Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cortisol and glucose responses in juvenile brown trout subjected to a fluctuating flow regime in an artificial stream

In an artificial stream channel, wild 1 year old brown trout Salmo trutta were exposed to fluctuations in flow and water level to simulate hydro-peaking conditions downstream of a hydropower installation. Blood plasma cortisol concentrations reached a maximum of 59·4 35·3 ng ml 1 (mean 95% CL) 2 h after the end of down-ramping. Return to the pre-exposure cortisol level was achieved within 6 h. When subjected to daily cyclical fluctuations over 7 days, plasma cortisol levels were significantly elevated (61·3 26·8 ng ml ) on the first day compared to undisturbed fish (4·9 3·7 ng ml ). On the fourth and seventh day, no elevation in plasma cortisol above control levels was observed. No changes in blood glucose that could be attributed to the stressor were found. There was no correlation between plasma cortisol and blood glucose levels. The short-lived cortisol response to daily fluctuations indicates a rapid habituation to this stressor. 2002 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles
Methamphetamine Use Among Patients Undergoing Methadone Maintenance Treatment in Iran; a Threat for Harm Reduction and Treatment Strategies: A Qualitative Study

Author(s): Radfar, Seyed Ramin; Cousins, Sarah J; Shariatirad, Schwann; Noroozi, Alireza; Rawson, Richard A | Abstract: Background: Opiates are the most commonly reported substances of abuse in Iran. Over two thirds (68%) of all newly identified HIV cases in Iran are among people who inject drugs. On the heels of the HIV epidemic, methamphetamine use has grown. Public health officials are concerned that methamphetamine use has gained popularity among individuals who use opioid substitution therapy, such as methadone maintenance therapy.Objectives: The purpose of this qualitative study is to inform stakeholders of the motivations and experiences of MMT patients who use methamphetamine.Patients and Methods: To gain a better understanding of patients’ motivations and experiences with MMT and methamphetamine, the authors conducted 7 focus groups with 45 participants in drop-in centers, public outpatient clinics, and a private outpatient clinic in Isfahan, Iran.Results: Patients reported that their use of methamphetamine was motivated by methadone’s side effects and encouraged by family and friends who promoted methamphetamine use to assuage the side effects of methadone in the early stages of treatment before the appearance of methadone maintenance therapy’s effects on their life.Conclusions: Findings suggest that there is a need for evidence-based practices in methadone maintenance therapy programs in Iran to reduce methamphetamine use among methadone maintenance therapy patients. Methamphetamine use among methadone maintenance therapy patients in Iran can reduce the efficacy of these services in reducing risky behaviors as well as other desired outcomes of methadone maintenance therapy. Our findings suggest two strategies that may be of use (or our findings suggest that two strategies that may be of use are: 1) educate patients and their families about methadone’s side effects and the contraindications of methamphetamine use by treatment team and/or peer groups’ educators; 2) integrate routine amphetamine testing into methadone treatment. These findings may be useful to those designing and implementing strategies for reducing methamphetamine use in methadone maintenance therapy programs in Iran.
CLEP_A_201983 495..508

Zhirong Yang Duncan Edwards Efthalia Massou Catherine L Saunders Carol Brayne Jonathan Mant 1Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 2Institute of Public Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Background: Trial evidence supports statin use after ischemic stroke and recent American, European and British guidelines recommend high-intensity statins for this indication. Limited data are available describing current statin use among these patients in unselected settings. We conducted a cohort study to examine secular trends and factors associated with statin use and dose following ischemic stroke. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients with first ischemic stroke between 2000 and 2014 was conducted using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Proportions of statin users and high-intensity statin users within 2 years after stroke were estimated for each calendar year. We used Cox regression models to explore potential factors associated with statin use and Poisson regression models to calculate risk ratios for the use of a highintensity statin. Results: A total of 80,442 patients with first stroke were analyzed. The proportion using statins within 2 years after stroke increased from 25% in 2000 to 70% in 2006 and remained at about 75% through 2014. Among post-stroke statin users, high-intensity use accounted for approximately 15% between 2004 and 2011 and then increased to almost 35% in 2014. Older patients (aged ≥75 years), younger patients (<45 years), patients with no prior statin treatment, dementia, underweight, or absence of cardiovascular factors (coronary heart disease, smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or transient ischemic attack) were less likely to use statins and less likely to receive a high-intensity statin. Conclusion: There has been an increase over time in both statin use and dose, but many patients with ischemic stroke continue to be under-treated. Clinical trials and policy interventions to improve appropriate post-stroke statin use should focus on younger and older patients, patients with no pre-stroke statin treatment, and patients without additional cardiovascular risk factors.
ExecuCare: Outpatient Treatment for Impaired Professionals

