Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relaxation Practice for Health in the United States

Despite the popularity of relaxation practices as mind–body therapy in the United States, little is known about those who practice these techniques. Using cross-sectional data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey Alternative Medicine Supplement, this study examined potential correlates of engagement in relaxation practices, including sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, medical conditions, physical activity, drinking, smoking, and prayer for health. Individuals who engaged in relaxation practices were less likely to be older, male, Hispanic, high income, or residents in the South and Midwest. They were more likely to be college-educated, uninsured, and have one to two chronic conditions. Those with higher psychological distress and with asthma and pulmonary diseases practiced relaxation techniques more than individuals without these conditions. Findings suggest that relaxation practice is associated with lifestyles habits such as regular physical activity and prayer for health. Thus, relaxation practice has the potential to enhance health behaviors and lifestyle change.
Profit and cost efficiency in the Italian banking industry (2006-2011)

This study evaluates the cost and the profit efficiency of Italian banking sector over the period 2006-2011. Translog stochastic frontiers are used for this purpose. Following the intermediation approach, efficiency scores are computed from estimating a model with three inputs and three outputs. Results indicate that Italian banks perform well, given that the average levels of cost and profit efficiency are both around 90% and they are quite stable over time. However, there is high heterogeneity in results. Differences have been found when banks are classified by size (efficiency tends to decrease with size), legal type (cooperatives perform better than others) and area (the best performers are in the North East of the country).
Entrepreneurship and Growth

In the year 2000 at a meeting in Lisbon, leaders of the European Union (EU) articulated a set of goals for the Union, which have come to be called the Lisbon Strategy or Lisbon Agenda. The agenda had three main goals: to promote growth through innovation, to create a learning economy, and to bring about social and environmental renewal. Exactly what the last goal implies is not clear, at least to me, but the intent and substance behind the first two certainly is. Research spending was to rise across the EU, university enrollments would rise with them, and a more friendly environment for innovation would be created as markets continued to be liberalized and integrated. The EU leaders meeting in Lisbon set the year 2010 as their goal for fulfilling this agenda. The year 2010 has come and gone. Today, growth rates in Europe are even lower than they were in 2000. Research and university budgets have been cut – sometimes drastically – across the EU. These developments are, of course, largely a response to the recent financial crisis and its impact on state finances. But the crisis would not have been nearly as severe as it has been, if EU countries had been well on their way to fulfilling the goals of the Lisbon Agenda when the crisis hit. The EU’s failure to come anywhere near meeting the goals set out in the year 2000 stems, I shall argue, to underlying structural factors and ideological perspectives, which constitute major obstacles to the kind of knowledge-based, innovative society that the EU leaders dreamed of in Lisbon more than a decade ago. This paper attempts to identify what these obstacles are.
Uterine prolapse in cows: effect of raising the rear end on the clinical outcomes and reproductive performance.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of raising the rear end when replacing the prolapsed uterus in cows on the outcome and reproductive performance. A total of 76 cows with uterine prolapse were investigated, 10 of which had died before treatment. According to the posture, cows were divided into standing (Standing: n = 11) and recumbent (Recumbent: n = 55). Recumbent cows were subdivided randomly into lying (Lying: n = 24), lifting up using a cow-lift (Cow-lift: n = 18), and raising hind legs using a tractor (Raising: n = 13). Recovery rate after treatment of all cows was 60.6%. The recovery rate of Recumbent (52.7%) was significantly (P < 0.01) lower than Standing (100%). Among the recumbent cows, Lying showed the lowest recovery rate (37.5%), which was significantly lower than the recovery rate (64.5%) of the combined Cow-lift and Raising groups. The mean nonpregnant term of Raising (144 days) was significantly (P < 0.05) shorter than of Cow-lift (297 days). In conclusion, the method of replacing the uterus by raising the hind legs during treatment of uterine prolapse in cows could improve the recovery rate and breeding performance.
Mesenteric Blood Flow Velocity and Its Relation to Circulatory Adaptation during the First Week of Life in Healthy Term Infants

