Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impaired Lung 123I-MIBG Uptake on SPECT in Pulmonary Emphysema

The aim of this study was to evaluate impaired lung uptake of 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG) on SPECT, compared with perfusion SPECT and morphologic CT, in patients with pulmonary emphysema (PE). Methods: 123I-MIBG SPECT was performed at 15 min and 4 h after intravenous injection of 123I-MIBG in 36 PE patients with a history of smoking and variable-extent low-attenuation areas on CT, indicative of emphysematous changes, and in 16 controls with no history of smoking and no noticeable low-attenuation areas. The distribution of 123I-MIBG was compared with that of low-attenuation areas on CT and perfusion on SPECT at the base of the 180 lung lobes of the PE patients. Total-lung 123I-MIBG kinetics were calculated, including early and delayed lung-to-mediastinum uptake ratios and washout rate. Results: The controls showed a fairly uniform lung 123I-MIBG distribution nearly consistent with perfusion. PE patients had heterogeneous 123I-MIBG defects showing frequent discordance with low-attenuation areas or perfusion distribution; 123I-MIBG defects were more extensive than low-attenuation areas in 76 lobes (42.2%) of 31 patients (86%) and more extensive than perfusion defects in 44 lobes (24.4%) of 22 patients (61%). 123I-MIBG defects were seen regardless of the absence of noticeable low-attenuation areas and perfusion defects in 19 lobes (10.5%) of 16 patients (44%). All total-lung 123I-MIBG kinetic parameters in PE patients were significantly lower than the control values (P < 0.0001), with significant correlation with alveolar–arterial oxygen tension gradient but without correlation with the extent of perfusion defects or low-attenuation areas. Conclusion: 123I-MIBG SPECT allows evaluation of lung pathophysiology in PE independently of perfusion SPECT or morphologic CT, and impairment of lung 123I-MIBG uptake may be more extensive than perfusion or morphologic abnormalities in PE.
Sexuality and related factors of postmenopausal Korean women.

PURPOSE This cross-sectional survey was conducted to describe the sexuality of Korean women after menopause using a national sample, and to examine relationships between the sexuality and demographic, body mass index, and life style factors including smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity. METHOD From Dec. 20, 1998 to April 30, 1999, 2196 naturally postmenopausal women aged between 41 and 65 years were recruited by a disproportional stratified random sampling method from 7 metropolitans and 6 provinces in Korea. The questionnaire was used to obtain information on the demographic characteristics, life style factors, body mass index, and sexual activities. RESULT The findings show that the frequency of intercourse after menopause decreased among most of postmenopausal Korean women (64.5%). The frequency of women reported their sexual activity as satisfactory was higher among women doing physical activity, not smoking, with higher educational status, with middle socioeconomic status, without sleep disturbance, with lower body mass index, and with good subjective health status. CONCLUSION Further studies need to be designed as the longitudinal studies with larger random samples and better measures of sexuality.
Analysis of Radio Spectrum Market Evolution Possibilities

A tremendous growth in wireless traffic volumes and a shortage of feasible radio spectrum has led to a situation where the old and rigid spectrum regime is not a viable option for spectrum management and a shift towards a more market driven approach has begun. Great uncertainty still exists over how such a radio spectrum market will come about and what kind of shape it would take. This paper studies some long term macro level evolution possibilities for how this radio spectrum market could emerge and what would be the corresponding value chain configurations. The scenario planning and system dynamics methods are utilized to build four alternative future spectrum market scenarios.
Anticipated health behaviour changes and perceived control in response to disclosure of genetic risk of breast and ovarian cancer: a quantitative survey study among women in the UK

Background Genetic risk assessment for breast cancer and ovarian cancer (BCOC) is expected to make major inroads into mainstream clinical practice. It is important to evaluate the potential impact on women ahead of its implementation in order to maximise health benefits, as predictive genetic testing without adequate support could lead to adverse psychological and behavioural responses to risk disclosure. Objective To examine anticipated health behaviour changes and perceived control to disclosure of genetic risk for BCOC and establish demographic and person-specific correlates of adverse anticipated responses in a population-based sample of women. Design Cross-sectional quantitative survey study carried out by the UK Office for National Statistics in January and March 2014. Setting Face-to-face computer-assisted interviews conducted by trained researchers in participants’ homes. Participants 837 women randomly chosen from households across the UK identified from the Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File. Outcome measures Anticipated health behaviour change and perceived control to disclosure of BCOC risk. Results In response to a genetic test result, most women (72%) indicated ‘I would try harder to have a healthy lifestyle’, and over half (55%) felt ‘it would give me more control over my life’. These associations were independent of demographic factors or perceived risk of BCOC in Bonferroni-corrected multivariate analyses. However, a minority of women (14%) felt ‘it isn’t worth making lifestyle changes’ and that ‘I would feel less free to make choices in my life’ (16%) in response to BCOC risk disclosure. The former belief was more likely to be held by women who were educated below university degree level (P<0.001) after adjusting for other demographic and person-specific correlates. Conclusion These findings indicate that women in the UK largely anticipate that they would engage in positive health behaviour changes in response to BCOC risk disclosure.
Alternative Approaches to Development: Social Entrepreneurship in the Philippines

