Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary intake of polychlorinated dioxins, furans and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls from foods of animal origin in China

Four food groups of animal origin from the Chinese Total Diet Study (TDS) in 2000 were analysed for 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The samples were from four regions, covering 12 provinces of China. PCDD/Fs, expressed as WHO toxic equivalents (TEQ), ranged from 0.02 to 0.28 pg TEQ g−1 and dioxin-like PCBs ranged from 0.01 to 0.24 pg TEQ g−1 (wet weight, ND = LOD), in all samples. Using food consumption data from a 3-day household dietary survey, daily dietary intake of dioxin-like compounds from foods of animal origin in China was estimated. Daily intake among regions ranged 0.09–0.59 pg TEQ kg−1 body eight day−1.
Underlying factors of ups and downs in financial leverage overtime

We present new stylized facts on the underlying reasons of US hospitality and tourism firms’ fluctuating levels of financial leverage during the period 1990–2015 using comprehensive micro- and macro-level accounting data overtime. To characterize this puzzling phenomenon, we quantified firm-specific and macroeconomic parameters and a diverse set of leverage proxies at various time frames with various structures. We further took account of the recent economic upheaval in our analyses so that we can compare firms’ leverage behavior as “before” and “after” the major economic turmoil in 2007–2009 periods. The primary themes of our arguments were that firm-specific leverage factors significantly influenced short-term leverage, while long-term leverage was mostly determined by macroeconomic indicators. Beyond that, book leverage was more favorable across firms than market leverage. Last, hospitality and tourism firms substantially extended their borrowing capacities, aggressively grew their leverage ratios, and dramatically increased collateral values leading to lower cost of borrowing due to relaxed lending standards in the aftermath of the recent upheaval. Our article complements previous work by examining whether leverage factors demonstrate discrepancies from the prior findings and by proposing rigorous industry-specific outlook and solution for the financial leverage literature.
Antisense MDM2 enhances the response of androgen insensitive human prostate cancer cells to androgen deprivation in vitro and in vivo

Antisense MDM2 oligonucleotide (AS‐MDM2) sensitizes androgen sensitive LNCaP cells to androgen deprivation (AD) in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we investigated the effects of AS‐MDM2 combined with AD on androgen resistant LNCaP (LNCaP‐Res) and moderately androgen resistant bcl‐2 overexpressing LNCaP (LNCaP‐BST) cells.
Normal embryonic development and cardiac morphogenesis in mice with Wnt1‐Cre‐mediated deletion of connexin43

Mice harboring a null mutation in the gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) die shortly after birth due to an obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract of the heart. These hearts exhibit prominent pouches at the base of the pulmonary outlet, i.e., morphological abnormalities that were ascribed to Cx43‐deficiency in neural crest cells. In order to examine the Cx43 expression pattern in neural crest cells and derived tissues and to test whether neural crest‐specific deletion of Cx43 leads to the conotruncal defects seen in Cx43null mice, we ablated Cx43 using a Wnt1‐Cre transgene. Deletion of Cx43 was complete and occurred in neural crest cells as well as in neural crest‐derived tissues. Nevertheless, hearts of mice lacking Cx43 specifically in neural crest cells were indistinguishable from controls. Thus, the morphological heart abnormalities of Cx43 null mice are most likely not caused by lack of Cx43 in neural crest cells. genesis 44:269–276, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, high‐dose cytarabine, and autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation as postremission treatment in patients with de novo acute myelogenous leukemia

Postremission therapy is critical in maintaining complete remission (CR) in patients with de novo acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The aim of this trial was to compare allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), high‐dose cytarabine (ara‐C; HiDAC), and autologous SCT as postremission therapy in patients with de novo AML.
Immune response profiles of calves following vaccination with live BCG and inactivated Mycobacterium bovis vaccine candidates

