Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical, immunological, and genetic heterogeneity of diabetes in an Italian population-based cohort of lean newly diagnosed patients aged 30-54 years. Piedmont Study Group for Diabetes Epidemiology.

OBJECTIVE In lean diabetic patients, the presentation of the disease does not allow one to easily distinguish between type 1 and type 2. Aims of this study were to describe clinical, immunological, and genetic features of lean newly diagnosed diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A population-based cohort of 130 lean (BMI < 25 kg/m2) newly diagnosed patients, aged 30-54 years, was identified among residents of the province of Turin. Islet cell antibodies (ICAs), anti-GAD, fasting and glucagon-stimulated C-peptide values, and HLA DQA1-DQB1 susceptibility genotypes were assessed within 2 months of the diagnosis. RESULTS A total of 45 (34.6%) and 29 (22.3%) patients were, respectively, ICA+ and anti-GAD+, with 15 (11.5%) having both antibodies. In 59 patients, ICAs and/or anti-GAD antibodies were detected, giving a high prevalence of autoimmunity (45.4%, 95% Cl 36.8-54.0); relative to patients without markers (n = 71), they were younger (40.8 +/- 7.5 vs. 45.0 +/- 6.5 years, P < 0.001) and showed lower values of fasting C-peptide (0.56 +/- 0.33 vs. 0.79 +/- 0.41 nmol/l, P < 0.001) and stimulated C-peptide (1.03 +/- 0.56 vs. 1.42 +/- 0.69 nmol/l, P < 0.001). The lowest stimulated C-peptide values were found in patients with both ICA and anti-GAD antibodies. Frequencies of adult-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes were, respectively, 49.2 and 50.8%. Clinical and genetic features were not useful in the classification of patients. CONCLUSIONS Almost 50% of lean young and middle-aged patients were ICA+ and/or anti-GAD+, suggesting a high prevalence of a slowly evolving form of type 1 diabetes. The evaluation at diagnosis of both beta-cell secretory capacity and markers of autoimmunity is recommended to provide a pathogenetic classification of the disease.
Impact and Evolution of FDI and R&D on China's Technological Innovation Capability:From the Perspective of Lagged-effect

Based on the annual data from 1987 to 2010,using ADL regression model ideas and the concept of lagging effect.AIC、SC information criterion are used as selecting optimal lag order number of the judgment standard,In order to estimate and calculate the lagged-time about FDI、RD and the technological innovation variables.The result shows that FDI has no significant impact on the promotion of technological innovation capability.there exists a negative spillover effect to our core technological innovation capability,FDI can not bring about the substantive upgrade of China's core technological innovation capability.At the same time,study on the two groups of data,shows that the not significant influence in the period from 1987 to 1998 evolved into significant influence in the period from 1999 to 2010,and the result is mainly due to the strengthen effect of China's independent innovation to the impact of FDI.But FDI created "extrusional effect" and the "substitutional effect" to the ability of RD innovation.
A NOTE ON FOREIGN AID, HUMAN CAPITAL, AND WELFARE

Should foreign aid be tied or untied? We study this question in the context of a dynamic growth model in which agents can accumulate human capital through education. We compare the growth and welfare implications of three polar scenarios in which foreign aid is either (i) completely untied, (ii) tied to public investment in infrastructure, or (iii) tied to public spending on education. Our results indicate that tying aid to education is more beneficial from a long-run welfare perspective than the two alternative scenarios. We also compute the optimal allocation of foreign aid and find that the largest fraction of aid flows ought to be tied to public spending on education. Finally, we study the transitional dynamics of the recipient economy following an aid inflow and find that aid programs that are tied (entirely or partially) to public spending on education generally entail some welfare losses in the short run.
Intelligent controlling of indoor air quality based on remote monitoring platform by considering building environment

Air pollution issues and particularly fine particulate matters are worthy of great concerns as a consequence of crowded factories and heavy traffic. Exposure to the fine particulate matters (PMs) will harm the human health and even cause irreversible damages, which calls for effective monitoring methods. It is necessary to bring in a monitoring platform with sufficient mobility for the places where monitoring stations are not convenient to install. A mobile and portable monitoring platform based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is developed by combining promoted sensor board and specific communication module in this paper. Moreover, the air quality monitored by UAV-platform will generate important information for the controlling of indoor air quality for indoor environment in the buildings. To meet the indoor inhabitants' requirements of health and comfort, a fuzzy control method is proposed in this paper to control the actuators of air cleaner and ventilator. With a good coordination, an intelligent environment which meets the comfort level with good indoor air quality (IAQ) can be achieved.
Supplier Encroachment and Investment Spillovers

