Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiogenesis Status in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: From Diagnosis to Post-hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

As already proven in solid tumors, increased angiogenesis leads to increased number of blood vessels, resulting in unfavorable outcomes and resistance to chemotherapy. It was previously thought that angiogenesis plays no role in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), due to the fact that AML is a liquid tumor. However, many studies have suggested that increased angiogenesis has important roles in patients with AML, including increased numbers of vessels in bone marrow and pro-angiogenic factors, as well as decreased anti-angiogenic factors. Also a large number of studies demonstrated that a two-way communication is established between leukemic and endothelial cells, as a component of the vessel wall, in the bone marrow of patients with AML. These two cells support the survival and proliferation of each other through a paracrine pathway, resulting in resistance to chemotherapy. In addition, It is well-established that increased angiogenesis is associated with unfavorable prognosis, lower survival rate, resistance to chemotherapy, and relapse. Furthermore, increased angiogenesis affects the response to treatment, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) outcome and graft versus host disease (GVHD) occurrence. In this regard, this review will address vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin (Ang), two of the most important angiogenic factors, in patients with AML before and after HSCT. By increasing our understanding of the role of endothelial cells and angiogenic factors in patients with AML from diagnosis to post-HSCT, new therapeutic strategies can be developed to reduce angiogenesis, improve patients’ survival and reduce complications.
Lessons from the application of sustainability indicators to community-based ecotourism ventures in Southern Africa

Globally, human activities are under pressure to strive towards sustainability. This movement towards greater sustainability is influencing all aspects of our lives on a daily basis including our holiday and travel decisions. This paper presents a portion of the results and findings of a larger study which applied a series of sustainability indicators to a number of community-based tourism ventures across southern Africa. An evaluation framework was constructed making use of a number of sustainability issues and their associated indicators to measure the sustainability of six community-based ecotourism ventures across southern Africa. The evaluation framework was tested for its applicability to investigate the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the six case studies. The utility of the constructed evaluation framework was subsequently commented on and changes recommended. A number of important lessons were leant during the application of the sustainability indicators to the investigated case studies. These lessons provide valuable insights and benefits for the subsequent application of the evaluation framework to future case studies. Besides providing valuable lessons for the application of sustainability indicators to rural base tourism ventures a number of important baselines for future benchmarking of sustainability performance also result from this study. Key words: Sustainable tourism indicators, community-based ecotourism, Southern Africa.
Can venture capital-backed IPOs compete with seasoned public companies?

This paper investigates whether a small group of venture capital-backed initial public offerings (IPOs) were able to compete effectively with seasoned competitors. Previous studies have shown that IPOs have generally under performed seasoned companies. Using data from the Venture Capital Journal and Compustat , this paper tests for statistically significant differences in the long run market and operating performances of a carefully matched set of IPOs and seasoned companies. Using Wilcoxon paired sample tests as well as standard t-tests, it was found that over the nine years following the IPO, there were no statistically significant differences in market returns, except in the first year when the VCbacked IPOs under performed. On the operating side, it is found that there are no statistically significant differences, except that VC-backed firms have faster sales and asset growth. Our evidence suggests that this set of VC-funded IPOs was able to compete effectively with seasoned competitors. This is interesting and important because the previous research has found that newly public companies, on average, do not compete well against seasoned firms.
Escalating rivalries and diverging interests: prospects for stability and security in the Black Sea region

The Black Sea region is increasingly becoming a priority on the international agenda. In fact, a regional approach is emerging as actors understand that common problems need to be addressed jointly. Nevertheless, cooperation efforts are hampered by a number of factors, such as uneven economic and political development within and among countries, nationalist forces and longstanding animosities between regional players. In this context, it is imperative to foster sound policies aimed at strengthening dialogue and cooperation so as to contain and ultimately resolve conflicts with peaceful means. However, there is little policy‐oriented research on the challenges and opportunities for cooperation in the Black Sea region. This study is primarily devoted to exploring and understanding the security environment and the main threats to security and stability in the Black Sea region.
Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization The Effect of Proposition 2 on the Demand for Eggs in California

Californians recently passed Proposition 2, barring the use of cages in egg production in the state. Because most consumers are unknowledgeable of egg production practices, the appearance of Proposition 2 likely served as an information shock that potentially affected consumer demand. In this paper, we use scanner data to investigate the market effects of Proposition 2 by studying whether and how consumer demand for eggs changed in the months leading up to the vote in San Francisco and Oakland. Results indicate that demand for the types of eggs associated with higher animal welfare standards, cage free and organic, increased over time and in response to articles on the proposition whereas demand for other types of eggs fell. These results coupled with the finding that cage free and organic egg demand was virtually unchanged in a location unaffected by the vote, Dallas, suggests that Proposition 2 had a significant effect on consumer preferences for eggs – increasing demand for cage free and organic eggs by 180% and 20%, respectively.
A less conservative robust stability test for linear uncertain time-delay systems

