Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Case-control analyses of the impact of pharmacotherapy on prospectively observed suicide attempts and completed suicides in bipolar disorder: findings from STEP-BD.

OBJECTIVE Given high rates of suicide and suicide attempts in bipolar disorder and the data suggesting a suicide-protective effect of lithium, we evaluated the impact of pharmacotherapy on prospectively observed suicides and suicide attempts in subjects in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD). METHOD The STEP-BD study enrolled 4360 participants with DSM-IV bipolar disorder diagnoses from September 1998 through November 2004. There were 270 suicide events in STEP-BD (8 completed suicides, 262 attempts). These occurred in 182 of STEP-BD participants (cases). Inclusion criteria required cases to be white or Caucasian, have at least 1 postbaseline visit, and have prescription information within 30 days of the suicide event. This reduced the available cohort to 106 cases. Matching included age, gender, history of previous suicide attempt, and a propensity score that considered bipolar subtype, marital status, age at onset, and history of psychosis, resulting in 93 matched pairs. A secondary analysis added mood state status within 30 days of the suicide event to the propensity score (N = 54 pairs). The association of drug prescriptions with suicide attempts/completions was assessed using a conditional logistic regression model. RESULTS The results do not indicate a relationship between lithium use and suicide attempts or completions (p = .41). Similar findings were found for exposure to valproate, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and the atypical antipsychotic medications. An association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) prescription and suicide events was observed (p < .0001). Findings were similar in a secondary analysis that controlled for mood state. CONCLUSIONS Our data are not consistent with a suicide-protective effect of lithium. The association between suicide events and SSRI prescriptions requires cautious interpretation due to complex relationships between treatment, severity, and suicidality. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00012558.
Association of vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine with functional and pathological characteristics of the elderly in a mountainous village in Sicily

Abstract Background: Homocysteine is associated with age, folate and vitamin B12. Our study investigated the functional and clinical characteristics of the elderly (aged 60–85 years) of San Teodoro, a village in Central Sicily, and evaluated associations with vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine. Methods: Subjects (n=280) were examined after door-to-door recruitment using interview, physician examination and laboratory tests. Results: A total of 19.3% of the population had a low blood level of folate (<7 nmol/L) and 3.2% had low vitamin B12 concentration (<100 pmol/L). The level of dependency, determined by the Barthel index, influenced homocysteine blood levels (p<0.0001), independent of age (p<0.0001), folate (p=0.0028) and vitamin B12 (p=0.0165). Homocysteine was significantly associated with stroke (p=0.0027) and peripheral arterial vascular disease (p=0.0001), but not with myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, venous thrombosis or cancer. Vitamin B12 was lower in myocardial infarction and higher in diabetes and venous thrombosis compared to the other diseases. Conclusions: The prevalence of deficits in folate and vitamin B12 was paradoxically high in the mountainous northeastern area of Sicily. Our study also underlines the association of homocysteine with dependency of the elderly and with stroke and peripheral arteriopathy. Clin Chem Lab Med 2007;45:136–42.
Willingness to adopt e-procurement to reduce corruption: Results of the PLS Path modeling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on research that evaluates the perceived willingness of potential bidders to adopt public e-procurement for the supply of goods and services to the government of Nepal. The authors have identified anti-corruption attributes through an extensive literature review and developed a theoretical model representing the impact of four latent variables, monopoly of power, information asymmetry, trust and transparency and accountability on the dependent variable, the intent-to-adopt e-procurement (ITA). Design/methodology/approach – Data for this research were obtained by the use of a questionnaire survey of bidders who were officially registered with the Government of Nepal. As part of the fieldwork for this research, the first author collected the perceptions of 220 bidders regarding the potential of public e-procurement to reduce corruption in public procurement processes. Findings – The findings suggest that a high level of the ITA has a positive and significant .
The 'partnership' between international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and local NGOs in Bangladesh

'Partnership' has become a standard buzzword in the NGO and 'development' world. Until 1980s it was common for many Northern NGOs (NNGOs) to implement their own 'development' programmes and projects. This implementation approach has shifted to one in which local 'partner' organisations are identified and do most of the work, with the NNGOs in a funding and organisational support role. Also many Northern donors started funding the Southern NGOs directly making many NNGOs irrelevant. This paper reviews the current literature on 'partnership' between Northern and Southern NGOs and concludes that the new role of the NNGOs in the North should be to work with governments and business to change policies which create poverty in both the North and the South. It also examines the 'partnership' between a NNGO (Save the Children (UK)) and local NGOs in Bangladesh. There are probably more and bigger NGOs in Bangladesh than in any other country of its size. This paper concludes that in Bangladesh the relationship is led by the financial constraints of the NNGOs not by any intention to build partnership. In other words it is 'donorship' rather than 'partnership'. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gene delivery to mitochondria by targeting modified adenoassociated virus suppresses Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy in a mouse model

