Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epstein–barr virus diversity in immunocompetent healthy persons: Reassessment of the distribution of genetic variants

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) has many strains; however, it remains unclear whether a causal relationship exists between different regions and viral genetic variants in healthy persons. This study was designed to examine the relationship between EBV strains in tonsils and adenoids and peripheral blood lymphocytes of the same individuals using different measurements of EBV strain polymorphism. This study examined whether EBV contains two or three copies of a tandem repeat sequence in the first intron of the BZLF‐1 gene. The genotype of the virus from P3HR‐1, designated Z*, yielded a 415‐bp product, and this was distinguished from the smaller, 386‐bp product obtained with the B95‐8 virus, designated the Z genotype. Simultaneous sequence infections with Z and Z* genotypes were also detected in one of the tonsils examined, suggesting that more than one strain or variant of EBV genotype may be present in a specimen from the same subject. Co‐infection with Z and Z* was recognized in two subjects, so variation of the EBV gene may be seen in at least two different strains of EBV. It was seen that Z and Z* strain‐infected cells are constantly in flux through lymph nodes and/or the blood stream in healthy persons; therefore, these results indicated that EBV genome variants probably show no specific tissue distribution. J. Med. Virol. 86:301–305, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Incommensurability in design science: which comes first—theory or artefact?

There has been much debate and discussion in recent literature about the nature of information systems (IS) theory, the role of theory in design and the notions of design science and design theory. A central idea in much of this literature is the interplay between traditional theory-based research and the development of design theory through the building of information systems artefacts. In this chapter, we describe our recent experiences in the development of an artefact (a rule-based expert system called DG-In) based on a behavioural theory and the challenges we found as we attempted to reconcile it with relevant design theory. The potential for incommensurability in the research cycle between theory and artefact has significant implications for IS research—from both a design-science perspective and a behavioural-science perspective. It brings into question core ideas such as the development of a cumulative research tradition and notions of theory-based design and design theory more generally.
Therapy of ankylosing spondylitis – a review. Part I: Conventional medical treatment and surgical therapy

The main outcome parameters in AS and other SpA are pain, disease activity, function, spinal mobility, and structural progression. There are several treatment options, which differ, depending on the localization and severity of the manifestation and the degree of structural changes already present. There is a basic role for physiotherapy to improve and maintain spinal mobility and function and prevent handicap. The basis for drug therapy in AS is NSAIDs, which may also have an influence on structural progression. DMARDs are mainly used in cases with peripheral arthritis. Corticosteroids have a clear role for intra-articular therapy, while the role for systemic use is, in contrast to RA, mainly reserved for subgroups. It is largely unclear whether long-term spinal progression can be prevented by conventional drug therapy. Treatment with biologics such as anti-TNF-alpha therapy is discussed in Part 2 of this review. To be published in the next issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology. Surgical treatment of the spine is indicated in cases of severe instability pain, in cases of deformity endangering the patient in daily life by the limited range of vision, and in patients with neurological deficiency. AS-specific problems are spinal fractures and atlantoaxial instability, which need careful management including surgery. Joint replacement therapy is established and beneficial for AS-disturbed joints of the hip and knee.
[Economic evaluation of at home subcutaneous and intravenous immunoglobulin substitution].

BACKGROUND Intravenous (IV) and subcutaneous (SC) immunoglobulin (Ig) administration is a safe and an efficacious treatment in patients with IgG deficiency. Home administration of IV Ig and SC Ig has recently been approved in France. Most of the patients treated in hospital ask for home treatment. Some patients prefer monthly IV administration, others weekly SC administration. MATERIAL AND METHODS We evaluated in details the cost of both of these practices. We currently use electric pumps for both IV and SC administration which are fixed to the patient giving complete freedom and mobility. RESULTS For 20 g administrated per 4 week, the total cost of home treatment is 1,518 euro with SC Ig and 1,033 euro with IV Ig. For 40 g administrated per 4 week, the total cost of home treatment is 2,507 euro to 2,729 euro with SC Ig and 2,034 euro with IV Ig. The difference is mainly explained by the cost of renting the electric pumps and by the cost of furniture for SC administration. The choice of home Ig substitution must be given to all patient receiving treatment in hospital. CONCLUSIONS Home IV and home SC perfusions are two possible options each different with there own advantages and disadvantages. The cost of each procedure must be known by the medical staff.
Molecular mechanisms of benzodiazepine‐induced down‐regulation of GABAA receptor α1 subunit protein in rat cerebellar granule cells

