Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The association between theory of mind, executive function, and the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder

It has been strongly argued that atypical cognitive processes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) contribute to the expression of behavioural symptoms. Comprehensive investigation of these claims has been limited by small and unrepresentative sample sizes and the absence of wide‐ranging task batteries. The current study investigated the cognitive abilities of 100 adolescents with ASD (mean age = 15 years 6 months), using 10 tasks to measure the domains of theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF). We used structural equation modelling as a statistically robust way of exploring the associations between cognition and parent‐reported measures of social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs). We found that ToM ability was associated with both social communication symptoms and RRBs. EF was a correlate of ToM but had no direct association with parent‐reported symptom expression. Our data suggest that in adolescence ToM ability, but not EF, is directly related to autistic symptom expression. Autism Res 2018, 11: 95–109. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DIABETIC FOOT ULCER

Objective: The number of diabetic patients is increasing at a rapid rate1.Management of diabetic foot has been a challenge for medical professionals. This study wascarried out to find the sequelae of diabetic foot ulcer management. Study design: Observationalanalytical study. Setting: Military Hospital, Combined Military Hospitals Rawalpindi and MIMCteaching Hospital, Mirpur (AJK). Period: Sep 2009 to August 2013. Materials and methods:Total 310 patients were included in this study as outdoor and indoor cases. Out of these 184were males and 126 were females. Age affected ranged from 20 years to 90 years. Average agewas 50 years. Wagner’s grading for diabetic foot ulcer was used as guideline for management.Results: Hyperglycemia was controlled in consultation with physicians in all these patients.Out of these 310patients 199 (64%) patients got their feet wounds healed on conservativemanagement without amputation while 111(35.8%) patients had to undergo some amputationat some level. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus, fore runner of so many diseases requires multidisciplinaryapproach. Well controlled diabetes mellitus, good feet hygiene, rational antibioticsin light of culture/sensitivity report and timely conservative or active surgical interventionproduce good results in diabetic foot management.
Escherichia coli Dps interacts with DnaA protein to impede initiation: a model of adaptive mutation

During exponential growth, the level of Dps transiently increases in response to oxidative stress to sequester and oxidize Fe2+, which would otherwise lead to hydroxyl radicals that damage the bacterial chromosome. We report that Dps specifically interacts with DnaA protein by affinity chromatography and a solid phase binding assay, requiring the N‐terminal region of DnaA to interact. In vitro, Dps inhibits DnaA function in initiation by interfering with strand opening of the replication origin. Comparing isogenic dps+ and dps::kan strains by flow cytometry and by quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays at either the chromosomally encoded level, or at an elevated level encoded by an inducible plasmid, we show that Dps causes less frequent initiations. Results from genetic experiments support this conclusion. We suggest that Dps acts as a checkpoint during oxidative stress to reduce initiations, providing an opportunity for mechanisms to repair oxidative DNA damage. Because Dps does not block initiations absolutely, duplication of the damaged DNA is expected to increase the genetic variation of a population, and the probability that genetic adaptation leads to survival under conditions of oxidative stress.
Ownership structure and executive compensation in Canadian corporations

Agency theory, proposed by previous studies such as Guidry, Leone, and Rock (1999) and Arya and Huey-Lian (2004), suggests that bonus and other accounting-metric-based compensation can motivate managers to perform well in the short horizon while equity-based compensation, such as restricted shares and stock options, can serve the purpose of aligning the long run interests of shareholders and managers. The empirical evidence, for example Jensen and Murphy (1990), Kaplan (1994), Hall and Liebman (1998), Murphy (1999), Zhou (2000), and Chowdhury and Wang (2009), confirms that incentive compensation is popular in many countries. However, recent studies suggest that the relation between performance and incentive compensation is weak. Shaw and Zhang (2010) find that CEO bonus compensation is less sensitive to poor earnings performance than it is to good earnings performance. Fahlenbrach and Stulz (2011) study the relation between bank performance during the 2008 bank crisis and the bonus and equity-based compensation of bank CEOs. They find that banks with CEOs whose incentives were better aligned with the interests of shareholders performed worse than other banks. This study examines whether ownership structure can explain the differences among compensation structures of chief executive officers (CEOs). In particular, we examine the compensation structure of three distinct groups: family-controlled, institution-controlled, and widely-held firms. We distinguish these three kinds of firms to represent different levels of market imperfection. Compared with family-controlled and institution-controlled firms, widely held firms have dispersed ownership. The most significant weakness of a widely-held ownership structure is the lack of shareholder monitoring due to the unmatched benefit and cost of monitoring for small shareholders. In contrast, a holder of a large block of shares will have the same monitoring costs but the benefits to this shareholder from monitoring management and reducing agency costs would be substantial and larger than the costs of monitoring. Thus the presence of a large shareholder will reduce the agency costs. In addition, large shareholders may be willing to spend time and effort continuously to collect more information on management performance or to estimate the firm’s investment projects. This behaviour will reduce the problems that arise from information asymmetry and will decrease the waste of free cash flows by managers. Both family-controlled firms and institution-controlled firms have large shareholders. However, whether or not the control shareholders are playing an active monitoring role is still an important issue. From the viewpoint of aligning the interests of managers and shareholders, the family-controlled group is superior to the institution-controlled group. First, institutions are more flexible in moving their ownership from one firm to another depending on performance. If the costs of monitoring are high in comparison to the costs of rebalancing portfolios, institutions will choose…
Macromastia: How Much of It Is Fat?

