Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circadian variation of sputum inflammatory cells in mild asthma.

BACKGROUND Asthma, like many conditions, demonstrates a circadian rhythm with a worsening of lung function in the early morning hours compared with in the late afternoon. OBJECTIVE Because eosinophilic airway inflammation is a proposed mechanism for worsening asthma, we characterized circadian variation in airway eosinophils and determined its relationship to variability in airway function. METHODS Pulmonary function testing, sputum induction, and phlebotomy were performed at 7 am and 4 pm in 11 allergic subjects with mild asthma. Sputum was analyzed for cell viability, differential, and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin levels. IL-5 levels in serum were measured by means of ELISA. RESULTS Subjects had a significant decrease in FEV(1) (median [interquartile range] = 80% [70%-86%] vs 85% [82%-94%], P =.009) and a greater beta-agonist reversibility (median [interquartile range] = 13% [7%-32%] vs 8% [5%-14%], P =.024) in the early morning compared with in the late afternoon. Sputum analysis showed an increase in early morning total sputum leukocytes (median [interquartile range] = 4.3 x 10(6) [2.3 x 10(6) to 6.1 x 10(6)] vs 2.6 x 10(6) [1.7 x 10(6) to 3.6 x 10(6)], P =. 044) and eosinophils (median [interquartile range] = 7.0 x 10(4) [2.7 x 10(4) to 18.7 x 10(4)] vs 3.6 x 10(4) [1.0 x 10(4) to 8.2 x 10(4)], P =. 024). Furthermore, sputum eosinophils correlated with beta-agonist reversibility (R (s) = 0.665, P =. 019). Finally, levels of IL-5 in serum and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin in sputum were significantly increased at 7 am. CONCLUSION These data suggest that circadian variability in pulmonary function in asthma could be related to changes in airway eosinophil recruitment and activation.
Financial Market Integration and Macroeconomic Volatility

The process of financial market integration is modeled in an intertemporal general equilibrium framework as the elimination of trading frictions between financial markets in different countries. Goods markets are assumed to be imperfectly competitive and goods prices are subject to sluggish adjustment. Simulation experiments show that increasing financial market integration increases the volatility of a number of variables when shocks originate from the money market but decreases the volatility of most variables when shocks originate from real demand or supply. Copyright 1996 by The editors of the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.
‘Free Us Up So We Can Be Responsible!’ The Co-Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Neo-Liberalism in the UK, 1977-2010

This article challenges the notion that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is incompatible with neo-liberalism. It argues that CSR is not a countervailing force that follows neo-liberal market exposure. Instead of re-embedding global liberalism, CSR complements liberalization and substitutes for institutionalized social solidarity. Evidence from the UK, one of the world’s leading jurisdictions for responsible business, supports these claims. In Britain during the past 30 years, neo-liberalism and CSR have co-evolved. CSR has been a quid pro quo for lighter regulation; it has compensated for some of the social dislocations that result from unfettering markets, thereby legitimating business during the ‘unleashing’ of capitalism, and it appeals to moral sensibilities, justifying and legitimating business leaders in a way that instrumental rationality alone cannot. The paper draws on original sources to shed light on the origins and growth of Business in the Community, one of the world’s leading business-led CSR coalitions, since the 1970s.
Cancer in patients on dialysis and after renal transplantation.

