Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acoustic rhinometry in the assessment of adenoid hypertrophy in allergic children.

BACKGROUND Due to the difficulties involved in assessing adenoidal tissue and the nasopharyngeal airway in children, it is necessary to find an accurate pre-operative method of measuring these structures. MATERIAL/METHODS We used acoustic rhinometry and endoscopy both to the evaluate results of surgical and medical treatment in allergic children with adenoid hypertrophy and to evaluate the influence of pollination on adenoid size in children with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Three separate groups of children were examined. The first group consisted of nine children with adenoid hypertrophy and positive skin-prick test results of year-round allergens. In this group we examined the influence of adenoidectomy on the rhinometric curve. The second group consisted of sixteen children with adenoid hypertrophy and perennial allergic rhinitis. In this group we examined the influence of medical treatment (topical nasal steroid and antihistaminic) on the adenoid size and rhinometric curve. The third group consisted of twelve birch pollen-sensitive children who had symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis. In this group we examined the influence of pollination on the nasopharyngeal period of rhinometric curve. RESULTS In the two first groups we observed a significant increase of the nasopharyngeal cavity after surgical removal of the adenoids and medical treatment of the allergy. In the third group most of the children experienced a significant decrease in nasopharyngeal cavity volume during pollination. CONCLUSIONS Acoustic rhinometry seems to be a very promising method of assessment of the amount of adenoid, and allergy can play an important role in adenoid hypertrophy in hypersensitive children.
PcaR‐mediated activation and repression of pca genes from Pseudomonas putida are propagated by its binding to both the −35 and the −10 promoter elements

Degradation of protocatechuate in Pseudomonas putida is accomplished by the products of the pca genes (pcaH,G, pcaBDC, pcaI, J and pcaF ). In P. putida, all these genes (with the exception of pcaH,G ) are activated by the regulatory protein PcaR, in association with the pathway intermediate β‐ketoadipate. Having previously cloned and characterized the pcaR locus, we have overexpressed and purified the PcaR protein to homogeneity. The purified PcaR protein was shown to form a homodimer in solution and to bind specifically to its own promoter, as well as to the promoter regions of pcaI, J and pcaF. Subsequent footprint analyses demonstrated that the binding of PcaR to its own promoter occurs within a footprint that extends from the −20 to the +4 position. In contrast, PcaR appeared to interact with the inducible pcaI, J promoter as a dimer of dimers; binding in tandem within a dual footprint encompassing both the ‘−35′ and the ‘−10’ regions of the promoter sequence. The similarities and differences between the two binding patterns correlate well with the very different effects that PcaR has upon transcription at each of the promoter sequences. The interactions at the pcaI, J promoter are reminiscent of those exhibited by the MerR family of regulatory proteins. However, as PcaR bears very little primary sequence homology to any of the regulatory proteins within this family, the results presented here reveal the possible existence of a new series of functionally related transcriptional inducers.
Cheap Talk Scripts and Online Choice Experiments: “Looking Beyond the Mean”

This paper presents the first known assessment of cheap talk effectiveness in a choice experiment conducted online with a focus on the distinction between impacts on stated willingness to pay at the population mean and in targeted sub‐samples. Utilizing a large national survey and split‐sample experimental design, we find cheap talk scripts may not only influence the level of willingness to pay estimated for representative consumers, but also may produce more reliable estimates. The magnitude of the impact that cheap talk has on willingness to pay is found to depend on the evaluated respondent sub‐sample.
Topology of Yeast Ndc 1 p : Predictions for the Human NDC 1 / NET 3 Homologue