Conventional control and eradication strategies for bovine tuberculosis (BTB) face tremendous difficulties in developing countries; countries with wildlife reservoirs, a complex wildlife-livestock-human interface or a lack of veterinary and veterinary public health surveillance. Vaccination of cattle and other species might in some cases provide the only suitable control strategy for BTB, while in others it may supplement existing test-and-slaughter schemes. However, the use of live BCG has several limitations and the global rise of HIV/AIDS infections has furthermore warranted the exploration of inactivated vaccine preparations. The aim of this study was to compare the immune response profiles in response to parenteral vaccination with live BCG and two inactivated vaccine candidates in cattle. Twenty-four mixed breed calves (Bos taurus) aged 4–6 months, were allocated to one of four groups and vaccinated sub-cutaneously with live M. bovis BCG (Danish 1331), formalin-inactivated M. bovis BCG, heat-killed M. bovis or PBS/Montanide™ (control). Interferon-γ responsiveness and antibody production were measured prior to vaccination and at weekly intervals thereafter for twelve weeks. At nine weeks post-priming, animals were skin tested using tuberculins and MTBC specific protein cocktails and subsequently challenged through intranodular injection of live M. bovis BCG. The animals in the heat-killed M. bovis group demonstrated strong and sustained cell-mediated and humoral immune responses, significantly higher than the control group in response to vaccination, which may indicate a protective immune profile. Animals in this group showed reactivity to the skin test reagents, confirming good vaccine take. Lastly, although not statistically significant, recovery of BCG after challenge was lowest in the heat-killed M. bovis group. In conclusion, the parenteral heat-killed M. bovis vaccine proved to be clearly immunogenic in cattle in the present study, urging further evaluation of the vaccine in challenge studies using virulent M. bovis and assessment of vaccine efficacy in field conditions.
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC INVESTOR BEHAVIOR: A SYNTHESIS OF BEHAVIORAL BIAS IN BEHAVIORAL FINANCE

This literature review aims to synthesize various research findings studying the foreign investor's superiority to the domestic. This synthesis was conducted by combining numerous findings of the research that has been performed by specialty researchers relating to the investor behavior at capital market. There were four main articles that were ran into or contemplated with several behavioral biases in behavioral finance like self-attribution bias, illusion of control bias, conservative bias, ambiguity of eversion bias, and endowment bias. In addition, it was also connected to the phenomenon of the existence of foreign investor at capital market that is extremely dominant. However, the research findings of the cause of foreign investors’ superiority to the domestic at capital market are not uniform among the researchers. It causes by several factors like the aggressiveness of investor, information superiority, poor timing, non-egalitarian investor distribution, and the power of psychological dimension of investment among the investors. For that reason, there is an opportunity to the next researchers to study this inconsistent result in advance.
Hind limb unloading, a model of spaceflight conditions, leads to decreased B lymphopoiesis similar to aging

Within the bone marrow, the endosteal niche plays a crucial role in B‐cell differentiation. Because spaceflight is associated with osteoporosis, we investigated whether changes in bone microstructure induced by a ground‐based model of spaceflight, hind limb unloading (HU), could affect B lymphopoiesis. To this end, we analyzed both bone parameters and the frequency of early hematopoietic precursors and cells of the B lineage after 3, 6, 13, and 21 d of HU. We found that limb disuse leads to a decrease in both bone microstructure and the frequency of B‐cell progenitors in the bone marrow. Although multi‐potent hematopoietic progenitors were not affected by HU, a decrease in B lymphopoiesis was observed as of the common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) stage with a major block at the progenitor B (pro‐B) to precursor B (pre‐B) cell transition (5‐ to 10‐fold decrease). The modifications in B lymphopoiesis were similar to those observed in aged mice and, as with aging, decreased B‐cell generation in HU mice was associated with reduced expression of B‐cell transcription factors, early B‐cell factor (EBF) and Pax5, and an alteration in STAT5‐mediated IL‐7 signaling. These findings demonstrate that mechanical unloading of hind limbs results in a decrease in early B‐cell differentiation resembling age‐related modifications in B lymphopoiesis. —Lescale, C. , Schenten, V. , Djeghloul, D. , Bennabi, M. , Gaignier, F. , Vandamme, K. , Strazielle, C. , Kuzniak, I. , Petite, H. , Dosquet, C. , Frippiat, J.‐P., Goodhardt, M. Hind limb unloading, a model of spaceflight conditions, leads to decreased B lymphopoiesis similar to aging. FASEB J. 29, 455‐463 (2015). www.fasebj. org
Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on European Agriculture

Climate plays a fundamental role in agriculture because of to its influence on production. All processes are regulated by specific climatic requirements. Furthermore, European agriculture, based on highly developed farming techniques, is mainly oriented to high quality food production that is more susceptible to meteorological hazards. These hazards can modify environment–genotype interactions, which can affect the quality of production. The COST 734 Action (Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on European Agriculture), launched in 2006, is composed of 28 signature countries and is funded by the European Commission. The main objective of the Action is the evaluation of possible impacts arising from climate change and variability on agriculture and the assessment of critical thresholds for various European areas. The Action will concentrate on four different tasks: agroclimatic indices and simulation models, including review and assessment of tools used to relate climate and agricultural processes; evaluation of the current trends of agroclimatic indices and model outputs, including remote sensing; developing and assessing future regional and local scenarios of agroclimatic conditions; and risk assessment and foreseen impacts on agriculture. The work will be carried out by respective Working Groups. This paper presents the results of the analysis of the first phase of inventory activity. Specific questionnaires were disseminated among COST 734 countries to collect information on climate change analysis, studies, and impact at the European level. The results were discussed with respect to their spatial distribution in Europe and to identify possible common long‐ and short‐term strategies for adaptation.
Tackling endogeneity: alternatives for analysis of womens employment and child care in Brazil.

