Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Doing It Now or Later

Though economists assume that intertemporal preferences are time-consistent, evidence suggests that a person's relative preference for well-being at an earlier moment over a later moment increases as the earlier moment gets closer. We explore the beh avioral and welfare implications of such time-inconsistent preferences in a simple model where a person must engage in an activity exactly once during some duration. We focus on two sets of distinctions. First, do choices involve salient costs - where t he costs of an action are immediate but any rewards are delayed - or do they involve salient rewards - where the rewards of an action are immediate but any costs are delayed? Second, are people sophisticated - they foresee future self-control problems - o r are the nave - they do not anticipate these self-control problems? Nave people procrastinate activities with salient costs and preproperate - do too soon - activities with salient rewards. If costs are salient, sophistication mitigates procrastinati on, and can even lead sophisticated people to do the activity sooner than if they had no self-control problem. If rewards are salient, sophistication exacerbates preproperation. These behavioral results have corresponding welfare implications: With sali ent costs, mild self-control problems can severely damage a person only if she is nave, while with salient rewards mild self-control problems can severely damage a person only is she is sophisticated. We also consider a multiple-activity version of the model and discuss how our results might apply to savings, addiction, and other behaviors.
Multicurves and regular functions on the representation variety of a surface in SU(2)

We consider the representation space of a compact surface, that is the space of morphisms from the fundamental group to SU(2) up to conjugation. We show that the trace functions associated to multicurves on the surface are linearly independent as functions on the representation space. The proof relies on the Fourier decomposition of the trace functions with respect to some torus action provided by a pants decomposition. Consequently the space of trace functions is isomorphic to the skein algebra at A=-1 of the thickened surface.
Outcomes of Interventional ERCP in Hereditary Pancreatitis

Goals To clinically evaluate the patients with hereditary pancreatitis (HP) before the first, after the first and last interventional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and at follow-up. Background There are limited data evaluating the outcomes and role of interventional ERCP in HP. Study Between 1990 and 2008, 21 consecutive patients with HP were retrospectively assessed for response to therapeutic ERCP. Medical records were reviewed and a telephone survey was conducted to obtain information. Results Patients underwent a total of 87 interventional ERCPs (mean 4, range: 1 to 11) and were followed-up for a mean period of 5 years (2 to 212 mo) from the last ERCP. The mean age at diagnosis, first ERCP, and follow-up was 15, 19, and 27 years (2 to 39 y), respectively. Eleven of 12 patients (92%) who received surgical therapy required subsequent interventional ERCPs. Before and after first ERCP mean pain scores decreased from 8.3 to 3.2 (P=0.001) and after last ERCP scores decreased to 2.7 (P=0.001). Yearly hospital visits including urgent care and emergency room visits decreased from 5.7 to 1.9 (P<0.001) and then to 1.6 (P=0.001). Daily oxycodone equivalent usage decreased from 39 to 34 mg (P=0.7) and then to 9.4 mg (P=0.05). Complications included pancreatitis in 3% with no perforations, bleeding, or infection. Conclusions Despite decompressive or resective surgeries in 12 of 21 patients, the majority (92%) developed subsequent complications and required endoscopic therapy. Endoscopic management for amenable lesions often requires multiple ERCPs. Interventional ERCPs in patients with HP is associated with decreased pain, analgesic usage, hospitalizations, and episodes of recurrent pancreatitis.
De novo DNA methylation by DNA methyltransferase 3a controls early effector CD8+ T-cell fate decisions following activation

Significance Upon activation and proliferation, CD8+ T cells uniformly differentiate first into an early effector cell stage. This is followed by divergent differentiation into a mix of memory precursor and terminal effector cells. The contributing factors to the fate decisions during the early effector cell stage continue to be deciphered. Here we report the critical role of the de novo DNA methyltransferase 3a (DNMT3a) in restricting the development of memory precursor cells and allowing normal terminal effector cell differentiation. Importantly, the effects of DNMT3a-mediated DNA methylation occur during the early effector cell stage of CD8+ T-cell differentiation. DNMT3a is a de novo DNA methyltransferase expressed robustly after T-cell activation that regulates plasticity of CD4+ T-cell cytokine expression. Here we show that DNMT3a is critical for directing early CD8+ T-cell effector and memory fate decisions. Whereas effector function of DNMT3a knockout T cells is normal, they develop more memory precursor and fewer terminal effector cells in a T-cell intrinsic manner compared with wild-type animals. Rather than increasing plasticity of differentiated effector CD8+ T cells, loss of DNMT3a biases differentiation of early effector cells into memory precursor cells. This is attributed in part to ineffective repression of Tcf1 expression in knockout T cells, as DNMT3a localizes to the Tcf7 promoter and catalyzes its de novo methylation in early effector WT CD8+ T cells. These data identify DNMT3a as a crucial regulator of CD8+ early effector cell differentiation and effector versus memory fate decisions.
Non-invasive brain stimulation: A new frontier in the treatment of neurogenic speech-language disorders

