Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Higher Dose of Losartan Treatment with Losartan Plus Carvedilol and Losartan Plus Ramipril in Patients with Glomerulonephritis and Proteinuria

Background. Proteinuria may cause a worsening of accompanying renal disease or even lead to glomerulosclerosis. There is no data about the effect of carvedilol on patients with proteinuric (>0.5 g/day) glomerulonephritis. This study aimed to compare the effects of carvedilol with ramipril and losartan in patients with proteinuric glomerulonephritis. Methods. Twenty-one glomerulonephritis patients were followed for 12 months. Patients were divided into three groups. All patients were treated with losartan 50 mg once daily for two weeks. After two weeks (baseline), patients were given additional medications: 50 mg losartan, 5 mg ramipril, and 25 mg carvedilol were given additionally to the patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Results. Baseline mean proteinuria values of patients in groups 1, 2 and 3 were 1.6 ± 1.1 g/day, 2.1 ± 1.3 g/day, and 1.4 ± 1.2 g/day, respectively. These values decreased to 0.5 ± 0.7 g/day, 0.6 ± 0.7 g/day, and 0.9 ± 0.9 g/day, respectively, at the end of the 12th month. These results were statistically significant only in group 1 (p = 0.04). The rational variation of proteinuria between the first and 12th month of losartan, ramipril, and carvedilol were −61%, −62%, and −27%, respectively. The decreases in blood pressures between baseline and the first, sixth, and twelfth-month measurements were significant in all groups. Conclusions. Thee results showed that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (AT1ras) provide marked decreases in proteinuria, making their use indisputable in patients with glomerulonephritis. Carvedilol was not found to be as effective as ACEIs and AT1ras in decreasing proteinuria and preserving renal function.
Pre-Implant Biopsy Predicts Outcome of Single-Kidney Transplantation Independent of Clinical Donor Variables

Background Pre-implant biopsy findings account for the discard of many donor kidneys although their clinical value is not fully understood. We retrospectively investigated the predictive value of pre-implant histology, which in our center was obtained for protocol purposes, not for transplant decisions, on long-term allograft and recipient outcome after single-kidney transplantation. Methods This single-center study included 628 consecutive adult recipients of 174 Expanded Criteria Donor (ECD) and 454 Standard Criteria Donor kidneys. Chronic donor organ injury was assessed applying a chronic lesion score differentiating between mild, moderate, and severe histologic organ injury based on the integration of glomerular, vascular, tubular, and interstitial lesions. Recipients were followed over a median time of 7.8 years. Results Donor kidneys exhibiting mild or moderate chronic lesions yielded almost identical graft and recipient survival independent of ECD status or other clinical covariables (HR 1.20, 95% CI 0.83–1.74, P=0.326, and HR 1.27, 95% CI 0.83–1.95, P=0.274, respectively). However, if allograft injury was severe, occurring in 3% of transplanted kidneys, graft and recipient survival was significantly reduced (HR 3.13, 95% CI 1.61–6.07, P<0.001 and HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.16–5.04, P=0.005, respectively). Conclusion The results suggest that donor kidneys displaying moderate chronic injury can safely be transplanted as single kidneys, while organs displaying severe injury should be discarded. Thus, pre-implant biopsy might offer an effective approach to increase the utilization of renal donor organs, especially from ECD and donors with cerebrovascular accident as cause of death, and to improve overall graft outcome.
'HOT CHICKS', 'BETTER PARTIES' OR ACADEMIC STUFF - PERCEPTIONS OF A REGIONAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS USING REPERTORY GRID ANALYSIS AND IMPORTANCE-PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

In the increasingly competitive Australian tertiary education market, a consumer orientation is essential. This is particularly so for small regional campuses competing with larger universities in the state capitals. Campus management need to carefully monitor both the perceptions of prospective students within the catchment area, and the (dis)satisfaction levels of current students. This study reports the results of an exploratory investigation into the perceptions held of a regional campus, using two techniques that have arguably been underutilised in the education marketing literature. Repertory Grid Analysis, a technique developed almost fifty years ago, was used to identify attributes deemed salient to year 12 high school students at the time they were applying for university places. Importanceperformance analysis (IPA), developed three decades ago, was then used to identify attributes that were determinant for a new cohort of first year undergraduate students. The paper concludes that group applications of Repertory Grid offer education market researchers a useful means for identifying attributes used by high school students to differentiate universities, and that IPA is a useful technique for guiding promotional decision making. In this case, the two techniques provided a quick, economical and effective snapshot of market perceptions, which can be used as a foundation for the development of an ongoing market research programme.
Foreign Aid, Fertility and Human Capital Accumulation

