Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Distribution of Blastocystis Subtypes among School-aged Children in Mugla, Turkey

Background: Blastocystis is a common protozoon that inhabits human intestinal tract and has a worldwide distribution. This study aimed to determine subtype (ST) distribution of Blastocystis among school-aged children in a western city of Turkey between Mar and Jun 2014. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among primary school children in Mugla between Mar and Jun 2014. Overall, 468 stool samples from children were examined by direct microscopy and inoculated into Jones medium. Blastocystis partial small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU-rDNA) was amplified and sequenced from culture positive isolates. Subtypes were determined according to closest or exact match at GenBank and Blastocystis ST (18S) database. Results: The positive rate of Blastocystis was 7.4% (n=35) with xenic in-vitro culture (XIVC). The subtypes could be identified for 33 (94.2%) isolates; 12 (34.2%) were ST3, 11 (31.4%) were ST1, 9 (25.7%) were ST2, one was (2.8%) ST7. No relationship was found between Blastocystis infected and non-infected cases in terms of gastrointestinal symptoms. Additionally, none of the possible risk factors was related to Blastocystis infection. Conclusion: Subtypes in children was similar to those reported in most of the studies that found ST3 as the most common subtype.
Cash, Access to Credit, and Value Creation in M&As

The worldwide availability of easy external financing has been an essential driver of recent M&A activity and a growing perception exists that such conditions may have resulted in a large number of non-value increasing transactions. This paper evaluates the interaction between credit conditions, the method of payment and value creation in a sample of European M&A transactions. The contribution of the paper is twofold. First, we analyze to what extent more generous financing conditions lead to deals that were less-likely to be value creating. Second, we estimate a joint model on the likelihood of choosing cash as a method of payment and the amount of value-created by such deals, controlling for the impact of financial conditions. We find that lower corporate bond spreads are correlated with less value creation in M&A deals suggesting that easy financial conditions may have resulted in M&A deals less-likely to generate value. We also find that higher leverage and a better cash-flow position of the target are more likely to result in cash deals and these deals provide higher excess returns to targets although do not generate value for the deal.
ABC of complementary medicine: Users and practitioners of complementary medicine

Complementary medicine seems to be becoming more popular in Britain. Media coverage, specialist publications, and numbers of complementary therapists have all increased dramatically in the past 20 years In this chapter we analyse this phenomenon and review available evidence about the use of complementary medicine. View this table: Use of complementary medicine in UK surveys Several surveys, of varying quality, have been undertaken, but interpretation is not straightforward. Some studies targeted practitioners, whereas others surveyed patients and consumers. Different definitions of complementary medicine have been used—some include only patients consulting one of five named types of complementary practitioner, while some include up to 14 different therapies and others include complementary medicines bought over the counter. When treatments such as hypnosis are given by conventional doctors or within conventional health services, patients and surveys may not register them as “complementary. ” However, it is possible to make estimates from the available data, which help to chart the development of complementary practice. Numbers of specialist publications for complementary medicine are growing ### How many people use complementary medicine? The most rigorous UK survey of use of complementary medicine estimated that, in 1993, 33% of the population had used some form of complementary medicine and that over 10% had consulted a complementary practitioner in the previous year. Surveys of patients with chronic and difficult to manage diseases—such as cancer, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and rheumatological conditions—give levels of use up to twice as high. View this table: Use of complementary medicine worldwide Comparisons can be made with figures from other countries, although variations may be partly due to differences in survey methodology ### How extensively is complementary medicine used? Attempts have been made to estimate the number of complementary medicine consultations taking place in the United Kingdom. In 1993 there were about 12 million adult consultations in the six major complementary disciplines. Average consultation rates were 4.3 per patient. Estimates based on the …
Two terrestrial records of rapid climatic change during the glacial-Holocene transition (14,000- 9,000 calendar years B.P.) from Europe.

Two independent multidisciplinary studies of climatic change during the glacial-Holocene transition (ca. 14,000-9,000 calendar yr B.P.) from Norway and Switzerland have assessed organism responses to the rapid climatic changes and made quantitative temperature reconstructions with modern calibration data sets (transfer functions). Chronology at Krakenes, western Norway, was derived from calibration of a high-resolution series of 14C dates. Chronologies at Gerzensee and Leysin, Switzerland, were derived by comparison of delta18O in lake carbonates with the delta18O record from the Greenland Ice Core Project. Both studies demonstrate the sensitivity of terrestrial and aquatic organisms to rapid temperature changes and their value for quantitative reconstruction of the magnitudes and rates of the climatic changes. The rates in these two terrestrial records are comparable to those in Greenland ice cores, but the actual temperatures inferred apply to the terrestrial environments of the two regions.
Private sector participation and municipal waste management in Benin City, Nigeria

