Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kidneys with heavy proteinuria show fibrosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress, but no tubular phenotypic change.

BACKGROUND Sustained proteinuria is a major factor leading to kidney fibrosis and end-stage renal failure. Tubular epithelial cells are believed to play a crucial role in this process by producing mediators leading to fibrosis and inflammation. Congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type (NPHS1) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in a podocyte protein nephrin, which leads to constant heavy proteinuria from birth. In this work we studied the tubulointerstitial changes that occur in NPHS1 kidneys during infancy. METHODS The pathologic lesions and expression of profibrotic and proinflammatory factors in nephrectomized NPHS1 kidneys were studied by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and cytokine antibody array. Oxidative stress in kidneys was assessed by measurement of gluthatione redox state. RESULTS The results indicated that (1) severe tubulointerstitial lesions developed in NPHS1 kidneys during infancy; (2) tubular epithelial cells did not show transition into myofibroblasts as studied by the expression of vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA), collagen, and matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP-2 and -9); (3) the most abundant chemokines in NPHS1 tissue were neutrophil activating protein-2 (NAP-2), macrophage inhibiting factor (MIF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1); (4) monocyte/macrophage cells expressing CD14 antigen were the major inflammatory cells invading the interstitium; (5) the arteries and arterioles showed intimal hypertrophy, but the microvasculature in NPHS1 kidneys remained quite normal; and (6) excessive oxidative stress was evident in NPHS1 kidneys. CONCLUSION Heavy proteinuria in NPHS1 kidneys was associated with interstitial fibrosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress. The tubular epithelial cells, however, were resistant to proteinuria and did not show epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Characterization of the Human Prolyl 4-Hydroxylases That Modify the Hypoxia-inducible Factor*

The hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) play a central role in oxygen homeostasis. Hydroxylation of one or two critical prolines by specific hydroxylases (P4Hs) targets their HIF-α subunits for proteasomal degradation. By studying the three human HIF-P4Hs, we found that the longest and shortest isoenzymes have major transcripts encoding inactive polypeptides, which suggest novel regulation by alternative splicing. Recombinant HIF-P4Hs expressed in insect cells required peptides of more than 8 residues, distinct differences being found between isoenzymes. All the HIF-P4Hs hydroxylated peptides corresponding to Pro564 in HIF-1α, whereas a Pro402 peptide had 20–50-fold Km values for two isoenzymes but was not hydroxylated by the shortest isoenzyme at all; this difference was not explained by the two prolines being in a -Pro402-Ala- and -Pro564-Tyr-sequence. All the HIF-P4Hs-hydroxylated peptides corresponding to two of three potential sites in HIF-2α and one in HIF-3α. The Km values for O2 were slightly above its atmospheric concentration, indicating that the HIF-P4Hs are effective oxygen sensors. Small molecule inhibitors of collagen P4Hs also inhibited the HIF-P4Hs, but with distinctly different Ki values, indicating that it should be possible to develop specific inhibitors for each class of P4Hs and possibly even for the individual HIF-P4Hs.
Application of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change for identifying older clients’ readiness for hearing rehabilitation during history-taking in audiology appointments

Abstract Objectives: The transtheoretical model (TTM) of behaviour change focuses on clients’ readiness for adopting new health behaviours. This study explores how clients’ readiness for change can be identified through their interactions with audiologists during history-taking in initial appointments; and whether clients’ readiness has consequences for the rehabilitation decisions they make within the initial appointment. Design: Conversation analysis (CA) was used to examine video-recorded initial audiology appointments with older adults with hearing impairment. Study sample: The data corpus involved 62 recorded appointments with 26 audiologists and their older adult clients (aged 55+ years). Companions were present in 17 appointments. Results: Clients’ readiness for change could be observed through their interaction with the audiologist. Analysis demonstrated that the way clients described their hearing in the history-taking phase had systematic consequences for how they responded to rehabilitation recommendations (in particular, hearing aids) in the management phase of the appointment. In particular, clients identified as being in a pre-contemplation stage-of-change were more likely to display resistance to a recommendation of hearing aids (80% declined). Conclusions: The transtheoretical model of behaviour change can be useful for helping audiologists individualize management planning to be congruent with individual clients’ needs, attitudes, desires, and psychological readiness for action in order to optimize clients’ hearing outcomes.
Vertical Specialisation and Regional Trade Integration: A Study on Italy and Northern African Countries

