Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between institutional quality and stock market performance: Evidence from emerging economies

The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the effect of institutional quality on stock market performance. In order to evaluate the effect of institutional quality on stock market performance, Calderon Rossell models have been estimated using generalized method of moment’s technique. A panel data of 41 emerging countries for the period 1996 to 2011 is used to estimate the results. The results suggest that institutional quality has a positive and significant influence on stock market performance. Policy makers in emerging countries must follow a parallel policy agenda of improving the quality of their institutions as well as education. These are paramount to the performance of stock markets performance in emerging countries. Key words: institutional quality, stock market, emerging economies, macroeconomic variables.
Post-Tenure Review at the University of Louisville School of Medicine: A Faculty Development and Revitalization Tool

In 1994, the University of Louisville board of trustees mandated that each school develop a methodology for post-tenure review. Ten years after implementation, this article provides an update on the process and its outcomes. In the case of an unsatisfactory evaluation, a faculty member is re-reviewed two years later. Failed reviews trigger the creation of a faculty development plan. The plan includes specific and measurable requirements to be met within one year, with an additional year to demonstrate success. The plan must clearly state objective goals related to the area of deficiency, development activities that the faculty member will engage in, and resources the institution will provide for the faculty member to achieve the stated goals. Soon after implementation, an increase in retirement rates was observed. Since then, more than 250 post-tenure reviews have been completed in the school of medicine, and over 95% of faculty reviewed received ratings of satisfactory. Outcomes for faculty receiving ratings of unsatisfactory vary. Overall, results suggest that post-tenure review at the University of Louisville School of Medicine has facilitated faculty revitalization not only for those who failed, but also for others as they prepare for the evaluation process. The key to the success of this program is its nonpunitive nature. The focus on faculty development and the resulting reinvigoration of the careers of faculty put a positive spin on what otherwise would have been perceived as a top-down measure to increase faculty accountability.
Habitat differentiation vs. isolation‐by‐distance: the genetic population structure of Elymus athericus in European salt marshes

We investigated genetic differentiation among populations of the clonal grass Elymus athericus, a common salt‐marsh species occurring along the Wadden Sea coast of Europe. While E. athericus traditionally occurs in the high salt marsh, it recently also invaded lower parts of the marsh. In one of the first analyses of the genetic population structure in salt‐marsh species, we were interested in population differentiation through isolation‐by‐distance, and among strongly divergent habitats (low and high marsh) in this wind‐ and water‐dispersed species. High and low marsh habitats were sampled at six sites throughout the Wadden Sea. Based on reciprocal transplantation experiments conducted earlier revealing lower survival of foreign genotypes we predicted reduced gene flow among habitats. Accordingly, an analysis with polymorphic cross‐species microsatellite primers revealed significant genetic differentiation between high and low marsh habitats already on a very small scale (< 100 m), while isolation‐by‐distance was present only on larger scales (60–443 km). In an analysis of molecular variance we found that 14% of the genetic variance could be explained by the differentiation between habitats, as compared to only 8.9% to geographical (isolation‐by‐distance) effects among six sites 2.5–443 km distant from each other. This suggests that markedly different selection regimes between these habitats, in particular intraspecific competition and herbivory, result in habitat adaptation and restricted gene flow over distances as small as 80 m. Hence, the genetic population structure of plant species can only be understood when considering geographical and selection‐mediated restrictions to gene flow simultaneously.
Transient regulation of protein synthesis in Escherichia coli upon shift-up of growth temperature

Synthesis of total cellular proteins of Escherichia coli was studied upon transfer of a log-phase culture from 30 (or 37) to 42 degrees C. Cells were pulse-labeled with [3H]leucine, and the labeled proteins were analyzed by gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The rates of synthesis of at least five protein chains were found to increase markedly (5- to 10-fold) within 5 min after temperature shift-up and gradually decrease to the new steady-state levels, in contrast to the majority of proteins which gradually increase to the steady-state levels (about 1.5-fold the rate at 30 degrees C). Temperature shift-down did not cause any appreciable changes in the pattern of protein synthesis as detected by the present method. Among the proteins greatly affected by the temperature shift-up were those with apparent molecular weights fo 87,000 (87K), 76K, 73K, 64K, and 61K. Two of them (64K and 61K) were found to be precipitated with specific antiserum against proteins that had previously been shown to have an adenosine triphosphatase activity. The bearings of these findings on bacterial adaptation to variation in growth temperature are discussed.
Corruption and Corporate Innovation

We examine whether political corruption impedes innovation. Using a comprehensive sample of U.S. firms, we find that corruption has a substantial, negative relation with the quantity and quality of innovation. These results are robust to using various fixed effects, proxies for corruption and innovation, and subsamples. To establish causality, we employ 2 instruments for corruption: local ethnic diversity and the corruption of the state a firm’s founder grew up in. Corruption appears to reduce innovation output both on average and for the most innovative firms. Overall, this evidence is consistent with the notion that corruption reduces social welfare by impeding innovation.
Fractionation of the Component Processes Underlying Successful Episodic Encoding: A Combined fMRI and Divided-attention Study