This paper describes the inadequacies of public provision for solid waste collection and disposal in Benin City (and also in other Nigerian cities) and the limitations of the privatized schemes that have sought to address these inadequacies. Its description of solid waste management in Benin City draws on the author’s interviews with 591 households which revealed that three-fifths had no solid waste collection service and which highlighted the inadequacies in the services for much of the rest. The paper also describes the lack of resources available to the public agency responsible for service provision and the inadequacies in the privatization scheme set up in 1995 to address this issue. It ends by stressing the need for private provision arrangements that are tailored to the characteristics of different parts of the city and by suggesting the kinds of arrangements that should work better in the low-income areas which are generally the ones least served by conventional public sector or privatized arrangements.
Non-participant characteristics and the association between socioeconomic factors and brain tumour risk

Background The aim of the study was to identify demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of participants and non-participants in a Swedish population-based case-control study on brain tumours and to analyse the association between socioeconomic factors and glioma and meningioma risk. Methods Record linkage was made to an official register to gather information on socioeconomic status, income, education and demography for all participating and non-participating cases and controls. Results 494 glioma cases, 321 meningioma cases and 955 controls were eligible and 74%, 85% and 70%, respectively, participated. Working status and income level were positively associated with participation among cases and controls. Among both cases and controls, being married, and having a high education were also associated with participation. Having a family income level in the highest quartile was associated with an increased glioma risk (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.1). This risk increase diminished when only participating individuals were included in the analysis. Socioeconomic factors were not associated with meningioma risk. Conclusions Non-participation, related to socioeconomic factors, is a potential source of bias in case-control studies that should be acknowledged; however, the effect was not large in the present study due to the fact that the level of participation was comparable between cases and controls and participation was similarly influenced by socioeconomic factors among cases and controls. The association between a high income level and an increased glioma risk and possible underlying factors needs to be explored further.
Predicting Temporal Sets with Deep Neural Networks

Given a sequence of sets, where each set contains an arbitrary number of elements, the problem of temporal sets prediction aims to predict the elements in the subsequent set. In practice, temporal sets prediction is much more complex than predictive modelling of temporal events and time series, and is still an open problem. Many possible existing methods, if adapted for the problem of temporal sets prediction, usually follow a two-step strategy by first projecting temporal sets into latent representations and then learning a predictive model with the latent representations. The two-step approach often leads to information loss and unsatisfactory prediction performance. In this paper, we propose an integrated solution based on the deep neural networks for temporal sets prediction. A unique perspective of our approach is to learn element relationship by constructing set-level co-occurrence graph and then perform graph convolutions on the dynamic relationship graphs. Moreover, we design an attention-based module to adaptively learn the temporal dependency of elements and sets. Finally, we provide a gated updating mechanism to find the hidden shared patterns in different sequences and fuse both static and dynamic information to improve the prediction performance. Experiments on real-world data sets demonstrate that our approach can achieve competitive performances even with a portion of the training data and can outperform existing methods with a significant margin.
Bank Loan Losses-Given-Default, Empirical Evidence

The empirical literature has relied mostly on the corporate bond market to estimate losses in the event of default. The reason is that, bank loans being private instruments, few data on loan losses are publicly available. The contribution of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on losses on bad and doubtful bank loans. It is based on a unique set of micro data on loans to small and medium size firms over the period 1995-2000. The empirical results relate to the timing of recoveries on bad and doubtful bank loans, the distribution of cumulative recovery rates, and their economic determinants.
Business Failure and Change: An Australian Perspective

„h Contrary to common perceptions, most Australian businesses survive for a considerable time iV for example, around twoiVthirds of businesses are still operating after five years and almost oneiVhalf are still operating after ten years. „h Around 7.5 per cent of businesses exit each year iV cessations account for around 80 per cent of exits (changes in ownership account for the remainder) iV but most exits are not firm failures. „h Each year, cessations account for, at most, between 9iV10 per cent of total job losses and 3iV4 per cent of GDP iV however, in net terms, these impacts are outweighed by the corresponding gains from new business startiVups. „h Less than 0.5 per cent of businesses exit each year due to i¥catastrophici¦ failure (bankruptcy or liquidation). The failure rate has fallen significantly in the past decade iV the estimated failure rate was 3.6 failures per 1000 enterprises in 1999-00, oneiVthird of the rate in 1991-92 iV the decline is attributable to fewer company liquidations, rather than any fall off in unincorporated business bankruptcies.
Auditory Sensitivity of Sergeant Major Damselfish Abudefduf Saxatilis from Post-Settlement Juvenile to Adult

