Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
All School Finance Equalizations are Not Created Equal

Public school finance equalization programs can be characterized by the change they impose on the tax price of an additional dollar of local school spending. I calculate the tax price of spending for each school district in the United States for 1972, 1982, and 1992. I find that using the actual tax prices (rather than treating school finance equalizations as events) resolves apparently conflicting evidence about the effects of equalizations on per-pupil spending. Depending on whether they impose tax prices greater than or less than one, school finance equalizations either enjoy increased spending under most equalization schemes, but they actually lose spending under the strongest schemes such as those that exist in California and New Mexico. More importantly, regardless of whether an equalization levels down or up, it should be understood as a tax system on districts' spending. I show that school finance equalization schemes have properties that are generally considered undesirable: they raise revenue on a base that is itself a function of the school finance system and they assign tax prices so that people with a high demand for education are penalized relative to otherwise identical people with the same income. I discuss some simple, familiar schemes that do not have these undesirable properties, yet can achieve similar redistribution.
2-(1-Hydroxypentyl)-benzoate Increases Cerebral Blood Flow and Reduces Infarct Volume in Rats Model of Transient Focal Cerebral Ischemia

2-(1-Hydroxypentyl)-benzoate (dl-PHPB), a derivate of 3-n-butylphthalide (dl-NBP), is a novel drug candidate used for treatment of cerebral ischemia. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of dl-PHPB on infarct volume, neurological function, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) in transient focal cerebral ischemia. Therefore, an animal model of 2-h middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by 24-h reperfusion was used. Rats received dl-PHPB (1.3, 3.9, or 12.9 mg/kg) intravenously 10 min after the onset of MCAO. Compared with the vehicle control group (37.4%), infarct volume in dl-PHPB-treated groups was reduced significantly and dose-dependently to 25.4, 17.4, and 13.7%, respectively. The changes in neurological deficient were also observed in neurobehavioral test in a dose-dependent manner, and the neuronal score was improved significantly from the vehicle control of 3.2 to 2.7, 2.1, and 1.8, respectively. At the highest dose, the potency of dl-PHPB was similar to those of dl-NBP. CBF was quantified by using laser-Doppler flowmetry. During the ischemia, the regional CBF values of dl-PHPB groups were significantly higher than that of vehicle group. In addition, our study showed that dl-PHPB converted into dl-NBP very quickly in blood in vitro. Approximately 70% of dl-PHPB converted into dl-NBP in 5 min when dl-PHPB was added into plasma at final concentrations of 6, 30, and 60 μg/ml. This result demonstrated that the neuronal protection effects of dl-PHPB were mainly induced by dl-NBP, an active compound converted from its precursor, dl-PHPB. In conclusion, dl-PHPB can reduce infarct volume and improve neurobehavioral deficits in a rat model of transient MCAO. Those effects may partially be due to an increase in CBF by the active metabolite (dl-NBP) of dl-PHPB. Therefore, our results suggest that dl-PHPB may be useful for treatment of ischemia stroke.
Amyloidosis of the alimentary canal: radiologic–pathologic correlation of CT findings

AbstractBackground: The purpose of the study was to describe the computed tomographic (CT) findings of the alimentary canal and mesentery in amyloid infiltration of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and to correlate the CT findings with histologic extent and distribution and with amyloid subtype. Methods: Abdominal CT scans performed between 1988 and 1997 on patients with pathologically proven amyloidosis of the alimentary canal were reviewed for abnormalities of the alimentary canal and mesentery. Histology was graded for extent of mucosal, submucosal, and muscularis propria involvement and for degree of interstitial and vascular distribution. CT findings were correlated with histologic extent, histologic distribution, and amyloid histochemical type. Results: Twenty-three patients were included. Four (17%) had bowel wall thickening, which was associated with a higher submucosal extent and interstitial distribution than in patients with normal bowel by CT. Four (17%) patients had bowel wall dilatation without thickening, which was not associated with statistically significantly different histology than in patients with normal bowel by CT. There was no statistically significant correlation between CT findings and histochemical subtype. Mesenteric soft tissue infiltration was seen in two patients, and mesenteric adenopathy was seen in one patient. Conclusions: Normal bowel is a common abdominal CT finding in amyloidosis of the alimentary canal. When findings are present, GI wall thickening and/or bowel wall dilatation without wall thickening may be seen. Bowel wall thickening on CT correlates with submucosal extent and interstitial distribution of disease. Soft tissue infiltration and adenopathy are also occasionally seen.
VEGF-B-induced vascular growth leads to metabolic reprogramming and ischemia resistance in the heart