This note concerns with the robust stability of linear uncertain systems with state-delay. The uncertainty is assumed to be of polytopic type. A less conservative delay-dependent linear matrix inequality (LMI) method is presented based on a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional. The present method incorporates a relaxed parameter-dependent technique combined with a recently proposed idea of introducing free-weighting matrices. When confined to delay-free case, the present result is also less conservative than existing stability tests using parameter-dependent methods. Numerical examples are given to show the less conservativeness of the results.
Women's Participation in the Egyptian Labor Market: 1998-2012

This paper examines the reasons for the persistently low participation of women in the Egyptian labor market over time and across the different economic sectors, using the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 2012. This panel dataset allows for an examination of the period leading up to and including the revolution, as it covers three different points in time: 1998, 2006 and 2012. Despite the remarkable increase in women’s educational attainment, which has become higher for women than their male counterparts, participation in the labor market remains relatively low. Confirming widespread opinion, the findings indicate that the January 25 Revolution has had a negative effect on women’s status in the labor market. Labor force participation has decreased, and unemployment has increased. It is thus important to analyze the different determinants of low female labor force participation. These include factors related to the supply of female labor, relating to family circumstances such as marriage, fertility and time use, women’s preferences and reservation wages; as well as the factors related to the demand side, such as the shrinking public sector and discrimination in the private sector.
Which survey indicators are useful for monitoring consumption? Evidence from European countries

This paper assesses the information content of two survey indicators for consumption developments in the near future for eight European countries in the period 1985-1998. Empirical work on this topic typically focuses on consumer confidence, the perceptions of buyers of consumption goods. This paper examines whether perceptions of sellers of consumption goods, measured by retail trade surveys, may also improve short-term monitoring of consumption. We find that both consumer confidence and retailer confidence embody valuable information, when analysed in isolation. For France, Italy and Spain we conclude that adding retail confidence does not improve the indicator model once consumer confidence has been included. For the UK the reverse case is obtained. For the remaining four countries we show that combining consumer sentiment and retail trade confidence into a composite indicator leads to optimal results. Our results suggest that incorporating information from retail trade surveys may offer significant benefits for the analysis of short-term prospects of consumption. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Evolution of the State and Local Government Municipal Debt Market Over the Past Quarter Century

Much has happened in the municipal bond market during the past 25 years. This article provides a retrospective of some of the significant developments in the market during that period of time. These developments include passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, innovations in the market in response to changing economic and social conditions, and the regulation, increase in disclosure requirements, and proliferatioin of credit enhancements that renewed the efficacy of municipal securities for American state and local governments.
Does Meeting Expectations Matter? Evidence from Analyst Forecast Revisions and Share Prices

This paper investigates whether the market rewards firms meeting current period earnings expectations, and whether any such reward reflects the implications of meeting expectations in the current period for future earnings or reflects a distinct market premium. We document that abnormal annual returns are significantly greater for firms meeting expectations, controlling for the information in the current year’s earnings. We then test whether firms meeting expectations experience higher returns simply because their expected future earnings are also higher. We find firms meeting expectations have significantly higher earnings forecasts and realized earnings than firms that do not. We find that controlling for these higher future earnings, firms meeting expectations in one or two years do not receive a greater valuation than their fundamentals would suggest. We find, however, that the market assigns a higher value to firms that meet expectations consistently, controlling for an estimate of the firm’s fundamental value.
Compromisso com a RSE no Pacto Global da Organização das Nações Unidas

En este trabajo se ha analizado el compromiso con la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (RSE) en Europa buscando verificar si hay diferencias de conducta en funcion de la region de origen. El compromiso con la RSE se analizo por medio del grado de incumplimiento de la exigencia de divulgacion de un informe titulado Communication on Progress por parte del Pacto Global de la Organizacion de las Naciones Unidas (PG-ONU) y el porcentaje de empresas pioneras en la adhesion al PG-ONU. Se utilizo una muestra de paises europeos con empresas subscritas a esta iniciativa de la ONU. Los resultados sugieren que el compromiso con la RSE es mucho mas grande por parte de las empresas de los paises de Europa Occidental cuando se les compara con los paises del ex Bloque Oriental y que es en los paises de Europa Occidental, donde la economia coordinada es mas fuerte (los paises nordicos), que este compromiso es mas grande.
Separation of Spouses due to Travel and Living Apart Raises HIV Risk in Tanzanian Couples