ABSTRACT: We investigated early postnatal changes of the mesenteric circulation and its relationship to the systemic circulation in two groups of newborn infants. Group I (n = 10) was studied before the first feeding at 1 h and preprandially at 6 and 24 h. Group II (n = 10) was studied before the first feeding at 2 h of age and preprandially and postprandially at d 3, 4, and 5. Blood flow velocity was measured with ultrasound Doppler in the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), middle cerebral artery, subclavian artery, and aortic orifice for cardiac out-put (CO) calculations. Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. SMA mean velocity (Vmean) decreased from 1 [0.33 ± 0.07 m/s (mean ± SD)] to 6 h (0.23 ± 0.08 m/s,p < 0.005) in group I, probably due to ductal steal, returning to the 1-h value at 24 h. In contrast, middle cerebral artery Vmean remained unchanged in the first 24 h. From d 3, SMA Vmean increased 92% postprandially, with no relation to increasing amounts of food. The postprandial increase in SMA Vmean was not associated with changes in CO and blood pressure; however, a fall in relative mesenteric vascu-lar resistance suggested regional redistribution of CO. Middle cerebral artery Vmean increased from h 2 to d 3 with a further increase on d 4 (p < 0.01). This increase was associated with an increase in blood pressure. The relative fraction of CO to middle cerebral artery increased during the first days of life, suggesting a redistribution of blood flow to the metabolically active organs in the neonatal period.
Entrepreneurship and growth

The entrepreneurial growth literature is extensive, but research focusing on questions such as how firms grow, why they grow according to different patterns, how the decisions about growing or not growing are made, and the contextual dimensions within which growth takes place, has been neglected. This annual review article explores such issues: it suggests that there is a greater need to understand the processes that underlie entrepreneurial growth. In particular, we need to know more about how the entrepreneur’s cognitive processes shape growth (i.e. microfoundations of growth), how they access and configure resources to achieve growth (i.e. the resource orchestration underpinning growth), whether these are influenced by a wider variety of contextual dimensions than previously recognised, and how these influence different patterns and types of growth.
Descriptive study on neural tube defects in Argentina.

BACKGROUND Neural tube defects (NTDs) are the most common congenital anomalies of the central nervous system. Prevalence of NTDs varies depending on geographic region and folic acid fortification. The main objectives of this study are to analyze the prevalences of NTDs reported to the National Registry of Congenital Anomalies of Argentina (RENAC) during the period 2009 to 2013, to compare them with data from other selected surveillance systems of the Americas, and to evaluate the impact of folic acid fortification on the prevalence of NTDs in Argentina. METHODS We analyzed changes in prevalence between 2009 and 2013 for the RENAC, and differences in prevalence between RENAC and other surveillance systems. We evaluated changes for the pre and postfortification time periods in Argentina. RESULTS In Argentina, anencephaly and spina bifida showed no statistically significant variation between 2009 and 2013, and encephalocele showed a statistically significant decline. The RENAC showed a statistically significant higher prevalence for all three defects when compared with surveillance systems from Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and a statistically significant lower birth prevalence than Cuba for anencephaly. No differences were observed when comparing it to the Atlanta-USA and Mexico systems. A significant decrease in prevalence was observed for all three anomalies for the postfortification period in Argentina. CONCLUSION The characteristics of cases reported to the RENAC are similar to those already reported in the literature. The differences in prevalence between the RENAC and other surveillance systems could be artifactual or real. We confirmed the decrease of prevalence of NTDs after folic acid fortification.
Pulsatile, Synchronous Basal Insulin and Glucagon Secretion in Man

