Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Degeneration of fungiform and circumvallate papillae following molar extraction in rats

Abstract Objective. Proper occlusion facilitates food intake and gustatory function is indispensable for the enjoyment of food. Although an interaction between dentoalveolar and gustatory afferent neurons has been suggested by previous studies, the relationship between occlusion and gustation remains unclear. This study investigated the effect of upper molar extraction which diminished occlusal support on peripheral gustatory receptors in rats. Materials and methods. Thirty-six 7-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control group. All maxillary molars were extracted from rats in the experimental group under anesthesia, while a sham operation was conducted in the control group. The rats were euthanized 7, 14 or 28 days after the procedure. The morphology of the circumvallate papillae and taste buds using immunohistochemical methods and the fungiform papillae were visualized with 1% methylene blue. Results. Defects in the gustatory epithelium were observed after maxillary molar extraction. Rats in the experimental group had significantly fewer fungiform papillae, narrower circumvallate papillae, shallower trench depth, smaller trench area, smaller taste bud area, lower ratios of taste bud area to trench area and fewer taste buds than those in the control group. Conclusions. The findings indicate that molar extraction would affect peripheral gustatory receptors. This is the first study to characterize changes in rat fungiform and circumvallate papillae after maxillary molar extraction. This study suggests a possible synergic relationship between dentoalveolar perception and gustatory function, which has clinical implications that occlusion is closely correlated with gustatory perception.
Transparency and accountability reconsidered

Explores the concepts of transparency and accountability and assesses how they can be increased, relating this to the control of corruption and to effective democracy, and recognising that the cost of transparency is diminished confidentiality and privacy. Applies this to the retrieval of the proceeds of corruption, using a case study in Italy to show how a wife’s complaint about divorce compensation led to the uncovering of corruption involving many politicians. Discusses how codes of conduct and ethics often incorporate attempts to improve transparency and accountability.
The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students

We show that the vast majority of low-income high achievers do not apply to any selective college. This is despite the fact that selective institutions typically cost them less, owing to generous financial aid, than the two-year and nonselective four-year institutions to which they actually apply. Moreover, low-income high achievers have no reason to believe they will fail at selective institutions since those who do apply are admitted and graduate at high rates. We demonstrate that low-income high achievers' application behavior differs greatly from that of their high-income counterparts with similar achievement. The latter generally follow experts' advice to apply to several "peer," a few "reach," and a couple of "safety" colleges. We separate low-income high achievers into those whose application behavior is similar to that of their high-income counterparts ("achievement-typical") and those who apply to no selective institutions ("income-typical"). We show that income-typical students are not more disadvantaged than the achievement-typical students. However, in contrast to the achievement-typical students, income-typical students come from districts too small to support selective public high schools, are not in a critical mass of fellow high achievers, and are unlikely to encounter a teacher who attended a selective college. We demonstrate that widely used policies—college admissions recruiting, campus visits, college mentoring programs—are likely to be ineffective with income-typical students. We suggest that effective policies must depend less on geographic concentration of high achievers.
Platelet-derived Growth Factor and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Regulate Ras Protein Levels in Primary Human Fibroblasts via ERK1/2

The levels of Ras proteins in human primary fibroblasts are regulated by PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor). PDGF induced post-transcriptionally Ha-Ras by stimulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ERK1/2. Activation of ERK1/2 and high ROS levels stabilize Ha-Ras protein, by inhibiting proteasomal degradation. We found a remarkable example in vivo of amplification of this circuitry in fibroblasts derived from systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) lesions, producing vast excess of ROS and undergoing rapid senescence. High ROS, Ha-Ras, and active ERK1/2 stimulated collagen synthesis, DNA damage, and accelerated senescence. Conversely ROS or Ras inhibition interrupted the signaling cascade and restored the normal phenotype. We conclude that in primary fibroblasts stabilization of Ras protein by ROS and ERK1/2 amplifies the response of the cells to growth factors and in systemic sclerosis represents a critical factor in the onset and progression of the disease.
The Challenge of Economic Integration for Transitional Economies of Southeast Asia: Coping with Revenue Losses

This paper seeks to estimate the revenue losses of CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam) due to the implementation of CEPT (Common Effective Preferential Tariff) scheme resulting from their participation in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and to suggest appropriate policies for compensating the losses. It is evident that all CLMV countries, with the notable exception of Myanmar, stand to lose significant amounts of customs revenue from ASEAN imports due to the scheme. However, the overall government revenue (tax as well as non-tax) is likely to rise substantially in all CLMV countries despite CEPT rate reductions. The countries should, therefore, stay committed to the full implementation of CEPT scheme despite temporary decline in their revenues, argued in the paper.
The Impacts of International Migration on Remaining Household Members: Omnibus Results from a Migration Lottery Program

