Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence on Structural Instability in the Japanese Money Demand Function

The main purpose of this study is to re-investigate the long-run Japanese M2 money demand function and its stability over the period of 1970:Q1 to 2010:Q4. This study uses the bounds testing approach to cointegration within the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework to examine the presence of a cointegration relationship. The rolling regression procedure is then incorporated into the ARDL cointegration test to investigate the stability of the cointegrating relationship between money demand and its determinants in Japan. With the full sample, this study confirms that real M2 money demand, real income, real interest rates and real exchange rates are cointegrated. However, the evidence of the rolling ARDL cointegration test implies that the cointegrating relationships are not stable over time, indicating that the Japanese M2 money demand function is also unstable. In line with the rolling ARDL cointegration results, the recursive Chow breakpoint F-test and the Quandt likelihood ratio (QLR) test also suggest the same instability outcome. JEL Classification Codes: C22; E41
Impact of Expanded Insurance Coverage on Racial Disparities in Vascular Disease: Insights From Massachusetts

Objective:To evaluate the impact of health insurance expansion on racial disparities in severity of peripheral arterial disease. Background:Lack of insurance and non-white race are associated with increased severity, increased amputation rates, and decreased revascularization rates in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Little is known about how expanded insurance coverage affects disparities in presentation with and management of PAD. The 2006 Massachusetts health reform expanded coverage to 98% of residents and provided the framework for the Affordable Care Act. Methods:We conducted a retrospective cohort study of nonelderly, white and non-white patients admitted with PAD in Massachusetts (MA) and 4 control states. Risk-adjusted difference-in-differences models were used to evaluate changes in probability of presenting with severe disease. Multivariable linear regression models were used to evaluate disparities in disease severity before and after the 2006 health insurance expansion. Results:Before the 2006 MA insurance expansion, non-white patients in both MA and control states had a 12 to 13 percentage-point higher probability of presenting with severe disease (P < 0.001) than white patients. After the expansion, measured disparities in disease severity by patient race were no longer statistically significant in Massachusetts (+3.0 percentage-point difference, P = 0.385) whereas disparities persisted in control states (+10.0 percentage-point difference, P < 0.001). Overall, non-white patients in MA had an 11.2 percentage-point decreased probability of severe PAD (P = 0.042) relative to concurrent trends in control states. Conclusions:The 2006 Massachusetts insurance expansion was associated with a decreased probability of patients presenting with severe PAD and resolution of measured racial disparities in severe PAD in MA.
The evolution of acute burn care ‐ retiring the split skin graft

&NA; The skin graft was born in 1869 and since then, surgeons have been using split skin grafts for wound repair. Nevertheless, this asset fails the big burn patient, who deserves an elastic, mobile and robust outcome but who receives the poorest possible outcome based on donor site paucity. Negating the need for the skin graft requires an autologous composite cultured skin and a material capable of temporising the burn wound for four weeks until the composite is produced. A novel, biodegradable polyurethane chemistry has been used to create two such products. This paper describes the design, production, optimisation and evaluation of several iterations of these products. The evaluation has occurred in a variety of models, both in vitro and in vivo, employing Hunterian scientific principles, and embracing Hunter's love and appreciation of comparative anatomy. The process has culminated in significant human experience in complex wounds and extensive burn injury. Used serially, the products offer robust and elastic healing in deep burns of any size within 6 weeks of injury.
A stata module for computing fertility rates and TFRs from birth histories: tfr2

Since the 1970s, birth history data have become widely available, thanks notably to the Demographic and Health Surveys program. Despite their wide availability, these data remain under-exploited. Computation, even of simple indicators (fertility rates, total fertility rates, mean age at childbearing) and their standard errors, is not direct with such data, and other types of analysis (fertility differentials, reconstruction of fertility trends et cetera) may also involve reorganization of data sets and statistical modeling that represent a barrier to the use of birth history data. This paper presents a Stata software module (tfr2) that was prepared to analyze birth history data in a user-friendly and flexible way. It is designed to be used primarily with DHS data, but can also be used easily with birth histories from other sources. Three types of analysis are performed by tfr2: (1) the computation of age-specific fertility rates and TFRs, as well as their standard errors, (2) the reconstruction of fertility trends, and (3) the estimation of fertility differentials (rate ratios). The tfr2 module is composed of two parts: (1) a Stata command to transform birth history data into a table of births and exposure (tabexp), and (2) A Poisson regression model to compute fertility rates, fertility trends and fertility differentials from a table of births and exposure (produced by tabexp). Standard errors are also computed by tfr2. One can obtain tfr2 free of charge. It will work with Stata 10 and more recent versions of Stata.
Determination of pKa values of some auxins in methanol-water mixtures by reversed phase liquid chromatography and potentiometric methods

