Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Balassa-Samuelson Hypothesis and Elderly Migration

We present an Overlapping Generations Model with two final goods: tradable goods are produced with a standard Cobb-Douglas production function and non-tradable goods are produced with linear production function where the only factor is labor. We maintain the fundamental assumption of factor mobility between sectors so model is consistent with the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. Given the general equilibrium structure of our model we can examine the effect of the saving rate on migration and non-tradable relative prices. Under this setting, we find that the elderly have incentives to migrate from economies where productivity is high to economies with low productivity because of the lower cost of living. In more general terms the elderly migration is likely to go from rich to poor countries. We also find that, for poor countries, the elderly migration has a positive effect in wages and capital accumulation.
An event study analysis to evaluate the efficiency of Stock market with respect to dividend announcements in public (SBI Bank & PNB Bank) and private (HDFC Bank & ICICI Bank) banking companies

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) provides that security prices reflect all available information.T he market price of a security is its price on the Stock Exchange's trading market. The speed with which the market reacts to new knowledge about the company is a measure of the efficiency of its pricing process. This process is likely to be enhanced if market participants have unimpeded and costless access to all relevant information about the company's prospects and if high transaction costs do not constitute barriers to trading on the stock exchange.
Precipitation Inequality over Ukraine

Aims: The aim of the paper is to study the annual and seasonal precipitation inequality over Ukraine in the last 55 years and to discuss their trends. Place and Duration of Study: Marine Hydrophysical Institute of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (MHI NASU), Sevastopol, Ukraine. Air-Sea Interaction Department, January 2012 June 2013. Methodology: Concentration index (CI) method was used to analyze a precipitation inequality over Ukraine and standard statistical procedures. Results: The annual values of concentration index ranges from 0.54 to 0.71 over Ukraine. It increases in southward direction from north-west and north-east of the country. Seasonal scale is characterized by CI maximum values in spring (0.71) in the south-west regions. Linear CI trends above Ukraine are predominantly negative; the positive ones are typical for south-east region. Conclusion: It was shown that the typical space structure of precipitation inequality over Ukraine is characterized by southward CI increasing during annual and all seasons for 1951 2005 from the north-west and north-east region. At the same time, linear trends are characterized mostly by a negative sign in all seasons. That indicates a reduction of daily precipitation inequality in the last 55 years associated with low-frequency processes in the global climate system.
Epidemiology of Multiple Sclerosis: From Risk Factors to Prevention

Although genetic susceptibility explains the clustering of multiple sclerosis (MS) within families and the sharp decline in risk with increasing genetic distance, it cannot fully explain the geographical variations in MS frequency and the changes in risk that occur with migration, which support the action of strong environmental factors. Among these, vitamin D status, infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, and cigarette smoking are emerging as the most consistent predictors of MS risk. In this article, we review the epidemiological data, critically discuss the evidence for causality of these associations, and briefly discuss the possibility of interventions to reduce MS risk.
LMI stability condition for linear systems with generalized frequency variables

A class of large-scale systems with decentralized information structures such as multi-agent systems can be represented by a linear system with a generalized frequency variable. In this paper, we investigate stability of such systems, which is the most fundamental property from the view point of control. Specifically, we first present a systematic way of deriving a Hurwitz type stability criterion and then show that it can be reduced to a linear matrix inequality (LMI) feasibility problem involving generalized Lyapunov inequalities. Furthermore, the properties of the LMI stability condition are examined, and they are confirmed by numerical examples.
Inhibitory effects of soy and rye diets on the development of Dunning R3327 prostate adenocarcinoma in rats

Dunning R3327 PAP prostate tumors were transplanted in 125 rats, the rats were divided into five groups, and tumor development was examined for 24 weeks during treatment with diets containing 33% of soy flour (SD), rye bran (RB), heat‐treated rye bran (HRB), or rye endosperm (RE).
Mechanoregulation of Proliferation

