Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thrombospondin-2 prevents cardiac injury and dysfunction in viral myocarditis through the activation of regulatory T-cells.

AIMS Thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) modulates matrix integrity and myocyte survival in the hypertensive or ageing heart. Whether TSP-2 may affect cardiac inflammation and injury, in particular during acute viral myocarditis, is completely unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Therefore, mortality, cardiac inflammation, and function were assessed in TSP-2-null (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice in human Coxsackie virus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis. TSP-2 KO had an increased mortality when compared with WT mice during viral myocarditis. The absence of TSP-2 resulted in increased cardiac inflammation and injury at 14 days, which resulted in depressed systolic function [fractional shortening (FS); 34 ± 2.6 in WT vs. 24 ± 1.8 in KO mice, P< 0.05] and increased cardiac dilatation (end-diastolic dimensions, mm; 3.7 ± 0.09 in WT vs. 4.8 ± 0.06 in KO mice, P< 0.05) 35 days post-infection. Lack of TSP-2 resulted in a decreased activation of the anti-inflammatory T-regulatory cells, as indicated by a lower number of CD25-positive T-cells, and significantly decreased gene expression of regulatory T-cell markers, Foxp3 and CTLA-4. Finally, overexpression of TSP-2 in WT hearts using cardiotropic vectors derived from adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) inhibited cardiac inflammation and injury at 14 days and improved cardiac function at 35 days post-CVB3 infection when compared with control AAV9. CONCLUSION TSP-2 has a protective role against cardiac inflammation, injury, and dysfunction in acute viral myocarditis.
Incidence and Severity of Infections After Closed Reduction and External Fixation of Proximal Humeral Fractures

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and severity of pin tract infections in a series of patients treated by Closed reduction external fixation (CREF) for proximal humeral fractures. Design: Retrospective review of medical charts and radiographs. Setting: Academic level-1 trauma center. Patients: Forty-six consecutive patients (20 males, 26 females, mean age 50 years (range 20–90 years) with proximal humeral fractures treated by CREF were enrolled into the study based on data retrieved from medical charts and radiographs. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measure: Evaluation of the incidence and severity of post-CREF pin tract infections. Results: All 46 fractures healed after an average of 4 weeks. There were 18 (39.1%) cases of pin tract infections whose most common bacteria colonization was gram-positive. Pin tract infections were significantly higher among patients with multiple fragment fractures and multiple pins. Treatment consisting of oral or intravenous antibiotics was effective in all cases, and the infection was resolved within 2 weeks at most. Conclusions: Most pin tract infections were managed with systemic antibiotics with good results. The occurrence of pin tract infection did not require a change of the stabilization method and none of the patients required revision of their CREF. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
The accuracy of extrapolation (time series) methods: Results of a forecasting competition

ln the last few decades matiy methods have become available for forecasting. As always, when alternatives exist, choices need to be made so that an appropriate forecasting method can be selected and used for the specific situation being considered. This paper reports the results of a forecasting competition that provides information to facilitate such choice. Seven experts in each of the 24 methods forecasted up to 1001 series for six up to eighteen time horizons. The results of the competition are presented in this paper whose purpose is to provide empirical evidence about differences found to exist among the various extrapolative (time series) methods used in the competition.
Response (re-)programming in aging: a kinematic analysis.

BACKGROUND Age-related motor slowing may reflect either motor programming deficits, poorer movement execution, or mere strategic preferences for online guidance of movement. We controlled such preferences, limiting the extent to which movements could be programmed. METHODS Twenty-four young and 24 older adults performed a line drawing task that allowed movements to be prepared in advance in one case (i.e., cue initially available indicating target location) and not in another (i.e., no cue initially available as to target location). Participants connected large or small targets illuminated by light-emitting diodes upon a graphics tablet that sampled pen tip position at 200 Hz. RESULTS Older adults had a disproportionate difficulty initiating movement when prevented from programming in advance. Older adults produced slower, less efficient movements, particularly when prevented from programming under greater precision requirements. CONCLUSIONS The slower movements of older adults do not simply reflect a preference for online control, as older adults have less efficient movements when forced to reprogram their movements. Age-related motor slowing kinematically resembles that seen in patients with cerebellar dysfunction.
State-level employment, accessibility and rurality