Angiogenic growth factors have recently been linked to tissue metabolism. We have used genetic gain‐ and loss‐of function models to elucidate the effects and mechanisms of action of vascular endothelial growth factor‐B (VEGF‐B) in the heart. A cardiomyocyte‐specific VEGF‐B transgene induced an expanded coronary arterial tree and reprogramming of cardiomyocyte metabolism. This was associated with protection against myocardial infarction and preservation of mitochondrial complex I function upon ischemia‐reperfusion. VEGF‐B increased VEGF signals via VEGF receptor‐2 to activate Erk1/2, which resulted in vascular growth. Akt and mTORC1 pathways were upregulated and AMPK downregulated, readjusting cardiomyocyte metabolic pathways to favor glucose oxidation and macromolecular biosynthesis. However, contrasting with a previous theory, there was no difference in fatty acid uptake by the heart between the VEGF‐B transgenic, gene‐targeted or wildtype rats. Importantly, we also show that VEGF‐B expression is reduced in human heart disease. Our data indicate that VEGF‐B could be used to increase the coronary vasculature and to reprogram myocardial metabolism to improve cardiac function in ischemic heart disease.
The impact of anxiety on subjective and physiological sexual arousal

Current findings on the impact of anxiety on sexual arousal are controversial and do not provide a clear picture of how anxiety is related to sexual arousal. Some studies report that anxiety inhibits sexual arousal and others report that anxiety actually facilitates sexual arousal. However, there is mounting evidence that suggest that these controversies might be due to the existing methodological limitations such as incomplete use of the concept anxiety. Two studies were conducted to examine the impact of anxiety on sexual arousal in healthy men and women. In both studies, participants completed questionnaires to measure anxiety and/or sexual arousal before and after watching anxiety provoking and/or sexually explicit film clips. In both studies, objective physiological measures were taken as the participants were watching the films using, a heart rate monitor. The first study examined the validity of a 10-minute anxiety/fear-provoking film clip in inducing anxiety and arousal in a non-clinical sample of 15 men and 15 women. In this study, anxiety was assessed as a multidimensional construct and as such subjective and objective anxiety were measured. Participants watched a neutral and an anxiety-provoking film in a counterbalanced order. Results of this study showed that a 10-minute anxiety film is long enough to adequately induce anxiety in a sample of non-clinical undergraduate students. A main effect of gender was found, with women exhibiting greater anxiety then men; as well, women demonstrated greater anxiety than physiological arousal during the anxiety film. This study was an important step in validating the fear/anxiety-provoking film clip and its success in inducing anxiety and physiological arousal, permitting future studies using the film clip to examine the effect of anxiety on a variety of human experiences and functioning such as decision making and sexual functioning. The second study examined the impact of various components of anxiety on sexual arousal in healthy women ( n =44) and men ( n =47). In this study, participants watched either a neutral film followed by an erotic film clip or the anxiety provoking film followed by an erotic film clip. The results of this study showed that physiological and cognitive components of state anxiety have an enhancing effect on objective and subjective sexual arousal in both men and women, regardless of individual's sensitivity to anxiety. Furthermore, anxiety seems to favorably impact objective sexual arousal via increases in sympathetic nervous system, while it did not interfere with the subjective sexual arousal. In addition, sexual arousal seems to positively influence anxiety and successfully diminish it, at least for a short period. Implications of our understanding of the impact of anxiety on sexual arousal are discussed in relation to the importance of considering the different dimensions of anxiety.
Estimating the changes in energy flux that characterize the rise in obesity prevalence.

