Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Relationship between Ownership–Control Wedge and Overinvestment Practices: Evidence from Korean Business Groups (Chaebol)

This study examines the effects of controlling shareholders’ ownership–control wedge on firms’ overinvestment practices. In addition, it further investigates the incentive effects of controlling shareholders’ cash flow rights on firms’ overinvestment. We find a non-monotonic relation between controlling shareholders’ ownership–control wedge and a firm's overinvestment. Specifically, the relation between controlling shareholders’ wedge and overinvestment is significant for certain wedge levels. Thus we conclude that controlling shareholders with certain levels of wedge expropriate minority shareholders’ benefits since the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost. We also document that cash flow rights are effective to reduce a firm's overinvestment to certain levels.
Tobacco smoking and risk of haematological malignancies in adults: a case–control study

A retrospective study was conducted in 1216 cases to investigate the possible association between tobacco smoking and the risk of haematological malignancies. A small, but not significant, increase in malignancy was observed in smokers. Significant association was demonstrated between tobacco smoking and acute non‐lymphoblastic leukaemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The duration and amount smoked increased the risk; heavy smokers presented significant positive associations with overall malignancies, acute nonlymphoblastic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, whereas light smokers did not present any significant association. These data support a causal relationship between certain haematological malignancies and tobacco smoking. Further research is needed to examine the risk according to dose–response effect, and the variation in risk according to the histological subtype of the malignancy.
Evaluating the Quality of Internet-Derived Information on Plantar Fasciitis

Patients seeking medical advice increasingly turn to the World Wide Web. To test the hypothesis that Internet-provided medical information often is inaccurate and biased, we selected a common musculoskeletal condition. Three common Internet search engines were used to search “plantar fasciitis” and “plantar fascitis. ” Combining the first 50 web addresses from each search engine for both phrases and eliminating duplicate sites resulted in a database of 152 websites. Each website then was analyzed for authorship, sponsoring agency, and presence of financial incentive. The informational value score of each site then was graded using a 10-point scale evaluating the following parameters: basic definition of plantar fasciitis, causes and risk factors, clinical symptoms, diagnostic tests, differential diagnosis, conservative and surgical treatment options, and complications. The overall mean information value score for all 152 sites was 3.8 points; 36% of the sites showed financial bias. The highest mean scores among all authorship and sponsorship categories belonged to orthopaedic surgeons and academic institutions with mean scores of 7.1 and 6.1 points, respectively. Sites without obvious financial bias had significantly higher information value scores than sites with financial interests. Healthcare professionals should consider these findings when advising patients.
The Origins of African Civil-Military Relations: Ethnic Armies and the Development of Coup Traps

Military coups have posed a persistent threat to political stability in Africa— undermining democratization efforts, initiating lasting cycles of intra-military violence, and even descending into civil war. Since decolonization, over 200 coup attempts have been made across the continent. This dissertation seeks to understand what causes African militaries to intervene so frequently in the domestic politics of their societies? How did certain countries (but not others) get functionally stuck in coup traps? At the time of independence, military institutions were in a state of deep transformation and new African leaders faced an important choice over how they would tie soldiers to the state. This critical juncture set countries on different paths of institutional development—some stable and reinforced through self-perpetuating mechanisms and others unstable, prone to extreme backlash processes of instability. Where leaders chose to build military loyalty on ethnic foundations—where they conditioned recruitment, promotion, and access to patronage on shared identity— they tended to set their countries on dangerous paths of violence. To choose broadly inclusive military recruitment (civic-nationalism), on the other hand, led to greater stability on average, but was still dangerous in highly ethnically politicized contexts. These theoretical claims are evaluated with both cross-national statistical analysis and case study evidence. Both duration and count models find that countries predicted to travel stable paths survive longer coup free following independence (9.412.4 years longer) and experience less coup attempts overall (2.7-3.5 fewer in the 20 years following decolonization). Paired comparisons—Sierra Leone and Cameroon for ethnic loyalty and Ghana and Senegal for civic-national loyalty—were then employed to further test the key theoretical differences between paths as well as to trace the causal mechanisms of each.
Cucullanus costaricensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Cucullanidae), A Parasite of Bagre pinnimaculatus (Siluriformes: Ariidae) from Río Tempisque, Costa Rica

