Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual impairment and the incidence of falls and fractures among older people: longitudinal findings from the Blue Mountains Eye Study.

PURPOSE We assessed the impact of visual impairment on the incidence of falls and fractures in older persons. METHODS Of 3654 baseline participants, 2334, 1952, and 1149 were re-examined after 5, 10, and 15 years. Presenting visual acuity (VA) was measured at each examination. Bilateral and unilateral visual impairment was defined as VA worse than 20/40 in the better and worse eye, respectively. Incident visual impairment was defined in eyes with VA 20/40 or better at baseline, which subsequently developed visual impairment. Incidence of falls was assessed over the 12 months before each visit, whereas incidence of fractures was assessed over the 5 years between two visits. Discrete logistic-regression models with time-dependent variables were used to assess associations between visual impairment and subsequent falls and fractures after adjusting for potential confounding variables. RESULTS The proportions of participants reporting ≥2 falls ranged between 10% and 14%, and proportions reporting fractures ranged between 12% and 21%, across the three follow-up visits. Participants with incident visual impairment were more likely to report ≥2 falls in 5 years, OR (odds ratio) 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04 to 2.04 (bilateral), and OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.51 (unilateral). Compared to participants with normal vision, those with incident unilateral visual impairment had a higher incidence of fractures over 5 years (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.98-1.51). No increased incidence of falls or fractures was evident after 5+ years among participants with visual impairment. CONCLUSIONS In this older cohort, recent development of visual impairment was associated with increased likelihood of subsequent falls and fractures in the next 5 years, independent of other confounding variables.
The Performance of Stock-Price Driven Acquisitions

Existing literature has shown that periods of high merger activity are correlated with high market valuations. Significantly more acquisitions occur when stock markets are booming than when markets are depressed. Using methodologies robust to recent criticism we show that viewed through an ex-postperformance lens, acquirers buying during periods of low stock-market-valuation appear to be making better acquisitions than those buying during high stock-market-valuation periods. We find that the market welcomes acquisition announcements during high market-valuation periods but is at best indifferent to acquisition announcements during low market-valuation periods. In the long run however, fortunes are reversed. Acquisitions initiated during high market-valuation periods earn negative abnormal returns while acquisitions initiated during low market-valuation periods earn positive abnormal returns. We suggest that acquirers make worse decisions during periods of high market-valuation possibly due to a combination of managerial hubris and market irrationality and that the market learns about the true quality of the acquisition decisions gradually. JEL Classification: G34
The Impact of Acquisitions on Innovation: Poison Pill, Placebo, or Tonic?

Do acquisitions increase, decrease, or have no effect on innovation? The empirical research on this question suggests that acquisitions may hurt innovation; that is, they may be a “poison pill” for innovation. The authors present an alternative view. For firms that first engage in internal knowledge development, the knowledge-based view the authors present suggests that acquisitions can help innovation; that is, they can be a tonic for innovation. Analysis of cross-sectional, time-series data on a sample of pharmaceutical firms during 1988–97 provides evidence to support the thesis.
Late‐glacial recolonization and phylogeography of European red deer (Cervus elaphus L.)

The Pleistocene was an epoch of extreme climatic and environmental changes. How individual species responded to the repeated cycles of warm and cold stages is a major topic of debate. For the European fauna and flora, an expansion–contraction model has been suggested, whereby temperate species were restricted to southern refugia during glacial times and expanded northwards during interglacials, including the present interglacial (Holocene). Here, we test this model on the red deer (Cervus elaphus) a large and highly mobile herbivore, using both modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA from the entire European range of the species over the last c. 40 000 years. Our results indicate that this species was sensitive to the effects of climate change. Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) haplogroups restricted today to South‐East Europe and Western Asia reached as far west as the UK. During the LGM, red deer was mainly restricted to southern refugia, in Iberia, the Balkans and possibly in Italy and South‐Western Asia. At the end of the LGM, red deer expanded from the Iberian refugium, to Central and Northern Europe, including the UK, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and Belarus. Ancient DNA data cannot rule out refugial survival of red deer in North‐West Europe through the LGM. Had such deer survived, though, they were replaced by deer migrating from Iberia at the end of the glacial. The Balkans served as a separate LGM refugium and were probably connected to Western Asia with genetic exchange between the two areas.
The supportive role of complement in HIV pathogenesis

