Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HIV coreceptor tropism in antiretroviral treatment-naive patients newly diagnosed at a late stage of HIV infection

Objective:A substantial number of HIV infections worldwide are diagnosed at a late stage of disease. Mortality in late presenters is high, and their treatment is a specific challenge. We have determined the relative proportions of HIV-1 strains of different coreceptor tropism (CRT) in this group of patients and investigated the impact of CRT on progression markers such as CD4 cell counts and viral load, and on the clinical presentation of the patients. Design and methods:Plasma samples from 50 treatment-naive patients with a late HIV diagnosis (CD4 cell counts of <200 cells/μl at the time of diagnosis) were analyzed. HIV strains were sequenced, and for CRT determination, the internet tool geno2pheno[coreceptor] was used, with a 20% false-positive rate as the cutoff. Differences in progression markers, patient characteristics and HIV subtype distribution between the R5-infected and X4/DM-infected patient groups were evaluated statistically. Results:CRT predictions indicated that 62% of the patients had only R5-tropic strains. CRT was not associated with CD4 cell counts or viral load at the time of diagnosis. Only in very late presenters (CD4 cell counts <50 cells/μl) was there a significant difference in disease stage at the time of presentation, showing that patients with R5 more often were at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stage C3 compared with those with X4/DM strains (P = 0.04). Conclusion:A substantial number of patients diagnosed at a late stage of HIV-1 infection may be infected exclusively with R5-tropic virus strains, making this specific patient group a possible candidate for coreceptor antagonist treatment.
Short Sellers and Financial Misconduct

We examine whether short sellers detect firms that misrepresent their financial statements, and whether their trading conveys external costs or benefits to other investors. Abnormal short interest increases steadily in the 19 months before the misrepresentation is publicly revealed, particularly when the misconduct is severe. Short selling is associated with a faster time-to-discovery, and it dampens the share price inflation that occurs when firms misstate their earnings. These results indicate that short sellers anticipate the eventual discovery and severity of financial misconduct. They also convey external benefits, helping to uncover misconduct and keeping prices closer to fundamental values.
Stress-Induced Fas Ligand Expression in T Cells Is Mediated through a MEK Kinase 1-Regulated Response Element in the Fas Ligand Promoter

ABSTRACT T lymphocytes undergo apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli, including exposure to UV radiation and γ-irradiation. While the mechanism by which stress stimuli induce apoptosis is not well understood, we have previously shown that the induction of Fas ligand (FasL) gene expression by environmental stress stimuli is dependent on c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation. Using inducible dominant-active (DA) JNK kinase kinase (MEKK1) expression in Jurkat cells, we map a specific MEKK1-regulated response element to positions −338 to −316 of the Fas ligand (FasL) promoter. Mutation of that response element abrogated MEKK1-mediated FasL promoter activation and interfered in stress-induced activation of that promoter. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we demonstrate that activator protein 1 (AP-1) binding proteins, namely, activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) and c-Jun, bind to the MEKK1 response element. Transient transfection of interfering c-Jun and ATF2 mutants, which lack the consensus JNK phosphorylation sites, abrogated the transcriptional activation of the FasL promoter, demonstrating the involvement of these transcription factors in the regulation of the FasL promoter. Taken together, our data indicate that MEKK1 and transcription factors regulated by the JNK pathway play a role in committing lymphocytes to undergo apoptosis by inducing FasL expression via a novel response element in the promoter of that gene.
How Do Preoperative Antibiotics Affect Culture Yield in Diabetic Foot Infections?

abstract The impact of preoperative antibiotics on culture of diabetic foot infection samples has not been studied. We found that increasing exposure to preoperative antibiotics was associated with less frequent growth of streptococci and anaerobes and more culture-negative results. In contrast, the yield of Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative bacilli was unaffected.
On the trade-offs between risk pooling and logistics costs in a multi-plant network with commonality

This paper examines the benefits and costs of two alternative manufacturing network configurations in the presence of component commonality. We evaluate the trade-off between the decreased logistics costs and loss of risk-pooling benefits in plant networks which spread component manufacturing over each plant (product network) as compared to those that consolidate component manufacturing in a single plant (process network). We examine for conditions that mean that a product network would be chosen instead of a process network and vice-versa. We find that the risk-pooling benefit obtained by consolidating common subassembly production is reduced when the cost of acquiring common component capacity is sufficiently high or low. A post-optimality sensitivity analysis for the process network provides insights into subtle substitution effects, which are a direct outcome of cost mix differentials and network structure and complementarity effects, which are induced by the considered sequential assembly system. Our.
Under Which Conditions Do Technology Intermediaries Enhance Firms' Innovation Speed? The Case of Belgium's Collective Research Centres