Considerable evidence suggests that attentional resources are necessary for the encoding of episodic memories, but the nature of the relationship between attention and neural correlates of encoding is unclear. Here we address this question using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a divided-attention paradigm in which competition for different types of attentional resources was manipulated. Fifteen volunteers were scanned while making animacy judgments to visually presented words and concurrently performing one of three tasks on auditorily presented words: male/female voice discrimination (control task), 1-back voice comparison (1-back task), or indoor/outdoor judgment (semantic task). The 1-back and semantic tasks were designed to compete for task-generic and task-specific attentional resources, respectively. Using the remember/know procedure, memory for the study words was assessed after 15 min. In the control condition, subsequent memory effects associated with later recollection were identified in the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus and in the left hippocampus. These effects were differentially attenuated in the two more difficult divided-attention conditions. The effects of divided attention seem, therefore, to reflect impairments due to limitations at both task-generic and task-specific levels. Additionally, each of the two more difficult divided-attention conditions was associated with subsequent memory effects in regions distinct from those showing effects in the control condition. These findings suggest the engagement of alternative encoding processes to those engaged in the control task. The overall pattern of findings suggests that divided attention can impact later memory in different ways, and accordingly, that different attentional resources, including task-generic and task-specific resources, make distinct contributions to successful episodic encoding.
Endocrine mechanisms underlying the growth effects of developmental lead exposure in the rat.

A dose-response study was conducted to examine the growth suppression associated with developmental lead exposure in a rat model and to determine the endocrine mechanisms underlying these effects. Ad libitum intake of lead acetate (0.05% to 0.45% w/v) was initiated in time-impregnated female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 10-15/group) at gestational day 5. At birth, pups were culled to four male and four females per litter. Lead exposure of dams continued until weaning, following which lead exposure of pups was continued until sacrifice at age 2 , 35, 55, and 85 days. Birth weight and prepubertal and pubertal growth rates were significantly suppressed. Growth rates were suppressed to a much greater degree in male as compared to female pups. Decreased growth rates were accompanied by a significant decrease in plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) concentrations and (1) a significant increase in pituitary growth hormone (GH) content during puberty in pups of both sexes, (2) a delay in the developmental profiles of the GH-dependent male-specific liver enzymes cytochrome P-450 CYP2C11 and N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene sulfotransferase, and (3) continued suppression of these enzymes in lead-exposed adult male pups. In addition, significant decreases in plasma sex steroids, testosterone (male) and 17beta-estradiol (female), were observed during puberty. Postpuberty, at age 85 d, both IGF1 and sex steroid levels were indistinguishable from control pups despite continued lead exposure. Growth rates were also similar in control and lead-exposed pups between age 57 and 85 d. Data suggest that the mechanism underlying lead-induced sex-independent suppression of growth observed in these studies involves disruption of GH secretion during puberty. It is possible that the mechanisms underlying the greater suppression of somatic growth observed at puberty in lead-exposed male offspring may be due to the additional hypoandrogenization produced by the action of lead on the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis.
Neuroanatomical correlates of clinical misidentification and misperception in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type.

BACKGROUND Impaired frontal lobe and/or nondominant hemisphere lesions have been described in patients with typical misidentification syndromes (e.g., Capgras' syndrome or reduplicative paramnesia) who had various underlying psychiatric or neurologic disorders. In a prospective long-term study, the authors examined computed tomography measurements of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) to determine whether the forms of misidentification they suffered might correlate with organic factors. METHOD One hundred twenty-eight consecutive DAT patients were examined by means of standardized clinical instruments (Mini-Mental State score, CAMCOG, the Benton facial recognition test, the Kendrick object learning test, CAMDEX, and the Geriatric Mental State Schedule) and computed tomography. RESULTS Of the 128 patients, 40 showed symptoms of misidentification; 25 of them misidentified other people in their homes, 7 misidentified their own mirror images, and 7 misidentified television images as being real. Computer-assisted planimetric computed tomography measurements showed that patients with misidentification syndromes had significantly larger right anterior horn areas of the lateral ventricle and significantly larger left anterior brain areas than did patients without such symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The authors conclude that an accentuated degeneration of the right frontal lobe (and a relative preservation of the left frontal lobe) may be associated with delusional misidentification symptoms in DAT.
Emergency department recognition of mental disorders and short-term outcome of deliberate self-harm.

