Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secondary sex ratios and male lifespan: Damaged or culled cohorts

Population stressors reportedly reduce the human secondary sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a newborn's being male) by, among other mechanisms, inducing the spontaneous abortion of males who would have been born live had mothers not been stressed. Controversy remains as to whether these abortions result from reduced maternal tolerance of males at the low end of a relatively constant distribution of survivability (i.e., the “culled cohort” explanation) or from shifts in the whole distribution of survivability such that more males fall below a relatively constant criterion of maternal tolerance for low survivability (i.e., the “damaged cohort” explanation). These alternatives make opposing predictions regarding the relationship between the secondary sex ratio and lifespan of male birth cohorts. We test the hypothesis that the secondary sex ratio among Swedish cohorts born in the years 1751 through 1912 predicts male cohort life expectancy at birth (i.e., realized lifespan). Our results support the culled cohort argument. We argue that these findings have implications for the basic literature concerned with temporal variation in the secondary sex ratio, for more applied work concerned with the fetal origins of adult health, and for public health surveillance.
Corruption as an obstacle to development in developing countries: a review of literature

Purpose – Contemporary literature has paid scholarly attention to corruption from a variety of competing perspectives. However, broader accounts of the impact of corruption on development in developing countries are relatively scarce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of corruption as a social impediment to development, which has a devastating effect on developing countries.Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the relevant literature and the different perspectives that have been developed and conducted for investigating corruption in developing countries. The paper uses publicly available evidence to show that political, economic elite engaged in corrupt practices.Findings – The evidence shows that socio‐political and economic development, politics, power, history and globalisation have continued to reproduce and transform the institutional structures and actors which have facilitated corrupt practices in developing countries. The review shows that large sums of government rev.
Mucosal biopsy shows immunologic changes of the colon in patients with early MS

Objective: To investigate immune cells of the colonic mucosa and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in treatment-naive patients with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or early relapsing MS. Methods: In this cross-sectional proof-of-concept study, we obtained mucosal specimens during ileocolonoscopy from 15 untreated patients with CIS/MS and 10 controls. Mucosal immune cells were analyzed by FACS, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry measurements of stool samples served to determine SCFA. Results: The number of total dendritic cells (DCs), CD103+ tolerogenic DCs, and CD4+25+127–regulatory T cells (Tregs) was significantly reduced in the distal colon of patients with CIS/MS compared with controls, whereas we found no differences in the proximal colon. The patients' fecal samples also showed a substantially lower content of SCFA and especially lower levels of butyrate and acetate. Conclusions: Our findings indicate a disturbed homeostasis of colonic DCs and Tregs in patients with MS which could be associated with colonic SCFA depletion. Although not implying causality, these findings confirm parallel abnormalities of the gut in MS and warrant further research if modulation of the colonic SCFA profile or the colonic Treg pool can serve to modify the course of MS.
The effectiveness of investment in lead time reduction for a make-to-stock product

This paper focuses on a firm selling a make-to-stock product with a constant customer demand rate. The firm follows an exact (Q, r) policy for raw material inventory control and faces a random replenishment lead time. Through this research, we wish to gain a better understanding of the impact of investing in reducing supply lead time when the investment costs have to be borne, partly or fully, by the firm. This work is motivated by the recognition that lead time reduction is now of strategic importance in the successful operation of a firm. We examine different types of investment schemes in replenishment lead time reduction and the different cost models they generate. We present analytical and numerical results and insights for each type of model, compute the optimal (Q, r) policy and the associated investment levels. The work presents new results, and sheds light on some apparently counter-intuitive observations.
Why Deliberate? The Encounter Between Deliberation and New Public Managers

A number of organizations in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) have been experimenting with ‘deliberative’ techniques of citizen involvement, techniques that were designed with democratic imperatives in mind. However, political practices are moulded by their institutional settings and the goals of their proponents, so it is unlikely that they have been left ‘pure’ following their encounter with public management imperatives. This paper offers an explanation for the interest in deliberative processes in the NHS by comparing deliberative and public management imperatives, as well as discussing more case-specific motivations, drawing on interviews with health policy actors between May and July 2001. I then use those insights to highlight gaps between the deliberative ideal and deliberative practice, showing what has been gained and what has been lost in the encounter between deliberative democracy and new public managers.
What drives referral from primary care physicians to mental health specialists? A randomized trial using actors portraying depressive symptoms