The basal plasma insulin, glucagon, and glucose concentrations of 28 normal subjects were measured at 1-min intervals for periods of 45–120 min. Regular plasma insulin and/or glucagon cycles were detected in 11 subjects by autocorrelation (mean periods 13.1 and 13.7 min, respectively). Individual plasma insulin cycles were defined in all subjects (mean period 10.7 min, amplitude 1.1 mU/L), and were associated, after averaging, with plasma glucagon (amplitude 5.5 pg/ml) and plasma glucose (0.02 mmol/L) cycles. There was a significant correlation between the amplitudes of simultaneous plasma insulin and glucagon cycles (r = 0.23, P = < 0.05, N = 124). Cross-correlation demonstrated a delay of 2 min between the changes in plasma insulin and glucagon. No comparable oscillations in plasma pancreatic polypeptide were detected. The synchronous pulsatile secretion of glucagon and insulin may be a mechanism by which insulin's hepatic effects are limited, thereby maintaining hepatic glucose production but allowing sufficient peripheral insulin concentrations to inhibit excessive catabolism. The simultaneous pulses of insulin and glucagon may be stimulated by a pacemaker, with the A-B intercellular connections producing insulin and glucagon synchrony.
Prevalence and risk factors of cytomegalovirus infection among HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected infants in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION Cytomegalovirus (CMV) co-infection increases morbidity and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. There has been no study on CMV infection and its risk factors among Nigerian HIV-infected and/or HIV-exposed uninfected infants. METHODOLOGY This was a cross-sectional cohort study at the Federal Medical Center, Makurdi, between January 2012 and March 2013. Acute CMV infection among consecutive three-month- old HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected infants was determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of the CMV immunoglobulin M (IgM). The relationship between acute CMV infections in the infants and the potential risk factors was tested using logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The prevalence of acute CMV infection was 41.4% (91/220), including 12.1% (11/91) and 87.9% (80/91) among the HIV-infected and the HIV-exposed uninfected infants, respectively. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, oropharyngeal candidiasis in the infants, HIV co-infection in the infants, maternal mastitis during breastfeeding, and the absence of maternal chronic CMV infections significantly increased the risk of acute CMV in the young infants. CONCLUSIONS In our setting, concerted efforts to prevent and/or promptly treat oropharyngeal candidiasis and mastitis during breastfeeding may reduce the burden of CMV among HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected infants. Public enlightenment on the mode of CMV transmission and its prevention is also important.
Theorising Chinese Masculinity: Society and Gender in China

1. Introducing wen-wu: towards a definition of Chinese masculinity 2. Portrait of the God of War Guan Yu: sex, politics and wu masculinity 3. Confucius as sage, teacher, businessman: transformations of the wen Icon 4. Scholars and intellectuals: representations of wen masculinity past and present 5. The working-class hero: images of wu in traditional and Post-Mao fiction 6. Women's voices: the ideal 'woman's man' in the twentieth century 7. Lao She's The Two Mas and foreign wives: constructing wen masculinity for the modern world 8. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat: internationalising wu masculinity 9. Wen-wu reconstructed: Chinese masculinity hybridised and globalised Notes Bibliography Index.
Price threshold and discount saturation point in Singapore

A study is reported, which investigated Singapore consumers’ price thresholds and saturation points for price discounts. The study shows that consumers discount the offered price discount, i.e. they lower the dollar gain value. This discounting of discounts increases significantly with the increase in advertised discounts. Very similar patterns of responses are obtained for products and services. The study also indicates that the saturation point for price discounts of 20 to 30 percent is found to be the same in Singapore and the USA. However, a price threshold of less than 10 percent is found for Singapore consumers, compared to 15 percent in the USA. Frequent price promotions in Singapore may have lowered the products’ expected price and appear to lead consumers to defer purchases when regular prices are offered.
Normobaric, intermittent hypoxia conditioning is cardio- and vasoprotective in rats

