Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic deletion of chemokine receptor CXCR3 or antibody blockade of its ligand IP-10 modulates posttransplantation graft-site lymphocytic infiltrates and prolongs functional graft survival in pancreatic islet allograft recipients.

BACKGROUND Interaction of chemokine receptor CXCR3 with its ligand IP-10 mediates effector cell trafficking to sites of allograft rejection in murine models of whole organ allotransplantation. We hypothesized that blocking the CXCR3/IP-10 interaction would impair posttransplantation leukocyte trafficking to and delay rejection of pancreatic islet allografts. METHODS A/J strain murine islets were implanted to the kidney capsule of H-2 disparate, streptozotocin-induced diabetic wild type (WT), CXCR3 deficient (CXCR3(-/-)) or IP-10 antibody-treated WT (alphaIP-10) C57BL/6 recipients. Representative grafts from each group were harvested at day 7. Ribonuclease protection assay was used to determine gene expression for cell markers F4/80 (macrophages), CD8 (type I T cells), CD4 (type II T cells), and CD 19 (natural killer cells), and for chemokines IP-10, MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta, MCP-1, and RANTES. Immunohistochemistry was used to confirm ribonuclease protection assay infiltrate data. Graft-site chemokine gene expression and cellular infiltrate were correlated with time to functional graft rejection. RESULTS Untreated WT recipients demonstrated heavy graft-site cell infiltrates and increased graft-site gene expression for cell markers F4/80, CD8, CD4, and CD19, and for chemokines RANTES, IP-10, and MIP-1beta at day 7. In comparison with untreated WT, alphaIP-10-treated WT and CXCR3(-/-) recipients demonstrated the same degree of chemokine gene expression but less lymphocytic infiltrate. The mean length of allograft survival was 12.7 +/- 3.1 days in untreated WT versus 20.2 +/- 2.7 days (P <.05) for CXCR3(-/-)- and 19.7 +/- 2.3 days (P <.05) for alphaIP-10-treated WT recipients. CONCLUSIONS CXCR3 gene deletion or alphaIP-10 antibody therapy modulates posttransplantation lymphocytic graft infiltration and statistically prolongs graft survival in murine islet allograft recipients.
A Comparison of Behavioral Group Therapy and Individual Behavior Therapy in Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Outpatients with a primary DSM-III axis I diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; N = 93) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: One group (N = 30) received 24 sessions of behavioral group therapy over a 12-week period; a second group (N = 31) received 24 individual behavior therapy sessions over the same treatment interval; and members of a control group (N = 32) received 24 individual sessions of progressive muscle relaxation. The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale was administered before treatment, at 2-week intervals during treatment, and at 6-month follow-up to measure changes in distress caused by OCD symptoms. The Beck Depression Inventory and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale were also administered at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up. Both individual and group interventions proved to be equally effective at reducing distress caused by OCD symptoms, general depression, and anxiety by the end of treatment, although patients in the individual behavior therapy condition demonstrated faster reductions in OCD symptom severity. Patients in the group and individual behavioral interventions were able to maintain their gains at 6-month follow-up. Implications of these findings for outpatient treatment are discussed.
Validation of CT brain perfusion methods using a realistic dynamic head phantom.

PURPOSE Development and evaluation of a realistic hybrid head phantom for the validation of quantitative CT brain perfusion methods. METHODS A combination, or hybrid, of CT images of an anthropomorphic head phantom together with clinically acquired MRI brain images was used to construct a dynamic hybrid head phantom. Essential CT imaging parameters such as spatially dependent noise, effects of resolution, tube settings, and reconstruction parameters were intrinsically included by scanning a skull phantom using CT perfusion (CTP) protocols with varying mAs. These data were combined with processed high resolution 7T clinical MRI images to include healthy and diseased brain parenchyma, as well as the cerebral vascular system. Time attenuation curves emulating contrast bolus passage based on perfusion as observed in clinical studies were added. Using the phantom, CTP images were generated using three brain perfusion calculation methods: bcSVD, sSVD, and fit-based deconvolution, and the linearity and accuracy of the three calculation methods was assessed. Dependency of perfusion outcome on calculation method was compared to clinical data. Furthermore, the potential of the phantom to optimize brain perfusion packages was investigated. RESULTS All perfusion calculation methods showed overestimation of low perfusion values and underestimation of high perfusion values. Good correlation in behavior between phantom and clinical data was found (R2 = 0.84). CONCLUSIONS A dynamic hybrid head phantom constructed from CT and MRI data was demonstrated to realistically represent clinical CTP studies, which is useful for assessing CT brain perfusion acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis.
Reappraisal of Right Portal Segmental Ramification Based on 3-dimensional Volume Rendering of Computed Tomography During Arterial Portography

