Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Related to Depression During Menopause: A Study in Southern Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to survey the prevalence of women's depression during menopause and investigate the relationships between menopause depression and variables including self-concept, menopause attitudes, life-event stresses, climacteric physiological symptoms, and demographics. Research was conducted using a cross-sectional study and self-administered questionnaires. We randomly selected female participants between the ages of 45 and 55 years from Tainan City in southern Taiwan using the cluster method. Two hundred sixty-six valid questionnaires were analyzed. Results were as follows: (a) The prevalence of depression among participants was 31.2%; (b) depression was positively associated with life-event stresses and climacteric physiological symptoms (r =.23 and .34, respectively) and was negatively associated with attitude toward menopause and self-concept (r = −.31 and −.65, respectively); and (c) by logistic regression analyses, climacteric physiological symptoms and self-concept were associated with menopause depression. This preliminary survey suggests that low self-concept and increased climacteric physiological symptoms are closely related to depression among menopausal women. Larger scale follow-up studies are warranted to investigate factors that predispose women to depression during menopause.
Role of N-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptors in the Neuroprotective Activation of Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase 1/2 by Cisplatin*

Neurons are exposed to damaging stimuli that can trigger cell death and subsequently cause serious neurological disorders. Therefore, it is important to define defense mechanisms that can be activated in response to damage to reduce neuronal loss. Here we report that cisplatin (CPDD), a neurotoxic anticancer drug that damages DNA, triggered apoptosis and activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway in cultured rat cortical neurons. Inhibition of ERK1/2 activation using either pharmacological inhibitors or a dominant-negative mutant of the ERK1/2 activator, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1, increased the toxicity of CPDD. Interestingly, N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor (NMDAR) antagonists reduced the ERK1/2 activation and exacerbated apoptosis in CPDD-treated neurons. Pre-treatment with CPDD increased ERK1/2 activation triggered by exogenous NMDA, suggesting that CPDD augmented NMDAR responsiveness. CPDD-enhanced response of NMDAR and CPDD-mediated ERK1/2 activation were both decreased by inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Interestingly, PARP activation did not produce ATP depletion, suggesting involvement of a non-energetic mechanism in NMDAR regulation by PARP. Finally, CPDD toxicity was reduced by brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and this protection required ERK1/2. In summary, our data identify a novel compensatory circuit in central nervous system neurons that couples the DNA injury, through PARP and NMDAR, to the defensive ERK1/2 activation.
The Persistent Effects of Brief Interactions: Evidence from Immigrant Ships

This paper shows that brief social interactions can have a large impact on economic outcomes when they occur in high-stakes decision contexts. I study this question using a high frequency and detailed geolocalized dataset of matched immigrants-ships from the age of mass migration. Individuals exogenously travelling with (previously unrelated) higher quality shipmates end up being employed in higher quality jobs at destination. Several findings suggest that shipmates provide access and/or information about employment opportunities. Firstly, immigrants' sector of employment and place of residence are affected by those of their shipmates' contacts. Secondly, the baseline effects are stronger for individuals travelling alone and with fewer connections at destination. Thirdly, immigrants are affected more strongly by shipmates who share their language. These findings underline the sizeable effects of even brief social connections, provided that they occur during critical life junctures.
Occult lymphoma cells prevalent in autologous marrow from non‐Hodgkin's diffuse lymphoma

The most effective treatment for recurrent non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) appears to be a high‐dose cytotoxic chemotherapy (HDC) followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). However, it has been suggested that the presence of occult lymphoma cells in harvested marrow may be responsible for a significant fraction of treatment failures after HDC/ABMT. The present study examined randomly accrued NHL patients, independent of their cytogenic grades, for the presence of cells bearing bcl‐2/immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangements in lymph node (LN) biopsies and the bone marrow by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot hybridization combined with a classical culturing technique. Among 41 NHL patients examined, bcl‐2/IgH translocations were evident in LN biopsies and marrow from each of 10 follicular lymphoma patients, but not in any samples from 31 newly diagnosed diffuse lymphoma patients. Marrow aspirates from several patients that were cultured using a one‐week “triggering culture” followed by an extended period of conventional culture resulted in emergence of a monoclonal, IgH‐rearranged, bcl‐2‐normal lymphoid cell population. Such outgrowth was specifically seen in cultures of diffuse lymphoma marrow (7 of 28 evaluable patients). Southern analysis for IgH rearrangement within LN biopsies and of cells cultured from marrow of individual diffuse lymphoma patients produced identical patterns, suggesting that the occult lymphoma cells present in harvested marrow were derived from the predominant lymphoma cell population represented within involved lymph nodes. The culture of histologically occult lymphoma from diagnostic marrow and analysis of the derived cells by Southern blot hybridization can be used to detect potentially aggressive lymphoma cells within harvested marrow, despite their lack of bcl‐2 gene rearrangement. Am. J. Hematol. 73:1–11, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ownership, organisation and industrial linkage: A case study in the Northern Region of England

