Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acellular pertussis vaccines for use among infants and young children

Pertussis is still one of the most common vaccine-preventable childhood diseases in developed countries. Infants, particularly those < 6 months, are the most susceptible and those who suffer the greatest disease burden and mortality. In the 1970s, concerns about the reactogenicity of whole-cell vaccines led to a decrease in vaccine coverage and later the re-emergence of the disease in many countries. The advent of acellular vaccines in recent years has constituted an important advance in the acceptance of this immunisation and consequently the control of the disease. The efficacy of acellular pertussis vaccines is ∼ 59 – 93%, similar to whole-cell vaccines, but all available data confirm the substantial improvement in safety of the new vaccines. With the licensure of acellular pertussis vaccines and combined vaccines containing them, pertussis immunisation has become significantly developed. Furthermore, the possibility of continuing to vaccinate adolescents and adults with new diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (dTap) vaccines is an important step in achieving control and elimination of the disease.
Why Do Some Patents Get Licensed While Others Do Not?

To understand why some patents get licensed and others do not, we estimate a portfolio of firm- and patent-level determinants for why a particular licensor’s patent was licensed over all technologically similar patents held by other licensors. Using data for licensed biopharmaceutical patents, we build a set of alternate patents that could have been licensed-in using topic modeling techniques. This provides a more sophisticated way of controlling for patent characteristics and analyzing the attractiveness of a licensor and the characteristics of the patent itself. We find that patents owned by licensors with technological prestige, experience at licensing, and combined technological depth and breadth have a greater chance at being chosen by licensees. This suggests that a licensor’s standing and organizational learning rather than the quality of its patent alone influence the success of outward licensing.
Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the open reading frame of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase gene and resulting genetic variants in Canadian Holstein and Jersey cows

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) catalyzes the synthesis of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) from their saturated counterparts in the mammary gland and adipose tissue of ruminant animals. We hypothesize that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the SCD gene account for some of the differences in SCD activity, and consequently for some of the variations in CLA and MUFA content of milk fat between Holsteins and Jersey cows and within these two breeds. We analyzed the open reading frame of the SCD gene of 44 Holsteins and 48 Jerseys for SNPs by sequencing. Three SNPs: 702A → G, 762T → C and 878C → T were identified in both breeds and a further SNP, 435G → A, was unique to Holsteins. The SNPs characterized four different genetic variants in Holsteins: A (G435A702T762C878), A1 (A435A702T762C878), B (G435G702C762T878) and B1 (A435G702C762T878), with only variants A and B in Jerseys. SNP 878C → T resulted in a non-synonymous codon change while the rest resulted in synonymous codon changes giving rise to two protein variants, A having alanine and B having valine. Allele A was the most prevalent in the two breeds. These differences may, therefore, contribute to existing variations in CLA and fat content between and within Canadian Holstein and Jersey cows.
Influence of on-site Coulomb interaction U on properties of MnO(001)2 × 1 and NiO(001)2 × 1 surfaces

We investigate the non-polar and antiferromagnetic (001) surfaces of MnO and NiO crystallizing in the antiferromagnetic type-II phase by means of spin-polarized density functional theory. Results are presented for surface energy, magnetization, and electronic structure. Besides the comparison of the two materials with differently filled minority-spin t2g shells we study the influence of exchange–correlation treatment within two schemes, the generalized gradient approximation GGA and the GGA + U scheme including an effective on-site d–d interaction U.
The efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy for house dust mites respiratory allergy: results of a GA²LEN meta‐analysis

Recent meta‐analyses documented the efficacy and safety of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AA). Although SLIT appeared globally effective, the sub‐analyses for single allergens provided uncertain results. This study is aimed to investigate the efficacy of SLIT with house dust mite (HDM) extracts in AR and AA through an updated reassessment of randomized controlled trials. Electronic databases were searched up to March 31, 2008, for randomized DBPC trials, assessing the efficacy of SLIT in AR and AA due to HDM sensitization. Outcomes were symptom scores and rescue medications use. For AR, eight studies fulfilled the selection criteria. A significant reduction in symptoms of AR (SMD −0.95; CI 95%−1.77 to −0.14 P = 0.02) was found in 194 patients (adults and children) receiving SLIT compared to 188 receiving placebo. For AA, with nine studies, similar results were found for symptoms (SMD −0.95; CI 95%−1.74 to −0.15 P = 0.02) in 243 patients (adults and children) receiving SLIT compared to 209 receiving placebo. A reduction in rescue medication use was found for AR (SMD −1.88; CI 95%−3.65 to −0.12 P = 0.04) in 89 patients, and AA (SMD −1.48; CI 95%−2.70 to −0.26 P = 0.02) in 202 patients. A relevant inter‐study heterogeneity was detected. Promising evidence of efficacy for SLIT, using mite extract in allergic patients suffering from AR and AA, are herein shown. These findings suggest that more data are needed, derived from large‐population‐based high quality studies, and corroborated by objective outcomes, mainly for AA.
Colorectal polyps and diet: A case‐control study in Marseilles