26. Jordan SC, Vo AA, Peng A et al. Intravenous gammaglobulin (IVIG): a novel approach to improve transplant rates and outcomes in highly HLA-sensitized patients [see comment]. Am J Transplant 2006; 6: 459–466 27. Haas M, Montgomery RA, Segev DL et al. Sub-clinical acute antibody-mediated rejection in positive crossmatch renal allografts. Am J Transplant 2007; 7: 576–585 28. Warren DS, Simpkins CE, Cooper M et al. Modulating Alloimmune responses with plasmapheresis and IVIG. Curr Drug Target Cardiovasc Hematol Disord 2005; 5: 214–222 29. Montgomery Robert A, Zachary Andrea A. Transplanting patients with a positive donor-specific crossmatch: a single center’s perspective. Pediatr Transplant 2004; 8: 535–542 30. Jordan Stanley C, Pescovitz Mark D. Presensitization: the problem and its management. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2006; 1: 421– 432 31. Stegall MD, Gloor J, Winters JL et al. A comparison of plasmapheresis versus high-dose IVIG desensitization in renal allograft recipients with high levels of donor specific alloantibody. Am J Transplant 2006; 6: 346–351 32. Zachary Andrea A, Montgomery Robert A, Leffell Mary S. Factors associated with and predictive of persistence of donor-specific antibody after treatment with plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin. Hum Immunol 2005; 66: 364–370 33. Zou y, Stastny P, Susal C et al. Antibodies against MICA antigens and kidney transplant rejection. N Eng J Med 2007; 357: 1293–1300 34. Mizutani K, Terasaki P, Bignon JD et al. Association of kidney transplant failure and antibodies against MICA. Hum Immunol 2006; 67: 683–691 35. Leffell Mary S, Montgomery Robert A, Zachary Andrea A. The changing role of antibody testing in transplantation. Clin Transpl 2005; 259–271
Shortcomings in planning approaches to tourism development in developing countries: the case of Turkey

Many developing countries have prepared plans particularly at the central level to guide tourism development, as they have recognized the tourism sector as an important source of foreign currency earning and employment. In this context, mainly aims at analyzing the shortcomings of the planning approaches to tourism development in developing countries by exemplifying the points made with special references to Turkey. There appears to be several defects in the planning approaches to tourism development. Concludes that there is the need for political stability, establishing supportive institutions and decentralization to develop and implement an appropriate contemporary tourism planning approach by taking into account destination specific conditions, and collaboration and cooperation of western governments and international agencies.
Functional Imaging of Localized Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness Using 11C-Acetate PET/CT and 1H-MR Spectroscopy

We assessed the ability of 11C-acetate PET/CT, MRI, and proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to image localized prostate cancer and detect its aggressiveness, using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Methods: Twenty-one patients with untreated localized prostate cancer, diagnosed using transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy, were prospectively enrolled. Cancer laterality was based on the percentage of cancer and the highest Gleason score determined from biopsies. In addition to PET/CT, 3-dimensional 1H-MRS of the entire prostate volume using a quantitative approach was performed. The imaging and histologic findings of 8 patients undergoing subsequent prostatectomy were compared on a sextant level. For each lobe and sextant, standardized uptake values (SUVs) and (choline + creatine + polyamines)–to–citrate (CCP/C) ratios were obtained from 11C-acetate PET/CT and 1H-MRS, respectively. The visual and quantitative findings on PET/CT and MRI data were compared with cancer laterality and aggressiveness based on the Gleason score and with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity and international risk group classification. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, on a lobar level using visual analysis, of 11C-acetate PET/CT were 80%, 29%, 71%, respectively, and 89%, 29%, 79%, respectively, using contrast-enhanced MRI. The sensitivity and accuracy of 11C-acetate PET/CT decreased to 64% and 63% and specificity increased to 62% when sextant analysis was performed. The agreement between prostate cancer laterality based on biopsy findings and visual interpretation of 11C-acetate PET/CT and contrast-enhanced MRI was similar at 71%. The mean SUV maximum and CCP/C maximum for the dominant tumor lesion were 5.5 and 1.48, respectively, and did not differ significantly from values in the nondominant lobe. The dominant-lesion SUVs or CCP/C values were not associated with histologically determined prostate cancer aggressiveness, nor did PSA velocity correlate with the SUV or CCP/C values from the entire gland. Conclusion: 11C-acetate PET/CT, MRI, and 1H-MRS enable detection of localized prostate cancer with comparable and limited accuracy but fail to provide information on cancer aggressiveness.
Construction and expression of a soluble form of human CD30 ligand with functional activity

