Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of capsule endoscopy in patients with cirrhosis for the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal lesions and small bowel abnormalities: a study protocol for prospective interventional study

Introduction and aims The role of capsule endoscopy (CE) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) has yet to be established; however, it is likely that it will remain a valuable diagnostic modality in several groups of patients with LC. The primary aims of the current prospective interventional study are to examine the prevalence for small bowel lesions and transit time of CE in the gastrointestinal tract in patients with LC with oesophageal varices (EVs) requiring endoscopic therapies. Methods and analysis The current study will be a single-centre prospective interventional study. Our study participants are LC subjects with portal hypertension who were determined to be necessary for prophylactic endoscopic therapies for EVs. From the view point of safety, patients with gastrointestinal obstruction or fistula or those being suspected of having gastrointestinal obstruction or fistula will be excluded from our study. Patients with implanted medical devices will be also excluded. CE will be performed prior to prophylactic endoscopic therapies in the same hospitalisation and relevant images will be analysed after 8 hours by expert endoscopists. This study will continue to recruit until 50 participants. Ethics and dissemination This study has received approval from the Institutional Review Board at Hyogo College of Medicine (approval no. 2680). The study protocol, informed assent form and other submitted files were reviewed and acknowledged. Final data will be publicly scattered regardless of the study results. A report releasing study results will be submitted for publication in a suitable journal after being finished in data collection. Trial registration number UMIN000028433 (https://upload.umin.ac.jp/).
Simultaneous optical trapping and detection of atoms by microdisk resonators

We propose a scheme for simultaneously trapping and detecting single atoms near the surface of a substrate using whispering gallery modes of a microdisk resonator. For efficient atom-mode coupling, the atom should be placed within approximately 150nm from the disk. We show that a combination of red and blue detuned modes can form an optical trap at such distances while the backaction of the atom on the field modes can simultaneously be used for atom detection. We investigate these trapping potentials including van-der-Waals and Casimir-Polder forces and discuss corresponding atom detection efficiencies, depending on a variety of system parameters. Finally, we analyze the feasibility of nondestructive detection.
Characterization of the Auxin-Inducible SAUR-AC1 Gene for Use as a Molecular Genetic Tool in Arabidopsis

The small auxin up RNA (SAUR) genes were originally characterized in soybean, where they encode a set of unstable transcripts that are rapidly induced by auxin. In this report, the isolation of a SAUR gene, designated SAUR-AC1, from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. ecotype Columbia is described. The promoter of the SAUR-AC1 gene contains putative regulatory motifs conserved among soybean SAUR promoters, as well as sequences implicated in the regulation of other genes in response to auxin. The transcribed region is approximately 500 bp in length and contains no introns. Highly conserved sequences located within the SAUR-AC1 transcript include the central portion of the coding region and a putative mRNA instability sequence (DST) located in the 3[prime] untranslated region. Accumulation of SAUR-AC1 mRNA is readily induced by natural and synthetic auxins and by the translational inhibitor cycloheximide. Moreover, several auxin- and gravity-response mutants of Arabidopsis exhibit decreased accumulation of the SAUR-AC1 mRNA in elongating etiolated seedlings. In particular, in the axr2–1 mutant the SAUR-AC1 transcript accumulates to less than 5% of wild-type levels. These studies indicate that SAUR-AC1 will be a useful probe of auxin-induced gene expression in Arabidopsis and will facilitate the functional analysis of both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulatory elements.
On the influence of nodes' characteristic in inter-organisational innovation networks structure

This paper studies inter-organisational innovation networks, investigating the relations between the structure of the connections among members and a given node's characteristic. Such relations are used to provide some insights into the attitude of network innovation. We propose an original methodology that considers nodes belonging to two different classes detecting the available configurations. The intensity of connections, as an additional layer of information, is also included to examine its relative influence on the network topology. We complete the analysis through the introduction of a qualitative intensity/connectance matrix that attempts to connote the innovation attitude of the network. We test the methodology on a real case study, discussing the detected configuration and the implication in terms of innovation attitude.
Helicobacter pylori infection increases subsequent ischemic stroke risk: a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The association of Helicobacter pylori infection (HP-I) with ischemic stroke (IS) incidence has been studied, but conflicting results have been reported. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between chronic HP-I and the risk of acute IS by using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. METHODS We identified17 332 patients with HP-I and 69 328 randomly selected age- and gender-matched controls from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2010. Both cohorts were followed up until the occurrence of IS or until censored. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for assessing the association of HP-I with IS. RESULTS Compared with the control cohort, patients diagnosed with HP-I exhibited a higher incidence rate of IS (14.8 vs. 8.45 per 1000 person years) and a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.40-1.65). The HRs for IS were 1.49 (1.37-1.62) in patients diagnosed with HP-I who had one admission, increasing to 2.26 (1.71-1.98) for those who had two or more admissions when adjusted for age, sex and comorbidities (P for trend < 0.0001). In addition, we observed a significantly positive association between nonembolic IS and increased admissions (P for trend < 0.0001) but negative association with embolic IS. CONCLUSION Chronic HP-I is significantly associated with an increased risk of IS, particularly nonembolic IS. Anti-HP therapy may be beneficial to IS prevention.
Lithium Treatment and Prophylaxis in Unipolar Depression: A Meta-analysis