OBJECTIVE The authors sought to characterize the short-term risks of repeat self-harm and psychiatric hospital admission for deliberate self-harm patients discharged from emergency departments to the community, focusing on recognition of mental disorders in the emergency department. METHOD A retrospective longitudinal cohort analysis of national Medicaid claims data was conducted of adults 21-64 years of age with deliberate self-harm who were discharged from emergency departments (N=5,567). Rates and adjusted risk ratios are presented of repeat self-harm visits and inpatient psychiatric admission during the 30 days following the initial emergency visit. RESULTS Approximately 9.7% of self-harm visits were followed by repeat self-harm visits and 13.6% by inpatient psychiatric admissions within 30 days after the initial emergency visit. The rate of repeat self-harm visits was inversely related to recognition of a mental disorder in the emergency department (adjusted risk ratio [ARR]=0.66, 95% CI=0.55-0.79) and directly related to recent diagnosis of anxiety disorders (ARR=1.56, 95% CI=1.30-1.86) or personality disorders (ARR=1.67, 95% CI=1.19-2.34). Recognition of a mental disorder in the emergency department was inversely related to repeat self-harm among patients with no recent mental disorder diagnosis (ARR=0.57, 95% CI=0.41-0.79); any recent mental disorder diagnosis (ARR=0.70, 95%=0.57-0.87); and depressive (ARR=0.71, 95% CI=0.54-0.94), bipolar (ARR=0.70, 95% CI=0.51-0.94), and substance use (ARR=0.71, 95% CI=0.53-0.96) disorder diagnoses. Recognition of a mental disorder was also inversely related to subsequent inpatient psychiatric admission (ARR=0.81, 95% CI=0.71-0.93). CONCLUSIONS Adults who are discharged to the community after emergency visits for deliberate self-harm are at high short-term risk of repeat deliberate self-harm and hospital admission, although these risks may be attenuated by clinical recognition of a mental disorder in the emergency department.
Analysis of the function of the 70-kilodalton cyclase-associated protein (CAP) by using mutants of yeast adenylyl cyclase defective in CAP binding

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, adenylyl cyclase forms a complex with the 70-kDa cyclase-associated protein (CAP). By in vitro mutagenesis, we assigned a CAP-binding site of adenylyl cyclase to a small segment near its C terminus and created mutants which lost the ability to bind CAP. CAP binding was assessed first by observing the ability of the overproduced C-terminal 150 residues of adenylyl cyclase to sequester CAP, thereby suppressing the heat shock sensitivity of yeast cells bearing the activated RAS2 gene (RAS2Val-19), and then by immunoprecipitability of adenylyl cyclase activity with anti-CAP antibody and by direct measurement of the amount of CAP bound. Yeast cells whose chromosomal adenylyl cyclase genes were replaced by the CAP-nonbinding mutants possessed adenylyl cyclase activity fully responsive to RAS2 protein in vitro. However, they did not exhibit sensitivity to heat shock in the RAS2Val-19 background. When glucose-induced accumulation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) was measured in these mutants carrying RAS2Val-19, a rapid transient rise indistinguishable from that of wild-type cells was observed and a high peak level and following persistent elevation of the cAMP concentration characteristic of RAS2Val-19 were abolished. In contrast, in the wild-type RAS2 background, similar cyclase gene replacement did not affect the glucose-induced cAMP response. These results suggest that the association with CAP, although not involved in the in vivo response to the wild-type RAS2 protein, is somehow required for the exaggerated response of adenylyl cyclase to activated RAS2.
Impact of Pharmacogenetic Markers of CYP2D6 and DRD2 on Prolactin Response in Risperidone-Treated Thai Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective The aim of the study was to identify the impact of pharmacogenetic markers associated with prolactin concentration in risperidone-treated children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Methods One hundred forty-seven children and adolescents with autism, aged 3 to 19 years, received risperidone. The clinical data of patients were recorded from medical records. Prolactin levels were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Three CYP2D6 single nucleotide polymorphisms, CYP2D6*4 (1846G>A), *10 (100C>T), and *41 (2988G>A), 1 gene deletion (*5), and DRD2 Taq1A (rs1800497) polymorphism were genotyped by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results The 3 common allelic frequencies were CYP2D6*10 (55.10%), *1 (32.65%), and *5 (6.12%), respectively. Patients were grouped according to their CYP2D6 genotypes. There was no significant correlation between the concentrations of prolactin among the CYP2D6 genotypes. In addition, there were no statistical differences in the prolactin response among the CYP2D6-predicted phenotypes of extensive metabolizer and intermediate metabolizer. The DRD2 genotype frequencies were Taq1A A2A2 (38.77%), A1A2 (41.50%), and A1A1 (19.73%), respectively. There were statistically significant differences in prolactin level of patients among the 3 groups (P = 0.033). The median prolactin level in patients with DRD2 Taq1A A2A2 (17.80 ng/mL) was significantly higher than A1A2 (17.10 ng/mL) and A1A1 (12.70 ng/mL). Conclusions DRD2 Taq1A A2A2 polymorphisms may play a significant role in the hyperprolactinemia- associated with risperidone treatment in children and adolescent with autism spectrum disorder. Many drugs used chronically in psychiatric diseases exert their effects mainly through the dopamine D2 receptor. It is therefore possible that these drugs could alter the expression of any dopamine receptor, thus affecting the pharmacodynamics characteristics and toxicity of drug substrates during pharmacotherapy.
Genome‐wide analysis of the H‐NS and Sfh regulatory networks in Salmonella Typhimurium identifies a plasmid‐encoded transcription silencing mechanism

