Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does drinking affect long-term sickness absence? A sample selection approach correcting for employment and accounting for drinking history

This article studies the effect of alcohol consumption on the probability of long-term sickness-related absenteeism for women. Using Swedish matched survey and register data, we apply sample selection models to correct for nonrandom sampling into paid employment. There are three main findings of the study. First, diverging from the most prevalent consumption group (long-term light drinkers) is associated with an increased probability of long-term sickness, ranging from 10% for long-term heavy drinkers to 18% for former drinkers. Second, controlling for former consumption errors (especially former drinker and former abstainer errors) and sample selection into employment are important for unbiased, consistent estimations. Third, by predicting the effect of changes in consumption on long-term sickness-related absence, we find that alcohol only explains a small part of the overall picture of long-term sickness-related absenteeism. Notwithstanding this fact, long-term sickness-related absenteeism due to alcohol adds up to substantial productivity loss for society. Our conclusion is that the commonly found U-shaped relationship between current alcohol consumption and labour market outcomes remains for women, after controlling for past consumption and selection effects. A change in consumption level increases probability of long-term sickness-related absence, compared to individuals with constant consumption levels.
A generic framework for analysing product cannibalisation

This paper contributes a generic framework for analysing product cannibalisation. Although the factors affecting product cannibalisation in mature product portfolios have been well studied, issues regarding the performance of a new product and its impact on an existing product portfolio have not been addressed in the context of cannibalisation. Since it is critical to be able to estimate the impact of a new product on other products in the product portfolio, this paper presents a descriptive model to discuss the issues associated with product cannibalisation, specifically the impact of new product introduction on an existing product portfolio. The product portfolio model and different quantitative measures that can be used to understand the impact of new product introduction are discussed, along with a case study to illustrate the cannibalisation indicators developed in this research. This model can then be used along with quantitative methods in strategic decision-making regarding the introduction of new product/product families.
Using discrete choice experiments to assess population preferences for primary care services

Objectives. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the development and application of discrete choice experiments (DCEs) within health economics. Even though the literature include several reviews of the methodology associated with conducting DCEs and analysing the resultant choice data, a detailed classification of the areas covered by DCEs is lacking. The aim of this paper is to provide, after a brief description of the most important phases of a DCE, a comprehensive categorization of the various areas in which DCEs in health care have been performed. Methods. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify published studies using stated preferences DCEs within a health context between January 1990 and May 2011. Results. 256 DCEs were included in the review. Compared to the 1990-2000 period, the number of DCEs has increased quickly, with experiments carried out in 30 different countries. A growing number of studies primarily investigated patients’ preferences during the years, collecting a greater number of responses in comparison to the baseline period. A significant proportion of publications estimated the benefits of health care services, like specialistic surgical and medical services, generic medical services, services for chronics and elderly people, maternity and childbirth services and diagnostic facilities. Nevertheless, DCEs has also been used to value health outcomes, examine preferences for pharmaceutical products, investigate labour-market choices as well as healthcare systems characteristics and health policies. Conclusions. This paper adds to the body of literature reviewing the growing stock of published DCEs in health economics, providing a new detailed taxonomy of the various areas in which such experiments have been applied. Together with the methodological refinements, future research should continue to explore new contexts of analysis.
Translating the role of vitamin D3 in infectious diseases

Vitamin D3 affects both the innate as well as adaptive immune responses. Epidemiological studies have established that vitamin D3 deficiency plays an important role in tuberculosis (TB) and viral influenza prevalence as well as susceptibility to active disease in TB. Vitamin D3 status has been associated with the clinical course of HIV infection and drug interaction with anti-retroviral therapy. This article reviews the immunomodulatory capacity of vitamin D3 and examines the impact of vitamin D3 supplementation as a preventive or therapeutic intervention with the intent to uncover its potential therapeutic application in infectious diseases and to identify novel areas for future research. We present a review of randomized, controlled clinical studies conducted in humans which included assessment of the immune function or clinical outcome as study end points. Current data support vitamin D3 supplementation as risk-modifying intervention in tuberculosis and viral respiratory tract infection, but the optimal dosage regimen remains to be determined. However, to date the knowledge on its role in fungal infection and sepsis is limited although a potential benefit could be harnessed from its ability to curtail the unrestrained pro-inflammatory response and therefore prevent excessive collateral tissue damage.
Dutch Disease and Sustainability of the Russian Political Economy

