Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison between the clinical significance and growth mixture modelling early change methods at predicting negative outcomes

Abstract Objective: Routine outcome monitoring benefits treatment by identifying potential no change and deterioration. The present study compared two methods of identifying early change and their ability to predict negative outcomes on self-report symptom and wellbeing measures. Method: 1467 voluntary day patients participated in a 10-day group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) program and completed the symptom and wellbeing measures daily. Early change, as defined by (a) the clinical significance method and (b) longitudinal modelling, was compared on each measure. Results: Early change, as defined by the simpler clinical significance method, was superior at predicting negative outcomes than longitudinal modelling. The longitudinal modelling method failed to detect a group of deteriorated patients, and agreement between the early change methods and the final unchanged outcome was higher for the clinical significance method. Conclusions: Therapists could use the clinical significance early change method during treatment to alert them of patients at risk for negative outcomes, which in turn could allow therapists to prevent those negative outcomes from occurring.
Joint effects of fatty acid desaturase 1 polymorphisms and dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid intake on circulating fatty acid proportions.

Background Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are associated with a lower risk of multiple diseases. Fatty acid desaturase 1 gene (FADS1) polymorphisms and dietary PUFA intake are both established determinants of circulating PUFA proportions. Objective We explored the joint effects of FADS1 polymorphisms and dietary PUFA intake on circulating PUFA proportions. Design We studied 2288 participants from a nested case-control study of coronary artery disease among participants who provided blood samples in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Dietary PUFA intake was obtained from semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires. FADS1 rs174546 was genotyped by using the Affymetrix 6.0 platform, and circulating PUFA proportions were measured with gas-liquid chromatography. Linear regression models were used to examine the associations between rs174546 and circulating proportions of each fatty acid. Gene-diet interactions were tested by including a cross-product term of dietary intake of each PUFA by rs174546 genotype in the linear regression models. Results After adjustment for sex and ancestry, each copy of the C allele of rs174546 was associated with higher circulating proportions of arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and lower proportions of linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid. The magnitude of positive association between higher consumption of dietary EPA or DHA and circulating proportions of EPA increased with each copy of the rs174546_T allele (P-interaction = 0.01 and 0.007, respectively). Each 1-SD increment in EPA intake was associated with an average 3.7% increase in circulating EPA proportions among participants with the rs174546_CC genotype and an average 7.8% increase among participants with the TT genotype. Conclusions Carriers of the T allele at FADS1 rs174546 may need higher doses of dietary EPA and DHA to achieve the same circulating proportions of EPA as carriers of the C allele. The implications of these findings on disease risk and dietary guidelines require further study.
Serum parathyroid hormone level is elevated in some patients with disorders of keratinization.

BACKGROUND AND DESIGN After the chance of observation of an elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) value in a patient with pityriasis rubra pilaris, the serum PTH level was measured in the next 14 patients seen with disorders of keratinization. Calcium metabolism in three affected patients was then studied in depth. RESULTS Five of 15 patients had twofold or greater elevations in serum PTH values. The patients had four different disorders of keratinization: bullous congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma (two patients); lamellar ichthyosis (one patient); pityriasis rubra pilaris (one patient); and ichthyosis linearis circumflexa (one patient). At least one other patient with each diagnosis had normal PTH values. Two of three patients who were studied further had clear evidence of increased, biologically active PTH, consistent with secondary hyperparathyroidism. An elevated PTH level spontaneously became normal in one patient, and in a second patient it became normal with a high-calcium diet. CONCLUSIONS These data provide the first indication that patients with various disorders of keratinization have an increased risk for secondary hyperparathyroidism. The exact prevalence, origin, and physiologic significance of this finding remain to be elucidated.
An assessment of nitrification inhibitors to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from UK agriculture

A trial was conducted consisting of 14 experiments across sites in England of contrasting soil type and annual rainfall to assess the effectiveness of nitrification inhibitors (predominantly dicyandiamide (DCD) but limited assessment also of 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) and a commercial product containing two pyrazole derivatives) in reducing direct nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from fertilizer nitrogen (N), cattle urine and cattle slurry applications to land. Measurements were also made of the impact on ammonia (NH3) volatilization, nitrate (NO3−) leaching, crop yield and crop N offtake. DCD proved to be very effective in reducing direct N2O emissions following fertilizer and cattle urine applications, with mean reduction efficiencies of 39, 69 and 70% for ammonium nitrate, urea and cattle urine, respectively. When included with cattle slurry a mean, non-significant reduction of 56% was observed. There were no N2O emission reductions observed from the limited assessments of the other nitrification inhibitors. Generally, there were no impacts of the nitrification inhibitors on NH3 volatilization, NO3− leaching, crop yield or crop N offtake. Use of DCD could give up to 20% reduction in N2O emissions from UK agriculture, but cost-effective delivery mechanisms are required to encourage adoption by the sector. Direct N2O emissions from the studied sources were substantially lower than IPCC default values and development of UK country-specific emission factors for use in inventory compilation is warranted.
INVESTING WITH STYLE

