Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Initial Experience of Dual Maintenance Immunosuppression With Steroid Withdrawal in Vascular Composite Tissue Allotransplantation

Current immunosuppression in VCA is largely based on the experience in solid organ transplantation. It remains unclear if steroids can be reduced safely in VCA recipients. We report on five VCA recipients who were weaned off maintenance steroids after a median of 2 months (mean: 4.8 months, range 2–12 months). Patients were kept subsequently on a low dose, dual maintenance consisting of tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil/mycophenloic acid with a mean follow‐up of 43.6 months (median = 40 months, range 34–64 months). Early and late acute rejections responded well to temporarily augmented maintenance, topical immunosuppression, and/or steroid bolus treatment. One late steroid‐resistant acute rejection required treatment with thymoglobulin. All patients have been gradually weaned off steroids subsequent to the treatment of acute rejections. Low levels of tacrolimus (<5 ng/mL) appeared as a risk for acute rejections. Although further experience and a cautious approach are warranted, dual‐steroid free maintenance immunosuppression appears feasible in a series of five VCA recipients.
Political uncertainty, dividend policy adjustments and market effects

By studying Chinese firms that issued A-shares in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets from 2004 to 2010, we examine how political uncertainty, caused by a change of Party chief at the municipal level, affects firms’ cash dividend decisions. We find that political uncertainty leads to a more prudent cash dividend policy. First, non-dividend-payers are less likely to initiate dividends due to political uncertainty. Secondly, political uncertainty significantly reduces the level of dividend payments. Compared with privately-owned firms, state-owned firms are more likely to adopt prudent cash dividend policies. The prudent adjustments of cash dividend policies due to political uncertainty have significant positive market effects.
Demographic Study of Maxillofacial Injury in Multiple Trauma Patients

Introduction: Maxillofacial injuries may appear to be minor and small, can quickly progress and become lifethreatening and lead to brain damage. Incidence, etiology and epidemiology of maxillofacial injuries and facial fractures are different in various areas with different cultures, socio-economic states. The aim of this study is to investigate the etiology, location, and severity of damage and demography of patients with facial fractures and injuries (maxillofacial) in multiple trauma patients. Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, all of the patients with maxillofacial fractures who were admitted to Imam Reza trauma centre of Tabriz enrolled between April 2015-2016 were evaluated. All fractures were identified, and demographic information, including age, gender, type of injury, the presence or absence of safety data were collected and analysed by the IBM® SPSS® software release 16.0. 0. Results: 83 patients of our study (75.9%) were male (M: F=3:1). The average age of patients was 34.1 ± 5.83 years. Most of the events took place in August (21.7%) and in summer (42.16%). The average numbers of fractures in patients were 1.73. Car collision accounts for 33.7%, falling trauma for 21.7% and car to motorcycle for 15.7% of accidents. Only 3 of the patients in the present study had the safety factors. In the study of fracture types in the target population, orbital rim fracture was in 55.42% of patients and zygoma fracture was in 34.93% of them. Le Fort fracture type II was the most common one with a frequency of 7.22%. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate further relation between maxillofacial fractures and traffic accidents especially during the holiday season and lack of safety equipment.
Logistical estimation of the probability of mainstream market participation among small-scale livestock farmers: a case study of the Northern Cape province

Abstract Livestock farming significantly contributes to income generation and the improvement of the livelihoods of the rural poor in the Northern Cape. However, profitability and sustainability in the sector are constrained by low returns to investment due to a number of factors. The study investigates the factors influencing mainstream market participation among small-scale farmers in the five districts of the province. The main aim is to calculate the probability of small-scale farmers selling their livestock to more profitable mainstream markets, for example auction pens, against the odds of selling to informal speculators. A binary logistic regression model is applied to primary data collected from 60 sampled households in the districts of Kgalagadi, Pixley ka Seme, Frances Baard, Siyanda and Namakua. The partial effects of the conditional probability of selling livestock to mainstream markets and the impact of changes to the variables on the probability of selling to formal markets are estimated. The results show that farming experience, extension visits and infrastructure have a profoundly positive effect on the probability of small-scale farmers marketing their animals to the mainstream markets. On the other hand, household size, distance to the nearest market, and whether or not farmers have outstanding debts have a negative impact on the probability of them selling their animals to the formal markets. A unit increase in the farmer's debts, household size and distance to nearest market decreases the probability of profitable operation by 69.84%, 9.04% and 2.79% respectively. This result implies that an intervention policy is needed to alleviate these constraints that are impeding participation in the mainstream markets.
A Synthesis of Footloose-Entrepreneur New Economic Geography Models: When is Agglomeration Smooth and Easily Reversible?

