Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diffusion Theory and Knowledge Dissemination, Utilization, and Integration in Public Health

Legislators and their scientific beneficiaries express growing concerns that the fruits of their investment in health research are not reaching the public, policy makers, and practitioners with evidence-based practices. Practitioners and the public lament the lack of relevance and fit of evidence that reaches them and barriers to their implementation of it. Much has been written about this gap in medicine, much less in public health. We review the concepts that have guided or misguided public health in their attempts to bridge science and practice through dissemination and implementation. Beginning with diffusion theory, which inspired much of public health's work on dissemination, we compare diffusion, dissemination, and implementation with related notions that have served other fields in bridging science and practice. Finally, we suggest ways to blend diffusion with other theory and evidence in guiding a more decentralized approach to dissemination and implementation in public health, including changes in the ways we produce the science itself.
Dobutamine-induced augmentation of left ventricular ejection fraction predicts survival of heart failure patients with severe non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy.

AIMS The prognosis of patients with severe non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy is variable. The predictive value of currently utilized tests is suboptimal. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic value of dobutamine-induced augmentation of left ventricular ejection fraction in patients with non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-two patients with left ventricular ejection fraction < or =0.30 underwent exercise testing with gas exchange analysis and assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction at rest and after a 10-min intravenous infusion of dobutamine at 10 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1), using equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography. Age was 48+/-11 years, 32% females, functional class 2.6+/-0.6, resting left ventricular ejection fraction 0.20+/-0.06, and peak exercise oxygen consumption (mVO2) 19+/-6 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1). Mean dobutamine-induced augmentation of left ventricular ejection fraction (DeltaLVEF) was 0.09+/-0.06 (median 0.08, range -0.03 to 0.26). Follow-up was 25+/-15 months during which there were 12 deaths and five transplantations. Patients were divided into two groups based on median DeltaLVEF. The transplant-free survival was better in the group with higher DeltaLVEF (94% vs 64%, P<0.008). In multivariate analysis incorporating age, gender, duration of chronic heart failure, functional class, right and left ventricular ejection fraction, DeltaLVEF, left ventricular end-diastolic volume index, and mVO2, only DeltaLVEF was predictive of 1-year, 3-year, and overall transplant-free survival (RR 0.09, 0.03, and 0.13;P 0.03, 0.09, and 0.08 respectively). The linear correlation between DeltaLVEF and mVO2(r=0.3) and between DeltaLVEF and left ventricular ejection fraction (r=0.5) was weak. CONCLUSION Dobutamine-induced augmentation of left ventricular ejection fraction is a strong prognostic variable, independent of exercise capacity and resting ventriculographic variables, in severe non-ischaemic systolic dysfunctional heart failure.
Competitive Dynamics and the Introduction of New Products: The Motion Picture Timing Game

The extremely short life cycle and the rapid decay in revenues after opening coupled with the rapid and frequent introduction of new competitive products makes the timing of new product introductions in the motion picture industry critical, particularly during the high-revenue Christmas and summer seasons. Each studio wants to capture as much of the season as possible by opening early in the season. At the same time, each wants to avoid head-to-head competition. The authors model competition between two motion pictures in a share attraction framework and conduct an equilibrium analysis of the product introduction timing game in a finite season. The following three different equilibrium configurations emerge: (1) a single equilibrium with both movies opening simultaneously at the beginning of the season, (2) a single equilibrium with one movie opening at the beginning of the season and one delaying, and (3) dual equilibria, with either movie delaying opening. A key factor is the product life cycle, which can be captured well with a two-parameter exponential decline. The authors relate the life-cycle parameters to these possibilities with the general result that the weaker movie may be forced to delay opening. These results are related to case studies of the opening of recently released movies. A statistical analysis of the 1990 summer season in North America provides support for the conclusions and suggests that current release timing decisions can be improved. The authors discuss the rationale of “avoiding the competition” in the general context of product introduction timing.
Developmental Changes in the Sciara II/9A Initiation Zone for DNA Replication