Investors are bombarded by a variety of investment strategies from a growing and increasingly complex financial industry, each claiming to improve returns and reduce risk. Amid the clamor, academic research has sifted through the vast landscape and found four intuitive investment strategies that, when applied effectively, have delivered positive long-term returns with low correlation to each other and traditional markets. The four “styles”— value, momentum, carry, and defensive—have uniquely held up across a multitude of asset classes, markets, and time periods using very liquid securities and form the core foundation for explaining the cross-section of returns in most asset classes. We discuss the intuition and evidence for these four pervasive styles and detail how to implement a strategy that can access these style premia to improve the risk and returns of traditional portfolios.
Empirical Evidence for a Money Demand Function: A Panel Data Analysis of 27 Countries in 1988-98

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the money demand function of Cagan (1956) using a panel data set covering 27 countries with different economic levels over the period 1988-98. The static fixed effects and the dynamic fixed effects reveal that a money demand equation exists. However, in contrast to the theory proposed by Cagan, estimates of the output elasticity of money demand are in the range from 0.18 to 0.20.
Exploring Factors Impacting Users' Attitude and Intention towards Social Tagging Systems

While recent progress has been made in understanding the structure and dynamics of social tagging systems, we know little about the users' underlying motivations for tagging, and how these motivations influence the resulting use of tagging systems. In this article, we propose and empirically validate a conceptual model of key factors that affect users' attitude and intention to use social tagging systems. Our findings highlight three new factors and confirm two previous factors. In addition to Perceived Enjoyment and Perceived Ease-of-use, we introduce Content Generation, Information Retrievability, and Information Re-findability as new dimensions affecting the use of social tagging systems. Our goal is to help researchers, designers, and managers of tagging systems and other social systems on the Web understand how to motivate users to increase their use and hence harvest the collaborative and sharing benefits associated with these tools.
Knowledge acquisition's mediation of social capital-firm innovation

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically examine the mediating role of knowledge acquisition between social capital and innovation for firms located in science and technology parks (STPs). Design/methodology/approach – Partial least squares offers the primary statistic technique for assessing survey data collected from 214 Spanish tenants.Findings – Knowledge acquisition fully mediates the relationship between social capital and firm innovation. Moreover, social capital at the firm level has a significant influence on both knowledge acquisition and innovation.Research limitations/implications – Further research should include more independent variables to understand the complex phenomenon of firm innovation.Practical implications – Tenant firms in STPs must develop strategic management tactics for their interfirm relations to acquire and exploit key resources such as knowledge. For specialized firms, close social interactions in specific contexts can enhance both knowledge acquisition and innovation to com.
Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services from Small-Scale Agricultural Management Interventions in Burkina Faso: A Discrete Choice Experiment Approach

The main purpose of this paper is to estimate farmers’ preferences and their willingness to pay (WTP) for ecosystem services derived from four agricultural water management (AWM) and resource recovery and reuse (RRR) intervention options in Burkina Faso, using a choice experiment (CE). These include; small water infrastructure, drip irrigation, recovery of organic matter from waste, and treated wastewater. The design decisions relating to attribute selection, the level of attributes, alternatives and choice tasks were guided by literature, field visits, focus group discussions, expert input and an iterative process of the STATA software to generate an orthogonal main-effects CE design. The data used was generated from a random sample of 300 farm households in the Dano and Ouagadougou municipalities in Burkina Faso. Results from conditional logit, latent class logit and mixt logit models show that farmers have positive and significant preferences for drip irrigation, treated wastewater, and organic matter. However, they are WTP on average more for drip irrigation and organic matter for agricultural sustainability. In line with economic theory, the cost of an intervention reduces demand for a given intervention. These findings can provide policy makers with evidence for agricultural policy design to build farmers’ resilience in the Sahel.
Distinct Roles of TLR4 and CD14 in LPS-Induced Inflammatory Responses of Neonates