Objective: To investigate and describe the segmental ramification patterns of the right portal vein (RPV) according to the Couinaud system. Materials and Methods: Between February 2004 and June 2005, 127 patients with hepatic tumors underwent computed tomography during arterial portography with a 16-slice multidetector computed tomography. The final analysis included 90 patients without RPV thrombosis or obvious vascular distortion. The ramification patterns of RPV were verified by 3-dimensional portograms using volume-rendering technique. Results: Seventy-five patients (83.3%) had bifurcation of the main portal vein, 12 (13.3%) had trifurcation, and 3 (3.3%) had the right posterior portal vein (RPPV) arising from main portal vein. A total of 5 segmental types and 3 subsegmental subgroups of RPV ramification patterns were clarified: type I, the classic ramification pattern with right anterior portal vein (RAPV) branching to S8/S5 and RPPV branching to S7/S6 (63; 70%); II, two separate segmental branches to S7 and S6 without a definite main stem of RPPV (18; 20%); III, "whisk-like" ramification pattern of RPV (2; 2.2%); IV, RAPV branching to S8 alone and RPPV to S5, S6, and S7, consecutively (5; 5.6%); and V, RPV first branching to S8/S5 and then to S7/S6 after a common path (2; 2.2%); subgroup a with dorsocranially directed branches arising from P8 and supplying S8 posterior to the right hepatic vein (28; 31.1%); subgroup b with RPPV branching to the dorsal part of S5 (11; 12.2%); and subgroup a + b, combination of the aforementioned 2 subgroups (45; 50%). In most patients, RAPV had dorsocranially directed branches posterior to the right hepatic vein (73; 81.1%), and RPPV gave off branches to the dorsal part of S5 (56; 62.2%). Conclusions: Recognition of these ramification patterns could be helpful for more accurate anatomical resection of right hemiliver and preoperative planning, although some variants are present.
Phosphorylation of varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein gpI by mammalian casein kinase II and casein kinase I

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) glycoprotein gpI is the predominant viral glycoprotein within the plasma membranes of infected cells. This viral glycoprotein is phosphorylated on its polypeptide backbone during biosynthesis. In this report, we investigated the protein kinases which participate in the phosphorylation events. Under in vivo conditions, VZV gpI was phosphorylated on its serine and threonine residues by protein kinases present within lysates of either VZV-infected or uninfected cells. Because this activity was diminished by heparin, a known inhibitor of casein kinase II, isolated gpI was incubated with purified casein kinase II and shown to be phosphorylated in an in vitro assay containing [gamma-32P]ATP. The same glycoprotein was phosphorylated when [32P]GTP was substituted for [32P]ATP in the protein kinase assay. We also tested whether VZV gpI was phosphorylated by two other ubiquitous mammalian protein kinases--casein kinase I and cyclic AMP-dependent kinase--and found that only casein kinase I modified gpI. When the predicted 623-amino-acid sequence of gpI was examined, two phosphorylation sites known to be optimal for casein kinase II were observed. Immediately upstream from each of the casein kinase II sites was a potential casein kinase I phosphorylation site. In summary, this study showed that VZV gpI was phosphorylated by each of two mammalian protein kinases (casein kinase I and casein kinase II) and that potential serine-threonine phosphorylation sites for each of these two kinases were present in the viral glycoprotein.
Voluntary sector responses to increased resourcing challenges