ABSTRACT The proliferation of all nontransformed adherent cells is dependent upon the development of mechanical tension within the cell; however, little is known about the mechanisms by which signals regulated by mechanical tension are integrated with those regulated by growth factors. We show here that Skp2, a component of a ubiquitin ligase complex that mediates the degradation of several proteins that inhibit proliferation, is upregulated when increased mechanical tension develops in intact smooth muscle and that its upregulation is critical for the smooth muscle proliferative response to increased mechanical tension. Notably, whereas growth factors regulate Skp2 at the level of protein stability, we found that mechanical tension regulates Skp2 at the transcriptional level. Importantly, we demonstrate that the calcium-regulated transcription factor NFATc1 is a critical mediator of the effect of increased mechanical tension on Skp2 transcription. These findings identify Skp2 as a node at which signals from mechanical tension and growth factors are integrated to regulate proliferation, and they define calcium-NFAT-Skp2 signaling as a critical pathway in the mechanoregulation of proliferation.
Real-polarized genetic algorithm for the three-dimensional bin packing problem

This article presents a non-deterministic approach to the Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem, using a genetic algorithm. To perform the packing, an algorithm was developed considering rotations, size constraints of objects and better utilization of previous free spaces (flexible width). Genetic operators have been implemented based on existing operators, but the highlight is the Real-Polarized crossover operator that produces new solutions with a certain disturbance near the best parent. The proposal presented here has been tested on instances already known in the literature and real instances. A visual comparison using boxplot was done and, in some situations, it was possible to say that the obtained results are statistically superior than the ones presented in the literature. In a given instance class, the presented Genetic Algorithm found solutions reaching up to 70% less bins.
Na+-K+-ATPase is an effector protein for protein kinase C in renal proximal tubule cells.

Activators of protein kinase C (PKC) inhibit sodium transport in proximal tubules (PT) (M. Baum and S. R. Hays. Am. J. Physiol. 254 (Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol. 23): F9-F14, 1988. In this study we have evaluated the effect of PKC activators on the enzyme responsible for active sodium transport, Na+-K+-ATPase. Both endogenous (diacylglycerol, DAG) and exogenous (phorbol esters, PE) activators were used. Enzyme activity was determined in permeabilized single PT segments. In vehicle-incubated PT, Na+-K+-ATPase activity (pmol Pi.mm tubule-1.-1 h) was 1,403 +/- 128. The synthetic DAG, L-alpha-l-oleoyl-2-acetoyl-sn-3-glycerol (10(-4) M) significantly inhibited Na+-K+-ATPase activity to 673 +/- 51, P less than 0.05. The PE-phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), induced a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of Na+-K+-ATPase activity. Inhibition was significant at 15 and maximal at 20 min. Na+-K+-ATPase activity in PT incubated with PDBu was 796 +/- 171 (10(-8) M), 570 +/- 198 (10(-7) M), and 484 +/- 130 (10(-6) M). A PE that does not activate PKC, 4-alpha-phorbol didecanoate, did not inhibit Na+-K+-ATPase activity. PDBu 10(-7) M had no effect on purified Na+-K+-ATPase. Sphingosine (SP), a PKC inhibitor, abolished the inhibitory effect of PDBu (10(-7) M) on Na+-K+-ATPase activity. Dopamine (DA) is a physiological inhibitor of Na+-K+-ATPase activity in PT [A. Bertorello, T. Hökfelt, M. Goldstein, and A. Aperia Am. J. Physiol. 254(Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol. 23): F795-F801, 1988]. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Impact of a rural solar electrification project on the level and structure of women’s empowerment

