Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Test of the Mutual Forebearance Hypothesis: The Case of Bank Holding Companies

The 1960s and 1970s were marked by significant growth and expansion of bank holding companies (BHCs) in the commercial banking industry. ' In 1956, there were 53 BHCs controlling 7.6 percent of all banking offices and 9.5 percent of all banking deposits. By 1978, however, there were 2, 113 BHCs controlling 51.8 percent of all banking offices and 66.8 percent of all banking deposits.2 Moreover, Rhoades [25] notes that the growth of BHCs throughout this period was attributable to acquisitions that expanded the geographic scope of the banking operations. The rapid growth of BHCs represented a dramatic change in the banking system and subsequently raised questions concerning the undue aggregate concentration of banking resources, the safety and soundness of the banking system, and the vigor of competition in banking markets with large, diversified BHCs present.3 In particular, the move toward acquisitions that extended the BHCs' operations into several geographic markets has drawn the attention of bank regulators and economists. One hypothesis advanced to describe the potential impact that large, geographically-diversified BHCs may have on the performance of banking markets is the mutual forebearance hypothesis.4 The hypothesis asserts that BHCs avoid competitive behavior (e.g., price cutting) in one market because they expect, or conjecture, that their rivals, whom they compete against in multiple markets, will retaliate in some other market. In other words, when BHCs compete against one another in a number of geographic markets, they may be less apt to behave competitively because of the potential for retaliation by a rival in another market. As a consequence, these potential multi-market interdependencies may have an adverse impact on performance in local banking markets.
Microwave arbitrary waveform generation based on optical spectral shaping and wavelength-to-time mapping using a chirped fiber Bragg grating

We propose a novel technique to implement microwave arbitrary waveform generation (AWG) in the optical domain based on simultaneous optical spectral shaping and wavelength-to-time mapping in a single linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG). In the proposed approach, the spectrum of an ultrashort optical pulse generated by a mode-locked fiber laser is spectrally shaped and at the same time wavelength-to-time mapped by the LCFBG to generate a microwave pulse with a shape identical to that of the shaped optical spectrum. By designing the LCFBG to have an arbitrary reflection profile, a microwave arbitrary waveform is generated. The key component in the proposed system is the LCFBG. A simple and effective technique to synthesize the LCFBG with an arbitrary reflection response is proposed. An approximate model describing the microwave AWG is derived, which is verified by numerical simulations and a proof-of-concept experiment.
Drug-poisoning Deaths Involving Opioid Analgesics: United States, 1999-2011.

KEY FINDINGS Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality File. The age-adjusted rate for opioid-analgesic poisoning deaths nearly quadrupled from 1.4 per 100,000 in 1999 to 5.4 per 100,000 in 2011. Although the opioid-analgesic poisoning death rates increased each year from 1999 through 2011, the rate of increase has slowed since 2006. Natural and semisynthetic opioid analgesics, such as hydrocodone, morphine, and oxycodone, were involved in 11,693 drug-poisoning deaths in 2011, up from 2,749 deaths in 1999. Benzodiazepines were involved in 31% of the opioid-analgesic poisoning deaths in 2011, up from 13% of the opioid-analgesic poisoning deaths in 1999. During the past decade, adults aged 55-64 and non-Hispanic white persons experienced the greatest increase in the rates of opioid-analgesic poisoning deaths. Poisoning is the leading cause of injury death in the United States (1). Drugs-both illicit and pharmaceutical-are the major cause of poisoning deaths, accounting for 90% of poisoning deaths in 2011. Misuse or abuse of prescription drugs, including opioid-analgesic pain relievers, is responsible for much of the recent increase in drug-poisoning deaths (2). This report highlights trends in drug-poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics (referred to as opioid-analgesic poisoning deaths) and updates previous Data Briefs on this topic.
Vasectomy and risk of prostate cancer: population based matched cohort study

