Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radiologists' salaries: should we worry?

1Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06510-3206. Address correspondence to H. P. Forman, Associate Editor, Health Policy (HealthPolicy@arrs.org). n a recent article in the Sunday New York Times [1], Alex Berenson returned to an old, but neverquite-dead issue: whether physicians’ salaries are (partly) responsible for the troubles in our health care system. In his piece, titled “Sending Back the Doctor’s Bill,” he interviewed various economists who concluded that “the relatively high salaries paid to American doctors” were, indeed, part of the problem. The piece does go on to mention that the issue is actually “the way [my emphasis] they are compensated. ” During the late 1980s, physician salaries were frequently pointed to as part of the problem. Then managed care came along as a new target of populist venom followed quickly by the pharmaceutical companies and their profitability. Now, during a bear market for the drug companies, fingers are once again pointing at physicians and their salaries. In the Berenson piece, the high salaries of radiologists are mentioned explicitly: “Doctors in the United States earn two to three times as much as they do in other industrialized countries. American doctors make an average of $200,000 to $300,000 a year.But in specialties like radiology, physicians can take home $400,000 or more. ” Should we be concerned? Should all physicians? Is there truth to the argument that physicians may be part of the problem rather than the solution?
Mild cognitive impairment does not affect patternelectroretinogram in the elderly - a pilot study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mild cognitive impairment on pattern electroretinogram (pERG) among urban elderly Malays. A total of 36 subjects aged 60 years and above comprising of 18 MCI subjects and 18 normal controls were recruited for this study. The inclusion criteria for both the MCI and normal subjects included best corrected distance visual acuity ≥ 6/9 (Snellen) with refractive error less than ±4.00 DS and/or ±2.00 DC (astigmatism), near visual acuity ≥ N8, absence or no previous history of any significant media opacities, retinal disorders and ocular pathologies. pERG was recorded with the RetiPort/Scan21 system in accordance with the International Society for the Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision standards. The target presented to subjects through a 19” CRT monitor was a black and white reversing checkerboard with luminance equal to 80 cd/m2, contrast 97% and stimulus frequency 2.00 Hz (4 rev/s). Amplitudes and implicit times of P50 and N95 waves generated by the system were noted and compared between the two groups. The results showed no significant difference in the amplitude and implicit times between the right and left eyes so only the right eye was used for comparison between the MCI and control groups. The mean amplitude and implicit times of the right eye of the MCI and control groups were 1.86±0.65 μV, 56.27±6.20 ms and 1.54±0.74 μV, 56.15±4.98 ms, respectively. T-test showed no significant differences in pERG amplitudes and implicit times between MCI and the control groups. In conclusion, our results may imply that the inner retina is intact in early MCI elderly subjects.
Can lameness be graded reliably?

The identification of lameness is an art, a skill that with practice and guidance can be enhanced. It requires an understanding of normal gaits and how they may be modified under a variety of circumstances. The purpose of grading the severity of a lameness is to provide a subjective characterisation of the lameness, so that it can be documented. This allows communication between individuals, and comparisons in lameness grades over time can be monitored, as a response either to local analgesia or to therapy. I find that people learning how to interpret nerve blocks expect a black and white situation, i.e. the difference between lameness and complete abolition of lameness. If lameness persists there is a tendency to imply that the local analgesic technique failed to influence the lameness. However, if one recognises that a baseline Grade 4 (out of 8) left hindlimb lameness seen in straight lines, changed to Grade 1 after perineural analgesia, it is clear that there was significant and substantial improvement in the baseline lameness, hence a positive response to local analgesia. The problem lies in the absence of a universally accepted method of lameness grading that is easy to define, readily repeatable by an observer, reproducible among observers, and that takes into account the vast spectrum of the clinical presentations of lameness. While one horse may show a consistent easily detectable lameness in straight lines, another horse may only show irregularities in gait when performing certain movements when ridden (which may or may not be repeatable), while a third horse may show no asymmetry of movement, but the gait may be compromised because of a bilaterally symmetrical lameness. In an overview of gait analysis for the quantification of lameness, movements of the poll, the tubera coxae and tubera sacrale were highlighted as the key features, together with quantification of extension of the fetlocks (Keegan 2010). It was suggested that kinematic gait analysis had the potential to be much more sensitive than the human eye. However, on a day to day basis, we remain reliant on personal clinical observations.
Effect of different frequencies of preventive maintenance treatment on dental caries: five-year observations in general dentistry patients

