Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Government Funding Privileges in European Financial Law – Making Public Debt Everybody's Favourite?

Since the global financial crisis of 2008 European authorities have set out to strengthen financial governance in order to create a more stable and resilient financial system. As discussed in this paper, the new and updated EU legislation addressed at a wide array of financial markets and institutions also significantly broadened the scope of the existing preferential regulatory treatment of sovereign bonds and introduced new funding privileges for governments. The many regulatory incentives for investors to buy and hold (domestic) government debt facilitate public debt management, at the cost of crowding out private sector funding and raising financial stability concerns every time the government faces distress. Moreover, a privileged access to capital markets reduces market discipline and may lead to moral hazard on the part of sovereigns. The growing scope of these government funding privileges in EU financial law may be interpreted in three (complementary) ways: as a revival of financial repression in a modern prudential guise to reduce the burden of high public debt, as a return to the traditional close relationship between the government and the financial sector so as to align mutual interests in fiscal and financial stability, or as a way to increase explicit and implicit taxes on finance and recoup public revenues lost during the financial crisis. The preferential treatment of sovereign exposures and governments’ market access is found in a growing body of EU financial law. Regulatory efforts to reduce it would have to be coordinated at the international level, take account of the financial structure and allow for a (long) period of transition to avoid market disruption.
Exploring Psychosocial Determinants of Eating Behavior: Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Brazilian Adolescents

In most Western countries, children and adolescents do not eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables (FVs). Theoretical frameworks on social psychology of eating, such as the Reason Action Approach, Social Cognitive Theory, and Theory of Normal Conduct have been applied to understand how psychosocial variables can explain FV intake. However, considering those predictors is still rare on the understanding of FV intake among adolescents (particularly in Brazil) despite its importance within eating behavior. Therefore, this study explored important psychosocial determinants of weekly frequency of FV intake among Brazilian adolescents in a model testing socioeconomic status (SES) and body mass index (BMI). A cross-sectional design was performed with 429 students (58% female), mean age 14.45 (SD 1.86). Key variables of theoretical framework on social psychology of food were investigated by structural equation modeling. The model included self-efficacy, attitudes, and social norms (with its subcomponents descriptive and injunctive) as psychosocial predictors of weekly frequency of FV intake along with SES and BMI. An instrument developed for Brazilian Portuguese was used to collect psychosocial variables as well as to verify FV reported intake. The total model explained 45.5% of weekly frequency of FV intake, and self-efficacy was the only significant psychosocial determinant (λ = 0.51, p = 0.001). SES also showed an important effect on the model (λ = 0.21, p = 0.001), while for BMI no significance was observed. In conclusion, the model was adequate to understand psychosocial determinants of weekly frequency of FV intake for Brazilian adolescents, with self-efficacy and SES as the major determinants of this eating behavior.
Arthroscopic Repair of Concomitant Type II SLAP Lesions in Large to Massive Rotator Cuff Tears

Background: There are no studies examining superior labrum anterior and posterior (SLAP) repair combined with repair of large to massive rotator cuff tears, and it is unclear whether a combined SLAP repair would lead to better outcomes than biceps tenotomy. Hypothesis: Tenotomy and rotator cuff repair would lead to better outcomes compared with those of combined SLAP and rotator cuff repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Our study population consisted of 36 patients who had undergone either combined SLAP and rotator cuff repair (when the biceps was too healthy to cut; group R = 16 patients) or tenotomy and rotator cuff repair (when any fraying or partial tear existed in the biceps tendon; group T = 20 patients) for concomitant type II SLAP lesions and large to massive rotator cuff tears. The cuff repair was performed in a single row for both groups. Outcomes were assessed by comparing range of motion as well as Simple Shoulder Test (SST), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) scores between the 2 groups. Results: At the 2-year follow-up, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in functional shoulder scores and range of motion. However, group T had better SST scores (group T, 9.3 ± 1.6; group R, 7.8 ± 1.9; P = .012), ASES scores (group T, 88.6 ± 8.9; group R, 80.4 ±8.9; P = .009), UCLA scores (group T, 29.6 ± 3.0; group R, 26.0 ± 4.2; P = .007), and forward flexion (group T, 145.9° ± 13.0°; group R, 132.5° ± 15.3°; P = .008). The mean tear size and the degree of preoperative muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration on magnetic resonance imaging were similar between the groups. Conclusion: For patients with concomitant type II SLAP lesions and large to massive rotator cuff tears, the outcomes of simultaneous arthroscopic SLAP and rotator cuff repair were inferior to those of arthroscopic biceps tenotomy and cuff repair in terms of functional shoulder scores and range of motion. Biceps tenotomy and rotator cuff repair may be a more reliable method to address concomitant type II SLAP lesions and large to massive rotator cuff tears in patients, although a randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm the results.
Mammalian Abasic Site Base Excision Repair

