LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
R&D, Innovation, and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. This paper investigates the main postulations of the R&D based growth models that innovation is created in the R&D sectors and it enables sustainable economic growth, provided that there are constant returns to innovation in terms of R&D. The analysis employs various panel data techniques and uses patent and R&D data for 20 OECD and 10 Non-OECD countries for the period 1981–97. The results suggest a positive relationship between per capita GDP and innovation in both OECD and non-OECD countries, while the effect of R&D stock on innovation is significant only in the OECD countries with large markets. Although these results provide support for endogenous growth models, there is no evidence for constant returns to innovation in terms of R&D, implying that innovation does not lead to permanent increases in economic growth. However, these results do not necessarily suggest a rejection of R&D based growth models, given that neither patent nor R&D data capture the full range of innovation and R&D activities. JEL Classification Numbers: O30; O31; O33; O47
Antenatal steroid exposure and outcomes of very premature infants: a regional cohort study.

OBJECTIVE
To compare mortality, short-term morbidity and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of <29 week premature infants with antenatal steroid exposure (none, incomplete and complete).


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Multicentre retrospective cohort study, within a geographically defined area in Australia served by a network of 10 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), of infants <29 weeks gestational age, admitted to NICUs between 1998 and 2004. Outcome measures included hospital survival, perinatal complications and functional disability at 2-3 years follow-up.


RESULTS
2549 neonates were included; 319 (12.5%) received no exposure to steroids. Hospital mortality (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.76, p<0.001, intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.81, p=0.001) and necrotising entercolitis (NEC) (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.91, p=0.018) was less likely in infants with any steroid exposure. Any steroid exposure was associated with less need for surfactant (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.57, p<0.001) and mechanical ventilation (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.52, p<0.001). Subgroup analyses demonstrated differences in outcomes only with complete steroid coverage and not with incomplete coverage. Survival benefit and reduction in the incidence of severe IVH was evident from 24 to 28 weeks. Long-term neurodevelopmental data available for 1473 survivors showed no significant difference in outcomes with steroid exposure after multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Exposure to a complete course of antenatal steroids is associated with higher infant survival rates, lower rates of severe IVH and NEC compared to an incomplete course or no exposure. Any exposure to steroids reduces the risk of moderate cerebral palsy, however, long-term neurodevelopmental outcome may not be affected by steroid exposure.
Bio-inspired Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Andrographis paniculata Whole Plant Extract and their Anti-microbial Activity over Pathogenic Microbes

Andrographis paniculata is a medicinal plant enriched with bioactive compounds and displays multiple biological actions. Thus, the study planned to biosynthesize antimicrobial potent silver nanoparticles using whole plant aqueous extract of Andrographis paniculata (A. paniculata). The synthesized silver nanoparticles were confirmed by color transformation and Ultraviolet-visible (UV-visible) spectrophotometery. The size and morphology of the silver nanoparticles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The stability of silver nanoparticles was detected by Fourier Transform Infra Red spectroscopy (FTIR). The effect of silver nanoparticles over bacterial strains such as B. subtilis, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, P. fluorescence, S. aureus, S. typhii and V. parahaemolyticus and pathogenic fungi such as A. flavus and A. niger were examined. The appearance of dark brown color and UV absorption range at 430 nm confirmed the synthesized silver nanoparticles. The silver nanoparticles showed spherical structure and their sizes were ranging from 14-80 nm under SEM and TEM observations. FTIR spectra of silver nanoparticles showed the peaks for functional groups, N-H, C=O, -C=C and mono-substituted ring which indicate the stability of synthesized silver nanoparticles. The obtained nanoparticles showed good inhibitory activity on all bacterial species, whereas it showed anti-fungal activity only on A. niger and had no effect on A. flavus. The synthesis of silver nanoparticles using whole plant aqueous extract of A. paniculata would be helpful for the preparation of pharmaceutically useful drugs to destroy pathogenic microbes. © 2013 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved
The selective estrogen receptor alpha agonist Org 37663 induces estrogenic effects but lacks antirheumatic activity: a phase IIa trial investigating efficacy and safety of Org 37663 in postmenopausal female rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving stable background methotrexate or sulfasalazine.

OBJECTIVE
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that sex hormones may play a role in the pathogenesis or clinical expression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Studies on the effects of exogenous estrogens in RA patients have yielded contradictory results. We undertook this study to determine the effects of the selective estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) agonist Org 37663 in patients with RA, in terms of both its estrogenic effects and its ability to ameliorate disease activity.


