Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T1-T2N0 squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx treated with radiation therapy.

PURPOSE The end results after radiation therapy for T1-T2N0 glottic carcinoma vary considerably. We analyze patient-related and treatment-related parameters that may influence the likelihood of cure. PATIENTS AND METHODS Five hundred nineteen patients were treated with radiation therapy and had follow-up for >or= 2 years. Three patients who were disease-free were lost to follow-up at 7 months, 21 months, and 10.5 years. No other patients were lost to follow-up. RESULTS Local control rates at 5 years after radiation therapy were as follows: T1A, 94%; T1B, 93%; T2A, 80%; and T2B, 72%. Multivariate analysis of local control revealed that the following parameters significantly influenced this end point: overall treatment time (P < .0001), T stage (P = .0003), and histologic differentiation (P = .013). Patients with poorly differentiated cancers fared less well than those with better differentiated lesions. Rates of local control with laryngeal preservation at 5 years were as follows: T1A and T1B, 95%; T2A, 82%; and T2B, 76%. Cause-specific survival rates at 5 years were as follows: T1A and T1B, 98%; T2A, 95%; and T2B, 90%. One patient with a T1N0 cancer and three patients with T2N0 lesions experienced severe late radiation complications. CONCLUSION Radiation therapy cures a high percentage of patients with T1-T2N0 glottic carcinomas and has a low rate of severe complications. The major treatment-related parameter that influences the likelihood of cure is overall treatment time.
Cultures of Ligament Fibroblasts in Fibrin Matrix Gel

The cellular properties of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) fibroblasts have been analyzed in a three-dimensional fibrin matrix gel (FMG) system. The MCL fibroblasts proliferated significantly faster than ACL fibroblasts in 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). FMG contraction resembles soft-tissue wound contraction. Transforming growth factor- g 1 (TGF- g 1) (5 ng/ml) caused a significantly faster rate of FMG contraction than control (0.5% FBS) in both ACL and MCL fibroblasts. Unlike the cells in 10% FBS, this faster rate of FMG contraction was achieved without increasing the initial cell number. In the FMG, the MCL fibroblasts demonstrated significantly higher collagen synthesis per cell than ACL fibroblasts between the days 2 and 6 of culture. These differences in properties of the ACL and MCL fibroblasts that were observed in vitro may explain the differences in the healing potential of these ligaments in vivo.
CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR SMALL FIRMS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The importance of customer service to the small firm together with how small firms can maximize their inherent strengths in this respect are considered. Current customer service theories, which have developed with larger organizations in mind, are examined to assess how they may be adapted to have relevance for the smaller business. A conceptual model of customer service for small firms is outlined and applied to findings from an empirical study of 28 small firms.
1999 Presidential Address: Changes in Organizational Knowledge Production

The explosion of knowledge production within business and other organizations poses a critical challenge to current modes of teaching and research within our business schools. We need to consider new strategic positions closer to the knowledge production being carried on within the organizations we study, without assuming that immediate relevance is our primary objective. The academic advantage, in the authors opinion, still lies in generalization and abstraction.
Watershed Management in the Federal Government

Watersheds in the United States are very valuable. Their waters support a wide range of purposes, including irrigation, fisheries, industrial operations, recreational pursuits, aquatic habitat, and drinking water. Efficient and effective watershed management must consider all of these purposes and plan accordingly. Watershed management is conducted by many entities, with one of the largest and most important partners being the federal government. Although many federal agencies conduct watershed management, they often act out of concert with one another, even across the same watersheds. This lack of coordination leads to duplications of efforts as well as gaps in services offered. Among federal agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, in particular, has major responsibilities for protecting water resources because of its position as owner of many of the nation’s headwaters. This paper highlights duplications and gaps which occur across the federal government in watershed management, and offers policy recommendations on how to streamline efforts. It details the history of the U.S. Forest Service in watershed management. It argues how a paradigm shift in resource management within the U.S. Forest Service has negatively affected morale in a manner which hinders successful watershed management. A history of forest planning is provided. Finally, there is an analysis of the 2011 Planning Rule with predictions on how implementation of the rule will affect watershed management. Results indicate that greater coordination of water quality monitoring data collection efforts would be accomplished with the establishment of a central clearinghouse, as well as the designation of a single agency responsible for coordinating efforts. More data are necessary to properly assess and address water quantity concerns in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service has struggled, and will continue to struggle with watershed management due to its many priorities as well as a lack of general employee morale in the agency. The 2011 Planning Rule, although flexible and adaptable, grants unprecedented levels of discretion to officials. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on watershed management in the U.S. Forest Service.
The effect of website quality on consumer emotional states and repurchases intention

