Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunodiagnosis of Paracoccidioidomycosis due to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Using a Latex Test: Detection of Specific Antibody Anti-gp43 and Specific Antigen gp43

Background Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a life-threatening systemic disease and is a neglected public health problem in many endemic regions of Latin America. Though several diagnostic methods are available, almost all of them present with some limitations. Method/Principle Findings A latex immunoassay using sensitized latex particles (SLPs) with gp43 antigen, the immunodominant antigen of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, or the monoclonal antibody mAb17c (anti-gp43) was evaluated for antibody or antigen detection in sera, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) from patients with PCM due to P. brasiliensis. The gp43-SLPs performed optimally to detect specific antibodies with high levels of sensitivity (98.46%, 95% CI 91.7–100.0), specificity (93.94%, 95% CI 87.3–97.7), and positive (91.4%) and negative (98.9%) predictive values. In addition, we propose the use of mAb17c-SLPs to detect circulating gp43, which would be particularly important in patients with immune deficiencies who fail to produce normal levels of immunoglobulins, achieving good levels of sensitivity (96.92%, 95% CI 89.3–99.6), specificity (88.89%, 95% CI 81.0–94.3), and positive (85.1%) and negative (97.8%) predictive values. Very good agreement between latex tests and double immune diffusion was observed for gp43-SLPs (k = 0.924) and mAb17c-SLPs (k = 0.850), which reinforces the usefulness of our tests for the rapid diagnosis of PCM in less than 10 minutes. Minor cross-reactivity occurred with sera from patients with other fungal infections. We successfully detected antigens and antibodies from CSF and BAL samples. In addition, the latex test was useful for monitoring PCM patients receiving therapy. Conclusions/Significance The high diagnostic accuracy, low cost, reduced assay time, and simplicity of this new latex test offer the potential to be commercialized and makes it an attractive diagnostic assay for use not only in clinics and medical mycology laboratories, but mainly in remote locations with limited laboratory infrastructure and/or minimally trained community health workers.
Incidence of pulmonary embolism in single segmental mismatch on lung scanning.

UNLABELLED Controversy exists as to whether patients with single segmental mismatch (SSM) on a ventilation/perfusion (VQ) lung scan should be given a low or an intermediate probability of pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS Pulmonary angiography was used to evaluate the incidence of PE in SSM at the authors' institution. From January 1991 to January 1993, 1449 VQ scans were performed. RESULTS With modified Biello criteria, 283 were high probability; 628, low probability; 273, normal; and 273, intermediate probability. Of the intermediate probability scans, 61 had SSM. Forty of these patients underwent pulmonary angiography. Twelve patients had PE in the area of the SSM, giving an incidence of PE of 30%. The risk of PE in SSM in the different lung regions was also analyzed. Twenty-three SSM were in the bases of the lung with a 22% incidence of PE; 17 SSM were either in the midzone or apex with a 41% incidence of PE (p = not significant). CONCLUSION SSM carries a 30% risk of PE. Accordingly, SSM should be given an intermediate probability of PE and not a low probability of PE.
Migrant labour and the marketisation of care for older people: The employment of migrant care workers by families and service providers

This article contributes to an understanding of how different institutional contexts produce similar outcomes as regards the employment of migrant workers in care work. It examines how the employment of migrant care workers in both the familial provision of care and the formal provision of care services for older people is shaped, first, by the marketisation of care and, second, by immigration controls. The analysis draws on data on the employment of migrant care workers by families in Italy and by providers of residential and home care services in the UK. It is argued that marketisation processes and immigration controls have contributed to the employment of migrant workers across so-called informal/formal types of care provision, and irregular/regular types of care work and migration. While the institutional contexts in which migrant care labour is located may differ, converging outcomes are evident regarding the structural positioning of migrant workers within the provision of care for older people.
Body condition score is a critical factor determining the onset of puberty in Blanca Andaluza female goat kids

This study examines the effect of body condition score (BCS), independently of bodyweight (BW), on the onset of puberty in Blanca Andaluza female kids born in Autumn (November). Thirty-six female kids were distributed into three groups according to their BW and BCS: low BW and low BCS (LL, n = 10), low BW and high BCS (LH, n = 10), and high BW and high BCS (HH, n = 16). Feeding was adjusted weekly so that the animals would gain ~50 g per day. Oestrus was checked daily using young vasectomised bucks fitted with a marking harness. The ovulation rate was determined by transrectal ultrasonography 10 days after the identification of oestrus. Plasma samples were obtained weekly for progesterone determination. Changes in BW and BCS were also recorded weekly. The BCS had a clear effect on the date of first ovarian activity and first detected oestrus. The HH kids experienced the earliest onset of puberty (31 August ± 2.4 days) although no significant difference was seen compared with the LH group (19 September ± 8.7 days). A significant difference was recorded, however, in comparison with the LL group (25 October ± 7.8 days) (P < 0.001). No effect of BCS was observed on ovulation rate. These results show that, in Blanca Andaluza female kids, the onset of puberty depends strongly upon BCS. There may be clear benefit in breeding November-born animals if, during the prepubertal period, they can be maintained with a high BCS.
Entrepreneurial Orientation and Environmental Hostility: An Assessment of Small, Independent Restaurant Businesses

