Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Rare Events Explain CDX Tranche Spreads?

We investigate whether a model with a time-varying probability of economic disaster can explain the pricing of collateralized debt obligations, both prior to and during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Namely, we examine the pricing of tranches on the CDX, an index of credit default swaps on large investment-grade firms. CDX senior tranches are essentially deep out-of-the money put options because they do not incur losses until a large fraction of previously stable firms default. As such, these products clearly reflect the market’s assessment of rare-event risk. We find that the model can simultaneously explain prices on CDX senior tranches and on equity index options at parameter values that are consistent with the equity premium and with aggregate stock market volatility. Our results demonstrate the importance of beliefs about rare disasters for asset prices, even during periods of relative economic stability.
CD34 and SMA expression of superficial zone cells in the normal and pathological human meniscus

The aim of this study was to evaluate histological changes in torn (0.5–27 weeks after injury) and osteoarthritic (OA) knee menisci versus normal menisci after PAS‐AB, SAF‐O‐FG, and immunostaining for CD34, CD31, and smooth muscle actin (SMA). Cell layers in the superficial zone and the cell density in the deep zone of the menisci were counted. In the superficial zone of normal menisci, cells expressing CD34 were demonstrated. CD34+ CD31− cells were absent in OA menisci and disappeared in torn menisci as a function of time. In contrast, an increase of SMA+ cells combined with an increase of cell layers was observed in the superficial zone of torn menisci. SMA+ cells were absent in normal and OA menisci. The predominant tissue type in torn menisci evolved from fibrocartilage‐like to fibrous‐like tissue as a function of time, whereas in OA menisci it became cartilage‐like. The response of the superficial zone was reflected by the decrease of CD34+ and the increase of SMA+ cells in torn menisci and the transformation of a fibrous‐like into a cartilage‐like surface layer in OA menisci. These results potentially illustrate the contribution of CD34+ cells to the homeostasis of meniscus tissue. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 30:800–808, 2012
Malocclusion impacts adolescents' oral health-related quality of life.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that malocclusion does not have an independent and negative effect on quality of life of adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS The cross-sectional design study comprised a sample of 519 children, aged 11 to 14 years, attending public schools in Osorio, a city in southern Brazil. One calibrated examiner carried out clinical examinations and recorded dental caries (decayed/missing/filled teeth), malocclusion (Dental Aesthetic Index), and dental trauma. Participants completed the Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14), Impact Short Form, and their parents or guardians answered questions about socioeconomic status. Simple and multivariate linear regressions were performed to assess covariates for the overall CPQ11-14 scores. RESULTS Greater impacts on oral health-related quality of life were observed for girls (P = .007), children with a lower household income (P = .016), those living in nonnuclear families (P < .001), and those with more decayed/missing/filled teeth (P = .001). Malocclusion was also associated with oral health-related quality of life: the severity of malocclusion was significantly related to higher scores of CPQ11-14 even after scores were adjusted for control variables. CPQ11-14 increased by approximately 1 point for each increase in the severity of malocclusion. CONCLUSIONS Malocclusion has a negative effect on adolescents' quality of life, independent of dental caries or traumatic dental injuries. Socioeconomic inequalities and clinical conditions are important features in adolescents' quality of life.
Endocrine and metabolic responses to realimentation in feed-restricted prepubertal gilts: associations among gonadotropins, metabolic hormones, glucose, and uteroovarian development.

Temporal relationships among plasma LH, FSH, metabolic hormones, and glucose concentrations were studied in nutritionally manipulated prepubertal gilts. Twenty-four growth-matched littermate gilts (73.6 +/- 1.2 kg) were fed at maintenance for 7 d (d 1 to 7). From d 8 to 14, littermates were divided between two treatments and were either fed twice daily to appetite or continued on feed restriction. Feeding to appetite increased episodic LH secretion during the first 6 h of sampling on d 8 (P < .05). Plasma FSH concentrations were not affected by treatment between d 8 and 14. Nocturnal increases in plasma LH (P < .01) and FSH (P < .002) concentrations were detected in feed-restricted gilts but not realimented gilts. Mean total plasma IGF-I concentrations gradually increased in gilts fed to appetite (d 12, P < .02; d 13 to 14, P < .001). Mean postprandial insulin concentrations were also greater in gilts fed to appetite (P < .01). Treatment differences in mean postprandial glucose concentrations on d 9 and 10 indicate that normoglycemia was established by d 9 in gilts fed to appetite. At slaughter on d 15, numbers of ovarian follicles (P < .01), follicular volume (P < .001), and uterine weight (P < .05) were greater in gilts fed to appetite. In conclusion, uteroovarian responses to realimentation after short-term feed restriction in prepubertal gilts are mediated by enhanced LH secretion. This rapid enhancement of LH secretion in response to dietary repletion might have been mediated by changes in glucose and insulin status. Ovarian responses to gonadotropins may also be potentiated by observed increases in plasma glucose, insulin, and IGF-I. During feed restriction, a distinct diurnal rhythm in gonadotropin secretion was evident.
A question of questions: comments on Wagman and Miller.