The nuclear pore complex is the predominant structure in the nuclear envelope that spans the double nuclear membranes of all eukaryotes. Yeasts have one additional organelle that is also embedded in the nuclear envelope: the spindle pole body, which functions as the microtubule organizing center. The only protein known to localize to and be important in the assembly of both of these yeast structures is the integral membrane protein, Ndc1p. However, no homologues of Ndc1p had been characterized in metazoa. Here, we identify and analyze NDC1 homologues that are conserved throughout evolution. We show that the overall topology of these homologues is conserved. Each contains six transmembrane segments in its N-terminal half and has a large soluble C-terminal half of 300 amino acids. Charge distribution analysis infers that the Nand C-termini are exposed to the cytoplasm. Limited proteolysis of yeast Ndc1p in cellular membranes confirms the orientation of its C-terminus. Although it is not known whether vertebrate NDC1 protein localizes to nuclear pores like its yeast counterpart, the human homologue contains three FG repeats in the C-terminus, a feature of many nuclear pore proteins. Moreover, a small region containing mutations that affect assembly of the nuclear pore in yeast is highly conserved throughout evolution. Lastly, we bring together data from another study to demonstrate that the human homologue of NDC1 is the known inner nuclear membrane protein, NET3. Anat Rec Part A, 288A:681–694, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Abdication of judicial responsibility, cultural self-determination and the development of customary law : lessons from Shilubana

The Constitution not only recognises customary law as part of our legal system, but it also recognises traditional authorities which administer this system of law. A traditional authority that observes a system of customary law, may function subject to customs which include amendments to, or repeal of those customs. The recognition of customary law has been supplemented by some legislative developments.
Immigrant assimilation and BMI and waist size: A longitudinal examination among hispanic and chinese participants in the multi‐ethnic study of atherosclerosis

US birth and longer length of US residence among the foreign‐born have been linked to higher anthropometric measures. However, previous studies have been cross sectional and few have examined heterogeneity by ethnic group. Cross‐sectional findings that show immigrant weight converging to US‐born levels with longer time in the United States imply that immigrants' weight is increasing at a faster rate relative to US‐born individuals. Prospective studies are necessary to confirm this pattern.
Food specific inhibitory control under negative mood in binge‐eating disorder: Evidence from a multimethod approach*

OBJECTIVE Inhibitory control has been discussed as a developmental and maintenance factor in binge-eating disorder (BED). The current study is the first aimed at investigating inhibitory control in a negative mood condition on a psychophysiological and behavioral level in BED with a combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking (ET). METHOD We conducted a combined EEG and ET study with overweight individuals with BED (BED+, n = 24, mean age = 31, mean BMI = 35 kg/m2 ) and without BED (BED-, n = 23, mean age = 28, mean BMI = 35 kg/m2 ) and a normal-weight (NWC, n = 26, mean age 28, mean BMI = 22 kg/m2 ) control group. We assessed self-report data regarding impulsivity and emotion regulation as well as the processing of food stimuli under negative mood in an antisaccade task. Main outcome variables comprise event-related potentials (ERP) regarding conflict processing (N2) and performance monitoring (error-related negativity [ERN/Ne]) assessed by EEG and inhibitory control (errors in the first and second saccade) assessed by ET. RESULTS BED+ patients reported increased impulsivity and higher emotion regulation difficulties compared with the other groups. The eye tracking data revealed impaired inhibitory control in BED+ compared with both control groups. Further, we found preliminary evidence from EEG recordings that conflict processing might be less thorough in the BED+ sample as well as in the NWC sample. In the BED+ sample this might be connected to the inhibitory control deficits on behavioral level. While the BED- sample showed increased conflict processing latencies (N2 latencies), which might indicate a compensation mechanism, the BED+ sample did not show such a mechanism. Performance monitoring (ERN/Ne latencies and amplitudes) was not impaired in the BED+ sample compared with both control samples. DISCUSSION Participants with BED reported higher impulsivity and lower emotion regulation capacities. The combined investigation of electrocortical processes and behavior contributes to an advanced understanding of behavioral and electrocortical processes underlying inhibitory control in BED. Inhibitory control and negative mood, probably amplified by emotion regulation deficits, should be addressed further in the investigation and treatment of BED.
Innovation management and organizational learning: a discursive approach