Abstract We use a migration lottery program to overcome the double-selectivity problems posed by migration. We compare a wide range of outcomes for the remaining household members of Tongan emigrants with those of members of similar households who were unsuccessful in the lottery, with the policy rules determining which household members can move. Multiple hypothesis testing procedures are used to examine robustness. The overall impact on households left behind is largely negative in terms of resource availability, and both sources of selectivity matter, leading studies that fail to address them adequately to misrepresent the impact of migration on households.
Complicated Spaces: Negotiating Collaborative Teaching and Interdisciplinarity in Higher Education

This study focused on the socially-constructed meanings, implications, and institutional factors that influence the extent to which faculty members engage in collaborative teaching at a research university. Drawing upon theoretical foundations of interdisciplinarity and collaborative teaching and in-depth findings from faculty focus groups, we illustrate the various models of collaborative teaching currently in use by faculty and the structural conditions governing these teaching experiences. Findings suggest that while collaborative teaching experiences are emerging as teaching innovation and are potentially beneficial to students, they are institutionally challenging and often incongruent to the dominant culture of the research university.
Street Markets Influencing Urban Consumer Behavior in Mexico

ABSTRACT Street markets in the urban setting form the bottom of the pyramid market structure, which caters to consumers of semi-urban settlements. Consumers favor these markets for farm-fresh agricultural products and low-priced consumer goods. This study empirically investigates the role of street markets in urban sociodemographic clusters in the shift of consumer behavior against large shopping malls and supermarkets. Data were gathered from 490 respondents engaged in buying products at 373 vending stalls across 14 street market locations in Mexico City. Data were collected on 31 variables and analyzed using structural equation model. The study also addresses street markets as change agents of consumer behavior in the context of marketplace ambience, vending patterns, ethnic values, and interactive customer relations. The conventional shopping wisdom of customers, competitive gains, and socio-cultural advantages are also addressed based on an empirical survey. The study revealed that shopping behavior is largely motivated by the physical factors such as location of marketplace, distance, and vending stall type within the street market. Findings also indicate that consumers possess a strong conviction that street markets offer fresh products of farm and animal origin as well as ethnic food irrespective of hygiene standard.
Business Models for Internet-Based E-Commerce: An Anatomy

The success of Internet-based businesses in the business-to-customer segment in recent years has been impressive. It is widely projected that the business-to-business segment is poised for a spectacular growth as well. However, a consistent definition and a framework for a business model for Internet-based business is still non-existent. This article proposes a three-dimensional framework for defining a business model and applies it to the emerging market structure. It also identifies certain factors that can guide organizations in their choice of an appropriate business model.
On the Need for a New Approach to Analyzing Monetary Policy

We present a pricing kernel that summarizes well the main features of the dynamics of interest rates and risk in postwar U.S. data and use it to uncover how the pricing kernel has moved with the short rate in this data. Our findings imply that standard monetary models miss an essential link between the central bank instrument and the economic activity that monetary policy is intended to affect and thus we call for a new approach to monetary policy analysis. We sketch a new approach using an economic model based on our pricing kernel. The model incorporates the key relationships between policy and risk movements in an unconventional way: the central bank's policy changes are viewed as primarily intended to compensate for exogenous business cycle fluctuations in risk which threaten to push inflation off target. This model, while an improvement on standard models, is considered just a starting point for their revision. It leads to critical questions that researchers need to answer as they continue to revise their approach to monetary policy analysis.
Cities’ capacity to manage climate vulnerability: experiences from participatory vulnerability assessments in the lower Göta Älv Catchment, Sweden

Within the scope of this project, tools for conducting systematic and integrated climate vulnerability and sustainability assessments have been developed. Two municipalities in the lower Göta Älv catchment were selected as study cases. Together with representatives from key municipal departments and national government agencies, the interdisciplinary research team designed and conducted a co-production process. Results obtained using the developed tools demonstrate that conducting such a systematic assessment of the current situation and potential impacts of climate change adaptation measures would contribute to synergies between adaptation strategies and other policy arenas. Our recommendation for enhancing the capacity of local vulnerability management in Sweden is to shift foci in four fields: from static analysis of climate vulnerability to a dynamic approach to social vulnerability, from a sector-wise fragmented approach to integrated management, from a focus on technical fixes and physical measures to institutional adaptation measures, and, finally, from sustainability-blind adaptation investments to long-term sustainable climate adaptation measures. The processes and mechanisms for succeeding in this requires that knowledge be produced, shared, and managed in partly new ways, allowing stakeholders both inside and outside local government administration to voice and synergise their concerns and solutions.
Functional sodium magnetic resonance imaging of the intact rat kidney.