AbstractBACKGROUND: Referral from primary care to the mental health specialty sector is important but poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: Identify physician characteristics influencing mental health referral. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial using Standardized Patients (SPs). SETTING: Offices of primary care physicians in 3 cities. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifty-two family physicians and general internists recruited from 4 broad practice settings; 18 middle aged Caucasian female actors. INTERVENTION: Two hundred and ninety-eight unannounced SP visits, with assignments constrained so physicians saw 1 SP with major depression and 1 with adjustment disorder. MEASUREMENTS: Mental health referrals via SP written reports; physician and system characteristics through a self-administered physician questionnaire. RESULTS: Among 298 SP visits, 107 (36%) resulted in mental health referral. Referrals were less likely among physicians with greater self-confidence in their ability to manage antidepressant therapy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.17 to 0.86) and were more likely if physicians typically spent ≥10% of professional time on nonclinical activities (AOR 3.42, 95% CI 1.45 to 8.07), had personal life experience with psychotherapy for depression (AOR 2.74, 95% CI 1.15 to 6.52), or usually had access to mental health consultation within 2 weeks (AOR 2.94, 95% CI 1.26 to 6.92). LIMITATION: The roles portrayed by SPs may not reflect the experience of a typical panel of primary care patients. CONCLUSIONS: Controlling for patient and health system factors, physicians’ therapeutic confidence and personal experience were important influences on mental health referral. Research is needed to determine if addressing these factors can facilitate more appropriate care.
Year‐End Tax‐Induced Sales and Stock Market Seasonality

The paper relates two phenomena in the stock market: the high return during the month of January and the apparent existence of widespread sales of stocks for tax purposes towards the end of the fiscal year. The findings suggest that, due to the taxinduced sales, the price of many stocks over the last 35 years was temporarily depressed in December but recovered in the following January. This price recovery is a major contributor to the high returns observed in January. The tax effect is present in firms of all sizes but much more pronounced for small firms. The analysis also indicates that a more precise identification of the tax-switch candidates may prove that the taxinduced sales are, in fact, the sole contributor to the high January's returns. THE ISSUE OF SEASONALITY in the stock market has attracted the attention of researchers for some time. Rozeff and Kinney [13] present evidence of seasonality in the market index with the months of January and July having a peak return. The seasonal movements in the average return in the market could not be fully accounted for by a corresponding seasonal pattern in the market risk. They offer three explanations to this phenomenon: tax-induced sales, release of accounting information, and seasonal demand for cash. The first explanation has received some support from recent research. Dyl [4] studied the effects of capital gain taxes on trading volumes of common stocks and concluded that "capital gain taxes affect investors' year-end portfolio decisions, and that this effect is, in turn, reflected in the trading volumes of common stocks in December" (p. 174). McEnally [10] and Branch [2] studied the effects of the tax-induced trading on securities return and found that depressed stocks at the end of the year are likely to bounce back immediately after year-end. The existence of a pronounced seasonal behavior in the market might suggest some form of market inefficiency: a strategy under which stocks are bought towards the end of the year and sold at the beginning of the following year might yield an abnormal return. Despite the seasonal behavior of stock returns, it would be indeed surprising if this regularity, which has not gone unnoticed by the financial community, could be exploited to bring a risk-adjusted excess return. The objective of this paper is to examine jointly the two phenomena: tax
Can improved agricultural water use efficiency save India’s groundwater?

Irrigated agriculture is placing increasing pressure on finite freshwater resources, especially in developing countries, where water extraction is often unregulated, un-priced and even subsidized. To shift agriculture to a more sustainable use of water without harming the food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholders, substantial improvements of water use efficiency will be required. Here, we use detailed hydroclimatic and agricultural data to estimate the potential for the widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies to halt the depletion of India’s groundwater resources. Even though we find substantial technical potential for reversing water table declines, we show that the impacts are highly sensitive to assumptions about farmers’ water use decisions. For example, we find that widespread adoption of proven technologies that include drip and sprinkler irrigation has the potential to reduce the amount of excessive extraction of groundwater by two thirds. However, under more realistic assumptions about farmers’ irrigation choices, half of these reductions are lost due to the expansion of irrigated area. Our results suggest that without the introduction of incentives for conservation, much of the potential impact of technology adoption on aquifers may be lost. The analysis provides quantitative input to the debate of incentive versus technology based water policies.
Identification of genes required for adventurous gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus with the transposable element mariner