Meta-analysis was used to establish the efficacy of lithium in acute treatment and prophylaxis of depressive illness from existing published clinical trials. Effect sizes were measured by the odds ratio using the Mantel–Haenszel method and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Some benefit from lithium, compared with other treatments, emerged from trials of acute treatment. Lithium was clearly superior to placebo in the acute treatment of bipolar depressed patients. In controlled studies of lithium prophylaxis over five months to three years, an impressive effect was found for lithium when compared with placebo. For uncontrolled studies there was a similar-sized effect, corresponding to an improvement in the rate of favourable outcome from 35% for placebo to 70% with lithium treatment. The comparison of lithium with other antidepressants in prophylaxis showed no conclusive advantage for lithium in unipolar illness. There is no reason to doubt the efficacy of lithium in the prophylaxis of unipolar depressive illness.
Household Production and Risk-Aversion

Much previous work has suggested that individuals’ aversion to risk may be an important factor in many decisions, including their decisions about marriage and fertility. This paper identifies a pathway through which the causality may be reversed–i.e., that marriage causes risk aversion rather than vice verse. Using a model similar to those employed in the recent literature on risk aversion generated by consumption commitments, the paper argues that constraints on individuals’ time use can make them act as if they were more risk averse. Extending this idea to a multi-person household, a constraint on one member’s time use causes all members to become more risk averse. Since it appears that many people have only a limited ability to adjust their hours worked in response to modest changes in income, the model implies that marriage and fertility typically cause a person to become more risk averse. JEL codes: D100, D810
Unintended Consequences of Forecast Disaggregation: A Multi-Period Perspective

Prior research finds that investors respond more favorably to a disaggregated earnings forecast than to an aggregated one immediately after the forecast. The present study examines the impact of this initial favorable effect on investors’ decisions following earnings surprise announcements. Based on Expectation Violation Theory, we posit that the benefit of a disaggregated earnings forecast can backfire when management subsequently reports an earnings surprise. The results of our experiment indicate that investors’ negative reactions are stronger if they first observed a disaggregated forecast than if they first saw an aggregated forecast. We find that investors make the greatest downward adjustments in investment interest when the disaggregated forecast is later found to be disappointing. This study provides evidence of the complexity of the effect of disaggregated earnings forecast and adds to the literature concerning the costs and benefits of accounting information disaggregation.
Size, foraging, and food web structure

Understanding what structures ecological communities is vital to answering questions about extinctions, environmental change, trophic cascades, and ecosystem functioning. Optimal foraging theory was conceived to increase such understanding by providing a framework with which to predict species interactions and resulting community structure. Here, we use an optimal foraging model and allometries of foraging variables to predict the structure of real food webs. The qualitative structure of the resulting model provides a more mechanistic basis for the phenomenological rules of previous models. Quantitative analyses show that the model predicts up to 65% of the links in real food webs. The deterministic nature of the model allows analysis of the model's successes and failures in predicting particular interactions. Predacious and herbivorous feeding interactions are better predicted than pathogenic, parasitoid, and parasitic interactions. Results also indicate that accurate prediction and modeling of some food webs will require incorporating traits other than body size and diet choice models specific to different types of feeding interaction. The model results support the hypothesis that individual behavior, subject to natural selection, determines individual diets and that food web structure is the sum of these individual decisions.
Prediction of Corporate Failure in Nepal