BACKGROUND Renal fluid homeostasis depends to a large extent on the sodium concentration gradient along the corticomedullary axis. The spatial distribution and extent of this gradient were previously determined by invasive methods, which yielded a range of results. We demonstrate here the capacity of sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify non-invasively renal sodium distribution in the intact kidney. METHODS Sodium MRI was applied to study normal, diuretic, and obstructed rat kidneys in vivo. The images were recorded at 4.7 Tesla using a 3-dimensional gradient echo sequence, with high spatial and temporal resolution. The tissue sodium concentration (TSC) was obtained by taking into account the measured nuclear relaxation rates and MRI visibility relative to a reference saline solution. RESULTS The corticomedullary sodium gradient increased linearly from the cortex to the inner medulla by approximately 31 mmol/L/mm, from a TSC of approximately 60 mmol/L to approximately 360 mmol/L. Furosemide induced a 50% reduction in the inner-medulla sodium and a 25% increase in the cortical sodium. The kinetics of these changes was related to the specific site and mechanism of the loop diuretic. Distinct profiles of the sodium gradient were observed in acute obstructed kidneys, as well as spontaneously obstructed kidneys. The changes in the sodium gradient correlated with the extent of damage and the residual function of the kidneys. CONCLUSION Quantitative assessment of the renal corticomedullary sodium gradient by high resolution sodium MRI may help verify new aspects of the kidney concentrating mechanism and serve as a non-invasive diagnostic method of renal function.
Oesophageal and gastric intestinal-type adenocarcinomas show the same male predominance due to a 17 year delayed development in females

Background and aims: Upper gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas show an unexplained male predominance that is more apparent in oesophagus than stomach and in intestinal than diffuse histological subtype. We have conducted a population-based study to determine whether the gender phenomenon is primarily related to the anatomical site or the histological subtype. Method and materials: Of 3270 gastric and oesophageal cancers recorded in the West of Scotland Cancer Registry, 1998–2002, 812 were randomly selected for detailed analysis. The Lauren histological subtype of adenocarcinoma was determined by reviewing 1204 original reports and 3241 biopsies. Results: Analysis included 405 non-cardia cancers, 173 cardia cancers and 209 oesophageal adenocarcinomas. Crude incidence rate of intestinal subtype was higher in males (23.86/100 000 person-years) versus females (9.00/100 000 person-years), giving a male/female (M/F) ratio of 2.65 whereas diffuse subtype was similar for both genders (5.58 vs 5.20/100 000 person-years) yielding M/F of 1.07. The M/F ratios for oesophageal, cardia and non-cardia gastric cancer were 3.5, 2.0 and 1.6, respectively. Multiple logistic regression indicated that the odds of male gender was related to the histological subtype rather than anatomical location (odds ratio 2.6, 95% confidence interval 1.78 to 3.9). Curve fitting of the age-specific incidence of intestinal subtype indicated that similar functions describe the rise in incidence with age in males and in females. However, the age-specific incidence of female intestinal subtype was delayed by 17.3 years. The M/F ratio of intestinal subtype was 3.41 at age <50 years, peaked at 7.86 at age 50–59 years and then showed a progressive decrease after 50–60 years of age. Conclusion: Male predominance of upper gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma is related to the intestinal histological subtype rather than tumour location and is due to marked delayed development of this subtype in females prior to 50–60 years of age.
Is ASCT With TBI Superior to ASCT Without TBI in Mantle Cell Lymphoma Patients?

Background Impact of total-body irradiation (TBI) in conditioning regimen on outcome for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) remains unknown. Methods Patients with MCL who underwent autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) in our institution were eligible for the present study (n=73). We analyzed the impact of various biologic and clinical parameters, with and without TBI, on patient outcome. Results All patients presented with chemosensitive disease at transplantation. Median follow-up from ASCT was 37.2 months. One- and three-year overall survival (OS) rates were 90.3% and 74.5%, progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 85% and 59%, respectively. Three-year OS and PFS rates in the non-TBI group versus TBI group were similar: 80% versus 72.5% and 60% versus 57%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the use of TBI did not modify OS or PFS (P=0.93 and P=0.48, respectively). This remains true for patients who underwent ASCT up front. According to multivariate analysis, OS tended to be shorter for patients presenting with high Mantle Cell Lymphoma International Prognostic Index or low hemoglobin level. Conclusions Absence of TBI in conditioning regimen modifies neither PFS nor OS. The present retrospective and monocentric analysis shows that transplant patients with MCL remain highly exposed to relapse.
Can Wage Dynamics in Long-term Employment Relationships Help Mitigate Financial Shocks