This review focuses on interactions of HIV with the first‐line defence of native immunity, the complement system. In all body compartments tested so far, HIV meets complement. Activation of the complement system results in deposition of C3 fragments on the viral surface, but in contrast to other pathogens, most of HIV is not or is only poorly lysed by membrane attack complexes. To survive complement‐mediated lysis, HIV has not only developed resistance mechanisms, but uses opsonisation with complement fragments for its own advantage. Opsonised virions interact with complement receptor‐expressing cells, which are either subsequently infected with high efficiency or retain viral particles on their surface, which promotes transmission of virus to other permissive cells. Our knowledge of these mechanisms has increased enormously over the past few years. A complete understanding of these complex interactions of HIV with the complement system opens new perspectives for development of alternative therapeutic strategies.
www.econstor.eu Export Competitiveness of Developing Countries and U.S. Trade Policy

This paper examines the impact of the revocation of tariff exemptions on exports of developing countries using data from cases of the Competitive Needs Limits (CNL), a feature of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). CNLs are arguably imposed on super competitive GSP beneficiaries and aim to reserve the GSP benefits for other “less competitive” GSP eligible countries. I find that being excluded from the GSP as a result of a CNL induces a large and significant drop in imports from affected countries, both in value and in their share in total US imports. Contrary to the policy objectives of CNLs, the excluded countries do not appear to be “super competitive. ” In addition, the findings suggest that much of the benefits of CNLs accrue to non-GSP countries, rather than other GSP beneficiaries. JEL Classifications: F13, F14, O12, O19
Dynamic metabolic responses of brown planthoppers towards susceptible and resistant rice plants

Summary Brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål, BPH) causes huge economic losses in rice‐growing regions, and new strategies for combating BPH are required. To understand how BPHs respond towards BPH‐resistant plants, we systematically analysed the metabolic differences between BPHs feeding on the resistant and susceptible plants using NMR and GC‐FID/MS. We also measured the expression of some related genes involving glycolysis and biosyntheses of trehalose, amino acids, chitin and fatty acids using real‐time PCR. BPH metabonome was dominated by more than 60 metabolites including fatty acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleosides/nucleotides and TCA cycle intermediates. After initial 12 h, BPHs feeding on the resistant plants had lower levels of amino acids, glucose, fatty acids and TCA cycle intermediates than on the susceptible ones. The levels of these metabolites recovered after 24 h feeding. This accompanied with increased level in trehalose, choline metabolites and nucleosides/nucleotides compared with BPH feeding on the susceptible plants. Decreased levels of BPH metabolites at the early feeding probably resulted from less BPH uptakes of sap from resistant plants and recovery of BPH metabolites at the later stage probably resulted from their adaptation to the adverse environment with their increased hopping frequency to ingest more sap together with contributions from yeast‐like symbionts in BPHs. Throughout 96 h, BPH feeding on the resistant plants showed significant up‐regulation of chitin synthase catalysing biosynthesis of chitin for insect exoskeleton, peritrophic membrane lining gut and tracheae. These findings provided useful metabolic information for understanding the BPH–rice interactions and perhaps for developing new BPH‐combating strategies.
Psychological resilience in sport performers: a review of stressors and protective factors

Abstract Psychological resilience is important in sport because athletes must utilise and optimise a range of mental qualities to withstand the pressures that they experience. In this article, we discuss psychological resilience in sport performers via a review of the stressors athletes encounter and the protective factors that help them withstand these demands. It is hoped that synthesising what is known in these areas will help researchers gain a deeper profundity of resilience in sport, and also provide a rigorous and robust foundation for the development of a sport-specific measure of resilience. With these points in mind, we divided the narrative into two main sections. In the first section, we review the different types of stressors encountered by sport performers under three main categories: competitive, organisational and personal. Based on our recent research examining psychological resilience in Olympics champions, in the second section we discuss the five main families of psychological factors (viz. positive personality, motivation, confidence, focus, perceived social support) that protect the best athletes from the potential negative effect of stressors. It is anticipated that this review will help sport psychology researchers examine the interplay between stressors and protective factors, which will, in turn, focus the analytical lens on the processes underlying psychological resilience in athletes.
Severe Thrombocytopenia Possibly Associated with TMP/SMX Therapy

