Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of metabolic syndrome's components on the development of cardiovascular disease in a Jordanian cohort with metabolic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To assess the gender differences in the prevalence of diabetes, composite cardiovascular disease, and the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a Jordanian cohort with MS. Secondly, to evaluate the impact of number of MS components on prevalence of diabetes, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and stroke. METHODS We carried out a cohort study among participants who fulfilled the National Cholesterol Education Program (Adult Treatment Panel III) criteria for MS recruited from December 2006-2007 from Endocrine Outpatient Clinics of the King Hussein Medical Centre, Amman, and Prince Rashid Military Hospital, Irbid, Jordan. Patients were divided into groups according to gender, presence, or absence of diabetes, and were evaluated for MS components, presence of IHD, and stroke. RESULTS Three hundred and fifty-seven patients 207 males and 150 females were included, type 2 diabetes was present in 226 (132 males) patients. No intergroup differences were found on waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, or fasting blood sugar. Female group was having a worst lipid profile, higher triglyceride levels and low high density lipoprotein. Metabolic syndrome components were more in males. Diabetic males have more composite cardiovascular disease (CCVD) [relative risk (RR)=1.88, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-3.59]. No difference in prevalence of CCVD between female subgroups neither between the 2 genders with MS. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus, IHD, and stroke increased with increasing number of MS components. Diabetes was the strongest predictor for development of CCVD (RR=1.8) and IHD (RR=2.18). CONCLUSION Females with MS have the worst lipid profile compared to the males, diabetic males have the worst CCVD end point. The prevalence of diabetes and IHD correlates with the number of MS components.
Spurious Long Memory in Commodity Futures: Implications for Agribusiness Option Pricing

Long memory, and more precisely fractionally integration, has been put forward as an explanation for the persistence of shocks in a number of economic time series data as well as to reconcile misleading findings of unit roots in data that should be stationary. Recent evidence suggests that long memory characterizes not commodity futures prices but rather price volatility (generally defined as $L_p$ norms of price logreturns). One implication of long memory in volatility is the mispricing of options written on commodity futures, the consequence of which is that fractional Brownian motion should replace geometric Brownian motion as the building block for option pricing solutions. This paper asks whether findings of long memory in volatility might be spurious and caused either by fragile and inaccurate estimation methods and standard errors, by correlated short memory dynamics, or by alternative data generating processes proven to generate the illusion of long memory. We find that for nine out of eleven agricultural commodities for which futures contracts are traded, long memory is spurious but is not caused by the effect of short memory. Alternative explanations are addressed and implications for option pricing are highlighted.
The Effects of Changes in Property Tax Rates and School Spending on Residential and Business Property Value Growth

In this paper, we examine the effects of changes in property tax rates and school spending on residential and business property value growth in southeast Michigan. We use panel data for 152 communities in the five counties surrounding Detroit between the years 1983 and 2002, a period during which state government mandated major changes to school finance. Using the mandated changes to identify causality, we find that: 1) residential property values are more responsive to school spending changes than property tax rate changes; 2) business property values are more responsive to tax rate changes than school spending changes, and 3) business property values are more sensitive to changes in tax rates as compared to residential property. We also examine tax competition effects on property value growth, showing that tax competition plays an important role in property value growth in the southeast Michigan region.
Triplet pregnancy. A 10-year review of cases at Baragwanath Hospital.

A series of 61 triplet pregnancies delivered in the Baragwanath Hospital for the 10 years 1967 - 1976 is analysed, the incidence being 1 : 2 789 deliveries. The average maternal age was 29,6 years, and average parity 3,7; 60% had had adequate antenatal care, a figure significantly higher than that for the local normal pregnant population. The vast majority of the patients had vaginal deliveries, although the proportion of manipulative procedures was high. The duration of labour was strikingly short in most instances. The fetal outcome was impressively good, although somewhat better with the second triplet than with the other two. This indicates that, in spite of the recent tendency towards liberal use of caesarean sections in these patients, a careful and appropriate vaginal approach has its merits.
Mode of Action of Nisin Z against Listeria monocytogenes Scott A Grown at High and Low Temperatures

