Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safety and efficacy of same-session bilateral ureteroscopy.

PURPOSE Same-session ureteroscopy for bilateral urinary calculi would potentially reduce costs and the need for a second anesthetic compared with staged procedures. We sought to establish the safety and efficacy of same-session bilateral ureteroscopy relative to procedures for staged bilateral and multiple unilateral calculi in the context of contemporary instrumentation. PATIENTS AND METHODS A series of 626 consecutive patients underwent ureteroscopy for calculi between January 1997 and August 2001. Among these, 34 patients with bilateral calculi (11 staged and 23 treated in one sitting) and 54 patients with multiple unilateral calculi in distinct locations were included in this study. Multivariable regression was used to determine the association of patient-specific and technical factors with postoperative morbidity. RESULTS Stone-free rates were similar in the two groups and ranged from 50% to 100% depending on stone location. Postoperative complications occurred in 6 (11%) and 3 (14%) of the patients treated for multiple unilateral and for bilateral calculi in a staged procedure, respectively, compared with 7 (29%) of those undergoing same-session bilateral ureteroscopy (P = 0.12). Logistic regression revealed that same-session bilateral ureteroscopy (odds ratio [OR] 4.0; P = 0.02) and absence of a postoperative stent (OR 1.7; P = 0.03) were associated with added morbidity. However, the cumulative risk of performing staged bilateral procedures (14% per procedure) approximated that of bilateral ureteroscopy in one sitting (29%). CONCLUSION Bilateral ureteroscopy carries an increased risk of postoperative morbidity. The risk is proportional to the number of renal units treated and may be assumed at once (e.g., same-session) or over time (e.g., staged) as it applies to patients requiring bilateral ureteroscopy.
Autocrine Role for Interleukin-8 in Bartonella henselae-Induced Angiogenesis

ABSTRACT The gram-negative bacterium Bartonella henselae is capable of causing angiogenic lesions as a result of infection. Previously, it has been shown that B. henselae infection can result in production of the chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8). In this study, we demonstrated that monocytes, endothelial cells, and hepatocytes produce IL-8 in response to B. henselae infection. We also investigated the role of IL-8 in B. henselae-induced endothelial cell proliferation and capillary tube formation. Both in vitro angiogenesis assays were IL-8 dependent. B. henselae-mediated inhibition of apoptosis, as indicated by gene expression of Bax and Bcl-2, was also shown to be IL-8 dependent in endothelial cells. Furthermore, infection of endothelial cells with B. henselae stimulated upregulation of the IL-8 chemokine receptor CXCR2. Infection of human endothelial cells by B. henselae resulting in IL-8 production likely plays a central role in the ability of this organism to cause angiogenesis during infection.
Economic Liberalization and Productivity Growth: Further Evidence From Bangladesh

The impact of economic liberalization reforms on the productive performances of manufacturing firms remains a contentious issue in the literature. This paper attempts to contribute to the debate by empirically estimating productivity growth of Bangladesh food manufacturing using firm level data before and after reform. Empirical results show that the share of output growth was accounted for by input growth in most sectors of this industry. In some sectors, the estimated rate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth is negligible or even negative. Decomposition of the TFP growth shows that technological progress plays a significant role in TFP growth across firms within the sub-sectors of this industry. Empirical results also show that the relative contribution of capacity realization to TFP growth is not substantial in inhibiting the industry's high and sustained growth. These dismal performances indicate that the industries responded a little to the implementation of economic reforms.
Worldwide Genomic Diversity of the High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Types 31, 35, 52, and 58, Four Close Relatives of Human Papillomavirus Type 16

ABSTRACT Among the more than one hundred formally described human papillomavirus (HPV) types, 18 are referred to as high-risk HPV types due to their association with anogenital cancer. Despite pathogenic similarities, these types form three remotely related taxonomic groups. One of these groups is called HPV species 9 and is formed by HPV-16, the most common and best-studied type, together with HPV-31, -33, -35, -52, -58, and -67. Previous worldwide comparisons of HPV-16 samples showed about 2% nucleotide diversity between isolates, which were subsequently termed variants. The distribution of divergent variants has been found to correlate frequently with the geographic origin and the ethnicity of the infected patients and led to the concept of unique African, European, Asian, and Native American HPV-16 variants. In the current study, we address the question of whether geography and ethnicity also correlate with sequence variations found for HPV-31, -35, -52, and -58. This was done by sequencing the long control region in samples derived from Europe, Asia, and Africa, and from immigrant populations in North and South America. We observed maximal divergence between any two variants within each of these four HPV types ranging from 1.8 to 3.6% based on nucleotide exchanges and, occasionally, on insertions and deletions. Similar to the case with HPV-16, these mutations are not random but indicate a relationship between the variants in form of phylogenetic trees. An interesting example is presented by a 16-bp insert in select variants of HPV-35, which appears to have given rise to additional variants by nucleotide exchanges within the insert. All trees showed distinct phylogenetic topologies, ranging from dichotomic branching in the case of HPV-31 to star phylogenies of the other three types. No clear similarities between these types or between these types and HPV-16 exist. While variant branches in some types were specific for Europe, Africa, or East Asia, none of the four trees reflected human evolution and spread to the extent illustrated by HPV-16. One possible explanation is that the rare HPV types that we studied spread and thereby diversified more slowly than the more abundant HPV-16 and may have established much of today's variant diversity already before the worldwide spread of humans 100,000 years ago. Most variants had prototypic amino acid sequences within the E6 oncoprotein and a segment of the L1 capsid protein. Some had one, two, or three amino acid substitutions in these regions, which might indicate biological and pathogenic diversity between the variants of each HPV type.
A Price-Dependent Demand Model in the Single Period Inventory System with Price Adjustment