Purpose – Drug treatment services in the UK have recently undergone significant expansion, alongside the introduction of a set of quality standards, which included the management of people. Consequently, voluntary organisations in this sector have been faced with the dual challenges of meeting these standards and simultaneously attracting and retaining additional staff in an already tight labour market. This paper aims to examine the response of voluntary sector organisations to these pressures within the wider context of the so‐called “contract culture”, whereby, in order to remain competitive, organisations have experienced continuous pressure on labour costs.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports findings from a large‐scale nation‐wide survey and interviews with HR Managers.Findings – The results showed that these organisations had a range of “good practice” HR policies in place and had made some progress in achieving the quality standards, although many struggled to recruit and retain suitab.
How has the financial crisis affected earnings management? A European study

The article aims to investigate whether and how in the European Union (EU), the burst of the 2008 financial crisis affected misrepresentation of financial information due to earnings management. By analysing a sample of 11 844 firm-year observations listed in the EU over the period 2006–2012, an event study methodology allows us to calculate and compare country-by-country abnormal accruals over the estimation period and over the event period. Our findings validate our research hypothesis and suggest a decrease of misrepresentation in the large majority of the European countries after the burst of the financial crisis. The results take part in the debate in the accounting literature about the change of earnings management over a financial crisis and have several implications for standard setters and regulators that could learn how the common incentives of entities to attract potential investors during a crisis could lead them to provide a high-quality financial reporting.
The prevalence of primary headache disorders in Russia: A countrywide survey

Objective: To estimate the 1-year prevalences of primary headache disorders and identify their principal risk factors in the general population of Russia. Methods: A countrywide population-based random sample of 2725 biologically unrelated adults in 35 cities and nine rural areas were interviewed in a door-to-door survey using a previously validated diagnostic questionnaire. Results: Of the 2725 eligible adults contacted, 2025 (74.3%) responded (females 52.6%, mean age 39.5 ± 13.4 years). Of these, 1273 (62.9%) reported headache ‘not related to flu, hangover, cold, head injury’ occurring at least once in the previous year. The gender- and age-standardized 1-year prevalence of migraine was 20.8%. Female gender (odds ratio (OR) = 3.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.8–5.1) and obesity (OR = 1.5; 1.1–2.1) were positively associated with this type of headache. The gender- and age-standardized 1-year prevalence of tension-type headache (TTH) was 30.8%. TTH was more prevalent in urban than in rural areas (OR = 1.6; 1.3–2.0). Headache on ≥15 days/month was reported by 213 (10.5%) respondents (gender- and age-standardized prevalence 10.4%), and associated with low socioeconomic status (OR = 3.4; 2.4–4.9), obesity (OR = 3.0; 2.1–4.3), female gender (OR = 2.9; 2.1–4.1) and age over 40 years (OR = 2.6; 1.9–3.6). The majority of these respondents (68.1%) overused acute headache medications. Conclusion: The study demonstrated a high prevalence of migraine and a very high prevalence of headache on ≥15 days/month, and revealed unmet health-care needs of people with headache in Russia.
Measurement of phase fluctuations for transmitted waves in random media

Transmission fluctuations of log‐amplitude and phase can be used to construct coherence functions to infer the statistical characteristics of crustal and mantle small‐scale heterogeneities. Recent numerical simulations of wave propagation in random media have revealed an apparent discrepancy between simulations and theory for phase coherence functions. In this paper, we show that the reported discrepancy is a result of the inappropriate phase estimates adopted in some literature. Using unwrapped phase fluctuations, instead of estimates of the fluctuations obtained by picking first arrivals by the threshold method, we find that the theory and the results derived from finite difference simulations are consistent. The method of first arrival picking does not yield adequate estimates of phase fluctuation due to the scattering dispersion of waves in the random medium. Phase unwrapping is viable and allows correct inference of medium properties.
Essays in empirical asset pricing