Post-development writers contend that development has failed because it created a worldview in which certain places are deemed ‘underdeveloped’ and in need of external assistance based on Western ideals of modernity. They argue that development should be abandoned and ‘alternatives to development’ must now be brought to the fore. However, this proposition is considered to be challenging at best since discussions on ‘alternatives to development’ have been vague and concrete practical examples are rarely given. Nevertheless, the arguments found within post-development thought are significant to current and future development practice and several researchers have attempted to apply post-development ideas into practice. This thesis looks into Social Entrepreneurship, an emerging development approach that seems to build on some of the ideas from post-development thought. It examines how social entrepreneurship has evolved and is defined within the context of the Philippines. The thesis attempts to understand how social entrepreneurship differs from mainstream development approaches and contributes to alternative pathways, through a case study of an NGO engaged in social entrepreneurship — A Single Drop for Safe Water, Philippines. Qualitative methods of observation, secondary data collection, and semi-structured interviews were utilized. The study reveals that social entrepreneurship practices have elements that reflect postdevelopment ideas such as highlighting community strengths, being mindful of local culture and practices, and strengthening the autonomy of community groups. However, social entrepreneurship also features activities that are based on market and business principles including having a profit motive and transferring business skills and knowledge to communities. Thus, social entrepreneurship is neither alternative nor mainstream but has the potential to be both. Development practitioners should be careful in utilizing social entrepreneurship practices, as not to expand neo-liberal ideals.
Predicción de quiebras empresariales en economías emergentes: uso de un modelo logístico mixto

Este trabajo replica y adapta el modelo de Jones y Hensher (2004) a los datos de una economía emergente con el propósito de evaluar su validez externa. Se compara el desempeño del modelo logístico estándar en relación con el modelo logístico mixto para predecir el riesgo de crisis en el periodo 1993-2000, utilizando estados contables de empresas argentinas y ratios de nidos en estudios de Altman y Jones y Hensher. Como en estudios anteriores, rentabilidad, rotación, endeudamiento y flujo de fondos operativos explican la probabilidad de crisis financiera. La contribución de esta nueva metodología reduce la tasa de error del tipo I a un 9 %. Se demuestra que el modelo logístico mixto, que tiene en cuenta la heterogeneidad no observada, supera ampliamente el desempeño del modelo logístico estándar.
The Use of Combined Estrogen-Progestin Replacement Therapy: An Example of the Dissemination of New Indications for an Old Technology

The evaluation of innovations which use old technology poses different problems than does the evaluation of new technologies. The main necessity is the targeting of its use rather than the technology itself. The need to evaluate the extent of use and its problems is illustrated by the example of progestin use among menopausal and postmenopausal women in the United States. There progestins are not of ficially approved for use in menopause, even though they have been on the market for a long time with other indications. Estrogen-replacement therapy was widely used from the early 1960s until 1975, when the claim that estrogens cause endometrial cancer notably decreased their use. The use of estrogens increased again in the early 1980s, and one reason for this revival was the claim that progestins offered protection against endometrial cancer. When recommendations for combined estrogen-progestin therapy have been made, other health effects have been ignored. Two consensus conferences as well as the drug control authority have recommended against combined estrogen-progestin therapy until further research is completed. Absence of good research, specialization in medicine, and advantages for prescribers and the drug industry may have contributed to the wide use of this unassessed treatment. Possible solutions for prevention of the diffusion of these kinds of innovations are discussed.
Agricultural Household Models for Malawi:Household Heterogeneity, Market Characteristics, Agricultural Productivity, Input Subsidies, and Price Shocks. A Baseline Report