To introduce DNA into mitochondria efficiently, we fused adenoassociated virus capsid VP2 with a mitochondrial targeting sequence to carry the mitochondrial gene encoding the human NADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase subunit 4 (ND4). Expression of WT ND4 in cells with the G11778A mutation in ND4 led to restoration of defective ATP synthesis. Furthermore, with injection into the rodent eye, human ND4 DNA levels in mitochondria reached 80% of its mouse homolog. The construct expressed in most inner retinal neurons, and it also suppressed visual loss and optic atrophy induced by a mutant ND4 homolog. The adenoassociated virus cassette accommodates genes of up to ∼5 kb in length, thus providing a platform for introduction of almost any mitochondrial gene and perhaps even allowing insertion of DNA encompassing large deletions of mtDNA, some associated with aging, into the organelle of adults.
A model for immunological correlates of protection

Immunological assays measure characteristics of the immune system, such as antibody levels, specific to certain diseases. High assay values are often associated with protection from disease. A question of interest is how the relationship between assay values and subsequent development of disease should be quantitatively modelled. Existing approaches successfully model the relationship for high assay values, where the probability of developing disease is low. However at low assay values, the probability of developing disease is more closely associated with factors such as disease prevalence rates and an individual's chance of exposure to infection; these are less well captured by existing models. This paper presents a model that accommodates both assay values and factors independent of assay values, enabling protection from disease to be modelled over the whole range of assay values and proposing a method for predicting the efficacy of a vaccine from the assays of vaccinees and non‐vaccinees. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
De-Correlated Improved Adaptive Exponential FLAF-Based Nonlinear Adaptive Feedback Cancellation for Hearing Aids

Modern-day digital hearing aids are prone to an unavoidable acoustic feedback phenomenon, degrading sound quality and speech intelligibility. The linear adaptive feedback cancellation (AFC) systems based on finite-impulse-response filters do not yield satisfactory performance under nonlinearity encountered in the feedback path. In an endeavor to overcome this, a de-correlated improved adaptive exponential functional link adaptive filter (DI-AEF)-based nonlinear AFC (NAFC) system is developed in this paper. It utilizes cross terms of the input samples and trigonometrical expansion with exponentially varying amplitude. To save computations, the delayed outputs of the feedback canceler are appended at the input layer, inspired by the IIR filtering technique. The adaptive de-correlation filter is updated by variable convergence and forgetting factor windowed recursive least square algorithm to address the biased estimation problem. The corresponding update rules, convergence, and bounded-input bounded-output stability conditions have been derived. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed NAFC system for real input signals in terms of perceptual evaluation of speech and audio quality and added stable gain (ASG). The DI-AEF-based system achieves nearly 4-dB improvement in ASG while consuming 53% and 37% less multiplications and additions than the existing nonlinear methods.
Trajectories of Caregiving Time Provided by Wives to Their Husbands With Dementia

Spouses are often the first providers of informal care when their partners develop dementia. We used The National Longitudinal Caregiver Study (NLCS, 4 annual surveys, 1999 to 2002) and identified 3 distinct longitudinal patterns (trajectory classes) of total daily caregiving time provided by the wife to her husband using Generalized growth mixture models (GGMM). About 56.4% of the sample (N=828) was found to have an increase in the trajectory of total daily caregiving time (mean 252 min/d at baseline, rising to 471 min/d at time 4). Four hundred forty-four (30.3%) caregivers had a trajectory described by a moderate increase in caregiving time (an increase from a mean of 464 min/d at baseline to 533 at wave 4), whereas 195 (13.3%) had a sharply declining trajectory (a decline from a mean of 719 min/d at baseline to 421 at wave 4). There was no significant difference in the duration (time since onset) of caregiving at baseline for these 3 trajectories. GGMM are well suited for the identification of distinct trajectory classes. Here they show that there are large differences in caregiving time provided to persons with dementia, who seem to be quite similar.
Strategies for Knowledge Use in R&D and Their Implications for Innovative Performance

