Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association study between gilles de la tourette syndrome and two genes in the robo‐slit pathway located in the chromosome 11q24 linked/associated region

Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS) is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics. Previous genetic studies have identified linkage and association between GTS and the 11q24 chromosomal region. We selected for study, within this region, two possible susceptibility genes for GTS, the ROBO3 and ROBO4 genes. These two genes were selected because of the recent identification of SLITRK1 as a potential susceptibility gene for GTS based on a translocation breakpoint and the further finding of two mutations in the SLITRK1 gene in three patients with GTS. While thus far, the SLITRK1 gene appears to account for only a few cases of GTS, these findings, if confirmed, point to other genes in these pathways that may contribute to GTS. Based on this, we examined two genes in the Slit‐Robo pathway involved in cell migration, axonal pathfinding, and/or neuronal differentiation because of their location in 11q24, a region previously identified as linked and associated with GTS. We selected six haplotype tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for ROBO3 and four for ROBO4 and genotyped them in our sample of trios and sibpair families diagnosed with GTS. Based on 155 nuclear families with 255 affected children, we did not find evidence for association between GTS and either the ROBO3 or ROBO4 genes. Thus, these two genes are unlikely to be the susceptibility genes contributing to GTS on 11q24. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Does Public Income Induce More Consumption?

The Life-Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis predicts that income uncertainty reduces an individual’s incentive to consume, while holding permanent income level constant. This implies that switching from a relatively unstable form of income to a stable one motivates consumption. This article explores this implication by quantifying and comparing the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of private income and income from a public pension scheme. It exploits the introduction of a public pension that provides a monthly fixed amount of payment – a relatively secure source of income. The results suggest that the provision of pension leads to a higher MPC for the beneficiaries’ households, and the estimated MPC out of the pension income is significantly larger than the corresponding estimate for private income. Further examination suggests that households facing more non-tradable risks appear to be more prudent on consumption, highlighting the role of income uncertainty in households’ consumption decisions.
Educational Study to Increase Breast Cancer Knowledge Level and Scanning Participation among Women Working at a University.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study is to increase the participation level of women in screening programs by increasing the level of knowledge about early diagnosis and screening methods for breast cancer (BC). MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a pretest-posttest one group design study held in Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Turkey. The sample consisted of 405 women in all departments of the University. Data were collected using socio-demographic forms and questionnaires. Training about BC was provided for participants. The questionnaire used prior to the training to measure levels of knowledge about BC was re-administered 3 weeks after the training. RESULTS The women were most commonly aware of the breast self-examination (68.1%). The ratio of women who had had mammography in the previous year was 11.4%. The BC knowledge level significantly increased after the training (p=0.001). CONCLUSION This study determined that the level of knowledge about BC in terms of early detection and screening was low and that the percentage of participation in screening was also low.
Murine Model for Dengue Virus-Induced Lethal Disease with IncreasedVascular Permeability

ABSTRACT Lack of an appropriate animal model for dengue virus (DEN), which causes dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), has impeded characterization of the mechanisms underlying the disease pathogenesis. The cardinal feature of DHF/DSS, the severe form of DEN infection, is increased vascular permeability. To develop a murine model that is more relevant to DHF/DSS, a novel DEN strain, D2S10, was generated by alternately passaging a non-mouse-adapted DEN strain between mosquito cells and mice, thereby mimicking the natural transmission cycle of the virus between mosquitoes and humans. After infection with D2S10, mice lacking interferon receptors died early without manifesting signs of paralysis, carried infectious virus in both non-neuronal and neuronal tissues, and exhibited signs of increased vascular permeability. In contrast, mice infected with the parental DEN strain developed paralysis at late times after infection, contained detectable levels of virus only in the central nervous system, and displayed normal vascular permeability. In the mice infected with D2S10, but not the parental DEN strain, significant levels of serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were produced, and the neutralization of TNF-α activity prevented early death of D2S10-infected mice. Sequence analysis comparing D2S10 to its parental strain implicated a conserved region of amino acid residues in the envelope protein as a possible source for the D2S10 phenotype. These results demonstrate that D2S10 causes a more relevant disease in mice and that TNF-α may be one of several key mediators of severe DEN-induced disease in mice. This report represents a significant advance in animal models for severe DEN disease, and it begins to provide mechanistic insights into DEN-induced disease in vivo.
REPRODUCIBILITY OF POWER PRODUCTION DURING SPRINT ARM ERGOMETRY

