Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis as vanC-type Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) from sewage and river water in the provincial city of Miyazaki, Japan

As a first step for assessing the risk to human health posed by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in the aquatic environment, we screened sewage and urban river water samples from Miyazaki, Japan for VRE. Because vancomycin-resistant organisms are not as prevalent in sewage and river water as vancomycin-susceptible organisms, the samples were screened by minimum inhibitory concentration test using the vancomycin-supplemented membrane-Enterococcus indoxyl-β-d-glucoside (mEI) agar. The isolates, presumed to be enterococci, were identified using 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. The percentages of VRE isolates screened using 4 μg mL−1 vancomycin-supplemented mEI agar from sewage and urban river water samples were 12% and 24%, respectively. The vancomycin-resistant genes vanC1 and vanC2/3 were detected in the isolates from both samples by PCR analysis. All enterococci isolates containing vanC1, which is a specific gene for vanC-type of VRE, were identified as Enterococcus casseliflavus/gallinarum. Further, 92% enterococci isolates containing vanC2/3 were identified as E. casseliflavus/gallinarum, the remaining isolates containing vanC2/3 were E. faecium (4%) and E. faecalis (4%). Thereafter, the distribution of E. faecium and E. faecalis, which are the major types of enterococci in humans containing vanC2/3, was observed in the water samples collected.
Perceptions of Strategic Priorities, Consensus and Firm Performance

This paper reports the results of a study into strategy content, consensus, and firm performance. It is argued that the content of consensus, i.e. what the agreement is about, is of importance, and that strategic priorities concerned with the extant strategy are constructs that are strategically relevant to the exploration of consensus‐‐performance links. Whereas previous studies have used a statistical measure of consensus (summing standard deviations), in this study the managers' perceptions of strategic priorities have been plotted on two‐dimensional graphs. We argue that in contrast to the use of means and standard deviations, by plotting the patterns of perceptions produced by a management group, more information is retained for subsequent interpretation and hence a richer picture of the extent and nature of shared perceptions within a management group can be developed. Using this approach, data from 32 strategic business units were analysed, revealing patterns of consensus and performance. The paper discusses the implications of these patterns, and suggests some avenues for further research.
Entry Decisions and Adverse Selection: An Empirical Analysis of Local Credit Markets

During the last decades there has been a widespread relaxation of legal entry barriers into the banking industry, with potential benefits for financial integration and competition. Obstacles to banks’ geographical and business expansion have been removed and branching has been substantially liberalized. This paper analyses the determinants of entry decisions into local credit markets using a unique data set before and after deregulation of the Italian banking industry. We estimate an entry model à la Poisson and find evidence that spreads between loan and deposit rates drive entry only for newly chartered banks, but does not affect the decision to open branches of banks operating in other markets. Branching by outside banks is instead positively correlated with business opportunities in the provision of financial services which do not require the acquisition of substantial proprietary information. Both these results are consistent with the hypothesis that in credit markets incumbents have an informational advantage over new entrants.
The Effect Of Geographic Dispersion On The Initial And Long-Run IPO Performance

This study examines the effect of geographic dispersion on the short-run and long-run initial public offering (IPO) performance of restaurant firms. Sample of the study consists of 103 restaurant IPOs conducted between 1981 and 2011. The study finds that being geographically dispersed or concentrated in a small area does not lead to a significant difference in the initial returns of restaurant IPOs. Yet the analysis shows that restaurant firms with geographically dispersed operations have significantly higher long-run returns in the post-IPO period compared with their local counterparts. This is evidenced by the significantly larger cumulative abnormal returns for geographically dispersed restaurant firms in the post-IPO period.
Living with living systems: The co-evolution of values and valuation

This article explores features of the environmental valuation process through a co-evolutionary approach. Based on established works concerning complexity, living systems, and social, economic, evolutionary and hierarchy theories, it is argued that a special form of recursive co-evolution takes place between articulated values and methods of value articulation, within the environmental valuation system. It is proposed that this co-evolutionary approach provides new insights into (1) the process of environmental preference formation and (2) the phenomenon of value incommensurability. Finally, it is suggested that this approach also reveals that monetary unit-based environmental valuation methods are counter-productive to their own purpose of 'taking the economic worth of un-priced environmental goods and service into account. ' This constitutes a new critique of monetary valuation, which is not addressed by a pragmatic defence of the practice. It is suggested that, in lieu of monetary valuation, taking the economic worth of these phenomena into account may be better served by focusing efforts on the design of new value articulation methods that are capable of expressing their priceless economic worth.
Leadership in Public Sector Partnerships

