Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Branching of Spiral Ganglion Neurites Is Induced by Focal Application of Fibroblast Growth Factor‐1

Objectives/Hypothesis During the terminal innervation of the developing organ of Corti, fibroblast growth factor‐1 (FGF‐1) messenger RNA has been shown to be transiently expressed in the sensory epithelium of the rat, suggesting that this growth factor may contribute to developmental processes such as innervation and synaptogenesis of the inner and outer hair cells. In a previous study it has been demonstrated that exogenous FGF‐1 supports rat spiral ganglion neurite extension in vitro, whereas a secreted form of FGF‐1 produced by transfected fibrocytes induces neurite branching and targeting.
Goodwill Impairment Test Disclosures under IAS 36: Compliance and Disclosure Quality, Disclosure Determinants, and the Role of Enforcement

Prior research documented that higher disclosure quality reduces information asymmetry and the cost of capital. Accordingly, firms have an incentive to comply with disclosure requirements and to provide voluntary disclosure. However, prior research on mandatory disclosures on goodwill impairment testing reveals low compliance among European firms. In this paper, we contribute to the literature and assist regulators, enforcers, and standard setters by shedding light on the determinants of the observed low levels of compliance and voluntary disclosure. Consistent with economic theory, we reveal that firms determine the level of disclosure strategically. We find firms with higher preparation and proprietary cost to show lower compliance and less voluntary disclosure while firms with higher growth opportunities provide better compliance and more voluntary disclosure. However, the strategic behavior is constrained by enforcement. Consequently, our results are more (less) pronounced within a weak (strong) enforcement environment.
Human Models of Low-Grade Inflammation: Bolus versus Continuous Infusion of Endotoxin

ABSTRACT Systemic low-grade inflammation is recognized in an increasing number of chronic diseases. With the aim of establishing an experimental human in vivo model of systemic low-grade inflammation, we measured circulating inflammatory mediators after intravenous administration of Escherichia coli endotoxin (0.3 ng/kg of body weight) either as a bolus injection or as a 4-h continuous intravenous infusion, as well as after saline administration, in 10 healthy male subjects on three separate study days. Only bolus endotoxin caused an increase in heart rate, whereas a slight increase in rectal temperature was observed in both endotoxin groups. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6, and neutrophil responses were earlier and more pronounced in the bolus trial compared with the infusion trial results, whereas lymphocytes increased after endotoxin bolus injection as well as infusion without any difference between groups. Finally, endotoxin activated the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis slightly earlier in the bolus compared to the infusion trial. The continuous endotoxin infusion model may be more representative of human low-grade inflammation than the bolus injection model due to a less dynamic and more sustained increase in circulating levels of inflammatory mediators over time. In conclusion, low-dose endotoxin infusion elicits an inflammatory response, as assessed by a rise in TNF-α, and the responses are significantly different according to whether low-dose endotoxin is applied as a bolus injection or as a continuous infusion.
Preterm Birth and Long-Term Pulmonary Function

1.1 Lung development To understand the pathophysiology and the outcome of chronic lung disease of infancy, it is essential to understand normal lung development and the host of cofactors that will interfere with both antenatal and postnatal lung development. Lung growth starts in utero and continues to early adolescence going through different phases (Burri, 2006). The embryonic phase, between the 4th and 7th week, begins with the formation of a groove in the ventral lower pharynx and a bud at the lower part of the groove. After further elongation and subdivision of the bud, the two main bronchi are formed. Between the 7th and 16th week of gestation, known as the pseudoglandular phase, the air conducting trees continue to subdivide to form the terminal bronchioles. During the canalicular phase from the 17th to the 26th week of gestation, airway branching is complete with the formation of the primitive saccules. It is also during this phase that the cuboidal epithelium lining the saccules differentiates into type I and type II pneumocytes with concomitant increases in peripheral mesenchyme vascularization. From 27 weeks onwards, during the saccular phase, the lung will begin to prepare for birth with thinning of the connective tissue, secondary septation subdividing the sacculi into smaller subunits or alveoli and the presence of a single capillary layer characteristic of mature alveoli (Hislop et al., 1986; Langston et al., 1984; Post & Copland, 2002). Alveoli continue to increase in number until and beyond birth. At 29 weeks gestation, there are approximately 30 million alveoli and this will increase to some 150 million alveoli by term, one third to half the adult number(Hislop et al., 1986; Langston et al., 1984).
Effect of Advertising Expenses and Sales Incentives on Financial Performance: Dissecting the Cases of Two Market Leaders