This paper analyses the effect of foreign aid on population growth and human capital accumulation. Consistent with empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa, the model shows that foreign aid can work against its stated goal of alleviating poverty and promoting growth. Humanitarian aid fosters population growth and adversely affects the recipients' incentive to invest in human capital. The analysis suggests that foreign aid may lock a recipient economy in a low-equilibrium trap.
An analysis of audit fee premiums of the merged audit firm in Malaysia

After the Big 6 merger exercise in 1998, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has become the industry market leader that provides high quality audit services. Consequently, it has acquired a greater capacity to develop expertise and provide better quality audit services. It is expected that PWC charges fee premiums in return on investment for the capacity building. This study investigates how audit fee (AF) premiums and how it relates to auditors' industry specialisation and reputation. The study utilises data of 679 Bursa Malaysia listed companies in 2001 and 796 in 2005. AF premiums are calculated using the Simunic (1980) AF model. Industry specialisation is determined based on the number of audit clients at 20% threshold. Results indicate PWC obtains highest average AFs, hence, maintains its industry leadership. Results show that PWC does not charge AF premiums over and above the amount charged by the Big 5/4 regardless of whether they are industry specialists or not, except on smaller clients.
Urban Renewal of Traditional Settlements in Singapore and Malaysia: The Cases of Geylang Serai and Kampung Bharu

Urban renewal is paradoxical. When it happens, someone inevitably will be made worse off despite the inherent implication that "renewal" must be beneficial. This article examines urban renewal in two Malay urban settlements, Kampung Bharu in Malaysia and Geylang Serai in Singapore, comparing and contrasting their development trajectories.
Determinants of Capital Structure Choice and Empirics on Leverage Behavior: a Comparative Analysis of Hotel and Manufacturing Firms

The relationship between a firm's capital structure, its cost of capital, and its stock value is an important financial and investment issue today. Using a cross- sectional regression analysis, the leverage behavior of 33 firms in 2 industry groups-the hotel industry and the manufacturing sector-was examined. Findings showed that all leverage determinants studied, excepting firm size, are significant in explaining leverage variations in debt behavior. In addition, although more industry- specific variables are needed, leverage behavior in hotel firms can be analyzed using traditionally theorized capital structure determinants. As such, the capital structure in the hotel industry is better understood, and some important distinctions between short-term and long-term debt behavior in hotel and manufacturing firms are revealed.
Fall from Grace or Business as Usual? A Retrospective Look at Lawyers on Wall Street and Main Street

This review essay asks: What do we know about law firms? In reviewing over 40 years of empirical research, we find that life as an attorney has changed. Big firm life, once genteel, lucrative, and leisurely (at least for those who could get past the discriminatory entry barriers), is now more competitive. Today, clients tend to treat legal services like any other input, demanding that lawyers justify their bills and compete for the business. To remain profitable, big law firms recruit rainmakers from other firms. Partners who don't bring in business are relegated to secondary status or forced out of the firm altogether. The research also suggests that associates are dissatisfied with law firm life, specifically the billable hour demands. At the same time, the best law students from the best schools continue to flock to the big firms, willing to work tremendous hours in return for compensation in excess of most federal judges. Small firm life has changed less. For these lawyers, life has always been a struggle to survive. They continue to hunt for work. They draft wills, advise small businesses, and help people navigate the civil and criminal legal systems. They navigate the professional rules they see as promulgated by elite-firm lawyers. But in spite of all these obstacles, and as big-firm lawyers spend more of their time watching their backs, contemporary solo and small-firm lawyers - the ones who have been studied, in any event - derive community and support from lawyers down the hall or across town. And, as big-firm lawyers come increasingly under the control of their corporate clients, the small-practice lawyer remains his or her own boss. Studies of in-house lawyers yield the most surprising results. These lawyers do interesting work, get paid well, and avoid the unpredictable workloads associated with the large firm. Perhaps most importantly, in-house lawyers do not have to pound the pavement in search of clients. Much of the debate in the last 40 years surrounding changes in small and big law firms seems to come together under the heading of professionalism. Confounding the predictions that would have been made in the 1960s, big firm lawyers emerge as the pawns of market forces, their professionalism a casualty of their desperate and sometimes puzzling responses to those market forces. Small-practice lawyers, by contrast, have found new ways to create professional communities as they cling to survival in what has always been a difficult economic environment.
C cells evolve at the same rhythm as follicular cells when thyroidal status changes in rats

