Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphologic characteristics of physiologically defined neurons in the cat trigeminal nucleus principalis

Although the principalis nucleus (Vp) contains trigeminothalamic and internuclear tract cells, the functional and morphologic differences between the two kinds of neurons have remained unsettled. The present study was aimed to address these problems by using the intracellular horseradish peroxidase injection technique in the cat. Of 20 neurons stained, 7 and 13 were located in the dorsomedial subnucleus (Vpd) and ventrolateral subnucleus (Vpv) of Vp, respectively. The Vpd neurons received input from the intraoral structures only but the Vpv neurons from the intraoral or facial structures. Nineteen neurons could be divided as class I and class II, based on the branching pattern of their stem axons. Class I (eight neurons) had an ascending stem axon without branching. Class II was divided into two subclasses (IIa and IIb). Class IIa (eight neurons) had an ascending stem axon from which branches were given off. Their branches formed a local‐circuit restricted to the lower brainstem. Class IIb (three neurons) had a stem axon that formed the local‐circuit only. The dendritic morphology was indistinguishable between different classes of neurons and between the subdivisions. Although the dendritic arborization pattern was governed by the location of the somata, it was suggested to be also important elements for determining primary afferent arborizations. In the brainstem nuclei, the jaw‐closing motor nucleus received the highest density of projections from class II neurons with the receptive field involving the periodontal ligaments. The present study provides new findings that Vp neurons could be divided into three distinct populations and suggests that each population exerts a distinct function with respect to sensory discrimination, sensorimotor reflexes, or both. J. Comp. Neurol. 401:308–328, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Essays in international macroeconomics

This thesis studies the effects of external shocks on emerging economies and proposes a novel methodology to assess the spillovers from financial markets to the real economy. The first chapter analyzes how anticipated and unanticipated fluctuations in the U.S. interest rate are transmitted to emerging economies. Exploiting Fed Funds future contracts, I propose a novel way to identify shocks to the U.S. interest rate. An anticipated (unanticipated) 25 basis points contractionary U.S. interest rate shock induces a fall of 0.5 percent in GDP of emerging economies one quarter before (after) the shockmaterializes. The observed dynamics are consistent with the predictions of a small open economy model augmented with a banking sector. Despite the change in relative prices, output significantly falls because banks face restricted access to international financial markets and, thus, tighten their credit supply. The second chapter assesses the relevance of terms of trade fluctuations to explain emerging economies business cycles. Using a sample of Latin American countries, newsaugmented Commodity-TOT (CTOT) shocks are identified by maximizing the forecast error variance share of the CTOT series at a finite future horizon. The combination of news and surprise CTOT shocks explains on average half of output fluctuations and anticipated shocks account for 53 percent of CTOT shocks. The third chapter proposes a novel methodology, called Bridge Proxy-SVAR, to study the relationship between time series sampled at different frequencies. The methodology comprises three steps: (I) identify the structural shocks of interest in high frequency systems; (II) aggregate the series of high frequency shocks at the lower frequency; (III) use the aggregated series of shocks as a proxy for the corresponding structural shock in lower frequency VARs. The Bridge Proxy-SVAR generalizes the applicability of the Proxy-SVAR and significantly mitigates temporal aggregation biases. The fourth chapter provides novel evidence on the large macroeconomic spillovers from changes in the liquidity of sovereign bonds by employing the Bridge Proxy-SVAR. Liquidity shocks, orthogonal to changes in default risk, induce strong recessionary effects in Italy.
Increased rate of conduct problems in urban areas: what is the mechanism?

OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence of conduct problems (CP) according to level of urbanization and to determine which factors account for the potential difference in prevalence rates. METHOD Study 1 used a questionnaire survey of a nationally representative sample of 10,462 Norwegian adolescents. Study 2 used a questionnaire survey of a representative sample of 1,346 adolescents living in Oslo. Self-reported CP included most DSM-III-R criteria for conduct disorder. RESULTS CP rates were similar in all levels of urbanization, except for the only semimetropolitan city in the country, the capital Oslo, which had CP rates twice those of the rest of the country. This increase rate could not be explained by a series of commonly advocated explanations: family structure and parental practices, social network, socioeconomic status, integration in community activities, religious involvement, and race. However, involvement in "soft" drugs and associating with antisocial peers could explain the statistically differential rates. Furthermore, in the Oslo study, adolescents' CP did not vary according to density of population or region within the city. CONCLUSIONS The results support previous studies showing increased rates of CP in urban areas. However, urbanization must pass a certain threshold before it has this effect. Moreover, the lack of support for commonly advocated explanations for the difference between urban and nonurban areas suggests that investigations specifically addressing potential explanations for this difference should be conducted. The results indicate that the increased rates of substance use in highly urbanized areas may account for the difference in CP rates by prolonging and aggravating CP.
Intake of dairy fat and dairy products, and risk of myocardial infarction: A case–control study