1 Chronic benzodiazepine treatment of rat cerebellar granule cells induced a transient down‐regulation of the γ‐aminobutyric acidA (GABAA) receptor α1 subunit protein, that was dose‐dependent (1 nM‐1 μm) and prevented by the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil (1 μm). After 2 days of treatment with 1 μm flunitrazepam the α1 subunit protein was reduced by 41% compared to untreated cells, which returned to, and remained at, control cell levels from 4–12 days of treatment. Chronic flunitrazepam treatment did not significantly alter the GABAA receptor α6 subunit protein over the 2–12 day period. 2 GABA treatment for 2 days down‐regulates the α1 subunit protein in a dose‐dependent (10 μm‐1 mM) manner that was prevented by the selective GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline (10 μm). At 10 μm and 1 mM GABA the reduction in α1 subunit expression compared to controls was 31% and 66%, respectively. 3 The flunitrazepam‐induced decrease in α1 subunit protein is independent of GABA, which suggests that it involves a mechanism distinct from the GABA‐dependent action of benzodiazepines on GABAA receptor channel activity. 4 Simultaneous treatment with flunitrazepam and GABA did not produce an additive down‐regulation of α1 subunit protein, but produced an effect of the same magnitude as that of flunitrazepam alone. This down‐regulation induced by the combination of flunitrazepam and GABA was inhibited by flumazenil (78%), but unaffected by bicuculline. 5 The flunitrazepam‐induced down‐regulation of α1 subunit protein at 2 days was completely reversed by the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine (0.3 μm). 6 This study has shown that both flunitrazepam and GABA treatment, via their respective binding sites, caused a reduction in the expression of the GABAA receptor α1 subunit protein; an effect mediated through the same neurochemical mechanism. The results also imply that the benzodiazepine effect is independent of GABA, and that the benzodiazepine and GABA sites may not be equally coupled to the down‐regulation process, with the benzodiazepine site being the more dominant. The biochemical mechanism underlying the benzodiazepine‐mediated down‐regulation of the α subunit protein seems to involve the activity of staurosporine‐sensitive protein kinases.
Explaining Electoral Support for the Radical Right

Within the larger field of Radical Right studies, the question of why people vote for Radical Right Parties (RRPs) has attracted a large (perhaps disproportionally so) chunk of scholarly attention. There are at least three reasons for this. First, the early (and rather humble) electoral successes of the Radical Right in Western Europe during the early 1980s stirred memories of the 1920 and 1930s, when parties such as the Italian Fascists or the German Nazis rose from obscurity to overturn democracy (Prowe, 1994). Given these traumatic experiences, scholars were understandably eager to analyse the motives behind such potentially fatal electoral choices. Second, when it became increasingly clear that the most electorally successful of these RRPs were not just clones of the old fascist right of the inter war years but rather belonged to a new party family (Mudde, 1996), researchers wanted to understand the social forces that brought about the rise of this largely unexpected phenomenon. After all, even non-extremist RRPs are still widely seen as problematic, because they promote a political ideal that has been dubbed “illiberal democracy” (Mudde, 2007), and often disrupt the political process. Third, support for the Radical Right displays an unusual degree of variation across time and space. In Southern Europe, Cyprus (until 2016), Malta, Portugal and Spain never had a relevant RRP, whereas RRPs have been more or less consistently successful in Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, and Norway. Electoral support for the Radical Right has been volatile in Germany, Greece, Sweden and the UK. In the Netherlands, which featured extremist but tiny right-wing parties in the 1980s and 1990s, modern RRPs only emerged in the early 2000s. As of 2016, the radical right PVV is the country’s largest political party in terms of voting intentions. Belgium
Production Flexibility, Misallocation and Total Factor Productivity

Economy-wide institutional deficiencies causing factor misallocation have been emphasized as essential determinants of aggregate TFP differences. This paper argues that production flexibility at the micro-level is an economic characteristic that should be given priority in TFP aggregation exercises. We investigate a heterogeneous firms model with two distinct notions of flexibility: (i) the firm-specific capacity to optimize over a set of production techniques that serve to organize capital and labor; and, (ii) the industry-specific substitutability between efficient units of capital and labor. We show the presence of a strong interaction between "ability to choose techniques" and "input substitutability": high complementarity at the industry-level amplifies imperfections associated with techniques choice at the firm-level. Using the micro-founded structure, we develop measures for factor, output and technique distortions across a distribution of firms and quantify their TFP effects. For a broad range of U.S. manufacturing industry clusters, technique distortions generate more TFP losses than misallocation resulting from capital and output distortions, with larger TFP gains from removing technique distortions in industries that exhibit high degrees of factor complementarity. Our key quantitative results are robust to outliers, production function specification, mismeasurement and parameterization of the model and are strongly present in developing country datasets.
The effect of magnesium on length of stay for pediatric sickle cell pain crisis.

OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of intravenous (IV) magnesium sulfate on the length of stay (LOS) for children admitted with sickle cell pain crisis. METHODS This was a single arm study, with historical controls. Hemoglobin SS or Hemoglobin Sbeta degrees children admitted for pain crisis were eligible. Two sequential treatment protocols of IV magnesium sulfate were added to standard inpatient therapy of IV fluids, opioids, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The initial 12 children received 40 mg/kg (maximum of 1.5 g) of IV magnesium in the emergency department (ED), and eight and 16 hours later. Seven subsequent children received 40 mg/kg (maximum of 2.5 g) of IV magnesium in the ED, and every eight hours for up to four inpatient days. The main outcome measure was LOS, measured in days. Differences in LOS were analyzed between the admission with magnesium, and the two previous admissions meeting the same criteria, using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test for nonparametric paired data. RESULTS Nineteen children were enrolled. The results of the two protocols were combined for the analysis. A shorter LOS was found on study admissions (median LOS, 3.0 days compared with 5.0 and 4.0 days for the previous two admissions; p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS IV magnesium appears to decrease the LOS for children with sickle cell pain crisis.
The Effect of Observation Scale on Urban Growth Simulation Using Particle Swarm Optimization-Based CA Models

Cellular automata (CA) is a bottom-up self-organizing modeling tool for simulating contagion-like phenomena such as complex land-use change and urban growth. It is not known how CA modeling responds to changes in spatial observation scale when a larger-scale study area is partitioned into subregions, each with its own CA model. We examined the impact of changing observation scale on a model of urban growth at UA-Shanghai (a region within a one-hour high-speed rail distance from Shanghai) using particle swarm optimization-based CA (PSO-CA) modeling. Our models were calibrated with data from 1995 to 2005 and validated with data from 2005 to 2015 on spatial scales: (1) Regional-scale: UA-Shanghai was considered as a single study area; (2) meso-scale: UA-Shanghai was partitioned into three terrain-based subregions; and (3) city-scale: UA-Shanghai was partitioned into six cities based on administrative boundaries. All three scales yielded simulations averaging about 87% accuracy with an average Figure-of-Merit (FOM) of about 32%. Overall accuracy was reduced from calibration and validation. The regional-scale model yielded less accurate simulations as compared with the meso- and city-scales for both calibration and validation. Simulation success in different subregions is independent at the city-scale, when compared with regional- and meso-scale. Our observations indicate that observation scale is important in CA modeling and that smaller scales probably lead to more accurate simulations. We suggest smaller partitions, smaller observation scales and the construction of one CA model for each subregion to better reflect spatial variability and to produce more reliable simulations. This approach should be especially useful for large-scale areas such as huge urban agglomerations and entire nations.
Essays on labour and development economics

This thesis presents three essays, each seeking to deepen our understanding of labour markets. The first essay studies the response of real wages and hours of new hires to the business cycle during the UK’s Great Recession. The second essay analysis in how far the assumption of rational expectations in the Mortensen-Pissarides model is required for the economy to converge to an equilibrium. In particular, it asks if it is possible for economic agents to use simple linear forecast rules and still ensure convergence to the rational expectations equilibrium. The final essay seeks to determine whether labour income shares at the sectoral level are constant across countries, as is usually assumed in the literature, and whether this assumption quantitatively matters. Therefore, it takes the input-output structures across countries into account, and conducts a development accounting exercise. Real wages and hours in the Great Recession: Evidence from firms and their entry-level jobs Using employer-employee panel data, I provide novel facts on how real wages and working hours within jobs responded to the UK’s Great Recession. In contrast to previous studies, my data enables me to address the cyclical composition of jobs. I show that firms were able to respond to the Great Recession with substantial real wage cuts and by recruiting more part-time workers. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate led to an average decline in real hourly wages of 2.8 per cent for new hires and 2.6 per cent for job stayers. Hours of new hires in entry-level jobs were also substantially procyclical, while job-stayer hours were nearly constant. My findings suggest that models assuming rigid labour costs of new hires are not helpful for understanding the behaviour of unemployment over the business cycle. Unemployment and econometric learning I apply well-known results of the econometric learning literature to the Mortensen-Pissarides real business cycle model. Agents can always learn the unique rational expectations equilibrium (REE), for all possible well-defined sets of parameter values, by using the minimum-state-variable solution to the model and decreasing gain
Workplace design and well-being: aesthetic perceptions of hotel employees

