Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual negotiation in the AIDS era: negotiated safety revisited

Objective:To test the safety of the ‘negotiated safety’ strategy — the strategy of dispensing with condoms within HIV-seronegative concordant regular sexual relationships under certain conditions. Method:Data from a recently recruited cohort of homosexually active men (Sydney Men and Sexual Health cohort, n = 1037) are used to revisit negotiated safety. The men were surveyed using a structured questionnaire and questions addressing their sexual relationships and practice, their own and their regular partner's serostatus, agreements entered into by the men concerning sexual practice within and outside their regular relationship, and contextual and demographic variables. Results:The findings indicate that a significant number of men used negotiated safety as an HIV prevention strategy. In the 6 months prior to interview, of the 181 men in seroconcordant HIV-negative regular relationships, 62% had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse within their relationship, and 91% (165 men) had not engaged in unprotected anal intercourse outside their relationship. Of these 165 men, 82% had negotiated agreements about sex outside their relationship. The safety of negotiation was dependent not only on seroconcordance but also on the presence of an agreement; 82% of the men who had not engaged in unprotected anal intercourse outside their regular relationship had entered into an agreement with their partner, whereas only 56% of those who had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse had an agreement. The safety of negotiation was also related to the nature of the safety agreement reached between the men and on the acceptability of condoms. Agreements between HIV-negative seroconcordant regular partners prohibiting anal intercourse with casual partners or any form of sex with a casual partner were typically complied with, and men who had such negotiated agreements were at low risk of HIV infection. Conclusions:The adoption of the strategy of negotiated safety among men in HIV-seronegative regular relationships may help such men sustain the safety of their sexual practice.
Does Outsourcing Create Unemployment? The Case of the Danish Textile and Clothing Industry

Outsourcing and job losses to countries with lower wage costs are common to many Western countries, and are issues of great public concern due to their economic and social impact. This paper looks at the impact on labor of a dramatic change in the Danish textile and clothing (T&C) industry, causing large reductions in the total level of the employment. This development, which is well known in most Western countries, is characterized by strict rationalization and outsourcing strategies, but has been of a larger magnitude in Denmark than in many other places. In this connection, one would expect a major increase in unemployment among former T&C workers. To address this issue we follow each individual worker employed in the T&C industry and seek to answer the question whether transitions into unemployment are higher than the manufacturing industry average. Contrary to expectations we find that although employment in the T&C industry drops by more than 80% from 1975 to 2000, a surprisingly large number of employees who leave their jobs, or are laid off, are rehired within the same industry until the early/mid 1990s. After this point the majority is able to find jobs in other industries. Moreover, only a small fraction of people from the T&C industry enters unemployment compared to the manufacturing industries in general, while a larger fraction enters retirement and education. Concurrently with this development, we find that the inflow of people into the T&C industry is declining sharply. Hence, based on these findings we argue that the reallocation problem of the T&C industry generally is solved through a natural phase out, and through the ability of employees to find work in other sectors along with a gradual stop of recruitment of new and younger employees.
Waiting for orthopaedic surgery: factors associated with waiting times and patients' opinion.

OBJECTIVE To assess waiting times for three groups of orthopaedic patients in Sweden and to identify factors explaining variations in waiting time. Also examined were factors associated with patients' perceptions that waiting times were too long. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING AND STUDY PARTICIPANTS Patients from orthopaedic units at 10 Swedish hospitals participated in the study. A questionnaire was sent to 1336 surgical patients (517 hip replacement, 321 back surgery, and 498 arthroscopic knee surgery) 3 months after surgery. Information extracted from the hospitals' patient administrative systems was also used. Outcome measures. Length of waiting time, socio-economic variables, hospital type, health-related quality of life, and opinion about waiting time. The data were analysed mainly using regression analyses. RESULTS The overall response rate was 79%. In all pre-operative stages, waiting times were longest in the hip replacement group. Socio-economic variables were not consistent determinants of variation in waiting times except for working status in the back surgery group where working patients had shorter waiting times than non-working patients irrespective of phase of waiting time. Admission to a county/district county hospital, compared with a university/regional hospital, was associated with shorter time on the waiting list. Patients with better health-related quality of life had significantly longer waiting times for arthroscopic knee surgery by all waiting time measures. The length of wait was a significant predictor of the patients' acceptance of waiting time. Patients' influence over the date of surgery also appeared to affect their opinion about the waiting time. CONCLUSIONS Hospital-related factors are more important than patient characteristics as explanations of variations in waiting times for orthopaedic surgery. Patients value short waiting times and the possibility of influencing the date of surgery.
Effects of sildenafil on major arterial blood flow using duplex sonography