The role of dairy fat in the aetiology of myocardial infarction (MI) is controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between intake of dairy fat and dairy products, and risk of a first acute MI. A total of 111 MI patients with a first acute MI and 107 population controls (men and women, age 45–75 years) were studied. Diet was assessed using a 180-item food frequency questionnaire. The MI cases had higher intake of total fat, but lower intake of saturated fat and dairy fat than the control persons. No effect of dairy fat or saturated fat on the odds ratio for MI was observed, however. A significant inverse trend in odds of MI for intake of cheese was observed, but the trend was no longer significant after adjustment for smoking. The results suggest that intake of fat from dairy products may not be associated with increased risk of having a first MI. The healthy control persons had a diet that differed from the diet of the MI patients in many aspects, and dairy products were a part of this diet. This may have protected them from having a first MI.
Decreased Plakophilin-1 Expression Promotes Increased Motility in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells

Desmosomes are prominent cell–cell adhesive junctions found in a variety of epithelial tissues, including the oral epithelium. The transmembrane core of the desmosome is composed of the desmosomal cadherins that interact extracellularly to mediate cell–cell adhesion. The cytoplasmic domain of desmosomal cadherins interact with plaque proteins that in turn interact with the keratin intermediate filament cytoskeleton. Plakophilin 1 is a major desmosomal plaque component that functions to recruit intermediate filaments to sites of cell–cell contact via interactions with desmoplakin. Decreased assembly of desmosomes has been reported in several epithelial cancers. We examined plakophilin-1 expression in an esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue microarray and found that plakophilin-1 expression inversely correlates with tumor grade. In addition, we sought to investigate the effect of plakophilin-1 expression on desmosome assembly and cell motility in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Cell lines expressing altered levels of plakophilin-1 were generated and the ability of these cells to recruit desmoplakin to sites of cell–cell contact was examined. Our results show that decreased expression of plakophilin-1 results in decreased desmosome assembly and increased cell motility and invasion. These data lead us to propose that loss of plakophilin-1 expression during head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) progression may contribute to an invasive phenotype.
Dopamine receptors labelled by PHNO

Since the high‐affinity state of dopamine D2 receptors may be abnormal in psychomotor diseases, it is desirable to develop a radioactive agonist to label this high‐affinity site for possible clinical diagnostic use. (+)PHNO is a selective D2 agonist used to treat Parkinson's disease. We prepared [3H](+)PHNO from allyl‐des‐propyl‐(+)PHNO. In binding to dopamine receptors in homogenates of canine brain striata, [3H](+)PHNO had a dissociation constant of 0.35 nM in the absence of NaCl, and 0.56 nM in the presence of NaCl. Dopamine agonists and antagonists inhibited the binding of [3H](+)PHNO at drug concentrations similar to those inhibiting other [3H]ligands at D2 receptors, but not similar to those acting at D4 receptors. Approximately 90% of the total [3H](+)PHNO binding was specific. Guanilylimidodiphosphate markedly inhibited [3H](+)PHNO binding, suggesting that [3H](+)PHNO was binding primarily to the high‐affinity state of dopamine D2 receptors rather than to D3 receptors. The density of the [3H](+)PHNO binding sites was equal to that of [3H]emonapride (or [3H]YM‐09151‐2), both densities of which were 1.5‐ to 2‐fold higher than that of [3H]spiperone, compatible with the idea that [3H](+)PHNO binds to monomers of D2, while [3H]spiperone binds to dimers of D2. Although [3H](+)PHNO has good selectivity and affinity for the high‐affinity state of D2, the [3H]ligand was sensitive to endogenous dopamine, since washing the tissue lowered the dissociation constant. For future in vivo labelling of D2 by an agonist, therefore, it will be essential to search for a related [3H]ligand with an even lower dissociation constant. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interpretations of Teachers and Pupils on Issues of Child Abuse in Schools around Bindura: Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT The paper assessed interpretations of child abuse in Bindura schools, Zimbabwe, comparing teachers’ and students’ interpretations of child abuse in the school, home, community and analyzed the responsiveness of relevant authorities and inherent social support. A descriptive research design based on questionnaires was used. Schools were chosen based on the supposition that they are safer havens for children than the community and/or home. It was revealed that various forms of child abuse exist, and teachers’ and pupils’ interpretations of child abuse are similar, lengthy jail terms and overhaul of the penal system are a part of the solution to this scourge. Both girls and boys are abused though in varying levels. African cultural beliefs were found to sustain most of the child abuses. It was concluded that there is a general dearth of child abuse knowledge among primary school pupils with the community being the major culprit of child abuse.
The dynamics of disconnection: Differences in disconnection among working-age adults by sex, 2001–2011