Favorable versus detrimental cardiovascular responses to intermittent hypoxia conditioning (IHC) are heavily dependent on experimental or pathological conditions, including the duration, frequency and intensity of the hypoxia exposures. Recently, we demonstrated that a program of moderate, normobaric IHC (FIO2 9.5–10% for 5–10 min/cycle, with intervening 4 min normoxia, 5–8 cycles/day for 20 days) in dogs afforded robust cardioprotection against infarction and arrhythmias induced by coronary artery occlusion–reperfusion, but this protection has not been verified in other species. Accordingly, in this investigation cardio- as well as vasoprotection were examined in male Wistar rats completing the normobaric IHC program or a sham program in which the rats continuously breathed atmospheric air. Myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (IR) was imposed by occlusion and reperfusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery in in situ experiments and by subjecting isolated, perfused hearts to global ischemia–reperfusion. Cardiac arrhythmias and myocardial infarct size were quantified in in situ experiments. Endothelial function was evaluated from the relaxation to acetylcholine of norepinephrine-precontracted aortic rings taken from in situ IR experiments, and from the increase in coronary flow produced by acetylcholine in isolated hearts. IHC sharply reduced cardiac arrhythmias during ischemia and decreased infarct size by 43% following IR. Endothelial dysfunction in aorta was marked after IR in sham rats, but not significant in IHC rats. Similar findings were found for the coronary circulations of isolated hearts. These findings support the hypothesis that moderate, normobaric IHC is cardio- and vasoprotective in a rat model of IR.
Kuznets Hypothesis in a Panel of States

This paper uses a new comprehensive cross-state panel for the United States over the 1945-2004 period to reassess the relationship between income inequality and economic development. By employing the pooled mean group estimator of Pesaran, Shin, and Smith (1999), it detects a long-run cointegrating association between inequality and development (as well as its squared term). Moreover, their relationship is better characterized by a U shape rather than the inverted-U profile asserted by Kuznets (1955). The evidence is robust to a variety of sensitivity tests.
Is product innovation as effective for private labels as it is for national brands?

Abstract As an innovation strategy for competing with private labels, national brands traditionally launch new products. However, retailers are now also launching new products, to differentiate themselves from their competitors and to add value to their consumer franchise. This article aims to learn to what extent private labels influence consumer adoption of new products and to ascertain how consumers’ experiences with private labels affect their acceptance of new products. The results show that generally, private labels positively affect consumer adoption of new products, as measured by both the trial purchase level and the repurchase rate. However, a mixed effect is observed for households that have more experience with private labels. This research provides a more complete explanation of current market dynamics and clarifies the strength of the competitive advantage that national brands enjoy over private labels when launching new products.
Eatery: A Multi-Aspect Restaurant Rating System

This paper presents Eatery, a multi-aspect restaurant rating system that identifies rating values for different aspects of a restaurant by means of aspect-level sentiment analysis. Eatery uses a hierarchical taxonomy that represents relationships between various aspects of the restaurant domain that enables finding the sentiment score of an aspect as a composite sentiment score of its sub-aspects. The system consists of a word co-occurrence based technique to identify multiple implicit aspects appearing in a sentence of a review. An improved version of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to obtain weights specific to a restaurant by utilizing the relationships between aspects, which allows finding the composite sentiment score for each aspect in the taxonomy. The system also has the ability to rate individual food items and food categories. An improved version of Single Pass Partition Method (SPPM) is used to categorise food names to obtain food categories.
Progenitors in Peripheral Nerves Launch Heterotopic Ossification