Abstract A new species of nematode, Cucullanus costaricensis n. sp. , is described from the Red Sea catfish Bagre pinnimaculatus from Río Tempisque, Costa Rica. The new species is characterized by the following traits: spicules and gubernaculum length (0.48 ± 0.02 [0.45–0.50] and 0.20 ± 0.02 [0.18–0.21], respectively); a protruding cloacal region in males, and the arrangement of caudal papillae (1 medial unpaired precloacal papilla and 10 pairs of papillae: 3 precloacals [first pair subventral and anterior to ventral sucker; second and third pairs posterior to ventral sucker; second pair asymmetric and subventral; third pair slightly subventral and closer to cloacal opening], 3 subventral adcloacal pairs [pairs 4–6], and 4 pairs of postcloacal papillae [seventh pair lateral, eighth pair subdorsal, ninth and tenth pairs subventral]); and lateral phasmids between the seventh and eighth pairs of postcloacal papillae. This finding represents the first record for a species of Cucullanus in Central America.
Docosahexaenoic acid level of the breast milk of some Filipino women

This study was conducted to determine the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) level of the breast milk of 100 Filipino women as affected by diet. The subject distribution was patterned after the 1997 Family and Income Expenditure Survey of the National Statistics Office regarding the total number of families, and the total and average family income and expenditures by income class in an urban area. The subjects were asked to complete a 3-day food record and food frequency questionnaire to ascertain the nutrient content of their food intake and approximate eating habits. Hind milk was drawn manually by means of a fabricated glass breast pump and collected in polypropylene vials. The milk samples were stored in a freezer maintained at −25±2°C until they were transported to the University of Montreal for fatty acid composition. The milk was methylated using the Lepage and Roy method. The obtained fatty acid methyl esters were analyzed by gas chromatography. Results showed that the milk samples contain an average of 188.34 μg DHA/ml milk, while %DHA of the samples is 0.65%. Regression analysis revealed that mean protein intake of the subjects was a determinant of the DHA level in the milk samples.
Skin toxic effects of polyethylene glycol-coated liposomal doxorubicin.

OBJECTIVES To record the profile of toxic effects of polyethylene glycol-coated liposomal doxorubicin hydrochloride (Doxil) to the skin, and to evaluate whether the long circulation pattern and enhanced accumulation of liposomes in specific skin sites will result in any unique presentations. DESIGN Patients were accrued in the frame of dose-range-finding studies that examine the toxic effects and antitumor activity of Doxil therapy in metastatic breast and prostate cancers. All patients receiving Doxil were instructed to report any skin eruption or discomfort. Skin examination was performed on a regular basis at every cycle of Doxil therapy and after specific complaints. SETTING Outpatient day care unit of the oncology institute of a secondary-referral medical center. PATIENTS Sixty patients (45 women and 15 men). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A basic severity scale of I through IV was adopted for toxic effects to the skin, based on National Cancer Institute common toxicity criteria. RESULTS The following 4 patterns of skin eruptions were encountered: hand-foot syndrome (n = 24), diffuse follicular rash (n = 6), intertrigolike eruption (n = 5), and new formation of melanotic macules (n = 3). Another major toxic effect of Doxil was stomatitis, which was found to be the dose-limiting factor for the maximal single dose. Alopecia and extravasation injuries did not occur. CONCLUSIONS The profile of toxic effects of Doxil to the skin reflects its unique pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution. These skin reactions vary significantly from those associated with doxorubicin in non-liposome-encapsulated form.
Effect of Surgical Periodontal Therapy on Serum C-reactive Protein Levels Using ELISA in Both Chronic and Aggressive Periodontitis Patient.

