Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Late-night salivary cortisol has a better performance than urinary free cortisol in the diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome.

CONTEXT The comparison of variability, reproducibility, and diagnostic performance of late-night salivary cortisol (LNSF) and urinary free cortisol (UFC) using concurrent and consecutive samples in Cushing's syndrome (CS) is lacking. Objectives, Patients, and Methods: In a prospective study, we evaluated 3 simultaneous and consecutive samples of LNSF by RIA and UFC by liquid chromatography associated with tandem mass spectrometry in Cushing's disease (CD) patients (n = 43), adrenal CS patients (n = 9), and obese subjects (n = 18) to compare their diagnostic performances. In CS patients, we also performed a modified CS severity index. RESULTS There was no difference in the coefficient of variation (percentage) between LNSF and UFC among the 3 samples obtained for each patient with Cushing's disease (35 ± 26 vs 31 ± 24), adrenal CS (28 ± 14 vs 22 ± 14), and obesity (39 ± 37 vs 48 ± 20). LNSF confirmed the diagnosis of hypercortisolism even in the presence of normal UFC in 17.3% of CS, whereas the inverse situation was not observed for UFC. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves for LNSF was 0.999 (95% credible interval [CI] 0.990-1.00) and for UFC was 0.928 (95% CI 0.809-0.987). The ratio between areas under the curve was 0.928 (95% CI 0.810-0.988), indicating better performance of LNSF than UFC in diagnosing CS. There was no association between the CS severity index and the degree of biochemical hypercortisolism. CONCLUSION Our data show that despite similar variability between both methods, LNSF has a superior diagnostic performance than UFC and should be used as the primary biochemical diagnostic test for CS diagnosis.
Using Virtual Reality to Explore Self-Regulation in High-Risk Settings

Virtual reality (VR) models allow investigators to explore high-risk situations carefully in the laboratory using physiological assessment strategies and controlled conditions not available in field settings. This article introduces the use of a virtual experience to examine the influence of self-regulatory skills training on female participants’ reactions to a high-risk encounter with an aggressive male. Sixty-three female participants were recruited for the study. Demographic data indicated that 54% of the participants were not currently in a relationship, 36.5% were in a committed relationship, and 9.5% were occasionally dating. After obtaining informed consent, participants were assigned randomly to either a diaphragmatic breathing training condition or an attention control condition. Results indicated that both groups rated the virtual environment as equally realistic; the aggressive advances of the male were also perceived as equally real across the two experimental groups. Physiological data indicated that there were no differences between the groups on respiration or cardiovascular measures during baseline or during the VR task. After the VR experience, however, the participants in the breathing training condition had lower respiration rates and higher heart rate variability measures than those in the control condition. The results suggest that VR platforms provide a realistic and challenging environment to examine how self-regulation procedures may influence behavioral outcomes. Real-time dynamic engagement in a virtual setting affords investigators with an opportunity to evaluate the utility of self-regulatory skills training for improving safety in situations where there are uncertain and risky outcomes.
Epidermodysplasia verruciformis: unsuccessful therapeutic approach with imiquimod

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) is a rare heritable disease characterized by an unusual susceptibility to infection with specific types of human papillomavirus and a propensity for developing skin malignant tumors. Partial defects in cell‐mediated immunity have been demonstrated in this disease. Here, we describe a patient with EV who was treated unsuccessfully with imiquimod.
What Happens During Recessions, Crunches and Busts?

We provide a comprehensive empirical characterization of the linkages between key macroeconomic and financial variables around business and financial cycles for 21 OECD countries over the period 1960–2007. In particular, we analyze the implications of 122 recessions, 112 (28) credit contraction (crunch) episodes, 114 (28) episodes of house price declines (busts), 234 (58) episodes of equity price declines (busts) and their various overlaps in these countries over the sample period. Our results indicate that interactions between macroeconomic and financial variables can play major roles in determining the severity and duration of recessions. Specifically, we find evidence that recessions associated with credit crunches and house price busts tend to be deeper and longer than other recessions.
Control of the Gene optomotor-blind in Drosophila Wing Development by decapentaplegic and wingless

Diffusible factors of several protein families control appendage outgrowth and patterning in both insects and vertebrates. In Drosophila wing development, the gene decapentaplegic (dpp) is expressed along the anteroposterior compartment boundary. Early wingless (wg) expression is involved in setting up the dorsoventral boundary. Interaction between dpp- and wg-expressing cells promotes appendage outgrowth. Here, it is shown that optomotor-blind (omb) expression is required for distal wing development and is controlled by both dpp and wg. Ectopic omb expression can lead to the growth of additional wings. Thus, omb is essential for wing development and is controlled by two signaling pathways.
Dose site reactions and related findings after vaccine administration in safety studies

