Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNA marker technologies and their applications in aquaculture genetics

The development of DNA-based genetic markers has had a revolutionary impact on animal genetics. With DNA markers, it is theoretically possible to observe and exploit genetic variation in the entire genome. Popular genetic markers in the aquaculture community include allozymes, mitochondrial DNA, RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, microsatellite, SNP, and EST markers. The application of DNA markers has allowed rapid progress in aquaculture investigations of genetic variability and inbreeding, parentage assignments, species and strain identification, and the construction of high-resolution genetic linkage maps for aquaculture species. Well-designed studies using these genetic markers will undoubtedly accelerate identification of genes involved in quantitative trait loci (QTL) for marker-assisted selection. In this review, the principles, potential power, requirements, advantages, and disadvantages of the various marker types are discussed, along with their applications in a variety of aquaculture studies. Included are discussions on how to efficiently exploit research progress made from the Human Genome Project and from other model species such as zebrafish for the benefit of aquaculture genomics and aquaculture genetics research. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Do Dividend Changes in South Africa Signal Earnings Changes?

Abstract Dividend theory suggests that changes in dividends convey information content about the future earnings of the firm. We examine such a relationship using South African data and find virtually no support for it. It is found using categorical analysis that the size of the dividend increase has a strong positive relationship with current earnings, but fails to predict future earnings with any consistency. Regression analysis shows the presence of a strong relationship between current dividend and earnings changes, but no significant relationships are found between dividend changes and earnings changes one year and two years post dividend change.
Genetic variations and patient-reported quality of life among patients with lung cancer.

PURPOSE Recent evidence has suggested a relationship between the baseline quality of life (QOL) self-reported by patients with cancer and genetic disposition. We report an analysis exploring relationships among baseline QOL assessments and candidate genetic variations in a large cohort of patients with lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS QOL data were provided by 1,299 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer observed at the Mayo Clinic between 1997 and 2007. Overall QOL and subdomains were assessed by either Lung Cancer Symptom Scale or Linear Analog Self Assessment measures; scores were transformed to a scale of 0 to 10, with higher scores representing better status. Baseline QOL scores assessed within 1 year of diagnosis were dichotomized as clinically deficient (CD) or not. A total of 470 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 56 genes of three biologic pathways were assessed for association with QOL measures. Logistic regression with training/validation samples was used to test the association of SNPs with CD QOL. RESULTS Six SNPs on four genes were replicated using our split schemes. Three SNPs in the MGMT gene (adjusted analysis, rs3858300; unadjusted analysis, rs10741191 and rs3852507) from DNA repair pathway were associated with overall QOL. Two SNPs (rs2287396 [GSTZ1] and rs9524885 [ABCC4]) from glutathione metabolic pathway were associated with fatigue in unadjusted analysis. In adjusted analysis, two SNPs (rs2756109 [ABCC2] and rs9524885 [ABCC4]) from glutathione metabolic pathway were associated with pain. CONCLUSION We identified three SNPs in three glutathione metabolic pathway genes and three SNPs in two DNA repair pathway genes associated with QOL measures in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.
Investigation of the influence of keloid-derived keratinocytes on fibroblast growth and proliferation in vitro.

