Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Listeria monocytogenes in Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND In an immunohistochemical study a higher rate of reactivity of intestinal tissues to the antibody against Listeria monocytogenes was reported in Crohn's disease as compared with controls. METHODS Seventy-six intestinal tissues, either therapeutically resected or biopsied, from 31 patients with Crohn's disease, 20 with ulcerative colitis, and 21 with non-inflammatory bowel disease were studied. DNA extracted from intestinal tissues by proteinase K treatment was used for nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using two sets of primers. PCR products were analyzed with agarose gel electrophoresis and subsequent Southern blot analysis. RESULTS Our amplification system could detect 9 pg of L. monocytogenes DNA. L. monocytogenes was detected in only one sample, that from a patient with ulcerative colitis. CONCLUSIONS Our study does not support the etiologic significance of L. monocytogenes in Crohn's disease.
Attenuation of the 40-Hertz Auditory Steady State Response by Propofol Involves the Cortical and Subcortical Generators

Background:The 40-Hz auditory steady state response (40-Hz ASSR) provides a reliable marker of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. Brain electric source analysis indicates that the 40-Hz ASSR arises from cortical and subcortical generators. The authors used source analysis to assess the effect of propofol anesthesia on the cerebral generators of the 40-Hz ASSR. They also examined the effect of propofol on two auditory evoked potentials of cortical origin: the N1 and the sustained potential. Methods:Eleven healthy human volunteers were anesthetized with propofol given in target-concentration mode at the minimal concentration causing unconsciousness. The 40-Hz ASSR was recorded before, during, and after anesthesia. The source model consisted of five concurrently active generator dipoles: two in the contralateral auditory cortex (one tangentially oriented, one radially oriented), two in the ipsilateral auditory cortex (same orientations), and one in the midline brainstem. Results:During anesthesia, the strength of the cortical and brainstem dipoles was reduced to the same extent (to 54% of baseline for the four cortical dipoles pooled vs. 53% for the brainstem dipole). Dipole strength during anesthesia was significantly less (P < 0.01) than during baseline and recovery for both cortical and brainstem dipoles. The N1 and sustained potential were no longer recordable during anesthesia. Conclusions:The attenuation of the 40-Hz ASSR during propofol anesthesia results from a reduction of similar magnitude of the activity of the cortical and brainstem generators. The N1 and sustained potential are so profoundly attenuated during propofol anesthesia that they are no longer recordable from the scalp.
Technical efficiency in resource use: Evidence from smallholder Irish potato farmers in Nyandarua North District, Kenya.

There has been a consistent decline of Irish potato production in Kenya which challenges the food security status of the country. This paper used data from a field survey using a random sample of 127 smallholder potato producers from Nyandarua North District to assess technical efficiency in resource use and to identify the underlying determinants of variations in production efficiency. A dual stochastic parametric decomposition technique was used to derive technical efficiency indices while a two-limit Tobit model was used to examine the effects of socio-economic characteristics and institutional factors on the derived technical efficiency indices. Results show that resource use is subject to decreasing returns to scale while the mean technical efficiency is 67%. Education, access to extension, access to credit and membership in a farmers’ association and innovations positively and significantly influence technical efficiency. Therefore, Innovative institutional arrangements that enhance extension and farmer training, accompanied with improved access to credit are likely to enhance potato production efficiency.
Foreign direct investment and tourism in SIDS: evidence from panel causality tests

This study applies panel causality methods to investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The results of the homogenous and instantaneous causality tests suggest that there is a bi-directional causal relationship between the variables. However, this causality is not homogenous for the group of countries. Indeed, heterogeneous causality procedures indicate that there exists a bi-directional causal relationship for only a small set of countries. For the most part, the causal relationship runs from FDI to tourism, implying that FDI provides much needed capacity for SIDS and therefore allows these countries to expand their tourism product.
The "Official English" Movement and the Symbolic Politics of Language in the United States

neous nations in the world, linguistically it is one of the most homogeneous (Thernstrom 1980). Nevertheless, in recent years language policy has sparked political conflict in many states and localities as demands for bilingual government services have provoked concern about the continued primacy of English. This article explores elite and mass reactions to the ongoing confrontation between "language rights" and "official English" and reveals a significant gulf between the positions of opinion leaders and ordinary voters. As in the case of the tax revolt, the initiative process is the device that has allowed populist sentiment in favor of "official English" to prevail over elite opposition. Our main purposes are to identify the social and political conditions that have stimulated linguistic conflict and to determine the motivational bases for the mass appeal of "official English. " We argue that for most members of the majority language group in the United States the tangible personal costs and benefits of bilingual government services or "official English" are neither clear nor substantial. On the other hand, challenges to the status of one's language typically engage deep-seated feelings about national identity and group worth (Horowitz 1985; Edwards 1985). With this in mind, we employ the familiar conceptual distinctions between "economic" and "status" politics (Gusfield 1963) and self-interest and symbolic politics (Sears, Tyler, Lau, and Allen 1980; Sears and Citrin 1985) to explore the sources of public opinion on language issues.
Soluble Nogo-A, an inhibitor of axonal regeneration, as a biomarker for multiple sclerosis