There is an ongoing discussion among economic demographers about the existence and importance of simultaneity bias in the analysis of a variety of household behaviors. In particular researchers have differing opinions on the degree to which family structure especially recent fertility should be treated as endogenous to other decisions. A range of approaches may be applied to this issue of endogeneity. Endogeneity in family structure and the potentially serious problem of simultaneity bias have been addressed with regard to a research project on womens employment and family strategies for the provision of care for young children in urban Brazil. The issue of endogeneity is explored using several estimation alternatives applying each to the same problem. The approaches proposed include instrumental variables twins-based methods and nonparametric estimation. The authors focus specifically upon the relationship between mothers employment and the demand for child care in urban Brazil when the presence of young children may be endogenous.
Base Station Selection in Uplink Macro Diversity Cellular Systems with Hybrid ARQ

In a cooperative multi-cell network the uplink signal coming from each mobile terminal (MT) is simultaneously demodulated by multiple base stations (BSs). Both backhaul capacity and BS processing capabilities limit the number of demodulating BSs. In order to fit the information exchange among BSs to backhaul resources we minimize the average number of demodulating BSs, under a constraint on the average outage probability. The BS selection problem becomes more complicated when error control configurations as automatic repeat request (ARQ) and hybrid ARQ (HARQ) with chase combining or incremental redundancy are considered. Multi-cell processing is implemented both by decoding the packet at each BS and by a joint decoding among BSs. We first derive the outage probability as a function of the number of cooperating BSs and the error control strategy. A heuristic approach for BS selection is then developed, to find at each frame which BSs perform demodulation and share the information in the backhaul. Lastly, we show that backhaul usage can be reduced up to 64% with respect to an unoptimized solution.
Blast injury from explosive munitions.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of blast in common war injuries. METHODS One thousand three hundred and three patients injured by explosive munitions and demonstrating extremity wounds without other penetrating injuries were admitted to the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade between 1991 and 1994. Of these, 665 patients (51%) had symptoms and physical signs that were compatible with the clinical diagnosis of primary blast injury, whereas the remaining 658 patients did not. RESULTS Random sampling of 65 patients in the blast group during the early posttraumatic period showed statistically significant elevations in blood thromboxane A2 (TxA2), prostacyclin (PGI2), and sulfidopeptide leukotrienes compared with the random sample of 62 patients in the nonblast group. This difference could not be accounted for by differing injury severity between the groups, because the severity of wounds as measured by both the Injury Severity Score and the Red Cross Wound Classification was similar in both groups. Amongst blast patients, 200 patients (30%) had long-term (1 year) symptoms and signs reflecting central nervous system disorders. These symptoms and signs were only sporadically found in 4% of the nonblast patients. These findings indicate that primary blast injury is more common in war injuries than previously thought and that of those affected by blast, a surprisingly high proportion retain long-term neurologic disability. The elevation in eicosanoids could be used to confirm and monitor blast injury. CONCLUSION In relation to the immediate management of patients injured by explosive weapons, it follows that particular attention should be paid to the presence and/or development of blast injury. Our findings indicate that blast is more common in war injuries than previously thought. Eicosanoid changes after blast injury suggest that blast injury causes a major physiologic stress. A variety of effects on the central nervous system suggest that blast injury could be responsible for some aspects of what is now considered to be the posttraumatic stress disorder.
Pathway analysis of Pichia pastoris to elucidate methanol metabolism and its regulation for production of recombinant proteins