There has been much interest among academicians and practitioners to understand the role of marketing expenses in contributing to the financial performance of organizations. Especially, in times of recession, budget reduction, or market contraction, marketing budgets get the major cut. However, organizations continue to spend millions in the development and execution of marketing programs. This paper examines the effect of advertising and sales incentives on the revenue and profit of Grameenphone and bKash, who are the market leaders in their respective industries of Bangladesh. With the help of secondary data, it has been found that there is a negative relationship between advertising and financial performance (i.e. revenue and profit), but sales incentives on the other hand have a positive relationship with revenue and profit.
Non-dioxin-like PCBs in crops and related products: Levels and intakes in Serbia

Levels of six non-dioxin-like indicator PCBs in 36 composite samples of agricultural crops, related by-products and foodstuffs were pooled from a total of 938 individual samples collected in Serbia in 2002 and 2004. After extraction and cleanup, PCBs were determined by capillary GC using ECD. The highest total PCB levels were found in dried sugar beet pulp (2.89 ng g−1 whole weight (ww)) and crude sunflower oil (1.83 ng g−1 lipid), while the lowest levels were found in molasses (0.05 ng g−1 ww). The calculated daily intake of PCBs for the crop products included in this study were compared with the maximum permissible risk (MPR) level established by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Cereal products (flour, bread, pastry, pasta, cookies) were made a relatively large contribution (23% of MPR), while sugar (2% of MPR) and oil (4% of MPR) made a low and fairly uniform contribution to intake. The levels and intake of PCBs in Serbia were compared with data from other recent international surveys.
The knowledge-capital model: The case of intra-Asian foreign direct investment

Employing a panel dataset of bilateral inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) for 31 Asian countries and territories over the period 2001-2012, we estimate the knowledgecapital (KK) model to find the dominant type of FDI within Asia. We consider alternative estimation methods to deal with zero values, which form the majority of the bilateral observations. Based on a series of model selection and diagnostic tests, we conclude that Lognormal Hurdle and Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood are the most appropriate. Controlling for host and source country characteristics, our findings suggest that vertical FDI is the dominant type between Asian countries. However, we find little empirical evidence in support of the KK model’s predictions for its key variables, such as total GDP and skill difference, when country fixed effects are included. Some factors (distance, trade costs to both source and host country, the GDP difference between source and host country, and a common spoken language) are found to have statistically significant impacts on the volume of FDI between Asian countries, regardless of whether or not fixed effects are included.
Experimental animal model for encephalitis due to herpes simplex virus.

Investigations of the pathophysiology and therapy of encephalitis due to herpes simplex virus have been hampered by the lack of appropriate experimental animal models, the relatively small number of human cases, and the variable spectrum of clinical disease. An animal model was developed in the adult hooded rat for encephalitis caused by type I herpes simplex virus; the disease is reproducible, restricted to the brain, and has histopathologic features similar to those produced by the disease in humans. Two hundred twenty-two animals, including appropriate controls, were studied. The model provides a clear mortality endpoint with reproducible results and an inoculum-dependent response. Infection is characterized by a twoto four-day period of incubation followed by signs of infection of the central nervous system; the average survival time of infected rats is seven days.
Mechanical properties of DNA films

The Young's dynamical modulus (E) and the DNA film logarithmic decrement (v) at frequencies from 50 Hz to 20 kHz are measured. These values are investigated as functions of the degree of hydration and temperature. Isotherms of DNA film hydration at 25°C are measured. The process of film hydration changing with temperature is studied. It is shown that the Young's modulus for wet DNA films (E = 0.02–0.025 GN m−2) strongly increases with decreasing hydration and makes E = 0.5–0.7 GN m−2. Dependence of E on hydration is of a complex character. Young's modulus of denatured DNA films is larger than that of native ones. All peculiarities of changing of E and v of native DNA films (observed at variation of hydration) vanish in the case of denatured ones. The native and denatured DNA films isotherms are different and depend on the technique of denaturation. The Young's modulus of DNA films containing > 1 g H2O/g dry DNA is found to decrease with increasing temperature, undergoing a number of step‐like changes accompanied by changes in the film hydration. At low water content (< 0.3 g H2O/g dry DNA), changing of E with increasing temperature takes place smoothly. The denaturation temperature is a function of the water content.
Environmental Risk and Audit Fees: Evidence from Monitoring of PM2.5