ABSTRACT Developmentally regulated initiation of DNA synthesis was studied in the fly Sciara at locus II/9A. PCR analysis of nascent strands revealed an initiation zone that spans ∼8 kb in mitotic embryonic cells and endoreplicating salivary glands but contracts to 1.2 to 2.0 kb during DNA amplification of DNA puff II/9A. Thus, the amplification origin occurs within the initiation zone used for normal replication. The initiation zone left-hand border is constant, but the right-hand border changes during development. Also, there is a shift in the preferred site for initiation of DNA synthesis during DNA amplification compared to that in preamplification stages. This is the first demonstration that once an initiation zone is defined in embryos, its borders and preferred replication start sites can change during development. Chromatin immunoprecipitation showed that the RNA polymerase II 140-kDa subunit occupies the promoter of gene II/9-1 during DNA amplification, even though intense transcription will not start until the next developmental stage. RNA polymerase II is adjacent to the right-hand border of the initiation zone at DNA amplification but not at preamplification, suggesting that it may influence the position of this border. These findings support a relationship between the transcriptional machinery and establishment of the replication initiation zone.
Tinnitus, dizziness, and nonotologic otalgia improvement through temporomandibular disorder therapy.

U.S. Air Force otologic patients seeking care at Wilford Hall Medical Center for tinnitus, dizziness, and/or nonotologic otalgia without an identifiable cause and presenting with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms in the temple, jaw, or preauricular area or with otalgia at least once a month were referred to a TMD specialty clinic. The patients were provided a dental orthotic and TMD self-care instructions. After 3 months of orthotic wear, the percentages of patients reporting at least moderate symptom improvement of their tinnitus, dizziness, otalgia, and/or TMD were 64, 91, 87, and 92%, respectively. Follow-up telephone calls 6 months after completion of TMD therapy revealed that all patients maintained their symptom improvements. These findings imply that TMD was affecting the patients' otologic symptoms. Patients seeking care for tinnitus, dizziness, and/or nonotologic otalgia without an identifiable cause may have TMD, and their otologic symptoms may benefit from conservative reversible TMD therapy.
Electrochemical Determination of Cadmium and Lead on Pristine Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Electrodes

A flexible, transparent, single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film electrode was prepared by vacuum filtering methods, followed by photolithographic patterning of a photoresist polymer on the SWCNT surface. The morphology of the SWCNT film electrode surface was characterized using a field-emission scanning electron microscope coupled to an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrophotometer. The electrodes were successfully used as a mercury-free electrochemical sensor for individual and simultaneous detection of cadmium (Cd^2+) and lead (Pb^2+) in 0.02 M HCl by square-wave stripping voltammetry. Some important operational parameters, including deposition time, deposition potential, square-wave amplitude, and square wave-frequency were optimized for the detection of Cd^2+ and Pb^2+. The newly developed sensor showed good linear behavior in the examined concentration. For individual Cd^2+ and Pb^2+ ion detection, the linear range was found from 0.033 to 0.228 ppm with detection limits of 0.7 ppb ( R ^2 = 0.985) for Cd^2+ and 0.8 ppb ( R ^2 = 0.999) for Pb^2+. For simultaneous detection, the linear range was found from 0.033 to 0.280 ppm with a limit of detection of 2.2 ppb ( R ^2 = 0.976) and 0.6 ppb ( R ^2 = 0.996) for Cd^2+ and Pb^2+, respectively. SWCNT film electrodes offered favorable reproducibility of ±5.4% and 4.3% for Cd^2+ and Pb^2+, respectively. The experiments demonstrated the applicability of carbon nanotubes, specifically in the preparation of SWCNT films. The results suggest that the proposed flexible SWCNT film electrodes can be applied as simple, efficient, cost-effective, and/or disposable electrodes for simultaneous detection of heavy metal ions.
Option Valuation under Stochastic Volatility II: With Mathematica Code

