Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photogenerated glycan arrays identify immunogenic sugar moieties of Bacillus anthracis exosporium

Using photogenerated glycan arrays, we characterized a large panel of synthetic carbohydrates for their antigenic reactivities with pathogen‐specific antibodies. We discovered that rabbit IgG antibodies elicited by Bacillus anthracis spores specifically recognize a tetrasaccharide chain that decorates the outermost surfaces of the B. anthracis exosporium. Since this sugar moiety is highly specific for the spores of B. anthracis, it appears to be a key biomarker for detection of B. anthracis spores and development of novel vaccines that target anthrax spores.
Counter-Cyclical Payments under Doha Negotiations: An Analysis of Agricultural Subsidy Programme of the US

This study has critically examined different aspects of Counter-Cyclical Payments (CCPs) in the context of commitment of United State of America (US) under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and future obligations under recent Doha Round Negotiations. The study has highlighted the shortcomings in domestic support notifications of US to WTO and their impact on product-specific support to the agriculture sector. Earlier, US has argued that CCPs are not a trade distorting support but a decoupled support. However, due to the upland cotton case, the US notified CCPs as Amber Box support, but as a non-product specific support. The US notifications on domestic support have given a distorted picture of the product-specific support to various crops. In Doha Negotiations, the US seeks flexibilities so that CCPs can be placed under Blue Box. In WTO Notifications, the US has treated CCPs as a non-product specific support, but in Doha Negotiations, CCPs are treated as a product-specific Blue Box support. The study has concluded that it is a clear case of box shifting under Doha Round Negotiations.
Bilateral testicular germ cell tumors in patients treated for clinical stage I non-seminoma within two risk-adapted SWENOTECA protocols

Abstract Background. A contralateral tumor occurs in 3.5–5% of men diagnosed with testicular germ cell cancer (TGCC). Biopsy of the contralateral testis may detect intratubular germ cell neoplasia ITGCNU, a precursor of TGCC. Biopsy of the contralateral testis to detect ITGCNU is controversial. If adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) protects against bilateral cancer is debated. Material and methods. A total of 1003 patients with clinical stage I (CS I) non-seminomatous testicular germ cell cancer (NSGCT) were included in two prospective, population-based protocols. Fifteen patients were excluded. Treatment was either adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 494), or surveillance (n = 494). Contralateral testicular biopsy was recommended for all patients, but was performed only in 282 patients. In case of ITGCNU radiotherapy (RT) to 16 Gy was recommended. Results. During a follow-up of 8.3 years, 31 (3.6%) patients developed contralateral TGCC. ITGCNU was detected in 3.2% (9/282) of biopsied patients. The incidence of bilateral TGCC was similar following ACT, 2.5% (11/494), and surveillance, 3.4% (13/494), p = 0.41. Young age was a risk factor for metachronous TGCC (HR 0.93; 95% CI 0.88–0.99, p = 0.02). In total 2.2% (6/273) of patients without ITGCNU in the biopsy developed contralateral TGCC. One irradiated patient developed contralateral cancer, and one developed contralateral tumor before RT was given. Conclusion. ACT did not reduce the incidence of contralateral TGCC. Young patients had the highest risk of developing contralateral TGCC. The proportion of false negatives biopsies was higher than reported in earlier trials, but this may in part be related to patient selection, single biopsies and lack of mandatory immunohistochemistry.
Forecasting the Term Structure of Government Bond Yields Using Credit Spreads and Structural Breaks

In this paper, we investigate whether credit spread curve information helps forecast the government bond yield curve and whether the joint dynamics of the government bond yields and credit spreads have structural changes. For this purpose, we use a joint dynamic Nelson-Siegel (DNS) model of the term structures of U.S. Treasury interest rates and credit spreads. We find that this joint model produces substantially more accurate out-of-sample Treasury yields forecasts compared with a standard DNS yield curve only model. We also find that the predictive gain from incorporating the credit spread curve information substantially increases if the joint model accounts for structural changes in the dynamics of yield and credit spread curves. In addition, our model incorporates a zero lower bound restriction ensuring that our predictions are economically plausible.
An efficient and robust analysis of covariance model for baseline adjustment in parallel‐group thorough QT/QTc studies

Baseline adjustment is an important consideration in thorough QT/QTc studies for non‐antiarrhythmic drugs. The time‐matched baseline is often used in practice to adjust for the within‐subject diurnal effects. More recently, the day‐averaged baseline has been proposed in the literature to improve the efficiency of treatment comparisons for the primary and assay sensitivity hypotheses. We recommend an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model with change from the time‐matched baseline as the response and both the time‐matched baseline and the day‐averaged baseline as the covariates. This model adjusts for the within‐subject diurnal effects and at the same time is more efficient and robust than the ANCOVA models based on either the time‐matched baseline alone or the day‐averaged baseline alone. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
AN ANALYSIS OF PERSISTENCE FACTORS OF 2+2 UNIVERSITY CENTER TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