In the complex cobweb of public sector organizational structures, the need to tackle intricate societal problems set the context for a new direction in leadership studies, one that enables the achievement of policy goals by creating collaborative capabilities. In the policy area of children and young people, Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) can allow leadership to manifest itself through a number of media. First, the local authority is the statutory designated leader of this partnership in the local community. Second, the representatives of agencies with a duty to cooperate on children’s issues are themselves leaders of their organizations’ resources and commitment to the partnership’s goal. Third, in the light of unprecedented complexity in policy making, getting things done often depends on the leadership capabilities of people and of organizations to work with the tension between multiple sets of professional, organizational and sectoral values. Although, in theory, leadership should be an important element of inter-agency working, essentially being about making things happen beyond usual institutional constraints, in reality however, empirical findings have shown that leadership in LSCBs is systematically inhibited, hence endangering the outcomes of collaborative, inter-professional and inter-organizational work. The article concludes with the paradox of public servants demonstrating leadership in inter-organizational settings while remaining an impersonal administrator subjected to tight public scrutiny. The article seeks to make a contribution to the public policy and management field in general and to that of collaborative management in particular. To this end, the existing developments in the leadership literature have been used to shed light on one case study of one of the more controversial partnerships in the British public sector: LSCBs.
Surface contact modulation of inflammatory macrophage antibody dependent cytotoxicity and prostanoid release

Adherence to extracellular matrix proteins modulates the functional and secretory activities of mononuclear phagocytes, although the mechanisms regulating these adherence‐dependent changes are poorly understood. In this study, the ability of rat inflammatory peritoneal macrophages (PM) to adhere to an endothelial cell‐derived extracellular matrix or a denatured collagen/fibronectin‐coated surface and perform antibody dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) and secrete reactive oxygen intermediates was compared with PM adherent to tissue culture plastic. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and thromboxane B2 (TxB2), two major cyclooxygenase products released by inflammatory macrophages, were also measured by PM adherent to the protein coated surfaces. Rat exudate PM were equally adherent to tissue culture plastic or wells coated with either endothelial cell derived matrix or denatured collagen (gelatin)/fibronectin. PM adherent to a denatured collagen/fibronectin‐coated wells demonstrated significantly less cytolytic activity (15 ± 2% lysis) when compared with either tissue culture plastic adherent PM (43 ± 7% lvsis) or PM adherent to extracellular matrix (59 ± 11% lysis). PM adherent to extracellular matrix released twofold more TxB2 than plastic adherent PM, while PM adherent to denatured collagen/fibronectin released 40% more PGE2 than cells adherent to tissue culture plastic or 80% more PGE2 than PM adherent to the extracellular matrix. PM adherent to denatured collagen/fibronectin release less superoxide anion (27 ± .9 nmoles/106 PM) than PM adherent to either tissue culture plastic (43 ± 1 nmoles/106 PM) or the extracellular matrix (60 ± 0.5 nmoles/106 PM). Furthermore, incubation of plastic adherent PM with exogenous PGE2 reduced superoxide production in a dosedependent manner. These results demonstrate that the inhibition of ADCC and secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates by PM adherent to a denatured collagen/fibronectin surface correlated with an increased release of the immunosuppressive prostanoid PGE2. Furthermore, the addition of exogenous PGE2 to plastic adherent PM reproduced the depression in ADCC and superoxide anion production observed by PM adherent to a denatured collagen/fibronectin surface. These studies suggest that the increased production and release of PGE2 by inflammatory macrophages adherent to a denatured collagen surface may act to suppress cytotoxic mechanisms and thereby constitutes part of an autocrine feedback mechanism regulating macrophage function during wound injury.
Developmental changes in calcium/calmodulin‐dependent inactivation of calcium currents at the rat calyx of Held

Ca2+‐binding to calmodulin (CaM) causes facilitation and/or inactivation of recombinant Ca2+ channels. At the rat calyx of Held, before hearing onset, presynaptic Ca2+ currents (IpCa) undergo Ca2+/CaM‐dependent inactivation during repetitive activation at around 1 Hz, implying that this may be a major cause of short‐term synaptic depression. However, it remains open whether the Ca2+/CaM‐dependent inactivation of IpCa persists in more mature animals. To address this question, we tested the effect of CaM inhibitors on the activity‐dependent modulation of IpCa in calyces, before (postnatal day (P) 7–9) and after (P13–15) hearing onset. Our results indicate that the CaM‐dependent IpCa inactivation during low‐frequency stimulation, and the ensuing synaptic depression, occur only at calyces in the prehearing period. However, CaM immunoreactivity in P8 and P14 calyces was equally strong. Even at P13–15, high frequency stimulation (200–500 Hz) could induce IpCa inactivation, which was attenuated by EGTA (10 mm) or a CaM inhibitor peptide loaded into the terminal. Furthermore, the CaM inhibitor peptide attenuated a transient facilitation of IpCa preceding inactivation observed at 500 Hz stimulation, whereas it had no effect on sustained IpCa facilitations during trains of 50–200 Hz stimulation. These results suggest that the Ca2+/CaM‐dependent IpCa modulation requires a high intraterminal Ca2+ concentration, which can be attained at immature calyces during low frequency stimulation, but only during unusually high frequency stimulation at calyceal terminals in the posthearing period.
Changes in Psychiatric Caring Values in Finland

