Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
B7.1 and B7.2 co‐stimulatory molecules regulate crescentic glomerulonephritis

The contribution of B7.1 and B7.2 co‐stimulation to Th1‐directed, cell‐mediated renal injury was studied in a murine model of crescentic glomerulonephritis (GN) initiated by a "planted" antigen. Mice treated with anti‐B7.2 monoclonal antibody (mAb), starting prior to disease initiation, developed more severe renal injury with increased glomerular crescent formation (p = 0.031), glomerular accumulation of T cells (p = 0.014) and proteinuria (p = 0.022) compared to mice treated with control antibodies. Mice treated with anti‐B7.1 mAb had reduced crescent formation (p = 0.019) compared to control treated mice, but reductions in glomerular CD4+ T cell accumulation and proteinuria were not statistically significant. B7.1 mAb treatment significantly reduced all parameters of renal injury (above) compared to anti‐B7.2 mAb treatment. Neither treatment altered the circulating antibody titer or cutaneous delayed type hypersensitivity to the nephritogenic antigen. Antibody subclasses and antigen‐stimulated ex vivo splenocyte IL‐4, IL‐10 and IFN‐γ production did not indicate effects on Th subset responses. Treatment with CTLA4‐Fc or combined treatment with anti‐B7.1 and B7.2 antibodies did not significantly attenuate crescentic GN. These data indicate that B7.1 and B7.2 are important co‐stimulatory molecules involved in crescentic GN, which have opposing effects on disease development without altering the T helper cell subset response to the nephritogenic antigen.
Decomposing the Income Insurance Channel Across OECD and Emerging Markets

This paper investigates the underlying forces driving income insurance chan- nels for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and emerging markets. We find income insurance channels across countries to be driven by different subchannels. For the OECD, income insurance is mostly governed by payments for financial liabilities; for the emerging markets, income flows from nationals working abroad constitute the main income smoother. Despite the growth in cross-border financial asset trading over the years, we could not find evidence of income smoothing via foreign assets receipts for the OECD. For the majority of emerging markets, neither receipts of foreign assets nor foreign liability payments are strong enough to insure income as well.
A Specification Test for Speculative Bubbles

The set of parameters needed to calculate the expected present discounted value of a stream of dividends can be estimated in two ways. One may test for speculative bubbles, or fads, by testing whether the two estimates are the same. When the test is applied to some annual U.S. stock market data, the data usually reject the null hypothesis of no bubbles. The test is of general interest since it may be applied to a wide class of linear rational expectations models.
Corporate governance and corporate performance in selected companies in Nigeria

This paper evaluates corporate governance variables (CGVs) and corporate performance (CP) in Nigerian listed companies. In specific terms, the paper examines CGVs that affect CP, proxied by return on assets (ROA), profit margin (PM) as used in literature but extended to include return on equity (ROE). We used 50 listed companies that cut across the Nigerian Stock Exchange market. We obtained the CGVs of board size (BOS), board composition (BOC), board ownership (BOO) chief executive status (CES) and audit committee independence (ACI) with corporate governance disclosure (CGD) and enterprise risk management disclosure (RMD) added to our model. Using the ordinary least square (OLS) regression, findings revealed that CGD and RMD are positively and significantly related to ROA and PM. It is suggested, on account of these findings, that there should be sustenance of the current corporate policies profile on CGD and RMD as they positively affect CP; while corporate boards, as strategic policy makers should note with caution the CGVs with negative relationships with CP. Such caution is required in order to redirect and refocus policies which could minimise the negative impact of such CGVs on CP.
Development of a Protocol for Predicting Bacterial Resistance to Microbicides

ABSTRACT Regulations dealing with microbicides in Europe and the United States are evolving and now require data on the risk of the development of resistance in organisms targeted by microbicidal products. There is no standard protocol to assess the risk of the development of resistance to microbicidal formulations. This study aimed to validate the use of changes in microbicide and antibiotic susceptibility as initial markers for predicting microbicide resistance and cross-resistance to antibiotics. Three industrial isolates (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and two Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium strains (SL1344 and 14028S) were exposed to a shampoo, a mouthwash, eye makeup remover, and the microbicides contained within these formulations (chlorhexidine digluconate [CHG] and benzalkonium chloride [BZC]) under realistic, in-use conditions. Baseline and postexposure data were compared. No significant increases in the MIC or the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were observed for any strain after exposure to the three formulations. Increases as high as 100-fold in the MICs and MBCs of CHG and BZC for SL1344 and 14028S were observed but were unstable. Changes in antibiotic susceptibility were not clinically significant. The use of MICs and MBCs combined with antibiotic susceptibility profiling and stability testing generated reproducible data that allowed for an initial prediction of the development of resistance to microbicides. These approaches measure characteristics that are directly relevant to the concern over resistance and cross-resistance development following the use of microbicides. These are low-cost, high-throughput techniques, allowing manufacturers to provide to regulatory bodies, promptly and efficiently, data supporting an early assessment of the risk of resistance development.
Emerging drugs for chronic constipation

