Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher serum galactose-deficient immunoglobulin A1 concentration is associated with stronger mesangial cellular inflammatory response and more severe histologic findings in immunoglobulin A nephropathy

Abstract Background Galactose-deficient immunoglobulin A1 (Gd-IgA1) is known to play a key role in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). We aimed to evaluate whether serum Gd-IgA1 is associated with in vitro activation of mesangial cells in individual patients and how this affects the clinical and histologic parameters. Methods Serum samples and clinical and histologic data were collected in the University Hospital Basel and Hammersmith Hospital, London. Serum levels of IgA1 and Gd-IgA1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lectin-binding assay using lectin Helix aspersa (HA). Primary human mesangial cells were stimulated with IgA1 isolated from serum from individual patients and the concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and interleukin-6 were measured in cell culture supernatant by ELISA. Results Thirty-three patients were enrolled. A significant correlation was observed between serum Gd-IgA1 levels and the concentration of MCP-1 in the culture supernatant in individual patients (Spearman r = 0.5969, P = 0.0002). There was no significant correlation between serum Gd-IgA1 levels and proteinuria or estimated glomerular filtration rate at diagnosis. However, the serum Gd-IgA1 level was significantly higher in patients with segmental glomerulosclerosis (S0 versus S1, P = 0.0245) and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis (T0 versus T1 and T2, P = 0.0336; T0 versus T2, P = 0.0225). Conclusions Higher serum Gd-IgA1 concentration is associated with stronger mesangial cell inflammatory response with production of a greater amount of MCP-1 in vitro. This in turn is associated with severe histologic changes. The disease progression with worse renal outcome in patients with higher serum Gd-IgA1 may be therefore mediated by more pronounced mesangial cell inflammatory response leading to more severe histologic changes.
World Balance of Dietary Essential Amino Acids Relative to the 1989 Fao/Who Protein Scoring Pattern

The world imbalance of dietary essential amino acids was studied using the latest available protein-supply data (1987–89) and the revised 1989 FAO/WHO protein scoring pattern in comparison with the 1973 FAO/WHO pattern, the 1985 FAO/WHO/UNU pattern, and a pattern proposed by Young et al. in 1989. The results obtained using the 1989 FAO/WHO scoring pattern indicate that the first limiting amino acid for developed countries is usually tryptophan, and that for developing countries is mainly lysine. Similar findings resulted with the Young pattern, but results using the 1973 and 1985 patterns differed substantially. On the basis of the 1989 FAO/WHO pattern, lysine was found to be the first limiting amino acid in the dietary protein supplies of 121 of the 164 countries studied worldwide; it is estimated that the total lysine deficiency in these 121 countries, the amount that would be needed to bring it to the level of the second limiting amino acid, was 1.15 million metric tons per year for 1987–89. In addition, same global correlations of protein and amino acid supplies with gross domestic product were recalculated in US dollars at 1985 prices.
Cinaciguat (BAY 58–2667) Improves Cardiopulmonary Hemodynamics in Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

Background— Cinaciguat (BAY 58–2667) is the first of a new class of soluble guanylate cyclase activators in clinical development for acute decompensated heart failure. We aimed to assess the hemodynamic effects, safety, and tolerability of intravenous cinaciguat in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (pulmonary capillary wedge pressure ≥18 mm Hg). Methods and Results— After initial dose finding (part A; n=27), cinaciguat was evaluated in the nonrandomized, uncontrolled proof-of-concept part of the study (part B; n=33) using a starting dose of 100 &mgr;g/h, which could be titrated depending on hemodynamic response. Patients were categorized as responders if their pulmonary capillary wedge pressure decreased by ≥4 mm Hg compared with baseline. Final doses of cinaciguat after 6 hours of infusion in part B were 50 &mgr;g/h (n=2), 200 &mgr;g/h (n=12), and 400 &mgr;g/h (n=16). Compared with baseline, a 6-hour infusion of cinaciguat led to significant reductions in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (−7.9 mm Hg), mean right atrial pressure (−2.9 mm Hg), mean pulmonary artery pressure (−6.5 mm Hg), pulmonary vascular resistance (−43.4 dynes · s · cm−5), and systemic vascular resistance (−597 dynes · s · cm−5), while increasing heart rate by 4.4 bpm and cardiac output by 1.68 L/min. The responder rate was 53% after 2 hours, 83% after 4 hours, and 90% after 6 hours. Cinaciguat was well tolerated, with 13 of 60 patients reporting 14 drug-related treatment-emergent adverse events of mild to moderate intensity, most commonly hypotension. Conclusions— Cinaciguat has potent preload- and afterload-reducing effects, increasing cardiac output. Further investigation of cinaciguat for acute decompensated heart failure is warranted.
Believable Synthetic Characters with Social Identity