This study has examined the usefulness of seventeen financial ratios in discrimination of failed companies and non-failed companies. Out of them, the ratios of current assets to total assets, current liabilities to total debt, shareholder's equity to total debts, current assets to net sales, net sales to total assets, net sales capital employed, earnings before interest and tax to total assets, net income to net sales, net income to total assets, cash flow to net sales and cash flow to current liabilities are statistically significant between failed companies and non-failed companies. It also concludes that failed companies use more debts. Liquidity, profitability, cash flow, and turnover ratios of failed companies are poorer than non-failed companies. Using multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA) as a technique of data analysis, it is concluded that MDA can classify failed and non-failed companies with 87.5% classification accuracy in one and three year, 91% accuracy in two year and 79% in four year prior to failure of a company. Only four financial ratios: current liabilities to total debts; net sales to total assets, earnings before interest and tax to interest and cash flow to earnings before interest and tax have been found statistically significant in multivariate discriminant model for predicting failed companies and non-failed companies. On the basis of standard coefficient, the ratio of current liabilities to total debts is found the most important ratio in discrimination of failed and non-failed companies followed by earnings before interest and tax to interest, net sales to total assets, and cash flow to earnings before interest and tax respectively.
Small Cell Architecture—A Histological Equivalent of EGFR Amplification in Glioblastoma Multiforme?

Although there is much written about the molecular definitions of “primary” glioblastomas (GBM), there is little known about the histological features of this predominant subtype. We hypothesized that the “small cell architecture” would represent a histological feature of most primary GBMs. This was tested by comparing the presence of the small cell phenotype with the presence or absence of amplification of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a common event in primary GBMs. After a pilot study that found a correlation between this small cell phenotype and EGFR amplification, we selected 9 pure small cell GBMs (SCGBM) and 12 non-SCGBMs to be studied for EGFR amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In this set of 21 cases, 8 of 9 SCGBMs and 5 of 12 non-SCGBMs were amplified for EGFR. We then correlated the EGFR status of 79 GBMs unselected for their histological features from a set that had been previously characterized in regard to EGFR amplification. Fourteen of 21 (67%) exclusively small cell neoplasms, 8 of 25 (32%) GBMs with both small cell and non-small cell areas, and 3 of 33 (9%) non-small cell GBMs were amplified for EGFR (p = 0.0004 with an exact test). We conclude that EGFR amplification is associated with a small cell phenotype in GBMs and that SCGBMs are an important component of “primary” GBMs.
In vivo production of heat shock protein in mouse peritoneal macrophages by administration of lipopolysaccharide

The in vivo production of heat shock protein was studied by administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into mice. Heat shock protein 70 was detected in the extract of adherent peritoneal cells from mice injected intraperitoneally with LPS by using the immunoblotting method. The expression of heat shock protein 70 was found 2 days after injection of LPS and reached its peak 4 days after injection. The intraperitoneal injection of LPS induced the expression of heat shock protein 70, whereas its subcutaneous injection did not. The in vivo production of heat shock protein 70 was inhibited by administration of LPS together with quercetin, an inhibitor of accumulation of heat shock protein 70 mRNA. Tumor necrosis factor alpha enhanced LPS-induced heat shock protein production in vivo. There was a decrease of gamma delta T cells in the peritoneal cavity of mice injected intraperitoneally with LPS. It was suggested that bacterial LPS is a stressful agent which induces the in vivo heat shock protein response, and its administration leads to the production of heat shock protein 70 in peritoneal macrophages.
Cyclooxygenase‐2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth through AKT activation: Evidence for AKT inhibition in celecoxib‐induced apoptosis

Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2)‐controlled prostaglandin (PG) metabolism recently has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the biologic role and molecular mechanism of COX‐2‐mediated PGs in the control of liver cancer growth have not been established. This study was designed to examine the direct effect of COX‐2 and its inhibitor celecoxib on the growth control of liver cancer cells. Human HCC cell lines Hep3B and HepG2 transfected with COX‐2 expression vector showed increased cell growth and enhanced phosphorylation of serine/threonine protein kinase B (Akt). The level of COX‐2 expression and Akt phosphorylation is correlated positively in cultured HCC cells and human liver cancer tissues. Inhibition of Akt activation by phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3‐kinase) inhibitor LY294002 significantly decreased the viability of Hep3B and HepG2 cells (P < .01). These results reveal a novel role of Akt activation in COX‐2‐induced HCC cell survival. Furthermore, HCC cells treated with the COX‐2 inhibitor celecoxib showed significant reduction of Akt phosphorylation and marked morphologic and biochemical characteristics of apoptosis. Overexpression of COX‐2 or addition of exogenous PGE2 partially prevented celecoxib‐induced apoptosis (P < .01). In conclusion, our results suggest the involvement of COX‐2‐dependent and ‐independent mechanisms in celecoxib‐mediated HCC cell apoptosis.
On simplifying WINNER II channel model for MIMO OTA performance evaluation

