Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Racial differences in Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence in Singapore: Correlation with differences in peptic ulcer frequency

The aim of this study was to determine, first, whether racial differences exist in the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Singapore, and second, whether these differences correlate with racial differences in peptic ulcer frequency. A commercial serological test for immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibody to H. pylori which was 90% sensitive and 83% specific in our population was used to screen 403 adult blood donors of Chinese, Malay and Indian origin, aged between 15–60 years. Serum specimens from 84 paediatric patients admitted to the Paediatrics Department, National University of Singapore, with non‐gastroenterological illnesses were also tested. In all three races, seroprevalence of H. pylori increased with age. Indians have the highest prevalence of infection followed by Chinese and Malays. Peptic ulcer prevalences are known to be highest in Chinese, followed by Indians and Malays. The Malays have the lowest prevalence of H. pylori and peptic ulcer among the three races in Singapore. Indians have a higher prevalence of H. pylori antibodies but a lower frequency of peptic ulcer than the Chinese. Racial differences in peptic ulcer frequency between Chinese and Indians are not explained by the prevalence of H. pylori infection; other environmental or genetic factors may be involved.
Missing Basic Issues on Credit Money: On the Role of Money in Removing World-wide Growth Barriers

Kalecki identifies demand restraint in industrialised and capital restraint in developing countries as the decisive barriers of world-wide growth. Thus, beyond others, it is a matter of financing to foster employment in both types of countries: a rational use of credit money on the international scale could finance additional imports of capital goods by developing countries, whereas industrialised countries could increase their output by trade balance surpluses. This question has been largely debated under various aspects, from the Stamp plan (1958) to the programme of the Commission on International Development Issues (1980). Even if this debate has been superseded by questions of the process and the institutions by which capital is allocated, of the appropriate business management and screening and monitoring, declining growth rates in the last twenty years show that the basic issue of production and distribution of additional real capital remains at stake. Besides institutional obstacles, capital restraint still remains the main bottleneck for development. Basic questions as how to create and use world-wide credit money has to be reconsidered instead of taking backfiring actions to manage actual financial crises. Additional international money supply by planned trade balance deficits of developing countries contributes to world-wide growth, whereas trade balance deficits of the United States are likely to prepare the next financial crises by an excessively increasing dollar supply. A revival of the debate of how to link SDR’s and development financing surely requires to tackle a great number of additional questions, such as how to allocate trade balance deficits and surpluses and how to ensure the acceptance of this world credit money. All in all, it would be a serious attempt to break the money away from the handing down tradition and to transform it into a rationale by abstract reasons and well-founded instrument for economic development.
Do schools matter for subjective expectations of returns to education

This study examines the formation of expectations regarding the earnings benefits of attaining a higher education and, more specifically, whether, and in what ways, secondary schools aect pupils’ expectations of the returns of investments in education. The evidence that those expectations matter for investments and inequalities in college education is indeed mounting. We use panel data for a sample of pupils who attend public senior-secondary schools of Mexico City metropolitan area between 2005 and 2008, and exploit the variations in admission to more selective schools generated by a centralized and competitive exam-based allocation of students into those schools. We find that youth, in this setting, do not tend to under-estimate the benefits from higher education, and that schools matter for subjective expectations: admission into an elite school increases not only educational achievements, but also the benefits expected from higher attainments. The heterogeneities of those eects along various family and individual characteristics do not support the assumption that schools have direct eects on expectations by remedying the lack of information of disadvantaged children. They rather suggest that expectations are adjusted following improvements in learning achievements. Besides, youth of indigenous origin seem to internalize discrimination on the labor market and expect lower benefits of higher education.
Social networks and small business performance in West African border regions

Abstract This paper studies the links between economic performance and social networks in West Africa. Using data collected on 358 small-scale traders in five border markets, we show that social networks can be simultaneously a resource which positively contributes to labour market outcomes and a social burden that has a negative economic impact. Testing the effect of social networks between small traders and three categories of actors, we find that the most well-connected actors are also the most successful in terms of monthly profit. The effects of social networks are, however, dependent on the type of persons with whom traders are connected. We show that support received from state representatives and politicians is converted into economic performance, while the impact of law enforcement officers on the monthly profits of traders is not significant. We also find that interacting with traditional religious leaders has a negative effect on economic performance. Our work has two implications: Firstly, collecting data on social networks remains challenging due to endogeneity. Secondly, network-enhancing policies should aim at improving both the internal connectivity of economic actors at the local level and their external connectivity with the rest of the world.
Islamic Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Status and Prospects