Base excision repair (BER) is one of the cellular defense mechanisms repairing damage to nucleoside 5′-monophosphate residues in genomic DNA. This repair pathway is initiated by spontaneous or enzymatic N-glycosidic bond cleavage creating an abasic or apurinic-apyrimidinic (AP) site in double-stranded DNA. Class II AP endonuclease, deoxyribonucleotide phosphate (dRP) lyase, DNA synthesis, and DNA ligase activities complete repair of the AP site. In mammalian cell nuclear extract, BER can be mediated by a macromolecular complex containing DNA polymerase β (β-pol) and DNA ligase I. These two enzymes are capable of contributing the latter three of the four BER enzymatic activities. In the present study, we found that AP site BER can be reconstitutedin vitro using the following purified human proteins: AP endonuclease, β-pol, and DNA ligase I. Examination of the individual enzymatic steps in BER allowed us to identify an ordered reaction pathway: subsequent to 5′ “nicking” of the AP site-containing DNA strand by AP endonuclease, β-pol performs DNA synthesisprior to removal of the 5′-dRP moiety in the gap. Removal of the dRP flap is strictly required for DNA ligase I to seal the resulting nick. Additionally, the catalytic rate of the reconstituted BER system and the individual enzymatic activities was measured. The reconstituted BER system performs repair of AP site DNA at a rate that is slower than the respective rates of AP endonuclease, DNA synthesis, and ligation, suggesting that these steps are not rate-determining in the overall reconstituted BER system. Instead, the rate-limiting step in the reconstituted system was found to be removal of dRP (i.e. dRP lyase), catalyzed by the amino-terminal domain of β-pol. This work is the first to measure the rate of BER in anin vitro reaction. The potential significance of the dRP-containing intermediate in the regulation of BER is discussed.
Role of Parathyroid Hormone in the Decreased Motor Nerve Conduction Velocity of Chronic Renal Failure

Abstract Certain data support the notion that chronic exposure to excess parathyroid hormone (PTH) is associated with decreased motor nerve conduction velocity, while other studies failed to confirm such an effect. Also, chronic renal failure of 4 months duration in dogs did not elicit changes in MNCV or calcium content of nerve. These discrepancies may be due to differences in other metabolic parameters, such as degree of uremia, serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, or magnesium, and acid-base parameters, or in duration of chronic renal failure. To examine the effect of PTH on peripheral nerve function in renal failure in a more defined biochemical setting, we studied the changes in MNCV and nerve calcium content in dogs with and without excess PTH and with prolonged and similar duration of chronic renal failure (57 ± 1.7 weeks) and comparable biochemical parameters. Dogs with chronic renal failure displayed a significant (P < 0.01) decrease in MNCV (before renal failure, 65 ± 1.5 m/sec; after renal failure, 49 ± 3.5 m/sec) and marked elevation in calcium content of peripheral nerve (444 ± 45 mg/kg dry wt). These derangements were not observed in parathyroidectomized chronic renal failure animals; MNCV before renal failure was 66 ± 1.5 m/sec and after renal failure was 65 ± 1.5 m/sec, and nerve calcium content after renal failure was 229 ± 3 mg/kg dry wt. Also, parathyroidectomy of three dogs with preexisting chronic renal failure of 52 weeks was associated with reversal of the abnormalities in MNCV and calcium content of nerve despite an additional period of renal failure of 52 weeks in two of the dogs and 40 weeks in the third. Our data are consistent with the proposition that excess PTH plays a major role in the genesis of peripheral nerve dysfunction in chronic renal failure. This adverse effect of the hormone is most likely mediated by the PTH-induced accumulation of calcium in peripheral nerve.
Ticks of Australia. The species that infest domestic animals and humans.

