Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Liquidity in Games of Monopoly Power

Cr oss-sectional variation in corporate liquidity within a sample of large U.S. corporations suggests that there are material effects from product market competiti on. The empirical evidence is consistent with an oligopolistic model wherein liquid assets are employed both to signal commitment to retaliate against market en croachment and to enable firms to rapidly preempt new opportunities. As predicted, firms with high valuation and spending on intangibles, in certain strategic positions, hold large stocks of liquid assets. Copyright 1987 by MIT Press.
The Impact of Social Media-Focused Information & Communication Technologies on Business Performance via Mediating Mechanisms: An Exploratory Study on Communication and Advertising Agencies in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of social media-focused information & communication technologies on business performance via some mediating variables. These mediating variables are marketing-based outputs and costs. In this context, a survey was conducted on 152 communication & advertising agencies operating in Turkey that were selected through convenience sampling method. A research model was developed and the proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling via AMOS. The empirical findings indicate that social media-focused information & communication technologies positively affect the business performance via the mediation of marketing-based outputs and costs.
Help the Low Skilled or Let the Hardworking Thrive? A Study of Fairness in Optimal Income Taxation

In a model where agents have unequal wages and heterogeneous preferences, we study the optimal redistribution via an income tax, when the social objective is based on a combination of efficiency and fairness principles, and when incentive issues are taken into account. We show how some fairness principles entail specific features for the optimal taxes, such as progressivity or tax exemption for incomes below the minimum wage.
International Stock Market Efficiency and Integration: A Study of Eighteen Nations

This study examines the relationships among stock prices in eighteen national stock markets by using unit root and cointegration tests for the period 1961--92. All the markets were analyzed individually and collectively in regions to test for market efficiency. The results from unit root tests suggest that the world equity markets are weak-form efficient. The cointegration test results show that there are only a small number of significant cointegrating vectors over the last three decades. However, the number of significant cointegrating vectors increases after the October 1987 stock market crash, a result that is consistent with the contagion effect. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.
High attributable risk of elevated C-reactive protein level to conventional coronary heart disease risk factors: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

BACKGROUND C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, is predictive of coronary heart disease (CHD) events. However, the extent to which high CRP levels (>3 mg/L) may be attributable to high cholesterol levels and other CHD risk factors has not been well defined. METHODS The prevalence of high CRP levels in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 15 341) was studied using CHD risk-factor cut points designated as abnormal (total cholesterol values, >or=240 mg/dL [>or=6.22 mmol/L]; fasting blood glucose levels, >or=126 mg/dL [>or=6.99 mmol/L]; blood pressure, >or=140/90 mm Hg; body mass index [BMI], >or=30 kg/m(2); high-density lipoprotein cholesterol values, <40 mg/dL [<1.04 mmol/L] for men and <50 mg/dL [<1.30 mmol/L] for women; triglyceride levels, >or=200 mg/dL [>or=2.26 mmol/L]; current smoking status) or borderline (total cholesterol values, 200-239 mg/dL [5.18-6.19 mmol/L]; fasting blood glucose levels, 100-125 mg/dL [5.55-6.94 mmol/L]; blood pressure, 120-139/80-89 mm Hg; BMI, 25.0-29.9 kg/m(2), and triglyceride values 150-199 mg/dL [1.70-2.25 mmol/L], former smoking status), or normal. RESULTS Weighted multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that high CRP level was significantly more common with obesity (odds ratio [OR], 3.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.28-4.35]), overweight (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.62-2.18), and diabetes (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.54-2.38) and that high CRP level was rare in the absence of any borderline or abnormal CHD risk factor in men (4.4%) and women (10.3%). Overall, the risk of elevated CRP level attributable to the presence of any abnormal or borderline CHD risk factor was 78% in men and 67% women. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that elevated CRP levels in the general population are in large measure attributable to traditional CHD risk factors. Moreover, CRP level elevation is rare in the absence of borderline or abnormal risk factors. As such, CRP measurements may have limited clinical utility as a screening tool beyond other known CHD risk factors.
Silk flow-diverter stent for the treatment of complex intracranial aneurysms: A one-year follow-up multicenter study