The previous efforts toward single period inventory problem with price-dependent demand only investigate the optimal order quantity to minimize the total inventory costs; however, there is no method in the literature to avoid unwanted costs due to the deviation between the actual demand and the previously estimated demand. To fill this gap, the present paper supposes that stochastic demand rate with normal distribution is sensitive to the selling price; this means that increasing the selling price would decrease the demand rate and vice versa. After monitoring the consumption trend within a section of the period, a new selling price is implemented to change the demand rate and reduce the shortage or salvage costs at the end of the period. Three functions were suggested to represent the demand rate as a function of selling price, and the numerical analysis was implemented to solve the proposed problem. Finally, an illustrative numerical example was solved for different configurations in order to show the advantages of the proposed model. The results revealed that there is a significant improvement in the system costs when price revision is considered.
Moral Hazard in an Economic Union: Politics, Economics, and Fiscal Gimmickry in Europe

This paper examines empirically how transparency of the budget process affects fiscal rules and incentives for fiscal gimmickry or creative accounting in the European Union. Using stock-flow adjustment data for EU countries from 1990-2007, we show that pressure from a deficit limit rule as in the Stability and Growth Pact creates incentives for fiscal gimmicks, as does political pressure from the electoral cycle and economic pressure from negative shocks in the business cycle. However, we show that where institutional transparency is higher, these incentives are damped and largely disappear. We infer that fiscal rules do not work well when institutional transparency is low.
An Evolutionary Perspective on Audit Committee Effectiveness

In the wake of the report of the Cadbury Committee on Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance, most major public companies in the UK now have an audit committee in place. However, commentators have noted that the establishment of an audit committee does not guarantee its effectiveness and it is pertinent to the continuing corporate governance debate to consider how such effectiveness may be assessed. This paper reports on a study which examines audit committee activities through interviews with audit committee chairs, finance directors and internal and external auditors. The study identifies influences on the development and activities of audit committees which have not previously been researched in any detail: these include the reasons for audit committee establishment, the timing and conduct of meetings, and communication between participants. The paper argues that audit committee effectiveness should be evaluated from a perspective which acknowledges these influences and recognises the continuing development of the audit committee role over time.
The Taylor Principle in the Long Run: An Empirical Perspective

type="main" xml:lang="en"> In this paper, we empirically assess the Taylor principle in the long run with a small-scale, trivariate structural vector autoregression. Using U.S. data spanning the period from 1959Q1 to 2010Q2 and different measures of inflation and the output gap, we find that the Taylor principle is supported in the long run for the post-1979 era, but the principle is unlikely to hold in the long run for the pre-1979 era . ( JEL E52, E58)
Identification and characterization of persistent intracellular human 1 immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase strand transfer inhibitor activity 2 3 4

15 16 17 Correspondent footnote: 18 Dr. Alan Engelman, Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer 19 Institute, 44 Binney Street, CLS-1010, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 632-4361. Fax: (617) 20 632-3113. E-mail: alan_engelman@dfci.harvard. edu. 21 Copyright © 2010, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. doi:10.1128/AAC.01064-10 AAC Accepts, published online ahead of print on 8 November 2010
Spending Flexibility and Safe Withdrawal Rates