Objectives:Provide clinicians with a description of a university-based intermediate level of care for the treatment of impaired professionals. Offers a description of clinically significant treatment components believed to contribute to the successful treatment of impaired professionals. Presents the demographic characteristics of impaired professionals treated. Methods:A university-based intermediate level of care for impaired professionals is described and integrated with the professional and research literature regarding the treatment of impaired professionals. Results:The study examines 139 impaired professionals treated between 2006 and 2010. Of these impaired professionals, 47 received a referral to a residential program, 40 were directly admitted into an intensive Outpatient Program and 35 were referred for outpatient substance abuse treatment. The composition of professionals included: nurses, physicians, pharmacist, and business professionals. Substantive treatment components are presented. Conclusions:Intensive outpatient programs are a necessary and effective level of care for impaired professionals. These programs can provide an initial level of treatment for about 30% of impaired professional and frequently decrease the need for inpatient or residential treatment. A local, professional, comprehensive outpatient addictions program like the one presented supports professionals’ recovery by supporting reintegration into the work setting and decreasing relapse potential.
Discharge Against Medical Advice: A Qualitative Case Study

Background: The most important criterion for healthcare success is customers’ satisfaction. The number of patients leaving the hospital on their own decision or Against Medical Advice (AMA) can be a sign of their discontent and a problem with considerable importance. In this regard, the present study was designed aiming at evaluating the causes of AMA discharges at a hospital affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This is a qualitative study on all patients who were discharged AMA from the studied hospital during 3 months in 2012 (March 21 – June 21). Data were collected through telephone interviews. All interviews were written by the researcher and analyzed using grounded theory with thematic method. Results: The most frequent reasons for discharge AMA were classified into 3 general themes: issues related to hospital status, the staff and the patients. Additionally, the most frequent reasons causing discharge AMA were as follows; 1. Sense of recovery; 2. Failure to register discharge order despite verbal order, 3. Physicians and nurses’ inadequate care (technically); 4. Lack of informing the patients and their relatives as to the patient’s condition properly; 5. Crowded wards; 6. Lack of attention to patients by the staff (emotionally). Conclusion: It seems that if hospital managers want to reduce discharge AMA, it is better to consider the causes. Based on such causes, effective intervention can be implemented which may differ in terms of resource-consuming. [GMJ. 2016;5(1):31-41]
Peer Effects on Student Achievement: An Instrumental Variable Approach Using School Transition Data∗

In this paper, we examine peer effects on student achievement in middle school using a multi-cohort longitudinal data set from China. We use cohort-to-cohort variation in peer composition within schools to identify the impact of schoolmates. Our methods innovate on previous peer effects studies that employ the value-added models with lagged achievement. We show that estimates from the typical value-added specifications are biased if a student’s old and new peer groups have members in common, and prose an empirical strategy to use the lagged achievement of new peers to instrument for that of all peers. Our within-school IV estimate of the linear-in-means peer effects coeffi cient is positive but insignificant. While we cannot reject the null hypothesis of no peer effects, we also cannot reject relatively large peer effects that have been found in the previous literature. Estimates of a heterogeneous peer effects model, however, show evidence in support of the single-crossing property: an increase in average peer ability benefits high-achieving students more than low-achieving students. ∗I am grateful to Joshua Angrist, Esther Duflo, and Karen R. Polenske for their advice and support. I thank David Autor, Abhijit Banerjee, Amy Finkelstein, Rongzhu Ke, Tao Jin, Weifeng Li, and seminar participants at MIT and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for valuable comments and suggestions. I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the MIT Shultz Fund and the MIT Center for International Studies Summer Study Grant. All remaining errors are my own. †E-mail: hongliang@cuhk.edu. hk/ Address: Department of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR.
Differences in Developmental Education Enrollment and Writing Performance at Texas 4-Year Universities: A Multiyear, Statewide Study

In this research study, the numbers and percentages of students enrolled in developmental education in writing were determined for the 2002-2003 through the 2009-2010 academic years at Texas 4-year universities. Determined by this analysis was whether the numbers and percentages of students enrolled in developmental education in writing had changed over the 8 years of this study, as well as the degree to which students in developmental education in writing were able to complete a college-level course in writing. Revealed in this multiyear analysis were statistically significant differences in the percentages of students in developmental education in writing between the 2002-2003 and the 2009-2010 academic years. However, the average numbers of students enrolled in developmental education in writing had not changed over this 8 year time period. In the final year of this investigation, almost 40% of students in developmental education in writing did not complete a college-level course in writing. Implications for policymakers and recommendations for future research were provided.
The Role of Oxidative Stress in Common Risk Factors and Mechanisms of Cardio-Cerebrovascular Ischemia and Depression

