Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aftermarket Performance of Health Care and Biopharmaceutical IPOs: Evidence From ASEAN Countries

We examine the evidence from the long-run abnormal returns using data for 76 health care and biopharmaceutical initial public offerings (IPOs) listed in a 29-year period between 1986 and 2014 in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos. Based on the event-time approach, the 3-year stock returns of the IPOs are investigated using cumulative abnormal return (CAR) and buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR). As a robustness check, the calendar-time approach, related to the market model as well as Fama-French and Carhart models, was applied for verifying long-run abnormal returns. We found evidence that the health care IPOs overperform in the long-run, irrespective of the alternative benchmarks and methods. In addition, when we divide our sample into 5 groups by listing countries, our results show that the health care stock prices of the Singaporean firms behaved differently from those of most of the other firms in ASEAN. The Singaporean IPOs are characterized by a worse post-offering performance, whereas the IPOs of Malaysian and Thai health care companies performed better in the long-run.
The Use and Impact of Incentives in Population-Based Smoking Cessation Programs: A Review

Purpose. This review discusses current published literature on population-based smoking cessation interventions that involve incentives and examines whether such interventions are effective in reducing the prevalence of smoking. Search Method. Studies published between 1975 and Spring 1997 were identified through a computerized search of four electronic databases (MEDLINE, HEALTH, CINAHL, and PSYCINFO) and reference lists of key articles using the following key words: (smoking cessation OR quit smoking) AND (contest OR competition OR incentive OR lottery OR quit and win). This search yielded 79 articles. To be included, studies had to be published in English and had to have presented either quit rates or participation rates for an incentive-based program that used population-based recruitment. Of the 79 articles, 17 met these criteria. Findings. Population-based interventions generally attract 1 to 2% of the target population, but these participation rates can potentially be increased through the use of innovative recruitment techniques. No specific type of recruitment strategy was shown to be consistently more effective than others. There is no evidence that particular types of incentives are able to influence participation or quit rates, but the size of an incentive does appear to be important, with larger incentives viewed as more effectively motivating smokers to quit and stay smoke free than smaller ones. Estimates of the cost per quitter have ranged from less than $20 to over $400. There are some indications that the costs of such programs compare favorably with smoking cessation classes or clinic-based approaches. Conclusion. Incentive-based smoking cessation programs that target an entire community have the advantage of reaching a large and diverse group of smokers. They may, however, attract only smokers who are already motivated to quit. Realistically, incentive-based programs aimed at the general population can expect 1 % of all their smokers to quit smoking. Quit rates among participants may initially be high (i.e., mean quit rate of 34% at 1-month follow-up) but decrease over time (i.e., mean rate of 23% at 1 year). The results of this review suggest a continued need to establish standard and valid criteria for the evaluation of smoking cessation interventions. Methodological differences among existing studies make them difficult to compare and interpret.
Pulse wave reflection in children: amplification through the lifecourse.

I n this issue, Murakami et al. [1] detail the presence of wave reflection in the aortic system of healthy children. Identifying the components of early-life blood pressure (BP) is of critical importance as evidence builds on the role of BP in predicting future atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Classic literature has demonstrated the ability for historical BP to predict presence of atherosclerotic plaque in younger persons victim to unfortunate mortality like accident and war [2–5]. Recent data show a continuous relation between adolescent male BP separated into various indices including SBP, DBP, pulse pressure (PP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and eventual adult ASCVD events [6]. Similar data from Native American populations show physician diagnosed hypertension in childhood as a risk factor for early mortality [7]. One study of adolescent men suggests that adolescent BP predicts future ASCVD even after adjustment for middle-aged BP, underscoring the additive utility of early-life BP [8]. Mounting evidence further demonstrates the specific role of elevated BP in preclinical atherosclerotic changes including left ventricular hypertrophy and vascular change [9,10]. Intriguing longitudinal data even suggest that normalization of elevated BP from childhood into adulthood ameliorates these preclinical atherosclerotic changes [11]. There are now multiple threads of evidence linking early-life BP to preclinical in-vivo atherosclerosis, pathological evidence of atherosclerotic plaque, actual ASCVD events and mortality, and even reversal of atherosclerotic change with attenuation in BP. Turning to physiologic classification, BP may be classified using traditional SBP and DBP per sphygmomanometer. An alternate description classifies BP by PP, an index of large artery properties, and MAP, an index of small artery function. Both combinations predict future ASCVD [12,13], but PP and MAP lend themselves to more mechanistic study
Meta-analysis: Principles and procedures

Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that integrates the results of several independent studies considered to be “combinable. ”1 Well conducted meta-analyses allow a more objective appraisal of the evidence than traditional narrative reviews, provide a more precise estimate of a treatment effect, and may explain heterogeneity between the results of individual studies.2 Ill conducted meta-analyses, on the other hand, may be biased owing to exclusion of relevant studies or inclusion of inadequate studies.3 Misleading analyses can generally be avoided if a few basic principles are observed. In this article we discuss these principles, along with the practical steps in performing meta-analysis. Meta-analysis should be viewed as an observational study of the evidence. The steps involved are similar to any other research undertaking: formulation of the problem to be addressed, collection and analysis of the data, and reporting of the results. Researchers should write in advance a detailed research protocol that clearly states the objectives, the hypotheses to be tested, the subgroups of interest, and the proposed methods and criteria for identifying and selecting relevant studies and extracting and analysing information. As with criteria for including and excluding patients in clinical studies, eligibility criteria have to be defined for the data to be included. Criteria relate to the quality of trials and to the combinability of treatments, patients, outcomes, and lengths of follow up. Quality and design features of a study can influence the results.4 5 Ideally, researchers should consider including only controlled trials with proper randomisation of patients that report on all initially included patients according to the intention to treat principle and with an objective, preferably blinded, outcome assessment.6 Assessing the quality of a study …
Representation of the Community Earth System Model (CESM1) CAM4-chem within the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI)

Abstract. The Community Earth System Model (CESM1) CAM4-chem has been used to perform the Chemistry Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) reference and sensitivity simulations. In this model, the Community Atmospheric Model version 4 (CAM4) is fully coupled to tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. Details and specifics of each configuration, including new developments and improvements are described. CESM1 CAM4-chem is a low-top model that reaches up to approximately 40 km and uses a horizontal resolution of 1.9° latitude and 2.5° longitude. For the specified dynamics experiments, the model is nudged to Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis. We summarize the performance of the three reference simulations suggested by CCMI, with a focus on the last 15 years of the simulation when most observations are available. Comparisons with selected data sets are employed to demonstrate the general performance of the model. We highlight new data sets that are suited for multi-model evaluation studies. Most important improvements of the model are the treatment of stratospheric aerosols and the corresponding adjustments for radiation and optics, the updated chemistry scheme including improved polar chemistry and stratospheric dynamics and improved dry deposition rates. These updates lead to a very good representation of tropospheric ozone within 20 % of values from available observations for most regions. In particular, the trend and magnitude of surface ozone is much improved compared to earlier versions of the model. Furthermore, stratospheric column ozone of the Southern Hemisphere in winter and spring is reasonably well represented. All experiments still underestimate CO most significantly in Northern Hemisphere spring and show a significant underestimation of hydrocarbons based on surface observations.
Diffusion‐weighted breast MRI: Clinical applications and emerging techniques

Diffusion‐weighted MRI (DWI) holds potential to improve the detection and biological characterization of breast cancer. DWI is increasingly being incorporated into breast MRI protocols to address some of the shortcomings of routine clinical breast MRI. Potential benefits include improved differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions, assessment and prediction of therapeutic efficacy, and noncontrast detection of breast cancer. The breast presents a unique imaging environment with significant physiologic and inter‐subject variations, as well as specific challenges to achieving reliable high quality diffusion‐weighted MR images. Technical innovations are helping to overcome many of the image quality issues that have limited widespread use of DWI for breast imaging. Advanced modeling approaches to further characterize tissue perfusion, complexity, and glandular organization may expand knowledge and yield improved diagnostic tools.
The activation of the caudate is associated with correct recollections in a reward‐based recollection task

Although specific brain regions have been implicated in long‐term memory processes, the brain function responsible for correctly recollecting information remains incompletely understood. This study used a remember–recollection–recognition task to explore brain activities specifically associated with correct recollection. Seventy‐eight subjects were first asked to remember 40 items and recollect them in the scanner. Comparison of correctly recollected trials to incorrectly recollected trials (when participants mistakenly believed they had recollected information correctly) identified greater activation of the caudate bilaterally. The involvement of caudate activation appears important in recollecting information correctly. Potential explanations and implications are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3999–4005, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
How to make a tumour: cell type specific dissection of Ustilago maydis-induced tumour development in maize leaves.