Shortfall risk retirement income analyses offer little insight into how much risk is optimal, and how risk tolerance affects retirement income decisions. This study models retirement income risk in a manner consistent with risk tolerance in portfolio selection in order to estimate optimal asset allocations and withdrawal rates for retirees with different risk attitudes. We find that the 4 percent retirement withdrawal rate strategy may only be appropriate for risk averse clients with moderate guaranteed income sources. The ability to accept greater shortfall probabilities means that risk tolerant investors will prefer a higher withdrawal rate and a riskier retirement portfolio. A risk tolerant client may prefer a withdrawal rate of between 5 and 7 percent with a guaranteed income of $20,000. The optimal retirement portfolio allocation to stock increases by between 10 and 30 percentage points and the optimal withdrawal rate increases by between 1 and 2 percentage points for clients with a guaranteed income of $60,000 instead of $20,000.
Comparison on the Absolute Concentrations of Hydroxyl and Atomic Oxygen Generated by Five Different Nonequilibrium Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Jets

Nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jets (N-APPJs) generate near or at room temperature plasmas in open space, which is attractive for various applications such as plasma medicine. Because of this advantage, different types of N-APPJs have been reported. Reactive species, such as hydroxyl (OH) and atomic oxygen (O), generated by N-APPJs, are believed to play important roles for many applications. However, there is no report on the comparison of the reactive species concentrations generated by different types of N-APPJs. In this paper, the absolute concentrations of OH and O generated by five different configurations of widely used N-APPJs are compared. For this initial study, all five N-APPJS are driven by the same pulsed dc power supply. Besides, the effects of different operating parameters, including the amplitude of the applied voltage, frequency, the content of the working gas, and the gas flow rate, on their concentrations are investigated. It is found that the OH and O concentrations of the five N-APPJs could have up to one order and five-folder difference, respectively. On the other hand, for all five devices, their peak O concentrations are about two orders higher than their peak OH concentrations. Finally, from the energy point of view, the reactive species generation efficiency of these devices are discussed and future work is proposed.
Debt Maturity Choice of Nonpublic Italian Firms

This paper focuses on debt maturity of nonpublic Italian firms of small and medium size by international standards and that mainly use bank loans as source of external financing. Compared to few similar studies, the main contributions are that panel estimations allow to control for unobserved firm heterogeneity; firms are also permitted to choose simultaneously leverage and debt maturity. The evidence is that debt maturity is shorter for companies that are riskier and affected by asymmetric information. In areas of the country with poorer legal enforcement, in choosing debt maturity lenders lay greater emphasis on indicators of firm information opacity.
Teaching the Culture of High Stakes Testing: Listening to New Teachers

Abstract In their first semester of teaching, former education students in New York City encounter a school culture which has embraced high stakes testing of students. This culture is part of a nationwide movement which sees increased student testing as an agent of school reform. This study interviewed six education students in their first year of teaching to discover what impact New York's testing culture had on their classroom practice. The participants related that they found the culture of testing in their schools troublesome, expressing feelings ranging from oppression, to wanting to leave the profession. The reality of high stakes testing invites an increased discussion of this phenomenon in schools of education, and it also invites a closer collaboration between schools of education, beginning teachers, and local schools and districts to discover a curriculum that is gratifying for new teachers and best practice for students.
New Men and New Women? A Comparison of Paid Work Propensities from a Panel Data Perspective

The paper uses BHPS waves 1�? 5 (1991�? 5) to compare paid work participation rates of men and women. Year-on-year persistence in paid work propensities is high, but greater for men than women. Non-work persistence is higher for women. Using panel data probit regression models, the paper also investigates why men's and women's participation rates differ, comparing the roles of differences in observable characteristics and differences in rates of return to these characteristics, while also controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Most of the difference in participation rates is accounted for by the differences in returns associated with the presence of children, especially young ones.
Racial Disparities in Savings Behavior for a Continuously Employed Cohort

The wealth gap has reached record highs. At the same time there has been substantial proliferation of 401(k) savings accounts as the dominant retirement savings vehicle, and these accounts make up an increasing proportion of overall wealth. In this paper we examine 401(k) saving behavior of continuously employed workers over an eight-year period at a single, geographically diverse employer. We demonstrate substantial difference in 401(k) savings behavior by employee ethnicity even within a single employer 401(k) plan architecture. We show both African American and Hispanic employees are less likely to participate in the 401(k) plans. Moreover, conditional on participation African Americans contribute a lower proportion of their income to their 401(k) plan on average. We also show that African Americans and Hispanics tend to draw down on their 401(k) balances more often. Finally, we document that both African Americans and Hispanics favor safer assets within their plan options. Together these differences substantially impact the level of 401(k) balances accumulated and therefore overall wealth accumulation.
The economic costs of marital dissolution: why do women bear a disproportionate cost?

