Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of HLA matching and associated factors on aortic valve homograft function.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Evidence suggests that the implanted aortic valve homograft suffers eventual loss of function due to early donor-specific antibody and T cell-mediated responses to human leukocyte antigens (HLA). The association between rejection/dysfunction and donor/recipient HLA mismatch for vascularized organ homografts has not been revealed for aortic valve homografts. An aortic valve homograft recipient cohort was studied to determine whether HLA mismatch and associated factors predicted homograft dysfunction. METHODS Both donor and recipient HLA type was obtained for 162 recipients of cryopreserved aortic valve homografts between 1986 and 1998. Structural deterioration of the homograft was defined by echocardiography as at least moderate aortic stenosis or regurgitation. Patients' records were searched for postoperative fever, ABO blood type disparity, and other associated factors. HLA class 1 (A and B antigens) were typed serologically, and HLA class 2 (DR antigens) by molecular genotyping. Associations were analyzed using chi-square tests and Kaplan-Meier curves of freedom from structural deterioration in all patients, and in those with > or =5 years of follow up. Cox regression was used to determine independent predictors of structural deterioration. RESULTS Class 2 antigen mismatch had a significant association (p = 0.04) with decrease in cryopreserved aortic valve homograft freedom from structural deterioration in patients with long-term follow up (> or =5 years). In addition, there was an important difference in frequency of postoperative fever in recipients with two DR mismatches (31.2%), and in those with no or one DR mismatch (16.9%; p = 0.051). Significant associations were not found between homograft dysfunction and HLA mismatch at the class-1 loci. Young age at operation and short time (<4 h) between homograft procurement and cryopreservation were associated with an increase in structural deterioration. CONCLUSION The association between aortic valve homograft dysfunction and HLA DR mismatch suggests that elements of the anti-donor immune response penetrate and damage the homograft. A similar link to postoperative fever indicates that immune stimulation may be an early event. Further investigation will reveal the exact pathways by which this occurs and by which therapy (immunosuppression of the recipient, genetic engineering of the donor graft, or other techniques) this recipient anti-donor response can be modified.
Identification of a highly specific surface marker of T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and neuroblastoma as a new member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily

Five monoclonal antibodies detected a surface antigen expressed exclusively on T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T‐ALL) in a panel of 45 human hematopoietic cell lines, including T‐cell lines derived from adult T‐cell leukemia and those established by immortalization with human T‐cell leukemia virus type 1 or Herpesvirus saimiri. Peripheral blood mono‐nuclear cells, including fresh and activated T cells, were also completely devoid of this antigen. We designated this antigen as TALLA‐1 (from T‐ALL‐associated antigen 1). By expression cloning, a cDNA clone encoding TALLA‐1 was isolated from T‐ALL cell line Molt‐4. TALLA‐1 was found to be a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily (TM4SF). The cDNA was also essentially identical to A15, which was isolated from another T‐ALL cell line, HPB‐ALL, by differential hybridization with normal peripheral blood lymphocytes, and to CCG‐B7, which was isolated from a brain cDNA library using CCG repeat as a probe. The gene product was now characterized in detail at the protein level. Northern blot analysis showed that the gene was expressed most strongly in brain, skeletal muscle and spleen. In a panel of 52 non‐hematopoietic human cell lines, the majority of neuroblastoma cell lines were found to be positive for TALLA‐1. Like ME491, CO‐029 and L6, TALLA‐1 may be another TM4SF member behaving as a potential tumor‐associated antigen. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
THE INCREMENTAL INFORMATION CONTENT OF EARNINGS, FUNDS FLOW AND CASH FLOW: THE UK EVIDENCE

This paper investigates the incremental information content of three accounting performance measures for U.K. firms: earnings, funds flow and cash flow. Based on tests of association using the most general specifications suggested by the recent literature incorporating time-varying parameters and a non-linearity in response coefficients, a pattern of consistent results emerges. All three performance measures have explanatory power for returns individually and the response coefficients on their unexpected components are positive. The results further show that earnings, funds flow and cash flow all have incremental information content.However, the response coefficients on the unexpected components are consistently positive across years only for earnings and funds flow.
Systematic risk factors in European real estate equities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing of European real estate equities. The study examines the main drivers of real estate equity returns and determines whether loadings on systematic risk factors – the excess market return, small minus big (SMB), HIGH minus low (HML) – can explain cross‐sectional return differences in unconditional as well as in conditional asset pricing tests.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon time‐series regressions to investigate determinants of real estate equity returns. Rolling Fama‐French regressions are applied to estimate time‐varying loadings on systematic risk factors. Unconditional as well as conditional monthly Fama‐MacBeth regressions are employed to explain cross‐sectional return variations.Findings – Systematic risk factors are important drivers of European real estate equity returns. Returns are positively related to the excess market return and to a value factor. A size factor impacts predominantly negatively on real estate re.
The market risk of real estate