Background: CNS axons display a poor regenerative response to injury. In multiple sclerosis (MS), failure of damaged axons to regenerate may be a major factor underlying non-reversible neurologic dysfunction. Nogo is a development-related molecule inhibiting axonal regeneration and is a major component of CNS myelin. Methods: CSF from 114 patients with remitting relapsing MS (RR-MS) and secondary progressive MS (SP-MS) and 153 controls, as well as CNS tissue from 3 patients with MS and 2 controls, were used for this study. Results: We found soluble 20 kDa Nogo-A product in 96% (110/114) of CSF samples from patients with MS compared with 0/18 from meningo-encephalomyelitis, 0/125 from control subjects with other neurologic diseases, and 0/10 from CNS autoimmune diseases. Nogo-A products were present both in RR-MS and SP-MS, as well as in early cases of the disease, but not in neuromyelitis optica. The same Nogo A product was detected in CNS tissue from all patients with MS but not in control CNS tissue. Conclusion: Soluble Nogo-A may be specific for the CSF of patients with multiple sclerosis and its presence may predict failure of axonal regeneration within the CNS.
Expectation Puzzles, Time-Varying Risk Premia, and Dynamic Models of the Term Structure

Though linear projections of returns on the slope of the yield curve have contradicted the implications of the traditional "expectations theory," we show that these findings are not puzzling relative to a large class of richer dynamic terms structure models. Specifically, we are able to match all of the key empirical findings reported by Fama and Bliss and Campbell and Shiller, among others, within large subclasses of affine and quadractic-Gaussian term structure models. Key to this matching are parameterizations of the market prices of risk that let us separately "control" the shape of the mean yield curve and the correlation structure of excess returns with the slope of the yield curve. The risk premiums have a simple form consistent with Fama's findings on the predictability of forward rates, and are shown to also be consistent with interest rate, feedback rules used by a monetary authority in setting monetary policy.
Liquidity and Contagion: The Crisis of 1763

The financial crisis that swept across northern Europe in 1763 bears a strong resemblance to more recent episodes of financial distress. The combination of the specific contractual arrange-ments at the time, interlocking credit relationships, and the high leverage of market participants triggered distress sales of assets, leading to a severe liquidity crisis. Hence, the crisis is an early instance of contagion on the asset side of the balance sheet. We highlight the salient features of the 1763 crisis and propose a stylized model of the events. While the financial institutions have changed fundamentally in the intervening 200 or so years, the underlying problems appear to be universal. (JEL: 6621, E44, N23) Copyright (c) 2004 by the European Economic Association.
Map the Meal Gap: Exploring Food Insecurity at the Local Level

The burgeoning food insecurity literature in the United States has provided a portrait of the causes and consequences of food insecurity. One underexplored aspect is the spatial diversity in food insecurity across the United States. In response, Feeding America has been releasing annual county-level food insecurity estimates since 2010. In this article, we describe the methods underlying these estimates, followed by answers to the following: What are the state-level determinants of food insecurity? What is the distribution of food insecurity across counties in the United States? How do the county-level food insecurity estimates generated in Map the Meal Gap compare with other sources?
Effect of renal function on urinary recovery of orally administered nitrofurantoin.

Abstract The urinary recovery of nitrofurantoin after a single 100-mg oral dose was studied in subjects with varying renal function. Almost all uremic patients excreted little or no drug in the urine during a 10-hour collection period. Recovery of drug in the urine appeared to be linearly related to creatinine clearance. The highest concentration of drug recovered during any collection period in uremic patients was inadequate to inhibit organisms commonly found in urinary-tract infections. A small group of subjects with impaired renal function, given 100 mg daily, failed to excrete detectable amounts of drug even after five days of treatment. Three azotemic patients receiving 400 mg per day for several days excreted small amounts of drug in the urine. In view of these and other studies, it is recommended that nitrofurantoin be contraindicated in azotemic patients.
The Prediction of Corporate Failure: Testing the Australian Experience

The purpose of this paper is to address some of the methodological issues which have evolved from the literature on corporate failures, and to report the results of an empirical investigation on the usefulness of financial models for the prediction of corporate failures. The experimental design is based on the 21 listed public companies that failed in Australia during the period 1963 to 1977, inclusive, and which met with minimum data requirements. It examines the performance of linear versus quadratic classification rules; temporal versus atemporal models; equal versus unequal priors of failure, variable dimension reduction, and a validation test proposed by Lachenbruch (1967). The results of the study suggest that it is difficult to identify a unique model to predict corporate failures, without specifying the utility preference of the user. Utility preference in this context refers to the minimization of either Type I, Type II, or the overall error rate of a failure model.
Prevalence of zoonotic intestinal parasites in household and stray dogs in rural areas of Hamadan, Western Iran.