The book Australian Ticks by F.H. S. Roberts (1970) is a land-mark in Australian tick biology. But it is time for a new and improved book on the ticks of Australia. The present book has identification guides and accounts of the biology and diseases associated with the 16 species of ticks that may feed on domestic animals and humans in Australia. These comprise five argasid (soft) ticks: Argas persicus (poultry tick), Argas robertsi (Robert's bird tick), Ornithodoros capensis (seabird soft tick), O. gurneyi (kangaroo soft tick), Otobius megnini (spinose ear tick); and 11 ixodid (hard) ticks, Amblyomma triguttatum (ornate kangaroo tick), Bothriocroton auruginans (wombat tick), B. hydrosauri (southern reptile tick), Haemaphysalis bancrofti (wallaby tick), H. longicornis (bush tick), Ixodes cornuatus (southern paralysis tick), I. hirsti (Hirst's marsupial tick), I. holocyclus (paralysis tick), I. tasmani (common marsupial tick), Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) australis (Australian cattle tick) and R. sanguineus (brown dog tick). We use an image-matching system to identify ticks, much like the image-matching systems used in field-guides for birds and flowers. Ticks may be identified by drawings that emphasise unique matrices of uniformly defined morphological characters that, together, allow these 16 ticks to be identified by morphology unequivocally. The species accounts have seven sections: (i) General; (ii) Differential diagnosis; (iii) Hosts; (iv) Life-cycle and seasonality; (v) Disease; (vi) Habitat and geographic distribution; (vii) Genes and genomes; and (viii) Other information. There are 71 figures and tables, including a glossary character matrices, drawings of life-cycles, drawings of genera, species, and colour photographs of tick biology.
Interleukin‐4 and ‐5 as modulators of nerve growth factor synthesis/secretion in astrocytes

To examine the regulation of nerve growth factor (NGF) gene expression with respect to neural trauma, we examined the effects of T cell‐derived lymphokines on NGF synthesis/secretion in cultured mouse astrocytes. Interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐5 significantly increased the amount of NGF secreted by astrocytes, whereas IL‐2, IL‐3, and IL‐6 had no significant effect. IL‐4 and IL‐5 produced marked increases in NGF mRNA levels in astrocytes as demonstrated by the reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) method. The effect of IL‐4 and IL‐5 was greater in quiescent astrocytes than in growing cells. Neither increase in thymidine incorporation nor any morphological change was observed during the treatment with IL‐4 and IL‐5. The stimulatory effect of IL‐4 and IL‐5 on NGF synthesis was completely inhibited by the addition of anti‐IL‐4 monoclonal antibody and anti‐IL‐5 monoclonal antibody, respectively. The results indicate that IL‐4 and IL‐5 specifically trigger a cascade of events to regulate NGF synthesis in astrocytes, independent of cell growth. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A deep learning framework for model reduction of dynamical systems

