Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adjunctive fluvoxamine inhibits clozapine-related weight gain and metabolic disturbances.

BACKGROUND Adjunctive fluvoxamine inhibits clozapine metabolism and decreases plasma norclozapine (a toxic metabolite of clozapine) to clozapine ratios. This study aimed to demonstrate the effects of fluvoxamine on clozapine-related weight gain, hyperglycemia, and lipid abnormalities. METHOD Sixty-eight treatment-resistant inpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups for 12 weeks. The monotherapy group (N = 34) received clozapine (< or = 600 mg/day). The coadministration group (N = 34) received fluvoxamine (50 mg/day) plus low-dose clozapine (< or = 250 mg/day). The study was conducted from August 1999 to October 2002. RESULTS The 2 groups were similar in demographic data; baseline body weight and body mass index (BMI); baseline serum glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels; and steady-state plasma clozapine concentration. The monotherapy patients (but not the coadministration patients) had significantly higher (p < .05) body weight, BMI, and serum glucose and triglyceride levels after treatment than at baseline. At week 12, the monotherapy patients also had significantly higher glucose (p = .035), triglyceride (p = .041), and norclozapine (p = .009) (and numerically higher cholesterol) levels than the cotreatment patients. The changes in weight and serum glucose and triglyceride levels were significantly correlated (p = .026, p = .005, and p = .028, respectively) with the plasma concentration of norclozapine but not with plasma levels of clozapine. CONCLUSION These results suggest that fluvoxamine cotreatment can attenuate weight gain and metabolic disturbances in clozapine-treated patients. Plasma levels of norclozapine, but not clozapine, are associated with increases in weight and serum glucose and triglyceride levels. Of note, coadministration of fluvoxamine could increase plasma clozapine levels markedly and carry the risk of adverse events. If this combined treatment is applied, conservative introduction with reduced clozapine dosage and careful therapeutic drug monitoring of clozapine concentration is recommended.
The value of health interventions: evaluating asthma case management using matching

Despite large public investments in asthma interventions, there are few rigorous assessments of these programmes and little understanding of what comprises an effective intervention. There is a lack of appropriate data, little technical support is provided, and the programs themselves have little incentive to conduct these analyses. In this study, we apply optimal full matching using propensity scores to estimate the impact of an asthma intervention programme across a range of health outcomes. Our participation model is derived using the Deletion, Substitution and Addition (DSA) algorithm, a method used in epidemiology for model selection. We find that the asthma programme in question has no significant effect on participants that distinguishes them from matched nonparticipants, but it is not clear whether this is due to the effectiveness of the programme, heterogeneity of effects or barriers outside the programme's control. Our findings do show how current programmes could be modified to increase their effectiveness and better inform future research.
How Many Observations are Needed to Assess a Surgical Trainee's State of Operative Competency?

Objective: To establish the number of operative performance observations needed for reproducible assessments of operative competency. Background: Surgical training is transitioning from a time-based to a competency-based approach, but the number of assessments needed to reliably establish operative competency remains unknown. Methods: Using a smart phone based operative evaluation application (SIMPL), residents from 13 general surgery training programs were evaluated performing common surgical procedures. Two competency metrics were investigated separately: autonomy and overall performance. Analyses were performed for laparoscopic cholecystectomy performances alone and for all operative procedures combined. Variance component analyses determined operative performance score variance attributable to resident operative competency and measurement error. Generalizability and decision studies determined number of assessments needed to achieve desired reliability (0.80 or greater) and determine standard errors of measurement. Results: For laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 23 ratings are needed to achieve reproducible autonomy ratings and 17 ratings are needed to achieve reproducible overall operative performance ratings. For the undifferentiated mix of procedures, 60 ratings are needed to achieve reproducible autonomy ratings and 40 are needed for reproducible overall operative performance ratings. Conclusion: The number of observations needed to achieve reproducible assessments of operative competency far exceeds current certification requirements, yet remains an important and achievable goal. Attention should also be paid to the mix of cases and raters in order to assure fair judgments about operative competency and fair comparisons of trainees.
The impact of decoupled subsidies on productivity in agriculture: a cross-country analysis using microdata

