Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
b-Cell Mass and Turnover in Humans Effects of obesity and aging

The incidence of type 2 diabetes increases with obesity and aging (1). There is a deficit in b-cell mass with increased b-cell apoptosis in type 2 diabetes (2). Although there are numerous studies of changes in b-cell mass and turnover in rodents, inevitably the data is much more limited in humans. As there is an increasing appreciation that regulation of b-cell mass in humans and rodents can be quite different, additional studies in humans, where possible, is important. In the current study, we addressed the following questions. First, is b-cell mass adaptively increased in obese humans, and if so, is this through increased b-cell replication as widely reported in rodents? It has been reported that b-cell mass increases with obesity in age-matched individuals but b-cell replication was not reported (3). Second, is b-cell apoptosis increased with obesity? The increased b-cell apoptosis in type 2 diabetes (2) has been ascribed to lipotoxicity, based on increased b-cell apoptosis in rodents with obesity due to deficient leptin signaling (4). Since the relative fat content (fat-to-acinar ratio) accumulates in the pancreas in humans with obesity (5), if this is sufficient to induce increased b-cell apoptosis, then it would be anticipated that humans with marked obesity would have increased b-cell apoptosis. Third, we questioned if b-cell mass adaptively decreases with aging, and if so, is this due to increased b-cell apoptosis? b-Cell function declines in humans with aging (6). The exocrine pancreas undergoes marked atrophy after 60 years of age, but there is limited data available about the changes in b-cell mass with aging, with one study reporting a marginal decline with age (3) but providing no measure of b-cell turnover.
Family Businesses and Globalization in Finland

This paper studies whether family businesses (FBs) differ from non-family businesses (non-FBs) in various dimensions of globalization with a representative sample of businesses in Finnish manufacturing and private services. FBs and non-FBs are not so different when it comes to export and off-shore (includes both in-house moves and outsourcing) probabilities and intensities. After controlling for other relevant factors, however, family businesses are less likely to have employment abroad and their shares of foreign employment are likely to be lower than their non-family counterparts. FBs foreign employment may also be qualitatively different : Compared to non-FBs, FBs seem to be more prone to have employment in the neighboring country rather than in ones geographically more distant. The strategic role of FBs foreign employment also seems to be different, although due to data limitations we are unable to pin down exactly how. FBs are somewhat more likely to increase their overall Finnish employment in the course of the next few years. This overall observation is largely be-cause family businesses are particularly more likely to hire those with somewhat lower levels of formal education, who also initially tend to command a relatively larger share of their employment.
On the Negative Market Volatility Risk-Premium: Bridging the Gap Between Option Returns and the Pricing of Options

Existing evidence indicates that (i) average returns of purchased delta-hedged options are negative, implying options are expensive, and (ii) volatility is the most important extra risk that is factored into option prices. Therefore, a natural extension is to explain the cross-section of average delta-hedged option returns in a stochastic volatility model. This paper solves this problem by introducing a measure of option overprice, which quantifies the impact on option prices of the volatility risk premium. It is an application of option-pricing in incomplete markets under stochastic volatility. An extensive numerical exercise shows the option overprice is consistent with the cross-section of average delta-hedged returns of calls, puts, and straddles reported by the literature for the S&P 500 index, except for expensive short-term out-of-the-money puts. In a stochastic volatility model, the volatility risk of at- and, especially, out-of-the-money calls and puts is several times larger than market volatility, which explains large negative volatility risk premiums if volatility risk is negative priced.
IL-17 Enhances the Net Angiogenic Activity and In Vivo Growth of Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in SCID Mice through Promoting CXCR-2-Dependent Angiogenesis1

In this study, we examined the biological action of IL-17 on human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although IL-17 had no direct effect on the in vitro growth rate of NSCLC, IL-17 selectively augmented the secretion of an array of angiogenic CXC chemokines, including CXCL1, CXCL5, CXCL6, and CXCL8 but not angiostatic chemokines, by three different NSCLC lines. Endothelial cell chemotactic activity (as a measure of net angiogenic potential) was increased in response to conditioned medium from NSCLC stimulated with IL-17 compared with those from unstimulated NSCLC. Enhanced chemotactic activity was suppressed by neutralizing mAb(s) to CXCL1, CXCL5, and CXCL8 or to CXCR-2 but not to vascular endothelial growth factor-A. Transfection with IL-17 into NSCLC had no effect on the in vitro growth, whereas IL-17 transfectants grew more rapidly compared with controls when transplanted in SCID mice. This IL-17-elicited enhancement of NSCLC growth was associated with increased tumor vascularity. Moreover, treatment with anti-mouse CXCR-2-neutralizing Ab significantly attenuated the growth of both neomycin phosphotransferase gene-transfected and IL-17-transfected NSCLC tumors in SCID mice. A potential role for IL-17 in modulation of the human NSCLC phenotype was supported by the findings that, in primary NSCLC tissues, IL-17 expression was frequently detected in accumulating and infiltrating inflammatory cells and that high levels of IL-17 expression were associated with increased tumor vascularity. These results demonstrate that IL-17 increases the net angiogenic activity and in vivo growth of NSCLC via promoting CXCR-2-dependent angiogenesis and suggest that targeting CXCR-2 signaling may be a novel promising strategy to treat patients with NSCLC.
Bank Lending to Emerging Markets: Empirical Evidence on Country-Level and Bank-Specific Determinants