Although, website features can significantly affect consumers’ emotional responses, very little is known about how website quality predicts consumer emotions. Because of the increasing importance of online shopping, finding a successful method for inducing consumers’ repeat purchase intention is critical to the survival of online service providers. Using the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm as a theoretical framework, this study proposed a research model for examining the relationships among website quality, consumer emotions, and repurchase intention. The analytical results strongly supported the appropriateness of the research model. This study discussed the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings and offered directions for future research.
[Effects of maternal hyperthyroidism and antithyroid drug therapy on thyroid function of newborn infants].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between the incidence of abnormal thyroid function of newborns and maternal hyperthyroidism with antithyroid drug therapy. METHOD The clinical data of 35 neonates born to mothers with hyperthyroidism from 1983 to 2003 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. According to the maternal thyroid function and the antithyroid drugs taken during pregnancy, subjects were divided into different groups. RESULTS The proportion of abnormal thyroid function in newborn was 48.6% (17/35). The prevalences of primary hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, hypothyroxinemia, and central hypothyroidism were 29.4%, 29.4%, 35.3%, and 5.9%, respectively. The incidence of abnormal thyroid function of neonates whose mothers did not take the antithyroid drugs (ATDs) until the third trimester of pregnancy was significantly higher than those without and with ATDs during the first or second trimester (P < 0.01). The incidence of abnormal thyroid function significantly increased in premature neonates, neonates whose mothers with modest or heavy pregnant hypertension, or neonates whose core serum thyroid-stimulating hormone or serum anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies levels were abnormal. CONCLUSION The risk of abnormal thyroid function of infants whose hyperthyroid mothers did not take ATDs until the third trimester of pregnancy may be increased. Prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment of hyperthyroidism in pregnant women are essential for the prevention of neonatal thyroid functional abnormality.
Combination antiretroviral therapy

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) was one of the greatest achievements in medicine in the twentieth century. It has rapidly evolved during the last 10 years from suboptimal monotherapy to an effective triple therapy that can change the natural history of HIV-1 infection from a deadly disease to a chronic, manageable condition. However, a dreadful toll of long-term toxicity was experienced by HIV-1-infected patients in the cART era. We have recently entered in a new phase of cART, in which efficacy has been increased and toxicity minimized. Currently, the greatest challenge is to make cART available to everybody who needs it with the future prospects of HIV-1 eradication.
beta-Casein mRNA sequesters a single-stranded nucleic acid-binding protein which negatively regulates the beta-casein gene promoter

beta-Casein gene expression in mammary epithelial cells is under the control of the lactogenic hormones, glucocorticoids, insulin, and prolactin. The hormonal control affects gene transcription, and several regulatory elements in the beta-casein gene promoter between positions -80 and -221 have previously been identified. A region located in the promoter between positions -170 and -221 contains overlapping sequences for negative and positive regulatory elements. A sequence-specific single-stranded DNA-binding factor (STR), composed of two proteins with molecular masses of 35 and 54 kDa, recognizes the upper strand of this region and has a repressing role in transcription. High-level STR binding activity was observed in nuclear extracts from mammary glands of pregnant and postlactating mice and from noninduced HC11 mammary epithelial cells, cells with a low level of transcriptional activity of the beta-casein gene. STR activity is downregulated in mammary epithelial cells during lactation of the animals and after lactogenic hormone induction of HC11 cells in culture. These cells strongly transcribe the beta-casein gene. We investigated the mechanism of downregulation and found that a lactogenic-hormone-induced molecule (I-STR) inhibits STR from binding to its DNA target. I-STR is composed of RNA. STR is sequestered into the cytoplasm by I-STR after lactogenic hormone induction of mammary epithelial cells and remains present in an RNA-bound form. A high-affinity STR binding site was found in the 5' untranslated region of beta-casein mRNA. We propose that beta-casein mRNA can function as I-STR. beta-Casein mRNA may positively regulate its own transcription by translocating STR from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The beta-casein STR binding sequence increases expression of a transfected beta-galactosidase gene when it is placed into the 5' untranslated region sequence of the mRNA. STR may have a positive role in posttranscriptional regulation.
Enoxaparin plus compression stockings compared with compression stockings alone in the prevention of venous thromboembolism after elective neurosurgery.

