Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The amino side of the C‐terminus determines fast inactivation of the T‐type calcium channel α1G

1 We analysed the kinetic properties of the fast inactivating T‐type calcium channel α1G in HEK 293 cells transfected with different α1G chimeras, containing the N‐terminus, III‐IV linker or various C‐terminal regions of the slowly inactivating L‐type α1C. 2 A highly negatively charged region of 23 amino acids at the amino side of the intracellular carboxy terminus of α1G was found to be critical for fast inactivation. 3 The N‐terminus of α1G does not seem to be necessary for inactivation of the T‐type calcium channel because replacement of the α1G N‐terminus with the α1C N‐terminus did not influence channel kinetics at all. 4 Replacing the III‐IV linker of α1G with that of α1C decreased the rate of inactivation at ‐20 mV from 15.8 ± 1.8 to 8.5 ± 1.1 ms, and shifted the potential for half‐maximal inactivation from ‐69.6 ± 0.8 to ‐54.0 ± 1.7 mV. However, these parameters were not significantly different at other potentials. 5 We suggest a putative ‘ball‐and‐chain’‐like mechanism for inactivation in which the negative charges function as an acceptor domain for a ball, hypothetically located at a different intracellular part of the channel. In addition, transferring the IQ motif and EF hand of α1C to α1G does not confer Ca2+‐dependent inactivation on α1G, suggesting that other sequences besides the C‐terminus are needed for Ca2+‐dependent inactivation of α1C.
Does Inflation "Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market"?

If nominal wages are downward rigid, moderate levels of inflation may improve labor market efficiency by facilitating real wage cuts. In this paper we attempt to test the hypothesis that downward real wage changes occur more readily in higher-inflation environments. Using individual wage change data from two sources, we find that about 6-10 percent of workers experience nominally rigid wages in a 10- percent inflation environment. This proportion rises to over 15 percent at a 5 percent inflation rate. We use the assumption of symmetry to generate counterfactual distributions of real wage changes in the absence of rigidities. These counterfactual distributions suggest that a 1 percent increase in the inflation rate reduces the fraction of workers with downward-rigid wages by about 0.8 percent, and allows real wages to fall about 0.06 percent faster. A market- level analysis of the effects of nominal rigidities, based on wage growth and unemployment at the state level, is less conclusive. We find only a weak statistical relationship between the rate of inflation and the pace of relative wage adjustments across local labor markets.
The Value of Landscapes in Northern Namibia: A System of Intertwined Material and Nonmaterial Services

It is increasingly recognized that ecosystems provide varied services that should be considered in land management decisions. One of the challenges in the valuation of landscapes is that they often provide multiple services that combine into one social–ecological system. In this article we show how overlaps of those services can be measured, visualized, and explained. The results from a case study conducted in a rural community in northern Namibia show that in some landscapes, services are intertwined. We draw on a practice approach and ethnographic data to explain this finding and argue that services are related within places and fields of action. More specifically, we show that material services such as the provision of food and income form a unified whole with nonmaterial or “cultural” services such as beauty and social interaction and are often experienced simultaneously. Research for this article is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is part of The Future Okavango (TFO) project on anthropogenic influences and cultural dimensions of environmental uses in the Okavango catchment (www.future-okavango.org). This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
A re-examination of the effects of the economy, government spending, and incumbent ideology on national policy mood

Previous explanations of the causes of shifts in policy mood have been primarily economic. When the economy expands aggregate policy preferences move left, but when the economy contracts aggregate policy preferences move right. In this paper, we seek to improve our understanding of the causes of national policy mood shift in two ways. First, we focus on government spending and its impact on policy mood. Previously scholars used it as a control variable in their models and pretty much assumed that intrusive spending will move policy mood to the right, while lack of it will move policy mood to the left. We investigate if different types of the spending have different effects on the policy mood of a nation. Second, we seek a better understanding of the impact of national economic conditions on policy mood by looking at more countries, using various data and more sophisticated methodology. A panel data analysis of two different measures of the policy mood, one based on party manifestos (24 countries and 33 years) and the other based on voter surveys (17 countries and 29 years), reveals that: (i) there is ample evidence that economic conditions have a direct impact on the policy mood of citizens; (ii) the national policy mood is generally negatively related to the current government ideology; (iii) an expanding economy pushes policy mood to the left when the incumbent’s ideology is moderate to rightist; (iv) failure to control inflation causes aggregate policy preferences to shift to the right only under a moderate to left-leaning government; (v) failure to control unemployment causes national policy preferences to shift to the right only under a moderate to right-leaning government; (vi) increasing social spending pushes policy mood further to the left only under a moderate to left-leaning government; and (vii) increasing military spending pushes policy mood to the left only under a moderate to left-leaning government.
The Chairman's Statement and Corporate Financial Performance