Using data on 13 OECD and 51 emerging markets between 1993 and 2007, this study investigates country-level and bank-specific determinants of foreign bank lending. We provide empirical evidence that both the macroeconomic and institutional environment are strong determinants of foreign bank lending to emerging markets. Among lending banks characteristics, bank size positively affects the volume of foreign claims whereas bank capitalization, profitability and efficiency have a negative impact. Controlling for structural breaks in our time series, we further provide empirical evidence that the impact of macroeconomic and bank-specific determinants significantly changes with regard to different time periods.
Ocular Effects of Sulfur Mustard

Purpose: To review current knowledge about ocular effects of sulfur mustard (SM) and the associated histopathologic findings and clinical manifestations Methods: Literature review of medical articles (human and animal studies) was accomplished using PubMed, Scopus and ISI databases. A total of 274 relevant articles in English were retrieved and reviewed thoroughly. Results: Eyes are the most sensitive organs to local toxic effects of mustard gas. Ocular injuries are mediated through different toxic mechanisms including: biochemical damages, biomolecular and gene expression modification, induction of immunologic and inflammatory reactions, disturbing ultrastructural architecture of the cornea, and long-lasting corneal denervation. The resulting ocular injuries can roughly be categorized into acute or chronic complications. Most of the patients recover from acute injuries, but a minority of victims will suffer from chronic ocular complications. Mustard gas keratopathy (MGK) is a devastating late complication of SM intoxication that proceeds from limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). Conclusion: SM induces several different damaging changes in case of ocular exposure; hence leading to a broad spectrum of ocular manifestations in terms of severity, timing and form. Unfortunately, no effective strategy has been introduced yet to inhibit or restore these damaging changes.
Impact of IFRS Adoption on Financial Statements of Select Indian Companies

The main purpose of this study is to identify the statistically significant differences between the Indian GAAP-based and IFRS-based financial statements of companies in terms of financial statement items through the calculated financial ratios. The analysis is based on the sample of 10 Indian companies that have voluntarily adopted IFRS reporting. Financial statements prepared as per Indian GAAP and IFRS were obtained for a period of 6 years. Financial ratios under the categories, stability, liquidity, profitability and investment valuation were analyzed using the Gray comparability index to analyze the relative effect, the Wilcoxon’s signed ranks test, paired sample t-test, F-test and linear regression for testing the statistical significance. Identifying significant differences between Indian GAAP-based and IFRS-based financial ratios, the study showed that IFRS adoption has led to a statistically significant increase in liquidity, profitability and valuation ratios.
The genetic and biochemical basis of Omenn syndrome

Omenn syndrome (OS) is a peculiar, autosomal recessive severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) associated with early-onset, generalized, exudative erythrodermia; lymphoadenopathy; hepato- and splenomegaly; hypereosinophilia; elevated serum IgE; and normal to high activated, yet non-functional, oligoclonal T cells. Recent investigations have shown that the primum movens of all these puzzling features lies in a defect of the lymphoid-specific V(D)J recombination process. Abnormalities in both alleles of either Rag-1 or -2 genes are found in all OS patients. At variance with T B- SCID, whose Rag mutations represent null alleles, OS mutations maintain a residual recombination activity, allowing limited T-cell receptor gene rearrangements to occur in the thymus. The gene rearrangements are subsequently expanded in the periphery after environmental antigen exposure. Missense mutations detected in OS have been examined in a number of biochemical assays and have contributed to dissect the various functional domains of both Rag-1 and Rag-2 proteins. The examination of a set of mutations occurring in the Rag-1 N-terminal portion has demonstrated that this region plays a fundamental role in vivo. The elucidation of the molecular basis of OS has allowed us to perform early prenatal diagnosis and could be the basis for trials of in utero bone marrow transplantation or gene therapy approaches.
A 30 GHz bandwidth AlGaAs-GaAs HBT direct-coupled feedback amplifier