A shift from institutional to non-institutional caring systems took place in Finnish psychiatric care in the 1980s. This article describes the values related to caring and the changes that occurred during the time span of a decade in a ward that rehabilitates mental patients as non-institutional care in northern Finland. The changes in patient and staff values are examined by studying the changes in caring practices in the ward. The ethnonursing method developed by Leininger (1995,1991) was used to examine the rehabilitation of psychiatric patients. Data were collected by interviewing twenty patients and eleven staff members. Results demonstrated that by the 1980s individualism was increasingly valued and personal freedom and self realization were more valued than hard work and solidarity. People's values shifted from universality to greater diversity. Transcultural nursing implications are discussed.
Mycobacterium xenopi in HIV‐infected patients: an emerging pathogen

Background:Mycobacterium xenopi is associated with pulmonary disease in patients with loss of local or general host defence. Objectives:To determine the occurrence of M. xenopi in our hospital during 1987–1992 and 1993–1996, as well as the association of M. xenopi with HIV infection in 1993–1996; to evaluate the clinical significance of M. xenopi in HIV-seropositive patients. Design:Retrospective review of charts and classification of patients based on earlier definitions derived from the American Thoracic Society. Setting:Tertiary hospital. Patients:Patients with a positive isolate of M. xenopi from January 1987 until December 1996. Main outcome measures:During 1993–1996, a significant increase in the number of patients with M. xenopi was found compared with 1987–1992. Of 25 patients, 22 were HIV-seropositive. Results:The HIV-seropositive patients were classified as having definite (n = 5), probable (n = 9) and unlikely disease (n = 8) due to M. xenopi. Symptoms, median CD4 cell count, treatment and outcome did not differ between these groups. Conclusions:M. xenopi is an emerging pathogen, especially in HIV-infected patients. The criteria of the American Thoracic Society for disease due to nontuberculous mycobacteria do not seem applicable to M. xenopi in HIV-infected patients. We suggest that two positive cultures of M. xenopi and no other likely cause of symptoms present should be considered the criteria for diagnosis of M. xenopi disease in HIV-infected patients.
Keratoderma with scleroatrophy of the extremities or sclerotylosis (Huriez syndrome): a reappraisal

Keratoderma with scleroatrophy of the extremities, also referred to as Huriez syndrome, is a rare, autosomal dominant condition, first described in 42 of 132 members of two families from northern France. The term clerotylosis was proposed because of the pseudosclerodermatous appearance of the hands and digits. The distinctive feature of this syndrome is the risk of the development of squamous cell carcinoma on affected skin. Since the initial description of this disease, three other families, and possibly a fourth, have been reported. In the present study, we reassessed the clinical, pathological and genetic data in 114 members of one of the two original families, of whom 27 were affected by this syndrome.
Salience and Health Campaigns

Abstract Motivated by current topics in health economics, we apply the theory of salience to consumer policy. If a government intends to encourage healthier diets without harming consumers by raising taxes, it could initiate information campaigns which focus consumers’ attention either on the healthiness of one item or the unhealthiness of the other item. According to our approach, both campaigns work, but it is more efficient to proclaim the unhealthiness of one product in order to present it as a “ bad. ” Our findings imply that comparative advertisement is particularly efficient for entrant firms into established markets.
Consumer Knowledge and Meat Consumption in the US

We investigate the roles of consumer knowledge and sociodemographic factors in the consumption of meat products at home and away from home, using data from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and its companion Diet and Health Knowledge Survey conducted by the US Department of Agriculture. The sample used contains individuals not consuming some of the products. In addition, diet knowledge is potentially endogenous because it is likely to be affected by unobserved factors which also affect meat consumption. It is well known that traditional estimation procedures not accounting for censored dependent variables or simultaneity produce biased estimates. These econometric issues are addressed by developing a simultaneous -equations system, estimated with the maximum simulated likelihood procedure. Results suggest endogeneity of knowledge and support the system approach to the estimation of demand functions for meats. Health knowledge decreases consumption of beef and pork at home and away from home; it increases consumption of poultry at and away from home but does not affect fish consumption in either occasion. Our findings on the effects of sociodemographic factors are in general consistent with a priori expectations: men eat more meat and fish than women, meat and fish consumption generally declines with age among adults, and regional and racial/ethnic differences in meat and fish consumption are observed. The simultaneous-equations model can be extended to one with multiple endogenous variables and can be a useful tool in other analyses of consumer demand with micro survey data, which have become available in many developing countries.
Benefits of international diversification