Knockaert M. and Spithoven A. Under which conditions do technology intermediaries enhance firms' innovation speed? The case of Belgium's collective research centres, Regional Studies. So far little research has analysed the role of technology intermediaries in enhancing firms' innovation speed. This research aims to fill this gap by studying a specific type of technology intermediary, namely the collective research centres in Belgium, and by assessing the conditions under which member firms working with these intermediaries experience acceleration additionality. It is found that absorptive capacity of the member firm and the intensity of interaction are important drivers of innovation speed. Absorptive capacity at technology intermediary level is not found to affect member firm innovation speed. The research has implications for practitioners, policy-makers and academia.
Empirical Evidence on the Behavior and Stabilizing Role of Fiscal and Monetary Policies in the US

In this paper, standard SVAR tools and counterfactual simulation techniques are applied to study the behavior and countercyclical role of monetary and fiscal policies in the US. In order to set up the model properly, different issues raised by joint identification of monetary and fiscal policy shocks are addressed, in particular, the contemporaneous response of taxes to the federal funds rate. I conclude that the federal funds rate and taxes net of transfers have moved mostly for endogenous reasons and, in the latter case, this reflects automatic rather than discretionary policy. In contrast, government expenditure has been basically driven by exogenous forces. Further, I reach evidence that (automatic) fiscal policy has been the most important stabilizing force in the course of postwar recessions, surpassing the role of monetary policy, while both policies have contributed similarly to narrowing the output gap at early stages of the recovery.
Rising emergency admissions

The National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts reports that providers of secondary care are under pressure from ever rising numbers of acute medical admissions, which were up between 7% and 13% from average rates during 1993–4.1 This is not a recent concern: the Audit Commission, extrapolating from routinely collected hospital data, predicted a doubling of acute admissions to Birmingham hospitals between 1987 and 1996.2 The National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts suggests that the probable causes of the increase include more detected illness, raised expectations of general practitioners (especially fundholders), premature discharge, and worries over litigation. Others point accusingly to variations in general practitioners' referral rates; Acheson was irritated in 1985 that “a phenomenon so gross can continue to defy analysis. ”3 Fundholders are accused of protecting budgets, although they generally do not have to pay for emergency care. Unfortunately, evidence to illuminate this issue is scarce. Although a substantial body of research exists on total referrals to hospital, remarkably few data exist …
Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization Search Costs in Identity-Preserved Agricultural Markets

Many industries have "match-maker" institutions that help agents make links to one another by reducing search costs. Such institutions are now emerging in niche farm and food markets. In this study I provide an explanation for such institutions with a theoretical model of a niche market channel involving a small producer, retailer, and variety-loving consumer. I focus on the process by which producers are connected to retailers, and show that search costs between producers and retailers can be an important fixed cost of entry. Reduced search costs result in a larger number of matches, and facilitate the growth of niche market channels selling on the basis of producer identity. I examine the role of consumer preferences, retailer bargaining power, and other key features of these markets.
Financial Reporting and the Protection of Socioemotional Wealth in Family-Controlled Firms

Abstract We develop an integrated framework to financial reporting decisions in family-controlling firms. Our model contends that in these firms, financial reporting decisions (i.e. earnings management and voluntary disclosure) are driven by a diverse set of family owners’ motives that can be synthesised in the preservation of the different aspects of the family socioemotional wealth (SEW). The proposed model suggests the criticality of recognising the existence of different family owners’ reference points, given the gambling nature of accounting choices. By focusing on two dimensions of SEW (‘Family Control and Influence’ and ‘Family Identification’), we explore how the prioritisation of one dimension or the other will imply a different family owners' evaluation of benefits and costs of accounting strategies and, hence, a diverse resolution of the accounting gamble.
SOCIAL SECURITY AND POLITICAL ELECTION IN RETIREMENT AGE