The strategic management literature suggests there is an enduring theoretical tension regarding the idea of particularly appropriate strategy-environment combinations versus the concept of equally viable strategies. This study addresses the question of whether certain entrepreneurial postures are equally effective regardless of the level of environmental hostility and/or whether success is contingent on achieving a match between entrepreneurial posture and environmental hostility. Cluster analysis was used to group a sample of small, independent restaurant businesses into entrepreneurial and conservative types. This classification suggests that restaurateurs emphasize different aspects of entrepreneurship and that this focus is associated with differences in their choice of strategies and performance. In general, entrepreneurial types were associated with higher performance compared with conservative types, which implies that the entrepreneurial and conservative postures are not equally viable strategic approaches. Contrary to normative theory, results suggest that as the environment becomes more hostile, small, independent restaurant businesses tend to adopt conservative strategies and avoid innovative, risk-taking strategies.
Ultrasonographic Changes at 12 Weeks of Anti-TNF Drugs Predict 1-year Sonographic Response and Clinical Outcome in Crohn's Disease: A Multicenter Study

Background:The objective was to assess the long-term effect of biological treatment on transmural lesions of Crohn's disease evaluated with ultrasound, including contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Methods:Fifty-one patients with active Crohn's disease were included in a prospective multicenter longitudinal study. All patients underwent a clinical assessment and sonographic examination at baseline, 12 weeks after treatment initiation, and after 1-year of treatment. Patients were clinically followed at least 2 years from inclusion until the end of the study. Ultrasonographic evaluation included bowel wall thickness, color Doppler grade, parietal enhancement, and presence of transmural complications or stenosis. Sonographic changes after treatment were classified as normalization, improvement, or lack of response. Results:Improvement at 52 weeks was more frequent in patients with improvement at final of induction (12 weeks) compared with patients who did not improve (85% versus 28%; P < 0.0001). One-year sonographic evolution correlated with clinical response; 28 of the 29 (96.5%) patients with sonographic improvement at 52 weeks showed clinical remission or response. Patients without sonographic improvement at 52 weeks of treatment were more likely to have a change or intensification in medication or surgery (13/20, 65%) during the next year of follow-up than patients with improvement on the sonography (3/28, 11%). Stricturing behavior was the only sonographic feature associated to a negative predictive value of response (P = 0.0001). Conclusions:Sonographic response after 12 weeks of therapy is more pronounced and predicts 1-year sonographic response. Sonographic response at 1-year examination correlates with 1-year clinical response and is a predictor of further treatment's efficacy, 1-year or longer period of follow-up.
Effects of beta-adrenergic blockade on vasodepressor reaction in patients with vasodepressor syncope.

The mechanism of vasodepressor reaction induced by head-up tilt test in patients with vasodepressor syncope is not clearly understood. We hypothesized that an abnormal alteration of beta-adrenergic transmission could be involved in these patients. We measured plasma catecholamine concentration during tilt and density of beta-adrenoceptors and tested the effects of beta-adrenergic blockers in the prevention of the vasodepressor reaction in patients with vasodepressor syncope. Ten patients had reproducibly induced vasodepressor syncope (mean 3.1 +/- 0.3 episodes in each patient) with head-up tilt (80 degrees) for 10 minutes with isoproterenol infusion (1 to 3 micrograms/min). Syncope occurred at 6.3 +/- 1.7 minutes during tilt with isoproterenol infusion. The plasma norepinephrine concentration before administration of beta-blocker was significantly elevated during tilt compared to the supine position (0.347 +/- 0.079 ng/ml in supine position with isoproterenol vs 0.468 +/- 0.082 ng/ml at 3 minutes of tilt, p < 0.001, and vs 0.503 +/- 0.106 ng/ml at the onset of vasodepressor reaction, p < 0.005; n = 8). Plasma norepinephrine after administration of the selective beta 1-adrenergic blocker metoprolol (40 mg/day) was similarly elevated (0.282 +/- 0.071 ng/ml in supine position with isoproterenol vs 0.390 +/- 0.078 ng/ml at 3 minutes of tilt, p < 0.05, n = 6; and vs 0.547 +/- 0.152 ng/ml at the onset of vasodepressor reaction, p < 0.001, n = 3). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
THE ROLE OF CYCLIC AMP IN THE INTERACTION OF GLUCAGON AND INSULIN IN THE CONTROL OF LIVER METABOLISM *

