Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preconditioning by Sevoflurane Decreases Biochemical Markers for Myocardial and Renal Dysfunction in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: A Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Study

Background Preconditioning by volatile anesthetics is a promising therapeutic strategy to render myocardial tissue resistant to perioperative ischemia. It was hypothesized that sevoflurane preconditioning would decrease postoperative release of brain natriuretic peptide, a biochemical marker for myocardial dysfunction. In addition, several variables associated with the protective effects of preconditioning were evaluated. Methods Seventy-two patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft surgery under cardioplegic arrest were randomly assigned to preconditioning during the first 10 min of complete cardiopulmonary bypass with either placebo (oxygen–air mixture only) or sevoflurane 4 vol% (2 minimum alveolar concentration). No other volatile anesthetics were administered at any time during the study. Treatment was strictly blinded to anesthesiologists, perfusionists, and surgeons. Biochemical markers of myocardial dysfunction and injury (brain natriuretic peptide, creatine kinase–MB activity, and cardiac troponin T), and renal dysfunction (cystatin C) were determined. Results of Holter electrocardiography were recorded perioperatively. Translocation of protein kinase C was assessed by immunohistochemical analysis of atrial samples. Results Sevoflurane preconditioning significantly decreased postoperative release of brain natriuretic peptide, a sensitive biochemical marker of myocardial contractile dysfunction. Pronounced protein kinase C &dgr; and &egr; translocation was observed in sevoflurane-preconditioned myocardium. In addition, postoperative plasma cystatin C concentrations increased significantly less in sevoflurane-preconditioned patients. No differences between groups were found for perioperative ST-segment changes, arrhythmias, or creatine kinase–MB and cardiac troponin T release. Conclusions Sevoflurane preconditioning preserves myocardial and renal function as assessed by biochemical markers in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery under cardioplegic arrest. This study demonstrated for the first time translocation of protein kinase C isoforms &dgr; and &egr; in human myocardium in response to sevoflurane.
Efficient Climate Policy in the Presence of Free Riders

Abstract If all countries participate in a climate agreement, policies affecting the supply of fossil fuels have identical economic consequences as policies affecting the demand of fossil fuels. This is no longer true when there is limited participation in an international agreement. In the paper, it is assumed that a group of countries commit themselves to cooperating, while the remaining countries act independently and in pure self-interest. The paper compares supply and demand policies in this context and demonstrates that policies which affect only demand or only supply of carbon generally are inferior to policies affecting both demand and supply of carbon. The optimal mix of supply and demand policies is derived in the paper, with particular emphasis on carbon taxes. An important result is that if the marginal environmental costs of total emissions are sufficiently high (in the cooperating countries), then both production and consumption of carbon should be taxed at a positive rate. If on the other hand the marginal environmental costs of total emissions are sufficiently low, it may be optimal to subsidize production or consumption. In this case, production should be subsidized if the cooperating countries are net importers of carbon, while consumption should be subsidized if the cooperating countries are net exporters of carbon. Another important conclusion of the paper is that the cooperating countries should try to induce the non-cooperating countries, through appropriate transfers, to tax consumption and production of carbon at the same rate as in the cooperating countries.
Purification and Characterization of a Thermostable Xylanase from Saccharopolyspora pathumthaniensis S582 Isolated from the Gut of a Termite

An extracellular thermostable xylanase produced by Saccharopolyspora pathumthaniensis S582 was purified 167-fold to homogeneity with a recovery yield of 12%. The purified xylanase appeared as a single protein band on SDS–PAGE, with a molecular mass of 36 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH of the xylanase were 70 °C and 6.5. The enzyme was stable within a pH range of 5.5–10.0. It retained its activity after incubation at 50 °C for 2 h. Its half lives at temperatures of 60 and 70 °C were 180 and 120 min respectively. Hydrolysis of beechwood xylan by the xylanase yielded xylobiose and xylose as major products. The enzyme acted specifically on xylan as an endo-type xylanase, and exhibited a K m value of 3.92 mg/mL and a V max value of 256 μmol/min/mg. Enzyme activity was completely inhibited by Hg2+, and was stimulated by Rb+ and Cs+. The xylanase gene was cloned from genomic DNA of Saccharopolyspora pathumthaniensis S582 and sequenced. The ORF consisted of 1,107 bp and encoded 368 amino acid residues containing a putative signal peptide of 23 residues. This xylanase is a new member of family (GH) 10 that shows highest identity, of 63.4%, with a putative xylanase from Nocardiopsis dassonvillei subsp. dassonvillei.
Eosinophil counts and urinary eosinophil protein X in children hospitalized for wheezing during the first year of life: prediction of recurrent wheezing