&NA; A total of 25 patients who underwent bilateral breast reduction were included in this study. Each patient's age, weight, height, and amount of breast tissue removed from each breast were recorded. The body mass index was calculated for each patient. On the day of the operation, tissue samples (two each) were taken from the central, lateral, and preaxillary areas of the breast. One of the samples was weighed, placed in a closed glass container, and heated for 10 minutes in a microwave oven at full power. The liquid fat was separated from the solid residue, and the percentage of fat was calculated. The other sample from each area was examined grossly, and representative sections, corresponding to the distribution of fat and connective tissue, were submitted for evaluation. In these samples, the percentage of fat, gland, and connective tissue was estimated using low‐magnification light microscopy. In this group of patients (who had an average age of 34 years and who were significantly overweight as determined by a mean body mass index of 28), it was found (using the microwave method) that there was a mean fat percentage of 61 percent in the central breast area, 74 percent in the lateral breast area, and 73 percent in the preaxillary area. Upon microscopic examination, the pathologist reported that fat accounted for 64 percent of the central breast area, 92 percent of the lateral breast area, and 94 percent of the preaxillary area. On average, the central breast area in macromastia patients had only seven percent gland and 29 percent connective tissue. The lateral and preaxillary areas of the breast had one to three percent gland and five percent connective tissue. The two methods had a significant (p < 0.05) positive correlation in the central breast area, but in the lateral and preaxillary regions, the correlation was poor. In the microscopic examination, there was a tendency to overestimate the amount of fat. Both methods of evaluation used in the study concur that the enlarged breast of macromastia consists primarily of fat and that the glandular element is rather small. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 109: 64, 2002.)
Securities trading in multiple markets: the Chinese perspective

3 Acknowledgements. 6 List of Tables. 10 List of Graphs. 12 List of Abbreviations. 13 Chapter 1 . 14 Introduction . 14 Chapter 2 . 25 A Survey of China’s Stock Market . 25 2.
Identification of a CYP 84 Family of Cytochrome P 450-Dependent MonoOxygenase Genes in Brassica napus and Perturbation of Their Expression for Engineering Sinapine Reduction in the Seeds 1

CYP84 is a recently identified family of cytochrome P450-dependent mono-oxygenases defined by a putative ferulate-5hydroxylase (F5H) from Arabidopsis. Until recently F5H has been thought to catalyze the hydroxylation of ferulate to 5-OH ferulate en route to sinapic acid. Sinapine, a sinapate-derived ester in the seeds, is antinutritional and a target for elimination in canola meal. We have isolated three F5H-like genes (BNF5H1-3) from a cultivated Brassica napus, whose amphidiploid progenitor is considered to have arisen from a fusion of the diploids Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea. Two cultivated varieties of the diploids were also found to contain BNF5H3 and additionally either BNF5H1 or BNF5H2, respectively. Whereas all three are . 90% identical in their coding sequence, BNF5H1 and BNF5H2 are closer to each other than to BNF5H3. This and additional data suggest that the two groups of genes have diverged in an ancestor of the diploids. B. napus showed maximal F5H expression in the stems, least in the seeds, and subtle differences among the expression profiles of the three genes elsewhere. Transgenic B. napus with cauliflower mosaic virus 35S-antisense BNF5H contained up to 40% less sinapine, from 9.0 6 0.3 mg in the controls to 5.3 6 0.3 mg g seed. F5H from Arabidopsis and a similar enzyme from sweetgum (Liquidamber styraciflua) has recently been shown to have coniferaldehyde hydroxylase activity instead of F5H activity. Thus the supply of 5-OH coniferaldehyde or 5-OH ferulate has a bearing on sinapine accumulation in canola seeds.
Organic-inorganic electronics