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of possible severe, life-threatening thrombocytopenia associated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) therapy. CASE SUMMARY: A 54-year-old white woman received a 10-day course of TMP/SMX for treatment of chronic sinusitis. One day after finishing the course of TMP/SMX therapy, she presented to the emergency department because of the development of scattered petechiae on both hands and blood blisters in her mouth. On admission, her complete blood cell count results revealed a severely low platelet count of 2 × 103/mm3. Other laboratory test results were normal, except for elevated blood glucose (nonfasting blood glucose). TMP/SMX was believed to be the most likely cause of thrombocytopenia. She was treated successfully with a transfusion of 2 units of platelets and oral prednisone. Her platelet count increased to 110 × 103/mm3 4 days after discontinuation of TMP/SMX. She was discharged on hospital day 5. On follow-up (2 wk after hospital discharge), her platelet count was normal (351 × 103/mm3). DISCUSSION: TMP/SMX has been implicated as a cause of thrombocytopenia, which is defined as platelet count <150 × 103/mm3. Although it is uncommon, spontaneous severe bleeding may occur when platelet count decreases to ≤10 × 103/mm3. Thrombocytopenia associated with TMP/SMX appears to be an immune-mediated process resulting in platelet destruction by drug-dependent platelet antibodies. Treatment of thrombocytopenia associated with TMP/SMX therapy includes discontinuation of the offending drug and the use of corticosteroids. Platelet transfusion and intravenous immunoglobulin may be required in some patients. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombocytopenia associated with TMP/SMX therapy can be serious or life threatening because it may result in significant bleeding complications. This hematologic adverse effect of TMP/SMX may occur even with the usual recommended dosage and duration of therapy. Careful monitoring of complete blood cell count, including platelet count, before and during TMP/SMX therapy is suggested.
The MDR1 3435 polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a multifactorial disease, the pathogenesis of which involves immunological, genetic and environmental factors. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) encoded by the MDR1 gene, is an important transporter for many drugs, xenobiotics and cytokines and may be associated with many immunological processes and apoptosis. The activity of P-gp is genetically determined. Naturally occurring MDR1 polymorphisms have been described and correlated with potential clinical effects. Several mutations in the MDR1 gene have been recognized, but only some of them are associated with P-gp expression. The C3435T polymorphism was found to correlate with the activity of P-glycoprotein. The aim of the study was to evaluate the C3435T MDR1 polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and to investigate a possible correlation with disease susceptibility, activity and severity. METHODS The study was carried out in 92 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 97 healthy subjects as a control group. The C3435T polymorphism was determined using the PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS The distribution of C3435TT MDR1 genotypes in RA patients did not differ significantly from that in a control group and was as follows: 3435CC in 25 (26.9%) subjects, 3435CT in 50 (53.8%) and 3435TT in 17 (18.3%). The probability of remission of RA symptoms after therapy with methotrexate and glucocorticosteroids however, was 2.89-fold greater in patients with the 3435TT genotype compared to patients with the genotypes 3435CC and 3435CT. The risk of having an active form of rheumatoid arthritis resistant to therapy with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with 3435CC and 3435CT genotypes was 2.89 times greater than in homozygous 3435TT subjects. CONCLUSION We suggest that the C3435T MDR1 polymorphism is not an important genetic risk factor for RA susceptibility, but that this polymorphism may have an influence on the activity of the disease and its response to therapy with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.
Effects of Donor-, Pancreas-, and Isolation-Related Variables on Human Islet Isolation Outcome: A Systematic Review

Different factors have been reported to influence islet isolation outcome, but their importance varies between studies and are hampered by the small sample sizes in most studies. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review to assess the impact of donor-, pancreas-, and isolation-related variables on successful human islet isolation outcome. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched electronically in April 2009. All studies reporting on donor-, pancreas-, and isolation-related factors relating to prepurification and postpurification islet isolation yield and proportion of successful islet isolations were selected. Seventy-four retrospective studies had sufficient data and were included in the analyses. Higher pre- and postpurification islet yields and a higher proportion of successful islet isolations were obtained when pancreata were preserved with the two-layer method rather than University of Wisconsin solution in donors with shorter cold ischemia times (CITs) [1 h longer CIT resulted in an average decline of prepurification and postpurification yields and proportion of successful isolations of 59 islet equivalents (IEQs)/g, 54 IEQs/g, and 21%, respectively]. Higher prepurification yields and higher percentage of successful islet isolations were found in younger donors with higher body mass index. Lower yields were found in donation after brain death donors compared to donation after cardiac death donors. Higher postpurification yields were found for isolation with Serva collagenase. This review identified donor-, pancreas-, and isolation-related factors that influence islet isolation yield. Standardized reports of these factors in all future studies may improve the power and identify additional factors and thereby contribute to improving islet isolation yield.
Constructing dense fuzzy systems by adaptive scheduling of optimization algorithms

In this paper dense fuzzy rule based systems are constructed for solving machine learning problems. During the knowledge extraction process a scheduling approach is applied, which adaptively switches between the different optimization algorithms based on their convergence speed in the phases of the learning process, i.e. according to their respective local efficiency. The scheduled optimization techniques are evolutionary algorithms that have shown efficiency in the construction of dense fuzzy rule based systems in previous investigations. Simulations runs are executed on standard benchmark data sets in order to evaluate the established fuzzy rule based learning system and to compare it to fuzzy systems built up using the same optimization methods without the scheduling approach.
Narcotrend, Bispectral Index, and Classical Electroencephalogram Variables During Emergence from Propofol/Remifentanil Anesthesia

