Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Between perception and reality: the economy and trust in Latin American political institutions

Abstract What is the effect of the economy on political trust among Latin American countries? The few studies that have examined the causal link between the economy and trust in institutions have observed the phenomenon in a synchronic way, adopting information collected at the individual or at the aggregate level. The results shown by these works reveal a citizenry that is dissatisfied, less tolerant towards the political class, and oriented to de-legitimize the political system. In this work, which analyses the political attitudes of citizens in 18 Latin American countries from a longitudinal perspective (1996–2013), the conjoint effect that economic perceptions and the real economy have on political trust is estimated. In particular, by using data from the Latinobarómetro, we show that in contexts where the political regime continues to alternate between democracy and authoritarianism, citizens’ sociotropic understanding of the economy contributes to strengthening the relationship between citizens and political institutions.
The Impact of a Social Marketing Campaign on HIV and Sexually Transmissible Infection Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Australia

Background In response to increasing HIV and other sexually transmissible infection (HIV/STI) notifications in Australia, a social marketing campaign Drama Downunder (DDU) was launched in 2008 to promote HIV/STI testing among men who have sex with men (MSM). We analyzed prospective data from (1) an online cohort of MSM and (2) clinic-level HIV/STI testing to evaluate the impact of DDU on HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia testing. Materials and Methods (1) Cohort participants who completed 3 surveys (2010–2014) contributed to a Poisson regression model examining predictors of recent HIV testing. (2) HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia tests among MSM attending high caseload primary care clinics (2007–2013) were included in an interrupted time series analysis. Results (1) Although campaign awareness was high among 242 MSM completing 726 prospective surveys, campaign recall was not associated with self-reported HIV testing. Reporting previous regular HIV testing (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–4.4) and more than 10 partners in the previous 6 months (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 1.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–1.4) was associated with recent HIV testing. (2) Analysis of 257,023 tests showed increasing monthly HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia tests pre-DDU. Post-DDU, gonorrhea test rates increased significantly among HIV-negative MSM, with modest and nonsignificant increasing rates of HIV, syphilis, and chlamydia testing. Among HIV-positive MSM, no change in gonorrhea or chlamydia testing occurred and syphilis testing declined significantly. Conclusions Increasing HIV/STI testing trends among MSM occurred pre- and post-DDU, coinciding with other plausible drivers of testing. Modest changes in HIV testing post-DDU suggest that structural changes to improve testing access may need to occur alongside health promotion to increase testing frequency.
Patients’ Views on Importance and Usefulness of Plain Radiography for Low Back Pain

Study Design. Quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional interview study. Objectives. To investigate how patients who are referred for plain radiography because of low back pain perceive the importance and usefulness of the examination. Summary of Background Data. Up to 50% of plain radiography examinations for low back pain may be unnecessary based on clinical criteria. However, many patients have great confidence in these examinations. A further exploration of the patients’ views may indicate how their needs can be met without unnecessary use of radiography. Methods. Ninety-nine patients (65 women, 34 men) 14–91 years of age who were referred from Norwegian general practitioners for plain radiography of the lumbosacral spine were asked to rate the examination as slightly/fairly or very important (93 responded). Chi-squared tests were used to evaluate differences in rating according to age, gender, clinical history, and clinical appropriateness of the examination, as determined by comparing information in the referral form with Norwegian (NR) and British (BR) recommendations for use of radiography. Each of the 99 patients also underwent a semistructured interview that was based on questions about importance, usefulness, and reasons for the radiography referral. Answers were categorized and described using a qualitative method (template analysis). Results. Seventy-two percent (68 of 93) of patients rated radiography as very important. The proportion was higher for men than women (85%vs. 65%, P = 0.04), higher for those with worsening than those with improving/unchanged symptoms (86%vs. 65%, P = 0.03), and higher for inappropriately than appropriately referred patients (NR: 76%vs. 61%, P = 0.17; BR: 81%vs. 56%, P = 0.01). The qualitative analysis showed that the patients related their views on the importance and usefulness of receiving radiography to seven different issues: symptoms and clinical history, information and advice (especially from health care providers), need for emotional support from the physician, need for certainty and reassurance, need for symptom explanation and diagnosis, reliability of radiography compared with clinical evaluation, and expected practical consequences of the radiologic examination. Conclusions. The finding that inappropriately referred patients tended to rate their radiography referral as more important than appropriately referred patients indicates that the patient’s view may be a substantial barrier to appropriate use of radiography. The study identified seven issues underlying the patients’ views on importance and usefulness of receiving radiography. Strategies to prevent unnecessary use of plain radiography for low back pain that address these issues are suggested.
The impact of supplier performance measurement systems on supplier performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of a mature supplier performance measurement system (SPMS) adoption all along its lifecycle phases (i.e. design, implementation, use and review) on the suppliers’ performance. Design/methodology/approach The research hypotheses have been tested on a final sample of 147 pairs of buyer-supplier responses, collected by means of a dyadic survey involving manufacturing firms and one key supplier of their choice. The research framework has been tested through a structural model using PLS regression. Findings Considering the joint effect of all the four SPMS phases on supplier performance, the findings show that the system use and review play a prominent effect: the former have a positive impact on supplier quality, delivery and sustainability performance; the latter positively affects supplier delivery, innovation and sustainability. A mature design displays a positive effect on supplier sustainability performance, while a mature implementation results to negatively affect supplier innovation performance. Finally, cost performance is not impacted by any of the four phases. Originality/value This study contributes to the open debate regarding the relationship between SPMSs and actual supplier performance improvement. In particular, the lifecycle perspective is introduced to clearly distinguish among each phase of adoption and assess their relative impact on supplier performance. Besides, the dyadic nature of the study allows to investigate different subcomponents of supplier performance jointly considering the buyer company and supplier company perspective, thus achieving a more insightful and robust information.
Younger age at HAART initiation is associated with more rapid growth reconstitution

