Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
South American Market Integration: The Argentina-Brazil Rivalry Myth and Motivations for the Southern Common Market

Abstract This paper revisits and rebuts the mainstream view that Brazil and Argentina were led to form the Southern Common Market to end more than a century of rivalry and competition. We find the elements characterizing an interstate rivalry diminishing in the nineteenth century through the promotion of peaceful settlements and strategic alliances while those that could prompt security concerns disappeared years before the Southern Common Market was formed. Except for diplomatic disputes over the distribution of shared water resources, a disagreement settled in 1979, the decades preceding the Treaty of Asuncion were typified by security alliances, co-operation on economic complementarity and the promotion of bilateral institutions. We find little evidence for the implied security motivations being proposed in the literature. Rather, the establishment of the Southern Common Market was driven primarily by Argentina's and Brazil's desire to improve economic performance and advance political leverage through the promotion of a common stance in global affairs. This view challenges a common component in integration theory that, as applied to the European Union and elsewhere, asserts the privileged role of security concerns as prime driver for integration. This matters because there is a misapprehension that affects both the theory about integration as well as the formulation of policy prescriptions for South America. Résumé Cet article réfute la vue dominante que le Brésil et l'Argentine ont été amenés à former le Marché commun du Sud pour mettre fin à plus d'un siècle de rivalité et de concurrence (Kaltenthaler et Mora, 2002: 72–97). Nous retrouvons une diminution des éléments caractérisant une rivalité inter-étatique dans le XIXe siècle à travers la promotion des règlements pacifiques et des alliances stratégiques, tandis que ceux qui pourraient susciter des préoccupations de sécurité se sont resolu plusieurs années avant le Marché commun du Sud a été formé. Sauf pour les différends diplomatiques sur la répartition des ressources en eau partagées, un désaccord réglé en 1979, les décennies qui précéde le Traité d'Asunción ont été caractérisés par des alliances de sécurité, la coopération sur la complémentarité économique et la promotion des institutions bilatérales. Nous retrouvons que les motivations de sécurité implicites se perpétuent dans la littérature sans fondements de preuve et que le Marché commun du Sud est portée principalement par l'intérêt de l'Argentine et le Brésil pour améliorer leur performance économique et leur influence politique à travers la promotion d'une position commune dans les affaires mondiales. Cela remet en question un ingrédient commun dans la théorie de l'intégration qui, appliquée à l'Union européenne et ailleurs, affirme le rôle privilégié des préoccupations de sécurité comme premier pilote pour l'intégration. Cela est important parce qu'il ya un malentendu qui affecte à la fois, la théorie de l'intégration ainsi que la formulation de recommandations politiques pour l'Amérique du Sud.
Clinical outcomes of revision lumbar spinal surgery: 124 patients with a minimum of two years of follow-up.

BACKGROUND Pertinent literature on revision lumbar spinal surgery has revealed a wide variation in success rates, ranging from 12% to 82%. In addition, a solid consensus has not yet been reached on its positive factors. We retrospectively reviewed 124 consecutive patients who underwent revision lumbar spinal surgery and investigated the factors that affected the outcomes of their surgery. METHODS Revision lumbar spinal surgery was performed in 124 patients from January 1992 to December 1996, with an average follow-up of 37.6 months (range, 24-89 months). The various factors analyzed included age, gender, previous diagnosis, number of previous operations, period of pain-free interval, neurologic deficit, operative procedure, and fusion status. This analysis revealed the effect of each factor on the overall results. Radiographs were obtained, and patients were assessed during the final follow-up or by questionnaire. RESULTS The success rate of revision lumbar spine surgery in this study was 83.9%. Successful outcomes were significantly associated with the spinal procedure with fusion and with union of the spinal fusion. Patients with defined mechanical instability had better results than did those with stenosis only. In addition, the complication rate for repeated lumbar spinal surgery was 9.6% and major complications attributed to poor results. CONCLUSION This study reveals a high success rate of revision spinal surgery. We recommend performing spinal fusion, and achievement of solid fusion in repeated low back surgery is invaluable for patients with spinal instability. Targeting the specific pathology of failed back surgery syndrome is crucial in attaining satisfactory results with revision lumbar spinal surgery.
Pharmaceutical Applications of Hot-Melt Extrusion: Part I