CD30 engagement in human lymphoid cells induces pleiotropic cellular responses that affect cellular viability and proliferation, cytokine production, and nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) nuclear translocation. Studies examining the molecular basis for this pleiotropism thus far have relied on the use of antibodies and cells transfected with CD30L to trigger CD30, two methods of receptor induction that present important limitations: antibodies are not physiological receptor‐triggering molecules and CD30L transfectants induce high background intracellular signaling in the cells under study. We have generated and expressed a functional soluble human CD30L molecule (sCD30L/CD8α) comprised of the extracellular domain ofhuman CD30L fused to the extracellular domain of the human CD8α chain. Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis of sCD30L/CD8α revealed the existence of at least two forms of sCD30L/CD8α, which exhibited molecular sizes consistent with the existence of monomeric and trimeric forms of the molecule. Binding analyses performed using a soluble CD30 fusion protein (sCD30/γ1) confirmed the ability of sCD30L/CD8α to bind to CD30. Functionally, immobilized sCD30L/CD8α‐induced cell death in the CD30‐expressing lines Karpas‐299 and HDLM‐2 and reduced proliferative levels in Karpas‐299; these effects were inhibitable by the addition of sCD30/γ1. These studies demonstrate the utility of sCD30L/CD8α in characterizing the normal function of CD30L and CD30 and indicate the natural ability of soluble forms of CD30L to trimerize. J. Leukoc. Biol. 63: 752–757; 1998.
Sensitivity to bites by the bedbug, Cimex lectularius

Abstract Bedbugs are a public health problem and can cause significant economic losses, but little is known about the effects of bites on humans. We reviewed case reports and published papers on bedbug bites to assess the empirical basis of the commonly cited figure that only ∼ 80% of the population are sensitive to bedbug bites. We found the sensitivity estimate to be based on only one study carried out 80 years ago. However, this study did not account for the now well‐established fact that only repeated exposure to external allergens leads to skin reactions. In our sample, 18 of 19 persons showed a skin reaction after bedbug exposure, but in most cases only after repeated controlled exposure. With repeated exposure, the latency between bite and skin reactions decreased from ∼ 10 days to a few seconds. Our results are relevant for the hospitality industry, where apparently increasing infestation rates are likely to lead to an increase in the number of tourists and hotel employees exposed to bedbugs. Medical and public health professionals may expect to see an increase in the prevalence of people with bedbug bite sensitivity. The significance of the delayed reaction time of skin to bites may also have implications in litigation cases where people seek compensation.
Two-dimensional numerical analysis of stability criteria of GaAs FET's

Stability criteria of GaAs junction-gate FET's are studied by two-dimensional numerical analysis. The analysis covers the wide range of device geometry from the state of the art FET to the so-called Gunn effect digital devices. It is found that a GaAs FET exhibits either of the following three types of characteristics depending upon device geometry and doping concentration. First, for a thin channel with high doping concentration, the device tends to behave as a normal junction-gate FET with saturating current-voltage characteristics. This is even true when the n-l (device length) and n.d (device thickness) products exceed the previously accepted criteria for Gunn oscillation. Second, a stable negative resistance (SNR) is observed in devices with a moderate channel thickness. Third, for a thick channel, the device exhibits a Gunn oscillation with the domain propagating from the gate edge to the drain. These three categories of behavior are mapped on the nd plane with the help of simple analytic considerations. The map is found to compare well with experimental results.
Childcare markets in an age of austerity