We argue that research on R&D strategy and on the use of external knowledge in R&D in particular should differentiate between distinct uses of external knowledge. We distinguish between uses of external knowledge for replication (using knowledge as is) vs. for compounding (building on acquired knowledge by combining it together with internally developed knowledge). We theorize about the respective innovative performance implications of these two strategies and compare them with a self-reliant strategy of internal R&D. We also elaborate contingencies for each strategy, pertaining to firm capabilities and cooperation. We test our predictions using a large sample survey of Dutch innovators in multiple industries. Our findings indicate that compounding firms perform better than replicating firms when the share of sales that consists of innovations that are new to the market is assessed, but they do not outperform firms with an internal R&D strategy. Furthermore, these differences disappear when the share of sales consisting of less novel innovations is studied. This research demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between R&D strategies that replicate vs. compound external knowledge.
Nested clade analyses of phylogeographic data: testing hypotheses about gene flow and population history

Since the 1920s, population geneticists have had measures that describe how genetic variation is distributed spatially within a species’ geographical range. Modern genetic survey techniques frequently yield information on the evolutionary relationships among the alleles or haplotypes as well as information on allele frequencies and their spatial distributions. This evolutionary information is often expressed in the form of an estimated haplotype or allele tree. Traditional statistics of population structure, such as F statistics, do not make use of evolutionary genealogical information, so it is necessary to develop new statistical estimators and tests that explicitly incorporate information from the haplotype tree. One such technique is to use the haplotype tree to define a nested series of branches (clades), thereby allowing an evolutionary nested analysis of the spatial distribution of genetic variation. Such a nested analysis can be performed regarding the geographical sampling locations either as categorical or continuous variables (i.e. some measure of spatial distance). It is shown that such nested phylogeographical analyses have more power to detect geographical associations than traditional, nonhistorical analyses and, as a consequence, allow a broader range of gene‐flow parameters to be estimated in a precise fashion. More importantly, such nested analyses can discriminate between phylogeographical associations due to recurrent but restricted gene flow vs. historical events operating at the population level (e.g. past fragmentation, colonization, or range expansion events). Restricted gene flow and historical events can be intertwined, and the cladistic analyses can reconstruct their temporal juxtapositions, thereby yielding great insight into both the evolutionary history and population structure of the species. Examples are given that illustrate these properties, concentrating on the detection of range expansion events.
Global localization in 3D maps for structured environment

This paper presents a global localization method for mobile robots based on the geometric information of structured indoor environments. With a global/local point cloud and projection map, lines are extracted from the projection maps using Hough transform. According to the directions of the obtained lines, the orientations of projection maps and point clouds are normalized. Next, the template matching algorithm is applied to the normalized global and local projection maps. Once coarse localization is completed, final accurate localization is achieved using the Iterative Closest Points (ICP) algorithm. Experimental results on several point clouds show that the proposed method can achieve high localization accuracy in real-time. The proposed method can be used for other global localization applications in structured environments.
A Gender Analysis of Bank Loan Negotiations in Uganda

This paper highlights the differences between men and women in bank loan negotiations. It presents findings of an ex post facto design study that involved administering questionnaires to 289 respondents who had ever applied for a loan from a Ugandan commercial bank from 1999 through 2005. Results showed that male and female respondents differed in their negotiation behavior and outcomes. Female respondents scored higher than male respondents on self-enhancement and yielding. Male respondents scored higher than female respondents on inaction. Results further showed that female respondents receive lower payoff than male respondents from bank loan negotiations, and that both male and female respondents encounter problems in mixed gender negotiations.
Community participation as a predictor of recovery-oriented outcomes among emerging and mature adults with mental illnesses.

OBJECTIVE The promotion of recovery and quality of life is a major focus of national and local mental health system transformation efforts. There has been simultaneous interest in enhancing community participation as a facilitator of recovery. This study examines the community participation experiences of emerging adults and mature adults with serious mental illnesses and the relationship between various types of participation and recovery, quality of life, and meaning of life. METHODS Baseline data from the Consumer-Operated Service Program multisite study were utilized. The sample was recruited from traditional mental health services and consisted of 233 emerging adults and 1,594 mature adults. Ten areas of participation were examined: parenting, employment, volunteering, college student, group membership, civic engagement, peer support, friendships, intimate relationships, and engagement in religious/spiritual activities. RESULTS Emerging and mature adults differed in developmentally appropriate ways. Emerging adults and those who participated more had higher scores on the recovery, quality of life and meaning of life measures. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The higher scores on the dependent variables may be explained by younger adults having greater hope and higher expectations that are typical for those at that stage of life and that living longer with a serious mental illness and being exposed longer to the mental health system may dampen hope. Participation in general, and specific areas of participation, were predictive of recovery-oriented outcomes. These results should inspire future developmentally-oriented research examining factors that facilitate recovery and provide direction to providers about participation areas that may be most beneficial in facilitating recovery.
Testing for an experience endowment effect in health care

