Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coproducing healthcare: individual-level impacts of engaging citizens to develop recommendations for reducing diagnostic error

ABSTRACT Coproduction has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years. While theory and some research suggest that coproduction can have individual-level effects on participating lay actors, few studies have tested such hypothesized effects. This study seeks to add to the evidence base for collective coproduction. Using data from a randomized and controlled research project, it examines whether collective coproduction affects participants’ issue awareness, perceived empowerment, trust in service professionals, and support for coproduction. The results provide empirical evidence that collective coproduction can significantly increase issue awareness, empowerment, and trust. The results for support of coproduction are mixed.
Thrombopoietin levels in patients with primary and reactive thrombocytosis

Human c‐mpl ligand or thrombopoietin (TPO) has been proved to be a critical cytokine in the physiological regulation of thrombopoiesis. Previous evidence suggested that TPO production is constitutive and TPO plasma levels are regulated by the platelet–megakaryocyte mass through c‐mpl receptor‐mediated uptake and metabolism. To evaluate whether this mechanism of TPO level regulation is also operative in subjects with an elevated platelet count, we evaluated serum TPO in 32 patients with thrombocytosis due to essential thrombocythaemia (ET) or polycythaemia vera (PV) and in 70 subjects with reactive thrombocytosis; 32 healthy subjects were also studied. TPO levels were significantly higher in the ET and PV groups (median 246.2 pg/ml, range 93.5–4596) and reactive thrombocytosis patients (median 287 pg/ml, range 82.7–1960.0) than in normal subjects (median 156.7 pg/ml, range 62.2–352.7). No significant difference was found between the two groups of patients, indicating that serum TPO levels cannot differentiate between primary and reactive thrombocytosis. No significant correlation was found between platelet count and TPO levels in either ET‐PV or reactive thrombocytosis, whereas a trend toward a correlation between acute‐phase reactants and TPO was observed in patients with reactive thrombocytosis. These results indicate that TPO clearance by platelets–megakaryocytes is not fully operative or is not the only mechanism of TPO level regulation in primitive and reactive thrombocytosis.
Temperature Insensitive Birefringent LPG Twist Sensing Based on the Polarization Properties

A fiber twist sensor based on the polarization-dependent loss (PDL) properties of the core-only photo-induced birefringent long period fiber grating (LPG) is first proposed. The PDL response to the twist effect on the LPG is studied theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the difference between the maximum values of the two lobes in the PDL spectrum shows a high sensitivity and a sectionalized linearity response to the twist angle. Moreover, this sensor can measure the twist angle and determine the twist direction simultaneously and the performance of the sensor is not affected by temperature variations. For twist length of 3.5 cm, the proposed sensor shows sensitivities of 1.911 dB/rad over the twist range from 0° to 80° and 0.92 dB/rad when the twist angle is higher than 80°.
Social Capital: Influencer of Happiness

The causes for happiness have still not been fully established. This can be exemplified by the Latin American paradox, which entails the unpredictably high happiness levels, but a poor economic status in Latin America. A potential key to this problem is implemented, social capital, which - based on past findings - would be the variable that solves the paradox. The paper tries to assess whether social capital plays a greater role for happiness in Latin America than in western countries. The research question will be answered with the use of World Value Survey data. This study tests whether the Latin American paradox is truly present in the used dataset. Moreover, regressions included social capital variables - an overall measure of social capital and three generally accepted categories of social capital: social relations, social trust and social norms - as the independent variable and life satisfaction as the dependent variable. With the use of control variables, omitted variable bias will try to be foregone for the greatest part. In addition, t-tests on the mean levels and regression coefficients will show whether there is a significant difference in the levels of social capital or the influence of social capital across multiple regions. The results show that social capital does have a significantly positive influence on happiness. Yet, this influence differs across regions, as it is significantly lower in Latin America compared to the average global influence or compared to the western region or the global average. These results hold when the overall measure for social capital is studied, but also when social capital is split into the three categories. These findings result in the following conclusion: social capital does not have a significantly greater influence on happiness in Latin America compared to the western region. This influence might even be higher in western region. Nevertheless, it could be concluded that Latin America reports a significantly higher average happiness level, even though it appears to be caused by a different factor than social capital. Thus, the Latin American paradox cannot be explained through social capital.
Affective bias in visual working memory is associated with capacity

ABSTRACT How does the affective nature of task stimuli modulate working memory (WM)? This study investigates whether WM maintains emotional information in a biased manner to meet the motivational principle of approaching positivity and avoiding negativity by retaining more approach-related positive content over avoidance-related negative content. This bias may exist regardless of individual differences in WM functionality, as indexed by WM capacity (overall bias hypothesis). Alternatively, this bias may be contingent on WM capacity (capacity-based hypothesis), in which a better WM system may be more likely to reveal an adaptive bias. In two experiments, participants performed change localisation tasks with emotional and non-emotional stimuli to estimate the number of items that they could retain for each of those stimuli. Although participants did not seem to remember one type of emotional content (e.g. happy faces) better than the other type of emotional content (e.g. sad faces), there was a significant correlation between WM capacity and affective bias. Specifically, participants with higher WM capacity for non-emotional stimuli (colours or line-drawing symbols) tended to maintain more happy faces over sad faces. These findings demonstrated the presence of a “built-in” affective bias in WM as a function of its systematic limitations, favouring the capacity-based hypothesis.
TQM and Performance Appraisal: Complementary or Incompatible?

