Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selective verbal and spatial memory impairment after 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptor blockade in healthy volunteers pre-treated with an SSRI

Serotonergic neurotransmission has been implicated in memory impairment. It is uncLear however if memory performance is mediated through general 5-HT availability, through specific 5-HT receptors or both. The aim of the present study was to assess the contribution of 5-HT reuptake inhibition and specific blockade of 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors to memory impairment. The study was conducted according to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, four-way cross-over design including 16 healthy volunteers. The treatment consisted of oral administration of escitalopram 20 mg + placebo, escitalopram 20 mg + ketanserin 50 mg, escitalopram 20 mg + pindolol 10 mg and placebo on 4 separate days with a washout period of minimum 7 days. Different memory tasks were performed including verbal memory, spatial working memory and reversal learning. Escitalopram showed an impairing effect on immediate verbal recall which nearly reached statistical significance. No effects of escitalopram were found on other types of memory. In combination with pindolol, immediate verbal recall was significantly impaired. Escitalopram in combination with ketanserin impaired spatial working memory significantly. No effects were found on reversal learning. Selective impairment of immediate verbal recall after a 5-HT1A partial agonist and selective impairment of spatial working memory performance after 5-HT2A receptor antagonist, both in combination with a selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitor (escitalopram), suggests that 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors are distinctly involved in verbal and spatial memory.
Cost and effectiveness of image-guided radiotherapy for non-operated localized lung cancer: a population-based propensity score-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is a novel technology to enhance RT delivery accuracy. However, the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are less clear. The aim of our study is to compare the cost and effectiveness of conventional fractionated RT for non-operated localized lung cancer delivered with vs. without IGRT via this population-based propensity score (PS) matched analysis. METHODS We identified eligible patients diagnosed within 2007-2010 through a comprehensive population-based database containing cancer, death registries, and reimbursement data in Taiwan. The primary duration of interest (DOI) was 2 years within diagnosis. Effectiveness was measured as survival whereas direct medical cost was measured from the payers' perspective. In supplementary analysis (SA), we estimated the cost-effectiveness in consider of out-of-pocket (OOP) payment and 4 years as DOI. RESULTS Our study population constituted 124 patients. Within 2 years, both the mean cost (2014 USD) and survival (life-year, LY) were higher for IGRT ($60,774 vs. $60,554; 1.43 vs. 1.37). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) when IGRT was compared to non-IGRT was 3,667 (USD/LY). The chance for IGRT to be cost-effective was around 68% & 70% at willingness-to-pay threshold 50,000 USD/LY and 150,000 USD/LY respectively. IGRT remained cost-effective in SA. CONCLUSIONS We provide the first empirical evidence that when compared to non-IGRT, IGRT was potentially cost-effective.
The Determinants of Economic Liberalization in Latin America

Previous work on political institutions and economic reform provides a number of testable hypotheses that are rarely examined in a multivariate framework. Divided government, political polarization, fragmented legislatures, ideology, external factors, the strength of the presidency, and democracy itself have all been forwarded as possible constraints that influence the depth and speed of economic reform. Using time-series cross-sectional data, this research note provides a multivariate test of the impact these institutions have on different components of structural reform. Our findings suggest that specific institutional arrangements are important for achieving some specific kinds of economic reform. However, our main finding implies the kind of institutional and ideological constraints prominent in the literature do not constrain politicians from enacting reform.
Soft News and Political Knowledge: Evidence of Absence or Absence of Evidence?

In "Any Good News in Soft News? " Markus Prior investigates whether, beyond enhancing their attentiveness to select political issues (Baum, 2002a), consumers also learn about politics from soft news. He presents evidence suggesting that the audience for soft news is much smaller than that for hard news, and that a self-expressed preference for soft news outlets is associated with at most sporadic gains in factual political knowledge. In this commentary, I argue that the audience for soft news outlets is, in fact, quite large, even rivaling that for hard news. I further argue that long-term retention of factual political knowledge--the focus of Prior's web-based survey--is an overly restrictive definition of learning. By broadening our definition--taking into account recent insights from cognitive and social psychology concerning human information processing--it becomes possible to understand how consuming soft news might indeed be associated with learning about politics, but not necessarily with an enhanced long-term store of factual political knowledge. I present evidence that consuming soft news influences the attitudes of politically inattentive individuals and that, in at least some fairly predictable contexts, doing so is also associated with enhanced factual political knowledge. I conclude that while Prior's finding of an absence of evidence of consistent factual political knowledge effects represents a valuable contribution to our understanding of the political significance of the soft news media, it does not constitute compelling evidence of absence of any meaningful learning about politics associated with consuming soft news. Hence, it is premature to conclude that there is no good news in soft news.
Intra- and inter-continental transmission of inflation in Africa

