Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The OPTIMA study: assessing a new cinacalcet (Sensipar/Mimpara) treatment algorithm for secondary hyperparathyroidism.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Cinacalcet, a novel calcimimetic, targets the calcium-sensing receptor to lower parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium, and phosphorus levels in dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). This study compared the efficacy of a cinacalcet-based regimen with unrestricted conventional care (vitamin D and phosphate binders) for achieving the stringent National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) targets for dialysis patients. STUDY DESIGN In this multicenter, open-label study, hemodialysis patients with poorly controlled SHPT were randomized to receive conventional care (n = 184) or a cinacalcet-based regimen (n = 368). Doses of cinacalcet, vitamin D sterols, and phosphate binders were adjusted during a 16-wk dose-optimization phase with the use of algorithms that allowed cinacalcet to be used with adjusted doses of vitamin D. The primary end point was the proportion of patients with mean intact PTH < or =300 pg/ml during a 7-wk efficacy assessment phase. RESULTS A higher proportion of patients receiving the cinacalcet-based regimen versus conventional care achieved the targets for PTH (71% versus 22%, respectively; P < 0.001), Ca x P (77% versus 58%, respectively; P < 0.001), calcium (76% versus 33%, respectively; P < 0.001), phosphorus (63% versus 50%, respectively; P = 0.002), and PTH and Ca x P (59% versus 16%, respectively, P < 0.001), and allowed a 22% reduction in vitamin D dosage in patients receiving vitamin D at baseline. Achievement of targets was greatest in patients with less severe disease (intact PTH range, 300 to 500 pg/ml) and the cinacalcet dose required was lower in these patients (median = 30 mg/d). CONCLUSIONS Compared with conventional therapy, a cinacalcet-based treatment algorithm increased achievement of KDOQI treatment targets in dialysis patients in whom conventional therapy was no longer effective in controlling this disease.
Selection against PUMA Gene Expression in Myc-Driven B-Cell Lymphomagenesis

ABSTRACT The p53 tumor suppressor pathway limits oncogenesis by inducing cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. A key p53 target gene is PUMA, which encodes a BH3-only proapoptotic protein. Here we demonstrate that Puma deletion in the Eμ-Myc mouse model of Burkitt lymphoma accelerates lymphomagenesis and that ∼75% of Eμ-Myc lymphomas naturally select against Puma protein expression. Furthermore, approximately 40% of primary human Burkitt lymphomas fail to express detectable levels of PUMA and in some tumors this is associated with DNA methylation. Burkitt lymphoma cell lines phenocopy the primary tumors with respect to DNA methylation and diminished PUMA expression, which can be reactivated following inhibition of DNA methyltransferases. These findings establish that PUMA is silenced in human malignancies, and they suggest PUMA as a target for the development of novel chemotherapeutics.
Positional cloning of a cyromazine resistance gene in Drosophila melanogaster

Cyromazine is an effective insecticide used to control dipteran insects. Its precise mode of action is yet to be determined, although it has been suggested that it interferes with the hormone system, sclerotization of the cuticle, or nucleic acid metabolism. To understand the way in which cyromazine acts, we have positionally cloned a cyromazine resistance gene from Drosophila melanogaster. Six cyromazine resistance alleles had previously been generated by ethyl methanasulphonate treatment. Two of these failed to complement each other and here we identify them as having independent non‐sense mutations in CG32743, which is an ortholog of Smg1 of worms and mammals and encodes a phosphatidylinositol kinase‐like kinase (PIKK). RNAi experiments confirm that cyromazine resistance can be achieved by knocking down CG32743. These are the first cyromazine resistant mutations identified at the nucleotide level. In mammals Smg1 phosphorylates P53 in response to DNA damage. This finding supports the hypothesis that cyromazine interferes with nucleic acid metabolism.
Does Inequality Beget Inequality? Experimental Tests of the Prediction that Inequality Increases System Justification Motivation

Abstract Past research shows that growing inequality often does not result in citizen demands for redistribution. We examine one mechanism that could explain why people do not protest growing inequality: a particular sub-prediction of system justification theory (SJT). SJT argues that humans have a psychological need to justify their social system. The specific sub-prediction of SJT tested here is the idea that inequality itself increases system justification. This could yield a negative feedback loop in which political responses to inequality grows ever less likely as inequality grows more extreme. Previous research on this hypothesis relied on cross-sectional survey data and provided mixed results. We take an experimental approach and ask whether exposure to economic inequality makes people more likely to defend the system. In one main study and two replications with varying samples, experimental treatments, and outcome measures, we find no evidence that information about economic inequality increases system justification motivation.
Financing Small Businesses: From Venture Capital to Crowdfunding