Nisin Z, a natural nisin variant, was recently isolated from Lactococcus lactis subspecies lactis NIZO 22186. The gene for this lantibiotic, designated nisZ, has been cloned, and its nucleotide sequence was found to be identical to that of the precursor nisin gene with the exception of a single mutation resulting in the substitution of Asn-27 for His-27 in the mature polypeptide (J. W. M. Mulders, I. J. Boerrigter, H. S. Rollema, R. J. Siezen, and W. M. de Vos, Eur. J. Biochem. 201:581-584, 1991). A K+ electrode was used to investigate the effect of various environmental parameters on the action of nisin Z against Listeria monocytogenes. Addition of nisin Z resulted in immediate loss of cell K+, depolarization of the cytoplasmic membrane, inhibition of respiratory activity, and hydrolysis and partial efflux of cellular ATP. The action of nisin Z was optimal at pH 6.0 and was significantly reduced by di- and trivalent cations. The lanthanide gadolinium (Gd3+) was an efficient inhibitor and prevented nisin Z activity completely at a concentration of 0.2 mM. Nisin Z-induced loss of cell K+ was reduced at low temperatures, presumably as a result of the increased ordering of the lipid hydrocarbon chains in the cytoplasmic membrane. In cells grown at 30°C, the action of nisin Z was prevented below 7°C, whereas in cells grown at 4°C nisin Z was able to induce K+ leakage at this low temperature.
The Effects of Background and Interference Selection on Patterns of Genetic Variation in Subdivided Populations

It is well known that most new mutations that affect fitness exert deleterious effects and that natural populations are often composed of subpopulations (demes) connected by gene flow. To gain a better understanding of the joint effects of purifying selection and population structure, we focus on a scenario where an ancestral population splits into multiple demes and study neutral diversity patterns in regions linked to selected sites. In the background selection regime of strong selection, we first derive analytic equations for pairwise coalescent times and FST as a function of time after the ancestral population splits into two demes and then construct a flexible coalescent simulator that can generate samples under complex models such as those involving multiple demes or nonconservative migration. We have carried out extensive forward simulations to show that the new methods can accurately predict diversity patterns both in the nonequilibrium phase following the split of the ancestral population and in the equilibrium between mutation, migration, drift, and selection. In the interference selection regime of many tightly linked selected sites, forward simulations provide evidence that neutral diversity patterns obtained from both the nonequilibrium and equilibrium phases may be virtually indistinguishable for models that have identical variance in fitness, but are nonetheless different with respect to the number of selected sites and the strength of purifying selection. This equivalence in neutral diversity patterns suggests that data collected from subdivided populations may have limited power for differentiating among the selective pressures to which closely linked selected sites are subject.
Investment in Post-Compulsory Education in Sri Lanka

In this paper, we have used the standard Human Capital model to describe the post-compulsory schooling behaviour of Sri Lankans. We assumed that there is no uncertainty in the education system or in the labour market. Therefore, inthe steady-state, the earnings profile of one generation is a replica of the earnings of the next generation. Then, we modeled and estimated the school enrolment and the length of schooling decisions.Our results show a very clear positive association between the family background and the education decision. Children of more affluent families seem to derive more benefits from the free education policy. In particular, mother's education has a very strong effect on the education of the child. This casts doubt on the effectiveness of the free education policy as a poverty alleviation instrument and its role in social mobility.We also observe that the ability effect on the return to education is greater than the ability effect on the cost of education. Therefore, more able children stay longer in full-time education than the less able children. We further found some negative evidence on the Behrman and Taubman observation of the negative birth order effect on ability. We observe that younger siblings are more able than older siblings of the same family.By decomposing the total variance of the schooling length, we observed that the rate of return variation is more important in explaining the schooling behaviour than the variation in the cost of education.Analysis of the residuals has given us an impression that there is a family fixed effect which is not explained by the model. Most probably, the poor specification of the ability and the excluded school quality variables would be the main reason for this unexplained fixed effect.
An International Analysis of Historical and Forecast Earnings in Accounting-Based Valuation Models

In this paper we examine whether the valuation properties of historical accounting amounts, namely earnings and equity book value, differ from those of forecasted earnings for firms in 17 developed countries classified into six accounting regimes. We compare the performance of a historical model and a residual-income forecast model for explaining security prices. The historical model uses the book value of equities and actual historical earnings and the forecast model uses the book value of equities and analysts' forecasts of earnings in the residual income for estimating the intrinsic value of the firm. The results suggest that book values, historical earnings or forecasted earnings are value relevant in most regimes and countries examined. The forecast model offers significantly greater explanatory power for security prices than the historical model in the Anglo-Saxon and North American countries, Japan, Germany, and three Nordic countries. The explanatory power of the historical model is similar to that of the forecast model in the Latin countries, two Nordic countries, and Switzerland. We find that the forecast model performs similarly to the historical model where financial analysts' forecasts are noisy and analysts are less active. Further results indicate that the forecasted earnings are more value-relevant than the historical earnings in countries with stronger investor protection laws, less conservative GAAP, greater income conservatism, and more transparent accounting systems. Copyright 2006 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
RESILIENCE TO CONTAGION IN FINANCIAL NETWORKS