In this paper, the transmission pattern of inflation in Africa is investigated in several contexts. Specifically, the results of the decomposition of variance are analysed, which are obtained by estimating an error correction model comprising 11 countries: seven major African countries and four industrialized countries, i.e., the USA, UK, France, and Japan. The major empirical findings are as follows. First, a surprisingly large fraction of domestic inflation in Africa is attributable to inflation shocks originating in foreign countries. Second, the USA is found to be the leading producer of inter-continental inflation in Africa. Third, although the Ivory Coast does seem to be the marginal leader, geographical proximity does not seem to play a significant role in intra-continental inflation transmission. Fourth, Friedman (Essays in Positive Economics, University of Chicago, 1953)'s argument for the flexible exchange regime is found to be marginally valid for Sub-Saharan African countries: African countries adopting the independently floating exchange rate system tend to be less influenced by foreign inflation innovations.
Tax Evasion and Equity: A Theoretical Analysis

This paper analyzes the behavior of an expected-utility maximizing tax evader who is aware of the fact that he gets some benefit in exchange for the taxes. Within this framework, the equity argument that the proportion by which a tax payer evades taxes decreases if the share in public expenditures that is for his benefit increases, cannot be confirmed unambiguously. There is, therefore, some theoretical support for the supposition that the equity argument is an ex post rationalization of otherwise motivated tax evasion.
The rapid and decremental change in haem oxygenase mRNA during erythroid differentiation of murine erythroleukaemia cells

Changes in mRNA for haem oxygenase (HO), the rate‐limiting enzyme for haem catabolism, were examined in murine Friend‐virus transformed erythroleukaemia (MEL) cells while they were induced to undergo erythroid cell differentiation by treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). When MEL cells were treated with 1.5% (v/v) DMSO, a rapid decrease in HO mRNA content was observed (< 12 h) which reached the lowest value at 18 h (18% of the untreated control). HO mRNA levels remained at substantially lower levels (< 50%) than those in untreated controls thereafter. A rapid decline in HO mRNA may be involved in the cellular events that determine the onset of erythroid differentiation.
IL-21 augments natural killer effector functions in chronically HIV-infected individuals

Objective:This study addresses the interleukin (IL)-21 effects on resting peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells in chronically HIV-infected individuals. Design:The effects of IL-21 on perforin expression, proliferation, degranulation, interferon (IFN)-γ production, cytotoxicity and induction of STAT phosphorylation in NK cells were determined in vitro. Methods:Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-infected and healthy individuals were incubated in vitro for 6 h, 24 h or 5 days with IL-21 or IL-15. Percentages of perforin, IFN-γ, CD107a, NKG2D and STAT3–5 positive cells were determined within NK cell populations. K562 cells were used as target cells in NK cytotoxicity assay. Results:Frequency of CD56dim cells in chronically HIV-infected individuals was diminished. Perforin expression in CD56dim and CD56bright was comparable in healthy and HIV-infected individuals. IL-15 upregulated perforin expression primarily in CD56bright NK cells, whereas IL-21 upregulated perforin in both NK subsets. IL-21 and IL-15 upregulated CD107a and IFN-γ, as well as NK cytotoxicity. IL-15 predominantly activated STAT5, whereas IL-21 activated STAT5 and STAT3. IL-15, but not IL-21 increased NK cell proliferation in uninfected and HIV-infected individuals. Conclusion:IL-21 augments NK effector functions in chronically HIV-infected individuals and due to its perforin enhancing properties it has potential for immunotherapy or as a vaccine adjuvant.
Shocks to bank capital: evidence from UK banks at home and away

This article assesses how shocks to bank capital may influence a bank's portfolio behaviour using novel evidence from a UK bank panel data set from a period that predates the recent financial crisis. Focusing on the behaviour of bank loans, we extract the dynamic response of a bank to innovations in its capital and in its regulatory capital buffer. We find that innovations in a bank's capital in this (precrisis) sample period were coupled with a loan response that lasted up to 3 years. The international presence of UK banks allows us to identify a specific driver of capital shocks in our data, independent of bank lending to UK residents. Specifically, we use write-offs on loans to nonresidents to instrument bank capital's impact on UK resident lending. A fall in capital brought about a significant drop in lending in particular, to Private Nonfinancial Corporations (PNFC). In contrast, household lending increased when capital fell, which may indicate that, in this precrisis period, banks substituted into less risky assets when capital was short.
Adaptive Input Filter Compensation for Switching Regulators

An input filter is frequently employed between a switching regulator and its power source. However, its presence often results in degradation of dynamic performances and stability. The detrimental interaction is between an input filter and a switching regulator and is a function of the input filter parameters and also of the supply voltage. An earlier paper presented an analysis and design procedure aimed at developing a feed-forward loop to cancel this undesirable interaction. The feed-forward design is extended here to encompass a scheme that automatically accounts for changes in the supply voltage; the result is an adaptive compensation that tracks the input voltage variations. Experimental results are presented that confirm the adaptive nature of the design.
System supports for chronic illness care and their relationship to clinical outcomes.

