Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Central Levodopa Influx and the Clinical Motor Response to Levodopa in Patients With Parkinson Disease Complicated With Motor Fluctuations and Dyskinesias

Objective: To study the possible relationship between central levodopa influx and short-term antiparkinsonian and dyskinetic responses to levodopa in patients with Parkinson disease. Methods: The clinical response to a single oral dose of standard and controlled-release levodopa/carbidopa was assessed in 12 patients with Parkinson disease complicated with motor fluctuations and dyskinesias. Plasma concentrations of levodopa and large neutral amino acids were determined, and the theoretical central levodopa influx was calculated using a model based on competitive inhibition of substrates to cross the blood-brain barrier. Results: The mean (SD) central levodopa influxes at the onset of the antiparkinsonian clinical effect were 19.7 (10.9 × 10−3) and 19.1 (7.4 × 10−3) nmol min−1 g−1 (P > 0.1) for standard and controlled-release levodopa, respectively. The mean (SD) central levodopa influxes at the onset of choreic dyskinesias were 20.1 (8.2 × 10−3) and 19.9 (10.8 × 10−3) nmol min−1 g−1 (P > 0.1) for standard and controlled-release levodopa, respectively. During the tests, choreic dyskinesias were associated with a central levodopa influx of 10 × 10−3 nmol min−1 g−1 or greater, and foot dystonia occurred with a central levodopa influx less than 9 × 10−3 nmol min−1 g−1. Conclusions: The clinical response to levodopa in patients with advanced Parkinson disease may be related to central levodopa influx. We found no differences in the central levodopa influx threshold for clinical improvement with different levodopa formulations. The central levodopa influxes at the onset of choreic dyskinesias and antiparkinsonian effect were similar. Choreic dyskinesias and foot dystonia were associated with high and low central levodopa influx, respectively.
Transcriptional silencing by the mycobacteriophage L5 repressor

The success of a temperate bacteriophage is dependent upon its ability to completely shut down expression of its lytic genes during lysogenic growth. Mycobacteriophage L5 accomplishes this by an atypical phage repressor, gp71, which binds to multiple asymmetric DNA sites. L5 gp71 regulates transcription initiation at an early lytic promoter, Pleft, but also affects downstream gene expression at 'stoperator’ sites in the phage genome. The L5 genome is replete with stoperator sites located within short intergenic spaces in both the early and late lytic operons and oriented specifically with respect to transcription. Binding of gp71 to these sites results in a strong orientation‐dependent polar effect on downstream gene expression and global silencing of prophage gene expression.
Restatements, family ownership and the forced turnover of related parties of financial statements

This paper examined the consequences of mandatory restatements and family ownership to related parties of financial statements (top management, outside directors and firm auditors) in Taiwan. Mandatory restatements are externally prompted, showing the material financial misstatements. Taiwan provides an ideal setting to examine the issues due to low awareness of business ethics and a prevalence of family control. Results showed that top management, chief executive officer (CEO), financial executives and firm auditors are replaced in the context of mandatory restatements. Furthermore, results also showed that family ownership reduces the forced turnover of top management, financial executives, firm auditors and supervisors. Findings raise concerns about the need to popularize the value of business ethics as ethical deterioration is biased to financial reporting failure and ineffective punishment mechanisms. This study also demonstrates the need to highlight the effect of family management on business operations due to the entrenchment effect of family ownership on firms’ replacement decisions. Key words: Restatements, family ownership, turnover, ethics, Taiwan.
Multiple Mechanisms of Lung Surfactant Inhibition