Interest in hot-melt extrusion techniques for pharmaceutical applications is growing rapidly with well over 100 papers published in the pharmaceutical scientific literature in the last 12 years. Hot-melt extrusion (HME) has been a widely applied technique in the plastics industry and has been demonstrated recently to be a viable method to prepare several types of dosage forms and drug delivery systems. Hot-melt extruded dosage forms are complex mixtures of active medicaments, functional excipients, and processing aids. HME also offers several advantages over traditional pharmaceutical processing techniques including the absence of solvents, few processing steps, continuous operation, and the possibility of the formation of solid dispersions and improved bioavailability. This article, Part I, reviews the pharmaceutical applications of hot-melt extrusion, including equipment, principles of operation, and process technology. The raw materials processed using this technique are also detailed and the physicochemical properties of the resultant dosage forms are described. Part II of this review will focus on various applications of HME in drug delivery such as granules, pellets, immediate and modified release tablets, transmucosal and transdermal systems, and implants.
Impact of preoperative fasting times on blood glucose concentration, ketone bodies and acid–base balance in children younger than 36 months: A prospective observational study

BACKGROUND In contrast to preoperative fasting guidelines in paediatric anaesthesia, actual fasting times are often too long. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative fasting on glucose concentration, ketone bodies and acid–base balance in children. DESIGN A prospective, noninterventional, clinical observational study. SETTING A single-centre trial, study period from June 2014 to November 2014. PATIENTS One hundred children aged 0 to 36 months scheduled for elective paediatric surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient demographics, fasting times, haemodynamic data, glucose and ketone body concentrations, and acid–base parameters after induction of anaesthesia were documented using a standardised case report form. RESULTS Mean fasting period was 7.8 ± 4.5 (3.5 to 20) h, and deviation from guideline (&Dgr;GL) was 3.3 ± 3.2 (-2 to 14) h. Linear regression showed a significant correlation between fasting times and ketone bodies, anion gap, base excess, osmolality as well as bicarbonate (for each, P < 0.05), but not glucose or lactate. In children with &Dgr;GL more than 2 h (54%), ketone bodies, osmolality and anion gap were significantly higher and base excess significantly lower than children with &Dgr;GL less than 2 h (for each, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION After prolonged preoperative fasting, children younger than 36 months can present with ketoacidosis and (low) normal blood glucose concentrations. Actual fasting times should be optimised according to existing guidelines. In small infants, deviations from fasting guidelines should be as short as possible and not longer than 2 h.
Geographic residency status and census tract socioeconomic status as determinants of colorectal cancer outcomes.

OBJECTIVES We examined the impact of geographic residency status and census tract (CT)-level socioeconomic status (SES) on colorectal cancer (CRC) outcomes. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with CRC in Georgia for the years 2000 through 2007. Study outcomes were late-stage disease at diagnosis, receipt of treatment, and survival. RESULTS For colon cancer, residents of lower-middle-SES and low-SES census tracts had decreased odds of receiving surgery. Rural, lower-middle-SES, and low-SES residents had decreased odds of receiving chemotherapy. For patients with rectal cancer, suburban residents had increased odds of receiving radiotherapy, but low SES resulted in decreased odds of surgery. For survival, rural residents experienced a partially adjusted 14% (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07, 1.22) increased risk of death following diagnosis of CRC that was somewhat explained by treatment differences and completely explained by CT-level SES. Lower-middle- and low-SES participants had an adjusted increased risk of death following diagnosis for CRC (lower-middle: HR = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.10, 1.22; low: HR = 1.24; 95% CI = 1.16, 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Future efforts should focus on developing interventions and policies that target rural residents and lower SES areas to eliminate disparities in CRC-related outcomes.
Failed back surgery syndrome: 5-year follow-up in 102 patients undergoing repeated operation.