This paper uses a multistage approach to investigate the role of Italy in the Northern African countries, both in terms of trade and investment. In particular, we show that Italian import flows for two typically Made in Italy industries, namely textile and clothing on one hand, and leather and footwear on the other hand, are strongly related not only to export flows of the same sector, but also to a set of variables capturing features of the Italian and the foreign country. In this way, we supply a first result supporting the hypothesis of an international fragmentation of production. To offer this outcome additional strength, we endow the present contribution with information on the attractiveness of the Northern African countries, looking at the volume of inward FDI flows and stocks, but with no industry disaggregation, due to data unavailability. Although we start from a global perspective, we rapidly shift to consider only the Italian investments in the area, with a breakdown by outward region. Thanks to the availability of a detailed dataset made available by the Bank of Italy, we are able to provide further evidence on the Italian internationalisation in the North of Africa. Indeed, our second result highlights the remarkable heterogeneity across countries and the emergence of the major role played by Tunisia.
Experience and the distribution of portfolio payoffs in the European Commission

This article tests four theories of portfolio distribution within the European Commission and assesses whether experience plays a role in the process of allocating policy responsibilities. The share of portfolios that each Member State is assigned, through its Commissioners, is strongly related to its resources and voting power, as predicted by the proportionality norm and bargaining theory, respectively. Additionally, Member States with Commissioners that have experience in the relevant portfolios are assigned shares that are significantly above what one may expect from these two theories. For half of the portfolios, Commissioners have moderate views along the dimension of the policy they manage, but appointed Commissioners also have significantly more experience in both supranational portfolios and similar national portfolios than the median Commissioner. The difference in experience in supranational and, more weakly, national portfolios significantly accounts for the difference in preference between the appointed and the median Commissioner. Finally, salience matters as well. Left/right leaning Commissioners are significantly more likely to be assigned portfolios with a left-wing/right-wing ideological profile, but this strong relation disappears for Commissioners with above average experience in the Commission, in the relevant supranational portfolios or in national governments.
Forecasting Zero-Inflated Price Changes with a Markov Switching Mixture Model for Autoregressive and Heteroscedastic Time Series

The weekly changes in prices of several German milk-based commodities exhibit not only traditional patterns such as mean dependence and volatility clustering, but also a high frequency of zero changes that cannot be explained by well-known ARIMA-GARCH models. We therefore develop a new mixture model which combines the elements of zero-inflated models that are common in microeconometrics and intermittent demand forecasting with a traditional ARIMA(1,1,0)-GARCH(1,1) model. We describe the model components, the data generation processes, the maximum likelihood estimation techniques, and the generation of forecasting distributions and point forecasts by resampling techniques. The model is applied to a low frequency weekly time series of skimmed whey powder (SWP). Competing submodels are compared using the Akaike information criterion (AIC). Furthermore, in addition to the evaluation of the out-of-sample forecasting performance, several coverage and independence tests are also computed.
Agendas and instability in American politics

When "Agendas and Instability in American Politics" appeared fifteen years ago, offering a profoundly original account of how policy issues rise and fall on the national agenda, the "Journal of Politics" predicted that it would 'become a landmark study of public policy making and American politics'. That prediction proved true, and in this long-awaited second edition, Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones refine their influential argument and expand it to illuminate the workings of democracies beyond the United States. The authors retain all the substance of their contention that short-term, single-issue analysis cast public policy too narrowly as the result of cozy and dependable arrangements among politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones provide a different interpretation by taking the long view of several issues - including nuclear energy, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safety - to demonstrate that bursts of rapid, unpredictable policy change punctuate the patterns of stability more frequently associated with government. Featuring a new introduction and two additional chapters, this updated edition ensures that their findings will remain a touchstone of policy studies for many years to come.
Gaussian Process Robust Regression for Noisy Heart Rate Data

Heart rate data collected during nonlaboratory conditions present several data-modeling challenges. First, the noise in such data is often poorly described by a simple Gaussian; it has outliers and errors come in bursts. Second, in large-scale studies the ECG waveform is usually not recorded in full, so one has to deal with missing information. In this paper, we propose a robust postprocessing model for such applications. Our model to infer the latent heart rate time series consists of two main components: unsupervised clustering followed by Bayesian regression. The clustering component uses auxiliary data to learn the structure of outliers and noise bursts. The subsequent Gaussian process regression model uses the cluster assignments as prior information and incorporates expert knowledge about the physiology of the heart. We apply the method to a wide range of heart rate data and obtain convincing predictions along with uncertainty estimates. In a quantitative comparison with existing postprocessing methodology, our model achieves a significant increase in performance.
Dopamine modulates sodium-dependent aldosterone responses to angiotensin II in humans.