Zoonotic parasitic infections are a major global public and veterinary health problem and widespread among dogs. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasites in stray and household dogs in the rural areas of Hamadan district. During 2012, 1,500 fresh fecal samples from 243 household and 1,257 stray dogs were examined by using direct wet mount, simple zinc sulfate flotation, and Lugol's solution staining. Of 1,500 dogs, 20.4% were positive for intestinal parasites. Helminthes eggs were more frequently found in fecal samples than protozoan cysts or trophozoites (15.9% vs. 4.5%, respectively). Toxocara canis was the most frequently detected parasite, with a prevalence of 6.3%, followed by Taenia/Echinococcus spp. (2.9%), Isospora spp. (2.7%), and Toxascaris leonina (2.6%). Helminthes and protozoa were significantly more prevalent in household dogs than in stray dogs (P<0.001). There were significant differences in the prevalence of Isospora spp. , T. canis and D. caninum among three age groups (P<0.05). The wide range of isolated parasites indicated that people residing in this area are at risk of exposure to these potentially hazardous zoonotic pathogens. Mass education of the general population is highly recommended to increase awareness of the potential for horizontal transmission of these parasitic infections from dogs to humans.
Expressiveness of Petri Nets with Stopwatches. Dense-time Part

With this contribution, we aim to draw a comprehensive classification of Petri nets with stopwatches w.r. t. expressiveness and decidability issues. This topic is too ambitious to be summarized in a single paper. That is why we present our results in two different parts. In the first part of our work, we established new results regarding to both dense-time and discrete-time semantics. We now focus on the discrete-time specificities. We address the class of bounded Petri nets with stopwatches and reset arcs (rSwPNs), which is an extension of T-time Petri nets (TPNs) where time is associated with transitions. Stopwatches can be reset, stopped and started. We recall the formal dense-time and discrete-time semantics of these models in terms of Transition Systems. We study the expressiveness of rSwPNs and its subclasses w.r. t. (weak) bisimilarity (behavioral semantics). The main results are following: 1) Discrete-time bounded TPNs, discrete-time bounded rSwPNs and untimed Petri nets are equally expressive; 2) The resulting (final) classification of models is given by a set of relations explained in Fig. 7. While investigating expressiveness, we exhibit proofs that can be easily extended to the resolution of decidability issues. Among other results, we prove that, for bounded rSwPNs, the state and marking reachability problems - undecidable with dense-time semantics - are decidable when discrete-time is considered. Table 1 gives a synthesis of the main decidability results for these models. For the sake of simplicity, our results are explained on a model such that the stopwatches behaviors are expressed using inhibitor arcs. Our conclusions can however be easily extended to the general class of Stopwatch Petri nets.
OECD curbs on offshore financial centres: A major issue for small states

Of 35 countries identified as tax havens by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 26 are members of the Commonwealth. States which fail to revise policies identified as harmful by July 2001 will face concerted defensive action by OECD member states and other countries. Commonwealth Finance Ministers have sought to mitigate the effects of the policy on affected member states but it is not yet clear how successful its intervention has been. The OECD's policy of 'naming and shaming' of countries, many of them small and weak with limited economic opportunities, raises legal and ethical questions, and could destroy the rationale for offshore financial centres.
Multimeric Self-assembly Equilibria Involving the Histone-like Protein H-NS

The thermodynamic parameters affecting protein-protein multimeric self-assembly equilibria of the histone-like protein H-NS were quantified by “large zone” gel-permeation chromatography. The abundance of the different association states (monomer, dimer, and tetramer) were found to be strictly dependent on the monomeric concentration and affected by physical (temperature) and chemical (cations) parameters. On the basis of the results obtained in this study and the available structural information concerning this protein, a mechanism is proposed to explain the association behavior also in relation to the functional properties of the protein.
Idiopathic Superficial Thrombophlebitis and the Incidence of Cancer in Primary Care Patients