In his second volume on stochastic volatility and option pricing, Alan Lewis extends his previous work with a particular focus on jump modelling. The Heston or Feller 3/2 models are frequently reworked to incorporate jumps. Particular effort is given to pricing VIX derivatives using an affine jump diffusion process. Additionally, there are several new results on transition and absorption probabilities for these models and the SABR model. There is some new material on statistical inference for these processes. Extensions to Lewis’ past work on discrete dividends and spectral expansion for jump diffusion are presented. As in the first volume, the intractability of the processes results in extensive use of mathematica to obtain the final results. The book begins with a rates model to deal with our current world of near-zero rates. With a zero or slightly positive rate given as a lower boundary for our process, we consider the case of a slowly reflecting process, i.e. a short rate process of the form drt 1⁄4 c1rt1⁄40 þ l1rt [ 0 ð Þdt þ r1rt [ 0dBt (1)
Refining cage change routines: comparison of cardiovascular responses to three different ways of cage change in rats

Cage change is one of the unavoidable routines in laboratory rodent care. However, cage change disrupts the rodents’ olfactory environment and can evoke stress reactions. In this study, the short-term cardiovascular responses to three different cage change procedures were compared with telemetric monitoring. These procedures were: placing the rats into a new, clean cage (NEW), transferring the old cage lid into the clean cage (LID) and transferring an enrichment object into the clean cage (ENR) with the animals. Seven outbred rats (four Hsd:Sprague-Dawley and three HsdBrlHan:WIST) were instrumented with telemetric transmitters. The reactions were recorded during the 24 h following the cage change procedures. All cage change procedures (and also simple handling) caused elevated heart rate and mean arterial pressure levels for up to 5 h after the procedure, with the largest effect seen during the first hour. The reactions observed after cage change were significantly (P < 0.05) greater than those observed after simple handling. The reactions after NEW were significantly higher than the reactions after ENR or LID, though the results were dependent on the stock. In Wistar rats the LID procedure resulted in smaller reactions than ENR. In Sprague-Dawley rats, the differences between ENR and LID were not so clear, but the transfer of scent-marked material into the new cage decreased the reactions compared with the NEW procedure also in this stock. Based on these results, using the old cage lid on the new cage could reduce the disturbance of cage change in rats.
Functional consequences of cartilage degeneration in the equine metacarpophalangeal joint: quantitative assessment of cartilage stiffness.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY No quantitative data currently exist on the relationship of the occurrence of cartilage degeneration and changes in site-specific biomechanical properties in the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint in the horse. OBJECTIVES To gain insight into the biomechanical consequences of cartilage deterioration at 2 differently loaded sites on the proximal articular surface of the proximal phalanx (P1). HYPOTHESIS Static and dynamic stiffness of articular cartilage decreases significantly in degenerated cartilage. METHODS Cartilage degeneration index (CDI) values were measured at the lateral dorsal margin (Site 1), lateral central fovea (Site 2) and entire joint surface of P1 (CDIP1) in 30 horses. Group 1 contained joints without (CDIP1 values <25 %, n = 22) and Group 2 joints with (CDIP1 values >25 %, n = 8) signs of cartilage degeneration. Cartilage thickness at Sites 1 and 2 was measured using ultrasonic and needle-probe techniques. Osteochondral plugs were drilled out from Sites 1 and 2 and subsequently tested biomechanically in indentation geometry. Young's modulus at equilibrium and dynamic modulus were determined. RESULTS Cartilage thickness values were not significantly different between the 2 groups and sites. Young's modulus at Site 1 was significantly higher in Group 1 than in Group 2; at Site 2, the difference was not significant. Dynamic modulus values were significantly higher in Group 1 than in Group 2 at both sites. CONCLUSIONS Degenerative cartilage changes are clearly related to loss of stiffness of the tissue. Absolute changes in cartilage integrity in terms of CDI are greatest at the joint margin, but concomitant changes are also present at the centre, with a comparable decrease of the biomechanical moduli at the 2 sites. Therefore, significant cartilage degradation at the joint margin not only reflects local deterioration of biomechanical properties, but is also indicative of the functional quality in the centre. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE These findings may be important for improving prognostication and developing preventative measures.
A two-period model of an insurer with catastrophic loss and capacity constraint