C cells are primarily known for producing calcitonin, a hypocalcemic and hypophosphatemic hormone. Nevertheless, besides their role in calcium homeostasis, C cells may be involved in the intrathyroidal regulation of follicular cells, suggesting a possible interrelationship between the two endocrine populations. If this premise is true, massive changes induced by different agents in the activity of follicular cells may also affect calcitonin‐producing cells. To investigate the behaviour of C cells in those circumstances, we have experimentally induced two opposite functional thyroid states. We hyperstimulated the follicular cells using a goitrogen (propylthiouracil), and we suppressed thyroid hormone synthesis by oral administration of thyroxine. In both scenarios, we measured T4, TSH, calcitonin, and calcium serum levels. We also completely sectioned the thyroid gland, specifically immunostained the C cells, and rigorously quantified this endocrine population. In hypothyroid rats, not only follicular cells but also C cells displayed hyperplastic and hypertrophic changes as well as increased calcitonin levels. When exogenous thyroxine was administered to the rats, the opposite effect was noted as a decrease in the number and size of C cells, as well as decreased calcitonin levels. Additionally, we noted that the two cell types maintain the same numerical relation (10 ± 2.5 follicular cells per C cell), independent of the functional activity of the thyroid gland. Considering that TSH serum levels are increased in hypothyroid rats and decreased in thyroxine‐treated rats, we discuss the potential involvement of thyrotropin in the observed results.
Skills, Wages, and Employment in East and West Germany

Disaggregated data from 30 two-digit manufacturing industries in the east and west parts of unified Germany are used to estimate employment for three skill categories of blue collar workers. Employment elasticities are uniformly higher in the east, and for unskilled labor. The former result contradicts union claims that wages had little relevance for east German job losses, while the latter confirms the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis.
Explaining the dynamics of the NIKKEI 225 stock and stock index futures markets by using the SETAR model

Theory predicts that, if stock and stock index futures markets operate efficiently, price movements in these markets should follow a first-order vector error correction model in which the error correction term represents the basis, and in which there are no regimes. However, following Brooks and Garrett (2002), by using the self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model, in this article, we show that there are three regimes in the dynamics of the basis of the NIKKEI 225. In addition, in the central bound, autocorrelation exceeding the first-order variety is observed. This indicates that the basis is persistent and predictable, and triggers no arbitrage in the central bound. For Japan, the basis is successfully explained by a SETAR model with two thresholds, as suggested by Brooks and Garrett. However, the adjustment pattern of the basis outside the central bound differs from that observed for the United Kingdom.
Exome Sequencing of Neonatal Blood Spots and the Identification of Genes Implicated in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

RATIONALE Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a prevalent severe lung disease of premature infants, has a strong genetic component. Large-scale genome-wide association studies for common variants have not revealed its genetic basis. OBJECTIVES Given the historical high mortality rate of extremely preterm infants who now survive and develop BPD, we hypothesized that risk loci underlying this disease are under severe purifying selection during evolution; thus, rare variants likely explain greater risk of the disease. METHODS We performed exome sequencing on 50 BPD-affected and unaffected twin pairs using DNA isolated from neonatal blood spots and identified genes affected by extremely rare nonsynonymous mutations. Functional genomic approaches were then used to systematically compare these affected genes. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS We identified 258 genes with rare nonsynonymous mutations in patients with BPD. These genes were highly enriched for processes involved in pulmonary structure and function including collagen fibril organization, morphogenesis of embryonic epithelium, and regulation of Wnt signaling pathway; displayed significantly elevated expression in fetal and adult lungs; and were substantially up-regulated in a murine model of BPD. Analyses of mouse mutants revealed their phenotypic enrichment for embryonic development and the cyanosis phenotype, a clinical manifestation of BPD. CONCLUSIONS Our study supports the role of rare variants in BPD, in contrast with the role of common variants targeted by genome-wide association studies. Overall, our study is the first to sequence BPD exomes from newborn blood spot samples and identify with high confidence genes implicated in BPD, thereby providing important insights into its biology and molecular etiology.
Case-control study of nutritional and environmental factors and the risk of oral clefts in Thailand.

BACKGROUND One infant in 700 is born with an oral cleft. Prior studies suggest low micronutrient status is associated with an increased risk of oral clefts. Environmental factors such as passive smoke exposure or supplement use may also affect oral cleft risk. We examined nutrition and environmental related risk factors for oral clefts. METHODS We conducted a case-control study in Northeast Thailand in 2012 to 2013. We enrolled 95 cases and 95 controls. We recruited cases with a nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without a cleft palate (CL±P) less than 24 months old. Cases were matched to controls on age and place of conception. We collected survey data, a food frequency questionnaire, and measured zinc concentrations in toenail trimmings. We calculated descriptive statistics by case and control status. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate unadjusted and adjusted associations, 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and p-values. RESULTS Any liver intake (adjusted OR [aOR] for ≥1/week versus none), 10.58; 95%CI, 1.74-64.37, overall p = 0.02) and the presence of food insecurity (aOR, 9.62; 95% CI, 1.52-61.05; p = 0.02) in the periconceptional period increased CL±P risk. Passive smoke exposure increased the risk of CL±P (aOR, 6.52; 95% CI, 1.98-21.44; p < 0.01). Toenail zinc concentrations were not associated with CL±P risk. CONCLUSION Our findings add to a growing body of knowledge of environmental risk factors for oral clefts from low- and middle-income countries. Our findings on liver are contradictory to prior results. Large multisite studies are needed to identify environmental and genetic risk factors for oral clefts. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 106:624-632, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Where did that sound come from? Comparing the ability to localise using audification and audition