Early identification of wheezing children with an increased risk of recurrent wheezing or subsequent asthma is important. The aim of the study was to determine the role of markers of eosinophil activation, along with other parameters, in the prediction of recurrent wheezing and allergic sensitization in children with early and severe wheezing. We examined 105 children without atopic dermatitis, hospitalized for wheezing during the first year of life. At a 20‐mo follow‐up, 101 of the children were assessed for the occurrence of recurrent wheezing (at least 3 episodes, including 1 in the previous 6 mo) and allergic sensitization (positive skin‐prick test). By univariate analysis, levels of eosinophil counts at the time of hospitalization (p= 0.005, OR = 18.9), age in months (p < 0.0001, OR =1.5), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)‐negative disease (p <0.0001, OR = 8.8), parental atopy (p= 0.006, OR = 3.3) and male sex (0.02, OR = 2.7) were all predictive factors for recurrent wheezing at follow‐up. With all parameters included in a multiple regression analysis, RSV‐negative disease was not a predictive factor for recurrent wheezing. A simple model including eosinophil counts ±0.1± 109/L and age had a predictive accuracy of 79%, with only a 6% chance of a child being wrongly predicted as symptomatic. Urinary protein X (‘U‐EPX) was not a predictive factor for recurrent wheezing. When included in a multiple logistic regression analysis, a level of U‐EP ± 100 μg/mmol creatinine was the only parameter with a positive predictive value for allergic sensitization (p= 0.007, OR = 18.9), whereas age, parental allergy or parental asthma were not.
Thyroid-associated periorbitopathy: eyebrow fat and soft tissue expansion in patients with thyroid-associated orbitopathy.

OBJECTIVE To compare soft tissue and fat volumes in the supraorbital area of healthy patients and patients with thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO) using 3-dimensional reconstruction software. METHODS The superiolateral orbital area was delineated on a bony framework. Three-dimensional reconstruction and volumetric calculation of the retro-orbicularis oculi fat (brow fat), galeal fat (including the retro-orbicularis oculi fat), and soft-tissue muscle were performed. RESULTS We analyzed 100 computed tomographic scans from 48 patients with TAO and 52 control subjects. All patients showed an age-related increase of fat volumes. The mean total eyebrow volume was greater in patients with TAO vs healthy control subjects (P < .001). Galeal fat (P = .02) and retro-orbicularis oculi fat (P = .01) volumes were significantly higher in patients with TAO vs control subjects. Soft-tissue muscle volume decreased with age in healthy females but remained constant in the aging female group with TAO. Both total volume and brow thickness did not appear to change with age in healthy patients but exhibited an increase in the female population with TAO. CONCLUSIONS This study brings into focus the clinicopathologic entity of thyroid-associated periorbitopathy. Three-dimensional evaluation of computed tomographic scans can provide information on volumetric changes in the eyebrow profile of patients with TAO. Further investigation of the biologic and morphologic changes of eyebrow fat and soft tissue in patients with TAO may help better characterize, classify, and guide their treatment.
Affluence, Austerity and Electoral Change in Britain

1. The politics of affluence and austerity 2. Tony's politics: prosperity and performance 3. Gordon's politics: economic crisis and political change 4. 'I agree with Nick': campaigning for change in 2010 5. Making political choices: 2010 6. Bearish Britain: the Coalition in power 7. Choosing how to choose: the AV ballot referendum 8. Performance politics and subjective well-being 9. Valence politics, austerity policies and electoral prospects Appendix A. Structure of the 2010 British Election Study Appendix B. Measurement.
Managing Supply Disruptions when Sourcing from Reliable and Unreliable Suppliers

We study a manufacturer's optimal multiple‐sourcing strategies when some but not all suppliers face risks of complete supply disruptions. Using an approximate model, we show that the optimal unreliable orders are ranked by a simple and intuitive criterion, and are invariant of minor market size changes. Furthermore, when ordering from one reliable and one unreliable supplier, we show that the total order quantity and its allocation between the two suppliers are independent decisions. We then test and confirm the robustness of the insights without the approximation, as well as when we relax various assumptions.
Company and union commitment: evidence from an adversarial industrial relations climate at a Korean auto plant

