Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ubiquitin‐negative, eosinophilic neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions associated with stress granules and autophagy: An immunohistochemical investigation of two cases

Identification of the proteinaceous components of the pathological inclusions is an important step in understanding the associated disease mechanisms. We immunohistochemically examined two previously reported cases with eosinophilic neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCIs) (case 1, Mori et al. Neuropathology 2010; 30: 648–53; case 2, Kojima et al. Acta Pathol Jpn 1990; 40: 785–91) using 67 antibodies against proteins related to cytoskeletal constituents, ubiquitin‐proteasome system, autophagy‐lysosome pathway and stress granule formation. Regional distribution pattern of eosinophilic NCIs in case 1 was substantially different from that in case 2. However, NCIs in both cases were immunonegative for ubiquitin and p62 and were immunopositive for stress granule markers as well as autophagy‐related proteins, including valosin‐containing protein. Considering that eukaryotic stress granules are cleared by autophagy and valosin‐containing protein function, our findings suggest that eosinophilic NCIs in the present two cases may represent the process of autophagic clearance of stress granules.
Rational Bubbles in the Price of Gold

This paper describes a theoretical and empirical study of the possibility of rational bubbles in the relative price ofgold. The critical implication of the theoretical analysis is that, if rational bubbles exist, the time series of the relative price of gold, as well as any time series obtained by differencing a finite number of times, is nonstationary. The empirical evidence relating to this nonstationarity property involves diagnostic checks for stationarity carried out in both the time domain and the frequency domain. This evidence strongly suggests that the process generating the first difference of the log of the relative price of gold is stationary, a finding that is inconsistent with the existence of rational bubbles. More broadly, the empirical analysis finds a close correspondence between the time series properties of the relative price of gold and the time series properties of real interest rates,which the theory relates to the time series properties of the fundamental component of the relative price of gold. In sum, the evidence is consistent with the combined conclusion that the relative price of gold corresponds to market fundamentals, that the process generating first differences of market fundamentals is stationary, and that actual price movements do not involve rational bubbles.
Technical Change and Productive Efficiency: Irrigated Rice in the Philippines*

Panel data are used to study the technical efficiency of rice producers in the Philippines. Production efficiency over time is measured using a stochastic frontier regression with error decomposition. Sources of inefficiency are identified and the link between irrigation and productive efficiency is measured. Results suggest that irrigation was associated with higher levels of technical efficiency in the sample. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 East Asian Economic Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd .
New Firms as Employers: The Wage Penalty for Voluntary and Involuntary Job Switchers

According to previous research, new firms pay lower wages. However, previous studies have been unable to control for the possibility that the opportunity costs of accepting employment at new firms may differ across individuals. In this paper, we investigate whether a wage penalty for being employed at a new firm exists if we take the individual employee's experience and status in the labour market into consideration. We focus on individuals who decide to switch jobs and use matched employee-employer data about all firms and employees in Sweden for the period 1998-2010. Our results show that the share of job transitions into lower wages are higher for those who switch to new firms compared with incumbent firms (40 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively). Our endogenous wage equation estimates indicate that being an involuntary job switcher has an equally negative effect on wages at both new and incumbent firms. However, the positive effect of education on wages is more pronounced for job switchers selecting into incumbent firms.
Decomposing growth in revenues and costs into price, quantity and total factor productivity contributions

This article employs the superlative Fisher and Törnqvist indexes for exact decomposition of growth in nominal revenues and costs. The findings confirm the well-known result that these indexes very closely approximate each other, implying that the mathematically simpler and computationally easier Törnqvist is the more practicable index. Moreover, this article's nominal growth decomposition yields all the results from the more common real growth decomposition and is also more informative for policy purposes. Application to the US agricultural sector during 1948–2001 shows that of the 3.31% average annual growth in revenues, TFP growth contributed 1.90 percentage points (pct. pts.); growth in output prices added 1.43 pct. pts. ; while growth in input quantities contributed – 0.02 pct. pts. (i.e. fewer inputs). Therefore, real output growth (or revenue growth less output price growth) was 1.88 pct. pts. , revealing that TFP's 1.90 pct. pts. growth contribution was fully responsible for real output growth with fewer inputs. Since revenues measure incomes, these results suggest that policy should focus more on measures to foster TFP growth than on specific price or quantity instruments to enhance income growth.
Sex determines xylem anatomy in a dioecious conifer: hydraulic consequences in a drier world