"We review the literature on the economic consequences of marital dissolution for women. Longitudinal studies of the effects of divorce and widowhood indicate that both types of dissolutions have negative and prolonged consequences for women's economic well-being. This is not the case for men, where marital dissolution often leads to an improved economic standard of living. Following an examination of empirical studies and measurement issues in the divorce and widowhood literatures, we describe preexisting and direct sources of women's postdissolution economic insecurity. " The primary geographical focus is on the United States.
Performance Measurement in the Public Sector

This article reviews different strands of research on performance measurement in the public sector and some recent, emerging research trends in the area. Particular attention is paid to research adopting a social constructivist approach, especially studies informed by institutional theory. Some major contributions of this research and implications for future research in the area are outlined. Keywords: efficiency; effectiveness; institutional theory; performance measurement; public sector
Cys‐scanning mutagenesis: a novel approach to structure—function relationships in polytopic membrane proteins

The entire lactose permease of Escherichia coli, a polytopic membrane transport protein that catalyzes β‐galactoside/H+ symport, has been subjected to Cys‐scanning mutagenesis in order to determine which residues play an obligatory role in the mechanism and to create a library of mutants with a single‐Cys residue at each position of the molecule for structure/function studies. Analysis of the mutants has led to the following: 1) only six amino acid side chains play an irreplaceable role in the transport mechanism; 2) positions where the reactivity of the Cys replacement is increased upon ligand binding are identified; 3) positions where the reactivity of the Cys replacement is decreased by ligand binding are identified; 4) helix packing, helix tilt, and ligand‐induced conformational changes are determined by using the library of mutants in conjunction with a battery of site‐directed techniques; 5) the permease is a highly flexible molecule; and 6) a working model that explains coupling between β‐galactoside and H+ translocation. — Frillingos, S. , Sahin‐To´ th, M. , Wu, J., Kabac, H. R. Cys‐scanning mutagenesis: a novel approach to structure‐function relationships in polytopic membrane proteins. FASEB J. 12, 1281–1299 (1998)
The Political Economy of Developing Country Antidumping Investigations against China

This article draws on industry-level data to analyze the political economy of the use of the antidumping statute by 10 less developed countries (LDCs) against China. Test results suggest that Chinese import competition is an important factor explaining the pattern of LDC antidumping initiation against China. Macroeconomic factors such as gross domestic product growth rate also play some role in influencing the pattern of LDC antidumping determination against China. Importantly, statistical analyses did not yield any evidence suggesting that China's membership in the World Trade Organization has disciplined developing countries' use of the antidumping policy. The paper conjectures that China's Most-Favored-Nation status under the World Trade Organization, the designation of China as a nonmarket economy in antidumping investigations until 2016, and the retaliatory incentives generated by the growing deflection of Chinese exports to developing country markets may have overwhelmed the institutional effect of the trade organization in shaping the pattern of LDC antidumping decision making toward China.
The determinants of default risk in Brazil

We formulated a general unrestricted model of the Brazilian Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus (EMBI+) spreads, a proxy for the country's default risk. Employing algorithms that perform automated model selection, we found that macroeconomic fundamentals, such as current account deficit ratio to gross domestic product, public deficit ratio to gross domestic product and imports over foreign exchange reserves, can explain a great part of the variation in EMBI+ spreads. There is also robust evidence of systematic contagion from Argentina and Mexico and that the variance of the spread also affects its mean.
Tourism-conservation enterprises for community livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in Kenya

Tourism-conservation enterprises (TCEs), such as eco-lodges, are a relatively new strategy of the African Wildlife Foundation for enhancing community livelihoods and wildlife conservation in wildlife-rich areas outside state-protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa. This article investigates the extent to which TCEs succeed in meeting these objectives by focusing on two enterprises in Kenya: the Sanctuary at Ol Lentille and the Koija Starbeds. Empirical data were gathered between October 2010 and March 2013 through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, literature review and document analysis. Both TCEs demonstrated significant contributions to employment, education, healthcare and security. Compared with the Starbeds, the Sanctuary realised a much larger conservation area and more pronounced biodiversity recovery. The analysis showed that the contribution of TCEs to livelihoods and biodiversity conservation depends on the nature of the partnership arrangement, as well as the local, national and international contexts in which they operate.
An integrated system for educational performance measurement, modeling and management at the classroom level

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce an integrated system for measuring, modeling, and managing teaching and learning performance in a university classroom environment.Design/methodology/approach – Four management tools, namely a performance measurement framework (PMF), statistical process control (SPC), structural equation modeling (SEM), and system dynamics (SD), are combined to help professors address important teaching and learning performance management issues.Findings – Concentrating measurement efforts on teaching and learning processes, rather than on outputs, such as the number of students passing a course, or outcomes, for instance average test scores, allows for early detection of problems in the classroom setting.Research limitations/implications – Combining SEM and SD provides the ability to quantify relationships between model variables. Since the data used to test the model originated from a pre‐university educational system, the intent of future work is to apply the data collected from s.