Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deletion of Nonstructural Proteins NS1 and NS2 from Pneumonia Virus of Mice Attenuates Viral Replication and Reduces Pulmonary Cytokine Expression and Disease

ABSTRACT Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) strain 15 causes fatal pneumonia in mice and provides a convenient model for human respiratory syncytial virus pathogenesis and immunobiology. We prepared PVM mutants lacking the genes for nonstructural proteins NS1 and/or NS2. In Vero cells, which lack type I interferon (IFN), deletion of these proteins had no effect on the efficiency of virus growth. In IFN-competent mouse embryo fibroblasts, wild-type (wt) PVM and the ΔNS1 virus grew efficiently and strongly inhibited the IFN response, whereas virus lacking NS2 was highly attenuated and induced high levels of IFN and IFN-inducible genes. In BALB/c mice, intranasal infection with wt PVM caused overt disease that began on day 6 and was lethal by day 9 postinoculation. In comparison, ΔNS1 induced transient, reduced disease, and ΔNS2 and ΔNS12 caused no disease. Thus, NS1 and NS2 are virulence factors, with NS2 being a major antagonist of the type I IFN system. The pulmonary titers of wt PVM and ΔNS1 were high on day 3 and increased further by day 6; in addition, expression of IFN and representative proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and T lymphocyte-related cytokines was undetectable on day 3 but increased dramatically by day 6 coincident with the onset of disease. The titers of ΔNS2 and ΔNS12 were somewhat lower on day 3 and decreased further by day 6; in addition, these viruses induced a more circumscribed set of cytokines/chemokines (IFN, interleukin-6 [IL-6], and CXCL10) that were detected on day 3 and had largely subsided by day 6. Lung immunohistology revealed abundant PVM-positive pneumocytes and bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells in wt PVM- and ΔNS1-infected mice on day 6 compared to few PVM-positive foci with ΔNS2 and ΔNS12. These results indicate that severe PVM disease is associated with high, poorly controlled virus replication driving the expression of high levels of pulmonary IFN and a broad array of cytokines/chemokines. In contrast, in the absence of NS2, there was an early, transient innate response involving moderate levels of IFN, IL-6, and CXCL10 that restricted virus replication and prevented disease.
Total and Percent Free Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels among U.S. Men, 2001-2002

Background: Because total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and, more recently, the percent free PSA are used to screen men for prostate cancer, population-based, age- and race-specific distributions are needed of both PSA tests among American men to estimate the effect of lowering the PSA threshold or widespread introduction of the free PSA test as an additional screening test. Methods: We did PSA assays on serum samples from men of ages 40 years and older (n = 1,320) who participated in the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Results: About 6.1% (95% confidence interval, 4.7-7.7%), corresponding to an estimated 3.4 million (range, 2.7-4.3 million) men nationwide, ages 40 years and older, had a total PSA of >4.0 ng/mL. Among men ages 50 to 69 years old, the age group for which PSA testing is most prevalent, 5.4% or an estimated 900,000 to 2 million men had a total PSA of >4.0 ng/mL. An equal number had a total PSA between 2.5 and 4.0 ng/mL and a percent free PSA of <25%. Approximately 27% of men in this age group, corresponding to a range of 5.7 to 8.1 million men, had a total PSA <2.5 ng/mL and a percent free PSA of <25%. Conclusion: The effect of lowering the total PSA threshold or introducing another screening test is significant. Provision of the number of U.S. men with certain total PSA and percent free PSA values may help guide prostate cancer public health policy and screening practices.
Management of Endometriosis-associated Pain

Endometriosis, a common cause of morbidity in reproductive-age females, results in pelvic pain and infertility. Endometriosis-associated pain can be approached with surgical or medical therapies. Conservative surgery maintains reproductive organs and is effective in the treatment of endometriosis-associated pain. A more radical surgical approach of hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy remains a mainstay of therapy for patients who have completed childbearing. Current medical therapies rely upon interruption of normal cyclic ovarian hormone production resulting in an environment not conducive to the growth of endometriosis. Genomics promises to further characterize endometriosis and tailor therapies based on a woman's symptoms and reproductive goals.
Expression of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase‐2 correlates with activation of matrix metalloproteinase‐2 and predicts poor prognosis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP‐2) plays a crucial role in invasion and metastasis of malignant tumors. Membrane type 1‐MMP (MT1‐MMP) was originally identified as an activator of MMP‐2. Tissue inhibitor of MMP‐2 (TIMP‐2) was identified as an inhibitor of MMP‐2 and MT1‐MMP. However, TIMP‐2 was reported to be essential for cell‐mediated activation of MMP‐2 and thus, the contribution of TIMP‐2 to tumor invasion has remained controversial. This study was designed to analyze the role of TIMP‐2 for activation of MMP‐2 and its prognostic value in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Expression of MMP‐2, MT1‐MMP and TIMP‐2 protein was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and their association with clinical factors was evaluated in 51 patients treated surgically for tongue SCC. Expression of MMP‐2, MT1‐MMP and TIMP‐2 was significantly correlated with local and distant metastatic tumor recurrence and poor prognosis (MMP‐2 and MT1‐MMP, p < 0.0001; TIMP‐2, p = 0.0002). Activation of MMP‐2, analyzed by gelatin zymography in 17 fresh specimens, was remarkably associated with expression of MMP‐2 (r = 0.779, p < 0.0001), MT1‐MMP (r = 0.674, p < 0.0022) and TIMP‐2 (r = 0.858, p < 0.0001). Increased expression of TIMP‐2, as well as MMP‐2 and MT1‐MMP, was an important prognostic factor in patients with tongue SCC. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Central-Bank Independence, Economic Behavior, and Optimal Term Lengths

