Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patency rates of the arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Advantages of the arteriovenous fistula (AVF), including long patency and few complications, were ascertained more than 2 decades ago and may not apply to the contemporary dialysis population. STUDY DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis. Estimates were pooled using a random-effects model and sources of heterogeneity were explored using metaregression. SETTING & POPULATION Patients treated with long-term hemodialysis using an AVF. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STUDIES English-language studies indexed in MEDLINE between 2000 and 2012 using prospectively collected data on 100 or more AVFs. PREDICTOR Age, AVF location, and study location. OUTCOMES Outcomes of interest were primary AVF failure and primary and secondary patency at 1 and 2 years. RESULTS 7,011 citations were screened and 46 articles met eligibility criteria (62 unique cohorts; n = 12,383). The rate of primary failure was 23% (95% CI, 18%-28%; 37 cohorts; 7,393 AVFs). When primary failures were included, the primary patency rate was 60% (95% CI, 56%-64%; 13 studies; 21 cohorts; 4,111 AVFs) at 1 year and 51% (95% CI, 44%-58%; 7 studies; 12 cohorts; 2,694 AVFs) at 2 years. The secondary patency rate was 71% (95% CI, 64%-78%; 10 studies; 11 cohorts; 3,558 AVFs) at 1 year and 64% (95% CI, 56%-73%; 6 studies; 11 cohorts; 1,939 AVFs) at 2 years. In metaregression, there was a significant decrease in primary patency rate in studies that started recruitment in more recent years. LIMITATIONS Low quality of studies, variable clinical settings, and variable definitions of primary AVF failure. CONCLUSIONS In recent years, AVFs had a high rate of primary failure and low to moderate primary and secondary patency rates. Consideration of these outcomes is required when choosing a patient's preferred access type.
Tracking Banks' Systemic Importance Before and after the Crisis

type="main" xml:lang="en"> We develop a methodology to identify and rank ‘systemically important financial institutions’ (SIFIs). Our approach is free of discretion and based entirely on publicly available data, thus filling the gap between the judgment of the regulator and the views that market participants may form with their own information. We apply the methodology to three samples of banks (global, EU and euro area) for the years 2007–2012 and find that both the nature of systemic importance and its geographical distribution have changed significantly over time, with a shift from advanced western economies towards emerging markets, particularly China. Moreover, a distinctive consequence of the crisis is the proliferation of SIFIs that are at the same time complex and poorly substitutable, a combination that seemed relatively rare at the onset of the crisis and might not be entirely consistent with regulatory aspirations for a less risky financial framework.
Rational Expectations, Econometric Exogeneity, and Consumption

Estimates of a rational expectations version of Friedman's time-series consumption model are obtained by imposing the pertinent restrictions across the stochastic processes for consumption and income. A likelihood ratio test is used to test the adequacy of three joint hypotheses: namely, Friedman's model, rational expectations, and some arbitrary conditions on the disturbance process in the consumption function. The paper treats both the cases in which income is econometrically exogenous with respect to consumption and those in which it is not. The macroeconomics of this exogeneity condition are briefly discussed.
The effect of telithromycin in acute exacerbations of asthma.