This research rationally analyzes metabolic pathways of Pichia pastoris to study the metabolic flux responses of this yeast under methanol metabolism. A metabolic model of P. pastoris was constructed and analyzed by elementary mode analysis (EMA). EMA was used to comprehensively identify the cell's metabolic flux profiles and its underlying regulation mechanisms for the production of recombinant proteins from methanol. Change in phenotypes and flux profiles during methanol adaptation with varying feed mixture of glycerol and methanol was examined. EMA identified increasing and decreasing fluxes during the glycerol–methanol metabolic shift, which well agreed with experimental observations supporting the validity of the metabolic network model. Analysis of all the identified pathways also led to the determination of the metabolic capacities as well as the optimum metabolic pathways for recombinant protein synthesis during methanol induction. The network sensitivity analysis revealed that the production of proteins can be improved by manipulating the flux ratios at the pyruvate branch point. In addition, EMA suggested that protein synthesis is optimum under hypoxic culture conditions. The metabolic modeling and analysis presented in this study could potentially form a valuable knowledge base for future research on rational design and optimization of P. pastoris by determining target genes, pathways, and culture conditions for enhanced recombinant protein synthesis. The metabolic pathway analysis is also of considerable value for production of therapeutic proteins by P. pastoris in biopharmaceutical applications. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 30:28–37, 2014
Homocysteine, bone mineral density, and fracture risk over 2 years of followup in women with and without systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of baseline homocysteine levels with bone mineral density (BMD) and incidence of fractures over 2 years in women with and without systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Women with SLE (n = 100) and without SLE (n = 100) were matched according to age (+/- 5 yrs), race, and menopausal status. Data were collected from 1997 to 2004, including hip, lumbar spine (L-spine), and distal forearm BMD, serum homocysteine levels, and a self-administered questionnaire on osteoporosis risk factors, medications and symptomatic fractures at baseline and 2-year followup. Analyses were performed to compare homocysteine levels, BMD, and incident fractures and to evaluate the relationship of homocysteine with BMD and incident fractures in both groups. RESULTS Mean homocysteine +/- SD was higher (p < 0.001) in women with SLE (9.88 +/- 3.8 micromol/l) than in women without SLE (7.98 +/- 2.6 micromol/l). Women with SLE had significantly lower L-spine BMD Z-scores, while hip BMD Z-scores and distal forearm BMD T-scores were nonsignificantly lower than in women without SLE. No significant correlations were observed between homocysteine and BMD in either group. Thirteen women with SLE experienced new fractures, while 4 women without SLE had new fractures over 2 years (p = 0.035); however, there was no association between homocysteine levels and incident fractures in either group. CONCLUSION Women with SLE had significantly greater baseline homocysteine, lower L-spine BMD, and more new fractures over 2 years, compared with women without SLE. Homocysteine levels were not significantly associated with BMD and did not predict new fractures in women with or without SLE over 2 years.
Relation of sexual risks and prevention practices with individuals’ stigmatising beliefs towards HIV infected individuals: an exploratory study

Objective: To investigate how an individual’s stigmatising beliefs towards people living with HIV are related to his or her own sexual risk and protective behaviours. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted to assess HIV related stigmatising beliefs, risk sexual behaviours, and preventive practices among sexually experienced rural to urban migrants aged 18–30 years in 2002 in Beijing and Nanjing, two large Chinese cities. Results: Among 2153 migrants, 7.2% reported having had more than one sexual partner in the previous month, 9.9% had commercial sex partners, and 12.5% had an episode of a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Only 18% reported frequently or always using condoms, with 20% sometimes or occasionally using them. 57% of the Chinese migrants were willing to take a voluntary HIV test, and 65% had HIV related stigmatising beliefs towards people living with HIV. Multiple logistic regression analysis depicts that individual’s stigmatising beliefs towards people with HIV were positively associated with having had an episode of an STD, having multiple sex partners, or having had commercial sex partners, and were negatively associated with condom use and the willingness to accept an HIV test. Conclusion: The finding that one’s own stigmatising belief is a potential barrier to HIV related preventive practices highlights the difficulties and challenges in implementing behavioural interventions.
Concentrated ambient fine particles and not ozone induce a systemic interleukin-6 response in humans

Epidemiological studies have established significant associations between ambient pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3), and cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality. One mechanism that has been proposed is a pulmonary/systemic inflammatory response. Although controlled human exposure studies have examined the independent inflammatory responses of PM2.5 and O3, no studies have previously examined their joint effects. The study objective was to examine the independent and combined associations between ambient PM2.5 and O3 and acute respiratory/inflammatory responses. Using their concentrated ambient particle (CAP) facility for PM2.5, the authors studied 10 mild asthmatic and 13 nonasthmatic individuals. The 2-h exposures included CAP (range 48–199 μg/m3) and filtered air (FA), with/without O3 (120 ppb), in a randomized block design. Response measures included pulmonary function and inflammatory indices in induced sputum (interleukin [IL]-6, cytology) and blood (IL-6, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α) measured before and after exposures. Three hours post exposure, there was an increase in blood levels of IL-6, but only after CAP alone exposures; the IL-6 increase was associated with increasing PM2.5 mass concentration (p = .005). Some individuals switched to shallow breathing during CAP+O3, possibly accounting for an attenuation of the resultant blood IL-6 response. Asthmatic and nonasthmatic responses were similar. There were no adverse changes in pulmonary function or other inflammatory measures. The study demonstrated an acute IL-6 response to PM2.5, providing evidence to support the epidemiological findings of associations between ambient levels of particles and cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality.