Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Stronger Family Connections Alleviate the Adverse Effects of Unemployment on Happiness? Evidence from Asian Countries

This study aims to investigate whether and how the family connection is critical to alleviate the negative effect of unemployment on peopleâ€™s happiness by employing the World Values Survey data set regarding people in Chinese culture-related regions for empirical work. Empirically, we found family connections constitute a crucial factor in determining peopleâ€™s happiness level. Except for living with parents, other family variables are positively significant in the happiness determination equation. Taking related measurements for family connections in the happiness determination equation is important in reducing estimation bias. Moreover, family connection reduces the fear of being unemployed and psychological losses from recession due to the worsening of job opportunities in economy. Stronger family connections can facilitate overcoming the stress and fear of being unemployed during recessions. Among the family-related variables, considering family important is of the largest marginal effect in alleviating the adverse effects of unemployment on happiness. This finding is robust among various age cohorts and between genders and among different model specifications. However, the ability of family connection to alleviate the adverse effect of unemployment on the happiness level of an unemployed worker is supported less by the data. We found that certain types of family connections might diminish the happiness of unemployed people, although the regression results are of no statistical significance. Those types of family connections include living with parents and considering family a crucial part of life. JEL classification: J60, J12, I30.
Isolation and Normlessness: Attitudinal Comparisons of Adolescent Sex Offenders, Juvenile Offenders, and Nondelinquents

The authors explored attitudinal differences among adolescent male sex offenders, juvenile delinquents, and nondelinquent youth based on three variables drawn from integrated delinquency theory: conventional attitudes, normlessness, and social isolation. Consistent with previous juvenile delinquency studies, the results indicate no differences among the three groups on conventional attitudes. With respect to normlessness, both the sex offenders and juvenile delinquent groups demonstrated more school normlessness than did nondelinquent youths, and adolescent sex offenders showed greater peer normlessness than did either nondelinquent youths or juvenile delinquents. Examination of perceived social isolation among the three groups indicates that sex offenders consistently perceived themselves as more isolated than other youths with their families, in their school, and among their peers. These results suggest that interpersonal factors, in addition to a lack of social controls and normlessness, are associated with sexually inappropriate behavior.
Antithrombogenic Coating of Stents Using a Biodegradable Drug Delivery Technology

Summary To reduce the thrombogenic properties of coronary artery stents, a biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) stent coating with an incorporated thrombin inhibitor and a platelet aggregation inhibitor has been developed. In an ex vivo human stasis model, its effect on platelets, plasmatic coagulation and its release characteristics were studied using whole blood. Bare steel and bare gold-surface stents were compared to steel and gold-surface stents coated with PLA (30 kDa) containing 5% polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-hirudin and 1% iloprost, with an empty tube as control. Markers of activated coagulation (prothrombin fragment F1-2 and thrombin-antithrombin III complex, TAT), were assayed and the release of drugs from the coating was assessed by aPTT and collagen-induced platelet aggregation. Bare steel and gold stents were completely covered by a blood clot, and high levels of coagulation markers (F1-2 fragment and TAT) were detected. No differences in the thrombogenic properties were found between bare gold or steel stents. Coated stents were free of blood clots and only minor elevations of markers were detected. Release data from in-vitro studies over 90 days showed a gradual release of the drugs with an initial exponential release characteristic for PEG-hirudin, slow release of iloprost and a 10% degradation of the PLA carrier. This drug releasing biodegradable coating effectively reduced thrombus formation independent of the metallic surface.
Proteomic mapping of p53 immunogenicity in pancreatic, ovarian, and breast cancers

Mutations in TP53 induce autoantibody immune responses in a subset of cancer patients, which have been proposed as biomarkers for early detection. Here, we investigate the association of p53‐specific autoantibodies with multiple tumor subtypes and determine the association with p53 mutation status and epitope specificity.
Mechanical ventilation-induced pulmonary edema. Interaction with previous lung alterations.