BACKGROUND The daily energy imbalance gap associated with the current population weight gain in the obesity epidemic is relatively small. However, the substantially higher body weights of populations that have accumulated over several years are associated with a substantially higher total energy expenditure (TEE) and total energy intake (TEI), or energy flux (EnFlux = TEE = TEI). OBJECTIVE The objective was to develop an equation relating EnFlux to body weight in adults for estimating the rise in EnFlux associated with the obesity epidemic. DESIGN Multicenter, cross-sectional data for TEE from doubly labeled water studies in 1399 adults aged 5.9 +/- 18.8 y (mean +/- SD) were analyzed in linear regression models with natural log (ln) weight as the dependent variable and ln EnFlux as the independent variable, adjusted for height, age, and sex. These equations were compared with those for children and applied to population trends in weight gain. RESULTS ln EnFlux was positively related to ln weight (beta = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.76; R2 = 0.52), adjusted for height, age, and sex. This slope was significantly steeper than that previously described for children (beta = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.38, 0.51). CONCLUSIONS This relation suggests that substantial increases in TEI have driven the increases in body weight over the past 3 decades. Adults have a higher proportional weight gain than children for the same proportional increase in energy intake, mostly because of a higher fat content of the weight being gained. The obesity epidemic will not be reversed without large reductions in energy intake, increases in physical activity, or both.
Utility of the apolipoprotein E genotype in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's Disease Centers Consortium on Apolipoprotein E and Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND The epsilon4 allele of the gene encoding apolipoprotein E (APOE) is strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease, but its value in the diagnosis remains uncertain. METHODS We reviewed clinical diagnoses and diagnoses obtained at autopsy in 2188 patients referred to 1 of 26 Alzheimer's disease centers for evaluation of dementia. The sensitivity and specificity of the clinical diagnosis or the presence of an APOE epsilon4 allele were calculated, with pathologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease used as the standard. The added value of the APOE genotype was estimated with pretest and post-test probabilities from multivariate analyses to generate receiver-operating-characteristic curves plotting sensitivity against the false positive rate. RESULTS Of the 2188 patients, 1833 were given a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and the diagnosis was confirmed pathologically in 1770 patients at autopsy. Sixty-two percent of patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease, as compared with 65 percent of those with pathologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease, had at least one APOE epsilon4 allele. The sensitivity of the clinical diagnosis was 93 percent, and the specificity was 55 percent, whereas the sensitivity and specificity of the APOE epsilon4 allele were 65 and 68 percent, respectively. The addition of information about the APOE genotype increased the overall specificity to 84 percent in patients who met the clinical criteria for Alzheimer's disease, although the sensitivity decreased. The improvement in specificity remained statistically significant in the multivariate analysis after adjustment for differences in age, clinical diagnosis, sex, and center. CONCLUSIONS APOE genotyping does not provide sufficient sensitivity or specificity to be used alone as a diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease, but when used in combination with clinical criteria, it improves the specificity of the diagnosis.
Search and Breast Cancer

We seek to understand the evolving needs of people who are faced with a life-changing medical diagnosis based on analyses of queries extracted from an anonymized search query log. Focusing on breast cancer, we manually tag a set of Web searchers as showing patterns of search behavior consistent with someone grappling with the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. We build and apply probabilistic classifiers to detect these searchers from multiple sessions and to identify the timing of diagnosis using temporal and statistical features. We explore the changes in information seeking over time before and after an inferred diagnosis of breast cancer by aligning multiple searchers by the estimated time of diagnosis. We employ the classifier to automatically identify 1,700 candidate searchers with an estimated 90% precision, and we predict the day of diagnosis within 15 days with an 88% accuracy. We show that the geographic and demographic attributes of searchers identified with high probability are strongly correlated with ground truth of reported incidence rates. We then analyze the content of queries over time for inferred cancer patients, using a detailed ontology of cancer-related search terms. The analysis reveals the rich temporal structure of the evolving queries of people likely diagnosed with breast cancer. Finally, we focus on subtypes of illness based on inferred stages of cancer and show clinically relevant dynamics of information seeking based on the dominant stage expressed by searchers.
Balanced HKT metrics and strong HKT metrics on hypercomplex manifolds