In this thesis, I study asset pricing models of stock and bond returns, and therole of macroeconomic factors in explaining and forecasting their dynamics. The first chapter is devoted to the identification and measurement of risk premia in the cross-section of stocks, when some of the risk factors are only weakly related to asset returns and, as a result, spurious inference problems are likely to arise. I develop a new estimator for cross-sectional asset pricing models that, simultaneously, provides model diagnostic and parameter estimates. This novel approach removes the impact of spurious factors and restores consistency and asymptotic normality of the parameter estimates. Empirically, I identify both robust factors and those that instead suffer from severe identification problems that render the standard assessment of their pricing performance unreliable (e.g. consumption growth, human capital proxies and others). The second chapter extends the shrinkage-based estimation approach to the class of affine factor models of the term structure of interest rates, where many macroeconomic factors are known to improve the yield forecasts, while at the same time being unspanned by the cross-section of bond returns. In the last chapter (with Christian Julliard), we propose a simple macro model for the co-pricing of stocks and bonds. We show that aggregate consumption growth reacts slowly, but significantly, to bond and stock return innovations. As a consequence, slow consumption adjustment (SCA) risk, measured by the reaction of consumption growth cumulated over many quarters following a return, can explain most of the cross-sectional variation of expected bond and stock returns. Moreover, SCA shocks explain about a quarter of the time series variation of consumption growth, a large part of the time series variation of stock returns, and a significant (but small) fraction of the time series variation of bond returns, and have substantial predictive power for future consumption growth.
Adipose Triglyceride Lipase Is Implicated in Fuel- and Non-fuel-stimulated Insulin Secretion*

Reduced lipolysis in hormone-sensitive lipase-deficient mice is associated with impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), suggesting that endogenous β-cell lipid stores provide signaling molecules for insulin release. Measurements of lipolysis and triglyceride (TG) lipase activity in islets from HSL−/− mice indicated the presence of other TG lipase(s) in the β-cell. Using real time-quantitative PCR, adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) was found to be the most abundant TG lipase in rat islets and INS832/13 cells. To assess its role in insulin secretion, ATGL expression was decreased in INS832/13 cells (ATGL-knockdown (KD)) by small hairpin RNA. ATGL-KD increased the esterification of free fatty acid (FFA) into TG. ATGL-KD cells showed decreased glucose- or Gln + Leu-induced insulin release, as well as reduced response to KCl or palmitate at high, but not low, glucose. The KATP-independent/amplification pathway of GSIS was considerably reduced in ATGL-KD cells. ATGL−/− mice were hypoinsulinemic and hypoglycemic and showed decreased plasma TG and FFAs. A hyperglycemic clamp revealed increased insulin sensitivity and decreased GSIS and arginine-induced insulin secretion in ATGL−/− mice. Accordingly, isolated islets from ATGL−/− mice showed reduced insulin secretion in response to glucose, glucose + palmitate, and KCl. Islet TG content and FFA esterification into TG were increased by 2-fold in ATGL−/− islets, but glucose usage and oxidation were unaltered. The results demonstrate the importance of ATGL and intracellular lipid signaling for fuel- and non-fuel-induced insulin secretion.
THE CONSOLIDATION OF EUROPARTIES? THE ‘PARTY REGULATION’ AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

European political parties are seen as vital to the democratisation of the European Union, yet their development has been slow. A major factor in the development of European political parties was seen to be the insertion of Article 191 into the EU Treaty and its amendment at Nice. The main focus of the paper is an examination of the regulation that attempted to operationalise this article via the creation of a statute for European parties and rules regarding their funding. The article highlights the obstacles that prevented agreement on the issues of a party statute before going on to examine in detail the impact of finance regulation on the main Europarties. Overall it concludes that the regulation has prompted organisational consolidation in the main political parties and the creation of five new parties, thereby making it another important step in the development of Europarties.
Glycosphingolipids and ceramides in human and pig epidermis.

