Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fgf-Signaling-Dependent Sox9a and Atoh1a Regulate Otic Neural Development in Zebrafish

Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) play important roles in developmental processes of the inner ear, including the ontogeny of the statoacoustic ganglia (SAG) and hair cells. However, the detailed genetic mechanism(s) underlying Fgf/Fgfr-dependent otic neural development remains elusive. Using conditional genetic approaches and inhibitory small molecules, we have revealed that Fgfr-PI3K/Akt signaling is mainly responsible for zebrafish SAG development and have determined that Sox9a and Atoh1a act downstream of Fgfr-Akt signaling to specify and/or maintain the otic neuron fate during the early segmentation stage. Sox9a and Atoh1a coregulate numerous downstream factors identified through our ChIP-seq analyses, including Tlx2 and Eya2. Fgfr-Erk1/2 signaling contributes to ultricular hair cell development during a critical period between 9 and 15 hours postfertilization. Our work reveals that a genetic network of the previously known sensory determinant Atoh1 and the neural crest determinant Sox9 plays critical roles in SAG development. These newly uncovered roles for Atoh1and Sox9 in zebrafish otic development may be relevant to study in other species.
Factors Associated with Insolvency amongst Small Firms

GRAHAM HALL AND BARBARA YOUNG lecturer at Manchester Business School, Manchester University, England. This study represetns at attempt to add to the state of knowledge on why failure takes palce among small firms by drawing on the information contained in the reports of the offical receiver, all on cases of compulsory liquidation. The author say it is unlikely that the characteristics of the companies sufering compulsory liquidation will difer markedly from those experencing creditors's voluntary liquidation. the study's three samples, each of 100 reports at five year intervals, were drawn from involunatary liquidations in the London area. The authors conclude that governemnt initiatives to provide subsidised consultancy in marketing and planning should be extended to include adivce on operational management and suggest that closer attention shold be paid by leader to the emphasis which both owner and offical receivers put on under-capitalisation as a cause of failure.
Closed Reduction and Percutaneous K-Wires Versus Open Reduction and Interosseous Loop Wires for Displaced Unstable Transverse Fractures of the Shaft of the Proximal Phalanx of the Fingers in Industrial Workers

Seventy-eight male industrial workers with displaced unstable transverse fractures of the shaft of the proximal phalanx of the fingers were divided into two groups: Group 1 (n = 40 men, mean age = 34 years, range = 22–46 years) was treated with closed reduction and percutaneous K-wires, and Group 2 (n = 38 men, mean age = 33 years, range = 20–48 years) was treated with open reduction and interosseous loop wire fixation. At final follow-up, the total active motion (TAM) score of the injured finger was graded as excellent, good, fair or poor if it was greater than 240°, 220°, 180° or less than 180°, respectively. Group 2 had significantly better overall TAM scores than Group 1 (P = 0.03). The complication rate was higher in Group 1 than Group 2 (28% versus 11%) but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.084). The results were compared with those reported by other authors and other techniques of fixation of these fractures.
A view through the gateway: expectancies as a possible pathway from alcohol to cannabis.

AIM The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that cannabis outcome expectancies would be more positive in adolescents who drink alcohol than in non-drinkers. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING The participants in the study were 4544 11-16-year-olds attending eight secondary schools located in the north-west midlands of England. PROCEDURE Participants completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire that incorporated sections designed to tap adolescents' expectancies of positive and negative outcomes of alcohol and cannabis use, together with other questions relating to substance use and associated issues. RESULTS Four reliable six-item scales were derived, and used to measure positive and negative alcohol and cannabis outcome expectancies. Negative expectancies were relatively stable across age and frequency of substance use, particularly for alcohol. However, positive expectancies for both substances increased markedly with age and, independently, with frequency of use. Positive alcohol and cannabis outcome expectancies were meaningfully related to expectancies of future substance use, and to measures of problem drug use and resistance to peer influence, supporting the validity of these expectancy measures, and their possible value as diagnostic screening instruments. The main hypothesis of the study was supported: among respondents who reported never using cannabis, positive cannabis outcome expectancies increased and negative cannabis outcome expectancies decreased with increasing frequency of alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS The results are consistent with a version of the 'gateway hypothesis' for the relationship between alcohol and cannabis use (alcohol use leads to changes in cannabis expectancies and thereby to cannabis use), but a proper test of the hypothesis requires a longitudinal study.
Business Involvement in Campaign Finance: Factors Influencing the Decision to Form a Corporate PAC