This study investigates the differences in usual past diet between 252 subjects with newly diagnosed adenomatous or villous polyps of the colon and rectum and a group of 238 hospital controls. Cases and controls were interviewed in hospital by 3 nutritionists using a dietary history questionnaire focused on the diet during the preceding year. Nutrient intake was estimated by means of ad hoc food tables adapted from French and British tables. Out of 16 food groups considered in the analyses, the cases reported lower consumption of oil and potatoes and higher consumption of sugar added to food and drink. Among nutrients, we found that cases had a lower consumption of carbohydrates (not taking into account added sugar), potassium, magnesium and vitamin B6. We found a slightly lower intake of fibre and a slightly higher intake of saturated fat among cases, though neither was statistically significant. Intake values for fibre and for carbohydrates were highly Interco related and, due to measurement errors, the effect of one may be masked by the other and vice versa. The hypothesis that some components of carbohydrates (starches, fibre and natural sugars but not added sugar) play a protective role in relation to the biology of tumours of the intestinal tract is considered in further multivariate analyses and in the “Discussion”.
Preoperative Laboratory Testing of Children Undergoing Elective Surgery

The routine preoperative evaluation of pediatric patients often includes a history, physical examination, complete blood count, and urinalysis (UA). We retrospectively reviewed the records of 486 elective surgeries in children to determine the role of abnormal preoperative laboratory test results in perioperative management. Anemia or microcytosis was apparent in 17% of patients, and abnormal UA results were found in 25%. More than 80% of the abnormal UA results were historically known, clinically insignificant, or false-positives.Only five children had surgery canceled owing to abnormal laboratory tests: two owing to anemia, two to an abnormal UA, and one because of a prolonged partial thromboplastin time. Both children with anemia were treated with iron and subsequently underwent surgery without complication. Of the abnormal UAs, one was contaminated, and the cancellation of surgery resulted in a complication requiring emergency surgery. The other abnormal UA was a probable asymptomatic bacteriuria, and the infant later underwent surgery uneventfully. These data suggest that a routine UA adds little to the preoperative evaluation of a healthy child, and should be omitted.
Complex segregation analysis of familial diseases with variable age of onset: Comparison of different methods by a simulation study

Standard methods of segregation analysis, such as originally developed in the unified model (UM) or the regressive logistic model (RLM) do not account for age of onset, and use instead age at examination. To take into account age of onset, models should be formulated using survival analysis concepts, as it was recently proposed with a model based on a logistic hazard function (LHM). A simulation study was conducted to compare the performances of the three methods (UM, RLM, and LHM) in analyzing generated familial data with variable age of onset. When the data were simulated under a polygenic hypothesis, all analysis models were robust with respect to the false conclusion of a major gene, if the tests of transmission probabilities were performed properly. When the data were generated under a major gene hypothesis, two main results were observed: (1) the use of the LHM markedly increased the power to detect a major gene, in particular when a genotype by age interaction was introduced in the model; and (2) in the situation of disease‐specific mortality, the use of either UM (whether specific mortality was accounted for or not) or RLM led to both spurious conclusions and bias in parameter estimates. These latter results obtained with the UM and the RLM can be explained by the violation of one constraint of both models observed in a situation of disease‐specific mortality, i.e., given all covariates, the probability of being affected and that of not being affected should sum to 1. The use of methods based on survival analysis concepts is recommended in the study of familial diseases with variable age of onset, especially in the case of a correlation between age of onset and age at examination which is induced by disease‐specific mortality. ©1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Technological Innovation and the Distribution of Employment Growth: a firm-level analysis

This work studies the firm-level relationship between different types of innovative activities and employment growth rates. Improving on previous investigations on the topic, it combines a dynamic panel analysis of the effects of different types of product and process innovation on employment growth with an outlook on the whole conditional employment growth distribution. Results show that product innovation -- especially in terms of good new to the entire market -- has a positive effect on employment growth. This role is likely to be particularly relevant for both fast-growing and shrinking firms. Process innovation appears instead to have less clear-cut dynamics, consistently with existing evidence. Among different types of process innovation, the introduction of novel auxiliary processes appears to be more positively linked with employment growth.
Computed tomography using algebraic reconstruction techniques (ARTs) with different projection access schemes: a comparison study under practical situations