Models of the new economic geography share a number of common conclusions, but also exhibit notable differences, in particular with respect to the shape of the location pattern. Some models imply a catastrophic agglomeration process with hysteresis, so that concentration in one region is not easily reversible. Other models suggest that agglomeration may be smooth, easily reversible and not necessarily feature extreme bang-bang outcomes. These differences reflect the fact that new economic geography models have relied heavily on specific functional forms. In this article we approach the properties of a particular class of new economic geography models, the class of footloose entrepreneur models, with a unifying framework based on the indirect utility function of mobile agents. We are able to provide general, yet handy, formula to determine the break point and the bifurcation pattern. An application of this framework allows us to show how specific results in the literature can be reconciled as special cases, so that the origin of their differences can be highlighted.
Stakeholder Perspectives on Prospects for Co-Management of an Old-Growth Forest Watershed Near Valdivia, Chile

When human and financial resources are limited, who assumes responsibility for managing a country's protected areas? In Chile, government-owned protected areas lack sufficient management resources while facing extraction pressure from the rural poor. Multi-stakeholder partnerships have been posited as a co-management style alternative to traditional state-managed systems. This strategy is being tested in the Llancahue watershed near Valdivia, Chile. To understand stakeholders’ views toward the formation of this multi-stakeholder partnership, we evaluated stakeholders’ beliefs, positions, interests, and concerns. Results indicated stakeholders believed an adaptive co-management model could improve Llancahue forest and watershed conservation efforts if the partner roles were explicit, stakeholder involvement was inclusive, and appropriate financing mechanisms were determined. Stakeholders were most concerned with the financial, personnel, and legal costs of managing Llancahue. However, our analysis suggests the perceived benefits of halting illegal logging and creating a peri-urban park currently outweighed stakeholder concerns over project financing and institutional design.
BNP and N‐terminal proBNP are both extracted in the normal kidney

Background Increased plasma concentrations of cardiac‐derived B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) are both associated with left ventricular dysfunction. Information on the regional elimination of the peptides is, however, still scarce. We therefore examined the renal and peripheral extraction of N‐terminal proBNP and BNP.
Why Market Timing Works

JERRY C. WAGNER is an attorney and president of Flexible Plan Investments, Ltd. , a registered investment advisory j irm based in Bloomjeld Hills, Michigan. He is also the 1996-1997 chairman ofthe Society @Asset Allocators and Fund Timers, Inc., a national association of investment advisors managing client assets invested in mutual funds through dynamic asset allocation, market timing, fund timing, and related disciplines.
[Coronary vessel stent implantation in patients with symptomatic dissections following balloon dilatation].

Dissections after coronary balloon angioplasty are risk factors for acute or subacute vessel closure. Intracoronary stenting was developed to avoid this complication by wrapping the intimal and medial flaps against the vessel wall, which reduces the risk of acute thrombosis. A total of 17 stents were implanted into the coronary arteries of 10 patients with angiographically documented dissections after balloon angioplasty, who presented angina and ischemic ECG changes. Mean minimal stenosis diameter was 1.11 +/- 0.35 mm (65.1%) before, and 1.48 +/- 0.56 mm (53.9%, n.s.) and 2.45 +/- 0.62 mm (23.5%, p less than 0.005), respectively, after balloon angioplasty with and without taking the dissection membrane into account. All patients reported an immediate recovery of their anginal complaints after stent delivery, and ischemic ECG changes disappeared. The mean residual stenosis after coronary stenting was measured as 3.33 +/- 0.23 mm (0%, p less than 0.001). The immediate control angiograms and these after 24 h depicted smooth vessel walls without any irregulations at the site of implantation, and the mean residual stenosis diameter remained unchanged after 24 h (3.3 +/- 0.23 mm; 1.2%, p less than 0.001). No patient suffered acute myocardial infarction, one patient underwent coronary bypass surgery because of persisting episodes of angina pectoris. Thus, intracoronary stenting seems to be a secure and effective method to handle dissections after balloon angioplasty, and perhaps reduces the rate of acute complications and the need for emergency bypass surgery after coronary balloon angioplasty.
Stock characteristics and herding in financial analyst recommendations

Most studies investigating the herding of financial analysts focused on the impact of analyst attributes on herding, while firm characteristics may also contribute significantly to herding. The primary objective of this study is to examine whether analyst recommendations prefer stocks with firm characteristics associated with future returns and demonstrate the so-called ‘characteristic herding’ behaviour. Thus, in this study, we incorporate within Welch's (2000) model those characteristics of firms relating to future returns; as a result, we find that ‘characteristic herding’ is discernible in the recommendations of financial analysts. This tendency towards herding in analyst recommendations increases with the firm size and book-to-price ratio of the stock. One of these two firm characteristics positively correlates with the future returns of stocks while the other displays a negative correlation. Consequently, the ‘characteristic herding’ of analysts is caused in part by recommendations made on account of stock fundamentals and in part by other reasons. This may dampen the impact of future returns on herding. It has also been observed that herding exists in the market regardless of bull market or bear market. No significant inferiority is reported in analyst performance with herding when compared to the performance without herding.
Tubers from patients with tuberous sclerosis complex are characterized by changes in microtubule biology through ROCK2 signalling