The conjugative IncHI1 plasmid pSfR27 from Shigella flexneri 2a strain 2457T encodes the Sfh protein, a paralogue of the global transcriptional repressor H‐NS. Sfh allows pSfR27 to be transmitted to new bacterial hosts with minimal impact on host fitness, providing a ‘stealth’ function whose molecular mechanism has yet to be determined. The impact of the Sfh protein on the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium transcriptome was assessed and binding sites for Sfh in the Salmonella Typhimurium genome were identified by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Sfh did not bind uniquely to any sites. Instead, it bound to a subset of the larger H‐NS regulatory network. Analysis of Sfh binding in the absence of H‐NS revealed a greatly expanded population of Sfh binding sites that included the majority of H‐NS target genes. Furthermore, the presence of plasmid pSfR27 caused a decrease in H‐NS interactions with the S. Typhimurium chromosome, suggesting that the A + T‐rich DNA of this large plasmid acts to titrate H‐NS, removing it from chromosomal locations. It is proposed that Sfh acts as a molecular backup for H‐NS and that it provides its ‘stealth’ function by replacing H‐NS on the chromosome, thus minimizing disturbances to the H‐NS‐DNA binding pattern in cells that acquire pSfR27.
Full Wave Modeling of Substrate Doping Effects and Nonideal Conductors in Integrated Circuit Interconnects

On-chip interconnects form complex networks composed of coupled metal lines on oxide and substrate layers. Substrate parasitic effects (substrate currents and propagation loss) are becoming limiting factors to the performance of modern high-speed digital and analog integrated circuits (ICs). Signals traveling along the metal-insulator-silicon-metal (MISM) structure (a fundamental on-chip interconnect unit) will have different attenuation and dispersion when changing operation frequencies and substrate doping densities. These are categorized into three fundamental propagation modes: the slow-wave mode, the dielectric quasi-TEM mode, and the skin-effect mode (Hasegawa et al., 1971). In high-speed radio frequency (RF) circuits, interconnects are likely to operate in the skin-effect mode. In this mode, the nonideal substrate functions as a current return path of the signal, located very close to the oxide layer. Accurate modeling of interconnects in this mode is difficult, because the Courant's stability condition limits most explicit time-domain full-wave Maxwell solvers. To overcome this problem, we apply the alternating-direction-implicit finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) method (Namiki, 1999) to solve Maxwell's equations. In spite of the conductor loss, we have found considerable substrate current and loss, which depend on the substrate doping and operation frequency
Vergence Adaptation and Senescence

Purpose. The characteristics of prism adaptation have been evaluated by many previous studies but most have been performed on young subjects (typically 18 to 35 years of age). Because little information is available regarding the effect of age on vergence adaptation, we assessed prism adaptation on 25 visually normal subjects across a wide age range (19 to 85 years) for both convergent and divergent induced disparities. Methods. A "flashed" (125 ms) Maddox rod procedure was used for distance fixation (5 m) over a 3.5 min adaptation period and a 2.5 min recovery period. Stimulus presentation and occlusion time were controlled with an Apple lie microcomputer through a CIL Microsystems interface. Results. Prism adaptation was shown to be present in all age groups, with convergence showing a greater amplitude than divergence. However, the magnitude of adaptation declined significantly as a function of increasing age at a rate of approximately 0.6% per year. Conclusion. An adaptation mechanism is present in all subjects but it operates with reduced gain in older subjects. The finding may explain the clinical observation that older patients readily accept prismatic correction to control oculomotor imbalance.
Inhibition of mediator and cytokine release from dispersed nasal polyp cells by mizolastine

Background Mizolastine is a potent and selective H1‐receptor antagonist with antiallergic properties; in in‐vitro animal models, mizolastine was shown to inhibit 5‐lipoxygenase activity and to decrease the release of leukotrienes (LT) and tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α). This study investigated the effects of three concentrations of mizolastine (0.1, 1.0, 10 µM) on the release of LT (LTB4 and LTC4/D4) and prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) after stimulation by anti‐IgE, and on the spontaneous release of cytokines (TNF‐α and granulocyte/macrophage‐colony‐stimulating factor [GM‐CSF]), from dispersed cells obtained from surgically resected nasal polyps of patients with nasal polyposis.