METHODS
A 10-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, dose-finding, proof-of-concept trial was initiated to obtain data on the efficacy and safety of Org 37663 in postmenopausal female patients with RA who were receiving background treatment with either methotrexate or sulfasalazine. Patients were randomized to receive placebo or Org 37663 at doses of 4 mg/day, 15 mg/day, or 50 mg/week. The primary efficacy variable was the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28).


RESULTS
Org 37663 induced a clear biologic, estrogenic response in several organ systems, including a dose-related increase in levels of sex hormone binding globulin. However, the DAS28 decreased similarly for all treatment groups including placebo, indicating lack of clinical efficacy of Org 37663 in this trial.


CONCLUSION
The observed lack of clinical benefit in RA patients treated with an ERalpha agonist, in association with a clear biologic response to the study drug, provides evidence that a biologically relevant ERalpha-mediated estrogenic effect is not associated with a clinically relevant effect on RA symptoms and signs.
Warmth and competence in your face! Visual encoding of stereotype content

Previous research suggests that stereotypes about a group's warmth bias our visual representation of group members. Based on the stereotype content model (SCM) the current research explored whether the second big dimension of social perception, competence, is also reflected in visual stereotypes. To test this, participants created typical faces for groups either high in warmth and low in competence (male nursery teachers) or vice versa (managers) in a reverse correlation image classification task, which allows for the visualization of stereotypes without any a priori assumptions about relevant dimensions. In support of the independent encoding of both SCM dimensions hypotheses-blind raters judged the resulting visualizations of nursery teachers as warmer but less competent than the resulting image for managers, even when statistically controlling for judgments on one dimension. People thus seem to use facial cues indicating both relevant dimensions to make sense of social groups in a parsimonious, non-verbal and spontaneous manner.
Public-Private Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development : Fit for purpose ? 1

1 Jomo was an Assistant Secretary General in the United Nations system responsible for economic research during 2005-2015.; Chowdhury (Chief, Multi-Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach, Financing for Development Office, UN-DESA); Sharma (Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development Office, UN-DESA); Platz (Economic Affairs Officer, Financing for Development Office, UN-DESA); corresponding author: Anis Chowdhury (chowdhury4@un.org; anis.z.chowdhury@gmail.com). Thanks to colleagues at the Financing for Development Office of UN-DESA and an anonymous referee for their helpful comments. Thanks also to Alexander Kucharski for his excellent support in gathering data and producing figure charts and to Jie Wei for drawing the flow charts. However, the usual caveats apply. ABSTRACT
Holocene sediments and vertical tectonic downwarping near Wairoa, Northern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Abstract Depositional environments for Holocene terrestrial, estuarine, and marine sediments on the Wairoa River floodplain at Wairoa and coastal plain east of Wairoa, were determined from an analysis of stratigraphy, lithologies, and diatom assemblages obtained from auger holes and foundation and water-well drillholes. The sediments were deposited during the postglacial sea-level rise which started sometime prior to c. 9200 years ago and ended at c. 4000 years ago, when the shoreline was at least 2 km landward of the present position, and a ria-like morphology had developed at the innermost edge of the present-day coastal plain. The postglacial marine sediments usually occur slightly below the present sea level (down to -4 m a.m.s.l.) indicating net tectonic subsidence during the Holocene. Other evidence suggests that this tectonic subsidence may extend back into the middle Pleistocene.
Women's Greater Ability to Perceive Happy Facial Emotion Automatically: Gender Differences in Affective Priming

There is evidence that women are better in recognizing their own and others' emotions. The female advantage in emotion recognition becomes even more apparent under conditions of rapid stimulus presentation. Affective priming paradigms have been developed to examine empirically whether facial emotion stimuli presented outside of conscious awareness color our impressions. It was observed that masked emotional facial expression has an affect congruent influence on subsequent judgments of neutral stimuli. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of gender on affective priming based on negative and positive facial expression. In our priming experiment sad, happy, neutral, or no facial expression was briefly presented (for 33 ms) and masked by neutral faces which had to be evaluated. 81 young healthy volunteers (53 women) participated in the study. Subjects had no subjective awareness of emotional primes. Women did not differ from men with regard to age, education, intelligence, trait anxiety, or depressivity. In the whole sample, happy but not sad facial expression elicited valence congruent affective priming. Between-group analyses revealed that women manifested greater affective priming due to happy faces than men. Women seem to have a greater ability to perceive and respond to positive facial emotion at an automatic processing level compared to men. High perceptual sensitivity to minimal social-affective signals may contribute to women's advantage in understanding other persons' emotional states.
Hemostatic changes and clinical sequelae after on-pump compared with off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: a prospective randomized study.

