Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute orthostatic hypotension when starting dopamine agonists in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE To study the frequency and severity of acute orthostatic hypotension (OH) in patients with Parkinson's disease who are starting dopamine agonist therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the context of an outpatient clinical practice, 29 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease who were starting dopamine agonist therapy were brought into the clinic for their first dose of agonist. After a baseline supine and standing blood pressure assessment, patients were given a test dose of either pergolide mesylate (0.025, 0.05, 0. 125, or 0.25 mg), pramipexole dihydrochloride (0.125 mg), or ropinirole hydrochloride (0.125 or 0.25 mg). At 3 selected times, blood pressure readings were repeated in the supine and standing positions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Orthostatic hypotension was defined as a drop in either systolic blood pressure of more than 25 mm Hg or diastolic pressure of more than 10 mm Hg. Patients with OH before the administration of the dopamine agonist were excluded. RESULTS Ten subjects (34%) met the criteria for acute OH. There was no evidence that OH was related to the use of a specific dopamine agonist or the concurrent use of levodopa. Of the patients who met the criteria for OH, only 3 (30%) had symptoms of OH, such as lightheadedness or general malaise. CONCLUSIONS Acute OH occurs frequently when starting dopamine agonist therapy in Parkinson's disease, but is frequently not appreciated by patients. Knowledge of acute blood pressure responses may be useful when making decisions regarding agonist titration schedules in clinical practice. Arch Neurol. 2000;57:1461-1463
The Interrelations Between Social Class, Personal Relative Deprivation, and Prosociality

We propose that personal relative deprivation (PRD)—the belief that one is worse off than similar others—plays a key role in the link between social class and prosociality. Across multiple samples and measures (total N = 2,233), people higher in PRD were less inclined to help others. When considered in isolation, neither objective nor subjective socioeconomic status (SES) was meaningfully associated with prosociality. However, because people who believe themselves to be at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy are typically low in PRD, these variables act as mutual suppressors—the predictive validity of both is enhanced when they are considered simultaneously, revealing that both higher subjective SES and higher PRD are associated with lower prosociality. These results cast new light on the complex connections between relative social status and people’s willingness to act for the benefit of others.
Campaigning on behalf of the party? Party constraints on candidate campaign personalisation

This article analyses what makes political candidates run a party‐focused or personalised election campaign. Prior work shows that candidates face incentives from voters and the media to personalise their campaign rhetoric and promises at the expense of party policy. This has raised concerns about the capacity of parties to govern effectively and voters’ ability to hold individual politicians accountable. This article builds on the literature on party organisation and considers the possible constraints candidates face from their party in personalising their election campaigns. Specifically, it is argued that party control over the candidate nomination process and campaign financing constrains most political candidates in following electoral incentives for campaign personalisation. Using candidate survey data from the 2009 EP election campaign in 27 countries, the article shows how candidates from parties in which party officials exerted greater control over the nomination process and campaign finances were less likely to engage in personalised campaigning at the expense of the party programme. The findings imply that most parties, as central gatekeepers and resource suppliers, hold important control mechanisms for countering the electoral pressure for personalisation and advance our understanding of the incentives and constraints candidates face when communicating with voters. The article discusses how recent democratic reforms, paradoxically, might induce candidate personalisation with potential negative democratic consequences.
The Effects of Pricing Canadian Livestock Emissions

I examine the environmental and economic effects of pricing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock in Canada. Using a partial equilibrium model, I consider three different pricing policies: a consumer level tax, a producer level tax, and a producer subsidy. All policies price emissions at $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. The producer level tax generates the greatest reduction in emissions at the lowest social cost per unit of emissions abatement. The producer subsidy results in a smaller reduction in emissions at a higher social cost, relative to the producer tax. However, the subsidy provides a substantial increase in producer surplus, which may make it a politically feasible secondâ€ best policy. The consumer level tax results in a trivial reduction in emissions, at a social cost that is greater than the price placed on emissions. J'examine les effets environnementaux et A©conomiques de l'imposition d'un prix sur les gaz A effets de serre provenant des animaux d'A©levage canadiens. Au moyen d'un modA¨le d'A©quilibre partiel, je tiens compte de trois diffA©rentes politiques d'imposition de prix : taxer le consommateur, taxer le producteur, et subventionner le producteur. Toutes les politiques imposent les A©missions au prix de 50$ par tonne en A©quivalent de dioxyde de carbone. Taxer l'A©leveur gA©nA¨re la plus grande rA©duction des A©missions au plus bas coA»t social par unitA© de rA©duction des A©missions. Subventionner l'A©leveur entraA©ne une plus petite rA©duction des A©missions A coA»t social plus A©levA©, en comparaison A» la taxe imposA©e A l'A©leveur. Par contre, le choix de subventionner fournit une augmentation substantielle de surplus pour l'A©leveur, faisant de cette option un bon deuxiA¨me choix envisageable au niveau politique. Taxer le consommateur ne produit qu'une rA©duction nA©gligeable des A©missions, A coA»t social plus A©levA© que le taux imposA© sur les A©missions.
Antibodies of symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected individuals are directed to the V3 domain of noninfectious and not of infectious virions present in autologous serum

The present study was designed to determine the antibody specificity for the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) V3 domains of infectious and noninfectious virions present in the serum of AIDS patients. To accomplish this, HIV-1 was isolated in the presence of autologous antibodies from the serum samples of six AIDS patients in HIV-1-negative donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells by short-term cultivation. The isolated virus, defined as the infectious cell-free virus (iCFV), was characterized by sequence analysis of the proviral DNA coding for the third hypervariable (V3) region of the external glycoprotein gp120. This was carried out by amplifying and cloning the V3 region. In all six cases studied, 20 randomly selected V3 clones derived from the proviral DNA of the iCFV, 20 clones from patient cell-free virus, and 20 clones from cell-integrated virus were sequenced to study the distribution and frequency of the intrapatient virus population. The number of major virus variants in the six patients ranged from three to nine. The various V3 sequences found in the AIDS patients showed the typical amino acid pattern of the syncytium-inducing and non-syncytium-inducing viral phenotypes characteristic for the late stage of infection. However, only one patient-specific iCFV variant was detected within the 20 V3 clones analyzed per virus isolation. For the six patients a total of 34 V3-loop variants, either iCFV or non-iCFV, was observed. All 34 V3-loop sequences were expressed as glutathione-S-transferase fusion proteins (V3-GST). The autologous antibody response to the V3-GST fusion proteins was studied by Western immunoblot analysis. A strong antibody response to almost all non-iCFV V3-GST proteins was found in the sera of the six patients. In contrast, the autologous antibody response to the six iCFV V3 loops was undetectable (in four patients) or very faint (in two patients) compared with that to the non-iCFV V3 loops. Five of the six iCFV loops showed positively charged amino acids at positions strongly associated with the syncytium-inducing phenotype. These findings suggest that our in vitro isolation system selects for virions which are not recognized by V3-specific antibodies and are infectious both in vitro and in vivo.
Fas / FasL system, IL‐1β expression and apoptosis in chronic HBV and HCV liver disease

