Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clan Governance and State Stability: The Relationship between Female Subordination and Political Order

We propose that the relative influence of clans is an important explanatory factor producing significant variation in state stability and security across societies. We explore the micro-level processes that link clan predominance with dysfunctional syndromes of state behavior. Clans typically privilege agnatic descent from the patriline and are characterized by extreme subordination of women effected through marriage practices. Particular types of marriage practices give rise to particular types of political orders and may be fiercely guarded for just this reason. We construct and validate a Clan Governance Index to investigate which variables related to women's subordination to the patriline in marriage are useful to include in such an index. We then show that clan governance is a useful predictor of indicators of state stability and security, and we probe the value added by its inclusion with other conventional explanatory variables often linked to state stability and security. “I against my brothers; my brothers and I against my cousins; my cousins, my brothers, and I against the world” (Bedouin saying) “At the heart of tribes, to varying levels, is a severe patriarchy” (Jacobson 2013, 58).
Horizontal transfer of whole mitochondria restores tumorigenic potential in mitochondrial DNA-deficient cancer cells

Recently, we showed that generation of tumours in syngeneic mice by cells devoid of mitochondrial (mt) DNA (ρ0 cells) is linked to the acquisition of the host mtDNA. However, the mechanism of mtDNA movement between cells remains unresolved. To determine whether the transfer of mtDNA involves whole mitochondria, we injected B16ρ0 mouse melanoma cells into syngeneic C57BL/6Nsu9-DsRed2 mice that express red fluorescent protein in their mitochondria. We document that mtDNA is acquired by transfer of whole mitochondria from the host animal, leading to normalisation of mitochondrial respiration. Additionally, knockdown of key mitochondrial complex I (NDUFV1) and complex II (SDHC) subunits by shRNA in B16ρ0 cells abolished or significantly retarded their ability to form tumours. Collectively, these results show that intact mitochondria with their mtDNA payload are transferred in the developing tumour, and provide functional evidence for an essential role of oxidative phosphorylation in cancer. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.22187. 001
Invasive infections with Haemophilus influenzae serotype a containing an IS1016-bexA partial deletion: possible association with virulence.

BACKGROUND Recent reports of invasive Haemophilus influenzae non-b capsular serotypes in the era since development of conjugate vaccines have prompted concern about serotype replacement. Unusual clusters of invasive infection due to H. influenzae serotype a with clinical features that resemble those of infection due to H. influenzae serotype b have been described. A unique feature often associated with more-virulent H. influenzae serotype a isolates is the IS1016-bexA partial deletion, which was previously identified in the capsule locus of H. influenzae serotype b strains. We report the clinical, epidemiologic, and molecular genetic features of 2 cases of severe disease caused by H. influenzae serotype a. METHODS Invasive H. influenzae isolates were serotyped with standard serological methods, and molecular typing was done with PCR. The capsular genotype of each isolate was characterized with PCR, partial sequencing, and Southern blot hybridization. Further strain typing was performed with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. RESULTS We identified 2 children with severe invasive disease due to H. influenzae serotype a. Both H. influenzae serotype a isolates contained the identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern and capsular genotype. An IS1016-bexA partial deletion in the capsule gene locus similar to that found in H. influenzae serotype b was identified in both isolates by means of PCR and sequencing of the IS1016-bexA junction. CONCLUSIONS We describe 2 cases of severe invasive disease due to H. influenzae serotype a with the putative virulence-enhancing IS1016-bexA partial deletion and duplication of the capsule locus. Our data support the hypothesis that this mutation may be associated with virulence in non-b capsular serotypes of H. influenzae.
Texture-based Expression Modelling for a Virtual Talking Head