In their target article, Wagman and Miller (2003) have systematically discussed and compared a pair of intriguing theories—the ecological approach to perception, formulated by James and Eleanor Gibson (e.g., E. J. Gibson, 1984; E. J. Gibson & Pick, 2000; J. J. Gibson, 1950, 1966, 1979), and the transactional approach to behavioral development, formulated by Daniel Lehrman (e.g., 1953, 1970). By establishing a basis of common ground between these two theories, these authors have provided a singular service to both perceptual psychologists (familiar and unfamiliar with the ecological approach) and to psychologists interested in developmental processes (familiar and unfamiliar with the transactional view). Most importantly, this review of these two frameworks is of particular interest to researchers positioned at the intersection of these groups—developmental psychologists interested in the acquisition and functioning of perceptual (and possible motor and cognitive) abilities. Somewhat inevitably, any ambitious attempt (such as this) to review and integrate multiple bodies of theoretical work is bound to raise at least as many questions as it answers. Whereas such a work should not be either defined by, or worse—faulted for, the issues it broaches but ultimately does not resolve, it is correspondingly true that consideration of such unanswered questions is almost as illuminating as considering the issues that are addressed. In other words, one can learn as much by recognizing what they do not know as by what they do. In this spirit, and because Wagman and Miller do such an exemplary job of addressing the issues they set out to cover, this commentary will focus not so much on what is discussed in the target article as what is not brought out. Such an approach is useful not only for highlighting what might simply be omissions in theoretical explications, but more importantly, it could delineate areas that are ripe for further thought and theoretical innovation. To accomplish this goal, this commentary raises a series of undiscussed issues that are motivated, or in some other way related, to some of the main themes broached by Wagman and Miller’s target article. Following a short historical query concerning the underpinnings of these theoretical views, two related issues are considered—that of the nature of the comparison being offered between these two approaches and the importance of considering the distinction between theories and models related to these two approaches.
Report on the State of Affairs of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) after Five Years

[Introduction]. The public sector has to cope with a lot of challenges and has to respond to many new needs and demands in society. Due to these challenges and pressures, the public sector is subject to many reforms. "Over the last two decades there appears to have been a huge amount of public management reform. Although there was also reform in earlier periods, the changes since 1980 have – in many countries – been distinguished by an international character and a degree of political salience which marks them out from the more parochial or technical changes of the preceding quartercentury". 1 These reforms introduce new principles. A growing focus on efficiency and effectiveness, attention to transparency and accountability, awareness of public service delivery. Together with these principles, methods and techniques were constructed, focusing on one of these principles or trying to combine them. Techniques like ‘management by objectives’, ‘cost benefit analysis’, ‘market testing’, ‘performance related pay’, ‘value for money’ were introduced.2
Estimation of human walking speed by Doppler radar for elderly care

This paper presents a human walking speed estimation algorithm using a Doppler radar system for in-home passive gait assessment of elderly adults. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) has been a common approach to obtain the gait speed estimation. The proposed algorithm analyzes the received radar signal by counting its zero-crossing periods in the time domain and applies an interquartile range filter to improve its robustness with respect to the gait signature dynamics in the radar data. The proposed algorithm provides better accuracy and does not seem to produce extreme incorrect speed estimates compared to the previously developed FFT method. It has been applied to the Doppler radar system that is deployed in in-home environments to continuously monitor the daily activities of the senior residences and estimate their gait speeds. Improving the accuracy of gait parameters can better facilitate the assessment of the physical conditions of the seniors.
SEN virus infection in Egyptian patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis: prevalence and clinical importance.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE SEN virus (SENV) is assumed to be responsible for post-transfusion non-A to -E hepatitis. Phylogenetic analysis of SENV has shown 9 different strains. Two strains, SENV-H and SENV-D, were described as possible candidates for post-transfusion hepatitis. This study examined the prevalence of SENV infection and its clinical importance for patients undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS Serum samples were obtained from 63 long-term hemodialysis patients, and examined for SENV-H and SENV-D viremia by polymerase chain reaction. Serum samples were also obtained from 20 patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) who were not undergoing hemodialysis and from 20 apparently healthy blood donors to act as controls. For SENV screening, a primer pair was used for the conserved ORF1 region among all SENV genotypes from A to I. RESULTS SENV infection was significantly more frequent among hemodialysis patients (33/63; 52.4%) and those with CKD (10/20; 50.0%) than among the control participants (2/20; 10.0%) [p = 0.003]. Twenty three of 33 hemodialysis patients had SENV-H or -D, 61% of whom were positive for SENV-H only, 4% were positive for SENV-D only, and 36% were positive for both SENV-H and SENV-D. SENV infection was not associated with age, sex, amount or duration of hemodialysis, or liver function test results. Elevated alanine aminotransferase was significantly associated with HCV viremia, but not with SENV infection. CONCLUSIONS Egyptian hemodialysis patients and those with CKD are at higher risk for SENV transmission. SENV-H is more prevalent than SENV-D.
Seeing in the dark -- I. Multi-epoch alchemy