This paper deals with how to design innovative organizations through theoretical and managerial insights. The theoretical framework is based on the structuration theory, with a focus on language and conversations within and across innovation projects. As a setting for the theoretical model, two case studies are presented and discussed: the first analyses an innovation project’s structuration through conversations via e‐mails. The second is an action research whose purpose is to design a project‐oriented organization to improve the innovation capability of an industrial firm. These two field studies lead to a final appraisal of the relevance of a discursive approach to better understand innovation processes and their contribution to organizational learning.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt treatment of variceal bleeding in an unselected patient population

Abstract Objective: To evaluate transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in variceal bleeding in a clinical setting. Materials and methods: Retrospective review of 131 patients (116 with liver cirrhosis) treated with TIPS with covered stent grafts in a single centre from 2002 to 2016. Results: Survival at 1 and 2 years was 70% and 57% in patents with, and 100% at 2 years in patients without liver cirrhosis, respectively. A high Child–Pugh score and severe hepatic encephalopathy (HE) within 12 months post-TIPS were related to increased mortality. Re-bleeding occurred in 8% within 12 months and was related to TIPS dysfunction and a post-TIPS portosystemic gradient (PSG) of ≥5 mmHg. The main cause of TIPS dysfunction was that the stent did not fully reach the inferior vena cava. There was no correlation between the PSG and the occurrence of HE. Conclusions: TIPS was safe and prevented re-bleeding in patients with variceal bleeding, with or without liver cirrhosis, regardless of Child–Pugh class and of how soon after bleeding onset, the TIPS procedure was performed. A post-TIPS PSG of ≥5 mmHg was associated with an increased risk for re-bleeding and there was no correlation between the post-TIPS PSG and the occurrence of HE.
Trust, inequality and the market

This article examines, experimentally, whether inequality affects the social capital of trust in non-market and market settings. We consider three experimental treatments, one with equality, one with inequality but no knowledge of the income of other agents, and one with inequality and knowledge. Inequality, particularly when it is known, has a corrosive effect on trusting behaviours in this experiment. Agents appear to be less sensitive to known relative income differentials in markets than they are in the non-market settings, but trust in markets appears generally more vulnerable to the introduction of inequality than in the non-market setting.
A Unified Approach for Stochastic and Mean Square Stability of Continuous-Time Linear Systems with Markovian Jumping Parameters and Additive Disturbances

Necessary and sufficient conditions for stochastic stability (SS) and mean square stability (MSS) of continuous-time linear systems subject to Markovian jumps in the parameters and additive disturbances are established. We consider two scenarios regarding the additive disturbances: one in which the system is driven by a Wiener process, and one characterized by functions in ${L_2^m}{(\Omega,{\cal F}, {\mathbb{P}})}$, which is the usual scenario for the $H_{\infty}$ approach. The Markov process is assumed to take values in an infinite countable set $\mathcal{S}$. It is shown that SS is equivalent to the spectrum of an augmented matrix lying in the open left half plane, to the existence of a solution for a certain Lyapunov equation, and implies (is equivalent for $\mathcal{S}$ finite) asymptotic wide sense stationarity (AWSS). It is also shown that SS is equivalent to the state $x(t)$ belonging to ${L_2^n}{(\Omega,{\cal F}, {\mathbb{P}})}$ whenever the disturbances are in ${L_2^m}{(\Omega,{\cal F}, {\mathbb{P}})}$. For the case in which $\mathcal{S}$ is finite, SS and MSS are equivalent, and the Lyapunov equation can be written down in two equivalent forms with each one providing an easier-to-check sufficient condition.
Credit Constraints in Education: Evidence from International Data

This paper tests empirically the credit-constraints thesis by using cross-country data on secondary and higher-education enrolment rates. Contrary to some previous works in this direction, we find several pieces of evidence that support the importance of such a thesis. First, controlling for the effects of both economic development and educational inequality, we find that school enrolments are negatively correlated with income inequality and positively correlated with financial-market development. Second, these correlations are robust to the specific country-effects, the composition of the sample of countries, and the inclusion of public education expenditures. Finally, public education expenditures are significantly correlated with school enrolment ratios. Distinguishing developed countries from developing ones reveals that the effects of both social and material factors are larger in rich countries than in poor ones. Our estimation results also show that the way public expenditures are allocated across educational levels affects enrolment ratios in higher educational stages. Specifically, countries where expenditure allocations are biased in favour of the advanced stages of education at the expense of the basic levels also experience low enrolment ratios in the higher levels of education.
Savings behaviour in Fiji: an empirical assessment using the ARDL approach to cointegration