Most patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) develop cortical tubers that cause severe neurological disabilities. It has been suggested that defects in neuronal differentiation and/or migration underlie the appearance of tubers. However, the precise molecular alterations remain largely unknown. Here, by combining cytological and immunohistochemical analyses of tubers from nine TSC patients (four of them diagnosed with TSC2 germline mutations), we show that alteration of microtubule biology through ROCK2 signalling contributes to TSC neuropathology. All tubers showed a larger number of binucleated neurons than expected relative to control cortex. An excess of normal and altered cytokinetic figures was also commonly observed. Analysis of centrosomal markers suggested increased microtubule nucleation capacity, which was supported by the analysis of an expression dataset from cortical tubers and control cortex, and subsequently linked to under‐expression of Rho‐associated coiled‐coil containing kinase 2 (ROCK2). Thus, augmented microtubule nucleation capacity was observed in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human fibroblasts deficient in the Tsc2/TSC2 gene product, tuberin. Consistent with ROCK2 under‐expression, microtubule acetylation was found to be increased with tuberin deficiency; this alteration was abrogated by rapamycin treatment and mimicked by HDAC6 inhibition. Together, the results of this study support the hypothesis that loss of TSC2 expression can alter microtubule organization and dynamics, which, in turn, deregulate cell division and potentially impair neuronal differentiation. Copyright © 2014 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The New European Economic Governance

For more than two years, the European Union has been endeavouring to cope with an unprecedented public debt crisis. Under pressure from the financial markets, the EU and its member states have put in place a new set of regulations, procedures and institutions that have come to be known as the “new European economic governance”. This Working Paper by ETUI Senior researcher Christophe Degryse provides a thorough historical overview of how this new European economic governance came about and what the new structures for surveillance, coordination and sanctions (Euro-Plus Pact, Fiscal Compact, European Stability Mechanism, and so on) mean for the European project. Starting from a clear analysis of the inherent weaknesses of the Economic and Monetary Union, it explains why the European Union is moving from one crisis to the next while sinking ever more deeply into a spiral of austerity with dramatic impacts on the prosperity of millions of European citizens.The last chapter of the Working Paper questions the relevance of the proposed remedies and criticizes the austerity approach which uses “structural reforms” to undermine the European social model. It also looks at the democratic failure of the new economic governance and offers some first ideas for an alternative approach based on investment and solidarity rather than economic and social competition.
Variant Histone H2afv reprograms DNA methylation during early zebrafish development

ABSTRACT The DNA methylome is re-patterned during discrete phases of vertebrate development. In zebrafish, there are 2 waves of global DNA demethylation and re-methylation: the first occurs before gastrulation when the parental methylome is changed to the zygotic pattern and the second occurs after formation of the embryonic body axis, during organ specification. The occupancy of the histone variant H2A.Z and regions of DNA methylation are generally anti-correlated, and it has been proposed that H2A.Z restricts the boundaries of highly methylated regions. While many studies have described the dynamics of methylome changes during early zebrafish development, the factors involved in establishing the DNA methylation landscape in zebrafish embryos have not been identified. We test the hypothesis that the zebrafish ortholog of H2A.Z (H2afv) restricts DNA methylation during development. We find that, in control embryos, bulk genome methylation decreases after gastrulation, with a nadir at the bud stage, and peaks during mid-somitogenesis; by 24 hours post -fertilization, total DNA methylation levels return to those detected in gastrula. Early zebrafish embryos depleted of H2afv have significantly more bulk DNA methylation during somitogenesis, suggesting that H2afv limits methylation during this stage of development. H2afv deficient embryos are small, with multisystemic abnormalities. Genetic interaction experiments demonstrate that these phenotypes are suppressed by depletion of DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1). This work demonstrates that H2afv is essential for global DNA methylation reprogramming during early vertebrate development and that embryonic development requires crosstalk between H2afv and Dnmt1.
Vitamin and carotenoid intake and risk of head-neck cancer subtypes in the Netherlands Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most-common type of cancer worldwide. Evidence regarding the potential protective effect of vitamins and carotenoids on HNC is limited and mostly based on case-control studies. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the association of intake of dietary vitamins C and E (including supplementation) and the most-common carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein plus zeaxanthin, lycopene, and β-cryptoxanthin) and risk of HNC and HNC subtypes in a large prospective study. DESIGN The Netherlands Cohort Study included 120,852 participants. For efficiency reasons, a case-cohort design was used. At baseline in 1986, participants completed a food-frequency questionnaire. A subcohort was randomly selected from the total cohort. After 20.3 y of follow-up, 3898 subcohort members and 415 HNC cases [131 oral cavity cancer (OCCs), 88 oro-/hypopharyngeal cancer (OHPs), and 193 laryngeal cancer cases] were available for analysis. Rate ratios and 95% CIs for highest (quartile 4) compared with lowest (quartile 1) quartiles of vitamin and carotenoid intake were estimated by using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS A strong inverse association was shown between vitamin C and HNC overall (multivariable-adjusted rate ratio for quartile 4 compared with quartile 1: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.23, 0.66; P-trend < 0.001), OCC (multivariable-adjusted rate ratio for quartile 4 compared with quartile 1: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.77; P-trend < 0.05), and OHPC (multivariable-adjusted rate ratio for quartile 4 compared with quartile 1: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.67; P-trend < 0.01). No statistically significant results were shown for vitamin E, α-carotene, β-carotene, lycopene, and lutein plus zeaxanthin. The association of vitamin E and HNC was modified by alcohol status (P-interaction = 0.003) with lower risks in alcohol abstainers. CONCLUSIONS With this study, we show an inverse association between intake of vitamin C and the incidence of HNC and HNC-subtypes. Future research is recommended to investigate the underlying mechanisms and to confirm our results, which may be promising for the prevention of HNC.
Gender and Welfare Regimes: Further Thoughts