In today’s games we can see a demand of “believable” AI players. We know that creating a believable synthetic player is not an easy job, but we accept that challenge and in this document we will create an agent 1 conceptual model based in social identity theory. This work was incorporated in the INVITE project. We have created a 3D game to prove the agent’s model. The goal of the INVITE project is “explore the role of social identity in partnerships and social dilemmas in mixed motive tasks”[2]. That said, in this work we studied how social identity plays a role in the relations between real Human players and agents 2 . We studied related work from psychology and computer science and in this document we discuss all the work we have studied in order to explain what we think is the best possible solution (right now) for our problem. With all the knowledge learned from others’ work we created and implemented a conceptual model to solve our problem and give a Human ability to a computer.
Prevalence of Structural Brain Damage without Skull Fracture in Autopsy of Head Trauma Victims

Background: Head trauma is one of the most important causes of death in people under 40 years of age. Fatal brain injury can often occur with a healthy skull, too. The aim of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of brain damage without skull fracture. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the records of all of the victims of head trauma who were referred to the Legal Medicine Organization (LMO) of Tehran province and were reported without skull fracture in the autopsy and whose pathological samples were dispatched for the analysis of their soft tissue, were investigated. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0. software. The results were considered significant at P<0.05. Results: In this study, from among the 400 deceased persons, 86 cases did not have skull fracture and therefore were selected to be investigated. Their mean age was 27±4.2. Sixty-five of them (75.6%) were male and 21 (24.4%) were females and most of them were pedestrians (45.3%). Most of the hemorrhage and damage (37.2%) occurred in the temporal lobe of the brain. In all of the age groups and in both males and females, subarachnoid hemorrhage had the highest prevalence and there was a significant relationship between that and age groups (p=0.022). Simultaneous analysis of the injuries to the brain lobes and the victims’ age indicated that temporal lobe damage is the most prevalent type of brain damage, especially for the age group of 19-36. Conclusions: Since head trauma is the most prevalent cause of death and fatal brain damage can often take place with a healthy skull too, it is required that more attention be paid to those injured people without skull fracture in the emergency ward of the hospitals.
Existence and Nazhir Accountability of Waqf in Bengkalis District

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of Nazhir's understanding variables and Nazhir's competencies on the quality of waqf both individually (partially) and through Nazhir's accountability. The study used a quantitative method where the data used were primary data obtained from research questionnaires distributed in eight sub-districts with a population of 280 Nazar waqf. Questionnaire consists of four research variables namely Understanding Nazhir, Nazhir Competence, Nazhir Accountability and Quality of Endowments. The four variables are measured using a questionnaire where each variable has 9 indicators. Data was observed by choosing 150 respondents from the endowments in Bengkalis Regency. The sample size is calculated using the Slovin formula. This study uses the Structural Equation Model (SEM) method using the LISREL 8.80 application. The results of the study found that Nazhir's understanding did not affect the quality of waqf in Bengkalis Regency and Nazhir's competency did not affect the quality of waqf. But Nazhir's accountability is influential and positive towards waqf quality, with good accountability will increase public trust in waqf. In addition, Nazhir's understanding and Nazhir's competence have a positive and significant effect on Nazhir's accountability. The interesting thing in this study is Nazhir's understanding and Nazhir's competence does not have a positive and significant effect on waqf quality, where Nazhir's accountability variable is an intervening variable in this study. The influence of Nazhir's understanding and Nazhir's competence on the quality of waqf is not significant is a different finding from previous studies. The results of this study provide input to the waqf manager (Nazhir) to improve and remind Nazir's understanding and Nazhir's competence because these factors can improve the quality of waqf.
Arthroscopic treatment of osteochondral lesions of talus