BACKGROUND We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy of telithromycin in patients with acute exacerbations of asthma. METHODS A total of 278 adults with diagnosed asthma were enrolled within 24 hours after an acute exacerbation of asthma requiring short-term medical care. The patients were randomly assigned to receive 10 days of oral treatment with telithromycin (at a dose of 800 mg daily) or placebo in addition to usual care. Primary efficacy end points were a change from baseline over the treatment period in symptoms (as recorded by patients in a diary card) and in the peak expiratory flow in the morning at home. The presence of Chlamydophila pneumoniae or Mycoplasma pneumoniae was ascertained by serologic analysis, polymerase chain reaction, and culture. RESULTS Of the two prespecified primary outcomes, only asthma symptoms showed a significantly greater reduction among patients receiving telithromycin than among those receiving placebo. Mean (+/-SD) scores on a test of asthma symptoms (on a 7-point scale, with 0 denoting no symptoms and 6 denoting severe symptoms) were 3.0+/-1.4 at baseline and 1.7+/-1.1 at the end of treatment for the telithromycin group and 2.8+/-1.3 at baseline and 2.0+/-1.0 at the end of treatment for the placebo group. The mean decrease in symptom scores during the treatment period was 1.3 for telithromycin and 1.0 for placebo (mean difference, -0.3; 95 percent confidence interval, -0.5 to -0.1; P=0.004). There was no significant treatment effect on the other primary outcome measure, a change in morning peak expiratory flow. Nausea was more common among patients in the telithromycin group than in the placebo group (P=0.01). Although 61 percent of patients had evidence of infection with C. pneumoniae, M. pneumoniae, or both, there was no relationship between bacteriologic status and the response to asthma treatment. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence of the benefit of telithromycin in patients with acute exacerbations of asthma; the mechanisms of benefit remain unclear. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00273520.).
Intellectual capital dynamics in universities: a reporting model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the increasing attention to universities and research organizations at political level and the growing implementation in these institutions of intellectual capital (IC) management and reporting mechanisms, traditionally used by private companies. The objective of the paper is twofold. On one hand, to present an IC report specially designed for universities, suggesting a battery of indicators for resources related to research activity, and, on the other hand, to move one step forward and discuss current challenges in relation to establishing standards for universities to manage and report on their IC and the difficulties in capturing the process dynamics.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews recent literature both on conceptual issues and experiences in relation to IC. The Austrian IC report, the observatory of European university exercise and some recent experiences of the Madrid regional government concerning Madrid universities are analysed. Bo.
Malaysia: Continuity or Change?

On May 13, 1969 racial rioting erupted in Kuala Lumpur with a ferocity and attendant loss of live unparalleled in Malaysia's modern history. ' Immediately thereafter the Yang di-Pertuan, the Malaysian Head of State, declared a state of emergency and suspended Parliament. The events which sparked the conflagration had been set in motion three days earlier as Malaysians went to the polls in the country's third general election since independence. The ruling Alliance Party-comprised of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) -although maintaining its dominant political position, suffered unexpected reverses. On May 12, the two major, urban-based opposition parties held "victory" marches in Kuala Lumpur. Some of the participants, exuberant with success, taunted Malay bystanders in terms calculated to evoke the latter's fears of being thrust aside by more aggressive ethnic groups. In response, local UMNO leaders organized their own procession for the early evening of the 13th. The residence of the Chief Minister of Selangor in Kampong Bharu, a large Malay settlement in the predominantly Chinese capital, was selected as the starting point. Tensions were high among the people milling about and when the news reached them, about one hour before the procession's scheduled beginning, "that Malay would-be participants . had been attacked . by Chinese groups . en route to Kampong Bharu" it caused a "violent antiChinese reaction" and several deaths.2 The timing and magnitude of the subsequent disturbances caught the security forces off guard and it was several days before they gained control. Malay sensitivity and susceptibility to violent outbursts is a common motif in the writing of colonial officials and of novelists like Joseph Conrad. An exerpt from the work of a French rubber-planter can stand for the genre. "Malays are polite because they are proud . Shame is the only emotion that they cannot bear . a true Malay will sooner die than live with the memory of even an imagined affront. "3 A similar point is made by a modern historian remarking on the "many traditional elements" in the
Le modèle logit multinomial à coefficients aléatoires

Le modèle logit à coefficients aléatoires est le modèle le plus prometteur parmi les modèles de choix discrets. Il généralise le modèle logit multinomial standard et utilise des méthodes de simulation pour l'estimation du modèle. De plus, il permet d'estimer la distribution des propensions marginales à payer.
A synthesis of existing systematic reviews and meta‐analyses of school‐based behavioural interventions for controlling and preventing obesity