Total glycosphingolipids (glucosylceramides) were isolated from both pig (ear) and human (leg) epidermis and each separated into 4 distinct fractions of increasing polarity by silicic acid chromatography. Similarly, 4 separate ceramide fractions were obtained from each of the total free ceramides isolated from pig and human stratum corneum. All ceramide fractions contained large proportions (50% to 80% of total fatty acids) of C 24 to C 30 acids. The chromatographically more polar ceramides contained C 24 to C 30 2-hydroxy fatty acids and in the most polar pig ceramide these accounted for 49% of the total fatty acids. Major bases in the pig ceramides were sphingenine, sphinganine, hexadeca-, heptadeca- and eicosa-sphingenine and the 2 most polar fractions also contained hydroxysphinganine. Human ceramide fractions were of similar base composition with nonadecasphin-genine an additional major component. The least polar glucosylceramide fractions from both pig and human epidermis was a 1-(3'-O-acyl)-β-glucosylceramide. Linoleic acid was the major acid esterified to the glucose. The other glucosylceramide fractions contained fatty acids and bases whose compositions and distributions were similar to those in the ceramide fractions from stratum corneum. The glycosphingolipids and ceramides in the stratum corneum which contain high proportions of long chain (>C 20 ) saturated and 2-hydroxy fatty acids with high melting points (>75°) appear well-suited to withstand wide changes in temperature, ultraviolet radiation and atmospheric oxidation that may occur within the environment of the skin surface and, in the absence of phospholipids, are also sufficiently amphipathic to stabilize the lipid phase in the plasma membranes of the stratum corneum cell.
A new decentralized Bayesian approach for cooperative vehicle localization based on fusion of GPS and inter-vehicle distance measurements

Embedded intelligence in vehicular applications is becoming of great interest since the last two decades. The significant growth of sensing, communication and computing capabilities over the recent years has opened new fields of applications, such as ADAS and active safety systems, and has brought the ability of exchanging information between vehicles. In this paper, a new method for improving vehicle positioning is proposed. This method is a decentralized method based on sharing GPS data and inter-vehicular distance measurements within a cluster of vehicles. A Bayesian approach is used to fuse the GPS data and inter-vehicular distances. In order to investigate the performance of this new approach on vehicle localization, a Kalman filter has been employed to incorporate the dynamics of the vehicle. The effect of this method on the reduction of the localization uncertainty, over-convergence issues and identification of the vehicles are also discussed in this paper.
QUANTIFICATION OF FIBROSIS IN THE LUNGS OF RATS USING A MORPHOMETRIC METHOD

The Wagner grading system is a qualitative histopathologic method designed to describe the severity of nonmalignant respiratory disease (NMRD) as it pertains to the pathology induced by fibrous particulates in humans and later in rats. However, once the method had been used in several rodent fiber studies it was found that it did not adequately differentiate the magnitude of early fibrosis. This article describes a modification of the Wagner scoring system that incorporates a semiquantitative yet simple approach to assuage this problem.
Affordable Homeownership: The Incidence and Effect of Down Payment Assistance

Using data from a panel study of low- and moderate-income homeowners, we assess the determinants of the use of several types of down payment assistance and the effect of using assistance on mortgage performance. Although we find differences in reliance on types of assistance, we find no difference in mortgage performance between those who used assistance and those who did not. Based on these findings, we urge caution in imposing down payment requirements that disproportionately restrict access to mortgage credit.
Endogenous examination of underwriter reputation and IPO returns

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between underwriter reputation and initial public offerings (IPOs) initial returns over a 24-year period, from 1980 to 2003. Design/methodology/approach - Two-stage least-squares regression analysis on data from IPOs offered from 1980 to 2003 is used to determine how the choice of IPO underwriter is related to initial returns when considering reputation as an endogenous variable. Findings - This study shows, consistent with prior literature, that underwriter reputation is statistically significantly negatively related to initial returns from 1980 to 1991 and statistically significantly positively related to initial returns from 1992 to 2003, when reputation is taken as an exogenous variable. When considering the choice of the reputation of underwriter as endogenous to characteristics of the firm, the reputation of an underwriter is significantly positively related to IPO initial returns for 1980 to 2003 and 1992 to 2003 and insignificantly related, for 1980 to 1991. Originality/value - This study adds value to finance literature in that it extends the research on the relationship between IPO initial returns and underwriter reputation. It also furthers the existing research on IPO anomalies and notes characteristics in this field of financial markets that may be important to both issuers and investment banks.