The risk of lung injury due to alveolar overdistension during mechanical ventilation has been clearly delineated in healthy animals with intact lungs. In contrast, the effect of high-volume ventilation (HV) on previously injured lungs is less well documented: whether HV would simply add its own deleterious effects or act synergistically with previous injury has not been addressed. We compared the effect of 7 ml/kg body weight tidal volume mechanical ventilation for 2 min with that of 25 (HV25), 33(HV33), and 45(HV45) ml/kg body weight HV in anesthetized rats previously exposed or not exposed to alpha-naphthylthiourea (ANTU). ANTU alone produced moderate permeability edema with significant increases in extravascular lung water (Qwl), dry lung weight (DLW), and albumin distribution space in lungs (ASp). HV alone resulted in a permeability edema in which severity was dependent on the magnitude of the tidal volume. The effects of HV25 and HV33 and those of ANTU were only additive, as indicated by the absence of any significant two-factor (ANTU-HV) interaction by analysis of variance (ANOVA). In contrast, HV45 after ANTU produced significantly greater increases in Qwl, DLW, and ASp than expected from the sum of the effects of either insult alone. Two-way ANOVA disclosed two-factor interactions with p values < 0.001, < 0.02, and < 0.01 for Qwl, DLW, and ASp, respectively, indicating synergistic adverse effects on pulmonary edema. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
EFFICACY OF 1.25 MG VERSUS 2.5 MG INTRAVITREAL BEVACIZUMAB FOR DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA: Six-Month Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal injections of two different dosages of bevacizumab (Avastin) for treating diffuse diabetic macular edema. Methods: Fifty-two eyes of 52 patients with diabetic macular edema were randomized to receive three monthly intravitreal injections of 1.25 mg or 2.5 mg bevacizumab. Patients were observed for 6 months and optical coherence tomography central foveal thickness, logMAR best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and adverse events were assessed. Results: Forty-eight eyes of 48 patients completed the 6-month follow-up and were analyzed. Significant mean central foveal thickness reductions were observed in both groups at all follow-up visits (P < 0.013). Significant improvements between baseline and 6-month mean logMAR BCVAs were seen, with the mean logMAR BCVA improved from 0.63 to 0.52 in the 1.25 mg group and 0.60 to 0.47 in the 2.5 mg group. No significant difference in BCVA was observed between the two groups at any time point (P > 0.56). Subgroup analysis showed that intravitreal bevacizumab seemed to be more effective in eyes without any previous diabetic macular edema treatment. Conclusions: Three monthly intravitreal bevacizumab injections resulted in significant reduction in central foveal thickness and improvements in BCVA in diabetic macular edema patients. Both 1.25 mg and 2.5 mg seemed to have similar treatment efficacy.
Aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index in hepatitis C virus and Schistosomiasis coinfection.

AIM To assess the diagnostic accuracy, of aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) alone and with antischistosomal antibody (Ab) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and schistosomiasis coinfection. METHODS This retrospective study included medical records of three hundred and eighty three Egyptian men patients who had undergone percutaneous liver biopsy between January 2006 to April 2014 in tertiary care hospital in Qatar for diagnosis or monitoring purpose were selected. Data of patients > 18 years of age were included in the study. The values of HCV RNA titer and antischistosomal antibody titer were also taken into consideration. Patients were excluded from the study if they had any other concomitant chronic liver disease, including; history of previous antiviral or interferon therapy, immunosuppressive, therapy, chronic hepatitis B infection, human immunodeficiency virus co-infection, autoimmune hepatitis, decompensated liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, prior liver transplantation, and if no data about the liver biopsy present. RESULTS Median age of patients was 46 years. About 7.1% had no fibrosis, whereas 30.4%, 37.5%, 20.4%, and 4.6% had fibrosis of stage I, II, III, and IV respectively. In bivariate analysis, APRI score, levels of AST, platelet count and age of patient showed statistically significant association with liver fibrosis (P < 0.0001); whereas antischistosomal antibody titer (P = 0.52) and HCV RNA titer (P = 0.79) failed to show a significant association. The respective AUC values for no fibrosis, significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis and cirrhosis of APRI score were 63%, 73.2%, 81.1% and 88.9% respectively. This showed good sensitivity and specificity of APRI alone for grading of liver fibrosis. But the inclusion of anti-Schistosoma antibody did not improve the prediction of fibrosis stage. CONCLUSION The study results suggest that noninvasive biochemical markers like APRI are sensitive and specific in diagnosing the degree of fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with coinfection of HCV and schistosomiasis as compared to biopsy. The addition of antischistosomal Ab to APRI did not improve sensitivity for predicting the degree of cirrhosis.
Performance needs assessment of maternal and newborn health service delivery in urban and rural areas of Osun State, South-West, Nigeria.

The study aimed to determine performance and compare gaps in maternal and newborn health (MNH) services in urban and rural areas of Osun State, Nigeria, to inform decisions for improved services. This study involved 14 urban and 10 rural-based randomly selected PHC facilities. Using a Performance Needs Assessment framework, desired performances were determined by key stakeholders and actual performances measured by conducting facility survey. Questionnaire interview of 143 health workers and 153 antenatal clients were done. Performance gaps were determined for the urban and rural areas and compared using Chi-square tests with SPSS version 17. PHC facilities and health workers in Osun State, Nigeria, were found to have significant gaps in MNH service performance and this was worse in the rural areas. Root cause of most of the performance gaps was poor political will of local government authorities. Improved government commitment to MNH is needful to address most of the gaps. Afr J Reprod Health 2014; 18[2]: 105-116). Keywords : Performance, maternal health services, health systems
The -omics era and its impact.