Myxococcus xanthus glides over solid surfaces without the use of flagella, dependent upon two large sets of adventurous (A) and social (S) genes, using two different mechanisms of gliding motility. Myxococcus xanthus A–S– double mutants form non‐motile colonies lacking migratory cells at their edges. We have isolated 115 independent mutants of M. xanthus with insertions of transposon magellan‐4 in potential A genes by screening for insertions that reduce the motility of a mutant S– parental strain. These insertions are found not only in the three loci known to be required for A motility, mglBA, cglB, and aglU, but also in 30 new genes. Six of these new genes encode different homologues of the TolR, TolB, and TolQ transport proteins, suggesting that adventurous motility is dependent on biopolymer transport. Other insertions which affect both A and S motility suggest that both systems share common energy and cell wall determinants. Because the spectrum of magellan‐4 insertions in M. xanthus is extraordinarily broad, transposon mutagenesis with this eukaryotic genetic element permits the rapid genetic analysis of large sets of genes that contribute to a complex microbial behaviors such as A motility.
Intertemporal Preferences and Intergenerational Equity Considerations in Optimal Resource Harvesting

Abstract Optimal resource harvesting decisions are reexamined in light of a distinction between personal discount rates, reflecting individuals′ rate of time preference, and generational discount rates, reflecting considerations of equity for future generations. The discount rates have partially counteracting effects upon the optimal harvesting decisions and upon the optimal distribution of benefits in any one period. For instance, it is the generational discount rate that determines the potential for "economically optimal extinction" of a renewable resource. By distinguishing the two discount rates it is possible to give each generation equal consideration while still allowing for individual impatience.
When are Cities Engines of Growth in China? Spread and Backwash Effects across the Urban Hierarchy

Chen A. and Partridge M. D. When are cities engines of growth in China? Spread and backwash effects across the urban hierarchy, Regional Studies. China's remarkable growth has an urban bias, but it is unclear whether it has greatly disadvantaged particular regions. To assess this question, a Central Place Theory framework is employed to assess spread and backwash effects. It is found that New Economic Geography representations do not capture the heterogeneity across urban tiers. Market potential in China's mega-cities is inversely related to growth for smaller cities and rural communities, while medium-sized cities have positive spread effects. It is concluded that China's urban-centric process should be re-evaluated because it may not maximize aggregate growth, and growth in the mega-cities may reduce growth elsewhere.
Serological Survey of Avian Metapneumovirus Infection in Broiler Breeder Chicken Farms in Tamil Nadu

Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) is an important poultry pathogen causing an acute highly contagious upper respiratory tract infection in chickens leading to swollen head syndrome. The disease can cause significant economic losses in turkey and chicken flocks, particularly when exacerbated by secondary pathogens. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of avian metapneumovirus antibodies in broiler breeder flocks in Tamil Nadu, India. Twenty numbers of broiler breeder farms located in Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu were selected randomly and blood samples were collected. A total of 485 blood samples were collected from 20 broiler breeder chicken flocks (aged between 4 and 72 weeks). The serum samples were tested for the presence of antibodies against avian metapneumovirus by using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit (IDEXX APV Ab test, Liebefeld-Bern, Switzerland) which was able to determine antibodies against A, B and C subtypes of avian metapneumovirus. Out of 485 serum samples, 165 (34.02%) were positive to avian metapneumovirus antibodies, which represented 14 of 20 (70%) examined broiler breeder flocks. All the chickens had not been vaccinated against avian metapneumovirus in India and these results indicate that commercial poultry birds are exposed to this important poultry pathogen. This is the first report of serologic evidence of AMPV in India. Its prevalence has to be investigated in other parts of India. Future work may and should include the use of molecular methods and isolation of the virus. Isolation of avian metapneumovirus will allow the possibility of controlling the disease.
The Cobb-Douglas Production Function Once Again: Its History, Its Testing, and Some New Empirical Values

Research into the production function has a long history. Since the first work, in 1928, many studies have tended to support the hypothesis that production processes are well described by a linear homogeneous function with an elasticity of substitution of one between factors. New results are presented here, using 7 years of observations on Australian manufacturing industries during the 1950s and 1960s. In all seven cases, constant returns to scale are very closely approximated, and the coefficient for labor hovers near 0.6. The appropriate coincidence of the estimated coefficients with the shares received strengthens the competitive theory of distribution.
Labor Market Rigidities: At the Root of Unemployment in Europe

This paper studies the major institutional changes at the root of the increase in the west European unemployment trade in the last quarter century from below 3 percent to 11 percent. The institutional characteristics of wage bargaining and the legal rules hamper the self-equilibrating function of the labor market. The reservation wage, raised by the welfare state's rise, has affected the bargaining process, the wage level and the wage structure. Econometric evidence is presented. Since the mid-1980s, differences emerge, and the Scandinavian, the French-Mediterranean, the German, and the British-Dutch approach to the labor market can be distinguished.
Classification of Residential Areas in the Three Largest Dutch Cities Using Multidimensional Data