BACKGROUND Periodontitis can be defined as a local inflammatory process which mediates destruction of periodontal tissues & is triggered by bacterial insult. In periodontal infections, the levels of C reactive proteins are elevated as compared to the levels in a periodontally healthy individual. The study was done to determine the relative levels of serum CRP in aggressive, chronic and periodontally healthy subjects and to evaluate the effect of surgical periodontal therapy on serum C-reactive protein levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS Serum samples were collected from 150 participants (50 healthy control patients (non-periodontitis), 50 patients with chronic periodontitis and aggressive periodontitis. Serum C- reactive protein levels were assessed by means of immunoturbidimetric assay at baseline for subjects in all the 3 groups and 3 months after completion of surgical therapy. RESULTS The mean baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations in the Groups I, II and III were 1.65±0.57 mg/L, 3.03±2.14 mg/L and 3.09±2.27 mg/L respectively. After treatment, the mean C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in Groups II and III reduced from 3.03±1.67 mg/L to 1.46±1.67 mg/L and from 3.09±1.21 to 1.43±1.21 mg/L respectively. Similar results were found for probing depth and all indexes in Group II and III after treatment. Also, the mean attachment loss in Groups II and III reduced, so the results were highly significant. CONCLUSION Successful periodontal treatment results in significant decrease in serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in otherwise healthy subjects.
Cutaneous Model of Invasive Aspergillosis

ABSTRACT Cutaneous models have proven useful in studies of the pathogenesis and treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. Because cutaneous invasive aspergillosis (IA) occurs in the clinical setting, we sought to develop a nonlethal murine cutaneous model of IA. We induced cutaneous IA in cyclophosphamide-treated nude BALB/c mice by subcutaneous injection of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia. Skin lesion areas correlated well with tissue fungal burdens, allowing dynamic visual monitoring of cutaneous infections. The cutaneous model accurately reflected alterations in A. fumigatus pathogenicity resulting from deletions of recognized virulence genes (pabaA, sidA, and pksP). Moreover, analysis of the roles of conidial and mycelial catalases revealed that the former is required for the initiation of cutaneous aspergillosis, whereas the latter contributes to its propagation. Finally, posaconazole treatment reduced skin lesion areas relative to those of untreated and fluconazole-treated controls. This novel cutaneous model system should be applicable to comparative studies of the pathogenesis, treatment, and tissue specificity of IA.
Intracellular Shigella remodels its LPS to dampen the innate immune recognition and evade inflammasome activation