This study examines the feasibility and antecedents of worker commitment to company and union at an automobile plant in Korea. It utilized a sample of 331 workers at the plant who were implementing new management techniques, e.g. human resources management, total quality management and lean production. The plant had a long history of adversarial industrial relations, and its workforce was organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a union organization known for its militancy. The study found little evidence of workers' dual commitment to the company and the trade union, but instead discovered a competing commitment between company and trade union. Furthermore, company and union commitment were predicated on different factors, with workers' positive perceptions of the industrial relations climate positively affecting commitment to their company and negatively affecting commitment to their union. The findings were more consistent with those at other workplaces with an adversarial industrial relations climate rather than those with a co-operative one.
Dynamic agricultural supply response under economic transformation

China has experienced dramatic economic transformation and is facing the challenge of ensuring steady agricultural growth. This study examines the crop sector by estimating the supply response for major crops in Henan province from 1998 to 2007. We use a Nerlovian adjustment adaptive expectation model. The estimation uses dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel estimation based on pooled data across 108 counties. We estimate acreage and yield response functions and derive the supply response elasticities. This research links supply response to exogenous factors (weather, irrigation, government policy, capital investment, and infrastructure) and endogenous factors (prices). The significant feature of the model specification used in the study is that it addresses the endogeneity problem by capturing different responses to own- and cross-prices. Empirical results illustrate that there is still great potential to increase crop production through improvement of investment priorities and proper government policy. We confirm that farmers respond to price by both reallocating land and more intensively applying non-land inputs to boost yield. Investment in rural infrastructure, human capacity, and technology are highlighted as major drivers for yield increase. Policy incentives such as taxes and subsidies prove to be effective in encouraging grain production.
The Mortality from Cancer Throughout the World

BLOOD-PRESSURE: ITS CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. Second edition, revised and enlarged. By GEORGE W. NORRIS, A.B. , M.D., assistant professor of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; visiting physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital; assistant visiting physician to the University Hospital; Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Octavo, 424 pages, with 102 engravings and 1 coloured plate. Cloth, $3.00 net. Lea & Febiger, publishers, Philadelphia and New York, 1916.
Brain Knowledge and the Prevalence of Neuromyths among Prospective Teachers in Greece

Although very often teachers show a great interest in introducing findings from the field of neuroscience in their classrooms, there is growing concern about the lack of academic instruction on neuroscience on teachers' curricula because this has led to a proliferation of neuromyths. We surveyed 479 undergraduate (mean age = 19.60 years, SD = 2.29) and 94 postgraduate students (mean age = 28.52 years, SD = 7.16) enrolled in Departments of Education at the University of Thessaly and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. We used a 70-item questionnaire aiming to explore general knowledge on the brain, neuromyths, the participants' attitude toward neuroeducation as well as their reading habits. Prospective teachers were found to believe that neuroscience knowledge is useful for teachers (90.3% agreement), to be somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to the brain (47.33% of the assertions were answered correctly), but to be less well informed when it comes to neuroscientific issues related to special education (36.86% correct responses). Findings further indicate that general knowledge about the brain was found to be the best safeguard against believing in neuromyths. Based on our results we suggest that prospective teachers can benefit from academic instruction on neuroscience. We propose that such instruction takes place in undergraduate courses of Departments of Education and that emphasis is given in debunking neuromyths, enhancing critical reading skills, and dealing with topics relevant to special education.
Multiple Comparisons of Return Distributions: A New Look at the Day-of-The-Week Effect

Day-of-the-week tests for the entire distribution (rather then specific moments) are employed on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange index using non-parametric tests. We further add to prior art by examining whether Sunday's return distribution is significantly different from the distribution of any and all other days by employing Multiple Comparison Procedures (MCP). Both techniques, the non-parametric distribution test and the MCP, are not limited to assumptions of distribution normality. The tests were employed on the entire data-set (1988-1998); on three trend-oriented sub-periods (Up-Down-Up), and also conditional on previous day's sign (+/-). We find that Sunday's distribution is closer to Thursdays' (first and last trading days of the week) than to any other day. The MCP reveal significant differences between Sunday's return distribution and Monday-Thursday's for the entire period (1988-1998), and for the sample conditioned on "Down at t-1". The differences are found to a lesser extent for the "Up at t-1" sample, but not at all for the three trend sub-periods. The significant differences were not found for any other trading day.
Government debt, income distribution and growth

This paper takes up the question of whether government debt worsens the distribution of income as tax revenues from workers are used to pay for the interest on the debt held by the rich. In so doing, we develop a post-Keynesian model in which growth is determined by aggregate demand rather than by the supply of resources and income is distributed between workers who earn wages and capitalists who receive profit and interest income. Our analysis highlights the possible expansionary effect of a rise in government debt which may raise the income of the workers, and it shows that its precise effect on income inequality depends on the circumstances under which government debt rises. (c) 1996 Academic Press Limited. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.
Activating primary school learners : sustainability education in South Africa