ABSTRACT The study recognizes the lack of a clear theoretical and empirical link between employees’ sense of well-being and hotel design aesthetics, although beautiful environments are associated with optimal human functioning. Drawing on conceptual insights from organizational aesthetics and theory of subjective well-being, this quantitative study explored relationships between workplace design aesthetics, hotel employee subjective well-being and the role of contrast of back- vs. front-of-the-house. Based on cross-sectional data collected from 525 operations-level hotel employees in USA, the study found that backstage employees experience less aesthetic pleasure and report lower levels of well-being than frontstage employees. Design characteristics Unity and Variety positively affect the sense of well-being, while Typicality exhibits a U-type relationship with well-being. The effect of Variety is weaker for back-of-the-house employees. This study is the first attempt to empirically and explicitly connect organizational aesthetics to well-being and identifies a novel way to enhance the well-being of the hospitality workforce.
Widespread corticostriate projections from temporal cortex of the rhesus monkey

The corticostriate projections of temporal areas TA, TE, TF, TG, 35, and 28 were studied in the rhesus monkey with the use of autoradiography. Widespread projections were observed to rostral as well as caudal parts of the striatum for all areas except area 28. For example, areas TA and TG have sizable projections to the medial or periventricular part of the head of the caudate nucleus, as well as to the medial part of the tail of this structure and the dorsally adjacent putamen. Areas TE and TF also were observed to send strong projections to the head of the caudate nucleus. In addition, they project to the rostral putamen. Both have projections to the tail of the caudate nucleus and caudal putamen.
A Close-run Thing? Accounting for Changing Overall Turnout in UK General Elections

ABSTRACT Turnout at UK General Elections has remained stubbornly below post-war levels in the new millennium. Between 1950 and 1997, official turnout averaged 76% and never fell below 71% (in 1997); since 2001 average turnout has been 12 percentage points lower, at 64%. We investigate several possible explanations for that decline: the lack of competitiveness in recent contests; an increase in ideological similarity between the major parties; and partisan dealignment. Although electoral competitiveness affects turnout, and in the expected directions, it cannot readily account for the sudden drop in participation after 2000. But there is evidence that aggregate levels of partisanship are important: the unusually low turnout levels since 2000 are associated with unusually low levels of partisanship, and there are signs of a ‘threshold effect’.
Resection of Portovenous Structures to Obtain Microscopically Negative Margins during Pancreaticoduodenectomy for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma is Worthwhile

Locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma may require resections of the portal vein and/or its major tributaries to achieve tumor extirpation, albeit with the potential for increased morbidity and mortality. However, major venous resections can impart complete tumor extirpation and thereby a survival advantage compared with resections with residual microscopic disease. This study was undertaken to determine if resection of the portal vein and/or its splenic or superior mesenteric venous (SMV) tributaries is a worthwhile endeavor. Since 1995, patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma have been prospectively followed. The impact of portovenous resections (portal vein, SMV, and/or splenic vein) on survival was evaluated using survival curve analysis (Mantel-Cox test). Margins were codified as R0 or R1 and data are presented as median, mean ± SD where appropriate. For 220 patients undergoing PD for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, survival was 17 months. Patients undergoing RO resections had improved survival relative to patients undergoing R1 resections (20 vs 13 months, P < 0.03). Concomitant portovenous resections were undertaken in 48 patients. There was no difference in survival after PD without portovenous resection (17 months) versus PD with portovenous resection (18 months). Resections with complete tumor extirpation (i.e., RO resections) provide superior long-term survival; all efforts to obtain RO resections should be undertaken. Portovenous resections during pancreaticoduodenectomy can be undertaken safely and are worthwhile when complete tumor extirpation is attainable.
Contracts, Firm Dynamics and Aggregate Productivity

We construct a framework of firm dynamics to evaluate the impact of the enforcement of contracts between final goods producers and their intermediate goods suppliers on firm growth, technology accumulation, and aggregate productivity. We build upon the static contracts model of Acemoglu et al. (2007), where the final goods firm chooses technology in contractible activities conducted by suppliers of intermediate inputs. Suppliers select investments in noncontractible activities, anticipating the payoffs that will result from bargaining with the producer of the final good. We show that contractual incompleteness implies a wedge on profits for producers of the final good, which discourages technology accumulation. Our model estimates differences in output per worker of up to 33% between economies with complete and incomplete contracts. The impact on firm growth, the age and size distribution of firms is quantitatively significant.