A DC to 30 GHz broadband amplifier based on the Darlington connected transistors with series and shunt resistive feedback was implemented with self-aligned AlGaAs-GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology. The measured performance shows 7.8 dB of gain with -3-dB roll-off bandwidth of 30 GHz. Measured at 1 GHz, the noise figure was 5.7 dB, 1-dB compression power was 11 dBm, and the third-order intermodulation product intercept point (IP3) was 23.9 dBm. <<ETX>>
The service/quality solution : using service management to gain competitive advantage

All organizations want to increase productivity, profits, and market share through quality improvement. "The Service/Quality Solution" presents a service management approach to building competitive advantage and surviving the pressures within today's marketplace. This book shows readers how to "think service management", to make more strategic decisions and develop effective approaches to data analysis and performance measurement. It helps readers shift from a "product producing" to a "service providing" perspective.
Investment Behavior, User Cost and Monetary Policy Transmission - the Case of Hungary

In this paper we investigate corporate investment behavior using a large panel of Hungarian firms between 1993 and 2002. The standard neoclassifical framework is used to derive empirically feasible specifications, however, several other issues beyond the scope of the framework are also addressed. We draw on the line of research carried out previously in the Eurosystem Monetary Transmission Network (EMTN). Our results are, by and large, similar to those obtained within the EMTN. Namely, the effect of user cost changes on investment is significant and robust across several specifications providing strong evidence against simple sales-accelerator models of investment. Firms' cash-flow proved to be a significant determinant of corporate investment, which suggests that financial variables do matter for firms.
Liver regeneration is impaired in lipodystrophic fatty liver dystrophy mice

We previously reported that mice subjected to partial hepatectomy exhibit rapid development of hypoglycemia followed by transient accumulation of fat in the early regenerating liver. We also showed that disrupting these metabolic alterations results in impaired liver regeneration. The studies reported here were undertaken to further characterize and investigate the functional importance of changes in systemic adipose metabolism during normal liver regeneration. The results showed that a systemic catabolic response is induced in each of two distinct, commonly used experimental models of liver regeneration (partial hepatectomy and carbon tetrachloride treatment), and that this response occurs in proportion to the degree of induced hepatic insufficiency. Together, these observations suggest that catabolism of systemic adipose stores may be essential for normal liver regeneration. To test this possibility, we investigated the hepatic regenerative response in fatty liver dystrophy (fld) mice, which exhibit partial lipodystrophy and have diminished peripheral adipose stores. The results showed that the development of hypoglycemia and hepatic accumulation of fat was attenuated and liver regeneration was impaired following partial hepatectomy in these animals. The fld mice also exhibited increased hepatic p21 expression and diminished plasma levels of the adipose‐derived hormones adiponectin and leptin, which have each been implicated as regulators of liver regeneration. Conclusion: These data suggest that the hypoglycemia that develops after partial hepatectomy induces systemic lipolysis followed by accumulation of fat derived from peripheral stores in the early regenerating liver, and that these events may be essential for initiation of normal liver regeneration. (HEPATOLOGY 2010)
NEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION: ROUNDTABLE

Several recent developments may provide an opportunity to improve outcome in individuals who develop neovascular age-related maculopathy (age-related macular degeneration [ARMD]). Concurrent with progress in isolating clinically relevant subtypes of neovascular ARMD, several therapies have been introduced that show promise for halting progression of this disorder. However, data from controlled clinical trials to test the relative efficacy of different management strategies across these subtypes of disease presentation remain limited. In addition, strategies to control ARMD may evolve quickly as more is learned about how specific molecular events, such as cell-mediated inflammation and angiogenesis, contribute to disease expression. A roundtable of investigators was convened to discuss and summarize recent progress in the treatment of ARMD. Case studies were then presented to provide an opportunity for experts to reveal their specific thought processes in the approach to neovascular ARMD based on their own interpretation of current clinical data and empirical experience.
An Interest Support Based Subspace Clustering Approach to Predicting Repurchases

We propose an interest support based subspace clustering approach to improving the performance of predicting interesting behaviors. The approach uses particular heuristics to discover interesting subspace clusters more efficiently and selects a proper set of subspace clusters to build a cluster based classification model. We evaluate our approach using synthetic data and a real world application of predicting customer repurchase behavior. The experimental results show our approach is effective in discovering interesting and interpretable clusters that provide better prediction on customer repurchase behavior.
Hand injuries in the state of Florida, are centers of excellence needed?