Sprint tests are frequently used to evaluate between- subject differences and can provide a valuable insight into performance capacity. The present study determined the reproducibility of peak and mean power output during upper-body sprints. After familiarization 25 men (mean [± SD] age 29 [6] years, body mass 82.8 [12.7] kg and height 1.76 [0.05] m) completed 2 20-second upper-body sprint tests using an adapted cycle ergometer. Mean (± SD) values of all power (uncorrected and corrected) measurements achieved during the 2 tests were checked for systematic bias using separate paired t-tests. Test- retest reproducibility was examined using coefficients of variation and single-measure intraclass correlation coefficients, as well as an assessment of the typical (random) error and the 95% limits of agreement. The value of corrected peak power (628 [167] W) was higher (p < 0.05) compared with the uncorrected value (509 [109] W). Values of corrected (465 [95] W) and uncorrected (444 [87] W) mean power were similar (p > 0.05). The mean bias value for all power parameters equated to less than =1% of the absolute values of power measured. Intraclass correlation coefficients for all data sets ranged from 0.97 to 0.98. Coefficients of variation for uncorrected and corrected values of peak power were 2.8 and 4.5%, while corresponding values for mean power were 2.9 and 3.2%, respectively. The reproducibility of all power indices was below 5%. The results of this study indicate that both uncorrected and corrected measurements of peak power output and mean power output can be used to assess performance during sprint arm ergometry.
Community Profiling: From Technique to Reflective Practice in Community Engagement for Natural Resource Management

Abstract Community profiling is a tool that aims to help practitioners collect and make use of varied data to understand the diversity of stakeholders and issues in communities where they are delivering natural resource management programs. This paper will discuss some of the problems experienced with community profiling and propose a shift in the way in which this tool is used. We present our reflections on two case studies of the use of community profiling in NRM programs where two of the authors were involved as practitioners. Community profiling practice in the case studies was problematic. Profilers were forced to choose between multiple constructions of the communities they were profiling. We raise significant concerns with community profiling but do not suggest abandoning the methodology altogether. We highlight the potential of the methodology to make visible multiple constructions of community and thus generate new potentiality to act by contributing to reflective practice.
CEO Decision Horizon and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation

We investigate the effect of top managers' myopia on firms' market valuation. We devise a measure of expected CEO tenure as a proxy for the length of CEO decision horizon. After accounting for the endogenous nature of CEO horizon, our empirical tests show that shorter CEO horizon is associated with more agency costs, lower firm valuation and higher levels of information risk. The results are consistent with the notion that a short CEO decision horizon is indicative of preference for investments that offer relatively faster paybacks at the expense of long-term value creation.
Irregular osteotomy in limb salvage for juxta‐articular osteosarcoma under computer‐assisted navigation

Joint‐preserving limb salvage surgery has been expected to have good functional outcomes. However, it is still a unsolved problem to perform a joint preserving resection for patients with juxta‐articular osteosarcoma invading epiphyseal line. We determined whether irregular osteotomy under image‐guided navigation make joint‐saving resection possible for juxta‐articular osteosarcoma while adhering oncological principles.
Heterogeneous Expectations in Monetary DSGE Models

This paper derives a general New Keynesian framework with heterogeneous expectations by explicitly solving the micro-foundations underpinning the model. The resulting reduced form is analytically tractable and encompasses the representative rational agent benchmark as a special case. We specify a setup in which some agents, as a result of cognitive limitations, make mistakes when forecasting future macroeconomic variables and update their beliefs as new information becomes available, while other agents have rational expectations. We then address determinacy issues related to the use of different interest rate rules and derive policy implications for a monetary authority aiming at stabilizing the economy in a dynamic feedback system in which macroeconomic variables and heterogeneous expectations co-evolve over time.
Exploring the Tool‐kit of European Integration Theory: What Role for Cooperative Federalism?

Abstract More and more scholars are revisiting federal theories in an attempt to explain the functioning of the EU. Yet in‐depth empirical testing of their claims remains surprisingly limited. Cooperative federalism represents one particularly promising variant of federal theory in this respect. This article extends and refines existing claims about its utility to show how EU policy‐making can be fruitfully conceived of as a multi‐level ‘cooperative game’ played out between different actor coalitions. It then uses these arguments to analyse task allocation — a critical indicator of the European integration process — within the environmental sector. Drawing on fresh empirical evidence, it demonstrates how differential patterns of task allocation have emerged from a series of interlinked ‘cooperative’ dynamics, which were in turn shaped by broader federal structures. Although greater testing and development is needed, it concludes that there are good reasons to add cooperative federalism to the evolving ‘tool‐kit’ of EU integration theory.
Write-Offs as Accounting Procedures to Manage Perceptions