The biotrophic fungus Ustilago maydis causes smut disease on maize (Zea mays), which is characterized by immense plant tumours. To establish disease and reprogram organ primordia to tumours, U. maydis deploys effector proteins in an organ-specific manner. However, the cellular contribution to leaf tumours remains unknown. We investigated leaf tumour formation at the tissue- and cell type-specific levels. Cytology and metabolite analysis were deployed to understand the cellular basis for tumourigenesis. Laser-capture microdissection was performed to gain a cell type-specific transcriptome of U. maydis during tumour formation. In vivo visualization of plant DNA synthesis identified bundle sheath cells as the origin of hyperplasic tumour cells, while mesophyll cells become hypertrophic tumour cells. Cell type-specific transcriptome profiling of U. maydis revealed tailored expression of fungal effector genes. Moreover, U. maydis See1 was identified as the first cell type-specific fungal effector, being required for induction of cell cycle reactivation in bundle sheath cells. Identification of distinct cellular mechanisms in two different leaf cell types and of See1 as an effector for induction of proliferation of bundle sheath cells are major steps in understanding U. maydis-induced tumour formation. Moreover, the cell type-specific U. maydis transcriptome data are a valuable resource to the scientific community.
Imazethapyr persistence in sandy loam detected using white mustard bioassay

ABSTRACT Field experiments were conducted during two years at Srem region to investigate the influence of meteorological conditions, time and rate of application on soil persistence of imazethapyr in sandy loam type of soil. Imazethapyr was applied PRE- and POST-EM and in both cases in three application rates: 80, 120 and 160 g a.i./ha. Soil samples were collected from the day of herbicide application in predetermined intervals up to one year after application and residual concentrations were determined with a white mustard root bioassay. Imazetapyr persistence was significantly influenced by meteorological conditions with average half-life being 6 days longer in season with lower precipitation level. Time of application induced slower imazethapyr dissipation resulting in higher average t1/2 (seven and nine days in first and second year of examination, respectively). Application rates had no consistent effect on imazethapyr persistence. Imazethapyr residue level one year after application caused no visible injuries on white mustard shoots, while root growth reduction ranged from 4.6 to 27.7%. Obtained residue levels were further compared with known data on crop sensitivity in order to assess possibility of crop injuries one year after imazethapyr application.
Nonsmooth Optimization for Statistical Learning with Structured Matrix Regularization. (Optimisation non-lisse pour l'apprentissage statistique avec avec régularisation matricielle structurée)

Training machine learning methods boils down to solving optimization problems whose objective functions often decomposes into two parts: a) the empirical risk, built upon the loss function, whose shape is determined by the performance metric and the noise assumptions; b) the regularization penalty, built upon a norm, or a gauge function, whose structure is determined by the prior information available for the problem at hand. Common loss functions, such as the hinge loss for binary classification, or more advanced loss func- tions, such as the one arising in classification with reject option, are non-smooth. Sparse regularization penalties such as the (vector) l1-penalty, or the (matrix) nuclear-norm penalty, are also non-smooth. The goal of this thesis is to study doubly non-smooth learning problems (with non-smooth loss functions and non-smooth regularization penalties) and first-order optimization algorithms that leverage the composite structure of non-smooth objectives. In the first chapter, we introduce new regularization penalties, called the group Schatten norms, to generalize the standard Schatten norms to block-structured matrices. We establish the main properties of the group Schatten norms using tools from convex analysis and linear algebra; we retrieve in particular some convex envelope properties. We discuss several potential applications of the group nuclear-norm, in collaborative filtering, database compression, multi-label image tagging. In the second chapter, we present a survey of smoothing techniques that allow us to use first-order optimization algorithms originally designed for learning problems with nonsmooth loss. We also show how smoothing can be used on the loss function corresponding to the top-k accuracy, used for ranking and multi-class classification problems. We outline some first-order algorithms that can be used in combination with the smoothing technique: i) conditional gradient algorithms; ii) proximal gradient algorithms; iii) incremental gradient algorithms. In the third chapter, we study further conditional gradient algorithms for solving doubly non-smooth optimization problems. We show that an adaptive smoothing combined with the standard conditional gradient algorithm gives birth to new conditional gradient algorithms having the expected theoretical convergence guarantees. We present promising experimental results in collaborative filtering for movie recommendation and image categorization.
Vestibular Function After Cochlear Implantation: A Comparison of Three Types of Electrodes

Objective: To investigate the vestibular function after cochlear implantation with different types of electrode arrays. Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Academic tertiary referral center. Materials and Methods: Forty three adults underwent first cochlear implantation. Three consecutive series of patients: Group 1 (n = 13) implanted with a precurved electrode, Group 2 (n = 15) implanted with a straight electrode, Group 3 (n = 15) implanted with a flexible electrode. Patient's vestibular functions were assessed with pre- and postoperative caloric testing using videonystagmography (VNG). The postoperative reduction of the maximum slow phase velocity (MSPV) in the implanted ear was evaluated. Medical charts were reviewed to evaluate the occurrence of late onset of postoperative vestibular symptoms. Results: Mean reduction of MSPV was 7.6/s (standard deviation [SD] 8.0) in Group 1, 23.1/s (SD 16.6) in Group 2, and 0.1/s (SD 18.5) in Group 3. Significant difference was found between Group 1 and 2 (p < 0.030) and between Group 2 and 3 (p < 0.001). Group 2 showed a higher prevalence of late onset of clinical vertigo (28.6%) than Group 1 (7.7%) and 3 (6.7%). Conclusion: In this prospective study, significantly larger reductions of caloric responses were found in subjects implanted with a straight electrode compared with subjects implanted with a precurved or flexible electrode. These findings seem to correlate to a higher prevalence of postoperative vertigo.
In vitro and in vivo effects of a novel dimeric inhibitor of PSD‐95 on excitotoxicity and functional recovery after experimental traumatic brain injury