The public health sector faces a huge challenge as a result of the high prevalence and burden of disability caused by ischemic cardio-cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and depression. Although studies have explored the underlying mechanisms and potential therapies to address conditions, there is no treatment breakthrough, especially for depression which is highly influenced by social stressors. However, accumulating evidence reveals that CVD and depression are correlated and share common risk factors, particularly obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. They also share common mechanisms, including oxidative stress (OS), inflammation and immune response, cell death signaling pathway, and microbiome-gut-brain axis. This review summarizes the relationship between ischemic CVD and depression and describes the interactions among common risk factors and mechanisms for these two diseases. In addition, we propose that OS mediates the crosstalk between these diseases. We also reveal the potential of antioxidants to ameliorate OS-related injuries.
Determinants of the Dividend Payout Policy of Stock Companies within the European Union

The problem-field dividend payout policy is a very complex issue. Particular within the low-interest phase in Europe, the significance of this issue is growing for all investors, equal to whether private or institutional investors. The aim of this study is to research the European area to provide a contribution to a region, which, unfortunately, has given sparse attention in the past. In order to ensure the relevance for this exploration, the major European stock index Euro Stoxx 600 has been used. The results of the multiple linear regression show the unequal dividend distribution between stock companies from the industrial sector and the service sector. Besides, it has shown that institutional investors play as well a significant role within the dividend policy in European public companies. Furthermore, the net income of a corporation influenced in all previous analysis the dividend reimbursement, which could be confirmed through this paper as well. Regarding the previous studies, this paper provides an additional source for further studies which also occupy with this complicated question.
EFFECT OF RAW AND COOKED WILD COCOYAM (Caladium bicolor) ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKS

The effect of raw and cooked wild cocoyam (caladium bicolor) on the performance of broiler chicks was investigated in a feeding trial that lasted for 28 days. Wild cocoyam corms were divided into two batches. One batch was ground raw and the other batch was cooked before grinding. Wild cocoyam meals so prepared were used to formulate 5 broiler starter diets at dietary inclusion levels of 0 %, 10 %, and 20 % raw and cooked wild cocoyam respectively. One hundred and twenty (120) 7-day-old Anak broiler chicks were randomly allotted to the five treatment diets in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and each group was further subdivided into three replicates. Measurements recorded included weight gain, feed intake feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio. Results shows significant ( P < 0.05) improvement in feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio and PER of birds fed cooked wild cocoyam meals. Marked (P < 0.05) reduction was however, obtained in feed intake and feed conversion ratio of birds fed raw wild cocoyam diets. There was no significant (P > 0.05) difference between birds fed maize-based (control) and cooked wild cocoyam diets . Results of this experiment indicated that cooking improved the nutritive value of wild cocoyam since birds fed cooked wild cocoyam diets produced best results and that broiler chicks could tolerate up to 20 % dietary inclusion level of cooked wild cocoyam without any deleterious effect. Economics of production showed that cooked wild cocoyam diets were more profitable as regards the cost of feed per kg weight gain (N) and thus cost savings (%)
Fast Growing Strategy of SMEs by Using R&D Networks1 By Kazuyuki Motohashi2 Professor and Head of Department of Technology Management for Innovation

This paper discusses fast growing strategy of SMEs focusing on R&D collaborations with other firms and universities. Due to the lack of managerial resources, paradoxically, the most important internal managerial ability of high growth SMEs is how to manage its external relationship in areas, where a firm cannot prepare by its own resources. It is found that high growth SMEs are conducting risky business by investing in R&D networking activities heavily, but we have found that they have to pass some transition period to become big. It is important for policy makers to distinguish firm’s growth process into start-up period and transition one. Promotion of venture capital, IPR policy and other institutional reforms toward network innovation system is important for the former purpose, but the latter process is basically driven by market competition and evolutional selection process.
NDT_A_203513 1311..1320

Georgios Nikolakaros 1,2 Timo Kurki 3,4 Arttu Myllymäki Tuula Ilonen 1Satakunta Hospital District, Psychiatric Care Division, General Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, Pori, Finland; 2HUS Medical Imaging Center, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; 3Terveystalo Pulssi Medical Center, Turku, Finland; 4Department of Radiology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; 5Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
A comparative study of the cemental surfaces of teeth with and without periodontal diseases by scanning electron microscopy

A comparative study of the cemental surfaces of teeth with and without periodontal diseases by scanning electron microscopy Ratthapong Worawongvasu Ratthapong Worawongvasu B.Sc., D.D.S., Specialty Certificate in Oral Pathology, M.S. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University. A comparative study of the cemental surfaces of teeth with and without periodontal diseases by scanning electron microscopy
VAT notches