A manifold (M;I;J;K) is called hypercomplex if I;J;K are complex structures satisfying quaternionic relations. A quaternionic Hermitian hypercomplex manifold is called HKT (hyperkahler with torsion) if the (2,0)-form associated with the corresponding Sp(n)-structure satises @ = 0. A Hermitian metric ! on a complex manifold is called bal- anced if d ! = 0. We show that balanced HKT metrics are precisely the quaternionic Calabi-Yau metrics dened in terms of the quaternionic Monge-Amp ere equation. In particular, a balanced HKT-metric is unique in its cohomology class, and it always exists if the quaternionic Calabi-Yau theorem is true. We investigate the cohomological properties of strong HKT metrics (the quaternionic Hermitian metrics, satisfying, in addition to the HKT condition, the relation dd c ! = 0), and show that the space of strong HKT metrics is nite-dimensional. Using Howe's duality for rep- resentations of Sp(n), we prove a hyperkahler version of Hodge-Riemann bilinear relations. We use it to show that a manifold admitting a balanced HKT-metric never admits a strong HKT-metric, if dimRM > 12.
Fine-grained characterization of process variation in FPGAs

As semiconductor manufacturing continues towards reduced feature sizes, yield loss due to process variation becomes increasingly important. To address this issue on FPGA platforms, several variation aware design (VAD) methodologies have been proposed. In this work we present a practical method of process variation characterization (PVC) to facilitate VAD using only intrinsic FPGA resources. The scheme is based on measuring the difference between ring oscillator (RO) delay at different locations within a die, and can be used to perform process variation characterization for LE delays and interconnect delays including direct connection, double wire and hex wires. The difference in loop delays can also be estimated from equations using parameters extracted from primitives and compared with direct measurements. On a Xilinx Spartan-3e device, it was found that the error between the estimated and measured values was on average less than 10%.
The flow field in the sunspot canopy

Aims. We investigate the flow field in the sunspot canopy using simultaneous Stokes vector spectropolarimetry of three sunspots (θ = 27 ◦ ,5 0 ◦ ,7 5 ◦ ) and their surroundings in visible (630.15 and 630.25 nm) and near infrared (1564.8 and 1565.2 nm) neutral iron lines. Methods. To calibrate the Doppler shifts, we compare an absolute velocity calibration using the telluric O2-line at 630.20 nm and a relative velocity calibration using the Doppler shift of Stokes V profiles in the umbra under the assumption that the umbra is at rest. Both methods yield the same result within the calibration uncertainties (∼150 m s −1 ). We study the radial dependence of Stokes V profiles in the directions of disk center and limb side. Results. Maps of Stokes V profile shifts, polarity, amplitude asymmetry, field strength and magnetic field azimuth provide strong evidence for the presence of a magnetic canopy and for the existence of a radial outflow in the canopy. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the Evershed flow does not cease abruptly at the white-light spot boundary, but that at least a part of the penumbral Evershed flow continues into the magnetic canopy.
Standardisation et étalonnage français du Mini Mental State (MMS) version GRÉCO