The authors parameterize central-bank independence in terms of partisanship and term length, focusing on the implications of alternative policy structures for real economic activity. While long terms of office for the central banker can reduce the role of electoral surprises, term lengths that are too long are costly if societal preferences are subject to permanent shifts. The appointment of a conservative central banker increases the optimal term length and leads to lower average inflation but need not increase the volatility of output. Copyright 1996 by American Economic Association.
Impacts of macroeconomic policies on the Latvian output and policy implications

The author applies the IS-MP-IA model (Romer, 2000) to examine short run economic fluctuations for Latvia. The results show that equilibrium GDP is negatively associated with the expected inflation rate and the US federal funds rate and positively influenced by real depreciation and stock prices due to the wealth effect, Tobin's q theory, and the balance-sheet effect. The impact of the government deficit/GDP ratio on output is positive but insignificant.
Dynamics Between Nonprofit and For-Profit Providers Operating Under the Long-Term Care Insurance System in Japan

By studying two municipalities in Tokyo that have different environmental conditions in terms of resource allocations, this article examines whether the relationship between for-profit and nonprofit organizations providing long-term care has changed since the introduction of the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system in Japan. LTCI allocates most resources based on process control, and thus access to resources is easier by conforming to regulations and standards. Findings indicate that for-profit providers behave like nonprofit providers in such an environment. However, when commercialized services are provided besides legally defined LTCI services, outcome control comes into effect in addition to process control. This study finds that the differences between for-profit and nonprofit providers are maintained in this type of environment.Theoretical as well as policy and management implications are discussed, and this article concludes with the directions for future research.
The Coordination of Personnel Policies and Administration in the United Nations System

In addition to the related agencies, the UN has, in the course of years, established a number of subsidiary organs, the most important of which are the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). By contrast with the positions of the agencies, the subsidiary organs are not independent. Created by the General Assembly, they report to it and their existence may be terminated by a decision of that body. But, as they were set up to respond to definite needs, they continue to be supported by strong constituencies within and without the General Assembly, and, as each of them possesses its
Interactions between Country-of-Origin, Brands and Food-Safety-Certificates in the Promotion of Beef in Germany – What is the Right Labelling Strategy? – A Consumer Preference Analysis on the Basis of a Conditional Logit Model –

This paper focuses on the deeper analysis of the interaction between Country-of-Origin, QUALITY & SAFETY labels, retailer brands and individual specific data with the target of identifying the best labelling strategies for the GERMAN BEEF market. For this purpose Discrete-Choice-method was applied. The empirical findings have interesting implications with respect to information economics in general, and the signalling effects of GIs, brands and QUALITY & SAFETY -labels in particular. Economic theory suggests that certificates reduce information asymmetries as far as consumers attribute product quality to producers' participation in quality assurance schemes. However, CO-labelled products may already be associated with a superior quality, rendering additional certification less effective. The results show a tendency in that direction. Mostly negative or no interaction effects for the analysed QUALITY & SAFETY-Country-of-Origin combinations were found. Nevertheless, there is the possibility that control labels can support the sales of certain origin as shown for the combination of BAVARIAN BEEF and CONTROLLED QUALITY-BAVARIA.
Tax and Incentive Trade-Offs in Multinational Transfer Pricing

Multinationals use transfer prices both for tax minimization and for managerial incentives. This paper analyzes two methods of disentangling the tax and incentive roles: setting multiple prices and using performance measures independent of transfer prices. Even with imperfect enforcement of transfer-pricing rules, regulator scrutiny limits the firm's flexibility. Transfer prices affect after-tax income both by influencing the manager's production decisions ex ante and by allocating income ex post across tax jurisdictions. If the ex ante incentive role dominates the ex post tax role, the firm increases the transfer price received by the subsidiary even if the subsidiary tax rate increases.
Versatile RDF Representation for Multimedia Semantic Search