Potential new human vaccines undergo toxicology testing to evaluate local reactogenicity and systemic toxicity. A review of 30 recently published and in‐house repeat dose toxicity studies with a variety of vaccines was performed. Species tested were generally rat or rabbit, usually by intramuscular (although occasionally subcutaneous) injection. Results showed no unexpected findings indicating vaccine toxicity, but classic signs of enhanced acute and/or chronic inflammation at the dose site compared with that seen in injected control animals, often accompanied by changes in draining lymph nodes and the spleen (lymphoid hyperplasia and/or increased weight). Other associated signs of a response to vaccine dosing were altered clinical pathology parameters (commonly raised blood neutrophil count and altered globulin level). No obvious difference in dose site or systemic reaction was seen across vaccine, species or the dose route used. A non‐dose recovery period of 2 to 4 weeks was sufficient to show evidence of reversibility of dose site effects. Injection site, lymphoid tissue and clinical pathological changes can be interpreted as related to an expected reaction after vaccine dosing, with generation of an immune response largely as a result of the presence of adjuvant, although direct vaccine antigen involvement was also occasionally demonstrated by the presence of a slightly increased inflammatory response seen over adjuvant treatment only. Overall, the need for toxicity testing of vaccines is in line with current regulatory guideline requirements and has proven to be a valuable part of the safety evaluation process prior to human use. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Job Reallocation, Employment Change and Average Job Tenure: Theory and Workplace Evidence from Australia

We explore determinants of job reallocation, employment change and average job tenure in this paper. A model which associates technological advances with the process of economic growth is modified and analysed. The features of this model allow for the possibility of asymmetric behaviour when looking at the net change in employment. Workplace data from Australia (AWIRS95) are used to test the predictions generated from the model for both employment change and average job tenure. Results are presented that provide clear evidence as to the nature of workplaces in which net employment growth is concentrated. We find that employment growth is asymmetrically related to expected changes in demand for the output of the workplace. We also find that employment is lower for workplaces that are larger, older, have greater union density, offer higher relative earnings, or are operating in a more competitive environment. The impacts on average tenure are as expected from the model and from these changes in employment. Overall there is a substantial degree of agreement between the predictions of the model and our empirical results.
Cooperative output regulation of linear multi-agent systems with an event-triggered adaptive distributed observer

The event-triggered cooperative output regulation problem of linear multi-agent systems has been addressed under the assumption that the system matrix of the exosystem is known to all agents in previous studies. To remove the assumption, this paper proposes an event-triggered adaptive distributed observer, which is designed to estimate the system matrix of the exosystem. With the proposed triggering mechanism, each agent only sends the information to its neighbors at its own triggering times. Moreover, by introducing a fixed timer, Zeno behavior can be strictly excluded. The effectiveness of the proposed event-triggered adaptive distributed observer is demonstrated by an example.
Why Do Firms Train? Theory and Evidence

This paper offers a theory of training whereby workers do not pay for the general training they receive. The superior information of the current employer regarding its employees' abilities relative to other firms creates ex post monopsony power, and encourages this employer to provide and pay for training, even if these skills are general. The model can lead to multiple equlibria. In one equilibrium quits are endogenously high, and as a result employers have limited monopsony power and provide little training, while in another equilibrium quits are low and training is high. Using microdata on German apprentices, we show that the predictions of our model receive some support from the data.
Mobilising and Mediating Global Medicine and Health Citizenship: The Politics of AIDS Knowledge Production in Rural South Africa

Summary The paper investigates the ways in which global health messages and forms of health citizenship are mediated by AIDS activists in rural South Africa. It focuses on how international health agencies and NGOs engage with local communities through AIDS prevention and treatment programmes. Some critics regard such global health programmes as conduits for the medicalisation of social life and social problems. From this perspective global medicine is an all-encompassing process that results in systematic normalisation, depoliticisation and disempowerment of patients and citizens. However, this case study draws attention to the agency of the ‘targets’ of biomedicine. It also highlights the observation that AIDS activists and treatment literacy practitioners are not only concerned with biomedical matters, but are also committed to recruiting new members into their biopolitical projects and epistemic communities. These mobilisation processes involve translating and mediating biomedical ideas and practices into vernacular forms that can be easily understood and acted upon by the ‘targets’ of these recruitment strategies. However, these processes of ‘vernacularisation’ or localisation of biomedical knowledge often occur in settings where even the most basic scientific understandings and framings of medicine can not be taken for granted. This ethnographic case study shows that global health programmes, and their local NGO and social movement mediators, often encounter considerable ‘friction’ not only from powerful national state actors, who may view such programmes as challenges to national sovereignty, but also from the most marginalised village-level actors.
Factors affecting growth and susceptibility testing of Helicobacter pylori in liquid media