ABSTRACT In the wake of welfare reform and the Great Recession, the number of disconnected families – those without earnings and not receiving cash assistance through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), general assistance (GA), unemployment insurance (UI), or Social Security – has increased. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this paper examines disconnection by sex from 2001 to 2011. Discrete-time hazard models reveal sex differences in disconnection. Young men with less labor market experience and single mothers heading households are the most vulnerable to disconnection, suggesting that different policy levers are necessary to reduce disconnection for men and women.
Empirical Performance of GARCH Models with Heavy-tailed Innovations

We introduce a new type of heavy-tailed distribution, the normal reciprocal inverse Gaussian distribution (NRIG), to the GARCH and Glosten-Jagannathan-Runkle (1993) GARCH models, and compare its empirical performance with two other popular types of heavy-tailed distribution, the Student’s t distribution and the normal inverse Gaussian distribution (NIG), using a variety of asset return series. Our results illustrate that there is no overwhelmingly dominant distribution in fitting the data under the GARCH framework, although the NRIG distribution performs slightly better than the other two types of distribution. For market indexes series, it is important to introduce both GJR-terms and the NRIG distribution to improve the models’ performance, but it is ambiguous for individual stock prices series. Our results also show the GJR-GARCH NRIG model has practical advantages in quantitative risk management. Finally, the convergence of numerical solutions in maximum-likelihood estimation of GARCH and GJR-GARCH models with the three types of heavy-tailed distribution is investigated.
Governance and local participation in ecotourism: community-level ecotourism stakeholders in Chiang Rai province, Thailand

ABSTRACT This paper takes as its starting point the assertion that community-based ecotourism is an activity in which not all members of a community are able to be involved (through barriers or factors of exclusion) and/or wish to be involved (through personal choice). This has implications for discussions about community-level stakeholders, governance and tourism development. Firstly, the paper explores the actors’ interactions as they relate to the use of resources and environment. Within this theme are seen more specific sets of social relations and sustainability elements. These elements highlight key factors, beginning with the actors, the resource uses, and continuing with the influence of different resource management regimes, of power and authority, of networks of social relations, of patterns of governance, and of internal and external relations that occur with actors both inside and outside the local villages. The geographical context is three villages in the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai, a key international ecotourism area. The study is underpinned by use of a range of qualitative methods and considers the views of 70 key informants. Participation in tourism by Thai villagers is argued to reflect both ability to be involved (centred on land ownership and its restriction of livelihood opportunities) and active choice of involvement (the extent to which tourism is individually considered as a potential livelihood option). Involvement in community based ecotourism in a traditional hierarchical society like Thailand appears to be linked to an individual's social standing or general position in society and to be far from a matter of free choice. Governance – in the sense of social order, social coordination, social practices – is identified as having a key influence upon the ways in which participation in tourism occurs at a local level. Social status, legitimacy and power are highlighted as issues for further research in relation to further understanding the dynamics of community-based tourism development.
Cerebral dysfunctions of emotion-cognition interactions in adolescent-onset schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE Schizophrenia is among the most severe of psychiatric disorders, leading to impairments of affective and cognitive abilities. These dysfunctions affect each other mutually. Adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) constitutes a particularly severe form of the disorder. In this study, possible dysfunctions of the neural correlates underlying the interaction of negative emotion and working memory in AOS were investigated. METHOD During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 12 patients with AOS and 12 non-AOS adolescents performed a verbal n-back task. Intermittently, negative and neutral emotions were induced by olfactory stimulation. Group differences in working memory, emotion, and their interaction were evaluated. RESULTS In patients with AOS, lower performance sensitivity was observed, along with dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and inferior parietal hypoactivation during working memory demands. For negative versus neutral emotion induction, patients with AOS mainly showed increased brain activation compared with control subjects in widespread brain regions including the left orbitofrontal cortex and the medial frontal gyrus. Finally, during the interaction of emotion and cognition, altered patterns of activation in patients with AOS were found in the thalamocortical network, including the angular and the middle cingulate gyri extending to the precuneus. These activation differences were further decomposed by parameter estimates. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide new insights into the neural correlates underlying the mutual influence of affective and cognitive symptoms in AOS. During the n-back task, areas typically associated with working memory performance were found hypoactivated in patients relative to the control subjects, including the dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortex and the anterior cingulate. However, patients with AOS mainly demonstrated increased activation in key areas of emotion processing, such as the left orbitofrontal cortex and medial frontal areas, during negative emotion induction. A dysfunctional thalamocortical network during the interaction mainly included regions involved in the integration of converging information--either on the subcortical (thalamus) or on a higher-order cortical level (comprising the angular gyrus). These findings point to dysfunctional emotion-cognition interactions in AOS, which may explain its poor prognosis.
Resource constraints, innovation capability and corporate financial fraud in entrepreneurial firms