Schools are an attractive and popular setting for implementing interventions for children. There is a growing body of empirical research exploring the efficacy of school‐based obesity prevention programs. While there have been several reviews on the topic, findings remain mixed. To examine the quality of evidence and compare the findings from existing systematic reviews and meta‐analyses of school‐based programs in the prevention and control of childhood obesity. This paper systematically appraises the methodology and conclusions of literature reviews examining the effectiveness of school‐based obesity interventions published in English in peer‐reviewed journals between January 1990 and October 2010. Eight reviews were examined, three meta‐analyses and five systematic reviews. All of the reviews recognized that studies were heterogeneous in design, participants, intervention and outcomes. Intervention components in the school setting associated with a significant reduction of weight in children included long‐term interventions with combined diet and physical activity and a family component. Several reviews also found gender differences in response to interventions. Of the eight reviews, five were deemed of high quality and yet limited evidence was found on which to base recommendations. As no single intervention will fit all schools and populations, further high‐quality research needs to focus on identifying specific program characteristics predictive of success.
Long-Term Randomized Controlled Trials of Tailored-Print and Small-Group Arthritis Self-Management Interventions

Objective:The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a mail-delivered, tailored self-management intervention (SMART) and to compare it with the classic Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP). Methods:We performed 2 randomized controlled trials: 1) a study of 1090 participants randomized to SMART or USUAL CARE, and 2) a study of 341 participants randomized to SMART or ASMP. Dependent variables included disability, pain, depression, role function, global severity, doctor visits, and self-efficacy. SMART interventions were provided in months 0–18 and not reinforced. Results were assessed at 1, 2, and 3 years using analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). Results:Compared with USUAL CARE, SMART participants at 1 year had decreased disability, improved role function, and increased self-efficacy (all P <0.01). At 2 years, decreases in global severity, doctor visits, and increases in self-efficacy (all P <0.01) were noted. At 3 years without reinforcement, no statistically significant effects remained. Compared with ASMP, SMART at 1 year had greater decreases in disability (P = 0.02) and increases in self-efficacy (P = 0.01). There were no differences at 2 years. At 3 years, role function (P = 0.04) and doctor visit (P = 0.03) were improved in ASMP as compared with SMART. Improvements from baseline were seen for nearly all variables in both groups. Conclusions:A mail-delivered arthritis self-management program, SMART, was similarly effective to the classic ASMP, with slightly better results in the first year and a slightly more rapid attenuation over the next 2 years. Results suggest that both programs are effective, and that the addition of a mail-delivered program could improve accessibility to arthritis self-management treatment.
Replication of human cytomegalovirus at supra-optimal temperatures is dependent on the virus strain, multiplicity of infection and phase of virus replication.

The kinetics of replication of five strains of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) were studied to determine the influence of (i) temperature, (ii) virus strain, (iii) m.o. i. and (iv) cell type. Relative to growth at 37 degrees C (m.o.i. = 3 to 9) eclipse periods were extended from 24 to 48 h at 33 degrees C and to 72 h at 40.5 degrees C. Yields were reduced at 33 degrees C and almost eliminated at 40.5 degrees C. No replication occurred in most instances at 40.5 degrees C and with 0.05 p.f. u. /cell. Temperature shift studies (40.5 to 37 degrees C) indicated that the block to replication at 40.5 degrees occurred about 12 to 16 h p.i. resulting in little synthesis of CMV DNA or late antigens. The degree of inhibition of late functions at 40.5 degrees C is virus strain and m.o. i. dependent, but is not dependent on the type of fibroblastic cell used. These data suggest that persistent CMV infections are favoured at 40.5 degrees C.
THE PROFITABILITY OF MOMENTUM INVESTING