It is conventional wisdom that a manufacturer's encroachment into retail space will likely hurt an existing retailer. In contrast to this conventional belief, current research indicates that a retailer may welcome a manufacturer's encroachment despite the new competition in the final market. The encroachment may help the manufacturer have some “skin in the game” at the retail level, which will cause the manufacturer to make a selfish cost‐reducing investment that spills over to the retailer as a lower wholesale price. Such a spillover effect enhances the retailer's profit as long as the encroachment does not result in extreme retail competition by a certain degree of product differentiation, and ultimately generates Pareto gains in the supply chain. The spillover effect is so robust that the retailer's benefit from the encroachment remains even after considering potential mitigating factors such as selling costs, a nonlinear form of cost reduction, decentralized encroachment, additional retail competition, price competition, and a negotiation between the manufacturer and the retailer.
Cancer Internet Search Activity on a Major Search Engine, United States 2001-2003

Background To locate online health information, Internet users typically use a search engine, such as Yahoo! or Google. We studied Yahoo! search activity related to the 23 most common cancers in the United States. Objective The objective was to test three potential correlates of Yahoo! cancer search activity—estimated cancer incidence, estimated cancer mortality, and the volume of cancer news coverage—and to study the periodicity of and peaks in Yahoo! cancer search activity. Methods Yahoo! cancer search activity was obtained from a proprietary database called the Yahoo! Buzz Index. The American Cancer Society's estimates of cancer incidence and mortality were used. News reports associated with specific cancer types were identified using the LexisNexis “US News” database, which includes more than 400 national and regional newspapers and a variety of newswire services. Results The Yahoo! search activity associated with specific cancers correlated with their estimated incidence (Spearman rank correlation, ρ = 0.50, P = .015), estimated mortality (ρ = 0.66, P = .001), and volume of related news coverage (ρ = 0.88, P < .001). Yahoo! cancer search activity tended to be higher on weekdays and during national cancer awareness months but lower during summer months; cancer news coverage also tended to follow these trends. Sharp increases in Yahoo! search activity scores from one day to the next appeared to be associated with increases in relevant news coverage. Conclusions Media coverage appears to play a powerful role in prompting online searches for cancer information. Internet search activity offers an innovative tool for passive surveillance of health information–seeking behavior.
An immortalized jimpy oligodendrocyte cell line: Defects in cell cycle and cAMP pathway

Normal and jimpy oligodendrocytes in secondary cultures were transfected with plasmids containing the SV40 T‐antigen gene expressed under the control of the mouse metallothionein‐I promoter. Two immortalized stable cell lines, a normal (158N) and jimpy (158JP) cell line, expressed transcripts and proteins of oligodendrocyte markers, including proteolipid protein (PLP), myelin basic protein (MBP), and carbonic anhydrase II (CAII). Galactocerebroside and sulfatide were also detected with immunocytochemistry. Immunoelectron microscopy using gold particles showed that the truncated endogenous jimpy PLP was distributed throughout the cytoplasm and in association with the plasma membrane of cell bodies and processes. The length of the cell cycle in the jimpy oligodendrocytes in the absence of zinc was 31 h, about a 4‐h longer cell cycle than the normal line. In the presence of 100 μM zinc, the cell cycle became 3 h shorter for both cell lines, with the jimpy cell cycle duration remaining 4 h longer than the normal line. Interestingly, the jimpy cell line showed a significant deficiency in stimulation via the cAMP pathway. While the level of oligodendrocyte markers (PLP, MBP, and CAII) were significantly increased by dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP) treatment in the normal cell line, no changes were observed in the jimpy cell lines. This observation, together with previous results showing jimpy oligodendrocyte's failure to respond to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), suggests a role for PLP in a signal transduction pathway. Jimpy and normal oligodendrocytes transfected with the SV40T antigen gene, driven by the wild‐type promoter of mouse metallothionein‐I, continue to express properties of oligodendrocytes and therefore provide a powerful model to explore the function of myelin proteins and to dissect the complexity of the jimpy phenotype. GLIA 34:241–252, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Homologous Alkalophilic and Acidophilic l-Arabinose Isomerases Reveal Region-Specific Contributions to the pH Dependence of Activity and Stability

ABSTRACT To study the pH dependence of l-arabinose isomerase (AI) activity and stability, we compared homologous AIs with their chimeras. This study demonstrated that an ionizable amino acid near the catalytic site determines the optimal pH (pHopt) for activity, whereas the N-terminal surface R residues play an important role in determining the pHopt for stability.
European sanctions reconsidered: regime type, strategic bargaining, and the imposition of EU sanctions