The aim of this study was to investigate modern and classical electroencephalographic (EEG) variables in response to remifentanil and propofol infusions. We hypothesized that modern EEG variables may indicate the effects of propofol but not of remifentanil. Twenty-five patients were included in the study after the end of elective spine surgery without any surgical stimulation. Baseline values were defined with remifentanil 0.3 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1 and target-controlled infusion of propofol 3.0 &mgr;g/mL. EEG changes were evaluated 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 min after the stop of remifentanil infusion, followed by a step-by-step reduction (0.2 &mgr;g/mL) every 3 min of target-controlled infusion propofol. Narcotrend (NT; classifying EEG stages from awake to deep anesthesia), bispectral index (BIS), EEG spectral frequency bands (%), 50% (Median) and 95% percentiles (spectral edge frequency), mean arterial blood pres- sure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation were detected at every time point. The end of remifentanil application resulted in significant increases in %&agr;, spectral edge frequency, mean arterial blood pressure, and %&thgr; and decreases in %&dgr; (P < 0.05). NT, BIS, Median, heart rate, and oxygen saturation were unchanged. Decreases in propofol concentration were associated with statistically significant increases in NT and BIS (P < 0.05). Thus, the sedative-hypnotic component of propofol could be estimated by modern EEG variables (NT and BIS), whereas the analgesic component provided by remifentanil was not indicated. However, during conditions without surgical stimulation, neither NT nor BIS provided an adequate assessment of the depth of anesthesia when a remifentanil infusion was used.
Molecular Interplay between Endostatin, Integrins, and Heparan Sulfate*

Endostatin is an endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis. Although several endothelial cell surface molecules have been reported to interact with endostatin, its molecular mechanism of action is not fully elucidated. We used surface plasmon resonance assays to characterize interactions between endostatin, integrins, and heparin/heparan sulfate. α5β1 and αvβ3 integrins form stable complexes with immobilized endostatin (KD = ∼1.8 × 10−8 m, two-state model). Two arginine residues (Arg27 and Arg139) are crucial for the binding of endostatin to integrins and to heparin/heparan sulfate, suggesting that endostatin would not bind simultaneously to integrins and to heparan sulfate. Experimental data and molecular modeling support endostatin binding to the headpiece of the αvβ3 integrin at the interface between the β-propeller domain of the αv subunit and the βA domain of the β3 subunit. In addition, we report that α5β1 and αvβ3 integrins bind to heparin/heparan sulfate. The ectodomain of the α5β1 integrin binds to haparin with high affinity (KD = 15.5 nm). The direct binding between integrins and heparin/heparan sulfate might explain why both heparan sulfate and α5β1 integrin are required for the localization of endostatin in endothelial cell lipid rafts.
Stability analysis of microgrids with constant power loads

In this paper, thorough analysis is carried out on a microgrid system with a constant power load. Constant power loads make the system to be unstable due to their negative impedance characteristics and this is proved for the microgrid system by deriving the small signal state space model for the system and then observing the location of the system poles. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to check whether it is possible to eliminate the instability of the system by tuning the voltage and current controller gain values of the microgrid inverter system. Also by transforming small signal state space model to Laplace domain, stability conditions are derived for the microgrid with a constant power load connected parallel with other loads. From these conditions, the loading limit of the constant power load for making the system stable is obtained. These theoretical loading limits obtained are proven using a model of microgrid simulated in Matlab/Simulink platform.
Estrogen dynamics and hormonal differences associated with lactational performance of cows induced to lactate.

Abstract Five nonpregnant and nonlactating Holsteins (three cows and two heifers) were injected subcutaneously each 12 b of days 1 to 7 with estradiol-17 β and progesterone (.1mg and .25 mg/day per kg bodyweight) dissolved in absolute ethanol to induce lactation. Estradiol-17 β and -17 α represented 81 to 89% of total estrogen in blood plasma from days 7 to 27, and -17 α was 78 to 90% of total estrogen excreted in urine. Although conversion of absorbed estradiol-17 β to free estrone occurred in blood plasma, conversion of estradiol-17 β to free estradiol-17 α was greater. Among estrogens, only estradiol-17 β was higher in blood plasma after day 27 than in some untreated cows with abnormal ovarian function. The heifers, but not the cows, lactated from treatment. Compared with pretreatment (day 0) and end of treatment day 7 to 7.5, concentrations of prolactin in blood plasma were increased prior to first milking (day 12) of heifers as in other studies but were unchanged through day 38 in the cows. Epimers of estradiol, -17 β in blood plasma and -17 β and -17 α in urine, were lower in heifers than in cows during day 13 and days 17 to 26 but not thereafter. However, failure to induce lactation in the cows appeared to be due to low secretion of prolactin.