In recent years material, separately disclosed loss provisions have become increasingly common elements in earnings statements. Some accountants have been concerned that these write-offs often occur significantly after the related asset impairment, tend to be disclosed late in the fiscal year, and were frequently in excess of the reduction needed to reflect the new, lower market values. Thus the FASB and the SEC are considering the need for a new standard which specifies the accounting treatment to be accorded the impairment of value of long-lived assets. One objective of this paper is to characterize recent disclosures in ways which may clarify the policy issues. A related objective is to identify relations among material loss provisions, underlying economic events, and goals of management regarding financial disclosures. In general, economic events precede accounting recognition; an event occurs and then it is disclosed. For material writeoffs, this sequence implies that assets suffer an impairment of value, management realizes that impairment, and then an accounting entry is created to record the impairment. This characterization may misrepresent the underlying event in some write-offs, especially reorganizations. Typically, reorganizations involve an accounting entry before certain
Curvilinear Effects of User-Generated Content on Hotels’ Market Share

The present study is designed to expand the current literature in the effects of User-Generated Content (UGC) on firm performance, specifically to delineate the unique effects of the UGC components on market share results using a dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model. A longitudinal panel-data sample of 138 hotel reviews and ratings, along with monthly market share and several control variables is used for the empirical modeling. Overall, the analysis reveals that UGC has a positive impact on market share. A curvilinear mechanism explains the relationship between ratings and market share, discouraging lower-tiered firms from seeking a high rating. Moderating factors were also found to diminish the impact of a review length on market share. Theoretical explanations and managerial suggestions are offered in the discussion section.
The efficiency of child formula dentifrices containing different calcium and phosphate compounds on artificial enamel caries

Objectives: Fluoride toothpaste has been extensively used to prevent dental caries. However, the risk of fluorosis is concerning, especially in young children. Calcium phosphate has been an effective remineralizing agent and is present in commercial dental products, with no risk of fluorosis to users. This in vitro study aimed to compare the effects of different calcium phosphate compounds and fluoride-containing dentifrices on artificial caries in primary teeth. Materials and Methods: Fifty sound primary incisors were coated with nail varnish, leaving two 1 mm2 windows on the labial surface before immersion in demineralizing solution for 96 hours to produce artificial enamel lesions. Subsequently, one window from each tooth was coated with nail varnish, and all 50 teeth were divided into five groups (n = 10); group A – deionized water; group B – casein phosphopeptide–amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP–ACP) paste (Tooth Mousse); group C – 500 ppm F (Colgate Spiderman®); group D – nonfluoridated toothpaste with triple calcium phosphate (Pureen®); and group E – tricalcium phosphate (TCP). Polarized light microscopy and Image-Pro® Plus software were used to evaluate lesions. Results: After a 7-day pH-cycle, mean lesion depths in groups A, B, C, D, and E had increased by 57.52 ± 10.66%, 33.28 ± 10.16%, 17.04 ± 4.76%, 32.51 ± 8.99%, and 21.76 ± 8.15%, respectively. All data were processed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 16.0) software package. Comparison of percentage changes using one-way analysis of variance and Fisher's least squares difference tests at a 95% level of confidence demonstrated that group A was significantly different from the other groups (P < 0.001). Lesions in groups B and D had a significant lesion progression when compared with groups C and E. Conclusions: All toothpastes in this study had the potential to delay the demineralization progression of artificial enamel caries in primary teeth. The fluoride 500 ppm and TCP toothpastes were equal in the deceleration of enamel caries progression and better than CPP–ACP paste and TCP toothpaste.
The dialectics of human resource management in Cuba

Dialectical theory is applied to the examination of how institutional and organizational level changes are leading to a new human resource management (HRM) paradigm in Cuba. The paper starts with a general overview of economy and enterprise in Cuba, which serves to expose the nature of the pressures and contradictions facing managers and organizations in this country. Based on a focus group study, an analysis of the process of change in the HRM paradigm as perceived by a sample of Cuban managers is presented. The emerging dialectical paradigm is to a great extent influenced by the institutional context, namely by the control of the state. The state's role in the protection of the communist principles, combined with the need to open the economy to the logic of the market, is constituting a singular case in the world of management in general and of HRM in particular: that of a communist country with an increasingly market-based economy, where the socialist cadre is simultaneously becoming a market-oriented HR manager.
Analysis of Complete Remission in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients Over a 32‐Year Period

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by an unpredictable and fluctuating course. Although various methods have been developed to measure disease activity, there is still a lack of consensus about the optimal criteria for SLE remission. The principal aim of our study was to identify the number of lupus patients achieving a complete remission (implying that for 3 years there were no clinical or serologic features and no treatment with steroids and immunosuppressive drugs) in a single cohort of patients followed for a period of up to 32 years. In addition, we have identified patients in clinical but not serologic remission (known as serologically active, clinically quiescent disease [SACQ]) and vice versa. We were particularly interested to determine the factors associated with complete remission.
Factors Influencing FDI Location Choice in China's Inland Areas