ABSTRACT Public support provided for European early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems varies considerably. European ECEC systems tend to form part of a mixed economy, in which the state, private-for-profit and private-not-for-profit providers all play a role in ECEC's provision, funding and regulation, representing a market model. ECEC privatisation and marketisation in the UK has gone further than in other EU member states and there is growing evidence that these developments, including corporatisation, risk deepening, consolidating or widening inequalities of access to quality early childhood provision. The Norwegian and French systems illustrate how direct public funding and stringent regulation may counter childcare markets’ potentially negative impacts. As economic austerity makes its mark on Europe, childcare market challenges are growing and the need to rethink the appropriateness of delivering UK ECEC under market conditions becomes more acute.
Attributes for Improved Attributes: A Multi-Task Network Utilizing Implicit and Explicit Relationships for Facial Attribute Classification

Attributes, or mid-level semantic features, have gained popularity in the past few years in domains ranging from activity recognition to face verification. Improving the accuracy of attribute classifiers is an important first step in any application which uses these attributes. In most works to date, attributes have been considered independent of each other. However, attributes can be strongly related, such as heavy makeup and wearing lipstick as well as male and goatee and many others. We propose a multi-task deep convolutional neural network (MCNN) with an auxiliary network at the top (AUX) which takes advantage of attribute relationships for improved classification. We call our final network MCNN-AUX. MCNN-AUX uses attribute relationships in three ways: by sharing the lowest layers for all attributes, by sharing the higher layers for spatially-related attributes, and by feeding the attribute scores from MCNN into the AUX network to find score-level relationships. Using MCNN-AUX rather than individual attribute classifiers, we are able to reduce the number of parameters in the network from 64 million to fewer than 16 million and reduce the training time by a factor of 16. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by producing results on two challenging publicly available datasets achieving state-of-the-art performance on many attributes.
Calculation of differential gain and linewidth enhancement factor in 980-nm InGaAs vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers

The optimization of differential gain and linewidth enhancement factor within VCSEL's is required to achieve improved performance under dynamic conditions. In this paper, the differential gain and linewidth enhancement factor in an InGaAs-GaAs VCSEL have been calculated over a range of carrier densities and at various wavelengths across the gain spectrum. The results show the importance of low threshold gain values in achieving high differential gain/low linewidth enhancement factor. By temperature tuning the lasing wavelength to shorter wavelengths than the gain peak, values of /spl alpha//sub H/ as low as 0.6 can be achieved. <<ETX>>
Predictability of stock returns using financial statement information: evidence on semi-strong efficiency of emerging Greek stock market

This article examines the predictability of stock returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) during 1993 to 2006 by using accounting information. Using panel data analysis, this article concludes that the selected set of financial ratios contains significant information for predicting the cross-section of stock returns. Results indicate that portfolios selected on the basis of financial ratios produce higher than average returns, suggesting that the emerging Greek market does not fully incorporate accounting information into stock prices and hence it is not semi-strong efficient.
What Factors Drive Systemic Risk during International Financial Crises?

We analyze the determinants of the contribution of international banks to both global and local systemic risk during prominent financial crises. We find no empirical evidence supporting conjectures that bank size, leverage, non-interest income or the quality of the bank’s credit portfolio are persistent determinants of systemic risk across financial crises. In contrast, our results show that global systemic risk in particular is predominantly driven by characteristics of the regulatory regime. We also confirm for the subprime crisis that the banks’ contribution to moderately bad tail events in the past predicts the financial sector’s crash risk.
Jobs for the Skilled: How Technology, Trade, and Domestic Demand Changed the Structure of UK Employment, 1979-90

A new method is developed for allocating the changing use of skills among final demand growth, trade and technological change. In a multi-sector framework the skills content of intermediate and capital goods purchased is captured through input-output data. Technological change is measured through the changing use of labour, within the sector and in its purchased inputs. Three skill levels are identified from detailed occupations. Domestic demand growth (employment-creating) and technological change (labour-saving) both show marked skill-bias. The effects of trade are small. Most strikingly, the services sector generates high-skilled even more than low-skilled jobs, and new employment through supply chains. Copyright 2001 by Oxford University Press.
Association of Class 1 and 2 Integrons with Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii International Clones and Acinetobacter nosocomialis Isolates