Summary. The Fas / Fas‐ligand (FasL) system is an important death signal pathway in the liver. An enhanced local inflammatory response prompted by FasL expression, which contributes to neutrophil recruitment and interleukin‐1 beta (IL‐1β) release, seems to be crucial to chronic liver damage, persistence of viral infections, and probably initiation and / or promotion of HCC. In order to evaluate the expression of Fas, FasL, and IL‐1β in different stages of human liver disease and to determine whether hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections modulate their expression, also in relation to apoptosis, we examined 87 liver samples obtained from patients with: chronic hepatitis (CH) (n.42), cirrhosis (n.9) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (n.16) and corresponding peritumoural tissues (n.16); histologically‐normal liver (n.4) as controls. Fas, FasL and IL‐1β mRNA were quantified using reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction. The apoptotic index was evaluated by TUNEL analysis. Our data showed a progressive Fas / FasL increase from CH to cirrhosis followed by a decline from the latter to HCC. In histological sections apoptosis was detected in HCC. A significant difference emerged between HCV and HBV‐related disease for IL‐1β expression only in CH. A significant positive correlation between IL‐1β and FasL in HCV‐related disease (P = 0.014) and an inverse correlation between IL‐1β and Fas in HBV‐related disease (P = 0.021) were observed. The different pattern of IL‐1β, Fas and FasL expression found in HCV‐ and HBV‐mediated liver disease, points to a different modulation of immune response B and C virus induced, while the decline in Fas / FasL expression in HCC may be related to defence mechanisms adopted by HCC cells against the immune system.
IMPLICATIONS AND EVALUATION OF CROP INSURANCE CHOICES FOR COTTON FARMERS UNDER THE 2014 FARM BILL

Abstract The Agricultural Act of 2014 introduced new crop insurance policies to manage agricultural risk, especially to cotton farmers. A representative farm panel was used to elicit the yield distribution of the farm, county, and correlation. Results suggest that the optimal underlying insurance policy is Revenue Protection at a 75% coverage level for both high- and low-productivity farms even with a Yield Exclusion provision. The Stacked Income Protection Plan benefit is mostly attributable to a higher insurance premium subsidy. For any crop, efficient agricultural risk management can be achieved through understanding the guaranteed yield and its relation to the farm and county yield.
Genetic analysis of the cell-to-cell movement of beet yellows closterovirus.

A beet yellows closterovirus (BYV) variant expressing green fluorescent protein and leaves of BYV local lesion host Claytonia perfoliata were used to reveal genetic requirements for BYV cell-to-cell movement in leaf epidermis and mesophyll. A series of mutations targeting genes that are not involved in amplification of the viral positive-strand RNA was analyzed. The products of genes coding for a 6-kDa hydrophobic protein (p6) and a 64-kDa protein (p64), as well as for minor and major capsid proteins, were found to be essential for intercellular translocation of BYV. In a previous work, we have demonstrated that the BYV HSP70-homolog (HSP70h) also plays a critical role in viral movement (V. V. Peremyslov, Y. Hagiwara, and V. V. Dolja, 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96, 14771-14776). Altogether, a unique protein quintet including three dedicated movement proteins (p6, p64, and HSP70h) and two structural proteins is required to potentiate the cell-to-cell movement of a closterovirus. The corresponding BYV genes are clustered in a block that is conserved among diverse representatives of the family Closteroviridae.
Commercial Banks’ Sectoral Credit Allocation and Growth of Nigeria Economy: An Impact Analysis (1994-2015)

This study set out to analyse the impact of commercial banks sectoral credit allocation on the growth index of Nigeria economy. Data for the study were obtained from secondary sources and analysed using econometric methods namely: ADF unit root test, Johansen Cointegration test; vector error correction model and Granger causality test. The ADF test result indicate that the variables are stationary at first difference. The Johansen cointegration result revealed that there are three cointegrating equations among the variables. The vector error correction result indicate that economic growth is a positive and significant function of credit to agriculture, manufacturing and general services. The result of Granger causality shows that credit to agriculture is bidirectionally related to economic growth while credit to manufacturing sector granger causes economic growth without a feedback effect. The study therefore recommended that government should provide the enabling environment for small, medium and large business to operate. This could be do ne thro ugh business friendly monetary and fiscal policies. Commercial bank should reduce the interest rates on lendings to facilitate operations in various sectors and increases growths. Key Words: Credit, sectoral allocation, economic growth; liquidity; liability management
Patterns of informal care among Puerto Rican, African American, and white stroke survivors