When Justin Dart, Chairman of Dart Industries, said in 1978, “talking with politicians is a fine thing, but with a little money they hear you better,” his colleagues apparently concurred. As Figure 1 indicates, subsequent to several congressional. Federal Election Commission and Supreme Court decisions which clarified some ambiguity concerning their legality, the surge in corporate PAC growth was extremely impressive. The advent of the growth in corporate PACs represented a fundamental shift in the way business money is funneled into electoral politics. Prior to the 1970s, business executives contributed to politicians in an unsystematic, ad hoc manner. Traditionally, corporate executives got together and bankrolled candidates of their choice with little pressure or need to disclose the recipients of their largess. Gone are those days when the so-called “corporate bag-men” would pass out envelopes filled with cash on the 17th green of some exclusive country club. Today, computerized records of congressmen's roll-call votes and lists of potential PAC contributors have replaced the nine iron as an effective corporate political tool.
An Economic Model of Trade Credit

In considering trade credit, we need to ask three questions: 1. Why do nonfinancial firms commonly participate in the process of financial intermediation by extending credit to their customers? 2. What explains differences in credit periods between firms and industries as well as over time for specific firms and industries? 3. How do changing monetary conditions affect the credit that firms extend to their customers? To answer these questions, we first identify two reasons for credit sales: the first we might call a financing motive, and the second a transactions motive. The transactions motive can readily be understood—it costs something to match the time pattern of payment for goods with the time pattern of receipt of goods. Buyers benefit if bills are allowed to accumulate for periodic payment. Furthermore, trade credit gives buyers time to plan for the payment of unexpected purchases, enables them to forecast future cash outlays with greater certainty, and simplifies their cash management. To the extent that buyers benefit, sellers have an opportunity to sell credit. It is likely that, to a large extent, the aggregate stock of trade credit is explained by the transactions motive.
Gaps in structurally similar proteins: Towards improvement of multiple sequence alignment

An algorithm was developed to locally optimize gaps from the FSSP database. Over 2 million gaps were identified from all versus all FSSP structure comparisons, and datasets of non‐identical gaps and flanking regions comprising between 90,000 and 135,000 sequence fragments were extracted for statistical analysis. Relative to background frequencies, gaps were enriched in residue types with small side chains and high turn propensity (D, G, N, P, S), and were depleted in residue types with hydrophobic side chains (C, F, I, L, V, W, Y). In contrast, regions flanking a gap exhibited opposite trends in amino acid frequencies, i.e., enrichment in hydrophobic residues and a high degree of secondary structure. Log‐odds scores of residue type as a function of position in or around a gap were derived from the statistics. Three simple experiments demonstrated that these scores contained significant predictive information. First, regions where gaps were observed in single sequences taken from HOMSTRAD structure‐based multiple sequence alignments generally scored higher than regions where gaps were not observed. Second, given the correct pairwise‐aligned cores, the actual positions of gaps could be reproduced from sequence more accurately using the structurally‐derived statistics than by using random pairwise alignments. Finally, revision of the Clustal‐W residue‐specific gap opening parameters with this new information improved the agreement of Clustal‐W alignments with the structure‐based alignments. At least three applications for these results are envisioned: improvement of gap penalties in pairwise (or multiple) sequence alignment, prediction of regions of single sequences likely (or unlikely) to contain indels, and more accurate placement of gaps in automated pairwise structure alignment. Proteins 2003;53:000–000. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Spatial effects in housing price models : do housing prices capitalize urban development policies in the agglomeration of Dijon (1999) ?