The Chronic Care Model proposes that organizational system changes improve the quality of chronic care. This cross-sectional study explores the relationship between system supports for chronic care and clinical outcomes for two major chronic illnesses: diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Nine community-based primary care practices from the Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet) are studied using practice group interviews and clinical data from the PPRNet database. As overall system support increases, providers' achievement of recommended care and desirable patient outcomes improves (r = .828, p = .006). Enhanced systems for provider decision support had the strongest positive correlation with clinical outcomes (r = .907, p = .001).
Transcription of unrearranged antigen receptor genes in scid mice.

The scid mouse mutant is severely deficient in lymphocytes; cells of the B or T lymphocyte lineage cannot be detected by either serological or functional assays. However, as shown here, germ‐line transcripts of B cell immunoglobulin (Ig) constant and variable region genes and of T cell receptor (TCR) genes are detectable in lymphopoietic tissues of scid mice, as well as B and T lineage‐specific lambda 5 and T3 delta transcripts. We conclude that B and T lineage‐committed cells do arise in scid mice and that their Ig and TCR genes are accessible to enzymes involved in their recombination. This suggests that scid impairs lymphopoiesis at the stage at which antigen receptor genes normally undergo rearrangement.
9 Hydrogen from Stormy Oceans

The recent nuclear accident of Fukushima, Japan, which has hit a highly industrialized and technically advanced country, as a consequence of a natural disaster, has significantly altered worldwide opinions on possible energy strategies for the future. For many decision makers nuclear energy was a feasible large scale technology for bridging the time until cheap sustainable energy would be available sometime in the future. The advanced technology of nuclear energy and the high energy density generated convinced them in spite of the fact, that no safe solution is still available for handling radioactive waste and that the availability of uranium is limited. Now the prospect of operating up to 20.000 nuclear reactors on earth to provide a reasonable contribution to the world`s huge energy consumption (estimated 45 TW, terawatt, by the end of this century) is frightening many people. Highly developed countries like Germany, Swizzerland and Italy have already voted to search for an energy future without nuclear energy. This, however, poses a significant challenge. The development of sustainable energy sources must proceed in a much more aggressive way. And there is the question, whether highly subsidized solar technologies like photovoltaics can be preferred choices on a shorter term in a massive effort towards clean energy. Industrialized countries may be able to afford such subsidized energy, but poor countries are not. And what the industrialized world mostly needs are sustainable fuels for transport and chemical industry. What would be the most efficient and the least costly path towards a sustainable energy economy?
Do Declines in Bank Health Affect Borrowers’ Voluntary Disclosures? Evidence from International Propagation of Banking Shocks

type="main"> I examine whether declines in banks’ financial health affect their borrowers’ disclosures. Prior studies indicate that, in relationship lending, banks and borrowers rely on private communication, rather than public disclosures, to resolve information asymmetries. When banking relationships are threatened, borrowers must turn to new funding sources, inducing them to reconsider their disclosure policies. This paper predicts that borrowers, whose banking relationships are threatened by declining bank health, change their public disclosures of forward-looking information. Using the emerging-market financial crises in the late 1990s as shocks to the health of certain U.S. banks, I find that affected banks’ U.S. borrowers increase both the quantity and informativeness of their management forecasts following these shocks compared to borrowers of unaffected banks. The results are similar using conference calls or the length of the Management's Discussion and Analysis section as alternative proxies for voluntary disclosure. Overall, these results provide new insights into the impact of availability of relationship lending on firms’ disclosure choices.
Mitochondrial accumulation under oxidative stress is due to defects in autophagy