The decoupling of direct payments from production introduced in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is expected to make production decisions more market-oriented and farmers more productive. However, ex-post analyses of the productivity of farms have yet to uncover any evidence of a positive impact of the decoupling policy on farm productivity. Using Irish, Danish, and Dutch farm-level data, we identify whether the decoupling policy has contributed to productivity growth in agriculture and farm product adjustment behavior. We find some evidence that the decoupling policy had significant positive effects on farm productivity and behavioral changes related to farm specialization.
Mental state decoding impairment in major depression and borderline personality disorder: meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder are characterised by a distorted perception of other people's intentions. Deficits in mental state decoding are thought to be the underlying cause of this clinical feature. AIMS To examine, using meta-analysis, whether mental state decoding abilities in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder differ from those of healthy controls. METHOD A systematic review of 13 cross-sectional studies comparing Reading in the Mind of the Eyes Test (RMET) accuracy performance of patients with major depression or borderline personality disorder and healthy age-matched controls (n = 976). Valence scores, where reported, were also assessed. RESULTS Large significant deficits were seen for global RMET performance in patients with major depression (d = -0.751). The positive RMET valence scores of patients with depression were significantly worse; patients with borderline personality disorder had worse neutral scores. Both groups were worse than controls. Moderator analysis revealed that individuals with comorbid borderline personality disorder and major depression did better than those with borderline personality disorder alone on accuracy. Those with comorbid borderline personality disorder and any cluster B or C personality disorder did worse than borderline personality disorder alone. Individuals with both borderline personality disorder and major depression performed better then those with borderline personality disorder without major depression for positive valence. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the relevance of RMET performance in patients with borderline personality disorder and major depression, and the importance of considering comorbidity in future analysis.
Spontaneous Market Order and Social Rules

Discoverers of “market failures” as well as advocates of the general efficiency of a “true, unhampered market” sometimes seem to disregard the fundamental fact that there is no such thing as a “market as such. ” What we call a market is always a system of social interaction characterized by a specific institutional framework, that is, by a set of rules defining certain restrictions on the behavior of the market participants, whether these rules are informal, enforced by private sanctions, or formal, enforced by a particular agency, the “protective state,” in J. M. Buchanan's (1975) terminology.
Asset Price Misalignments and the Role of Money and Credit

This paper contributes to the literature on the properties of money and credit indicators for detecting asset price misalignments. After a review of the evidence in the literature on this issue, the paper discusses the approaches that can be considered to detect asset price busts. Considering a sample of 17 OECD industrialised countries and the euro area over the period 1969 Q1 - 2008 Q3, we construct an asset price composite indicator which incorporates developments in both the stock price and house price markets and propose a criterion to identify the periods characterised by asset price busts, which has been applied in the currency crisis literature. The empirical analysis is based on a pooled probit-type approach with several macroeconomic monetary, financial and real variables. According to statistical tests, credit aggregates (either in terms of annual changes or growth gap), changes in nominal long-term interest rates and investment-to-GDP ratio combined with either house prices or stock prices dynamics turn out to be the best indicators which help to forecast asset price busts up to 8 quarters ahead. JEL Classification: E37, E44, E51
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor type 1 (p55) is a main mediator for TNF‐α‐induced skin inflammation