Purpose – This paper aims to delineate the short- and long-run relationships between savings, real interest rate, income, current account deficits (CADs) and age dependency ratio in Fiji using cointegration and error correction models over the period 1968-2000. Design/methodology/approach – The recently developed bounds testing approach to cointegration is used, which is applicable irrespective of whether the underlying variables are integrated of order one or order zero. Given the small sample size in this study, appropriate critical values were extracted from Narayan. To estimate the short- and long-run elasticities, the autoregressive distributed-lag model is used. Findings – In the short- and long-run: a 1 per cent increase in growth rate increases savings by over 0.07 and 0.5 per cent, respectively; a 1 per cent increase in the CAD reduces savings rate by 0.01 and 0.02 per cent, respectively; and the negative coefficient on the real interest rate implies that the income effect dominates the substitution effect, while in the short-run the total effect of the real interest rate is positive, implying that the substitution effect dominates the income effect. Originality/value – This paper makes the first attempt at estimating the savings function for the Fiji Islands. Given that Fiji's capital market is poorly developed, the empirical findings here have direct policy relevance.
Further results on the exploration of combinatorial tree in multi-parametric quadratic programming

A combinatorial approach has been recently proposed for multi-parametric quadratic programming and has shown to be more effective in finding the complete solution than existing geometric methods for higher-order systems. In this paper, we propose a method for exploring the combinatorial tree which exploits some of the underlying geometric properties of adjacent critical regions as the supplementary information in combinatorial approach to exclude a noticeable number of feasible candidate active sets from combinatorial tree. This method is particularly well-suited for cases where many combinations of active constraints are feasible but not optimal. Results indicate that this method can find all critical regions corresponding to non-degenerate multi-parametric programming. A postprocessing algorithm can be applied to complete the proposed method in the cases in which some critical regions might not be enumerated due to degeneracies in the problem.
Intracellular localization of the viral polymerase proteins in cells infected with influenza virus and cells expressing PB1 protein from cloned cDNA

The biosynthesis, nuclear transport, and formation of a complex among the influenza polymerase proteins were studied in influenza virus-infected MDBK cells by using monospecific antisera. To obtain these monospecific antisera, portions of cloned cDNAs encoding the individual polymerase proteins (PB1, PB2, or PA) of A/WSN/33 influenza virus were expressed as fusion proteins in Escherichia coli, and the purified fusion proteins were injected into rabbits. Studies using indirect immunofluorescence showed that early in the infectious cycle (4 h postinfection) of influenza virus, PB1 and PB2 are present mainly in the nucleus, whereas PA is predominantly present in the cytoplasm of the virus-infected cells. Later, at 6 to 8 h postinfection, all three polymerase proteins are apparent both in the cytoplasm as well as the nucleus. Radiolabeling and immunoprecipitation analyses showed that the three polymerase proteins remain physically associated as a complex in either the presence or the absence of ribonucleoproteins. In the cytoplasm, the majority of the polymerase proteins remain unassociated, whereas in the nucleus they are present as a complex of three polymerase proteins. To determine whether a polymerase protein is transported into the nucleus individually, PB1 was expressed from the cloned cDNA by using the simian virus 40 late promoter expression vector. PB1 alone, in the absence of the other polymerase proteins or the nucleoprotein, accumulates in the nucleus. This suggests that the formation of a complex with other viral protein(s) is not required for either nuclear transport or nuclear accumulation of PB1 protein and that the PB1 protein may contain an intrinsic signal(s) for nuclear transport.
Nepotism, Discrimination, and the Persistence of Utility-Maximizing, Owner-Operated Firms: Comment