Although development organizations agree that reliable access to energy and energy services—one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—is likely to have profound and perhaps disproportionate impacts on women, few studies have directly empirically estimated the impact of energy access on women’s empowerment. This is a result of both a relative dearth of energy access evaluations in general and a lack of clarity on how to quantify gender impacts of development projects. Here we present an evaluation of the impacts of the Solar Market Garden—a distributed photovoltaic irrigation project—on the level and structure of women’s empowerment in Benin, West Africa. We use a quasi-experimental design (matched-pair villages) to estimate changes in empowerment for project beneficiaries after one year of Solar Market Garden production relative to non-beneficiaries in both treatment and comparison villages (n = 771). To create an empowerment metric, we constructed a set of general questions based on existing theories of empowerment, and then used latent variable analysis to understand the underlying structure of empowerment locally. We repeated this analysis at follow-up to understand whether the structure of empowerment had changed over time, and then measured changes in both the levels and likelihood of empowerment over time. We show that the Solar Market Garden significantly positively impacted women’s empowerment, particularly through the domain of economic independence. In addition to providing rigorous evidence for the impact of a rural renewable energy project on women’s empowerment, our work lays out a methodology that can be used in the future to benchmark the gender impacts of energy projects.
Altered dietary salt for preventing pre-eclampsia, and its complications.

BACKGROUND In the past, women have been advised that lowering their salt intake might reduce their risk of developing pre-eclampsia. Although this practice has largely ceased, it remains important to assess the evidence about possible effects of altered dietary salt intake during pregnancy. OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to assess the effects of altered dietary salt during pregnancy on the risk of developing pre-eclampsia and its complications. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group Trials Register (8 April 2005), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2005), and EMBASE (2002 to May 2005). SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised trials evaluating either reduced or increased dietary salt intake during pregnancy. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two review authors selected trials for inclusion and extracted data independently. Data were entered on Review Manager software for analysis, and double-checked for accuracy. MAIN RESULTS Two trials were included, with 603 women. Both compared advice to reduce dietary salt intake with advice to continue a normal diet. The confidence intervals were wide and crossed the no-effect line for all the reported outcomes, including pre-eclampsia (relative risk 1.11, 95% confidence interval 0.46 to 2.66). In other words, there was insufficient evidence for reliable conclusions about the effects of advice to reduce dietary salt. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS In the absence of evidence that advice to alter salt intake during pregnancy has any beneficial effect for prevention of pre-eclampsia or any other outcome, salt consumption during pregnancy should remain a matter of personal preference.
The impact of long-term hemodialysis on pituitary-adrenocortical function.

The activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in hemodialyzed (HD) patients has been investigated, with conflicting results. Different results are reported concerning both basal ACTH and cortisol concentration and the responses to different stimulating agents, in chronic hemodialyzed patients. The present study was performed in order to asses whether the length of the hemodialytic treatment may affect the pituitary and adrenocortical response to stimulation with ovine CRH (oCRH) and with exogenous ACTH in a group of patients on chronic HD for more than 10 years. Ten uremic patients (aged 38-71, 6 males and 4 females) on chronic hemodialysis for at least 10 years and 7 healthy subjects matched for age and sex were studied. The patients were tested on the day preceding dialysis session. Each subject received on different non-consecutive days oCRH (100 micrograms i.v. in bolus) and ACTH (Synacthen 0.25 mg i.v. in bolus), and blood samples were obtained at appropriate intervals. Basal ACTH and cortisol levels of HD patients were in the upper limit of normal range (ACTH 39.21 +/- 11.11 pg/mL in HD patients vs. 26.88 +/- 14.12 pg/mL in controls; cortisol 19.96 +/- 5.07 in HD patients vs. 12.66 +/- 4.44 in controls); however, the means were not significantly different compared with controls. Following oCRH administration a net increase of ACTH and cortisol was observed in every patient tested (ACTH peak 83.81 +/- 28.49 in HD vs. 78.73 +/- 22.87 pg/mL in controls; cortisol peak 30.73 +/- 19.31 in HD vs. 20.05 +/- 3.19 micrograms/dL in controls). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Variation in optical coherence tomography signal quality as an indicator of retinal nerve fibre layer segmentation error