Studies have shown that dopamine inhibits angiotensin II (AII)-induced aldosterone secretion in bovine adrenal cells in vitro, but does not alter aldosterone responses to AII in sodium-replete normal humans. We investigated six normal men with plasma cortisol concentrations less than 2 micrograms/dl during oral administration of dexamethasone 0.5 mg every 6 hours for 2 days and in balance at 10 mEq sodium/day intake (UNa V 22 +/- 5 mEq/24 hr). The subjects received either dopamine 4 micrograms/kg/min or vehicle intravenously (i.v.) for 270 minutes on 2 consecutive days. After 120 minutes of dopamine infusion, AII was given in cumulative doses of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 6 pmol/kg/min i.v. , each dose for 30 minutes. Control plasma aldosterone concentrations before vehicle or dopamine were 12 +/- 2 (mean +/- 1 SE) and 15 +/- 3 ng/dl, respectively. Aldosterone responses to AII were greater with vehicle than dopamine at AII doses of 4 and 6 pmol/kg/min (p less than 0.02). The slope of the AII-aldosterone dose-response curve was steeper with vehicle (0.36) than with dopamine (0.13), p less than 0.0001. Plasma renin activity and serum potassium concentrations were similar with vehicle and dopamine. Dopamine inhibits AII-induced aldosterone secretion during sodium deficiency in humans.
Incidence of Cardiac Arrhythmia in Chronic Cor Pulmonale with Special Reference to its Etiology

Objective: to evaluate the incidence of cardiac arrhythmia in chronic cor pulmonale and to focus on the contributing etiological factors. Material & Methods: 35 cases of chronic cor pulmonale were thoroughly examined for the presence of arrhythmia. After recording history & physical examination blood was collected for various investigations like serum potassium, blood urea, blood volume and ABG study before and after the development of arrhythmia. Along with this X-ray & ECG were done in every case. Results: incidence of cardiac arrhythmia among all cor pulmonale patients was found to be 20% of which supraventricular ectopic beats was the most common. Respiratory infection may be thought to be the major factor in the development of congestive heart failure & different cardiac dysarrhythmia. Besides this, not a single possible factor has been found to be associated with cardiac arrhythmia. Conclusion: cor pulmonale has a low incidence in this part of country. Not a single factor associated with cardiac arrhythmia could be found out except pulmonary infection. Further studies are required in this field on a larger number of patients. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/ajms.v5i1. 8393 Asian Journal of Medical Science Vol.5(1) 2014 pp.15-19
Investing in Localized Relationships with Universities: What are the Benefits for R&D Subsidiaries of Multinational Enterprises?

In spite of a long‐standing interest in the distribution of knowledge spillovers from university research, there is only limited theoretical understanding of if and when opportunities to interact with a research university constitute a significant force of attraction for globally mobile investment in R&D. Based on an empirical investigation of the benefits of interaction with universities, this paper proposes an analytical framework and four ideal types of strategy for localised collaboration between R&D subsidiaries and universities. This taxonomy, which largely transcends industry sectors, and the illustrative cases presented in this paper provide insights into the potential scope for localised university‐industry interaction from the perspective of multinational enterprises. By connecting the empirical results to the question whether these benefits are significant enough to enhance a region's attractiveness as a location for R&D, we are able to develop a better understanding of the alternative strategies for policymakers and university leaders interested in stimulating such linkages.
On the Foundations of Hysteresis in Economic Systems

Hysteresis means literally “that which comes later,” being derived from the Greek verb ύστερέω. Thus, hysteresis effects, generally defined, are those that persist after the initial causes giving rise to the effects are removed. During the course of the 1980s, it became increasingly fashionable to invoke hysteresis effects to explain economic phenomena. Two of the main areas of application were to unemployment and international trade. In the case of unemployment, distinctive features of labor markets, such as social norms that rule out wage-cutting in the face of rising unemployment, imply that “increases in unemployment have a direct impact on the ‘natural’ rate of unemployment” (Blanchard and Summers, 1988, p. 15). The implication for macroeconomic systems is that “temporary shocks can have a permanent effect on the level of employment” (Ibid., p. 307). In the case of international trade, hysteresis effects arise from the industrial economics of sunk costs: “the argument is that firms must incur sunk costs to enter new markets, and cannot recoup these costs if they exit. … thus foreign firms that entered the U.S. market when the dollar was high do not abandon their sunk cost investments when the dollar falls. ” The implication for trade flows is “an effect which persists after the cause that brought it about has been removed” (Dixit, 1989, p. 205).
Intracellular recording from cells of the ventral spinocerebellar tract

