Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antimelanoma and radioprotective activity of alcoholic aqueous extract of different species of Ocimum in C57BL mice

Context: Various Ocimum species (Labiateae) are commonly used for the treatment of inflammation, stress, diarrhea, and as an antioxidant drug in the Indian ethnic system of medicine. Objective: The present study was carried out to investigate the antimelanoma and radioprotective activity of different species of Ocimum in C57BL and Swiss albino mice. Materials and methods: The antimelanoma activity of 50% alcoholic aqueous leaf extract of five species of Ocimum [Ocimum sanctum (SE), Ocimum gratissimum (GE), Ocimum basilicum (BE), Ocimum canum (CE), and Ocimum kilimandscharicum (KE)] alone or in combination with radiotherapy was determined on the basis of tumor volume, body weight, and survival rate of animals. The radioprotective potential of different species of Ocimum was determined by chromosomal aberration assay. The effect of the alcoholic aqueous extract of different species of Ocimum was also evaluated for the estimation of glutathione level and glutathione S-transferase activity in Swiss albino mice. Results: The 50% alcoholic aqueous extract of different species of Ocimum administered orally (200 mg/kg, p.o.) resulted in significant reduction in tumor volume, increase in average body weight, and survival rate of mice. The various extracts showed modulatory influence against lethal irradiation doses of gamma radiation in terms of radiation-induced chromosomal damage, while at the same time induced an increase in reduced glutathione level and GST activity. Discussion and conclusion: These findings demonstrate that Ocimum species have antimelanoma and radioprotective activity against B16F10 metastatic melanoma cell line-induced metastasis and could be exploited as one of the potential sources for plant-based pharmaceutical products.
Anomaly Detection in a Digital Video Broadcasting System Using Timed Automata

This paper focuses on detecting anomalies in a digital video broadcasting (DVB) system from providers' perspective. We learn a probabilistic deterministic real timed automaton profiling benign behavior of encryption control in the DVB control access system. This profile is used as a one-class classifier. Anomalous items in a testing sequence are detected when the sequence is not accepted by the learned model.
A dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the New Zealand economy

This paper documents the structure and key properties of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the New Zealand economy. It is a three-good, small open economy model, which features a well-developed production block. This production block has been estimated as a system using Full Information Maximum Likelihood. Another key feature of the model is that it has a two–tiered structure: the steady-state version of the model and the dynamic version of the model. Using the steady-state version of the model, a macroeconomic balance measure of New Zealand’s equilibrium exchange rate can be derived. Furthermore, the steady–state model provides estimates of potential output, which is used to measure the level of excess demand in the economy. The dynamic model is used to trace the dynamic response of a range of macroeconomic variables to various shocks such as changes to world prices for exports and changes to government policy.
A Generalized Econometric Model and Tests of a Signalling Hypothesis with Two Discrete Signals

To test the major prediction of a signalling hypothesis-that the market price is m onotonic in the signal-the price response to the signal must be measu red. Since a signal is an outcome of a rational decision rule of the signaller, the market can infer the true type of the signaller from t he signal. This necessitates estimation of the price response to the signal, conditional on the rational decision rule. Thus, the empirica l models (e.g., event studies in corporate finance) that estimate the market price responses to signals without conditioning on the ration al decision rules are misspecified if viewed as tests of the predicti on of a signalling hypothesis. This paper builds a generalized econom etric model with two possible discrete signals, derives the rational decision rules, presents a simple estimator of the price response to a signal, and illustrates its use in testing a recently expounded hyp othesis that firms signal their true value by forcing or not forcing an outstanding convertible bond. Copyright 1988 by American Finance Association.
No hay ganancia en la milpa: the agrarian question, food sovereignty, and the on-farm conservation of agrobiodiversity in the Guatemalan highlands

