Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital thermal hyperaemia impairment does not relate to skin fibrosis or macrovascular disease in systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES Thermal hyperaemia is impaired in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The objective of these studies was to determine whether this was consecutive to skin fibrosis, microangiopathy or macroangiopathy. METHODS Using laser Doppler flowmetry, we first compared the thermal hyperaemia on the third left finger pad and on the left forearm in 21 patients with non-diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc), in comparison with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and healthy volunteers. Second, we tested whether the altered thermal hyperaemia correlated to the digital pressure index at baseline, and following the thermal challenge. RESULTS In the first study, thermal hyperaemia of the finger pad was impaired in terms of both amplitude and kinetics, but not on the forearm in patients with SSc. In the seven SSc patients without cutaneous fibrosis, the response was similarly altered in terms of amplitude and kinetics. In the second study, we observed a weak correlation between the digital systolic blood pressure index. However, in the 15 SSc patients tested at 44 degrees C, the median digital systolic blood pressure index was 1.04 (0.84-1.24) at baseline vs 1.08 (0.87-1.29) at 44 degrees C (NS), while seven of them had an abnormal response in terms of kinetic. Furthermore, only one patient showed a clear-cut decrease in digital systolic blood pressure at 44 degrees C. CONCLUSION In patients with SSc, digital thermal hyperaemia is impaired, but does not relate to the skin fibrosis or to an associated macroangiopathy in most cases. Further studies are required to determine whether its impairment reflects a functional or structural microvascular damage.
The determinants of foreign pharmaceutical firms’ FDI entry mode choices between joint venture and sole venture into China

Summary The popularity of foreign direct investment (FDI) activities in China also applies to the pharmaceutical industry. Foreign pharmaceutical firms invest their capital and technology in what is likely to be developed as the world’s largest pharmaceutical market in the future with the expectation they will earn an excellent return in a longer term. This study aims to investigate the determinant factors that affected foreign pharmaceutical firms’ decisions in choosing either a joint venture or sole venture entry mode into the Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. This research shows that the probability for establishing a joint venture in China is positively related to the importance of China’s investment environmental and market factors. A marginal significant positive relationship between sole venture entry mode and the importance of parent firm’s decision task related factors is found.
Three Functional Transporters for Constitutive, Diurnally Regulated, and Starvation-Induced Uptake of Ammonium into Arabidopsis Roots

Ammonium and nitrate are the prevalent nitrogen sources for growth and development of higher plants. 15N-uptake studies demonstrated that ammonium is preferred up to 20-fold over nitrate by Arabidopsis plants. To study the regulation and complex kinetics of ammonium uptake, we isolated two new ammonium transporter (AMT) genes and showed that they functionally complemented an ammonium uptake–deficient yeast mutant. Uptake studies with 14C-methylammonium and inhibition by ammonium yielded distinct substrate affinities between ≤0.5 and 40 μM. Correlation of gene expression with 15NH4+ uptake into plant roots showed that nitrogen supply and time of day differentially regulated the individual carriers. Transcript levels of AtAMT1;1, which possesses an affinity in the nanomolar range, steeply increased with ammonium uptake in roots when nitrogen nutrition became limiting, whereas those of AtAMT1;3 increased slightly, with AtAMT1;2 being more constitutively expressed. All three ammonium transporters showed diurnal variation in expression, but AtAMT1;3 transcript levels peaked with ammonium uptake at the end of the light period, suggesting that AtAMT1;3 provides a link between nitrogen assimilation and carbon provision in roots. Our results show that high-affinity ammonium uptake in roots is regulated in relation to the physiological status of the plant at the transcriptional level and by substrate affinities of individual members of the AMT1 gene family.
Disaster vulnerability of businesses in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake

Abstract This paper examines the impacts of the February, 2001, Nisqually earthquake on businesses. Focusing on two hard-hit business districts in Seattle, the study investigates the extent of losses, patterns of disparities, and underlying loss factors. A conceptual framework is proposed of how business vulnerability dimensions contribute to disaster loss. Interviews were conducted with owners and managers of 107 businesses. Data were gathered on impacts, methods of finance, and disaster preparedness. Results showed that business losses were much greater than what standard statistical data would imply. Analysis found that a composite index of vulnerability—based on business sector, size, and building occupancy tenure—provides a very powerful predictor of business loss. Physical damage was a much weaker predictor of loss. Moreover, business recovery was influenced not only by characteristics of the business itself, but also by conditions in the neighborhood.
COMPLEMENT DEFICIENCIES AND MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE

Investigation of inherited diseases often provides insight illuminating both abnormal and normal physiology and improves the diagnosis and care of affected individuals. These precepts are certainly true for the complement deficiency states as exemplified by the recognition of distinct clinical syndromes depending on which component is abnormal. Delineation of these clinical patterns has emphasized the critical importance of the complement cascade in the host defense against systemic infections caused by neisseria, especially Neisseria meningitidis. Lastly, knowledge of the role of capsular and subcapsular meningococcat antigens in producing immunity to subsequent infection has provided a basis for treating deficient patients that relies on recruiting immune mechanisnis which help to bypass the genetic defect, "me purpose of this paper is to review the epidemiology of complement deficiency states, to discuss the pattern of clinical infection associated with different deficiency states, and to compare and contrast three aspects of meningococcal disease in complement deficient and sufficient individuals: clinical features, immune response to infection, and importance of antibody to distinct meningococcal antigens for protection.
Muscle structure and performance capacity of Himalayan Sherpas.