PURPOSE The association of spontaneous venous thromboembolism with occult malignancy is well established. Less clear is the incidence of subsequent cancer in patients with superficial thrombophlebitis. We wanted to determine the incidence of cancer after an episode of spontaneous superficial thrombophlebitis in a large general practice population. METHODS The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of newly diagnosed malignancies in patients within 2 years after the diagnosis of a spontaneous episode of superficial thrombophlebitis and to compare this incidence with nonexposed matched control patients and the Dutch population. The patients and their controls were identified by a search in the electronic patient records of 5 primary health care centers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A standardized morbidity ratio was calculated using data of the Dutch cancer registry. RESULTS A total number of 277 patients with superficial thrombophlebitis were identified, of which 250 patients had no cancer at study entry. In 5 of these 250 patients (2%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1%–5%), a new malignancy was diagnosed within 2 years after their superficial thrombophlebitis compared with 2% (95% CI, 1%–4%) in the control group. The standardized morbidity ratio was 1.1 (95% CI, 0.5–2.7). A recurrent episode of superficial thrombophlebitis was observed in 18 of the 250 patients, and in 1 patient cancer was diagnosed within 24 months after the first episode of superficial thrombophlebitis. CONCLUSION We conclude that a single episode of unprovoked superficial thrombophlebitis diagnosed by a family physician is not associated with an increased risk of subsequent cancer.
The effects of antimicrobial therapy on bacterial vaginosis in non-pregnant women.

BACKGROUND Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a very common cause of vaginitis that has been associated with a high incidence of obstetric and gynaecologic complications and increased risk of HIV-1 transmission. This has led to renewed research interest in its treatment. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of antimicrobial agents on BV in non-pregnant women. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and African Healthline (December 2007); and proceedings of relevant international conferences (from 1981 to date). SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials comparing any two or more antimicrobial agents, or antimicrobial agents with placebo or no treatment, in women with clinical or Gram-stain criteria of BV. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data from the original publications while the third author cross checked the data. MAIN RESULTS Twenty-four trials involving 4422 participants were reviewed. Most examined symptomatic women only. Only seven trials analysed results by intention to treat; we re-analysed the remainder.Compared with placebo, clindamycin showed a lower rate of treatment failure (relative risk (RR) 0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16 to 0.37). Clindamycin and metronidazole showed identical rates of treatment failure, irrespective of regimen type, at two and four-week follow up (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.46; RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.70 to 1.18, respectively). Clindamycin tended to cause a lower rate of adverse events (RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.02); metallic taste, and nausea and vomiting were more common in the metronidazole group (RR 0.08, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.59; RR 0.23, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.51, respectively). Given intravaginally as gelatin tablets, lactobacillus was more effective than oral metronidazole (RR 0.20, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.08). Similarly, oral lactobacillus combined with metronidazole was more effective than metronidazole alone (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.77). Clindamycin showed a lower rate of clinical failure than triple sulfonamide cream (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.72). Hydrogen peroxide douche showed a higher rate of clinical failure (RR 1.75, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.00) and adverse events (RR 2.33, 95% CI 1.21 to 4.52) than a single 2 g dose of metronidazole. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Clindamycin preparations, oral metronidazole, and oral and intravaginal tablets of lactobacillus were effective for bacterial vaginosis. Hydrogen peroxide douche and triple sulphonamide cream were ineffective. Metronidazole caused metallic taste, nausea and vomiting. We need better-designed trials with larger sample sizes to test the effectiveness of promising drugs.
Airway hyperresponsiveness in allergically inflamed mice: the role of airway closure.

RATIONALE Allergically inflamed mice exhibit airway hyperresponsiveness to inhaled methacholine, which computer simulations of lung impedance suggest is due to enhanced lung derecruitment and which we sought to verify in the present study. METHODS BALB/c mice were sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin to induce allergic inflammation; the control mice were sensitized but received no challenge. The mice were then challenged with inhaled methacholine and respiratory system impedance tracked for the following 10 minutes. Respiratory elastance (H) was estimated from each impedance measurement. One group of mice was ventilated with 100% O(2) during this procedure and another group was ventilated with air. After the procedure, the mice were killed and ventilated with pure N(2), after which the trachea was tied off and the lungs were imaged with micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). RESULTS H was significantly higher in allergic mice than in control animals after methacholine challenge. The ratio of H at the end of the measurement period between allergic and nonallergic mice ventilated with O(2) was 1.36, indicating substantial derecruitment in the allergic animals. The ratio between lung volumes determined by micro-CT in the control and the allergic mice was also 1.36, indicative of a corresponding volume loss due to absorption atelectasis. Micro-CT images and histograms of Hounsfield units from the lungs also showed increased volume loss in the allergic mice compared with control animals after methacholine challenge. CONCLUSIONS These results support the conclusion that airway closure is a major component of hyperresponsiveness in allergically inflamed mice.