BACKGROUND Compression stockings are recommended for prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing neurosurgery, but anticoagulant agents have not gained wide acceptance because of concern about intracranial bleeding. METHODS In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, we assessed the efficacy and safety of enoxaparin in conjunction with the use of compression stockings in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing elective neurosurgery. Enoxaparin (40 mg once daily) or placebo was given subcutaneously for not less than seven days beginning within 24 hours after the completion of surgery. The primary end point was symptomatic, objectively confirmed venous thromboembolism or deep-vein thrombosis assessed by bilateral venography, which was performed in all patients on day 8+/-1. Bleeding side effects were carefully assessed. RESULTS Among the 307 patients assigned to treatment groups, 129 of the 154 patients receiving placebo (84 percent) and 130 of the 153 patients receiving enoxaparin (85 percent) had venographic studies adequate for analysis. An additional patient in the placebo group died before venography of autopsy-confirmed pulmonary embolism. In this analysis, 42 patients given placebo (32 percent) and 22 patients given enoxaparin (17 percent) had deep-vein thrombosis (relative risk in the enoxaparin group, 0.52; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.33 to 0.82; P=0.004). The rates of proximal deep-vein thrombosis were 13 percent in patients receiving placebo and 5 percent in patients receiving enoxaparin (relative risk in the enoxaparin group, 0.41; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.17 to 0.95; P=0.04). Two patients in the placebo group died of autopsy-confirmed pulmonary embolism on days 9 and 16. Major bleeding occurred in four patients receiving placebo (intracranial bleeding in all four) and four patients (intracranial bleeding in three) receiving enoxaparin (3 percent of each group). CONCLUSIONS Enoxaparin combined with compression stockings is more effective than compression stockings alone for the prevention of venous thromboembolism after elective neurosurgery and does not cause excessive bleeding.
Recombinant Group B Streptococcus Beta C Protein and a Variant with the Deletion of Its Immunoglobulin A-Binding Site Are Protective Mouse Maternal Vaccines and Effective Carriers in Conjugate Vaccines

ABSTRACT Immunogenic vaccines against group B Streptococcus (GBS) have been created by coupling the GBS capsular polysaccharides (CPS) to carrier proteins. The GBS beta C protein (BCP) serves as an effective carrier while inducing protective immunity against BCP-expressing strains. BCP also binds human immunoglobulin A (IgA), a characteristic that may be undesirable for use in humans. Here, we examined the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a recombinant GBS BCP (rBCP), an rBCP modified to eliminate its IgA-binding site (rBCPΔIgA), and their corresponding GBS serotype III CPS conjugates (III-rBCP and III-rBCPΔIgA). Deletion of the IgA-binding site or conjugation to CPS did not alter antigenic BCP epitopes. Recombinant proteins and conjugates elicited specific, high-titered IgG in mice. Antisera to rBCP, rBCPΔIgA, III-rBCP, and III-rBCPΔIgA opsonized GBS strains A909 (Ia/BCP+) and H36B (Ib/BCP+) for killing by HL-60 cells; antiserum to III-rBCP and III-rBCPΔIgA also opsonized strain M781 (III/BCP−). Vaccination of female mice with either rBCP or rBCPΔIgA protected ∼40% of their pups challenged with GBS strain A909. Pups born to III-rBCP- or III-rBCPΔIgA-vaccinated dams survived at rates of 56% and 66%, respectively. Over 90% of pups born to dams that received the type III CPS conjugates survived challenge with GBS strain M781. In summary, rBCP and rBCPΔIgA proteins and the conjugates containing them were immunogenic in mice, inducing both CPS- and protein-specific functional IgG. These results suggest that the rBCPΔIgA could be used as a carrier to augment the immunogenicity of the CPS while expanding coverage to GBS strains bearing BCP.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Attitudes

Understanding persistent differences in economic performance and material well-being across countries is (and has always been) a central concern of economists and policy makers. Modern economic theories usually model economic outcomes, on the individual level as well as on the aggregate level, as the result of rational decisions made by individuals. Individuals make optimal choices given their attitudes – preferences and beliefs about the environment and the behavior of others – and also their constraints, in order to maximize their well-being or whatever their objective in life is.The potential for differences in attitudes and “culture” to explain cross-country differences in economic outcomes is a long-standing idea in political economy and sociology, as evidenced by the work of Max Weber in the early 20th Century. For conceptual and technical reasons, however, economists have traditionally concentrated on investigating the role differences in constraints play for economic outcomes.
A list sphere decoder based turbo receiver for groupwise space time trellis coded (GSTTC) systems

A list sphere decoder (LSD) based turbo receiver is introduced for groupwise space time trellis coded (GSTTC) systems. It can approach the single-user bound by iteratively exchanging soft information between the LSD and the soft-input soft-output (SISO) maximum a posteriori (MAP) space time trellis (STT) decoder. The LSD approximates the SISO maximum likelihood (ML) channel detector using only a subset of hypotheses, and thus greatly reduces the computational complexity. Simulation results show that good FER and BER performances as well as fast convergence can be achieved with a very small list for simple STT codes with a small number of states. For more powerful codes with more states, a large list is required. Compared with the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) turbo receiver, the proposed receiver is more flexible and converges faster. Its performance can always be improved by increasing the list size, but at the cost of increased complexity. For higher order modulation, the performance gain is larger.
Multiattribute Dyadic Choice: Models and Tests