The ultrastructure of the vastus lateralis muscle of Sherpas from Nepal [5 males; age 28 +/- 2.8 (SD) yr, indirect maximal O2 consumption 48.5 +/- 5.4 ml.kg(-1). min(-1)] was assessed and compared with those of sedentary lowlanders and of Caucasian climbers before and after high-altitude exposure. The mean cross-sectional area of the fibers was 3,186 +/- 521 microns2, i.e., similar to those of Caucasian elite high-altitude climbers (3,108 +/- 303 microns2) and a group of climbers after a 6- to 8-wk sojourn at 5,000-8,600 m (3,360 +/- 580 microns2) but significantly (P less than 0.05) smaller than that of unacclimatized climbers (4,170 +/- 710 microns2) and slightly, although not significantly, lower than that of sedentary lowlanders (3,640 +/- 260 microns2). The number of capillaries per square millimeter of muscle cross section was 467 +/- 22, not significantly smaller than those of climbers on return from a Himalayan expedition (538 +/- 89) and elite high-altitude climbers (542 +/- 127) but significantly (P less than 0.05) greater than that of sedentary lowlanders (387 +/- 25). The volume density of mitochondria was 3.96 +/- 0.54%, significantly (P less than 0.05) less than the values found for any other investigated group, including sedentary subjects at sea level (4.74 +/- 0.30%). It is concluded that Sherpas, like acclimatized Caucasian climbers, are characterized by 1) facilitated convective and diffusive muscle O2 flow conditions and 2) a higher maximal O2 consumption-to-mitochondrial volume ratio than lowlanders despite a reduced mitochondrial volume density.
SUPPLEMENT TO “NO-BUBBLE CONDITION: MODEL-FREE TESTS IN HOUSING MARKETS”: ONLINE APPENDIX

IN THIS SUPPLEMENTAL APPENDIX, we provide additional information and results. Appendix A.1 provides more details on the data sources used in this paper. Appendix A.2 reviews and implements existing time-series tests for classic rational bubbles. Appendix A.3 reviews the institutional framework that regulates the relationship between leaseholders and freeholders in the U.K., focusing on characteristics that might affect the relative value of extremely-long leaseholds (with maturities of 700 years or more). Finally, Appendix A.4 expands on some of the theoretical derivations in the paper.
Income Equalisation Deposits: Enhancing Farm Viability

In this paper it is argued that liquidity is an important determinate of farm viability. This is particularly so with a rural sector which suffers large variations in income and has a business cycle which typically extends for several years. Present tax arrangements, coupled with a desire by producers to minimise tax, means that surplus cash in high income years is mostly invested in further improvements, developments or capital equipment. An enhanced Income Equalisation Scheme could play a significant role as a risk management tool for producers as well as reducing calls for government assistance during periods of adversity. Suggestions are made for improving the operation and delivery of the scheme including amalgamating Farm Management Bonds and the Income Equalisation Scheme into one scheme operated by financial institutions under an agency agreement.
Endogenous Federal Grants and Crowd-out of State Government Spending: Theory and Evidence from the Federal Highway Aid Program

Contrary to simple theoretical predictions, existing evidence suggests that federal grants do not crowd out state government spending. A legislative bargaining model with endogenous grants documents a positive correlation between grant receipts and preferences for public goods; this correlation has likely biased existing work against measuring crowd-out. To correct for such endogeneity, the model motivates instruments based on the political power of state congressional delegations. Exploiting this exogenous variation in grants, the instrumental variables estimator reports crowd-out that is statistically and economically significant. This endogeneity may explain the flypaper effect, a nonequivalence between grant receipts and private income. (JEL D70, H40, H77)
Loyalty and occasion of consumption: an empirical analysis

This research analyses the mode as the customer loyalty is pronounced according to the consumption occasion; comparing between customers of special occasion restaurants vs. customers of convenience restaurants, doing a parallelism with the concepts proposed for products where it is discriminated between products of comparison vs. convenience products. It was retaken a proposal that indicates four types of loyalty exist: cognitive, affective, behavioural and action. Instruments were applied to independent samples of customers at restaurants of special occasion and convenience. The statistical tests indicated that significant differences in certain aspects of behavioural and affective loyalty exist, but neither in cognitive loyalty nor in loyalty action. These results provide empirical evidence to the study of loyalty; in addition the findings can help the restaurants' managers to design specific strategies according to the type of loyalty indicated in each category of restaurant.
Sparse coupled hidden Markov models shed light on resting-state fMRI cross-network interactions

Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) analysis aims at understanding how interactions across the brain resting-state networks (RSNs) evolve over time. Here, we introduce a novel methodological framework operating at the level of RSN activity time courses. Through the use of coupled hidden Markov models (CHMMs), we model cross-network couplings, i.e. the ability of one RSN to influence state transitions of the others. Because such modulatory influences are not expected across all possible pairs of RSNs, we combine this modeling strategy with ℓ1 regularisation to derive a sparse set of cross-network modulatory coefficients. As a validation of this framework, we first demonstrate the ability of the sparse CHMM approach to disentangle intrinsic state transition probabilities from external modulatory influences on an artificially generated dataset. We then perform preliminary analyses on a real resting-state dataset, using RSN activity time courses derived from a state-of-the-art deconvolution technique as inputs to our framework, and shed light on several significant cross-network couplings across major RSNs.
Sex differences in the response of children with ADHD to once-daily formulations of methylphenidate.

OBJECTIVES Studies of sex differences in methylphenidate response by children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have lacked methodological rigor and statistical power. This paper reports an examination of sex differences based on further analysis of data from a comparison of two once-daily methylphenidate formulations (the COMACS study), which addresses these shortcomings. METHOD Children (184: 48 females; mean [SD] age, 9.58 [1.83] years) entered a double-blind, crossover trial of Concerta, MetadateCD/Equasym XL, or placebo. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms were recorded at seven time points across the school day on the seventh day of treatment, using a laboratory classroom setting. RESULTS More females had comorbid anxiety disorder. Males and females did not differ with regard to other characteristics. Observed sex differences in pharmacodynamic symptom profiles persisted after controlling for placebo and time 0 hours attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder scores and the presence of an anxiety disorder. Females had a statistically superior response at 1.5 hours post-dosing and an inferior response at the 12-hour time point relative to their male counterparts, no matter which methylphenidate formulation was being assessed. CONCLUSIONS Dose titration of once-daily formulations of methylphenidate should ideally be based on systematic evidence of response at different periods across the day. The responses of female patients may require additional assessments later in the day to determine the optimal dose.
Stochastic Training of Graph Convolutional Networks

Graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are powerful deep neural networks for graph-structured data. However, GCN computes nodes' representation recursively from their neighbors, making the receptive field size grow exponentially with the number of layers. Previous attempts on reducing the receptive field size by subsampling neighbors do not have any convergence guarantee, and their receptive field size per node is still in the order of hundreds. In this paper, we develop a preprocessing strategy and two control variate based algorithms to further reduce the receptive field size. Our algorithms are guaranteed to converge to GCN's local optimum regardless of the neighbor sampling size. Empirical results show that our algorithms have a similar convergence speed per epoch with the exact algorithm even using only two neighbors per node. The time consumption of our algorithm on the Reddit dataset is only one fifth of previous neighbor sampling algorithms.
On-line Peer Review in Teaching Design-oriented Courses

Peer review has been one of the very important designfacilitating processes practiced in education field, particularly in design-oriented courses such as MIT’s 2.007 Robot Design. Typically students exchange ideas sketched on a piece of paper and critique on each other’s design within a small team. We designed PREP web application backed up by a range of web services that handle the peer-review process on-line, and we argue that this is a significant step towards supporting designoriented course on-line. We believe that the lessons learned could be applied to other interested institutes that offer designoriented courses.
Stock returns behavior during holiday periods: evidence from six countries

Purpose – The study is a test for the existence of an international stock market anomaly. Design/methodology/approach - To test for holiday anomalies over a ten year period, the study examines six major international indices using dummy variable regressions with continuous data and simple regression analysis with discrete data points. Findings - Evidence is presented both for the existence of an ex-post holiday anomaly for all exchanges tested and for the international effect of the ex-post holiday reaction on other exchanges. The results differ from all prior holiday anomaly studies in finding a significant holiday reaction following, not preceding, the holiday. Practical implications - Future holiday periods may be used to capture profits from closed markets. Originality/value - The findings are of value to international portfolio managers and investors.
The projection of the acoustic nerve to the ventral cochlear nucleus of the rat. A Golgi study