This report documents agricultural household models developed for agricultural policy analyses related to the assessment of impacts of agricultural input subsidies and maize technology choices in Malawi. The models have been calibrated to a typology of households in Central and Southern Regions of Malawi based on household survey data collected for the period 2005-2010. Households are assumed to be drudgery averse and rational given their preferences and the resource constraints and imperfect markets they face. The impacts of varying access to resources, input subsidies, off-farm employment opportunities, and prices during the period of study are simulated. The models in particular demonstrate the vulnerability of land-poor households and their dependence on non-farm income for them to meet their basic needs. Access to improved maize varieties and subsidies may facilitate land use intensification and survival on smaller farms. Price shocks in form of higher fertilizer prices and lower tobacco prices contribute to further impoverishment while the costs of the input subsidy program also reached nonsustainable levels during the period of study. The models give insights about some possible avenues for scaling down the subsidy program towards a more sustainable level. Reduction of subsidies from two bags to one bag of fertilizer per household and concentration of targeting towards more land-poor households can be two important mechanisms. Rather than providing free improved maize seeds it may be better to improve the availability of improved seeds in local markets.
Diffusion tensor imaging and tractography of the human language pathways: Moving into the clinical realm

The functional correlates of anatomical derangements are of interest to the neurological clinician. Diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) is a relatively new tool in the arsenal of functional neuroimaging, by which to assess white matter tracts in the brain. While much import has been given to tracking corticospinal tracts in neurological disease, studying language pathway interconnections using DTT has largely remained in the research realm. Hardware and software advances have allowed this tool to ease into clinical practice, with several radiologists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons now familiar with its applications. DTT images, although visually appealing, are founded in mathematical equations and assumptions, and require a more than basic understanding of principles and limitations before they can be integrated into routine clinical practice. Cognitive pathways like that of language, that are normally hard to assess and especially more so when pathologically affected, have been at the receiving end of several opposing and often controversial hypotheses, and the past decade has seen the clarification, validation or rejection of several of these by the in vivo charting of functional connectivity using DTT. The focus of this review is to illustrate DTT of the language pathways with emphasis on practical considerations, clinical applications, and limitations.J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;40:1041–1053. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
REGIONALISATION OF CAR-FLEET AND TRAFFIC FORECASTS

Information at the national level is insufficient for long-term traffic forecasting. To integrate new infrastructure at the national level, regional implications must also be considered. This should be done in two stages: a demographic approach to determine how the car fleet will develop and an econometric method to reveal the factors that influence the sale of fuel and characterise car traffic. Over the next twenty years, the growth of the French household car fleet will differ significantly between regions. The number of potential drivers should increase much faster in the Mediterranean area than in the North or East. Growth will be slower in the Paris area where households became car owners earlier than those in the provinces. Regions also differ in the way they react to variations in fuel price. Isolated areas in the Massif Central are less sensitive to price than the surrounding transit areas. The significant data enhancement obtained by taking regional aspects into consideration has also made it possible to show that income has little influence on traffic, and that the impact of the price of fuel has been extremely irregular since 1973. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 888414.
The Sources of the Urban Wage Premium by Worker Skills

We estimate the respective importance of spatial sorting and agglomeration economies in explaining the urban wage premium for workers with different sets of skills. Sorting is the main source of the wage premium. Agglomeration economies are in general small, but are larger for workers with skills associated with non-routine job tasks. They also appear to involve human capital accumulation, as evidenced by the change in the wage of workers moving away from denser regions. For workers with routine jobs, agglomeration economies are virtually non-existent. Our results provide further evidence of spatial density bringing about productivity advantages primarily in contexts when problem-solving and interaction with others are important.
The characterizations of weighted Sobolev spaces by wavelets and scaling functions

We prove that suitable wavelets and scaling functions give characterizations and unconditional bases of the weighted Sobolev space $L^{p,s}(w)$ with $A_p$ or $A_p^{\mathop{\mathrm{loc}}}$ weights. In the case of $w \in A_p$, we use only wavelets with proper regularity. Meanwhile, if we assume $w \in A_p^{\mathop{\mathrm{loc}}}$, not only compactly supported $C^{s+1}$-wavelets but also compactly supported $C^{s+1}$-scaling functions come into play. We also establish that our bases are greedy for $L^{p,s}(w)$ after normalization.
mTOR Inhibitors for the Treatment of Severe Congenital Hyperinsulinism: Perspectives on Limited Therapeutic Success.

CONTEXT Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycemia in neonates and infants. In medically unresponsive CHI, subtotal pancreatectomy is performed to achieve euglycemia with consequent diabetes in later life. Sirolimus, a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, has been reported to obviate the need for pancreatectomy, but experience is limited. OBJECTIVE We have investigated the efficacy and adverse effect profile of mTOR inhibitors in the treatment of severe CHI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS This was an observational review of 10 severe CHI patients treated with mTOR inhibitors, in France and the United Kingdom, with the intention of achieving glycemic control without pancreatectomy. Safety information was recorded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) We examined whether mTOR inhibitors achieved glycemic control, fasting tolerance, and weaning of supportive medical therapy. RESULTS mTOR inhibition achieved euglycemia, fasting tolerance, and reduced medical therapy in only three patients (30%). Triglyceride levels were elevated in five patients (50%). One child required a blood transfusion for anemia, four had stomatitis, two had sepsis, one developed varicella zoster, and two patients developed gut dysmotility in association with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. In silico analysis of transcriptome arrays from CHI patients revealed no significant association between mTOR signaling and disease. Pancreatic tissue from two patients who did not respond to sirolimus showed no reduction in cell proliferation, further suggesting that mTOR signaling did not down-regulate proliferation in the CHI pancreas. CONCLUSION mTOR inhibitor treatment is associated with very limited success and must be used with caution in children with severe CHI.
Institutions, Transaction Costs and Productivity in the Long Run