A long-term study in adults at a public dental clinic in Sweden was initiated to evaluate the relative effectiveness of prophylactic treatments on the progression of dental caries and periodontal disease. With treatments scheduled every 3rd, 6th, 12th or 18th month, this report presents results on caries for the 3-month, 6-month and 18-month groups, and evaluates the impact of various caries-related risk factors. Caries increment over approximately 5 years was determined by adding clinical and radiographic findings of manifest primary and secondary caries during the study. Overall caries activity among all 105 participating individuals was low to moderate. No significant differences for caries on any of the various tooth surfaces or for total caries were observed among the three groups. Multiple regression analysis with 5-year caries increment as dependent variable showed that the following factors had a statistically significant association with caries increment: percentage filled surfaces at baseline examination, dietary score, plaque score, and number of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli in saliva. Non-significant factors included number of preventive treatments provided during the 5-year interval. The results of this long-term trial suggest that preventive treatments as often as every 3-6 months may not be justified in the case of patients with low to moderate caries activity.
Comments on the Weber commentary and Lyytinen/King response

That being said, ENOUGH! It is time to set concerns about the logic of the connection between AL and TC aside and begin working on what both mean in the world we face today. Let’s take the remarkable brain power represented by these authors and apply it to developing new or analyzing old theories that might eventually become a “core,” and to taking the steps necessary to enhance the legitimacy of the work of IS researchers and educators in the academy. The ultimate Jamesian “cash value” of their work will come from how the field is perceived by outsiders who count rather than by the intrinsic precision of their arguments. Certainly by now the arguments are refined enough to proceed. That is, we have enough grasp to reach further.
Kappa opiate agonists inhibit Ca2+ influx in rat spinal cord-dorsal root ganglion cocultures. Involvement of a GTP-binding protein.

The aim of the present study has been to characterize the regulation by opiates of 45Ca2+ influx in rat spinal cord-dorsal root ganglion cocultures. We have demonstrated that K+-induced depolarization, in the presence of the Ca2+ channel agonist Bay K8644, stimulated Ca2+ influx (3-4-fold) via the dihydropyridine class of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels. While mu and delta opiates had no effect, kappa opiate agonists (e.g. U50488, dynorphin) profoundly depressed the stimulated Ca2+ influx (86% inhibition at 100 microM U50488). The kappa agonist action was stereospecific and could be reversed by the opiate antagonist naloxone. The inhibition produced by kappa agonists was greatly diminished following pertussis toxin treatment, and this effect was accompanied by toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation of a 40-41-kDa protein. This suggests that kappa opiate receptors are negatively coupled to voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, via a pertussis toxin-sensitive GTP-binding protein. Basal 45Ca2+ uptake, stimulated by adenylate cyclase activators (forskolin and cholera toxin), was potently inhibited by kappa opiates suggesting that, under conditions of neurohormonal stimulation of adenylate cyclase, kappa receptors are coupled to Ca2+ channels indirectly via the adenylate cyclase complex. In addition, cAMP-independent coupling pathways may also be involved.
On spaces with periodic cohomology

We define a generalized notion of cohomological periodicity for a connected CW-complex X, and show that it is equivalent to the existence of an oriented spherical fibration over X with total space homotopy equivalent to a finite dimensional complex. As applications we characterize discrete groups which can act freely and properly on some Rn×Sm, show that every rank two p-group acts freely on a homotopy product of two spheres and construct exotic free actions of many simple groups on such spaces.
A distinction between social acceptance and prestige among adolescents.

To reveal some of the social pressures which are exerted by an adolescent group on its members, relationships between peer group ratings on certain traits and measures of social acceptance have been found. The results have been interpreted frequently as indicating prestige factors among adolescents (2, 0o, 13). But the terms social acceptance and prestige have different meanings. Social acceptance connotes intimate face-to-face contacts which are in some way satisfying. Prestige, on the other hand, indicates the possession of admired or respected characteristics. A trait may be associated with prestige but not with social acceptance. It was the purpose of this study to test the hypothesis that, among adolescents, ratings of social acceptance and ratings of prestige show different degrees of association with other trait ratings.
Clustered complex echo state networks for traffic forecasting with prior knowledge

For mobile communication traffic, an accurate prediction result plays an important role in network management, capacity planning, traffic congestion control, channel equalization, etc. This paper proposes a clustered complex echo state network for mobile communication traffic forecasting with prior knowledge. In order to reflect some learning mechanisms of real world organization, various complexities such as small-world features and scale-free node degree distribution were introduced to the dynamic reservoir of original Echo State Network (ESN) and viewed as promising tools for function approximation, modeling of nonlinear dynamic systems, and chaotic time series prediction. Our further observation on the real traffic collected by China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) Heilongjiang Co. Ltd., showed the property of multi-periodicities. Based on this characteristic, Fourier spectrum was chosen as the prior knowledge in this paper for generating multiple functional clusters, corresponding to the frequency components revealed in traffic series of each cell, in the dynamic reservoir of complex echo state network. Experiment results on real traffic showed that: the forecasting accuracy of proposed prior knowledge based clustered complex echo state network (PCCESN) model is superior to that of original ESN models and provides decision-making support for network planning and optimization of mobile network.
On the magnetohydrodynamic modelling of the Crab nebula radio emission