Significance During bacterial infection, the eukaryotic innate immune system detects a restricted number of bacterial structures, such as LPSs, and activates signaling pathways conveying an inflammatory reaction aimed at eradication of the pathogen. Shigella spp. are human enteropathogens that invade colonic and rectal mucosa, where they cause deleterious inflammation. Here we show that Shigella drastically modifies the degree of acylation of the lipid A moiety of LPS during host cell invasion. The purified hypoacylated LPS displays a reduced inflammatory potential that allows the bacteria to lower the sensing activity of the immune system and to escape from downstream effector mechanisms. LPS is a potent bacterial effector triggering the activation of the innate immune system following binding with the complex CD14, myeloid differentiation protein 2, and Toll-like receptor 4. The LPS of the enteropathogen Shigella flexneri is a hexa-acylated isoform possessing an optimal inflammatory activity. Symptoms of shigellosis are produced by severe inflammation caused by the invasion process of Shigella in colonic and rectal mucosa. Here we addressed the question of the role played by the Shigella LPS in eliciting a dysregulated inflammatory response of the host. We unveil that (i) Shigella is able to modify the LPS composition, e.g., the lipid A and core domains, during proliferation within epithelial cells; (ii) the LPS of intracellular bacteria (iLPS) and that of bacteria grown in laboratory medium differ in the number of acyl chains in lipid A, with iLPS being the hypoacylated; (iii) the immunopotential of iLPS is dramatically lower than that of bacteria grown in laboratory medium; (iv) both LPS forms mainly signal through the Toll-like receptor 4/myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 pathway; (v) iLPS down-regulates the inflammasome-mediated release of IL-1β in Shigella-infected macrophages; and (vi) iLPS exhibits a reduced capacity to prime polymorfonuclear cells for an oxidative burst. We propose a working model whereby the two forms of LPS might govern different steps of the invasive process of Shigella. In the first phases, the bacteria, decorated with hypoacylated LPS, are able to lower the immune system surveillance, whereas, in the late phases, shigellae harboring immunopotent LPS are fully recognized by the immune system, which can then successfully resolve the infection.
The radiologic and pathologic spectrum of biliary hamartomas.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to correlate the spectrum of radiologic and pathologic findings in a series of patients with biliary hamartomas and known extrahepatic malignancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Biliary hamartomas were diagnosed in 18 patients with a primary malignant lesion who had liver biopsy for evaluation of possible metastatic disease. Prebiopsy imaging studies included CT in 16 patients and sonography in 11. Imaging studies were reviewed retrospectively and correlated with findings at surgery and on pathologic examination. The hamartomas were classified histologically by the degree of cystic dilatation of bile ducts within the lesion. RESULTS Radiologically, biliary hamartomas presented a spectrum of findings including one or two circumscribed lesions (5-10 mm in diameter) in four patients; multiple (about five) lesions (approximately 5 mm each) in one patient; innumerable tiny, nearly uniform (2-5 mm) lesions in two patients; and innumerable lesions of varying size (2-15 mm) in three patients. Among the patients with innumerable lesions, the nodules were either uniformly or nonuniformly distributed throughout the liver. In all cases, the lesions were hypodense on contrast-enhanced CT scans and hypoechoic on sonograms. In eight patients, the lesions were not visible by imaging but biopsies were done at surgery when single or multiple tiny nodules were noted on the liver surface. The diagnosis was made by either wedge or core-needle biopsy; fine-needle aspirations were nondiagnostic. Pathologic examination revealed single or multiple hamartomas of varying sizes ranging from solid to largely cystic lesions; the degree of cystic dilatation did not correlate with imaging findings. Visibility on imaging correlated with larger lesion size; small surface lesions were usually occult. CONCLUSION Biliary hamartomas cause single or multiple nonspecific hepatic lesions that may mimic metastases. This diagnosis should be considered in patients with a primary malignant tumor when single or multiple small hepatic lesions are seen, regardless of uniformity of size or distribution.
Functional analysis of cilia and ciliated epithelial ultrastructure in healthy children and young adults

Background: There are very few data on normal ciliary beat frequency, beat pattern, and ultrastructure in healthy children and adults. A study was undertaken to define ciliary structure, beat frequency and beat pattern in a healthy paediatric and young adult population. Methods: Ciliated epithelial samples were obtained from 76 children and adult volunteers aged 6 months to 43 years by brushing the inferior nasal turbinate. Beating cilia were recorded using a digital high speed video camera which allowed analysis of ciliary beat pattern and beat frequency. Tissue was fixed for transmission electron microscopy. Results: The mean ciliary beat frequency for the paediatric population (12.8 Hz (95% CI 12.3 to 13.3)) was higher than for the adult group (11.5 Hz (95% CI 10.3 to 12.7 Hz), p<0.01, t test); 10% (range 6–24%) of ciliated edges were found to have areas of dyskinetically beating cilia. All samples had evidence of mild epithelial damage. This reflected changes found in all measurements used for assessment of epithelial damage. Ciliary ultrastructural defects were found in less than 5% of cilia. Conclusion: Normal age related reference ranges have been established for ciliary structure and beat frequency. In a healthy population localised epithelial damage may be present causing areas of ciliary dyskinesia.
Use of analgesics and risk of renal cell cancer

Although heavy or long‐term use of analgesics has been related to risk of renal cell cancer in several studies, evidence for such an association remains inconclusive. In a populationbased case‐control study including 440 renal cell cancer cases, spouses of an additional 151 cases, and 691 controls, we assessed renal cell cancer risk associated with lifetime consumption among those who reported during in‐person interviews regular (at least 2 or more times per week for I month or longer) use of analgesics. Odds ratios (OR) were computed using logistic regression analyses. No excess risk was associated with regular use of aspirin, acetaminophen, phenacetin or combinations of these agents, nor did risks rise with increasing cumulative intake of these analgesics. A non‐significant increased risk (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 0.6–6.9) was observed among women who used only acetaminophen‐containing analgesics, but little excess was seen in men. Earlier studies reported a link to phenacetin‐containing analgesics, but no one reported exclusive use of phenacetin‐containing drugs in our study. The findings suggest that use of analgesics is not likely to play a major role in renal cell cancer development and that for cases diagnosed in the late 1980s or later, after the earlier withdrawal of phenacetin‐containing drugs from the market, a hazard from this analgesic no longer exists. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vehicle Detection in Satellite Images by Hybrid Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Detecting small objects such as vehicles in satellite images is a difficult problem. Many features (such as histogram of oriented gradient, local binary pattern, scale-invariant feature transform, etc.) have been used to improve the performance of object detection, but mostly in simple environments such as those on roads. Kembhavi et al. proposed that no satisfactory accuracy has been achieved in complex environments such as the City of San Francisco. Deep convolutional neural networks (DNNs) can learn rich features from the training data automatically and has achieved state-of-the-art performance in many image classification databases. Though the DNN has shown robustness to distortion, it only extracts features of the same scale, and hence is insufficient to tolerate large-scale variance of object. In this letter, we present a hybrid DNN (HDNN), by dividing the maps of the last convolutional layer and the max-pooling layer of DNN into multiple blocks of variable receptive field sizes or max-pooling field sizes, to enable the HDNN to extract variable-scale features. Comparative experimental results indicate that our proposed HDNN significantly outperforms the traditional DNN on vehicle detection.
Pharmacological Treatment in the Early Phase of Bipolar Disorders: What Stage are we at?

Objective: To review available guidelines, explore treatment strategies currently applied, identify critical issues and propose direction for new developments. Method: Literature review based on Medline search and hand search of relevant literature. Results: Pharmacological treatment of the early phase of bipolar disorders lacks specific guidelines. Mood stabilizers are often prescribed after many years of illness, antipsychotic medications are frequently prescribed and often for extensive periods of time, and adherence to medication is relatively poor. In addition, mania is frequently misdiagnosed, and there is limited knowledge on which to base identification of bipolar depression and identification of the initial prodrome to bipolar disorders. Conclusions: There is an urgent need for more research in the early phases of bipolar disorders to develop means to identify patients earlier and to develop approaches that would address the specific needs of this population in a more adequate manner.
Distinct characteristics of pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis with usual interstitial pneumonia compared with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

BACKGROUND Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare form of interstitial pneumonia and sometimes coexists with a histologic usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern. This study aimed to describe the distinct clinical features of PPFE with UIP pattern compared with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 110 consecutive patients with IPF with a histologic UIP pattern on surgical lung biopsy specimen. Patients meeting radiologic criteria for the diagnosis of PPFE based on high-resolution CT scan and with a histologic UIP pattern were included. RESULTS Nine of eleven patients meeting radiologic criteria for the diagnosis of PPFE were histologically confirmed as having PPFE with UIP pattern. The PPFE with UIP pattern group showed a significantly higher residual volume (1.8 L vs 1.3 L, P < .01), higher Paco2 (44.6 mm Hg vs 41.7 mm Hg, P = .04), and higher complication rate of pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum than the 99 patients with IPF/UIP. The ratio of anteroposterior to transthoracic diameter in patients with PPFE with UIP pattern was significantly lower than that in patients with IPF/UIP (P = .04). Survival time tended to be shorter in patients with PPFE with UIP pattern. CONCLUSIONS The results support the view that PPFE with UIP pattern is a disease entity distinct from IPF/UIP and may well be classified as PPFE.