The human face plays a vital role in everyday human-to-human communication as it has the capability of conveying a vast amount of different social, emotional and conversational cues, which influence the meaning and the flow of interaction. Of particular importance is the ability of the face to express inner emotional states, such as emotions of happiness and anger, through different facial expressions. Since the human face has such an important function in interpersonal communication, the utilisation of expressive heads in computer-mediated interaction has come to be looked upon as an effective way of evolving and improving information exchange in the virtual domain, enriching it with new emotional and social dimensions. To date, facial expressions of emotion of virtual heads have mainly been created through deformation of the three-dimensional head models. A problem with this approach is that small facial features, such as wrinkles at the corners of the eyes and the mouth, which are vital to include if one wants to create natural-looking facial expressions, are difficult to model and control. A possible solution to this problem is to apply emotion-expressing textures, which contain graphical representations of these important features, to the virtual heads. In this way, high detail and realism can be attained without increasing the complexity of the head models themselves. This project has focused on the creation and the study of five textured virtual heads, each conveying a particular facial expression of emotion. These expressions of emotion were happiness, anger, sadness, surprise and neutrality. The emotion-expressing virtual heads were created by deforming an already existing virtual head with the help of facial data captured from a real-life actress conveying the different facial expressions of emotion. These facial data were recorded with Qualisys, an optical motion tracking system. In addition, digital photographs were taken of the actresses’ face, while conveying the facial expressions of emotion. These images were utilised for the creation of photo-realistic textures, which were then mapped to the corresponding virtual heads. The study of the textured virtual heads had two different purposes. The first and most important aim was to examine the ability of the virtual heads to convey their facial expressions of emotion. By adding emotion-expressive speech and movements to the virtual heads, there was also a wish to investigate how people’s perception of the facial expressions of the virtual heads would influence and also be influenced by their perception of these other emotion-expressing channels of information. The findings of the study indicate that the virtual heads were fairly efficient in conveying their facial expressions of emotion. The results also show that when speech and movements were added to the virtual heads, these channels of information, particularly the emotion-conveying speech, clearly had a dominant influence on people’s perception of the emotional state of the virtual heads. Texturbaserad emotionsmodellering för ansiktssyntes
Mannose-Binding Lectin (MBL)-Associated Serine Protease (MASP)-1 Contributes to Activation of the Lectin Complement Pathway1

The complement system plays an important role in innate immunity. In the lectin complement pathway, mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and ficolins act as recognition molecules, and MBL-associated serine protease (MASP) is a key enzyme. It has been suggested that MASP-2 is responsible for the activation of C4. Other serine proteases (MASP-1 and MASP-3) are also associated with MBL or ficolins; however, their functions are still controversial. In this study, a MASP-1- and MASP-3-deficient mouse model (MASP1/3−/−) was generated by a gene targeting strategy to investigate the roles of MASP-1 and MASP-3 in the lectin pathway. Serum derived from MASP1/3−/− mice showed significantly lower activity of both C4 and C3 deposition on mannan-agarose, and this low activity was restored by the addition of recombinant MASP-1. MASP-1/3-deficient serum showed a significant delay for activation of MASP-2 compared with normal serum. Reconstitution of recombinant MASP-1 in MASP-1/3-deficient serum was able to promote the activation of MASP-2. From these results, we propose that MASP-1 contributes to the activation of the lectin pathway, probably through the activation of MASP-2.
Ensaios cooperativos de controle biológico de mofo-branco na cultura da soja - safras 2012 a 2015.

Importância do mofo branco na cultura da soja no Brasil. Manejo do mofo branco na cultura da soja. Eficiencia de fungicidas para controle de mofo branco (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) em soja, na safra 2008/2009 - resultados sumarizados e individuais dos ensaios cooperativos. Eficiencia de fungicidas para controle de mofo branco (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) em soja, na safra 2009/2010 - resultados sumarizados e individuais dos ensaios cooperativos. Eficiencia de fungicidas para controle de mofo branco (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) em soja, na safra 2010/2011 - resultados sumarizados e individuais dos ensaios cooperativos. Eficiencia de fungicidas para controle de mofo branco (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) em soja, na safra 2011/2012 - resultados sumarizados e individuais dos ensaios cooperativos.
1 Fiscal Devaluation in a Monetary Union