Objectives:Patterns of growth following highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) administration among children are not well defined. The objective of this study was to determine rates and predictors of growth reconstitution among children on HAART. Methods:A study was conducted among HIV-1-infected children initiating HAART at an HIV treatment clinic in Kenya. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression models compared catch-up growth (Z-score ≥0) at 12 months post-HAART. Multivariate linear mixed-effects models determined rates and predictors of growth following HAART. Results:One hundred and seventy-three HIV-1-infected children initiated HAART with a median age of 4.7 years [interquartile range (IQR) 2.4, 7.0]. At baseline, children below 3 years had lower weight-for-age (WAZ) and weight-for-height (WHZ) Z-scores than children 3–5 and 6–10 years (WAZ: P = 0.03; WHZ: P = 0.006). Adjusting for baseline growth, children below 3 years were two to three-fold more likely to attain population age-norms (Z-score = 0) than 6–10 years (WAZ: P = 0.055; WHZ: P = 0.005) at 12 months post-HAART. After adjustment, children below 3 years had higher increases in WAZ and WHZ following HAART than 6–10 years (WAZ: P = 0.006; WHZ: P = 0.005). Children at WHO stage at least 3 at baseline experienced more rapid WHZ reconstitution (P = 0.002). Food supplementation while on HAART was associated with increased monthly gains in weight indices (WAZ: P = 0.001; WHZ: P = 0.005), and multivitamins were associated with greater increases in height (P < 0.01). Conclusion:Following HAART initiation, younger children had more rapid catch-up to the population-average weight of their peers than older children, demonstrating growth benefit of earlier HAART. In addition to HAART, food supplementation and multivitamins may also accelerate growth reconstitution.
Consanguinity and Prereproductive Mortality in the Utah Mormon Population

To test the effects of parental consanguinity on mortality among offspring, inbreeding coefficients were estimated for 303,675 members of the Utah Mormon population who were born between 1847 and 1945. Although consanguinity has been relatively rare in this population, the large sample size permitted the identification of more than 3,500 inbred offspring. Among the offspring of unrelated parents, 13.2% died before the age of 16. Significant elevations in prereproductive mortality were seen among the offspring of first-cousin marriages (22%) and among the offspring of closer unions (32%). The cor- responding relative risks are 1.70 (95% confidence limits = 1.52, 1.91) and 2.41 (95% confidence limits = 1.59, 3.41), respectively. Other categories of relationship did not produce significant elevations in offspring mortality. Similar results were obtained when a case-control approach was used to remove the effects of socioeconomic variation. Consistent with many other studies of populations with low consanguinity rates, this population experienced a relatively high absolute increase in mortality among the offspring of first-cousin marriages (9%). Preliminary evidence is offered for the hypothesis that mortality differentials are larger in populations with low inbreeding and low mortality because nongenetic causes of death do not obscure the effects of consanguinity.
Investing time in microscopy: an opportunity to optimise smear-based case detection of tuberculosis.