In this article we suppose that the integration of accessibility and neighborhood variables in hedonic housing models doesn't allow to take into account the spatial effects between the housing prices. Using a sample of 1520 transactions of apartments in the urban area of Dijon, we focus on two types of location variables : the distance to the CBD and the distance to several Disadvantaged Districts located in peripheral areas. We detect the presence of a spatial error autocorrelation in the hedonic model indicating that the valuation of the price of an apartment is locally influenced by the prices of the neighboring apartments. Then, we estimate a spatial error model which shows that the local effect is positive and significant and thatthe location variables remain significant : housing prices are positively influenced by the accessibility to the CBD but are negatively influenced by the proximity to a D-District.
A Macro Political Examination of the Partisan and Ideological Divide in Aggregate Public Concern over Climate Change in the U.S. between 2001 and 2013

Recent individual level analyses have detailed a progressive polarization between political parties in public concern and understanding of climate change. These micro political analyses are limited by the data and time-scale available in the use of a single surveying organization and instrument. In this paper, we employ macro political analysis of all relevant polling data available on the Roper iPoll Database to develop reliable and valid measures of aggregate public concern over the issue of climate change across a 13-year time-period. Aggregate public opinion is analyzed and separated by political ideology and party identification using Stimson’s (1999) method for pooling multiple polls. Through statistical analysis of six measures of aggregate public opinion trends, we find significant differences between trends in public concern across political and ideological lines, and find that the political right and political left have not only become more polarized on the issue of climate change between 2001 and 2013, but that the populations are not moving as parallel publics as previous literature suggests they might.
Research Impact on State Accommodation Policies for Students with Disabilities

Recently, there has been more attention to the issues concerning accommodations for students with disabilities. Documentation of assessment accommodation policies for students with disabilities have also noted both an increase in the number of states with policies for students with disabilities and an increase in the sophistication of the policies. Research findings for accommodations provided to students with disabilities have been complex, yet still have pushed states to make a better determination of their policies and practices. This paper summarizes research findings on accommodations for students with disabilities and discusses the nature of accommodation policies, including recent specifications about the scoring and aggregation of test scores and the use of “access assistants. ”
Secular Trends in the Epidemiology of Nosocomial Fungal Infections at a Teaching Hospital in Taiwan, 1981 to 1993

Abstract Objective: To describe the incidence and patterns of nosocomial fungal infection in a large teaching hospital in Taiwan. Design: Prospective, hospitalwide nosocomial surveillance data from 1981 through 1993 were analyzed to show the secular trend in nosocomial fungal infection rates and to identify the most common pathogens and sites of infection (other than skin) in this hospital. Setting and Patients: The National Taiwan University Hospital is a medical school-affiliated hospital in the city of Taipei, Taiwan, with a 1,200-bed capacity before 1991 and 1,500 beds since 1992. It provides both primary and tertiary medical care. Results: The overall nosocomial fungal infection rate rose from 0.9 infections per 1,000 discharges in 1981 to 6.6 per 1,000 discharges in 1993, with the highest rate at the medical intensive-care unit (26.5/1,000 discharges in 1993). This increase in infection rate was found at four major anatomic sites of infection, particularly including the bloodstream (0.08-2.19/1,000 discharges) and the urinary tract (0.36-2.95/1,000 discharges). Of 256 pathogens causing nosocomial fungemia from 1981 through 1993, Candida albicans was the most commonly isolated (50.8%), followed by Candida tropicalis (17.6%), Candida parapsilosis (11.7%), and Candida glabrata (8.2%). As compared to isolates from 1981 through 1988, the proportion of C parapsilosis and C glabrata isolated between 1989 and 1993 increased more than sixfold and fourfold, respectively. The increasing importance of fungal infections was confirmed further by the increased use of amphotericin B and azoles in this hospital. Conclusions: Candida species and other yeasts have become a prominent cause of nosocomial infections in this hospital. These fungal pathogens accounted for a higher proportion of nosocomial bloodstream and urinary infections than any single bacterial species. Therefore, it is important to conduct a prospective epidemiological study and to establish in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing to enhance efforts to control nosocomial fungal infections and to minimize the risk of emergence of antifungal resistance.
DNA Methylation in the Exon 1 Region and Complex Regulation of Twist1 Expression in Gastric Cancer Cells

Twist1 overexpression is frequently observed in various cancers including gastric cancer (GC). Although DNA methylation of the Twist1 gene has been reported in cancer cells, the mechanisms underlying transcriptional activation remain uncertain. In this study, we first examined epigenetic alterations of the Twist1 using Twist1 transcription-positive and -negative cell lines that are derived from our established diffuse-type GC mouse model. Treatment with a DNA demethylation agent 5-aza-dC re-activated Twist1 expression in Twist1 expression-negative GC cells. According to methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing analysis, methylation at the CpG-rich region within Twist1 coding exon 1, rather than its promoter region, was tightly linked to transcriptional silencing of the Twist1 expression in mouse GC cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that active histone mark H3K4me3 was enriched in Twist1 expression-positive cells, and inactive histone mark H3K9me3 was enriched in Twist1 expression-negative cells. The expression levels of Suv39h1 and Suv39h2, histone methyltransferases for H3K9me3, were inversely correlated with Twist1 expression, and knockdown of Suv39h1 or Suv39h2 induced Twist1 expression. Moreover, Sp1 transcription factor bound to the exon 1 CpG-rich region in Twist1 expression-positive cell lines, and Twist1 expression was diminished by mithramycin, which that interferes with Sp1 binding to CpG-rich regulatory sequences. Our studies suggested that the Twist1 transcription in GC cells might be regulated through potential cooperation of DNA methylation, histone modification in complex with Sp1 binding to CpG-rich regions within the exon 1 region.
Validation of psychoanalytic theories: Towards a conceptualization of references

The authors discuss criteria for the validation of psychoanalytic theories and develop a heuristic and normative model of the references needed for this. Their core question in this paper is: can psychoanalytic theories be validated exclusively from within psychoanalytic theory (internal validation), or are references to sources of knowledge other than psychoanalysis also necessary (external validation)? They discuss aspects of the classic truth criteria correspondence and coherence, both from the point of view of contemporary psychoanalysis and of contemporary philosophy of science. The authors present arguments for both external and internal validation. Internal validation has to deal with the problems of subjectivity of observations and circularity of reasoning, external validation with the problem of relevance. They recommend a critical attitude towards psychoanalytic theories, which, by carefully scrutinizing weak points and invalidating observations in the theories, reduces the risk of wishful thinking. The authors conclude by sketching a heuristic model of validation. This model combines correspondence and coherence with internal and external validation into a four‐leaf model for references for the process of validating psychoanalytic theories.
Does it Pay to be Socially Responsible? An Empirical Examination of Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Performance

This article attempts to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR)on corporate financial performance (CFP)in terms of profitability and growth after controlling for the effect of other variables on financial performance. Secondary data on CSR based on 93 companies operating in India have been analyzed by applying content analysis of annual reports for the year 2005–06 and individual websites of the companies. For CFP and control variables, secondary data have been collected for seven-year period from 1999–2000 to 2005–06 from Prowess, electronic database developed by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Mumbai. Statistical tests like factor analysis and multiple regression analysis have been applied. The results indicate significant positive impact of CSR on corporate profitability and insignificant positive impact on corporate growth. The present study is helpful for managers in considering the positive impact of CSR on corporate profitability while taking decisions about investing in CSR areas.
Effect of Antibiotic Treatment on Establishment and Elimination of Intestinal Colonization by KPC-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Mice

