Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized double-blind study of risperidone and olanzapine in the treatment of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

OBJECTIVE The safety and efficacy of risperidone and olanzapine were compared in a double-blind trial that used doses widely accepted in clinical practice. METHOD Subjects (N=377) who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomly assigned to receive 2-6 mg/day of risperidone (mean modal dose=4.8 mg/day) or 5-20 mg/day of olanzapine (mean modal dose=12.4 mg/day) for 8 weeks. RESULTS The two study groups were similar at baseline except that the olanzapine group was slightly younger than the risperidone group. Seventy-five percent of the participants completed the trial, with no between-treatment differences in the proportion of dropouts. Similar proportions of the risperidone and olanzapine groups reported extrapyramidal symptoms (24% and 20%, respectively). Severity of extrapyramidal symptoms was low in both groups, with no between-group differences. Total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores and scores on the five Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale factors were improved in both groups at week 8 (subjects who completed the study) and endpoint (all subjects, including dropouts). There were overall between-treatment differences in efficacy. Comparison of individual factors found no significant differences at endpoint; at week 8, however, improvements on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale factors for positive symptoms and anxiety/depression were greater with risperidone than olanzapine. An increase in body weight of > or =7% was seen in 27% of olanzapine participants and 12% of risperidone participants. CONCLUSIONS Both treatments were well tolerated and efficacious. The frequency and severity of extrapyramidal symptoms were similar in the two treatment groups. Greater reductions in severity of positive and affective symptoms were seen with risperidone than with olanzapine treatment among study completers. There was no measure on which olanzapine was superior. Greater weight gain was associated with olanzapine than with risperidone treatment.
Changes to exhaled nitric oxide in asthmatic children after drinking a caffeine‐containing cola drink

Exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) may be a biomarker for airway eosinophilia and of use in the management of childhood asthma. Caffeine ingestion has been associated with changes in FENO concentration in adults. The present study tested the hypothesis that ingestion of a caffeine‐containing cola drink will increase FENO in asthmatic children.
Association between early administration of high-dose erythropoietin in preterm infants and brain MRI abnormality at term-equivalent age.

IMPORTANCE Premature infants are at risk of developing encephalopathy of prematurity, which is associated with long-term neurodevelopmental delay. Erythropoietin was shown to be neuroprotective in experimental and retrospective clinical studies. OBJECTIVE To determine if there is an association between early high-dose recombinant human erythropoietin treatment in preterm infants and biomarkers of encephalopathy of prematurity on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term-equivalent age. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A total of 495 infants were included in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012. In a nonrandomized subset of 165 infants (n=77 erythropoietin; n=88 placebo), brain abnormalities were evaluated on MRI acquired at term-equivalent age. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned to receive recombinant human erythropoietin (3000 IU/kg; n=256) or placebo (n=239) intravenously before 3 hours, at 12 to 18 hours, and at 36 to 42 hours after birth. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome of the trial, neurodevelopment at 24 months, has not yet been assessed. The secondary outcome, white matter disease of the preterm infant, was semiquantitatively assessed from MRI at term-equivalent age based on an established scoring method. The resulting white matter injury and gray matter injury scores were categorized as normal or abnormal according to thresholds established in the literature by correlation with neurodevelopmental outcome. RESULTS At term-equivalent age, compared with untreated controls, fewer infants treated with recombinant human erythropoietin had abnormal scores for white matter injury (22% [17/77] vs 36% [32/88]; adjusted risk ratio [RR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35-0.96), white matter signal intensity (3% [2/77] vs 11% [10/88]; adjusted RR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.05-0.90), periventricular white matter loss (18% [14/77] vs 33% [29/88]; adjusted RR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30-0.92), and gray matter injury (7% [5/77] vs 19% [17/88]; adjusted RR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.13-0.89). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In an analysis of secondary outcomes of a randomized clinical trial of preterm infants, high-dose erythropoietin treatment within 42 hours after birth was associated with a reduced risk of brain injury on MRI. These findings require assessment in a randomized trial designed primarily to assess this outcome as well as investigation of the association with neurodevelopmental outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00413946.
Essays on The Dividend Policy of Financial and non Financial Firms