The argument of this essay is that the immense productivity increases resulting from technological developments of the past century and a half could only be realized by fundamental changes in the institutional and organizational structure--a supply side argument; and that the consequent tensions induced by the resulting societal transformation have resulted (and are continuing to result) in politically-induced fundamental changes in the institutional structure to mitigate these tensions--a demand side argument. Both the supply side and demand side institutional changes have been and continue to be fundamental influences on productivity change.
Reducing secondary organic aerosol formation from gasoline vehicle exhaust

Significance Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a major component of atmospheric fine particles, which pose serious health risks and influence Earth’s climate. We combine laboratory measurements and computational modeling to investigate SOA formation from gasoline vehicle exhaust—an important source of air pollution in urban environments. We find a strong dependence of SOA formation from gasoline vehicle exhaust on oxides of nitrogen (NOx) concentrations. Our results suggest that changing atmospheric NOx levels over the next two decades will likely dramatically reduce the effectiveness of stricter new gasoline vehicle emissions standards to lower SOA concentrations in Los Angeles and other urban areas. On-road gasoline vehicles are a major source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in urban areas. We investigated SOA formation by oxidizing dilute, ambient-level exhaust concentrations from a fleet of on-road gasoline vehicles in a smog chamber. We measured less SOA formation from newer vehicles meeting more stringent emissions standards. This suggests that the natural replacement of older vehicles with newer ones that meet more stringent emissions standards should reduce SOA levels in urban environments. However, SOA production depends on both precursor concentrations (emissions) and atmospheric chemistry (SOA yields). We found a strongly nonlinear relationship between SOA formation and the ratio of nonmethane organic gas to oxides of nitrogen (NOx) (NMOG:NOx), which affects the fate of peroxy radicals. For example, changing the NMOG:NOx from 4 to 10 ppbC/ppbNOx increased the SOA yield from dilute gasoline vehicle exhaust by a factor of 8. We investigated the implications of this relationship for the Los Angeles area. Although organic gas emissions from gasoline vehicles in Los Angeles are expected to fall by almost 80% over the next two decades, we predict no reduction in SOA production from these emissions due to the effects of rising NMOG:NOx on SOA yields. This highlights the importance of integrated emission control policies for NOx and organic gases.
The Methylome of Vertebrate Sex Chromosomes

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic modification in vertebrate genomes known to be involved in the regulation of gene expression, X chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting, chromatin structure, and control of transposable elements. DNA methylation is common to all eukaryote genomes, but we still lack a complete understanding of the variation in DNA methylation patterns on sex chromosomes and between the sexes in diverse species. To better understand sex chromosome DNA methylation patterns between different amniote vertebrates, we review literature that has analyzed the genome-wide distribution of DNA methylation in mammals and birds. In each system, we focus on DNA methylation patterns on the autosomes versus the sex chromosomes.
Genetics of polycystic ovary syndrome

ABSTRACT Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal and metabolic disorder affecting 5 to 20% of reproductive-aged women worldwide that results in androgen excess, menstrual dysfunction and oligo-ovulatory subfertility, with increased risks for type 2 diabetes, endometrial adenocarcinoma, and potentially vascular disease, among other morbidities. PCOS is a complex genetic trait with strong heritability accounting for as high as 70% of the development of the disorder. Areas covered: The authors summarize the historical and recent findings of genetic studies of PCOS, such as familial studies, twin studies, and molecular genetic studies, including the results of recent genome wide associated studies. PubMed, Medline and Embase database were used to search relevant articles. Included studies were predominately conducted in Asia, North Africa, North America, and Europe. Expert commentary: Current studies aim to establish the role and function of identified genes; such efforts could serve as potential platforms for novel diagnostic and treatments for PCOS patients. The etiology of PCOS will be better understood as more data is gathered systematically, subjects are better phenotyped larger populations are recruited, and a better understanding of the role of genetic architecture, genetic variation, epigenetics, and gene-gene, gene-environment, and gene-phenotype interaction is obtained.