Agency theory and signalling theory both suggest that firms are motivated to disclose excellence of financial performance in an unambiguous manner. We might expect, therefore, that good financial performance is associated with a clear and readable Chairman's narrative and poor performance with an obscure or misleading message. Extant work linking corporate performance with clarity of executive narrative fails to distinguish sample cases by industry or financial status. This paper seeks to overcome the consequences of such deficiencies explicitly, by conducting a systematic analysis of the relationship between narrative complexity and alternative measures of financial performance, for a matched sample of failed/non‐failed companies across common industries. This study employs separate measures of the readability and the understandability of the chairman's narrative and finds them to be significantly related to overall financial performance and individual measures of performance, most notably liquidity. Poor readability is strongly associated with poor financial performance and ease of readability with relative financial success. The implication is that firms actively signal good news while obscuring, perhaps deliberately, messages which convey bad news.
Exogenous T3 toxicosis following consumption of a contaminated weight loss supplement

A 42-year-old male presented with a one-week history of palpitations and sweating episodes. The only significant history was of longstanding idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Initial ECG demonstrated a sinus tachycardia. Thyroid function testing, undertaken as part of the diagnostic workup, revealed an un-measureable thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (T4). Upon questioning the patient reported classical thyrotoxic symptoms over the preceding weeks. Given the persistence of symptoms free tri-iodothyronine (T3) was measured and found to be markedly elevated at 48.9 pmol/L (normal range: 3.1–6.8 pmol/L). No goitre or nodular disease was palpable in the neck. Historically there had never been any amiodarone usage. Radionucleotide thyroid uptake imaging (123I) demonstrated significantly reduced tracer uptake in the thyroid. Upon further questioning the patient reported purchasing a weight loss product online from India which supposedly contained sibutramine. He provided one of the tablets and laboratory analysis confirmed the presence of T3 in the tablet. Full symptomatic resolution and normalised thyroid function ensued upon discontinuation of the supplement. Learning points: Free tri-iodothyronine (T3) measurement may be useful in the presence of symptoms suggestive of thyrotoxicosis with discordant thyroid function tests. Thyroid uptake scanning can be a useful aid to differentiating exogenous hormone exposure from endogenous hyperthyroidism. Ingestion of thyroid hormone may be inadvertent in cases of exogenous thyrotoxicosis. Medicines and supplements sourced online for weight loss may contain thyroxine (T4) or T3 and should be considered as a cause of unexplained exogenous hyperthyroidism.
Beyond Test Scores: The Impact of Black Teacher Role Models on Rigorous Math Taking

Rigorous math has a positive impact on ultimate educational attainment and earnings, but black high school students enroll in advanced math classes at low rates. Curriculum choice is determined by prior academic achievement and expectations for future schooling, both of which can be influenced by role models. This article finds that increasing the percentage of math teachers who are black has a nontrivial, positive impact on the likelihood that a black geometry student will enroll in a subsequent rigorous math course. This race-based role model effect occurs only for opposite-sex student/teacher matches.
Antecedents and benefits of obtaining preferred customer status : Experiences from the Dutch construction industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore both the antecedents and the impact of a buying company having preferred customer status. Specific attention is paid to an, until now, unexplored antecedent: the buyer’s maturity as perceived by the supplier. In terms of impact, the focus is on the link between obtaining preferred customer status from a specific supplier and the buyer’s satisfaction with its collaboration with that supplier. Design/methodology/approach – Two case studies in the Dutch construction industry were conducted and, in each case, representatives of three companies were interviewed: one supplier plus two of its customers, one of them having a preferred status. As such, a total of four dyadic matched-pair inter-organizational relationships have been investigated. Findings – First, it is beneficial for buying companies to obtain preferred customer status at their suppliers, since this will have a positive impact on the buying company’s satisfaction with the collaboration. Second, if buying companies aim to obtain preferred customer status at their suppliers it is important that they are perceived as mature in managing supplier relationships. Practical implications – Although buying companies and suppliers often both want to increase their mutual business, there can be many factors that impede this. The framework presented in this research can help companies overcoming these impediments. Originality/value – This is the first study exploring the impact of being a preferred customer on the buyer-supplier relationship in the construction industry.
Respiratory Morbidity Benefit of Awaiting Onset of Labor After Elective Cesarean Section

Respiratory morbidity in term neonates is an important complication of elective cesarean delivery. The effect of preceding labor on the incidence and severity of respiratory morbidity in two comparable groups of neonates, 107 with and 80 without labor and with no predisposing factors to respiratory morbidity, was evaluated. Transient tachypnea of the newborn accounted for the majority of cases in term neonates. Respiratory morbidity occurred less frequently in neonates delivered after the onset of labor compared with those delivered before labor (11.2 versus 30%, P<.002). The risk of respiratory morbidity decreased 1.5 times for each week of advancing gestational age. The presence of labor significantly reduced the risk of respiratory morbidity, independently of gestational age (P<.03), and disease was less severe in neonates born during labor. Awaiting the onset of labor appears to be beneficial in preventing respiratory morbidity in term neonates delivered by elective cesarean section
Haemodynamic stability in standard bicarbonate haemodialysis and long-hour slow-flow bicarbonate haemodialysis.

