Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration in ovarian carcinoma: case report with review of immune modulation

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) is a rare nonmetastatic complication of a carcinoma. It is typically mediated by antibodies generated against tumor antigens. These antigens are the same proteins as expressed on Purkinje cells within the cerebellum; immune activation in the central nervous system (CNS) results in the syndrome. A 56-year-old woman with stage IIIC serous ovarian carcinoma diagnosed 3 years prior developed progressive limb ataxia. Serum anti-Yo antibodies were positive, confirming the diagnosis of PCD. Treatment with plasmaphoresis, intravenous immune globulin, and immune modulation with corticosteroids and tacrolimus was unsuccessful. Although the syndrome can be debilitating and treatment options are limited, it may also be an example of a successful host immune response in certain cases.
Ownership, Competition, and Financial Disclosure

A firm's incentive to disclose has been linked empirically to a range of variables, including information asymmetry, agency costs, political costs, and proprietary costs. While the intuition underlying each of the variables seems plausible, Verrecchia (2001) argues that disclosure models can be characterized as an eclectic mingling of highly idiosyncratic economic-based models, and challenges researchers to take the first steps to unification. First, we investigate the role of ownership and competition variables in explaining voluntary segment disclosures in Australian firms and find support for both these variables. Second, drawing on theory supported by the corporate governance, strategic management and industrial organization literatures, we introduce a new economic variable that unifies both ownership and competition variables. We find that the unifying variable performs better than our model focusing on ownership and competition variables alone. We conduct a series of robustness tests on the model and find that its significance is not affected by the inclusion of disclosure control variables identified in prior literature, the change in standard, and acquisitions and disposals of physical assets.
An UV full-waveform airborne LiDAR as a demonstrator for future space missions dedicated to forest studies

A full-waveform UV lidar ULICE has been used as a demonstrator for future space missions dedicated to forest survey at the global scale. The airborne UV lidar permitted the sampling of representative mid-latitude forests in France. An end to end simulator was built up to simulate spaceborne lidar measurements using as reference the airborne measurements. The sampling acquired on oaks, maritime pines and poplars during winter and summer times are considered to establish a link-budget for different typical orbits always used for past and current space missions (ISS, ICESat and CALIPSO). The lidar signal to noise ratio, the optimal laser footprint size, the required energy for the lidar system, and the signal distortion due to the surface slope are studied.
Evidence on the Role of Accounting Conservatism in Monitoring Managers’ Investment Decisions

Watts (2003), among others, argues that conservatism helps in corporate governance by mitigating agency problems associated with managers’ investment decisions. We hypothesize that if conservatism reduces managers’ ex ante incentives to take on negative NPV projects and improves the ex post monitoring of investments, firms with more conservative accounting ought to have higher future profitability and lower likelihood (and magnitude) of future special items charges. Consistent with this expectation, we find that firms with more conservative accounting have (i) higher future cash flows and gross margins, and (ii) lower likelihood and magnitude of special items charges than firms with less conservative accounting.
Phagocytosis of Candida albicans and Superoxide Anion Levels in Ring Dove (Streptopelia risoria) Heterophils: Effect of Melatonin

We observed in previous studies on avian heterophils that incubation with either physiological or pharmacological concentrations of the neurohormone melatonin increased the phagocytosis of inert particles (latex beads), and also provoked a decline in superoxide anion levels of those phagocytes. In the present study, we wanted to corroborate whether melatonin acts on the oxidative metabolism that accompanies the respiratory burst during phagocytosis by inducing a more effective phagocytic activity at the same time as exerting an antioxidant effect to eliminate and/or scavenge the free radicals left over after the destruction of the foreign material. To this end, we evaluated the ingestion and destruction of Candida albicans (live particles) by ring dove (Streptopelia risoria) heterophils after different times of incubation (30 and 60 min) with physiological concentrations of melatonin (50 pg/ml diurnal and 300 pg/ml nocturnal), as well as with a pharmacological concentration 23 × 106 pg/ml (100 µm) of the hormone. In parallel, using the same times of incubation, we evaluated the oxidative metabolism by determining the superoxide anion levels (O2−·). The results show that melatonin, at all the times and concentrations studied, increases both the phagocytosis index (number of C. albicans phagocytosed by 100 heterophils) and the candidicide power (percentage of C. albicans killed of those ingested by 100 heterophils). The effect was dose‐dependent. With respect to the oxidative metabolism accompanying the digestion and destruction, there was a decline in superoxide anion levels after incubation with all of the concentrations of the hormone studied. The effect was dose‐dependent and most pronounced at 60 min. These results thus corroborate the proposal that melatonin enhances the phagocytic function at the same time as neutralizing the oxidative stress derived from this immune function.
The Relevance to Firm Valuation of Capitalising Intangible Assets in Total and by Category

Debate about the appropriate treatment of intangible assets can benefit from knowledge about the relevance of their financial statement capitalisation to valuation of firms. With rules permitting or requiring intangible asset capitalisation, Australia provides an ideal setting to obtain this evidence. This paper reports findings that indicate that capitalisation of intangibles is value-relevant for Australia's largest firms. Results indicate that investors place greater value on capitalised goodwill than on other categories of capitalised balance sheet items. Similarly, capitalisation of identifiable intangible assets adds value to large firms. However, research and development capitalisation does not affect the value of firms in our study.
[Evaluation of the quality of care for normal delivery].