Background: Persons with absent partners may be more vulnerable to risky sexual behavior and therefore HIV. Partner absence can be due to traveling (e.g., family visits or funerals) or to living apart (e.g., work-related or in polygamous marriages). We investigated to what extent partner absence leads to more risky sexual behavior in Tanzanian couples. Methods: We compared 95 men and 85 women living apart with 283 men and 331 women living together. Only persons who were still married were included, either living apart or cohabiting at the time of the interview. Subjects were classified into 4 groups: coresidents being either nonmobile or mobile, and people living apart either frequently or infrequently seeing each other. Results: Most people living apart were polygamously married. Men living apart did not report more extramarital sex than coresident men. However, among coresident men, extramarital sex was reported by 35% of those being mobile compared with 15% of those nonmobile. Among women, those living apart reported extramarital sex more often than coresidents (14% vs. 7%), and this was mainly due to women living apart who infrequently saw their husbands. Conclusions: Risky sexual behavior occurs more often in mobile coresident men, and in women living apart infrequently seeing their spouses. These groups are relatively easy to identify and need extra attention in HIV prevention campaigns.
Famine and Overweight in China

There is an increasing body of literature that examines the association between restricted fetal growth and diseases in adulthood as proposed by Barker. One common way to test the hypothesis in humans is to make use of a natural disaster, such as famine, that happened during gestation and examine disease prevalence in later life. Most of the famine-based epidemiological studies use the 1944-5 Dutch Hunger Winter when a sharp decline in food intake occurred due to a German army blockade. Drawing on retrospective cohort analyses, these studies in general find that famine has a negative impact on various health outcomes. For example, prenatal exposure to famine is believed to be associated with antisocial personality disorder in early adulthood (Neugebauer, Hoek, and Susser), major affective disorders (Brown et al.), and schizophrenia (Hulshoff et al.) in adulthood, and higher BMI and waist circumference in fifty-year-old women (Ravelli et al.). However, studies (Stanner et al.) based on a small sample (less than 600 people) of survivors of the Leningrad siege of 1941-4 lead to opposite findings from those on the Dutch famine (Ravelli, van de Meulen, and Michels). 1 In a word, the findings are inconclusive. Compared to the Dutch Famine, the Great Famine in China from the late 1950s to the early 1960s lasted much longer and affected more people. The estimated excess deaths numbered from 20 to 30 million (Johnson). The regional distribution of the famine was highly uneven. As shown in table 1, the percentage change of the highest mortality rate during 1959-62 relative to the average mortality rate prior to the famine in 1956-8 ranged from 14.9% in Tianjin to 474.9% in Anhui province (Yang). In addition, cities suffered much
IQGAP 1 Is a Scaffold for Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling

IQGAP1 modulates many cellular functions such as cell-cell adhesion, transcription, cytoskeletal architecture, and selected signaling pathways. We previously documented that IQGAP1 binds extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK) 2 and regulates growth factor-stimulated ERK activity. Here we show that MEK, the molecule immediately upstream of ERK in the Ras/mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling cascade, also interacts directly with IQGAP1. Both MEK1 and MEK2 bound IQGAP1 in vitro and coimmunoprecipitated with IQGAP1. The addition of ERK2 enhanced by fourfold the in vitro interaction of MEK2 with IQGAP1 without altering binding of MEK1. Similarly, ERK1 promoted MEK binding to IQGAP1, but neither MEK protein altered the association between IQGAP1 and ERK. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) differentially regulated binding, enhancing MEK1 interaction while reducing MEK2 binding to IQGAP1. In addition, both knockdown and overexpression of IQGAP1 reduced EGF-stimulated activation of MEK and ERK. Analyses with selective IQGAP1 mutant constructs indicated that MEK binding is crucial for IQGAP1 to modulate EGF activation of ERK. Our data strongly suggest that IQGAP1 functions as a molecular scaffold in the Ras/MAP kinase pathway.
The dynamics of limited breaking out: the case of the Arab manufacturing businesses in Israel