Although they receive little recognition for their contribution, peasant farmers in the global South play a fundamental role in securing the long-term global food supply. Via their self-sufficient agricultural practices, they cultivate the crop genetic diversity that enables food crops to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In this paper I draw upon empirical data from the Guatemalan center of agricultural biodiversity to investigate the concern that market expansion will displace peasant agriculture and undermine a cornerstone of the global food supply. I find that even though peasants' livelihoods involve multiple forms of market provisioning, they also engage in a Polanyian ‘double movement’ to protect their subsistence-oriented agricultural practices from the potentially deleterious effects of markets. I also investigate the so-called ‘agrarian question’ about the effects of market expansion on the viability of peasant agriculture, finding that although new forms of market provisioning are likely exacerbating rural inequality, the income from market activities actually enables rural Guatemalans to reproduce the conditions for peasant agriculture. Ultimately, I observe that the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and, consequently, global food security are contingent upon the ‘food sovereignty’ of peasant farmers.
Occurrence of familial nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in a case series.

OBJECTIVE To report on the occurrence of familial nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) in our NAION series. METHODS One hundred forty-eight consecutive retrievable cases of NAION were surveyed regarding the occurrence of NAION in other family members. Medical records of affected family members were reviewed, and clinical characteristics of documented familial NAION cases were described. RESULTS Of 79 patients who returned the survey, four reported one or more relatives with previously diagnosed NAION. There were nine cases of documented NAION in these four families. All cases occurred in siblings, with a mean age at onset of 55 years. Six patients had second eye involvement and in five, involvement became bilateral within 4 years after initial onset. None of the patients had diabetes; two had hypertension. CONCLUSION A small number of patients with NAION may belong to a familial subclass. Three previous reports of familial NAION further support this hypothesis.
Impacts of the 1986 US immigration law on emigration from rural Mexican sending communities.

From the perspective of traditional labor-exporting communities in rural Mexico this article examines how the 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) has affected perceptions of the US labor market the propensity to migrate settlement patterns in the US and the economies of migrant families and their home communities. The analysis draws upon sample survey interviews conducted in 1988-1989 in 3 communities located in the states of Jalisco Michoacan and Zacatecas. The data reveal that most residents--including prospective 1st-time undocumented migrants to the US--continue to view US labor markets as relatively accessible with or without legal entry documents even though employer sanctions have increased the perceived difficulty of finding work in the US. IRCA-mandated legalization programs have augmented the total flow of US-bound migrants from traditional sending communities while sharply reducing the relative size of the undocumented component. Through its "amnesty" programs the 1986 law is also increasing the representation of women and children in the migrant flow and accelerating the shift from temporary or shuttle migration to permanent settlement in the US. (authors)
Relationships between neuronal birthdates and cytoarchitecture in the rat inferior olivary complex

The correlation between birthdates of neurons and their ultimate location within the inferior olivary nucleus (ION) was investigated in the rat by the 5‐bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) method. We performed injections every 4 hours throughout the ION generation period, and were thus able to demonstrate that (1) neurons are distributed in the adult ION following characteristic gradients that define subdivisions identical to those established by hodological studies; and (2) ION neurons born at the same time tend to be arrayed in small clusters in the adult structure. Implications of these findings for the mechanisms of olivary neuron migration, selective aggregation, and elaboration of projectional topography are discussed. This study provides direct evidence that one of the factors governing the elaboration of the cytoarchitecture of a neuronal nucleus is the temporal sequence of generation of its neurons.
Patterns of morphological integration in the appendicular skeleton of mammalian carnivores