Weak lensing by large-scale structure is an invaluable cosmological tool given that most of the energy density of the concordance cosmology is invisible. Several large ground-based imaging surveys will attempt to measure this effect over the coming decade, but reliable control of the spurious lensing signal introduced by atmospheric turbulence and telescope optics remains a challenging problem. We address this challenge with a demonstration that point spread function (PSF) effects on measured galaxy shapes in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) can be corrected with existing analysis techniques. In this work, we co-add existing SDSS imaging on the equatorial stripe in order to build a data set with the statistical power to measure cosmic shear, while using a rounding kernel method to null out the effects of the anisotropic PSF. We build a galaxy catalogue from the combined imaging, characterize its photometric properties and show that the spurious shear remaining in this catalogue after the PSF correction is negligible compared to the expected cosmic shear signal. We identify a new source of systematic error in the shear–shear autocorrelations arising from selection biases related to masking. Finally, we discuss the circumstances in which this method is expected to be useful for upcoming ground-based surveys that have lensing as one of the science goals, and identify the systematic errors that can reduce its efficacy.
Hand-hygiene compliance does not predict rates of resistant infections in critically ill surgical patients.

BACKGROUND Our institution had a major outbreak of multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter (MDRA) in its general surgical and trauma intensive care units (ICUs) in 2011, requiring implementation of an aggressive infection-control response. We hypothesized that poor hand-hygiene compliance (HHC) may have contributed to the outbreak of MDRA. A response to the outbreak including aggressive environmental cleaning, cohorting, and increased hand hygiene compliance monitoring may have led to an increase in HHC after the outbreak and to a consequent decrease in the rates of infection by the nosocomial pathogens methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and Clostridium difficile. METHODS Hand-hygiene compliance, tracked in monthly audits by trained and anonymous observers, was abstracted from an infection control database. The incidences of nosocomial MRSA, VRE, and C. difficile were calculated from a separate prospectively collected data base for 6 mo before and 12 mo after the 2011 outbreak of MDRA in the institution's general surgical and trauma ICUs, and data collected prospectively from two unaffected ICUs (the thoracic surgical ICU and medical intensive care unit [MICU]). We created a composite endpoint of "any resistant pathogen," defined as MRSA, VRE, or C. difficile, and compared incidence rates over time, using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to measure the correlations among these rates. RESULTS Rates of HHC before and after the outbreak of MDRA were consistently high in both the general surgical (median rates: 100% before and 97.6% after the outbreak, p=0.93) and trauma ICUs (median rates: 90% before and 96.75% after the outbreak, p=0.14). In none of the ICUs included in the study did the rates of HHC increase in response to the outbreak of MDRA. The incidence of "any resistant pathogen" decreased in the general surgical ICU after the outbreak (from 6.7/1,000 patient-days before the outbreak to 2.7/1,000 patient-days after the outbreak, p=0.04), but this decrease did not correlate with HHC (trauma ICU: Pearson correlation [ρ]=-0.34, p=0.28; general surgical ICU: ρ=0.52, p=0.08). CONCLUSIONS The 2011 outbreak of MDRA at our institution occurred despite high rates of HHC. Notwithstanding stable rates of HHC, the rates of infection with MRSA, VRE and C. difficile decreased in the general surgical ICU after the outbreak. This suggests that infection control tactics other than HHC play a crucial role in preventing the transmission of nosocomial pathogens, especially when rates of HHC have been maximized.
Caregiver burden is associated with disability in schizophrenia: Results of a study from a rural setting of south India

