Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aging and Diabetes Impair the Neovascular Potential of Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells

Background: Aging and diabetes are major risk factors for poor wound healing and tissue regeneration that reflect an impaired ability to respond to ischemic insults. The authors explored the intrinsic neovascular potential of adipose-derived stromal cells in the setting of advanced age and in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Methods: Adipose-derived stromal cells isolated from young, aged, streptozotocin-induced, and db/db diabetic mice were exposed to normoxia and hypoxia in vitro. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, proliferation, and tubulization were measured. Conditioned media harvested from adipose-derived stromal cell cultures were assessed for their ability to stimulate human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation (n = 3 and n = 3). Results: Young adipose-derived stromal cells demonstrated significantly higher levels of VEGF production, proliferation, and tubulogenesis than those derived from aged, streptozotocin-induced, and db/db mice in both normoxia and hypoxia. Although aged and diabetic adipose-derived stromal cells retained the ability to up-regulate VEGF secretion, proliferation, and tubulogenesis in response to hypoxia, the response was blunted compared with young controls. Conditioned media derived from these cells cultured in normoxia in vitro also had a significantly greater ability to increase human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation compared with media harvested from aged, streptozotocin-induced, and db/db adipose-derived stromal cells. This effect was magnified in conditioned media harvested from hypoxic adipose-derived stromal cell cultures. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that aging and type 1 and type 2 diabetes impair intrinsic adipose-derived stromal cell function; however, these cells may still be a suitable source of angiogenic cells that can potentially improve neovascularization of ischemic tissues.
First Nature, Second Nature, and Metropolitan Location

This paper develops models of spatial equilibrium in which a central metropolis emerges to supply manufactured goods to an agricultural hinterland. The location of the metropolis is not fully determined by the location of resources: as long as it is not too far from the geographical center of the region, the concentration of economic mass at the metropolis makes it the optimal location for manufacturing firms, and is thus self-justifying. The approach in this paper therefore helps explain the role of historical accident and self-fulfilling expectations in metropolitan location.
Female adolescents’ experiences and perceptions regarding sexual health education in Iranian schools: A qualitative content analysis

Background: Despite so many unmet sexual health education (SHE) needs of adolescents, socio-cultural challenges have caused this issue to be ignored in different scoieties. This study investigated Iranian female adolescents’ experiences and perceptions with respect to SHE that they received at schools, and what they really needed, expected, and preferred. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, seven focus group discussions (44 adolescents) and 13 individual in-depth interviews were conducted among female adolescents aged 14-18 in Mashhad and Ahvaz, Iran, to explore adolescents’ experiences and perceptions towards SHE in Iranian schools. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Analyzing adolescents’ perspectives and experiences revealed their great dissatisfaction with SHE in schools. Emerged categories included: lack of obligation and priority for SHE, sexual reticence and evading, making adolescents frightened of sexual issues, inconsistency of SHE with adolescents’ needs, unqualified educators, and lack of appropriate educational materials. Conclusion: This study found some similarities between expectations of Iranian adolescents and those of adolescents from other cultures about an SHE program. Adolescents showed great abilities to appraise health services delivered for them, and so any program for sexual health promotion in adolescents ought to address adolescents’ needs, demands, and aspirations. Their contribution can provide insights for tailoring SHE programs for adolescents.
Search Unemployment in an Overlapping-Generations Setting

This paper constructs an overlapping-generations model in which the steady-state equilibrium is characterized by the existence of search unemployment. This dynamic general equilibrium model captures the possible existence of search unemployment in the long run despite the absence of exogenous shocks. Furthermore, it allows for the wage offers' distribution to be determined endogenously. The effect of partial revelation of information on the existence of search unemployment in the long run is examined. It is shown that search unemployment may be eliminated in the long run despite the persistence of the state of imperfect information. This paper develops an overlapping-generations model in which the steady-state equilibrium is characterized by search unemployment.2 Unemployment is created via a rational rejection of available wage offers in favor of further search for potentially more attractive offers. The proposed dynamic general equilibrium model allows for the existence of long-run search unemployment, despite the absence of exogenous shocks, and permits the presence of an endogenously determined nondegenerate wage offer distribution.3 The paper analyzes the trade-off between revelation of information and the level of search unemployment in the long run. In the absence of external disturbances the level of search unemployment would be expected to decrease as information becomes available. In particular, if information is fully revealed search unemployment is naturally eliminated. Exploring the likelihood of the existence of long-run search unemployment in a deterministic world, this study provides an example of partial revelation of information which eliminates search unemployment in the long run despite the persistence of the state of imperfect information.4 The proposed model presents a discrete infinite time horizon world where economic activity is conducted under imperfect information. In every period a single homogeneous good is produced using two factors, capital and labor, in the production process. The aggregate endowment of labor is exogenously given in
Productivity Dispersion across Plants, Emission Abatement, and Environmental Policy