Since the end of the Cold War, the European Union (EU) has become a prominent sender of international sanctions. Most of its sanctions regimes have been imposed to address human rights violations and democratic shortcomings in autocratic regimes. While these developments have attracted an increased attention by academics and practitioners alike, not much is known about the underlying factors that trigger the EU’s decision to impose sanctions in the very first place. Using a new database of EU democratic sanctions between 1989 and 2010, this thesis develops a theoretical model that shows that the imposition of sanctions is the result of a strategic bargaining process between a sender and a target country. I argue that sanctions are only one possible outcome of this process, and claim that the likelihood that sanctions are imposed depends, to a large extent, on the target country’s decision to comply with the sender before sanctions are imposed or, alternatively, on its determination to ignore the sender’s threat of sanctions and resist its pressure. I show that the target’s decision to comply or resist is the result of an endogenous policy formation process, which is determined by the target regime’s domestic institutional setting. Different types of institutions (regime types) impose varying degrees of constraints on the ruler’s margin of manoeuvre and shape her policy choices vis-a-vis the threat and imposition of sanctions. I demonstrate that regimes that face no domestic constraints and rely on a small winning coalition of supporters are likely to be strong and willing to resist the sender’s pressure, thereby “self-selecting” themselves into sanctions. By the same token, regimes that face many domestic constraints are vulnerable to sanctions, and face incentives to comply with the sender before sanctions are imposed. My thesis makes several contributions to the literature. First, it provides a theoretical explanation of how domestic institutions matter in the imposition of sanctions, and identifies a set of conditions under which sanctions are more likely (not) to be imposed. Second, it empirically demonstrates the presence of selection effects in the study of sanctions imposition, and shows that these are channelled through the target regime’s domestic institutions. Finally, my findings have relevant policy implications, as they suggest that sanctions are more likely to be effective against certain types of targets. I show that sanctions are more likely to succeed against politically constrained regimes at the threat stage or early during a sanctions episode, whilst they are likely to fail against highly authoritarian regimes which rule free of domestic constraints.
A case of diffuse infiltrating gastrointestinal stromal tumor of sigmoid colon with perforation

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract, and typically present as discrete well‐circumscribed but non‐encapsulated tumor masses. In this report, we describe a case of colonic perforation caused by an unusual form of GIST. A 72‐year‐old Japanese woman presented to the emergency department with acute abdominal pain. Under the provisional diagnosis of sigmoid colon perforation, a laparoscopic sigmoidectomy was performed. Although the tumor mass was undetectable during the preoperative examination, a spindle cell lesion with a diffuse longitudinal growth pattern replacing the muscularis propria was revealed by microscopic examination. The spindle cell lesion was exposed at the perforation, suggesting a causal relationship between the lesion and the perforation. The spindle cell lesion was KIT‐positive and had a mutation in the C‐KIT gene at exon 11. We diagnosed it as diffuse infiltrating GIST. We consider that the lesion would be a cause of the colonic perforation, and emphasize the importance of accurate diagnosis of the lesion by histological, immunohistochemical and genetic examinations.
How Moroccan managers view dividend policy

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to survey managers of firms listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) to learn their views about the factors influencing dividend policy, dividend issues, and explanations for paying dividends. It compares the results to similar dividend surveys in the USA, Canada, Indonesia, and India. Design/methodology/approach - – The study uses a mail survey of CSE listed firms that paid one or more cash dividends to common stock holders between June 1, 2010 and September 30, 2014 as the primary means of collecting data. Findings - – The evidence shows that the most important determinants of a firm’s dividend policy are the level of current earnings, stability of earnings, and needs of current shareholders. A significant correlation exists between the overall rankings of the 25 factors influencing dividend policy between managers of Moroccan firms and those of USA, Canadian, Indonesian, and Indian firms. Managers of Moroccan firms perceive that dividend policy affects firm value. Managers view multiple theories including signaling, agency, catering, and life cycle explanations as credible and contribute in explaining why their firms pay dividends. Research limitations/implications - – Despite a high response rate of almost 55 percent, the number of responses limits the ability to divide the sample firms by size, industry, and other characteristics and to test for statistically significant differences between various groups. Originality/value - – This is the first survey-based research designed to document how Moroccan managers view dividends. Although evidence suggests that some factors are consistently more important than others, no universal set of factors is likely to be applicable to all firms.
Relay Analysis in Molecular Communications With Time-Dependent Concentration