In a previous report we presented a novel ART technique with the projections arranged and accessed in a multilevel scheme (MLS) for efficient algebraic image reconstruction, but whether the scheme is still superior in real situations where the data are noisy is unknown. In this paper, we make a detailed comparison between MLS and the other two conventional projection access orderings in ART: the random permutation scheme (RPS) and the sequential access scheme (SAS). By simulating reconstructions of a human head using different sizes of detector, taking different numbers of projections, each measurement under a different number of photons, a full mapping of the reconstruction accuracy measured by correlation coefficient for the three schemes has been made. Test results demonstrate that one-iteration MLS produces the best reconstruction in many situations. It outperforms one-iteration RPS when the noise level is low. SAS in many cases can never attain the image quality of one-iteration MLS, even with many more iterations. A convergence test using different initial guesses also demonstrates that MLS has less initial dependence. In the Fourier domain, it also represents an efficient and fast implementation of the Fourier slice theorem.
Economic Convergence In Ageing Europe

This paper investigates youth migration in Russia at the sub-regional level of administrative division. The aim of the research is to assess the volume of internal youth migration in cohort perspective. The task is only doable with the use of census data, which not only makes it possible to conduct research at the sub-regional level, but also provides much more accurate information on youth migration than the current migration record. I utilize cohort-component analysis to study sub-regional population dynamics. As mortality is quite insignificant at young ages, most of the change in cohort size is caused by migration. My estimates show that during the last intercensal period, 2003-2010, up to 70 percent of youth cohorts have left the regional periphery after graduating from school, and there was no substantial return to the demographically depleted periphery in the young working ages.
Relationship between energy expenditure and stress behaviors of preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.

PURPOSE This research evaluated the relationship between behaviors and energy expenditure in preterm infants receiving nursing interventions. DESIGN AND METHODS This study was an explorative secondary data analysis from a previous study. The current study investigated energy expenditure calculated using heart rate-based energy expenditure-estimate across 500 repeated measures for 37 infants. RESULTS Research results indicate that preterm infants expend more energy when they show the following seven behaviors: grimace, sucking, diffusion squirm, fist, gape face, salute, and sneezing. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The interventions for preterm infants should be flexible, according to the infant's stress behaviors and conditions of energy expenditure.
Neuropsychological Function, Anxiety, Depression and Pain Impact in Fibromyalgia Patients

Abstract Cognitive deficits have a significant impact on the daily performance of fibromyalgia patients. This paper analyzes executive functioning and decision-making performance, and the relationships between these functions and pain, anxiety, depression and medication in fibromyalgia patients. A group of fibromyalgia patients (FG) (n = 85) was compared with a healthy control group (CG) (n = 85) in their performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). In the WCST, results showed a percentage of non-perseverative errors significantly higher in the CG than in the FG (p = .026), the other variables (percentage of perseverative errors, number of categories and failures to maintain set) showed no significant differences. In relation to decision-making (IGT), once the rules had been learnt, the FG made fewer advantageous choices than the CG, but these differences were not statistically significant (p = .325). In the FG, pain severity (p = .010) and impact on daily activities (p = .016) interfered with decision-making, unlike anxiety, depression or medication, which did no relate to it. In executive function, pain and impact on daily activities were associated with the percentage of perseverative errors (p = .051) and the number of categories (p = .031), whereas pain severity was related to failures to maintain set (p = .039), indicative of increased distractibility and poor attentional ability. In conclusion, FG showed normal performance in executive functioning and decision-making. Moreover, pain was associated with neuropsychological functioning whereas anxiety, depression and medication were not.
Responses of land evapotranspiration to Earth’s greening in CMIP5 Earth System Models

Satellite-observed Earth’s greening has been reproduced by the latest generation of Earth System Models (ESMs) participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Land evapotranspiration (ET) is expected to rise with increasing leaf area index (LAI, Earth’s greening). The responses of ET play a key role in the land–climate interaction, but they have not been evaluated previously. Here, we assessed the responses of ET to Earth’s greening in these CMIP5 ESMs. We verified a significant and positive response of ET to the modeled greening in each model. However, the responses were not comparable across the ESMs because of an inherent bias in the sensitivity of ET to LAI ( ∂ E T / ∂ L A I ) in the models: ∂ E T / ∂ L A I is precisely and inversely proportional to the trend of LAI ( ∂ L A I / ∂ t ) across the ESMs. Constrained by this inversely proportional relationship with the satellite-observed ∂ L A I / ∂ t , the Earth’s ∂ E T / ∂ LAI is 0.26 (0.21–0.34) mm d−1 per m2 m−2, equaling the independent estimates from satellite-derived reconstructions of ET and LAI. Thus, the Earth’s greening-induced acceleration of ET is about 11.4 mm yr−1, accounting for more than 50% of the observed increase in land ET over the last 30 years. To better model the land–climate interaction, ∂ E T / ∂ L A I in these ESMs should be calibrated. A feasible means is to improve the representation of the magnitude of LAI in these CMIP5 ESMs.
Does weight loss prognosis depend on genetic make‐up?