iD those subjects that, like the weather, everyone likes to talk about but few can really predict. Many believe that real estate assets have greater risk than other capital assets and that investment returns are commensurately greater to compensate investors for the added risk [16,17,19]. On the other hand, empirical studies provide mixed evidence in documenting risks and returns. Some research indicates that real estate returns are actually lower in variability than other investment assets such as common stocks [12,13,20]; other studies go further to provide evidencle that real estate can offer both higher returns with lower volatility [19]. The apparent contradiction between belief and fact comes from a variety of sources. Some of the problem is simply limited data a basic dilemma underlying the inefficiencies of the real estate investment market. Methods of analysis also create pxoblems for generalizing results. For example, much of the evidence does not distinguish between different locations or types of real estate property. This creates a fallacy of aggregates, since an office building in Manhattan does not behave like a farm in Iowa. Most of the difficulty, however, comes from the wide variety of ways in which the concept of risk is measured, particularly in relationship to returns [ l ] . This basic lack of clarity in understanding the relationship between risk and return has relegated real estate assets to a second-tier status for marly managers of institutional investments, who see real estate properties as too idiosyncratic to be included in equity portfolios. Those portfolios that do make inve,, G.tments in real estate usually make asset allocation decisions without knowing what the implications may be for other classes of assets in the portfolio. Below, we develop the concept of market risk in real estate to help in alleviating some o f these difficulties in understanding the relationships between risk and return. We also provide evidence from analysis of office properties in four metropolitan areas to illustrate the implications of market risk for the investment management process.
Salmeterol resolves airway obstruction but does not possess anti-eosinophil efficacy in newly diagnosed asthma: a randomized, double-blind, parallel group biopsy study comparing the effects of salmeterol, fluticasone propionate, and disodium cromoglycate.

BACKGROUND Salmeterol (SLM) is a long-acting beta(2)-receptor agonist that produces bronchodilatation for 12 hours in asthmatic subjects. The effects of the regular use of long-acting beta(2)-agonists on airway inflammation are largely unknown. OBJECTIVES We examined the effects of 16 weeks of treatment with 50 microg SLM bid, 250 microg fluticasone propionate (FP) bid,5 mg disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) qid, or placebo on airway inflammation in bronchial mucosa. METHODS Airway inflammation was assessed in bronchial biopsy specimens before and after treatments and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) in 80 patients with newly diagnosed asthma. Inflammatory cells and tenascin in the basement membrane were studied with immunohistochemical methods. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), symptoms, and need for rescue medication were recorded. RESULTS SLM, FP, and DSCG reduced symptoms and need for rescue medication (P <.04). Both SLM and FP improved PEF and increased PD15FEV(1) to histamine by 2.8 and 5.2 doubling dose units, respectively. Both compounds reduced BHR more than placebo (P <.05). Both SLM and placebo had no effect on any inflammatory cell type. In both FP-treated and DSCG-treated patients, the number of EG2-positive eosinophils in the airway mucosa decreased (P =.002 and P <.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS SLM showed no anti-eosinophil properties in this study, but it provided good symptom control. FP provided the best anti-eosinophil properties and symptom relief of the studied compounds.
Gender, Competitiveness, and Physical Characteristics

Gender differences in tennis have sparked a great deal of heated debate. Using data from the 24 top men’s and 23 top women’s singles tournaments in 2010, we find a gender difference in the competitiveness (tightness) with regard to the final score of tennis sets. However, when using two physical variables (height and body mass index) that have not been investigated in this context before and controlling for the physical characteristics of the players, this gender difference completely disappears. Moreover, this result remains robust in propensity score analysis. To narrow this disparity between the number of games in men’s and women’s sets, it might be worthwhile for tennis authorities to consider making some changes in court conditions on a gender basis.
Team Polarity and Creative Performance in Innovation Teams