This paper investigates the dynamics of breaking out in the Arab manufacturing business sector in Israel. Based on an ethnographic study and in-depth interviews, this paper develops a three-tier model delineating those characteristics that shape the entrepreneurs' response to structural constraints and their respective mode of operation in the context of resource disadvantage. The model demonstrates that the limited break out of ethnic entrepreneurs signifies selective access to the majority market. Through the model, the paper develops a comprehensive conceptual framework that incorporates two different sets of constraints stemming from the nature of the larger market and institutional setting and community characteristics. The limited breaking out can be explained largely by the dynamics of the interrelations among the institutional environment, the local resources, and the entrepreneurs' characteristics. This implies a Janus-face perspective of breaking out, in which the Arab entrepreneurs tend to use their resources both for the maintenance of their local market and for catering to special segments in the majority market that seek relatively cheap prices or specialized products. The paper concludes that the limited breaking out reflects institutional processes that militate against the minority's ability to fully integrate into the majority market.
Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) in Adult Standardization and Clinical Samples

Exploratory factor analyses were conducted separately on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI; The Psychological Corporation, 1999) adult standardization sample (n = 1,145) and a diagnostically heterogeneous adult clinical sample (n = 201). In the latter group, means for age, education, and WASI Full Scale IQ were 59.25 years (SD = 17.52), 12.39 years (SD = 2.88), and 89.91 (SD = 16.00). For each sample, the four WASI subtests were subjected to a principal-axis factor analysis followed by varimax and promax rotations. Two factors were specified to be retained. Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organization factors were identified in both analyses. Coefficients of congruence were 0.98 for Factor I and 0.99 for Factor II, suggesting factorial equivalence across the standardization and clinical samples.
Auditor Gender and Corporate Earnings Management Behavior in Private Finnish Firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether or not auditor gender has an impact on the magnitude of corporate earnings management in small- and medium-sized private Finnish firms. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines the association between auditor gender and earnings management of private firms by means of multiple linear regression analysis. In this analysis the paper uses discretionary accruals (DACC) estimated by using the cross-sectional version of the Jones model as a measure for corporate earnings management. Findings - When the absolute (unsigned) earnings management on gender and a set of control variables is regressed, it is found that female auditors allow for more discretion in income reporting. When the analysis is conducted separately for sub-samples of income increasing and income decreasing DACC, the results suggest that female auditors are more conservative. Research limitations/implications - This study has been conducted by using data from one country. Since it is commonly known that the role of females in the society varies from one country to the next more research is needed in different social environments. Practical implications - When selecting auditors, management should pay attention also to the gender of the auditor. It may also be useful for stakeholders to pay attention to the gender of the auditors that they engage or the gender distribution of the audit team. Social implications - The results imply that gender diversity in the auditing profession may improve the quality of financial statement overall. Originality/value - This study is the first one that investigates the effect that auditor gender may have on actual earnings management behavior. It also adds to the understanding on earnings management in private firms.
Microbiology of chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma.

OBJECTIVE To report the result of causative organisms in chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma. METHODS Eighty eight patients clinically diagnosed with chronic suppurative otitis media with cholesteatoma, and confirmed intra-operatively and by histological examination were pre-operatively studied for the causative bacteria and fungi. RESULTS A single isolate was obtained in 42 (48%) cases, no growth was isolated in 11 (12.5%) cases. Most common bacteria isolated were, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 51%, Staphylococcus aureus in 31%, and Proteus species in 17%. Among the 15 fungal isolates, 9 (10%) were Aspergillus species and the remaining 6 (7%) were Candida albicans. CONCLUSION Conventional ear swabs taken under direct vision using an operating microscope are reliable in establishing the microbiological profile of chronic suppurative otitis media.
Stabilized 1.5 microns dual-frequency laser prototype for optical generation of high purity microwave signals

The generation of optically carried microwave signals is of great interest for a wide range of fields, from long-range transmission of RF to wideband radar signal processing. Among the available generation techniques, the potentialities of optical heterodyning are firmly established. However, it leads to severe constraints in optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) design. In this paper, we report on the realization of a compact and ruggedized Er, Yb:glass DFL at 1.5 µm stabilized with three servo-loops.
Imperfect Property Rights: The Role of Heterogeneity and Strategic Uncertainty

Property rights are undoubtedly among the most important institutions for economic efficiency. Still, by looking at reality we usually see property rights only imperfectly enforced. In this paper we identify uncertainty faced by an enforcer to be sufficient to explain this observation. This result is independent of the enforcer's risk preferences or enforcement ability. While perfectly enforced property rights may readily be established in all possible scenarios under complete information, introducing any amount of exogenous uncertainty leads to imperfect enforcement. Further, even under complete information, we show how an appropriator may create uncertainty endogenously by means of strategic restraint. Although this means that appropriation is always possible, this situation Pareto dominates perfect enforcement.