We derive rigorous asymptotic results for the magnitude of contagion in a large counterparty network and give an analytical expression for the asymptotic fraction of defaults, in terms of network characteristics. Our results extend previous studies on contagion in random graphs to inhomogeneous‐directed graphs with a given degree sequence and arbitrary distribution of weights. We introduce a criterion for the resilience of a large financial network to the insolvency of a small group of financial institutions and quantify how contagion amplifies small shocks to the network. Our results emphasize the role played by “contagious links” and show that institutions which contribute most to network instability have both large connectivity and a large fraction of contagious links. The asymptotic results show good agreement with simulations for networks with realistic sizes.
Voluntary disclosure and the cost of capital

We investigate the association between voluntary disclosure and the risk-related discount investors apply to price. First, we study the association between (endogenous) disclosure choice and the discount in price induced by changes in the underlying model parameters: this informs empirical research that ignores endogeneity of disclosure by, for example, omitting the exogenous determinants of disclosure and the discount in price from the regressions employed. Second, we investigate the incremental effect of disclosure on the discount in price: this informs empirical research that controls for the direct effect of exogenous factors on the discount in price by, for example, including the exogenous variables in regression models employed. Finally, we examine the incremental effect of disclosure on the discount in price when changes in disclosure are not induced by changes in underlying exogenous parameters: this further informs empirical research that controls for the effect of exogenous factors on both the discount in price and disclosure, and focuses on the association between ‘unexplained disclosure’ and the discount.
Regional Disparities and the Italian NAIRU

In this paper we estimate the Italian NAIRU using annual data for the period 1951-96. We find evidence consistent with aggregate wage setting in Italy depending only on the rate of unemployment prevailing in the Northern and Central areas of the country. There is evidence supporting the presence of a long-run cointegrating relationship among unemployment in the Northern and Central areas, the tax wedge, the real interest rate and a measure of union power. The response of unemployment to exogenous shocks is sluggish, suggesting that persistence is an important feature of the Italian labor market. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.
Mortality and prehospital thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction: A meta-analysis.

CONTEXT Early administration of thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) may improve survival if safely and appropriately delivered. No systematic reviews that have comprehensively examined this topic exist in the literature. OBJECTIVE To perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of prehospital vs in-hospital thrombolysis for AMI measuring in-hospital mortality. DATA SOURCES The Cochrane search strategy was used to search MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Science Citation Index (1982-1999); Dissertation Abstracts (1987-1999); and Current Contents (1994-1999) for the terms thrombolysis, thrombolysis therapy, prehospital, and acute myocardial infarction. In addition, text and journal article bibliographies were hand searched, the National Institutes of Health Web site was reviewed, and primary authors and thrombolytic drug manufacturers were contacted for unpublished studies. STUDY SELECTION Randomized controlled trials of prehospital vs in-hospital thrombolysis for AMI measuring all-cause hospital mortality were included. Two authors independently reviewed 175 citations by title, abstract, or complete article. After exclusion of 30 duplicate citations, 145 studies remained, of which 6 studies and 3 follow-up studies met the inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION Independent data abstraction by 2 reviewers blinded to the journal, title, and author was confirmed by consensus. Trial quality was independently assessed by 2 other coauthors, blinded to the author, title, journal, introduction, and discussion. DATA SYNTHESIS The results of the 6 randomized trials (n=6434) were pooled and indicated significantly decreased all-cause hospital mortality among patients treated with prehospital thrombolysis compared with in-hospital thrombolysis (odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.70-0.98). Results were similar regardless of trial quality or training and experience of the provider. Estimated (SE) time to thrombolysis was 104 (7) minutes for the prehospital group and 162 (16) minutes for the in-hospital thrombolysis group (P=.007). CONCLUSIONS Our meta-analysis suggests that prehospital thrombolysis for AMI significantly decreases the time to thrombolysis and all-cause hospital mortality. JAMA. 2000;283:2686-2692.
Scan statistic-based analysis of exome sequencing data identifies FAN1 at 15q13.3 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and autism

