stock market return. To estimate the relationship Pearson correlation, regression analysis and descriptive statistics tests have been used. Regression analysis is performed in two models, one with rule of law and one without it. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between real interest rate and the stock market return and a significant relationship between the stock market return and the inflation rate is also observed, this shows that whenever there is an increase in inflation and interest rates of an economy that will inevitably lead to the increase in the stock market performance of that economy. Rule of law makes an expressive impact on the research, a significance between rule of law and stock market return is seen which means that whenever the law and order is implemented the stock market performance tends to be increased. On the other hand, GDP, gross capital formation and trade shows insignificance with the stock market return. Most of the results are supporting the theories and literature.
Energy Drink and Coffee Consumption and Psychopathology Symptoms Among Early Adolescents: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations.

Background: Little is known about possible links between energy drink use and psychopathology among youth. This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between energy drink consumption and psychopathology among early adolescents. In addition, associations between psychopathology and coffee consumption were examined to assess whether findings were specific to energy drinks or also applied to another commonly used caffeinated beverage. Methods: One hundred forty-four youth who participated in the Camden Youth Development Study (72 males; mean age 11.9 at wave 1; 65% Hispanic, 30% African American) were assessed using self-report measures of frequency of energy drink and coffee consumption and depression, anxiety, conduct disorder (CD) symptoms, and teacher reports of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Youth (92%) were reassessed 16 months later. Results: Concurrently, energy drink and coffee consumption were associated with similar psychopathology symptoms; when the other beverage was adjusted for, energy drinks remained associated with CD and coffee remained associated with panic anxiety. Initial energy drink consumption predicted increasing ADHD and CD over time, though the association with CD dropped to a trend level of significance when coffee was adjusted for. Initial levels of hyperactive ADHD predicted increasing coffee consumption over time; this association remained when energy drinks were controlled. Social anxiety was associated with less increase in energy drink consumption over time, controlling for coffee. Conclusion: Energy drink and coffee consumption among early adolescents are concurrently associated with similar psychopathology symptoms. Longitudinally, the associations between these beverages and psychopathology differ, indicating that these substances have differing implications for development over time.
Local friction modulation using non-radiating ultrasonic vibrations

Ultrasonic friction modulation can elicit texture sensations on a smooth surface but is currently limited to single touch exploration. This paper introduces a technique that locally modulates tactile friction on a surface to allow for a multitouch exploration. Using this technique, the friction modulation effect is co-located with the actuator through the use of specific non-radiating frequencies. Because waves do not propagate in the surface at these specific frequencies, the vibration amplitude is controlled locally with a simple harmonic excitation of the actuators. The existence of such frequencies is explained through a semi-analytical model of piezoelectric actuation. The ability to locally control the vibration field and to modulate the friction independently for each actuator is demonstrated experimentally on a thin glass plate.
Population genetics of the HRAS1 minisatellite locus.

Several years ago it was reported that rare HRAS1 VNTR alleles occurred more frequently in U.S. Caucasian cancer patients than in unaffected controls. Such an association, in theory, could be caused by undetected population heterogeneity. Also, in a study clearly relevant to this issue, it was recently reported that significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium exist at this locus in a sample of U.S. Caucasians. These considerations motivate our population genetic analysis of the HRAS1 locus. From published studies of the HRAS1 VNTR locus, which classified alleles into types, we found only small differences in the allele frequency distributions of samples from various European nations, although there were larger differences among ethnic groups (African American, Caucasian, and Oriental). In an analysis of variation of rare-allele frequencies among samples from four European nations, most of the variance was attributable to molecular methodology, and very samples from four European nations, most of the variance was attributable to molecular methodology, and very little of the variance was accounted for by nationality. In addition, we showed that mixture of European subpopulations should result in only minor deviations from expected genotype proportions in a Caucasian database and demonstrated that there was no significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in our HRAS1 data.