OBJECTIVE To review the advances in clinically useful molecular biologic techniques and to identify their applications, as presented at the 12th Annual William Beaumont Hospital DNA Symposium. DATA SOURCES The 7 manuscripts submitted were reviewed and their major findings were compared with literature on the same or related topics. STUDY SELECTION Manuscripts address the use of molecular techniques in the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and bacterial ribosome mutations, which may lead to ribosome-targeted drug resistance; pharmacogenomics as a clinical laboratory service and example of warfarin dosing using CYP2C9 mutation analysis; definition of the potential of cytosine arabinoside incorporation into DNA to disrupt transcription using an in vitro model of oligonucleotides; use of laser capture microdissection to isolate solid tumor cells free of nontumor cells; and molecular methods used to classify lymphomas. DATA SYNTHESIS Two current issues related to the use of molecular tests in the clinical laboratories are (1) decentralization of molecular-based testing to a variety of nonmolecular laboratories and (2) need for wider acceptance of molecular-based testing through its incorporation in clinical practice guidelines. Molecular methods have had a major impact on infectious disease through the rapid identification of new infectious agents, SARS, and the characterization of drug resistance. Pharmacogenomics identifies the genetic basis for heritable and interindividual variation in response to drugs. The incorporation of the nucleoside analog, cytosine arabinoside, into DNA leads to local perturbation of DNA structure and reduces the ability of transcription factors to bind to their specific DNA binding elements as measured by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Laser capture microdissection of tumor cells can provide an adequate number of cells for whole genome amplification. Gene expression microassay profiles of various lymphomas have modified classification systems and predict prognosis and response to therapy. CONCLUSIONS The current -omics era will continue to emphasize the use of microarrays and database software for genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic screening to search for a useful clinical assay. The number of molecular pathologic techniques will expand as additional disease-associated mutations are defined.
Plant regenerative strategies after a major disturbance: The case of a riverine wetland restoration

In aquatic habitats, both vegetative and sexual reproduction are involved in vegetation maintenance. Restoration projects carried out in such habitats rarely consider the role of both sexual reproduction (seeds) and vegetative (vegetative propagules or clonal fragments) components of propagule banks in vegetation regeneration. Moreover, changes in the seed bank due to the restoration itself have rarely been studied. The aim of this paper is to answer the following questions. Does restoration consisting of sediment removal in a cut-off meander lead to a change in the propagule bank (both sexual and vegetative propagules), and does the vegetation regeneration involve vegetative propagules created by plant breakage during the disturbance? Vegetation was visually surveyed three times during a 15-year period before the restoration and two years afterwards in both the restored zone and an upstream undisturbed zone. The propagule bank was characterized just before and one year after the restoration in the restored zone by sampling of sediment cores and propagule germination in a greenhouse. The impact of restoration on the propagule bank was very pronounced. Sprouting propagules were three times more abundant in post-restoration samples than in prerestoration samples. The ratio of seeds / vegetative propagules in the bank was lower in the year following restoration. Links between propagule bank and established vegetation were assessed through calculation of correlation and similarity indices. We observed a large difference between established vegetation and the propagule bank before restoration, suggesting that recruitment from the propagule bank was low before restoration. Restoration enhanced the recruitment from rhizomes and vegetative fragments, which were highly correlated with the established vegetation. the pre-eminent role of some vegetative propagules in the recolonization and the increasing abundance of an invasive species are related to the season (June) in which restoration was carried out. Impact of restoration on both the propagule bank composition and environmental conditions (especially those promoting or inhibiting germination or sprouting) thus has to be considered in further vegetation management work.
Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation: A Review of the Scientific Literature

The following report is intended to provide an overview of the current state of the literature on the relationship between social media; political polarization; and political “disinformation,” a term used to encompass a wide range of types of information about politics found online, including “fake news,” rumors, deliberately factually incorrect information, inadvertently factually incorrect information, politically slanted information, and “hyperpartisan” news. The review of the literature is provided in six separate sections, each of which can be read individually but that cumulatively are intended to provide an overview of what is known—and unknown—about the relationship between social media, political polarization, and disinformation. The report concludes by identifying key gaps in our understanding of these phenomena and the data that are needed to address them.
Relationship between Structural Remodeling and Reactivity in Pulmonary Resistance Arteries from Hypertensive Piglets