ABSTRACT The Acinetobacter baumannii clonal complex 113/79 (CC113/79) and class 2 integrons predominate in Latin America; a relationship between these characteristics was explored. The presence of integrases was determined in successive hospital Acinetobacter isolates (163 A. baumannii isolates and 72 Acinetobacter nosocomialis isolates). Most isolates had integrons, but class 1 and 2 integrons were present significantly more often in CC109/1 and CC113/79, respectively. The high prevalence of CC113/79 in Latin America may account for the predominance of class 2 integrons.
The Power of Parties

As with the market for goods and services, democratic competition involves political parties offering their services (policy programs) to citizen-consumers who vote for their preferred partisan supplier. Little is known about the partial effect of a shift in parties’ seat shares for given voter preferences, particularly in proportional representation systems. We estimate party effects using a regression discontinuity design tailored to proportional systems. Based on rich local government data, the analyses show that parties matter for fiscal policies. A larger left-wing party leads to more property taxation and higher user charges. It also leads to higher spending on child care but less on old-age care. These effects are caused both by changes in the representation of individual parties and by shifts between the party blocs.
Effect of Immersion Cleansing in Color Stability and Hardness of Soft Denture Reliners

AbstractHygienic care of removable prostheses is important, and denture cleansers selected must be efficient and maintain the physicomechanical properties of soft reliners. Microwave energy has been reported to increase the sanitation effectiveness of denture cleansers. The purpose of the study was to evaluate hardness and color stability of some visible light polymerized and autopolymerized soft reliners after exposure in different denture-cleansing treatments. Six soft denture reliners (2 autopolymerized silicones, 1 autopolymerized acrylic, and 3 visible light polymerized ones) were exposed to 4 cleansing treatments (Corega Whitening, Polident 5-Minute, Corega Whitening + microwaving, Polident 5-Minute + microwaving). Hardness was measured with a Shore A durometer, and color changes were evaluated by a tristimulus colorimeter. The results were subjected to 2-way analysis of variance and Scheffé test for post hoc comparisons at a confidence level of &agr; = 0.05. Sofreliner showed the smallest hardness change, and LightLiner the greatest. Versasoft and Sofreliner seem to have the lowest color change for every cleansing treatment examined, whereas LightLiner and Eversoft presented the greatest. Silicone-based materials demonstrated the smallest changes in both hardness and color, either when using water or with any of the other cleansing treatments.
Age-Related Decline in Olympic Triathlon Performance: Effect of Locomotion Mode

This study describes the decline in performance with age during Olympic triathlon Age Groups World Championships among the different locomotion modes. Mean performance of top 10 performers were analyzed for each group of age using the exponential model proposed by Baker, Tang, and Turner (2003, Experimental Aging Research, 29, 47–65). Comparison in performance decline was done between locomotion modes. Decline in performance in triathlon as a function of age follows an exponential model. A significant interaction effect between age and locomotion mode was observed on performance values. In swimming, a significant decrease was observed close to 5% per year after 45 years. Decline in performance was less pronounced in cycling until 60 years. Analysis of the effect of age in the different locomotion modes of a triathlon could provide information for maintaining quality of life with aging.
Issue Definition and Planning for Whalewatching Management Strategies in Ensenada, Mexico

The exceptional growth of whalewatching in Baja California Sur (BCS) and other parts of Mexico during the last 10 years motivated the design and implementation of a Mexican whalewatching law based on experiences in BCS. However, recent research in the Ensenada whalewatching area confirms that this law is insufficient in this area because whalewatching boats and other fishing, cruising, or drifting boats influence the behavior (swimming direction and velocity) of migrating gray whales. In the long term, the migration corridor might be displaced offshore, and whalewatching may become infeasible. This study proposes a management planning process to adapt regulations to this area, to promote adherence to regulations by encouraging self-regulation and strengthening law enforcement, and to enhance the tourist service on board. The actors involved were identified.