We investigated patterns of evolutionary integration in the appendicular skeleton of mammalian carnivores. The findings are discussed in relation to performance selection in terms of organismal function as a potential mechanism underlying integration. Interspecific shape covariation was quantified by two‐block partial least‐squares (2B‐PLS) analysis of 3D landmark data within a phylogenetic context. Specifically, we compared pairs of anatomically connected bones (within‐limbs) and pairs of both serially homologous and functional equivalent bones (between‐limbs). The statistical results of all the comparisons suggest that the carnivoran appendicular skeleton is highly integrated. Strikingly, the main shape covariation relates to bone robustness in all cases. A bootstrap test was used to compare the degree of integration between specialized cursorial taxa (i.e., those whose forelimbs are primarily involved in locomotion) and noncursorial species (i.e., those whose forelimbs are involved in more functions than their hindlimb) showed that cursors have a more integrated appendicular skeleton than noncursors. The findings demonstrate that natural selection can influence the pattern and degree of morphological integration by increasing the degree of bone shape covariation in parallel to ecological specialization.
Women and Seasonality: Coping with Crisis and Calamity

This article explores the contribution of female production, labour and domestic domain services to the management of seasonal stress, crisis and calamity, under the headings: switching tasks and responsibilities ascribed by gender; diversifying household income sources; changing the intensity and mix of multiple occupations; household gardening and common property resources; food processing, preservation and preparation; social organisation; gift‐giving. It offers an analysis of adversity and calamity which pinpoints the resilience of networks of female‐headed households and raises new questions concerning risk preference, probability assessment and the valuation of female labour time.
Optimal R&D intensity and dynamic efficiency in Korea

Summary In Korea, not only has spending on research been growing in real terms, but its relative importance compared to other economic activities has been steadily increasing as well. In this paper, we introduce the socially optimal share of research and development (R&D) in the economic growth model. We consider both the laissez‐faire (market equilibrium) steady‐state growth rate and the social optimum. Because individuals and individual firms do not internalize the effect of individual knowledge accumulation when optimizing on consumption and capital accumulation, the equilibrium growth rate may be less than the socially optimal rate of growth. With the developed model (Jones and Williams, 2000), we find that the decentralized economy typically underinvests in R&D relative to what is socially optimum. We also examine how far the steady‐state growth rate deviates from the social optimum in the Korean economy. Here, we focus on the positive external effects of R&D. According to ordinary least squares (LS) analysis, the estimate of λ (the elasticity of knowledge production to R&D personnel) is 0.1559. Thus, we can see that the optimal R&D share in Korea is 3.32%. This implies that the ratio of optimal share to market share of R&D in Korea is 1.8. According to Johansen's (1991) cointegration analysis, the p‐value for the test where λ=0.2 is 0.24, and so the restrictions are supported by the data. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that lambda is 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3…, respectively. From the results, we can conclude that the lower bound for lambda is 0.2. This implies that the lower bound for the optimal share of R&D in Korea is 3.74%. In summary, from all cases of the form for the knowledge production function, we could determine that both the intertemporal‐spillover and appropriability effects in the Korean economy tend to make the average growth rate less than optimal. Because the business‐stealing effect tends to make it greater than optimal conflicts and is dominated by the former two effects, the laissez‐faire average growth rate in Korea may be less than optimal.
Decreased expression of serotonin in the jejunum and increased numbers of mast cells in the terminal ileum in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