Plant hormones are of vital importance for the normal functioning of plants. Auxins are a class of phytohormones involved in many aspects of plant growth. Indole-3-acetic acid, (IAA), indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPA) and indole-3-lactic acid (ILA) are auxins with biological functions stimulating growth processes such as cell elongation and division. In this study, the pKa values of IAA, IPA and ILA in 30%, 40% and 50% (v/v) methanol-water mixtures were determined using potentiometry, liquid chromatography (LC) and LC-DAD methodology. Also, the pKa values in water predicted by the SPARC on-line calculator have been investigated.
Limit Pricing and the Banking Industry

A MAJOR ADVANCE in the theory of imperfect competition has been the recognition that established firms may take into account possible actions by potential as well as by existing competitors. In particular, the theory of limit pricing suggests that established firms in imperfectly competitive markets may limit the prices they charge in order to deter market entry by potential competitors. The mere existence of potential entrants thus has a procompetitive effect on the market, to the extent that established firms opt to limit prices below those that they would otherwise charge. Although the importance of the limit-pricing hypothesis to antitrust policy has been recognized for some time, direct tests of it have not been forthcoming. This is not surprising, given the extreme difficulty in obtaining a direct measure of the threat of entry relevant to the limit-price decision. In addition to an appropriate theoretical framework, such a task requires knowledge of the potential entrants relevant to each limit-price decision. In most industries, such information is not available, and even if it were, the lack of variability in the number and type of potential entrants facing limit pricers would make empirical investigation impossible. These problems, however, are much less severe in certain areas of the banking industry. In states that allow branch banking, entry into local banking markets often
Metabolic consequences of lipodystrophy in mouse models

Purpose of reviewAdipose tissue is a key player in metabolic homeostasis through its role as an energy depot and endocrine organ. The characterization of mouse models of lipodystrophy, in which adipose tissue development and function are impaired, has shed new light on the mechanisms by which adipose tissue dysregulation may contribute to conditions such as insulin resistance, fatty liver, and β-cell toxicity. Recent findingsHere we review recent findings from mouse models with genetic alterations leading to reduced adipose tissue mass. The metabolic consequences depend on the basis for the adipose tissue reduction, and we classify mouse models into three categories based on whether they confer (1) lipoatrophy accompanied by insulin resistance, (2) reduced adipose tissue storage associated with enhanced energy expenditure, or (3) both lipoatrophic and energetic effects. SummaryReductions in the capacity of adipose tissue to store triglycerides or to secrete adipokine hormones lead to altered lipid metabolism and insulin resistance. In contrast, depletion of fat stores by virtue of enhanced energy metabolism does not produce undesirable metabolic effects. However, enhanced energy metabolism cannot overcome the deleterious effects of impaired adipokine production, as revealed by studies of models with both lipoatrophic and energetic effects.
Time-Variations in Commodity Price Jumps

In this paper, we study jumps in commodity prices. Unlike assumed in existing models of commodity price dynamics, a simple analysis of the data reveals that the probability of tail events is not constant but depends on the time of the year, i.e. exhibits seasonality. We propose a stochastic volatility jump–diffusion model to capture this seasonal variation. Applying the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methodology, we estimate our model using 20years of futures data from four different commodity markets. We find strong statistical evidence to suggest that our model with seasonal jump intensity outperforms models featuring a constant jump intensity. To demonstrate the practical relevance of our findings, we show that our model typically improves Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasts.
Successful Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in a Patient With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Single Coronary Artery Ostium

One of the single anomalous origins of coronary artery that has rarely been reported is a congenital anomaly of coronary circulation that occurs in the left coronary artery originating from the right coronary sinus of valsalva. We report a 49-year-old male patient with non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction that was identified to have an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the right coronary artery (RCA) with thrombotic total occlusion of RCA by coronary angiography and cardiac computed tomography. The patient underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention in total occlusion of the RCA and was discharged after uneventful recovery.
Defective lymphokine production by most CD8+ and CD4+ tumor‐specific T cell clones derived from human melanoma‐infiltrating lymphocytes in response to autologous tumor cells in vitro