Between 1999 and the onset of the economic crisis in 2008 real exchange rates in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain appreciated relative to the rest of the euro area. This divergence in competitiveness was reflected in the emergence of current account imbalances. Given that exchange rate devaluations are no longer available in a monetary union, one potential way to address such imbalances is through a fiscal devaluation. We use a DSGE model calibrated to the euro area to investigate the impact of a fiscal devaluation, modeled as a revenue-neutral shift from employers’ social contributions to the Value Added Tax. We find that a fiscal devaluation carried out in ‘Southern European countries’ has a strong positive effect on output, but a mild effect on the trade balance of these countries. In addition, the negative effect on ‘Central-Northern countries’ output is weak.
Consensus statement on the anticipation and prevention of acute postoperative pain: multidisciplinary RADAR approach

Abstract Background: There has been considerable investment in efforts to improve postoperative pain management, including the introduction of acute pain teams. There have also been a number of guidelines published on postoperative pain management and there is widespread agreement on how pain should be practically managed. Despite these advances, there is no apparent improvement in the number of patients experiencing moderately severe or extreme pain after surgery. This highlights significant scope for improvement in acute postoperative pain management. Scope: In January 2009, a multidisciplinary UK expert panel met to define and agree a practical framework to encourage implementation of the numerous guidelines and fundamentals of pain management at a local level. The panel recognised that to do this, there was a need to organise the information and guidelines into a simplified, accessible and easy-to-implement system based on their practical clinical experience. Given the volume of literature in this area, the Chair recommended that key international guidelines from professional bodies should be distributed and then reviewed during the meeting to form the basis of the framework. Consensus was reached by unanimous agreement of all ten participants. Findings: This report provides a framework for the key themes, including consensus recommendations based upon practical experience agreed during the meeting, with the aim of consolidating the key guidelines to provide a fundamental framework which is simple to teach and implement in all areas. Key priorities that emerged were: Responsibility, Anticipation, Discussion, Assessment and Response. This formed the basis of RADAR, a novel framework to help pain specialists educate the wider care team on understanding and prioritising the management of acute pain. Conclusion: Acute postoperative pain can be more effectively managed if it is prioritised and anticipated by a well-informed care team who are educated with regard to appropriate analgesic options and understand what the long-term benefits of pain relief are. The principles of RADAR provide structure to help with training and implementation of good practice, to achieve effective postoperative pain management.
X-Band Substrate Integrated Waveguide Amplifier

Design and realization of a compact X-band single-transistor amplifier with substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based input and output matching networks is presented. The overall size of the proposed SIW amplifier is only 1.5lambdag at the center frequency. Using a calibration technique, we extract the S-parameters of the fabricated amplifier with reference to its SIW ports. Measurements show that the amplifier features 10 dB of power gain with less than 2 dB of ripple and more than 10 dB of input and output return losses on the SIW ports in the entire frequency band. Due to an appropriate modeling of the constituent blocks of the amplifier, a good agreement between the simulation and measurement results is observed.
Efficient processing of multiway spatial join queries in distributed systems