Marshall J. N. (1979) Ownership, organisation and industrial linkage: a case study in the Northern Region of England, Reg. Studies 13, 531–557. The paper examines the significance for regional economic development of the material, service and contact linkages of manufacturing establishments. Using data drawn primarily from a survey of 92 manufacturing plants in the Northern Region of the United Kingdom, the paper considers the extent to which differing types of establishment possess local suppliers and markets. The primary focus is the importance of establishment ownership as an explanation for differences in linkage patterns. This variable and others are used to predict material, business service and communication flows. It is concluded that externally owned establishments in the North are important to the regional economy because such plants do purchase and sell a substantial amount of their material goods in the region. In contrast externally owned establishments have little impact on the region's serv.
Decentralising Public Education: Are Cities Ready For It? New evidence from Colombia

In 2001 Colombia introduced important changes in the regulation of public service provision. Municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants were made responsible of managing and providing public education on their territories. The inhabitant count was the only criterium used to decide whether a municipality could start administering local public education independently or was put under the authority of the larger region to which it belongs. I employ both a regression discontinuity design and fixed eects regression on a discontinuity sample to identify the eect of city-level autonomy over public education on pupil outcomes over a period of ten years after the reform. I find the eect of independent management of education to be heterogeneous across
Physical rehabilitation interventions in nonambulatory people with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review

There is an expanding body of research on exercise intervention for multidisciplinary rehabilitation of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Most of this research focuses on people with mild/moderate MS who are ambulatory. As the costs of care increases with increasing disability, it is important to evaluate the evidence for interventions in nonambulatory PwMS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the evidence regarding physical rehabilitation interventions in nonambulatory PwMS. The databases AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PSYCHARTICLES were searched up to 31 May 2011. Reference lists, Google Scholar and PEDro were also searched. Trials of physical rehabilitation interventions in nonambulatory PwMS that analysed nonambulatory results separately were included. Pharmacological, surgical, medical and assistive device interventions were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed and the GRADE approach was used to classify the quality of evidence. Sixteen low-grade studies, only three of which were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), were found. There are trends of improvement following some interventions such as cooling suits, respiratory training and multidisciplinary rehabilitation, but there is no high-grade evidence in terms of the benefits of interventions in this population. The effectiveness of physical rehabilitation interventions in nonambulatory PwMS remains unclear. Although trends in the results suggest positive benefits, conclusions cannot be drawn about the effectiveness of interventions in this population because of the small number and poor quality of studies. As approximately 25% of PwMS are nonambulatory and considerable costs are associated with their care, it is imperative that efforts be to increase the quality of evidence for nonambulatory PwMS.
Real Estate Returns: A Comparison with Other Investments

Real estate returns, measured unleveraged, have been between those of stocks and bonds over 1960-1982. Due to appraisal smoothing and imperfect marketability, one must be careful about directly comparing measured real estate returns with those on other assets. It is likely, however, that low correlations with stocks and bonds make real estate a diversification opportunity for traditional portfolio managers. In addition, the issue of how various assets are priced is addressed. While stocks are priced primarily on market or beta risk, and bonds are priced primarily on interest rate and default risk, the real estate pricing mechanism includes residual risk and non-risk factors such as taxes, marketability costs and information costs. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
Enterprise Zones and Job Creation: Linking Evaluation and Practice

Although enterprise zones have been a popular economic development tool for several years, there is still a lack of evidence on both zone effectiveness and how to improve existing zone programs. This article discusses several evaluation criteria that should be given more attention. First, the article addresses methodological issues in assessing zone benefits, including the importance of comparing places that received zones with a suitably chosen control group of places that did not get zones. Second, the data requirements for enterprise zone evaluation are examined. The link between evaluation and practice is discussed. Zone evaluations must address not only efficiency criteria such as the measurement of benefits and costs but also the question of how to improve the functioning of existing zones. The conclusion is that zone evaluations should pay closer attention to research methodology and strive to document program implementation information that can improve the practice of enterprise zones.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging of verbal fluency and confrontation naming using compressed image acquisition to permit overt responses