The integration of semantic representation and retrieval technologies into mainstream Web applications depends on the ease of adoption and re-use of existing information and meta-data. While for textual information, analysis of the text content is quite standardized, for multimedia resources many archives and repositories resorted do define different metadata representations, creating obstacles to interoperability. The flexibility of RDF allows representing and managing all kind of meta-data and of semantic information about multimedia resources, and this paper proposes a possible strategy, based on a structure called RDF Descriptor, that allows representing, reconciling and semantically tagging multimedia resources of different media formats, and possibly coming from different sources with different representations. Experimental results show the feasibility of the approach by reporting result on cross-media and cross-archive semantic searches.
Modeling the efficiency of GCC banks: a data envelopment analysis approach

Purpose – The major aim of this research is to measure the relative efficiency of the top 50 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banks. The sensitivity of the results is also investigated.Design/methodology/approach – Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to evaluate the relative efficiency of GCC banks. Cross‐sectional data for the year 2005 were used to conduct the analysis.Findings – The results indicate that the performance of several banks is sub‐optimal, suggesting the potential for significant improvements. Separate benchmarks were derived for possible reductions in resources used, and significant savings are possible on this account.Originality/value – From a policy perspective, this study highlights the importance of encouraging increased efficiency throughout the banking industry in the GCC.
The EU or national reform program for Turkey: Does the political feasibility depend on the EU’s absorption capacity?

Concerns of the EU countries on Turkey’s membership are summarized by the term ‘EU’s absorption capacity’. This implies that Turkey may end up as a member of the EU or may not. Even the reform process can abruptly come to an end due to reasons irrespective of the performance of Turkey. In a two-sector model, we show that despite this uncertainty, if before the start of the reform program a ‘no’ is perceived as less likely, the EU-reform will be supported ex-ante. However, a ‘no’ at the midst of the EU reform program can block the reform process ex-post, since both of the sectors suddenly find themselves in a position that they should have not accepted beforehand. Moreover, such a situation can render continuing with the alternative national reform program very hard.
How do high‐performing organizations define their mission in Ghana?

Purpose – High performing firms have been associated with “quality” mission statements defined by the choice of components. In an attempt to extend our knowledge in order to give more legitimacy to these claims and also provide more local and relevant reference for Ghana‐based firms, the purpose of this paper is to investigate, through a component analysis, how high‐performing Ghana‐based firms define their mission.Design/methodology/approach – Mission statements of 50 of the Ghana Club 100 firms, primarily extracted from the official web sites, Initial Public Offer prospectuses and annual reports of the firms, were subjected to content analysis which evaluated and scored the mission statements based on the occurrence of 20 specific components.Findings – The paper found that high‐performing Ghana‐based firms define missions to include components that the literature uses to measure quality; and these are similar to those of the UK, Canada and Ireland. Based on the ranking of the components, three categorie.
Racial Voting in a Biracial City

In this analysis of three biracial 1982 New Orleans municipal run-off elections—mayor, civil sheriff, and district judge-we examine the relationship of race and class to political mobilization and vote choice, and racial bloc voting. We found the elections characterized by high voter turnout, low voter dropoff in subordinate elections, and bloc voting by both whites and blacks (but especially by blacks). Class was found relevant only in locating white support for black candidates. Furthermore, the data analyzed suggest the need to reexamine the impact of electoral institutions on electoral behavior.
Party Strategies in the Electoral Market: Political Marketing in West Germany, Britain and Ireland

The use of a political marketing framework to describe modern party election campaigns can be useful for comparison over time, between and within countries. This paper concentrates on inter-country comparisons, examining the election compaigns of the West German Christian Democrats in 1983, the British Conservatives in 1983 and the Irish Fine Gael party in 1981. Political marketing is defined as the application of promotional activities to direct an exchange with voters through the use of such instruments as product policy, communications policies and distribution. Among the paper's main findings are, first, that the CDU were the only party to have communications policies which closely matched their product policy and, second, that distribution activities appear to be where future campaign developments are likely to concentrate. The paper concludes with a discussion on some specific aspects of political marketing including effects, financial corruption and the part political marketing plays in the general evolution of the electoral process.
ITIL, COBIT and EFQM: Can They Work Together?