Abstract There is a growing body of evidence to support the use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of acquired speech and language disorders. The aim of the present paper is to review evidence to support the use of these procedures in the treatment of aphasia and dysarthria. Both TMS and tDCS are described in terms of their underlying principles and biophysics and their relative advantages and disadvantages for rehabilitation of acquired neurogenic communication disorders. Several studies have documented positive effects of inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS) to right Broca's area homologue on language recovery in non-fluent aphasia post-stroke. Improved language outcomes subsequent to high frequency rTMS applied to the lesioned hemisphere have also been documented. Similarly, therapeutic benefits have also been reported following tDCS, although the findings are less consistent than is the case with rTMS. Improved articulatory function and speech intelligibility has been noted in response to stimulation with excitatory rTMS in Parkinson's disease. It is suggested that the use of brain stimulation techniques in combination with more traditional therapies may represent the most innovative future approach to the treatment of acquired communication disorders.
On Reconstructing a Hidden Permutation

The Mallows model is a classical model for generating noisy perturbations of a hidden permutation, where the magnitude of the perturbations is determined by a single parameter. In this work we consider the following reconstruction problem: given several perturbations of a hidden permutation that are generated according to the Mallows model, each with its own parameter, how to recover the hidden permutation? When the parameters are approximately known and satisfy certain conditions, we obtain a simple algorithm for reconstructing the hidden permutation; we also show that these conditions are nearly inevitable for reconstruction. We then provide an algorithm to estimate the parameters themselves. En route we obtain a precise characterization of the swapping probability in the Mallows model.
Maturation-Dependent Licensing of Naive T Cells for Rapid TNF Production

The peripheral naïve T cell pool is comprised of a heterogeneous population of cells at various stages of development, which is a process that begins in the thymus and is completed after a post-thymic maturation phase in the periphery. One hallmark of naïve T cells in secondary lymphoid organs is their unique ability to produce TNF rapidly after activation and prior to acquiring other effector functions. To determine how maturation influences the licensing of naïve T cells to produce TNF, we compared cytokine profiles of CD4+ and CD8+ single positive (SP) thymocytes, recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) and mature-naïve (MN) T cells during TCR activation. SP thymocytes exhibited a poor ability to produce TNF when compared to splenic T cells despite expressing similar TCR levels and possessing comparable activation kinetics (upregulation of CD25 and CD69). Provision of optimal antigen presenting cells from the spleen did not fully enable SP thymocytes to produce TNF, suggesting an intrinsic defect in their ability to produce TNF efficiently. Using a thymocyte adoptive transfer model, we demonstrate that the ability of T cells to produce TNF increases progressively with time in the periphery as a function of their maturation state. RTEs that were identified in NG-BAC transgenic mice by the expression of GFP showed a significantly enhanced ability to express TNF relative to SP thymocytes but not to the extent of fully MN T cells. Together, these findings suggest that TNF expression by naïve T cells is regulated via a gradual licensing process that requires functional maturation in peripheral lymphoid organs.
Spatial and Temporal Factors Associated with an Increased Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in Spinach Fields in New York State

ABSTRACT While rain and irrigation events have been associated with an increased prevalence of foodborne pathogens in produce production environments, quantitative data are needed to determine the effects of various spatial and temporal factors on the risk of produce contamination following these events. This study was performed to quantify these effects and to determine the impact of rain and irrigation events on the detection frequency and diversity of Listeria species (including L. monocytogenes) and L. monocytogenes in produce fields. Two spinach fields, with high and low predicted risks of L. monocytogenes isolation, were sampled 24, 48, 72, and 144 to 192 h following irrigation and rain events. Predicted risk was a function of the field's proximity to water and roads. Factors were evaluated for their association with Listeria species and L. monocytogenes isolation by using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). In total, 1,492 (1,092 soil, 334 leaf, 14 fecal, and 52 water) samples were collected. According to the GLMM, the likelihood of Listeria species and L. monocytogenes isolation from soil samples was highest during the 24 h immediately following an event (odds ratios [ORs] of 7.7 and 25, respectively). Additionally, Listeria species and L. monocytogenes isolates associated with irrigation events showed significantly lower sigB allele type diversity than did isolates associated with precipitation events (P = <0.001), suggesting that irrigation water may be a point source of L. monocytogenes contamination. Small changes in management practices (e.g., not irrigating fields before harvest) may therefore reduce the risk of L. monocytogenes contamination of fresh produce.
Subjective well-being, personality, demographic variables, and American state differences in smoking prevalence.