This dissertation aims first to investigate whether banks, which have unique characteristics, use dividends to reduce the agency conflicts between their different stakeholders. Another objective is to investigate if the implementation of a regulation of dividend policy is necessary to oblige firms to pay dividends for good governance purposes. In Chapter 1, we examine if bank managers use dividends to reduce agency cost of equity (managers vs. shareholders) and agency cost of debt (shareholders vs. creditors). We show that bank managers use dividends as substitute to weak legal protection and strike a balance in their dividend policy with however a more decisive role played by the agency cost of equity than the one of debt. Chapter 2 further explores if the degree of ownership concentration and the level of asymmetric information (opacity) faced by outsiders influence banks’ dividend payouts. In either concentrated or dispersed ownership structure insiders (managers or majority shareholders) pay lower dividends when the degree of opacity is high. In line with the entrenchment behavior for banks, insiders extract higher levels of private benefits when it might be more difficult to detect such opportunistic behavior. Higher level of shareholder protection and stronger supervisory regimes help to constrain such behavior. These findings have critical policy implications for the implementation of Basel 3 with restrictions on dividend payouts that might reinforce this entrenchment behavior. In the Chapter 3, we investigate if the implementation of a regulation to oblige firms to pay dividends for better governance is desirable. We consider the case of Indonesia, where the regulator plans to implement a mandatory regulation on dividends in a context of declining dividend payments and weak shareholder rights. The findings recommend that firms should only be required to pay dividends when they reach a certain development stage, and action should only be taken against those firms which do not pay dividends, although they should be able to. Overall, dividend policies should not be regulated by one-policy-for-all regulation.
Digital Discrimination: The Case of Airbnb.com

Online marketplaces often contain information not only about products, but also about the people selling the products. In an effort to facilitate trust, many platforms encourage sellers to provide personal profiles and even to post pictures of themselves. However, these features may also facilitate discrimination based on sellers' race, gender, age, or other aspects of appearance. In this paper, we test for racial discrimination against landlords in the online rental marketplace Airbnb.com. Using a new data set combining pictures of all New York City landlords on Airbnb with their rental prices and information about quality of the rentals, we show that non-black hosts charge approximately 12% more than black hosts for the equivalent rental. These effects are robust when controlling for all information visible in the Airbnb marketplace. These findings highlight the prevalence of discrimination in online marketplaces, suggesting an important unintended consequence of a seemingly-routine mechanism for building trust.
Osteopontin Stimulates Preneoplastic Cellular Proliferation Through Activation of the MAPK Pathway

Alterations in the microenvironment collaborate with cell autonomous mutations during the transformation process. Indeed, cancer-associated fibroblasts and senescent fibroblasts stimulate tumorigenesis in xenograft models. Because senescent fibroblasts accumulate with age, these findings suggest that they contribute to age-related increases in tumorigenesis. Previously we showed that senescence-associated stromal-derived osteopontin contributes to preneoplastic cell growth in vitro and in xenografts, suggesting that it impacts neoplastic progression. Analysis of fibroblasts within premalignant and malignant skin lesions ranging from solar/actinic keratosis to squamous cell carcinoma revealed they express osteopontin. Given the stromal expression of osteopontin, we investigated how osteopontin impacts preneoplastic cell growth. We show that osteopontin promotes preneoplastic keratinocyte cellular proliferation and cell survival through the CD44 cell receptor and activation of the MAPK pathway. These data suggest that stromal-derived osteopontin impacts tumorigenesis by stimulating preneoplastic cell proliferation thus allowing expansion of initiated cells in early lesions. Mol Cancer Res; 9(8); 1018–29. ©2011 AACR.
Auditor's Independence and Audit Quality: A Study of Selected Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

The need to ensure reliable and high quality of audit work has largely focused on auditors independence to ensure an auditor is not too familiar with his client, because if an auditor is too familiar with his client it will jeopardize their integrity and in return impair their independent opinion. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of auditor’s independence on audit quality of selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. The population of this study comprised of twenty (20) listed Deposit money banks in Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sample size of seven (7) banks. Secondary Data was used and data were sourced from the audited annual report of the sample banks. The Data analysis techniques that were adopted for this study consisted of descriptive statistics, correlation and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. The study revealed that there is a positive relationship between audit fee, audit firm rotation and audit quality. There exist negative relationship between audit firm tenure and audit quality. The correlation between audit quality and leverage is strong, negative and statistically significant. The correlation between audit quality and company size is strong, positive and statistically significant. The study recommends that Auditor’s independence should be strengthened by taking different measures to address the issues which could create threats for auditors. The measures will include, but not limited to regular rotation of auditors, reduction in the tenure of auditors and appropriate audit fees.
An analysis of strategic alliances: forms, functions and framework