A multi-juncao espacial e um tipo importante de consulta usada no processamento de dados espaciais e sua execucao eficiente e um requisito para mover a analise de dados espaciais para plataformas escalaveis, assim como aconteceu com dados relacionais e nao estruturados. Nesta tese, propomos um conjunto de modelos e metodos para executar eficientemente consultas de multi-juncao espacial em sistemas distribuidos. Apresentamos um otimizador baseado em custos que seleciona um bom plano de execucao levando em consideracao: o particionamento de dados com base nos atributos espaciais dos datasets; o nivel de paralelismo intra-operador que proporciona alta escalabilidade; e o escalonamento das consultas antes da execucao que resulta em economia de recursos computacionais. Propomos um modelo de custo baseado em metadados dos datasets e da distribuicao de dados, que identifica o padrao de custos incorridos no processamento de uma consulta neste ambiente. Formalizamos o problema de escalonamento de planos de execucao da multi-juncao espacial distribuida como um modelo linear inteiro bi-objetivo, que minimiza tanto o custo de processamento quanto o custo de comunicacao. Propomos tres metodos para gerar escalonamentos a partir deste modelo, os quais reduzem significativamente o consumo de recursos no processamento das consultas. Embora projetados para o escalonamento da multi-juncao espacial, esses metodos podem tambem ser aplicados a outros tipos de problemas em sistemas distribuidos, que necessitam do alinhamento de particoes de dados e da distribuicao de tarefas a maquinas de forma balanceada. Alem disso, propomos um metodo para controlar o uso de recursos e aumentar a vazao do sistema na presenca de restricoes nas capacidades da rede ou de processamento. O otimizador proposto foi capaz de selecionar bons planos de execucao para todas as consultas em nossos experimentos, as quais usaram datasets publicos com uma variedade significativa de tamanhos e de objetos espaciais complexos. Apresentamos tambem uma maquina de execucao, capaz de executar as consultas com escalabilidade proxima de linear em relacao ao tempo de execucao.
Alcohol related dementia: proposed clinical criteria

Current diagnostic criteria for Alcohol Related Dementia (ARD) are based almost exclusively on clinical judgment. Moreover, there are no guidelines available to assist the clinician or the researcher in distinguishing Alcohol Related Dementia from other causes of dementia such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD). However, this distinction may have implications for the prognosis and treatment of patients. In this article, provisional diagnostic criteria for establishing a diagnosis of Alcohol Related Dementia are proposed for further study. The criteria are based on the available literature on the relationship between alcohol consumption and dementia and were modeled after existing diagnostic criteria for AD and Vascular Dementia. Validity of these criteria for distinguishing AD from ARD will require further study. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Requirement for a Peptidoglycan Recognition Protein (PGRP) in Relish Activation and Antibacterial Immune Responses in Drosophila

Components of microbial cell walls are potent activators of innate immune responses in animals. For example, the mammalian TLR4 signaling pathway is activated by bacterial lipopolysaccharide and is required for resistance to infection by Gram-negative bacteria. Other components of microbial surfaces, such as peptidoglycan, are also potent activators of innate immune responses, but less is known about how those components activate host defense. Here we show that a peptidoglycan recognition protein, PGRP-LC, is absolutely required for the induction of antibacterial peptide genes in response to infection in Drosophila and acts by controlling activation of the NF-κB family transcription factor Relish.
Use of disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs during pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia

To describe patterns of disease‐modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) use during pregnancy in a population‐based cohort, and to evaluate the association between autoimmune disease, DMARDs, corticosteroids, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and preeclampsia.
BEHAVIORAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE OLDER SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENT: DRUG AND SOCIAL THERAPIES *

The series of Veterans Administration Cooperative Studies in Psychiatry has provided continuing support for investigations of the role of the phenothiazines in the treatment of schizophrenic patients. This report is the result of the first cooperative project in geriatric psychiatry. In the previous studies an upper age limit of 56 years was used; in the present investigation the patients were aged 54 to 74 years. The usefulness of phenothiazine therapy in younger, newly-admitted schizophrenic patients already has been demonstrated in several studies (1-3). Our one major investigation of depressed patients showed that imipramine was the most effective agent tested (4). The situation was less clear regarding the effect of combined drug therapy in patients with chronic schizophrenia ( 5 ) . For this group, the addition of dextro-amphetamine, imipramine or trifluoperazine to maintenance doses of chlorpromazine did not produce a therapeutic gain. Further study (6) revealed that discontinuation of phenothiazine medication in these patients resulted in a 45 per cent relapse rate over a period of sixteen weeks. Thus i t may be concluded with confidence that treatment with the major phenothiazines is generally beneficial in schizophrenic patients under 56 years
The Leader Ship Is Sinking: A Temporal Investigation of Narcissistic Leadership.