Chronic constipation (CC) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders. CC is estimated to affect up to 27% of the North American population. Although not life-threatening, CC can have profoundly negatively affects on quality of life and result in significant economic burden in terms of both direct and indirect healthcare costs. Possible etiologies for CC include alterations in gastrointestinal motility and secretion. Research efforts in CC have begun to identify multifactorial and often overlapping etiologies including abnormalities in myenteric neurons, alterations in neurotransmitters and their receptors, and incoordination of the muscles of the pelvic floor or anorectum. CC may be influenced by genetic predisposition, environmental factors and stress. In this article, the safety and efficacy of traditional and emerging therapies for CC are examined.
From Values to Interests? The Evolution of Party Competition in New Democracies

This article explores how social cleavages and party strategies interact to shape the nature of party competition in new democracies. We conceive of political competition on two dimensions: interests and values. Using the example of postcommunist Europe, we show that as the socioeconomic cleavage deepens (reflected in increased income inequality), the salience of the interest dimension increases. Since this development is likely to benefit more leftist than rightist parties, the latter have an incentive to draw voter attention away from interests to values. This strategy is more likely to be successful in the presence of identity-based cleavages, such as ethnic and religious-secular divisions, which can be mobilized on value-based appeals. We confirm that the salience of values increases as a result of increased inequality in ethnically diverse and/or religious societies but decreases in those that are homogeneous and/or secular. This dynamic is largely due to the behavior of rightist parties
Simple Analytics and Empirics of the Government Spending Multiplier and Other "Keynesian" Paradoxes

Factor supply increases (depresses) output for many of the same reasons that the government spending multiplier might be less (greater) than one. Data from three 2008-9 recession episodes—the labor supply shifts associated with the seasonal cycle, the 2009 federal minimum wage hike, and the collapse of residential construction spending—clearly show that markets absorb an increased supply of factors of production by increasing output. The findings contradict the “paradox of toil” and suggest that government purchases and marginal tax rates reduce private consumption, even during the recession.
An Autoimmune Response to Odorant Binding Protein 1a Is Associated with Dry Eye in the Aire-Deficient Mouse

Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS) is a human autoimmune disease characterized by immune-mediated destruction of the lacrimal and salivary glands. In this study, we show that the Aire-deficient mouse represents a new tool to investigate autoimmune dacryoadenitis and keratoconjunctivitis sicca, features of SS. Previous work in the Aire-deficient mouse suggested a role for α-fodrin, a ubiquitous Ag, in the disease process. Using an unbiased biochemical approach, however, we have identified a novel lacrimal gland autoantigen, odorant binding protein 1a, targeted by the autoimmune response. This novel autoantigen is expressed in the thymus in an Aire-dependent manner. The results from our study suggest that defects in central tolerance may contribute to SS and provide a new and clinically relevant model to investigate the pathogenic mechanisms in lacrimal gland autoimmunity and associated ocular surface sequelae.
Using Structural Motifs for Learning Markov Logic Networks

Markov logic networks (MLNs) use first-order formulas to define features of Markov networks. Current MLN structure learners can only learn short clauses (4-5 literals) due to extreme computational costs, and thus are unable to represent complex regularities in data. To address this problem, we present LSM, the first MLN structure learner capable of efficiently and accurately learning long clauses. LSM is based on the observation that relational data typically contains patterns that are variations of the same structural motifs. By constraining the search for clauses to occur within motifs, LSM can greatly speed up the search and thereby reduce the cost of finding long clauses. LSM uses random walks to identify densely connected objects in data, and groups them and their associated relations into a motif. Our experiments on three real-world datasets show that our approach is 2-5 orders of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art ones, while achieving the same or better predictive performance.
Partial Adjustment Analysis of Income and Jobs, and Growth Regimes in the Appalachian Region with Smooth Transition Spatial Process Models