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine that elicits a large number of biological effects, including inflammatory and immuno‐regulatory responses. Biological activities of TNF‐α are mediated by two distinct TNF receptors, p55 type 1 receptor (TNFR1) and p75 type 2 receptor (TNFR2). To determine the role of TNF‐α in the induction of inflammatory responses in the skin, gene‐targeted mutant mice lacking either TNFR1 or TNFR2 were painted with irritant chemicals. Both phenol and croton oil painting onto the ears induced less inflammation in TNFR1(−) mice than normal and TNFR2(−) mice. Intradermal injection of TNF‐α (0.2–200 ng for 3 days) into the ear induced less inflammation in TNFR1(−) mice than in normal mice. TNFR2(−) mice developed a normal inflammatory reaction to high doses of TNF‐α (20–200 ng for 3 days), while they showed minimal reactivity to low doses of TNF‐α (0.2–2 ng for 3 days). TNF‐α is known to trigger the release of a series of other cytokines and to induce the expression of cell adhesion molecules, thus contributing to the development of inflammation. The levels of protein and mRNA for interleukin (IL)‐6 were elevated in keratinocytes from normal as well as TNFR2(−) mice after treatment with TNF‐α, while keratinocytes from TNFR1(−) mice did not show any up‐regulation of IL‐6. TNF‐α induced intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)‐1 expression in the keratinocytes from normal and TNFR2(−) mice, but not in those from TNFR1(−) mice. These results indicate that TNFR1 is critical for induction of skin inflammation by TNF‐α.
Accessing the Impenetrable: The Nature and Distribution of Tourism Benefits at a Ugandan National Park

Nature-based tourism is widely considered a conservation strategy because it can provide benefits for local people and thereby increase support for conservation and contribute to development. However, concerns have been raised over the uneven distribution of benefits. Here we use access analysis to investigate the distribution of tourism benefits at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, and the underlying factors constraining access to benefits. We introduce two new categories of engagement in tourism: active (for example through employment) and passive (for example through revenue sharing). Benefits from active engagement were often monetary, and access to them was often tightly constrained. In contrast, benefits from passive engagement were often nonmonetary and were more widely accessible. By analyzing together multiple active and passive pathways to tourism engagement, the study reveals that tourism benefits in some form can reach a wide range of local people, even where access to individual pathways is tightly constrained.
A Cross-Layer Judgment Scheme for Solving Retransmission Problem in IEEE 802.15.4-Based Wireless Body Sensor Networks

In IEEE 802.15. 4 wireless personal area networks (WPANs), reliable data transmission is an important issue in areas such as body information for medical treatments. Some handshaking mechanisms in literatures are studied and proposed to guarantee successful data frame transmission. One is to adopt ACK frame, which is replied by the receiver back to the sender when the data frame is correctly received. This is a popular mechanism. However, there are many different reasons, such as the fading channel, data frame collision, and hidden terminal problem, by which data frames cannot be correctly received on the receiver. Therefore, a sender should have different data retransmission policies and procedures for data frame retransmission. Neglecting these measures of failed transmission, the data frame retransmission may fail again, and the transmission efficiency will be degraded. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer judgment scheme (CL-JS) to solve the retransmission problem. It does not require the extra control overhead, but it can correctly judge the reasons of failed transmission from overlapped signals. Thus, the sender can adaptively adjust system parameters to handle the different retransmission procedures. Simulation results validated by mathematical analysis show that the proposed scheme significantly improves the goodput with the reduction in power consumption.
Supervision Models in Social Work: From Nature to Culture

This study examines the format, purpose, relationship, use of authority, and ideal of social work supervision in the cultural context of Hong Kong. A grounded theory approach was used to explore the experiences and views of local supervisors and supervisees, the participants in seven focus groups and forty indepth interviews, to construct a cultural model within the local context of Hong Kong. It was found that the format of supervision in Hong Kong is relatively loose. Written agendas and supervisory contracts are seldom used. Both supervisors and supervisees view successful client outcomes as the major purpose of supervision, but supervisors see the process as a rational and systematic tool for safeguarding the standard and quality of service, whereas supervisees hope that supervision will provide emotional support and foster teamwork. The supervisory relationship is both personal and professional. Tension is reduced by the traditional Chinese cultural values of reciprocity: qing, yuan, and “face. ” The use of supervisory authority reflects the political strategy of the British– Hong Kong government — “consensus by consultation and
Vedolizumab for the treatment of ulcerative colitis