INTRODUCTION Hand injuries are common and costly. The need for hand surgery specialists is undeniable. In the state of Florida, the availability of specialty services in hand surgery is limited. Florida ranks 4th in population and 32nd in hand surgeons per 100,000 state residents. Recent media reports highlight these limitations among hand surgeons and other specialists in the state. METHODS To evaluate the need for hand surgery centers of excellence in the state, we performed a retrospective review of data collected from the Agency for Health Care Administration database of hospital inpatient admissions from 1997 to the second quarter of 2007. Demographic information, details of the injury, and outcome data were evaluated in patients with amputation injuries. Amputations of the thumb, fingers, and hand/wrist/forearm were counted and factors associated with these injuries were recorded. Place of occurrence and injuries caused by machinery were evaluated. A regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends in the number of amputations and replantation procedures. RESULTS We identified 4,858 patients with amputations in this time period. There were approximately 462 amputations per year. The trend in finger amputations appeared to be increasing yearly, whereas the trend for replantation surgery was decreasing. Six percent of the hospitals recording admissions with the Agency for Health Care Administration performed 68% of the replantation surgeries in the state. We also noted an increasing proportion of patients being admitted and treated outside of their own county and region. CONCLUSION With fewer replantation surgeries performed and patients traveling farther for treatment we conclude that there is a need for coordinated evaluation, triage and treatment of patients with hand injuries requiring specialized hand surgery services at centers of excellence in Florida.
Esforço Inovador Das Firmas Industriais Brasileiras E Efeitos Transbordamentos

This article used informations proceeding from Technological Innovation Survey (PINTEC) to analyze the innovative effort made by Brazilian firms in 2000. In this paper was analyzed if there was differentiated behavior between domestic firms and branches of transnational firms in the efforts of Research and Development (R&D). In the same time, it was analyzed if firms that had utilized institutes and universities as information source to innovation were more inclined to strengthen in R&D and, also, whether carried out more expenditures than firms that had utilized institutes and universities located in the exterior. Finally, given the foreign presence in the Brazilian manufacturing industry in 2000, it was verified if there were spillovers effects proceeding from competition effects and demonstration effects on the efforts carried out by domestic firms.
The value chain of mobile e-payment

With the development of wireless network technology and the rapid popularization of mobile terminals, the m-business is promising, of which the key factor is mobile e-payment and is playing a more and more important role in the business and trading. Based on the social and practical meanings, this paper analyzes the mobile e-payment from the prospective of value chain, and then comparatively analyzes the modes of mobile e-payment from the prospective of value chain in deep.
Reconstructing Bartlett's affect theory.

In Remembering, Bartlett (1932) specifies a process of conventionalization whereby meaningful material is transformed when apprehended and reconstructed by another cultural group. In particular, ideas may be assimilated to existing cultural forms, simplified so that elements idiosyncratic to the source group are eliminated, or ideally subjected to a ‘genuine process of social constructiveness’ (p. 269). Similar negative or positive effects can also occur when engaging in the effort after meaning that accompanies interpretation of historic texts originating from a deceptively unfamiliar tradition. Even the relatively recent past can seem like another country. They present things in different terms there (and sometimes seem to use the same terms to describe different things). My own biggest translation problem as a contemporary reader of Bartlett’s 85-yearold text concerned his repeated use of the word ‘tendency’. His central thesis is that ‘feeling’ always depends on relations between different tendencies and never arises in connection with a single tendency. In the present context, appraisal theorists may be tempted to replace this key term with ‘goal’, ‘motive’, or perhaps more generally ‘concern’ (e.g. Frijda, 1986), but none of these alternatives fully captures the sense of pursuing a situated line of action, oriented to changing circumstances. Although tendencies always serve functions, they are not necessarily pushed by internal needs or pulled towards anticipated endpoints. Instead, they may be attuned dynamically to the origin and trajectory of an unfolding present (cf. Parkinson, 2001). Thus, appraisal theory’s assumption that emotions depend on the outcome of comparisons between circumstances and concerns seems too mechanical and time-locked to accommodate Bartlett’s idea of feelings emerging from conflict or synergy between two or more active tendencies. According to him, unpleasant affect is never just a result of some object or event blocking goal pursuit, but instead depends on the fact that the object or event provokes opposing tendencies. More extreme versions of contemporary appraisal theory further assume that emotions are impossible without prior cognitive apprehension of the relational meaning