Abstract Startups and small businesses are facing many challenges in terms of financing their activities. These types of companies do not have the possibility to access capital market or to make IPO or to borrow money from banks like big, mature or well-known companies (who were at their beginnings startups or small businesses). They have to find different sources for financing their ideas/products/services that are in many cases very risky, hazardous or to ambitious. But, fortunately, the financing alternative for these companies have evolved during the last post crisis years. They have possibility to find some investors that are willing to invest in a non-name company by accessing crowdfunding platforms, impress angel investors, or attracting venture capital. All that in order to develop their business and to become a unicorn or to have a great exit.
Effects of Participation in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program on Women Faculty's Perceived Leadership Capabilities

Purpose. This study measured the impact of participation by women academics in the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program as part of a robust evaluation agenda. Method. The design is a classic pre/post, within-group, self-report study. The survey elicits self-perception about leadership in ten constructs: knowledge of leadership, management, and organizational theory; environmental scanning; financial management; communication; networking and coalition building; conflict management; general leadership; assessment of strengths and weaknesses; acceptance of leadership demands; and career advancement sophistication. The post surveys inquire additionally about perceived program usefulness. Data were collected from 79 participants (1997–98, 1998–99, and 2000–01 classes). Response rates were nearly 100% (pre) and 69% to 76% (post). Results. Statistically significant increases (p < .01) in perceived leadership capabilities were identified across all ten leadership constructs. Gains were large in knowledge of leadership and organizational theory, environmental scanning, financial management, and general leadership. Gains in career building knowledge were large to moderate. More modest were gains in communication, networking, and conflict management. There were significant correlations between each leadership construct and perceived usefulness of the program. Conclusions. Significant improvements were reported on all leadership constructs, even when participants viewed themselves as already skilled. While it cannot be concluded that participation in ELAM directly and solely caused all improvements, it seems unlikely that midcareer women faculty would improve on all ten constructs in 11 months after program completion by natural maturation alone. Future research will investigate whether the changes are due to ELAM or other factors, and assess whether participants show more rapid advancement into leadership than comparable women not participating in ELAM.
It’s not as bad as you think: menopausal representations are more positive in postmenopausal women

Abstract Introduction: The menopausal transition is associated with underlying hormonal changes that can contribute to a range of physical and emotional symptoms. Psycho-social factors including attitudes and internal representations play a central role in women’s experience of the menopause, but very little is known about how representations might differ across menopausal stages. Methods: A sample of 387 women aged 40–60 completed a postal questionnaire that included the menopausal representations questionnaire, the emotional representation subscale adapted from the illness perception questionnaire, and data on menopausal status. Results: Significant differences across menopausal stages were found for both cognitive [F(2, 381) = 4.32, p < . 05, η2 = 0.022], and emotional [F(2, 381) = 9.70, p < . 01, η2 = 0.048] menopausal representations. Postmenopausal women had a significantly more positive cognitive representations of the menopause relative to perimenopausal women (standardised mean difference = 0.25, p > .05). Postmenopausal women held a significantly more positive emotional representation of the menopause than both premenopausal (standardised mean difference = 0.56, p < .05) and perimenopausal (standardised mean difference = 0.43, p < .05) women. Discussion: Women’s emotional and cognitive representations of the menopause are more positive among postmenopausal women, compared to women in the late premenopausal stage. This is consistent with the affective forecasting theory, which proposes the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of emotional reactions to future events. Given the association between representations and bothersomeness of menopausal symptoms, clinicians should educate women about their expectations, and challenge their negative beliefs about the menopause.
A MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR STUDY OF AUSTRAL SARGASSUM (FUCALES, PHAEOPHYCEAE) SUPPORTS THE RECOGNITION OF PHYLLOTRICHA AT GENUS LEVEL, WITH FURTHER ADDITIONS TO THE GENUS SARGASSOPSIS 1

Sargassum subgenus Phyllotricha currently includes seven species restricted to Australian and New Zealand coasts. A recent study of Cystoseira and other Sargassaceae genera based on mitochondrial 23S DNA and chloroplast‐encoded psbA sequences resulted in the most widely distributed species of subgenus Phyllotricha, Sargassum decurrens, being transferred to the reinstated monospecific Sargassopsis Trevisan. The fate of the residual six Phyllotricha species, however, was not considered. The present study examines these Phyllotricha species, alongside other Sargassum subgenera, Sargassopsis, Sirophysalis trinodis (formerly Cystoseira trinodis) and the New Zealand endemic Carpophyllum Greville, using morphological evidence and the molecular phylogenetic markers cox3, ITS‐2 and the rbcL–S spacer. Our results suggest both the genus Sargassum and Sargassum subgenus Phyllotricha are polyphyletic as currently circumscribed. Four S. subgen. Phyllotricha species, i.e. S. sonderi, S. decipiens, S. varians and S. verruculosum, form a monophyletic group sister to the genus Carpophyllum, and S. peronii is genetically identical to S. decurrens with regard to all three loci. We propose the resurrection of the genus Phyllotricha Areschoug, with type species Phyllotricha sonderi, and include the new combinations Phyllotricha decipiens, Phyllotricha varians and Phyllotricha verruculosum. Sargassum peronii, S. heteromorphum and S. kendrickii are transferred to Sargassopsis and Sargassum peronii is considered a synonym of Sargassopsis decurrens.
Advertisement video completion using hierarchical model