Introduction: With a need for a larger armamentarium of therapeutic options for those suffering from moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, vedolizumab, an α4β7-integrin biologic therapy, has recently received approval in the United States, Canada and Europe. However, it is unclear where it should be positioned in relation to current therapies for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. Areas covered: We systematically reviewed the literature for phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 randomized controlled trials assessing the role of vedolizumab in ulcerative colitis. Expert opinion: Trials assessing vedolizumab highlight its arrival as an effective and safe therapy for patients suffering from ulcerative colitis.
Macroeconomic Impact of Basel III

The estimated medium-term impact of Basel III implementation on GDP growth is in the range of -0.05 to -0.15 percentage point per annum. Economic output is mainly affected by an increase in bank lending spreads as banks pass a rise in bank funding costs, due to higher capital requirements, to their customers. To meet the capital requirements effective in 2015 (4.5% for the common equity ratio, 6% for the Tier 1 capital ratio), banks are estimated to increase their lending spreads on average by about 15 basis points. The capital requirements effective as of 2019 (7% for the common equity ratio, 8.5% for the Tier 1 capital ratio) could increase bank lending spreads by about 50 basis points. The estimated effects on GDP growth assume no active response from monetary policy. To the extent that monetary policy will no longer be constrained by the zero lower bound, the Basel III impact on economic output could be offset by a reduction (or delayed increase) in monetary policy rates by about 30 to 80 basis points.
AFRICAN GROWTH RECURRING: AN ECONOMIC HISTORY PERSPECTIVE ON AFRICAN GROWTH EPISODES, 1690–2010

ABSTRACT Africa has not suffered a chronic failure of growth. In fact, Africa has experienced recurring periods of growth, and this paper reviews some of these growth “spurts” to substantiate that claim. The immediate cause of low income in Africa is that these “spurts” have always been followed by a ‘‘bust’’. This is a significant reorientation of the central research question – away from a search for the root causes of Africa's underdevelopment and towards explaining the causes and effects of growth and decline. The growth spurts are approached as local responses to a global demand for African produced commodities. In this paper, I shall argue that these supply responses involved more than a reallocation of land and labour; they entailed investment and required institutional change. It is precisely because these periods of rapid economic change and accumulation caused significant qualitative changes in how society and the economy were organized that they cannot be ignored – as they have tended to be in the search for a root cause of Africa's chronic failure to achieve growth.
Sirolimus in Combination with Tacrolimus Is Associated with Worse Renal Allograft Survival Compared to Mycophenolate Mofetil Combined with Tacrolimus

Cyclosporine (CsA) nephrotoxicity is enhanced by sirolimus (SRL). Tacrolimus is perceived to be less nephrotoxic than CsA, and therefore, CsA has been largely replaced by tacrolimus (TAC) when calcineurin inhibitors are used with SRL.
Innovation and discovery: The application of nucleic acid-based technology to avian virus detection and characterization