We test for the presence of momentum profits in the UK over the period 1977 to 1998. The analysis shows that significant momentum profits are present in both a comprehensive sample of UK stocks and an accounting sub-sample. An analysis of sub-period results, seasonal effects, and the persistence of momentum profits confirms the robustness of the results. Controlling for factors known to be associated with differences in average returns, such as size, stock price, book-to-market ratio, and cash earnings-to-price ratio, cannot explain momentum profits. We also confirm that serial correlation in common factors and delayed price reaction to common factor realisations cannot explain momentum profits. We conclude that the momentum effect derives from market underreaction to either industry- or firm-specific information and it is a significant, independent phenomenon in UK stock returns. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1999.
Speed-up the computing of bistatic cross-ambiguity function on different hardware configuration

Cross ambiguity function (CAF) is the key function for successful location tracking for passive radar systems. This paper describes several methods of the CAF based on block processing. The computation time of the CAF is a challenging problem for parallel programming techniques. In this paper the CAF is computed with Multi-core and Cluster approaches.
Investidores Institucionais e o Foco no Curto Prazo: um Estudo nas Empresas Negociadas na Bovespa

Institutional Investors generally are associated with good corporate governance practices since they have high capacity to monitor the company’s management. However, it can be argued (BUSHEE, 1998) that the presence of such investors may be associated with earnings management, seeking short term rather than long term returns. This article aims to investigate links between the presence of institutional investors and the focus of firm’s investments in the short term rather than long-term. It was carried out two statistical tests: a non-parametric (Wilcoxon test) and parametric one (t-test). The firms into the sample are the most liquid firms traded at Bovespa. The main results can not discard the possibility that there are management results, encouraging further studies.
Why Market-Valuation-Indifferent Indexing Works

Using market values for indexing gives more portfolio weight to the stocks with positive price errors and less portfolio weight to the stocks with negative price errors. Market-valuation-indifferent indexing—such as equal weighting or weighting by number of employees, number of customers, or sales—relies on averaging over hundreds of stocks to give equal weight to the two groups. Stock markets price stocks imperfectly, but the mispricings are always relative. Because overpriced stocks are counterbalanced by underpriced stocks, the distribution of error at any point in time is symmetrical. One can picture this distribution as a bell-shaped curve with “error” on the horizontal axis and some measure of “frequency” on the vertical axis. Because it reflects both the number of companies in the market and their size, aggregate value is the appropriate measure of frequency, but which measure of aggregate value—true value or market value? Large positive errors increase the market value of the stocks with those errors, and large negative errors reduce the market value of stocks with those errors. Unlike a distribution of the pricing error based on true value, the error distribution for market values will be skewed to the right. This lack of symmetry is the problem with capitalization weighting: By using market values to determine its weights, a cap-weighted index fund will invest more money in overpriced stocks than in underpriced stocks. Market-value-indifferent (MVI) indexing avoids this problem. An example is an equally weighted (or constant-weight) portfolio. The problem with equal weighting is that it will have a strong small-cap bias. Other weighting schemes reduce or even reverse the bias.
Improving Interactions between Meeting Planners and Hotel Employees

A study of meeting planners determined that communication, organization, execution, developing relationships, initiative, and crisis management are the key components in the successful delivery of services to the meetings industry. The areas of organization, execution, and professionalism are the most crucial to the success of event management. The most pervasive root causes of negative incidents were training and knowledge lapses, communication failures, and restrictive and rigid policies. Specific problem areas include employee-scheduling policies, lack of vested authority in an available hotel representative, turnover of key employees, outlandish charges by hotel contractors, hotels' focus on profit at the expense of service, hotels' inability to deliver agreed-upon services, and the physical condition or arrangement of meeting rooms. Solutions include involving the conference-services director as soon as possible in the process and training guest-contact employees to deal with groups' problems.
Self-enforcing contracts in agriculture