Three models for resolving a cooperative, dyadic choice problem are formulated and solved. Solutions are presented in n-dimensional attribute space (versus the utility plane) to focus on cognitive conflict between decision makers rather than on goal conflict. Forecasts from the models are compared in a choice experiment. All three models outperform chance in predicting a dyad's first choice, but the nonzero reference point model best predicts second through nth places—a desirable feature for product positioning applications. Recommendations for incorporating the model into choice simulators and expert negotiating systems are provided.
The Urban Dimension in Cohesion Policy: Past Developments and Future Prospects

Over the last 20 years the EU has implemented a wide range of initiatives on urban policy and urban matters more generally; a ‘European Urban Agenda’ has emerged and gradually the European Commission is working to ‘create’ a ‘consensus’ that may one day become an explicit EU urban policy. Indeed it may be that this is why the term Acquis Urbain has been increasingly used to suggest the building of a common European methodology of intervention, a body of knowledge and ‘good practices’ that resembles the Acquis Communautaire. This article suggests that the in the new period of cohesion policy there is the potential for a greater emphasis on the ‘urban dimension’. However, much depends on the negotiations between the European Commission and the Member States. Equally important is how Member States interpret guidance from the Commission (notably the Common Strategic Framework) and utilise specific new instruments (e.g. integrated sustainable urban development; Integrated Territorial Investment) and embed these within Partnership Agreements and then the ways in which managing authorities develop and implement Operational Programmes. Moreover, the role of cities in this process will also be important, will they simply be treated as ‘passive beneficiaries’ or active articipants?
Real-time smart stereo camera based on FPGA-SoC

Stereo image processing is one of the most demanding tasks in the field of 3D computer vision and robot vision requiring high-performance computing capabilities within embedded systems. Real-time constraints for autonomous vehicles such as humanoid robots, lead to hardware acceleration approaches for high resolution stereo imaging in human-like vision systems, where commonly FPGA device are employed to handle very high sensor data rates. This work presents a realtime smart stereo camera system implementation resembling the full stereo processing pipeline in a single FPGA device. We introduce the novel memory optimized stereo processing algorithm ”Sparse Retina Census Correlation” (SRCC) that embodies a combination of two well established window based stereo matching approaches. We have leveraged a Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD) of Sobel-filtered images and a Sum of Hamming Distance (SHD) using a modified Retina based Census Transform for increased robustness to lighting variations and for high accuracy. A color rectification module has been implemented to cope with the high frame rate of the stereo pipelining calculating image transformations and rectified pixel coordinates in real-time using parameters for camera intrinsic, image rotation, image distortion and image projection. In addition multiple post-processing algorithms like texture filtering, uniqueness filtering, speckle removal and disparity to depth conversion have been implemented to further enhance the output results. The presented smart camera solution has demonstrated real-time stereo processing of 1280×720 pixel depth images with 256 disparities on a Zynq XC7Z030 FPGA device at 60fps. Due to the universal USB3.0 UVC interface and the onboard depth calculation it is a replacement for RGBD 3D-Sensors with improved image quality and outdoor performance. The camera can easily be used in conjunction with ROS-enabled robots and in automotive or industrial applications.
Development of IS-Change Communication Practices as Part of an IS-Change Management Process

The study at hand was conducted as a commissioned degree thesis for the IS department of an international operating Finnish company. The aim was to provide an answer to the question how changes to the IS-services could be communicated in the best and most effective way, with the priority on communication to the business end-user. Due to the nature of the study and the questions that had to be answered the approach was inductive. The method the study was conducted with was action research and the data used was of quantitative nature. The main data gathering method was interviews. They were of semi-structured nature and were held with 8 people in key positions of the IS department of the client company. 6 of the interviewees were team-leaders of the different IS teams either conducting change, initiating change or being affected by it. The remaining 2 questionees were one IS manager and the company’s CIO. The results of the research were part of a bigger project, the design of an ISChange Management process. Communicating the change that is going to take place is an elementary part of every change management process and thus concepts are mentioned in every framework. A communication approach was integrated not based on one main framework, like the ITIL way for example, but designed from input gathered from various sources. The study results are made to fit the needs and ways of working of the client company, yet it is believed that with adjustments they could be applied to other organizations with the same demand just as well.