The development of MIMO over-the-air (OTA) test methodology is an ongoing activity in 3GPP RAN4, CTIA and EU COST Action 2100. In this paper, the focus is on the anechoic chamber approach, which uses a uniform circular array of probe antennas to replicate directional channels for the device-under-test at the array center. In particular, we study in simulation the complexity requirements of implementing the WINNER II clustered delay line (CDL) model in RF using off-the-shelf RF components. Our results reveal that a significant reduction in complexity of the CDL model can be achieved, while keeping the change in both ergodic and outage capacities under 10% relative to the full model. This suggests that it is both feasible and cost effective in implementing state-of-the-art directional channel models in RF for MIMO OTA performance evaluations.
Company Valuation: A Comparison of Three DCF Models (MM (1958), Fernandez (2007), Hamada (1972)) and Why MM's Corrected Equation for Cost of Equity is Wrong

In a correction paper (MM, 1963), MM argued that because of financial risk due to leverage, firms with different capital structure will have different distribution of returns – due to the inclusion of certain stream of tax shields as compared to unlevered firms. Based on this premise, they derived a different equation for cost of equity for firms with financial leverage. This derivation is based on the assumption that the tax shields, being certain stream, can be discounted at cost of debt which is a WRONG conclusion. This paper contends that MM’s original propositions are valid and sufficient even in the presence of taxes and that the corrected equation for cost of equity is WRONG. The Valuation Model presented in this paper ignores MM’s correction paper and provides valid results in different scenarios based on MM’s original equation for cost of equity. The paper also explains why the derivation of corrected equation is wrong (with or without CAPM) and shows that the corrected equation anyway does not take care of financial risk due to leverage as the value of levered firm as per corrected equation will always be more than that arrived at using MM’s original propositions. Moreover, MM’s correction paper itself however correctly states that variance of returns of leveraged firms will be lower than that of unlevered firms. Using Hamada’s approach, the paper shows the MM’s original propositions are valid and sufficient and derives an equation for levered beta using CAPM. This also shows that unlike what is generally assumed, Hamada’s equation does not take care of any additional financial risk due to leverage. The paper also lists the problems associated with the usage of corrected equation for valuation and compares the three possible valuation models. A review of currently available methods for Unlevering beta shows that none of them anyway considers financial risk and most are based on the incorrect assumption of cost of debt being discount rate for tax shields.
Priming of Macrophages with Lipopolysaccharide Potentiates P2X7-mediated Cell Death via a Caspase-1-dependent Mechanism, Independently of Cytokine Production*

ATP stimulation of cell surface P2X7 receptors results in cytolysis and cell death of macrophages. Activation of this receptor in bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages or monocytes also stimulates processing and release of the cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) through activation of caspase-1. The cytokine interleukin 18 (IL-18) is also cleaved by caspase-1 and shares pro-inflammatory characteristics with IL-1β. The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that IL-1β, IL-18, and/or caspase-1 activation contribute directly to macrophage cell death induced by LPS and ATP. Macrophages were cultured from normal mice or those in which genes for the P2X7 receptor,IL-1β, IL-1α, IL-18, orcaspase-1 had been deleted. Our data confirm the importance of the P2X7 receptor in ATP-stimulated cell death and IL-1β release from LPS-primed macrophages. We demonstrate that prolonged stimulation with ATP leads to cell death, which is partly dependent on LPS priming and caspase-1, but independent of cytokine processing and release. We also provide evidence that LPS priming of macrophages makes them highly susceptible to the toxic effects of brief exposure to ATP, which leads to rapid cell death by a mechanism that is dependent on caspase-1 but, again, independent of cytokine processing and release.
We need to talk: Primary care provider communication at discharge in the era of a shared electronic medical record.

BACKGROUND Poor communication between hospitalists and outpatient physicians can contribute to adverse events after discharge. Electronic medical records (EMRs) shared by inpatient and outpatient clinicians offer primary care providers (PCPs) better access to information surrounding a patient's hospitalization. However, the PCP experience and subsequent expectations for discharge communication within a shared EMR are unknown. METHODS We surveyed PCPs 1 year after a shared EMR was implemented at our institution to assess PCP satisfaction with current discharge communication practices and identify areas for improvement. RESULTS Seventy-five of 124 (60%) clinicians completed the survey. Although most PCPs reported receiving automated discharge notifications (71%), only 39% felt that notifications plus discharge summaries were adequate for safe transitions of care. PCPs expressed that complex hospitalizations necessitated additional communication via e-mail or telephone; only 31% reported receiving such communication. The content most important in additional communication included medication changes, follow-up actions, and active medical issues. CONCLUSIONS Despite optimized access to information provided by a shared EMR, only 52% of PCPs were satisfied with current discharge communication. PCPs express a continued need for high-touch communication for safe transitions of care. Further standardization of discharge communication practices is necessary.