AIM To investigate if there are changes in serotonin (5-HT) levels, enterochromaffin (EC) cells and mast cells in small intestinal mucosa of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). METHODS Diarrhea-predominant (IBS-D, n = 20), or constipation-predominant (IBS-C, n = 18) IBS patients and healthy controls (n = 20) underwent colonoscopy and peroral small intestinal endoscopy, and mucosal samples were obtained at the descending part of the duodenum, proximal end of jejunum and terminal ileum. High-performance liquid chromatography-electrochemistry and immunohistochemical methods were used to detect 5-HT content, EC cells and mast cells. RESULTS (1) There were no differences in the number and distribution of EC cells between IBS patients and the normal group. (2) The mucosal 5-HT contents at the duodenum, jejunum and ileum in IBS-C patients were 182 +/- 90, 122 +/- 54, 61 +/- 35 ng/mg protein, respectively, which were all lower than those in the normal group (256 +/- 84, 188 +/- 91, and 93 +/- 45 ng/mg protein, respectively), with a significant difference at the jejunum (P < 0.05). There were no differences in the small intestinal mucosal 5-HT contents between IBS-D patients and the normal group. The mucosal 5-HT contents at the duodenum were significantly higher than those at the ileum in the three groups (P < 0.001). (3) The numbers of mast cells in patients with IBS-C and IBS-D at the ileum were 38.7 +/- 9.4 and 35.8 +/- 5.5/high power field (hpf), respectively, which were significantly more than that in the normal group (29.8 +/- 4.4/hpf) (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the numbers of mast cells at the other two parts between IBS patients and the normal group. The numbers of mast cells in IBS-C, IBS-D, and normal groups were all significantly higher at the ileum (38.7 +/- 9.4, 35.8 +/- 5.5, 29.8 +/- 4.4/hpf, respectively) than at the duodenum (19.6 +/- 4.7, 18.5 +/- 6.3, 19.2 +/- 3.3/hpf, respectively, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION The changes in the 5-HT signaling pathway at the jejunum of IBS-C patients and the increase in mast cells in patients with IBS at the terminal ileum may offer evidence to explain the pathogenesis of IBS.
Demythologizing the Russian Flat Tax

On January 1, 2001, Russia introduced what has frequently been called a flat tax. Over the next several years, the country's tax revenue and GDP grew dramatically. Some commentators claim those two sets of events were causally related (Mitchell, 2003). Others just link the two repeatedly, being careful never to explicitly assert causation (Rabushka, 2002, for example). In the United States, supporters of the Hall-Rabushka (1995) flat tax often refer to the Russian example as evidence in their favor. In this paper, we examine the limited research and information available on the effects of Russia's personal income tax reform and reach five principal conclusions.
Modeling Charitable Giving Using a Box-Cox Standard Tobit Model

There is a large literature investigating the determinants of charitable giving, in particular, price and income elasticities. We find that many of the most often reported results from this literature rely on a model specification that is inappropriate when applied to recent Federal Tax File data. We develop a standard Tobit model with a Box-Cox transformation parameter that nests a number of other specifications. The Box-Cox model yields estimates of price elasticities and expected charitable contributions that differ from those obtained using the typical specification. Additionally, we find that the use of sample weights provides potentially important policy insights. Copyright 1991 by MIT Press.
A simple and distinctive microbiota associated with honey bees and bumble bees

Specialized relationships with bacteria often allow animals to exploit a new diet by providing a novel set of metabolic capabilities. Bees are a monophyletic group of Hymenoptera that transitioned to a completely herbivorous diet from the carnivorous diet of their wasp ancestors. Recent culture‐independent studies suggest that a set of distinctive bacterial species inhabits the gut of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Here we survey the gut microbiotae of diverse bee and wasp species to test whether acquisition of these bacteria was associated with the transition to herbivory in bees generally. We found that most bee species lack phylotypes that are the same or similar to those typical of A. mellifera, rejecting the hypothesis that this dietary transition was symbiont‐dependent. The most common bacteria in solitary bee species are a widespread phylotype of Burkholderia and the pervasive insect associate, Wolbachia. In contrast, several social representatives of corbiculate bees do possess distinctive bacterial phylotypes. Samples of A. mellifera harboured the same microbiota as in previous surveys, and closely related bacterial phylotypes were identified in two Asian honey bees (Apis andreniformis and Apis dorsata) and several bumble bee (Bombus) species. Potentially, the sociality of Apis and Bombus species facilitates symbiont transmission and thus is key to the maintenance of a more consistent gut microbiota. Phylogenetic analyses provide a more refined taxonomic placement of the A. mellifera symbionts.
Different Minimal Signal Peptide Lengths Recognized by the Archaeal Prepilin-Like Peptidases FlaK and PibD