The prevalence of obesity is rising throughout the world. Indeed, obesity has reached epidemic proportions in many developed and transition countries. Obesity is a complex disease with multifactorial origin, which in many cases appears as a polygenic condition affected by environmental factors. Treatment or prevention of obesity is necessary to reverse or avoid the onset of type 2 diabetes and other obesity‐related diseases. Weight loss is a complex trait that depends on many environmental, behavioural and genetic influences. An effective programme for the management of overweight and obesity must take into account all of these factors. Individual responses to weight loss interventions vary widely and reliable predictors of successful slimming are poorly understood. The individual genetic make‐up participating in energy expenditure regulation, appetite control, lipid metabolism and adipogenesis, have been reported to affect the risk of treatment failure in some subjects. In addition, the genotype could also help to predict the changes in lipid profile, cardiovascular risk factors and insulin sensitivity in response to weight loss. Herein, the current evidence from human studies that support the existence of a genetic component and the participation of different polymorphisms in the prognosis of weight loss induced by interventions leading to a negative energy balance are reviewed.
FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY (1987-2015): INVESTIGATING THE NEXUS

The study examines the relationship between financial liberalization and performance of the Nigerian economy using time series spanning data (1987-2015). The data used to conduct this studywere collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and National Bureau of Statistics. Hypotheses were formulated and tested using time series econometrics techniques.The study reveals that the variables do not have unit roots. There is also long-run equilibrium relationship between financial liberalization and performance of the Nigerianeconomy.The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) result confirms that about 73% short-run adjustment speed from long-run disequilibrium. The coefficient of determination indicates that about 63% of the variations in performance of the Nigerian economycan be explained by changes in financial liberalization variables. There is no causality between financial liberalization andperformance of the Nigerian economy. The study therefore recommends that, strong macroeconomic policies such as (monetary and fiscal) should be adopted to maintain and stabilize the economy. CBN should lay down strict prudential rules and regulations to stabilize and strengthen the banking industry. The Government and monetary authority should implement policies that will increase the flow of investable funds and improves the capacity of banks to extend credit to the economy.
Predictors of outcome in civilians with gunshot wounds to the head upon presentation.

OBJECT Prediction of outcome from initial presentation after a gunshot wound to the head (GSWH) is essential to further clinical decision making. The authors' goals are to report the survival and functional outcomes of these patients, to identify prognostic factors, and to propose a scoring system that can predict their outcome. METHODS The records of 199 patients admitted with a GSWH with dural penetration between 1990 and 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusion criterion was a CT scan available for review. Patients declared brain dead on presentation were excluded, which yielded a series of 119 patients. Statistical analysis was performed using a logistic regression model. RESULTS Fifty-eight (49%) of the 119 patients died. Twenty-three patients (19%) had a favorable outcome defined as a 6-month Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score of moderate disability or good recovery, 35 (29%) had a poor outcome (GOS of persistent vegetative state or severe disability), and 3 (3%) were lost to follow-up. Significant prognostic factors for mortality were age older than 35 years, nonreactive pupils, bullet trajectory of bihemispheric (excluding bifrontal), and posterior fossa involvement compared with unihemispheric and bifrontal. Factors that were moderately associated with higher mortality included intracranial pressure (ICP) above 20 mm Hg and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at presentation of 3 or 4. Upon multivariate analysis, the significant factors for mortality were bullet trajectory and pupillary response. Variables found to be significant for good functional outcome were admission GCS score greater than or equal to 5, pupillary reactivity, and bullet trajectory of unihemispheric or bifrontal. Factors moderately associated with good outcome included age of 35 years or younger, initial ICP 20 mm Hg or lower, and lack of transventricular trajectory. In the multivariate analysis, significant factors for good functional outcome were bullet trajectory and pupillary response, with age moderately associated with improved functional outcomes. The authors also propose a scoring system to estimate survival and functional outcome. CONCLUSIONS Age, pupils, GCS score, and bullet trajectory on CT scan can be used to determine likelihood of survival and good functional outcome. The authors advocate assessing patients based on these parameters rather than pronouncing a poor prognosis and withholding aggressive resuscitation based upon low GCS score alone.