A new framework is proposed for model-order reduction in which a neural network is used to learn a reduced model of a dynamical system. As technological, social, and biological models become increasingly complex, it has become necessary to find ways of reducing the number of dynamical states of a system while still maintaining model integrity. The new approach combines ideas from two existing model-order reduction methods: proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and balanced truncation. The previously mentioned methods reduce the number of state variables by projecting the dynamics onto a linear subspace spanned by principal components of a representative data matrix. Our proposed model-reduction method has the advantage of projecting the dynamics onto a nonlinear space. The proposed method is referred to as feature decomposition,” in light of the nonlinear features extracted by way of neural networks. The method is applied to both autonomous and state-space systems. In feature decomposition for state-space systems, empirical Gramians are the representative training set on which we perform the nonlinear feature learning. It is shown that under certain assumptions, feature decomposition applied to state-space systems is equivalent to balanced truncation. Finally, the method is applied to a spreading infectious disease dynamical system and the results from our reduced order model are compared to POD.
[Reimbursement of patients with high costs in a department of otorhinolaryngology of maximum care and refinancing by the German DRG system].

BACKGROUND With the introduction of a diagnosis related groups (DRG)-system in Germany, the medical analysis of the total costs of caring for a given patient is of significance. The medical identification of cost intensive patients becomes of increasing importance for the financial perspective of a department, because the averaged lump sum system might not break even these treatments. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Ulm, a tertiary referral center, the 56 most expensive patients from 3131 inpatients which were treated in 2002 were retrospectively identified and expenses for diagnostic tests, therapy and post-operative complications were analyzed. All patients' related costs, including all costs for personnel, were assigned to a DRG (Version 1.0 G-DRG and G-DRG 2004). RESULTS The most expensive treatments included extensive tumor surgeries, surgery of the trachea, emergency procedures and reconstructive surgery. Costs increased with complications, prolonged stay in the intensive care unit and simultaneous internal diseases. The cost at our institution for an pharynocutaneous fistula added 3000 Euro. CONCLUSION The assignment of treatment costs to a DRG is complex. Based on our data extensive surgeries for head and neck malignancies showed a homogeneous cost distribution in the DRG group of G-DRG 2004 which was however inadequately reimbursed. Detailed prospective analyses from multiple centers to identify expensive treatments in the field of otorhinolaryngology are necessary to incorporate modifications into the German DRG-system.
The Implications of Respondent Concurrency on Sex Partner Risk in a National, Web-Based Study of Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) represent the largest HIV risk group in the United States. Sexual concurrency catalyzes HIV transmission in populations by increasing the indirect exposure of one's sex partners to one another. Although individual-level (egocentric) designs have demonstrated a high prevalence of concurrency among MSM respondents, methods are lacking for understanding the exposure implications for partners (dyads) reported in such studies. Methods: A new technique for manipulating egocentrically collected partnership timing data to measure the degree to which respondents' patterns of concurrency and serial monogamy resulted in the indirect exposure of respondents' partners to other partners was developed. Two outcomes were constructed for each partner: any concurrent or serially monogamous exposure to another partner (any exposure) and any concurrent exposure to another partner, irrespective of serial monogamy (any concurrent exposure). Reports of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) were incorporated to construct the outcomes of "any UAI exposure" and "any concurrent UAI exposure. " This method was applied to an online study of MSM aged ≥18 years, with comparisons made by partner's race–ethnicity, age, type, and meeting location. Results: Among 4060 repeat partners of 2449 MSM, 73% had any exposure in the previous 6 months; 58% had any concurrent exposure. Among UAI partners, 37% had concurrent UAI exposure. Black UAI partners were more likely than whites to have any concurrent UAI exposure [unadjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.34 (1.05 to 1.70)], as were casual UAI partners relative to main partners [unadjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 4.37 (3.58 to 5.35)]. In adjusted models, black UAI partners were significantly more likely to have any UAI exposure, but not concurrent UAI exposure. Casual UAI partners remained more exposed by both outcomes. Conclusions: Sex partners of MSM, particularly casual and black non-Hispanic partners, face a high degree of exposure to other partners.
DNA replication initiation, doubling of rate of phospholipid synthesis, and cell division in Escherichia coli