Previous studies have found many factors that affect audit fees, such as company size, business complexity, internal control quality, firm characteristics and so on. Under the background of increasingly severe environmental problems, environmental risks will inevitably affect the business conditions of the company and thus affect the auditor’s judgment of risks. However, we know little about whether and how environmental risks affect audit fees. In this paper, we use the monitoring after the PM2.5 explosion as an exogenous event, and the propensity matching score method and the difference-in-difference model are used to study the relationship between environmental risk and audit fees. The empirical results show that, first, after the monitoring of PM2.5 began in 2012, those listed companies located in cities that take the lead in monitoring PM2.5 would be charged higher audit fees. Second, this relationship exists only in heavily polluting enterprises with low internal control quality.
Performance Characteristics Evaluation for Cooperative Communication

Wireless channels suffer severely from the effect of multi-path and fading. To mitigate these effects of fading and, cooperative diversity protocols are used. In cooperative diversity, two or more users share their antennas to create a virtual MIMO system. Hence in cooperative communication several single antenna relays assist the transmission between a source and a destination. In this work, cooperative communication protocols such as amplify and forward and decode and forward are simulated for relaying. The received signals at the destination are combined using various diversity combination protocols such as Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) and Fixed Ratio Combining (FRC). For the performance study of cooperative communication protocol in wireless network, the symbol error rate (SER), outage probability and channel capacity are simulated for single relay and multiple relay in a flat fading Rayleigh channel. In addition to this, for a 3 node cooperative communication containing a source , a relay and a destination the impact of relay location is studied for 3 different location of relay i.e. relay placed closer to the source, closer to the destination and at the midway between the source and the destination. When the relay is located in the middle of source and destination, it gives the best system performance. When the relay is located closer to the source, the quality of source-relay link is good, and the relay can decode the received information. On the other hand, when the relay node is located close to the destination, the system performance degrades. Through simulation results, it is shown the positive role that the relay plays, as it improves significantly the performance of the system and leads to lower SER and lower outage probability.
Regulation of nitrogen assimilation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: roles of the URE2 and GLN3 genes

Mutations in the GLN3 gene prevented a normal increase in the NAD-glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamine synthetase levels in glutamate-grown Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, whereas mutations in the URE2 gene resulted in high levels of these enzymes in glumate- and glutamine-grown cells. A ure2 gln3 double mutant had low levels of glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamine synthetase in cells grown on glutamate and glutamine; thus, gln3 mutations were epistatic to the ure2 mutations. The results suggest that the GLN3 product is capable of promoting increases in enzyme levels in the absence of a functional URE2 product and that the URE2 product antagonizes the GLN3 product. The URE2 and GLN3 genes were also found to regulate the level of arginase activity. This regulation is completely independent of the regulation of arginase by substrate induction. The activities of glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, and arginase were higher in cells grown on glutamate as the nitrogen source than they were in cells grown under a nitrogen-limiting condition. It had previously been shown that the levels of these enzymes can be increased by glutamine deprivation. We propose that the URE2-GLN3 system regulates enzyme synthesis, in response to glutamine and glutamate, to adjust the intracellular concentration of ammonia so as to maintain glutamine at the level required for optimal growth.
Funding and Financing Infrastructure: The Joint-Use of Public and Private Finance

The paper addresses the issue of the feasible level of private finance in a contracting model of infrastructure finding and financing. It characterizes the structure of financial contracts, deriving the conditions under which both public and private finance coexist. A key feature is that access to outside finance and the regulatory decision on pricing and the amount of public subsidy, hence the extent of price recovery, are jointly determined. Mobilizing private finance requires a combination of price for the service and subsidy to the service provider that is large enough, exacerbating the fundamental tensions between financial viability through cost recovery and social inclusion. The paper then shows that the feasibility trade-off responds in non-trivial ways to changes in the economic and institutional environment likely to occur along the development path. While improvements along some of these dimensions, notably in the efficiency of bankruptcy procedures, appear to ease access to private finance, others, such as the cost of public funds, actually makes public finance more efficient. Using project data from the PPI database including information on the financial structure, the authors uncover an inverse U-shaped pattern in the share of private finance, peaking for countries in the upper-middle income range, which echoes their theoretical findings.
Surgical Treatment of Vertebral Metastasis