10 patients aged 22 to 44 with symptomatic osteochondrallesions of the talus underwent arthroscopic examination and treatment. 4 patients had recent post- traumatic lesion with fractures located on the anterolateral aspect of the talar dome with free loose fragment. Arthroscopic treatment consisted of the removal of the osteochondral fragment and of the debridement and curettage of the talus. 6 patients had chronic lesions with necrosis on the postero- medial aspect of the dome. These were treated by debridement of the osteochondrallesion and curretage. The antero- medial or the antero- lateral approach to the ankle was used. ln posterior lesions, the posterior aspect of the dome of the talus was reached by distracting the ankle and administering plant an flexion of the foot. Follow up ranged from 1O months to 2 years. The 2 patients with recent posttraumatic fracture treated by removal of the loose fragment showed excellent results with full ankle function 15 days after the arthroscopy and without any pain or swelling. The results of the cases with postero- medial osteonecrosis wer excellent. Only 1 was poor. This study suggests that arthroscopic treatment of the osteochondrallesions of the talus can yield the same results as surgical techniques with minimal morbidity, brief hospitalisation and rapid functional recovery.
Tenofovir Alafenamide: A New Drug With Various Ambiguous Aspects in Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Aerospace and Subaquatic Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Corresponding author: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98-9123067784, Fax: +98-2122546026, Email: dr.shsali@gmail.com
The inflammatory potential of Argentinian diet and oral squamous cell carcinoma Potencial inflamatorio de la dieta argentina y carcinoma oral de células escamosas

1Departamento de Patología Bucal. Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Córdoba, Argentina. 2Escuela de Nutrición. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Córdoba, Argentina. 3Cancer Prevention and Control Program. University of South Carolina. Columbia, SC, USA. 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. Columbia, SC, USA. 5Departamento Biología Bucal. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA-CONICET). Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Córdoba, Argentina
Disappointment Aversion Preferences, and the Credit Spread Puzzle

Structural models of default are unable to generate measurable Baa-Aaa credit spreads, when these models are calibrated to realistic values for default rates and losses given default. Motivated by recent results in behavioral economics, this paper is the first to propose a consumption-based asset pricing model with disappointment aversion preferences in an attempt to resolve the credit spread puzzle. Simulation results suggest that as long as losses given default and default boundaries are countercyclical, then the disappointment model can explain Baa-Aaa credit spreads using preference parameter values that are consistent with experimental findings. Further, the disappointment aversion discount factor can match key moments for stock market returns, the aggregate pricedividend ratio, and the risk-free rate. keywords: structural models of default, credit spreads, consumption-based asset pricing, disappointment aversion preferences, credit spread puzzle, recovery rates, default boundaries, stock market JEL classification: D51, D53, D81, D91, E21, E44, G11, G12, G33 oυκ αν λάβoις παρά τoυ μη ́χoντoς You cannot receive anything by someone who has nothing “Dialogues of the Dead”, Lucian (125− 175 A.D.)
A graph-cut approach to image segmentation using an affinity graph based on ℓ0-sparse representation of features

We propose a graph-cut based image segmentation method by constructing an affinity graph using ℓ0 sparse representation. Computing first oversegmented images, we associate with all segments, that we call superpixels, a collection of features. We find the sparse representation of each set of features over the dictionary of all features by solving a ℓ0-minimization problem. Then, the connection information between superpixels is encoded as the non-zero representation coefficients, and the affinity of connected superpixels is derived by the corresponding representation error. This provides a ℓ0 affinity graph that has interesting properties of long range and sparsity, and a suitable graph cut yields a segmentation. Experimental results on the BSD database demonstrate that our method provides perfectly semantic regions even with a constant segmentation number, but also that very competitive quantitative results are achieved.
Analysis of α-catenin mediated intercellular adhesion in Drosophila

Dynamic linkage between the cadherin-catenin complex (CCC) and the actin cytoskeleton at Adherens Junctions is essential for cell-cell adhesion in epithelial cells. α-catenin is a core component of the CCC that is responsible for maintaining the linkage between the actin cytoskeleton and the CCC. As part of my project, I generated an α-Catenin (α-Cat) RNAi line that was used to knockdown maternal α-Cat in Drosophila embryos. Knockdown of α-Cat in the female germline produced embryonic lethality that was characterized by severe defects throughout the embryo which suggests that the maternal contribution of α-Cat is indispensable for embryonic development. I also investigated if α-catenin function is conserved among metazoans and Dictyostelium discoideum. I generated rescue constructs using mouse, zebrafish, worm and slime mold αcatenin proteins and attempted to rescue α-Cat1 mutant embryos. The results of my analysis suggest that α-catenin function is conserved among metazoans but not between Dictyostelium
A Review on Current Research Trend in Local Government Financial Information System (LGFIS) in Indonesia And Direction for Future Research