Purpose Commercial optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems use global signal quality indices to quantify scan quality. Signal quality can vary throughout a scan, contributing to local retinal nerve fibre layer segmentation errors (SegE). The purpose of this study was to develop an automated method, using local scan quality, to predict SegE. Methods Good-quality (global signal strength (SS)≥6; manufacturer specification) peripapillary circular OCT scans (fast retinal nerve fibre layer scan protocol; Stratus OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California, USA) were obtained from 6 healthy, 19 glaucoma-suspect and 43 glaucoma subjects. Scans were grouped based on SegE. Quality index (QI) values were computed for each A-scan using software of our own design. Logistic mixed-effects regression modelling was applied to evaluate SS, global mean and SD of QI, and the probability of SegE. Results The difference between local mean QI in SegE regions and No-SegE regions was −5.06 (95% CI −6.38 to 3.734) (p<0.001). Using global mean QI, QI SD and their interaction term resulted in the model of best fit (Akaike information criterion=191.8) for predicting SegE. Global mean QI≥20 or SS≥8 shows little chance for SegE. Once mean QI<20 or SS<8, the probability of SegE increases as QI SD increases. Conclusions When combined with a signal quality parameter, the variation of signal quality between A-scans provides significant information about the quality of an OCT scan and can be used as a predictor of segmentation error.
Iron and pH‐responsive FtrABCD ferrous iron utilization system of Bordetella species

A putative operon encoding an uncharacterized ferrous iron transport (FtrABCD) system was previously identified in cDNA microarray studies. In growth studies using buffered medium at pH values ranging from pH 6.0 to 7.6, Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica FtrABCD system mutants showed dramatic reductions in growth yields under iron‐restricted conditions at pH 6.0, but had no growth defects at pH 7.6. Supplementation of culture medium with 2 mM ascorbate reductant was inhibitory to alcaligin siderophore‐dependent growth at pH 7.6, but had a neglible effect on FtrABCD system‐dependent iron assimilation at pH 6.0 consistent with its predicted specificity for ferrous iron. Unlike Bordetella siderophore‐dependent and haem iron transport systems, and in agreement with its hypothesized role in transport of inorganic iron from periplasm to cytoplasm, FtrABCD system function did not require the TonB energy transduction complex. Gene fusion analysis revealed that ftrABCD promoter activity was maximal under iron‐restricted growth conditions at acidic pH. The pH of human airway surface fluids ranges from pH 5.5 to 7.9, and the FtrABCD system may supply ferrous iron necessary for Bordetella growth in acidic host microenvironments in which siderophores are ineffective for iron retrieval.
Methylphenidate: a review of its neuropharmacological, neuropsychological and adverse clinical effects

The clinical use of stimulants began in the 19th century with the discovery of the psychoactive effects of cocaine, a drug which had been used in a crude form by the Andean Indians for centuries. The pharmacological properties of amphetamine were subsequently found to be similar to that of cocaine. Amphetamine, like cocaine was introduced into medicine because of its ability to alleviate fatigue temporarily and to balance mental and physical performance. Methylphenidate was first synthesized in 1944 and marketed by Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceutical Company as Ritalin. It was initially indicated for a number of conditions such as chronic fatigue, lethargy, depressive states, disturbed senile behaviour, psychosis associated with depression and narcolepsy (Physicians Desk Reference, 1956). Its use has now been largely restricted to ADHD although its unlabelled use includes depression in the elderly, cancer patients and post stroke patients. Today the major therapeutic use of stimulants is for the treatment of narcolepsy and attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder in children. The latter use continues to generate both medical and ethical controversy. Stimulants are also used in treating adult attention deficit disorder and occasionally in the treatment of obesity despite significant clinical doubts regarding their long-term benefits in maintaining weight loss and concerns about abuse and dependence. Methylphenidate, like many of the amphetamines, is a psychomotor stimulant. It is a piperazine—substituted phenylisopropylamine that is traditionally related to amphetamine (see Figure 1). Despite the pharmacological similarities between the amphetamines and methylphenidate there are several important differences between these drugs. In brief the drugs differ in their neurochemical mechanisms of action (Ritz and Kuhar, 1989) and in their effects on urinary catecholamine excretion (Zametkin et al., 1985). Clinically, there is evidence that some patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder will respond to methylphenidate but not to amphetamine and vice versa (Matochik et al., 1993). Differences have also been reported in the pattern of the subjective response to these drugs (Smith and Davis, 1977). This raises the possibility that the amphetamines and methylphenidate may differ in their reinforcing effects and in their abuse potential (Chait, 1994). In addition to the amphetamine-like drugs in the treatment of ADHD, there is also limited clinical evidence that chronically administered nicotine can improve the mood state and attention in adults with ADHD (Levin et al., 2001). The purpose of this review is to consider the mechanism of action, pharmacological properties and neuropsychological effects of methylphenidate. This has been stimulated by the increasing use of methylphenidate in children with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and concern over its abuse potential and long term toxicity.
ASFA Category IV becomes Category I: Idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in a patient with presumed gemcitabine‐induced thrombotic microangiopathy