There is an extensive literature on the properties of spinal motoneurones as investigated by the technique of intracellular recording. Especially favourable conditions have been provided by the ease of their identification by antidromic and orthodromic stimulation and by their remarkable tolerance to penetration by the micro-electrodes. Other types of spinal neurones have been much less studied. This paper presents an extensive investigation of the properties of the cells of origin of the ventral spinocerebellar tract (VSCT). The VSCT neurones which have connexions with afferents in the hind limbs are located in the lumbar segments of the cat spinal cord, the cells of origin extending further caudally than the cells of the dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DSCT) constituting Clarke's column (Oscarsson, 1957 b). The VSCT cells send their axons across the spinal cord (Oscarsson, 1957 b; Hubbard & Oscarsson, 1961) to ascend in the superficial region of the ventrolateral and ventral funiculi (see Yoss, 1953). The properties of the VSCT are known from investigations performed with recording the mass discharge from the whole tract (Oscarsson, 1956, 1960) and with intra-axonal recording from the ascending fibres (Oscarsson, 1957 a). VSCT neurones are monosynaptically activated by ipsilateral (i.e. contralateral in respect to the ascending fibres) Group I muscle afferents and strongly inhibited by Group II and III muscle afferents and by skin and high-threshold joint afferents (Oscarsson, 1957 a). Effects of adequate stimulation of receptors have been studied in the spinal (Oscarsson, 1957 a) and recently in the decerebrate (Oscarsson, 1960) preparation. The transmission to VSCT neurones is subject to control from several supraspinal systems, as has been described in recent papers (Holmqvist, Lundberg & Oscarsson, 1960a, b; Oscarsson, 1960; Magni & Oscarsson, unpublished). For the present investigation it is of special interest that all or almost all neurones with contralaterally ascending axons and ipsilateral mono-
ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO SUCCESS IN A PARASITE COMMUNITY: WITHIN‐HOST COMPETITION CAN FAVOR HIGHER VIRULENCE OR DIRECT INTERFERENCE

Selection imposed by coinfection may vary with the mechanism of within‐host competition between parasites. Exploitative competition is predicted to favor more virulent parasites, whereas interference competition may result in lower virulence. Here, we examine whether exploitative or interference competition determines the outcome of competition between two nematode species (Steinernema spp.), which in combination with their bacterial symbionts (Xenorhabdus spp.), infect and kill insect hosts. Multiple isolates of each nematode species, carrying their naturally associated bacteria, were characterized by (1) the rate at which they killed insect hosts, and by (2) the ability of their bacteria to interfere with each other's growth via bacteriocidal toxins called “bacteriocins. ” We found that both exploitative and interference abilities were important in predicting which species had a selective advantage in pairwise competition experiments. When nematodes carried bacteria that did not interact via bacteriocins, the faster killing isolate had a competitive advantage. Alternatively, nematodes could gain a competitive advantage when they carried bacteria able to inhibit the bacteria of their competitor. Thus, the combination of nematode/bacterial traits that led to competitive success depended on which isolates were paired, suggesting that variation in competitive interactions may be important for maintaining species diversity in this community.
A Three-Year Participant Observation of Software Startup Software Evolution

This paper presents a three-year participant observation in which the author acted as CTO of a software startup, spanning more than 9,000 hours of direct experience. The author's emails and diary reflections were analyzed and synthesized into a set of nine claims about software engineering work. These claims help shape software engineering research, practice, and education by provoking new questions about what makes software engineering difficult.
The Effect of Voluntary Sell-off Announcements on Shareholder Wealth

Sell-off activities arise when a firm sells part of its assets (e.g., a segment, a division, etc.) but continues to exist in essentially the same form. This study investigates the effect of voluntary sell-offs on stock returns. From a sample of over 1000 sell-off events (first public announcements), the evidence shows that both sellers and buyers earn significant positive excess returns from these transactions. The excess returns earned by buyers are smaller than those earned by sellers. There is also evidence that sell-off announcements are preceded by a period of significant negative returns for the sellers which suggests that the sellers, on average, performed poorly prior to their sell-off activities. SUBSTANTIAL RESEARCH HAS BEEN undertaken in recent years on mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, capital structure changes, and other financial planning topics. This research has considerably expanded our knowledge about the association of these decisions with the welfare of the stockholders involved in these transactions. ' Selling a portion of the firm's assets is another important financial planning decision.2 This paper investigates the effect of voluntary sell-off announcements on shareholder wealth. A sell-off is defined as selling part of a firm's assets (e.g., a segment, a division, etc.), while the firm continues to exist in essentially the same form as that prior to the sell-off. This study does not examine the effects of involuntary (ordered by the government) sell-offs and other similar activities such as spin-offs, leveraged buy-outs, liquidations, reorganizations, etc.3
Impairment of assets disclosure by public listed companies in Malaysia

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the disclosure of assets impairment by Malaysian public companies and the compliance to FRS 136 impairment of assets. The study also tries to identify the demographical characteristics of companies who were affected by the adoption of this standard. 100 companies which recognised impairment loss for the year 2003 were selected as our sample and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Our study revealed that the compliance to the disclosure requirements as per FRS 136 was unsatisfactory, except for two main requirements which were disclosing amount in the income statement and the nature of assets. The study also documented that property, plant and equipment (PPE) represent the highest tendency of non-current assets subjected to impairment loss. Indeed, the analysis also revealed that companies which poses large amount of PPE recognised high impairment loss than companies that carry small size of PPE.