This article explores the variety of residential area types in the three largest Dutch cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. The data are characterised as multidimensional, as they pertain to socio-demographic and other `objective' indicators produced by official statistics, as well as to more `subjective' location preferences expressed by the residents themselves. The method used is a clustering and classification approach based on two-dimensional models generated by the self-organising map (SOM) and learning vector quantisation (LVQ). Using sub-district-level data, the study shows that, while some characteristic residential milieus can be found in all three cities, they have a broader variety in Amsterdam than in Rotterdam or The Hague. This supports the commonly held presumption that Amsterdam is less segregated than Rotterdam or The Hague in terms of intraurban housing patterns.
NK Cell-based Immunotherapies in Pediatric Oncology

The past decade has seen several anticancer immunotherapeutic strategies transition from “promising preclinical models” to treatments with proven clinical activity or benefit. In 2013, the journal Science selected the field of Cancer Immunotherapy as the overall number-1 breakthrough for the year in all of scientific research. In the setting of cancer immunotherapy for adult malignancies, many of these immunotherapy strategies have relied on the cancer patient’s endogenous antitumor T-cell response. Although much promising research in pediatric oncology is similarly focused on T-cell reactivity, several pediatric malignancies themselves, or the chemo-radiotherapy used to achieve initial responses, can be associated with profound immune suppression, particularly of the T-cell system. A separate component of the immune system, also able to mediate antitumor effects and less suppressed by conventional cancer treatment, is the NK-cell system. In recent years, several distinct immunotherapeutic approaches that rely on the activity of NK cells have moved from preclinical development into clinical testing, and some have shown clear antitumor benefit. This review provides an overview of NK cell-based immunotherapy efforts that are directed toward childhood malignancies, with an emphasis on protocols that are already in clinical testing.
Role of Vitamin E in Improving Pain Severity in Cyclical Mastalgia in Adolescent Women : Aprospective Study

Aims: To study the efficacy of vitamin E in improving pain severity in cyclical mastalgia in adolescent women. Materials and Methods:In a prospective trial of 194 patients suffering from cyclic mastalgia were advised 400 IU of vitamin E daily for 2 month. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Severity of breast pain was evaluated by the Cardiff breast pain score during one menstrual cycle before and two menstrual cycle after the intervention Results: There was significant difference in the mean severity of cyclic mastalgia during one menstrual cycle before the intervention vitamin E (9.1 ± 2.1), but the difference was significant during the first cycle (4.9± 1.5) and second cycle (1.5± 1.1 )after the intervention. There was decreasing trend in pain severity score and remarkable improvement in the second cycle . Conclusions: From the results of this study,regimens containing vitamin E has an excellent improvement in reducing breast pain severity in cyclic mastalgia.
Is the Fisher effect non-linear? some evidence for Spain, 1963–2002

In this paper the role of non-linearities in the relationship between nominal interest rates and inflation is examined, in order to shed some additional light on the mostly unfavourable evidence on the presence of a full Fisher effect. The analysis is applied to the case of Spain for the period 1963–2002, which allows previous results on the subject to be re-examined and extended. The empirical methodology makes use of recent developments on threshold cointegration, so that cointegration between a pair of variables should be expected only once a certain threshold was reached.
Financial Control in the Transition from Classical Socialism to a Market Economy

The transition from socialism to capitalism poses severe problems of financial management that have yet to be resolved in principle, let alone in practice. One unfortunate consequence is continual financial turmoil as socialist economies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe attempt reform. Inflation, either open or repressed, first accompanies and then undermines attempts to decentralize decision-making. But why should the transition from central planning to a market economy be inflationary? Understanding the system of financial control in the preexisting regime of "classical" socialism is the key to understanding what might go wrong in the transition. I discuss how in a more deliberate transition, domestic tax and monetary arrangements might be managed to keep the average price level stable as the market prices of individual goods and services become free to fluctuate, and suggest complementary policies governing tariffs and foreign exchange convertability in the move toward free foreign trade.
Inattentive behavior after traumatic brain injury

Abstract Clinicians and families report that traumatic brain injury results in a variety of attention deficits. Numerous laboratory studies have documented slowing of information processing, alteration in event-related potentials, or difficulty attending to specific relevant task dimensions in the presence of redundant information. However, little is known about how these information processing abnormalities relate to observable behaviors in daily living or work environments, which presumably form the basis for clinicians’ and families’ reports. We developed a quantitative assessment of behavioral inattentiveness in both quiet and distracting environments, and demonstrated excellent interrater reliability. Using this assessment, we have studied 20 patients with recent traumatic brain injury and 20 demographically comparable control subjects. We have confirmed marked differences in behavioral attentivencss between patients and controls in both distracting and nondistracting environments. (JINS, 1996, 2, 274–281.)