In this application, income and job growth in the eastern United States are explained using a partial adjustment model with regime switching potential and spatial spillover, or “Smooth Transition” spatial process models (STAR). This relatively new class of spatial regression models provides a parametric approach to testing hypotheses about the influence external economies have on “core-periphery” structures characterizing the Dixit-Stiglitz-Krugman type models describing regional economies. Growth is endogenized as a locally contagious process and specific to regimes, which are also endogenously determined by access to urban economies. The estimation approach relaxes distributional assumptions, using instruments to estimate the STAR process models with special attention given to instrument selection and definitions of spatial neighbors. In the empirical analysis, the authors focus on the specification of partial adjustment models by employing a common factor test to discern serial correlation from partial adjustment processes. Finally, an ex post qualitative analysis is conducted using phase diagrams to study convergence and stability properties of the regime-specific equilibrium solutions. A sensitivity analysis suggests that steady state employment levels in counties with Appalachian development highway networks is higher than counties without this infrastructure, but income levels are not different.
Gloria and Anthony Visit a Plantation

Summary The promotion and marketing of Louisiana 19th century plantation life is fraught with contradictions since plantation agriculture depended on slave labor and a rigidly hierarchical class/caste system. How, then, can that history be commodified as heritage and marketed effectively as a tourist destination? Drawing on Said's thesis of Orientalism and historians Hobsbawm and Ranger's concept of invented traditions, the marketing efforts are examined of a St. James Parish, Louisiana plantation called Laura: A Creole Plantation. With access to scripted guided tours, as well as promotional materials directed at tourists and travel professionals, a textual analysis is undertaken of the four ways in which history becomes heritage. These are: emphasizing genealogical continuity; connecting a little-known site with major events in US history; promoting Creole culture as particularly enigmatic; and highlighting women as owner/managers. It is argued that these are tactics that construct the tourist site positively, as primordial and exotic, but also as a precursor of modern practices of business and gender/race relations. These strategies combine, representing the plantation through the discursive activity of objectifying, containing, and commodifying the other, while concomitantly inventing the Laura persona as contemporary heroine.
Modelling microbial competition in nitrifying biofilm reactors

A large variety of microbial parameter values for nitrifying microorganisms has been reported in literature and was revised in this study. Part of the variety was attributed to the variety of analysis methods applied; it also reflects the large biodiversity in nitrifying systems. This diversity is mostly neglected in conventional nitrifying biofilm models. In this contribution, a one‐dimensional, multispecies nitrifying biofilm model was set up, taking into account the large variety of the maximum growth rate, the substrate affinity and the yield of nitrifiers reported in literature. Microbial diversity was implemented in the model by considering 60 species of ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and 60 species of nitrite‐oxidizing bacteria (NOB). A steady‐state analysis showed that operational conditions such as the nitrogen loading rate and the bulk liquid oxygen concentration influence both the macroscopic output as well as the microbial composition of the biofilm through the prevailing concentration of substrates throughout the biofilm. Considering two limiting resources (nitrogen and oxygen), the coexistence of two species of the same functional guild (AOB or NOB) was possible at steady state. Their spatial distribution in the biofilm could be explained using the r‐ and K‐selection theory. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2015;112: 2550–2561. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Comparative Value Relevance Among German, U.S. And International Accounting Standards: A German Stock Market Perspective

In recent years, German companies report consolidated financial statements under German GAAP, U.S. GAAP, or International Accounting Standards (IAS). Market observers, researchers, and regulators have argued that financial statements prepared under the shareholder (or investor) model, such as U.S. GAAP or IAS, provide better information than financial statements prepared under the stakeholder model (German GAAP). They further have argued that U.S. GAAP is more rigorously defined and, therefore, provides superior information to IAS. We investigate comparative value relevance, measured as the slope coefficient of the returns/earnings regression. Our results are consistent with expectations. Within our sample of German companies traded on German stock exchanges, value relevance of U.S. GAAP based earnings is higher than that of IAS based earnings, which in turn is more value relevant than earnings produced under German GAAP. A major contribution of this research is that, unlike prior research, we measure stock returns for all sample firms in the German stock market only, and therefore are not reliant on the perhaps strong assumption underlying prior studies of similarity of pricing across markets domiciled in different countries.
Agricultural credit rationing in Ghana: what do formal lenders look for?

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach - – This study employed descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Heckman's two-stage regression model to identify types of rationing faced by farmers and investigate factors that influence agricultural credit rationing by formal financial institutions. Data used in this study are gathered through a survey of 595 farmers in seven districts within Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Findings - – The result reveals that farmers face three types of rationing. Evidence from the Heckman two-stage models shows that engagement in off farm income generating activities, increase in farm size, positive balances on accounts and commercial orientation of the farmers has the potential to reduce rationing of credit applicants by formal lenders. Practical implications - – The results provide information on the factors that need to be considered as important in an attempt to reduce agricultural credit rationing by formal lenders. Originality/value - – The value of this study is that farmers would use the results of this study to improve access to required amount of agricultural credit from formal financial institutions. The information would also benefit stakeholders in the agricultural sector, particularly youth in agriculture program organized by Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Ghana as how to improve access to credit and reduce rationing of program participants by formal financial institutions.
Leader–member exchange, subordinate stewardship, and hierarchical governance