Background Flow-diverter stents have been successfully used in the treatment of complex aneurysms with limited therapeutic alternatives. We report our experience using the Silk flow diverter (SFD; Balt Extrusion, Montmorency, France) for the treatment of complex aneurysms in four Argentine centers. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of 246 consecutive patients who were treated with the SFD at four Argentine centers between January 2009 and January 2017. The patient and aneurysm characteristics, as well as the details of the procedure, were analyzed. The angiographic and clinical findings were recorded during and immediately after the procedure and at 12-month follow-up. Results Angiography follow-up at 12 months was possible in 235 patients (95.5%) with 282 aneurysms. A total of 265 aneurysms (93.9%) presented with complete occlusion of the aneurysmal sac (class 1) and 17 aneurysms (6.1%) presented with partial occlusion (class 2). The 12-month clinical follow-up showed 11 patients with major events (seven, scale 2; five, scale 3; and two, scale 4). The morbidity and mortality rates were 4.2% (11/289) and 2.1% (5/289), respectively. Conclusions The treatment of aneurysms with the SFD was associated with a low rate of complications and a high percentage of aneurysmal occlusion. These findings suggest that SFD is an effective and safe alternative in the endovascular treatment of complex aneurysms.
Strategic Group Formation and Performance: The Case of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry, 1963-1982

The focus of this paper is on three major questions: 1 what is the theoretical rationale for the strategic group concept? ; 2 does strategic group membership have performance implications? ; and 3 are strategic groups and membership in strategic groups stable characteristics of industries? A statistical procedure is proposed to longitudinally identify strategic groups. The empirical setting is the U.S. pharmaceutical industry over the period 1963-82. While performance differences are found in terms of market share, profitability differences between groups are not observed. Neither are differences found in terms of risk and risk-adjusted performance. These results are attributed to the existence of performance variation within each strategic group. A dynamic model of competitive repositioning is proposed which helps integrate the findings from the study.
Sodium Chloride Enhances Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Production in a Serum-Free Suspension Manufacturing Platform Using the Herpes Simplex Virus System

The increase in effective treatments using recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors has underscored the importance of scalable, high-yield manufacturing methods. Previous work from this group reported the use of recombinant herpes simplex virus type 1 (rHSV) vectors to produce rAAV in adherent HEK293 cells, demonstrating the capacity of this system and quality of the product generated. Here we report production and optimization of rAAV using the rHSV system in suspension HEK293 cells (Expi293F) grown in serum and animal component-free medium. Through adjustment of salt concentration in the medium and optimization of infection conditions, titers greater than 1 × 1014 vector genomes per liter (VG/liter) were observed in purified rAAV stocks produced in Expi293F cells. Furthermore, this system allowed for high-titer production of multiple rAAV serotypes (2, 5, and 9) as well as multiple transgenes (green fluorescent protein and acid α-glucosidase). A proportional increase in vector production was observed as this method was scaled, with a final 3-liter shaker flask production yielding an excess of 1 × 1015 VG in crude cell harvests and an average of 3.5 × 1014 total VG of purified rAAV9 material, resulting in greater than 1 × 105 VG/cell. These results support the use of this rHSV-based rAAV production method for large-scale preclinical and clinical vector production.
An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Demographic Factors on E-Government Services Adoption

This article investigates the impact of demographic factors on the adoption of e-government services. The Technology Acceptance Model TAM was used as the theoretical framework for the study. SPSS was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that gender was significant in moderating the positive impacts of both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on the willingness to use e-government services. Age and education, however, were not significant in moderating the impact of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on the adoption of e-government services. Also, age, gender, and education have no direct impact on PU. Education has a direct impact on PEOU but age and gender do not. This article further has demonstrated that a perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of e-government services are positive predictors of the willingness of citizens to use e-government services. The implications of these findings are further discussed.
Human γδ T-Cells: From Surface Receptors to the Therapy of High-Risk Leukemias