The issue of teacher shortages across the state and nation especially in rural areas is a complex one. The disparity between the number of teachers produced and what is needed to fill classrooms across the nation in states where student populations are growing is exacerbated by issues of attrition of current educators. Mandates for production of new teachers have led institutes of higher education to engage in partnerships with community colleges to create another avenue for teacher production. The creation of the 2+2 university center teacher education model involves partnerships with community colleges and four-year institutions to provide access to education degrees in rural areas. Research on the 2+2 university center teacher education model has focused upon creation of the model comparability of enrolled students and traditional on campus students and production of graduates as an outcome measure of success. The present study examined persistence factors of a population of 2+2 university center students by exploring demographic characteristics attitudes about academic and social integration and performance outcome measures. An understanding of the factors that best motivate students to persist and be successful within the 2+2 university center teacher education model was the goal of the research such that information gleaned can be a first step in the development of a retention plan for the 2+2 university center model within teacher education and other similar programs within higher education settings.
Homocysteine and cardiovascular disease: evidence on causality from a meta-analysis

Abstract Objective: To assess whether the association of serum homocysteine concentration with ischaemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and stroke is causal and, if so, to quantify the effect of homocysteine reduction in preventing them. Design: Meta-analyses of the above three diseases using (a) 72 studies in which the prevalence of a mutation in the MTHFR gene (which increases homocysteine) was determined in cases (n=16 849) and controls, and (b) 20 prospective studies (3820 participants) of serum homocysteine and disease risk. Main outcome measures: Odds ratios of the three diseases for a 5 μmol/l increase in serum homocysteine concentration. Results: There were significant associations between homocysteine and the three diseases. The odds ratios for a 5 μmol/l increase in serum homocysteine were, for ischaemic heart disease, 1.42 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 1.84) in the genetic studies and 1.32 (1.19 to 1.45) in the prospective studies; for deep vein thrombosis with or without pulmonary embolism, 1.60 (1.15 to 2.22) in the genetic studies (there were no prospective studies); and, for stroke, 1.65 (0.66 to 4.13) in the genetic studies and 1.59 (1.29 to 1.96) in the prospective studies. Conclusions: The genetic studies and the prospective studies do not share the same potential sources of error, but both yield similar highly significant results—strong evidence that the association between homocysteine and cardiovascular disease is causal. On this basis, lowering homocysteine concentrations by 3 μmol/l from current levels (achievable by increasing folic acid intake) would reduce the risk of ischaemic heart disease by 16% (11% to 20%), deep vein thrombosis by 25% (8% to 38%), and stroke by 24% (15% to 33%). What is already known on this topic There is an association between serum homocysteine concentration and cardiovascular disease, but it is not known whether the association is causal A common single gene mutation that reduces the activity of an enzyme involved in folate metabolism (MTHFR) is associated with a moderate (20%) increase in serum homocysteine What this study adds A meta-analysis of MTHFR studies shows a significantly higher risk of both ischaemic heart disease and deep vein thrombosis (with or without pulmonary embolism) in people with the MTHFR mutation A meta-analysis of prospective studies shows a significant association between homocysteine concentration and ischaemic heart disease similar in size to that expected from the results of the MTHFR studies and a significant association with stroke The MTHFR studies and the prospective studies do not share the same potential sources of error but both yield similar results—strong evidence that the association between homocysteine and cardiovascular disease is causal On this basis a decrease in serum homocysteine of 3 μmol/l (achievable by daily intake of about 0.8 mg folic acid) should reduce the risk of ischaemic heart disease by 16%, deep vein thrombosis by 25%, and stroke by 24%
Social Transmission Bias and Investor Behavior

Abstract We offer a new social approach to investment decision making and asset prices. Investors discuss their strategies and convert others to their strategies with a probability that increases in investment returns. The conversion rate is shown to be convex in realized returns. Unconditionally, active strategies (e.g., high variance and skewness) dominate, although investors have no inherent preference for these characteristics. The model has strong predictions for how the adoption of active strategies depends on investors’ social networks. In contrast with nonsocial approaches, sociability, self-enhancing transmission, and other features of the communication process determine the popularity and pricing of active investment strategies.
ANALISIS SIKAP KERJA KARYAWAN PERBANKAN SYARIAH BERDASARKAN KARAKTERISTIK BIOGRAFIS

