Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sirolimus induced dyslipidemia in tacrolimus based vs. tacrolimus free immunosuppressive regimens in renal transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND Sirolimus is a potent immunosuppressive drug that has been shown to decrease the incidence of rejection post renal transplantation. Dyslipidemia is a well recognized side effect of sirolimus therapy, which may have an impact on patient survival and post-transplant cardiac morbidity and mortality. It is unknown whether sirolimus-induced dyslipidemia is aggravated by concomitant use of tacrolimus which may also affect lipid profile. To compare sirolimus induced dyslipidemia in tacrolimus based vs. tacrolimus free regimens in renal transplant recipients. MATERIAL/METHODS Patients who received sirolimus post kidney transplantation for at least nine sequential months were included in our retrospective study. Forty-eight renal transplant recipients were divided into 2 groups based on the immunosuppressive regimen; Group 1 received prednisone, sirolimus and mycophenolate mofetil, while Group 2 received prednisone, sirolimus, mycophanolate mofetil and tacrolimus. Lipid profile was assessed pre-transplantation and at one, three, six and nine months post sirolimus therapy. RESULTS Both groups showed significant but comparable elevation in total cholesterol, LDL-C and triglycerides with sirolimus therapy. The elevation was evident starting from the first month of sirolimus administration and remained to the ninth month at the end of the follow up period. At first month, mean triglycerides was 2.68 and 2.6 mmol/L (P>0.1) and mean total cholesterol was 6.3 and 5.7 mmol/L in group 1 and 2 (P>0.1); respectively. By the ninth month, triglycerides level was 2.6 and 3.9 mmol/L (P>0.1) while mean total cholesterol level was 6.2 and 6.1 mmol/L (P>0.1) in group 1 and 2 respectively. Lipid-lowering agents and total steroids dose were similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS Hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia secondary to sirolimus therapy is independent from concomitant tacrolimus use. Lipid-profile should be monitored in all renal transplant recipients receiving sirolimus as early as first month regardless of the immunosuppressive regimen used.
Green technologies and the protracted end to the age of oil: A strategic analysis

This paper considers competition between an oil exporter depleting and selling an exhaustible resource, and an oil importer able to gradually lower the cost of substitutes. RD technological development will eventually be hastened to leave more of the oil locked underground. Novel numerical methods for solving PDEs are introduced into a dierential game context.
Testing for the Effects of Concealed Weapons Laws: Specification Errors and Robustness*

In 1997, John Lott and David Mustard published an important paper in which they found that right‐to‐carry concealed weapons laws reduce violent crime. Although Lott and Mustard appear to do all possible variations of the analysis, a closer reading reveals that the study might suffer from several possibly important errors. I reestimate the model and check for incorrect functional form, omitted variables, and possible second‐order bias in the t‐ratios. Lott and Mustard's basic conclusions are generally robust with respect to these potential econometric problems. Overall, right‐to‐carry concealed weapons laws tend to reduce violent crime. The effect on property crime is more uncertain. I find evidence that these laws also reduce burglary.
Activation and recruitment of neutrophil leukocytes

The "immunological homunculus" and the "connectivity Rngerprint" It is our conviction that, if autoimmune pathology represents a deviation of physiological autoreactivity. and the latter is reflected in the repertoires of natural serum antibodies, it should be possible in principle to detect such alterations before the pathological process has led to irreversible damage of the target tissues or functions. We have therefore invested a considerable effort into the development of techniques that would provide us with global analyses of the serum antibody repertoires. This required the utilisation of large panels of antigens (several hundreds of homologous and heterologous proteins), automatic data processing, and the application of multiparametric statistics. In parallel, we have attempted to develop techniques for the quantitative description of the connectivity of serum antibodies to a normal and representative set of V-regions. The results of the observations so far conducted in humans, rats and mice indicate that natural IgM and IgG antibody repertoires are stringently selected from the available repertoires in the same individuals. Furthermore, beyond the genetic heterogeneity in the populations analysed, there is a striking conservation in the autoantibody reactivity patterns of adult individuals in the same species, which is almost complete in the newbom stage. The set of antigens recognised thus defines an "immunological homunculus" which is the distorted "representation" of the molecular self-composition by the normal immune system. In contrast, natural antibody reactivities towards heterologous antigens are more variable between individuals, a variability which increases with age. This supports the notion that the immune system starts by the expression of a "programmed" set of genes that encode self-reactive antibodies, which represent the most "selected" set of reactivities throughout life. Interestingly, the analyses of sera from donors afflicted by several autoimmune conditions reveal characteristic alterations in the global pattems. such that these methods may well provide the means for their diagnosis and follow-up.
A Quantitive Assessment of the Qualitative Aspects of Chairman Greenspan's Communications