Increased drought frequency and severity may reshape tree species distribution in arid environments. Dioecious tree species may be more sensitive to climate warming if sex-related vulnerability to drought occurs, since lower performance of one sex may drive differential stress tolerance, sex-related mortality rates and biased sex ratios. We explored the effect of sex and environment on branch hydraulic (hydraulic conductivity and vulnerability to embolism) and trunk anatomical traits in both sexes of the dioecious conifer Juniperus thurifera L. at two sites with contrasting water availability. Additionally, we tested for a trade-off between hydraulic safety (vulnerability to embolism) and efficiency (hydraulic conductivity). Vulnerability to embolism and hydraulic conductivity were unaffected by sex or site at branch level. In contrast, sex played a significant role in xylem anatomy. We found a trade-off between hydraulic safety and efficiency, with larger conductivities related to higher vulnerabilities to embolism. At the anatomical level, females' trunk showed xylem anatomical traits related to greater hydraulic efficiency (higher theoretical hydraulic conductivity) over safety (thinner tracheid walls, lower Mork's Index), whereas males' trunk anatomy followed a more conservative strategy, especially in the drier site. Reconciling the discrepancy between branch hydraulic function and trunk xylem anatomy would require a thorough and integrated understanding of the tree structure-function relationship at the whole-plant level. Nevertheless, lower construction costs and higher efficiency in females' xylem anatomy at trunk level might explain the previously observed higher growth rates in mesic habitats. However, prioritizing efficiency over safety in trunk construction might make females more sensitive to drought, endangering the species' persistence in a drier world.
The Effect of Plausible and Exaggerated Reference Prices on Consumer Perceptions and Price Search

This article examines whether advertisers' regular price claims affect consumer perceptions and price search behavior. Experiments involving simulated shopping via personal computers indicate that compared to an ad with no reference price, an ad with a plausible reference price raised subjects' estimates of the advertiser's regular price and the perceived offer value. An exaggerated reference price had generally the same positive effects on perception as a plausible reference price, even for the more skeptical subjects. Further, when subjects were presented with an advertised sale price above the lowest expected price, the exaggerated reference price increased the percentage of subjects who purchased the product from the advertiser without checking other stores' prices.
Infant Health and the Labor Supply of Mothers

We analyze the relationships among infant feeding, infant health, and the labor supply of mothers using detailed, longitudinal data from the Philippines. We find little evidence that maternal labor supply has a direct, causal effect on child health after accounting for the endogeneity of the mother's labor supply. Consistent with the predictions of economic theory, mothers with higher wage offers are more likely to work, less likely to breastfeed, and more likely to use infant formula. Mothers with higher wages have healthier children, while mothers facing higher food prices have less healthy children.
Exchange-Rate Volatility and Industry Trade Between Japan and China

Abstract Exchange-rate risk is often thought to reduce international trade flows, but numerous theoretical and empirical analyses have pointed toward positive as well as negative effects. This is particularly true when bilateral trade flows for individual industries are estimated. In this study, we extend the literature to the case of Japanese trade with China for 110 import industries and 95 export industries. Aggregate Japanese exports, but not imports, respond to real exchange rate volatility in the long run, while most individual export and import industries respond in the short run. Although many individual Japanese import industries are affected in the long run by risk, mostly negatively, this is even more the case for exporters. A larger proportion of Japanese export industries are affected by exchange rate uncertainty for most industry sectors. Manufacturing exports are particularly vulnerable to this risk, with a large share responding negatively to increased volatility.
Genetic variance in ABCB1 and CYP3A5 does not contribute toward the development of chronic kidney disease after liver transplantation

Introduction Chronic kidney disease (CKD) after liver transplantation (LT) is a major clinical problem that appears to be associated with nongenetic as well as genetic determinants. Calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) use is considered to play a major role in the development of CKD after LT. We studied the influence of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes of the donor and recipient CNI-metabolizing enzyme CYP3A5 and the CNI-transporting ABCB1 on the development of CKD after LT. Materials and methods Tacrolimus (Tac) predose concentrations at different time-points after transplantation and the CYP3A5 6986A>G and ABCB1 3435C>T SNPs were determined in 125 LT recipients and their respective donors to study the influence of Tac predose levels and genetics on the development of CKD. Results After a median follow-up of 5.7±2.9 years, CKD developed in 47 patients (36%). The Tac predose levels were not correlated with the development of CKD. Neither did we find a correlation between the investigated SNPs in either donor or recipient ABCB1 and CYP3A5 genes (or combinations thereof) and the development of CKD. These genetic variations did not relate to Tac predose blood concentrations in our study. Conclusion An individual’s risk of developing CKD after LT is not associated with genetic variation in either recipient or donor CYP3A5 or ABCB1 genotype status.
What Does It Take to Explain Procyclical Productivity?