We focus on the consequences of a voting process on the retirement age when agents have different ages and wages. We have two groups: retired people and workers. Once the retirement age is determined through a voting process, we verify if that age will keep the same popular support in future elections. At the end, we do an exercise of comparative static in order to analyze how the retirement age is conditioned by the redistributive level of the Social Security System. In this way, we also study how elected retirement age is affected by the wage distribution.
Comparative Evaluation of Different Methods to Estimate Urea Distribution Volume and Generation Rate

Eight methods to estimate urea distribution volume and generation rate from blood urea samples measured in dialysis patients are reviewed. An analytical solution has been provided for a double-pool variable volume kinetic model to allow for faster and more accurate simulation and identification. The reliable parameter estimates provided by the double-pool kinetic model starting from seven samples, were assumed as references for the estimates obtained by the remaining methods. These include three kinetic models and four methods based on urea mass-balance. In particular, the estimation techniques differ in the number of compartments where urea is assumed distributed (double- and single-pool) or in the number of blood urea samples. Among the methods based on mass-balance, two techniques neglecting the weight loss or the urea generation during dialysis, were also analysed. The results obtained during hemofiltration sessions using three samples, usually available in clinical practice at the beginning and at the end of dialysis, demonstrate that a new method based on double-pool kinetics provides, on average, the most reliable estimates. Moreover, methods belonging to a single pool view and including both weight loss and urea generation during dialysis seem to underestimate by 1÷2 liters the urea distribution volume. However, neglecting the weight loss or the urea generation can overcompensate this error, resulting in a significant overestimation of the distribution volume. Finally, it has been experimentally proved that the single-pool kinetic methods overestimate the urea production rate, while techniques based on mass balance provide more reliable values.
A Test of the Agency Theory of Managerial Ownership, Corporate Leverage, and Corporate Dividends

A Test of the Agency Theory of Managerial Ownership, Corporate Leverage, and CorporateDividends Author(s): Claire E. Crutchley and Robert S. Hansen Source: Financial Management, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter, 1989), pp. 36-46 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Financial Management Association International Stable URL: http://www.jstor. org/stable/3665795 Accessed: 31-03-2015 15:42 UTC
Axonal transport disturbances in vincristine‐induced peripheral neuropathy

Fast axoplasmic transport of labeled proteins as well as the ultrastructure was studied in the vagus nerves of cats treated chronically with vincristine sulfate (VCR) and in normal nerves exposed in vitro to vincristine. Transport was partially blocked in nerves of some neuropathic cats, and nerves of all neuropathic animals showed a small accelerated transport peak, probably reflecting a reactive or regenerative proces. In vitro, vincristine induced a dose‐related partial blockage of fast axoplasmic transport, with concurrent disappearance of microtubules and appearance of paracrystals.
Supporting Patients During Their Breast Cancer Journey: The Informational Role of Clinical Nurse Specialists

Background: Research evidence suggests that a multidisciplinary team approach improves the outcomes of patients with breast cancer. However, limited attention has examined the extent to which the clinical nurse specialist’s (CNS’s) role can impact Irish patients’ care, particularly given the novelty of this role in Ireland. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the informational role of CNSs in supporting Irish patients during their breast cancer journey and the extent of its impact on their care. Methods: Three Irish breast cancer teams were investigated. A Picker questionnaire was administered to more than 100 patients per team who had completed treatment. Questions focused on the patients’ journey from diagnosis through to treatment completion. Follow-up interviews with the teams’ CNSs were conducted to achieve a deeper understanding of the care received. Results: While patients reported an overall positive impression of their care, they were least satisfied with the amount of information and emotional support they received during their chemotherapy. Clinical nurse specialists commented that there is insufficient staffing in medical oncology to address this need in part because the ill-defined job description makes it difficult to quantify the impact of this role. Conclusions: The informational role of the CNS is inadequately recognized and is thus not currently able to fully address patients’ care needs. Implications for Practice: Clarification of the CNS’s role description in oncology care in Ireland is needed as is sufficient CNS staffing to maintain the vital informational role of CNSs throughout the patients’ breast cancer journey.
Dual Proportional Integral Controller OF Two-Area Load Frequency Control Based Gravitational Search Algorithm

Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) has recently been explored to develop a novel algorithm for distributed optimization and control. This paper proposes a dual Proportional Integral (PI) controller of Load Frequency Control (LFC) based GSA to enhance the damping of oscillations in a two-area power system. A two-area non-reheat thermal system is considered to be equipped with dual PI controller. GSA is utilized to search for optimal controller parameters by minimizing a time-domain based objective function. The performance of the proposed controller has been evaluated with the performance of the conventional PI controller, and PI controller tuned by GSA in order to demonstrate the superior efficiency of the proposed dual PI controller tuned by GSA. Simulation results emphasis on the better performance of the optimized dual PI controller based on GSA in compare to optimized PI controller based on GSA and conventional one over wide range of operating conditions, and system parameters variations. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v15i3. 8454
A contextualisation of entrepreneurship

Purpose – To explore and critically analyse entrepreneurship theories and concepts within the context of the small family tourism business, and the extent to which owner‐managers and their enterprises can be classified as entrepreneurial.Design/methodology/approach – A model has been developed and applied to support a “drilling down” approach that moves from a surface understanding of entrepreneurship as a process through to an industry setting, to penetrate the organisational context and consequential entrepreneurial socio‐economic outcomes.Findings – It has been demonstrated that understanding of the entrepreneurial process, as it interplays with family business, is best served by reference to the cultural, industry setting and organisational context within which entrepreneurs are embedded.Originality/value – The tourism industry has been deliberately selected as an illustrative context due to the low degree of entrepreneurial behaviour that it has traditionally exhibited. Through the application of the.
Controlling Corruption Through Collective Action

Control of corruption in a society is an equilibrium between resources and costs which either empowers or constraints elites predatory behaviour. While most research and practice focuses on legal constraints, this paper investigates normative constraints, deemed to be more important, especially civil society and the press. Fresh evidence—both historical and statistical—is found to support Tocqueville’s assertions regarding the importance of collective action and the joint action of media and associations in not only creating a democratic society, but controlling corruption as well. However, little is known on how to build normative constraints.
A Refinement of the Myerson Value

The Myerson value is an allocation rule which assigns a vector of payoffs to a collection of conferences. It treats direct and indirect connections of players in conferences equally, and thus assigns the same vector of payoffs to a large class of collections of conferences. This paper proposes and axiomatizes an allocation rule which distinguishes direct connections from indirect ones, and hence provides a refinement of the Myerson value. JEL classification: C71.
Forkhead Box M1 positively regulates UBE2C and protects glioma cells from autophagic death

ABSTRACT Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2C (UBE2C) is characterized as a crucial molecule in cancer cell growth that plays an essential role in the development of gliomas, but the detailed mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we found that Forkhead box transcription factor M1 (FoxM1) overexpression increased UBE2C expression, whereas FoxM1 suppression inhibited UBE2C expression in glioma cells. In addition, high FoxM1/UBE2C expression was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in glioma. We subsequently demonstrated that UBE2C was a direct transcriptional target of FoxM1, and site-directed mutations markedly down-regulated UBE2C promoter activity. Moreover, UBE2C siRNA (si-UBE2C) significantly induced glioma cell autophagy and increased both mCherry-LC3 punctate fluorescence and LC3B-II/LC3-I expression. Notably, the si-UBE2C-induced decrease in cell viability was markedly inhibited by the autophagy inhibitor bafilomycin A1. The silencing of UBE2C resulted in a distinct inhibition of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway, which functions in the negative modulation of autophagy. Collectively, our findings provide clinical and molecular evidence that FoxM1 promotes glioma progression by enhancing UBE2C transcription and that the inhibition of UBE2C partially induces autophagic glioma cell death. Thus, targeting the FoxM1-UBE2C axis has therapeutic potential in the treatment of gliomas.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AT A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

This study was designed to investigate the relationships between perceived leadership style and organizational commitment in a public higher education institution in Malaysia. The study established the perceived leadership styles of department heads using the most recent version (Form 5X Short) of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass and Avolio (2004). In addition, the organizational commitment levels of faculty members were measured using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979). The sample of this study consisted of 65 full-time faculty members from the Faculty of Management and Economics. Descriptive statistics were calculated to analyze the perceived leadership style and the level of organizational commitment. The study found that the most exhibited leadership behavior was transformational leadership, followed by transactional and laissez-faire leadership. The study also found that the faculty members had moderate to high level of organizational commitment. Results from correlation analysis revealed that both transformational and active transactional leadership were significantly related to organizational commitment.