Islamic finance is a fast growing activity in world markets. This paper provides a survey on Islamic Finance in SSA. Ongoing activities include Islamic banking, sukuk issuances (to finance infrastructure projects), Takaful (insurance), and microfinance. While not yet significant in most Sub-Saharan countries, several features make Islamic finance instruments relevant to the region, in particular the ability to foster SMEs and micro-credit activtities. As a first step, policy makers could introduce Islamic financing windows within the conventional system and facilitate sukuk issuance to tap foreign investors. The entrance of full-fleged Islamic banks require addressing systemic issues, and adapting the crisis management and resolution frameworks. The IMF can play a role by sharing international experiences and providing advice on supervisory and regulatory frameworks as needed.
The Changing Size Distribution of California's North Coast Wineries*

Abstract In this paper, we use three different goodness-of-fit tests for log-normality in conjunction with kernel nonparametric density estimation methods to examine both the size distribution of California North Coast wineries over time and by age. Our kernel density estimates indicate that the size distribution of wineries has changed from positively skewed to bimodal. These results are inconsistent with those in other industries, but are consistent with recent empirical research in the wine industry, which finds that smaller firms are comprising a larger component of market share. In terms of the distribution of firm size by age, our results indicate that as wineries age, the size distribution of firms becomes less skewed and more bimodal, which is also inconsistent with the research on other industries which finds that as firms age, the size distribution becomes more normal. Our results indicate that unlike other industries, where entry is very difficult, small firms can enter the wine industry and survive. (JEL Classifications: L11, L22, L25)
The Multiple Assessment of Interpretation Effectiveness: Promoting Visitors’ Environmental Attitudes and Behavior

Interpretation has been recognized as a useful tool in managing visitor behavior in nature-based tourism areas. This study explores a multiple assessment approach to identify the strengths and weaknesses of site-based interpretation in influencing multidimensional aspects of attitudes and behavioral intentions toward local environmental issues. Visitors to the Lulworth coastal area in England were studied using on-site questionnaire survey data. The results of the research highlight that the effectiveness of interpretation varied in relation to a number of different aspects of responsible environmental behavior and local conservation issues. The findings also reveal that it fostered visitors’ awareness of and their support for management policies but its impacts were limited to site-specific responsible behavior related in this case to geological and environmental conservation.
An Evaluation of Geographic Targeting in Bolsa Alimentação in Brazil

We evaluate the effectiveness of targeting for Brazil's Bolsa Alimentacao, a nutrition-oriented cash transfer program conditioned on beneficiary participation in health activities. Geographic targeting of program funds relied on adjusted estimates of municipality child stunting prevalence, or a malnutrition map. This evaluation provides new estimates of municipality child stunting prevalence for Brazil. The improved estimates indicate moderate budgetary misallocation from geographic targeting. However, when geographic targeting errors are combined with those arising from an inconsistency between geographic and household targeting objectives, undercoverage of children at greatest risk of stunting is potentially large.
Introducing a new continuous improvement framework for increased organisational return on investment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a new framework for continuous improvement. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review on customer value and strategic quality provides the basis for the identification of a conceptual framework for continuous improvement. This conceptual framework is validated using the in-depth interview and the survey approach. Findings – The empirical study concluded that the new framework contains all the core components or forces of continuous improvement. These forces are customer value focused co-leadership, customer value focused strategic objectives, improvement specialists with people performance knowledge and improvement methodology. By adopting this framework, all process personnel can have a role to play in process improvement leading to increased organisational returns on investment. Overall, it is an effective framework that is easily understood and can be applied throughout any process led organisation. This is supported by the empiri.
Preclinical Development Transcription Factor Stat 5 Knockdown Enhances Androgen Receptor Degradation and Delays Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Progression In vivo

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (Stat5) plays an important role in the transition of prostate cancer (PCa) to its castrate-resistant state. Pharmacologic targeting of Stat5 is a rational approach to delay castrate-resistant progression, in part, because Stat5 cooperates with the androgen receptor (AR) to promote PCa progression. Immunostaining of tissue microarrays was used to correlate Stat5 expression with Gleason grade and to characterize changes in treatment-naive and androgen-deprived human PCa. Potency of a Stat5 antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) on Stat5 knockdown, cell growth, and apoptosis was assessed in LNCaP, C42, and DU145 cells. Effects of Stat5 knockdown on AR activity and stability was assessed using a PSA transactivation-luciferase assay and cyclohexamide plus MG132 treatment, respectively. LNCaP tumorbearing mice were castrated and randomly assigned to treatment with Stat5-ASO or controls. Here, we show that the frequency of Stat5 expression is significantly increased in high Gleason grade as well as in hormone-treated PCa. Also, specific knockdown of Stat5 with ASO abrogates androgen-induced AR nuclear translocation and PSA transactivation despite R1881 stimulation. Moreover, Stat5 knockdown destabilizes AR, which leads to AR degradation via the proteasome. Shown for the first time as a preclinical proof-ofprinciple, Stat5 knockdownwith Stat5-ASO significantly delays CRPC tumor progression in vivo. Thereby, we are able to recapitulate our in vitro results by reducing serum PSA and expression levels of target proteins in the xenograft tumors. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(2); 347–59. 2011 AACR.
Financial intermediation and macroeconomic efficiency