In recent years, it has become a well-established paradigm that many aspects of the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) can be fully accounted for within a relativistic MHD description. Numerical simulations have proven extremely successful in reproducing the X-ray morphology of the Crab Nebula, down to very fine detail. Radio emission, instead, is currently one of the most obscure aspects of the physics of these objects, and one that holds important information about pulsar properties and their role as antimatter factories. Here we address the question of radio emission morphology and integrated spectrum from the Crab Nebula, by using for the first time an axisymmetric dynamical model with parameters chosen to best reproduce its X-ray morphology. Based on our findings we discuss constraints on the origin of the radio emitting particles.
Fly Ash Collected from Electrostatic Precipitators: Microcrystalline Structures and the Mystery of the Spheres

Scanning electron micrographs demonstrate the presence of microcrystalline structures on the surface of coal-derived fly ash samples taken from electrostatic precipitator hoppers. Cenospheres (hollow spheres) were found to be packed with smaller cenospheres, which were also packed with spheres. Microspheres, apparently formed by uneven heating, are encapsulated in the parent sphere. Chemical analyses provide a basis for the postulation of a mechanism of formation for plerospheres (hollow spheres packed with spheres) and microcrystals.
Patterns of Metastatic Spread and Mechanisms of Resistance to Crizotinib in ROS1-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

PURPOSE The ROS1 tyrosine kinase is activated through ROS1 gene rearrangements in 1-2% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), conferring sensitivity to treatment with the ALK/ROS1/MET inhibitor crizotinib. Currently, insights into patterns of metastatic spread and mechanisms of crizotinib resistance among ROS1-positive patients are limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS We reviewed clinical and radiographic imaging data of patients with ROS1- and ALK-positive NSCLC in order to compare patterns of metastatic spread at initial metastatic diagnosis. To determine molecular mechanisms of crizotinib resistance, we also analyzed repeat biopsies from a cohort of ROS1-positive patients progressing on crizotinib. RESULTS We identified 39 and 196 patients with advanced ROS1- and ALK-positive NSCLC, respectively. ROS1-positive patients had significantly lower rates of extrathoracic metastases (ROS1 59.0%, ALK 83.2%, P=0.002), including lower rates of brain metastases (ROS1 19.4%, ALK 39.1%; P = 0.033), at initial metastatic diagnosis. Despite similar overall survival between ALK- and ROS1-positive patients treated with crizotinib (median 3.0 versus 2.5 years, respectively; P=0.786), ROS1-positive patients also had a significantly lower cumulative incidence of brain metastases (34% vs. 73% at 5 years; P<0.0001). Additionally, we identified 16 patients who underwent a total of 17 repeat biopsies following progression on crizotinib. ROS1 resistance mutations were identified in 53% of specimens, including 9/14 (64%) non-brain metastasis specimens. ROS1 mutations included: G2032R (41%), D2033N (6%), and S1986F (6%). CONCLUSIONS Compared to ALK rearrangements, ROS1 rearrangements are associated with lower rates of extrathoracic metastases, including fewer brain metastases, at initial metastatic diagnosis. ROS1 resistance mutations, particularly G2032R, appear to be the predominant mechanism of resistance to crizotinib, underscoring the need to develop novel ROS1 inhibitors with activity against these resistant mutants.
How Much Does Ownership Form Matter

Research summary Previous studies have emphasized firm and industry effects on variation in firm performance, but the relationship between forms of ownership and firm performance has been the focus of limited research. This paper examines the extent to which ownership form (i.e., public or private ownership) and ownership structure (including diffused ownership and blockholding) affect firm performance. The results of an analysis of 30,525 European Union (EU) firms indicate that form of ownership is an important explanatory factor in the difference in performance among firms. These results underscore the need to study firms characterized by different ownership arrangements and to provide empirical evidence for the study of firm ownership in strategic management. Managerial summary Motivated by growing evidence on the involvement of different types of owners in the strategies of firms, we studied the extent to which a firm's ownership form (type of legal incorporation, such as public and private ownership forms) and ownership structure (diffused ownership and blockholding) affect its performance. Our study of over 30,000 firms from the European Union shows that ownership form differences explain some of the performance differences between firms. Our results also indicate that firms with different ownership forms are differently affected by their competitive environment. Overall, the study suggests that choosing the right ownership form can have important strategic consequences.
Hierarchical Conditional Random Fields (HCRF) for Chinese Named Entity Tagging