It is now well established that insulin exerts direct effects on mammalian liver to inhibit the production of glucose and urea and to promote the uptake of potassium ions. It has been proposed that these effects of insulin may be partly due to a decrease in liver cyclic AMP.l The proposal is based on the following observations: ( 1) insulin produces a small but significant decrease in the level of cyclic AMP in the perfused rat liver; (2) depletion of insulin in vivo by treatment with insulin antiserum or alloxan results in a twofold increase in liver cyclic AMP; (3) exogenous cyclic AMP and hormones such as glucagon and epinephrine which raise the level of cyclic AMP produce effects on the liver which are opposite to those caused by insulin; (4) insulin antagonizes the actions of epinephrine, glucagon, or cyclic AMP in the perfused liver; and ( 5 ) insulin reduces the accumulation of liver cyclic AMP in the presence of glucagon. In this article we will present more recent observations on the interaction of glucagon, epinephrine, and insulin in the control of hepatic metabolism. The investigations have employed the isolated rat liver perfused by a modification of the technique of Mortimore. * The perfusion medium consisted of Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer containing 3 % bovine albumin and 20% bovine erythrocytes. Livers were from fed rats weighing 100-150 g and the perfusion flow rate was about 7 ml per minute. The perfusions were carried out in two ways. In most cases, livers were perfused for one hour with recirculating medium and hormones were infused into the portal vein at a constant rate. In these experiments, the hormone concentrations were calculated by dividing the quantity of hormone infused during the hour by the final volume of perfusate. Since this does not allow for degradation of hormone, the values are doubtlessly overestimated. In the second type of experiment livers were perfused initially for 20 minutes with recirculating media containing no additions in order to establish steady metabolic rates and levels of cyclic AMP. The perfusion system was then changed to one with nonrecirculating medium by diverting the perfusate leaving the liver into a beaker. After a six-minute control period, infusions of hormone were commenced and livers and effluent media were sampled at designated intervals. In these experi-
Optimality, "Public" Goods, and Local Governments: A General Theoretical Analysis

The recent discussion of provision of a public good by politically separate local governments has resulted in a number of contradictory conclusions. Several authors had suggested that a spillover of benefits would cause separate local governments to provide a quantity of a local public good which was less than Pareto optimal (Weisbrod 1964; Break 1967). Williams (1966) challenged this statement, claiming to display a " non-redistributive" Pareto optimal point which involved a smaller quantity of a local public good, education, than that which would be provided in non-optimal equilibrium. Brainard and Dolbear (1967) contended that Williams's scheme to reach optimality did involve a redistribution of income compared with independent-adjustment equilibrium.1 They showed that the optimal quantity of a "public" good can be less than that in non-optimal equilibrium only if the movement to equilibrium makes at least one of the communities worse off. Finally, Holtmann (1966) has argued that the amount of education provided in politically separate communities which maximize net benefits will be equal to a Pareto-optimal amount. This paper will attempt to reconcile these divergent analyses. Confusion has arisen because of the failure to specify clearly in what way the "local public good" being discussed possesses elements of "publicness. " A way of making the appropriate analytical distinctions among different cases will be developed in this paper. Then it is possible to specify the characteristics of an optimal situation, and to show in what sense and in what direction provision by local governments leads to departures from an optimum. It will also be shown that the example which Williams chose as the basis of his model the migration of educated persons was peculiarly
Modeling Speech Disfluency to Predict Conceptual Misalignment in Speech Survey Interfaces

Computer-based interviewing systems could use models of respondent disfluency behaviors to predict a need for clarification of terms in survey questions. This study compares simulated speech interfaces that use two such models–a generic model and a stereotyped model that distinguishes between the speech of younger and older speakers–to several non-modeling speech interfaces in a task where respondents provided answers to survey questions from fictional scenarios. The modeling procedure found that the best predictor of conceptual misalignment was a critical Goldilocks range for response latency–hat is, a response time that is neither too slow nor too fast–outside of which responses are more likely to be conceptually misaligned. Different Goldilocks ranges are effective for younger and older speakers.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) 1945-1965 : an organizational and political anatomy