We develop a conceptual framework which captures the e¤ect of the VAT system on pro t by two e¤ective taxes. This allows (i) predictions of the determinants of voluntary registration and bunching at the registration threshold; (ii) develops a formula for estimating the elasticity of value-added with respect to the statutory tax. We show that the marginal excess burden of the tax on suppliers is measured by this elasticity, extending Feldsteins analysis of the elasticity of taxable income to an indirect tax setting. We bring the theory to the data, using linked administrative VAT and corporation tax records in the UK from 2004-2009. Consistently with the theory, voluntary registration is positively related to the intensity of input use and negatively related to the share of B2C transactions. There is bunching at the VAT threshold, and the amount of bunching is negatively related to the intensity of input use and positively related to the share of B2C transactions, again consistently with the theory. We provide an estimate of the elasticity of the VAT tax base in the range of 0.09 and 0.18. We thank the sta¤ at Her Majestys Revenue & Customs(HMRC) Datalab for access to the data and their support of this project. This work contains statistical data from HMRC which is Crown Copyright. The research datasets used may not exactly reproduce HMRC aggregates. The use of HMRC statistical data in this work does not imply the endorsement of HMRC in relation to the interpretation or analysis of the information. All results have been screened by HMRC to ensure con dentiality is not breached. yLiu: Centre for Business Taxation, University of Oxford (li.liu@sbs.ox.ac.uk). Lockwood: CBT, CEPR and Department of Economics, University of Warwick (b.lockwood@warwick.ac.uk). We would like to thank Steve Bond, Michael Devereux, Judith Freedman, Chris Heady, James R. Hines, Louis Kaplow, Henrik Kleven, Tuomas Matikka, Joel Slemrod, and seminar participants at the 2014 International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF) Meeting, 2014 CEPR Public Economics Annual Symposium, Oxford-Michigan Tax Systems Conference, HM Treasury, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and University of Exeter for helpful comments. We would also like to thank Dongxian Guo and Omiros Kouvavas for excellent research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies. We acknowledge nancial support from the ESRC under grant ES/L000016/1.
Predicting individual differences in conflict detection and bias susceptibility during reasoning

Abstract A key component of the susceptibility to cognitive biases is the ability to monitor for conflict between intuitively cued “heuristic” answers and logical principles. While there is evidence that people differ in their ability to detect such conflicts, it is not clear which factors are driving these differences. In the present study (N = 399) we explored cognitive ability, thinking dispositions, numeracy, cognitive reflection, and mindware instantiation (i.e., knowledge of logical principles) as predictors of individual differences in conflict detection and accuracy on a battery of reasoning problems. Results showed that mindware instantiation was the best predictor of both conflict detection efficiency and reasoning accuracy. Cognitive reflection, thinking dispositions, numeracy, and cognitive ability played a significant but smaller role. The regression model explained 40% of the variance in reasoning accuracy, but only 7% in detection efficiency. We discuss the implications of these findings for popular process models of bias susceptibility.
Study finds higher cardiovascular fitness associated with greater hearing acuity

Initial signs of auditory aging start long before age 65.Johnson and Hawkins reported evidence of nerve degen-eration in the cochlea secondary to hair cell degenerationby 5early adolescence. Numerous studies have reporteddeterioration of hearing levels with middle age and then anotable acceleration above 70 years.
Assessing Epistemic Claims by Experimental Evidence

Research methodology decisions require clear criteria for selection of appropriate measures and procedures. These decisions often entail rules for assessing knowledge claims. Epistemic claims assert knowledge about underlying mechanisms that produce observable phenomena. These claims specify relationships between observable attributes, concepts, and theoretical constructs. We explicate three ways in which epistemic claims may be advanced and assessed: triangulation, multitrait-multimethod, and meta-analysis. We assess each of these approaches and review research examples for each method to advance claims about the relationship of experimental evidence to theory and its validity.
How Do Regulations Affect Credit Rating? Evidence from the Upgrades in the Chinese Banking Sector

We observe 180 upgrades but two downgrades among 657 Chinese banks during China’s economic growth slowdown in 2015-2017. The upgrades coincided with dramatic rating standard deterioration. Except for banks being upgraded to AAA and AA+ that gained significant regulatory advantages, the upgrades did not lead to proper reductions in credit prices. Regulations’ reliance on credit ratings unintentionally gave rise to regulation arbitrage opportunities that constitute a primary driver of rating inflation. Although investors were able to discover information, they tended to accept inflated ratings for regulation arbitrage. In the expectation of government bailout, agency-investor conflicts and agency reputation effects were silent in restricting rating inflation.