Acoustic nerve fibers, stained by the rapid Golgi method, were observed to bifurcate, after entering the ventral cochlear nucleus, into an ascending and a descending branch. Each branch was composed of fibers running parallel to each other with very little overlap. Prior to bifurcating, the acoustic nerve fibers gave rise to collaterals which ramified in the region of the bifurcations. Ascending branch fibers terminated in bulbs of Held and bore from zero to five additional collateral endings, including bulbs of Held. Descending, branch fibers gave rise within the posterior ventral cochlear nucleus to from zero to five collateral endings. These included large endings identified as bulbs of Held. Ascending and descending branch collaterals did not extend beyond 40–50 μ from their paret axons. Descending branch fibers projected into the dorsal cochlear nucleus. The area of the ventral cochlear nucleus dorsal to the region of bifurcations was innervated in a unique manner. This innervation occurred via long dorsally running collaterals arising from the most dorsal fibers of the ascending and descending branch projections.
Regression Split by Levels of the Dependent Variable

Multiple regression coefficients split by the levels of the dependent variable are examined. The decomposition of the coefficients can be defined by points on the ordinal scale or by levels in the numerical response using the Gifi system of binary variables. This approach permits consideration of specific values of the coefficients at each layer of the response variable. Numerical results illustrate how to identify levels of interpretable regression coefficients.
Th1 polarization and apoptosis-inducing activity of CD4+ T -cells in cytokine-induced killers might favor the antitumor cytotoxicity of cytokine-induced killers in vivo.

OBJECTIVE The cytokines induced killers (CIKs) treatment is an emerging adoptive immunotherapy with greater antitumor activity than lymphocyte-activated killers (LAKs). Our previous study suggested that CD4+ T-cells in CIKs (CD4+ CIKs) might contribute to the CIK-mediated therapy in vivo. In this experiment, we studied the mechanisms that might be involved. METHODS Fresh CD4+ CIKs were purified and proportions of Th1- and Th2-type cells were determined by intracellular cytokine staining. Cytokine secretion and mRNA synthesis were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. Direct cytolysis and apoptosis-inducing activity were examined by the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) method and Annexin-V staining, respectively. RESULTS The Th1 polarization in CD4+ CIKs was identified, characterized with the enhanced frequency of Th1 subset, and a dramatic increase of the levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) in the culture supernatant. The elevation in synthesis of Th1-type cytokines could be maintained without any exogenous cytokine supplement, as implied by the results from quantitative RT-PCR. Although no tumor lysis occurred, an early stage of apoptosis was detected in Raji cocultured with CD4+ CIKs after 4 hours of incubation. This apoptosis-inducing activity of CD4+ CIKs elevated along with the incubation time and depended on the cell contact through the Fas/FasL pathway. CONCLUSIONS CD4+ CIK is a subset that might favor the antitumor cytotoxicity of CIKs in vivo by producing an advantageous Th1-dominance microenvironment and inducing tumor apoptosis though the Fas/FasL pathway.
Corporate sustainability performance and firm performance research: Literature review and future research agenda

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present a taxonomy of available literature on the relation of sustainability performance and firm performance, and to provide a path for future research for this field of study.Design/methodology/approach – Research papers were collected on sustainability performance assessment from various journals available at different online databases. The unit of evaluation was a full paper published in one of the relevant journals. Papers were classified in different categories and tabulated under various classes. A total of 101 research paper sources were studied and assessed in terms of nature of research, level of analysis, and application.Findings – The review reveals that most of the research in the field of sustainability performance and firm performance association, analyzed this relationship in developed countries. The result differs in various cultural and economic contexts and there is no universally accepted direction of this relationship. Contribution of research has.
Influence of milk somatic cell content on Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese yield

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the somatic cell content (SCC) of milk on Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese yield, produced in commercial cheese factories under field conditions. The study was carried out following the production of 56 batches of Parmigiano-Reggiano in 13 commercial cheese factories by processing milk collected from Italian Friesian cattle herds. The vat-milk (V-milk) used for making each cheese batch was obtained by mixing evening milk (partially skimmed following spontaneous separation of fat overnight, natural creaming) and morning milk. The batches of cheese produced were divided into 5 classes according to the SCC value of the evening milk determined prior to natural creaming (class 1, from 0 to 200 000; 2, 201 000–300 000; 3, 301 000–400 000; 4, 401 000–500 000; 5, over 501 000 cells/ml). The cheese yield was calculated as the amount of 24-h cheese, expressed in kilograms, obtained from 100 kg of V-milk (24 h ACY). The values of fat, crude protein, true protein, casein and 24 h ACY of V-milk were negatively correlated with the somatic cell score (SCS) of the evening milk. Conversely, a positive correlation was observed between chloride and SCS. Fat, protein fractions (crude protein, casein and whey proteins), P and titratable acidity of V-milk were positively correlated with its 24 h ACY, while chloride, pH and SCS showed a negative correlation. A significant drop in 24 h ACY was observed in classes 3, 4 and 5, therefore when the SCC of the evening milk exceeded 300 000 cells/ml. Finally a lower recovery of milk fat in cheese was observed as SCC of evening milk increase.