Recent evidence suggests that pelagic larvae of coral reef fishes are active in their dispersal and return to a reef; however, the mechanisms used to navigate are unknown. Sound is a potentially important cue for organisms in marine environments, especially in noisy environments like coral reefs. The auditory brainstem response (ABR) technique was used to measure hearing of a wide size range of sergeant major damselfish Abudefduf saxatilis. Complete audiograms were mea- sured for 32 fish ranging in size from 11 to 121 mm. Significant effects of standard length on hearing thresholds at 100 and 200 Hz were detected. At these lower frequencies, thresholds increased with an increase in size. All fish were most sensitive to the lower frequencies (100 to 400 Hz). The fre- quency range over which fish could detect sounds was dependent upon the size of the fish; the larger fish (>50 mm) were more likely to respond to higher frequencies (1000 to 1600 Hz). A. saxatilis has poor hearing sensitivity in comparison to other hearing generalists including other species of poma- centrids. In consideration of the high hearing thresholds found in this study in comparison to recorded ambient reef noise, it is unlikely that sound plays a significant role in the navigation of the pelagic lar- vae of sergeant majors returning to the reef from long distances (>1 km), but it may play a role in short-range orientation (<1 km).
Sampling Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) for Population Estimation and Pest Management in Southeastern Cotton Production

ABSTRACT Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) were sampled in commercial cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. , fields in 2007 and 2008 in South Carolina and Georgia. The main species collected with the beat cloth and sweep net methods were green stink bug, Acrosternum hilare (Say) (63 and 57%, respectively); brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Say) (23 and 18%, respectively); and southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (14 and 22%, respectively). Average stink bug densities were 0.145 ± 0.010 (mean ± SEM) for adults and 0.250 ± 0.027 for nymphs per 3.7 m of row by using the beat cloth method. Average stink bug densities were 0.291 = 0.016 for all adults and 0.137 ± 0.018 for all nymphs per 50 sweeps. A density of two southern green stink bugs per 3.7 m of row by using the beat cloth method required 43 samples (reliability or precision, Dx = 0.3) for population estimation, whereas 88 samples were necessary for a density of two southern green stink bugs per 50 sweeps. At low densities, the sweep net was a more cost-reliable sampling method for all species and life stages. For adult stink bugs, the beat cloth method became more reliable at densities of 1.0, 3.2, and 5.8 stink bugs per 3.7 m of cotton row for southern green stink bug, brown stink bug, and green stink bug, respectively. Sequential sampling consistently reduced sample size for all insects compared with a fixed sampling plan.
Comparison of 128-Slice Dual Source CT Coronary Angiography with Invasive Coronary Angiography.

BACKGROUND Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading cause of the morbidity and mortality in India as well as worldwide and last decade has seen a steep rise in incidence of CAD in India. Direct visualization of the coronary arteries by invasive catheterization still represents the cornerstone of the evaluation of CAD. Cardiac imaging is a challenge of 21 (st) century and is being answered by 128 slice dual source CT as it has good temporal resolution, high scanning speed as well as low radiation dose. AIM To assess the diagnostic accuracy of 128-slice dual source CT Cardiac Angiography in comparison with Conventional Catheter Cardiac Angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty patients attending the cardiology OPD with complaint of chest pain and suspected of having CAD were evaluated by CT coronary angiography and conventional invasive Catheter coronary angiography and the results were compared. All patients were checked for serum creatinine and ECG before the angiography. Computed Tomography (CT) coronary angiography was done using SIEMENS 128-slice Dual Source Flash Definition CT Scanner under either Retrospective or Prospective mode depending on the heart rate of the patient. Oral/IV beta-blocker were used whenever required. RESULTS Coronary arteries were assessed as per 17- segment AHA model. A total of 600/ 609 segments were evaluable in 40 suspected patients on CT coronary angiography, of which 21 were false positives and 8 were false negatives with specificity of 95.12% and sensitivity and positive predictive value of 95.26% & 88.46% respectively. CONCLUSION Non-invasive assessment of CAD is now possible with high accuracy on 128-slice dual source CT scanner.
Decentralized control of multi-robot partially observable Markov decision processes using belief space macro-actions

This work focuses on solving general multi-robot planning problems in continuous spaces with partial observability given a high-level domain description. Decentralized Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (Dec-POMDPs) are general models for multi-robot coordination problems. However, representing and solving Dec-POMDPs is often intractable for large problems. This work extends the Dec-POMDP model to the Decentralized Partially Observable Semi-Markov Decision Process (Dec-POSMDP) to take advantage of the high-level representations that are natural for multi-robot problems and to facilitate scalable solutions to large discrete and continuous problems. The Dec-POSMDP formulation uses task macro-actions created from lower-level local actions that allow for asynchronous decision-making by the robots, which is crucial in multi-robot domains. This transformation from Dec-POMDPs to Dec-POSMDPs with a finite set of automatically-generated macro-actions allows use of efficient discrete-space search algorithms to solve them. The paper presents algorithms for solving Dec-POSMDPs, which are more scalable than previous methods since they can incorporate closed-loop belief space macro-actions in planning. These macro-actions are automatically constructed to produce robust solutions. The proposed algorithms are then evaluated on a complex multi-robot package delivery problem under uncertainty, showing that our approach can naturally represent realistic problems and provide high-quality solutions for large-scale problems.
“NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN”:Romany Gypsies, Travellers and their entwined historical relationships with working-class London communities