γδ T lymphocytes are potent effector cells, capable of efficiently killing tumor and leukemia cells. Their activation is mediated by γδ T-cell receptor (TCR) and by activating receptors shared with NK cells (e.g., NKG2D and DNAM-1). γδ T-cell triggering occurs upon interaction with specific ligands, including phosphoantigens (for Vγ9Vδ2 TCR), MICA-B and UL16 binding protein (for NKG2D), and PVR and Nectin-2 (for DNAM-1). They also respond to cytokines undergoing proliferation and release of cytokines/chemokines. Although at the genomic level γδ T-cells have the potential of an extraordinary TCR diversification, in tissues they display a restricted repertoire. Recent studies have identified various γδ TCR rearrangements following either hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) or cytomegalovirus infection, accounting for their “adaptive” potential. In humans, peripheral blood γδ T-cells are primarily composed of Vγ9Vδ2 chains, while a minor proportion express Vδ1. They do not recognize antigens in the context of MHC molecules, thus bypassing tumor escape based on MHC class I downregulation. In view of their potent antileukemia activity and absence of any relevant graft-versus-host disease-inducing effect, γδ T-cells may play an important role in the successful clinical outcome of patients undergoing HLA-haploidentical HSCT depleted of TCR αβ T/CD19+ B lymphocytes to cure high-risk acute leukemias. In this setting, high numbers of both γδ T-cells (Vδ1 and Vδ2) and NK cells are infused together with CD34+ HSC and may contribute to rapid control of infections and leukemia relapse. Notably, zoledronic acid potentiates the cytolytic activity of γδ T-cells in vitro and its infusion in patients strongly promotes γδ T-cell differentiation and cytolytic activity; thus, treatment with this agent may contribute to further improve the patient clinical outcome after HLA-haploidentical HSCT depleted of TCR αβ T/CD19+ B lymphocytes.
The Marriage Earnings Premium as a Distributed Fixed Effect

Wage equations using cross-sectional data typically find an earnings premium in excess of 10 percent for married men. One leading hypothesis for the premium is that marriage facilitates specialization that enables married men to become more productive than single men. Another is that the premium is attributable to an unobserved fixed effect, married men possessing qualities that are valued in the labor market as well as the marriage market. This paper suggests that the premium is attributable to an unobserved time-distributed fixed effect that emerges and grows with the approach of marriage and continues to grow for some years after marriage. A similar distributed fixed effect is found in the case of women, but it is smaller and declines after a few years of marriage. The results appear to cast doubt on the specialization hypothesis.
Collapsing Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis

Background and objectives: Treatment with IFN is rarely associated with nephrotic syndrome and renal biopsy findings of minimal-change disease or FSGS. Design, setting, participants, & measurements: We report 11 cases of collapsing FSGS that developed during treatment with IFN and improved after discontinuation of therapy. Results: The cohort consists of seven women and four men with a mean age of 48.2 yr. Ten of the 11 patients were black. Six patients were receiving IFNfor hepatitis C virus infection (n 5) or malignant melanoma (n 1), three were receiving IFNfor multiple sclerosis, and two were treated with IFNfor idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. After a mean and median duration of therapy of 4.0 and 12.6 months, respectively, patients presented with acute renal failure (mean creatinine 3.5 mg/dl) and nephrotic-range proteinuria (mean 24-hour urine protein 9.7 g). Renal biopsy revealed collapsing FSGS with extensive foot process effacement and many endothelial tubuloreticular inclusions. Follow-up was available for 10 patients, all of whom discontinued IFN. At a mean of 23.6 months, nine of 10 patients had improvement in renal function, including one with complete remission and two with partial remission. Among the seven patients with available data, mean proteinuria declined from 9.9 to 3.0 g/d. Four of the seven patients were treated with immunosuppression, and there was no detectable benefit. Conclusions: Collapsing FSGS may occur after treatment with IFN, , or and is typically accompanied by the ultrastructural finding of endothelial tubuloreticular inclusions. Optimal therapy includes discontinuation of IFN. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 5: 607–615, 2010. doi: 10.2215/CJN.07311009
Altered tobramycin pharmacokinetics during chemoprophylaxis in bladder surgery