SETTING St. Elizabeth Hospital, rural North-west Cameroon, an area with high tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence. OBJECTIVE To measure the time spent during routine sputum smear microscopy and assess whether reexamining slides for 10 min translates into higher case detection of smear-positive cases. DESIGN A prospective observational study over a 6-month period with three components: 1) timing of routine sputum smear examination; 2) blinded reexamination of all slides for 10 min and results compared with initial readings; and 3) blinded re-examination, by the original microscopists, of a portion of false-negative slides mixed with true negatives for 10 min. RESULTS A total of 204 patients submitted 612 sputum specimens for screening. The median routine examination time was 2 min 6 seconds (interquartile range 1:30-2:30). A 10 min examination significantly increased the number of positive smears from 82 to 116 (P = 0.0083), and overall case detection from 28 to 48 patients (P = 0.011). On review by the original readers, more than half of the false-negative slides were reported as positive after 10 min. CONCLUSION Sputum smear microscopy has low sensitivity if performed too quickly, and 10 min re-examination significantly increases case detection. Ensuring that smears are examined for the recommended duration may be a simple and low-cost way to improve case detection.
The capitalist spirit in the business elite in Gujarat

ix Zusammenfassung. x Introduction . 11 Problem Formulation and Research Question . 12 Scope of Thesis . 13 Structure of Thesis . 18 CHAPTER 1. Literature Review and State of the Art . 20 Entrepreneurial Culture in India . 21 Studies on the Capitalist Spirit in India . 22 Gujarat: Between Business Tradition and Embracing Liberalization . 25 Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism . 27 The New Spirit of Capitalism. 30 Theories on Globalization and Culture . 31 Overcoming Fallacies of the Theories on Globalization and Culture . 34 Conclusion . 35 CHAPTER 2. Theoretical Considerations . 37 Analytical Concepts . 37 Ethos . 38 Max Weber and his concepts for spirit. 40 Weberian ethos and Bourdieuan habitus . 41 THE CAPITALIST ETHOS IN GUJARAT iii Revisiting Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice. 43 Field. 44 Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of ethos. 45 Conclusion . 5
Nitric Oxide Suppresses Apoptosis via Interrupting Caspase Activation and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Cultured Hepatocytes*

Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent inhibitor of apoptosis in many cell types, including hepatocytes. We and others have described NO-dependent decreases in caspase activity in cells undergoing apoptosis. However, previous work has not determined whether NO disrupts the proteolytic processing and thus the activation of pro-caspases. Here we report that NO suppresses proteolytic processing and activation of multiple pro-caspases in intact cells, including caspase-3 and caspase-8. We found that both exogenous NO as well as endogenously produced NO via adenoviral inducible NO synthase gene transfer protected hepatocytes from tumor necrosid factor (TNF) α plus actinomycin D (TNFα/ActD)-induced apoptosis. Affinity labeling with biotin-VAD-fmk of all active caspase species in TNFα-mediated apoptosis identified four newly labeled spots (activated caspases) present exclusively in TNFα/ActD-treated cells. Both NO and the caspase inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-CHO, prevented the appearance of the four newly labeled spots or active caspases. Immunoanalysis of affinity labeled caspases demonstrated that caspase-3 was the major effector caspase. Western blot analysis also identified the activation of caspase-8 in the TNFα/ActD-treated cells, and the activation was suppressed by NO. Furthermore, NO inhibited several other events associated with caspase activation in cells, including release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, decrease in mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in TNFα/ActD-treated cells. These findings indicate the involvement of multiple caspases in TNFα-mediated apoptosis in hepatocytes and establish the capacity of NO to inhibit not only active caspases but also caspase activation.
Corporate governance and default prediction: a reality test

ABSTRACT Default prediction has commanded the attention of researchers for at least 50 years. This paper addresses several testable hypotheses regarding the relations between corporate governance and default prediction. We employ the conventional logistic regression to provide empirical evidence from U.S. default data over the period of 2000 to 2015. Empirical results are consistent with the following notions: First, default firms are associated with high ownership concentration, low shareholder rights, low financial transparency and disclosures, and less board effectiveness. Second, in-sample and out-of-sample tests support the incremental contribution of corporate governance information on default prediction, when compared with the models involving just financial information.
Underreaction to Political Information and Price Momentum

This study examines whether momentum in stock prices is induced by changes in the political environment. We find that momentum profits are concentrated among politically sensitive firms and industries. During the 1939 to 2011 period, a trading strategy with a long position in winner portfolios (industries or firms) that are politically unfavored and a short position in losers that are politically favored eliminates all momentum profits. Further, our political sensitivity based factor (POL) explains 23-25% (38-40%) of monthly stock (industry) momentum alphas, and generates large increases in time-series R-squared for the momentum factor. This incremental explanatory power is especially strong around Presidential elections when the level of political activity is high. Collectively, our results suggest that investor underreaction to political information generates momentum in stock and industry returns.
nm23 protein expression in colorectal carcinoma metastasis in regional lymph nodes and the liver.