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials enable the integration of useful organic and inorganic characteristics within a single molecular-scale composite. Unique electronic and optical properties have been observed, and many others can be envisioned for this promising class of materials. In this paper, we review the crystal structures and physical properties of one family of crystalline, self-assembling, organic-inorganic hybrids based on the layered perovskite framework. In addition to exhibiting a number of potentially useful properties, the hybrids can be deposited as thin films using simple and inexpensive techniques, such as spin coating or single- source thermal ablation. The relatively new field of "organic-inorganic electronics" offers a variety of exciting technological opportunities. Several recent demonstrations of electronic and optical devices based on organic-inorganic perovskites are presented as examples.
Isolation of a new butenolide from the South China Sea gorgonian coral Subergorgia suberosa

Chemical investigation on the South China Sea gorgonian coral Subergorgia suberosa has led to the isolation of one new butenolide (5R)-5-(1-ethoxypropyl)-5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-one (1) as a pair of inseparable epimers, along with two known butenolides (S)-5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-propylfuran-2(5H)-one (2) and (S)-5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-pentylfuran-2(5H)-one (3). Their structures including absolute configurations were determined unambiguously by detailed analyses of spectroscopic data and by comparison with the available literature. Compounds 1–3 exhibited moderate antifouling activities against the settlement of Balanus amphitrite larvae, whereas compound 4, the acetyl derivative of 3, showed no antifouling activity at the concentrations up to 25 μg/mL.
The Bank Lending Channel In Turkey: Effect of Capital Adequacy Ratio

This paper empirically analyzes the effect of monetary policy changes on loan supply of Turkish banks and presents the evidence that bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission mechanism is operating through the capital adequacy of Turkish banks. By using the CAR as an indicator of capital constraint we show that banks that do not have capital constraints respond more to monetary policy. Also, banks with different CAR react differently to monetary policy changes. We show that the asymmetric effect of CAR may help to explain the mixed results in the empirical literature about the bank lending channel.
Determinants of Returns of Acquiring Firms Around Public Tender Offer Announcements: The Evidence Related to French Control-Oriented and Parent-Subsidiary Offers

We examine the wealth effects of 101 tender offers, completed by French companies between January 1980 and December 2000 and we distinguish two categories of tender offers: Control-oriented ones, i.e. offers involving a change in control, and parent-subsidiary ones, i.e. offers where the acquirer holds more than 50 percent of the target's outstanding shares before the bid. We obtain the following results. First, we show that tender offers are much more profitable for target shareholders. Second, we observe that, on average, bidder returns are positive and significant for control-oriented offers, whereas they are negative and significant for parent-subsidiary ones. Third, results suggest that control-oriented acquisitions tend to create value, whereas parent-subsidiary ones tend to destroy value. Since we show that bidders exhibit low or negative returns at the announcement of the offer, we examine the determinants of these low or negative returns. The determinants under study are related to the characteristics of the offers, as well as to some characteristics of the acquirers. We observe that returns of French acquirers are affected by the quality of their management, by the relatedness of their activities with those of the targets and by the level of competition to acquire the target. Specifically, bidder returns are higher for companies that are indebted, with a high market-to-book ratio (i.e. 'glamour' firms), whose activities are similar to the targets' ones, and that do not face competition during the tender offer. However, returns of French acquirers do not appear to be related to the method of payment, nor to the bidders' shareholdings in their target prior to the bid.
A Comparison of Patients Who Have Undergone 1-Level Versus 2-Level Prodisc Arthroplasty: A Prospective Study With Minimum of 5-Year Follow-up

Study Design. Analysis of data collected prospectively from the United States Food and Drug Administration Investigational Device Exemption (US FDA IDE) clinical trial for patients who underwent ProDisc-L arthroplasty at 1- and 2- levels performed at 2 study centers. Objective. To determine if there is any clinical or radiographical differences between patients who received 1-level ProDisc-L and patients who received 2-level ProDisc-L with a minimum follow-up of 5 years. Summary of Background Data. Recent prospective US FDA clinical trial results have been published showing efficacy of the ProDisc (DePuy Synthes, West Chester, PA) prosthesis in both single and 2 level surgical procedures. Results of these prospective randomized multicenter FDA IDE clinical trials showed safety, efficacy, and superiority over circumferential fusion. Methods. Patients were part of the FDA clinical trial for the ProDisc-L versus circumferential fusion study at 2 institutions. We identified 20 patients who received ProDisc-L at 1 level and 21 who received it at 2 levels for a total of 41 patients. Pre- and postoperative pain, clinical function, and range of motion were measured. An unpaired t test was done to compare the 2- versus 1-level disc replacement patients. Results. All patients had more than 60 months of clinical follow-up. The mean scores on the visual analogue scale were 37.1 and 28.7, respectively (P = 0.33) for 1- and 2-level patients. Oswestry Disability Index scores were 33 and 29.1, respectively for 1- and 2-level patients (P = 0.60); and SF-36 health survey physical scores were 43 and 43.9, respectively for 1- and 2-level patients (P = 0.81); SF-36 health survey mental scores were 46.2 and 46.6, respectively for 1- and 2-level patients (P = 0.923). The average final follow-up postoperative range of motion for 1- and 2-level total disc replacement was 6. 0º and 5. 4º, respectively (P = 0.632). Conclusion. This study was unable to identify statistical differences in all clinical and radiographical outcomes for patients who underwent 1- and 2-level ProDisc arthroplasty in a cohort from 2 centers. Future studies with longer-term follow-up are needed to confirm these results. Level of Evidence: 4
Complicity or Conflict over Sexual Cannibalism? Male Risk Taking in the Praying Mantis Tenodera aridifolia sinensis