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based approaches to the detection, differentiation and characterization of avian pathogens continue to be developed and refined. The PCRs, or reverse transcriptase-PCRs, may be general, designed to detect all or most variants of a pathogen, or to be serotype, genotype or pathotype specific. Progress is being made with respect to making nucleic acid approaches more suitable for use in diagnostic laboratories. Robotic workstations are now available for extraction of nucleic acid from many samples in a short time, for routine diagnosis. Following general PCR, the DNA products are commonly analyzed by restriction endonuclease mapping (restriction fragment length polymorphism), using a small number of restriction endonucleases, based on a large body of sequence data. Increasingly, however, nucleotide sequencing is being used to analyze the DNA product, in part due to the expanding use of non-radioactive sequencing methods that are safe and enable high throughout. In this review, I highlight some recent developments with many avian viruses: Newcastle disease virus; circoviruses in canary and pigeon; infectious bursal disease virus (Gumboro disease virus); avian adenoviruses, including Angara disease/infectious hydropericardium virus, haemorrhagic enteritis virus of turkeys, and egg drop syndrome virus; avian herpesviruses, including infectious laryngotracheitis virus, duck plague virus, psittacine herpesvirus (Pacheco's parrot disease virus), Marek's disease virus and herpesvirus of turkeys; avian leukosis virus (associated with lymphoid leukosis or myeloid leukosis, and egg transmission); avian pneumoviruses (turkey rhinotracheitis virus); avian coronaviruses, including infectious bronchitis virus, turkey coronavirus and pheasant coronavirus; astrovirus, in the context of poult enteritis and mortality syndrome, and avian nephritis virus; and avian encephalomyelitis virus, a picornavirus related to hepatitis A virus.
Use of Rapid and Conventional Testing Technologies for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Serologic Screening in a Rural Kenyan Reference Laboratory

ABSTRACT We report a prospective comparison of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 testing by enzyme immunoassay and Western blot with four rapid tests of 486 subjects performed in rural Kenya. Rapid test sensitivity was 100%. Specificity ranged from 99.1 to 100%. Combined use of two Food and Drug Administration-approved rapid tests yielded a single false-positive result.
Impact of menopause on the prevalence and severity of sleep apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To compare the prevalence and severity of sleep apnea between premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and to determine whether these differences are affected by the body mass index (BMI) and neck circumference. DESIGN Cross-sectional study utilizing a sleep clinic patient database. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS A total of 1,315 women, classified into premenopausal and postmenopausal groups based on age (< 45 years and > 55 years, respectively). MEASUREMENTS Anthropometric measurements included height, weight, and neck circumference. Sleep measurements included full nocturnal polysomnography. Sleep apnea was defined as an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) > 10/h. RESULTS There were 797 premenopausal and 518 postmenopausal women. The latter group was more obese (mean +/- SE BMI, 32.2 +/- 0.4 kg/m(2) vs 30.2 +/- 0.4 kg/m(2); p < 0.0001) and had larger neck circumference (37.1 +/- 0.2 cm vs 35.8 +/- 0.2 cm; p < 0.0001). The prevalence of sleep apnea was greater in postmenopausal women than premenopausal women (47% vs 21%; chi(2) < 0.0001). There were proportionately more postmenopausal than premenopausal women in all ranges of apnea severity (AHI, 10 to 30/h, 30 to 50/h, and > 50/h). Postmenopausal women had a significantly higher mean AHI compared to premenopausal women (17.0 +/- 0.9/h vs 8.7 +/- 0.6/h; p < 0.0001); this significant difference persisted even after adjusting for BMI and neck circumference. CONCLUSION There may be functional, rather than anatomic, differences in the upper airway between premenopausal and postmenopausal women, which may account for the observed differences in apnea prevalence and severity.
Analysis of Urban Land Shortages: The Case of Korean Cities

Both natural constraints and government regulations on urban land use can cause urban land shortages, and hence higher prices of urban land and housing than otherwise. There have been attempts to investigate the differential effects of natural and contrived restrictions on land price. For w x example, Rose 10 found that natural constraints have a significant positive impact on land value while monopoly zoning power makes a smaller contribution in explaining inter-city variations in urban land price. w x On the other hand, Pollakowski and Wachter 8 analyzed the impact of land use controls measured by an index of restrictiveness of zoning and confirmed that land use regulations raise the prices of housing and developed land. To the best knowledge of the authors, however, none of the published empirical studies including the two cited above actually measure the amount of shortage of urban land at the city level. Instead, land supply variables are employed together with demand variables such as income and population size to determine their impact on land or housing prices. This study seeks to fill the gap in the literature first by developing a measure of the urban land shortagersurplus from an analysis of land price