BACKGROUND The interplay of correct solute mass balances, such as that of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) (respectively, Na+MB and K+MB) with adequate ultrafiltration volumes (V(UF)), is crucial in order to achieve haemodynamic stability during haemodialysis (HD). The GENIUS single-pass batch dialysis system (Fresenius Medical Care, Germany) consists of a closed dialysate tank of 90 L; it offers the unique opportunity of effecting mass balances of any solute in a very precise way. METHODS The present study has a crossover design: 11 stable anuric HD patients underwent two bicarbonate HD sessions, one of 4 h and the other of 8 h in a random sequence, always at the same interdialytic interval, at least 1 week apart. The GENIUS system and high-flux FX80 dialysers (Fresenius Medical Care, Germany) were used. The volume of blood and dialysate processed, V(UF) and dialysate Na+ and K+ concentrations were prescribed to be the same. Plasma water Na+ and K+ trends during dialysis as well as Na+MBs and K+MBs were determined. At the same time, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate trends during dialysis were analysed. Plasma volume (PV) changes were computed from plasma total protein concentrations and their trends analysed. RESULTS Plasma water Na+ and K+ levels were not significantly different when comparing the start and the end of the sessions of the two treatments. Both the increase of plasma water Na+ levels and the decrease of plasma water K+ levels in the first 4 h were significantly slower during the 8-h sessions when compared with the 4-h ones (P < 0.048 and P < 0.006, respectively). Dialysis sessions were uneventful. SBP decreased significantly during the 4-h sessions, whereas it remained stable during the 8-h ones (P < 0.0001 and P = NS, respectively). Statistically significantly lower intradialysis decreases of SBP (-4.5 ± 16.2 vs -20.0 ± 15.0 mmHg, P < 0.02) and MAP (-1.4 ± 11.7 vs -8.6 ± 11.0 mmHg, P < 0.04) were achieved in the 8-h sessions with respect to the 4-h sessions, in spite of no significant difference for mean V(UF) (2.9 ± 0.9 vs 2.9 ± 0.8 L; P = NS) and mean Na+MBs (-298.1 ± 142.2 vs -286.2 ± 150.7 mmol; P = NS). The decrease of PV levels in the first 4 h was significantly slower during the 8-h sessions when compared with the 4-h ones (P < 0.0001). PV decrease was significantly higher at the end of the 4-h HD sessions than at the end of the 8-h HD sessions (P < 0.043). CONCLUSIONS The present highly controlled experiments using a crossover design and precise Na+MB and K+MB controls showed that better haemodynamic stability was achieved in the 8-h sessions with respect to the 4-h sessions, in spite of no difference for mean V(UF) and Na+MBs. Thus, other pathophysiological mechanisms, namely, a better PV preservation, must be advocated in order to explain the better haemodynamic stability peculiar to long-hour slow-flow nocturnal HD treatments.
The Tunnel at the End of the Light: Privatization, Business Networks, and Economic Transformation in Russia

The Tunnel at the End of the Light: Privatization, Business Networks, and Economic Transformation in Russia Edited by Stephen S. Cohen, Andrew Schwartz, and John Zysman Description: The Tunnel at the End of the Light shows how radical privatization produced economic misery and political chaos in Russia. It argues that the crucial problem lies in the development of criminal and survivalist business networks that prey on Russia's wealth. It was the reversed sequence of Russian reform, which opened markets before establishing institutions to regulate and support those markets, that allowed predatory networks to take hold. The volume grew out of an essay written by Stephen S. Cohen and Andrew Schwartz in 1991, which predicted Russia's current troubles: The collapse of the former Soviet Empire created an opportunity for the victims of one failed utopian ideology to find another. In its wake, especially in Russia, legions of Western and neo- liberal advisers sped to the cause of translating “democracy” into elections and a market economy into privatization. But the task was rather the creation of an effective public administration. The task was institution building. The Cohen and Schwartz essay, still relevant to an analysis of Russia's problems and their potential solutions, has been thoroughly updated. The book also contains chapters by Gregory Grossman on the historical sources of the underground economy; Peter Huber and Andreas Worgotter on the development of survivalist networks, which have thwarted entrepreneurial development; Manuel Castells on the flawed integration of post-Communist Russia into the European and global economies; and M. Steven Fish on the political causes of and remedies for Russia's Racket Economy. A straightforward and sensible alternative to the views of the IMF and the the Harvard Institute for International Development, provides policy-makers, business leaders and scholars with a firm grasp of the historical background, current dynamics, and likely future outcome of Russia's political and economic crisis.
Analysis of carbon mitigation policies: feed-in tariffs, energy and carbon price interactions and competitive distortions on carbon markets