Empirical studies suggest systematic relationships between plant’s productivity and plant’s emissions and emission-abatement costs. This paper demonstrates that productivity dispersion across plants is an important factor that influences the transmission of environmental policy. Within a general equilibrium framework, I model heterogeneous polluting plants by allowing them to be differing in productivity and to choose optimally a discrete emission-reduction technology taking into account both the costs of reducing emissions and the competition in the goods market. An emission-reduction policy affects the distribution of plants with the advanced abatement technology and relocates resources and market shares across plants. As a result, the aggregate effects of an environmental policy depend on the degree of productivity dispersion. Using Canadian data, I show quantitatively that the aggregate effects of an environmental policy significantly affected by the degree of productivity dispersion both in the transition periods and in the long-run steady-state equilibrium.
Defect-induced optical absorption in the visible range in ZnO nanowires

The optical properties of ZnO nanowires containing defects are investigated using first-principles densityfunctional theory incorporating the LDA+U formalism. Calculations include defects in the form of substitutional N, Zn, and O vacancies as well as +1 charged O vacancy. Our calculations reveal that the presence of vacancies contribute strongly to optical absorption in the visible. Furthermore, the presence of +1 charged O vacancy is found to result in a blueshift of the absorption peaks, reducing the number of wavelengths that can be absorbed in the visible. These findings can be a useful tool for the design of new generation of materials with improved solar radiation absorption.
Reverse Transcriptase-PCR Analysis of Bacterial rRNA for Detection and Characterization of Bacterial Species in Arthritis Synovial Tissue

ABSTRACT Onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is widely believed to be preceded by exposure to some environmental trigger such as bacterial infectious agents. The influence of bacteria on RA disease onset or pathology has to date been controversial, due to inconsistencies between groups in the report of bacterial species isolated from RA disease tissue. Using a modified technique of reverse transcriptase-PCR amplification, we have detected bacterial rRNA in the synovial tissue of late-stage RA and non-RA arthritis controls. This may be suggestive of the presence of live bacteria. Sequencing of cloned complementary rDNA (crDNA) products revealed a number of bacterial sequences in joint tissue from each patient, and from these analyses a comprehensive profile of the organisms present was compiled. This revealed a number of different organisms in each patient, some of which are common to both RA and non-RA controls and are probably opportunistic colonizers of previously diseased tissue and others which are unique species. These latter organisms may be candidates for a specific role in disease pathology and require further investigation to exclude them as causative agents in the complex bacterial millieu. In addition, many of the detected bacterial species have not been identified previously from synovial tissue or fluid from arthritis patients. These may not be easily cultivable, since they were not revealed in previous studies using conventional in vitro bacterial culture methods. In situ hybridization analyses have revealed the joint-associated bacterial rRNA to be both intra- and extracellular. The role of viable bacteria or their nucleic acids as triggers in disease onset or pathology in either RA or non-RA arthritis controls is unclear and requires further investigation.
Resistance in Respiratory Tract Pathogens and Antimicrobial Use in Icelandic and Lithuanian Children

To assess resistance rates among respiratory tract pathogens and antimicrobial usage of children in Iceland and Lithuania, and to correlate usage patterns with resistance rates, nasopharyngeal swabs were taken from healthy children attending day-care centres in Reykjavik (<emph type="2">n</emph>=6) and Vilnius (<emph type="2">n</emph>=13), and cultured for pneumococci, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis. Information about recent antimicrobial use was obtained by a questionnaire. 50% and 51% carried pneumococci, 59% and 67% carried H. influenzae and 60% and 46% carried M. catarrhalis, in Reykjavik (<emph type="2">n</emph>=297) and Vilnius (<emph type="2">n</emph>=508), respectively. The prevalence of penicillin non-susceptible pneumococci was 11% in Reykjavik (mainly serotype 6B) and 5% in Vilnius (mainly 23F). At the time of sampling 3% of the children in Reykjavik and 8% in Vilnius were receiving antimicrobials. Children carrying penicillin non-susceptible pneumococci had used antimicrobials more frequently in the preceding month and this was significant for the Icelandic children (<emph type="2">p</emph><0.0002). Antimicrobial use was more common in Vilnius than in Reykjavik, yet antimicrobial resistance was more common in Reykjavik. Resistance rates cannot be predicted only on the basis of recent antimicrobial use.
Money in the twenty-first century