The paper aims at investigating the dependency of the Russian economy on natural resources, underlining the causes and the possible consequences of this growth strategy. The analysis tries to evaluate if the Russian manufacturing has contracted the "Dutch Disease", that is, if a boom in the oil and gas industry has led to a process of de-industrialization, directly through the resource movement effect and indirectly through the spending effect. In this investigation it will be emphasized the role played by the learning curves as a crucial factor in determining the comparative advantages of a country, and why an excessive reliance on exports of a single product may reduce the welfare of a nation in the long run. The research underlines how the structure of the Russian economy has been built to favor the energy industry instead of the manufacturing one. This strategy has strengthened the comparative advantage that Russia enjoyed in natural resources, so as to reduce the return on investment in the manufacturing sector, which has had to struggle also with the constant appreciation of the exchange rate. This, in the end, has produced the so called de-industrialization process, which has transformed Russia into a service-based economy. The problem resulting from this is that, when a shock happens, the economy is no more able to soften its effects. To absorb the shock, it is necessary a higher government’s expenditure or switching to a higher level of unemployment, producing instability and volatility in the country.
Cultural constraints in management theories

Executive Overview Management as the word is presently used is an American invention. In other parts of the world not only the practices but the entire concept of management may differ, and the theories needed to understand it, may deviate considerably from what is considered normal and desirable in the USA. The reader is invited on a trip around the world, and both local management practices and theories are explained from the different contexts and histories of the places visited: Germany, Japan, France, Holland, the countries of the overseas Chinese, South-East Asia, Africa, Russia, and finally mainland China. A model in which worldwide differences in national cultures are categorized according to five independent dimensions helps in explaining the differences in management found; although the situation in each country or region has unique characteristics that no model can account for. One practical application of the model is in demonstrating the relative position of the U.S. versus other parts of the.
Biology of adenovirus and its use as a vector for gene therapy.

ADENOVIRUSES WERE FIRST DISCOVERED half a century ago by Rowe and colleagues, who were trying to culture adenoid tissue in the laboratory (Rowe et al., 1953). Since that time, nonhuman adenoviruses have been isolated from a number of species including chimpanzees, pig, mouse, and dog, as well as other mammalian and avian species (Shenk, 1996). Although human adenoviruses cause significant levels of respiratory, ocular, and gastrointestinal disease, they have been the object of intense study over the years mainly as a model system for basic eukaryotic cellular processes such as transcription, RNA processing, DNA replication, translation, and oncogenesis. Early on, it was shown that the virus could recombine during growth in culture (Lewis et al., 1966a,b; Pierce et al., 1968; Lewis and Rowe, 1970), ultimately setting the stage for the use of the virus as a vector for gene delivery into cells, animals, and humans. Many features of adenovirus make it well suited for gene delivery, including the ability to grow recombinant viruses to high titers, a relatively high capacity for transgene insertion, and efficient transduction of both quiescent and actively dividing cells, usually without incorporation of viral DNA into the host cell genome. These characteristics, as well as the development of many methods for manipulating the viral genome, have made adenovirus a popular choice as a gene delivery vehicle. This is evidenced by the fact that adenovirus is currently being used in roughly one-quarter of all gene therapy clinical trials, making it second only to the use of retroviral vectors (Journal of Genetic Medicine Website, www. wiley.co.uk/genmed/clinical). In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the life cycle of the human adenoviruses and then discuss how the structure and function of viral genes impact the use of the virus as a gene delivery vehicle. Readers desiring a more comprehensive coverage of the biology of the virus are directed to the volumes edited by Doerfler and Bohm (2003, 2004). VIRUS STRUCTURE
A simulation design for research evaluating safety innovations in anaesthesia *

It is notoriously difficult to obtain evidence from clinical randomised controlled trials for safety innovations in healthcare. We have developed a research design using simulation for the evaluation of safety initiatives in anaesthesia. We used a standard and a modified scenario in a human‐patient simulator, involving a potentially life‐threatening problem requiring prompt attention – either a cardiac arrest or a failure in oxygen supply. The modified scenarios involved distractions such as loud music, a demanding and uncooperative surgeon, telephone calls and frequent questions from a medical student. Twenty anaesthetics were administered by 10 anaesthetists. A mean (SD) of 11.3 (2.8) errors per anaesthetic were identified in the oxygen failure scenarios, compared with 8.0 (3.4) in the cardiac arrest scenarios (ANOVA: p = 0.04). The difference between the combined standard scenarios and the combined modified scenarios was not significant. The mean rate of errors overall was 9.7 per simulation, with a pooled SD of 4.46, so in future studies 21 subjects would provide 80% statistical power to show a reduction in error rate of 30% from baseline with p≤0.05. Our research design will facilitate the evaluation of safety initiatives in anaesthesia.
Performance evaluation on end-to-end security architecture for mobile banking system