The effect of bladder surgery on the pharmacokinetics of tobramycin in hospitalized patients was studied. Fourteen patients with vesical neoplasia undergoing urinary tract surgery were given tobramycin in a dose of 2 mg/kg of body weight. Each patient received the dose at the induction of anesthesia, about 1 h before surgical incision. For seven patients, the drug was also administered 3 weeks later when nutritional conditions were normal. The pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by a two-compartment open model. Except for renal clearance, no significant difference appeared between pharmacokinetic parameters determined from serum data during peri- and postoperative periods. During this work, tobramycin excretion in urine was studied. Twenty-four hours after drug administration, the mean urine tobramycin levels were 25.5 +/- 9.06 and 41.6 +/- 21.5 micrograms/ml after peri- and postoperative administration, respectively; these values were higher than the MICs for most urinary tract pathogens. Seventy-two hours after perioperative administration, the mean value was still elevated (3.54 micrograms/ml), but 72 h after postoperative administration, the urinary tobramycin concentration was not detectable. The percentages of tobramycin recovered unchanged in urine were 54 and 79% after peri- and postoperative administration, respectively. When tobramycin was administered during surgery, a long terminal log-linear phase, with a mean half-life of 25.6 h, was detected. The ratio of renal clearance to total body clearance was 0.52 and 0.79 after peri- and postoperative administration, respectively.
Dynamic Proteomic Analysis Reveals a Switch between Central Carbon Metabolism and Alcoholic Fermentation in Rice Filling Grains1[W][OA]

Accumulation of reserve materials in filling grains involves the coordination of different metabolic and cellular processes, and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the interconnections remains a major challenge for proteomics. Rice (Oryza sativa) is an excellent model for studying grain filling because of its importance as a staple food and the available genome sequence database. Our observations showed that embryo differentiation and endosperm cellularization in developing rice seeds were completed approximately 6 d after flowering (DAF); thereafter, the immature seeds mainly underwent cell enlargement and reached the size of mature seeds at 12 DAF. Grain filling began at 6 DAF and lasted until 20 DAF. Dynamic proteomic analyses revealed 396 protein spots differentially expressed throughout eight sequential developmental stages from 6 to 20 DAF and determined 345 identities. These proteins were involved in different cellular and metabolic processes with a prominently functional skew toward metabolism (45%) and protein synthesis/destination (20%). Expression analyses of protein groups associated with different functional categories/subcategories showed that substantially up-regulated proteins were involved in starch synthesis and alcoholic fermentation, whereas the down-regulated proteins in the process were involved in central carbon metabolism and most of the other functional categories/subcategories such as cell growth/division, protein synthesis, proteolysis, and signal transduction. The coordinated changes were consistent with the transition from cell growth and differentiation to starch synthesis and clearly indicated that a switch from central carbon metabolism to alcoholic fermentation may be important for starch synthesis and accumulation in the developmental process.
Effects of Adalimumab Maintenance Therapy on Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients With Crohn's Disease: Patient-Reported Outcomes of the CHARM Trial