OBJECTIVE
To delineate the effects of extracorporeal bypass on biomarkers of hemostasis, fibrinolysis, and inflammation and clinical sequelae.


METHODS
Patients were assigned prospectively and randomly to either on-pump (n=41) or off-pump (n=51) coronary bypass surgery. The concentrations of C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, D-dimer, and plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 in blood were quantified before and after (1 and 24 h) surgery. Similar surgical and anesthetic procedures were used for both groups. Clinical events were assessed during initial hospitalization and at the end of 1 year.


RESULTS
The concentrations of plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 and D-dimer were greater compared with preoperative values 1 and 24 h after surgery in both groups, but their concentrations increased to a greater extent 24 h after surgery in the on-pump group (P<0.01). The concentration of C-reactive protein did not change appreciably immediately after surgery in either group but increased in a parallel manner 24 h after either on-pump or off-pump surgery (P<0.01). Bypass surgery in the on-pump group was associated with greater blood loss during surgery and more bleeding after surgery (P< or =0.01). The incidence of all other complications was similar in the two groups.


CONCLUSION
On-pump surgery was associated with biochemical evidence of a prothrombotic state early after surgery but no greater incidence of thrombotic events was observed. The prothrombotic state might be a consequence of extracorporeal bypass, compensation in response to more bleeding, or both in patients undergoing on-pump surgery.
Predicting Mortality in Patients with Diabetes Starting Dialysis

BACKGROUND
While some prediction models have been developed for diabetic populations, prediction rules for mortality in diabetic dialysis patients are still lacking. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify predictors for 1-year mortality in diabetic dialysis patients and use these results to develop a prediction model.


METHODS
Data were used from the Netherlands Cooperative Study on the Adequacy of Dialysis (NECOSAD), a multicenter, prospective cohort study in which incident patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) were monitored until transplantation or death. For the present analysis, patients with DM at baseline were included. A prediction algorithm for 1-year all-cause mortality was developed through multivariate logistic regression. Candidate predictors were selected based on literature and clinical expertise. The final model was constructed through backward selection. The model's predictive performance, measured by calibration and discrimination, was assessed and internally validated through bootstrapping.


RESULTS
A total of 394 patients were available for statistical analysis; 82 (21%) patients died within one year after baseline (3 months after starting dialysis therapy). The final prediction model contained seven predictors; age, smoking, history of macrovascular complications, duration of diabetes mellitus, Karnofsky scale, serum albumin and hemoglobin level. Predictive performance was good, as shown by the c-statistic of 0.810. Internal validation showed a slightly lower, but still adequate performance. Sensitivity analyses showed stability of results.


CONCLUSIONS
A prediction model containing seven predictors has been identified in order to predict 1-year mortality for diabetic incident dialysis patients. Predictive performance of the model was good. Before implementing the model in clinical practice, for example for counseling patients regarding their prognosis, external validation is necessary.
Uterine artery embolization for severe symptomatic fibroids: effects on fertility and symptoms.

STUDY QUESTION
Does uterine artery embolization (UAE) permit fertility in childbearing women who have extensive symptomatic fibroids and are not eligible for surgery?


SUMMARY ANSWER
Although UAE was effective in improving bleeding, bulking and pain symptoms, and in sparing the ovarian reserve, no woman in this study delivered successfully after UAE.


WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Although pregnancies have been reported after UAE, the actual fertility rate after this treatment remains uncertain.


STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This prospective cohort study included 66 women who desired a future pregnancy and were treated with UAE for symptomatic fibroids.


PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
This cohort of consecutive patients had extensive symptomatic fibroids but were not eligible for abdominal myomectomy because of fibroid recurrence despite previous surgery, because of current risks of surgery, or because of patient refusal. The patients were enrolled in a tertiary referral center for fibroid treatment. All patients had a pre-operative ovarian function assessment and underwent bilateral superselective embolization of both uterine arteries using 500-1200 µm Tris acryl microspheres.


MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Fibroid symptoms including menorrhagia (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.02-0.27), metrorrhagia (OR 0.05, 95% CI 0.01-0.39), pain (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.03-0.22) and bulk syndrome (OR 0.02, 95% CI 0.01-0.07) were significantly improved after UAE. According to magnetic resonance imaging, the dominant fibroid volume decreased by 31.8% (95% CI 12.2-51.3%). Ovarian reserve demonstrated no change after embolization. Thereafter the women were prospectively followed, and 31 of them (aged 37.3 ± 3.5 years) were actively trying to conceive. In spite of 33.4 ± 14.5 months of attempts, only 1 in 31 women became pregnant and she finally miscarried (monthly fecundability rate 0.1% 95% CI 0-0.3%).


LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
The high rate of associated infertility factors in our population, and the high frequency of previous surgery, could in part explain these poor reproductive outcomes; however, they should not account for the total absence of ongoing pregnancy. Embolization might have had a negative impact on fertility in our population, which may not be related to ovarian function.


WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
The low reproductive outcomes reported in the present study suggest that UAE should not be performed routinely in young women of childbearing age with extensive fibroids. Although this finding was established in a population for whom abdominal myomectomy was declined, a possible adverse effect of UAE on fertility potential should be considered for woman of childbearing age scheduled for embolization.


STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
No particular funding was obtained for this study and the authors have no conflict of interest.
Impact of selection strategies on representation of underserved populations and intention to practise: international findings.

CONTEXT
Socially accountable medical schools aim to reduce health inequalities by training workforces responsive to the priority health needs of underserved communities. One key strategy involves recruiting students from underserved and unequally represented communities on the basis that they may be more likely to return and address local health priorities. This study describes the impacts of different selection strategies of medical schools that aspire to social accountability on the presence of students from underserved communities in their medical education programmes and on student practice intentions.


METHODS
A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to students starting medical education in five institutions with a social accountability mandate in five different countries. The questionnaire assessed students' background characteristics, rurality of background, and practice intentions (location, discipline of practice and population to be served). The results were compared with the characteristics of students entering medical education in schools with standard selection procedures, and with publicly available socio-economic data.


RESULTS
The selection processes of all five schools included strategies that extended beyond the assessment of academic achievement. Four distinct strategies were identified: the quota system; selection based on personal attributes; community involvement, and school marketing strategies. Questionnaire data from 944 students showed that students at the five schools were more likely to be of non-urban origin, of lower socio-economic status and to come from underserved groups. A total of 407 of 810 (50.2%) students indicated an intention to practise in a non-urban area after graduation and the likelihood of this increased with increasing rurality of primary schooling (p = 0.000). Those of rural origin were statistically less likely to express an intention to work abroad (p = 0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
Selection strategies to ensure that members of underserved communities can pursue medical careers can be effective in achieving a fair and equitable representation of underserved communities within the student body. Such strategies may contribute to a diverse medical student body with strong intentions to work with underserved populations.
Interexaminer difference in infarct volume measurements on MRI: a source of variance in stroke research.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The measurement of ischemic lesion volume on diffusion- (DWI) and perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI) is examiner dependent. We sought to quantify the variance imposed by measurement error in DWI and PWI lesion volume measurements in ischemic stroke.


METHODS
Fifty-eight consecutive patients with DWI and PWI within 12 hours of symptom onset and follow-up MRI on >or= day-5 were studied. Two radiologists blinded to each other measured lesion volumes by manual outlining on each image. Interexaminer reliability was evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and relative paired difference or RPD (ratio of difference between 2 measurements to their mean). The ratio of between-examiner variability to between-subject variability (variance ratio) was calculated for each imaging parameter.


RESULTS
The correlation (ICC) between examiners ranged from 0.93 to 0.99. The median RPD was 10.0% for DWI, 14.1% for mean transit time, 18.9% for cerebral blood flow, 21.0% for cerebral blood volume, 16.8% for DWI/MTT mismatch, and 6.3% for chronic T2-weighted images. There was negative correlation between RPD and lesion volume in all but chronic T2-weighted images. The variance ratio ranged between 0.02 and 0.10.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite high correlation between volume measurements of abnormal regions on DWI and PWI by different examiners, substantial differences in individual measurements can still occur. The magnitude of variance from measurement error is primarily determined by the type of imaging and lesion volume. Minimizing this source of variance will better enable imaging to deliver on its promise of smaller sample size.