The advantage of mobile penetration enables mobile operators to provide value added service such as secured mobile banking, mobile commerce and provide enhanced security for internet banking. Mobile banking is attractive because it is a convenient approach to perform banking from any where any time, but there are security concerns in the implementation, which include problems with GSM, network, SMS, GPRS protocols. In this paper an end-to-end security framework using PKI for mobile banking is proposed. Performance of the proposed model is presented in this paper.
The projection of jaw elevator muscle spindle afferents to fifth nerve motoneurones in the cat.

1. By spike‐triggered averaging of intracellular synaptic noise it has been shown in pentobarbitone anaesthetized cats that jaw elevator muscle spindle afferents with their cell bodies in the mid‐brain have a relatively weak monosynaptic projection to masseter and temporalis motoneurones. 2. Extending the spike‐triggered averaging method to recording extracellular excitatory field potentials it has been shown that virtually all the spindles do project monosynaptically to the motoneurone pool. It is concluded that the general weakness of the projection is due to its restriction to a small proportion of the motoneurones, possibly those concerned most with tonic postural functions. 3. The shape of individual intracellular e.p.s.p.s together with the spatial distribution of extracellular excitatory potential fields provide some evidence for a dentrically weighted distribution of the synapses. 4. Evidence is presented that both primary‐ and secondary‐type spindle afferents project monosynaptically, the secondary effects being some 71% of the strength of the primary ones.
A theory-based framework for strategic global human resource staffing policies and practices

As multinational enterprises increasingly globalize their operations, managing international human resources strategically becomes a critical factor contributing to overall organizational performance. The strategic management of international human resources has received extensive attention, focusing on staffing issues related to expatriate assignments. However, empirical findings indicate limited success of expatriation as an effective method for managing the breadth of international human resource opportunities. As market opportunities increasingly shift to countries with high cultural distance from the parent organization and as organizations evolve their strategic orientation from multinational to global activities, it appears that an exclusive reliance on expatriation-based staffing will impede effective management of international human resources staffing. The objective of this article is to review and clarify a theory base that can support a range of international human resource staffing systems that might be implemented in a global environment. This discussion uses the combined perspective of agency and expectancy theories and discusses conditions under which specific strategic staffing choices might be most effective.
Differences in Regional Firm Formation Rates: A Decomposition Analysis

This article examines regional differences in recent business formation activity in the United Kingdom over the period 1994–2001. It considers the extent to which regional differences can be accounted for by (i) variations in industrial structure, with some regions having a greater or lesser share of sectors where the formation rate tends to be high; and (ii) variations across regions in the formation rate in the same sector. The article shows wide variations across regions and over time in the relative importance of these two factors. The article explores some policy implications of this decomposition.
Applications of virtual reality for pain management in burn-injured patients

The pain associated with burn injuries is intense, unremitting and often exacerbated by anxiety, depression and other complicating patient factors. On top of this, modern burn care involves the repetitive performance – often on a daily basis for weeks to months – of painful and anxiety-provoking procedures that create additional treatment-related pain, such as wound care, dressing changes and rehabilitation activities. Pain management in burn patients is primarily achieved by potent pharmacologic analgesics (e.g., opioids), but is necessarily complemented by nonpharmacologic techniques, including distraction or hypnosis. Immersive virtual reality provides a particularly intense form of cognitive distraction during such brief, painful procedures, and has undergone preliminary study by several research groups treating burn patients over the past decade. Initial reports from these groups are consistent in suggesting that immersive virtual reality is logistically feasible, safe and effective in ameliorating the pain and anxiety experienced in various settings of post-burn pain. Furthermore, the technique appears applicable to a wide age range of patients and may be particularly well-adapted for use in children, one of the most challenging populations of burn victims to treat. However, confirmation and extension of these results in larger numbers of patients in various types of burn-related pain is necessary to more clearly define the specific benefits and limitations of virtual reality analgesia in the burn care setting.
Antibiotic Cement-Coated Interlocking Nail for the Treatment of Infected Nonunions and Segmental Bone Defects