A manifestation of the Federal Reserve Board's increased transparency has been Chairman Greenspan's method of communication. The purpose of this paper is to establish the positive aspects of his speeches, testimonies and FOMC statements on financial market variables. This analysis is undertaken using daily data since the middle of 1999, that is the period after which the FOMC provided statements after every FOMC meeting. Using content analysis, we calculate for each communication a measure of its certainty, pessimism, optimism, activity, immediacy and jargon. We then include these variables in standard regression to see if these language variables can help to forecast movements in financial market variables. We find that Chairman Greenspan's language does indeed forecast movements in financial market variables at the same day and 10 day horizons. In particular, FOMC statements contribute substantially to help predict same day and 10 day variation in these measures, though testimonies also contribute to predicting movements at the 10 day horizon. We conclude by arguing that given the given our evidence that Chairman's language predicts movements in the federal funds futures rates and Treasury forward rates, that this is consistent with the beneficial goals from enhanced central bank communications
Low-loss polyimide-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/-SiO/sub 2/ hybrid ARROW waveguides

A low-loss polyimide-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/-SiO/sub 2/ hybrid antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) is presented. The ARROW device was fabricated using both the organic and dielectric thin-film technologies. It consists of the fluorinated polyimide, tantalum pentoxide (Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/), and silicon dioxide (SiO/sub 2/) hybrid layers deposited on a Si substrate. For transverse electric polarized light, the propagation loss of the waveguide as low as 0.4 dB/cm was obtained at 1.31 /spl mu/m. The propagation loss for transverse magnetic polarized light is 1.5 dB/cm. An ARROW waveguide fabricated using the polyimide-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/-polyimide material system is also presented for comparison.
Antibodies to human herpesvirus 8 latent and lytic antigens in blood donors and potential high‐risk groups in Sweden: Variable frequencies found in a multicenter serological study

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV‐8) is a herpesvirus associated with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). An immunofluorescence assay was used for detection of IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies against lytic and latent HHV‐8 antigens to analyse samples from KS patients (n = 8), healthy blood donors (n = 162), individuals with a high risk sexual behaviour (n = 114), and bone marrow transplant patients (with high risk for bloodborne infections) (n = 34) in Sweden. Of the KS patients, 88% had IgG antibodies to both lytic and latent antigens by immunofluorescence. In all other groups, antilatent antibodies were rare (0–2.6%). IgG antibodies to the lytic antigens were found, by immunofluorescence, in 20% of the blood donors, 31% of the high risk patients, and in 24 and 29% of the bone marrow transplant patients (pre‐ and post‐transplant samples, respectively). For verification of the specificity of the anti‐lytic antibodies, 170 of the samples were also tested blindly at different laboratories world‐wide with five other assays shown previously to detect HHV‐8 antibodies in most KS patients. By using two recombinant HHV‐8 proteins (ORF65/vp17 and K8.1/gp 35‐37) in ELISA, a whole‐virion ELISA and two immunofluorescence assays confirmation of the reactivity against lytic viral antigens was sought. The comparison of the different methods suggested the K8.1 ELISA to be highly specific and also showed a good agreement between two of the immunofluorescence assays. However, generally there was a poor correlation for positive results, indicating the need of further methodological development. J. Med. Virol. 62:498–504, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Role of Electronic Services in Transformational Government: A Unified Services Theory Perspective and Implications for Trust

A major difficulty in deriving practical managerial insights from the transformational government perspective is that in the existing literature ‘transformation’ is usually expressed in terms of desirable qualities rather than concrete transformation of structures and processes. Although it is possible to address transformational government issues from diverse areas such as Customer Relationship Management, Business Process Management, Management of Information Systems, and so forth, the adoption of an integrative theoretical basis that could accommodate different perspectives around ‘service’, the core subject of interest, would certainly facilitate generation of useful managerial insights and approaches in the area. The main purpose of this conceptual paper is to fill this gap by presenting a Unified Services Theory (UST) perspective of issues concerning the development of electronic services in the transformational government area. The paper will focus upon customer orientation and process standardisation issues.
Benefits and costs to China of a climate policy

In future agreements to cut greenhouse gases, a Chinese commitment will probably be essential. Committing for China is easier if the cost is low and the benefit to China is high. Using a new CGE-model of the Chinese economy we discuss the cost and benefit to China of taking on a climate commitment. We argue that a climate commitment gives significant ancillary benefits to China since associated particle and NOx-reductions improve public health and increase agricultural yields. The model of impact on agricultural yields is a novel feature of CGE-models. Comparing benefits to economic costs produces striking results. We find that China may reduce its CO2-emissions by 17.5 per cent without suffering a welfare loss. Half of the benefit originates in the novel agricultural model. We also discuss the distributional impact of a climate commitment. In general the distributional impact is not averse.
A reappraisal of adult thoracic and abdominal surface anatomy via CT scan in Chinese population