Mitochondrial dynamics maintains normal mitochondrial function by degrading damaged mitochondria and generating newborn mitochondria. The accumulation of damaged mitochondria influences the intracellular environment by promoting mitochondrial dysfunction, and thus initiating a vicious cycle. Oxidative stress induces mitochondrial malfunction, which is involved in many cardiovascular diseases. However, the mechanism of mitochondrial accumulation in cardiac myoblasts remains unclear. We observed mitochondrial dysfunction and an increase in mitochondrial mass under the oxidative conditions produced by tert‐butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) in cardiac myoblast H9c2 cells. However, in contrast to the increase in mitochondrial mass, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) decreased, suggesting that enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis may be not the primary cause of the mitochondrial accumulation. Therefore, we investigated changes in a number of proteins involved in autophagy. Beclin1, Atg12–Atg5 conjugate, Atg7 contents decreased but LC3‐II accumulated in tBHP‐treated H9c2 cells. Moreover, the capacity for acid hydrolysis decreased in H9c2 cells. We also demonstrated a decrease in DJ‐1 protein under the oxidative conditions that deregulate mitochondrial dynamics. These results reveal that autophagy became defective under oxidative stress. We therefore suggest that defects in autophagy mediate mitochondrial accumulation under these conditions. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 212–219, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Islamists, Secularists and Old Regime Elites in Tunisia: bargained Competition

Abstract This article analyses the confrontations and compromises for domination of the political arena and its rules that are going on in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution between the Islamists of Ennahda party and the networks of so-called secularists and old regime elites – in particular, Nidaa Tounes. On the contrary to accounts that claim that the taming of ideological conflicts between religious and secular parties has given birth to a new democratic society, I argue that the new Tunisian order is the result of a particular type of post-authoritarian political culture that I call bargained competition. It consists in Islamists and old regime elites bargaining on their mutual reintegration and their monopolization of the post-revolutionary political scene while fiercely competing over political resources through various (often informal) power-sharing arrangements.
A Diplomatic Bomb for South Africa?

I A nation's decision to manufacture nuclear weapons depends on its incentives, capabilities, and disincentives. South Africa should represent little current danger to the cause of nonproliferation. There are few plausible military uses for South African nuclear weapons and Pretoria still has a fair amount to lose-by alienating what little western support it still has and inviting diplomatic and economic retaliation-if it acquires a bomb. Incentives are negligible and disincentives are substantial. Three other considerations, however, suggest reason for greater concern. First, while disincentives do exist, they are declining. As the apartheid regime grows increasingly isolated, and supportive European and American involvement in the country erodes, South Africa has progressively less to lose from provocative behavior. As trends appear more favorable for the black African cause, they may become less favorable for nonproliferation. Second, capabilities are no barrier. With a highly developed nuclear establishment, including unsafeguarded uranium enrichment facilities, Pretoria could build a bomb at any time it wishes. Third, because these capabilities are sufficient, even if analysts in Washington or other capitals perceive few rational incentives and many disincentives for a South African weapons program, the only determining factors are the calculations and perceptions of South African authorities. If they see the issue differently, they may build a bomb no matter how irrational or counterproductive such a move seems to others. The Soviet and American governments were conviinced that South Africa planned to test a nuclear device in the Kalahari desert in the summer of 1977, and was dissuaded only by overwhelming pressure. Preventing such action in the future could require more strenuous threats or inducements. Now even more obviously than Israel, South Africa has a "bomb in the basement," or at least the diplomatic equivalent of one, a card it might try to play in the roughand-tumble game of international bargaining, the prospect of a "nuclear laager. "
A Content Analysis of Mozambican Newspapers' Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election

This study focuses on the amount of coverage given by four major tabloid newspapers-Demos, Zambeze, Savana and Domingo-to the candidates of the major political parties Renamo and Frelimo, during the 2004 presidential race. The number of stories of both parties in those newspapers were counted and calculated by chi-square to determine how much one party was covered than the other identifying signs of balance or bias. The research showed that there was a significant result of 42 percent of likelihood that stories in the four newspapers would either be about Frelimo or Renamo. However, the study also revealed that Frelimo was the party covered most often by Demos, Zambeze and Savana while Renamo was covered most often by Domingo.
Metropolitan governance and urban poverty

In the design of urban governance structures, there is an inherent tension between ‘scale’ and ‘voice’. Both aspects are important considerations if city government is to address the needs of the poor. Metropolitan-scale government offers the potential for resources (notably finance but also land, natural resources and skills) to be mobilised from across the city to provide services and infrastructure for all, including the poor. But the metropolitan scale can also mean remoteness of decision-makers from citizens and hence a weakened citizen ‘voice’, especially of the poor. This article explores this tension, using material from recent research on urban governance and poverty in ten cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The analysis covers issues of jurisdiction boundaries, responsibilities for services and infrastructure, resource bases and mobilisation, performance in service delivery and access to services, political representation and accountability and mechanisms of citizen participation. The conclusion is that the tension between scale and voice may be best addressed by a two-tier or multi-tier structure involving both a very local level, with statutory rights and a share of resources, accessible and accountable to the poor, together with an upper level, also democratically accountable, covering the whole metropolitan area. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.