Fifty-seven patients with spinal metastases underwent 60 operations. 36 patients were operated on by anterior approach with decompressive coporectomy and stabilization by metal and methylmetacrylate and 24 patients by laminectomy and/or stabilization by osteosynthesis. Postoperative improvement of the pain syndrome was observed after 56 operations. Neurologic signs were present in 23 patients with paraplegia (5 patients) or paraparesis (18 patients); 15 of the latter patients improved and recovered walking capacity. Two types of metastasis were distinguished: corporal metastasis, in which vertebral wedging and posterior protrusion led to neural deficit, with a good prognosis if treated by anterior surgery, and pericordal metastasis in which the cord compression is due to metastatic proliferation into the spinal canal. Results after decompressive surgery, either by posterior or anterior approaches are more doubtful. Surgery is beneficial and should be preferred to radiation when there is medullary compression by corporal metastasis and also in the presence of intense pain or potential instability of the spine.
Graphs and prestige in agricultural journals

In this article, we report on the status of graphs in 21 scientific agricultural journals indexed in Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge. We analyze the authors' use of graphs in this context in relation to the quality of these journals as measured by their 2-year impact factors. We note a substantial variability in the use of graphs in this context: For one journal, 100% of the papers include graphs, whereas for others only about 50% of them include graphs. We also show that higher impact agricultural journals publish more papers with graphs and that there are more graphs in these papers than in those in journals with lower impact factors (r = +0.40).
Corporate Monitoring and Misreporting: The Role of Rules-based and Principles-based Accounting Standards

Prior research provides some evidence that strict corporate monitoring constrains financial misreporting. We examine whether the efficacy of various corporate monitoring mechanisms hinges on the nature of accounting standards—rules-based standards (RBS) versus principles-based standards (PBS)—in place. We generally document that the negative association between the likelihood of misstatements and tough monitoring by audit committees, boards, external auditors, and the SEC is more pronounced under RBS than under PBS. This evidence collectively suggests that most corporate gatekeepers fulfill their monitoring obligations primarily through ensuring better compliance with detailed standards when the applicable standards are more specific and leave less room for discretion. Although some prior studies document higher financial reporting quality under PBS, our results imply that it is important for regulators to also consider the potentially higher monitoring efficacy under RBS when setting accounting standards. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: M40; M42.
LINE EMISSION FROM RADIATION-PRESSURIZED H ii REGIONS. I. INTERNAL STRUCTURE AND LINE RATIOS

The emission line ratios [O iii] λ5007/Hβ and [N ii] λ6584/Hα have been adopted as an empirical way to distinguish between the fundamentally different mechanisms of ionization in emission-line galaxies. However, detailed interpretation of these diagnostics requires calculations of the internal structure of the emitting H ii regions, and these calculations depend on the assumptions one makes about the relative importance of radiation pressure and stellar winds. In this paper, we construct a grid of quasi-static H ii region models to explore how choices about these parameters alter H ii regions' emission line ratios. We find that when radiation pressure is included in our models, H ii regions reach a saturation point beyond which further increase in the luminosity of the driving stars does not produce any further increase in effective ionization parameter, and thus does not yield any further alteration in an H ii region's line ratio. We also show that if stellar winds are assumed to be strong, the maximum possible ionization parameter is quite low. As a result of this effect, it is inconsistent to simultaneously assume that H ii regions are wind-blown bubbles and that they have high ionization parameters; some popular H ii region models suffer from this inconsistency. Our work in this paper provides a foundation for a companion paper in which we embed the model grids we compute here within a population synthesis code that enables us to compute the integrated line emission from galactic populations of H ii regions.
Transforming growth factor-beta1 codon 10 polymorphism is associated with acute GVHD after allogenic BMT in Iranian population.

BACKGROUND Certain cytokine genotypes are associated with acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The present study aimed to determine existing association between TGF-beta1 codon 10 polymorphism and aGVHD after HLA-identical sibling BMT in the Iranian population. MATERIAL/METHODS In a retrospective case-control study, 168 subjects including 84 Iranian HLA-identical sibling BMT donor/recipient pairs were recruited. All of the patients were affected by hematological malignancies (AML=39, ALL=23 and CML=22). PCR-SSP method was performed to determine TGF-beta1 codon 10 T/C polymorphism genotypes. RESULTS The frequency of TGF-beta1 codon 10 TT, TC and CC genotypes among all subjects were 26.8%, 33.3% and 39.9% respectively. Recipients with the T allele developed aGVHD significantly less than those without the T allele (odds ratio =0.334, P=0.026). CONCLUSIONS Genetic background of TGF-beta1 may be involved as a protective factor in the development of aGVHD in HLA-matched sibling BMT in Iranian population. Moreover, this finding may indicate that the genetic markers in Iranians are, at least to some extent, linked to distinct genetic event from Japanese.