What implications do 21st century monetary innovations bring for holdings of central bank money and standards of value? Emerging technologies such as cybercash, e-cash, and smart cards can be expected to reduce demand for central bank money, but the theoretical framework for monetary policy has not changed. The authors stress three points in this paper: 1) money innovations tend to reduce the demand for central bank money, but it remains to be seen whether the predictability of that demand, and thus the reliability of monetary policy, will decline in the coming century; 2) in principle, monetary authorities can continue to determine the price level as long as final settlement of tax and other obligations takes place using central bank liabilities; and 3) the viability of competing currencies and standards of value is gaining steam as a lively field of research.
China's cosmetic cities: Urban fever and superficiality

Abstract During the last half of the 20th century, China experienced a period of extraordinary growth and change. In just over 50 years, the country has been transformed from a semi-feudal society dominated by foreign interests to an economic superpower wielding authority throughout the world. A particularly feverish pace of intense urbanization has been underway since the 1980s when the Chinese government instituted a program of economic reforms under the direction of Deng Xiaopeng, Mao Zedong's successor. This ‘fever’ is causing an increasing pace of physical change to the nation's urban landscape. While many industrial cities in western countries developed over a period of two centuries, China's cities have been radically transformed or established in just two decades. This paper frames the socio-economic and political context within which China's urban landscapes are now being modernized; its focus is on the post-Mao transitional period. Through a set of field observations the paper comments upon the effects of international design influences on the nation's urban landscapes. These observations raise important questions concerning the present development of the contemporary Chinese urban fabric. While it is possible to find examples of sensitive and appropriate approaches to the development of urban landscape design supported by enlightened policy-makers, such examples are rare and the norm is a ‘cosmetic’ approach to the formulation and implementation of local planning and design activities. Critical issues are raised and suggestions are made to help curb these activities that are increasingly destroying the ecological, socio-cultural and historic urban fabric of China's cities.
MicroRNA‐409‐3p regulates cell invasion and metastasis by targeting ZEB1 in breast cancer

MicroRNA‐409‐3p (miR‐409‐3p) is an miRNA expressed by embryonic stem cells, and our previous study demonstrated depressed miR‐409‐3p expression in human breast cancer (BC) cell lines; however, its role and function in BC metastasis are still unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression levels of miR‐409‐3p in human BC and its role in the metastasis of BC. We analyzed the status of miR‐409‐3p expression in BC tissues by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and its relationship to the clinicopathologic features of patients with BC. To study the role of miR‐409‐3p in BC metastasis, the invasion ability of BC cells was detected by transwell invasion assays and wound healing assays. WST‐1 assays and colony formation assays were used to investigate cell proliferation. Luciferase reporter assays were used to verify that miR‐409‐3p targeted zinc‐finger E‐box‐binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1). Western blot analyses and transwell assays were carried out to assess ZEB1 expression and its role in BC cell metastasis. The expression of miR‐409‐3p was lower in tumor tissues than in noncancerous breast tissues. We verified that miR‐409‐3p levels were downregulated and significantly correlated with poor outcomes in patients with BC. Overexpression of miR‐409‐3p inhibited cellular proliferation and suppressed cellular migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. Dual‐luciferase reporter assays showed that miR‐409‐3p binds the 3′‐untranslated region (3′‐UTR) of ZEB1, suggesting that ZEB1 is a direct target of miR‐409‐3p. Western blot analysis confirmed that overexpression of miR‐409‐3p reduced ZEB1 protein levels. These data demonstrate that miR‐409‐3p plays an important role in regulating the metastasis of BC, which is involved in the post‐transcriptional repression of ZEB1. Our results indicate that miR‐409‐3p can regulate the invasion and metastasis process of BC by targeting ZEB1 and may serve as a new prognostic marker and therapeutic target for treating BC metastasis. © 2016 IUBMB Life, 68(5):394–402, 2016
Hickman Revisited

A recent conversation between an investor, Mr. Jones, and his broker could have gone like this: Broker: "Mr. Jones, I have an investment that pays 5.8% annually and is guaranteed to appreciate 45% over the next five years. Are you interested? " Mr. Jones: "Sounds interesting, what is it? " Broker: "It's a bond issued by Food Fair Stores. It pays $40 per $1000 face amount per year, and matures on April 1,1982. Your cost would be only $685 per bond, so that you would have a current yield of 5.8% on your funds invested. In addition, the company guarantees they will redeem the bond for the full $1000 at maturity. On an amortized basis, this works out to be 13% a year return, guaranteed, on your investment! " Mr. Jones: "What is its rating? " Broker: "It is rated BB by Standard and Poor's. " Mr. Jones: "That's considered a junk bond isn't it? Doesn't that mean it has a good chance to default? " At this point the conversation would likely have ended, because it was quite probable that the broker would not know the default rate for BB rated bonds. Few, if any, up-to-date reports have been available to alleviate Mr. Jones' worries about the bonds highly speculative nature and its chance of default. The last comprehensive study on the topic covered bonds only over the years 1900 through 1943. But is our Mr. Jones missing out on a good opportunity to earn 13% a year on his investment? Is his broker missing a sale solely because of a lack of helpful back-up information? Or has the correct decision been made and a dangerous situation avoided? This article seeks to determine if an above average investment opportunity exists in junk bonds, a segment of the securities market that is often ignored. It sets out to update the record by analyzing recent junk bond experience. In the process, it will first critically review earlier findings on the subject. Second, it will investigate the record of all securities comprising two categories of junk bonds over the recent ten-year period. This time interval will be sufficient so that the bonds are subject to all phases of a business cycle, from recession to expansion. Annual rates of return with downward adjustment for default experience will be generated for each bond category. These yields will then be compared with like returns for so-called 53
Likelihood-based estimation of latent generalised ARCH