We studied the mechanisms by which C16:0 lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and albumin inhibit the surface activity of calf lung surfactant extract (CLSE) by using a pulsating bubble apparatus with a specialized hypophase exchange system, plus adsorption and Wilhelmy balance measurements. In the absence of inhibitors, CLSE (1 mg phospholipid/mL) reached minimum surface tension (γmin) < 1 mN/m within 5 min of bubble pulsation at 20 cycles/min at 37°C. Mixtures of CLSE:LPC had impaired surface activity depending on LPC content: γmin was raised to 5 mN/m by 14 wt % LPC, to 15 mN/m by 25-30 wt % LPC, and to >20 mN/m (67 wt % LPC), even at high CLSE concentrations (3 and 6 mg phospholipid/mL). In contrast, inhibition of CLSE by albumin was more easily abolished when surfactant concentration was raised. Mixtures of albumin (3 mg/mL) and CLSE (1 mg phospholipid/mL) had γmin >20 mN/m, but normal values of γmin < 1 mN/m were reached at higher CLSE concentration (3 mg phospholipid/mL) even when albumin concentration was increased 8-fold to 24 mg/mL. In hypophase exchange studies, LPC, but not albumin, was able to penetrate preformed CLSE surface films and raise γmin. CLSE surface films with γmin < 1 mN/m were isolated by an initial hypophase exchange with saline, and a second exchange with an LPC- containing hypophase raised γmin to ∼10 mN/m. CLSE surface films retained the ability to reach γmin < 1 mN/m in analogous hypophase exchange studies with albumin. The ability of LPC to penetrate surface films of CLSE, although albumin could not, was also demonstrated in absorption experiments in a Teflon dish, where diffusion was minimized by subphase stirring. Wilhelmy balance experiments also demonstrated that LPC could mix and interact with CLSE or dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine in solvent-spread surface films. The ability of LPC or other cell membrane lipids to penetrate interfacial films and raise γmin even at high surfactant concentration may increase their inhibitory actions during acute lung injury.
Avaliação e seleção de híbridos de cacaueiro em Rondônia

The goal of the present work was to evaluate and to select cacao hybrids with respect to seed yield and quality for ecological conditions of municipality of Ouro Preto do Oeste, Rondonia, Brazil. The selection was done comparing, by means of Duncan test, the yield measurement average in trial conducted from 1986 to 1991. A randomized complete block design was used. The best performance, considering total number of collected fruits, total number of healthy fruits, total weight of humid seeds and mean weight of humid seeds per fruit, were obtained from crosses involving POUND 7 and BE 10, SCA 6 and PA 150, PA 150, IMC 67 and POUND 7 clones, respectively. The hybrids SCA 6 x ICS 1, PA 150 x SIC 328 and IMC 67 x BE 8 were outstanding when compared to the others.
Non-Equity Risks and Equity Home Bias

A long literature focuses on equity risks only to conclude that the benefits in holding foreign stocks are substantial, and investors in practice allocate a much too heavy weight of their portfolios to domestic securities. We re-examine this conclusion by using a consumption-based approach, which can take the effects of nontraded wealth into account, even when its returns are not observable. Although there are significant benefits from further international consumption risk sharing, these benefits are not attainable using international equities as instruments. These findings are consistent with the ideas of Shiller (1993, 2003) and Athanasoulis and Shiller (2001), who argue that the world's largest macroeconomic risks cannot be effectively shared using existing securities.
Acoustic model selection for recognition of regional accented speech

Accent is cited as an issue for speech recognition systems. Our experiments showed that the ASR word error rate is up to seven times greater for accented speech compared with standard British English. The main objective of this research is to develop Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) techniques that are robust to accent variation. We applied different acoustic modelling techniques to compensate for the effects of regional accents on the ASR performance. For conventional GMM-HMM based ASR systems, we showed that using a small amount of data from a test speaker to choose an accent dependent model using an accent identification system, or building a model using the data from N neighbouring speakers in AID space, will result in superior performance compared to that obtained with unsupervised or supervised speaker adaptation. In addition we showed that using a DNN-HMM rather than a GMM-HMM based acoustic model would improve the recognition accuracy considerably. Even if we apply two stages of accent followed by speaker adaptation to the GMM-HMM baseline system, the GMM-HMM based system will not outperform the baseline DNN-HMM based system. For more contemporary DNN-HMM based ASR systems we investigated how adding different types of accented data to the training set can provide better recognition accuracy on accented speech. Finally, we proposed a new approach for visualisation of the AID feature space. This is helpful in analysing the AID recognition accuracies and analysing AID confusion matrices.
The Effect of Microvascular Decompression in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis and Trigeminal Neuralgia