Background. There has been an increase in the number of non-institutionalized stroke survivors over the past few decades leading to larger numbers of family caregivers. Less is known about the patterns of informal caregiving within racially and ethnically diverse families even though there is greater post-stroke morbidity and mortality for these groups. Research aims. The purpose of our research is to examine the informal caregiving networks of white, African American, and Puerto Rican caregivers. Methodology. We examine data collected from 118 stroke survivors and caregivers to explore the dynamics of caregiving. Data are drawn from a diverse group of whites, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans living on the US Mainland and Puerto Rico at three different time points over the course of 12 months. Analysis. We examine the size, stability, change, and family dynamics of informal caregiving networks. Findings and implications. We find that whites, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans each have differing caregiving structures highlighted by expansion and contraction across time, size of network, and relationship to the stroke survivor. Greater cultural awareness among health professionals can lead to improved coordination of information or formal care services. These findings may also be used as a baseline for understanding the caregiving patterns of other Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations.
` The Role of a Relative Age Effect in the 7 th International Children’s Winter Games 2016 and the Influence of Biological Maturity Status on Selection

Austria Abstract The aim of this study was to analyse the role of a relative age effect (RAE) and to investigate the influence of biological maturity status on the RAE at the 7 th International Children`s Winter Games. The birth dates of all 572 participants (365 males, 207 females) were analysed, and the biological maturity status of 384 athletes (243 males, 141 females) was assessed by the age at peak height velocity (APHV) method. A RAE was present in the total sample ( χ ² = 67.81; p < 0.001), and among both male ( χ ² = 49.02; p < 0.001) and female athletes ( χ ² = 37.00; p < 0.001) as well as for strength- ( χ ² = 56.46; p < 0.001), endurance- ( χ ² = 20.48; p = 0.039) and technique-related types of sports ( χ ² = 20.48; p = 0.041). No significant differences in biological maturity status were present between the male athletes of single relative age quarters. Among the female athletes a significant difference was present ( F = 5.94, p < 0.001); relatively younger female athletes had significantly lower values in the APHV, which indicated that they were maturing earlier. How-ever, when dividing the athletes into normal, early and late maturing athletes, it could be seen that among the relatively younger athletes, hardly any late maturing athletes were present. These findings revealed that relatively younger athletes seemed to only have a chance for selection if they were early maturing, whereas relatively older athletes had an increased likelihood for selection independent of their biological maturity status. In the future, the relative age and the biological maturity status should be considered in the talent development system for various types of winter sport, to contribute to more fairness and to not discriminate against relatively younger and less mature
Structural organization of the rat gene for the arginine vasopressin‐neurophysin precursor.

The rat arginine vasopressin‐neurophysin precursor gene has been isolated from a genomic library cloned in lambda phage Charon 4A. Restriction mapping and nucleotide sequence analysis demonstrated that the gene is 1.85 kilobase pairs long and contains two intervening sequences located in the protein coding region. Exon A encodes a putative signal peptide, the hormone arginine vasopressin and the variable N terminus of the carrier protein neurophysin, exon B encodes the highly conserved middle part of neurophysin and exon C its variable C terminus together with glycoprotein. Thus, the three functional domains of the percursor ‐ arginine, vasopressin, neurophysin, glycoprotein ‐ are encoded on three distinct exons.
Intraflagellar transport proteins 172, 80, 57, 54, 38, and 20 form a stable tubulin‐binding IFT‐B2 complex

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) relies on the IFT complex and is required for ciliogenesis. The IFT‐B complex consists of 9–10 stably associated core subunits and six “peripheral” subunits that were shown to dissociate from the core structure at moderate salt concentration. We purified the six “peripheral” IFT‐B subunits of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as recombinant proteins and show that they form a stable complex independently of the IFT‐B core. We suggest a nomenclature of IFT‐B1 (core) and IFT‐B2 (peripheral) for the two IFT‐B subcomplexes. We demonstrate that IFT88, together with the N‐terminal domain of IFT52, is necessary to bridge the interaction between IFT‐B1 and B2. The crystal structure of IFT52N reveals highly conserved residues critical for IFT‐B1/IFT‐B2 complex formation. Furthermore, we show that of the three IFT‐B2 subunits containing a calponin homology (CH) domain (IFT38, 54, and 57), only IFT54 binds αβ‐tubulin as a potential IFT cargo, whereas the CH domains of IFT38 and IFT57 mediate the interaction with IFT80 and IFT172, respectively. Crystal structures of IFT54 CH domains reveal that tubulin binding is mediated by basic surface‐exposed residues.
An Endohyphal Bacterium (Chitinophaga, Bacteroidetes) Alters Carbon Source Use by Fusarium keratoplasticum (F. solani Species Complex, Nectriaceae)