Abstract Labor productivity comoves strongly with output, leads output and employment, and is only weakly correlated with employment. Procyclical productivity is observed in virtually all countries and industries, and it is observed even in periods of fluctuations due to pure demand shocks, such as during the Great Depression and the second World War. This paper shows that a standard RBC model driven by demand shocks alone is able to explain procyclical productivity without the need to resort to technology shocks or increasing returns to scale. The key element is labor hoarding due to adjustment cost of labor. It is also shown that the observed cross-country differences in productivity cycles can be rationalized by a single parameter alone - the size of the adjustment cost of labor.
Support for the American Welfare State: The Views of Congress and the Public

What is the state of the American welfare state? After half a century of growth and development, social welfare programs came under attack during the 1980s, generating widespread uncertainty about their future. Yet the welfare state weathered the assault. Cook and Barrett argue that social welfare in America is firmly rooted and that the American welfare state is here to stay. They attribute this to a strong reservoir of support on the part of both policymakers and the general public. Support for the American Welfare State asks how much support there is, who is most supportive, and why there are differences in levels of support. The authors report the results of a survey of attitudes of both the general public and members of the U.S. House of Representatives about Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Unemployment Compensation-seven of the largest programs in the American welfare state.
Does Indebtedness Influence Health? A Preliminary Inquiry

In recent years, consumer debt and the bankruptcy filing rate have received substantial public and media attention in the United States. That attention pales in comparison with widespread concerns and media reporting about health. Yet, both sets of discussions may be relevant to individuals and families facing a combination of health problems and financial problems. In a recent study, nearly half of the sample of individual bankruptcy filers reported they also were dealing with illness, injury, or substantial medical debt. Whether somethmg other than coincidence explains this correlation is worthy of consideration for those who study health. For some debtors, debt problems may be health-care finance issues; income interruption or financial obligations stemming from health ailments may contribute to financial downfall? The opposite relationship, however, not only is possible, but potentially more pervasive.
TQM's contribution to marketing implementation and firm's competitiveness

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy that is widespread among many organisations all over the world. Accordingly, the practical implications of TQM on an increasing range of firms' operations are receiving growing attention from both practitioners and researchers. This paper presents an empirical study that examines the impact of TQM implementation on the firms' market orientation and the joint effect of these variables on the development of marketing capabilities. The research also addresses the analysis of the TQM effect on firms' market-related performance relative to their main competitors. The final purpose is twofold: (1) to obtain an in-depth understanding of the TQM role in the effective implementation of marketing, given the recent concerns regarding the decreasing preponderance of marketing in the organisations, and (2) to reinforce the TQM contribution to companies' competitiveness. TQM implementation is measured following the EFQM Excellence Model, as it represents an unquestionable benchmark for European firms. The study applies structural equation modelling to test the empirical model built on an extensive literature review. The findings indicate that TQM positively influences firms' performance as well as marketing development within the organisation in terms of cultural market orientation and marketing capabilities. TQM can thus be advocated as a recommendable management system from the marketing perspective that, in addition, effectively supports firms' competitiveness.
[123I]β‐CIT SPECT distinguishes vascular parkinsonism from Parkinson's disease

We investigated whether [123I]‐β‐CIT and single‐photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging distinguishes patients with clinically suspected vascular parkinsonism (VP) from patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). [123I]β‐CIT SPECT is a sensitive marker of dopaminergic degeneration, and the degree of striatal binding reduction in PD correlates with disease severity. Thirteen patients who fulfilled rigid clinical criteria for VP (mean ± S.D.: age, 76.5 ± 5.3 years; disease duration, 3.6 ± 2.8 years), 20 PD patients (age, 66.2 ± 9.5 years; disease duration, 4.3 ± 2.7 years), and 30 healthy persons (age, 44.6 ± 19.2 years) underwent [123I]β‐CIT SPECT imaging. Age‐corrected striatal β‐CIT binding was reduced on average by 40.8% in PD but was near normal in the VP group (mean reduction, 1.2%). This difference was statistically significant (Z = 4.68; P < 0.001). The left–right asymmetry of striatal β‐CIT binding was significantly increased in the PD group compared with normal controls and the VP group (F(2) = 17.4, P <0.001). Moreover, putamen–caudate nucleus ratios were significantly reduced in PD compared with both VP patients and healthy controls (F(2) = 65.5, P < 0.001). Whole striatal β‐CIT binding was more than one standard deviation above the mean PD values in all but one of the individual VP patients. Our findings suggest that the presynaptic dopaminergic deficits seen in PD are absent in most patients with VP. [123I]β‐CIT SPECT imaging may be useful to help distinguish between PD and VP patients during life. © 2002 Movement Disorder Society
Cross-buying evaluations in the retail banking industry