BACKGROUNDTrigeminal neuralgia (TN) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to be caused by demyelinating plaques within the nerve root entry zone, the trigeminal nucleus, or the trigeminal tracts. OBJECTIVETo review our experience of microvascular decompression (MVD) in patients with MS and symptomatic TN. METHODSAll first-time MVDs for symptomatic trigeminal neuralgia in patients with MS performed by the senior author during an 8-year period (1999–2007) in this department were reviewed. The preoperative pain components were differentiated as being 100% episodic pain, > 50% episodic pain, or > 50% constant pain. At follow-up, pain relief was assessed with a standard mail questionnaire; those still having residual pain were further examined in the outpatient clinic or interviewed by phone. RESULTSOf the 19 MS patients, 15 were available for follow-up. The median observation period was 55 months (range, 17–99 months). At follow-up, 7 of 15 patients (47%) were completely free of their episodic pain, and an additional 4 (27%) had significant relief of episodic pain (ie, worst pain marked as 0 to 3 cm on a 10-cm visual analog scale). Among the subgroup of 8 patients with a constant pain component, all were free of their constant pain, and 4 (50%) were free of their episodic pain. CONCLUSIONIn our 8-year experience of doing MVD in MS patients with TN, we found complete and significant relief of episodic TN in a large proportion of patients. Even those with a constant pain component before MVD were completely relieved of their constant pain. Thus, in patients with TN (with or without a constant pain component), the presence of MS should not prevent patients from being offered MVD.
Role of 99mTc-Methylene Diphosphonate SPECT/CT in the Detection of Sacroiliitis in Patients with Spondyloarthropathy: Comparison with Clinical Markers and MRI

Our rationale was to evaluate the role of 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) SPECT/CT for the detection of sacroiliitis in spondyloarthropathies by comparing it with clinical markers and MRI findings. Methods: We prospectively included 155 patients (83 men and 72 women; mean age, 35.80 ± 12.40 y; range, 18–60 y) diagnosed with spondyloarthropathies as per the criteria of the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group. All patients underwent clinical evaluation (using the Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index [BASDAI]), measurement of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level, planar 99mTc-MDP bone scintigraphy, SPECT/CT, and MRI of the pelvic region. Using MRI as the reference criterion, the diagnostic accuracy of the clinical and scintigraphic parameters was assessed. On planar bone scintigraphy and SPECT, a score of 0, 1, or 2 was assigned when tracer uptake in the sacroiliac joint was less than, equal to, or more than that in the sacrum. A score of 2 was considered positive for the diagnosis of sacroiliitis. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of 99mTc-MDP SPECT/CT were 90.0%, 80.0%, 87.0%, 92.0%, and 75.0%, respectively. The accuracy of SPECT/CT (87%) was better than that of ESR (58.1%), CRP (32.9%), BASDAI scoring (77%), and planar bone scintigraphy (53%). Similar results were found for sensitivity and negative predictive value. Regarding specificity, SPECT/CT (80%) was lower than BASDAI scoring (88.6%) and equal to planar bone scintigraphy (80%). Regarding positive predictive value, SPECT/CT (92%) was a bit lower than BASDAI scoring (93.6%). κ-values for planar 99mTc-MDP bone scanning and SPECT/CT were 0.167 and 0.673, respectively, indicating poor agreement for planar bone scanning and good agreement for SPECT/CT. A significant (P < 0.001) correlation (r = 0.659) was observed between SPECT/CT and MRI findings. Conclusion: 99mTc-MDP SPECT/CT has diagnostic accuracy comparable to that of MRI for the evaluation of sacroiliitis in spondyloarthropathies and can thus be used as an alternative when MRI is contraindicated. SPECT/CT shows better accuracy than planar bone scintigraphy, ESR, CRP, and BASDAI scoring in the diagnosis of sacroiliitis.
The Effects of Board Structure on Media Companies’ Performance: A Stakeholder Perspective