PURPOSE To evaluate the quality of health care assistance during childbirth in the hospitals of Goiânia, in Brazil. METHODS Thirteen hospitals were appraised from April to December 2007, and a random sample of 404 normal births was studied. Data were obtained from interviews with mothers after delivery and by consulting their medical records. The quality of assistance at birth was evaluated by using the Bologna score and by comparing the procedures used in those hospitals to standard recommended practices. RESULTS The Bologna score presented an average value of 1.04 (95%CI=0.9-1.1). The elective caesarian rate was 30%, the emergency caesarian rate was 10%, and the rate of induced childbirth was 1.6% The percentage of childbirths attended by health care professionals was 100%, but pediatricians in the delivery room were present only in 30% of the time. During labor, half of the women had no evaluation of the uterine dynamics and 29% had no auscultation fetal monitoring. The partogram was used for only 28.5% of the women, whereas the use of oxytocin was 45.8%. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate a poor quality of childbirth care with low values of the Bologna score, high elective and emergency caesarians rates, a high number of unnecessary and potentially harmful interventions, and an insufficient frequency of beneficial interventions.
Reduction of Sample Matrix Effects - The Analysis of Benzimidazole Residues in Serum by Immunobiosensor

Regulatory authorities, the food industry and the consumer demand reliable determination of chemical contaminants present in foods. A relatively new analytical technique that addresses this need is an immunobiosensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurements. Although a range of tests have been developed to measure residues in milk, meat, animal bile and honey, a considerable problem has been encountered with both serum and plasma samples. The high degree of non-specific binding of some sample components can lead to loss of assay robustness, increased rates of false positives and general loss of assay sensitivity. In this paper we describe a straightforward precipitation technique to remove interfering substances from serum samples to be analysed for veterinary anthelmintics by SPR. This technique enabled development of an assay to detect a wide range of benzimidazole residues in serum samples by immunobiosensor. The limit of quantification was below 5 ng/ml and coefficients of variation were about 2%.
Audit Committee, Board Characteristics and Auditor Switch Decisions by Andersen's Clients

Using a sample of hand-collected data on 821 firms, which dismissed Arthur Andersen as their auditor between October 15, 2001 and August 31, 2002, we investigate the role of audit committees and boards of directors in the auditor switch decisions by Andersen's clients. This provides a unique setting to examine auditor choice in a situation where the auditor's reputation is clearly tarnished. We investigate the impact of (a) audit committee size, independence, activity, financial expertise; and (b) board size and board independence on the timing of dismissal and choice of successor auditors by Andersen's clients. We find that firms with more independent audit committees, audit committees with greater financial expertise, and larger and more independent boards dismissed Andersen earlier. We also find that firms with larger and more active audit committees as well as more independent boards were more likely to choose a Big 4 successor auditor. We thus contribute to the understanding of the role of audit committees and boards of directors in the auditor switch decisions.
Stain Specific Standardization of Whole-Slide Histopathological Images

Variations in the color and intensity of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained histological slides can potentially hamper the effectiveness of quantitative image analysis. This paper presents a fully automated algorithm for standardization of whole-slide histopathological images to reduce the effect of these variations. The proposed algorithm, called whole-slide image color standardizer (WSICS), utilizes color and spatial information to classify the image pixels into different stain components. The chromatic and density distributions for each of the stain components in the hue-saturation-density color model are aligned to match the corresponding distributions from a template whole-slide image (WSI). The performance of the WSICS algorithm was evaluated on two datasets. The first originated from 125 H&E stained WSIs of lymph nodes, sampled from 3 patients, and stained in 5 different laboratories on different days of the week. The second comprised 30 H&E stained WSIs of rat liver sections. The result of qualitative and quantitative evaluations using the first dataset demonstrate that the WSICS algorithm outperforms competing methods in terms of achieving color constancy. The WSICS algorithm consistently yields the smallest standard deviation and coefficient of variation of the normalized median intensity measure. Using the second dataset, we evaluated the impact of our algorithm on the performance of an already published necrosis quantification system. The performance of this system was significantly improved by utilizing the WSICS algorithm. The results of the empirical evaluations collectively demonstrate the potential contribution of the proposed standardization algorithm to improved diagnostic accuracy and consistency in computer-aided diagnosis for histopathology data.
How Big is the Tax Advantage to Debt?