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the persistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. Oral use of sildenafil citrate is effective in the treatment of ED. Although the effects of sildenafil citrate have been investigated in several systems, its effect on aortic, superior mesenteric (SMA), and carotid artery blood flow is still unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the early phase effects of sildenafil citrate on aortic, SMA, and carotid artery blood flow using color duplex sonography (CDS).
Quality of life and its determinants in people with epilepsy in basrah, iraq.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the quality of life (QOL) in people with epilepsy and to evaluate various factors affecting their QOL. METHODS A total of 116 patients with epilepsy and a control group of 116 apparently healthy persons were included in this case-control study which was conducted at the neurology outpatient clinic of Basrah General Hospital, Iraq. An interview was performed with the use of a special questionnaire, which included data pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics, and clinical characteristics (for patients with epilepsy only). The QOL was assessed with the use of a Short Form (SF-36) health survey. RESULTS Epileptic patients showed lower overall QOL scores as compared to controls. In the univariate analysis, patients who were older, from rural areas, and with low education and income levels had low er overall QOL scores. Frequent seizures as well as increased duration of epilepsy were also significant factors associated with reduction in QOL scores. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, educational level, income and frequency of seizures were significant determinants of QOL. CONCLUSION Certain socio-demographic factors as well as clinical factors were crucial in determining QOL in epilepsy patients. Recognition of these factors will lead health professionals to develop different strategies to improve the QOL of those patients.
Gene recombination in X-ray-sensitive hamster cells

Recombination was measured in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells and in the X-ray-sensitive mutants xrs1 and xrs7, which show a defect in DNA double-strand break repair. To assay recombination, pairs of derivatives of the plasmid pSV2gpt were constructed with nonoverlapping deletions in the gpt gene region and cotransferred into the different cell types. Recombination efficiencies, measured as the transformation frequency with a pair of deletion plasmids relative to that with the complete pSV2gpt plasmid, were about 6% in both CHO-K1 and the xrs mutants for plasmids linearized at a site outside the gpt gene. However, these efficiencies were substantially enhanced by the introduction of a double-strand break into the homologous region of the gpt gene in one of a pair of deletion plasmids before cotransfer. This enhancement was apparently only about half as great for the xrs cells as for CHO-K1, but variation in the data was considerable. A much larger difference between CHO-K1 and the xrs mutants was found when the DNA concentration dependence of transformation was explored. While the transformation frequency of CHO-K1 increased linearly with DNA concentration, no such increase occurred with the xrs mutants irrespective of whether complete plasmids or pairs of deletion plasmids were transferred. The fraction of cells taking up DNA, assayed autoradiographically, was similar in all cell types. Therefore we suggest that while homologous recombination of plasmid molecules may not be substantially reduced in the xrs mutants,processes involved in the stable integration of plasmid DNA into genomic DNA are significantly impaired.
Sustained expression of lipocalin-2 during polymicrobial sepsis

Sepsis is a major healthcare problem and a leading cause of death worldwide. There is no dependable diagnosis, and treatment for this condition remains mainly supportive. The etiology of sepsis is related to an overwhelming inflammatory response. In this regard, the antimicrobial protein lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) has been associated with several inflammatory conditions, but its contribution to polymicrobial sepsis is unclear. Polymicrobial sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and Lcn2 mRNA levels and protein expression were measured in liver and lung tissues. We observed that Lcn2 expression was robustly induced in liver and lung of C57BL/6 J (B6) mice, and remained elevated during the stage of innate immune dysfunction observed in sepsis. This response was different in A/J mice, suggesting a contribution of the genetic background, probably due to differences in IL-10 expression between these two mouse strains. Indeed, IL-10 was found to regulate Lcn2 expression in both primary and J774A.1 macrophages. Thus, Lcn2 expression is highly regulated during CLP-induced sepsis, suggesting that this antimicrobial protein could have a role as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis.
Expression of hcp in freshwater Synechococcus spp., a gene encoding a hyperconserved protein in picocyanobacteria