Accurate surface anatomy is essential for safe clinical practice. There are numerous inconsistencies in clinically important surface markings among and within contemporary anatomical reference texts. The aim of this study was to investigate key thoracic and abdominal surface anatomy landmarks in living Chinese adults using computed tomography (CT). A total of 100 thoracic and 100 abdominal CT scans were examined. Our results indicated that the following key surface landmarks differed from current commonly–accepted descriptions: the positions of the tracheal bifurcation, azygos vein termination, and pulmonary trunk bifurcation (all below the plane of the sternal angle at vertebral level T5–T6 in most individuals); the superior vena cava formation and junction with the right atrium (most often behind the 1st and 4th intercostal spaces, respectively); and the level at which the inferior vena cava and esophagus traverse the diaphragm (T10 and T11, respectively). The renal arteries were most commonly at L1; the midpoint of the renal hila was most frequently at L2; the 11th rib was posterior to the left kidney in only 29% of scans; and the spleen was most frequently located between the 10th and 12th ribs. A number of significant sex‐ and age‐related differences were noted. The Chinese population was also compared with western populations on the basis of published reports. Reappraisal of surface anatomy using modern imaging tools in vivo will provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence to facilitate the clinical application of these key surface landmarks. Clin. Anat. 29:165–174, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Two mitogenic regions of myelin basic protein interact with different receptors to induce Schwann cell proliferation in a cAMP dependent process

Previous studies have shown that myelin basic protein (MBP) is mitogenic for Schwann cells (SCs) in the presence of elevated intracellular cAMP. Two mitogenic regions of MBP have been identified: one mitogenic region within the first 44 residues of the aminoterminus (1–44) and the other mitogenic region within the terminal 15 residues of the carboxyl end of the molecule (152–167). Unlike the mitogenic effect of a myelin enriched fraction (MEF), the mitogenic effect of MBP was not reduced by the addition of the lysosomal inhibitor, ammonium chloride. These data indicate that MBP causes SC proliferation by direct interaction of MBP with a surface receptor. Using Scatchard analysis of the binding of MBP to SCs, we report that treatment with forskolin does not cause the upregulation of receptors for MBP. Moreover, MBP blocks the cross‐linking of 125I‐bFGF with two fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors having apparent molecular weights of 140 kDa and 120 kDa, respectively. Since neither TGF‐β nor PDGFBB displaced cell surface bound 125I‐MBP, we conclude that MBP binds to the FGF receptor rather than other growth factor receptors. Furthermore, only MBP1–44 interacted with ganglioside GM1, whereas MBP152–167 did not interact with this ganglioside. These results are consistent with the view that ganglioside GM1 mediates the mitogenic effects of MBP1–44, while the FGF receptor mediates the mitogenic effect of MBP152–67. Intracellular cAMP of SCs was transiently increased after the addition of macrophage conditioned medium, suggesting that macrophages may produce factors in vivo which can transiently elevate intracellular cAMP levels, allowing a wave of SC proliferation in response to MBP‐related mitogens. ©1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Emerging Economies’ Attraction of Foreign Direct Investment

This paper uses a composite measure to examine why some countries attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) than others. The measure considers all identified, measurable, and comparable socioeconomic aspects that affect FDI decisions on an aggregated country level. As a result, we can rank 127 countries with respect to their FDI attraction. The measure allows detailed strength and weakness analyses and enhances the discussion of why FDI flows are concentrated in advanced economies. Additionally, the findings reveal the areas in which emerging countries should improve in order to narrow existing gaps. Our robustness checks indicate that the composite measure accurately tracks real FDI activity.
Digital assessment of MRI for lumbar disc desiccation. A comparison of digital versus subjective assessments and digital intensity profiles versus discogram and macroanatomic findings.

During magnetic resonance imaging, a vast amount of digital data on anatomic structures is translated into images, which are then assessed subjectively. The development of an objective, sensitive method to directly assess the digital data would have clear benefits, particularly for clinical research on disc degeneration. The study goals were to develop a method of digital assessment of disc desiccation and to compare digital signal intensity profiles with discographic patterns and macroanatomic findings. Proton density-weighted MRIs were obtained from 45 males (9-77 years) and digital analysis was done with a freely selectable region of interest facility. The adjacent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was used as a reference for disc signal-intensity scores, and the disc to CSF-intensity ratio provided "adjusted digital scores. " The CSF-adjusted digital method yielded reproducible scores that correlated with the subjective assessments. However, the CSF-adjusted digital scores were more sensitive than the subjective assessments, identifying findings that otherwise were undetected in younger subjects. Additionally, 10 cadaveric spines were evaluated using MRI with T2 and proton density-weighted sequences, discography, and macroanatomic dissection. MRI disc-intensity profiles were determined along a midsagittal line drawn through the disc. The profile of the digital scores along this line was then compared with discograms and macroanatomic sections. In all cases of disc degeneration on discograms, changes were present in the intensity profile. Based on both the living subjects and the cadaveric specimens, the digital assessments and disc intensity profiles appear to demonstrate disc degeneration, particularly in early stages.
HIV‐1 infection of non‐dividing cells: evidence that the amino‐terminal basic region of the viral matrix protein is important for Gag processing but not for post‐entry nuclear import