Cette etude a eu pour but d'etablir des valeurs normales pour une version francophone du MMS de FOLSTEIN et al. Il s'agit de la version consensuelle elaboree par le GRECO (Groupe de reflexion sur les evaluations cognitives). Les normes ont ete etablies pour la note totale au MMS apres controle de l'impact du sexe, de l'âge et du niveau socio-culturel (NSC) sur les performances. La population de reference comprend 1656 sujets en bonne sante (880 femmes, 776 hommes) âges de 50 a 89 ans, repartis en quatre NSC. Cette population a ete recrutee parmi les consultants des centres de bilan de sante de la CPAM et des caisses de retraite des cadres et des salaries de l'AGIRC-ARRCO, repartis sur l'ensemble du territoire francais. Dans chacun des centres, les sujets ont ete selectionnes sur des criteres medicaux permettant, en particulier, d'exclure toutes les conditions susceptibles d'alterer le fonctionnement cognitif. Etant donnee la distribution non normale de la note totale au MMS, toutes les analyses ont ete effectuees a l'aide de tests statistiques non parametriques. Les resultats ont montre qu'il n'existait pas de difference significative entre les performances des hommes et celles des femmes (quels que soient l'âge et le NSC). Les performances ne se modifient pas non plus avec l'âge entre 50 et 79 ans ; au-dela de cet âge, elles declinent legerement mais significativement, cet effet deletere n'affectant toutefois pas les sujets du NSC le plus eleve. En revanche, dans toutes les classes d'âge, la note totale au MMS est apparue tres significativement liee au NSC, les performances etant d'autant meilleures que le NSC est plus eleve. En consequence, les valeurs normales ont ete calculees independamment de l'âge et du sexe, pour quatre NSC dans l'intervalle d'âge 50-79 ans. Dans la classe d'âge 80-89 ans, les effectifs etaient insuffisants pour etablir directement des normes en fonction de l'âge et du NSC. Cette etude souligne la necessite de prendre en compte le NSC avant toute interpretation de la note totale au MMS.
Antitumor Activity and Murine Pharmacokinetics of Parenteral Acronycine 1

The lipophilic antitumor alkaloid acronycine (ACRO) was solubilized in the cosolvent system used for etoposide. ACRO in this etoposide diluent (VPD) was found to be cytotoxic (Â£50%colony formation in soft agar) in fresh human tumors from patients with renal cell cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, and metastatic tumors of unknown primary. In Pglycoprotein-positive, multidrug-resistant (MDR) cell lines, ACRO in VPD was active in MDR Chinese hamster ovary cells but not against MDR 1.121(1murine leukemia cells, 8226 human myeloma cells, or human CCRF-CEM lymphoblasts. In mice, ACRO in VPD was active in two solid tumor models and an i.p. MOPC-315 plasmacytoma model. ACRO i.p. in 10% VPD (v/v%) produced significant tumor growth delays in (a) nude mice bearing human MCF-7 breast cancer xenografts and (h) C57BL mice bearing colon 38 tumor. In MOPC-315-bearing mice, a single i.p. ACRO dose of 25 mg/kg was as effective as melphalan (15 mg/kg) at prolonging life span. Finally, ACRO pharmacokinetics was evaluated in mice given single 25-mg/kg doses i.p. or p.o. The oral bioavailability of an ACRO solution in VPD was only 50% but both i.p. and p.o. regimens achieved plasma levels >! () ^g/ml. The plasma halflife was just under 2 h. These results show that parenteral ACRO in VPD comprises a cytotoxic antitumor agent with improved bioavailability over p.o. administration. ACRO is active in vitro against several human solid tumors but is cross-resistant in 3 of 4 MDR tumor cell lines. The prior clinical activity of p.o. ACRO in myeloma and the new results in MOPC-315 plasmar)tomas in mice suggest that ACRO in VPD could have activity against human multiple myeloma.
Beliefs About the Causes of Health Complaints: A Study in Primary Care

In public and interpersonal health communication, a need exists to explore the nature of lay beliefs about health complaints to achieve effective communication. Beliefs of patients visiting their family physician/general practitioner (GP) may give insight into this matter. The aim of this study was to investigate the spectrum of causes attributed to different categories of health complaints presented at the GP office. Before visiting their GP, 2,253 individuals completed a questionnaire about their health complaint and the cause they attributed to this complaint. The spectrum of causes attributed to all health complaints was compared between distinct categories of health complaints. Sixty-two percent of the GP patients attributed at least 1 cause to health complaints they presented at the GP office. Thirty-eight percent of GP patients did not attribute a cause to the health complaint they presented at the GP office. Patient beliefs differed across distinct health problems. Lay beliefs seemed to differ from basic notions of illness because patients attributed different causes to different health complaints. These differences in beliefs, when patients choose to share them with their GP, may serve as a starting point for the communication between the patients and the GP to achieve an effective communication. A need seems to emerge to discriminate between lay beliefs regarding the nature of specific illnesses and those regarding basic notions. GPs are therefore advised to attend to, or at least ask for, their patients' views specifically.