Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The reliability, minimal detectable change and concurrent validity of a gravity-based bubble inclinometer and iphone application for measuring standing lumbar lordosis

Abstract Purpose: To investigate the reliability, minimal detectable change (MDC90) and concurrent validity of a gravity-based bubble inclinometer (inclinometer) and iPhone® application for measuring standing lumbar lordosis. Methods: Two investigators used both an inclinometer and an iPhone® with an inclinometer application to measure lumbar lordosis of 30 asymptomatic participants. Results: ICC models 3,k and 2,k were used for the intrarater and interrater analysis, respectively. Good interrater and intrarater reliability was present for the inclinometer with Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) of 0.90 and 0.85, respectively and the iPhone® application with ICC values of 0.96 and 0.81. The minimal detectable change (MDC90) indicates that a change greater than or equal to 7° and 6° is needed to exceed the threshold of error using the iPhone® and inclinometer, respectively. The concurrent validity between the two instruments was good with a Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation (r) of 0.86 for both raters. Ninety-five percent limits of agreement identified differences ranging from 9° greater in regards to the iPhone® to 8° less regarding the inclinometer. Conclusion: Both the inclinometer and iPhone® application possess good interrater reliability, intrarater reliability and concurrent validity for measuring standing lumbar lordosis. This investigation provides preliminary evidence to suggest that smart phone applications may offer clinical utility comparable to inclinometry for quantifying standing lumbar lordosis. Clinicians should recognize potential individual differences when using these devices interchangeably.
Surfactant-Enhanced Bisphenol A Adsorption Onto Surficial Sediments (SSs)

Surfactants have a significant influence on the adsorption of organic contaminants. In this study, batch equilibrium experiments were conducted to investigate the influences of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMAB), anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) and non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100 (TX100) on bisphenol A (BPA) adsorption onto surficial sediments (SSs). The results indicated that the application of CTMAB results in a dramatic increase in the adsorption of BPA, the increase being directly proportional to the concentration of CTMAB added, while increasing amount of SDBS led to a less pronounced increase in BPA adsorption. However, BPA exhibited a slight enhanced adsorption onto SSs in the presence of TX100 at high concentrations (>1.0CMC), and a decrease adsorption in the presence of TX100 at low concentrations (<1.0CMC). Moreover, the addition orders of CTMAB have little influence on BPA adsorption onto SSs. The results are hoped to provide a useful insight into describing the transport and fate of BPA in natural environments.
Revising the value shift hypothesis : South Africa's value dynamics between 1991 and 2001

The World Values Survey has made a significant contribution to research in the field of values and value change, but a large amount of the research has been fashioned in a manner to tap values in industrialized and western states, rendering the theoretical models of explanation less than relevant for developing nations. This study aims to advance an understanding of value change within the South African context, particularly in light of the expansive political, social and economic changes to have transpired since 1990, whilst simultaneously addressing this issue of a lack of universal theory to understand value change. Primary amongst the theoretical frameworks addressing this issue of value change has been Ronald Inglehart's theory of a shift towards increased post-materialism in economically viable democratic countries. By subjecting survey data regarding value priorities from the South African rounds of the 1991, 1995 and 2001 World Values Survey to statistical analysis, the hypothesis of a similar situation in South Africa will be tested. After evaluating whether South Africa concurs with the post-materialist shift hypothesis, a unique dimension, including pre-materialist values, will be utilized in an attempt to establish whether South Africa has undergone any value change. This dimension is employed in the analysis of the 1995 and 2001 South African data, and whilst the value shift hypothesis promulgated by Inglehart appears largely unconcurred, an overall trend away from pre-materialism towards increased mixed type value priorities, with an ever so slight increase in materialists, has become evident. Although South Africa's value configuration is displaying an increasing convergence towards more moderate value orientations, most of the dynamics of change are manifesting themselves amongst and across various population sub-groups. South Africa's values are therefore undergoing relatively dramatic fluctuations, mainly reflected when the data are disaggregated for the various population sub-groups, the results indicating that longitudinal analysis along the pre-materialist/materialist continuum continues to be a more appropriate tool for tapping South Africa's underlying values. The consequences of these findings, for democratic consolidation, future political conflict, value change determinants and the appropriateness of this model for developing countries, will be assessed in detail. Consequently, by conducting these analyses, this research essay attempts to situate a global, but still largely Western theory, in a South African and developing world context. It thereby attempts to contribute towards filling a knowledge gap concerning the direction, degree and nature of the dynamics of value change. 111 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Matrine ameliorates isoproterenol-induced acute myocardial ischemia through regulation of growth factors and RhoA / ROCK 1 pathway