This article reviews the feminist critique ofGosta Esping-Andersen's typology of welfare regimes and revisits my earlier (1992) analysis of gender and welfare regimes together with criticisms of that work. I briefly discuss some methodological issues and attempt to justify my own choice of variables and of an explanatory model derived from empirical historical work. I pay particular attention to critiques that insist on the use of caring regimes as a basis for gender-centered typologies, not least because the two main questions for feminists concerning the provision of unpaid work remain (i) how to value it, and (ii) how to share it more equally between men and women. I argue that women's relationship to paid work, unpaid work and to welfare makes the search for gender-centered measures complicated. Postwar writing on welfare states made very little mention of women. Richard Titmuss's (1963) classic essay on the division of social welfare stressed the importance of occupational and fiscal welfare in addition to that provided by the state, but omitted analysis of provision by the voluntary sector and the family, both vital providers of welfare and both historically dominated by women providers. Similarly, Titmuss's typology of welfare states focused on the relationship between welfare policies and capitalism, with social class as the chosen variable for analysis. Neither gender nor race played any explicit part
The Auditor-Audit Firm Relationship and Its Effect on Burnout and Turnover Intention

SYNOPSIS: Auditor burnout is an important issue in public accounting, as burnout has negative consequences for both the auditor and the audit firm. We examine how social-exchange relationships between auditors and their firm affect auditor burnout and turnover intention. Using a sample of 204 auditors at two accounting firms, we find that perceived fair treatment by the firm predicts perceived support from the firm, and perceived support predicts auditor commitment to the firm. We find that commitment is negatively related to auditor burnout and turnover intention and burnout is positively related to turnover intention. We also find that perceived firm fairness is directly associated with reduced levels of auditor burnout and turnover intention. The results underscore the important role that organizational fairness plays in engendering a social-exchange relationship between auditors and their firm, leading to reduced levels of burnout and turnover intention, benefitting both the auditor and the firm. Data.
Strike Incidence and Strike Duration: Some New Evidence from Ontario

The authors use a unique longitudinal data set from Ontario, covering the years 1984–92, to estimate the determinants of strike incidence and duration. Unlike most empirical analyses of strikes, the data set for this study contains both small and large bargaining units. The authors find strong evidence that the likelihood of a future strike was lower among bargaining units that had struck before than among those that had not (the “teetotaler” effect); the longer a strike lasted, the greater was the probability of settling (positive duration dependence); and smaller bargaining units were less likely to strike than were larger bargaining units, but had longer strikes when they did strike.
The Varying Connection Between Marital Status and Childbearing in the United States

Despite the acknowledged relationship between marriage and reproduction surprisingly little attention has been paid to how close this relationship is. This article addresses a straightforward question: to what extent is a womans marital status related to the likelihood of her conceiving a child during the following year? The answer is complex because the effect of marital status interacts with race education and parity. In general the difference in the fertility behavior of married versus unmarried women is largest for white better educated and lower parity women. Often the differences between the marital status groups are small and sometimes fertility probabilities are higher for unmarried women. Further the pattern of relationships provides surprising insight into the sources of cumulative fertility differences by race and education. The results suggest that racial and educational variation in fertility arises from differences in behavior among members of these groups while they are unmarried rather than when they are married. The standard race and education differentials in fertility are not present among the currently married. The data set used was The June 1980 Current Population Survey based on a sample of about 60000 households. (authors modified)