Summary: Chronic infection of bone with nonunion and/or bone defects is traditionally treated by a 2-stage procedure involving initial debridement and antibiotic delivery and then definitive internal fixation. Alternatively, external fixators are used to provide stability. A technique with which antibiotic cement-coated interlocking intramedullary nails are prepared in the operating room with the use of nails and materials that generally are available is herein described. Although useful for all infected nonunions and/or segmental bone defects, this technique is particularly useful for patients who are not ideal candidates for external fixation and for those who do not want to have an external fixator applied. This technique was used in a series of 20 patients. In 17 patients, the goal of bony union was achieved (85%). In the remaining 3 patients (15%), the goal of control of infection was achieved with stable nonunion (1 patient) and stable nonunion with cement spacer (2 patients). In 95% of the patients (19 of 20 patients) control of infection was achieved except for in 1 patient, who had a bony union with intermittent wound discharge and subsequently underwent an above-the-knee amputation. Three patients (15%) needed exchange nailing to another antibiotic cement-coated nail (for continued infection) before complete control of infection could be achieved. Four patients (20%) experienced cement-nail debonding during removal of the antibiotic cement-coated nail (3 during exchange to an uncoated intramedullary nail, 1 during removal at the request of patient). One patient experienced partial debonding at insertion, coinciding with the site of segmental defect, which was treated with an antibiotic cement spacer. In summary, control of infection and stability to promote union has traditionally been provided by 2 separate procedures, which have proved to be efficacious in the past. However, both these goals can be achieved in half the patients with 1 surgical procedure in a variety of scenarios using the technique of an antibiotic cement-coated intramedullary nail.
Effective autonomy, organisational relationships and skilled jobs in subsidiaries

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the proportion of skilled jobs in subsidiaries is influenced by resource gaps created by subsidiary development. Design/methodology/approach - This paper develops a range of propositions that connect the constructs of effective autonomy and organisational relationships with subsidiary employment. Propositions are built on an extensive literature review based on such approaches as the resource-based view, transaction cost economics, network approach, and institutional theory. Findings - The framework developed in the paper suggests that a higher proportion of employment in skilled jobs in subsidiaries is most likely in cases where subsidiary entrepreneurship, role specialization, and absorptive capacity are higher. Conversely, the proportion is likely to be lower in cases of increased institutional distance from the parent company. Practical implications - The conceptual model can help parent company managers assess the likely effects of developments in effective autonomy and organisational relationships in their subsidiaries. Subsidiary managers can assess the possible impact of such factors as development of entrepreneurial activities, specialization within the multinational corporation supply chain and enhancement of absorptive capacity on the proportion of skilled jobs. Originality/value - This paper is the first to describe subsidiary development from a skilled job perspective. It further develops the concept of autonomy and introduces the term “effective autonomy”.
Sindbis virus attachment: isolation and characterization of mutants with impaired binding to vertebrate cells

Sindbis virus can infect a broad range of insect and vertebrate cell types. The ability to restrict tissue tropism and target virus infection to specific cell types would expand the usefulness of engineered alphaviruses as gene expression vectors. In this study, virus pools derived from libraries of full-length Sindbis virus cDNA clones containing random insertion mutations in the PE2 or E1 virion glycoprotein gene were screened for mutants defective for binding to vertebrate cells. Binding-competent mutants were depleted by serial adsorption to chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) monolayers at 4 degrees C, and the remaining population was amplified by immune-enhanced infection of P388D1 cells. From the PE2 libraries, 12 candidate mutants showing reduced cytopathic effects on CEF monolayers were isolated and three representative mutants, NB1, NB2, and NB12, were characterized in detail. Insertion mutations for NB1 and NB12 were found near the PE2 cleavage site, whereas the insertion in NB2 occurred between residues 69 and 74 of E2. Although virion assembly and release occurred normally for all three mutants, PE2 cleavage was completely (NB1) or partially (NB12) blocked for the mutants with insertions near the PE2 cleavage site. Both NB1 and NB2 were defective for binding to CEF and BHK-21 cells. Mild trypsin digestion of isolated NB1 virions resulted in PE2 cleavage and partially restored binding to CEF. Besides defective binding, NB1 also exhibited slower CEF penetration kinetics. Consistent with previous work, these results implicate PE2 cleavage and domains in the N-terminal portion of E2 as important determinants of alphavirus binding and penetration. Binding-defective mutants such as NB2, which exhibit normal particle assembly, release, and penetration, may be useful for future efforts to target Sindbis virus infection.