A recent thoughtful paper by Singell and Thornton (thereafter ST) in the Southern Economic Journal deviates in definitions, modeling, and a result from the traditional literature on tastes for discrimination and nepotism that originates with Becker and Arrow. This comment provides a critique of these three aspects of the ST analysis. In particular, it shows that ST’s astonishing result that discrimination will persist in a competitive labor market is unjustified, ST’s unconventional definitions of owners with unbiased and biased preferences are wrong, and ST’s unique modeling of discrimination and nepotism is unsupported.
Involvement of Group II mGluRs in mossy fiber LTD

Mossy fiber long‐term depression (LTD) has been shown to be triggered by either pharmacological or synaptic activation of Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) whereas other studies indicate that synaptic activation of mGluRs is very limited. Therefore, we reexamined the role of Group II mGluRs for the induction of mossy fiber LTD. The complete depression of field potentials (fEPSPs) by 1 μM (2S,2′R,3′R)‐2‐(2′,3′‐Dicarboxycyclopropyl)glycine (DCG‐IV) only partially reversed upon removal of the drug but fEPSPs were completely restored by the Group II antagonist 2S‐2‐amino‐2‐(1S,2S‐2‐carboxycyclopropyl‐1‐yl)‐3‐(xanth‐9‐yl)propanoic acid (LY341495) (3 μM). In contrast, fEPSPs returned back to baseline within 30 min after a brief application of 0.2 μM DCG‐IV suggesting that the incomplete reversal of higher concentrations may be due to a residual receptor occupancy rather than to an induction of LTD. LY341495 itself did not increase fEPSPs and also blocked the inhibition of (2S,1′S,2′S)‐2‐(2‐carboxycyclopropyl)glycine (L‐CCG‐I) (20 μM) and (1S,3R)‐1‐aminocyclopentane‐1,3‐dicarboxylic acid (ACPD) (10 μM) and its effect was mimicked by CPPG (50 μM). Furthermore, stimulation at 1 Hz for 15 min induced an LTD of 81% ± 3% and 80% ± 4% in the absence and presence of LY341495, respectively (n = 7, 5). Finally, we found that synaptic activation of Group II mGluRs during 15 min of 1‐Hz stimulation only produces an inhibition of release by 8% ± 1% (30°C, n = 3). Our data suggests that pharmacological activation of Group II mGluRs is fully reversible per se and does not produce a long lasting depression and that activation of Group II mGluRs is neither necessary nor sufficient for the induction of mossy fiber LTD. Synapse 63:1060–1068, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Strategies for the Prevention of Meningitis

Meningitis is a clinical condition involving inflammation of the meninges that most commonly affects otherwise healthy people. Generally, the meningitides are of infectious etiology that can be viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic in nature, although iatrogenic causes are rarely reported (Table 1). Inflammation of the meninges can pose serious dangers to patients, given that many of the areas affected are encased by bony structures that can exacerbate tissue damage caused by swelling. Collapse of the blood vessels, causing hypoxic damage, is a particularly dangerous effect of inflammation in the brain. In fact, permanent disability and death may result from all forms of meningitis. Further, sepsis, bacteremia, or other disease processes can be caused by the same infectious agents that cause meningitis. Epidemics associated with certain pathogens, like the meningococcus, pose a serious public health risk, and therefore require prevention and control strategies. The quest to limit the
An Investigation into the Impact of Previous Expert Value Estimates on Appraisal Judgment

Is appraisal judgment influenced by the previous value estimates of other experts? This paper documents an investigation into this question. The literatures on appraisal smoothing and heuristic anchoring were explored to build a theoretical and empirical base. Research methods involved asking apprentice and expert appraisers, some supplied with the previous value estimate of an anonymous expert, to estimate the value of a vacant tract of industrial land. The strong support expected for the contention that appraisers are influenced by the previous value judgments of anonymous experts was not found. Whereas differences between the groups supplied with the previous value estimate and those who were not were in the direction consistent with anchoring, these results were not statistically significant, suggesting that anchoring may be more subtle than generally believed.