Abstract This article examined the effects of board structure of American media companies on their performance from a stakeholder perspective. Results showed that both the level of board interlocks and the proportion of non-independent directors on the board were positively associated with corporate performance, as measured by return on assets and return on equity. Results also showed that the adoption of staggered boards had a positive effect on return on assets of media companies. However, this study did not find any relationship between board size and firm performance within media industries.
A low-cost S-box for the Advanced Encryption Standard using normal basis

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a newly accepted secret key cryptographic standard for secure transfer of blocks of data. Among different transformations, the SubBytes transformation is the most expensive one in terms of the chip area and the power consumption in the hardware implementation of the AES. It consists of 16 S-boxes and hence the hardware optimization of the S-box is critical to reach a low-cost AES. In this paper, we present a low-cost S-box for the AES. Instead of using look-up tables for implementing the S-box, logic gate implementation based on a previously known low-complexity composite field using normal basis is utilized. Then, we present improved formulations for the inversion in the sub-fields within the S-box to reduce the area complexity of the implementations. After analyzing the complexities of the new architecture, we compare the ASIC implementation of the proposed S-box using 0:18µ CMOS technology with the previous ones. It is shown that the presented scheme has the lowest power consumption and area compared to its counterparts available in the open literature.
Functional Equivalency of B7-1 and B7-2 for Costimulating Plasmid DNA Vaccine-Elicited CTL Responses1

A costimulatory signal in addition to an Ag-specific stimulus is required for optimal activation of T lymphocytes. CD28, the primary positive costimulatory receptor on T cells, has two identified ligands, B7-1 and B7-2. Whether B7-1 and B7-2 have identical, overlapping, or distinct functions remains unresolved. In this study, we show that mice lacking B7-2 were unable to generate CTL responses following immunization with a plasmid DNA vaccine. The ability of these B7-2-deficient mice to generate CTL responses following plasmid gp120 DNA vaccination was fully reconstituted by coadministering either a plasmid expressing B7-2 or B7-1. Moreover, the ability to generate CTL responses following plasmid DNA vaccination in mice lacking both B7-1 and B7-2 could be reconstituted by administering either plasmid B7-1 or plasmid B7-2 with the vaccine construct. These data demonstrate that either B7-1 or B7-2 administered concurrently with a plasmid DNA vaccine can fully costimulate vaccine-elicited CTL responses. Functional differences between B7-1 and B7-2 observed in vivo therefore may not reflect inherent differences in the interactions of CD28 with these ligands.
Self‐Assembled Peptide‐ and Protein‐Based Nanomaterials for Antitumor Photodynamic and Photothermal Therapy

Tremendous interest in self‐assembly of peptides and proteins towards functional nanomaterials has been inspired by naturally evolving self‐assembly in biological construction of multiple and sophisticated protein architectures in organisms. Self‐assembled peptide and protein nanoarchitectures are excellent promising candidates for facilitating biomedical applications due to their advantages of structural, mechanical, and functional diversity and high biocompability and biodegradability. Here, this review focuses on the self‐assembly of peptides and proteins for fabrication of phototherapeutic nanomaterials for antitumor photodynamic and photothermal therapy, with emphasis on building blocks, non‐covalent interactions, strategies, and the nanoarchitectures of self‐assembly. The exciting antitumor activities achieved by these phototherapeutic nanomaterials are also discussed in‐depth, along with the relationships between their specific nanoarchitectures and their unique properties, providing an increased understanding of the role of peptide and protein self‐assembly in improving the efficiency of photodynamic and photothermal therapy.
Re-Energizing the IPO Market

I address why IPO volume, and especially small company IPO volume, has been so depressed for more than a decade. The conventional wisdom is that the main culprits are a combination of heavy-handed regulation, especially the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a decline in analyst coverage of small firms, and lower stock prices since the 2000 technology bubble burst. I present an alternative explanation, the economies of scope hypothesis, that has very different policy implications. I also discuss the effect of tick sizes on the IPO market, as this is the current focus of policy recommendations from the S.E. C. ’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. I then discuss the number of jobs created by companies going public, and the effect of alternative venues for cashing out and raising capital, SecondMarket and SharesPost. Lastly, I offer some thoughts on what can and should be done to reenergize the market.
The Effect of Bank Ownership Concentration on Capital Adequacy, Liquidity, and Capital Stability (Basel II and Basel III)