Evidence suggests that financially constrained firms may offer lower wages, coupled with faster wage growth. If these constrained firms can tilt wages, cutting current wages in exchange for later increases, this potentially mitigates the impact of financial frictions or shocks. This paper studies the aggregate implications of this mitigating effect with an application to the 2008 financial crisis. I provide a new, tractable equilibrium model of wage dynamics for heterogeneous firms--some are financially constrained, some not. Risk-neutral firms post optimal long-term wage contracts to attract risk-averse workers through competitive search. When applied to the 2008 financial crisis, the model predicts that small firms, being more likely to be constrained, tend to temporarily cut workers' wages, while for large firms wages are quite smooth and stable. Counterfactual experiments in the model show that the mitigating effect can be important. For instance, if the wages within a contract were more rigid (e.g., by raising workers' risk aversion parameter from $2$ to $10$), the aggregate output would have been even lower in the crisis by about 2\% and the unemployment rate higher by about a third of a percentage point. Lastly, I find that the model has empirical support along several dimensions. The model is consistent with cyclical behavior in wage data (including new hires and job stayers' wage behavior). Its prediction that small firms cut wages much more than large firms is also consistent with micro-level data during the Great Recession.
Multiple Lines of Evidence Indicate That Gliotransmission Does Not Occur under Physiological Conditions

A major controversy persists within the field of glial biology concerning whether or not, under physiological conditions, neuronal activity leads to Ca2+-dependent release of neurotransmitters from astrocytes, a phenomenon known as gliotransmission. Our perspective is that, while we and others can apply techniques to cause gliotransmission, there is considerable evidence gathered using astrocyte-specific and more physiological approaches which suggests that gliotransmission is a pharmacological phenomenon rather than a physiological process. Approaches providing evidence against gliotransmission include stimulation of Gq-GPCRs expressed only in astrocytes, as well as removal of the primary proposed source of astrocyte Ca2+ responsible for gliotransmission. These approaches contrast with those supportive of gliotransmission, which include mechanical stimulation, strong astrocytic depolarization using whole-cell patch-clamp or optogenetics, uncaging Ca2+ or IP3, chelating Ca2+ using BAPTA, and nonspecific bath application of agonists to receptors expressed by a multitude of cell types. These techniques are not subtle and therefore are not supportive of recent suggestions that gliotransmission requires very specific and delicate temporal and spatial requirements. Other evidence, including lack of propagating Ca2+ waves between astrocytes in healthy tissue, lack of expression of vesicular release machinery, and the demise of the d-serine gliotransmission hypothesis, provides additional evidence against gliotransmission. Overall, the data suggest that Ca2+-dependent release of neurotransmitters is the province of neurons, not astrocytes, in the intact brain under physiological conditions. Dual Perspectives Companion Paper: Gliotransmission: Beyond Black-and-White, by Iaroslav Savtchouk and Andrea Volterra
Unfair to whom? Discipline and dismissal in small establishments

This article draws on data collected as part of a project investigating the role of workplace disciplinary and grievance procedures and their influence, if any, on employment tribunal claims of unfair dismissal. It focuses specifically on small firms and small sites of larger firms and examines the question of fairness from two perspectivesÂfirst, in relation to the managerial treatment of employees in matters of discipline, and secondly, by consideration of whether employment tribunals are unfair to small employers who defend claims.
How Do Capital Structure Policies of Emerging Markets Differ from Those of Developed Economies? Survey Evidence from Korea

We examine the capital structure policies of Korean firms using survey data for business group (chaebol) firms and independent firms. Our results are compared with findings in earlier studies for developed economies: Graham and Harvey (2001) for the United States and Brounen et al. (2004, 2006) for Europe. Korean chief financial officers are concerned about financial flexibility and volatility of earnings when issuing debt; they are concerned about target debt ratio maintenance and recent stock price increases when issuing equity. In contrast to independent firms, chaebol firms are more concerned about differences in corporate tax rates between foreign and domestic markets and the risk of refinancing in bad times. Chaebol firms are less likely to issue debt when faced with insufficient internal funds, which indicates that active internal capital markets are at work among the firms in a business group. Our results suggest that, compared to U. S. and European firms, Korean firms are under more pressure from their peers in formulating capital structure policies, consider equity a cheap source of financing, are less concerned with the dilution of earnings per share, and less frequently provide shares to employees as compensation.