Purpose Previous studies have produced inconsistent findings regarding the effects of resource constraints on corporate illegal behavior. This study aims to explore how entrepreneurial firms can overcome the difficulties generated by resource constraints. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on insights from general strain theory and focusing on listed entrepreneurial firms, this study proposes that failure to obtain enough resources through listing generates strain in the managers of listed entrepreneurial firms, driving them to resort to corporate financial fraud as a solution. Nevertheless, such relationships between resource constraints and the likelihood of corporate financial fraud can be weakened by innovation capability, because innovation capability can generate more confidence in their managers and relieve their strains, thereby dissuading them from engaging in corporate financial fraud. Findings According to our empirical results, both financial and human resource constraints are positively related to the likelihood of corporate financial fraud in listed entrepreneurial firms, but such effects can be mitigated by innovation capability. Practical implications This study provides practical implications for both regulators and managers by indicating that although entrepreneurial firms with resource constraints are more likely to commit financial fraud, innovation capability could be a strategic approach to enhance managers’ confidence and relieve the strain. Originality/value Our study contributes to the literature by enriching our understanding of the consequences of resource constraints in entrepreneurial firms and highlighting the strategic importance of innovation capability in mitigating such effects.
Method to deterministically study photonic nanostructures in different experimental instruments

We describe an experimental method to recover a single, deterministically fabricated nanostructure in various experimental instruments without the use of artificially fabricated markers, with the aim to study photonic structures. Therefore, a detailed map of the spatial surroundings of the nanostructure is made during the fabrication of the structure. These maps are made using a series of micrographs with successively decreasing magnifications. The graphs reveal intrinsic and characteristic geometric features that can subsequently be used in different setups to act as markers. As an illustration, we probe surface cavities with radii of 65 nm on a silica opal photonic crystal with various setups: a focused ion beam workstation; a scanning electron microscope (SEM); a wide field optical microscope and a confocal microscope. We use cross‐correlation techniques to recover a small area imaged with the SEM in a large area photographed with the optical microscope, which provides a possible avenue to automatic searching. We show how both structural and optical reflectivity data can be obtained from one and the same nanostructure. Since our approach does not use artificial grids or markers, it is of particular interest for samples whose structure is not known a priori, like samples created solely by self‐assembly. In addition, our method is not restricted to conducting samples.
Periodicity in alpha-helix lengths and C-capping preferences.

We surveyed 299 high resolution, non-homologous protein crystal structures for alpha-helix lengths and capping preferences. We find that helices show a preference to have close to an integral number of turns. Helices can be usefully subdivided into either "favoured length" with 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29 or 31 residues, or "disfavoured length" with 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27 or 30 residues. Favoured length helices have their N and C-caps on the same side of the helix so they can lie on the protein surface. There is no significant difference in amino acid preferences at the N terminus between favoured and disfavoured length helices. At the C terminus, favoured length helices prefer non-polar side-chains at C4 and polar amino acid residues at C2, while disfavoured length helices prefer non-polar amino acid residues at C2. There are strong periodic trends in the likelihood of terminating a helix with a Schellman or alphaL C-capping motif. These can be rationalised by the preference for a non-polar side-chain at C3 with these motifs, favouring placing C3 on the buried side of the helix. We suggest that algorithms aiming to predict helices or C-capping in proteins should include a weight for the helix length.