ABSTRACT An understanding of the impact of antibiotics on the intestinal reservoir of KPC carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) is important to prevent its emergence. We used a mouse model to examine the effect of antibiotic treatment on the establishment and elimination of intestinal colonization with KPC-Kp. Mice (10 per group) received subcutaneous antibiotics daily for 8 days. On day 3 of treatment, 103 CFU of KPC-Kp was given orogastrically, and concentrations of KPC-Kp in stool were monitored. Additional experiments assessed the effects of antibiotic treatment on concentrations of total anaerobes and Bacteroides spp. in stool and the efficacy of orogastric gentamicin and polymyxin E in suppressing KPC-Kp colonization. Of four antibiotics with minimal activity against the KPC-Kp test strain (MIC ≥ 16 μg/ml), those that suppressed total anaerobes and bacteroides (i.e., clindamycin and piperacillin-tazobactam) promoted colonization by KPC-Kp (P < 0.001), whereas agents that did not suppress total anaerobes or bacteroides (i.e., ciprofloxacin and cefepime) did not (P = 0.35). Of two agents with moderate activity against the KPC-Kp test strain, ertapenem (MIC, 4 μg/ml) did not promote colonization by KPC-Kp, whereas tigecycline (MIC, 3 μg/ml) did (P < 0.001), despite not reducing levels of total anaerobes or bacteroides. Orogastric treatment with gentamicin and polymyxin E suppressed KPC-Kp to undetectable levels in the majority of mice. These data suggest that antibiotics that disturb the intestinal anaerobic microflora and lack significant activity against KPC-Kp promote colonization by this organism. The administration of nonabsorbed oral antibiotics may be an effective strategy to suppress colonization with KPC-Kp.
Vaccine‐Associated Immune‐Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the Dog

Vaccination has been incriminated as a trigger of immune‐mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) in dogs and in people, but evidence to support this association is lacking. In a controlled retrospective study, idiopathic IMHA was identified in 58 dogs over a 27–month period. When compared with a randomly selected control group of 70 dogs (presented for reasons other than IMHA) over the same period, the distribution of cases versus time since vaccination was different (P < .05). Fifteen of the dogs (26%) had been vaccinated within 1 month (mean, 13 days; median, 14 days; range, 1 to 27 days) of developing IMHA (P < .0001), whereas in the control group no marked increase in frequency of presentation was seen in the first month after vaccination. The dogs with IMHA were divided into 2 groups based on time since vaccination: the vaccine IMHA group included dogs vaccinated within 1 month of developing IMHA; the nonvaccine IMHA group included dogs that developed IMHA more than 1 month after vaccination. The recently vaccinated dogs with IMHA (vaccine IMHA group) had significantly lower platelet counts (P < .05) and a trend towards increased prevalence of intravascular hemolysis and autoagglutination when compared with the nonvaccine IMHA group. Similar mortality rates were seen in the vaccine IMHA group (60%) and the nonvaccine IMHA group (44%), with the majority of fatalities (>75%) occurring in the first 3 weeks after presentation. Persistent autoagglutination was a negative prognostic indicator for survival in both groups (P < .05). Presence of icterus and hyperbilirubinemia were negative prognostic indicators for survival in the nonvaccine IMHA group (P < .0001 and P < .01, respectively) but not in the vaccine IMHA group. In the recently vaccinated dogs, combination vaccines from various manufacturers against canine distemper, adenovirus type 2, leptospirosis, parainfluenza, and parvovirus (DHLPP) were involved in each case. Vaccines against rabies virus, Bordetella spp, coronavirus, and Lyme Borrelia were administered concomitantly to some dogs. This study provides the first clinical evidence for a temporal relationship of vaccine‐associated IMHA in the dog.