Employment and economic growth in rural areas as a policy issue has been recently highlighted by the federal government. In August 2011, the White House released a report entitled “Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America”. While the document listed various programs and policies that have reportedly benefited rural America, it also stated that rural communities are still facing many challenges. For example, many rural communities have lower incomes and higher poverty rates than more urban areas. One possible reason for rural communities being at a disadvantage compared to urban areas involves transportation, especially in terms of journey to work. Thus, one can ask how employment rates vary with accessibility, as measured by journey to work times, as well as location (rural versus urban). Using 2007 state level data, OLS analysis is used to examine the relationship between employment rates and journey to work times and rurality. The analysis confirms that employment rates decrease with increased journey to work times. However, measures of rurality were only marginally significant and the negative coefficient on each measure indicates that employment rates decrease with greater urbanization. Improving accessibility between (very) rural and larger areas might improve employment opportunities. Although weighing the benefits of such (reduced unemployment) against the costs of providing better highways or public transit might lead to a different conclusion.
Human Rights from Below: Achieving Rights through Community Development

Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. Thinking about Community Development: 1. Community development: definitions and imperatives 2. Community development: principles and dimensions Part II. Thinking about Human Rights: 3. Human rights: definitions and imperatives 4. Human rights: principles and dimensions Part III. Bringing Human Rights and Community Development Together: 5. Principles of human rights from below Part IV. Enacting Human Rights from Below: 6. Seven arenas of human rights from below 7. Practising human rights from below Appendix 1. The human rights matrix References.
Incidence of Skin Complications and Associated Charges in Children Treated With Hip Spica Casts for Femur Fractures

Background Spica cast immobilization remains the treatment of choice for femur fractures in children aged 6 months to 6 years. The incidence of skin complications and their associated charges have not been well described. This study's purposes were to: (1) determine the rate of skin complications in children treated with spica casts for femur fractures, (2) identify predictors, and (3) calculate the charges associated with skin complications. Methods Health records for all patients treated with immediate spica casting for a femur fracture at a major tertiary-care children's hospital from 2003 to 2009 were reviewed and relevant data were abstracted. Descriptive statistics and univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to compare children with and without skin complications and to identify predictors of skin complications. The total charges for skin complications leading to a cast change and early bivalving and lining were calculated. Results Of the 300 spica cast applications in 297 patients, 77 subjects (28%) had skin complications. Twenty-four (31%) of these 77 patients underwent a cast change in the operating room, 34 (44%) required early bivalving and lining and 19 (25%) required cast trimming and/or skin care. Predictors of skin complications included: child abuse as mechanism of injury, younger age, and cast time more than 40 days. Sex, weight, fracture location, and total number of clinic visits were not statistically significant predictors of skin complications. The median charge for patients who required cast changes for skin complications was $12,719 ($8632 to $53,768), whereas the median charge for bivalving and lining was $416.51 ($403.32 to $449.00). Conclusions Spica cast treatment is associated with numerous skin complications and additional charges. Victims of child abuse may benefit from additional clinical oversight. Future research needs to investigate patient education and casting interventions that reduce skin complications. Level of Evidence Prognostic Level III—case-control study with patient identified based on outcome—skin complications versus no skin complications.
Fiscal Federalism, Public Capital Formation, and Endogenous Growth

This paper extends the Barro (1990) growth model with one aggregate government spending and one flat income tax to include federal and local public consumption, federal and local public capital formation, federal and local taxes, and federal transfers to locality. It derives the rate of endogenous growth and examines how the growth rate and welfare respond to changes in federal taxes, local taxes, and federal transfers.
GFP imaging of live astrocytes: regional differences in the effects of ischaemia upon astrocytes

The basic division between white matter ‘fibrous’ astrocytes and grey matter ‘protoplasmic’ astrocytes is well established in terms of their morphological differences. The availability of transgenic animals with green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression restricted to specific glial cell types now provides an approach for looking at changes in cell number and morphology in the two astrocyte types in whole mount preparations. This is an important goal, as the ease of generating astrocyte cultures has led to a proliferation of studies that have examined ischaemic effects on astrocytes in vitro. This has in turn engendered a belief that astrocytes have an extraordinary resistance to ischaemic injury, a belief that runs counter to almost all the data available from in vivo and whole‐mount preparations. One possible source of this confusion is the reactive changes that occur in astrocytes following injury, which include an increase in cell number that may obscure early astrocyte cell death and which has been reported to initiate within hours of an ischaemic event. However, we show here that neither white matter nor grey matter GFP(+) astrocytes exhibit any feature of reactive astrocytosis within a 180‐min period of reperfusion following modelled ischaemia in neonatal whole‐mount preparations. We also show that white matter astrocytes are much more sensitive to ischaemia‐reperfusion injury than are grey matter astrocytes, a feature that may have high significance for developmental disorders of white matter tracts such as cerebral palsy.
Regular provision of outreach increases acceptance of cataract surgery in South India

Objectives The prevalence of visual loss and blindness from cataract remains high in India. Marginalized communities are frequently reached through outreach clinics. The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that regular outreach, held in the same location by the same provider, leads to greater acceptance of cataract surgery than outreach clinics that are irregular in terms of timing and location.
Parkinson disease with old-age onset: a comparative study with subjects with middle-age onset.