In neonatal pulmonary hypertension, the pulmonary arteries fail to adapt to extrauterine life and remain thick walled. In a previous study on normal neonatal resistance arteries, perfusion myography and confocal microscopy showed that responses to agonist stimulation were related to wall structure. We hypothesized that in hypertensive resistance pulmonary arteries, an enhanced response to contractile and relaxant agonist stimulation would be associated with an increased wall thickness and abnormal postnatal cytoskeletal remodeling of smooth muscle cells (SMC). Pulmonary arteries (110–140 μm external diameter) from normal piglets and those exposed to chronic hypobaric hypoxia from birth or from 3 d of age were mounted on a perfusion myograph. Lumen diameter and SMC nuclear positions were tracked after addition of KCl, the thromboxane mimetic U46619, and bradykinin. After fixation in situ, SMC dimensions were measured using confocal and electron microscopy. In all hypertensive animals, wall thickness and SMC density were increased and SMC length/width ratio decreased. After hypoxic exposure for 3 d, arteries from animals exposed from birth showed a greater and faster contractile response than controls, but arteries from piglets first exposed at 3 d of age did not, though both showed similar structural appearance. Increase of exposure to 11 d elicited an enhanced response and further cytoskeletal remodeling. All vessels relaxed fully to bradykinin. SMC remodeling and reactivity appear to be influenced by the age at onset and the duration of the hypoxic insult.
Association of apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele with bulbar-onset motor neuron disease.

BACKGROUND Variants of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene influence the age of onset of Alzheimer's disease. APOE may influence the presentation of other neurological diseases. We investigated the relationship between the allelic variants of apolipoprotein E and clinical presentation in motor neuron disease. METHODS 123 patients with motor neuron disease and 121 controls were studied. Diagnosis, location of onset and date of onset were recorded prospectively. Genotyping was performed blind to clinical information. FINDINGS Possession of at least one epsilon 4 allele was significantly more common in patients with bulbar onset motor neuron disease (14/33, 42%) than in limb onset patients (20/90, 22%) and controls (26/121, 21%) (chi 2 = 4.93, p = 0.026 and chi 2 = 5.91, p = 0.015, respectively). INTERPRETATION These results suggest that the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele may influence the pattern of motor neuron loss in motor neuron disease and that it may affect neuronal function in ways unrelated to the deposition of beta-amyloid or accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles.
A Time-Varying Copula Mixture for Hedging the Clean Spark Spread with Wind Power Futures

The recently introduced German wind power futures have brought the opportunity to address the problem of volume risk in wind power generation directly. In this paper, we study the hedging benefits of these instruments in the context of gas-fired power plants by employing a strategy that allows trading in the spot clean spark spread and wind power futures. To facilitate hedging decisions, we propose a time-varying copula mixture for the joint behavior of the spot clean spark spread and the daily wind index. The model describes the data surprisingly well, both in terms of the marginals and the dependence structure, while being straightforward and easy to implement. Based on Monte Carlo simulations from the proposed model, the results indicate that significant benefits can be achieved by using wind power futures to hedge the spot clean spark spread. Moreover, a comparison study shows that accounting for asymmetry, tail dependence, and time variation in the dependence structure is especially important in the context of risk management.
Peer Effects in Consumption in India: An Instrumental Variables Approach Using Negative Idiosyncratic Shocks

Abstract This paper examines peer effects in consumption in context of a less developed country. Specifically, the question that I seek to answer is whether consumption expenditure of a household is influenced by that of its peers in a less developed country. To examine this question, I use newly available household level data from India. I define a household’s peer group as other households living in its village/neighborhood. In assessing the influences of peers in this context, there are two key empirical challenges including shared group-level unobservables, and simultaneity of peer influences. I address these issues by using an instrumental variables/fixed effects approach that compares households in the same district but different villages/neighborhoods who are thus exposed to different sets of peers. In particular, I use plausibly exogenous variation in idiosyncratic expenditure shocks – which are accidental and negative in nature – faced by peers as instruments for peers’ consumption expenditure. Preferred specification suggests that a one standard deviation increase in average consumption expenditure of a household’s peers causes the household’s own consumption expenditure to increase by 0.42 standard deviations. Falsification tests and robustness checks support the validity of my results. My findings suggest that policies that influence a household’s consumption will also affect the consumption of the household’s peers through social interactions. This implies traditional analyses of consumption intervention programs that do not take into account such spillover effects will understate the total social impact of the programs, and hence lead to inaccurate evaluation of cost-effectiveness of such programs.