In this paper, a two-period cash flow model of an insurer is constructed to explore how catastrophic loss can influence insurance price and industrial organization under capacity constraint. The model focuses on studying the impact of loss payment on an insurer’s optimal underwriting and capital rising strategies in the next period. The study confirms the previous finding of the ambiguous relationship between losses and next-period premiums. In the situation of tight capital supply and high insurance demand, a positive relationship between catastrophic loss and insurance price and a negative relationship between catastrophic loss and insurance coverage capacity can be observed. The paper contributes to show an insurer’s solvency ratio plays an important role in the interaction between its ability to sell new business and to raise external capital. The paper can also help find out in which condition an insurer can make extra profit in the case of catastrophic loss payment, and this condition further implies that one catastrophic event could act as a trigger, splitting insurers into high-quality ones and low-quality ones with respect to their underwriting efficiencies and capital raising abilities.
Voluntary Adoption of the IFRS and Industry-Level Comparability: Evidence from Korean Unlisted Firms

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of industry-level comparability with regard to voluntary adoption of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) by unlisted firms in Korea. Mandatory adoption of the IFRS for listed firms in 2011 inhibits financial statement comparability between listed and unlisted firms. Our empirical findings reveal that unlisted firms in industries with higher ratios of listed firms tend to adopt the IFRS voluntarily. After this adoption, such unlisted firms seem to attract greater investment in the public debt market.
The G Protein–Gated Potassium Current IK,ACh Is Constitutively Active in Patients With Chronic Atrial Fibrillation

Background— The molecular mechanism of increased background inward rectifier current (IK1) in atrial fibrillation (AF) is not fully understood. We tested whether constitutively active acetylcholine (ACh)-activated IK,ACh contributes to enhanced basal conductance in chronic AF (cAF). Methods and Results— Whole-cell and single-channel currents were measured with standard voltage-clamp techniques in atrial myocytes from patients with sinus rhythm (SR) and cAF. The selective IK,ACh blocker tertiapin was used for inhibition of IK,ACh. Whole-cell basal current was larger in cAF than in SR, whereas carbachol (CCh)-activated IK,ACh was lower in cAF than in SR. Tertiapin (0.1 to 100 nmol/L) reduced IK,ACh in a concentration-dependent manner with greater potency in cAF than in SR (−logIC50: 9.1 versus 8.2; P<0.05). Basal current contained a tertiapin-sensitive component that was larger in cAF than in SR (tertiapin [10 nmol/L]-sensitive current at −100 mV: cAF, −6.7±1.2 pA/pF, n=16/5 [myocytes/patients] versus SR, −1.7±0.5 pA/pF, n=24/8), suggesting contribution of constitutively active IK,ACh to basal current. In single-channel recordings, constitutively active IK,ACh was prominent in cAF but not in SR (channel open probability: cAF, 5.4±0.7%, n=19/9 versus SR, 0.1±0.05%, n=16/9; P<0.05). Moreover, IK1 channel open probability was higher in cAF than in SR (13.4±0.4%, n=19/9 versus 11.4±0.7%, n=16/9; P<0.05) without changes in other channel characteristics. Conclusions— Our results demonstrate that larger basal inward rectifier K+ current in cAF consists of increased IK1 activity and constitutively active IK,ACh. Blockade of IK,ACh may represent a new therapeutic target in AF.
Prediction of subcellular locations of proteins: Where to proceed?