INTRODUCTION The present study was conducted to determine relations between smoking prevalence, subjective well-being, and the Big Five personality variables at the American state level. METHOD State smoking prevalence was based on the responses of more than 350,000 adults interviewed in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2008. Subjective well-being was based on the state-aggregated responses of 353,039 adults to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index phone interviews during 2008. Big Five variables were based on the state-aggregated responses of 619,397 persons to an Internet survey between 1999 and 2005, which included the 44-item Big Five Inventory. RESULTS Well-being and smoking prevalence were negatively correlated and remained so when state Big Five, socioeconomic status (SES), White population percent, urban population percent, and median age were controlled in a partial correlation. Hierarchical and stepwise multiple regressions showed (a) that SES and neuroticism were the prime predictors of well-being, (b) that well-being was the prime predictor of smoking prevalence, and (c) that openness to experience was the sole personality or demographic variable to account for differences in smoking prevalence when well-being was controlled, and it explained very little of the remaining variance. DISCUSSION Applied implications for state-tailored attempts to reduce smoking are briefly discussed, and suggestions for future research directions are put forward.
Multi-level Evaluation for Machine Translation

Translations generated by current statistical systems often have a large variance, in terms of their quality against human references. To cope with such variation, we propose to evaluate translations using a multi-level framework. The method varies the evaluation criteria based on the clusters to which a translation belongs. Our experiments on the WMT metric task data show that the multi-level framework consistently improves the performance of two benchmarking metrics, resulting in better correlation with human judgment.
Progressivity comparisons

Analysts should correct for distributional differences before undertaking local progressivity comparisons between income tax or tax and benefit schedules. A transplant-and-compare procedure is advocated, involving importation’ of the schedule from one regime into another, or from both into a reference scenario. The residual progression ordering over transplanted schedules then assures a global ordering of original regimes by Lorenz or Suits curves. The algorithm is advocated for use only when transplantation functions are isoelastic, and is illustrated for the Canadian, Israeli and UK tax and benefit systems.
Voltammetric Determination of Cyproterone Acetate in Pharmaceutical Preparations

The voltammetric behaviour of cyproterone acetate (CPA) was studied using direct current (DCt) and differential pulse polarography (DPP). The drug manifests cathodic waves over the pH range of 4-11.8. In Britton-Robinson buffer (BRb) of pH 10, the diffusion current-concentration relationship was found to be rectilinear over the range 3.2-32 μg/mL and 0.5-14 μg/mL using DCt and DPP modes, respectively, with minimum limits of detection (LOD) of 0.13 μg/mL using the DDP. The diffusion-current constant (Id) was 9.29 ± 0.046 (n=9). The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of the studied compound in its formulations. The mean percentage recoveries in tablets were 99.48 ± 1.25 and 100.01 ± 1.07 (n=4) using DCt and DPP modes, respectively. The results obtained were in agreement with those of the reference method. A proposal for the electrode reaction was postulated.
Respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory viruses in the setting of bone marrow transplantation

Purpose of review Several epidemiologic studies have enhanced our understanding of the impact of respiratory viruses on bone marrow transplant recipients. Recent findings Respiratory viral infections occur frequently following stem cell transplantation but present atypically. Many patients have asymptomatic infections. There is a growing armamentarium of antiviral agents currently under development, although prospective studies in transplant patients are needed. Summary Respiratory viral infections occur frequently after hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Newer agents may prove useful in the prevention and treatment of respiratory viral infections in this population.
Structure and transition behavior of novel thermo-responsive polymer films

In this thesis, thermo-responsive homo- and triblockcopolymer films, consisting of poly(methoxydiethylenglycolacrylate) (PMDEGA) are investigated. Compared to the well studied poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) films, thin PMDEGA films show a higher lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and a broader transition region. The introduction of hydrophobic PS blocks shifts the LCST of thin P(S-b-MDEGA-b-S) films to a lower value, whereas the transition region is still broad.
Photoacoustic imaging of vascular hemodynamics: validation with blood oxygenation level-dependent MR imaging.