BACKGROUND To our knowledge, no prior study has focused on subjects with Parkinson disease (PD) with elderly disease onset, and there is little evidence-based knowledge of treatment outcomes in these patients. OBJECTIVE To compare the clinical presentation, comorbidities, treatment, and evolution of PD in patients with old-age onset with those of patients with middle-age onset in one US university center. DESIGN In the Rush Movement Disorder Database, we retrieved 43 patients with PD with onset at 78 years or older. By using a case-control design, we assigned each patient with old-age PD onset 1 (n = 5) or 2 (n = 38) patients with middle-age PD onset, matched for disease duration but with disease onset between the ages of 43 and 66 years. We compared the groups on several clinical measures using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS At a comparable length of PD duration (mean, 5.1 years for patients with old-age PD onset and 5.5 years for patients with middle-age PD onset), the total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor score was significantly higher in those with old-age PD onset than in those with middle-age PD onset (33.3 vs 21.2; P<.001). The patients with old-age onset had higher scores for rigidity (5.2 vs 4.3; P =.03), bradykinesia (13.0 vs 9.6; P =.001), and axial impairment (12.8 vs 5.2; P<.001), but not for tremor (2.2 vs 2.0; P =.68). They were more likely to have at least one comorbid condition compared with patients with middle-age onset (24 [56%] of 43 patients vs 20 [25%] of 81 patients; P =.002), but even when adjusting for comorbidities, they still maintained higher motor scores than controls. When treating patients with old-age PD onset, clinicians used levodopa monotherapy more frequently than in patients with middle-age PD onset (34 patients [79%] vs 16 patients [20%]; P<.001), and agonists were prescribed less frequently (5 patients [12%] vs 29 patients [36%]; P =.005). CONCLUSIONS At the same disease duration, patients with old-age PD onset have greater motor impairment than patients with middle-age PD onset. This difference may be due to more rapid disease progression, less aggressive or less potent medical treatment, the elderly age of the subjects with old-age PD onset at study end independent of disease onset, or yet-to-be elucidated influences of comorbid conditions. Focused research on old-age PD onset is important to delineate the confounding influences of aging and comorbidities and to establish the safety and efficacy of new treatments for this group of patients.
Environmental Perceptions and Scanning in the United States and India: Convergence in Entrepreneurial Information Seeking?

Drawing on institutional theory and entrepreneurial cognition, we test the environmental perception–scanning framework in the United States and India. The results suggest that culture and transition context help explain scanning frequency, but entrepreneurs in the two countries are similar in their perceptions of strategic uncertainty in environmental sectors. Moreover, the perceptions of increased environmental change and sector importance, as conditioned by perceived information accessibility, are associated with increased scanning. Overall, our results provide important indications about perceptions and information seeking, and lend support to indications of a universal mindset of entrepreneurship.
What Should We Do When Participants Report Dangerous Drinking? The Impact of Personalized Letters Versus General Pamphlets as a Function of Sex and Controlled Orientation

Research in which participants report potentially dangerous health-related behaviors raises ethical and professional questions about what to do with that information. Policies and laws regarding reportable behaviors vary across states and Institutional Review Boards (IRB). In alcohol research, IRBs often require researchers to respond to participants who report dangerous drinking practices. Researchers have little guidance regarding how best to respond in such cases. Personalized feedback or general nonpersonalized information may prove differentially effective as a function of gender and/or level of self-determination. This study evaluated response strategies for reducing peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) among participants reporting dangerous BACs (≥ .35%) in the context of a two-year longitudinal intervention trial with 818 heavy drinking college students. After each assessment, participants who reported drinking to estimated BACs at or greater than . 35% were sent either a personalized letter expressing concern and indicating their reported BAC or a nonpersonalized pamphlet that included general information about alcohol and other substances, referral information, and a BAC handout. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed that both strategies were associated with reduced peak BAC when controlling for previous BAC. The personalized letter was more effective for women and for students who tend to regulate their behavior based on others' expectations and contingencies in the environment. This research provides some guidance for researchers considering appropriate responses to participants who report dangerous health behavior in the context of a research trial.
The Impact of Takeovers on Shareholder Wealth during the 1920s Merger Wave