Human melanomas are infiltrated by tumor‐reactive T lymphocytes. However, the ability of these cells to elicit a specific anti‐tumor response in vivo remains to be established. Because lymphokine production is critical for T cell functions, we have analyzed the capacity of melanoma‐specific tumor‐infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) clones to produce major lymphokines: interleukin‐2 (IL‐2), interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), as well as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), in response to direct antigen presentation by autologous and allogeneic tumor cells. We report here that, upon stimulation by autologous melanoma cells, all TIL clones secreted TNF but only a few of them produced significant amounts of IL‐2, IL‐4 or IFN‐γ. Nonetheless, all these clones consistently produced two or three of these last lymphokines upon stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate and calcium ionophore, as well as IL‐2 upon CD3 stimulation, showing the existence of three lymphokine profiles among them: Th1, Th0 and a profile characterized by IL‐2 and IL‐4, but not IFN‐γ secretion. Stimulation of TIL clones by allogeneic melanoma lines sharing the appropriate HLA‐peptide complexes revealed that defective IL‐2 production seemed to be a constant feature for some clones, while it was, for other clones, dependent on the antigen‐presenting tumor cells. For this last type of clone, we further showed that defective IL‐2 induction resulted from an LFA‐3 defect of some melanoma cells or from distinct yet undefined defects of other melanoma lines. Our data suggest that defective lymphokine secretion may be an essential component of the in vivo failure of melanoma‐reactive TIL to control tumor development. Interestingly both CD4+ and CD8+ TIL clones from one patient were fully activated by the autologous melanoma cells in vitro, supporting a potential role of such TIL in spontaneous or induced tumor rejection.
Why the Federal Reserve Failed to See the Financial Crisis of 2008: The Role of "Macroeconomics" as Sense-Making and Cultural Frame

One of the puzzles about the financial crisis of 2008 is why the regulators were so slow to recognize the impending collapse of the financial system. In this paper, we propose a novel account of what happened. We analyze the meeting transcripts of the Federal Reserve’s main decision-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), to show that they had surprisingly little recognition that a serious economic meltdown was underway even after the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. This lack of awareness was a function of the inability of the FOMC to connect the unfolding events into a narrative reflecting the links between the housing market, the subprime mortgage market, and the financial instruments being used to package the mortgages into securities. We use the idea of sense-making to explain how this happened. The Federal Reserve’s main analytic framework for making sense of the economy, macroeconomic theory, made it difficult for them to connect the disparate events that comprised the financial crisis into a coherent whole. We use topic modeling to analyze transcripts of FOMC meetings held between 2000 and 2008, demonstrating that the framework provided by macroeconomics dominated FOMC conversations throughout this period. The topic models also suggest that each of the issues involved in the crisis remained a separate discussion and were never connected together. A close reading of the texts supports this argument. We conclude with implications for future such crises and for thinking about sense-making and the role of economics in policymaking more generally.
Changes in Families’ Organic Food Consumption

According to recent research based on the theoretical concept of the family cycle it can be assumed that expenditures for organic food in families decline as children get older. For organic food marketing this raises the question to which extent organic food consumption in families is characterised by changes, when changes in families’ organic food consumption appear over time and what the reasons for these changes are. The article presents theoretical background, research design and results of a qualitative study. Based on qualitative interviews which were analysed according to Grounded Theory it is found that consumers perceive changes in organic food consumption in terms of increase and decrease. As causal conditions for this, pregnancy, the feeding of babies with complementary food, children’s adolescence, a new partner and a new situation in household income could be identified. The results point out how qualitative research can contribute to the completion of existing and the inspiration for future quantitative studies.
A qualitative study of patients' goals and expectations for self-management of COPD.