Despite the scholarly interest in performance management as a key determinant of the effectiveness of enterprise process improvement methods such as total quality management (TQM) and its derivatives, few empirical studies have explicitly explored the practice of performance management systems in TQM-focused organizations. In order to redress this imbalance, this study aims to describe how organizational and managerial forces led to a performance management systems failing to embrace the core principles of process improvement methods such as TQM. Using a qualitative study of six large UK-based automobile and auto parts manufacturers, our results illustrate how manager-controlled, individual-focused, past-oriented, long-cycle, and narrowly defined performance appraisal (PA) systems can intervene to underline the ultimate potential of TQM. The paper concludes with the discussion of implications for theory and practice of TQM and human resource performance management.
Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis Revisited

Idiopathic subglottic stenosis (ISS) is a rare inflammatory process of unknown cause, usually limited to the subglottic region and the first 2 tracheal rings. We performed a retrospective analysis of our experience with a series of patients with this condition. The study involved retrospective review of the records of patients with ISS. A series of criteria that included patient clinical history, laboratory tests, flexible nasolaryngoscopic examination, and biopsies were used to establish a diagnosis. Symptoms, treatment, and outcome were examined. A total of 16 patients were identified; 14 were female (87.5%), and 2 were male. The mean follow-up time was 75.5 months. Fourteen patients required surgical treatment for respiratory compromise. Nine of these cases have been controlled effectively with endoscopic laser techniques. Endoscopic management failed in 5 patients, and 2 patients underwent laryngotracheal resection and reconstruction. Mitomycin-C was used in 6 patients as an adjuvant to endoscopic laser surgery. Patients in whom endoscopic treatment failed were noted to have thicker (>1 cm) and more complex stenoses. The diagnosis of ISS is a diagnosis of exclusion. A complete workup of the patient must be performed to rule out other causes of stenosis. Endoscopic laser surgery is a valid initial approach for thinner, noncomplicated lesions. Patients with thicker, complex lesions in whom endoscopic treatment fails are best managed with laryngotracheal resection and reconstruction. However, adjuvant use of mitomycin-C may prove beneficial in the treatment of these patients. Estrogen may play a role in the pathogenesis of ISS by altering the wound healing response.
Ethnic Differences in Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Abstract Introduction: Previous studies have reported ethnic differences in the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the reasons for these differences remain unclear. Hypothesis: Ethnic differences in the prevalence of PTSD may reflect ethnic differences in (1) exposure to traumatic events; (2) appraisal of such event as traumatic; and (3) culturally-determined responses to standardized diagnostic instruments, reflecting differences in cultural meanings associated with physical symptoms and idioms of distress. Methods: Ethnic differences in risk factors and factor structures of PTSD symptoms were examined in 188 Alaskan Natives and 371 Euro-Americans exposed to the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. Results: High levels of social disruption were associated with PTSD one year after the oil spill in both ethnic groups. However, low family support, participation in spill clean-up activities, and a decline in subsistence activities were significantly associated with PTSD in Alaskan Natives, but not in Euro-Americans. Factor analysis of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule PTSD subscale revealed five factors for both ethnic groups. However, the items comprising these factors were dissimilar. Conclusions: These results suggest that social disruption is sufficiently traumatic to be associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress, but that a diagnosis of PTSD must take into consideration local interpretations of these symptoms.
Treatment of cervicitis is associated with decreased cervical shedding of HIV-1