Individuals higher in narcissism have leader emergent tendencies. The characteristics of their personality suggest, however, that their leadership qualities will decrease over time as a function of group acquaintance. We present data from two studies that provide the first empirical support for this theoretical position within a transformational leadership framework. In Study 1 (N = 112), we tested narcissistic leadership qualities in groups of unacquainted individuals over a 12-week period. In Study 2 (N = 152), we adopted the same protocol with groups of acquainted individuals. In Study 1, narcissism was positively associated with peer-rated leadership during initial group formation but not later. In Study 2, narcissism was not significantly associated with peer-rated leadership during initial group formation and was negatively associated with peer-rated leadership later. In Study 1, transformational leadership mediated the relationship between narcissism and leadership initially but not later on. In Study 2, transformational leadership failed to mediate the relationship between narcissism and leadership throughout the study. Despite enjoying a honeymoon period of leadership, the appeal and attractiveness of the narcissistic leader rapidly wane. This decline is explained in part by their changing transformational leadership qualities.
The high prevalence of chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorders: A hospital-based cross-sectional study

Mineral bone disorder (MBD) is an important complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, there are limited data on the pattern of MBD in Indian CKD population. The aim of this study was to describe spectrum of MBD in patients with CKD in our center. This was a hospital-based cross-sectional observational study. Patients with stage 4 and 5 CKD were included in this study. Those receiving calcium supplement, vitamin D or its analogues, and calcimimetic were excluded. Serum/plasma levels of creatinine, albumin, calcium, phosphate, total alkaline phosphatase (TAP), intact parathormone (iPTH), and 25-OH vitaminD (25-vitD) were measured. Radiological survey of bones was carried out in all cases, and echocardiography done in selected patients. Statistical analysis was done using Sigmaplot 10.0 software. A total of 150 patients (114 males, 36 females) were included in this study. Mean age was 45.67±16.96 years. CKD stage 4 and 5D were found in 26% (n=39) and 74% (n=111) of study population, respectively. The most common underlying native kidney diseases in patients of CKD 4 and 5D were diabetic nephropathy (41.03%) and CGN (41.44%), respectively. Median (first quartile, third quartile) values for serum levels of corrected calcium (cCa), phosphate, cCaXPO4 product, TAP, plasma iPTH, and 25-vitD in stage 4 CKD were 8.36 (7.79, 8.91) mg/dL, 4.9 (3.92, 6.4) mg/dL, 41.11 (34.01, 53.81) mg2/dL2, 97 (76.5, 184.25) IU/L, 231 (124.5, 430.75) pg/mL, and 12 (6.98, 23.55) ng/mL, respectively; and in stage 5D CKD were 8.36 (7.66, 8.95) mg/dL, 5.7 (4.23, 6.95) mg/dL, 46.5 (37.16, 54.47) mg2/dL2, 180 (114.5, 276.25) IU/L, 288 (169.75, 625.0) pg/mL, and 18.4 (10.0, 26.4) ng/mL, respectively. Prevalence of hypocalcemia (56.41% vs. 54.95%), hyperphosphatemia (64.10% vs. 70.27%), and hyperparathyroidism (84.62% vs. 88.29%) was not different between patients with CKD 4 and 5D. However, iPTH level outside the target range and increased TAP level were significantly (P<0.001) more common in CKD stage 5D. Multiple logistic regression analysis for hyperparathyroidism revealed significant inverse correlation with cCa in CKD 5D. There were no significant differences in vitamin D status and prevalence of valvular calcification between CKD stage 4 and 5D. X-ray revealed renal osteodystrophy in 8 (5.33%) patients, while it was normal in 118 (78.67%) patients. Secondary hyperparathyroidism, hyperphosphatemia, hypocalcemia, increased TAP, and 25-OH vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were quite common in CKD 4 and 5 patients. The commonest type of MBD in CKD 4 and 5D was secondary hyperparathyroidism.