With the rapid spread of video content, some embedded videotexts are superfluous advertisements needing an approach to remove. Because conventional video completion methods only deal with the limited video repairing, an adaptive advertisement video completion algorithm recovering various types of large and structural regions is designed. It poses the task of videotext removal as a hierarchical model. At the top of the hierarchy, the rotated block matching is derived, and temporal structure is recovered by the adaptive interpolation algorithm. Simultaneously, spatial structure is completed by the extension algorithm. At the bottom of the hierarchy, the spatial texture region completion is carried out by gradient derivative smooth propagation and duplication. The contribution is its comprehension and applicability to various types of videos. The experimental results show that all of the various videotext regions can be completed with temporal and spatial consistency, and the performance is superior to other existing methods.
“Mindless” Decision Making as a Failure of Contextual Reasoning

Abstract People often make decisions without reference to vital information, even when such information is readily available. In the present research, the authors addressed the possibility that this tendency may derive from failure to have pertinent information immediately available in the decision context. Participants rated the utility of decisions in either the presence or absence of simple pertinent information. The information provided required no training and was relatively obvious (e.g., if money is spent on a given item, that money will not be available for other expenditures). Presentation of such information in the immediate context of decisions significantly improved participants' abilities to understand their negative consequences. These results indicate that the presentation of pertinent information in immediate decision contexts, even information that is already available through participants' long-term memory, can improve the understanding of decision situations and reduce “mindlessness” in decision processes.
The synergy between drought and extremely hot summers in the Mediterranean

In the last years a large number of weather driven extreme events has occurred worldwide with unprecedented socio-economic impacts and are expected to increase, in both frequency and intensity, under future global-warming conditions. In this context early identification and predictability of such events are paramount as they mostly affect several socio-economic activities. Despite the effort in monitoring and evaluation of these extreme events, a quantitative assessment of their interaction is still a challenge. We propose to analyze if the occurrence of extremely hot days/nights in the summer is preceded by drought events in spring and early summer throughout the Mediterranean area. This was investigated by correlating the number of hot days and nights in the regions hottest months with a drought indicator on the prior months. Drought characterization was performed using both the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for the 3-, 6- and 9-months time scales, considering the period 1980–2014 with a spatial resolution of 0.5°. The number of hot days and nights per month (NHD and NHN, respectively) is determined for the same period and spatial resolution. Results show that the most frequent hottest months for the Mediterranean region occur in July and August. Most regions exhibit statistically significant negative correlations, i.e. high (low) NHD/NHN following negative (positive) SPEI/SPI values, and thus a potential for NHD/NHN early warning. This analysis allowed to identify the Iberian Peninsula, northern Italy, northern Africa and the Balkans as the main hotspots of predictability of extreme hot temperatures in the summer preceded by the occurrence of drought events in the spring or early summer.
Cross-layer MAC scheduling for multiple antenna systems

In this paper, we present a unified view of both, PHY and MAC layer visions for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) multiple access channel. First, we evaluate the impact in terms of throughput of a MAC scheduling strategy, based on throughput maximization and compare it with a PHY scheduling strategy based on capacity maximization. Second, a MAC scheduler with QoS requirements is presented. The particularity of such a MAC scheduler is that it combines PHY level instantaneous optimization with MAC level average maximization. We present mathematical expressions to evaluate the schedulers. We also present our design as an extension of the multiuser diversity scheduler for the multi-user detector case.
Improved methods for isolation and enumeration of Malassezia furfur from human skin

A medium for the isolation and enumeration of Malassezia furfur is described. Incubation at 34 degrees C yielded geometric mean counts (in CFU per square centimeter) of 2.6 X 10(3) on the forehead, 8.5 X 10(2) on the cheek, and 9.6 X 10(3) on the back. These counts compared favorably with microscopic counts and greatly exceeded those obtained with previously described media.
Growth-Enhancing Corporate Tax Reform in Belgium