Marine picoplankton of the genus Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus spp. are widely studied members of the picocyanobacterial clade, composed of unicellular cyanobacteria that dominate pelagic regions of the ocean. Less studied are the related freshwater Synechococcus spp. that similarly dominate the euphotic zone of oligotrophic lakes. Previous work has shown that marine picocyanobacteria harbor a small gene, hcp, that encodes a 62 amino acid protein 100% conserved among all strains examined. The gene is restricted exclusively to the picocyanobacterial lineage. The current study reveals that hcp is also 100% conserved in four freshwater Synechococcus spp. strains isolated from the Laurentian Great Lakes, and that the gene constitutively expressed with genes encoding a ribosomal protein and two tRNA genes. The synteny of the hcp region is also conserved between the marine and freshwater strains. Last, the hcp gene and the organization of the surrounding genetic region has been retained in the reduced genome of a picocyanobacterial endosymbiont of the amoeba Paulinella sp. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Align : A program to superimpose protein coordinates, accounting for insertions and deletions

The alignment and superposition of protein structures are sometimes complicated by the presence of insertions or deletions in one structure or the other. The program ALIGN [Satow, Cohen, Padlan & Davies (1986). J. Mol. Biol. 190, 593–604] was written to address this problem. The program provides information in its analysis of results to facilitate the understanding of transformations between structurally homologous subunits of protein structures.
Metabolism of thyroid hormones in cultured cardiac fibroblasts of neonatal rats.

We have investigated the potential role of fibroblasts in local thyroid hormone metabolism in neonatal rat heart. Incubation of cardiac fibroblasts with thyroxine (T4) or 3,5,3'-tri-iodothyronine (T3) resulted in the appearance of water-soluble metabolites, whereas incubation of cardiomyocytes under the same conditions did not or did so to a much lesser extent. Time-course studies showed that production is already evident after 1-5 h of exposure and that the process equilibrates after 24-48 h. Analysis of the products revealed both the T4 and the T3 metabolites to be glucuronides. These results were corroborated by the detection of uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucuronyltransferase activity in cardiac fibroblasts. We found no indication for outer ring deiodination in fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes or heart homogenates. From these results we have concluded that cardiac fibroblasts, but not cardiomyocytes, are able to glucuronidate T4 and T3 and secrete the conjugates. This could play a role in local metabolism, e.g. to protect the heart tissue from high levels of thyroid hormones.
FDI Outflows and Domestic Investment: Substitutes or Complements? Exploring the Indian Experience Nandita

The recent phenomenon of rising outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) flows has raised serious policy concerns about its effects on the domestic investment and capital formation in the countries of origin of such FDI flows. Does OFDI stimulate domestic investment or does it crowd it out? The concern arises because OFDI activities could shift not only some of the production activities from home to foreign destinations but also could possibly threaten the availability of scarce financial resources at home by allocating resources abroad. All this have the potential to reduce domestic investment, thus lowering the long run sustainable economic growth and employment of the home economies. The central goal of this paper is to empirically explore the evidence of the macroeconomic relationship between OFDI and levels of domestic capital formation in India. Our study reveals that OFDI has long run strong positive causality with domestic investment and thus figures out to be a significant factor affecting domestic investment in India. It becomes imperative therefore that the nation make special effort to promote its OFDI through the designing of appropriate OFDI policies that would help stimulate its domestic investment now and in the future so as to sustain economic growth and development in the long run.
An area-efficient PLL architecture in 90-nm CMOS

An area-efficient phase-locked loop (PLL) design is presented. The PLL architecture allows the implementation of a charge-pump based PLL stabilization filter network using sample-reset techniques and a total loop-capacitor equivalent to a typical ripple-reduction capacitor. Implemented in a logic 90-nm CMOS process, this PLL integrates a total loop capacitance of 3 pF using parasitic metal-metal capacitor structures, measures 160 /spl times/ 171 /spl mu/m and exhibits a measured rms period jitter of 1.68 ps at 2.5 GHz.
European migration report.