Creativity is essential for research and development efforts. Research and development endavours are typically organized in teams. Unfortunately, little is known about how the polarity or in other words the conflict potential determines the creativity of such teams. Based on a sample of 51 research and development teams (R&D teams), this study examines the effects of polarity on team creativity and attemps to explore situational conditions when conflict potential is detrimental or facilitating R&D team creativity. The results show that foremost in the conceptualization phase of R&D efforts polarity positively influences the creative performance of R&D teams, whereas at lower degrees of complexity or in situations later in the development cycle polarity negatively impacts the creative performance of R&D teams.
An investigation into antenna arrays composed of broadband circularly polarised EMCP elements at X-band

We firstly present the design and the wideband characteristics of the proposed CP-EMCP element, which indeed is an improvement of Type-E element at X-band. Secondly, we investigate the mutual coupling performance of the proposed elements in a two-element array in two orthogonal planes The calculated mutual coupling of the two-element arrays arc compared with the measured and calculated results front the literature for a number of similar and dissimilar structures. Finally. the calculated radiation characteristics of a subarray consisting of offset and rotated elements are presented.
Impact of trace elements on biocompatibility of titanium scaffolds

A titanium oxide scaffold has recently been reported with high compressive strength (>2 MPa) which may allow its use in bone. However, would it be possible to enhance the scaffolds’ performance by selecting a titanium oxide raw material without elemental contamination? Elements in implant surfaces have been reported to provoke implant failure. Thus, this study aims to compare different commercial titanium dioxide powders in order to choose the appropriate powder for scaffold making. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis identified the trace elements, mainly Al, Si, C, Ca and P. Cellular response was measured by cytotoxic effect, cell growth and cytokine secretion from murine preosteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) in vitro. The XPS data showed that traces of carbon-based molecules, silicon, nitrogen and aluminium in the powder were greatly reduced after cleaning in 1 M NaOH. As a result, reduction in cytotoxicity and inflammatory response was observed. Carbon contamination seemed to have a minor effect on the cellular response. Strong correlations were found between Al and Si contamination levels and the inflammatory response and cytotoxic effect. Thus, it is suggested that the concentration of these elements should be reduced in order to enhance the scaffolds’ biocompatibility.
The EMU Debt Crisis: Early Lessons and Reforms

The economic and financial crisis and its aftermath have put economic and monetary union (EMU) to the test and exposed gaps in its initial policy architecture. Collective rules of fiscal discipline have proven difficult fully to enforce and excessive public indebtedness has been confirmed as a potential source of systemic instability. Broader economic and financial imbalances have also been shown to carry important risks for individual Member States' and area‐wide stability. Recent governance reforms have sought to address these shortcomings. In particular, the so‐called ‘Six‐Pack’ has brought changes strengthening the ability to prevent and correct economic and fiscal imbalances in the future. With the crisis not terminated, however, the debate over optimal policy arrangements continues and additional governance reforms have been put forward. This article reviews some lessons drawn from the crisis episode for the economic and budgetary framework of EMU and describes the governance reforms that have been undertaken as part of the comprehensive solution needed to underpin the single currency.
Decentralized control of web processing lines

The focus of the research is on the design of a decentralized controller for web processing lines that provide improved web tension regulation. First, an accurate dynamic model is developed for the unwind (rewind) roll in a web processing line by taking into account explicitly the time-varying nature of the roll inertia and its radius. The unwind (rewind) roll in a web processing line releases (accumulates) unfinished (finished) web to (from) the process section. Second, a strategy for computing the equilibrium control inputs and reference velocities for each driven roll/roller is given; this strategy is based on dividing the web processing line into tension zones and using the reference web tension of each zone and the reference velocity of the master speed roller which sets the desired web transport speed. Based on the new model developed, a decentralized controller is proposed. Variations in web tension and transport velocity in each tension zone are shown to asymptotically converge to zero. Extensive comparative experiments were conducted with the proposed decentralized controller and an often used decentralized PI controller in industry. A representative sample of the experimental results conducted on a large experimental web line, which mimics most of the features of an industrial process line, is shown and discussed
SimMapReduce: A Simulator for Modeling MapReduce Framework