Human immunodeficiency virus type‐1 (HIV‐1) is able to infect non‐dividing cells such as tissue macrophages productively because post‐entry viral nucleoprotein complexes are specifically imported into the nucleus in the absence of mitosis. Although it has been proposed that an amino‐terminal region of the viral matrix (MA, p17Gag) protein harbors a basic‐type nuclear localization sequence (NLS) that contributes to this process, utilization of three distinct nuclear import assays failed to provide any direct supporting evidence. Instead, we found that disruption of this region (26KK→TT) reduces the rate at which the viral Gag polyprotein (p55Gag) is post‐translationally processed by the viral protease. Consistent with the fact that appropriate proteolytic processing is essential for efficient viral growth in all cell types, we also show that the 26KK→TT MA mutation is equivalently deleterious to the replication of a primary macrophage‐tropic viral isolate in cultures of non‐dividing and dividing cells. Taken together, these observations suggest that proteins other than MA supply the NLS(s) that enable HIV‐1 to infect non‐dividing cells.
The innovation diffusion paradox in the light of ‘shop-floor games’ and micro-politics

In the literature on workplace innovation or organizational innovation, the concept of high-performance work systems (HPWS) has gained a prominent position. Theoretical and empirical evidence supports the argument that HPWS and their innovative workplace practices can increase firms’ performance. However, several studies have shown that, surprisingly, these practices are only infrequently adopted. Drawing insights from labour process theory and by using an in-depth qualitative approach, this article sheds light on this innovation diffusion paradox. It demonstrates how the realm of micro-politics and related conflicts, resistance and factory games affect the introduction of new practices in two Finnish factories.
Animal models of sports‐related head injury: bridging the gap between pre‐clinical research and clinical reality

Sports‐related head impact and injury has become a very highly contentious public health and medico‐legal issue. Near‐daily news accounts describe the travails of concussed athletes as they struggle with depression, sleep disorders, mood swings, and cognitive problems. Some of these individuals have developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. Animal models have always been an integral part of the study of traumatic brain injury in humans but, historically, they have concentrated on acute, severe brain injuries. This review will describe a small number of new and emerging animal models of sports‐related head injury that have the potential to increase our understanding of how multiple mild head impacts, starting in adolescence, can have serious psychiatric, cognitive and histopathological outcomes much later in life.
Global Economic Crisis and Tourism: Consequences and Perspectives

The International Academy for the Study of Tourism convened a session on global economic crisis and tourism during its 20th anniversary conference in Mallorca, Spain, in June 2009. Three articles featuring on the impacts of economic downturn on tourism in Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and North America have resulted and appeared in this issue of the Journal of Travel Research. This summary aims at an integrated discussion on the consequences and perspectives on the global economic crisis and tourism. The prospects of world tourism for the years to come are also reflected.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

We often mistake success as the outcome of skill, perseverance, and the application of knowledge, while it happens in all walks of life, that is, in business or politics; it is much more prevalent in stock market trading and investments. We attribute the personal wealth of investors to the application of their skillful analytical abilities based on formulaedriven and technically sound analysis. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a Mathematics Professor, an Ivy League education and options trader, in his book, 'Fooled by Randomness' demonstrates a wondrous insight into the share markets, emphasizes disguised luck which can often be mistaken for skill and knowledge.
SMEs innovation and growth in EU

Abstract: The focus of this paper is the analysis of the most important factors for SMEs’ performance, survival and growth in EU. The main objective is to consider what determines the potential failure of young companies to innovate and grow. The importance of new, young and thus often still small firms for innovations and growth is commonly claimed. Therefore, factors that would inhibit these small, young companies to achieve their goals can have a huge public impact. The research results show that the age of the firm (which reflects its reputation) is important to the degree to which the firm feels financially constrained. Also, finance barriers can be associated with the market failure. Risk and informational asymmetries create capital market imperfections and a firm’s lack of reputation and collateral become crucial elements. Conclusions reveal that the ability of SMEs to grow depends highly on their potential to invest in restructuring, innovation and qualification. All of these investments require capital and therefore access to finance. Recent policy initiatives aim at improving the financial environment for European entrepreneurial activity and more specifically to support newly-founded innovative firms in order to increase their global competitiveness and spur innovation. Key words: SMEs, financing, innovation, growth.