BACKGROUND Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an illness that affects patients on multiple levels, both physically and psychologically. While there is a growing body of evidence for the efficacy of self-management among patients with COPD, little evidence is available on the optimal content and methods for delivering self-management support. AIMS The purpose of this study was to address gaps in the literature on self-management support by examining patients' responses to questions about goals, needs, and expectations regarding self-management using qualitative methods in a broadly representative sample of patients with moderate to severe COPD. By focusing on patients' perceptions of their needs, we hoped to guide development of cognitive-behavioural interventions for self-management support. METHODS Patients >45 years of age with a physician diagnosis of COPD were recruited as part of a larger randomised controlled trial designed to determine the effectiveness of a lifestyle behavioural intervention to increase physical activity. In-depth interviews were conducted at baseline data collection using 10 standardised open-ended questions tailored to examine factors relevant to self-management support including concerns, fears, learning needs, barriers, facilitators, and goals. All interviews were audio recorded and analysed using qualitative methods. Responses were coded by three raters into thematic categories. RESULTS A sample of 47 interviews with patients of mean age 68.4 years, 53% male, 87% white were used in the analysis. The distribution of spirometric impairment based on percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was moderate (57.5%), severe (31.9%), and very severe (10.6%). In response to questions targeting needs and goals for care, three main themes (loss, fear, and desire for improved care) and seven associated sub-themes were identified. Because of breathlessness and fatigue as well as symptoms from conditions other than COPD, patients reported the loss of ability to participate in pleasurable and necessary activities of daily living and the desire to recover at least some of their functioning. They expressed problems with social isolation and uncertainty about their prognosis, as well as the hope to improve. In addition, fearful experiences associated with uncontrolled breathlessness and a wish for greater understanding and knowledge about treatment were major concerns. CONCLUSIONS These qualitative results suggest that the content of self-management support for patients with COPD should focus on addressing patients' fears associated with the uncertainty, progression, and suffering of their disease, their expectations about overcoming or replacing losses, their needs for improved health literacy and their desire for improved care. These responses indicate areas where cognitive-behavioural intervention should focus in order to enhance patient self-efficacy, motivation, and behavioural change for improved self-management.
Response to August 2000 Forum Article by Timothy Bates on Financing for the Development of Urban Minority Communities

Tim Bates focuses on the poor performance of Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies (MESBICS) in the 1987-to-1994 period as a basis for criticizing the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, New Market Venture Capital, and other federal efforts at promoting capital formation in the inner city. MESBICS did indeed fail during that period, but so did a number of conventional Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs)—and mostly for the same reasons. The SBA made sweeping program changes in 1994 and 1995 that significantly improved the SBIC industry performance and dramatically increased participation of inner-city entrepreneurs. The SBA’s job is not to mitigate risk by avoiding financing gaps, but to take the risk that the private sector cannot or will not take—and develop effective ways to manage it. The process is necessarily iterative, and the key questions are as follows: What are the impediments we face now, and how do we overcome them?
Modelling and mutational evidence identify the substrate binding site and functional elements in APC amino acid transporters

The Amino acid-Polyamine-Organocation (APC) superfamily is the main family of amino acid transporters found in all domains of life and one of the largest families of secondary transporters. Here, using a sensitive homology threading approach and modelling we show that the predicted structure of APC members is extremely similar to the crystal structures of several prokaryotic transporters belonging to evolutionary distinct protein families with different substrate specificities. All of these proteins, despite having no primary amino acid sequence similarity, share a similar structural core, consisting of two V-shaped domains of five transmembrane domains each, intertwined in an antiparallel topology. Based on this model, we reviewed available data on functional mutations in bacterial, fungal and mammalian APCs and obtained novel mutational data, which provide compelling evidence that the amino acid binding pocket is located in the vicinity of the unwound part of two broken helices, in a nearly identical position to the structures of similar transporters. Our analysis is fully supported by the evolutionary conservation and specific amino acid substitutions in the proposed substrate binding domains. Furthermore, it allows predictions concerning residues that might be crucial in determining the specificity profile of APC members. Finally, we show that two cytoplasmic loops constitute important functional elements in APCs. Our work along with different kinetic and specificity profiles of APC members in easily manipulated bacterial and fungal model systems could form a unique framework for combining genetic, in-silico and structural studies, for understanding the function of one of the most important transporter families.
Performance Test of Superconducting Wires Subject to Heavy Deformations

ENEA is currently involved in the manufacture of cable-in-conduit conductors (CICCs) for the magnets of the nuclear fusion facilities ITER and JT-60SA, as well as for laboratory superconducting magnets based on CICCs, as those of the NAFASSY and of the Nijmegen-High Field Magnetic Laboratory facilities. The acceptance tests of such industrial productions include the destructive examination of both cable and conductor samples. As widely experienced, during the manufacturing processes, deformations of both copper and superconducting wires may occur due to the large compaction forces involved to which the cabled structure is subjected. In order to evaluate the maximum extent to which typical deformations can be accepted at the level of the single wire within a cable, the characterization of wires artificially deformed has been carried out in terms of mechanical, structural, and electromagnetic properties. In addition, some relevant wire sections extracted from the destructive examination samples have been also characterized. Experimental results demonstrate the negligible influence on the overall conductor performances to be expected for the typical deformations that occur during cable and conductor manufacture.
Is a double‐injection technique superior to a single injection in posterior subgluteal sciatic nerve block?

Bckground and objectives: Currently, no information is available on the effects of a double‐injection technique on onset time and efficacy following subgluteal sciatic nerve blockade. We hypothesized that the success rate and time to onset of subgluteal nerve block following a double‐injection technique would be superior to that after a single injection.