This paper presents a historical review of policy enactments and urban development which have impacted accommodation options available to British Romany Gypsies and Travellers over the past four hundred years. A combination of policy review; analysis of primary historical documents (local authority reports on ‘Gypsy encampments’ in their areas; Governmental debates; newspaper reports) and secondary data sources (published memoirs and general histories of working class London) are utilised to present both a general historical overview (mainly focusing on the period 1850-2017) of legislative and policy approaches to regulating ‘Gypsy and Traveller encampments’ within Greater London and a series of focused case studies of ‘Gypsy areas’ within the Metropolis. Importantly, the case studies explore the entwined geo-social relationships and long-term impact on local community demographics and culture, of established Romany Gypsy/Traveller residence in a number of working-class areas of London. The paper ends with a brief consideration of the impact on regeneration and gentrification on traditional working class areas of residence, suggesting that such dislocation may lead to the ending of diverse populations in inner city localities, whilst conversely, widespread relocation of former residents to estates on the edge of the city, may increase contact and rejuvenate community relations between Romany Gypsies, Traveller and other populations, in a way which been increasingly disrupted by the ‘othering’ of nomadic groups in popular discourse in the post World War Two period.
Potential role for elevated maternal enzymatic antioxidant status in Andean protection against altitude-associated SGA

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the uteroplacental ischemia characteristic of preeclampsia and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth, both of which are more common at high (>2500 m) vs low altitude. Since Andeans are protected relative to Europeans from the altitude-associated rise in SGA, we asked whether alterations in maternal antioxidant status or oxidative stress contributed to their protection. Enzymatic antioxidant (erythrocyte catalase and superoxide dismutase [SOD]) activity and a plasma marker of lipid peroxidation (8-iso-PGF2α) were measured during pregnancy and in the non-pregnant state in Andean or European residents of low (400 m) or high altitude (3600–4100 m). Pregnancy and altitude increased catalase and/or SOD activity to a greater extent in Andeans than Europeans. 8-iso-PGF2α levels were independent of altitude and pregnancy. SOD was lower in mothers of SGA infants at weeks 20 and 36. Our findings are consistent with the possibility that elevated enzymatic antioxidant activity contributes to Andean protection against altitude-associated SGA.
Exchange Rate Regimes, Inflation and Growth in Developing Countries -- An Assessment

Official and four alternative regime classification schemes based on observed exchange rate behaviour are used to examine the relationship with inflation and growth in 91 developing countries over the period 1984-2001. Apart from one scheme that produces markedly unfavourable results for floating (for reasons that are discussed in the paper), the consistent findings are that (a) floats have similar growth rates to soft pegs and only slightly higher inflation; and (b) hard pegs have lower inflation and slower growth than other regimes.
JAPANESE FIRMS’ DEBT POLICY AND TAX POLICY

Understanding the effects of marginal tax rate on debt policy is crucial not only for considering various capital structure theories of firms but also for evaluating corporate tax reform proposals. In this empirical study, we have found a positive relation in most cases between the firm-specific marginal tax rates (simulated using the method of Shevlin (1990) and Graham (1996)) and the debt ratio increase of Japanese firms. This result shows that the marginal tax rates significantly affect the debt policies of Japanese firms. Corporate tax reform to produce equal treatment of equity and debt is desirable in Japan.
Activation of dehydrogenase activity and cardiac respiration: a 31P-NMR study.

31P-NMR studies were performed to determine the tissue phosphate and oxygen consumption effects of known maneuvers on the activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase during work jumps in the perfused rat heart. In control studies of the glucose-perfused heart, work jumps, with pacing, resulted in a 32% increase in oxygen consumption (QO2) from 1.72 +/- 0.09 to 2.29 +/- 0.12 mmol O2.h-1.g dry wt-1. During this transition no significant change in the high energy phosphates were detected. In contrast, work jumps did cause changes in the phosphates when the activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase was blocked with 2.5 micrograms of ruthenium red per milliliter or maximally stimulated with 11 mM pyruvate before the increase in work. The observed increase in QO2 and inorganic phosphate and calculated increase in ADP are consistent with these phosphates controlling mitochondrial respiration under these conditions. These results suggest that the activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase and/or other dehydrogenases may be an important step in the orchestration of work and QO2.