GARCH models are commonly used as latent processes in econometrics, financial economics and macroeconomics. Yet no exact likelihood analysis of these models has been provided so far. In this paper we outline the issues and suggest a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm which allows the calculation of a classical estimator via the simulated EM algorithm or a Bayesian solution in O(T) computational operations, where T denotes the sample size. We assess the performance of our proposed algorithm in the context of both artificial examples and an empirical application to 26 UK sectorial stock returns, and compare it to existing approximate solutions. GARCH models are commonly used as latent processes in econometrics, financial economics and macroeconomics.
Introducing management models in service organisations in developed and developing countries

The aim of this paper is to examine the application of the European Foundation for Quality Management model for self-assessment as a means to introduce changes in management in services in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Spain and in Jordan. This paper uses the case study methodology on eight administrative services in a public university in Spain and seven university services in two Jordanian universities, a public and a private institution. The findings show the steps that an administrative service may follow in order to apply the questionnaire approach successfully in a reform process, the difficulties, the benefits and the success factors in both countries and the consequences of the changes introduced. The study provides lessons for decision makers and managers from other universities in developed and developing countries, who wish to introduce the practice of quality management by creative means. This paper extends knowledge on self-assessment (steps, difficulties, benefits, success factors and changes in management) to services in HEIs.
Running and Chasing -- The Competition between Paid Search Marketing and Search Engine Optimization

As search engine is leading the revenue growth in online marketing field, the competition of search engine marketing between paid search marketing (PSM) by search engine providers (SEPs), and search engine optimization (SEO) provided by search engine optimization firms, is white-hot. While PSM is simply for advertisers to buy the top ranks in sponsored links, SEO tries to optimize advertisers' websites by free-riding search engine's organic searching results. This study aims to investigate this competition by analytical modeling regarding organic search quality. We focus on sustainability conditions of SEO firms, investment analysis of SEO firms, and profit analysis of SEP. We find that a search engine advertising market is led by SEP, and the competition between PSM and SEO is a game of running and chasing. Specifically, better algorithm effectiveness of search engines promotes profitability of both PSM and SEO, and algorithm robustness of search engines negatively affects the survival of SEO firms in the market.
The Yield Curve and Real Activity

This paper attempts to formalize the link between the yield curve and real economic activity. A closed-form formula for the term structure of interest rates is derived. The paper then documents the use of bond market data for predicting GDP growth in the G-7 industrial countries. The results suggest that a simple measure of the slope of the yield curve, namely the yield spread, serves as a good predictor of future economic growth. The out-of-sample forecasting performance of the yield spread compares favorably with that of the alternative stock price--based model and a univariate time series (ARMA) model.
Constant Geometry Algorithms for Galois Field Expressions and Their Implementation on GPUs

Galois field (GF) expressions are analytical representations of multiple-valued functions. For practical applications it is important to provide fast algorithms for computing coefficients in these expressions. From the FFT-theory point of view, these algorithms are Cooley-Tukey type algorithms based on the Good-Thomas factorization derived from the Kronecker product structure of the GF-transform matrices. These algorithms are good for reducing the number of operations in Central Processing Unit (CPU) implementations. When implemented over Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), the address arithmetic becomes an important factor determining the efficiency of the implementations, due to the differences between the CPU and GPU based architectures and the corresponding programming philosophies. In this paper, we define the constant geometry algorithms for computing the coefficients in GF-expressions by an analogy with the corresponding algorithms in Fourier analysis on finite Abelian groups. We performed an experimental verification of the proposed algorithms compared to the Cooley-Tukey algorithms over two GPU platforms (Nvidia and AMD) and two programming environments (CUDA and OpenCL) with the corresponding CPU implementations. The speedup achieved by constant geometry algorithms increases with the number of variables and, therefore, the constant geometry algorithms are more advantageous in the case of functions with a larger number of variables.