Objective To determine the association between vasectomy and prostate cancer, adjusting for measures of health seeking behaviour. Design Population based matched cohort study. Setting Multiple validated healthcare databases in Ontario, Canada, 1994-2012. Participants 326 607 men aged 20 to 65 who had undergone vasectomy were identified through physician billing codes and matched 1:1 on age (within two years), year of cohort entry, comorbidity score, and geographical region to men who did not undergo a vasectomy. Main outcomes measures The primary outcome was incident prostate cancer. Secondary outcomes were prostate cancer related grade, stage, and mortality. Results 3462 incident cases of prostate cancer were identified after a median follow-up of 10.9 years: 1843 (53.2%) in the vasectomy group and 1619 (46.8%) in the non-vasectomy group. In unadjusted analysis, vasectomy was associated with a slightly increased risk of incident prostate cancer (hazard ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.20). After adjustment for measures of health seeking behaviour, however, no association remained (adjusted hazard ratio 1.02, 95% confidence interval 0.95 to 1.09). Moreover, no association was found between vasectomy and high grade prostate cancer (adjusted odds ratio 1.05, 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 1.66), advanced stage prostate cancer (adjusted odds ratio 1.04, 0.81 to 1.34), or mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 1.06, 0.60 to 1.85). Conclusion The findings do not support an independent association between vasectomy and prostate cancer.
Expression of receptors for VEGFs on normal human thyroid follicular cells and their role in follicle formation

Human thyroid follicular cells in culture expressed the mRNAs for the receptors for vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFRs). The relative expression was neuropilin1 = neuropilin2 = VEGFR2 > VEGFR1 > VEGFR3. Western blotting for VEGFR2 showed labeling of proteins ∼200–230 kDa. Clonal follicular thyroid cell lines (FRTL5 and FTC133) also expressed mRNAs for the VEGFR1 and 2 obviating concerns of endothelial cell contamination. In the primary cultures, TSH, which is essential for expression of differentiated function, reduced VEGFR2 mRNA levels by 60%. Immunostaining for VEGFRs and neuropilin2 (NRP2), showed expression on the plasma membrane but with the exception of neuropilin1 (NRP1), all VEGFRs were also found in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Antibody specific for phosphotyrosine 1214 in VEGFR2 showed that the receptor was phosphorylated in the primary cultures and the cell lines. When VEGFR signaling was blocked with a specific inhibitor, follicle formation in the primary cultures was enhanced suggesting that VEGFR activation was detrimental to follicle formation. Immunostaining of sections of normal thyroids and various pathologies showed staining for VEGFR2 and pVEGFR2. We conclude that normal thyroid follicular cell express VEGFRs. For VEGFR2 its subcellular localization suggests functions additional to that of a cell surface receptor and a role in follicular integrity. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 1992–2002, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988-1994 and 1999-2004.

OBJECTIVE This report presents national estimates and trends for a variety of oral health status measures for persons aged 2 years and older by sociodemographic and smoking status since the late 1980s in the United States. METHODS Data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-1994 and from the NHANES 1999-2004 were used. These data sources were designed to provide information on the health and nutritional status of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States. Information from oral health examination methods common to both survey periods were used to present prevalence estimates and for trend analyses. Statistical significance of differences between common estimates from each survey period was evaluated using two-sided t-tests. RESULTS This report provides mean, percentile values, and standard errors for dental caries, dental sealants, incisal trauma, periodontal health, dental visits, perception of oral health status, tooth retention, and edentulism. Additional estimates for monitoring progress toward the Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives using NHANES source data are presented as well. CONCLUSIONS For most Americans, oral health status has improved between 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. For seniors, edentulism and periodontitis has declined; for adults, improvements were seen in dental caries prevalence, tooth retention, and periodontal health; for adolescents and youths, dental sealant prevalence has increased and dental caries have decreased; however, for youths aged 2-5 years, dental caries in primary teeth has increased.
Leptin concentrations in maternal serum and cord blood: relationship to maternal anthropometry and fetal growth

Sir, I read with interest the article by Geary et al. (Vol 106, October 1999)’ on the relationship between leptin and anthropometric measurements. The study presented the relationships between maternal anthropometry and maternal leptin, and neonatal anthropomehy and cord leptin. A positive correlation has been shown. However, the relationship between the cord leptin concentration and maternal body mass index was not mentioned. Was there any correlation noted between the two? Recently positive correlations between maternal body mass index and fetal insulin and C-peptide concentrations in cord blood have been demonstrated*, and insulin has been shown to stimulate leptin production during pregnancy’.
Preliminary experiences with triple therapy including nelfinavir and two reverse transcriptase inhibitors in previously untreated HIV-infected children.