Is a customer’s past purchase experience of traditional banking products applicable to the continuing purchase of insurance and investment products at a bank branch? Are service attributes used with similar extensions evaluated differently from when used with dissimilar extensions? In response to these questions, this study develops and examines a framework of service attributes (e.g., locational and one-stop shopping convenience, functional and technical service quality, and firm reputation and size) having positive effects on cross-buying. Meanwhile, this study also examines the mediating roles of satisfaction and trust on the relationship between services attributes and cross-buying. Our results indicate that the relative importance of locational convenience and functional service quality is likely to decline, while the relative importance of one-stop shopping convenience and firm size is likely to increase as category dissimilarity increases. Technical service quality and firm reputation only have indirect effects on cross-buying dissimilar product categories through trust. Instead, satisfaction plays the mediating role for cross-buying similar product categories. Our findings reinforce the view that the relative effects of service attributes, satisfaction and trust on cross-buying vary under different category similarity conditions.
Unemployment Insurance and Job Quits

We investigate an unexplored avenue through which unemployment insurance increases unemployment. As unemployment insurance benefits rise, workers lose incentive to “preempt” impending layoffs by changing jobs. We formalize this prediction in a job search model and investigate it empirically by estimating a proportional hazard model with data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, using state‐ and year‐specific algorithms to compute each worker’s expected unemployment insurance benefits. Our estimates reveal that an exogenous increase in benefits deters job quits by a small but statistically significant amount.
Rapid elevation of transferrin saturation and serum hepcidin concentration in hemodialysis patients after intravenous iron infusion

The majority of end-stage renal patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (HD) develop anemia that adversely affects their quality of life and increases the risk for cardiovascular events and death. Thus, the development of safe and effective strategies aimed at correcting anemia in these patients is of utmost importance.1 Unfortunately, the response to erythropoietin (EPO) treatment is often suboptimal, due mainly to an imbalance between the surging iron requirements of the stimulated erythropoietic cells on the one hand and iron availability on the other. Thus, intravenous (i.v.) administration of iron-containing preparations is widely used in order to circumvent this imbalance. However, questions about the efficacy and the safety of this loading strategy still remain unanswered.1
Local government discretion and accountability : a diagnostic framework for local governance

This paper presents a conceptual framework to better analyze the factors that improve local governance. Central to the framework are the following arguments: 1) decentralization reforms grant local governments new powers and responsibilities in three dimensions: political, administrative, and fiscal. These dimensions give local governments discretionary space; 2) ensuring appropriate use of such discretionary space requires introducing effective accountability systems. Within their discretionary space, local governments would be accountable to higher levels of government as well as to citizens; 3) public accountability mechanisms safeguard against misuse and abuse of local discretion, but they have imperfections. New forms of social accountability mechanisms, which enable direct engagement of citizens with government, emerge to complement public accountability mechanisms; and 4) public and social accountability approaches must be bridged to ensure that citizens have the ability and opportunity to demand accountability and that local governments have the means and incentives to respond to citizen demands for accountability and better service delivery. The framework is not intended as a one-size-fits-all solution to the complex public policy issue of discretion and accountability. Beyond the elements in our framework, any analysis of local governance structures needs to pay particular attention to the way local governments establish and maintain accountability relationships with their surrounding local actors.
Breast carcinoma: MR imaging before re-excisional biopsy.

PURPOSE To investigate the role of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the examination of patients after excisional biopsy of breast carcinoma before re-excision. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-seven patients underwent contrast material-enhanced MR imaging after initial excisional biopsy of breast carcinoma before further surgery. RESULTS The positive predictive value of MR imaging for predicting residual disease was 82%; the negative predictive value was 61%. Fourteen patients had multifocal (n = 6) or diffuse (n = 8) carcinoma. The extent of tumor was correctly identified with MR imaging alone in nine of the 14 patients, with both mammography and MR imaging in three patients, with mammography alone in one patient, and with no imaging modality in one patient. In four of the 14 patients, management was altered from re-excision to mastectomy (n = 3) or from breast-conservation therapy to mastectomy (n = 1). CONCLUSION MR imaging has a high positive predictive value for predicting residual tumor after excisional biopsy. The identification of mammographically and clinically unsuspected multifocal or extensive residual tumor may lend support for mastectomy rather than re-excision. However, false-negative findings due to postsurgical changes and false-positive findings due to enhancement of granulation tissue and benign breast tissue remain limitations.