Verbal fluency and confrontation naming, two tests of word retrieval, are of great utility in the field of cognitive neuroscience. However, in the context of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), movement artefact has necessitated the use of covert paradigms, which has limited clinical application. We developed two overt fMRI paradigms that allowed for performance measurement and hence were appropriate for use with patient groups. The paradigms incorporated a blocked‐design and compressed‐acquisition methodology where cues were presented and responses made in a “silent” period allowing for performance measurement. The slow response pace was specifically designed for older and potentially cognitively impaired participants. Verbal fluency was associated with activation in the middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann areas 46 and 9), anterior cingulate gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus (area 44 and 45). Confrontation naming activated areas of the temporo‐occipital cortices (areas 18, 19, and 37) and the inferior frontal gyrus. The two paradigms successfully activated regions involved in executive and word retrieval processes and overcame the potential artefacts resulting from overt speech during image acquisition, providing useful neuropsychological tools to investigate cognitive deficits in clinical populations. Hum. Brain Mapping 20:29–40, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Applying a talent management lens to career management: the role of human capital composition and continuity

The aim of this study was to gain empirical insight into how organizations' human capital composition (in terms of both uniqueness and strategic value) affects the way they design and implement their career management policies. We formulate our hypotheses based upon conflicting assumptions found in the careers literature and the talent management literature. Organizational-level surveys administered to the HR directors of 306 companies located in Belgium provided the data for the study. Our basic assumption – in stark contrast to prevailing assumptions in the careers literature – was that the more importance organizations attach to continuity in light of their human capital composition, the more they will adhere to ‘traditional’ models of career management (i.e. strategic, paternalistic, bounded and formalized). Our study yielded mixed findings. Both threats of qualitative (value) and quantitative (uniqueness) human capital shortages were found to be important determinants of importance attached to continuity as a career management goal and, consequently, of an organization's approach to career management. We argue that the careers literature might take lessons from the talent management literature by acknowledging the fact that careers serve strategic functions for organizations, whereas the talent management literature might build on insights from the careers literature on the mechanisms by which to retain and engage individual career actors.
Elephants on the move. Patterns of public pension reform in OECD countries

Among OECD countries there are two clusters of old-age security systems: (1) ‘Social insurance’ countries had, by the end of the 1960s, fashioned the core of old-age security as public, contributory, earnings-related and unfunded insurance schemes; (2) a diverse collection of countries that, after 1970, topped up their basic pension arrangements with funded occupational pension schemes with (almost) universal coverage. ‘Social insurance’ countries, on which this essay focuses, reveal at least six common trends in pension reform, all about improving the financial sustainability of public schemes. Although the repertoire of incremental adjustment strategies is quite limited, policy changes since the early 1980s have not led to a clear convergence among ‘social insurance’ countries (or across the two clusters). Their original diversity has been somewhat diminished, but it has for the most part merely taken a different form. Public pension reforms regularly harmed (future) beneficiaries. Nevertheless, most reforms were actually based on broad political consensus. The success of attempts to introduce retrenchment policies depends on prior negotiation with – and support obtained from – collective actors above and beyond a simple parliamentary majority. This peculiar prerequisite ensures success in the sense of a sustained implementation of the measures taken and of actual improvement in public trust in ‘reliable’ pension schemes.
Metal levels in fish from the Savannah River: potential hazards to fish and other receptors.

Fish are ideal indicators of heavy metal contamination in aquatic systems because they occupy different trophic levels and are different sizes and ages. In this paper, we report concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, strontium(88) and mercury in the muscle of 11 species of fish from the Savannah River near the Savannah River Site. We test the hypotheses that there are no locational, species, or trophic-level differences in contaminant levels. There were significant species differences for all metals; higher-trophic-level fish generally had higher levels of arsenic, chromium, and copper. There were relatively few locational differences, and where there were such differences, they were small. The relationships between body weight and contaminant levels were generally positive, except for strontium, where there was a negative correlation for bowfin (Amia cal va), bass (Micropterus salmoides), yellow perch (Perca flavescens), and shellcracker (Lepomis microlophus) and no relationship for the other species. The levels of most metals were similar to, or lower than, those for the United States generally, and the levels of metals in fish from the Savannah River do not appear to pose a health threat to the fish themselves or to higher-order consumers, based on levels known to cause effects.
Randomized trial of the efficacy of tamsulosin, nifedipine and phloroglucinol in medical expulsive therapy for distal ureteral calculi.