Male complicity versus conflict over sexual cannibalism in mantids remains extremely controversial, yet few studies have attempted to establish a causal relationship between risk of cannibalism and male reproductive behavior. We studied male risk‐taking behavior in the praying mantid Tenodera aridifolia sinensis by altering the risk imposed by females and measuring changes in male behavior. We show that males were less likely to approach hungrier, more rapacious females, and when they did approach, they moved more slowly, courted with greater intensity, and mounted from a greater distance. Similarly, when forced to approach females head‐on, within better view and better reach of females, males also approached more slowly and courted with greater intensity. Thus, males behaved in a manner clearly indicative of risk avoidance, and we support the hypothesis of sexual conflict over sexual cannibalism.
Effect of various steroids and ACTH on plasma levels of zoxazolamine and dicumarol.

Comparative experiments were performed on rats given pregnenolone-16α-carbonitrile, estradiol, progesterone, triamcinolone, hydroxydione, or ACTH (corticotropin) to study correlations between the in vivo conditioning effects upon resistance to zoxazolamine and dicumarol and the plasma concentrations of these drugs. The conditioners were classified as catatoxic when a decrease in toxicity was associated with increased blood clearance of the drug, and they were classified as syntoxic when in vivo protection was accomplished without a simultaneous fall in the plasma drug level. With these criteria, pregnenolone-16α-carbonitrile was markedly protective and catatoxic whereas triamcinolone and ACTH were moderately protective and syntoxic against zoxazolamine. The remaining steroids elicited very mild changes in zoxazolamine paralysis and blood clearance. Of all the conditioners tested, only estradiol protected against dicumarol intoxication and accelerated plasma clearance of this drug. Hence, only estradiol exhibited a manifest catatoxic effect against this anticoagulant.
Corporate Citizenship: Successful Strategies for Responsible Companies

Corporate Citizenship outlines the social responsibility issues facing businesses. The companies profiled in this book (including: Levis, Marks & Spencer and McDonalds) have recognized that having a social responsibility strategy has made them more competitive. The issues covered by this book include: social and ethical auditing, fair trade, human rights, environmental policy and practice, corporate governance, ethical investment, stakeholder relationships and global codes of conduct. The book also contains the first guide to certification on SA8000 - the new global Social Accountability standard.
Electrocardiographic and Hemodynamic Effects of Panax Ginseng

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Panax ginseng ingestion can acutely or chronically alter electrocardiographic parameters: PR, QRS, QT, QTc, and RR intervals, and QT and QTc interval dispersion. Effects of P. ginseng on blood pressure and heart rate also were evaluated. METHODS: This is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of healthy adults at the University of Connecticut. Thirty subjects were randomly allocated to receive 28 days of therapy with either P. ginseng extract 200 mg or placebo. Baseline 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained. Subsequent ECGs were performed following study drug ingestion at 50 minutes, 2 hours, and 5 hours on days 1 and 28. Blood pressure readings were taken with each ECG. RESULTS: P. ginseng ingestion increased the QTc interval by 0.015 seconds on day 1 at 2 hours compared with the placebo group (p = 0.03). It also reduced diastolic blood pressure from 75 ± 5 mm Hg at baseline to 70 ± 6 mm Hg at the same time point (p = 0.02). The observed effects are not believed to be clinically significant. No other statistically significant changes were found in electrocardiographic or hemodynamic variables on days 1 or 28. CONCLUSIONS: P. ginseng, at doses of 200 mg of the extract daily, increases the QTc interval and decreases diastolic blood pressure 2 hours after ingestion in healthy adults on the first day of therapy.