ABSTRACT In Archaea, the preflagellin peptidase (a type IV prepilin-like peptidase designated FlaK in Methanococcus voltae and Methanococcus maripaludis) is the enzyme that cleaves the N-terminal signal peptide from preflagellins. In methanogens and several other archaeal species, the typical flagellin signal peptide length is 11 to 12 amino acids, while in other archaea preflagellins possess extremely short signal peptides. A systematic approach to address the signal peptide length requirement for preflagellin processing is presented in this study. M. voltae preflagellin FlaB2 proteins with signal peptides 3 to 12 amino acids in length were generated and used as a substrate in an in vitro assay utilizing M. voltae membranes as an enzyme source. Processing by FlaK was observed in FlaB2 proteins containing signal peptides shortened to 5 amino acids; signal peptides 4 or 3 amino acids in length were unprocessed. In the case of Sulfolobus solfataricus, where the preflagellin peptidase PibD has broader substrate specificity, some predicted substrates have predicted signal peptides as short as 3 amino acids. Interestingly, the shorter signal peptides of the various mutant FlaB2 proteins not processed by FlaK were processed by PibD, suggesting that some archaeal preflagellin peptidases are likely adapted toward cleaving shorter signal peptides. The functional complementation of signal peptidase activity by FlaK and PibD in an M. maripaludis ΔflaK mutant indicated that processing of preflagellins was detected by complementation with either FlaK or PibD, yet only FlaK-complemented cells were flagellated. This suggested that a block in an assembly step subsequent to signal peptide removal occurred in the PibD complementation.
Use of antimicrobial prophylaxis for major surgery: baseline results from the National Surgical Infection Prevention Project.

HYPOTHESIS Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a major contributor to patient injury, mortality, and health care costs. Despite evidence of effectiveness of antimicrobials to prevent SSIs, previous studies have demonstrated inappropriate timing, selection, and excess duration of administration of antimicrobial prophylaxis. We herein describe the use of antimicrobial prophylaxis for Medicare patients undergoing major surgery. DESIGN National retrospective cohort study with medical record review. SETTING Two thousand nine hundred sixty-five acute-care US hospitals. PATIENTS A systematic random sample of 34,133 Medicare inpatients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting; other open-chest cardiac surgery (excluding transplantation); vascular surgery, including aneurysm repair, thromboendarterectomy, and vein bypass operations; general abdominal colorectal surgery; hip and knee total joint arthroplasty (excluding revision surgery); and abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy from January 1 through November 30, 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The proportion of patients who had parenteral antimicrobial prophylaxis initiated within 1 hour before the surgical incision; the proportion of patients who were given a prophylactic antimicrobial agent that was consistent with currently published guidelines; and the proportion of patients whose antimicrobial prophylaxis was discontinued within 24 hours after surgery. RESULTS An antimicrobial dose was administered to 55.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 54.8%-56.6%) of patients within 1 hour before incision. Antimicrobial agents consistent with published guidelines were administered to 92.6% (95% CI, 92.3%-92.8%) of the patients. Antimicrobial prophylaxis was discontinued within 24 hours of surgery end time for only 40.7% (95% CI, 40.2%-41.2%) of patients. CONCLUSION Substantial opportunities exist to improve the use of prophylactic antimicrobials for patients undergoing major surgery.
Deadly Combat over Natural Resources

This article empirically examines how natural resources affect the severity of armed civil conflict. It finds that drug cultivation in the conflict area is associated with less severe conflicts but that gemstone mining and oil and gas in the conflict zone production increase the severity of conflicts. Most severe are secessionist conflicts in regions with hydrocarbon production. Interestingly, oil and gas production outside the conflict zones is related to less severe conflicts. Measured at the country level, none of the resource variables has an effect on conflict severity. These results have four implications. First, availability of natural resources affects the severity of armed civil conflict. Second, the location of resources is crucial to their impact on conflict. Third, the type of resource matters. Above all, it seems that natural resources affect conflict severity by altering incentives for both the rebel group and the state.