During infections, pathogens bind to toll-like receptor (TLR)4 and CD14 receptors and induce cytokine release, leading to inflammation. Here, we investigated TLR4 and CD14 expression on peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) and their roles in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytokine and chemokine release. Full-term and preterm neonates and adults were studied. PBLs were pretreated with anti-TLR4– and anti-CD14–blocking antibodies and stimulated with LPS. Cytokine and chemokine levels were measured in supernatants. TLR4, CD14 expression, and LPS-induced CXCL8 release were higher in neonates, possibly contributing to aberrant inflammation. TLR4 blockade resulted in approximately 3-fold greater suppression of LPS-induced CXCL8 release in preterm neonates (38%) than in adults (14%). CD14 blockade (∼80%) in neonates induced approximately 3-fold greater inhibition of CXCL8 release, compared with anti-TLR4 (∼30%). Anti-TLR4 partly (50–60%) inhibited IL-10 and TNF-α, whereas anti-CD14 completely suppressed their release. Our findings reveal that neonates depend more on TLR4 for CXCL8 release. Furthermore, neonatal LPS-induced CXCL8 release, apart from TLR4/CD14-mediated signaling, is regulated by LPS interactions with other TLRs and/or immune receptors. IL-10 and TNF-α release depends on LPS binding not only to CD14/TLR4 but also to CD14 associated with another TLR. Our findings reveal the contribution of TLR4 and CD14 in neonatal cytokine and chemokine release and could aid in design of antagonists to prevent harmful inflammation.
The relationships between organizational culture, total quality management practices and operational performance

Purpose – This study seeks to conduct an empirical analysis of the association between the dimensions of O'Reilly et al.'s organizational culture profile (OCP) measure with the extent of use of total quality management (TQM) practices, measured using Kaynak's four core TQM practices (quality data and reporting, supplier quality management, product/service design, process management). In addition, the study examines both the direct and indirect association of Kaynak's four core TQM practices with operational (quality and inventory management) performance.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses data obtained from a survey of 364 business units encompassing both the manufacturing and service industries in Australia.Findings – The findings suggest that the cultural dimension teamwork/respect for people is the most important factor in enhancing the use of TQM practices, while more outcome oriented and innovative business units were also found to use TQM practices to a greater extent. While all four TQM pr.
Effects of Stress on Blood Pressure and Cardiac Pathology in Rats with Borderline Hypertension

SUMMARY Repeated attempts to produce hypertension (HT) through psychological stress hare failed to elevate blood pressure (BP) to levels seen in chronic, untreated essential HT in humans. In general, these studies have two characteristics in common: they utilize the nonnotenslve animal, with no genetic history of HT, and they involve stressors to which animals readily adapt. The present study utilized offspring with one HT parent. The male F, offspring of SHR × WKY had borderline HT ($$ ± SEM = 152.4 ± 134 mm Hg). With a conflict paradigm used as the stressor, experimental animals eventually developed severe HT (188.3 ± 2.70 mm Hg) compared to two non-stressed control groups (158.4 ± 2.31 mm Hg and 151.9 ± 2.25 mm Hg). After 15 weeks of stress for 2 hours daily, termination of conflict for 10 weeks did not reduce the HT in experimental animals. Subsequent analyses revealed that stressed animals, when compared to nonstressed controls, exhibited elevated heart-weight-to-body-weight ratios and significant cardiac pathology in the form of myofibrillar degeneration, accumulation of inflammatory cells, and flbrosis. The implications of using this model for the analysis of cardiovascular concomitants of stress-induced HT are discussed.
Antiviral Functions of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1)-Specific IgG Antibodies: Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy and Implications for Therapeutic HIV-1 Vaccine Design

Contemporary antiretroviral therapy (ART) is effective and tolerable for long periods of time but cannot eradicate human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection by either elimination of viral reservoirs or enhancement of HIV-1-specific immune responses. Boosting “protective” HIV-1-specific immune responses by active or passive immunization will therefore be necessary to control or eradicate HIV-1 infection and is currently the topic of intense investigation. Recently reported studies conducted in HIV patients and non-human primate (NHP) models of HIV-1 infection suggest that HIV-1-specific IgG antibody responses may contribute to the control of HIV-1 infection. However, production of IgG antibodies with virus neutralizing activity by vaccination remains problematic and while vaccine-induced natural killer cell-activating IgG antibodies have been shown to prevent the acquisition of HIV-1 infection, they may not be sufficient to control or eradicate established HIV-1 infection. It is, therefore, important to consider other functional characteristics of IgG antibody responses. IgG antibodies to viruses also mediate opsonophagocytic antibody responses against virions and capsids that enhance the function of phagocytic cells playing critical roles in antiviral immune responses, particularly conventional dendritic cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Emerging evidence suggests that these antibody functions might contribute to the control of HIV-1 infection. In addition, IgG antibodies contribute to the intracellular degradation of viruses via binding to the cytosolic fragment crystallizable (Fc) receptor tripartite motif containing-21 (TRIM21). The functional activity of an IgG antibody response is influenced by the IgG subclass content, which affects binding to antigens and to Fcγ receptors on phagocytic cells and to TRIM21. The IgG subclass content and avidity of IgG antibodies is determined by germinal center (GC) reactions in follicles of lymphoid tissue. As HIV-1 infects cells in GCs and induces GC dysfunction, which may persist during ART, strategies for boosting HIV-1-specific IgG antibody responses should include early commencement of ART and possibly the use of particular antiretroviral drugs to optimize drug levels in lymphoid follicles. Finally, enhancing particular functions of HIV-1-specific IgG antibody responses by using adjuvants or cytokines to modulate the IgG subclass content of the antibody response might be investigated in NHP models of HIV-1 infection and during trials of therapeutic vaccines in HIV patients.
Immediate hypersensitivity reactions to penicillin and related antibiotics