The thesis is an analytical study of the structure and activities of the International Transport Workers' Federation(ITF) from 1945 to 1965.It gives particular attention to the nature of the ITF's memberships, especially its expansion to the United States and to the Third World; to the ITF's political stance in a period of enormous international tension and to the interrelationship of both those factors. The ITF was founded in 1896 and there are few substantial transport workers' unions which are not yet affiliated. It has long been recognized as the most effective of all the international trade union organizations. The ITF made a significant contribution to the Allied war effort in the Second World War and its membership in every branch of the international transport industry took on great strategic importance during the Cold War. The thesis is based on original research, making special use of the ITF's extensive archives at the Modern Records Centre of the University of Warwick. There is a close and critical focus on the ITFs political engagement, exemplified by its controversial part in countering communist influence in European ports in the early 1950s at the time of the introduction of the European Recovery Programme (the Marshall Plan). This discussion is, however, set in the context of the ITF's structures and its broader social and industrial concerns, such as the defence of trade union and civil rights and assistance to transport workers' unions in the newly de-colonized developing countries. The conclusions draw out the main findings of the research and discuss the dearth of academic literature on the international trade union movement, and especially the almost total neglect of 'International Trade Secretariats', organizations such as the ITF which group together national trade unions in specific industries and services. On this basis, it surveys a poorly served theoretical field and outlines implications for future theoretical analysis.
EU law revisions and legislative drift

European Union research has made great strides in understanding the dynamics of the European Union decision-making process. In contrast to this progress, the dynamics unfolding after the enactment of a European Union secondary legislative act has largely been ignored. Some of these acts remain in force in their original form for several years while others are revised soon after their enactment. What factors account for this variation? We empirically analyze the proposition that in the presence of ‘legislative drift,’ i.e. the intertemporal variation of decision-makers’ preferences, major revisions of European Union legislative acts are more likely to occur. Based on an analysis of the revision histories of 158 major European Union acts in the time period between 1958 and 2003, we find significant support for this hypothesis.
Local volatility of volatility for the VIX market

Following a trend of sustained and accelerated growth, the VIX futures and options market has become a closely followed, active and liquid market. The standard stochastic volatility models—which focus on the modeling of instantaneous variance—are unable to fit the entire term structure of VIX futures as well as the entire VIX options surface. In contrast, we propose to model directly the VIX index, in a mean-reverting local volatility-of-volatility model, which will provide a global fit to the VIX market. We then show how to construct the local volatility-of-volatility surface by adapting the ideas in Carr (Local variance gamma. Bloomberg Quant Research, New York, 2008) and Andreasen and Huge (Risk Mag 76–79, 2011) to a mean-reverting process.
Nurse management of intractable functional constipation: a randomised controlled trial

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a nurse led clinic (NLC) compared with a consultant led paediatric gastroenterology clinic (PGC) in the management of chronic constipation. Methods: Children (age 1–15 years) with functional constipation were randomised following a detailed medical assessment to follow up in either the NLC or PGC. An escalating algorithm of treatment was used as the basis of management in both the NLC and PGC. Main outcome measures were: time to cure at last visit or later confirmed by telephone; time to cure at last visit; and time to prematurely leaving the study. Results: A total of 102 children were recruited, of whom 52 were randomly assigned to NLC and 50 to PGC. Outcome assessment showed that 34 children in the NLC and 25 children in the PGC were confirmed cured at their last visit or later confirmed by telephone. The median time to cure was 18.0 months in the NLC and 23.2 months in the PGC. The probability of being cured was estimated as 33% higher in the NLC compared to PGC (hazard ratio 1.33). Attending the NLC hastened time to cure by an estimated 18.4%. Conclusion: Children who attend an NLC are equally as, if not more likely to be cured of intractable constipation, than those attending a PGC and on average their cure will occur sooner. Results suggest that an NLC can significantly improve follow up for children with intractable constipation and highlight the important role for clinic nurse specialists in management of children with gastrointestinal disease.
Do birth order and family size matter for intergenerational income mobility? Evidence from Sweden

Previous studies of intergenerational income mobility have not considered potential birth-order or family-size effects in the estimated income elasticity. This article uses a large sample of individuals born between 1962 and 1964; income elasticities with respect to parents’ incomes are estimated for individuals with different birth-order positions and family sizes. Results based on labour income and total income for sons and daughters are reported separately. The elasticity tends to decrease with family size as well as with birth order for a given family size, especially in the labour-income analysis of fathers and sons.
Market Insurance, Self-Insurance, and Self-Protection

The article develops a theory of demand for insurance that emphasizes the interaction between market insurance, “self-insurance,” and “self-protection. ” The effects of changes in “prices,” income, and other variables on the demand for these alternative forms of insurance are alalyzed using the “state preference” approach to behavior under uncertainty. Market insurance and self-insurance are shown to be substitutes, but market insurance and self-protection can be complements. The analysis challenges the notion that “moral hazard” is an inevitable consequence of market insurance, by showing that under certain conditions the latter may lead to a reduction in the probabilities of hazardous events.