As a parallel programming framework, MapReduce has attracted more and more attention from both IT enterprises and research institutes that work for large dataset processing. SimMapReduce, a MapReduce simulator based on Grid Sim, is introduced to facilitate research on resource management and performance evaluation. With SimMapReduce simulator, researchers are free to implement scheduling algorithms and resource allocation policies by inheriting the provided java classes without concerns of implementation details. A File Manager is integrated to manage files transfers, so that the file transmission time is recorded and taken into account as a part of job completion time. Different simulation scenarios are modeled by predefining parameters in a configuration file. Experiment results illustrate that SimMapReduce can be easily executed in a personal computer and can provide qualitative analysis for MapReduce systems.
Patterns of Compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code

This study provides evidence to practitioners and policy makers that firms can be classified regarding their compliance with the code recommendations. In-depth analyses of the identified patterns of compliance furthermore reveal that some patterns may indicate less well substantiated deviations from the code and partly even decouplings of the declared compliance practices. The identified cluster solution does not merely reflect the number of rejected code recommendations. Rather, companies with very similar rates of overall compliance with the GCGC are assigned to different clusters because they feature, at the same time, different patterns of code conformity. These findings imply that governance prediction and governance performance studies have to overcome overly aggregated measures of code compliance which only incorporate the number of rejected code recommendations. Based on seven dimensions of code compliance, cluster analysis is used to identify discrete groups of companies with similar patterns of code observance. We determine eight patterns of compliance which are characterized by distinct forms of code conformity. This study investigates whether the form of compliance with the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC) appears to be idiosyncratic to a specific company or features similarities across firms. The major aim of this research is thus to explore the ability of a classification of compliance patterns to account for the similarities and differences between firms regarding their conformity with the GCGC.
Advancing Sustainable Management of Public and Not For Profit Organizations

Abstract The article is located in the social and environmental accounting research (SEAR) literature. A considerable body of work in the SEAR literature investigates the accounting and management practices and motives of businesses that report on their social, environmental or sustainability impacts. The potential value that researchers might derive in turning their attention to public services, social, environmental or sustainability practices, however, has been largely overlooked. The main objective of the article is to review relevant literature and ideas concerning accounting and accountability as key processes in advancing sustainability practices. The article also reviews the contributions to this PMR Special Issue and draws several conclusions.
A Comparison of Reported Earnings Under Chinese GAAP vs. IAS: Evidence from the Shanghai Stock Exchange

This paper reports the results of an empirical examination of the difference between earnings based on Chinese GAAP and those based on International Accounting Standards (IAS). Specifically, the study determines how current Chinese accounting standards are different from the IAS, whether these differences are systematically biased toward under‐ or overstated earnings, and which items from the financial statements contributed most to these differences. The findings suggest that reported accounting earnings based on current Chinese GAAP are significantly different from those based on IAS. On average, the reported earnings determined under the Chinese GAAP are 20–30 percent higher than earnings reported under IAS. After restatement, 15 percent of the B‐share companies changed from a reported profit to a reported loss. The findings suggest that the differences between the two sets of earnings are caused by differences in accounting standards and financial rules, opportunistic applications of Chinese GAAP, and.
Productivity and environmental conservation under rapid population growth: A case study of machakos district

The relationships between increasing population density, agricultural productivity, incomes and environmental conservation are discussed and illustrated in relation to Machakos District, Kenya, 1930–90. Four positive effects of increasing population density are identified: increased demand, increased labour, increased idea generation, and cheaper social and physical infrastructure. Where government policies permit these to lead to greater involvement with external markets, the mutually reinforcing effects of capital investment and new technology adoption lead to output rising much faster than population, outweighing any negative effects of population growth. However, future trends cannot be predicted from past performance, since the rising price of land and water may retard the realization of economies of scale in infrastructure development.
The Effects of Disseminating Relative Performance Feedback in Tournament and Individual Performance Compensation Plans

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the effects of relative performance feedback and incentive compensation method on performance. We examine whether the presence and the content of relative performance feedback have different effects on performance when participants are compensated via a tournament or an individual incentive scheme. Our experimental results show a disordinal interaction between incentive scheme and feedback. Specifically, providing relative performance feedback improves the mean performance of participants compensated under an individual incentive scheme regardless of the precision or specific content of the feedback. In contrast, providing relative performance feedback deteriorates the mean performance of participants compensated under a tournament incentive scheme, but only if the feedback is sufficiently precise. Supplementary analysis suggests that this deterioration in performance is due to ineffective task strategies rather than reduced effort. We also find that in the absence of rel.