In order to increase the database for in vitro growth and/or susceptibility testing in liquid media, we evaluated the growth of Helicobacter pylori in broth media containing 5% sheep blood. We also compared the effect of bismuth on the growth of H. pylori in broth media containing 10% fetal calf serum with the effect on growth in media containing 0.5% starch. In contrast to the result seen with agar, we found that sheep blood, whether whole or laked, inhibited the growth of H. pylori in broth media. In addition, we found that bismuth inhibited growth in media with starch but that this inhibition was negated in media with serum.
Performance Analysis of Optimal Joint Beamforming in Multi-Keyhole MIMO Channels

This paper presents an analytical performance analysis for a multi-keyhole multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channel. Our main contribution is a set of new statistical results for the maximum eigenvalue of the random multikeyhole channel matrix, which includes closed-form expressions for the cumulative distribution function and probability density function, as well as asymptotic expansions. Based on the results, we analyze the outage performance of the optimal joint beamforming system in multi-keyhole MIMO channels. Our results illustrate that the outage performance of the multi-keyhole channels is generally worse than that of rich-scattering MIMO Rayleigh channels.
An incomplete contracts approach to financial contracting

We analyze incomplete long-term financial contracts between an entrepreneur with no initial wealth and a wealthy investor. Both agents have potentially conflicting objectives since the entrepreneur cares about both pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns from the project while the investor is only concerned about monetary returns. We address the questions of (i) whether and how the initial contract can be structured in such a way as to bring about a perfect coincidence of objectives between both agents (ii) when the initial contract cannot achieve this coincidence of objectives how should control rights be allocated to achieve efficiency? One of the main results of our analysis concerns the optimality properties of the (contingent) control allocation induced by standard debt financing.
Chinese agricultural water resource utilization: problems and challenges

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, scarce water resources are more and more being transferred from low-value agricultural use to high-value industrial and domestic uses in China. Along with water shortages, inefficiencies are apparent in Chinese agricultural water utilization. The causes of these inefficiencies include attenuated property rights, artificially low water prices, lack of farmer participation in irrigation districts management and fragmented government management. It is concluded, against the background of a transitional economy, that the lack of economic incentives in the allocation of water is the principal reason why shortage and waste coexists in Chinese irrigated agriculture. The challenge now facing decision makers is how to resolve the conflict between increasing food demand and decreasing water supply without undermining the growth of cities and the industrial sector. Owing to failures in both markets and government in water allocation, it is argued that it is necessary to establish a quasi-market for water.
Market Share Performance of Foreign and Domestic Brands in China

In this study, the authors examine market share performance of foreign and domestic brands in China. Drawing on the resource-based view and brand management literature, they investigate the impacts of three sets of factors: brands’ competitive advantages, external market environments, and the length of brand existence. The authors also examine the different influences of these factors on foreign versus domestic brands. The empirical testing is based on a survey of senior executives of 408 brands in 52 product categories in China. This study offers new findings on what drives the market share performance in transition economies.
Tissue Doppler and strain imaging in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease in different stages of congestive heart failure.

BACKGROUND Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) including strain and strain rate (SR) assess systolic and diastolic myocardial function. HYPOTHESIS TDI, strain, and SR variables of the left ventricle (LV) and the interventricular septum (IVS) differ significantly between dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) with and without congestive heart failure (CHF). ANIMALS Sixty-one dogs with MMVD with and without CHF. Ten healthy control dogs. METHODS Prospective observational study. RESULTS Radial motion: None of the systolic variables were altered and 3 of the diastolic velocities were significantly increased in dogs with CHF compared with dogs without CHF and control dogs. Longitudinal motion: 2 systolic velocities and 3 diastolic velocities were significantly increased in dogs with CHF compared with dogs without CHF and control dogs. Difference in systolic velocity time-to-peak between LV and IVS was significantly increased in dogs with MMVD with and without CHF compared with control dogs. In total, 11 (23%) of 48 TDI and strain variables differed significantly between groups. Left atrial to aortic ratio was positively correlated to early diastolic velocities, percentage increase in left ventricular internal diameter in systole was positively correlated to systolic and diastolic velocities, and mitral E wave to peak early diastolic velocity in the LV basal segment (E/Em) was positively correlated to radial strain and SR. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Few TDI and strain variables were changed in dogs with MMVD with and without CHF. Intraventricular dyssynchrony may be an early sign of MMVD or may be an age-related finding.
Bridging the Gap between Housing Stress and Financial Stress: The Case of Australia