Information Technology Governance and Service Management (ITGSM) is one of the priorities in organizations. In order to achieve it, it must be set the right policies for Information Technology (IT) Service and Processes Management (ITSM). One of the final objectives of any ITSM policy must be to guarantee an adequate quality of ITSM. In this sense, the use of action frameworks, e.g. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) are essential. However, in order to measure the quality, it is necessary to complement them with other frameworks, because they do not include the appropriate mechanisms. This paper proposes the use of two established frameworks ITIL and COBIT and the use of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model to measure the quality of services and processes.
Socio‐economic and political aspects of biodiversity conservation in Nepal

Although a very poor country, Nepal has established an extensive protected area system. Many visitors are attracted by some of these parks, helping to make tourism the top foreign exchange earner. Landmark events for wildlife conservation during recent Nepalese history are identified, especially the 1961‐90 rule of the monarchy and the present decentralized democratic system which succeeded it. Although many problems remain, Nepal has gone further than most countries towards reconciling: the needs and aspirations of local people with protected area management, and the economic opportunities offered by nature tourism with its ecological threats. Innovative projects have emphasized the socio‐economic aspects of conservation and legislation has recently been passed to formalize the status of park buffer zones. The future of Nepal’s protected areas may depend on how effectively these initiatives can be implemented and how effectively their lessons can be applied on a broader front.
Culture or employment systems? Accounting for the attitudinal differences between British and Japanese managers

The aim of this study is to determine whether attitudinal differences between British and Japanese managers observed in the workplace can be attributed to culture or to the employment system. The findings provided substantial support for attribution to the employment system. Cultural differences between British and Japanese managers were not as large as the cultural thesis claims. The stereotyped cultural characteristics of Japanese managers - high social orientation at work and unconditional priority of work over family - were observed only in limited groups such as managers on the shop floor or senior managers. Attitudinal differences in the workplace were not simply the consequence of cultural differences, but rather to be understood as rational behavioural responses. Both British and Japanese managers' attitudes were considered to be a rational response to their employment systems.
Selective loss of younger erythrocytes from blood circulation and changes in erythropoietic patterns in bone marrow and spleen in mouse anemia induced by poly-dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract Administration of poly-dispersed acid-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (AF-SWCNTs, 10 µg intravenously on alternate days) induced a sustained anemia in mice. Using a modified double in vivo biotinylation (DIB) technique, blood counts of reticulocytes and erythrocytes of different age groups were simultaneously enumerated in control and AF-SWCNT treated mice. A sustained reticulocytosis was observed in AF-SWCNT treated mice. Young erythrocytes (up to 7 days old) that are normally resistant to elimination in control mice were eliminated at a significant rate in AF-SWCNT treated mice. Old erythrocytes, however, accumulated in circulation indicating that younger erythrocytes were selectively eliminated from the blood circulation of AF-SWCNT treated mice. Cells representing various stages of erythroid differentiation in bone marrow and spleen were enumerated flow cytometrically by double staining with anti-Ter119 and anti-transferrin receptor (CD71) monoclonal antibodies. Proportion of erythroid cells was significantly reduced (up to 27%) in bone marrow (BM) indicating a fall in erythropoietic activity. A concomitant increase in the spleen erythroid population was however observed that could be a compensatory response. Changes in erythroid populations in bone marrow and spleen correlated with changes in erythroblast-A population in these organs that represent an early stage of erythroid differentiation. Uptake of intravenously administered fluorescence tagged AF-SWCNTs (FAF-SWCNTs) was relatively low (3–4%) in erythroid cells in bone marrow and spleen. A significantly higher proportion of pro-erythroblasts and erythroblast-A (early stages of erythroid differentiation) took-up FAF-SWCNTs. Uptake of AF-SWCNTs by early precursors of erythroid differentiation with toxic consequences may be a contributing factor in AF-SWCNT induced anemia.
Development of a New Magnetometer for Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping Designed for Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Background. We previously developed a method for sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the magnetic force produced by a magnetite tracer already approved for use as a contrast material for magnetic resonance imaging. However, it is difficult to use that technique with video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) because the sensing element of the magnetometer is large and thick. The purpose of the present study was to develop a smaller, thinner VATS-compatible magnetometer. Methods. The tracer employed was Ferucarbotran, a colloidal solution of superparamagnetic iron oxide coated with carbodextran. Fifteen patients with clinical stage I NSCLC were enrolled, and each received 1.6 mL of Ferucarbotran, injected intraoperatively at 5 points around the tumor. The magnetic force within the sampling lymph nodes was measured using the new VATS-compatible magnetometer. Results. SLNs were detected in 11 (73.3%) of the 15 patients using the VATS-compatible magnetometer. The average number of SLNs identified per patient was 1.8 (range 0-4). No complications related to the SLN detection method were observed. Conclusions. The new VATS-compatible magnetometer appears to have substantial advantages over techniques using a radioisotope and our earlier magnetometer, as it can be inserted through the small VATS port site.