The indications for repeated operation in patients with persistent or recurrent pain after lumbosacral spine surgery are not well established. Long-term results have been reported infrequently, and in no case has mean follow-up exceeded 3 years. We report 5-year mean follow-up for a series of repeated operations performed between 1979 and 1983. Patient characteristics and modes of treatment have been assessed as predictors of long-term outcome. One hundred two patients with "failed back surgery syndrome" (averaging 2.4 previous operations), who underwent a repeated operation for lumbosacral decompression and/or stabilization, were interviewed by a disinterested third party a mean of 5.05 years postoperatively. Successful outcome (at least 50% sustained relief of pain for 2 years or at last follow-up, and patient satisfaction with the result) was recorded in 34% of patients. Twenty-one patients who were disabled preoperatively returned to work postoperatively; 15 who were working preoperatively became disabled or retired postoperatively. Improvements in activities of daily living were recorded, overall, as often as decrements. Loss of neurological function (strength, sensation, bowel and bladder control) was reported by patients more often than improvement. Most patients reduced or eliminated analgesic intake. Statistical analysis (including univariate and multivariate logistic regression) of patient characteristics as prognostic factors showed significant advantages for young patients and for female patients. Favorable outcome also was associated with a history of good results from previous operations, with the absence of epidural scar requiring surgical lysis, with employment before surgery, and with predominance of radicular (as opposed to axial) pain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Multiple-loop design technique for high-performance low dropout regulator

In portable mobile devices, the power management IC unit (PMIC) requires many low-dropout voltage regulators (LDO) with different output voltages and load current capacities to support many applications; such as Application Processor (AP), Camera, Memory, RFIC Transceivers, USB, etc. For example, the PMIC in mobile phone Galaxy S6/S7 needs more than 50 LDOs to support the above applications, which require an extremely big quiescent current that degrade battery life time. Reducing quiescent current of LDO while maintaining system's operation is critical; however, there is a big trade-off between quiescent current and other LDO's characteristics such as undershoot/overshoot, PSRR, noise, etc. This paper proposed a new multiple-loop design technique for LDO that offer very low quiescent current (more than 50% reduction); however, excellent performance improvement compared to prior reported works. The design has been successfully implemented in many products of Samsung for mobile phone, Table PCs, etc.
Coleman’s Third Report

The article analyses the (third) Coleman Report on private and public schools. The report scrutinises the relationship between private and public schools and shows that private school students show better academic achievement. Coleman concluded that these findings provided a strong argument in favour of public financial support for private schools. However,he identified a number of school characteristics that he believed to be related to student achievement. According to his analysis, these characteristics were not limited to privateschools; public schools exhibiting the same characteristics also had good results. Coleman interpreted the available data in favour of financial aid to private schools, although this was not the only possible interpretation. An alternative conclusion would have been to encourage these characteristics in public schools. Why did Coleman disregard this possibility? Why did he deviate from his usual scientific rigour? The present article suggests that there appear to be two reasons for the narrow interpretation of the relationship between public and private schools in Coleman’s third report. The first lies in Coleman’s notion of contemporary society as a constructed system in which every individual actor holds a place in the structure and requires incentives in order to act to the benefit of society. In the case of education, the goal of the institution is to ensure the high cognitive achievement of students, and the incentive is related to choice and competition. The second reason is related to Coleman’s vision of sociology as a discipline aiding the construction of an effective society.
[A large scale cohort study on the effect of life styles on the risk of cancer by each site].