The purpose of this study is to compare job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employee’s Islamic banking based on biographical characteristics. Biographical characteristics are consists of age, gender, marital status, and education. Total sample in the research are 125 respondents. Data analysis is executed by independent samples t-test and Analysis of Varians (Anova) with SPSS 16 version. Based on the research indicate that employee job satisfaction is quitely different between men and women. Organizational commitment based on gender is quietly different too. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment of men are higher than women. Managerial implications of human resource management requires to enhance an organizational commitment and job satisfaction of Islamic banking women employees Keywords: Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Islamic Bank
Serum alanine aminotransferase level and response to interferon-ribavirin combination therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVE To determine the difference in sustained virological response to interferon-ribavirin combination therapy between patients with normal ALT and those with raised ALT in chronic hepatitis C. DESIGN Quasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Shaikh Zayed Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, from February 2004 to June 2005. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with positive HCV RNA by PCR and compensated liver disease were included and divided in two groups. One group with ALT below upper normal limit (UNL= 65U/L) and second group with raised ALT (> 1x UNL). After treatment with standard interferon alpha 2a and ribavirin, both groups were checked for sustained viral response (SVR) six months after end of treatment and compared for response to therapy with Chi square test. RESULTS Of the 70 patients included, 25 had normal ALT (< 1 x upper normal limit UNL) and 45 had ALT above upper normal limit (> 1 x UNL). Of these, 63 patients completed treatment. Sustained viral response (SVR) was seen in 13 of 22 patients with normal ALT who completed therapy and 22 of 41 patients with raised ALT who completed treatment. Difference in SVR in two groups was not significant (p 0.679). When patients with raised ALT were sub-classified, significantly better response was seen in patients with ALT > or = 2 times the upper normal limit (p 0.021). CONCLUSION Patients with normal baseline ALT respond equally well to combination therapy as is seen in patients with raised ALT.
Marine Cobalt Resources

Ferromanganese oxides in the open oceans are more enriched in cobalt than any other widely distributed sediments or rocks. Concentrations of cobalt exceed 1 percent in ferromanganese crusts on seamounts, ocean ridges, and other raised areas of the ocean. The cobaltrich crusts may be the slowest growing of any earth material, accumulating one molecular layer every 1 to 3 months. Attention has been drawn to crusts as potential resources because they contain cobalt, manganese, and platinum, three of the four priority strategic metals for the United States. Moreover, unlike abyssal nodules, whose recovery is complicated by their dominant location in international waters, some of the most cobalt-rich crusts occur within the exclusive economic zone of the United States and other nations. Environmental impact statements for crust exploitation are under current development by the Department of the Interior.
Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century: An Overview

Thomas Piketty’s capitalism in the twenty-first century is arguably the most significant book in empirical economics since Simon Kuznets’s Modern Economic Growth (1966) and, on a theoretical plane, since Keynes’s General Theory (1936). Like Kuznets’s masterpiece, this massive report on long-term trends in shares of income and wealth in the top decile and centile percent of their distribution quantifies a crucial and until now underreported dimension of aggregate economic performance. Like Keynes’s, it raises fundamental questions about economics conceived as a science uniquely concerned with the allocation of scarce resources regardless of how the resources are distributed among individuals. Piketty’s study focuses on that distribution, and in particular the share of the 10% of individuals who currently own 50–60% of private wealth in western societies and take home 35–50% of the national income (Piketty, 2014, pp. 247–249). The findings are new.
Cancer in Cumbria and in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear installation, 1963-90.

OBJECTIVE--To reappraise the epidemiological findings reported by the Black Advisory Group concerning a possible excess of malignant disease, particularly of childhood acute lymphoid leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear installation, and to determine whether any excess of malignant disease had occurred among people aged 0-24 years in the area in the years after the Black report--that is, from 1984 to 1990. DESIGN--Calculation of incidence of cancer using data from population based cancer registries and special surveys. SETTING--England and Wales; county of Cumbria; county districts Allerdale and Copeland within Cumbria; Seascale ward within Copeland. SUBJECTS--All residents under the age of 75 years in the above areas, but with particular reference to those aged 0-24 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Numbers of cases and incidence particularly of lymphoid leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphomas in those aged 0-24 years, but including other cancers and age groups. RESULTS--Previous reports of an increased incidence of cancer, especially of leukaemia, among those aged 0-24 years in Seascale during the period up to and including 1983 are confirmed. During 1984-90 there was an excess of total cancer among those aged 0-24 years. This was based on four cases including two cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma but none of leukaemia. There was an increased, but nonsignificant, incidence of other cancers, based on two cases (one pinealoma and one Hodgkin's disease) occurring among those aged 15-24 years during 1984-90. This was not observed in the younger age group or in previous years. For the immediately surrounding area--that is, the county districts of Allerdale and Copeland excluding Seascale and in the remainder of Cumbria--there was no evidence of an increased incidence of cancer among those aged 0-24 years in either period. CONCLUSIONS--During 1963-83 and 1984-90 the incidence of malignant disease, particularly lymphoid leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, in young people aged 0-24 in Seascale was higher than would be expected on the basis of either national rates or those for the surrounding areas. Although this increased risk is unlikely to be due to chance, the reasons for it are still unknown.
Behavioral and molecular consequences of repeated social defeat stress: sensitization and intravenous cocaine self‐administration in mice