Abstract Until 2018, Belgium had a unique corporate income tax system due to its notional interest deduction, also known in public finance literature as the allowance for corporate equity. At the same time, it had one of the highest corporate tax rates in Europe at 34 percent. The latter came under severe pressure to reform and, as of 2018, the government has started to reduce the rate, gradually to reach 25 percent in 2020. The reduction is accompanied by other measures, including a limitation of the notional interest deduction. This paper argues that the lower CIT rate is likely to be conducive to economic growth. Yet, the effects on growth would have been more favorable if the notional interest deduction would have been strengthened, rather than diminished.
Phosphorylation‐dependent differences in the activation properties of distal and proximal dendritic Na+ channels in rat CA1 hippocampal neurons

At distal dendritic locations, the threshold for action potential generation is higher and the amplitude of back‐propagating spikes is decreased. To study whether these characteristics depend upon Na+ channels, their voltage‐dependent properties at proximal and distal dendritic locations were compared in CA1 hippocampal neurons. Distal Na+ channels activated at more hyperpolarized voltages than proximal (half‐activation voltages were −20.4 ± 2.4 mV vs.−12.0 ± 1.7 mV for distal and proximal patches, respectively, n= 16, P < 0.01), while inactivation curves were not significantly different. The resting membrane potential of distal regions also appeared to be slightly but consistently more hyperpolarized than their proximal counterpart. Staurosporine, a non‐selective protein kinase inhibitor, shifted the activation curves for both proximal and distal Na+ channels to the left so that they overlapped and also caused the resting potentials to be comparable. Staurosporine affected neither the inactivation kinetics of Na+ currents nor the reversal potential for Na+. These results suggest that the difference in the voltage dependence of activation of distal and proximal Na+ channels can be attributed to a different phosphorylation state at the two locations.
Mesotocin Gene Expression in the Diencephalon of Domestic Fowl: Cloning and Sequencing of the MT cDNA and Distribution of MT Gene Expressing Neurons in the Chicken Hypothalamus

This study focuses on the structure and expression of the mesotocin (MT) gene in the chicken hypothalamus. Using an anchored and nested RT‐PCR strategy, combined with circular RACE‐PCR, the full length sequence of the chicken MT cDNA was obtained. The cDNA and derived amino acid sequences conformed to the structure of the oxytocin‐like gene family. However, unlike most mammalian species, there does not appear to be frequent gene conversion between the MT and AVT cDNA sequences. A single specific hybridization signal of 1.2 kb was detected by Southern analysis of chicken genomic DNA, indicating only a single gene copy in the chicken genome. Northern analysis of hypothalamic RNA revealed a single band at approximately 0.6 kb. Using the same probe for in situ hybridization histochemistry, MT‐mRNA was demonstrated to be predominantly localized in the parvocellular, magnocellular and periventricular subgroups of the paraventricular nucleus and, when compared to the distribution of neurons containing arginine‐vasotocin (AVT)‐mRNA in the same region, with far fewer neurons expressing the MT gene in the lateral subgroups. Only few and scattered neurons expressing the MT gene were found in the ventral and external subgroups of the supraoptic nucleus in which many neurons contain AVT transcripts, as demonstrated in consecutive sections. In all nuclei investigated, the intensity of AVT and MT hybridization signals per cell was approximately equal. No specific labelling for MT‐mRNA was found in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, nor the nucleus accumbens. Using immunocytochemical detection of AVT and in situ hybridization for neurons expressing MT‐mRNA, some neurons were found to contain both AVT and MT gene products in the paraventricular nucleus but not in the supraoptic nucleus.
External Quality Assessment of Techniques for the Detection of Drugs of Abuse in Urine

Five chromatographic and six immunoassay techniques were compared using data reported by 131 participants in the UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme for Drugs of Abuse in Urine. Twenty Five samples were studied containing none or one of three concentrations of amphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, benzoylecgonine, methadone and morphine. Technique sensitivity and specificity achieved with realistic clinical samples of 25 mL vol were assessed as the percentage of true positive and true negative tests, respectively. Thin-layer chromatography was inadequate for the detection of several analytes, the sensitivity for 0 · 5 mg/L of benzoylecgonine being < 30%, and for 1 · 5 mg/L of amphetamine < 86%. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was significantly less sensitive than other techniques for the detection of 0·5 mg/L of benzoylecgonine (71%) and 1 · 5 mg/L of morphine (88%). High-performance liquid chromatography was the most sensitive for amphetamine. Immunoassays performed well when operating above then-specified cut-off concentrations but, because they are directed to quinalbarbitone showed reduced cross-reactivity with amylobarbitone, the barbiturate more commonly prescribed in the UK.