: This paper aims at reviewing current literatures trend regarding the application of local government financial information systems (LGFIS/Sistem Informasi Keuangan Daerah) with the stressing on the context of local governments in Indonesia. It is found that recent research on LGFIS mostly focus on the use of Delone and McLeane IS Success Model, quality of system , quality of information, utilization of systems, effectiveness of system, user satisfaction, internal control, and reporting quality. Research in this area is still in the early pahse, therefore few direction for future research are also discussed in this paper.
Explaining Differences in the Returns to R&Amp;D in Argentinathe Role of Contextual Factors and Complementarities

Argentina's private investment in research and development is well below that of its peers. One important reason may be low and very heterogeneous returns to research and development activities on productivity. This paper uses novel microdata to estimate the returns to research and development and understand the contextual factors that shape their heterogeneity. The paper groups these context-based factors into knowledge complementary factors (that is, factors that affect the returns via learning capabilities from external sources of knowledge) and market complementary factors (factors that act via business capabilities to appropriate the returns to research and development investments). The paper hypothesizes that the effects of contextual factors depend on firms' management capabilities and attitudes (innovative capacity), which determine firms' ability to benefit from the context. The findings suggest that the returns are indeed heterogeneous across regions and sectors, and these results depend on some context-based factors, which can boost or depress the returns to R&D. The results have important policy implications, considering the effectiveness of innovation policies, need for adapting to specific regions and sectors, and maximization of the impact of these factors on the returns to research and development.
Applying Deep Learning to Medical Images

- Deep convolutional networks have recently been embraced as a competitive solution for visual recognition tasks. Among these networks, the fully convolutional neural networks (FCNN), have been gaining traction, due to their advantageous characteristics. FCNN, using layer skipping, achieved excellent results when provided enough training samples and computational power. Their popularity surged because they drop the classic fully connected layer in favor of another set of convolutional layers. The U-Net architecture was inspired by the FCNN and built upon it, introducing the concept of symmetrical paths of compression and decompression, which allow for more precise localization and pattern detection. U-Nets are superior to their predecessors, outperforming them at a reduced memory and computational footprint. While the FCNN and the U-Net were designed for two-dimensional inputs, a new contender (V-Net) targeted medical and biomedical third-dimensional images. The V-Net also introduces a new objective function, discards pooling layers in favor of more convolutional layers and uses residual propagation. V-Nets have achieved a good performance across all visual recognition tasks, being comparable to the state-of-the-art solutions while requiring a fraction of the processing time. The primary objective of this thesis is to implement several U-Net and V-Net variants, to attest to their good performance on visual segmentation tasks of medical data, and to assess how the objective function, the receptive fields, the residual propagation, activation functions and the optimization method impact the model’s performance. A secondary objective of this thesis is to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical implementations, by analyzing Google’s Tensorflow application programming interface (API) which was designed specifically for distributed computing in machine learning.
Elite Capture of Local Institutions: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan

Can formal governance decision rules affect elite capture of community resources? This paper examines this question in a field experiment implemented across 250 villages in Afghanistan. Using random assignment we study the impact of two methods for electing local development councils and of two methods for selecting local development projects on outcomes such as the choice of development projects, the level of satisfaction with leaders, and the perceptions of policy effectiveness.For elections, we contrast outcomes of “cluster" elections, in which representatives are elected from each section of the village separately, against “at-large” elections, in which council representatives are elected across the entire village. For project selection, we contrast outcomes of village meetings—at which villagers discuss and debate alternative projects—with secret-ballot referenda. The results indicate that members of the village elite have substantial influence on the choice of projects only in villages that combine at-large elections of the council with the consultation meeting procedure for project selection. Thus, the results indicate that de jure political institutions have an influence over important political and economic outcomes. Elite domination in the choice of projects, however, does not affect the attitudes of the villagers toward leaders nor does it affect their perceptions of economic change.
Performance Pay, Wage Flexibility, and Hours of Work [Preliminary and Incomplete]

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we study the impact of local labor market shocks on wages, hours of work and employment under di¤erent contractual arrangements. We divide jobs on the basis of whether they pay for performance, and whether they are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Using the county unemployment rate as a proxy for local labor market shocks, we nd that wages and hours of work respond very di¤erently to shocks depending on contractual arrangements. Wages are most exible under non-union performance-pay contracts, and least exible under non-performance-pay union contracts. Precisely the opposite happens in the case of hours of work that are the least sensitive to shocks under non-union performance-pay contracts, and the most sensitive under union non-performance-pay contracts. We discuss the implications of these ndings for labor market inequality and the role of the labor market in the transmission of shocks in the macroeconomy. The authors would like to thank John Haltiwanger, Lawrence Katz, Till von Wachter, and Michael Woodford for useful discussions, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for research support.