In recent decades, housing affordability has been increasingly linked to household financial outcomes where high housing costs relative to income are perceived to negatively affect financial well-being. However, the traditional measure of housing affordability in Australia is housing stress, which is subject to widespread criticism as an inadequate representation of overall financial stress. This methodological paper first determines the extent to which housing stress correlates with experiences of financial stress and, second, demonstrates ways in which the measure can be modified to deliver a more reliable indication of how housing costs affect financial well-being. The study contributes to the international literature by showing how the use of longitudinal data can improve the measure of housing stress providing a more accurate assessment of the relationship between housing costs and financial well-being.
Host Protein Ku70 Binds and Protects HIV-1 Integrase from Proteasomal Degradation and Is Required for HIV Replication*

HIV-1 integrase (IN) is a key viral enzymatic protein acting in several viral replication steps, including integration. IN has been shown to be an unstable protein degraded by the N-end rule pathway through the host ubiquitin-proteasome machinery. However, it is still not fully understood how this viral protein is protected from the host ubiquitin-proteasome system within cells during HIV replication. In the present study, we provide evidence that the host protein Ku70 interacts with HIV-1 IN and protects it from the Lys48-linked polyubiquitination proteasomal pathway. Moreover, Ku70 is able to down-regulate the overall protein polyubiquitination level within the host cells and to specifically deubiquitinate IN through their interaction. Mutagenic studies revealed that the C terminus of IN (residues 230–288) is required for IN binding to the N-terminal part of Ku70 (Ku70(1–430)), and their interaction is independent of Ku70/80 heterodimerization. Finally, knockdown of Ku70 expression in both virus-producing and target CD4+ T cells significantly disrupted HIV-1 replication and rendered two-long terminal repeat circles and integration undetectable, indicating that Ku70 is required for both the early and the late stages of the HIV-1 life cycle. Interestingly, Ku70 was incorporated into the progeny virus in an IN-dependent way. We proposed that Ku70 may interact with IN during viral assembly and accompany HIV-1 IN upon entry into the new target cells, acting to 1) protect IN from the host defense system and 2) assist IN integration activity. Overall, this report provides another example of how HIV-1 hijacks host cellular machinery to protect the virus itself and to facilitate its replication.
Financial Reporting Opacity and Expected Crash Risk: Evidence from Implied Volatility Smirks

The recent financial crisis has stimulated a renewed interest in understanding the determinants of stock price crash risk (i.e., left tail risk). Recent research shows that opaque financial reports enable managers to hide and accumulate bad news for extended periods. When the accumulated bad news reaches a certain tipping point, it will be suddenly released to the market at once, resulting in an abrupt decline in stock price (i.e., a crash). This study extends this line of research by examining the impact of financial reporting opacity on perceived or expected crash risk. Prominent economists, such as Olivier Blanchard, argue that removing the perception of tail risks (in addition to realized tail risks) is crucial in restoring investor confidence and stabilizing the stock market. Using the steepness of option implied volatility skew as a proxy for perceived crash risk, we find that accrual management, the presence of financial statement restatements, and auditor-attested internal control weakness are all positively and significantly associated with the level of perceived crash risk. Our results suggest that improving financial reporting transparency is an important mechanism for firms and policymakers to reduce the perception of tail risks and stabilize the stock market.
Desempenho de estimadores de volatilidade na bolsa de valores de São Paulo

O objetivo deste trabalho e avaliar o desempenho de diferentes metodos de extracao da volatilidade do Indice da Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo (IBOVESPA) tendo como referencia a volatilidade realizada. Comparamos modelos da familia GARCH com estimadores alternativos baseados em cotacoes de abertura, fechamento, maximo e minimo. Os resultados indicam que os estimadores alternativos sao tao precisos quanto os modelos do tipo GARCH, apesar de serem muito mais economicos em termos computacionais.
Rehabilitation of spasticity and related problems in childhood cerebral palsy

Spasticity is one part of the upper motor neuron syndrome, but it is a widespread problem in cerebral palsy; it is debilitating, affects function and can lead to musculoskeletal complications. Significant advances have occurred in antispasticity management (and related musculoskeletal problems) in children with cerebral palsy during the past 5−10 years. Botulinum toxin A has been the most outstanding treatment advance; it is relatively long‐lasting, easy to administer, reversible, has a favourable side‐effect profile and is highly useful for focal spasticity. There is an emerging role for intrathecal baclofen in Australia. Despite being available and practised in North America for years, selective dorsal rhizotomy has not been popular in Australia. The use of orthopaedic surgery has significantly altered in recent years. There is still a place for oral drug treatment, including some newer agents and the potential for combination treatment with other modalities. The role of physical therapy in defining disability, assessing function, undertaking biomechanical assessment and providing mobility aids/casting/orthoses and motor training/stretching exercises is critical for the success of medical and surgical interventions. From an Australian perspective, the purpose of the present review is to provide a critical review of therapies available for spasticity associated with childhood cerebral palsy.