In synchronized culture of Escherichia coli, the specific arrest of phospholipid synthesis (brought about by glycerol starvation in an appropriate mutant) did not affect the rate of ongoing DNA synthesis but prevented the initiation of new rounds. The initiation block did not depend on cell age at the time of glycerol removal, which could be before, during, or after the doubling in the rate of phospholipid synthesis (DROPS) and as little as 10 min before the expected initiation. We conclude that the initiation of DNA replication is not triggered by the preceding DROPS but requires active phospholipid synthesis. Conversely, when DNA replication initiation was specifically blocked in a synchronized culture of a dnaC(Ts) mutant, two additional DROPS were observed, after which phospholipid synthesis continued at a constant rate for at least 60 min. Similarly, when DNA elongation was blocked by thymine starvation of a synchronized culture, one additional DROPS was observed, followed by linear phospholipid accumulation. Control experiments showed that specific inhibition of cell division by ampicillin, heat shock, or induction of the SOS response did not affect phospholipid synthesis, suggesting that the arrest of DROPS observed was due to the DNA replication block. The data are compatible with models in which the DROPS is triggered by an event associated with replication termination or chromosome segregation.
[A cost-effectiveness analysis of alendronate compared to placebo in the prevention of hip fracture].

OBJECTIVE To examine if the treatment with alendronate to prevent hip fracture (HF) in female with established osteoporosis is more cost-effectiveness than placebo, and if changes in efficacy, cost and incidence of adverse reactions of the treatment can affect the ratio, and the direction of decision. DESIGN The study is based on a decision tree model to examine the cost-effectiveness ratio (CE) of alendronate (10 mg/d alendronate, 500 mg/d calcium and 250 IU vitamin D3) versus placebo (500 mg/d calcium and 250 IU vitamin D3). The treatment of 1000 patients with established osteoporosis and its course of events and probabilities during three years of treatment is simulated. RESULTS The efficacy of each alternative is obtained by controlled clinical trials. The considered costs, from the first perspective of the services provider, and expressed in pesetas per year in 1998, are direct health tangibles: pharmacological treatment, HF surgery and treatment of serious adverse reactions (SAR). An analysis of simple univariate sensibility and one of incremental is applied on the efficacy, cost and incidence of adverse reactions to alendronate. The ratio CE of alendronate is 297.879 pesetas/success (patient without fracture and without SAR) and 23.301 pesetas/success for placebo. For the hypothesis of a 100% alendronate efficacy, the ratio CE is 287.217 pesetas/success and without SAR is 297.830 pesetas/success. A cost of 210 pesetas/alendronate box will determine that this alternative is as cost-effective as placebo. CONCLUSIONS The administration of alendronate to prevent HF on postmenopausal female with established osteoporosis is not the option to take into account. Just a decrease of the cost of alendronate below its crossing value will turn it into a cost-effective alternative.
Weight Smoothing for Generalized Linear Models Using a Laplace Prior

Abstract When analyzing data sampled with unequal inclusion probabilities, correlations between the probability of selection and the sampled data can induce bias if the inclusion probabilities are ignored in the analysis. Weights equal to the inverse of the probability of inclusion are commonly used to correct possible bias. When weights are uncorrelated with the descriptive or model estimators of interest, highly disproportional sample designs resulting in large weights can introduce unnecessary variability, leading to an overall larger mean square error compared to unweighted methods. We describe an approach we term ‘weight smoothing’ that models the interactions between the weights and the estimators as random effects, reducing the root mean square error (RMSE) by shrinking interactions toward zero when such shrinkage is allowed by the data. This article adapts a flexible Laplace prior distribution for the hierarchical Bayesian model to gain a more robust bias-variance tradeoff than previous approaches using normal priors. Simulation and application suggest that under a linear model setting, weight-smoothing models with Laplace priors yield robust results when weighting is necessary, and provide considerable reduction in RMSE otherwise. In logistic regression models, estimates using weight-smoothing models with Laplace priors are robust, but with less gain in efficiency than in linear regression settings.