This article evaluates whether financial intermediary development explains cross-country differences in macroeconomic efficiency. Stochastic frontier approach is applied at the aggregate level to estimate efficiency on a panel of 41 countries for the period 1991 to 1995. Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) dynamic panel techniques are then adopted to control for potential endogeneity of the regressors. We find evidence of a positive role of financial intermediary development on efficiency, with differences in terms of robustness according to the measure of financial intermediary development.
Development of multiple-antibiotic-resistant (Mar) mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa after serial exposure to fluoroquinolones

Laboratory-derived fluoroquinolone-resistant mutants were created by serially passaging wild-type Pseudomonas aeruginosa on fluoroquinolone-containing agar to obtain high-level fluoroquinolone resistance (e.g., ciprofloxacin MIC of 1,024 micrograms/ml). With increases of 4- to 32-fold in MICs of fluoroquinolones, these organisms demonstrated (relative to wild-type) normal morphology, resistance to fluoroquinolones only, no change in fluoroquinolone uptake, and no change in lipopolysaccharide profiles or outer membrane protein profiles. Complementation with wild-type Escherichia coli gyrA restored fluoroquinolone susceptibility, suggesting that these were gyrA mutants. After 4- to 32-fold increases in fluoroquinolone MICs (with continued passage on fluoroquinolone-containing agar) isolates demonstrated altered morphology, a multiple-antibiotic-resistant (Mar) phenotype (including cross-resistance to beta-lactams, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline), reduced fluoroquinolone uptake and altered outer membrane proteins (reductions in the 25- and 38-kDa bands as well as several bands in the 43- to 66-kDa region). Complementation with wild-type E. coli gyrA partially reduced the level of fluoroquinolone resistance by approximately 8- to 32-fold, suggesting that these mutants displayed both gyrA and non-gyrA mutations.
Price Distortions and Growth in Developing Countries

This paper attempts to assess the impact of distortions in prices of goods and factors on growth performance of developing countries. The approach contrasts the average performance of countries with high price distortion with those with low price distortion. The study analyzes the degree of distortion in prices of foreign exchange, capital, labor, and infrastructure services for a panel of thirty-one developing countries, which represents more than 75 percent of the population of developing countries, excluding China. A negative relationship between growth and price distortions is found. The same systematic relationship holds for savings performance, efficiency of investment, and growth rates of agriculture, industry and exports. There is no evidence that countries with high distortion perform any better on equity than others. However, regression analysis shows that price distortions explain only one-third of the total variance in growth rates. The conclusion therefore is that although prices matter for growth, they are not all that matter.
Identification of the macrophage‐specific promoter signature in FANTOM5 mouse embryo developmental time course data

The FANTOM5 consortium used cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE) to analyze the time course of gene expression over development from 11 days postcoitum (dpc) to adult in 16 developing organs and the whole body of the mouse. Every tissue in the body contains a large number of resident macrophages that initially infiltrate the embryo from the yolk sac. These cells contribute to organogenesis, and their functions diversify during development as they acquire tissue‐specific adaptations. In each of the FANTOM5 time courses, the expression of known macrophage‐specific genes, including CSF1 receptor (Csf1r), epidermal growth factor‐like module‐containing mucin‐like hormone receptor‐like 1 (Emr1), and mer receptor tyrosine kinase (Mertk), was readily detectable and increased with time. We reasoned that genes expressed by macrophages would be strongly correlated in their expression with these known markers and might vary between tissues. We used the network analysis tool, Miru, to extract the sets of coexpressed genes from the time course and identified a core set of coexpressed genes attributable to embryonic macrophages, including some, such as dehydrogenase/reductase 3 (Dhrs3), that may have unique functions in development. The FANTOM5 data also detected the appearance of tissue‐specific macrophage‐expressed genes, such as T cell Ig and mucin domain‐containing 4 (Timd4) and V‐set and Ig domain‐containing 4 (Vsig4) in liver and sialic acid‐binding Ig‐like lectin 5 (Siglec5) in lung, and confirmed that macrophage content increases with time in each organ as the proliferative phases end, and tissue‐specific gene‐expression increases. The FANTOM5 data are available on a comprehensive browser (http://fantom.gsc.riken.jp/zenbu/), which provides a resource for the study of macrophage transcriptional regulation and roles in mouse development.
Placental Hypoxia During Early Pregnancy Causes Maternal Hypertension and Placental Insufficiency in the Hypoxic Guinea Pig Model