Preferences have been shown to be influenced by initial endowments of wealth in the valuation literature. This paper tested for the influence of initial endowments of experience on preferences, using a discrete choice experiment. The experiment was carried out within the context of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the introduction of a new repeat prescribing system. The ‘intervention group’ experienced the proposed new system and the ‘control group’ the existing system. Evidence of an experience endowment effect was found, with only the ‘intervention group’ valuing attributes of the new repeat prescribing system. The implications of these results for economic evaluations alongside randomized controlled trials are considered.
Human resource management innovations: Determinants of their adoption and implementation

The benefits of innovation to many organizational functions are well documented. Very little research has addressed innovation within the HRM function, however. Given the importance of the HRM function to organizational competitiveness, successful HRM innovations (HRMIs) can be important determinants of organizational success. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding HRMIs, and thus, to assist managers in making more informed decisions regarding their adoption and implementation. In order to do so this article: (1) describes and defines HRMIs; (2) reviews three studies of HRMI implementation; (3) develops a model of HRMI implementation; and (4) discusses research and practical implications of the HRMI model. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Use of the oral glucose tolerance test to assess insulin release and insulin sensitivity.

OBJECTIVE The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) has often been used to evaluate apparent insulin release and insulin resistance in various clinical settings. However, because insulin sensitivity and insulin release are interdependent, to what extent they can be predicted from an OGTT is unclear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied insulin sensitivity using the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp and insulin release using the hyperglycemic clamp in 104 nondiabetic volunteers who had also undergone an OGTT. Demographic parameters (BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, age) and plasma glucose and insulin values from the OGTT were subjected to multiple linear regression to predict the metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of glucose, the insulin sensitivity index (ISI), and first-phase (1st PH) and second-phase (2nd PH) insulin release as measured with the respective clamps. RESULTS The equations predicting MCR and ISI contained BMI, insulin (120 min), and glucose (90 min) and were highly correlated with the measured MCR (r = 0.80, P < 0.00005) and ISI (r = 0.79, P < 0.00005). The equations predicting 1st PH and 2nd PH contained insulin (0 and 30 min) and glucose (30 min) and were also highly correlated with the measured 1st PH (r = 0.78, P < 0.00005) and 2nd PH (r = 0.79, P < 0.00005). The parameters predicted by our equations correlated better with the measured parameters than homeostasis model assessment for secretion and resistance, the delta30-min insulin/delta30-min glucose ratio for secretion and insulin (120 min) for insulin resistance taken from the OGTT. CONCLUSIONS We thus conclude that predicting insulin sensitivity and insulin release with reasonable accuracy from simple demographic parameters and values obtained during an OGTT is possible. The derived equations should be used in various clinical settings in which the use of clamps or the minimal model would be impractical.
Foundations of International Macroeconomics

Foundations of International Macroeconomics is an innovative text that offers the first integrative modern treatment of the core issues in open economy macroeconomics and finance. With its clear and accessible style, it is suitable for first-year graduate macroeconomics courses as well as graduate courses in international macroeconomics and finance. Each chapter incorporates an extensive and eclectic array of empirical evidence. For the beginning student, these examples provide motivation and aid in understanding the practical value of the economic models developed. For advanced researchers, they highlight key insights and conundrums in the field. Topic coverage includes intertemporal consumption and investment theory, government spending and budget deficits, finance theory and asset pricing, the implications of (and problems inherent in) international capital market integration, growth, inflation and seignorage, policy credibility, real and nominal exchange rate determination, and many interesting special topics such as speculative attacks, target exchange rate zones, and parallels between immigration and capital mobility. Most main results are derived both for the small country and world economy cases. The first seven chapters cover models of the real economy, while the final three chapters incorporate the economy's monetary side, including an innovative approach to bridging the usual chasm between real and monetary models.