265,118 (m; 12226, f; 142857) adults aged 40 and above were followed up for 17 years (1966-1982) and age standardized mortality rates for cancer of each site were analysed by life style variables. The study revealed smoking cessation and increased consumption of green-yellow vegetables as the most effective common way of primary prevention (e.g. cancers of lung, stomach, cervix) followed by moderation in drinking of alcohols (e.g. cancers of mouth, pharynx, esophagus, sigmoid colon) and avoidance of excess consumption of animal fat (e.g. cancer of pancreas, breast). To reduce chances of exposure to passive smoking was also considered important for selected sites (e.g. cancers of lung, nasal sinus, breast, brain tumor and leukemia).
CKD of Unknown Origin in Central America: The Case for a Mesoamerican Nephropathy

An epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin has emerged in the last decade in Central America and has been named Mesoamerican nephropathy. This form of chronic kidney disease is present primarily in young male agricultural workers from communities along the Pacific coast, especially workers in the sugarcane fields. In general, these men have a history of manual labor under very hot conditions in agricultural fields. Clinically, they usually present with normal or mildly elevated systemic blood pressure, asymptomatic yet progressive reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate, low-grade non-nephrotic proteinuria, and often hyperuricemia and or hypokalemia. Diabetes is absent in this population. Kidney biopsies that have been performed show a chronic tubulointerstitial disease with associated secondary glomerulosclerosis and some signs of glomerular ischemia. The cause of the disease is unknown; this article discusses and analyzes some of the etiologic possibilities currently under consideration. It is relevant to highlight that recurrent dehydration is suggested in multiple studies, a condition that possibly could be exacerbated in some cases by other conditions, including the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents. At present, Mesoamerican nephropathy is a medical enigma yet to be solved.
Resource Allocation in Wireless Powered Cognitive Radio Networks Based on a Practical Non-Linear Energy Harvesting Model

Wireless powered techniques have been recognized as promising techniques in future wireless communication systems, especially in cognitive radios (CRs) with energy-limit devices. However, most of the existing works focus on CRs with an ideal linear energy harvesting model. In this paper, a wireless powered wideband CR network is considered, and a practical non-linear energy harvesting model is adopted. To maximize the sum throughput of the secondary users, the energy harvesting time, channel allocation, and transmit power are jointly optimized. The closed-form expressions for the optimal transmit power and channel allocation are given. Simulation results show that there is a tradeoff between the harvesting energy and the sum throughput of the secondary users. It is also shown that the performance achieved under the non-linear energy harvesting model may equal to that achieved under the linear energy harvesting model.
The cost of cataract patients awaiting surgery.

PURPOSE To describe the cost for society services caused by the patients awaiting surgery for one year in Gothenburg, 1997. METHODS From a waiting list of 1458 patients awaiting cataract surgery 250 randomly selected patients were interviewed. The structured questions focused on community services, such as home help, subsidised travel by taxi, medical treatment at home, visual aids, hospital stay and medical consultation, caused by the cataract symptoms. RESULTS The total cost for the community for the 1458 patients awaiting surgery was an estimated SEK 5,200,000. Hospital stay and home help were the largest parts of this community expense. CONCLUSION The direct costs for society for one year caused by 1458 patients awaiting cataract surgery with a mean waiting time of 9.8 months was approximately the same as operating 800 patients (eyes).
Suppression of Natural Killer Cell Activity on Candida Stellatoidea by a 50 Hz Magnetic Field

Exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) is ubiquitous for almost all individuals living in industrialized countries. Epidemiological and laboratory studies suggest that exposure to Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) EMF increase cancer risk. The immune system functions as one of the body's main protective mechanisms, and Natural Killer (NK) cells are a subset of lymphocytes that can destroy several types of tumor cells. In this study, we investigated, NK cell activity after exposure to a 50 Hertz (Hz), 2 mT magnetic field generated by a Helmholtz Coil. Nineteen male, 10–12 week old guinea pigs were used, and NK cytotoxic activity of splenocytes was measured in vitro by natural anticandidial colorimetric index. The Mann–Whitney U test was applied for statistical analysis. NK cell cytotoxic activity was decreased in exposed compared to controls. Our data suggests that part of the immune system, the NK cell, can be suppressed by a 50 Hz magnetic field.
The spatial variation of the refractive index in biological cells.