Background: Taking care of patients with schizophrenia is a major source of burden to the family. Research on burden experienced by family members of patients living in rural communities is sparse. Methods: Data were obtained from a community intervention program for psychoses in a rural community of south India, where persons with severe mental disorders were identified, treated and followed up. As part of the program, caregivers of 245 schizophrenia patients were interviewed using the Burden Assessment Schedule. Psychopathology (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale; PANSS), treatment status and disability (Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale; IDEAS) experienced by the patients were also assessed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to study the influence of different factors on the caregiver burden. Results: Level of burden had a significant direct correlation with disability (Pearson’s r = .35; p < .01) and severity of psychopathology (r = .21; p < .01). Duration of treatment had an inverse correlation with burden (Pearson’s r = −.16; p < .01). Multivariate analysis revealed that total IDEAS score (Beta = .28; t = 4.37; p ≤ .01), duration of treatment (Beta = −.17; t = −2.58; p = .01), age of the family caregiver (Beta = .15; t = 2.4; p = .02) and gender of the patient (Beta = −.13; t = −2.1; p = .04) were significant predictors of burden. The model including total IDEAS score explained 14% of variance (adjusted R2 = .139; p < .01). Conclusion: Burden experienced by family caregivers of schizophrenia patients depends on the level of disability experienced by the patient, age of the family caregivers and gender of the patient. Interventions to reduce disability of the patients may reduce the caregiver burden.
Lithospheric structure of the Gorringe Bank: Insights into its origin and tectonic evolution

The Gorringe Bank is a 5000 m high seamount near the Atlantic coast of Iberia characterized by a 9 m high geoid anomaly and a ∼120 mGal Bouguer anomaly relative to the surrounding abyssal plains. It has been linked to a NW directed thrust carrying exhumed upper mantle rocks and transitional crust on top of flexed‐down Eurasian oceanic crust along the Tagus Abyssal Plain. However, estimations of crustal shortening have yielded dissimilar results, and the deep structure of the ridge remains highly unknown. We present a restored cross section and a new model of the lithospheric structure based on gravity, geoid, elevation, and the presence of serpentinized peridotites. At least 20 km of shortening took place along a flat‐ramp‐flat thrust fault, and the density structure of the lithosphere is consistent with mantle serpentinization varying from 70% at the surface to 20% at 14 km depth and 0% at 40 km. The topographic relief and gravity anomalies are explained by assuming a flexural isostatic model with an elastic thickness Te of ∼30 km. The evolution of the Gorringe Bank since the Late Jurassic is interpreted in relation to Eurasia‐Africa‐North America plate motion in four stages: (1) transtension between Newfoundland‐Iberia and Africa, which generated small oceanic basins and mantle exhumation; (2) opening of the North Atlantic and seafloor spreading at the NW side of the exhumed Gorringe, which produced gabbro intrusions and serpentinization; (3) a quiescent tectonic period dominated by subsidence and sediment accumulation; and (4) a transpressional plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa with NW directed subcrustal thrusting and generation of the present Gorringe relief.
Induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon at two-loop order in chiral perturbation theory

We calculate the imaginary part of the induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon $G_P(t)$ in the framework of two-loop heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. The effect of the calculated three-pion continuum on the pseudoscalar constant $g_P = (m_\mu/2M) G_P(t=-0.877m_\mu^2)$ measurable in ordinary muon capture $\mu^-p\to \nu_\mu n$ turns out to be negligibly small. Possible contributions from counterterms at two-loop order are numerically smaller than the uncertainty of the dominant pion-pole term proportional to the pion-nucleon coupling constant $g_{\pi N}= 13.2\pm 0.2$. We conclude that a sufficiently accurate representation of the induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon at low momentum transfers $t$ is given by the sum of the pion-pole term and the Adler-Dothan-Wolfenstein term: $G_P(t) = 4g_{\pi N} M f_\pi/ (m_\pi^2 -t)- 2g_A M^2 /3$, with $ = (0.44 \pm 0.02)$ fm$^2$ the axial mean square radius of the nucleon.
Infusion fluids as culture media.

Septicemia is a possible complication of the administration of intravenous infusions. The infection may be derived from the skin or from contaminated infusion fluid. The risk to the patient from contaminated infusion fluid depends on the number of organisms present and, therefore, on the nutrient properties of the fluid. A number of commonly used infusion fluids were tested for their growth-promoting abilities for a variety of bacteria. Some fluids did not support the growth or survival of any of the test organisms, whereas other fluids offered selective advantages to different organisms and permitted growth at different rates and even at a pH as low as 3.5.