Introduction The discovery of penicillin by Fleming led to tremendous benefits in clinical medicine. Penicillin quickly became one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world. Despite a wide therapeutic index, it soon became clear that the penicillins could produce a vast array of immunological responses that could cause severe and fatal allergic reactions in some patients. The first reported case of anaphylaxis due to penicillin was in 1946 [I], and the first reported death was in 1949 [2]. Subsequently, a broad spectrum of allergic reactions to penicillin have been recognized. Available data do not permit exact conclusions as to the true frequency of allergic reactions to penicillin but they are reported to occur from 0-7 to S% of treatment courses in different studies [3], Allergenicity of penicillins is the major clinical problem that precludes the use of this class of antibiotics in a significant portion of the general population who are believed to be sensitive. In this article we will discuss allergic reactions to ^-lactam antibiotics, with special emphasis on IgE-dependent reactions in man.
Overqualification, skill mismatches and wages in private sector employment in Europe

AbstractThis paper uses a sample of private sector male workers from the European Community Household Panel to examine the wage effects of educational mismatches across segments of the earnings distribution in 12 countries. We consider two types of mismatch, overqualification and skills mismatches. By differentiating between quantiles, we discriminate between groups of workers with different unobservable earnings conditions. We find that the detrimental effects of skill mismatches on wages are larger than those of overqualification in most segments of the earnings distribution. Moreover, we find that the pay penalty of educational mismatch tends to be higher among workers with higher unconditional wages. This finding suggests that the mismatch phenomenon entails wage losses over and above those attributable to unobservable earnings determinants, including ability and skills possessed by workers.
Ascorbic acid and N-acetylcysteine improve in vitro the function of lymphocytes from mice with endotoxin-induced oxidative stress

Oxidative stress associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cytokines produced by immune cells, which is involved in septic shock caused by endotoxin, can be controlled to a certain degree by antioxidants with free radical scavenging action. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and ascorbic acid (AA) are ROS scavengers that improve the immune response, and modulate macrophage function in mice with endotoxin-caused oxidative stress. Therefore, we have investigated the in vitro effects of these antioxidants on the functions of lymphocytes from BALB/c mice with lethal endotoxic shock caused by intraperitoneal injection of E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (100 mg/kg). Adherence to tissues and chemotaxis (the earliest two functions of lymphocytes in the immune response), as well as ROS levels and TNFα production were determined in the presence or absence of NAC or AA (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 2.5 mM) in lymphocytes from peritoneum, axillary nodes, spleen and thymus obtained at several times (2, 4, 12 and 24 hours) after LPS injection. Endotoxic shock decreases the chemotaxis of lymphocytes from all the above localizations and increases their adherence, TNFα and ROS production. These changes in lymphocyte function were counteracted by NAC and AA, bringing these functions to values near those of control animals. Our data suggest that lymphocytes are important targets of endotoxins contributing to oxidative stress by septic shock, and that antioxidants can preserve the function of lymphocytes, preventing the homeostatic disturbances caused by endotoxin.
Nugget Proposal Networks for Chinese Event Detection

Neural network based models commonly regard event detection as a word-wise classification task, which suffer from the mismatch problem between words and event triggers, especially in languages without natural word delimiters such as Chinese. In this paper, we propose Nugget Proposal Networks (NPNs), which can solve the word-trigger mismatch problem by directly proposing entire trigger nuggets centered at each character regardless of word boundaries. Specifically, NPNs perform event detection in a character-wise paradigm, where a hybrid representation for each character is first learned to capture both structural and semantic information from both characters and words. Then based on learned representations, trigger nuggets are proposed and categorized by exploiting character compositional structures of Chinese event triggers. Experiments on both ACE2005 and TAC KBP 2017 datasets show that NPNs significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods.
Reform of drug regulation--beyond an independent drug-safety board.

The authors argue that extensive reform of the system of drug regulation in the United States is needed to improve drug safety. In order to develop a more comprehensive system that is not so narrowly focused on testing of drugs before marketing, the authors propose a new federal authority for drug regulation, to be made up of three independent centers: a Center for New Drug Approval, a Center for Post-marketing Studies, and a Center for Drug Information.