Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Threat or opportunity? acquisitions of minority shareholdings in the context of competition law, in light of the European Commission’s white paper: European Commission’s white paper: towards more effective EU merger control (COM (2014) 449 final)

Lapin yliopisto, oikeustieteiden tiedekunta Työn nimi: Threat or opportunity? Acquisitions of Minority Shareholdings in the context of Competition law, in light of the European Commission’s White Paper: European Commission’s White Paper: Towards more effective EU Merger Control (COM (2014) 449 final) Tekijä: Heikki Lindroos Opetuskokonaisuus ja oppiaine: Velvoiteoikeus Työn laji: Tutkielma X Laudaturtyö__ Lisensiaatintyö__ Kirjallinen työ__
Progression of pneumoconiosis in coal miners after cessation of dust exposure: a longitudinal study based on periodic chest X-ray examinations in Hokkaido, Japan.

BACKGROUND The progression rate of pneumoconiosis in retired coal miners over ten years has not been studied in Japan. METHODS A retrospective longitudinal study was undertaken using chest X-rays of 1091 pneumoconiosis subjects in Hokkaido, Japan between 1985 and 2005. RESULTS The final numbers of subjects were 207 (19% of the entry) after 1 decade and 85 (8%) after 2 decades. Sixty-two percent of 207 subjects after 1 decade and 29% of 85 showed progression in 2 decades. Thirty-one percent of ILO category 1 and 55% of category 2 subjects showed progression to complicated pneumoconiosis after 1 decade, and 6% (4 of 64) of category 1 and 6% (5 of 77) of category 2 subjects progressed to complicated pneumoconiosis during 2 decades. CONCLUSION The progression of pneumoconiosis was observed after the cessation of dust exposure, especially during the first 10 years.
Utility of Dermatoglyphic Pattern in Prediction of Caries in Children of Telangana Region, India.

INTRODUCTION Dermatoglyphics is an extremely useful tool as a preliminary investigation method for diagnosing suspected genetic disorders. Caries being a multifactorial disease with the influence of genetic pattern, early identification of caries risk children with dermatoglyphics can help in using effective and efficient caries preventive measures. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The study was undertaken to record and know the frequency of occurrence of fingerprint patterns among children with caries and in children without caries. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 400 schoolchildren in the age group of 5 to 12 years were selected from a private school, Warangal, Telangana, India. Of 400 schoolchildren, 200 children were with caries group and 200 children were in caries-free group. Children with dental caries in five or more teeth based on the decayed, missing, filled teeth index performed were considered as study group, and the control group was normal healthy children without any dental caries. The fingerprints of each child were recorded using stamp pad method, and type of dermatoglyphic pattern of each digit was recorded based on Cummins and Midlo method. Data obtained were put for statistical analysis; p < 0.001 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS Although the frequency of whorl pattern was more prevalent in caries group, it was statistically significant on the left hand third digit of females and on the right hand third digit and the left hand fourth digit of males. Fingerprints of female caries-free group showed maximum of ulnar loop and males showed maximum of arches. There was a decrease in total ridge count in caries group, especially in males. CONCLUSION Dermatoglyphics could be an appropriate method to explore the possibility of a noninvasive and an early predictor for dental caries. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Dermatoglyphics has a future role in identifying people with or at increased risk for dental caries so that risk reduction measures or earlier therapy may be instituted.
Using Contingent Valuation in Hypothetical Settings: Estimating the WTP for an HIV/AIDS Vaccine

A contingent valuation survey was carried out to assess willingness to pay (WTP) for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. The survey was conducted among students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban. The payment card method was used to elicit willingness to pay estimates. Questions on demographics, socio-economic status, sexual behaviour, HIV risk and HIV testing were also collected and analysed in an ANOVA regression model to determine their effect on the WTP variable. Among the respondents, 71.5% would want to be vaccinated at a mean WTP of $108 (R648) and median of $33.4 (R200). The most common reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated were concerns about the safety of the vaccine and a low perceived risk of contracting HIV. Higher ability to pay (higher monthly income) was positively associated with WTP. Having been tested for HIV before and being female were both found to decrease WTP. While the limits of the willingness to pay method were acknowledged, the results have important implications regarding investment decisions into vaccine research and development as well as the design of marketing campaigns for a future AIDS vaccine. Indeed this is the first study asking such questions for a potential high risk specific target group of 16–24 year old adults.
The Association Between Social Capital and Depression Among Chinese Older Adults Living in Public Housing