PURPOSE Recent studies show the interesting efficacy of different drug combinations for the spontaneous expulsion of distal ureteral stones. We performed a randomized, prospective study to assess and compare the efficacy of 3 drugs as medical expulsive therapy for distal ureteral calculi. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 210 symptomatic patients with distal ureteral calculi greater than 4 mm were randomly allocated to home treatment with phloroglucinol, tamsulosin or nifedipine (groups 1 to 3, respectively). Each group was given a corticosteroid drug and antibiotic prophylaxis with an injectable nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug was also used on demand. The primary end point was the expulsion rate and the secondary end points were expulsion time, analgesic use, need for hospitalization and endoscopic treatment as well as the number of workdays lost, quality of life and drug side effects RESULTS The expulsion rate was significantly higher in group 2 (97.1%) than in groups 1 (64.3%, p <0.0001) or 3 (77.1%, p <0.0001). Group 2 significantly achieved stone passage in a shorter time than the other 2 groups and showed a significantly decreased number of hospitalizations as well as a better decrease in endoscopic procedures performed to remove the stone. The control of renal colic pain was significantly superior in group 2 compared with the other groups, resulting in fewer workdays lost. Group 3 showed lower analgesic use and decreased workdays lost compared with group 1. No difference in side effects was observed among the groups. CONCLUSIONS Medical expulsive therapy should be considered for distal ureterolithiasis without complications before ureteroscopy or extracorporeal lithotripsy. The use of tamsulosin in this treatment regimen produced stone expulsion in almost all cases in a short time, allowing complete home patient treatment.
Chemosensory Responses of Acanthamoeba castellanii: Visual Analysis of Random Movement and Responses to Chemical Signals

A visual assay slide chamber was used in conjunction with time‐lapse videomicroscopy to analyze chemotactic behavior of axenically grown Acanthamoeba castellanii. Data were collected and analyzed as vector scatter diagrams and cell tracks. Amebas responded to a variety of bacterial products or potential bacterial products by moving actively toward the attractant. Responses to the chemotactic peptide formyl‐methionyl‐leucyl‐phenylalanine (fMLP), lipopolysaccharide, and lipid A were statistically significant (P≤ 0.03), as was the response to fMLP benzylamide (P≤ 0.05). Significant responses to cyclic AMP, lipoteichoic acid, and N‐acetyl glucosamine were also found.
Determinants of Islamic bank profitability in the MENA region

This paper examines the determinants of Islamic bank profitability in the MENA region, during the years 1999-2006. We estimate several specifications to study the impact of bank-specific and country-specific variables, including macro-economic conditions, market structure and institutional development, on bank profitability. The results provide evidence suggesting that capitalisation and management efficiency enhance bank profitability. The results also indicate that bank profitability is positively associated with, economic growth, inflation and bank concentration. We also show that Islamic bank profitability is higher in countries with better socio-economic conditions and better legal systems.
Lower Dose of Hypertonic Saline Dextran Reduces the Risk of Lethal Rebleeding in Uncontrolled Hemorrhage

To challenge whether the recommended dose of 4 mL/kg of 7.5% sodium chloride in 6% Dextran (HSD) is optimal for fluid resuscitation in uncontrolled hemorrhage, 30 anesthetized pigs were randomized to receive a 5-min intravenous infusion of either 1, 2, or 4 mL/kg of HSD beginning 10 min after inducing a 5-mm laceration in the infrarenal aorta. In addition to conventional hemodynamic monitoring, the blood loss was calculated as the difference in blood flow rates between flow probes placed proximal and distal to the injury. The results show that the bleeding stopped between 3 and 4 min after the injury and amounted to 338 ± 92 mL (mean ± SEM), which corresponds to 28.5% ± 6.6% of the estimated blood volume. After treatment with HSD was started, six rebleeding events occurred in the 1-mL group, 11 in the 2-mL group, and 16 in the 4-mL group. The amount of blood lost due to rebleeding increased significantly with the dose of HSD and was also associated with a fatal outcome. The total blood loss was 408 mL in the survivors and 630 mL in the nonsurvivors (median, P < 0.007). The mortality in the three groups was 20%, 50%, and 50%, respectively. In conclusion, infusing 4 mL/kg of HSD after uncontrolled aortic hemorrhage promoted rebleeding and increased the mortality, while a dose of 1 mL/kg appeared to be more suitable.