Keloids are disfiguring, proliferative scars that represent a pathological response to cutaneous injury. The overabundant extracellular matrix formation, largely from collagen deposition, is characteristic of these lesions and has led to investigations into the role of the fibroblast in its pathogenesis. Curiously, the role of the epidermis in extracellular matrix collagen deposition of normal skin has been established, but a similar hypothesis in keloids has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of keloid epithelial keratinocytes on the growth and proliferation of normal fibroblasts in an in vitro serum-free co-culture system. A permeable membrane separated two chambers; the upper chamber contained a fully differentiated stratified epithelium derived from the skin of excised earlobe keloid specimens, whereas the lower chamber contained a monolayer of normal or keloid fibroblasts. Both cell types were nourished by serum-free medium from the lower chamber. Epithelial keratinocytes from five separate earlobe keloid specimens were investigated. Four sets of quadruplicates were performed for each specimen co-cultured with normal fibroblasts or keloid-derived fibroblasts. Controls consisted of (1) normal keratinocytes co-cultured with normal fibroblasts, and (2) fibroblasts grown in serum-free media in the absence of keratinocytes in the upper chamber. Fibroblasts were indirectly quantified by 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay, with results confirmed by DNA content measurement, at days 1 and 5 after the co- culture initiation.Significantly, increased proliferation was seen in fibroblasts co-cultured with keloid keratinocytes, as compared with the normal keratinocyte controls at day 5 (analysis of variance, p < 0.001). These results strongly suggest that the overlying epidermal keratinocytes of the keloid may have an important, previously unappreciated role in keloid pathogenesis using paracrine or epithelial-mesenchymal signaling.
Best Friends: The Role of Confidantes in Older Women's Health

ABSTRACT This article explores personal, network, and community contexts in older women's friendships and health. Twenty-six older women (mean age, 67; range 55–85 years) in San Francisco were asked to choose the one individual to whom they felt the closest and then discuss how this individual contributed to their health. Their choices were numerous, diverse, contextual, and circumstantial. Other women were chosen most often; however, this belies the complexity of their choices. Confidants were chosen primarily for expressive reasons, but instrumental reasons proved important too, particularly for lower class women. Older women called upon their closest ties with physical, social, and emotional problems; they were less likely to call upon them with mental, financial, or spiritual concerns. Family members were preferred to friends for direct caregiving; however, some older women felt they would call upon their friends as well. Confidants kept older women healthy by offering advice and encouragement about diet and exercise; by providing meals and transportation; by laughing, talking, and joking with them; by keeping them happy and feeling good about themselves; and, on rare occasions, by offering spiritual guidance. Practical and policy considerations of their choices were discussed.
Mixed Duopoly, Product Differentiation and Competition

We examine the relationship between the equilibrium price and the degree of product differentiation in a mixed duopoly in which a welfare‐maximizing public enterprise competes against a profit‐maximizing private firm. Existing works on private economy show that increased product differentiation mitigates price competition. We find that, in a mixed economy, increased product differentiation can accelerate competition when the demand is elastic. The private firm chooses to locate itself too close to the public firm (and thus makes the resulting degree of product differentiation too low) for social welfare, which never appears in the private economy.
Predictive factors of healthy term birth after single blastocyst transfer.

BACKGROUND Blastocyst culture and elective single embryo transfer programmes are increasingly used to reduce multiple pregnancies after IVF. To optimize the results, there is a need to better select embryos, to implement efficient cryopreservation programmes and to refine selection criteria. In the present study, we set out to identify relevant clinical predictors of healthy term birth (HTB) after single blastocyst transfer (SBT). METHODS DESIGN analysis of prospectively collected database. SETTING University IVF centre in Nantes, France. In 872 infertile women undergoing their first IVF cycle with SBT between January 2007 and December 2008, multivariable analysis and logistic regression were used to identify predictive factors of HTB, i.e. delivery of a live born term singleton of ≥ 2500 g, surviving at least 28 days with no reported congenital anomaly. RESULTS Of 304 deliveries, there were 16 twin pairs (5.5%) and no high order deliveries. The rate of HTB was 266/872 (30.5%). Univariate analysis showed that the probability of HTB was significantly higher in women under 35 years [odds ratio (OR):1.75, 0.95 confidence interval (CI): 1.2-2.5, P = 0.001], in women with a BMI < 30 kg/m² (OR: 3.0, 0.95 CI: 1.5-5.9, P = 0.001), in non-smoking women (OR: 2.2, 0.95 CI: 1.5-3.2, P < 0.0001), and after Day 5 compared with after Day 6 transfer (OR: 2.65, 0.95 CI: 1.8-3.8, P < 0.0001). Multivariable analysis showed that BMI, smoking and day of embryo transfer were independent predictors of HTB, regardless of female age. CONCLUSIONS After SBT, female obesity and smoking reduce the chance of HTB, independent of female age. Day 6 transfer should be avoided.
A Systems Study of Policy Formulation in a Vertically-Integrated Firm