Named entity tagging is one of the key techniques in natural language processing tasks such as information extraction, answer question and so on. We present a method of Chinese NE tagging using hierarchical conditional random fields. This study is concentrated on person names, location names and organization names. We divide the process of Chinese NE tagging into three layers: person CRFs layer, location CRFs layer and organization CRFs layer. The method is characterized as follows: firstly, rich features are utilized by this model in order to increase the good performance; secondly, the hierarchical property satisfies the characteristics of Chinese NE. The experiment shows that the HCRFs model could achieve preferable results of Chinese NE tagging, in which the F value achieves 95.44%, 93.13% and 87.14 for person, location and organization respectively on the People's Daily on January 1998.
Cache-Conscious Data Access for DBMS in Multicore Environments

In recent years, dramatic improvements have been made to computer hardware. In particular, the number of cores on a chip has been growing exponentially, enabling an ever-increasing number of processes to be executed in parallel. Having been originally developed for single-core processors, database (DB) management systems (DBMSs) running on multicore processors suffer from cache conflicts as the number of concurrently executing DB processes (DBPs) increases. Therefore, a cache-efficient solution for arranging the execution of concurrent DBPs on multicore platforms would be highly attractive for DBMSs. In this paper, we propose CARIC-DA, middleware for achieving higher performance in DBMSs on multicore processors, by reducing cache misses with a new cache-conscious dispatcher for concurrent queries. CARIC-DA logically range-partitions the dataset into multiple subsets. This enables different processor cores to access different subsets by ensuring that different DBPs are pinned to different cores and by dispatching queries to DBPs according to the data-partitioning information. In this way, CARIC-DA is expected to achieve better performance via a higher cache hit rate for the private cache of each core. It can also balance the loads between cores by changing the range of each subset. Note that CARIC-DA is pure middleware, meaning that it avoids any modification to existing operating systems (OSs) and DBMSs, thereby making it more practical. This is important because the source code for existing DBMSs is large and complex, making it very expensive to modify. We implemented a prototype that uses unmodified existing Linux and PostgreSQL environments, and evaluated the effectiveness of our proposal on three different multicore platforms. The performance evaluation against benchmarks revealed that CARIC-DA achieved improved cache hit rates and higher performance. key words: multicore, OLTP, middleware, cache
Foreign Workers, Foreign Multinationals, and Wages by Occupation and Sex in Malaysia’s Manufacturing Plants during the mid-1990s

This paper investigates the effects of foreign worker shares and MNE ownership on wages paid to males and female in five occupation groups in Malaysian manufacturing plants during 1994-1996, an important period coinciding with the end of the decade-long economic boom that preceded the Asian financial crisis. Random effects estimates of Mincer-type equations by occupation group and sex in large samples of all industries and in seven industry-level samples both suggest that use of foreign workers generally had insignificant effects on plant wages for most occupation-sex-(and industry) combinations. When significant, these estimates suggested that plants with relatively large shares of same sex-same occupation foreign worker shares tended to pay relatively high wages to relatively high wages to high-wage workers but relatively low wages to low-wage workers. The few significant effects of foreign workers of the different sex and same occupation and in different occupations were less systematic. Conditional MNE-local wage differentials were almost always positive when significant. Results from large samples of all industries combined indicate a strong tendency for MNEs to pay relatively high wages. However, allowing all slope coefficients to vary among seven industry groups suggests that MNE-local differentials were almost always insignificant in three industries and consistently significant in only one.
A Study into the perception of envelopment in Electroacoustic Music

The majority of research into ‘spatial impression’ is focused on work in the area of concert hall acoustics. Such work explores two separate elements, namely ‘apparent source width’ (ASW) and ‘listener envelopment’ (LEV). Research in spatial impression within electracoustic music has described electroacoustic music as having an “expanded.spatial palette” that has the ability to create “complex interactions between spatial hearing and other domains of perception and cognition” (Kendall 2007). Taking this increased spatial complexity into consideration, this paper outlines an experiment which required individual participants to find the point of perceived envelopment within contrasting excerpts of electroacoustic music. The results of the experiment are presented and discussed in this paper. We conclude that, while envelopment in this music genre is principally different to concert hall acoustics, a comparable perception of envelopment was achieved by the participants.
Food for thought.

1. Do the least amount of surgery that will solve the patient’s problem(s). Each additional risk to the patient must be justified by evidence of incremental benefit for the patient. 2. When possible, measure intraoperative forces, distances, and results. 3. Beware the “human” inclination to choose an operation because it is “fashionable. ” 4. Beware the “macho” tendency to choose an operation because it is difficult. 5. With the use of excessive force in surgery, the surgeon is at risk of having a complication. 6. The best surgeons carefully plan their operations and frequently review the anatomy. 7. Stick with your preoperative plans and contingencies. 8. Assiduously rededicate oneself to the practice of careful aseptic technique.