In this article, by integrating the institutional theory, leader–member exchange (LMX) theory, and stewardship theory, we propose a model of subordinate stewardship behaviors in organizational hierarchies and the resultant hierarchical governance structures. First, we develop propositions suggesting that the quality of LMX (supervisor–subordinate) is determined by three antecedents: leader characteristics, subordinate characteristics, and internal organizational context. The quality of LMX, in turn, affects the subordinate stewardship behaviors. Second, by integrating institutional theory and stewardship theory, we propose that the interaction between isomorphic pressures and the level of subordinate stewardship behaviors may result in four distinct types of hierarchical governance structures: isomorphic stewardship, isomorphic controls, firm-specific controls, and firm-specific stewardship. These governance mechanisms reflect the internal drive toward subordinate stewardship, while complying with the external norms of isomorphism. Thus, different types of governance structures may exist between and within firms. Implications of this model are discussed here.
Tert-Butylhydroquinone pretreatment protects kidney from ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND It is generally accepted that an excessive production of reactive oxygen species plays an important role in acute renal failure secondary to ischemia and reperfusion. tert-Butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) is a well-known antioxidant. In this study, we evaluated whether tBHQ pretreatment prevented renal damage induced by ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). METHODS Four groups of rats were studied: (a) control-sham (CT), (b) tBHQ-sham (tBHQ), (c) I/R and (d) tBHQ + I/R. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of tBHQ (50 mg/kg) were given to the tBHQ and tBHQ + I/R groups and 3% ethanol/isotonic saline solution to the CT and I/R groups. Animals were killed 24 hours after I/R. RESULTS tBHQ attenuated I/R-induced renal dysfunction, structural damage, oxidative/nitrosative stress, glutathione depletion and the decrease in several antioxidant enzymes. CONCLUSION The renoprotective effect of tBHQ on I/R injury was associated with the attenuation in oxidative/nitrosative stress and the preservation of antioxidant enzymes.
Electronics production upgrading: is China exceptional?

In this article, we make use of a unique world electronics production dataset to assess China's upgrading trajectory in the global electronics industry. Contrary to existing trade studies, we find no evidence that China's electronics production activities are more sophisticated than one would expect from its level of development. We also find little evidence that China is rapidly upgrading into more sophisticated production activities.
Inflation announcements and financial market reaction: evidence from the long-term bond market

Relations between business margins and structural variables including buyer and seller concentrations have been examined using data on strategic business units in the PIMS data base. The results are compared with earlier work based on industry classified data. It is now possible to identify whether the observed changes in margin are due to direct effects on profit or to changes in the "fixed" costs included in gross margins. New data are presented on the role of capacity utilisation in relation to the balance of buyer and seller power and on changes in margin through the life cycle.
What is the Optimal Way to Subdivide Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

ABSTRACT The clinical presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) varies not only across patients but over the course of the disorder. This diversity indicates that OCD is a heterogeneous disorder, which may have an important impact on psychopathological, longitudinal, genetic, and treatment research. To better understand OCD heterogeneity, more homogeneous phenotypic descriptions are necessary to delimiting clinically meaningful subgroups of patients. Besides phenotypic descriptions, another method of delimiting OCD patient subgroups includes the search for endophenotypes (extended phenotypes) based on neurophysiological, immunological, genetic, neuropsychological, or neuroanatomic (neuroimaging) paradigms. This article will describe some strategies that deal with OCD heterogeneity, including the identification of more homogeneous phenotypical categories, an improved understanding of obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions and how to use them as quantitative traits, and broadening the diagnostic boundaries of OCD to include other related conditions. The relevance and limitations of each approach are also discussed. Since the etiological mechanisms associated with the expressions of OCD are unknown, there is probably not one but several heuristic strategies to search for more homogeneous OCD subgroup, that combined may provide the most fruitful results.
Land and Happiness

The distribution of land rights is an important economic and political issue, and it played a central role in the transition process in Europe and Asia. This paper analyzes the impact of the distribution of land on household welfare by using subjective well-being data from a rural household survey in Moldova, the poorest country in Europe. The recent land reform in Moldova provides a natural experiment on the impact of land ownership distribution on subjective well-being. We find that household land holdings have a positive effect on subjective well-being, but neighbors' average land holdings have a negative effect on subjective well-being. People, regardless of the land distribution and even given the relatively low living standards of these households, rate their welfare by looking at how much other people possess.