Vertically-integrated companies often provide unusual opportunities for conflicts among organizational performance measures, especially as the vertical interdependency of product flow interacts with organisational separation of profit objectives. The resulting problems and their potential resolution by policy reformulation are discussed in this paper for the case of a large manufacturer-retailer of perishable food products. The methods of Industrial Dynamics constitute the systems analysis approach employed in the described study. Emphasis is placed upon the closed-loop feedback systems that interrelate the company's divisions and that provide the conceptual basis for development of a company simulation model. Even without computer testing of the simulation model, analysis of the feedback systems structure can be used in this case to highlight the general conflict between the company's sales and profit objectives. Extensive computer simulation of the company model is utilised to test a variety of areas of possible policy change, including among others transfer pricing, market stimulation, budgeting, and performance measurement. A consistent finding from the simulations was that several sources of intensified organizational pressure including negotiated transfer prices and ambitious budgets contributed importantly to company growth. Although the model formulation and simulation results were accepted as valid by company managers, little implementation of the recommended policy changes has yet occurred. Instead the principal benefits in the short run are seen as largely educational in nature, with new managerial perspectives the key outcome. This result appears reasonable and possibly necessary if management is to be educated effectively for later acceptance of policy change recommendations based on sophisticated management science approaches.
Policy Responses to External Imbalances in Emerging Market Economies: Further Empirical Results

A bivariate vector-autoregression (VAR) model is used to test causal relations between the current account and the capital account in four emerging market economies. The results show that high capital mobility could be a major cause of current account instability. Therefore, macroeconomic policy to restore external balance must deal directly with capital inflows. The paper recommends making nominal exchange rate sufficiently flexible to avoid inconsistencies between short-run and long-run real exchange rates; complementing credit tightening by fiscal restraint to reduce interest rate differentials; and strengthening reforms and surveillance of the financial system to prevent banks from excessive risk taking.
Global Sourcing Decision-Making Processes: Politics, Intuition, and Procedural Rationality

Global sourcing (GS) is a firmly established phenomenon in modern business practice that requires specific expertise from different organizational functions, such as purchasing, production, logistics, and research and development to analyze and select sourcing alternatives effectively. In this context, global sourcing decision-making (GSDM) processes pose major challenges because two dimensions of functional politics, namely goal misalignment and power imbalance across functions, appear to influence procedural rationality in a manner not understood to date. Likewise, intuition also seems to play a role for the procedural rationality of GSDM processes. To elucidate the conditions under which procedural rationality is hampered or enhanced by politics and intuition, we studied five cross-functional GSDM processes, in front of extant strategic decision-making literature. We derive formal propositions on how functional politics and intuition influence the procedural rationality and present contingencies for the divergent role of intuition as well as functional politics in GDSM processes. Our research contributes to existing GS literature by providing a theoretical model of important microfoundations of how GSDM processes evolve. The findings also guide managers on how to structure GSDM processes such that GS projects can be conducted in a more rational fashion.
BYD Ameliorates Oxidative Stress-Induced Myocardial Apoptosis in Heart Failure Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction via the P38 MAPK-CRYAB Signaling Pathway