OBJECTIVE In an intent-to-treat study increase in CD4 cell count, reduction of viral load, clinical benefit and adverse reactions were examined in HIV-infected previously treatment-naive children taking triple therapy. METHODS sixteen HIV-infected children in category A or B on antiretroviral triple therapy were followed-up for a period of 12 months. In group I eight patients received zidovudine, lamivudine and nelfinavir; in group II eight patients received stavudine, didanosine and nelfinavir. Viral load and CD4 cell count were measured every 4-8 weeks. Plasma nelfinavir levels were assessed once in all patients at baseline and monitored in patients with increasing viral load. RESULTS No significant differences were observed between treatment groups in terms of CD4 cell counts and viral load. A median viral load reduction of 2.8 log10 (range, 1.4-4.2 log10) was achieved over a period of 12 months in both groups. Viral load < 500 copies/ml was found in 69% of patients and viral load < 50 copies/ml in 44% of patients after 12 months. Median CD4 cell count increased from 656 x 10(6) to 850 x 10(6) cells/l after 3 months and was maintained at 813 x 10(6) cells/l after 12 months of treatment. Main side-effects were diarrhoea, rash and hyperlipidaemia. Except for application problems, both regimens were well tolerated. Appropriate formula and individual counselling must be performed during the first weeks of treatment in order to achieve good compliance in paediatric patients. CONCLUSION Triple antiretroviral therapy shows a stronger and more sustained reduction of viral load in HIV-infected children compared with studies combining two nucleoside analogues.
TGF-β and IL-6 signals modulate chromatin binding and promoter occupancy by acetylated FOXP3

Expression of FOXP3, a potent gene-specific transcriptional repressor, in regulatory T cells is required to suppress autoreactive and alloreactive effector T cell function. Recent studies have shown that FOXP3 is an acetylated protein in a large nuclear complex and FOXP3 actively represses transcription by recruiting enzymatic corepressors, including histone modification enzymes. The mechanism by which extracellular stimuli regulate the FOXP3 complex ensemble is currently unknown. Although TGF-β is known to induce murine FOXP3+ Treg cells, TGF-β in combination with IL-6 attenuates the induction of FOXP3 functional activities. Here we show that TCR stimuli and TGF-β signals modulate the disposition of FOXP3 into different subnuclear compartments, leading to enhanced chromatin binding in human CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. TGF-β treatment increases the level of acetylated FOXP3 on chromatin and site-specific recruitment of FOXP3 on the human IL-2 promoter. However, the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 down-regulates FOXP3 binding to chromatin in the presence of TGF-β. Moreover, histone deacetylation inhibitor (HDACi) treatment abrogates the down-regulating effects of IL-6 and TGF-β. These studies indicate that HDACi can enhance regulatory T cell function via promoting FOXP3 binding to chromatin even in a proinflammatory cellular microenvironment. Collectively, our data provide a framework of how different signals affect intranuclear redistribution, posttranslational modifications, and chromatin binding patterns of FOXP3.
Parental separation/divorce in childhood and partnership outcomes at age 30.