Molecular communications (MC) is a promising paradigm which enables nano-machines to communicate with each other. Due to the severe attenuation of molecule concentrations, there tends to be more errors when the receiver becomes farther from the transmitter. To solve this problem, relaying schemes need to be implemented to achieve reliable communications. In this letter, time-dependent molecular concentrations are utilised as the information carrier, which will be influenced by the noise and channel memory. The emission process is also considered. The relay node (RN) can decode messages, and forward them by sending either the same or a different kind of molecules as the transmitter. The performance is evaluated by deriving theoretical expressions as well as through simulations. Results show that the relaying scheme will bring significant benefits to the communication reliability.
Maternal position during induction of spinal anaesthesia for Caesarean section

Forty women presenting for elective Caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia were randomly assigned to have anaesthesia induced in either the sitting or right lateral positions; 2.5 ml 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine was injected over 10 s before the mother was placed in a supine position with a 20° lateral tilt. The onset time and height of the subsequent analgesic and anaesthetic block was measured. It took longer to site spinal needles in the lateral position (240 vs 115 s, p < 0.001). There was a faster onset of sensory block to the sixth thoracic dermatomal level (8 vs 10 min, p < 0.001), in the lateral group, although onset time to T4 was comparable. There was no difference in maximum block height or degree of motor block. Mothers in the lateral group required more ephedrine in the first 10m after siting the spinal (13.5 vs 10.5 mg, p < 0.05).
The cultural brokerage work of occupational therapists in providing culturally sensitive care

Background. The important place of culture within occupational therapy is widely recognized, and there is increasing emphasis on addressing the diversity of clients. Purpose. This study explores how occupational therapists perform cultural brokerage when providing culturally sensitive care to immigrant families. Method. A descriptive qualitative methodology was used for this study. A purposive sample of 17 occupational therapists from two Canadian paediatric rehabilitation centres were interviewed. Findings. Participants encountered several cultural and structural constraints in providing culturally sensitive care. To overcome these constraints, clinicians used four strategies: (a) translating between health systems for clients, (b) bridging different meanings of occupational therapy to make it relevant for clients, (c) establishing long-term relationships by building trust and rapport, and (d) working with clients’ relational networks to help them navigate the health system. Implications. Occupational therapists should advocate for both the individual needs of immigrant families and for institutional level resources to better meet the needs of diverse clients. Description. La place importante accordée à la culture au sein de l’ergothérapie est largement reconnue et un accent croissant est mis sur l’importance de tenir compte de la diversité des clients. But. Cette étude examine le travail de médiation culturelle effectué par les ergothérapeutes lorsqu’ils offrent des soins adaptés à la culture à des familles d’immigrants. Méthodologie. À partir d’un échantillon choisi à dessein, 17 ergothérapeutes travaillant dans deux centres de réadaptation canadiens en pédiatrie ont été interviewés. Résultats. Les cliniciens faisaient face à plusieurs difficultés lorsqu’ils offraient des soins adaptés à la culture. Afin de surmonter ces difficultés, les cliniciens utilisaient différentes stratégies, notamment : (a) aider les clients à comprendre le système de santé; (b) faire des rapprochements entre les différents sens de l’ergothérapie afin de la rendre pertinente pour les clients; (c) établir un climat de confiance et une relation avec les clients; et (d) aider les clients à naviguer à travers le système de santé. Conséquences. Les ergothérapeutes utilisent plusieurs stratégies en vue d’offrir des soins adaptés aux différentes cultures lorsqu’ils travaillent avec des familles d’immigrants.
Factors Responsible for Disclosure of HIV Seropositivity among Residents of Cross River State, Nigeria

Context: Disclosure of HIV-positive status to sex partners is viewed as a preventive measure and as a social and legal responsibility for HIV-infected individuals. Aims: The aim of this study is to determine the proportions and factors responsible for disclosure of HIV seropositivity among residents of Cross River State, Nigeria. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional comparative study. Subjects and Methods: It involved 320 HIV-positive individuals equally selected from the urban and rural settings of Cross River State and use questionnaires. Statistical Analysis Used: Data analysis used SPSS version 20.0. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to identify determinants of HIV status disclosure. Results: Among urban respondents, 93.8% had disclosed compared with 79.4% among rural respondents, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant association between HIV status disclosure and age (P = 0.008), marital status (P = 0.027), number of nonspousal sexual partner (P = 0.006), and area of residence (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant association between HIV status disclosure and gender (P = 0.622), between occupation (P = 0.495) or income (P = 0.351 and head of household (P = 0.241). There was statistically significant association between HIV status disclosure and level of education (P = 0.015), house ownership (P = 0.008), time from diagnosis (P = 0.003), and duration of treatment (P = 0.002). Conclusions: This study has shown that HIV seropositive status disclosure was higher when compared with other local studies, and age, marital status, and area of residence were factors associated with HIV seropositive status disclosure.