AIMS The nm23 gene has been shown to have metastasis suppressing activity and abnormalities of the gene or its expression may be important in tumour progression and dissemination. This study was set out to investigate the possible role of the nm23 in colorectal adenocarcinoma dissemination by examining the level of nm23 protein expression in colorectal carcinoma metastasis in regional lymph nodes and the liver. METHODS Using a monoclonal antibody, NCL-nm23 (Novocastra), immunohistochemical expression of the nm23 protein was examined in cases of metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma in regional lymph nodes (n=71) and liver (n=36). RESULTS The cases of lymph-node metastasis also had tissues from the primary carcinoma (n=71) and matching normal non-neoplastic mucosal tissues (n=71) from the colon and rectum available for the study. More than half of the cases of primary colorectal carcinoma (43/71; 60%) displayed strong nm23 immunoreactivity, with a similar proportion of the lymph-node metastases (40/71 cases; 56%) having strong nm23 immunostaining. However, only a small minority of the normal controls of non-neoplastic colorectal epithelia (12/71 cases; 17%) had strong nm23 immunoreactivity. The difference in nm23 protein expression between normal colorectal mucosa and primary colorectal carcinoma was statistically significant (P=0.0001; chi-squared test with continuity correction). However, no significant difference in nm23 protein expression was found between primary colorectal carcinoma and lymph-node metastases (P=0.81; chi-squared test with continuity correction). Most of the liver metastases (24/36 cases; 67%) had strong nm23 immunostaining but this finding was not statistically significant when compared with that seen in primary colorectal carcinoma (P=0.62; chi-squared test with continuity correction). In addition, nm23 expression was not found to significantly correlate with 5-year survival of patients with liver metastasis (P=0.86), suggesting that it had no predictive value for overall patient survival. There was also no significant correlation between disease recurrence and nm23 expression (P=0.63). CONCLUSIONS In summary, increased nm23 protein immunoreactivity is seen in the majority of colorectal carcinomas when compared to normal colorectal tissues but no significant difference in nm23 expression was found between primary colorectal carcinoma and metastatic carcinoma in regional lymph nodes or the liver. This study suggests that increased nm23 expression may be important in early colorectal carcinoma but not in later progression and dissemination of the tumour. In conclusion, the role and importance of the nm23 gene in the development of tumour metastasis in colorectal carcinoma is questionable.
Population-based evaluation of the ‘LiveLighter’ healthy weight and lifestyle mass media campaign

The Western Australian (WA) ‘LiveLighter’ (LL) mass media campaign ran during June–August and September–October 2012. The principal campaign ad graphically depicts visceral fat of an overweight individual (‘why’ change message), whereas supporting ads demonstrate simple changes to increase activity and eat healthier (‘how’ to change message). Cross-sectional surveys among population samples aged 25–49 were undertaken pre-campaign (N = 2012) and following the two media waves (N = 2005 and N = 2009) in the intervention (WA) and comparison state (Victoria) to estimate the population impact of LL. Campaign awareness was 54% after the first media wave and overweight adults were more likely to recall LL and perceive it as personally relevant. Recall was also higher among parents, but equal between socio-economic groups. The ‘why’ message about health-harms of overweight rated higher than ‘how’ messages about lifestyle change, on perceived message effectiveness which is predictive of health-related intention and behaviour change. State-by-time interactions showed population-level increases in self-referent thoughts about the health-harms of overweight (P < 0.05) and physical activity intentions (P < 0.05). Endorsement of stereotypes of overweight individuals did not increase after LL aired. LL was associated with some population-level improvements in proximal and intermediate markers of campaign impact. However, sustained campaign activity will be needed to impact behaviour.
Mechanical Stretching Elevates Peptidyl Arginine Deiminase 2 Expression in Astrocytes

Purpose: To determine whether the mechanical stretching renders modulation of the peptidyl arginine deiminase 2 (PAD2) expression in cultured astrocytes. Methods: Isolated rat brain astrocytes were subjected to mechanical stretching using a glass bead set-up and polyethylene set-up with or without immobilization. Activity assays and ELISA were performed to detect PAD2 expression. Protein deimination levels in the cells were measured using an anti-citrulline ELISA. PAD2 expression in cells subjected to mechanical stretching was compared with controls. Astrocytes were also subjected to pressure treatment and compared to control cells for PAD2 expression and deimination levels. Results: Astrocytes subjected to mechanical stretching with or without immobilization showed elevated PAD2 expression. Pressure treatment of astrocytes (25–100 mmHg) also resulted in elevated PAD2 expression and deimination. Conclusion: These results suggest mechanical stretching induced PAD2 expression and consequent protein deimination.