Defined broadly as any relationship between companies involving a sharing of common destinies, strategic alliances are cropping up across the global arena. Due to the maturation of several trends of the 1980s, such as: intensified foreign competition, shortened product life cycles, soaring cost of capital, including the cost of research and development, and ever‐growing demand for new technologies, alliances are becoming an attractive strategy for the future. Published material on the subject is vast, diverse and fragmented. Synthesizes this material and develops a common thread as to how these alliances are formed and the ingredients for their success or failure. Identifies six dimensions along which the alliances are formed and the change in management style needed for the success of alliances. Defines an interesting phenomenon termed the “Octopus Strategy” where multidivision companies from Japan, the United States and Europe are joining forces to create multiple strategic alliances. The end result of .
Buyers' perceptions of pirated products in China

Purpose – To investigate buyer attitudes and behaviour with respect to pirated products, in China, and to present findings potentially usable as the basis for planning effective marketing strategies to counteract this endemic competitive threat facing multinational entrants to the crucial Chinese market.Design/methodology/approach – Existing knowledge in the published literature was combined with inputs from focus groups in three cities to design and administer a questionnaire‐based “mall intercept” survey in the same locations. Data were analysed and interpreted by means of principal component analysis and varimax rotation. Respondents were classified as heavy or light purchasers of pirated products, on criteria derived from the focus‐group and survey findings.Findings – Responses from 1,152 buyers of two categories of pirated product suggest that tertiary‐educated males in white collar occupations are heavy purchasers of pirated video discs, attracted by their speed of publication, variety and supply. H.
Guidelines for Selecting or Modifying Logos

The authors develop guidelines to assist managers in selecting or modifying logos to achieve their corporate image goals. An empirical analysis of 195 logos, calibrated on 13 design characteristics, identified logos that meet high-recognition, low-investment, and high-image communication objectives. High-recognition logos (accurate recognition created by high investment) should be very natural, very harmonious, and moderately elaborate. Low-investment logos (false sense of knowing and positive affect) should be less natural and very harmonious. High image logos (professional look and strong positive image) must be moderately elaborate and natural. The authors illustrate the guidelines with real logos.
Business mating: when start-ups get it right

Abstract The importance of forming business relationships is critical for the prosperity of start-ups; still, few studies have examined how conditions inside and around the start-up together lead to business mating – occurrence of a new business relationship. To clarify the importance of proper fit among management style and invention features for high mating chances, this paper tackles this need by taking a configurational approach. We use qualitative comparison analysis (QCA) to analyze case studies from 16 invention-based start-ups seeking marketing partners. Findings indicate different solutions leading to high chances of forming business relationships. This study contributes with a typology to the business relationship and start-up literature, as well as discusses future directions to the emerging sub-domain of business mating research.
Stock Market Integration in South Asia

While the topic of stock market integration has been one of the highly researched area in the literature but focus had mostly been on the stock markets of developed economies. Few have focused on analyzing market integration in South Asian region and no inclusion of Bhutanese stock has been found in the literature in any of the earlier studies. The objective of this paper is to analyze market integration between Bhutanese, Indian and other indices in the region. We also analyzed whether other indices in the region are co-integrated with Indian stock market, as Indian market is more proficient in the region and can be believed to have influences on others. We analyzed all indices in the region on one to one basis (using pairwise co-integration test). We used weekly data from January 2006 to December 2011 period from the stock exchanges of (Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan). Applying, Dickey-Fuller method, we tested unit root for each stock indices and used Johansen co-integration approach pairwise to test the long-term relationship between stock indices and multivariate approach to test market integration as a whole. We found that all indices are stationary at I(1) and confirmed no long-term relationship between Bhutanese stock with Indian and other regional stock markets. In fact we find no market integration either on one to one basis or for the south Asian market as a whole. Information on market integration should help market players in managing their investments in capital markets in a sustainable manner.
The impact of early palatal obturation on consonant development in babies with unrepaired cleft palate.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether palatal obturators enhance consonant development during babbling for babies with unrepaired cleft palate. PARTICIPANTS Fourteen babies with cleft palate who had worn anterior palatal obturators prior to palatal surgery were matched to 14 unobturated babies according to cleft type, sex, and age at time of presurgical evaluation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Spontaneous vocalizations of the obturated and unobturated groups were compared to determine whether differences were evident in size of consonant inventory as well as place and manner of consonant production. RESULTS Paired t tests revealed no significant differences between the groups in size of consonant inventory or place and manner of consonant production. There was a trend for babies in the obturated group to produce more glottal consonants. CONCLUSIONS In general, the findings of this study suggested that palatal obturators do not appear to facilitate production of anterior palatal consonants during babbling.
Money Talks: Perceived Advertising Expense and Expected Product Quality

Does the perceived expense of a new product's advertising campaign influence expectations about the product's quality? This article conceptualizes the process by which perceived advertising expense acts as a cue to quality. Results from six experiments indicate that under some conditions, knowledge of cost-related campaign elements can evoke advertising expense inferences the influence quality predictions, and these inferences may be spontaneous. Copyright 1989 by the University of Chicago.
Thiabendazole for the Treatment of Infected Children with Strongyloidiasis in Gaza Strip

Thiabendazole is the drug of choice in the treatment of helminthiasis, and has been proven to be highly effective against intestinal parasitic infection especially Strongyloides stercoralis. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of thiobendazole spectrum of single, double and mixed parasitic infections. It was conducted at rural area of north Gaza strip , Palestine . Three faceal samples from 1600 children were screened for the presence of cysts , trophozoites , eggs or larvae of intestinal parasites. One thousand one hundred fifty nine children infected with at least one protozoan and helminthes were given 25 mg/kg of thiobendazole, twice daily (50mg/kg/day) for 3 consecutive days. Faecal samples were examined after the 1st week and second week following initiation of treatment using fresh and formalin ether-concentration technique. The reduction rate as seen by mean larvae counts two weeks after treatment was 98% for Strongyloidiasis infection . The reduction rate as seen by mean eggs counts was 91.3% for Ascaris lumbricoides , 70% for Trichuris trichura and 40% for Hymenolepis nana infections . No side effects were observed. Hematological values were obtained before and after treatment remained unaffected by thiobendazole . As such Thiobendazole proved to be effective and safe in the treatment of soiltransmitted nematode infections in children of north Gaza strip. Present study further suggests that thiobendazole is highly effective in curing Strongyloides and Ascaris infections despite their occurrence in a highly contaminative environment.
Corporate social reporting practices: the case of companies listed on the Nairobi stock exchange

This study aimed at examining the corporate social reporting practices of companies listed in the Nairobi Stock Exchange in the year 2006. To achieve this, the researcher set out to investigate the extent of social reporting, the guidelines used in preparing social reports and assessing the quality of the social reports. The study was based on all the forty two companies that had been listed and were actively trading in the Nairobi Stock Exchange through out the year 2006. Primary data and secondary data were used to facilitate in the accomplishment of the stated objectives. Primary data was obtained through the use of questionnaires while secondary data was collected from the annual reports of listed companies. The extent and nature of corporate social reporting in annual reports was measured according to the number of sentences used Corporate social reports disclosures were classified according to six key themes. The mode of presentation and the type of news disclosed were also investigated The research showed, in summative, that corporate social reporting in Kenya is of low quality and lacks completeness, uniformity and reliability. Most of the reporting is done in the annual reports in the corporate governance section. Only two companies prepared separate and stand alone reports. The reports primarily focused on education, health and social and charitable activities. All the information was good news and no bad news was disclosed The study concluded that corporate social reporting should be encouraged through ethical considerations and social agreements and through external auditing of the social reports.
Poisoning Relationships: Perceived Unfairness in Channels of Distribution

Understanding how relationships are damaged is a critical component in building and preserving strong distribution channels. Using longitudinal data from a Fortune 500 firm and its channel members, this research shows that perceived unfairness truly acts as “relationship poison” by directly damaging relationships, aggravating the negative effects of both conflict and opportunism, and undermining the benefits of using contracts to manage channel relationships. Surprisingly, at low levels of perceived unfairness, conflict and opportunism have small or even insignificant effects on channel member outcomes, which implies that research investigating the negative impact of conflict and opportunism on exchange outcomes may need reevaluation because these effects are contingent and may vary depending on the levels of perceived unfairness. In addition, the findings support the premise that using contracts to manage channel relationships represents a double-edged sword that suppresses the negative effects of conflict and opportunism while aggravating the negative effect of unfairness.
Corporate Reputation Organizational Competence and Firm-Specific Tobin's q: The Moderating Role of

Corporate reputation activities have been shown to be a predictor of and a response to strategic organizational activities and outcomes. However, relatively little is known about the moderating role of corporate reputation in the relationship between organizational competencies and firm performance. Using a dynamic panel data model, this study examines how organizational competencies – employee value-added and technological competence – influence firm-specific Tobin’s q, and how corporate reputation activities moderate this relationship.The results indicate that organizational competencies enhance firm-specific Tobin’s q and that corporate reputation activities play a synergistic role, reinforcing the relationship between organizational competencies and firm performance.These findings contribute to both the resource-based view of the firm and corporate reputation literature by complementing and extending earlier research on the role of corporate reputation activities on firm-specific performance.