The process of sensitization may be important in the development of drug addiction, and stress exposure can increase cocaine self‐administration. We examined the relationship between sensitization induced by social defeat stress and intravenous cocaine self‐administration in male CFW mice, and compared this to the cocaine taking of amphetamine‐sensitized mice. In addition, we differentiated the stress of being dominant from being defeated by examining Fos expression in raphe cells of mice that experienced 10 daily aggressive encounters. Repeated defeat produced a sensitized motor response to amphetamine, while repeated offensive aggression did not, and this may be related to differential cellular activation in the raphe. Defeated mice showed increased Fos activity in the dorsal raphe, whereas stressed residents exhibited blunted Fos expression in the median raphe following amphetamine challenge. Amphetamine‐sensitized mice took more cocaine during acquisition and reached higher break points during performance on a progressive ratio schedule, relative to stress‐sensitized and control mice, extending the evidence from rats to mice for the process of sensitization facilitating cocaine taking. Augmented cocaine intake was not seen after repeated defeat, suggesting that the sensitized response resulting from defeat stress may not be enduring or robust in this particular strain of mouse.
Microfertilizing Sorghum and Pearl Millet in Mali

Microfertilizing, consisting of applying small amounts of mineral fertilizer to the planting hole or pocket, was tested in Mali. Yields of sorghum increased by 34% and 52% compared with the control after applying 0.3 g of fertilizer per pocket for the years 2000 and 2001 respectively. For pearl millet, the corresponding yield increase was 48% and 67% for 2001 and 2003 respectively. Higher yield increases were observed when 6 g of fertilizer was applied per pocket than when 0.3 g of fertilizer was applied. The value–cost ratio varied from 3.4 to 11.9 in the 0.3 g treatment, and from 0.43 to 1.17 in the 6 g treatment. Application of 0.3 g of fertilizer appeals to farmers because of the good return on investment, low financial risk, low cash outlay and low workload required.
A Point of Departure in the Comparison of Social and Nonsocial Visual Orienting Among Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Endogenous visual orienting among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and among typically developing (TD) children was examined using a Posner‐type task that was modified to include social and nonsocial cues and targets to test hypotheses regarding information (social or nonsocial) and cue processing (long or short stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs)). The findings suggest intact endogenous orienting to face and mixed face targets using hand and arrow cues among children with ASDs who were matched to typically developing children (TDC) on the basis of nonverbal mental age (MA) at approximately 8.5 years. The findings from this study challenge the notions of a social orienting impairment and of mechanical social orienting as the children with ASDs in this study demonstrated strong orienting effects in all conditions and social sensitivity in the long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) condition. Autism Res 2015, 8: 575–582. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools Revised edition

This book provides the most comprehensive treatment of the theoretical concepts and modelling techniques of quantitative risk management. Whether you are a financial risk analyst, actuary, regulator or student of quantitative finance, Quantitative Risk Management gives you the practical tools you need to solve real-world problems. Describing the latest advances in the field, Quantitative Risk Management covers the methods for market, credit and operational risk modelling. It places standard industry approaches on a more formal footing and explores key concepts such as loss distributions, risk measures and risk aggregation and allocation principles. The book’s methodology draws on diverse quantitative disciplines, from mathematical finance and statistics to econometrics and actuarial mathematics. A primary theme throughout is the need to satisfactorily address extreme outcomes and the dependence of key risk drivers. Proven in the classroom, the book also covers advanced topics like credit derivatives. Fully revised and expanded to reflect developments in the field since the financial crisis Features shorter chapters to facilitate teaching and learning Provides enhanced coverage of Solvency II and insurance risk management and extended treatment of credit risk, including counterparty credit risk and CDO pricing Includes a new chapter on market risk and new material on risk measures and risk aggregation