With a phase microscope the phase shift of cells from type L 929 fibroblast and mitochondria from liver cells was measured. Compared to the total phase shift caused by the cell relative to vacuum (approximately 1400 nm) the single phase shift of the mitochondria (approximately 180 nm) is small. Only the nucleus and the membrane of the cell give a visibly different phase shift relative to the mean value of the cell. The Fraunhofer diffraction of the measured phase object is calculated. With a simplified scattering theory, i.e. Rayleigh-Gans Scattering, different phase objects are investigated and their differential cross section is discussed.
L-carnitine inhibits a subset of platelet activation responses in chronic uraemia.

BACKGROUND Activated uraemic platelets expose the aminophospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS) at their outer surface, which generates a cell procoagulant phenotype and seems at least partly due to an increase in cell caspase-3 activity. L-carnitine (LC) may decrease surface-exposed PS in stored apheresis platelets and inhibit the activity of recombinant caspases, but its effects on platelet activation response with PS externalization have not been ascertained in chronic renal failure. In the present study, we investigated in vitro and in vivo the effects of LC on PS exposure in platelets from chronic uraemic patients. METHODS Platelet PS-exposure was assayed by flow cytometry using annexin V. Caspase activity in platelets was determined by the cleaving activity of the specific substrate DEVD-pNA and by a flow cytometric assay using rhodamine-fluorescence. The effects of LC in vivo were examined in a prospective cross-over trial including 10 patients on maintenance haemodialysis (HD) who were randomly allocated to two different treatment groups: LC (2 g i.v.) for 4 months followed by placebo (2 g i.v.) for another 4 months (group A), or placebo followed by LC (group B). RESULTS PS-exposing platelets in blood samples obtained from HD patients were significantly higher than in healthy subjects (P<0.001) under both unstimulated and agonist-stimulated conditions. When uraemic platelets were pre-incubated with LC before agonist stimulation, platelet PS exposure proved to be significantly reduced (-13.7% for 0.5 mM LC and -25% for 5 mM LC). Pre-incubation of uraemic platelets with LC again significantly decreased the cells' caspase activity (P<0.05). In HD patients (Group A), LC supplementation was associated with a significant decrease (P<0.05) in platelet PS exposure followed by a progressive increase during treatment with placebo. In the other group of patients, while no change in platelet PS exposure was observed during the first 4 months of treatment with placebo, a significant reduction (P<0.05) in PS-positive platelets occurred after 2 and 4 months of LC therapy. CONCLUSION Our data show that LC may reduce, possibly via inhibition of caspase activity, the exposure of PS in activated uraemic platelets. These findings may have implications for the thrombophilic tendency of uraemia.
A survey on smart traffic network control and optimization

In the current day and age, traffic in urban areas is becoming more and more complex leading to congested roads and intersections. Hence, the need for sophisticated traffic control system to reduce the congestion and provide better flow management. In this paper, we present briefly the basic notions and the most important parameters that affects the traffic control. Then, we provide a survey on the main flow management systems that are available in the literature. Some possible future research works and propositions on intelligent traffic control are also provided.
Evaluation of Space-Time Diversity Techniques in Car-to-Car Communications

Car-to-car (C2C) communications requires reliable connectivity at moderate data rates. This is essential for safety-related applications. The development of such communications systems needs to cope with time-variant propagation channels including shadowing by other vehicles, high Doppler shifts and rich multipath environments. Moreover, the choice of the antennas and their position in/on the car highly influences the overall propagation channel. This paper elaborates on different antenna configurations and diversity techniques to overcome these issues. Especially, Alamouti space-time coding is applied to the 802.11p standard in order to exploit diversity by using two transmit antennas on a car. This configuration as well as maximum ratio and selection combining are then evaluated in terms of frame error rate in an urban car-to-car scenario. With these parameters, the reliable communication range between two cars is derived.