ABSTRACT Chronic placental hypoxia is one of the root causes of placental insufficiencies that result in pre-eclampsia and maternal hypertension. Chronic hypoxia causes disruption of trophoblast (TB) development, invasion into maternal decidua, and remodeling of maternal spiral arteries. The pregnant guinea pig shares several characteristics with humans such as hemomonochorial placenta, villous subplacenta, deep TB invasion, and remodeling of maternal arteries, and is an ideal animal model to study placental development. We hypothesized that chronic placental hypoxia of the pregnant guinea pig inhibits TB invasion and alters spiral artery remodeling. Time-mated pregnant guinea pigs were exposed to either normoxia (NMX) or three levels of hypoxia (HPX: 16%, 12%, or 10.5% O2) from 20 day gestation until midterm (39–40 days) or term (60–65 days). At term, HPX (10.5% O2) increased maternal arterial blood pressure (HPX 57.9 ± 2.3 vs. NMX 40.4 ± 2.3, P < 0.001), decreased fetal weight by 16.1% (P < 0.05), and increased both absolute and relative placenta weights by 10.1% and 31.8%, respectively (P < 0.05). At midterm, there was a significant increase in TB proliferation in HPX placentas as confirmed by increased PCNA and KRT7 staining and elevated ESX1 (TB marker) gene expression (P < 0.05). Additionally, quantitative image analysis revealed decreased invasion of maternal blood vessels by TB cells. In summary, this animal model of placental HPX identifies several aspects of abnormal placental development, including increased TB proliferation and decreased migration and invasion of TBs into the spiral arteries, the consequences of which are associated with maternal hypertension and fetal growth restriction.
Pollution, Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: evidence from India, China and Brazil

This paper examines the relationships between the energy consumption, GDP growth and emission, using Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model for BRIC countries over the period 1960 -2006. Our results reveal that environmental quality in these countries has increasingly suffered from high energy consumption. Moreover, rapid economic growth and international trade in energy intensive goods have progressively increased energy consumption. This suggests that excessively high economic growth is a curse for environmental quality and energy conservation policies to reduce unnecessary wastage of energy should be kicked off for energy-dependent BRIC countries.
Changes in Espionage by Americans: 1947-2007

Abstract : Since 1987, the Defense Personnel Security Research Center (PERSEREC) has maintained a database on espionage by American citizens based largely on open sources, and has collected files on each of the 173 individuals in the database. Espionage by Americans is the worst outcome for the personnel security system that works to reduce the risk of insider threat. Although its main focus is the personnel security system, PERSEREC monitors and analyzes espionage by Americans in order to improve understanding of this betrayal of trust by a small minority of citizens. This report is the third in a series of technical reports on espionage based on the PERSEREC Espionage Database, files of information from the press, and scholarship on espionage. The focus of this report is on changes and trends in espionage by Americans since 1990, compared with two earlier periods during the Cold War.
Predicting risk: some new generalizations

Existing adjustment techniques for forecasting systematic risk of individual firms have been based on relatively uniformative prior knowledge about the cross-sectional distribution of risk estimates. This study introduces prior information in the form of size and industry-based cross-sectional distributions of risk estimates. Such information is incorporated into forecasts using familiar and generalized adjustment techniques, the latter being based on recently developed multiple shrinkage methods. Improved forecast performance results.
Housing with care for later life - a literature review

There is growing interest and investment from both the public and private sector in housing schemes for older people that allow independent living to be combined with relatively high levels of care. Reflecting the current emphasis on evidence-based policy and practice, researchers at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York conducted an extensive search for empirical research evidence published since 1999 relating to housing with care for later life. They found just eleven UK studies that sought to evaluate rather than describe schemes, encompassing 24 different schemes. The review of these studies found.
Cautionary Note on Measurement of Field Independence

A proliferation of measures currently are used in studies dealing with Witkin's field-independence construct; many of these bear little resemblance to Witkin's original operationalizations. To examine the relationships among several of the most frequently used measures (RFT, various EFTs, Kohs Blocks, Draw-a-Person), 122 rs were obtained from 40 studies in which two or more of the measures in question had been employed. It was observed that, while the measures do share some variance, the amount is generally quite low. What any one test measures is not reflected to a great extent by any other. Thus, the indiscriminate use of tests which “resemble” Witkin's original measures is unwarranted and conceptually dangerous. Future studies should preferably be based on a combined use of the RFT and either Witkin's original EFT or Jackson's shortened version thereof.