Abstract Social capital is a critical resource for physical and mental health among older adults, but few studies have investigated this relationship in Chinese populations, and specifically among those with low socioeconomic status. This study examined the association between depression and cognitive social capital (reciprocity and trust) and structural social capital (social participation) in a community sample of older adults living in public housing in Macau (SAR), China (N = 366). Multivariable linear regressions estimated the associations between dimensions of social capital and depression, while adjusting for potential confounders. Significant inverse associations were found between reciprocity and trust and depression. No association was found between social participation and depression. Poor self-reported health was a robust correlate of depression in all models tested. Future studies are needed to evaluate whether enhancing social capital may reduce depression among Chinese older adults living in poverty.
Very early development of steroid-associated osteonecrosis of femoral head in systemic lupus erythematosus: prospective study by MRI

The objective of this study was to define prospectively the early development of corticosteroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONF) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to identify the association of initial steroid treatment with the development of early (silent) ONF. Forty-five patients who were newly diagnosed as having SLE and required 40 mg/day or more prednisolone were enrolled. To detect silent ONF, examinations using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were done three months after starting steroid therapy, followed by every year’s MRI and plain radiography for over five years. Clinical and laboratory data were compared between silent ONF and non-ONF groups. Of 45 patients, 15 (33%) developed silent ONF and five (11%) symptomatic ONF. It was of interest that MRI detected silent ONF very early (by three months) in 14 patients (93%). It should be noted that pulse therapy with 1000 mg/day methylprednisolone was found to be done very frequently (13 of 15, 87%) in the silent ONF group compared to non-ONF group (11 of 30, 37%) (P, 0.01) although other clinical features were not significantly different between both groups. High dose corticosteroids caused elevation of serum levels of total cholesterol, albumin, and leukocyte count in most of patients. The degree of elevation of those parameters at one or three months was more prominent in the silent ONF group. In particular, the change ratio of total cholesterol at one month was outstanding in the silent ONF group compared to non-ONF group (0.551 versus 0.374, P, 0.05). In conclusion, pathological ONF develops very early in one-third of SLE patients who received high dose corticosteroids and steroid pulse therapy could be a significant risk factor. An abrupt elevation of serum total cholesterol and/or sensitivity to steroids seem to be associated with the pathogenesis of ONF.
Management of psoriasis with Aloe vera extract in a hydrophilic cream: a placebo‐controlled, double‐blind study *

The purpose of this double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and tolerability of topical Aloe vera extract 0.5% in a hydrophilic cream to cure patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Sixty patients (36M/24F) aged 18–50 years (mean 25.6) with slight to moderate chronic plaque‐type psoriasis and PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) scores between 4.8 and 16.7 (mean 9.3) were enrolled and randomized to two parallel groups. The mean duration of the disease prior to enrolment was 8.5 years (range 1–21). Patients were provided with a precoded 100 g tube, placebo or active (with 0.5%Aloe vera extract), and they self‐administered trial medication topically (without occlusion) at home 3 times daily for 5 consecutive days per week (maximum 4 weeks active treatment). Patients were examined on a weekly basis and those showing a progressive reduction of lesions, desquamation followed by decreased erythema, infiltration and lowered PASI score were considered healed. The study was scheduled for 16 weeks with 12 months of follow‐up on a monthly basis. The treatment was well tolerated by all the patients, with no adverse drug‐related symptoms and no dropouts. By the end of the study, the Aloe vera extract cream had cured 25/30 patients (83.3%) compared to the placebo cure rate of 2/30 (6.6%) (P<0.001) resulting in significant clearing of the psoriatic plaques (328/396 (82.8%) vs placebo 28/366 (7.7%), P<0.001) and a decreased PASI score to a mean of 2.2. The findings of this study suggest that topically applied Aloe vera extract 0.5% in a hydrophilic cream is more effective than placebo, and has not shown toxic or any other objective side‐effects. Therefore, the regimen can be considered a safe and alternative treatment to cure patients suffering from psoriasis.
Inflammation and platelet activation in peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

OBJECTIVES Epidemiological evidence indicates that inflammation accompanies the progression of atherosclerosis. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to define relationships between platelet activation and inflammation in patients with mild to severe (stages II to IV) peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) and matched controls. The effect of chronic administration of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid was investigated. METHODS Subjects were studied on a single occasion. C-reactive protein (CRP) and two indexes of in vivo platelet activation were measured - the urinary excretion of 11-dehydrothromboxane (TX) B(2) by immunoassay and circulating platelet-monocyte aggregates (PMAs) by flow cytometry. RESULTS Plasma PMAs and urinary 11-dehydro-TXB(2) were significantly increased in PAOD patients compared with controls (P<0.01 for all). A positive correlation between 11-dehydro-TXB(2) and CRP was found in the study population (r(s)=0.63, P<0.001). Using logistic regression analysis, CRP was the only independent correlate of 11-dehydro-TXB(2) (β(CRP)=11.9, P<0.01), whereas only the presence of PAOD was an independent predictor of high PMA levels (β(PAOD)=13.7, P=0.001). Chronic administration of acetylsalicylic acid reduced 11-dehydro-TXB(2), but not PMA and CRP. CONCLUSIONS There is evidence that platelet activation in patients with PAOD is related to the vascular disease and is dependent on the severity of inflammation.
Identification and Characterization of Human Endometrial Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells and Their Potential for Cellular Therapy

Human endometrium is a highly regenerative tissue, undergoing more than 400 cycles of proliferation, differentiation, and shedding during a woman's reproductive life. Adult stem cells, including mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), are likely responsible for the immense cellular turnover in human endometrium. The unique properties of MSCs, including high proliferative ability, self‐renewal, differentiation to mesodermal lineages, secretion of angiogenic factors, and many other growth‐promoting factors make them useful candidates for cellular therapy and tissue engineering. In this review, we summarize the identification and characterization of newly discovered MSCs from the human endometrium: their properties, the surface markers used for their prospective isolation, their perivascular location in the endometrium, and their potential application in cellular therapies.
Evaluation of White Matter Injury Patterns Underlying Neuropsychiatric Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

PURPOSE To determine if a central axonal injury underlies neuropsychiatric symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) by using tract-based spatial statistics analysis of diffusion-tensor images. MATERIALS AND METHODS The institutional review board approved this study, with waiver of informed consent. Diffusion-tensor imaging and serial neurocognitive testing with the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing evaluation were performed in 45 patients with mTBI (38 with irritability, 32 with depression, and 18 with anxiety). Control subjects consisted of 29 patients with mTBI without neuropsychiatric symptoms. Fractional anisotropy and diffusivity maps were analyzed by using tract-based spatial statistics with a multivariate general linear model. Diffusion-tensor imaging findings were correlated with symptom severity, neurocognitive test scores, and time to recovery with the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS Compared with control subjects, patients with mTBI and depression had decreased fractional anisotropy in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (P = .006), white matter around the nucleus accumbens (P = .03), and anterior limb of the internal capsule (P = .02). Patients with anxiety had diminished fractional anisotropy in the vermis (P = .04). No regions of significantly decreased fractional anisotropy were seen in patients with irritability relative to control subjects. Injury in the region of the nucleus accumbens inversely correlated with recovery time in patients with depression (r = -0.480, P = .005). CONCLUSION Unique white matter injury patterns were seen for two major posttraumatic neuropsychiatric symptoms. Injury to the cerebellar vermis in patients with mTBI and anxiety may indicate underlying dysfunction in primitive fear conditioning circuits in the cerebellum. Involvement of the nucleus accumbens in depression after mTBI may suggest an underlying dysfunctional reward circuit that affects the prognosis in these patients.
The mitogen‐activated protein kinase CgHog1 is required for iron homeostasis, adherence and virulence in Candida glabrata

Candida glabrata has emerged as a major fungal pathogen over the last two decades, although our understanding of its survival strategies inside the mammalian host remains rudimentary. An important requirement for survival in vivo is the ability to acquire critical nutrients such as iron from host niches of varied iron content. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that C. glabrata cells respond to high external iron levels via activation of two stress‐responsive mitogen‐activated protein kinases, CgHog1 and CgSlt2, and lack of either kinase results in sensitivity to the high‐iron medium. Furthermore, we show that CgHOG1 deletion led to perturbed iron homeostasis (elevated intracellular iron content and high mitochondrial aconitase activity), reduced survival in macrophages and attenuated virulence in the murine model of disseminated candidiasis. Consistently, several genes implicated in iron acquisition and storage displayed deregulated expression in the Cghog1∆ mutant. Genome‐wide transcriptional profiling analysis revealed upregulation of genes implicated in DNA repair, RNA processing and autophagy, and downregulation of genes related to cellular respiration and organonitrogen compound metabolism under iron‐limiting conditions. In contrast, genes involved in the respiratory electron transport chain were induced under iron‐replete conditions. Gene expression microarrays also identified a set of iron‐responsive regulon in C. glabrata. Lastly, we present evidence for the iron‐regulated expression of the major adhesin‐encoding EPA1 gene, decreased histone deacetylase activity in a high‐iron environment and increased adherence of iron‐surplus‐medium‐grown C. glabrata cells to epithelial cells. Together, our findings yield novel insights into iron abundance‐based regulation of transcriptional and mitogen‐activated protein kinase signaling pathways in C. glabrata.
Type I Error and Power in Noninferiority/Equivalence Trials with Correlated Multiple Endpoints: An Example from Vaccine Development Trials