PSD‐95 inhibitors have been shown to be neuroprotective in stroke, but have only to a very limited extent been evaluated in the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that has pathophysiological mechanisms in common with stroke. The aims of the current study were to assess the effects of a novel dimeric inhibitor of PSD‐95, UCCB01‐147, on histopathology and long‐term cognitive outcome after controlled cortical impact (CCI) in rats. As excitotoxic cell death is thought to be a prominent part of the pathophysiology of TBI, we also investigated the neuroprotective effects of UCCB01‐147 and related compounds on NMDA‐induced cell death in cultured cortical neurons. Anesthetized rats were given a CCI or sham injury, and were randomized to receive an injection of either UCCB01‐147 (10 mg/kg), the non‐competitive NMDAR‐receptor antagonist MK‐801 (1 mg/kg) or saline immediately after injury. At 2 and 4 weeks post‐trauma, spatial learning and memory were assessed in a water maze, and at 3 months, brains were removed for estimation of lesion volumes. Overall, neither treatment with UCCB01‐147 nor MK‐801 resulted in significant improvements of cognition and histopathology after CCI. Although MK‐801 provided robust neuroprotection against NMDA‐induced toxicity in cultured cortical neurons, UCCB01‐147 failed to reduce cell death and became neurotoxic at high doses. The data suggest potential differential effects of PSD‐95 inhibition in stroke and TBI that should be investigated further in future studies taking important experimental factors such as timing of treatment, dosage, and anesthesia into consideration.
Dimensional personality traits and alcohol treatment outcome: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

AIMS To identify dimensional personality traits associated with treatment outcome for patients with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS Systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials and longitudinal studies of ≥ 8 weeks in patients receiving treatment for AUD, in which the association between personality dimensions and treatment outcome was reported. Primary outcomes were relapse and alcohol consumption measures. Treatment retention was a secondary outcome. RESULTS Eighteen studies, including 4783 subjects, were identified. Twelve studies used Cloninger's Temperament and Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) or Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Remaining studies used a broad range of other personality measures. Compared with non-relapsers, patients who relapsed had higher novelty-seeking [standardized mean difference in novelty-seeking score 0.28; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.12, 0.44], lower persistence (-0.30, 95% = CI -0.48, -0.12), lower reward dependence (-0.16, 95% CI = -0.31, -0.01) and lower cooperativeness (-0.23, 95% CI = -0.41, -0.04). Few studies reported on alcohol consumption outcomes, therefore findings for those outcomes were inconclusive. Lower novelty-seeking predicted better retention in treatment in two of three studies. Most studies reported findings only for those retained in treatment, and did not attempt to account for missing data; therefore, findings for the primary outcomes cannot be generalized to patients who dropped out of treatment. Studies using personality instruments other than the TCI or TPQ reported no consistent findings on the association between personality variables and treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS Among patients receiving treatment for an alcohol use disorder, those who relapse during follow-up have higher novelty-seeking, lower persistence, lower reward dependence and lower cooperativeness than those who do not relapse.
Functional brain networks involved in gaze and emotional processing

Eye‐gaze direction plays a fundamental role in the perception of facial features and particularly the processing of emotional facial expressions. Yet, the neural underpinnings of the integration of eye gaze and emotional facial cues are not well understood. The primary aim of this study was to delineate the functional networks that subserve the recognition of emotional expressions as a function of eye gaze. Participants were asked to identify happy, angry, or neutral faces, displayed with direct or averted gaze, while their neural responses were measured with fMRI. The results showed that recognition of happy expressions, irrespective of eye‐gaze direction, engaged the critical nodes of the default mode network. Recognition of angry faces, on the other hand, was gaze‐dependent, engaging the critical nodes of the salience network when presented with direct gaze, but fronto‐parietal areas when presented with averted gaze. Functional connectivity analysis further showed gaze‐dependent engagement of a large‐scale network connected to bilateral amygdala during the recognition of angry expressions. This study provides important insights into the functional connectivity between the amygdala and other critical social‐cognitive brain nodes, which are essential in processing of ambiguous, potentially threatening social signals. These findings have implications for psychiatric disorders, such as post‐traumatic stress disorder, which are characterized by aberrant limbic connectivity.