BACKGROUND Previous research has found that children exposed to separation/divorce may also experience relationship problems in adulthood. The aim of this investigation was to examine this issue in a birth cohort of over 900 New Zealand children studied to age 30. METHODS Data were gathered over the course of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS). The CHDS is a 30 year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1265 children born in Christchurch (NZ) in 1977. The data collected included the following: (a) timing and number of parental separations and divorces from birth to 15 years; (b) partnership outcomes (16-30 years) of the number of cohabiting/marriage partnerships; positive partner relations; negative partner relations; partner adjustment/conduct problems; and interpartner violence victimization and perpetration; and (c) potential covariate factors. RESULTS Study findings showed the presence of significant associations between childhood parental separations/divorces and number of cohabiting/marriage partnerships (16-30 years) (p < .001), negative partner relations (p = .021), extent of partner adjustment/conduct problems (p < .001), and perpetration of interpartner violence (p = .018). Childhood parental separation/divorce explained less than 2.5% of the variance in partnership outcomes. These associations were explained statistically by a series of covariate factors associated with childhood parental separation/divorce including parental history of illicit drug use, childhood sexual abuse, childhood conduct problems (7-9 years), interparental conflict and violence, childhood physical punishment/maltreatment, family socio-economic status at the child's birth, and parental history of criminality. Tests of gender interaction showed that the effect of childhood parental separations/divorces may be the same for males and females. Analysis of the number of childhood parental separations/divorces experienced into three age groups (birth to 5, 5-10 years and 10-15 years) yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that the general associations between childhood parental separation/divorce and partner relationships in adulthood reflect the consequences of various contextual factors that are associated with childhood parental separation.
Cost of Risk Exposure, Farm Disinvestment and Adaptation to Climate Uncertainties: The Case of Arable Farms in the EU

This paper investigates the implication of the cost of risk exposure on farm diversification, farm insurance premium payment and investment behavior in agriculture using an extensive Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) panel data of arable farms and weather data from 1989 to 2009 from France and Germany. For this purpose, we develop a two stage empirical model. First, we estimate the full profit moments distribution using the major inputs of production with quadratic function. Following this, we estimate the major responses of farmers for exposure to risk (farm diversification, investment decisions and purchase of insurance) via three-stage least squares (3SLS) estimation procedure. Our empirical analysis confirms that risk exposure measured with variance and skewness of farm profit can significantly influence the level of farm diversification, insurance premium payment and farm investment and disinvestment in arable farms in both countries. As these strategies seem not to be completely substitutable, this evidence can be used to support the discussion of improving the availability of market based instruments to strengthen the adaptive capacity of farms in the developing world. We do find an evidence that farms can see disinvestment as a response to extreme shock and risk exposure at least in a short run. Improving the adaptive capacity of farms might not only secure them pervasive impacts of risk exposure, but also can influence their investment and disinvestment behavior.
Immune thrombocytopenic purpura in adults in the last 10 years: single-centre experience.

BACKGROUND Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a benign disease with low morbidity and mortality and frequent remissions that occur spontaneously or in response to first-line treatment with steroids or splenectomy. AIM The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical outcomes of 170 patients with ITP diagnosed and/or treated in our hospital between 2000 and 2010. METHODS AND RESULTS The median age at diagnosis was 47 years. Forty three (25%) were asymptomatic, 65% had minor skin or mucosal bleeding and 10% had significant bleeding from the gastrointestinal or genitourinary system. The median platelet count at diagnosis was 13x10(9)/L (range: 0-98x10(9)/L). Median follow-up of all patients was 13 months. Ninety-five patients had a follow-up longer than 12 months, with median 44 months (range 14-384). Corticosteroids were the initial treatment for 161/170 (95%) patients, 38 (22%) were splenectomized, 25 (14.7%) were treated with intravenous gamma globulins, while 9 did not received any specific treatment. A complete response to initial treatment (prednisone±splenectomy) was achieved in 55/161 (34.2%), a partial response in 90 (55.9%) and no response in 16 (9.9%) patients. In the group of patients with follow-up longer than 1 year; 28 (29%) patients had refractory or unresponsive ITP with a median follow-up of 66 months. All patients with refractory ITP were treated with steroids, 11 were splenctomized, significantly more patients with refractory ITP 12 (43%) were treated with IVIG compared with other ITP patients (16%), p=0.005. The median age of 38 splenectomized patients was 28 years and it is significantly different from the other patients (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in other characteristics between splenctomized or refractory ITP and other patients at diagnosis. CONCLUSION Our results were similar to results already reported in other similar studies.
Investor education and trading activity on the stock market