Since 1978, the bulk of foreign direct investment (FDI) has gone to the south-eastern coastal areas in China, with only a small portion received inland. With the launch of the Western Development Strategy in 2000 and the Central China Rising Strategy in 2004, the choice of investment locations has expanded to inland areas. Based on panel data covering 98 inland cities from 1999 to 2005, this study identifies location preference variables for FDI invested in China's inland areas, and finds that well-established factors such as natural resources and low labor costs are not important factors in determining FDI locations within China's inland. Instead, policy incentives and industrial agglomeration are the most important factors. The findings of the present study have policy implications for both host country authorities and multinational corporations.
Quantification of Hepatitis A Virus in Shellfish by Competitive Reverse Transcription-PCR with Coextraction of Standard RNA

ABSTRACT To quantify hepatitis A virus (HAV) in experimentally contaminated mussels, we developed an internal standard RNA with a 7-nucleotide deletion for competitive reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Deposited directly into the sample, this standard was used both as extraction control and as quantification tool. After coextraction and competitive RT-PCR, standard and wild-type products were detected by differential hybridization with specific probes and a DNA enzyme immunoassay. The quantifiable range with this reproducible method was 104 to 107 copies of HAV/gram or 400 to 106 50% tissue culture infective doses/ml.
Share Contract Choices and Economic Performance: Empirical Evidence from the Artisanal Fisheries Sector in Chile

ABSTRACT Typically, crew members in fisheries are remunerated through a share of the total revenues. However, there is little empirical evidence on the mechanisms by which revenues are distributed to labor and capital, and how these distributions affect economic performance. Under an agency problem framework, we estimate a dose-response function to study the formation of contracts and identify the marginal effects of changes in crew profit shares on fishing returns in Chilean artisanal fisheries. The results support share contract choices based on bargaining power, monitoring costs, technology, state of fishing resources, and outside options. We find significant effects of increasing crew profit shares on vessel owner returns in the interval (0.25, 0.65). The results vary across fisheries, however. While the effects are not significant in the fish group, they are larger and robust for molluscs and crustaceans. The latter finding is expected given differences in the observability of effort across fisheries. JEL Codes: Q22, D86, D13.
Evaluation of the Potential for Districts/Counties to Become Provinces with Respect to the Level of Urbanization in Turkey

This paper presents the political, socio-economic, spatial and demographic aspects for the changing administrative status of districts/counties in Turkey in the last two decades (1990s and 2000s) with respect to urbanization and development levels. There has been a rapid increase in the number of provinces in Turkey recently. Fourteen districts/counties have been announced as new provinces in years between 1989 and 1999. There were attempts and applications for the other 129 districts, till the present day to become a “province”. In fact, attempts and requests to become a province for districts create pressures on policy makers, central government bureaucrats and members of the Parliament and prevent adequate formulation of urbanization and administrative subdivision. In this study, it is aimed to take a picture of the urbanization levels of districts by using the multivariate statistical analysis and to develop some proposals for the applications of changing the administrative status of settlements as well.
Conceptual Approaches to Doctoral Education: A Community of Practice 1

A paradigm shift has silently evolved in doctoral education. Preparing the next generation of PhDs to function successfully and contribute to today and tomorrow’s global world requires to go beyond the conceptualization of an apprenticeship model to that of a communities of practice including the recognition of peers as learning partners. It also requires coordinated efforts of many levels inside and outside a university. More is asked from the next generation of researchers: traditional academic research competencies, professional skills, and intercultural competencies. Learning at the doctoral level needs to be purposefully structured to allow for transformative doctoral education.
Presbyopia and Velocity of Sound in the Lens

The elastic properties of lens matter change with age and this contributes to presbyopia. The changes in elasticity of lens matter could be the result of a change in water and soluble proteins (1) or a change in lens fiber cytoskeleton and membranes (2). If it is caused by (1) then the velocity of sound in the lens should change with age. If it is caused by (2) the velocity of sound in the lens will not change. Using the technique of continuous ultrasonographic biometry, the velocity of sound in clear lenses was measured in vivo in a group of 24 healthy subjects aged 15 to 45 years with a visual acuity of 6/6 or better. In this group maximum accommodative amplitude decreased with age. It was found that, despite the occurrence of presbyopia, the velocity of sound did not change with age. Our results support the hypothesis that age-related changes in lens fiber cytoskeleton and membranes are responsible for the change in elastic properties of lens matter and thus contribute to presbyopia.