ObjectiveTo determine whether cervical mucosal shedding of HIV-1 RNA and HIV-1 infected cells decreases following successful treatment of cervicitis. DesignProspective interventional study. SettingSexually Transmitted Infections Clinic, Coast Provincial General Hospital, Mombasa, Kenya. ParticipantsThirty-six HIV-1 seropositive women with cervicitis: 16 with Neisseria gonorrhoeae, seven with Chlamydia trachomatis, and 13 with non-specific cervicitis. InterventionsTreatment of cervicitis. Main outcome measuresLevels of total (cell-free and cell-associated) HIV-1 RNA and presence of HIV-1 DNA (a marker for infected cells) in cervical secretions before and after resolution of cervicitis. ResultsAfter treatment of cervicitis, the median HIV-1 RNA concentration in cervical secretions was reduced from 4.05 to 3.24 log10 copies/swab (P = 0.001). Significant decreases in cervical HIV-1 RNA occurred in the subgroups with N. gonorrhoeae (3.94 to 3.28 log10 copies/swab;P = 0.02) and C. trachomatis (4.21 to 3.19 log10 copies/swab;P = 0.02). Overall, the prevalence of HIV-1 infected cells in cervical secretions also decreased after treatment, from 67% to 42% (odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–6.0;P = 0.009). Detection of infected cells was associated with higher mean HIV-1 RNA levels (4.04 versus 2.99 log10copies/swab;P < 0.0001). ConclusionsEffective treatment of cervicitis resulted in significant decreases in shedding of HIV-1 virus and infected cells in cervical secretions. Treatment of sexually transmitted diseases may be an important means of decreasing the infectivity of HIV-1 seropositive women by reducing exposure to HIV-1 in genital secretions.
China’s Bank Balance Sheet and Financing of Heterogeneous Enterprises

Given the background of financial disintermediation and interest rate marketization, the assets of China’s commercial banks can be divided into traditional credit assets, whose rates of return are controlled by the supervision department, and financial assets, whose rates of return fluctuate according to market conditions. Direct financing enterprises are mainly state-owned enterprises with a good reputation, endorsed by the government, and they finance using the financial assets of commercial banks. Indirect financing enterprises are mainly private enterprises, which finance using credit assets. By introducing a financial intermediary sector with a balance sheet into dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, our model endogenously determines the leverage ratio and the ratio of the two assets of the bank. Model results show that the impact from the volatility of financial markets and other exogenous shocks can affect the banks’ asset proportions of the two asset types, asymmetrically affecting the production scale of enterprises with two types of financing. Further, the bank’s leverage ratio changes will have a magnifying effect on economic fluctuations.
Killing for God? Factional Violence on the Transnational Stage

Why are some factions fighting for greater national self-determination (SD) more violent than others? While previous explanations of violence in these disputes have focused on the number of factions, their internal structures, and power distributions among factions, we find many factions that do not follow the expectations of these theories. In this article, we center on religious ideology, its unique transnational character, and the opportunity it creates for political elites from competing factions within the same SD movement to mobilize support. We argue that “religious factions” have a greater incentive to use violence than other factions. Violence serves as a costly signal, and it can be used to demonstrate a faction’s religious credentials to transnational networks and contacts, as they compete with each other on the international stage for the same potential benefactors. We code original data on the religious ideology of factions. We find that an increasing number of religious factions is associated with increased religious faction use of violence. Furthermore, our findings point to a critical insight: it is not religious ideology, but competition between religious factions, that generates violence.
Partnering with firms: Do non-profit organizations sell their soul to the devil?

Collaboration between nonprofit and business sectors has been widely researched from the business perspective. However, to date, the literature on social alliances has not examined the models of conversion of capitals used by nonprofits in deciding to form alliances with businesses. To address this gap, we propose a theoretical framework based on Bourdieu’s theory of forms of capital and the mechanisms of capital conversion in order to analyze the models of conversion by the nonprofit in social alliances. Since firms now have to become more socially responsible through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the traditional model of capital conversion for nonprofits changed when corporation and allied foundations became an alternative source of funding to them. Through alliances with firms, Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) can convert their symbolic capital into economic capital, but in doing this, they run the risk of losing their symbolic capital as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) organizations.
Evolution of sleep and sleep EEG after hemispheric stroke

The evolution of subjective sleep and sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) after hemispheric stroke have been rarely studied and the relationship of sleep variables to stroke outcome is essentially unknown. We studied 27 patients with first hemispheric ischaemic stroke and no sleep apnoea in the acute (1–8 days), subacute (9–35 days), and chronic phase (5–24 months) after stroke. Clinical assessment included estimated sleep time per 24 h (EST) and Epworth sleepiness score (ESS) before stroke, as well as EST, ESS and clinical outcome after stroke. Sleep EEG data from stroke patients were compared with data from 11 hospitalized controls and published norms. Changes in EST (>2 h, 38% of patients) and ESS (>3 points, 26%) were frequent but correlated poorly with sleep EEG changes. In the chronic phase no significant differences in sleep EEG between controls and patients were found. High sleep efficiency and low wakefulness after sleep onset in the acute phase were associated with a good long‐term outcome. These two sleep EEG variables improved significantly from the acute to the subacute and chronic phase. In conclusion, hemispheric strokes can cause insomnia, hypersomnia or changes in sleep needs but only rarely persisting sleep EEG abnormalities. High sleep EEG continuity in the acute phase of stroke heralds a good clinical outcome.
Analysis of Voltage Collapse in a Power System Using Voltage Stability Indices