Since the proposal of the signal hypothesis on protein subcellular sorting, a number of computational analyses have been performed in this field. A typical example is the development of prediction algorithms for the subcellular localization sites of input protein sequences. In this review, we mainly focus on the biological grounds of the prediction methods rather than the algorithmic issues because we believe the former will be more fruitful for future development. Recent advances on the study of protein sorting signals will hopefully be incorporated into future prediction methods. Unfortunately, many of the state‐of‐the‐art methods are published without sufficient objective tests. In fact, a simple test employed in this article shows that the performance of specifically developed predictors is not significantly better than that of a homology search. We suspect that this is a general problem associated with the interpretation of genome sequences, which have evolved through gene duplication and speciation.
A study of inverted U-shape relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility - the case of Indonesia

The aim of this study is to investigate Udayasankar's hypothesis regarding the relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility (CSR) participation in Indonesia. Udayasankar (2008) proposed the U-shape relationship of firm size and CSR participation. Since at the country level, factors such as economic development, and social, political, and cultural factors play a significant role in determining CSR participation, the relationship shape needs to be examined per country basis. Therefore, this research has applied content analysis to measure CSR participation index for 433 Indonesian companies listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange for 2012. Resource access, operation scale and visibility are used as indicators of firm size. Our findings reveal an inverted U-shape relationship between firm size and CSR participation. This study reports a positive relationship between size and CSR participation for small companies, and a negative relationship between size and CSR participation for large companies. The study contributes that the country level factors play an important role toward CSR practices.
Helical Repeats of Left-Handed DNA

DNA is generally assumed as a right-handed double helix and Z-DNA is a special kind of left-handed DNA infrequently found in nature. However, the finding of a zero linking number topoisomer supports a hypothesis that the two strands of DNA are winding ambidextrously, rather than plectonemically. It logically leads to a notion that the left-handed DNA is as common as right-handed DNA and the amount of left-handed DNA in a positively supercoiled plasmid prevails that of the right-handed DNA. In this report, the helical repeat of left-handed DNA, 12 bp per turn, was determined by a new method. How the positively supercoiled DNA was generated in hyperthermophiles and why their DNA can withstand the extreme high temperature are answered from an alternative theory.
Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology Relating HIV-1 Sequence Variation to Replication Capacity via Trees and Forests

The problem of relating genotype (as represented by amino acid sequence) to phenotypes is distinguished from standard regression problems by the nature of sequence data. Here we investigate an instance of such a problem where the phenotype of interest is HIV-1 replication capacity and contiguous segments of protease and reverse transcriptase sequence constitutes genotype. A variety of data analytic methods have been proposed in this context. Shortcomings of select techniques are contrasted with the advantages afforded by tree-structured methods. However, tree-structured methods, in turn, have been criticized on grounds of only enjoying modest predictive performance. A number of ensemble approaches (bagging, boosting, random forests) have recently emerged, devised to overcome this deficiency. We evaluate random forests as applied in this setting, and detail why prediction gains obtained in other situations are not realized. Other approaches including logic regression, support vector machines and neural networks are also applied. We interpret results in terms of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase structure and function.
Characterization of the gene encoding pisatin demethylase (FoPDA1) in Fusarium oxysporum.

The pea pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi is able to detoxify pisatin produced as a defense response by pea, and the gene encoding this detoxification mechanism, FoPDA1, was 82% identical to the cytochrome P450 pisatin demethylase PDA1 gene in Nectria haematococca. A survey of F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi isolates demonstrated that, as in N. haematococca, the PDA gene of F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi is generally located on a small chromosome. In N. haematococca, PDA1 is in a cluster of pea pathogenicity (PEP) genes. Homologs of these PEP genes also were found in the F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi isolates, and PEP1 and PEP5 were sometimes located on the same small chromosomes as the FoPDA1 homologs. Transforming FoPDA1 into a pda(? ) F. oxysporum f. sp. lini isolate conferred pda activity and promoted pathogenicity on pea to some transformants. Different hybridization patterns of FoPDA1 were found in F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi but these did not correlate with the races of the fungus, suggesting that races within this forma specialis arose independently of FoPDA1. FoPDA1 also was present in the formae speciales lini, glycines, and dianthi of F. oxysporum but they had mutations resulting in nonfunctional proteins. However, an active FoPDA1 was present in F. oxysporum f. sp. phaseoli and it was virulent on pea. Despite their evolutionary distance, the amino acid sequences of FoPDA1 of F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi and F. oxysporum f. sp. phaseoli revealed only six amino acid differences, consistent with a horizontal gene transfer event accounting for the origin of these genes.