This article examines a self-enforcing contract between a risk-neutral principal and a risk-averse agent who is able to hold up values ex post. It shows that risk aversion and variance can only partly explain the contract's incentive intensity. Ex post bargaining power and outside options will also determine contract choice. If the agent's ex post bargaining position is weak, the principal cannot commit to high-powered incentives, whereas if the agent's ex post bargaining position is good, the agent cannot commit to low-powered incentives. The model may thus explain some puzzles in agricultural contracts, in particular why risk-averse agents sometimes accept to be governed by high-powered incentive contracts that are quite similar to fixed rental contracts, and why risk-neutral agents are sometimes offered share contracts with lower-powered incentives.
Compromised Intestinal Lipid Absorption in Mice with a Liver-Specific Deficiency of Liver Receptor Homolog 1

ABSTRACT Bile acids (BAs) are water-soluble end products from cholesterol metabolism and are essential for efficient absorption of dietary lipids. By using targeted somatic mutagenesis of the nuclear receptor liver receptor homolog 1 (LRH-1) in mouse hepatocytes, we demonstrate here that LRH-1 critically regulates the physicochemical properties of BAs. The absence of LRH-1 and subsequent deficiency of Cyp8b1 eliminate the production of cholic acid and its amino acid conjugate taurocholic acid and increase the relative amounts of less amphipathic BA species. Intriguingly, while the expression of Cyp8b1 is almost extinguished in the livers of mice that lack LRH-1, the expression of the rate-limiting enzyme of BA synthesis, i.e., Cyp7a1, remains unchanged. The profound remodeling of the BA composition significantly reduces the efficacy of intestinal absorption of lipids and reuptake of BAs and facilitates the removal of lipids from the body. Our studies unequivocally demonstrate a pivotal role for LRH-1 in determining the composition of BAs, which, in turn has major consequences on whole-body lipid homeostasis.
Youth Engagement in Agriculture in Uganda: Challenges and Prospects

The Ugandan population is to a large extent comprised of a high and increasing cohort of young people, close to 78 percent of the population is below the age of thirty. Evidence reveals that youth engagement in agriculture is declining amidst rising youth unemployment yet the services and industrial sectors despite growing at considerably faster rates have not created enough jobs for the burgeoning youthful labour force. This may have implications on food security, unemployment, and underemployment and may undermine the government efforts to drive economic growth through agriculture. Using data from the Uganda National Panel Survey data of 2005/6 and 2009/10, we examine youth employment dynamics across the different sectors and further provide insights into the determinants of youth participation in agriculture. Using the Uganda Census of Agriculture 2008/09, we further document the challenges and constraints inherent to the youth in agricultural production relative to adults. The findings reveal that youthful farmers are concentrated more in agricultural production. Furthermore, a relatively lower percentage of youth use improved inputs (such as improved seeds, fertilizers, agricultural chemicals and veterinary drugs). With this poor rate of adoption of appropriate inputs, productivity is likely to remain low and constrain the youth to subsistence farming. Furthermore, the youth are disenfranchised in the ownership and management of critical assets in agricultural production, especially land. Land tenure issues continue to impede many youths from engaging in agriculture, with the majority of youth using land without exclusive ownership rights. In addition, the results point to the fact that the youth are less likely to access credit, extension services and social capital (farmer group membership), all key factors in agricultural transformation. The in-depth analysis results seem to suggest that the youth with at least secondary education, males (both married and unmarried) and those youth residing in households with a large share of adults are less likely to engage in agriculture.
ó: The Long And Short Of It

Research on the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor - σ - has been proceeding for 75 years. While there is clearly a strong case for the importance of σ in the analysis of growth and other economic issues, much less agreement exists on the value of σ. This paper offers some perspectives on prior estimates of σ, emphasizing the fundamental tension between the short-run data that are available and the long-run parameter that is required. Estimates of σ based on various short-run and long-run models are discussed and, while the estimates range widely, the weight of the evidence suggests a value of σ in the range of 0.40 to 0.60. There is little evidence to sustain the assumption of a Cobb-Douglas production function.