Abstract Clinical trials necessary for the development of new treatment often require testing of multiple endpoints for equivalence or noninferiority relative to an existing effective standard therapy. An example is a vaccine study with multiple antibody measurements in sera of subjects receiving a combination vaccine such as a pneumococcal vaccine, which contains many different serotypes of the pneumococcal organism. This article describes testing methods for the demonstration of simultaneous marginal equivalence or noninferiority of two treatments on each component of the response vector that follows a multivariate normal distribution. Systematic simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the testing method and to examine under what conditions the power is substantially different if the multiple endpoints are assumed to be independent when they are actually strongly correlated. Data from an illustrative example are used to describe how the study power can be evaluated in the design of the trials.
Experimental tests of the salience theory: disaggregated income statements under two economic states

Abstract We present experimental evidence that unsophisticated investors are better able to make judgments when operating expenses are disaggregated by nature. Disaggregated expenses on the face of income statements increase the salience of information about cost structures and operating leverages that usually disclosed in several parts of the financial statements and notes. The judgments are also affected by economic states. We infer that disaggregation contributes more on making judgments in economic expansion rather than in economic recession. Our results bring empirical evidence to joint FASB/IASB financial statement presentation project and standard setters to encourage consistent principles for the presentation format in financial statements between Chinese GAAP and IFRS.
Average latency and loss probability analysis of Crosspoint Queued crossbar switches

Crossbar switch fabric is one of the most popular architectures for design of high-speed packet switches. Recently, it has been actualized crossbar architecture with buffers only in crosspoints. Such architecture has not problem with implementation of large buffers in crosspoints, any more. Performance analysis of Crosspoint Queued switch for several work conserving scheduling algorithms is presented in this paper. Since there are detailed results of throughput analysis presented in the available literature, in this paper we extended previous research with analysis of average cell latency and loss probability. Maximal buffer occupancy during the simulations is also observed so we can estimate and compare memory requirements of Crosspoint Queued switch for analyzed scheduling algorithms. It is shown that Longest Queue First has lowest memory requirements among simulated algorithms. Also, we proved results from literature that for longer buffers it becomes less important which algorithm is used. Due to easier hardware implementation and absence of starvation, Frame-based Round Robin Matching algorithm becomes most serious candidate among round robin based algorithms.
Prosperity-Pull or Recession-Push?: Mexican Immigrant Self-Employment Across the Business Cycle

Immigrant populations may either be pulled into self-employment by the lure of high wages relative to wage and salary work, or they may be pushed into self-employment as a survival mechanism in the face of unemployment. Research that focuses on Mexican immigrant self-employment in the United States tends to stress the prosperity-pull hypothesis and pay little attention to recession-push hypotheses. The focus of this article is to understand the extent that Mexican immigrants enter self-employment as a response to unemployment. Using a unique panel dataset that captures fast-paced labor market changes over the 1994 to 2013 period, I find that Mexican immigrants – and Mexican immigrant men in particular – are more likely to become self-employed in economically bad times than native workers and less likely to become self-employed than native workers in good times. The threshold where Mexican immigrants have a higher rather than lower probability to become self-employed is at eight percent unemployment. These results filter throughout various subcategories and are consistent with recession-push hypotheses.
Studying user experience of health behavior change support systems : a qualitative approach to individuals’ perceptions of web-based interventions

Behavior change support systems (BCSSs) help people to achieve personal goals that they cannot necessarily achieve on their own. Typical BCSSs include health-related systems and applications. Significant policy and research attention has been aimed at information technologies that enable behavior change in regard to individuals’ health and wellbeing activities. The aim of this dissertation is to build a comprehensive view of health BCSSs, ranging from technology adoption to engagement, persuasion, and habit formation. As its main research question, the present thesis asks: What can user experiences of health BCSS reveal about behavior change? In addition, it proposes a framework for different approaches, which can help developers solve ethical issues in their BCSS design. This dissertation comprises four qualitative studies and one conceptual study. Hermeneutics has been the most influential research method in conducting these studies. Ontologically, hermeneutics leans toward socially constructed reality. The primary conceptual lenses for interpreting the data are the BCSS framework and Persuasive Systems Design model. This thesis extends prior research on eHealth, including non-adoption, flow esperience, use adherence, habit formation, and ethics. The results emphasize that persuasive systems design can affect user experience in different stages of system adoption and learning a new, healthier lifestyle. The presented work addresses health behavior change as a complex issue. Many individuals regard system usefulness in terms of perceived value for themselves rather than in terms of the system’s instrumental value. People are less likely to use the systems if they do not fit into their daily routines. Flow experience appears not to play as fundamental part in the BCSS use experience as is expected. The results suggest that self-monitoring, reminders and tunneling can help users to achieve better outcomes. These persuasive features can help increasing subject’s compliance and commitment, which in turn can help individuals to achieve better habits. Additionally this thesis presents a framework where different ethical approaches are divided to three distinct categories.