Although education is considered as one of the most effective approaches in terms of addressing sustainability challenges and formulating solutions, traditional education methods remain inadequate in this regard. This is because these methods are based on passive and teacher-centred approaches to learning. In this context, the experiential education and active learning framework, grounded in John Dewey’s constructivism and pragmatism, is an alternative to traditional educational approaches, emphasizing student participation and supporting praxis. This qualitative research aims to evaluate the impacts of an experiential and active learning framework on learner’s knowledge of local and global sustainability challenges. This has been undertaken through fieldwork conducted in cooperation with the South African Eco-Schools Programme. The main focus of the study is at the primary school level, primarily Grades 6 – 7. Data has been collected through semi-structured and unstructured interviews with teachers, educators, learners and academics, as well as observations of workshops, learning activities and school grounds. A review of relevant documentation, including school portfolios and Eco-School documents, was also undertaken. Research results demonstrate that the South African education system still experiences major problems in providing a quality education for all learners, due mainly to existing socio-economic problems. It was found that teacher guidance was crucial to the success of education for sustainability, especially in the context of significant social problems such as poverty, HIV/AIDS and resulting high percentage of orphans in schools, as well as limited resources for learning. Therefore, the Deweyan paradigm, which is grounded in learner-centred concepts and considers teachers only as facilitators, might be applicable elsewhere in South African context, however cannot be considered as an efficient approach within the scope of the study. Further, findings indicated that classroom education, which incorporates real-life stories and narratives, followed by active involvement and experiments, give the best education results, in relation with learning local and global sustainability challenges. Significantly, the major contribution of experiential and active learning approaches in South African primary schools is to an improvement in the quality of basic education, especially with regard to basic skills such as literacy and numeracy.
Characterization of Indoor Particle Sources Using Continuous Mass and Size Monitors

ABSTRACT A comprehensive indoor particle characterization study was conducted in nine Boston-area homes in 1998 in order to characterize sources of PM in indoor environments. State-of-the-art sampling methodologies were used to obtain continuous PM2.5 concentration and size distribution particulate data for both indoor and outdoor air. Study homes, five of which were sampled during two seasons, were monitored over week-long periods. Among other data collected during the extensive monitoring efforts were 24hr elemental/organic carbon (EC/OC) particulate data as well as semi-continuous air exchange rates and time-activity information. This rich data set shows that indoor particle events tend to be brief, intermittent, and highly variable, thus requiring the use of continuous instrumentation for their characterization. In addition to dramatically increasing indoor PM25 concentrations, these data demonstrate that indoor particle events can significantly alter the size distribution and composition of indoor particles. Source event data demonstrate that the impacts of indoor activities are especially pronounced in the ultrafine (da < 0.1 um) and coarse (2.5 < da < 10 |um) modes. Among the sources of ultrafine particles characterized in this study are indoor ozone/terpene reactions. Furthermore, EC/OC data suggest that organic carbon is a major constituent of particles emitted during indoor source events. Whether exposures to indoor-generated particles, particularly from large short-term peak events, may be associated with adverse health effects will become clearer when biological mechanisms are better known.
Accountability and clientelism in dominant party politics: the case of a Constituency Development Fund in Tanzania

This thesis examines the shifting nature of accountability and clientelism in dominant party politics in Tanzania through the analysis of the introduction of a Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in 2009. A CDF is a distinctive mechanism that channels a specific portion of the government budget to the constituencies of Members of Parliament (MPs) to finance local small-scale development projects which are primarily selected by MPs. While existing studies argue that the control of resources is essential for dominant parties to maintain their power in politics, the adoption of a type of CDF in Tanzania poses a puzzle; why did the dominant ruling party of Tanzania accept a CDF that would give the legislature financial autonomy and might weaken the party’s power over MPs? Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses, the thesis demonstrates that a CDF proposal was moved forward as part of the reform to strengthen the legislature, and the ruling party accepted it to re-establish party coherence and gain public support in preparation for the general elections in 2010, after it was plagued by the revelation of corruption scandals involving party leaders and intraparty competition. The thesis has also found that a CDF was adopted when clientelistic voters were increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of MPs and some MPs had begun providing financial assistance to voters systematically. With a formal project-selection and monitoring mechanism in place, the Tanzanian CDF has more potential to restrict the prevalence of clientelistic accountability than the provision of private or club goods by MPs based on private resources. The Tanzanian case demonstrates that CDFs can potentially mitigate the influence of clientelism in the accountability relationship between MPs and voters in developing countries.