Growth factors and inflammatory Ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA)/coiled-coil containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) pathway have been shown to regulate isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial ischemia. However, the association between matrine and myocardial ischemia remains to be elucidated. The objective of this study was to explore whether matrine ameliorates ISO-induced myocardial ischemia through modulating growth factors and RhoA/ROCK1 cell signaling. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with matrine (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/d) intragastrically for two days. Acute myocardial ischemia was induced in rats by subcutaneous injection of ISO (85 mg/ kg/d) for two days. Histopathological changes, cardiac troponin (cTn-I) levels, mRNA and/or protein levels of growth factors, collagen 1a1 and 3a1 and RhoA/ROCK1 were measured. Short-term oral administration of matrine provided protection against ISO-induced acute myocardial ischemia. Matrine reduced ISO-induced cTn-I (from 50.43±1.79 to 35.99±3.23, P < 0.01) and collagen 1a1 (from 0.30±0.09 to 0.13±0.10, P < 0.05), and reversed ISO-induced suppression of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) (from 24.07±6.17 to 51.59±6.50, P < 0.05), insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1) (from 97.73±24.19 to 146.83±37.20, P < 0.01). Meanwhile, it prevented ISO-induced increases in RhoA (from 0.311±0.042 to 0.124±0.031, P < 0.01)/ROCK1 (from 0.305±0.019 to 0.171±0.010, P < 0.05). Taken together, the cardioprotective effect of matrine on ISO-induced myocardial ischemia is associated with its ability of increasing levels of the IGF-1, TGF-β1, suppressing cTn-I release and inflammatory mediators RhoA/ ROCK1. Therefore, matrine may be a potential medication for the treatment of myocardial ischemia.
Sleep, breathing, and cephalometrics in older children and young adults. Part II -- Response to nasal occlusion.

STUDY OBJECTIVES We postulated that nasal occlusion would provide a challenge enabling us to assess factors predisposing development of sleep apnea in older children/adolescents and young adults. Factors of interest included sex, age, body mass index (BMI), tonsillar hypertrophy, and cephalometric measurements. DESIGN Sleep and breathing variables were examined and compared for four groups of subjects between one baseline night and one night of nasal occlusion in a sleep research laboratory. SUBJECTS Healthy, normal boys (n=23, mean age=13.3+/-2.1 years), girls (n=22, mean age=13.8+/-1.8 years), men (n=23, mean age=22.2+/-1.5 years), and women (n=24, mean age=22.4+/-1.8 years) were studied. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The following sleep and sleep-related breathing measures showed significant increases in all four groups from baseline to occlusion: percentage of stage 1, number of transient arousals, transient arousal index, apnea index, respiratory disturbance index (RDI), and mean apnea length. No significant relationships were found between occlusion-night RDI and tonsillar size, cephalometric variables, or BMI, either singly or in combination. CONCLUSIONS Subjects' responses to nasal occlusion varied: most demonstrated a minimal and clinically insignificant increase in RDI; few showed a marked increase in RDI. Significant increases of sleep fragmentation -- even in the absence of frankly disturbed breathing -- indicate that nasal occlusion may secondarily affect waking function if prolonged over a series of nights.
Enhanced airway dilation by positive-pressure inflation of the lungs compared with active deep inspiration in patients with asthma.

Deep inspiration temporarily reduces induced airways obstruction in healthy subjects. This bronchodilatory effect of deep inspiration is impaired in asthma. Passive machine-assisted lung inflation may augment bronchodilation compared with an active deep inspiration in patients with asthma by either opening closed airways or by reducing fluid flux across the airway wall during deep inspiration, and thereby increasing the tethering forces on the airway wall. We recruited 24 patients with asthma [18-46 yr old, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) > 70% predicted; provocative concentration of methacholine inducing a 20% fall in FEV(1) (PC(20)) < 8 mg/ml], with either an impaired (n = 12) or an intact (n = 12) bronchodilatory response to deep inspiration. Two methacholine challenges were performed on separate days. At a 50% increase in respiratory resistance (forced oscillation technique at 8 Hz), the change in resistance by a positive-pressure inflation (computer-driven syringe) or an active deep inspiration was measured in randomized order. The reduction in resistance by positive-pressure inflation was significantly greater than by active deep inspiration in the impaired deep inspiration response group (mean change +/- SE: -0.6 +/- 0.1 vs. -0.03 +/- 0.2 cmH(2)O.l(-1). s, P = 0.002). No significant difference was found between positive-pressure inflation and active deep inspiration in the intact deep inspiration response group (-0.6 +/- 0.2 vs. -1.0 +/- 0.3 cmH(2)O.l(-1). s, P = 0.18). Positive-pressure inflation of the lungs can significantly enhance deep inspiration-induced bronchodilation in patients with asthma.
The analysis of labor markets using matched employer-employee data