R ecent international diversification literature uses monthly data from foreign stock markets to make the point that American investors should hold foreign stocks to reduce the variance of a portfolio of domestic stocks without reducing its expected return. ' While this claim is the source of some debate, it has come to be believed that a well-managed equity portfolio should include positions in foreign stocks. At the same time, little research has been produced that investigates the benefits of diversifying into the markets of the Pacific Basin. This article estimates these benefits using daily dollar returns for indexes from these markets. We also discuss the problems that arise in using daily returns to estimate the benefits from international diversification. The issue of diversifying into Pacific Basin markets is interesting for a number of reasons. As a group these markets have a capitalization that exceeds the capitalization of the European markets and is not too different from the capitalization of the United States markets. * Although not all of these markets are equally open to foreign investors, they are rapidly becoming more accessible. The economies of most of the Pacific Basin countries generally have been healthy even when Western economies were in cyclical downturns. All this suggests that diversifying into the economies of these countries is likely to improve portfolio performance. Our analysis finds that these Stulz
Efficiency and distribution in greenhouse negotiations

The authors analyze the international aspects of the greenhouse problem. The equity versus efficiency trade-off is examined by reducing the set of instruments to the allocation of abatement efforts over countries without the possibility of side payments. The traditional cost-effective allocation of abatement efforts is no longer necessarily optimal. The trade-off is illustrated empirically by combining the available cost and benefit estimates in a simplified two-period model with twelve regions in the world. In a second application, the authors follow an inverse optimum approach and compute the power weights implicit in actual agreements. Copyright 1993 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG
Bronchial subepithelial fibrosis correlates with airway responsiveness to methacholine.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the relationships between airway subepithelial collagen deposition and epithelial desquamation with airflow obstruction and hyperresponsiveness in different types of asthma and other respiratory conditions such as chronic cough and allergic rhinitis. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS We compared the histopathologic features observed on bronchial biopsy specimens obtained from 80 subjects: 38 with different types of asthma, 19 with chronic cough, 13 with allergic rhinitis, and 10 normal control subjects. Each subject had a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and medication needs, measurements of expiratory flows and methacholine responsiveness, allergy skin prick tests, and a bronchoscopy with bronchial biopsies. None of the subjects studied used bronchial anti-inflammatory agents. RESULTS Different degrees of bronchial subepithelial fibrosis were present in asthmatic subjects, the most intense being observed in occupational asthma; a subepithelial deposition of collagen was also found in subjects with allergic rhinitis, although it was less intense than in asthma and irregularly distributed under the basement membrane. On global analysis, we found a significant correlation between individual provocative concentration of methacholine inducing a 20% fall in FEV1 (PC20) and subepithelial fibrosis intensity (rs=-0.70, p<0.001). The degree of epithelial desquamation was correlated with that of subepithelial fibrosis (rs=0.36, p=0.02) in subjects with normal airway responsiveness, but it was not correlated with the PC20 (rs=0.10, p>0.05). Neither the degree of subepithelial fibrosis nor epithelial desquamation was correlated with the FEV1. CONCLUSION These results suggest that structural airway changes such as subepithelial collagen deposition may be significant determinants or markers of a process that results in airway hyperresponsiveness.
Multinationality and the performance of IPOs

Does multinationality affect the Initial Public Offering (IPO) performance of entrepreneurial firms? Theoretical arguments can be made for a positive effect of multinationality as well as for a negative effect. We examine this question empirically by analysing IPO data for 240 UK firms. We find that multinationality has significant and positive effects on long-run IPO performance. This suggests that the market perceives entrepreneurial firms with multinational activities as possessing unique intangible assets that are indicative of future financial success. Factors affecting the IPO performance also differ systematically between firms with multinational operations and those without multinational operations. Stocks of intangible assets and the quality of the network significantly affect the performance of entrepreneurial IPO firms that ‘go global’. In contrast, domestic IPO firm performance is affected by offer size and underwriters’ perception of firm quality. The findings have important implications for entrepreneurial firms who are making decisions on ‘going global’ and ‘going public’.