This paper uses an option valuation model of the firm to answer the question, "What magnitude tax advantage to debt is consistent with the range of observed corporate debt ratios? " We incorporate into the model differential personal tax rates on capital gains and ordinary income. We conclude that variations in the magnitude of bankruptcy costs across firms can not by itself account for the simultaneous existence of levered and unlevered firms. When it is possible for the value of the underlying assets to junip discretely to zero, differences across firms in the probability of this jump can account for the simultaneous existence of levered and unlevered firms. Moreover, if the tax advantage to debt is small, the annual rate of return advantage offered by optimal leverage may be so small as to make the firm indifferent about debt policy over a wide range of debt-to-firm value ratios.
Low seroprevalence of syphilis in Burkina Faso

Background Little information is available on the epidemiology of syphilis in West Africa, where this infection is routinely screened in antenatal clinics to prevent congenital infection. In order to inform control programmes, the burden of active syphilis was estimated among pregnant women and adults in Burkina Faso. Methods This study enrolled 2136 pregnant women from 98 healthcare facilities and 1679 consenting women and men from the general population of Ouagadougou, the capital city. After a face-to-face interview on demographic characteristics, blood samples were collected and tested for syphilis. Active syphilis was defined by a dually positive result on rapid plasma reagin and Treponema pallidum haemagglutination antibody tests. Results The overall seroprevalence of active syphilis was 1.7% (95% CI 1.3 to 2.2), with similar rates between women (1.2%, 95% CI 0.7 to 2.3) and men (1.8%, 95% CI 1.0 to 3.0) in Ouagadougou, and a trend for higher prevalence among pregnant women from semi-urban areas (2.2%, 95% CI 1.0 to 4.5) compared with rural areas (1.7%, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.4, p=0.06). The prevalence tended to be higher among women aged 20–24 years (2.6%, 95% CI 1.3 to 7.6) and men aged 30–34 years (3.9%, 95% CI 0.8 to 11.0) than at other ages. However, age, marital status, location and education were not associated with syphilis. Conclusion The low prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women and the adult general population is very encouraging but should not challenge the amount of resources dedicated to sexually transmitted infection and HIV prevention.
Inside Debt and Mergers and Acquisitions

I empirically investigate the relation between CEO inside debt holdings and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and find evidence consistent with the agency theory’s prediction of a negative relation between CEO inside debt holdings and corporate risk taking. Further analysis shows that CEO inside debt holdings are positively correlated with M&A announcement abnormal bond returns and long-term operating performance, but negatively correlated with M&A announcement abnormal stock returns. Finally, I find evidence that acquirers restructure the post-merger composition of CEO compensation that mirrors their capital structure in order to alleviate incentives for wealth transfer from shareholders to bondholders or vice versa.
Integrating the social maslaha into Islamic finance

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent of the contribution of the current Islamic financial system to society in terms of social responsibility (SR) required by the concept of social Design/methodology/approach - The paper adopts a critical analytic approach in considering the reasons of the failure of the social dimension of Islamic financial intermediation based on real figures of selected Islamic banks. Findings - Concepts of SR and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are not enough to describe Islamic Banks' responsibilities. Also, this failure cannot be understood only with reference to the “external environment”, i.e. competition-driven, capitalistic market conditions; but it is also closely related to the transformation of Islamic finance into an almost exclusively Practical implications - There is a close relationship between Islamic banking contracts and social contribution of Islamic banks. This paper provides some practical solutions in this context. Also, empirical evidence derived from several conventional and Islamic banks supports these arguments. Originality/value - This paper is the first to analyse the reasons for the social failure of Islamic Banks and to recommend substantial solutions in this scope and also offers practical help to practitioners of Islamic banking on the issue of social contribution of the Islamic banking business.
Quality management – history and trends

Purpose – The continuous development of quality management in organizations was driven on the one hand by competition and on the other hand by growing requirements of the customers. Mass production with a pure push strategy changed to a more and more pull strategy with higher customer and market orientation. To satisfy the requirements of the triangle quality, cost and time the field of view of quality management has continuously been widened from considering “what” is done to “how” it is done. Nowadays the complexity and interrelations inside and outside of organizations increased with their global orientation. To face these global challenges, the purpose of this paper is to do a detailed analysis of the history of quality management that can support the initial position in development of specific tools and methods for quality improvement in organizations. Design/methodology/approach – For the historic analysis a well-founded literature review has been performed. After presenting the historical developme.
BUILDING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: Assessing and managing risks in port development