Significance Schizophrenia and autism are severe, lifelong brain disorders with complex etiology and high prevalence. A strong link has been established between both disorders and de novo copy number variants, but the culprit genes remain unknown. This study uses whole-exome sequencing data and a new statistical method based on detecting clusters of rare disease-associated variants to identify the responsible gene(s) within genomic regions affected by de novo copy number variants. We discovered a new gene on chromosome 15q13.3 [Fanconi-associated nuclease 1 (FAN1)], which contains rare risk variants for both schizophrenia and autism. FAN1 encodes a DNA repair enzyme, thus implicating abnormalities in DNA repair in the genetic component and as potential drug targets in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. We used a family-based cluster detection approach designed to localize significant rare disease–risk variants clusters within a region of interest to systematically search for schizophrenia (SCZ) susceptibility genes within 49 genomic loci previously implicated by de novo copy number variants. Using two independent whole-exome sequencing family datasets and a follow-up autism spectrum disorder (ASD) case/control whole-exome sequencing dataset, we identified variants in one gene, Fanconi-associated nuclease 1 (FAN1), as being associated with both SCZ and ASD. FAN1 is located in a region on chromosome 15q13.3 implicated by a recurrent copy number variant, which predisposes to an array of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental phenotypes. In both SCZ and ASD datasets, rare nonsynonymous risk variants cluster significantly in affected individuals within a 20-kb window that spans several key functional domains of the gene. Our finding suggests that FAN1 is a key driver in the 15q13.3 locus for the associated psychiatric and neurodevelopmental phenotypes. FAN1 encodes a DNA repair enzyme, thus implicating abnormalities in DNA repair in the susceptibility to SCZ or ASD.
The effects of supportive management and job quality on the turnover intentions and health of military personnel

To be competitive in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing envi-ronment, organizations must retain personnel and promote the well-being of employees. We examine the relationship of both support provided to person-nel and job quality with employee health and turnover intentions among a sample of 450 military personnel. Factors involving the supportive manage-ment of personnel (i.e., supervisory support, organizational support, and work-life balance) and factors pertaining to job quality (i.e., work stimulation and job clarity) were indirectly related to health and to turnover intentions through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Misconceptions held and errors made by South African learners in answering science questions in the trends in mathematics and science study (TIMSS).

This thesis presents results of a secondary analysis of South African G rade 8 learners' responses to the TIMSS 1999 Population 2 Science questions, a nd the results of a test and group interviews with learners from three high scho ols in Pietermaritzburg. The study is motivated by the need to understand the reas ons for the poor performance of SA Grade 8 natural science learners in the TIMSS 1999 study. The aim of the study was to identify possible misconceptions held and errors made by SA science learners and to pinpoint possible causes and sources o f these misconceptions and errors. An analysis of the SA learners ' responses conta ined in the TIMSS 1999 Population 2 data and the test results from the Pietermar itzburg schools was used to identify possible misconceptions held and errors made by SA learners on certain science topics. The questions used in the Pietermaritzburg study were selected from the TIMSS 1999 population 2 science questions. The qu estions were selected based on perceived minimal levels of guessing by learners when answering these questions in the TIMSS 1999 study. The three schools selec ted for inclusion in this study in Pietermaritzburg were chosen based on their former classification as Indian, Coloured and Black schools. The majority of pupils at each of these three schools still reflect this racial composition that was in place at th e time the TIMSS study was conducted. The Pietermaritzburg data was collec ted by administering a written test consisting of selected TIMSS 1999 science questio ns to a randomly selected group of ten learners at each school followed by interview s with the learners and the head ofthe Science Department at each school. Learners ' notebooks and the year planners used by teachers at the three schoo ls were analysed primarily to check if these were in line with the SA intended curr iculum and to check for any possible sources of misconceptions. The analysis of th e data
Short-Term Debt as Bridge Financing: Evidence from the Commercial Paper Market

type="main"> We analyze why firms use nonintermediated short-term debt by studying the commercial paper (CP) market. Using a comprehensive database of CP issuers and issuance activity, we show that firms use CP to provide start-up financing for capital investment. Firms’ CP issuance is driven by a desire to minimize transaction costs associated with raising capital for new investment. We show that firms with high rollover risk are less likely to enter the CP market, borrow less CP, and borrow more from bank credit lines. Further, CP is often refinanced with long-term bond issuance to reduce rollover risk.
Economic Structure and Seigniorage: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

Controlling for a more comprehensive set of economic structure variables and using system generalized method of moment (GMM) dynamic panel estimation, we consider the determinants of seigniorage. While we confirm some results found in previous literature, including an inverse relationship of financial development and exchange rate management to seigniorage, we find little evidence that political instability and polarization lead to greater reliance on seigniorage. We also find robust evidence that the size of the shadow economy and natural resource rents are directly related to seigniorage, the latter result likely a result of exchange rate management. Thus, an effective strategy to reduce reliance on seigniorage is to lower the incentives to operate in the shadow economy, while exchange rate management may be counter‐productive in countries with considerable natural resource rents.