Voltage collapse phenomenon and its incessant occurrence in a modern power system has of recent been a great concern to power system utilities. The aftermath of which could be very devastating and detrimental to the optimum operation of a power system. Thus, it becomes imperative to identify the most vulnerable bus to voltage collapse by power system operator to prevent outages and blackout that may result. Presented in this paper are techniques based on the use of voltage stability index (L-index) and voltage collapse proximity index (VCPI) to identify a voltage collapse bus. First, the basecase values of the L-index and VCPI for all the load nodes are evaluated. The system is then subjected to a gradual reactive power load change to determine the voltage collapse bus. The bus with the maximum value of L-index and VCPI is taken as the critical bus liable to voltage collapse. The effectiveness of the methodology is tested on the Southern Indian 10-bus and IEEE 14 bus power systems. Result obtained shows that the use of the techniques of L-index and VCPI in the identification of critical node in a power system could be of great benefit to the power system operation and planning. Keywords: Voltage stability, Voltage collapse, L-Index, VCPI, power flow, power system
Effects of preanesthetic administration of midazolam, clonidine, or dexmedetomidine on postoperative pain and anxiety in children

Background: A growing interest in the possible influences of pre‐ and postoperative anxiety and pain scores as outcomes of surgical treatment and benefits of anxiety or pain‐reducing interventions has emerged. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of three different premedication regimens on postoperative pain and anxiety in children.
A new complex rearrangement involving the ETV6, LOC115548, and MN1 genes in a case of acute myeloid leukemia

A new complex rearrangement involving chromosome bands 5q13, 12p13, 22q11, and 3q12 was identified and characterized in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia. Fluorescence in situ hybridization showed the involvement of the ETV6 gene in 12p13. ETV6 primers were specifically designed for 3′‐ and 5′‐RACE‐PCR experiments, which led to the identification of the other two rearranged genes. The derivative chromosome 5 harbored a fusion of the ETV6 sequence with that of the LOC115548 gene. The two genes were placed in opposite orientation and did not encode a fusion protein. On the derivative chromosome 12, ETV6 was fused to the MN1 gene on chromosome 22. Also in this case, the insertion, within the MN1 sequence, of a portion of chromosome 3 prevented the formation of a fusion protein. Finally, the derivative chromosome 22 contained the 3′ portions of both LOC115548 and MN1, and no fusion transcript with coding potential could be predicted. In conclusion, all chromosome breakpoints led to the truncation of the three involved genes in the absence of predicted fusion proteins. This study lends further support to the hypothesis that gene disruption resulting in either loss of function or haploinsufficiency may be relevant in acute myeloid leukemia pathogenesis. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Pulmonary Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Dysregulated Iron Homeostasis in Rat Models of Cardiovascular Disease

Underlying cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a risk factor for the exacerbation of air pollution health effects. Pulmonary oxidative stress, inflammation, and altered iron (Fe) homeostasis secondary to CVD may influence mammalian susceptibility to air pollutants. Rodent models of CVD are increasingly used to examine mechanisms of variation in susceptibility. Baseline cardiac and pulmonary disease was characterized in healthy normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats, cardiovascular compromised spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and spontaneously hypertensive heart failure (SHHF) rats. Blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing frequencies were measured in rats 11 to 12 wk of age, followed by necropsy at 14 to 15 wk of age. Blood pressure and heart rate were increased in SHR and SHHF relative to WKY rats (SHR > SHHF > WKY). Increased breathing frequency in SHHF and SHR (SHR > SHHF > WKY) resulted in greater minute volume relative to WKY. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) protein and neutrophils were higher in SHHF and SHR relative to WKY (SHHF >> SHR > WKY). Lung ascorbate and glutathione levels were low in SHHF rats. BALF Fe-binding capacity was decreased in SHHF relative to WKY rats and was associated with increased transferrin (Trf) and ferritin. However, lung ferritin was lower and Trf was higher in SHHF relative to WKY or SHR rats. mRNA for markers of inflammation and oxidative stress (macrophage inflammatory protein [MIP]-2, interleukin [IL]-1α, and heme oxygenase [HO]-1) were greater in SHHF and SHR relative to WKY rats. Trf mRNA rose in SHR but not SHHF relative to WKY rats, whereas transferrin receptors 1 and 2 mRNA was lower in SHHF rats. Four of 12 WKY rats exhibited cardiac hypertrophy despite normal blood pressure, while demonstrating some of the pulmonary complications noted earlier. This study demonstrates that SHHF rats display greater underlying pulmonary complications such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and impaired Fe homeostasis than WKY or SHR rats, which may play a role in SHHF rats' increased susceptibility to air pollution.