ABSTRACT This study analyses how investors’ educational characteristics affect their trading activity on the stock market. It uses a unique dataset from the Tallinn Stock Exchange, covering all transactions of a full business cycle from 2004 to 2012, along with a dataset containing the official educational background for all individual investors. Applying an ordered logit regression model and controlling for gender, age, wealth, portfolio diversification and average stock holding period, this study provides empirical evidence that the investors with top results in national exams or the investors holding an academic degree trade stocks more actively. The opposite is true for the investors with no academic degree as they trade stocks less actively. Analysing investors’ risk-adjusted performance reveals that trading experience in the form of trading activity is the contributing factor for higher returns on the stock market.
Breast Cancer Awareness at the Community Level among Women in Delhi, India.

BACKGROUND To assess women's awareness from diverse sections of society in Delhi regarding various aspects of breast cancer (BC)--perceptions, signs and symptoms, risk factors, prevention, screening and treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Community-level survey was undertaken in association with the Indian Cancer Society (ICS), Delhi during May 2013-March 2014. Women attending BC awareness workshops by ICS were given self-administered questionnaires before the workshop in the local language to assess BC literacy. Information provided by 2017 women was converted into awareness scores (aware=1) for analysis using SPSS. Awareness scores were dichotomized with median score=19 as cut off, create more aware and less aware categories. Bivariate and multivariate analysis provided P-values, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS Broadly, 53.4% women were aware about various aspects of BC. Notably, 49.1% women believed that BC was incurable and 73.9% women believed pain to be an initial BC symptom. Only 34.9% women performed breast self-examination (BSE) and 6.9% women had undergone clinical breast-examination/mammography. 40.5% women had higher awareness (awareness score>median score of 19), which was associated with education [graduates (OR=2.31; 95%CI=1.78, 3.16), post-graduates (OR=7.06; 95%CI=4.14, 12.05) compared to ≤high school] and socio-economic status (SES) [low-middle (OR=4.20; 95%CI=2.72, 6.49), middle (OR=6.00; 95%CI=3.82, 9.42) and upper (OR=6.97; 95%CI=4.10, 11.84) compared to low SES]. CONCLUSIONS BC awareness of women in Delhi was suboptimal and was associated with low SES and education. Awareness must be drastically increased via community outreach and use of media as a first step in the fight against BC.
Protein kinase C activation downregulates the expression and function of the basolateral Na+/K+/2Cl− cotransporter

The basolateral Na+/K+/2Cl− cotransporter (NKCC1) has been shown to be an independent regulatory site for electrogenic Cl− secretion. The proinflammatory phorbol ester, phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA), which activates protein kinase C (PKC), inhibits basal and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)‐stimulated NKCC1 activity in T84 intestinal epithelial cells and decreases the steady state levels of NKCC1 mRNA in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. The levels of NKCC1 protein also fall in accordance with the NKCC1 mRNA transcript and these levels are unaffected by 4α‐phorbol, which does not activate PKC. Inhibition of maximal (cAMP‐stimulated) NKCC1 functional activity by PMA was first detected by 1 h, whereas decreases in the steady state levels of NKCC1 mRNA were not detectable until 4 h. NKCC1 mRNA expression recovers toward control levels with extended treatment of cells with PMA suggesting that the PMA effects on NKCC1 expression are mediated through activation of PKC. Although NKCC1 mRNA and protein levels return to control values after extended PMA exposure, NKCC1 functional activity does not recover. Immunofluorescence imaging suggest that the absence of functional recovery is due to failure of newly synthesized NKKC1 protein to reach the cell surface. We conclude that NKCC1 has the capacity to be regulated at the level of de novo expression by PKC, although decreased NKCC1 expression alone cannot account for either early or late loss of NKCC1 function. J. Cell. Physiol. 181:489–498, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.