Purpose: A prototype device was developed to allow individuals to hear ultrasound reflections off environmental obstacles. Previous studies have shown that this device allows for better distance judgement than audition and allows for effective passage through the centreline of apertures. The purpose of this research was to evaluate audification as a method to localise direct sound sources as compared to audition. Method: In an anechoic environment, participants localised point-sound sources for three conditions: auditory, audified ultrasound with receivers facing laterally, and audified ultrasound with receivers facing forward. Results: Azimuth localisation was similar within a range of −35° to 35° in front of the participant among all conditions. At the periphery, −70° and 70°, audified ultrasound was more accurate than audition for novice participants. No difference was evident in user elevation accuracy for these signals among the different conditions. Conclusion: Audification of ultrasound can be effective for localising point-source sounds in the azimuth direction, but more evidence is required to evaluate accuracy in the vertical direction. Implications for Rehabilitation Secondary mobility devices can be used by individuals with visual impairment to avoid obstacles above waist height. Audification allows for skill-based response enabling intuitive obstacle avoidance and localization of point sound sources. Localization of peripheral sounds was shown in this study to be better with audified ultrasound than audition.
Muffled and Brisk Speech Evaluation with Criterion Based on Temporal Differentiation of Vocal Tract Area Function

This research deals with muffled speech as the evaluation target and introduces a criterion for evaluating the auditory impression in muffled speech. It focuses on the vocal tract area function (VTAF) to evaluate the auditory impression, and the criterion uses temporal differentiation of this function to track the temporal variation of the shape of the mouth. The experimental results indicate that the proposed criterion can be used to evaluate the auditory impression as well as the subjective impression. key words: speech analysis, vocal tract area function, auditory impression, speech evaluation
Overflow metabolism and growth cessation in Clostridium thermocellum DSM1313 during high cellulose loading fermentations

As a model thermophilic bacterium for the production of second‐generation biofuels, the metabolism of Clostridium thermocellum has been widely studied. However, most studies have characterized C. thermocellum metabolism for growth at relatively low substrate concentrations. This outlook is not industrially relevant, however, as commercial viability requires substrate loadings of at least 100 g/L cellulosic materials. Recently, a wild‐type C. thermocellum DSM1313 was cultured on high cellulose loading batch fermentations and reported to produce a wide range of fermentative products not seen at lower substrate concentrations, opening the door for a more in‐depth analysis of how this organism will behave in industrially relevant conditions. In this work, we elucidated the interconnectedness of overflow metabolism and growth cessation in C. thermocellum during high cellulose loading batch fermentations (100 g/L). Metabolic flux and thermodynamic analyses suggested that hydrogen and formate accumulation perturbed the complex redox metabolism and limited conversion of pyruvate to acetyl‐CoA conversion, likely leading to overflow metabolism and growth cessation in C. thermocellum. Pyruvate formate lyase (PFL) acts as an important redox valve and its flux is inhibited by formate accumulation. Finally, we demonstrated that manipulation of fermentation conditions to alleviate hydrogen accumulation could dramatically alter the fate of pyruvate, providing valuable insight into process design for enhanced C. thermocellum production of chemicals and biofuels. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2592–2604. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Chinese travellers to the United States: a comparison of business travel and visiting friends and relatives

This study analyses the socio-demographic, trip-related characteristics and travel behaviours of the Chinese outbound tourists to the US, focusing on comparing business travels and visiting friends and relatives (VFR). It reviews and discusses the changes in China’s policy on outbound tourism since the early 1990s. The sample of 206 Chinese travellers to the US was drawn from the 1997 In-Flight Survey of International Air Traveler. The main findings indicate that both business and VFR travellers were predominantly male in their middle age. Significant differences were found between the two groups in age, gender, occupation, size of travel party, travel companion, length of stay, making hotel reservation before departure, travel expenditure per person, and airline reservation patterns. Followed by dining in restaurants and sightseeing in cities, shopping was a dominant activity enjoyed by both travellers. The findings may be useful to US destination marketers targeting the emerging Chinese outbound travel market.