Abstract We examine the impact of merger announcements on protfolios of acquiring firm and target firm common stock from 1919 to 1930. despite vast changes in the economic and regulatory environment, overall acquisition profitability has remained remarkably constant over the last 70 and 80 years. Target firm shareholders in the 1920s clearly gained from takeovers, averaging abnormal retruns in excess of 15%, while acquiring firm shareholders essentially broke even. synergistic or monopolistic gains from consolidation were minimal. Unlike the more recent experience, target firm and acquiring firm abnormal returns were largely unaffected by the mode of acquisition, the means of financing, or the degree of industrial relatedness.
Horizon-induced optimism as a gateway to earnings management

Recent work in accounting suggests that managerial optimism can lead managers to escalate income-increasing earnings management. In this paper, I examine how a fundamental attribute of the earnings management setting – the amount of time between the earnings management decision and the future reversal – serves as one potential source of managerial optimism. I conduct two experiments to test whether the amount of time between the earnings management decision and the future reversal systematically induces optimism that increases participants’ propensity to engage in behavior that is analogous to accruals-based earnings management and to real earnings management, holding constant incentives, agency frictions, and the information environment. My results indicate that, independent of their innate optimism, the time between the earnings management decision and the future reversal likely encourages managers to overestimate their ability to compensate for current-period earnings management through strong future performance. This optimism, in turn, likely increases managers’ propensity to engage in both forms of earnings management.
Establishment and characterization of a murine osteosarcoma cell line (LM8) with high metastatic potential to the lung

We established a murine osteosarcoma cell line (LM8) with high metastatic potential to the lung from murine Dunn osteosarcoma using 8 repeated Fidler's procedures. We performed the biological characterization of the LM8 and the maternal Dunn cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Morphologically, LM8 possesses many fillopodial protrusions, lamellipodial structures surrounding the cell surface and membrane ruffles suggesting enhanced cell motility. The increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 activity of this cell line might help cell invasion after penetration of the endothelial (mesothelial) cell layer. This cell line exhibited high in vitro invasive activity when seeded onto the mesothelial cell monolayer. Higher expression of VEGF mRNA in this cell line might facilitate neovascularization at the site of metastaisis, resulting in extremely high metastaic potency after i.v. injection. LM8 also showed a high metastic incidence (7/7) to the lung even after s.c. transplantation into the back space of mice. This cell line can provide an excellent tool for studying inhibitory agents against pulmonary metastasis as well as the various important factors involved in metastasis of osteosarcoma. Int. J. Cancer 76:418–422, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modeling Signal Processing in the Auditory Pathway: From Inner Ear to Brain Stem

Sound entering our ears undergoes many transformations throughout the auditory pathway until it is perceived in the auditory cortex. The first processing stage is the auditory periphery, where pressure changes are converted to electrical potentials which are conducted by auditory nerve fibers (ANFs) to the central nervous system. ANFs converge onto several types of neurons in the cochlear nucleus (CN), which is located in the brain-stem [1].
Functional studies of subcutaneous ovarian transplants in non-human primates: steroidogenesis, endometrial development, ovulation, menstrual patterns and gamete morphology.

BACKGROUND The study objective was to determine if ovarian function would be restored following fresh and cryopreserved extrapelvic autologous ovarian transplantation and if vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) administration would augment the success rate. METHODS Sixteen regularly cycling female cynomolgus monkeys underwent bilateral oophorectomy and were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (i) sham transplant group (n = 5) underwent transplantation of pieces of adipose tissue; (ii) fresh autologous ovarian transplantation without VEGF administration (n = 6) and (iii) fresh autologous ovarian transplantation with 1 microg of VEGF (n = 5) administered at the transplantation site daily for 14 days after transplantation. The ovarian tissue from the sham transplanted group was cryopreserved. This material was later thawed and transplanted in four out of five of the sham operated group. RESULTS Five out of six (83%) of the primates in our transplantation group without VEGF had functioning ovarian transplants while two of five (40%) primates in our transplantation group with VEGF administration had functioning ovarian transplants. The cryopreserved group had two of four primates (50%) with functioning transplants. Ovarian stimulation yielded multiple follicles and one metaphase II oocyte from the fresh and one metaphase II oocyte from the cryopreserved group. CONCLUSIONS The success of ovarian transplantation in these non-human primates with menstrual cycles bodes well for the development of ovarian transplantation protocols for women at risk of ovarian failure.
Depression and Hemispheric Functions: Changes Associated with Unilateral ECT

Summary Nine depressed patients received ECT to the dominant (left) side along with nine matched depressed patients who received ECT to the non-dominant (right) side. Neuropsychological tests showed that the right hemispheric functions were more frequently abnormal as compared to left hemispheric (dominant) functions in the pre-ECT tests. ECTs delivered to either the right or left side improved right hemispheric functions when the depression was ameliorated. This study indicates that in depression right hemispheric functions are initially disturbed and ECT, instead of being deleterious to these functions, tends to improve them.