Aim: Heart failure (HF) post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) contributes to increasing mortality and morbidity worldwide. Baoyuan decoction (BYD) is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine formula that exhibits myocardial protection clinically. The aim of this study was to identify the effects of BYD on oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in HF post-AMI and characterize the underlying mechanism. Methods and Results: In our study, we constructed left anterior descending (LAD)-induced AMI rat models and a macrophage-conditioned media (CM)-induced H9C2 injury model. In vivo, BYD could protect cardiac functions, decrease inflammatory cell infiltration and inhibit oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. In vitro, BYD inhibited cellular apoptosis and regulated the expressions of key apoptotic molecules, including reducing the expression of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) associated X protein (Bax) and cleaved caspase-3 and -9. Interestingly, the P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-αB-crystallin (CRYAB) signaling pathway was activated by BYD treatment, and the P38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 could reverse the protective effects of BYD. Conclusion: This study identified that BYD protected against oxidative stress-induced myocardial apoptosis via the P38 MAPK-CRYAB pathway. CRYAB may become a novel therapeutic target for AMI.
The CD43 Coreceptor Molecule Recruits the ζ-Chain as Part of Its Signaling Pathway1

CD43 is an abundant cell surface sialoglycoprotein implicated in hemopoietic cell adhesion and activation. Cell stimulation through CD43 results in recruitment of different signaling proteins, including members of the Src family kinases, Syk, phospholipase Cγ2, the adapter protein Shc, the guanine nucleotide exchange factor Vav, and activation of protein kinase C. In this study, we report that in human T lymphocytes, the ζ-chain is part of the CD43 signaling pathway. Upon CD43 engagement, the ζ-chain was tyrosine-phosphorylated, generating docking sites for tyrosine-phosphorylated ζ-associated protein of 70 kDa and Vav. In vitro kinase assays suggested that ζ-associated protein of 70 kDa could account for the kinase activity associated with the ζ-chain following CD43 engagement. Cross-linking CD43 on the surface of the Lck-deficient JCaM.1 cells failed to phosphorylate the ζ-chain and associated proteins, suggesting that Lck is a key element in the CD43 signaling pathway leading to ζ phosphorylation. CD43 engagement with beads coated with anti-CD43 mAb resulted in concentration of the ζ-chain toward the bead attachment site, but interestingly, the distribution of the T cell Ag receptor complex remained unaffected. Recruitment of the ζ-chain through CD43-mediated signals was not restricted to T lymphocytes because phosphorylation and redistribution of the ζ-chain was also observed in NK cells. Our results provide evidence that the ζ-chain functions as a scaffold molecule in the CD43 signaling pathway, favoring the recruitment and formation of downstream signaling complexes involved in the CD43-mediated cell activation of T lymphocytes and other leukocytes such as NK cells.
Optimal management of glenohumeral osteoarthritis

Glenohumeral osteoarthritis (OA) is defined as progressive loss of articular cartilage, resulting in bony erosion, pain, and decreased function. This article provides a gross overview of this disease, along with peer-reviewed research by experts in the field. The pathology, diagnosis, and classification of this condition have been well described. Treatment begins with non-operative measures, including oral and topical anti-inflammatory agents, physical therapy, and intra- articular injections of either a corticosteroid or a viscosupplementation agent. Operative treatment is based on the age and function of the affected patient, and treatment of young individuals with glenohumeral OA remains controversial. Various methods of surgical treatment, ranging from arthroscopy to resurfacing, are being evaluated. The roles of hemiarthroplasty, total shoulder arthroplasty, and reverse shoulder arthroplasty are similarly reviewed with supporting data.
The Greener the Better: Job Creation and Environmentally�?Friendly Technological Change

This paper investigates the link between environment related innovation and job creation at firm level. Employing Italian data on 4,507 manufacturing firms, matched with patent records for the period 2001-2008, we test whether “green” innovation, measured using the number of environment related patents, has a positive effect on long run employment growth that is specific with respect to non environmental innovation. Results show a strong positive impact of “green” innovation on long run job creation, substantially bigger than the effect of other innovations. Our findings are robust to a number of additional tests including controls for cost differential between generic and “green” innovation and endogeneity.
Reflections on CEO Compensation