In recent years increasing dependencies between public and private organizations lead to a growing need for public-private partnerships. However, cultural and institutional differences between the public and private domain and, in addition, the difficulties of bringing the two together, constitute a serious threat to successful public-private partnership. The formation of these partnerships is further hindered by confusion of the concept of public-private partnership. The predominant model of contracting out restricts rather than enhances public-private interaction. This article deals with the difficulties and risks involved in building public-private partnerships and tries to answer the question of how to overcome them. The issue is illustrated by an analysis of the attempts made to realize a huge port expansion in the port of Rotterdam by means of establishing public-private partnership.
When Is the Honeymoon Over? National Basketball Association Attendance 1971-2000

This article uses a Tobit analysis to test for the presence of a honeymoon effect for National Basketball Association (NBA) arenas using a pooled cross-section time series sample from 1971 to 2000. No previous NBA attendance-demand or attendance-related study tested for such an effect. The honeymoon effect increases attendance demand 15% to 20% in the first 4 years of the operation of a new arena, an increase that is similar in magnitude to recently constructed Major League Baseball stadiums. The effect is nonlinear and diminishes relatively quickly with the steady state established after Year 10. Because many NBA arenas are subsidized, the effect has public policy implications if revenue projections for a new arena ignore or overestimate the effect.
The Rise and Fall of the ARM: An Econometric Analysis of Mortgage Choice

This paper estimates an empirical model of the choice between adjustable- and fixe d-rate mortgages using a large national database compiled by the Nat ional Association of Realtors. The explanatory variables in the probi t choice equation include borrower characteristics, regional dummies, the FRM rate, and the FRM-ARM rate differential. Since the intrerest rate on the mortgage not chosen is unobserved, this rate must be est imated in a way that eliminates selectivity bias. Simulation of the e stimated choice equation provides insight into the origin of the ARM revolution. Copyright 1988 by MIT Press.
Determination of chloride efflux by X‐ray microanalysis versus MQAE‐fluorescence

The importance of chloride channels for the cell is demonstrated by a number of serious human diseases that are due to mutations in chloride channels. The most well‐known of these diseases is cystic fibrosis. Investigations into the mechanisms of the disease and possible treatments require the study of chloride fluxes at the level of individual cells. The present study compares two methods for studies of chloride transport: X‐ray microanalysis and MQAE fluorescence with image analysis. As an experimental system, the cAMP‐activated chloride channel in cultured respiratory epithelial cells was chosen. Both methods showed that stimulation with the cAMP‐elevating agents forskolin and IBMX decreased the chloride content of the cells by about 20–27%. Inducing a driving force for chloride by replacing extracellular chloride by nitrate resulted in a chloride efflux that was significantly increased in the presence of forskolin and IBMX. This study shows that X‐ray microanalysis and MQAE fluorescence are adequate and comparable methods for measuring cAMP‐dependent chloride transport in individual cells. Microsc. Res. Tech. 59:531–535, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Phosphatase of regenerating liver‐3 promotes migration and invasion by upregulating matrix metalloproteinases‐7 in human colorectal cancer cells

Phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL)‐3, a member of a subgroup of protein tyrosine phosphatases that can stimulate the degradation of the extracellular matrix, is over‐expressed in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) relative to primary tumors. To determine whether PRL‐3‐induced enhancement of migration and invasion is dependent on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), PRL‐3 was expressed in DLD‐1 human CRC cells. The motility, migration and invasion characteristics of the cells were examined, and metastasis to the lung was confirmed in a nude mouse using PRL‐3‐overexpressing DLD‐1 cells [DLD‐1 (PRL‐3)]. Migration and invasion of the cells were inhibited by phosphatase and farnesyltransferase inhibitors. Expression of MMPs was enhanced 3‐ to 10‐fold in comparison to control cells, and migration and invasion were partially inhibited by small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of MMP‐2, ‐13 or ‐14. Importantly, siRNA knockdown of MMP‐7 completely inhibited the migration and invasion of DLD‐1 (PRL‐3) cells, whereas overexpression of MMP‐7 increased migration. The expression of MMP‐7 was also downregulated by phosphatase and farnesyltransferase inhibitors. It was found that PRL‐3 induced MMP‐7 through oncogenic pathways including PI3K/AKT and ERK and that there is a relationship between the expression of PRL‐3 and MMP‐7 in human tumor cell lines. The expression of MMP‐13 and ‐14 was very sensitive to the inhibition of farnesyltransferase; however, the migration and invasion of DLD‐1 (PRL‐3) cells did not strongly depend on the expression of MMP‐13 or ‐14. These results suggest that the migration and invasion of PRL‐3‐expressing CRC cells depends primarily on the expression of MMP‐7.