"This report uses available statistics to describe the contemporary trends and patterns of international migration involving Central and Eastern Europe. It focuses on the former Warsaw Pact countries, excluding the former Soviet Union. , and also omits former Yugoslavia. " The authors conclude that "substantial emigration to the West continues, much of it unrecorded. What is perhaps more surprising is that the region has emerged as one of substantial immigration. This reflects two main forces. First, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have become stepping stones on the way to the lotus lands of Western Europe.Second, some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.have become honeypots in their own right. "
Isolated mild fetal cerebral ventriculomegaly: a retrospective analysis of 26 cases

We retrospectively studied 26 fetuses with isolated mild cerebral ventriculomegaly diagnosed between 1992 and 1998 and defined by a lateral ventricular atrial diameter of 10–15 mm without any other cerebral anomaly. Our objectives were to determine maternal risk factors, to evaluate complementary investigations, to assess developmental prognosis and to propose possible management. During pregnancy 10/26 patients had regressive ventriculomegalies, ten remained borderline at birth and six were confirmed postnatally. No maternal risk factors were identified. Prenatal investigations were carried out in 69% of cases but in only a few cases supplied any information. Postnatal examinations revealed one case of Down syndrome and one of porencephaly. Four children were lost to follow‐up. In the 22 other cases, four had developmental delay. Early and unexplained mild ventriculomegaly appears to have a good prognosis. If ventriculomegaly is persistent, prenatal management should be carried out to investigate chromosomal abnormalities, viral infection, and fetal cerebral parenchymal damage. A long postnatal clinical follow‐up is required. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Real-time pose estimation of a dynamic quadruped in GPS-denied environments for 24-hour operation

We present a real-time system that enables a highly capable dynamic quadruped robot to maintain an accurate six-degree-of-freedom pose estimate (within a 1.0% error of distance traveled) over long distances traversed through complex, dynamic outdoor terrain, during day and night, in the presence of camera occlusion and saturation, and occasional large external disturbances, such as slips or falls. The system fuses a stereo-camera sensor, inertial measurement unit, leg odometry, and optional intermittent GPS position updates with an extended Kalman filter to ensure robust, low-latency performance. To maintain a six-degree-of-freedom local positioning accuracy alongside the global positioning knowledge, two reference frames are used; a local reference frame and a global reference frame, with the former benefiting obstacle detection and mapping and the latter for operator-specified and autonomous way-point following. Extensive experimental results obtained from multiple field tests are presented to illustrate the performance and robustness of the system over hours of continuous runs and hundreds of kilometers of distance traveled in a wide variety of terrains and conditions.
Increased expression of insulin-like growth factor I in skin in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

OBJECTIVES Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has potent effects on motor neuron survival and is being studied as a possible therapeutic agent for ALS. However, little is known concerning IGF-I in the skin of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The aim was to evaluate IGF-I immunoreactivity of skin in patients with ALS. METHODS IGF-I immunoreactivity of skin from 18 patients with ALS and 16 controls was examined. RESULTS IGF-I immunoreactivity was markedly positive in the epidermis and dermal blood vessels and glands and was moderately positive in the reticular dermis in all patients with ALS. On the other hand, the epidermis and dermal blood vessels and glands and the reticular dermis showed a weak IGF-I immunoreactivity in controls. The optical density for IGF-I immunoreactivity of the epidermis and dermal blood vessels and glands, and the reticular dermis in patients with ALS was significantly higher than in diseased controls, and was significantly increased with duration of illness. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that a metabolic alteration of IGF-I may take place in the skin of patients with ALS.
A colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) receptor/platelet-derived growth factor-beta receptor gene fusion confers CSF-1 independence and tumorigenicity on a c-myc-immortalized monocyte cell line

Monocytes and macrophages express the receptor for the hematopoietic growth factor colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) and require this factor for growth in culture. A murine monocyte tumor cell line that lacks the usual requirement for CSF-1 was isolated. On the basis of the similarity of the structures of the CSF-1 and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptors and because monocytes normally secrete PDGF, we analyzed the tumor cell line for anomalous expression of the PDGF-R beta gene. Two different cDNAs that each contain sequences corresponding to the complete coding sequence of PDGF-R beta fused (in frame) to the amino-terminal half of the CSF-1 receptor were isolated. Introduction of these PDGF-R beta-related cDNAs into two partially transformed, CSF-1-dependent monocyte cell lines resulted in autonomous growth and cell transformation. These monocyte cell lines exhibit a novel form of growth factor receptor activation that can lead to oncogenic growth in collaboration with the c-myc oncogene.
A Model of the Responses of Ecotones to Climate Change.

It has been suggested that global climatic change may be detected by monitoring the positions of ecotones. I built a model of the dynamics of ecotones similar to those found in altitudinal or latitudinal treelines, where a slow tendency for the ecotone to advance is counterbalanced by disturbances such as fire or landslides. The model showed that the response of such ecotones to a wide range of simulated climate changes was slow and that the ecotone front was dissected. It would appear that such ecotones would not make suitable sites for monitoring climate change.