With all due respect—and with the benefit of hindsight—I take issue with the positive appraisal of executive compensation expressed by University of Chicago professor Steven N. Kaplan. In his testimony before the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kaplan makes three principal arguments in defense of executive compensation. I’ll take them in order, and make my disagreements clear.
Ex-day Returns in the Taiwan Market: Tax and Clientele Effects

Abstract We investigated how ex-day prices reacted to the introduction of a dividend imputation system to Taiwan in 1998. Under this system, domestic individual shareholders pay taxes on dividends with fully refundable tax credits. We found a decline in ex-day abnormal returns after the tax reform. Ex-day abnormal returns are positively (negatively) related to dividend yields for the low-yield (high-yield) stocks in the post-imputation period. The results support the tax-based explanations.
Heparin-coated Palmaz-Schatz stents in human coronary arteries. Early outcome of the Benestent-II Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND The purpose of the Benestent-II Pilot Study was to evaluate the safety of delaying and eliminating anticoagulant therapy in patients receiving a heparin-coated stent in conjunction with antiplatelet drugs. METHODS AND RESULTS The study consisted of three initial phases (I, II, III) during which resumption of heparin therapy after sheath removal was progressively deferred by 6, 12, and 36 hours. In phase IV, coumadin and heparin were replaced by 250 mg ticlopidine and 100 mg aspirin. Of the 207 patients with stable angina pectoris and a de novo lesion in whom heparin-coated stent implantation was attempted, implantation was successful in 202 patients (98%). Stent thrombosis did not occur during all four phases, and the overall clinical success rate at discharge was 99%. Bleeding complications requiring blood transfusion or surgery fell from 7.9% in phase I to 5.9%, 4%, and 0% in the three following phases. Hospital stay was 7.4, 6.1, 7.2, and 3.1 days for the consecutive phases. The restenosis rate for the combined four phases was 13% (15% in phase I, 20% in phase II, 11% in phase III, and 6% in phase IV). The overall rate of reintervention for the four phases was 8.9%. At 6 months, 84%, 75%, 94%, and 92% of the patients of phases I to IV, respectively, were event free. For the four phases, the event-free rate was 86%, which compares favorably with the rate observed in the Benestent-I study (80%; relative risk, 0.68 [0.45 to 1.04]). CONCLUSIONS The implantation of stents coated with polyamine and end-point-attached heparin in stable patients with one significant de novo coronary lesion is well tolerated, is associated with no (sub)acute stent thrombosis, and results in a favorable event-free survival after 6 months.
Incrementing Toward Nowhere: Universal Health Care Coverage in the States

Despite successful adoption of other health care reforms, the states collectively have been no more successful than the federal government in achieving universal coverage. Do the same forces stopping reform at the national level also restrict states? Are the incremental steps that states have taken toward coverage likely to lead to real reform? Analysis of state activity from 1988 to 2002 shows that where Democrats are in charge and where their allied interests predominate, state legislative activity on universal care is more likely. Diffusion results indicate that what was at first a policy bandwagon effect turned into a negative diffusion effect or brake on efforts to expand coverage. We are pessimistic about the long-term success of incremental efforts and instead outline the requirements for a punctuated approach.
Ideas, Interests and Oil Prices: The Political Economy of Trade Reform During Soeharto's Indonesia

Indonesia since the late 1960s constitutes an excellent case study in the political economy of trade protection. There have been major changes in the overall policy regime, from liberalism to significant intervention, and back towards liberalism. There have been large, though declining, inter-industry variations in effective protection. There has been a lively domestic debate, much of it dominated by non-economists. Many actors at home and abroad have a stake in that debate. And, since the 1980s at least, trade policy interventions have been reasonably well documented and quantified. In this paper, we show how quantitative analysis may be employed to shed light on changes in the trade policy regime over time. We also examine the principal actors with an interest in, and influence over, trade policy, delineating where possible how their influence translated into the policy arena. Finally, we speculate on whether the framework developed in this paper is applicable to the very different circumstances prevailing in the post-Soeharto era.