We explore the effects of ownership concentration on the risk-taking behavior of banks. Our analysis focuses on East Asian countries because these nations have successfully implemented the Basel standards and demonstrate a high degree of regulatory convergence. For the period from 2005 to 2009, we analyze the relation between ownership concentration and capital adequacy (Basel II) and find that an increase in ownership concentration by one standard deviation results in an improvement in capital adequacy by 7.64%. Although Basel III does not go into effect until 2013, we retroactively apply the standards for capital stability on our sample. We find that ownership concentration would have been a significant determinant of capital stability. While at lower levels of ownership concentration, an increase in concentrated ownership would have reduced capital stability; at higher ownership levels, greater ownership concentration would have increased capital stability. We also find that concentrated ownership improves banks’ liquidity. Further, the recent financial crisis does not appear to change the fundamental associations among ownership concentration, capital adequacy, and liquidity.
Helping Patients, Families, Caregivers, and Physicians, in the Grieving Process

Abstract Physical experiences of the body and those that are emotional, cognitive, and spiritual are inextricably related. The author, a hospice bereavement coordinator and counselor, discusses how medical professionals can become personally prepared to assist in the often intense and intimate passage of life into death and later through both didactic and personal preparation. She also describes the major models of grief processes and illustrates the power a caring professional can have during the dying process and in the aftermath of a patient's death by relating personal case scenarios.
Surgical treatments of central retinal vein occlusion

Central retinal vein occlusion is a common retinal disease with usually severe complications. At present no safe treatment exists promoting the recovery of lost vision. Several surgical approaches to modify the natural course of the disease have been proposed in recent years. These options include laser-induced chorioretinal venous anastomosis, the injection of tissue plasminogen activator into a retinal vein, optic nerve decompression, and vitrectomy for macular edema. Even though all the proposed treatments have not yet been supported by randomized clinical trials, these techniques can be considered as innovative in an area where no effective treatment is available. Larger clinical trials are required to assess both the effectiveness and complication rate of surgical treatments designed to reverse the natural evolution of central retinal vein occlusion.
Ten-year change in plasma amyloid beta levels and late-life cognitive decline.

BACKGROUND Plasma levels of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) are potential biomarkers of early cognitive impairment and decline and of Alzheimer disease risk. OBJECTIVE To relate midlife plasma Abeta measures and 10-year change in plasma Abeta measures since midlife to late-life cognitive decline. DESIGN Prospective study of a population-based sample. SETTING Academic research. PARTICIPANTS Plasma Abeta40 and Abeta42 levels were measured in 481 Nurses' Health Study participants in late midlife (mean age, 63.6 years) and again 10 years later (mean age, 74.6 years). Cognitive testing also began 10 years after the initial blood draw. Participants completed 3 repeated telephone-based assessments (mean span, 4.1 years). Multivariable linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate relations of midlife plasma Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios and Abeta42 levels to late-life cognitive decline, as well as relations of 10-year change in Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios and Abeta42 levels to cognitive decline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The 3 primary outcomes were the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) findings, a global score averaging the results of all tests (TICS, immediate and delayed verbal recall, category fluency, and attention), and a verbal memory score averaging the results of 4 tests of verbal recall. RESULTS Higher midlife plasma Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios were associated with worse late-life decline on the global score (P = .04 for trend). Furthermore, increase in Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios since midlife predicted greater decline in the global score (P = .03 for trend) and in the TICS (P = .02 for trend). There was no association of cognitive decline with midlife plasma Abeta42 levels alone or with change in Abeta42 levels since midlife. CONCLUSION In this large community-dwelling sample, higher plasma Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios in late midlife and increases in Abeta40 to Abeta42 ratios 10 years later were significantly associated with greater decline in global cognition at late life.