Matched employer-employee data contain information collected from households and individuals as well as information collected from businesses or establishments. Both administrative and sample survey sources are considered. Both longitudinal and cross-sectional applications are discussed. We review studies from 17 different countries using 38 different systems for creating the linked data. We provide a detailed discussion of the methods used to create the linked datasets, the statistical and economic models used to analyze these data, and a comprehensive set of results from the different countries. We consider compensation structure, wage and employment mobility, and the relation between firm outcomes and worker characteristics in detail. Matched employer-employee data provide the empirical basis for further refinements of the theory of workplace organization, compensation design, mobility and production; however, the arrival of these data has been relatively recent.
Rounding and the Impact of News: A Simple Test of Market Rationality

Certain prominent scheduled macroeconomic news releases contain a rounded number on the first page of the release that is widely cited by newswires and the press and a more precise number in the text of the release. The whole release comes out at once. We propose a simple test of whether markets are paying attention to the rounded or unrounded numbers by studying the high-frequency market reaction to such news announcements. In the case of inflation releases, we find evidence that markets systematically ignore some of the information in the unrounded number. This is most pronounced for core CPI, a prominent release for which the rounding in the headline number is large relative to the information content of the release.
The Structure of Bank Relationships, Endogenous Monitoring and Loan Rates

This paper investigates a firm's choice between borrowing from a single bank and from two banks. The focus is on how this decision affects banks' equilibrium monitoring intensities and loan rates. Two-bank lending suffers from duplication of effort and sharing of monitoring benefits, but it benefits from diseconomies of scale in monitoring. Thus, two-bank lending involves lower monitoring but not necessarily higher loan rates than single-bank lending. The optimal borrowing structure balances the benefit of monitoring for the firm in terms of higher success probability of the project against its drawbacks of lower expected private return and higher total monitoring costs. In contrast to the previous theoretical literature, the model lays down an explanation for the empirical observation that multiple-bank lending does not unambiguously increase loan rates or firms' quality, in particular in small business lending.
The Implementation Effects of Expanded Consolidation: The Case of Consolidating Special Purpose Entities

type="main" xml:id="acfi12004-abs-0001"> This article examines the impact of FASB Interpretation No. 46 (Revised), FIN 46(R), on perceived earnings informativeness of companies with special purpose entities (SPEs). We find that the impact depends on the pre-FIN 46(R) incentives for using SPEs. The implementation of FIN 46(R) improves perceived earnings informativeness of companies that previously used SPEs less for the manipulation of financial reporting, but does not generate the same improvement for those otherwise. Furthermore, these differential effects are more pronounced when companies reacted to FIN 46(R) by restructuring their SPEs to keep them off financial statements.
Entrepreneurship and social and community care

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show that not only (obviously) social enterprises but also conventional ones are based on social intentions and that these social intentions often have community dimensions. The conclusion of these findings is that conventional research, and consequently, also the public debate on entrepreneurship as well as on social and community entrepreneurship, is guided by false notions rather than on empirical facts. Design/methodology/approach - The paper starts by presenting the dominating references on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and community entrepreneurship and then goes on to compare them. The existence of social motives among conventional enterprises is brought to the fore, first through a presentation of the official statistics of the motives for all new starters in Sweden and then with a presentation of cases from different sectors. The cases selected to represent the starters have all expressed social motives for going into business. “Care” was the word used by the individuals themselves and therefore the care concept is introduced. Findings - Social intentions can be found in conventional market enterprises. The intentions of the entrepreneurs' are often expressed in terms of “care”. Care for the community is often an important part of other care dimensions. Research limitations/implications - The empirical findings of care in conventional market enterprises and care for the community as an important care dimension in the cases presented have implications not only for theories on conventional, social and community entrepreneurship but also for theory building in social sciences in general. The dominance of English-speaking researchers can be a problem from this perspective. Practical implications - Both the descriptions and the analysis have practical implications for everyone interested in entrepreneurship and the circumstances for enterprises of all kinds as well as for local and regional development. Originality/value - The paper questions what is taken-for-granted, with the help of empirical examples and not just with statements.
Housing Improvements, Perceived Housing Quality and Psychosocial Benefits From the Home

In advanced countries, where many of the most deleterious physical health effects of poor housing have been eradicated or substantially reduced, there has been increasing interest in mental health and psychosocial benefits as housing outcomes. Recently available data, based on a large-scale survey of social renters in Glasgow, have offered the opportunity to explore the psychosocial benefits of home in previously unavailable detail, over a range of property types and housing improvement interventions. Findings indicate that home improvements have mediating effects upon the psychosocial benefits, which occupants derive from their homes via their impacts upon perceived home quality. However, landlord relations and the quality of the wider neighbourhood within which improvements take place are shown to be important moderators of this relationship. In particular, landlords' overall service performance, how they keep tenants informed and how they take tenants' views on board, all make a difference to perceptions of home quality and to psychosocial status and control.
Oligoclonal immunoglobulin bands in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia

ABSTRACT— We examined serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 16 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 28 patients with vascular dementia (VD), their age‐matched controls and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in order to evaluate the humoral immune response within the central nervous system both quantitatively and qualitatively. Intra‐blood‐brain barrier (BBB) protein synthesis was calculated by CSF IgG index. The presence of oligoclonal banding (OCB) was investigated with agarose isoelectric focusing (IEF) followed by immunoblotting with antihuman IgG. No patient with AD and only 4 patients with VD had slightly elevated IgG indexes, and no statistically significant differences in the indexes were found between the two groups. No bands were found in the CSF of AD patients but 3 VD patients had OCB in both serum and CSF. One VD patient had bands in serum but no bands in CSF. No kappa or lambda free light chains were found in those demented patients with demonstrable bands in the CSF and serum. No OCB were found in control sera and CSF. For comparison, the majority of patients with MS had OCB in CSF. Thus, no consistent increase of intrathecal protein synthesis was found in patients with AD and VD. Methodological differences explain at least part of the conflicting results published earlier.
Costs, charges, and reimbursements for persons with sickle cell disease.

PURPOSE The aims of this study were to describe health care costs and charges for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and identify predictors of high use. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with SCD were identified by International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes from a university hospital's administrative databases from January 1, 1996, to September 30, 1997. Clinical and administrative data were gathered on each patient for all hospital admissions and ambulatory clinic visits. Logistic regression models were used to determine predictors of high health care use. RESULTS A total of 947 patients with SCD were identified, 73% of whom resided within three South Carolina counties. On average, there were 0.9 admissions per patient per year and 8.0 outpatient visits per patient per year. Mean inpatient hospital charges, physician charges, and direct hospital costs per admission were $7290, $1589, and $5405, respectively, and the average length of stay was 4.5 days. Mean hospital charges, physician charges, and direct hospital costs per outpatient visit were $305, $169, and $688, respectively. Forty percent of the inpatient hospital charges were accounted for by only 4.2% of the patients. Residing in a distant county and being admitted with a diagnosis of painful respiration were found to be predictors of excessive charges and expenses beyond expected reimbursements. CONCLUSIONS Patients with SCD are frequent users of health care services. Charges and costs are distributed disproportionately across these patients. Predictors of excessive hospital charges include living geographically distant from the hospital and being admitted with a diagnosis of painful respiration.
Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Piper attenuatum Methanol Extract in LPS-Stimulated Inflammatory Responses

Piper attenuatum is used as a traditional medicinal plant in India. One of the substances in P. attenuatum has been suggested to have anti-inflammatory effects. However, there is insufficient research about the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of action of P. attenuatum. The effects of P. attenuatum methanol extract (Pa-ME) on the production of inflammatory mediators nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), the expression of proinflammatory genes, the translocation level of transcription factors, and intracellular signaling activities were investigated using macrophages. Pa-ME suppressed the production of NO and PGE2 in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-), pam3CSK4-, and poly(I:C)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells without displaying cytotoxicity. The mRNA expression levels of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) were decreased by Pa-ME. P-ME reduced the translocation of p50/NF-κB and AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos), as well as the activity of their upstream enzymes Src, Syk, and TAK1. Immunoprecipitation analysis showed failure of binding between their substrates, phospho- (p-) p85 and p-MKK3/6. p-p85 and p-MKK3/6, which were induced by overexpression of Src, Syk, and TAK1, were also reduced by Pa-ME. Therefore, these results suggest that Pa-ME exerts its anti-inflammatory effects by targeting Src and Syk in the NF-κB signaling pathway and TAK1 in the AP-1 signaling pathway.
Management Practices Across Firms and Countries

For the last decade we have been using double-blind survey techniques and randomized sampling to construct management data on over 10,000 organizations across twenty countries. On average, we find that in manufacturing American, Japanese, and German firms are the best managed. Firms in developing countries, such as Brazil, China and India tend to be poorly managed. American retail firms and hospitals are also well managed by international standards, although American schools are worse managed than those in several other developed countries. We also find substantial variation in management practices across organizations in every country and every sector, mirroring the heterogeneity in the spread of performance in these sectors. One factor linked to this variation is ownership. Government, family, and founder owned firms are usually poorly managed, while multinational, dispersed shareholder and private-equity owned firms are typically well managed. Stronger product market competition and higher worker skills are associated with better management practices. Less regulated labor markets are associated with improvements in incentive management practices such as performance based promotion.