Studies presented here, using a murine model of bone morphogenetic protein type 2 (BMP2)‐induced heterotopic ossification (HO) show that the protein initiates HO by signaling through progenitors in the endoneurium of peripheral nerves. In the mouse, these cells were identified in the endoneurium one day after BMP2 induction using antibody against phosphoSMAD (PS) 1, 5, and 8. Studies conducted in a tracking mouse that contains a tamoxifen‐regulated Wnt1‐Cre recombinase crossed with a td Tomato red (TR) reporter (Wnt1CreErt:Ai9Tm) confirmed their neural origin. In this model both BMP2 induction and tamoxifen are absolutely required to induce TR. SP7+(osterix+)TR+ cells were found in the endoneurium on day 1 and associated with bone on day 7. Quantification of TR+ and TR− cells isolated by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting showed that all SP7+ cells were found in the TR+ population, whereas only about 80% of the TR+ cells expressed SP7. Pre‐chondrocytes (Sox 9+) and transient brown fat (tBAT, UCP1+) also coexpressed TR, suggesting that the progenitor in nerves is multi‐potential. The endoneurium of human nerves near the site of HO contained many PS+ cells, and SP7+ cells were found in nerves and on bone in tissue from patients with HO. Control tissues and nerves did not contain these PS+ and SP7+ cells. Some osteoblasts on bone from patients with HO were positive for PS, suggesting the continued presence of BMP during bone formation. The data suggests that the progenitors for HO are derived from the endoneurium in both the mouse model of HO and in humans with HO. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2017;6:1109–1119
Is Real Exchange Rate Mean Reversion Caused by Arbitrage?

The presence of purchasing power parity is often attributed to the exploitation of arbitrage opportunities in goods markets. We examine this presumption for a 1960-1996 monthly panel of bilateral exchange rates and trade for the G7 countries. The data exhibit strong mean reversion. However, despite allowing for substantial latitude in specification, we find very limited support for a simple arbitrage view. The deviations of real exchange rates and trade from trend are virtually uncorrelated. Large trade deviations neither trigger nor accelerate mean reversion. Large real exchange rate deviations do not lead to systematic changes in trade. Constricting the sample to eighteen-month episodes of notable mean reversion - large persistent depreciations starting from overvalued levels - does not reveal any systematic relation either. The timing of these episodes does point, however, to an alternative explanation of mean reversion: the majority of episodes occur during periods of nominal exchange rate regime instability, pointing towards exchange rate policy or speculation as the immediate cause of mean reversion. Both may, of course, reflect expectations of trade responses, opening an indirect role for incipient arbitrage in explaining mean reversion.
Quality of Life and Timing of Stoma Closure in Patients With Rectal Cancer Undergoing Low Anterior Resection With Diverting Stoma: A Multicenter Longitudinal Observational Study

BACKGROUND: After low anterior resection for rectal cancer, creation of a diverting stoma is recommended. Data on the impact of a diverting stoma on quality of life are conflicting. Optimal timing of stoma closure in the setting of adjuvant chemotherapy is unclear. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a diverting stoma on quality of life in patients undergoing rectal cancer resection before and after stoma closure. Furthermore, the study was conducted to look at the timing of stoma reversal and the potential influence of factors such as adjuvant chemotherapy. DESIGN: This was a longitudinal, observational, multicenter study. SETTINGS: The study was conducted at 17 German colorectal centers. PATIENTS: Patients with rectal cancer who planned for elective curative surgery with creation of temporary diverting stoma were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This longitudinal observational study assessed quality of life at 3 occasions using European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire–Core Questionnaire/Colorectal Cancer Module before cancer resection, before stoma closure, and 6 months after stoma closure. Furthermore, the timing of stoma closure and continence were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 120 patients (64% men; mean age, 63.2 ± 11.5 years) were analyzed. Longitudinal global quality of life was not influenced by the presence of a stoma. Several functional and GI symptom scales were markedly impaired after stoma creation. Physical, role functioning, and sexual interest recovered after stoma closure. Social functioning stayed impaired (p < 0.0001). Median time to stoma closure was 5 months (range, 17 days to 18 months). A total of 3.4% of patients had very early stoma closure (within 30 days). Adjuvant chemotherapy delayed stoma closure (median, 5.6 vs 3.4 months without chemotherapy; p = 0.0001). LIMITATIONS: The study was limited by its missing quality-of-life data for sexual function. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a stoma had a negative impact on social functioning and GI symptoms. However, this had no clinically relevant influence on global quality of life. Time to stoma closure was nearly doubled when patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy.