Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preventing patient motion during tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging.

UNLABELLED We evaluated whether use of a device that positions and supports the upper extremities and back during tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging reduces the incidence and severity of patient motion and patient motion artifact. METHODS We enrolled 190 patients referred for stress/redistribution myocardial perfusion imaging. All patients were imaged once with the patient support device (PSD) and once without it. Patients were randomly assigned to use the PSD either during poststress or redistribution imaging. The presence and severity of patient motion was determined by visual inspection and quantitative motion detection. The presence of reconstruction artifact due to motion was detected visually and confirmed by motion correction. RESULTS Use of the PSD reduced the incidence of motion from 38% +/- 3.7% to 26% +/- 3.3% (p < 0.05) and reduced the amount of motion by 5.3 +/- 2.2 mm (p < 0.05). Patients who did move, moved less when using the PSD by both visual (p < 0.02) and quantitative criteria (p < 0.05). Use of the PSD reduced the incidence of reconstruction artifacts to one third of control (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The use of this positioning and support device during tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging reduces the incidence and severity of patient motion and motion artifact.
Early-stage venture capital funds, scale economies and public support

This paper looks at the contemporary financing situation facing New Technology Based Firms in the UK. The specific role of venture capital as a source of third party equity to these frequently capital rationed start-ups is explored. Evidence is presented which indicates that, despite a significant increase in finance to venture funds, the share allocated to seed capital and to investment in the earliest stages of a new enterprise remain stubbornly small. A 'Catch 22' situation conundrum exists whereby it is the smallest specialist funds which are prepared to invest small tranches of equity at the earliest and most speculative stages of the investment cycle. Yet, using a spreadsheet model and industry sourced input and output parameters, it can also be demonstrated that small venture funds bear a major cost penalty which imperils their viability. The model is used to illustrate scale effects on an early-stage VC fund and the consequences of guarantee and leverage based, support mechanisms on the returns to.
Underwriter Reputation in Brazilian IPOs

ABSTRACT This study updates previous analyses of banks' activities in equity offerings in the Brazilian market. Using data for the 2004–2007 period, the study tests the hypotheses that banks with the highest reputations coordinate offerings with lower initial returns, lower levels of risk and charge more for their services. Three measures of reputation were constructed in line with measures used for the US market. None of the measures showed a statistically significant relationship with returns, risk, or remuneration. The difference between the mid-point of the preliminary price range and the offering price constituted the most significant element in the forecasting of returns.
24-Hydroxycholesterol Sulfation by Human Cytosolic Sulfotransferases: Formation of Monosulfates and Disulfates, Molecular Modeling, Sulfatase Sensitivity, and Inhibition of Liver X Receptor Activation The online version of this article (available at http://dmd.aspetjournals.org) contains supplementa

24-Hydroxycholesterol (24-OHChol) is a major cholesterol metabolite and the form in which cholesterol is secreted from the brain. 24-OHChol is transported by apolipoprotein E to the liver and converted into bile acids or excreted. In both brain and liver, 24-OHChol is a liver X receptor (LXR) agonist and has an important role in cholesterol homeostasis. 24-OHChol sulfation was examined to understand its role in 24-OHChol metabolism and its effect on LXR activation. 24-OHChol was conjugated by three isoforms of human cytosolic sulfotransferase (SULT). SULT2A1 and SULT1E1 sulfated both the 3- and 24-hydroxyls to form the 24-OHChol-3, 24-disulfate. SULT2B1b formed only 24-OHChol-3-sulfate. The 3-sulfate as a monosulfate or as the disulfate was hydrolyzed by human placental steroid sulfatase, whereas the 24-sulfate was resistant. At physiological 24-OHChol concentrations, SULT2A1 formed the 3-monosulfate and the 3, 24-disulfate as a result of a high affinity for sulfation of the 3-OH in 24-OHChol-24-sulfate. Molecular docking simulations indicate that 24-OHChol-24-sulfate binds in an active configuration in the SULT2A1 substrate binding site with high affinity only when the SULT2A1 homodimer structure was used. 24-OHChol is an LXR activator. In contrast, the 24-OHChol monosulfates were not LXR agonists in a fluorescence resonance energy transfer coactivator recruitment assay. However, both the 24-OHChol-3-sulfate and 24-sulfate were antagonists of LXR activation by N-(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-N-[4-[2,2,2-trif-luoro-1-hydroxy-1-(trifluoromethyl)ethyl]phenyl]-benzenesulfonamide (T0901317) with an IC50 of 0.15 and 0.31 μM, respectively. Inhibition of LXR activation by the 24-OHChol monosulfates at low nanomolar concentrations indicates that sulfation has a role in LXR regulation by oxysterols.
Deep models for brain EM image segmentation: novel insights and improved performance

MOTIVATION Accurate segmentation of brain electron microscopy (EM) images is a critical step in dense circuit reconstruction. Although deep neural networks (DNNs) have been widely used in a number of applications in computer vision, most of these models that proved to be effective on image classification tasks cannot be applied directly to EM image segmentation, due to the different objectives of these tasks. As a result, it is desirable to develop an optimized architecture that uses the full power of DNNs and tailored specifically for EM image segmentation. RESULTS In this work, we proposed a novel design of DNNs for this task. We trained a pixel classifier that operates on raw pixel intensities with no preprocessing to generate probability values for each pixel being a membrane or not. Although the use of neural networks in image segmentation is not completely new, we developed novel insights and model architectures that allow us to achieve superior performance on EM image segmentation tasks. Our submission based on these insights to the 2D EM Image Segmentation Challenge achieved the best performance consistently across all the three evaluation metrics. This challenge is still ongoing and the results in this paper are as of June 5, 2015. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION https://github.com/ahmed-fakhry/dive CONTACT : sji@eecs.wsu. edu.
Impacts of Strike Replacement Bans in Canada

In the labor relations area no issue generates as much controversy and division between labor and management as does the legislative ban on replacement workers. In the United States, the issue of a ban on permanent replacement workers has come before Congress four times since 1988, although the only action taken has been an executive order in 1995, banning the government from doing business with firms that use permanent replacements. In Canada, where labor matters are under provincial jurisdiction, legislative bans on permanent replacement workers exist in most jurisdictions (except New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), either directly or indirectly by mandating that striking workers have the right to their job once the strike is over -- they cannot be permanently replaced by replacement workers who may have been temporarily hired during the strike. The more stringent ban on the use of temporary replacement workers also has been in place in Quebec since 1978, in British Columbia since 1993, and in Ontario between 1993 and 1995. This paper estimates the impacts of these bans in Canada.
Flight hours and flight crew performance in commercial aviation.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between a pilot's flight hours and their performance. BACKGROUND There is current debate in the aviation industry on the minimum hours required for first officers to gain before they can fly for an airline. Despite years of pilot training and licensing, there are very little data available to determine whether or not pilot performance varies as a function of total hours within an airline environment. METHOD Flight crew performance was measured during 287 sectors of normal operations against a set of technical and nontechnical measurements. Flightcrew were grouped into a categorical variable which defined low and high experience groups according to industry accepted thresholds. RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences between experience groups for First Officers or Captains against the set of technical measures; however, there were minor differences with regard to nontechnical measures as a function of crew composition. There was also a difference in automation use, with First Officers with less than 1500 h keeping the autopilot engaged until a significantly lower altitude. DISCUSSION Despite on-going debate that low-hour First Officers are not as capable as their more experienced colleagues, we found no evidence of this in our study.
Ciklicki prilagodeni proracunski saldo: primjer Hrvatske

Cyclically adjusted government budget balance has often been used in the evaluation of fiscal stance. It indicates how much room fiscal authorities have to act anticyclically. The main idea is to separate temporary (cyclical) effects on the budget from those caused by discretionary measures of fiscal authorities. In this paper, after reviewing the concept, its applications and various methodological approaches, the size of cyclically adjusted budget balance is estimated in the case of Croatia for the period 1995:1q-2008:3q. Thereby, the ECB methodology is implemented and it is assumed that cyclically sensitive budget elements include income tax, profit tax, VAT, excise duties, social security contributions and unemployment benefits. The elasticities of cyclically sensitive budget components, with respect to their macroeconomic bases, are calculated with an error-correction model. The results of the exercise indicate that both periods of pro- and anticyclical fiscal policies have been present in the analyzed period with the restrictive and procyclical policy prevailing in the recent years.
Opportunity Counts: Teams and the Effectiveness of Production Incentives

Using unique panel data on production lines in U.S. minimills, we analyze the adoption of problem‐solving teams and group incentive pay and their effects on productivity. Almost every line ultimately adopts group incentives. However, problem‐solving teams are found almost exclusively in lines with more complex production processes. Consistent with these patterns, fixed‐effects models reveal increased productivity under group incentives in all lines, while teams raise productivity in lines with more complex production processes. This evidence indicates that teams give workers a valuable opportunity to solve problems in more complex production processes, while standard operating procedures appear to suffice elsewhere.
Trade Liberalization and the Internal Geography of Countries

This book analyses how foreign direct investors choose their locations, whilst exploring the forces which shape international economic geography. Although these two issues are, to some extent, inter-related, researchers have only recently acknowledged the similarity of economic geography and international business approaches to the empirical assessment of likely causes of the degree of spatial concentration observed in many modern industries.
111In-Octreotide Is Superior to 123I-Metaiodobenzylguanidine for Scintigraphic Detection of Head and Neck Paragangliomas

In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic yield of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS), I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy, and morphologic imaging (CT or MRI) in patients with head and neck paragangliomas. Methods: In a university hospital setting, patients considered to have head and neck paraganglioma were referred to the outpatient endocrinology department and underwent CT or MRI, SRS, and MIBG imaging. For validation, we used a composite reference standard consisting of clinical and histologic data and CT or MRI, with which SRS and MIBG imaging were compared. Urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine measurements were also obtained. Results: Twenty-nine consecutively referred patients (17 women and 12 men) were included and were found to have paraganglioma. Both morphologic and SRS were positive in 27 patients (sensitivity, 93%, and 95% confidence interval [CI], 77%–98%, compared with the composite reference standard), whereas MIBG was positive in only 13 patients (44%; 95% CI, 23%–61%) (P < 0.001, compared with SRS). On a lesion-based analysis, morphologic imaging detected 31 lesions (sensitivity, 82%; 95% CI, 65%–92%), SRS detected 34 (89%; 95% CI, 75%–97%), and MIBG detected 15 (42%; 95% CI, 26%–59%). SRS was superior to MIBG (P = 0.001). With SRS, a previously unknown carcinoid tumor was detected in 1 patient, and a carcinoid was suspected in another patient. MIBG detected an additional adrenal pheochromocytoma in 1 patient. Urinary metanephrine or normetanephrine excretion was elevated in 6 patients. The number of lesions on SRS and MIBG per patient correlated with the levels of abnormal metanephrine or normetanephrine excretion (P = 0.005 and P = 0.02, respectively). Conclusion: SRS was superior to MIBG in patients with highly suspected head and neck paraganglioma.
Predicting Physical Activity Promotion in Health Care Settings

Purpose. To test the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting the stage of change for physical activity promotion by mental health professionals. Design. Six-month prospective questionnaire study. Setting. One mental health trust in the East Midlands, United Kingdom. Subjects. Three hundred ninety-four mental health professionals (men, n = 131; women, n = 263) of an initial sample of 477 participated in the study (83% response rate). Measures. Attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, perceived behavioral control, and stage of change were measured at the first wave of data collection. Stage of change was also assessed 6 months later. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results. Intention and stage of change were successfully predicted from TPB variables. Overall, 27% of the variance in self-reported stage of promoting physical activity was explained by the model. Sixty-one percent of the variance in intention to promote physical activity was explained. When included, past behavior was the strongest predictor of both intention and stage of change and attenuated all other path coefficients. Past behavior improved the predicted variance in intention by 11% and stage by 6%. Conclusions. The TPB variables of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention predict stage of change of physical activity promotion in a health care setting. However, promoting physical activity in the past had a sizable effect on predicting subsequent promotion. Due to unequal distribution across stages, the stage model's application to understanding the behavior of health professionals may be limited.
Random Walk in the MIST

The term MIST has been coined to describe the next tier of large emerging economies, namely Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey. This article reexamined whether the properties of mean reversion for stock prices held for the MIST emerging stock markets using the sample from April 2004 to April 2012. The authors utilized a panel unit test with Fourier transformation capable of taking multiple structural breaks into account to discover that MIST stock markets indeed follow a random walk process. This is consistent with the efficient market hypothesis, suggesting that historical information is not useful in predicting future prices in MIST stock markets.
Tyrosine Kinetics and Requirements during Total Parenteral Nutrition in the Neonatal Piglet: The Effect of Glycyl-L-Tyrosine Supplementation1

Tyrosine may be a conditionally indispensable amino acid in the neonate; however, the provision of aromatic amino acids to neonates receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is complicated by the poor solubility of crystalline tyrosine. In the present study, we investigated tyrosine kinetics and requirements during TPN, when tyrosine was supplied as the soluble dipeptide, glycyl-L-tyrosine in a neonatal piglet model. Fifteen 3-d-old male Yorkshire piglets were fitted with extermal jugular and femoral catheters and randomized to one of five tyrosine intakes: 0.11, 0.31, 0.41, 0.51 and 0.71 g·kg-1·d-1. Total parenteral amino acid and energy intakes were 15.0 g·kg-1·d-1 and 1.1 MJ·kg-1·d-1, respectively. Piglets were maintained on TPN for 6 d, with nitrogen balance measured over the final 3 d of the study. On the final study day, tyrosine kinetics were measured during a 4-h primed-constant infusion of L-[114C]tyrosine. Nitrogen retention was 67% at the lowest tyrosine intake and increased significantly (p< 0.05) at intakes of 0.31 g·kg-1·d-1 and above(84, 86, 87, and 88% for intakes of 0.31, 0.41, 0.51, and 0.71 g·kg-1·d-1, respectively). Plasma tyrosine concentrations and tyrosine oxidation (expressed as either a percentage of the dose oxidized or when corrected for flux) were low and similar at the two lowest intakes, but increased significantly at the higher intakes. Two-phase regression analysis of the data (plasma tyrosine, tyrosine oxidation) yielded estimates of a mean tyrosine requirement of 0.31 and 0.35, respectively, with estimated safe intakes (upper 95% confidence limit) of 0.44 and 0.42 g·kg-1·d-1. The present work also indicates that oxidation techniques may be suitable for the estimation of amino acid requirements during TPN in the neonate.
Effects of light and nitrogen on morphological plasticity of the moss Calliergonella cuspidata

In a short-term experiment we studied the effects of increased light and nitrogen (N) availability on the moss Calliergonella cuspidata by cutting vascular plants and adding nitrogen in a calcareous fen in the mountainous region of central Switzerland. Shoots of Calliergonella growing in plots with reduced vascular plant competition showed smaller increments in length of the main axis and produced shorter offshoots, but showed higher branching densities at the main axis, higher number of offshoots and higher dry mass per unit length. Although the growth forms of pleurocarpous bryophytes are quite different from stolon- and ramet-producing clonal vascular plants, the overall morphological responses to changing light levels are very similar and, at least in part, comparable to the ‘spacer and branching’ strategy exhibited by some stolon-bearing vascular plants. The observed morphological plasticity of Calliergonella would in principle allow for foraging of heterogeneously distributed resources. Nitrogen supply, on the other hand, had no effects on either dry mass or shoot morphology of Calliergonella. Moreover, interactions between the effects of removal of vascular plants and increased nutrient supply on biomass and shoot morphology of Calliergonella did not occur. This could be explained by the short duration of the experiment. However, since above-ground biomass of vascular plants was increased by the nutrient supply, it cannot be excluded that in the long run, increased N inputs will have serious secondary consequences on Calliergonella, e.g. due to heavy shading by vascular plants.
The Choice of Input-Out Table Embedded in Regional Econometric Input-Out Models

In this paper we investigate the role of input-output data source in the regional econometric input-output models. While there has been a great deal of experimentation focused on the accuracy of alternative methods for estimating regional input-output coefficients, little attention has been directed to the role of accuracy when the input-output system is nested within a broader accounting framework. The issues of accuracy were considered in two contexts, forecasting and impact analysis focusing on a model developed for the Chicago Region. We experimented with three input-output data sources: observed regional data, national input-output, and randomly generated input-output coefficients. The effects of different sources of input-output data on regional econometric input-output model revealed that there are significant differences in results obtained in impact analyses. However, the adjustment processes inherent in the econometric input-output system seem to mute the initial differences in input- output data when the model is used for forecasting. Since applications of these types of models involve both impact and forecasting exercises, there would still seem to be a strong motivation for basing the system on the most accurate set of input-output accounts.
The effects of physical contact type on the internal and external demands during a rugby league match simulation protocol

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate how the type of contact influences physiological, perceptual and locomotive load during a simulated rugby league match. Eleven male university rugby league players performed two trials of the rugby league movement simulation protocol for interchange forwards with a traditional soft tackle bag and a weighted tackle sled to replicate contact demands. The interchange forward-specific simulation was chosen given the contact frequency is higher for this group of players compared to whole match players. Locomotive rate, sprint speed, tackle intensity, heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion were analysed during the first and second bouts that replicated two ~23 min on-field passages. Countermovement jump (CMJ) was measured before and immediately after each trial. More time was spent in heart rate zone between 91 and 100% HRpeak during the first (effect size ± 90% confidence interval: 0.44 ± 0.49) and second bouts (0.44 ± 0.43), and larger (0.6 ± 0.69) decrements in CMJ performance were observed during the sled trial (5.9, s = 4.9%) compared to the bag trial (2.6, s = 5.4%). Changing the type of contact during the match simulation subtly altered both the internal and external loads on participants. Using a standard tackle bag results in faster sprint speed to contact, but lower overall high-intensity running. Conversely, a heavier tackle object increases the internal load and results in greater lower limb neuromuscular fatigue as reflected by the decrease in CMJ performance.
Review of Organic Farming Policy in Australia: Time to Wipe the Slate Clean?

Organic farming has risen in popularity with both farmers and consumers, with Australia having the largest area of certified organic land in the world. Australian governments have traditionally ignored the organic farming sector, while making policies that have hampered its further development. Although policies have become more favorable over time, recently, there has been a slight reversal in approach. Such a reversal in policy makes Australia unique when compared to the pro-organic policy developments in nearly all other developed countries. This article reviews Australian government organic farm policy and outlines key areas where policy changes are necessary in property rights, public extension, research, market based instruments and institutions.