Bacterial endosymbionts occur in diverse fungi, including members of many lineages of Ascomycota that inhabit living plants. These endosymbiotic bacteria (endohyphal bacteria, EHB) often can be removed from living fungi by antibiotic treatment, providing an opportunity to assess their effects on functional traits of their fungal hosts. We examined the effects of an endohyphal bacterium (Chitinophaga sp., Bacteroidetes) on substrate use by its host, a seed-associated strain of the fungus Fusarium keratoplasticum, by comparing growth between naturally infected and cured fungal strains across 95 carbon sources with a Biolog® phenotypic microarray. Across the majority of substrates (62%), the strain harboring the bacterium significantly outperformed the cured strain as measured by respiration and hyphal density. These substrates included many that are important for plant- and seed-fungus interactions, such as D-trehalose, myo-inositol, and sucrose, highlighting the potential influence of EHB on the breadth and efficiency of substrate use by an important Fusarium species. Cases in which the cured strain outperformed the strain harboring the bacterium were observed in only 5% of substrates. We propose that additive or synergistic substrate use by the fungus-bacterium pair enhances fungal growth in this association. More generally, alteration of the breadth or efficiency of substrate use by dispensable EHB may change fungal niches in short timeframes, potentially shaping fungal ecology and the outcomes of fungal-host interactions.
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor-beta reflect severity of liver damage in primary biliary cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is unknown. The role of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), and the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in modifying the cytokine environment in patients with PBC has remained largely unstudied. Our aims were to determine: (i) the relationship between serum levels of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta and the severity of PBC; and (ii) the effects of UDCA therapy on TNF-alpha and TGF-beta levels in patients with PBC. METHODS We studied 90 patients who had been treated with UDCA (53 patients) or placebo (37 patients) for 2 years as part of a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Patients were divided into histological stage I/II or stage III/IV disease. Serum TNF-alpha and TGF-beta levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay. RESULTS Baseline levels of TNF-alpha were significantly greater in patients with stage III/IV compared to stage I/II disease. After 2 years of treatment with UDCA, patients showed a significantly greater decrease in TNF-alpha levels and progression risk score compared to placebo-treated patients. TNF-alpha and TGF-beta levels were significantly reduced compared to baseline levels in the UDCA-treated group after 2 years, while there was no significant change in the levels of placebo-treated patients. CONCLUSIONS Serum TNF-alpha and TGF-beta levels may reflect severity of disease in patients with PBC. The beneficial effects of UDCA therapy may be explained by lowering serum levels of these two cytokines.
The Impacts of Globalization on Inflation andTransmission of Islamic Monetary Policy: Case Study in Indonesia

This Research aims to examine the implications of globalization for the nature of domestic inflation in Indonesia and to measure how far the influence to the Islamic monetary policyand how Islamic Monetary Policy deal with it. Specifically, whether the role played by each channel in the monetary policy transmission weakened or strengthened is investigated. To achieve these objectives a dynamic factor model with stochastic volatility (DFM-SV)model of the Indonesian monetary economy is constructed. However, before these objectives are addressed the issue of whether the monetary policy shocks have plausible macroeconomic effects is dealt with. To that end, a nonrecursive identifying strategy is applied.Time series econometric methods such as cointegration test, Granger causality test and generalized impulse response functions are applied in examining the dynamic relationship of the variables. Keyword: globalization, inflation, volatility, Islamic monetary policy