In the implementation of American Society for Apheresis national guidelines, the decision for therapeutic plasma exchange may be confounded by a clinical presentation that fits both a Category I and IV designation. We report the case of a 45‐year‐old female who presented with concern for a Category IV disorder, gemcitabine‐induced thrombotic microangiopathy, and was ultimately diagnosed with a Category I disorder, idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. This case highlights the importance of ruling out idiopathic TTP by a thorough evaluation for ADAMTS13 activity and inhibitor, even when an alternate thrombotic microangiopathy diagnosis may be likely.
Management Control Practices and Clinician Managers: The Case of the Norwegian Health Sector

This paper provides an analysis of the relationship between different management control practices and the leadership of medical departments in Norway. There has been ongoing debate about how the medical profession absorbs accounting knowledge: some argue that there has been hybridization, while others consider it as polarization. The explanation provided in this paper details the management control practices that health care enterprises use. We draw on two of the control perspectives in Simons's model of ladders of control: namely, diagnostic and interactive controls. The study thus provides insights into the problem of influencing clinician managers to use management accounting practices.
Mcm2 Is a Direct Substrate of ATM and ATR during DNA Damage and DNA Replication Checkpoint Responses*

In vertebrates, ATM and ATR are critical regulators of checkpoint responses to damaged and incompletely replicated DNA. These checkpoint responses involve the activation of signaling pathways that inhibit the replication of chromosomes with DNA lesions. In this study, we describe the isolation of a cDNA encoding a full-length version of Xenopus ATM. Using antibodies against the regulatory domain of ATM, we have identified the essential replication protein Mcm2 as an ATM-binding protein in Xenopus egg extracts. Xenopus Mcm2 underwent phosphorylation at Ser92 in response to the presence of double-stranded DNA breaks or DNA replication blocks in egg extracts. This phosphorylation involved both ATM and ATR, but the relative contribution of each kinase depended upon the checkpoint-inducing DNA signal. Furthermore, both ATM and ATR phosphorylated Mcm2 directly at Ser92 in cell-free kinase assays. Immunodepletion of both ATM and ATR abrogated the checkpoint response that blocks chromosomal DNA replication in egg extracts containing double-stranded DNA breaks. These experiments indicate that ATM and ATR phosphorylate the functionally critical replication protein Mcm2 during both DNA damage and replication checkpoint responses in Xenopus egg extracts.
Analysis of differential proteomes in pathogenic and non‐pathogenic Leptospira: Potential pathogenic and virulence factors

Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease caused by spirochetes in the genus Leptospira. To date, factors determining the pathogenicity and virulence of leptospires remain unclear. We performed a gel‐based proteomic analysis to evaluate differential leptospiral proteomes in the pathogenic L. interrogans (serovars Australis, Bratislava, Autumnalis, and Icterohaemorrhagiae) and the non‐pathogenic L. biflexa (serovar Patoc). Quantitative proteome analysis and MS protein identification revealed 42 forms of 33 unique proteins whose levels were significantly greater in the pathogenic serovars compared with the non‐pathogenic serovar. Among the four pathogenic serovars, the more virulent serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae (which is most commonly associated with severe leptospirosis in patients) had significantly greater levels of 14 forms of 12 unique proteins, when compared with the other three pathogenic serovars. Some of these identified proteins may serve as the pathogenic and/or virulence factors of leptospirosis.