PURPOSE To noninvasively assess vascular hemodynamics with photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in phantoms and in an animal model. MATERIALS AND METHODS In vivo studies were performed with institutional animal care and use committee approval. In vitro experiments were performed by using a tissue-mimicking phantom in multiple oxygenation conditions (n = 6) to compare PAI measurements and BOLD MR imaging measurements. PAI and T2-weighted spin-echo-based BOLD MR imaging were performed to assess tumor response to carbogen (95% O2, 5% CO2) in mice with head and neck tumors before (n = 11) and after (n = 9) treatment with a vascular disrupting agent (VDA). Two-tailed Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlation between the parameters measured with PAI and BOLD MR imaging in vitro. Two-tailed paired t tests were used to compare change in tumor hemoglobin oxygen saturation (sO2) levels and BOLD signal in response to carbogen. Changes in PAI and BOLD signal intensity before and after VDA treatment were analyzed for significance by using analysis of variance with repeated measures. RESULTS Phantom measurements yielded good correlation between photoacoustically derived sO2 levels and BOLD signal intensity (r = 0.937, P = .005) and partial pressure of oxygen (r = 0.981, P = .005). In vivo hemodynamic response to carbogen was characterized by a significant increase in tumor sO2 levels (P = .003) and BOLD signal (P = .001). When compared with pretreatment estimates, treatment with VDA resulted in a significant reduction in the tumor hemodynamic response to carbogen at PAI (P = .030). CONCLUSION Carbogen-based functional imaging with PAI and BOLD MR imaging enables monitoring of early changes in tumor hemodynamics after vascular targeted therapy.
Use of starter cultures isolated from native microbiota of artisanal sausage in the production of Italian sausage

The most promising microorganisms for use as starter cultures are those isolated from the native microbiota of traditional fermented products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of lactic acid bacteria selected from the native microbiota of sausages produced by spontaneous fermentation as starter cultures for the production of sausage. Strains of Lactobacillus plantarum 503 and 341 have the potential for use as starter cultures in the manufacture of Italian sausage type. The population of lactic acid bacteria in sausages was >8 log CFU.g-1 during fermentation, which caused the pH to decrease to <4.5. This decrease in pH and the water activity of < 0.90 of sausages ensures the safety and preservation of this product. Sausages produced with these lactic cultures fulfill the requirements for microbiological quality and composition of Italian sausage type. Our results suggest the possibility of using these starter cultures for the production of sausages with peculiar characteristics that contribute to the identity of the product.
Translocation of Sphingosine Kinase 1 to the Plasma Membrane Is Mediated by Calcium- and Integrin-binding Protein 1*

SK1 (sphingosine kinase 1) plays an important role in many aspects of cellular regulation. Most notably, elevated cellular SK1 activity leads to increased cell proliferation, protection from apoptosis, and induction of neoplastic transformation. We have previously shown that translocation of SK1 from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane is integral for oncogenesis mediated by this enzyme. The molecular mechanism mediating this translocation of SK1 has remained undefined. Here, we demonstrate a direct role for CIB1 (calcium and integrin-binding protein 1) in this process. We show that CIB1 interacts with SK1 in a Ca2+-dependent manner at the previously identified “calmodulin-binding site” of SK1. We also demonstrate that CIB1 functions as a Ca2+-myristoyl switch, providing a mechanism whereby it translocates SK1 to the plasma membrane. Both small interfering RNA knockdown of CIB1 and the use of a dominant-negative CIB1 we have generated prevent the agonist-dependent translocation of SK1. Furthermore, we demonstrate the requirement of CIB1-mediated translocation of SK1 in controlling cellular sphingosine 1-phosphate generation and associated anti-apoptotic signaling.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports Investment Shocks and the Relative Price of Investment Investment Shocks and the Relative Price of Investment

This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Abstract We estimate a New-Neoclassical Synthesis model of the business cycle with two investment shocks. The first, an investment-specific technology shock, affects the transformation of consumption into investment goods and is identified with the relative price of investment. The second shock affects the production of installed capital from investment goods or, more broadly, the transformation of savings into future capital input. We find that this shock is the most important driver of U.S. business cycle fluctuations in the postwar period and that it is likely to proxy for more fundamental disturbances to the functioning of the financial sector. To corroborate this interpretation, we show that the shock correlates strongly with interest rate spreads and that it played a particularly important role in the recession of 2008. was visiting IGIER – Universitá Bocconi, whose hospitality he gratefully acknowledges. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or the Federal Reserve System.
Ethical principles for novel therapies in veterinary practice.

OBJECTIVES To present insights to aid decision-making about novel veterinary treatments from regulations concerning animal experimentation and human clinical medical trials. MATERIALS AND METHODS EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes and EU Regulation 536/2014 on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use were analysed, evaluated and "translated" into relevant principles for veterinary surgeons. RESULTS A number of principles are relevant, relating to treatment expectations, thresholds and objectives; client consent; minimising harms; personnel; review committees; assessment and publication. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE These principles should assist veterinary surgeons to make good ethical decisions about novel treatments.
Reply to the discussion

We thank all the contributors for their wide-ranging and provocative discussion. Our reply is organised according to a number of recurring themes, but space constraints mean it is impossible to address all the points raised. Echoing S. Brooks’ opening remarks, our hope is that discussants and readers will be sufficiently inspired to pursue the ideas proposed in this paper and address some of the unresolved issues highlighted in the discussion.