OBJECTIVES:We evaluated the effects of adalimumab maintenance therapy on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease.METHODS:In a Phase III, randomized, double-blind clinical trial (CHARM) of moderate to severe Crohn's disease patients, HRQOL outcomes were compared between the adalimumab maintenance treatment groups (every other week and weekly injection) and the adalimumab induction-only group. The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, functional assessment of chronic illness therapy (FACIT)-Fatigue, visual analog pain scales, Inflammatory Bowel Disease questionnaire (IBDQ), and Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were analyzed for 499 randomized responders (a decrease of ≥70 points from baseline in the Crohn's Disease Activity Index [CDAI]) at baseline and weeks 4, 12, 26, and 56.RESULTS:CHARM patients' HRQOL was substantially impaired at baseline. Following a 4-week adalimumab induction therapy, patients experienced statistically significant improvements in all HRQOL measures (P < 0.0001). Compared with patients who were assigned to placebo after induction therapy, patients who continued adalimumab at 40 mg every other week maintenance therapy reported less depression (P < 0.01), fewer fatigue symptoms (P < 0.001), greater improvements in the IBDQ (P < 0.05), greater SF-36 physical component summary scores (P < 0.05), and less abdominal pain (P < 0.05) from weeks 12 to 56. They also had greater SF-36 mental component summary scores at week 56 (P < 0.05). Patients who continued adalimumab at 40-mg weekly maintenance therapy reported less depression and fewer fatigue symptoms at week 56, greater improvement in IBDQ, and less abdominal pain from weeks 12 to 56 (all P < 0.05 vs. placebo). CONCLUSIONS:Adalimumab maintenance therapy provided sustained improvements in HRQOL for patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease through week 56.
Antibacterial and remineralization effects of orthodontic bonding agents containing bioactive glass

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the mechanical and biological properties of orthodontic bonding agents containing silver- or zinc-doped bioactive glass (BAG) and determine the antibacterial and remineralization effects of these agents. Methods BAG was synthesized using the alkali-mediated solgel method. Orthodontic bonding agents containing BAG were prepared by mixing BAG with flowable resin. Transbond™ XT (TXT) and Charmfil™ Flow (CF) were used as controls. Ion release, cytotoxicity, antibacterial properties, the shear bond strength, and the adhesive remnant index were evaluated. To assess the remineralization properties of BAG, micro-computed tomography was performed after pH cycling. Results The BAG-containing bonding agents showed no noticeable cytotoxicity and suppressed bacterial growth. When these bonding agents were used, demineralization after pH cycling began approximately 200 to 300 µm away from the bracket. On the other hand, when CF and TXT were used, all surfaces that were not covered by the adhesive were demineralized after pH cycling. Conclusions Our findings suggest that orthodontic bonding agents containing silver- or zinc-doped BAG have stronger antibacterial and remineralization effects compared with conventional orthodontic adhesives; thus, they are suitable for use in orthodontic practice.
Endogenous Market Structures and International Trade: Theory and Evidence

Under constant elasticity of substitution (CES) preferences and Cournot (or Bertrand) competition, a larger market induces exits of domestic firms, lower prices, and larger production of surviving firms because of competition from more foreign firms, even without resorting to the selection effects of Melitz. The elasticity of the number of firms to population decreases with substitutability between goods, and it reaches 0.5 under Cournot competition with homogeneous goods: empirical evidence supports this structural relation against the unitary elasticity of monopolistic competition. The results hold also in a 2 × 2 × 2 Heckscher–Ohlin model with imperfect competition generating inter- and intra-industry trade due to comparative advantage or comparative preferences.
Evolutionary Bargaining with Cooperative Investments

This paper explores the set of stochastically stable equilibria in a model in which individuals first decide to make a high or low investment, and then are matched to play a Nash demand game. If an agreement is not reached, then they are re-matched in the next period, and obtain a payoff discounted by d. We identify a condition under which stochastically stable bargaining conventions exist and find, that the stochastically stable division rule is independent of the long run investment strategy. In these conventions the potential to trade in subsequent periods always has an effect on the bargain, and the market acts more like a threat point, than an outside option. If investments are substitutes stochastically stable bargaining conventions imply larger investment incentives than the Nash bargaining solution whereas the opposite is true if investments are complements. Finally, if it is not efficient for trade to occur as a result of the outside option, and investments are complements, then no bargaining convention can develop, and investment levels are typically inefficient.