I study several policy instruments for carbon mitigation with a focus on subsidies for renewable energies, emission taxes and emission allowances. In Chapter 1, I analyze the optimal design and the welfare implications of two policies consisting of an emission tax for conventional fossil-fuel utilities combined with a subsidy for the producers of renewable energy equipment and an emission tax combined with a feed-in tariff for renewable electricity. In Chapter 2 I study the empirical interrelationships between European emission allowance prices and prices for electricity, hard coal and natural gas with an application to portfolio allocation. In Chapters 3 and 4, I discuss several policy-related issues of emissions trading, in particular the potential for market manipulations by firms holding a dominant position in the emission market, the output market or both, and competitive distortions and leakage due to unequal emission regulations across industries, sectors, regions, or countries.
ABAB OR ABBA ? THE ARITHMETICS OF PENALTY SHOOTOUTS IN SOCCER

FIFA and UEFA are experimenting with a new system for penalty shootouts. The new system is designed to attenuate the well known bias in favor of the first shooter in a shootout sequence (Apesteguia and Palacios-Huerta (2010)). The system currently in place, called ABAB, has shooters from each team alternate in shooting a penalty. If the two teams are A and B, then the sequence goes ABABABA. The new system is called ABBA; it has teams line up shooters according to the sequence ABBAABBAABB. For example, last June 4th, Uruguay and Portugal tied in the U20 Soccer World Cup quarterfinals. A penalty shootout was to determine which team would advance to semifinals. Portugal drew the first place in the penalty shootout. There is a well-known “first shooter advantage:” other aspects being equal, the team to shoot first has a probability of between 60% and 70% of winning. Portugal’s Rúben Diaz shot the first penalty and scored. The second shooter was Federico Valverde, from Uruguay. Valverde scored. Surprisingly, the third shooter was also wearing la celeste: José Luis Rodriguez shot and scored the third penalty. In the ABAB system, the third shooter would have been from Portugal. In the ABBA system, the third penalty was shot by
Response requirements and directional fractionation of autonomic responses.

Physiological responses were monitored while 27 male Ss were shown a series of 45 colored slides of homicide victims. Nine of the Ss were required to simply look at each slide (Nonraters), 9 were required to push 1 of 7 buttons, after each trial to indicate how disturbing they found the slide to be (Raters). Evidence for directional fractionation of autonomic responses to the slides was obtained for only the Nonraters. Their responses included cardiac deceleration, an increase in skin conductance, digital vasoconstriction, and cephalic vasodilation. The Raters responded with cardiac acceleration, an increase in skin conductance, and both digital and cephalic vasoconstriction. The Raters also showed a larger increase in tonic skin conductance over trials than did the Nonraters. To determine whether the physiological responses of the Raters were influenced by the requirement to make a motor response, 9 other Ss pressed a button after each slide. The physiological responses of these latter Ss were almost identical with those of the Nonraters. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the requirement to rate the stimuli was associated with appraisal and cognitive elaboration. They also indicate that response requirements can have a profound effect upon autonomic responsivity.
Experience of stress in psychiatric nursing students in Ireland.

AIM The aim of this study was to explore the experience of stress among psychiatric nursing students undertaking their 'internship' or final year of a four-year degree course. METHOD A questionnaire was administered to all 28 students in the intern year in conjunction with the 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire. Semi-structured interviews were subsequently undertaken with four volunteers from a range of clinical locations. FINDINGS Approximately 48% of respondents reported levels of stress above the threshold score as described by Goldberg (1978), indicating levels of distress unlikely to remit without intervention. Interview data suggested that the main sources of stress during the intern year were associated with relationships in the clinical environment; clinical workload; matching competence and responsibility; and simultaneous clinical and academic demands. CONCLUSION The findings should be interpreted with caution and understood within the context of the dynamic nature of nurse education in Ireland. However, the issues raised demand further enquiry to examine the structure of educational programmes, the nature of the work and the organisational culture in which the work is carried out.